Tornadoes leave 26 dead, Biden proposes organ transplant system overhaul: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Tornadoes leave 26 dead

Dozens are dead after tornadoes tore through Mississippi. Plus, U.S. lawmakers plan a series of measures to hold Russia accountable for alleged war crimes, USA TODAY Politics Reporter Ella Lee looks at a controversial judicial reform proposal in Israel, the Biden administration pushes for changes to the U.S. organ transplant system, and USA TODAY Economic Opportunity Reporter Charisse Jones talks about the double standard some feel after the abrupt response to failing U.S. banks.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. 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.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 27th of March 2023. Today, the Mississippi Delta looks to rebuild after devastating tornadoes. Plus, US lawmakers prepare hearings on alleged Russian war crimes, and we look at the latest in Israel amid a controversial proposal for judicial reform.

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Severe weather slammed the South yesterday, two days after tornadoes tore through parts of Mississippi killing at least two dozen. Search and rescue teams worked yesterday through the rubble left by the tornadoes. Houses were torn from foundations, trees were stripped of branches, and cars were flipped over like toys. Isel Williams survived with his life, but not much else.

Isel Williams:

It's just overwhelming. But what you do with the devastation? What you do with all of this...[sobs].

Taylor Wilson:

President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi yesterday making federal funds available for a number of counties, and Pope Francis offered a special prayer.

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US lawmakers are planning a full court press to hold Russia accountable for its accused war crimes in Ukraine. A pair of House and Senate committees will hold hearings in mid-April to bring attention to atrocities like the civilian massacres in Bucha and Mariupol. The US is currently working to help Ukraine investigate and prosecute. House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman, Republican Michael McCall, plans to have the Ukrainian prosecutor general and victims of war crimes appear before the panel on April 19th. And Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco will testify at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing the same day about the work the justice department's war crimes and asset forfeiture teams are doing.

Several lawmakers are also pushing for a special international tribunal where individual Russian leaders could be held criminally responsible for waging an unprovoked war against a sovereign country. Systemic war crimes have also been well documented in Ukraine, including the bombing of civilian infrastructure, the forced deportation of minors and raping of women and children.

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The Biden administration weighed in last night on the state of democracy in Israel. National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said US officials were deeply concerned after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu abruptly ousted an opponent of his controversial judicial reforms. I spoke with USA TODAY Politics Reporter Ella Lee to learn more about the proposed reforms and how things got to this point. Ella, thanks for coming on 5 Things.

Ella Lee:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So what's being proposed in this potential overhaul of Israel's judicial system?

Ella Lee:

So in January, Israel's justice minister unveiled a plan that would essentially overhaul the country's judicial system. The changes would allow the Knesset, which is Israel's parliament, to override Supreme Court decisions with a simple majority and also give politicians a greater role in the appointment of Supreme Court judges.

Taylor Wilson:

And who would be most negatively affected by this legislation?

Ella Lee:

According to the experts I spoke with, any group that doesn't align with Israel's far right coalition could be negatively affected by the legislation. They said that Palestinians living in the West Bank, in particular, would almost certainly be affected as those changes would likely lead to a significant increase in Jewish settlements in that area. And then also members of the LGBTQ community could be negatively affected as Israel's Supreme Court has made several landmark rulings on LGBTQ issues in recent years.

Taylor Wilson:

And what do advocates and defenders of these changes say?

Ella Lee:

So Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition of far right lawmakers are in favor of those changes. Netanyahu has essentially argued that the judicial reforms are necessary to strengthen Israel's democracy and bring balance back to their branches of government, suggesting that the courts have basically been engaging in improper activism.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned Netanyahu. He faces a slew of corruption charges in Israel. How would these legislative changes personally benefit him?

Ella Lee:

So firstly, he needs to keep his coalition united and they are in support of these changes. And secondly, the corruption charges that he faces, which are for fraud, breach of trust, accepting bribes, they would essentially disappear if the changes were enacted. And so it's pretty much a win-win for him.

Taylor Wilson:

Ella, the US is Israel's largest financial supporter in the world. So what are US leaders saying about this proposal?

Ella Lee:

Most high ranking US officials have stopped short of condemning the legislation, but they have raised concerns. President Biden called on Israel to reach a consensus on the issue while the US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, said that he had told Netanyahu repeatedly to "pump the breaks on the judicial overhaul."

Taylor Wilson:

Ella, can you tell me a little about the protests in Israel in recent months? Based on your reporting and who you're talking to, could these protests spur a reversal to these changes?

Ella Lee:

It's not looking likely. The protests started in January after the reforms were announced and they've only grown since then. One of the experts that I spoke with said that it's the most massive protest movement that Israel has ever seen. However, earlier this month, the bill was advanced in Israel's parliament. And on Thursday, Netanyahu said that he would not suspend the judicial overhaul plan despite the mass protests calling for him to. Again, the experts that I spoke with said that it's pretty hard to see a scenario where this legislation does not get passed and that will likely come with more protests. But beyond that, it's pretty much impossible to predict what happens for Israel's democracy and beyond.

