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Brian Laundrie’s dad helps authorities search Florida preserve: Updates

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NORTH PORT, Fla.) — A massive search is continuing in Florida for Brian Laundrie, the boyfriend of Gabby Petito, the 22-year-old woman who went missing on a cross-country trip and who authorities confirmed as the body discovered in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in Wyoming.

The search for the 23-year-old Laundrie is centered around North Port, Florida, where investigators said Laundrie returned to his home on Sept. 1 without Petito but driving her 2012 Ford Transit.

Laundrie has been named by police as a “person of interest” in Petito’s disappearance. Laundrie has refused to speak to the police and has not been seen since Tuesday, Sept. 14, according to law enforcement officials.

The search for Laundrie is the latest twist in the case that has grabbed national attention as he and Petito had been traveling across the country since June, documenting the trip on social media.

Petito’s parents, who live in Long Island, New York, reported her missing on Sept. 11 after not hearing from her for two weeks.

Latest headlines:
-Second Moab Police body camera footage shows Gabby Petito claim Brian Laundrie grabbed her face
-FBI returned to Laundrie’s house for additional items
-Florida search ends for the night, police say they don’t know cost of effort
-Nothing found so far in Friday search
-Search for Brian Laundrie continues at Carlton Reserve
-Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern.

Oct 07, 11:41 am
Brian Laundrie’s father joins police in search for son: Attorney

The father of wanted fugitive Brian Laundrie joined law enforcement officers in the search for his son on Thursday, the family’s attorney told ABC News.

Chris Laundrie began assisting police Thursday morning in the ongoing search of the 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve, near his home in North Port, said attorney Steven Bertolino.

He said the father has been asked to point out any favorite trails or spots in the nature preserve that his son favored. Chris Laundrie and his wife, Roberta, verbally told investigators roughly three weeks ago where their son may have gone in the preserve, but now searchers believe the father’s on-site assistance may be more beneficial, Bertolino said.

The preserve has been closed to the public and the Laundries as well. The parents, according to Bertolino, have been cooperating since the search began.

Oct 06, 6:42 pm
Authorities to allow Laundrie’s father to assist with search, attorney says

Steven Bertolino, the Laundrie family attorney, told ABC News Wednesday that authorities are going to allow Chris Laundrie, Brian Laundrie’s father, to assist with the search at the Carlton Reserve.

Investigators don’t currently have more details on when he will join the search.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News they provided aerial support Wednesday for a search of the area.

ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd and Alondra Valle

Oct 05, 11:11 pm
Brian Laundrie left parents’ home to hike day earlier than parents originally told investigators

Laundrie family attorney Steven Bertolino confirmed to ABC News Tuesday night that the family now believes Brian Laundrie left to hike the Carlton Reserve on Monday, Sept. 13. Previously, they had told investigators he left on Tuesday, Sept. 14.

“The Laundries were basing the date Brian left on their recollection of certain events. Upon further communication with the FBI and confirmation of the Mustang being at the Laundrie residence on Wednesday September 15, we now believe the day Brian left to hike in the preserve was Monday September 13,” Bertolino said.

ABC News’ Kristin Thorne and Alondra Valle

Oct 05, 4:50 pm
Brian Laundrie flew home to Florida in early August: Family attorney

An attorney for the family of Brian Laundrie confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that the wanted fugitive flew home to Florida from Salt Lake City on Aug. 17 and flew back to Utah six days later to rejoin his girlfriend, Gabby Petito, on their cross-country road trip.

Steven Bertolino said Laundrie flew home to “obtain some items and empty and close the (couple’s) storage unit to save money as they contemplated extending the road trip.” Bertolino said the couple paid for the flights together as they were sharing expenses.

Laundrie’s trip back to the Tampa area came five days after he and Petito were stopped by police in Moab, Utah, when witnesses reported the couple was engaged in a domestic violence incident in Moab.

Eighteen former NBA players charged with defrauding the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Eighteen former NBA players, including Sebastian Telfair, Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Darius Miles, have been charged with defrauding the NBA’s health and welfare benefit plan out of approximately $4 million, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

The players were charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud as part of what prosecutors called a “widespread scheme to defraud” the NBA health care benefit plan.

They allegedly submitted false or fraudulent claims totaling nearly $4 million, from which the ex-players took in about $2.5 million.

The records submitted by the ex-players “described medical and dental services that were not in fact provided,” the indictment said.

The fraudulent invoices were created by a chiropractic office in Encino, California, two dentist offices in Beverly Hills and a wellness office in Washington state. The indictment named none of the offices allegedly involved and they were not charged.

Other ex-players charged include Terrence Williams, Alan Anderson, Anthony Allen, Shannon Brown, William Bynum, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Jamario Moon, Milton Palacio, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Gregory Smith, Charles Watson Jr., Antoine Wright and Anthony Wroten.

