In total, 21 men remain trapped aboard the vessel. Of those men, 20 are from India while one is a Sri Lankan national. Controlled demolition began on Monday, May 15, giving the men onboard the Dali hope that it signals the beginning of the end of their entrapment.
The crew has been largely without communication to the outside world after the FBI confiscated all members’ phones as part of its investigation.
Two unions representing the crew said that “morale has understandably dipped,” exacerbated by “unfounded fears of personal criminal liability” and the emotional toll of being trapped.
The unions called for the “swift” return of the crew’s phones, citing the impact of losing communication with family members, especially for crew members with children.
The unified command overseeing the response to the ship and the bridge collapse could not give a timeline for when the men may be able to disembark for their home countries. However, the unified command said that the crew’s needs are being tended to, providing examples of having Indian food catered to members in addition to offering religious and emotional support.
The BBC reported that some people have provided donations to the men as well, such as handmade quilts and Indian snacks.
Executive Director Joshua Messick of The Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center has been in contact with the men. The center helps protect the rights of mariners. Messick said he expects to be able to board the ship as soon as it is moved out of the shipping channel. After the ship moves, he believes the sailors will be eligible for shore passes with very restricted movements.
6 workers presumed dead in Baltimore bridge collapse
Six people are presumed dead after the major bridge collapse in Baltimore, and former RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel is out at NBC News just days after joining the network. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Wednesday, March 27, 2024.
6 missing workers presumed dead after Baltimore bridge collapse
Divers will return to the water Wednesday morning, March 27, after the Coast Guard halted its search Tuesday night, March 26, for six individuals missing after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. The six are now presumed dead.
Get up to speed on the stories leading the day every weekday morning. Get The Morning RundownTM newsletter straight to your inbox!
Rear Adm. Shannon Gilreath of the U.S. Coast Guard stated, “Based on the length of time of the search, the extensive efforts put into it, and the water temperature, we do not believe we will find any of these individuals alive. Thus, we will suspend the active search and rescue efforts this evening at about 7:30, transitioning to a different phase.”
The ship, flying a Singapore flag, reportedly lost power before striking the bridge. Maryland’s governor noted the ship’s crew issued a mayday before the collision, allowing time to close the bridge to traffic.
The missing workers, part of a crew filling potholes on the bridge, include citizens from Guatemala, Mexico, and Honduras. Two individuals were rescued from the water earlier, and although several vehicles also fell into the river, they were believed to be empty.
President Joe Biden announced plans to visit Baltimore, committing federal funds for the bridge’s reconstruction. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg warned of the collapse’s impact on supply chains. General Motors and Ford are adjusting their shipments due to the incident. The Port of Baltimore, crucial for car shipments, stands as the busiest in the U.S.
Judge issues gag order on Trump in New York hush money investigation
The judge overseeing a criminal case against former President Donald Trump in New York has placed a gag order on Trump, limiting public comments about individuals connected to the case.
Trump, charged with falsifying business records related to this payment, has pleaded not guilty. He alleges the case against him is politically motivated, aimed at hindering his potential return to the presidency.
The gag order bars Trump from speaking about potential witnesses, jurors, court staff, and lawyers involved, although he can still critique DA Bragg and Judge Merchan. Trump recently criticized Merchan’s daughter for her work with a Democratic consulting firm, reigniting concerns about his conduct regarding case-related individuals.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. selects his choice for vice president
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has selected Nicole Shanahan as his running mate. Shanahan, a 38-year-old Silicon Valley lawyer and philanthropist, was previously married to a Google co-founder. Announcing her partnership with Kennedy at an event in her hometown of Oakland, California, Shanahan stated she was inspired by Kennedy to leave the Democratic Party.
Shanahan has contributed more than $4 million to Kennedy’s campaign, including funding for a Super Bowl advertisement. Kennedy’s choice of a vice presidential candidate is a strategic move aimed at enhancing his ballot access across the United States.
To date, he has successfully secured a position on the Utah ballot, but nearly half of the states require the naming of a vice presidential candidate for ballot inclusion.
Ronna McDaniel dropped by NBC News amid on-air backlash
NBC News terminated its contract with former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, as disclosed in an email from NBC Universal Group Chairman Cesar Conde. Conde expressed regret over the decision, stating, “I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down.”
McDaniel was brought on by NBC only two weeks following her resignation from her position at the RNC. The network had originally stated that her role would enhance their coverage by offering an insider’s view on national politics and the future direction of the Republican Party.
Attorney for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs speaks out after Homeland Security raid
Dyer’s statement criticized the level of force used during the searches, describing it as a “gross overuse of military-level force” and condemning the “excessive show of force and hostility” towards Combs’ children and employees. Dyer emphasized that Combs was not detained and had cooperated with authorities.
The raids are reported by several news outlets to be part of a federal sex trafficking investigation linked to multiple lawsuits filed against Combs over sexual assault allegations. The New York Times reported that federal agents intercepted Combs at the Miami airport as he was departing for the Bahamas with family, seizing electronic devices. Combs was not arrested and remains in the U.S.
Dyer maintains that Combs is innocent and asserts that he will continue efforts to clear his name.
NFL to play two games on Christmas Day
Are you ready for some football on Christmas Day? The NFL certainly is.
The league has announced it will host two games on Christmas Day this year, even though December 25 falls on a Wednesday. Such scheduling is unusual; the last NFL game on a Wednesday was in 2021, prompted by a COVID outbreak.
