first, let's dive into your need to know headlines
this morning. And despite Moscow's stepped up aggression,
Ukrainian forces holding their own in many places. And
even retaking ground from Russian troops. The armed forces
of our state provided us all with good news from
the heart Kiev region. The occupiers are gradually being
pushed away from Kharkiv right now. U. S
. Intelligence indicating Russia is in the war for the
long haul. Despite early negotiations that seemed to hold
promise now elsewhere, the U. S. House
of Representatives passed legislation that's set to deliver 40 billion
in military and humanitarian aid all to Ukraine here and
the firearm homicide rate in the US in 2020 was
the highest recorded since 1994. That's according to US
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report from 2019 to
2020 the overall firearm homicide rate in the US climbed
from 4.6 deaths per 100,000 people to 6.1 deaths per
100,000 people. That's an increase of about 35%.
Now. Meanwhile, the overall fire firearm suicide rate
remained relatively unchanged between 2019 and 2020. The CDC
researchers wrote that the pandemic might have heightened the existing
social and economic stressors that increased risk for homicide and
suicide. Meanwhile, from prices at gas pumps to
grocery stores. Americans facing the worst inflation in 40
years. That president Biden spoke from the White House
yesterday about his plan to control the economy. Take
a listen, I want every american to know that
I'm taking inflation uh very seriously. And it's my
top for domestic priority now. President Biden blamed the
pandemic and Russia's war in Ukraine for the troubling economy
. He also spent a significant amount of time on
the defensive attacking republicans as well. But the mega
republicans are counting on you to be as frustrated by
the pace of progress so they can enact their extreme
agenda. The President arguing that the GOP coming for
voting rights and wanting to ban books. He also
argued that that leaks Supreme Court draft opinion that would
overturn Roe V. Wade shows more still at stake --> .