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GOP-led Homeland Security panel holds first border hearing, highlighting ‘the human costs’

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans are set this week to once again seize on the issue of U.S. immigration following a trip to see the Biden administration’s border security apparatus firsthand.

On Tuesday, the House Homeland Security Committee — now under Republican control — will hold its first full hearing on immigration since President Joe Biden took office. The panel will bring forth a variety of witnesses, including a mother to two young people who died of opioid overdoes and a hospital executive from Arizona who is expected to testify to the level of uncompensated care provided to migrants who entered the country illegally.

“We’re going to show the human costs to every American,” Chairman Mark Green told ABC News. “We’re going to show the financial costs. We’re going to show the criminal costs.”

Green led members on a trip to the Mexican border last week to meet with regional officials and observe U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations.

“It’s been eye-opening,” he said, adding that he heard extensively from border officials about the diversionary tactics used by criminal smuggling organizations.

After working to roll back many of the hardline immigration measures under former President Donald Trump’s tenure, the Biden administration has more recently instituted policies it says are designed to incentivize lawful and humane travel to the U.S. while maintaining other restrictions, including on asylum.

“Under this administration, our department has been executing a comprehensive strategy to secure our borders and rebuild our immigration system,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in testimony before the House last year.

He contended then that “we inherited a broken and dismantled system that is already under strain.”

Over the past two months, the Biden administration has rolled out a crackdown on asylum claims — drawing the ire of immigration advocates — while ramping up efforts to more quickly expel or deport migrants who illegally cross the southern border.

At the same time, the administration has offered new, yet narrow, pathways for migrants to obtain temporary status in the U.S. that allows them to seek humanitarian protections.

Biden officials maintain that the dual-track approach is essential for deterring frivolous claims for refuge in the U.S. while keeping options open for those fleeing violence and persecution, predominately in Central and South America.

The change in policy is the latest target for Republicans who have repeatedly challenged the administration with legal action over its immigration moves. Last month, 20 states with Republican attorneys general sued to stop some of the Biden administration’s latest immigration policies.

As Republicans have done throughout the Biden administration, the House Homeland Security Committee is expected to link the scourge of opioid deaths to what they claim are security lapses at the border.

GOP critics point out that the vast majority of smuggled narcotics — particularly the ultra-deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl — are trafficked through legal ports of entry. They say the surge in unauthorized migration is a separate matter.

Green told ABC News that criminal organizations are engaging in diversionary tactics, forcing authorities who would otherwise stop smuggling to turn their attention to stopping migrants.

However, the U.S. Border Patrol is a distinct federal agency and guards the vast stretches of land between official border crossing stations. And while the Department of Homeland Security has at times surged resources from elsewhere to address large numbers of migrants, Democrats have also proposed record funding for Border Patrol staffing as well as new resources for ports of entry.

Congress has repeatedly been stymied on passing bipartisan immigration legislation — given the sharp policy differences on the issue, largely among Republicans — much less the level of comprehensive reform called for by nearly every party involved in the debate.

Classified document fallout swirls around nomination hearing for national archivist

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate will once again consider whether to approve President Joe Biden’s nominee to helm the federal agency responsible for maintaining and keeping record of classified documents — as Congress continues to grapple with the fallout over Biden, former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence all retaining classified materials while out of office.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is scheduled on Tuesday to consider the nomination of Colleen Shogan to be the national archivist. Her job description would include management of some of the nation’s most important records, such as classified documents.

Shogan’s hearing comes on the same day that congressional leaders are set to receive a long-anticipated briefing from U.S. officials on the classified documents that have all been found in Biden, Trump and Pence’s possession since last year (in Biden’s case, from his time as a senator and vice president).

Shogan is a career government servant whose resume includes work at the Library of Congress and the White House Historical Association, yet her nomination was caught up last Congress in the ongoing political fight over improper handling of classified documents and subsequent concern among Republicans that the National Archives has become politicized.

“I think there are concerns, there’s a lot of concerns with what is going on at the archives,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, said Monday. “We do want some assurances that people are going to be treated fairly on classified information.”

During a September hearing before the committee, just one month after news first broke that the FBI had searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in search of classified documents, some Republicans used Shogan’s appearance as an opportunity to press her about what they perceived as the politicization of the National Archives.

Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., asked Shogan about the archives’ involvement in the August raid, questioning why the agency’s original document inquiry was turned over to the FBI.

“In an unusual situation, it wasn’t just the FBI carrying out the raid, but it was a request of the National Archives to be able to engage with these records to then trigger something with the FBI,” Lankford said to Shogan. “A raid of a former president’s house is unprecedented, and it puts the entire process on full display to be able to say: How does this happen? Why does this happen? Everyone gets questions on it.”

Shogan was not employed by the National Archives during the Mar-a-Lago search and said she had not been briefed on it as the nominee for her post. She told Lankford she had “no information” about the decision of “sequence of events.” Court documents show the federal government engaged in a lengthy back-and-forth with Trump to retrieve some presidential records he kept from the White House.

“As I understand it, when there is some concern about missing or damaged records in the general at the National Archives, at that point in time, to retrieve the records there is a voluntary exchange of communication with those individuals,” Shogan told Lankford in September. “And as I understand it — once again, I don’t have any past knowledge of this — the vast majority of the time the records are recovered and retrieved.”

During that same hearing, Committee Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., defended Shogan’s independence, touting her as an “extremely well-qualified” candidate for the role.

“In our meetings about your nomination you have demonstrated keen judgement, nonpartisan independence and the necessary capabilities to succeed in this challenging role,” Peters said then.

The committee ultimately deadlocked on Shogan’s nomination, voting 7-7 on whether to advance her to a vote on the Senate floor.

Under the power-sharing agreement of the then-evenly divided chamber, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer could have forced a full vote on Shogan’s nomination. But he never did, leaving vacant a role that has not had a permanent appointee since April 2022.

Biden renominated her for the position, teeing up yet another potentially politically driven showdown on Tuesday.

But the political landscape concerning classified documents has changed drastically since Shogan last appeared before the committee: In the intervening months, classified records have been found at residences for both Biden and Pence — forcing a new bipartisan scrutiny of how issues like this are handled.

During Shogan’s September hearing, many Republicans also took issue with a 2007 academic article she wrote which analyzed presidential speeches and examined “anti-intellectualism” in GOP presidencies.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., took her to task over her analysis.

“You wrote an article saying basically that Republican voters are stupid, that Republican presidents deliberately appeal to anti-intellectualism,” he said.

Yet Shogan stood by her writing. She also repeatedly vowed before the panel to be nonpartisan.

Hawley was not convinced. He said Monday that he’ll likely vote against Shogan again this time around.

“What you want in this role is somebody who is just an archivist, who is just nonpartisan, wants to do the job. The archives has become hugely political,” Hawley said. “That agency needs to be depoliticized, they just need to be able to do their job.”

Lawmakers seek more answers on documents

In the background of Shogan’s nomination hearing is an ongoing effort by the Senate’s intelligence panel to learn more about the contents of classified documents recovered from Biden, Trump and Pence.

U.S. officials are expected to brief congressional leaders, including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner and Vice Chair Marco Rubio, on Tuesday to provide more information on the nature of the records.

That briefing will stop short of giving the lawmakers access to the originally seized documents, something that Warner and Rubio have both demanded.

Peters, the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, has also been tasked by Democratic leadership to work on legislation that could change the way federal records are managed. His efforts on that began last year, during a hearing held on presidential records reform before any of the classified documents were discovered.

It’s unclear if any legislative effort would garner bipartisan support.

Daughter surprises dad by being his kidney donor

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(ST. LOUIS) — For over nine months, Delayne Ivanowski of Kirkwood, Missouri, kept a secret from her dad that ended up saving his life.

Delayne Ivanowski, a 25-year-old nurse at Mercy Hospital in St. Louis, donated her kidney to her dad John Ivanowski, who told his daughter for months that he did not want her to be his donor.

“I told her, I’m not taking your kidney,'” John Ivanowski, 60, told ABC News. “I told her that flat out.”

