On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Russia invades Ukraine
The move is the culmination of months of tensions in the region. Plus, reporter Chris Woodyard reports on the impact of Russian invasion on gas prices, politics reporter Rick Rouan talks about discrimination against people with disabilities for organ transplants, many people don’t know their job makes them eligible for student loan forgiveness and the NBA returns after the All-Star break.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Buenos dias. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Thursday, the 24th of February, 2022. Today Russia invades Ukraine, plus organ transplant discrimination and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
- The FBI is aggressively investigating dozens of bomb threats against historically black colleges and universities and places of worship. The FBI said at least 57 institutions received bomb threats by phone, email, instant messages or online posts from January 4th to February 16th.
- Matthew Hutchins, the husband of late cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, said he considers Alec Baldwin one of those responsible for his wife’s death. I have blamed multiple parties, speaking to the Today show. Hutchins died after a prop gun fired a live round on the set of the movie Rust.
- And Fox Sports NFL analyst Troy Aikman is reportedly close to joining ESPN. He would feature on Monday Night Football.
Taylor Wilson:
Russian troops launched a wide ranging invasion on Ukraine last night. The move came after a day of heavy sanctions from countries around the world and after weeks of tensions full of diplomatic talks, that in the end could not prevent the Russian aggression.
Russian president, Vladimir Putin, justified the attack in a televised address saying it was needed to protect civilians in Eastern Ukraine. US officials said that it was a false claim, and even predicted yesterday that he would make it. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki:
Jen Psaki:
There are going to be a range of false flag operations that we have expected to, and laid out the playbook, to see. This is an example of it, that is suggesting that they feel under threat. By whom? The Ukrainians that the Russians are threatening to attack? So we’ll continue to call out what we see as false flag operations or efforts to spread disinformation about what the actual status is on the ground.
Taylor Wilson:
Amid the invasion, Putin said that Russia only intends to demilitarize Ukraine and bring people who committed crimes to justice. But he promised intense aggression to anyone who stands in Russia’s way,
Taylor Wilson translating for Vladimir Putin:
Whoever would try to stop us and further create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia’s response will be immediate, and lead you to such consequences that you have never faced in your history. We are ready for any outcome.
Taylor Wilson:
President Joe Biden issued an overnight statement condemning what he called an unprovoked and unjustified attack. Biden will meet with the Group of Seven leaders today before addressing the American people. More sanctions against Russia are also expected today.
In Ukraine, conflict that had seemed to stay in Eastern parts of the country for a generation seems to have finally arrived in parts of the country’s West, including the capital of Kiev.
[Sound: air raid sirens]
Those were air raid sirens earlier today. Kyiv Mayor, Vitali Klitschko, advised residents to stay home unless they’re involved in critical work and told them to prepare to-go bags that they need to evacuate. Nationally, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is asking for international help to defend Ukraine and protect its airspace from Russia. He also said that Russia’s invasion unleashed a war with the entire democratic world. Zelenskyy declared marshal law across Ukraine. The country’s border guard agency reported an artillery barrage by Russian troops from neighboring Belarus, and Russia’s military claims to have already incapacitated all of Ukraine’s air bases.
It’s still not exactly clear how Western militaries will assist Ukraine in the coming days. The US said this week it was repositioning forces around the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. But President Joe Biden has repeatedly said he will not send US troops into Ukraine.
One immediate consequence in the US of Russia’s actions this week will be rising gas prices. Just how high they go depends on Russia’s next moves. Reporter Chris Woodyard explains.
Chris Woodyard:
We all know that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is raising gas prices. It’s going to be raising them big time in the United States where we’re already paying an average of $3.53 cents a gallon, which was high to begin with. Now experts say it could go past four bucks. Frankly, the record in this country is $4.11 cents a gallon set back in 2008. So not counting for inflation, just on a nominal basis, going into the fours is going to be pretty painful for a lot of motorists, it could cause a lot of backlash. How high will they go? Experts say, “Don’t expect it to go past five bucks nationally, but California and Hawaii could see that kind of level because taxes are high in those places. They’re separate gasoline markets. They’re always high.”
So what does this mean? The president has said that he is aware of gas prices. He’s said in his speech that he’s going to try to hold the lid on them, try to line up other supplies, not just in the US but among our allies in Europe, as we take action and sanctions against Russia. But it’s going to be hard. The world gasoline market, the world oil market is very fickle, it’s very independent, and it operates by supply and demand. And with improving economies people want to get out there and drive. The temperatures are going to rise across the country as spring comes. It’s going to make more people want to get out, particularly with the economy being pretty good overall. So it’s going to be interesting to see whether gas prices skyrocket or whether somehow they can hold the lid on these, keep it maybe in the low fours, maybe even the threes. It will be interesting to see what happens.
Taylor Wilson:
You can stay up on all our coverage from Eastern Europe this week and beyond on USATODAY.com.
Advocates say people with disabilities are being discriminated against when they need organ transplants, but bipartisan bills backed by national disability rights organizations have been introduced in both chambers of Congress to try and stop the discrimination. Politics reporter Rick Rouan has more.
Rick Rouen:
So when someone gets an organ transplant it’s not really as simple as just you go in for the operation, you walk out a few days later and you’re this healthy person who just moves on with their life. It requires some fairly complicated postoperative care. There’s lots of follow-up appointments. There’s lifestyle changes that they want people who receive organ transplants to make. And then you also have to manage the side effects of any medication that you’re going to be on really on an ongoing basis after you get a new organ.
So according to that 2019 report that I referenced, transplant centers say that people with disabilities will struggle more with managing all of those complicated factors, and that that is what makes them a worse candidate for an organ than somebody who doesn’t have a disability . Now, advocates on the other side of this say that more resources should just be pumped into helping people with disabilities to manage those sorts of complicated postoperative things that they’re going to have to deal with, rather than just outright disqualifying them from receiving organs. .
Back in December, Senators Marco Rubio and Maggie Hassan introduced a bipartisan bill that would at least set a baseline federal standard to prevent this kind of discrimination. And now this is an important point, it would also set up an expedited review process for cases that allege that this kind of discrimination is going on. So think about it. If you need an organ and one becomes available, everything starts to move really quickly, right? So if you think you’re being discriminated against, you don’t want your case being bogged down in a court process that can take a really long time to resolve. You might miss your window to get that organ transplant. So the legislation provides a faster process for resolving those sorts of disputes.
Now it would piggyback on similar bills that we’ve already seen a bunch of different states adopt over the last few years. We’re now up to 30 states that have these kinds of laws, including 14 that adopted them just last year. And some of the advocates told me that state laws aren’t enough though because you end up with a hodgepodge of different policies, and that could be confusing if someone’s crossing state lines to try to get an organ. So they say that a federal standard is needed because it would at least give this baseline for everyone, and then state laws could go above and beyond that but not offer fewer protections.
One last thing I’d like to mention is that I heard from advocates for people with disabilities that they feel that this kind of discrimination is a referendum from healthcare advocates on the quality of life that somebody with a disability experiences, but the people that I spoke to made it very clear that just because someone has a disability it doesn’t mean that they can’t find fulfillment and that they shouldn’t have the same opportunity to get the lifesaving treatment as others.
Taylor Wilson:
Check out Rick’s full story in today’s episode description.
A large chunk of the country’s workforce is employed in a job that now qualifies for loan forgiveness. That’s through the overhauled public service loan forgiveness program, but many workers, including those who were previously rejected for forgiveness, may not realize they’re eligible. The program requires borrowers to work full-time in a public service job and make 10 years worth of payments on their loans. In turn, the federal government agrees to forgive their debt. The education department overhauled the program in October, they loosened some of the strictest rules that had kept most of the borrowers who worked in millions of qualifying jobs from accessing debt relief.
The NBA returns tonight after the all-star break, and it’s ready for the stretch run of the regular season. The Phoenix Suns enter the second portion of the season as the league’s best team at 48 and 10, including nine wins in their last 10. In the Eastern conference, the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls, two of the years surprises are tied at the top , but the top five teams are all separated by less than three games in the standings. Meanwhile, two preseason favorites to possibly make the NBA finals or even win it all, the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, are 21 games back and seven games back from their respective conference top seeds, though both still have a shot to make the playoffs . You can stay up on all the action with the NBA team over at USA TODAY Sports.
And you can find 5 Things seven mornings a week right here, wherever you’re listening right now. Thank PJ Elliott for his fantastic work on the show, and I’m back tomorrow with more than 5 Things from USA TODAY.
www.usatoday.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism