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What to know about Paxlovid, the COVID-19 therapy that Biden is taking

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When White House officials announced President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday, they revealed he was prescribed Paxlovid.

Here’s what to know about the COVID-19 treatment:

Paxlovid is an at-home antiviral therapy developed by Pfizer, which was authorized under emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for those aged 12 and older at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 in December 2021.

High-risk patients included those with underlying medical conditions, and those who are older or unvaccinated.

Clinical trial data showed Paxlovid reduced the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk patients with mild-to-moderate symptoms by nearly 90%.

Paxlovid was hailed a game-changer because it was the first COVID-19 treatment that did not require an infusion, making it more convenient to give to patients.

The treatment is made up of two medications: ritonavir, commonly used to treat HIV and AIDS, but helps boost levels of other antiviral medications, and nirmatrelvir, an antiviral that works to inhibit an enzyme the virus uses to make copies of itself. Together, these drugs work to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the body.

Patients take three pills — two nirmatrelvir pills and one ritonavir pill — twice daily over the course of five days and it requires a prescription.

Side effects are rare but include an altered sense of taste, nausea, diarrhea, muscle aches and abdominal pain.

Doctors have said Paxlovid is most effective when given as soon after a diagnosis of COVID-19 as possible. Taking it later during the course of the illness may result in the drug not being as effective.

Paxlovid is not meant to be taken as a prophylactic after exposure to COVID-19 or if a patient is already hospitalized.

In May, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory, warning doctors to be on the lookout for a rare, but increasingly reported phenomenon known as “COVID-19 rebound.”

COVID-19 rebound has typically been reported to occur among patients who took Paxlovid between two and eight days after recovery. Patients either experience a recurrence of COVID-19 symptoms or test positive after having tested negative.

“Limited information currently available from case reports suggests that persons treated with Paxlovid who experience COVID-19 rebound have had mild illness; there are no reports of severe disease,” the CDC wrote.

Trader Joe’s recalls popular snickerdoodle cookies over possible contamination

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Trader Joe’s announced this week that it is recalling its popular soft-baked snickerdoodle cookies, citing possible plastic contamination.

“We have been alerted by our supplier of Trader Joe’s Soft-Baked Snickerdoodles (SKU# 94075, BB (Best By) Date 02/03/2023) that product with the aforementioned Best By Date may contain hard plastic pieces,” the retailer said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.

According to the store, there have been no injuries reported so far, and all of the potentially affected product was removed from sale.

“If you purchased any Soft-Baked Snickerdoodles, please do not eat them. We urge you to discard the product or return it to any Trader Joe’s for a full refund,” the company added. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”

Questions may be directed to Trader Joe’s Customer Relations by phone at(626) 599-3817, Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Pacific Time. Customers can also send an email using the form on the Trader Joe’s website.

As Mashed reported on Thursday, the snickerdoodles are made by the manufacturer Enjoy Life Natural Brands and sold under the Trader Joe’s label.

Enjoy Life issued a separate voluntary recall on June 30 for “a limited quantity of a select list of baked snacks products due to the potential presence of hard plastic pieces.”

Those items include the company’s Soft Baked Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, Double Chocolate Brownie, Sunseed Butter Chocolate Chip and Monster Cookies. The company’s Sunseed Crunch and Caramel Blondie Chewy Bars were recalled as well, along with the brand’s Rich Chocolate and Salted Caramel Life Brownie Bites.

Enjoy Life Soft Baked Fruit & Oat Breakfast Ovals in flavors Apple Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip Banana and Berry Medley were affected by the recall, as were the company’s Soft Baked Cookies – Amazon Variety Packs.

Full product codes, photos and “Best By” dates for the recalled Enjoy Life products can be found on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.

“There have been no reports of injury or illness received by Enjoy Life Foods to date related to these products,” the company said in a press release. “Consumers who have this product should not eat it and should discard any product they may have but should keep any available packaging and contact the company at 1 (855) 543-5335, 24 hours a day to get more information about the recall and how to receive a refund.”

