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Parents of Michigan school shooting suspect plead not guilty, held on $500K bond each

December 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Parents of Michigan school shooting suspect plead not guilty, held on 0K bond each

(MICHIGAN) — The parents charged in connection with this week’s deadly shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan each pleaded not guilty to four counts of involuntary manslaughter Saturday in their first hearing since being taken into custody in the middle of the night while hiding in Detroit.

The couple was captured early Saturday following an hourslong search after they did not turn themselves in for their scheduled arraignment Friday afternoon, according to law enforcement officials.

The attorney for James and Jennifer Crumbley, who could be seen fighting back tears during the arraignment, had said Friday they were returning to town for their court date after detectives announced they were trying to locate the couple. But the duo remained missing late Friday and the U.S. Marshals Service joined in on the search.

The couple was caught by the Detroit Police Department when a business owner called 911 after spotting the suspects’ car in their parking lot and Jennifer Crumbley standing next to it, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office. She fled the area on foot, but the couple was located in a commercial building after an extensive search of the area. They were taken into custody “without incident,” Detroit Police Chief James White said at a 3 a.m. press conference, and were unarmed.

White said the duo was “aided in getting into the building” and some charges might be filed against the person who let them inside. He also said it was “very likely” they were trying to flee to Canada.

The Marshals Service had announced a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to their arrests.

At Saturday’s arraignment, the judge ordered they each be held on $500,000 with no 10% bond and will submit to drug testing and be fitted with a GPS monitor if they are able to meet bond. They were also asked to surrender any weapons to the sheriff’s office.

Shannon Smith, who is representing Jennifer Crumbley, repeatedly said her clients were not fleeing prosecution and planned to turn themselves in Saturday morning, a categorization that Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald disputed.

“While it’s human nature to want to find someone to blame or something to point to or something that gives us answers, the charges in this case are intended to make an example and send a message,” Smith and James Crumbley’s lawyer, Mariell Lehman, said in a statement Saturday. “The prosecution has very much cherry-picked and slanted specific facts to further their narrative to do that.”

McDonald recommended the $500,000 bond, saying, “These are not people that we can be assured will return to court on their own.”

The parents were each charged Friday with four counts of involuntary manslaughter. Their son, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, allegedly used his father’s semi-automatic handgun in the Tuesday shooting that killed four and injured seven.

“They could have stopped it and they had every reason to know he was dangerous,” McDonald said during the hearing Saturday.

Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the Crumbleys’ attorney would make arrangements for their arrest if charges were issued, and when the warrants were issued Friday, “detectives immediately moved to arrest the couple,” the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
The attorney told police “she had made repeated attempts to reach them by phone and text without success,” the sheriff’s office said.

Bouchard said, “The action of fleeing and ignoring their attorney certainly adds weight to the charges. They cannot run from their part in this tragedy.”

The couple’s attorneys then said in a statement: “The Crumbleys left town on the night of the tragic shooting for their own safety. They are returning to the area to be arraigned. They are not fleeing from law enforcement.”

In a response to the statement by the attorneys for Jennifer and James Crumbley, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said it was not aware that the couple was returning to be arraigned.

“If they are, it’s news to us,” Undersheriff Mike McCabe told ABC News, saying authorities still don’t know where the couple is located.

McDonald confirmed Saturday that the couple had withdrawn $4,000 from an ATM in Rochester Hills on Friday morning before going missing.

Jennifer and James Crumbley are due back in court in Dec. 14.

Earlier on Friday, McDonald at a news conference outlined an alarming and violent note Ethan Crumbley allegedly drew hours before the shooting that prompted his parents to be called to the school. She also stressed the importance of responsible gun ownership.

“While the shooter was the one who entered the high school and pulled the trigger, there are other individuals who contributed to this, to the events on November 30, and it is my intention to hold them accountable,” McDonald said.

Ethan Crumbley was with his father when he bought the 9 mm Sig Sauer pistol on Nov. 26, McDonald said. The teen posted photos of the gun on social media, writing, “Just got my new beauty today,” she said. Jennifer Crumbley also posted online about testing the gun out with her son, McDonald said.

A teacher saw Ethan Crumbley researching ammunition in class days before the shooting, the prosecutor said. School officials contacted his parents, but they didn’t respond, McDonald said. However, according to the prosecutor, Jennifer Crumbley texted her son, writing, “lol, I’m not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught.”

According to McDonald, the morning of Tuesday’s shooting, Ethan Crumbley’s teacher saw an alarming note on his desk. McDonald described the note as “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’ In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet, ‘Blood everywhere.'”

