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Kinzinger speaks out on leaving Congress, ‘cancer’ in the Republican Party

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., said Sunday he, Rep. Liz Cheney and “a few others” are the only House Republicans “telling the truth.”

“You can fight to try to tell the truth, you can fight against the cancer in the Republican Party of lies of conspiracy of dishonesty,” Kinzinger told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview. “There are about 190 people in the Republican Party that aren’t going to say a word, and there’s a leader of the Republican caucus that is embracing Donald Trump with all he can.”

Kinzinger announced Friday he will not seek reelection to Congress next term. Among House Republicans, the Illinois congressman is one of the most prominent critics of former President Donald Trump and was one of 10 Republicans in the House to vote to impeach Trump following the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Kinzinger, who serves on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, said in a video posted to Twitter the “time is now” to move on from serving in Congress.

“In order to break the narrative, I cannot focus on both a real election to Congress and a broader fight nationwide,” he said in the five-minute video. “I want to make it clear, this isn’t the end of my political future, but the beginning.”

Stephanopoulos pressed Kinzinger on what led him to make the decision.

“Just a month ago, you were confident you were going to run again, what changed? Was it the redistricting plan that was put forward by Democrats in Illinois that basically squeezed you out of your district?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“It’s a couple of things — it’s sitting back and saying, ‘OK, what happens if I win again?’ I go back, and Republicans will probably be in the majority,” Kinzinger responded. “I’m going to be fighting even harder on some of these things, and it’s been obvious over the last 10 months that nobody … I haven’t seen any momentum in the party move away from lies and toward truth.”

“Ten years ago, the Democrats in Illinois came after me, and threw me with an incumbent Republican, and they did it again — I’m not complaining, it’s redistricting,” he added. “But when Democrats do say they want Republican partners to tell the truth, and then they specifically target me, it makes you wonder.”

Responding to the news, Trump wrote “2 down, 8 to go!” in a statement referencing the 10 GOP representatives who voted to impeach him. Kinzinger became the second of the group to announce they would not run for reelection after Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, R-Ohio, did so in September.

Stephanopoulos pressed Kinzinger on whether his announcement hands Trump “another win.”

“Potentially, but I don’t think it was my decision that would hand Donald Trump a win,” Kinzinger responded. “I think it is — it’s the situation we find ourselves in.”

Kinzinger said if Trump runs for president again in 2024, “he’ll be the front-runner no doubt.”

“The Republican establishment now — whether it’s the [National Republican Congressional Committee], whether it’s Kevin McCarthy — have held onto Donald Trump,” he said. “They have continued to breathe life into him, and so actually, it’s not handing a win as much to Donald Trump as it is to the cancerous kind of lies and conspiracy” that are now the “mainstream argument of the Republican Party.”

“It’s not on Liz Cheney and I to save the Republican Party,” Kinzinger added. “It’s on the 190 Republicans who haven’t said a dang word about it, and they put their head in the sand and hope somebody else comes along and does something.”

Kinzinger and Cheney are the sole Republicans on the Jan. 6 committee. A new court filing released early Saturday morning revealed some of the records Trump is attempting to block the National Archives from turning over to the committee.

“I think if you look at that archive request and what the former president is trying to block, it is very telling,” Kinzinger said. “We are going to fight as hard as we can to get that, and the president has no grounds to claim executive privilege as he is today.”

Pressed by Stephanopoulos on whether the committee will have enough evidence to prosecute the former president, Kinzinger said he’s not comfortable making that statement yet but said the committee is continuing to learn new information every day.

“If the president was aware of what was going to happen, didn’t do anything — didn’t lift a finger to do anything about it, that’s up to the DOJ to make that decision,” he said.

Carole King, Go-Go’s & Tina Turner inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with help from Taylor Swift, Angela Bassett & Drew Barrymore

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

After skipping a full-on ceremony in 2020 due to the pandemic, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Gala returned in full force to Cleveland, OH on Saturday night, ushering in three long-deserving female acts in the same night: Carole King, Tina Turner and the Go-Go‘s.

