Page 6013 – 105.7 WDNY

Man who allegedly intentionally drove Tesla off cliff with family inside faces attempted murder charges

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A California man who prosecutors say intentionally drove his Tesla off a cliff with his family inside is facing attempted murder charges.

Dharmesh Arvind Patel, 41, of Pasadena, was arraigned on three felony counts of attempted murder at the San Mateo County Superior Court in Redwood City on Monday afternoon. He did not enter a plea and was ordered to remain held without bail in the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City.

Patel’s attorney, Josh Bentley, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Patel is accused of intentionally trying to kill his wife and two young children by driving their car off a cliff on California’s scenic Highway 1, just south of the Tom Lantos tunnels, on the morning of Jan. 2. The California Highway Patrol said its officers were dispatched to the scene about 15 miles south of San Francisco at approximately 10:50 a.m. local time and, upon arrival, located a white Tesla some 300 feet down the cliff.

First responders repelled down the cliff to rescue the occupants from the vehicle — two adults and two children. All four were then transported to a local hospital with “serious injuries,” according to the California Highway Patrol.

After interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence from the scene, investigators developed probable cause to believe the incident was an intentional act and placed the driver — identified as Patel — under arrest for attempted murder and child abuse. Investigators were unable to determine what driving mode the Tesla was in at the time, but “that does not appear to be a contributing factor in this incident,” the California Highway Patrol said in a Jan. 3 press release.

On Friday, Patel was released from the hospital and subsequently booked into the San Mateo County Jail. The San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office filed the attempted murder charges against Patel on Monday. Two of three three counts have domestic violence and great bodily injury enhancements, according to the complaint obtained by ABC News.

After Patel’s arraignment, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe held a brief press conference to give an update on the investigation. He said evidence shows there were no signs of braking or skid marks before the car plunged off the cliff. Eyewitnesses who were driving behind Patel’s Tesla at the time have told investigators that the vehicle’s brake lights did not illuminate as it turned and drove off the edge, according to Wagstaffe.

Investigators have also recovered video from surveillance cameras near the Tom Lantos tunnels that show the Tesla driving out of a tunnel and off a cliff. Based on the evidence, prosecutors are certain that this was attempted murder. The footage will not be released to the public, the district attorney said.

The California Highway Patrol is still examining the car to make sure no malfunction occurred, in which case the charges would be changed, according to Wagstaffe, who noted that he does not anticipate this to happen.

Patel’s 41-year-old wife suffered “major injuries” from the crash and remains hospitalized, the district attorney said. Their 7-year-old daughter was also badly hurt, while their 4-year-old son “miraculously” sustained only bruises, according to Wagstaffe, who said that’s why there were no enhancements added to the third count of attempted murder.

“By some miracle that I don’t understand, all of them have survived. I’m glad for that,” Wagstaffe told reporters on Monday afternoon. “But it doesn’t change [what] we’ve charged him with.”

The district attorney said his office views the case as domestic violence. The judge denied prosecutors’ request for a no contact order and instead granted a no harassment order, according to Wagstaffe.

A potential motive remains under investigation.

“I mean, we know the motive was he didn’t want any of them to live any longer,” Wagstaffe added. “But what led to this, what has caused this, what was the trigger — that’s still under investigation. We’re hoping to learn more when the wife is hopefully available for an interview and is willing to speak with us at that point.”

If convicted on all charges with the special circumstances, Patel could be sentenced to a maximum of life in prison. He is due back in court on Feb. 9 and is expected to enter a plea, according to Wagstaffe.

Seven officers involved in Tyre Nichols’ death relieved of duty, three Memphis FD members fired

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Two additional Memphis police officers, including the white officer seen encountering Tyre Nichols during his traffic stop, were relieved of duty and three Memphis Fire Department personnel were fired as the investigation into the Jan. 7 death of Nichols continues, officials announced Monday.

Officer Preston Hemphill and an unidentified officer were relieved of their duty a day after the incident, Memphis PD revealed Monday.

The Memphis Fire Department also announced Monday that it fired two EMTs and a lieutenant who responded to the scene for failing to properly assess Nichols as he lay beaten on the ground.

Hemphill, who is white, allegedly deployed his Taser during the confrontation. In his own body camera video, Hemphill is seen chasing Nichols down the road, but then turns back to the scene of the initial traffic stop.

Hemphill was heard on his body camera video saying twice, “I hope they stomp his a–.”

Hemphill and the unidentified seventh officer haven’t been fired or charged, according to the Memphis PD.

“Officer Preston Hemphill and [the] other officer’s actions and inactions have been and continue to be the subject of this investigation since its inception on January 8, 2023,” the department said in a statement.

Five other officers, who are all Black, were previously fired and charged with second-degree murder in connection with Nichols’ beating at a traffic stop. Nichols, 29, died three days later.

Hemphill’s attorney, Lee Gerald, said earlier that Hemphill was the third officer at Nichols’ initial traffic stop. The first body camera footage released Friday was from Hemphill’s device.

“As per departmental regulations Officer Hemphill activated his bodycam,” Gerald said earlier in a statement. “He was never present at the second scene. He is cooperating with officials in this investigation.”

The Memphis FD revealed more details Monday about their members’ actions during the incident.

Memphis Fire Dispatch received a call from the Memphis PD at 8:31 p.m., to respond to a person pepper sprayed at the intersection of E. Raines Road and Ross Road, according to the fire department. An ambulance arrived at the scene and then directed to the second location where the cops encountered Nichols, the fire department said.

EMT-Basic Robert Long and EMT-Advanced JaMicheal Sandridge made the scene where Tyre Nichols was located handcuffed on the ground leaning against a police vehicle, while an unidentified ambulance driver and Lt. Michelle Whitaker remained inside the vehicle at approximately 8:41 p.m., the according to the fire department.

The department said the EMTs requested another ambulance to respond after their “initial interaction with Mr. Nichols,” and the additional ambulance didn’t arrive on the scene until 8:55 p.m.

“Our investigation has concluded that the two EMTs responded based on the initial nature of the call (person pepper sprayed) and information they were told on the scene and failed to conduct an adequate patient assessment of Mr. Nichols,” Memphis FD said in a statement.

Long, Sandridge and Whitaker were all fired for violating “numerous MFD Policies and Protocols,” the department said.

“Their actions or inactions on the scene that night do not meet the expectations of the Memphis Fire Department and are not reflective of the outstanding service the men and women of the Memphis Fire Department provide daily in our community,” Memphis FD said in a statement.

The three former fire department personnel haven’t been charged.

Nichols’ stepfather, Rodney Wells, told ABC News Live on Friday night that he thinks “everyone [who] was active in the whole scene … should be charged.”

Attorneys for Nichols’ family, Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, said they were extremely disappointed that Hemphill was relieved of duty but not fired or charged. The lawyers are also questioning why the Memphis police did not immediately announce Hemphill’s name or that he was relieved of duty.

“Why is his identity and the role he played in Tyre’s death just now coming to light?” they said in a statement. “We have asked from the beginning that the Memphis Police Department be transparent with the family and the community — this news seems to indicate that they haven’t risen to the occasion. It certainly begs the question why the white officer involved in this brutal attack was shielded and protected from the public eye, and to date, from sufficient discipline and accountability. The Memphis Police Department owes us all answers.”

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy said in a statement Monday that the investigation was ongoing and more charges could be filed.

“We are looking at all individuals involved in the events leading up to, during, and after the beating of Tyre Nichols,” the district attorney’s office said. “This includes the officer present at the initial encounter who has not — so far — been charged, Memphis Fire Department personnel, and persons who participated in preparing documentation of the incident afterward.”

