FixWMATA.com’s Chris Barnes, Sharyl Attkisson and film critic Christian Toto joined WMAL on Friday!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, March 25, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C  Cruz vs Trump: Shouldn’t The Candidates Focus On Hillary and ISIS?

5am – D         SPORTS NEWS:

• Robert Griffin III reaches deal to join Browns. The Cleveland Browns appear to have found one piece to their quarterback puzzle, announcing they have signed Robert Griffin III on Thursday. Griffin, who made the decision after meeting with Browns coach Hue Jackson and associate head coach Pep Hamilton, is guaranteed $6.75 million and can make up to $11 million with incentives in 2016 as part of the two-year, $15 million deal. Griffin received a $3.5 signing bonus and a fully guaranteed base salary of $3.25 million this season. He can make another $750,000 in per-game roster bonuses and $3.5 million in individual performance incentives for playtime, passing yards and passer rating.

• Michael Sam “not surprised” by Hard Knocks report. (ProFootballTalk) — The Rams reportedly struck a deal with the NFL to draft defensive end Michael Sam in exchange for a Hard Knocks dispensation. Rams coach Jeff Fisher has called that suggestion “absolutely absurd.” Michael Sam hasn’t. “I’m not surprised at all,” Sam said on Twitter in response to the tweet from Howard Balzer that the decision to draft him came in exchange for a commitment not to tap the Rams on the shoulder for the mandatory Hard Knocks assignment in 2014. It’s unclear why Sam feels that way, and now the land rush has commenced to get Sam to elaborate on his remarks.
• Terps eliminated from NCAA Tournament in Sweet 16 loss to No. 1 Kansas, 79-63. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Whether it was nifty moves near the basket or a jumper that fell right all night, Perry Ellis was determined to do whatever he could to push top-seeded Kansas a little bit deeper in the NCAA Tournament. And thanks to teammates who followed the senior forward’s cool lead, the Jayhawks are one step closer to the Final Four. Ellis scored 27 points to match a season high, Wayne Selden Jr. added 19 and Kansas topped No. 5 Maryland for a 79-63 South Region semifinal victory Thursday night. The win put the Jayhawks back into the Elite 8 for the first time since 2012, when they went on to reach the NCAA championship game before losing to Kentucky. It took time for the Jayhawks (33-4) to get going. Once they finally seized the lead late in the first half, everything else fell into place for their 17th straight victory. They emerged from the break by making their first six shots and steadily took control behind Ellis, who made 10 of 17 from the field. “They just tell me to be more aggressive, and that’s what I try to do,” said Ellis, who also scored 27 against Oklahoma on Jan. 4.
• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is a UFO believer. (ESPN) — Aaron Rodgers believes in UFOs. How do we know? Because he said so during an interview on a podcast called “You Made It Weird” hosted by Pete Holmes. The interview goes for two hours and can be heard here, but the UFO portion comes early. At about the 15-minute mark, Rodgers first said he didn’t want to get into it but then elaborated. “I saw an unidentified flying object in the sky in New Jersey in 2005,” Rodgers said. Rodgers said he was in New York to appear an episode of ESPN’s Cold Pizza show (now known as First Take) and visited a friend in New Jersey. He said it occurred in February of that year. He compared it to something in the movie “Independence Day.” “It was a large orange, left-to-right-moving object,” Rodgers said.

5am – E         Metro: More problems found in emergency shutdown. WASHINGTON — In addition to 27 more serious issues, Metro acknowledged Thursday that it found 338 other issues during the emergency shutdown last week that needed less urgent repairs. General Manager Paul Wiedefeld says the 338 issues are generally things that should have been taken care of during regular maintenance, but had not been. Metro says 12 inspectors are now getting special training to keep an eye on the troubled cables, and the six teams of two will begin work April 1. The power cables have been linked to the deadly smoke incident near L’Enfant Plaza last year, several other smoke incidents, and the massive fire near McPherson Square two days before the entire rail system shut down for emergency repairs. The Federal Transit Administration said this week that is just part of the issue with Metro’s tracks.

6am – A/B/C Who Should Governor Hogan Support? Are You In The Same Boat As Governor Hogan?

