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Biden, Obama and Trump to hold dueling midterm rallies in Pennsylvania

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — Pennsylvania’s staking its claim as center of the political universe this weekend as presidents past and present campaign for their candidates ahead of midterms Election Day.

President Joe Biden and Barack Obama are teaming up Saturday to stump for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro and Senate candidate John Fetterman in Philadelphia at 5 p.m. ET.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump will be in Latrobe, where he’s holding a 7 p.m. rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport for Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz.

“They don’t call it the Keystone State for nothing,” said David Dix, a Philadelphia-based political strategist who has worked on Republican and Democratic campaigns, about the 11th-hour attention from both sides. “Once again, Pennsylvania is the political epicenter of the country and the balance of the House and Senate weigh from here on Tuesday.”

“It’s just another indicator that we are a deep purple state that makes up our mind late and oftentimes does split the ticket among Democrats and Republicans,” Dix added.

Pennsylvania’s marquee Senate race could determine which party wins control of the chamber. Republicans need to gain just one seat to become the majority, as Democrats currently control the 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris acting as the tie-breaker.

“That race has been on the razor’s edge for a long time,” said Christopher Nicholas, a longtime Republican strategist in Pennsylvania.

The margin between Fetterman and Oz is getting tighter by the day, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average, with the two candidates separated by just 0.4 percentage points.

Fetterman spoke to the hosts of “The View” on Friday about the contest, first celebrating an 11th-hour endorsement from Oprah Winfrey — whose daytime show helped launch Oz as “America’s doctor” in the 2000s. “It’s unbelievable,” Fetterman said.

In a message to voters, Fetterman pitched himself as a lifelong public servant while accusing Oz “essentially using Pennsylvania” and attempted to buy the seat.

Oz, in a closing pitch at a rally in Elizabethtown on Wednesday, described himself as an agent of change and encouraged attendees to tell neighbors about his message on the economy, crime and the border.

“There are three topics that I have spent my campaign dwelling on,” he said. “They are the kitchen table issues that every family in Pennsylvania has talked about.”

The gubernatorial race between Shapiro and Mastriano is another contentious race, and one of the biggest tests of Trump’s election denialism on the ballot this cycle.

Mastriano, a Republican state legislator, attended Trump’s Jan. 6 rally just before the Capitol attack and has continued to spread the former president’s lies about the 2020 election results.

FiveThirtyEight’s polling average shows Mastriano behind in the race by roughly 10 percentage points.

Biden has campaigned heavily in Pennsylvania this year, and in this final stop in Philadelphia he and Obama will look to boost Democratic enthusiasm in a key area of the state.

“Democrats view it as crucial to get as high a turnout as possible in the city, especially among the Black community” said Nicholas. “That’s always the target for them.”

Biden’s success in the Democratic strongholds Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and their neighboring suburbs, ultimately led to his win there in 2020 over Trump.

Trump last visited Pennsylvania in September, when he held a rally for Oz and Mastriano in Wilkes-Barre. The stakes are high for the former president, who is laying the groundwork for a 2024 campaign and could make an announcement as soon as the week of Nov. 14, according to sources.

“Latrobe is essentially the epicenter of Republican turnout,” Dix said, noting nearby Allegheny County probably has more registered Republicans “than anywhere else in the state.”

“I certainly understand the strategy and why the former president decided to rally there,” Dix said.

– ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

Why run a marathon? Pro-athletes and psychologists explain

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Every year, there’s a new story about someone crawling, being lifted, or not even making it to the finish line of a marathon.

And every year, as spectators watch in awe as thousands of athletes run a grueling, painful 26.2 miles in the TCS New York City Marathon, they may be asking themselves: Why do people choose to do this?

ABC News went to the professionals to ask why they put their bodies through this –if not for the grand prize and title at the end.

When asked “Why do people do this?,” Tatyana McFadden, a five-time TCS New York City Marathon champion and 20-time Paralympic medalist, said she asks herself the same thing.

