Ed Klein, Robert Thomson, Stuart Varney and Trevor Matich joined WMAL on Thursday morning!
Mornings on the Mall
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
Executive Producer: Heather Smith
5am – A/B/C DC council member supports decriminalizing prostitution. (Fox 5) —WASHINGTON – The human rights group Amnesty International has been making headlines after it announced it supports decriminalizing prostitution. Now, one D.C. lawmaker said he applauds the idea and will push for it here in the District. In mid-July, D.C. police’s Human Trafficking Unit began a crackdown on prostitution. They announced on Wednesday that they have made a total of 157 arrests. Despite the progress, many say prostitution and the violence surrounding it is a worldwide problem that is not going away. D.C. Councilmember David Grosso said it is time to give decriminalizing prostitution in Washington D.C. a try. “When you have two consensual adults and they are exchanging sex for money, that is something that I think we shouldn’t be getting in the middle of,” said Grosso. The at-large council member plans to propose legislation decriminalizing paid sex between consenting adults because he said the city has tried for years to get rid of prostitution and it hasn’t worked.
5am – D Train derailment caused by track problem Metro knew about in July. (Fox 5) — WASHINGTON – The derailment of a non-passenger train outside the Smithsonian Metro station last Thursday was caused by a track defect that was discovered on July 9 but not fixed, Metro said. The transit agency is again facing public scrutiny after the derailment happened as the morning commute got underway that day. A six-car train was leaving the rail yard and gearing up for service near the Smithsonian Metro station. Metro interim general manager and CEO Jack Requa said the train’s wheels lost contact with the rail due to an infrastructure problem known as “wide gauge.” The rail had widen so much that it caused the wheels to lose grip from the tracks and the train’s eventual derailment. “The one that was detected was a Code Black defect,” said Metro deputy general manager Rob Troup. “That track should have been taken out of service at that period of time.” “I want to take this opportunity to again and again apologize to our customers,” Requa said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. He said he could not defend the transit agency’s failure to repair the issue prior to the derailment.
5am – E Football News:
It’s the Washington Redskins vs the Cleveland Browns at 8 p.m. (eastern time) on NBC and CSN in week 1 of the 2015 preseason. Football is back! The Washington Redskins preseason begins with a matchup against the Cleveland Browns at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland. Both teams are starting over this season and both teams had undesirable records when 2014 ended. The Redskins will only have Robert Griffin III in the game for one quarter and maybe more but head coach Jay Gruden is looking to set tempo, not perfection according to the Washington Post’s Liz Clarke.
Judge puts NFL on hot seat as he belittles ‘Deflategate’ NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge put the NFL on the defensive Wednesday over its four-game suspension of Tom Brady, demanding to know what evidence directly links the New England quarterback to deflated footballs and belittling the drama of the controversy. ”What is the direct evidence that implicates Mr. Brady?” Judge Richard M. Berman repeatedly asked NFL lawyer Daniel L. Nash at the first hearing in the civil case in Manhattan federal court as Brady and Commissioner Roger Goodell looked on. Nash responded there was ”considerable evidence Mr. Brady clearly knew about this,” including records of text messages and phone calls between the quarterback and one of two Patriots employees implicated in the scandal known as ”Deflategate.” But he also said there was no ”smoking gun” showing Brady had direct knowledge that the balls were underinflated for the first half of the Patriots’ 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game Jan. 18.
6am – A/B/C School bus service reinstated for some Leesburg students after parents’ plea. (Times-Mirror) — Following passionate pleas from concerned parents at Tuesday night’s School Board meeting, the transportation division of Loudoun County Public Schools recalculated the “walk zone” around Sycolin Creek Elementary so 58 out of the 150 students who were going to be walkers will now have bus service. The division’s “walk zone policy” requires elementary, middle and high school students who live within 0.8 miles of their school to walk or find a ride. Before the change, the 0.8 miles was measured from the property line of Sycolin Creek. The measurement now begins at the end of the walking trail. Residents from The Hamlets of Red Cedar expressed serious concerns Tuesday over the discontinued bus service in their neighborhood unsafe “walk zones” that their children would travel this coming school year and requested the bus service be reinstated. “We did hear the people who spoke. We want to work with them,” Loudoun County Public Schools spokesman Wayde Byard said. “We wanted to make sure the distance measured was fair.” The residents pushed for the board to appeal the school division’s decision that eliminated the bus service for the Sycolin Creek students.
6am – D INTERVIEW — ED KLEIN – New York Times bestselling author of “Blood Feud: The Clintons vs The Obamas” and “The Amateur” as well as “The Truth About Hillary: What She Knew, When She Knew It, and How Far She’ll Go to Become President“
Emails: Clinton to surrender email server to feds; watchdog confirms ‘top secret’ content.
FBI seizes Hillary’s emails after finding she had two messages classified as ‘above top secret’ on private server
6am – E Man Auditions For Miami Heat’s All-Female Dance Team, Is In It To Win It. (The Huffington Post) – Dancer and choreographer Keith Wilson showed up to the open auditions for the squad earlier this month at American Airlines Arena in Florida. And though the squad is all-female, that didn’t deter Wilson from burning up the dance floor during the first round of tryouts. His incredible moves were, (thankfully), caught on camera and shared on YouTube. Wilson tears it down to Beyonce’s “Run The World (Girls).” His energy is infectious and just when you think he cannot possibly get any more amazing, he throws in some jaw-dropping kicks and splits.
7am – A INTERVIEW — ROBERT THOMSON – Washington Post’s “Dr. Gridlock”
Train derailment caused by track problem Metro knew about in July. (Fox 5) — WASHINGTON – The derailment of a non-passenger train outside the Smithsonian Metro station last Thursday was caused by a track defect that was discovered on July 9 but not fixed, Metro said. The transit agency is again facing public scrutiny after the derailment happened as the morning commute got underway that day. A six-car train was leaving the rail yard and gearing up for service near the Smithsonian Metro station. Metro interim general manager and CEO Jack Requa said the train’s wheels lost contact with the rail due to an infrastructure problem known as “wide gauge.” The rail had widen so much that it caused the wheels to lose grip from the tracks and the train’s eventual derailment. “The one that was detected was a Code Black defect,” said Metro deputy general manager Rob Troup. “That track should have been taken out of service at that period of time.”
7am – B Critter News:
‘Gentleman’ octopus taps prey on shoulder before attacking. (Telegraph) — The Pacific striped octopus taps its prey on the shoulder, kisses and cuddles while mating and feeds its partner. When it comes to good manners the Pacific striped octopus may be the king of the ocean. Unlike other cephalopods which grab their prey and tackle it to the sea bed in a flurry of aggression, the creature gently taps its prey on the shoulder and startles it into is arms. “I’ve never seen anything like it,” said marine biologist Roy Caldwell, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of integrative biology. “Octopuses typically pounce on their prey or poke around in holes until they find something. When this octopus sees a shrimp at a distance, it compresses itself and creeps up, extends an arm up and over the shrimp, touches it on the far side and either catches it or scares it into its other arms.” The species, which lives in the eastern Pacific, is also the only octopus to ‘kiss’ and hold tentacles while mating, coming together with its intended in a unique beak-to-beak embrace. Typically male octopuses share sperm with females at arm’s length, primed to flee should their mate get aggressive or hungry.
Autopsy confirms Yellowstone hiker was killed by bear. HELENA, Mont. — Yellowstone National Park officials say preliminary autopsy results confirm that a hiker whose body was found last week was killed by a bear. Spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said Wednesday the results rule out the possibility that 63-year-old Lance Crosby of Billings died of a medical issue before the bear came upon him.
5 endangered Cuban crocodiles hatch at National Zoo in DC. WASHINGTON (AP) — Smithsonian officials say five critically endangered Cuban crocodiles have hatched at the National Zoo’s Reptile Discovery Center. Officials said Wednesday that the crocodiles hatched between July 29 and Aug. 7. Officials say the crocodiles’ mother, Dorothy, laid 24 eggs May 12, and 10 were fertile. Officials say those were moved to an incubator, and half of the eggs developed during the entire gestation period. Officials say crocodile embryos develop into a male or female crocodiles depending on the incubating temperature of the eggs. Keepers kept the eggs at a temperature range to hatch males as part of a survival plan for the species, but it is too early to definitively determine the crocodiles’ sex. Cuban crocodiles are found only in two swamps in Cuba.
