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Candidates’ vaccine hesitancy ‘demonstrates the limits’ of Trump’s grip on GOP, say experts

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As the midterm primary season approaches, several Republicans running for state or national office are either refusing to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status or advertising that they haven’t received a shot, even as former President Donald Trump calls on his followers to get the vaccine.

Some experts say that disconnect could expose cracks in a party that continues to grapple with its loyalty to Trump as well as a growing distrust of government, scientists and the media — and may signal a loosening of Trump’s grip on the Republican voting base, according to Sarah Isgur, a former spokesperson for the Justice Department during the Trump administration.

“There’s been an assumption within the political class that these are ‘Trump voters,’ implying that the former president himself can dictate their political support for or against a given candidate,” said Isgur, who is also an ABC News contributor. “But the vaccine issue demonstrates the limits of that idea.”

After denigrating many of the measures promoted by scientists to help curb the spread of COVID-19 during his time in office, Trump has emerged as an unlikely champion of vaccines. His promotion of the shot as “something that works” belies polling that shows unvaccinated adults are more than three times as likely to be Republicans than Democrats.

Trump has at least twice been booed by supporters for promoting the vaccine — once at an August rally in Alabama and again in December when he told an audience that he’d received a booster shot.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t,” Trump told dissenters who booed the vaccine at the December event.

“If you don’t want to take it, you shouldn’t be forced to take it — no mandates,” said Trump, whose administration oversaw the speedy development of the vaccine. “But take credit, because we saved tens of millions of lives. Take credit. Don’t let them take that away from you.”

Critics of Trump, however, accuse him of paving the way for widespread vaccine hesitancy by undermining scientists in his own administration who advocated for masks and social distancing in the early months of the pandemic.

Now, several Republican candidates running under the Trump banner — including some who have already earned his endorsement — are parroting anti-vax rhetoric in their campaigns. Others are trying to toe the line by refusing to share their vaccination status altogether — a position Trump has characterized as “gutless.”

“Trump empowered this anti-vax monster, and now even he can’t control it,” said former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va.

Former NFL running back Herschel Walker, who earned Trump’s endorsement for U.S. Senate in Georgia, has declined to say whether he has been vaccinated. The early frontrunner in Ohio’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate, Josh Mandel, has aligned himself with Trump but recently implied that he has not been vaccinated. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a longtime Trump ally, has dodged questions about whether he’s received a booster shot.

In Arizona, a gaggle of Trump-backed and Trump-aligned candidates have been more explicit in their opposition to vaccines. Former television anchor Kari Lake, who Trump endorsed in the state’s gubernatorial primary, said recently that she has “enough concern about the vaccine” to not take it.

Justin Olson, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona, also said this month that he has not been vaccinated — calling his decision “an issue of rebellion against” the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates. And Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., enthusiastically accepted Trump’s endorsement for reelection, even as he continues to stoke anti-vaccine fears.

A number of Trump-aligned candidates have cast their vaccine status as a matter of privacy. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who is also running for U.S. Senate, has mocked reporters who have questioned him about it.

“My health information is my own information,” Brnovich said. “Have you had an STD? I mean, seriously, if we’re going to start asking about people’s health information.”

There’s already evidence that opacity could be a winning strategy. In Virginia’s recent election for lieutenant governor, Winsome Sears, a fierce Trump loyalist, refused to disclose her vaccination status, leading her Democratic opponent, Hala Ayala, to try to make it a major campaign issue.

“I encourage everyone to get the vaccine but no one should be forced to disclose their vaccination status,” Sears wrote in a tweet ahead of election day. She then won the race.

Sears’ triumph could be a sign that voters simply don’t care if public servants are vaccinated. But it could also indicate the evolving relationship between Trump and members of his base, many of whom Isgur says are “disaffected and angry” — even if some of that anger is directed toward Trump himself.

“It’s why Trump’s disapproval of a candidate has been so much more effective than his endorsement,” Isgur said. “These voters are on the hunt for enemies, and they are just as willing to turn on Trump as anyone else.”

Victoria’s Secret reveals one of its most diverse model lineups yet

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Victoria’s Secret has unveiled ads for its latest collection of bras and panties, called Love Cloud, featuring women of different shapes, sizes and backgrounds.

The Love Cloud collection announced last year, features ads with images of accessories designer Slyvia Buckler holding her pregnant stomach, and Nez Perce Tribe-Wildland Firefighter, Celilo Miles.

The ads also feature familiar faces such as top models Hailey Bieber, Adut Akech and Paloma Elsesser as well as Valentina Sampaio who became Sports Illustrated’s first transgender model to be featured in the publication’s swimsuit issue.

“Love Cloud Collection is a major moment in the brand’s evolution,” said Victoria’s Secret head creative director Raúl Martinez. “From the cast of incredible women that bring the collection to life, to the incredible inclusive spirit on set, this campaign is an important part of the new Victoria’s Secret standard we are creating.”

Officially available to shop in-stores and online, the new Love Cloud collection features a wide selection of bras and panties sized 32A-40DDD and XS-XXL. The pieces include cloud-like padding as well as a soft fabric that consists of smoothing technology to give a sleek appearance, according to the company.

“After listening to and being inspired by the real needs of our consumers, Love Cloud has been created as a collection that fits everyday comfort without sacrificing functionality or sexiness,” said Victoria’s Secret chief design officer Janie Schaffer.

She continued: “With this new line, we are launching high-quality bras and panties in shapes that fit women’s daily needs, in our ongoing effort to develop products that champion women and support their individual journeys.”

San Francisco recalls three school board members in landslide election

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SAN FRANCISCO) — San Francisco voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots to remove three members of the city’s school board Tuesday night, marking the first time in the city’s history members of the board have been recalled.

In an election marred by debate over the pace of school reopenings during the pandemic and the management of controversial social issues in the district, School Board President Gabriela López and board members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins were all ousted, with more than 70% of voters backing the effort to recall them, preliminary results from the San Francisco Board of Elections showed.

“As the first results post for the recall election, it appears we were unsuccessful at defeating my recall,” Moliga said on his Facebook page. “We fought hard and ran a great campaign. I want to thank the Pacific Islander community for standing up and taking on this challenge. There are many more fights ahead of us.”

The three members will now be replaced with appointees selected by Mayor London Breed, who endorsed the recall, until another election is held for the positions in November.

In a statement Tuesday night, Breed said that voters “delivered a clear message that the School Board must focus on the essentials of delivering a well-run school system above all else” and recognized “all the parents who tirelessly organized and advocated in the last year.”

“Elections can be difficult, but these parents were fighting for what matters most — their children,” Breed said. “It’s time we refocus our efforts on the basics of providing quality education for all students, while more broadly improving how this City delivers support for children and families.”

When reached for comment by ABC News, Autumn Looijen, campaign co-lead at Recall the SF School Board, said over text that the reaction in her house was “total celebration.”

“It’s one thing to think you’ll win,” she said. “Quite another once it’s real.”

San Francisco’s recall has drawn widespread attention amid a year in which 25 recall efforts have been launched against 66 officials nationwide, according to tracking by Ballotpedia.

“School boards are where the rubber meets the road when it comes to Americans meeting their government,” ABC News Political Director Rick Klein said of the recall. “Schools, for better or worse, are the battlefront. They’re where the major issues of 2022 are colliding for so many Americans.”

Financial documents reviewed by ABC News show the effort in San Francisco has largely been bankrolled by big donors who don’t have children in the district.

According to campaign finance records, some of the biggest backers are 95-year-old billionaire Arthur Rock and PayPal COO David Sacks, who contributed nearly $400,000 and more than $74,000, respectively.

“You’d never think that a liberal member of a school board in San Francisco would have to worry about his or her job,” Klein said. “The power of the arguments that are being put forward and on display in this recall election, I think will animate so many campaigns up and down the ballot for state and national political office in 2022.”

Jan. 6 committee subpoenas staffers, operatives who sought to send ‘fake electors’ to Congress

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Tuesday issued six subpoenas to Trump campaign staffers and Republican operatives in several key battleground states who supported efforts to send “fake electors” to Congress in an effort to challenge the 2020 election results.

The group includes Michael Roman and Michael Brown, who worked on Election Day operations for Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, as well as Mark Finchem, Arizona GOP Party Chair Kelli Ward and former Michigan GOP Chair Laura Cox.

Finchem is now running to serve as Arizona’s top election official, while Ward has sued to stop the committee from obtaining her and her husband’s phone records.

