JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: Police in Canada arrested at least 70 protesters
and towed away trucks in an effort to break up Ottawa's three-week-long siege.
Truckers have occupied the capital city to demonstrate against Canada's COVID-19
restrictions. Authorities in neon green marched through the streets, while tow
truck operators hooked up vehicles blocking traffic. But some protesters were undeterred.
JEROMY GLASS, Protester (through translator): I'm willing to take it all the way. And by all
the way, I mean dropping to my knees, putting up a peace sign, and they will they will have to
remove me at that point. Like, I have protested peacefully the whole time I have been here.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Ottawa police said they are prepared to work
around the clock if necessary to remove the more than 300 trucks.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Biden administration's appeal of the
Trump era remain-in-Mexico policy. It requires asylum seekers to wait in Mexico before their
U.S. immigration hearings. Lower court rulings forced President Biden to reinstate the policy
after he tried suspending it on his first day in office. A final decision is expected by late June.
The National Archives today confirmed that it found classified national security information
in the boxes of documents former President Trump took to his Mar-a-Lago home.
That raises further questions about whether he followed record-keeping
laws after leaving office. The agency referred the matter to the Justice Department.
A judge sentenced the former suburban Minneapolis police officer who killed Daunte Wright,
Kim Potter, to two years in prison today. That was notably less than the standard manslaughter
sentence of around seven years. Potter fatally shot Wright, a 20-year-old Black motorist,
during a routine traffic stop last April.
Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro has our story.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Before today's sentencing in a downtown Minneapolis courtroom,
Daunte Wright's mother spoke tearfully about her son.
KATIE WRIGHT, Mother of Daunte Wright: She took our baby boy with a single
gunshot through his heart. And she shattered mine.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In December, Potter was convicted of first- and second-degree
manslaughter. She fatally shot Wright last April when she said she confused her handgun
for a Taser. The killing sparked protests and clashes with police.
Today, Potter addressed Wright's family.
KIM POTTER, Defendant: Katie, I understand a mother's love. And I'm sorry I broke your heart.
My heart is broken for all of you.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: In handing down her sentence, Judge Regina Chu compared Potter's crime
to Derek Chauvin's killing of George Floyd, as well as the 2017 shooting of a white woman by a
Black Minneapolis police officer, Mohamed Noor, who received a far longer sentence.
JUDGE REGINA CHU, Hennepin County District Court: Officer
Potter made a mistake that ended tragically.
She never intended to hurt anyone.
Her conduct cries out for a sentence significantly below the guidelines.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: After the sentence was handed down,
Daunte Wright's family and supporters expressed outrage.
KATIE WRIGHT: Kim Potter murdered my son. And he died April 11.
Today, the justice system murdered him all over again.
This is the problem with the justice system today. White women tears trumps -- trumps
justice. And I thought my white woman tears would be good enough, because they're true and genuine.
FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Potter will serve two-thirds of her time,
about 16 months, in prison. The rest will be on parole.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A winter storm is wreaking havoc for commuters in the Midwest.
Traffic on Interstate 65 in Indiana ground to a standstill this morning. Treacherous conditions
caused multiple trucks to jackknife off the road. And a 17-mile stretch of Interstate 39 in Illinois
remained shut down for a second day after a 100-vehicle pile-up during blinding snow.
Meanwhile, a second major storm to hit Northern Europe this week has killed at least nine people
and left tens of thousands without power. It brought strong waves to the southern coast of
the United Kingdom. Winds gusting more than 100 miles an hour ripped off sections of
London's O2 Arena, and even toppled the spire of an English church.
U.S. Congressman Jim Hagedorn died last night, after a three-year battle with kidney cancer.
The conservative Republican represented Southern Minnesota
since 2019. His father, former Congressman Tom Hagedorn,
represented much of the same area while he was in Congress. Jim Hagedorn was 59 years old.
On Wall Street today, stocks finished out their second straight weekly loss, amid growing fears
about Russia invading Ukraine. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 233 points
to close at 34079. The Nasdaq fell 168 points. The S&P 500 slipped 31.
And at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, American-born Eileen Gu
became the first freestyle skier to win three medals at a single Olympic Games.
Competing for China, the 18-year-old clinched her second gold medal today in the halfpipe final.
And in men's curling, the U.S. lost to Canada in a match for the bronze medal.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the controversy around Russian figure skating
highlights the pressures and mental health challenges for athletes;
snowboarder Nick Baumgartner discusses winning gold at the Winter Olympics;
David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart consider the week's political news; plus much more.