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Pence won’t appeal judge’s decision ordering his testimony before grand jury investigating Jan. 6

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence will not appeal a district court ruling and will comply with the grand jury subpoena requesting documents and testimony related to attempts to overturn the 2020 election, his spokesperson said.

“Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law,” his spokesperson, Devin O’Malley, said in a statement.

The top federal judge for the D.C. district court last week rejected former President Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent Pence from testifying before the grand jury, sources told ABC News.

Pence was subpoenaed in February by special counsel Jack Smith to provide documents and testimony related to Smith’s election interference probe, following months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team, sources said.

In addition to claims of executive privilege, Pence’s attorneys had argued that Pence should be exempt from providing records or answering certain questions that align with his duties as president of the Senate overseeing the formal certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

Pence’s team had argued that such communications could run afoul of the Speech and Debate Clause that shields officials in Congress from legal proceedings specifically related to their work.

D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg narrowly upheld parts of that legal challenge, ruling last week that Pence should have to provide answers to the special counsel on any questions that implicate any illegal acts on Trump’s part, according to sources.

Speaking last month with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl for “This Week,” Pence said, “We’re going to respect the decisions of the court, and that may take us all the way to the highest court in the land.”

Smith, a longtime federal prosecutor and former head of the Justice Department’s public integrity section, was tapped in November by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel to oversee the DOJ’s investigation into efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and Trump’s handling of classified materials after leaving office.

Bob Lee, Cash App founder and former Square executive, dead after ‘horrific’ act of violence: DA

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(SAN FRANCISCO) — Bob Lee, Cash App founder and executive at cryptocurrency firm MobileCoin, is dead after a “horrific” act in San Francisco on Tuesday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said on Wednesday.

Police responded to a report of a stabbing early Tuesday, around 2:35 a.m., and found a 43-year-old man suffering from stab wounds, a San Francisco Police Department report said.

The report did not name the victim, but the details matched Lee, who was 43 years old.

Officers called for medics, who transported the victim to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries, the police report said, adding that the victim ultimately died from the injuries.

“We do not tolerate these horrific acts of violence in San Francisco,” Jenkins said.

Lee served as the first chief technology officer at Square, a digital payment company founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

“Bob was a dynamo, a force of nature,” Joshua Goldbard, the CEO of MobileCoin, told ABC News in a statement.

“He was made for the world that is being born right now, he was a child of dreams, and whatever he imagined, no matter how crazy, he made real,” Goldbard added.

During the 2000s, Lee worked at Google, where he helped develop Android.

Cash App and the San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Lee is survived by his wife, Krista, and their two children.

“Bob’s real resume is the hearts and minds he touched in his time on earth,” Goldbard said. “Bob’s legacy is the feeling that you can make a difference if you try, and of course his amazing children.”

LGBTQ group targeted in alleged ‘slaughter’ threat in response to Nashville shooting

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(BALTIMORE) — A Maryland man was charged Tuesday for allegedly threatening the Human Rights Campaign, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights organization, in what police say appears to be a response to the March 27 Nashville, Tennessee, mass shooting at a Christian school.

The man who allegedly threatened the Human Rights Campaign, Adam Michael Nettina, is charged with interstate communications with a threat to injure for allegedly leaving a voicemail on March 28 in which he threatened to “slaughter,” shoot and assault members of the organization.

Authorities say they believe he references the Nashville shooting in his voicemail. Nashville police have said the school shooter identified as transgender, adding the shooter was assigned female at birth but pointed to a social media account linked to the shooter that included use of the pronouns he/him.

“You guys going to shoot up our schools now? Is that how it’s going to be?” the voicemail said, according to DOJ documents.

It continued, “We’re waiting. And if you want a war, we’ll have a war.”

The threat follows concerns from LGBTQ groups about anti-LGBTQ hate and violence.

Some prominent Republicans promoted anti-transgender rhetoric and speculated that the Nashville shooter’s gender identity played a role in the gun violence despite research showing that mass shootings are overwhelmingly committed by cisgender men and that transgender people are four times more likely to be victims of violence.

“The LGBTQ+ community is under attack in statehouses across the country and on social media platforms,” read a statement from Elizabeth Bibi, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, sent to ABC News. “This violent, hateful rhetoric leads to stigma, and stigma leads to physical violence.”

“As we see radical politicians sow hate and fear with anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, we have seen the physical threats to our community multiply – from armed men at Pride parades, to threats of violence against local drag shows at libraries, to bomb threats at children’s hospitals, to the continued rise in fatal violence against members of our community, especially Black transgender women,” Bibi continued.

Advocates say that falsely painting the entire LGBTQ community as inherently dangerous and responsible for the actions of one person will promote violence against the community.

“Every study available shows that transgender and nonbinary people are much more likely to be victims of violence, rather than the perpetrator of it,” the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement following the shooting. “Regardless of the reason for this shooting, the use of violence is reprehensible and we renew our call for common-sense gun safety.”

If convicted, Nettina faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. Legal representation for Nettina was not available.

The case was investigated by the FBI Baltimore Field Office.

The Human Rights Campaign said it received two threatening voicemails late last month.

“We are grateful to law enforcement for acting so quickly to keep our community safe, and we condemn any and all violent words or deeds. We will continue our work to call out those who spread violence, fear and disinformation.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to the report.

Who is Brandon Johnson? Chicago mayoral win is victory for Chicago Teachers Union

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(CHICAGO) — Before his victory speech Tuesday, Chicago’s mayor-elect Brandon Johnson was introduced at the podium by the president of his greatest benefactor: The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). The alliance, which puts the city’s most powerful labor union in tight alignment with the new administration, is a significant departure for Chicago where both sides have traditionally sparred in public and behind closed doors.

“Make no mistake, Chicago is a union town,” Johnson, 47, said after listing the numerous labor organizations that supported his campaign.

A union Johnson did not mention was the Fraternal Order of Police, the powerful organization that backed former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who Johnson claimed a slim victory over, 51% to 49%, late Tuesday.

Chicago mayoral race: Brandon Johnson wins runoff, Paul Vallas concedes
Crime and education emerged as the two primary issues of the six-week campaign with both candidates introducing starkly opposite agendas for both.

Johnson, who taught in the classroom for four years and later served as a Cook County commissioner, worked as a paid organizer for the CTU over the last two administrations. The CTU also raised more than $2 million for Johnson by appropriating a portion of monthly membership dues to a PAC supporting his campaign. Last week a group of Chicago schoolteachers filed an unfair labor practices charge with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board alleging those actions are illegal.

Johnson’s ties with the CTU were seen as vulnerabilities by those who worried he will be too beholden to the powerful union, which represents more than 25,000 members. The CTU’s current five-year contract expires in 2024 and bargaining is expected to start this summer. Other issues at play are continued declines in enrollment and a transition to an elected school board in 2027, which decentralizes power over the school system away from the mayor’s office, where it has remained for the last three administrations.

Although he was little-known as a Cook County commissioner, Johnson first gained notoriety in 2020 when he became active in the police reform movement following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer that spring. Johnson later tried walking back his call to defund the police and pledged he would increase the number of detectives by 200 and not reduce the current number of officers on the approximately 12,000-member force. However, he also said he would not fill the department’s widening gap of beat cops and he would redirect funds to wraparound services like social workers and youth programs.

Chicago logged nearly 700 homicides in 2022, which is lower than those in 2021 — the worst year for shooting deaths since the 1990s — and robberies are up nearly 20%. Like elsewhere in big cities since the COVID-19 pandemic, Chicago crime in the form of carjackings, looting, and muggings became more visible, spreading from concentrated parts of the city to everywhere else, including sleepier neighborhoods that, until recently, were immune from violence.

When Johnson takes office on May 15, he faces having to deal with significant financial challenges. The city’s deficit is nearly $600 million due to mounting pension obligations and drops in tourism, public transit ridership, and retail occupancy.