“Between the drawing of the gun and the bullet is a drawing of a person who appears to have been shot twice and bleeding,” she said. “Below that figure is a drawing of a laughing emoji. Further down the drawing are the words, ‘My life is useless,’ and to the right of that are the words, ‘The world is dead.'”

Ethan Crumbley was removed from the classroom and his parents were called to the school, McDonald said. By the time a counselor obtained the drawing, the teen had allegedly altered it, McDonald said.

“At the meeting, James and Jennifer Crumbley were shown the drawing and were advised that they were required to get their son into counseling within 48 hours,” she said. “Both James and Jennifer Crumbley failed to ask their son if he had his gun with him or where his gun was located and failed to inspect his backpack for the presence of the gun, which he had with him.”

The parents left school while Ethan Crumbley returned to class, likely with the gun in his backpack, McDonald said.

Once news broke of a shooting at the school, McDonald said Jennifer Crumbley texted her son, “Ethan, don’t do it.”

James Crumbley called 911 to report that a gun was missing from his house and said he believed his son may be the shooter, McDonald said.

Authorities determined James Crumbley’s semi-automatic handgun was stored unlocked in a drawer in his bedroom, McDonald said.

McDonald said involuntary manslaughter is “the strongest possible charge that we could prove” against the suspect’s parents.

“These charges are intended to hold the individuals who contributed to this tragedy accountable and also send a message that gun owners have a responsibility. When they fail to uphold that responsibility, there are serious and criminal consequences,” she said.

Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with one count of terrorism causing death; four counts of first-degree murder; seven counts of assault with intent to murder; and 11 counts of possession of a firearm in commission of a felony.

A judge entered a not guilty plea for Ethan Crumbley on Wednesday. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 13.

Dave Grohl & Greg Kurstin celebrate night six of ‘The Hanukkah Sessions’ by covering Billy Joel

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin have released a cover of Billy Joel‘s “Big Shot” for night six of their Hanukkah Sessions series.

“While he claims a secular Long Island upbringing (and has songs full of Catholic and Italian imagery), Billy Joel remains one of the great Jews of musical scripture,” Grohl says of the Piano Man.

You can watch the “Big Shot” cover streaming now on YouTube. Is there a kazoo solo? You’d better believe it!

Grohl and Kurstin launched The Hanukkah Sessions in 2020 with covers of eight different Jewish artists for each night of the holiday. This year’s series has so far included Lisa Loeb‘s “Stay (I Missed You),” the Ramones‘ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Barry Manilow‘s “Copacabana,” Van Halen‘s “Jump” and Amy Winehouse‘s “Take the Box.”

Halle Berry praises H.E.R.; ‘Harlem’ debuts starring Megan Good; and more

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Bruised director and star Halle Berry recruited H.E.R. for the film’s all-female soundtrack, and the Oscar- and Grammy-winning music artist delivered the powerful track “Automatic Woman,” inspired by Halle’s character, Jackie Justice, who stops at nothing until she emerges victorious.

Berry says in a new episode of the Netlifx Playlist Showcase video feature that the 24-year-old singer’s 2016 song “Focus” changed her life and helped her ask for the focus she needed in a relationship.

“If this song, ‘Automatic Woman,’ could hit others like ‘Focus’ hit me, I feel like I’ve been part of creating something that’s really magical.”

H.E.R. comments that she was inspired by Halle’s gritty performance in Bruised. “I was so moved by ‘No matter what happens, I’m going to make it through,’” she says. “The idea of perseverance and, like, pushing through, fighting through … all those things you have to tell yourself to be able to fight through.”

In other news, Meagan Good stars as a Columbia University anthropology professor who is an expert on dating cultures around the world, yet has trouble navigating her own love life, in the 10-episode Harlem TV series that debuts Friday on Amazon Prime Video.

She told Ebony she’s never related more to a character in her 30-year career. “This is the first time I was like, ‘Oh, I know her. I understand her.’ So much of that is exactly me. I am very quirky and goofy, and nerdy. And as an actress, I haven’t had a chance to show that side of myself, and I didn’t know what might come out—and I was excited to explore that. ”

Finally, a 16-time Grammy winner stars with Demetria McKinney in the original holiday film, Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas, airing Saturday, December 4 at 8 p.m / 7 p.m. Central on Lifetime.

“Hello, Sidney…” Paramount releases new promo pics starring the ‘Scream’ series’ original survivors

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox are featured in a trio of new posters for the upcoming fifth film in the Scream series.

The faces of Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, Arquette’s Dewey Riley, and Cox’s Gale Weathers are shown posing with the creepy mask of the Ghostface killer they’ve all managed to survive through multiple films. Below them is the movie’s tagline, “It’s Always Someone You Know.”

As previously reported, the anticipated new film also stars some new blood: The Boys‘ Jack Quaid, 13 Reason Why‘s Dylan Minnette, Mikey Madison from Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood, Yes Day‘s Jenna Ortega, and In The Heights‘ Melissa Barrera.

Scream debuts January 14.

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Amy Coney Barrett raises adoption in abortion case hearing that poses challenge to Roe v. Wade

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — When the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday over a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a headline-making line of questioning came from the court’s newest justice, Amy Coney Barrett.

Barrett, a conservative justice appointed last year by former President Donald Trump, questioned whether adoption rather than abortion could resolve the “burdens of parenting” noted in Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the two major Supreme Court rulings on abortion that protect a woman’s right to end a pregnancy before fetal viability.

Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, the Supreme Court has never allowed states to prohibit the termination of pregnancies prior to fetal viability outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks, according to medical experts.

During Wednesday’s arguments, Barrett, a mom of seven with two adopted children, questioned Julie Rikelman, a Center for Reproductive Rights attorney arguing against Mississippi’s 15-week ban, about safe haven laws, which protect parents from criminal prosecution if they leave unwanted infants at designated places, like hospitals. All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have enacted safe haven legislation, but rules and regulations vary by state, according to the Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau.

“Insofar as you and many of your amici focus on the ways in which forced parenting, forced motherhood, would hinder women’s access to the workplace and to equal opportunities, it’s also focused on the consequences of parenting and the obligations of motherhood that flow from pregnancy,” said Barrett. “Why don’t the safe haven laws take care of that problem?”

“It seems to me that the choice more focused would be between, say, the ability to get an abortion at 23 weeks or the state requiring the woman to go 15, 16 weeks more and then terminate parental rights at the conclusion,” she said. “Why — why didn’t you address the safe haven laws and why don’t they matter?”

Rikelman responded by pointing out the unique risks that pregnancy alone carries, saying in court, “We don’t just focus on the burdens of parenting, and neither did Roe and Casey. Instead, pregnancy itself is unique. It imposes unique physical demands and risks on women and, in fact, has impact on all of their lives, on their ability to care for other children, other family members, on their ability to work.”

It is a point echoed by reproductive physicians, who say talking about adoption in place of abortion misses the realities of people’s lives and the dangers of pregnancy.

If the Supreme Court were to uphold the Mississippi ban, as the conservative majority appeared headed toward, legal scholars say it could clear the way for stringent new restrictions on abortion in roughly half the country.

“‘I’m unfortunately not surprised that adoption was brought up so much, because I think people feel that pregnancy is this non-issue medical condition,” said Dr. Leilah Zahedi, a Tennessee-based maternal fetal medicine specialist and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health. “It’s very infuriating to be honest, because it shows their ignorance in the fact that pregnancy is not an uncomplicated condition for the majority of the United States.”

“Pregnancy is probably one of the most dangerous things a woman does in her life, bar none,” she said.

The U.S. is also a particularly dangerous place to give birth. It has the highest maternal mortality rate among developed countries, according to a 2020 study from the Commonwealth Fund, a healthcare policy-focused nonprofit organization.

Black women are three to four times more likely to die during childbirth or in the months after than white, Asian or Latina women, while Indigenous women are two to three times more likely, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Physicians like Dr. Nisha Verma, a board-certified OBGYN who provides abortion care, point out that abortion, on the other hand, is “incredibly safe.”

“The risk of childbirth is as high as 10 times higher than the risk of abortion,” said Verma, also a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “That’s a lot of risk to ask someone to take on.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists was among 25 medical organizations who together filed an amicus brief in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health case that is now before the Supreme Court, arguing the Mississippi law is “fundamentally at odds with the provision of safe and essential health care, with scientific evidence, and with medical ethics.”

Providers like Verma also point to statistics showing that restrictions on abortion impact people who are the most vulnerable to complications from pregnancy and childbirth.

Around 75% of abortion patients are low-income residents, and nearly 60% of U.S. women of reproductive age live in states where access to abortion is restricted, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.

In her response to Barrett, Rikelman cited the maternal mortality statistics in Mississippi alone, saying, “It’s 75 times more dangerous to give birth in Mississippi than it is to have a pre-viability abortion, and those risks are disproportionately threatening the lives of women of color.”

In addition to the physical risks people face during pregnancy, there are also other factors to consider, like the lack of safeguards for pregnant people in the U.S., experts say.

The U.S. does not have universal health care and does not provide universal child care. And as the Supreme Court weighs its decision on the Mississippi law, the U.S. remains the only industrialized, modernized country in the world without federally mandated paid family leave, according to data compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The House of Representatives last month passed a social spending plan that includes four weeks of paid family leave, eight weeks less than what was in the original spending package proposed this year by President Joe Biden. But that bill faces an uphill battle in the Senate, with Sen Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a critical vote, opposed to the paid leave provision.

“Abortion is not an isolated political issue,” said Verma, weighing in on Justice Barrett’s specific comments on adoption. “I think the way that adoption was presented as just this easy alternative to abortion completely disregards the real experiences that people are having. It’s a decision that’s happening in the context of people’s lives.”

In the majority of cases when providers talk to pregnant people about the option of abortion, they also provide them with information on the option of adoption, according to Verma. She said, in her experience, a person’s decision on their own pregnancy is not one made lightly, and is not one made without considering all options.

“The decision-making process is different for every person, but it is a decision that people are making carefully and intentionally with all of the information and in the context of their own lives,” she said. “It’s not something that we can impose on people.”

Verma continued: “I see patients all the time making decisions to have an abortion from a place of love and compassion.”

There were over 620,00 legal induced abortions in the U.S. in 2019, the most recent data available, according to the CDC. At the end of the same year, 2019, there were around 122,000 children waiting to be adopted out of the U.S. foster care system, government data shows.

Overall, just over 110,000 adoptions took place in the U.S. in 2014, the most recent data available, according to the National Council for Adoption, a national advocacy organization that promotes adoption.

Ryan Hanlon, acting CEO and president of the National Council for Adoption, said the organization does not have a position on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

Speaking specifically on safe haven laws, Hanlon said the goal should be to meet pregnant people and provide them with comprehensive information before they would find themselves in what he described as the “crisis” of leaving a child under the law.

“Safe haven laws can be a really wonderful thing, but by the time we’ve gotten to that point, we’ve already experienced a crisis,” he said. “What I would hope for any woman who’s experiencing an unplanned pregnancy is that she’s getting information and support well before then, and for those women who do choose to place their child for adoption, that they are getting support before, during and after the birth.”

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Dave Grohl & Greg Kurstin celebrate night six of ‘The Hanukkah Sessions’; HAIM covers Adam Sandler

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin have released a cover of Billy Joel‘s “Big Shot” for night six of their Hanukkah Sessions series.

You can watch the “Big Shot” cover streaming now on YouTube. Is there a kazoo solo? You’d better believe it!

In related news, HAIM has released a new version of Adam Sandler‘s classic “The Chanukah Song.” The sister trio updated the lyrics with shout-outs to a few more modern celebrities, including Eugene and Dan Levy, Doja Cat and Timothée Chalamet.

The HAIMukkah version also includes references to current events, such as “Don’t get Omicronukkah” and “RIP Stephen Sondheimukkah.”

Sandler we love you pic.twitter.com/QGBAwqOZld

— HAIM (@HAIMtheband) December 3, 2021

Appeals court weighs whether Justice Department should substitute for Trump in defamation suit

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court on Friday peppered the Justice Department with questions over whether it’s appropriate for the department to substitute for former President Donald Trump in the defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll.

Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, sued Trump in November 2019 after he denied raping her in a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman in the 1990s. Trump claimed Carroll wasn’t his type and made up the story to sell a new book.

The Justice Department is appealing the ruling of U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who in October rejected the DOJ’s bid to replace Trump as the defendant in the case.

The DOJ’s Mark Freeman conceded during arguments on Friday that “the former president made crude and offensive comments” when he responded to Carroll’s rape accusation, but that he spoke in his capacity as president, therefore allowing the U.S. government to take over as the defendant, shielding Trump from personal liability.

“Any president facing a public accusation of this kind in which the media is very interested would feel obliged to answer questions from the public, answer questions from the media,” Freeman said during oral arguments before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “It is part of the responsibility of a public official to address matters of grave interest to the public.”

One of the appellate judges, Denny Chin, suggested that the context and content matters.

“Shouldn’t we be parsing the individual comments to see whether they’re serving the country?” Chin asked. “Who is he serving when he says ‘She’s not my type?'”

Another member of the three-judge panel, Guido Calabresi, questioned what law determines whether Trump was acting within the scope of his employment.

“We don’t have any cases that tell us,” Calabresi said.

Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, said that Trump was obligated to respond to Carroll’s accusation.

“When somebody says he did a heinous crime 20 years ago, he needs to address it,” Habba said.

Carroll’s attorney, Joshua Matz, said Trump “acted in pursuit of private motives” and that Carroll should be allowed to hold him personally accountable.

“A mere denial is not the same as ‘I didn’t rape her and she’s too unattractive for me to have done it,'” Matz said.

Kelsea Ballerini celebrates four years of marriage to Morgan Evans with a mini-poem

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Kelsea Ballerini and her singer-songwriter husband, Morgan Evans, marked four years of marriage on Thursday, and she celebrated by sharing a snapshot of the two of them together.

In the caption of her post, Kelsea shared her feelings for her husband in a few words: “You are etched into me / A heart carved on a tree / permanent,” she wrote.

It makes sense that the singer would want to share her feelings through rhyme: This year, she dove into the world of poetry, temporarily trading her guitar for pen and ink to release her new collection of poems, Feel Your Way Through. In the book, she explores themes of body image, relationships, personal growth, family dynamics and more.

Morgan shared the same snap on his Instagram, with an equally heartfelt — if not quite as poetic — caption.

“Happy Anniversary baaaaaabe!!! 4 years on this crazy, beautiful, winding road together…and I wouldn’t wanna be riding it with anybody else! I love you,” he wrote.

Fans who saw Kelsea and Morgan’s anniversary picture may have been surprised to see that the singer has made a big switch in her appearance, too, trading in her trademark blonde locks for a brunette look. In a previous post, she explained that her blonde hair is “hibernat[ing] for the winter,” calling her darker hairstyle “au naturale.”

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Scarlett Johansson out, Ana de Armas in, opposite Chris Evans in Apple TV+ film ‘Ghosted’

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Scarlett Johansson won’t be teaming up with her longtime friend and fellow Avenger Chris Evans in Ghosted after all.

Apple TV+ has announced that newly mined Bond girl Ana de Armas has taken ScarJo’s place in the movie, which is described as “a high-concept romantic action adventure film.”

De Armas, who’s still in theaters opposite Daniel Craig in No Time to Die, will co-executive produce with Evans as well, with Rocketman‘s Dexter Fletcher directing.

The movie was written by Deadpool and Zombieland duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who are also producing.

De Armas was recently considering starring in the John Wick spin-off Ballerina, but her involvement has not been confirmed.

Ghosted is part of a slate of high-profile Apple TV+ Original films, including the recently released sci-fi flick Finch, starring Tom Hanks, and the upcoming The Tragedy of Macbeth, starring two other two-time Oscar winners, Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand.

The streaming service has more projects with Academy Award winners forthcoming, namely Martin Scorsese‘s Killers of the Flower Moon with Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, and Green Book director Peter Farrelly‘s The Greatest Beer Run Ever with Zac Efron and Russell Crowe.

50th anniversary reissue of The Doors’ ‘L.A. Woman’ released today; “Riders on the Storm” video premieres

December 3, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The deluxe 50th anniversary reissue of The Doors‘ classic 1971 album, L.A. Woman, got its release today.

As previously reported, L.A. Woman: 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition is available as a three-CD/one-LP set featuring a newly remastered version of the album on CD, two bonus CDs of unreleased studio outtakes, and the new stereo mix of the original album pressed on 180-gram vinyl.

To celebrate the reissue’s release, the first-ever official music video for the Doors hit “Riders on the Storm” has premiered at the band’s official YouTube channel.

The clip, directed by the award-winning team of Brendo Garcia and Adriano Gonfiantini, combines live-action footage with digital animation and follows a mysterious woman as she takes a surreal, psychedelic journey on a motorcycle through the California desert and into Los Angeles.

The video features a number of Easter eggs alluding to aspects of Doors history, including a woman tied crucifixion-style to a streetlight, a reference to the image that appears inside L.A. Woman‘s original gatefold sleeve; Barney’s Beanery, one of Jim Morrison‘s favorite LA-area bars; and the Alta Cienega Motel, where Morrison once lived.

Other classics songs featured on L.A. Woman include the hit “Love Her Madly,” the title track, and “The Changeling.”

Among the unreleased tracks is the original demo of “Riders on the Storm,” and covers of Junior Parker‘s “Mystery Train,” John Lee Hooker‘s “Crawling King Snake,” Big Joe Williams‘ “Baby Please Don’t Go,” and Lee Dorsey‘s “Get Out of My Life Woman.” Also among the bonus tracks are multiple consecutive takes of “The Changeling,” “Love Her Madly,” “Riders on the Storm” and “L.A. Woman.”

In related news, L.A. Woman has just been RIAA-certified triple-Platinum for album equivalent sales of three million copies in the U.S.

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