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Charleston church massacre survivor calls for state hate crimes law

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The fight to pass the Clementa C. Pinckney Hate Crimes Act in South Carolina is now intensifying, as several Republican state senators hold out against it. The state is one of only two in the U.S. that does not have hate crime legislation signed into law.

Pinckney, a state senator and pastor, was one of nine Black parishioners murdered by Dylann Roof in a shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015. Roof was sentenced to death in 2017 after being convicted on federal hate crime charges.

The proposed bill aims to enhance the sentencing and penalties under state law against perpetrators convicted of crimes proven to be fueled by hatred. The only other state without such a law in the books is Wyoming.

The bill has stalled in the state senate for months following objections from eight Republicans, including state Sens. Brian Adams and Larry Grooms, who represents the district where the shooting occurred.

The South Carolina Republican Party and the offices of Adams and Grooms did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

Black lawmakers gathered in front of Republican Gov. Henry McMaster’s office inside the South Carolina State House on Wednesday to urge Republicans to allow the bill to be taken up for a debate on the Senate floor.

McMaster’s office did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

They played a two-minute video statement from Polly Shepard, a survivor of the massacre, who called out the Republican lawmakers by name.

“Eight members of the South Carolina Senate are giving a safe haven to hate. Everytime you look at Sen. Pinckney’s photograph, you should be reminded that hate killed him,” Sheppard said.

She pleaded with lawmakers: “Why are you holding up this bill? What is wrong with protecting us from hate crimes?”

Democratic state Sen. Mia McLeod slammed Republicans, telling reporters that “there is no appetite on the Republican side for conversations or remarks.”

State Rep. JA Moore, whose sister was among the nine shooting victims, told ABC News that he spoke with Adams after the press conference over his lack of support.

“No piece of legislation, no speech, no demonstration, no removal of any flag or monument is going to remove the type of hate that was in Dylann Roof’s heart when he shot and killed my sister and eight other parishioners,” Moore told ABC News.

He continued, “I’m a different person because of the hate that Dylann had in his heart for Black folks. But what this legislation will do is hold people accountable when they commit hateful actions.”

Black woman recognized as valedictorian nearly 40 years after high school snub

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — A Black woman was finally named valedictorian at her Illinois high school nearly four decades after her graduation.

Tracey Meares, a law professor at Yale University, was a star student at Springfield High School in Springfield, Illinois. But when she graduated in 1984, she was not awarded the title of valedictorian despite having the highest academic ranking in her class, she said. Her story is now the subject of a new documentary, “No Title for Tracey.”

Meares would have been the first Black female valedictorian in the school’s history, but she was not awarded the title. Instead, the school did away with the valedictorian and salutatorian titles that year and Meares was recognized with a group as “top students.” The school went back to official titles in 1992.

“As a 17-year-old, achieving something like being valedictorian is probably the biggest thing…It was incredibly disappointing,” Meares told “Good Morning America.”

Meares said the snub was “very confusing” at first but she later processed the great lengths the school went to to deny her the title.

“I didn’t talk about it ever…Many of my best friends that I have known since I was an adult have asked me why I never told and I didn’t want to talk about it. It was terrible. It was really hard,” she reflected.

Meares went on to study engineering at the University of Illinois and then attended the University of Chicago Law School.

This year, her sister, Dr. Nicole Florence, a first-time filmmaker, turned Meares’ story into a documentary to spotlight the impact of structural racism.

On April 16, after a screening of the documentary in her hometown, Springfield Public Schools District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill presented Meares with the valedictorian medal — a surprise to Meares.

“I felt some pride and happiness that my parents who are sitting in the front row could see this happening because they were denied that 30 years ago,” Meares said. “I felt sadness that my grandparents weren’t there.”

Gill said she was “happy” to meet Meares and right this wrong.

“When we know better, we do better. By meeting Tracey and hearing about her lived experience, we know that honoring her with this title means so much more,” Gill told “GMA.” “We want every student to have a feeling of belonging in all aspects of school and a sense of becoming as they leave our schools with a plan for college and career. It is our responsibility to ensure that our system supports students in reaching their full potential. We have seen that high school experiences can have a profound, lifelong impact.”

