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Senate passes bill ending forced arbitration in sexual misconduct cases

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A bill that would eliminate forced arbitration agreements for sexual assault and harassment survivors in the workplace was approved in the Senate in a voice vote Thursday, and it now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

The legislation ushers in some of the most significant workplace reforms in decades.

New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who has long championed the bill and is one if its lead authors, said the bill “will give survivors their day in court, allow them to discuss their cases publicly and end the days of institutional protection for harassers.”

“It will help us fix a broken system that protects perpetrators and corporations and end the days of silencing survivors,” Gillibrand said on the Senate floor Thursday.

An aide to the senator told ABC News that the bill will go into effect immediately after Biden signs it into law.

The bill’s passage comes a few years after the #MeToo movement launched cases of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace into the public sphere, revealing just how often men in positions of power settle cases and silence victims by using secretive processes.

These practices have allowed some men to move on to new jobs without having to reveal to the public that claims had ever been filed against them.

This bill would for the first time ensure that survivors of sexual harassment and assault have the option of suing their abusers in state, tribal or federal court.

The House voted on the bill in a bipartisan 335-97 vote earlier in the week. All the votes against it came from Republicans.

“Today, the House took a key step toward ending the shameful practice of forced arbitration of sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. This landmark legislation will void agreements currently silencing more than 60 million workers as well as countless more consumers, who have been denied the freedom to pursue recourse for sexual assault and harassment by nursing home contracts, property leases and other legal agreements,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.

“With today’s strong, bipartisan vote, the House sent a clear signal to survivors across our nation that they deserve the freedom to seek justice and to make their voices heard,” she added.

According to a summary of the bill, H.R. 4445, the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act “would allow sexual harassment and sexual assault survivors to elect to file a case in a court of law rather than be subject to mandatory, forced arbitration provisions in cases involving sexual harassment or sexual assault disputes.”

By voiding forced arbitration clauses in the case of sexual assault and harassment, “survivors are provided the freedom to decide what legal path works best for them — that can include bringing a claim in court, discussing their case publicly, or seeking another kind of legal remedy. It will eliminate institutional protection for harassers and abusers and give survivors the chance to pursue justice,” according to the bill summary.

Proponents of the bill say the point of the legislation is to get cases of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace out in the open so that predators are punished and unable to repeat their offenses. Typically, in arbitration cases, the facts of a case don’t become public, and the accused can often move on to their next place of employment without any public recourse.

Just before the bill passed, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said it was “long overdue.”

“It is an outrage that women and men who are abused can not seek justice are forced to be quiet are forced to keep the agony inside themselves, it is outrageous,” Schumer said. “For decades, this forced arbitration has deprived millions of people form the basic right to justice.”

Republicans who have opposed the bill say it’s an overreach by the federal government in workplace matters.

One of the most prominent advocates for ending forced arbitration in sexual misconduct cases, however, is Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News host who filed a lawsuit against the late Roger Ailes, the former head of the cable network.

“Yes we will make history and have all women’s voices lifted up!” Carlson tweeted ahead of Monday’s vote.

In a statement earlier this month, the White House’s budget backed the bill.

“This bipartisan, bicameral legislation empowers survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment by giving them a choice to go to court instead of being forced into arbitration,” the White House’s budget office, the Office of Management and Budget, said.

Jan. 6 investigators find gaps in Trump White House call logs, sources say

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack has found sparse call records and gaps in the White House telephone logs from Jan. 6, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

One source indicated to ABC News that the logs do not reflect all the calls they understand former President Donald Trump was making that day.

Investigators have not uncovered any evidence that records were deleted or changed.

It’s public knowledge that Trump used not only his personal cell phone to make calls but also the phones of his aides.

The apparent gaps in the calls records is the latest challenge for the committee as they try to paint a complete picture of what Trump was doing and who he was talking to that day.

The call logs obtained by the committee detail incoming and outgoing calls through the White House switchboard.

A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment.

The phone log hunt was first reported by the New York Times.

Watch Foo Fighters rock out with the Fraggles in clip from ’Back to the Rock’ series

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

You can watch now Foo Fighters‘ trip to Fraggle Rock without an Apple TV+ subscription.

