WASHINGTON (AP) — As the United State begins training of Ukrainian Troops in Oklahoma, Netherlands Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mark-rutte">Mark Rutte</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday that his country plans to "join” the U.S. and Germany's efforts to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot defense systems.

Rutte signaled the Netherlands' intentions at the start of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden. It remains unclear if the Dutch will ultimately send Patriot systems, take part in training or offer some other assistance related to deployment of Patriots. The Dutch defense ministry said that Ukraine has asked the Netherlands to provide “Patriot capacity.”

“We have the intention to join what you are doing with Germany on the Patriot project," Rutte told Biden. “I think that it’s important we join that."

Rutte, who said he also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday about the potential assistance, later told Dutch broadcaster NOS that his government is in talks about what exactly it can contribute.

“The idea is not only training, but also equipment,” Rutte told NOS. He added that the Dutch military is now reviewing “what exactly we have, how can we ensure that it works well with the American and German systems.”

Rutte spoke about the potential assistance as Ukrainian troops arrived at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base to begin training on operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system. The Patriot is the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks.

“Training has begun," Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said. "As we’ve talked about before, that training will last for several months, and train upwards of 90 to 100 Ukrainians on use of the Patriot missile system.”

Biden praised Netherlands as one of the United States “strongest” allies, one that's proven “very, very stalwart” in its support for Ukraine since Russia launched in its invasion in February. The Netherlands has committed about $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) in support for Ukraine this year. The money will be spent on military equipment, humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.

The Netherlands providing Ukraine with Patriot assistance — whether the weapons systems, missiles or training — would be a major move for the NATO ally.

The training of Ukraine forces now underway in Oklahoma is to focus, in part, on how to maintain the battery that will be sent by the U.S. to Ukraine once training is complete. Each system has multiple components, including a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, and typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain, however only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.

Some of the ongoing maintenance support, once the Patriot is on the battlefield, will be done remotely, Ryder said.

The Dutch prime minister, for his part, praised Biden for leading the international effort to back Ukraine.

“I am convinced history will judge in 2022 if the United States had not stepped up like you did things would have been very different,” Rutte said.

The two leaders were also to discuss plans for the Summit for Democracy, which they are co-hosting with Costa Rica, South Korea and Zambia in late March.

Biden hosted the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-europe-elections-media-voting-rights-85d99ee88c6122f21e55d5727eb20e13">inaugural democracy summit in December 2021,</a>&nbsp;which the administration billed as the start of a global conversation about how best to halt the backsliding of democracy.

Biden is the third U.S. president visited by Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister. He earlier met with Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673396092973.png" alt="Ukrainian troops arrived this week at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base to begin training on operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense systemPhoto U.S. Defense Department" />
 <figcaption>Ukrainian troops arrived this week at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base to begin training on operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense systemPhoto U.S. Defense Department</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — As the United State begins training of Ukrainian Troops in Oklahoma, Netherlands Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mark-rutte">Mark Rutte</a>&nbsp;said Tuesday that his country plans to "join” the U.S. and Germany's efforts to train and arm Ukraine with advanced Patriot defense systems.Rutte signaled the Netherlands' intentions at the start of a White House meeting with President Joe Biden. It remains unclear if the Dutch will ultimately send Patriot systems, take part in training or offer some other assistance related to deployment of Patriots. The Dutch defense ministry said that Ukraine has asked the Netherlands to provide “Patriot capacity.”“We have the intention to join what you are doing with Germany on the Patriot project," Rutte told Biden. “I think that it’s important we join that."Rutte, who said he also spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday about the potential assistance, later told Dutch broadcaster NOS that his government is in talks about what exactly it can contribute.“The idea is not only training, but also equipment,” Rutte told NOS. He added that the Dutch military is now reviewing “what exactly we have, how can we ensure that it works well with the American and German systems.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673994081516.png" alt="-President Biden met with Prime Minister Mark Rutte Tuesday to discuss how the U.S. and Netherlands, our close transatlantic partner, can continue to work together to strengthen transatlantic security and economic prosperity.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>-President Biden met with Prime Minister Mark Rutte Tuesday to discuss how the U.S. and Netherlands, our close transatlantic partner, can continue to work together to strengthen transatlantic security and economic prosperity.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Rutte spoke about the potential assistance as Ukrainian troops arrived at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base to begin training on operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system. The Patriot is the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks.“Training has begun," Pentagon spokesman Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said. "As we’ve talked about before, that training will last for several months, and train upwards of 90 to 100 Ukrainians on use of the Patriot missile system.”Biden praised Netherlands as one of the United States “strongest” allies, one that's proven “very, very stalwart” in its support for Ukraine since Russia launched in its invasion in February. The Netherlands has committed about $2.7 billion (2.5 billion euros) in support for Ukraine this year. The money will be spent on military equipment, humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.The Netherlands providing Ukraine with Patriot assistance — whether the weapons systems, missiles or training — would be a major move for the NATO ally.The training of Ukraine forces now underway in Oklahoma is to focus, in part, on how to maintain the battery that will be sent by the U.S. to Ukraine once training is complete. Each system has multiple components, including a phased array radar, a control station, computers and generators, and typically requires about 90 soldiers to operate and maintain, however only three soldiers are needed to actually fire it, according to the Army.Some of the ongoing maintenance support, once the Patriot is on the battlefield, will be done remotely, Ryder said.The Dutch prime minister, for his part, praised Biden for leading the international effort to back Ukraine.“I am convinced history will judge in 2022 if the United States had not stepped up like you did things would have been very different,” Rutte said.The two leaders were also to discuss plans for the Summit for Democracy, which they are co-hosting with Costa Rica, South Korea and Zambia in late March.Biden hosted the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-europe-elections-media-voting-rights-85d99ee88c6122f21e55d5727eb20e13">inaugural democracy summit in December 2021,</a>&nbsp;which the administration billed as the start of a global conversation about how best to halt the backsliding of democracy.Biden is the third U.S. president visited by Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest-serving prime minister. He earlier met with Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Ukrainian troops learning missile system in Oklahoma

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting in rural Cherokee County.

Just before 5:30 p.m. Monday, a woman called 911 from a residence at 9550 SE Bobcat in Galena, Kansas, to report a disturbance where a man was being held at gunpoint by another male subject, according to a media release from the KBI.&nbsp; The armed man then left the residence in a Ford F-250 flatbed truck.

Preliminary information indicates that around 5:30 p.m., deputies from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spotted the pickup truck. The driver of the truck, later identified as Phillip A. Doerr, 28, of Falls City, Nebraska, did not stop, and they engaged in a short vehicle pursuit.

The truck came to a stop near the intersection of SE 100th St. and SE Messer Rd., in Galena. Doerr exited the truck while firing a handgun at responding deputies. Multiple rounds from Doerr’s firearm hit a patrol vehicle. Both deputies returned fire, and Doerr fled into a tree line. Shots were fired at 5:42 p.m.

Then at 5:46 p.m., deputies heard a single gunshot coming from the treed area. They established a perimeter and called for drone and aircraft assistance to locate the man. 

At approximately 8 p.m., Doerr was discovered deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy will be conducted, but no other gunshot wounds were evident. No law enforcement officers were hurt during the incident.&nbsp;Doerr had previous convictions for flee and or elude law enforcement and felony obstruction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections He was released from prison in March of 2022.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673987521042.png" alt="Doerr had previous convictions for flee and or elude law enforcement and felony obstruction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Doerr had previous convictions for flee and or elude law enforcement and felony obstruction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting in rural Cherokee County.Just before 5:30 p.m. Monday, a woman called 911 from a residence at 9550 SE Bobcat in Galena, Kansas, to report a disturbance where a man was being held at gunpoint by another male subject, according to a media release from the KBI.&nbsp; The armed man then left the residence in a Ford F-250 flatbed truck.Preliminary information indicates that around 5:30 p.m., deputies from the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office spotted the pickup truck. The driver of the truck, later identified as Phillip A. Doerr, 28, of Falls City, Nebraska, did not stop, and they engaged in a short vehicle pursuit.The truck came to a stop near the intersection of SE 100th St. and SE Messer Rd., in Galena. Doerr exited the truck while firing a handgun at responding deputies. Multiple rounds from Doerr’s firearm hit a patrol vehicle. Both deputies returned fire, and Doerr fled into a tree line. Shots were fired at 5:42 p.m.Then at 5:46 p.m., deputies heard a single gunshot coming from the treed area. They established a perimeter and called for drone and aircraft assistance to locate the man. At approximately 8 p.m., Doerr was discovered deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy will be conducted, but no other gunshot wounds were evident. No law enforcement officers were hurt during the incident.&nbsp;Doerr had previous convictions for flee and or elude law enforcement and felony obstruction, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections He was released from prison in March of 2022.

NE man found deceased after officer shooting had history of crime

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/unmc-official-predicts-next-two-months-will-be-real-ugly-due-to-new-super-kraken-covid-19-variant/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN, Neb. — Infectious disease 
authority Dr. James Lawler is predicting a couple of “real ugly” months 
ahead due to the arrival of a new, more transmissible, more 
immunity-evasive variant of COVID-19.

In a <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/u8lmzXFSkNw">YouTube video</a>
 posted last week, Lawler said the new XBB. 1.5 COVID variant is already
 causing jumps in hospitalization rates in the New England states and is
 destined to become the dominant variant in the U.S.

“Its ability to spread in populations
 is dramatically higher than anything we’ve seen recently,” said Lawler,
 of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska 
Medical Center.&nbsp;

“That is really concerning,” he said.

Since COVID-19 arrived in the U.S. in spring 2020, it has mutated 
several times, and the latest variant, Lawler said, has shown to be more
 highly transmissible and to better evade immunity from prior infections and vaccinations.&nbsp;

Lawler dubbed the new XBB. 1.5 variant “Super Kraken” because of the concerns it generates.&nbsp;

Already, more than 40% of cases in the U.S. are linked to the Super 
Kraken, he said. But, it accounts for 75% of cases in the New England 
states, where hospitalization rates are spiking.

While the number of reported cases of COVID remains relatively low in
 Nebraska, Lawler said those statistics are really “bunk” because few 
people are getting tested and home tests aren’t being reported.

“The reality is, people don’t want to know anymore if they have COVID,” he said.

Lawler compared what’s ahead to the sharp increase in infections a year ago caused by the Omicron variant.

He said&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/15/nebraska-infectious-disease-authority-predicts-rough-fall-ahead-living-with-covid/">Americans are less prepared now</a> to take on a new wave of COVID infections, however, because fewer people have updated their vaccinations in the past year.

Most of the hospitalizations involving the new variant are among 
people 70 years and older, and he expects the death rate to rise in that
 age group.

Lawler recommended that people update their vaccinations, particularly those who haven’t gotten a shot in the past year.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673983488827.png" alt="Dr. James Lawler, co-executive director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, with an illustration of the SARS Coronavirus. (Kent Sievers/UNMC)" />
 <figcaption>Dr. James Lawler, co-executive director of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, with an illustration of the SARS Coronavirus. (Kent Sievers/UNMC)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/unmc-official-predicts-next-two-months-will-be-real-ugly-due-to-new-super-kraken-covid-19-variant/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN, Neb. — Infectious disease 
authority Dr. James Lawler is predicting a couple of “real ugly” months 
ahead due to the arrival of a new, more transmissible, more 
immunity-evasive variant of COVID-19.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://youtu.be/u8lmzXFSkNw">YouTube video</a>
 posted last week, Lawler said the new XBB. 1.5 COVID variant is already
 causing jumps in hospitalization rates in the New England states and is
 destined to become the dominant variant in the U.S.“Its ability to spread in populations
 is dramatically higher than anything we’ve seen recently,” said Lawler,
 of the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska 
Medical Center.&nbsp;“That is really concerning,” he said.Since COVID-19 arrived in the U.S. in spring 2020, it has mutated 
several times, and the latest variant, Lawler said, has shown to be more
 highly transmissible and to better evade immunity from prior infections and vaccinations.&nbsp;Lawler dubbed the new XBB. 1.5 variant “Super Kraken” because of the concerns it generates.&nbsp;Already, more than 40% of cases in the U.S. are linked to the Super 
Kraken, he said. But, it accounts for 75% of cases in the New England 
states, where hospitalization rates are spiking.While the number of reported cases of COVID remains relatively low in
 Nebraska, Lawler said those statistics are really “bunk” because few 
people are getting tested and home tests aren’t being reported.“The reality is, people don’t want to know anymore if they have COVID,” he said.Lawler compared what’s ahead to the sharp increase in infections a year ago caused by the Omicron variant.He said&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/15/nebraska-infectious-disease-authority-predicts-rough-fall-ahead-living-with-covid/">Americans are less prepared now</a> to take on a new wave of COVID infections, however, because fewer people have updated their vaccinations in the past year.Most of the hospitalizations involving the new variant are among 
people 70 years and older, and he expects the death rate to rise in that
 age group.Lawler recommended that people update their vaccinations, particularly those who haven’t gotten a shot in the past year.

