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Climate and environment updates: Drought in US improves slightly but still a problem

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heat waves are reshaping our way of life.

The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.

That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.

Soaking rain eases drought in parts of U.S. but dryness still a problem for much of the country

Widespread drought conditions are still a significant concern across the country, with parts of the Northeast, northern Plains and Southwest currently experiencing some of the worst impacts, according to a U.S. Drought Monitor update released Wednesday.

Overall, more than 40% of the contiguous United States remains in a drought. This is an improvement, however, from the beginning of the month when more than half of the lower 48 faced drought conditions. Recent heavy rain along the West Coast and parts of the Midwest brought significant drought relief to portions of Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Illinois.

As a result, drought coverage decreased from 45.48% to 41.45% versus last week. While some regions experienced a notable improvement, the recent soaking in the Northeast was only enough to pause the fire danger and trend of intensifying drought conditions — for now.

The current drought situation in the Northeast took months to evolve, and it will take several more rounds of significant rainfall over the span of weeks or even months to completely eliminate the widespread drought in the region.

After a few rounds of beneficial rain, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center says a large part of the country will likely experience below-average precipitation in early December, particularly in the West, Plains and East Coast.

Much of the western Gulf Coast and northern Plains could see above-average rainfall during this period. Drought relief across the country will, at the very least, take a pause through the beginning of next month.

-ABC News meteorologist Dan Peck

Colorado River at a tipping point over drought threat, new study finds

A major water supplier in the West is once again in the spotlight for its unpredictable future.

The Colorado River, the water source for 40 million people across the west, is in a worse state than previously believed, according to a recent study published in Earth’s Future.

Drought and dry conditions, compounded by climate change, put the Colorado River in greater jeopardy, the study’s authors said.

“It doesn’t take a lot of climate change to put the system into a very vulnerable future,” said Dr. Patrick Reed, a civil and environmental engineer at Cornell University and co-author of the study.

Colorado’s West Slope River Basins “are essential water sources for the Colorado River and play a vital role in supporting the state of Colorado’s local economy and natural environment,” according to the study. The West Slope River Basins contribute nearly 70% of the streamflow deliveries to Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir.

But drought has significantly depleted Lake Powell’s water supply, leading to the first-ever water shortage in the Upper Colorado River Basin in 2021 and more dependence on the West Slope Basin supply.

“The Colorado River is extremely stressed and overallocated,” Reed said.

The Colorado River supplies water to seven states and Northern Mexico. Agreements about how the water is divided are up for renegotiation in 2026.

-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin

US fuel economy hits record high as CO2 emissions hit record low, EPA says

U.S. fuel economy reached a record high in 2023 at the same time that greenhouse emissions reached a record low, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual Automotive Trends Report released Monday.

The report also states that model year 2023 electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 11%.

“This report provides a critical data-driven affirmation that strong, technology-neutral standards can underpin environmental progress while saving drivers money at the pump,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement.

New vehicle CO2 emissions are now at a record low of 319 grams per mile, which reduces the impact on climate change. Battery and plug-in hybrid vehicles, combined with fuel cell vehicles, are expected to reach 14.8% of overall vehicle production in 2024, a trend that is expected to grow across the industry, according to the report.

Passenger cars and light trucks accounted for 17% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2022, underscoring the need for further reductions across the industry, experts said.

— ABC News Climate Unit’s Dan Manzo

In surprise turn, world leaders reach $300B climate cash deal at COP29

In a surprising turn of events, world leaders at the United Nations climate conference in Azerbaijan announced they have reached agreement on a new deal that calls for wealthy countries to contribute $300 billion annually to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change.

After fears no deal would be reached as talks broke down, the announcement came around 3 a.m. local time and was met with a standing ovation and a wave of relief.

The deal in question was the “climate cash” agreement, under which developed nations will contribute an annual target of $300 billion to help climate-vulnerable, developing countries deal with the consequences of climate change.

President Joe Biden on Saturday praised the agreement, while touting his administration’s work on climate change, saying “nobody” can undo America’s “clean energy revolution,” in an apparent swipe at President-elect Donald Trump.

“Today at COP29, thanks in part to the tireless efforts of a robust US delegation, the world reached agreement on another historic outcome,” Biden said in a statement, going on to say the “ambitious” deal “will help mobilize the level of finance – from all sources – that developing countries need to accelerate the transition to clean, sustainable economies, while opening up new markets for American-made electric vehicles, batteries, and other products.”

Biden, who is leaving office in less than two months, said states and cities will continue to tackle climate change — notably not mentioning the federal government, while adding that no one can overturn progress on the issue, repeating something he said last week while visiting the Amazon.