As previously reported, Dave Grohl and company appear on an episode of the new Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock series, which brings back the beloved music-loving puppets created by the late Jim Henson. The series premiered on Apple TV+ in January, but the streamer has now released a clip of the Foos’ performance.

The video, which you can watch now on YouTube, finds the “Everlong” outfit playing an original song, fittingly titled “Fraggle Rock Rock.” The tune also appears on the Back to the Rock soundtrack, which is out now.

By the way, Fraggle Rock isn’t Grohl’s first foray into the wacky world of Henson’s creations. He also had a cameo in the 2011 The Muppets movie, and guested on a 2015 episode of the ABC sitcom The Muppets.

Chris Young, Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert + Chris Stapleton lead 2022 ACM Awards nominees

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Chris Young is a frontrunner after the 2022 ACM Awards nominees were announced Thursday morning. He earned the most nominations of any artist, thanks largely to his mega-hit duet with Kane Brown, “Famous Friends.”

Chris earned seven mentions in total over four categories. He’s double-nominated in three of those, due to his role as both a producer and artist on the single and its album, also titled Famous Friends. He’s a bit of a dark horse at the awards show, having never won an ACM trophy in the past.

Behind Chris, the most-nominated artists are Walker Hayes, Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton, who are tied for second place, with five mentions apiece. Carrie Underwood, Carly Pearce and Jordan Davis also made a splash on the nominees list, coming in with four nods each.

Also scoring four nods was Morgan Wallen, who returns to the awards show pool after having been disqualified at the ACMs in 2021. His removal from consideration came after video footage emerged showing Morgan yelling a racist slur; he was also barred from all the other major awards shows that year.

But in 2022, the ACMs seem to be welcoming Morgan back. He’s nominated for Male Artist of the Year, also scoring a mention in the Album of the Year category, and two nods for Song of the Year, as both an artist and songwriter on his nominated “7 Summers.”

The 2022 ACMs will stream on Amazon Prime Video on March 7 at 8 p.m. EST.

Miley Cyrus teams with Dolly Parton in upcoming Super Bowl ad

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

This year’s Super Bowl is again bringing on the star power for its lineup of famous commercials. Miley Cyrus is the latest star who’ll make a cameo appearance in a Big Game ad for T-Mobile — and she’ll also be reuniting with her godmother, Dolly Parton.

Dolly teased a clip on Wednesday, which shows her telling her protégé over FaceTime, “You got a voice, Miley. Use it.” As Miley appears struck by inspiration, Survivor’s 1982 hit “Eye of the Tiger” plays in the background.

In a brief montage, Miley toils over song lyrics, plays some notes on a piano and scribbles notes into a notepad before asking out loud, “What would Dolly do?” The teaser abruptly ends with a message telling fans to tune in on Sunday, February 13, to catch the Big Game ad in full.

Dolly seemingly teased the commercial is going to pull some memorable stunts by writing, “There’s big stuff on the way from me,” followed by a winking face emoji.

The Super Bowl, where the Los Angeles Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals at California’s SoFi Stadium, kicks off this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

“Words can’t describe this feeling”: Eve welcomes first child with husband Maximillion Cooper

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Congratulations to Eve — she’s a mom. On Instagram, the rapper, actress and TV host announced that she and husband Maximillion Cooper welcomed a son on February 1.

Along with a picture of the baby sleeping peacefully in a floral-print basket, Eve wrote, “Our Beautiful boy was born Feb 1st 2022. Wilde Wolf Fife Alexander Somers Cooper. Words can’t describe this feeling.”

Eve and Cooper have been married since 2014; she’s a stepmom to his four teenage children from his previous marriage. Last October, she announced that she was expecting, writing, “You all know how long we’ve been waiting for this blessing!!!”

The Grammy winner had spoken in the past of her struggles to get pregnant; in 2020, she had fibroid tumors removed to improve her chance of becoming a mother.

In the comments on her Instagram post, Naomi Campbell congratulated Eve, and wrote, “Welcome to the world precious Wilde, play dates please.”

