News – Page 611 – 105.7 WDNY

Some experts question RFK Jr. calling measles outbreak ‘not unusual’

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In his first public comments on the measles outbreak hitting West Texas and New Mexico, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent vaccine skeptic whose first steps in combatting the outbreak will be closely watched, said his department was monitoring the situation daily but called it “not unusual.”

“Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year in this country. Last year there were 16. So, it’s not unusual, we have measles outbreaks every year,” Kennedy said Wednesday at the White House.

However, some public health experts were quick to point out that the outbreak in Texas has defied America’s recent history with highly contagious disease.

Prior to this outbreak, the U.S. had not seen a death from measles since 2015. And in 2000, years after the U.S. implemented a two-dose vaccine schedule, measles was declared eliminated from the U.S., meaning that the disease had stopped spreading within the country.

Only in recent years have cases and outbreaks been rising, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The outbreak in West Texas and New Mexico is already drawing close to the halfway mark of total cases seen nationally last year, when there were at least 285 cases of measles – which were also the highest numbers since 2019, according to the CDC’s latest figures.

And while there were 16 outbreaks last year, that was a four-time increase from the number of outbreaks in 2023, when there were just four outbreaks. The U.S. has nearly hit that 2023 number already, just two months into 2025.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an attending physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, called Kennedy’s comments about measles cases happening “every year” an attempt to normalize an outbreak that has been anything but normal.

“First of all, we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000. The reason measles have come back is because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children, because they’ve gotten misinformation and disinformation from people like him and his Children’s Health Defense,” Offit told ABC News.

Children’s Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy, advocates against the recommended vaccine schedule for children.

“It’s unconscionable enough that he’s done that, but that he sort of glibly says, well, measles outbreaks occur every year — the point is they don’t have to occur at all, because we’ve shown we could eliminate this disease,” Offit said.

ABC News has reached out to HHS about RFK Jr.’s comments.

The increase in cases and outbreaks over the last few years coincides with decreasing vaccination coverage for measles among kindergarteners nationally from 95.2% during the 2019-2020 school year to 92.7% in the 2023-2024 school year – leaving about 280,000 kindergartners at risk, according to the CDC.

Kennedy, prior to taking his role as HHS secretary, said the measles vaccine is effective at preventing measles, but has also suggested that it’s not necessary because people who die from measles are typically malnourished or have other comorbidities.

“The measles vaccine definitely eliminates measles, or, you know, close to eliminates it,” Kennedy said in 2022.

But he went on to question the deadliness of the disease.

“In 1963, it was killing only 400 kids a year. Mainly, they were kids who had malnutrition, or had some other devastating co-morbidity,” Kennedy said. “Those were the kids who were dying.”

Kennedy has also questioned that the deaths of 83 people – mostly young children – in Samoa in 2019 were caused by measles, despite widespread evidence that the deaths were due to an outbreak of the disease caused by under-vaccination in the American territory.

“Nobody died in Samoa from measles. They were dying from a bad vaccine,” Kennedy told an interviewer last year.

20% of kids with measles in the U.S. require hospitalization, said Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, often for measles pneumonia, measles diarrhea, measles encephalitis or deafness from measles otitis, an ear infection — many of which can be life-threatening conditions.

“This is a bad, bad actor. And I’m really concerned that this thing is continuing to accelerate and expand,” Hotez said Wednesday night in an interview on MSNBC.

Doctors in West Texas have described shock and feaver-treating a disease they thought was something of the past.

“This is the first time I’ve had any professional experience with a measles outbreak,” Dr. Lara Johnson, pediatrician and Chief Medical Officer at Covenant Children’s and Covenant Health in Lubbock, who is currently treating measles patients from the outbreak in West Texas, told ABC news.

“I saw one travel-related case when I was in medical school, very briefly, but at that time, back in around 2000, we really thought that we’d eradicated measles from the United States and didn’t have any anticipation of seeing any outbreaks here,” she said.

The outbreak in Texas is a prime example of the risk posed to unvaccinated communities. Vaccine exemptions among children in Gaines County, the epicenter of the outbreak, have grown dramatically in the past few years. Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners had filed an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. 10 years later, that number rose to over 17.5% – one of the highest in all of Texas, state health data shows.

As the response to the outbreak in Texas and New Mexico continues, with cases expected to significantly rise, public health experts like Hotez and Offit say they’re watching Kennedy, as leader of the nation’s health department, to encourage swift surveillance and widespread vaccination.

“I want him to say to the American public that there’s a safe way to prevent these outbreaks from happening so that we don’t have the tragedy like what just happened in West Texas,” Offit said. “There’s so much in medicine you don’t know. There’s so much we can’t do. This we know. This we can do.”

What to know about measles

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Before there was a vaccine in 1963, measles infected millions and killed hundreds of people in the U.S. every year. Now, with the first measles death occurring in over a decade, doctors warn that declining vaccination rates are bringing the disease back, putting more people — especially children — at risk.

Here are five things to know about measles.

What is measles?

Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness. One in nine people who are exposed to the measles virus will become infected if they don’t have immunity through previous infection or vaccination, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Symptoms often begin one to two weeks after exposure. Early symptoms can look like other common respiratory illnesses starting with a high fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and white spots in the mouth.

Dr. Ari Brown, a pediatrician in Austin, Texas, who treated measles decades ago, warns measles “doesn’t look like measles initially, and so that’s what’s so scary … this could look like flu.”

A distinct red rash typically appears three to five days later, usually starting on the face and spreading down the body.

What is the earliest my child can get vaccinated?

The CDC recommends all children receive two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, with the first dose given between 12-15 months and the second dose when they reach 4-6 years old.

In some circumstances, children as young as 6 months old may receive the vaccine, and a second dose can be given as soon as 28 days after the first, according to the CDC.

Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children’s and Covenant Health in Lubbock, Texas, said people worried about their vaccination status should talk to their doctor.

“One of the messages that’s really important in the context of this outbreak is, if you’re behind on your vaccinations, now’s a great time to get caught up,” Johnson told ABC News.

Can you get measles if you are fully vaccinated?
One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective against measles and two doses are 97% effective, according to the CDC.

That means that 3 out of 100 vaccinated people may get sick if exposed to the virus, but these infections are usually less severe than in unvaccinated people who get sick, according to the CDC.

Most people who were vaccinated as children won’t need any additional measles vaccines. But adults who only had one measles vaccination or people who were vaccinated in the 1960s may be candidates for an additional vaccination.

Anyone unsure of their vaccination status should have a discussion with their doctor. There’s no harm in getting an additional dose of the MMR vaccine. According to the CDC, people born before 1957 are immune to the virus because almost everyone at the time was infected with measles, mumps and rubella during their childhood.

Anyone living in a high-risk area should speak to their doctor about whether they need a booster, according to the CDC.

What can pregnant women do to stay safe?

Measles in pregnancy is associated with a higher risk of miscarriage, low birth weight and preterm birth, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. However, women should not receive the MMR vaccine while they are pregnant because it is a live vaccine.

If a pregnant person is exposed to measles, they should talk to their doctor as soon as possible — within six days — to know if they should receive a post-exposure prophylaxis with measles immunoglobulin (an injection of antibodies that can help reduce the severity of illness for high-risk people), according to the CDC.

Can measles kill you?

Measles can cause complications like pneumonia, brain swelling, long-term hearing loss and death — as is the case in the current Texas outbreak.

In the decade before the measles vaccine, the CDC estimates 3 to 4 million people were infected and 400 to 400 people died from the virus every year in the United States.

Other long-term complications include subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), a rare but fatal complication that can develop seven to ten years after recovery. SSPE causes a gradual loss of mental abilities, which progresses to a vegetative state and eventually leads to death, according to the National Institutes of Health.

There is no specific treatment for measles, so doctors say the best way to prevent complications of measles is to get vaccinated.

“The vaccine is so effective,” Dr. Summer Davies, a pediatrician currently treating hospitalized patients at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Covenant Children’s, told ABC News.

