Scott Mascione

The NTSB's final report says a wire pulling loose over time from the cargo ship Dolly's breaker caused two blackouts on the ship.

That eventually resulted in a loss of propulsion and steering, said Jennifer Homody, chairwoman of the board, who oversaw the investigation.

Investigators concluded that the reason the wire came loose is that a label was affixed to the wire too close to where it was plugged into the breaker.

The label prevented the wire from fully inserting into the breaker because the casing pushed against the label.

For NPR News, I'm Scott Mascione in Baltimore.

The Maryland Transportation Authority is now months into the demolition of the old Francis Scott Key Bridge.

In March of last year, a cargo ship hit the bridge, causing its collapse.

Transportation officials say they're currently driving test piles into the Patapsco River bed.

Jim Harkness is the chief engineer at MDTA.

We're testing these to 10 million pounds.

So this is the support for the new bridge.

It's a very large bridge.

We need to make sure that we have competent foundations.

Tests will be conducted in the coming months to assess the soil's ability to hold the weight of the new bridge.

The bridge's design is about 70 percent complete, and the state's hoping to have it fully rebuilt by fall of 2028.

For NPR News, I'm Scott Mascione in Baltimore.