John Ivanowski was diagnosed two years ago with IgA nephropathy, a type of kidney disease that can lead to kidney failure, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The disease ultimately led John Ivanowski to be on dialysis for four to five hours, four days a week, a quality of life that his daughter said was not right for him.

“He likes to walk my dog and run with my dog and he wants to do all this stuff, but now he’s hooked up to a machine,” she told ABC News. “I don’t think that’s any way that anybody should have to live.”

Delayne Ivanowski said while her dad on dialysis, she made the decision to try to donate her kidney to him, despite his opposition. She said she knew that without her becoming a living donor for her dad, he could wait years to find a donor.

“I was like, ‘I’m going to do it. I don’t care how mad he is at me. I don’t care if he kicks me out of the house or hates me or doesn’t say a word to me for the rest of my life,'” she said. “At least he’ll be living a good life and not hooked up to a machine.”

Without Delayne Ivanowski’s intervention to donate her own kidney, John Ivanowski could have remained on the transplant waiting list for several years, according to his doctor, Dr. Jason Wellen, kidney and pancreas transplant surgical director at the Washington University & Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center.

“There are over 100,000 people in the country right now waiting for a kidney transplant,” Wellen told ABC News. “The one way we can get people transplanted within a few months is if they come to us with a living donor.”

Wellen added that, as a father of three, he understood John Ivanowski’s concern for his own daughter, but said living donors face no additional medical risks.

“We spend a tremendous amount of energy and resources and effort to work on every person that comes forward as a living donor,” he said. “To the point that we feel extremely comfortable knowing that if we approve for them donation, that they’ll have no higher risk for the rest of their life of renal failure or any other medical issues.”

John Ivanowski said his opposition to his daughter donating one of her kidneys to him came from not wanting anything to happen to her, now or in the future. He said he was especially concerned after losing his son, Delayne Ivanowski’s only sibling, to neuroblastoma, a type of cancer, nearly 16 years ago.

“I thought, I lost my boy and if anything happened to Delayne, I don’t know what I would do,” he said. “It was a big concern.”

Knowing her dad’s opposition and concerns, Delayne Ivanowski went through the months-long process of getting approved to be her dad’s kidney donor in secret, even while living at home with him and her mom.

The secret mission, she said, included dozens of phone calls with social workers, doctors and nurses out of hearing range of her dad, as well as undergoing blood work and countless medical tests, often at the same clinic as her dad, all without him knowing.

John Ivanowski said he had no idea what his daughter was up to, but does remember getting the life-changing phone call last August that the transplant team had found him a donor.

“They called me at work and said, ‘We’ve got an anonymous donor,’ and I about dropped the phone and thought are you kidding me?,” he recalled. “People can be on the [kidney waiting] list for five, six, seven, eight years and go through dialysis for that long, and I just couldn’t believe it.”

On the day of the transplant, Feb. 16, the team at Washington University & Barnes-Jewish Transplant Center took special precautions to make sure John Ivanowski would not see his daughter, according to Wellen.

“We had to figure out how to put them in separate areas of the pre-op area and how to make it so they didn’t see each other in the post-op area and make sure that they were in different parts of the floor until she was ready to let him know that she was the donor,” Wellen said. “It took a lot of teamwork and effort behind-the-scenes to respect her request to make sure that he didn’t know it was her.”

After a successful transplant surgery, during which the father and daughter were in side-by-side operating rooms, Delayne Ivanowski and her dad recovered in rooms just steps away from each other on the same floor.

The day after the surgery, John Ivanowski learned his anonymous donor was his daughter when she walked into his room wearing a hospital gown.

“I knew right away,” he said. “I was upset. I was just in shock. I looked at my wife and was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'”

A video Delayne Ivanowski posted of the moment she walked into her dad’s room has gone viral on TikTok, garnering hundreds of thousands of views.

John Ivanowski — who will be on anti-rejection medication for the rest of his life, but no longer needs dialysis — said the shock and anger have since subsided, saying, “I wouldn’t change a thing. I feel so much better.”

