WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;last week&nbsp; wrestled with the case of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-post-office-christian-85291b805b5630e958ac1200ef711cf2">Christian mail carrier</a>&nbsp;who refused to work on Sundays when he was required to deliver Amazon packages.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-174">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral arguments

While the court seemed in broad agreement that businesses like the Postal Service can't cite minor costs or hardships to reject such requests to accommodate religious practices, it was less clear what they might do about the particular worker's case.

The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. He declined, saying his Sundays are for church and family. U.S. Postal Service officials initially tried to get substitutes for the man’s shifts, but they couldn’t always accommodate him. When he didn’t show, that meant more work for others. Ultimately, the man quit and sued for religious discrimination.

During the arguments, the justices struggled with the question of when employers have to accommodate employees' religious needs. Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/ketanji-brown-jackson">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>&nbsp;said the circumstances of each case matter and that "the answer is: it depends.”

The case is the latest religious confrontation the high court has been asked to referee. In recent years, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to the concerns of religious plaintiffs. That includes a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-coach-prayer-2981a8073ea82a1a688c367270c941aa">ruling last year</a>&nbsp;in which the court said a public high school football coach should be allowed to pray on the field after games. Another case the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-entertainment-religion-race-and-ethnicity-discrimination-9f2a76e9c72b6e0dc2a513a968328799">court is weighing</a>&nbsp;this term involves a Christian graphic artist who wants to create wedding websites, but doesn't want to serve gay couples.

A federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would be an “undue hardship” for the business. But a Supreme Court case from 1977, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, says in part that employers can deny religious accommodations to employees when they impose “more than a de minimis cost” on the business.

Three current justices have said the court should reconsider the Hardison case. And on Tuesday other justices also suggested the “more than de minimis cost language” was problematic.

Even Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer who was representing the Post Office, told the justices that the Hardison case as a whole requires an employer who wants to deny an accommodation to show more. She said that most often requests for religious accommodation come up when employees seek schedule changes like the Sabbath off or midday prayer breaks or exemptions from a company's dress code or grooming policies. They also come up when an employee wants to display a religious symbol in the workplace.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who along with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito has said Hardison should be reconsidered, suggested the justices could simply say that “some courts have taken this de minimis language" too far and that has “been a serious misunderstanding.” He suggested the justices could do “a good day's work and put a period at the end of it by saying that that is not the law.”

The justices seemed less in agreement, however, about what to do on the facts of the case in front of them involving Gerald Groff, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country. For years, Groff was a fill-in mail carrier who worked on days when other mail carriers were off.

But when an Amazon.com contract with the Postal Service required carriers to start delivering packages on Sundays, Groff balked. Initially, to avoid the shifts, Groff transferred to a more rural post office not yet doing Sunday deliveries, but eventually that post office was required to do them, too.

Whenever Groff was scheduled on a Sunday, another carrier had to work or his spot went unfilled. Officials said Groff’s absences created a tense environment and contributed to morale problems. It also meant other carriers had to deliver more Sunday mail than they otherwise would.

Justice Elena Kagan suggested there was enough evidence that Groff's Sunday absences were causing a hardship and that the Postal Service did nothing wrong in denying an accommodation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that the Postal Service had “one employee quit, one employee transfer and another file a grievance” as a result of Groff's Sunday absences. But other justices including Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested the justices might want to send Groff's case back to lower courts for another look.

Groff resigned in 2019 rather than wait to be fired. His lawyer Aaron Streett urged the Supreme Court to overrule the Hardison case and to say that employers must show “significant difficulty or expense” if they want to reject a religious accommodation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596998822010.png" alt="The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays.-Google image" />
 <figcaption>The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays.-Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;last week&nbsp; wrestled with the case of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-post-office-christian-85291b805b5630e958ac1200ef711cf2">Christian mail carrier</a>&nbsp;who refused to work on Sundays when he was required to deliver Amazon packages.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-174">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argumentsWhile the court seemed in broad agreement that businesses like the Postal Service can't cite minor costs or hardships to reject such requests to accommodate religious practices, it was less clear what they might do about the particular worker's case.The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. He declined, saying his Sundays are for church and family. U.S. Postal Service officials initially tried to get substitutes for the man’s shifts, but they couldn’t always accommodate him. When he didn’t show, that meant more work for others. Ultimately, the man quit and sued for religious discrimination.During the arguments, the justices struggled with the question of when employers have to accommodate employees' religious needs. Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/ketanji-brown-jackson">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>&nbsp;said the circumstances of each case matter and that "the answer is: it depends.”The case is the latest religious confrontation the high court has been asked to referee. In recent years, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to the concerns of religious plaintiffs. That includes a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-coach-prayer-2981a8073ea82a1a688c367270c941aa">ruling last year</a>&nbsp;in which the court said a public high school football coach should be allowed to pray on the field after games. Another case the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-entertainment-religion-race-and-ethnicity-discrimination-9f2a76e9c72b6e0dc2a513a968328799">court is weighing</a>&nbsp;this term involves a Christian graphic artist who wants to create wedding websites, but doesn't want to serve gay couples.A federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would be an “undue hardship” for the business. But a Supreme Court case from 1977, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, says in part that employers can deny religious accommodations to employees when they impose “more than a de minimis cost” on the business.Three current justices have said the court should reconsider the Hardison case. And on Tuesday other justices also suggested the “more than de minimis cost language” was problematic.Even Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer who was representing the Post Office, told the justices that the Hardison case as a whole requires an employer who wants to deny an accommodation to show more. She said that most often requests for religious accommodation come up when employees seek schedule changes like the Sabbath off or midday prayer breaks or exemptions from a company's dress code or grooming policies. They also come up when an employee wants to display a religious symbol in the workplace.Justice Neil Gorsuch, who along with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito has said Hardison should be reconsidered, suggested the justices could simply say that “some courts have taken this de minimis language" too far and that has “been a serious misunderstanding.” He suggested the justices could do “a good day's work and put a period at the end of it by saying that that is not the law.”The justices seemed less in agreement, however, about what to do on the facts of the case in front of them involving Gerald Groff, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country. For years, Groff was a fill-in mail carrier who worked on days when other mail carriers were off.But when an Amazon.com contract with the Postal Service required carriers to start delivering packages on Sundays, Groff balked. Initially, to avoid the shifts, Groff transferred to a more rural post office not yet doing Sunday deliveries, but eventually that post office was required to do them, too.Whenever Groff was scheduled on a Sunday, another carrier had to work or his spot went unfilled. Officials said Groff’s absences created a tense environment and contributed to morale problems. It also meant other carriers had to deliver more Sunday mail than they otherwise would.Justice Elena Kagan suggested there was enough evidence that Groff's Sunday absences were causing a hardship and that the Postal Service did nothing wrong in denying an accommodation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that the Postal Service had “one employee quit, one employee transfer and another file a grievance” as a result of Groff's Sunday absences. But other justices including Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested the justices might want to send Groff's case back to lower courts for another look.Groff resigned in 2019 rather than wait to be fired. His lawyer Aaron Streett urged the Supreme Court to overrule the Hardison case and to say that employers must show “significant difficulty or expense” if they want to reject a religious accommodation.The case is Groff v. DeJoy, 22-174.

🎤Supreme Court case tests religious tolerance on Sunday work

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/ron-hull-was-a-pioneer-of-public-broadcasting-in-nebraska-and-the-nation/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Born in a brothel in South Dakota, Ron Hull went on to 
become a “champion” of public broadcasting in Nebraska, in the nation 
and even in southeast Asia.

His death ended a remarkable, 70-year career of helping launch public
 television in Nebraska, interviewing famous authors and celebrities and
 initiating the “American Experience” program during a stint with the 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“He is an admired pioneer across Nebraska, in Washington, D.C., and 
around the world,” said Mark Leonard, the CEO and general manager of 
Nebraska Public Media (NPM) in a press release.

“The impact he had on public media has been profound,” Leonard added.

Hull, who was continuing to work as a senior adviser to Nebraska 
Public Media, began his career as a producer and director at the 
fledgling statewide network in 1955. He was one of only five employees 
at a public television station that had no studio, no cameras and no 
budget, according to NPM.

Over the years, he interviewed many of Nebraska’s literary treasures,
 including author Mari Sandoz and writer/poet John Neihardt, as well as 
actors Sandy Dennis and Henry Fonda, and talk show host Dick Cavett.

His testimony at the Nebraska Legislature helped obtain funding for NET’s headquarters building in Lincoln.

In the early 1980s, Hull worked for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, securing funding for “NOVA” and programming from New 
York’s Metropolitan Opera and initiating the “American Experience” 
series.

Hull, according to NPM, also brought newscaster Bill Moyers back to 
public television and gave Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary film
 director, seed money for his documentary series about the Civil War.

Hull’s career included work as a telecommunications adviser to the government of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Hull was a tireless promoter of Nebraska literary events, helping to 
promote conferences associated with Sandoz and Willa Cather, and for 
more than 50 years, serving as master of ceremonies at the annual 
Neihardt Day in Bancroft.

Hull was honored with numerous awards, including being inducted into 
the Gold Circle honor society of the National Academy of Television Arts
 and Sciences. He received the “Sower Award” from Humanities Nebraska 
and the “Distinguished Nebraskan Award” from the Nebraska Society of 
Washington, D.C.

Hull helped spearhead Nebraska’s commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s bicentennial in 2003-2006.

Most recently, Hull <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/malcolm-x-edges-nu-educator-louise-pound-for-induction-into-the-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">chaired the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission</a>, which selected Malcolm X as its next inductee.

He was preceded in death by his wife,&nbsp;Naomi, and is survived by four children, Kevin, Brian, Brandon and Kathryn.

