MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's second-degree murder conviction in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">killing of George Floyd</a>, and his 22 1/2-year sentence remains in place.

Chauvin's attorney&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-legal-proceedings-minnesota-minneapolis-c048e42279647ce6e28258df06028d8a">had asked the appeals court</a>&nbsp;to throw out the ex-officer’s convictions for a long list of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. He also argued that legal and procedural errors deprived Chauvin of a fair trial. But the three-judge panel sided with prosecutors who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-minneapolis-police-reform-d109eb0d3094119ddbcb560676467f19">Floyd died on May 25, 2020</a>, after Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin the Black man’s neck to the ground for 9 1/2 minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

“Police officers undoubtedly have a challenging, difficult, and sometimes dangerous job. However, no one is above the law," Appeals Judge Peter Reyes wrote for the panel. "When they commit a crime, they must be held accountable just as those individuals that they lawfully apprehend. The law only permits police officers to use reasonable force when effecting a lawful arrest. Chauvin crossed that line here when he used unreasonable force on Floyd.”

Chauvin’s attorney, William Mohrman, argued on appeal that the trial judge should have moved the case out of Minneapolis because of extensive pretrial publicity and unprecedented security precautions due to fears of violence.

“The primary issue on this appeal is whether a criminal defendant can get a fair trial consistent with constitutional requirements in a courthouse surrounded by concrete block, barbed wire, two armored personnel carriers, and a squad of National Guard troops, all of which or whom are there for one purpose: in the event that the jury acquits the defendant,” Mohrman said in oral arguments in January.

But Neal Katyal, a special attorney for the state, argued that Chauvin got “one of the most transparent and thorough trials in our nation’s history."

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin later pleaded guilty&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-george-floyd-minneapolis-race-and-ethnicity-st-paul-a8b12b1e3e0fedc1270c659e3428134e">to a separate federal civil rights charge</a>&nbsp;and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison, which he is now serving in Arizona concurrent with his state sentence.

“Judge Cahill managed this trial with enormous care, and even if Chauvin could identify some minor fault, any error is harmless,” Katyal said. “The evidence of Chauvin’s guilt was captured on video for the world to see.”

Mohrman argued that the pretrial publicity was the most extensive of any trial in Minnesota history, and that the judge should have moved the trial and sequestered the jury. He said the publicity and the riots, the city’s $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family announced during jury selection, the unrest over a police killing of a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb during jury selection, and the sealing off of the courthouse, were just some of the factors prejudicing Chauvin’s chance of a fair trial.

His appeal also focused on one juror who participated in a civil rights event commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, a few months after Floyd’s death. Only after the trial did the juror reveal that he had been there.

But the appeals court ruled that Cahill did not abuse his discretion in deciding those issues.

The appeals court declined to address whether it was legally permissible to convict Chauvin of third-degree murder. The defense said a 2021 Minnesota Supreme Court decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-shootings-police-minnesota-minneapolis-2d406f6b94f00eb48ecedbc958000026">in a different police killing</a>&nbsp;case that clarified the definition of that crime meant the law no longer fit the facts of Floyd's killing. But the appeals court noted that the trial judge never formally adjudicated that conviction nor did he sentence Chauvin on that count.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619012623324.png" alt="Derek Chauvin's booking photo following the verdict- Minnesota Dpt. of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Derek Chauvin's booking photo following the verdict- Minnesota Dpt. of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals on Monday upheld former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin's second-degree murder conviction in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">killing of George Floyd</a>, and his 22 1/2-year sentence remains in place.Chauvin's attorney&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-legal-proceedings-minnesota-minneapolis-c048e42279647ce6e28258df06028d8a">had asked the appeals court</a>&nbsp;to throw out the ex-officer’s convictions for a long list of reasons, including the massive pretrial publicity. He also argued that legal and procedural errors deprived Chauvin of a fair trial. But the three-judge panel sided with prosecutors who said Chauvin got a fair trial and just sentence.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-minneapolis-police-reform-d109eb0d3094119ddbcb560676467f19">Floyd died on May 25, 2020</a>, after Chauvin, who is white, used his knee to pin the Black man’s neck to the ground for 9 1/2 minutes. A bystander video captured Floyd’s fading cries of “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death touched off protests around the world, some of which turned violent, and forced a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.“Police officers undoubtedly have a challenging, difficult, and sometimes dangerous job. However, no one is above the law," Appeals Judge Peter Reyes wrote for the panel. "When they commit a crime, they must be held accountable just as those individuals that they lawfully apprehend. The law only permits police officers to use reasonable force when effecting a lawful arrest. Chauvin crossed that line here when he used unreasonable force on Floyd.”Chauvin’s attorney, William Mohrman, argued on appeal that the trial judge should have moved the case out of Minneapolis because of extensive pretrial publicity and unprecedented security precautions due to fears of violence.“The primary issue on this appeal is whether a criminal defendant can get a fair trial consistent with constitutional requirements in a courthouse surrounded by concrete block, barbed wire, two armored personnel carriers, and a squad of National Guard troops, all of which or whom are there for one purpose: in the event that the jury acquits the defendant,” Mohrman said in oral arguments in January.But Neal Katyal, a special attorney for the state, argued that Chauvin got “one of the most transparent and thorough trials in our nation’s history."Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill sentenced Chauvin to 22 1/2 years after jurors found him guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Chauvin later pleaded guilty&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-george-floyd-minneapolis-race-and-ethnicity-st-paul-a8b12b1e3e0fedc1270c659e3428134e">to a separate federal civil rights charge</a>&nbsp;and was sentenced to 21 years in federal prison, which he is now serving in Arizona concurrent with his state sentence.“Judge Cahill managed this trial with enormous care, and even if Chauvin could identify some minor fault, any error is harmless,” Katyal said. “The evidence of Chauvin’s guilt was captured on video for the world to see.”Mohrman argued that the pretrial publicity was the most extensive of any trial in Minnesota history, and that the judge should have moved the trial and sequestered the jury. He said the publicity and the riots, the city’s $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family announced during jury selection, the unrest over a police killing of a Black man in a Minneapolis suburb during jury selection, and the sealing off of the courthouse, were just some of the factors prejudicing Chauvin’s chance of a fair trial.His appeal also focused on one juror who participated in a civil rights event commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, a few months after Floyd’s death. Only after the trial did the juror reveal that he had been there.But the appeals court ruled that Cahill did not abuse his discretion in deciding those issues.The appeals court declined to address whether it was legally permissible to convict Chauvin of third-degree murder. The defense said a 2021 Minnesota Supreme Court decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-george-floyd-shootings-police-minnesota-minneapolis-2d406f6b94f00eb48ecedbc958000026">in a different police killing</a>&nbsp;case that clarified the definition of that crime meant the law no longer fit the facts of Floyd's killing. But the appeals court noted that the trial judge never formally adjudicated that conviction nor did he sentence Chauvin on that count.

Chauvin murder conviction upheld in George Floyd killing

History of the Grand Island site goes back to 1887

By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/17/nebraskas-first-veterans-home-campus-to-begin-transformation-into-modern-housing/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

GRAND
 ISLAND — For 130 years, the sprawling campus with its own lake, 
majestic front lawn and patriotic street names reigned as the State of 
Nebraska’s longest-standing veterans home.&nbsp;

That is, until four years ago, when 
state officials carried out a locally unpopular move and relocated the 
vet services to a neighboring city, rendering eight connected buildings 
obsolete.

Now, about 45 core acres, which recently were designated as historic, are getting a projected $50 million transformation.&nbsp;

Developer <a target="_blank" href="http://www.whitelotusgroup.com/new-commercial">White Lotus Group</a>
 is to launch construction this month at what will become Liberty Campus
 — an example of one Nebraska city’s efforts to help counter a statewide
 affordable housing gap that officials have labeled <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/06/nebraska-housing-council-launches-with-plan-for-35000-new-affordable-dwellings/">a crisis</a>.

The early phases of repurposed 
building space are to create affordably priced dwellings for low-income 
veterans and their families, seniors and for new workers of area 
businesses.

An overarching goal, in addition to 
helping fill housing demand, is to preserve historical elements and pay 
homage to the population they represent, said White Lotus development 
manager Alex Bullington.&nbsp;

As a Grand Island native, whose high 
school marching band led parades through the campus, playing military 
fighting songs for the vets, Bullington is well aware of both sweet 
nostalgia and resentful emotions the campus evokes.&nbsp;

“There’s just a lot of history there, and a real deep connection felt by a large part of the city,” said Bullington.&nbsp;

He said many in his hometown of about
 54,000 had a family member or friend who lived or had an attachment to 
the former vets home.

“Most everyone has driven by and seen
 the fountain, flag poles and at least knew the lake was back there. It 
would have been a shame if it was torn down.”

Liberty marks a comeback of sorts 
after the decade-old slap felt when then-Gov. Dave Heineman’s 
administration announced that Kearney would be the home of the new 
Central Nebraska Veterans’ Home, defeating Grand Island and North Platte
 in a bidding process to replace the state’s oldest veterans home.&nbsp;

“That was such an ouch for Grand 
Island,” said Cindy Johnson, president and CEO of the local chamber of 
commerce. The annual economic impact of the facilities was estimated a 
decade ago to be about $30 million. “We were stunned.”

Grand Island since then has converted
 about 80 acres of the original 640 acres of dedicated veterans land 
into a new city sports complex. Another swath that has served as a 
cemetery would get an $8 million lift under a <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/108/PDF/Intro/LB80.pdf">measure introduced</a> this year by State Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island.

White Lotus’ plan to preserve the 
core buildings on campus, while creating innovative housing options, was
 a reason it stood out, city leaders said. Those eight key structures 
contain about 200,000 square feet of building space.&nbsp;

The Omaha-based developer has engaged
 other partners, including local entities such as Chief Industries, to 
help redevelop the campus on behalf of owner H.E.L.P. (Health, 
Education, Love for People), a charitable foundation affiliated with 
White Lotus.

Proposals were presented around the 
time Grand Island had finished an extensive five-year housing study in 
2019. That report projected that, by 2024, the growing city would need 
1,361 more housing units — a combination of owner, rental and rehabbed 
dwellings, at a projected cost of $382 million.

Since 2019 to the start of this year, 688 permits to build residential units have been approved.

“So we’re running behind,” said regional planning director Chad Nabity.

Mary Berlie, who heads the Grand 
Island Area Economic Development Corp., considers Liberty a piece in 
solving the city’s “housing puzzle.”

She noted a survey in the housing 
study that showed 48% of respondents saying they would consider moving 
away for affordable housing.

She is eager to see how 
“out-of-the-box” ideas such as the worker housing part of&nbsp; the Liberty 
campus will affect employer recruitment.

First up at the complex is renovation
 of the Anderson and Pershing buildings. Asbestos removal is to begin 
this month. Older veterans with low incomes are to get first dibs on 
that initial wave of 48 rental units.

Next, in the World War II Memorial 
and Administration Buildings, will come at least 100 units of what the 
development team calls workforce, or employer-sponsored, housing. Under 
that initiative, local employers will lease a cluster of apartments and,
 in turn, rent them to new recruits.

Bullington said employers with whom 
he has spoken are eager to have a ready supply of apartments at their 
fingertips to offer new hires.

“They tell me that they offer jobs to people, but houses aren’t available so they end up losing them,” he said.

