Page 5415 – 105.7 WDNY

Pete Buttigieg says Transportation Department is working to avoid summer travel disruptions

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Just ahead of what airlines say could be the busiest Memorial Day weekend for travel since before COVID-19, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is sharing how his department is prepping for the potentially record-breaking season.

“We know for sure that there is going to be a very high level of demand, a lot of traffic and a lot of pressure on the system,” Buttigieg said in an interview with ABC News.

Amid an ongoing air traffic controller shortage that’s been partly to blame for disruptions across the system, Buttigieg said the Transportation Department continues to hire and train controllers even as key facilities remain below targets.

“If you look at the optimal numbers, the numbers we like to be at, it is higher than where we are right now. That’s why we’re doing so much hiring, and it’s why we’re pushing to make sure that we get a budget as these negotiations go on [between the White House and Congress] that allow us to continue to pick up the pace on that hiring,” he said, referring to current spending talks on Capitol Hill.

Major U.S. airlines are touting their expected passenger numbers and schedules ahead of the holiday weekend. United Airlines said it’s preparing for its busiest Memorial Day in more than a decade, expecting to carry nearly 2.9 million passengers.

Meanwhile Delta Air Lines said it’s expecting to fly 2.8 million customers over the holiday — a 17% increase from last year. And American Airlines said it will carry more than 2.9 million customers, operating over 26,000 flights.

Those numbers underline the airline industry’s continued bounce-back from its pandemic low even as some service periods have been marred by major flight delays and cancellations.

When asked if he thinks airlines can meet the high demand, Buttigieg said his department has been “pressing” the companies to be more realistic with scheduling and actively supporting those efforts in order to avoid more headline-grabbing meltdowns.

“In the New York airspace, we worked with airlines to permit an approach that would allow there to be larger aircraft, which means more passengers with fewer departures, which can mean less congestion,” Buttigieg said.

“There’s always a question whether airlines are properly aligning their schedules that they’re promising with their resources and staffing that they bring to the table, including enough of a buffer to deal with situations that may come up,” he said. “Look, there’s always weather, and you have to be ready to absorb those issues and respond and get back to normal as quickly as possible.”

After increased delays and cancellations among U.S. carriers last summer, Buttigieg called such disruptions “unacceptable.”

Now, the secretary said he’s seen “a lot of improvements coming into this year” but it’s “no guarantee that summer is going to go well.”

“We’ve been pressing the airlines to do better and better on things that are under their control and collaborating.” Buttigieg said.

The Biden administration recently announced it would seek to require airlines to provide consumers with boosted compensation, including meals and hotels, if they are left stranded and it’s the airline’s fault.

Critics say if the rule is put in place, it would end up passing the cost on to consumers. Buttigieg said he doesn’t buy that.

“Look, any time that we do a rule or we try to hold companies accountable, they tend to say this. But we already know that this is an approach that can work because there are many other countries that have rules that require airlines to compensate passengers and also have very competitive airfares,” he said.

Heading into summer, negotiations are ongoing between various pilot groups and airlines, with some unions voting to authorize strikes.

While the probability of a pilot strike occurring in the U.S. is very slim, Buttigieg said, “We’re urging the parties to come to agreements in each of the areas where a contract is in play and understand that the pilots who are a very essential part of the aviation system expect to be compensated well, and their quality-of-life concerns, too. And airlines need to be able to run their business.”

19 shot, 10 fatally, at car rally less than 100 miles from Mexico-US border

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(BAJA, Mexico) — At least 10 people were killed and nine were wounded when an apparent team of gunmen ambushed a car rally in Baja, Mexico, about 73 miles from the U.S. border, authorities said.

The horrific attack unfolded just after 2 p.m. on Saturday in San Vicente, near Ensenada, on the Pacific coast of the Baja Peninsula, the Reuters news agency reported.

The violence erupted during the last day of a two-day all-terrain car rally, local officials said. Video purportedly of the shooting was posted on social media, showing off-road vehicles lined up along a road and capturing the sounds of screams and numerous rounds of gunfire.

Several people who appeared to have been shot were seen in the online footage lying on the ground.

Multiple shooters wielding rifles emerged from at least two gray vans at a gas station and opened fire on participants of the car rally gathered there, according to Reuters, citing 911 calls.

Following the volley of gunshots, the perpetrators got back in the vans and fled the scene, which is about 86 miles from San Diego, California, according to Reuters.

There were no reports of any arrests being made.

Ensenada Mayor Armando Ayala Robles said state Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio Sanchez commissioned a special group to investigate the massacre.

The car rally was organized by the group calling itself Cachanillazo, which posted a message to Instagram expressing sympathy to those affected by the tragedy, adding that “unfortunately, what happened during the tour was not in our hands.”

Large areas of US experiencing poor air quality due to Canadian wildfires

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Several regions in the U.S. are suffering from poor air quality as the smoke from the wildfires burning in Canada make its way south.

A large portion of the of the U.S. has been seeing smoky skies for days, presenting unhealthy conditions for residents with heart or lung conditions, officials said.

The National Weather Service has issued an air quality alert for all of Montana, as well as parts of Idaho, Colorado and Arizona.

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality urged residents on Friday to avoid outdoor activities in places with visible smoke and haze. Heavy smoke also began to pour into northeastern Colorado, including Denver, on Friday.

Health officials in Colorado and Montana issued air quality alerts through Saturday afternoon after conditions worsened.

The air quality index on the Front Rage in Colorado reached 168 on Friday, according to the state’s Department of Public Health and Environment. A reading between 151 and 200 indicates unhealthy conditions that affect sensitive groups as well as the general public, health officials say.

Idaho also saw widespread haze earlier in the week, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality.

The wildfires burning in Alberta have prompted thousands of residents to evacuate, especially due to the health impacts from the smoke. There are also fires burning in British Columbia.

The air quality alerts will remain in Colorado through the afternoon, health officials said.

Many places in the Northeast will also be experiencing a haze in the sky on Sunday due to smoke lingering in the upper atmosphere. However, the smoke should not cause breathing issues in the area, as it is lingering roughly 20,000 feet above the surface.

The main impact from the smoke for much of the U.S. will be orange-red sunrises and sunsets.

ABC News’ Daniel Amarante contributed to this report.

Top Republican pushes back on Biden, says new taxes in debt deal are nonstarter

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, the House Budget Committee chairman, on Sunday pushed back on President Joe Biden’s call for tax increases as part of a deal to raise the nation’s debt limit to avoid an unprecedented default.

“No. 1, it’s not on the table for discussion. No. 2, taxes right now would only be passed on to consumers at higher prices. So we will exacerbate inflation,” Arrington told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

He was responding to comments Biden made earlier Sunday in Japan, where the president was attending a summit of the Group of Seven countries.

Biden said that he is “willing to cut spending, as well as raise revenue, so people start paying their fair share” but that revenues are where Democrats and Republicans continue to have “significant disagreement” in reaching a deal to raise the debt ceiling.

“There’s a lot of things that they refuse to entertain, and they just said revenue is off the table. Well, revenue is not off the table,” Biden said.

Arrington said on “This Week” that the issue of taxes remains a nonstarter with conservative lawmakers.

“You couldn’t get tax policies and tax revenues in the Senate …. We certainly weren’t going to put it in the House bill,” he said, referring to lack of Republican support in the Senate, where most legislation needs 60 votes to pass.

Citing the revenue increases in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act, as well as concerns that the economy’s growth is slowing, Arrington argued that “the last thing we want to do is add another tax.”

House Republicans last month passed their own bill to raise the debt ceiling, cut spending and roll back core aspects of Biden’s agenda. Republicans have said that now puts the onus on Biden and the Democratic-controlled Senate to propose competing legislation as both sides work toward a compromise.

“How confident are you that America will not default?” Raddatz pressed Arrington on “This Week.”

“We listened to [Treasury Secretary] Janet Yellen and her warning that we needed to move with urgency and purpose,” he said of House Republicans, adding, “The question is, will President Biden listen to Janet Yellen, his own secretary? And with the window closing on the x-date, the default date, then respond? We’ve done our job.”

The goal for Republicans, Arrington said, was cutting down on the size of the federal government’s spending, which he said had grown too large in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ve got to rightsize and rein in this bureaucratic bloat,” he said.

Negotiators in Washington have a shortening runway to figure out a deal to raise the amount the government can borrow. Yellen has said that the government could run out of funds to pay all of its existing obligations as soon as June 1.

Failure to do so would spark an unprecedented default that would likely destabilize domestic and international markets, and Biden is anticipated to speak with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., later on Sunday to move negotiations along.