Delayne Ivanowski, who should have no lasting side effects or complications from the transplant, said she also wouldn’t change anything about the way she helped her dad, saying, “I’m not good at being told no.”

She said she hopes her family’s story helps raise awareness of the need for organ donation. Over 104,000 people are currently on the waiting list in the United States for a lifesaving organ transplant, according to UNOS.

“If anything, I’ve saved one life and hopefully I can, with awareness and other things, save other lives by encouraging people to become donors or to take that next step and go get the testing done to become a match,” said Delayne Ivanowski. “It hurts, but all the pain is worth it in the end, I think.”

Police urgently search for ‘at risk’ DJ who suddenly vanished last week

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(SAN FRANCISCO) — The San Francisco Police Department is urgently looking for an “at risk” radio DJ who hasn’t been seen or heard from since last Thursday, according to authorities.

Jeffrey Vandergrift, a popular 54-year-old radio DJ for Wild 94.9 — a top 40 radio station that serves the San Francisco Bay area — was last seen at his home in the 200 block of King Street in San Francisco on Thursday, Feb. 23 at approximately 10 p.m., according to a statement issued by the San Francisco Police Department asking for public assistance in locating him.

Vandergrift, who police say is “at risk,” is 6’0” tall, weighs approximately 180 pounds, is bald, has brown eyes and several tattoos, including on his arms and one above his right ear, authorities said.

“As you know, our own JV has been missing since Thursday night and was officially reported missing this past Friday by the SFPD,” Wild 94.9 wrote in a statement on their website published Monday evening. “Since that time, there has been no trackable activity on his cell phone. There has also been no activity on his credit cards or any other banking records. These updates are obviously incredibly worrisome, though we continue to hope and pray for better news.”

Police officer Roberto Rueca of the San Francisco Police Department spoke briefly about the case on Monday afternoon.

“Our investigation involves trying to see any clues for the usage of electronics, seeing the usage of his electronic funds and we’re not disclosing any of that information that we may or may not have found but that is part of the investigation,” Rueca said, according to ABC News’ San Francisco station KGO-TV.

Anyone who has any information about Vandegrift is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444.

Many listeners tuned in on Monday morning to get the latest info on the DJ’s disappearance, with many expressing hope that he would be found safely.

“I’m keeping hope alive,” said one listener, according to KGO.

“JV, if you’re out there listening, we love you buddy,” said another.

“Let’s continue to please think of his wife, his family, his mom, his sister, his brother, his nephews, his goddaughter, everyone,” said one of his on-air radio colleagues.

Said Wild 94.9: “We are continuing to work closely with JV’s wife Natasha as well as the police department. JV is loved by everyone here at Wild 94-9 and iHeartMedia, and we know he is equally beloved by his bay area listening family. We are asking for your continued prayers for both JV, his wife Natasha, and his entire family.”

California Lottery says $2 billion Powerball winner is legitimate, amid claim ticket was stolen

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

California Lottery says billion Powerball winner is legitimate, amid claim ticket was stolen

(NEW YORK) — The California Lottery is maintaining it verified the rightful winner of the record-breaking $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot, after a man claimed he had the winning ticket before it was stolen from him.

In a lawsuit filed on Feb. 22 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Jose Rivera claimed he purchased the winning ticket at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena the day before the drawing, but it was stolen by someone named “Reggie” who is a defendant in the suit, on the same day.

State officials pushed back against Rivera’s claim that he is the lottery winner, reiterating that Edwin Castro is the proper winner, as it announced on Feb. 14.

“When it comes to the vetting process for big winners, California Lottery has the utmost confidence in its process for doing so,” Carolyn Becker, a spokesperson for the California Lottery, told ABC News in a statement. “California Lottery remains confident that Edwin Castro is the rightful winner of the $2.04 billion prize stemming from the Powerball drawing in November of 2022.”

Rivera reportedly asked Reggie to return the ticket to him after the winning numbers were announced, but he refused, claiming that Reggie was trying to blackmail him into splitting the jackpot 50/50, according to the lawsuit.

Rivera said he does not know the real name of Reggie, which is a fictitious name, according to the lawsuit.

