--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Good Ranchers. Subscribe to any Good Ranchers box and you'll secure their leap year offer of free bacon for four years. Go to goodranchers.com, pick your box, and use code WIRE for free bacon for four years.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I'm Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, February 20th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- John Bickley: Two adults have been charged with murder in last week's deadly Kansas City shooting. According to Missouri prosecutors, these new charges come after two juveniles were detained for resisting arrest and gun-related offenses.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As Fox News reports, both adults are being held on a $1 million bail. The shooting took place after the Super Bowl victory celebration in the city, leaving one person dead and over two dozen more injured.
--:-- John Bickley: The Biden administration is set to impose sanctions to hold Russia accountable for the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the latest.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters the sanctions package will be formally announced on Friday and renewed calls for Congress to pass an emergency spending bill that would provide aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This all comes one day after President Biden hinted that more sanctions against Russia may soon come. We already have sanctions moving and we're considering additional sanctions, yes.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: 47-year-old Alexei Navalny died late last week in a remote Russian penal colony above the Arctic Circle. Authorities in Russia have yet to provide any information regarding his death, reportedly claiming he suffered from sudden death syndrome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Meanwhile, Navalny's family is still pushing for the release of his body, which his widow Yulia Navalny has accused Russia of hiding to cover up what she says was murder.
--:-- John Bickley: The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that embryos created during in vitro fertilization are children that have the same protections as minors under state law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The decision is the result of a 2020 case brought by three families whose embryos were destroyed when they were dropped. The families filed a wrongful death claim against the fertility clinic and the storage facility where the embryos were stored.
--:-- John Bickley: The clinic argued that Alabama's wrongful death of a minor act did not apply to embryos outside of the womb, but the state Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that embryos have the same rights as minor children.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In the majority ruling, Justice Jay Mitchell wrote, unborn children are children under the act without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics.
--:-- John Bickley: Critics warned this decision could have serious implications for fertility treatments.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Julian Assange and his legal team are making one last attempt at avoiding extradition to the United States where he's facing life in prison over espionage charges.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Prosecutors argue Assange aided in the theft of classified documents that were later uploaded to WikiLeaks.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The 52-year-old WikiLeaks founder has begun a two-day hearing that will examine whether he should be allowed to appeal a 2022 extradition decision which was made by former UK Home Secretary Preeti Patel.
--:-- John Bickley: If the court decides against Assange, he'll need to be extradited within 28 days, though his legal team is expected to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, which can reportedly halt extradition through a Rule 39 order.
--:-- Georgia Howe: U.S. authorities seek to charge Assange with 18 counts of criminal charges relating to his organization's dissemination of classified material. Each of those carries a potential 10-year prison sentence.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: This all stems from WikiLeaks, a whistleblowing website started by Assange in 2006.
--:-- John Bickley: This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Get a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash morningwire. That's shopify.com slash morningwire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The U.S. vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The draft resolution has not been adopted owing to the negative vote of a permanent member of the council.
--:-- John Bickley: The ceasefire was drafted by Algeria and had broad support from the 15 members of the Security Council. 13 nations voted to approve the immediate ceasefire. Britain abstained and the U.S. used its vote to veto the resolution.
--:-- Georgia Howe: This is the third time the U.S. has vetoed a ceasefire resolution. But according to Reuters, the Biden administration is now circulating its own resolution, calling for a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the return of all hostages and the removal of all barriers to humanitarian aid in Gaza.
--:-- John Bickley: The U.S. draft also calls on Israel not to invade Rafah. This is the first time the U.S. has supported even a temporary ceasefire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A New York man running a Breaking Bad-style drug lab inadvertently turned himself in after reporting a burglary.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, the 23-year-old Farmingville man pleaded guilty last week to charges relating to the unlawful manufacturing of meth and running a drug lab in Long Island.
--:-- John Bickley: Police say when they arrived at the site of the reported burglary they discovered the lab which appeared to make several drugs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A search warrant later led to the discovery of over 100 equipment items used to manufacture meth. Also recovered was in cash several ounces of meth and other drugs including ketamine.
--:-- John Bickley: Capital One will buy Discover Financial for $35 billion. The all-stock deal will bring together two of the biggest credit card companies in the U.S., who will then hope to compete with Visa and MasterCard, which currently dominate the credit card industry.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Amex is the third largest credit card company. The customer bases of Capital One and Discover Card have some similarities, including that both look for cash back and travel rewards when using credit cards.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The deal will have to clear regulatory scrutiny before it will be approved.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Christina Moore, Managing Director and Vice Chair of Global Mergers and Acquisitions at Citi, says the merger has significant benefits for both companies.
--:-- Christina Moore: Certainly the cost savings and cost synergies utilizing the platform more aggressively are an important part of what drives the economics, in particular, of stock transactions, such as, say, the Capital One Discover merger.
--:-- John Bickley: But the other part of the synergy equation are revenue and platform synergies. And I think that's one of the things you will see in some of these large acquisitions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: U.S. commercial casinos won over $66 billion from gamblers in 2023, making it a record-setting year. The American Gaming Association says its 2023 total was 10% higher than 2022, which is also a record at the time.
--:-- John Bickley: Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of Morning Wire every morning.