Christmas Day games have historically drawn significant viewership for networks, with the three games in 2023 attracting an average of 28.7 million viewers.
This year marks the fifth consecutive season that the NFL will feature games on Christmas.
Congress giving $1.1 billion to fix 46,000 broken bridges
Congress is on track to provide an additional $1.14 billion in 2023 to reduce the backlog of structurally deficient bridges. But that’s not even close to what’s needed to fix the problem.
A 2021 report from the American Society of Civil Engineers said 46,154 structurally deficient bridges in the United States are in “poor condition”. Fixing them all would cost an estimated $125 billion.
The ASCE said America would need to spend $22.7 billion on repairs every year, and the country has spent around $14.4 billion annually. The $1 billion for 2023 is being included in the $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package Congress is currently negotiating.
D.C. isn’t alone in trying to address the backlog. 37 states have increased or reformed their gas taxes since 2010 to invest in bridge repairs.
The worst state in the country is Rhode Island, where 22 percent of bridges are in poor condition, while just 1.3 percent of Texas bridges are in poor condition. The nationwide average is 7.5 percent. These bridges are used 178 million times per day.
Straight Arrow News produced a four-part report on crumbling bridges in Iowa, which has the third-worst ranking in the country. The director of the Bridges and Structures Bureau for Iowa’s Department of Transportation, James Nelson, said a bridge in poor condition is not dangerous.
“It’s important to note, that a poor bridge is not an unsafe bridge. A poor bridge just means there’s something on it that we would like to repair, rehabilitate or even potentially replace,” Nelson said.
Iowa has 23,799 bridges aging faster than they can be repaired.
Engineers pioneering quick fixes for Iowa’s crumbling rural bridges
Iowa has the worst bridges in the country and the majority of them are in rural counties. Of Iowa’s 23,799 bridges, only about 1,200 of them reside in larger cities like Des Moines and Cedar Rapids. And of all the bridges, more than half fall into the fair or “poor” category.
Despite local bridges often getting the short end of the stick, officials have said the worst ones are still kept in check for safety.
“They still get inspected, just like every other bridge, and are maintained to the best of their ability at the local level,” said Scott Neubauer, the bridge maintenance and inspection engineer at Iowa’s Department of Transportation.
“If a bridge is determined to be unsafe, all traffic is shut down. The counties take action on those right away and so does the state,” Neubauer said.
“There’s far more need than dollars out there,” said Brian Keierleber, the Buchanan County engineer for 29 years who manages 260 bridges. He’s pioneered some new ways to strengthen smaller structures without the big bucks.
“I currently have 32 county bridges built out of retired railroad flat cars. I’m constructing them at a fraction of the cost of what standard construction is,” Keierleber said.
“Looking at ways to reduce the damage the road salts are doing is really what we should be looking at,” Keierleber said.
The struggle to rebuild Iowa’s crumbling bridges
Iowa’s 23,799 bridges are aging faster than they can be repaired. Replacing them can be costly and time consuming.
“We have bridge inspectors going around the state continuously inspecting the bridges and we classify them as good, fair and poor,” said James Nelson, director of the Bridges and Structures Bureau for Iowa’s Department of Transportation.
Nelson said of the 4,195 bridges on the state’s primary system, 30 of them are classified as “poor”.
“It’s important to note, that a poor bridge is not an unsafe bridge. A poor bridge just means there’s something on it that we would like to repair, rehabilitate or even potentially replace,” Nelson said.
Officials say the state has a three-prong-approach to the problem: stewardship, preservation, and investment. While each of those help keep Iowa’s existing bridges functioning, it’s the funding that allows the state to invest in materials that can last a lifetime.
“Iowa is a challenging situation…our weathering cycles, hot summers and cold winters, and our use of de-icing chemicals can really deteriorate bridges. We really do have a high need for maintenance and repair of bridges, and so we’re working on that,” Nelson said.
New state and federal dollars have been allocated for some of Iowa’s latest infrastructure projects.
“Our new five-year transportation improvement program is a $4.2 billion program. That’s the largest program we’ve had in the history of Iowa DOT. And so we’re using that money to fix our highways and bridges”, Nelson said.
But how much of these spending plans are going to rural counties, where the majority of the state’s bridges are crumbling? Find out in Straight Arrow News’ next report on Thursday, October 27.
What’s behind Iowa’s crumbling bridges?
Iowa’s bridges are bad – and many are crumbling. The Hawkeye state has the seventh most bridges in the nation but has more structurally deficient bridges than any other state. The bridges rated in “poor” condition sit at more than 2.5 times the national average.
James Nelson, the Bridges and Structures Bureau director at Iowa’s Department of Transportation says it’s not as bad as it sounds.
“…a ‘poor’ bridge is not an unsafe bridge. A poor bridge just means there’s something on it that we would like to repair.” Nelson said.
Of Iowa’s 23,799 bridges, 4,599 are rated “poor” and 1,800 are deemed “intolerable.” Another 300 bridges in the state are shut down due to safety concerns. The numbers are grim but are they clear signs of mismanagement or is there more to the story?
Iowa DOT Bridge Maintenance and Inspection Engineer Scott Neubauer says the numbers aren’t lying, they are just being read incorrectly.
“One thing you have to know about these bridges out there on the local roads is we have over 100,000 miles of roadway out there and the traffic on those roads is very low,” he said.
In this multi-part series, Straight Arrow News is going to talk to state experts about the challenges they’re facing with Iowa’s broken bridges, and if the new $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill passed by Congress will have a big enough impact.