Jared Meyer, Martine Powers, John Matthews, AB Stoddard, David Bossie, Cindy Boren and Rep. Phil Roe joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, April 28, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C   ESPN layoffs: ESPN’s massive round of layoffs hit familiar faces, including Andy Katz and Britt McHenry. ESPN has lost 10 million subscribers since 2011. Today, to cut costs, the sports network is expected to lay off 100 employees.  The sports broadcasting network sent a memo to employees early Wednesday, informing them that a series of previously announced layoffs would take place today. Familiar faces like Ed Werder, Danny Kanell, Len Elmore, Jayson Stark, Trent Dilfer and Brett McMurphy are among those who have been let go.  The total number of employees cut will be around 100, Fox News has learned. The memo, from ESPN President John Skipper, noted that the network’s new talent lineup will be announced soon.

5am – D         Real Books Are Back. E-book Sales Plunge Nearly 20%. WASHINGTON — (CNN) Are physical books the new vinyl? New data suggest that the reading public is ditching e-books and returning to the old fashioned printed word. Sales of consumer e-books plunged 17% in the U.K. in 2016, according to the Publishers Association. Sales of physical books and journals went up by 7% over the same period, while children’s books surged 16%. The same trend is on display in the U.S., where e-book sales declined 18.7% over the first nine months of 2016, according to the Association of American Publishers. Paperback sales were up 7.5% over the same period, and hardback sales increased 4.1%. “The print format is appealing to many and publishers are finding that some genres lend themselves more to print than others and are using them to drive sales of print books,” said Phil Stokes, head of PwC’s entertainment and media division in the U.K.

5am – E         Latest DC metro news:

• Metro workers planning ‘sick-out’ Friday
• Metro GM: Red Line back up and running; normal service expected for PM rush
• Metro Workers Turn Backs on WMATA Board, Walk Out of Meeting. Relations between WMATA and ATU Local 689 took a turn for the worse at a meeting Thursday afternoon. WASHINGTON, DC — Metro workers marched out of a contentious WMATA board meeting in D.C. Thursday afternoon as the contract dispute between the two sides continue to intensify. The video of the confrontation is embedded below.The video shows the workers, who were wearing shirts that say “Stop Service Cuts” and “Bargain in Good Faith,” walking out of the meeting while chanting, “Who moves this city? We move this city!”
• Budget Experts: New 1% Sales Tax Regionwide Gives Metro Money It Needs. WASHINGTON – (WMAL) A group of the region’s foremost budget experts is out with its recommendation to keep Metro alive and well far into the future: A new dedicated tax throughout the region, suggested to take the form of a new 1% sales tax regionwide. Even at the beginning stages of the discussion, however, roadblocks to a new tax were starting to form from state legislators and others resistant to the political ramifications of instituting another tax.

6am – A/B/C Montgomery County Elementary School Teachers Used ‘Smash Space’ to Vent Frustrations. The school principal has apologized for her ‘lapse in judgement’ in creating the smash space on school grounds. An elementary school principal in Montgomery County, Maryland, is apologizing for creating a “smash space” on school grounds where teachers could beat a broken rocking chair with a baseball bat. Kensington Parkwood Elementary School Principal Barbara Liess said in a letter to parents Wednesday that she set up the smash space after reading news articles about businesses that have a room where their employees can smash things as an outlet for stress. Liess said she created the smash space on March 8 after a broken rocking chair was taken to the school’s loading dock. She said the loading dock was “out of sight and sound of students.” Kensington Parkwood PTA President Jessica Chertow found out about the smash space through a concerned parent, Bethesda Magazine reported. A spokesperson for Montgomery County Public Schools released a statement saying the school system does not condone the activity and the school system is investigating.

6am – D         INTERVIEW: JARED MEYER – senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability

• RECAP President Trump’s first 100 Days
• JARED MEYER: Trump’s 100 Days Have Made a Good Start on Regulation
• First, the Trump Administration needs to get rid of outdated, ineffective regulations.
• Second, the Trump administration must slow the nonstop growth in new, costly regulations.
• Finally, the Trump administration can infuse unprecedented transparency into the regulatory process.
• BIO: Jared Meyer is a senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability. He researches the economic effects that various government regulations have on labor markets. Meyer is the coauthor of Disinherited: How Washington Is Betraying America’s Young and the author of Uber-Positive: Why Americans Love the Sharing Economy.

