Russia sent more troops into Ukraine Tuesday amid its assault in the eastern Donbas region along a front hundreds of miles long, where Moscow has refocused its aims after its failure to take the capital of Kyiv and suffering heavier than expected losses since the late February invasion. AP reported that the eastern cities of Kharkiv and Kramatorsk came under attack, and Russia claimed it hit areas around Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro with missiles, and bombarded Ukrainian military sites in or near several cities of villages.
In Mariupol, which has been under relentless siege since early in the invasion, Ukrainian troops said Russia dropped heavy bombs to flatten what was left of a large steel plant where an estimated few thousand Ukrainian forces were holed up in what's believed to be the last major pocket of resistance in the devastated city. They also said a hospital was hit where hundreds were sheltering.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said is his nightly video address that Russia had most of its combat-ready forces now in Ukraine and just across the border in Russia, stating, "They have driven almost everyone and everything that is capable of fighting us against Ukraine." He also charged that Russia was continuing to target residential areas, despite Moscow's claim of only hitting military sites, declaring, "The Russian army in this war is writing itself into world history forever as the most barbaric and inhuman army in the world."
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 20, 2022
Russia intensified its attack on Ukraine's east as it sought a decisive victory in Mariupol, prompting Western governments to pledge more arms and sanctions https://t.co/wRwIRwlhGw pic.twitter.com/I9TOfX24b6
New U.S. Weapons Package: President Biden is expected to announce a new weapons package in the coming days that will include additional artillery and ammunition. This comes after Biden last week approved an $800 million package including more helicopters and the first American artillery. The U.S. has sent about $2.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the invasion.
➤JUSTICE DEPT.: WILL APPEAL JUDGE'S MASK RULING IF CDC SAYS STILL NECESSARY: The U.S. Justice Department said yesterday that it will appeal a Florida federal district judge's ruling that ended the nationwide mask mandate on public transportation only if the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the mandate is still necessary. However, Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley also said officials believe that the federal mask order was, quote, "a valid exercise of the authority Congress has given CDC to protect the public health." The CDC hadn't made a determination as of yesterday. The statement was released a day after the judge's ruling, after which major airlines and airports many other transit systems quickly rescinded the mask requirement. Uber and Lyft announced yesterday that masks will be optional. Some places, however, including New York City, Chicago and Connecticut, continued to require masks for mass transit.
NEW: Justice Department says it will appeal ruling that voided the federal mask mandate on public transit if the CDC deems it necessary. https://t.co/BMA9yTCbKT
— ABC News (@ABC) April 19, 2022
➤PAT ROBERTSON'S WIFE, DEDE ROBERSTON, DEAD AT 94: Dede Robertson, the wife of religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and a founding board member of the Christian Broadcasting Network, died Tuesday, the network announced. She was 94. CBN president and CEO Gordon Robertson, one of the couple's four children, said, "Mom was the glue that held the Robertson family together. . . . If it weren’t for Mom, there wouldn’t be a CBN." Pat Robertson, who ran the network's flagship 700 Club program for 50 years before stepping down last fall, called his wife "a woman of great faith, a champion of the gospel, and a remarkable servant of Christ who has left an indelible print on all that she set her hand to during her extraordinary life."
➤EXPERT SAYS MICHIGAN OFFICER FATALLY SHOT LYOYA IN BACK OF THE HEAD: An expert who performed an independent autopsy for the family of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year-old man who was killed by a Grand Rapids, Michigan, police officer after an April 4th traffic stop, said Tuesday that the officer pressed his gun against the back of Lyoya's head when he fired the fatal shot. Dr. Werner Spitz confirmed in a news conference what had been shown in video last week, that Lyoya, a refugee from Congo, was shot in the back of the head while facedown on the ground as he struggled with the officer. The officer was on top of Lyoya and can be heard demanding that he take his hand off a police Taser. The official autopsy report is part of the state police investigation and hasn’t been released to the public. The officer's name also hasn't been released.
The Biden administration is launching a $6 billion effort to rescue nuclear power plants at risk of closing to combat climate change https://t.co/kiSBPNpIpR
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 20, 2022
➤N.J. CATHOLIC DIOCESE TO PAY $87.5 MILLION TO SETTLE CLERGY SEX ABUSE CLAIMS: The Catholic diocese of Camden, New Jersey, has agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle clergy sex abuse claims with some 300 alleged victims in one of the largest cash settlements involving the Catholic church in the U.S. The agreement, which was filed with a U.S. Bankruptcy Court yesterday, must still be approved by a bankruptcy judge. The alleged sexual abuse occurred from the 1950s into the 1990s, but mostly took place in the 1960s and '70s. Bishop Dennis Sullivan said in a statement, "I want to express my sincere apology to all those who have been affected by sexual abuse in our Diocese. My prayers go out to all survivors of abuse and I pledge my continuing commitment to ensure that this terrible chapter in the history of the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey never happens again."
➤POLL..AMERICANS EVENLY DIVIDED ON PARTY VOTE: Voters are evenly divided on which political party they'll vote for in a new poll out yesterday taken a little under seven months before the midterm elections. The Politico-Morning Consult poll found that if the election for Congress was held in voters' districts today, 43 percent would most likely vote for the Democratic candidate, while 42 percent would likely vote for the Republican candidate. A separate 16 percent said they had no opinion or didn't know. When broken down by gender, 45 percent of men would vote for the Republicans and 39 percent for the Democrat, while 46 percent of women would choose the Democrat and 38 percent the Republican. When looked at by race, half of white voters would choose the Republican and 38 percent the Democrat, 61 percent of Black voters would choose the Democrat and 12 percent the Republican, and 42 percent of Hispanic voters would choose the Democrat and 32 percent the Republican.
➤STUDY..PRAISING ESSENTIAL WORKERS IS NOT JUST A GOOD THING, IT’S CRITICAL TO THEIR RECOVERY FROM BURNOUT: We should still be praising essential workers getting us through the pandemic. Researchers from four different US universities find essential workers who receive public praise are energized and recover in healthy ways from the stress of their jobs, while those who don’t receive that praise experience negative emotions and are more likely to drink, smoke, or overeat to recover from work. The study found a significant number of essential workers in less visible fields—corrections officers, sanitation workers, truck drivers—felt the public had expressed no gratitude toward them at all. Researchers say those who felt seen and appreciated were more likely to engage in healthy activities associated with a positive mental state, like exercising, meditating, and spending time outdoors. Study authors say the results demonstrate the importance of public gratitude for essential workers’ long-term health, well-being, and indirectly, the quality of their work. They also said the findings are also applicable beyond COVID-19, to other health crises and disaster situations where essential workers do critical work, as well as to routinely stressful events. Study co-author Sarah Doyle says people should remember that expressions of gratitude are essentially free, and yet they can have a substantial impact on the well-being of essential personnel.
- Miami Heat 115, Atlanta Hawks 105 - Miami leads 2 games to 0
- Memphis Grizzlies 124, Minnesota Timberwolves 96 - Series tied 1-1
- New Orleans Pelicans 125, Phoenix Suns 114 - Series tied 1-1
🏀NETS' IRVING FINED $50K FOR OBSCENE GESTURES, LANGUAGE TO CELTICS FANS: The Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving was fined $50,000 by the NBA Tuesday for making obscene gestures and using profane language towards Boston Celtics fans during the Nets' Game 1 playoff loss in Boston Sunday. Irving flipped his middle finger toward fans after making a shot in the third quarter. He said after the game that his actions were in response to fans' jeers that he said crossed the line. Game 2 of the Nets-Celtics series is tonight, also in Boston.
🏀JERRY WEST DEMANDS RETRACTION, APOLOGY OVER HBO'S 'WINNING TIME' PORTRAYAL: Former L.A. Lakers general manager Jerry West has demanded an apology and retraction over his portrayal in HBO's drama series, Winning Time. ESPN reported that in a letter sent yesterday evening (April 19th) to HBO and producer Adam McKay, West's legal team called the portrayal of West a, quote, "baseless and malicious assault" on his character. It also charges that Winning Time, quote, "falsely and cruelly portrays Mr. West as an out-of-control, intoxicated rage-aholic," and says it's a "travesty that HBO has knowingly demeaned him for shock value and the pursuit of ratings." The series is a dramatization based on Jeff Pearlman's book, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.
⚾MLB: MINOR LEAGUE GAMES 20 MINUTES SHORTER WITH PITCH CLOCKS: Major League Baseball said yesterday (April 19th) that minor league games averaged two hours, 39 minutes in the first three days with a pitch clock being used, down 20 minutes from the previous average this season. The pitch clock enforcement began last Friday and data with it included games through Sunday. Rules changes MLB is considering proposing for next season include a 14-second pitch clock with no runners and a 19-second pitch clock with runners.
⚾MLB PADRES TO WEAR AD PATCHES ON UNIFORMS: The San Diego Padres on Tuesday became the first MLB team to announce a deal for ad patches on their uniforms, saying that Motorola logo patches will be worn on the right sleeves of players' jerseys next season. Under the new collective bargaining agreement reached between MLB and the players' union in March, teams were given the right to have patch ads on players' uniforms and sticker ads on their helmets. Uniform ads will start with the 2023 season, however helmet ads may begin with the year's post-season. Major League Soccer became the first major North American sports league to allow jersey ads in 2007. The NBA started selling sponsorship logos for the 2017-18 season, and the NHL began helmet ads for the 2020-21 season, and jersey ads this season.
The nor'easter dumped 18 inches of heavy snow in central New York, while parts of eastern Pennsylvania received up to 14 inches of snowfall, according to the Weather Prediction Center. https://t.co/Rxhgg7sNN0
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) April 20, 2022
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