Page 5343 – 105.7 WDNY

Navy SEAL commander speaks out on ‘Hell Week’ training after death of candidate

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Navy commander in charge of the “Hell Week” training when a SEAL candidate died spoke out on ABC News’ Good Morning America after an investigation found multiple problems with the program.

Capt. Brad Geary told ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos that the death of Kyle Mullen in 2022 was a “tragedy” but defended himself and the program against the probe, which outlined ways the selection progress for SEAL candidates had become dangerous.

“That entire report mischaracterizes, misrepresents and misquotes our organization and Naval special warfare,” Geary said. “Because it was built off of a bias that was inappropriate and regurgitated untruths that simply didn’t exist.”

Mullen, a 24-year-old former Yale football team captain, collapsed and died just hours after completing the program. His death, and the hospitalization of three others from his class, shined a light on the intense, non-stop physical Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL course candidates undergo to become elite SEALs.

A nearly 200-page report the Naval Education and Training Command released last month identified “failures across multiple systems that led to a number of candidates being at a high risk of serious injury.”

Poor leadership, inadequately organized medical care and other factors increased the risks for SEAL candidates, according to the report.

Three Navy officers, including Geary, received “non-punitive” letters as a result of Mullen’s death.

“There’s a weight on the shoulders of every commanding officer that has served,” Geary said when asked if he felt responsibility for Mullen’s death. “And I don’t think that weight can be reduced down to one term-like responsibility. I will always carry the weight of Kyle’s death on my shoulders. What I feel responsible for is speaking truth to ensure that it never happens again.”

Geary said there was no one he held accountable for Mullen’s death.

“His death was a tragedy,” Geary said. “And this is one thing I agree with the report on. It was a perfect storm of factors that all combined at the wrong possible moment in time and resulted in the tragic loss of Kyle.”

Mullen’s mother, Regina Mullen, expressed frustration with what she said was a lack of accountability for her son’s death.

“The Navy SEAL code item four says take responsibility for your actions and the actions of your teammates,” she said. “He’s the commander, the commander’s supposed to command. Four people almost died that day. My son, unfortunately, died. He’s responsible. I don’t know how he could say he’s not.”

Kaley Cuoco says daughter Matilda is burnin’ up for the Jonas Brothers

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Kaley Cuoco‘s two-month-old daughter Matilda is “obsessed” with the Jonas Brothers.

“She loves the Jonas Brothers,” The Big Bang Theory alum tells E! News.

“We turned it on, and I thought it was a fluke, and she was listening,” Cuoco explains, “and then the next night I put it on in the bathroom when she was crying, and again she looked up and was listening.”

“I was like ‘Oh, it’s not a fluke.’ She loves them,” Kaley continues, joking, “So this is her first crush, on the Jonas Brothers.”

Also high on Matilda’s playlist is “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” adds Cuoco. “So if Jonas Brothers could record a ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,’ that would be really great for our household.”

Kaley and her partner Tom Pelphrey welcomed Matilda on March 30. She’s the first child for both.

Prince Harry gives historic testimony in lawsuit against British tabloid publisher

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Prince Harry took to the witness stand Tuesday in a U.K. courtroom, becoming the first British royal to do so in more than a century.

Harry, the duke of Sussex, was grilled by the defense team in his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers, the publisher of The Daily Mirror.

Harry and 100 other celebrities, including the estate of the late George Michael, are suing Mirror Group Newspapers for alleged misuse of private information between 1991 and 2011, including phone hacking and intercepting voicemails.

On the witness stand, Harry said the articles published about himself and his family played a destructive role in his childhood and provoked feelings of paranoia in him.

“As a teenager and in my early 20s, I ended up feeling as though I was playing up to a lot of the headlines and stereotypes that [the tabloid press] wanted to pin on me mainly because I thought that, if they are printing this rubbish about me and people were believing it, I may as well ‘do the crime,’ so to speak,” Harry said in his prepared witness statement. “It was a downward spiral, whereby the tabloids would constantly try and coax me, a ‘damaged’ young man, into doing something stupid that would make a good story and sell lots of newspapers.”

He continued, “Looking back on it now, such behavior on their part is utterly vile.”

Harry’s legal team has accused Mirror Group Newspapers of unlawfully gathering information on an “industrial scale.”

Mirror Group Newspapers is contesting the claims, saying in the 33 articles being examined by the court that its reporters found the information through lawful reporting.

Harry’s testimony in the case is expected to continue on Wednesday.

The prince traveled to the U.K. just prior to his testimony Tuesday because of a late flight to the U.K. after celebrating the birthday of his daughter, Lilibet, who turned 2 on Sunday, according to his attorney.