7am – C Maryland becomes first state to specifically regulate jetpacks. Science fiction water fantasies just got a little harder to live out in Maryland. The state has taken a dim view of jetpacks, instituting temporary emergency regulations of the water rides. No accidents have occurred to date, but the speed and power of the jetpacks prompted the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to become the first in the region to specific rules. Other states in the region cover jetpack vessel use like jet skis and similar watercraft, according to NBC4 in Washington, D.C. Companies that rent the jetpacks already have overriding control when someone uses them, but the regulations should become permanent later this year.
7am – D INTERVIEW – STUART VARNEY – Anchor of Varney and Company, Fox Business
China devalues yuan for third straight day, adding to fears of currency war
Ben Carson was on his show yesterday
Gas prices
7am – E Entertainment News:
Rob Lowe is voicing Simba in the new ‘Lion King’ TV movie. James Earl Jones will reprise his role from the hit 1994 film as the voice of Mufasa. Rob Lowe and Gabrielle Union are joining the animal kingdom. The Parks and Recreation alum and Being Mary Jane star have signed on to voice Simba and Nala in Disney Channel’s upcoming Lion King sequel TV movie and series, it was announced Wednesday. James Earl Jones and Ernie Sabella will reprise their roles from the hit 1994 animated film as Mufasa and Pumbaa, respectively. Max Charles (The Strain) will voice Simba and Nala’s second-born cub, Kion. The Lion Guard centers on Kion as he assumes the role of leader of the Lion Guard, a team of animals in charge of preserving the Pride Lands. Instead of asking the fiercest and strongest lions to help him, Kion looks to his friends whom he believes have the most heroic qualities. This group includes Kion’s best friend Bunga, a fearless honey badger (Joshua Rush); Ono, an intellectual egret (The Middle’s Atticus Shaffer); Fuli, a confident cheetah (Diamond White) and Beshte, a friendly and good-spirited hippo (Dusan Brown).
The CW is turning ‘The Notebook’ into a show. (USA Today) — A TV version of Nicholas Sparks’ beloved romantic drama The Notebook is in the works at The CW. The network is developing a series based on Sparks’ bestselling 1996 novel and the 2004 New Line sleeper hit film, which starred Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams. The official logline: “This series will follow the romantic journey of the two beloved central characters Noah and Allie, at the outset of their blossoming relationship as they build their lives and their future together against the backdrop of the racial politics, economic inequities, and social mores of post-World War II of the late 1940s in North Carolina.” If greenlit to series, The Notebook would represent The CW’s second period drama after Reign (and a surprisingly earnest one, at that—assuming the series reflects the tone of the source material). A classically romantic tale that spans decades, The Notebook is an intriguing potential departure from The CW’s action-filled genre shows and contemporary rom-coms.
8am – A INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH – Redskins elite long snapper and WMAL’s Redskins analyst
REDSKINS PRESEASON GAME: Football is back! The Washington Redskins preseason begins with a matchup against the Cleveland Browns at First Energy Stadium in Cleveland.
Geno Smith out 6-10 weeks; ‘sucker punch’ over $600 dispute. New York Jets Quarterback Geno Smith suffering a broken jaw began as a dispute over $600, sources told ESPN. Smith, who will miss at least six to 10 weeks with two fractures in his jaw, accepted a $600 plane ticket from IK Enemkpali to appear at the reserve linebacker’s football camp in Pflugerville, Texas, on July 11, according to sources. Problems arose when Smith did not show to the camp, which took place days after someone close to Smith was killed in a motorcycle accident in Miami, sources said.
Judge puts NFL on hot seat as he belittles ‘Deflategate’ NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge put the NFL on the defensive Wednesday over its four-game suspension of Tom Brady, demanding to know what evidence directly links the New England quarterback to deflated footballs and belittling the drama of the controversy. ”What is the direct evidence that implicates Mr. Brady?” Judge Richard M. Berman repeatedly asked NFL lawyer Daniel L. Nash at the first hearing in the civil case in Manhattan federal court as Brady and Commissioner Roger Goodell looked on. Nash responded there was ”considerable evidence Mr. Brady clearly knew about this,” including records of text messages and phone calls between the quarterback and one of two Patriots employees implicated in the scandal known as ”Deflategate.” But he also said there was no ”smoking gun” showing Brady had direct knowledge that the balls were underinflated for the first half of the Patriots’ 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game Jan. 18.