A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 29 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104428627.png" alt="Ron Hull, at right, interviewed many of Nebraska’s giants of literature and entertainment, including talk-show host Dick Cavett, pictured here in a 2008 interview. (Courtesy of Nebraska Public Media)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull, at right, interviewed many of Nebraska’s giants of literature and entertainment, including talk-show host Dick Cavett, pictured here in a 2008 interview. (Courtesy of Nebraska Public Media)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/ron-hull-was-a-pioneer-of-public-broadcasting-in-nebraska-and-the-nation/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Born in a brothel in South Dakota, Ron Hull went on to 
become a “champion” of public broadcasting in Nebraska, in the nation 
and even in southeast Asia.Hull, 92, died Thursday.His death ended a remarkable, 70-year career of helping launch public
 television in Nebraska, interviewing famous authors and celebrities and
 initiating the “American Experience” program during a stint with the 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<h2>‘Profound impact’</h2>“He is an admired pioneer across Nebraska, in Washington, D.C., and 
around the world,” said Mark Leonard, the CEO and general manager of 
Nebraska Public Media (NPM) in a press release.“The impact he had on public media has been profound,” Leonard added.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104504927.jpeg" alt="Ron Hull speaks at a 2021 event honoring poet John Neihardt at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull speaks at a 2021 event honoring poet John Neihardt at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Hull, who was continuing to work as a senior adviser to Nebraska 
Public Media, began his career as a producer and director at the 
fledgling statewide network in 1955. He was one of only five employees 
at a public television station that had no studio, no cameras and no 
budget, according to NPM.Over the years, he interviewed many of Nebraska’s literary treasures,
 including author Mari Sandoz and writer/poet John Neihardt, as well as 
actors Sandy Dennis and Henry Fonda, and talk show host Dick Cavett.His testimony at the Nebraska Legislature helped obtain funding for NET’s headquarters building in Lincoln.In the early 1980s, Hull worked for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, securing funding for “NOVA” and programming from New 
York’s Metropolitan Opera and initiating the “American Experience” 
series.Hull, according to NPM, also brought newscaster Bill Moyers back to 
public television and gave Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary film
 director, seed money for his documentary series about the Civil War.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104543361.jpeg" alt="Ron Hull, standing, cast the fourth and deciding vote in favor of Malcolm X’s induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in September 2022. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull, standing, cast the fourth and deciding vote in favor of Malcolm X’s induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in September 2022. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Hull’s career included work as a telecommunications adviser to the government of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.Hull was a tireless promoter of Nebraska literary events, helping to 
promote conferences associated with Sandoz and Willa Cather, and for 
more than 50 years, serving as master of ceremonies at the annual 
Neihardt Day in Bancroft.Hull was honored with numerous awards, including being inducted into 
the Gold Circle honor society of the National Academy of Television Arts
 and Sciences. He received the “Sower Award” from Humanities Nebraska 
and the “Distinguished Nebraskan Award” from the Nebraska Society of 
Washington, D.C.Hull helped spearhead Nebraska’s commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s bicentennial in 2003-2006.Most recently, Hull <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/malcolm-x-edges-nu-educator-louise-pound-for-induction-into-the-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">chaired the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission</a>, which selected Malcolm X as its next inductee.He was preceded in death by his wife,&nbsp;Naomi, and is survived by four children, Kevin, Brian, Brandon and Kathryn.A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 29 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln.

Pioneer of Nebraska broadcasting remembered

KANSAS CITY (AP) —In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas.

All of them, and dozens more across America, were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrong-place-shootings-3c6e5061adb30d889ac3d071893ef129">met by gunfire</a>. Some were injured, some killed.

In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and fear has been politicized, honest mistakes and simple acts like going to the wrong address or car in a parking lot, or even just ringing the wrong doorbell, can seem like a fateful question of trust.

It is a tension not lost on Jae Moyer, who was at a rally at the federal courthouse in Kansas City on Tuesday, demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.

“I want to be welcoming and inviting to anyone that comes to my home. Even if they are asking for help and I can’t help them I’m going to be kind to them. I think that’s the way everyone should be,” Moyer said.

“But I don’t think that’s the culture we have right now,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of fear in our country.”

In the early 1970s, surveys showed that about half of America believed most people were trustworthy. By 2020, that number had fallen to less than one-third. Meanwhile, Americans have believed for decades that crime is going up — even in years when it is going down — and also wildly overestimate their chances of being a crime victim.

“Part of that is you guys,” said Warren Eller, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, referring to the media’s relentless focus on crime. “We get 24 hours a day of all the dangers out there.”

That’s hardly surprising. Politicians have long used crime as a wedge issue to gain footholds. Neighborhood message boards foment paranoia about suspicious outsiders. And local and national newscasts bombard TV viewers daily with images of grainy surveillance videos showing a variety of crimes and provocative headlines about cities in decay.

That includes shootings where innocent victims are shot by people who wrongly believe that they are under threat. While there are few statistics on these shootings, they appear to make up a very small percentage of the more than 15,000 people killed every year in the U.S. in firearm homicides.

And yet in just six days in April, four young people across the U.S. were shot — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kaylin-gillis-wrong-driveway-532de0f3d1fbdcff922fe49f78003976">the woman in New York killed</a>&nbsp;— for being at what someone decided was the wrong place. Just Tuesday, a man&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-cheerleaders-shot-mistaken-location-4b5d0659a3768bc2a46b4756e6a5ee4a">shot and wounded two cheerleaders</a>&nbsp;in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own. One cheerleader was grazed by a bullet and treated at the scene. Her teammate was shot in the leg and back.

This American mistrust has settled in as something that, while not normal, is less surprising than ever. And when mixed with legal confusion, easy access to weapons, poor firearms training and sometimes outright racism, it has produced a string of shootings like these that never seems to end.

Take the legal issues. Shooters in incidents like these often use defenses based on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-stand-your-ground-69f91b0a09b25f9758219897f5890278">“stand-your-ground” laws</a>, which have broadened people's rights to defend themselves if they are threatened. But those laws, which have spread across America in the last 25 years, may have actually driven up violence.

A study published in 2022 by the JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that monthly homicide rates increased between 8% and 11% in states with stand-your-ground laws.

“I think it has commonly become known of as a license to use deadly force whenever someone feels threatened,” said Geoffrey Corn, the chair of criminal law at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He has extensively studied such laws, which he believes are deeply misunderstood by the public.

“The fear has to be justified by the circumstances," he said. “You don't get to kill somebody just because you fear them.”

Legal experts expect Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old man who shot Yarl, to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s stand-your-ground law. On Wednesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-updates-c13170d6759f2963b01a68fc8a6332f7">pleaded not guilty</a>&nbsp;in Yarl’s shooting.

Corn, a 22-year-military veteran, also wonders about America’s recent boom in firearm sales and whether it has combined with insufficient training to compound the problem.

“What troubles me isn’t that there are a lot of firearms, it’s that nothing is required of someone who takes on the awesome responsibility" of wielding them, Corn said. Even in states that require firearms training, he says training is often insufficient, with poor explanations of self-defense laws.

When he was in the military, he had weeks of training before he was even allowed to touch a bullet. “I was always conscious of the awesome killing power of a firearm,” he said.

Then there is the unavoidable question of race, a central pillar of American distrust across the centuries.

False notions about threats posed by nonwhite people have played out repeatedly in modern American history, including in a number of high-profile cases when assailants attacked Black or Hispanic people who they believed meant them harm, even when no threat was apparent.

Yarl’s shooting has drawn comparisons to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/trayvon-martin">the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin</a>, 17, a Black teenager visiting his father’s home in a gated Florida community when George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, decided he looked suspicious and shot him to death. Zimmerman was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the state’s stand-your-ground law as a defense.

It also echoes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-shootings-michigan-detroit-4495fe92a5c152ab707f74bcc6cb2f04">the case of Renisha McBride</a>, a Black woman who knocked on doors in a Detroit-area community in 2013, seeking help after a car accident. She was fatally shot by a white resident who fired through his screen door, saying he feared she meant him harm.

These cases, said Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of books on racism and founder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfYXscTCBySJ0PRmHgZQ1ZOfxEbFn76YeCJGKSX_2J4aB6yMPl-eVP0aAp2PEALw_wcB">Center for Antiracist Research</a>&nbsp;at Boston University, occurred because people of all races and backgrounds are groomed to fear Black people as more prone to criminality and violence.

“No one is born fearing another person because of their skin color,” Kendi said. “There’s so many different ways in which people are taught that Black people are dangerous, and those ideas actually create all sorts of dangers for Black people, including Black teenagers.”