“When it’s so tough, you’re like, ‘Oh, my God, why did I put my body through this?'” she said to ABC News. Many of the runners are running with a charity or fundraiser, she pointed out, meaning the connection to the race can be much deeper than a personal achievement. “It’s very emotional … Everyone is running for something, running for some cause.”

Zackary Harris, the inaugural nonbinary division winner in the race’s history, said they love the way it challenges their body and mind. They sometimes have to literally yell at themselves to keep their “feet up, head up” to make it through the race even when their body wants to stop.

“Running a marathon puts every single facet in your mind to its ultimate test, like, your body is pushed to its limits, your mind is pushed to its limit,” Harris said to ABC News. “Throughout the course, you’re having all these internal struggles with yourself. But then once you finally get to the finish line, it’s like this sense of pure accomplishment that I don’t think get happens in a lot of other athletic events.”

Daniel Do Nascimento, an Olympian and Americas’ marathon record-holder from Brazil, told ABC News that he never thought initially he’d be breaking records, let alone running for two hours directly.

“I thought I’d run for an hour, and then I did another hour … and I felt so good,” Do Nascimento said. That rhythm grew, until he ran with the best in the world and broke the Americas marathon record in 2022. It made him feel powerful, he told ABC News.

For Matt Llano, the first openly gay American professional runner, the sport is all about perseverance and community.

“You see just so many stories of triumph, and people who’ve gone through so many different things to get there on that day,” Llano said to ABC News, describing the tearful, jubilant joy of people as they collapse crossing the finish line, or throw their hands up and cheer. “It just makes you think back on your own journey and what you have overcome to get to that starting line. Everybody has something, whether they think they do or not.”

Llano said that the running community plays a key role in his love for the sport, and the growing inclusivity within it is a bright spot for him to connect with other athletes — The NYC Marathon has been deemed a “safe space” for LGBTQ runners.

For non-professionals, who spend lots of time icing and massaging out their soreness before and after the marathon, the question of “why” may still be hanging in the air.

11-time-marathon-runner and psychology professor Glenn Geher told ABC News that though the reasons for racing are different for everyone, there are some common threads that weave all marathon runners together.

Firstly, the “runner’s high” is no myth as the hormonal aspect of marathon running plays a big role in why people feel compelled to join in. Running is known for giving athletes a rush of endorphins, and crossing the finish line of an hourslong race can be described by some as euphoric.

That feeling of pure achievement after months of training is undeniable and the hoards of spectators cheering certainly helps, Geher said.

“In reality, completing a marathon is not the impressive part (although it is the glorified part),” he said. Instead, he applauds the hours and hours of training that builds up into the final race day. “Effectively training for a marathon is really what’s impressive — and that end of things often goes unseen.”

Geher added that completing a marathon is also a way to socially signal one’s traits on dedication, discipline and time management — all required for getting through a successful race.

“I work with a lot of people in different contexts and different groups. You want people who are diligent, you want people who are hardworking, you want people who are gonna … ‘go the extra mile.’ Marathon finishers fit all those details in a very profound way,” Geher said.

Runners may also be inclined to run a marathon because, evolutionarily, walking or running long distances is in our blood, Geher said.

“Everyone was [nomadic,] and while nomads don’t run marathons, it is not uncommon for a nomadic group to travel as far as 20 miles in a day,” Geher, who specialized in evolutionary psychology, said. “Especially when [humans were] hunters, they weren’t faster than a lot of the game that they were chasing ,right? They had more endurance. So it does seem like to some extent long distance running, maybe not marathon running per se, but long distance running does seem to have a long history in the human evolutionary experience.”

In Pennsylvania Senate race, Fetterman, Oz make last-minute push for Black voters

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — Last weekend, John Fetterman, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, spent the penultimate Saturday before Election Day traversing Philadelphia, dedicating the entire day to campaigning in the city with a vote share he should have little problem winning. Rich with Democrats, the City of Brotherly Love went to President Joe Biden by more than 60 points in 2020.

