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The Scorpions debut music video for title track of forthcoming album, ‘Rock Believer’

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The Scorpions celebrate the joy of rocking their fans like a hurricane in the official video for the title track of their forthcoming studio album, Rock Believer.

The clip, which premiered this week at the veteran German hard rockers’ YouTube channel, features new scenes of The Scorpions performing “Rock Believer” in a studio, mixed with archival footage of the band playing at a variety of major concerts and behind-the-scenes footage of the group interacting with fans and having fun offstage.

The video also incorporates glimpses of childhood photos of the band members.

The group has posted a message on its Facebook page about the inspiration behind the song that reads, “Over the years, we’ve heard people say lots of times that rock is dead. But there are still millions of rock believers out there all over the world to prove them wrong. Our fans are the best in the world…We’ll see you someday somewhere out there, because we’re Rock Believers just like you.”

The Scorpions released “Rock Believer” as an advanced digital single last week, while the album, which can be pre-ordered now, is due out on February 25.

In conjunction with the video’s premiere, the band members took part in an online afterparty and Q&A event that was accessible by subscribers of the YouTube Premium service. The 50-minute presentation is available on demand at The Scorpions’ YouTube channel. A free YouTube Premium trial also is being offered.

Vaccinated people with prior COVID infection had strongest protection during delta, CDC study finds

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Both vaccination and a prior infection provided protection against another infection and hospitalization due to COVID-19 during the United States’ delta wave, according to a study released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Between May and November 2021, researchers analyzed data from New York and California to determine the impact of vaccination and previous COVID-19 infection on cases and hospitalization rates.

The study focused on four core groups of people — those who were unvaccinated, without a previous infection; those who were unvaccinated, with a previous infection; vaccinated people, without a previous infection; and vaccinated people, with a previous infection.

The analysis found that before delta became the predominant variant in June, vaccination offered better protection against breakthrough infections than prior infection offered against reinfection. But after delta became dominant, this trend shifted, with prior infection offering slightly better protection. However, this also coincides with a time when many Americans were several months out from their shots, and before boosters were authorized.

Notably, the study was conducted prior to the emergence of the omicron variant, and before the widespread availability of booster shots, thus, researchers warned that results cannot be directly applied to the nation’s current surge. In addition, the analysis did not include data pertaining to the severity of initial infections, and hospitalization data was only pulled from California.

During the delta wave, two doses of a vaccine offered excellent protection against hospitalization, and notably, researchers stressed that getting vaccinated remains a safer option than contracting COVID-19.

Vaccine immunity does fade over time, the study found, and the further out an individual is from one’s last vaccine shot, or a prior infection, the more likely it is that they will experience a breakthrough infection.

When asked repeatedly on Wednesday during a press briefing whether the data were showing that when delta was prominent, having had an infection provided greater protection against a subsequent infection than from being vaccinated, a CDC representative insisted that vaccination is still the safest way to protect oneself.

Scientists also suggest the study reinforces the evidence that “vaccination remains the safest strategy for protecting against COVID-19.”

The CDC also cited a recent study, which demonstrates that as time increases after an infection, vaccination still provides greater protection against COVID-19 compared to prior infection alone, thus underscoring “the importance of being up to date on COVID-19 vaccination.”

Later this week, the CDC said it will publish additional data on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters while omicron has been circulating.

2 cold case homicides tied to convicted murderer, police say

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.) — A Virginia man convicted of murder has been charged in connection with two decades-old cold case homicides, authorities said.

Charles Helem, 52, is currently serving life in prison at a Virginia supermax state prison after he was convicted of first-degree murder for the death of a Chantilly woman who was found strangled in her townhome in 2002.

He has been now been charged in two unrelated homicides in Virginia and Maryland after allegedly confessing to both murders, authorities announced Wednesday.

“We now know even more about the dangers the killer presented to the entire national capital region,” Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said during a press briefing.

The murder of Eige Sober-Adler was among Fairfax County’s notable cold cases. The 37-year-old was found dead in a field in Herndon on Sept. 9, 1987, badly beaten.

Helem allegedly confessed to the murder during an interview with Fairfax County detectives in October, officials said.

“Detectives were able to corroborate this confession with details known only to the killer,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said during the Wednesday briefing.

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted Helem for murder in connection to Sober-Adler’s death. Descano said his office will now pursue a “vigorous” prosecution of Helem.

Authorities in Prince George’s County, Maryland, have also charged Helem in connection with an unsolved murder in Mount Rainier. Jennifer Landry, 19, was found dead in a wooded area on Aug. 15, 2002. An autopsy determined she had died of asphyxia and cutting wounds to her neck. It took nearly three years for police to positively identify her body.

In 2010 and 2017, Helem sent letters to law enforcement claiming to have information on the Landry murder, though he refused to speak with detectives until last year, police said.

“He verbally confessed to killing Jennifer Landry,” Prince George’s County Police Chief Malik Aziz said during the briefing.

Helem initially provided information on the unsolved Fairfax County murder while talking to Prince George’s County detectives, police said.

It is unclear if Helem has an attorney. Court records for Fairfax County and Prince George’s County not have yet listed his case.

Davis and Aziz said authorities are exploring whether Helem may be connected to other unsolved cases.

The parents of both women are deceased, authorities said, though officials in both counties said they hoped the latest charges bring some closure to the victims’ surviving families and friends.

“My team and our partners in law enforcement did not waver in our dedication to seek answers and pursue justice in this cold case,” Descano said.

Supreme Court paves way for Trump White House document review by Jan. 6 committee

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has denied President Donald Trump’s request for a stay of a lower court mandate that hundreds of pages of his presidential records from Jan. 6 be turned over to the congressional committee investigating the attacks.

The vote was 8-1.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Chuck D from Public Enemy to tell ‘The Story of Hip Hop’

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

The legendary leader of Public Enemy will narrate the four-part docuseries, The Story of Hip-Hop with Chuck D, according to Deadline.

The series is being produced by PBS and the BBC, and Chuck D is serving as an executive producer.

The hip-hop community has, from the start, been doing what the rest of media is only now catching up to,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member said in a statement. “Long before any conglomerate realized it was time to wake up, hip-hop had been speaking out and telling truths. Working with PBS and BBC is an opportunity to deliver these messages through new ways and help explain hip-hop’s place in history and hopefully inspire us all to take it further.”

Nobody puts Howie in a corner: Backstreet Boy joins new celeb dance show ‘The Real Dirty Dancing’

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Backstreet Boys AJ McLean and Nick Carter have both been on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars, and now their bandmate Howie Dorough will be trying his luck on a different kind of celebrity dance show.

FOX’s The Real Dirty Dancing, hosted by Stephen “tWitch” Boss, has celebrities learning the actual dance routines from the iconic 1987 film Dirty Dancing while staying at Virginia’s Mountain Lake Lodge, which stood in for the fictional Catskills resort Kellerman’s in the movie. And yes, the famous “lift” is one of the things they’ll have to learn.

In addition to Howie, the other celebs who are competing will be High School Musical star Corbin Bleu, chef Cat Cora, retired NFL star Antonio Gates, comedian Anjelah Johnson-Reyes of MADtv fame, Bachelorette runner-up Tyler Cameron, Loni Love of The Real and WWE Divas champ Brie Bella.

In each episode of the four-episode series, one celebrity couple will be “put in a corner,” and at the end, one male and one female contestant will be crowned the winning “Baby” and “Johnny.”

The Real Dirty Dancing airs Tuesdays on February 1, 8, 15 and 22 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Fox.

Starz releases trailer for sixth season of ‘Outlander’

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

After a Christmas Day sneak peek of the show’s return on March 6, Starz has dropped a new trailer for the sixth season of its time-skipping romantic drama Outlander.

“I cannot be two things at once Claire,” Sam Heughan‘s Jamie tells his wife, played by Caitríona Balfe. “A rebel, a loyalist, an agent for the crown and an enemy of the king. Claire replies, “You can’t live your life afraid of being who you are.”

Based on author Diana Gabaldon‘s sixth book in her series, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, Starz teases the upcoming installment, “The last time we saw Claire and Jamie, Claire had just escaped a violent encounter with Lionel Brown and returned to Fraser’s Ridge….The sixth season of Outlander sees a continuation of Claire and Jamie’s fight to protect those they love, as they navigate the trials and tribulations of life in colonial America.”

The trailer shows colonists going to arms, and establishing alliances with Native Americans, with the threat of the Redcoats closing in.

The network’s announcement continues, “Establishing a home in the New World is by no means an easy task, particularly in the wild backcountry of North Carolina — and perhaps most significantly — during a period of dramatic political upheaval. The Frasers strive to maintain peace and flourish within a society which — as Claire knows all too well — is unwittingly marching towards Revolution.”

The ninth book in Gabaldon’s Outlander series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, debuted in November.

‘Parasite’ Oscar winner Bong Joon Ho drafts Robert Pattinson for sci-fi project

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Oscar-winning Parasite director Bong Joon Ho has got Robert Pattinson in his tractor beam for a high-profile science fiction film for Warner Bros.

Deadline reports that Pattinson, who will be seen in March in The Batman, will star in an adaptation of an upcoming sci-fi novel called Mickey7, about, “a disposable employee sent to colonize the ice world Niflheim — who refuses to let his replacement clone, dubbed Mickey8, take his place.”

According to the book’s publisher, the Edward Ashton’s novel is described as, “The Martian meets Dark Matter. The title refers to an “expendable” clone who, “refuses to let his replacement clone Mickey8 take his place” on a mission to an ice planet.

Alabama football coach Nick Saban urges Manchin to pass voting rights bill but punts on filibuster change

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(TUSCALOOSA, Ala.) — University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban and NBA icon Jerry West joined three fellow sports personalities native to West Virginia to pen a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., urging him to help push voting rights legislation in the Senate without asking him to allow a rule change that would be necessary to ensure the bill’s passage.

On Tuesday evening, Manchin pointed out on C-SPAN that the version of the letter made public this week was missing a key footnote in which Saban indicates his objection to eliminating the filibuster while the other signatories take no position on it.

“Coach Saban is not in favor of getting rid of the filibuster in the Senate. He believes this will destroy the checks and balances we must have in our Democracy. The others signing this letter take no position on this aspect of Senate policies,” the version shared by Manchin reads.

Manchin, like Saban, has also said he supports Democrats’ voting rights legislation but has long stated his opposition to changing the Senate filibuster rule.

Saban, one of the best-known coaches in American sports, originally hails from West Virginia and maintains a friendship with the West Virginia senator dating back to the 1950s. West, former NFL players Oliver Luck and Darryl Talley, and former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue also signed the letter.

Their letter focuses on equal election access for all Americans and the importance of transparency and impartiality in elections administration. A House-passed voting rights bill that combines both the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act addresses these issues with provisions that boost vote by mail and aim to prevent new laws restricting voting rights from being enacted in the future.

“We strongly support urgently needed legislation that will protect both the rights of voters and the integrity of outcomes in all Federal elections,” the letter, dated Jan. 13, reads.

The letter comes amid an ongoing, high-stakes voting rights battle in the Senate, with the measure looking destined to be blocked by a Republican filibuster since Democrats do not have the support of their entire slim majority to pass a rules change. With Manchin and fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., reaffirming their opposition to altering the filibuster rule, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s attempt to create a carveout for voting rights is poised to fail when it is voted on Wednesday evening.

Manchin told reporters Wednesday morning he would be speaking on the Senate floor later in the day to outline where he stands. But he has been adamant in his resistance even calls to get rid of the filibuster to protect voting rights have grown louder.

The latest push for federal voting rights legislation comes after 19 states passed laws restricting voting rights in 2021 following the 2020 election, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice.

Amazon forges an official title for its epic Tolkien series: ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power’

January 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Amazon has dropped a new video branding its anticipated J.R.R. Tolkien-based series with an official title: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The multi-season series, costing a reported $465 million — the most expensive ever made — will tell the tales that happened before Frodo trekked to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring, as seen in Peter Jackson‘s Oscar winning Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

Quoting Tolkien’s words, a female voice can be heard, as molten metal is poured into a mold.

Instead of forging the rings, in the teaser, the metal forms reveal the series’ title.

“Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky. Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone. Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die. One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne. In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.”

For the uninitiated, the Rings were forged by the Dark Lord Sauron, playing the long game to enslave the world via its varied races. His One Ring, later entrusted to Frodo, is described in the portion of the passage the teaser omits: “One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them…”

Showrunners J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay said in a statement, “…The Rings of Power unites all the major stories of Middle-earth’s Second Age: the forging of the rings, the rise of the Dark Lord Sauron, the epic tale of Númenor, and the Last Alliance of Elves and Men.”

“Until now, audiences have only seen on-screen the story of the One Ring, but before there was one, there were many… and we’re excited to share the epic story of them all.”

The series debuts globally September 2.

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