Friday morning news - April 1, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Russia yet to scale back attacks in Kyiv, Chernihiv as promised » Russian forces continue heavy shelling around Kyiv and Chernihiv after vowing earlier this week to scale back their attacks in those areas, supposedly as a gesture of goodwill amid peace talks. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg:

STOLTENBERG: According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but are repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply, and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region.

President Biden on Thursday commented on intelligence reports that Vladimir Putin has been getting bad information from advisers and military commanders.

BIDEN: And there’s some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers. But I don’t want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don’t have that much hard evidence.

Intel officials say top advisers have been afraid to tell Putin the truth about how poorly things have been going.

A key inflation gauge sets 40-year high » Here’s something that will not come as news to you: Prices are going up. But the Commerce Department has new data on just how sharply costs are rising. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation gauge jumped 6.4 percent in February compared with a year ago with prices for food, gas and other necessities surging.

The personal consumption expenditures index saw its biggest jump in 40 years.

If you leave out the volatile prices of food and energy, so-called core inflation rose 5.4 percent in February from a year earlier.

Heavy consumer demand has combined with shortages of many goods, and other factors to fuel the biggest price jumps since 1982.

The numbers will likely get uglier in the coming months because Thursday's report doesn't reflect the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February.

The war has disrupted global oil markets and accelerated prices for wheat and many other commodities.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Biden tapping oil reserve for 6 months to control gas prices » President Biden is trying to take the edge off of painful gas prices, by further tapping into the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve.

He announced the release of 1 million barrels per day for six months.

The release is a way to boost supplies until oil companies ramp up their own production. National Economic Director Brian Deese said he expects a significant increase soon.

DEESE: Most estimates based on commitments by companies are that we will see an additional 1 million barrels a day from U.S. industry by about the end of the third quarter of this year.

President Biden said he also wants to start issuing fines to oil and gas companies that have leases to drill on public lands but are not producing.

But critics say his policies have made oil companies reluctant to drill in some areas.

The president also announced that he will invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles. That’s part of a broader push to steer away from fossil fuels.

Biden promotes Transgender Day of Visibility, rips GOP laws » Also on Thursday, President Biden commemorated the Transgender Day of Visibility.

He announced new measures that he says will make the federal government more inclusive for transgender people.

And speaking at the White House, he slammed new laws in Republican led states, such as those that require athletes in girls’ and women’s school sports to be biologically female. He even called those laws “hateful.”

BIDEN: The onslaught of antitransgeder state laws attacking you and your families. It’s simply wrong. This administration is standing up for you against all these hateful bills.

Among the Biden administration’s new transgender accommodations will be the use of a new “X” gender marker on U.S. passport applications. That will begin on April 11th. And new TSA security scanners will be gender-neutral.

The administration is also working to make it easier for transgender people to change their gender information in Social Security records.

And visitors to the White House complex soon will also be able to choose an “X” gender marker option in the system used to conduct security screening background checks.

Storms, tornadoes rip through the South » At least 18 tornadoes ripped through several southern states over the past few days. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: A tornado killed at least two people and injured two others in the Florida Panhandle on Thursday. Authorities in Washington County said the twister destroyed homes and littered streets with debris and downed power lines.

Another tornado spotted in Louisiana on Thursday followed the same path as one last week.

Twisters were also spotted in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, and Kansas.

And severe weather damaged buildings and knocked out power to nearly 200,000 customers in several other states from Mississippi all the way to Michigan.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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