Friday morning news - April 15, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet sinks » The battle-damaged flagship of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet has sunk.

Russian state media says it sank after fire damage—quote—“from the detonation of ammunition.”

Ukraine says a missile strike is what caused that damage.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby commented …

KIRBY: It’s basically designed for air defense. That’s what this ship is designed to do, not unlike our own cruisers. So it’s going to have an impact on their capabilities, certainly in the near term.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the ship sank in a storm while being towed to a port.

The loss of the warship named for the Russian capital is also a devastating symbolic defeat for Moscow.

But there’s plenty of bad news for Ukraine as well. Officials warn that Russia is close to conquering Mariupol after weeks of shelling it nearly into oblivion.

And while the West is rushing more weapons into Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says they simply can’t arrive fast enough.

KULEBA: If Ukraine doesn’t receive all necessary weapons within days, not weeks, that will mean that more people, more civilians will be killed, more atrocities will be committed, and more Ukrainian villages and towns will be destroyed.

Russia’s military is gearing up for a major offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.

Florida passes pro-life law » Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a new pro-life bill into law. The Republican governor declared on Thursday …

DESANTIS: I will be signing House Bill 5, which protects the rights of unborn children beginning at 15 weeks. This is a time where these babies have beating hearts.

The law is slated to take effect on July 1st though it will surely have to survive legal challenges from abortion activists.

The bill provides exceptions only to protect the life of the mother or if the unborn baby has a fatal abnormality.

Current state law allows abortions up to 24 weeks. Many women from other states travel to Florida to end their pregnancies. The state reported nearly 75,000 abortions last year.

The latest bill comes days after a state circuit judge ruled that Florida can require a 24-hour waiting period for abortions.

KY legislature overrides governor on abortion, women’s sports » Meantime, in Kentucky, the Republican-led legislature overrode Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes of a pair of bills related to abortion and women’s sports. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: One of those bills that the Democratic governor tried to veto bans abortions after 15 weeks, except in cases of a severe health risk to the mother. It also regulates the dispensing of abortion pills and requires women to be examined by a doctor before receiving abortifacient drugs.

The other bill blocks transgender athletes who are biologically male from participating in girls and women’s sports from sixth grade though college.

Gov. Beshear argued that the bill did not cite—quote—“a single instance in Kentucky of a child gaining a competitive advantage as a result of sex reassignment.”

University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines supported the bill. She was forced to compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas in the NCAA.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Protests erupt over fatal police shooting » PROTEST: What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!

Protests erupted in the streets of Grand Rapids, Michigan on Thursday, demanding action. That after authorities released video footage of a white police officer fatally shooting a black man after a traffic stop.

The footage showed a foot chase followed by a struggle for control of the unnamed officer’s taser. The officer repeatedly told 26-year-old Patrick Lyoya to “let go” of his Taser. The officer then shot him in the back of his head while kneeling on his back.

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom told reporters …

WINSTROM: This is a difficult day. My heart goes out to the family of Patrick Lyoya.

The officer has been placed on paid leave for the time being.

He pulled over Lyoya, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, last week for a license plate that didn’t belong to the vehicle. A passenger started filming as Lyoya got out of the car.

The officer’s body camera was turned off during the struggle, which takes holding the button for three seconds. Winstrom said that could have happened during the struggle.

Musk bids to buy Twitter » Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after backing out of a plan to join Twitter’s board of directors wants to buy the company outright and take it private.

Musk hinted that he would like to rein in Twitter’s controversial censorship practices.

MUSK: Twitter has become kind of the de facto town square, so it’s really important that people have the, both the reality and the perception that they are able to speak freely within the bounds of the law.

He said Twitter should be “very reluctant to delete” user content or to permanently ban users. He said temporary “time outs” are better.

Musk said he believes the platform “needs to be transformed” as a private company to protect free speech.

MUSK: Having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the future of civilization.

Musk is currently the company’s biggest individual shareholder after buying a 9 percent stake in the social media giant. He wants to buy the rest of the company at just over $54 per share at a total price tag of $43 billion.

Twitter said it has received Musk's offer and will consider whether it is in the best interests of shareholders to accept.

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

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