The U.S. Will Send $1 Billion More to Ukraine

During a visit to Kyiv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken today announced more than $1 billion in new American aid to Ukraine. He was the highest-profile American official to visit the country since the beginning of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

The aid includes mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, or MRAPs, which will assist Ukrainian troops in their push into Russian-occupied territory. Ukraine has retaken more than half the territory that Russia seized after its full-scale invasion.

But the aid also goes beyond security assistance, with funding to help “rebuild a free, resilient, thriving” country after the war, Blinken said. The U.S. and Ukraine are in talks over a long-term security partnership that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has said he would like to resemble Washington’s alliance with Israel.

Hours into Blinken’s visit, at least 17 people were killed in a Russian strike on Kostyantynivka, a city in eastern Ukraine that is close to the front lines, Zelensky said. The attack, one of the deadliest strikes in Ukraine in months, hit an outdoor market in the afternoon, when it is usually bustling with activity.

The U.S. canceled drilling plans in Alaska’s wildlife refuge

The Biden administration announced today that it would prohibit drilling in half of the National Petroleum Reserve — about 13 million acres — and cancel all oil and gas leases awarded under President Donald Trump in Alaska’s vast and remote Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The lease cancellations are likely to be challenged in court by Alaska, which has argued that the leases are critical for jobs and revenue. The refuge is believed to sit atop some 11 billion barrels of oil, but it is the largest remaining stretch of untouched wilderness in the U.S., and is home to grizzly and polar bears, snowy owls, migrating waterfowl, moose and caribou.

Florida is set to shake up the education establishment

The public university system in Florida is expected this week to become the first state system to approve the Classic Learning Test, or CLT, as an alternative to the SAT and ACT admissions exams. The test emphasizes the Western canon, and has a big dose of Christian thought.

The College Board argued that there was little research that showed that the CLT could accurately assess college readiness. And there is little data about the test: From 2016 to 2023, only about 21,000 high school juniors and seniors took the exam.

Check it out for yourself, and see if you can pass our mini version of the CLT.

Wisconsin Republicans push to impeach a liberal judge

When Janet Protasiewicz won a high-stakes election this spring, it swung the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the left and threatened the Republican Party’s iron grip on state politics. But now, before Justice Protasiewicz has heard a single case, Republicans in Wisconsin are coalescing around the prospect of impeaching her.

At issue are comments she made this spring about the state’s legislative maps, which she called “rigged.” The impeachment push serves as a last-ditch effort to stop the court from throwing out Republican-drawn state legislative maps and legalizing abortion in Wisconsin.

There is little precedent for the process. But the Republicans have sufficient majorities to impeach her along a party-line vote.

More top news

• Labor: As New York City students prepare to return to school tomorrow, roughly half of the city’s school bus workers said they would walk off the job unless a deal was reached in their contract negotiations.

The Rolling Stones unveiled their first new album in 18 years

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood — the three current members of the Rolling Stones, all over 75 — unveiled their upcoming album, “Hackney Diamonds,” today at the Hackney Empire, an old theater in a trendy London district.

The 12-track record, set for release on Oct. 20, is the group’s first album of original material since 2005, and its first since the drummer Charlie Watts died in 2021. Two of the tracks were recorded with Watts in 2019, Jagger said, including “Live by the Sword,” which he described as “retro.”

It’s fashion month!

For anyone in need of escape, you’re in luck: The biggest shows in fashion are back in full force, and for the next four weeks the industry is set to deliver countless impossibly glamorous photos, as well as plenty of street style and gossip.

Much of the attention will be on Milan, where two notable debuts will take place: Sabato De Sarno at Gucci and Peter Hawkings at Tom Ford.

Two trends to look out for: Olive-colored accessories and men’s tights.

What it looks like to grow older

We all grow older, but no two people experience aging in the same way. For some, getting older is about constantly adjusting expectations for the world and the body. For others, it’s about feeling increasingly invisible — or increasingly free.

To capture that spectrum, we asked 13 older photographers to show us the people, places and times that make them feel seen. Here’s what they came up with.

Have a graceful evening.

Thanks for reading. Bryan Denton was our photo editor today. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Matthew

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