Davies said the best way to protect yourself, your children and your community is to get the vaccine, even “if you’re not worried yourself about getting it.”

This is not just like any other virus, Davies said.

“Some people think, ‘Oh, this is just a virus like the flu. I’ll get it, maybe get a fever and rash and get over it,’” Davies said. “But it can be really severe, as we have seen here.”

Johnson said that measles is not just an issue from the past, but something that could progress in the future without proper vaccinations.

“[Measles] seems like something from the past,” Johnson said. “But if we don’t continue to vaccinate and do things that we did in order to make these illnesses of the past, then they’ll be illnesses of the present.”

-Dr. Amanda Hargett-Granato and Jade A Cobern contributed to this report. Hargett-Granato is a pediatric resident at Mayo Clinic and member of the ABC News Medical Unit. Cobern, MD, MPH, board-certified in pediatrics and general preventive medicine, is a medical fellow of the ABC News Medical Unit.

Economists say Trump tariff threats, DOGE job cuts are ‘chilling’ the economy

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Economists say the uncertainty from President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and mass layoffs of government workers are starting to have a “chilling” effect on the U.S. economy.

“It’s a very difficult business environment, because they can’t plan for what their cost structure is going to be,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “It’s adding to investment uncertainty, and some people are holding back on investments.”

Trump has so far imposed 10% tariffs on Chinese imports and says he’ll impose additional 10%, plus 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico on March 4. Trump also says he will impose “reciprocal tariffs” that match the duties other countries levy on the U.S. That comes on top of tariff plans on cars, semiconductors, steel and aluminum. Even if Trump doesn’t ultimately move forward with all his tariff threats, the mere uncertainty has a chilling effect.

“If one of the inputs of your factory goes up by 25%, you might cut your production and say maybe we’ll have to fire some people,” Ziemba added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Government Efficiency’s slashing of the federal workforce across the country “also impacts consumption, because people are losing their jobs or are afraid of losing their jobs, so that might cause them to save more money,“ Ziemba said.

This week, The Conference Board’s consumer sentiment survey found that it registered the largest monthly decline since August 2021.

“Views of current labor market conditions weakened. Consumers became pessimistic about future business conditions and less optimistic about future income. Pessimism about future employment prospects worsened and reached a 10-month high,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist for global indicators at The Conference Board.

“Average 12-month inflation expectations surged from 5.2% to 6% in February. This increase likely reflected a mix of factors, including sticky inflation but also the recent jump in prices of key household staples like eggs and the expected impact of tariffs,” Guichard said.

The Canada and Mexico tariffs would have a sweeping effect, since those are America’s two biggest trading partners. It could raise prices at the grocery store and the gas pump. Ziemba also noted that the cost of cars could increase by several thousand dollars.

“Every time a car part crosses the border, 25% tariffs could be very onerous,” Ziemba said. “We could see the cost of building a house go up quite substantially.”

Iowa lawmakers vote to remove gender ID from state civil rights protections

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(DES MOINES, IOWA) — Iowa lawmakers voted Thursday to strike gender identity from state civil rights protections.

The state’s civil rights law currently protects against discrimination in the workplace, school, accommodations, housing and more based on someone’s “age, race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, or disability.”

The recent legislation on gender identity quickly made its way through the legislature, though not without facing large protests from critics who believe the bill will open up further discrimination against transgender people.

Transgender Americans — who are estimated to make up less than 1% of the U.S. population over the age of 13 — have been the target of hundreds of Republican-backed bills each year in recent years.

The new Iowa bill is one of more than 450 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. being tracked this year by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Supporters of the legislation came to the Thursday hearing with a plethora of arguments — including concerns about religious freedoms, privacy in public accommodations and the belief that there are only two sexes.

“It would not be wise on the slippery slope of the sand using fluid definitions and feelings. Instead, let’s courageously build it on the tested, immovable foundations of fixed endings and historical truth,” said one community member.

The bill notes an exception for people who experience differences or disorders in sexual development — sometimes known as intersex — as covered by the federal Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Opponents say that the legislation targets a small, vulnerable population and will worsen discrimination often faced by transgender people.

