Boat Probe, Opening Day, and a Cadbury Raccoon

Bridge Collapse Investigation

Divers recovered the bodies of two migrant workers who were filling in potholes on Baltimore's Key Bridge Tuesday when it collapsed, with four others still missing. The two were found inside a truck 25 feet beneath the water's surface. The discovery came as federal investigators began piecing together a more detailed timeline of the incident after retrieving the Dali container ship's data recorder. 

Early analysis suggests the 100,000-ton freighter lost power—possibly due to clogged engine filters from tainted fuel—and drifted at roughly 9 miles per hour into the bridge's support column (watch expert analysis). The latest inspection of the ship in September identified no deficiencies, though a June check in Chile flagged issues with its propulsive machinery. In 2016, the vessel was repaired after hitting a wall in a Belgium port.

The timeline for reconstruction is unclear, and Maryland lawmakers announced legislation to provide income support to the port's 15,000 workers. 

Officials said police had 90 seconds to clear (w/video) the bridge of traffic after receiving a mayday signal from the ship.

Amazon's Bet on Anthropic

Yesterday, Amazon added $2.75B to its investment in Anthropic, bringing its total investment in the artificial intelligence startup to $4B. The news marks the biggest investment Amazon has made in another company since its founding and represents its latest effort to compete with Microsoft and Google on AI.

Anthropic—founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees—is the San Francisco-based company behind ChatGPT competitor Claude. Earlier this month, the company unveiled the latest iteration of its chatbot, Claude 3, which the company says can outperform GPT-4 on math and reasoning. As part of yesterday’s deal with Amazon, Anthropic has agreed to use special computer chips designed by Amazon. Anthropic will also provide special access to Claude 3 and other AI models to customers of Amazon’s $90B cloud computing business. 

Anthropic is led by two siblings who say they seek to create AI aligned with human values. See more on the founders here.

Opening Day '24

The 2024 Major League Baseball season gets underway today, with a number of marquee matchups highlighted by the defending champion Texas Rangers hosting the Chicago Cubs (7:35 ET, ESPN).

The games cap a particularly active offseason, which saw the already-formidable Los Angeles Dodgers spending more than $1B in free agency (their 2024 payroll is estimated at $304M). A large chunk of the spending went to superstar Shohei Ohtani, who is now embroiled in a gambling scandal involving his translator.  

Other storylines include whether the Rangers can build on last year's long-shot title run, manager Craig Counsell joining the Cubs from the Milwaukee Brewers, and whether the New York Yankees can bounce back from a disappointing 2023 campaign. In the background, the long-term fate of Diamond Sports—which airs games for 11 teams but recently declared bankruptcy—remains unclear.

The Dodgers enter as favorites to win the World Series, followed by the Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, and Yankees. See today's full schedule here.

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