Russians could face prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading information that goes against the Russian government’s position on the war in Ukraine, a move that comes as authorities block access to foreign media outlets.

Russian authorities have repeatedly decried reports of Russian military setbacks or civilian deaths in Ukraine as “fake.” State media outlets refer to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” rather than a war or invasion.

Russian troops seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe Friday after a middle-of-the-night attack set it on fire and briefly raised world-wide fears of a catastrophe.

In the attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, the chief of the UN’s international atomic energy agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said a Russian “projectile” hit a training center, not any of its six reactors.

The Minnesota senate held its first votes Thursday on a package of Republican-backed education bills promoted as a “Parents Bill of Rights.”

The bills come as school boards around the country increasingly becoming cauldrons of anger, boiling with disputes over such issues as COVID-19 mask rules, the treatment of transgender students and how to teach the history of racism and slavery in America.

Nkechukwu Akpati can be reached at akpa2917@stthomas.edu.