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Dozens of New York City teachers placed on unpaid leave for using fake coronavirus vaccine cards

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Dozens of New York City Education Department employees are being placed on unpaid leave as of Monday for submitting fake coronavirus vaccine cards.

“Fewer than 100″ employees submitted the fake vaccination cards, the DOE said Friday. A union official estimated about 70 employees were impacted.

The United Federation of Teachers, the union representing educators in the city, is preparing to challenge the move, saying some teachers claim they were wrongly accused and placing them on unpaid leave violates “the basic notion of due process.”

“It is wholly improper for the DOE to unilaterally remove UFT members from the payroll based on mere conjecture that vaccination documentation is fraudulent,” Beth A. Norton, general counsel for UFT, wrote in a letter to the city.

“The UFT demands that the DOE immediately rescind the aforementioned notices and confirm by the close of business April 22, 2022 that the affected UFT bargaining unit members will remain on the payroll on April 25, 2022 and thereafter,” the letter added. “Should the DOE fail to comply with this demand and the due process procedures, the UFT is prepared to initiate litigation to challenge the DOE’s improper actions.”

The Department of Education defended its actions in a statement.

“Fraudulent vaccination cards are not only illegal, they also undermine the best line of protection our schools have against COVID-19 — universal adult vaccination,” The Education Department said in a statement. “We immediately moved to put these employees — fewer than 100 — on leave without pay.”

New York City has engaged in a prolonged legal battle with teachers over its vaccine mandate. The mandate went into effect on Oct. 4, 2021, at the behest of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. The city required all public school teachers — in the largest school system in the country — to receive at least one dose of the vaccine.

The city said 95% of staffers had complied with the rule by Oct. 4.

But a legal battle raged on in the courts even after the mandate went into effect, with a group of teachers appealing all the way to the Supreme Court. Just this week, the nation’s highest court refused to hear the case without explanation.

ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.

4 victims reported in DC shooting, suspect dies by suicide: Police

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A man opened fire from his apartment window in a “sniper-style” shooting in Washington, D.C., on Friday, injuring four people, before the suspect took his own life.

D.C. police responded to the Cleveland Park and Van Ness areas around 3:20 p.m. and found three shooting victims — two men and a 12-year-old girl, authorities said.

The two men are in critical but stable condition, while the child was hospitalized in stable condition with a minor gunshot wound, police said at a Friday evening press briefing. One of the men was a retired Metropolitan police officer, authorities said.

A fourth victim who sustained a gunshot wound later came forward to police. The victim — a woman in her mid-60s — had a graze wound to her upper back and received medical treatment on site, police said.

The suspect died by suicide in his apartment when police closed in, according to Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Robert Contee.

Contee said a tripod was set up in the fifth floor apartment and the man appeared to be targeting people at random on the street below.

Six guns were found in the suspect’s apartment, including both long guns and handguns, as well as “multiple, multiple rounds” of ammunition. Contee said dozens of shots were fired, but they were still collecting evidence of exactly how many.

Police identified 23-year-old Raymond Spencer, of Fairfax, Virginia, as a person of interest “based upon the things we have seen on social media,” Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Stuart Emerman told reporters during an update Friday night.

While Contee would not officially confirm that Spencer was the person found dead in the apartment, he said they were no longer looking for anyone in connection to the shooting.

Contee confirmed that a social media video of the shooting appeared to be credible, but was unsure if it was streamed live or recorded and later posted.

“Today, evil reared its ugly head in our community,” Contee said.

“It speaks to the depravity of some of the individuals we have to face in our community. … There could’ve been more damage done, more lives lost,” Contee later added.

Earlier in the evening, while still searching for Spencer, Emerman said, “We’d like to speak to Mr. Spencer, figure out if he has any role in this or any connection to this. Hopefully that’ll lead us in a direction to identify what happened here and why.”

Contee said they still do not have a motive in the shooting. The suspect was not previously arrested, Contee added.

Students from the Edmund Burke School who were on lockdown during the incident are now being reunified with families, officials said Friday night.

“We have experienced this too much in our country. The epidemic of the gun violence, the easy access to weapons has got to stop,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “People should not be scared taking their children to school.”

The FBI Washington Field Office confirmed in a statement to ABC News that it is assisting police in the response.

“The situation is ongoing and the FBI will provide appropriate personnel and resources, as requested and needed,” the office said.

Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Washington Field Division are also helping with the shooting investigation.

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Jack Date contributed to this report.

Sub Urban details debut album, ’HIVE’

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

“Cradles” artist Sub Urban has announced his debut album.

