Will the Texas power grid survive the next deep freeze?

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The lights have stayed on in Texas among the recent freezes the state has been experiencing, but experts aren’t sure whether the energy grids are winterized enough to withstand the next deep freeze.

Texas typically experiences deep freezes that really test its power grids once every decade, Ramanan Krishnamoorti, vice president of energy and innovation at the University of Houston, told ABC News. December 1983 holds the record for the coldest December for both Dallas-Fort Worth and Waco.

In 1991, a Halloween blizzard and ice storm overtook southeast Houston. Other freezes occurred in the early 2000s, specifically in 2011, which is known colloquially as the “Super Bowl freeze” because it took place over the Super Bowl weekend hosted at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In 2021, more than 100 people died as a result of rolling blackouts during back-to-back ice storms that brought temperatures as low as 6 degrees.

How the grids have held up amid the recent tests, including freezes this week and in December around the Christmas holiday, has been “remarkable,”, Krishnamoorti said.

In terms of demand and capacity, both renewable energy production and natural gas supply have been available “as predicted,” he added.

“We’re not seeing any significant challenges with the power grid at this point,” other than occasional local outages associated with icing on transmission cables, Krishnamoorti said.

Energy-wise, the winter season has been so successful that price spikes for electricity have stayed well below what was anticipated, Krishnamoorti said. While predictions were measuring electricity prices to increase to about $100 a megawatt per hour, it was stayed closed to $25 to $30, Krishnamoorti said.

Several coal and gas production plants underperformed during the December freeze, and ERCOT underestimated the demand by about 10%, Daniel Cohan, associate professor of environmental engineering at Rice University in Houston, told ABC News. Despite there being “record amounts” of demand on the grid, no widespread outages have occurred. In addition, because it has been so windy in the region, the wind production made up for the coal and gas production facilities that did go down, Cohan said.

“That was a great sign that the grid performed better than it had in 2021,” Cohan said.

However, the tests to the grid these past two winter seasons have not acted as “true stress tests,” Krishnamoorti said. The current freeze is “much less intense” in terms of temperature and temperament, compared to the back-to-back winter storms of 2021 that caused a statewide energy catastrophe, he said. In addition, there has been no ice and snow, Cohan said.

During this cold spell, temperatures have not dipped into the negatives or even to single digits. In addition, the ice that did cause some local outages only fell in select regions, such as Dallas and Austin, Krishnamoorti said.

Changes have been made to the grid, Krishnamoorti said. In June 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill to reform the state’s power grid and how it is operated.

Power plants in Texas have installed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of updates to better winterize their facilities, Cohan said.

But it is unclear whether those changes have led to a true winterization of the system, Krishnamoorti said.

“Nature is the best stress test,” he said. “The only way we will know whether the system can stand through the stress test is actually put it through that stress test.”

ERCOT expects sufficient generation to meet demand this season and is continuing to monitor forecasts throughout this week, a spokesperson told ABC News in an email statement on Monday.

“Ice on trees, powerlines can lead to localized outages,” the ERCOT spokesperson said. “If customers are experiencing a local power outage they are to reach out to their local power provider or visit the PUCT outage map for more information.”

One of the challenges to winterizing Texas’ energy grid is that the freezes don’t happen often, Cohan said. After about a third of homes blacked out during the “Super Bowl” freeze in 2011, it would be near-impossible to determine what the demand would have been had the lights stayed on, Cohan said.

The energy sector is also in the middle of a “dynamic shift,” as electrification becomes more commonplace than less sustainable sources, such as coal, nuclear energy and natural gas, Krishnamoorti said.

“That’s great for reducing natural gas use and reducing emissions most of the year, but it makes us more vulnerable to having big surges in demand,” Cohan said.

While Krishnamoorti expects the “next big one” to occur some time in the 2030s, climate scientists believe that climate change increases the frequency in which deep freezes reach the southern-most states in the U.S.

While those types of deep freezes have historically occurred once every decade, climate change could threaten the Lone Star State with more frequent occurrences in the future, scientists say.

