Thursday morning news: May 4, 2023

KENT COVINGTON, NEWS ANCHOR: Border » Border towns are bracing for a flood of tens of thousands of migrants with the Title 42 rule set to end one week from today.

El Paso, Texas Mayor Oscar Leeser says he’s declaring a state of emergency to marshal resources.

OSCAR LEESER: To keep the people off the street and help them to find temporary shelter. And this is not for permanent sheltering, and that’s one of the things we’ve been working towards.

The pandemic-era Title 42 rule has made it easier to quickly expel migrants who cross the border without permission.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the expected surge is on top of already record-shattering numbers in recent months.

KEN PAXTON: We’ve seen the numbers go up over 300%, and with Title 42 going away, they’re expecting those numbers to potentially double from that.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the U.S. is ramping up cooperation with Mexico to try and curb the surge:

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: We announce additional joint actions with Mexico, including participation in regional processing centers. And so, we’re using all the tools available to us.

Under the agreement, Mexico will continue to accept migrants from several other countries who are turned away at the border. And others may be eligible to live and work in Mexico.

Kremlin drones » Ukraine says it had nothing to do with a reported attack on the Kremlin.

Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin Wednesday, calling it an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded:

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: We don’t attack Putin or Moscow. We fight on our territory. We are defending our villages and cities.

Moscow promised retaliation for what it called a “terrorist” act.

Some question whether this was a “false flag” incident orchestrated by the Kremlin itself as a pretext to escalate the war. White House reporters put that question to Karine Jean-Pierre:

JEAN-PIERRE: Obviously, Russia has a history of doing things like this. But again, I don’t want to speculate.

There was no independent verification of the purported attack, which Russian authorities claimed occurred overnight.

Debt ceiling » On Capitol Hill, still no deal to raise the debt ceiling.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer:

CHUCK SCHUMER: Pass a clean bipartisan bill to avert default.

“Clean” as in, no spending cuts attached.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns that Washington may have less than a month to strike a deal and avoid defaulting on U.S. debts.

Republican Senator Mike Lee said House Republicans last week passed what he called “a really good compromise”

MIKE LEE: To increase the debt ceiling, and at the same time reduce federal spending by $5 trillion dollars over the next decade.

Schumer blasted that bill, calling it “extreme.”

But he also quietly used a special rule this week to place that very bill on the Senate calendar. That would allow it to bypass committees and head straight to the Senate floor for a vote.

The Fed » The Federal Reserve is signaling that it might pause its streak of interest rate hikes after raising its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell:

JEROME POWELL: We are seeing the effects of our policy tightening on demand in the most interest rate sensitive sectors of the economy, particularly housing and investment.

But he said it will take time to bring inflation under control.

The decision follows the collapse of three U.S. banks in the last two months.

Texas Shooter » Authorities have arrested the man accused of fatally shooting five of his neighbors near Houston.

The four-day manhunt for Francisco Oropeza ended Tuesday night. Officers found him hiding under a pile of laundry in a house about 20 miles from the crime scene.

San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers:

GREG CAPERS: He is behind bars, and he will live out his life behind bars for killing those five.

Authorities charged the man with five counts of murder and are holding him on a five million dollar bond.

His wife was also arrested. She has been charged with helping him evade arrest.

Serbia school shooting » In Serbia, a 13-year-old student opened fire at his school, killing nine people. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher reports.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Authorities say the seventh grader meticulously planned the attack in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade. He drew sketches of classrooms and made a list of children he intended to target.

The shooter killed a school guard and then three students in a hallway. He then entered a classroom and opened fire again, killing five more students.

The assailant called police himself after the shooting and was arrested at the scene.

Mass shootings are extremely rare in the Balkan region, even though Serbia is awash in guns left over from the wars of the 1990s.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: States draw battle lines over transgender procedures for children. Plus, bringing gospel hope to the Kentucky Derby.

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