Teen Who Ate Spicy 'One Chip Challenge' Product Died of Cardiopulmonary Arrest - The New York Times

A 14-year-old whose family said he had eaten a chip made with two of the hottest peppers in the world died of cardiopulmonary arrest, according to a medical examiner’s report released on Thursday, which noted that he had eaten a spicy substance and had a heart condition.

The report found that the teenager, Harris Wolobah of Worcester, Mass., died on Sept. 1 of “cardiopulmonary arrest in the setting of recent ingestion of food substance with high capsaicin concentration in a person with cardiomegaly and myocardial bridging of the left anterior descending coronary artery.”

Capsaicin is the chemical compound found in chili peppers that causes a burning sensation. Cardiomegaly is commonly known as an enlarged heart. And myocardial bridging refers to a coronary artery that passes through a band of heart muscle instead of lying on top of it.

The Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said the manner of death “could not be determined.” Examples of the manner of death in other cases include “natural,” “accident” and “homicide.”

Lois Wolobah, Harris’s mother, declined to comment on the report on Thursday. She has said previously that she believed that the single Paqui brand tortilla chip that her son ate hours before he died jeopardized his health.

The chip, dusted with two very hot peppers, the Carolina Reaper and the Naga Viper, had a label on the box that read, “One Chip Challenge” and carried a warning — “Inside: One Extremely Hot Chip.” It came in a coffin-shaped box that bore an image of a skull with a snake coiled around it.

Marketing materials for the chip dared customers to wait as long as possible after eating the chip before eating or drinking anything, and then to post their reactions on social media.

In an interview in September, Ms. Wolobah said that her son’s school had called to report that he was sick and that she should pick him up. When she arrived, Harris was clutching his stomach in the nurse’s office, she said.

Ms. Wolobah said she took her son home, but after about two hours he passed out and was rushed to a hospital, where he died.

Paqui chips were made by Amplify Snack Brands, a subsidiary of the Hershey Company.

About a week after Harris’s death, the company said it was pulling the chip from store shelves “out of an abundance of caution” and that it was offering refunds for the product, which was priced at about $9.99 for a single serving.

“We were and remain deeply saddened by the death of Harris Wolobah and extend our condolences to his family and friends,” Paqui said in a statement on Thursday. “Paqui’s One Chip Challenge was intended for adults only, with clear and prominent labeling highlighting that the product was not for children or anyone sensitive to spicy foods or with underlying health conditions.”

After the company said it “saw increased reports of teens and other individuals not heeding these warnings,” it worked with retailers to remove the product from shelves, and “the One Chip Challenge has been discontinued.”

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With Debate Deal, Trump and Biden Sideline a Storied Campaign Institution - The New York Times

The agreement by President Biden and Donald J. Trump to move ahead with two presidential debates — and sideline the Commission on Presidential Debates — is a debilitating and potentially fatal blow to an institution that had once been a major arbiter in presidential politics.

But the roots of the commission’s decline go back at least a decade and came to a head in 2020, when the commission struggled to stage a debate with Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden during the pandemic.

The candidates’ first encounter that year was caustic and raucous, as Mr. Trump shouted over Mr. Biden and the moderator. “I’m a pro: I’ve never been through anything like this,” the moderator, Chris Wallace, said.

As it later turned out, Mr. Trump had a Covid diagnosis days before the event, leading to strong objections from the Biden campaign to the commission. The second debate was canceled by Mr. Trump after the commission sought to make it virtual because Mr. Trump was recovering from the illness. By the third debate, the commission gave the moderator a mute button to cut off a candidate who broke the rules.

But even before then, the commission has been on political thin ice. Anita Dunn, a longtime senior adviser to Mr. Biden, helped write a 2015 report that called for the debates to be updated for a modern media environment. Mr. Trump accused the nonpartisan commission, created by the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties in 1987, of bias toward the Democrats. The Republican National Committee announced in 2022 that it would not work with the commission.

“The campaigns have always wanted to take the debates back for themselves,” said Alan Schroeder, a professor emeritus at the Northeastern University School of Journalism in Boston, who has written several books about presidential debates. “They have been trying for years to get rid of the commission. So we are back to the future with this and back to a future that didn’t work that well.”

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., who as Republican Party chairman helped create the commission and is now its co-chair, said in an interview that he was stunned by the campaigns’ decision to bypass the organization — and skeptical about how it might work.

“I would love to be a fly on the wall when the campaigns start to get together to go over the details of this,” he said. “Who sits where, who is the moderator, who is there, where these are. We were created to do all of this.”

Indeed, the commission was created to insert a bipartisan and empowered negotiator into the planning, covering matters such as moderator choices, how many guests each campaign could bring into the studio and the height of the lecterns the candidates stood behind.

It took over from the League of Women Voters, which had overseen the debates for a decade and was criticized for its lack of success in managing the demands of campaign operatives maneuvering for advantage. In 1984, the campaigns of Ronald Reagan, the Republican president, and Walter F. Mondale, his Democratic challenger, vetoed the names of 100 journalists suggested as panel questioners.

“The problem was that the league didn’t have a lot of clout against the campaign so the campaigns tended to run roughshod over them when it came to details of the format, the schedule, whether there would be a live audience,” Mr. Schroeder said.

The commission pushed aside practices that had evolved since the first televised presidential debates, in 1960, between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Panels of questioners, which made it more difficult to stay focused on a topic, or allow for follow-up, were replaced by a single moderator. The commission decided who could participate and where the debates would be held, and made sure that they would be televised on all the major networks.

Locations, dates and the focus of the debate — would they be about foreign policy or domestic issues — were announced well in advance, with the idea of making it harder for the campaign to try to influence the rules of the game.

“I am a fan of the commission,” said Gibbs Knotts, a professor of political science at the College of Charleston. “They have a consistent record of good work. It’s unfortunate if it’s going to be returned back to the campaigns; there will be more strategic calculations going on and less overall what’s in the best interest in the American public.”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden were quick to agree on the dates and networks sponsoring the debates, but tough negotiations lie ahead. Mr. Biden wants debates without an audience and with microphones that automatically cut off when a speaker exceeds his allotted time. It’s unclear whether Mr. Trump has agreed to those terms.

It is also unresolved whether the debate would be carried exclusively on the host network, or shared with other broadcasters and streamers. One of the sponsors, ABC, said it would allow other networks to show the debates as well; CNN, at least initially, said it would not.

For viewers, there might be no obvious difference between a commission-organized debate and one negotiated by the candidates and a network.

“A debate is a live program. It doesn’t have a script. Because as history has shown us over and over again, the debates have a mind of their own and take on a life of their own,” Mr. Schroeder said.

Despite the years of discontent, Mr. Fahrenkopf said the commission was caught off guard by Mr. Biden’s proposal on Wednesday. “We had no head’s up,” he said. But he said he was hopeful the campaigns, after taking into account how difficult these negotiations can be, will ultimately allow the commission to step in and run the show.

“We are set to go,” he said.

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Galveston bridge: Barge damages structure, causes oil spill - The Associated Press

GALVESTON, Texas (AP) — A barge slammed into a bridge pillar in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, spilling oil into surrounding waters and closing the only road to a smaller and separate island that is home to a university, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries, although officials said one person on the barge was knocked into the water and quickly rescued.

The bridge that leads to Pelican Island, north of Galveston, was struck by the barge around 9:50 a.m. when a tugboat backing out of Texas International Terminals, a fuel storage operator next to the bridge, lost control of two barges it was pushing, said David Flores, a bridge superintendent with the Galveston County Navigation District.

“The current was very bad, and the tide was high. He lost it,” Flores said.

One of the barges hit the bridge and two telephone poles, he said.

The accident came weeks after a cargo ship crashed into a support column of the Francis Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 26, killing six construction workers.

The accident Wednesday knocked one man off the vessel and into the water, but he was quickly recovered and was not injured, said Galveston County Sheriff’s Office Maj. Ray Nolen.

The tugboat was pushing bunker barges, which are fuel barges for ships, Flores said. The accident resulted in oil spilling from the barge into the bay and crews were working to clean it up, he said. The barge, which is owned by Martin Petroleum, has a 30,000-gallon capacity, but it’s not clear how much leaked into the bay, said Galveston County spokesperson Spencer Lewis. He said about 6.5 miles (10.5 kilometers) of the waterway was shut down as a result of the spill.

Pelican Island, which is connected to Galveston by the bridge, is home to a large shipyard, Texas A&M University of Galveston, and Seawolf Park, a former immigration station that now attracts tourists to its iconic fishing pier and decommissioned U.S. Navy vessels.

Fire trucks drove over the bridge as workers and law enforcement officials looked at the remnants of the collapsed rail line. Aerial footage showed a large piece of broken concrete and debris from the railroad hanging off the side of the bridge and laying on the barge that officials said rammed into the passageway.

Flores said the rail line only serves as protection for the structure and has never been used.

A statement posted on the City of Galveston’s Facebook page said there were no reports of injuries and that the island is currently inaccessible to car traffic.

“Engineers from the Texas Department of Transportation are also enroute to inspect the roadway and determine if there is damage,” the statement said. “The bridge will remain closed until it is deemed safe to use.”

One business, Baywatch Dolphin Tours, said they were seeking the university’s approval to shuttle people off the island and were planning how to provide a long-term service while bridge repairs are underway.

Opened in 1960, the Pelican Island Causeway Bridge was rated as “Poor” according to the Federal Highway Administration’s 2023 National Bridge Inventory released last June.

The overall rating of a bridge is based on whether the condition of any of its individual components — the deck, superstructure, substructure or culvert, if present — is rated poor or below.

In the case of the Pelican Island Causeway Bridge, inspectors rated the deck in “Satisfactory Condition,” the substructure in “Fair Condition” and the superstructure — or the component that absorbs the live traffic load — in “Poor Condition.”

The bridge has one main steel span that measures 164 feet (50 meters), and federal data shows it was last inspected in December 2021. However, it’s unclear from the data if a state inspection took place after the Federal Highway Administration compiled the data.

The bridge had an average daily traffic figure of about 9,100, according to a 2011 estimate.

___

Lozano reported from Houston. Associated Press reporters Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas; Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas; and Ken Miller in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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Treasury Sanctions Nicaragua-Based Russian Institution and Gold Companies - Treasury

WASHINGTON — Today, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is targeting the Ortega-Murillo regime’s repression of the Nicaraguan people and its ability to manipulate the gold sector and profit from corrupt operations. Treasury is imposing sanctions on three Nicaragua-based entities, the Training Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Managua (RTC); Compania Minera Internacional, Sociedad Anónima (COMINTSA); and Capital Mining Investment Nicaragua, Sociedad Anónima (Capital Mining), pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13851, as amended.

The RTC is a Nicaragua-based subdivision of the Government of the Russian Federation’s (GOR) Ministry of Internal Affairs, which trains those under the Ortega-Murillo regime’s command under the Russian authoritarian government’s playbook of oppression. It is a key actor in the Nicaraguan regime’s repression of civil society and unjust detention and imprisonment of individuals for expressing dissent, or otherwise peacefully exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The designations of COMINTSA and Capital Mining target government-affiliated gold companies generating revenue for the Ortega-Murillo regime. Gold is Nicaragua’s top commodity export, and this action aims to degrade the ability of the Ortega-Murillo regime to manipulate the sector and profit from the corrupt operations of COMINTSA and Capital Mining.

“By leveraging the training it receives from the Russia-backed RTC and the revenue it generates from exploiting the gold sector, the Ortega-Murillo regime has continued its anti-democratic campaign of repression against its citizens,” said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson. “The United States remains committed to using our tools to support the Nicaraguan people, including by constraining the Ortega-Murillo regime’s ability to fund its oppressive and destabilizing activities.”

These actions are being taken these in response to the Ortega-Murillo regime’s continued repression of the people of Nicaragua and continued exploitation of vulnerable migrants, including via the facilitation and profiting off of irregular migration to the United States. 

The Training Center of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs in Managua

Nicaragua is one of Russia’s main partners in Central America, as evidenced by a series of high-level visits to Managua by representatives of the GOR. Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs established a training center in Managua to provide specialized courses for the Nicaraguan National Police (NNP) and law enforcement of other Latin American countries. OFAC designated the NNP, the primary law enforcement entity in Nicaragua, on March 5, 2020, pursuant to E.O. 13851 for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged in, serious human rights abuse in Nicaragua. The NNP was also designated pursuant to the Nicaraguan Human Rights and Anticorruption Act of 2018 for being responsible for or complicit in, or responsible for ordering, controlling, or otherwise directing, or having knowingly participated in, directly or indirectly, significant acts of violence or conduct that constitutes a serious abuse or violation of human rights against persons associated with the protests in Nicaragua in April 2018. 

Since its opening in Managua in October 2017, the RTC has been operating in Managua, training members of the NNP as part of a bilateral engagement between Nicaragua and Russia, Russian law enforcement officials at the RTC have trained members of the NNP, which has enabled the regime’s brutal repressive tactics, training the NNP to conduct repression and tyrannical persecution in support of persecutions of the Nicaraguan people. The NNP is a central actor in the Ortega-Murillo regime’s violent oppression of the Nicaraguan people. The RTC’s support of the NNP helps maintain the cycle of violent oppression in Nicaragua. The NNP is a repressive state apparatus, carrying out extrajudicial killings, using live ammunition against peaceful protests, and even participating in death squads. The RTC in Nicaragua, by admission of President Ortega himself, trains Nicaraguan law enforcement officers to better confront “coup plotters,” referring to those citizens who dare to publicly voice their opposition to the regime. 

The RTC is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for having materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services in support of, the NNP.

Compania Minera Internacional, Sociedad Anónima (COMINTSA)

COMINTSA is a Nicaraguan mining company and one of several regime-aligned companies that operate or have operated in Nicaragua’s gold sector. Having revoked the license for operations from another artisanal mining company, the General Directorate of Mines granted COMINTSA concession areas for exploration and extraction of gold in the in the Autonomous Region of the North Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua in 2023. COMINTSA is reportedly owned and led by Salvador Mansell Castrillo (Mansell Castrillo), who is under OFAC sanctions.

On November 15, 2021, OFAC designated Mansell Castrillo pursuant to E.O. 13851 for having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at any time on or after January 10, 2007. Subsequently, on October 24, 2022, OFAC designated the General Directorate of Mines pursuant to E.O. 13851 for being owned or controlled by or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Mansell Castrillo. 

COMINTSA is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for operating or having operated in the gold sector of the Nicaraguan economy.

Capital Mining Investment Nicaragua, Sociedad Anónima

Capital Mining is a Nicaraguan mining company and one of several regime-aligned companies that operate in Nicaragua’s gold sector. Capital Mining is an intermediary in the gold sector controlled by Laureano Ortega Murillo (Ortega Murillo), the son of President Ortega and Vice President Murillo, and Mansell Castrillo that is known to charge some gold mining companies to do business in Nicaragua. On April 17, 2019, OFAC designated Ortega Murillo pursuant to E.O. 13851 for being an official of the Government of Nicaragua or having served as an official of the Government of Nicaragua at any time on or after January 10, 2007. 

Capital Mining is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13851, as amended, for operating or having operated in the gold sector of the Nicaraguan economy.

Travel Industry Advisory

In addition to the sanctions issued by OFAC today, the United States Department of State is issuing over 250 visa restrictions for Nicaraguan officials, and the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security are jointly releasing an advisory to alert the travel industry of the ways in which smugglers are facilitating illegal migration to the United States and remind the industry of key steps that they should take to avoid complicity in the exploitation of migrants. 

This action reflects U.S. efforts to promote responsible practices in the industry, prevent and disrupt illicit activity, and enhance compliance with lawful immigration and migration pathways. 

SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS

As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the designated persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.  Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. 

In addition, financial institutions and other persons that engage in certain transactions or activities with the sanctioned entities and individuals may expose themselves to sanctions or be subject to an enforcement action. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. 

The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC’s ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897.  For detailed information on the process to submit a request for removal from an OFAC sanctions list.

Click here for more information on the entities designated today.

###

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Ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse lost power twice before slamming into pillar, NTSB finds - NBC News

Two blackouts triggered by the unexpected tripping of electrical breakers caused a container ship to slam into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge in March, sending it tumbling into Baltimore Harbor and killing six people, federal investigators said in a preliminary report released Tuesday.