“The more we unlearn that idea and realize that we can’t attach danger to skin color in any way," he said, “the less likely people are going to be to use lethal force against a 16-year-old child who is ringing their doorbell.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681726215314.png" alt="Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.-photo GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.-photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM SULLIVAN and AARON MORRISON&nbsp;KANSAS CITY (AP) —In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas.All of them, and dozens more across America, were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrong-place-shootings-3c6e5061adb30d889ac3d071893ef129">met by gunfire</a>. Some were injured, some killed.In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and fear has been politicized, honest mistakes and simple acts like going to the wrong address or car in a parking lot, or even just ringing the wrong doorbell, can seem like a fateful question of trust.It is a tension not lost on Jae Moyer, who was at a rally at the federal courthouse in Kansas City on Tuesday, demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.“I want to be welcoming and inviting to anyone that comes to my home. Even if they are asking for help and I can’t help them I’m going to be kind to them. I think that’s the way everyone should be,” Moyer said.“But I don’t think that’s the culture we have right now,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of fear in our country.”There is also plenty of mistrust.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ralph Yarl is home and recovering! How the bullet in his head did not cause more extensive damage is truly a miracle. To God be the glory! <a href="https://t.co/y5mWpQNcY4">pic.twitter.com/y5mWpQNcY4</a>&mdash; Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) <a href="https://twitter.com/MerrittForTexas/status/1648707056159866880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>AMERICAN SUSPICIONIn the early 1970s, surveys showed that about half of America believed most people were trustworthy. By 2020, that number had fallen to less than one-third. Meanwhile, Americans have believed for decades that crime is going up — even in years when it is going down — and also wildly overestimate their chances of being a crime victim.“Part of that is you guys,” said Warren Eller, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, referring to the media’s relentless focus on crime. “We get 24 hours a day of all the dangers out there.”That’s hardly surprising. Politicians have long used crime as a wedge issue to gain footholds. Neighborhood message boards foment paranoia about suspicious outsiders. And local and national newscasts bombard TV viewers daily with images of grainy surveillance videos showing a variety of crimes and provocative headlines about cities in decay.That includes shootings where innocent victims are shot by people who wrongly believe that they are under threat. While there are few statistics on these shootings, they appear to make up a very small percentage of the more than 15,000 people killed every year in the U.S. in firearm homicides.And yet in just six days in April, four young people across the U.S. were shot — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kaylin-gillis-wrong-driveway-532de0f3d1fbdcff922fe49f78003976">the woman in New York killed</a>&nbsp;— for being at what someone decided was the wrong place. Just Tuesday, a man&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-cheerleaders-shot-mistaken-location-4b5d0659a3768bc2a46b4756e6a5ee4a">shot and wounded two cheerleaders</a>&nbsp;in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own. One cheerleader was grazed by a bullet and treated at the scene. Her teammate was shot in the leg and back.This American mistrust has settled in as something that, while not normal, is less surprising than ever. And when mixed with legal confusion, easy access to weapons, poor firearms training and sometimes outright racism, it has produced a string of shootings like these that never seems to end.Take the legal issues. Shooters in incidents like these often use defenses based on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-stand-your-ground-69f91b0a09b25f9758219897f5890278">“stand-your-ground” laws</a>, which have broadened people's rights to defend themselves if they are threatened. But those laws, which have spread across America in the last 25 years, may have actually driven up violence.A study published in 2022 by the JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that monthly homicide rates increased between 8% and 11% in states with stand-your-ground laws.“I think it has commonly become known of as a license to use deadly force whenever someone feels threatened,” said Geoffrey Corn, the chair of criminal law at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He has extensively studied such laws, which he believes are deeply misunderstood by the public.“The fear has to be justified by the circumstances," he said. “You don't get to kill somebody just because you fear them.”AGGRAVATING FACTORSLegal experts expect Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old man who shot Yarl, to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s stand-your-ground law. On Wednesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-updates-c13170d6759f2963b01a68fc8a6332f7">pleaded not guilty</a>&nbsp;in Yarl’s shooting.Corn, a 22-year-military veteran, also wonders about America’s recent boom in firearm sales and whether it has combined with insufficient training to compound the problem.“What troubles me isn’t that there are a lot of firearms, it’s that nothing is required of someone who takes on the awesome responsibility" of wielding them, Corn said. Even in states that require firearms training, he says training is often insufficient, with poor explanations of self-defense laws.When he was in the military, he had weeks of training before he was even allowed to touch a bullet. “I was always conscious of the awesome killing power of a firearm,” he said.Then there is the unavoidable question of race, a central pillar of American distrust across the centuries.False notions about threats posed by nonwhite people have played out repeatedly in modern American history, including in a number of high-profile cases when assailants attacked Black or Hispanic people who they believed meant them harm, even when no threat was apparent.Yarl’s shooting has drawn comparisons to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/trayvon-martin">the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin</a>, 17, a Black teenager visiting his father’s home in a gated Florida community when George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, decided he looked suspicious and shot him to death. Zimmerman was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the state’s stand-your-ground law as a defense.It also echoes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-shootings-michigan-detroit-4495fe92a5c152ab707f74bcc6cb2f04">the case of Renisha McBride</a>, a Black woman who knocked on doors in a Detroit-area community in 2013, seeking help after a car accident. She was fatally shot by a white resident who fired through his screen door, saying he feared she meant him harm.These cases, said Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of books on racism and founder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfYXscTCBySJ0PRmHgZQ1ZOfxEbFn76YeCJGKSX_2J4aB6yMPl-eVP0aAp2PEALw_wcB">Center for Antiracist Research</a>&nbsp;at Boston University, occurred because people of all races and backgrounds are groomed to fear Black people as more prone to criminality and violence.“No one is born fearing another person because of their skin color,” Kendi said. “There’s so many different ways in which people are taught that Black people are dangerous, and those ideas actually create all sorts of dangers for Black people, including Black teenagers.”“The more we unlearn that idea and realize that we can’t attach danger to skin color in any way," he said, “the less likely people are going to be to use lethal force against a 16-year-old child who is ringing their doorbell.”___

Distrust in America: Small mistakes, deep fear — and gunfire

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Matthew Carlson, 40, of Omaha was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Omaha for receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Carlson to 180 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal prison system. After his release from prison, Carlson will be on supervised release for life.

In November 2021, federal agents began investigating after receiving a Cybertip from Dropbox stating that a user had uploaded child pornography. Agents contacted Carlson who admitted to receiving a link, accessing the Dropbox account, and viewing child pornography. Carlson had two prior convictions for possession of child pornography.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit<a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.

U.S. Attorney's OfficeUnited States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Matthew Carlson, 40, of Omaha was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Omaha for receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Carlson to 180 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal prison system. After his release from prison, Carlson will be on supervised release for life.In November 2021, federal agents began investigating after receiving a Cybertip from Dropbox stating that a user had uploaded child pornography. Agents contacted Carlson who admitted to receiving a link, accessing the Dropbox account, and viewing child pornography. Carlson had two prior convictions for possession of child pornography.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit<a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.

Neb. man sentenced for receipt of child pornography

NEW YORK (AP) — Bed Bath &amp; Beyond — one of the original big box retailers — has filed for bankruptcy protection, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans.&nbsp;The company still has stores in Nebraska in Lincoln and two in Omaha.

The beleaguered home goods chain made the filing Sunday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and said it will start an orderly wind down of its operations including eventually closing its stores, while seeking a buyer for all or some of its businesses. For now, its 360 Bed Bath &amp; Beyond stores and its 120 Buy Buy Baby stores as well as its websites will remain open to serve customers.

It listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion. The move comes after the company failed to secure funds to stay afloat.

In a statement, the company based in Union, New Jersey, said it voluntarily made the filing "to implement an orderly wind down of its businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets." The store closings will put thousands of jobs at risk.

The company said it also intends to uphold commitments to customers, employees and partners. The retailer said it secured a commitment of roughly $240 million in financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. to allow it to keep operating during the bankruptcy process.

The filing comes as the company’s shares have tumbled even more as speculation of an impending bankruptcy filing increased. Its financial performance has also deteriorated. In late March, it noted that preliminary results showed anywhere from a 40% to 50% decline in sales at stores opened at least a year for the quarter ended Feb. 25.

The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late March that it planned to sell $300 million worth of shares to avoid bankruptcy filing.

The home goods retailer had been issuing several warnings about a potential bankruptcy filing since earlier this year. In late January, it noted in a government filing it was in default of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bankruptcy-business-2fd56f01b26c8484e2b30230cb439e4e">loans</a>&nbsp;and didn’t have the funds to repay what it owes. The company had said the default is forcing the company to look at various alternatives including restructuring its debt in bankruptcy court.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-875189eb9c27eac251670f80357c8ca3">warned</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 5 that it was considering various options including filing for bankruptcy and said that there was “substantial doubt” that it could stay in business. A week later, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond posted a 33% drop in sales and a widening loss for the fiscal third quarter, ended Nov. 26, compared with the year-ago period. Sales at stores opened at least a year — a key indicator of a company’s health — dropped 32%.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s recently appointed president and CEO Sue Gove blamed the poor holiday performance on inventory constraints and reduced credit limits that resulted in shortages of merchandise on store shelves.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond joins a growing list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy so far this year including party supplies chain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-new-york-city-party-holdco-inc-business-bankruptcy-6103152baf9d5d633fb5adc167d0046c">Party City</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/davids-bridal-bankruptcy-filing-wedding-ace0eadbedadc97337b8c50213e73bca">David’s Bridal</a>. And the bankruptcy could offer a window of what's more to come, giving the changing landscape of the retail industry and the increasing challenges in the U.S. economy.

During the depths of the pandemic, a number of retailers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy including Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney. But in 2022, there was a respite in retail bankruptcy filings as shoppers, flush with government stimulus money and a pile of savings, spent with abandon, helping to lift all types of retailers. But as credit tightens and inflation remains stubborn, shoppers have been tightening their purse strings in recent months, leaving struggling retailers like Bed Bath &amp; Beyond more vulnerable.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had been trying to turn around its business and slash costs after previous management’s new strategies worsened a sales slump. The company announced last August it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-offerings-chewy-inc-6af2d83aec7cde2cd7b0706b892a4c0c">close</a>&nbsp;about 150 of its namesake stores and slash its workforce by 20%. It also lined up more than $500 million of new financing.

Founded in 1971, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had for years enjoyed its status as a big box retailer that offered a vast selection of sheets, towels and gadgets unmatched by department store rivals. It was among the first to introduce shoppers to many of today’s household items like the air fryer or single-serve coffee maker, and its 15% to 20% coupons were ubiquitous.

But for the last decade or so, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond struggled with weak sales, largely because of its messy assortments and lagging online strategy that made it hard to compete with the likes of Target and Walmart, both of which have spruced up their home departments with higher quality sheets and beddings. Meanwhile, online players like Wayfair have lured customers with affordable and trendy furniture and home décor.

In late 2019, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous for the retailer.

And the pandemic, which happened shortly after his arrival, forced the retailer to temporarily close its stores. It was never able to use the health crisis to pivot to a successful online strategy as others had, analysts said. And while many retailers were grappling with supply chain issues a year ago, Bed Bath was among the most vulnerable, missing many of its 200 best-selling items including kitchen appliances and personal electronics, during the holiday 2021 season.

The retailer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/33fa91f0e8114f4536dd0d1271ae1d2b">ousted</a>&nbsp;Tritton in June 2022 after two back-to-back quarters of disastrous sales. In recent months, the company went back to its original strategy of focusing on national brands, instead of pushing its own store labels. But the company has had a hard time having suppliers commit to delivering merchandise because of the retailer’s financial woes. This past holiday season, the stores were missing many key items, and it lost many customers.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s shares, which were trading at distressed levels, have also been on a turbulent run. It made a monstrous run from $5.77 to $23.08 in a little more than two weeks in August. The trading was reminiscent of last year’s meme-stock craze, when out-of-favor companies suddenly became darlings of smaller-pocketed investors.

But the stock fell back to Earth after Ryan Cohen, the billionaire co-founder of online pet-products retailer Chewy Inc. who purchased a nearly 10% stake in Bed Bath &amp; Beyond last March, sold off all his shares.

Shares were hovering close to 30 cents in the past few days. A year ago, shares were trading at around $17.

The company had 32,000 employees as of Feb. 26, 2022, but that number has come down since then as the retailer has slashed jobs.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bed Bath &amp; Beyond — one of the original big box retailers — has filed for bankruptcy protection, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans.&nbsp;The company still has stores in Nebraska in Lincoln and two in Omaha.The beleaguered home goods chain made the filing Sunday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and said it will start an orderly wind down of its operations including eventually closing its stores, while seeking a buyer for all or some of its businesses. For now, its 360 Bed Bath &amp; Beyond stores and its 120 Buy Buy Baby stores as well as its websites will remain open to serve customers.It listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion. The move comes after the company failed to secure funds to stay afloat.In a statement, the company based in Union, New Jersey, said it voluntarily made the filing "to implement an orderly wind down of its businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets." The store closings will put thousands of jobs at risk.The company said it also intends to uphold commitments to customers, employees and partners. The retailer said it secured a commitment of roughly $240 million in financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. to allow it to keep operating during the bankruptcy process.The filing comes as the company’s shares have tumbled even more as speculation of an impending bankruptcy filing increased. Its financial performance has also deteriorated. In late March, it noted that preliminary results showed anywhere from a 40% to 50% decline in sales at stores opened at least a year for the quarter ended Feb. 25.The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late March that it planned to sell $300 million worth of shares to avoid bankruptcy filing.The home goods retailer had been issuing several warnings about a potential bankruptcy filing since earlier this year. In late January, it noted in a government filing it was in default of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bankruptcy-business-2fd56f01b26c8484e2b30230cb439e4e">loans</a>&nbsp;and didn’t have the funds to repay what it owes. The company had said the default is forcing the company to look at various alternatives including restructuring its debt in bankruptcy court.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-875189eb9c27eac251670f80357c8ca3">warned</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 5 that it was considering various options including filing for bankruptcy and said that there was “substantial doubt” that it could stay in business. A week later, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond posted a 33% drop in sales and a widening loss for the fiscal third quarter, ended Nov. 26, compared with the year-ago period. Sales at stores opened at least a year — a key indicator of a company’s health — dropped 32%.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s recently appointed president and CEO Sue Gove blamed the poor holiday performance on inventory constraints and reduced credit limits that resulted in shortages of merchandise on store shelves.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond joins a growing list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy so far this year including party supplies chain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-new-york-city-party-holdco-inc-business-bankruptcy-6103152baf9d5d633fb5adc167d0046c">Party City</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/davids-bridal-bankruptcy-filing-wedding-ace0eadbedadc97337b8c50213e73bca">David’s Bridal</a>. And the bankruptcy could offer a window of what's more to come, giving the changing landscape of the retail industry and the increasing challenges in the U.S. economy.During the depths of the pandemic, a number of retailers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy including Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney. But in 2022, there was a respite in retail bankruptcy filings as shoppers, flush with government stimulus money and a pile of savings, spent with abandon, helping to lift all types of retailers. But as credit tightens and inflation remains stubborn, shoppers have been tightening their purse strings in recent months, leaving struggling retailers like Bed Bath &amp; Beyond more vulnerable.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had been trying to turn around its business and slash costs after previous management’s new strategies worsened a sales slump. The company announced last August it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-offerings-chewy-inc-6af2d83aec7cde2cd7b0706b892a4c0c">close</a>&nbsp;about 150 of its namesake stores and slash its workforce by 20%. It also lined up more than $500 million of new financing.Founded in 1971, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had for years enjoyed its status as a big box retailer that offered a vast selection of sheets, towels and gadgets unmatched by department store rivals. It was among the first to introduce shoppers to many of today’s household items like the air fryer or single-serve coffee maker, and its 15% to 20% coupons were ubiquitous.But for the last decade or so, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond struggled with weak sales, largely because of its messy assortments and lagging online strategy that made it hard to compete with the likes of Target and Walmart, both of which have spruced up their home departments with higher quality sheets and beddings. Meanwhile, online players like Wayfair have lured customers with affordable and trendy furniture and home décor.In late 2019, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous for the retailer.And the pandemic, which happened shortly after his arrival, forced the retailer to temporarily close its stores. It was never able to use the health crisis to pivot to a successful online strategy as others had, analysts said. And while many retailers were grappling with supply chain issues a year ago, Bed Bath was among the most vulnerable, missing many of its 200 best-selling items including kitchen appliances and personal electronics, during the holiday 2021 season.The retailer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/33fa91f0e8114f4536dd0d1271ae1d2b">ousted</a>&nbsp;Tritton in June 2022 after two back-to-back quarters of disastrous sales. In recent months, the company went back to its original strategy of focusing on national brands, instead of pushing its own store labels. But the company has had a hard time having suppliers commit to delivering merchandise because of the retailer’s financial woes. This past holiday season, the stores were missing many key items, and it lost many customers.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s shares, which were trading at distressed levels, have also been on a turbulent run. It made a monstrous run from $5.77 to $23.08 in a little more than two weeks in August. The trading was reminiscent of last year’s meme-stock craze, when out-of-favor companies suddenly became darlings of smaller-pocketed investors.But the stock fell back to Earth after Ryan Cohen, the billionaire co-founder of online pet-products retailer Chewy Inc. who purchased a nearly 10% stake in Bed Bath &amp; Beyond last March, sold off all his shares.Shares were hovering close to 30 cents in the past few days. A year ago, shares were trading at around $17.The company had 32,000 employees as of Feb. 26, 2022, but that number has come down since then as the retailer has slashed jobs.

Struggling Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy protection

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.

With the last U.S. employee of the embassy out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. Left behind were thousands of private American citizens remaining in the east African country.

U.S. officials said it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation mission. Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders entered their ninth day Sunday, forcing continued closing of the main international airport and leaving roads out of the country in control of armed men. Fighting has killed more than 400 people.

In a statement thanking the troops, President Joe Biden said he was receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible.”

He also called for the end to “unconscionable” violence there.

About 100 U.S. troops in three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation. They airlifted all of roughly 70 remaining American employees from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia. Ethiopia also provided overflight and refueling support, said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs.

Biden said Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia also assisted with the evacuation.

“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”

U.S. Africa Command and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley were in contact with both warring factions before and during the operation to ensure that U.S. forces would have safe passage to conduct the evacuation. However, John Bass, a U.S. undersecretary of state, denied claims by one faction, Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Security Forces, that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation.

“They cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members in the course of the operation," Bass said.

Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate&nbsp;<a href="https://sd.usembassy.gov/">embassy</a>&nbsp;personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting.

“This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It’s unconscionable and it must stop,” Biden said. “The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan.”

Sudan's fighting broke out April 15 between two commanders who just 18 months earlier jointly orchestrated a military coup to derail the nation’s transition to democracy.

The ongoing power struggle now between the armed forces chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has millions of Sudanese cowering inside their homes, hiding from explosions, gunfire and looting.

The violence has included an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy and numerous incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted.

An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. The figure is rough because not all Americans register with embassy or say when they depart.

The embassy issued an alert earlier Saturday cautioning that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens.”

The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that U.S. troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.

Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah.

Embassy evacuations conducted by the U.S. military are relatively rare and usually take place only under extreme conditions.

When it orders an embassy to draw down staff or suspend operations, the State Department prefers to have its personnel leave on commercial transportation if that is an option.

When the embassy in Kyiv temporarily closed just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, staffers used commercial transport to leave.

However, in several other recent cases, notably in Afghanistan in 2021, conditions made commercial departures impossible or extremely hazardous. U.S. troops accompanied personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in an overland convoy to Tunisia when they evacuated in 2014.

<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/sudan">Fighting in Sudan</a>&nbsp;between forces loyal to two top generals has put that nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders.

Both sides have tens of thousands of fighters, foreign backers, mineral riches and other resources that could insulate them from sanctions. It’s a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia.

The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has killed hundreds of people and left millions trapped in urban areas, sheltering from gunfire, explosions and looters.

A look at what is happening and the impact it could have outside Sudan.

Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the armed forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces that grew out of Darfur’s notorious Janjaweed militias,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-clashes-military-rapid-support-forces-444d37ec93ccc813b2ba4abba24aca5c?utm_source=apnews&amp;utm_medium=relatedcontentmodule">are each seeking to seize control of Sudan</a>. It comes two years after they jointly carried out a military coup and derailed a transition to democracy that had begun after protesters in 2019 helped force the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. In recent months, negotiations were underway for a return to the democratic transition.

The victor of the latest fighting is likely to be Sudan's next president, with the loser facing exile, arrest or death. A long-running civil war or partition of the Arab and African country into rival fiefdoms are also possible.

Alex De Waal, a Sudan expert at Tufts University, wrote in a memo to colleagues this week that the conflict should be seen as “the first round of a civil war.”

“Unless it is swiftly ended, the conflict will become a multi-level game with regional and some international actors pursuing their interests, using money, arms supplies and possibly their own troops or proxies,” he wrote.

WHAT DOES THE FIGHING MEAN FOR SUDAN'S NEIGHBORS?

Sudan is Africa's third-largest country by area and straddles the Nile River. It uneasily shares its waters with regional heavyweights Egypt and Ethiopia. Egypt relies on the Nile to support its population of over 100 million, and Ethiopia is working on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-africa-middle-east-egypt-kenya-1ddaf63927805e0e0f2aaab043008327">a massive upstream dam</a>&nbsp;that has alarmed both Cairo and Khartoum.

Egypt has close ties to Sudan’s military, which it sees as an ally against Ethiopia. Cairo has reached out to both sides in Sudan to press for a cease-fire but is unlikely to stand by if the military faces defeat.

Sudan borders five additional countries: Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and South Sudan, which seceded in 2011 and took 75% of Khartoum's oil resources with it. Nearly all are mired in their own internal conflicts, with various rebel groups operating along the porous borders.

“What happens in Sudan will not stay in Sudan,” said Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group. “Chad and South Sudan look most immediately at risk of potential spillover. But the longer (the fighting) drags on the more likely it is we see major external intervention.”

WHAT EXTERNAL POWERS ARE INTERESTED IN SUDAN?

Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region.

The United Arab Emirates, a rising military power that has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-ap-top-news-international-news-iran-united-arab-emirates-21735cadd41f4f2990cb2497b0ba4c73">expanded its presence</a>&nbsp;across the Middle East and East Africa, has close ties to the Rapid Support Forces, which sent thousands of fighters to aid the UAE and Saudi Arabia in their war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Russia, meanwhile, has long harbored plans to build a naval base capable of hosting up to 300 troops and four ships in Port Sudan, on a crucial Red Sea trading route for energy shipments to Europe.

The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit with close ties to the Kremlin,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-technology-business-mali-d0d2c96e01d299a68e00d3a0828ba895">has made inroads across Africa in recent years</a>&nbsp;and has been operating in Sudan since 2017. The United State and the European Union&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/02/25/wagner-group-council-adds-11-individuals-and-7-entities-to-eu-sanctions-lists/">have imposed sanctions</a>&nbsp;on two Wagner-linked gold mining firms in Sudan accused of smuggling.

Sudan became an international pariah when it hosted Osama bin Laden and other militants in the 1990s, when al-Bashir had empowered a hard-line Islamist government.

Its isolation deepened over the conflict in the western Darfur region in the 2000s, when Sudanese forces and the Janjaweed were accused of carrying out atrocities while suppressing a local rebellion. The International Criminal Court eventually charged al-Bashir with genocide.

The U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sudan-khartoum-africa-cab7d7fa4707759c9ab03f79059d948f">removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism</a>&nbsp;after the government in Khartoum agreed to forge ties with Israel in 2020.

But billions of dollars in loans and aid were put on hold after the 2021 military coup. That, along with the war in Ukraine and global inflation,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-health-business-europe-prices-af9d07fd7e15f355c093cd5d945d4e77">sent the economy into free-fall</a>.

CAN EXTERNAL POWERS DO ANYTHING TO STOP THE FIGHTING?

Sudan’s economic woes would seem to provide an opening for Western nations to use economic sanctions to pressure both sides to stand down.

But in Sudan, as in other resource-rich African nations, armed groups have long enriched themselves through the shadowy trade in rare minerals and other natural resources.

Dagalo, a one-time camel herder from Darfur,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fd1c3fcd5d2e45468bca29de5010c0ee">has vast livestock holdings and gold mining operations</a>. He’s also believed to have been well-paid by Gulf countries for the RSF’s service in Yemen battling Iran-aligned rebels.

The military controls much of the economy, and can also count on businessmen in Khartoum and along the banks of the Nile who grew rich during al-Bashir’s long rule and who view the RSF as crude warriors from the hinterlands.

“Control over political funds will be no less decisive than the battlefield,” De Waal said. “(The military) will want to take control of gold mines and smuggling routes. The RSF will want to interrupt major transport arteries including the road from Port Sudan to Khartoum.”

Meanwhile, the sheer number of would-be mediators — including the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, Egypt, Gulf countries, the African Union and the eight-nation eastern Africa bloc known as IGAD — could render any peace efforts more complicated than the war itself.

