Page 7692 – 105.7 WDNY

Biden administration speaks out on federal blood donation policy impacting gay men amid national blood shortage

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — For the first time, the Biden administration is commenting on the Food and Drug Administration’s long-time blood donation guidelines, which are impacting the LGBTQ+ community by preventing gay and bisexual men from being eligible blood donors.

The statement, made by a White House official exclusively to ABC News, acknowledges the painful origins of the policy and comes on the heels of the American Red Cross declaring their first-ever national blood crisis last week, as supplies at hospitals and blood banks become dangerously low.

Current U.S. policy holds that sexually active gay or bisexual men must abstain from sex for at least three months before they’re allowed to donate blood. The rule applies to gay and bisexual men who are monogamous and those who test HIV negative and are practicing safe sex. It also includes gay and bisexual COVID-19 survivors who wish to donate convalescent plasma, rich with antibodies, for research.

The restriction on blood donations came out of the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when limited testing technology and capacity existed to screen blood for HIV. In 1983, the FDA implemented a lifetime ban on blood donations from all men who had sex with men after 1977.

The FDA removed the lifetime ban and enacted a 12-month deferral period in 2015, meaning gay or bisexual men had to abstain from having sex with other men for at least 12 months before donating blood. That deferral period was reduced to three months in April 2020 amid blood supply shortages in the beginning months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite cutting of deferral periods in recent years, the current federal policy remains a blanket policy covering LGBTQ+ people, and does not take into account individual risk.

“The legacy of bans on blood donation continues to be painful, especially for LGBTQI+ communities,” the White House official told ABC News in a statement. “The President is committed to ensuring that this policy is based on science, not fiction or stigma. While there are no new decisions to announce at the moment, the FDA is currently supporting the ‘ADVANCE’ study, a scientific study to develop relevant scientific evidence and inform any potential policy changes.”

In 2020, ABC News broke the story that several major blood donation organizations — including the American Red Cross, Vitalant and OneBlood — announced that they were working together in an FDA-funded study (ADVANCE: Assessing Donor Variability And New Concepts in Eligibility) to provide data to determine if eligibility based on an individual’s risk could replace the time-based deferral system while maintaining the safety of the blood supply.

While the lead researchers involved in the study previously told ABC News their goal was to present their findings to the FDA in late 2021, the FDA revealed to ABC News that the study is ongoing, amid what the American Red Cross is calling “the worst blood shortage in over a decade.”

While the American Red Cross said that there is no clear data that would suggest that changing the current blood donation policy would significantly increase the number of blood donations, if the deferral period were lifted, an additional 360,000 men would likely donate, “which could help save the lives of more than a million people,” according to LGBTQ+ advocacy group GLAAD.

In what seems like a clash over risk vs. stigma, LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and many in the medical community are aligned on the idea that the current federal policy on LGBTQ+ blood donor eligibility is largely discriminatory.

“We believe blood donation eligibility should not be determined by methods that are based upon sexual orientation and we’re committed to achieving this goal,” the American Red Cross said in a statement to ABC News.

Sarah Warbelow, legal director for the Human Rights Campaign, also told ABC News, “Just like other individuals throughout the country, many people have sex on a regular basis, including with partners and spouses.”

And in 2020, Dr. Patrice Harris, president of the American Medical Association, told “Good Morning America”: “The AMA has been a long-term advocate of using a risk-based approach, rather than stigmatizing one group of people. So we believe there should not even be the three-month deferral, but that we should use a risk-based approach.”

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.

Fitz and the Tantrums schedule 2022 US tour

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Fitz and the Tantrums will be making your HandsClap on the road this summer.

The band has announced a U.S. tour, set to kick off June 1 in Asheville, North Carolina. The outing, which will be co-headlined by St. Paul and the Broken Bones, wraps up June 25 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

“We’re so excited to hit the road again,” says frontman Michael “Fitz” Fitzpatrick. “More than ever, we appreciate the awesome power of live music and the joy that it brings. We can’t wait to sing, dance, and celebrate with all of you.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 21, at 10 a.m. local time. Visit FitzandtheTantrums.com for the full list of dates and all ticket info.

Fitz and the Tantrums’ most recent album is 2019’s All the Feels. Last year, Fitzpatrick released his debut solo album, Head Up High.

U2’s Bono feels “embarrassed” hearing his voice on the radio

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

When it comes to a way to like his own voice, Bono still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.

On a new episode of The Hollywood Reporter‘s Awards Chatter podcast, the U2 frontman says he feels “embarrassed” when he hears his singing, particularly on the group’s earlier recordings, explaining that, while he thinks the his band mates sound “incredible,” he finds his voice to be “very strained.”