“It was an honor to have Tracey here and a privilege to learn from such an accomplished alumna,” she added.

The recognition 38 years later is a gesture that Meares says she appreciates.

“Institutionally, there are people who are making an effort to to acknowledge that people are thinking wrong. That was harmful. And it wasn’t harmful, just to me as an individual. It was harmful to the community,” she said. “The thing to take away is for people to understand the ways in which discrimination can operate at a disproportionate rate at a structural level and that its downstream effects are enduring.”

Music notes: Ava Max, Gwen Stefani and Sam Smith

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Ava Max‘s winter-themed music video for “Maybe You’re the Problem” is finally here, which features her dancing on skis, wearing a bikini while being buried in an avalanche, and turning into a video game character as she fights against all the negatives in her life.

Gwen Stefani celebrated a meaningful anniversary on Wednesday — it marked the day she knew she’d found her wedding dress.”One year ago today I tried on wedding dresses to marry @blakeshelton,” she announced on Instagram while sharing a video of her trying the gown and revealing she knew it was “the one,” even though it was only the second dress she tried.

Sam Smith shared the complete first verse of their new song “Love Me More” on their Instagram story. The lyrics go, “It used to burn/ Every insult, every word/ But it helped me learn/ Self-worth I have to earn.” The song drops 11 p.m. British time. “I truly can’t wait for my new song to be yours, not long now…,” Sam teased.

Music notes: Lil Nas X, Ava Max, Gwen Stefani and Sam Smith

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Lil Nas X continues to shake up the streaming charts. Chart Data reported that his 2019 hit, “Panini,” has officially amassed over a billion streams across U.S. platforms. The single was aided by its comedic music video that starred Skai Jackson trying to outrun Lil Nas X’s incessant video advertisements. The video has amassed nearly half a million views on YouTube.

In other LNX news, he announced he’s adding more dates to his Long Live Montero Tour. “since tickets are selling out i will be adding more dates in new york, chicago, atlanta, detroit, toronto and la! on sale tomorrow morning at 10am local go to longlivemontero.com,” he announced on Instagram Thursday.

Gwen Stefani celebrated a meaningful anniversary on Wednesday — it marked the day she knew she’d found her wedding dress. “One year ago today I tried on wedding dresses to marry @blakeshelton,” she announced on Instagram while sharing a video of her trying the gown and revealing she knew it was “the one,” even though it was only the second dress she tried.

Sam Smith shared the complete first verse of their new song, “Love Me More,” on their Instagram Story. The lyrics go, “It used to burn/ Every insult, every word/ But it helped me learn/ Self-worth I have to earn.” The song drops 11 p.m. British time. “I truly can’t wait for my new song to be yours, not long now…,” Sam teased.

FDA will review Moderna’s data on vaccine for young kids without waiting for Pfizer

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said the agency would move along to review Moderna’s data for its kid vaccine regardless of when Pfizer submits its data on kids under five, a move that will be welcome news to some parents who were upset that waiting to authorize the vaccines together would delay the timeline.

The FDA was considering reviewing the Moderna data for kids under six, which was submitted for an emergency use authorization on Thursday, alongside Pfizer’s data, which is expected to be submitted in the next few weeks, so that the vaccines could be compared side-by-side.

But on Thursday, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf told reporters the FDA would not “hold up” the Moderna application to wait for Pfizer.

“Most of the experts that I’ve talked with would say it would be ideal if they could be considered together. But if they don’t come in at the same time, then there’s not going to be a hold up on the Moderna application, just to make it come in at the same time,” Califf told reporters Thursday after a hearing on Capitol Hill, in comments that were later confirmed by an FDA spokesperson to ABC News.

A senior administration official also confirmed to ABC News the FDA would act “as expeditiously as possible” to authorize the Moderna vaccine, so long as it meets its standards.

The official said there would be no delay and the application would be judged “on its merits.”

Moderna, which is a two-shot vaccine, is different from Pfizer’s vaccine, which is a three-shot vaccine. Pfizer hasn’t finished gathering its data yet, but some expect it to be more effective because booster shots, or third shots, have shown to boost immune response in adults.

In the meantime, Moderna’s vaccine data is ready for review, though the company will continue to submit more data for its applications over the week or so.

Moderna’s trial found that the shots generated a strong immune response with no significant risks. The vaccine generated an antibody response roughly equivalent to the antibody response seen in adults, the company said.

At the same time, experts have questioned the low efficacy numbers against infection. During the omicron surge, two doses of the vaccine were roughly 51% effective against COVID-19 infection, including asymptomatic and mild infections, for children 6 months to 2 years old, and 37% effective among kids 2 years to 6 years old.

But Moderna’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Paul Burton, defended the vaccine’s efficacy against infection, arguing that omicron led to more breakthrough infections, but that the shot produced an antibody response that was even stronger in the young kids than it was in the 18-24-year-olds.

“I think moms and dads and caregivers, doctors and nurses should be reassured by this result,” Burton told ABC News.

“The antibody levels that we saw here were high, and we can translate that to what we see in adults where we get really good protection against severe disease and hospitalization,” he said.

Moderna is also studying third shots across all age groups, including for a variant-specific vaccine that could more effectively target some of the newer strains of the virus.

It’s not clear if the FDA’s decision to move ahead separately on Moderna will significantly affect the timeline for kids under five getting vaccinated.

While Moderna hopes its vaccine will be authorized within a month, which is the usual timeline for vaccine authorization during the pandemic, the company still has to submit more data to the FDA in the coming weeks to complete its submission.

The FDA has signaled that the Moderna submission will take some time to sift through because it has to also review the company’s data on its vaccines for kids up to age 17, which haven’t been authorized yet.

Burton said that the FDA should have the bulk of what it needs to do the review, though.

The FDA is expected to put out more information tomorrow on the timing of its meeting of FDA independent advisors, who will publicly review and discuss the data to kick off the process.

Pfizer’s CEO Anthony Bourla has said that he expected the company to submit data to the FDA in the “coming weeks,” and that it could be authorized in June.

Mahalia’s new song samples 50 Cent’s “In da Club,” Vevo & Latto release live performance, and more

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NOTE LANGUAGE) –Rising R&B star Mahalia decided to take a note out of 50 Cent‘s music book with her newly released single, “In the Club.”

The U.K.-born singer’s catchy new track, which samples 50 Cent’s 2003 song “In da Club,” dropped Thursday, accompanied by a low-key music video.

“‘In the Club’ is a song about letting go of people who are just plain and simply bad for you,” the singer explained. “I grew up in a small town in Leicester and most people didn’t believe that I could make it as an artist. I had a super small group of friends and a lot of people weren’t really ever interested in talking to me or being friends with me and mine…until I started doing well.”

Mahalia has come into much success over the course of the last two years. The singer received a Grammy nomination for Jacob Collier‘s 2020 track “All I Need,” which also featuring Ty Dolla $ign.

–Vevo announced Latto as the next artist in their Ctrl series, which highlights the work of hard-hitting, cutting-edge musicians making an impact in today’s music scene. In honor of the collaboration, Vevo released Latto’s live performance of “Trust No B****,” off 777, her second studio album.

Latto’s performance follows Ctrl sessions from artists such as Rick Ross, Common, Rapsody, Fat Joe, Jeezy and more.

–Congratulations are in order for up-and-coming rapper Saucy Santana, who recently signed a record deal with RCA Records.

The 28-year-old Connecticut native, who’s known for his close friendship to City Girls‘ Yung Miami, rose to fame after the release of his internet-loving songs “Walk” and “Material Girl.“

“Cheers”: Chris Young announces an Old Dominion collab called “Everybody Needs a Song”

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Chris Young is teaming up with the guys from Old Dominion for his next release, a feel-good track called “Everybody Needs a Song.”

The “Famous Friends” star previewed a snippet of his new track on his social media Thursday, also telling fans that the song will be out in full Friday. “Cheers to new music dropping on Friday with [Old Dominion],” Chris wrote.

