5 things to know for April 5: Baltimore bridge, Gaza, Nor’easter, Trump, Money heist
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American cities in the path of Monday’s solar eclipse are ramping up preparations for an influx of visitors. Thousands are already on their way to areas with the best view as experts predict the US economy could receive a $1 billion boost from eclipse tourism. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. President Joe Biden will visit Baltimore today, where he is scheduled to meet with some of the relatives of the six construction workers who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The White House previously said Biden would be meeting with local officials and viewing the wreckage of the bridge, which collapsed last week after a massive cargo ship hit one of its support pillars. The US Army Corps of Engineers said Thursday that it plans to fully reopen the channel leading to the Baltimore port by the end of May — a significant update since the disaster halted vessels in the port critical to local and national economies. Clearing the channel will also allow for the continued search for the four construction workers believed to have been trapped by steel and concrete during the collapse, officials said. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a call Thursday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is “unacceptable” and warned Israel to take steps to address the crisis or face consequences. The 30-minute conversation was the two leaders’ first phone call since an Israeli strike killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in Gaza. Netanyahu admitted that the Israeli military was to blame for the deaths and assured Biden that his government would strive to prevent such a mistake from happening again. Hours later, Israel approved the reopening of the Erez crossing into Gaza, closed since the October 7 Hamas attacks, as well as the Port of Ashdod to allow more aid into the enclave. Widespread power outages have been reported in Maine and New Hampshire early today as a late season nor’easter dumps heavy snow on parts of the Northeast. The outages have impacted more than 400,000 homes and businesses, leaving many without heat in the frigid conditions. Authorities are advising people to avoid unnecessary travel in some areas as toppled trees and downed power lines have left many roads impassable. Already, snow accumulations in New England have exceeded a foot, with Moretown, Vermont, seeing a whopping 24 inches of snow in less than three days and Shapleigh, Maine, seeing around 21 inches. Judges have denied former President Donald Trump’s recent requests to dismiss three criminal cases against him. In the Georgia election interference case and the federal classified documents case, the judges rejected bids by the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee to have those cases thrown out. A trial in a third criminal prosecution against Trump — the 2016 campaign hush money case brought in New York — is on track to start this month. It remains to be seen whether the other prosecutions against Trump — which include a federal election subversion case brought in Washington, DC — will go to trial before the November election.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.
A grand jury voted against indicting New York Attorney General Letitia James after being asked to look at the mortgage fraud case against her a second time, according to multiple people familiar with the development Thursday.
National Guard troops deployed to Washington, DC, can remain there for now, after a federal appeals court on Thursday temporarily froze a judge’s ruling that would have soon required them to leave the city’s streets.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s bad week just got worse. That’s after the long-awaited release Thursday of an inspector general’s report on his sharing of highly sensitive military attack plans on the unclassified app Signal earlier this year.
President Donald Trump has hired a new architect for the White House ballroom amid disputes between the president and his architect originally contracted to complete the project, several sources have told CNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information that could have endangered US troops through his use of Signal to discuss attack plans, a Pentagon watchdog said in an unclassified report released Thursday. It also details how Hegseth declined to cooperate with the probe.
If nothing else, the controversy over the Trump administration’s second strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean has surfaced a long-overdue debate about its already legally dubious first strikes.