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Man says ‘divine’ intervention led him to lost boy in the woods

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(PLANTERSVILLE, Texas) — When Tim Halfin learned during Bible study about a toddler missing in the thick woods of southeast Texas, he said God told him to go search for the child.

In an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Monday, Halfin said he can only credit “divine” intervention for leading him on Saturday to find 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez, who survived nearly four days alone in the woods of Grimes County, about 50 miles northwest of Houston.

“It’s a miracle,” Christopher’s mother, Araceli Nunez, said during a news conference Monday after bringing her son home from the hospital.

Nunez later met with Halfin and thanked him for finding her son.

“Words cannot describe how I felt when I held him for the first time,” Nunez said of being reunited with her boy, who she held in her arms as he played with a toy car. “It was incredible.”

After hearing of the child’s disappearance, Halfin said he went to the woods around 11:45 a.m. Saturday near his home in Plantersville. About 10 yards in he heard what sounded like a child’s whimper.

“I said, ‘Christopher is that you?'” Halfin said. “Then he speaks again and I’m like, ‘Whoa, praise God.'”

Halfin said Christopher was calm and healthy.

“I don’t know what to make of it. All I know is he was found safe,” Halfin said. “When I picked him up, he was still talking. He wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t nervous. The things I would expect. Maybe he just sensed, ‘I’ve been found.'”

Halfin said he picked up the boy, who had shed his clothes and was completely naked, and called 911. Sheriff’s deputies took Nunez to him.

Speaking in Spanish as a sheriff’s sergeant interpreted, Nunez said she held her child and told him that she loves him.

Before meeting with Nunez, Halfin was shown a photo of the smiling little boy after he was reunited with his mother. “That’s what it’s all about right there.”

“That’s what it’s all about right there,” Halfin said. “That’s why everybody was praying. That’s why God laid it on my heart to go look, to reunite that boy with his mom.”

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell said Halfin found Christopher about five miles from the child’s home, where he vanished after purportedly following a neighbor’s dog into the woods.

The boy was treated for dehydration and minor scratches on his face at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston before being sent home Monday afternoon.

“He ought to be the ultimate Army Ranger, Navy SEAL, Air Force when he wants to grow up. He’s already passed the first test,” said Sowell, who during the news conference presented Christopher with an honorary junior deputy badge.

Christopher vanished around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday in the two minutes Nunez said she was carrying groceries into her house from her car.

The Sheriff’s Office immediately organized a search party after a neighbor told them she saw the little boy follow a dog into the woods.

Using drones, aircraft, K-9 units and numerous volunteer searchers on foot, the rescue party combed the woods night and day, but turned up no sign of the child.

“They told me, ‘We didn’t feel like we could sleep because we knew he wasn’t sleeping and he wasn’t found,'” Halfin said of search-and-rescue volunteers and law enforcement officers.

“I think the story is do not give up hope,” Halfin said. “Even though things look bleak, there’s always tomorrow.”

“Forever grateful”: Lee Brice takes “Memory I Don’t Mess With” to #1

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Lee Brice is “forever grateful” for his new #1 song.

The singer’s back at the top of the charts with “Memory I Don’t Mess With,” marking his eighth #1 single. The track is featured on his 2020 album, Hey World.

“Y’all… We have the #1 song on country radio!! A huge THANK YOU to country radio, my team, and every single one of you who called your local radio station to request #MemoryIDontMessWith,” Lee writes in a celebratory Twitter post. “I cannot thank y’all enough for showing this song so much love! I’m forever grateful.”

“Memory” is the latest in a string of four consecutive #1 hits for Lee, following “Rumor,” “I Hope You’re Happy Now” — Lee’s CMA and ACM Award winning duet with Carly Pearce — and “One of Them Girls.”

Songs by The Police, Queen and Rolling Stones honored with BMI London Awards

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Members of The Police, Queen and The Rolling Stones were among the honorees today at the 2021 BMI London Awards, given out annually by the music-rights management and licensing company BMI.

Part of the ceremony was dedicated to the presentation of the Million-Air Awards, which recognize the songwriters of iconic songs that have been broadcast on TV and radio more than a million times in the U.S.

At the top of this list is Sting for writing The Police’s “Every Breath You Take,” which was honored for amassing 16 million performances.

The honorees in the eight-million-plays category were the writers of Queen‘s “Another Bites the Dust” and “We Will Rock You,” composed, respectively, by John Deacon and Brian May; The Rolling Stones‘ “Honky Tonk Women,” penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards; and Steve Winwoood‘s “Higher Love,” which Winwood co-wrote with Will Jennings.

The songwriters recognized for tunes with seven million performances were Elton John for “Bennie and the Jets” and his Kiki Dee duet “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”; Gerry Rafferty for “Baker Street; Sting for The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” and his contribution to Dire Straits‘ “Money for Nothing”; Paul McCartney for “Live and Let Die”; Freddie Mercury for Queen’s “We Are the Champions”; and ex-Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden for co-writing his old band’s hit “Here I Go Again.”

As for the six-million-play honorees, they included Elton for “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues,” former Yes members Trevor Rabin and Jon Anderson for “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” Cutting Crew‘s Nick van Eede for “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” and Roxette‘s Per Gessle for “It Must Have Been Love.”

To check out a full list of BMI London Awards winner, visit BMI.com.

Human-inducted climate change may affect 85% of the global population, researchers say

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Scientists are beginning to paint a clearer picture on just how many people will be affected by climate change if current warming trends continue.

About 85% of the world’s population already lives in areas experiencing the affects of human-induced climate change, according to a study published in Nature on Tuesday.

Researchers in Berlin compiled data from more than 100,000 impact studies analyzing detectable environmental signals of human-inducted climate change, finding that the evidence for how climate change is impacting communities is continuing to grow.

“In almost every study where we have enough data, we can see, [the world] is getting hotter, and it’s getting hotter in a way that is consistent,” Max Callaghan, a researcher at the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin and one of the authors of the study, told ABC News.

The research also looked at how rising temperatures change precipitation patterns and affect crop yields and local ecosystems, and it found that human-attributable changes in temperature and precipitation are now occurring in 80% of the world’s land area, where about 85% of the global population resides, Callaghan said.

The impacts will be felt the strongest in the least developed countries, but little is known about exactly what those effects will look like, he added, describing the lack of data as an “attribution gap” that needs to be filled.

“In high income countries, almost all of those people live in an area where there is also lots of evidence about how that warming trend affects other systems,” he said. “But in low income countries… there is little evidence about how that warming trend is affecting other things.”

The new research is allowing scientists to attribute with near-certainty that global temperatures are increasing because of human influence on the planet, Callaghan said. While previous studies often focus on possible scenarios by 2050 or 2100, it is clear that climate change is “already happening.”

Countries will need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the near future to mitigate the extremity of pending disasters, the researchers said.

“As long as we continue burning fossil fuels, things will get worse,” Callaghan said. “Until we reach net-zero, things will continue to get worse.”

for KING & COUNTRY set new album release, tour for 2022

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

for KING & COUNTRY is on tour now and they’ll be on the road right up to Christmas — but they’ve already mapped out their next tour.

The award-winning Australian duo have announced that they’ll be releasing a new album called What Are We Waiting For? on March 11. It’s their first collection of new non-holiday music in three years, and is the follow up to 2020’s A Drummer Boy Christmas.

To go with the album, Joel and Luke will kick off What Are We Waiting For? — The Tour on March 31, 2022; it’s currently scheduled through May 22 in Franklin, TN. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday at 10 a.m. via the duo’s website.

“So many of you have encouraged us and spurred us on in this journey since we began the writing process at the top of the year,” the “Amen” duo say in a statement. “We’ve made records before in buses and in dressing rooms, but what’s been particularly beautiful about this one is that we were able to be home with our families.”

Ahead of the tour, an event called the for KING & COUNTRY New Album Weekend Experience will take place March 4-6 in the duo’s home base of Nashville, TN. Fans will get to spend the weekend with the duo, enjoy a concert, hear the entire album, attend a meet & greet and more. You can get tickets now through Eventbrite.