The video teaser shows the two acts sharing a long-distance drink together, with Chris raising his glass to toast the camera and then — when the glass pulls away — revealing Old Dominion.

Chris has had a lot of success with collaborations lately. “Famous Friends,” his duet with Kane Brown, was not only a number-one hit but also the most-played country radio single of 2021. He and Cassadee Pope scored a big hit in 2016 with their song, “Think of You,” while “At the End of a Bar” — a team-up between Chris and Mitchell Tenpenny — is currently inside the top 30 at country radio.

Oklahoma legislature passes 6-week abortion ban similar to Texas law

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — The Oklahoma legislature gave final approval Thursday to a so-called “heartbeat bill” that seeks to ban most abortions in the state.

It is the latest bill in the U.S. modeled after the strict Texas law that prohibits abortions after six weeks, before most women know they’re pregnant.

Formally called S.B. 1503, but known as the “Oklahoma Heartbeat Act,” the bill bans abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo or fetus. There are exceptions for when the mother’s life is at risk, but not for rape or incest.

This is not the first abortion ban that Oklahoma has passed in 2022. Earlier this month, lawmakers passed a bill that would make performing an abortion a felony, punishable by up to several years in prison.

S.B. 1503 also allows any private citizen to sue someone who performs an abortion, intends to perform an abortion or helps a woman gets an abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. These citizens could be awarded at least $10,000 for every abortion performed.

However, a civil lawsuit cannot be brought against a woman who receives an abortion. Additionally, someone who impregnated a woman through rape or incest would not be allowed to sue.

The bill is now heading to the desk of Gov. Kevin Stitt, who is expected to sign it. Because of the bill’s emergency clause, it will go into effect once signed by the governor.

“We want Oklahoma to be the most pro-life state in the country,” Stitt said when he signed the previous abortion bill. “We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.”

The governor’s office told ABC News in a statement it “does not comment on pending legislation.”

“The Texas law has already saved the lives of many unborn children,” Republican state. Sen. Julie Daniels, who sponsored S.B. 1503, said in a statement last month. “We can achieve the same result in Oklahoma with SB 1503.”

Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights said they plan to ask the Oklahoma State Court to block the bill before it goes into effect and ends most abortion care in the state.

“Unless these abortion bans are stopped, Oklahomans will be robbed of the freedom to control their own bodies and futures,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “Unless these bans are blocked, patients will be turned away, people seeking abortion will be unable to access essential care in their own communities, and their loved ones could be stopped from supporting them due to fear of being sued.”

Since the law in Texas went into effect in September 2021, thousands of women have flocked to Oklahoma to receive the procedure.

A recent study from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project at the University of Texas Austin found that of the 1,500 women that traveled out of state every month to receive abortion since September, 45% visited Oklahoma.

Emily Wales, interim president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said the organization has served hundreds of women who have traveled from Texas to Oklahoma to seek abortion care.

“Now, rather than serving as a haven for patients unable to get care at home, Oklahoma politicians have made outcasts of their own people,” Wales said in a statement. “With today’s filings, we lift up the patients who will otherwise be unable to get care and ask the court to do its most essential function: honor the constitution and the individuals who need its protections.”

Under the bill making performing abortion a felony, any medical provider who performs an abortion would face a fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. The only exceptions for performing an abortion would be if the mother’s life is in danger.

Several Republican-led states have been passing abortion legislation ahead of a Supreme Court decision in June that will decide the future of Roe v. Wade. The court will review a 15-week ban in Mississippi and decide whether or not it is constitutional. If the ban is declared constitutional, it could lead to Roe v. Wade being overturned or severely gutted.

ABC News’ Ely Brown contributed to this report.

Johnny Depp trial latest: ACLU employee helped draft controversial op-ed; Amber Heard was repeatedly asked for promised pledge

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard again appeared in a Fairfax, Virginia, courtroom today, as another round of witnesses testified about their relationship, their finances, and a controversial Washington Post op-ed over which Depp is suing his ex-wife.