Ricky Martin’s nephew withdraws case after court dismisses restraining order

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Ricky Martin said “Truth prevails” after a court dismissed the restraining order his nephew filed against him.

As previously reported, Dennis Yadiel Sanchez, 21, filed a domestic abuse restraining order against the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer in Puerto Rico and accused Ricky of engaging in a seven-month relationship with him. He claimed he “feared for his safety” after the singer allegedly began stalking him following the end of their alleged relationship.

Ricky’s attorney had called the allegations “untrue” and “disgusting.”

A Puerto Rican court dismissed Sanchez’s restraining order on Thursday, and Ricky’s legal team told ABC News in a statement they are pleased with the outcome.

“Just as we had anticipated, the temporary protection order was not extended by the Court. The accuser confirmed to the court that his decision to dismiss the matter was his alone, without any outside influence or pressure, and the accuser confirmed he was satisfied with his legal representation in the matter,” the team said.

They continued, “The request came from the accuser asking to dismiss the case. This was never anything more than a troubled individual making false allegations with absolutely nothing to substantiate them.”

“We are glad that our client saw justice done and can now move forward with his life and his career,” the statement concluded.

Ricky came under fire earlier this month when a judge allowed Sanchez’s restraining order to go into effect under Law 54, which is Puerto Rico’s Domestic Abuse Prevention and Intervention Act.

Ricky’s lawyer, Marty Singer, told ABC News that the claims were fabricated and made by someone who is “struggling with deep mental health challenges.” They also expressed hope for Sanchez to get the help “he so urgently needs.”

Sanchez, nor his legal team, have spoken publicly about the case.

With San Diego Comic-Con kicking off, Jeff Bridges maintains ‘Iron Man’ is “the best” MCU movie

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

There are expected to be many Marvel movie bombshell announcements over the weekend at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, but for Jeff Bridges‘ money, you can’t beat the original: Iron Man.

Bridges played Obadiah Stane, an apparent confidante who betrays Robert Downey Jr.‘s Tony Stark, in the 2008 film that gave birth to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In a new chat with Vanity Fair about his career, Bridges maintains it still holds up — in fact, he called it “the best Marvel movie.”

Bridges told ABC Audio much of the same back in 2018, noting, “for my money I think — you know I’m biased, I’m in the thing! But for my money that…that’s the best one.”

He added, “That’s the best superhero movie that I’ve seen, largely due to Jon Favreau our director and Downey. You know Robert Downey Jr.”

As he did in VF’s piece, Bridges told us much of Favreau’s movie ended up being improvised when the script was thrown out the window on the first day.

“We thought we had it together but, you know, Marvel said, ‘No, that’s no good.’ So I said, ‘What are we going to do?’ So we started to write the scenes every morning at work!”

“That was kind of…stressful for me,” Bridges admitted. “I like to know my lines and figure out you know what people are going to say, how you form your character. And I made a little inner adjustment…by just saying, ‘Come on Jeff, relax. You’re making a 200 million dollar student film, and you got these cool guys to play with you. Have fun!'”

That he did, evidently, calling it a “great experience.”

The dude abides.

Marvel Studios is owned by Disney, the parent company of ABC News.

My Chemical Romance’s Ray Toro shares live recording of “Our Lady of Sorrows” from reunion tour

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

If you’ve got tickets to see My Chemical Romance on their upcoming U.S. reunion tour, guitarist Ray Toro is providing a preview of what you can expect.

In a tweet Wednesday night, Toro shared a clip of MCR rocking their early cut “Our Lady of Sorrows” during the European leg of their tour, which just wrapped in June.

The video shows the live music playing from an audio program on Toro’s computer, leading fans to speculate that My Chem might’ve recorded the European shows for a possible live album.

My Chemical Romance launched their European tour in May, marking the official beginning of the “Helena” outfit’s reunion run, which was postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ahead of the tour, MCR premiered their first new song in eight years, “The Foundations of Decay.”

The U.S. leg kicks off August 20 in Oklahoma City.

Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane sentenced in George Floyd killing

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — Former Minneapolis police officer Thomas Lane was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in a federal court on Thursday morning for violating George Floyd’s civil rights.

Lane, 39, is one of three former Minneapolis police officers who were convicted earlier this year of depriving Floyd of his right to medical care as the handcuffed, unarmed 46-year-old Black man was pinned under the knee of their senior officer, Derek Chauvin, for more than nine minutes on May 25, 2020. Floyd’s videotaped killing in Minneapolis sparked anti-racism protests and calls for police reform across the United States and around the world.

Lane’s former Minneapolis police colleagues, 28-year-old J. Alexander Kueng and 35-year-old Tou Thao, were also convicted of failing to intervene to prevent Chauvin, 46, from applying bodily injury to Floyd. Lane, who was heard on video twice asking his fellow officers whether they should turn Floyd onto his side, did not face that charge. Chauvin knelt on the back of Floyd’s neck, while Kueng knelt on his back, Lane held his legs and Thao kept bystanders away.

During their trial in February, Lane, Kueng and Thao each took the witness stand and attempted to shift the blame to Chauvin, who was a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis Police Department. Lane told the jury that Chauvin “deflected” all his suggestions to help Floyd, while Kueng testified that Chauvin “was my senior officer and I trusted his advice” and Thao attested that he “would trust a 19-year veteran to figure it out.”

The jury handed down convictions after deliberating for roughly 13 hours.

Magnuson has not yet set sentencing dates for Kueng and Thao.

Lane faces a separate sentencing in state court on Sept. 21, after changing his plea to guilty to a reduced charge of aiding and abetting manslaughter. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to dismiss the top charge against him of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder, according to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison.

Thao and Kueng, who have rejected plea deals offered by prosecutors, are scheduled to go on trial in state court on Oct. 24 over charges of aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

Earlier this month, Chauvin was sentenced to 21 years in prison on separate federal civil rights charges in Floyd’s killing and in an unrelated case involving a Black teenager. He had already been sentenced to 270 months, minus time served, which equals about 22 1/2 years in prison, after being convicted in state court last year of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

His life is brilliant: James Blunt to star in his own documentary

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

James Blunt is the latest celebrity to get his very own documentary and even he’s unsure why this is happening.

Variety reports this new documentary, directed by Chris Atkins, will follow the “You’re Beautiful” singer on his 2022 Greatest Hits tour across Europe. The project teases in the tagline that it’s “the story of an ageing, British pop star, still fighting for relevance some 17 years after his star momentarily twinkled.”

Despite the tongue-in-cheek descriptor, Atkins will also have James open up about the darkest moments of his life, like when he witnessed genocide during the Kosovo War while serving for the British Army. In addition, the documentary will look into the recording of his best-selling album Back to Bedlam as well as the criticism he faced after he was catapulted into the limelight.

The documentary, billed as a mesh of Spinal Tap and Alan Partridge, is ultimately a “behind the scenes, brutally honest story of a painfully self-aware, endlessly touring musician, for whom persistence eventually prevails.”

It will give viewers a clear picture of who James is as a person and prove he is more than the man who sang “You’re Beautiful.” Still, Blunt is confused about why this documentary is happening in the first place.

“In hindsight, I’m not sure letting them film this was a good idea,” he jokingly said in a statement.

The film is currently untitled, and a release date has not been announced. It is being produced by Lorton Entertainment, the same company behind the Oasis documentary Supersonic and George Ezra‘s End-to-End.

Garth Brooks sets release date + shares cover art for ‘Anthology Part II, The Next Five Years’

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Garth Brooks has been teasing the release of the second part of Anthology for a while now, and he’s finally ready to share some concrete details about the project. Anthology Part II, The Next Five Years is coming out on November 15.

Part II picks up where the first Anthology installment left off in 1996 and follows Garth through the releases of projects such as Fresh Horses, Sevens, The Limited Series, Double Live and Scarecrow.

