National

Almost everything about today's Volodymyr Zelensky speech would have been inconceivable on the day Russia invaded Ukraine. 

The big picture: Zelensky is bursting through an era of peak cynicism.

Zelensky — unshaven, unbowed — to address Congress from Kyiv, when the city was supposed to fall in the initial days?

Zelensky to seize the bully pulpit, calling on the U.S. to behave like a superpower?

His speech evoked imagery of a youthful JFK, in his day the master of the new medium of TV, Axios politics editor Glen Johnson tells me.

Zelensky is 44, using cellphone cameras and Zoom. 

Zelensky virtually addresses Congress from Kyiv. Photo: Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/ Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

"Remember Pearl Harbor, the terrible morning of Dec. 7, 1941, when your sky was black from the planes attacking you,” Zelensky told a packed auditorium in the basement of the Capitol. 

“Remember Sept. 11, a terrible day in 2001 when evil tried to turn your cities, independent territories, into battlefields. When innocent people were attacked from the air.”

"Our country is experiencing the same every day, right now, at this moment,” Zelensky said. “Every night for three weeks now ... Russia has turned the Ukrainian sky into a source of death for thousands of people."

Addressing Biden directly, Zelensky said, "I wish for you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace." 

After the speech, Biden said Zelensky "was convincing" and called Putin a war criminal.

The bottom line: Zelensky's pleas rekindled congressional talk of supporting a no-fly zone over Ukraine, reports Axios' Sophia Cai and Andrew Solender.

"I wouldn't say [a no-fly zone] is off the table," House Democratic Caucus Chair Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told Axios.

Zelensky has mastered the new way to reach the masses

The Ukrainian leader is bursting through an era of peak cynicism.

Photo: Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Volodymyr Zelensky

World

An estimated 62% of American schoolkids are starting the year virtually, with many of the rest facing the same fate should caseloads rise in their areas. Only 19% have in-person school every day, with another 18% in hybrid formats, according to a Burbio tracker.

The state of play, via the AP: Three of Texas’ largest school districts were hit with technical problems on the first day of classes, as were school systems in places such as Idaho and Kansas. North Carolina’s platform crashed on the first day of classes last month, and Seattle’s system crashed last week.

The big picture: These problems are particularly acute for parents of young kids.

Alessandra Martinez's 7-year-old has struggled with logins, passwords and connection problems, she told AP.

He had a meltdown when he was moved to a smaller breakout group but didn’t see the teacher and didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing.

“At their age, everything is amplified, and it feels like a big deal,” Martinez said.

The bottom line: Educators and parents alike are doing their best, and hopefully some of these issues can be fixed or minimized.

But as with just about every aspect of the coronavirus pandemic, its pain will be felt most by those with the fewest resources.

America's great virtual-learning experiment faces glitches nationwide

62% of American schoolkids are starting the year virtually.

Andrew Burstein logs onto his eighth-grade class in Delray Beach, Fla.

Andrew Burstein logs onto his eighth-grade class in Delray Beach, Fla. Photo: Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP

Education

Technology

Coronavirus

An estimated 62% of American schoolkids are starting the year virtually, with many of the rest facing the same fate should caseloads rise in their areas. Only 19% have in-person school every day, with another 18% in hybrid formats, according to a Burbio <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="tracker" data-vars-click-url="https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-tracker/" data-vars-content-id="18bb731c-53fc-406b-aa11-e73a608856b2" data-vars-headline="America&#x27;s great virtual-learning experiment faces glitches nationwide" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-tracker/" target="_blank">tracker</a>.The state of play, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="via the AP" data-vars-click-url="https://apnews.com/06f5fdc1f7cdf62621a2539a1433bd21" data-vars-content-id="18bb731c-53fc-406b-aa11-e73a608856b2" data-vars-headline="America&#x27;s great virtual-learning experiment faces glitches nationwide" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://apnews.com/06f5fdc1f7cdf62621a2539a1433bd21" target="_blank">via the AP</a>: Three of Texas’ largest school districts were hit with technical problems on the first day of classes, as were school systems in places such as Idaho and Kansas. North Carolina’s platform crashed on the first day of classes last month, and Seattle’s system crashed last week.

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

The next big coronavirus battleground will be over who has the final say on whether schools can stay open.

Why it matters: This involves the safety of young children and their parents, not to mention older educators and staff, and comes at the same time as many of the parents are out of work.

In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan has overruled wealthy Montgomery County's decision to force private schools to join public schools in going virtual-only until October.

“Private and parochial schools deserve the same opportunity and flexibility to make reopening decisions based on public health guidelines,” he said in a statement yesterday. 

“The blanket closure mandate imposed by Montgomery County was overly broad and inconsistent with the powers intended to be delegated to the county health officer.”

The big picture: Different levels of government have been at odds since March over business closures, mandatory quarantines, mask mandates and more. 

