Ukraine: Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine say voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots yesterday in favor of independence from Ukraine. They said the vote was 90 percent in Donetsk and 96 percent in Luhansk, although the election was conducted in some polling places without official voter rolls.

News reports say people opposed to separation tended to stay home. The Kremlin issued a politically balanced statement saying, “Moscow respects the will of the population of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions,” but did not call for immediate independence.

Ukraine’s interim president called the vote a “propaganda farce.”

The Girls: Nigeria’s Boko Haram militants released a videotape of about 130 girls out of nearly 300 kidnapped last month from a boarding school. The group’s leader said the girls would be freed after all militant prisoners are freed by the government. Abubakar Shekau also said the girls, most of whom are Christians, have converted to the Muslim faith.

Nation: Florida’s Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, a potential candidate for president, said yesterday that despite general scientific consensus, he does not believe global warming and climate change are caused by human activity.

Rubio said on ABC’s This Week, “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it.” He added, “And I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy.”

Denial of human responsibility for climate change has become standard for many Republican politicians. Rubio said scientists have taken only a few decades of research to come to the conclusion that man is to blame for climate change rather than natural cycles.

Rubio’s remarks came just days after The National Climate assessment said global warming is caused by human industrial activity and is already affecting everyday life. Rubio’s home state, Florida, is listed as one of the areas likely to suffer most as ice caps melt and oceans rise.

DC: The Washington Monument re-opened today after a three-year, $15 million repair job to fix 150 cracks in the 555-foot obelisk. The cracks were caused by an earthquake in 2011. The original construction of the monument started in 1848.

Sports Page: LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling begged forgiveness for racist remarks in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Sterling said, “I’m apologizing and I’m asking for forgiveness.” Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA, which is moving to remove him as a team owner. Sterling said, “Am I entitled to one mistake? Am I after 35 years? I mean, I love my league. I love my partners. Am I entitled to one mistake? “

Sterling was tape recording castigating a female friend, who is mixed race, for associating with black people. But he also suggested he was not to blame. “I don’t know why the girl had me say those things.”

Sterling’s estranged wife Shelly told ABC’s Barbara Walters she thinks her husband might have dementia.

Power Play: Russian President Vladimir Putin skated to victory yesterday in a demonstration hockey game played in Sochi. The 61-year-old Putin scored six goals as his team crushed the opposition 21-4. Evidently no hockey players in Russia know how to throw a hip check.

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