Morning Wire XX
[0] This is Daily Wire Editor -in -Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe.
[1] It's Thursday, February 23rd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
[2] Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, traveled to East Palestine, Ohio, 20 days after the Norfolk Southern toxic train derailment upended the Ohio town.
[3] Buttigieg has received criticism for not responding to the incident publicly, sooner, and for lacking transparency with the press.
[4] Here he is defending his response.
[5] In retrospect, should you have come a little sooner?
[6] So, again, on terms of the timing of the visit, I'm trying to strike the right balance, allowing NTSB to play its role, but making sure we're here in that show of support.
[7] Meanwhile, the National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report Thursday, saying that the catastrophic derailment was caused by an overheated wheelbearing on the 23rd of 149 rail cars.
[8] A bill to ban sex change procedures on minors in Tennessee passed in the state health.
[9] House today and now heads to the desk of Republican Governor Bill Lee.
[10] If signed, the bill will ban such procedures as mastectomies on minor girls who say their boys and make it illegal to give children cross -sex hormones and puberty blockers for the sake of transgender identity.
[11] These medical procedures cause serious and lifelong harms and carry additional unknown risks.
[12] These procedures provided only in the last decade or so on any kind of a large scale.
[13] Provide no reliable evidence of any long -term benefit.
[14] The bill easily passed the Republican controlled body by a vote of 77 to 16.
[15] The DailyWire's Matt Walsh is widely credited with bringing attention to the issue.
[16] More than 900 ,000 Americans were without power across six states today due to a massive winter storm, bringing snow and ice to much of the country.
[17] By mid -morning, more than 607 ,000 residents in Michigan alone were without electricity.
[18] Former FDX CEO Sam Bankman Freed faces four additional charges related to his allegedly fraudulent cryptocurrency Empire.
[19] A superseding indictment unveiled on Thursday accuses him of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
[20] Those charges come in addition to the eight charges to which SBF has already pleaded not guilty.
[21] A 19 -year -old man is accused of fatally shooting three victims, including a journalist in Orlando.
[22] Police say the suspect was arrested for allegedly killing a woman and then later firing into the home of a mother and daughter, killing a nine -year -old girl, and then later killing a journalist who was reporting on the earlier deaths in Orange County.
[23] Two others were injured.
[24] According to police, the motive is still unknown.
[25] He is being formally charged in the murder from this morning, and we expect additional charges for the shootings of the four people this afternoon.
[26] At 19, he has a lengthy criminal history to include gun charges, aggravated battery and assault with a deadly weapon, burglary, and grand theft charges.
[27] The British government announced Thursday that its subjects could face shortages on salad staples, such as cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes for at least another month.
[28] Industry experts blame supply chain disruptions in northern Africa and southern Europe, along with high energy costs that diminished vegetable producers' ability to fund greenhouse growing.
[29] South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh took the stand on Thursday.
[30] He is charged with the double murder of his wife and son.
[31] Murdoe denied killing his family but did admit to lying about when he last saw them alive.
[32] If convicted, the 54 -year -old could face 30 years to life in prison.
[33] Alec, why did you lie to Agent Owen, Agent Crawf, and Deputy Rutland about the last time you saw Maggie and Paul?
[34] As my addiction evolved over time, I would get in these situations or circumstances where I would get paranoid thinking.
[35] And it could be anything that triggered it.
[36] It might be a look somebody gave me. It might be a reaction somebody had to something I did.
[37] Don't talk to anybody without Danny with you.
[38] All my partners were just repeatedly telling me that.
[39] I had a deputy sheriff taking gunshot test from my hands.
[40] I'm sitting in a police car with David Owen asking me about my relationship with my wife and my son.
[41] And all those things coupled together after finding them, coupled with my distrust for sled, caused me to have paranoid thoughts.
[42] Well, those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
[43] To learn more about these stories, go to Dailywire .com.
[44] And for more in -depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to our latest full episode of Morningwire every morning.