Curious about today’s topics on The Larry O’Connor Show? Below are a few stories on the radar. Be sure to listen to The Larry O’Connor Show Monday – Friday 3pm – 6pm on WMAL.
Companies behind Florida bridge collapse have history of fines, failures, lawsuits (Fox News)
The two firms responsible for building Florida International University’s “instant bridge,” which suddenly collapsed Thursday and left six people dead, are coming under increased scrutiny as details emerge of past engineering failures and inspection fines — including a recent accusation that one hired “unskilled” and “careless” workers.
The $14.2-million pedestrian bridge was supposed to open next year to help students cross a busy road adjacent to the campus. It was an accelerated, joint construction effort by two Florida companies: MCM Construction, a Miami-based contractor, and Figg Bridge Design, based in Tallahassee, who both have worked on dozens of projects nationwide, ranging from military facilities to schools.
“Innovations take a design firm into an area where they don’t have applicable experience, and then we have another unexpected failure on our hands,” Robert Bea, a professor of engineering and construction management at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Associated Press after reviewing the bridge’s design — and the pile of rubble it was reduced to on Thursday afternoon. [Read More]
Several business owners are suing the small town of Seat Pleasant, Md., for an approximately eightfold property tax increase they allege is unlawful and designed to shut down their businesses.
The owners of a discount market, a Chinese takeout restaurant and a liquor store say officials violated the city’s charter and state and federal laws when they created an ordinance that sent the property taxes of certain businesses soaring.
Steven Franco, who owns the discount market, said the “special revitalization” tax is a part of an attempt by Seat Pleasant’s leaders to lower the value of the properties so the city can buy the buildings for its own use. [Read More]
Jeff Flake: Trump driving millennials away from the GOP (Washington Examiner)
Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., warned Friday that the abandonment of “decent politics” under President Trump is driving millennials away from the GOP, and said his party also needs to pay attention to rising student protests for federal gun legislation.
“Young people have been walking away from the party for a while,” Flake said during an event in New Hampshire. “I think now they’re in a dead sprint because I think they expect a more decent politics than they’re seeing and they expect Washington to work a little more than it is and don’t understand why we can’t get along.” [Read More]
REPORT: Comey Was Warned About Warrantless Surveillance Program, But Did Nothing (Daily Wire)
In 2014, the FBI official who supervised the FBI’s Section 215 warrantless phone surveillance program warned then-Director James Comey that it was massively ineffective, but Comey took no action.Retired Special Agent Bassem Youssef, the chief of the FBI’s Communications Analysis Unit, told The Hill that in August 2014, he met with Comey , who expressed interest in Youssef’s concerns, but Comey never followed through.
Youssef was responsible for cementing the relationship between the FBI and Saudi Arabia’s Mabahith, the Saudi equivalent of the FBI, in the late 1990s, which aided the fight against Al-Qaida. After 9/11, according to The Hill, he became a whistleblower “who successfully proved the FBI wrongly retaliated against him for raising concerns to Congress.” [Read More]
Students walk out over university’s parental visa checks (Seattle Times)
Students at Virginia’s Old Dominion University walked out of classes to protest the university’s policy requiring the disclosure of parents’ visa status.
The Virginian-Pilot reports ODU Registrar Humberto Portellez has said the university is abiding by state rules when asking for “additional credentials” from dependent children of non-citizens or non-permanent residents who want to be considered for in-state tuition. An organizer of Thursday’s walkout, Antony Mondragon, says students shouldn’t be denied in-state tuition because of their parents. [Read More]
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