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Only half of eligible Americans have gotten their first COVID booster

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As we approach the fall, there is a renewed push to get Americans vaccinated against COVID-19, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable, who continue to bear the brunt of the nation’s COVID-19 crisis.

Although over 61 million people, over the age of 50, are eligible to receive their second COVID-19 booster shot, just a third have actually done so, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Similarly, less than half of Americans, over the age of 5, who are eligible to receive their first booster have received their supplemental shot.

“One of the key messages coming out of this moment is: If you are 50 or over and you have not gotten a shot this year … it is absolutely critical that you go out and get one now,” White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, last month.

Although the immunity provided by vaccines continues to wane with time, CDC data shows that COVID-19 booster doses are helping to significantly increase protection against severe forms of COVID-19 disease and death, particularly among older Americans.

Among people ages 50 years and older, the unvaccinated had a risk of dying from COVID-19 that was 29 times higher than their fully vaccinated and double-boosted peers.

In April, risk of death was 42 times higher among the unvaccinated. Despite the fact that there has been a decline in vaccine efficacy, data shows that the shots are still largely helping protect against severe disease.

Among people ages 50 years and older, vaccinated people with one booster dose had a risk of dying from COVID-19 that was 4 times higher than those fully vaccinated and double boosted.

Older Americans — particularly those over 70 — are being hospitalized at a significantly higher rate than all other age groups. Comparatively, people 70 and over, in the U.S., are entering the hospital 10.5 times more often than people ages 18 to 29.

On average, about 6,100 virus-positive Americans are now entering the hospital each day. There are currently about 43,000 virus-positive patients hospitalized across the country.

The overall number of patients hospitalized has also been at a plateau for several weeks. However, numbers remain significantly lower than at the nation’s peak, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.

In addition, although death totals also remain much lower than during other parts of the pandemic, hundreds of Americans are still dying from COVID-19 every day.

On average, nearly 400 American deaths to COVID-19 are reported each day, and over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported more than 2,700 deaths, according to the CDC.

California (and New York) here they come: Phantom Planet announces 20th anniversary ‘The Guest’ concerts

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Phantom Planet will be headed right back where they started from next month to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their 2002 album The Guest.

The band has announced a show in Los Angeles on September 30, during which they’ll be playing The Guest in full. The album, of course, opens with The O.C.-soundtracking hit “California.”

Phantom Planet will also play a 20th anniversary The Guest concert in New York City on September 25.

Tickets to both shows go on sale this Friday, August 12. For all ticket info, visit PhantomPla.net.

Phantom Planet’s most recent album is 2020’s Devastator.

Sleeping with Sirens premieres two new songs off upcoming ‘Complete Collapse’ album

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Sleeping with Sirens has premiered two new songs off the band’s upcoming album, Complete Collapse.

The tracks are titled “Let You Down” and “Ctrl + Alt + Del,” and are available now via digital outlets. “Let You Down,” which features guest vocalist Charlotte Sands, is accompanied by a video streaming now on YouTube.

Complete Collapse, the follow-up to 2019’s How It Feels to Be Lost, arrives October 14. It also includes the previously released songs “Bloody Knuckles” and “Crosses,” featuring Underoath‘s Spencer Chamberlain.

Sleeping with Sirens is currently on a U.S. headlining tour ahead of the Complete Collapse arrival. The outing concludes this Sunday, August 14, in Kansas City, Missouri.

You can also catch Sleeping with Sirens at the Las Vegas When We Were Young festival, taking place in October.

(“Ctrl + Alt + Del” video contains uncensored profanity)

Elton John in the metaverse? It could happen

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Way back in 2018, when Elton John first announced his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, he told reporters that he’s told his kids, “When Daddy dies, promise me you won’t have a hologram of me going around the world.” But he never said anything about appearing in the metaverse while he’s still alive.

Elton’s husband and manager, David Furnish, tells the British publication MusicWeek that he’s been looking into how to expand Elton’s brand in the metaverse — meaning 3D virtual worlds that allow people to interact via computer-generated avatars.

In the past couple of years, the metaverse has become very popular with musicians — many artists have staged exclusive concerts within these virtual worlds. So, Furnish says, why shouldn’t Elton get in on the action?

