your cell phone or connected tv. i'm bradley blackburn. cbs news, new york it's monday, april 25th, 2022. this is the "cbs morning news." breaking overnight, wartime meeting. top u.s. officials visit kyiv to meet with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. what they announced as russia continues an all-out assault in eastern ukraine. the fate of melissa lucio. the texas mother is set to be executed this week. why a group of bipartisan lawmakers is seeking clemency for the death row inmate. protecting america's youngest. the former fda boss gives a possible timeline of when the fda will consider covid vaccines for children ages 5 and under. good morning, and good to be with you. i'm anne-marie green.

breaking overnight, ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy received a high-level show of support from the biden administration. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin met with zelenskyy in the capital of kyiv as the u.s. announced new military assistance for ukraine. american diplomats who left ukraine before russia invaded will also start returning to the country. bradley blackburn is in new york with the latest on all of this. good morning. >> reporter: hey, good morning. these are the highest level u.s. officials to meet with president zelenskyy face to face since before the invasion began, and after his visit to kyiv, secretary blinken said russia is failing in this war, and ukraine is succeeding. secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin met with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy in kyiv this weekend. >> we expressed deep admiration for his leadership, for the extraordinary courage of ukrainians in standing up to and

pushing back this russian aggression. >> reporter: the two officials are the highest ranking americans to visit since russia invaded two months ago and bring news of additional military funding and renewed diplomatic relations. president biden is nominating bridget brink as ambassador to ukraine. if confirmed, the career diplomat would be the first ambassador since marie yovanovitch was ousted in 2019. the biden administration is als0 million in foreign military financing, adding to the billions of dollars already committed. >> and we are doing everything that we can to get them the types of support, the types of artillery and munitions that will be effective in this stage of the fight. >> reporter: those weapons will be key as russia moves its attention to eastern ukraine with flatter, more wide-open terrain. ♪ the ongoing war did not stop orthodox easter celebrations even in churches damaged by shelling.

[ siren ] in the port city of odesa, tragedy for one mother and her infant. the two died after cruise missiles hit this apartment building. and another big diplomatic moment to look for this week -- the u.n. secretary general plans to meet with vladimir putin in moscow and then with president zelenskyy in ukraine. all of this after 60 days of fighting. anne-marie? >> bradley blackburn in new york. thank you. >> reporter: thanks. ukrainian president zelenskyy is among the world leaders congratulating french president emmanuel macron on winning a second term. zelenskyy called macron a true friend to ukraine. he easily won re-election yesterday defeating far-right candidate marine le pen, who has close ties with russia. president biden tweeted cngratulations to macron, writing that he was looking forward to continued close cooperation supporting ukraine. he is the first french president to win re-election in 20 years.

wildfires in mexico, arizona, and nebraska have burned more than 150,000 acres and destroyed hundreds of structures. in new mexico, some 1,000 firefighters are battling more than a dozen wildfires. over the weekend, governor michelle lujan grisham signed emergency declarations and says the fire east of santa fe is threatening more than 900 times, -- home. that fire has grown to more than 54,000 acres, and it is 12% contained. thousands of homes across the state have been evacuated. today a state agency in texas could recommend stopping the execution of melissa lucio. she was convicted of killing her 2 -year-old daughter, but supporters say it was a tragic accident, not a crime. lilia luciano explains. >> reporter: bobby alvarez carries the words of his mom tattooed on his chest. >> i'll always be with you and here i'll always stay. it's close to my heart. >> reporter: time is almost up

for melissa lucio, the mother of 14 children scheduled for execution on wednesday, accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter mariah. >> it was an accident. if they go through with it they'll be killing an innocent woman. >> reporter: lucio and her mariah fell down a flight of s - stairs. when the medical examiner saw the toddler's body covered in bruises, it was ruled child abuse. >> are you a cold-blooded killer? >> no, i'm not. >> over 100 times she asserted her innocence. they refused to listen sending the message that this interrogation wasn't going to stop until she told the officers what they wanted to hear. >> reporter: and she did, saying she spanked the child but never admitting to using any deadly force. that demonstration sealed lucio's fate. why do you think she confessed? >> her so-called confession was the result of highly coercive interrogation tactics. >> reporter: multiple experts agree and challenge the initial theory of child abuse saying mariah's bruising and death are consistent with a fall.