Taylor Wilson:

Ella Lee covers politics for USA TODAY. Thanks, Ella.

Ella Lee:

Thanks.

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Taylor Wilson:

About 20 people die every day in the United States waiting for an organ transplant. Patients sometimes wait years for a match and many others never even get placed on the wait list. The system also disproportionately harms patients of color. According to a Senate Finance Committee report, people of color make up 60% of the wait list, but only about 35% of all donated organs are from non-white patients. Organs are not matched based on ethnicity, but organs from donors of similar ethnic backgrounds are more likely to be a medical match for a patient. A white person on the wait list has about a 50% chance of getting a transplant each year while a black person on the list has a 25% chance. The Biden administration announced plans this past week to overhaul the network that runs the transplant system, including calls to double funding for transplant oversight. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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The fate of the Biden Administration's student debt relief package is in the hands of the Supreme Court and a decision might still be months away. Meanwhile, a pair of US banks got quick relief earlier this month. That's led some to wonder why there's a double standard. USA TODAY Economic Opportunity Reporter Charisse Jones explains. Hi Charisse. Thanks for hopping on the podcast.

Charisse Jones:

No worries. Glad to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So can you start by giving us just a quick recap of what's happened to banks this month and how the government has responded?

Charisse Jones:

Yeah. So in about mid-March, maybe a little bit earlier than that, Silicon Valley Bank, which really caters to the tech industry, it basically had a bank run. The bank officials had been investing a lot of money into bonds which have fallen in value as the Fed has increasingly raised interest rates to curb inflation. And at a certain point, they began to say that they didn't quite have the liquidity that they needed to back up the withdrawals that were happening because obviously tech companies have been struggling a bit. So more and more of the depositors began to show up to take out their money and that amounted again to a bank run. And so you began to have a domino effect. The next to fall was Signature Bank in New York, which tends to cater to the cryptocurrency industry. So federal officials, seeing this happening, got worried that there could be contagion, which basically means that folks at other regional banks would follow suit and it could throw the entire banking system into a tailspin.

So they stepped in, they took over both of those institutions and they took what was basically an extraordinary step. And they decided that they were going to guarantee not only deposits that were $250,000 in under, which is what the FDIC typically ensures, but all of the deposits, including those that were over a quarter of a million dollars. And so things have stabilized at this point, but it caused a lot of concern and rattled a lot of nerves.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, absolutely. So this relief that banks got earlier this month has led some to wonder about why there's this double standard while millions are hoping for similar help on their student loans. What do advocates criticize about this?

Charisse Jones:

Yeah, I mean people are seeing ... I mean, obviously it's not apples to apples. There are some differences. I mean, if banks begin to collapse, that's the economic engine of the country. It can have huge ramifications at very quick speed. But many folks say that it's also an emergency when you have 40 million Americans who have student loan debt. Student loan debt amounts to about $1.2 trillion, meaning that you have a lot of people who are never going to be able to pay off their loans because of the interest that comes with it. And that means that there are fewer people that can buy a home. You already have many young people who are not starting families because they say that they can't afford to do it, they don't have an emergency fund, they can't save for retirement. You have people in retirement who are saying that they're still getting wages garnished to pay back student loan debt.

And so it's an emergency even though it's more of a slow moving crisis. And they wonder why is one group of taxpayers who tend to be folks who are wealthier in the tech industry, et cetera, who give big donations to Congress and other officials, why are they getting relief within a few days for actions that people could say were reckless? You shouldn't have more than a quarter million dollars in an account when that's not insured. While folks who were just trying to invest in bettering themselves, trying to get a higher education, don't get the same kind of relief when they need that kind of support.

Taylor Wilson:

And how about other financial burdens, issues like healthcare and housing? Do they get the same type of response from the government?

Charisse Jones:

No, they don't. And that's been pointed out as well. A lot of ordinary Americans who are struggling with massive debt because they got sick, which is just a matter of being human, or they try to better themselves and buy a home or get an education, don't get shown the same kind of economic grace as people who own corporations, or wealthy investors who, again, have a lot of means that they can even have more than $250,000 in an account, though they should have known that that was not something that would be covered. And so there's a concern again that the folks that are wealthy, that are powerful, that have the ear of other wealthy, powerful people are the ones that get the breaks and ordinary Americans are just left to struggle.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. USA TODAY Economic Opportunity Reporter Charisse Jones with some great insight and perspective for us. Thanks so much, Charisse.

Charisse Jones:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here wherever you get your podcasts. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tornado fatalities in MS, organ transplant overhaul: 5 Things podcast