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Family of Colombian fisherman killed in US boat strike files complaint alleging he was murdered

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The family of a Colombian fisherman who died in a U.S. military boat strike in September has filed a formal complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging the U.S. government illegally killed him.

Alejandro Carranza was killed in a strike in the Caribbean on Sept. 15, according to the petition, filed on Tuesday.

“From numerous news reports, we know that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth was responsible for ordering the bombing of boats like those of Alejandro Carranza and the murder of all those on such boats,” according to the petition. “Secretary Hegseth has admitted that he gave such orders despite the fact that he did not know the identity of those being targeted for these bombings and extra-judicial killings.”

In the petition, Carranza’s lawyer Dan Kovalik said the fisherman’s family “has no recourse to adequate and effective remedies in Colombia to obtain redress for the injuries they have suffered due to the actions of the United States.”

While the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights can investigate the complaint and issue findings, any ruling it makes would not be legally binding on the U.S.

A Pentagon official told ABC News the department does not comment on pending litigation.

The filing comes after Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. government of committing murder for the strike that killed Carranza.

“U.S. government officials have committed a murder and violated our sovereignty in territorial waters. Fisherman Alejandro Carranza had no ties to the drug trade and his daily activity was fishing,” Petro said on X last month. “The Colombian boat was adrift and displaying the distress signal due to having an outboard motor. We await explanations from the U.S. government.”

Three people total were killed in the Sept. 15 strike in the Caribbean, U.S. officials said.

President Donald Trump said at the time that he ordered the military strike against a boat that he insisted was carrying illegal drugs from Venezuela to the U.S., telling reporters the operation left “big bags of cocaine and fentanyl” floating around in the ocean.

Since September, Trump and Hegseth have ordered more than 20 military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. The Trump administration has alleged with little evidence that the boats were smuggling drugs from Venezuela and Colombia. The controversial campaign so far has killed more than 80 people, according to officials.

Hegseth has maintained that the strikes are all legal and claims that the military has evidence that the boats were carrying drugs.

On Capitol Hill, some leaders from both parties have questioned the legality of the strikes and whether the president has the constitutional power to authorize them.

The first such incident, which occurred on Sept. 2, has been under scrutiny following a recent Washington Post report that cited two people with direct knowledge of the operations saying a second strike was ordered on the boat that killed two survivors.

One person familiar with details of the incident confirmed to ABC News that there were survivors from the initial strike on the boat and that those survivors were killed in a subsequent strike.

Democrats say that alone could be enough to suggest a war crime occurred. The laws of war require either side in a conflict to provide care for wounded and shipwrecked troops.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who oversaw the initial attack, has defended the strike as legal.

The defense secretary told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he watched the first strike unfold before leaving for meetings. He says he did not see survivors or any strikes that followed and said the admiral who, he said, ordered the second strike made the “right call.”

Scoreboard roundup — 12/2/25

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

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

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Senators 5, Canadiens 2
Bruins 4, Red Wings 5
Lightning 1, Islanders 2
Stars 2, Rangers 3
Maple Leafs 4, Panthers 1
Flames 1, Predators 5
Canucks 1, Avalanche 3
Wild 1, Oilers 0
Blackhawks 3, Golden Knights 4
Capitals 3, Kings 1

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Wizards 102, 76ers 121
Trail Blazers 118, Raptors 121
Knicks 117, Celtics 123
Timberwolves 149, Pelicans 142
Grizzlies 124, Warriors 124
Thunder 124, Warriors 112

What Trump and Hegseth said after the Sept. 2 strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — When President Donald Trump and Defense officials revealed on Sept. 2 that the U.S. military killed 11 alleged drug smugglers on a boat in the Caribbean Sea, they touted it as a success in their war against South American cartels.

Their initial comments were met with scrutiny due to the lack of details they provided. More questions arose months later after it was reported that survivors from the attack were killed in a subsequent strike. The White House later confirmed on Monday that there was more than one strike on the boat.

Trump first announced the strike on his social media site as a “kinetic strike against positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

The post included a video of the strike that showed only one hit.

Trump alleged that the boat was under the control of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Maduro denied the allegations and criticized the U.S. for the attack.

Trump said a day later that a “massive” amount of drugs was on the boat, but provided little detail.