The investment in Pennsylvania’s largest city, where more than four in 10 residents identify as Black, reflects an urgency to energize urban Black voters in the final days of a campaign that could decide control of Congress’ upper chamber.

Black voters in the United States overwhelmingly vote for Democratic candidates, including Biden, who received more than 90% of their vote in 2020, according to a Pew post-election analysis.

But some Black leaders in Pennsylvania fear that Democrats are taking the community for granted, a concern expressed in past cycles across the country.

Over the course of seven stops, Fetterman appeared with local and national Black leaders, including New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, state representative Malcolm Kenyatta, and Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke. He visited Black faith leaders, spoke outside a West Philadelphia grocery store, and rallied in front of a few hundred students at Temple University.

“I think this is where the election is going to be won,” Kenyatta, who represents the majority-Black North Philadelphia district that includes Temple, said in an interview after joining Fetterman at the rally, which drew mostly white attendees.

Kadida Kenner, CEO of the New Pennsylvania Project, a voting rights organization that has registered 20,000 people across the state this year, stressed the importance of Fetterman turning out Black voters.

“No Democrat is going to win a statewide election in Pennsylvania without the Black vote,” Kenner told ABC News. “And the margin has to be run up in Philadelphia, it has to be run up in the [Philadelphia suburbs], and it has to be run up in Pittsburgh.”

For more from ABC News’ team of reporters embedded in battleground states, watch “Power Trip: Those Seeking Power and Those Who Chase Them” on Hulu, with new episodes on Sunday.

Fetterman holds a sizable lead over his Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, with Black voters: a New York Times/Siena poll earlier this month showed that 86% of registered Black voters in Pennsylvania plan to vote for Fetterman versus just 6% for Oz.

But that number lags behind Biden’s 2020 vote share, and the same poll found that just 63% of Black voters hold a very or somewhat favorable view of the lieutenant governor.

Those numbers may partly reflect the fact that Fetterman did not hold a public campaign event in Philadelphia until September, an absence some voters noticed.

“No,” Olivia Jarrett, a 31-year-old veteran who is Black, said when asked by ABC News if she thought Fetterman had spent enough time in the city.

“I don’t know what Fetterman does,” she said, while filling up her car at a North Philadelphia gas station.

But Jarrett, a Democrat, declared she would not vote for Oz because of his position on restricting abortion rights.

Kenner insisted it is imperative for Fetterman to spend more time in Philadelphia before Election Day.

“He needs to spend 40% of his time here in Philadelphia and make sure that Philadelphia voters are coming out and that they’re not apathetic about this entire election and that they’re feeling as though their needs are going to be met by a candidate coming to them and saying, ‘This is what I’m going to do for Philadelphia,'” she said, when ABC News spoke with her on Monday.

Fetterman has not held a public event in Philadelphia this week but will campaign there on Saturday with Biden and former President Barack Obama. He has held multiple events this week in the surrounding suburbs and will attend a rally in Pittsburgh Saturday with Obama.

In a press release recapping last weekend’s Philadelphia swing, the Fetterman campaign noted multiple other stops — which were not advised to the media — that the candidate has made in the city in recent weeks.

Democrats in the state believe that no matter his footprint in Philadelphia, Fetterman’s economic messaging should resonate with voters there.

“I think Fetterman, to his credit, from really the early stages of the campaign, has been focused on having a core economic message and plan,” said J.J. Abbott, a party strategist, who said the lieutenant governor’s policy positions — such as raising the minimum wage and fighting price gouging — are “really powerful” in Philadelphia.

Oz, meanwhile, has tried to woo Black voters by pledging to reduce the level of crime and drug use in Philadelphia, holding multiple “Safer Streets” discussions and walking through a neighborhood rampant with drug use and homelessness, where he helped several self-declared addicts register for detox admission.

That visit resonated with James, a retired health care worker in Philadelphia, who is Black and declined to give his last name.

“He showed a lot of compassion that I hadn’t seen,” said James, a Democrat who said he is still deciding which Senate candidate to vote for.

