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Baltimore bridge collapse victim, father of three, was “fighting for us always,” wife tells WJZ
BALTIMORE – Four construction workers are still missing after a cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge Tuesday morning.
But crews paused the recovery mission because of the wreckage posing challenges.
WJZ’s Alexus Davila spoke exclusively with the wife of Jose Lopez, of one of the construction workers who remains missing.
Anxiety and pain haunt Isabel Franco every second that her husband is not in her arms.
Lopez was in a concrete mixer truck early Tuesday morning when a 985-foot cargo ship slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge.
Four and a half hours later, she got a devastating call from the construction company.
“I feel bad,” Franco said in Spanish. “Only God knows how hard my heart aches. Maybe he was desperate, trying to escape.”
Franco said a coworker told her that the crew was told to pack up for the day and move out early because of weather conditions.
Later that night, police gave her sheets of PowerPoint slides mapping an overview of the search strategy with aerial maps and images of helicopters deployed. However, the update was not in Spanish, so she didn’t understand.
She said no local, state or national political leaders have reached out to her.
Her friend, Lilly Ordoñez, helped translate to us how the language barrier makes her feel.
“She’s desperate. She feels bad. She doesn’t see anything. She doesn’t know anything and, yeah, she’s desperate,” Ordoñez said.
Franco said Lopez moved to the United States 19 years ago from Guatemala.
They have one child together but he was a loving father to all three of her children.
“They are sad,” Franco said. “They loved Jose.”
“He had a good heart,” she added. “He was a hard worker. He was always worried about his family too. He died but he was fighting for us always.”
She said Lopez was good friends with the other Guatemalan coworker Dorlian Cabrera, whose body was recovered Wednesday morning.
“I feel bad,” she said. “They were always together.”
But now with the recovery mission on hold to finish the salvage operation, Franco only wants one thing.
“I feel bad a little bit still because I want the body,” she said. “His family is desperate to see him too.”
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President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration starts off with mostly good will from the public: a majority of Americans overall are either happy or at least satisfied that he won and are either excited or optimistic about what he’ll do as president.
Trump’s handling of his presidential transition gets approval from most Americans overall and brings near-universal approval from his voters, along with a net-positive response about his selections for Cabinet posts, in particular, Sen. Marco Rubio, who is Trump’s pick to be secretary of state.
After inflation and the economy so dominated the election, Americans are more inclined to think his administration will bring down prices for food and groceries rather than raise them, and his voters overwhelmingly say that. Going into the election, his backers expected that, too.
In a similar vein, Trump’s election already has some Republicans’ views of the economy improving.
Overall, Republicans today are more excited about what Trump will do as president now than they were in 2016 when he was first elected.
Democrats say they feel more scared about what Trump might do than they did in 2016, and a large majority of Democrats think as president he will threaten their rights and freedoms. But at the same time, there seems to be a sense of exhaustion, as fewer than half of Democrats feel motivated to oppose Trump right now.
Americans, and Democrats specifically, do think the Biden administration should work with the incoming Trump administration to ensure a smooth transition, and that congressional Democrats should work with Donald Trump on issues where they find common ground.
Trump and the economy
After winning comes expectations. There’s a net optimism about the incoming administration’s effect on food and grocery prices, especially among Trump’s voters. That comes as most Americans continue to say prices are currently rising. And inflation was a big factor in Trump winning in the first place.
It may be no surprise then that among many potential items for the incoming administration, Americans say plans to lower prices ought to be the top priority.
The percentage of Republicans who call the U.S. economy good, while still low, has gone up, as the percentage who call it very bad has dropped. That pushes voters’ overall evaluation of the economy slightly higher than it’s been this year — and further spotlights how much partisanship, along with optimism, always plays into these evaluations.
Trump selections of Cabinet and agency chiefs for his administration
Trump’s current selections for agency heads and Cabinet picks get rated overwhelmingly as good choices from Trump’s voters, and are net-positive as selections among Americans who have heard enough about them to say. (Many have not heard enough yet.)
As a general rule, Americans want Trump to appoint people who’ll speak their minds and who have experience in the field or agency they’ll run. But in addition to those qualities, Republicans also want people who’ll be loyal to Trump.
A large majority of Republicans and Trump voters think Elon Musk should have at least some influence in the Trump administration. Americans overall are more split on that, largely along partisan lines.
Big majorities of Americans — and a slight majority of Republicans — would like to see the Senate hold hearings on his nominations, rather than let him make those appointments without it.
(Within self-identified Republicans, MAGA Republicans are relatively more inclined to say the Senate should skip the hearings.)
That sentiment holds whether or not people are told or reminded that the Constitution says the Senate should give advice and consent.
As a general matter, though, most of Trump’s voters and most Republicans do want Trump to have more presidential power this term than he did in his last. That sentiment is higher among Republican voters now than during the campaign.
Trump policies
On another economic front, Trump’s voters overwhelmingly favor the idea of tariffs: most of them don’t believe that will make prices higher. (For the third who believe tariffs will raise prices but support them anyhow, this is presumably a cost they’re willing to bear.)
For the public overall, opposition to tariffs goes hand in hand with the belief they’ll lead to higher prices.
As was the case with voters throughout the campaign, most Americans would, in principle, approve of a new mass deportation program.
If the Trump administration does start a mass deportation program, most of the public would have it carried out by law enforcement or current immigration agencies — most would not have the U.S. military do it.
Elections and democracy
The 2024 results have shifted Republicans’ views of U.S. democracy and also returned some confidence to their view of U.S. elections. Few Republicans suspect fraud in 2024. They overwhelmingly did about 2020.
Following Trump’s victory, there’s been an increase in the number of Republicans who say democracy and rule of law is secure, though most Americans continue to say it is not.
Looking ahead, there’s another shift along partisan lines. Throughout the campaign, Republicans said America’s best days were in its past, while Democrats felt they were in the future. These views are reversed now. After Trump’s win, most Republicans feel America’s best days are in its future.
This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,232 U.S. adults interviewed between November 19-22, 2024. The sample was weighted to be representative of adults nationwide according to gender, age, race, and education, based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as 2024 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.3 points.