Small plane crashes in California neighborhood engulfing home in flames

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(SAN DIEGO) — A small twin engine plane crashed in Santee, California, near San Diego, fully engulfing at least one home in flames, Santee Fire Chief John Garlow said.

There are at least two burn victims who are believed to be from the home, Garlow said.

The FAA said the twin engine Cessna C340 crashed at 12:14 p.m. local time. It’s not yet clear how many people were on board.

The plane also hit a UPS box truck and knocked out a hydrant, Garlow said.

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

‘NCIS: Hawai’i’and ‘FBI: International’ receive full-season orders

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

CBS has given full-season orders to two of its brand-new spin-offs: NCIS: Hawai’i and FBI: International.

The first, part of the long-running NCIS franchise, stars Vanessa Lachey as the first female special agent in charge of NCIS Pearl Harbor; the latter is the third FBI series following Dick Wolf‘s 2018 original FBI, and its hit 2020 spin-off FBI: Most Wanted.

FBI: International launched last month as part of a massive crossover event with the other two programs, which exist in the same universe and the casts of which routinely come together to tackle the same case.

Julian McMahon, who stars as the team leader on FBI: Most Wanted, loved passing the torch. He says he can’t get enough of the crossover events. “Oh, I love it, absolutely love it. What a gift!” he expressed to ABC Audio.

“First of all, it’s just great to be able to hang with those guys and work together,” McMahon says. “I call it playing because we get to kind of create these characters, and do scenes together and whatever else there is. And that’s always fun. But also just to kind of create this kind of a three part, almost two hour long kind of journey is really a different kind of element for us.”

McMahon explains, “[I]t’s a really kind of dynamically different environment with which to work, you know, so it’s really fun doing something that starts so hot and just keeps on building.”

CBS’ “FBI block” of shows airs Tuesday nights starting at 8 p.m. Eastern.

Body camera footage shows police officers dragging paralyzed man from a car by his hair

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Police in Dayton, Ohio, have released body camera footage that appears to show police officers dragging a partially paralyzed man out of his car by his hair.

When officers repeatedly ask Owensby to exit the vehicle during a Sept. 30 traffic stop, Clifford Owensby, 39, can be heard telling them that he is paraplegic and could not do so.

He says he does not want to be touched and calls someone to come to the scene and witness what is going on.

Owensby is then dragged out of the car by the officers, who appeared to use his hair to pull him out, the video shows. He’s handcuffed on the ground and continuously held by his hair as he yells for help, according to the video. Police are seen hauling him into a police cruiser.

“They dragged me to their vehicle like a dog, like trash,” Owensby told reporters at a news conference on Sunday. “It was totally humiliation.”

Owensby accused the Dayton Police Department of unlawful arrest, illegal search and seizure, profiling and failure to read his rights before being taken into custody. He has since filed a complaint with the Dayton NAACP chapter on the incident.

“We’re not talking about his past. We’re not talking about the activity by which the officer was conducting the search or drug activity. We’re talking about this incident and how the incident was handled,” said Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton unit of the NAACP.

Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley called the video “concerning.”

“That is why, immediately following this incident, the city released the body camera footage,” Whaley said in a statement to ABC News. “Everyone involved is owed a thorough investigation, and one is already underway. This incident shows why our community-led police reform process, which includes providing transparency, is more important than ever. The goal is always to ensure our police force has the resources to do its job, while treating all of our citizens with dignity and respect.”

According to the police department, officers were patrolling the area and had been sent to a suspected drug house. They initiated a traffic stop on a white Audi that was seen leaving the residence.

According to a police briefing on the incident, Owensby provided his identification when officers approached. Based on Owensby’s felony drug and weapon history, officers say they requested a Narcotics Detection K-9 at the scene for a free-air sniff on the vehicle.

Dayton police policy requires the occupants of the vehicle to exit for their own safety and the safety of the K-9 officer to perform the free-air sniff.

Police reported that a large bag of cash containing $22,450 was found on the floor of Owensby’s car and based on the K-9’s response the bag may have been in close proximity to illegal drugs.

Owensby denies any wrongdoing and says the cash that was found was his savings.