The record is titled HIVE, and arrives June 3. It includes a new single called “UH OH!” featuring New Zealand singer BENEE, which you can listen to now via digital outlets.

“I feel so refreshed to finally release this song, and I am beyond thrilled to start the countdown to my debut album,” Sub Urban says. “BENEE’s presence in ‘UH OH!’ gives the song a much needed level of enchantment. Though it’s a shame we never met in person, she nailed her parts in this project, both vocally and in the video.”

Along with “UH OH!,” HIVE features the previously released songs “INFERNO” and “PARAMOUR.”

HIVE follows Sub Urban’s 2020 EP Thrill Seeker, which features the single “Freak.”

Black Label Society premieres psychedelic “You Made Me Want to Live” video

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Black Label Society has premiered the video for “You Made Me Want to Live,” a track off the band’s latest album, Doom Crew Inc.

The clip captures performance footage of Zakk Wylde and company rocking out amid a psychedelic light show that’s fitting for any metalheads still celebrating 4/20. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

Doom Crew Inc., the 11th Black Label Society album, was released last November. It also includes the single “Set You Free.”

Black Label launch a U.S. tour in support of Doom Crew Inc. April 30 in San Diego. They launch a co-headlining run with Anthrax in July.

Music notes: Billie Eilish, BTS, Cardi B and more

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Billie Eilish has one important rule no one can ever break: don’t interrupt her while she’s eating and watching something. She admitted to Billboard, “I get irrationally angry and furious.” The Grammy winner confessed she has another weird quirk: she sometimes will make herself a new meal and start from the top so she can fully enjoy it.

BTS‘ “Boy with Luv” is officially their most-viewed video on YouTube after amassing over one-and-a-half billion streams. They’re the third Korean act to notch that many views on a music video, following BLACKPINK and PSY. “Boy with Luv,” which features Halsey, was released in April 2019.

Cardi B‘s hilarious new episode of Cardi Tries is here, in which she toughed it out in the woods. “Ya girl was outside with no shelter, no water, AND no cell phone but I SURVIVED,” Cardi teased. The episode is live now on Messenger.

Mother’s Day is May 8 and new mom Meghan Trainor told USA Today what gifts she thinks will knock it out of the park. Breakfast in bed is a must, adding that when she became pregnant with Riley and “got a taste of gestational diabetes,” her husband, Daryl Sabara, “wanted to make sure the pregnancy was as easy as possible for me.” Other gift ideas include chocolate covered strawberries, a good Mother’s Day card and a vacation.

Olivia Rodrigo reflected on how she managed her explosive fame when she was 17 years old, telling OK!, “It’s so crazy…But I have amazing friends who are super honest with me and keep me grounded.” As for the advice she has now for her former self, said the Grammy winner, “Everything’s gonna work out, surround yourself with great people and do all this because you love writing songs.”

Bonnie Raitt doesn’t think she “could have handled” the kind of success Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish & Ed Sheeran are having now

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Bonnie Raitt’s back with a new album, Just Like That…, her first release in more than six years. And while Bonnie’s big breakthrough didn’t come until she was 40, with her album Nick of Time, she now says that she’s glad it took years for her to have success.

Speaking to Variety, Bonnie, 72, admits, “I look at Taylor Swift and…Adele and Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran and people are handling incredible early success with the guidance and experience of people decades older, and I’m just so happy to see that. Because I don’t think I could have handled it.”

“I didn’t seek it and I wouldn’t have wanted a hit record,” she explains. “I actually turned down songs that would have made me a star…I just didn’t want to be that in that pressure. I was in it for the long run…planning to be doing this into my eighties or so.”

And that’s still her plan: As she tells Variety, her fellow musicians make her believe she’ll be able to do it.

“If you watched the Tony Bennett special with Lady Gaga, I stood up and gave him a standing ovation in my house. That’s how much I love that he still was able to do that show,” she notes. “And Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] — oh my God, what an inspiration. And Mavis [Staples, her current tour mate].”

“I don’t see any sign of any of us retiring,” she adds. “I mean, Bruce Springsteen and Sting — people are at the top of their form right now, I think.”

Meanwhile, Bonnie’s back on tour for the first time since the pandemic, and she’s thrilled, saying, “I’ve never had more of a mission to go back out on the road to bring joy and relief to people.”

Music notes: Meghan Trainor, Olivia Rodrigo and more

April 23, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Mother’s Day is May 8, and new mom Meghan Trainor told USA Today what gifts she thinks will knock it out of the park. Breakfast in bed is a must, adding that when she became pregnant with daughter Riley and “got a taste of gestational diabetes,” her husband, Daryl Sabara, “wanted to make sure the pregnancy was as easy as possible for me.” Other gift ideas include chocolate-covered strawberries, a good Mother’s Day card and a vacation.

Olivia Rodrigo reflected on how she managed her explosive fame when she was 17 years old, telling OK!, “It’s so crazy… But I have amazing friends who are super honest with me and keep me grounded. My life has changed drastically, but at the end of the day, I’m really kind of like the same person.” As for the advice she has now for her former self, said the Grammy winner, “Everything’s gonna work out, surround yourself with great people and do all this because you love writing songs.”

Kelly Clarkson channeled Stevie Nicks on her daytime talk show Friday, belting out a haunting cover of Stevie’s 1982 smash solo hit “Edge of Seventeen.” This isn’t the first time the American Idol winner showed Nicks some love: she previously covered Fleetwood Mac‘s “The Chain” and “Dreams” on her show.

“Keep Yourself Alive” by working out with Queen’s new Apple Fitness+ Playlist

April 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

If you need motivational anthems to keep you pumping iron at the gym, Queen will, Queen will rock you — thanks to Apple+ Fitness.

The Apple+ Fitness app has just debuted a Queen playlist specifically designed to make you yell “Don’t Stop Me Now!” while you’re doing the Fandago with free weights, the treadmill, the bike or workout machines. The playlist will “lift your spirits and deliver that extra shot of energy for whatever your goal might be,” according to Apple.

In addition to the inevitable “We Will Rock You,” “Another One Bites the Dust,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Are the Champions,” the playlist also includes hits and classic cuts like “I Want It All,” “Keep Yourself Alive,” “Tie Your Mother Down,” “Hammer to Fall,” “Death on Two Legs,” “Killer Queen,” “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Stone Cold Crazy,” “Radio Gaga,” “Headlong,” “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “I Want to Break Free,” “Now I’m Here” and more.

You can check out a video on the Apple Fitness+ website showing a snippet of a Queen-soundtracked workout. There are also playlists from ABBA and Korean boy band BTS, if you feel like dancing.

Oscar winners Sissy Spacek and JK Simmons travel through space and time in trailer for ‘Night Sky’

April 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Academy Award winners Sissy Spacek and JK Simmons play an elderly couple with a huge secret in the Amazon’s upcoming series Night Sky.

As the new trailer reveals, the pair have for decades kept hidden that there’s a portal through space and time hidden in their basement, leading to a deserted alien planet.

“You can’t beat the view,” Simmons’ Franklin York quips to his onscreen wife, Irene, during one of their many visits.

As they’re reaching the end of their lives, the couple debate whether to let anybody else in on their home’s most interesting feature.

However, as Amazon teases, “when an enigmatic young man enters their lives, the Yorks’ quiet existence is quickly upended…and the mystifying chamber they thought they knew so well turns out to be much more than they could ever have imagined.”

The series, which also stars Shadowhunters vet Chai Hansen and Mare of Easttown‘s Kiah McKirnan, debuts May 20 on Prime Video.

How Disney+’s ‘Polar Bear’ directors hope to empower people to make a real change

April 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

It’s not just humans who love to have fun. Thanks to the Disneynature team, Disney+’s new film Polar Bear gives viewers a closer look at the fascinating arctic creatures.

So, what makes polar bears so perfect for the big screen? Alastair Fothergill, who co-directed the film with Jeff Wilson, tells ABC Audio, “They had the amazingly adapted to the habitat that they live in, which is in itself is a very, very beautiful place.”

“And we also knew because we tried many, many, many times, there was a lot of behaviors, a lot of aspects of their story which had never, ever been filmed before,” he continued.

It took a decade of pitching the idea to executives to make Polar Bear happen and Wilson says they wanted to make the film so badly because, “We’re both fascinated by them, we think because of their intelligence, their complete adaptability to the environment, the beauty of the where they live.”

“All of those make for fantastic, fantastic character movie elements,” he adds.

One of their favorite moments from the film is when the lead female character meets a male bear for the first time after being alone. Something Wilson describes as “extraordinary” because “it’s two bears coming together who have no other intent than to enjoy each other’s company.”

Although Polar Bear focuses on the lives of its lovable and charismatic characters, it’s also a reminder of the bleak future the Arctic has if climate change continues.

“What our mission is really with the end of the film is to empower people with information, but also to inspire them to go out and take the actions that we all can take as individuals to affect a change in the direction that we’re going,” says Fothergill.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News.

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