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--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by LifeLock. When you visit the doctor, you probably hand over your insurance, your ID, and contact details. It's just one of the many places that has your personal info. And if any of them accidentally expose it, you could be at risk for identity theft. LifeLock monitors millions of data points a second. If you become a victim, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year at LifeLock.com slash podcast. Terms apply.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Inflation remains high and bank stocks begin to recover, but the fallout from Silicon Valley banks' collapse continues. And now the SEC and DOJ have launched investigations into the bank's executives.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Wednesday, March 15th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Walgreens is facing a boycott by the state of California, yep, over their new policy on abortion medication. The pharmacy says they're just following the law.
--:-- John Bickley: What Walgreens is basically telling us is that they don't want to get involved, and I think they want to see where this plays out. And while the rest of the country has largely moved on, college campuses are still sticking with strict COVID precautions. Now, a coalition of students, parents, and doctors is pushing back.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- John Bickley: The DOJ and SEC have launched investigations into Silicon Valley Bank, seeking answers on who's to blame for the second largest bank collapse in American history. Here with more is Daily Wire senior editor, Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, investigations like this are fairly common coming from the SEC, which regulates financial markets. But the involvement of the DOJ gives you an idea of just how serious this is being viewed in Washington.
--:-- John Bickley: In the weeks leading up to the collapse, executives within the bank reportedly made some very concerning trades. For example, two and a half weeks ago, right before the bank's collapse, the company's chief executive, Greg Becker, sold $2.3 million worth of shares, while the company's financial chief, Daniel Beck, sold half a million dollars worth of shares on the same day. That was about a third of all the shares he had in the entire company.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So not a good look there. No, and it looks even worse when you take into account that for the last few months, those same executives have been assuring the public their bank was in a great spot. Becker, for example, said at a conference just last week that it was a, quote, great time to start a company and that his bank had exciting opportunities in every single category. And then Beck, the company's finance chief, said last month that the bank had minimal risk because their clients come from so many different backgrounds.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, because of insider trading regulations, if executives want to sell their shares in their company, they have to schedule them 30 days in advance. But get this, last year, the SEC passed a new measure that upped that timeline to 90 days. And the day that regulation took effect, February 27th, is the exact same day that both of their sales were finalized.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, that could all be coincidence, but there are plenty of people who say it's a sign that these executives knew they were in a precarious spot and tried to save themselves a bit with inside information. And one final note the bank is also facing scrutiny after reports that for eight months last year they did not have an official risk management executive.
--:-- John Bickley: Yeah, a lot of people will be watching the investigation hoping for some answers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: There was also big news yesterday on inflation. What did we learn on that front?
--:-- John Bickley: So on Tuesday, the Labor Department announced that inflation last month was still up at 6%. That is slightly down from 6.4% in the month before, but it's well above the target goal of 2%.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now the big question for many is how the Fed is going to respond to that news. Typically, with inflation at 6%, they would raise interest rates, try and cool the economy. But given the uncertainty and volatility in the market because of this banking crisis, raising rates could be the worst thing to do.
--:-- John Bickley: For more on that tug of war, I talked to Joe LaVornia. He's the former chief economist at the National Economic Council and is currently the head economist at SNBC, Nico.
--:-- Joe LaVornia: In light of recent systemic risks in the commercial banking sector, the prudent approach should be for the Fed to not hike next week.
--:-- John Bickley: LaVornia said there's a good chance the Fed holds rates steady this month, but that they'll likely resume raising them in May when they meet again. He also touched on how the Fed's past rate hikes have sort of forced the hand of investors and contributed to the crisis as well.
--:-- Joe LaVornia: One of the reasons for these runs is the fact banks have been losing deposits for the past year. We've had the biggest deposit outflow in the commercial banking system ever, at least using FDIC data back to 1984.
--:-- John Bickley: So you have to ask, well, why? Why is that happening? Well, that's because the Fed's been raising rates and people have been taking money out of the bank and they've been bringing it to other places where they can earn a higher return for virtually no risk.