“Williams recruited other plan participants to defraud the plan by offering to supply them with false invoices to support their false and fraudulent claims to the plan in exchange for the payment kickbacks to Williams,” the indictment said.

The indictment also alleges that Williams impersonated an individual who processed the plan’s claims. Williams, the indictment said, received $230,000 in kickbacks from the other defendants for his role.

The defrauded NBA plan is intended to give additional coverage to eligible NBA players’ existing medical coverage, according to the indictment, by reimbursing “certain medical expenses incurred by eligible active and former NBA players, their spouses, and other dependents that are no covered by a player’s primary insurance carrier.”

COVID-19 live updates: Pfizer submits kids vaccine emergency use authorization request to FDA

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 708,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.8 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 65.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Latest headlines:
-Hospitalizations drop but deaths remain high
-Pfizer submits kids vaccine emergency use authorization request to FDA
-LA passes vaccine mandate for indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, malls and more
-More Americans died of COVID this year than all of 2020

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.

Oct 07, 1:37 pm
78% of adults have had 1 dose: White House

Seventy-eight percent of adults have now had at least one vaccine dose, White House COVID-19 data director Cyrus Shahpar tweeted.

Oct 07, 12:35 pm
Hospitalizations drop but deaths remain high

Hospitalizations in the U.S. have dropped from 104,000 to about 69,000 over the last five weeks, according to federal data.

More than a third of the drop was in Florida, where there are about 13,000 fewer patients compared to just over one month ago.

Daily COVID-19-related hospital admissions are also down nationally by 13.6% in the last week, according to federal data.

But states like Alaska and West Virginia, are still experiencing record-breaking surges, while Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Idaho and Texas still have ICU capacities near 10%.

Overnight, the U.S. reported nearly 2,000 COVID-19 related fatalities.

Around 1,400 virus-related deaths are being reported each day, which is nearly 7.5 times higher than in mid-July, according to federal data.

Texas is reporting thousands of deaths each week.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Oct 07, 9:00 am
United expects travel surge in December

United Airlines expects a travel surge and plans to fly 3,500 daily domestic flights in December, making it the largest schedule since the start of the pandemic.

Flight searches for the holidays are up 16% on the airline’s website and app compared to 2019.

Florida and ski resorts are expected to be the hottest destinations.

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney

Oct 07, 8:20 am
Pfizer submits kids vaccine emergency use authorization request to FDA

Pfizer has submitted an emergency use authorization to the FDA for use of its vaccine in children ages 5 to 11.

The FDA will have a public hearing on Oct. 26.

Shots for children 5 to 11 may be available by early November.

ABC News’ Eric M. Strauss

Drew Barrymore reveals how she will tell her daughters about her “wild” past

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Drew Barrymore says she will not hide anything about herself from her daughters, including stories from her troubled youth.

Speaking on her eponymous daytime talk show, the Charlie’s Angels star explained, “I have become this mother that is ironically very chaste, very pillars-of-appropriateness — and I tell my daughters all the time, ‘The truth is, you’re going to find out that I wasn’t always like that and you’re gonna be uber-confused.”

Barrymore, who touched upon her “wild” years, added that when her daughters eventually “see pictures of me or my wild stuff,” that they need to view them “in the terms of art and expression.”

She also is preparing for when her daughters inevitably try to use her controversial past against her, adding, “I literally tell my girls, ‘Here’s the deal’ — I go with humor — ‘You are literally going to see so many mixed messages. You are going to be like, ‘But Mom, look at what you did!'”

“That’s the other thing — you don’t know you’re going to be a parent one day when you’re figuring it all out. None of us are like, ‘Well, you know, one day, this is going to be cataloged… I never thought about it. I was just living my life, trying to figure out who I was,'” she quipped.

Despite the future road bumps that may lie ahead, the Santa Clarita Diet star maintained, “This is my favorite chapter of life, as parenting is the hardest and it’s the most challenging and it’s the most exhausting… but it is the most fulfilling, eye-opening, incredible [experience.]”

Barrymore shares nine-year-old Olive and seven-year-old Frankie with ex-husband Will Kopelman.

Red Hot Chili Peppers unveil dates for 2022 world tour; US leg kicks off in July

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Red Hot Chili Peppers have revealed the details of their upcoming 2022 world tour.

The global outing is set to kick off with a European run starting June 4 in Seville, Spain, before arriving stateside for a U.S. trek beginning July 23 in Denver. Dates are currently scheduled through a September 18 performance in Arlington, Texas.

The Peppers will be joined at various dates on the tour by a wide array of opening acts, including Beck, The Strokes, St. Vincent, HAIM, A$AP Rocky, King Princess, Thundercat and Anderson .Paak & the Free Nationals.

Tickets go on sale to the general public next Friday, October 15, at 10 a.m. local time. A fan pre-sale for the U.S. dates begins October 9, and October 13 for the Europe and U.K. shows.

For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit RedHotChiliPeppers.com.

The tour is RHCP’s first since guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the band at the end of 2019.

(Video contains censored profanity.)

Horrifying new details in Miya Marcano case: 19-year-old was found with hands, feet bound with duct tape

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Officials shared new horrifying details in the case of 19-year-old Miya Marcano, revealing she was found bound at her hands and feet with duct tape.

A body found Oct. 2 in a wooded area near the Tymber Skan apartment complex in Orlando, Florida, was positively identified as Marcano on Tuesday, the chief medical examiner for Orange and Osceola Counties told ABC News.

Marcano, a student at Valencia College, had been missing for over a week when her body was found. She was last seen at the Arden Villas apartments’ complex in Orlando where she lived on Sept. 24.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina shared an update on the case Wednesday, saying: “Miya was found bound with black duct tape on her feet and hands, and her mouth was also covered with black duct tape.”

Marcano was found wearing jeans, bra and a robe. Mina said her purse was found nearby containing the shirt she was last seen wearing.

Mina reiterated that Armando Caballero, 27, “is the person responsible for her death” and officials are not looking for other suspects.

Caballero was a maintenance worker at Arden Villas who was found dead Sept. 27, three days after Marcano disappeared, from an apparent suicide, authorities said.

Authorities previously said Caballero had expressed a romantic interest in Marcano but she rebuffed his advances. Caballero possessed a key fob to access apartments and his was used at Marcano’s unit just before her disappearance, authorities said.

“There is no indication that there was sexual assault of any kind” and the cause and manner of death are yet to be determined by the medical examiner’s office, Mina said.

He said officials believe that Caballero was waiting for her inside her apartment on Sept. 24. He later killed her and hid her body at the area of the other Orlando apartment complex, based off information police have so far.

Officials are still trying to determine if she left her apartment alive and whether this was a planned attack.

Police announced the discovery of the body Saturday. Mina said police were led to the Tymber Skan apartment area based on Caballero’s cellphone records that showed he was there the day Marcano went missing around 8:20 p.m. to 8:40 p.m. Mina said that Caballero had once lived at the Tymber Skan apartments.

The investigation is ongoing.

4-year-old girl, 18-year-old killed in Alabama flooding

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ARAB, Ala.) — More than 10 inches of rain pounded northern Alabama over the last 24 hours, leaving some neighborhoods underwater.

A 4-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman died as a result of the flooding in Marshall County, located in northern Alabama, the county coroner’s office said.

In Hoover, near Birmingham, crews have been searching through the night for two people who were in a car that was swept away in the floodwaters. The vehicle is believed to be submerged, officials said, adding that divers are at the scene.

In Pelham, fire officials said they responded to 282 calls for service. Officials conducted 82 rescues from homes and over a dozen rescues from cars.

Schools in Pelham are closed Thursday due to the excessive flooding. A flash flood watch remains in effect through Thursday night.

The flash flooding threat will expand east Thursday into Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, where more than 3 inches of rain is expected.

Flash flooding is also possible in Tennessee and Florida.

Maskless and unvaccinated, millions of pupils have returned to English schools

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — As the debate on masking in classrooms rages in the U.S, England, as with its risky move to fully reopen society in July, is chartering its own course. Despite competing scientific advice, in September millions of mostly unvaccinated children returned to school — with new government guidance. Masks, in the English classroom, are no longer recommended.

Part of the calculation stems from the success of the U.K.’s vaccination program — and the belief that parents who could potentially catch the virus from their children are mostly protected from two doses, which has led to criticism from some scientists.

More than 45 million people in the U.K. have received two doses of coronavirus vaccines, which amounts to 82.5% of the population over 16, according to government data.

Children aged 12 to 17 are now eligible for a first shot of the vaccine, and all people above 18 are encouraged to get both shots.

Since July, the weekly average of daily coronavirus cases has not fallen below 20,000. However, that has not been as bad as early predictions — Health Secretary Sajid Javid previously warned that with a full reopening cases could reach 100,000 a day, heights which have not been reached. Deaths have risen too, but the success of the vaccination rollout has prevented a return to the worst days of the pandemic, with 8,627 deaths recorded between July 1 and Oct. 1.

Yet with cases remaining high, parents have expressed concern about their children returning to school.

According to the most recent government guidance,: “As COVID-19 becomes a virus that we learn to live with, there is now an imperative to reduce the disruption to children and young people’s education – particularly given that the direct clinical risks to children are extremely low.” Pupils who test positive are still expected to self-isolate, but face coverings are not advised, as with other public spaces, with the emphasis instead on improved ventilation and hygiene.