“I’ve been in a car when one of our songs has come on the radio and I’ve been the color of, as we say in Dublin, scarlet,” Bono says. “I’m just so embarrassed.”

During the interview, Bono shares a story about a fellow rock star who had a similar disdain for the U2 frontman’s voice, the late Robert Palmer. He says Palmer once approached U2 bassist Adam Clayton and griped, “God, would you ever tell your singer to just take down the keys a little bit? He’d do himself a favor, his voice a favor, and he’d do us all a favor who have to listen to him.”

Bono adds that he feels he “only became a singer, like, recently.”

“Maybe that hasn’t happened yet for some people’s ears,” he laughs. “And I understand that.”

Another thing Bono isn’t all that jazzed about: the name U2.

“I still don’t really like the name,” he says. Guitarist The Edge adds that they only picked U2 in the first place because, of the potential candidates, it was the one they “hated the least.”

While Bono may have his own issues with his voice, that doesn’t seem to be bothering the voters for the Oscars, who placed U2’s new single “Your Song Saved My Life” — from the animated film Sing 2 — on the shortlist to be nominated for Best Original Song.

Verizon, AT&T delay 5G rollout around some airports after stark warnings from US airlines

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A showdown between the nation’s major airlines, the FAA and AT&T and Verizon appears to be cooling after both telecom giants agreed at the last minute to pause a portion of their 5G-C rollout on Wednesday.

“At our sole discretion we have voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways as we continue to work with the aviation industry and the FAA to provide further information about our 5G deployment,” AT&T said in a statement Tuesday.

Verizon followed AT&T saying, “We have voluntarily decided to limit our 5G network around airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports, despite it being safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries.”

CEOs from American, United, Delta and seven other major carriers warned of “significant” disruptions in the country’s aviation system if the 5G rollout continued as planned.

Aviation officials are concerned that the frequency used for 5G may interfere with airplanes’ radio altimeters — devices used by pilots to measure the distance between the aircraft and the ground in order to land.

In the letter, U.S. airline leaders wrote to government officials Monday asking that the wireless carriers not deploy 5G within two miles of runways at certain airports.

“This will allow 5G to be deployed while avoiding harmful impacts on the aviation industry, traveling public, supply chain, vaccine distribution, our workforce and broader economy,” the CEOs wrote.

The FAA warned pilots won’t be able to use radio altimeters to land at 88 airports closest to Verizon and AT&T’s 5G towers. Earlier this month, the FAA and wireless carriers agreed to implement “buffer zones” around 50 airports across the country to try to mitigate the issue.

Airline officials, however, said this is not enough. United Airlines said the current plan will have “devastating” impacts on its operation, impacting an estimated 1.25 million of the carrier’s passengers and at least 15,000 flights.

“We won’t compromise on safety – full stop,” United said in a statement.

Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines 737 pilot and a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, also called the rollout “unsafe.”

“We’re not going to fly the airplane unless it’s safe,” Tajer told ABC News. “But putting that added distraction of other systems going wrong close to the ground is not the way you run a safety culture.”

The telecom giants have insisted 5G-C Band technology is safe and has been proven in more than 40 other countries, albeit at much lower power levels than what’s planned in the U.S.

In a statement, AT&T made clear its frustration with the federal government, writing in part: “We are frustrated by the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner. We are launching our advanced 5G services everywhere else as planned with the temporary exception of this limited number of towers.”

When asked why the FAA did not act over the past two years, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “There will be lots of time to look back and see how we got here. And I know many of you will do that. And, of course, that is understandable. But right now, over the next 24, or less than 24 hours, what we’re focused on is trying to come to a solution that will minimize travel — you know disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations — on our economic recovery.”

President Biden thanked Verizon and AT&T for the delay, saying in a statement, “This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.”

The president said the agreement “protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans.”

ABC News’ Mina Kaji, Mary Bruce and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

Judge blocks hospital from turning off ventilator of severely ill COVID-19 patient

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(COON RAPIDS, Minn.) — A Minnesota man with COVID who had been fighting for his life for months was transferred to a new hospital days after a judge blocked another hospital from taking him off a ventilator.

The decision allowed Scott Quiner, 55, of Buffalo, Minnesota, to be moved to a hospital in Texas, where he is being treated.

Quiner was initially admitted to Waconia Hospital, and then transferred to the ICU at Mercy Hospital, in Coon Rapids, on Nov. 6, after he tested positive for the virus in late October, according to a GoFundMe page in support of Quiner’s family, and the StarTribune, which was first to report this story.

Anne Quiner, Scott’s wife, was granted a temporary restraining order last Thursday against Mercy Hospital, after doctors informed her that day that they would be disconnecting her husband from the ventilator that had been supporting him since the late fall.