“That’s going to be a big new market for music discovery,” Furnish tells Music Week. “We’re looking at it closely but carefully. Elton’s been a bit like an avatar his entire life, throwing things on and off, changing and moving forward.”

It’s all part of Furnish’s five-year plan to promote Elton’s music to younger audiences; projects like the Rocketman film and Elton’s Lockdown Sessions album have been a part of that. The plan seems to be working: According to Furnish, more than half of Elton’s Spotify listeners are aged 18 to 35.

And while Elton admits he’s hopeless when it comes to technology, Furnish says that once his husband “understands the role it plays in his world, he’s happy to give it a try … but then you better get it right.” As Furnish puts it, “If it doesn’t turn out the way it should, he’s not happy.”

Paul McCartney mourns death of “dear” brother-in-law John Eastman

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Paul McCartney is mourning the loss of his brother-in-law John Eastman — older brother of his late first wife, Linda — who died Thursday of pancreatic cancer at age 83, according to U.K. newspaper The Sun.

“My dear brother-in-law, John Eastman, has passed away,” the former Beatles legend writes in a tribute posted on his official website. “Having known each other for over 50 years it is an extremely sad time for me, and our families.”

McCartney continues, “John was a great man. One of the nicest and smartest people I have had the good luck to have known in my life. ⁠Not only did he help me massively in my business dealings as my lawyer but as a friend he was hard to beat.”

Sir Paul adds, “His sense of humour always shone through in everything he did and his devotion to his family was supreme. ⁠We had so many fun times together through the years, but when the time came to be serious, he was unbeatable.”

The note concludes, “[W]ords can hardly describe his passion for life and our affection for this amazing man. He will be sorely missed but always held dear in the hearts of those of us who knew and loved him. See ya Johnny!”

Accompanying the message is a photo of McCartney and Eastman smiling as they do yoga poses together.

John Eastman and his late father, Lee, were both lawyers who helped guide McCartney through his legal separation from his fellow Beatles during the band’s breakup and also advised Paul on some of his lucrative business endeavors, including his investment in music publishing.

Paul wed Linda Eastman in March 1969, and the couple remained married until Linda’s death in April 1998 at age 56.

Instagram personality charged with murder months after allegedly fatally stabbing boyfriend

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LAUPAHOEHOE, Hi.) — Social media personality Courtney Clenney has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder with a deadly weapon, months after the death of her 27-year-old boyfriend Christian Obumseli.

The 26-year-old, who goes under the name Courtney Tailor on Instagram, was arrested in Laupahoehoe, Hawaii, Wednesday after Miami-Dade County prosecutors issued a warrant for her arrest in the April 3 stabbing, police said.

Miami-Dade County’s chief medical examiner determined Obumseli’s cause of death was a stab to the chest with a knife, which punctured his subclavian artery, Katherine Rundle, the Miami-Dade state attorney, said at a press conference Thursday.

The stab wound was the result of a forceful downward thrust, just over 3 inches into the artery, Rundle said.

Rundle alleged Obumseli and Clenney were involved in an “extremely tempestuous combative” relationship since November 2020.

“It was learned that the security and building staff at the Miami apartment documented many incidents of loud arguments between the couple after they moved into the building in January 2022. Tenants as far as an apartment two floors above were making complaints to security and building management about the noises and the ruckus,” Rundle said.

Building management was going to evict the couple due to the many complaints, Rundle said.

Rundle said tenants called the building manager the day of the stabbing to report a disturbance. The manager then called 911. Eleven minutes later, Clenney called 911, notifying them that Obumseli was stabbed and needed help, Rundle said.

Obumseli can be heard on the 911 call repeatedly saying that he was dying and he was losing feeling in his arm, according to Rundle. Clenney is heard saying, “I’m so sorry, baby,” Rundle said.

According to Rundle, Clenney told police that Obumseli shoved her against the wall by the neck but he did not choke her and then claimed he threw her to the ground but allowed her to get up. Rundle added that Clenney moved to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. As he approached her, Clenney alleged that she threw the knife from a distance of about 10 feet, Rundle said.

The medical examiner said throwing the knife from that distance would not have caused the fatal stab wound, according to Rundle.

Clenney has alleged the stabbing was in self-defense but police said they observed no injuries on Clenney that would have corroborated her account. Clenney also allegedly provided several inconsistent accounts about the incident itself and never stated that Obumseli was armed with any type of weapon, Rundle said.

Clenney’s attorney, Frank Prieto, has also claimed the fatal April 3 stabbing was self-defense, saying Clenney’s allegatio. aligned with evidence found at the scene, he said in an NewsNation interview posted on his website.

Miami Police Chief Chief Manny Morales alleged that Clenney lied about being thrown to the ground the day of the stabbing, he told reporters.

Clenney is being held at the Hawai’i Police Department’s East Hawai’i Detention Center pending her initial court appearance. Rundle said Thursday that Clenney has not yet appeared in court.

Clenney will be given the option to waive or contest extradition when she appears in court. Clenney’s attorney has told officials she intends to waive extradition, which would allow officials to facilitate her return to Florida, Rundle said.

Clenney was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service with assistance from members of the Hawaii Police Department, Hawaii police said in a press release.

Rundle also showed elevator footage of the couple dated Feb. 21 in which Clenney appears to physically attack Obumseli repeatedly. Rundle said the evidence suggested Clenney was being violent toward Obumseli.

Police had also responded to arguments at the apartment on April 1, two days before the stabbing, Rundle said.

Prieto said Clenney was placed under a mental health hold on the night of the stabbing and she was “completely distraught” in the interview. Prieto said Clenney was released to her family within 48 hours. Prieto did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

Watchdog felt it faced delays monitoring DHS, Secret Service texts — but never sent notice to Congress

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Career staff at the government’s watchdog for the Department of Homeland Security prepared a notice to Congress earlier this year about their difficulty obtaining Secret Service text messages connected to Jan. 6, but it was never included as part of the watchdog’s regular reporting requirement to lawmakers.

New documents reviewed by ABC News, and first obtained by the independent accountability group Project on Government Oversight, show the DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG)’s legal office went so far as approving a draft notice to Congress that was ultimately not included in the agency’s semi-annual report in June.

It’s unclear why the notice was not in the report. But the draft document details what the OIG said were “avoidable” roadblocks imposed on its work by DHS.

According to the notice, the DHS used a cumbersome approval process to release requested records to the OIG, which was “requiring [the office] to waste valuable time making inquiries.” And after delays of more than a month in some cases, documents would arrive with unexplained redactions.

Amid those described delays, according to the notice, the OIG said it was on Feb. 23 when the Secret Service notified the watchdog’s staff of the mobile phone data migration process in early 2021 “which wiped all data” — including the Jan. 6-related texts.

This contradicts another timeline: The watchdog’s office was aware as early as December that Secret Service texts from Jan. 6 had been erased, according to congressional committee members who received a Secret Service briefing on the subject last month.

It wasn’t until more than six months after the OIG allegedly knew about the deletions that it formally notified lawmakers, on July 13, according to Congress.

As ABC News previously reported, Democrats in Congress released new evidence last week alleging that nearly a year before notifying Congress, Inspector General Joseph Cuffari had abandoned his efforts to recover the Secret Service’s text messages from Jan. 6.

Democrats have called on Cuffari to step down, suggesting a cover-up related to the text message probe.

Sen. Gary Peters, Democratic chair of the Homeland Security Committee, on Wednesday requested a “full accounting” from Cuffari about the efforts to recover messages from the Secret Service and other DHS officials.

“These are serious allegations and diverge from the information that you previously provided me and my team,” Peters wrote.

“Therefore, I am requesting that you provide me with a complete accounting of actions planned and taken by your office and clarify the inconsistencies in what has been reported to date,” he wrote.

The DHS Office of Inspector General did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

Regarding the government watchdog’s Jan. 6 investigation more generally, their June report had noted “significant delays” with Secret Service records production.

“We continue to discuss this issue with Secret Service,” the brief statement said then.

Dallas salon shooting suspect indicted on hate crime charge for allegedly shooting 3 Korean women

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DALLAS) — A man accused of shooting three Asian American women at a Dallas hair salon in May was indicted Tuesday on multiple counts, including committing a hate crime and aggravated assault, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office announced.

Jeremy Smith, 37, is charged with seven counts of aggravated assault, each with a hate-crime enhancement and punishable by five years to life in prison. He was arrested by Dallas police on May 16 and remains in the county jail with bail set at $700,000.

After Smith entered the Koreatown establishment on May 11, he allegedly fired 13 shots from a .22-caliber rifle, injuring three women — the salon owner, an employee and a customer — and endangering four others. The three women, who are all Korean, suffered nonfatal injuries and were transported to a local hospital after the shooting, police said.

Smith allegedly targeted the victims because of “his bias or prejudice against Asian Americans,” according to the announcement.

Smith’s girlfriend told police detectives he had been paranoid about Asian Americans since being involved in a car crash two years ago with an Asian man, according to a police affidavit.

Whenever Smith is around an Asian American person, he begins having delusions that “the Asian mob is after him or attempting to harm him” and was fired for “verbally attacking” his Asian boss, his girlfriend said, according to the police affidavit.

According to the affidavit, she told police Smith experienced panic attacks because of his delusions and was even admitted to several mental health facilities.

Texas federal prosecutors, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights division partnered for a federal hate crime investigation into Smith.

Over recent years, the country has seen a sharp increase in anti-Asian violence. Many attacks have been captured in viral videos, intensifying fear and anger among Asian Americans.

Last year, a gunman killed six women of Asian descent at a shooting at massage businesses in and near Atlanta. Earlier this month, a West Texas man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for attacking an Asian family outside a Midland, Texas, department store in 2020. The man assumed they were Chinese and therefore responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an FBI analysis on increasing hate crimes.

Last May, President Joe Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law, which designates a Justice Department official to focus on reviewing incidents and provides grants to police departments so they can establish hotlines for hate crime reporting.

However, the law has also drawn rebuke for increasing policing and bolstering a carceral system some say is demonstrably ineffective at preventing crime and discriminatory, particularly toward Black Americans.

Music notes: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Ava Max, Sara Bareilles and Madonna

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

It’s August, which means Taylor Swift‘s song of the same name is back on the Billboard charts. People are Googling its lyrics in droves — a rise of 3,753% in the U.S., to be exact — and, of course, they’re also streaming the seasonal song. The song was streamed 3.8 million times in the first few days of August.

Someone hit Lady Gaga with a teddy bear as she was belting out “Hold My Hand” at a show in Toronto. Her Twitter fan page posted the video and warned fans, “Please DO NOT throw items on stage at The Chromatica Ball. This not only is dangerous to Gaga, but items may also catch on fire in the jets as well and cause damage.”

Ava Max teased her new single, “Million Dollar Baby,” on TikTok and hinted a music video is also on the way. “Shes comin to life,” she captioned the video.

Sara Bareilles is apologizing to fans because she’s not doing “pictures or signing or anything right now.” The singer explained she’s trying to stay healthy for her Broadway run, noting she can’t risk catching COVID-19. “Please forgive me,” she begged on her Instagram Story. “Thank you for understanding. It’s not personal.”

Madonna celebrated the forthcoming release of her dance remix album Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones with an old-fashioned roller disco party. She was joined by Nile Rodgers, who co-produced her breakthrough album Like a Virgin, as well as Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose, designer Christian Siriano, her son David Banda and Questlove, who played DJ at the Central Park bash in New York City.

Music notes: Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Ava Max, Dove Cameron, Sara Bareilles, Madonna and more

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

It’s August, which means Taylor Swift‘s song of the same name is back on the Billboard charts. People are Googling its lyrics in droves — a rise of 3,753% in the U.S. to be exact. The song was streamed 3.8 million times in the first few days of August.

Someone hit Lady Gaga with a teddy bear during her concert in Toronto. Her Twitter fan page shared the video and stated, “Please DO NOT throw items on stage at The Chromatica Ball. This not only is dangerous to Gaga, but items may also catch on fire in the jets as well and cause damage.”

Ava Max teased her new single, “Million Dollar Baby,” on TikTok and hinted a music video is also on the way. “Shes comin to life,” she captioned the video.

Speaking of music videos, Dove Cameron says her one for “Breakfast” is coming soon. “Do you want to see a magic trick,” she teased on Instagram.

Sara Bareilles apologized that she’s not doing “pictures or signing or anything right now.” The singer explained she’s trying to stay healthy for her Broadway run, noting she can’t risk catching COVID-19. “Please forgive me,” she begged on her Instagram Story. “Thank you for understanding. It’s not personal.”

Hailey Bieber and Lil Nas X have teamed for the Vogue World fashion event this fall, which will celebrate the fashion mag’s 130th anniversary on September 12.

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