Three Things for April 13
1. Mass shooting on New York City subway leaves many injured
On Tuesday morning, a gunman released two smoke grenades before opening fire on a northbound N train in Brooklyn, New York City.
By Tuesday evening, the New York City Police Department identified Frank James as the person of interest and have asked the public for help in locating him.
According to The New York Times, the official injury count is up to 23 people, 10 of whom have suffered gunshot wounds.
Although the attack took place early in the morning, many commuters were terrified to travel on the subway following the shooting. One such person is Hagar Hassan, 20, an electrical engineering student at the College of Staten Island. She was traveling home after finishing work on Tuesday afternoon, just hours after the attack.
“It was terrifying to be on the train. I thought: Maybe he’s here,” Hassan said, according to the New York Times.
For more information, read this article by AP News.
2. Sri Lanka to suspend foreign debt payments
On Tuesday, Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe of the Sri Lanka Central Bank announced the country will be suspending payments on its foreign debt.
According to AP News, this is due to the decrease in foreign reserves necessary to fund essential imports such as fuel.
“It has come to a point that making debt payments are challenging and impossible. The best action that can be taken is to restructure debt and avoid a hard default,” said Weerasinghe.
Sri Lanka is set to discuss a new loan program with International Monetary Fund next week. The new program will aid the country which continues to suffer from prolonged power cuts and food shortages.
“This will be on a temporary basis until we come to an agreement with creditors and with the support of a programme with the IMF,” said Weerasinghe.
Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves currently stand at $1.93 billion, with roughly $4 billion in debt payments due, according to Reuters.
3. Federal regulators to hold hearing regarding lack of freight trains
Later this month, federal regulators will hold hearings to address the concerns of farmers who have been unable to sell products due to a lack of freight trains.
According to AP News, the flour mills have also been affected as they are unable to receive the necessary products to produce flour.
Railroad companies attribute these problems to broader supply-chain issues and labor shortages.
“Railroads are not immune to challenges felt throughout the economy,” said Ted Greener, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads trade group. “Railroads continue to take active measures to address these challenges, including labor shortages.”
Regulators and labor groups believe the complications result from the decision to eliminate nearly one-third of their workforce in the name of efficiency.
“The cuts were too severe. Now there’s no buffer capacity to respond to increases in demand or problems in weather or train derailments and things like that. That buffer capacity that used to be in place is no longer there,” said Max Fisher, chief economist for the National Grain and Feed Association.
Union Pacific and other major railroad companies claim they are trying to combat the issues by hiring more employees and asking customers to cut the number of carloads they are shipping.