There will be outbreaks at schools that meet for classes, as has happened in other countries, and the coming weeks will be crucial as officials determine their comfort level for keeping classrooms open despite fresh infections.

This is particularly hard when city, county and state officials are fighting.

Between the lines: This is also playing out during a wave of evictions, destabilizing homes at the worst possible time.

The bottom line: The coronavirus has hit America unequally on many fronts, and schools will be no different.

But for many of the millions of American parents staring at a fall of full-time parenting, teaching and work, the prospect of all this — plus no ability to plan long-term — could be the most daunting challenge of their lives.

Go deeper: What a day at school looks like in a pandemic

Local governments go to war over schools

The upcoming school year could be the most daunting challenge of some parents' lives.

A protester during a demonstration in NYC.

A protester during a demonstration in NYC. Photo: Ron Adar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Schools

The next big coronavirus battleground will be over who has the final say on whether schools can stay open.Why it matters: This involves the safety of young children and their parents, not to mention older educators and staff, and comes at the same time as many of the parents are out of work.

A rare relief in the 2020 grind: The worst-case scenario hasn't yet come to pass with Hurricane Laura.

The state of play: The storm surge in Louisiana was 9 to 10 feet vs. the possibility of 20, and wind damage is easier to repair than massive flooding.

The death toll currently stands at four, and Interstate 10 is closed because a casino riverboat is jammed under one of its bridges.

The big picture: This was still a monster Category 4 hurricane at landfall. 

“It looks like 1,000 tornadoes went through here. It’s just destruction everywhere,” Brett Geymann told the AP.

600,000 people are without power, and 100,000 are potentially without access to clean water.

There's a “chlorine gas chemical fire” near Lake Charles, Louisiana, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a shelter in place order as a result of the fire, telling residents to close windows and doors and turn off their A/C units. 

What they're saying: "Just about the entire state saw Tropical Storm-force winds," Edwards said Thursday. "That's how big and powerful this storm was."

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters on that his state saw the most significant damage in Orange County.

"You saw more rooftops ripped off, you saw more shingles missing, you saw more trees down, you saw big pieces of steel framing wrapped around some trees. You saw some roads that were still inundated with water, impassable at this particular time," Abbott said.

What's next: FEMA said on Wednesday that it planned to move 500,000 meals and 800,000 liters of water into Louisiana, and would keep 250,000 meals and 400,000 liters of water at its Fort Worth distribution center for either state.

Flood-level rainfall and tropical-storm force winds are expected for Arkansas, after Laura passed near the Louisiana-Arkansas border around 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Louisiana dodges massive storm surge

“It looks like 1,000 tornadoes went through here."

Buildings and homes are flooded in Cameron, Louisiana, in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. Photo: David J. Phillip via AP

U.S. News

Louisiana

Science

Extreme weather

A rare relief in the 2020 grind: The worst-case scenario hasn&#x27;t yet come to pass with Hurricane Laura.The state of play: The storm surge in Louisiana was 9 to 10 feet vs. the possibility of 20, and wind damage is easier to repair than massive flooding.

A look at the scientific breakthroughs changing the world, explorations in space and in worlds beyond our own and the threats posed to us by our own planet, both out of our control and of our own making.

Climate change is spurring people to rapidly accelerate their bucket lists — see the millennia-old Sequoia trees before they burn, the glaciers before they melt or the tropical reefs before they die. 

Why it matters: Climate change is having a profound impact on the earth's natural wonders.

For more than a century, Californians were taught that the great redwoods were fireproof. The first sequoia tree incinerated in recorded history was in 2015, AP reports.

Since then, thousands of the giant trees have burned in Sequoia National Park and the adjacent Sequoia National Forest. 

To blame: climate change and long-term forest management policies.

America's most famous glaciers, memorably viewed from the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, are projected to vanish by the end of this century. 

Australia's Great Barrier Reef has lost half its corals in 25 years, a report said last year.

Climate change is causing people to change their bucket lists

The earth's natural wonders are changing and disappearing.

Ashtyn Perry, 13, climbs a scorched sequoia tree in Sequoia Crest, Calif. Photo: Noah Berger

Ashtyn Perry, 13, climbs a scorched sequoia tree in Sequoia Crest, Calif. Photo: AP/Noah Berger

Climate change

Climate change is spurring people to rapidly accelerate their bucket lists — see the millennia-old Sequoia trees before they burn, the glaciers before they melt or the tropical reefs before they die. Why it matters: Climate change is having a profound impact on the earth&#x27;s natural wonders.

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Stories

Zelensky has mastered the new way to reach the masses

Climate change is causing people to change their bucket lists

America's great virtual-learning experiment faces glitches nationwide

Louisiana dodges massive storm surge

Local governments go to war over schools