“The DA’s Office worked extraordinarily swiftly but thoroughly to charge those whose offenses were plain and clear and directly contributed to the death of Mr. Nichols, but in no way is this investigation over,” the office added.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bond guarantors should be public, judge says

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Sam Bankman-Fried’s bond guarantors should be named publicly, a federal judge ruled Monday after news organizations objected to the names being redacted.

Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million personal recognizance bond co-signed by his parents and two other non-parental sureties.

The judge agreed with news organizations who argued the public interest weighed in favor of allowing the two names to be released. Bankman-Fried argued there was a risk of physical threats to the parties if their names were exposed.

“If the names of the non-parental sureties are disclosed, it is reasonable to assume that those individuals will become subject to publicity that they would prefer not to attract,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said. “But that alone does not do the trick.”

The judge’s decision comes as prosecutors pushed again on Monday for a ban on Sam Bankman-Fried reaching out to potential witnesses

Kaplan stayed his order until Feb. 7 to allow for an appeal.

Bankman-Fried was charged with fraud and conspiracy following the collapse of the crypto platform he founded, FTX.

Prosecutors asked the judge to modify the conditions of the bond and order Bankman-Fried not to contact or communicate with current or former FTX or Alameda employees and not to use any encrypted messaging apps.

US births increased in 2021 for first time in seven years: CDC

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The number of births in the United States increased in 2021 for the first time in seven years, reversing trends that continued during the pandemic, according to new federal data.

A report published early Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics showed there were 3,664,292 babies born in 2021, which is a 1% increase from 2020.

The figure marks the first increase seen since 2014. Between 2014 and 2019, births were declining by an average of 1% per year, and there was a decline of 4% from 2019 to 2020.

The report did not provide reasons for the increase, but Pew Research Center polls suggest women in the U.S. delayed having babies during the first year of the pandemic due to public health and economic uncertainty, so the rising number could be the result of a rebound.

The report also found the fertility rate for women in the U.S. rose by 1% from 2020 to 2021, sitting at 56.3 births per 1,000 women who are of reproductive age. It’s also the first increase since 2014 after the rate declined by 4% from 2019 to 2020 and by 2% per year on average from 2014 to 2019.

Although the overall number of births rose from 2020 to 2021, the figure was still lower than the 7.74 million recorded in 2019, according to federal data.

When researchers looked at the number of births by race/ethnicity, disparities could be seen.

Among white and Hispanic women, the number of births rose 2% for each group between 2020 and 2021.

For Black and Asian women, the number of births declined by 2% from 2020 to 2021, and for American Indian/Alaskan Native women, the number of births declined 3%, the report showed.

According to the report, birth rates declined for women aged 15 to 24, rose for those aged 25 to 44 and were unchanged for the youngest age group, ages 10 to 15, and the oldest, ages 45 to 59.

The birth rate for those between ages 15 and 19 declined from 7% in 2020 down to 13.9 per 1,000 and the rate for those aged 20 to 24 fell by 3% to 63.3 per 1,000.

According to the report, both rates are record lows for their respective age groups.

By state, the number of births increased in 16 states from 2020 to 2021 and declined in one state, New Mexico. Of those 16 states, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire had the highest increases of between 5% and 6%.

The report also looked at infant characteristics. Researchers found the premature birth rate rose 4% from 2020 to 2021, to 10.49%, which was the highest recorded figure since at least 2007.

The biggest increase was among early pre-term infants, or those born under 34 weeks gestation, at 4% from 2020 to 2021 compared to late pre-term infants, which are those born between 34 weeks and 37 weeks gestation.

Additionally, the number of babies with a low birth weight — less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces — rose 3% in 2021 to 8.52 from 2020.

It comes after the low birth weight declined from 2019 to 2020 following nearly 29 consecutive years of increases.

Biden to challenge McCarthy to avoid default and release detailed budget in meeting, per White House memo

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is expected to pose two questions to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a Wednesday meeting and will challenge the speaker to commit to avoiding a catastrophic default and unveil a specific, detailed and comprehensive budget, according to a White House memo obtained first by ABC News.

The highly anticipated meeting comes amid an ongoing standoff over the debt limit.

According to the memo, the president is expected to ask McCarthy if he will “commit to the bedrock principle that the United States will never default on its financial obligations” and whether he agrees with “former presidents, including Presidents Trump and Reagan, that it is critical to avoid debt limit brinksmanship.”

The memo — written by senior advisors Brian Deese and Shalanda Young — notes Biden will release a budget on March 9 and challenges McCarthy to do the same.

“It is essential that Speaker McCarthy likewise commit to releasing a budget, so that the American people can see how House Republicans plan to reduce the deficit – whether through Social Security cuts; cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Affordable Care Act (ACA) health coverage; and/or cuts to research, education, and public safety – as well as how much their Budget will add to the deficit with tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and large corporations, as in their first bill this year,” the memo states.

Republicans in the House have insisted on deep spending cuts in exchange for their cooperation on raising the debt ceiling.

The Republican Study Committee, which represents the largest group of Republicans in the House, previously called for revisions to Social Security and Medicare including raising the age for Medicare to 67 and Social Security to the age of 70 for younger workers.

But McCarthy recently said any cuts to Social Security and Medicare would be “off the table.”

McCarthy pointed to the “Commitment to America” plan presented by Republicans before the midterms, which he said “strengthens” Medicare and Social Security. The White House has accused McCarthy of being “evasive” on his plan for government spending.

Pressed on what he meant by “strengthen” and whether he sought to raise the retirement age — McCarthy said: “No, no, no. What I’m talking about Social Security, Medicare, you keep that to the side.”

“I want to find a reasonable and a responsible way that we can lift the debt ceiling but take control of this runaway spending,” McCarthy said.

Meanwhile, the White House has repeatedly said Biden will not negotiate or compromise by tying a debt limit increase to spending cuts, with the administration pointing to the bipartisan history of the ceiling being increased by both parties over the years.

“If Speaker McCarthy is prepared to rule out default — and once he releases a specific and detailed Budget that has the support of his Caucus — the President is prepared to engage in a conversation about economic and fiscal priorities as part of the normal budget process,” the White House memo states.

The memo calls the credit of the United States a “non-negotiable” insisting Biden “will not allow anyone to take the U.S. economy hostage.”

Earlier this month, McCarthy made it clear he was holding firm.

“For the president to say he wouldn’t even negotiate — that’s irresponsible. We’re going to be responsible. We’re going to be sensible, and we’re going to get this done together. So the longer he waits, the more he puts the fiscal jeopardy of America up for grabs,” McCarthy told ABC News’ Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott earlier this month. “We should sit down and get this done and stop playing politics,” he added.

The debt limit doesn’t allow government spending on new programs — instead it allows the U.S. to borrow any money it needs to pay for the nation’s existing bills.

The federal government hit the current debt ceiling, about $31.4 trillion, earlier this month prompting the Treasury Department to step in with “extraordinary measures” which will allow the nation to avert a catastrophic default until June.

“President Biden will ask Speaker McCarthy to publicly assure the American people and the rest of the world that the United States will, as always, honor all of its financial obligations,” the memo states.

Ten people hurt in mass shooting in Florida: Police

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(LAKELAND, Fla.) — A mass shooting in a Florida city has left 10 people wounded, the Lakeland Police Department announced on Monday.

According to police, two victims are critically injured and eight face non-life-threatening injuries.

“One is in surgery and the other is either in surgery or headed to surgery,” Lakeland Police Chief Sam Taylor said at a press conference on Monday.

Police responded to calls of a shooting at a location near Iowa Avenue North and Plum Street at 3:43 p.m.

All the victims were adult men between 20 and 35 years old, according to Taylor.

Lakeland Police did not identify any suspects, but believe that four alleged shooters fired guns on both sides of the street from their vehicle, which Taylor described as a four-door Nissan.

Police believe the shooting wasn’t random and the victims were targeted.

“We don’t believe there’s any reason that the public would need to be concerned right now,” Taylor said. “We think that the individuals in the car shot at and shot who they wanted to shoot.”

Authorities added that they located marijuana at the scene, hinting that marijuana was being sold at the time of the incident, but there is no information on whether the suspected sale of marijuana and the shooting are linked.

Biden administration will end COVID-19 emergencies on May 11

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration will end both the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency on May 11, the White House informed Congress on Monday night.

The current public health emergency is in place through April, while the national emergency is in place until March. They began in 2020, soon after the onset of the pandemic.

“At present, the Administration’s plan is to extend the emergency declarations to May 11, and then end both emergencies on that date. This wind down would align with the Administration’s previous commitments to give at least 60 days’ notice prior to termination of the PHE,” the administration wrote in a letter to Congress.

“To be clear, continuation of these emergency declarations until May 11 does not impose any restriction at all on individual conduct with regard to COVID-19,” the administration wrote. “They do not impose mask mandates or vaccine mandates. They do not restrict school or business operations. They do not require the use of any medicines or tests in response to cases of COVID-19.”

The impact of the public health emergency ending will come into clearer focus over the next three months, as different agencies in the federal government determine which related programs can be continued without the order in place — and how to unwind programs that can’t.

One potential impact will be on hospitals and doctors’ offices, which have come to rely on higher rates for Medicare patients and more flexibility around bed capacity rules when there’s a surge of patients.

States will also soon be exempt from sharing data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has mandated information like case counts and COVID-19 deaths during the public health emergency — a change that could lead to a cloudier future picture of COVID-19 in the U.S.

A senior administration official told ABC News that the CDC will reach out to states in the coming months to encourage them to continue sharing that information voluntarily.

The public health emergency also affects the health care coverage Americans have come to rely on for free COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests. While vaccines will remain largely free for people with insurance even after the emergency ends — so long as they’re administered by an in-network provider — free treatment and tests could be less of a guarantee.

A senior administration official predicted the change will be relatively minor, and that instead the larger change in COVID-19 coverage will come later this year, when the government stops buying and distributing vaccines, tests and treatments for free for all Americans and insurance companies begin to take up the cost, moving the whole system to the private market.

People on Medicaid may also face changes in their health care coverage after April 1, when states will once again be able to remove enrollees who no longer qualify for the program.

States have so far been barred from ending people’s Medicaid coverage for the duration of the pandemic, even if enrollees’ circumstances change and they no longer qualify, as a tenet of the public health emergency. According to a group of Republican governors, who in December pressured the Biden administration to end the public health emergency, the Medicaid expansion has led to an increase of approximately 20 million people on the program’s rolls since the start of the pandemic.

At least 13% of Medicaid recipients could get removed from their coverage once the rules change, according to research compiled by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) from around 20 states.

The end of the public health emergency could also bring the end of Title 42 — the order that has allowed the Trump and Biden administrations to turn many migrants away at the border by citing the potential spread of the virus.

The Biden administration supports “an orderly, predictable wind-down of Title 42, with sufficient time to put alternative policies in place,” the government said in Monday’s announcement.

Lawmakers denounce police in Tyre Nichols’ death but split on potential for new police laws

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Bipartisan outrage continued following the Friday release of graphic footage of police officers beating Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee, earlier this month — with lawmakers saying such a brutal reaction was “unconscionable.”

“Justice for Tyre Nichols must be swift and complete,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., wrote in a tweet, calling Nichols’ death “brutal and violent.”

“A dangerous culture of violence has permeated far too many police departments in this country. Time and time again, it is lethal,” Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said in his own statement. “Tyre Nichols should still be here today. We must change the culture that perpetuates these tragedies and bring those accountable to justice.”

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., a past negotiator in Congress on potential policing reform, called for punishments for those involved.

