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  • This Pennsylvania city hopes Biden’s infrastructure law can help revitalize its downtown | CNN Politics

    This Pennsylvania city hopes Biden’s infrastructure law can help revitalize its downtown | CNN Politics

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    Reading, Pennsylvania
    CNN
     — 

    Reading, the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania, may be most recognized for the iconic Monopoly board game’s Reading Railroad property.

    The railroad was one of the first in the US and was one of the biggest companies in the world in its heyday, connecting northeast Pennsylvania’s coal region with Philadelphia and the rest of the country.

    But the Reading Railroad went bankrupt in 1971. The last passenger train left Reading a decade later, and the city found itself detached from the rest of the country.

    Now Reading, a working-class city, is looking to regain its footing with a big investment in a new iteration of transportation: electric vehicle charging stations.

    City officials have a multimillion-dollar plan to install dozens of EV charging stations, with high hopes of revitalizing the city by making it easier for more workers and visitors to go to Reading and perhaps attract a new, younger generation of residents as well.

    To help make it happen, city officials are seeking federal money provided by the massive infrastructure law passed by Congress in 2021. The law not only provides funding for roads and bridges but also allocates billions of dollars to build a nationwide network of plug-in electric vehicle chargers – a key climate priority for the Biden administration.

    The measure garnered bipartisan support, despite facing some backlash from a handful of Republicans. After many previous administrations had failed to get a comprehensive infrastructure package through Congress, the Biden administration celebrated the law as a huge legislative win.

    In late May, Reading submitted an application for a new grant known as the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure program. The program will provide $2.5 billion over the next five years to local governments – and Reading officials hope to get a piece of that pie.

    The city recently exited a state oversight program for “financially distressed” cities after nearly 13 years, and seeking federal and state funding for a variety of projects is key to helping it rebuild.

    “We don’t give up,” said Mayor Eddie Moran, noting that it was a no-brainer for the city to apply for the federal grant.

    “We know these opportunities exist that can give us a better future,” he said.

    Mayor Eddie Moran speaks during the State of the City address at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Reading, Pennsylvania, on January 28, 2022.

    An electric vehicle revolution could be on the horizon, but there are reasons to be skeptical.

    EVs made up just 5.8% of new car sales last year, according to Kelley Blue Book.

    In addition to being expensive, it’s not always easy for drivers to find a charging station when they need one. There are currently only about 63,000 EV chargers publicly available in the US. Tesla has an extensive nationwide network, including a handful at a hotel in Reading, but those chargers are currently only compatible with Tesla vehicles.

    And let’s face it: EV plug-in chargers are of no use to people who don’t own electric vehicles. But Moran argues Reading’s proposed EV charger plan is an “encouragement” for people to buy EVs.

    There is federal money available for drivers too. The Inflation Reduction Act – a sweeping, federal climate and health care law passed last year – revamped a federal EV tax credit worth up to $7,500 for consumers who purchase certain vehicles.

    The Biden administration has also proposed ambitious new car pollution rules that could require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the US by 2032.

    “Electric vehicles still have a long way to go; there’s still a lot of bugs that need to be worked out,” said Donna Reed, president of the Reading City Council.

    “But if you’re going to be an economic development leader or political leader, you always have that eye to the future,” she said.

    And while the number of EVs on the road is small, it’s been growing.

    In 2022, the number of registered electric and hybrid vehicles jumped more than 75% compared with the prior year in Berks County, where Reading is the county seat, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

    Other than the Reading Railroad, there’s another fun fact about the city. A seven-story pagoda atop Mount Penn overlooks the city. Originally meant to be a luxury hotel when it was built in 1908, the unique landmark now serves as a symbol of Reading – and is one of the seven locations where city officials have proposed installing EV chargers.

    Overall, Reading has asked for nearly $2.6 million from the federal grant program to help install more than 30 public electric vehicle chargers and expects to find out later this year whether it will receive the grant money.

    The city will be on the hook for covering at least 20% of the project, but it can use other grants and in-kind contributions, such as land value and city workers’ salaries, to make up that amount.

    The Pagoda in Reading, Pennsylvania.

    The plan calls for two mobile charging trailers that would be tested at the pagoda. The site draws visitors to the area, and there’s access to hiking and biking trails nearby. The road up the mountain is also home to two annual hill-climb races in which cars race up Duryea Drive, named for an automobile maker who used the road to test his cars in the early 1900s.

    But building the needed infrastructure up the mountain could prove challenging. The mobile chargers will help the city evaluate whether there is demand for permanent EV chargers at that location.

    Permanent EV chargers are planned for two city parks and Albright College’s campus.

    The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, the former site for a safety goggles manufacturer, is another proposed location for EV chargers. It features dozens of resident artists, holds workshops and has a number of studios for trades such as ceramics, woodworking and photography.

    The GoggleWorks Center for the Arts is a community art and cultural resource center located in Reading, Pennsylvania.

    City officials expect chargers at city hall and the public works department to be the first ones up and running, operable in late 2024. Installation at these locations may move the quickest because existing electricity sources can be utilized.

    Currently, Reading spends about $800,000 annually on fuel for city-owned vehicles – a cost that could be reduced with the pivot to electric vehicles, according to Jamar Kelly, the city’s director of finance and deputy managing director.

    Additionally, the EV chargers could help the city reach its sustainability goals.

    The grant would be “instrumental in us starting and leading the City of Reading and the County of Berks to a safer, healthier, ecofriendly community,” the application reads.

    Whenever a massive federal spending law is enacted, there’s concern over whether the money will go out fairly – reaching small towns, rural areas and urban metropolises alike.

    While there may be plenty of money to go around, smaller cities may lack the staffing needed to prepare and submit applications. The infrastructure law offers nearly 400 different funding programs.

    For Reading, a boot camp offered by the Local Infrastructure Hub – which helps cities access the funds provided by the federal infrastructure law – was invaluable. It provided tips on how to apply, the ins and outs of how EV chargers work, and how other cities have had success or challenges installing chargers previously.

    “Seeing how people in other places have already addressed these issues allows us to be able to write a better grant,” said Lisa Unrath, Reading’s former grant coordinator.

    She learned how to structure the grant so that if Reading receives the money, it can complement projects funded by other grants. The city can apply for more money from the same federal grant again over the next five years, creating an opportunity for the city to plan for the future now.

    The Local Infrastructure Hub is sponsored by a variety of groups, including Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Kresge Foundation, as well as the National League of Cities and the US Conference of Mayors, among others.

    “Working with already more than 950 municipalities across the US, we’re placing a concentrated focus on America’s traditionally underserved areas who each have ambitious dreams, but need the expertise, resources, and network the Hub offers to put forward competitive applications,” said James Anderson, who leads the government innovation programs at Bloomberg Philanthropies.

    “It’s about getting as many of the so-called left-behind places a once-in-a-generation foothold in the new economy – and we’re well on our way,” he added.

    This headline has been updated.

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  • Milwaukee school bus goes up in flames seconds after driver safely evacuates all 37 students | CNN

    Milwaukee school bus goes up in flames seconds after driver safely evacuates all 37 students | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    School bus driver Imunek Williams was just two blocks away from dropping a group of students off at the Milwaukee Academy of Science on Wednesday morning when she suddenly smelled something burning. Minutes later, the bus was engulfed in flames.

    Williams, 24, has been a bus driver for a little under a year. With a 1-year-old and another little one on the way, she credits her motherly instincts for what she did next.

    “I had the driver window down and thought the smell was coming from another car at first but then the smoke started coming through my heater so I pulled over,” Williams told CNN. Putting her fears aside, Williams calmly evacuated all 37 students, ranging from elementary to high school, from the smoking bus. “Fifteen to 30 seconds after the last child got off the bus, I turned around and the bus was up in flames,” Williams said.

    Some students pulled out their cellphones to record the blazing bus while others stood in shock until another bus came to take them to school.

    First responders arrived on the scene, putting water hoses through the bus windows to put out the fire. Williams, who is expecting a baby boy in August, was transported to a local hospital as a precaution.

    “I’m fine, the baby is fine. I’m just thankful I was able to help those kids,” she said. “If my son was on that bus, I would want the driver to protect the kids at all costs.”

    Williams has received an outpouring of love and appreciation from her community. Thanks to her heroic act, all 37 bus riders involved are safe and out on summer vacation.

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  • Driver of SUV that crashed into a Massachusetts Apple store accelerated to 60 mph before deadly crash, prosecutor says | CNN

    Driver of SUV that crashed into a Massachusetts Apple store accelerated to 60 mph before deadly crash, prosecutor says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A man accused of driving an SUV into a Hingham, Massachusetts, Apple store last year – killing one person and injuring 22 others – now faces more than two dozen additional charges, including second-degree murder, as prosecutors say there were no signs the brakes were applied before the deadly crash.

    Bradley Rein, 53, drove up onto a sidewalk on November 21, 2022 crashed through the store’s glass door, went across the sales floor and slammed into a rear wall, striking and killing a 65-year-old construction worker who was in his path, Plymouth County Assistant District Attorney David Cutshall said in court.

    Rein was arrested in the immediate aftermath of the crash at the Derby Street Shops outdoor mall and pleaded not guilty to one charge of reckless homicide by motor vehicle. He now faces a host of new charges after a grand jury voted to indict him late last month on murder in the second degree and motor vehicle homicide by reckless operation.

    The panel also indicted Rein on 18 counts of aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, as well as reckless operation of a motor vehicle, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office.

    Rein pleaded not guilty to the new charges in court on Monday.

    Rein – who prosecutors say had no drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the crash – told police his right foot got stuck on the accelerator pedal and he was pressing on the brake with his other foot but couldn’t stop the vehicle from crashing into the store, Cutshall said.

