Poolesville ice rink owner Marc Kohn, KT McFarland and Pete Hoekstra joined WMAL on Wednesday!

 Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C             Guns and Mental Health: HIPAA Change Permits Mental Health Reporting to Background Check System. The Department of Health and Human Services has modified the HIPAA Privacy Rule to permit certain covered entities to disclose to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System the identities of individuals who are prohibited from having a firearm, for reasons related to mental health. Under the Privacy Rule modification, certain covered entities are now permitted to disclose limited information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which reviews criminal records and other prohibiting data to determine whether federally licensed firearms dealers can legally transfer a gun to a prospective purchaser. Office for Civil Rights Director Jocelyn Samuels made the announcement on Monday. According to Samuels, the information that can be disclosed to NICS is the minimum necessary identifying information about individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or otherwise have been determined by a lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others, or who lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs. Although states have generally reported criminal history information to NICS, many report little information about individuals prohibited by federal law from possessing or receiving a gun for specific mental health reasons. “The modification announced today better enables the reporting of the identities of these individuals to the background check system, while continuing to strongly protect individuals’ privacy interests,” wrote Samuels in a blog. “Specifically, this final rule gives states improved flexibility to ensure accurate but limited information is reported to the NICS.”

5am – D         Twitter to Expand Tweet’s 140-Character Limit to 10,000. One of Twitter ‘sTWTR -2.92% most beloved features is set to change: The company is planning to extend its 140-character limit to as many as 10,000, according to a person familiar with the matter. Twitter’s loud and devoted user base was quick to bemoan that such a change — expected to be announced by the end of March — would spoil the brevity and speed of the real-time service. The character limit that forces users to pen snappy tweets could give way to the longer essays found on Facebook FB +0.50%, for example. It could transform Twitter into more of a public blogging platform rather than one that is succinct and well-suited to quips and breaking news headlines. This person said, however, that Twitter Inc. is aiming to retain the look and feel of the user timeline. For tweets that are longer than 140 characters, users will have to click and expand to see the rest of the text. As users write beyond the 140-character limit, Twitter will signal to them that they have crossed the threshold as a way to encourage brevity.

5am – E         South Carolina’s Nikki Haley to Deliver State of the Union Response. Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s final State of the Union address next week. Since her election in 2010, Haley has built a national profile, serving as the country’s youngest governor and South Carolina’s first woman to hold the job. An Indian-American who was first elected at the age of 38, she made headlines in July for her successful push to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds in Columbia. A staunch conservative with relatively strong approval ratings — in a state that hosts the nation’s third presidential nominating contest — Haley is often discussed as a potential short-lister for the GOP vice presidential nod. In a statement Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan praised Haley as a leader who oversaw “an economic turnaround and set a bold agenda for her state, getting things done and becoming one of the most popular governors in America.” The responsibility of delivering the opposition party’s response to the State of the Union is typically awarded to a rising star in politics. But the task has also sometimes ended up as a speed bump in the honoree’s career.

6am – A/B/C Prof Who Said Christians, Muslims Worship Same God Could Be Fired. (AP) – Officials of a Christian college in suburban Chicago on Tuesday said they have begun efforts to fire a professor who was placed on leave after asserting that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Wheaton College announced its action against Larycia Hawkins in a statement on its website, saying Provost Stanton Jones initiated the termination-for-cause proceeding after Hawkins refused to participate in “clarifying conversations” about theological issues. The private evangelical school west of Chicago said it placed Hawkins on paid administrative leave in December because of theological statements “that seem inconsistent with Wheaton College’s doctrinal convictions, which she voluntarily agreed to support and uphold when she entered into an employment agreement with the college.” Hawkins also had begun wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, but the school has said that is not why she was placed on leave. Hawkins, who is a Christian and an associate professor of political science, began wearing a hijab to counter what she called the recent “vitriolic” rhetoric against Muslims. She told reporters last month that her actions “were motivated by a desire to live out my faith.”

6am – D/E     Obama wipes away tears as he calls for new gun measures. The president gets emotional as he remembers Sandy Hook victims and fiercely calls for more rights for those vulnerable to gun violence. President Barack Obama wept openly Tuesday as he delivered a forceful defense of new executive actions on gun violence, a set of modest proposals to tighten loopholes that likely face quick legal challenges and could be vulnerable to reversal by a Republican White House. The president ran through a list of mass shootings that have happened during his time in office, and teared up as he recalled the schoolchildren gunned down in Newtown, Connecticut in 2012. “First graders in Newtown. First graders,” Obama said, pausing to collect himself. “Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.”          

 

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – MARC KOHN – builder and financier of “Mel’s Rink” in Poolesville

• Ice rink built to honor late daughter may be closed by county. (WUSA) – It’s got synthetic ice, benches and goals. Marc Kohn built the roughly $40,000 ice hockey rink in remembrance of his late daughter, Melanie, an avid hockey fan. She passed away from a respiratory disease earlier this year. The rink is now a community favorite. Montgomery County, however, might close down the rink. Diane Jones, the county’s director of permitting services, told Kohn that she is concerned about public health and safety and zoning issues. His property sits on an agricultural reserve. Mounting outrage from Poolesville neighbors after Montgomery county tries to de-ice a dad’s backyard ice skating rink he built in honor of his daughter who just passed away. Kohn told WUSA9 he bought his house in Poolesville a little more than two months ago so he could build the rink. He said he started working on the rink the day he moved in.

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

• NORTH KOREA: North Korea announces it conducted nuclear test. White House says cannot confirm North Korean nuclear test.
• AFGHANISTAN: US troops embroiled in firefight after helicopter crash in AfghanistanMore than a dozen U.S. Army special operations soldiers and a rescue helicopter flight crew are “securing the crash site” in Marjah, Afghanistan, taking cover in a compound surrounded by enemy fire and hostile Taliban fighters after a U.S. special operation solider was killed earlier in the day, senior U.S. defense officials told Fox News late Tuesday.
• SAUDI-IRAN: Saudi-Iran row: Kerry calls leaders to urge calm. US Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly called leaders in Saudi Arabia and Iran to try to defuse their diplomatic row, US officials say. State department spokesman John Kirby said the phone conversations involved foreign ministers of both countries and the Saudi deputy crown prince. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters ransacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Protests erupted after Saudi Arabia executed a senior Shia Muslim cleric. Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are major rivals in the Middle East and back opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

7am – E         DC News:

• For just 20 minutes, it was legal to use weed in D.C. businesses. D.C. Council Lifts Emergency Ban On Private Pot Clubs, Then Changes Its Mind. For about 10 minutes, it looked like marijuana advocates got their way: the D.C. Council overturned a ban on private cannabis clubs. But it didn’t last long. The Council initially voted 7-6 to keep legislation that prohibited restaurants, bars, and other venues from allowing pot smoking, a measure that Mayor Muriel Bowser has steadfastly supported. Because it was an emergency bill, it required a supermajority, or nine votes, to pass.
• Mystery surrounds new Redskins stadium plan. (Fox 5) – WASHINGTON – There are reports the Washington Redskins may soon unveil plans for a new stadium, but the location remains a mystery. Some people say the team’s former home at RFK Stadium would be the perfect site to build a new stadium. The Redskins’ current lease at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, expires in 2026. Sporting a burgundy and gold hat, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told FOX 5 that team management offered her a VIP suite for Sunday’s playoff game. Could this be a negotiating move from the team? Bowser says she has not spoken to team officials about a new stadium recently.
• Ryan Zimmerman sues Al Jazeera America over claims in documentary. WASHINGTON — Washington Nationals infielder Ryan Zimmerman filed a lawsuit against Al Jazeera America Tuesday for defamation after the television network’s report that claims he used performance-enhancing drug. In a suit filed in D.C. District Court Tuesday, Zimmerman claimed the network used “outrageously false and defamatory statements” that injured his public image and reputation. The suit files on counts of libel and false light invasion of privacy, and demands both a retraction and a jury trial. The suit claims that all of the statements concerning Zimmerman’s performance-enhancing drug use are categorically untrue, and that he “has never taken Delta 2, human growth hormone, or any other steroid or performance-enhancing substance banned by the MLB.”

8am – A/B/C Guns and Mental Health: HIPAA Change Permits Mental Health Reporting to Background Check System. The Department of Health and Human Services has modified the HIPAA Privacy Rule to permit certain covered entities to disclose to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System the identities of individuals who are prohibited from having a firearm, for reasons related to mental health. Under the Privacy Rule modification, certain covered entities are now permitted to disclose limited information to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which reviews criminal records and other prohibiting data to determine whether federally licensed firearms dealers can legally transfer a gun to a prospective purchaser. Office for Civil Rights Director Jocelyn Samuels made the announcement on Monday. According to Samuels, the information that can be disclosed to NICS is the minimum necessary identifying information about individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution or otherwise have been determined by a lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others, or who lack the mental capacity to manage their own affairs. Although states have generally reported criminal history information to NICS, many report little information about individuals prohibited by federal law from possessing or receiving a gun for specific mental health reasons. “     

8am – D/E     INTERVIEW –PETE HOEKSTRA – is a Senior Fellow at the Investigative Project on Terrorism and the former Chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee.

• EXCLUSIVE – Pete Hoekstra: NSA Spying on Congress Requires Suspending State of the Union Invite. (Pete Hoekstra/Breitbart) – “Elected officials and leaders of the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) must maintain the integrity of America’s vast intelligence enterprise as a lawful, neutral, independent and fair arbiter of facts. Recent news that the Obama White House obtained intelligence containing private conversations of members of Congress and American Jewish organizations from the National Security Agency (NSA) suggests the integrity of our intelligence agencies have been undermined. The heads of the 17 organizations in the IC oversee a massive foreign data collection network that produces sensitive information on adversaries and allies. It is an awesome capability for good, but it poses a threat to free society if exploited for political purposes.”