Wednesday morning news - February 23, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

U.S., European ally hit Russia with sanctions over Ukraine crisis » The face-off over Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine escalated dramatically on Tuesday.

Russia’s rubber-stamp parliament, known as the Duma, gave the green light for President Vladimir Putin to use military force outside his country.

And President Biden and European leaders responded by slapping sanctions on Russian oligarchs and banks. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters …

STOLTENBERG: This is the most dangerous moment in European security for a generation. But Europe and North America continue to stand strong together in NATO.

More than two dozen EU nations unanimously agreed to levy their own initial set of sanctions against Russian officials. Germany also said it was halting the lucrative Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia.

Biden said the United States is sanctioning two of its banks and blocking it from trading in its debt on American and European markets.

BIDEN: That means we’ve cut off Russia’s government from Western financing.

One day earlier, Putin declared that parts of Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists are no longer part of Ukraine. And he began moving so-called peacekeeping forces into separatist-controlled regions.

The White House held back on the toughest sanctions for the time being. Biden said he will unleash them if Russia further invades Ukraine. But he said he fears … that’s likely only a matter of time.

BIDEN: He is setting up a rationale to go much further. This is the beginning of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, as he indicated and asked permission to be able to do from his Duma.

Biden also said he was moving additional U.S. troops to the Baltics on NATO’s eastern flank. But he emphasized that it is purely a defensive move.

SCOTUS to hear wedding photographer case » The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a new clash between First Amendment liberties and a Colorado state discrimination law. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The high court said Tuesday it would hear the case of Lorie Smith.

The Denver-area designer offers graphic and website design services and wants to expand to wedding website services. But she says her Christian beliefs would lead her to decline any request from a same-sex couple to design a wedding website.

She also wants to post a statement on her website about her beliefs. Doing those things, however, would run afoul of a Colorado anti-discrimination law. Smith says that is a clear violation of her constitutional free speech and religious rights.

The Supreme Court said in taking the case that it would look only at the free speech issue.

It said it would decide whether a law that requires an artist to speak or stay silent violates the free speech clause of the First Amendment.

The court is expected to hear arguments in the fall.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Arbery killers convicted of federal hate crimes in his death » The three white men convicted of murder in the death of Ahmaud Arbery were found guilty on Tuesday of federal hate crimes.

A jury found that father and son Greg and Travis McMichael and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan violated Arbery’s civil rights. The court also convicted McMichaels of using a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. And it found all three defendants guilty of attempted kidnapping.

The verdict came just one day before the second anniversary of Arbery’s death in February 2020 near Brunswick, Georgia.

GARLAND: The defendants’ actions and the racism that fueled them have inflicted enduring trauma on Mr. Aubrey’s family, his friends, his community.

Arbery’s father, Marcus Arbery Sr., and his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, emerged from the courthouse holding hands with their attorney Ben Crump, then raised their clasped hands to cheers from supporters.

Cooper-Jones, called the ruling a legal win, but she said it will never be enough.

JONES: We as a family will never get victory because Ahmaud is gone forever.

The defendants, who were already sentenced to life in prison by the state of Georgia, now await sentencing on the federal convictions.

U.S. Soccer reaches settlement with women players » U.S. women soccer players have reached a massive settlement with the sport’s American governing body to end a long legal battle over equal pay. WORLD’s Anna Johansen Brown has that story.

ANNA JOHANSEN BROWN, REPORTER: The $22 million agreement closes a six-year class action equal pay lawsuit.

Five players complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016 that the USSF underpaid them and did not provide adequate working conditions for women. In 2019, more than 20 other women from the national team sued for damages under the Equal Pay Act and gender discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.

The U.S. Soccer Federation—or USSF— will also establish a $2 million fund for players in post-soccer careers as well as charitable efforts.

The federation also committed to an equal pay rate for the men’s and women’s national teams, pending approval of a new collective bargaining agreement.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Anna Johansen Brown.

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

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.