—Taylor Swift opened the ceremony by performing King’s “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” a number-one hit for The Shirelles before King herself recorded it for her iconic album Tapestry. “I cannot remember a time when I didn’t know Carole King’s music,” Taylor told the crowd during her induction speech, adding that her parents raised her to believe King was “the greatest songwriter of all time.”

King, who’d already been inducted as a songwriter in 1990, thanked Taylor for “carrying the torch,” and called her “my professional granddaughter.” She also acknowledged that even though she’s been told “that today’s female singers and songwriters stand on my shoulders,” we shouldn’t forget that “they also stand on the shoulders of the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. May she rest in power, Miss Aretha Franklin!”

Jennifer Hudson then took the stage to perform “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” followed by King herself leading the crowd in a singalong of “You’ve Got a Friend.”

—Angela Bassett, star of the Tina Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do With It, inducted Turner for the second time — she had already been inducted in 1991 as one half of Ike & Tina Turner. As Bassett noted, “What brings us here tonight is Tina’s journey to independence. For Tina, hope triumphed over hate…ambition eclipsed adversity.”

Turner herself didn’t attend; she sent a pre-recorded thank you instead. Instead, country star Mickey Guyton took the stage in Tina’s iconic ’80s uniform of denim jacket and black leather dress to sing “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Then, country star Keith Urban and Oscar-winning R&B star H.E.R. sang “It’s Only Love.” Urban stepped in last-minute for Bryan Adams, Tina’s original duet partner on the song, who’d tested positive for COVID.

Christina Aguilera brought it all home with a stunning rendition of the Ike & Tina Turner classic, “River Deep, Mountain High.”

—Drew Barrymore inducted the Go-Go’s, and recreated the cover of their album Beauty and the Beat by wrapping herself in a bath towel and applying face cream. “Beauty and the Beat blew the doors of my life off,” she told the crowd, adding, “They made me believe in things that weren’t possible.”

Accepting their honor, bass player Kathy Valentine said now that the Go-Go’s had been inducted, they’d be “advocating for the inclusion of more women,” adding, “Here is the thing: There would not be less of us if more of us were visible.” The band then rocked the crowd with “Vacation,” “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “We Got the Beat.”

–Other honorees included JAY-Z, inducted by Dave Chappelle and Foo Fighters, inducted by Paul McCartney.

The ceremony will air on HBO on November 20.

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 2021 welcomes Foo Fighters, Go-Go’s, Todd Rundgren, Tina Turner & more at Cleveland ceremony

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

After skipping a full-on ceremony in 2020 due to the pandemic, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Gala returned in full force to Cleveland, OH on Saturday night, ushering in Foo Fighters, Carole King, Go-Gos, Tina Turner, Todd Rundgren, JAY-Z and more.

—Paul McCartney inducted Foo Fighters, and compared Dave Grohl‘s post-Nirvana career to his own time in Wings, noting, “We had a great time with our groups, but eventually tragedy happened and my group broke up. Same happened with Dave. His group broke up under tragic circumstances. So the question is, what do you do now?”

“In my case, I said, ‘Well, I’ll make an album where I play all the instruments myself.’ So I did that,” Macca continued. “Dave’s group broke up…what’s he do? He makes an album where he plays all the instruments himself. Do you think this guy’s stalking me?”

The Foos performed “Everlong,” “Best of You” and “My Hero” before taking the podium. Grohl’s acceptance speech was short, he explained, “because the last 25 years has been me, just like, ‘Blah, blah, blah … rock & roll … blah, blah, blah.’” He thanked his band and crew family, and his actual family, ending with “We did it!” In his speech, drummer Taylor Hawkins campaigned for the eventual induction of Soundgarden and George Michael.

The night concluded with McCartney and Foo Fighters jamming on “Get Back.”

Turner herself didn’t attend; she sent a pre-recorded thank you. Instead, country star Mickey Guyton took the stage in Tina’s iconic ’80s uniform of denim jacket and black leather dress to sing “What’s Love Got to Do With It.” Then, country star Keith Urban and Oscar-winning R&B star H.E.R. sang “It’s Only Love.” Urban stepped in last-minute for Bryan Adams, Tina’s original duet partner on the song, who’d tested positive for COVID.