6am – E         President Trump signs executive order to improve accountability at Department of Veterans Affairs. Trump to create new whistleblower protection office at Veterans Affairs. WASHINGTON – President Trump, seeking to rack up accomplishments as he approaches the 100-day mark in office, will sign an executive order Thursday to create an office at the Department of Veterans Affairs charged with holding more VA employees accountable for wrongdoing. The office will investigate allegations of misconduct – including retaliation against whistle-blowing employees who reported abuses — and seek to identify systemic barriers that have previously hindered the agencies’ top leaders from more adequately addressing such problems in the past, including with disciplinary action.

6am – F         Latest Congress/government shutdown news:

• Trump: ‘If there’s a shutdown, there’s a shutdown’ (ABC News) –  President Trump on Thursday deflected concerns that Congress may be unable to pass a new spending bill to keep government operations afloat. “We’ll see what happens,” he told Reuters in an interview. “If there’s a shutdown, there’s a shutdown.” Lawmakers are hoping that a stopgap measure will provide congressional leadership more time to negotiate a larger funding bill.
• Dems say they won’t support a stopgap bill to fund government past Saturday if there’s a health care vote this week

• House punts health care vote on eve of shutdown deadline. Washington (CNN) The House of Representatives will not vote on health care this week, despite a White House attempt to revive a health care reform package ahead of President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office. “We are not voting on health care this week,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters late Thursday. Hours before a Friday deadline, Congress was working to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown while they worked on a broader deal to fund agencies through September. Republicans were readying to pass the week-long funding bill on their own after Democrats, who tend to back these short-term bills, threatened to oppose it if Republicans did in fact move a fresh Obamacare repeal bill. A top Democrat — House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer — issued a statement Thursday morning saying he would advise his fellow Democrats to oppose the one-week bill if Republicans tried to pass their latest version of health care reform. On Thursday, Republicans had reached new agreements within their own caucus to improve their chances of passing their health care bill — but ultimately decided against bringing it to the floor this week. The short-term government funding bill, planned for a vote Friday, must be passed by midnight to keep federal agencies open through May 5.
• Schumer blocks 1 week stopgap funding bill ahead of possible government shutdown. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday objected to a deal on passing a one-week stopgap government funding bill, citing concerns about ongoing negotiations over a larger spending agreement. Schumer said there were still unresolved “poison pill riders” being worked out on a longer spending deal that would fund the government through Sept. 30. “Our position has been clear and it’s nothing new. No poison pill riders. The sooner we can resolve this issue, the quicker we can have an agreement on appropriations for 2017, so I object,” he said from the Senate floor.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — JOHN MATTHEWS – WMAL’s Managing Editor — recapped the NFL draft and the Redskins. Jonathan Allen, the Redskins pick is from Leesburg, Virginia!

• OTHER SPORTS NEWS:
• Recap NFL draft for the Redskins: Jonathan Allen, the Redskins pick is from Leesburg, Virginia!
• Washington Redskins: Jonathan Allen, DE, Alabama —  It would seem shoulder issues knocked him down a bit, but this could be a heist for the ‘Skins. Allen is an every-down lineman who had 28 sacks in four seasons despite often playing on the interior. He’ll plug beautifully into Washington’s three-man front and should be an instant factor for a defense that struggled in every area in 2016 and won’t have suspended pass rusher Trent Murphy at the outset.
• The Capitals fall to the Penguins 3-2 in Game 1 of their second-round Stanley Cup Playoff matchup. Decisive goal came late, but Capitals lost the game with earlier miscues. The Washington Capitals will wake up Friday morning and rue the third-period goal from Nick Bonino, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ third-line center who was last seen finishing the Capitals off in overtime of Game 6 last May, beginning summer in Washington a month early.  On Thursday, in the opener of their second-round series at Verizon Center, it was somehow Bonino on the breakaway, Bonino outracing Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik to free himself for the shot, Bonino beating Braden Holtby to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 victory.
• Washington Nationals pound Colorado Rockies, 16-5, finish ten-game road trip 9-1. With a 16-5 win today in Coors Field, the Washington Nationals finished their ten-game road trip to Atlanta, New York and Colorado 9-1 with a 16-6 record overall on the season. Gio Gonzalez went 6 2⁄3 innings on the mound today in Coors Field, limiting the Rockies to two runs on seven hits as the Washington Nationals took the series finale in Denver, CO to finish with a 9-1 record on their ten-game road trip through Atlanta, New York and the Mile-High City. Gonzalez received plenty of run support in what ended up a 16-5 win in which he was able to collect two RBIs himself, on an RBI infield single in the sixth and a bases-loaded walk in the seventh. The Nationals blew things wide open in an 11-run top of the seventh in which they set franchise records (2005-present) for runs and plate appearances (15) in a single inning.

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – MARTINE POWERS – Transportation Reporter at The Washington Post—discussed the latest DC metro news.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – A.B. STODDARD – associate editor and columnist at RealClearPolitics – discussed the latest Congress/government shutdown news.

7am – E         Flying News:

• United passenger who was violently dragged off flight reaches settlement with airline. The United Airlines passenger violently removed from a flight earlier this month has reached a settlement with the airline, according to multiple reports. David Dao’s attorney, Thomas Demetrio, praised the airline in a news release for taking full responsibility in its handling of the incident. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.

• After a month of turbulence, United raising the limit of compensation for overbooked flights to $10,000. United Airlines (UAL.N) said on Thursday it would offer passengers who volunteer to forfeit their seats on overbooked flights up to $10,000 as part of the carrier’s efforts to repair the damage from the rough removal of a passenger. The offer came after rival Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) outlined plans to offer up to $9,950 in such cases. United also said it would take actions to reduce overbooking flights and improve customer satisfaction.
• Southwest Airlines says it will no longer overbook its flights. Southwest really doesn’t want a United situation on its hands. CEO Gary Kelly announced Thursday that Southwest (LUV) will no longer overbook its flights, ending a practice that sometimes leaves paying passengers without a seat. “The last thing that we want to do is deny a customer their flight,” Kelly said on CNBC. Earlier this month, a United passenger was dragged up the aisle and off a plane by authorities in Chicago when he refused to give up his seat. United needed seats for a crew on its way to work another flight. The airline’s botched response turned the episode into a PR nightmare. Weeks later, United (UAL) is still working to clean up the mess. The airline said Thursday it will offer up to $10,000 to passengers who voluntarily give up their seat when too many people show up for a flight. Delta (DAL) has instituted a similar policy. Southwest is taking it one step further and ending overbooking outright. The carrier joins JetBlue, which has long advertised that it doesn’t overbook flights.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – DAVID BOSSIE – President of Citizens United and President Donald Trump’s 2016 deputy campaign manager

• Reflect on President Trump’s first 100 Days in office

– HEALTHCARE

– TAX CUTS

– FOREIGN POLICY: Russia, North Korea, NATO, Syria

– IMMIGRATION AND A WALL

– SUPREME COURT

– BUY AMERICAN, HIRE AMERICAN

– ‘DRAIN THE SWAMP’

8am –B/C      INTERVIEW – CINDY BOREN – ‎Sports Reporter at The Washington Post – discussed the latest in DC sports news: Caps, Nats and the NFL draft (Redskins).- AND ESPN layoffs: ESPN’s massive round of layoffs hit familiar faces, including Andy Katz and Britt McHenry.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – REP. PHIL ROE, M.D. (R-TN), Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs

• President Trump signs executive order to improve accountability at Department of Veterans Affairs
• Trump to create new whistleblower protection office at Veterans Affairs
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 22m22 minutes ago: We are making tremendous progress with the V. A. There has never been so much done so quickly, and we have just started. We love our VETS!

8am – E         NORTH KOREA NEWS:

• Trump says ‘major, major’ conflict with North Korea possible, but seeks diplomacy. (Reuters) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday a major conflict with North Korea is possible in the standoff over its nuclear and missile programs, but he would prefer a diplomatic outcome to the dispute. “There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea. Absolutely,” Trump told Reuters in an Oval Office interview ahead of his 100th day in office on Saturday. Nonetheless, Trump said he wanted to peacefully resolve a crisis that has bedeviled multiple U.S. presidents, a path that he and his administration are emphasizing by preparing a variety of new economic sanctions while not taking the military option off the table. “We’d love to solve things diplomatically but it’s very difficult,” he said.
• Rex Tillerson: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is ‘not insane.’ North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is “not insane,” asserted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday. During an interview on Fox News, Tillerson was asked by host Bret Baier whether he thinks Kim is “unstable” and not able to make reasonable decisions. “All indications, Bret, by intelligence agencies, and there have been a number of independent psychologists who have done analysis as best they can, all indications are that he is not crazy,” Tillerson replied. He went on to explain how little he thinks of Kim, despite not agreeing the man is “crazy.” “He may be ruthless. He may be a murderer. He may be someone who in many respects we would say by our standards is irrational. But he is not insane,” Tillerson said.