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Green living: How families can save money and reduce food waste

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After working for seven years in the corporate world as an aerospace engineer, Anita Vandyke said she needed to shed the material excess in her life and “give more.”

Vandyke is now a zero waste lifestyle author and influencer promoting the protection of the Earth and its resources.

Vandyke, who lives in Australia, runs the popular Instagram account @rocket_science, where she documents her own minimalist and zero waste journey. She’s also authored three books on zero waste living.

According to a 2020 study from researchers at Penn State, the average U.S. household wastes around 30% of the food it buys, translating to approximately $240 billion in food waste annually, nationwide.

The practice of zero-waste living traditionally means minimizing material consumption and waste to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution, Vandyke told ABC News. But for her, it also encompasses a mindset of cherishing all resources, including money, time and relationships.

Vandyke said her zero waste lifestyle was partly inspired by her childhood and upbringing by her Chinese immigrant parents.

“I learned all these kind of zero waste environmental tips out of necessity in terms of the frugal living that we had to do growing up,” she said. “A lot of these tips and tricks are actually not only saving the planet, but they also save money as well.”

As a working single mom, Vandyke said preserving the environment also means, to her, prolonging time spent with loved ones — the “only nonrenewable resource that we have.”

“We have to make sure that we look after our family, ourselves and also the environment in the limited time we have,” said Vandyke, whose husband died this year from cancer.

After graduating from medical school last year, Vandyke is now working as a doctor in Sydney, drawing connections between her work in health care and her environmental habits.

“To have healthy people, thriving people who have good soil, good air, good water, we have to have a healthy planet,” she said.

Vandyke assured anyone scared to plunge into a minimalist lifestyle that small changes can make a cumulative difference.

“Aim for effort, not perfection,” she said.

Here are few simple ways Vandyke said families can reduce their waste and live greener:

Make a family grocery list

As simple as it sounds, Vandyke said keeping a running grocery list during the week is a convenient way to ensure you’re not buying too much or too little before finishing your remaining food. She writes the list on a small whiteboard on the refrigerator.

“I also get people to contribute in the family,” she said. “So if I need to buy butter or bread, they can write that … and make that an ongoing list that is visible for the whole family to see.”

Create an “eat first” box

It’s easy to lose track of various expiration dates. To stay organized, Vandyke said she places items at the end of their shelf life in a box labeled “eat first” in the refrigerator. Her family then prioritizes finishing those “lonely” ingredients before buying more groceries.

Her household regularly has “mixed vegetable nights,” coming up with creative ways to use all the scraps and leftovers in the eat first box.

“Before you go shopping, I like to see what’s in the fridge, chop up all those things, make it into a curry, a stir fry, or fried rice, something that you can use up all your vegetables before you go out and buy any more,” Vandyke said.

Compost

Composting is the process of recycling organic matter, such as leaves and food scraps, into a fertilizer that can enrich soil and plants.

As alternatives to the traditional compost bin, Vandyke recommends families buy a bokashi bucket, which ferments food scraps into a liquid fertilizer, or create a worm farm, which are odorless and relatively low maintenance.

“There’s different types of benefits for different families, and you just have to find the right one for you,” she said.

However, Vandyke said her favorite method of composting is actually not composting at all.

ShareWaste is a website that connects people who wish to recycle their food scraps with community gardens or neighbors with personal gardens who are already composting.

“What I do is I freeze my compost or put it in the fridge and once a week, I take it to the local community garden,” Vandyke said. “That way, I don’t have to upkeep anything because I have a small home. But this allows me to prevent waste in the long run.”

Engage kids from an early age

By engaging children in zero-waste living, Vandyke said parents can cultivate environmentally conscious habits and an appreciation of natural resources from a young age.

For example, cooking meals with children is an opportunity to educate them on their food sources so they value the ingredients and don’t waste them.

“You have to know that the rice that you make, or the broccoli that you have, all the fruit and vegetables that you have, you have to know where it comes from,” Vandyke said. “It just doesn’t come from the supermarket, it comes from a farm, it comes from a lot of resources to grow and make that food.”

Vandyke said she also raids her household’s recycling bins for cardboard boxes and glass jars that her children can then upcycle into jewelry boxes and other practical arts and crafts.

She also encourages parents to regularly bring their children outdoors to experience their natural environment and show them “what you’re fighting for.”

“The children appreciate nature,” she said, and by taking them outdoors, it makes the concept of conservation “really tangible to them.”

US response suggests progress in renewing Iran nuclear deal

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After studying Iran’s comments on the European Union’s proposal to renew a 2015 nuclear deal, the State Department announced Wednesday it had submitted a formal reply to the plan, bringing a potential breakthrough within reach.

“We received Iran’s comments on the EU’s proposed final text through the EU. Our review of those comments has now concluded. We have responded to the E.U. today,” spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

While the E.U.’s top diplomat described the text put forth earlier this month as “final,” sources told ABC News the U.S. answer is expected to fall short of total acceptance but move negotiations forward. Iran’s response, which was submitted last week, has been described in similar terms.

“There are no shortcuts to this,” Price said on Monday, adding that Iran needs to answer investigators’ questions.

“The issues that are outstanding are issues that have been outstanding for some time,” said Naysan Rafati, the senior analyst on Iran at the Crisis Group, an independent think tank aimed at preventing global conflict. “They’ve been the hardest to resolve for a reason.”

Even if an accord can be reached between the U.S. and Iran, there are still other hurdles to surmount — both among the international community and in Washington.

China and Russia, frequent adversaries of the U.S. on the world stage, have signaled support for a renewed JCPOA, but Israel — one of America’s closest allies — is a vocal opponent of the pact and has ramped up its criticism in recent days.

Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid told reporters on Wednesday that a return to the JCPOA would not accomplish President Joe Biden’s goal of ensuring Iran never procures a nuclear weapon but would instead give the country billions of dollars to “undermine stability in the Middle East and spread terror around the globe” by relaxing sanctions.

“The political line from Jerusalem is pretty clear. They don’t view the agreement as satisfactory,” said Rafati. “There’s also some thinking within the Israeli national security establishment that it’s not necessarily a matter of liking the deal, but at this point, seeing that the alternatives to the deal have been even worse.”

Still, similar qualms have been expressed by conservatives in Washington. Dozens of Republican senators have vowed to block any attempt to return to the JCPOA, which would require approval from Congress. As talks have worn on, even some Democrats have expressed apprehension, questioning whether reentering the pact — which includes fixed “sunset” provisions, or end dates for key nuclear restrictions — would still be in the best interest of national security.

Although the Biden administration entered office promising to cut a “longer and stronger” deal with Iran, that ambition has since diminished. Still, U.S. officials maintain a return to the JCPOA remains the best way to restrain Iran’s nuclear program and have expressed confidence that a mutual return to compliance would ultimately win the support of lawmakers and foreign powers.

Though the outcome remains unclear, the final chapter of the winding negotiations appears to be nearing its conclusion. Analysts say the time Iran would need to amass enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon has dwindled to mere days or even less, and that for the JCPOA to be restored, an agreement in principle needs to be reached in the coming weeks — not months.

“Everyone at this point should have a reasonably clear sense of what’s possible and what isn’t possible,” Rafati said.

Tennessee ‘trigger’ law banning nearly all abortions goes into effect

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Tennessee’s “trigger” law banning abortions went into effect Thursday, making providing abortions a felony in the state.

The Tennessee near-total abortion ban, which was enacted in 2019, criminalizes performing or attempting to perform an abortion, only making exceptions for cases where it is necessary to prevent death or serious and permanent bodily injury to the mother, according to the law.

Trigger laws are written to go into effect after an event occurs, in this case the law was written to go into effect 30 days after a Supreme Court ruling that overturns Roe v. Wade, overturning federal protections for abortion rights, in whole or in part. While the Supreme Court released its opinions in June, the formal judgement was issued by the court in July.

In a letter to the Tennessee Code Commission last month, the state’s attorney general, Herbert Slatery III, announced the effective date of the law, called the Human Life Protection Act, is Aug. 25.

Under the law, performing or attempting to perform an abortion is a Class C felony.

For an abortion to be legal under the law’s exception, it must be performed or attempted by a licensed physician, the physician must determine the abortion was necessary to prevent the death or serious injury of the pregnant woman and the abortion must provide the best opportunity for the fetus to survive, unless that threatens the life of the pregnant woman or could cause serious injury, according to the law.

Under the ban, abortions cannot be authorized based on a “claim or diagnosis” relating to mental health, including claims that the woman would “engage in conduct that would result in her death or substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function,” according to the law.

The law does not criminalize women or pregnant people seeking an abortion.

Tennessee’s heartbeat law was already in effect, as of June 28, banning all abortions after embryonic cardiac activity is detected, which generally occurs around six weeks, before many women or pregnant people know they are pregnant.

Justice Department expected to file heavily redacted Mar-a-Lago affidavit as judge considers limited release

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday is expected to file a heavily redacted version of the affidavit used to support a search warrant of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate earlier this month, as a magistrate judge weighs whether to make portions of it public.

Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart gave department officials a noon deadline to submit proposed redactions under seal as well as a legal memorandum explaining their justifications for the information that they believe should be kept hidden from public view. Reinhart said he was not inclined to keep the full affidavit sealed, saying he believes there are portions of it that could presumably be unsealed.

The government argued in court last week that the redactions they believe would be necessary to protect the integrity of their ongoing criminal investigation would essentially render the document “meaningless.”

A coalition of media organizations, including ABC News, has urged for release of the affidavit even with redactions — citing the need to further inform the public in light of the historic nature of the search of a former president’s residence.

Jay Bratt, the head of DOJ’s counterintelligence division, said “there would be nothing of substance” adding that the government is “very concerned about the safety of the witnesses” and the impact releasing the affidavit could have on other witnesses.

“It doesn’t serve the media’s interest to give them something that is meaningless,” Bratt said.

Bratt argued there is information in the document that could easily identify witnesses based on the descriptions of events that only certain people would have knowledge about.

Reinhart said in a Monday filing that he may ultimately side with the government.

“I cannot say at this point that partial redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure, but I may ultimately reach that conclusion after hearing further from the Government,” he said.

Judge Reinhart says that he believes the government has met “its burden of showing good cause/a compelling interest that overrides any public interest in unsealing the full contents of the Affidavit.”

The Justice Department would likely seek to immediately appeal any decision that would release portions of the affidavit they are not comfortable releasing.

While former President Trump and his allies have publicly called for the release of the full affidavit, his legal team has made no such efforts in court since the Aug. 8 search, including as part of their motion filed Monday before a separate federal judge calling for the appointment of a special master to review materials seized by the FBI.

Instead, Trump’s lawyers requested federal Judge Aileen Cannon to issue an order directing investigators to halt their review of the materials taken from Mar-a-Lago pending appointment of a special master, return any personal materials swept up in the search, and provide a more detailed receipt of items that were seized.

The filing, which was riddled with falsehoods, misrepresentations and blatant references to a possible announcement of Trump’s plans to again run for the presidency in 2024, appeared to be met with confusion by Judge Cannon.

On Tuesday, Judge Cannon, a Trump appointee, issued an order requesting Trump’s team enter a supplemental filing by Friday with a line-item list of basic information not included in their original motion.

Man caught carrying reptiles in clothing pleads guilty to smuggling

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LOS ANGELES) — A California man has pleaded guilty to importing wild animals into the country, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Jose Manuel Perez, 30, smuggled more than 1,700 wild animals, including 60 reptiles, worth $739,000 into the U.S. and was arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border in February. Officials found reptiles hidden in his clothing in small bags, prosecutors said.

