0:00

It's Thursday, April 4th, and in a

0:02

place known for earthquakes, they hadn't seen

0:04

anything like this in a generation. We

0:07

start here. A

0:12

deadly earthquake rocks Taiwan. We

0:14

saw entire buildings collapsing. Rescue

0:16

workers are still examining buildings.

0:19

We'll get the latest. Farmers

0:21

had been worried about bird flu. Now

0:24

the nation's largest egg producer has to

0:26

shut down. It can be

0:28

highly contagious. It evolves rapidly. So should

0:30

you be worried for either your health

0:32

or your wallet? And world central kitchen

0:34

workers wouldn't have even been driving across

0:37

Gaza were it not for this. Israel

0:39

can't just get rid of a UN

0:41

agency. I mean, that would have to

0:43

come from many more member states. The

0:46

controversial dispute over food comes front and

0:48

center. From

0:51

ABC News, this is Start Here. I'm

0:53

Brad Milkey. The

1:00

scary thing about a natural disaster on an island

1:02

is there's no place to hide. If

1:04

something happens on one side of the

1:06

island, everyone feels the impact. Taiwan

1:09

sits right next to mainland China. It's

1:11

about 100 miles off the coast. The

1:14

island itself is about the size of

1:16

Maryland, and it's got quadruple the population.

1:18

Well, yesterday, Taiwan experienced its largest earthquake

1:20

in 25 years. At

1:22

least nine are dead, more than 900 people injured.

1:25

It just gives you a sense of how widespread the

1:27

damage was. ABC's foreign correspondent Marcus

1:30

Moore has been tracking it all. Marcus, first

1:32

off, what can you tell us about the earthquake?

1:35

Well, hey, Brad, this was really

1:37

a very powerful pair of earthquakes

1:39

that unfolded yesterday. Right

1:46

around rush hour, just a couple of minutes before

1:48

8 o'clock, and it shook

1:51

for quite some time, and the shaking was

1:53

felt across the entire island. So

1:55

that gives you some sense of

1:58

how significant this was. The

2:03

first quake was said to

2:05

be a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and had

2:07

a depth of about 21 miles, which

2:11

is actually considered a shallow earthquake.

2:13

And then the second one was a 6.5 and it had

2:15

a depth of about 7 miles. And

2:20

so that's one of the reasons

2:22

why we saw entire buildings

2:25

collapsing. We're

2:29

talking about a five-story building where the first floor

2:31

collapsed and then the building is left

2:34

tilted at 45 degrees. We've

2:38

seen videos of people running for

2:41

their lives really amidst the

2:43

shaking, running through the streets, trying

2:45

to find someplace where they felt safe.

2:48

And then there were a number of landslides

2:50

that came as a result of

2:52

the shaking. And at least three

2:55

tsunamis, including one that reached

2:57

the southern islands of Japan. There

2:59

was no damage there, but it

3:01

does speak to just the far-reaching

3:04

impacts of these earthquakes. What

3:06

does the rescue effort look like there? Well,

3:08

overnight there has been this

3:11

urgent rescue effort. People

3:15

have been trapped in these buildings and in

3:17

structures. And also

3:19

in other parts of the country, including a

3:22

pair of rock quarries, where

3:26

we've been following developments, where searches

3:28

have been trying to reach about 70

3:31

miners who were trapped after

3:34

the shaking. And then there are tourists, Brad,

3:36

who were reportedly visiting a

3:38

cave, a popular cave. And

3:42

crews were trying to reach them to determine if

3:44

they were safe and okay. So

3:46

it started, it felt like it was up

3:48

and down shaking in the beginning, and then

3:50

it started really shaking

3:53

side by side. There were a

3:55

number of tourists who were impacted. This happened

3:57

in the eastern part of Taiwan, not

3:59

as heavily popular. populated as other parts of

4:01

the country, but certainly a destination for a

4:03

number of tourists. The Huaxlien

4:06

area where the epicenter

4:08

was for the first quake is really

4:10

a quiet tourist destination, a

4:12

tourist town there. So it gives you a

4:14

sense of kind of how this earthquake really

4:17

shattered the peace and

4:19

the tranquility there. And

4:21

now we've watched this catastrophe unfold. And

4:24

this is a part of the world that

4:26

has seen many, many earthquakes in the past.