The committee also subpoenaed Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who chartered buses to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 and organized a post-election hearing in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to raise claims of widespread and unproven voter fraud. He was also involved in Trump’s White House meeting with Pennsylvania GOP lawmakers in December of 2020, as Trump worked to overturn the results in the state and in other presidential battlegrounds.

Mastriano was also a leader of the GOP’s 2020 election audit in Pennsylvania, which was based on a similar review conducted by Republicans in Arizona.

Cox, the leader of the Republican Party in Michigan during the 2020 election, also supported Trump’s efforts to challenge the results in her state. In the aftermath of the election, Trump also gathered a group of Michigan GOP lawmakers at the White House to make his case.

“The Select Committee is seeking information about efforts to send false slates of electors to Washington and change the outcome of the 2020 election,” Jan. 6 committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement. “We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans.”

Thompson recently told ABC News that the panel’s planned public hearings this spring would review Trump’s state-level pressure campaign and the unsuccessful lawsuits that sought to challenge election results in key swing states, and will possibly include testimony from state and local election officials.

To date, the committee has collected tens of thousands of pages of records, conducted more than 560 interviews and issued at least 81 subpoenas.

Breakthrough treatment makes woman third person to be cured of HIV

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Researchers revealed on Tuesday that an American, described as a middle-aged woman of mixed race, has likely been cured of HIV after undergoing a new transplant procedure using donated umbilical cord blood.

The patient, who needed a stem cell transplant for leukemia, reportedly developed a new HIV-resistant immune system following a breakthrough procedure in which she was genetically matched with umbilical cord stem cells that contained an HIV-resistant mutation.

She was part of a study that began in 2015 designed to monitor outcomes of 25 people with HIV in the U.S. who underwent a transplant, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Yvonne Bryson, an infectious disease physician at UCLA, who led the study, discussed their team’s finding along with the patient’s condition at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections this week.

“Today, we reported the third known case of HIV remission and the first woman following a stem cell transplant and using HIV-resistant cells,” Bryson said in a press conference.

“This case is special for several reasons: First, our participant was a U.S. woman living with HIV of mixed race, who needed a stem cell transplant for treatment of her leukemia. And she would find a more difficult time finding both a genetic match and one with the HIV-resistant mutation to both cure her cancer and potentially her HIV. This is a natural, but rare mutation,” she said.

Bryson added that while this approach of using genetically-matched umbilical cord blood with HIV-resistant mutation opens the door to more diverse populations and studies, she confirmed there is no current routine screening in place in the U.S. for this mutation.

Previously, only two men have been cured of HIV using a bone marrow or stem cell transplant. And while this is the third known case, according to Bryson’s team, of HIV remission in an individual who received a stem cell transplant of any kind, experts in the field caution that this method is not ideal for curing the many millions of HIV-positive people around the globe today.

Bryson said there could eventually be “approximately at least 50 [people] per year that may benefit from this.”

In an interview with Community Health Center, Inc., Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading expert in infectious disease in the U.S., whose work in HIV care and treatment innovation spans four decades, said, “I don’t want people to think that now this is something that can be applied to the 36 million people [globally] who are living with HIV.”

“This person had an underlying disease that required a stem cell transplant. … It is not practical to think that this is something that’s going to be widely available,” Fauci added. “It’s more of a proof of concept.”

While there is no practical and applicable cure for HIV on a large scale, there have been incredible strides in HIV treatment over the years that allow individuals to live a normal and healthy life.

Known as U=U, or Undetectable=Untransmittable, if an HIV-positive person begins HIV treatment and brings the virus in their body to an undetectable level, the individual cannot transmit the virus to someone as long as they remain on said treatment or medication.

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first long-acting injectable drug for HIV prevention.

Until recently, the only medications licensed and approved by the FDA for HIV prevention or pre-exposure prophylaxis, most commonly known as PrEP, were daily pills, which slow the progression of an HIV infection in the body.

PrEP is usually taken daily so that it builds up in in a person’s system, to the point that if there is an HIV infection, it prevents the virus from replicating and spreading throughout the body.

When taken as prescribed, PrEP services reduce the risk of getting HIV from sex by about 99%, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, individuals who feel at-risk of HIV infection have the option of taking the daily pill, or the new shot every two months, after two initiation injections administered one month apart.

