Putin orders troops to eastern Ukraine, AT&T shuts down its 3G network: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Putin orders troops to eastern Ukraine
It wasn't immediately clear if an invasion was already underway. Plus, reporter Bill Keveney talks about Black families fighting to regain land taken from ancestors, thousands of New Jersey residents will find out their drinking water is coming through lead pipes, patient safety reporter Karen Weintraub updates us on the delay to vaccinate young children for COVID-19 and AT&T shuts down its 3G network.
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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:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 22nd of February, 2022. Today Russian legislation is paving the way for a full invasion of Ukraine. Plus 3G is shutting down and more.
Taylor Wilson:
Here are some of the top headlines:
- Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard has been suspended for the rest of the regular season. The move comes after he hit an opposing coach against Wisconsin on Sunday.
- Cold weather is on the way for much of the US the rest of the week. The National Weather Service predicts temperatures will be 20 to 30 degrees below average across the Northern tier.
- And today is Tuesday spelled out with the number two. The date is so rare that it's not expected for another 400 years.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered troops into separatist regions of Eastern Ukraine.
[Vladimir Putin speaking Russian]
Taylor Wilson [translating]
"I consider it necessary to take a long overdue decision to immediately recognize the independence in sovereignty of Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. I'm asking the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to support this decision and then ratify treaties of friendship and mutual assistance with both republics."
It was not immediately clear if the movement and invasion was imminent or actually already underway, but the United Nation Security Council held an emergency meeting last night. Spokesperson for the Secretary General, Stéphane Dujarric.
Stéphane Dujarric:
Secretary General is greatly concerned by the decision by the Russian Federation related to the status of certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine. He calls for the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine in accordance with the Minsk Agreement as endorsed by the Security Council in 2015. The Secretary General considers a decision of the Russian Federation to be a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine and inconsistent with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. The United Nations, in line with the relevant General Assembly Resolutions, remains fully supportive of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. The Secretary General urges all relevant actors to focus their efforts on ensuring an immediate cessation of hostilities, protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, preventing any action and statements that may further escalate the dangerous situation in and around Ukraine and prioritizing diplomacy to address all issues peacefully.
Taylor Wilson:
Didier Reynders, a top European Union official said that Russia's recognition of Luhansk and Donetsk as independent states and sending troops into the territories was an act of war. He added that the EU is ready to put in sanctions against Russia.
Meanwhile, president Joe Biden has signed an executive order to sanction any Americans who invest in the regions. AP State Department reporter Matthew Lee has more.
Matthew Lee:
It's not a good step, obviously, because you saw immediate reaction from the European Union and from the Biden administration that this is a violation of international law. You are essentially recognizing the independence of territories that are in a sovereign nation, Ukraine, and you can't do that without consequences. And so the EU and the Biden administration have announced that they will impose sanctions on people who are involved in this decision. Now this is short of and separate of the larger sanctions package that they have threatened Putin and Russia with if they go ahead with an actual invasion of Ukraine. The meeting that is supposed to happen on Thursday between Secretary of State, Tony Blinken and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov is, at this moment, still planned to happen. And during that meeting, a possible summit between president Biden and president Putin will be discussed.
So those are not off the table, at least not yet. What would trigger the end of that diplomatic process would be an invasion and that is certainly something that is possible, particularly after president Putin signed with the leaders of these two separatists areas; aid agreements, agreements that would allow Russia to send troops into Ukrainian territory to assist them. And if that happens, then diplomacy is done.
Taylor Wilson:
You can stay up on all the latest coverage from Eastern Europe with USATODAY.com and new episodes of 5 Things every day.
A number of Black families across the country are seeking the return of land they say has been wrongly confiscated, and often by government entities since the Civil War. The times, places and details all differ, but they all say their ancestors were mistreated because of race. 5 Things producer PJ Elliott spoke with Los Angeles correspondent Bill Keveney for more.
Bill Keveney:
There's been cases arising lately of descendants of families talking about the history of their ancestors owning land. One of the families I featured in the story, their great, great grandfather came to California in the Gold Rush. He was enslaved. He got his freedom. He bought property and then his descendants did but the family says that that was taken away by the state of California in the 1940s. And there's other cases. There was a really successful case in Manhattan Beach, California, where a family that bought property in like 1912. The City of Manhattan Beach took it away by eminent domain in 1924 and the state passed legislation last year to find a way to give that land back to the family and they're working out the particulars now.
So this has gone on a long time, and it's a lot of individual cases where Black people had amassed property and whether it was via eminent domain with farmers, there were things like forced sales because a lot of the farms got passed down without wills, and then they were split up. So it's been a long process and it's somewhat different from the reparations process, but it also shares factors.
PJ Elliott:
So what are the ancestors that these families doing now to try to reclaim that land that was taken?
Bill Keveney:
They use a lot of methods. One is clearly just trying to get the news out, just trying to get the word out through publicity, through talking about it, through telling their family stories and I've talked to people, clearly, they want the land back. But secondly, they think that this is a history that isn't known of their ancestors, of what they accomplished, of what they achieved, of what they say was taken. And they get the word out.
In California, there was a lot of lobbying. There's also in California, reparations task force going on, there was a lot of effort to get legislators to pass these things. In the farmer's case, there was a big lawsuit. The farmers claim they didn't... say they didn't get enough, but they're still pursuing that. In fact, there is money in the infrastructure bill from last year that was designed to go toward canceling debt for farmers but it's been held up by some lawsuits. And there was also some money in the Build Back Better Act, which didn't get passed, that would've gone toward that, too. So it's on a lot of fronts that they're pushing forward on that. There's also attempts to change laws that I talked to a lawyer who, a law professor at Texas A&M, Thomas W. Mitchell, who designed and seen a law pass that helps protect Black farm families from losing their property.
Taylor Wilson:
To read Bill's full story, check out a link in today's episode description. You'll have to subscribe to Paste BN, but we have a special one day only sale. If you subscribe today, you'll get two months of free digital access and after that, just 9.99 a month. We'll post a link to the deal also in today's show description.
More than 180,000 residents across New Jersey will be notified by today that drinking water is entering their homes through lead pipes. Properties with known lead service lines are scattered across hundreds of water systems in the state, but they're mostly in older communities where lead was often used before people knew how toxic it was. Water utility providers are required to send notification by mail by today's date as part of legislation signed into law last year by governor Phil Murphy. The law forces providers to replace all lead pipes that stretch from water mains into a home, but only within the next decade.
Many parents around the country were disappointed when the FDA earlier this month decided to postpone considering COVID-19 vaccines for kids under the age of five, but experts said the decision was the right one. Patient Safety Reporter, Karen Weintraub has more.
Karen Weintraub:
There really isn't enough data yet for the expert committees, for the FDA, for the CDC to decide whether a vaccine is safe and effective for kids in this youngest age group. Interim data found that two shots were not effective enough for kids in the two to four age range, that the vaccine didn't produce as much immune reaction as it did in older kids and adults. And so the company Pfizer and BioNTech, the companies had wanted to go back and give a third shot and see if that would put them adequately protected. At one point, the FDA said, well, maybe we get them started on two shots, and then we can give them a third later. But during the omicron variant, it seems like there was more data that became available and they decided that it wasn't worth giving two shots.
It's understandable that parents would be upset. They've been living in this limbo of not wanting their kids to be infected or infecting them and it's challenging to live that way particularly for people who have immunocompromised family members or children. They haven't been able to resume any semblance of normal life and it's quite challenging. So it is understandable and there is a time pressure that FDA seems to understand that time pressure, but really it does make sense from a scientific point of view to hold off until there's enough data to confirm that these vaccines are safe and effective for the youngest children.
So these vaccines are not approved elsewhere for young children either. The US has been leading this process from the beginning of vaccine authorization. In Germany though, because the vaccine is fully approved, not issued under an emergency use authorization as it is for children in this country, that pediatricians in Germany can give the vaccine to younger kids. We spoke with one pediatrician who has done that. He says he's given it to about 3000 children in this below five age range, hasn't seen any major side effects, maybe a day or two of feeling cruddy, but fewer side effects than he's seen with most other vaccines. He can't tell effectiveness with a group of this size but he feels good about helping to protect these kids. He thinks he's protecting these kids.
Taylor Wilson:
Subscribers to Paste BN can check out Karen's full story in today's episode notes and find Karen on Twitter @kweintraub.
AT&T is shutting down its 3G network today. That means many older smartphones and other devices will no longer work. Verizon was the first to launch a 3G network in the US all the way back in 2002. That was when Blackberry was the top smartphone to own and we were still five years away from the arrival of the iPhone. As for today, if you own a 3G phone or a phone that does not support HD voice calls, it'll no longer make or receive calls or text messages or use any services requiring wireless data. Those devices also cannot even call 911. The FCC recommends visiting your wireless carrier to see whether your phone is affected.
Taylor Wilson:
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us seven mornings a week on Apple podcasts, Spotify, your smart speaker device, or wherever you get your audio. Thanks as always to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show and I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from Paste BN.