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The White House considered giving Americans gas cards to help offset high prices, but faced strong opposition from congressional committees, which questioned the plan's viability and effectiveness.

Why it matters: The Biden administration is feeling political pressure from high energy costs, made worse by Western sanctions against Russia, and Democrats desperately want to offer some kind of policy response.

A rising number of law enforcement agencies are opting not to share statistics about hate crimes with the FBI — just as hate crimes are skyrocketing, according to U.S. Justice Department numbers.

The big picture: The decline in reporting hurts efforts to accurately document violence against Asian Americans, Black Americans, and LGBTQ+ people, advocates and DOJ officials say.

Alaska Congressman Don Young (R), the longest-serving member of Congress in either party, has died, according to staffers and his family. He was 88.

Driving the news: “It’s with heavy hearts and deep sadness that we announce Congressman Don Young, the Dean of the House and revered champion for Alaska, passed away today while traveling home to Alaska to be with the state and people that he loved," Young's office said in a statement. "His beloved wife Anne was by his side."

The latest:

• Kyiv mayor: Russians missiles hit residential neighborhood with preschool
• Ukraine’s ambassador disputes letter asking U.S. for resistance support
• UN warns Ukraine's food supply chain is "falling apart"
• The "kamikaze" drones the U.S. is giving to Ukraine
• UN: 6.5 million people displaced inside Ukraine
• Zelensky says hundreds still trapped under theater bombed by Russia
• NASA head says Russia is still committed to International Space Station
• Burger King business partner refuses to close Russian restaurants

A dwindling number of places are requiring masks as the U.S. inches towards normalcy — with airplanes, trains and buses the notable holdouts.

The big picture: The TSA's mask mandate stands in stark contrast to virtually every other venue across the U.S., where masks have largely been nixed.

The country’s major credit-reporting firms will soon remove roughly 70% of medical collection debt from Americans' credit reports.

Why it matters: Medical debt is the most common source of collection-related blackmarks on credit reports. It can lower people’s credit scores, making it harder or more expensive to secure mortgages, auto loans and other credit — and even make it harder to secure a job.

Ukraine's food supply chain is "falling apart" under stress from Russia's invasion, potentially undermining food security around the world, the United Nations warned on Friday.

Driving the news: The World Food Program said wheat shipments were largely on hold from both Russia and Ukraine, which combined account for 30% of the world's wheat trade.

President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke for nearly two hours on Friday in a video call that came as the U.S. tries to convince Beijing to distance itself from Russia's war in Ukraine.

Why it matters: It was the first call between the leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine. Biden "described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia as it conducts brutal attacks against Ukrainian cities and civilians," according to a White House readout of the call.

Denver police suffered a "total leadership failure" amid the George Floyd protests in 2020, and chief Paul Pazen appeared "paralyzed" about how to respond, according to never-before-released documents obtained by Axios Denver.

• The statements from top police commanders are detailed in confidential memos written by directors in the Office of the Independent Monitor. The memos are based on interviews conducted as part of the civilian oversight agency's review of the city's response to the protests.

Switchblade drones are among the military support items President Biden announced yesterday in an $800 million package for Ukraine.

Why it matters: Unlike the large drones the U.S. military uses for reconnaissance and deploying weapons against targets, these tiny Switchblades are themselves the weapon.

Nearly 6.5 million people have been displaced inside Ukraine since Russia's invasion, the UN migration agency wrote in a paper out Friday.

Driving the news: "The group agreed that the figures provided by IOM are a good representation of the scale of internal displacement in Ukraine — calculated to stand at 6.48 million internally displaced persons in Ukraine as of March 16th," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general on Friday released a report calling for the "immediate removal" of all detainees from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Mexico due to "egregious" living conditions.

Driving the news: Inspector General Joseph Cuffari issued a "management alert" directing ICE to address "the critical staffing shortages that have led to safety risks and unsanitary living conditions at the Torrance County Detention Facility."

"Saturday Night Live" comedian Pete Davidson will no longer head to space on Blue Origin's next flight, the company announced late Thursday.

The University of Pennsylvania's Lia Thomas became the first transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title after finishing first in the women's 500-yard freestyle championship, ESPN reports.

The world's second-oldest profession — overseas shipping — is getting smarter: Nautilus Labs raised $34 million in a Series B driven to support its AI platform for the shipping industry.

Hundreds of people are still trapped underneath a theater in Mariupol, Ukraine, that was being used as a civilian shelter before it was bombed by Russian forces earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised address on Friday.

Cross River Bank is in the process of raising $600 million in new funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and Eldridge Industries at a valuation of more than $3 billion, per Bloomberg.

