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COVID-19 live updates: Texas breaks its daily death toll record

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 654,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 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 62.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

Sep 10, 5:43 am
Milwaukee Public Schools to require COVID-19 vaccination for staff

All employees of Milwaukee Public Schools must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination by Nov. 1, unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption, school board members voted unanimously on Thursday night.

The board also decided that staff who qualify for an exemption must take COVID-19 tests twice weekly. Anyone who does not comply with the new vaccine mandate or is not exempt would be placed on unpaid leave and ultimately could lose their job.

Students are not required to get vaccinated, but the board approved monetary incentives of $100 for those who are 12 and older and can provide proof of vaccination by the Nov. 1 deadline.

Sep 09, 7:33 pm
LA school district to mandate vaccine for students

The Los Angeles Unified School District’s Board of Education unanimously voted Thursday to require the COVID-19 vaccine for all eligible students.

All students ages 12 and up will be required to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10, 2022, unless they have a “medical or other exemption,” said the district, which is the second-largest in the nation with over 600,000 students.

All teachers and staff are already required to be vaccinated by Oct. 15.

“Today’s decision furthers our longstanding commitment to ensure the safety of our students, families, and staff,” Board President Kelly Gonez said in a statement. “The vaccine is the single best way to protect students and schools from COVID-19.”

Jennifer Aniston introduces LolaVie hair care brand ‘made without all the bad stuff’

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Jennifer Aniston is known for many things, and one happens to be her iconic hair.

Known to wear her classic “Rachel” haircut during her years on the hit ’90s Friends sitcom, the actress is now introducing her very own hair care brand, LolaVie.

The Morning Show actress shared a behind-the-scenes look at a campaign shoot for the brand on Instagram, which included several models wearing all black while Aniston grabs a shot of them with her smartphone.

“This project has been in the works for a long time and I’m so excited to finally be able to introduce it to you,” said Aniston. “So much hard work from our incredible team went into making this line — and we’re really proud to say it’s been made without all the bad stuff.”

Aniston said LovlaVie products are vegan as well as free of parabens, silicone, sulfate, phthalates, gluten and cruelty.

The first product to launch is the line’s Glossing Detangler.

LolaVie’s detangling spray is infused with plant-based ingredients such as chia to protect strands from future damage, bamboo, which works as a thermal shield, lemon extract for shine and a superfruit complex that includes vegetable ceramides to aid with conditioning.

“Think of this spray as the best friend you call everyday (who always supports you and wants to see you become stronger over time),” the company captioned in a video of the spray.

LolaVie is Aniston’s first venture as a founder as well as creator. She played a role in overseeing product development, marketing and creative direction.

The brand name was inspired by many of Aniston’s friends that affectionately refer to her as “Lola” in which she feels represents confidence, fearlessness and empowerment.

Aniston joins the list of celebrities such as Tracee Ellis Ross as well as Gabrielle Union-Wade who have also previously released hair care brands.

Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, and Scotty McCreery mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, a day “that shook the whole world”

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Twenty years ago Saturday, the 9/11 attacks took place. Two decades later, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t remember where they were when they first heard the news.

Scotty McCreery was a second grader.

“I think they even let us out of school early…” he recalls. “I’m still so young at that point. So, I had the basketball in my right hand. And I was like, ‘Can I go see if Michael wants to play or something?’ And Mom’s like, ‘No. We have to sit down and watch the news. Something terrible’s happened.'”

Luke Bryan had just moved to Nashville ten days earlier.

“I was in the bed and my sister woke me up kind of frantically on the phone,” he remembers, “and she goes, ‘Hey, turn on the news.’ A plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center.”

Meanwhile, Keith Urban was in Florida on vacation, having stayed over after playing a show.

“I remember that morning,” he reflects. “I didn’t turn the news on, and I’m really grateful that I didn’t because I had a few extra hours before I was aware of this reality that was going on that would change everything… I couldn’t take it in. It was too surreal.”

Since air travel came to a halt, Keith was stuck in the Sunshine State until his bus could come and get him.

“My mom was staying with me at the time,” he remembers, “and she was panicked and worried about me being away, and was anxious for me to get home.”

For Luke as well, it was “a really trying time” when he just wanted to drive home to be with his family in Georgia.

“It was certainly something that shook the whole world,” he says, looking back on that day.

Scoreboard roundup — 9/9/21

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Thursday’s sports events:

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Oakland 3, Chi White Sox 1
Cleveland 4, Minnesota 1
Kansas City 6, Baltimore 0
Toronto 6, NY Yankees 4

NATIONAL LEAGUE
St. Louis 2, LA Dodgers 1
Miami 3, NY Mets 2
Colorado 4, Philadelphia 3
Atlanta 7, Washington 6

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 31, Dallas 29

WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Connecticut 75, Los Angeles 57

Afghanistan updates: Flight carrying Americans lands in Qatar

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With the U.S. military and diplomatic withdrawal now complete after 20 years in Afghanistan, the Taliban has taken over the country, including the Kabul airport, the site of an often-desperate evacuation effort in past weeks.

But even as the last American troops were flown out to meet President Joe Biden’s Aug. 31 deadline, other Americans who wanted to flee the country were left behind. The Biden administration is now focused on a “diplomatic mission” to help them leave but some hoping to evacuate are still stuck in the country. Meanwhile, the Taliban has announced its new “caretaker” government which includes men with U.S. bounties on their heads — and no women.

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:

Sep 10, 8:00 am
US has ‘many means’ to get intelligence in Afghanistan, Mayorkas says

The United States has “many means” of gathering intelligence in Afghanistan despite not having boots on the ground, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Friday.

“We no longer have troops in Afghanistan, but we have other resources to learn information on the ground and we certainly use those resources to the best of our abilities,” Mayorkas told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in an interview on “Good Morning America.”

“We are quite creative and quite capable of learning information from coast-to-coast and all over the world,” he added.

Mayorkas noted that the U.S. government is watching the potentially re-emerging terrorist threat in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan “very closely.”

“We watch the threat landscape all over the world,” he added. “We have built an entire architect to protect, to safeguard the American people.”

But the greatest threat to the U.S. homeland is currently domestic terrorism, according to Mayorkas.

“Individuals who are prone to violence by reason of an ideology of hate or false narratives that we see on social media or other online platforms,” he said. “I think it’s a sad thing to see hate emerge, as we have observed it emerge over the last several years.”

With the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks approaching, Mayorkas said the government is not aware of any “specific credible threats targeting the United States” on the somber date.

“But we are vigilant,” he added. “We watch the information, we learn information; but at this point in time, we don’t know of any threat on the anniversary.”

Sep 09, 3:57 pm
More than 30 Americans invited as passengers on flight from Kabul, some declined

More than 30 U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents were invited by the U.S. to be passengers on the first chartered flight out of Kabul since the American evacuation mission ended, but not all said yes. Some said no because of medical reasons, extended family members or their desire for more time, among other reasons, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

Price said he could not give an exact number of those who did make Thursday’s flight to Qatar.

Echoing an earlier statement from the National Security Council, Price said he welcomed the Qatari Airways departure from Kabul. He said he hopes and expects more flights will be allowed to continue in the days to come.

Sep 09, 2:16 pm
White House confirms flight with Americans landed in Qatar, calls Taliban cooperation ‘professional’

National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne has confirmed that U.S. citizens and permanent residents were among the passengers on the first charter flight to leave the airport in Kabul since Qatar took over operations at the airport and that they have safely landed in Qatar.

The statement offered no passenger numbers, so it’s unclear how many U.S. citizens were on board, but it did provide some praise for the Taliban’s cooperation.

“The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step,” the statement said.

Kristen Bell will have you rooting for the bad guys in the new movie, ‘Queenpins’

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

The new comedy Queenpins, opening in select theaters on Friday and streaming on Paramount+ September 30th, stars Kristen Bell as a suburban housewife drawn into the dangerous world of extreme couponing — a world in which she starts a criminal empire.

The movie is based on a true story,and Bell tells ABC Audio that husband and wife filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly managed to pull off the impossible.

“The challenge they had is to introduce two women, get the audience to root for them so that when the women started making criminal decisions, you were still on their side. And I think they did a really great job of that,” says the Frozen star.

The word “coupon” is pronounced several different ways in the film. So which does Bell think is correct — “coo-pon” or “cyoo-pon?”

“It depends on your level of Arthur Lessac training in voice and speech school,” she suggests. “I mean, I say ‘coo-pon’, but I understand and love a liquid ‘u,’ OK? So I’m fine with a ‘cyoo-pon’ as well.” (AUDIO IS ABC 1-ON-1)

Queenpins, from executive producer by Ben Stiller, also stars Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Paul Walter Hauser and Vince Vaughn.

Off to cover cover land: Listen to Metallica’s massive ‘Blacklist’ tribute album

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

When Metallica released their self-titled record, aka The Black Album, in 1991, it had a gigantic impact on metal and its standing in the mainstream. Beyond that, though, it also had a huge influence on music as a whole.

That’s on full display with The Metallica Blacklist, a massive tribute compilation featuring covers of every Black Album track recorded by 53 different artists in honor of the record’s 30th anniversary.

Many artists on The Metallica Blacklist wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows — there’s Ghost playing “Enter Sandman,” Royal Blood covering “Sad but True” and Volbeat taking on “Don’t Tread on Me.” More left-field selections include St. Vincent‘s industrial version of “Sad but True,” J Balvin‘s reggaeton “Wherever I May Roam,” and Chris Stapleton turning “Nothing Else Matters” into a country epic.

Other participants include Cage the Elephant, Weezer, Portugal. the Man, White Reaper, Biffy Clyro, Slipknot‘s Corey Taylor, Phoebe Bridgers, Depeche Mode‘s Dave Gahan, Phoebe Bridgers and My Morning Jacket.

However, the centerpiece of The Metallica Blacklist might be an all-star recording of “Nothing Else Matters” featuring pop star Miley Cyrus, Metallica’s Robert Trujillo, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Elton John, guitarist/producer Andrew Watt, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

The Metallica Blacklist is out today via digital outlets. It’ll be available on physical formats October 1. All profits will be donated to Metallica’s All Within My Hands foundation and the charity of each participating artist’s choice.

Along with the Blacklist, Metallica is celebrating The Black Album‘s 30th anniversary with a deluxe, remastered reissue of the record featuring tons of bonus material including demos, live recordings, and rough and alternate mixes. That’s also out today.

Meanwhile, you can catch Metallica performing Friday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, airing at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC.

Vanilla Fudge’s Carmine Appice shares 9/11 recollections in advance of 20th anniversary of attacks

September 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

This Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice has shared with ABC Audio his recollections of that awful day.

The Brooklyn, New York, native says he was living in California at that time, and he recalls that he was sick that day and was watching on television as the Twin Towers collapsed after terrorists flew passenger planes into the buildings.

“I have this condition with really bad nosebleeds, and I had one that day, and I was just watching the news,” he remembers. “I was laying around and I saw the towers go down.”

Appice continues, “[M]y anxiety level was through the roof, ’cause I was living in Brooklyn when those things were going up, and every time I’d come into the city, I’d see them get higher and higher…And now they were gone. Freaked me out.”

Carmine admits that after the first plane crash, “I thought…’What kind of idiot flies a plane into the tower’…I thought it was like an accident. And then when the second one hit, I said, ‘Whoa!…This is no idiot, this is planned.'”

Appice reveals that he actually visited the Twin Towers two weeks before the attacks, while he was in New York for a concert with his band Cactus.

“For some reason, [guitarist] Jim McCarty wanted to go down to the towers,” he recalls. “[The band] went down to the towers after the gig. It was late, like one o’clock in the morning…and we just looked up at the towers and there was nobody around…And then we went home to California. Two weeks later, bam, they’re gone.”

Earlier this week, Vanilla Fudge released a new single, a cover of the Supremes classic “Stop in the Name of Love.”

Wildlife advocates urge Nevada to stop annual bear hunt due to severity of wildfires

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(RENO, Nev.) — Animal advocates are urging Nevada state officials to call off this year’s annual bear hunt as wildfires continue to rage across the West.

Wildlife advocates say hunting season should be canceled as the wildfire situation is so dire that bears are undergoing forced migration, potentially throwing the social dynamics of the territorial animals off balance. Several organizations penned a letter to the Nevada Department of Wildlife Wednesday following the emergence of several “heartbreaking photographs” showing bears either injured by the fires or searching for food and water in fire-ravaged areas.

“We need to give our bears a break,” Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Climate-fueled catastrophic fire isn’t just hard on us, it’s also hard on wildlife. Bears are struggling to survive and recover from the most difficult summer of their lives, and now they’re going to be chased by dogs and shot to death. It’s unacceptable.”

The annual bear hunt in the state typically involves packs of hounds with GPS collars that chase the bear up trees. The season is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, but eight of the 10 locations where bear hunting is permitted are in regions that have burned or are still burning, or are immediately adjacent to those areas, according to the organizations.