The order, from an Anoka County judge, prohibited the hospital from turning off ventilation support, while Anne Quiner searched for a new facility to care for her husband.

According to the court order, Anne Quiner told doctors that as her husband’s health care proxy, she “vehemently disagree[d]” with these actions and did not want her husband’s ventilator turned off.

Over the weekend, Scott Quiner was moved to a facility in Texas for treatment, Marjorie J. Holsten, the Quiner family’s attorney, told ABC News in a statement on Monday.

“A doctor evaluated him and determined that he was severely undernourished. Scott has been receiving much-needed nourishment and hydration and medications that were not given by Mercy,” Holsten said. “He is being weaned off of the sedating drugs and has already been able to follow with his eyes movements the doctor made with his hands. He is making progress in the right direction, though he has a long road ahead of him and continued prayers are appreciated.”

Quiner remains on a ventilator but the oxygen level has been lowered, the family’s lawyer said.

Representatives from Allina Health, which operates Mercy Hospital, told ABC News that they wish the patient and the family well, and have “great confidence” in their team’s work.

“Allina Health has great confidence in the exceptional care provided to our patients, which is administered according to evidence-based practices by our talented and compassionate medical teams. Due to patient privacy, we cannot comment on care provided to specific patients,” the health system wrote. “Allina Health continues to wish the patient and family well. Any information regarding the patient’s on-going care should be directed to his current medical provider.”

Huge asteroid safely passes close to Earth

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A comet more than three times the size of the Empire State Building got up close to Earth’s orbit Tuesday afternoon but was far enough to avoid turning into a sci-fi disaster movie, according to astronomers.

Asteroid 7482 (1994 PC1) flew by Earth around 4:51 p.m., according to NASA, which has been tracking the object for decades through its planetary defense systems.

Researchers say the asteroid, which measures 1 kilometer in diameter, came around .01325 Astronomical Units, or 1.2 million miles, away from Earth’s atmosphere.

That distance didn’t pose any threat to the Earth, according to researchers.

The last time the asteroid was this close to Earth’s orbit was 89 years ago when it flew 0.00752 AU, roughly 699,000 miles, away from the planet, NASA data showed.

The next time the asteroid will come this close to Earth will be in 2105 when it will fly 0.01556 AU, roughly 1.4 million miles, away from Earth.

Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Rudy Giuliani, obtains phone records for Eric Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Tuesday subpoenaed former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell, who pushed unfounded claims of widespread election fraud and pushed to overturn the 2020 election results on former President Donald Trump’s behalf.

“The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations,” the panel wrote in letters to Giuliani, Ellis, Powell and Trump aide and attorney Boris Epshteyn.

Within the last week, the House Select Committee also subpoenaed the phone records of Eric Trump, former president Trump’s second eldest son — a source with direct knowledge has confirmed to ABC News. The subpoena was sent to a cell phone provider of Eric Trump.

The group subpoenaed Tuesday worked with Trump to contest the results of the election in the fall of 2020, traveling to key states and huddling with Trump and other White House aides in the Oval Office as the president weighed how to overturn the results.

“The four individuals we’ve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former President about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement. “We expect these individuals to join the nearly 400 witnesses who have spoken with the Select Committee as the committee works to get answers for the American people about the violent attack on our democracy.”

Ellis also circulated two legal memos urging former Vice President Mike Pence to reject or delay the count of electoral votes on Jan. 6, the committee said.

Giuliani urged Trump to seize voting machines after being told the Department of Homeland Security lacked the authority to do so, the committee said, pointing to a report from the news website Axios and documents obtained by investigators.

The former mayor of New York City, a close Trump confidant, spoke at the Jan. 6 rally outside the White House, urging for “trial by combat” over the election results before Trump supporters marched to the Capitol.

Powell, according to the committee, reportedly urged Trump to seize voting machines to find evidence that foreign hackers had altered the election results.

Powell, Giuliani, Ellis and Epshteyn did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dominion Voting Systems, a Colorado-based voting machine company, has filed defamation lawsuits against both Giuliani and Powell and is seeking billions of dollars in damages over their unfounded claims of election fraud. A federal judge denied both Powell and Giuliani’s efforts to have the suits dismissed.

Giuliani’s law license was also suspended in New York state last year over his claims of election fraud.

ABC’s John Santucci, Olivia Rubin and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

Tonga government releases 1st statement since volcanic blast, described huge mushroom plume

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For the first time since a massive undersea volcano erupted and caused widespread damage, the government of Tonga released its first statement on Tuesday morning, describing a huge mushroom plume that covered the entire South Pacific island kingdom and nearly 50-foot tsunami waves that crashed ashore and devastated villages.

