U.S SECRETARY of State Antony Blinken will visit Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian government (Ukraine govt. photo).

Two U.S. Cabinet members will visit the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Sunday, according to an announcement by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said that Anthony Blinken, secretary of state, and Lloyd Austin, secretary of defense, will arrive to discuss issues related to Russia’s invasion of its western neighbor.

According to Associated Press, Zelenskyy said that his nation wants “not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons.”

In related news, Russian forces have returned to trying to conquer the holdout areas of the port city of Mariupol, where the invaders have been unable to dislodge Ukrainian forces fortified in a huge industrial plant.

Also in the news …

• A man angry at gender definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary has been arrested and faces federal charges after allegedly threatening to bomb the publisher’s offices.
• Former U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who served in that role from 1977 to 2019, has died at the age of 88. A Republican, he was the longest-serving senator in Utah history.

Sports: The coming college football breakup?

Saturday college football games may eventually pit teams which are composed of students in name only. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Sawbrick predicted to Sports Illustrated that – perhaps a decade from now – what’s now Division 1 will split into two formats: one where a corporation licenses a colleges’ athletics and runs them independently and one where sports are still tied to the educational mission of the schools.

Two steps toward that split are the lucrative TV packages offered to top tier college football and basketball programs, and new rules allowing students to be paid for the use of their name, image or likeness.

Weather: Bringing the heat

Mother Nature will be bringing a preview of summer to the West Orange County area for the next few days. The forecast for Sunday is sunny skies and a daytime high of 86 (overnight low of 56). Some clouds will move in on Monday with similar temps. The heat will begin to abate on Tuesday with a drop in temperature to 79, then 75 on Wednesday.