Biden said in Japan that, in the event of default, “No one would be blameless.”

Three dead in shooting at lounge in Kansas City, Missouri

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Three people were killed and two were injured when gunfire broke out early Sunday at a nightclub in Kansas City, Missouri, police said.

No arrests were immediately announced and police were working to identify a suspect or suspects in the episode.

The shooting erupted at the Klymax Lounge southeast of downtown Kansas City around 1:30 a.m. local time, the Kansas City Police Department said in a statement.

Officers responded to reports of gunfire at the nightclub and discovered two people fatally shot, police said.

“One of those victims was located outside the lounge and the second was located inside the business,” police said.

Three other people wounded in the incident were taken to ambulance to hospitals, according to police. One of the victims died upon arrival at a hospital, police said.

The names of those killed were not immediately released.

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

Biden and McCarthy to meet on Monday to negotiate directly on debt ceiling

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy will meet on Monday to directly negotiate on how to raise the federal government’s debt ceiling in the final days before the country defaults on its bills.

McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters on Sunday that a conversation he’d just had with Biden as the president flew back from an international summit in Hiroshima, Japan, was “productive” and that “I think we can solve some of these problems if he understands what we’re looking at.”

“But look, there’s no agreement. We’re still apart,” he said.

He declined to provide specifics on how long the debt limit would be raised under a deal and said negotiations are ongoing about the length of any budget caps.

Those comments mark a tone shift after an earlier war of words between McCarthy and Biden on Sunday — the latest twist in the roller coaster negotiations to raise the current $31.4 trillion debt limit before the country runs out of funds to pay all of its existing obligations, which will happen as soon as June 1, according to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Such a default would be unprecedented and almost certainly roil the U.S. and international markets, risking major financial damage.

In exchange for hiking the nation’s borrowing limit, House Republicans are seeking spending cuts and policy changes, particularly around aid programs and government permits.

Biden has signaled some openness while also calling for tax increases.

Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young and White House adviser Steve Richetti are expected to come to Capitol Hill later Sunday to meet with Republican Reps. Garret Graves and Patrick McHenry to ensure Biden and McCarthy are prepared in advance of Monday’s meeting.

Last week, the White House and Republicans spoke optimistically about reaching a debt and budget deal. But both the president and speaker earlier Sunday publicly rebuked the other for placing partisanship over the economy.

Talking with reporters in Hiroshima, Japan, before he spoke with McCarthy, Biden emphasized that the only deal to be made was through bipartisan negotiations.

Biden hammered Republicans over what he called their “extreme positions” on raising the debt ceiling, which was reached in January.

“It’s time for the other side to move from their extreme positions because much of what they’ve proposed is quite frankly unacceptable,” Biden said. “It’s time for Republicans to accept that there is no bipartisan deal to be made solely on their partisan terms. They have to move as well.”

“I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects, for example, a $30 billion tax break for the oil industry, which made $200 billion last year. They don’t need an incentive of another $30 billion, while putting health care of 21 million Americans at risk by going after Medicaid,” he said.

The president said that it has been “hard to determine where they [Republicans] are, quite frankly” but that working with McCarthy directly could be fruitful.

Biden initially resisted negotiating on raising the debt limit — saying lawmakers must hike it without preconditions — but has since agreed to budget talks alongside a debt increase.

McCarthy said earlier this weekend that the debt talks would be paused until after Biden returned from overseas, contending that “the White House moved backwards” during bargaining.

“My guess is he’s going to want to deal directly with me,” Biden said in Japan. “We’re going to have to sit down. I’m hoping that Speaker McCarthy is just waiting to negotiate with me when I get home, which has been — I don’t know whether that’s true or not, we’ll find out.”

It will take several days to turn any legislative deal into law, including moving the bill through Congress and to Biden’s desk. However, McCarthy indicated on Sunday that the timeline remains workable for a compromise.

Meanwhile, the clock is ticking down to avoid a default, which would likely upend both U.S. and international markets.

During his press conference Sunday, Biden still expressed confidence that “we can reach an agreement,” although minutes later, he said, “I can’t guarantee that they [GOP] wouldn’t force a default by doing something outrageous.”

Pressed about the possibility of default while appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington insisted that Republicans had done their part by passing a bill last month to raise the debt ceiling, cut spending and reverse key Biden policies — a bill that was quickly rejected by Democrats.

