Catching you up on what you need to know on May 5, 2022, with reports that the United States has reached one million COVID deaths, Russian attacks in Ukraine amping up, eight attorney generals urging President Biden to cancel student debt, and more.

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Need2Know: U.S. Hits 1 Million COVID Deaths, Russia Amps Up Attacks & Student Debt

the next few minutes. But first, let's give you your need to know headlines this morning and a big marker has just been passed. Covid deaths in the US have now hit a number that was once unfathomable. Yesterday, the United States passed one million covid deaths and that's according to johns Hopkins University, that number equivalent to the population of san Jose California, which is the 10th largest city in the US. Now it took the US just 27 months after the country confirmed its very first case of the virus to finally hit this point. And meanwhile, another story we've been following new Mexico's wildfires continue to spread. The largest burning fire is near is now near santa fe. This is the combined hermits peak caf canyon fire. This satellite video also shows that the cookes peak fire. Now the fire's you're seeing here have burned more than 250 square miles in the state. Earlier this week. New Mexico's governor asked President biden to declare the fires a disaster in hopes of freeing up federal financial aid officials say about 170 homes have been destroyed and more than 15,000 homes are currently under mandatory evacuation orders. Meanwhile, attacks on the Ukrainian city of Mariupol are ramping up. That is Russia looks to take full control of that region. Russian forces began storming units of the assad stall steelworkers facility earlier this week. That's where soldiers and civilians had been staying for up to two months. An estimated 2000 Ukrainian fighters were said to be holed up in that plant. Meanwhile, the new york Times report is now shedding new light on how the U. S. Is helping Ukraine throughout the ongoing war. Senior administration officials telling the outlet that the U. S. Obtained intelligence has been helping Ukraine's armed forces helped kill a dozen Russian generals all on the front lines. And now to the latest on the student debt discussion. Eight attorney general is now asking that president biden cancel federal student debt entirely. Biden previously expressed hesitation at fully canceling student loan debt, worrying that he didn't have the power to do so. The attorneys general, including those of new york Illinois and Washington State, believe that the president has the authority to cancel the debt through executive action. Student debt cancelation has been a priority for many liberals as a way to alleviate the financial burden of higher education and at the same time garner support from younger voters during the pandemic, the government has allowed 43 million borrowers to pause payments on $1.7 trillion in student loans. Plus, we're gonna help you set up your summer budget in the face of rising inflation. We'll have some live expert insight later this half hour on that. All right. Meanwhile, the world of politics is waking up this morning. So let's go to aerial Hickson who is live out front of the White House for us, bringing us the biggest stories unfolding in our nation's capital, and Ariel, as you said at the top. We're still talking about abortion today. Oh, we definitely still are in the wake of the leak of that draft Supreme Court opinion ending roe V wade. Many democrats and abortion rights proponents have called on lawmakers to pass a law protecting abortion rights. Now, despite their efforts, this isn't likely to happen. And how do we know this? Well, we've already seen it play out with a bill earlier this year. The Women's Health Protection Act of 2021 is the law essentially codifying the holding in Roe V wade. It puts into federal law the right to access and perform abortions while also superseding most state laws that restrict abortion access. The bill passed the House in september of last year, but it failed in the Senate earlier this year. Now, the main obstacle here for the Senate is the filibuster. There aren't 60 votes to pass abortion related legislation and democrats do not have the votes to get rid of the filibuster for any kind of legislation. They also don't have everyone in their own caucus on board. For example, joe Manchin, Senator joe Manchin is an abortion opponent. And unfortunately for the democrats, the math is really not on their side baker absolutely aerial. So can democrats now do anything really to push back on this potential court decision that we're expecting to happen by june potentially here. Great question there, but the tough answer really is no democrats really can't. The only recourse that they really have here is turning out to vote in november and in 2020 for now, President biden alluded to this on Tuesday in a statement responding to the draft opinion, he said, quote at the federal level, we will need more pro choice senators and a pro choice majority in the house to adopt legislation that codifies roe, which I will work to pass and signed into law. Democrats need a lot to change for them and it starts with the makeup of Congress Speaker Absolutely aerial Hickson line force this morning out in front of the White House. Thank you Hannah! Alright elsewhere. Meanwhile, a group of florida residents are suing florida governor Ron DeSantis over the state's repeal of Disney World's Special Tax District. Now, the three residents suing argue the repeal of the district violates their federal and state constitutional rights as taxpayers in the state. They also cite reports saying they, along with many others florida taxpayers would be responsible for the district's debt, which some believe to be as much as $1 billion. This comes despite claims by Governor de Santis that residents would not have to bear the burden of Disney's debt. Reedy Creek. The Special Tax District issued a statement last week to investors saying that the district cannot legally be dissolved until its debts are paid off. However, Disney itself has yet to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, over and out to a new study on youth as trans youth are unlikely to de transition or identify with their birth sex. Five years after they socially transitioned, a study from the trans Youth project in Princeton revealed that 94% of trans Children that were tracked were still living as trans boys or trans girls. 317 kids ranging from ages 3 to 12 were part of the largest sample of its kind that, according to the study's lead author here, that the remaining 6% from that study had the transition, as the study called it, with only 2.5% identifying with their birth sex. Again, now this comes as Republican states continue to restrict access to gender affirming care for trans minors.