Doc: Next two months ‘ugly’ due to ‘Super Kraken’ COVID variant

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/with-threats-against-politicians-rising-group-says-its-time-to-ban-guns-at-nebraska-state-capitol/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — With threats against politicians on the increase,
 a Nebraska group is calling for approval of a ban on the open carrying 
of guns at the Nebraska State Capitol.

Nebraskans Against Gun Violence was among those testifying 
last week at a legislative hearing in support of a rule change that 
would ban the open carry of firearms and other weapons at the Nebraska 
Capitol.

“In a time of increased political violence, including 
threats and actions, we are asking the Legislature to protect the state 
government of Nebraska from harm,” said Melody Vaccaro, executive 
director of the group. “Weapons, including guns, do not belong in 
political making bodies.”

State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha proposed the change,
 telling the Legislature’s Rules Committee that she was “terrified” in 
2020 when two men openly carried semi-automatic assault rifles in the 
Capitol.

The incident occurrred as a legislative committee that 
included Cavanaugh was holding a public hearing on a bill designed to 
reduce suicides involving guns.

Carrying concealed weapons in the State Capitol is 
prohibited because the State Supreme Court and Appeals Court have 
courtrooms in the building (carrying concealed weapons in a courthouse 
is banned).

But the open carry of firearms is permitted for anyone in 
Nebraska age 18 and older, unless prohibited by local government. Some 
areas, such as schools, are off-limits for open carry, according to the 
U.S. Concealed Carry Association.

Following the 2020 incident, there were calls to ban the open carrying of guns, but nothing happened.

At the time, then-Gov. Pete Ricketts, a gun rights 
advocate, said he opposed any limit on the carrying of guns, citing the 
2nd Amendment. Ricketts, in a Facebook post, also thanked the throng of 
gun-rights advocates who filled the hallways of the Capitol to oppose 
the suicide prevention bill.

Under Cavanaugh’s proposed rule change, only law 
enforcement and military personnel would be allowed to openly carry guns
 in the State Capitol. During the Rules Committee meeting Thursday, she 
pointed out that carrying signs into legislative hearings is banned, so 
why not guns?

But others at the hearing opposed the gun ban, saying it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

One man, who said he was openly carrying a handgun when he 
testified Thursday, said some mass shootings have been thwarted by armed
 citizens.

&nbsp;Vaccaro said threats and intimidation aimed at policymakers is&nbsp; on the rise in the United States.

Threats investigated by U.S. Capitol Police went from about 900 in 2016 to nearly 10,000 in 2020, according to The Guardian. A <a target="_blank" href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/survey-finds-alarming-trend-toward-political-violence/2022/07">recent study at the University of California-Davis</a> found that 20% of those polled believe that political violence is “sometimes” justifiable.

In addition, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/poll-local-election-officials-finds-safety-fears-colleagues-and">a recent poll</a>
 conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice found that one in six 
elec­tion offi­cials who responded have received threats because of 
their job. More than three-fourths of respondents said they believe 
threats against politicians have increased in recent years.

A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.csg.org/2021/07/27/the-state-of-state-capitol-security/">2021 report from the Council of State Governments</a> said that 34 states and the District of Columbia ban the possession of firearms on state capitol grounds.

Nebraska and Louisiana, the report 
stated, are the only states that allow open carry while prohibiting 
concealed carry of firearms.

Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman, who chairs 
the Rules Committee, said the committee will meet Tuesday afternoon in 
executive session to decide which of the more than 50 proposed rule 
changes will be advanced for debate by the full Legislature.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673971848328.png" alt="Gun rights advocates turned out in force a year ago to testify in support of a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would do away with the state license and training requirements to carry a concealed handgun. The proposal failed to pass, but was introduced again this year. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Gun rights advocates turned out in force a year ago to testify in support of a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would do away with the state license and training requirements to carry a concealed handgun. The proposal failed to pass, but was introduced again this year. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/with-threats-against-politicians-rising-group-says-its-time-to-ban-guns-at-nebraska-state-capitol/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — With threats against politicians on the increase,
 a Nebraska group is calling for approval of a ban on the open carrying 
of guns at the Nebraska State Capitol.Nebraskans Against Gun Violence was among those testifying 
last week at a legislative hearing in support of a rule change that 
would ban the open carry of firearms and other weapons at the Nebraska 
Capitol.“In a time of increased political violence, including 
threats and actions, we are asking the Legislature to protect the state 
government of Nebraska from harm,” said Melody Vaccaro, executive 
director of the group. “Weapons, including guns, do not belong in 
political making bodies.”State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha proposed the change,
 telling the Legislature’s Rules Committee that she was “terrified” in 
2020 when two men openly carried semi-automatic assault rifles in the 
Capitol.The incident occurrred as a legislative committee that 
included Cavanaugh was holding a public hearing on a bill designed to 
reduce suicides involving guns.Carrying concealed weapons in the State Capitol is 
prohibited because the State Supreme Court and Appeals Court have 
courtrooms in the building (carrying concealed weapons in a courthouse 
is banned).But the open carry of firearms is permitted for anyone in 
Nebraska age 18 and older, unless prohibited by local government. Some 
areas, such as schools, are off-limits for open carry, according to the 
U.S. Concealed Carry Association.<h2>Ricketts opposed ban in Capitol</h2>Following the 2020 incident, there were calls to ban the open carrying of guns, but nothing happened.At the time, then-Gov. Pete Ricketts, a gun rights 
advocate, said he opposed any limit on the carrying of guns, citing the 
2nd Amendment. Ricketts, in a Facebook post, also thanked the throng of 
gun-rights advocates who filled the hallways of the Capitol to oppose 
the suicide prevention bill.Under Cavanaugh’s proposed rule change, only law 
enforcement and military personnel would be allowed to openly carry guns
 in the State Capitol. During the Rules Committee meeting Thursday, she 
pointed out that carrying signs into legislative hearings is banned, so 
why not guns?But others at the hearing opposed the gun ban, saying it was a violation of the U.S. Constitution.One man, who said he was openly carrying a handgun when he 
testified Thursday, said some mass shootings have been thwarted by armed
 citizens.&nbsp;Vaccaro said threats and intimidation aimed at policymakers is&nbsp; on the rise in the United States.Threats investigated by U.S. Capitol Police went from about 900 in 2016 to nearly 10,000 in 2020, according to The Guardian. A <a target="_blank" href="https://health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlines/survey-finds-alarming-trend-toward-political-violence/2022/07">recent study at the University of California-Davis</a> found that 20% of those polled believe that political violence is “sometimes” justifiable.<h2>34 states ban guns at capitols</h2>In addition, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/poll-local-election-officials-finds-safety-fears-colleagues-and">a recent poll</a>
 conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice found that one in six 
elec­tion offi­cials who responded have received threats because of 
their job. More than three-fourths of respondents said they believe 
threats against politicians have increased in recent years.A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.csg.org/2021/07/27/the-state-of-state-capitol-security/">2021 report from the Council of State Governments</a> said that 34 states and the District of Columbia ban the possession of firearms on state capitol grounds.Nebraska and Louisiana, the report 
stated, are the only states that allow open carry while prohibiting 
concealed carry of firearms.Bayard Sen. Steve Erdman, who chairs 
the Rules Committee, said the committee will meet Tuesday afternoon in 
executive session to decide which of the more than 50 proposed rule 
changes will be advanced for debate by the full Legislature.

Group says it’s time to ban guns at Nebraska State Capitol

By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/17/nebraskas-first-fulfillment-center-opens-on-sprawling-sarpy-county-site/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

PAPILLION — Nebraska’s first and 
massive Amazon “fulfillment center” has opened in this Omaha metro area 
suburb, initially employing about 300 (not including robots that are to 
work alongside the humans).

The launch announced Tuesday comes 
later than the originally projected 2022 opening date, but sooner than 
the 2024 date that officials last year said was more likely due to 
“supply chain issues.”

Amazon officials didn’t elaborate on reasons behind the <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/07/20/sarpy-county-amazon-warehouse-expected-to-employ-1000-delays-opening-until-2024/">date changeup</a> when announcing that the more than 1 million-square-foot center had opened.

Nor did the retail giant say why the facility had grown from its original planned size of 700,000 square feet.&nbsp;

As has been typical, Amazon officials
 did not specify the investment or price tag but said their venture 
comes in response to customer demand. It is the first fulfillment center
 in the state, and will serve the Midwest region.&nbsp;

The plant northeast of Nebraska 
Highways 370 and 50 is expected to create “at least 1,000 good jobs to 
maximize its capacity,” an Amazon statement said. Hiring continues for 
positions that start at $16.50 an hour, with benefits starting the first
 day.

“To open Amazon’s first sortable 
fulfillment center in Nebraska is a milestone moment and we look forward
 to further supporting customers in Papillion, Omaha and surrounding 
communities,” said site leader Aaron Schmidt.

When Amazon and Nebraska officials 
announced the project via a virtual press conference in 2020, local 
business leaders described it as that year’s largest economic 
development coup in a seven-county area surrounding Omaha.

It is to feature robots working alongside humans, preparing items for delivery to front porches.

Greater Omaha Chamber leaders said at
 the time that they expected the operation to have a $203 million annual
 economic impact in the metro area.

Once fully operational, Amazon says 
the new Papillion center will be able to contain millions of products. 
It is the type of plant where employees pick, pack and ship customer 
orders such as books, toys and housewares.

Amazon Robotics technology offers the
 ability for robots to work alongside humans to “create a more efficient
 process to meet customer demand,” Amazon said in a statement.

Prior to the new center opening, 
Amazon said it had invested $250 million-plus in Nebraska since 2010, 
including infrastructure and compensation to employees.&nbsp;

The land alone for the Papillion center, about 94 acres, sold several years ago to an Amazon affiliate for $12.3 million.

Amazon officials typically are 
secretive about their ventures. The Papillion project moved through the 
Papillion Planning Board approval process under the code name Willa.

The Papillion center is Amazon’s 
fifth operational location in the Omaha region. The company says that, 
in total, it currently has more than 1,000 employees in the area.

Other facilities include two delivery
 stations in Papillion and Omaha: an Amazon Air Gateway operation that 
opened at Eppley Airfield in February 2022 and a supplemental 
fulfillment center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673971742898.jpeg" alt="Photo of Amazon facility near Sarpy County intersection of Highways 370 and 50, taken in July 2022, when officials predicted delayed 2024 opening. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Photo of Amazon facility near Sarpy County intersection of Highways 370 and 50, taken in July 2022, when officials predicted delayed 2024 opening. (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/17/nebraskas-first-fulfillment-center-opens-on-sprawling-sarpy-county-site/">Nebraska Examiner</a>PAPILLION — Nebraska’s first and 
massive Amazon “fulfillment center” has opened in this Omaha metro area 
suburb, initially employing about 300 (not including robots that are to 
work alongside the humans).The launch announced Tuesday comes 
later than the originally projected 2022 opening date, but sooner than 
the 2024 date that officials last year said was more likely due to 
“supply chain issues.”<h2>Rescheduled launch unexplained</h2>Amazon officials didn’t elaborate on reasons behind the <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/07/20/sarpy-county-amazon-warehouse-expected-to-employ-1000-delays-opening-until-2024/">date changeup</a> when announcing that the more than 1 million-square-foot center had opened.Nor did the retail giant say why the facility had grown from its original planned size of 700,000 square feet.&nbsp;As has been typical, Amazon officials
 did not specify the investment or price tag but said their venture 
comes in response to customer demand. It is the first fulfillment center
 in the state, and will serve the Midwest region.&nbsp;The plant northeast of Nebraska 
Highways 370 and 50 is expected to create “at least 1,000 good jobs to 
maximize its capacity,” an Amazon statement said. Hiring continues for 
positions that start at $16.50 an hour, with benefits starting the first
 day.“To open Amazon’s first sortable 
fulfillment center in Nebraska is a milestone moment and we look forward
 to further supporting customers in Papillion, Omaha and surrounding 
communities,” said site leader Aaron Schmidt.<h2>Economic development coup </h2>When Amazon and Nebraska officials 
announced the project via a virtual press conference in 2020, local 
business leaders described it as that year’s largest economic 
development coup in a seven-county area surrounding Omaha.It is to feature robots working alongside humans, preparing items for delivery to front porches.Greater Omaha Chamber leaders said at
 the time that they expected the operation to have a $203 million annual
 economic impact in the metro area.Once fully operational, Amazon says 
the new Papillion center will be able to contain millions of products. 
It is the type of plant where employees pick, pack and ship customer 
orders such as books, toys and housewares.Amazon Robotics technology offers the
 ability for robots to work alongside humans to “create a more efficient
 process to meet customer demand,” Amazon said in a statement.<h2>Code name ‘Willa’ </h2>Prior to the new center opening, 
Amazon said it had invested $250 million-plus in Nebraska since 2010, 
including infrastructure and compensation to employees.&nbsp;The land alone for the Papillion center, about 94 acres, sold several years ago to an Amazon affiliate for $12.3 million.Amazon officials typically are 
secretive about their ventures. The Papillion project moved through the 
Papillion Planning Board approval process under the code name Willa.The Papillion center is Amazon’s 
fifth operational location in the Omaha region. The company says that, 
in total, it currently has more than 1,000 employees in the area.Other facilities include two delivery
 stations in Papillion and Omaha: an Amazon Air Gateway operation that 
opened at Eppley Airfield in February 2022 and a supplemental 
fulfillment center in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Nebraska’s first Amazon ‘fulfillment center’ opens

WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly empowered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-house-control-79475a4fc11e4375cd0dded651b9eede">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-01-15-Letter-Klain-Classified-Docs.pdf">demanded the White House turn over all information</a>&nbsp;related to its searches that have uncovered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-barack-obama-merrick-garland-def4c44c23229671e1e50bf170dc67d2">classified documents</a>&nbsp;at President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;home and former office in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-0574fd762159e8cb5f31c85205df3dc0">more records</a>&nbsp;found at his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-merrick-garland-3f77c3d792ed525c446efd7bd95e86ba">Delaware residence.</a>

<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-calls-on-white-house-to-release-bidens-wilmington-residence-visitor-log-questions-why-biden-aides-continue-to-search-properties-in-wake-of-special-counsel/">“We have a lot of questions,"</a> said Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.

Comer, R-Ky., said he wants to see all documents and communications related to the searches by the Biden team, as well as visitor logs of the president's home in Wilmington, Delaware, from Jan. 20, 2021, to present. He said the aim is to determine who might have had access to classified material and how the records got there.

The White House on Saturday said it had discovered five additional pages of classified documents at Biden's home on Thursday, the same day a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-home-wilmington-33479d12c7cf0a822adb2f44c32b88fd">special counsel was appointed</a>&nbsp;to review the matter.

In a letter Sunday to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Comer criticized the searches by Biden representatives when the Justice Department was beginning to investigate and said Biden's “mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security." Comer demanded that the White House provide all relevant information including visitor logs by the end of the month.

Appearing on CNN's “State of the Union,” Comer referred to Biden's home as a “crime scene" though he acknowledged that it was not clear whether laws were broken.

“My concern is that the special counsel was called for, but yet hours after that we still had the president’s personal attorneys, who have no security clearance, still rummaging around the president’s residence, looking for things — I mean that would essentially be a crime scene, so to speak," Comer said.

While the U.S. Secret Service provides security at the president's private residence, it does not maintain visitor logs, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday.

“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” Guglielmi said. He added that the agency does screen visitors to the president’s properties but doesn’t maintain records of those checks.

The White House confirmed that Biden has not independently maintained records of who has visited his residence since he became president.

“Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," White House spokesman Ian Sams said. "But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”

Indeed, President Donald Trump's administration announced early in his presidency that they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/9ed190feb84c4d6081b27f0775260f43">wouldn't release visitor logs</a>&nbsp;out of “grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.” Democrat Barack Obama's administration initially fought attempts by Congress and conservative and liberal groups to obtain visitor records. But after being sued, it voluntarily began disclosing the logs in December 2009, posting records every three to four months.

A federal appeals court ruled in 2013 that the logs can be withheld under presidential executive privilege. That unanimous ruling was written by Judge Merrick Garland, who is now serving as Biden's attorney general.

Asked about Comer’s request for logs and communications regarding the search for documents, Sams responded: “I would simply refer you to what Congressman Comer himself told CNN this morning: ‘At the end of the day, my biggest concern isn’t the classified documents to be honest with you.’ That says it all.”

In that CNN interview, Comer had added that House Republicans did not trust the Justice Department to give the matter of Biden's classified documents an appropriate level of scrutiny. The House Judiciary Committee on Friday requested that Garland turn over information related to the discovery of documents and Garland's appointment of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-robert-hur-special-counsel-biden-d715ffd26adc75f2ba740d1960936a09">special counsel Richard Hur</a>&nbsp;to oversee the investigation.

White House officials "can say they’re being transparent, but it’s anything but,” the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News Channel's “Sunday Morning Futures.”

<a href="https://twitter.com/IanSams46/status/1614315310949040130">White House lawyer Richard Sauber</a>&nbsp;said in a statement Saturday that a total of six pages of classified documents were found from Biden's time serving as vice president in the Obama administration during a search of Biden’s private library. The White House had said previously that only a single page was found there.

The latest disclosure was in addition to the discovery of documents found in December in Biden’s garage and in November at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-us-department-justice-a45855907a73acb256bb7c4dd5a91610">his former offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington</a>.

Sauber said that Biden’s personal lawyers, who did not have security clearances, stopped their search after finding the first page on Wednesday evening. Sauber found the remaining material Thursday, as he was facilitating their retrieval by Justice Department. Sauber did not explain why the White House waited two days to provide an updated accounting. The White House is already facing scrutiny for waiting more than two months to acknowledge the discovery of the initial group of documents at the Biden office.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said the Justice Department rightfully appointed special counsels to “get to the bottom” of the Biden classified documents matter as well as in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-classified-documents-trump-side-by-side-fb2c4ebccdbdbb9039c1c5e227b1da53">separate investigation into the mishandling of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s private club and residence in Florida.</a>

But Raskin also stressed key differences between the two cases, including that Biden's team readily handed over documents to the National Archives compared with Trump's repeated resistance to such requests.

“We should keep a sense of proportion and measure about what we’re talking about,” Raskin told CNN.

Asked Sunday if his oversight committee would investigate Trump's handling of classified documents as well, Comer demurred.

“There have been so many investigations of President Trump, I don’t feel like we need to spend a whole lot of time investigating President Trump, because the Democrats have done that for the past six years,” he said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673546739694.png" alt="Biden backing his Corvette into the garage next to stacks of boxes where classified documents were found-image from a 2020 Biden for President campaign ad" />
 <figcaption>Biden backing his Corvette into the garage next to stacks of boxes where classified documents were found-image from a 2020 Biden for President campaign ad</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Newly empowered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-house-control-79475a4fc11e4375cd0dded651b9eede">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/2023-01-15-Letter-Klain-Classified-Docs.pdf">demanded the White House turn over all information</a>&nbsp;related to its searches that have uncovered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-barack-obama-merrick-garland-def4c44c23229671e1e50bf170dc67d2">classified documents</a>&nbsp;at President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;home and former office in the wake of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-0574fd762159e8cb5f31c85205df3dc0">more records</a>&nbsp;found at his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-merrick-garland-3f77c3d792ed525c446efd7bd95e86ba">Delaware residence.</a><a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-calls-on-white-house-to-release-bidens-wilmington-residence-visitor-log-questions-why-biden-aides-continue-to-search-properties-in-wake-of-special-counsel/">“We have a lot of questions,"</a> said Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.Comer, R-Ky., said he wants to see all documents and communications related to the searches by the Biden team, as well as visitor logs of the president's home in Wilmington, Delaware, from Jan. 20, 2021, to present. He said the aim is to determine who might have had access to classified material and how the records got there.The White House on Saturday said it had discovered five additional pages of classified documents at Biden's home on Thursday, the same day a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-home-wilmington-33479d12c7cf0a822adb2f44c32b88fd">special counsel was appointed</a>&nbsp;to review the matter.In a letter Sunday to White House chief of staff Ron Klain, Comer criticized the searches by Biden representatives when the Justice Department was beginning to investigate and said Biden's “mishandling of classified materials raises the issue of whether he has jeopardized our national security." Comer demanded that the White House provide all relevant information including visitor logs by the end of the month.Appearing on CNN's “State of the Union,” Comer referred to Biden's home as a “crime scene" though he acknowledged that it was not clear whether laws were broken.“My concern is that the special counsel was called for, but yet hours after that we still had the president’s personal attorneys, who have no security clearance, still rummaging around the president’s residence, looking for things — I mean that would essentially be a crime scene, so to speak," Comer said.While the U.S. Secret Service provides security at the president's private residence, it does not maintain visitor logs, agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Sunday.“We don’t independently maintain our own visitor logs because it’s a private residence,” Guglielmi said. He added that the agency does screen visitors to the president’s properties but doesn’t maintain records of those checks.The White House confirmed that Biden has not independently maintained records of who has visited his residence since he became president.“Like every President in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," White House spokesman Ian Sams said. "But upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them.”Indeed, President Donald Trump's administration announced early in his presidency that they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/9ed190feb84c4d6081b27f0775260f43">wouldn't release visitor logs</a>&nbsp;out of “grave national security risks and privacy concerns of the hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.” Democrat Barack Obama's administration initially fought attempts by Congress and conservative and liberal groups to obtain visitor records. But after being sued, it voluntarily began disclosing the logs in December 2009, posting records every three to four months.A federal appeals court ruled in 2013 that the logs can be withheld under presidential executive privilege. That unanimous ruling was written by Judge Merrick Garland, who is now serving as Biden's attorney general.Asked about Comer’s request for logs and communications regarding the search for documents, Sams responded: “I would simply refer you to what Congressman Comer himself told CNN this morning: ‘At the end of the day, my biggest concern isn’t the classified documents to be honest with you.’ That says it all.”In that CNN interview, Comer had added that House Republicans did not trust the Justice Department to give the matter of Biden's classified documents an appropriate level of scrutiny. The House Judiciary Committee on Friday requested that Garland turn over information related to the discovery of documents and Garland's appointment of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-robert-hur-special-counsel-biden-d715ffd26adc75f2ba740d1960936a09">special counsel Richard Hur</a>&nbsp;to oversee the investigation.White House officials "can say they’re being transparent, but it’s anything but,” the committee chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Fox News Channel's “Sunday Morning Futures.”<a href="https://twitter.com/IanSams46/status/1614315310949040130">White House lawyer Richard Sauber</a>&nbsp;said in a statement Saturday that a total of six pages of classified documents were found from Biden's time serving as vice president in the Obama administration during a search of Biden’s private library. The White House had said previously that only a single page was found there.The latest disclosure was in addition to the discovery of documents found in December in Biden’s garage and in November at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-us-department-justice-a45855907a73acb256bb7c4dd5a91610">his former offices at the Penn Biden Center in Washington</a>.Sauber said that Biden’s personal lawyers, who did not have security clearances, stopped their search after finding the first page on Wednesday evening. Sauber found the remaining material Thursday, as he was facilitating their retrieval by Justice Department. Sauber did not explain why the White House waited two days to provide an updated accounting. The White House is already facing scrutiny for waiting more than two months to acknowledge the discovery of the initial group of documents at the Biden office.Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, said the Justice Department rightfully appointed special counsels to “get to the bottom” of the Biden classified documents matter as well as in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-classified-documents-trump-side-by-side-fb2c4ebccdbdbb9039c1c5e227b1da53">separate investigation into the mishandling of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s private club and residence in Florida.</a>But Raskin also stressed key differences between the two cases, including that Biden's team readily handed over documents to the National Archives compared with Trump's repeated resistance to such requests.“We should keep a sense of proportion and measure about what we’re talking about,” Raskin told CNN.Asked Sunday if his oversight committee would investigate Trump's handling of classified documents as well, Comer demurred.“There have been so many investigations of President Trump, I don’t feel like we need to spend a whole lot of time investigating President Trump, because the Democrats have done that for the past six years,” he said.___

Many questions, few answers from Biden on classified documents

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service's Free File Guided Tax 
Preparation service is live and ready for taxpayers to use. Free File 
went live January 13, 2023, 10 days prior to the 2023 filing season 
start date. The IRS starts accepting individual tax returns on January 
23.

<a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>
 marks its 21st filing season this year and is one of many free options 
available to taxpayers for filing their taxes either online or in 
person. IRS Free File is offered via a public-private partnership 
between the IRS and the Free File Inc., formerly the Free File Alliance.
 Through this partnership, leading tax software providers make their 
online products available in both English and Spanish for free.

Seven partners will provide IRS Free File online products this year 
to any taxpayer or family who earned $73,000 or less in 2022.