As the Arctic warms and Arctic ice melts, the jet stream, a band of strong winds moving west to east created by cold air meeting warmer air, becomes weaker. As the jet stream becomes more “wavy,” it allows very warm temperatures to extend far into the Arctic and very cold temperatures further south than usual, Jessica Moerman, vice president of science and policy at the Evangelical Environmental Network, a faith-based environmental group, told ABC News in 2021.

The loss of human life as a result of extreme weather events is “highly avoidable” in the U.S., Krishnamoorti said. In addition, the economic fallout that occurs as a result of blackout situations in Texas can also be catastrophic, especially in the medical and natural gas industries, he added.

“If Texas sneezes, the world will probably catch a cold,” Krishnamoorti said.

Attorneys for “Rust” armorer say she was pressured to work in unsafe environment

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for the Rust film armorer charged with involuntary manslaughter Tuesday said she felt “extreme pressure” to work within an irresponsible culture that resulted in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed and actor Alec Baldwin were both charged Tuesday with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in New Mexico. First assistant director David Halls has already agreed to plead no contest for the charge of negligent use of a deadly weapon.

Attorney Jason Bowles said Halls “rushed” Gutierrez-Reed “all the time,” which did not allow her to do a full safety check on the gun held by Baldwin that fatally killed Hutchins. His client was waiting on Halls to call her back to the church where the scene was scheduled to be filmed and where she expected to perform a full check on the gun.

According to her, she never got the call.

Gutierrez-Reed “didn’t even know that Baldwin was there with the gun. So for the DA’s office to blame Hannah for failing to do something … it’s insane,” Bowles told ABC News.

In an exclusive with ABC News, Bowles and attorney Todd Bullion characterized the Rust set as negligent regarding its safety and blamed the culture on Halls, who they said insisted on having a “real gun” on the set and ignored Gutierrez-Reed’s request to be called to the set when it was time to use the Colt .45 in a scene.

Halls, Bowles said, “handed the gun to Baldwin and didn’t do the check himself. He admitted that had Hannah been called back in [he] would have prevented this tragedy. That’s a David Halls failure.”

Amid the allegations by Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys, Halls’ legal team said, “You can quote anything in the public record.” Lisa Torraco, attorney for Dave Halls, told ABC News earlier that Halls was responsible for “announcing that there’s a firearm on set” but denied he was responsible for the handling of the weapon to Baldwin.

Law enforcement said Halls, Baldwin and Gutierrez-Reed were the only three people who handled the gun on the set. Halls testified in a deposition in December with attorneys from the New Mexico Occupational Health and Safety Bureau that he checked the gun and did not “have any recollection” announcing the gun was “cold,” indicating it did not contain live rounds.

“I have recollections of Hannah saying it,” he testified.

Gutierrez-Reed contradicts those claims, her attorneys say. Prosecutors said Baldwin has given contradicting statements to media and law enforcement, first telling police he received the gun from Gutierrez-Reed and later saying it came from Halls and that Halls told him it was a “cold gun.”

Bowles said the charges brought against Baldwin are appropriate because he failed to follow the appropriate training when handling a firearm. Despite following the required hour-long training, it lasted 30 minutes because Baldwin was texting his family throughout, according to court documents.

“She was demanding the training occur, she was asking for it, pleading that the training occurred. They didn’t allow her to do it,” he said.

When reached for comment, Baldwin’s attorney directed ABC News to his Jan. 19 statement. “Mr. Baldwin had no reason to believe there was a live bullet in the gun — or anywhere on the movie set. He relied on the professionals with whom he worked, who assured him the gun did not have live rounds. We will fight these charges, and we will win,” attorney Luke Nikas said.

Despite her concerns over a reckless safety culture, Gutierrez-Reed did not feel comfortable demanding that protocols be met because of her junior status. Investigator Robert Shilling wrote in the statement of probable cause that she was unqualified because she had “no certification or certifiable training, or union ‘card’ for this practice,” and the production violated industry practices by also assigning her assistant prop master duties, which meant she could not focus primarily on her armorer duties.

