FBI boards ship amid investigation into what caused Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse

BALTIMORE — The FBI on Monday raided the container ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge nearly three weeks ago as part of an investigation into the deadly bridge collapse.

Agents boarded the Dali Monday morning and were “conducting court authorized law enforcement activity,” a spokesperson for the FBI’s Baltimore Field Office said Monday, declining to comment further.

The FBI likely is looking into whether any federal laws were broken in the lead up to the bridge disaster, experts said For example, in past American maritime disasters, federal authorities leveraged an old statute known as “seaman’s manslaughter” to prosecute people they believed to have been criminally negligent for people’s deaths.

The Dali, a 984-foot ship that weighed about 112,000 tons loaded with cargo, apparently lost power and rammed one of the Key Bridge’s main support piers in the early morning of March 26, causing the 1.6-mile span to immediately collapse into the Patapsco River along with seven construction workers, killing six men.

Video of the collapse showed the lights aboard the Dali go out and then flicker as it approached the Key Bridge. A local pilot, who was onboard to guide the ship out of the harbor safely, reported losing all power, including the ability to steer, in a “mayday” call shortly before striking the bridge.

The FBI’s criminal investigation would run in parallel to the one by the National Transportation Safety Board, which aims to prevent future accidents.

The NTSB’s investigation has focused on the Dali’s engine room, board chair Jennifer Homendy told federal lawmakers last week.

Officials previously said the Dali’s crew reported to the Coast Guard that they were going to be conducting routine engine maintenance while in Baltimore.

The vessel experienced apparent electrical issues before it left the Port of Baltimore, The Associated Press reported Monday, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the situation. That person said alarms went off on the ship’s refrigerated containers while it was still docked, likely indicating an inconsistent power supply.

That the FBI said it was onboard conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” suggests agents were serving a federal search warrant, Rod Rosenstein, former U.S. Deputy Attorney General and U.S. Attorney for Maryland, told The Baltimore Sun. Federal judges sign off on such warrants only after agents present probable cause that there was crime, he said.

“The fact that there is a search warrant suggests there is suspicion on the government’s part, or maybe some evidence, that a crime has occurred,” he said.

—The Baltimore Sun

U.S. Supreme Court allows Idaho’s ban on gender-affirming care to go into effect

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Idaho’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors may go into effect, overruling a lower court while the long-term constitutionality of the state’s law is still being litigated.

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador asked the high court to allow the ban to go into effect in February, after a federal judge in Idaho temporarily paused the law in December. Judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently denied Labrador’s request that they overrule the lower court judge, which led him to appeal to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court.

On Monday, the Supreme Court allowed the law to go into effect while a lawsuit works its way through the legal system. The court’s three liberal judges dissented with the decision.

Idaho’s law makes it a felony to provide puberty blockers, hormone treatments or transition-related surgeries to children.

While many major medical organizations recommend hormone treatments and other health care for minors with gender dysphoria, conservatives in states around the country have pushed to ban the care.

The ruling on Wednesday allows the two Idaho transgender teenagers who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit to continue receiving care, but will prohibit minors not part of the lawsuit from doing so in Idaho.

—The Idaho Statesman

George Santos raises $0 for comeback bid, vows to run volunteer campaign

NEW YORK — Ex-Rep. George Santos vowed Monday to run an all-volunteer political comeback campaign after a new campaign filing showed he didn’t raise or spend any money in the first weeks of his supposed congressional bid.

“I’m going to do this all with volunteers,” the disgraced former lawmaker told the New York Daily News. “Confidence, I have. Capacity, I have.”

Brushing aside questions about the sparse filing, Santos said he wants to avoid negative media stories stemming from alleged campaign finance misdeeds by raising or spending campaign cash.

“If I raise money, you’re going to say I’m doing it to grift or to fund my lavish lifestyle or whatever you want to write,” Santos said.

Santos plans to run as an independent against incumbent Republican Rep. Nick LaLota in the New York 1st Congressional District seat.

His campaign committee filed its first official document with the Federal Election Commission Monday. It revealed zero dollars in spending and zero dollars in donations.

To make the fall ballot, Santos needs to collect 3,500 valid signatures from voters in the East End district. He can start collecting the signatures Tuesday in a window that extends until May 15.

Santos, who is awaiting trial on federal fraud, theft and campaign finance charges, announced last month that he would switch districts to run against LaLota.

He first floated a Republican primary challenge, but then decided to mount an independent general election campaign.

Santos, who won a different Long Island seat in 2022, was expelled from Congress last year after a damning House ethics report accused him of misconduct. He was already a national political punch line for concocting virtually his entire life story.

—New York Daily News

Israel vows response to Iran as US and allies urge restraint

Top Israeli military officials reasserted that their country has no choice but to respond to Iran’s weekend drone and missile attack, even as European and U.S. officials boosted their calls for Israel to avoid a tit-for-tat escalation that could provoke a wider war.

“Missiles into the territory of the State of Israel will be met with a response,” Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said in a speech to troops at the Nevatim air base, which was targeted in Saturday night’s attack. He spoke in front of an F-35 fighter jet, the type of plane that Israel used to help repel the Iranian barrage and could play a role in an Israeli counterstrike.

The focus shifted to the timing and nature of the possible Israeli response. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must weigh his desire to strike back after Iran’s unprecedented direct attack against the pressure from President Joe Biden and other world leaders to hold back and keep the international scrutiny on Iran’s actions.

The West and Arab states are trying to convince Netanyahu that an aggressive reaction to Iran’s assault on Saturday night would harm Israel’s interests. They’re also concerned it could push up oil prices, hindering central banks’ attempts to slow inflation.

Iran fired more than 300 drones and missiles in its first-ever attack on Israel from its own soil. Almost all were intercepted by Israeli, U.S., U.K., French and some Arab forces. The projectiles caused minor damage, and only one person, a child, was reported injured.

Biden sought to return the focus to a proposed cease-fire agreement intended to pause Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip in response to the Oct. 7 attack by Iranian-backed Hamas militants. Asked how soon Israel might respond to Iran’s weekend attack, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. doesn’t want to see a wider conflict and will help Israel defend itself.

“You’re asking me to get ahead of, as far as I know, a decision that the war Cabinet hasn’t even made,” Kirby said of Israel’s deliberations.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with France’s BFM TV and RMC radio that “we’re going to do everything we can to avoid flare-ups, and try to convince Israel that we shouldn’t respond by escalating, but rather by isolating Iran.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made similar comments while visiting China, and both his foreign minister and that of the U.K. will travel to Israel later this week.

—Bloomberg News