“It was massive amounts of drugs coming into our country to kill a lot of people. And, everybody fully understands that fact. You see it, you see the bags of drugs all over the boat, and they were hit,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sept. 3. “When they watch that tape, they’re going to say, ‘Let’s not do this.'”

That same day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also touted the strike during a “Fox & Friends” interview and refuted a Maduro spokesperson’s suggestion that the video was AI-generated.

“That was definitely not artificial intelligence. I watched it live,” he said. “We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented.”

The administration would go on to report 20 more strikes against boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 83 people.

Hegseth spoke about the U.S. operation on Oct. 23 at a White House event on fighting drug cartels, arguing that suspects on the boats would be treated “like foreign terrorist organizations on the offense.”

“So the Department of War is not going to degrade, or just simply arrest. We’re going to defeat and destroy these terrorist organizations to defend the homeland on behalf of the American people,” he said.

His remarks came a week after survivors were reported following a strike on a boat in the Caribbean. The survivors eventually were released to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador, which prevented them from protesting their detention in a U.S. court.

When asked by ABC News’ Mary Bruce about how survivors would be treated in the future, Hegseth responded, “We’ve got protocol of how we’ll handle it,” but did not go into detail.

At the same event, Trump told reporters that he didn’t plan to ask Congress for authority or declare war against the cartels, and instead he declared bluntly, “We’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country.”

However, new questions arose about the legality of the attacks after a Nov. 28 Washington Post report that said the first strike on Sept. 2 initially left two survivors clinging to the wreckage and that before the strike Hegseth had given spoken orders to kill everyone on board.

The Post report, which cited two “two people with direct knowledge of the operation,” alleged that Adm. Mitch Bradley, then-head of the Joint Special Operations Command, ordered a second strike in order to comply with Hegseth’s initial orders and to ensure the survivors couldn’t call on other suspected traffickers to retrieve them and their cargo.

Members of Congress from both parties had expressed concerns with the drug cartel operation, but in the days following the Washington Post report, Republican and Democratic leaders on both the House and Senate armed services committees put out joint statements saying they were looking into the incident.

Hegseth pushed back against the Post’s report saying in an X post that the strikes were legal.

ABC News has confirmed that survivors from the initial strike were killed as a result.

Trump told reporters Sunday that he did not know about the details about the Washington Post’s report and defended Hegeseth.

“He said he did not say that, and I believe him,” Trump said when asked about the report and Hegseth’s alleged order.

Trump added that he wouldn’t have wanted a second strike.

“I wouldn’t have wanted that. Not a second strike. The first strike was very lethal. It was fine, and if there were two people around, but Pete said that didn’t happen. I have great confidence,” he said.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt clarified that Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley gave the order for the second strike, but did not give any more details.

The next day, Hegseth doubled down on the administration’s efforts to attack alleged drug boats.

“We’ve only just begun striking narco-boats and putting narcoterrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they’ve been poisoning the American people,” he said at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Hegseth also clarified his earlier comments about watching the attack live.

“As you can imagine, the Department of War, we got a lot of things to do. So I didn’t stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs,” he said. “So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that the commander had made the — which he had the complete authority to do.”

“Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat. He sunk the boat, sunk the boat, and eliminated the threat. And it was the right call. We have his back,” Hegseth added.

Hegseth said that he did not see any survivors while he watched the video.

“I did not personally see survivors, but I stand — because that thing was on fire. It was exploded and fire and smoke, you can’t see anything. You got digital, there’s — this is called the ‘fog of war.'”

What to know about the hepatitis B shot for infants ahead of CDC vaccine panel meeting

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee appears set to amend the childhood immunization schedule, including potentially changing recommendations on a shot given to newborns.

The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is meeting Thursday and Friday. A draft agenda posted online on Monday provides little detail on what materials will be presented or which speakers will give presentations, but does mention a discussion about the hepatitis B vaccine on the first day as well as “votes.”

Although it’s not clear what will be voted on, past comments from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and ACIP members indicate the universal hepatitis B vaccine dose given just after birth will be at issue.

The ACIP may vote to remove the birth dose recommendation or delay vaccination to a later age.

Public health experts told ABC News there is no evidence to suggest the hepatitis B vaccine is unsafe and that vaccinating babies at birth has been key to virtually eliminating the virus among children.

What is the hepatitis B vaccine?

The hepatitis B vaccine is typically a three-shot series. The CDC recommends the first dose given within 24 hours of birth, the second dose between 1 month and 2 months, and the third dose between 6 months and 18 months.

In addition to all infants, the vaccine is recommended for all children and adults aged 59 and younger as well as adults aged 60 and older with risk factors for hepatitis B.

The ACIP previously recommended that only babies screened and found to be high risk for hepatitis B receive a vaccine, but experts found that screening missed many hepatitis B-positive cases.

“Hepatitis B vaccine was initially recommended for older groups and eventually then for children, but not for newborns,” Dr. Susan Wang, a former CDC hepatitis B virus and vaccine expert, told ABC News. “We have learned over decades now of both the safety and the impact of the vaccine, and it was a very specific decision to move it, not just to infancy but … within 24 hours of birth.”

The ACIP recommended that infants begin receiving the vaccine within hours of birth in 1991 as part of strategy to stop hepatitis B transmission within the U.S.

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, told ABC News vaccination is important because if a pregnant person is hepatitis B-positive at the time of birth, the infant has an 85% chance of developing an infection.

If the infant develops a hepatitis B infection, they have a 90% chance of developing chronic hepatitis B, which can predispose them to chronic liver disease, cirrhosis and liver cancer.

What effect has the vaccine has on hepatitis B cases?

During a Senate hearing earlier this year, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician, said that before the recommendation was put in place in 1991, as many as 20,000 babies every year contracted hepatitis B from their mothers in utero or during birth.

Today, fewer than 20 babies every year get hepatitis B from their mother, Cassidy said.

Schaffner, who was part of the 1991 ACIP committee that recommended the universal birth dose, called it a “brilliantly successful program.”

“Both from a clinical perspective and a public health perspective, this has been a program that is successful beyond the imaginings of us when we sat around that ACIP room debating this in 1991,” he said. “The cases are just coming down astoundingly.”

Schaffner said if the ACIP votes to delay the recommendation, he is worried some parents will never get their children vaccinated.

“A vaccine postponed is often a vaccine never received, that is sure to happen,” he said. “There will be some children born to hepatitis B-positive mothers who, because they don’t get their birth dose, will slip through the system. They will become infected and, when they get older, they will transmit the infection to others, and we won’t be able to interrupt the transmission of this virus in our population.”

What has RFK Jr., CDC panel said about the hepatitis B vaccine?

During a June interview on The Tucker Carlson Show, Kennedy falsely claimed the hepatitis B vaccine was associated with an increased risk of autism.

Numerous existing studies have examined whether vaccines, or their ingredients, cause autism and have failed to find any such link.

Kennedy and other federal public health officials, such as Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have claimed hepatitis is mostly transmitted through sexual contact or needle sharing, and therefore babies don’t need a vaccine to protect against the infection.

They have suggested pregnant people be tested for hepatitis B and that only the babies of infected patients receive the shot at birth.

During an ACIP meeting in June, then-chair Martin Kulldorff, a former Harvard Medical School professor, questioned whether it was “wise” to administer shots “to every newborn before leaving the hospital.”

Wang said there are a few reasons why a testing-only strategy doesn’t work, the first being that even if every pregnant person were tested before delivery and only babies born to positive patients were vaccinated, the unvaccinated babies would be unprotected against the virus, which is highly contagious.

Another reason is that not all pregnant people get tested or, if they do, they don’t get tested in time or have receive their results quickly enough, Wang said. Under a testing-only strategy, this could prevent a newborn from getting a vaccine when they need it.

“The hepatitis B vaccine is inexpensive, extremely safe, and has a high value in terms of effectiveness,” she said. “There’s no downside. And again, this has been after decades of studying this and globally, millions and millions of infants getting vaccinated. So, the value and the benefit of it is so far outweighs any possible issue.”

What if the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose recommendation is changed?

Wang compared removing the universal hepatitis B vaccine birth dose to taking a seat belt off in a car.

“The purpose of having the seat belt there is to protect you from the risk of injury and death when you’re in a moving vehicle,” she said. “It’s the same thing with the vaccine.”

Wang explained that the vaccine is given early as a post-exposure prophylaxis in case an infant is infected from their mother, but they can also contract the virus from anyone who is infected, either around the infant or taking care of them.

She added that if an infant is exposed during their first 12 months of life, the risk of chronic hepatitis B infection is substantially higher than if they are exposed during adolescence or adulthood

“If you don’t interrupt transmission, if you don’t cut it off at the pass, namely, at birth, we’ll have hepatitis B-positive people in the next generation, who, when they get into their teenage and young adults and older adult years, will pass it on sexually to others, and we will maintain this virus in our population,” Schaffner said.

Additionally, insurers often rely on ACIP recommendations to determine what they will and won’t cover, experts told ABC News.

If certain vaccines aren’t recommended by the ACIP, it may lead to parents or guardians facing out-of-pocket costs if their children receive the shot. It could also mean the shots aren’t covered by the Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, a federally funded program that provides no-cost vaccines to eligible children.

STP & Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland died 10 years ago

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland died on Dec. 3, 2015, 10 years ago Wednesday.

Weiland founded STP alongside guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo and drummer Eric Kretz in San Diego in 1989. The debut STP album, Core, was released in 1992.

As the grunge explosion was happening farther north in Seattle, STP’s similar brand of alternative rock was dismissed by critics as an imitation of the real thing. Even still, Core was a hit with fans, spawning the singles “Plush,” “Creep” and “Sex Type Thing,” and eventually earning eight-times Platinum certification by the RIAA.

1994’s Purple was similarly successful thanks to the singles “Vasoline,” “Interstate Love Song” and “Big Empty” on its way to being certified six-times Platinum.

STP released three more albums before breaking up in 2003. Weiland’s drug use, which led to stints in jail and rehab, as well as interpersonal issues with the other band members, contributed to the breakup.

Weiland then joined up with Velvet Revolver, a new band featuring Slash and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses. The group put out two albums, 2004’s Contraband and 2007’s Libertad, spawning singles including “Slither,” “Fall to Pieces” and “She Builds Quick Machines.”

Weiland departed Velvet Revolver in 2008 and reunited with STP that year. The reformed band put out a self-titled record in 2010 before firing Weiland in 2013. STP continued on with Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington, who left the band in 2015.

Weiland, who’d previously released two solo albums, launched a new solo project called Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts. He was on tour with the Wildabouts when he was found dead of an accidental overdose on his tour bus at age 48.

STP has continued with singer Jeff Gutt, who joined in 2017.

‘Bloodline’: Alex Warren’s ‘really cool summer song’ is now a winter hit

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Alex Warren‘s duet with Jelly Roll, “Bloodline,” was released in May, but it’s only now climbing the radio charts. It’s ironic, considering that Alex says he and his collaborators specifically designed the song to be a summer bop.

“I actually wrote that song for a DJ,” Alex explains. “I was in my [songwriting] camp, writing my album, and we had been reached out to by someone and they were asking us to, you know, write a summer song. Like, a really cool summer song.”

“We were like, ‘Heck yeah, we can do that,'” recalls Alex. “We sat around a fire. It took us like two hours and we wrote ‘Bloodline.'”

However, “Bloodline” isn’t exactly a happy summer song. Although the music is upbeat, the lyrics convey a powerful message about breaking the cycle of generational trauma. It was specifically inspired by Alex’s brother, who was in a dark place following the death of their alcoholic mother. But according to Alex, that’s just how he rolls when it comes to his music.

“Besides the love songs, there’s no happy music,” he says of his catalog. “It’s all sad, but I make them sound happy. So that way I feel like it’s not depressing when you’re trying to feel better about yourself.”

Despite its personal lyrics, Alex believes the message of “Bloodlines” can be universal.

As he notes, “I think even the sentiments, like, you know, ‘You always have tomorrow’ is such a cool sentiment, regardless of what it’s about.”

In other Alex Warren news, after teasing a special guest on a new version of “Eternity” — another one of his upbeat sad songs — he’s revealed the artist is Gigi Perez. The song is dropping Thursday.

Kanas City Chiefs president says he promised not to ‘monetize’ Travis Kelce/Taylor Swift romance

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

When Taylor Swift started dating Travis Kelce, she certainly turned a spotlight on the NFL and the Kansas City Chiefs. But the team’s president reveals that he promised Travis early on that he wouldn’t try to use their relationship for publicity — or to make money.