Because the filing season does not start until January 23, IRS Free 
File providers will accept completed tax returns and hold them until 
they can be filed electronically on that date.

Those who make over $73,000 can use the IRS's Free File Fillable 
Forms (FFFF), the electronic version of IRS paper forms beginning 
January 23. This product is best for people comfortable preparing their 
own taxes.

Each IRS Free File provider sets its own eligibility rules for products based on age, income and state residency.

Taxpayers that made $73,000 or less in 2022 will likely find a 
product that matches their needs. Some providers also offer free state 
return preparation. Active-duty military can use any IRS Free File 
products if their adjusted gross income was $73,000 in 2022 or less.

To find the right IRS Free File product taxpayers can:

No computer? No problem. IRS Free File products support mobile 
phone access. Taxpayers can do their taxes on their smart phone or 
tablet.

For 2023, the following providers are participating in IRS Free File:

For 2023, ezTaxReturn.com will provide an IRS Free File product in Spanish.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service's Free File Guided Tax 
Preparation service is live and ready for taxpayers to use. Free File 
went live January 13, 2023, 10 days prior to the 2023 filing season 
start date. The IRS starts accepting individual tax returns on January 
23.<a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>
 marks its 21st filing season this year and is one of many free options 
available to taxpayers for filing their taxes either online or in 
person. IRS Free File is offered via a public-private partnership 
between the IRS and the Free File Inc., formerly the Free File Alliance.
 Through this partnership, leading tax software providers make their 
online products available in both English and Spanish for free.Seven partners will provide IRS Free File online products this year 
to any taxpayer or family who earned $73,000 or less in 2022.Because the filing season does not start until January 23, IRS Free 
File providers will accept completed tax returns and hold them until 
they can be filed electronically on that date.Those who make over $73,000 can use the IRS's Free File Fillable 
Forms (FFFF), the electronic version of IRS paper forms beginning 
January 23. This product is best for people comfortable preparing their 
own taxes.<h2>How IRS Free File online works</h2>Each IRS Free File provider sets its own eligibility rules for products based on age, income and state residency.Taxpayers that made $73,000 or less in 2022 will likely find a 
product that matches their needs. Some providers also offer free state 
return preparation. Active-duty military can use any IRS Free File 
products if their adjusted gross income was $73,000 in 2022 or less.To find the right IRS Free File product taxpayers can:<ol>
 <li>Go to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS.gov/freefile</a>,</li><li>Click on Use Free Guided Tax Preparation. Then select IRS Free File Online Lookup Tool for help in finding the right product, or</li><li>Use the Browse All Offers tool to review each offer,</li><li>Select the best product for them, and</li><li>Follow the links to the provider's website to begin their tax return.</li>
 </ol>No computer? No problem. IRS Free File products support mobile 
phone access. Taxpayers can do their taxes on their smart phone or 
tablet.<h2>IRS Free File participants</h2>For 2023, the following providers are participating in IRS Free File:<ul>
 <li>1040Now</li><li>ezTaxReturn.com</li><li>FileYourTaxes.com</li><li>On-Line Taxes</li><li>TaxAct</li><li>FreeTaxUSA</li><li>TaxSlayer</li>
 </ul>For 2023, ezTaxReturn.com will provide an IRS Free File product in Spanish.

IRS Free File launched, aims to save taxpayers hard-earned dollars

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jill-biden">Jill Biden'</a>&nbsp;s advocacy for curing cancer didn't start with her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d8f69eb645d74b7886387f713981b739">son's death in 2015 from brain cancer</a>. It began decades earlier, long before she came into the national spotlight, and could now be further energized by her own brush with a common form of skin cancer.

The first lady often says the worst three words anyone will ever hear are, “You have cancer." She heard a version of that phrase for herself this past week.

A lesion that doctors had found above her right eye during a routine screening late last year was removed on Wednesday and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-maryland-mexico-city-surgery-545cac7c3ddca1f095e84383fdf8cd2d">confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma</a>&nbsp;— a highly treatable form of skin cancer. While Biden was being prepped to remove the lesion, doctors found and removed another one from the left side of her chest, also confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma. A third lesion from her left eyelid was being examined.

While it's too early to know when and how Biden might address her situation publicly, her experience could inject new purpose into what has become part of her life's work highlighting research into curing cancer and urging people to get regular screenings.

Personal experiences can add potency to a public figure's advocacy.

“Nothing like ‘I’ve been there, done that' and being personally involved," said Myra Gutin, a first lady scholar at Rider University.

Biden's spokesperson, Vanessa Valdivia, said “the first lady's fight against cancer has always been personal. She knows that cancer touches us all.”

Biden's advocacy dates to 1993, when four girlfriends were diagnosed with breast cancer, including her pal Winnie, who succumbed to the disease. She said last year in a speech that “Winnie inspired me to take up the cause of prevention and education.”

That experience led her to create the Biden Breast Health Initiative, one of the first breast health programs in the United States, to teach 16-to 18-year-old girls about caring for their breasts. Biden was among staffers who went into Delaware's high schools to conduct lectures and demonstrations.

Her mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs, and father, Donald Jacobs, died of cancer, in 2008 and 1999, respectively. A few years ago, one of her four sisters needed an auto-stem cell transplant to treat her cancer.

In May 2015,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/beau-biden">Beau Biden</a>, President Joe Biden's son with his late first wife, died of a rare and aggressive brain cancer, leaving behind a wife and two young kids. Joe Biden was vice president at the time and the blow from Beau's loss led him to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-entertainment-stephen-colbert-campaign-2016-beau-biden-37fed6382cc84756929b48eaef4be9ff">decide against running for president in 2016</a>. Jill Biden, who had helped raise Beau from a young age after she married his dad, was convinced he would survive the disease and later described feeling “blinded by the darkness” when he died.

After their son's death, the Bidens helped push for a national commitment to “end cancer as we know it.” Then-President Barack Obama — Biden's boss — put the vice president in charge of what the White House named the Cancer Moonshot.

The Bidens resurrected the initiative after Joe Biden became president and added a new goal of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-cancer-initiative-122f2d0782a30d7cf766f2892fc5962a">cutting cancer death rates by at least 50% over the next 25 years</a>, and improving the experience of living with and surviving cancer for patients and their families.

“We’re ensuring that all of our government is ready to get to work,” Jill Biden said at the relaunch announcement at the White House last February. “We’re going to break down the walls that hold research back. We’re going to bring the best of our nation together — patients, survivors, caregivers, researchers, doctors, and advocates — all of you — so that we can get this done.”