Another phase, still being refined, 
calls for construction of townhomes. The homes would rise on some of the
 vacant land and sell at market rate prices. “We’re trying to touch 
almost every age group,” Bullington said

Additional civic and commercial uses —
 perhaps a college culinary program in the former kitchen and offices 
for professional services —&nbsp;eventually could be incorporated into the 
campus.

Much of Liberty’s funding is to come 
from state and federal historic and low income housing tax credits, some
 administered through the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority. About 
$700,000 would come from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.grand-island.com/departments/regional-planning/community-redevelopment-authority-cra/funding-source/tax-increment-financing-tif">public tax-increment financing</a>, Bullington said.

Early phases are projected to cost 
about $14 million, according to the developer’s proposal, with a total 
investment estimated at $50 million.

Johnson, from the chamber, looks 
forward to the revival. She sees the open space on the dormant campus as
 ripe for interesting economic development, too.

“Could there be a community garden?” she asked. “We’ve talked about our community’s need for another swimming pool.”&nbsp;

While the relocation of the veterans 
home and services was a blow, Berlie and others said that new 
opportunities are helping to fill the physical gap and grow the state’s 
fourth largest city.&nbsp;

The sports complex built in recent 
years on part of the old veterans property has become a popular spot. 
There’s talk of an amphitheater.

A CHI Health Center is being developed on 13 acres adjacent to Liberty.

&nbsp;“Things don’t happen overnight,” said Berlie. “It is definitely a marathon.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681744941509.png" alt="A historical marker currently is planted at the site to become Liberty Campus. First phases of the historical rehab project will feature repurposed housing targeting veterans, their families and employer-sponsored housing for workers. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>A historical marker currently is planted at the site to become Liberty Campus. First phases of the historical rehab project will feature repurposed housing targeting veterans, their families and employer-sponsored housing for workers. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>History of the Grand Island site goes back to 1887</h2>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/17/nebraskas-first-veterans-home-campus-to-begin-transformation-into-modern-housing/">Nebraska Examiner</a>GRAND
 ISLAND — For 130 years, the sprawling campus with its own lake, 
majestic front lawn and patriotic street names reigned as the State of 
Nebraska’s longest-standing veterans home.&nbsp;That is, until four years ago, when 
state officials carried out a locally unpopular move and relocated the 
vet services to a neighboring city, rendering eight connected buildings 
obsolete.Now, about 45 core acres, which recently were designated as historic, are getting a projected $50 million transformation.&nbsp;Developer <a target="_blank" href="http://www.whitelotusgroup.com/new-commercial">White Lotus Group</a>
 is to launch construction this month at what will become Liberty Campus
 — an example of one Nebraska city’s efforts to help counter a statewide
 affordable housing gap that officials have labeled <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/06/nebraska-housing-council-launches-with-plan-for-35000-new-affordable-dwellings/">a crisis</a>.The early phases of repurposed 
building space are to create affordably priced dwellings for low-income 
veterans and their families, seniors and for new workers of area 
businesses.An overarching goal, in addition to 
helping fill housing demand, is to preserve historical elements and pay 
homage to the population they represent, said White Lotus development 
manager Alex Bullington.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681745046588.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>‘Real deep connection’ </h2>As a Grand Island native, whose high 
school marching band led parades through the campus, playing military 
fighting songs for the vets, Bullington is well aware of both sweet 
nostalgia and resentful emotions the campus evokes.&nbsp;“There’s just a lot of history there, and a real deep connection felt by a large part of the city,” said Bullington.&nbsp;He said many in his hometown of about
 54,000 had a family member or friend who lived or had an attachment to 
the former vets home.“Most everyone has driven by and seen
 the fountain, flag poles and at least knew the lake was back there. It 
would have been a shame if it was torn down.”Liberty marks a comeback of sorts 
after the decade-old slap felt when then-Gov. Dave Heineman’s 
administration announced that Kearney would be the home of the new 
Central Nebraska Veterans’ Home, defeating Grand Island and North Platte
 in a bidding process to replace the state’s oldest veterans home.&nbsp;“That was such an ouch for Grand 
Island,” said Cindy Johnson, president and CEO of the local chamber of 
commerce. The annual economic impact of the facilities was estimated a 
decade ago to be about $30 million. “We were stunned.”Grand Island since then has converted
 about 80 acres of the original 640 acres of dedicated veterans land 
into a new city sports complex. Another swath that has served as a 
cemetery would get an $8 million lift under a <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/108/PDF/Intro/LB80.pdf">measure introduced</a> this year by State Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island.White Lotus’ plan to preserve the 
core buildings on campus, while creating innovative housing options, was
 a reason it stood out, city leaders said. Those eight key structures 
contain about 200,000 square feet of building space.&nbsp;The Omaha-based developer has engaged
 other partners, including local entities such as Chief Industries, to 
help redevelop the campus on behalf of owner H.E.L.P. (Health, 
Education, Love for People), a charitable foundation affiliated with 
White Lotus.Proposals were presented around the 
time Grand Island had finished an extensive five-year housing study in 
2019. That report projected that, by 2024, the growing city would need 
1,361 more housing units — a combination of owner, rental and rehabbed 
dwellings, at a projected cost of $382 million.Since 2019 to the start of this year, 688 permits to build residential units have been approved.“So we’re running behind,” said regional planning director Chad Nabity.Mary Berlie, who heads the Grand 
Island Area Economic Development Corp., considers Liberty a piece in 
solving the city’s “housing puzzle.”She noted a survey in the housing 
study that showed 48% of respondents saying they would consider moving 
away for affordable housing.She is eager to see how 
“out-of-the-box” ideas such as the worker housing part of&nbsp; the Liberty 
campus will affect employer recruitment.<h2>Older veterans get first shot </h2>First up at the complex is renovation
 of the Anderson and Pershing buildings. Asbestos removal is to begin 
this month. Older veterans with low incomes are to get first dibs on 
that initial wave of 48 rental units.Next, in the World War II Memorial 
and Administration Buildings, will come at least 100 units of what the 
development team calls workforce, or employer-sponsored, housing. Under 
that initiative, local employers will lease a cluster of apartments and,
 in turn, rent them to new recruits.Bullington said employers with whom 
he has spoken are eager to have a ready supply of apartments at their 
fingertips to offer new hires.“They tell me that they offer jobs to people, but houses aren’t available so they end up losing them,” he said.Another phase, still being refined, 
calls for construction of townhomes. The homes would rise on some of the
 vacant land and sell at market rate prices. “We’re trying to touch 
almost every age group,” Bullington saidAdditional civic and commercial uses —
 perhaps a college culinary program in the former kitchen and offices 
for professional services —&nbsp;eventually could be incorporated into the 
campus.Much of Liberty’s funding is to come 
from state and federal historic and low income housing tax credits, some
 administered through the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority. About 
$700,000 would come from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.grand-island.com/departments/regional-planning/community-redevelopment-authority-cra/funding-source/tax-increment-financing-tif">public tax-increment financing</a>, Bullington said.Early phases are projected to cost 
about $14 million, according to the developer’s proposal, with a total 
investment estimated at $50 million.<h2>Surrounding growth </h2>Johnson, from the chamber, looks 
forward to the revival. She sees the open space on the dormant campus as
 ripe for interesting economic development, too.“Could there be a community garden?” she asked. “We’ve talked about our community’s need for another swimming pool.”&nbsp;While the relocation of the veterans 
home and services was a blow, Berlie and others said that new 
opportunities are helping to fill the physical gap and grow the state’s 
fourth largest city.&nbsp;The sports complex built in recent 
years on part of the old veterans property has become a popular spot. 
There’s talk of an amphitheater.A CHI Health Center is being developed on 13 acres adjacent to Liberty.&nbsp;“Things don’t happen overnight,” said Berlie. “It is definitely a marathon.”

Nebraska veterans home to begin transformation into modern housing

LANE COUNTY— In recent years, there have been numerous reports of people discovering folded one dollar bills that contain illegal and potentially dangerous drugs, according to a statement from the Lane County Sheriff.

"While using folded money or paper to transport drugs has long been a common practice, the emergence of substances like Fentanyl has made it exceptionally hazardous."

On Sunday, a citizen contacted the on-duty Deputy to report that they had found a folded one dollar bill in their yard. 

Upon unfolding it, a white substance spilled out. The bill was confiscated and field tested positive for Methamphetamine. Further field tests for Opiates and Fentanyl were negative.

The Sheriff's department reminded, "it is important to remain vigilant about potential hazards in your surroundings."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681726532415.png" alt="Photo Lane County Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Lane County Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>LANE COUNTY— In recent years, there have been numerous reports of people discovering folded one dollar bills that contain illegal and potentially dangerous drugs, according to a statement from the Lane County Sheriff."While using folded money or paper to transport drugs has long been a common practice, the emergence of substances like Fentanyl has made it exceptionally hazardous."On Sunday, a citizen contacted the on-duty Deputy to report that they had found a folded one dollar bill in their yard. Upon unfolding it, a white substance spilled out. The bill was confiscated and field tested positive for Methamphetamine. Further field tests for Opiates and Fentanyl were negative.The Sheriff's department reminded, "it is important to remain vigilant about potential hazards in your surroundings."

Kansas sheriff warns: Don’t pick up folded dollar bills

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris this weekend urged Americans to take action during “a critical point in our nation’s history” as thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country against new limits to abortion rights making their way through the courts.

Saturday’s nationwide rallies were sparked by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-ff152a443d8439e8fa5d9376070822b2">U.S. Supreme Court’s actions</a>&nbsp;the day before, when the high court intervened to delay rule changes that would have limited the way the abortion drug mifepristone could be used and dispensed. The limits were paused while the court reviews the case more thoroughly.

Harris made a surprise stop in Los Angeles at one of the rallies, where she called the latest upheaval over abortion rights a further incursion by conservatives into myriad “fundamental rights” many Americans thought they had.

“And so this is a moment that history will show required each of us — based on our collective love of our country — to stand up, and fight for, and protect our ideals. That’s what this moment is,” she said Saturday, speaking to several hundred demonstrators from the steps of City Hall. “When you attack the rights of women in America, you are attacking America.”

Some of the protesters voiced their anger at the steps of the nation's high court, which took Friday's action at the request of the federal Justice Department. The agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">asked the high court</a>&nbsp;to lift restrictions on mifepristone imposed by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">an appellate court</a>&nbsp;in Texas earlier in the week. The decision by the appellate court reduced the window of time when the drug could be used and prevented the drug from being dispensed by mail.

Critics of the Texas and appellate court decisions, including pharmaceutical companies, viewed the courts’ actions as a dangerous intrusion into the authority of the FDA, which regulates how medications are sold and used in the United States.

Demonstrators in New York City stood behind a sign with a four-letter expletive directed at Texas, where a federal judge set off the latest salvo in the battle over abortion. They held signs urging the government to defend medication abortions.

But the crowd was modest, attracting a little more than 100 people outside the picturesque public library along Fifth Avenue.

Still, the demonstrators attracted looks from passersby along the busy thoroughfare, some briefly joining the group to lend their voices.

“It can be hard to get people out, because people are being bombarded with all kinds of assaults on their bodies and people are tired and poor,” said Viva Ruiz, who said she helped organize the rally.

“The news cycle is so fast that when one thing happens something terrible happens the next day. So it’s hard to sustain the momentum or the energy for people to be on the streets,” Ruiz said.

With few exceptions, many of the rallies — organized under the banner of a group calling itself “Bigger than Roe” — were held in smaller cities.