Harry and his wife Meghan, the uchess of Sussex, live in California with Lilibet and their 4-year-old son, Archie.

Since stepping down from his role as a senior working royal in 2020, Harry has made no secret of his disdain for the British tabloid media. In his witness statement, Harry said it he has “a very difficult relationship with the tabloid press in the U.K.”

“Harry is somebody that is very clear in what he wants to achieve. He believes he has been treated badly by this newspaper group,” said ABC News royal contributor Robert Jobson. “He believes he’s had his phone hacked by this newspaper group and therefore is determined, as he is right, to be compensated for it, and to receive an apology.”

The lawsuit against the Mirror Group Newspapers is one of six lawsuits that Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, is currently waging against the British tabloids.

He made an unexpected appearance in a U.K. courtroom in March for a hearing on a lawsuit that he, Elton John and other celebrities have brought against Associated Newspapers Ltd., the publisher of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and the MailOnline.

The case, first announced last year, alleges the celebrity defendants are “the victims of abhorrent criminal activity and gross breaches of privacy,” according to a press release shared last year by Hamlins, the London-based law firm representing Harry in the case.

Harry told ABC News’ Michael Strahan in January that the lawsuits he is involved in are his attempt to bring about real change when it comes to the media coverage of celebrities and the royal family.

“I’m in this to be able to say, ‘Draw a line. Enough. We can all move on and get on with our lives,'” he said. “But if this continues, then I’m naturally, deeply concerned that what has happened to us will happen to someone else.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook says Vision Pro is ‘tomorrow’s engineering, today’: Exclusive

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Good Morning America on Tuesday that the company’s first-ever spatial computer, the Apple Vision Pro, is the “most advanced piece of electronics equipment out there.”

“It’s tomorrow’s engineering, today,” Cook told Robin Roberts. “So you’re going to live in the future and you’re going to do it today.”

Apple announced a series of new products at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, including the Apple Vision Pro.

The device, which will cost at least $3,499, allows users to manipulate apps, messages and other virtual programs displayed within their physical environment, Apple said.

When individuals approach a user’s physical space, the glass appears transparent, allowing a user’s counterpart to see his or her eyes, the company added.

In his interview with Good Morning America, Cook said the product marks a turning point for the company.

“We started working on augmented reality quite some time ago because we saw it as a big idea, as a profound technology,” Cook said. “This is the next chapter in that, and it’s a huge leap.”

“You can immerse yourself in movies, TV shows, sports, and feel like you’re right there. You can take photos and videos and then enjoy those and bring back memories as if you were there and repeating that experience,” Cook explained.

“It’s not about one thing, it’s — it is a platform. And so we can’t wait to unleash it to the developers so they can begin to work on applications for it,” he added.

Disney+ will be among the apps available for use on day one. Disney is the parent company of ABC.

Apple Vision Pro will be available for purchase online and in stores in the U.S. early next year, with additional countries to follow later in 2024, Apple said.

In the exclusive sit down, Cook also said artificial intelligence poses serious risks such as bias and misinformation, calling for government regulation to protect against potential abuses.

The comments thrust one of the tech industry’s most prominent executives into a policy discussion that has drawn heightened interest in Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley since the emergence of ChatGPT and other advanced conversation bots.

“I do think that it’s so important to be very deliberate and very thoughtful in the development and the deployment of these,” Cook said. “They can be so powerful that you worry about things like bias, things like misinformation — maybe worse in some cases.”

The rapid development of AI requires government intervention but also places responsibility on tech companies, Cook said.

“Regulation is something that’s needed in this space,” Cook said. “Regulation will have a difficult time staying even with the progress on this because it’s moving so quickly, and so I think it’s incumbent on companies as well to regulate themselves.”

With the remarks, Cook joins a chorus of industry leaders cautioning about possible negative consequences of AI.

Last week, hundreds of business leaders and public figures — including Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT — sounded a sobering alarm over what they described as the threat of mass extinction posed by artificial intelligence.

Still, Cook said conversation programs such as ChatGPT hold “great promise,” describing it as “something that we’re looking at closely.”

In Brief: ‘Sybil’ gets another life with Elle Fanning and Sarah Paulson, and more

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Bad Sisters‘ Eve Hewson is set to join Creed III and Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Tessa Thompson in the upcoming film Hedda, which is described as “an epic and visceral reimagination of Henrik Ibsen’s famed 1891 stage play Hedda Gabler,” according to Deadline. Details on Hewson’s role have not been revealed, but the play centered on the wife of a powerful man who feels trapped in her marriage. Hewson will next be seen in the upcoming Netflix murder mystery series The Perfect Couple, opposite Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Dakota Fanning…

A documentary chronicling embattled stand-up comic Louis C.K.‘s return to the stage after five women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017 is not moving forward at Showtime, according to Entertainment Weekly. Following the accusations, Netflix, HBO, and FX cut ties with the Emmy winner. In 2020, The Washington Post reported he was again selling out comedy venues and fellow comedian Dave Chappelle started bringing C.K. out as a surprise guest at his own comedy shows. C.K. has released four comedy specials since 2017, including last year’s Sincerely Louis C.K., which won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album…

The Great‘s Elle Fanning and American Horror Story‘s Sarah Paulson are attached to star in I Am Sybil, according to Deadline. Sybil was a pseudonym given to Shirley Mason in a 1973 work of nonfiction by Flora Rheta Schreiber, which examined the young woman’s treatment for Multiple Personality Disorder by psychologist Connie Wilbur. I Am Sybil is based on Debbie Nathan’s 2011 book Sybil Exposed: The Extraordinary Story Behind the Famous Multiple Personality Case, which disputes the facts of Schreiber’s account. Mason’s case was previously adapted into a pair of TV movies. The first, starring Sally Field and Joanne Woodward, aired on NBC in 1976 and four Emmy Awards. The second, starring Tammy Blanchard, Jessica Lange and JoBeth Williams, premiered on CBS in 2007…

Nicki Minaj sets release date for new album

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Nicki Minaj has confirmed October 20 as the release date for her first album in nearly five years.

“10/20/23 The Album,” the rapper tweeted on Monday, June 5, followed by emojis of a CD and a red bow.

Minaj’s last studio album, 2018’s Queen, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Nicki has kept busy in 2023, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” released back in March. She also lent her voice to Sexyy Redd and Tay Keith’s “Pound Town 2,” and the “Princess Diana” remix with Ice Spice, which earned Minaj her 22nd top 10 Billboard hit. Additionally, she collaborated with YoungBoy Never Broke Again on “WTF” and Kim Petras on “Alone.”

Minaj will also be featured on the upcoming soundtrack for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, hitting theaters July 21.

Strategically vital Nova Khakovka dam blown up near border between Ukraine and Russia

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A section of a strategically vital Ukrainian dam and hydroelectric powerplant under Russian control has been blown up as both Ukraine and Russia are blaming each other for the breach.

The Nova Kakhovka dam, which was built in 1956 and traverses the enormous Dnipro river in southern Ukraine, suffered an explosion overnight at approximately 2 a.m. local time as a deluge of water could be seen bursting through the dam that had previously held back more than 18 cubic kilometers of water — comparable to the size of the Great Salt Lake in Utah.

The dam’s breach could have a massive impact on the wider war effort between Russia and Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an emergency meeting of his National Security Council on Tuesday and blamed “Russian terrorists” for the explosion of the dam.

“The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” Zelenskyy said in a message on social media. “Not a single meter should be left to them, because they use every meter for terror. It’s only Ukraine’s victory that will return security. And this victory will come. The terrorists will not be able to stop Ukraine with water, missiles or anything else.”

Meanwhile, an estimated 16,000 residents who live downriver were told to leave immediately in the aftermath of the explosion as the governor of Kherson ordered an immediate evacuation of citizens. Officials told residents they had five hours to get out, instructing them only to take essential documents and directing them to buses that would take them to higher ground.

The explosion at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which seems to be beyond repair, could also affect the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which is located approximately 100 miles upstream.

The reservoir provides cooling water to the plant and the International Atomic Energy Agency said it is “closely monitoring” the situation surrounding the dam but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk” to Zaporizhzhia.

In an interview with the New York Times, Ivan Plachkov — a former minister of energy of Ukraine — said that all six nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia Plant are shut down but still require water to dissipate heat from the radioactive fuel remaining in the reactor cores.

Toxic smoke from Canadian wildfires could impact health of millions in the US

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Wildfires across the United States and Canada — fueled by record heat and dry conditions — could severely impact the health of millions of people.

Smoke from wildfires in several Canadian provinces, including Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia, led to air quality alerts throughout several states in the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Additionally, fires in Michigan and New Jersey have created dense fog and heavy smoke.

Inhaling toxic smoke and ash from wildfires could cause damage to the body — including the lungs and heart — and even weaken our immune systems, experts said.

“Wildfire smoke itself is quite a complex mixture and it’s made up of fine particles … and a number of other gases, which are toxic, mainly due to the fact that wildfires burn everything so more toxic than household fires because everything has been burned,” Dr. Kimberly Humphrey, a climate change and human health fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told ABC News.

Fine particulate matter known as PM2.5, which is 30 times smaller in diameter than a human hair, is of particular concern.

Because these particles are too small to be seen with the naked eye, they can easily enter the nose and throat and can travel to the lungs, with some of the smallest particles even circulating in the bloodstream, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

“The top offender here is these fine particles,” Dr. Vijay Limaye, a climate and health scientist at the National Resources Defense Council, told ABC News. “That size is really important because can penetrate really deeply and wreak havoc on the body.”

PM2.5 can cause both short-term health effects, even for healthy people, including irritation of the eyes, nose and throat; coughing, sneezing; and shortness of breath and long-term effects such as worsening of conditions such as asthma and heart disease.

This is especially concerning for vulnerable groups including children, pregnant people, older adults and those who are immunocompromised or having pre-existing conditions.

“Lower socioeconomic neighborhoods are at a higher risk as well,” Humphrey said. “Often they don’t have the ability for financial reasons, predominantly, and also social reasons to get away from wildfire smoke, they may not be able to shelter inside, they may not be able to afford the equipment to protect their lungs from the smoke.”

Not all PM2.5 particles are the same. One study from California in 2021 found that those from wildfires can be up to 10 times more harmful than the same type of air pollution coming from combustion activity.

Being exposed to smoke can cause lung inflammation and could make it harder to remove inhaled foreign materials and bacteria, potentially increasing the susceptibility to respiratory infections, including COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Depending upon the length and amount of exposure, prolonged lung inflammation could result in impaired lung function that lasts long after the wildfire has ended.

Additionally, studies have shown a link between poor air quality — which these fires have caused — and cardiovascular disease, including strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and atrial fibrillation.

Because of climate change, there will not only be more record-setting wildfires but also more people at risk of inhaling toxic smoke as well, the experts said.

“It’s clear that the climate change problem is essentially creating conditions that make the fire problem and the smoke problem worse,” Limaye said. “So, we’re talking about, hotter days, longer wildfire, seasons, drier conditions, spring snowmelt that essentially, put more wildfire fuel in play earlier — all these kinds of converging factors.”

He added, “And I think it’s reasonable to expect that wildfire smoke is going to grow as a public health concern in the coming years.”

Humphrey recommends that people stay aware of their local air quality and, if it reaches unhealthy levels, to wear a mask, ideally an N95.

Prince Harry prepares to become first British royal to testify in court in over 100 years

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Prince Harry will break royal precedent once again when he testifies this week in court, becoming the first British royal to do so in more than a century.

Harry, the duke of Sussex, is expected to take the stand Tuesday and Wednesday in his lawsuit against Mirror Group Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mirror.

Harry’s attorney, David Sherborne, said in court Monday that Harry would need to testify on Tuesday because of a late flight to the U.K. after celebrating the birthday of his daughter, Lilibet, who turned 2 on Sunday.

Harry and his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, live in California with Lilibet and their 4-year-old son, Archie.

Harry’s legal team has accused the newspaper publisher of unlawfully gathering information on an “industrial scale.”

Mirror Group Newspapers has denied the claims, saying its reporters found the information through lawful reporting.

If Harry takes the stand Tuesday as expected, he will be the first member of Britain’s royal family to testify in a court case since the late 19th century.

Since stepping down from his role as a senior working royal in 2020, Harry has made no secret of his disdain for the British tabloid media.

The lawsuit against the Mirror Group Newspapers is one of six lawsuits that Harry, the youngest son of King Charles III, is currently waging against the British tabloids.

Flo Milli talks friendship with Ice Spice, possible collab and solo music

June 6, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Flo Milli joined Ice Spice for her Summer Jam set Sunday and performed her hit “Conceited.” While her appearance “wasn’t last minute,” she tells People it marked her first time meeting the “Munch” rapper.

“I’m so happy that the girls got to come together. [Ice and I] text on DM all the time but we never met until today,” she said.

She continued, “I don’t get to meet friends all the time. Being a celeb, you’re busy working or alone so it’s fun to see my peers in person and actually get to talk and catch up.”

While Flo and Ice have built a great rapport, the two have yet to come together for some music. Flo says a collab is possible, teasing, “Like damn, she in ha’ mood! I don’t know! It’s giving that, it’s giving that.”

Until then, she’s working on her own music, as she says her “creativity level right now is so good.”

“I’ve been locked in the studio really all year and the stuff that I’ve been making is so different but still Flo Milli s***,” Flo said, noting she’s “been way more creative and vulnerable in my music.”

“I’m excited for that to drop … It’s time for it, we gotta keep it going,” she continued. “I’m ready. It’s gonna be a fun summer.”

Flo’s last project, her debut album, You Still Here, Ho?, dropped in July 2022.

+ More