BRIDGE BUILDING: President Biden visited Baltimore yesterday vowing that the federal government would cover the cost of rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge and, controversially, that the work would be done by union labor

  Biden spoke after an aerial tour of the bridge wreckage. The Key Bridge was taken down by a giant container ship that lost power and hit the center spans. Six construction workers were killed in the incident and divers yesterday recovered one of four bodies that were still trapped underwater.

  “We’re going to move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible,” Biden said. “We’re going to do so with union labor and American steel.”

  Biden’s call for union labor sets up a fight with the right wing House Freedom Caucus, which has set conditions including waiving environmental and union wage regulations “to avoid all unnecessary delays and costs.” The conservative group also wants the companies involved in the accident to pay for the damage. Getting that done would involve generations of litigation.

  Biden has also said he wants those responsible to ultimately pay for the damage, but that the Port of Baltimore and the US economy cannot wait.

ECON 101:  The economy added 303,000 new jobs in March and the unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent from 3.9 percent. It was the 39th straight month of job growth, fueled in part now by a boom in construction.

  The economy is actually doing well, but its reputation is still hurting from the rampant inflation of 2021 to early 2023. Prices are significantly higher than four years ago and they are unlikely to come down, which makes it a bad economy for millions of Americans. 

ORANGE ALERT: Lawyers for Donald Trump yesterday filed another motion for the New York judge in his Stormy Daniels payoff case to recuse himself. The motion argues that judge Juan Merchan should quit the case because his daughter, Loren, has a “direct financial interest”  because her digital advertising agency represents President Biden and Vice President Harris.   

   “Personal political views may not be a basis for recusal,” the Trump motion says, “But profiting from the promotion of a political agenda that is hostile to President Trump, and has included fundraising solicitations based on this case, must be.” 

  Of course, this has nothing to do with Trump paying off a porn star he had an affair with to protect his chances of getting elected in 2016. 

HOOP DREAMS: The UConn defense nearly shut down Iowa star Caitlin Clark and took the lead in the first half last night, but Iowa came back in a nail biter to win 71-69 and go to the national championship game for the second year in a row.

  Clark was held to 21 points and only 7 for 18 shooting. UConn’s Paige Bueckers led her squad with 17 points and 7 for 17 shooting. 

  Also last night, South Carolina beat North Carolina State 78-59 to advance to the championship game tomorrow afternoon.

HEIST: Police detectives in Los Angeles are trying to crack the case of the safe crackers. Thieves on Easter Sunday got away with $30 million in cash from a money storage facility in Los Angeles by breaking into the building and then into the safe. The operators of the business didn’t know until they opened the vault.

  It is reported to be one of the biggest cash heists in the history of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Times reported that the burglary crew broke through the roof of the Gardaworld building on Roxford Street in Sylmar to access the vault. How they avoided the alarm system is still a mystery.

  A nearby resident told the Times that she had heard a strange mechanical sound, a kind of rhythmic whirring that wouldn’t stop.

THE SPIN RACK: Mexico is breaking diplomatic ties with Ecuador after police raided its embassy in Quito to arrest former Ecuadorian Vice President Jorge Glas, who was seeking asylum there. Embassies are supposed to be inviolable ground. — The 99 Cents Only Stores, a discount chain with stores in California, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, is closing all of its 371 locations. Dollar stores have been struggling under inflation and rampant theft. They can’t price things at just a dollar anymore.

BELOW THE FOLD: A 4.8 magnitude earthquake centered in New Jersey just outside of New York City yesterday shook the East Coast from Boston to Baltimore but did little damage. 

  The New York Post reports that a surgeon in Philadelphia performing a vasectomy had to put down his knife for a moment until the shaking stopped. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent.”  And within hours a Manhattan T-shirt shop was selling shirts reading, “I Survived The N.Y.C. Earthquake, April 5th, 2024.”

  In California, the quake would have been rated as “soup cans off the shelf.”

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