On today’s episode of the 5 Things podcast: Russia halts grain export deal after Crimea bridge explosion

Russia halts its grain export deal after a Crimean bridge explosion. Plus, USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer looks at efforts to stop the flow of fentanyl across the border, border-crossing numbers dip as the CBP’s online app takes effect, Des Moines Register Health Care Reporter Michaela Ramm has the latest after a judge temporarily blocked a six-week abortion ban, and the FDA approves a new drug to protect children from RSV.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I’m Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Tuesday, the 18th of July 2023. Today, we look at what’s next for the war in Ukraine after a Crimean bridge explosion. Plus how the US is trying to tackle the flow of fentanyl into the country, and a judge blocks Iowa’s abortion ban.

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Two pre-dawn explosions yesterday collapsed a part of the bridge connecting the Russian mainland with the annexed peninsula of Crimea. Ukraine security officials claimed responsibility for the drone attack that killed two people and injured one. It’s the second time since October that Ukraine has disabled the Kerch Strait Bridge after a truck bomb caused the previous damage. Within hours of the attack, Russia pulled out of a year old wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain to global markets. The announcement came shortly after the attack on the bridge, though the Kremlin claims the two are unrelated. The UN brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative had Russia lifting its naval blockade of Ukraine’s grain shipments to avoid a humanitarian food crisis in developing countries. Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s largest grain producers. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez condemned the move by Russia to not renew the expiring agreement and said consumers would pay the price.

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The US faces intensifying urgency to deal with the fentanyl crisis. I spoke with USA TODAY Domestic Security Correspondent Josh Meyer about where efforts stand and some code named operations aimed at stopping the flow of the drug into the country. Thanks for hopping on 5 Things Josh.

Josh Meyer:

Sure, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

So starting here, just how bad is the fentanyl crisis in the US?

Josh Meyer:

It’s bad and it’s getting worse. I mean, it’s been intensifying now since probably 2017. The first couple of years it was multiplying exponentially. And then drug deaths nationwide hit a new record of 109,680 people in ’22, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Not all of those were fentanyl victims, but fentanyl is taking up an increasingly big chunk of that and certainly a majority chunk of that.

Taylor Wilson:

And at a hearing we learned about some of these code names the government uses in its counter fentanyl efforts. Why do they use code names like these, Josh?

Josh Meyer:

I’ve been covering federal law enforcement for 30 years now, and they’ve always had these. Sometimes they keep them secret, but usually they’re for internal use only anyway. But they do it to help organize the projects. They do it to create funding streams. They do it to share information with each other, but for the most part, it’s basically because they think they’re cool sounding. And it’s a way to keep everybody on board on the same project towards the same target, often to keep people from various government agencies that might otherwise be feuding with each other on board with the program.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. So let’s go through some of these code named operations on fentanyl. What can you tell us about operations Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen?

Josh Meyer:

Yeah, those are some big ones. Those are some of the big ticket ones from Department of Homeland Security that they’ve been working on over the last, I think it’s like four months or so. They’re headed by Customs and Border Protection, which is within Department of Homeland Security. And they resulted in the seizure of nearly 10,000 pounds of fentanyl headed for US communities just in a couple of weeks and led to 284 arrests.

Taylor Wilson:

And there’s a new phase of Customs and Border Protection operations kind of piggybacking off of the work done in Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen. What’s this operation look like?

Josh Meyer:

Right, so they’re basically trying to leverage the intelligence they gained from all the arrests and the seizure of the fentanyl through Blue Lotus and Four Horsemen. And these two ones are called Operation Artemis and Operation Rolling Wave. And both of those also are CBP operations, leveraging the intelligence game through the first two. So this is the next phase of the counter fentanyl effort. It’ll consist of jump teams, which are teams basically ready to jump in a moment’s notice, deployed its strategic locations around the US with the focus of disrupting the supply chain used in the development and movement of fentanyl. So this is tackling not just the drug itself, but how it gets moved around from one place to another as well as the precursor chemicals used to manufacture it.

Taylor Wilson:

And another operation that caught my eye in your story, Josh, was called Chain Breaker. What’s the idea behind this effort?

Josh Meyer:

So Operation Chain Breaker is a very interesting one. It’s an effort to target the equipment needed to manufacture the black market pills flooding US communities from coast to coast after being produced in industrial-sized Mexican cartel super labs south of the border. So it’ll deploy federal agents at expressed consignment facilities. Basically, they’re just looking to dismantle these illicit networks and limit transnational organized crime groups, access to the financial system, breaking the chain as it were. So this is one of the operations where the title actually corresponds to what they’re trying to do. Chain breaker, breaking the chain of the supply chain of the drugs themselves. Not all of these do, I mean, there’s one called Pelican Bones. I’m still not sure exactly why they call it that, but Operation Pelican Bones is another one of these key counter fentanyl efforts that’s underway right now.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Josh Meyer covers domestic security for USA TODAY. Thanks, Josh.

Josh Meyer:

My pleasure as always.

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Taylor Wilson:

US Customs and Border Protection officials are trying a new approach to the asylum process, a smartphone-based app. The CBP one app has become a frontline tool for managing asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border and officials cite the app as one of the reasons for a sharp decline in unauthorized border crossings. Migrants use it to submit an initial asylum application and then face deportation if they illegally cross. The CBP relaunched the app when the COVID era Title 42 policy expired in May. According to a border patrol official, the new Biden era policy and the use of the asylum app have contributed to a 50% reduction in the number of asylum seekers encountered by border agents in June. Human rights groups, though, say other factors, including the use of razor wire along the Texas border, could also be playing a role. Officials allow around 43,000 migrants a month to enter the US via an appointment on the app.

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A judge in Iowa has temporarily blocked the state’s so-called fetal heartbeat abortion ban, which was signed into law last week by Gov. Kim Reynolds. I spoke with Des Moines Register Health Care Reporter Michaela Ramm for the latest. Thanks for hopping on the podcast, Michaela.

Michaela Ramm:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So can you just start by explaining what this Iowa abortion bill does and also what this week’s decision by a judge to block the ruling means going forward?

Michaela Ramm:

The law would ban abortion after the first cardiac impulses are detected using an abdominal ultrasound during a pregnancy. That occurs at about six weeks of pregnancy. And so this ban could essentially amount to a total abortion ban in Iowa since many patients don’t know that they’re pregnant at that point since it’s just two weeks after a missed period. The law does include exceptions for cases of rape and incest, but only if the incident is reported to law enforcement or a doctor. The law also does allow for exceptions in cases of medical emergencies or if a fetal anomaly is incompatible with life in order to preserve the life of the pregnant person. But on Monday, in response to a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and ACLU of Iowa, a judge has issued a temporary injunction on the law. So this ban does not go into effect in Iowa until we hear from higher courts on this battle that will ensue.

Taylor Wilson:

And Michaela, I want to backtrack just a little bit and get a sense of what last week was like. While lawmakers worked to push through this six week ban last week, clinics tried to squeeze in as many patients as possible. What was that like for both doctors and patients?

Michaela Ramm:

It was really a confusing and chaotic time, at least according to the providers and clinic staff that I talked to. Last week, on Tuesday, there was a special session as lawmakers were debating. There was really this expectation that Gov. Kim Reynolds would sign the law into effect when the law passed. And so I think people were expecting that you’d wake up Wednesday morning and there would be a ban in effect in Iowa. So they were working very hard to get patients seen Monday and Tuesday. But then Tuesday evening, Gov. Reynolds announced that she planned to sign the bill into effect on Friday.

So that opened a brief window of time for these clinics to see additional patients Wednesday and Thursday. And that really set off this mad dash. One provider that I spoke to said they were working well into the evening on Thursday to get as many patients seen as possible. And for the patients, at least per the clinic staff and providers that I spoke to, they said that they had come to expect this. It was not surprising that Iowa was implementing a abortion ban. So they were very understanding and tried to be as flexible as they could. But per providers and staff, I think it was a very emotional time, and I think they really saw what hardship that this could implement on the patients that they work with. So they were very emotional come Thursday evening when that last patient left.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, I can imagine. Patients who have pass six weeks can still travel out of state to get abortions regardless of what happens to this bill in the Iowa courts. But what are the challenges to doing that?

Michaela Ramm:

The providers that I’ve spoken to say that there are a lot of challenges for these patients who have to travel out of state. There are patients with the economic and financial resources to be able to take time off work or find childcare, but there are a lot of low income Iowans who don’t have those resources and don’t have that ability to be able to travel to Minnesota or Nebraska or another state in the region that still allows abortions. There are many who don’t have reliable transportation, or perhaps they’re in abusive situations where it’s difficult for them to travel so far.

Providers have also raised concerns about the healthcare infrastructure within these states where it’s still legal. As we’ve seen other states implement abortion bans, they’ve seen patients from those states traveling to those states, which creates longer wait times for appointments, maybe sets certain patients back where they no longer qualify for medication abortion, but have to instead rely on a surgical abortion. So there are just a lot of concerns about not just patients’ ability to get to these states, but also this healthcare infrastructure in those states.

Taylor Wilson:

And so, Michaela, what’s next in the courts for this legislation?

Michaela Ramm:

Now that a Polk County District Court judge has ruled that a temporary injunction can go into place, we will have to wait for a court date to be set for arguments to be heard on both sides. Gov. Reynolds has said that she will appeal the temporary injunction, so we will have to wait and see if a judge agrees with her.

Taylor Wilson:

Michaela Ramm. Thanks for your insight here. Really appreciate it.

Michaela Ramm:

Thank you.

Taylor Wilson:

Meanwhile, the FDA this week approved the country’s first birth control pill to be sold to Americans over the counter without a prescription. Experts say the FDA’s approval of the brand named Opill will increase access to effective contraception for people who lack easy access to the healthcare system for a prescription.

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The FDA approved a new drug yesterday that protects infants and toddlers from a severe respiratory virus. It’s the first of its kind medicine for children up to two years old that offers preventative protection against the respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV. AstraZeneca and Sanofi are marketing the drug under the name Beyfortus. It’s a monoclonal antibody. That means, although it’s not a vaccine, it helps prevent severe illness like one. Pediatric respiratory illnesses, including RSV, the flu and COVID, have overwhelmed hospitals in the past year. The approval of Beyfortus could help relieve strain on ERs and pediatric wards.

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. If you liked the show, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. And if you have any comments, you can reach us at [email protected]. I’m back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.