“The external mediators risk becoming a traffic jam with no policeman," De Waal said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. special operations forces carried out a precarious evacuation of the American embassy in warring Sudan on Sunday, sweeping in and out of the capital, Khartoum, with helicopters on the ground for less than an hour. No shots were fired and no major casualties were reported.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Security Alert: On April 22, 2023, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum suspended its operations, and the Department of State ordered the departure of U.S. direct hire employees and their dependents due to the continued threat from armed conflict in Sudan. The U.S. government cannot…&mdash; U.S. Embassy Khartoum (@USEmbassyKRT) <a href="https://twitter.com/USEmbassyKRT/status/1649980859359846400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>With the last U.S. employee of the embassy out, Washington shuttered the U.S. mission in Khartoum indefinitely. Left behind were thousands of private American citizens remaining in the east African country.U.S. officials said it would be too dangerous to carry out a broader evacuation mission. Battles between two rival Sudanese commanders entered their ninth day Sunday, forcing continued closing of the main international airport and leaving roads out of the country in control of armed men. Fighting has killed more than 400 people.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today, on my orders, the United States military conducted an operation to extract U.S. Government personnel from Khartoum in response to the situation in Sudan. I am grateful for the commitment of our Embassy staff and the skill of our service members who brought them to safety.&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1649974105385361408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a statement thanking the troops, President Joe Biden said he was receiving regular reports from his team on efforts to assist remaining Americans in Sudan “to the extent possible.”He also called for the end to “unconscionable” violence there.About 100 U.S. troops in three MH-47 helicopters carried out the operation. They airlifted all of roughly 70 remaining American employees from a landing zone at the embassy to an undisclosed location in Ethiopia. Ethiopia also provided overflight and refueling support, said Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs.Biden said Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia also assisted with the evacuation.“I am proud of the extraordinary commitment of our Embassy staff, who performed their duties with courage and professionalism and embodied America’s friendship and connection with the people of Sudan,” Biden said in a statement. “I am grateful for the unmatched skill of our service members who successfully brought them to safety.”U.S. Africa Command and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley were in contact with both warring factions before and during the operation to ensure that U.S. forces would have safe passage to conduct the evacuation. However, John Bass, a U.S. undersecretary of state, denied claims by one faction, Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Security Forces, that it assisted in the U.S. evacuation.“They cooperated to the extent that they did not fire on our service members in the course of the operation," Bass said.Biden had ordered American troops to evacuate&nbsp;<a href="https://sd.usembassy.gov/">embassy</a>&nbsp;personnel after receiving a recommendation from his national security team, with no end in sight to the fighting.“This tragic violence in Sudan has already cost the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians. It’s unconscionable and it must stop,” Biden said. “The belligerent parties must implement an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the will of the people of Sudan.”Sudan's fighting broke out April 15 between two commanders who just 18 months earlier jointly orchestrated a military coup to derail the nation’s transition to democracy.The ongoing power struggle now between the armed forces chief, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the head of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, has millions of Sudanese cowering inside their homes, hiding from explosions, gunfire and looting.The violence has included an unprovoked attack on an American diplomatic convoy and numerous incidents in which foreign diplomats and aid workers were killed, injured or assaulted.An estimated 16,000 private U.S. citizens are registered with the embassy as being in Sudan. The figure is rough because not all Americans register with embassy or say when they depart.The embassy issued an alert earlier Saturday cautioning that “due to the uncertain security situation in Khartoum and closure of the airport, it is not currently safe to undertake a U.S. government-coordinated evacuation of private U.S. citizens.”The U.S. evacuation planning for American employees of the embassy got underway in earnest on Monday after the embassy convoy was attacked in Khartoum. The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that U.S. troops were being moved to Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti ahead of a possible evacuation.Saudi Arabia announced the successful repatriation of some of its citizens on Saturday, sharing footage of Saudi nationals and other foreigners welcomed with chocolate and flowers as they stepped off an apparent evacuation ship at the Saudi port of Jeddah.Embassy evacuations conducted by the U.S. military are relatively rare and usually take place only under extreme conditions.When it orders an embassy to draw down staff or suspend operations, the State Department prefers to have its personnel leave on commercial transportation if that is an option.When the embassy in Kyiv temporarily closed just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, 2022, staffers used commercial transport to leave.However, in several other recent cases, notably in Afghanistan in 2021, conditions made commercial departures impossible or extremely hazardous. U.S. troops accompanied personnel from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, in an overland convoy to Tunisia when they evacuated in 2014.-----------------<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/sudan">Fighting in Sudan</a>&nbsp;between forces loyal to two top generals has put that nation at risk of collapse and could have consequences far beyond its borders.Both sides have tens of thousands of fighters, foreign backers, mineral riches and other resources that could insulate them from sanctions. It’s a recipe for the kind of prolonged conflict that has devastated other countries in the Middle East and Africa, from Lebanon and Syria to Libya and Ethiopia.The fighting, which began as Sudan attempted to transition to democracy, already has killed hundreds of people and left millions trapped in urban areas, sheltering from gunfire, explosions and looters.A look at what is happening and the impact it could have outside Sudan.WHO IS FIGHTING?Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, head of the armed forces, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces that grew out of Darfur’s notorious Janjaweed militias,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sudan-clashes-military-rapid-support-forces-444d37ec93ccc813b2ba4abba24aca5c?utm_source=apnews&amp;utm_medium=relatedcontentmodule">are each seeking to seize control of Sudan</a>. It comes two years after they jointly carried out a military coup and derailed a transition to democracy that had begun after protesters in 2019 helped force the ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. In recent months, negotiations were underway for a return to the democratic transition.The victor of the latest fighting is likely to be Sudan's next president, with the loser facing exile, arrest or death. A long-running civil war or partition of the Arab and African country into rival fiefdoms are also possible.Alex De Waal, a Sudan expert at Tufts University, wrote in a memo to colleagues this week that the conflict should be seen as “the first round of a civil war.”“Unless it is swiftly ended, the conflict will become a multi-level game with regional and some international actors pursuing their interests, using money, arms supplies and possibly their own troops or proxies,” he wrote.WHAT DOES THE FIGHING MEAN FOR SUDAN'S NEIGHBORS?Sudan is Africa's third-largest country by area and straddles the Nile River. It uneasily shares its waters with regional heavyweights Egypt and Ethiopia. Egypt relies on the Nile to support its population of over 100 million, and Ethiopia is working on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-africa-middle-east-egypt-kenya-1ddaf63927805e0e0f2aaab043008327">a massive upstream dam</a>&nbsp;that has alarmed both Cairo and Khartoum.Egypt has close ties to Sudan’s military, which it sees as an ally against Ethiopia. Cairo has reached out to both sides in Sudan to press for a cease-fire but is unlikely to stand by if the military faces defeat.Sudan borders five additional countries: Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Eritrea and South Sudan, which seceded in 2011 and took 75% of Khartoum's oil resources with it. Nearly all are mired in their own internal conflicts, with various rebel groups operating along the porous borders.“What happens in Sudan will not stay in Sudan,” said Alan Boswell of the International Crisis Group. “Chad and South Sudan look most immediately at risk of potential spillover. But the longer (the fighting) drags on the more likely it is we see major external intervention.”WHAT EXTERNAL POWERS ARE INTERESTED IN SUDAN?Arab Gulf countries have looked to the Horn of Africa in recent years as they have sought to project power across the region.The United Arab Emirates, a rising military power that has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-ap-top-news-international-news-iran-united-arab-emirates-21735cadd41f4f2990cb2497b0ba4c73">expanded its presence</a>&nbsp;across the Middle East and East Africa, has close ties to the Rapid Support Forces, which sent thousands of fighters to aid the UAE and Saudi Arabia in their war against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.Russia, meanwhile, has long harbored plans to build a naval base capable of hosting up to 300 troops and four ships in Port Sudan, on a crucial Red Sea trading route for energy shipments to Europe.The Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary outfit with close ties to the Kremlin,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-putin-technology-business-mali-d0d2c96e01d299a68e00d3a0828ba895">has made inroads across Africa in recent years</a>&nbsp;and has been operating in Sudan since 2017. The United State and the European Union&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/02/25/wagner-group-council-adds-11-individuals-and-7-entities-to-eu-sanctions-lists/">have imposed sanctions</a>&nbsp;on two Wagner-linked gold mining firms in Sudan accused of smuggling.WHAT ROLE DO WESTERN COUNTRIES PLAY?Sudan became an international pariah when it hosted Osama bin Laden and other militants in the 1990s, when al-Bashir had empowered a hard-line Islamist government.Its isolation deepened over the conflict in the western Darfur region in the 2000s, when Sudanese forces and the Janjaweed were accused of carrying out atrocities while suppressing a local rebellion. The International Criminal Court eventually charged al-Bashir with genocide.The U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-osama-bin-laden-sudan-khartoum-africa-cab7d7fa4707759c9ab03f79059d948f">removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism</a>&nbsp;after the government in Khartoum agreed to forge ties with Israel in 2020.But billions of dollars in loans and aid were put on hold after the 2021 military coup. That, along with the war in Ukraine and global inflation,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-health-business-europe-prices-af9d07fd7e15f355c093cd5d945d4e77">sent the economy into free-fall</a>.CAN EXTERNAL POWERS DO ANYTHING TO STOP THE FIGHTING?Sudan’s economic woes would seem to provide an opening for Western nations to use economic sanctions to pressure both sides to stand down.But in Sudan, as in other resource-rich African nations, armed groups have long enriched themselves through the shadowy trade in rare minerals and other natural resources.Dagalo, a one-time camel herder from Darfur,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fd1c3fcd5d2e45468bca29de5010c0ee">has vast livestock holdings and gold mining operations</a>. He’s also believed to have been well-paid by Gulf countries for the RSF’s service in Yemen battling Iran-aligned rebels.The military controls much of the economy, and can also count on businessmen in Khartoum and along the banks of the Nile who grew rich during al-Bashir’s long rule and who view the RSF as crude warriors from the hinterlands.“Control over political funds will be no less decisive than the battlefield,” De Waal said. “(The military) will want to take control of gold mines and smuggling routes. The RSF will want to interrupt major transport arteries including the road from Port Sudan to Khartoum.”Meanwhile, the sheer number of would-be mediators — including the U.S., the U.N., the European Union, Egypt, Gulf countries, the African Union and the eight-nation eastern Africa bloc known as IGAD — could render any peace efforts more complicated than the war itself.“The external mediators risk becoming a traffic jam with no policeman," De Waal said.

US evacuates diplomats, shuts embassy amid violence in Sudan

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s April 22, 2027, and 72 hours into a first-strike <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-military-taiwan-us-7549c646a377f1f199d2cda983573279">Chinese attack</a> on <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/taiwan">Taiwan</a> and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-biden-china-nancy-pelosi-government-and-politics-abe8b7b0c6600e5fa869effae0d76ef2">U.S. military response</a>. Already, the toll on all sides is staggering.

It was a war game, but one with a serious purpose and high-profile players: <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-mike-gallagher-china-business-e9e4d4c5617bb1cd2ab237fd86f2fc6b">members of the House select committee on China</a>.
 The conflict unfolded on Risk board game-style tabletop maps and 
markers under a giant gold chandelier in the House Ways and Means 
Committee room.

The exercise explored American diplomatic, 
economic and military options if the United States and China were to 
reach the brink of war over Taiwan, a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-taiwan-tsai-mccarthy-visit-reaction-2ff3f32a9380ac06f600993dc603df39">self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own</a>.
 The exercise played out one night last week and was observed by The 
Associated Press. It was part of the committee's in-depth review of U.S.
 policies toward China as lawmakers, especially in the Republican-led 
House, focus on tensions with President Xi Jinping's government.

In the war game, Beijing’s missiles and rockets cascade down on Taiwan and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-antony-blinken-beijing-north-korea-china-9f9432c118f297fc27a9be01c460316e">on U.S. forces as far away as Japan and Guam</a>. Initial casualties include hundreds, possibly thousands, of U.S. troops. Taiwan's and China's losses are even higher.

Discouragingly
 for Washington, alarmed and alienated allies in the war game leave 
Americans to fight almost entirely alone in support of Taiwan.

And forget about a U.S. hotline call to Xi or one of his top generals to calm things down — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-lloyd-austin-china-9d1b7c9aa40b22d0bda497ba29be8d9b">not happening,</a> at least not under this role-playing scenario.

The
 war game wasn't about planning a war, lawmakers said. It was about 
figuring out how to strengthen U.S. deterrence, to keep a war involving 
the U.S., China and Taiwan from ever starting.

Ideally, the 
members of Congress would walk out of the war game with two convictions,
 the committee chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told colleagues at
 the outset: “One is a sense of urgency.”

The second: “A sense ...
 that there are meaningful things we can do in this Congress through 
legislative action to improve the prospect of peace and stability across
 the Taiwan Strait," Gallagher said.

In reality, Rep. Raja 
Krishnamoorthi, the committee's top Democrat, told lawmakers, “we cannot
 have a situation where we are faced with what we are going to be facing
 tonight."

The “only way to do that is to deter aggression and to prevent a conflict from arising,” said Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

The
 U.S. doesn’t formally recognize the Taiwan government but is Taipei's 
most vital provider of weapons and other security assistance. Xi has 
directed his military to be ready to reclaim Taiwan in 2027, by force if
 necessary.

Asked about lawmakers' war game, Liu Pengyu, 
spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, said China wants peaceful 
reunification with Taiwan but reserves “the option of taking all 
necessary measures.”

“The U.S. side’s so-called ‘war game’ is 
meant to support and embolden ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and 
further fuel tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which we firmly oppose,” Liu
 said.

In the war game, lawmakers played the blue team, in the 
role of National Security Council advisers. Their directive from their 
(imaginary) president: Deter a Chinese takeover of Taiwan if possible, 
defeat it if not.

Experts for the Center for a New American 
Security think tank, whose research includes war-gaming possible 
conflicts using realistic scenarios and unclassified information, played
 the red team.

In the exercise, it all kicks off with opposition lawmakers in Taiwan talking about independence.

With
 the think tank's defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn narrating, 
angry Chinese officials respond by heaping unacceptable demands on 
Taiwan. Meanwhile, China's military moves invasion-capable forces into 
position. Steps such as bringing in blood supplies for treating troops 
suggest this is no ordinary military exercise.

