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Today’s edition of quick hits:
* On the ground in Ukraine: “Fresh efforts to evacuate civilians trapped in an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis in the besieged port city of Mariupol failed Friday after a convoy of humanitarian workers was unable to get through.”
* An important dispute: “Ukrainian officials denied Russia’s accusation that Ukraine was behind a fiery blast at an oil depot Friday in the Russian city of Belgorod, which would mark the first instance of Ukrainian forces launching an airstrike on Russian soil since the invasion of Ukraine began.”
* Let’s hope the progress on hospitalizations continues: “Covid hospitalizations are at their lowest levels since the U.S. began keeping records at the start of the pandemic, according to an NBC News analysis of data from the Department of Health and Human Services.”
* The new standards are a vast improvement over the Trump era: “President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday sharply boosted fuel economy standards for vehicles, reversing former President Donald Trump’s rollback of U.S. regulations aimed at improving gas mileage and cutting tailpipe pollution.”
* A major setback for Amazon: “For the first time in Amazon’s 27-year history, a group of U.S.-based workers have voted to unionize. Out of 4,785 ballots counted, 2,654 workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), which was formed independently by current and former employees of the tech giant.”
* The latest Jan. 6 fallout: “An Alabama man who brought a truckload of weapons, ammunition, and Molotov cocktails near the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 46 months in prison on Friday. Lonnie Coffman, 72, who has been detained since his arrest nearly 15 months ago, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.”
* Remember, for some notable voices on the right, this Republican governor isn’t quite conservative enough: Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey refused to say Thursday if transgender people actually exist, twice dodging direct questions on the subject just a day after he signed legislation limiting transgender rights.
* This was a unanimous appeals court ruling: “A U.S. appeals court on Friday rejected former congressman Devin Nunes’ effort to revive a $250 million lawsuit accusing the Washington Post of defamation for implying that he lied to former President Donald Trump, a close ally.”
Have a safe weekend.