Tuesday, March 26, 2024

3/26 WAKE-UP CALL: Key Baltimore Bridge Collapses


Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed early Tuesday morning after a support column was struck by a vessel, sending cars and at least one tractor-trailer 185 feet into the Patapsco River. A spokesperson for the Baltimore City Fire Department said a major rescue operation was underway with all lanes closed and with all traffic being rerouted from the 1.6-mile steel bridge that is part of Interstate 695.
“The entire bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River,” said Kevin Cartwright, the director of communications for the Baltimore Fire Department. “We have reason to believe that there were vehicles and possibly a tractor-trailer” that went into the water, Cartwright said.


➤BIDEN ADMINISTRATION THROWS ISRAEL UNDER THE BUS AT THE U-N: The United States refused to veto a UN Security Council resolution Monday demanding Israel immediately halt its campaign to eliminate Hamas during Ramadan, which ends April 9. Instead, the Biden administration merely abstained, allowing the vote to pass 14-0. Although the resolution does call for the release of hostages, it doesn't link that call to the cease-fire. Nor does it clearly condemn Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted America veto the move and immediately canceled a planned meeting in Washington between US officials and an Israel delegation in protest after the vote. President Biden and his team have increasingly been at odds with the Israeli leader and critical of his campaign against the Hamas terrorists.

As it has for decades at the Security Council, the United States wielded its veto as diplomatic cover for Israel three times since Hamas’s Oct. 7 deadly attack on southern Israel sparked the full-scale war. That it did not exercise that prerogative Monday was a sign of the White House’s frustrations with Israeli actions during the war, which includes the devastation of much of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, attacks on hospitals and restricting the flow of international humanitarian aid into the enclave. Top U.S. officials have also spoken against Netanyahu’s plans to launch a ground offensive on Rafah, the southern Gaza town where more than a million displaced Palestinians are seeking shelter.

➤TRUMP APPEAL FEES LOWERED: Donald Trump must pay just $175 million to put his $454 million civil fraud judgment on hold during his appeal, a federal judge ruled. The reprieve, with a deadline in 10 days, came on the day that New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, could start enforcing the judgment against the former president for falsely inflating his wealth for financial gain. In a social-media post, Trump said that he would either post a bond or pay cash to cover the $175 million. “I did nothing wrong, and New York should never be put in a position like this again,” he said. A James spokeswoman said that he still faces accountability and the judgment still stands. If Trump loses his appeal, he could still have to pay the full amount. In a separate, criminal case involving Trump’s hush-money payment to a porn star, a judge set an April 15 start date for a trial.


➤BOEING CEO GOING:  Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun is stepping down at the end of the year. The plane maker is beset by quality and production problems, most notably a door plug that blew out during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Calhoun, a longtime Boeing board member, was brought in as CEO in early 2020 to fix Boeing after fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. Boeing slowed factory production this year to address quality issues; analysts expect the company to make fewer than half the planes it did at the end of last year. As a result, major airlines are reworking flight schedules or warning that their 2024 financial results will suffer. Boeing’s problems have drawn more scrutiny from federal investigators. Its stock, which has dropped more than 25% so far this year, closed up 1.36%.

➤HOSPITAL FEES MAKING U-S SICK: U.S. hospitals are adding billions of dollars in so-called facility fees for routine medical care in outpatient centers they own. For patients, that can mean hundreds of dollars more on bills for colonoscopies, mammograms, heart screenings and the like. With more hospitals acquiring medical groups and clinics, the charges are more pervasive. Medicare advisers said that last year the federal insurer likely overpaid for a sample of services by about $6 billion because of the fees in 2021. The added costs aren’t justified, physicians and economists say. The American Hospital Association said that facility fees help to both offset the extra costs that they incur to meet federal regulations and cover costly hospital services like neonatal intensive-care units. Many hospital systems now get at least half their revenue from patients who aren’t admitted.


⚾OHTANI SAYS HE'S NEVER GAMBLED: Shohei Ohtani, who signed a record $700 million contract with baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers, said he’s never bet on sports or used a bookmaker, addressing gambling allegations that led to the firing of his friend and interpreter last week. Ohtani said he didn’t know until last week that his interpreter had a gambling problem and was in debt, adding he never “willfully” sent money to a bookmaker. 

“I’m very saddened and shocked that someone who I trusted has done this,” Ohtani, 29, said Monday at a Dodger Stadium press conference in Los Angeles.

➤BRRRR! A powerful storm is dumping heavy snow and blizzard conditions across the north-central United States, prompting severe weather warnings and closing school and roads. Meteorologists say the storm could dump 6 to 12 inches from central Nebraska to northeastern Minnesota. Heavy snow and gusty winds approaching 50 mph will produce blizzard conditions into early Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. And across the Mississippi Valley and central Gulf Coast, thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes were expected early Tuesday.

➤TUESDAY'S WEATHER MAP:






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