Steve Moore, Susan Ferrechio, Elizabeth Schultz and Sheriff David Clarke joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C   Would You Prefer Stripping ObamaCare In Phases Or Do You Want A Complete Repeal And Replace?

• Obamacare overhaul faces resistance in Congress from right and left. (LA Times) — House GOP leadership faced mounting opposition Tuesday after introducing an Obamacare repeal and replace bill that was rejected by small government conservatives, panned by Republican moderates and given only lukewarm support from President Trump. One day after unveiling the GOP’s long-promised effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something better, the new American Health Care Act already appears to be on life support, unlikely to survive the onslaught of friendly fire unless Trump personally rallies his party.
• Price lays out three phases of Obamacare reform. (Washington Examiner) — Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said Tuesday that the repeal and replacement of Obamacare would occur in three phases, a plan President Trump alluded to earlier in the day with a series of tweets. Price, who made a surprise appearance at the White House daily briefing, said the first phase of the plan would focus on the replacement bill put forward in the House by Republicans this week. The bill has rankled conservatives who think it does not do enough to discard the system created by the Affordable Care Act. The second phase of the plan would involve “regulatory modifications,” Price said. The third would involve additional legislation that cannot be achieved through budget reconciliation, Price noted. Republicans had planned to pursue many of the changes to Obamacare through the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass policy fixes without seeking many Democratic votes.

5am – D         Schools Closed On ‘Day Without A Woman.’

• Closed schools on ‘Day Without a Woman’ leave some parents scrambling. WASHINGTON — Alexandria City Public Schools’ decision to close school Wednesday after more than 300 staff members called off work has left some parents scrambling to find child care. The “unusually high number” of call-outs may be connected with the “Day Without a Woman” nationwide protest and social media campaign, schools superintendent Alvin Crawley said in a statement Monday.  Some students of parents at Patrick Henry Elementary School said they were surprised by the school’s decision and are seeking to make alternative arrangements. “It came out of nowhere,” said a parent named Nebriya who asked WTOP only publish her first name. “I understand it. It’s just a little last-minute for parents to deal,” another parent, Jen Ziegler said. There are 16 public schools, including 12 elementary schools, in the county and more than 15,000 total students. Crawley said the decision to cancel classes Wednesday was “based solely on our ability to provide sufficient staff to cover all our classrooms,” and does not signal political support for the protest. The “Day Without a Woman” campaign is led by the same group who organized the D.C. women’s march, which drew massive crowds to the National Mall the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
• Prince George’s County Public Schools will be closed Wednesday for A Day Without A Woman. PGCPS released the following statement on Tuesday:  “Throughout Prince George’s County Public Schools, a high number of school-based and support staff have requested leave for Wednesday, March 8. As of 5:30 p.m., approximately 1,700 teachers and 30 percent of transportation staff have requested leave. We cannot transport students and provide safe, productive learning environments without adequate staff. As a result, schools will be closed tomorrow for students. We apologize for the inconvenience this will surely cause to many families.’ All employees will be expected to report for work or follow the normal procedures for leave requests. Based on our policies, PGCPS and the Prince George’s County Board of Education have no political stance on “A Day Without a Woman.” Schools will open Thursday, March 9 on a normal schedule.” Alexandria City schools will also be closed on Wednesday.

5am – E         WikiLeaks: CIA hacking group ‘UMBRAGE’ stockpiled techniques from other hackers. (USA Today) — A division of the Central Intelligence Agency stockpiled hacking techniques culled from other hackers, giving the agency the ability to leave behind the “fingerprints” of the outside hackers when it broke into electronic devices, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks alleges as it released thousands of documents Tuesday. WikiLeaks says it acquired the documents from a source who wished to propel a debate about whether CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed the agency’s legal powers. If authentic, the documents appear to show that the CIA’s hacking division has developed software that enables the agency to break into smartphones, computers and even turn Internet-connected televisions into microphones. The documents also suggest that one of the agency’s divisions – the Remote Development Branch’s UMBRAGE Group – may have been cataloguing hacking methods from outside hackers, including in Russia, that would have allowed the agency to mask their identity by employing the method during espionage.

6am – A/B/C Jason Chaffetz: Low Income Americans Should Buy Healthcare ‘Rather Than Getting That New iPhone’ (Mediaite) — Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) appeared on CNN’s New Day Tuesday morning to defend the Republican replacement for Obamacare that was rolled out to the public yesterday. The proposal has already faced heat from Democratic and non-partisan organizations who claim it will lead to a growth in the U.S. uninsured population. Congressman Chaffetz said the Republican plan would require Americans to make their own health choices, a situation he explained in the following way: “Americans have choices and they’ve got to make a choice and so maybe rather than getting that new iPhone that they just love and they want to go spend hundreds of dollars on that, maybe they should invest it in their own healthcare. They’ve got to make those decisions themselves.”

6am – D         HIGH SCHOOL PAYBACK: Overweight student whose childhood crush told her she was ‘too fat’ has the last laugh after she loses 140lbs – and then turns HIM down for a date. (Daily Mail) — An overweight student who shed a massive ten stone has revealed how the object of her desire changed his tune about dating her after she’d lost weight.   Rachael Heffner, 25, from Indianapolis, weighed in at a hefty 20st 5lbs (285lb) during her lowest point and would often guzzle up to four large bottles of fizzy drinks a day. After her school crush told her he couldn’t date her because of her size, she decided to slim down and try and win his heart, only to not want it after she’d lost the weight.  As a New Year’s resolution, she decided to start cutting down on her sugary drinks intake, halve her portion sizes and began working out at the gym. After dropping to a svelte 10st 5lbs (145lb), she now regularly gets chatted up at the gym, in supermarkets and even on social media. Since slimming down, Rachael’s also taken the opportunity to turn down the same childhood sweetheart who rejected her – relishing the opportunity to tell him she was no longer interested.  Rachael, a social media specialist, said: ‘My initial motivation was to prove people wrong. In college I was rejected by a boy and I wanted to show him that he’d made a mistake. ‘I liked him and he didn’t like me, he made it known that it was because of the way that I looked and that he wasn’t attracted to me because I was heavier.  ‘He’s since asked me out a few times, but I’ve let him know that we’re just friends now and not romantic. ‘I also told him that he was the reason I started losing weight, which really shocked him and he apologised for what he said when we were younger. ‘But I’m glad he rejected me, I actually thanked him for it, as he was the reason I was able to get to the size I am today and there’s no point holding grudges.

6am – E         Ivanka Trump clothing line reports record sales. (The Hill) — Ivanka Trump’s eponymous women’s fashion line is reporting record sales figures despite calls for a boycott and controversies surrounding President Trump. “Since the beginning of February, they were some of the best performing weeks in the history of the brand,” Abigail Klem, the president of the Ivanka Trump fashion brand, tells Refinery29 in an interview published Tuesday. “For several different retailers Ivanka Trump was a top performer online, and in some of the categories it was the [brand’s] best performance ever.” The news of a sales surge comes after Nordstrom announced in early February that it would no longer carry the 35-year-old’s clothing and accessories, citing poor product sales. The move caused President Trump to tweet shortly after the announcement that his daughter was being “treated so unfairly” by the luxury department store giant. Also last month, Neiman Marcus stopped carrying the first daughter’s jewelry line on its website, and employees of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores were instructed to throw away any signage advertising her wares. The Office of Government Ethics recommended disciplinary action against White House adviser Kellyanne Conway after she urged viewers to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” during a February interview on “Fox & Friends.”

6am – F         Food-Delivery Robots Now in Action in DC. (NBC Washington) — It’s now possible in D.C. to have a robot deliver a hot meal to your door. Robots from the delivery company Starship Technologies are rolling along Washington streets as part of a pilot program, a company spokesman said. News4 spotted one of the robots — which look a little like a black-and-white version of the Pixar character Wall-E — cruising along M Street NW in Georgetown about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. “This is the world’s first delivery robot,” Starship Technologies spokesman Henry Harris-Burland said. The robots that move as fast as 4 mph were created to deliver takeout food, groceries and packages. “Anything you can order online, it can deliver,” Harris Burland said. The robots are equipped with sensors designed to prevent them from running into things. They each have a red flag and flashing lights. The only sound they make is the mechanical whirring of their wheels.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – STEVE MOORE – FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER AND HERITAGE FOUNDATION ECONOMIST – analyzed the GOP’s replacement plan for ObamaCare.