Christina Aguilera brought it all home with a stunning rendition of the Ike & Tina Turner classic, “River Deep, Mountain High.”

—Todd Rundgren, who’s said for many years that if inducted, he wouldn’t attend, pointedly booked a concert the night of the ceremony. He was virtually inducted by Patti Smith, who’s known Todd since their twenties. A tribute video included commentary from The Bangles‘ Susannah Hoffs and Daryl Hall.

King, who’d already been inducted as a songwriter in 1990, acknowledged that even though she’s been told “that today’s female singers and songwriters stand on my shoulders,” we shouldn’t forget that “they also stand on the shoulders of the first woman to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. May she rest in power, Miss Aretha Franklin!”

Jennifer Hudson then took the stage to perform “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” followed by King herself leading the crowd in a singalong of “You’ve Got a Friend.”

–Other honorees included JAY-Z, inducted by Dave Chappelle, and Musical Excellence Award recipients Randy Rhoads, inducted by Tom Morello; Kraftwerk, inducted by Pharrell Williams; Billy Preston, inducted virtually by Ringo Starr; Gil Scott-Heron, inducted by Common; LL Cool J, inducted by Dr. Dre; and bluesman Charley Patton, inducted by Gary Clark Jr.

JAY-Z and LL Cool J inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

JAY-Z was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by comedian Dave Chappelle Saturday night in Cleveland, Ohio.

Chappelle, who’s been under fire for his controversial Netflix special The Closer, began his speech by joking, “I would like to apologize to…,” and then quickly added, “Nah, I’m just f****** with you.”

He praised JAY-Z for his musical contributions and effortless cool, saying, “I need everybody around the world to know: Even though you are honoring him, he is ours. He is hip-hop, forever and ever and a day.”

In his acceptance speech, Jay joked that the warm reception from the crowd was “trying to make me cry in front of all these white people.”

He went on to thank his influences, including LL Cool J, who’d been honored earlier in the evening with the Musical Excellence Award.

“Growing up, we didn’t think we could be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” Hova said. “We were told hip-hop was a fad, and much like punk rock, it gave us this anti-culture, this sub-genre, and there were heroes in it.”

JAY-Z didn’t perform, but a video address from President Obama was screened, as well as a tribute video featuring, among others, LeBron James, Diddy, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock, John Legend and Jay‘s wife and daughter Beyoncé and Blue Ivy.

LL Cool J, meanwhile, was given his award by Dr. Dre after being rejected for official induction six previous times — but he wasn’t bitter about it.

“A lot people, when I told them when I told them I got inducted, they’d say to me, ‘Isn’t it is about time?,” LL said during his speech. “What people don’t realize is, I wasn’t thinking about the people who voted against me. I was thinking about the people who voted for me. It was love.”

He went on to deliver a performance featuring surprise guests Eminem and Jennifer Lopez. The set list started with “Go Cut Creator Go” and included “Rock the Bells,” “All I Have” and “Mama Said Knock You Out.”

The Rock Hall also welcomed iconic singer Tina Turner, and honored pioneering record executive Clarence Avant, legendary jazz and spoken-word performer Gil Scott-Heron and bluesman Charley Patton, among others. The ceremony will air on HBO on November 20.

What you need to know about the COP26 climate summit

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For the next two weeks, governments around the world will convene for a highly anticipated summit on climate change that has been billed as the “last best chance” to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and prevent the worsening effects of climate change.

Here’s how to make sense of all the news around the COP26 summit.

What is the climate summit?

The climate summit in Glasgow is called COP26, which stands for the 26th “Conference of the Parties” and represents a gathering of all the countries signed on to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Climate Agreement.

The group meets every year to discuss progress on the fight against climate change and negotiate how to fulfill the terms of climate agreements.

Last year’s in-person meeting was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic so COP26 will be the first time countries have met since the U.N.’s latest climate science report issued a dire warning that the impacts of climate change are getting more severe and that time is running out to meet the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

COP26 President Alok Sharma said the pressure is on world leaders to ramp up their ambition to tackle the climate crisis at the summit.

