Michael Steele, Newt Gingrich, Christian Toto & FixWMATA’s Chris Barnes joined WMAL on Friday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, May 6, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C House Speaker Ryan Says He’s Not Ready To Support Trump.  What Conservative Principles Can We Unite Behind?

5am – D         DC Metro News:

• Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld on Friday unveils his long-awaited plan for a massive overhaul of the struggling rail system.
• He described it as painful medicine needed to cure subway infrastructure woes stemming from decades of maintenance neglect.
• The plan is expected to impact all of the system’s lines, including weeks-long shutdowns of parts of lines, long-term single tracking and station closings.
• Wiedefeld this week also warned current employees of a coming staff shake-up. He said that he sent a memo to more than 650 Metro managers, designating them at-will employees and “reminding them of our shared responsibility to properly lead this agency.”
• Surveillance video from the platform Thursday morning showed an apparent explosion and smoke after a train pulled out of the station. “When I saw the video in the afternoon, that’s when I decided in talking with USDOT and FTA that I’m going to shut this down and replace all the insulators,” said Metro general manager Paul Wiedefeld. “With my luck, almost at the same time, we had another smoke incident.” Federal Center SW Metro station shut down Thursday after track fire incidents

5am – E         AP Source: Clinton aide interviewed in email investigation. WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has interviewed Huma Abedin, a close aide to Hillary Clinton, as part of a federal investigation into Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of state, a person familiar with the probe said Thursday. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. The FBI and Justice Department have been investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton’s email server was mishandled. Abedin was one of Clinton’s closest aides during her tenure as the nation’s top diplomat, serving as deputy chief of staff. It was not immediately clear whether other aides have been interviewed, or when or if Clinton herself might be questioned.

6am – A/B/C Larry Needs Advice About His Daughter Who Is Learning To Drive.

• Learning to drive in D.C.: Through a traffic circle to that rite of passage. (Washington Post) — These dangerous roads are where hundreds of teenagers get behind the wheel when they finally reach 16. In D.C., the first post-birthday milestone is a learner’s permit, and at least six months later, the real 6.5 square inches of freedom-giving plastic. Technically, though, until a new driver turns 18, it’s not limitless freedom — there are restrictions on age and number of passengers and the hours it’s okay to be on the road. Getting that D.C. license means learning to drive with a high volume of cars, cyclists and pedestrians. In the District, those drivers, bikers and walkers are likely from all around the country, so they might have different expectations for what is normal, such as when it’s okay to turn left into oncoming traffic or at what time a pedestrian has the right of way. Smith, who owns CAS Driving School (the initials stand for Charles Alanders Smith), must teach defensive driving, where a student should assume that other drivers are going to act recklessly. And of course, he must teach them to tackle D.C.’s local peculiarities: extreme angle turns, speed humps, constant jams on the Beltway, motorcades, streetlights on the side of the road and, worst, those dreaded traffic circles.

6am – D         Cinco De Mayo Tweet Outrage:

• Dems slam Trump over taco bowl tweet on Cinco De Mayo. A pair of Democratic senators on Thursday mocked Donald Trump after he posted a photo of himself eating a taco bowl with a caption reading in part, “I love Hispanics!”  “This is a joke, right? This WHOLE THING is a joke, right?” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), with a link to Trump’s tweet. Trump, the GOP’s presumptive presidential nominee, shared a photo of himself eating the taco salad Thursday in celebration of Cinco de Mayo.
• Golf tournament removes ‘insensitive’ tweet on Cinco de Mayo. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) The Wells Fargo Championship deleted a photo posted on its official Twitter account of fans wearing sombreros and fake mustaches to celebrate Cinco de Mayo after it was deemed insensitive. Tournament spokesman Lee Patterson told The Associated Press in an email Thursday that “our intention was to help fans celebrate Cinco de Mayo. We received some comments that we were being insensitive, which was never the tournament’s intention. So, we took the image down.”

6am – E         Entertainment News:

• George Clooney, Julia Roberts join Gwen Stefani for karaoke. LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gwen Stefani got a little help from George Clooney and Julia Roberts in “Late Late Show” host James Corden’s latest “Carpool Karaoke” segment. In the segment that aired early Thursday, Stefani and Corden take on a few of the former No Doubt singer’s classics before pulling over their SUV under the guise of needing a few more passengers to travel in a carpool lane. Corden calls up Clooney, who shows up and dials Roberts.
• The Kardashians And Kanye Are Confirming Everyone’s Fears About Americans In Cuba. (Buzzfeed) — The Kardashian Klan has flown 90 miles south of Florida to visit Cuba, newly opened for business to Americans.
• Kim Kardashian, Kanye tour Cuba in pink convertible. HAVANA (AP) — Rap superstar Kanye West, his wife Kim Kardashian and members of her reality-show-star family are the latest celebrities to visit Havana. They stopped at the Museum of Rum on Wednesday, stepping out of a hot-pink antique American convertible as they snapped selfies and were recorded by a television crew following them around. Cuba has seen a stream of celebrities since the declaration of detente with the U.S. in December 2014.
• Van Morrison Revisits 1973 Tour With ‘It’s Too Late to Stop Now…’ Set. Singer to reissue legendary live album along with three new volumes from trek. Van Morrison’s 1973 tour that spawned the singer’s classic live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now… will be the focus of an 3CD/1DVD archival release. Titled It’s Too Late to Stop Now… Volumes II, III, IV & DVD, the collection boasts three previously unreleased concerts from Morrison’s trek – recorded at Los Angeles’ the Troubadour, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and London’s Rainbow – along with a July 24th London gig that was filmed for a BBC special but never commercially released.  The collection is due out June 10th, the same day a remastered reissue of the original It’s Too Late to Stop Now… arrives. The three-month tour, which launched just months before Morrison released his 1973 LP Hard Nose the Highway, featured the singer backed by the 11-piece Caledonia Soul Orchestra, Morrison’s tight knit backing band.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — MICHAEL STEELE – MSNBC contributor, former Republican National Committee chairman and former Maryland Lt. Governor

• House Speaker Ryan Says He’s Not Ready To Support Trump. 
• RNC’s Priebus Says Trump, Ryan to Meet Next Week to ‘Talk’ (Bloomberg) – Republican Natl. Cmte Chair Reince Priebus says Paul Ryan and Donald Trump are “both committed to sitting down and actually talking this out,” after the House speaker said he wasn’t ready to endorse the GOP’s presumptive nominee.

7am – B/C     Calls: Which VP options would unite the party?

7am – D         INTERVIEW — NEWT GINGRICH — former Speaker of the House, former presidential candidate and author of new fiction book, a DC thriller, titled “Duplicity”

• Speaker Gingrich Addresses VP rumors
• House Speaker Ryan Says He’s Not Ready To Support Trump. 
• RNC’s Priebus Says Trump, Ryan to Meet Next Week to ‘Talk’

7am – E         KFC Launched Nail Polishes That Smell Like Fried Chicken. In today’s bizarre news. What else does Kentucky Fried Chicken come up with after conquering the fast food industry? Nail polish, yeap.If you’re wondering, this isn’t a prank or a belated April Fool’s announcement. The line of nail polishes are of the “finger lickin’ good” variety and they literally come in “original recipe” and “hot and spicy” flavours.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – CHRISTIAN TOTO – editor, HollywoodInToto.com

• Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War Comes out this Weekend

8am – B         2016 News:

• House Speaker Ryan Says He’s Not Ready To Support Trump. WASHINGTON — (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday he doesn’t support presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. “I’m just not ready to do that at this point. I’m not there right now,” the Wisconsin Republican told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in an interview.
• TRUMP talks to BRET BAIER about possible VP picks and hints at MARCO RUBIO
• Rick Perry endorses Donald Trump for president. Washington (CNN) Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry told CNN Thursday he will support Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee and will do everything he can do to help him get elected. Perry, speaking by phone from his hometown of Roundtop, Texas, acknowledged Trump is not his ideal choice. When Perry was a candidate for president earlier in the 2016 cycle, he was the first to come out and criticize Trump and question his conservative credentials, calling his candidacy a “cancer on conservatism.” “He is not a perfect man. But what I do believe is that he loves this country and he will surround himself with capable, experienced people and he will listen to them,” Perry said Thursday.

8am – C         Wild turkey spotted wandering around Old Town. WASHINGTON — A wild turkey is wandering the streets of Old Town, Alexandria. It was spotted Thursday on the north side of Old Town and in the Del Ray area. “There have been multiple calls,” said Alexandria City Police Spokeswoman Crystal Nosal. “A lot of people are seeing large birds we believe to be wild turkeys around Alexandria today and the past few days.” Nosal says the calls are from concerned citizens who just want to make sure the birds are all right.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — CHRIS BARNES – FIXWMATA.COM and on Twitter at @FixWMATA

• Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld on Friday unveils his long-awaited plan for a massive overhaul of the struggling rail system.

8am – E         FDA Acts To Regulate E-Cigarettes And Cigars For The First Time. (NPR) – The Food and Drug Administration is banning the sale of electronic cigarettes to minors as part of a broad set of regulations the agency finalized Wednesday. With the rules that were more than two years in the making, the agency is expanding its authority over e-cigarettes, cigars and hookah tobacco, in much the same way it already regulates traditional cigarettes. In addition to barring sales of tobacco products and e-cigarettes to people under age 18, the FDA would impose other restrictions, including:

A prohibition on distribution of free samples

A ban on selling e-cigarettes in vending machines unless they are in secure places that never admit young people

A requirement that e-cigarettes carry warnings that they contain nicotine, which is addictive

The rules also require companies to get FDA approval for any products that were put on the market after Feb. 15, 2007.  Also, e-cigarette makers will have to go back to the agency within two years for approval of the products they already sell. E-cigarettes consist of plastic or metal tubes that contain a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution containing nicotine.