The National Transportation Safety Board report said the 947-foot Singapore-flagged Dali suffered a pair of power losses in the minutes before it struck the bridge, leaving the ship without propulsion to help steer away from one of the bridge's piers. After radioing for help, the crew dropped its anchor in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a collision.

But it was too late: A crew member told investigators that as he was releasing a brake on the anchor, he had to escape the collapsing bridge.

The NTSB is still investigating factors that might have played a role in the crash, including the design and operation of the Dali's power distribution system, which includes the breakers, the report said.

The report noted, however, that tests of the Dali's fuel did not identify any quality concerns. The NTSB is also helping local authorities decide whether the protection of bridge piers in the harbor need to be improved, the report said.

The Dali, which had been chartered by the Danish shipping giant Maersk, was bound for Sri Lanka when it struck the bridge at 1:28 a.m. March 26. Minutes before the crash, the ship's lights went out, then briefly flickered back on, and black smoke billowed from the stack — signs of the power losses.

Seconds after impact, the bridge, considered a jewel of the city, collapsed into the depths of the Patapsco River, killing six roadwork crew members who were on it in what may be the most expensive maritime disaster in history. Two workers were rescued from the river. All 22 crew members on the ship survived, along with two pilots who were helping the Dali navigate the harbor.

The catastrophe took seconds, as captured by video that showed cars and trucks on the bridge just before impact. 

The preliminary NTSB report also revealed that the Dali had suffered a blackout 10 hours before the collision during in-port maintenance. That blackout was triggered by a mistake by a crew member, the report said.

The connection between the earlier blackout and the one that preceded the deadly accident remains under investigation, the NTSB said in its report.

The report noted that just before the Dali departed the port, its captain told a local pilot assigned to guide the ship out of the harbor that the ship was in good working order.

Two tugboats assisted the Dali as it left the dock and into the harbor, then pulled away, according to the report. The pilot handed control of the ship to an apprentice, and not long after, the first blackout occurred. The senior pilot took back control.

An emergency generator restored power to the Dali, and the pilots called for help from a tugboat. The pilot ordered the anchor to be dropped. The pilot's dispatcher called police and the Coast Guard.

A second blackout then hobbled the Dali, and again, a generator restored power. But there was no propulsion to assist with steering.

One of the pilots got on marine radio to warn other boats. Police ordered the bridge closed to traffic, leaving only the roadwork crew on the span.

The Dali then hit the bridge.

It is rare for ships of that size to lose power and rarer still for it to happen in a narrow channel near the pillars of a major bridge. A last-minute mayday and quick actions on the ground most likely averted a much higher casualty count.

A weekslong search turned up the bodies of the six construction workers, that last of which was recovered May 7. The NTSB and the FBI opened investigations into the collapse. The city of Baltimore filed a legal claim against the Dali's owner, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and its manager, Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., alleging negligence and full liability for the collapse.

In past statements, Synergy and Grace Ocean have expressed sympathy "to everyone affected and their families" but have declined to comment on the cause of the crash, noting the unfinished investigations and the ongoing legal proceedings. Maersk has said in statements that its "thoughts are with all parties impacted by the situation" but stressed that it neither owned nor operated the Dali. Maersk has said it would conduct an investigation of its own.

On Monday, precision explosive charges dismantled a span of the bridge that had come down on the container ship, finally freeing the vessel. 

President Joe Biden has vowed that the government will help rebuild the bridge as soon as possible, as the Port of Baltimore is a major part of the Northeast economy and the busiest port for car imports and exports.

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NTSB says ship lost power before striking Francis Scott Key Bridge - NPR

Enlarge this image

In this aerial view, a steel truss from the destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge that was pinning the container ship Dali in place was detached from the ship using a controlled detonation of explosives in the Patapsco River on Monday in Baltimore, Md. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The container ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge had electrical problems the day before it left the Port of Baltimore when it was docked, according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board.

The Dali experienced a "blackout" during maintenance about ten hours before leaving the port, the NTSB wrote in its report, when "a crewmember mistakenly closed an inline engine exhaust damper," causing the engine to stall.

The crew was able to restore power before the ship suffered a second blackout, investigators said. That prompted the crew to change the configuration of the ship's electrical system while still in port on March 25th.

But the NTSB says it's still not clear how those incidents relate to what happened early the following morning, when the Dali lost power twice in the minutes before it crashed into one of the bridge's supports.

"The NTSB is still investigating the electrical configuration following the first in-port blackout and potential impacts on the events during the accident voyage," the report says.

After the Dali lost power, authorities rushed to close the Key Bridge to traffic. Six construction workers were killed when the bridge collapsed into the Patapsco River, cutting off most maritime traffic into Baltimore's busy port and severing an interstate highway that carried 34,000 vehicles per day.

The effort to free the Dali took a major step forward this week with the controlled demolition of the largest remaining span of the collapsed bridge, which was resting on top of the ship's bow. Crews set off a chain of carefully placed explosives on Monday, letting off plumes of black smoke and a loud boom as the mangled steel trusses crashed into the water below.

Enlarge this image

Salvage crews continue to remove wreckage from the Dali six weeks after the cargo ship collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The next step is to refloat the Dali so that it can be guided to a nearby terminal at the port for temporary repairs. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened a temporary alternate channel, and it is still working to restore a deeper channel for large container ships that typically use the port.

State and federal officials have pledged to rebuild the Key Bridge, but they acknowledge it won't be easy or quick. Meanwhile the legal fight over who will ultimately pay to replace the bridge is underway.

The NTSB and the FBI are separately investigating the incident. Their findings could play an important role in determining who is ultimately held liable for the accident.

From the NTSB's report, it appears that the harbor pilots who were in control of the vessel at the time of the accident were not aware of the ship's recent electrical problems.

"The senior pilot asked about the vessel's condition, and the captain reported that the ship was in good working order," according to the report.

Investigators at the NTSB say they analyzed samples of the fuel that was being burned at the time of the accident, as well as other fuel tanks on the vessel. But those results did not identify any concerns relating to the quality of the fuel, investigators said.

The NTSB says it's working with the Maryland Transportation Authority to assess its other bridges and to determine whether pier protection measures need to be improved. The MDTA is studying options for upgrades to the existing protection system around both spans of the Bay Bridge that connect Annapolis to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, according to the report.

"The NTSB investigation of all aspects of the accident is ongoing as we determine the probable cause," the report says.

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Kamala Harris drops F-bomb as she urges young to break barriers - The Guardian US

Twelve minutes into a health forum discussion for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander organizations, Kamala Harris on Monday offered a punchy piece of advice to younger members of the audience.

“We have to know that sometimes people will open the door for you and leave it open,” the US vice-president said. “Sometimes they won’t, and then you need to kick that fucking door down.”

Harris, who is out front for the Biden-Harris re-election campaign on women’s and reproductive rights, made the remarks at a leadership summit at which she also described how her parents had met at a civil rights march.

Harris’s remark came as she was describing the importance of breaking down barriers and being the first to do it.

“Here’s the thing about breaking down barriers. It does not mean that you start on one side of the barrier and end up on another,” she said. “There’s breaking involved. And when you break things you get cut and you may bleed. And it is worth it every time.”

But while presidents and vice-presidents do not customarily use profanity, it is becoming more common, though often in private or leaked conversations. Joe Biden recently referred to rival Donald Trump as “a sick fuck”, and to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as a “bad fucking guy” and an “asshole.”

Harry Truman once explained his firing of the insubordinate but popular Gen Douglas MacArthur by saying, “I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals.”

Lyndon Johnson swore so much that it would be impossible to document all of it, according to a recent essay by the historian Tevi Troy in the City Journal, including the lament: “I don’t know what the fuck to do about Vietnam.”

According to the survey, US presidential cursing is common when referring to Netanyahu. In 1996, Bill Clinton once fumed, “Who’s the fucking leader of the free world?” Trump said “fuck him”, after Netanyahu acknowledged Biden’s election victory in 2020.

But few of those were meant as calls to action, leaving Harris, as she said in her discussion, “breaking down barriers”.

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