Johnson campaigned on promising to raise $800 million by imposing a slate of new taxes on airlines, real estate transactions, financial transactions, hotels, and a “head tax” on large companies, which will charge them $4 a month per employee. He also proposed a $40 million “city surcharge” to suburbanites for commuting to the city for work via Metra. According to his website, his plan will make “the suburbs, airlines and ultra-rich pay their fair share.”

On Wednesday, the Chicago Board of Elections said that about 35% of Chicago’s registered voters participated in the election.

John Lennon’s “Lost Weekend” girlfriend May Pang opens up about relationship ahead of documentary

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

The Lost Weekend: A Love Story, opening April 13, is a documentary about John Lennon’s relationship with his personal assistant May Pang. It began in 1973 when Lennon and Yoko Ono were on a break, with Ono encouraging Pang to become her husband’s girlfriend, although Pang wasn’t on board at first.

“I refused,” Pang tells People. “I respected their marriage. I said, ‘That’s not what I want to do.’ I was very happy as a worker.”

When they finally got together, Pang says she cried after their first sexual encounter because she didn’t know “where it was going to lead.” She says Lennon told her, “‘I don’t know where this is going to lead, but let’s just do the jump.'”

They eventually moved in together, and their relationship lasted 18 months. “He was just an interesting person. He really loved everything, and wanted to explore,” Pang says of The Beatles member. “He loved to get up, have his coffee in the morning. He loved blueberry pancakes, he loved swimming. He was just an awesome person who wanted to discover things.”

Lennon and Ono reconciled in 1975, although Pang says she and Lennon continued to see each other until his death in 1980.

“He’d secretly come over to see me. He would say, ‘You know, I still love you,'” she offers. “He said things to me that were really very intimate and you could sense there was something still. It was gnawing at him. It was not a finished situation.”

All in all, Pang seems grateful for the relationship. “The beginning was still raw. Now, I see it as a gift. Our relationship was a gift and it was meant to be,” she says. “I was happy I could give him something that he felt good about, that he never felt before.”

OG ‘Tron’ star Bruce Boxleitner reacts to new ‘TRON’ Lightcycle/Run ride at Disney World

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

“The Grid” awaits you. Not inside your PC, but in Orlando. The new TRON Lightcycle/Run at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom officially powers up this week.

The futuristic thrill ride is based on the groundbreaking 1982 Tron film and its sequel, 2010’s Tron Legacy, recreating the famous lightcycle race sequences, where guests — or “Users,” as they’re known in Tron-speak — strap into their own lightcycle and propel forward on the fastest indoor/outdoor coaster at any Disney theme park.

One of the first to experience the ride? Bruce Boxleitner, who played the title character in the movies.

“We got a little teary-eyed,” Boxleitner tells ABC Audio, adding the attraction represents a homecoming for the beloved franchise. “I’m standing there with Steven Lisberger, the creator of Tron who directed the first movie. I said, ‘Forty-three years, Steven, and they finally, they recognize the amazing thing about this creation.'”

TRON Lightcycle/Run boasts a track stretching more than 3,000 feet and is the largest expansion of the Magic Kingdom in over 10 years. In true Disney fashion, it offers up an immersive experience on all sensory levels.

“I’ve flown in an F-16, I’ve flown in a P-51 Mustang, but I’ve never flown like that connected to the ground,” Boxleitner says.

For fans, the ride offers a look into a past that Boxleitner felt was far, far ahead of its own design. “In 1982 when it came out, I don’t think Hollywood really knew what to do about it,” he says. “But I’m telling you, those kids pumping quarters into those arcade machines got it immediately. Tron keeps plugging along, because I actually think it’s the science fiction we are living.”

Disney World and ABC News are both owned by parent company Disney.

Former Gov. Bill Richardson calls for ‘Brittany Griner-type campaign’ to free WSJ reporter and other American detainees

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Nearly a week after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia, former Gov. Bill Richardson, an expert on political prisoner negotiations, called the journalist’s detention “unacceptable” and spoke about what it may take to free Gershkovich and other Americans detained abroad.

