WCBS 880 Weekly Rewind: Afghanistan Evacuation Turns Deadly, China Blames the U.S. for COVID, Kathy Hochul Takes the Reigns of New York

Produced by Neil A. Carousso

NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — U.S. forces pressed ahead with evacuation efforts of American citizens and Afghan allies Friday, a day after an ISIS suicide bomber killed 13 United States service members and hundreds of Afghans and under threats of more attacks. President Joe Biden is sticking to the Tuesday deadline to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan.

WCBS anchor Steve Scott filled in for Lynda Lopez on The 880 Weekly Rewind and examined the urgent evacuations in Kabul with CBS News Military Consultant and Retired Army Col. Jeff McCausland.

WCBS’ Paul Murnane looked into the “inconclusive” report on the origins of the coronavirus with CBS News Asia Correspondent Ramy Inocencio who has been reporting in Wuhan and Hong Kong on how China has flipped the script on the United States, blaming the U.S. for the virus without evidence.

In New York, history was made as Gov. Kathy Hochul became the first female executive in the state. She hit the ground running with a series of COVID-related policies, including masks and vaccinations in schools and promising to get federal relief funds to landlords, which had been stalled under her predecessor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. Hochul also vowed to be transparent and acknowledged nearly 12,000 more deaths due to COVID-19 than Cuomo said publicly.

Subscribe and download The 880 Weekly Rewind podcast for in-depth reporting and deeper analysis of the top stories of the week, produced by Neil A. Carousso, for WCBS-AM New York.