Morning Wire - Fox, Dominion Settlement & Postal Work SCOTUS Case | Afternoon Update | 4.18.23

Episode Date: April 18, 2023

Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.  Ramp: "Now get $250 off when you join Ramp. Go to http://www.ramp.com/WIRE" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Fox News and Dominion voting system said Tuesday that they have reached a settlement agreement just moments before opening arguments were set to begin. The deal ends a months-long legal battle in which Dominion accused Fox of spreading false information about the 2020 election, specifically relating to Dominion voting machines. The terms of the settlement were not immediately available. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist arrested in Russia in March, was denied bail Tuesday and ordered to be held in Moscow's Lefertovo prison as he awaits his trial. Russian authorities have accused Gershkovich of spying, a claim that both his employer and the U.S.

State Department have strongly denied. The Biden administration has said his release is a top concern and priority. Here's U.S. Special Presidential Envoy Roger D. Carson's, recently addressing the international fiasco. Since Evans been taken, we've had kind of a full court press within the State Department and U.S. government writ large. As you probably know, the very day that he was taken, members of the State Department met with members of the Wall Street General,

his employer to discuss what we knew at that point. The very next day, Secretary Blinken issued a statement, condemning the action and asking for more information from the Russians. Since then, senior members of the U.S. government to include Secretary Blinken, have met with their counterparts in Russia, to try to press them to release oven and to gain more information. Taiwan will purchase roughly 400 harpoon-launched anti-ship missiles crafted by Boeing as a measure of protecting its coastal zones against a potential invasion from China.

Daily Wire reporter Brandon Dre has more. The pending agreement comes after Congress approved a deal in 2020. Pentagon officials announced a $1.7 billion contract with Boeing earlier this month. However, the contract did not mention Taiwan as the buyer. This comes as U.S.-China tensions are high specifically over Taiwan, the self-governed island that China claims as part of its territory. Beijing criticized the deal on Tuesday saying that it would, quote, undermine China's sovereignty and security interests.

The Sudanese military and its opposing rebels, the rapid support forces, announced on Tuesday that they would observe a 24-hour ceasefire, though reports indicate fighting has continued despite the agreement. The announcement comes as a U.S. diplomatic envoy was attacked Monday night, leading to Secretary of State Antony Blinken requesting the temporary truce. According to Axios, Blinkin spoke with both the Sudanese Army Chief and the leader of the rapid support forces. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk revealed he will create a third option to challenge Microsoft and Google's artificial intelligence

platforms and warned that the technology could cause civilizational destruction without proper guardrails. regulations are really only put into effect after something terrible has happened. If that's the case for AI and we're only put a regulation after something terrible has happened, it may be too late to actually put the regulations in place. The AI may be in control at that point. Last month, Musk, who co-founded Open AI in 2015, then stepped down from the company's board in 2018, registered a firm named XAI Corp. The move came after he and other AI experts called for a six-month pause on advanced AI development.

A dispute over package delivery on Sundays between a Pennsylvania postal worker and the Postal Service has reached the nation's highest court and is being considered today. Daily Wire writer Tim Meads has more. Gerald Groff is a Christian and told his employer that he could not deliver packages on the Lord's Day. Lower courts have sided with the Postal Service saying a demand for Sundays off meant extra work for other employees and cause tension. Graf argues employers can too easily turn down employees' requests for religious accommodations, but if he wins, that could change. Randall Wenger of the Independence Law Center helped Groff take this case to the High Court. I think the message for everyone is our rights rise and fall together.

So be out there rooting for Gerald because that's the liberty that we can all enjoy. Well, those are your drive-home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to Dailywire.com, and for more in-depth discussion, of the biggest stories of the day. Listen to our latest full episode of Morningwire every morning.