“We’re working on cases in Russia with other Americans that don’t have the celebrity status of Brittney Griner. But what is needed is a Brittney Griner-type campaign that involves the public, that involves international issues. That involves putting pressure on the Russians and our administration to get this done,” Richardson told ABC News.

Griner is a basketball star who was arrested in Russia and detained for 10 months last year before her release in December 2022. Griner was released in a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was detained in the U.S.

Richardson and his namesake center work on behalf of families of political prisoners and hostages in foreign countries. Last week, the Richardson Center helped secure the release of Navy veteran James Frisvold, who was held in Guerrero, Mexico, for 13 years in “de-facto pretrial detention for a crime he did not commit,” the organization said in a news release.

The Richardson Center only gets involved in such cases if the prisoner’s family reaches out to them and requests it, which Gershkovich’s family hasn’t done, Richardson said.

“My foundation works for families at no cost to them, but we don’t want to interfere, and it has to be their request. We work with the [White House] administration, too, but they don’t tell me what to do, but we coordinate with them. So it has to be an overall effort,” Richardson said.

Gershkovich was detained last week in the Russian city of Ekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage. Russia’s Federal Security Service has accused the reporter of spying and collecting “state secrets” — which the White House has called “ridiculous.”

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement it “vehemently denies” the allegations against Gershkovich. More than three dozen of the world’s top media organizations called for Gerskhovich’s release in a letter to Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States.

When asked why he believes Gershkovich is being held, Richardson pointed to the “deterioration” of U.S.-Russia relations. He also views the arrest as a “tit for tat” after the U.S. Justice Department charged Russian national Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov with spying for Russia under the guise of a Brazilian graduate student. The third reason, Richardson said, is that Russia views the case as an “espionage issue.”

“Evan is not a spy. He’s a journalist doing this job. But the Russians have increased level of confrontation with this arrest, and we have to deal with this at the highest level,” Richardson said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Sunday to his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and urged for Gershkovich’s “immediate release,” the State Department said.

Richardson, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Bill Clinton, called for an “international effort,” in Gershkovich’s case, because the issue is not limited to American journalists. “Journalists across the world are being detained,” he said.

Richardson was also involved with recent efforts to bring home WNBA star Brittney Griner and U.S. Marine Trevor Reed.

“The Russians don’t give up anything for free. They want prisoner exchanges. They want Russians in America that are detained,” Richardson said.

There are about 70 wrongfully detained Americans around the world, Richardson said.

Gershkovich has pleaded not guilty to the spying charges. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signs bill repealing 1931 abortion ban

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LANSING, Mich.) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill Wednesday repealing the state’s nearly century-old abortion ban.

Last month, the state’s House and Senate passed HB 4006, a single-sentence bill, which revokes the 1931 law that criminalized abortion.

Specifically, the bill repealed Section 750.14, which makes it a felony — punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000 — to administer drugs that induce a miscarriage unless the mother’s life is in danger.

It also repealed Section 750.15, which makes it a misdemeanor to advertise, publish or sell “any pills, powder, drugs or combination of drugs” that can cause an abortion.

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, questions remained about whether or not the 1931 law would be put back in place.

“Obstetricians, including myself, we were very concerned because we understand that there are a lot of appropriate medical indications for providing medical and surgical abortion for women across the state of Michigan,” Dr. Omari Young, an obstetrician-gynecologist and abortion provider in Michigan, told ABC News. “So, we were not only concerned for the autonomy of women, but also the quality and safety of care because we know that not having access to safe and legal abortion can lead to significant poor health outcomes for women across the state of Michigan.”

Young was part of a team of doctors that advocated for the repeal of the bill and for reproductive access to be protected in the state.

A Michigan state judge ruled in September that the ban is unconstitutional, barring any state prosecutors from enforcing it.

Two months later, in the November mid-term elections, Michiganders voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that would add protections for reproductive rights.

The amendment defines reproductive freedom as “the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management and infertility care.”