>> it's very common to be mistaken for abuse if you don't look for the signs. >> reporter: that expert testimony is part of a clemency petition submitted to the texas board of pardons and parole which also includes the statement of five of the jurors who convicted lucio who now agree she should get a new trial. lucio has the support of hundreds of thousands of petitioners and of an unprecedented bipartisan coalition of at least 87 texas lawmakers. >> as a conservative republican myself who has long been a supporter of the death penalty in the most heinous cases, i have never seen -- i have never seen a more troubling case than the case of melissa lucio. >> that was lilia luciano reporting. now the texas board of pardons and parole could issue a recommendation to governor greg abbott to commute her sentence, grant a 120-day reprieve, or keep the execution date for wednesday. turning to the pandemic. former fda commissioner dr.

scott gottlieb says the lifting of mask mandates is making children under 5 vulnerable to covid in public places since they're not eligible for the vaccine. speaking on "face the nation," gottlieb, who's also a pfizer board member, said that he expects the fda will hold an advisory meeting in june to review pfizer and moderna's data on pediatric vaccine. >> i know a lot of parents have been waiting a long time. there's kids with health conditions that can't get the benefit of a vaccine, that could provide them some baseline immunity, that could protect them from severe disease. and i think we need to try to make the vaccine available to those children very soon. >> an official with moderna says that its application to give two low-dose shots to young children would be submitted to the fda soon. the first all-private astronaut crew to fly aboard the international space station is headed back to earth. the four-person team undocked from the orbiting lab just last night on a spacex crew dragon capsule.

what was supposed to be a ten-day mission was extended several days due to bad weather at the splashdown zone. now the capsule is supposed to parachute into the atlantic ocean this afternoon off the coast of florida. the mission was organized by houston-based startup axion space. coming up, remembering orrin hatch of utah. the longest serving republican senator in history. and later, a surprise on the green. what gave a pro golfer a scare of a lifetime. this is the "cbs morning news." your shipping manager left to “find themself.” leaving you lost. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. visit indeed.com/hire

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allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from for that healthy skin glow. overreacting to allergens all season long. ! psst! flonase all good. president biden has accepted at invitation to visit israel in the coming months. it came during a call yesterday with israeli prime minister naftali bennett. the two leaders discussed recent israeli-palestinian clashes in jerusalem as well as concerns about iran. mr. biden wants to revive the iran nuclear deal that former president trump withdrew from in 2018. israel is opposed to it.

and tornadoes touched down in kansas, and a long-serving senator is being remembered. those are some of the headlines on the "morning newsstand." "usa today" reports on the death of former utah senator orrin hatch. the longest serving republican senator in history died saturday in salt lake city. he served 42 years in the senate as a staunch conservative. he was also known for his bipartisanship. and he teamed with democrats on legislation including the americans with disabilities act and the children's health insurance program. orrin hatch was 88 years old. the "associated press" says strong storms rolled through western kansas damaging buildings and tearing off roofs. the national weather service confirms two tornadoes touched down friday. one in the city of sharon springs had maximum winds of 110 miles per hour. photos and videos show the destruction left behind by the tornados. >> last night came through here, didn't look like nothing happened.

this morning there was -- south side town all the way to the north side town, everything was gone. i mean it was power poles, trees, you name it. could have been a lot worse. everybody survived. >> there were no reports of injuries. and "reuters" reports the women's tennis association says that it will not return to china this year until there is a resolution in the case of peng shuai. the chinese tennis player disappeared from public view for three weeks after she posted a message on social media last november accusing a former vice premier of sexual assault. the post was removed, and she later denied accusing anyone of sexual assault. the wta suspended all of its tournaments in china. still to come, a summer job for foodies. we're going to tell you about a cool new job that makes taco tuesday every day. (music) who said you have to starve yourself to lose weight? who said you can't do dinner? who said only this is good? and this is bad?

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♪ we're out of here. >> so long, suckers. ♪ >> well, this just got a little weird. >> reporter: "the bad guys" did good at the box office on the weekend. the animated movie took the number-one spot in its debut weekend earning $24 million in north america. it's based on a novel about a group of crooked animals and beat out "sonic the hedgehog 2." it's proof that families are returning to movie theaters. on the cbs "money watch," workers at another amazon warehouse hold a vote today on whether to unionize, and a company is offering a dream job to taco lovers. naomi ruchim is in new york with those stories and more. good morning, naomi. >> reporter: anne-marie, good morning to you. stock futures are pointing to a lower open this morning.

this week some big tech companies report first-quarter earnings results including amazon, alphabet, apple, meta, and microsoft. on friday the dow plummeted 981 points. that's an almost 3% drop in the dow's worst day in a year and a half. the nasdaq fell 335 points, and the s&p 500 was down 121. hundreds of amazon employees at a new york city warehouse will vote on whether to unionize today. the amazon labor union wants workers at a staten island facility to have longer breaks, more time off, and increase in minimum wages from $18 to $30. earlier this month another staten island facility became the first amazon warehouse in the u.s. to vote to unionize. elon musk and twitter may be coming closer to an agreement. twitter's 11-member board met to

discuss the tesla billionaire's proposal to buy the social media joint. -- giant. last week musk announced he had lined up $46.5 billion in financing his bid for twitter. he has said twitter needs to be taken private to become a genuine platform for free speech. and here's a chance for someone to cash in on their love for tacos. food delivery company faber is looking to hire a chief taco officer. the officer will be expected to drive across texas during june and july in search of the best tacos in the state and share their findings on social media. the job comes with a $10,000 salary, free food, accommodations, and transportation. this story made me laugh this morning because i was in texas a week ago, and we had tacos twice. so there are many, many taco options. they were all amazing, and they do it well there. they have all different flavors and toppings. this is a big job. >> it says you need to be an adventurous eater on the

application form. these things come with a catch. i cannot find a catch. this is like the perfect job, and you didn't mention all the stuff they're paying for. a yoga class, there's swag involved. >> reporter: you can work out after your tacos or not -- you can work out after your tacos or not -- or not. >> right. naomi ruchim in new , uc naomi. >> thanks. up next, baseball fans behaving badly. what caused yankees fans to throw trash onto the field during a game against the guardians. during a game against the guardians. want more from your vitamin brand? get more with nature's bounty. from the first-ever triple action sleep supplement... ...to the only 24-hour vitamin c... ...to heart-healthy support every day. get more with nature's bounty. if you have advanced non-small cell lung cancer, ...to heart-healthy support every day. your first treatment could be a chemo-free combination of two immunotherapies that works differently. it could mean a chance to live longer. opdivo plus yervoy is for adults newly diagnosed

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here's a look at the forecast in some cities around the country. ♪ the new york yankees are calling on fans to behave after some tense moments on the field at the end of saturday's game against the cleveland guardians. fans were seen throwing beer cans, water bottles, and other items at some of the guardians players in the outfield. this happened after one of cleveland's players was seen confronting a fan in the stands about taunting a teammate. >> like i said, you can celebrate all you want during the game, but don't try to get people hurt. that's not how things work. and honestly, i think that we're human beings, as well. we're not going to sit there --

i personally am not going to allow them to throw stuff at me and take it like it's noting. >> yankees players were seen walking toward the fans begging them to stop. and talk about a golf hazard -- an unexpected visitor showed up to the pga tour event over the weekend. >> he will have a little bit of work to do to keep their card clean -- oh. >> my man just had a heart attack right in front of our eyes. >> did he not see the gator? >> that frightened golfer callum tarren at the zurich classic in new orleans. he darted away from the large creature after he didn't notice it at first. on social media, he said it was, quote, a big-old fella. coming up only on "cbs mornings," singer megan thee stallion talks exclusively with gayle king for her first tv interview addressing the 2020 shooting allegedly involving rapper tory lanez. this is the "cbs morning news." shooting allegedly involving rapper tory lanez.

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our top stories this morning -- secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin met with ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy in the capital of kyiv. they told him the u.s. will provide more than $300 million of foreign military assistance on top of the billions in military aid already pledged. and the texas board of pardons and paroles is set to take up the case today of melissa lucio. the mother is scheduled to be executed wednesday for killing her 2-year-old daughter in 2007. her lawyers say the girl fell down a flight of stairs, and they are calling for a new trial. prosecutors say that she was a victim of child abuse.

armenian genocide remembrance day was often served yesterday. 1.5 million armenians were killed in the ottoman empire in 1915. skyler henry spoke with a family in virginia about lessons from the past. >> reporter: drop by any time and you'll find a feast like this in the tossounians household. they'ral armenian americans, three generations, and they keep their rich culture front and center throughout their home. >> both my parents are armenian. i was born armenian. i went to armenian school, church. >> reporter: their history is here, as well. photos of 11s line the walls.wh the ottoman turks more than a f ntury ago. osome >> genocide is a heavy word. admitting to genocide or talking about genocide, i don't think a lot of people know and understand it. >> my grandmother's story is that her grandmother made her hide in a trunk because she was small enough, in a clothing trunk. so through the keyhole she saw her ancestors getting shot.

her sister and brothers and grandmother, father, mother, aunt, uncle. >> reporter: their story is similar to up to two million armenians living in the u.s. alone. for 12-year-old lulu and 8-year-old gigi, the history lesson started at home. do you feel proud to be armenian? >> i think it's really special. >> reporter: last year president biden became the first u.s. president to officially recognize the massacre as a genocide. are you frustrated that it took so long to get that recognition? >> it was a political thing of using the word genocide, and it shouldn't be a political thing. >> reporter: the president used the word to desribe russia's war this ukraine, though not officially formal u.s. policy. >> if we don't talk about it, then history will be repeated. i feel like this is like happening with ukraine. >> reporter: a road the family says they've been down as they work to share their culture and family legacies reminding the

world of a lost generation. skyler henry, ashburn, virginia. coming up only on "cbs mornings," singer megan thee stallion talks with gayle king for her first tv interview addressing the 2020 shooting allegedly involving rapper tory lanez. plus, magazine editor tina brown will tell us about her book called "the palace papers." and in "kindness 101," steve hartman shares the story a kansas man and how he found redemption. that's the "cbs morning news" for this monday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. ♪ ♪ much

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