Monday morning news: March 6, 2023

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Ukraine war update »

SOUND (shelling NATS): [BLAST]

Ukrainian troops firing artillery rounds at invading Russian forces in the eastern city of Bakmut.

ZELENSKYY: [UKRAINIAN]

President Volodymyr Zelensky calls it a "painful and difficult" battle in the Donbas region as the Kremlin continues to feed waves of Russian troops into the war machine.

Russian bombs destroyed two key bridges in and out of Bakmut, cutting off critical supply lines for Ukrainian forces.

While the military war is a long way from over, it appears Russia is clearly losing the global propaganda war. A video clip went viral over the weekend of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking to a crowd in New Delhi, India. When he tried to frame Russia as the victim in this war, the crowd wasn’t quite buying it.

LAVROV: The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using the Ukra … — [laughter] —Ukrainian people....

China economic growth »And officials in Washington remain concerned that China may choose to sell weapons to Moscow. But they’re hopeful the possible repercussions for China’s economy will deter Beijing from doing that.

The Chinese Communist Party over the weekend says it’s aiming to grow its economy by only five percent in 2023.

LI: Chinese-GDP...

China’s top economic official Premier Li Keqiang heard there.

Last year the Chinese economy grew by roughly three percent, one of its worst years since the 1970s.

LI: Chinese Military

Despite a slower economy, Chinese officials also say they’ll increase military spending by slightly more than seven percent.

Another train, derailment, rail safety push » In Ohio, authorities say there is no risk to residents or the environment between Columbus and Dayton after another Norfolk Southern train jumped its tracks over the weekend.

But Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown said Sunday …

BROWN: I’m not entirely satisfied because there are some sort of remnants of something that might have been in those cars. Those cars were mostly empty, but I want to know if there are any contaminants left in those mostly. empty cars.

Meantime, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is pushing a new rail safety bill.

Brown is one of the co-sponsors of that bill. And a fellow Ohio lawmaker, Congressman Mike Turner, a Republican, told NBC’s Meet the Press it’s time to act.

TURNER: This truly is outrageous. What we’ve seen recently with the risk to communities is unacceptable.

The bill would tighten safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials and increase the fines for violations.

Marianne Williamson » If President Biden does indeed seek reelection, he’ll have at least one challenger. Self-help author Marianne Williamson says she is running for President again.

WILLIAMSON: This system will not change itself. The status quo, ladies and gentlemen and everyone else, will not disrupt itself. That’s our job.

With her weekend announcement, she is the first Democrat to officially enter the race.

Williamson made it onto the presidential debate stage ahead of the 2020 election before dropping out of that race and throwing her support behind socialist Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders.

WILLIAMSON: It is our job to create a vision of justice and love that is so powerful that it will override the forces of hatred and injustice and fear.

President Biden is expected to announce a reelection bid in the near future.

Meanwhile the former Republican governor Maryland, Larry Hogan says he will not run for President.

Two days earlier, conservative political activist and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced his candidacy for the GOP nod.

CPAC » And in Washington over the weekend, two other Republican candidates and several possible contenders … took to the stage at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

TRUMP: I will put the people back in charge of this country again. The people will be back in charge of our country.

Former President Trump headlined the event. On social media, he mocked his former Ambassador to the UN—turned Republian rival, Nikki Haley, for a modest turnout at her CPAC speech. But on stage, he largely steered away from drawing attention to Haley or other potential opponents.

For her part, Haley took a delicate jab at Trump.

HALEY: We have lost the popular vote in the last seven out of eight presidential elections. If you’re tired of losing, put your trust in a new generation.

And former Sec. of State under Trump, Mike Pompeo, took what some saw as a no-so-delicate swipe.

POMPEO: We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics, those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality. This is a tough world.

Pompeo has not announced his candidacy, but he is expected to do soon.

Weather » Forecasters say storms will continue batter Northern California this week. That after winter storms pounded the area and much of the rest of the country over the past week.

Brian Hurley with the National Weather Service:

HURLEY: A lot of snow especially above 2000 feet and with that two winds to go with it not quite the blizzard like conditions we saw with the last storm system, but still a lot of snow. And with all of that snow you know certainly the avalanche risk continues.

Severe weather has killed more than a dozen people in the South over the past week where storms spawned extreme winds and tornadoes.

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

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