State law gives both the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners emergency powers to stop hunting in units where an emergency has been declared.

“Our black bears are iconic animals, and at a time of dire need the fate of individual bears is just as important as the fate of the population,” said Don Molde of the Nevada Wildlife Alliance. “Now is not the time to add additional harassment to what they’ve already suffered.”

Bears in the state are also suffering from the effects of climate change, as record heat and and drought are also placing significant stress on populations. Researchers are already seeing climate change have a direct effect on mortality and reproductive failure in bears in the West, the advocates said.

“Not only should the bear hunt be suspended in fire-affected areas — the agency and commission need to take disasters into account when setting their quotas going forward,” said Jeff Dixon of the Humane Society of the United States. “For wildlife policy to be science-based, wildlife management professionals need to factor in global warming’s impact on ecosystems when setting those policies.”

Critical fire threats were plaguing the West on Wednesday, posing the threat of new blazes to spark just as firefighters start to make significant progress in containing the existing wildfires.

Red flag warnings have been posted in several regions across the Northwest Thursday due to dry heat and gusty winds, especially over parts of the Northern Rockies and Northern California, where the Dixie and Caldor fires continue to rage.

Lightning from widely scattered thunderstorms expected in the Northwest could also combine with very dry fuels to ignite more fires in places like Oregon and Idaho.

In addition to the heavy fire conditions, 29 cities were expected to break or tie their daily record high temperatures Thursday. Excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of the Southwest, from Las Vegas to Phoenix and the California deserts, where temperatures were forecast to hit dangerous temperatures up to 115 degrees, or even 120 degrees in Death Valley.

The heat will then shift over parts of the central Rockies on Friday. Air quality alerts are also in effect over parts of the Pacific Northwest and Rockies due to the wildfire smoke.

ABC News’ Brittany Borer and Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.

FDA delays decision on Juul while banning less popular e-cigarette products

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After banning sale of nearly 950,000 lesser-known e-cigarette products, the Food and Drug Administration has delayed its decision related to products made by Juul, the largest e-cigarette manufacturer.

The FDA had a court-ordered Sept. 9 deadline to review 6.5 million applications for so-called “new tobacco products,” primarily electronic nicotine-containing products, from over 500 companies to determine whether these devices are safe and can stay on the market.

On Thursday, the FDA said it had reviewed more than 90% of those applications, saying it would “continue to work expeditiously on the remaining applications … many of which are in the final stages of review,” according to a statement.

But Juul is the biggest e-cigarette maker in the U.S. and its products comprise the lion’s share of the market.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids called the move “a significant step in the right direction,” but failure to ban all e-cigarettes “leaves kids at risk.” The American Lung Association, meanwhile, said it was “deeply disappointed” by the delayed decision on Juul and other products.

After years of mounting concern about the youth vaping epidemic, the FDA in recent years has taken progressively tougher regulatory actions over the e-cigarette industry, first prohibiting the sale of candy- and fruit-flavored products that are more appealing to children, and later requiring even more products to cease sales.

E-cigarettes were originally envisioned as a replacement for traditional cigarettes among adults who already smoke. But “the biggest threat with e-cigarettes is that it’s easy to try nicotine for the first time,” said Marielle Brinkman, a tobacco and cancer researcher at The Ohio State University.

E-cigarettes contain high amounts of addictive nicotine and are easy to conceal and use. In a statement, the FDA said flavored e-cigarette products are “extremely popular among youth, with over 80% of e-cigarette users ages 12 through 17 using them.”

These children and teens are typically not regular smokers, but are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine through vaping. E-cigarettes can also harm brain development in youth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pose risks of developing other illnesses in the future.

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, has said that according to current regulations, “the burden is on the [manufacturer] to provide evidence to demonstrate that the marketing of their product meets the … standard ‘appropriate for the protection of the public health.'”

In a statement, Juul Labs said, “We respect the central role of the FDA and the required thorough science- and evidence-based review of our applications, which is key to advancing harm reduction and earning a license to operate. We remain committed to transitioning adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes while combating underage use.”

Some studies show a benefit of e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit. However, the FDA must decide whether these products have enough potential benefit that outweighs the risks presented for youth. Given their highly addictive nature and the risk of illnesses linked to e-cigarettes, the standard is very high for companies to convince the FDA they help people quit smoking.

Adela Wu is a neurosurgery resident at Stanford Hospital and contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Sony Salzman is the unit’s coordinating producer.

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