“They made him out to be an outsider, which he is, you know. But that struck me, going down there and showing compassion to the people on drugs and people struggling. That kind of struck me with Oz,” he added.

Oz’s attempts at courting Black voters have not come without controversy, however. In a September “Safer Streets” forum, he comforted an attendee, Sheila Armstrong, whom the campaign did not disclose at the time was a paid staffer. The lack of transparency drew a rebuke from the Fetterman campaign.

The Oz campaign shot back.

“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the racist attacks on Sheila Armstrong by John Fetterman’s campaign manager Brendan McPhillips. For a white man to attempt to diminish the experience of an African-American woman – who lost her brother and nephew to gun violence – because of her support for Doctor Oz plays into tired tropes about Black women not being able to think for themselves,” said Barney Keller, a senior adviser to the Oz campaign.

As for Fetterman’s efforts in Philadelphia, James said a recent appearance with Rep. Dwight Evans seemed like a “photo op.” He added that the lieutenant governor’s visits to Philadelphia in the campaign’s final days “might be too little, too late.”

But for Lotus Hines, a 42-year-old Black hospital worker and a Democrat, how Fetterman has divided his time on the trail means little.

“It really doesn’t make a difference to me where he hasn’t been,” she told ABC News, adding that Fetterman has her vote.

Will McDuffie is one of seven ABC News campaign reporters embedded in battleground states across the country. Watch all the twists and turns of covering the midterm elections every Sunday on Hulu’s “Power Trip: Those Seeking Power and Those Who Chase Them” with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.

Explainer: How law enforcement is responding to election threats around the country

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Election security is on the minds of many Americans in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections. The aftermath of the 2020 elections coupled with an increased threat of foreign interference through election tampering, fraud, and intimidation have forced the federal government to create an election security umbrella that never existed before.

That umbrella is, in large measure, coordinated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) with support from the Department of Homeland Security’s Critical Security and Infrastructure Agency as well as the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. military Cyber Command.

For the FBI, the threats can be in person, in writing, via phone, or made online. They can include:
– Voter suppression, where bad actors spread disinformation about voting using various methods such as social media platforms, texting, or peer-to-peer messaging applications on smartphones. They may provide misleading information about the time, manner, or place of voting. This can include inaccurate election dates or false claims about voting qualifications or methods, such as false information suggesting that one may vote by text, which is not allowed in any U.S. jurisdiction.

– Threats against election workers, which includes any threat to an election worker or volunteer that causes fear, danger or intimidation.

– Voter fraud, by giving false information when registering to vote (such as false citizenship claims), by voting when ineligible to vote, and by voting more than once or using someone else’s name to vote.

– Election fraud, which includes changing a ballot tally or engaging in other corrupt behavior as an elections official; providing a voter with money or something of value in exchange for voting for a specific candidate or party in a federal election; threatening a voter with physical or financial harm if they don’t vote or don’t vote a certain way; and trying to prevent qualified voters from voting by lying about the time, date, or place of an election, i.e., voter suppression.

– Campaign fraud, which includes excessive campaign contributions above the legal limit, conduit contributions or straw donor schemes, contributions from prohibited sources, cording between Super PACs and independent expenditure organizations and a candidate’s campaign, and using campaign funds for personal or unauthorized use.

The threats can emanate from domestic and foreign sources, including state and non-state actors and radical U.S.-based groups. In every case, these attempts are meant to sway voters and the election process in one direction or another.

In August of 2020, then-Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanna warned that China, Russia and Iran were attempting to sway American voters and influence the election. The same holds true today as these same state actors, once again, are trying to usurp the U.S. election process.

To combat this, in addition to its broad partnerships, the FBI has created a robust and expansive election intelligence effort aimed at identifying and mitigating any threat to the election process. This includes the creation of the Foreign Influence Task Forces, which brought the FBI’s national security and traditional criminal investigative expertise under one umbrella to prevent foreign influence in our elections.

Additionally, as has been done in the past, on Election Day the FBI will spin up command posts across the nation that will monitor and respond to investigative tips as well as real time election issues.

These command posts are staffed by investigators and analysts from the FBI and its partners, including local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, that coordinate and work together to thwart any evidence of election tampering, fraud or abuse.

Since all alleged Election Day offenses get referred to the FBI for investigation and potential prosecution by the Department of Justice, the Justice Department will run a nationwide Election Day Program, where an assistant U.S. attorney is appointed by the United States attorney in that district as the election coordinator.

All of this is in an effort to ensure that the election is safe and that any nefarious actors are identified and stopped, in order to protect the voting process.

Donald J. Mihalek is an ABC News contributor, retired senior Secret Service agent and regional field training instructor who served during two presidential transitions and multiple campaigns. He was also a police officer and served in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves.

Richard Frankel is an ABC News contributor and retired FBI special agent who was the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark Division and prior to that, the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force. He was also the Associate Director of a National Intelligence / Senior FBI Detailee to the Office of the Director National intelligence.

Uvalde community split on gun control months after Robb Elementary shooting

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UVALDE, Texas) — Nearly six months after a gunman armed with an AR-15 killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the community remains divided on the topic of gun control.

Many of Uvalde’s families have grown up hunting, so guns have been built into the county’s culture and economic lifeblood for generations.

But the May 24 school shooting has left some longtime residents and gun owners rethinking their views. Jesse Rizo, a Uvalde rancher who lost his 9-year-old niece Jackie Cazares in the shooting, told ABC News that the shooting showed residents that they need to take a head-on approach to address the problem.

“It’s something that was dormant. It’s something that nobody wanted to touch. But now it’s inevitable,” he told ABC News.

Some residents, however, contend the shooting may prompt gun control actions that they say go too far.

“I really, I really don’t feel like banning any gun is going to solve any problem,” Jason Molitor, who owns Ox Ranch, an exotic-game hunting property outside of Uvalde, told ABC News.

Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.

Rizo and other gun control advocates contend that the solutions they’re pushing for won’t be a burden for those businesses and will save lives.

Rizo, who has been vocal in town meetings and rallies over the past six months, said that the difference in opinions on gun control is part of the pain that the Uvalde community is facing since the massacre.

“I don’t know one person here who didn’t grow up without a weapon at a young age. All of us. All my friends,” he said.

Molitor said he held his first firearm when he was 5 and shot his first deer three years later. The rancher said he uses his AR-15s to hunt hogs, contending that the assault rifle is the best way to shoot the passel.

“We consider the pigs as an invasive species, a nuisance, and they multiply,” he said. “You want the larger capacity magazines so we can try to get more of them.”

Molitor, who noted that one of his ranch employees lost his son in the Robb Elementary shooting, said he supported some gun control policies such as raising the age to purchase a firearm and more background checks, but he opposed proposals to ban assault rifles.

He said such a move could affect his business and other hunting ranches in the area, which he estimated drives $10 million to $12 million into the Uvalde economy.

“We’d like to see something done to stop [mass shootings] from happening, but as far as starting to take guns and guns rights away from people? That’s just a slippery slope that I think really concerns a lot of gun owners,” Molitor said.

Gun control activists and some of the families impacted by the shooting have called for policies such as banning assault rifles like the one used in the shooting, increasing the legal age for purchasing a firearm and stricter background checks.

Rizo said arguments about taking a person’s gun away are scare tactics spread by the opponents of control policies.

He added that the shooting and the death of his niece made him and his family see the issue in a different spectrum, and he urged other residents to hear the families out.

“The main focus should be on the children and on the teachers that lost their lives that day. If you can keep that as your compass and as your guiding light, then that’s what’s important,” Rizo said.

Rizo acknowledged that it will take a lot of time and a lot of work before residents can find that common ground on gun control, but he said, “with patience, people begin to understand each other.”

In the meantime, Rizo said he is considering donating his hunting ranch and turning it into a memorial for the Robb Elementary victims.

“I want to give the community,” he said. “I want to give them hope and inspiration.”

Travis Barker gets new tattoo in honor of late dog, Blue

November 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Travis Barker‘s latest tattoo honors his late dog, Blue.

In an Instagram post, the Blink-182 drummer shares photos of the new ink, which features Blue’s face on his leg.

“Grateful for this tattoo…honoring my boy Blue,” Barker writes in the caption.

Barker revealed the news of Blue’s passing earlier this week, writing that the French bulldog was “the best dog.”

“I was always waiting for you to say something,” Barker shared. “Love you 4ever boy.”

Earlier this year, Barker got a hawk tattoo on his ankle as a tribute to late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Music notes: Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera and more

November 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Taylor Swift is showing support for her bestie Selena Gomez’s new Apple TV+ documentary, Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me. Taylor wrote on her Instagram Story Friday, “So proud of you @selenagomez. Love you forever.”

Britney Spears is railing against her dad, Jamie Spears, on Instagram again. The singer writes that she’s now able to take cash out of ATMs and go to spas, things she was unable to do under what she calls her dad’s “slave treatment program.”

Christina Aguilera is looking back at some of her most iconic music video looks in a new video with Allure. In the clip, she breaks down her memorable fashion moments, from “Lady Marmalade” to “Dirrty” to “Beautiful.”

Lindsay Lohan has officially released a cover of “Jingle Bell Rock.” While she famously danced to the song during the talent show scene in Mean Girls, she’ll also be singing it in her upcoming Netflix holiday film, Falling for Christmas. The cover is first song Lindsay’s released since 2020’s “Back to Me.”

Music notes: Taylor Swift, Rob Thomas, Shania Twain and more

November 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Time to break out the holiday tunes: Rob Thomas‘ holiday album, Something About Christmas Time, is giving you one more way to listen. It was released on exclusive red vinyl Friday.

Shania Twain is celebrating the 25th anniversary of Come on Over. The album went on to become the biggest selling studio album by a female artist of all time and featured the hits “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!,” “You’re Still the One,” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “From This Moment.”

Ryan Reynolds jabs pal Nick Cannon over 11th baby news

November 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

When Nick Cannon shared an Instagram photo with his very pregnant girlfriend Alyssa Scott, his pal Ryan Reynolds tweaked him on the good news.

Cannon is expecting his 11th baby with Scott, his second with the model. The pair had a son, Zen, who died of cancer at 5 months old in December 2021.

Reynolds retweeted a People story about the new baby, joking, “We’re gonna need a bigger bottle.”

It’s a double-edged joke: One, a Jaws reference, and another a callback to way back in June of this year — when Cannon was only a dad of eight. He took part in a Father’s Day video with Aviation Gin CEO Reynolds, who had him mix a cocktail known as an Aviation Vasectomy. “Yes, it’s delicious, but the Aviation Vasectomy is clearly not yet 100% effective,” Reynolds warned.

Cannon’s baby news comes after he recently welcomed his ninth baby, his first with girlfriend LaNisha Cole, and then his 10th, his third with Brittany Bell.

Quentin Tarantino won’t make a Marvel movie

November 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Quentin Tarantino won’t be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a director. At least that’s the word from the Oscar-winning screenwriter and Pulp Fiction director to the Los Angeles Times.

While promoting his new book, Cinema Speculation, Tarantino says he wouldn’t be able to put his unique spin on the material if he did a Marvel movie. “I’m not a hired hand. I’m not looking for a job,” he said.

While he admits he was being “snarky” in his book in saying filmmakers “can’t wait” for the superhero movie boom to deflate, but admits the situation is like the one filmmakers in the 1960s went through when movie musicals were all the rage.

“The analogy works because it’s a similar chokehold” on the industry in terms of theatrical content nowadays, he says.

Unlike Martin Scorsese — who derided superhero movies as “not cinema” — Tarantino didn’t directly diss the superhero genre. However, the Once Upon a Time In Hollywood director says he just thinks big budget event movies are “not necessarily my favorite type of film.”

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