THE SHOW NOTES: Bridge Collapse in Baltimore, The Abortion Pill, & Biden Gains Ground Against Trump

Welcome! Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is announcing Nicole Shanahan as his VP pick today.

BREAKING: The NFL just radically changed kickoff rules.

NEW: Prince Harry named in $30 million sex-trafficking lawsuit against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs - NY Post

OUTRAGE: Democrat Jamaal Bowman says “no evidence” that Hamas raped Israeli women on October 7th.

TRUMP: Donald Trump has nine days to come up with $175 million.

DEEP DIVE: The chocolate crisis is getting worse. - Twitter

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Bridge Collapse

A cargo ship bound for Sri Lanka struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore resulting in its tragic collapse. Search and rescue efforts are underway after at least 20 people and multiple vehicles fell into the Patapsco River when the accident happened at 1:30 this morning.

Details: Workers near the bridge jumped in front of traffic to prevent cars from tumbling into the Patapsco in an act that saved countless lives according to Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. The US Coast Guard claims the collision is likely a result of mechanical issues signaled by flickering lights on the ship shortly before impact. Watch the 31-second mark of this video:

Must read: The effects of the Baltimore bridge collapse will be horrific. Let me break it down. - NTB

SCOTUS: Abortion Pill

The Supreme Court is weighing a legal challenge that would suspend federal approval of the abortion pill mifepristone and reduce the independence of the Food and Drug Administration.

Details: Mifepristone is one of the most commonly used medicinal forms of abortion resulting in nearly two-thirds of all abortions last year. The premise of the case hinges on the FDA’s decision to loosen restrictions on how the drug has been dispensed over the past seven years. After COVID, the FDA allowed the drug to be dispensed through the mail without an in-person doctor’s visit. It also increased the length that a pregnancy could be aborted from 7 weeks to 10 weeks.

Biden Gains Ground Against Trump in Six Key States, Poll Shows

President Joe Biden has gained ground against Republican Donald Trump in six of seven key swing states, and significantly so in at least two of them. The results make for the Democrat’s strongest position yet in a monthly Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll.

The move in the president's direction comes after five months of mostly consistent Trump leads, and follows a State of the Union address that rallied Democrats and seemed to mitigate concerns about Biden’s age.

The shift was significant in Wisconsin, where Biden leads Trump by one point after trailing him by four points in February, and in Pennsylvania, where the candidates are tied after Trump held a six-point lead last month. They are also tied in Michigan.

Full story at Bloomberg (paywall).

U.S. and Britain Accuse China of Cyberespionage Campaign

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on China’s elite hacking units on Monday, accusing Beijing’s top spy agency of a yearslong effort to place malware in America’s electrical grids, defense systems and other critical infrastructure, and of stealing the voting rolls for 40 million British citizens.

Taken together, the actions on both sides of the Atlantic underscored the escalation of cyberconflict between the Western allies and Beijing, in vastly different spheres.

American intelligence agencies have warned that the malware found in U.S. infrastructure appeared to be intended for use if the United States were coming to the aid of Taiwan. The theory is that Americans would be too tied up worrying about their own supplies of electricity, food and water to help a distant island that Beijing claims as its own.

Separately, the Justice Department indicted individual Chinese hackers for what Attorney General Merrick B. Garland called a 14-year effort “to target and intimidate” Beijing’s critics around the world.

Full story at The New York Times (paywall).

Trending news:

• NBC News Executives Expected to Decide Ronna McDaniel’s Fate in Meeting - Variety

• Scoop: GOP group privately warns against all-in Biden attacks - Axios

• Illegal immigrant allegedly kills Michigan woman in carjacking gone wrong - NY Post

• Trump to Israel: ‘You’re losing a lot of the world’ - Jewish Insider

• Chuck Todd Elaborates On Why NBC Shouldn't Have Hired Ronna McDaniel - HuffPo

• Israeli forces' raid at Al-Shifa enters second week as fighting highlights Hamas' return to areas IDF says it has cleared - NBC

• After just 5 years, Notre Dame is 90% restored. See the stunning before and after images - CNN

• DOJ warns of "new era" in targeting election officials as 20 charged over threats - Axios

• Truth Social Stock Price Surges on First Day of Trading, Increasing Trump’s Fortune - WSJ (paywall)

• US faces Liz Truss-style market shock as debt soars, warns watchdog - FT (paywall)

• Moscow rampage reveals ambition, deadly reach of ISIS successor groups - Washington Post (paywall)

Market snapshot: