Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Quite a sight in Ukraine: “First lady Jill Biden traveled Sunday into war-torn Ukraine, where she met with her Ukrainian counterpart in a Mother’s Day show of solidarity for women fleeing Russia’s invasion. After she crossed the Slovakian border, Biden traveled to the western city of Uzhhorod, where she met Olena Zelenska, Ukraine’s first lady, at a school.”
* The latest heartbreaking attack: “At least 60 people are feared dead after a Russian airstrike hit a school where people were sheltering in the eastern village of Bilohorivka, Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Sunday. Fires raged at the school after the strike on Saturday afternoon, Haidai said in a post on his Telegram channel that was translated by NBC News.”
* Signing the Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022: “President Joe Biden signed a bill Monday that will streamline the lengthy process of supplying Ukraine with the military equipment needed for the fight against Russia.”
* Speaking of the White House: “The Biden administration announced on Monday that 20 internet companies have agreed to provide discounted service to people with low incomes, a program that could effectively make tens of millions of households eligible for free service through an already existing federal subsidy.”
* Tariffs: “The U.S. will lift tariffs on Ukrainian steel for the next year in a bid to help Ukraine as its war with Russia continues, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo announced on Monday…. The move temporarily pauses part of a 2018 measure by the Trump administration to impose steel and aluminum tariffs on a broad swath of countries.”
* Speaking of tariffs: “Top climate officials in the Biden administration are warning that a federal investigation into alleged dodging of tariffs by Chinese suppliers has put the domestic solar industry in peril just as the United States is trying to ramp up clean-energy production.” * We need more immigrants: “After immigration to the United States tapered off during the Trump administration — then ground to a near complete halt for 18 months during the coronavirus pandemic — the country is waking up to a labor shortage partly fueled by that slowdown. The U.S. has, by some estimates, 2 million fewer immigrants than it would have if the pace had stayed the same, helping power a desperate scramble for workers in many sectors, from meatpacking to homebuilding, that is also contributing to supply shortages and price increases.” * QAnon types’ latest fixation: “Far-right activists are intercepting migrant children and collecting information about their families, based on an unfounded conspiracy theory that they are falling prey to sex-trafficking rings.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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