Owensby was charged with obstructing official business and resisting arrest. The case will be referred to the City Prosecutor’s Office, where it will be decided if the city will pursue the charges against Owensby, police said.

The Dayton Fraternal Order of Police told ABC News that officers “followed the law” and defended the use of force.

Facebook’s oversight board to meet with whistleblower Frances Haugen

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The former Facebook employee who testified before lawmakers last week will now address her concerns with Facebook’s Oversight Board.

Whistleblower Frances Haugen alleged blatant disregard from Facebook executives when they learned their platform could have harmful effects on democracy and the mental health of young people during her testimony before a Senate Commerce subcommittee last Tuesday.

Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, accused Facebook of “choosing to prioritize its profits over people” in her opening statement before lawmakers.

“You can declare moral bankruptcy and we can figure out a fix [to] these things together because we solve problems together,” Haugen said.

Her remarks sparked a backlash toward Facebook from lawmakers and others on a range of issues, such as Facebook’s ability to hold high-profile users accountable to its rules through its so-called “cross check” program, the effectiveness of which was called into question by a Wall Street Journal investigation.

“In light of the serious claims made about Facebook by Ms. Haugen, we have extended an invitation for her to speak to the Board over the coming weeks, which she has accepted,” the board said in a statement Monday. “Board members appreciate the chance to discuss Ms. Haugen’s experiences and gather information that can help push for greater transparency and accountability from Facebook through our case decisions and recommendations.”

The Oversight Board teased that “scrutinizing cross-check” will be among the issues discussed with Haugen. Further details on the upcoming meetings with Haugen were not immediately disclosed Monday.

“As the Board shared in September, we are currently looking into whether Facebook has been fully forthcoming in its responses on its ‘cross-check’ system and will share our analysis in our first release of quarterly transparency reports later this month,” the panel said in a statement. “Facebook has also said it will ask the Board to review how cross-check can be improved and to offer recommendations.”

The Oversight Board was launched to operate independently of Facebook and it decides how the company handles controversial issues, such as the decision to ban former President Donald Trump. Critics though have questioned how much autonomy and power the panel actually possesses when regulating the tech giant.

Facebook has responded to critics who claim the board is an attempt to shirk regulation on its website, saying the Oversight Board is “not a panacea.”

“Facebook sees the board as an important but single piece within a wider content moderation regime, which includes updated internet regulations,” the company stated on its website.

In a statement on Twitter, Haugen said she welcomes the opportunity to meet with the Oversight Board.

“I have accepted the invitation to brief the Facebook Oversight Board about what I learned while working there,” she wrote. “Facebook has lied to the board repeatedly, and I am looking forward to sharing the truth with them.”

‘Harry Potter’ star Tom Felton expresses shock after learning he is not a Slytherin after all

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Tom Felton, who played antagonist Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, recently learned that he has even less in common with his character.

Apparently, Felton believed that he was a Slytherin, like Draco. However, he was in for quite the shock when he discovered that he is better suited for Gryffindor — Slytherin’s bitter rival in the books and movies — after taking the Sorting Hat challenge on the Wizarding World website.

Taking to Instagram, Felton wore a green and silver scarf — reflecting Slytherin’s colors — and even had the house’s banner hanging in the background during his video reveal.

“I am Draco Malfoy in a muggle disguise,” Felton, 34, opened before noting that the first Harry Potter movie — Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone — turns 20 years old on November 14. In order to celebrate the milestone, Felton decided to “put all rumors at rest” about where his true allegiance lies.

The video picks up after the British actor learns what house he was sorted into and he remarks in disbelief, “Really? Ugh” before revealing through gritted teeth, “I’m a Gryffindor.”

Students sorted into Slytherin are known for being cunning and ambitious, while Gryffindors — like Harry Potter — are noted for their bravery and determination.

Felton then pretends to sob uncontrollably before calling upon his “fellow TF” and buddy, singer Tom Fletcher, to take the quiz and sort himself into Slytherin to restore balance.

This is actually the second time Felton was placed in house Gryffindor. In a 2015 tweet, he said he was heartbroken to learn that he was better suited for the red and gold after taking the sorting test on the now-defunct Harry Potter fan website, Pottermore.

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