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--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Friday, January 12th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Thanks for joining us, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for having me, John. Let's get started.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: In a dramatic escalation in the Red Sea on Thursday, the U.S. and British militaries bombed more than 60 Houthi targets in 16 separate locations in Yemen. That's prompted threats of retaliation from the Iran-backed militant group.
--:-- John Bickley: That's right, Georgia. The Houthis say five militants were killed and another six injured in the strikes and called them an act of war.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The strikes come after at least 27 Houthi attacks against merchant ships and follow a series of warnings from the U.S. and coalition forces that retaliatory measures would be taken.
--:-- John Bickley: U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the Houthis' ability to carry out more attacks and targeted the group's military facilities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. is ultimately blaming Iran for aiding and abetting the Houthi aggression by providing the militants support. That includes technology and intelligence needed to carry out the attacks.
--:-- John Bickley: Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn along with nine other Republicans has introduced a new border bill called the Container Act.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has more. Container, in this case, stands for creating obstructions necessary to address illegal and nefarious entry rapidly.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's right, Georgia. The act empowers border states to place temporary barriers on federal land in order to protect their communities.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The move comes after the Biden DOJ sued Arizona for placing large shipping containers along its border to block illegal crossing.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Blackburn says with over 8.5 million apprehensions at our southern border, the Biden administration has only exacerbated the problem by trying to stop the use of measures that will secure our border.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Blackburn added that it's clear Congress must act to give border states the explicit authority to protect their communities and the sovereignty of the United States.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, in Texas, the National Guard has taken control of a public park where illegal immigrants have surged across the border.
--:-- John Bickley: Texas started blocking federal officials' access to Shelby Park and Eagle Pass this week, saying they were taking control because immigration officials have, quote, perpetuated illegal crossings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The dramatic step comes in response to the Biden administration working to remove barbed wire in the park put up by Texas to prevent crossings.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Federal Aviation Administration has officially launched an investigation into Boeing safety standards after a door plug fell out of an Alaska Airlines plane last week.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Mairead Elordi has the details.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: In a statement the FAA said this incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Last week door plug incident took place just minutes after the Alaskan Airlines flight took off from Portland International Airport.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: The incident depressurized the cabin and exposed the passengers to open air thousands of feet from the ground.
--:-- John Bickley: In a statement, Boeing said we will cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and the NTSB on their investigations.
--:-- Mairead Elordi: According to the FAA, the investigation will determine if Boeing failed to ensure completed products were in a condition for safe operation in compliance with FAA regulations.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In the meantime, the FAA says every Boeing 737 MAX 9 with a door plug will remain grounded until the administration determines they're safe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Chicago public schools lost 77,000 iPads and laptops in just the 2022 school year alone, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
--:-- John Bickley: That's about $23 million of missing merchandise.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The same report also revealed that the trend appears to be rapidly increasing from 3% of items lost or unaccounted for in 2019 to 8% in 2021 and then to 11% in 2022.
--:-- John Bickley: This is despite a $3 million technology tracking system, which the district reportedly rarely uses to recoup lost items.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rental car company Hertz is selling off 20,000 electric vehicles, about a third of its global fleet.
--:-- John Bickley: The company blames rising repair costs, low resale values and low demand for EVs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hertz will use the money from the auto sales to purchase gas-powered vehicles.
--:-- John Bickley: Hertz had planned to make EVs 25% of its rental fleet by the end of 2024.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Here's Hertz CEO Steven Schur.
--:-- Steven Schur: The reality of EVs and Teslas being the best car will at some point render them the best rental car. It not yet So we may have been ahead of ourselves in the context of how quickly that will happen, but there is a significant component of our customer set that are still paying us a premium for these. It's just not at the level of demand that we anticipated.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And less than a day after Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks parted ways, Bill Belichick was out in New England after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles.
--:-- John Bickley: Here to break down the latest from the coach carousel is Crane & Company co-host David Cohn.
--:-- David Cohn: There are now eight head coaching vacancies in the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons kicked off Black Monday by firing head coach Arthur Smith.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Washington Commanders parted ways with Ron Rivera just hours later, and the Tennessee Titans and surprisingly booted Mike Vrabel on Tuesday.
--:-- David Cohn: This is in addition to three jobs that were already open, the Las Vegas Raiders, the Carolina Panthers, and the LA Chargers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the big news came when the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl winning coach, parted ways, and when the Seattle Seahawks parted ways with head coach Pete Carroll, who also won a Super Bowl.
--:-- David Cohn: The Seahawks' position is still open, but the Patriots have elevated linebackers coach and former Patriot Gerard Mayo to be their next head coach.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for joining us on Morning Wire.
