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Report: Bill Cosby considering lawsuit against Pennsylvania for prison sentence

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Attorney Jennifer Bonjean and Bill Cosby speak outside of Cosby’s home on June 30, 2021 in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania; Michael Abbott/Getty Images

After his 2018 conviction on sexual assault charges was overturned by Pennsylvania’s highest court, Bill Cosby is reportedly considering suing the state of Pennsylvania.

Cosby was sentenced in September 2018 after being convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand in 2004. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that an agreement with a previous prosecutor in the case meant Cosby shouldn’t have been charged in the case.

The comedian’s publicist, Andrew Wyatt, says the state violated Cosby’s due process rights. He told the Domenick Nati Show Friday, “We are looking at what recourse, what legal recourse we can take against the state of Pennsylvania” and added that he believes the state has “an axe to grind against black men.”

Wyatt stated Cosby is hoping to obtain “a couple of hundred grand” in compensation.

On Sunday, Montgomery County PA District Attorney Kevin Steele issued a statement, obtained by ABC News, which addressed State Supreme Court Chief Justice Max Baer calling Cosby’s trial a “reprehensible bait and switch” by the prosecution, referring to a claim made by Cosby’s legal team that Montgomery County prosecutor Bruce Castor promised not to criminally prosecute Cosby in the Constand case.

“To be very clear, prosecutors in this case did not believe there was an agreement not to prosecute or immunity for the defendant at the time we moved forward on the case, and we do not believe it now,” Steele’s statement reads, in part. “If we had believed there was an agreement or immunity, we would not have moved forward in our attempt to bring Cosby to justice.”

Justin Bieber gives three concerts in Las Vegas over the weekend

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Wynn Las Vegas

Justin Bieber had quite a warmup for his 2022 tour this past weekend: He performed three times in 24 hours in Las Vegas, Billboard reports.

Things kicked off Friday night when Justin performed for more than an hour at the Encore Theater at the Wynn Las Vegas, singing 18 songs, including his new collaboration with The Kid LAROI, “Stay” — and LAROI joined him to sing the track.

Then, a few hours later, Billboard reports, Justin appeared at the Wynn’s XS Nightclub and sang five songs, including “Peaches,” “Sorry,” “What Do You Mean” and “Where Are You Now.”

On Saturday night, Justin was back at the Wynn to celebrate the grand opening of the hotel’s new supper club, Delilah. After walking the red carpet with his wife Hailey and other stars, including Kendall Jenner, Anitta, Machine Gun Kelly, Addison Rae and others, took the stage for a midnight set.

Justin sang about six songs for the 500 guests, Billboard reports, including “Holy,” “Hold On,” and “Peaches,” as well as “Stay,” for which he was joined again by The Kid LAROI.

He wrote on Instagram, “Last night was crazy!”

Miami-Dade County official tests positive for COVID-19, raising concern about Surfside site

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MIAMI) — Jose “Pepe” Diaz, chairman of the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, has tested positive for COVID-19, his office announced in a statement Sunday night.

Diaz’s chief of staff, Isidoro Lopez, also tested positive for the virus.

“Both started experiencing flu-like symptoms earlier today and will be isolating,” the statement read. “Staff and others who have been in close contact with them will be getting tested between today and tomorrow.”

The two men have been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the statement.

Although the chances of contracting the novel coronavirus after being fully vaccinated are very rare, so-called breakthrough cases are still possible. Health officials and experts alike have warned that new, more contagious variants of the virus may be more effective at evading vaccines.

Diaz, 60, has been among the officials on the site of a condominium collapse in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Since the deadly disaster occurred before dawn on June 24, Diaz has been seen regularly attending press briefings and closed-door meetings. The news of his infection raises concern about a potential outbreak among those who have been on the site.

For weeks, hundreds of first responders from various search and rescue teams across Florida, the United States and even other countries have been combing through the vast wreckage in Surfside, pulling out bodies and belongings from the pancaked layers of rubble. During a press briefing on July 2, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky revealed that at least six workers have tested positive for COVID-19. The workers were members of the same task force but were no longer on the site. Investigators were conducting contact tracing and testing of all other workers, according to Cominsky.