“The question is, will President Biden listen to Janet Yellen, his own secretary? And with the window closing on the x-date, the default date, then respond? We’ve done our job,” Arrington said.

“We’ve got to rightsize and rein in this bureaucratic bloat” while addressing the “spending problem that’s driving the inflation crisis and some of the economic woes that we’re experiencing,” he said

The president in Japan singled out an impasse over revenue growth, arguing that Republicans are opposed to his proposals to raise some taxes.

He said he is “willing to cut spending, as well as raise revenue, so people start paying their fair share,” but that revenues are where negotiators continue to have “significant disagreement.”

McCarthy shot back Sunday, insisting that Biden previously acknowledged raising taxes would not be part of any agreement on the debt limit.

“But the president has really shifted right after the more progressive socialist wing of the party stood up and says they want to spend more money. He’s now bringing something to the table that everyone said was off the table. It seems as though he wants to default more than he wants to deal,” McCarthy said on Fox Business.

Biden commented Sunday on the possibility of unilateral action, saying he had considered invoking the 14th Amendment, which states that the public debt “shall not be questioned.” However, he said that leaning on the amendment to get around the debt ceiling would likely cause a court challenge and a subsequent appeal, a delay that would push the country toward default anyway.

“I think we have the authority,” Biden said. “Question is, could it be done and invoked in time that it would not be appealed and, as a consequence, past the date in question, and still default on debt? That’s a question that I think is unresolved.”

The debt ceiling debate has played out during Biden’s trip to Hiroshima to meet with leaders from the G7 and allied countries, making headlines even while the president grapples with issues like sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and relations with China.

The U.S. and other nations broke longstanding vows to not send the planes to Ukraine when they announced this weekend they would start training Ukrainian pilots on the jets and ultimately send some to Kyiv. Western countries had previously been wary of such a move over fears of antagonizing Russia and potentially broadening the conflict in Ukraine.

“I have a flat assurance from Zelenskyy that they will not, they will not, use it to go on and move into Russian geographic territory. But wherever Russian troops are within Ukraine in the area, they would be able to do that,” Biden said Sunday, referencing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

On China, he added that he expected relations between Washington and Beijing to “thaw very shortly” months after the U.S. shot down what intelligence agencies have said was a Chinese spy balloon, an incident Biden called “silly” on Sunday.

ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

NAACP issues travel advisory alleging, Florida ‘hostile to African Americans’

May 21, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The national NAACP Board of Directors has issued a formal advisory against traveling to Florida, alleging the state has become “hostile toward African Americans” under the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The move by the NAACP board calling on travelers nationwide to forgo visiting Florida comes as AAA Travel estimates 42.3 million Americans plan to hit the road this coming Memorial Day weekend.

The board voted unanimously to issue the travel advisory, saying the decision “comes in direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis’ aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”

“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color,” the advisory states.

Derrick Johnson, the NAACP president and CEO, accused DeSantis and other state leaders of a “dereliction of duty” and called the trend of failing to teach an “accurate representation of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced and continue to face” a disservice to Florida students.

“Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals that our union was founded upon,” Johnson said in a statement. “He should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand up and fight. We’re not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the battle for the soul of our nation.”

The travel advisory was initially proposed in March by the NAACP’s Florida State Conference. At the time, DeSantis called the proposal “a pure stunt.”

“We get involved in these stupid fights,” DeSantis said in March. “This is a stunt to try and do that.”

Following the vote by the national NAACP Board of Directors on Saturday, Jeremy Redfern, DeSantis’ press secretary, issued a statement repeating the governor’s previous comment, saying, “This is a stunt.”

The NAACP’s travel advisory follows similar ones issued by the League of United Latin American Citizens, a Latino civil rights group, and Equality Florida, a gay rights advocacy group.

Florida’s economy heavily relies on tourism. An estimated 137.6 million people visited the state in 2022, the most ever, according to VISIT FLORIDA, the state’s official tourism marketing corporation. In 2021, tourism pumped $101.9 billion into the state’s economy, according to VISIT FLORIDA.

DeSantis, who won a second term as governor in November, is expected as early as this week to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission declaring his candidacy for president in 2024, which would formally enter him in the race for the White House, two sources familiar with the plans told ABC News.

The governor and his administration recently rejected an AP African American studies course because it is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” according to state officials. The DeSantis administration has also vowed to remove funding from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in higher education, as well as certain lessons on race.

DeSantis also signed the so-called “Stop WOKE” Act into law in 2022, which restricts race-related curriculum and conversation in workplaces, schools and colleges. However, an appeals court has temporarily blocked the law from being implemented in colleges and universities.

Following DeSantis’ drive for the state to reject students’ access to AP African American studies courses in March, the NAACP distributed 10,000 books to 25 predominantly Black communities across the state in collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers’ Reading Opens the World program. The majority of the books donated were titles banned under state laws.

“Once again, hate-inspired state leaders have chosen to put politics over people. Governor Ron DeSantis and the state of Florida have engaged in a blatant war against principles of diversity and inclusion and rejected our shared identities to appeal to a dangerous, extremist minority,” Leon Russell, chair of the national NAACP Board of Directors, said in a statement.

Russell added, “We will not allow our rights and history to be held hostage for political grandstanding. The NAACP proudly fights against the malicious attacks in Florida, against Black Americans. I encourage my fellow Floridians to join in this fight to protect ourselves and our democracy.”

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.

New York cannabis store licenses look to undo stigma placed on former convicts

May 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When Roland Conner was a teenager in the 1990s, he was imprisoned on a marijuana-related charge.

Conner told ABC News that he struggled with the stigma of that criminal record for a long time, but recently his past has helped him and his family in a major way. In January, Conner opened Smacked! Village in Manhattan and became the first Black-owned legal cannabis store in New York City.

“It was surreal because a lot of the time you try to hide your past, especially when it’s negative,” he told ABC News Live.

Conner’s story is one that New York officials, cannabis reform and criminal justice reform activists said can be replicated across the country to help the generations of Black Americans whose lives were marked by previous marijuana laws.

“We’ve been talking about the opportunity to take what was a tool of systemic racism in some ways being implemented in communities like New York and use it now as a tool for reparative and restorative justice and further opportunity for those communities,” Dasheeda Dawson, the founding director of Cannabis NYC, the city office that oversees legal cannabis businesses, told ABC News.

Last spring, a year after New York State legalized recreational marijuana, New York City Mayor Eric Adams created the Cannabis Equity Program. The program helps New Yorkers who were negatively affected by the state’s previous drug laws obtain a Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensaries license, or a “CAURD.”

At least 30% of the applicants applying for the license must have had a “justice-involved” history related to a previous marijuana arrest and shown entrepreneurial experience, according to state rules.

Dawson noted that the “justice-involved” criteria include applicants who had family members who were arrested on previous marijuana-related charges.

“CAURD is really intended to focus on those who have been directly impacted,” she said.

Conner, who operates Smash! with his family, said his store has helped him grow closer with his son.

“This means something to a lot of men who look like me and those who don’t even look like me,” he said. “Because a lot of times we lose our kids…They [are] like balloons, they get caught in the wind and they’re gone.”

Dawson said customers buy cannabis products for recreational purposes and to treat health issues such as chronic pain.

Arana Hankin-Biggers, the president and co-founder of the cannabis dispensary Union Square Travel Agency, partnered with the nonprofit agency the DOE Fund, which works to help formerly incarcerated New Yorkers learn new skills and get back on their feet, for her CAURD application.

Hankin-Biggers told ABC News that it was just to set up this partnership, where half of the proceeds from the store go to the DOE Fund’s projects.

“There are still over 40,000 in prison, primarily Black men on cannabis charges,” she told ABC News. “There are instances and stories of individuals who had a dime bag and who were arrested and sent to jail for seven years.”

Twenty-two states have legalized recreational marijuana and 13 of those states have implemented social equity programs. Dawson said other states purposely excluded entrepreneurs with previous drug-related records.

“By virtue of the fact that we are prioritizing that group, we are setting a standard not just in the United States, but globally. And that’s where I think New York can really be a pioneer,” she said.

Conner said he was grateful for the opportunity to come back from his past and to help others in the community.

“I made a lot of mistakes now, you know, but being able to correct those mistakes and move forward and be here right now and know the inadequacies is not there… I’m strong,” he said. “I feel powerful.”

Mother accused of abandoning newborn found alive in woods denied bond in ‘Baby India’ case

May 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga.) — A woman accused of putting her newborn in a plastic bag and abandoning her in the Georgia woods nearly four years ago has been denied bond after prosecutors argued she could intimidate potential witnesses in the “Baby India” case.