Since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">last year's reversal</a>&nbsp;of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized the right to an abortion,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pills-mifepristone-states-lawsuits-ac6dc09c0dd66a146d3ddfde061fc1a6">more than a dozen states</a>&nbsp;have effectively outlawed abortion, while additional states have moved to further tighten abortion laws.

On Thursday, the GOP-dominated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-florida-desantis-07c1543fe28b6c09e777bec58de7640f">Florida Legislature</a>&nbsp;moved to became the latest state to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

Restrictions on the delivery and use of mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen to end a pregnancy, would be a further blow to abortion rights advocates. The other drug, misoprostol, can be used on its own, but doing so is less effective than using both drugs in combination.

When mifepristone was initially approved, the FDA limited its use to up to seven weeks of pregnancy. It also required three in-person office visits: the first to administer mifepristone, the next to administer the second drug, misoprostol, and the third to address any complications.

If the appeals court’s action stands, those would again be the terms under which mifepristone could be dispensed.

States that support abortion rights, including California and New York,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/democrats-states-stockpiling-abortion-pills-mifepristone-bab172f4037eb73fe90142ba28c23cc0">have begun stockpiling</a>&nbsp;misoprostol to assure their states have adequate supplies. Washington state is among those stockpiling a supply of mifepristone or its generic form. And Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said the administration is dedicating $1 million to help providers contracted with the Department of Public Health buy additional quantities of mifepristone.

More than 5.6 million women in the U.S. had used mifepristone as of June 2022, according to the FDA. In that period, the agency received 4,200 reports of complications in women, or less than one-tenth of 1% of women who took the drug.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris this weekend urged Americans to take action during “a critical point in our nation’s history” as thousands of protesters demonstrated across the country against new limits to abortion rights making their way through the courts.Saturday’s nationwide rallies were sparked by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-ff152a443d8439e8fa5d9376070822b2">U.S. Supreme Court’s actions</a>&nbsp;the day before, when the high court intervened to delay rule changes that would have limited the way the abortion drug mifepristone could be used and dispensed. The limits were paused while the court reviews the case more thoroughly.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We march today to keep abortion safe and legal — and to protect a women’s right to choose. Honored to have <a href="https://twitter.com/VP?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VP</a> in Los Angeles standing with us for the fight of our lives. <a href="https://t.co/i4YOj4q1uz">pic.twitter.com/i4YOj4q1uz</a>&mdash; Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA/status/1647395820487192578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Harris made a surprise stop in Los Angeles at one of the rallies, where she called the latest upheaval over abortion rights a further incursion by conservatives into myriad “fundamental rights” many Americans thought they had.“And so this is a moment that history will show required each of us — based on our collective love of our country — to stand up, and fight for, and protect our ideals. That’s what this moment is,” she said Saturday, speaking to several hundred demonstrators from the steps of City Hall. “When you attack the rights of women in America, you are attacking America.”Some of the protesters voiced their anger at the steps of the nation's high court, which took Friday's action at the request of the federal Justice Department. The agency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">asked the high court</a>&nbsp;to lift restrictions on mifepristone imposed by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">an appellate court</a>&nbsp;in Texas earlier in the week. The decision by the appellate court reduced the window of time when the drug could be used and prevented the drug from being dispensed by mail.Critics of the Texas and appellate court decisions, including pharmaceutical companies, viewed the courts’ actions as a dangerous intrusion into the authority of the FDA, which regulates how medications are sold and used in the United States.Demonstrators in New York City stood behind a sign with a four-letter expletive directed at Texas, where a federal judge set off the latest salvo in the battle over abortion. They held signs urging the government to defend medication abortions.But the crowd was modest, attracting a little more than 100 people outside the picturesque public library along Fifth Avenue.Still, the demonstrators attracted looks from passersby along the busy thoroughfare, some briefly joining the group to lend their voices.“It can be hard to get people out, because people are being bombarded with all kinds of assaults on their bodies and people are tired and poor,” said Viva Ruiz, who said she helped organize the rally.“The news cycle is so fast that when one thing happens something terrible happens the next day. So it’s hard to sustain the momentum or the energy for people to be on the streets,” Ruiz said.With few exceptions, many of the rallies — organized under the banner of a group calling itself “Bigger than Roe” — were held in smaller cities.Since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">last year's reversal</a>&nbsp;of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized the right to an abortion,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pills-mifepristone-states-lawsuits-ac6dc09c0dd66a146d3ddfde061fc1a6">more than a dozen states</a>&nbsp;have effectively outlawed abortion, while additional states have moved to further tighten abortion laws.On Thursday, the GOP-dominated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-florida-desantis-07c1543fe28b6c09e777bec58de7640f">Florida Legislature</a>&nbsp;moved to became the latest state to ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.Restrictions on the delivery and use of mifepristone, part of a two-drug regimen to end a pregnancy, would be a further blow to abortion rights advocates. The other drug, misoprostol, can be used on its own, but doing so is less effective than using both drugs in combination.When mifepristone was initially approved, the FDA limited its use to up to seven weeks of pregnancy. It also required three in-person office visits: the first to administer mifepristone, the next to administer the second drug, misoprostol, and the third to address any complications.If the appeals court’s action stands, those would again be the terms under which mifepristone could be dispensed.States that support abortion rights, including California and New York,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/democrats-states-stockpiling-abortion-pills-mifepristone-bab172f4037eb73fe90142ba28c23cc0">have begun stockpiling</a>&nbsp;misoprostol to assure their states have adequate supplies. Washington state is among those stockpiling a supply of mifepristone or its generic form. And Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said the administration is dedicating $1 million to help providers contracted with the Department of Public Health buy additional quantities of mifepristone.More than 5.6 million women in the U.S. had used mifepristone as of June 2022, according to the FDA. In that period, the agency received 4,200 reports of complications in women, or less than one-tenth of 1% of women who took the drug.

Vice President rallies as high court eyes abortion pill rules

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from Russian missile strikes on eastern Ukraine's city of Sloviansk rose to 11 as rescue crews tried to reach people trapped in the rubble of an apartment building, Ukrainian authorities said.

Ukraine's air force said the country would soon have weapons with which to try to prevent attacks like the one on Friday. The delivery of the Patriot air defense system&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-b90ce5a55b1f6b820d03da96612b3796">promised by the U.S.</a>&nbsp;was expected in Ukraine sometime after Easter, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said.

The primarily Orthodox Christian country observed Easter on Sunday. Speaking Saturday on Ukrainian state TV, Ihnat declined to give a precise timeline for the arrival of the defensive missile system but said the public would know “as soon as the first Russian aircraft is shot down.”

A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-patriot-missiles-fort-sill-8afb4a17cae52cb19428c5a5adcacb7f">completed their training</a>&nbsp;last month at Fort Sill, a U.S. Army post in Oklahoma, and returned to Europe to learn more about using the defensive missile system to track and shoot down enemy aircraft.

Officials said at the time that the Ukrainians would then go back to their country with a Patriot missile battery, which typically includes six mobile launchers, a mobile radar, a power generator and an engagement control center.

Germany and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-politics-netherlands-government-united-states-03128d7faeb04340cc8a1421cf6ae42e">the Netherlands</a>&nbsp;also have pledged to provide a Patriot system each to Ukraine. In addition, a SAMP/T anti-missile system pledged by France and Italy “should enter Ukraine in the near future,” Ihnat said this week.

The Ukrainian military is looking to beef up its ability to intercept missiles as it prepares for an expected spring counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied areas of the country. Although more than a year of fighting has depleted weapons supplies on both sides, Russian forces have intensified their 8 1/2-month campaign to seize the city of Bakhmut, the focus of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-bakhmut-3036cdd95c89ae2df31ded0ba80bb7c8">the war's longest battle</a>&nbsp;so far.

Bakhmut and Sloviansk are located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) apart in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province.

Rescue teams in Sloviansk recovered the bodies of two people from under the rubble of a house hit in Friday's missile strikes, according to the State Emergency Service. They also searched Saturday for five people who remained in the wreckage of the apartment building, as well as the residents of three units who were reported missing, Vadym Liakh, the head of the local government, said.

Separately, a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter died Saturday after Russian forces shelled a neighborhood of the city of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram. The southern port city was occupied by Russian forces in the early months of the war, but Ukrainian forces regained control of it in November, one of the most notable battlefield defeats for Moscow.

A new law&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-draft-mobilization-conscription-notices-bf18ad64dd08c9d11aab2e222cabfee9">signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>&nbsp;on Friday that allows military offices to send draft notices electronically instead of delivering them in person is part of Russia’s preparation for a protracted war in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Saturday morning assessment.

According to British intelligence, a “unified registry of individuals eligible for military service” will be digitally linked to other government services, allowing Russian authorities to “punish draft-dodgers by automatically limiting employment rights and restricting foreign travel.”

Since the law does not come into force until later in the year, the U.K. Defense Ministry said the e-notices do not automatically point to a “major new wave of enforced mobilization” but rather form part of a “longer-term approach to provide personnel as Russia anticipates a lengthy conflict in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, 52,000 young Russian men already have received draft orders as part of the country's regular spring call-up, and 21,000 of them qualified for military service, Col. Andrey Biryukov, who is in charge of mobilization, said Saturday.

Biryukov addressed concerns that the new electronic conscription law presaged a broader mobilization of reservists, like one Putin ordered in September.

“I’d like to stress that all army deferrals for citizens will still be valid. And e-draft orders will not be mailed in bulk,” Biryukov said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673396092973.png" alt="-Ukrainian troops trained at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system-Photo U.S. Defense Department" />
 <figcaption>-Ukrainian troops trained at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system-Photo U.S. Defense Department</figcaption>
 </figure>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from Russian missile strikes on eastern Ukraine's city of Sloviansk rose to 11 as rescue crews tried to reach people trapped in the rubble of an apartment building, Ukrainian authorities said.Ukraine's air force said the country would soon have weapons with which to try to prevent attacks like the one on Friday. The delivery of the Patriot air defense system&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-zelenskyy-b90ce5a55b1f6b820d03da96612b3796">promised by the U.S.</a>&nbsp;was expected in Ukraine sometime after Easter, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said.The primarily Orthodox Christian country observed Easter on Sunday. Speaking Saturday on Ukrainian state TV, Ihnat declined to give a precise timeline for the arrival of the defensive missile system but said the public would know “as soon as the first Russian aircraft is shot down.”A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-patriot-missiles-fort-sill-8afb4a17cae52cb19428c5a5adcacb7f">completed their training</a>&nbsp;last month at Fort Sill, a U.S. Army post in Oklahoma, and returned to Europe to learn more about using the defensive missile system to track and shoot down enemy aircraft.Officials said at the time that the Ukrainians would then go back to their country with a Patriot missile battery, which typically includes six mobile launchers, a mobile radar, a power generator and an engagement control center.Germany and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-biden-politics-netherlands-government-united-states-03128d7faeb04340cc8a1421cf6ae42e">the Netherlands</a>&nbsp;also have pledged to provide a Patriot system each to Ukraine. In addition, a SAMP/T anti-missile system pledged by France and Italy “should enter Ukraine in the near future,” Ihnat said this week.The Ukrainian military is looking to beef up its ability to intercept missiles as it prepares for an expected spring counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied areas of the country. Although more than a year of fighting has depleted weapons supplies on both sides, Russian forces have intensified their 8 1/2-month campaign to seize the city of Bakhmut, the focus of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-bakhmut-3036cdd95c89ae2df31ded0ba80bb7c8">the war's longest battle</a>&nbsp;so far.Bakhmut and Sloviansk are located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) apart in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province.Rescue teams in Sloviansk recovered the bodies of two people from under the rubble of a house hit in Friday's missile strikes, according to the State Emergency Service. They also searched Saturday for five people who remained in the wreckage of the apartment building, as well as the residents of three units who were reported missing, Vadym Liakh, the head of the local government, said.Separately, a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter died Saturday after Russian forces shelled a neighborhood of the city of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram. The southern port city was occupied by Russian forces in the early months of the war, but Ukrainian forces regained control of it in November, one of the most notable battlefield defeats for Moscow.A new law&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-draft-mobilization-conscription-notices-bf18ad64dd08c9d11aab2e222cabfee9">signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>&nbsp;on Friday that allows military offices to send draft notices electronically instead of delivering them in person is part of Russia’s preparation for a protracted war in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Saturday morning assessment.According to British intelligence, a “unified registry of individuals eligible for military service” will be digitally linked to other government services, allowing Russian authorities to “punish draft-dodgers by automatically limiting employment rights and restricting foreign travel.”Since the law does not come into force until later in the year, the U.K. Defense Ministry said the e-notices do not automatically point to a “major new wave of enforced mobilization” but rather form part of a “longer-term approach to provide personnel as Russia anticipates a lengthy conflict in Ukraine.”Meanwhile, 52,000 young Russian men already have received draft orders as part of the country's regular spring call-up, and 21,000 of them qualified for military service, Col. Andrey Biryukov, who is in charge of mobilization, said Saturday.Biryukov addressed concerns that the new electronic conscription law presaged a broader mobilization of reservists, like one Putin ordered in September.“I’d like to stress that all army deferrals for citizens will still be valid. And e-draft orders will not be mailed in bulk,” Biryukov said.

Ukraine anxious for US missile system after latest Russian strike

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana's House gave final passage Friday to a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating in the state, a move that's bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-ceo-congressional-hearing-bytedance-china-44d948c5b0ba18e2a714e0fa62d52779">TikTok-free America many national lawmakers envision</a>&nbsp;due to concerns over potential Chinese spying.

The House voted 54-43 in favor of the measure, which would make Montana the first state with a total ban on the app. It goes further than prohibitions already put in place by nearly half the states — including Montana — and the U.S. federal government that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-7d2de01d3ac5ab2b8ec2239dc7f2b20d">prohibit TikTok on government-owned devices</a>.

The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who declined to say Friday if he plans to sign it into law. A statement provided by spokesperson Brooke Metrione said the governor “will carefully consider” all bills the Legislature sends to his desk.

Gianforte banned TikTok on state government devices last year, saying at the time that the app posed a “significant risk” to sensitive state data.

TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter promised a legal challenge over the measure's constitutionality, saying the bill's supporters “have admitted that they have no feasible plan” to enforce “this attempt to censor American voices.”

The company "will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” Oberwetter said.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">worries it could hand over user data</a>&nbsp;to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI and the CIA and numerous lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised such concerns but have not presented any evidence that it has happened.

Ban supporters point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also cite troubling episodes such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.

Congress is considering legislation that does not single out TikTok specifically but gives the Commerce Department the ability more broadly to restrict foreign threats on tech platforms. That bill is being backed by the White House, but it has received pushback from privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and others who say the language is too expansive.

TikTok has said it has a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-biden-bytedance-data-misinformation-02b59e4a6611ce97c775da19de31d7ad">plan to protect U.S. user data</a>.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, whose office drafted the state’s legislation, said in a social media post Friday that the bill “is a critical step to ensuring we are protecting Montanans’ privacy,” even as he acknowledged that a court battle looms.

The measure would prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access or download the app. There would not be penalties for users.

The ban would not take effect until January 2024 and would become void if Congress passes a national measure or if TikTok severs its connections with China.

The bill was introduced in February, just weeks after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-balloon-united-states-montana-47248b0ef2b085620fcd866c105054be">Chinese spy balloon</a>&nbsp;drifted over Montana, but had been drafted prior to that.

A representative from the tech trade group TechNet told state lawmakers that app stores do not have the ability to geofence apps on a state-by-state basis, so the Apple App Store and Google Play Store could not enforce the law.

Ashley Sutton, TechNet’s executive director for Washington state and the northwest, said Thursday that the “responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store.”

Knudsen, the attorney general, has said that apps for online gambling can be disabled in states that do not allow it, so the same should be possible for TikTok.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers moved one step closer Thursday to passing a bill to ban TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-ceo-congressional-hearing-bytedance-china-44d948c5b0ba18e2a714e0fa62d52779">many national lawmakers have envisioned</a>.

Montana's proposal, which has backing from the state's GOP-controlled legislature, is more sweeping than bans in place in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-7d2de01d3ac5ab2b8ec2239dc7f2b20d">prohibit TikTok on government devices</a>.

The House endorsed the bill 60-39 on Thursday. A final House vote will likely take place Friday before the bill goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. He has banned TikTok on government devices in Montana. The Senate passed the bill 30-20 in March.

TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">concerns it could hand over user data</a>&nbsp;to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI, CIA and numerous lawmakers of both parties have raised those concerns but haven’t presented any evidence to prove it has happened.

Supporters of a ban point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also point out other troubling episodes, such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.

Congress is considering legislation that doesn't call out TikTok, but gives the Commerce Department the ability to restrict foreign threats on tech platforms. That bill is being backed by the White House, but it has received pushback from privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and others who say the language is too broad.

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen urged state lawmakers to pass the bill because he wasn't sure Congress would act quickly on a federal ban.

“I think Montana’s got an opportunity here to be a leader,” Knudsen, a Republican, told a House committee in March. He says the app is a tool used by the Chinese government to spy on Montanans.

Montana's ban would not take effect until January 2024 and would be void if Congress passes a ban or if TikTok severs its Chinese connections.

The bill would prohibit downloads of TikTok in Montana and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access the social media platform or download the app. The penalties would not apply to users.

Opponents argued the bill amounted to government overreach and that residents could easily circumvent the proposed ban by using a Virtual Private Network. A VPN encrypts internet traffic and makes it more difficult for third parties to track online activities, steal data and determine a person's location.

At a hearing for the bill in March, a representative from the tech trade group TechNet said app stores also “do not have the ability to geofence” apps on a state by state basis and that it would be impossible for its members, like Apple and Google, to prevent TikTok from being downloaded in Montana.

Knudsen said Thursday the geofencing technology is used with online sports gambling apps, which he said are deactivated in states where online gambling is illegal. Ashley Sutton, TechNet’s executive director for Washington state and the northwest, said in a statement Thursday that the "responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store."

“We’ve expressed these concerns to lawmakers. We hope the governor will work with lawmakers to amend the legislation to ensure companies that aren’t intended targets of the legislation" aren't affected, Sutton said.

TikTok said in a statement it will “continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”

Some opponents of the bill have argued the state wasn't looking to ban other social media apps that collect similar types of data from their users.

“We also believe this is a blatant exercise of censorship and is an egregious violation of Montanans' free speech rights,” said Keegan Medrano with the ACLU of Montana.

Democratic Rep. Katie Sullivan offered an amendment Thursday to broaden the ban to include any social media app that collected personal information and transferred it to a foreign adversary, such as Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, along with China. The amendment was narrowly rejected 48-51.

Supporters of the bill said it made sense to target TikTok first because of specific concerns with China and that it was a step in the right direction even if it doesn't address challenges related to other social media companies.

TikTok has been pushing back against the bill. The company, which has 150 million users in the U.S., has encouraged users in the state to speak out against the bill and hired lobbyists to do so as well. It has also purchased billboards, run full-page newspaper ads and has a website opposing Montana’s legislation. Some ads placed in local newspapers highlight how local businesses were able to use the app to drive sales.

The bill would “show Montana doesn’t support entrepreneurs in our own state,” Shauna White Bear, who owns White Bear Moccasins, said during a March 28 hearing. She noted her business receives much more engagement on TikTok than on other social media sites.

Knudsen, the attorney general whose office drafted the bill, said he expects the bill to face legal challenges if it passes.

“Frankly, I think it probably needs the courts to step in here,” he said. “This is a really interesting, novel legal question that I think is ripe for some new jurisprudence.”

The Montana bill isn't the first blanket ban the company has faced. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued executive orders that banned the use of TikTok and the Chinese messaging platform WeChat. Those efforts were nixed by the courts and shelved by the Biden administration.

TikTok continued&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-cfius-national-security-a7f59032a6a68c67470a0746d560e411">negotiations with the administration</a>&nbsp;on the security concerns tied to the app. Amid rising geopolitical tensions with China, the Biden administration more recently has threatened it could ban the app if the company's Chinese owners don't sell their stakes. To avoid either outcome, TikTok has been trying to sell a data safety proposal called “Project Texas” that would route all its U.S. user data to servers operated by the software giant Oracle.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670097767255.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana's House gave final passage Friday to a bill banning the social media app TikTok from operating in the state, a move that's bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-ceo-congressional-hearing-bytedance-china-44d948c5b0ba18e2a714e0fa62d52779">TikTok-free America many national lawmakers envision</a>&nbsp;due to concerns over potential Chinese spying.The House voted 54-43 in favor of the measure, which would make Montana the first state with a total ban on the app. It goes further than prohibitions already put in place by nearly half the states — including Montana — and the U.S. federal government that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-7d2de01d3ac5ab2b8ec2239dc7f2b20d">prohibit TikTok on government-owned devices</a>.The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte, who declined to say Friday if he plans to sign it into law. A statement provided by spokesperson Brooke Metrione said the governor “will carefully consider” all bills the Legislature sends to his desk.Gianforte banned TikTok on state government devices last year, saying at the time that the app posed a “significant risk” to sensitive state data.TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter promised a legal challenge over the measure's constitutionality, saying the bill's supporters “have admitted that they have no feasible plan” to enforce “this attempt to censor American voices.”The company "will continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach,” Oberwetter said.TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">worries it could hand over user data</a>&nbsp;to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI and the CIA and numerous lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, have raised such concerns but have not presented any evidence that it has happened.Ban supporters point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also cite troubling episodes such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.Congress is considering legislation that does not single out TikTok specifically but gives the Commerce Department the ability more broadly to restrict foreign threats on tech platforms. That bill is being backed by the White House, but it has received pushback from privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and others who say the language is too expansive.TikTok has said it has a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-biden-bytedance-data-misinformation-02b59e4a6611ce97c775da19de31d7ad">plan to protect U.S. user data</a>.Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, whose office drafted the state’s legislation, said in a social media post Friday that the bill “is a critical step to ensuring we are protecting Montanans’ privacy,” even as he acknowledged that a court battle looms.The measure would prohibit downloads of TikTok in the state and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access or download the app. There would not be penalties for users.The ban would not take effect until January 2024 and would become void if Congress passes a national measure or if TikTok severs its connections with China.The bill was introduced in February, just weeks after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-balloon-united-states-montana-47248b0ef2b085620fcd866c105054be">Chinese spy balloon</a>&nbsp;drifted over Montana, but had been drafted prior to that.A representative from the tech trade group TechNet told state lawmakers that app stores do not have the ability to geofence apps on a state-by-state basis, so the Apple App Store and Google Play Store could not enforce the law.Ashley Sutton, TechNet’s executive director for Washington state and the northwest, said Thursday that the “responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store.”Knudsen, the attorney general, has said that apps for online gambling can be disabled in states that do not allow it, so the same should be possible for TikTok.-----------HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana lawmakers moved one step closer Thursday to passing a bill to ban TikTok from operating in the state, a move that’s bound to face legal challenges but also serve as a testing ground for the TikTok-free America that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-ceo-congressional-hearing-bytedance-china-44d948c5b0ba18e2a714e0fa62d52779">many national lawmakers have envisioned</a>.Montana's proposal, which has backing from the state's GOP-controlled legislature, is more sweeping than bans in place in nearly half the states and the U.S. federal government that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/why-is-tiktok-being-banned-7d2de01d3ac5ab2b8ec2239dc7f2b20d">prohibit TikTok on government devices</a>.The House endorsed the bill 60-39 on Thursday. A final House vote will likely take place Friday before the bill goes to Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte. He has banned TikTok on government devices in Montana. The Senate passed the bill 30-20 in March.TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech company ByteDance, has been under intense scrutiny over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">concerns it could hand over user data</a>&nbsp;to the Chinese government or push pro-Beijing propaganda and misinformation on the platform. Leaders at the FBI, CIA and numerous lawmakers of both parties have raised those concerns but haven’t presented any evidence to prove it has happened.Supporters of a ban point to two Chinese laws that compel companies in the country to cooperate with the government on state intelligence work. They also point out other troubling episodes, such as a disclosure by ByteDance in December that it fired four employees who accessed the IP addresses and other data of two journalists while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company.Congress is considering legislation that doesn't call out TikTok, but gives the Commerce Department the ability to restrict foreign threats on tech platforms. That bill is being backed by the White House, but it has received pushback from privacy advocates, right-wing commentators and others who say the language is too broad.Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen urged state lawmakers to pass the bill because he wasn't sure Congress would act quickly on a federal ban.“I think Montana’s got an opportunity here to be a leader,” Knudsen, a Republican, told a House committee in March. He says the app is a tool used by the Chinese government to spy on Montanans.Montana's ban would not take effect until January 2024 and would be void if Congress passes a ban or if TikTok severs its Chinese connections.The bill would prohibit downloads of TikTok in Montana and would fine any “entity” — an app store or TikTok — $10,000 per day for each time someone “is offered the ability” to access the social media platform or download the app. The penalties would not apply to users.Opponents argued the bill amounted to government overreach and that residents could easily circumvent the proposed ban by using a Virtual Private Network. A VPN encrypts internet traffic and makes it more difficult for third parties to track online activities, steal data and determine a person's location.At a hearing for the bill in March, a representative from the tech trade group TechNet said app stores also “do not have the ability to geofence” apps on a state by state basis and that it would be impossible for its members, like Apple and Google, to prevent TikTok from being downloaded in Montana.Knudsen said Thursday the geofencing technology is used with online sports gambling apps, which he said are deactivated in states where online gambling is illegal. Ashley Sutton, TechNet’s executive director for Washington state and the northwest, said in a statement Thursday that the "responsibility should be on an app to determine where it can operate, not an app store."“We’ve expressed these concerns to lawmakers. We hope the governor will work with lawmakers to amend the legislation to ensure companies that aren’t intended targets of the legislation" aren't affected, Sutton said.TikTok said in a statement it will “continue to fight for TikTok users and creators in Montana whose livelihoods and First Amendment rights are threatened by this egregious government overreach.”Some opponents of the bill have argued the state wasn't looking to ban other social media apps that collect similar types of data from their users.“We also believe this is a blatant exercise of censorship and is an egregious violation of Montanans' free speech rights,” said Keegan Medrano with the ACLU of Montana.Democratic Rep. Katie Sullivan offered an amendment Thursday to broaden the ban to include any social media app that collected personal information and transferred it to a foreign adversary, such as Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela, along with China. The amendment was narrowly rejected 48-51.Supporters of the bill said it made sense to target TikTok first because of specific concerns with China and that it was a step in the right direction even if it doesn't address challenges related to other social media companies.TikTok has been pushing back against the bill. The company, which has 150 million users in the U.S., has encouraged users in the state to speak out against the bill and hired lobbyists to do so as well. It has also purchased billboards, run full-page newspaper ads and has a website opposing Montana’s legislation. Some ads placed in local newspapers highlight how local businesses were able to use the app to drive sales.The bill would “show Montana doesn’t support entrepreneurs in our own state,” Shauna White Bear, who owns White Bear Moccasins, said during a March 28 hearing. She noted her business receives much more engagement on TikTok than on other social media sites.Knudsen, the attorney general whose office drafted the bill, said he expects the bill to face legal challenges if it passes.“Frankly, I think it probably needs the courts to step in here,” he said. “This is a really interesting, novel legal question that I think is ripe for some new jurisprudence.”The Montana bill isn't the first blanket ban the company has faced. In 2020, then-President Donald Trump issued executive orders that banned the use of TikTok and the Chinese messaging platform WeChat. Those efforts were nixed by the courts and shelved by the Biden administration.TikTok continued&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-cfius-national-security-a7f59032a6a68c67470a0746d560e411">negotiations with the administration</a>&nbsp;on the security concerns tied to the app. Amid rising geopolitical tensions with China, the Biden administration more recently has threatened it could ban the app if the company's Chinese owners don't sell their stakes. To avoid either outcome, TikTok has been trying to sell a data safety proposal called “Project Texas” that would route all its U.S. user data to servers operated by the software giant Oracle.

1st U.S. state is a signature away from total TikTok ban

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Federal Reserve official said Friday that there has been little progress on inflation for more than a year and that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-inflation-banks-rates-economy-jobs-c13abd4ebcd42c13bdf5ebe8299e6a48">more interest rate hikes are needed</a>&nbsp;to get prices under control.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed's governing board, did not specify how many more increases he supports, but said in written remarks that inflation “is still much too high and so my job is not done.”

Last month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates-recession-prices-d933973089cce63f07cceb6da1e5dbc9">inflation slowed as food and gas prices fell</a>, but excluding those volatile categories, “core” prices kept rising and are 5.6% higher than a year ago. Waller pointed out that core prices have risen at about that same pace, or higher, since December 2021.

Waller's comments expressing support for more rate hikes follow a forecast by the Fed's staff economists, revealed in Fed minutes Wednesday, for a “mild recession" later this year.

Waller said that, like most of his colleagues, he is closely watching whether the collapse of two large banks last month will lead to a broad cut back in lending by the banking system, which could slow the economy.

But so far it's not clear how large the impact will be, he said, and job growth remains strong and inflation is far above the Fed's 2% target, “so monetary policy needs to be tightened further."

His comments, to be delivered in San Antonio, Texas, echo those of several of his colleagues, who have said in recent weeks that they support at least one more rate hike. That would put the Fed's benchmark rate at about 5.1%, the highest in 16 years.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1642689710083.jpeg" alt="Photo by Cole Reif" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Cole Reif</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Federal Reserve official said Friday that there has been little progress on inflation for more than a year and that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-inflation-banks-rates-economy-jobs-c13abd4ebcd42c13bdf5ebe8299e6a48">more interest rate hikes are needed</a>&nbsp;to get prices under control.Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed's governing board, did not specify how many more increases he supports, but said in written remarks that inflation “is still much too high and so my job is not done.”Last month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates-recession-prices-d933973089cce63f07cceb6da1e5dbc9">inflation slowed as food and gas prices fell</a>, but excluding those volatile categories, “core” prices kept rising and are 5.6% higher than a year ago. Waller pointed out that core prices have risen at about that same pace, or higher, since December 2021.Waller's comments expressing support for more rate hikes follow a forecast by the Fed's staff economists, revealed in Fed minutes Wednesday, for a “mild recession" later this year.Waller said that, like most of his colleagues, he is closely watching whether the collapse of two large banks last month will lead to a broad cut back in lending by the banking system, which could slow the economy.But so far it's not clear how large the impact will be, he said, and job growth remains strong and inflation is far above the Fed's 2% target, “so monetary policy needs to be tightened further."His comments, to be delivered in San Antonio, Texas, echo those of several of his colleagues, who have said in recent weeks that they support at least one more rate hike. That would put the Fed's benchmark rate at about 5.1%, the highest in 16 years.

Top Fed official sees need for more interest rate increases

By ROBERT ZULLO <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/10/inside-the-battle-over-who-gets-to-build-the-grid-of-the-future/">States Newsroom</a>

The U.S. Department of Energy issued a
 draft report in February that found a “pressing need” for new electric 
transmission infrastructure across the country to improve reliability, 
connect a rapidly growing number of solar, wind and battery storage 
projects, supply increasing electric demand and alleviate scattered 
pockets of consistently high prices across the country.

To meet the future envisioned by the 
federal infrastructure act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which both 
contain major provisions to boost clean energy, the country needs to 
increase its current transmission system by an eye-popping 57% by 2035, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-02/022423-DRAFTNeedsStudyforPublicComment.pdf">the report says</a>. Princeton University’s <a target="_blank" href="https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu/?explorer=year&amp;state=national&amp;table=2020&amp;limit=200">Net-Zero America</a>
 study estimates expanding transmission capacity by 60% by 2030 will 
cost $330 billion and tripling it by 2050 will cost $2.2 trillion.

But in Kansas and other states, bills
 that have been pushed by utilities to give them exclusive or 
preferential treatment for building regional transmission lines, called 
“right-of-first-refusal” laws, mean customers might pay more than they 
should for all those wires and towers, critics say.

“What’s important to note is that the
 clean energy transition is going to require a significant amount of new
 transmission. Because of that, that’s why you have these protectionist 
battles going on across the country,” said Sharon Segner, senior vice 
president of transmission policy at LS Power, a company that owns about 
680 miles of transmission lines and has been awarded more than $4 
billion worth of competitively bid transmission projects.

“The incumbent utilities are trying to obtain a monopoly for the clean energy transition.”

The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric utilities and<a target="_blank" href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/utilities-ferc-transmission-eei-rates-consumers-rofr-refusal-peg/608370/"> has pushed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</a>
 to grant utilities rights of first refusal for regional transmission 
lines, did not respond to a request for comment on the rationale for 
right-of-first refusal laws. However, in statehouses across the country,
 <a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">proponents have argued</a>
 that such laws actually benefit consumers because they remove the 
incentive to offer unrealistic lowball bids to win solicitations, avoid 
delays dealing with procurement, preserve state regulatory oversight and
 result in streamlined, more efficient projects because local utilities 
know their communities better.

But they also represent a potential windfall for utilities.

“The more capital they spend, the 
more profit they make under government-guaranteed rates of return,” said
 Josiah Neeley, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, a 
right-leaning free market think tank, in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rstreet.org/outreach/opposition-to-anti-competitive-right-of-first-refusal-rorf-laws-for-electric-transmission/">testimony</a> on a <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2021/proposals/sb838#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20create%20196.485,and%20maintain%20certain%20transmission%20facilities.">failed </a>right-of-first refusal<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2021/proposals/sb838#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20create%20196.485,and%20maintain%20certain%20transmission%20facilities."> bill</a>
 in Wisconsin last year. “Historically, the absence of transmission 
competition has resulted in a severe lack of economic discipline — 
leading to cost overruns, with captive consumers footing the bill.”

Last month, after a lawsuit by LS Power and another company, the Iowa Supreme Court <a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/03/29/citing-crony-capitalism-iowa-supreme-court-blasts-late-night-legislative-logrolling/">halted legislation</a>
 from 2020 that gave a right of first refusal for transmission projects 
to utilities operating in Iowa. The court, which ruled based on the 
manner in which the bill was passed, not its substance, nevertheless 
called it “quintessentially crony capitalism” and “rent-seeking, 
protectionist legislation” that will “impose higher costs on Iowans.”

That ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/justices-ask-government-input-texas-electric-grid-dispute-2023-03-06/">weighs</a>
 whether to take up a case involving Texas’ even more extreme 2019 law, 
which says the ability to build, own and operate new transmission lines 
that connect directly to an existing utility facility “may be granted 
only to the owner of that existing facility.” The U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the 5th Circuit<a target="_blank" href="https://ecf.ca5.uscourts.gov/n/beam/servlet/TransportRoom?servlet=ShowDocMulti&amp;incPdfHeader=Y&amp;pacer=t&amp;CSRF=csrf_-2846796520857721805&amp;incPdfHeaderDisp=Y&amp;caseId=193949&amp;dktType=dktPublic&amp;outputType=doc&amp;d=9928280&amp;outputForm=view&amp;incPdfFooter=&amp;dls=6452772%252C6452777"> held in August</a>
 that the Texas law may violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. 
Constitution, reversing a lower court ruling that upheld the law. The 
5th Circuit, calling the law a “ban on new entrants in a market” 
remanded the case to the district court to consider whether Texas 
regulators can show they have “no other means to advance a legitimate 
local purpose.’’

Writing for the conservative Cato 
Institute, Vanderbilt University law professor Jim Rossi called 
right-of-first-refusal laws (ROFR) “constitutionally suspect” and noted 
that of more than $10 billion in transmission projects recently approved
 by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.misoenergy.org/about/">Midcontinent Independent System Operator</a>,
 which operates the electric grid in all or part of 15 states, more than
 90% will be built by incumbent utilities rather than competitively bid.

“State transmission ROFR laws reflect
 bad policy choices that thwart reliability in competitive regional 
power supply markets and, at bottom, are harmful to customers,” <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2022-2023/promoting-cost-effective-grid-modernization#how-state-rofr-laws-harm-customers">Rossi wrote.</a>
 “Transmission ROFRs pose a barrier to a coordinated approach to grid 
expansion, making it more difficult to promote reliability and new 
technological approaches that enable the lowest‐​cost power supply 
options for customers.”

According to the National Conference 
of State Legislatures, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North 
Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota have laws on the books that grant 
utilities right-of-first-refusal privileges to build local or regional 
transmission lines. <a target="_blank" href="https://legiscan.com/MS/text/SB2341/2023">Mississippi</a> passed similar legislation this year. Bills to add new ROFR rights or expand existing ones have been <a target="_blank" href="https://dailyenergyinsider.com/policy/33837-two-more-states-consider-bills-giving-utilities-first-go-on-transmission-projects/">introduced</a> in <a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">Missouri</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://electricitytransmissioncompetitioncoalition.org/montana-right-of-first-refusal-law/">Montana</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2022/02/wisconsin-bill-would-grant-utilities-a-monopoly-on-building-transmission-projects/">Wisconsin</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/2023/02/24/oklahoma-law-on-electricity-should-be-based-on-whats-good-for-consumers/69925284007/">Oklahoma</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">Kansas</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1420#digest-heading">Indiana</a>.

“If you want to see more clean energy
 we need more transmission and you want to keep all the options on the 
table for who’s going to develop those projects,” said Ari Peskoe, 
director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School.

Current right-of-first-refusal laws at the state level have their origins in reaction to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powermag.com/ferc-rule-1000-what-does-it-mean/">FERC order in 2011</a>
 that sought to promote more competition in regional electric 
transmission projects in part by removing federal rights of first 
refusal for certain transmission projects.

“The agency reasoned that federal 
rights of first refusal might ‘be leading to rates … that are unjust and
 unreasonable,’ in large part because ‘it is not in the economic 
self-interest of incumbent[s] to permit new entrants to develop 
transmission facilities,’ even if those facilities ‘would result in a 
more efficient or cost-effective solution,’” the 5th Circuit judges 
wrote in their opinion.

Utilities, Peskoe said, “saw it coming and went to their legislatures and said ‘please protect us from this competition.’ ”

Just 3% of today’s projects are competitively bid, according to the<a target="_blank" href="https://electricitytransmissioncompetitioncoalition.org/"> Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition</a>,
 which includes 70 companies and organizations from 48 states, including
 manufacturers, consumer advocates, transmission developers, retail 
electric customers and public power representatives.

The legal battles over right-of-first
 refusal laws come as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission grapples 
with a suite of issues surrounding transmission planning and 
construction, including whether to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/justice-doj-ftc-ferc-transmission-competition-utilities-rofr/629966/">reinstate</a> a federal right of first refusal for utilities, a move that is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-federal-trade-commission-issue-joint-comment-federal-energy-regulatory">opposed</a> by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

“American consumers and businesses 
should not be denied the benefits of competition when paying for this 
significant transmission investment,” the agencies said.

FERC, which regulates interstate electric transmission, is also exploring the concept of an <a target="_blank" href="https://dailyenergyinsider.com/policy/33837-two-more-states-consider-bills-giving-utilities-first-go-on-transmission-projects/">independent transmission monitor</a>.
 That’s because some state regulators and consumer advocates say that as
 transmission spending by utilities is becoming an increasing portion of
 electric customers’ bills, projects are escaping rigorous oversight 
because of varying regulatory regimes, a lack of expertise at the state 
level and too little transparency. FERC also has a <a target="_blank" href="https://ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-issues-transmission-nopr-addressing-planning-cost-allocation">draft rule</a> out that would alter how regional transmission projects are planned and costs allocated.

And what’s more, some critics argue, 
many utilities aren’t incentivized to build the types of interregional 
transmission projects that the Department of Energy <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/L-7MEMlf-zk">reported</a> have the best benefits for customers.

The Texas case, they contend, is a textbook example of what’s wrong with the status quo.

Building power plants, Peskoe said, 
has always been the major source of profit for utilities. New 
transmission lines that might bring in cheaper power from elsewhere 
reduce the need for those pricey new facilities.

“You’re sort of cutting yourself off 
at the knees because you’re reducing the opportunity to build power 
plants in the future,” he said. “Bringing in energy from elsewhere may 
be good for the consumers but maybe bad for utility shareholders.”

‘They ran to their state legislature’

The Texas right-of-first-refusal law 
is being challenged by NextEra Energy Transmission, a subsidiary of 
utility giant NextEra Energy, which owns Florida Power &amp; Light, the 
nation’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fpl.com/about/company-profile.html#:~:text=As%20America's%20largest%20electric%20utility,more%20than%2012%20million%20people.">largest utility</a>.

NextEra had won a competitive bidding
 process in 2018 held by MISO to build, own and operate a 500-kilovolt 
line to be sited in a portion of east Texas covered by MISO but in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.entergy-texas.com/userfiles/content/energy_efficiency/documents/Map_EntergyServiceAres.pdf">Entergy Texas’ service area</a>.
 The estimated cost at the time was $115 million. The next year, the 
Texas legislature passed the right of first refusal law, effectively 
allowing Entergy, which has three million electric customers in 
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, to take over construction of
 the line.

“The Texas utilities lost a 
legitimate competitive bidding process so they ran to their state 
legislature and passed a right of first refusal,” said Segner, the LS 
Power executive.

Then, in 2020, Entergy issued a request for proposals for a 1,200-megawatt combined cycle gas power plant in the same “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.iso-ne.com/participate/support/glossary-acronyms/#j">load pocket</a>”
 (a term for a part of the electric grid where the transmission system 
doesn’t have enough capacity to meet demand and requires local power 
generation) that would have been served by the transmission line. 
Entergy later decided it would “self build” the project, which is 
expected to cost about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powermag.com/entergy-picks-epc-team-for-massive-hydrogen-capable-ccgt-project-in-texas/#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20%241.19%20billion,slated%20to%20begin%20this%20year.">$1.2 billion</a>.

“If you don’t build transmission, you
 end up with load pockets. Entergy’s now using those load pockets to 
justify *billions* in gas unit installations instead of spending 
*millions* on transmission,” tweeted Simon Mahan, executive director of 
the Southern Renewable Energy Association, a nonprofit trade association
 that unsuccessfully urged FERC to deny <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.misoenergy.org/20220829%20HSJ%20-%20Public%20Notice%20of%20Outcome%20-%20rvFinal626143.pdf">MISO’s request</a> to terminate the transmission line project.&nbsp;

SREA sees a disturbing trend, noting 
that a similar transmission project in Entergy’s Louisiana service 
territory, the Waterford-Churchill line, was also canceled after its 
cost-benefit analysis was “eradicated by local bottom-up transmission 
projects as well as the $870 million <a target="_blank" href="https://www.entergynewsroom.com/news/st-charles-power-station-connected-serving-customers/">Entergy-built St. Charles </a>(gas power plant).”

SREA said Entergy “appears to be 
using an anti-competitive strategy of capturing, delaying, and/or 
canceling transmission projects with local generation assets at 
significant cost to local ratepayers, while at the same time, not 
resolving underlying load pocket problems.”

The Orange County, Texas, plant “was 
needed to address a large and growing shortfall of generation for 
Entergy Texas,” said company spokeswoman Kendra James, adding that 
growing electric demand and the retirement of older power plants from 
the 1970s were also factors.

“The OCAPS plant will address issues 
that the Hartburg-Sabine Junction Project could not, even under the most
 favorable assumptions for that transmission line,”&nbsp; James said. “There 
is no reasonable argument that Hartburg-Sabine was a substitute for 
OCAPS.”

Entergy, James added, has more than 
doubled its capital investment in transmission since 2014 to improve 
reliability, connect new customers and reduce congestion on its system.

