Matt Schlapp, KT McFarland, Joe Trippi and Kelly Yamanouchi joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Are You Happy with Trump As the Presumptive Nominee?

5am – D         New DC Metro Report Released:  NTSB Chairman Christopher Hart took WMATA behind the woodshed Tuesday, blaming the transit system for failing to create a safety culture at Metro, despite years of continuing accidents and safety incidents.  The NTSB has investigated nine accidents on Metro since 2004, and has issued 101 safety recommendations during that time, and Hart says it’s clear many of those recommendations have not been followed.  Hart did give a shoutout to new Gemeral Manager Paul Wiedefeld for shutting down Metro on March 16th for emergency inspections, but says there is no short-term solution to fixing Metro’s safety issues.  A long-term change “safety first” culture needs to be established.

5am – E         Sanders: Clinton team thinks race ‘is over. They’re wrong.’ Sanders’ win in Indiana likely won’t make much of a dent in Clinton’s lead of more than 300 pledged delegates.  Clinton is still more than 90 percent of the way to clinching the Democratic nomination when the count includes superdelegates, the elected officials and party leaders who are free to support the candidate of their choice. Sanders said in the interview that he would be the best-positioned Democrat to take on Republican Donald Trump, who is now the likely Republican nominee after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz dropped out of the race. “There is nothing more I would like than to take on and defeat Donald Trump, someone who must never become president of this country.” Sanders said he had no intention to drop out of the race and rejected the notion that his criticism of Clinton’s record on issues like trade, campaign finance and the Iraq war would help Trump.

6am – A/B/C Winners and Losers of the Indiana Primary

6am – D         INTERVIEW – KELLY YAMANOUCHI – reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), covers airlines and the airport

• Why are TSA lines in airports so long across the country?
• Catching a Flight? Budget Hours, Not Minutes, for Security
• TSA seeks to speed lines as summer looms

6am – E         Critter News:

• Warm weather means tick season is on the way. WASHINGTON — With the weather warming and people spending more time outside, it’s time to start thinking about ticks. I picked up my first tick this year in March, but we are now coming into the thick of tick season,” University of Maryland Entomology Professor Mike Raupp told WTOP. This is the time of year, usually in late May, early June and July, when the cases of human Lyme disease start to spike. And it’s because people are simply outdoors more.” He said if you take a walk in a forest, use tick repellents and stick to paths.
• U.S. kills 39,000 turkeys in outbreak of mild bird flu. CHICAGO | U.S. authorities destroyed 39,000 turkeys in Missouri due to an outbreak of a mild form of avian flu, the World Organization for Animal Health said on Tuesday, as officials remained on alert for new cases. State authorities also have begun a quarantine and taken surveillance measures around the farm in Jasper County that was hit with the H5N1 strain of the virus to watch for other cases, according to the Missouri Department of Agriculture. All commercial flocks within a 10-kilometer radius of the farm have tested negative, the department said. The outbreak, which was detected late last month, is considered low pathogenic, meaning it is not as contagious or deadly as other varieties of the disease. Such strains are still a concern to agriculture and health officials because they can mutate into more dangerous, highly pathogenic forms of the virus.
• Pakistani city’s rat nightmare shows no sign of ending. Man, these rats can really bite. A public health crisis in one of Pakistan’s largest cities shows no sign of subsiding as “killer rats” continue their rampage, biting more than 400 people over the past month, officials at Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar said Tuesday. In early April, The Washington Post reported how Peshawar was gripped with fear amid reports that supersize rats had infested the city, killing at least eight children over the past year. The story read like a nightmare, but Peshawar officials quickly realized that this is a problem they won’t solve anytime soon. Jameel Shah, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, said the hospital has treated 423 patients for rat bites since April 1, including 23 on Tuesday, as of 3 p.m.  About half of the victims are children, Shah added.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — JOE TRIPPI – Democratic Strategist and Fox News Contributor

• BIO: Joe Trippi is an American Democratic campaign worker and consultant. Trippi has worked on the presidential campaigns of Ted Kennedy, Walter Mondale, Gary Hart, Dick Gephardt, Jerry Brown and John Edwards.
• Sanders wins Indiana in shocking upset

7am – B         Trump Ties Cruz’s Dad To Lee Harvey Oswald. Cruz Fights Back.

7am – C         Frozen fans ask Disney to make Elsa a lesbian in sequel with #GiveElsaAGirlfriend campaign. (People) — A new Twitter campaign calling on Frozen producers to make Elsa a lesbian in the upcoming sequel has gone viral. Twitter user Alexis Isabel Moncada was the first to bring up the idea on Saturday, tweeting, “I hope Disney makes Elsa a lesbian princess imagine how iconic that would be.” Her follow up tweet, “Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend,” has been retweeted more than 1,700 times. Moncada explained her petition in an article posted to MTV.com, saying, “The entertainment industry has given us girls who have fallen in love with beasts, ogres who fall for humans, and even grown women who love bees. But we’ve never been able to see the purity in a queer relationship.” She added that “many in the LGBT community view Frozen as a metaphor for the experience of coming out and accepting who you are. Yet Elsa, the film’s protagonist, will probably end up with a male prince or king in the upcoming Frozen sequel.”

‘Hamilton’ Makes History With 16 Tony Nominations. “Hamilton” is already a sold-out smash hit, that rare piece of theater to cross over into popular culture, showered with prizes and accolades, celebrated by artists and politicians, memorized by children and late-night talk show hosts. On Tuesday, the hip-hop musical about America’s first Treasury secretary added another mark of distinction: It was nominated for 16 Tony Awards, more than any other show in Broadway history. Tony nominators deemed the show prize-worthy in every category of theatermaking — acting, writing, directing, dance, music and design. A whopping seven “Hamilton” performers were singled out; in two categories, “Hamilton” actors will compete against one another.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst

• Third S. combat death comes as American troops edge closer to the front lines in Iraq. (Washington Post) — It was the third U.S. combat death in Iraq linked to the fight against the Islamic State. The shift to give closer support to Iraqis comes at a time of political turmoil in Baghdad, which is threatening the legitimacy of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, the key partner for the United States. Iraqi commanders said they are concerned that the crisis will complicate and slow progress on the battlefield.
• KT shared her thoughts on Trump becoming the presumptive nomine and how world leaders view him.
• London may be about to elect its first Muslim mayor. (Washington Post) – This week, Sadiq Khan is widely expected to win the election to become London’s mayor. If he does, he will be the first Muslim mayor in Europe’s largest city and the first elected Muslim mayor of any major European city

7am – E         Victim killed in Metrobus hijacking identified; suspect identified and charged. WASHINGTON — An armed Metrobus rider fought with the driver,  commandeered the bus and then struck and killed a pedestrian at a nearby gas station all within the span of several minutes in what police called a “bizarre” ordeal in D.C. Tuesday. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said the boarded the U6 bus about 10:30 a.m. in the 3800 block of Jay Street. After boarding the bus, the rider hovered near the driver. Within a few blocks, police said there was some sort of confrontation between the rider and driver, and a weapon was “displayed.” Seeing the commotion, passengers escaped the bus through the rear door. The driver also fled, but not before hitting an emergency button, summoning help. The hijacker closed the doors, took the wheel and drove just a few blocks before losing control of the bus. Police say the Metrobus jumped two curbs before it hit a pedestrian who was in the parking lot of the Crown gas station at the corner of Minnesota and Nannie Helen Burroughs avenues in Northeast. The pedestrian was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead, Lanier said. He has been identified as 40-year-old Anthony Payne of Northwest, D.C.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MATT SCHLAPP – Chairman of American Conservative Union – analyzed Trump winning and Cruz dropping out.

8am –B/C/D/E  – Calls on Trump winning Indiana and Cruz drops out.