Friday morning news - March 4, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Bipartisan calls growing for ban on Russian oil imports » Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are calling for a ban on the import of all Russian oil and energy in the United States.

Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told reporters…

MURKOWSKI: No more Russian energy should come into the United States for the duration of this bloody, horrifying, and unprovoked war.

Many Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, agree.

PELOSI: I’m all for that. Ban it. Ban the oil coming from Russia.

But the White House says while the administration is committed to punishing Russia, it wants to do so in a way that won’t hurt American consumers. Press Secretary Jen Psaki:

PSAKI: We don’t have a strategic interest in reducing the global supply of energy. That would raise prices at the gas pump for the American people because it would reduce the supply available. It’s as simple as less supply raises prices.

U.S. gas prices averaged nearly $3.73 a gallon Thursday. That’s up almost $1 from a year ago.

Last year, Russian oil accounted for about 8 percent of all oil and refined products imported into the United States.

Russians besiege crucial Ukrainian energy hub » Meantime in Ukraine, the Russian military is focused on energy as well. Vladimir Putin’s forces battled for control of a crucial energy-producing city in Ukraine's south on Thursday.

Fighting raged in Enerhodar. That’s the site of the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe. It accounts for one-quarter of the country’s power generation.

But Russian forces also continued to hammer major cities. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby.

KIRBY: What we see is an attempt on multiple lines of access by the Russians to seize major population centers, obviously Kyiv, the capital city, being the main one that they’re after. But they’re going after these major population centers.

A massive armored convoy is still parked outside of Kyiv. And Russia is still launching missiles at cities and civilian populations.

In ongoing diplomatic talks, Russia has yet to show any real interest in ending its invasion. But Russia and Ukraine did reportedly reach a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors inside Ukraine to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.

U.S. Supreme Court to allow defense of Ky. pro-life law » The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled almost unanimously that Kentucky’s attorney general can continue to defend a pro-life law that a lower court struck down. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: After Kentucky passed a law in 2018 banning dismemberment abortion, the state’s only abortion facility sued.

When Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration took office, it stopped defending the case in court. But in 2019, Attorney General Daniel Cameron, a Republican, stepped in to argue the case.

A lower court ruled that he wasn’t allowed to intervene so late in the process, but on Thursday—in an 8-to-1 ruling—the Supreme Court disagreed.

The ruling means Cameron can ask the appeals court to rehear the case. If it says no, he may end up back before the justices—this time arguing the merits of the law, rather than his right to defend it. Dismemberment is the most common method of second-trimester abortions.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Ex-officer cleared in shooting during Breonna Taylor raid » A Kentucky jury on Thursday found a former police officer not guilty on charges that he endangered neighbors the night he fired into Breonna Taylor’s apartment during a botched drug raid.

Jurors delivered their verdict for Brett Hankison just hours after hearing closing arguments. One day earlier, Hankison took the stand in his own defense, describing the frantic events from his perspective.

HANKISON: So at that time I could see—may I stand up, judge? [Judge: You may]—So I could see in the hallway, and I could not tell if it was a male or a female, in a shooting stance at the ready here …

In March of 2020, Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, said he thought the police were intruders and opened fire, striking one of the officers.

Brett Hankison fired at Walker, but multiple bullets passed through a wall and into a neighboring apartment.

Hankison did not fire any of the bullets that killed the 26-year-old Breonna Taylor.

Alabama man first convicted of seditious conspiracy in riot » An Alabama man pleaded guilty Wednesday to seditious conspiracy for his actions leading up to and through last year’s Capitol riot. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: Thirty-four-year-old Joshua A. James pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and is the first person connected to the incident to be convicted of the rarely used charge.

He acknowledged getting into a physical altercation with a police officer while inside the Capitol and participating in a plan to use force to hinder the transfer of presidential power.

He also pleaded guilty to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding.

James is a U.S. Army combat veteran who earned a Purple Heart for service during the Iraq War.

He faces potentially decades behind bars, but given his lack of criminal history and cooperation with investigators, he’s likely to receive a more lenient sentence.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

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