“We still have some of the most difficult questions to answer. And we’re effectively in the last half hour of the exam,” he told reporters at a press conference organized by Covering Climate Now, an organization that collaborates with journalists and newsrooms on climate coverage.

Who will be there?

President Joe Biden and more than 100 world leaders will speak in the first two days of the summit to lay out their countries’ plans to reduce emissions and possibly announce new goals or commitments on climate issues.

But some important leaders from countries that contribute the most global greenhouse gas emissions like President Xi Jinping of China and Russian President Vladimir Putin are not expected to attend, citing concerns about COVID-19.

Influential figures like former President Barack Obama and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are also expected to attend to discuss the importance of taking action to limit the impacts of climate change. Climate activists like Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg are expected to lead large protests outside the official venue, pressuring world leaders to do more.

After the high-profile remarks to start the summit, other officials and negotiators from each country will hammer out technical documents detailing their agreements on climate policy and higher-ranking officials like Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will meet with their counterparts to try to negotiate any sticking points.

What’s on the agenda?

Negotiators for this year’s climate summit will face questions about how to limit the impact of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as how to help countries adapt to climate change in parts of the world where the effects are getting more severe.

The most critical item on the agenda for the climate summit is increasing nearly every country’s commitments to decreasing climate-warming emissions as quickly as possible. Even with current promises to reduce emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, the U.N. says the world is set to miss that goal to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The latest U.N. analysis says current commitments put the world on track for 2.1 to 2.7 degrees Celsius of warming, which would trigger more dangerous impacts of climate change like worsening severe weather and drought conditions that could start to hamper food production in parts of the world or make it more difficult for communities to survive.

“The time has passed for diplomatic niceties,” U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said at a U.N. meeting on climate action this week.

“If governments — especially G-20 governments — do not stand up and lead this effort, we are headed for terrible human suffering,” he added.

In addition to ramping up efforts to prevent climate change from getting worse, negotiators will also confront questions about how to deal with impacts of climate change that are already being felt and how to support vulnerable countries struggling with changes like worsening storms and sea-level rise.

The Paris Agreement promised $100 billion a year in financial support for developing countries to combat climate change, but wealthier countries expected to contribute the most to that goal have not followed through, so negotiators will need to come up with a plan to meet that goal as well as discuss how much to increase it going forward as the impacts of climate change continue to worsen. That funding is meant to both help poorer countries build renewable energy infrastructure to avoid expanding fossil fuel use and make changes to adapt.

But representatives of those countries say even that isn’t enough.

Pelenise Alofa, national coordinator for the Climate Action Network in Kiribati, said COP26 will be important for the future of her island nation and the conversation about climate finance should include compensating countries experiencing effects of climate change for helping residents relocate or recover from worsening or more frequent severe storms.

Alofa said Kiribati and other island nations face an existential threat from climate change as sea-level rise and worsening tropical storms threaten their ability to live and produce food.

“As someone living in the islands in Kiribati, loss and damage from climate change is now a permanent feature of our lives. It is not about a one-time event or disaster. It is about rising sea levels that threaten to totally swallow our homes,” she told reporters in a briefing.

What does success look like?

The U.N. secretary general has said there is a “high risk of failure” from COP26, but there is not a single outcome that will solve all the challenges that come with the global climate crisis.

Experts say they’ll be watching to see if the Glasgow negotiations make tangible progress toward the goals of the Paris Agreement, including watching whether countries like China increase their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and burning fossil fuels, and if parties are able to agree on steps that can lead to real, measurable results.

But ultimately, even a successful COP26 will still be more of a step in the right direction than a final solution to the climate crisis.

“We have to have significantly turned the corner by next year or the year after or else we have no shot of keeping 1.5 [degrees Celsius] alive,” Jake Schmidt, senior director of the international climate program from the Natural Resources Defense Council, told ABC News.

Biden, Democrats failing to sell agenda to American people: POLL

October 31, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Negotiations on the infrastructure and social program bills have consumed Capitol Hill for months. Still, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday finds Democrats are failing to sell the legislation to the public, who are broadly unaware of what is in the spending packages or skeptical they would help people like themselves, or the economy, if signed into law.

