[clock ticking]
[music playing]
CARL AZUZ: I'm Carl Azuz for CNN 10, grateful
to have you watching.
We have clips for you from last night's State of the Union
Address and the response.
Those are coming up in less than two minutes
But we want to bring you up to speed first,
on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
Experts say Russia appears to be stepping up its attacks
in the country, increasingly launching air and artillery
strikes in Ukrainian cities.
Rockets hit near a TV tower and a Holocaust Memorial
in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday.
Experts say assaults like this increased the danger that more
civilians will be killed.
The United Nations says, over 100
have lost their lives so far in the conflict,
though Russia says it's high precision strikes
have targeted only Ukrainian military
and government facilities.
Earlier this week, a huge Russian convoy,
a three-mile long column of tanks, infantry and fuel
trucks, large caliber guns, it was headed
toward the Ukrainian capital.
British officials said the convoy was
less than 20 miles from the city on Tuesday
and making slow progress.
They also said Russian forces had surrounded three
other important Ukrainian cities,
though the nation's military was fighting
to keep control of them.
In an interview on Tuesday with CNN and the Reuters news
agency, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky
urged US President Joe Biden to deliver
a strong and useful message about the Russian invasion
of Ukraine.
The American leader's address took place at 9:00
PM Eastern Tuesday night.
That was 4 AM Wednesday in Ukraine,
the time when shelling and rocket strikes
have been starting in the war.
Highlighting achievements and laying out goals for the months
ahead, these are the priorities of US presidents
during their annual State of the Union speeches.
In keeping with tradition last night,
President Biden's address was delivered
in front of both Chambers of Congress,
a number of their guests, members
of the US Supreme Court, presidential cabinet members.
It was a fuller house than last year,
when masks and social distancing were required
because of the COVID pandemic.
And progress in the fight against that virus
was something the president was expected to talk about.
A $1.9 trillion COVID relief law was considered
one of his early accomplishments last year,
along with the $1 trillion infrastructure
law that was passed later on.
But President Biden was unable to get enough support to pass
a larger social spending bill he wanted
or a package to overhaul election laws in America,
two of his other priorities.
The troubled withdrawal of the US military from Afghanistan
was something the president was widely criticized for.
And the dramatic rise of inflation over the past year,
which hit its highest rate in decades before Russia
invaded Ukraine, that's also become a major challenge
for the Biden administration.
One goal the president met was the fulfillment of a campaign
promise to nominate the first Black woman
to the US Supreme Court.
The Senate will review and decide that outcome
in the months ahead.
And last night was a chance for him
to shore up support for his vision for America's future.
Here are some highlights of what the president had to say.
JOE BIDEN: My fellow Americans, last year,
COVID-19 kept us apart.
This year, we're finally together again.
[audience applauds]
Tonight, we meet as Democrats, Republicans, and independents,
but most importantly, as Americans.
Six days ago, Russia's Vladimir Putin
sought to shake the very foundations of the free world,
thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways.
But he badly miscalculated.
The Russian economy is reeling.
And Putin alone, is the one to blame.
Together with our allies, we're providing
support to the Ukrainians in their fight for freedom.
Military assistance, economic assistance,
humanitarian assistance, we're giving more than a billion
of direct assistance to Ukraine.
And we'll continue to aid the Ukrainian people
as they defend their country and help ease their suffering.
But let me be clear.
Our forces are not engaged and will not engage in the conflict
with Russian forces in Ukraine.
Our forces are not going to Europe to fight Ukraine,
but to defend our NATO allies the event that Putin
decides to keep moving West.
We created jobs, lots of jobs.
In fact, our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs
just last year, more jobs in one year
than ever before in the history of the United
States of America.
And with all the bright spots in our economy, record job growth,
higher wages, too many families are struggling
to keep up with their bills.
Inflation is robbing them of gains they thought otherwise
they would be able to feel.
I get it.
And tonight I'm announcing that this year, we
will start fixing over 65,000 miles of highway
and 1,500 bridges in disrepair.
When we use taxpayers' dollars to rebuild America,
we're going to do it by buying American.
Buy American products, support American jobs.
For more than two years, COVID has
impacted every decision in our lives
and the life of this nation.
And I know you're tired, frustrated.
Because of the progress we've made, because
of your resilience, and the tools that we have been
provided by this Congress, tonight I
can say we're moving forward safely,
back to more normal routines.
And thanks to the progress we made in the past year
COVID 19 no longer need control our lives.
I can't promise a new variant won't come.
But I can promise you we'll do everything within our power
to be ready if it does.
So on this night, on our 245th year as a nation.
I've come to report on the state of the nation,
the State of the Union.
And my report is this.
State of the Union is strong, because you the
American people, are strong.
CARL AZUZ: The opposing political party's response
is another tradition associated with the State
of the Union address.
This practice started in the 1960s.
It's a speech given by Democrats when there's
a Republican president and Republicans when
there's a Democratic president.
So last night, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa
gave the rebuttal after President
Biden's speech concluded.
Reynolds became Iowa's first female governor in 2018.
KIM REYNOLDS: We're now one year into his presidency.
And instead of moving America forward,
it feels like President Biden and his party
have sent us back in time to the late 70s and early 80s,
when runaway inflation was hammering families,
a violent crime wave was crashing our cities,
and the Soviet army was trying to redraw the world map.
Now all Americans must stand united in solidarity
with the brave people of Ukraine,
as they courageously defend their country
against Putin's tyranny, as they fight for their freedom.
But we shouldn't ignore what happened in the run up
to Putin's invasion--
waiving sanctions on Russian pipelines,
while eliminating oil production here at home,
focusing on political correctness rather than
military readiness, reacting to world events
instead of driving them.
Americans are tired of a political class trying
to remake this country into a place where an elite few tell
everyone else what they can and cannot say, what
they can and cannot believe.
You've shown that the soul of America
isn't about who lives in the White House.
It's men and women like you in every corner of this nation who
are willing to step up and take responsibility
for your communities, for your neighbors,
and ultimately, for yourselves.
By that most important measure at least,
the State of our Union is indeed strong.
CARL AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia--
the prefix NGC, which stands for New General Catalogue
is used to organize what--
library books, elements feature films, or galaxies?
[audience applauds]
Since the 1700s, the New General Catalogue has organized
space objects like galaxies.
[audience applauds]
So when NASA says that NGC 2444 NGC are 2445 are engaged
in a cosmic tug-of-war, it means that scientists
believe the two galaxies are interacting, possibly.
Passing through each other and they
think the galaxy on the left is pulling gas
from the one on the right, forming this distorted
triangle of new stars.
Researchers say studying colorized head-on collisions
like this helps them better understand how stars
and galaxies form in rings.
If galaxies are going to risk playing games,
cosmic tug-of-war kind of boggles the mind.
It scrambles the imagination.
They need to get a clue before they tic tac totally
go bonkers and wind up in some sorry, troubled Trivial Pursuit
of a Star Wars monopoly, from which
they can't get backgammon.
Board game puns-- you know they're Parcheesi.
I'm Carl Azuz.
Bath County High school is watching today
from Owingsville, Kentucky.
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