--:-- Joe LaVornia: For example, a lot of government-based money market funds. And of course, the quantitative tightening and shrinking reserves.
--:-- John Bickley: Well, a lot of financial information to consider here. Cabot, thanks for joining.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire's senior editor, Cabot Phillips. Coming up, Walgreens faces backlash over their stance on abortion medications.
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--:-- John Bickley: Walgreens, the nation's second largest pharmacy, announced this month that it does not plan to dispense an abortion pill in some 20 states, sparking outrage from abortion activists and Democrats. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So the drug is mifepristone, which is the first drug taken in a medical abortion. Prior to COVID, women had to physically obtain it from a specially licensed provider or clinic because there were certain severe side effects that required some medical oversight.
--:-- John Bickley: Side note here, these abortion medications are widely used in the U.S. and make up more than half of all abortions, an estimated 54%.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: To back up a little here, during the lockdowns, the Biden administration's FDA moved to allow women to obtain the medication by mail. This was seen as a win for abortion advocates who generally favor the least restrictions possible.
--:-- John Bickley: Then in January, the Biden administration moved to relax the requirements for Mifepristone, saying that pharmacies could apply to become certified to dispense it, something abortion advocates also saw as a win.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: At that point, Walgreens announced they would be pursuing that certification. But logistically, it's complicated for nationwide pharmacy chains because the laws around abortion vary by state.
--:-- John Bickley: After the Dobbs ruling in June, several red states moved to impose limits on abortion, in some cases outlawing medical abortion altogether.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Okay, so Walgreens announced that they want to become certified to dispense this drug. So why are they now being boycotted by the governor of California and getting all this backlash?
--:-- John Bickley: Well after Walgreens announced they would pursue certification a group of red state AGs wrote a letter to Walgreens warning the pharmacy not to dispense in their states, citing various state laws.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: This ultimately led to Walgreens saying they would not be dispensing mifepristone in those 20 states, most of which have local laws prohibiting doing so. But the list also included four states where the drug is still technically legal, but where other local laws make the situation complicated.
--:-- John Bickley: For example, there are requirements for women to have in-person visits with the physician in order to get it prescribed. Basically, Walgreens said they would take a conservative approach here. It would not dispense the drug in states where the legality is murky.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Okay, so let's get to the political reaction. These same red state AGs wrote to all of the major pharmacy chains, but so far it's only been Walgreens that has responded publicly.
--:-- John Bickley: Tell us about the reaction.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, exactly. Pro-life groups seem to take Walgreens' latest announcement as a win for unborn babies and women and evidence of the movement's strength. They've said medical abortions over the last 20 years or so have killed millions of unborn babies and, according to FDA data, have been linked to thousands of adverse reactions, including some deaths of mothers.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, one of the most notable reactions from the other side of the issue was from, as you mentioned, California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: He announced on March 8th, which is International Women's Day, that California is pulling back its renewal of a multimillion-dollar contract with Walgreens and will examine other contracts with the company.
--:-- John Bickley: Now, I assume these same laws apply to other pharmacy chains like CVS, Rite Aid. Why is Walgreens' position so controversial here?
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Yeah, that's correct. The only difference is that Walgreens made a public announcement. For now, CVS and Rite Aid and other pharmacies are staying quiet about the matter, probably because they know they would face the same reputational risk from the left as Walgreens.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'll add that pro-lifers are not done with this fight. There's currently a lawsuit, Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine versus the FDA, that seeks to take mifepristone off the market nationally, arguing that the FDA ignored its own rules on safety when they fast-tracked the drug to the U.S. market.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Well, certainly a case to watch.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo. While most of America has moved on from COVID vaccine mandates, one set of institutions is stubbornly clinging to them, college campuses, some even requiring visiting parents to get the jab. Now a group of students, parents, and doctors have teamed up to fight back against what they say are needless vaccine and booster mandates at colleges such as Georgetown, Columbia, and Harvard.
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--:-- John Bickley: Now, here with more is columnist David Marcus.
--:-- David Marcus: So Dave, what is it that this group No College Mandates is asking for?