In a statement, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had “hoped for a more ambitious outcome” on both financing and climate change mitigation efforts from the conference.

“But this agreement provides a base on which to build,” he said in the statement. “It must be honoured in full and on time. Commitments must quickly become cash. All countries must come together to ensure the top-end of this new goal is met.”

Mukhtar Babayev, Azerbaijan’s minister of ecology and natural resources who served as the COP29 president, said in a statement the $300 billion goal “represents the best possible deal we could reach.”

The U.N. climate conference, known as COP29, was anticipated to be the “finance COP” — the site of negotiations to determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.

In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set climate financing goals in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries.

-ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Fritz Farrow and Jack Moore

UN climate conference delegates struggle to reach agreement on financing the climate fight

The U.N. climate conference in Azerbaijan was supposed to be the “finance COP.” World leaders would determine how much fighting the climate crisis would cost and who would pay for it.

However, as COP29 winds down, many developing countries and nongovernmental organizations are dissatisfied with the current language in the proposed climate finance agreement.

In 2015, under the Paris Agreement, participating countries agreed to set a New Collective Quantified Goal, or NCQG, on climate finance in 2024 that would account for the needs of developing countries. Basically, how much money would each nation spend to support developing countries that are being disproportionately impacted by climate?

While several versions of the new NCQG have been proposed, a final agreement is still out of reach. The latest text calls for a $1.3 trillion climate finance investment annually until 2035 but only requires a $250 billion investment from developed countries.

“With a paltry climate finance offer of $250 billion annually, and a deadline to deliver as late as 2035, richer nations, including EU countries, and the United States are dangerously close to betraying the Paris Agreement,” Dr. Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Climate and Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, said. “This is nowhere near the robust and desperately needed funding lower income nations deserve to combat climate change.”

The latest NCQG language lays out a variety of funding sources that can play a part in reaching global climate finance goals, including multilateral development banks, or MDBs, that can distribute funds through grants and concessional loans for developing countries and adaptation projects.

However, the text does not make clear whether funds from MDBs are part of reaching the $250 billion goal or supplement that goal. It also includes provisions allowing for voluntary contributions from developing countries.

“The central demand coming into COP29 was for a strong, science-aligned climate finance commitment, which this appalling text utterly fails to provide,” Cleetus said. “Wealthier nations seem content to shamefully renege on their responsibility and cave in to fossil fuel interests while unjustly foisting the costs of deadly climate extremes on countries that have contributed the least to the climate crisis.”

World Resources Institute Global Climate, Economics and Finance Program Director Melanie Robinson agrees, releasing a statement Friday saying, “Developed countries should aim higher than the $250 billion they’ve put on the table.”

“We should leave Baku with a goal that at least gets to $300 billion a year by 2035,” Robinson said.

Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International, called the latest draft text “an insult to the people in the Global south.”

“This latest draft text on the New Collective Quantified Goal is not just a joke — it’s an insult to the people in the Global South living on the front line of the climate crisis,” Essop said. “In the meantime, millions of people’s lives are at risk. We are angry, but we will keep fighting until the end.”

-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston and ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin

October was 2nd warmest month on record, NOAA announces

If you thought October was unusually warm, it isn’t your imagination. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that last month was the second warmest October since the U.S. began keeping records in 1895. It was also the second driest, with less than an inch of rainfall. It should be more than double that.

October was also the second warmest on record globally when looking at land and ocean temperatures. And it was the warmest ever for land temperature alone.

According to the NOAA, there is now a 99% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record globally.

This new data continues 2024’s streak of having some of the driest and warmest months on record for states across the U.S.

The heat and high levels of dryness across the country have left 87% of the United States in dry or drought conditions. Widespread drought increases the risk of wildfires, as soil with no moisture burns more easily.

Mark Svoboda, director of the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, calls the combination of heat and dryness a “double whammy.”

New Jersey and Delaware had their driest Octobers on record, and much of the Atlantic Seaboard experienced Octobers with precipitation levels much below average. The region has seen hundreds of wildfires due to these conditions, with New Jersey experiencing a 1,300% increase in fire calls.

In October, much of the United States experienced drought, with dryness expanding and increasing in the Northeast, Great Lakes, Northern Rockies and Plains, Southeast, Deep South, Southwest and the Hawaiian islands.

NOAA says that by February 2025, drought conditions should improve in the Pacific Northwest, Ohio Valley and Western Great Lakes, but are likely to expand and intensify in the Southwest and Atlantic Seaboard.

