Axios

Forty-three members Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, are urging President Biden to get authorization from Congress before deploying any U.S. Armed Forces to Ukraine.

Why it matters: Lawmakers ranging from progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to staunch Trump ally Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) have signed onto the letter as the crisis in Ukraine has escalated drastically after Putin recognized two pro-Russian separatist "republics" and sent Russian "peacekeepers" to the territories.

Former President Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin "very savvy" after Putin recognized two breakaway "republics" in eastern Ukraine as independent.

Why it matters: Western leaders have denounced the declaration as a violation of international law and Ukrainian sovereignty. Russian forces have moved into Ukraine under the guise of peacekeeping.

Thousands of Chicago students — plus their parents — will have a better shot at graduating from college with a full-ride scholarship program announced at five public schools on Tuesday.

The big picture: The program will give mostly Black and Latino students scholarships starting in the fall semester.

Sheriffs and advocates in two of metro Atlanta’s most diverse counties say immigrants have more trust in law enforcement and communities are safer one year after cutting ties with a federal immigration program that critics argued led to racial profiling.

Catch up quick: Under 287(g) agreements, local law enforcement officers essentially act as an extension of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and conduct immigration checks on people booked into county jails, potentially resulting in their deportation.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) will deliver the GOP's response to President Biden's State of the Union address on March 1.

What they're saying: "Governor Kim Reynolds’ brave, bold, and successful leadership for Iowans has put her right at the front of that pack," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement Tuesday.

A federal judge's recent ruling that blocks regulators from using a key estimate of the harms from carbon emissions is delaying drilling permits, lease sales and environmental rules, federal officials say.

Driving the news: Administration lawyers are asking the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana to stay its sweeping preliminary injunction that prevents using the White House's social cost of carbon (SCC) in decision-making.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected former President Trump's latest request to block the National Archives and Record Administration from releasing records to the House Jan. 6 select committee.

The big picture: The court's rejection marks a formal end to Trump's efforts to prevent lawmakers from obtaining records that contained White House visitor logs and other documents that the former president attempted to keep hidden.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a free-speech case of a Colorado-based web designer who says she should not be forced to create websites for same-sex weddings under state law.

State of play: Attorneys for Lorie Smith are asking the court to review a decision from the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that ruled in favor of a Colorado law that says she must "work with all people regardless of ... sexual orientation," arguing that it violates her First Amendment rights.

A jury on Tuesday found the three white men sentenced to life for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery guilty of federal hate crimes and attempted kidnapping.

Driving the news: Father and son, Gregory and Travis McMichael, and their former neighbor William Bryan, chased Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, and killed him while he was running in a neighborhood just out Brunswick, Ga., nearly two years ago.

Michael Bloomberg, former New York mayor and Democratic presidential candidate, had an apocalyptic warning for his party Monday: Absent "an immediate course correction, the party is headed for a wipeout in November, up and down the ballot."

Why it matters: Bloomberg, in an editorial for Bloomberg Opinion, cites Democratic research that "voters perceive the party as being too 'focused on the culture wars' — from renaming schools to defunding the police."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Tuesday that the certification process for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will be halted, saying that "the situation has fundamentally changed" after the Kremlin ordered troops into eastern Ukraine.

Why it matters: It's a stunning turn of events for the $11 billion, Russia-to-Germany natural gas pipeline, which Scholz had long resisted naming as a potential sanctions target if Russia invaded Ukraine.

Donald Trump's former White House national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, says the U.S. must develop plans to recognize a Ukrainian government in exile in the event Russian troops depose President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Driving the news: O'Brien told Axios if Russian troops invade Kyiv, he doesn't see "any circumstance" in which Zelensky can remain, given U.S. warnings about Russia's alleged possession of a "kill list." He also urged President Biden to publicly vow never to recognize a Russian puppet government in Ukraine.

A new poll from Gallup and the Knight Foundation finds that younger Democrats are driving a huge decline in national news consumption in the U.S.

Why it matters: It marks the first time since the study began in early 2018 that Democrats report having less interest in national news than Republicans and independents.

The U.S. and European Union were preparing on Tuesday to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, after President Vladimir Putin sent troops to two Kremlin-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine.

Driving the news: European officials reported that Russian troops had been spotted overnight moving into the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LNR), the independence of which Putin recognized on Monday to widespread international condemnation.

Lawmakers in Canada voted on Monday night to extend the emergency powers that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked last week in response to protests against the country's COVID-19 health measures.

The big picture: Ottawa police over the weekend effectively ended a weekslong blockade by protesters, some of whom harassed local residents. The parliamentary vote passed 185-151 hours after Trudeau told reporters there were "real concerns" about further threats in the coming days, per Reuters.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on Monday night after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway "republics" in eastern Ukraine as independent.

Driving the news: The rare nighttime meeting was called at the request of Ukraine, the U.S. and several other countries, including the United Kingdom and France. Undersecretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo said at the session's opening that "the risk of major conflict is real and needs to be prevented at all costs."

The U.S. was evacuating State Department personnel from Ukraine due to security concerns on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced after Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway "republics" in the country's east.

Driving the news: The U.S. last week moved embassy operations from Kyiv to Lviv in western Ukraine. Blinken said he was "again taking action for the safety and security of U.S. citizens, including our personnel." "For security reasons, Department of State personnel currently in Lviv will spend the night in Poland," he added in his statement.