Thursday morning news - April 7, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Biden, West announce more sanctions against Russia » President Biden says the United States and Western allies continue to turn up the heat on Russia with more new sanctions.

BIDEN: With our allies and our partners, we’re going to keep raising the economic cost and ratchet up the pain on Putin and further increase Russia’s economic isolation.

The new penalties will include a ban on all new investment in Russia.

And the West is ramping up sanctions on Russia’s financial institutions and state-owned enterprises. The U.S. and its allies also announced Wednesday that they’re sanctioning the family members of top government officials, including Vladimir Putin’s daughters.

That came one day after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outlined new penalties, including …

LEYEN: A full transaction ban on four key Russian banks. These four banks represent 23 percent of market share in the Russian banking sector.

Also on Wednesday, the Treasury Department moved to block the Russian government from making any debt payments in U.S. dollars from accounts at U.S. financial institutions.

Biden extends federal student loan repayment pause » President Biden announced Wednesday that his administration is extending the freeze on federal student loan payments through the end of August.

BIDEN: This continued pause will help Americans breathe a little easier as we recover and rebuild from the pandemic.

Student loan payments were scheduled to resume on May 1st.

The action applies to more than 43 million Americans who owe a combined $1.6 trillion in federal student debt.

Senate GOP demands Democrats address border crisis » GOP lawmakers are trying to block the Biden administration from lifting the Title 42 immigration measure. Republicans say lifting it would further throw open the floodgates for migrants crossing the southern border.

Senate dealmakers thought they had reached an agreement late Monday on $10 billion dollars in funds to fight COVID-19.

But many Republicans said they would withhold support unless Democrats agreed to vote on an amendment preventing President Biden from lifting Title 42. That’s a pandemic measure that limits who can cross the U.S. southern border.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki criticized the GOP maneuver:

PSAKI: Decisions on Title 42 should remain independent of the urgently needed funding for COVID aid. This is a decision made by the CDC. It’s a public health decision. It’s not one that should be wrapped up, of course, in politics.

Each month, more than 150,000 migrants are either crossing illegally or showing up without documents at ports of entry. The CDC said last week that it will revoke the Title 42 restrictions on May 23rd. That could trigger an even greater surge of asylum-seekers with border officials and the immigration system already overwhelmed.

Police: At least 5 gunmen involved in Sacramento shooting » Police in Sacramento now say that at least five gunmen were involved in a deadly shooting early Sunday morning. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Investigators have identified at least five gunmen but there may have been even more. Police say it now appears the incident was a shootout between rival gangs.

As of Wednesday evening, authorities had arrested only two men in connection with the shooting. They are siblings in their late 20’s. At the moment, they only face firearms charges.

Authorities credited witnesses who contributed nearly 200 videos, photos and tips with helping the investigation, which is ongoing.

More than 100 gunshots echoed through the streets in California’s capital … as bars closed down around 2 a.m. Sunday morning.

Investigators have been trying to determine if a street fight outside a nightclub may have sparked the shooting.

Six people died from gunshot wounds. Twelve others were wounded.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Severe weather kills 3 in south » After violent storms and tornadoes ripped through several states, many residents in the south are still picking up debris and clearing fallen trees from roadways.

The storms are blamed for killing at least three people.

In Bryan County, Georgia, west of Savannah, a woman was found dead Tuesday night amid the shredded wreckage of her mobile home.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp toured the destruction Wednesday.

KEMP: Directly across the street, there is nothing left of that house. It looks like a bomb hit that house. I mean, we’re lucky that there wasn’t more loss of life.

Officials also reported storm-related deaths in Louisiana and Texas.

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

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