“The true names … are unknown to plaintiff at this time and, therefore, plaintiff sues said defendants by said fictitious names, and when the true names and capacities of said defendant are ascertained, plaintiff will amend this complaint accordingly,” the suit said.

The California Lottery announced Castro won $2.04 billion after he bought the winning ticket at Joe’s Service Center ahead of the Nov. 8 drawing.

According to the complaint, Rivera submitted a claim to the California Lottery after learning that Castro was the winner, saying that his ticket was stolen and that his win needed to be investigated by authorities and the California Lottery.

The California Lottery told ABC News in a statement that it isn’t “authorized to investigate criminal activity among its players” and that investigations are left up by local law enforcement officials.

It added, “should a local law enforcement agency investigate such allegations, Lottery’s only role is to assist in the matter by answering questions and/or providing evidence as allowed under the law.”

In a Feb. 17 letter to the California Lottery, Rivera requested to view the video of the winning ticket being purchased.

“Rivera is willing to fully cooperate with your investigation, including meeting with your investigators to give a detailed statement concerning the purchase and theft of the ticket, along with threats of blackmail,” the letter said, according to the lawsuit. “We request an opportunity to view the video depicting the date and time of the purchase of the winning lottery ticket at Joe’s Service Center in Altadena, California, where Mr. Rivera purchased the ticket on November 7, 2022. We also look forward to viewing any video that purports to depict Edwin Castro purchasing the winning ticket.”

Rivera’s lawyers did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Castro did not appear publicly when claiming the ticket, choosing to remain private, but said in a statement that he was “shocked and ecstatic to have won” and was happy that his win would be financially beneficial for the state’s public education system, according to the California Lottery.

Castro took the cash value of his winnings, totaling $997.6 million, state officials said in a press release.

Rivera’s lawsuit names California, the state’s lottery commission, Castro and Reggie as defendants.

US Marshals Service hit with ransomware attack

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States Marshals Service (USMS) was hit with a ransomware attack, the agency said in a statement. The incident occurred on Feb. 17, and “officials determined that it constitutes a major incident,” according to an agency spokesperson.

Ransomware is a type of malware that locks up computer systems until a “ransom” is paid to unlock the system.

“Shortly after that discovery, the USMS disconnected the affected system, and the Department of Justice initiated a forensic investigation,” according to the spokesperson. “The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees.”

The nation’s oldest law enforcement agency did not say who was behind the attack nor did they say if they paid the ransom to unlock the affected system.

The government warns against paying the ransom.

The USMS released a statement regarding the ransomware attack acknowledging that a current investigation is underway.

“The Department’s remediation efforts and criminal and forensic investigations are ongoing. We are working swiftly and effectively to mitigate any potential risks as a result of the incident,” the agency said.

“Brown Eyes Baby” and “Wild Hearts” are the building blocks for Keith Urban’s next album

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

When Keith Urban discovered “Wild Hearts,” it unexpectedly became one of the building blocks for his 12th studio album. That’s because the top five hit isn’t on his current album, The Speed of Now Part 1, and at the time, the record hadn’t even been out a year.

The Australian superstar followed that with another non-album single, his current hit, “Brown Eyes Baby.” Together, the two songs formed the basis for what’s next.

“‘Wild Hearts’ is the first single, ‘Brown Eyes Baby’ is the second single,” Keith says of what’s to come. “There is somewhat of a thematic, creative context that I started to find songs all coming towards what will be this next project.”

Ultimately, Keith’s next record is fueled by the ingenuity of Music City.

“Nashville is an incredibly creative community and I’ve had the opportunity to travel everywhere and write with all kinds of people and work with different people all over the, really all over the world,” Keith points out. “And I’ve been so heartened to remember how much insane talent is here in Nashville: writers, engineers, players, producers, etc.”

“So there was a concerted effort on my part to look and find these songs that all came together with all of that criteria. That’s somewhat of the common thread that’s coming in this next album,” he reveals.

So far, we don’t have any indication when Keith’s next offering will arrive.