“To provide reliable and affordable 
electric service, public utilities such as Entergy must invest in 
electric generation, transmission, distribution, and other aspects of 
the utility’s business,” she said. “Every investment decision we make is
 based on what we think is in our customers’ best interests.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681249872508.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By ROBERT ZULLO <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/10/inside-the-battle-over-who-gets-to-build-the-grid-of-the-future/">States Newsroom</a>The U.S. Department of Energy issued a
 draft report in February that found a “pressing need” for new electric 
transmission infrastructure across the country to improve reliability, 
connect a rapidly growing number of solar, wind and battery storage 
projects, supply increasing electric demand and alleviate scattered 
pockets of consistently high prices across the country.To meet the future envisioned by the 
federal infrastructure act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which both 
contain major provisions to boost clean energy, the country needs to 
increase its current transmission system by an eye-popping 57% by 2035, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2023-02/022423-DRAFTNeedsStudyforPublicComment.pdf">the report says</a>. Princeton University’s <a target="_blank" href="https://netzeroamerica.princeton.edu/?explorer=year&amp;state=national&amp;table=2020&amp;limit=200">Net-Zero America</a>
 study estimates expanding transmission capacity by 60% by 2030 will 
cost $330 billion and tripling it by 2050 will cost $2.2 trillion.But in Kansas and other states, bills
 that have been pushed by utilities to give them exclusive or 
preferential treatment for building regional transmission lines, called 
“right-of-first-refusal” laws, mean customers might pay more than they 
should for all those wires and towers, critics say.“What’s important to note is that the
 clean energy transition is going to require a significant amount of new
 transmission. Because of that, that’s why you have these protectionist 
battles going on across the country,” said Sharon Segner, senior vice 
president of transmission policy at LS Power, a company that owns about 
680 miles of transmission lines and has been awarded more than $4 
billion worth of competitively bid transmission projects.“The incumbent utilities are trying to obtain a monopoly for the clean energy transition.”The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned electric utilities and<a target="_blank" href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/utilities-ferc-transmission-eei-rates-consumers-rofr-refusal-peg/608370/"> has pushed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</a>
 to grant utilities rights of first refusal for regional transmission 
lines, did not respond to a request for comment on the rationale for 
right-of-first refusal laws. However, in statehouses across the country,
 <a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">proponents have argued</a>
 that such laws actually benefit consumers because they remove the 
incentive to offer unrealistic lowball bids to win solicitations, avoid 
delays dealing with procurement, preserve state regulatory oversight and
 result in streamlined, more efficient projects because local utilities 
know their communities better.But they also represent a potential windfall for utilities.“The more capital they spend, the 
more profit they make under government-guaranteed rates of return,” said
 Josiah Neeley, a senior fellow at the R Street Institute, a 
right-leaning free market think tank, in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.rstreet.org/outreach/opposition-to-anti-competitive-right-of-first-refusal-rorf-laws-for-electric-transmission/">testimony</a> on a <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2021/proposals/sb838#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20create%20196.485,and%20maintain%20certain%20transmission%20facilities.">failed </a>right-of-first refusal<a target="_blank" href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2021/proposals/sb838#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20create%20196.485,and%20maintain%20certain%20transmission%20facilities."> bill</a>
 in Wisconsin last year. “Historically, the absence of transmission 
competition has resulted in a severe lack of economic discipline — 
leading to cost overruns, with captive consumers footing the bill.”<h2>‘Crony capitalism’</h2>Last month, after a lawsuit by LS Power and another company, the Iowa Supreme Court <a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/03/29/citing-crony-capitalism-iowa-supreme-court-blasts-late-night-legislative-logrolling/">halted legislation</a>
 from 2020 that gave a right of first refusal for transmission projects 
to utilities operating in Iowa. The court, which ruled based on the 
manner in which the bill was passed, not its substance, nevertheless 
called it “quintessentially crony capitalism” and “rent-seeking, 
protectionist legislation” that will “impose higher costs on Iowans.”That ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/justices-ask-government-input-texas-electric-grid-dispute-2023-03-06/">weighs</a>
 whether to take up a case involving Texas’ even more extreme 2019 law, 
which says the ability to build, own and operate new transmission lines 
that connect directly to an existing utility facility “may be granted 
only to the owner of that existing facility.” The U.S. Court of Appeals 
for the 5th Circuit<a target="_blank" href="https://ecf.ca5.uscourts.gov/n/beam/servlet/TransportRoom?servlet=ShowDocMulti&amp;incPdfHeader=Y&amp;pacer=t&amp;CSRF=csrf_-2846796520857721805&amp;incPdfHeaderDisp=Y&amp;caseId=193949&amp;dktType=dktPublic&amp;outputType=doc&amp;d=9928280&amp;outputForm=view&amp;incPdfFooter=&amp;dls=6452772%252C6452777"> held in August</a>
 that the Texas law may violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. 
Constitution, reversing a lower court ruling that upheld the law. The 
5th Circuit, calling the law a “ban on new entrants in a market” 
remanded the case to the district court to consider whether Texas 
regulators can show they have “no other means to advance a legitimate 
local purpose.’’Writing for the conservative Cato 
Institute, Vanderbilt University law professor Jim Rossi called 
right-of-first-refusal laws (ROFR) “constitutionally suspect” and noted 
that of more than $10 billion in transmission projects recently approved
 by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.misoenergy.org/about/">Midcontinent Independent System Operator</a>,
 which operates the electric grid in all or part of 15 states, more than
 90% will be built by incumbent utilities rather than competitively bid.“State transmission ROFR laws reflect
 bad policy choices that thwart reliability in competitive regional 
power supply markets and, at bottom, are harmful to customers,” <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cato.org/regulation/winter-2022-2023/promoting-cost-effective-grid-modernization#how-state-rofr-laws-harm-customers">Rossi wrote.</a>
 “Transmission ROFRs pose a barrier to a coordinated approach to grid 
expansion, making it more difficult to promote reliability and new 
technological approaches that enable the lowest‐​cost power supply 
options for customers.”According to the National Conference 
of State Legislatures, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North 
Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota have laws on the books that grant 
utilities right-of-first-refusal privileges to build local or regional 
transmission lines. <a target="_blank" href="https://legiscan.com/MS/text/SB2341/2023">Mississippi</a> passed similar legislation this year. Bills to add new ROFR rights or expand existing ones have been <a target="_blank" href="https://dailyenergyinsider.com/policy/33837-two-more-states-consider-bills-giving-utilities-first-go-on-transmission-projects/">introduced</a> in <a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">Missouri</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://electricitytransmissioncompetitioncoalition.org/montana-right-of-first-refusal-law/">Montana</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com/other-nonprofit-media/2022/02/wisconsin-bill-would-grant-utilities-a-monopoly-on-building-transmission-projects/">Wisconsin</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oklahoman.com/story/opinion/2023/02/24/oklahoma-law-on-electricity-should-be-based-on-whats-good-for-consumers/69925284007/">Oklahoma</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/20/missouri-kansas-utilities-back-bills-to-reestablish-monopoly-on-transmission-projects/">Kansas</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2023/bills/house/1420#digest-heading">Indiana</a>.“If you want to see more clean energy
 we need more transmission and you want to keep all the options on the 
table for who’s going to develop those projects,” said Ari Peskoe, 
director of the Electricity Law Initiative at the Harvard Law School.Current right-of-first-refusal laws at the state level have their origins in reaction to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powermag.com/ferc-rule-1000-what-does-it-mean/">FERC order in 2011</a>
 that sought to promote more competition in regional electric 
transmission projects in part by removing federal rights of first 
refusal for certain transmission projects.“The agency reasoned that federal 
rights of first refusal might ‘be leading to rates … that are unjust and
 unreasonable,’ in large part because ‘it is not in the economic 
self-interest of incumbent[s] to permit new entrants to develop 
transmission facilities,’ even if those facilities ‘would result in a 
more efficient or cost-effective solution,’” the 5th Circuit judges 
wrote in their opinion.Utilities, Peskoe said, “saw it coming and went to their legislatures and said ‘please protect us from this competition.’ ”Just 3% of today’s projects are competitively bid, according to the<a target="_blank" href="https://electricitytransmissioncompetitioncoalition.org/"> Electricity Transmission Competition Coalition</a>,
 which includes 70 companies and organizations from 48 states, including
 manufacturers, consumer advocates, transmission developers, retail 
electric customers and public power representatives.<h2>Transmission tension</h2>The legal battles over right-of-first
 refusal laws come as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission grapples 
with a suite of issues surrounding transmission planning and 
construction, including whether to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.utilitydive.com/news/justice-doj-ftc-ferc-transmission-competition-utilities-rofr/629966/">reinstate</a> a federal right of first refusal for utilities, a move that is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-and-federal-trade-commission-issue-joint-comment-federal-energy-regulatory">opposed</a> by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.“American consumers and businesses 
should not be denied the benefits of competition when paying for this 
significant transmission investment,” the agencies said.FERC, which regulates interstate electric transmission, is also exploring the concept of an <a target="_blank" href="https://dailyenergyinsider.com/policy/33837-two-more-states-consider-bills-giving-utilities-first-go-on-transmission-projects/">independent transmission monitor</a>.
 That’s because some state regulators and consumer advocates say that as
 transmission spending by utilities is becoming an increasing portion of
 electric customers’ bills, projects are escaping rigorous oversight 
because of varying regulatory regimes, a lack of expertise at the state 
level and too little transparency. FERC also has a <a target="_blank" href="https://ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-issues-transmission-nopr-addressing-planning-cost-allocation">draft rule</a> out that would alter how regional transmission projects are planned and costs allocated.And what’s more, some critics argue, 
many utilities aren’t incentivized to build the types of interregional 
transmission projects that the Department of Energy <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/L-7MEMlf-zk">reported</a> have the best benefits for customers.The Texas case, they contend, is a textbook example of what’s wrong with the status quo.Building power plants, Peskoe said, 
has always been the major source of profit for utilities. New 
transmission lines that might bring in cheaper power from elsewhere 
reduce the need for those pricey new facilities.“You’re sort of cutting yourself off 
at the knees because you’re reducing the opportunity to build power 
plants in the future,” he said. “Bringing in energy from elsewhere may 
be good for the consumers but maybe bad for utility shareholders.”<h2>‘They ran to their state legislature’</h2>The Texas right-of-first-refusal law 
is being challenged by NextEra Energy Transmission, a subsidiary of 
utility giant NextEra Energy, which owns Florida Power &amp; Light, the 
nation’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fpl.com/about/company-profile.html#:~:text=As%20America's%20largest%20electric%20utility,more%20than%2012%20million%20people.">largest utility</a>.NextEra had won a competitive bidding
 process in 2018 held by MISO to build, own and operate a 500-kilovolt 
line to be sited in a portion of east Texas covered by MISO but in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.entergy-texas.com/userfiles/content/energy_efficiency/documents/Map_EntergyServiceAres.pdf">Entergy Texas’ service area</a>.
 The estimated cost at the time was $115 million. The next year, the 
Texas legislature passed the right of first refusal law, effectively 
allowing Entergy, which has three million electric customers in 
Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, to take over construction of
 the line.“The Texas utilities lost a 
legitimate competitive bidding process so they ran to their state 
legislature and passed a right of first refusal,” said Segner, the LS 
Power executive.Then, in 2020, Entergy issued a request for proposals for a 1,200-megawatt combined cycle gas power plant in the same “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.iso-ne.com/participate/support/glossary-acronyms/#j">load pocket</a>”
 (a term for a part of the electric grid where the transmission system 
doesn’t have enough capacity to meet demand and requires local power 
generation) that would have been served by the transmission line. 
Entergy later decided it would “self build” the project, which is 
expected to cost about <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powermag.com/entergy-picks-epc-team-for-massive-hydrogen-capable-ccgt-project-in-texas/#:~:text=Construction%20of%20the%20%241.19%20billion,slated%20to%20begin%20this%20year.">$1.2 billion</a>.“If you don’t build transmission, you
 end up with load pockets. Entergy’s now using those load pockets to 
justify *billions* in gas unit installations instead of spending 
*millions* on transmission,” tweeted Simon Mahan, executive director of 
the Southern Renewable Energy Association, a nonprofit trade association
 that unsuccessfully urged FERC to deny <a target="_blank" href="https://cdn.misoenergy.org/20220829%20HSJ%20-%20Public%20Notice%20of%20Outcome%20-%20rvFinal626143.pdf">MISO’s request</a> to terminate the transmission line project.&nbsp;SREA sees a disturbing trend, noting 
that a similar transmission project in Entergy’s Louisiana service 
territory, the Waterford-Churchill line, was also canceled after its 
cost-benefit analysis was “eradicated by local bottom-up transmission 
projects as well as the $870 million <a target="_blank" href="https://www.entergynewsroom.com/news/st-charles-power-station-connected-serving-customers/">Entergy-built St. Charles </a>(gas power plant).”SREA said Entergy “appears to be 
using an anti-competitive strategy of capturing, delaying, and/or 
canceling transmission projects with local generation assets at 
significant cost to local ratepayers, while at the same time, not 
resolving underlying load pocket problems.”Entergy rejects that argument.The Orange County, Texas, plant “was 
needed to address a large and growing shortfall of generation for 
Entergy Texas,” said company spokeswoman Kendra James, adding that 
growing electric demand and the retirement of older power plants from 
the 1970s were also factors.“The OCAPS plant will address issues 
that the Hartburg-Sabine Junction Project could not, even under the most
 favorable assumptions for that transmission line,”&nbsp; James said. “There 
is no reasonable argument that Hartburg-Sabine was a substitute for 
OCAPS.”Entergy, James added, has more than 
doubled its capital investment in transmission since 2014 to improve 
reliability, connect new customers and reduce congestion on its system.“To provide reliable and affordable 
electric service, public utilities such as Entergy must invest in 
electric generation, transmission, distribution, and other aspects of 
the utility’s business,” she said. “Every investment decision we make is
 based on what we think is in our customers’ best interests.”

Inside the battle over who gets to build power grid of the future

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Top Republican hopefuls for the 2024 presidential race vowed Friday at the National Rifle Association's annual convention to defend the Second Amendment at all costs, suggesting that new firearms restrictions in the wake of mass shootings around the country would only hurt law-abiding gun owners.

The three-day gathering with thousands of the organization’s most active members at Indianapolis’ convention center came mere days after mass shootings at a school in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-school-5da45b469ccb6c9533bbddf20c1bfe16">Nashville</a>&nbsp;and a bank in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/louisville-bank-shooting-9826ea39f24ff9dcf3cb5390c04be47b">Louisville</a>, Kentucky. Last year's NRA convention followed the massacre at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

That illustrated the stark reality that such shootings have become enough of the fabric of American life that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-school-shooting-nra-convention-212dfd1b57474f1ab208d4a72521a010">the NRA can no longer schedule around them</a>. Nor does it really want to: The convention also fell on the second anniversary of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fedex-indianapolis-mass-shooting-e92ad3117c56357b3b2c71a2903e68a8">mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis</a>&nbsp;that killed nine people.

None of that stopped top Republicans from flocking to the event, underscoring the political power of the NRA.

“Gun-hating politicians should never go to bed unafraid of what this association, and all of our millions of members, can do to their political careers,” said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, suggesting that his group could play a dominant role in the 2024 election after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-gun-politics-barack-obama-houston-violence-62765e5b208e74c0b109678bb46d31ed">turmoil in recent years</a>&nbsp;over a failed bankruptcy effort, a class action lawsuit and a fraud investigation.

Instead of fewer guns, former Vice President Mike Pence called for federal funding for armed school officers and more institutions for the mentally ill, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gun-politics-shootings-health-donald-trump-crime-b8ce29d88543479bbd4894f5a39cc686">mental illness is not the main driver of mass shootings</a>. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he had resisted implementing any gun restrictions in his state despite that stance being unpopular.

Former President Donald Trump crowned himself as “the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president” in the nation’s history. “I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States,” he told the crowd, pledging to create a new tax credit to reimburse teachers “for the full cost of a concealed-carry firearm,” as well as gun training “from highly-qualified experts.”

Some of the Republican politicians speaking at the event said they were saddened by the recent shootings, but most spent more time criticizing Democrats, slamming COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines, and discussing security along the U.S.-Mexico border. That was fine with many attendees, who don't think gun restrictions are the answer to mass shootings.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Top Republican hopefuls for the 2024 presidential race vowed Friday at the National Rifle Association's annual convention to defend the Second Amendment at all costs, suggesting that new firearms restrictions in the wake of mass shootings around the country would only hurt law-abiding gun owners.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“If we can send 120 billion dollars to Ukraine, then we can afford 1/10th of that amount to protect American children in American schools.” - <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NRAConvention?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NRAConvention</a> <a href="https://t.co/uOL7xC9GNs">pic.twitter.com/uOL7xC9GNs</a>&mdash; NRA (@NRA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1647040792853196801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The three-day gathering with thousands of the organization’s most active members at Indianapolis’ convention center came mere days after mass shootings at a school in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-school-5da45b469ccb6c9533bbddf20c1bfe16">Nashville</a>&nbsp;and a bank in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/louisville-bank-shooting-9826ea39f24ff9dcf3cb5390c04be47b">Louisville</a>, Kentucky. Last year's NRA convention followed the massacre at a school in Uvalde, Texas.That illustrated the stark reality that such shootings have become enough of the fabric of American life that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-school-shooting-nra-convention-212dfd1b57474f1ab208d4a72521a010">the NRA can no longer schedule around them</a>. Nor does it really want to: The convention also fell on the second anniversary of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fedex-indianapolis-mass-shooting-e92ad3117c56357b3b2c71a2903e68a8">mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis</a>&nbsp;that killed nine people.None of that stopped top Republicans from flocking to the event, underscoring the political power of the NRA.“Gun-hating politicians should never go to bed unafraid of what this association, and all of our millions of members, can do to their political careers,” said NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre, suggesting that his group could play a dominant role in the 2024 election after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-gun-politics-barack-obama-houston-violence-62765e5b208e74c0b109678bb46d31ed">turmoil in recent years</a>&nbsp;over a failed bankruptcy effort, a class action lawsuit and a fraud investigation.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NRA Life Member Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/m9RqcEzOpw">pic.twitter.com/m9RqcEzOpw</a>&mdash; NRA (@NRA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1646990622794940419?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Instead of fewer guns, former Vice President Mike Pence called for federal funding for armed school officers and more institutions for the mentally ill, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gun-politics-shootings-health-donald-trump-crime-b8ce29d88543479bbd4894f5a39cc686">mental illness is not the main driver of mass shootings</a>. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he had resisted implementing any gun restrictions in his state despite that stance being unpopular.Former President Donald Trump crowned himself as “the most pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment president” in the nation’s history. “I will be your loyal friend and fearless champion once again as the 47th president of the United States,” he told the crowd, pledging to create a new tax credit to reimburse teachers “for the full cost of a concealed-carry firearm,” as well as gun training “from highly-qualified experts.”Some of the Republican politicians speaking at the event said they were saddened by the recent shootings, but most spent more time criticizing Democrats, slamming COVID-19 restrictions and vaccines, and discussing security along the U.S.-Mexico border. That was fine with many attendees, who don't think gun restrictions are the answer to mass shootings.“No one wants to see the violence you see in schools and stuff today,” said Randy Conner, a pistol and rifle instructor for the NRA from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania. “But I don’t think taking the guns away from ordinary citizens is going to change any of that at all.”Trump's appearance was his first public event since being&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20A,his%20first%20White%20House%20campaign.">arrested and arraigned in New York last week</a>&nbsp;on felony charges stemming from a hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. His Secret Service protection meant attendees couldn't carry guns at the convention.The former president made a few references to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-else-is-trump-being-investigated-for-bbc926171b5bdf91eabd76db93411b8b">numerous investigations he's facing</a>. Instead of the government going after hardened criminals, he complained, “The only one they want to prosecute is Donald Trump.”Friday's appearance was the first time he and Pence have addressed the same campaign event on the same day since their estrangement following the Jan. 6, 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">insurrection at the U.S. Capitol</a>. Pence is considering his own 2024 bid.A former Indiana governor, Pence drew scattered boos as he started speaking, despite it being his home turf. The former vice president had skipped a number of conservative gatherings in recent years after he was booed and heckled during their previous meetings.Taking the stage later, Trump said sarcastically that he hoped the crowd had given his former vice president a warm introduction.Pence noted the two recent mass shootings and said his heart and prayers were with the families of the victims, who included three 9-year-old students. But he said, “We don’t need gun control. We need crime control.”Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a Trump critic who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/asa-hutchinson-president-2024-election-3a55855b1914d6e61338d1c8576a817f">announced his 2024 campaign</a>&nbsp;after news of the former president's indictment broke, drew at least one yelled obscenity from the Trump-friendly crowd after he suggested President Joe Biden was "praying” for a rematch with Trump in 2024 and declared, “We don’t need a rerun of 2020."Others offering video messages were former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-running-for-president-f28052019e8ac3846cd125b3d9614d4f">began her 2024 campaign in February</a>, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who announced a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/exploratory-committee-president-tim-scott-2024-b129664cb44862100e43e2930e75efb3">presidential exploratory committee</a>&nbsp;this week. DeSantis, seen as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/desantis-florida-trump-president-2024-election-00b8335b1a2dd4d08fb216e4b609f6a3">top rival to Trump</a>&nbsp;even though he’s yet to jump into the race, also spoke briefly in virtual remarks.“I’ve resisted calls to take up gun control, even when such a stand is superficially unpopular,” DeSantis said, a reference to calls for stricter Florida laws in the wake of the 2018 Parkland school shooting that killed 17 people.Pain over the Louisville and Nashville shooting rampages has crossed party lines. Kentucky Democratic Gov.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-health-covid-kentucky-steve-beshear-e6dd4d00c92502d4814451d6e9995ed8">Andy Beshear</a>&nbsp;talked about having a friend killed in the Louisville shooting, while Republican Tennessee Gov.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-abortion-health-covid-6e6d211ca65d625eef90d91ee8f4567d">Bill Lee</a>&nbsp;said he had friends killed during the Nashville school attack.Yet the NRA convention's tone was as defiant as last year, when the group held its convention in Houston just three days after the massacre of 19 students and two teachers at a Uvalde elementary school.Further overlapping with recent tragedy, Pence and some of the other speakers were following up their NRA speeches by traveling to Nashville to meet with top GOP donors gathered there.“Every significant national Republican, every Republican that’s thrown their hat in the ring to run for president, is showing up this weekend to pledge their undying loyalty to the NRA and the gun lobby,” said Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who championed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-signs-gun-violence-bill-c21249287f976c2c164d8753205c2e6d">bipartisan legislation</a>&nbsp;that passed last year and imposed some new federal gun restrictions after the Uvalde shooting. “Our kids are being hunted, and the NRA’s business model is to give aid to the hunters.”Indeed, support for gun rights among Republican voters remains higher than for voters overall. Some 56% of voters in last fall’s midterm elections said they want to see stricter nationwide gun laws, compared with just 28% of Republicans, according to AP VoteCast, a wide-ranging survey of the electorate. About half of Republicans said gun laws should be left as they are.Trump, meanwhile, has a contradictory history on guns.The NRA was a key backer of his 2016 campaign, spending some $30 million to support a candidate who sometimes mentioned carrying his own gun and vowed to eliminate gun-free zones in schools and on military bases. Trump also pledged to establish a national right to carry.But, as the country reeled from a series of mass shootings,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shootings-north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-las-vegas-6c1af80fb290472c89fb930e223505af">Trump’s administration banned bump stocks</a>, which were used in a 2017 attack on a Las Vegas country music concert that killed 60 people and injured hundreds more. After the Parkland school shooting in Florida the following year,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-donald-trump-violence-gun-politics-politics-75db363bc4fb4779b92d4582f5d5bb70">Trump urged congressional Republicans to expand background checks</a>&nbsp;and proposed seizing guns from mentally ill people.He also suggested raising the minimum age to buy assault rifles from 18 to 21, and suggested he was open to a conversation about reviving assault weapons bans. After later meeting with the NRA, however, Trump abandoned his push.Friday's convention largely belonged to Trump, who drew the loudest cheers from the crowd.Donna Alberts, who traveled around 600 miles (965 kilometers) from Greenbriar, Arkansas, for the convention, said nothing could sway her vote for Trump in 2024.“He’s a good man," Alberts said, “and he does what he says he’s going to do, and he loves this country.”___