Russia ratcheted up its battle for control of Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland on Tuesday, intensifying assaults on cities and towns along a front hundreds of miles long in what officials on both sides described as a new phase of the war.

After a Russian push to overrun the capital failed, the Kremlin declared that its main goal was the capture of the eastern Donbas region, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for eight years.

A federal judge’s decision to strike down a national mask mandate was met with cheers on some airplanes but also concern about whether it’s really time to end one of the most visible vestiges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The major airlines and many of the busiest airports rushed to drop their requirements on Monday after the Transportation Security Administration announced it wouldn’t enforce a January 2021 security directive that applied to airplanes, airports, taxis and other mass transit.

Associate Vice Provost for Student Achievement Sheneeta White answered questions Thursday about St. Thomas’ faculty advising, including plans for a new structure, research opportunities and changes to classes in terms of online at the Undergraduate Student Government general council meeting at Scooter’s.

White announced that the university is applying for the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program, which gives higher education institutions funding “to prepare undergraduate students for doctoral studies through involvement in research and other scholarly activities,” according to the McNair Scholars website.

Designer Gillian Farinella can be reached at gefarinella@stthomas.edu.