Ultimately, China 
imposes a de facto blockade on Taiwan, intolerable for an island that 
produces more than 60 percent of the world's semiconductors, as well as 
other high-tech gear.

While the U.S. military readies for a 
possible fight, U.S. presidential advisers — House committee members who
 are surrounding and studying the wooden tables with the map and troop 
markers spread out — assemble.

They lob questions at a retired 
general, Mike Holmes, playing the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
chairman, before deciding courses of action.

What are the economic consequences if the U.S. goes maximalist on financial punishments, one lawmaker asks.

“Catastrophic” is the response, for both the United States and China. China will hit back at the U.S. economy as well.

“Who's
 going to tell the president that he has to say to the American people, 
‘Say goodbye to your iPhones?”’ Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, asks.

Do
 American leaders have any way to communicate with their Chinese 
counterparts, lawmakers ask. No, China's leaders have a history of 
shunning U.S. hotline calls, and that's a problem, the exercise leaders 
tell them.

In the war game, U.S. officials are left trying to pass
 messages to their Chinese counterparts through China-based American 
business leaders, whose Dell, Apple, HP and other product operations 
China all subsequently seizes as one of its first moves in the attack.

Are
 potential military targets in China “near major metropolitan areas that
 are going to include millions and millions of people?” asks Rep. Mikie 
Sherrill, D-N.J.

Has Taiwan done all it can to try to calm the situation? All it can and will, lawmakers are told.

“It's not clear to me we've exhausted all our diplomatic options,” Gallagher notes.

Then,
 on paper, U.S. and Chinese satellites, space weapons, drones, 
submarines, ground forces, warships, fighter squadrons, cyber warriors, 
communications experts, bankers, Treasury officials and diplomats all go
 to war.

At the end, before the lessons-learned part, the war-game
 operators reveal the toll of the first wave of fighting. Lawmakers 
study the tabletop map, wincing as they hear of particularly hard 
setbacks among U.S. successes.

U.S. stockpiles of very long-range missiles? Gone.

U.S.
 allies? As it turns out, China's diplomats did their advance work to 
keep American allies on the sidelines. And anyway, it seems the all-out 
U.S. economic measures against China's economy have put allies off. 
They're sitting this one out.

In the “hot-wash” debrief at the end, lawmakers point to a few key military weaknesses that the war game highlighted.

“Running out of long-missiles is bad,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.

But the most glaring shortfalls appeared in diplomacy and in nonmilitary planning.

Becca
 Wasser, a think tank senior fellow who role-played a convincingly 
menacing Chinese official, pointed to lawmakers' recurring frustration 
in the war game at the lack of direct, immediate leader-to-leader crisis
 communication. It's something Beijing and Washington in the real world 
have never managed to consistently make happen.

“In peacetime, we should have those lines of communication,” Wasser said.

The
 exercise also underscored the risks of neglecting to put together a 
package of well-thought out economic penalties, and of failing to build 
consensus among allies, lawmakers said.

“As we get closer to 2027, they're going to be trying to isolate us,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said of Xi's government.

Holmes, in the role of Joint Chiefs chairman, reassured lawmakers, after the first three days of fighting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s April 22, 2027, and 72 hours into a first-strike <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-military-taiwan-us-7549c646a377f1f199d2cda983573279">Chinese attack</a> on <a href="https://apnews.com/hub/taiwan">Taiwan</a> and the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-biden-china-nancy-pelosi-government-and-politics-abe8b7b0c6600e5fa869effae0d76ef2">U.S. military response</a>. Already, the toll on all sides is staggering.It was a war game, but one with a serious purpose and high-profile players: <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-mike-gallagher-china-business-e9e4d4c5617bb1cd2ab237fd86f2fc6b">members of the House select committee on China</a>.
 The conflict unfolded on Risk board game-style tabletop maps and 
markers under a giant gold chandelier in the House Ways and Means 
Committee room.The exercise explored American diplomatic, 
economic and military options if the United States and China were to 
reach the brink of war over Taiwan, a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-taiwan-tsai-mccarthy-visit-reaction-2ff3f32a9380ac06f600993dc603df39">self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own</a>.
 The exercise played out one night last week and was observed by The 
Associated Press. It was part of the committee's in-depth review of U.S.
 policies toward China as lawmakers, especially in the Republican-led 
House, focus on tensions with President Xi Jinping's government.In the war game, Beijing’s missiles and rockets cascade down on Taiwan and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-antony-blinken-beijing-north-korea-china-9f9432c118f297fc27a9be01c460316e">on U.S. forces as far away as Japan and Guam</a>. Initial casualties include hundreds, possibly thousands, of U.S. troops. Taiwan's and China's losses are even higher.Discouragingly
 for Washington, alarmed and alienated allies in the war game leave 
Americans to fight almost entirely alone in support of Taiwan.And forget about a U.S. hotline call to Xi or one of his top generals to calm things down — <a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-united-states-government-lloyd-austin-china-9d1b7c9aa40b22d0bda497ba29be8d9b">not happening,</a> at least not under this role-playing scenario.The
 war game wasn't about planning a war, lawmakers said. It was about 
figuring out how to strengthen U.S. deterrence, to keep a war involving 
the U.S., China and Taiwan from ever starting.Ideally, the 
members of Congress would walk out of the war game with two convictions,
 the committee chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., told colleagues at
 the outset: “One is a sense of urgency.”The second: “A sense ...
 that there are meaningful things we can do in this Congress through 
legislative action to improve the prospect of peace and stability across
 the Taiwan Strait," Gallagher said.In reality, Rep. Raja 
Krishnamoorthi, the committee's top Democrat, told lawmakers, “we cannot
 have a situation where we are faced with what we are going to be facing
 tonight."The “only way to do that is to deter aggression and to prevent a conflict from arising,” said Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.The
 U.S. doesn’t formally recognize the Taiwan government but is Taipei's 
most vital provider of weapons and other security assistance. Xi has 
directed his military to be ready to reclaim Taiwan in 2027, by force if
 necessary.Asked about lawmakers' war game, Liu Pengyu, 
spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy, said China wants peaceful 
reunification with Taiwan but reserves “the option of taking all 
necessary measures.”“The U.S. side’s so-called ‘war game’ is 
meant to support and embolden ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists and 
further fuel tensions in the Taiwan Strait, which we firmly oppose,” Liu
 said.In the war game, lawmakers played the blue team, in the 
role of National Security Council advisers. Their directive from their 
(imaginary) president: Deter a Chinese takeover of Taiwan if possible, 
defeat it if not.Experts for the Center for a New American 
Security think tank, whose research includes war-gaming possible 
conflicts using realistic scenarios and unclassified information, played
 the red team.In the exercise, it all kicks off with opposition lawmakers in Taiwan talking about independence.With
 the think tank's defense program director Stacie Pettyjohn narrating, 
angry Chinese officials respond by heaping unacceptable demands on 
Taiwan. Meanwhile, China's military moves invasion-capable forces into 
position. Steps such as bringing in blood supplies for treating troops 
suggest this is no ordinary military exercise.Ultimately, China 
imposes a de facto blockade on Taiwan, intolerable for an island that 
produces more than 60 percent of the world's semiconductors, as well as 
other high-tech gear.While the U.S. military readies for a 
possible fight, U.S. presidential advisers — House committee members who
 are surrounding and studying the wooden tables with the map and troop 
markers spread out — assemble.They lob questions at a retired 
general, Mike Holmes, playing the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
chairman, before deciding courses of action.What are the economic consequences if the U.S. goes maximalist on financial punishments, one lawmaker asks.“Catastrophic” is the response, for both the United States and China. China will hit back at the U.S. economy as well.“Who's
 going to tell the president that he has to say to the American people, 
‘Say goodbye to your iPhones?”’ Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, asks.Do
 American leaders have any way to communicate with their Chinese 
counterparts, lawmakers ask. No, China's leaders have a history of 
shunning U.S. hotline calls, and that's a problem, the exercise leaders 
tell them.In the war game, U.S. officials are left trying to pass
 messages to their Chinese counterparts through China-based American 
business leaders, whose Dell, Apple, HP and other product operations 
China all subsequently seizes as one of its first moves in the attack.Are
 potential military targets in China “near major metropolitan areas that
 are going to include millions and millions of people?” asks Rep. Mikie 
Sherrill, D-N.J.Has Taiwan done all it can to try to calm the situation? All it can and will, lawmakers are told.“It's not clear to me we've exhausted all our diplomatic options,” Gallagher notes.Then,
 on paper, U.S. and Chinese satellites, space weapons, drones, 
submarines, ground forces, warships, fighter squadrons, cyber warriors, 
communications experts, bankers, Treasury officials and diplomats all go
 to war.At the end, before the lessons-learned part, the war-game
 operators reveal the toll of the first wave of fighting. Lawmakers 
study the tabletop map, wincing as they hear of particularly hard 
setbacks among U.S. successes.U.S. stockpiles of very long-range missiles? Gone.Global financial markets? Shaking.U.S.
 allies? As it turns out, China's diplomats did their advance work to 
keep American allies on the sidelines. And anyway, it seems the all-out 
U.S. economic measures against China's economy have put allies off. 
They're sitting this one out.In the “hot-wash” debrief at the end, lawmakers point to a few key military weaknesses that the war game highlighted.“Running out of long-missiles is bad,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D.But the most glaring shortfalls appeared in diplomacy and in nonmilitary planning.Becca
 Wasser, a think tank senior fellow who role-played a convincingly 
menacing Chinese official, pointed to lawmakers' recurring frustration 
in the war game at the lack of direct, immediate leader-to-leader crisis
 communication. It's something Beijing and Washington in the real world 
have never managed to consistently make happen.“In peacetime, we should have those lines of communication,” Wasser said.The
 exercise also underscored the risks of neglecting to put together a 
package of well-thought out economic penalties, and of failing to build 
consensus among allies, lawmakers said.“As we get closer to 2027, they're going to be trying to isolate us,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., said of Xi's government.Holmes, in the role of Joint Chiefs chairman, reassured lawmakers, after the first three days of fighting."We survived,” he said.

Lawmakers war-game conflict with China, hoping to deter one

By JOSH FUNK AP Business Writer

OMAHA,
 Neb. — Rail unions want railroads to take some of the billions 
they're using every year to buy back their stock and spend it to improve
 safety in the wake of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/railroad-safety-derailments-tank-car-ohio-minnesota-c60f33b64e9c7dc05768a78ae20f3ce5">several high-profile derailments</a> and hire more workers.

The 12 unions that represent all of the more than 100,000 workers across the industry <a href="https://www.nostockbuybacks.org">said Friday</a>
 that collectively the six biggest freight railroads spent over $165 
billion on buybacks — well above the $119 billion they spent on 
upgrading and maintaining their track and equipment between 2015 and 
last year. At the same time, their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinian-territories-ohio-canada-business-accidents-d57651e17b2f9e0163c50298106950a3">safety record</a> worsened as they cut costs and eliminated nearly one-third of all rail jobs.

“I
 think it has become increasingly apparent that the priorities of the 
railroads are out of whack,” said Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO's
 Transportation Trades Department coalition that includes all the rail 
unions.

The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-updates-bf5a60de2243cd6f7f730096aa33294c">fiery Feb. 3 derailment</a> of a Norfolk Southern train that led to evacuations and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-contamination-fears-brockovich-fc68b402096a4f5f8598a657f7e399f8">health fears</a>
 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, combined with a string of other 
derailments since then, triggered rising concerns about railroad safety 
and an host of reform proposals from <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-congress-6288cdfb0b4381de4c9bfb05199b8ba6">Congress</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rail-accidents-transportation-pete-buttigieg-ohio-pennsylvania-f1cd9d79cdd66b1f45d1dcdf1e53ff58">regulators</a>.

Unions say the recent derailments and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-omaha-7824a3d4042a757755ea76f55e51f641">the problems railroads have had</a>
 keeping up with shipping demand highlight their concerns about how 
overwhelmed workers have become after extensive job cuts. They say 
inspections are being rushed with workers getting maybe a minute to 
check out each rail car and preventative maintenance may be neglected.

Railroads <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">defend their safety record</a> and insist that cost cuts haven't made their operations riskier.

Safety
 data from the Federal Railroad Administration does show that the rate 
of accidents per every million miles freight trains travel increased to 
16.695 from 15.572 over the past decade even though the total number of 
incidents declined as the railroads hauled less freight on fewer, longer
 trains. The rate of accidents inside railyards also worsened from 
11.044 in 2013 to 15.517 last year.

<h2>'Greed will kill you'</h2>By JOSH FUNK AP Business WriterOMAHA,
 Neb. — Rail unions want railroads to take some of the billions 
they're using every year to buy back their stock and spend it to improve
 safety in the wake of <a href="https://apnews.com/article/railroad-safety-derailments-tank-car-ohio-minnesota-c60f33b64e9c7dc05768a78ae20f3ce5">several high-profile derailments</a> and hire more workers.The 12 unions that represent all of the more than 100,000 workers across the industry <a href="https://www.nostockbuybacks.org">said Friday</a>
 that collectively the six biggest freight railroads spent over $165 
billion on buybacks — well above the $119 billion they spent on 
upgrading and maintaining their track and equipment between 2015 and 
last year. At the same time, their <a href="https://apnews.com/article/palestinian-territories-ohio-canada-business-accidents-d57651e17b2f9e0163c50298106950a3">safety record</a> worsened as they cut costs and eliminated nearly one-third of all rail jobs.“I
 think it has become increasingly apparent that the priorities of the 
railroads are out of whack,” said Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO's
 Transportation Trades Department coalition that includes all the rail 
unions.The <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-updates-bf5a60de2243cd6f7f730096aa33294c">fiery Feb. 3 derailment</a> of a Norfolk Southern train that led to evacuations and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-contamination-fears-brockovich-fc68b402096a4f5f8598a657f7e399f8">health fears</a>
 near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border, combined with a string of other 
derailments since then, triggered rising concerns about railroad safety 
and an host of reform proposals from <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-train-derailment-congress-6288cdfb0b4381de4c9bfb05199b8ba6">Congress</a> and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/rail-accidents-transportation-pete-buttigieg-ohio-pennsylvania-f1cd9d79cdd66b1f45d1dcdf1e53ff58">regulators</a>.Unions say the recent derailments and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-omaha-7824a3d4042a757755ea76f55e51f641">the problems railroads have had</a>
 keeping up with shipping demand highlight their concerns about how 
overwhelmed workers have become after extensive job cuts. They say 
inspections are being rushed with workers getting maybe a minute to 
check out each rail car and preventative maintenance may be neglected.Railroads <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">defend their safety record</a> and insist that cost cuts haven't made their operations riskier.Safety
 data from the Federal Railroad Administration does show that the rate 
of accidents per every million miles freight trains travel increased to 
16.695 from 15.572 over the past decade even though the total number of 
incidents declined as the railroads hauled less freight on fewer, longer
 trains. The rate of accidents inside railyards also worsened from 
11.044 in 2013 to 15.517 last year.Regulators say the accident 
rate hasn't worsened enough to show the new operating model the industry
 adopted over the past six years is unsafe. And the Association of 
American Railroads trade group has said railroads have a strong safety 
record overall, and they remain the safest option to transport hazardous
 chemicals across land routes. The railroads also say the large amount 
they spend on capital investments — which averages to more than 18% of 
their revenue — reflects their commitment to maintaining safe networks.“Any
 suggestion that railroads fail to invest appropriately, and that this 
in turn is related to a negative safety record, is categorically false,"
 AAR spokesman Ted Greener said.Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz defended his railroad's spending.“The
 first dollar we generate and spend goes to either the employees or our 
railroad,” Fritz said. “We have a great track record in terms of 
investment in the railroad and it’s actually in some of the best 
condition I’ve ever seen it and it’s ever been in. So I think we’ve got 
the amount of capital being deployed to safety and the spending on 
safety right.”Business experts say there's nothing inherently 
wrong with stock buybacks even though they have become a popular 
political target of Democrats who say the repurchases tend to widen 
inequality between wealthy investors, railroad executives and workers. 
The government imposed a 1% tax on buybacks at the start of the year and
 President Joe Biden has talked about quadrupling that.Buybacks 
reward shareholders by reducing the number of shares and making the 
remaining ones more valuable. Many investors prefer them over dividends 
because of the tax advantages. Dividends are treated as ordinary income 
and taxed at up to 37%. If buybacks boost a stock’s value, investors who
 hold the shares long enough pay a lower capital-gains tax on the profit
 when they sell — no more than 20%.And investors expect to be 
compensated for putting their money into a company, said Charles Elson, 
who founded a corporate governance center at the University of Delaware.“You
 have to return capital to your investors or no one invests -- 
particularly a capital intensive business like a railroad," Elson said.Buybacks
 aren't without drawbacks. They do make stock options more valuable, 
enriching executives, and Elson said companies could wind up wasting 
money if they overpay for their stock.But railroads aren't likely
 to abandon buybacks. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose 
Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns BNSF railroad, has said stock 
repurchases benefit all investors equally as long as companies buy the 
shares when they aren't overpriced.“When you are told that all 
repurchases are harmful to shareholders or to the country, or 
particularly beneficial to CEOs, you are listening to either an economic
 illiterate or a silver-tongued demagogue (characters that are not 
mutually exclusive),” Buffett wrote in his <a href="https://apnews.com/article/warren-buffett-bernie-sanders-elizabeth-business-6c69b831189756bd8dcd252c3ac7ab97">shareholder letter</a>.The railroad anti-buyback campaign follows <a href="https://apnews.com/article/airlines-c087bc46b62005c013924d9bc043af5d">similar efforts by airline unions</a>
 last year. The rail unions say even if railroads do continue to buy 
back shares, they should do it at a much lower level and invest more in 
safety and their employees.Leo McCann, president of the American 
Train Dispatchers Association, said the railroads are putting investors 
first while cutting corners on things like training and refusing to 
listen to worker concerns about safety.“There's little or no investment in the workers. It's all about how much money you can make for Wall Street,” McCann said.The
 railroads' spending decisions have also contributed to low morale among
 workers after last year's bruising contract fight that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-pete-buttigieg-strikes-congress-c95510555dcd4cdc2d839e61d1195b06">nearly ended in a strike</a> after the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-business-strikes-940da8fc519f8c526ca614e201d01216">railroads refused</a> to consider adding paid sick time. Since the start of the year, railroads have eased that stance and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/labor-unions-kansas-city-southern-strikes-business-6e66b66a99415e12c2c1fa642d6a842f">agreed to provide sick time</a> to a number of their unions but workers still generally don't <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-economy-strikes-congress-d2ae4d3aecb27f176418518d977e69e1">feel very appreciated</a>.Dean
 Devita, president of the National Conference of Firemen &amp; Oilers 
union, said it's troubling that the railroads seem to make all their 
business decisions based on financial — not safety — concerns.“You
 want to make money, that’s fine,” Devita said. “We want the railroads 
to be profitable. We want them to make money. But when you get to that 
point where now it’s greed -- and that’s what Wall Street could do with 
these hedge funds -- that kills. Greed will kill you.”