25 years ago, Céline Dion’s “Heart” went on … to hit number one

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Twenty-five years ago, on February 28, 1998, Céline Dion’s Titanic single, “My Heart Will Go On,” debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

Céline originally rejected the song, written by James Horner and Will Jennings, because she didn’t like it and had already done two movie songs: “Beauty and the Beast” and “Because You Loved Me.” However, her husband and manager, René Angélil, convinced her to record a demo just to hear what it sounded like.

Her vocal on that demo, recorded in one take, is the one you hear in the film, though Céline ended up rerecording it for her album after the movie’s release. As she told reporters in 2017, “I only sang it once!”

Though “My Heart Will Go On” only topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, it spent 10 weeks at number one on the publication’s radio airplay chart. It garnered what was at the time the largest radio audience in history: 117 million listeners. It was also the world’s best-selling single in 1998.

“My Heart Will Go On” has become Céline’s signature song and her most-streamed track. It won four Grammys, as well as the Best Original Song Oscar. With 18 million sales worldwide, it’s the second bestselling physical single ever by a woman, second only to Whitney Houston‘s “I Will Always Love You.”

In 2017, Celine performed “My Heart Will Go On” at the Billboard Music Awards to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Titanic. Backstage, she told reporters, “I’m so glad that none of them listened to me [when I said] that I didn’t wanna record it. Thank God!”

Forget ‘The White Lotus’: Haley Lu Richardson says JoBros’ video role is “the biggest thing of my life”

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Haley Lu Richardson may have starred in one of the most acclaimed series of the year — The White Lotus — but right now the only thing on her resume that matters to her is her role in “Wings,” the new video by the Jonas Brothers.

In December, Haley was outed as a JoBros superfan by James Corden, who got Nick Jonas to call in to The Late Late Show to surprise Haley while she was a guest. That apparently led to the offer of the video job.

At the Screen Actors Guild Awards over the weekend, Haley told The Hollywood Reporter that she got a call out of nowhere while she was driving. It was Joe Jonas saying, “Me and my brothers just had this idea about this video. So, uh, give me a call back.’”

Haley admitted she replayed the message 12 more times, pulled the car over, played it another 20 times and then cried. She eventually called Joe back: “I would do anything for him. Literally anything. And then I met them and was in this video.”

“It’s the biggest thing of my life,” she added. “It’s the biggest role of my career: past, present and future. It was amazing and I cried for three days straight.”

She laughed, “Everybody’s like, ‘How does it feel to be on The White Lotus?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s cool, but the Jonas Brothers, though? That’s cool.'”

In the video, Haley plays one of a group of four girls recovering from a night of partying in Las Vegas. As they dance around their hotel suite, they kiss cardboard cutouts of the Jonas Brothers, but when they actually meet Joe, Kevin and Nick in an elevator, they’re rendered speechless.

Celebrations planned for 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’

February 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

April 20 marks the 50th anniversary of David Bowie’s classic album Aladdin Sane. The Southbank Centre in London will be celebrating with a slew of events, including live performances and a monthlong exhibition dedicated to the album’s iconic artwork.

The artwork exhibition is set to run from April 6 to May 28. It was curated by Chris Duffy, the son of photographer Brian Duffy, who shot the cover, and Geoff Marsh.

“My father’s image of Bowie is often called the Mona Lisa of Pop,” Chris shares. “It’s extraordinary how it’s lasted and been endlessly reworked. Wherever I go in the world, it’s always somewhere on a t-shirt.”

The celebration will also include a tribute concert to Aladdin Sane on April 21 at the Royal Festival Hall, featuring Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, Mercury Prize nominee Anna Calvi and others performing the album in full.

Other planned events include a free display celebrating Bowie’s history with the Southbank Centre, dance parties, talks and poetry events.

A full list of Aladdin Sane events, plus ticket information, can be found at southbankcentre.co.uk.

News of the Aladdin Sane celebrations comes just days after it was revealed that 80,000 objects from Bowie’s archives have been acquired by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, the largest donation in the museum’s history. The archive will eventually be housed in the V&A’s new site at East London’s Olympic Park, in The David Bowie Centre for the Study of Performing Arts. It is expected to open in 2025.

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