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Tag: APP US & World News

  • Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is to undergo hernia surgery

    Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is to undergo hernia surgery

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    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the Israeli leader will undergo surgery on Sunday for a hernia.

    Netanyahu’s office said the hernia was discovered during a routine checkup, and that the prime minister will be under full anesthesia and unsconcious for the procedure.

    Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a close confidant who also holds the title of deputy prime minister, will serve as acting prime minister during the operation, the office said.

    Netanyahu, 74, has kept a full schedule throughout Israel’s nearly six-month-long war against Hamas, and his doctors have said he is in good health.

    Last year, however, doctors acknowledged he had concealed a long-known heart problem after they implanted a pacemaker.

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    Associated Press

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  • Crews start removing twisted steel from collapsed Baltimore bridge

    Crews start removing twisted steel from collapsed Baltimore bridge

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    Teams of engineers worked Saturday on the intricate process of cutting and lifting the first section of twisted steel from the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which crumpled into the Patapsco River this week after a massive cargo ship crashed into one of its supports.

    What You Need To Know

    • Engineers in Maryland are working on the daunting task of removing the remains of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge from the Patapsco River
    • Crews on Saturday started to cut the first section of twisted steel so it can be loaded onto a barge. Seven floating cranes, 10 tugboats and nine barges have been tapped to help
    • Clearing the river will allow officials to reopen the economically vital Port of Baltimore
    • A massive cargo ship felled the span Tuesday after smashing into a pillar. The bodies of two of six workers missing after the collapse were recovered earlier this week. But four more have yet to be located and are presumed dead

    Sparks could be seen flying from a section of bent and crumpled steel in the afternoon, and video released by officials in the evening showed demolition crews using a cutting torch to slice through the thick beams. The joint incident command said in a statement that the work was being done on the top of the north side of the collapsed structure.

    Crews were carefully measuring and cutting the steel from the broken bridge before attaching straps so it can be lifted onto a barge and floated away, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath said.

    Seven floating cranes — including a massive one capable of lifting 1,000 tons — 10 tugboats, nine barges, eight salvage vessels and five Coast Guard boats were on site in the water southeast of Baltimore.

    Each movement affects what happens next and ultimately how long it will take to remove all the debris and reopen the ship channel and the blocked Port of Baltimore, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said.

    “I cannot stress enough how important today and the first movement of this bridge and of the wreckage is. This is going to be a remarkably complicated process,” Moore said.

    Undeterred by the chilly morning weather, longtime Baltimore resident Randy Lichtenberg and others took cellphone photos or just quietly looked at the broken pieces of the bridge, which including its steel trusses weigh as much as 4,000 tons.

    “I wouldn’t want to be in that water. It’s got to be cold. It’s a tough job,” Lichtenberg said from a spot on the river called Sparrows Point.

    The shock of waking up Tuesday morning to video of what he called an iconic part of the Baltimore skyline falling into the water has given way to sadness.

    “It never hits you that quickly. It’s just unbelievable,” Lichtenberg said.

    WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

    One of the first goals for crews on the water is to get a smaller auxiliary ship channel open so tugboats and other small barges can move freely. Crews also want to stabilize the site so divers can resume searching for four missing workers who are presumed dead.

    Two other workers were rescued from the water in the hours following the bridge collapse, and the bodies of two more were recovered from a pickup truck that fell and was submerged in the river. They had been filling potholes on the bridge and while police were able to stop vehicle traffic after the ship called in a mayday, they could not get to the construction workers, who were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

    The crew of the cargo ship Dali, which is managed by Synergy Marine Group, remained on board with the debris from the bridge around it, and were safe and were being interviewed. They are keeping the ship running as they will be needed to get it out of the channel once more debris has been removed.

    The vessel is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk.

    The collision and collapse appeared to be an accident that came after the ship lost power. Federal and state investigators are still trying to determine why.

    Assuaging concern about possible pollution from the crash, Adam Ortiz, the Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator, said there was no indication in the water of active releases from the ship or materials hazardous to human health.

    REBUILDING

    Officials are also trying to figure out how to handle the economic impact of a closed port and the severing of a major highway link. The bridge was completed in 1977 and carried Interstate 695 around southeast Baltimore.

    Maryland transportation officials are planning to rebuild the bridge, promising to consider innovative designs or building materials to hopefully shorten a project that could take years.

    President Joe Biden’s administration has approved $60 million in immediate aid and promised the federal government will pay the full cost to rebuild.

    Ship traffic at the Port of Baltimore remains suspended, but the Maryland Port Administration said trucks were still being processed at marine terminals.

    The loss of a road that carried 30,000 vehicles a day and the port disruption will affect not only thousands of dockworkers and commuters, but also U.S. consumers, who are likely to feel the impact of shipping delays. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other U.S. facility.

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    Associated Press

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  • The Baltimore collapse focuses attention on vital bridges

    The Baltimore collapse focuses attention on vital bridges

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    After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of old bridges across the U.S. are awaiting replacement or repairs after inspectors found them in poor condition

    • About 167 million vehicles travel daily over about 42,000 bridges that are categorized as poor

    • An Associated Press analysis determined that four-fifths of those have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load

    • And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago

    But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.

    “It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.

    Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape.

    About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.

    One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.

    These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.

    “We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

    When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.

    A Funding Infusion

    A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding more than 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.

    But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

    “The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”

    Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.

    Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition.

    Collapsing Bridges

    Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.

    Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.

    Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.

    In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations.

    “This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said.

    Financial Challenges

    Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1.

    The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition.

    Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.

    “It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.”

    Economic Effects

    In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems.

    Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.

    “This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.

    Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store in East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences.

    “That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.

    Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.

    To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.

    A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.

    Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could reopen the bridge, at least temporarily.

    “Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”

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    Associated Press

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  • The Baltimore collapse focuses attention on vital bridges

    The Baltimore collapse focuses attention on vital bridges

    [ad_1]

    After a yearlong closure, a bridge over the Puyallup River reopened in 2019 with a sturdy new span and a brand new name. It even won a national award.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of old bridges across the U.S. are awaiting replacement or repairs after inspectors found them in poor condition

    • About 167 million vehicles travel daily over about 42,000 bridges that are categorized as poor

    • An Associated Press analysis determined that four-fifths of those have problems with the substructures that hold them up or the superstructures that support their load

    • And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago

    But today, the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge is closed again after federal officials raised concerns about a vintage section of the nearly century-old bridge that carried about 15,000 vehicles a day. It has no timetable to reopen because the city of Tacoma, Washington, first must raise millions of dollars to clean and inspect it.

    “It’s frustrating — and hard to comprehend how we got here,” said Ed Wallace, whose Harley-Davidson motorcycle store has lost customers since the nearby bridge was shuttered.

    Bridges fulfill a vital function that often goes overlooked until lives are lost or disrupted by a closure or collapse, like that of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday. That bridge crumpled when struck by a cargo ship, not because of poor maintenance. But thousands of others stand in worse shape.

    About 42,400 U.S. bridges are in poor condition, yet they carry about 167 million vehicles each day, according to the federal government. Four-fifths of them have problems with the legs holding them up or the arms supporting their load. And more than 15,800 of those bridges also were in poor shape a decade ago, according to an Associated Press analysis.

    One of those persistently poor bridges — carrying about 96,000 westbound vehicles daily on Interstate 195 over the Seekonk River in Rhode Island — was suddenly shut to traffic late last year, resulting in long delays as drivers diverted to new routes. In March, the governor announced that the bridge must be demolished and replaced. That could cost up to $300 million and take at least two years to complete.

    These closures illustrate a nationwide issue.

    “We have not maintained our infrastructure at the rate that we should for many, many years, and now we’re trying to play catch-up,” said Marsia Geldert-Murphey, president of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

    When an old bridge gets closed because of safety concerns, it disrupts daily commutes, business supply chains and emergency response times by police, firefighters and medical personnel. Yet many bridges still await replacement or repairs because the costs can reach millions or even billions of dollars.

    A Funding Infusion

    A massive infrastructure law signed by President Joe Biden in 2021 directed $40 billion to bridges over five years — the largest dedicated bridge investment since construction of the interstate highway system, which began nearly 70 years ago.

    Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said that law already is funding more than 7,800 bridge projects. One of the most notable is a $3.6 billion project in Cincinnati to build a long-awaited new bridge carrying traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 over the Ohio River at the Kentucky border.

    But funding from the infrastructure law will make only a dent in an estimated $319 billion of needed bridge repairs nationwide, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.

    “The bottom line is that America’s bridges need a lot of work,” Buttigieg told the AP after visiting the closed Rhode Island bridge. He added: “The sooner we can address those significant bridges, the less likely they will be abruptly taken out of service, or worse, experience the risk of a collapse.”

    Inspectors rate bridges using a 0-9 scale, with 7 or above considered “good.” A “poor” rating reflects a 4 or below. A mid-range rating is considered “fair.” The nation’s poor bridges are on average 70 years old.

    Even before the federal funding infusion, the number of bridges in poor condition declined 22% over the past decade as structures were repaired, replaced or permanently closed, according to the AP’s analysis. But in recent years, more bridges also slipped from good to fair condition.

    Collapsing Bridges

    Though potholes on bridges can jar cars, many of the most concerning problems are below the surface. Chipping concrete and rusting steel can weaken the piers and beams that keep a bridge upright. When the condition of substructures or superstructures deteriorates too much, a bridge typically is closed out of public safety concerns.

    Though rare, bad bridges can eventually collapse.

    Design flaws contributed to the evening rush hour collapse of an Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis in 2007. The collapse killed 13 people and injured 145 others. It also was costly financially. A state analysis estimated Minnesota’s economy lost $60 million in 2007-2008 due to increased travel time and operating costs for commuters and businesses.

    In January 2022, a bridge carrying a bus and several cars collapsed over Fern Hollow Creek in Pittsburgh, causing injuries but no deaths. Federal investigators determined the steel legs had corroded to the point of having visible holes, yet inspectors failed to calculate the severity of the problem and the city failed to follow repeated recommendations.

    “This bridge didn’t collapse just by an act of God. It collapsed because of a lack of maintenance and repair,” National Transportation Safety Board member Michael Graham said.

    Financial Challenges

    Iowa has the most poor bridges, followed by Pennsylvania, Illinois and Missouri. The twin Burlington Street bridges in Iowa City, Iowa, exemplify the financial challenges facing old bridges. The state owns the southbound span carrying vehicles over the Iowa River while the city owns the northbound span of what’s also known as state Highway 1.

    The city’s part, constructed in 1915, was rated in poor condition in the 2023 and 2013 National Bridge Inventory. Inspection reports show numerous cracks and structural deficiencies in the concrete bridge. The state’s side, built in 1968, is in much better condition.

    Although the federal infrastructure law provided a grant to analyze the bridges, the split ownership has made it difficult to fund the more than $30 million estimated cost of a replacement.

    “It’s not something we can just fund in a year and say: ‘Here we go, let’s do it quick,’” said city engineer Jason Havel. “It takes years of planning, years of working through dedicated funding.”

    Economic Effects

    In Rhode Island, problems had been mounting for the I-195 Washington Bridge connecting Providence to East Providence. It closed after an engineer in December noticed the failure of multiple steel tie rods in concrete beams at two piers. A subsequent examination found widespread structural problems.

    Joseph McHugh, an engineer with 40 years of experience in bridge and road construction, reviewed a draft engineering report compiled after the bridge’s closure along with inspection reports from July 2022 and July 2023.

    “This failure didn’t occur overnight,” McHugh told the AP. “To me, it should have been caught by an inspection, not by a contractor or whomever was looking at what was going on.”

    The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating allegations that false payment claims for the bridge’s construction, inspection or repair were submitted to the federal government.

    Marco Pacheco, who owns a liquor store in East Providence, said he believes “mismanagement,” “negligence” and “incompetence” caused the closure. His business revenue is down 20% since the bridge closed. But he’s even more concerned about the long-term consequences.

    “That traffic doesn’t instantly come back. Folks have reshaped their patterns, their thought processes and so on,” Pacheco said.

    Business owners in Washington share similar concerns about the indefinite closure of the Fishing Wars Memorial Bridge, in an industrial area near the Port of Tacoma. Several years ago, the city spent $42 million to replace a span leading up to the river. But the bridge was abruptly closed again last October after the Federal Highway Administration raised concerns that debris had prevented the inspection of potentially corroded steel connection points.

    To clean and inspect the bridge, the city first must encapsulate it to protect debris from falling into the river. But the city lacks the more than $6 million needed for the project. It also has no means of paying for a potential $280 million replacement.

    A nearby Interstate 5 bridge provides a good alternative but that means many motorists zoom right past an exit ramp without thinking about the Harley-Davidson store or other nearby businesses. At least one shop already has closed.

    Wallace, the Harley-Davidson store owner, wishes the city could reopen the bridge, at least temporarily.

    “Is there a peril that exists?” Wallace asks rhetorically. “Yeah, absolutely, a very serious one for me as a business owner.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Federal Railroad Administration announces $2.4 billion in grants

    Federal Railroad Administration announces $2.4 billion in grants

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    The Federal Railroad Administration announced Friday that it will make more than $2.4 billion available for projects that help modernize the country’s freight and intercity passenger rail systems.

    The money is available through the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which authorized up to $108 billion for public transportation projects.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Federal Railroad Administration opened its largest funding round in the agency’s history on Friday

    • $2.4 billion in grants will be available for projects that help modernize the country’s freight and intercity passenger rail systems

    • The money is provided through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

    • Railroads, states and local communities have 60 days to apply

    “This funding will make it safer, more affordable, more sustainable and more efficient for people and goods to move by rail across the country,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement, adding that it is the biggest funding round in the FRA’s history.

    The new funding adds to more than $1.4 billion in grants the agency announced last year to help with 70 projects in 35 states and Washington, D.C. Granted through the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, last year’s projects ranged from grade crossing improvements to expanding intercity passenger rail, such as an upcoming high-speed rail system between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

    They also helped fund zero- and low-emissions locomotives, trespass prevention and workforce training and development.

    FRA Administrator Amit Bose said the CRISI grants see “extraordinarily high demand” to help railroads, states and local communities improve their systems. Interested entities have 60 days to apply for the funds.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • EPA rule dramatically limits emissions from trucks

    EPA rule dramatically limits emissions from trucks

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    Dozens of types of trucks will need to be zero emissions in less than a decade under sweeping new rules the Environmental Protection Agency finalized on Friday.

    Applicable to big rigs, buses, cement mixers, trash trucks and other heavy- and medium-duty vehicles, the standards are designed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas pollution and will take effect for the 2027 model year.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Friday to dramatically reduce emissions from heavy- and medium-duty trucks

    • The new rules are effective for 2027-2032 model year vehicles

    • More than 100 types of vehicle need to conform to the rule, including big rigs, buses, cement mixers and trash trrucka

    • Trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles make up 10% of on-road vehicles but contribute 25% of emissions from the transportation sector

    “In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest-working vehicles on the road,” EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement. “EPA’s strong and durable vehicle standards respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by making deep cuts in emissions from the transportation sector.”

    Transportation is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions nationally. Trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles make up 10% of on-road vehicles but contribute 25% of emissions from the transportation sector, according to the EPA. By 2032, 25% of new big rigs and 40% of medium-duty vehicles such as box trucks could be zero emisions under the new rule.

    Each year, the new Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles-Phase 3 are expected to avoid 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions and provide $13 billion in public health, climate and cost savings, the EPA said.

    Electrifying the entire commercial truck fleet in the U.S. will require almost $1 trillion in infrastructure investment alone, according to the Clean Freight Coalition. That does not include the cost of zero-emission trucks, which can be as much as three times more expensive than their diesel-powered equivalents.

    “Electrification means focusing on the vehicle segments that are easier first,” the CFC said in a statement on its website. “It means that we have to look at how fleets operate and potentially adjust. It means that we need better cooperation and planning across industries and governments. And it requires an openness to alternative technology paths to decarbonizing the heavy-duty segment.”

    The association noted that the industry has a profit margin of roughly 5% and will not be able to support the transition “without financial support or a significant increase in freight rates.”

    Several states, including California, offer incentives for truck operators to transition to heavy-duty zero emissions vehicles. As part of the federal Inflation Reduction Act, the EPA will distribute $1 billion to fund clean heavy-duty vehicles through 2031.

    The EPA said the new rules are “technology neutral” and do not dictate what types of technology need to be adopted. Manufacturers are able “to choose what set of emissions control technologies is best suited for them and the needs of their customers.”

    Currently available technologies include advanced internal combustion engines, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, electrics, battery electrics and hydrogen fuel cells.

    The new standards apply to heavy-duty work vehicles, including delivery trucks, trash haulers, public utility trucks and buses used for transit, shuttles and school, as well as tractor-trailers, or big rigs. Just 2% of such vehicles are currently zero-emissions.

    The American Bus Association reacted to Friday’s rule by saying it is committed to a cleaner environment and supports approprpiate climate initiatives that gradually move the United States in that direction.

    “However, the ABA expresses grave concerns regarding the Environmental Protection Agency’s recent rule mandating a rapid shift to electric vehicles,” ABA President Peter J. Pantuso said in a statement. “This forced march towards electric vehicles will result in a sgnificant increase in equipment costs, potentially doubling them. Moreover, the current lack of infrastructure and limited electric capacity make this transition impractical and financially burdensome for the industry and consumers.”

    Other groups hailed the new rule.

    “By outlining a reduction in tailpipe emissions through 2032, today’s ruling is an important step towards ending our nation’s dependence on oil for transportation,” Electrification Coalition Executive Director Ben Prochazka said in a statement Friday, responding to the new rule. The group led a campaign encouraging the White House to adopt strict new emissions standards for heavy trucks that was supported by more than 80 businesses and 75 U.S. mayors.

    “Despite strong light-duty EV sales growth in recent years, progress in the heavy-duty space has been slow, so this announcement is much-needed certainty for the heavy-duty market and supports the charging infrastructure necessary to power the electric trucks of tomorrow.”

    The Electrification Coalition said the transition to zero-emissions trucks will bolster national security by reducing the country’s dependence on global oil markets and protect public health.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • U.S. economic growth for last quarter is revised up slightly to a healthy 3.4%

    U.S. economic growth for last quarter is revised up slightly to a healthy 3.4%

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    The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.4% annual pace from October through December, the government said Thursday in an upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 3.2% rate last quarter.

    What You Need To Know

    • The U.S. economy grew at a solid 3.4% annual pace from October through December, the government said in an upgrade from its previous estimate

    • The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 3.2% rate last quarter

    • Last quarter’s growth was a solid performance, coming in the face of higher interest rates and powered by growing consumer spending, exports and business investment in buildings and software


    The Commerce Department’s revised measure of the nation’s gross domestic product — the total output of goods and services — confirmed that the economy decelerated from its sizzling 4.9% rate of expansion in the July-September quarter.

    But last quarter’s growth was still a solid performance, coming in the face of higher interest rates and powered by growing consumer spending, exports and business investment in buildings and software. It marked the sixth straight quarter in which the economy has grown at an annual rate above 2%.

    For all of 2023, the U.S. economy — the world’s biggest — grew 2.5%, up from 1.9% in 2022. In the current January-March quarter, the economy is believed to be growing at a slower but still decent 2.1% annual rate, according to a forecasting model issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

    Thursday’s GDP report also suggested that inflation pressures were continuing to ease. The Federal Reserve’s favored measure of prices — called the personal consumption expenditures price index — rose at a 1.8% annual rate in the fourth quarter. That was down from 2.6% in the third quarter, and it was the smallest rise since 2020, when COVID-19 triggered a recession and sent prices falling.

    Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, so-called core inflation amounted to 2% from October through December, unchanged from the third quarter.

    The economy’s resilience over the past two years has repeatedly defied predictions that the ever-higher borrowing rates the Fed engineered to fight inflation would lead to waves of layoffs and probably a recession. Beginning in March 2022, the Fed jacked up its benchmark rate 11 times, to a 23-year high, making borrowing much more expensive for businesses and households.

    Yet the economy has kept growing, and employers have kept hiring — at a robust average of 251,000 added jobs a month last year and 265,000 a month from December through February.

    At the same time, inflation has steadily cooled: After peaking at 9.1% in June 2022, it has dropped to 3.2%, though it remains above the Fed’s 2% target. The combination of sturdy growth and easing inflation has raised hopes that the Fed can manage to achieve a “soft landing” by fully conquering inflation without triggering a recession.

    Thursday’s report was the Commerce Department’s third and final estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth. It will release its first estimate of January-March growth on April 25.

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    Associated Press

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  • White House proposes new rules for short-term health insurance

    White House proposes new rules for short-term health insurance

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    Short-term health insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage for preexisting conditions and take advantage of other loopholes in the Affordable Care Act under new rules the Biden administration proposed Thursday.  

    What You Need To Know

    • Short-term health insurance would be limited to four months under a new rule the White House proposed Thursday

    • Temporary heath insurance coverage providers will also need to explain what is and what is not included

    • As many as 1.9 million Americans have short-term health insurance that provides temporary coverage as they transition from one source of health insurance to another

    • People who currently have short-term health insurance can renew their policies according to the terms of their current plans; the new rules will take effecct in 60 days

    “Some types of insurance plans, like short-term limited-duration insurance, don’t provide comprehensive coverage,” White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden, said Wednesday during a briefing about the new rules. “Importantly, they don’t have to comply with critical ACA protections” such as covering preexisting conditions.

    Short-term insurance plans are intended to provide temporary coverage to people as they transition from one source of health insurance to another, Tanden said. As many as 1.9 million people are enrolled in short-term health insurance, according to the White House.

    Calling short-term plans “junk insurance,” Tanden said they mislead consumers into thinking they are buying full-coverage health insurance when in reality their coverage is capped or health conditions are not included at all.

    The new rule would limit short-term care to no more than four months. Insurance companies will also have to provide clear disclaimers that explain to customers what is and is not covered and provide information on how to buy additional coverage.

    People who are currently enrolled in short-term plans will be able to keep that coverage and renew it according to the terms of their current plan. The new rules will take effect in 60 days.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Solar companies join forces to make panels in the U.S.

    Solar companies join forces to make panels in the U.S.

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    A pair of North American solar companies are joining forces to take advantage of a new federal clean energy subsidy.

    On Wednesday, the Georgia-based silicon solar cell maker Suniva announced it is partnering with Canada-based photovoltaic solar module provider Heliene to sell American-made solar panels starting later this year. The panels will be made at Heliene’s factory in Mountain Iron, Minn.

    What You Need To Know

    • A pair of North American solar companies are joining forces to take advantage of an Inflation Reduction Act subsidy

    • Suniva, based in Georgia, and Heliene, based in Canada, will make solar panels in the United States

    • China currently makes about 80% of the solar panels made globally

    • The U.S. makes about 2% of solar panels

    The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act qualifies the companies for a10% domestic content bonus investment tax credit as part of its goal to bring green technology manufacturing back to the United States. China currently makes about 80% of the solar panels used globally, while the U.S. makes about 2%.

    Suniva is the country’s largest and oldest U.S. maker of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, which are smaller, more energy efficient and longer lasting than other types of cells but also more expensive to manufacture.

    “This contract is a testament to the effectiveness of the Inflation Reduction Act,” Suniva CEO Cristiano Amoruso said in a statement. “We are proud to fulfill our longstanding promise to bring back cell manufacturing to the United States.”

    The partnership announcement comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is scheduled to visit Suniva’s facility in Norcross, Ga., on Wednesday. The U.S. lost about 20% of its solar manufacturing jobs from 2016-2020, according to the Treasury Department.

    Despite the loss in U.S. solar manufacturing, the country added more solar energy to the grid than ever before in 2023, according to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Assn. released earlier this month. The amount of new electricity-generating capacity from solar increased 51% compared with 2022 and marked the first time that a renewable electricity source made up more than 50% of capacity additions in a single year.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Vice President Harris calls on more states to enact red flag gun laws

    Vice President Harris calls on more states to enact red flag gun laws

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    More than six years removed from the deadliest mass shooting at a high school in U.S. history, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new resource center to help states implement red flag laws — laws that allow the temporary removal of firearms from people who may present a danger to themselves or others.

    The announcement came Saturday during a visit to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where she will meet with the families of 17 people who were killed in a 2018 mass shooting.

    What You Need To Know

    • Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new resource center to help states implement red flag laws

    • Red flag laws allow family members or law enforcement to request a court order that temporarily takes away guns from owners who they feel may harm themselves or other people

    • 21 states currently have red flag laws, though only six have taken advantage of federal funding for implementation, Harris said

    • The vice president issued a call to action for additional states to enact red flag laws

    “Part of why I’m here today is to challenge every state: Pass a red flag law,” Harris said in the Stoneman Douglas gym, before indicating to the families standing behind her. “See how these leaders and these parents, through their advocacy born of tragedy, have changed some of the laws in this state — including on that issue — to the betterment of everyone.”

    Harris reportedly walked the halls of the old high school building with local officials and the families of the victims. The building, which was permanently closed and preserved as evidence until the trial of the shooter was concluded will be demolished this summer, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

    The National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide training and technical support to the 21 states that have red flag laws. The Center is funded through a Department of Justice grant enabled by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act the Biden-Harris administration enacted in 2022 to prevent and respond to acts of violence. It will be run by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

    During her visit, Harris is expected to issue an official call to action for additional states to enact red flag laws. The Biden-Harris Administration has offered $750 million to states’ crisis intervention programs, according to the White House.

    “If anyone says, ‘well, this is a matter of resources,’ I’d invite you to really consider the resources in our children and school officials we have lost because of what has been happening in our country,” Harris said, before adding that the White House under President Joe Biden has made about $1 billion available for public school safety, violence prevention, intervention and mental health resources through the Stronger Connections Grant. An additional $2 billion of funds from the American Rescue Plan’s school relief funds was directed to hire student mental health experts in K-12 schools.

    Red flag laws allow family members or law enforcement to request a court order that temporarily takes away guns from owners who they feel may harm themselves or other people. In addition to states, the new Resource Center will be available to local governments, law enforcement, prosecutors, attorneys, judges, clinicians, victim service providers and behavioral health providers.

    But of the 21 states that have red flag laws, only six have taken advantage of federal funding to implement those laws.

    “Of the 21 that have passed red flag laws, I challenge the others: come on over, we got some resources for you, to help you implement the work that you have done that has been the work of a leader on this tragic issue,” Harris said. 

    For fiscal year 2024, the Department of Justice is expected to make $141 million available to states, territories and the District of Columbia to implement crisis intervention programs, including red flag programs. That funding can be used to train court staff on red flag proceedings, family members about how to react when they see warning signs and first responders to recognize signs of crisis. The funding can also be used to increase public awareness about red flag laws.

    Citing research from the Washington Post, the White House said there have been 394 school shootings since the Columbine High School mass shooting in Colorado in 1999. School violence incidents are often preceded by warning signs, such as an individual revealing plans ahead of time, according to the Department of Homeland Security’s National Threat Assessment Center.

    Harris acknowledged that there won’t be “complete agreement” on what she said must be done to address gun violence, including her repeated calls for universal background checks and assault weapons bans. 

    “But there are some that frankly, to use a colloquialism, are just no-brainers. And one of the points again that I will emphasize today is the red flag law as a tool that can help us address some of the tragedies that we know have occurred, and occurred here,” she said.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • 2 crew members die during ‘incident’ on Holland America cruise ship

    2 crew members die during ‘incident’ on Holland America cruise ship

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    Two crew members on a Holland America cruise ship died during an “incident” in the ship’s engineering space, the cruise line said.

    The unidentified crew members died Friday while the Florida-based Nieuw Amsterdam was at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Holland America said in a statement.

    Authorities were notified and the cause of the accident is being investigated, the cruise line said. Crew members were being offered counseling.

    “All of us at Holland America Line are deeply saddened by this incident and our thoughts and prayers are with our team members’ families at this difficult time,” the statement said. “The safety, security and welfare of all guests and crew are the company’s absolute priority.”

    The cruise line did not offer any further details about the crew members. It later said the Bahamas Maritime Authority was leading the investigation. The ship set sail out of Fort Lauderdale on March 16 for a seven-night trip.

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    Associated Press

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  • Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

    Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

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    Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives, marking the first day of Holy Week as conflict surges across the region.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives on the first day of Holy Week
    • Pilgrims were seen waving branches and fronds in the air. The Bible says such items were placed before Jesus’ feet during his entrance into Jerusalem where he was greeted by cheering crowds
    • Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre also held a service on Sunday
    • The annual celebration comes as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. The conflict appeared to have little effect on the procession which swelled to a similar size as last year


    Pilgrims waved branches and fronds in the air, items that were placed before Jesus’ feet as he was greeted by cheering crowds during his entrance into Jerusalem, according to the Bible. Earlier Sunday, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — revered as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion — also held a service.

    The annual celebration came as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. However, the conflict appeared to have had little effect on the procession, which swelled to a similar size as last year.

    “Although there is war, in my impression I don’t feel any kind of tension,” said David Manini, a pilgrim from Italy.

    The celebration marks the beginning of the most somber week in the Christian calendar, which marks Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter.

    “I’m here because I love Jesus Christ,” said Jennifer Weedon, who traveled form the United States for the occasion.

    Since the war erupted, Israel has seen a huge downturn in tourism. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Israel has responded with an air and ground war that has left more than 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    One of the placards held by a pilgrim read, “Save us lord. The Church of Saint Porphyrius and Holy Family Church, Gaza.”

    In late October, Palestinian health officials said that an Israeli strike hit St. Porphyrios, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing 18 people.

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  • Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

    Thousands attend Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem against a backdrop of war

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    Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives, marking the first day of Holy Week as conflict surges across the region.

    What You Need To Know

    • Thousands of Christian faithful attended Palm Sunday celebrations at Jerusalem’s sacred Mount of Olives on the first day of Holy Week
    • Pilgrims were seen waving branches and fronds in the air. The Bible says such items were placed before Jesus’ feet during his entrance into Jerusalem where he was greeted by cheering crowds
    • Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre also held a service on Sunday
    • The annual celebration comes as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. The conflict appeared to have little effect on the procession which swelled to a similar size as last year


    Pilgrims waved branches and fronds in the air, items that were placed before Jesus’ feet as he was greeted by cheering crowds during his entrance into Jerusalem, according to the Bible. Earlier Sunday, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre — revered as the site of Jesus’s crucifixion — also held a service.

    The annual celebration came as the Israel-Hamas war rages on in Gaza. However, the conflict appeared to have had little effect on the procession, which swelled to a similar size as last year.

    “Although there is war, in my impression I don’t feel any kind of tension,” said David Manini, a pilgrim from Italy.

    The celebration marks the beginning of the most somber week in the Christian calendar, which marks Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter.

    “I’m here because I love Jesus Christ,” said Jennifer Weedon, who traveled form the United States for the occasion.

    Since the war erupted, Israel has seen a huge downturn in tourism. The war began on Oct. 7, when Hamas militants from Gaza invaded southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 others hostage. Israel has responded with an air and ground war that has left more than 32,000 Palestinians dead, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

    One of the placards held by a pilgrim read, “Save us lord. The Church of Saint Porphyrius and Holy Family Church, Gaza.”

    In late October, Palestinian health officials said that an Israeli strike hit St. Porphyrios, a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza where displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing 18 people.

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    Associated Press

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  • Senate approves House-passed $1.2T funding bill

    Senate approves House-passed $1.2T funding bill

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    The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills in the early morning hours Saturday, a long overdue action nearly six months into the budget year that will push any threats of a government shutdown to the fall. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion package of spending bills to fund the government through September in the early morning hours Saturday

    • The bill now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law

    • It came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday

    • The House had approved the package of spending bills earlier in the day, but more House Republicans voted against the measure than for it, reflecting anger among conservatives over the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote


    The vote was 74-24. It came after funding had expired for the agencies at midnight, but the White House sent out a notice shortly after the deadline announcing the Office of Management and Budget had ceased shutdown preparations because there was a high degree of confidence that Congress would pass the legislation and the president would sign it on Saturday.

    “Because obligations of federal funds are incurred and tracked on a daily basis, agencies will not shut down and may continue their normal operations,” the White House statement said.

    Prospects for a short-term government shutdown had appeared to grow Friday evening after Republicans and Democrats battled over proposed amendments to the bill. Any successful amendments to the bill would have sent the legislation back to the House, which had already left town for a two-week recess.

    But shortly before midnight Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced a breakthrough.

    “It’s been a very long and difficult day, but we have just reached an agreement to complete the job of funding the government,” Schumer said. “It is good for the country that we have reached this bipartisan deal. It wasn’t easy, but tonight our persistence has been worth it.”

    While Congress has already approved money for Veterans Affairs, Interior, Agriculture and other agencies, the bill approved this week is much larger, providing funding for the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments and other aspects of general government.

    The House passed the bill Friday morning by a vote of 286-134, narrowly gaining the two-thirds majority needed for approval. More than 70% of the money would go to defense.

    The vote tally in the House reflected anger among Republicans over the content of the package and the speed with which it was brought to a vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson brought the measure to the floor even though a majority of Republicans ended up voting against it. He said afterward that the bill “represents the best achievable outcome in a divided government.”

    In sign of the conservative frustration, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., initiated an effort to oust Johnson as the House began the vote but held off on further action until the House returns in two weeks. It’s the same tool that was used last year to remove the last Republican speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California.

    The vote breakdown showed 101 Republicans voting for the bill and 112 voting against it. Meanwhile, 185 Democrats voted for the bill and 22 against.

    Rep. Kay Granger, the Republican chair of the House Appropriations Committee that helped draft the package, stepped down from that role after the vote. She said she would stay on the committee to provide advice and lead as a teacher for colleagues when needed.

    Johnson broke up this fiscal year’s spending bills into two parts as House Republicans revolted against what has become an annual practice of asking them to vote for one massive, complex bill called an omnibus with little time to review it or face a shutdown. Johnson viewed that as a breakthrough, saying the two-part process was “an important step in breaking the omnibus muscle memory.”

    Still, the latest package was clearly unpopular with most Republicans, who viewed it as containing too few of their policy priorities and as spending too much.

    “The bottom line is that this is a complete and utter surrender,” said Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo.

    It took lawmakers six months into the current fiscal year to get near the finish line on government funding, the process slowed by conservatives who pushed for more policy mandates and steeper spending cuts than a Democratic-led Senate or White House would consider. The impasse required several short-term, stopgap spending bills to keep agencies funded.

    The first package of full-year spending bills, which funded the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture and the Interior, among others, cleared Congress two weeks ago with just hours to spare before funding expired for those agencies.

    When combining the two packages, discretionary spending for the budget year will come to about $1.66 trillion. That does not include programs such as Social Security and Medicare, or financing the country’s rising debt.

    To win over support from Republicans, Johnson touted some of the spending increases secured for about 8,000 more detention beds for migrants awaiting their immigration proceedings or removal from the country. That’s about a 24% increase from current levels. Also, GOP leadership highlighted more money to hire about 2,000 Border Patrol agents.

    Democrats, meanwhile, are boasting of a $1 billion increase for Head Start programs and new child care centers for military families. They also played up a $120 million increase in funding for cancer research and a $100 million increase for Alzheimer’s research.

    “Make no mistake, we had to work under very difficult top-line numbers and fight off literally hundreds of extreme Republican poison pills from the House, not to mention some unthinkable cuts,” said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on that committee, appealed to her GOP colleagues by stating that the bill’s spending on non-defense programs actually decreases even before accounting for inflation. She called the package “conservative” and “carefully drafted.”

    “These bills are not big spending bills that are wildly out of scope,” Collins said.

    The spending package largely tracks with an agreement that then-Speaker McCarthy worked out with the White House in May 2023, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

    Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers that last year’s agreement, which became the Fiscal Responsibility Act, will save the federal government about $1 trillion over the coming decade.

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  • Justice Department sues Apple, alleging illegal monopoly over smartphones

    Justice Department sues Apple, alleging illegal monopoly over smartphones

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    The Justice Department and 16 state and district attorneys general filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday, accusing the tech giant of creating an illegal monopoly over smartphones in the United States.

    The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court in New Jersey, alleges that the company’s so-called “walled garden” ecosystem — which allows Apple to maintain total control over its hardware and software — creates a monopoly by stifling competition. It accuses the company of using control over the iPhone to “engage in a broad, sustained, and illegal course of conduct.”

    “Each step in Apple’s course of conduct built and reinforced the moat around its smartphone monopoly,” the complaint reads, charging that the company uses “a series of shapeshifting rules and restrictions in its App Store guidelines and developer agreements that would allow Apple to extract higher fees, thwart innovation, offer a less secure or degraded user experience, and throttle competitive alternatives.”

    “We allege that Apple has maintained monopoly power in the smartphone market, not simply by staying ahead of the competition on the merits, but by violating federal antitrust law,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. “If left unchallenged, Apple will only continue to strengthen its smartphone monopoly.”

    In a statement, the company said it disagrees with the claims made in the lawsuit and vowed to “vigorously” fight it.

    “This lawsuit threatens who we are and the principles that set Apple products apart in fiercely competitive markets,” the company’s statement reads. “We believe this lawsuit is wrong on the facts and the law, and we will vigorously defend against it.”

    States joining the Justice Department’s lawsuit include New York, California, Maine and Wisconsin, as well as the District of Columbia.

    This is a developing story. Check back later for further updates.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Congress announces agreement on spending deal, races to avert shutdown

    Congress announces agreement on spending deal, races to avert shutdown

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    House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Tuesday morning announced that negotiators have reached an agreement on the remaining spending bills needed to fund the federal government through September and avoid a shutdown.

    What You Need To Know

    • Congressional leaders on Tuesday announced they reached an agreement on the remaining spending bills needed to fund the federal government through September and avoid a shutdown

    • Lawmakers had previously reached an agreement on five of the six spending bills needed to avoid a shutdown on Friday night, but they clashed over funding for the Department of Homeland Security

    • The package of bills, also known as a “minibus,” includes funding for not just Homeland Security, but the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Defense, State and Treasury, as well as the legislative branch

    • Timing will be tight to avert a shutdown, with lawmakers scrambling to draft legislative text ahead of Friday’s deadline


    Lawmakers had previously reached an agreement on five of the six spending bills needed to avoid a shutdown on Friday night, but they clashed over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. 

    “An agreement has been reached for DHS appropriations, which will allow completion of the FY24 appropriations process,” Johnson said in a statement, adding that the bill will be drafted “as soon as possible.”

    “Senate and House leaders and the White House have reached an agreement to finish the final set of full year appropriations bills,” Schumer wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “The Senate and House Appropriations Committees are in the process of finalizing text and reports for Congress to closely review and consider ASAP.”

    The package of bills, also known as a “minibus,” includes funding for not just Homeland Security, but the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Defense, State and Treasury, as well as the legislative branch. President Joe Biden pledged to sign it “immediately” once it passes Congress and reaches his desk.

    “We have come to an agreement with Congressional leaders on a path forward for the remaining full-year funding bills,” he said in a statement. “The House and Senate are now working to finalize a package that can quickly be brought to the floor, and I will sign it immediately.”

    But timing will be tight to avert a shutdown, with lawmakers scrambling to draft legislative text ahead of the deadline. House Republican leadership has pledged that it will give members 72 hours to review the legislation, which could make for a close call depending on when the bill is released. Johnson might also need to bring the bill up under the suspension of the House rules, which allows for expedited review of a bill, but would need two-third of the chamber to support it in order for it to pass.

    “In the next few days, upon completion of the drafting process, Congress will review and consider the appropriations package in order to fund the government and meet the needs of hardworking American taxpayers,” Jeffries said in a statement.

    It could also face some Republican opposition. Some members of the House GOP expressed concern about the way the minibus was negotiated.

    “We are back in Ryan-Boehner swamp mode where the omnibus is written behind closed doors,” Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie wrote on X, referring to the last two Republican House speakers, Paul Ryan and John Boehner. “Members are told to take it or leave it, and although Republicans control the House, more Democrats vote for it than Republicans because it spends more money than when [Nancy] Pelosi was in charge.”

    Republicans have also been opposed to the packaging together of bills, as well as the lack of inclusion of provisions like abortion restrictions and bans on diversity and inclusion programs within federal agencies.

    Once enacted by the House, the Senate must then take up the bill. Schumer would need the consent of every member of the chamber to speed up consideration of the measure, and any one lawmaker could hold up the process. Typically, leadership will come to an agreement on expedited consideration in exchange the

    The package being finalized is expected to provide about $886 billion for the Pentagon. The bill will also fund the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and others.

    Overall, the two spending packages provide about a 3% boost for defense, while keeping nondefense spending roughly flat with the year before. That’s in keeping with an agreement that former Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked out with the White House, which restricted spending for two years and suspended the debt ceiling into January 2025 so the federal government could continue paying its bills.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Netanyahu rails against U.S. criticism, says Israel won’t stop war in Gaza

    Netanyahu rails against U.S. criticism, says Israel won’t stop war in Gaza

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

    In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.

    What You Need To Know

    • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is railing against international criticism of his government amid the devasting war with Hamas
    • Netanyahu spoke days after U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on Israel to hold new a election and said Netanyahu had “lost his way”
    • Netanyahu said Sunday that an election would force Israel to stop fighting and would paralyze the country for months
    • He said that no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from eliminating Hamas and freeing those held hostage in Gaza
    • The Gaza Health Ministry says the war has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians. The fighting began when Hamas attacked Israel and killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostage


    Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks, and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

    “We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

    When asked by CNN whether he would commit to a new election after the war ends, Netanyahu said that “I think that’s something for the Israeli public to decide.”

    The U.S., which has provided key military and diplomatic support to Israel, also has expressed concerns about a planned Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering. The spokesman for the National Security Council, John Kirby, told Fox the U.S. still hasn’t seen an Israeli plan for Rafah.

    The U.S. supports a new round of talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in exchange for the return of Israeli hostages taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

    The Israeli delegation to those talks wasn’t expected to leave for Qatar until after Sunday evening meetings of the Security Cabinet and War Cabinet, which will give directions for the negotiations.

    Despite the talks, Netanyahu made it clear he had no plan to back down from the fighting that has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. More than five months have passed since Hamas’ attack on southern Israel killed 1,200 people and left another 250 hostage in Gaza.

    Earlier Sunday, Netanyahu said that calls for an election now — which polls show he would lose badly — would force Israel to stop fighting and would paralyze the country for six months.

    Netanyahu also reiterated his determination to attack Hamas in Rafah and said that his government approved military plans for such an operation.

    “We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” he said.

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would have “grave repercussions on the whole region.” Egypt also says pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize its peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century.

    And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after meeting with Netanyahu on Sunday, warned that “the more desperate the situation of people in Gaza becomes, the more this begs the question: No matter how important the goal, can it justify such terribly high costs, or are there other ways to achieve your goal?”

    Germany is one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe and, given memories of the Holocaust, often treads carefully when criticizing Israel.

    Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul-general in New York and an outspoken critic of Netanyahu, said that the prime minister’s comments fit with his efforts to find someone else to blame should Israel not achieve its goal of destroying Hamas.

    “He’s looking on purpose for a conflict with the U.S. so that he can blame Biden,” Pinkas said.

    Both sides have something to gain politically from the dispute. The Biden administration is under increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab-American supporters to restrain Israel’s war against Hamas. Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to show his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel’s closest ally.

    But pressure also comes from home, with thousands protesting again in Tel Aviv on Saturday night against Netanyahu’s government and calling for a new election and a deal to free remaining hostages.

    Israel’s offensive has driven most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza’s population is starving, according to the U.N.

    Airdrops by the U.S. and other nations continue, while deliveries on a new sea route have begun, but aid groups say more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on them are needed to meet humanitarian needs in any significant way.

    “Of course we should be bringing humanitarian aid by road. Of course by now we should be having at least two, three other entry points into Gaza,” chef José Andrés with World Central Kitchen, which organized the tons of food delivered by sea, told NBC.

    The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

    The Health Ministry on Sunday said that the bodies of 92 people killed in Israel’s bombardment had been brought to hospitals in Gaza in the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 130 wounded, it said.

    At least 11 people from the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in Deir al-Balah city in central Gaza, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and an Associated Press journalist. The body of an infant lay among the dead.

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  • Judge: DA or special prosecutor must step aside in Trump case

    Judge: DA or special prosecutor must step aside in Trump case

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    Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside from the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed, the judge overseeing it ruled Friday.

    What You Need To Know

    • The judge in the Georgia election interference case against Donald Trump and others says Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis must step aside or remove the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship before the case can proceed

    • Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade testified at a hearing last month they had engaged in a romantic relationship but rejected the idea Willis improperly benefited from it as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged

    • Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee said Friday he found the “allegations and evidence legally insufficient to support a finding of an actual conflict of interest,” but he found there remains an “appearance of impropriety”
    • An attorney for Trump said that while they respect the court’s ruling, they “believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade”

    Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee did not find that Willis’ relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade amounted to a conflict of interest that should disqualify her from the case. However, he said, the allegations created an “appearance of impropriety” that infected the prosecution team.

    “As the case moves forward, reasonable members of the public could easily be left to wonder whether the financial exchanges have continued resulting in some form of benefit to the District Attorney, or even whether the romantic relationship has resumed,” the judge wrote.

    “Put differently, an outsider could reasonably think that the District Attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences. As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”

    Willis hired Wade to lead the team to investigate and ultimately prosecute Trump and 18 others accused of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally try to overturn Trump’s narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in 2020. Willis and Wade testified at a hearing last month that they had engaged in a romantic relationship, but they rejected the idea that Willis improperly benefited from it, as lawyers for Trump and some of his co-defendants alleged.

    McAfee wrote that there was insufficient evidence that Willis had a personal stake in the prosecution. But he condemned what he described as a “tremendous” lapse in judgment and the “unprofessional manner of the District Attorney’s testimony.” Even so, he said dismissal of the case was not the appropriate remedy to “adequately dissipate the financial cloud of impropriety and potential untruthfulness found here.”

    McAfee found no showing that the due process rights of Trump and the other defendants had been violated or that the issues involved prejudiced them in any way. He also said the disqualification of a constitutional officer, like a district attorney, is not necessary “when a less drastic and sufficiently remedial option is available.”

    The judge said he believes that “Georgia law does not permit the finding of an actual conflict for simply making bad choices — even repeatedly — and it is the trial court’s duty to confine itself to the relevant issues and applicable law properly brought before it.”

    An attorney for co-defendant Michael Roman asked McAfee to dismiss the indictment and prevent Willis and Wade and their offices from continuing to prosecute the case. The attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, alleged that Willis paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited from the prosecution of the case when Wade used his earnings to pay for vacations for the two of them.

    Willis had insisted that the relationship created no financial or personal conflict of interest that justified removing her office from the case. She and Wade both testified that their relationship began in the spring of 2022 and ended in the summer of 2023. They both said that Willis either paid for things herself or used cash to reimburse Wade for travel expenses.

    An attorney for Trump said that while they respect the court’s ruling, they “believe that the Court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade.”

    “We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place,” said Trump attorney Steve Sadow, who also alleged that Willis “played the race card and falsely accused the defendants and their counsel of racism.”

    The sprawling indictment charges Trump and more than a dozen other defendants with violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO. The case uses a statute normally associated with mobsters to accuse the former president, lawyers and other aides of a “criminal enterprise” to keep him in power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

    Trump, Republicans’ presumptive presidential nominee for 2024, has denied doing anything wrong and pleaded not guilty.

    Earlier this week, the judge dismissed some of the charges against Trump.

    The six challenged counts charged the defendants with soliciting public officers to violate their oaths. One count stemmed from a phone call Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, on Jan. 2, 2021, in which Trump urged Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” for him to win the election in the state.

    Another of the dismissed counts accused Trump of soliciting then-Georgia House Speaker David Ralston to violate his oath of office by calling a special session of the legislature to unlawfully appoint presidential electors.

    McAfee said the counts did not allege sufficient detail regarding the nature of the violations.

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    Associated Press

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  • Energy Department will fund 52 clean hydrogen projects in 24 states

    Energy Department will fund 52 clean hydrogen projects in 24 states

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    The Department of Energy announced Wednesday that it will invest $750 million to fund clean hydrogen production in 24 states. The move is part of an ambitious plan to boost low- and no-emissions hydrogen as a major energy source for the United States as electricity demand increases.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Department of Energy will invest $750 million in clean hydrogen production projects in 24 states

    • The 52 projects are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

    • They will enable the production of fuel cells and the electrolyzers needed to produce clean hydrogen

    • The DOE funding annoncement comes five months after the Biden administration announced it would invest $7 billion in so-called hydrogen hubs in seven regions around the country

    Funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the money will fund 52 projects to increase hydrogen fuel cell production and the electrolyzers needed to generate clean hydrogen. Electrolyzers separate hydrogen from water using renewable sources of electricity, such as wind and solar.

    The projects are expected to produce electrolyzers that can generate 1.3 million tons of clean hydrogen annually — enough to power about 14,000 homes. They will also produce enough hydrogen fuel cells to power 15% of the medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in the U.S. each year, according to the DOE.

    Collectively, the projects “will supercharge our progress and ensure our leadership in clean hydrogen will be felt across the nation for generations to come,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in a statement.

    The DOE clean hydrogen funding announcement comes five months after the Biden administration announced a $7 billion investment in so-called hydrogen hubs in seven parts of the country. Each hub will include private and public entities that both produce and consume hydrogen in their geographic areas as part of the administration’s goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

    When fully operational, the seven hubs are expected to reduce 25 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year — the equivalent of taking 5-1/2 million gas-powered vehicles off the road.

    “Green hydrogen is one of the most promising technologies in the transition to a clean energy future and will support the industries that have long been central to our state, from mobility to manufacturing,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said in a statement.

    Michigan is receiving funding for two projects: A General Motors fuel cell manufacturing plant and a Nel Hydrogen electrolyzer manufacturing facility.

    California, Texas, South Carolina and Ohio are among the states receiving funding for at least three projects as the Biden administration works to spur more sustainably produced hydrogen for use in manufacturing, transportation and electricity generation.

    One of the most abundant elements on earth, hydrogen can be used to produce electricity, power manufacturing facilities, heat buildings and fuel vehicles with substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels, but it depends how it is produced. The dominant method for making hydrogen currently uses natural gas and is less expensive than more sustainable methods, such as landfill gas or electrolysis.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Biden-Harris campaign launches program to mobilize student voters

    Biden-Harris campaign launches program to mobilize student voters

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    As voters express concern about President Joe Biden’s age, according to polling, the organizers of his reelection campaign are courting young people with a new Students for Biden-Harris initiative.

    Designed to mobilize student voters throughout the country, the program launched Monday to reach young people on campus and online by touting the Biden administration’s achievements on the issues they care about most.

    What You Need To Know

    • Biden-Harris 2024 launched Students for Biden-Harris on Monday

    • The program is designed to mobilize student voters throughout the country on campus and online

    • In the 2020 election, 65% of Gen Z voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Biden

    • Inflation, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence and climate chnage are key isseus for voters 18 to 34 years old

    “Whether it’s tackling the climate crisis, fighting gun violence or being the most pro-union administration, we are making progress on the vision of a more equitable world,” Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board Member and first-term U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said in a statement. 

    “Young voters were crucial in delivering the election for President Biden and Vice President Harris in 2020, and they will be just as consequential in 2024,” said Frost, who was 25 years old when he was elected in 2020 and is the first member of Generation Z to serve in Congress.

    In the 2020 election, 65% of Gen Z voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for Biden — or about 11% more than all other age groups, according to an NBC poll.

    In the 2024 rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump, students will be just as critical of a voting bloc. Referring to young Americans as “a key constituency,” Students for Biden-Harris sees the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 as a driving force for young women in particular.

    “We’re ready to get to work,” Vice President Kamala Harris said at an event Monday to help launch the new initiative. “We’re ready to mobilize young voters across the country in the fight for our fundamental rights and freedoms.”

    Biden-Harris 2024 announced on Monday a joint endorsement from a coalition of 15 youth vote groups, including College Democrats of America, High School Democrats of America, Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Voices of Gen-Z.

    “The President and Vice President are proud to earn the support of these groups that represent young Americans nationwide,” Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement Monday. “The President and Vice President have spent their first term working with young people and fighting for the issues that matter most to them — taking historic action to cancel student debt, combat climate change and address gun violence.”

    Since 2021, the Biden administration has canceled $138 billion in student loan debt for about 3.9 billion borrowers. It also enacted the Inflation Reduction Act — the largest initiative in U.S. history to address climate change — and signed the first major gun safety law passed by Congress in almost three decades.

    Inflation/cost of living, jobs that pay a living wage, gun violence and climate change are the key issues for voters between the ages of 18 and 34 in the 2024 election, according to the Tufts Tisch College Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

    Young voters who say climate is their top issue are 20 points more likely to vote than other young people and 37 points more likely to prefer a Democrat for president. The Tufts poll found Democrats have an overall advantage among young people in the upcoming election, with 51% backing the Democratic candidate, 30% supporting the Republican and 16% undecided.

    The poll found that 57% of youth are extremely like to vote in 2024; another 15% say they are fairly likely to cast a ballot. Yet only 19% of young people have heard so far from political parties, campaigns or community organizations.

    The Students for Biden-Harris organizing program said it is working with youth vote groups to mobilize on more than 1,000 campuses where they are active, using over 500,000 volunteers that can reach 26+ million people on social media and make more than 155 million direct contacts with voters.

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    Susan Carpenter

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