Biden Addresses Russia's Attack on Ukraine

Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a series of sanctions against Russia in response to President Vladimir Putin's attack on Ukraine. "Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences," said Biden. According to CNN, sanctions include technology export blocks and sanctions on Russian banks. Additionally, Biden announced the deployment of ground and air troops to defend NATO allies. "Our forces are not and will not be engaged in the conflict," said the President. "Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine but defend our NATO allies and reassure those allies in the east."

Child Poverty Spikes as Child Tax Credit Payments End

New research from Columbia University uncovered a surge in the child poverty rate in the United States since the monthly payments from the Child Tax Credit ended in 2021, according to CBS News. This shift caused poverty rates among children to rise from 12.1 percent in December to 17 percent in January.

Columbia Professor Suspended Over Tweet About Black Model

Jeffrey Leiberman, chair of Columbia University's department of psychiatry, was suspended Wednesday after posting a tweet that referred to a Nyakim Gatwech, a Black model, as a possible "freak of nature," The New York Times reports. "Whether a work of art or freak of nature she’s a beautiful sight to behold,” he tweeted Monday. Ahead of his suspension, Dr. Leiberman addressed an e-mail to his colleagues, calling his comments "racist and sexist." He went on to note that he was “deeply ashamed” of his “prejudices and stereotypical assumptions.”

MC Lyte Discusses Impending Divorce

During a recent appearance on "The Real," MC Lyte spoke candidly about her impending divorce to John Wyche. According to the hip-hop trailblazer, Lyte revealed that she and her estranged husband are still going through the process even though she filed nearly three years ago.

“It’s hard in the beginning, but when you realize to have happiness doesn’t mean that you have to remain together, and it doesn’t mean that you are a failure because the marriage failed. It’s all ego so you just have to be able to let go," she expressed before revealing that the process is taking so long “because he doesn’t want to sign the papers.”