One community member, who said they were an Iowa educated and trained family medicine physician, said the lives of their patients depend on the outcome of the bill.

“As a doctor, I see firsthand how social determinants like stable housing, employment and access to public spaces are critical to my patients’ health,” they said. “The protections in our Civil Rights Code are not abstract. They are lifelines. When a person is denied housing because of their gender identity, they face higher risks of homelessness, violence and worsened physical and mental health.”

Body camera footage shows deputy saving baby from burning apartment

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

New police footage shows the moment a sheriff’s deputy rescued a baby from a burning apartment in Winder, Georgia.

At approximately 1:13 p.m. on Tuesday, Winder police and fire units reached out to the Barrow County Sheriff’s Department for assistance in a residential fire, according to the sheriff’s department.

While on the way to the scene, police were informed that “an infant child was still in the apartment and was unable to be reached,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Deputies immediately attempted to rescue the infant, but several units were “not able to continue beyond a certain point in the building” due to the significant amount of smoke.

Despite the dangerous conditions, Deputy Jhancarlos Arango and a Winder police officer entered the building to save the child, police said.

The moment, which was captured on body worn camera video obtained by ABC affiliate WSB in Atlanta, shows the two officers racing into the apartment, with the deputy even covering his nose and mouth with a pair of pants to prevent inhaling the smoke.

Police said Arango and the other officer were “able to crawl to the infant, following the cries, and rescue the child.”

In the video, Arango can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe” while rescuing the child. Once everyone was back outside, the deputy said, “Thank you, God.”

This infant was not the only child saved from this fire, according to the Winder Fire Department. Two other small children were removed from the apartment complex, the fire department said.

The children — including the infant — and both law enforcement officers were transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation, but are all expected are to be OK, according to officials.

The fire was contained to the room of origin, according to Winder Fire Chief Matt Whiting.

“We are incredibly grateful for the swift and coordinated efforts of our local first responders,” Whiting said. “Their quick actions ensured that this situation was contained effectively, and lives were saved.”

Menendez brothers’ cousin ‘gasped in relief’ to learn Newsom is addressing clemency request

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(CALIFORNIA) — A cousin of the Menendez brothers said she’s “thrilled” that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is addressing the brothers’ request for clemency and ordering the parole board to investigate further.

“I certainly gasped in relief,” cousin Anamaria Baralt, one of at least 20 relatives in support of the brothers’ release, told ABC News at a virtual news conference Thursday. “This is huge.”

Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents — have “cautious optimism” they’ll be released, Baralt said.

“They are the first life without parole prisoners on this path,” added another cousin, Tamara Goodell. “So when we look at any advancements … it’s definitely with hope, but also understanding that there are no promises.”

Newsom announced Wednesday that he’s ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether the brothers pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.

“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said Wednesday on his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis. But this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”

Baralt called Newsom’s decision a “positive step forward” and said she’s confident the parole board will determine Lyle and Erik Menendez are not a risk to public safety.

“We have seen their rehabilitation over the last three decades,” Baralt said.

She said the parole board’s investigation will find: the brothers’ repeated and sincere remorse; their work to improve prison culture and run several programs to help inmates reenter society; and how they’ve spent most of their lives in prison but still built meaningful lives helping others. The board will also consider their age at the time of the crime and their lack of criminal history outside of “making a horrific decision” as a direct result of the abuse they endured, Baralt said.

“We understand that this is not without professional risk for him,” Baralt said of Newsom.

Though the cousins praised Newsom, they were disappointed and frustrated by Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s announcement last week that he’s asked the court to deny the brothers’ habeas corpus petition.

Lyle and Erik Menendez filed the petition in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father Jose Menendez; and allegations from a former boy band member, Roy Rossello, who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.

Hochman argued the letter failed the credibility test, saying if it existed, the defense would have used it at the brothers’ trials in the 1990s.

Hochman said Rossello’s allegation failed the admissibility test, because the brothers didn’t know about his claims until recent years, so it couldn’t have influenced their state of mind during the crime and “play a role in self-defense or premeditated murder.”

