Page 7158 – 105.7 WDNY

Biden orders US troop deployments to reassure NATO allies amid Russia standoff

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has ordered U.S. troop deployments to reassure NATO allies amid the standoff with Russia over Ukraine.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced the imminent arrival of several thousand U.S. troops — some already in Europe and some from the U.S. — to NATO allies in eastern Europe at a Pentagon briefing Wednesday — the first major movement of U.S. forces in response to concerns Russia will invade Ukraine.

“President Biden has been clear that the United States will respond to the growing threat to Europe’s security and stability. Our commitment to NATO Article 5 and collective defense remains ironclad. As part of this commitment and to be prepared for a range of contingencies, the United States will soon move additional forces to Romania, Poland, and Germany,” Kirby said.

All of the troops would be under U.S. command.

“I want to be very clear about something. These are not permanent moves. They are moved designed to respond to the current security environment. Moreover, these forces are not going to fight in Ukraine. They are going to ensure the robust defense of our NATO allies,” he added.

A senior defense official had earlier confirmed to ABC News that about 3,000 U.S. troops will be given orders to deploy to Europe or, if they’re already in Europe, to head to countries in eastern Europe.

One of the units moving into eastern Europe from Germany is an armored Stryker unit.

“It’s important that we send a strong signal to Mr. Putin and frankly, to the world that NATO matters to the United States. It matters to our allies, and we have ironclad Article 5 commitments attack on one is an attack on all,” Kirby said.

The troop movements are separate from the 8,500 U.S. troops put on “heightened alert” to reinforce NATO’s Response Force if needed — and none would go to Ukraine.

Pressed on what signal it sends that the U.S. is not waiting for a NATO vote to deploy an alliance force, Kirby said “the signal that sends — that we’re that we’re moving additional U.S. forces into allied territory, at the request and with the invitation of those countries — is that we take our NATO commitments very, very seriously.”

Kirby said 1,000 soldiers based in Germany will arrive in Romania in “the coming days” at the request of the country, augmenting the roughly 900 U.S. troops already in Romania. Another 2,000 troops from Fort Bragg in North Carolina will deploy to Poland and Germany, most to Poland.

“The 82nd Airborne Division is deploying components of an Infantry Brigade Combat Team and key enablers to Poland. And the 18th Airborne Corps is moving a joint task force capable headquarters to Germany. Both of them as you know are based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina,” Kirby said.

The announcement comes after Biden told reporters on Friday that he would be moving American forces “in the near term.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the escalating tensions on the U.S. and the West for having “ignored” Russia’s key demand that NATO bar Ukraine from joining the organization. The U.S. and NATO allies argue Russia is the aggressor, having already invaded Crimea and massing troops at the border.

This a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Major winter storm strikes from Denver to Chicago before heading to Northeast

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A major winter storm is moving across the Heartland Wednesday, bringing snow from Denver to Chicago and ice as far south as Texas.

More than 1 foot of snow is expected from northern Missouri into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.

A winter storm warning has been issued in Chicago where 5 to 10 inches of snow is expected.

A winter storm warning was also issued in Denver where up to 6 inches of additional snow is forecast.

Denver schools are closed Wednesday due to the storm.

As of Tuesday night, 1,212 flights were already canceled for Wednesday due to the storm, with St. Louis, Chicago, Denver, Detroit and Kansas City seeing the biggest impacts.

In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson has issued a state of emergency.

Further south, an ice storm warning has been issued from Memphis to Louisville, where the ice could be as thick as half an inch, sending trees toppling onto power lines.

A winter storm warning was also issued for Dallas where ice could make roads very dangerous.

The storm will then move into the Northeast Thursday night into Friday morning, bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain.

Over 1 foot of snow is possible in western Pennsylvania, upstate New York and parts of New England.

A winter storm watch has been issued for Boston, where residents are still digging out from last weekend’s massive snowstorm.

Dangerous ice accumulation is possible from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia to New York City to Boston.

New York City will see rain on Thursday which will then change to freezing rain and some sleet on Friday morning. The National Weather Service warns that New York City Tristate region should be prepared for dangerous travel conditions on Friday.

Seth Meyers hails the original ‘Late Night’, from the opening credits to a sit-down with Letterman himself

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

On Tuesday’s Late Night with Seth Meyers, Seth commemorated the 40th anniversary of David Letterman‘s first episode of Late Night.

The tribute began from the drop, with a recreation of the opening to Letterman’s vintage series, and continued with a sit down with the man himself, who was on hand to share memories of his time on the groundbreaking series.

Dave and Seth reminisced about classic bits on the show, which are now available on YouTube, including “Elevator Races,” and a week-long segment Letterman had done with the “World’s Largest Vase.”

While admonishing Meyers for not having “an animal guy” on the show, a chat show staple for decades, Letterman remembered Jack Hanna‘s many appearances on Late Night. “We realized two or three shows in that Jack doesn’t know anything about animals,” Letterman joked. He also remembered a beaver they had on the show that bit Hannah so badly that Hanna walked himself to the emergency room — where he was mistaken for a gunshot victim.

Making matters worse, Hanna caught flak from the cops for having an “illegal beaver” within New York City limits, recalled Dave, now the host of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction on Netflix.

Later, Adam Duritz from Counting Crows performed a solo version of “Long December,” a favorite song of Letterman’s.

Houthi missile intercepted by UAE during historic Israeli visit raises tensions

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(JERUSALEM)– While Israeli’s president Isaac Herzog was in Abu Dhabi on a historic visit on Monday, United Arab Emirates officials announced that a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels had been intercepted, the third such attack in three weeks.

Tensions between the two countries have escalated as the Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for a Jan. 15 drone-and-missile attack on the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. fuel depot, killing three people and wounding six. It was the first deadly attack since 2018, when the UAE-backed forces were fighting the Houthis for control of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah.

“The operation led to a large number of death and wounded, including Emiratis,” Yahya Sare’e, spokesman of the Houthis, tweeted on Tuesday.

A Saudi-led coalition retaliated the day after with an airstrike on Yemen, killing about 80 people.

In 2020, the UAE and Bahrain signed U.S.-brokered normalization agreements with Israel, known as the “Abraham Accords.” Iran and its regional allies, including the Houthis, were among their shared security concerns. Iran, meanwhile, denounced any normalization of relations with Israel.

“The Islamic republic of Iran not only condemns what some countries are doing aiming at normalization, but also believes that those countries should listen to awakening calls by their own people and stop sowing discord in the Muslim and Arab world. This will be much better for the region’s future,” spokesman of Iran’s foreign ministry Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, according to the Tasnim News Agency.

Yemeni minister of information Dhaif Allah Al-Shami, also made clear his country’s similar stance.

“Every country has its own way of welcoming the leaders of the Zionist entity [Israel], and we in Yemen have only done our duty,” he said on Twitter.

Zakaria Al-Qaq, an expert in national security and war studies, told ABC News the Houthi attack on the UAE coinciding with the Israeli president’s visit had a clear message: “To stop the UAE intervention in Yemen.”

“Second, it’s not only a rejection to the Israel Emirates relation but also a threat to Yemeni National Security, because [of] the security coordination between the two countries,” he added.

Houthis have declared they would continue to fire rockets into the UAE.

“The armed forces affirm that the state of the Emirati enemy will be an unsafe as long as the tools of the Israeli enemy in Abu Dhabi and Dubai continue to launch aggression against our people and our country,” Sare’e wrote in another tweet.

The Houthi spokesman has also repeated threats, telling citizens, residents and companies in the UAE “to stay away from vital headquarters and facilities, as they are vulnerable to targeting during the coming period.”

People in the already war-worn Yemen have been going through a difficult humanitarian situation over the past years. The World Food Programme has warned that more than five million people are on the verge of famine, with 50,000 others now living in famine-like conditions.

The spate of recent attacks have helped raise crude oil prices above $90 per barrel, another worry for a global economy already struggling through the pandemic.

In Brief: Billy Crystal to be honored; Taraji P. Henson to star in ‘The Color Purple’, and more

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Multifaceted entertainer Billy Crystal will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th annual Critics Choice Awards on March 13 at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel, The Critics Association announced on Tuesday. He joins Lauren Bacall, Kevin Costner, Clint Eastwood, Eddie Murphy and Robert Wise as the only past Lifetime Achievement honorees in the organization’s 27-year history. As previously announced, Halle Berry will receive the sixth annual SeeHer Award during the ceremony. Crystal, a Tony and Emmy winner, is currently prepping his Broadway return in his first musical comedy, an adaptation of his 1992 film Mr. Saturday Night, which is set to open on April 27. The Critics Choice Awards will air live at 7 p.m. ET on TBS and The CW and will be tape-delayed in the West…

