Biden has call planned with Netanyahu; Los Angeles burglars steal $30 million in cash; Chiefs, Royals look toward future

Hot Off The Wire

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted April 4 at 7:15 a.m. CT:

President Joe Biden will have a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday following an airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen staff members in Gaza. Israel faced growing isolation Wednesday over the deaths of six foreign aid workers and a Palestinian driver helping deliver desperately needed food to isolated and starving residents.

HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) — Rescuers are searching for dozens of people still missing a day after Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in a quarter century damaged buildings, caused multiple rockslides and killed 10 people.

MADRID (AP) — Spanish authorities say a cruise ship stuck in the northeastern port of Barcelona will be able to resume its route after a group of Bolivian passengers with visa problems were taken off the vessel.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden says a new rule making it harder to fire thousands of federal employees is a “step toward combatting corruption and partisan interference." Advocates hope the rule will head off former President Donald Trump’s promises to radically remake the federal workforce along ideological lines if the Republican wins back the White House.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma is preparing to execute a death row inmate for shooting and killing two people in Oklahoma City more than two decades ago. Michael Dewayne Smith is scheduled to receive a lethal injection on Thursday at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. Smith was convicted and sentenced to die for killing Janet Moore and Sharath Pulluru in separate shootings in February 2002.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say thieves stole as much $30 million in a burglary at a Los Angeles money storage facility in one of the largest cash heists in city history. A police official said Wednesday that the burglary occurred Sunday night at an unnamed facility in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley. Cash from businesses across the region is handled and stored there. The official says the burglars were able to breach the building and the safe where the money was stored. The Los Angeles Times says the break-in is among the largest cash burglaries in city history.

In other headlines:

• A new election law battle is brewing in Georgia, this time over voter challenges.
• Jill Biden says the nation's top teachers will be recognized at their own White House state dinner.
• Prosecutors in Donald Trump's classified documents case chide judge over her 'fundamentally flawed' order.
• George Carlin's estate settles with podcasters over a fake comedy special purportedly generated by AI.
• After voters reject a tax measure, the Chiefs and Royals look toward future, whether in Kansas City or elsewhere.
• Women's Final Four tickets on the resale market are selling for an average of $2,300, twice as much as for men.
• The Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans make a trade, Major League Baseball's number of undefeated and winless teams is down to one, three teams are within one game of the top spot in the NBA's Western Conference, the Rangers and Devils came out fighting in the NHL, and an LSU women's basketball star makes a career decision.

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

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