Crew on Chinese ship detained for allegedly cutting undersea cable connecting islands
Taiwan’s coast guard (CGA) detained the Chinese crew of a Togolese-registered vessel suspected of severing an undersea fiber optic cable connecting the islands of Taiwan and Penghu on Tuesday.
The CGA says the vessel, the Hong Tai 168, had been loitering within roughly 925 meters of the cable since 7 p.m. local time on Feb. 22. A coast guard vessel was dispatched to the ship at 2:30 a.m. on Tuesday, demanding that the vessel leave the area, Taiwan’s state-owned media said.
Coast guard officials received confirmation that the Taiwan-Penghu No. 3 undersea cable had been cut at 3 a.m. Tuesday, and they began efforts to detain the ship’s Chinese crew. All eight crewmembers were Chinese nationals, according to the coast guard.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs confirmed that communications were diverted to other cables following the incident and that there was no disruption to service.
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The coast guard classified the incident as potential “gray zone” activity by China. The term refers to hostile actions that do not amount to an act of war.
Taiwan’s government says it will investigate the incident.
The incident comes roughly a week after Chinese officials expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s administration for removing language on the State Department’s website opposing Taiwan’s independence.
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Prior to Trump taking office, the State Department’s fact sheet on U.S. relations with Taiwan had previously stated “we do not support Taiwan independence,” but the phrase was removed earlier this month and continues to be absent. Chinese officials called on the U.S. to “immediately correct its wrongdoing,” on Sunday, arguing it “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence forces.”
The State Department noted in a statement to NBC News that the U.S. stance on Taiwanese independence has not changed, however.
The U.S. has long held a delicate stance regarding Taiwan and its relation to the Chinese mainland. It has for decades followed the “One China” policy, in which the U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole government of China, and acknowledges but does not affirm Beijing’s claim to control over Taiwan.
Part of this understanding requires the U.S. to not have any formal diplomatic ties to Taiwan, a policy reflected in the lack of a U.S. embassy on the island.
Nevertheless, the U.S. has funded Taiwan’s defense and worked with Western nations to prevent mainland China from taking over. Chinese President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stated that he is open to using military force to conquer the island.
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Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government, maintains that it is its own independent country. Taiwan first became a self-governed island after pro-democracy forces fled there in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong and his Chinese Communist Party.
MSNBC star blasts network’s decision to cancel Joy Reid’s show in stunning rebuke
Rachel Maddow offered a stunning rebuke to MSNBC over its decision to pull her colleague Joy Reid from its programming and how it is treating staffers who potentially face layoffs.
Maddow took a moment on Monday night to address the “changes” being announced at MSNBC, reminding her viewers that “The Rachel Maddow Show” will revert to only Mondays at the conclusion of President Trump‘s first 100 days in office, but not all of her primetime colleagues will remain a result of programming overhaul.
She specifically called the cancelation of “The ReidOut” in the 7 p.m. ET timeslot and Reid’s exit from the network “very, very, very hard to take.”
“I am 51 years old. I have been gainfully employed since I was 12. And I have had so many different kinds of jobs, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. But in all of the jobs I have had, in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect than Joy Reid,” Maddow said.
“I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her,” she continued. “I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call, and I understand that, but that’s what I think.”
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Maddow went on to call it “unnerving” for the network to cancel the shows of “two non-White hosts” in its weekday programming as well as “The Katie Phang Show” on the weekends, noting that “The Alex Wagner Show” will no longer fill in Maddow’s 9 p.m. ET timeslot for the remainder of the week, which is instead going to “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
“And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them,” Maddow said. “That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it.”
While Maddow noted that Wagner will remain with the network as a political analyst, she did not mention that Reid’s timeslot is being filled by Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, two of whom are Black and one is Latina, all currently co-host a weekend program together. Phang, too, is also remaining with the network as a legal correspondent.
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Very few at MSNBC have the job security of Maddow, who allegedly negotiated a whopping $25 million salary last year. But she went to bat for network staffers who she said were “really being put through the wringer.”
“Dozens of producers and staffers, including some who are among the most experienced and most talented and most specialist producers in the building, are facing being laid off, they’re being invited to reapply for new jobs,” Maddow said.
“That has never happened at this scale in this way before when it comes to programming changes, presumably because it’s not the right way to treat people, and it’s inefficient and it’s unnecessary, and it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place to work and so we don’t generally do things that way,” she added.
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“Maybe all of our folks, including most of the people who are getting this very show on the air right now, maybe they will all get new jobs here, and I hope they do, but in the meantime, being put in this kind of limbo, the anxiety and the discombobulation is off the charts at a time when this job already is extra stressful and difficult,” Maddow continued.
“It is not news for me to tell you that the press and freedom of the press are under attack in a way that is really – it’s a big deal for our country. It’s very visceral for us here. I know that the business of the press is not an easy thing, and I know that no job is forever, but I think I’m safe in saying for all of us anchors who you know through the TV, please know that what pains us the most is not what happens to us. It is what happens to our coworkers on whom we depend, and who you don’t necessarily know, but we respect and love them, and depend on them, and did I mention we respect them?”
“This is a difficult time in the news business, but it does not need to be this difficult… Finding good people, good colleagues, doing good work with them and then having their back. That we can do a lot better on. A lot better,” Maddow added.
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Maddow, perhaps emboldened by the fact her viewership trounces her MSNBC colleagues, has a history of taking defiant stances against her own employer. Last year, Maddow offered the most scathing response to NBC’s decision to hire former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, which was quickly reversed following the chorus of on-air backlash.
She also took NBC to task in 2019 over its cover-up of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and how it forced its own journalist at the time, Ronan Farrow, to publish his 2017 bombshell reporting with The New Yorker, even booking him on her program to discuss his story.
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MSNBC’s future remains unclear as its parent company, NBCUniversal, is set to spin off the network and a slew of other sister channels to be its own standalone entity later this year. Meanwhile, its ratings have been in sharp decline and its programming has undergone drastic changes without juicing viewership.
FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s White House is warning that a key Democrat’s move to end the president’s energy national emergency would kill hundreds of jobs and cost $3.6 trillion in higher prices and lost energy output.
“Tim Kaine wants to impoverish Americans. President Donald Trump’s executive order brings America into the future and unleashes prosperity. Senator [Tim] Kaine wants to cost the economy trillions and risk losing nearly a million jobs,” said deputy press secretary Anna Kelly in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
The White House’s statement is in response to Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., filing a joint resolution to end Trump’s energy national emergency and teeing up a vote on the Senate floor this week.
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Ending the energy emergency would lead to the loss of 869,800 jobs, according to a White House document obtained by Fox News Digital.
The White House emphasized that ending the emergency would usher back in the Biden administration’s policies. The document stressed that under those policies, during Biden’s first two years, families spent an additional average of $10,000 in energy costs, citing a study published by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.
The document cited that estimates of liquefied natural gas growth in the new administration were projected to bring in half a million jobs annually and boost U.S. GDP by $1.3 trillion through 2040, per a study by S&P Global in December.
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“The Trump Administration is living in a fantasy land,” Kaine and Heinrich told Fox News Digital in a joint statement. “Energy demand is high and only getting higher, which is why it’s great that America is producing more energy than at any other point in our history. Decreasing the supply of American-made energy when demand is high is the quickest way to raise prices—and that’s exactly what President Trump’s sham energy emergency will do. By tampering with the market to favor some forms of energy over others and making it easier for fossil fuel companies to take Americans’ private property, Trump’s emergency declaration will benefit Big Oil, but leave American consumers with fewer choices and higher bills.”
“At the same time, Trump’s decision to illegally halt investments appropriated by Congress in energy projects that are creating jobs in communities across the country is costing Americans valuable, good-paying jobs,” they added.
The two Democrats unveiled their privileged legislation against Trump’s order earlier this month.
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“Senate Democrats are yet again attempting to block President Trump’s efforts to secure cheaper, more reliable energy—just when America needs it most,” Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee, R-Utah, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Their message to families is clear: pay more, expect less. Luckily, President Trump is committed to unleashing American energy and rescuing the country from the energy crisis that they have perpetuated. Senate Republicans won’t let Democrats delay and obstruct any longer and will ensure the President has the tools necessary to deliver the results the American people expect.”
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Kaine and Heinrich’s introduction of the resolution will force a vote on the Senate floor, which is expected to occur on Wednesday.
The measure is likely to fail, with Republicans vocally supportive of Trump’s energy agenda. The GOP has a 53-seat majority in the upper chamber.
Musk warns of consequences after giving federal workers ‘another chance’ to respond
The deadline for federal workers to respond to Elon Musk’s request to verify their weekly work output passed on Monday night, but the consequences of declining to respond remain vague.
Musk confirmed shortly before Monday’s deadline that federal workers would be given another chance to respond, and that failure to do so “will result in termination.”
Several government agencies, including those led by loyalists to President Donald Trump, told their employees not to respond to the original request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). While Musk himself suggested on social media that refusing to respond to the email would be “taken as a resignation,” the actual email from OPM made no mention of such consequences.
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the OPM request read, making no threats of termination.
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The FBI and Department of Defense, led by Trump allies Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, also instructed their employees not to respond, citing the confidential nature of their work.
“When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” Patel wrote to FBI employees.
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Trump argued there was no rift in his administration despite the conflicting orders, however.
“They don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon,” he told reporters late last week. “Everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.”
“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”
Musk nevertheless appeared angry at the lack of response to the request, turning to X to express his frustration just hours before the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline.
“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” he wrote. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.”
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is in the midst of auditing various federal agencies in search of wasteful spending, corruption and mismanagement.
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DOGE’s work comes as President Donald Trump ordered the federal workforce to return to the office after five years of remote work stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and has vowed to clean house of bad actors within the government and ax overspending.
Supreme Court tosses conviction and death sentence of inmate, orders new trial
The Supreme Court has tossed out the murder conviction and death sentence of Oklahoma’s Richard Glossip, ordering a new trial.
Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1997 killing in Oklahoma City of his former boss, motel owner Barry Van Treese, in what prosecutors have alleged was a murder-for-hire scheme. Prosecutors in Oklahoma twice convinced separate juries to send him to death row.
The justices heard arguments in October in a case that produced a rare alliance in which lawyers for Glossip and the state argued that the high court should overturn Glossip’s conviction and death sentence because he did not get a fair trial.
“We conclude that the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a majority opinion.
“The Court stretches the law at every turn to rule in his favor. At the threshold, it concocts federal jurisdiction by misreading the decision below. On the merits, it finds a due process violation based on patently immaterial testimony about a witness’s medical condition,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a dissenting opinion. “And, for the remedy, it orders a new trial in violation of black-letter law on this Court’s power to review state-court judgments.”
Glossip has always maintained his innocence. Another man, Justin Sneed, admitted robbing Van Treese and beating him to death with a baseball bat but testified he only did so after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed received a life sentence in exchange for his testimony and was the key witness against Glossip.
Oklahoma’s top criminal appeals court had repeatedly upheld the conviction and sentence, even after the state sided with Glossip.
Meanwhile, the victim’s relatives had told the Supreme Court that they wanted to see Glossip executed.
In 2023, state Attorney General Gentner Drummond said new evidence persuaded him that Glossip’s trial was not fair. Drummond has said he does not believe Glossip is innocent and has suggested he could face a new trial.
If Glossip were to be tried again, the death penalty would be off the table, Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Zemp Behenna has said.
Among Drummond’s concerns are that prosecutors knew Sneed lied on the witness stand about his psychiatric condition and his reason for taking the mood-stabilizing drug lithium. Drummond also has cited a box of evidence in the case that was destroyed, including motel receipts, a shower curtain and masking tape that Glossip’s attorney, Don Knight, said could have potentially proven Glossip’s innocence.
Former NFL running back who believed he dealt with CTE dead at 67
Eddie Hill, a former NFL running back who played for the Los Angeles Rams and Miami Dolphins, has died, one of his former teams announced on Monday. He was 67.
The Dolphins announced Hill’s death in a post on social media.
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“We are saddened by the passing of former Dolphins running back Eddie Hill, who played for the team from 1981-84,” the team wrote on X.
No official cause of death was announced. Nearly eight years ago, Hill opened up to the Sun-Sentinel about his health issues and revealed he had battled brain cancer. He told the paper he believed he was also dealing with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE, which is believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head.
“Every life has a purpose and football was one of those biblical, scriptural things that I learned early in life that applied to me, the gift,” he told the paper in May 2017, adding he had no regrets about playing the sport.
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“And recently, in the last 10-15 years, I’ve learned that purpose and I live that purpose.”
The Rams chose Hill in the second round of the 1979 NFL Draft out of Memphis.
He played for Los Angeles for two seasons, including a Super Bowl appearance in his rookie year. The Rams fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.
He was traded to Miami before the start of the 1981 season. He played four more years with the Dolphins before calling it a career.
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He appeared in 75 games and had 443 rushing yards with two rushing touchdowns. As a special teams player, he had 17 total kick returns for 330 yards.
Top college football coach rips former Heisman winner: ‘Champion of Fireball’
Georgia Bulldogs football head coach Kirby Smart sideswiped Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Johnny Manziel during a recent coaching clinic.
Smart was speaking when four former collegiate quarterbacks popped up on his screen – Alabama’s Bryce Young, LSU’s Joe Burrow, Texas A&M’s Manziel and Auburn’s Cam Newton. He asked what each quarterback had in common.
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One person yelled out “Heisman.” Smart said that was a good answer. Each player did win the Heisman Trophy during their time in college. Someone else said “champion” and that appeared to be a bridge too far for Smart.
“Champions? He ain’t no champion. Champion of what? Champion of Fireball,” Smart said of Manziel. “Alright, alright, alright, alright, I’m gonna go here for you. There’s Heisman. Right? They all had great days vs. our defenses. All four of them when off on us in some way shape or form.”
The clip went viral on Monday.
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Manziel struggled with drug and alcohol addiction during and after his NFL career with the Cleveland Browns. He reflected on the roots and impact of his addiction in a Q&A with students and those in recovery at the University of Alabama’s VitAL health conference back in August.
Manziel indicated during the conference that alcohol no longer had a place in his life. He also indicated the experience taught him a new way to manage any potential future success. He surrounded himself with consultants who pushed back on him when necessary. He said he learned that from having too much unanimous support from those around him in the past.
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“I started to develop and have a lot of yes men around me,” Manziel said. “I think at the head of that group of influences was myself, and managing success now is not a solo thing. You need to have a support system and lean on things in your life.”
Locals worry over crime-fueled college fest as thousands to descend onto island town
What began as a cherished spring break event for a local Georgia college in the 1980s has transformed into a “riotous” festival in recent years, drawing tens of thousands of attendees to a small island struggling to work proactively with the event organizers.
Orange Crush, a spring break event in Tybee Island, Georgia, that used to be organized by students at nearby Savannah State University, brought “complete mayhem” to Tybee Island in 2023, according to Mayor Brian West.
“Parking areas basically became disaster areas because we had people who were either shooting off fireworks that sounded like guns, or they were actually shooting guns, and people were running and stampeding. … It was riotous. It was really bad,” West said of the 2023 event.
While the event is no longer affiliated with Savannah State, it is returning to Tybee Island on Easter weekend and expected to draw an estimated 50,000 attendees to the three-mile-long island.
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Since the event’s inception in 1989, promoters have taken over the planning process with the goal of getting more attendees and more money, which has transformed Orange Crush into a wild weekend for the typically quiet beach town, according to West.
Locals have complained of litter, traffic issues and violence as a result of the party and the masses of people it draws to Tybee Island. In parking lots after sundown, attendees get on top of police cars and engage in violent behavior like throwing glass bottles. Local leaders and law enforcement have been working to contain those issues to keep residents and Orange Crush participants as safe as possible.
“It was complete mayhem.”
“One of our officers was hit in the head with a bottle. It was complete mayhem. So, we had to close our parking lots so they’re not available for use,” the mayor explained of the 2023 Orange Crush.
Orange Crush organizers filed for a city permit for the event that begins on April 18 and ends on April 20, despite operating without a permit in the past. City leaders gave the organizers a list of conditions to meet in order to receive a permit, but they have yet to accept those conditions.
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“We’re thrilled to announce that for the first time in decades, we are fully permitted and ready to celebrate April 18-20,” Orange Crush said in a Feb. 19 Facebook post.
But West anticipates the city will not approve Orange Crush’s permit request because the organizers have started working with “disreputable” promoters that Tybee Island leaders do not want to be involved in the event.
“Promoters that have asked for a permit are working with other promoters now that we don’t want involved in this, so it’s very likely we won’t be issuing a permit now,” West said.
He said the permit as an agreement between city leaders and event organizers that Orange Crush would meet the city’s requirements for event timing and placement requirements, coordination of municipal services, “preservation of public property,” prevention of dangerous and unlawful behavior, and other conditions.
Orange Crush CEO Steven Smalls told Fox News Digital in a statement that his team has “implemented a structured system to bring organization, security, and entertainment to this event — something that has never been done before.”
“I have worked closely with Tybee Island officials, including Mayor Brian West, law enforcement in Tybee Island and Savannah, and other key stakeholders, to develop a rigorous plan for this year’s festival,” Smalls said. “Our team has followed a strict schedule to ensure that every detail is carefully organized and executed with safety and structure in mind.”
Smalls noted that Orange Crush has “been a longstanding tradition, occurring with or without a permit,” but this year will be different because “for the first time, the event is officially structured, with security, waste management, and traffic coordination in place.”
“While we cannot control every outside promoter who associates themselves with the event, we are the official organizers and have taken the necessary steps to bring accountability and order to the festival,” he continued. “If the City of Tybee Island is concerned about certain individuals, we encourage them to apply consistent enforcement across all local businesses that choose to work with outside promoters during this weekend.”
Smalls asked “the public to not rush to judgment but instead allow this newly organized Orange Crush Festival the opportunity to demonstrate the positive changes we’ve made.”
“This is a new era for the event, and for the first time, there is a clear plan of action to ensure it is structured and well-managed,” he said.
At past events, festival promoters have formed circles packed with people on the beach or in parking lots where attendees have to pay to see what is happening inside the circle, which could be anything from two men fighting to people having sex to naked women dancing.
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“If an officer tries to go and control that situation, all of the sudden, they’re surrounded by 5,000 people,” West said. “Even if they tried to arrest someone, our jail is an hour away in Savannah, so that means taking an officer off their job and away from where we need them, so the best thing they can do is try to keep the crowd in their space.”
Tybee Island has a one-lane road that leads to the island from Savannah, and with the event drawing tens of thousands of people, it leads to traffic chaos, including cars that end up on neighboring islands because they can’t make it to Tybee Island.
“It’s very uncomfortable for the people who live in this area,” West said. “People actually drive through other people’s yards. It can get really out of hand.”
The city has tried to control traffic by fencing off neighborhood backstreets, closing certain parking lots and assigning personnel to direct cars. Tybee Island leaders closed parking lots in 2024 and plan to do so in 2025 as well. The city also rents out a pier on the beach so that law enforcement can use it during the event.
The Tybee Island Police Department typically has about 30 officers covering an area of about 3,200 homes, so the city is bringing in other state and local officers during Orange Crush weekend, West said. There are about 100 to 150 officers expected for the festival in April.
Orange Crush attendees at past events have also littered parts of Tybee Island’s beach with trash in the sand and in the water.
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“While there are ample trash cans and places to put trash, the participants just throw trash wherever they’re standing,” West said, adding that the city “lit up the area” with spotlights and headlights from four-wheelers at night after the festival last year to help with trash pickup.
“Volunteers, some hotel owners and a couple of council members … started walking up and down the beach, picking up trash that way,” the mayor said. Schools and charity organizations also help organize volunteers to clean the beaches for about five to seven days after Orange Crush.
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Back in 2018, Tybee Island implemented new regulations cracking down on Orange Crush weekend, including restrictions on open alcohol, as Tybee is an open container city; increased traffic stops and property searches; and limits on home rentals. An activist group called the Concerned Citizens of Tybee complained about the regulations and involved the Justice Department. Eventually, the group and city leaders came to a mediation in July 2018.
The agreement states that Tybee will apply the same rules and restrictions to all large events on the island, “permitted or unpermitted,” that will be applied equally.
West described last year’s Orange Crush as more successful than the 2023 festival after the city made more preparations to mitigate crime and traffic issues. College students who attended the festival were able to stay safe in 2024, the mayor said, but he’s not exactly encouraging people to attend.
“The party needs to be at a bigger place with more access.”
In fact, West is urging Easter visitors and other tourists to avoid Tybee Island during Orange Crush weekend.
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For those attending Orange Crush, West said the “chances are better that you’re not going to have a good experience” than the chances of having a good experience.