Despite the destruction they cause, tropical storms can “make or break” drought for the winter, said Svoboda. Without intense rains earlier in the year, there is little or no moisture in the ground come winter.

The dryness impacts wheat crops and livestock forage, potentially increasing food prices. Dryer soil makes wheat crops more vulnerable in colder temperatures because that soil can freeze and kill the plant, decreasing the harvest for the following year.

NOAA also reported that in 2024, 24 different billion-dollar weather and climate disasters impacted the United States through the end of October. This number is only second to last year, with a record 27 individual billion-dollar weather and climate disasters by October.

-ABC News’ Charlotte Slovin

Trump Cabinet picks, appointees targets of bomb threats and swatting, spokesperson says

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks and administration appointees were the targets of “violent” threats, Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Thursday.

“These attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting,'” Leavitt said. “In response, law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Trump set to take office with razor-thin House GOP majority

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump is set to take office in January with a razor-thin GOP majority in the House of Representatives that offers Republicans barely any margin of error.

Overnight Wednesday, one of two outstanding races in California tipped toward Democrats, giving Adam Gray a roughly 182-vote lead over GOP Rep. John Duarte in the inland 13th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. In California’s 45th Congressional District, anchored in Orange and Los Angeles Counties, Democrat Derek Tran has a roughly 600-vote lead over Republican Rep. Michelle Steel.

In Iowa, GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks up by 800 votes in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District.

If these results hold, the House will start with a 220-215 GOP majority, even thinner than the current Congress’ margin.

Republican ranks, however, drop to 219 with former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s resignation. It could fall further to 217 depending on the timing of the resignations of Reps. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who are set to join the Trump administration as U.S. ambassador to United Nations and national security adviser, respectively.

That would send the chamber to a 217-215 margin — essentially a one-seat majority in votes where Democrats stick together in opposition and a historically sliver advantage.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has pleaded with Trump to avoid taking any more House members for his administration.

“It’s a great problem to have,” Johnson said on Fox News earlier this month. “We have an embarrassment of riches in the House Republican Congress. Lots of talented people who are very attuned to the America First agenda, and they can serve the country well in other capacities.”

“But I’ve told President Trump, enough already, give me some relief. I have to maintain this majority. And he understands that, of course, we’ve been talking about it almost hourly every day,” he added.

Already, Republicans have dealt with chaos in the current Congress.

Bands of hardline members have grown just large enough to block votes on bills, moves that were once viewed as beyond the pale within the halls of Congress. And, unforgettably, Republican divisions left the House without a speaker for days, both at the beginning when Kevin McCarthy was looking to get the requisite support and again after he gave up the gavel and members were torn for days before coalescing behind Johnson.

Heading into the current Congress, Republicans have sought to grease the skids a little bit more to try to avoid such public brawls from happening in the future.

Republicans agreed to raise the number of lawmakers needed to trigger a vote to oust a speaker from one to nine. In return, lawmakers who oppose proposals to allow votes on bills will not face retaliation.

But with such a narrow margin, any one Republican could and throw the floor into chaos and block the party-line passage of key bills.

One of the largest legislative items up for business is an extension of the 2017 tax cuts that Trump pushed during his first term. They’re set to expire next year, and Republicans have hoped to extend them — but 12 House Republicans voted against the 2017 GOP tax law, which only passed thanks to a larger majority at the time.

In 2017, when Republicans passed a rewrite of the tax code during the first Trump administration, 12 House Republicans — part of a larger majority at the time — voted against the bill, but did not prevent its passage.

Republicans began the 118th Congress in 2023 with 222 seats — a 10-seat margin over 212 Democrats — a majority that spent weeks in the winter selecting a House speaker, and a chunk of the fall selecting a replacement.

A few illnesses, special election surprises, or absences could also disrupt Republicans’ careful balancing act.

In 1917, Republicans held the narrowest majority in history with a 215-213 edge over Democrats. But a group of minor party lawmakers worked with the minority to elect a speaker, delivering the chamber to Democrats, according to Pew.

Ohio governor signs transgender bathroom ban for students

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a transgender bathroom ban for students into law.

The law requires students in the state’s K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities, to use the restroom or facility that aligns with their sex assigned at birth.

The law notes it is not intended to prevent schools from building single-occupancy facilities and does not ban someone of the opposite gender from entering to help another person.

Ohio joins at least 14 other states in banning transgender people from using bathrooms that align with their gender identity, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

Supporters say the ban eases concerns about student’s privacy and protection. Critics of the bill say it creates unfounded fears about transgender students and may instead put trans students in danger of discrimination or violence.

DeWine’s office previously declined ABC News’ request for comment ahead of the bill’s signing. He told reporters this past summer that he has to look at “specific language” in the legislation.

“I’m for people, kids, to be able to go to the bathroom with the gender assignment so that they have that protection, but I’ll have to look at the specific language,” DeWine told reporters.

Transgender health care, bathroom access, sports participation and more have been a key focus for Republican legislators nationwide in recent years — a wave that has prompted hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills in the 2024 legislative session alone, as tracked by the American Civil Liberties Union.

DeWine has gone against state Republican legislators on transgender issues in the past. He vetoed a transgender youth care ban bill in December 2023, which would have restricted gender-affirming puberty blockers, hormone therapy or surgeries.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Daniel Penny’s subway chokehold trial: The key takeaways

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The prosecution and defense are preparing for Monday’s closing arguments in the Daniel Penny trial as it comes to a close after a break for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Penny put Jordan Neely, 30, a homeless man, in a fatal 6 minute-long chokehold after Neely boarded a subway car acting erratically.

Penny, 25, is charged with manslaughter and negligent homicide in the May 2023 choking death of Neely on the New York City subway. He pleaded not guilty.

Here are the key takeaways from the trial so far:

The prosecution’s argument

Prosecutors argue that Penny, a former Marine trained in martial arts, should have known that his chokehold maneuver was turning fatal, arguing that Penny held onto Neely “for far too long” — more than 5 minutes after the train pulled into the station and passengers were able to exit.

Neely entered a moderately crowded subway car on an uptown F train at the Second Avenue stop and began yelling and moving erratically, when Penny put Neely in a chokehold. Thirty seconds later, the train arrived at the next station and essentially all the passengers left the train car.

Footage of the interaction between Penny and Neely, which began about 2 minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely for about 4 minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train with a couple of passengers nearby.

“He was aware of the risk his actions would kill Mr. Neely and did it anyway,” Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran said in her opening statements. “Jordan Neely took his last breaths on the dirty floor of an uptown F train.”

Prosecutors further argued that while Penny may be an “honorable veteran” and “nice young man,” he used too much force for too long and was reckless with Neely’s life because “he didn’t recognize his humanity.”

She later continued, “Under the law, deadly physical force such as a chokehold is permitted only when it is absolutely necessary and for only as long as is absolutely necessary. And here, the defendant went way too far.”

The second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally, according to prosecutors.

The defense’s argument

Defense attorney Thomas Kenniff countered that Penny sought to protect passengers, claiming he was responding to Neely’s “unhinged rage.”

“This is a case about a young man who did for others what we would want someone to do for us,” Kenniff said. “It doesn’t make him a hero, but it doesn’t make him a killer.”

Penny claims to have heard Neely say “I will kill,” said Kenniff, who has said there was no opportunity for his client to de-escalate or stop Neely from the harm he was threatening.

Borrowing from “a bit” of martial arts training he received in the Marine Corps, Penny put Neely into a chokehold without intending to kill him, the defense said, but to hold him until police arrived.

“His conduct was consistent with someone who values human life and that’s why he was trying to protect it so fiercely,” the defense attorney said.

Kenniff insisted his client “does not want to use any more force than is necessary,” but Neely “aggressively resisted” while in Penny’s grip. He said Penny thought Neely, who police say was unarmed, might have a weapon as he waited for police.

Daniel Penny’s interview with police

Jurors saw body camera video that had not yet been publicly released of Penny’s initial encounter with police, more than 4 minutes after he let go of Neely.

On the first day of the trial, the jury saw the officer’s body-worn camera footage that captured the attempts to save Neely and showed his lifeless body on the subway floor.

When searched for weapons, the only thing officers found in Neely’s pockets was a muffin. Nothing else was found in the jacket, Officer Teodoro Tejada confirmed.

Penny is heard saying, “I put him out,” when the officer asked what happened. To prosecutors, the footage — which had not been seen publicly until the trial — is evidence Penny disregarded Neely’s basic humanity.

The defense used Tejada’s testimony to suggest to the jury Penny did not behave like a criminal by fleeing the scene.

“Did he appear cooperative?” the lawyer asked.

“Yes,” the officer replied.

“It didn’t appear that he had anything to hide?” Kenniff asked.

“No,” Tejada said.

Video of Jordan Neely’s subway chokehold death

In a video taken by then-17-year-old high school student bystander Ivette Rosario, a witness can be heard calling out to Penny, “He’s dying…you need to let him go.” Others are heard yelling on the clip to “get the cops!”

Rosario testified that she did not hear anyone say that Neely is “dying” at the time and it’s not clear whether Penny heard it either.

Man who helped restrain Neely testifies
A Bronx man who helped Penny restrain Neely ”jumped in and tried to help” so Penny could release his chokehold, according to the man’s testimony.

Eric Gonzalez, who is seen in video footage holding Neely by the wrist, boarded the subway and noticed Penny holding down Neely “with his legs around his waist and his arm around his neck.” Gonzalez testified he did not know why Penny was restraining Neely but he heard people yelling to call for the police.

Gonzalez said he waved his hands in front of Penny’s face to get his attention.

“I said, ‘I will grab his hands so you can let go,’” Gonzalez told the jury. “Just giving him a different option to hold his arm — well, to restrain him until the police came.”

Prosecutors asked Gonzalez to clarify: “If I held his arm down, he could let go of his neck,” he said.

Gonzalez said he watched Neely’s body go limp and let go of him before Penny did the same.

“I tried to shake Jordan Neely to get a response out of him, feel for a pulse, and then I walked away,” Gonzalez said.

Conflicting testimony about the cause of death

Dr. Cynthia Harris of the city’s Chief Medical Examiner’s Office conducted Neely’s autopsy in 2023 and ruled Neely’s death a homicide, with the cause of death as “Compression of neck (chokehold).”

She testified at the trial that “the consensus was unanimous” in the medical examiner’s office that Neely had died from the chokehold, according to Associated Press reporting: “There are no alternative reasonable explanations,” she said.

Forensic pathologist Satish Chundru disputed that determination in his testimony in defense of Penny, according to the AP, arguing that Neely died from “combined effects” of his schizophrenia, synthetic marijuana, a blood condition and his efforts to struggle against Penny.

“In your opinion, did Mr. Penny choke Mr. Neely to death?” defense lawyer Steven Raiser asked, according to AP.

“No,” replied Chundru.

Prosecutors argued that Chundru’s testimony departed from medical literature and his own opinion in similar cases, but Chundru testified that the cases were not comparable to this one, according to the AP.

Marine Corps instructor who trained Penny testifies

According to the AP, Joseph Caballer, the combat instructor who trained Penny, said that Penny was taught how to knock a person unconscious — but that the technique could kill someone if held too long. He argued that someone performing the technique is supposed to let go when the person is rendered unconscious, and testified that Penny used the chokehold in an “improper” manner when asked by prosecutors.

However, the defense claims Penny did not use a strong enough hold to kill Penny, the AP reports.

Harris, Walz join campaign finance calls, declare the ‘fight’s not over’

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday thanked supporters during a virtual call and vowed that the “fight’s not over” in her first remarks since conceding defeat to President-elect Donald Trump three weeks ago.

“The fight that fueled our campaign, a fight for freedom and opportunity, that did not end on Nov. 5. A fight for the dignity of all people? That did not end on Nov. 5,” Harris said. “A fight for the future, a future in which all people receive the promise of America? No. A fight that is about a fight for the ideals of our nation, the ideals that reflect the promise of America? That fight’s not over.”

“That fight’s still in us, and it burns strong,” Harris later added. “And I know this is an uncertain time. I’m clear-eyed about that. I know you’re clear-eyed about it, and it feels heavy. And I just have to remind you: Don’t you ever let anybody take your power from you. You have the same power that you did before Nov. 5 and you have the same purpose that you did and you have the same ability to engage and inspire. So don’t ever let anybody or any circumstance take your power from you.”

The grassroots call came immediately after Harris held a call with her campaign’s finance committee. The finance call was attended by more than 400 donors, according to a source familiar.

On the grassroots call, Harris also briefly discussed the historic sum of money that ran her campaign, though she did not address what went wrong as she and her campaign face intense scrutiny over how they could raise that money and lose to Trump so resolutely.

”The outcome of this election, obviously, is not what we wanted. It is not what we work so hard for,” Harris said. “But I am proud of the race we ran. And your role in this was critical. What we did in 107 days was unprecedented.”

Harris said that over the course of those 100-plus days, her campaign raised $1.4 billion, much of which was from grassroot donors: “Nearly 8 million donors contributed an average donation of about $56.”

“You gave all that you could to support our campaign. Because of your efforts — get this — we raised an historic $1.4 billion, almost $1.5 billion from grassroots supporters alone, the most in presidential campaign history,” she said.

“Being involved can make a difference, and that remains true. And that’s one of the pieces that I just want us to please take away — that our fight for freedom and for opportunity and for the promise of America, it included, for example, nearly almost 4 million first-time contributors to our campaign because of the work you did, of helping people know that they can be engaged and that they’re not outside, that they’re inside, that we’re all in this together,” she added.

Harris was joined by her former running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on both calls — a rare appearance from the two, though Harris joined the call from San Francisco and Walz from Minnesota.

Walz on the grassroot donor call also spoke to supporters’ feeling of loss following the election and repeated Harris’ claims that she is not finished with fighting.

“I think all of us saw the possibility, and I know there’s a bit of a feeling of loss because we saw what a real leader looks like,” Walz said.

“She did deliver the best of our better angels,” he added. “She delivered a vision where all of us mattered. She did it with grace and dignity and continues to do that every single day. She is still in this fight. She is doing it every single day. She is not done with her current job. She’s not done being part of it with all of you.”

Harris’ and Walz’s remarks follow some postelection analysis from Harris campaign senior officials during an episode of “Pod Save America” that aired on Tuesday, including some reaction to finances.

Harris campaign Chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon said that during the cycle, the bulk of the campaign’s spending was used to reach out to “very-hard-to-find voters,” including low-propensity and young voters, while investing across all swing states because polling reflected that each was in play.

“We were trying to, yes, spend more resources on digital … because we’re trying to find young people, we’re trying to find these lower-propensity voters that were tuned out to politics,” O’Malley Dillon said.

“We had some unique things that we had to do in this race that I think were really critical to do early and spent a lot of resources at an earlier stage than we would have to,” she added, noting those resources were spent on both advertising and field programming. “We saw, up until the very end, that … every single state was in such a margin of error. There was nothing that told us we couldn’t play in one of these states.”

During the podcast, O’Malley Dillon and senior campaign adviser David Plouffe accused the Trump campaign of coordinating with its super PACs, a practice that is not legal, but noted the Democrats need to take note and do the same.

“We have to stop playing a different game as it relates to super PACs and the Republicans. Love our Democratic lawyers. I’m tired of it, OK? They coordinate more than we do. I think amongst themselves, I think with the presidential campaign, like I’m just sick and tired, OK? So, we cannot be at a disadvantage,” Plouffe said.

“I think our side was completely mismatched when it came to the ecosystem of Trump and his super PACs and ours,” O’Malley Dillon said.

“We had a super PAC that was helpful, very important and necessary for the work that they did because they were the kind of central recipients of a lot of the funding on our side and they staked a strategy and a plan, and we clearly could see it, and we knew what it was [going] to spend, but we did not have the ability to have people come in with us early. And so every ounce of advertising, every ounce of carrying these strategic imperatives, of defining the vice president and trying to bring down Trump’s numbers, all sat with us as a campaign,” O’Malley Dillon added.

Harris has rarely been seen since she delivered her concession speech at Howard University the day after the election. She attended the Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery a week later and was seen making her first return to the White House a day after that. The vice president also spent the last week on vacation in Hawaii.

Walz, in the month since the election, has remained almost entirely out of the national spotlight, resuming his duties as the governor of Minnesota.

He delivered his final speech of the 2024 campaign cycle on Nov. 8 from suburban Minneapolis, joining a chorus of fellow Democratic governors who said they would protect their states from threats to reproductive freedoms, citizenship and other things under the Trump administration. The former vice presidential nominee also said he’d work to find common ground with swaths of people who voted “for the other side” on Nov. 5.

Harris and Walz remained mostly separate on the campaign trail in the roughly 15 weeks she had him as her running mate. The governor was present at Harris’ concession speech at Howard University the night after the election but did not speak or publicly interact with her. Before that, the two held a joint rally on Oct. 28 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, their first event together since late August, when they were seen together in Savannah, Georgia, on a bus tour.

Prior to that, their last time at a rally together was in Milwaukee for programming linked to the Democratic National Convention in August.

Feds arrest Arizona man who allegedly threatened to kill Trump, visited campaign rally in August

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Federal authorities have arrested an Arizona man after he allegedly posted videos online threatening to kill President-elect Donald Trump and his family.

In the videos, posted on Facebook in recent months, Manuel Tamayo-Torres issued an array of bizarre and outlandish claims about Trump, but he also apparently brandished an AR 15-style rifle and other weapons in the videos, and in August he recorded his trip to an arena in Glendale, Arizona, as Trump was holding a campaign rally there, according to charging documents filed in the case.

While the charging documents only refer to Trump as “Individual 1,” they say Tamayo-Torres made “vague yet direct threats” against “the president-elect,” and sources familiar with the investigation separately confirmed Tamayo-Torres’ alleged threats targeted Trump.

“[Y]ou’re gonna die,” Tamayo-Torres allegedly said in a video he posted on Thursday. “[Y]our son’s gonna die. Your whole family is going to die. … I’m going to put a hole in your face.”

The clip was one of “numerous” rambling and curse-laden videos he’s posted “on a near-daily basis” in recent months claiming that “Individual 1” kidnapped and sex-trafficked his children, according to the charging documents.

It’s unclear if Tamayo-Torres actually has children.

Earlier in November, Tamayo-Torres allegedly posted a video threatening “Individual 1” while holding up “what appears to be a white AR 15-style rifle with a 30-round magazine inserted into it,” charging documents said.

In another video, according to the charging documents, Tamayo-Torres said he witnessed “Individual 1” and the Secret Service kidnap his daughter. The video was posted Aug. 23 from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, where Trump was holding a campaign rally that day.

During the rally, Trump noted that he was “nearly assassinated” a month earlier, when a Pennsylvania man, Thomas Crooks, opened fire on him with an AR 15-style rifle during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Authorities have yet to identify a clear motive in that attack.

Trump told rallygoers there are “risks incurred by leaders who stand up to the corrupt political establishment.”

“When you stand up, you bring on some trouble for yourself, but you have to do what’s right,” Trump said.

While investigating the more recent alleged threats from Tamayo-Torres, an officer from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives task force found photos on Facebook that showed Tamayo-Torres holding a bullpup-style shotgun, a rifle, and the AR15-style rifle seen in one of his videos, according to charging documents.

Tamayo-Torres was arrested Monday near San Diego, where he anticipated moving soon, court records indicate.

Though he was arrested in California, the charges against him were filed in Arizona. He was charged with one count of making threats against a president or president’s successor.

He was also charged with four counts of making false statements during the purchase of a firearm, after he allegedly lied on federal forms a year ago while trying to buy a pistol from a Phoenix gun store.

He swore on those forms that he had not been previously convicted of a felony, but he had been convicted of assault in 2003 in San Diego, so he was legally prohibited from possessing firearms, the charging documents said.

As of Tuesday evening, court records did not list an attorney representing Tamayo-Torres.

Why did a blue Texas border county vote red for the first time in 100 years?

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(RIO GRANDE CITY, TX) — Starr County, Texas, voted predominantly Republican this month — for the first time in 100 years.

Home to some 75,000 residents across about 1,200 square miles, it has a relatively small footprint, in a state where everything is glorified for its bigness.

But it’s been making an outsized impression in national politics. Even after its historic flip from blue to red, a century in the making, it’s continued to garner headlines.

Last week, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered up 1,402 acres of Starr County to facilitate President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans.

In a letter to Trump dated Nov. 19, Buckingham said she’s offering the land, located along the border of Mexico, “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”

She has also proposed alternative uses for it, including as a site for detention centers.

“Now it’s essentially farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on. We can very easily put a detention center on there — a holding place as we get these criminals out of our country,” Buckingham said in a recent interview with Fox News.

The land, which Buckingham declared property of the state in 2023, adds to another parcel previously owned by the Texas General Land Office, bringing the southern border acreage that it controls in Starr County up to 4,000.

ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal visited Starr County to ask residents what issues and values most influenced them to vote for Republican candidates this year, instead of upholding their century-long blue streak.

“The economy is just driving, I think, everybody crazy,” said Becky Garza, the owner of Texas Cafe in Rio Grande City, the largest city in Starr County.

She explained that she used to complain about buying a box of eggs for $10, and now they’re $20.

“If things don’t get better, I might have to either cut staff, cut hours, or I’m going to start with cutting hours and then from there work it, maybe cut down, maybe cut the menu, you know, to keep the place open, you know, because I don’t want to lose my my customers,” Garza said.

And she doesn’t think she’s the only one who’s making those kinds of hard decisions, she told ABC News.

Jaime Escobar, the mayor of neighboring Roma, another city of Starr County, agrees. He suggested that residents are more influenced by the local economy than what’s being said in Washington, D.C.

“We no longer want to be considered just a poor community because we’re rich culturally,” he told ABC News. “We’re proud of our Mexican-American heritage, but we don’t — no longer want to be dependent just on the government.”

But with D.C. being invited into their backyard, it’s bound to bring the topic of migration and deportation to the forefront — even for those who may not have prioritized the issue during the election cycle.

Asked about how people might respond to a detention facility in nearby Starr County, Escobar said, “People don’t want families to be torn apart. That’s the last thing we want.”

“But at the same time,” he added, “we hope that Trump and his administration do the right thing and focus on the criminal element first, and then see how in the meantime, we’ll see how the policies can be implemented in a better way.”

Buckingham, on the other hand, believes that “folks who live down on the border feel really abandoned by those open border policies.”

She told ABC News, “They feel like it’s directly harming their communities, both their safety and their prosperity.”

In the same interview this week with ABC News, Buckingham also said that she would “absolutely” offer up even more of Texas, the way that she did Starr County.

“I have 13 million acres. If any of them can be of help in this process, we’re happy to have that discussion,” Buckingham said.

Trump has said he would carry out his mass deportation plans — a top campaign promise — by declaring a national emergency and using “military assets” to deport migrants currently living in the U.S. without legal permission.

He backed up his commitment with the choice of several immigration hard-liners to join his administration, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem for secretary of homeland security and former director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan as “border czar.” Both picks require Senate confirmation.

But with an estimated 11 million people presumed to be living in the U.S. without legal immigration status, the promises have raised questions of both feasibility and cost.

Removing them could cost billions of dollars per year, according to estimates from the American Immigration Council.

And while Republican-friendly areas of Texas might feel compelled to support the effort, other southern border states, like Arizona and California, have already expressed their disinterest.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told ABC News Live last week that she would not use state police or the National Guard to help with mass deportation.

“We will not be participating in misguided efforts that harm our communities,” she said.

Weinstein sues NYC Department of Corrections for ‘medical negligence’

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein is suing New York City and its Department of Correction, alleging negligence and failure to provide adequate care.

Weinstein is being held at Rikers Island while he awaits a new trial on sexual assault charges.

Weinstein has been diagnosed with bone cancer, according to his associates.

His lawsuit seeks monetary damages.

In a statement, his attorney, Imran H. Ansari, claimed the prison was failing to provide Weinstein with adequate medical care.

“When I last visited him, I found him with blood spatter on his prison garb, possibly from IV’s, clothes that had not been washed for weeks, and he had not even been provided clean underwear — hardly sanitary conditions for someone with severe medical conditions and susceptibility to illness,” Ansari said. “I questioned whether I was in a prison facility that is supposed to be managed in accordance with our constitution, or a gulag where the prisoners are treated like animals.”

Ansari accused the prison of “medical negligence” and claimed “it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.”

“The disregard to Mr. Weinstein’s medical needs is an example as to why Rikers Island has been under the intense scrutiny by officials and the public, and is the subject of federal oversight,” Ansari said. “But, we don’t live in a country where a prisoner such as Mr. Weinstein must endure such harsh and draconian treatment, and disregard to his medical needs, without recourse under the law.”

Ukraine drones attack Crimea, Moscow says, as Zelenskyy urges strikes inside Russia

November 27, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Ukrainian drones attacked Crimea overnight into Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry said, during another night of UAV exchanges between the two warring nations.

“Air defense systems on duty destroyed and intercepted 25 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea,” the ministry wrote on Telegram, using Moscow’s name for the peninsula annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

The Kremlin-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, wrote on Telegram that air defenses were activated to repulse the combined air attack on the city, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and the nucleus of Moscow’s power projection over the occupied peninsula.

Razvozhaev said several drones were shot down over the Black Sea in the areas of Orlovka and Kacha, as well as over Victory Park in the outskirts of the city. Two missiles were also downed over the Black Sea, the governor said.

Rescue services reported falling fragments near the Kachinsky highway, Razvozhaev added.

In total, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed at least 54 drones over Russian-controlled regions on Tuesday night.

Ukraine’s air force reported 89 Russian drones launched into the country on Tuesday night, of which 36 were shot down and another 48 lost during flight. Five UAVs flew into Belarus, the air force said on Telegram.

It added that drone debris damaged buildings in the Kyiv region, though reported no casualties.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning praised the country’s anti-drone defense teams, which he said are active every night.

Tuesday’s night drone attack was significantly smaller than the record-breaking 188-drone barrage launched into Ukraine on Monday night.

Zelenskyy said that attack caused “damage to our critical infrastructure” and urged foreign partners to do more to curtail Moscow’s use of foreign components in its drones and missiles.

On Tuesday evening, Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to X that continued attacks into Ukraine show the necessity for Kyiv to strike military targets inside Russia — a sensitive political issue that has caused tensions with Ukraine’s Western partners and prompted nuclear threats from Moscow.

Referring to a deadly rocket artillery attack in the eastern city of Sumy, the president said the “only effective way to protect ourselves from this is to eliminate Russian weapons and Russian launchers directly on Russian territory.”

“That is why the ability to strike Russian territory is so important to us,” Zelenskyy added.

“This is the only factor that can limit Russian terror and Russia’s capacity to wage war in general,” he said. “I am grateful to all the partners who understand this and convey it to other partners.”

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