4:29

How did this compare with what Taiwan has

4:31

seen before, I guess? Yeah. Taiwan

4:34

sits on the ring of fire that we've

4:36

all learned about in school and

4:38

may have heard about from past

4:40

earthquakes. It's a very active part

4:43

of the world for seismic activity. Taiwan

4:46

sits there. And yeah, there have been very

4:48

strong earthquakes in the past in the

4:50

same area, including one in 1999 that,

4:53

as you recall, killed sadly more

4:55

than 2,000 people, up to 2,400 people. This

5:00

earthquake, as tragic and

5:02

as horrendous as it has been, resulting

5:05

in the deaths of at least nine

5:07

people and injury more than

5:09

1,000, we're not at this

5:11

point seeing a situation like what

5:13

we saw in 1999. And

5:15

I think that speaks to the improvements that

5:18

have been made in terms of the infrastructure

5:20

improvements throughout Taiwan and

5:23

the preparedness as well.

5:25

But in the same breath, when you

5:28

talk about the success that has been

5:30

made, authorities are still facing at this

5:32

hour a real challenge

5:35

in trying to clear roadways that have been blocked from

5:37

the landslides or that have split

5:39

open from the shaking. So

5:43

as much work as they have done to try

5:45

to protect lives and property

5:47

in Taiwan from earthquakes, these

5:50

are still very powerful things. And

5:53

we've watched it time and time

5:55

again when Mother Nature deals

5:57

a very hefty blow to various parts of the

5:59

world. And you mentioned the

6:01

part of the world. I mean, this island sits directly

6:03

on a fault line. That's actually why the western part

6:06

of the island has been hit so hard so many

6:08

times before. This one on the east side. Marcus Moore

6:10

reporting on all this. Thank you so much. Thank you

6:12

Brad, always good to be with you. Next

6:16

up on Starred here, is this more of the

6:18

same or is a new bout of bird flu

6:21

extra worrisome? What you need to know after the

6:23

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That's ZocDoc, zocdoc.com/start

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here. zocdoc.com slash start

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here. If

8:36

you went egg shopping for your Easter egg

8:38

hunt this past weekend, you may have noticed

8:40

you were paying a little bit more for

8:42

those sunny side up ingredients. Prices have been

8:44

rising for the last few months. Well, some

8:46

are worried that could all get worse soon

8:48

because of a new outbreak of bird flu.

