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The Russian military has lost more than 10% of the combat force that President Vladimir Putin sent to invade Ukraine, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.
The Russian combat force has dipped slightly below 90% for the first time in the war that began less than a month ago, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe intelligence assessments. Not all the more than 150,000 Russian troops in and around Ukraine are combat troops; many provide support functions.
Russian forces remain largely stalled across Ukraine, particularly around the capital of Kyiv, where their closest forces remain about 10 miles from the city’s center.
Psaki tests positive: White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time on Tuesday, which means she will not accompany President Joe Biden on his trip to Europe Thursday.
It’s Amy and Chelsea with today’s top stories out of Washington.
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Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Jackson ramps up on day two
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson faced senators’ questions on impartiality, her sentencing patterns, her defense of Guantanamo Bay detainsabortion and more in the opening hours of Tuesday’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Jackson, a judge on the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and President Joe Biden’s pick for a lifetime appointment, told senators she believed Roe v. Wade, which protects abortion, is a settled issue. She leaned into her family’s history of ella in law enforcement to describe how it influences her role of ella as a judge.
And she noted the high honor that would come with being the sixth woman – and the first black woman – ever on the nation’s nine-member high court, calling it “extremely meaningful.”
Senators got 30 minutes each, in order of seniority, and then, they’ll get a second round of questions on Wednesday.
Missed Monday’s hearings? Read a recap of the biggest moments from day one of Jackson’s confirmation hearings here.
Real quick: Stories you’ll want to read
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What will post-pandemic funding look like for HBCUs?
The Department of Education released a state-by-state breakdown of roughly $3 billion in Higher Education Emergency Relief funding distributed to HBCUs under President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The funds helped school administrators retain student enrollment and keep college affordable.
The new distribution offered the institutions more flexibility than prior emergency relief fund distributions, which began under the Trump administration. But advocates and lawmakers are still worried about continued support for already-underfunded schools once the pandemic ends.
House HBCU Caucus co-chair Rep. Alma Adams, DN.C., and caucus member Rep. Marilyn Strickland, D-Wash., led a bipartisan letter to congressional leadership to urge the expansion of higher ed relief funding for HBCUs.
“HEERF funds have allowable uses for infrastructure improvements that are related to COVID-19. However, if an HBCU has an infrastructure request unrelated to the impacts of COVID-19, such as building a new set of classrooms, then this request would not be allowed,” the letter states.
Caucus members also tout the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act, which allows historically Black colleges to apply for grants to “strengthen the safety and security of” their campuses, as a long-term solution for underfunded schools, particularly in light of a rash of bomb threats targeting HBCU campuses.
Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., an HBCU Caucus member and cosponsor of the bill, said the act “will provide HBCU schools the financial resources necessary to undertake needed improvements to campus facilities that attract and launch future generations of students.”
Have you met USA TODAY’s “Women of the Year”? Check out the list of amazing women leaders. — Amy and Chelsea
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism