Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear.

President Biden is heading back to the U.S. after a whirlwind visit to Poland and Ukraine.

And Piers-Asma-Holod reports he made the trip to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to NATO

when the war in Ukraine.

Biden met with the leaders of the Bucharest 9 before flying home.

This is a group of countries on the eastern flank of NATO that banded together in 2015,

following Russia's annexation of Crimea the year prior.

As NATO's eastern flank, you're the front lines of our collective defense.

And you know better than anyone.

What's at stake in this conflict?

Biden spoke about the strength of NATO in the face of Russian aggression.

Separately, when Biden was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin's move to suspend

participation in the last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between the U.S. and Russia,

he called it a big mistake.

Asma-Holod and Piers-Asma-Holod.

The Interior Department is proposing its first-ever lease for wind energy production in the

Gulf of Mexico.

From Member Station WWN all-Haley Parker reports it's part of the Biden administration's

pledge to ramp up the wind energy production of the country's coast by 2030.

The Gulf of Mexico has a long legacy of oil and gas production.

But soon, it could see its first wind farm.

The Department of the Interior wants to lease just more than 300,000 acres off of Louisiana

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