It was unclear whether the infected workers were vaccinated or if anyone had been placed in quarantine.

The search for bodies is ongoing, as 22 people remain listed as missing. At least 94 people have been confirmed dead, according to officials.

Florida, home to some 21.5 million people, has reported more than 2.4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 38,000 deaths from the disease. More than 43% of the Sunshine State’s population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

On Friday, the Florida Department of Health reported an increase in COVID-19 cases and a higher positive test rate over the past week. The number of newly confirmed cases rose by about 8,000 compared with the week prior, for a total of 23,747 new cases. Meanwhile, the rate of positive COVID-19 tests statewide was 7.8%, compared with 5.2% the week before.

Amazon users report website down

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — If you were trying to make a purchase on Amazon overnight, you may have run into some issues.

Several users went on Twitter to complain that they couldn’t get past the homepage after logging into their accounts or that they weren’t able to complete their purchases.

The website Downdetector, which tracks outages, says there were more than 38,000 reports of users having trouble with Amazon’s site after 11 p.m. ET Sunday.

Service on the site has since been restored.

Country star trivia

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

On this date in 2014, “Somethin’ Bad” — a duet between two of country music’s biggest female artists — became a #1 hit. Neither singer was a stranger to the top spot on the chart, but the song was the first chart-topping duet between two female solo acts in two decades. Do you know who sang it? ANSWER: Carrie Underwood and Miranda Lambert.

American Federation of Teachers honors Steven Van Zandt with Making a Difference award

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

E Street Band guitarist Little Steven Van Zandt was honored by the American Federation of Teachers over the weekend and, during the emotional ceremony, praised teachers for being “on the frontlines against ignorance.”

According to a statement from AFT, Van Zandt, 70, was awarded the organization’s Making a Difference award for his support of teachers, inclusive of his “years of work promoting and appreciating the work of educators” through his philanthropy.

The guitarist appeared virtually at the federation’s TEACH summer educational issues conference on Saturday.

“This is an amazing award, coming from my favorite people — you,” Van Zandt began in his pre-recorded speech. “You, my friends, are the ones who make a difference every day. Teachers are on the frontlines against ignorance. Honestly, we have never needed you more.”

The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer also praised the arts-inclusive twist on the STEM acronym, now called STEAM to include arts education.

“There are no wrong answers in the arts,” said Van Zandt. “The arts provide a comfort zone, and that extends to other disciplines.”

He closed his speech by praising all educators, saying, “I can’t overstate my appreciation for all you do and for this award. I salute you. You are helping to create the next generation of engineers, scientists, doctors, nurses, artists, activists, writers and even musicians.”

In the statement, AFT president Randi Weingarten said they chose Van Zandt to receive the honor because he “passionately spreads the gospel of teachers’ tireless work and actively engages with teachers and students during regular classroom visits and through TeachRock.org, his free online music and arts curriculum.”

The statement adds, “He lends his name and notoriety to supporting educators, which is particularly special given everything they’ve done to support students in the last year.”

‘Boyz n the Hood’ turns 30: John Singleton, Tyrese Gibson share the importance of giving opportunities to new talent

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

John Singleton wasn’t afraid to take a chance on new talent when he made his feature directorial debut Boyz n the Hood in 1991. As the seminal film celebrates its 30th anniversary, Singleton, who passed away in 2019 after suffering a stroke, told ABC Audio two years prior that looking at the success of the actors he helped “put on,” like Ice Cube, was always a source of pride for him as a director.

“It’s a pleasant surprise. I mean to see that people have had long careers and they’ve gone on to do other things,” Singleton said. “Ice Cube has transitioned from being an actor-producer to almost mini mogul — making a lot of things happen in different ways in film and television.”

Even though Boyz n the Hood also was Cube’s acting debut, the accomplished filmmaker — who, at 24, became the youngest person to receive a Best Director Oscar nomination thanks to the movie — says he takes no credit for the rapper’s success.

“I can’t take credit for any of that stuff — those of really talented people,” he says. “All they really needed was an opening in the business and they just ran with it.”

One of those “really talented people” is Tyrese Gibson, who starred in Singleton’s 2001 film Baby Boy. Gibson says he’s “grateful” that the director also saw something in him like he did Cube.

“John Singleton chased me for five years the way he did Ice Cube, the way he did a lot of people that made their acting debut in a film,” Tyrese says. “He was a visionary. He envisioned a lot for people that we may have not envisioned for ourselves.”

He continues, “There would not be a such thing as a Fast and Furious, Four Brothers, Waist Deep, Baby Boy, Transformers,” listing off his acting credits. “All of the movies that I’ve been able to do [would] be no such thing if John Singleton didn’t see something in me that I didn’t see in myself.”

Biden statement on Cuba protests: ‘We stand with the Cuban people’

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Monday released a statement in solidarity with the thousands of Cubans who protested over the weekend about shortages and rising prices for food and medicine amid the coronavirus pandemic in what’s being called an unprecedented rejection of the nation’s government.

“We stand with the Cuban people and their clarion call for freedom and relief from the tragic grip of the pandemic and from the decades of repression and economic suffering to which they have been subjected by Cuba’s authoritarian regime,” Biden said in a statement.

“The Cuban people are bravely asserting fundamental and universal rights. Those rights, including the right of peaceful protest and the right to freely determine their own future, must be respected. The United States calls on the Cuban regime to hear their people and serve their needs at this vital moment rather than enriching themselves,” he said.

Sunday’s protest was one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in Cuba in recent history and Biden has been called on to show support for the protests.

One of the first responses from the U.S. government came overnight from Julie Chung, the acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, who tweeted out support for the Cuban people’s right for peaceful assembly but condemned any violence — a sentiment echoed by national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla threw cold water on the U.S. statements on Monday, saying the White House has “no political or moral authority to speak about Cuba.”

“His government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to promote subversion in our country & implements a genocidal blockade, which is the main cause of economic scarcities,” he tweeted, referring directly to Sullivan’s statement.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, in a televised address earlier Monday, acknowledged public grievances relating to blackouts, food and medicine shortages, but defended the regime’s leadership and, instead, blamed many of the island’s problems on the U.S. embargo.

Díaz-Canel also accused the “imperialists” — a term commonly used to refer to the U.S. — of interfering by stoking tensions on social media, allegedly urging the public to go out onto the streets.

Along with experiencing an economic crisis, the country is dealing with another deadly surge of COVID-19.

Going Dutch: See Ariana Grande’s honeymoon pics

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Ariana Grande and her husband Dalton Gomez apparently went Dutch when it came to their honeymoon: The singer has posted a bunch of photos of a trip to Amsterdam and The Netherlands.

Ari captioned the photos with emojis of a snail and a waffle, both of which are apparently associated with Amsterdam. The images include videos of a swan and a ladybug, but what gives their location away is that the two are seen posing inside a set of giant wooden shoes. There’s also a beautiful picture of a windmill and a shot of one of Amsterdam’s famous canals.

The two seem to have taken a boat ride, visited a jazz club and traveled by train while they were there, based on the pictures and some videos on Ari’s Instagram story. It’s not clear when the honeymoon took place, but Ari is still wearing her signature ponytail. There have been reports recently that she’s switched that out for a bob, but that’s unconfirmed.

Ari and Dalton wed in an intimate ceremony in May after they began dating last year.

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Hit the disco with Foo Fighters in new “You Should Be Dancing” live video

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Foo Fighters have shared a live performance video for their cover of the Bee Gees song “You Should Be Dancing.”

The clip transports Dave Grohl and company, here referred to as the Dee Gees, back to a ’70s disco straight out of Saturday Night Fever as they funk their way through the song. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.

The Foos first premiered their “You Should Be Dancing” cover back in February during a BBC Radio 2 performance. It’ll also appear on their upcoming Bee Gees tribute compilation Hail Satin, which will be released in independent record stores for this Saturday’s Record Store Day event.

Hail Satin follows Foo Fighters’ new album Medicine at Midnight, which was released earlier this year. It includes the singles “Shame Shame” and “Waiting on a War.”

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