Jessica Vaughn, Patrick Reilly and Joe Trippi joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A         DRIVE AT FIVE INTERVIEW – LIZ BANACH (BAN-NUCK) – of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence – discussed the gun control bills in the Maryland legislature.

5am – B/C    Biden: Ronald Reagan couldn’t win GOP nomination in 2016. Vice President Biden argued Tuesday that even Ronald Reagan wouldn’t be able to win the Republican presidential nomination if the former president were alive today. “If Ronald Reagan were alive today … he could no more get the nomination of the Republican Party than I could get the nomination,” said Biden, a Democrat, according to a reporter traveling with the vice president in the Middle East.

5am – D         Dem Debate Highlights   

5am – E         Critter News:

• One Va. town uses an inflatable Killer whale to scare off vultures from water tower. LOVETTSVILLE, Va. (ABC7) — It’s a town with a picturesque backdrop. But if you aren’t from Lovettsville, Virginia you might be left scratching your head if you happen to pass by the town’s water tower. “I was concerned we were going to get ridiculed for making this attempt, with the orcas, and having it fail,” said Laszlo Palko the town’s manager. That’s because there’s an inflatable killer whale hanging from the tower. It was an attempt to get rid of about 50 vultures that decided to call the water tower their new home a few weeks ago. “It was creepy because they’re not pretty birds,” said Melissa Moore who lives nearby. Palko says they knew they had to act fast after talking to the town’s engineer and realizing the feces from the vultures is highly acidic. He says it could’ve burned into the paint and ultimately contaminated the water if the metal became corroded.
• Bird poop on the lines causes nuclear power shutdown. (CNN)An errant bird dropping appears to have caused the temporary shutdown of part of the Indian Point nuclear plant in upstate New York. A report by Entergy, the site operator, pointed the finger at a bird “streamer” — colorfully explained in the document as “long streams of excrement from large birds that are often expelled as a bird takes off from a perch” — as the cause of the shutdown, which tripped a safety breaker and took a reactor at the site out of commission for three days in December. There was no leak of radiation as a result of the accident, and at no time was public health and safety in jeopardy, the report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission noted. While, more commonly, the buildup of guano on the lines hampers operating efficiency, in this case the report said that it had caused an electrical arc between wires at a transmission tower. If a streamer contacts an energized conductor, the report says, the current can travel up the stream of poop back to the bird or its perch, resulting in “bird electrocution, power outage and/or line trip.”

6am – A         AG Lynch Testifies: Justice Dept. Has ‘Discussed’ Civil Legal Action Against Climate Change Deniers. Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified Wednesday that the Justice Department has “discussed” taking civil legal action against the fossil fuel industry for “denying” the “threat of carbon emissions” when it comes to climate change. During Lynch’s testimony at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said that he believes there are similarities between the tobacco industry denying scientific studies showing the dangers of using tobacco and companies within the fossil fuel industry denying studies allegedly showing the threat of carbon emissions. He went on to point out that under President Bill Clinton, the Justice Department brought and won a civil case against the tobacco industry, while the Obama administration has “done nothing” so far with regard to the fossil fuel industry. Whitehouse concluded his comments by posing a question to the country’s top law enforcement officer.

6am – B         2016 News:

• Carly Fiorina endorses Ted Cruz, ‘horrified’ by Trump. (CNN) Former Republican presidential candidate and businesswomen Carly Fiorina endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz at a rally in Miami Wednesday, and confessed to being “horrified” by front-runner Donald Trump. “Last Tuesday we had a primary, and I walked into the ballot box,” she told a crowd of Cruz supporters. “I saw my name on the ballot, and it was kind of a thrill, but I checked the box for Ted Cruz.” The surprise endorsement comes as Cruz tries to consolidate GOP support and challenge front-runner businessman Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
• Ohio Fox News poll: Kasich 34% Trump 29% Cruz 19% Rubio 7%
• Florida Fox News poll: Trump 43 Rubio 20 Cruz 16 Kasich 10
• Poll: Kasich overtakes Trump in Ohio. John Kasich leads the field in his home state of Ohio, while Donald Trump is running away with the contest in Florida, according to Fox News surveys released Wednesday. In Florida, Trump is crushing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on his home turf, holding a 43 percent to 20 percent advantage. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) clocks in at 16 percent, followed by Kasich at 10 percent.
• Rubio Is Speaking To A Nearly Empty Florida Stadium. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) drew a “disappointing” crowd for an event in his home state Wednesday night just days before a critical primary in the state, CNN reported. CNN’s Jason Carroll, who was on the ground in Hialeah, Florida, called the crowd “much, much smaller” than at Rubio’s past events and said the “couple hundred” supporters gathered were “not even filling the end zone” of the high school football stadium.“This is Marco Rubio’s home turf,” Carroll reminded viewers.

6am – C         United to change to 10 across in 777 coach. United Airlines plans to retrofit 19 of its 74 Boeing 777 widebodies into a high-density domestic configuration that will include 10-abreast seating in economy, the carrier confirmed to Today in the Sky. United will apply the change to nine of its Boeing 777s that are already used for domestic flights, mostly on flights to and from Hawaii. The other 10 Boeing 777s to be retrofitted will be shifted from United’s long-haul international routes, a move that comes as the carrier’s new Boeing 787 “Dreamliners” pick up more of that flying.

6am – D         INTERVIEW — JESSICA VAUGHAN – Director of Policy Studies for the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, DC-based research institute that examines the impact of immigration on American society and educates policymakers and opinion leaders on immigration issues.

• Senator: Record number of unaccompanied minors set to flood southern border

6am – E         Sports:

• Tom Brady was caught on camera giving the middle finger to a NYC cab driver: New England Patriots quarterback made a major encroachment on rival turf on Monday when he flicked off a rude cab driver while crossing a New York City street with his wife, Gisele Bündchen. Brady may not like to admit it, but he’s more of a New Yorker than he’d care to admit. Flicking off a rude cab driver is a classic New York move. And Look at that form! Perfect. That finger is standing high and proud.
• No one on the Redskins liked Robert Griffin, says a former teammate: COOLEY: “I don’t think Kirk Cousins and Robert Griffin are going to be drinking any beers together. One, Robert doesn’t drink, [and] Kirk rarely drinks. But there was never a friendship relationship. From the moment Kirk was drafted, I think Robert had animosity towards him.
• Brian Orakpo threatens Chris Cooley over his inflammatory RG3 comments. Former Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley now spends his days analyzing the team on his D.C. sports radio show, and he’s never been shy about criticizing former teammate Robert Griffin III. After RG3 was released by the Redskins Monday, Cooley claimed on his show that Griffin was not liked by his teammates, and said Griffin never took responsibility for his inconsistent play following his breakout rookie season. “Robert continued to let his offensive line eat the blame. They don’t like it. They hate that, man. That kills them. Perception is the only thing an offensive line has, because 99 percent of people watching football have no idea what an offensive line’s doing.”
• Maria Sharapova wrote a letter to her fans thanking them for their “support and loyalty” and “wonderful words” as she deals with the fallout from her positive drug test. “I woke up yesterday morning with an inbox, in full capacity of love and compassion,” Sharapova said to open the letter, which was posted on her personal website. Her letter went on to explain that while she typically loves mornings, “it is fair to say that this day was not average. Nothing came to mind at 6am except that I am determined to play tennis again and I hope I will have the chance to do so. I wish I didn’t have to go through this, but I do – and I will.”

7am – A/B/C Marco Rubio says he’s not ‘proud’ of Donald Trump attacks. Hialeah, Florida (CNN)Sen. Marco Rubio says if he could do it all over again he wouldn’t have gone personal with insults to Donald Trump. “At the end of the day, you know it’s not something I’m entirely proud of,” the Florida Republican told MSNBC during a town hall airing Wednesday night. “My kids were embarrassed by it, and if I had to do it again, I wouldn’t.” But Rubio told NBC’s Chuck Todd in a clip released early by the network that aside from the personal insults, Rubio stands behind his attacks on Trump’s business record.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — PATRICK REILLY – president of the Cardinal Newman Society

• Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood president, to speak at Georgetown University

7am – E         Entertainment News:

• ‘Hamilton’ cast to sing for lucky students at White House. (USA Today) — Tickets to the Broadway super-hit, Hamilton, are sold out until practically next year, but some lucky students will get to see bits of the history-making show-about-American-history in person at the White House on Monday. Members of the cast, including creator, writer and star Lin-Manuel Miranda, are using their day off to pop down to Washington for one of first lady Michelle Obama’s student workshops, to answer questions, talk about careers in theater, and to perform a selection of songs from the much-praised show about one of America’s founding fathers, Alexander Hamilton. The first lady, who has made arts-and-music workshops for schoolchildren one of her regular first-lady projects, announced the invitation Wednesday.
• Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg in Talks to Produce ‘Where’s Waldo’ Film. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are in talks to produce the live-action MGM film “Where’s Waldo” with their Point Grey partner, James Weaver, TheWrap has learned. While no deals are in place yet, there is a script by Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir. MGM acquired the screen rights for the film in 2011. “Where’s Waldo?” was created by Martin Handford and first published in 1987, and quickly became one of the most recognizable and popular characters in pop culture.
• ‘Sharknado 4’ Cast Revealed: Gary Busey and Cheryl Tiegs Join Ian Ziering, Tara Reid. Oh, Hell Yes? “Sharknado 4” unveiled its cast today, returning Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, David Hasselhoff and Ryan Newman to the disaster(ous) movie. Joining them will be Gary Busey, Tommy Davidson, Cheryl Tiegs, Imani Hakim, Cody Linley and Masiela Lusha. The fate of Reid’s April Wexler character will be determined by a fan-voted #AprilLives or #AprilDies social media campaign. TheWrap has a feeling she’s not going to make it. In July, Syfy will premiere “Sharknado 4.
• Jon Voight Endorses Donald Trump: ‘I’m Saying I Like This Guy.’ “He’s an answer to our problems,” actor says of GOP frontrunner. Don’t worry, Donald Trump; Jon Voight has your back. “Midnight Cowboy” actor and notable showbiz conservative Voight has thrown his support behind the GOP presidential candidate, Breitbart reports. “I’m not someone who’s saying he’s the best of this group. I’m saying I like this guy,” the Oscar-winning actor told Breitbart in an interview published Wednesday. “He’s an answer to our problems. We need to get behind him,” Voight added. “The Republicans need to unite behind this man. We need somebody to go in and reconstruct us in a sort of way, get us back to where we were, who we need to be.”
• ‘Pawn Stars’ fan favorite Chumlee arrested on weapon and drug charges. The long-haired, large-chinned, beanie-wearing Austin Lee Russell has gained a cult following for his role in the History Channel reality show “Pawn Stars.” He talks slowly, with unintentional humor. He shares a child’s sense of wonderment. He goes by Chumlee, after the cartoon walrus Chumley in the animated series “Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales.” After the show debuted in 2009, the longtime employee of Gold and Silver Pawn Shop quickly became the most beloved figure on a reality series that broke History Channel records in 2011. “Everybody loves Chum,” his web profile reads, “but he is often the butt of the boys’ jokes.” Despite persistent attempts to prove his colleagues wrong, Russell has remained the token “village idiot.” This reputation took a dark turn on Wednesday, when Russell was arrested on felony weapon and drug charges, the Associated Press reported. Police said in a statement that the 33-year-old was taken into custody after officers searched his home in southwest Las Vegas as part of a sexual assault investigation and found methamphetamine, marijuana and at least one gun. While Russell wasn’t arrested on a sex crime allegation, Officer Larry Hadfield told the AP, the investigation prompted by a recent complaint is ongoing.

8am – A/B     Dos Equis replacing ‘Most Interesting Man in the World.’ CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” is headed to another world and about to be replaced. The final commercial featuring actor Jonathan Goldsmith in the highly successful beer campaign will debut nationally Thursday during the NBA game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers on TNT (10:30 p.m. Eastern). Goldsmith, 77, will be swapped for a younger actor who will fit with the beer’s upcoming college football sponsorship, Advertising Age reports. In the commercial (below), Goldsmith blasts off on a rocket ship to Mars while uttering his catch phrase, “Stay thirsty, my friends.” He is sent off, of course, with great fanfare. Fighter jets fly over a mass of people from all cultures who have appeared in previous ads. The crowd parts as he walks leisurely through in his trademark black tux and black sunglasses, a wood shafted golf club over one shoulder. He kisses a queen and gives his car keys to a Tibetan monk, who laughs, while soldiers and a motorcycle gang look on admiringly. He exchanges the golf club for a photo of Earth with a cultural ambassador. “His only regret,” we’re told, “is that he doesn’t know what regret feels like. ”He is the most interesting man in the world.” A beautiful woman hands him his helmet on the launch pad. The rocket takes off. His trip to Mars is one way. The impression is that Goldsmith is gone for good. The ad campaign will continue with an as-yet unnamed, more contemporary actor.

8am – C         Lawmakers in West Virginia Celebrate Legalization of Raw Milk By Drinking It and Getting Sick. Lawmakers in West Virginia are excited about new legislation that lifted a ban on raw milk. They’re so excited that they recently celebrated by drinking some raw milk. Now, many of those lawmakers are sick. Representative Pat McGeehan (seen in agony in the photo above) says that he doesn’t think he or his colleagues’ illnesses are from the raw milk. “I’m not feeling that great,” McGeehan told local news station WSAZ. “I think it’s probably just some sort of bad stomach virus.” But McGeenhan admits that it’s not just him who’s sick: “There’s definitely some other colleagues that have similar symptoms that I’ve been experiencing.” McGeenhan says he drank just a small amount of the celebratory milk given to him by Scott Cadle, a sponsor of the raw milk bill. He still insists that the timing of his illness is “coincidental.” Raw milk hasn’t gone through a process of pasteurization that kills potentially harmful bacteria. Drinking raw milk can lead to illness and, historically, has even killed people. For instance, in 1911, 48 people died and roughly 2,000 people got severely sick in Boston after drinking raw milk.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — JOE TRIPPI – Demcoratic 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.
• Analysis of the state of the Democratic side of the presidential race
• Sanders scores upset in Michigan; Clinton takes Mississippi
• His thoughts on the Democratic Debate last night

8am – E         Jeb Bush to meet with Cruz, Kasich and Rubio before Thursday’s debate. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will meet with every remaining GOP presidential candidate except Donald Trump before Thursday’s debate in Miami. Bush has met with Sen. Marco Rubio on Wednesday and plans to meet with Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Thursday before the Republican debate tomorrow night, a Bush aide confirmed to CBS News. It’s unclear why Bush is meeting with the three contenders, but the fact that he’s not meeting with Trump signals he is trying to strengthen any efforts that could bring down the GOP frontrunner.