Speaker Shekarchi and President Ruggerio statement about Washington Bridge

 

Below is a statement from Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and President Dominick J. Ruggerio on today’s announcement about the rebuilding of the Washington Bridge:

 

“The closure of the Washington Bridge has caused tremendous disruption to the lives of residents across our state, and particularly those who live and work in the East Bay. First and foremost, we want to commend the members of the East Bay delegations in the General Assembly for their outstanding engagement on behalf of their constituents. They have helped ensure that residents are equipped with as much knowledge as possible, and worked to ease traffic burdens, economic impacts and other disruptions. We will work with our federal delegation to expedite this application for approval under the current Administration in Washington.  We caution that the costs cited today are only estimates, and as we have seen in so many projects, construction costs have often exceeded original estimates.”

 

Students at a pro-Palestinian encampment at Columbia University face a deadline to move out. The president gave the students until 2pm New York time to disperse after negotiations broke down. This comes after a group of House Democrats called on Columbia University leaders to take action. The protest has sparked similar encampments on college campuses across the country.       Tornadoes and severe storms that tore through four states over the weekend are being blamed for at least five deaths. That includes a four-month-old that was one of four people killed in Oklahoma. Another person lost their life in Iowa due to storm-related injuries.       Secretary of State Antony Blinken is urging Hamas to accept Israel's latest proposal for a ceasefire deal that includes the release of hostages. While in Saudi Arabia today, Blinken called the deal "extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel" and called on the militant group to quickly accept it. This comes as Hamas negotiators are meeting Qatari and Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss the proposal.       Texas is suing to stop changes to Title-nine over new transgender issues. The federal regulation is supposed to protect against sex-based discrimination in schools. But it's being expanded by the Biden White House to include gender identity. The Texas attorney general says that destroys protections for women.       Elon Musk is stuck with the terms of an agreement he reached with the SEC, requiring a lawyer to review his posts to social media about Tesla. He's been fighting the deal, saying it's unconstitutional. But the U-S Supreme Court, today, refused to take up the challenge. The so-called "Twitter sitter" provision came back in 2018, when Musk was trying to take Tesla private.       Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are becoming part owners of another soccer team. Variety reports the pair have bought a stake in the century-old Mexican team Club Necaxa. This comes after they purchased Welsh club Wrexham AFC in 2020.