Ukraine hit by 'kamikaze' drone attack

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Thursday 10.13.22

If you live in a bustling city, it's quite normal to be surrounded by honking cars, chirping cell phones and crying babies. Quiet spaces around us are dwindling, and experts say it's affecting our minds and bodies. To learn more about cherishing quietness, check out the latest episode of Chasing Life as Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores why we need silence for our health. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On With Your Day.

By Alexandra Meeks

Pro-Trump supporters storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

January 6

A Texas family was sentenced together on Wednesday for storming the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with the two parents getting jail time and three adult children given probation and some home confinement. For several months, prosecutors have strategically used video they've collected through subpoenas, from riot participants' cell phones and online accounts, and from YouTube and media outlets in hundreds of January 6 cases. Today at 1 p.m. ET, the House select committee investigating the insurrection will hold its 10th public hearing -- the last before the midterm elections. Since the committee's prior hearing in July, authorities have ramped up various probes and searched former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence to investigate his apparent mishandling of sensitive documents. A Trump employee has also told the FBI about being directed by the former President to move boxes out of a basement storage room to his residence after a subpoena was served for any classified documents at the Florida estate.

Ukraine

Today marks the fourth consecutive day of Russian strikes targeting civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. One of Russia's strikes included a "kamikaze" drone attack on the Kyiv region and shelling of residential buildings in the southern city of Mykolaiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat Moscow's blitz. "We are fighting a large country that has a lot of equipment and lots of missiles," Zelensky said during a virtual address today. He specifically called on Western countries such as the US and France to increase their military aid to the country.

Alex Jones

A jury on Wednesday decided that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay nearly $1 billion in damages to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims for his lies about the school massacre. Jones baselessly said again and again after the 2012 mass shooting, in which 26 people were killed, that the incident was staged, and that the families and first responders were "crisis actors." The plaintiffs throughout the trial described in poignant terms how the lies had prompted harassment against them and compounded the emotional agony of losing their loved ones. The decision marks a key moment in the years-long process that began in 2018 when the families took legal action against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, the parent of the fringe media organization Infowars.

Immigration

The Treasury Department's inspector general is examining Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' flights carrying migrants to Martha's Vineyard, including whether the state improperly used Covid-19 relief funds to transfer the migrants. According to a letter provided to Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey, the watchdog "has audit work planned" of Florida's use of State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds. CNN previously reported that the flights may have exceeded the original scope of the state's plan to transport undocumented individuals. The decision by DeSantis to orchestrate the flights was part of his criticism of the Biden administration's immigration and border security policies.

Iran

As women burn headscarves and cut off their hair in nationwide protests, an Iranian official has admitted that student protesters are being taken to mental health institutions. In an interview with an independent reformist Iranian newspaper, Iran's Education Minister Yousef Nouri confirmed that some school students are indeed being held at establishments that, he said, are meant to reform and reeducate the students to prevent "antisocial" behavior. This comes after 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died nearly a month ago after being taken to a "reeducation center" by state "morality police" for not apparently not wearing her hijab properly. Amini's death has sparked weeks of anti-government protests that have spread across the country.

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in memoriam

Willie Spence, the "American Idol" Season 19 runner-up, has died. He was 23. Local authorities say the singer was killed in a car accident in Tennessee on Tuesday. "We are devastated about the passing of our beloved American Idol family member, Willie Spence," read the caption on a video of Spence's "Idol" audition, posted on the show's verified Instagram account on Wednesday. "He was a true talent who lit up every room he entered and will be deeply missed."

300,000

That's how many rainbow-colored fentanyl pills were recently found inside a Bronx apartment building, making it the largest fentanyl seizure in New York City history, authorities said. The total sum of the drugs is worth about $9 million in street value. Two people have been arrested and charged with multiple drug and firearm charges in connection to the seizure on October 7, officials said. The drug has been a major driver of fatal and nonfatal overdoses in the US as well as the opioid epidemic.

These actions were wrong. They were damaging. And they were unacknowledged for too long.

-- Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne, apologizing in a letter to the Jewish community Wednesday for limiting Jewish student admissions during the 1950s and then denying such a practice existed in the years that followed. The university said it will "acknowledge and apologize" as well as "explore, educate, and enforce" recommendations made by a task force that has been researching the matter.

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