• Md. Gov. Hogan says he might not support Trump as nominee. Count Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan as one of the few Republican elected officials willing to distance himself from GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump. Hogan, who actively campaigned for his good friend Chris Christie until the New Jersey governor dropped out of the race, made clear in a series of interviews Thursday that he will not follow Christie in endorsing The Donald. “I’m not endorsing Trump. I’m not really engaged in the process,” Hogan, who was elected in heavily Democratic Maryland in 2014, told The Washington Post. In a subsequent sit-down with The Associated Press, he said he has no plans to attend the Republican National Convention this summer and has “no idea who I’m going to vote for.” “I’m not a Trump fan,” Hogan told AP. “I don’t think he should be the nominee.”

6am – D         Emmy Nominations Are Out And Game Shows Are On The List! Which game shows are your favorite?

• 2016 Daytime Emmy Nominations: The nominees for the 43nd Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were announced on The Talk on Thursday, with Ellen DeGeneres, Judge Judy, Good Morning America and more longtime small screen favorites being recognized. Other standout nominees include Giada De Laurentiis, Steve Harvey, Larry King Now and Wendy Williams, but the series to land the most nominations? The Young and the Restless, which earned a whopping 27 nods.
• Outstanding Game Show: Jeopardy!, Let’s Make a Deal, Monopoly Millionaire’s Club, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Price Is Right
• Outstanding Game Show Host: Craig Ferguson, Celebrity Name Game, Steve Harvey, Family Feud, Brook Burns, The Chase, Billy Gardell, Monopoly Millionaires’ Club and Wayne Brady, Let’s Make a Deal

6am – E         Garry Shandling, comic, ‘Larry Sanders Show’ creator, dies. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Garry Shandling, who as an actor and comedian masterminded a brand of self-inflicted phony docudrama with “The Larry Sanders Show,” has died of an apparent heart attack. Shandling’s spokesman Alan Nierob said doctors at a hospital where the comedian was pronounced dead said it appeared he died of a heart attack. Nierob said Shandling had no history of heart trouble. Coroner’s Lt. David Smith said it appeared Shandling died of natural causes, but an official cause of death determination had not yet been made. Smith said no autopsy was planned, but officials would determine Shandling’s cause of death based on medical records and his medical history. Shandling was taken to a hospital after paramedics were dispatched to his Brentwood home around 10:40 a.m. Thursday, police and fire officials said. His death stunned the comedy community, who praised Shandling’s humor, kindness and efforts to support and promote them and their craft.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — CHRIS BARNES – FixWMATA.com and on Twitter @FIXWMATA

• Latest metro news:
• Metro to start new inspection program as questions linger after shutdown
• Metro to Begin Monthly Power Inspections in April
• What? WMATA is looking at changing the names of Smithsonian and Foggy Bottom stations?

7am – B         Latest Brussels News:

• Brussels attacks: Belgian police arrest six suspects. Belgian police have arrested six people in Brussels as a major investigation continues into attacks that claimed 31 lives in the city on Tuesday. The arrests were made in the Schaerbeek district. There is no word yet on the identities of the suspects or their possible connection to the attacks. Separately, in France, a suspect who was plotting an attack has been arrested near Paris. The Brussels bombings have been linked to last November’s Paris attacks. So-called Islamic State (IS) has claimed the attacks in both Paris and Brussels. The arrests in Schaerbeek were made late on Thursday, and followed house-to-house searches in the area.
• Brussels Bombing Brothers Secretly Filmed Country’s Top Nuclear Official, Source Says. The two brothers allegedly involved in the subway and airport bombings in Brussels Tuesday had previously filmed one of Belgium’s top nuclear scientists, a security source told ABC News. Khalid and Ibrahim El-Bakraoui used a hidden camera planted outside the man’s home to record the footage, according to the source, who is a security expert based in Belgium.  The video was seized during a raid in Belgium after the Paris attacks, the expert said. The footage was at least 10 hours long and was found at the house of Mohamed Bakkali, a suspect in the Paris attacks who was detained on Nov. 26. 2015. “We confirm the existence of this footage mentioned in the press that is linked to an individual in the nuclear industry,” Belgium’s federal prosecutor said in a statement to ABC News. “No information on his identity will be revealed for security reasons and no information will be given on the circumstances of the discovery of this footage which was during a raid conducted in the context the Paris investigation.”
• Captured Paris terror attack suspect evaded arrest multiple times. French and Belgian authorities came within minutes of capturing Salah Abdeslam at least twice before a run of good luck enabled him to stay at large for four months, despite being suspected of one of Europe’s worst terrorist outrages. A spate of near misses – or missed opportunities – preceded Friday’s arrest of Salah Abdeslam, and allowed a fugitive described as the world’s most wanted man for his suspected role in last Novmeber’s Paris terrorist atrocities to remain free for four months. That 26-year-old Abdeslam was at large for 126 days after the November 13 attacks before finally being taken into custody belies how agonisingly close the authorities had been to capturing him and suggests he was blessed with an unusual degree of good fortune. Police were prohibited from staging a nighttime raid on a man implicated in a crime that killed 130 people by one of Belgium’s quirkier laws. This prevents police from entering homes between 9pm and 5am unless a crime is in progress or the house is on fire.
• Brussels Attacks: 2 Americans Confirmed Killed, Source Says. Two Americans were killed in Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Brussels, a senior US official said Friday — as US Secretary of State John Kerry met with Belgian leaders and offered condolences to the stricken nation. Kerry and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said a number of Americans were killed but did not specify a number. The US official told reporters that at least two had been confirmed dead. Kerry landed at the still-closed Brussels airport – one of two sites targeted in the attacks — for a brief stop from Moscow, where he said the terror strikes underscored the urgency of unity in the fight against ISIS. The group has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s bombings at the airport departure terminal and a downtown subway stop that killed 31 people and wounded at least 270.

7am – C         Critter News:

• More Black Bears Spotted in Northern Virginia. More black bears have been sighted in Fairfax County officials say.  Two small black bears were seen Wednesday morning crossing Oakton Road in Oakton, Virginia, and a bear and cub were spotted Thursday morning on the 2700 block of Bowling Green Drive in Vienna, Virginia, Fairfax County officials said.  The bears in Vienna nabbed a bird-feeder and took a bag of birdseed before they fled along I-66.  These two sightings add to a sighting Sunday of a bear and cub.  Bears typically avoid humans unless they’re on the hunt for food. They are attracted to bird feeders, garbage, outdoor pet food, compost piles, fruit trees and berry-producing shrubs.
• Eagle Watch Round 2: Pair of Bald Eagles Expecting at DC Police Academy. Two eggs are expected to hatch outside the police training academy in Southeast.  A pair of bald eagles are expecting two eggs to hatch soon on the grounds of a D.C. police training academy. The bald eagles at the National Arboretum aren’t the only eagles in town. D.C. police has launched its own eagle cam at the department’s training academy in Southeast, where a pair of eagles are waiting on two eggs to hatch. “Freedom” and “Justice” have been nesting 110 feet up an oak tree at the police academy for the past 11 years, police said. Freedom, the female eagle, laid two eggs in February and they are expected to hatch by Tuesday, March 28. Police said Freedom spends most of her time incubating her eggs and caring for the young chicks, once they hatch. Justice, the male, is tasked with catching fish and bringing them for Freedom and the hatchlings.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — SHARYL ATTKISSON – Investigative journalist and host of new show “Full Measure” on WJLA ABC Sunday mornings at 9:30 am

• How the White House sold a giant, new Obamacare tax on American workers. (Sharyl Attkisson) — The Obamacare “Cadillac tax” has nothing to do with cars. It will eliminate the biggest — but probably least-known — tax break Americans get today. For decades, workers have enjoyed health insurance benefits through work without paying taxes on them. The Cadillac tax will change that. It will impose a 40% tax on work health insurance above a certain value–the good plans considered the “Cadillacs” of health insurance. Already, some employers are dropping work insurance in anticipation of the tax. Others are reducing the plans they offer so they are of less taxable value: that means they’re being replaced with plans that have higher deductibles and premiums for less coverage.

7am – E         Scientists: Shakespeare’s grave may be missing something. LONDON — Archaeologists who scanned the grave of William Shakespeare say they have made a head-scratching discovery: His skull appears to be missing. Researchers used ground-penetrating radar to explore the playwright’s tomb in Stratford-upon-Avon’s Holy Trinity Church. Staffordshire University archaeologist Kevin Colls, who led the study, said they found “an odd disturbance at the head end,” with evidence of repairs some time after the original burial. He said the finding supports a claim – first made in 1879 but long dismissed as myth – that the Bard’s skull was stolen by grave-robbers in the 18th century. “It’s very, very convincing to me that his skull isn’t at Holy Trinity at all,” Colls said. Church records say Shakespeare was buried in his home-town church, 100 miles northwest of London, on April 25, 1616, two days after his death at the age of 52. His wife, Anne Hathaway, daughter and son-in-law were later buried alongside him. Colls and geophysicist Erica Utsi found the family members lie in shallow graves in the church chancel, rather than in a single vault. There are no traces of nails or other metal, suggesting they may have been buried in cloth shrouds rather than coffins.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – Christian Toto, editor, HollywoodInToto.com – previewed the new film ‘Batman v Superman’ and discussed other films Zootopia, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, 10 Cloverfield Lane and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.

8am – B         SPORTS NEWS:

• Robert Griffin III reaches deal to join Browns.
• Michael Sam “not surprised” by Hard Knocks report.
• Terps eliminated from NCAA Tournament in Sweet 16 loss to No. 1 Kansas, 79-63.
• Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is a UFO believer.
• Tickets for the Nats two home exhibition games now available. Nats to host 2 home exhibition games. WASHINGTON – The Nationals home opener is two weeks away on April 7. But fans who can’t wait to hear the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd will be able to catch a baseball game at Nats Park next week. “This year we’re fortunate enough to have two exhibition games, which we haven’t had in many, many years,” Nationals Vice President for Community Engagement Gregory McCarthy tells WTOP. The Nats will host the Twins for a 6:05 p.m. game on April 1 and a 12:05 p.m. game  on April 2.For the Friday game, the team plans to start a new tradition.

8am – C         Easter 2016 in Washington, DC: A Guide to Celebrating Easter Weekend in the Nation’s Capital. (About DC) — Washington, DC hosts several big events for Easter each year. Here is a guide to celebrating the holiday in the nation’s capital including the schedules and suggested venues for Easter brunch, Easter egg hunts, religious services and other special events.

• Easter Brunch in Washington, DC – Many of the area’s finest restaurants offer Easter Brunch. From an elegant white tablecloth meal to a family-friendly buffet feast, find recommendations for your holiday meal in Washington DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia.
• White House Easter Egg Roll – March 28, 2016, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. The popular annual event celebrates the holiday with an Easter Egg hunt, visit with the Easter Bunny and a variety of family-friendly activities on the White House lawn.
• Easter Egg Hunts – Dates vary. Special Easter events for children are held at venues around the capital region including museums, hotels, parks and country farms.
• Sunrise Service at the Lincoln Memorial – March 27, 2016, 6:30 a.m.
• Thousands gather at the Lincoln Memorial for an inspiring Easter service. This is a great way to enjoy the holiday and make some special memories of the nation’s capital.

8am – D/E     Emory University Students Feel ‘Afraid’ After Trump’s Name Was Written in Chalk Around Campus. Students at Emory University protested on Monday after finding support messages for Donald Trump written around the Atlanta campus in chalk, according to The Washington Post. Charging that the drawings, which said things like “Trump for Pres” and “Vote For Trump,” left them feeling attacked, students demanded the university’s administration take action, reported the student newspaper, The Emory Wheel. The Wheel says that 40 students gathered in an outdoor space on campus holding signs that included messages like “Stop Trump,” and chanted to the administration, “You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!” One of the protestors told the newspaper, “I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe [here]. But this man is being supported by students on our campus and our administration shows that they, by their silence, support it as well … I don’t deserve to feel afraid at my school.” University President James W. Wagner met with the students, answering questions about what actions he can take to appease their fears. Later, he told the student newspaper that the protests were a “mechanism for interaction.”