March 9 top stories
It is March 9. Here are today’s top stories.
Train derails and spills oil into WV river
On Wednesday, a CSX freight train carrying coal derailed in West Virginia and spilled diesel fuel and oil into the New River, which is a part of the National Park Service. The derailment happened when the train hit a rockslide. CSX said the train was empty of its coal and it appears that the spilled fuel came from the train’s fuel tank. This happened in the city of Sandstone. Three crew members on the train were injured but will be okay.
Officials in West Virginia said public water systems downstream have temporarily stopped drawing water and would monitor water quality.
Minnesota Gov. Walz signs executive order to protect transgender health
ABC News said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signed an executive order that protects and supports access to gender-affirming health care for LGBTQ individuals in the state on Wednesday.
Walz said gender-affirming care is a deeply personal decision for transgender patients and their families. He tweeted that he signed the executive order to take action for Minnesotans as “states across the country move to ban access to gender-affirming care.”
The ACLU said there are almost 400 anti-LGBTQ bills that have been introduced in 2023 alone.
Sen. McConnell hospitalized after fall
The Senate’s Republican leader Mitch McConnell was hospitalized last night after he fell at a hotel in D.C. His spokesperson said he tripped during a private event and suffered a concussion. He is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days.
ABC News said McConnell, who is 81, has walked with a limp after overcoming polio at a young age and suffered a fall in August 2019, fracturing his shoulder.
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Armed robbers attempt to steal $32M from airplane
On Wednesday at an airport in the capital of Chile, about 10 armed men attempted to steal $32 million in cash that was on a plane from Miami.
CBS News said the gunmen got past security to reach the runway at the airport. They were trying to reach a Latam airlines plane. There was a shootout between the robbers and security. One security officer and one robber were killed. The rest of the robbers fled the scene, failing in their robbery attempt.
CBS said videos posted on social media showed bullet holes in a Delta plane that was parked next to the Latam plane. The $32 million in cash was to be transferred to an armored truck and to be distributed to several banks in Chile.
Chile’s President Boric vowed to catch the criminals and bring them to justice.
Russia fires wave of missiles into Ukraine
The New York Times said Russia fired a wave of missiles across Ukraine, killing at least nine people and knocking out power in several regions. Some of the weapons were new hypersonic missiles. Ukraine said 81 missiles were fired overnight and that 47 of them hit targets.
Five people in Lviv, a western city, were killed when a rocket struck a residential area. One person died in central Ukraine. Three people died in the southeastern city of Kherson.
Biden’s $6.8T budget proposal
President Biden released a $6.8 trillion budget proposal for the fiscal year 2024. Axios said Biden’s plan has little chance of passing a divided Congress but it shows his political priorities as he prepares to start his re-election campaign.
Biden is proposing $885 billion in military spending to both maintain U.S. defense and support Ukraine’s military.
Biden is asking for $1 trillion for domestic programs in the U.S.
Biden is proposing a billionaire tax by forcing billionaires to pay at least 25% in taxes on all of their income, including appreciated assets. He wants to raise the overall corporate tax rate from 21% to 28%.
Biden said his budget would cut the federal deficit by about $3 trillion over the next 10 years.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/transgender-health-care-now-protected-minnesota/story?id=97739240
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mitch-mcconnell-hospitalized-after-fall-dc-hotel/story
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chile-airport-heist-shootout-deaths-latam-airlines-plane-from-miami/
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/03/09/world/russia-ukraine-news
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/09/biden-2024-budget-debt-deficit