PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN with Turkish President Erdogan at NATO meeting (White House photo).

A course for Ukraine to eventually become a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was approved Tuesday, but Ukraine’s president wasn’t satisfied.

The NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania decided to outline steps toward eventual membership, but U.S. President Joe Biden has said that Ukraine won’t be admitted until a peace agreement is reached with Russia.

United Press International reports that NATO will put forth additional aid to bolster Ukraine’s defenses and bring its armed forces up to NATO standards.

But Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, called any plan without a concrete timeline “absurd.” He will meet with alliance leaders on Wednesday.

B of A hit with $250 million fine

BANK OF AMERICA logo.

Fines totaling $250 million have been levied against the Bank of America for what the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau calls deceptive practices affecting “hundreds of thousands of consumers.”

USA Today reports that the nation’s second-largest bank illegally withheld credit card rewards and “double-dipped” on fees and opening checking and other financial accounts without getting the consent of the customers.

According to the Reuters news agency, B of A has agreed to pay $100 million in restitution and $150 million in civil penalties for violation ranging from February 2018 to February 2022.

A new era for the Earth’s geology

CLIMATE CHANGE (Shutterstock).

Geologists now believed that the impacts of humans on the planet have created a new geologic epoch, which they call the “Anthropocene,” combining the words “human” and “new” from Greek.

According to the Associated Press, this period began in the 1950s and the results have included climate change, species loss, pollution and other man-made influences.

The Chairperson of the Anthropocene Working Group says that the impact on the planet from human activity was similar to that of the impact of a meteorite that hit the Earth 66 million years ago and killed the dinosaurs.

Handwritten Aretha will is valid

A jury in Pontiac, Michigan has decided that a handwritten document penned by singer Aretha Franklin and found in her couch is a valid will.

ARETHA FRANKLIN, (Wikipedia).

According to the Associated Press, the jury decided that those papers, written in 2014 before her 2018 death, should supersede a similar 2010 document found in a locked cabinet.

The ruling favored two brothers against a third. Some issues arising from the 2010 will remain to be resolved.

Aretha Franklin, consider the pre-eminent female “soul” singer, died at the age of 76.

Sports: NL wins MLB All-Star game

A two-run home run by the Colorado Rockies’ Elias Diaz in the eighth inning propelled the National League to a 3-2 win over the American League in the Major League Baseball All-Star game in Seattle Tuesday night.

For the American League, the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani struck out and walked. For the National League, the Dodgers’ J.D Martinez was 2-for-2 with a double and a run scored.

It was the NL’s first All-Star win since 2012.

Weather: Enjoy the sun while it lasts

According to forecasters, the sunny skies we started to enjoy in our West Orange County area won’t last much longer. Wednesday is expected to be sunny with a daytime high of 86 and an overnight low of 64. Thursday will be similar with a high of 85 and a low of 64. But partly cloudy skies return on Friday with a high of 87 (65) and Saturday with 84 (66).