James Rosen, Anderson Wozny and Jake Tapper joined WMAL on Thursday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith Hunter

5am – A/B/C             Should the ‘R-word’ be banned on attire at schools? One parent thinks so. (Washington Post) — When Jared Hautamaki brought his 5-year-old son to school in Silver Spring, Md., he immediately noticed that the school’s principal wore a burgundy­-and-gold polo shirt bearing the name and logo of Washington’s National Football League team, the Redskins. “As a native parent, that’s really, really offensive,” Hautamaki recalls telling the leader of Highland Elementary School in Montgomery County. Hautamaki has since testified before the county school board, started a petition drive and stirred community debate about what constitutes offensive attire at school. He is calling on county school officials to ban students and staff in the district from wearing clothing with the name or logo of sports teams with Native American mascots, including Washington’s NFL team.

5am – D/E     Residents express concerns of Montgomery County Airpark. (ABC 7) — MONTGOMERY CO., Md. (ABC7) — Wednesday night dozens of Montgomery County residents met to express concerns that not enough has been done since a deadly jet crash last December. On December 8, 2014, the jet crashed short of the runway at the Montgomery County Airpark in Gaithersburg. It landed in the Hunters Woods neighborhood. Three people on board the aircraft died, as well as three people on the ground. The jet damaged three homes. A wing flew into a house where Marie Gemmell was inside with her two sons, 3-year-old Cole and 1-month-old Devin. All three died of smoke inhalation.

6am – A/B/C More millennials choosing pals over priests when tying the knot. (CBS News) — New numbers form the Pew Research Center show that millennials are losing their faith. Less than half say religion is very important to them, and just half say they believe in God with absolute certainty, compared with nearly 70 percent of baby boomers. The drop in religious beliefs is shaking up the way many Americans get married. The amount of Americans choosing to get married by a priest in a Catholic Church is down more than 60 percent since 1970. More and more, Americans are instead asking their friends to step in and do the honors, reports CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz. Megan Lantto and Patrick Bigelow included many of the traditional marital trappings on their big day – the white dress, groomsmen in matching ties, excited moms and musical accompaniment as the bride walked down the aisle. But when it came to choosing a person to oversee their “I Do’s,” Megan and Patrick – both raised Catholic – broke from tradition. They asked Pat’s college friend Matt Ferari to officiate the ceremony, not a Catholic priest.

6am – D/E     Too young? DC council members introduce legislation to lower federal voting age in DC to 16: Proposal would allow DC 16-year-olds to vote for president in 2016. (Fox 5) — It’s not uncommon to hear about low voter turnout in some elections. But some lawmakers believe getting students involved at a young age and educating them on the issues will help those numbers. WASHINGTON – When Americans go to the polls to vote in 2016, there’s a chance that 16-year-olds in Washington, D.C. could also be casting their ballots. On Tuesday, three D.C. City Council members proposed lowering the federal voting age in D.C. from 18 to 16. Ward 6 Council member Charles Allan is the chief author behind the Youth Vote Amendment Act of 2015. He said Tuesday that there’s nothing in the 26th Amendment that forbids younger Americans from voting, and that the Constitution only ensures that those 18 or older have the right to vote. Council members David Grosso and Brianne Nadeau co-introduced the legislation. Advocates hope the idea would encourage change in civic involvement in the District, where just 38 percent of registered voters turned out for the city’s last mayoral election. If the legislation passes, D.C. wouldn’t be the first to lower the voting age. In Tacoma Park, Md., the minimum age to vote in municipal elections is 16.

7am – A/B/C/D/E     INTERVIEW — JAMES ROSEN – Fox Chief Washington Correspondent and author of new book “Cheney One on One: A Candid Conversation with America’s Most Controversial Statesman” – discussed his new book.

• Fox Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen’s new book, Cheney One on One: A Candid Conversation with America’s Most Controversial Statesman (Nov. 2, 2015). In Cheney One on One, the man at the center of four decades of political upheaval—from Watergate to Iraq—takes stock of his life and legacy with unprecedented candor. In December 2014, Cheney sat down with Rosen for three days of oral history interviews. No subject was off-limits—including the pivotal hours after 9/11. The result is the most detailed interrogation of Cheney ever conducted, an inside account of his extraordinary life and times.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — ANDERSON WOZNY — (pronounced: wahz-nee) — Vice President and Director of Financial Planning at Edelman Financial Services

• Open enrollment is here. It’s a good time for employees to not only assess their health insurance situation of rising premiums but also a good time to consider how much they devote to other benefits they receive from their employer: life insurance, 401k, HSA, disability insurance, wellness benefits, etc. Anderson gave tips for what employees should be thinking about regarding their overall financial situation during open enrollment.

8am – B         TV News:

• Protest against Donald Trump hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’ grows. NEW YORK (AP) — Pressure continued to mount on NBC to cancel Donald Trump’s guest-host appearance on this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” as a coalition of advocacy groups delivered petitions to the network Wednesday calling for him to be dropped from the show. The petitions delivered to 30 Rockefeller Plaza, home of NBC and “Saturday Night Live,” marked the latest attempts to dissuade the network from allowing the Republican presidential hopeful to host the show, with the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda earlier asking that NBC reconsider the decision. “There’s mounting evidence that Donald Trump’s racist demagoguery is resulting in real-world violence and physical and verbal intimidation,” Mushed Zaheed, deputy political director of Credo Action, one of the participating groups, said in a statement. In advance of the show, NBC released promotional spots featuring Trump that included one in which he refers to a Republican opponent, Ben Carson, as “a complete and total loser.” Trump drew fire early in his campaign when, as the billionaire developer announced his candidacy, he described some Mexicans who are in the United States illegally as criminals and rapists, prompting NBC to sever its Miss Universe ties with Trump while declaring he would never again appear on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” “It is shameful for ‘SNL’ and NBC to think that racism can be repackaged as comedy,” said Juan Escalante, digital campaigns manager for America’s Voice, another group participating in the coalition.
• ‘Fair And Balanced’ News Channel Comedy Starring Kal Penn From ‘Harold & Kumar’ Writers In Works At ABC. (Deadline) — Harold & Kumar star Kal Penn is reuniting with the writers of the hit feature franchise, Hayden Schlossberg and Jon Hurwitz, for Fair And Balanced, a single-camera comedy, which has been set up at ABC. Written by Schlossberg and HurPremiere Of Universal Pictures’ “American Reunion” – After Partywitz, Fair And Balanced, from Lionsgate TV, revolves around an aspiring NPR reporter who is swayed to work at a Fox News-type channel. (Fox News has been using “Fair and Balanced” as its slogan.) The project will be informed by some of Penn’s real-life experiences appearing on various news shows as well as serving as correspondent for Vice News and spending two years in Washington as an associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and a member of President Obama’s National Arts Policy Committee. Penn will executive produce Fair And Balanced alongside his longtime manager and producing partner Dan Spilo of Industry Entertainment. Hurwitz and Schlossberg also will executive produce through their Hurwitz & Schlossberg Productions, with Matt Lottman, their Director of Development, as co-producer.

8am – C         Bernie Sanders: Hillary Clinton’s Emails Deserve Scrutiny

Guess he’s not sick and tired of talking about her damn emails after all. (Huffington Post) — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who declared during last month’s Democratic presidential debate that “the American people are sick and tired” of hearing about Hillary Clinton’s private email account, on Wednesday defended a federal probe into the matter and said it should continue. “You get 12 seconds to say these things,” Sanders told The Wall Street Journal, referring to his comments at the debate. “There’s an investigation going on right now. I did not say, ‘End the investigation.’ That’s silly. … Let the investigation proceed unimpeded.” In Wednesday’s interview, Sanders clarified that his comments were not meant to dismiss the controversy over Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. He said federal agencies examining Clinton’s emails have raised “valid questions,” such as whether the emails contained classified information.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JAKE TAPPER — Host of CNN’s The Lead and State of the Union – discussed the Russian jet, debate moderators and his upcoming show.

8am – E         Entertainment News:

• Miranda Lambert Acknowledges Her Divorce From Blake Shelton in CMAs Acceptance Speech. When Miranda Lambert won the Female Vocalist of the Year Award at the 2015 CMAs on Wednesday, Nov. 4, she put on a brave face during her acceptance speech as ex-husband Blake Shelton sat in the audience. “Hi, guys. I needed a bright spot this year,” the 31-year-old said, referring to her divorce from the country crooner in July. Her statement comes shortly after Blake’s rep announced that he and fellow Voice coach Gwen Stefani, 46, are dating. The 39-year-old and the mother-of-three have spent a lot of time together over the past few months and were recently spotted getting cozy at a Halloween party. According to a source, Miranda was aware that the pair had chemistry, “but she never knew it would develop into such a close relationship so fast.”
• ‘Voice’ mentors Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are dating. NEW YORK (AP) — Recently divorced singer Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani, who filed for divorce in August, are dating. A representative for Shelton confirmed on Wednesday that the two stars are a couple. Both Shelton and Stefani are mentors on NBC’s “The Voice.” Stefani filed for divorce from fellow musician Gavin Rossdale in August after nearly 13 years of marriage, citing irreconcilable differences. Both are seeking joint custody of their three children. Shelton and singer Miranda Lambert announced that they were divorced after four years of marriage in July.

TOMORROW: Bret Baier, Trevor Matich and John Nolte