--:-- John Bickley: Ornan, I mean, it is what it sounds like. They want to get rid of vaccine mandates and even mask mandates, which apparently still exist at some colleges such as SUNY Purchase.
--:-- David Marcus: This comes at a time when state and federal governments and much of the private sector are somewhat sheepishly moving away from such mandates. It's a little like Homer Simpson backing into the bush. You know, like, we did this, it was a mistake, and now we're fixing it.
--:-- John Bickley: But colleges do seem to be the last bulwark here, and it's not clear if this is driven by science or supposed virtue.
--:-- David Marcus: Now, just last week, the Merchant Marine Academy finally lifted its vaccine mandate after a scathing letter from Republican Congressman Jim Banks. He claimed the mandate violated the school officials' oath to uphold the Constitution.
--:-- John Bickley: What was Banks' argument there?
--:-- David Marcus: Yeah, it's a strange situation because in January, the military academies, that's, you know, West Point, Annapolis, et cetera, they did away with the VAX mandates under the direction of the Department of Defense. But the Merchant Marine Academy is run by the Department of Transportation. Hello again, Pete Buttigieg.
--:-- John Bickley: Banks basically told them to get on board with the change and the academy relented So now it in line with the rest of the service academies What the rationale for colleges that maintain these mandates I mean it entirely unclear
--:-- David Marcus: By the summer of 2021 so that almost two years ago now even the Biden administration was admitting that vaccines don't stop people from contracting and spreading COVID. They do, according to current signs, dampen the potential severe effects of COVID. But even there, for college-aged individuals, COVID really tends to be a mild disease.
--:-- John Bickley: And we now know, in fact, we probably always knew that natural immunity comes from infection and is just as strong as the vaccines and boosters.
--:-- David Marcus: It really does seem like college administrators won't take the win here, much to the chagrin of these students and parents.
--:-- John Bickley: All this comes at a time when there are growing concerns about wokeness in college campuses and a fear that our institutions of higher education are failing.
--:-- David Marcus: We saw the incident at Stanford Law School in which a federal judge was heckled, not just by students, but actually by a DEI administrator. Is this all connected with that?
--:-- John Bickley: Arguably, it is.
--:-- David Marcus: Stanford apologized to Judge Duncan, not just for the students' behavior, but for that of the administrator who lectured him about allegedly causing harm to students by giving a speech.
--:-- John Bickley: And yes, there is a sense that universities have gone off the deep end, and vaccine mandates further that contention.
--:-- David Marcus: And it does come at a time when people are worried about the standards of education writ large.
--:-- John Bickley: Recently, a Harvard English professor stated that her students struggled to read and comprehend Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter.
--:-- David Marcus: Those of us who are old, we read that in ninth grade.
--:-- John Bickley: Right, but at least they're vaccinated.
--:-- David Marcus: Yes, right.
--:-- John Bickley: With colleges sounding the alarm over enrollment, I think they'd have more of a sense of urgency here.
--:-- David Marcus: Thanks for having me.
--:-- John Bickley: That was Daily Wire contributor David Marcus.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Another story we're tracking this week. President Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday that the White House says will keep guns out of the wrong hands and hold the gun industry accountable. The president announced his new action from Monterey Park, California, where a gunman killed 11 people in January.
--:-- Brandon: [Producer] Here with more is Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The order itself doesn't make any changes to the laws that are currently on the books. Instead, this order tries to make changes on the margins through tougher enforcement of current laws and better awareness of gun laws.
--:-- John Bickley: For example, part of the order directs the president's cabinet to improve public awareness of red flag laws, which can temporarily restrict someone's gun rights if they are deemed high risk.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Biden's order also directs his transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, to cut down on the number of guns stolen from the mail. According to the White House, more than 6,100 guns were stolen during shipping in 2022.
--:-- John Bickley: Here's President Biden speaking from Monterey Park, California on Wednesday.
--:-- [Audio clip of President Biden speaking]
--:-- John Bickley: That's all the time we've got this morning. Thanks for waking up with us. We'll be back this afternoon with more of the news you need to know.