When he was caught crossing into the U.S., federal agents said he had about 60 reptiles on him — including some in his pants.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of smuggling goods into the country and one count of wild trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.

Perez, who also went by the name Julio Rodriguez, used social media to arrange and smuggle animals into the U.S. between January 2016 and February 2022, federal prosecutors said.

The wildlife, which came from Mexico and Hong Kong, included Yucatan box turtles, baby crocodiles, Mexican box turtles and beaded lizards, federal prosecutors said, and he didn’t declare them through U.S. Customs or obtain the required permits through the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Perez worked with others in his smuggling operation, according to federal prosecutors. His sister, Stephany Perez, 26, was allegedly involved and is scheduled to go on trial in February, prosecutors said.

Jose Manuel Perez faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count of smuggling and up to five years in prison for wildlife trafficking, according to federal prosecutors.

His attorney did not immediately provide a comment to ABC News.

Three children in Georgia test positive for monkeypox: Officials

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Three children in Georgia have now tested positive for monkeypox, newly updated state data has revealed.

The Georgia Department of Health did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on these cases.

Newton County School System, which went back to school in early August, confirmed to ABC News that at least one child at Mansfield Elementary in Mansfield, Georgia, has tested positive for the virus, and one student at Flint Hill Elementary in Oxford, Georgia, is currently undergoing testing.

It is unclear if these cases are at all connected. The schools are located approximately 13 miles apart. Additional information on how the students may have contracted or been exposed to the virus is unavailable at this time, due to privacy concerns, according to school officials.

The school district has notified parents, officials said, and parents of students considered to be close contacts will receive separate communications instructing them on next steps.

“NCSS facilities employees will thoroughly clean and disinfect classrooms and other areas at both schools this afternoon to ensure ongoing safe and healthy learning and work environments for students and staff. Both schools will be open tomorrow,” the school district wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Across the state of Georgia, at least 15 children, ages 17 years and younger, have received their first monkeypox vaccine dose, state data shows.

Separately, in Texas, officials confirmed that a previously confirmed monkeypox case had actually turned out to be a false positive.

Across the country, at least 13 children have now tested positive for monkeypox. Nine states and jurisdictions have reported pediatric monkeypox cases.

DHS takes step to ‘preserve’ DACA for young migrants amid looming legal challenge

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security took steps on Wednesday to codify the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program into regulatory policy — even as a court case threatens to upend the ability of migrants who were brought illegally into the U.S. as young children to remain in the country.

Since President Barack Obama launched the policy in 2012, the DHS estimates that more than 825,000 immigrants have been enrolled in DACA, which temporarily protects them from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization.

The DHS’ final rule, issued Wednesday after being subject to public comment, is a technical move that seeks to absorb DACA under administrative law rather than through presidential discretion.

The rule largely preserves the eligibility criteria outlined in a 2012 memo by then-Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, including the requirement that applicants must have arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and must have continuously resided in the country for at least five years before June 15, 2012.

“We are taking another step to do everything in our power to preserve and fortify DACA, an extraordinary program that has transformed the lives of so many Dreamers,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Thanks to DACA, we have been enriched by young people who contribute so much to our communities and our country. Yet, we need Congress to pass legislation that provides an enduring solution for the young Dreamers who have known no country other than the United States as their own,” Mayorkas said, referring to the people in the program by a common nickname.

Since its inception, DACA has faced multiple legal challenges from those who say Obama overreached his authority. An ongoing case in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals seeks to have the court rule the program unlawful and end it. A decision there may come any day.

Despite Wednesday’s regulatory filing by DHS, DACA remains closed to new applicants as a result of a July 2021 decision from a federal court in Texas. Only those who already have DACA status can apply to renew it under the new framework, according to DHS.

The department’s final rule would not go into effect until Oct. 31 and it was unclear how Wednesday’s move would impact any current litigation.

“President [Joe] Biden campaigned on strengthening and fortifying DACA. This final DACA rule fails to strengthen the program by not expanding it to include the majority of undocumented immigrant youth who are graduating from high school this year and not eligible for the program because of arbitrary cut-off dates,” Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, deputy director of federal advocacy for the group United We Dream, said in a statement, in part.

“This rule does not bring us any closer to seeing true protection for DACA recipients and immigrant youth,” Macedo do Nascimento said.

The DHS rule will preserve the original process for applying for a renewal of deferred action — shielding young migrants from deportation — and a work permit despite the department suggesting in an earlier proposal that it would have potential applicants apply for a permit and for deportation protection separately.

Immigration advocates had warned that decoupling the two benefits would leave people susceptible to losing work authorization while maintaining deferred deportation if a future administration wished to make DACA recipients ineligible to work.

DHS estimates that as of 2020, DACA recipients and their households pay around $5.6 billion in annual federal taxes and $3.1 billion in annual state and local taxes. Many people in the program have gone on to acquire professional certificates, advanced school degrees and about 56,000 have become homeowners, DHS said.

After the final rule was published, Biden issued a statement on Wednesday reaffirming his support for the “Dreamers,” whom he said were “part of the fabric of this nation.”

“They serve on the frontlines of the pandemic response. They are students, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. Many serve bravely in our military. They’ve only ever known America as their home,” Biden said.

Although the president made no mention of the ongoing legal challenges to DACA, he called on Republicans to support a pathway to citizenship — a politically fraught process that has divided the GOP and repeatedly failed, over the years, to result in federal legislation.

“It is not only the right thing to do,” Biden argued of congressional action, “it is also the smart thing to do for our economy and our communities.”

Rothy’s launches sustainable tennis-inspired capsule collection ahead of US Open

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Rothy’s and Evian are taking reduce, reuse, recycle to a whole new level.

The two brands have teamed up to created a limited-edition tennis-inspired capsule collection made with recycled water bottles from the 2021 U.S. Open.

Approximately 72,000 Evian bottles from the tennis tournament were blended with other recycled plastic bottles to create items in the line.

“We are excited to collaborate with evian to showcase Rothy’s transformative capabilities and prove that through innovation we find new uses for single use plastic,” Saskia van Gendt, Rothy’s head of sustainability, said in a press release.

According to the brands, this is a first-of-its-kind circular production collection.

From a cap to a bag for your tennis racket, this collection has everything you need to hit the court in style.

Zac Brown shares the fitness advice he once got from Bruce Springsteen

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

In a new Men’s Health feature, Zac Brown Band frontman Zac Brown details his tour workout and the custom-built gym that follows the band on the road in a tractor-trailer.

Years of hard road living took its toll on Zac. “I had L5 issues, a bulging disc and I couldn’t move my leg. I had to have a surgery last year to take some of the trash out,” he explains. But the singer found fresh motivation to stay active and healthy when he sought advice from a rocker who knows exactly how difficult it is to stay fit on tour: Bruce Springsteen.

“When I met Springsteen, I said, ‘Tell me something that’s helped you stay feeling good,’” Zac recounts. “He was like, ‘Man, you need to sweat for an hour every day. I don’t care what you do, doesn’t matter. You need to sweat for an hour a day.’”

“I was like, ‘You’re the Boss. Let’s do it,’” the singer recalls.

Stillwell, featuring Korn’s Fieldy, teases new music

August 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The band Stillwell, featuring Korn bassist Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu, is teasing new music.

Fresh material from the trio, which also includes P.O.D. member Noah “Wuv” Bernardo and rapper Q-Unique, will drop September 16. You can check out a teaser now via Stillwell’s Facebook.

The news comes amid Fieldy’s ongoing hiatus from Korn, which began in June 2021. At the time, Fieldy shared that he was stepping away from the “Freak on a Leash” outfit to address unspecified “personal issues.”

Stillwell released their latest album, Supernatural Miracle, in 2020.

Korn, meanwhile, just released a new record, Requiem, in February. They’re currently touring in support of the record alongside Evanescence.

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