7am – B         Schools Closed On ‘Day Without A Woman.’

• Closed schools on ‘Day Without a Woman’ leave some parents scrambling. WASHINGTON — Alexandria City Public Schools’ decision to close school Wednesday after more than 300 staff members called off work has left some parents scrambling to find child care. The “unusually high number” of call-outs may be connected with the “Day Without a Woman” nationwide protest and social media campaign, schools superintendent Alvin Crawley said in a statement Monday.  Some students of parents at Patrick Henry Elementary School said they were surprised by the school’s decision and are seeking to make alternative arrangements. “It came out of nowhere,” said a parent named Nebriya who asked WTOP only publish her first name. “I understand it. It’s just a little last-minute for parents to deal,” another parent, Jen Ziegler said. There are 16 public schools, including 12 elementary schools, in the county and more than 15,000 total students. Crawley said the decision to cancel classes Wednesday was “based solely on our ability to provide sufficient staff to cover all our classrooms,” and does not signal political support for the protest. The “Day Without a Woman” campaign is led by the same group who organized the D.C. women’s march, which drew massive crowds to the National Mall the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
• Prince George’s County Public Schools will be closed Wednesday for A Day Without A Woman. PGCPS released the following statement on Tuesday:  “Throughout Prince George’s County Public Schools, a high number of school-based and support staff have requested leave for Wednesday, March 8. As of 5:30 p.m., approximately 1,700 teachers and 30 percent of transportation staff have requested leave. We cannot transport students and provide safe, productive learning environments without adequate staff. As a result, schools will be closed tomorrow for students. We apologize for the inconvenience this will surely cause to many families.’ All employees will be expected to report for work or follow the normal procedures for leave requests. Based on our policies, PGCPS and the Prince George’s County Board of Education have no political stance on “A Day Without a Woman.” Schools will open Thursday, March 9 on a normal schedule.” Alexandria City schools will also be closed on Wednesday.

7am – C         RICHARD SIMMONS UPDATE: HE’S NOT BEING HELD HOSTAGE

• Richard Simmons is NOT being held hostage by his housekeeper, claims publicist as podcast takes US by storm
• ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ podcast claims Simmons is being held hostage – an allegation his rep vehemently denies. (Daily Mail) — Richard Simmons’s publicist said that claims Simmons is being held hostage by his housekeeper at his California home are false. Simmons representative Tom Estey told People: ‘Theresa is the housekeeper, she’s the caretaker, she is extraordinary, she is amazing, she takes impeccable care of Richard and she has for as long as I have been working with Richard. ‘So that is a complete load of cr**.’  Estey said that Simmons has merely decided to live outside the public eye and played no role in the podcast ‘Missing Richard Simmons’ produced by Simmons’ friend and former Daily Show producer Dan Taberski. Estey told the magazine: ‘We did not cooperate nor participate in this podcast because we didn’t feel the need to nor did we want to.’   The podcast, currently iTunes’s most popular, probes the fitness guru’s whereabouts and delves into his relationship with his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles. Simmons, 68, has not been seen in public since 2014 and last year he was forced to respond to reports that he was a victim of elder abuse at the hands of his housekeeper, Teresa Reveles.

7am – D         WikiLeaks: CIA hacking group ‘UMBRAGE’ stockpiled techniques from other hackers. (USA Today) — A division of the Central Intelligence Agency stockpiled hacking techniques culled from other hackers, giving the agency the ability to leave behind the “fingerprints” of the outside hackers when it broke into electronic devices, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks alleges as it released thousands of documents Tuesday. WikiLeaks says it acquired the documents from a source who wished to propel a debate about whether CIA’s hacking capabilities exceed the agency’s legal powers. If authentic, the documents appear to show that the CIA’s hacking division has developed software that enables the agency to break into smartphones, computers and even turn Internet-connected televisions into microphones. The documents also suggest that one of the agency’s divisions – the Remote Development Branch’s UMBRAGE Group – may have been cataloguing hacking methods from outside hackers, including in Russia, that would have allowed the agency to mask their identity by employing the method during espionage.

7am – E         FOOD NEWS:

• Joseph W. Rogers, a Founder of Waffle House, Dies at 97. Joseph W. Rogers, a founder of Waffle House, the restaurant chain that achieved a kind of cultural renown with its no-frills menu, attentive service and round-the-clock hours, died on Friday in Atlanta. He was 97. The company announced his death on Monday. Joe Rogers Jr., who succeeded his father as chief executive in the late 1970s and remains chairman and controlling owner, said the elder Mr. Rogers died after having dinner with his wife of 74 years, Ruth, earlier in the evening. Mr. Rogers and an Atlanta neighbor, Tom Forkner, founded the restaurant in 1955. At the time, Mr. Rogers was a senior official at a restaurant chain called Toddle House. Mr. Forkner was a real estate investor. The two were eager to own a restaurant in their neighborhood.
• Twinkies cappuccinos are coming to a store near you. Would society consider it more socially acceptable to start the day by drinking a Twinkie? Hostess hopes so. According to Food Business News, the drink “features a combination of milk, sponge cake flavor and a hint of coffee.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW — SUSAN FERRECHIO – Washington Examiner’s Chief Congressional Correspondent

• Obamacare overhaul faces resistance in Congress from right and left.
• President Donald Trump: “I’m proud to support the replacement plan released by the House of Representatives.
• Sen. Mike Lee: “This is not the repeal bill that we’ve been waiting for all these years. This is a huge opportunity that has been missed.”

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW — ELIZABETH SCHULTZ — represents the Springfield district on the Fairfax County School Board – shared her perspective on schools closing because of ‘Day Without A Woman.’

8am – D         INTERVIEW — SHERIFF DAVID CLARKE — Milwaukee County Sheriff and author of new book “Cop Under Fire: Moving Beyond the Hashtags of Race, Crime and Politics for a Better America”

• Sheriff Clarke: President Trump Is ‘Ushering in a New Era’ for Law Enforcement.
• Sheriff Clarke: The Opioid Epidemic is More Than a Border Issue.
• Sheriff Clarke says ‘sanctuary city’ officials should be criminally charged.

8am – E         In a NYT opinion piece, a woman dying of cancer wrote a dating profile for her husband and it as gone viral.  Could you give your spouse permission to move on or would you want them to never marry again?

• You May Want to Marry My Husband. (NY Times) — I have been trying to write this for a while, but the morphine and lack of juicy cheeseburgers (what has it been now, five weeks without real food?) have drained my energy and interfered with whatever prose prowess remains. Additionally, the intermittent micronaps that keep whisking me away midsentence are clearly not propelling my work forward as quickly as I would like. But they are, admittedly, a bit of trippy fun. Still, I have to stick with it, because I’m facing a deadline, in this case, a pressing one. I need to say this (and say it right) while I have a) your attention, and b) a pulse. I have been married to the most extraordinary man for 26 years. I was planning on at least another 26 together. Want to hear a sick joke? …If you’re looking for a dreamy, let’s-go-for-it travel companion, Jason is your man. He also has an affinity for tiny things: taster spoons, little jars, a mini-sculpture of a couple sitting on a bench, which he presented to me as a reminder of how our family began. Here is the kind of man Jason is: He showed up at our first pregnancy ultrasound with flowers. This is a man who, because he is always up early, surprises me every Sunday morning by making some kind of oddball smiley face out of items near the coffeepot: a spoon, a mug, a banana. This is a man who emerges from the minimart or gas station and says, “Give me your palm.” And, voilà, a colorful gumball appears. (He knows I love all the flavors but white.)