Bowles rejected the suggestion that Gutierrez-Reed, 24, was not capable of safety measures because of lack of experience.

“She was absolutely qualified to work in this film,” he said, because she received training from Thell Reed, her father, a veteran armorer and weapons specialist whose credits include Tombstone, Django: Unchained, 3:10 to Yuma, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

“Everybody has to start somewhere. That didn’t mean she wasn’t trained or capable of doing this job,” said Bowles.

He added she was simply “trying to follow orders” because Rust presented her the “opportunity to get her union certification to then be certified” as a professional armorer.

“She’s trying to do her job. And she’s being made to do certain things that she’s fighting against,” he said. “So when you have a 30-year veteran [like Halls] telling her ‘you’re going to do this.’ That’s what she did.”

Namibia reports record rise in rhino poaching

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The Namibian government has announced that the number of Rhino’s poached in the Southern African nation reached a record-high in 2022 — rising by 93% since 2021.

New data from Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism shows that 87 rhinos were killed in 2022 — 61 Black Rhinos and 26 White Rhinos — compared to 45 in the previous years. Elephant poaching figures however have “steeply” declined, falling from 101 in 2015 to only four in 2022.

Most of the recorded poaching incidents occurred in Etosha, Namibia’s largest National Park.

“We note with serious concern that our flagship park, Etosha National Park is a poaching hotspot,” Romeo Muyanda, chief public relations officer of the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, said in a statement.

In June 2022, Namibia’s Minister of Environment and Tourism announced it was investigating staff at Etosha National Park staff, some of whom were suspected of working with poaching syndicates who had recently killed 11 Rhinos in the park. Speaking at a press conference, Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta said the perpetrators had been arrested: “This is not a normal incident of 11 rhinos poached in such a short time.”

The new data has raised concerns among conservationists across Africa; Namibia being home to the third-largest Black Rhino population on the continent. According to Save the Rhino International — a Rhino conservation charity — there are only 6,195 Black Rhinos and 15,942 white rhinos remaining in the world.

Speaking to ABC News, the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) said they share Namibia’s “serious concern” of the rise in poaching.

“Namibia has become a stronghold for Rhinos in Africa with the largest population of Black Rhinos and the second largest population of White Rhinos in all of Africa,” said Nina Fascione, executive director of the IRF.

“Poaching efforts are masterminded by well-funded criminal syndicates seeking to push rhino horn onto the Black Market to fund other illegal activities [and] as poaching efforts increase around the continent, white rhinos — the most populous of the rhino species — continue to decline in numbers,” Fascione said.

The poaching of Rhinos — one of the world’s most endangered species — saw a brief dramatic decrease across Southern Africa during the global COVID-19 pandemic, credited largely to pandemic lockdowns which reduced activity in national parks. However, as the world has opened up, poaching statistics have revealed a worrying upward trend.

“Travel restrictions during COVID slowed down the poaching a bit but now we see a worrying rise, not only in Namibia but also here in South Africa” Hanno Husch, CEO of Rhino Revolution — a South-Africa based Rhino conservation charity — told ABC News. “A possible explanation for the sudden increase of poaching could be the face that there are hardly any Rhinos left in the Kruger National Park.”

Kruger National Park is South Africa’s largest national park, home to one of Africa’s largest game reserves.

“Due to the fact that there are hardly any rhino’s left in Kruger National Park — which has lost over 70 percent of their population over the last decade — syndicates are now targeting Etosha, which is four times the size of Kruger,” Husch said.

Paul Naden, conservationist and director of Saving the Survivors told ABC that cartels and gangs trying to meet “relentless demand” for Rhino horn — largely from Vietnam and China — are driving up poaching numbers. Rhino horns are often used in Asia for traditional medicines and remedies, as well as being used as a status symbol to display wealth.

“As the number of rhinos diminishes, the value of the horn increases, further fueling this demand,” Naden said.

“A worrying state of affairs for Namibia and it should be a wakeup call to the world,” he added.

Senator calls on Apple, Google to remove TikTok from app stores

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The push on Capitol Hill to rein in China-owned social media network TikTok has set its sights on tech giants Apple and Google.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-CO, sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Thursday calling on their companies to remove TikTok from their respective app stores, citing concerns about how TikTok handles the data of American users.

“Like most social media networks, TikTok collects vast and sophisticated data from its users,” Bennet said. “Unlike most social media networks, TikTok poses a unique concern.”

“TikTok’s vast influence and aggressive data collection pose a specific threat to U.S. national security because of its parent company’s obligations under Chinese law,” Bennet added.

TikTok, which has more than 100 million monthly active users in the U.S., has faced growing scrutiny from state and federal officials over fears that American data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government.

In December, Congress banned TikTok from all devices owned by the federal government. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March on the company’s data security practices, the committee said on Monday.

More than half of U.S. states have taken steps toward a partial or full ban of TikTok on government devices.

The Biden administration and TikTok wrote up a preliminary agreement to address national security concerns posed by the app but obstacles remain in the negotiations, The New York Times reported in September.

TikTok said it stores the data of U.S. users outside of China, and has never removed U.S. posts from the platform at the request of the Chinese government.

In a statement in response to a ban from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in December, TikTok told ABC News: “We believe the concerns driving these decisions are largely fueled by misinformation about our company. We are happy to continue having constructive meetings with state policymakers to discuss our privacy and security practices.”

“We are disappointed that many state agencies, offices, and universities will no longer be able to use TikTok to build communities and connect with constituents,” the company added.

Recent news stories have called into question the security of user data.

Buzzfeed reported in June that TikTok engineers based in China gained access to intimate information on U.S. users, such as phone numbers. Forbes reported in October that ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, intended to use the app to access information on some users.

The Trump administration tried to ban TikTok in 2020, eventually calling on ByteDance to sell the app to a U.S. company. However, the sale never took place.

In his letter on Thursday, Bennet said TikTok poses “an unacceptable threat to the national security of the United States.”

Bennet addressed Cook and Pichai directly: “Given these grave and growing concerns, I ask that you remove TikTok from your respective app stores immediately.”

FDA issues warning letters to companies selling unproven mpox treatments

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A new warning from the Food and Drug Administration urges consumers to beware of marketers attempting to sell illegal and unproven mpox “medication” and “cures” in order to swindle scared, vulnerable people and bilk them out of their money.

The agency also shared a series of pictures of the alleged illegal products for sale.

These products, often sold online, have not been reviewed by FDA, the agency says, and are not proven safe or effective to treat mpox and other health conditions that they claim to address.

Several warning letters have been sent by FDA to the companies allegedly peddling these products.

One company’s website falsely claims that an “herbal natural remedy” for mpox comes from the carnivorous purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia Purpuria, the agency said.

“For decades, research has shown the effectiveness of Sarracenia Purpurea (Pitcher Plant) against past outbreaks of small pox [sic] in the 19th Century, found to halt viral replication in viral, derived from the Variola Virus also associated with Monkey Pox,” the company’s site says, according to FDA’s warning letter.

FDA notes that site also uses additional metatags and social media posts with key terms like “Monkey Pox,” “Herbal Natural Remedy” and “remedy coming soon!” to bring consumers to their site for purchases.

Another company’s site, which appears to target young parents, allegedly falsely claims that colloidal silver can help fight viral infections — not only mpox, but also COVID-19, RSV and other upper respiratory tract infections.

The FDA quotes this company as saying on its website, “What Can Colloidal Silver Treat? … As an antiviral, silver can kill the virus that causes COVID-19 and may be an effective adjunctive treatment. There is also evidence that it may be effective against other viruses of interest including monkeypox, herpes, RSV, and viruses that cause upper respiratory tract infections (like influenza).”

Claims like these are particularly concerning in light of their appeared marketing toward infants and children, the agency says — with marketers allegedly preying on parents’ scrambling to take care of their kids after a difficult fall and winter when pediatric patients were slammed hard with the tripledemic of RSV, Covid, flu and other viruses — amid notable shortages of the cold, fever and cough medications which are actually approved to help their symptoms.

The FDA said it’s “particularly concerned” that the second company marketed their colloidal silver product “for use in infants and children,” the letter says. The agency singled out a blog post for parents that advertised the product as tasting “like water and is easy to give to even the pickiest kids.”

“The use of untested drugs can have unpredictable and unintended consequences, especially in vulnerable populations such as children and infants who may be at greater risk for adverse reactions,” the FDA said, since their bodies absorb and metabolize drugs differently.

Health experts say the best way to get medical care for mpox — or any other malady — is to speak with your healthcare provider. Wellness products aren’t rigorously tested and don’t have great oversight, especially on the internet — something which marketers know they can take advantage of, according to experts.

Mother of man fatally shot by Columbus police renews call for officer to be held accountable

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Following the disciplinary actions and murder charges brought against several officers involved in the death of Tyre Nichols in Memphis, Tennessee, Rebecca Duran, the mother of Donovan Lewis, renewed her call Tuesday for the Columbus, Ohio, police officer who fatally shot her son last year to be terminated and charged.

“If it can be done in a swift manner anywhere, it can be done swiftly here,” Duran said at a press conference. “Yesterday was five months since the murder of my son, and for the most part there hasn’t been any action when it comes to the reprimanding or termination of Ricky Anderson.”

Lewis, a 20-year-old expectant father, was fatally shot by Officer Ricky Anderson on Aug. 30, 2022. He later died at a hospital.

Columbus police have said they went to Lewis’ apartment around 2 a.m. to arrest him on three separate charges: domestic violence, assault and improper handling of a firearm.

When police arrived, they identified themselves and stood outside the apartment for approximately eight minutes asking those inside to exit, body camera footage shows. Two people eventually exit the apartment and police enter with a K-9, finding Lewis in bed, the video shows.

The footage, played during the press conference Tuesday, appears to show Anderson, a 30-year veteran with the Columbus Police Department and K-9 unit, open fire almost immediately after police open the bedroom door to where Lewis was sleeping.

In the footage, Lewis is seen raising his hands as he lies in bed. Anderson is then seen firing the single gunshot.

Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant previously said Lewis appeared to be holding something in his hand, but only a vape pen was found on his bed and that there was no sighting of a weapon.

Duran told ABC News’ Linsey Davis in September that “there was no attempt to preserve his life.”

Several months after Lewis’ death, Duran said “there’s no accountability whatsoever.”

The Columbus Police Department has previously said Anderson was on paid administrative leave.

During the press conference this week, Rex Elliott, an attorney for Lewis’ family, applauded Memphis leadership’s action against the officers involved in Nichols’ beating and read statements from Columbus community leaders condemning how Nichols was treated by Memphis police. Attorneys for two of the Memphis officers have said they will plead not guilty.

“With all due respect, do something here in Columbus,” Elliott said, criticizing Columbus’ lack of punishment against its own law enforcement. “It is time for the other officers who acted inappropriately in this situation with Donovan, that they be handled, and that … Officer Anderson be indicted and charged with homicide.”

“We need to let the criminal process work here in Columbus like it is working in Memphis,” he added.

Michael Wright, an attorney for Lewis’ family, said the Bureau of Criminal Investigation completed its investigation in December.

In a statement to ABC News on Wednesday, Sgt. David Scarpitti, public information officer for the Columbus Division of Police, said: “Once the investigation is completed, BCI forwards the investigation to the Franklin County Prosecutor, who will present the evidence to a grand jury.”

“Once the criminal process is completed, the Office of the Inspector General may conduct an administrative investigation if a complaint is filed or if the Civilian Police Review Board initiates a complaint in order to determine if the officer’s actions were within policy,” he continued. “The IG’s findings go to the Civilian Review Board for review and recommendation of discipline and/or policy changes.”

According to Scarpitti, the Collective Bargaining Agreement requires that recommendations regarding discipline undergo review by the chain of command, which “may rise to the level of the Chief and then the Director of Public Safety.”

“Officer Ricky Anderson is still employed with the Division of the Columbus Police while this process takes place,” Scarpitti said.

Mark Collins, the attorney representing Anderson, did not yet respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

In a previous statement to ABC News, Collins said: “When we analyze police-involved shootings, we must look to the totality of the circumstances, and we are expressly forbidden from using 20/20 hindsight, because unlike all of us, officers are not afforded the luxury of armchair reflection when they are faced with rapidly evolving, volatile encounters in dangerous situations.”

Remembering her son, Duran said she misses Lewis’ sense of humor and his smile the most.

“He had a lot of life in him and had a lot of life left, and he’s not here to be able to live that to his full potential,” she said.

“If something is not done, I can promise you as we sit here and do nothing, it’s going to happen again,” Elliott added, of deadly encounters with police, “and none of us want that.”

Is Ozempic safe to take during pregnancy or while trying to conceive? Experts weigh in

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The growing popularity of drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy, designed to help people with Type 2 diabetes and obesity, has raised new questions about what those drugs could mean for pregnancy and fertility.

The medications, all brand names for a compound called semaglutide, have grown in popularity thanks to reported use by celebrities and posts from everyday people on social media about successful weight loss, many from women of childbearing age.

Given as a daily oral medication or weekly injection, drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy, called GLP-1 RAs, help people produce insulin and lower the amount of sugar in the blood.

They also work by slowing down movement of food through the stomach and curbing appetite, thereby causing weight loss.

Side effects of the drugs can include severe nausea and constipation.

Because semaglutides are relatively new on the market — approved by the Food and Drug Administration within the last five years to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity — there is still research to be done on exactly how they impact women of childbearing age, experts say. In addition, people who don’t have diabetes or obesity can still be prescribed the drugs “off-label,” which may have different impacts.

ABC News’ Good Morning America spoke with two experts who shared the latest on semaglutides and pregnancy.

Are Ozempic and other semaglutide medications safe to take during pregnancy?

No, according to Dr. Amanda Velazquez, director of obesity medicine in the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

“This class of medications are not recommended for women who are pregnant,” Velazquez told GMA. “There have not been any studies that have been conducted to test these drugs in women who are currently pregnant, so they’re not at this time recommended.”

The FDA also says in its safety profiles of Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro that they should not be taken during pregnancy, noting there is “insufficient data” available.

The FDA also explains that the drugs could cause weight loss, and that “weight loss offers no benefit to a pregnant patient and may cause fetal harm.”

Velazquez noted that in addition to there not being enough human research to show GLP-1 RAs are safe during pregnancy, animal studies have shown complications.

“For a human, what’s the effect on baby or mom? We don’t know,” she said. “However, from animal studies we know that animals that were on these medications and pregnant, it reduced the embryo size and it can cause abnormalities, developmental abnormalities, for the developing fetus.”

How long do you have to be off a semaglutide medication before getting pregnant?

The FDA recommends that people discontinue semaglutide treatment at least two months before they plan to become pregnant.

Dr. Sarah Lassey, a board-certified OB-GYN and co-director of the diabetes in pregnancy program at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said that window of time allows the medication to leave the body.

“We know that these medications can kind of be in your body for a longer period of time,” Lassey told GMA. “So we recommend transitioning off of this class of medication essentially two to three months prior to when you plan to start getting pregnant.”

Going off of the medications should be done under the supervision of a medical provider, just as when you start the medications, according to both Lassey and Velazquez.

Is the risk of semaglutides and pregnancy atypical?

No, according to Velazquez.

“This is a very standard risk,” she said. “These drugs are like drugs in other medical classes that we use in the sense that you shouldn’t be looking at these as unique.”

Velazquez said the medications for Type 2 diabetes and obesity should not be looked at differently than other drugs that a person would take for heart disease or high blood pressure, for example.

“It’s not the drugs, it’s that we see them as an option versus something that’s medically necessary,” she said, “when really this is medically necessary for many patients who find it difficult to lose weight, and that’s 70% of the population who are overweight or obese right now.”

Why would a person who wants to become pregnant take a semaglutide medication?

Drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy can be very effective in helping people lower their blood sugar levels and get to a healthy weight, which can be critical for a healthy pregnancy, according to Lassey.

“We know that poorly controlled diabetes during pregnancy is associated with both maternal and fetal outcomes in a pregnancy,” she said, noting those risks can include miscarriage, birth defect, stillbirth and preeclampsia. “Our way to prevent any of these adverse outcomes is to control blood glucose levels and hemoglobin A1c in the time prior to conceiving as well as throughout the pregnancy.”

Lassey said that while the medications aren’t recommended generally for people who want to become pregnant in a short amount of time, for others, they can be lifesaving.

“If you’re a 20 to 30-year-old with diabetes and obesity, potentially, I think these classes of medications have really significant benefit for improving your blood sugar values and improving your overall cardiovascular profile,” she said. “So we’d recommend those medications knowing that down the line, if and when you were to conceive, we would have to change those medications.”

Do semaglutide medications impact fertility?

Lassey said there is not enough long-term research at this point to know how the medications may impact fertility.

“We just don’t know,” she said, adding, “However, we know that when people have better blood sugar control and things like that, they have lower rates of miscarriage and improvement in their fertility, typically.”

What to do if you get pregnant while taking a semaglutide medication

A person who becomes pregnant unexpectedly while taking a semaglutide should contact their healthcare provider, who can help them transition off the medication and make sure they are receiving proper maternal care.

The FDA also says on its website that there will be a “pregnancy exposure registry” that monitors outcomes in women “exposed to semaglutide during pregnancy,” and says pregnant women who are impacted and healthcare providers should contact the drug’s manufacturer.

Can you take a semaglutide medication while breastfeeding?

No, the medications have not been proven to be safe while breastfeeding, according to both Lassey and Velazquez.

“The data about breastfeeding, even about the availability of whether or not you can find these drugs in the breast milk, is very limited,” Lassey said. “It just hasn’t been studied yet, so we wait to initiate these medications until patients report that they have stopped breastfeeding.”

Both doctors also said that knowing that the medications will need to be stopped during pregnancy and breastfeeding should not prevent a person from considering them.

“This shouldn’t be a barrier to one trying out these drugs if they qualify and if they think this would be a good adjunct to their treatment plan from their healthcare provider,” said Velazquez. “What we do is we start the drug, in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle plan, we help them lose weight, improve their weight-related medical conditions and optimize their health for a healthier pregnancy and a healthier overall being … and then you [can] resume the medication once you’re done breastfeeding.”

Top Trump Organization executive to appear before grand jury

February 2, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Trump Organization’s controller is expected to testify Thursday before a grand jury in New York that is investigating whether former President Donald Trump played a role in the hush payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Jeffrey McConney has worked at the Trump Organization for more than three decades and was a subordinate to its former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who is now serving jail time after he pleaded guilty to tax fraud.

McConney appeared more than a half-dozen times before a grand jury about illegal practices at the Trump Organization and he testified at the company’s trial late last year that resulted in a conviction on charges it paid certain executives as independent contractors and through under-the-table perks.

McConney is expected to appear before the new grand jury convened to hear evidence by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office about the payment to Daniels meant to keep quiet about her long-denied affair with Trump, the sources said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment. An attorney for McConney also declined to comment.

McConney’s anticipated grand jury appearance was first reported by CNN.

The former publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker, appeared before the grand jury earlier this week, the sources said. Pecker helped broker a $150,000 payment to Daniels, according to federal prosecutors who previously investigated the arrangement and reached a non-prosecution agreement with Pecker’s employer, AMI.

Pecker interviewed Daniels about her alleged affair in June 2016 and agreed to acquire the story for the purposes of burying it, a practice known in the tabloid industry as “catch and kill.”

Prosecutors believe the payment violated campaign finance laws governing expenditures made for purposes of influencing an election and in coordination with a candidate or his campaign.

Trump has denied knowing about the payment that was arranged through his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating whether the Trump Organization falsified business records in the way it recorded a reimbursement payment to Cohen, sources familiar with the investigation have told ABC News.

Biggs rolls out new articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Mayorkas

February 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs on Wednesday rolled out new impeachment articles against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying the top Biden administration official has “violated his oath of office, wreaking havoc on this country and he must be impeached.”

“He must be impeached because he is a public official who has lost public trust and is an imminent threat to the United States of America,” Biggs said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Biggs, who previously introduced articles in 2021, said he would be filing the articles while standing alongside fellow conservative GOP members, including Reps. Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Bob Good and others. The presser began as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s first in-person meeting with President Joe Biden since winning the gavel was slated to begin.

“Secretary Mayorkas has failed to faithfully uphold his oath and has instead presided over a reckless abandonment of border security and immigration enforcement, the expense of the Constitution and the security of the United States,” the articles read.

Biggs did not provide a hard timeline for when the articles would be moved forward in committee.

When asked if Speaker McCarthy supported the effort to impeach Mayorkas, Biggs didn’t answer directly, but said he was hopeful, adding, “We start this hopefully at the Judiciary Committee.”

Greene made it clear she intends to target President Biden, once again calling to impeach him as well: “It’s also President Biden’s responsibility. I’ve called for his impeachment because of his failure to protect our country as well. And I’ll continue to call to impeach President Biden for that reason as well.”

The articles also come as Republicans held their first hearing on the border crisis, highlighting the issue at the House Judiciary Committee earlier on Wednesday.

The move follows months of conservative Republicans vowing to impeach Mayorkas and even with Speaker McCarthy holding an event on the border weeks back calling for an investigation into the DHS secretary.

Biggs’s announcement also comes weeks after Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, introduced his own impeachment articles against Mayorkas on Jan. 10. Fallon accused Mayorkas of failing to maintain operational control, providing false testimony to Congress and misleading the public. A DHS official said at the time they believed Fallon’s impeachment articles had no factual grounds.

Biggs said Wednesday he and Fallon will co-sponsor each other’s impeachment resolutions.

Mayorkas said in January, just after Republicans took control of the House, that he was ready for any congressional investigations and that he had no intention of resigning.

“I’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re going to do it,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.”

Canadian province decriminalizes drugs to fight overdose deaths

February 1, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(VANCOUVER, Canada) — The Canadian province of British Columbia said it’s decriminalizing small amounts of some drugs to help combat the number of drug overdose deaths.

During the three-year pilot program, which started Jan. 31, no one 18 years and older will be charged if caught in possession of 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs, including heroin, meth, ecstasy, among others, for personal use.

“We know criminalization drives people to use alone. Given the increasingly toxic drug supply, using alone can be fatal,” Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, said in a statement Monday. “Decriminalizing people who use drugs breaks down the fear and shame associated with substance use and ensures they feel safer reaching out for life-saving supports. This is a vital step to get more people connected to the services and supports as the Province continues to add them at an unprecedented rate.”

At least 2,272 people died of an overdose in the province in 2022, officials said. At least 2,306 people died in 2021.

The number of “illicit drug toxicity deaths” was about 6.4 deaths per day in November and December last year, authorities said.

“The shocking number of lives lost to the overdose crisis requires bold actions and significant policy change. I have thoroughly reviewed and carefully considered both the public health and public safety impacts of this request,” Carolyn Bennett, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions of Canada, said in a statement. “Eliminating criminal penalties for those carrying small amounts of illicit drugs for personal use will reduce stigma and harm and provide another tool for British Columbia to end the overdose crisis.”

While certain drugs are decriminalized, Bennett said the exemption doesn’t mean they are legal. It means adults will no longer be arrested, charged or have their drugs seized. Instead, police will offer information on available health and social supports and will help with referrals when requested, officials said.

Possession of any drugs will continue to be a criminal offense on school grounds and at child care facilities, officials said.

“Decriminalization is an important part of an integrated approach, along with safer supply and public-health supports, to divert persons who use drugs away from the criminal justice system and toward health services and pathways of care because substance use is a health matter, not a criminal one,” Deputy Chief Const. Fiona Wilson, Vancouver Police Department, said in a statement Monday. “This approach has the potential to address harms associated with substance use, reduce stigma, prevent overdose deaths and increase access to health and social services.”

+ More