Eve’s Queens co-star Nadine Velazquez, who attended Eve’s baby shower last year, wrote “Welcome to Earth, The Liddle Wolfe. I can’t wait to meet him and see u again!”

Jack Antonoff says Damon Albarn’s Taylor Swift comments reflect “Trumpian approach of just making things up”

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Jack Antonoff has further responded to Damon Albarn‘s comments on Taylor Swift, likening the Blur frontman’s assertion that the pop star “doesn’t write her own songs” to a “Trumpian approach of just making things up.”

Speaking to Consequence’s The What podcast, Antonoff calls Albarn’s remarks, which he made during an interview with the Los Angeles Times, “completely absurd and everyone knows that.”

“You’re talking about one of the greatest songwriters of our generation who has her name as the only name on many songs,” Antonoff says of Swift. “You don’t need me to explain it; it’s fact.”

“I don’t care if Damon Albarn or anyone likes or doesn’t like something, but to unequivocally make a statement that isn’t true, that you actually have no idea about, and not to get to deep on it, but isn’t that kind of everything that’s wrong with our world at the moment?” he added. “People talking about s*** that they have no clue about?”

Following the LA Times interview — during which Albarn also dismissed the idea of Swift “co-writing” songs, which he said “doesn’t count” — the “Shake It Off” artist tweeted, “I write ALL of my own songs. Your hot take is completely false and SO damaging.”

“You don’t have to like my songs but it’s really f***ed up to try and discredit my writing,” Swift added. Antonoff, who’s long worked with Swift as a producer, also commented, “I’ve never met Damon Albarn and he’s never been to my studio but apparently he knows more than the rest of us about all those songs Taylor writes and brings in.”

Albarn soon apologized “unreservedly and unconditionally,” claiming his comments were “reduced to clickbait.”

“The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting,” he said. “I hope you understand.”

Dollywood launching program to give employees free college education

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PIGEON FORGE, Tenn.) — Dolly Parton’s signature Tennessee theme park and resort, Dollywood, has announced a new program to help employees further their education.

Dollywood’s operating partner, Herschend Enterprises, is piloting a program that will pay for 100 percent of tuition, fees and books for employees who decide to pursue higher education, according to the Dollywood website.

The program, which is named GROW U and launches Feb. 24, will be open to all team members on the first day of their employment and applies to employees at all levels, including those who are part-time, full-time and seasonal.

It will be available to all 11,000 employees across Herschend’s 25 attractions, including The Harlem Globetrotters, Missouri’s Silver Dollar City, New Jersey’s Adventure Aquarium and Georgia’s Wild Adventures, according to a press release.

This is the latest education-focused enterprise Parton has embarked on over the course of her decades-long career. Notably, she previously launched the Imagination Library, which provides free books to children under the age of 5.

Most recently, Parton donated $1 million to research at Vanderbilt University which led to the creation of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine.

Billie Eilish and FINNEAS meet Joe Biden at White House

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS visited President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday.

The duo is currently on Eilish’s Happier Than Ever Tour and had a show scheduled at Washington D.C.’s Capital One Arena, but before they took the stage, they made a pit stop at the White House with their parents. In addition to meeting the president, the siblings got to meet Biden’s newest German shepherd, Commander.

Biden later shared a snapshot of the trio together on social media, and wrote, “When I heard my friends @billieeilish and @finneas were in town for a show, I knew I had to invite them over to the White House. Great to see you and your family — and I’m glad you got to meet Commander.”

Finneas shared the post on his Instagram story and added, “So cool.”

Russia begins huge war games in Belarus amid Ukraine invasion fears

February 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia has officially kicked off the main phase of huge joint military exercises in Belarus, as Western countries continue to warn Russian forces massed near Ukraine could be used to launch a possible attack.

Russia has poured an unprecedented number of troops and equipment into Belarus over recent weeks ahead of the 10-day drills, moving units almost 6,000 miles from its far east and deploying tanks, long-range artillery and advanced fighter jets.

The United States and NATO countries have expressed worries that the exercises could be used as a cover for preparations for a possible on Ukraine, whose capital, Kyiv, is less than 200 miles south.

But Russia and Belarus have insisted the drills are just defensive war games. Russia’s defense ministry on Thursday said the exercises, called “Union Resolve 2022,” will “practice averting and repelling external aggression via a defensive operation, as well as combating terrorism and defending the interests” of Russia and Belarus.

The exercises are due to end on Feb. 20 and the Kremlin has said its troops will leave Belarus then.

Russia’s deployment of troops to Belarus is part of its broader military buildup massing over 100,000 troops along Ukraine’s eastern border and to the south in Crimea. Independent military analysts have sounded the alarm over the exercises, saying the scale of the Russian deployment is vastly larger than anything since the Cold War and includes units that would be used in a major invasion, such as advanced anti-air defences and Iskander-M long-range missile brigades. Satellite imagery has shown some of the Russian units are parked only a few dozen miles from Ukraine’s border, in areas not officially designated for the exercise.

The Belarus drills will coincide with what Western countries and some analysts have said is the window when Russia will reach the point of readiness to launch a major military operation against Ukraine.

NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday warned “the number of Russian forces is going up. The warning time for a possible attack is going down.”

“We must be prepared for the worst while remaining strongly committed to finding a political solution,” Stoltenberg added.

Ukrainian officials are much more skeptical and have denied the Russian forces in Belarus appear ready to launch an offensive. Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov this week said Ukraine did not see Russia forming any strike groups in Belarus and that it had insufficient forces, he estimated only several thousand.

Ukraine’s government has said it believes the Russian buildup right now is primarily aimed at putting psychological pressure on Ukraine with the threat of attack.

In the next 10 days Russia will make a vast display of military power to the north, east and south of Ukraine, holding exercises on an unprecedented scale also outside Belarus. The period seems likely to be a key moment in determining whether the crisis escalates or if the Russian buildup turns to a bluff.

The exercises in Belarus will also overlap with large-scale Russian naval drills in the Black Sea, that on Thursday prompted Ukraine to accuse Moscow of mounting an “unprecedented” naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. Six Russian warships, including amphibious landing ships, entered the Black Sea Wednesday night, to join a fleet already there. Ukraine said it “strongly protests” against the live-fire drills between Feb. 13 and Feb. 19 that are expected to close off access to much of its coast in the Black Sea and to the Sea of Azov.

If President Vladimir Putin is preparing to attack, the Russian build up appears to be approaching a point of maximum danger, according to some analysts, who say it has nearly completed its build up of heavy equipment and is now entering a phase where it will move up personnel to man it.

That does not mean that Russia will attack — U.S. officials say they believe Putin has not yet made a decision — just that it will have the forces in place to do so within the next two weeks.

“Once the second phase of the exercise begins on the 10th, I think they’re going to have everything they need in place and I think that week or the week after would make the most sense for an escalation if Russia is planning on doing an escalation,” Rob Lee, an analyst at Kings College London’s War Studies department, told ABC News.

An analysis by Janes, the defense think tank, estimated there are at least 14 Russian battalion tactical groups in Belarus with around 8,000 to 14,000 troops. The U.S. has said it assesses as many as 30,000 could take part.

“Best case scenario at the end of the exercise they start moving that equipment out,” Lee said. But as long as that equipment is still there then the risk is going to be very high of an escalation.”

Lee said he believed a military incursion was more likely than not.

The Kremlin has denied it has any invasion plans, dismissing it as Western “hysteria.” After meeting the U.K.’s foreign minister in Moscow on Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked Western allegations Russia was preparing to attack, including claims it might be waiting for the ground to freeze to allow tank movements.

“It’s like when they say that Russia is waiting for the ground to freeze so that tanks can easily enter Ukraine,” he added. “It seems that our British colleagues were on similar ground today, off of which bounced all the facts we presented them.”

Key talks are taking place in Berlin Thursday aimed at continuing diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the crisis. Ukraine and Russia will meet at the so-called “Normandy Format,” the long-running negotiations, mediated by France and Germany, aimed at resolving the conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed separatists in its east.

No breakthrough is expected, but Western countries are hoping the talks can build on the small positive signs for diplomacy that emerged from French President Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with Putin in Moscow at the start of this week.

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