On the vaccine front, Moderna recently announced that it’s launched early stage clinical trials of an HIV mRNA vaccine. ABC News previously reported that the biotechnology company teamed up with the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine Initiative to develop the shot, which uses the same technology as Moderna’s successful COVID-19 vaccine.

Because bone marrow transplantation is a dangerous and risky procedure, it is considered unethical to perform on people with HIV, unless the person also has cancer and needs a transplant as part of their treatment.

Cruz, other GOP senators oppose no-fly list for convicted unruly passengers

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A group of Republican senators sent a letter to the Justice Department on Tuesday to express “strong opposition” to creating a federal no-fly list for unruly passengers, claiming “the majority of recent infractions on airplanes has been in relation to the mask mandate.”

Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas were among those who signed a letter opposing Delta Airlines’ CEO Ed Bastian’s request earlier this month that the DOJ create a “no-fly” list for passengers convicted of federal offenses relating to on-board disruptions.

Last year saw a major spike in unruly passengers, with more than 5,981 reported cases, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The agency notes, of those cases, 4,290 were mask-related.

“Creating a federal ‘no-fly’ list for unruly passengers who are skeptical of this mandate would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland,” the GOP senators’ letter said. “The [Transportation Security Administration] was created in the wake of 9/11 to protect Americans from future horrific attacks, not to regulate human behavior onboard flights.”

The senators argued airlines could create their own no-fly lists and refuse services to unruly passengers, but that it would be an overreach for the federal government to do so.

Many airlines have already done this, but they do not prevent an offender from boarding another carrier. Delta has previously asked other U.S. airlines to share their internal no-fly lists so that people who endangered their crew can’t do so on another airline.

“The creation of this list by DOJ would result in a severe restriction on the ability of citizens to fully exercise their constitutional right to engage in interstate transportation,” the GOP letter said. “It also raises serious concerns about future unrelated uses and potential expansions of the list based on political pressures.”

In Bastian’s request to the DOJ, he indicated that he believes banning unruly passengers from all commercial flights will send a strong signal to the flying public that not following crew member instructions comes with severe consequences.

“This action will help prevent future incidents and serve as a strong symbol of the consequences of not complying with crew member instructions on commercial aircraft,” he wrote.

Unruly passenger incidents onboard Delta planes have increased nearly 100% since 2019, according to Bastian. The airline has placed almost 2,000 people on Delta’s internal no-fly list for refusing to wear a mask and has submitted around 1,000 banned names to the TSA to pursue civil penalties.

Other people in the industry have called for support of a no-fly list for unruly passengers. Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, responded in a statement to the GOP senators.

“We’ve been punched, kicked, spit on, and sexually assaulted. This puts everyone at risk and disrupts the safety of flight, which is never acceptable and every single one of the senators who signed this letter knows full well what is at stake if we leave a gap in aviation safety and security,” Nelson said. “It is irresponsible and political brinkmanship that will put our economic security at risk right along with our lives.”

Nelson pushed back against the lawmakers’ argument about mask mandates, noting many charges stem from incidents unrelated to mask-wearing.

“Our union continues to call for the creation of a centralized list of passengers who may not fly for a period of time after being fined or convicted of a serious incident. This is not about ‘masks,’ and the worst attacks have nothing to do with masks,” Nelson said. “You’re either for protecting crew and passengers from these attacks or you’re against. We need clear and consistent rules with strict consequences for those who cannot respect our collective efforts to keep everyone safe – in the air and on the ground.”

Joe DePete, the president of the Air Line Pilots Association, called for the Department of Homeland Security to create a “no-fly list” for unruly passengers.

“There should be zero tolerance for airline passengers who threaten the safety of others,” DePete said in a tweet Tuesday.

Delta responded to the Republican senators in a statement, saying unruly passengers risk the safety of airline staff and other passengers.

“Delta welcomes the interest from Congress as U.S. airlines continue to grapple with an uptick in unruly passengers, putting the safety of airline employees and the flying public at risk,” a spokesperson for Delta told ABC News on Tuesday. “At Delta, nothing is more important than ensuring a safe and secure travel experience for our customers and our people.”

Some Russian troops moved to firing positions near Ukraine, Putin said be ready by Feb. 16: Sources

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — While Russia’s defense ministry said Tuesday that some forces would pull back from Ukraine’s borders after completing military exercises, the U.S. has so far not seen that, President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation.

But worrying U.S. officials, Russians troops are instead moving forward closer to the line, including with medical supplies, and being put into firing positions, sources told ABC News.

The U.S. believes that Russia now has all the necessary pieces in place, including 150,000 troops in the region, to launch a swift and brutal invasion of Ukraine, the sources added — the reason why Biden administration officials have now publicly been saying Russia could move “at any time.”

In particular, ABC News has learned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had told his military forces to be ready to go by Wednesday, Feb. 16, but it is still unclear whether he has made a decision to attack his neighbor.

The Russian government has denied any plans to invade Ukraine and repeatedly accused the U.S. of “hysteria” with these increasingly urgent warnings about one.

“After Russian troops finish drills and return to barracks, the West will declare ‘diplomatic victory’ by having ‘secured’ Russian ‘de-escalation’ — a predictable scenario and cheap domestic political points,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, according to the country’s foreign ministry.

The U.S. believes an invasion would likely begin with electronic warfare and aerial bombardment against critical infrastructure, the sources said, followed by special operations forces entering Kyiv to decapitate the Ukrainian government and resupplying troops entering from Belarus — with plans to complete their operations in 24 to 72 hours.

During his remarks Tuesday, Biden confirmed that Russian troops “remain very much in a threatening position” — warning that an invasion remains “distinctly possible” and would inflict an “enormous” human toll.

But Biden said the U.S. would welcome Moscow pulling back its forces and engaging in diplomatic talks on U.S. and NATO proposals, on issues like arms control and transparency over military exercises.

While Lavrov said Moscow’s response to those proposals would be transmitted in the coming days, Putin said that Russia’s key demands were being ignored — that Ukraine be barred from joining NATO and that the Western military alliance pull back its forces from Eastern European member states.

The U.S. and NATO have said those are nonstarters — issues that only the alliance itself or individual countries can decide and not under Russian pressure.

“This is about more than just Russia and Ukraine. It’s about standing for what we believe in, for the future that we want for our world, for liberty — for liberty, the right of countless countries to choose their own destiny, and the right of people to determine their own futures, or the principle that a country can’t change its neighbor’s borders by force,” Biden said at the White House.

Biden and Putin spoke Saturday — their first conversation in over a month — while their top diplomats Lavrov and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have spoken twice now in recent days. While the door to continued dialogue remains open, both sides have indicated, there are concerns Russia may resort to war even as it negotiates.

Russia already seized Ukrainian territory when it annexed Crimea in 2014, and since then, it has fomented a war against Ukrainian troops by arming and financing separatists in Ukraine’s eastern provinces known as Donbas. Russian parliament passed a resolution Tuesday calling on Putin to recognize them as independent republics — something Putin indicated he would not yet do.

But sources said if Russia attacks Ukraine, it would likely not be against a small slice of territory in Donbas, but a bloody, brutal and swift campaign to topple President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration and install a puppet government.

Amid the heightened U.S. fears, the U.S. has also been concerned that Zelenskyy’s government hasn’t responded quickly enough and isn’t better prepared for a potential Russian invasion, sources said, including the positioning of its forces in eastern Ukraine.

U.S. officials have been urging better preparedness for two months now, the sources added, but President Zelenskyy and his inner circle have been both intent on staving off a panic and persistent in a belief that Moscow wouldn’t invade.

While some U.S. officials doubt Putin is bluffing given the costs, financial and political, of the buildup, many analysts have been skeptical of dire U.S. assessments — with some saying Putin is achieving his ultimate objective: destabilizing an increasingly democratic Ukraine aligned with the West.

“Putin has the hard experience of humiliation in Chechnya that tells him that while Russia might eventually be able to conquer Ukraine, they can’t hold it, and with any crossing of the border they will pay a very high price in blood and treasure,” said retired Col. Stephen Ganyard, a former senior State Department official and now an ABC News contributor. “If he fails in Ukraine, it could be his rule that ends as well.”

In particular, Ganyard said, a Russian invasion is still facing warm, wet weather conditions that make tank movements and aerial bombardment difficult, while the number of massed Russian troops still pales compared to Ukraine’s forces, especially if Russian troops have to occupy a country the size of Texas.

Biden made clear the U.S. still hopes for a diplomatic off-ramp and for Putin to decide against invasion, even as they continue to make preparations for one — from increased military aid for Ukraine, to coordination with European allies and others on sanctions.

Since Russia’s buildup began, allies and partners have come together quickly to prepare a year’s worth of sanctions work in the last six weeks, sources said, including export controls that could devastate Russia’s economy.

But the U.S. is concerned that Russia could maintain its troop buildup and other ways of pressuring Ukraine short of taking military action — and that that could start to splinter the Western coalition’s unity.

Biden made reference to the economic pain that could be felt at home in the U.S., including elevated energy prices because of Russia’s major role as an oil and gas exporter.

“But the American people understand that defending democracy and liberty is never without cost,” Biden said — adding his administration was taking “active steps to alleviate the pressure on our own energy markets.”

J.J. Abrams teases fourth ‘Star Trek’ film

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

J.J. Abrams has announced plans for a fourth Star Trek film, ideally with the cast from his 2009 reboot, according to Variety.

“We are thrilled to say that we are hard at work on a new Star Trek film that will be shooting by the end of the year that will be featuring our original cast and some new characters that I think are going to be really fun and exciting and help take Star Trek into areas that you’ve just never seen before,” Abrams revealed at the Paramount Investors Day presentation Tuesday.

“We’re thrilled about this film, we have a bunch of other stories that we’re talking about that we think will be really exciting, so can’t wait for you to see what we’re cooking up. But until then, live long and prosper,” he added.

There’s just one little hitch, though: the studio has yet to enter negotiations with any of original stars, which include Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, Karl Urban as Bones and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Anton Yelchin, who played Chekhov in Abrams’ previous three movies, died in 2016.

Plans to bring back the cast have been percolating for years, including a 2018 sequel teaming Pine with Kirk’s late father, portrayed in the 2009 film by Chris Hemsworth. The plan ultimately fizzled, reportedly because Paramount couldn’t reach a deal with Pine and Hemsworth. Quentin Tarantino was even circling a project at one time.

KISS announces plans for 2022 KISS Kruise, expected to feature band’s final “on board” performance

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

KISS has announced plans for the 11th annual installment of The KISS Kruise, which will take place October 29 to November 3 this fall. According to a message on the seagoing rock festival’s official website, this year’s cruise will be the last time that the band “will perform on the high seas.”

The five-day nautical extravaganza will be the first KISS Kruise to set sail from and visit sites on the West Coast, embarking from Los Angeles and stopping at Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to port.

You can sign up today at TheKISSKruise.com to have access to a pre-sale for the cruise. The KISS Kruise XI “Experience” will feature an unmasked concert by the band on deck, a full “masked” electric show in the ship’s Stardust Theater, an engraved commemorative gift, two activities with KISS, two activities with individual members of the group, an expo offering rare memorabilia, concerts by various other artists, autograph sessions with members of the cruise’s support acts, and more.

The lineup of acts joining KISS on the cruise is expected to be announced soon.

KISS frontman Paul Stanley appears in a video promoting this year’s KISS Kruise that been posted on the group’s YouTube channel.

“[W]e’re gonna have great bands. We’re gonna have a great time,” Stanley says in the clip, then teases, “Everybody says, ‘When is it gonna be the last one?’ Well, this is KISS Kruise XI, and you don’t want to miss it for a whole lot of reasons. I want you there. You deserve to be there. Be there!”

Meanwhile, KISS’ End of the Road farewell tour is scheduled to relaunch with a South American leg starting April 20 in Santiago, Chile. The trek likely will continue into 2023.

J.J Abrams teases new Star Trek film with original cast

February 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

J.J. Abrams has announced plans for a fourth Star Trek film, ideally with the cast from his 2009 reboot, according to Variety.

There’s just one little hitch though: the studio has yet to enter negotiations with any of original stars, which include Chris Pine as Captain Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, Karl Urban as Bones and Simon Pegg as Scotty.

Anton Yelchin, who played Chekhov in Abrams’ previous three movies, died in 2016.

Plans to bring back the cast have been percolating for years, including a 2018 sequel teaming Pine with Kirk’s late father — portrayed in the 2009 film by Chris Hemsworth. The plan ultimately fizzled, reportedly because Paramount couldn’t reach a deal with Pine and Hemsworth. Quentin Tarantino was even circling a project.

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