What A Day - Baltimore Mourns Victims of the Bridge Collapse

Episode Date: March 28, 2024

Democrats scored a surprise landslide win on Tuesday when Marilyn Lands prevailed in a special election for an Alabama State House seat previously held by a Republican. Lands made abortion rights and access to IVF central to her campaign. Democrats hope Lands’ win is more evidence that abortion access and reproductive rights remain potent issues for voters heading into the November election.Divers on Wednesday recovered the remains of two victims from the wreckage of the Baltimore bridge that collapsed earlier this week. The Francis Scott Key Bridge crumbled after it was struck by a shipping container that had lost power. At least six people — all immigrants — are presumed dead. They were filling potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse.And in headlines: Former senator and vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman died on Tuesday at the age of 82, a federal appeals court continued its hold on a draconian Texas immigration law, and the three white Georgia men who killed Ahmaud Arbery asked a federal appeals court to overturn their hate crime convictions.Show Notes:Politico: “McDaniel eyes big payout after NBC drama” – https://tinyurl.com/238tm3v8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Thursday, March 28th. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And this is What A Day, the pod that can't wait to get a hold of Dr. Jill Biden's upcoming children's book about Willow, the White House cat. We hear Willow says that former White House dog Major was a real bitch. Yeah, this is Willow's tell-all, and we are here for it. On today's show, the recovery efforts continue after the bridge collapse in Baltimore,

where authorities have recovered the bodies of two victims. Plus, Ronna McDaniel might be out at NBC, but she also might cash in and get paid in full. But first, a surprise win for Democrats in Alabama. On Tuesday, Democrat Marilyn Lanz won a special election for an Alabama statehouse seat by a landslide after making abortion rights and IVF access central to her campaign and sharing her own heartbreaking abortion story in the process. This is what I want to see more wins okay like this in conservative places like Alabama. Tell us more about Lance and this unexpected victory. So Lance is a licensed mental health counselor and she beat her Republican opponent

Teddy Powell by 25 percentage points in their swing district. That is an absolutely massive margin by any standard, but especially when you consider that this is Alabama, this district has long been held by Republicans, and that Lance herself lost by seven points in this same district just two years ago. Now, this doesn't change control of the Alabama statehouse. Republicans still have the overwhelming majority there, but this is still a big win for Lance and her district, And of course, speaking of, the context of this taking place in Alabama cannot be ignored. Alabama has now banned abortion at every stage of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape and incest. And just last month, the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos had the same rights as people, which completely threw a wrench into IVF treatments all around the state.

Lanz is unapologetic about wanting to change the law. Take a listen to her speaking to WHNT News 19 in Alabama after her win. Well, I am so excited to get down to Montgomery, and I think this is a giant step forward for Alabama. I think it's a victory tonight for women, for families, for Alabama in general. I want to get down there and repeal the bad ban on no exceptions abortion. I want to protect IVF and contraception, but I also want to be a champion for health care, mental health care, but health care in general. I love this. This is yet another encouraging win for Democrats related to reproductive rights and abortion

since the Supreme Court overturned Roe in 2022. Put this win into larger context for us. This was a relatively small election of just 6,000 votes in a suburban district of Alabama. That is the very necessary disclaimer here. But it does add to the growing list of election and ballot measure wins for abortion rights all over the country since the fall of Roe.

In red states, blue states, everywhere, every single time that this has been on the ballot, it has won. And as Republicans continue to insist on denying people their rights, this has remained top of mind for so many voters. In fact, according to a poll by the nonprofit health organization KFF from earlier this month, about one in eight voters now say that abortion is the most important issue for them in the coming elections. And we've seen people show up, right, demonstrating that. voters now say that abortion is the most important issue for them in the coming elections. And we've seen people show up, right, demonstrating that.

Definitely. This November will be the first post-Roe presidential election. And on one hand, you have President Biden, who has made abortion and reproductive rights central to his campaign to remain in the White House. And on the other, you have Trump, who has repeatedly bragged about killing Roe and has suggested that he would support a nationwide 15-week abortion ban. Of course, there are a lot of other issues that are out there that motivate voters, certainly between these two candidates in particular. But when it comes to this one in particular, this is just another piece of evidence that voters care very deeply about reproductive freedoms, and they bring that with them to the ballot box.

Absolutely. Thanks for that, Priyanka. Now let's turn to an update on the bridge in Baltimore that collapsed Tuesday morning. It's an international tragedy, as we now know that the six victims who died were immigrants from four different countries. They were all construction workers filling potholes on the bridge at the time of the collapse. This is obviously still a developing situation, but what more do we know about the lives that were lost? At the time of our recording, the identities of the victims were still being confirmed, but they include Maynard Yassir Suazo Sandoval, who was a 38-year-old father of two, originally from Honduras. He'd lived in the U.S. for the last 18 years, and in addition to

being a construction worker, he had his own maintenance company. Miguel Luna was an El Salvadorian immigrant who'd been in the U.S. for 19 years. He was a father of three. And Dorleon Castillo Cabrera was from Guatemala. His cousin Marlon told CNN that Dorleon, who was 26, came to the U.S. to follow his dream and help his mother. As of now, only the bodies of Cabrera and a fourth victim, 35-year-old Alejandro Hernandez Fuentes, have been recovered from the site. Here's Maryland State Police Superintendent Colonel Roland L. Butler Jr., at a press conference yesterday. At this point, based upon the conditions, we're now moving from a recovery mode to a salvage operation. Because of the superstructure surrounding what we believe are the vehicles

and the amount of concrete and debris, divers are no longer able to safely navigate or operate around that. We have exhausted all search efforts in the areas around this wreckage. And based on sonar scans, we firmly believe that the vehicles are encased in superstructure and concrete that we tragically saw come down. We mentioned on yesterday's show that the collapse of this bridge will likely have an impact beyond Baltimore itself, even potentially on the East Coast supply chain. What are elected officials saying about not only this investigation, but about what people can expect as we move forward? Officials have been out and about trying to help the public understand what exactly happened. Basically, the really big container ship that crashed was 985 feet long, and it was carrying 100,000 tons of cargo.

764 tons of that cargo contained corrosive materials, according to the National Transportation Safety Board officials yesterday. Some of the hazmat containers were breached. Early Tuesday morning, that boat lost power and crashed into one of the bridge's main support beams, and that sent the bridge in almost an instant tumbling into the Patapsco River. Here's Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg at a press conference yesterday talking about the collapse's impact. We are concerned about the local economic impact with some 8,000 jobs directly associated with port activities. And we are concerned about implications

that will ripple out beyond the immediate region because of the port's role in our supply chains. This is an important port for both imports and exports, and it's America's largest vehicle handling port, which is important not only for car imports and exports, but also's America's largest vehicle handling port, which is important not only for car imports and exports, but also for farm equipment. No matter how quickly the channel can be reopened, we know that it can't happen overnight. And so we're going to have to manage the impacts in the meantime. Obviously, it is too soon for there to be a timeline for that

reopening and rebuilding effort you just heard there, but we will keep everyone updated on any more developments. That's the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines. Joe Lieberman, the former Connecticut senator and vice presidential candidate, died yesterday. He was 82 years old. Lieberman's family said in a statement that he died after complications from a recent fall. He was an avowed centrist and a constant thorn for Democrats in his later years.

He was best known as Democrat Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential election. Lieberman was first elected to the Senate as a Democrat in 1988, but in 2006, he was forced to run for reelection as an independent after losing the bid for the Democratic nomination over his very vocal support for the war in Iraq. Lieberman also backed Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election over Democrat Barack Obama. And most recently, he served as co-chair of the centrist political group No Labels, which is looking to field a third-party candidate in this year's presidential election. A panel of federal appeals court judges on Tuesday

continued its hold on Texas' draconian and racist immigration law. If it was in effect, SB4 would allow Texas law enforcement officials to arrest and detain anyone they suspect of illegally crossing the Mexican border. It would also allow state judges to issue deportation orders. Another hearing on the law is scheduled at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for next week. A new poll from Gallup shows that the majority of Americans disapprove of Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip. The poll shows that 55% of people in the U.S. oppose Israel's military operations in the region, regardless of how closely they are following the conflict. That's a 10-point increase from November around the start of the war.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israeli forces first launched their offensive in October. The UN says that half the population of Gaza, around 1 million people, is now on the brink of famine. The three white men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, a black man who was out jogging in Georgia in 2020, are asking a federal appeals court to overturn their hate crime convictions because they swear they aren't racist. An appellate court heard arguments from lawyers representing Greg and Travis McMichael, along with William Bryan. The three men were found guilty of murder in state court in 2021 and later convicted of a hate crime in federal court in 2022. In that federal hate crime case, prosecutors brought up several text messages and social media posts that showed all three men using the N-word and promoting violence against Black people.

Now, lawyers for the three men say that even though their clients did say racist stuff in the past, it does not prove that they were targeting Arbery because of his race. Travis McMichael's lawyer said in court yesterday that the three men just thought that Arbery was a fleeing criminal running through their neighborhood. Even if an appeals court were to overturn any of the trio's federal hate crime convictions, none of them would get out of jail. The three men were sentenced to life in prison for murder in Georgia, though each has filed motions for a new state trial.

Former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel may have lasted less than a week at her job as a paid analyst at NBC, but she expects to be paid out for her entire contract. That is according to Politico. The outlet, citing an unnamed source close to McDaniel, said that she was supposed to be paid $600,000 over two years, but McDaniel made just one appearance on this past Sunday's Meet the Press. The network cantered two days later amid an on-air revolt from the NBC and MSNBC hosts. Politico had the chef's kiss of an analysis. McDaniel's single, not-quite-20-minute-long interview on Sunday could cost NBC more than $30,000 per minute or $500 per second.

Wow. Politico also reports that while McDaniel is talking to a lawyer to figure out how to get that cash, she is exploring potential defamation and hostile work environment claims against the network. NBC declined to comment on Politico's story, and McDaniel hasn't commented publicly since she was let go on Tuesday.

If they end up having to pay this woman, you know what? They deserve it. You and I will be on the job hunt for a job that we, too, could appear at for four days and then get fired and then get paid six hundred grand. Listen these people continue to fail upwards.

Okay I don't understand. And just once I would like to fail upwards. Please. It's all I ask. And those are the headlines. If you're currently tuning into this episode on Google Play. Listen up. Starting next week the Google Play app will no longer be in use.

Make sure to save what a day on your next favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. New episodes are out every weekday, including a new series called How We Got Here out every Saturday. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review. Hope it was worth it, NBC, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Willow the Cat's audiobook read by Michelle Williams like me, well, today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Trevelle Anderson.

I'm Priyanka Arabindi. And give us $600,000. I'm worth it. Yeah, I have a number of things I would do with that. They'd all be fun. So I feel like, why not? What's the worst that could happen? I'm stimulating the economy.

What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lantz. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf. We had production help today from Michelle Alloy, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. And our showrunner is Leo Duran. Adrienne Hill is our executive producer. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kshaka.