It also recounts career milestones between ‘96 and 2001, such as his famed 24-hour autographing session in ’96 at Fan Fair (now known as CMA Fest) in Nashville.

“I learned a lot,” Garth says, according to People, who exclusively premiered the cover art for Anthology Part II.

That artwork features a close-up, black-and-white shot of a young Garth with the American flag cast across his face, set against a dramatic black backdrop.

Part II of the Anthology series follows the already-released parts I and III, which detail Garth’s early years in the country genre and his more recent presence live on tour. The forthcoming Anthology is now available for pre-order as a six-part CD collection.

A Day to Remember drops new single, “Miracle”

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

A Day to Remember has premiered a new single called “Miracle.”

You can listen to “Miracle” now via digital outlets. The track is also accompanied by a video — streaming now on YouTube — that sees Jeremy McKinnon and company rocking out in a church.

“Miracle” is the first new A Day to Remember song to follow their 2021 album, You’re Welcome, which includes the singles “Degenerates,” “Resentment” and “Everything We Need.” Earlier this year, the Florida rockers released a new version of the You’re Welcome cut “Re-Entry” featuring Blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus.

A Day to Remember is set to launch a U.S. tour July 27 in Baltimore. The two-legged outing will stretch into October and will feature support from Beartooth and The Used on select dates.

(Video contains uncensored profanity) 

BBC issues apology to royal family for infamous Princess Diana interview

July 21, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The BBC has formally apologized to members of the royal family for the bombshell 1995 interview between the late Princess Diana and then-BBC journalist Martin Bashir.

A report last year found that Bashir had “deceived and induced” Diana to obtain the interview.

The network issued the apology to Prince Charles and Princes William and Harry on Thursday. It was delivered by Tim Davie, director-general of the BBC, who said in a statement the outlet would “never show the programme again … nor will we license it in whole or in part to other broadcasters.”

“It is a matter of great regret that the BBC did not get to the facts in the immediate aftermath of the programme when there were warning signs that the interview might have been obtained improperly,” Davie stated.

“Instead, as The Duke of Cambridge himself put it, the BBC failed to ask the tough questions,” he continued. “Had we done our job properly Princess Diana would have known the truth during her lifetime. We let her, The Royal Family and our audiences down.”

More than 23 million people watched the Panorama interview that Bashir did with Diana, who died just two years later, in August 1997, after a car crash in the Pont D’Alma tunnel in Paris. William and younger brother Harry were 15 and 12, respectively, when their mother died.

Diana’s comments in that interview about her marriage to Prince Charles and his alleged affair with his now-wife Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall, sent shock waves throughout the world — and the royal family. Diana and Charles divorced just one year after the interview aired, in 1996.

Despite vowing to never re-air or distribute the interview again, Davie said Thursday that “it does of course remain part of the historical record and there may be occasions in the future when it will be justified for the BBC to use short extracts for journalistic purposes, but these will be few and far between and will need to be agreed at Executive Committee level and set in the full context of what we now know about the way the interview was obtained.”

“I would urge others to exercise similar restraint,” he added.

After last year’s report, which was released following an inquiry by Lord Dyson, William and Harry issued statements reacting to the news.

“It is my view that the deceitful way the interview was obtained substantially influenced what my mother said. The interview was a major contribution to making my parents’ relationship worse and has since hurt countless others,” William said at the time. “It brings indescribable sadness to know that the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation that I remember from those final years with her.”

“But what saddens me most, is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she had been deceived,” he added. “She was failed not just by a rogue reporter, but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions.”

Harry issued his own statement on the matter.

“Our mother was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to service. She was resilient, brave, and unquestionably honest. The ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life,” he said.

“To those who have taken some form of accountability, thank you for owning it,” he continued. “That is the first step towards justice and truth. Yet what deeply concerns me is that practices like these — and even worse — are still widespread today. Then and now, it’s bigger than one outlet, one network, or one publication.”

“Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed,” Harry concluded. “By protecting her legacy, we protect everyone, and uphold the dignity with which she lived her life. Let’s remember who she was and what she stood for.”

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