The War Room: As the war wears on, Russia attacked Ukraine’s southern port city of Odessa with cruise missiles, destroying two hotels, a shopping center, and a warehouse. One person was killed and five wounded.

  The NY Times notes that while Russia has pounded Ukraine with bombs and missiles, the Russian air force has failed to establish air superiority over the country. Ukraine is still flying its fighter jets against Russian intrusions. The paper quotes a US official who says Russia has already “blown through” most of its stockpile of precision-guided munitions.

  By contrast, the US and NATO have for the most part abandoned so-called “dumb bombs” and converted to precision-guided explosives.

  Ukraine, though, is being kept alive by foreign military aid. President Joe Biden has called on Congress to “immediately” pass a nearly $40 billion Ukrainian aid bill, warning that existing aid will run out in “approximately ten days.” 

End of the Road: The hunt for an escaped Alabama inmate and former corrections officer who ran off with him concluded yesterday after a chase in Evansville, Indiana that ended when their car crashed. The former officer, Vicky White, died in a hospital after shooting herself.

  Casey White, 38, and Vicky White, 56, who was no relation, have been a story for the tabloids.

  The two evidently struck up a jailhouse romance. Vicky sold her house and put in her retirement papers before escorting Casey out of jail where he had been awaiting prosecution for murder. The two took off, resulting in a 10-day national manhunt.

  One tip among hundreds led officers to a hotel where the blonde Vicky White was spotted leaving wearing a dark wig. The officers followed, resulting in the chase. The arresting officers said that Casey White asked that they take care of his “wife,” although there’s no knowledge of the two being married.

Marilyn: Andy Warhol’s colorful silk screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe sold at auction yesterday to an unidentified buyer at Christie’s in New York for a record $195 million. The bidding for the 1964 work titled “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” lasted less than four minutes.

  The previous record was a Basquiat painting of a skull done with his characteristic slashing brush strokes.

  Art aficionados remarking on the Marilyn sale noted that there’s a ton of money out there right now chasing real estate and art and this might be just the beginning of a big season.

Econ 101: The decline of stocks entered its sixth week yesterday on continuing worries about high inflation, rising interest rates, and a clogged supply chain. The S&P 500 has fallen 16.3 percent so far this year, approaching the 20 percent that gets labelled a “bear market” of selloffs.

  The value of the crypto-currency Bitcoin is down 20 percent over the past week, falling to $39,000 which is less than 50 percent of its high of 69,000 last year. Once considered a different world from regular stocks, trading in Bitcoin is now responding to the same concerns about inflation and interest rates.

UFO: A House subcommittee is scheduled to hold a hearing next week on unidentified flying objects, the first in more than 50 years. The hearing comes after the release of a report a year ago on “unidentified aerial phenomena,” which cited 144 incidents dating back to 2004 with an explanation for only one of them.

  The report concluded that the objects were not secret US technology and that “we currently lack data to indicate any UAP are part of a foreign collection program or indicative of a major technological advancement by a potential adversary.”

  In one video of a navy Hornet fighter jet following an unidentified object, the pilot can be heard saying in wonder, “Look at that thing!”

No Comment: Former President Donald Trump has issued predictable denials to the stories told to CBS News by former Defense Secretary Mark Esper. “Mark Esper was weak and totally ineffective and, because of it, I had to run the military,” Trump told CBS in a statement.

  Esper said Trump wanted to send 10,000 troops to Washington in May of 2020 after a fire was set in the basement of St. John’s church.

  Trump responded, with no evidence, “Wrong. I wanted to send 10,000 troops for January 6, because I knew many people were coming to Washington that day to protest the corrupt President Election of 2020.”

  Among other things, Esper said Trump had suggested attacking the Mexican drug cartels with missiles. To that, Trump said, “No comment.”

The Spin Rack: Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the Philippine dictator deposed 36 years ago, is millions of votes ahead of the nearest competitor to win a one-time six-year term as the country’s president. The success of the Marcos known as “Bongbong” when he was young is due in part to a campaign of disinformation re-casting his murderous father as a benevolent figure who spurred an age of prosperity.  — The skeletal remains of a human body have been found in Nevada’s Lake Mead. It’s the second body in a week and authorities expect to find more as drought empties the West’s largest reservoir. 

Cooked: Celebrity chef Mario Batali went on trial yesterday in Boston, accused of groping a woman at a Boston bar in April 2017.  His accuser testified that, “There was touching of my breasts, touching my sensitive feminine areas in between my legs,” and that he even put his tongue in her ear before suggesting that they go to a hotel. 

  What woman would go to a hotel with a man who wears orange Crocs?

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