While appearing on the Up & Adams Show, Chiefs President Mark Donovan told sportscaster Kay Adams that early on in the couple’s romance, he told Travis, “Look, we are going to treat you and your relationship with the same respect that we treat any other player and coach’s relationship.”

“It’s a relationship. We’re not going to monetize it, we’re not going to go out there and go crazy.”

“We’re not taking advantage of this relationship,” Donovan continued, saying that they “never played a Taylor Swift song in the stadium when she’s in the building” and “we never showed Taylor on our big boards in our stadium. Never.”

“Taylor’s been amazing to us. It’s been nothing but good. She is a phenomenon. But she is just a special, kind person,” Donovan said, insisting that the team has always been “respectful.” He said Travis prefers it that way, too.

“Travis, to his credit, is all about team and he’s all about the guys, and he’s all about being part of a team and not being separate,” he said. “And he said, ‘That separates me. When we’re playing a game, when we’re in that stadium, it’s about us. And I want it to be about us.'”

Aerosmith intro removed from Disney World’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Aerosmith is no longer a part of one of Disney World’s popular attractions.

It was announced in November 2024 that Aerosmith was being replaced by The Muppets on the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Disney World in Orlando, and now Entertainment Weekly reports that their classic intro to the ride has been removed.

The intro featured video of Aerosmith band members, including Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, with the clip opening in a recording session before the band takes off to get to a concert, bringing the riders along with them. The outlet notes that the intro has been removed in order for construction to start on The Muppets revamp.

The decision to change the ride came after Disney decided to replace Muppet Vision 3D with Monsters Inc. land. It will mark the first time Jim Henson‘s lovable characters are the focus of a Disney ride.

When The Muppets take over the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, guests will go on a search for the Electric Mayhem crew, who go missing ahead of a gig headlining a big Hollywood concert.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith opened at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (then named Disney-MGM Studios) in July 1999. In addition to the Aerosmith intro, it featured music from the band, including songs like “Walk This Way,” “Love in an Elevator” and “Sweet Emotion.”

Regé-Jean Page to star in erotic thriller ‘Hancock Park’ at Netflix

December 3, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Regé-Jean Page is returning to Netflix.

The Bridgerton fan favorite and The Grey Man actor is set to executive produce and star in a new erotic thriller series called Hancock Park.

In the upcoming series, which is currently in development at the streamer, Page will play a member of Los Angeles high society whose family is struggling to hold on to their status.

The show is named after the affluent neighborhood in Los Angeles that houses many wealthy and influential Hollywood elites.

According to the streamer, the erotic thriller follows a “dangerously charismatic outsider” who “invades the lives of a seemingly picture-perfect Los Angeles family” by renting out their backyard guest house.

“But as he dives further into their world, the façade of this elite community begins to crumble, and he exposes the desire, deceit, and obsession that lurks around every corner of one of LA’s most-coveted neighborhoods,” the logline reads.

Industry writer Matthew Barry penned the series, which is also executive produced by Emily Brown and Drew Comins.

Netflix promises that more additions to the Hancock Park cast will be announced soon.

Nashville Notes: Niko Moon’s baby, TR’s tree terror and more

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

“Good Time” singer Niko Moon and wife Anna Moon are expanding their family: They’re expecting a baby boy, who’ll join big sister Lily Anne Moon, 3. Niko tells People, “I’m so grateful to have the family I’ve been given and I can’t wait to see what being a boy dad is like!”

Thomas Rhett recently had to rescue his wife, Lauren Akins, from a holiday decoration mishap at home. She climbed up to put the topper on their Christmas tree and then couldn’t get back down because the ladder was too far away. Lauren, who’s pregnant, documented this in a video TR posted on his Instagram Story. “She stayed there till I got home,” TR wrote on the video.

Tyler Childers has announced his 2026 Snipe Hunt tour, which will start April 23 in Dallas. Tickets go on sale Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. local time. Visit tylerchildersmusic.com for all the details.

Country Music Hall of Famer Ray Stevens says he’s continuing to recover from the heart attack he had in July, saying in a statement, “I’m trying to get strong enough to continue performing. But in the meantime, I’ve got a lot of work I want to do in the recording studio, so I intend to focus my attention there for now.” He plans to release a new album on Feb. 12. Ray also wants someone to make him an offer that he “can understand and can’t refuse” on his West Nashville entertainment complex.

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