Crews cutting into first pieces of collapsed Baltimore bridge | The Excerpt

On Monday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: Demolition crews are cutting into the collapsed Baltimore bridge. USA TODAY National Correspondent Terry Collins discusses why many tech leaders aren't interested in politics. The CDC issues an alert about bacterial infections. USA TODAY Personal Finance Reporter Daniel de Visé tells the stories of several Americans who were forced to retire earlier than planned. N.C. State made a rare list over the weekend, joining a handful of schools that have sent both men's and women's teams to the Final Four in the same year.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, April 1st, 2024. This is The Excerpt. Today, the latest from Baltimore where demolition crews have begun cutting into the bridge. Plus, why do many tech leaders want no part of politics? And many Americans are retiring earlier than they planned.

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Demolition crews were cutting into parts of the Francis Scott Key Bridge's collapsed truss yesterday, while the enormous container ship remains trapped underneath the rubble. It's been nearly a week since the collision that killed six people and halted shipping traffic through one of the nation's most crucial ports. The Unified Command, including the Coast Guard and Maryland officials, said yesterday that two massive cranes were actively working on scene while another land-based crane was positioned to help offload and process the wreckage at a nearby industrial port. Three dive teams also were surveying submerged sections of the wreckage in the Patapsco River. The Unified Command is also coordinating with Baltimore Gas and Electric to reduce the pressure of the underwater natural gas pipeline, which spans the width of the channel. Four bridge workers remain missing and are presumed dead while two other victims were recovered from the site last week. According to Maryland Governor Wes Moore, in recent days, hazardous weather conditions and the collapsed wreckage have made it impossible for divers to continue recovery operations for the four remaining bodies.

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Despite the long shot run of an obscure Democratic presidential candidate, many tech leaders currently don't want any part of politics. I spoke with USA Today national correspondent Terry Collins, to find out why. Terry, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt today.

Terry Collins:

Thanks for having me, Taylor. I appreciate it.

Taylor Wilson:

So Terry, let's just start with this. Can you tell us about Jason Palmer and his run for office?

Terry Collins:

Jason Palmer, a tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, he's usually a very constant presence on the tech scene, but he's been spending his past several months traveling across the country listening to voters in his very obscure run for the presidency of the United States. He admits that being pummeled in state primaries, losing to the Democratic incumbent President Joe Biden and former long shot Democratic candidate Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota has humbled him a bit, but he doesn't regret it. But of course, he's made history by beating Biden in the Democratic primary for America and Samoa. It was a bright spot in his campaign. His goal was to try to help improve education, healthcare, climate change, and other solutions to the immigration crisis. The reason why Palmer wanted to run for office is that he saw a Republican presidential debate late last year, and he was so frustrated, he said he'd had enough.

So he talked to some friends, said, "Hey, do you think it'd be a wacky idea if I decided to run for President of the United States?" Well, of course they said, "No it wouldn't be." So he decided to run. He used half a million of his own toward his campaign, but in between realizing that he didn't have much of a chance as he called himself the longest of long shots to defeat Biden, he currently is now pivoting [inaudible 00:03:03] his campaign into this group called Together, which is part of a political action committee. And also will be working with other potential candidates to help them who might share his vision of wanting to have a more progressive America.

Taylor Wilson:

Terry, I'm curious how this toxic political climate discourages people maybe from the nonpolitical world, like tech leaders from getting involved. And also what are some of the other barriers preventing more people from the tech world, from being interested in politics?

Terry Collins:

Well, first they just frankly think the government moves too slow. They're used to working collaboratively and solving complex problems at a very quick pace, and they're used to succeeding and failing. And I just think that the government doesn't really allow much room for that. They move too slow, don't get a lot of things done in their estimation, that's kind of a consensus. And also with the way Congress is set up now, the way everything is so polarized politically and the dysfunction, it'd be hard to get anything done.

Taylor Wilson:

Is that why a lot of tech leaders say they would rather create policies, for example, than run for office?

Terry Collins:

Yeah, they'd rather help create some policies and be a part of any kind of advice. They just feel like they can do better, helping dispense input instead of being a part of, say, running for office.

Taylor Wilson:

On the other side of the coin, Terry, how do political leaders feel about the involvement or possible involvement of tech leaders?

Terry Collins:

Some would say that they're needed to whatever capacity. We could look at California Congressman Ro Khanna, whose district includes much of Silicon Valley. He said, "We need tech leaders to help our government function better, to help them weigh in on long-term strategies including immigration, national security, AI generated usage, technology regulation and privacy." Khanna said, "We need our best tech minds to help keep us ahead."

Taylor Wilson:

In terms of not knowing what is next here, Terry, did we hear from any tech leaders who might be considering a push into the political world or what's this conversation look like going forward?

Terry Collins:

I think it's always probably open. I think we see the actions of what Palmer did in his run for the presidency. Anything can happen. Just depends on who has the mindset to want to try it. And also the funding. Talked to Ben Chapman, who's the CEO of Vital Interaction, a software setup that specialized in patient healthcare. He said that he enjoys being an entrepreneur and running a tech company, but he also fantasize about what being in politics would be like. But he believes more in innovation versus regulation. He thinks that's the best way to make changes. Doesn't mean he's not paying attention to politics. He's watching very closely. You never know with a guy like him, and also similar thoughts ran across the mind of venture capitalist, Himalaya Rao-Potlapally, Rachel Wilson, and Pilar Concepcion Johnson and I talked to them. We were at South by Southwest. They said they might be interested later on down the line as they're building their careers and [inaudible 00:05:39] point of helping others. Maybe they want to help others politically. You never know.

Taylor Wilson:

And finally, Terry, how do Americans across the board feel about kind of some of the stuff we've been talking about? I know you cited a Pew Research Center survey earlier this month about how Americans feel about improving democracy.

Terry Collins:

Yeah, there was a global study that was conducted earlier in March asking what can improve democracy. Many respondents called for different types of people to enter the political arena, while others simply want their current politicians to perform better. I think that just says an awful lot about where we are today.

Taylor Wilson:

Terry Collins is a national correspondent with USA Today. Thanks, Terry.

Terry Collins:

Thanks Taylor.

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Taylor Wilson:

The CDC has issued an alert to healthcare providers about bacterial infections as the strain of the meningococcal disease begins to circulate within the US. The illness can have severe symptoms including death, and a serious infection commonly called meningitis can form in the lining of the brain, spinal cord, and bloodstream according to the CDC. In the alert, the CDC said that a variant of the bacteria that causes the illness has reported 140 cases this year so far. Though meningitis typically affects infants and young adults, this strand is targeting adults between the ages of 30 to 60 and people who are at a higher risk of getting this type of meningitis are African Americans or people with HIV.

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Many Americans are forced to retire far earlier than they planned. I spoke with USA Today personal finance reporter Daniel de Visé about some of their stories. Daniel, thanks for hopping on today.

Daniel de Visé:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So Daniel, I know we've had this conversation before, but just remind us what is the average retirement age and how does that compare with many Americans' expectations?

Daniel de Visé:

Yeah, it's younger than you think. 2 really respected surveys show that the average person retires at 62, and a lot of us think of 62 as being late middle age. It doesn't come across to most of us as old, but people expect to retire later than that, 67 according to the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies. So what that means is a lot of us are retiring earlier than we think we're going to.

Taylor Wilson:

And you spoke with several Americans about kind of their forced early retirement stories. Let's start with Randy Seacat. What did you hear from him?

Daniel de Visé:

Oh, yeah. He's out in the Pacific Northwest and he was working in IT for an Amazon subsidiary and a lot of people in tech, he reached a certain age, late 50s, and was targeted by his employer with a bunch of other people for I believe it was a layoff. And he'd been on the job market many times before and felt very adept at getting jobs. But because of his age, late 50s, he hit a wall and he just got nowhere. And he applied and he applied and he applied and no one would hire him and he couldn't believe it. And that's kind of a recurring story we hear.

Taylor Wilson:

And Deborah Scott-Nettles has been retired since age 44. Daniel, I'm guessing that was not her plan from the start.

Daniel de Visé:

No. And because she was 44, that's an age where a lot of us aren't even really thinking about retirement yet. I don't believe she was actively saving for it or anything. She just like Randy had had some different careers. She'd been a runway model and had been involved in commodities trading, all sorts. She's a very bright woman, but she had two really significant injuries, one from a fall and another from an attack. And this kind of gets into this second big area of uncertainty about retirement, which is if you have an illness or an injury or something, these things happen when you get older. And she wasn't ready for it and she wasn't ready to retire. And yet she never worked full time ever again.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah. Speaking of injuries and illnesses, you also spoke with Larry Zarzecki. This was a Maryland police officer who had a big health scare, really later in life. What can you tell us about his story?

Daniel de Visé:

Early onset Parkinson's, and I can't remember the exact age but he was not that old. I think he was in his 40s, and he was in the middle of what was going to be a 35-year career in law enforcement. We all know by reputation, those law enforcement careers, they have a sweet pension. And so if he'd been able to service 35 years, he wouldn't have wanted for anything. Real nice police pension. But the Parkinson's interrupted it right in the middle. I think he'd kept the illness kind of private, which I think you're entitled to do. But the illness announced itself, he kind of seized up on a stairway and fell and really badly injured himself. And so that was the end of that. And his career ended prematurely.

Taylor Wilson:

And finally, Virginia Crespo also had to retire earlier than she planned. What did you hear from her?

Daniel de Visé:

School teacher in the Annapolis region. And just like the last fellow we talked about, she had a good pension, was planning to teach several more years, and she too developed an illness. It was a fibromyalgia, it's a degenerative thing, and it caused her brain fog and pain and aches and misery. And so one day while she was teaching, she just decided I can't keep doing this. And so she too ended up putting in her notice well before she was expecting to.

Taylor Wilson:

And anytime you're on, Daniel, I always try to glean some advice out of you from the personal finance world. What can younger Americans learn about some of these, I guess, cautionary tales?

Daniel de Visé:

It's so hard to give advice in a generic term, but here's one thing I can say. And anybody in the financial planning industry would say this. Don't assume you get to decide when you retire. You can say, "I'm going to work till I'm 65, 68, 72, and that you're going to choose how you exit your career." But with all these people and with many other people, the decision gets taken out of your hands. So don't assume you get to decide when it happens.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Daniel de Visé covers personal finance for USA Today. Thank you, Daniel.

Daniel de Visé:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

It is hard enough to get one team to the Final Four, but how about two? North Carolina State's men's and women's basketball teams clenched a spot in the last four in March Madness over the weekend. 11 seed NC State upset in-state juggernaut 4 seed Duke yesterday. It's the program's first trip to the Final Four since winning it all in 1983. And the 3 seeded women's team upset one seat Texas to reach their first Final Four since 1998. Only a handful of schools have ever seen both teams make the final four in the same year. South Carolina was the last to do it in 2017, and they're back this year. The other two teams will be decided tonight. And on the men's side, the rest of the four include Yukon, Alabama, and Purdue. As always, you can follow March Madness with USA Today Sports' full coverage.

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And be extra careful today if you hear or see anything that seems a little wacky. It's April Fool's Day. Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your pods, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.