Stephen Dinan, Steve Moore and Larry Kudlow joined WMAL on Tuesday morning.

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

5am – A/B/C Virginia Breastfeeding:  Sen. Wexton's Bill Would Ease Breast-feeding Restrictions. (Leesburg Today) — While nursing her 7-week-old son at a gym in Ashburn, Jill DeLorenzo was asked to please move her breast-feeding to the women’s restroom.  She refused and continued to nurse, uncovered. Later, the manager called the business' attorney, and DeLorenzo was shocked to hear the gym was in the legal right. “I had no idea Virginia’s breast-feeding laws were so terrible,” said DeLorenzo, who has two young sons whom she nurses. “We are so behind the times.” The Old Dominion is one of three states that heavily restricts where women may breast-feed, and a pair of bills that are quickly gaining support in the General Assembly aimed to change that. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-33) and another in the House of Delegates sponsored by Del. David Albo (R-42) would allow women to nurse children in any place they are legally allowed to be. Current law allows breast-feeding only on property that is owned, leased or controlled by the commonwealth.

5am – D         DRIVE AT FIVE INTERVIEW: STEPHEN DINAN – Political Editor, The Washington Times – discussed the president’s budget proposal.

5am – E         Super Bowl News:

• Ratings: Super Bowl Hits All-Time High. Football’s biggest night of the year is unquestionably the Super Bowl. Preliminary ratings show that Sunday’s game hit a record high with 72% of televisions watching. That should add up to somewhere around 115 million viewers and an all-time record. Hollywood’s biggest night of the year is unquestionably the Academy Awards. Last year 43.7 million people tuned in.
• Conversation With Uber Driver Gave Malcolm Butler Super Bowl Confidence. (ABC News) — Malcolm Butler, who grabbed a last-minute interception to secure his team’s 28-24 victory in Super Bowl XLIX, had a feeling that he was going to make a big play.  The New England Patriots rookie cornerback, 24, hadn’t been drafted out of West Alabama — and beyond the Patriots, no other team expressed interest in signing him. But the Vicksburg, Mississippi, native had a hunch. Someone offered him affirmation on Twitter. A coach wrote him before the game. Butler says he really started to believe — in his Super Bowl fortune, in the moment, in the big play — after a conversation with an Uber driver. “When I really believed it is, when I called an Uber driver for my mom, my mom called me and told me, ‘The guy spoke nice of you and he said he felt like you’re going to do something fantastic tomorrow.’ I just prayed on it and I just went out and played as hard as I could, and it turned out great,” Butler told ABC News. Butler's interception came with the Seattle Seahawks one yard away from scoring the go-ahead touchdown. Seahawks receiver Ricardo Lockette cut across the middle. Quarterback Russell Wilson threw the ball.

6am – A/B/C Vaccinations Debate:

• Rand Paul on Vaccines: ‘I’m a big fan of vaccinations, but for most of our history they have been voluntary’
• Ben Carson told The Hill in a statement: “Although I strongly believe in individual rights and the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, I also recognize that public health and public safety are extremely important in our society. Certain communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them."
• Hillary Rodham Clinton tweeted her support for vaccinations on Monday night:  Hillary Clinton  @HillaryClinton: The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let's protect all our kids. #GrandmothersKnowBest 10:45 PM – 2 Feb 2015
• Christie clarifies comments on measles vaccine after call for ‘balance’ causes stir. (Washington Post) — CAMBRIDGE, England – New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie walked back comments he made here Monday morning calling for "balance" on the measles vaccine debate to allow for parental choice, asserting that "there is no question kids should be vaccinated." "The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated," Christie's office said in a statement. "At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate."
• CDC urges measles vaccinations amid nationwide outbreak; 100 cases confirmed so far. (Fox News) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the White House urged individuals and parents to vaccinate themselves and their children amidst an outbreak of at least 100 measles cases originating at Disney theme parks in December. The virus was declared eliminated in the U.S. in 2000. "[From] what we've seen as over the last few years, there is a small but growing number of people [that] have not been vaccinated.”

6am – D         Virginia may ban releasing balloons into the atmosphere. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Legislation advancing in the Virginia Senate would prohibit releasing lighter-than-air balloons into the atmosphere.  The measure’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Jeff McWaters of Virginia Beach, says balloons are fouling the state’s beaches and can be deadly to wildlife. His bill would ban the intentional release of balloons that are inflated with helium or another lighter-than-air gas and require more than five minutes’ contact with air or water to degrade. Violations would carry a civil penalty of $5 per balloon, with proceeds going into the Litter Control and Recycling Fund. The measure would supersede an existing law that bans release of 50 or more balloons in a one-hour period. McWaters’ bill cleared the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee on a 9-6 vote Thursday and is headed to the full Senate.

6am – E         Texas student suspended for allegedly 'threatening' classmate with 'Hobbit' ring.  A fourth-grade student at a West Texas elementary school has been suspended after allegedly threatening to make a classmate disappear with his ring, mimicking the fictional One Ring from the "Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" film trilogies. The child's father Jason Steward told the Odessa American that officials at Kermit Elementary School suspended his son Aiden after he brought a ring to class and told another student that the ring could make the student disappear. Jason Steward told the American that he and his family had watched "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" days earlier. "It sounded unbelievable," Jason Steward told the New York Daily News, adding that his son "didn't mean anything by it." "Kids act out movies that they see. When I watched Superman as a kid, I went outside and tried to fly," Jason Steward said.

7am – A/B/C  School offers driving lessons in Spanish. (Frederick News Post) — A driving school in Frederick is working to remove language barriers for Spanish-speaking students. Greg’s Driving School will offer Spanish-language driving classes at its new location at 1090 W. Patrick St. today, and classes are already full. “We would get a lot of Hispanic individuals coming to our English classes, and they were struggling,” co-owner Mary Moore said. “So, we really have seen the need.” The school was one of the first in Maryland to be certified to teach in Spanish back in November, Moore said. The Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration released its Spanish language curriculum on Nov. 18, according to spokesman Buel Young. About 20 schools across the state offer classes in Spanish, three of which are in Frederick County. Road signs are colored and shaped according to an international standard to help drivers understand what they mean without having to understand the words printed on them.

7am – D         INTERVIEW _ STEVE MOORE – chief economist at the Heritage Foundation

• Obama Budget Sets Off Push for Deals. Republicans Dismiss Calls for New Taxes, but Openings for Compromise Are Seen. (WSJ) — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama called for sweeping tax increases Monday in a budget proposal that dropped any quest for fiscal grand bargains with Congress, but also laid out narrower domestic priorities that may appeal to Republicans. His proposal for more than $1 trillion in new tax measures over the coming decade was immediately declared a nonstarter by Republicans, who also criticized the plan’s lack of new measures to curtail entitlement spending, the biggest contributor to federal deficits.
• Dead on Arrival.  (Investor's Business Daily/Stephen Moore) — Democrat Tip O’Neill used to like to deride President Reagan’s annual budget request and the spending cuts that went with it as “DOA: dead on arrival.”  Mr. Obama’s $4 trillion budget, the broad details of which were revealed during his State of the Union Address two weeks ago, may be the first presidential fiscal blue print to be “DBA: dead before arrival.”  That’s the good news, because this isn’t so much a spending and tax plan as much as a grandiose political/social statement about where this president wants to take the nation: even further to the left.

7am – E         Who Snagged the First TV Interview with Bruce Jenner? (People) — Before Bruce Jenner does a reality show about transitioning into a woman, he'll sit down for a televised interview – and he's chosen Diane Sawyer to ask the questions. PEOPLE has learned the former World News anchor has snagged the much-anticipated first sit-down with Jenner, who's already prepping a reality show about his transition. It's unclear when the interview will take place or air, but it's likely to serve as a walk-up to Jenner's docuseries that will run on E! this year. It's been widely reported the docuseries won't air until Keeping Up with the Kardashians finishes its season – and Jenner gives it a thumbs-up. "It will air when he is ready to be open about his transition," a source told PEOPLE. "But he's acting more and more confident and seems very happy."

8am – A/B/C Vaccinations Debate:

• Rand Paul on Vaccines: ‘I’m a big fan of vaccinations, but for most of our history they have been voluntary’
• Hillary Rodham Clinton tweeted her support for vaccinations on Monday night:  Hillary Clinton  @HillaryClinton: The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and #vaccineswork. Let's protect all our kids. #GrandmothersKnowBest 10:45 PM – 2 Feb 2015
• Christie clarifies comments on measles vaccine after call for ‘balance’ causes stir.
• CDC urges measles vaccinations amid nationwide outbreak; 100 cases confirmed so far.

8am – D         INTERVIEW: LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm

• Obama Budget Sets Off Push for Deals. Republicans Dismiss Calls for New Taxes, but Openings for Compromise Are Seen. (WSJ) — WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama called for sweeping tax increases Monday in a budget proposal that dropped any quest for fiscal grand bargains with Congress, but also laid out narrower domestic priorities that may appeal to Republicans. His proposal for more than $1 trillion in new tax measures over the coming decade was immediately declared a nonstarter by Republicans, who also criticized the plan’s lack of new measures to curtail entitlement spending, the biggest contributor to federal deficits.
• January was a terrible month for stocks. (CNN) — Investors probably wished they had hibernated this January. It was the worst month for stocks since this month last year. The Dow shed 3.7%, the S&P 500 has lost 3.1%, and the Nasdaq is over 2.1% lower.   Talk about a bad start to the year. A quick glance at the chart below shows what a whiplash ride 2015 has been so far with 7 days where the market swung up or down more than 200 points. There's an adage on Wall Street that the early days of the year are a good predictor of the full-year. Historically speaking, there's only about a 50-50 probability that the stock market will end the year on a positive note if January saw market declines, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

TOMORROW:          KT McFarland and Mark Levin