International and domestic communication, including the Internet, had been severed since the blast of the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Saturday. According to the government’s statement, the volcanic eruption damaged an underwater fiber optic cable, cutting off communication to the outside world.

“As a result of the eruption, a volcanic mushroom plume was released reaching the stratosphere and extending radially covering all Tonga Islands, generating tsunami waves rising up to 15 meters, hitting the west coast of Tongatapu Islands, ‘Eue and Ha’apai Islands,” the government statement said.

The eruption occurred in the South Pacific, about 40 miles south of Tonga.

A damage assessment was underway on Tuesday and the government was relying on satellite phones and high-frequency radio to establish communication between the multiple islands that comprise the Polynesian kingdom. Government officials said communication with at least one island, Niuas, had yet to be restored.

At least three deaths have been confirmed, including the death of a British national, the government said. Also killed was a 65-year-old woman on Mango Island and a 49-year-old man from Nomuka Island, according to the statement.

Two people remain unaccounted for and numerous injuries have been reported, the government said.

The government said it is particularly concerned about the damage caused to the islands of Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka after receiving initial reports from first responders deployed to those islands.

“The first consignment is headed for these islands as all houses were destroyed on Mango Island; only two houses remain on Fonoifua Island with extensive damage on Nomuka Island,” the government said.

It was not immediately clear how many houses and people occupied the islands of Mango, Nomuka and Fonoifua. Many of Tonga’s 170 islands are uninhabited or sparsely inhabited.

At least eight houses were completely destroyed and 20 others were severely damaged in the village of Kolomotu on Tonga’s most populated island, Tongatapu, the government said.

On ‘Eua Island, two houses were completely destroyed and 45 were severely damaged, according to the government.

The government said that evacuations are underway from the small island of ‘Atata near the capital city of Nukuʻalofa, throughout Tongatapu, Mango, Fonoifua and Nomuka islands.

“Water supplies have been seriously affected by the volcanic ash,” the government statement said. “Government efforts have to be made to ensure the continuity of the supply of drinking water.”

Sea and air transportation have also been affected due to continuing large waves and volcanic ash covering airport runways.

“Domestic and international flights have been deferred until further notice as the airports undergo clean-up,” the government said.

The volcanic eruption was so strong it caused a sonic boom that could be heard and felt more than 6,000 miles away in Alaska, officials said.

The blast also triggered tsunami warnings from Fiji to Hawaii and the California coast.

The large waves caused by the volcanic eruption were being blamed for an oil spill off the Peruvian coast roughly 6,600 miles from Tonga. The Peruvian Civil Defense Institute released a statement on Monday saying a ship was loading oil into La Pampilla refinery on the Pacific coast of Puru on Sunday when waves moved the vessel and caused the spill.

Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Giuliani, other Trump allies who pushed election fraud claims

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack on Tuesday subpoenaed Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Elllis, who were among those who pushed claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election and for GOP officials to disrupt the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

The committee, which is seeking records and testimony from the witnesses in early February, also subpoenaed Trump aide Boris Epshteyn and lawyer Sidney Powell.

To date, the committee has issued nearly 60 public subpoenas for records and testimony.

“Just the way Bob would have wanted” — Jeff Ross on Bob Saget’s “first class” funeral

January 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Bob Saget‘s longtime friend, fellow comedian and “Roastmaster General” Jeff Ross is dishing on the beloved comedian and Full House patriarch’s funeral.

To Page Six, Ross emailed details about last weekend’s send-off for Saget, who was found dead in his Florida hotel room on January 9. He was 65.

Calling it the “best funeral ever,” Ross explained of last Friday’s service, “The crowd was star-studded, just the way Bob would have wanted.” Guests reportedly included fellow comedians like Dave Chappelle, Billy Crystal and Jimmy Kimmel. The publication noted that Ross also acted as pallbearer, along with others including Jonathan Silverman, John Mayer, and Saget’s Full House co-stars Dave Coulier and John Stamos, as well as Netflix head Ted Sarandos.

Ross also said, “The next night, we threw him an impromptu rock and roll shiva in the small room above The Comedy Store in Hollywood, where Bob started his career as a teenager.”

An “overwhelmed and so heartbroken” Ross closed by saying, “There will be other tributes, but I wanted the comedy fans to know that although Bob’s giant heart may have stopped while he was alone on the road, he still went out with a giant bang.”

Last week, Ross and Mayer Instagrammed their “rescue” of Saget’s car from a parking lot at Los Angeles International Airport, explaining that doing so was what Bob would have done for anybody. “[I]f you need a doctor, if you need a lawyer, if you need a pastrami sandwich at 3 in the morning because some girl just broke your heart, Bob was that guy,” he noted.

Friends for years with Saget, Ross emceed the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, which initially aired in 2008, but which the network recently re-ran in his honor.

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