Tuesday morning news: June 18, 2024

BIDEN:  Well, Secretary General, welcome back to the Oval Office.

Stoltenberg/NATO » President Biden welcoming NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at the White House on Monday ahead of next month’s NATO summit in Washington.

The two leaders said more members of the alliance than ever before are stepping up their defense spending.

BIDEN: A  record number of allies, uh, meeting the NATO commitment to at least two percent of their GDP on defense. And I look forward to building it all on all this progress next month.

Stoltenberg, in his remarks, made the case for the critical importance of the alliance. He also said that at the meeting next month, he expects leaders to reaffirm their support for Ukraine.

STOLTENBERG:  I think it's important to understand that the stronger our support for Ukraine is, the sooner this war can end, because the sooner President Putin will realize that he cannot wait those out.

The summit is slated for July 9th through the 11th.

Netanyahu dissolves Israel’s war cabinet » Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now relying on the counsel of a small group of ministers for advice on wartime decisions after dissolving his nation’s war cabinet.

The White House declined to weigh in on the decision.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: Well, that’s really up to the prime minister to decide. The war cabinet is an internal — was an internal domestic measure taken by the prime minister to better advise and provide him counsel on the war.

Kirby added that Netanyahu was really left with no choice but to dissolve it after Benny Gantz resigned from the cabinet. Gantz is a longtime political rival to Netanyahu … who joined the panel in a show of unity. But he recently quit, criticizing the prime minister’s handling of the war.

Houthi attacks » In the waters of the Middle East the U.S. Navy is engaged in what has turned into the most intense running sea battle it has faced since World War II.

BLOMBERG:  I don't think people really understand just, just kind of how deadly serious it is, what we're doing …

Commander Eric Blomberg spoke aboard the USS Laboon on the Red Sea where the Navy is countering the Yemen–based Houthi rebels as they continue to launch attacks on commercial shipping lanes.

BLOMBERG: The ships continue to be the Houthis shooting every day. Uh, our ships remain under threat every day.

The Houthis claim they’re launching the attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians amid the war in Gaza. But the White House calls that nonsense saying the Houthis’ actions are harming the entire region, including the Palestinians and the attacks are purely terrorism.

And Rear Admiral Marc Miguez, Commander of Carrier Strike Group Two says that leads back to the world’s leading state sponsor of terror.

MIGUEZ: Not only is Iran providing financial support, but they’re providing intelligence support.

And of course, he says Iran is providing plenty of weapons.

Surgeon general social media » Warning: Social media could be hazardous to your child’s mental and emotional health.

That’s the word from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy who wants a warning label on social media platforms similar to the ones we’ve seen on cigarettes for decades.

MURTHY:  When adolescents spend more than three hours a day on social media, we're seeing an association with a doubling of risk of anxiety and depression symptoms.

And on average, he says, American adolescents are spending five hours a day on social media.

And he told NBC’s Today Show that a warning label could help parents understand the risks.

MURTHY: And we have data from tobacco warning labels that in fact tells us that they can be helpful in changing awareness and changing behavior.

He adds that parents and teachers can also help address the problem in part by making classrooms and dinner tables phone-free zones.

Heat wave » Extreme heat is baking much of the United States. More than 70 million Americans are under heat watches or warnings, including much of the Midwest and Northeast.

Andrew Orrison with the National Weather Service:

ORRISON:  We are going to be looking at a rather prolonged heat wave here, certainly building with time, especially for the eastern part of the country. Temperatures that are going to be well into the nineties, locally approaching 100 degrees.

Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia are among the cities that could approach record highs for mid-June. And high humidity will make it feel even more oppressive in some places.

Maryland drug crime pardons ready to record » Maryland Gov. Wes Moore has announced the largest round of criminal pardons in the state’s history. The Democratic governor signed an executive order issuing more than 175,000 pardons for misdemeanor marijuana convictions.

MOORE: This is about changing how both government and society view those who have walled off from opportunity because of broken and uneven policies.

Moore said that black residents had been more likely than others to be punished for the possession of pot. That was before Maryland legalized the drug in 2022.

The pardons will not result in past convictions to be automatically expunged. But backers of the move say it lifts barriers to opportunities based on convictions for conduct that is no longer illegal.

I’m Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: Southern Baptists try to find common ground on IVF.

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