After Hochman’s announcement, Erik Menendez said to the family, “We need you strong,” Goodell recalled. “They both really mirrored our frustration, but they also said, ‘Let it go. We need to focus on moving forward.’ And so that is our focus.”

Baralt stands by the new evidence.

The letter to Cano, while received in December 1988, was not discovered until recent years, according to the brothers’ attorney.

Baralt stressed that Cano was 14 or 15 at the time Erik Menendez sent him that letter.

“It’s only natural for a teenage boy to not realize he is sitting on critical evidence. Andy wasn’t a lawyer. He wasn’t even an adult,” she said. “To pose the question now, decades later, after he passed, of why wasn’t the letter submitted back then? It’s like asking a teenager who got in a fender bender why didn’t you call the police to file a report — because a teenager doesn’t know any better. He didn’t realize how vital that letter would be to the case.”

And as for Rossello’s admission in 2023, Baralt stressed that it’s common for abuse victims to not disclose for years.

“Roy coming out to share his story in his own time is new evidence” that should be considered admissible, she said.

Baralt said Hochman’s decision “felt extra hurtful, because it was only a few weeks ago that dozens of [relatives] sat in his office and described the horror of being in this victim family, with 35 years of being retraumatized.”

“We have become victims in this process,” she said. “We have been laughed at, ridiculed and forced to relive the pain over and over again.”

Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez. The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors alleged they killed for money.

Besides clemency and the habeas corpus petition, another possible path to freedom is resentencing.

In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.

The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.

Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.

Hochman, who came into office on Dec. 3, has yet to announce if he is in support of or against resentencing for the brothers. He’s expected to decide in the coming weeks.

A hearing regarding the resentencing case is set for March 20 and 21.

‘Heartbreaking’: USAID staffers clear out desks after DOGE layoffs

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Several U.S. Agency for International Development staffers cleared out their offices at the agency’s Washington headquarters on Thursday, saying they were disheartened after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency laid them off or placed them on leave.

“The more I talk about it, the more I want to cry,” said Amanda, who worked in science and technology at USAID and did not want to share her last name out of fear of retribution, as she waited to enter the building to get her things. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Many staffers said they received an email late Sunday informing them they were placed on administrative leave and were later assigned 15-minute windows to enter the building and gather their belongings. Worldwide, 4,080 USAID workers were placed on leave on Monday, and there was a “reduction in force” of an additional 1,600 workers, a State Department spokesman told the Associated Press.

Those picking up their belongings on Thursday were cheered on by hundreds of friends, family and supporters outside as they exited the building with bankers boxes, reusable bags and suitcases.

“It feels profoundly disrespectful to workers, to people who are dedicating themselves to making things better globally, making things better elsewhere so that they don’t come here, so the problems don’t come here,” Melissa, who also did not share her last name, said of the short time they were allotted.

She previously worked on democracy programs in Ukraine and anti-corruption efforts.

“I mean and we’re all people, right,” she added. “We have kids to take care of, we have parents to take [care] of who are aging and we’re all struggling with that as well.”

Caitlin Harwood, a mother of a 4-year-old girl and a 9-month-old, said she is “worried” about her next paycheck and is unsure what is next for her.

A country desk officer with USAID for Mozambique, she told ABC News that while she believes the government could be made more efficient, she takes issue with the way Musk’s team has done it.

“I think there’s a way to go about that. I don’t think anybody would have been as terrified as they are now if they had come through and said we are going to have a program review,” Harwood said.

“So, this is not efficiency, and it’s actually costing the American people billions in dollars in wasted food, wasted medicine,” Harwood added.

Ben Thompson worked in communications prior to being laid off by USAID and said he had been under a “communications freeze” since the early days of the Trump administration.

“Powerful, evil men are targeting a lot of good people who have dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves, which is something that somebody like Elon [Musk] can’t relate to,” Thompson told reporters. “This clearly isn’t about government waste, fraud and abuse. He’s not going through with a fine-toothed comb — he’s tearing down our institutions for fun.”