8am – B 2016 News:
Poll: Walker drops, Trump rises in Iowa. Donald Trump is the strong front-runner in a new CNN/ORC poll, displacing the longtime leader in the GOP race in Iowa, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose numbers have seen a dramatic decline. Despite all the criticism heaped on Trump, the armor-plated reality TV star claims 22% support from Iowans who say they plan to vote in the Republican caucuses on Feb. 1. Likely GOP caucusgoers believe Trump would be the best in the Republican field to handle the economy, illegal immigration and terrorism, the poll shows. The survey, taken Aug. 7-11, found retired brain surgeon Ben Carson in second place with 14%. Walker, a former Iowan, gets 9%, hovering with the middle-of-the-pack crowd: Ted Cruz, 8%; Carly Fiorina, 7%; Mike Huckabee, 7%; and 5% for the three-way tie of Jeb Bush, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.
Poll: Bernie Sanders surges ahead of Hillary Clinton in NH, 44-37.
Trump: Sanders ‘showed such weakness’ with #BlackLivesMatter protesters. Washington (CNN) – Donald Trump said Tuesday that Bernie Sanders “showed that he’s weak” by allowing #BlackLivesMatter protesters to take his microphone during a weekend event in Seattle. And Trump — the Republican presidential contender who, he said, is attracting the biggest crowds to campaign events along with the Democrat Sanders — vowed: “Believe me, that’s not going to happen to Trump.” “I would never give up my microphone. I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness, the way he was taken away by two young women — the microphone; they just took the whole place over,” Trump told reporters during an evening news conference before speaking to a Republican group in Michigan. “That will never happen with me,” he said. “I don’t know if I’ll do the fighting myself or if other people will, but that was a disgrace. I felt badly for him. But it showed that he’s weak.”
Ben Carson: Planned Parenthood Clinics Put in Black Neighborhoods to ‘Control That Population.’ Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World,” former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, a candidate for the 2016 Republican nomination, sounded off on Planned Parenthood, as the so-called women’s health organization has been under fire in recent weeks for a series of videos suggesting they were open to selling aborted fetal tissue for profit. Carson referred to the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger and her position on eugenics, particularly as it pertained to blacks, which he said may not allow for him to be objective when it comes to Planned Parenthood.
LIVE TONIGHT at 8:30 on WMAL! Donald Trump Joins The Mark Levin Show!
8am – C Wheaties is coming out with a beer — HefeWheaties. No, we’re not making this up: Sports enthusiasts can now drink like champions. Wheaties, the token breakfast of champions, has partnered with Fulton, a craft brewery in Minneapolis, to create a limited-edition Hefeweizen beer named HefeWheaties. And why not? Wheaties is wheat cereal. Hefeweizen is wheat beer. It was only a matter of time, right? General Mills noted in a press release that while the alcoholic beverage will not actually contain Wheaties cereal, it is still representative of the Wheaties brand. HefeWheaties will be available for limited time beginning Aug. 26. Unfortunately, the brew will not be available for shipment or purchase outside of Minnesota.
8am – D Hogan has decided state will cooperate with feds on undocumented detainees. (Washington Post) — Immigration advocates in Maryland are criticizing a decision by Gov. Larry Hogan to notify federal immigration officials when an illegal immigrant targeted for deportation is released from the state-run Baltimore City Detention Center. Advocates consider Hogan’s stance to be a departure from the policy of his predecessor, Democrat Martin O’Malley, who last year joined other elected officials in refusing requests from the Obama administration to coordinate with federal law enforcement whenever a detainee was being released. Hogan’s decision, which was made with no fanfare shortly after he took office in January, is especially troubling, advocates say, because it is his first significant action regarding immigration policy.
8am – E William Shatner to (boldly) headline Star Trek cruise. (USA Today) —
William Shatner will soon be taking fans where they’ve never gone before, to sea, hosting the first ever officially licensed Star Trek cruise. Star Trek: The Cruise will embark January 9, 2017, on the Norwegian Pearl from Miami. The six-day cruise is part of the 50th anniversary celebration for the Star Trek franchise, which first hit the airwaves in 1966. Shatner, who played Captain James T. Kirk, says on the cruise website that he’s excited about the enterprise. “When I was told that this was the first authorized Star Trek cruise and part of the 50th anniversary celebration, I just knew that my participation would be something that our fans would enjoy. It should be a lot of fun,” Shatner says. Other Star Trek stars will also be onboard including Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Robert Picardo from Star Trek: Voyager, James Darren from Deep Space Nine and Denise Crosby from The Next Generation, as well as John de Lancie from The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine.