Thursday, February 24 top news briefs
Today is Thursday, February 24. I am taking Alex’s place today. Ready for the top news briefs?
Putin orders military action in Ukraine
On Wednesday evening U.S. time, Russian President Putin gave a speech to announce a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Putin gave a warning to outsiders that if they interfered, they would face consequences. There were explosions near Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, after Putin’s speech.
An Ukrainian government official said Russia’s military conducted missile strikes on Ukrainian military facilities, air bases, and military depots (large storage spaces) in three cities: Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Dnipro. Ukraine’s airspace is closed to civilian flights.
President Biden said he would impose severe sanctions on Russia. He said “the world will hold Russia accountable.” He later announced the sanctions to limit Russia’s ability to do business in multiple top currencies [dollars, euros, pounds and yen] to be part of the global economy, stop the ability to finance and grow the Russian military, impair their ability to compete in high-tech 21st century economy and freeze assets on Russian banks that together hold around $1 trillion.
Massive storm moves east
This expansive and far-reaching storm will have impacted approximately 265 million people from California to Maine by the time it exits the US Friday evening. A winter storm is expected to bring dangerous ice to roads in parts of the South and Midwest on Thursday before we see heavy snow in the northeast. The winter weather alerts stretch over 1,500 miles from Texas to Maine, as well as potential flooding threat in the Tennessee and Ohio valleys. Over 1,900 flights in the US have been canceled Wednesday and Thursday, mostly at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
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Failure to report child abuse, high school staff arrested
Two assistant vice principals at Carter High School in Southern California have been arrested; David Yang, 38 and Natasha Harris, 37. They are accused of failing to notify authorities after three students; two 15-year old and one 16 year-old female students came forward claiming they were sexually assaulted on the high school campus by the same 17-year old male suspect.
Detectives said the victims reported the sexual assault to Yang and Harris in September 2021 and a third victim came forward in February this year. They did not report nor take action. Under California law, school officials like Harris and Yang are required to immediately alert law enforcement of child abuse or neglect.
NYC Marathon to proceed with full capacity
The New York City Marathon will return to full capacity this fall after being canceled in 2020 and limited last November because of coronavirus concerns. The race is regarded as the world’s largest marathon and will celebrate its 51st running on November 6 with a field of 50,000 runners. This year, all participants will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 while it is unclear what the requirements will be for spectators.
Most COVID rental aid went to low-income families
The US Treasury Department concluded that more than 80% of the billions of dollars in federal rental assistance went to low-income tenants. The rental assistance is aimed at keeping families in their homes during the pandemic. The Treasury found that the largest percentage and more than 40% of tenants getting help were Black and two-thirds of recipients were female-headed households. These [women, Black renters and low-income households] are the groups that face the highest risk of eviction and who were most severely affected by the economic impacts of the pandemic.
That is all the top stories for today and stay with the light!
https://www.axios.com/putin-delares-war-on-ukraine-5a28dbd5-362f-4e97-91e1-84272f7390fd.html
https://www.axios.com/ukraine-invasion-kyiv-cnn-explosions-d76fc021-e1ab-4334-9354-f312df7623e8.html
https://www.axios.com/russia-attacks-ukraine-from-land-sea-efbe922b-eed2-40f2-be7d-a9570c3c40db.html
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/treasury-covid-rental-aid-low-income-residents-83091091