Wednesday morning news: March 15, 2023

 Bank investigations » The Justice Department and the SEC are investigating possible criminal wrongdoing in the months leading up to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis serves on the Senate Banking Committee. He said several questions must be answered:

TILLIS: What level of supervision was in play? Whether or not the mix for their liquid assets was the right.

The separate probes are in their early stages.

And investors in Silicon Valley Bank have filed a class action lawsuit. They claim S-V-B should have warned investors that the institution was highly susceptible to a bank run. The suit accuses top executives of deceiving investors.

Ohio suing Norfolk Southern » Meantime, the state of Ohio is suing railway giant Norfolk Southern to make sure it pays the bills for cleanup and recovery costs after last month’s fiery train crash and toxic chemical spill.

Republican Gov. Mike DeWine:

DEWINE: There needs, frankly, to be a fund established by the railroad to make sure that everything is covered for people in East Palestine in the future.

Officials also want stronger safety measures going forward. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Norfolk’s Southern accident rate has risen sharply over the past decade.

YOST: It’s up 80% over 10 years. And that’s a concerning number.

The lawsuit also seeks to force the company to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring in the years ahead and economic losses in and around East Palestine.

Russian plane/U.S. Drone » The Pentagon says two Russian fighter jets acted dangerously and unprofessionally by taking down a US surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday.

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder:

RYDER - at approximately 7:03 a.m. Central European time, one of the Russian SU-27 aircraft struck the propeller of the MQ-9, causing U.S. forces to have to bring the MQ-9 down in international waters.

U-S officials are calling the act a brazen violation of international law.

Russia denies that knocked down the drone.

Facebook/Meta layoffs » Facebook parent company Meta is slashing another 10,000 jobs. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

The latest round of of cuts comes after the company slashed 11,000 jobs back in November, about 13% of its workforce at the time. Meta also said it would not fill 5,000 open positions.

CEO Mark Zueckerberg said the job cuts “will be tough and there’s no way around that.”

An uncertain global economy is hitting the tech sector particularly hard.

Last month, Meta posted falling profits … and lower revenue for the third straight quarter.

Other big tech companies have announced cuts in recent months … including Amazaon, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft.

Cyclone Freddy » 

AUDIO- [Freddy Rain]

People in Malawi and Mozambique are digging through mud and rock where their homes once stood. Cyclone Freddy continues to batter the region, killling well over 200 people.

Heavy rains triggered floods and set off mudslides forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes..

MOS- [Nyanja] [family swept away]

This Malawi resident is says flood waters swept away his entire family.

The cyclone already hit Mozambique in last month, but after hitting Madagascar, it looped back around and slammed the mainland once again.

Cyclone Freddy is set to become the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record.

US weather » 

AUDIO: [snow-plow]

In the northeastern United States, a late winter storm has knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul is urging drivers to stay off the roads.

HOCHUL: People in Upstate say, 'Well, snow is coming now. There's a snowstorm. I lived my whole life with snowstorms.' This is one we are cautioning people that this could be deadly.

The storm has forced airlines to cancel more than a 1,000 flights. New Jersey has declared an emergency in five counties.

New York and parts of New England are seeing one to two feet of snow.

Biden gun background » President Biden is calling for tighter gun control measures. He signed an executive order on Tuesday that directs authorities to clarify who is federally licensed to sell firearms … and therefore required to conduct background checks.

BIDEN: This executive order helps keep firearms out of dangerous hands as I continue to call on Congress to require background checks for all firearm sales.

The executive order also calls for the promotion of red flag laws. Those laws allow citizens to petition law enforcement to take away firearms from potentially dangerous individuals.

Biden spoke about the order during a visit to Monterey Park, California. A gunman killed 11 people at a dance studio there in January.

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