The latest: Blue Origin delayed the launch date six days to March 29 and said in a tweet that "Pete Davidson is no longer able to join the NS-20 crew on this mission."

State of play: Thomas finished with a time of 4:33.24, followed by Emma Weyant, who had a time of 4:34.99. Erica Sullivan finished third at 4:35.92.

Why it matters: Nautilus' tool promises to slash shippers' costs by reducing fuel consumption, improving planning — and, not least, lowering emissions.

The latest: Lyudmyla Denisova, Ukraine's top human rights official, said 130 people had been rescued from the destroyed building as of Friday. That would represent only a small fraction of the over 1,000 people, including children, that city officials said were inside shelters beneath the theater at the time of the strike.

• T. Rowe Price and Whale Rock Capital Management are also participating, according to the report.

Gambling regulators in two states are investigating Penn National Gaming over concerns with Barstool Sports and its founder Dave Portnoy, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Why it matters: Penn's acquisition of Barstool always had brand risk, but now it also has business risk that could result in losing gambling licenses.

First-round bids are due today for Chelsea FC, the Premier League soccer club that's being sold by sanctioned Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Why it matters: This will be the highest-profile, fastest and most complex sports team sale ever.

In an alarming new outlook, the National Weather Service said Thursday that drought conditions are likely to persist and even expand across a vast stretch of the country.

The big picture: As of March 15, drought extended across about 61% of the country, the greatest drought extent seen since 2013, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The International Energy Agency just unveiled ideas for quickly cutting oil demand at a time when Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine could bring substantial loss of Russian barrels from global markets.

Why it matters: The 10-point plan comes amid IEA warnings that the war could become the biggest supply crisis in decades as countries look to isolate Russia.

More than 3.2 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

The big picture: The UN refugee agency has labeled the exodus the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.

Russian cruise missiles struck an airplane repair facility west of Lviv's international airport on Friday, Mayor Andriy Sadovy said, according to the New York Times.

Why it matters: Lviv, which is roughly 50 miles east of Poland's border, has served as a safe haven for people fleeing fighting and seen relatively little action before Friday.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid issued a joint statement on Friday urging the Biden administration not to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps from the U.S. blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations.

Why it matters: Bennett and Lapid's statement was unusually strong in its criticism of the Biden administration, calling the proposed move "an insult to the victims."

Consumers gobbled up a record $36.9 billion in candy, gum, mints, chocolate and other confections in 2021 — and are poised to keep buying more, a new report by the National Confectioners Association says.

Why it matters: When times are tough, people turn to sweets to make themselves feel better. The pandemic not only gave people more license to buy goodies, it got them into the habit of buying them online and consuming them at home — for movie nights, etc.

Forces in New York City, California and elsewhere are leading a new push to rein in hospital prices, reviving a health cost fight that’s been on hold for most of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why it matters: Hospital prices vary considerably even in the same market, and rising prices for care are reflected in higher insurance premiums and lost wages.

Companies that never had to deal with abortion rights are now picking a side.

The big picture: After Texas effectively banned the procedure last year, and with the Supreme Court potentially poised to roll back abortion rights, new restrictions could soon put more pressure on big businesses to act.

The United Nations has recorded some 1,900 civilian casualties during Russia's invasion of Ukraine — with 52 children among 726 confirmed dead, a UN official told the Security Council on Thursday.

Driving the news: UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo said the actual number of civilians killed from Feb. 24 to March 15 was "likely much higher."

U.S. officials have not seen American basketball star Brittney Griner since she was arrested in Moscow last month on drug charges because Russian authorities have repeatedly denied their requests, a State Department spokesperson told Axios Thursday night.

Driving the news: "We have repeatedly asked for consular access to these detainees and have consistently been denied access," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

An American citizen killed in a Russian attack on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv was identified by his family and Ukrainian officials on Thursday as James Whitney Hill.

Driving the news: The 67-year-old Minnesota native, known as Jimmy or Jim, "was waiting in a bread line with several other people when they were gunned down by Russian military snipers" on Wednesday, wrote his sister Cheryl Hill Gordon on Facebook. "His body was found in the street by the local police," she added.

Moderna has asked the FDA for an emergency authorization that would allow all adults to receive a second COVID-19 booster, the company announced on Thursday.

Why it matters: The request is likely to intensify an ongoing scientific debate over how long protection from the two most-used vaccines in the U.S. lasts in the face of new variants.

Mark Meadows, who previously served as former President Trump's chief of staff, is under investigation for alleged voter fraud, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (SBI) confirmed to Axios Thursday.

Why it matters: The probe comes after the New Yorker reported that Meadows, also a former U.S. congressman, registered to vote in September 2020 using an address he allegedly never visited.