However the government has not ruled out a reversal on this guidance in the case of increased outbreaks in schools. Asked by Sky News on Thursday if some of the contingency plans in case of outbreaks would include a return to mask mandates, the Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, said he was considering a range of options including masking.

The risk of death in unvaccinated children, according to the U.K. government’s vaccine surveillance reports, remains very low. In one study published in July by researchers from University College London, and the Universities of Liverpool, Bristol and York during the first 12 months of the pandemic, 25 under 18-year-olds died from COVID in England, which amounts to a mortality risk of 2 in a million.

However, a study in the U.S. found that masking in classrooms significantly decreases the risk of COVID outbreaks.

Experts across the U.K. disagree even on the effectiveness of masks to protect kids from getting the virus. Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, recently told BBC Radio 4 that ventilation was in fact the best measure to prevent infection.

“If I had to invest in a single activity to improve the environment both for the children and the adults, I’d be looking at improving the ventilation… improving air exchanges,” he said, adding “that would be a much more effective way to reduce transmission in schools.”

Dr. Deepti Gurdasani, an epidemiologist and senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, told ABC News that too little is known about the long-term risks in children to allow high exposure to schools in COVID, and that the government’s laissez-faire approach has been “reckless.”

“These sort of policies are essentially fueling transmission in the name of reducing education disruption and in fact making that education disruption worse,” Gurdasani said.

Many schools have continued to encourage mask-wearing, she said, despite the central policy that they are now compulsory.

“The measures are so basic and simple,” Gurdasani said, adding, “it’s extremely important to keep schools open. But if you want to keep them open, you cannot be anti-mitigation and anti-vaccine because that is the only way to keep them open.”

Although 99.9% of U.K. state-funded schools are now open, recent reports suggest more students have missed school for COVID-related reasons in September.

Just over 2% of pupils — 186,000 students — across all state-funded schools were out of school on Sept. 30 because of suspected or confirmed COVID infections, according to government data.

“We have to make our own risk assessment as parents or grandparents and we have to decide if we are comfortable with our children going to school and if we’re not why are we not,” said David Heymann, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. “And if it’s because of the fear of getting infected ourselves, then we should get vaccinated. If it’s a fear about children not wanting to wear a mask, then we should find out whether children really do or don’t want to wear a mask.”

According to the information currently available, Heymann said, there appears to be greater risks in areas like nightclubs, which are now fully open in the U.K., but more data is needed on transmission in schools.

“The best way to be evaluating this is to look at children in school and their families, and if you could test students once a week and test their parents once a week and see if there is any increased transmission in them as compared to the general community,” he said. “Now there’s lots of ways of doing this, it’s just that we are so early on, it’s only 18 months and we don’t have all the data we need because of the lockdown of last year.”

Report: Battery charges against Chris Brown dropped

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Battery charges against Chris Brown stemming from an incident in the summer have reportedly been dropped.

The Los Angeles City Attorney decided to dismiss the charges due to insufficient evidence, according to TMZ. Police were called to his home in the California San Fernando Valley in June, where a woman claimed that Breezy assaulted her on the back of her head. An arrest was not made.

Police also arrived at his home in May to break up Brown’s 32nd birthday party, attended by over 400 guests, after receiving multiple calls about loud music and cars double-parked all over his neighborhood.

The Grammy winner is facing more legal problems, however. He and Drake were sued this week for copyright infringement for their RIAA-certified eight-times platinum song “No Guidance,” according to Billboard. The track, from Brown’s 2019 Indigo album, reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Song.

Singer Braindon Cooper and producer Timothy Valentine claim that the song lifted elements from their 2016 track, “I Love Your Dress.”

The Offspring premieres video for ‘Let the Bad Times Roll’ song “The Opioid Diaries”

October 7, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The Offspring has premiered the video for “The Opioid Diaries,” a track off the band’s new album, Let the Bad Times Roll.

The clip provides a visual representation of the dangers of addiction, interspersed with statistics regarding overdosing and criticism of the pharmaceutical industry and what many say is its complicity in the U.S. opioid crisis.

“I wrote this Offspring song about addiction,” says frontman Dexter Holland. “While drug addiction is certainly not a new issue, the opioid epidemic in America is different. It’s different because it was created by, and driven by, Big Pharma — and I wrote this song to say that the pharmaceutical industry should be held accountable for its consequences.”

The video ends with the message, “You can get help,” along with a link and phone number to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

You can watch “The Opioid Diaries” video streaming now on YouTube.

The Offspring released Let the Bad Times Roll in April. It’s the band’s first new record in nine years.

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