President Joe Biden was unable to secure a legislative win before departing on his second foreign trip since taking office, even after he laid out a framework for the package focused on social programs and climate change around which he believes Democrats can rally. He pitched that package, which no longer includes paid family and medical leave or free community college, as a “historic economic” opportunity on Thursday, but this poll reflects the continued confusion and intraparty mistrust over these bills.

Although a majority (55%) of the public is following news about the negotiations at least somewhat closely, about 7 in 10 (69%) Americans said they know just some or little to nothing about what’s in both bills. Fewer than half (31%) said they know a great deal or good amount. Despite Republicans having sat on the sidelines while the White House works exclusively with congressional Democrats to get both bills to the president’s desk, the lack of knowledge extends across all parties.

Americans also do not feel like these bills would help them or the U.S. economy if they become law.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll, which was conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, found that a plurality (32%) of Americans think the bills would hurt people like them if they became law, while fewer (25%) think it would help them. Nearly 2 in 10 (18%) think the bills would make no difference, and 24% said they didn’t know.

Even among Democrats alone, fewer than half (47%) think the two bills would help people like them. A quarter of Democrats think the bills would make no difference for people like them and about 2 in 10 (22%) don’t know how they would impact their lives. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Republicans think the bills would hurt people like them, and so do about 3 in 10 (29%) independents.

The American public is evenly divided — 34% to 34% — over whether they believe these bills would help or hurt the U.S. economy if they become law. Very few (6%) think the bills would have no effect on the economy, and a quarter don’t know. Democrats are much more likely to think the legislation would help the economy if enacted than Republicans and independents, 68% compared with 7% and 29%, respectively.

Biden’s inability to get these bills over the finish line has not helped the president’s mediocre approval ratings on an array of issues, which have solidified since the Sept. 24-28 ABC News/Ipsos poll.

His handling of the coronavirus pandemic and rebuilding the United States’ infrastructure are the only issues where a majority of the public approves of Biden — 56% and 52%, respectively — and neither is an improvement compared with the last ABC News/Ipsos poll. On both issues, he’s bolstered by near-universal support from members of his own party, as well as about half of independents.

Just under a majority of Americans approve of the president’s handling of climate change (48%) and the economic recovery (47%). Again, relatively high support among Democrats — 78% and 86%, respectively — keeps his approval from sinking too far.

Republicans are generally unified against the president on all issues, but overall approval for Biden takes the biggest hit on issues where Democrats’ and independents’ confidence drops.

While about half (49%) of independents approve of Biden’s handling of climate change, on other issues — economic recovery, gun violence, crime and taxes — independents’ approval hovers around 4 in 10.

The president’s overall approval dips below 40% on three issues: gun violence (39%), Afghanistan (34%) and immigration and the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border (31%).

Fewer than two-thirds (64%) of Democrats approve of Biden’s handling of gun violence. A similar share (62%) of Democrats approve of the president’s handling of Afghanistan. On immigration, Biden is barely holding onto majority support among his own party, with just 54% approving of him on this issue.

Only around 3 in 10 independents approve of Biden’s handling of immigration and Afghanistan, 29% and 31%, respectively.

METHODOLOGY: This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs’ KnowledgePanel® Oct. 29-30, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 514 adults. Results have a margin of sampling error of 4.7 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions were 31%-24%-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s top-line results and details on the methodology here.

ABC News’ Ken Goldstein and Dan Merkle contributed to this report.

Northern lights may be visible in some parts of the US Saturday

October 30, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stargazers in parts of the United States may be lucky enough to see the northern lights Saturday, thanks to a strong geomagnetic storm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a geomagnetic storm watch for Saturday and Sunday, following a “significant” solar flare on the sun two days ago that released a coronal mass ejection.

The coronal mass ejection — a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona — is expected to reach Earth Saturday evening, with effects continuing into Sunday, NOAA said.

What that means for people on Earth is the chance to see the spectacular light display across the northern United States, in states as far south as Illinois — if clouds and light pollution don’t get in the way.

The strength of the storm “has the potential to drive the aurora further away from its normal polar residence and if other factors come together, the aurora might be seen over the far Northeast, to the upper Midwest, and over the state of Washington,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said.

The aurora may be visible late Saturday afternoon and into early Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

The peak is predicted around 5 p.m. ET, according to planetary space scientist James O’Donoghue.

“You’ll want to look north, near to the horizon,” O’Donoghue tweeted Saturday. “Also, befriend your local weather reporter and ask for clear skies.”

“Good luck aurora hunters!” he added.

The storm is rated G3, on NOAA’s five-level geomagnetic storm scale. “Impacts to our technology from a G3 storm are generally nominal,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said.

3 dead, 1 hospitalized after Amtrak train collides with car in South Carolina

October 30, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C.) — Three people are dead and a fourth was hospitalized after an Amtrak train collided with a car at a railroad crossing in South Carolina early Saturday.

A North Charleston police officer reported the accident shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time, according to the North Charleston Fire Department.

Responding officers and firefighters found a “vehicle off the roadway with heavy damage” and four people “in the area of the damaged vehicle,” the fire department said in a statement.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene and a fourth was treated by firefighters before being transported to a local hospital, authorities said. The fire department did not have an update on the person’s condition Saturday afternoon.

All four are believed to have been in the car on the railroad crossing when the collision occurred, and the train was able to make a controlled emergency stop after the crash, authorities said.

There were no injuries reported aboard the train, which was carrying 500 passengers, the fire department said.

The North Charleston Police Department and railroad operator CSX are investigating the cause of the accident.

Amtrak did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

USC president admits ‘troubling delay’ in acting on multiple sexual assault reports

October 30, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LOS ANGELES) — There was a “troubling delay” in acting on multiple reports of possible drugging and sexual assault at a University of Southern California fraternity, the school’s president acknowledged in a letter to students amid an investigation into growing allegations against fraternities on the Los Angeles campus.

Last week, USC informed students that it suspended the Sigma Nu fraternity after an alleged sexual assault and “possible drug-facilitated sexual assaults” at its house. The move came nearly a month after several students confidentially reported to the university’s counseling service that they “may have experienced drugging and possible sexual assault in connection with a fraternity party,” President Carol Folt detailed in a letter posted Friday.

The students disclosed the information to the school’s Relationship and Sexual Assault Violence Prevention Services (RSVP) program between Sept. 25 and Sept. 30, Folt said. On Sept. 30, RSVP decided to elevate the information to several university departments, including public safety.

A separate incident of an alleged sexual assault by a member of the fraternity was also reported to the school’s Department of Public Safety on Oct. 16.

The school’s Clery Office, which tracks and discloses campus crime, received information on both sets of events on Oct. 20, at which point the Sigma Nu fraternity was suspended and students notified.

“We now know that there was a troubling delay in acting on this information, and specifically in evaluating it for notification to the community,” Folt wrote in her letter.

“We are still investigating what occurred next, but there was clearly uncertainty regarding how to assess and process the information, and it was not immediately escalated to the Clery Office or others,” she added.

Since first alerting the school community to the alleged incidents at Sigma Nu, USC has received additional reports of sexual assault and possible drugging at other fraternity houses this fall and in previous years, Folt said.

All incidents disclosed to the school since Sept. 25 have been reported to the Los Angeles Police Department, which said last week it was investigating possible drug-facilitated sexual assaults.

Activities at all USC fraternities have been suspended indefinitely, and USC will permanently ban or delist fraternities “if warranted,” Folt said.

In the wake of multiple campus alerts about alleged assaults at Sigma Nu, USC students have held protests demanding action from the university. Angry notes now also plaster the Sigma Nu fraternity house with messages like “do better” and “enough is enough.”

Folt became president of USC in 2019, after the previous president stepped down amid reports the school ignored allegations of widespread sexual misconduct by former campus gynecologist George Tyndall.

“As president, I came to USC with the promise to confront what is wrong and lead the effort to fix what is broken,” she wrote in her letter. “As we learn more, there will be some things we can do quickly and others that will take more time. This is too important to not get right.”

