Colleges are preparing to make major changes in the classic admissions process as they try to figure out how to attract a diverse student body in a post-affirmative-action world, Axios' Erin Doherty reports.

• Why it matters: The Supreme Court is expected to rule this summer that schools can't explicitly consider applicants' race.

✏️ Standardized tests may be on the chopping block if schools can't take students' race into account, Julie J. Park, an associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Maryland, told Axios.

• The pandemic fast-tracked some universities' scrapping of test requirements, which are seen as a barrier to lower-income students.

Schools may look more at an applicant's socioeconomic background, said Vern Granger, UConn's director of undergraduate admissions.

What's happening: The Supreme Court is expected to rule on challenges to the use of race in the admissions processes at Harvard and UNC.

• Oral arguments are an imperfect guide to how the court will rule. But those arguments, and other tea leaves, indicate the conservative Supreme Court is ready to rule against both schools — and either end race-conscious admissions altogether, or roll them back significantly.

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After failing in his initial goal of quickly taking Kyiv, Vladimir Putin appears to be placing his new bet on winning a war of attrition.

• Why it matters: The war — one year old today — could drag on much longer. That would add greatly to the tens of thousands killed, millions displaced and billions spent, Axios' Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath writes.

The war is at a stalemate, says Dale Buckner, a retired Army colonel, and current CEO of the international security firm Global Guardian.

• "Since last fall, when the Ukrainians' counterattacked and took large swaths of terrain back," neither side has "had a large or real tactical victory," Buckner tells Axios. "Everybody's bunkered down in relatively defensive positions."

🇷🇺 Behind the scenes: Inside Russia, Putin has for months been preparing Russians for what he admits will be "a long process."

• In his speech Tuesday, he attempted to normalize the wartime economic situation many Russians find themselves in as the conflict drags on.

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The war in Ukraine, with no end in sight, by AP's Jamey Keaten:

• Russia has launched 5,000 missile strikes, 3,500 airstrikes and 1,000 drone strikes.
• Ukrainian land controlled by Russian forces: 18%. That's down from 27% in March — but up from the 7% held by Russia and Russia-aligned separatists when the war started.
• Potential Russian war crimes — killings, kidnappings, indiscriminate bombings and sexual assaults — under investigation by Ukraine’s prosecutor-general: 71,905.

Casualties:

• Civilians killed: 8,006.
• Civilians injured: 13,287.
• Western estimate of Russian troops killed and wounded: 200,000. Britain estimates 40,000-60,000 Russian troops have died.
• Ukraine troops confirmed killed: 9,000.
• Estimate of Ukrainian troops killed or wounded: 100,000.

Refugees and displaced people:

• Refugees who fled Ukraine: 8.1 million.
• People driven from their homes, but stayed in Ukraine: 5.4 million.
• Ukrainians who have returned to their homes, either from within Ukraine or abroad: 5.6 million.
• People in Ukraine needing humanitarian aid: 17.6 million.

U.S. support:

• Emergency funding approved by Congress last year: $113 billion. White House fact sheets: Past action ... Future action.

💡 How you can help: 44 groups vetted by CNN.

Commercial window washing is still handled mainly by humans on scarily high perches — a 100-year-old model. But a handful of startups hope to disrupt the industry with robots, Jennifer A. Kingson writes Axios What's Next.

• Why it matters: It's safer and faster to use a robot to clean a skyscraper. Robots can clean about three times faster than humans and work at night.

Two competing Israeli companies, Skyline Robotics and Verobotics, are pitching their robot-based window-cleaning systems in New York and other big cities.

• The robots scrub walls and windows with brushes, but don't use any chemicals.

Watch Skyline's Ozmo in action ... Watch Verobotics in action ... Share this story.

For all its game-changing capabilities, generative AI still requires an actual human to ask the right questions.

• Enter the prompt engineers — people and firms setting themselves up as experts at getting what you want from ChatGPT and similar tools, Peter Allen Clark writes for Axios Login as part of our "AI revolution" series.

Trainers and educators are fanning out to help industries teach workers how best to use the new technologies.

• PromptHero, Promptist and Korea have sprung up to help you find the magic words. PromptBase is a marketplace to buy and sell prompts.

A host of new "prompt engineer" jobs have opened. Many job seekers are adding those two words to their resumés.

• Organizations with openings for the role range from a children's hospital in Boston to a law firm in London.

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Gun violence has increased significantly in Washington, D.C., over the past five years, Axios' Paige Hopkins writes for Axios D.C.

• That's despite a slew of safety initiatives, prevention programs and restrictive gun laws.

In 2017, there were 1,573 reported violent crimes in D.C. involving a gun. Last year, that number increased to 2,203 — a 40% jump.

• D.C. police seized 3,152 guns last year — 800+ more than in 2021.

🖼️ The big picture: This reflects a tragic national trend. The U.S. is on pace for around 578 mass shootings (four or more victims, excluding shooter) this year, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from Gun Violence Archive data.

• That would be a 115% increase from 269 mass shootings in 2014, the first full year of the Gun Violence Archive.

Reality check: D.C. is less violent than during the height of the crack epidemic in the '90s, when the city averaged more than 400 homicides per year. Last year, there were 203.

• Get Axios D.C. ... Get Axios Local — in 26 cities, with 4 more soon ... Share this story.

Dana Perino got her start in local news before rising to become the first Republican woman to serve as White House press secretary, under President George W. Bush, Eleanor Hawkins writes in our popular new weekly newsletter, Axios Communicators.

• Now Perino c0-anchors Fox News' morning "America's Newsroom," then returns late afternoon as a regular on the ratings hit "The Five."

"Growing up, my dad made me read the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post every day, and I had to choose two articles to discuss with him at dinner," Perino told us. "That's what started my lifelong love of news."

• Her first D.C. job was answering phones for then-Rep. Scott McInnis (R-Colo.).
• "Six weeks later, I moved over to the Office of Congressman Dan Schaefer [R-Colo.] as his press secretary and eventually worked my way up to the White House."

↪️ Her pivot: Following her stint as White House press secretary, "President George W. Bush, Marlin Fitzwater and the late Charles Krauthammer all gave me similar advice: Do what you love and that the rest will fall into place."

• "I joined a PR firm and nailed down a contributorship with Fox News ... I found that if Fox News called me with an opportunity to go on-air, I would drop everything to do it — being part of the daily conversation is what I loved the most."

☮️ De-stress routine: Pilates or yoga.

• "During the White House years, [former Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice would say that humans can't make good decisions if their brains are clouded — and the only way to clear those clouds is through physical exercise."

💡 Words of wisdom: Perino is known for dedicating time to mentorship. Her top advice:

1. "Your integrity is your most valuable asset, especially if you're in communications ... Protect it at all costs."
2. "Be the most well-read person in the room."
3. "Don't put off the opportunity to be loved in order to chase career dreams."

Keep reading ... Sign up for Eleanor Hawkins' weekly Axios Communicators.

Bridgestone Americas announced the use of more sustainable and bio-circular materials in tires for the upcoming IndyCar season — including Firestone tires with rubber derived from the guayule desert shrub.

• The woody perennial is grown on the company's farm in Eloy, Ariz.

The tires will make their season debut two weekends from now on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

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