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--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by Ramp. Get $250 when you join Ramp. Just go to ramp.com slash wire. That's R-A-M-P dot com slash wire today.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, February 22nd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hmm, I'm having some trouble with the audio. AT&T says 75% of its network has been restored after it experienced a massive cell phone outage this morning. Tens of thousands of customers were unable to place or receive calls, use the Internet, and in some cases dial 911. The outage started around 5 a.m. Eastern Time and then grew worse at 7 a.m. AT&T issued a statement acknowledging the problem but have yet to identify the cause. The telecom giant said, quote, Some of our customers are experiencing wireless service interruptions this morning. We are working urgently to restore service to them. We encourage the use of Wi-Fi calling until service is restored.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The city's most affected were Chicago, LA, Dallas, Atlanta, and Houston. T-Mobile and Verizon say their networks were not affected. Customers across the nation are reacting to the outage.
--:-- [Clip of a customer's reaction]
--:-- Customer 1: I thought it was a blackout, like zombies were coming. Like, no. Like, I thought it was the end of the world.
--:-- Customer 2: I'm trying to meet with a client and I had to leave where I'm coming from because I can't communicate at all.
--:-- Customer 3: Yeah, my electrician every morning I receive a call to know where I heading for to work. Right now, it's 8:28, and I don't even know where I'm going.
--:-- Customer 4: As much money as we pay a month for these cell phones for the bills all this. And this is happening to us? Such a big company? Like, come on.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Donald Trump seeks a 30-day delay in the enforcement of his New York civil fraud case. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the latest. An attorney representing the former president has asked New York Judge Arthur Angeron for a 30-day delay before his ruling can be enforced. Ingeron fined Trump $350 million and temporarily barred him from doing business in the Empire State.
--:-- Tim Pierce: State Attorney Andrew Amher wrote the judge opposing the request from Trump's legal team, however. Amher said that Friday's ruling left no room for further debate about the judgment. Trump's request stems from a disagreement over the case's judgment order, a document that signals when the penalties in the case are due.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The request for a 30-day delay comes amid the following comments from New York Attorney General Letitia James. If he does not have funds to pay off the judgment, then we will seek judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets. And so at the end of the day, how he pays for the judgment is really not my business. At the end of the day, he is responsible and liable for $363 million plus $100 million in interest.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A Florida bill that would release transcripts of a 2006 Grand Jury's investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's sexual assaults of underage girls is headed to the governor's desk. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has more. The bill has passed unanimously by Florida's legislature, and Governor Ron DeSantis has already confirmed that he will sign it. That will take effect on July 1st, though an ongoing lawsuit filed by the Palm Beach Post may lead to the early release of those transcripts.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: In 2021, the Post sued the Palm Beach County state attorney to unseal the grand jury proceedings in hopes of discovering why the jury returned minimal charges. A circuit judge later ruled that the court didn't have the authority under state law to release the records. Then last year, a state appeals court disagreed, citing a state law that says grand jury records can be made public for a, quote, furtherance of justice.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The appeals court ordered the lower court to review, redact, and release the material, but that has yet to happen.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This episode is brought to you by NetSuite. Download NetSuite's popular KPI checklist designed to give you consistently excellent performance absolutely free at NetSuite.com slash MorningWire. That's NetSuite.com slash MorningWire.
--:-- John Bickley: A missile attack on the Gulf of Aden sets a ship ablaze while Israel's port city of Eilat is attacked. Authorities are pointing the finger at Yemen-based Houthi rebels for both attacks, a group that's been behind several assaults on shipping vessels in the Red Sea since November.
--:-- John Bickley: The British military says today's attack saw two missiles fired, which caused the ship minor damage. They now say the ship is safe. According to ship tracking data, the vessel was identified as a Palau-flagged cargo ship. Meanwhile, sirens in Eilat sounded early this morning. Online video showed what appeared to be a missile interception in the sky above the city. Israel did not identify what the fire was nor where it came from.
--:-- John Bickley: Experts say Houthi attacks have disrupted much of the world's trade as vessels seek longer routes. We could see every type of cargo that moves by sea affected. And if we think about it more carefully, that is literally 90 percent of our world trade that is affected. So it's a huge globalized impact for all of us.
--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. government charges a Japan-based Navy sailor with espionage. Chief Petty Officer Fire Controlman Bryce Pendicini is accused of providing classified material to a foreign government in at least seven instances. It's unclear which government Pendicini is accused of colluding with as the incident remains under investigation.
--:-- John Bickley: CBS News has seized the files, computers, and records of investigative journalist Catherine Herridge. Herridge was one of 20 news staff laid off by the network this month. George Washington Law School professor Jonathan Turley wrote in The Hill that he has spoken to several sources who say Herridge had run into internal roadblocks at CBS for her reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop.
--:-- John Bickley: Producers at CBS tell Turley the timing of her firing is suspicious. The award-winning journalist was covering several stories critical of President Biden, including corruption allegations. Herridge is also at the center of a First Amendment case and faces possible contempt charges after refusing to reveal her sources in a story that goes back to her days of working at Fox News.
--:-- John Bickley: Several journalists have issued statements in support of Herridge.
--:-- John Bickley: Yale University will again require standardized test scores for admissions starting next year. Daily Wire reporter Zach Jewell reports. Yale now believes that the test-optional policy harmed the low-income students it was supposed to help. Critics of the SAT and ACT argue the tests feel inequality because wealthy students can hire tutors to raise test scores.
--:-- Zach Jewell: But now Yale joins Dartmouth and MIT in reinstating the tests for admissions. They believe that omitting test scores forces admissions officers to focus on extracurricular activities, which wealthy students have in abundance. Or, as Jeremiah Quinlan, Yale's dean of admissions, put it, Quote, increased emphasis on these elements we found has the effect of advancing the advantaged.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The statement went on, simply put, students with higher scores have been more likely to have higher Yale GPAs, and test scores are the single greatest predictor of a student's performance in Yale courses in every model we have constructed.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Still, 80% of four-year degree institutions will continue to be test optional.
--:-- 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.