Colorado battles fall COVID-19 resurgence, with highest hospitalization rate since December

October 30, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(DENVER) — While some areas of the country are cautiously celebrating falling COVID-19 cases, hoping the declines might signal the return to a long-awaited sense of normalcy, some states continue to struggle as Americans prepare for winter.

Health officials in Colorado are growing increasingly concerned as the rate of COVID-19 infections grows to levels not seen in more than 10 months.

There is “a clear increase in cases statewide,” state epidemiologist Dr. Rachel Herlihy said in a COVID-19 briefing on Thursday.

In the last month alone, the state’s daily case average has nearly doubled — increasing by 91.5% since late September, according to federal data, and state data shows that Colorado’s average positivity rate has risen from just under 7% last week, to nearly 8.5% this week.

“Colorado moving in the wrong direction is a clear signal that we are not yet out of this pandemic, especially in under-vaccinated states. Colorado has yet to reach 70% with a first dose and if you layer in colder temperatures and relaxed masking, history is likely to repeat itself,” said John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor.

While southern states in particular are seeing significant declines in their rates of infection, several states with colder weather, like Colorado, are beginning to experience an uptick in cases, as people begin to increasingly head indoors.

“Coronaviruses tend to thrive in winter months and colder weather,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said in a White House COVID-19 briefing last week. “Right now is not the time, as cases are coming down, to become complacent because we do know colder weather is ahead of us.”

Five states — Alaska, Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire and New Mexico — have all seen a percent increase in hospital admissions of about 15% or more in the last two weeks.

“We are continuing to move very much in the wrong direction,” Scott Bookman, Colorado’s COVID-19 chief, said at a briefing on Wednesday.

According to state officials, the highest coronavirus case rate is among the 5- to 17-year-old age group.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations have also been increasing in the state, a trend that is particularly worrying health officials.

Approximately 90% of the state’s surgical and intensive care unit beds are currently in use, according to state officials. There are currently nearly 1,300 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — the highest number of patients receiving care since December, and on average, federal data shows that nearly 200 residents are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day.

“With the increase in percent of positivity and the concern of increase in cases in the coming weeks, we are all very concerned at this point about what we are seeing in our hospitals,” said Bookman.

And as more patients stream into emergency rooms in need of care, the average number of available beds is rapidly declining.

Thirty percent of hospitals anticipate an ICU bed shortage in the next week. State health officials have told ABC News that hospitals in El Paso County have had days when they’ve had to turn away transfer requests.

The majority of those COVID-19 positive patients — 77% — are unvaccinated individuals.

To date, 61% of the total population in Colorado has been fully vaccinated, leaving a significant number of residents still unvaccinated. People who have not been fully vaccinated are 6.1 times more likely to test positive with the virus and 11.3 times more likely to die from it, compared with people who are vaccinated, according to the CDC.

The notable divide between vaccinated and unvaccinated is evident in counties across the state.

In Crowley County, home to just over 6,000 residents, less than 49% of the eligible population has been vaccinated with at least one shot, according to state data. High transmission across the county remains rampant. In El Paso County, which currently has one of the state’s highest number of hospital admissions rate, approximately 65% of the county’s population over 12 have been fully vaccinated.

In total, 15 Colorado counties are significantly lagging, partially vaccinating 50% or less of their eligible population.

Comparatively, 11 counties have vaccinated at least 80% of their total population with at least one shot. San Miguel County, with a population of over 8,100, has 74% of its population fully vaccinated, and its infection rate has remained steadily low, despite increasing figures across the rest of the state.

If the situation in Colorado does not improve in the coming days, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Thursday he is prepared to take certain steps to address the uptick, including bringing in federal medical surge teams to help local hospitals in need of extra support, halting elective surgeries, expanding the use of monoclonal antibody treatment and possibly reactivating crisis standards of care, which determine how to most efficiently use medical resources, such as ventilators or ICU beds.

“A new surge once again places a challenging burden on our already tired health care professionals while also deferring important hospital procedures. This should really send a message to those still on the fence to do their part,” said Brownstein. “Remaining unvaccinated populations still represent opportunities for this virus to spread. This surge in Colorado should serve as an important warning to other states as we head into the winter months.”

ABC News’ Jeff Cook contributed to this report.

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