Here’s what you need to know at the end of the day.
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Good evening. Here’s the latest at the end of Tuesday.
1. Russians forces attacked Ukrainian cities, with civilians paying a heavy toll.
In the main square of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, an apparent rocket strike devastated a large administrative building, killing seven people, officials said. The city’s mayor said another rocket attack on a residential neighborhood destroyed a hospital and resulted in several deaths and injuries.
Kyiv’s main TV tower was hit be a projectile after the Russian Defense Ministry issued a warning that it intended to strike targets across the city. A 40-mile-long convoy of Russian tanks and vehicles about 20 miles north of Kyiv raised the possibility that Moscow could attempt to encircle the capital, though the convoy’s progress has slowed to a crawl as the Russian military struggles with fuel and food shortages.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia of war crimes for deliberately targeting civilians. The U.N. refugee agency warned that Europe would soon face its “largest refugee crisis this century.” About 660,000 people have fled Ukraine in the past six days.
Follow our live updates.
2. President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address tonight at a tense moment both at home and abroad.
Lagging in approval polls, and with inflation continuing to rise in the U.S., Biden is hoping that his prime-time speech will persuade Americans that his administration is leading the country through the pandemic and toward a rebuilt economy. But his economic message will likely be overshadowed by the escalating war in Ukraine.
Taking place in the middle of the Ukrainian night — a time when some of the most devastating Russian attacks have occurred — Biden’s speech will address America’s role in the conflict. Follow our live updates from the speech, which begins at 9 p.m. Eastern time. Here’s how to watch.
3. Today’s Texas primaries officially kick off the 2022 midterms.
Both major political parties will see how well their ideological factions are faring with voters, while bullish Republicans test their predictions of an advantageous political climate. The election will also test the effects of Texas’ news voting law, which may prevent some absentee ballots from being counted.
In South Texas, progressives are attempting to defeat one of the last anti-abortion Democrats remaining in Congress, while the Republican attorney general is looking to defend his position against challengers who claim to be more aligned with Donald Trump.
Follow along for live updates. And take a look at our primary calendar to see when your state is voting.
4. Also in Texas: investigating parents of transgender children for child abuse.
The previously unreported investigations by Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services followed an order by Greg Abbott, the state’s governor, to consider the provision of puberty-suppressing drugs and hormones to transgender teenagers as possible crimes. Earlier today, the A.C.L.U. went to state court in Austin to try to stop the inquiry.
Among the first people to be investigated was an employee of the state protective services, who was told that the only allegation against her was that her 16-year-old transgender daughter might have been provided with gender-affirming health care.
It is not clear if Abbott’s order will survive judicial scrutiny; several district attorneys have said that they would not prosecute such cases. Still, Abbott’s directive has had a chilling effect.
5. A highly mutated version of the coronavirus has been found in white-tailed deer.
Researchers found that the virus may have been evolving in the animals, who live in southwestern Ontario, since late 2020. They also found a very similar viral sequence in one person in the area who had close contact with deer — the first evidence of possible deer-to-human transmission of the virus.
Another team recently found that the Alpha variant may have continued to spread and evolve in Pennsylvania deer. Together, the studies highlight the risk that the animals could become a long-term reservoir of the virus and a source of future variants.
In other virus news, a study found that several common rapid antigen tests work well to detect Omicron.
6. Climate scientists are frustrated that governments aren’t heeding their urgent advice. Some of them are now threatening to go on strike.
Dozens of international climate summits and countless academic papers have largely called for the same thing — quick government action to cut emissions — without success. In response, in an academic journal, Bruce Glavovic and two of his colleagues from his New Zealand university called on researchers to stop their research until nations take action.
Predictably, many researchers balked, calling the idea wrongheaded or worse — “a supernova of stupid,” in one scientist’s words. But Dr. Glavovic says he believes a pause on research would give his fellow researchers a chance to think about how best to use their skills in the slender window of time that humans have left for altering the planet’s trajectory.
7. “So much hatred.”
That’s how Marcus Ransom, the only Black man on the jury in the hate crimes trial of the men who killed Ahmaud Arbery, described what he saw in the defendants who were ultimately found guilty of hate crimes.
Ransom spoke publicly about the case for the first time in an interview with The New York Times.
When the judge asked the jurors if the verdict was true and correct, Ransom felt the tears well in his eyes as he told her yes. The killing of Arbery told one story about the country. But here, he thought, was an alternative that was also true — one that made him think “that we as a nation, you know, we’re moving in the right direction.”
8. There’s a hidden epidemic of brain injuries from domestic violence.
Survivors of abuse can sustain head trauma more often than football players, but they are almost never diagnosed. One expert estimates that 1.6 million of these brain injuries occur every year in the U.S.
It wasn’t until recently, when the brains of deceased football players were examined, that doctors understood the true threat of mild brain injuries: Even slight blows to the head can result in long-term neurodegenerative disease. Still, there has been almost no research done on the topic until recently.
Read the story of one of those women, who endured two decades of beatings from a boyfriend and erroneously thought she had early onset Alzheimer’s in her 30s.
9. Flowers can be so much more than a cocktail garnish.
Petals have long rimmed glasses, making a basic drink look upscale or fun. But from hibiscus to borage to violet, blooms are showing up in drinks and lending them beauty, decadence and a flavor all their own. They can be sweet, earthy or funky — a “functional garnish” meant to be eaten.
One vivid example: Acmella oleracea, also known as buzz buttons or electric daisies, which can be added to cocktails for their potent tingling effect. Their point is not to be tasty, but to change your experience and to enhance the drink’s flavor.
10. Is the T. Rex actually three separate species?
The iconic Tyrannosaurus rex is the world’s most studied dinosaur, but a new paper argues for a radical reclassification.
Gregory Paul, an independent paleontologist, and his co-authors published a new paper today that proposes splitting the species into three: Tyrannosaurus rex (meaning king), Tyrannosaurus imperator (emperor) and Tyrannosaurus regina (queen).
Many paleontologists strongly disagree, with one expert calling the evidence for multiple species “vanishingly weak.”
Have an unclassifiable night.
Angela Jimenez compiled photos for this briefing.
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