News Roundup & Comment

Here's your weekly selection of highlights from the Round-Up broadcast:

--Biden administration officials blame Russia for high gas prices. However, according to the Republican Study Committee, their research shows that actually it's every action that the president took against energy in the first 15 months of his presidency that's been the cause.

--President Biden announced that he will tap in to the strategic petroleum reserves to help control gas prices.

--Democrats in the House of Representatives have blocked Republican efforts to move ahead with consideration of the American Energy Independence from Russia Act yesterday that would have reopened U.S. energy projects to combat the rising cost of fuel caused by the Biden administration's anti-fossil fuel agenda.

--Washington state is preparing to ban most gasoline powered vehicles within the next 8 years.

--The Phoenix metropolitan area experienced the highest inflation rate in the nation of the 21 largest metropolitan areas.

--A day after Russia said it would drastically reduce attacks on strategic northern cities in its war against Ukraine, reports of missiles hitting those regions overnight emerged Wednesday as Ukrainian and Western officials remained skeptical of any easing of the offensive.

--The U.N. Human Rights Council Wednesday said there are at least 24 cases in which it appears Russian forces have used cluster bombs in Ukraine.

--The U.S. troop presence in Europe has swelled from 60,000 to about 100,000 as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

--Ukraine has accused Russia of forcibly relocating thousands of civilians from Mariupol, the strategic port city devastated by the Russian shelling.