    Electronic data downloaded from the SUV showed in the five seconds leading up to the crash, Rein’s vehicle accelerated to 60 mph, the prosecutor said.

    “There was no indication of brake application during those five seconds,” Cutshall told the court.

    An inspection of the vehicle also revealed “no mechanical defects that could have contributed to this crash,” Cutshall said, though, noting a police collision analysis and reconstruction report has not yet been finalized.

    Rein’s defense attorney told CNN the crash was an accident, and the vehicle has not yet been fully examined.

    “This was an accident. There was no intent,” defense attorney Joan Fund told CNN. “I am astonished by the second-degree murder charge. The accident reconstruction report has not been completed, the vehicle has not been fully examined due to the damage to the vehicle, and the data recording has contradictory information, and I look forward to litigating this in court.”

    The crash fueled numerous 911 calls and led to a large law enforcement response, with the Hingham fire chief describing first responders finding people “pinned against the wall by the vehicle.”

    Most of the 22 who were injured in the incident had serious injuries and were taken to local hospitals, Cutshall said. The man killed in the crash was identified as Kevin Bradley of New Jersey.

    “Obviously, at this point, there’s allegations of intentional conduct so that’s something we’ll have to deal with,” Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz told CNN affiliate WCVB. “We will make sure that there’s justice for Mr. Bradley, there’s justice for all the people whose lives were changed and altered forever.”

    Rein – who previously posted $100,000 bail – will be fitted with a GPS tracking device and was ordered to surrender his passport. He was also ordered not to leave the state without approval and told he can’t possess any weapons or operate a motor vehicle, as conditions of his bail, according to the district attorney’s office.

    He is scheduled to be back in court on June 21.

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  • Easily stolen Hyundais and Kias should be recalled, more than a dozen attorneys general say | CNN Business

    Easily stolen Hyundais and Kias should be recalled, more than a dozen attorneys general say | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    A coalition of attorneys general for 17 states and the District of Columbia on Thursday called for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles that they say are unsafe and too easy to steal.

    The attorneys general called for the recall “following the companies’ continued failure to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of theft of their vehicles,” a release from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the coalition, said.

    In a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the coalition requested a recall of “unsafe” Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022 “whose easily bypassed ignition switches and lack of engine immobilizers make them particularly vulnerable to theft.”

    The vehicles in question, 2015-2019 Hyundai and Kia models, such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and Tucson and the Kia Forte and Sportage, when equipped with turn-key ignitions — as opposed to cars that only require a button to be pushed to start — are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of a similar age. Many of these vehicles lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles, even in those years, according to the Highway Loss Data Institute, an industry group that tracks insurance statistics.

    These models became the subject of a viral social media trend in which thieves filmed themselves and others stealing Hyundai and Kia vehicles and taking them for a drive. In some parts of the country, the problem became so bad that some insurance companies refused to write new policies on these Hyundai and Kia models in places where the thefts had become extremely common.

    The models in question don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key belongs with that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that — stop the car from moving.

    “Hyundai and Kia announced that they will initiate voluntary service campaigns to offer software updates for certain vehicles with this starting-system vulnerability. Unfortunately, however, this is an insufficient response to the problem and does not adequately remedy the safety concerns facing vehicle owners and the public,” the letter to the NHSTA said.

    Hyundai and Kia did not immediately respond to CNN’s request comment.

    The two South Korean automakers have created a software patch to fix the problem, the automakers have said. Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia, and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.

    The patch will be installed free of charge on models that need it, with software that requires an actual key in the ignition to turn the vehicle on. The software will also block the car from being started after the doors have been locked using the key fob remote control. The vehicle will need to be unlocked before it can be started.

    The software also extends the length of the alarm sound from 30 seconds to a full minute. Hyundai dealers will also affix window stickers stating that the vehicle has anti-theft software installed.

    “The bottom line is, Kia’s and Hyundai’s failure to install standard safety features on many of their vehicles have put vehicle owners and the public at risk,” Attorney General Bonta said. “We now ask the federal government to require these companies to correct their mistake through a nationwide recall and help us in our continued efforts to protect the public from these unsafe vehicles.”

    Recalls are ordered by NHTSA or, much more commonly, undertaken by automakers to correct safety-related defects. The attorneys general’s letter asserts that the ease of theft of these Hyundai and Kia vehicles constitutes a safety hazard and the vehicles fail to meet federal standards for theft prevention.

    “Moreover, thieves have driven these vehicles recklessly, speeding and performing wild stunts and causing numerous crashes, at least eight deaths, and significant injuries,” the letter said.

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  • EPA proposes new tailpipe rules that could push EVs to make up two-thirds of new car sales in US by 2032 | CNN Politics

    EPA proposes new tailpipe rules that could push EVs to make up two-thirds of new car sales in US by 2032 | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday proposed ambitious new car pollution rules that could require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the US by 2032, in what would be one of the Biden administration’s most aggressive climate-change policies yet.

    The tailpipe standards would also have the effect of cutting planet-warming pollution from cars in half. Transportation accounts for nearly 30% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US, according to the EPA.

    EPA Administrator Michael Regan called the regulations “the strongest-ever federal pollution standards for cars and trucks.”

    Regan touted the proposed rules on “CNN News Central” on Wednesday, claiming they would bring down costs for consumers and slash planet-warming pollution.

    “This is a future for everyone, and we’re starting to see all of the auto industry move in this direction,” Regan told CNN’s Sara Sidner, saying strong auto emissions rules have been part of President Joe Biden’s “vision from day one.”

    EPA officials said that they are considering several different emissions proposals, which could result in anywhere from a 64% to 69% electric vehicle adoption rate by early next decade. If approved, the emissions standards would start model year 2027 vehicles.

    The agency anticipates the new rules would mean EVs could also make up nearly half of all new medium-duty vehicles, like delivery trucks, by model year 2032. Officials are also proposing stronger standards for heavy-duty vehicles, including dump trucks, public utility trucks, and transit and school buses.

    One expert told CNN the Biden administration’s proposal is a pivotal moment for the US auto industry and consumers.

    “It’s a pretty big deal,” said Thomas Boylan, a former Environmental Protection Agency official and the regulatory director for the EV trade group Zero Emission Transportation Association. “This is really going to set the tone for the rest of the decade and into the 2030s in terms of what this administration is looking for the auto industry to do when it comes to decarbonizing and ultimately electrifying.”

    Regan and White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi hailed the proposed regulations as a major climate win that would also save American consumers money in the coming years.

    Zaidi said that in the Biden administration’s first few years, the number of EVs on US roads had already tripled, while the number of public charging stations had doubled. And Zaidi vowed more to come, with funding from Biden’s infrastructure law for a network of EV charging stations combined with consumer tax credits.

    “Whether you measure today’s announcements by the dollars saved, the gallons reduced, or the pollution that will no longer be pumped into the air, this is a win for the American people,” Zaidi said.

    Yet even as the administration is writing aggressive regulations to push the market toward EVs, a Gallup poll released Wednesday suggests that Americans are not yet sold on the idea. Gallup polled more than 1,000 adults in the US last month and found that 41% said they would not buy an electric vehicle.

    Not only are EVs still more expensive than gas-powered cars, but consumers also haven’t yet grasped the climate benefits of transitioning to zero-emissions vehicles, the poll found. Six in 10 respondents said they believe EVs help the environment “only a little” or “not at all,” Gallup reported.

    Transportation is the biggest source of planet-warming pollution in the US, and light duty vehicles – the average cars Americans drive – account for 58% of those emissions. The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reported last year that aggressive, pollution-slashing changes in the global transportation sector – including the transition to EVs – could reduce the sector’s emissions by more than 80%.

    Speaking on CNN, Regan also emphasized that switching to an EV would save consumers money in the long run.

    “Folks who purchase electric vehicles will see a cost savings over the lifespan of the vehicle, because they’re not having to buy gas, having to pay for maintenance,” Regan said. “So this is a huge opportunity for everyone in this country.”

    Other countries, including the EU and China, are moving faster toward adopting EVs. In the US, California has already proposed that zero-emissions vehicles make up 70% of new car sales by 2030, and 17 other states plan to follow California’s lead.

    That means much of the US car industry will already be transitioning ahead of the proposed federal rules.

    “I believe it’s pretty doable,” Margo Oge, chair of the International Council on Clean Transportation and a former Obama EPA official, said of the aggressive transition to EVs. “The industry is there. Europe is ahead of the US, China is ahead of Europe – and these companies are global companies.”

    New federal tax credits are coming next week that aim to help American consumers save up to $7,500 on an EV. But they have incredibly complex requirements for the auto industry – including that the cars’ batteries and components come from the US or countries it has a free-trade agreement with.

    Still, Boylan said the regulations are designed to gradually work over the next decade, by which time consumers should have far more electric vehicle options to choose from.

    “You’ve got the tax credits as the carrot,” Boylan said. The proposed tailpipe regulation “provides the stick to backstop these incentives and push the industry forward.”

    Regan told CNN the rules would be phased in gradually, giving auto makers and consumers years before they fully go into effect. During that time, the administration is focused on installing more EV charging stations and expanding access to $7,500 federal EV tax credits.

    “What we’re looking at is a ramp-up period,” Regan said on CNN. “We’re going to see a massive buildup over the next couple years, and we’re starting to see those electric vehicle sales numbers grow already.”

    The EPA will take public comment on the proposal before finalizing the rules in the coming months.

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  • Ohio GOP businessman Moreno files for Senate bid | CNN Politics

    Ohio GOP businessman Moreno files for Senate bid | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Bernie Moreno, a wealthy Ohio businessman, has filed paperwork to run for Senate in 2024 and challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in what’s likely to be one of the most competitive races of the upcoming cycle.

    Moreno is now the second Republican to officially jump into the race after state Sen. Matt Dolan announced his candidacy in January.

    Moreno mounted an unsuccessful campaign for Senate in 2022, loaning his campaign millions from his personal fortune before dropping out of the race ahead of the primary. His decision to drop out came after a meeting with former President Donald Trump, who would go on to endorse one of his rivals, J.D. Vance.

    The Cleveland businessman’s entry into the 2024 race sets up another potentially expensive and contentious primary in the state after the 2022 contest, which was driven by several self-funding candidates, was one of the costliest that year.

    Other potential candidates who have expressed interest include 8th district Rep. Warren Davidson and Secretary of State Frank La Rose.

    Brown is one of several vulnerable Democrats who the party is defending as it seeks to hold its slim majority in the upper chamber. Trump carried the state in 2016 and 2020, and Vance won the 2022 race by nearly 7 points despite a spirited challenge by Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan.

    Still, Brown, seeking his fourth term, won his last race in 2018 by nearly 7 points, bolstering Democratic hopes that they can hang on in a state that has trended increasingly Republican over the last several election cycles. And Brown had more than $3.4 million stockpiled in Senate campaign account as of the end of last year.

    Democrats, though, will be pressed to defend Brown amid a challenging map that includes other incumbents in similarly vulnerable positions, such as Sen. Joe Manchin in West Virginia and Sen. Jon Tester in Montana, along with an unpredictable three-way race in Arizona.

    CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that former President Donald Trump endorsed JD Vance in the 2022 Ohio Senate race after a meeting with Bernie Moreno.

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  • Opinion: Paris got it right on scooters | CNN

    Opinion: Paris got it right on scooters | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and author of the book “OK Boomer, Let’s Talk: How My Generation Got Left Behind.” Follow her on Twitter. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely her own. View more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    The people of Paris have spoken loud and clear: get electric scooters off of our streets.

    Good. More cities should follow suit.

    Over the past few years, electric scooters have been brought to Paris and dozens of other cities worldwide by various startups promising an environmentally-friendly individual transport option. What cities have gotten instead is chaos: scooters shooting down sidewalks at dangerous speeds or laying abandoned on pedestrian thoroughfares. Both riders and pedestrians have been injured and sometimes killed.

    Scooters sound great in theory. In practice, they’re much more of a menace than a convenience.

    The Paris vote was an overwhelming one, if one with very low turnout — only about 100,000 people voted, but nearly 90% of them cast their ballots in favor of a scooter ban, according to CNBC. It’s easy to see why.

    When it comes to scooters, there are often not many rules regulating them, and enforcement is spotty. In Paris, for example, children as young as 12 could rent them and helmets were not required. While the city technically banned multiple riders on a single scooter and scooters on sidewalks, it is not unusual in Paris to see snuggling couples on a single scooter, flying down a city sidewalk.

    In New York City, there is a scooter speed limit and scooters are supposed to only be in bike lanes and streets. But again, enforcement is lax, helmets are not required for adults and it’s pretty rare to see a New York City cop doling out a ticket to a scooter rider.

    Other cites require scooter riders to abide by standard traffic laws, but a walk through many scooter-heavy metropolises makes clear that these regulations are often skirted.

    One problem with scooters is that there is no obvious spot for them within urban infrastructure. They go far too fast to be safe on the sidewalk, and in American cities, sidewalks are often already too narrow to accommodate pedestrians, parents with strollers and people who use wheelchairs and other assistive devices. Walking down the sidewalk shouldn’t require dodging electric devices going far faster than a person can move on foot — or risking an accident. And people pushing strollers, on crutches or using wheelchairs shouldn’t have their ability to use the sidewalk curtailed by the scooters that riders routinely leave strewn on the sidewalk.

    But scooters are also inappropriate for the bike lane — they don’t move like bikes, which, at least anecdotally, makes them difficult to see and navigate around and can be dangerous for scooter drivers, cyclists and people driving cars. Because they’re a relatively novel form of transportation, drivers may not be looking for them the way drivers are used to looking for bikes. I can’t imagine many cyclists love their already-congested and often-dangerous bike lanes clogged up by scooters. And without mandatory helmet laws for adults riding electric scooters, riders are in even more danger.

    Scooters also aren’t suitable for the road. In many cities they aren’t supposed to go very fast, and yet they are permitted on some roadways, competing with cars. In New York City, for example, scooters aren’t supposed to be on roads with speed limits above 30 miles per hour (mph), but scooters themselves aren’t allowed to go more than 15 mph, creating a real conflict. Scooters don’t go fast enough to share space with cars; they go too fast to be safe for unprotected riders; and their riders are not protected against hulking vehicles going 30 miles per hour or more. If it’s car vs. scooter, the car is going to win.

    Nighttime is also a dangerous time to be on a scooter; some cities, including Atlanta, have banned scooter riding at night, or seriously considered doing so, because of unnecessary deaths and injuries.

    Counter to the idea that this is making cities greener, there’s also little evidence that a significant number of scooter riders would be driving cars or taking taxis if they weren’t on a scooter. Many cities with electric scooters for rent also offer subways and city bikes, two better options for both users and the general public.

    I’ve lived in cities overtaken by scooters, most notably Washington, DC. In 2019, my morning walk to my workplace there was often a theater of scooter-dodging, as reckless riders breezed past and I stepped over the many scooters that were simply dumped wherever a rider decided to disembark. Over the course of a year, I saw several injured riders in the road — all luckily seemed ok, but banged up after a collision with a car, bicycle or pedestrian. And I continuously wondered: Why does anyone think this is a good idea?

    Parisians have come to their senses and said that it’s not. In American cities where public transport is solid and pedestrians fill the sidewalks, scooters should also see themselves out or be regulated out. And in the many American cities where cars dominate and public transport is lacking, the priority should be building new infrastructure to move people around efficiently and greenly, not allowing tech startups to run roughshod over public space.

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  • Video: A pause on AI development, why it’s the worst time to buy a car in decades on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

    Video: A pause on AI development, why it’s the worst time to buy a car in decades on CNN Nightcap | CNN Business

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    The dangers of AI, the worst time to buy a car in decades, and the next Elizabeth Holmes?

    NYU’s Gary Marcus tells “Nightcap’s” Jon Sarlin why he signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on AI development. Plus, CNN’s Peter Valdes-Dapena explains why car prices may never go back to where they were pre-Covid. And Forbes’ Alexandra Levine details the arrest of Charlie Javice, the 31-year-old fintech founder who sold her company to JPMorgan and now stands accused of fraud. To get the day’s business headlines sent directly to your inbox, sign up for the Nightcap newsletter.

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  • This is one of the worst times to buy a car in decades. 3 charts explain why | CNN Business

    This is one of the worst times to buy a car in decades. 3 charts explain why | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    It has almost never been as hard to buy a new or used car in the United States as it is today, despite improving supply issues and inflation beginning to steady.

    Vehicle transaction prices — the price you actually end up paying after any dealer discounts or markups — have been climbing higher and faster since 2020 than any other point in more than 35 years, according to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    The consumer price indexes for both new and used cars — the average changes in vehicle transaction price over time — are much higher than they were four years ago in 2019.

    There is a silver lining. BLS data shows inflation for used cars has been cooling down just as dramatically since December 2022 as it increased in the months before that. But used cars have a long way to go before approaching 2019 sales prices and new car prices have yet to slow down.

    The average transaction price of a new car has jumped nearly $12,000 in the past five years, according to data from auto website Edmunds.com. For used cars, the average transaction price is still nearly $9,000 higher than it was in February 2018.

    “[Prices are] coming down a bit, but not coming down nearly as fast as one would hope,” said Ivan Drury, the director of insights at Edmunds.com. “If you look back, or if you’ve ever done a transaction before in your life, all of these numbers are bad.”

    Car buyers haven’t seen price hikes like these since the 1970s and 80s. What makes the 2020s unique is how much car prices rose in a short period of time. Over the used car market’s worst 12 months of the pandemic, the index rose 45%. There’s never been a 12-month period since the BLS began keeping records in 1947 when used car prices have inflated more.

    Recent trends in prices have been similar across regions of the United States, though in some areas, the starting prices may be higher than others. Preferences for more expensive vehicles in some areas drive these regional differences, Drury said.

    There’s a large market for pickup trucks and SUVs in the south, he said, where BLS data shows new car transaction prices have risen the most since 1987.

    The average price of a large pickup truck nationwide was $62,430 in 2022, according to Edmunds.com. The average midsize car price was only $31,381.

    The road to more reasonable prices for new and used cars remains littered with potholes.

    Consumer tastes have shifted towards larger and more expensive pickup trucks and SUVs. New car buyers are loading up on options, compared to more stripped-down models available a few years ago. Both of these trends drive up prices and also create incentive for automakers to produce pricier rides. The used market is still affected by the decline in leasing trade-ins and rental car companies competing with consumers for the same limited supply of three to five-year-old vehicles.

    “We’ve got a few things that are really hindering the US market,” Drury said. “I don’t see those going away anytime soon.”

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  • A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN

    A train carrying highly flammable ethanol derails in Minnesota, sparking an hourslong fire. Now 4 more cars with ethanol could spill | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A train hauling ethanol derailed Thursday morning in Raymond, Minnesota, igniting several rail cars and forcing a mandatory evacuation of the city of about 800, officials said.

    The fire was still burning more than 8 hours after the derailment, the US Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement late Thursday morning.

    “Four cars containing ethanol, a highly flammable product, ruptured, caught fire and continue to burn,” said the EPA, which had members at the scene by 6:30 a.m.

    And there’s a risk that more ethanol could spill.

    “Four additional cars containing ethanol may also release,” the EPA said. “The local fire department is currently the lead for the response and ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. The evacuation remains in place.”

    The EPA team is on the ground in Raymond to conduct air quality monitoring.

    Preliminary information suggests 14 of the train’s 40 cars were carrying hazardous material, “including ethanol, which was released – leading to a fire,” US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN on Thursday.

    In addition to ethanol, the train was carrying mixed freight including corn syrup, said Lena Kent, general director of public affairs for BNSF Railway.

    Ethanol can explode when mixed with vapor and air. Ethanol exposure can lead to coughing, dizziness, the feeling of burning eyes, drowsiness and unconsciousness.

    First responders work the scene of a train derailment Thursday in Raymond, Minnesota.

    The derailment happened around 1 a.m. Homes within a half-mile of the derailment were evacuated, the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office said.

    “There have been no injuries as a result of the crash or emergency response,” the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook. “BNSF specialists are on scene and continued mitigation is occurring.”

    Brittney Phelps and her family were startled by a knock on their door at 1:30 a.m. It was a first responder going door to door telling residents to flee as a precaution.

    “I heard a loud crash but didn’t think anything of it ‘til ambulances were outside the house,” Phelps said.

    She soon smelled the stench of ethanol and saw the wrecked train cars and large fire, Phelps told CNN.

    The derailment happened at about 1 a.m. Thursday, the Raymond Fire Department said.

    The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed a nearby highway due to the derailment and blaze, the fire department said. The main railroad track is blocked, and an estimated time for reopening the line was not available.

    “The City of Raymond is not accessible to the public, so Unity Church in Prinsburg is willing to be a drop off location for bottled water and snacks for the firemen,” the wife of a fire department member said, according to the department’s Facebook page. “These brave souls have been working hard for hours already, and have several hours of work ahead for them.”

    The cause of the derailment is under investigation. A team from the National Transportation Safety Board is expected to arrive at the site Thursday afternoon, the NTSB said.

    Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and state emergency management leadership will travel to Raymond on Thursday to visit the site of the derailment, the governor’s office said.

    The derailment happened nearly two months after another train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio – igniting a dayslong inferno, spewing poisonous fumes into the air and killing thousands of fish. The Ohio health department is preparing to offer health tests to first responders as part of a long-term effort to monitor the health of those who responded to the disaster.

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  • ‘Y’all ain’t never been to Mexico.’ How a road trip over the border took a deadly turn | CNN

    ‘Y’all ain’t never been to Mexico.’ How a road trip over the border took a deadly turn | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Four South Carolinians in a white minivan pulled out the parking lot of a Motel 6 surrounded by palmettos and onto an expressway in Brownsville, Texas – zooming past strip malls lined with taquerias, auto repair shops and law offices with Spanish names – for the short drive to the Mexican border city of Matamoros.

    At one of the busiest border crossings in the country, the American citizens that Friday morning joined other motorists and pedestrians on trips for work or to see family, cheaper medical procedures and medications, or margarita lunches at brightly painted restaurants where menu prices are listed in pesos and dollars.

    About 9:20 a.m., LaTavia Washington McGee, a 33-year-old mother of six, and her three friends from South Carolina crossed the Brownsville and Matamoros Express International Bridge. They were already running late for Washington McGee’s appointment for a medical procedure.

    Around that time, the minivan moves along a rundown section of Matamoros, according to a livestream video taken by one of the minivan’s occupants that was obtained and analyzed by CNN.

    “Y’all ain’t never been to Mexico,” said one of the men inside the van. “Y’all don’t know what it’s like in Mexi.”

    Moments later, the man said, “Hola,” and there was laughter during a road trip that would soon take a deadly turn in the lawless border town.

    In broad daylight, at 11:45 a.m., the van was intercepted and fired upon. All occupants were shot except for Washington McGee. A Mexican woman was killed by a stray bullet about a block and a half away.

    Video showed the attackers, armed with rifles and wearing protective vests, tossing Washington McGee – “like trash” in the words of her mother, Barbara McLeod Burgess – onto the bed of a pickup.

    The gunmen, believed to be connected to the Gulf drug cartel, dragged the other victims onto the truck. Two appeared limp, leaving a trail of blood on the ground of the busy intersection. The abductors then drove away.

    Within days Mexican security forces found two of the Americans – Shaeed Woodard and Zindell Brown – dead in a small wooden shack on a desolate road leading to Playa Bagdad, near the spot where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf of Mexico. Another man, Eric Williams, was wounded. And Washington McGee was found alive following a violent kidnapping that has become a flash point between neighboring countries and brought international attention to a Mexican border city where little-noticed killings and disappearances are part of everyday life.

    “If they were Mexicans this would not have happened with such speed,” Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, an expert on smuggling who is a professor at George Mason University and has lived and worked in near Brownsville border, said of the rescue. “It would not have happened at all. It doesn’t happen with Mexicans, particularly in that state.”

    By Friday, a week after the kidnappings, Mexican authorities announced that five people had been arrested for the attack. A day earlier, the Gulf cartel purportedly issued a letter of apology and handed over five members to local authorities, according to online images and a version of the letter obtained by CNN from an official familiar with the ongoing investigation. A sixth man, who authorities said had been guarding the hostages, was arrested when the Americans were found on Tuesday.

    The four Americans that Friday morning drove into a country where authorities have struggled for small victories in a long and deadly battle against drug cartels. The conflict has claimed the lives of thousands of Mexicans, from innocent bystanders to journalists to government officials and political candidates.

    It’s unclear how much the friends in the rented minivan knew about the crime-ridden border city, where factions of the powerful Gulf cartel have been warring for turf, along with control of human trafficking, kidnapping and extortion rackets. Matamoros is in the northeast state of Tamaulipas, where an explosion of homicides, kidnappings and disappearances rarely make international news.

    “I know her,” said Washington McGee’s best friend, Cheryl Orange, who traveled with the group from South Carolina to Texas on March 2 but stayed behind because she did not have proper identification to cross the border. “She’s not going to travel to danger.”

    The trip was Washington McGee’s second to Mexico for a medical procedure, according to her mother. She had surgery across the border two or three years ago, Barbara Burgess said.

    Matamoros, with a population of more than 500,000 people, sits just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville. The US State Department in October issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US citizens visiting Tamaulipas, citing gun battles, kidnapping and forced disappearances.

    Cheryl Orange vpx 01

    Friend of Americans kidnapped in Mexico recounts the moments before they went missing

    On the day of the kidnappings, Tamaulipas authorities issued a warning to parents to keep their children home from school in Matamoros because of shootings. The US embassy and consulates in Mexico warned staff to avoid downtown Matamoros.

    The Americans are believed to have been targeted by mistake and were not the intended victims, according to a US official with knowledge of the investigation. Authorities believe cartel members likely mistook them for Haitian smugglers, the official said. US authorities have not identified any concerning criminal history on the part of the Americans.

    On Friday, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador alluded to the purported “criminal background in the United States” of the Americans but did not elaborate on how that related to the deadly kidnapping. López Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” anti-crime policy – focusing on social programs rather than confrontation with criminal gangs – has come under fire at home and abroad.

    CNN is looking into López Obrador’s claims about the criminal history of the US citizens.

    US Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar on Friday declined comment on the motivation behind the kidnappings.

    Asked what she wanted people to know about her friends, Orange said: “I want the world to leave us alone and stop being mean. I want them to have a heart because everyone has a past.”

    The disappearance of the four Americans has become an international incident.

    The FBI launched an investigation and announced a $50,000 reward for their return and the arrest of those involved. The White House and State Department condemned the abduction and killings. Some Republicans in Congress called for a US military invasion of Mexico to combat the cartels. Others called for the US to designate the cartels as “terrorist organizations.”

    Orange said she and the other four Americans embarked on their journey from South Carolina on Thursday.

    “It was a road trip,” she said. They tagged along with Washington McGee, who was scheduled to have a medical procedure across the border, Orange told Brownsville police when she reported her friends missing a day after the kidnapping.

    Mexico is the second most popular destination for medical tourism globally, with an estimated 1.4 million to 3 million patients traveling into the country for inexpensive treatment in 2020, according to Patients Beyond Borders, an international healthcare consulting company.

    Woodard, who was killed in the kidnapping, would have celebrated his 34th birthday on Thursday, according to his father, James Woodard.

    Washington McGee and Shaeed Woodard were cousins – “like two peas in a pod” – and she invited him on the trip to Mexico for an early birthday celebration, James Woodard said.

    “They loved each other,” he said of the cousins.

    Orange said the men were expected to drop off Washington McGee at the doctor’s officer in Matamoros and return to the hotel about 15 minutes later. She fell asleep after taking a shower at the Motel 6. “I was exhausted, you know, from the long hours, from the long ride,” she said.

    She woke up about 5 p.m. and they hadn’t returned. Orange told police she tried calling her friends but couldn’t get through.

    latavia mother mexico vpx

    Victim’s mom reveals what daughter told her about killings

    The four friends never arrived at the doctor’s office for Washington McGee’s 7:30 a.m. appointment. One of them called the office that Friday morning to say they were running late.

    At some point after 11 a.m. a gray Volkswagen Jetta is seen following their minivan, according to surveillance video obtained by Mexican prosecutors.

    About 40 minutes later several vehicles appear to be trailing the minivan and, at 11:45 a.m., the Americans were intercepted by gunmen.

    Burgess said her daughter later told her by phone that the minivan was struck by another vehicle before the shooting started.

    In video that circulated online after the kidnapping, McGee Washington is seen sitting on the ground next to the white minivan. A bullet appeared to pierce the middle of driver’s side window. Three other people can be seen on the road as cars on the busy intersection start steering away from the danger.

    McGee Washington is shoved onto the back of a pickup before her three friends were lifted and tossed beside her.

    “She said the others tried to run and they got shot at the same time,” Burgess said her daughter told her after the Americans were found on Tuesday.

    “She watched them die,” Burgess said of Woodard and Zindell Brown.

    Burgess watched the video, she said, and “I thought she was done,” referring to her daughter.

    In the wee hours after reporting her friends missing, Orange watched the widely circulated video of the abduction.

    “My body clenched up. I dropped the phone. My stomach was in knots and I just began praying for the return of them,” she said.

    James Woodard was also pained by the video he saw on television.

    “That was so hard for me to see,” he said. “He was a baby and for him to be taken from me like that was very hurtful.”

    The missing Americans' van at the scene where they were last seen. Video shows the four being loaded into the back of a pickup truck. Their current whereabouts are unknown.

    Shocking video shows moment kidnapped Americans were loaded into pickup truck

    In the days after the kidnapping, Mexican authorities combed through surveillance video from the downtown intersection. They contacted US authorities after discovering documents in the rented minivan with North Carolina plates, which were traced by officials across the border. Mexican investigators also managed to identify the truck used by the gunmen.

    Investigators processed vehicles, and obtained ballistics and fingerprint data. They also collected biological samples for genetic profiles, Mexican officials said.

    After identifying the truck used by the gunmen, several unsuccessful searches were conducted by heavily armed Mexican security forces from various agencies.

    The Americans had been moved to several places “to create confusion and avoid rescue efforts,” Tamaulipas Gov. Américo Villarreal said.

    Burgess said her daughter told her the abductors moved the four Americans “from place to place” and finally hid them in “a little place and it stank.”

    “All of them were hustled in and were staying together,” she said.

    At 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the Americans were found in a small red wooden shack in a field outside the city. Mexican authorities arrested a man who they said was guarding the house. Images from the scene showed McGee barefoot and covered in dirt, with streaks of blood on her left leg.

    Mexico dispatched hundreds of security forces to Matamoros in what the defense ministry said was a move to safeguard “the well-being of citizens.”

    The swift response by authorities to the Americans’ kidnapping raised eyebrows in a country where desperate relatives of people who have gone missing over the years have banded together to conduct their own investigations. More than 100,000 Mexicans and migrants have disappeared in the country over the years, with no explanation of their fate.

    After the frantic rescue, Orange said hearing Washington MaGee’s voice on the phone was “music to my ears.”

    “This lady was facing death damn near and she said, ‘I was worried about you,’” Orange recalled.

    The bodies of Woodard and Brown were turned over to US authorities on Thursday.

    Washington McGee told CNN Saturday she is grateful to be back home with her family in South Carolina.

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  • Why lithium-ion batteries found in many products keep exploding | CNN Business

    Why lithium-ion batteries found in many products keep exploding | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Lithium-ion batteries, found in many popular consumer products, are under scrutiny again following a massive fire this week in New York City thought to be caused by the battery that powered an electric scooter.

    At least seven people have been injured in a five-alarm fire in the Bronx which required the attention of 200 firefighters. Officials believe the incident stemmed from a lithium-ion battery of a scooter found on the roof of an apartment building. In 2022, the the New York City Fire Department responded to more than 200 e-scooter and e-bike fires, which resulted in six fatalities.

    “In all of these fires, these lithium-ion fires, it is not a slow burn; there’s not a small amount of fire, it literally explodes,” FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters. “It’s a tremendous volume of fire as soon as it happens, and it’s very difficult to extinguish and so it’s particularly dangerous.”

    A residential fire earlier this week in Carlsbad, California, was suspected to be caused by an e-scooter lithium battery. On Tuesday, an alarming video surfaced of a Canadian homeowner running downstairs to find his electric bike battery exploding into flames. A fire at a multi-family home in Massachusetts last month is also under investigation for similar issues.

    These incidents are becoming more common for a number of reasons. For starters, lithium-ion batteries are now in numerous consumer tech products, powering laptops, cameras, smartphones and more. They allow companies to squeeze hours of battery life into increasingly slim devices. But a combination of manufacturer issues, misuse and aging batteries can heighten the risk from the batteries, which use flammable materials.

    “Lithium batteries are generally safe and unlikely to fail, but only so long as there are no defects and the batteries are not damaged or mistreated,” said Steve Kerber, vice president and executive director of Underwriters Laboratory’s (UL) Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI). “The more batteries that surround us the more incidents we will see.”

    In 2016, Samsung issued a global recall of the Galaxy Note 7 in 2016, citing “battery cell issues” that caused the device to catch fire and at times explode. HP and Sony later recalled lithium computer batteries for fire hazards, and about 500,000 hoverboards were recalled due to a risk of “catching fire and/or exploding,” according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

    In 2020, the Federal Aviation Administration banned uninstalled lithium-ion metal batteries from being checked in luggage and said they must remain with a passenger in their carry-on baggage, if approved by the airline and between 101-160 watt hours. “Smoke and fire incidents involving lithium batteries can be mitigated by the cabin crew and passengers inside the aircraft cabin,” the FAA said.

    Despite the concerns, lithium-ion batteries continue to be prevalent in many of today’s most popular gadgets. Some tech companies point to their abilities to charge faster, last longer and pack more power into a lighter package.

    But not all lithium batteries are the same.

    Dylan Khoo, an analyst at tech intelligence firm ABI Research, said electric bikes and scooters use batteries which can be around 50 times larger than the one in a smartphone. “So when a fire does happen, it’s much more dangerous,” Khoo said.

    All lithium-ion batteries use flammable materials, and incidents such as the one in the Bronx are likely the result of “thermal runaway,” a chain reaction which can lead to a fire or catastrophic explosion, according to Khoo.

    “This process can be triggered by a battery overheating, being punctured, or an electrical fault like a short circuit,” Khoo said. “In cases where fires occur spontaneously while charging, it is likely due to manufacturing defects.”

    According to Kerber, the number of lithium-ion battery-based fires is growing with enormous frequency both in the United States and internationally, particularly when it comes to e-bikes and e-scooters, due to an uptick in purchases of these products during the pandemic.

    “After Covid started, scooter use went dramatically up, especially in places like New York City, for deliveries,” Kerber said. “People started to get overcharged for them and turned to manufacturers which happened to have lower quality control with the battery systems. The quality manufacturers are not having issues.”

    “It will continue to happen until there are regulations around the quality of these devices,” Kerber said.

    Kerber recommends people buy UL-certified electric bikes and scooters from reputable retailers; online marketplaces often make it hard for customers to tell where products are actually coming from. If a fire occurs, he advised people to evacuate and call 911 immediately rather than trying to put it out themselves.

    “The fire spreads incredibly fast and a fire extinguisher is not effective,” he said.

    Beyond scooters and e-bikes, experts warn anyone with a lithium-ion battery should follow proper charging and battery usage guidelines. According to researchers at the University of Michigan, any device with this kind of battery should be charged and stored in a cool, dry place, and not left charging for too long or while you’re asleep – a recommendation likely at odds with how many consumers handle their devices.

    “Elevated temperatures can accelerate degradation of almost every battery component and can lead to significant safety risks, including fire or explosion,” the researchers said. “If a laptop or cellphone is noticeably hot while it’s charging, unplug it. Minimize exposure to low temperatures, especially when charging.”

    Batteries should also be routinely inspected to make sure there is no cracking, bulging or leaking, and people should always use the charger that came with the device or use one from a reputable supplier. When charging an electric scooter or bike, Kerber said it should never block a fire escape or exit route.

    Although some battery chemistries are safer than others, we are still a few years away from adoption of a better, safer lithium-ion alternative, according to Sridhar Srinivasan, a senior director at market research firm Gartner.

    For example, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries don’t overheat as much as other types of lithium-ion batteries. Future battery technologies in development, such as sodium-ion or solid state batteries, are also expected to address some of the safety issues of lithium ion.

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  • US safety regulators to investigate Tesla for steering wheels that can fall off | CNN Business

    US safety regulators to investigate Tesla for steering wheels that can fall off | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Federal safety regulators are investigating Tesla’s Model Y SUV after at least two instances in which owners said their steering wheels became detached while the vehicle was being driven.

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking at the 2023 model year. It said in the two instances in which the steering wheel came off, the cars were delivered to buyers without the retaining bolt that attaches the steering wheel to the steering column.

    The report from the agency did not say if there were accidents or injuries as a result of the problem.

    NHTSA said around 120,000 vehicles on US roads could be affected by the problem. This is an investigation, a step the agency takes before ordering a recall.

    Tesla is not the only company facing safety questions about its steering wheel. Nissan also just disclosed to NHTSA that it is recalling about 1,100 Nissan Ariyas, its electric SUV, because it may be missing a bolt required on its steering wheel.

    There were three vehicles found in dealer inventories in which there was too much play in the steering wheels, and upon inspection it was discovered the bolts were missing in each. But in none of those cases did the steering wheel come off while the cars were being driven, and there were no reports of accidents or injuries caused by the missing bolts.

    In February, Tesla was required to issue a recall of nearly 363,000 vehicles equipped with what it calls its “Full Self Driving” software after NHTSA determined it “led to an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety based on insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws.”

    Among the traffic rules the cars violated in FSD mode was “traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.”

    Tesla CEO Elon Musk objected to calling that a “recall,” saying it entailed only an over-the-air software update that did not require the owner to bring the cars to service centers to be fixed.

    But Tesla did order a recall last month of 3,470 2022-2023 Model Y cars due to bolts in the second-row seat back frames not being secured correctly, which could cause the seat belts in those seats to not work properly in a crash.

    Tesla has not had a public relations staff for several years and email inquiries to its press office are no longer accepted.

    CNN’s Ramishah Maruf contributed to this report.

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  • E-bike lithium battery investigated as cause of 5-alarm Bronx blaze, fire department says | CNN

    E-bike lithium battery investigated as cause of 5-alarm Bronx blaze, fire department says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least seven people have been injured in a five-alarm fire in the Bronx neighborhood of New York City thought to have been caused by a lithium-ion battery, according to fire officials.

    A civilian and an emergency services worker were seriously injured, and five firefighters received minor injuries, the New York Fire Department told CNN Sunday.

    Almost 200 firefighters have been fighting the fire, which started in the roof of the rear part of a single-level commercial building on Grand Concourse and 181st Street, according to the New York Police Department.

    FDNY Commissioner Laura Kavanagh told reporters at the scene Sunday the cause of the fire was a lithium-ion battery, which powered a scooter.

    “In all of these fires, these lithium-ion fires, it is not a slow burn there’s not a small amount of fire, it literally explodes,” Kavanagh said. “It’s a tremendous volume of fire as soon as it happens, and it’s very difficult to extinguish and so it’s particularly dangerous.”

    Kavanagh said firefighters arrived at the fire around 10.41 a.m., under four minutes after the first call. All seven of those injured in the blaze are considered stable, she said.

    “We have been able to not have a loss of life today, but there is extraordinary damage. This entire building behind me is completely destroyed,” Kavanagh said. “The roof is caved in, there’s nothing left, and it is all because of this one single bike.”

    The commissioner said more investigation needed into why the bike burst into flames. She said it may have been using an illegal battery.

    The scooter was parked inside the rear part of a grocery store. Officials said it’s not yet known who owns the bike.

    The fire department tweeted video of the fire igniting. The footage appears to be taken from a security camera and shows someone responding to the blaze and shifting the scooter before the flames intensified.

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams told Sunday’s news conference: “Our real push is to inform the public that something as simple and seen as recreational can be extremely dangerous and can take the lives of innocent people. This is a real problem we are having in the city.”

    Adams added, “A simple battery operated scooter like this, people are leaving in their homes, they’re leaving in their place of businesses, they’re leaving in their restaurants, they leave it parked for the most part in places that really they should not be parked in.”

    “The video is chilling, when you see how fast this fire started and spread, it’s just really going to give you a point of pause,” Adams said. He advised the public to only use legal lithium-ion batteries and to not place lithium-ion battery devices inside the home.

    Fire officials said the blaze has been mostly extinguished but “pockets of fire” remain. Firefighters will stay on site through the night to make sure the fire doesn’t escalate.

    On Friday, Kavanagh said there had been more than 400 fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in New York City in the past four years.

    In an opinion piece for a local website, Kavanagh said: “These fires start quickly, grow rapidly, offer little time to escape, consume everything in their path, and are very difficult to extinguish.”

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  • Fact check: Republicans at CPAC make false claims about Biden, Zelensky, the FBI and children | CNN Politics

    Fact check: Republicans at CPAC make false claims about Biden, Zelensky, the FBI and children | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The Conservative Political Action Conference is underway in Maryland. And the members of Congress, former government officials and conservative personalities who spoke at the conference on Thursday and Friday made false claims about a variety of topics.

    Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio uttered two false claims about President Joe Biden. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia repeated a debunked claim about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama used two inaccurate statistics as he lamented the state of the country. Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon repeated his regular lie about the 2020 election having been stolen from Trump, this time baselesly blaming Fox for Trump’s defeat.

    Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida incorrectly said a former Obama administration official had encouraged people to harass Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina inaccurately claimed Biden had laughed at a grieving mother and inaccurately insinuated that the FBI tipped off the media to its search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence. Two other speakers, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka, inflated the number of deaths from fentanyl.

    And that’s not all. Here is a fact check of 13 false claims from the conference, which continues on Saturday.

    Marjorie Taylor Greene said the Republican Party has a duty to protect children. Listing supposed threats to children, she said, “Now whether it’s like Zelensky saying he wants our sons and daughters to go die in Ukraine…” Later in her speech, she said, “I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelensky: you’d better leave your hands off of our sons and daughters, because they’re not dying over there.”

    Facts First: Greene’s claim is false. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t say he wants American sons and daughters to fight or die for Ukraine. The false claim, which was debunked by CNN and others earlier in the week, is based on a viral video that clipped Zelensky’s comments out of context.

    19-second video of Zelensky goes viral. See what was edited out

    In reality, Zelensky predicted at a press conference in late February that if Ukraine loses the war against Russia because it does not receive sufficient support from elsewhere, Russia will proceed to enter North Atlantic Treaty Organization member countries in the Baltics (a region made up of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) that the US will be obligated to send troops to defend. Under the treaty that governs NATO, an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. Ukraine is not a NATO member, and Zelensky didn’t say Americans should fight there.

    Greene is one of the people who shared the out-of-context video on Twitter this week. You can read a full fact-check, with Zelensky’s complete quote, here.

    Right-wing commentator and former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon criticized right-wing cable channel Fox at length for, he argued, being insufficiently supportive of Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign. Among other things, Bannon claimed that, on the night of the election in November 2020, “Fox News illegitimately called it for the opposition and not Donald J. Trump, of which our nation has never recovered.” Later, he said Trump is running again after “having it stolen, in broad daylight, of which they [Fox] participate in.”

    Facts First: This is nonsense. On election night in 2020, Fox accurately projected that Biden had won the state of Arizona. This projection did not change the outcome of the election; all of the votes are counted regardless of what media outlets have projected, and the counting showed that Biden won Arizona, and the election, fair and square. The 2020 election was not “stolen” from Trump.

    NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND - MARCH 03: Former White House chief strategist for the Trump Administration Steve Bannon speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on March 03, 2023 in National Harbor, Maryland. The annual conservative conference entered its second day of speakers including congressional members, media personalities and members of former President Donald Trump's administration. President Donald Trump will address the event on Saturday. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

    Bannon has a harsh message for Fox News at CPAC

    Fox, like other major media outlets, did not project that Biden had won the presidency until four days later. Fox personalities went on to repeatedly promote lies that the election was stolen from Trump – even as they privately dismissed and mocked these false claims, according to court filings from a voting technology company that is suing Fox for defamation.

    Rep. Jim Jordan claimed that Biden, “on day one,” made “three key changes” to immigration policy. Jordan said one of those changes was this: “We’re not going to deport anyone who come.” He proceeded to argue that people knowing “we’re not going to get deported” was a reason they decided to migrate to the US under Biden.

    Facts First: Jordan inaccurately described the 100-day deportation pause that Biden attempted to impose immediately after he took office on January 20, 2021. The policy did not say the US wouldn’t deport “anyone who comes.” It explicitly did not apply to anyone who arrived in the country after the end of October 2020, meaning people who arrived under the Biden administration or in the last months of the Trump administration could still be deported.

    Biden did say during the 2020 Democratic primary that “no one, no one will be deported at all” in his first 100 days as president. But Jordan claimed that this was the policy Biden actually implemented on his first day in office; Biden’s actual first-day policy was considerably narrower.

    Biden’s attempted 100-day pause also did not apply to people who engaged in or were suspected of terrorism or espionage, were seen to pose a national security risk, had waived their right to remain in the US, or whom the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined the law required to be removed.

    The pause was supposed to be in effect while the Department of Homeland Security conducted a review of immigration enforcement practices, but it was blocked by a federal judge shortly after it was announced.

    Rep. Ralph Norman strongly suggested the FBI had tipped off the media to its August search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home and resort in Florida for government documents in the former president’s possession – while concealing its subsequent document searches of properties connected to Biden.

    Norman said: “When I saw the raid at Mar-a-Lago – you know, the cameras, the FBI – and compare that to when they found Biden’s, all of the documents he had, where was the media, where was the FBI? They kept it quiet early on, didn’t let it out. The job of the next president is going to be getting rid of the insiders that are undermining this government, and you’ve gotta clean house.”

    Facts First: Norman’s narrative is false. The FBI did not tip off the media to its search of Mar-a-Lago; CNN reported the next day that the search “happened so quietly, so secretly, that it wasn’t caught on camera at all.” Rather, media outlets belatedly sent cameras to Mar-a-Lago because Peter Schorsch, publisher of the website Florida Politics, learned of the search from non-FBI sources and tweeted about it either after it was over or as it was just concluding, and because Trump himself made a public statement less than 20 minutes later confirming that a search had occurred. Schorsch told CNN on Thursday: “I can, unequivocally, state that the FBI was not one of my two sources which alerted me to the raid.”

    Brian Stelter, then CNN’s chief media correspondent, wrote in his article the day after the search: “By the time local TV news cameras showed up outside the club, there was almost nothing to see. Websites used file photos of the Florida resort since there were no dramatic shots of the search.”

    It’s true that the public didn’t find out until late January about the FBI’s November search of Biden’s former think tank office in Washington, which was conducted with the consent of Biden’s legal team. But the belated presence of journalists at Mar-a-Lago on the day of the Trump search in August is not evidence of a double standard.

    And it’s worth noting that media cameras were on the scene when Biden’s beach home in Delaware was searched by the FBI in February. News outlets had set up a media “pool” to make sure any search there was recorded.

    Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a former college and high school football coach, said, “Going into thousands of kids’ homes and talking to parents every year recruiting, half the kids in this country – I’m not talking about race, I’m just talking about – half the kids in this country have one or no parent. And it’s because of the attack on faith. People are losing faith because, for some reason, because the attack [on] God.”

    Facts First: Tuberville’s claim that half of American children don’t have two parents is incorrect. Official figures from the Census Bureau show that, in 2021, about 70% of US children under the age of 18 lived with two parents and about 65% lived with two married parents.

    About 22% of children lived with only a mother, about 5% with only a father, and about 3% with no parent. But the Census Bureau has explained that even children who are listed as living with only one parent may have a second parent; children are listed as living with only one parent if, for example, one parent is deployed overseas with the military or if their divorced parents share custody of them.

