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--:-- John Bickley: Hey, this is Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Tuesday, February 7th, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Rescue efforts continue in Turkey and Syria, but are being hampered by freezing winter conditions. And tragic scenes are unfolding every minute. One such example is a mother who gave birth while trapped in the rubble in Aleppo, Syria. While her newborn survived, the woman did not. The child is now with medical professionals.
--:-- John Bickley: The death toll is now estimated to be over 7,000, nearly 30,000 people injured and more than 10,000 without a home. Surrounding hospitals are completely overwhelmed and are calling for help.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We have information that hundreds of patients are still under the rubble. The situation is too bad. We need urgent help.
--:-- John Bickley: Fed chairman Jerome Powell warned today that there will be more rate hikes needed to stabilize inflation. Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington D.C., Powell pointed out that inflation has started to come down a bit while the labor market remains strong.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But the Fed will continue to strive to hit its 2 percent inflation goal. It's not going to be, we don't think, smooth. It's probably going to be bumpy. And so we think that we're going to need to do further rate increases, as we said, and we think that we'll need to hold policy at a restrictive level for a period of time.
--:-- John Bickley: President Biden's State of the Union address will be tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern. Among the VIP guests are Brandon Say, the hero bystander who disarmed the Monterey Park shooter, Oksana Marikova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., and the parents of 29-year-old Tyree Nichols.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Mark Houck, the pro-life father of seven who was raided by the Biden administration, will also be in attendance as a guest of Congressman Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. President Biden is expected to call yet again for a 20 percent tax on billionaires during tonight's speech, according to Business Insider.
--:-- John Bickley: Biden has previously called for this heavy income tax, claiming it's necessary for the ultra-rich to pay their fair share. According to multiple reports, Kathy Chung, a longtime aide to President Biden with links to his son Hunter, has been interviewed by the Justice Department while Congress has requested certain information from her as part of their inquiries into the handling of classified documents.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Chung is now a Pentagon official but has emerged as a key individual as she oversaw the transport of materials to the Penn-Biden Center in Washington, D.C., after Biden left the vice presidency in early 2017.
--:-- John Bickley: Vice President Kamala Harris announced a combined $4.2 billion in private sector commitments to create economic opportunity in northern Central America by helping companies direct investments outside the United States and into the economy of Latin America.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Biden administration claims such funding will help address economic instability, climate change and other root causes that purportedly lead to illegal immigration from the region. As we advance our efforts to address the root causes of migration, our administration is simultaneously working to ensure a safe, orderly, and humane processing system at the border.
--:-- John Bickley: As I have noted, over the last 18 months, migration flows have slowed down from the northern and central American region. But at the end of last year, we saw a rising level of migration from other countries.
--:-- Georgia Howe: In Arizona, a 73-year-old rancher has been arrested and held on $1 million bail after allegedly fatally shooting a trespassing illegal alien who came onto his property.
--:-- John Bickley: The current Labor Secretary Marty Walsh is expected to leave his post in the Biden administration to head up the NHL Players Union. Sources close to the matter confirmed the Secretary's plan to NBC earlier today.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Walsh formerly served as the mayor of Boston. Transgender activists took over the Oklahoma state capitol on Monday to protest new legislative proposals. Senate Bill 129 would ban doctors and other health care professionals from referring patients under the age of 26 for surgical and non-surgical treatments.
--:-- John Bickley: Senate Bill 252 would ban anyone under 18 from a sex change operation. Minors can't vote, can't purchase alcohol, can't purchase cigarettes. We shouldn't allow a minor to get a permanent gender-altering surgery in Oklahoma.
--:-- Georgia Howe: On Monday, the City Council of Grand Forks, North Dakota, voted down a plan by a Chinese company to build a corn mill worth $700 million. The unanimous vote came after the U.S. Air Force warned the town that there are national security risks with a Chinese-owned entity located so close to a nearby military base.
--:-- 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.
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