On the version of Hot off the Wire posted March 8 at 6:15 a.m. CT:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden delivered a defiant argument for a second term in his State of the Union speech Thursday night, lacing into GOP front-runner Donald Trump for espousing “resentment, revenge and retribution” and for jeopardizing freedom at home and abroad. Biden repeatedly delivered broadsides at “my predecessor” without ever mentioning Trump by name. The scrappy tone from Biden was a sharp break from his often humdrum daily appearances and was designed to banish doubts about whether the 81-year-old is still up to the job. For 68 minutes, Biden goaded Republicans over their policies, invited call-and-response banter with fellow Democrats on economic issues, taxes and healthcare and seemed to relish the fight.

There are concerns in both New York City and Philadelphia after recent violence on subways and city buses.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A United Airlines jetliner that lost a tire on takeoff has made a safe emergency landing in Los Angeles. Flight 35 left San Francisco and was bound for Osaka, Japan, on Thursday. United says there were 235 passengers and a crew of 14 on the plane. United says the plane is designed to land safely with missing or damaged tires. Video shows the plane losing one of the six tires on its left-side main landing gear assembly seconds after takeout. The tire smashed into a car in an employee parking lot at San Francisco International Airport.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s economy likely produced another month of healthy hiring in February, once again brushing aside the effects of high interest rates with unexpected ease. When the Labor Department issues the monthly jobs report Friday, economists predict it will show that employers added a solid 200,000 jobs in February. Though that would be down from the blockbuster gains in December (333,000) and January (353,000), it would still be plenty fast enough to outpace population growth and keep the unemployment rate near a half-century low. Forecasters have projected that the jobless rate stayed at 3.7% last month. If so, it would mark the 25th straight month in which the unemployment rate has remained below 4%.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Recently unsealed court documents show that an Army soldier accused of selling national defense information has been indicted by a federal grand jury on a wide range on charges, including bribery of a public official. According to the indictment, Korbein Schultz allegedly conspired with an individual identified only as “Conspirator A” to disclose various documents, photographs, and other national defense materials since June 2022. The indictment claims that Schultz was recruited by the individual not only due to his security clearance but also because he was tasked gathering sensitive U.S. military information. The case is the latest in a series of federal prosecutions of current or former military members accused of illegally disclosing sensitive government secrets.

In other news:

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

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