“We have been here too many times before. We cannot continue down this path. America cannot stand silent,” Scott said in a statement. “This was a man beaten by the power of the state. We must unite against this blatant disregard for human life especially from those we trust with immense power and responsibility.”

Nichols, who was 29, died three days after being attacked by police. Seven officers have since been fired or relieved of duty and five of those officers have been charged with second-degree murder and other crimes. Attorneys for two of them have said they will plead not guilty.

The video, from both police and area cameras, showed officers deploying pepper spray and a stun gun on Nichols and repeatedly hitting him. One officer was heard on his body camera video saying twice, “I hope they stomp his a–.”

The video has also renewed discussions on Capitol Hill about a compromise on federal legislation to change policing in America — a goal lawmakers in both parties have sought since George Floyd’s murder in 2020 in Minneapolis.

The Congressional Black Caucus is in talks about a meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House as early as this week to discuss reform, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

Senators have also reignited negotiations, but there’s little optimism from either side that any solution could garner the necessary support to pass.

Nonetheless, Biden has urged Congress to act.

“I think we should do it right now. We should have done it before. As you know, I did it by executive order for the federal side, but I can’t do it otherwise without the help of the rest of the Congress,” he said Monday.

The House in the last Congress passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the president has said repeatedly that he would sign it, though it never made it through the Senate — and neither did similar proposals.

Negotiations among Sens. Scott and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and others faltered over qualified immunity, which shields police from lawsuits, and how officers should be prosecuted, ABC News reported at the time.

“We need a national conversation about policing in a responsible, constitutional and humane way,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “These men and women with badges put them on each day and risk their lives for us. I know that. But we also see, from these videos, horrible conduct by city officers and unacceptable situations. We’ve got to change.”

Durbin, the Senate Judiciary Committee chair, called the discussions between Scott and Booker the “right starting point.”

Durbin said Monday that he’s entering into talks with Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on a proposal that could change the laws that protect officers from lawsuits. Graham, in a tweet on Sunday, proposed changing the qualified immunity statutes so that officers remained protected but departments could be sued.

According to Durbin, Graham planned to reach out to Scott, and Durbin said he would bring in Booker.

“I want to rekindle this conversation,” Durbin said Monday. “And if others want to participate, they’re welcome as far as I’m concerned.”

Scott, who had said in his statement that America needed to act, pledged in a floor speech on Monday that he stood ready, as he always had. But he suggested partisan divides were preventing any agreement and faulted Democrats for disagreeing with his earlier plan.

“We should have simple legislation that we can agree upon that has been agreed upon in the past, but too often too many are too concerned with who gets the credit,” he said. “I know that when a conservative Republican starts talking about policing in America some people seem to just turn the channel. That’s wrong.”

However, some other leading Republicans have said new legislation is not necessarily the answer.

“I’m not sure there’s any law you can pass that would prevent what happened,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who serves on the Senate’s Judiciary Committee, said Monday.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, echoed that on Sunday: “I don’t know that there’s any law that can stop that evil that we saw.”

Biden touts $6 billion rail tunnel replacement, highlighting infrastructure law

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

Biden touts billion rail tunnel replacement, highlighting infrastructure law

(BALTIMORE) — President Joe Biden on Monday traveled to Baltimore, Maryland, to kick off a $6 billion rail tunnel reconstruction project primarily funded by his bipartisan infrastructure law — an improvement he said would make a big difference to Amtrak commuters like himself.

The new tunnel will replace the aging Baltimore and Potomac Tunnel, and remove what the White House says is the largest bottleneck between New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

“This tunnel is nearly, as I said, 150-years-old. It’s a Civil War era — Ulysses S. Grant was president. The structure is deteriorating, the roof is leaking, the floor is sinking. This is the United States of America, for God’s sake. We know better than that,” Biden said, standing next to an Amtrak Acela train.

Recounting how, in his daily trips between Washington and Delaware as a senator, he’d “been through this tunnel a thousand times,” he added, “when folks talk about how badly the Baltimore tunnel needs an upgrade, you don’t need me to tell you. I’ve been there and you’ve been there, too.”

Once completed, Biden said, tunnel capacity is expected to triple and trains traveling through it will be able to go up to 110 miles per hour instead of the current 30 miles per hour.

The new tunnel will be named after Frederick Douglass, who, Biden said, “boarded this train to freedom right here in Baltimore.”

“He escaped slavery, he traveled the country by rail, fighting for abolition and civil rights,” Biden said. “So, that’s fitting we honor him in this way.”

Biden’s visit to Baltimore on Monday was the first in his a series of trips this week highlighting the infrastructure law. He will travel to New York City Tuesday to talk about the Hudson Tunnel Project and to Philadelphia on Friday to discuss removing lead pipes.

The new Baltimore tunnel will be equipped with two tubes along an alignment with softer curves; ventilation and emergency egress facilities; new signaling systems, overhead catenary and track; five new roadway and railroad bridges in the area surrounding the tunnel; and a new ADA-accessible West Baltimore MARC station, according to the White House.

“The Frederick Douglass Tunnel will be all electric,” Biden said. “This can be game changing for the environment.”

The president also announced the signing of different project agreements.

“Today we’re announcing this project, we’re gonna build on our project labor agreement,” Biden said. “These agreements are agreements that contractors and unions put in place before the construction begins.”

The Baltimore-Potomac Tunnel Replacement Program is expected to generate 30,000 jobs, including approximately 20,000 direct construction jobs. An additional $50 million investment from Amtrak will go towards local workforce development and community investments, including pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs to ensure that local workers in West Baltimore can access these jobs, according to the White House.

Johnson & Johnson can’t invoke bankruptcy to stop cancer lawsuits, court says

January 31, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Johnson & Johnson cannot use bankruptcy court to resolve civil lawsuits that claim its iconic baby powder caused cancer, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The opinion foiled Johnson & Johnson’s plan to shift onto a new entity, LTL Management LLC, some 38,000 lawsuits that alleged the talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder has caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma.

LTL Management filed for chapter 11 protection in hopes of resolving the claims that have already cost Johnson & Johnson $1 billion.

The pursuit of bankruptcy protection by LTL Management does not meet the bankruptcy code’s intended purpose, since LTL Management is not in financial distress, the court opinion said.

“Good intentions— such as to protect the J&J brand or comprehensively resolve litigation—do not suffice alone,” the opinion added.

Johnson & Johnson, which maintains its baby powder is safe and does not cause cancer, said it would challenge the ruling.

“LTL Management LLC initiated this process in good faith and our objective has always been to equitably resolve claims related to the Company’s cosmetic talc litigation,” the company said in a statement.

“Today’s ruling does not reflect the facts established during the Bankruptcy Court’s trial regarding the appropriateness of LTL’s formation and filing, nor the Company’s intention to efficiently resolve the cosmetic talc litigation for the benefit of all parties, including current and future claimants,” the company added.

Critics had urged the court to reject the legal maneuver fearing it could prompt other big companies to avoid bringing mass tort lawsuits before juries.

Brian Glasser, an attorney at Bailey & Glasser and trial counsel to the Official Committee of Talc Claimants in the Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy, welcomed the court ruling.

“J&J has no special right to put talc victims in a bankruptcy box. It now has to face these claims in front of juries around the nation,” Glasser said in a statement.

Talc, a mineral used in a host of cosmetic products, forms under similar environmental conditions as asbestos, causing the two to occasionally mix in mines.

In 2019, Johnson & Johnson recalled a shipment of baby powder when a sample tested positive for a trace amount of asbestos, the Food and Drug Administration said. Sales of the talc-based product ended in North America the following year.

The company announced last year that it would stop using talc in its baby powder worldwide in 2023. The ingredient would be replaced with cornstarch, the company said.

+ More