Young and several other physicians involved in repealing Michigan’s abortion ban were on hand to watch Whitmer sign the bill.

“It’s a surreal moment but, ultimately, it’s like icing on the cake for all the hard work that Gov. Whitmer, all the policymakers, the advocates, the grassroot workers, and most importantly, the women and patients in the state of Michigan, all that hard work is culminating into this great event, we formally signed a bill to repeal the 1931 ban,” Young said.

Whitmer has openly expressed her support for abortion access in and out of Michigan and signed an executive order in July refusing to extradite women who come to Michigan from other states seeking abortion and refusing to extradite providers for offering the procedure.

“In November, Michiganders sent a clear message: we deserve to make our own decisions about own bodies,” Whitmer said in a statement provided to ABC News. “Today, we are coming together to repeal our extreme 1931 law banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing nurses and doctors for doing their jobs.”

The statement continued, “Standing up for people’s fundamental freedoms is the right thing to do and it’s also just good economics. By getting this done, we will help attract talent and business investment too.”

‘Karma’: Trump’s indictment prompts reaction from Central Park ‘Exonerated Five’

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump called for the return of the death penalty in a series of ads in 1989 amid the case of the “Central Park Five” – five Black and brown boys wrongfully accused of rape and assault in New York City.

More than 30 years later, some of the now-exonerated men say the former president’s indictment is “karma.”

The case known as the “Central Park Five” began on April 19, 1989, when jogger Trisha Meili was raped, brutally beaten and left for dead in the park. She survived and testified, but did not remember her assault.

Five Black and Latino teens — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise — were taken into custody, hounded in police interrogations and ultimately gave false confessions.

Trump took out full page ads in local newspapers days after the attack, calling to “Bring back the death penalty. Bring back our police!” The ads never explicitly call for the death penalty against the then-dubbed “Central Park Five.”

The five were wrongfully convicted of various crimes, but their convictions were vacated in 2002 following a confession from a different man whose admission was affirmed by DNA evidence. Following a settlement between New York City and the five men, Trump said the city should not have settled with the Central Park Five and continued to rail against the men, according to an op-ed he wrote in the Daily News at the time.

In response to Trump’s arraignment, Salaam released a statement on Tuesdsay in the format of Trump’s full-page 1980s ads:

Santana, one of the now-“Exonerated Five,” criticized those who support Trump on Monday, and asked his social media followers to “never forget” Trump’s actions against the five men: “#Neverforget … because we never had a chance to,” said Santana in an Instagram post.

Salaam also spoke on MSNBC last week about Trump’s indictment and the failings of the justice system in the past.

“For someone to say that ‘if they could do it to Trump, they could do it to anyone,’ — they do it to black and brown people all the time,” said Saalam. “The fact that Black and brown people are in prison, have been there for crimes they haven’t commit, like myself, is … a travesty of justice. And the truth of the matter is that we need this legal system to work and I’m excited to see what will happen on Tuesday.”

Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records on Tuesday after being indicted by a Manhattan grand jury last week.

ABC News’ Nakylah Carter contributed to this report.

Jimmy Buffett is the newest member of ‘Forbes’’ World’s Billionaires List

April 5, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Jimmy Buffett is one of the newest members of the billionaires club. The “Margaritaville” singer has landed on Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires List, one of 150 new people making the list this year.

The mag notes that Buffett, who lands on the list at 2,540, has made his $1 billion fortune not only from his music, but from his lucrative Margaritaville brand. The brand includes 150 themed restaurants, more than 30 vacation resorts, and even casinos in Louisiana and Puerto Rico. There’s also plenty of merch, including apparel, pickleball sets, frozen drink mixes and booze, such as Margaritaville tequila and ready-to-drink cocktails.

And there could be even more on the horizon, with his new Margaritaville at Sea cruises to the Caribbean.

Breaking down Buffett’s billion, the mag notes that 56.8% is from cash, with his Margaritaville holdings making up 18% of his fortune and his music catalog another 5%. His fortune also comes from his homes, planes and yacht.

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