Good morning and welcome to Kid News! I'm Tori. Today is Tuesday, May 17, 2022, and we begin

with one small step for gardeners that could be one giant leap for space travel. For the

first time, scientists have grown plants in soil from the moon. The samples were collected

during the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The experiment used Thail Cress,

a small flowering plant native to Eurasia and Africa that is edible, though not too tasty,

but it is in the same plant family as broccoli, kale, and turnips. So the study could lead the way

to grow plants that would supply both food and oxygen on the moon. And the timing is good for NASA's

Artemis program, hoping to land the first woman and the first person of color on the lunar South Pole

by the end of this decade. Details of this plant experiment were just published in the journal

Communications Biology. McDonald's is trying to high-tail it out of Russia. The fast food chain had

temporarily closed all 850 restaurants in that country back in early March after President

Putin invaded Ukraine. Now with no end to the conflict in sight, the company says it wants to

sell off its stores and is looking for a local buyer that will keep all its workers.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican Senators

visited Ukrainian President Zelensky over the weekend. Also, the U.S. Senate is expected to take a

final vote on a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine as soon as tomorrow.

The cost of mailing a letter is going up again. The U.S. Postal Service is expected to increase

prices in July, raising the cost of a forever stamp from 58 cents to 60. And that may not be all.

The Postmaster General warned more price hikes are needed at an uncomfortable rate until the

agency is no longer losing money. Meanwhile, across the pond, the British Postal Service,

the Royal Mail, has announced they plan to increase the use of drones over the next three years

to provide faster and better service, especially for people living in remote areas.

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