Taraji P. Henson has been tapped for a starring role, alongside In The Heights‘ Corey Hawkins and Oscar/Grammy-winning artist H.E.R., in director Blitz Bazawule’ feature adaptation of The Color Purple, according to Variety. Henson will play jazz-blues singer Shug Avery, while Hawkins takes on the role of Harpo and H.E.R. portrays Squeak, played respectively by Margaret Avery, Willard Pugh and Rae Dawn Chong in Stephen Spielberg‘s 1985 feature film adaptation of the Tony-winning Broadway musical, which was itself an adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Oprah Winfrey, who made her feature film acting debut in Spielberg’s The Color Purple, is producing the new movie, along with Spielberg. It’s set to hit theaters December 21, 2023…

Friday Night Lights‘ Connie Britton is reuniting with creator Jason Katims for a new Apple TV+ series based on author Ann Napolitano’s best-seller, Dear Edward. The drama also stars Orange Is the New Black alum Taylor Schilling and Wonka‘s Colin O’Brien. Dear Edward follows Edward Adler, “a 12-year-old boy who survives a devastating commercial plane crash that kills every other passenger on the flight, including his family.” As Edward and a diverse ensemble of others affected by the tragedy try to make sense of life after the crash, unexpected friendships, romances and communities are formed,” according to the streaming service…

Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush is set to play legendary comedian Groucho Marx in Raised Eyebrows, an upcoming adaptation of Steve Stoliar’s memoir Raised Eyebrows: My Years Inside Groucho’s House, according to Variety. Set between 1973 and 1977, Raised Eyebrows stars Charlie Plummer as Stoliar, who is hired by Erin Fleming — played Sienna Miller — to work with Rush’s aging and frail Groucho Marx. Fleming was in charge of Marx’s personal and professional life as his manager, and the two had a controversial relationship…

Paramount+ is expanding the Star Trek universe with the new spinoff Starfleet Academy, according to Deadline. The series, which shares its name with the late 1990s video game, follows a group of cadets being mentored for leadership roles in the United Federation of Planets’ Starfleet. Sources tell the outlet that the series will be pitched to Paramount+, and the hope is to get it going in the next year…

ABC suspends Whoopi Goldberg over Holocaust race remarks

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

ABC has temporarily suspended Whoopi Goldberg as co-host of The View for comments she made about the Holocaust.

ABC News President Kim Godwin said in a statement issued Tuesday, “I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments. While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”

The suspension came a day after Goldberg commented on a Tennessee school board’s banning of Maus, a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Nazi death camps during World War II. She said the Holocaust was “not about race…it’s about man’s inhumanity to other man.”

The remark drew condemnation from several prominent Jewish leaders. Goldberg apologized hours later and then again on Tuesday’s morning edition of The View, stating, “I misspoke.”

“My words upset so many people, which was never my intention,” she said. “I understand why now and for that I am deeply, deeply grateful because the information I got was really helpful and helped me understand some different things.”

Pat Benatar, Judas Priest and Devo among 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Pat Benatar, Judas Priest and Devo are among the 17 artists who have been nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.

The other nominees are Beck, Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Eminem, Eurythmics, Fela Kuti, MC5, New York Dolls, Dolly Parton, Rage Against the Machine, Lionel Richie, Carly Simon, A Tribe Called Quest and Dionne Warwick.

To be eligible for induction, an artist must have released their first commercial recording 25 years before the year of their nomination.

Benatar previously was nominated in 2020, while Judas Priest and Devo both received nods twice before.

Speaking with ABC Audio, Rock Hall VP of Education & Visitor Engagement Jason Hanley notes, “I think it’s a great year for someone like Pat Benatar. Between her and [her husband and guitarist] Neil Giraldo…they wrote some of the great classic songs of the 1980s.”

He adds that songs like “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” “were…delivered with this great rock edge, classic kind of clean but distorted ’80s guitar, and Pat’s just amazing voice.”

As for Judas Priest, the band’s induction might help soothe the critics who think the Rock Hall has an anti-metal bias.

“[Judas Priest is] the band that takes the early days of heavy metal from bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple, and they turn it into what we know as metal,” Hanley says.

Hanley also feels Devo definitely deserves to be in the Rock Hall, praising the group for their “humorously disguised political songs,” and for being “innovators of sound and technology and music video.”

A Tribe Called Quest, Dionne Warwick, Lionel Richie among 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

A Tribe Called Quest, Dionne Warwick and Lionel Richie are among the 2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees.

