- Well, welcome to the 700 Club.
For today's top headlines, let's go over
to the CBN news desk.
- Gordon, an early springsnowstorm is hitting millions
of Americans in parts of the Midwest.
Multiple accidents have been reported
with some roads impassableand thousands without power.
Gary Lane has the story.
- [Gary] It feels more likelate January than mid-April
as another bomb cyclonestrikes millions of Americans.
A bomb cyclone is whencold air meets warm air
and brings freezingtemperatures, high winds
and heavy snow.
This one brought up to 30 inches of snow
to parts of the Midwest,70 mile per hour winds
and travel chaos from Colorado to Texas,
Wisconsin, Nebraska,Minnesota and the Dakotas.
That's the same region of the country
that was hit by a bombcyclone one month ago.
And driving conditions.
- [Man] The roads are terrible.
- [Gary] In many parts of the Midwest
road conditions remained lifethreatening and hazardous.
At one point on Thursday,at least 500 crashes
were reported on roadsand highways in Minnesota.
Truckers transporting consumer goods
and agricultural productsto market were stranded.
- With the snow and iceand the wind blowing
it's quite an experience.
Been kinda rough with the rolling blackout
because the truck stop hasbeen shut down, basically.
You can't get in to getany food or anything.
But we got plenty with us.
We were well prepared.
- [Gary] Thousands offlights were canceled
throughout the regionand at least 25,000 homes
were without power in parts of Minnesota.
In Nebraska where peopleare still recovering
from late winter floods.
- Instead of Nebraska Strong,it should be Nebraska Tired.
- [Gary] The heavy snowfallhasn't prevented Brad Wilkins
from operating his feedand grain business.
- Our producers that are out there
are certainly puttingin 18, 20 hours a day
because when weather's likethis, you have to be out there
checking those mama cows.
- [Gary] Just one monthago, Nebraskans suffered
their worst flood in recorded history.
- This feels a littlebit like Groundhog's Day.
A couple weeks ago we hadabout the same situation.
And the ground was not thawed out then.
And of course, that createdflooding situations.
Although the water's gone down now,
the infrastructure in our county's brown.
Rock County's are stillreally compromised.
- [Gary] Wilkins is concernedfor his fellow farmers
who are stressed and overburdened financially and mentally
and physically fromdevastating loss and hardship.
He urges them to seek help from a pastor
or trusted friends.
- Our faith community's or whatever,
we just need to, we'reall in this together
and we'll get through it together.
- Gary Lane, CBN News.
- As we've been tellingyou, healthcare is emerging
as the first major campaignissue of the 2020 election.
Republicans and even someDemocrats are pushing back
against Bernie Sanders' plans to eliminate
private health insurance in favor
of a government run program.
CBN News Capitol HillCorrespondent Abigail Robertson
brings us this look at the backlash
against Medicare-for-All.
- Polls show Senator BernieSanders as a early leader
among Democrat presidential candidates
and now that hisMedicare-for-All plan is out,
Sanders' primary opponentsare either fighting it
or tryin' to get a piece of the action.
(cheering)
Bernie's big pitch.
- Together we are goingto end the international
embarrassment of theUnited States of America,
our great country, beingthe only major nation
on earth, not to guaranteehealthcare to all as a right.
- [Abigail] Is setting thestage for a 2020 drama.
- I don't agree with SenatorSanders' single payer approach.
- [Abigail] While someDemocrats are backing away
from Medicare-for-All.
- It could be a possibility in the future.
- [Abigail] Others are embracing it.
- Healthcare must be aright, not a privilege.
- [Abigail] Kirsten Gillibrandis one of four senate
Democrats running forpresident who backs the idea.
- This has to become thenext social safety net.
It has to become somethingthat is there for you
no matter what.
- [Abigail] That safety net
could prove dangerously expensive.
Independent estimates putthe plan costing anywhere
from $25 to $35 trillionover just 10 years.
- That price is so steep, thateven left-leaning analysts
are quietly admitting that the tax burden
is virtually certain toland on the middle class.
- [Abigail] MajorityLeader Mitch McConnell
could bring the bill to theSenate floor to make a point.
- It might be interesting toput a Medicare-for-All plan
on the floor for a vote,
see where Democrats really stand.
- [Abigail] Republicans likeNorth Dakota's Kevin Cramer
say a vote would showcasedivisions among Democrats.
- They will quickly gravitateback closer to the middle
where reality exists.
- [Abigail] Under the plansome 180 million Americans
would see their private health insurance
replaced with a public plan.
- What you end up with is,
you don't have Medicare-for-Allyou have a bunch of people
that have inferior or no coverage.
- [Abigail] The WhiteHouse says Republicans
are working on realistic solutions.
President Trump says areally great healthcare plan
will be ready rightafter the 2020 election.
- I personally think there'ssome risk in that approach.
- [Abigail] Indiana Republican Mike Braun
says his party has to come up with a fix
for a basket case healthcare system.
- We've gotta be unveilingit and building it into 2020
and maybe the formalpresentation can be after 2020.
- Medicare-for-All is shapingto be the Obamacare of 2020.
Meanwhile, McConnellsays the Republican plan
isn't ready for primetime.
The GOP may want to considerchanging their timetable
to seize an opportunity,especially with Democrats
currently divided onhow to fix healthcare.
Reporting from Capitol Hill,Abigail Robertson, CBN News.
- Abortions will be banned in Ohio
after an unborn baby'sheartbeat is detected.
Governor Mike DeWine signedthe Fetal Heartbeat Bill
into law Thursday.
It's a victory pro-life groups have wanted
for a long time, but theAmerican Civil Liberties Union
of Ohio says, it's preparinga Constitutional challenge
to the law on behalf of fourabortion clinics in the state.
The president of Ohio Right to Life says,
the Heartbeat Bill isthe next incremental step
in their strategy tooverturn Roe vs. Wade,
the 1973 Supreme Court decision
which legalized abortion nationwide.
A Trump administration policyrestricting military service
for transgender people takes effect today.
The policy requiresincoming service members
to live and serve accordingto their biological sex.
It ends the practice of allowinggender-transition surgeries
for those already in service
and bars people who've had the surgery
or hormone treatment for gender transition
from joining up.
The policy exempts currenttransgender military personnel
and those in the process of transitioning.
The new rules reverse an Obama-era policy
of allowing transgenders to serve openly.
Some good news
for Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu.
His Likud Party actuallygained a seat in the Knesset
in Tuesday's election.
Likud and its allies now havea solid 65 to 55 majority
in the Israeli Parliament.
Leaders in Israel's spaceindustry hope to try again
to land a spacecraft on the moon.
Their first lunar probecrashed just miles away
from its goal of puttingdown on the moon's surface.
Chris Mitchell brings us the story
from Israel's space center.
- [Chris] Before the finaldescent of the spacecraft,
these Israeli pioneers hoped for success.
- Eight and a half years in the making,
so many engineers, both in Space IL,
Israel aerospace industries,donors, supporters,
volunteers, and it'sall coming down to this.
This baby here, is gonna getto the surface of the moon.
The only question is, in how many pieces?
- [Chris] Space IL'smajor donor, Morris Kahn
explained the name of the spacecraft.
- Beresheet is thefirst word in our Bible.
It is, in the beginning.
And I think that for us,this is the beginning.
And for Space IL and for theIsraeli aircraft industry,
this is the beginning.
- [Control] We have lostcommunication with the spacecraft.
- [Chris] But on the verge of history,
Israel's spacecraft,Beresheet, fell just short.
- It seems that the failure inour inertial measurement unit
caused a chain of eventsin the spacecraft avionics
which cut off the engines andcaused us to lose the mission.
- The attempted moonlanding began as a dream
by three Israeli engineerseight and a half years ago.
Despite the failure, it still represents
the epitome of Israelas the startup nation.
- It's a story that shows a lot Israel,
how three young engineerssitting in a bar can
just pull and entire country after them
and make this a reality.
- [Chris] They want toinspire the next generation.
- We've met more than amillion kids in Israel
and around the world andgave them the message
that science and technologycan be fun, can be cool.
- [Chris] Israel becameonly the 7th nation
to put a spacecraft in lunar orbit
and the first privatelyfunded mission to the moon.
- For a small country like Israel,
for a small, even smallercompany or association
like Space IL, it's a huge achievement.
- But my message is for the kids.
This is hard.
It is rocket science.
Science and engineering is difficult.
It doesn't always work the first time
but you have to pickyourself up and try again.
- [Chris] Israel's PrimeMinister Benjamin Netanyahu
encouraged the space team to go on.
- If at first you don'tsucceed, you try again.
- [Chris] The spacecraftcarried a nano copy
of the Bible on board, andbefore its final descent
the spacecraft took a selfiewith a banner that read,
small country, big dreams.
Chris Mitchell, CBN News,Israel's space center.
(applause)
