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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible. Financial geniuses. Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit Progressive.com to see if you could save. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Balance of Nature. Go to balanceofnature.com and use promo code WIRE for 35% off your first fruits and veggies set, plus $10 off each additional set. That's balanceofnature.com, promo code WIRE.
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--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with guest co-host Sage Steele, host of the Sage Steele Show. It's Tuesday, April 23rd, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Sage Steele: Thanks for having me on, John.
--:-- John Bickley: Over 150 people were arrested at New York University overnight, including both students and staff. This comes days after over 100 students were arrested while protesting down the road at Columbia University.
--:-- Sage Steele: Columbia also announced in a letter late last night that classes on its main campus will be held in a hybrid model for the remainder of the semester. The letter says, quote, "It's vital that teaching and learning continue during this time. We recognize conditions vary across our campuses and thus are issuing the following guidelines."
--:-- John Bickley: Faculty who are unable to provide hybrid model classes were urged to consider shifting their classes to a fully remote model. Critics have blasted the move which has also led to calls for tuition refunds.
--:-- Sage Steele: It also comes as every House Republican from New York signed a letter demanding that Columbia University President Dr. Nemat Manoush Shafiq step down from leadership of the Ivy League school.
--:-- [Audio clip of Representative Nicole Maliotakis plays]
--:-- Nicole Maliotakis: It's clear that she has lost control of the school. And when a university president makes it clear that they can't keep the students safe because she's telling the students today that they need to go to virtual learning. That is unacceptable. And that is not leadership.
--:-- John Bickley: 20 more Google employees have been let go after protesting a deal between the company and Israel. Google's latest move brings the number of terminated employees to over 50 in the protest aftermath.
--:-- Sage Steele: Last week, workers for the tech giant held sit-in protests at offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. Google, Google, you can't hide. You are funding genocide. You are funding genocide.
--:-- John Bickley: The protest centered around Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021, which gives the Israeli government cloud computing and AI services provided by both Amazon and Google.
--:-- John Bickley: The DOJ has agreed to pay over $138 million to victims of Larry Nassar. The disgraced sports doctor convicted of sexually abusing young athletes under his care. The Justice Department also apologized to the victims for failing to investigate Nassar conduct more thoroughly.
--:-- Sage Steele: Today settlement resolves 139 claims made against the FBI. Over 260 patients say Nassar victimized them including stars on the U.S. gymnastics national team.
--:-- John Bickley: Former President Donald Trump's hush money trial continued today with National Enquirer publisher David Pecker returning to the stand.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Pecker testified about his friendship with Donald Trump, saying they've known each other for decades. That after he bought the National Enquirer in 1985, one of the first people to call him was Trump.
--:-- John Bickley: Pecker said he had offered to be Trump's, quote, "eyes and ears," in which he kept a lookout for any negative press about the former president.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The former Enquirer publisher also testified that at one point he was put in contact with Michael Cohen, Trump's attorney at the time, who he was told to direct all Trump business through.
--:-- John Bickley: Pecker's testimony comes after a pretrial hearing held by Judge Mershon regarding whether or not Trump violated his gag order. If the judge finds that he did, Trump could face a fine of at least $3,000, $1,000 for each of the three alleged violations.
--:-- Sage Steele: But it depends where you live. Drivers in Phoenix pay 65 cents more per gallon. Massachusetts saw a 27 cent per gallon jump just since last month. And of course Californians pay as much as per gallon.
--:-- John Bickley: Higher prices often hit in the spring as refineries switch to what they call their summer blend. Plus, more people travel from spring break through summer, so there's more demand. Wherever you are, expect to pay a premium at the pump for the next few months.
--:-- John Bickley: After Starbucks fired several Tennessee baristas who were trying to unionize, a federal agency got a court order forcing Starbucks to rehire them. Now the coffee company wants the nation's highest court to limit the government's power in these situations.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The Supreme Court heard arguments today from both Starbucks and the National Labor Relations Board. If the justices side with the coffee giant, it would potentially make it harder for the NLRB to block companies from fighting efforts to unionize.
--:-- John Bickley: And a group of good Samaritans banded together to rescue a man from a burning vehicle on a Minnesota highway.
--:-- Sage Steele: 71-year-old Sam Orbovich's car struck a side rail during rush hour along Interstate 94. Orbovich was trapped as his car became engulfed in flames until a highway response team was able to smash the driver's side window and pull him to safety.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Tessa Sand, a 24-year-old registered nurse, was among those who rushed to help. It's 100% a miracle. If strangers had not come together to form this community to get this man out of the car, I don't think he would still be here today.
--:-- John Bickley: All right, 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 our latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
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