To be eligible for induction, an artist must have released their first commercial recording 25 years before the year of their nomination.

A Tribe Called Quest is being nominated for the first time this year. Speaking with ABC Audio, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Vice President of Education and Visitor Engagement Jason Hanley points to the group’s “laid-back” and “almost philosophical” style — which pioneered the alternative hip hop movement of the ’90s — as a reason for their nomination.

“They were talking about the African-American community in the United States, and getting a message out that was important for them to talk about,” Hanley notes of the group’s socially conscious songs.

As for Warwick, who’s seen a recent resurgence thanks to her social media presence, Hanley says, “Her legacy is fantastic.”

“Here’s a woman who was just so good year after year at interpreting songs,” he adds, noting that Warwick’s performance on the 1964 top 10 hit “Walk On By” alone ” “is probably enough to get her inducted into almost any Hall of Fame.”

Richie, who got his start in the Commodores, scored his nomination thanks to his ability to write songs across genres – from classic funk and emotional R&B to party songs like “Dancing on the Ceiling.”

Eminem and Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti also made the ballot this year, along with rock bands Rage Against the Machine and Judas Priest, country star Dolly Parton, singer-songwriter Carly Simon, new wave band Duran Duran, and more.

The actual inductees will be announced later this year.

Here she comes again: Dolly Parton’s potentially going into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

It seems few would deny Dolly Parton‘s a metaphorical rock star — but she could soon be one for real.

The Country Music Hall of Famer is now one of 17 nominees for potential induction this year into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That puts Dolly in the same category as fellow contenders Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Carly Simon, Pat Benatar, Eurythmics, and Duran Duran, among others.

Of course, the superstar from East Tennessee is certainly not without cred in the pop and rock world. She made it to #3 with “Here You Come Again” as far back as 1977, following that with lesser crossover hits like “Two Doors Down” and “Baby I’m Burnin’.” By 1980, she’d made it all the way to the top with “9 to 5.”

“Her songwriting transcends just maybe her home base, which is country,” the Rock & Roll Hall’s Jason Hanley points out. “And you’ve got Whitney Houston having one of the biggest selling songs ever with ‘I Will Always Love You.'”

“You’ve got other bands recording ‘Jolene,'” he adds. “You know, she has hit singles with Kenny Rogers, ‘Islands in the Stream.'”

Dolly returned to the top of the pop charts in 1983 with “Islands,” before Whitney’s cover smash in 1992. Rock duo The White Stripes covered “Jolene” in 2004, with Dolly most recently winning a Grammy for guesting on the Pentatonix version in 2017.

We’ll find out if Dolly makes it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when the final inductees are revealed later this year.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame goes totally ’80s with nominees Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eurythmics & more

February 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

This year at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s all about the ’80s: Among the 17 artists who’ve been nominated for induction in 2022 are Lionel Richie, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran, Eurythmics and Devo.

“I think it’s a great year for someone like Pat Benatar,” says Jason Hanley, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Vice President of Education and Visitor Engagement. “Between her and Neil Giraldo, her longtime partner, they wrote some of the great classic songs of the 1980s…delivered with this great rock edge, and Pat’s just amazing voice.”

As for Lionel Richie, it was the “emotional songs” he released after leaving The Commodores that made him a solo ’80s superstar, Hanley tells ABC Audio.

“A song like ‘Hello’ [is] just really one of the great, great emotional love songs from that time period,” Hanley adds. “But then he could also write these great party songs, too.”

Hanley praises Duran Duran for being both “pop icons and incredible musicians” — or, as he puts it, “Yes, they were on the cover of Tiger Beat but they also wrote and performed really great songs.” The music of Eurythmics, Hanley says, “was so catchy, but also…kind of dug into these darker sides of the human emotion.”

Another nominee this year who started in the ’70s but had continued success in the ’80s is Carly Simon. Hanley says the fact that younger artists like Taylor Swift have cited Carly as an influence has led to a revaluation of music by female singer-songwriters in general.

“It’s softer, it’s more intimate. It might be one person with a piano and a voice or a guitar and a voice,” he notes. “But the power in that music is just so important.”

The other nominees include Judas Priest, Dionne Warwick, Dolly Parton, Eminem, Kate Bush, rap group A Tribe Called Quest, proto-punk bands New York Dolls and MC5, Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti, and ’90s alt-rockers Rage Against the Machine and Beck.

+ More