8:51

Tonight, the CDC is closely tracking

8:53

bird flu across the country after

8:55

a confirmed case in a Texas

8:58

dairy farm worker. So over the last couple years,

9:00

this virus has infected 80 million

9:02

birds across the country, including

9:04

millions of laying hens. Now this

9:07

latest search has impacted the nation's

9:09

largest producer and distributor of fresh

9:11

eggs. It's called Cal main foods

9:13

and they said after detecting bird

9:15

flu in their Texas flocks, they

9:17

had to cull nearly two million

9:19

of their hens and shut down

9:21

operations. Sony Salzman from ABC's medical

9:23

unit is here. Sony, can

9:26

you put this in perspective for me? How big of a deal is

9:28

this? Brad, the reason that we

9:30

are talking about bird flu this

9:32

week is because bird flu has

9:34

been found in poultry farms and

9:36

egg producing facilities in Michigan and

9:38

Texas. And in that Texas

9:40

poultry farm that you mentioned, they are ceasing

9:42

operations to try to deal with this. And

9:45

That company, Cal Main, is

9:47

behind major brands like Farmhouse

9:49

Eggs, Land A Lakes, and

9:51

they've halted production in that

9:53

Texas plant, which is raising

9:55

alarms. Now Another big headline

9:58

here is that. Bird

10:00

Flu had not just been found in

10:02

birds. We've known that bird flu circulates

10:04

in birds. It's quiet why it's called

10:06

bird flu or avian Flu. but what

10:08

we're seeing now is that Eleven title

10:10

hurt. So how. Have. Also

10:13

been found with the virus

10:15

and this week. A

10:17

man in Texas who was in close

10:19

contact with one of those heard he

10:21

also was infected with bird flu. So

10:24

now you're talking not just about birds

10:26

bird flu circulating in birds, but you're

10:28

also talking about birds in two other

10:31

species which is title and humans. It.

10:33

When you say humans, I mean what? What?

10:35

Is the seems like a basic was what is

10:37

build from a different from the regular flu Like

10:40

what I mean to how dangerous is it. Yeah.

10:42

That's a really good question. So

10:44

bird flu is a strain of

10:46

flu. It's in the same family

10:48

influenza, you know, Every year we

10:51

have cold and flu season and

10:53

are human population rape. Brad and

10:55

bird flu is a similar saying.

10:57

It circulates widely in poultry populations

10:59

in wild birds, so you know

11:01

it can be highly contagious. And

11:03

there have been some instances of

11:06

people getting infected with bird flu

11:08

that typically it's people who work

11:10

with poultry, work with animals, and.

11:12

It doesn't spread amongst human populations

11:14

but what I will lay by.

11:16

Human to human doesn't happen, but bird to

11:18

human has happened before. Exactly And what

11:20

I will say is that is human

11:22

to human were to be happening. That

11:24

is something that the public health establishment

11:27

would be taken very seriously and I

11:29

will say they're taking this very seriously.

11:31

This is the first time we're seeing

11:33

it in Cattle On and the fact

11:35

that it's spread to one human case

11:37

is certainly making us want to take

11:39

this very seriously. The Cdc Director Mandy

11:41

Cohen is coming out this week and

11:43

saying you know this is right now

11:45

The risk to the public is low,

11:47

but they are on top of. This,

11:50

they are monitoring this CDC and

11:52

partners on the ground on are

11:54

working hard to make sure we're

11:57

understanding the situation. Working to

11:59

keep. risk level low to make

12:01

sure that there's no further spread and nothing

12:03

to be concerned about when it comes to

12:05

our human health. Well, and so then

12:07

when we look at the viral risks, when we

12:09

look at the economic risks of culling this many

12:11

birds and telling farmers to keep an eye on

12:13

this, how do authorities decide then when it's okay

12:15

to resume operations at these poultry plants? Like when

12:17

do you give the green light? Yeah,

12:19

so authorities are going to be

12:21

monitoring very carefully to make sure

12:24

that animals in those flocks are

12:26

not infected and they

12:28

will make a call about when those

12:30

facilities can come back online if

12:33

their animals are clear. But I want to be

12:35

clear this is not a one-and-done thing. Right

12:37

now birds are migrating. You know how

12:39

I mentioned this is in wild birds?

12:41

So birds are migrating, they're flocking, right?

12:43

And so what that means is that

12:45

they are flying over chicken farms and

12:48

poultry farms in the US and they

12:50

leave their droppings and you have to

12:52

consistently monitor this. So this is not

12:54

something that public health swoops in to

12:56

look at all of a sudden. They

12:58

have a lot of experience working with

13:00

this bird flu and in fact it's

13:02

something that Mandy Cohen, the CDC director,

13:04

told us is that you know

13:07

that's something that makes her feel confident is

13:09

the level of experience that they have working

13:11

with this. So it's different than for example

13:13

where we were with COVID where it was

13:15

a brand new virus where we had never

13:18

seen that before. We've seen this virus before,

13:20

we've seen it in poultry before. So you

13:22

know there's a lot of considerations here. What

13:24

I think for everyday Americans it's going to

13:26

be how scared should I be

13:29

for my human health? Right now CDC

13:31

director Mandy Cohen says risk to the

13:33

public is low and then what is

13:35

the impact going to be on the economy

13:37

potentially? What is the impact going to be of

13:39

all these poultry flocks having to be cold? And

13:43

that's a question where time is really going

13:46

to tell. Our colleagues have been speaking to

13:48

economists who say that in the near term

13:50

this is not expected to impact for

13:52

example egg prices but it's something that we'll

13:55

have to kind of watch and see how

13:57

these outbreaks unfold in these animal populations. And

14:00

I guess important to note then that the CDC basically says no

14:03

infected animals are making it to market

14:05

in any case This virus would

14:07

be cooked out of your meat so good reminder

14:09

to cook your poultry cook your beef to proper

14:11

temperatures Sony Salzman really useful. Thank you so much.

14:14

Yeah. Thank you, Brad The

14:20

war in Gaza has already claimed the lives of 30,000

14:24

Palestinians more than a thousand Israelis in

14:26

terms of numbers You might not think

14:28

seven aid workers would necessarily tip the

14:31

scales But the Israeli airstrike

14:33

that killed these workers from World Central

14:35

Kitchen has become a flashpoint not just

14:37

between Israel and Gaza But

14:39

between Israel and the rest of the world, but

14:41

I know is that we were targeted deliberately

14:44

chef Jose Andres who in recent

14:46

years has gone from a restaurant

14:49

owner to charity Superpower described

14:51

to Reuters the anger he felt about

14:53

his workers being effectively Targeted whether accidental

14:55

or not by the government that was

14:57

supposed to be escorting them around Gaza

14:59

He's not a war against the

15:02

rich him anymore Seems is

15:04

this a war against humanity itself That

15:06

sentiment is being echoed not just by fellow

15:09

chefs But by government officials in several countries

15:11

and part of what has all made this

15:13

so Desperate is that Gaza's

15:15

other main source of food aid the

15:17

group that's been there for decades has

15:19

effectively been deemed Illegal by

15:21

Israel the Israelis won't work with them the

15:24

world central kitchen was supposed to step in

15:26

as a stopgap Well,

15:28

this disaster has led to renewed calls

15:30

asking why is Israel in a position

15:32

to decide which aid organizations distribute

15:34

food in Gaza anyway Even

15:37

before the catastrophe ABC's foreign correspondent Tom Sufi

15:39

birds has been reporting this out He joins

15:41

us now Tom first of all, can you

15:43

just give us a sense of how bad

15:46

the food situation has become in Gaza leading

15:48

up to? us yeah, Brad aid agencies say

15:50

that the situation is critical that the level

15:52

of Malnourishment amongst the population

15:54

in Gaza and in particular in northern

15:57

Gaza is chronic We're

16:01

not officially into a famine, but the

16:03

UN is warning that we will hit

16:05

a famine in Gaza within the next

16:07

few weeks. Children are dying

16:10

from the combined effects of

16:12

malnutrition and this is a

16:14

lack of adequate water and

16:16

sanitation. Probably the biggest

16:19

issue is not actually getting food

16:21

aid into Gaza, it's actually distributing

16:23

food aid around the strip. The

16:27

UN agency on the ground, UNRWA,

16:30

the United Nations Relief and Works

16:32

Agency, has been like a government

16:35

in Gaza and other parts of the Middle East,

16:37

crucial in the distribution of aid

16:40

throughout this war. But the

16:42

thing is though, UNRWA's very

16:44

existence now is in question.

16:46

Tell me more about UNRWA, because I think

16:49

most Americans are not familiar with the acronym,

16:51

but United Nations, you know what the UN

16:53

stands for, and yet this has become an

16:55

incredibly divisive group inside and outside Israel. Yeah,

16:57

it was set up in 1949, so basically

17:00

when the state of Israel came into being, it

17:05

has been providing education, healthcare,

17:07

other basic services like collecting

17:09

the trash in

17:11

Gaza, in the West Bank, even

17:13

in parts of Jordan, Syria and

17:16

Lebanon. And UNRWA is huge, UNRWA

17:18

is the largest UN agency, we have 33,000 area

17:20

staff. We

17:23

talked to Adam Balucas, he's from New

17:25

York, and he's a director at UNRWA.

17:27

We're probably in the most politically complex

17:29

environment, but we're apolitical as an agency,

17:32

we don't have a political mandate. The

17:35

US has paused funding to the UN

17:37

agency that is actually providing aid to

17:39

the Palestinians after the stunning allegation. In

17:41

the weeks after the October 7 terror

17:43

attack in southern Israel, it

17:46

emerged that 16 members of

17:49

UNRWA, employees, are

17:52

alleged to have participated, according to

17:54

Israel, in the attack. The

17:56

five-page intelligence report accuses some of the

17:58

UN workers of kidnapping. while placing

18:00

others in the scene of massacres and at least

18:03

one move weapons for Hamas. The Israelis

18:05

have released some audio recordings, backing up

18:07

some of their claims. There

18:09

is also a video which

18:12

allegedly shows an UNRWA

18:14

employee helping to move

18:17

the body of a dead Israeli

18:19

man, a young man called Jonathan

18:21

Sammarano, moving his lifeless body

18:24

on October the 7th into

18:26

allegedly an UNRWA vehicle. It

18:30

smells of your son. Yes. Mm. Why

18:32

was he having this costume, Harry? I have to

18:34

touch it. Four points. Right. We

18:37

spoke to the mother of Jonathan

18:39

Sammarano, Eilat. Whenever he went,

18:41

people wanted to be with him, to

18:43

be next to him. It

18:46

was like a magnet of people.

18:49

Now UNRWA says it can't verify that

18:51

video, but it is urging the Israelis

18:53

to pass all evidence they have to

18:56

the UN investigation. I'm not a

19:00

politician or I'm not

19:02

an investigator. I

19:04

just know what's happened with my son. And

19:08

I know that the

19:10

one that took my son is UNRWA.

19:13

We're OK. That seems

19:15

serious. People are saying that these workers

19:18

were involved in terror attacks,

19:20

the biggest terror attack Israel's ever seen.

19:22

Is that true? UNRWA does

19:24

not deny the severity of

19:26

those allegations. He quite

19:28

clearly says this is a major

19:31

issue. We have to look into

19:33

it. A thorough, independent investigation by

19:35

the UN's watchdog has to clear

19:37

this up. Now, we all agree

19:39

that the actions on the 7th of October

19:41

were horrible. I mean, listen to Adam Balucas.

19:43

He's a director at UNRWA. So the first

19:45

thing that the commissioner general did after discussing

19:48

with the secretary general in New York and

19:50

then with key donors, including

19:53

those in Washington, he

19:55

terminated the employment of those individuals.

19:58

The Israeli government has said... Those

20:00

allegations against those individuals, those 16

20:03

individuals, is proof

20:05

in the Israeli government's mind that

20:08

there's a wider problem. What

20:12

the Israeli military have also published

20:14

are videos which they say show

20:17

UNRWA food supplies discovered

20:19

in Hamas tunnels throughout the course of the

20:22

war. In

20:24

one video, the Israeli military show weaponry

20:27

coming out of an UNRWA sack.

20:29

Now, UNRWA's response to the food

20:31

supplies is that they haven't ever

20:33

supplied food to Hamas. And they

20:35

say that these sacks are pretty

20:37

commonplace, and they say they are

20:40

reused by people and used to store other

20:42

things. Who in their right mind

20:44

would let this organization continue

20:46

dealing with humanitarian aid? We spoke

20:49

to Ophir Falk, he's an advisor

20:51

to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

20:53

Anybody who truly wants a prospect

20:55

for peace must understand that Hamas

20:58

must be destroyed. UNRWA

21:00

must be dissolved and our hostages

21:02

must be freed. And the Israeli government

21:04

has been saying this before October the

21:07

7th, but it's really now pushing this

21:09

argument for the dissolution of UNRWA. So

21:12

it makes me wonder though then, Tom,

21:14

is to what Israel sees as the

21:16

future of food aid in Gaza, whether

21:18

it's through this war or even after

21:20

this war. If Israel's saying

21:22

the main group that's been providing food

21:24

and services for decades isn't good enough,

21:26

what is good enough for them? Well,

21:28

this is why it matters so much,

21:30

right? I mean, aid agencies are warning

21:32

of this looming famine. Other

21:34

NGOs that we've spoken to say that UNRWA

21:37

for us was vital, like

21:39

we got data about the broad

21:41

humanitarian picture on the ground from them. They

21:43

employ 13,000 people in Gaza. I

21:46

mean, we are talking about a

21:48

massive agency. Dr. Teh Ahmed from

21:51

MedGlobal, the American NGO, says you

21:53

just can't cut UNRWA out of

21:55

the process. There is not a

21:57

single agency on the ground in

21:59

the... Gaza Strip right now that can replace

22:01

what UNRWA is doing. No one,

22:04

not even all of the NGOs combined came

22:06

together, would be able to replicate what they're

22:08

doing on the ground. Yes, Israel is calling

22:10

for UNRWA to be disbanded, but

22:13

it won't come down to Israel's decision. I mean,

22:15

this, you know, Israel can't

22:17

just get rid of a UN agency. I mean,

22:20

that would have to come from many more member

22:22

states. What

22:24

the Israelis have managed to do is spark

22:27

a debate in Washington. Many Republicans,

22:29

some Democrats even pushing for the

22:31

end of UNRWA. And

22:33

now Congress has effectively blocked any more

22:35

US money for UNRWA for at least

22:38

a year. How critical financially are things

22:40

now? It looks like we have funding

22:42

through the end of April. And

22:44

that's very, very tight. And that really

22:47

matters because previously American money

22:49

was about 30 to 40 percent of

22:52

UNRWA's entire budget. Right. And

22:54

some of these allies apparently are resuming their payments, but

22:56

the US is not. And the entire reason

22:58

these other groups like World Central Kitchen, the

23:00

entire reason those workers were out there is

23:03

because Israel said we're not going to work

23:05

with the folks at UNRWA anymore. And now

23:07

we're seeing the implications within days of some

23:09

of these funding decisions. Tom Sufi-Burds. Thank you

23:11

so much. Thanks, Brett. Okay,

23:16

one more quick break. When we come back,

23:18

as if a marathon wasn't taxing enough, one

23:20

last thing is next. With

23:23

daylight saving time upon us, we're looking forward

23:26

to more daylight and long longer days from

23:28

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23:30

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23:32

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to hire. And

24:24

one last thing. The streets can

24:26

be rough. The streets can be

24:28

dangerous. But recently, the streets are

24:30

getting expensive. Yesterday

24:35

we learned that New York officials are

24:37

telling the famed New York City Marathon

24:39

that it wants more money. Specifically, they're

24:41

saying they want three-quarters of a million

24:43

dollars, kind of a marathon tax, in

24:46

return for the marathon shutting down a

24:48

huge toll bridge. Every year, instead of

24:50

being filled by cars, the Verrazano Narrows

24:52

Bridge, which goes from Staten Island to

24:54

Brooklyn, is instead filled with 50,000 runners.

25:01

That means the Transit Authority can't collect its

25:04

usual tolls, which range from seven to eleven

25:06

bucks. And you think that sounds a little

25:08

petty. Well, drivers certainly aren't in the mood

25:10

to be charitable. The MTA board

25:13

today officially approved New York's congestion

25:15

pricing plan. Earlier this week,

25:17

the Transit Authority gave its final

25:19

sign-off to the nation's first congestion

25:21

pricing plan. Yes. The plan

25:23

faces legal challenges. Five lawsuits, to

25:26

be exact. But most drivers should

25:28

brace themselves for a $15 toll

25:30

when entering Manhattan below 60th Street.

25:34

Soon, every car will be charged $15 for

25:36

the privilege of traveling through lower Manhattan. Like

25:39

you go on the street, your license plate

25:41

gets recorded, a bill for 15 bucks shows

25:43

up in the mail. This has been used

25:46

in cities like London before. The idea is

25:48

that drivers will think twice about crowding city

25:50

streets. And if they do, that money can

25:52

then be used to make other modes of

25:55

travel even better. Of course, drivers hate this.

25:57

They're already charged a ton for parking. traffic

26:00

jams and now they feel like they're

26:02

being punished for driving their cars at

26:04

all. New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer said

26:06

buckle up for the lawsuit and the

26:08

public outrage because no one messes with

26:10

Jersey. Which brings us back to the

26:12

marathon because this new plan would basically

26:14

be congestion pricing for runners. The city's

26:17

saying we're charging cars for clogging our

26:19

streets, why do you guys get to

26:21

shut down a road for free? They've

26:23

made similar demands now of a popular

26:25

bike ride across that same bridge. Urban

26:28

transit activists though say city officials are

26:30

talking out of both sides of their

26:32

mouth here because last year the city

26:34

thanked the marathon for encouraging tens of

26:37

thousands of people to take the subway

26:39

home, bringing in desperately needed subway fares.

26:41

Ridership has been down most days so

26:43

why doesn't that revenue factor into the

26:46

cost? Also they say 750,000 dollars really?

26:48

Is that how much toll money the

26:50

bridge makes on one Sunday morning? If

26:54

you're running put your name

26:57

on your shirt! Mike!

26:59

Mike! On

27:03

the other hand the marathon could almost

27:05

certainly foot the bill for something like

27:07

this by charging runners more. Despite costing

27:09

315 dollars per entry

27:11

this event sells out every year. There

27:13

are huge waiting lists. In fact by

27:15

the rules of congestion pricing it makes

27:17

perfect sense to charge as much as

27:19

you can and use the profits to

27:21

better the roads. But at the end

27:23

of the day this also might just

27:25

be a question of what you want

27:28

to see in your local streets. Which

27:30

behavior do you reward and which do

27:32

you economically punish? If the point of

27:34

congestion pricing is to make drivers go, ah maybe this

27:36

isn't worth it, is our goal

27:38

also to make joggers use that same

27:40

logic? Like which brings more joy to

27:42

the city? A daily rush hour or

27:45

a marathon? In other words do we

27:47

see every road as a toll road

27:49

and demand everyone should give it a

27:51

run for its money? Apparently they gave

27:53

the marathon the option to just use the lower

27:55

deck of the bridge and the marathon folks were like

27:57

okay but it'll take twice as long to clear everyone.

28:00

off the bridge, you won't have those pretty helicopter shots

28:02

of everyone smiling and waving. But if that's what

28:04

you want, if you don't want that good publicity, be

28:06

my guest. The city then said, actually, let's talk this

28:08

out. I'm sure we can figure out something. Hey,

28:11

something super cool. We at Start here

28:13

have been nominated for a Webby Award,

28:15

which celebrates the best stuff on the

28:18

internet. Specifically, a segment from last year

28:20

about microplastics in the Great Lakes has

28:22

been nominated for Best Science and Education

28:24

Podcasting. We are super psyched about it.

28:27

And there's an audience vote element to

28:29

all this. So we are humbly asking

28:31

for your vote sometime over the next week. Just

28:33

for a minute, we will be putting the link

28:35

to the Webbies in our show notes. If you

28:37

haven't voted for them before, you do got to

28:39

set up an account. But I swear it's actually

28:41

quite painless. You just stick in an email and

28:43

a password. This link that we're putting in our

28:45

show notes takes you right there. And we would

28:47

really appreciate it. I'm Brad Nooki. See you tomorrow.

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