    It is true that the percentage of US children living in households with two parents has been declining for decades. Still, Tuberville’s statistic significantly exaggerated the current situation. His spokesperson told CNN on Thursday that the senator was speaking “anecdotally” from his personal experience meeting with families as a football coach.

    Tuberville claimed that today’s children are being “indoctrinated” in schools by “woke” ideology and critical race theory. He then said, “We don’t teach reading, writing and arithmetic anymore. You know, half the kids in this country, when they graduate – think about this: half the kids in this country, when they graduate, can’t read their diploma.”

    Facts First: This is false. While many Americans do struggle with reading, there is no basis for the claim that “half” of high school graduates can’t read a basic document like a diploma. “Mr. Tuberville does not know what he’s talking about at all,” said Patricia Edwards, a Michigan State University professor of language and literacy who is a past president of the International Literacy Association and the Literacy Research Association. Edwards said there is “no evidence” to support Tuberville’s claim. She also said that people who can’t read at all are highly unlikely to finish high school and that “sometimes politicians embellish information.”

    Tuberville could have accurately said that a significant number of American teenagers and adults have reading trouble, though there is no apparent basis for connecting these struggles with supposed “woke” indoctrination. The organization ProLiteracy pointed CNN to 2017 data that found 23% of Americans age 16 to 65 have “low” literacy skills in English. That’s not “half,” as ProLiteracy pointed out, and it includes people who didn’t graduate from high school and people who are able to read basic text but struggle with more complex literacy tasks.

    The Tuberville spokesperson said the senator was speaking informally after having been briefed on other statistics about Americans’ struggles with reading, like a report that half of adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.

    Rep. Jim Jordan claimed of Biden: “The president of the United States stood in front of Independence Hall, called half the country fascists.”

    Facts First: This is not true. Biden did not denounce even close to “half the country” in this 2022 speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. He made clear that he was speaking about a minority of Republicans.

    In the speech, in which he never used the word “fascists,” Biden warned that “MAGA Republicans” like Trump are “extreme,” “do not respect the Constitution” and “do not believe in the rule of law.” But he also emphasized that “not every Republican, not even the majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans.” In other words, he made clear that he was talking about far less than half of Americans.

    Trump earned fewer than 75 million votes in 2020 in a country of more than 258 million adults, so even a hypothetical criticism of every single Trump voter would not amount to criticism of “half the country.”

    Rep. Scott Perry claimed that “average citizens need to just at some point be willing to acknowledge and accept that every single facet of the federal government is weaponized against every single one of us.” Perry said moments later, “The government doesn’t have the right to tell you that you can’t buy a gas stove but that you must buy an electric vehicle.”

    Facts First: This is nonsense. The federal government has not told people that they can’t buy a gas stove or must buy an electric vehicle.

    The Biden administration has tried to encourage and incentivize the adoption of electric vehicles, but it has not tried to forbid the manufacture or purchase of traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines. Biden has set a goal of electric vehicles making up half of all new vehicles sold in the US by 2030.

    There was a January controversy about a Biden appointee to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, Richard Trumka Jr., saying that gas stoves pose a “hidden hazard,” as they emit air pollutants, and that “any option is on the table. Products that can’t be made safe can be banned.” But the commission as a whole has not shown support for a ban, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a January press briefing: “The president does not support banning gas stoves. And the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves.”

    Rep. Ralph Norman claimed that Biden had just laughed at a mother who lost two sons to fentanyl.

    “I don’t know whether y’all saw, I just saw it this morning: Biden laughing at the mother who had two sons – to die, and he’s basically laughing and saying the fentanyl came from the previous administration. Who cares where it came from? The fact is it’s here,” Norman said.

    Facts First: Norman’s claim is false. Biden did not laugh at the mother who lost her sons to fentanyl, the anti-abortion activist Rebecca Kiessling; in a somber tone, he called her “a poor mother who lost two kids to fentanyl.” Rather, he proceeded to laugh about how Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene had baselessly blamed the Biden administration for the young men’s deaths even though the tragedy happened in mid-2020, during the Trump administration. You can watch the video of Biden’s remarks here.

    Kiessling has demanded an apology from Biden. She is entitled to her criticism of Biden’s remarks and his chuckle – but the video clearly shows Norman was wrong when he claimed Biden was “laughing at the mother.”

    Rep. Kat Cammack told a story about the first hearing of the new Republican-led House select subcommittee on the supposed “weaponization” of the federal government. Cammack claimed she had asked a Democratic witness at this February hearing about his “incredibly vitriolic” Twitter feed in which, she claimed, he not only repeatedly criticized Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh but even went “so far as to encourage people to harass this Supreme Court justice.”

    Facts First: This story is false. The witness Cammack questioned in this February exchange at the subcommittee, former Obama administration deputy assistant attorney general Elliot Williams, did not encourage people to harass Kavanaugh. In fact, it’s not even true that Cammack accused him at the February hearing of having encouraged people to harass Kavanaugh. Rather, at the hearing, she merely claimed that Williams had tweeted numerous critical tweets about Kavanaugh but had been “unusually quiet” on Twitter after an alleged assassination attempt against the justice. Clearly, not tweeting about the incident is not the same thing as encouraging harassment.

    Williams, now a CNN legal analyst (he appeared at the subcommittee hearing in his personal capacity), said in a Thursday email that he had “no idea” what Cammack was looking at on his innocuous Twitter feed. He said: “I used to prosecute violent crimes, and clerked for two federal judges. Any suggestion that I’ve ever encouraged harassment of anyone – and particularly any official of the United States – is insulting and not based in reality.”

    Cammack’s spokesperson responded helpfully on Thursday to CNN’s initial queries about the story Cammack told at CPAC, explaining that she was referring to her February exchange with Williams. But the spokesperson stopped responding after CNN asked if Cammack was accurately describing this exchange with Williams and if they had any evidence of Williams actually having encouraged the harassment of Kavanaugh.

    Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana boasted about the state of the country “when Republicans were in charge.” Among other claims about Trump’s tenure, he said that “in four years,” Republicans “delivered 3.5% unemployment” and “created 8 million new jobs.”

    Facts First: This is inaccurate in two ways. First, the economic numbers for the full “four years” of Trump’s tenure are much worse than these numbers Kennedy cited; Kennedy was actually referring to Trump’s first three years while ignoring the fourth, which was marred by the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, there weren’t “8 million new jobs” created even in Trump’s first three years.

    Kennedy could have correctly said there was a 3.5% unemployment rate after three years of the Trump administration, but not after four. The unemployment rate skyrocketed early in Trump’s fourth year, on account of the pandemic, before coming down again, and it was 6.3% when Trump left office in early 2021. (It fell to 3.4% this January under Biden, better than in any month under Trump.)

    And while the economy added about 6.7 million jobs under Trump before the pandemic-related crash of March and April 2020, that’s not the “8 million jobs” Kennedy claimed – and the economy ended up shedding millions of jobs in Trump’s fourth year. Over the full four years of Trump’s tenure, the economy netted a loss of about 2.7 million jobs.

    Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and an adviser to his 2020 campaign, claimed that the last time a CPAC crowd was gathered at this venue in Maryland, in February 2020, “We had the lowest unemployment in American history.” After making other boasts about Donald Trump’s presidency, she said, “But how quickly it all changed.” She added, “Under Joe Biden, America is crumbling.”

    Facts First: Lara Trump’s claim about February 2020 having “the lowest unemployment in American history” is false. The unemployment rate was 3.5% at the time – tied for the lowest since 1969, but not the all-time lowest on record, which was 2.5% in 1953. And while Lara Trump didn’t make an explicit claim about unemployment under Biden, it’s not true that things are worse today on this measure; again, the most recent unemployment rate, 3.4% for January 2023, is better than the rate at the time of CPAC’s 2020 conference or at any other time during Donald Trump’s presidency.

    Multiple speakers at CPAC decried the high number of fentanyl overdose deaths. But some of the speakers inflated that number while attacking Biden’s immigration policy.

    Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump administration official, claimed that “in the last 12 months in America, deaths by fentanyl poisoning totaled 110,000 Americans.” He blamed “Biden’s open border” for these deaths.

    Rep. Scott Perry claimed: “Meanwhile over on this side of the border, where there isn’t anybody, they’re running this fentanyl in; it’s killing 100,000 Americans – over 100,000 Americans – a year.”

    Facts First: It’s not true that there are more than 100,000 fentanyl deaths per year. That is the total number of deaths from all drug overdoses in the US; there were 106,699 such deaths in 2021. But the number of overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone, primarily fentanyl, is smaller – 70,601 in 2021.

    Fentanyl-related overdoses are clearly a major problem for the country and by far the biggest single contributor to the broader overdose problem. Nonetheless, claims of “110,000” and “over 100,000” fentanyl deaths per year are significant exaggerations. And while the number of overdose deaths and fentanyl-related deaths increased under Biden in 2021, it was also troubling under Trump in 2020 – 91,799 total overdose deaths and 56,516 for synthetic opioids other than methadone.

    It’s also worth noting that fentanyl is largely smuggled in by US citizens through legal ports of entry rather than by migrants sneaking past other parts of the border. Contrary to frequent Republican claims, the border is not “open”; border officers have seized thousands of pounds of fentanyl under Biden.

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  • Tesla recalls almost 3,500 Model Y cars for loose bolts | CNN Business

    Tesla recalls almost 3,500 Model Y cars for loose bolts | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Tesla is recalling 3,470 2022-2023 Model Y cars due to bolts in the second-row seat back frames not being secured properly.

    An estimated 4% of cars are affected, a recall report submitted in late February said.

    The loose bolts could cause the seat belts to not work properly in a crash, “which may increase the risk of an injury for occupants seated in affected second-row seating positions,” the National Highway Traffic Administration said.

    On Model Y vehicles, the second-row driver- and passenger-side seat back frames are secured with four bolts per seat back. But during production for certain Model Y cars, one or more of the bolts securing the seat back frames to the lower seat frame “may not have been torqued to specifications.”

    Owners can tell if their car is affected by seeing if their second-row seat back frame folds improperly or if it’s loose and rattles when driving.

    Tesla found five warranty claims regarding the bolts since last December, but is not aware of any injuries or deaths due to it.

    A driver in Fremont, California, found a faulty seat back bolt last December, triggering a Tesla investigation and risk assessment which ended February 17. A recall determination was made on the same day.

    Tesla will inspect the bolts and tighten them if necessary for free of charge, and owner notification letters will be mailed.

    The recall was filed the same month Tesla recalled all 363,000 US vehicles with the “Full Self Driving” driver assist software due to safety risks, a significantly larger recall, which was a blow to the automaker’s business model.

    The NHTSA said, based on its analysis, Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” feature “led to an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety based on insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws.” And it warned the feature could violate traffic laws at some intersections “before some drivers may intervene.”

    “The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution,” said the recall notice, posted on NHTSA’s website.

    Tesla will attempt to fix the feature, which costs $15,000, through an over-the-air software update, the notice added.

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  • Trump proposes building 10 ‘freedom cities’ and flying cars | CNN Politics

    Trump proposes building 10 ‘freedom cities’ and flying cars | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Former President Donald Trump on Friday proposed building up to 10 futuristic “freedom cities” on federal land, part of a plan that the 2024 presidential contender said would “create a new American future” in a country that has “lost its boldness.”

    Commuters, meanwhile, could get around in flying cars, Trump said – an echo of “The Jetsons,” the classic cartoon about a family in a high-tech future society. Work to develop vertical takeoff and landing vehicles is already underway by major airlines, auto manufacturers and other companies, though widely seen as years away from reaching the market.

    “I want to ensure that America, not China, leads this revolution in air mobility,” Trump, who announced his third bid for the presidency in November, said in a four-minute video detailing his plan.

    He said he would launch a contest to charter up to 10 “freedom cities” roughly the size of Washington, DC, on undeveloped federal land.

    “We’ll actually build new cities in our country again,” Trump said in the video. “These freedom cities will reopen the frontier, reignite American imagination, and give hundreds of thousands of young people and other people, all hardworking families, a new shot at home ownership and in fact, the American dream.”

    Trump’s pitch comes the day before he is set to address the Conservative Political Action Conference in the Washington, DC, area, and as the 2024 Republican presidential field begins to take shape.

    The proposal is the latest in a series of early policy offerings from Trump, who in recent weeks has also said he would seek to ramp up domestic energy production, adopt a more isolationist foreign policy stance and purge the government and military of “warmongers and globalists,” and undo a Biden executive order that would require government agencies to submit annual public plans aimed at promoting equity.

    In December, the former president unveiled plans as part of his “free speech platform” that included vows to ban federal money from being used to label speech as misinformation or disinformation and to punish universities engaging in “censorship activities” with cuts to federal funding.

    Trump did not elaborate Friday on how he would pay for his latest proposal – leaving unanswered what could be the biggest question as Republicans in Washington seek to curb federal spending. He also did not explain how some elements of his proposal differ from similar Democratic plans.

    His plan, which was light on details, includes three additional planks: increasing tariffs on goods imported into the United States; providing families with “baby bonuses” that he said would “help launch a new baby boom”; and launching a beautification effort aimed at removing “ugly” buildings and revitalizing parks and public spaces.

    Trump did not explain what “baby bonuses” would amount to or who would qualify. It’s not clear how his proposal differs from the enhanced child tax credit, which wasn’t extended beyond 2021. A group of Democratic lawmakers and progressive advocates tried – but failed – to have it included in the $1.7 trillion spending measure in December. That proposal was blocked by Republicans.

    Trump on Friday also called for universal tariffs and imposing higher taxes on imported goods. He said he would escalate a trade battle with China, which he began during his four years in the White House. Doing so, he said, would jump-start American manufacturing.

    President Joe Biden has left tariffs in place on $350 billion of Chinese goods – nearly two-thirds of what the US imports from China – which were imposed by Trump.

    However, the costs of those tariffs are being passed on to American consumers, and contributing to inflation, experts say.

    Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last year that those tariffs on Chinese goods have “imposed more harm on consumers and businesses” than on China.

    Chris Rupkey, chief economist at markets research firm FwdBonds, said Trump’s proposed economic plan is reflective of the onetime real estate developer’s efforts before taking office.

    “Builders build and make dreams a reality, but this plan looks like a stretch because the country cannot afford to undertake massive new projects when the national debt is over $31 trillion,” Rupkey said in an email. “There are some interesting ideas here, but this is not the right time for bold plans that dream big. There’s no money left in Uncle Sam’s till to pay for big dreams and daring projects.”

    The nation is in the midst of a “cost-of-living crisis” that makes this too expensive of a proposition, Rupkey added.

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  • Tesla, Musk sued by shareholders over self-driving safety claims | CNN Business

    Tesla, Musk sued by shareholders over self-driving safety claims | CNN Business

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    Reuters
     — 

    Tesla

    (TSLA)     and its Chief Executive Elon Musk were sued on Monday by shareholders who accused them of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles’ Autopilot and Full Self-Driving technologies.

    In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, shareholders said Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its technologies, suspected as a possible cause of multiple fatal crashes, “created a serious risk of accident and injury.”

    They said Tesla’s share price fell several times as the truth became known, including after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating the technologies, and reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating Musk’s Autopilot claims.

    The share price also fell 5.7% on Feb. 16 after NHTSA forced a recall of more than 362,000 Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving beta software because they could be unsafe around intersections.

    Tesla has said it acquiesced to the recall, though it disagreed with NHTSA’s analysis.

    “As a result of defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions, and the precipitous decline in the market value of the Company’s common stock, plaintiff and other class members have suffered significant losses and damages,” the complaint said.

    Tesla, which does not have a media relations department, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    Monday’s lawsuit led by shareholder Thomas Lamontagne seeks unspecified damages for Tesla shareholders from Feb. 19, 2019 to Feb. 17, 2023. Chief Financial Officer Zachary Kirkhorn and his predecessor Deepak Ahuja are also defendants.

    Tesla’s share price closed Monday up $10.75, or 5.5%, at $207.63, but the stock has lost about half its value since peaking in Nov. 2021.

    Musk is expected at Tesla’s March 1 investor day to promote the company’s artificial intelligence capability and plans to expand its vehicle lineup.

    The case is Lamontagne v Tesla Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 23-00869.

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  • Alphabet’s self-driving car unit has cut 8% of its staff this year | CNN Business

    Alphabet’s self-driving car unit has cut 8% of its staff this year | CNN Business

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    CNN
     — 

    Waymo, the self-driving car division of Google

    (GOOGL)    ’s parent company Alphabet, said on Wednesday that it has cut approximately 8% of its staff across two rounds of layoffs this year.

    Some 209 jobs were eliminated in total, after cuts in late January and another more recent round, the company confirmed on Wednesday.

    “We took a thoughtful approach and feel confident that we’re providing for each of these former teammates through this transition,” the company said in a statement to CNN Wednesday. “We’re confident that we have the right teams in place to achieve success for Waymo.”

    The Waymo job cuts come amid a spate of layoffs in the tech sector, as the industry adjusts to waning demand for digital services years into the pandemic and confronts broader uncertainty in the global economy. Rising interest rates have also dried up the easy access to funding tech companies used to fuel ambitious projects and bets on the future.

    Alphabet said in January that it was cutting 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, after having grown by more than 50,000 employees over the prior two years. The cuts to Waymo highlight how even Alphabet’s most ambitious and high-profile long-term bets are not immune to its renewed focus on reining in costs.

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  • Tesla to build next plant in Mexico | CNN Business

    Tesla to build next plant in Mexico | CNN Business

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    New York
    CNN
     — 

    Tesla’s next vehicle assembly plant will be in Mexico near Monterrey, CEO Elon Musk announced Wednesday.

    “We’re super excited about it,” Musk said during an investor day for the company. “We’ll continue to expand production at all of our existing factories. So this is not moving output to anywhere, from anywhere. This is supplemental production.”

    The company currently has capacity to build about 2 million cars a year at four factories, in Fremont, California; Shanghai, China; Austin, Texas; and Berlin, Germany. It has set a goal of eventually building 20 million cars a year. The company delivered just over 1.3 million cars in 2022. The largest automaker in the world by production volume, Toyota, delivered just over 10 million cars globally in 2022.

    Tesla did not comment on the cost of the new plant. The news was a confirmation of plans announced Tuesday by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for Tesla to build its next factory in the country. Reuters reported that Mexican officials said the plant could cost $1 billion.

    The company estimates to build the additional plants needed to reach 20 million vehicles will cost a total of $150 billion to $175 billion, including the $28 billion in investment that it has already made in its history.

    “Maybe this total investment looks large,” said CFO Zachary Kirkhorn. “I think its quite small relative to our ambitions.”

    The company also announced that earlier Wednesday it built 4 million vehicles in its history.

    Shares of Tesla

    (TSLA)     slipped more than 5% in after-hours trading Wednesday, although that was up a bit from a larger decline before Musk’s announcement more than three hours into the presentation. There had been hope by some investors that Tesla

    (TSLA)     would announce details about a next generation of vehicles. Musk declined to answer a question about the next generation vehicle.

    “We will have a proper sort of product event,” Musk said. “We’d be jumping the gun if we were to answer that question.”

    In response to another question from an analyst, Musk said he doesn’t anticipate Tesla ever having more than 10 different vehicles in its product lineup. He derided the broad offerings of competing automakers as simply a “shuffling” of many similar models.

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