Samantha Power, the USAID administrator under former President Joe Biden, went inside the Ronald Reagan Building, which houses the agency’s headquarters, and spoke with workers Thursday morning.

“What is being done is one of the biggest blunders in American foreign policy history. It is one that generations of Americans will look back on in horror,” Power told ABC News. “But the way it’s being done, the cruelty, the savagery, the mercilessness, is an outrage, and it should, whatever you think about foreign assistance — to treat American public servants who want to do nothing more than serve their country, serve the American people, to treat them in the way they are being treated should chill and horrify all of us.”

Power said she hoped USAID workers “remember the lives you’ve touched.”

Some supporters gathered outside had traveled hours to be in Washington to cheer on workers as they exited the building.

Diana Putman told ABC News she drove 3 1/2 hours to get to Washington from Pennsylvania that morning “because I needed to be here to support my colleagues.”

Putman retired from USAID in 2022 after spending her entire decadeslong career with the agency. She followed in the footsteps of her father, who had begun working with USAID in March 1962 — just five months after it was founded.

“USAID literally is the preeminent development agency of the world, and our soft power has meant so, so much around the world for the last 60-plus years,” Putman said. “The positive face of the American people will no longer be seen around the world.”

When supporters arrived, black tape had been placed over the name of USAID on the signs outside of the Ronald Reagan Building. Kate Parsons, a worker who was laid off last week from the the USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, ripped the tape off. She said she’d come out to support her colleagues.

“I don’t know who put that tape up, but I know that USAID is still here. We are still here,” Parsons told ABC News.

“Only Congress can shut down USAID — it’s a government agency. The current leadership is trying to dismantle it. They’re trying to do it so quickly and so sloppily that people don’t notice or people can’t stop it, but they haven’t fired us all yet,” Parsons added. “This fight is not done yet.”

USAID workers said they want the public to be proud of the work they did.

“We love the American people. We’re here to serve. That’s what bureaucrats are,” Harwood, the mom of two young children, said when asked about her message to the public. “We are nonpartisan. We had a mission. We were so proud to serve it. And we hope we did you proud.”

FBI Director Kash Patel wants to bring the UFC to the FBI, sources say

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Newly-installed FBI Director Kash Patel, whose proclaimed plans to overhaul the nation’s premier law enforcement agency have rattled many within the bureau, has proposed enhancing the FBI’s ranks with help from the United Fighting Championship, the martial-arts entertainment giant whose wealthy CEO, Dana White, helped boost President Donald Trump’s reelection, according to sources who were told of Patel’s proposal.

On a teleconference Wednesday with the heads of the FBI’s 55 field offices, Patel suggested that he wants the FBI to establish a formal relationship with the UFC, which could develop programs for agents to improve their physical fitness, said sources who had been briefed on Wednesday’s call.

The virtual meeting with each field office’s special-agent-in-charge has long been a weekly occurrence, but this week’s call was the first led by Patel, who was sworn in as director on Friday.

Within hours of Wednesday’s call, word of Patel’s UFC proposal spread to current and former FBI officials around the country.

“If they’re trying to up their physical fitness, the UFC is very specific in their fitness,” said ABC News contributor Rich Frankel, the former special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark, New Jersey, office.

It’s not clear exactly what Patel would want UFC to do or provide to help improve fitness among FBI ranks.

Though Patel’s UFC proposal stood out to some who heard about the meeting, Patel addressed a range of issues on the call, according to sources.

The new director tried to calm some of the concerns among FBI agents after the Justice Department last month demanded a list of the thousands of agents who aided investigations stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and suggested that even those just following orders could be fired, the sources said.

There were also concerns about Patel’s recent announcement that as many as 1,500 employees at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C, would be reassigned to field offices and to an FBI office in Huntsville, Alabama. And last week’s controversial email from the Office of Personnel Management demanding that all federal employees list what they had accomplished over the previous week or face termination only added to concerns within the FBI, sources said.

During Wednesday’s call, Patel expressed his own concerns about that email and with confusing follow-up messages from the Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency, which has been guided by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, sources said.

Patel, on the call, also touted the FBI’s work fighting crime and national security threats, and he asked the FBI officials to give him a chance to prove himself as their new leader, sources said. But he also warned them that he would not tolerate “leaks” or what he sees as other forms of insubordination.

Nevertheless, it was Patel’s proposal to ask the UFC for help that quickly created some buzz within the FBI community. UFC is based in Las Vegas, where Patel now lives.

White, who is estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has long been friends with Trump and last year became a big donor to Trump’s presidential campaign. He joined Trump on stage in Florida during Trump’s victory speech in November just hours after polls closed on Election Day.

During the speech, Trump recalled how he “helped [White] out a little bit” years earlier when no one else was willing to host UFC fights, claiming that UFC is now “one of the most successful sports enterprises anywhere at any time.”

Trump also said that UFC “is the roughest sport I’ve ever seen,” featuring fighters who “really go at it.”

Just days after Trump won the election in November, Trump attended a heavily-promoted UFC fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City, where he sat in the front row between White and Musk.

Frankel, who spent more than two decades with the FBI, said the FBI may benefit from increasing its physical fitness standards — so the idea of the UFC helping with the FBI’s training regimen may not be as unusual as it sounds.

He said some FBI offices have previously brought in martial arts experts and others to offer tips to agents.

But, said Frankel, “I don’t want UFC to take over the gym.”

Asked about Patel’s proposal to collaborate with the UFC, an FBI representative declined to comment to ABC News.

Pope Francis continues to improve in the hospital, Vatican says

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON and oROME) — Pope Francis’ condition continued to improve on Thursday, with the pontiff alternating between high-flow oxygen therapy and ventimask, according to the Vatican.

“Given the complexity of his clinical condition, further days of clinical stability are needed to clarify the prognosis,” the Vatican said.

The pope dedicated the morning to respiratory physiotherapy and rest. After a session of physiotherapy, in the afternoon, he gathered in prayer in the chapel of the private apartment on the 10th floor, receiving the Eucharist. The pope then dedicated himself to work activities, according to the Vatican.

The Vatican said that the pope “slept well during the night and is now resting” peacefully on Thursday morning as the pontiff begins his 14th day in hospital.

Pope Francis’ condition improved slightly on Wednesday, though officials said they “remain guarded” over his prognosis, according to the Vatican.

The slight renal insufficiency the pope had in recent days has subsided and a Tuesday CAT scan of the chest showed a normal evolution of the pulmonary inflammatory picture.

The blood chemistry and blood cell count tests carried out Wednesday have confirmed the pope’s improvement, but he remains on high-flow oxygen therapy and did not have any asthmatic-like respiratory crises.

The pontiff, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, according to the Vatican.

Over 60 deaths linked to ‘unknown disease’ in Congo: WHO

February 27, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO) — At least 60 people have died and over 1,000 more have been sickened by a deadly “unknown disease” spreading in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Health Organization said.

Local health officials in Congo are partnering with the World Health Organization to investigate.

The phrase “unknown disease” primarily means that the disease has not yet been identified.

In previous cases, the cases are linked to a known disease, but a lack of available testing leads to lack of certainty.

For example, there was a separate report of an “unknown disease” in December of last year in Congo that was later attributed to illnesses from malaria and respiratory illnesses.

Local health officials have identified a surge of cases and deaths three times in different areas of the country in recent months.

A total of 1,096 sick people have been identified along with 60 deaths. Symptoms include fever, headache, chills, sweating, stiff neck, muscle aches, multiple joint pain and body aches, a runny or bleeding from nose, cough, vomiting and diarrhea.

Initial lab tests have been negative for Ebola and Marburg. Around half of samples tested have been positive for malaria, which is common in the area. Tests continue to be carried out for meningitis. Officials are also looking into food and water contamination.

Early investigations traced the outbreak’s origin to three kids, all under 5 years old, who developed symptoms after eating a bat carcass.

Symptoms included fever, headache, diarrhea and fatigue – which later progressed to signs associated with hemorrhagic fevers and death.

“The remote location and weak healthcare infrastructure increase the risk of further spread,” the WHO notes in its report.

+ More