The 2018 piece saw Heard obliquely accusing Depp of domestic abuse; while she didn’t name him, he claims that her accusations essentially torpedoed the Pirates of the Caribbean series star’s career.

Today’s proceedings delved into the genesis of the op-ed, with Depp’s legal team playing video testimony of Terence Dougherty, the ACLU’s general counsel, who testified that the organization helped Heard draft and edit the piece.

It also came out in court that Jessica Weitz, the ACLU’s director of artist engagement at the time, pushed for the article to come out, “to capitalize on the tremendous campaign for Aquaman,” in which she starred.

“From the ACLU’s perspective…what better a time…so that it generates significant readership about our issues,” Dougherty said.

Also at issue today was Heard’s promise to split the $7 million as a divorce settlement from Depp between both the organization and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Dougherty testified that the ACLU received $1.3 million of the pledge, which her attorneys claim showed she was fulfilling her promise.

Depp’s attorneys’ questions to the witness and presentation of related documents proved that $350,000 came from Heard, while $500,000 was kicked in by a charitable fund tied to Heard’s former boyfriend Elon Musk, $350,000 came from another fund, and $100,000 of the donated money actually came from Depp himself.

In 2019, Dougherty said he was informed that Heard was having financial problems and was unable to pay the remainder of the monies she promised.

Other witnesses today included Depp’s accountant, who was quizzed by both sides about details of the state of his finances and his divorce settlement, and former security staffers, who testified about the couple’s tumultuous relationship.

The case will resume on Monday.

Polish museum tour highlights horrors of the Holocaust

April 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LUBLIN, Poland) — The Majdanek death camp located in Lublin, Poland was the site of one of the largest mass executions recorded during the Holocaust.

Over 18,000 Jews were killed on one day, Nov. 3, 1943.

Today, the State Museum at Majdanek is located at the site of the former concentration camp, and provides visitors with the raw remnants of the horrors of the Holocaust.

ABC News’ Phil Lipof took a tour of the museum with Łukasz Myszala, one of its archivists who highlighted some of the location’s disturbing artifacts.

“Most of the 78,000 people who perished here at Majdanek rest right here at your side,” Myszala told Lipof, referencing a mausoleum covering a mound of ashes recovered from bodies buried there.

The site remains surrounded by barbed wires and fences, which were electrified during the Holocaust. Myszala said that the Nazis took great lengths to conceal their genocide.

“Although the gas chambers were so close to the prisoners, it was a very well concealed crime,” he said. “They didn’t want anybody to see what was happening…that was meant to remain a secret.”

Myszala said that the barracks were designed to keep 250 prisoners, but there were likely much more held inside those rooms. Shoes that belonged to the concentration camp prisoners are on display at the museum.

“They’re crammed together in cages,” he said. “Just like the people who wore them were when they worked here, and died here.”

And the gruesome task of getting the bodies of those killed in the gas chambers into crematoria fell to other prisoners, according to Myszala. This group, known as the “Geheimnisträgern,” or the carriers of the secret, would eventually be shot by Nazi soldiers and be replaced with a new prisoners, Myszala said.

“Usually, the lifespan of those prisoners [in those camps] was between four to six weeks,” he said.

Myszala said the Nazis also went to even greater lengths to hide the mass executions that took place on Nov. 3, 1943.

Prisoners were brought out of their barracks in groups to ditches and systemically shot. Roughly 18,400 Jews were killed on that day, according to Myszala.

The Nazis dubbed the executions “Operation Erntefest,” or “harvest festival,” because of the way they masked the killings, Myszala said.

The archivist said prisoners who were inside the barracks during the executions recalled hearing music being played, including waltzes, foxtrots and marches.

“The Germans played loud music to conceal this crime, first of all, to cover up the noises, drown out the machine guns. But secondly, it was meant to provide an appropriate aura for the harvest festival,” Myszala said.

The archivist said it was important that the world never forget the violence that took place at the site and, more importantly, make sure that atrocities never happen again.

“May our fate be a warning to you,” Myszala said as he translated the inscription engraved at the front of the mausoleum where prisoners’ ashes are kept.

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