Karima Jiwani, 40, made her first court appearance Saturday morning after being arrested this week, appearing virtually from the Forsyth County Jail.

The baby girl, known as India, was found alive in good condition in a wooded area in Forsyth County on the night of June 6, 2019, authorities said. A local family told “Good Morning America” at the time they had heard crying and called 911 after finding the newborn in a plastic bag.

Jiwani faces charges including criminal attempt to commit murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, aggravated assault and reckless abandonment. She faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.

Penny Penn, district attorney for the Bell-Forsyth Judicial Circuit, told the court that prosecutors have DNA evidence proving that Jiwani is the biological mother of the child, as well as corroborative evidence including the defendant’s own interview statements in the case.

Penn said evidence will show the baby was “dumped’ on the side of the road approximately 12 to 30 hours after India was born and that there was “no indication that this child was left for anyone else to find.”

“By the defendant’s own statement during the interview, this was a child that she tried to kill,” Penn said. “That was certainly her intent.”

Penn asked that Jiwani be held without bond, saying that the defendant’s husband and children are potential witnesses in the case and that the prosecution is “concerned about the risk of intimidation” if she were to return home.

Defense attorney E. Jay Abt said Jiwani is a stay-at-home mother with three minor children and noted she has no criminal history while arguing for $100,000 bond along with a house arrest and GPS ankle monitor.

“This woman suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis,” Abt told the court. “There are extensive medical records to demonstrate that and ultimately expert testimony to prove that.”

Penn countered that postpartum depression was unlikely to be a factor and that “there is no evidence to suggest that the defendant was suffering from any kind of psychosis.”

Chief Magistrate Keisha Martin Chambless said she did have concerns about the risk of Jiwami fleeing and intimidating witnesses while denying bond at this time.

When the judge asked Jiwani if she had any questions, her defense attorney advised her not to say anything.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 13.

Jiwani, of Forsyth County, was arrested on Thursday following a nearly four-year investigation that saw the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office release body camera footage of the baby’s recovery as they attempted to identify her.

Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman told reporters in a press briefing announcing the arrest on Friday that investigators were able to identify the child’s father through “advanced DNA investigative practice” about 10 months ago. Further DNA evidence confirmed Jiwani to be the child’s biological mother, according to Freeman.

There is currently no evidence to suggest that the child’s father knew of the pregnancy or abandonment, the sheriff said.

Based on interviews with family and medical professionals, Jiwani reportedly had a “history of hidden and concealed pregnancies and surprise births,” and while pregnant with India “went to extremes to conceal this pregnancy,” Freeman said. Investigators have not found any prior criminal acts regarding Jiwani, he said.

Freeman said he would not discuss India besides saying she’s “happy and healthy.”

ABC News’ Jianna Cousin contributed to this report.

Two construction workers killed in massive fire at Charlotte site

May 20, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) — Two construction workers were killed in a massive fire at a Charlotte construction site Thursday, which fire officials said was accidental.

Reginald Johnson, the fire chief for the Charlotte Fire Department, told reporters Friday that the bodies of the two construction workers who were unaccounted for in the five-alarm blaze on Liberty Row Drive were discovered in the wreckage earlier in the morning.

Their identities weren’t publicly released.

The family of one of the victims, Demonte Sherrill, 30, told ABC affiliate WSOC that he was one of the deceased men.

Demonte Sherrill’s parents said he was a good man who worked hard to provide for his four children.

“He got that job, and he was doing real good at it, so I was very, very proud of him,” Sherrill’s father, Terry Campbell, told WSOC.

Over 90 firefighters responded to the residential construction site on Liberty Road around 9 a.m. and within 10 minutes, the blaze grew to five alarms, told reporters Thursday.

“It was a very fast-moving fire [with] high heat conditions well over 2000 degrees. And as a construction site is open, a lot of wood is exposed the fire moved very rapidly,” Johnson said.

Firefighters rescued 15 construction workers from the fire, including one person who was stuck on top of a crane. Johnson said that firefighters had to set up hose lines to protect the crane before they could go and make the rescue.

Johnson also confirmed that two “maydays” were issued after firefighters had issues getting out of the fire while rescuing some of the construction workers.

Johnson told reporters Friday that the fire department’s investigation determined the blaze began accidentally and started in a spray insulation foam trailer on the ground floor.

“We seldom have large fires of this magnitude,” he said.

+ More