In the years between Biden serving as vice president and running for president, the Bidens headed up the Biden Cancer Initiative, a charity.

Jill Biden, 71, has been using her first lady platform to highlight research into a cancer cure, along with other issues she has long championed, including education and military families.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-health-disparities-cancer-virginia-2d2b44953030216aeee380b4b64295b4">Her first trip outside of Washington</a>&nbsp;after the January 2021 inauguration was to Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Cancer Center in Richmond to call for an end to disparities in health care that she said have hurt communities of color.

She has toured cancer centers, including those for children, in New York City, South Carolina, Tennessee, Costa Rica, San Francisco and Florida, among others. She joined the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies — two of her favorite professional sports teams — for events, including during the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-health-sports-jill-biden-baseball-976bb1c829fcb1284ae40ce5759038e5">World Series</a>, to highlight efforts to fight cancer through early detection and to honor patients.

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October, Jill Biden hosted a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-entertainment-health-jill-government-and-politics-a662294f8cdb930e5b8a26c42b07dba1">White House event with the American Cancer Society and singer Mary J. Blige,</a>&nbsp;who became an advocate for cancer screening after losing aunts and other relatives to various forms of cancer.

The first lady also partnered with the Lifetime cable channel to encourage women to get mammograms. A Democrat, she gave&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-jill-covid-government-and-politics-a5391541e8cf5323668dde873758916c">an interview last year to Newsmax</a>, the conservative cable news channel, to discuss the federal investment in accelerating the cancer fight.

She regularly encourages audiences to schedule cancer screening appointments they skipped during the pandemic out of fear of visiting doctor's offices.

Asked on Friday how the first lady was doing, the president flashed a thumbs-up to reporters.

<a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/basal-and-squamous-cell-skin-cancer.html">Basal cell carcinoma</a>, for which the first lady was treated with the procedure known as Mohs surgery, is the most common type of skin cancer, but also the most curable form. It’s considered highly treatable, especially when caught early. It is a slow-growing cancer that doesn't usually spread and seldom causes serious complications or becomes life-threatening.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.skincancer.org/blog/first-lady-jill-biden-undergoes-mohs-surgery/">Skin Cancer Foundation</a>&nbsp;says the delicate skin around the eyes is especially vulnerable to damage from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, which makes basal cell carcinoma on and around the eyelids particularly common.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673893202587.png" alt="A lesion that doctors had found above her right eye during a routine screening late last year was removed on Wednesday and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-maryland-mexico-city-surgery-545cac7c3ddca1f095e84383fdf8cd2d">confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma</a>&nbsp;— a highly treatable form of skin cancer.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>A lesion that doctors had found above her right eye during a routine screening late last year was removed on Wednesday and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-maryland-mexico-city-surgery-545cac7c3ddca1f095e84383fdf8cd2d">confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma</a>&nbsp;— a highly treatable form of skin cancer.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jill-biden">Jill Biden'</a>&nbsp;s advocacy for curing cancer didn't start with her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d8f69eb645d74b7886387f713981b739">son's death in 2015 from brain cancer</a>. It began decades earlier, long before she came into the national spotlight, and could now be further energized by her own brush with a common form of skin cancer.The first lady often says the worst three words anyone will ever hear are, “You have cancer." She heard a version of that phrase for herself this past week.A lesion that doctors had found above her right eye during a routine screening late last year was removed on Wednesday and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-maryland-mexico-city-surgery-545cac7c3ddca1f095e84383fdf8cd2d">confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma</a>&nbsp;— a highly treatable form of skin cancer. While Biden was being prepped to remove the lesion, doctors found and removed another one from the left side of her chest, also confirmed to be basal cell carcinoma. A third lesion from her left eyelid was being examined.While it's too early to know when and how Biden might address her situation publicly, her experience could inject new purpose into what has become part of her life's work highlighting research into curing cancer and urging people to get regular screenings.Personal experiences can add potency to a public figure's advocacy.“Nothing like ‘I’ve been there, done that' and being personally involved," said Myra Gutin, a first lady scholar at Rider University.Biden's spokesperson, Vanessa Valdivia, said “the first lady's fight against cancer has always been personal. She knows that cancer touches us all.”Biden's advocacy dates to 1993, when four girlfriends were diagnosed with breast cancer, including her pal Winnie, who succumbed to the disease. She said last year in a speech that “Winnie inspired me to take up the cause of prevention and education.”That experience led her to create the Biden Breast Health Initiative, one of the first breast health programs in the United States, to teach 16-to 18-year-old girls about caring for their breasts. Biden was among staffers who went into Delaware's high schools to conduct lectures and demonstrations.Her mother, Bonny Jean Jacobs, and father, Donald Jacobs, died of cancer, in 2008 and 1999, respectively. A few years ago, one of her four sisters needed an auto-stem cell transplant to treat her cancer.In May 2015,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/beau-biden">Beau Biden</a>, President Joe Biden's son with his late first wife, died of a rare and aggressive brain cancer, leaving behind a wife and two young kids. Joe Biden was vice president at the time and the blow from Beau's loss led him to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-entertainment-stephen-colbert-campaign-2016-beau-biden-37fed6382cc84756929b48eaef4be9ff">decide against running for president in 2016</a>. Jill Biden, who had helped raise Beau from a young age after she married his dad, was convinced he would survive the disease and later described feeling “blinded by the darkness” when he died.After their son's death, the Bidens helped push for a national commitment to “end cancer as we know it.” Then-President Barack Obama — Biden's boss — put the vice president in charge of what the White House named the Cancer Moonshot.The Bidens resurrected the initiative after Joe Biden became president and added a new goal of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-cancer-initiative-122f2d0782a30d7cf766f2892fc5962a">cutting cancer death rates by at least 50% over the next 25 years</a>, and improving the experience of living with and surviving cancer for patients and their families.“We’re ensuring that all of our government is ready to get to work,” Jill Biden said at the relaunch announcement at the White House last February. “We’re going to break down the walls that hold research back. We’re going to bring the best of our nation together — patients, survivors, caregivers, researchers, doctors, and advocates — all of you — so that we can get this done.”In the years between Biden serving as vice president and running for president, the Bidens headed up the Biden Cancer Initiative, a charity.Jill Biden, 71, has been using her first lady platform to highlight research into a cancer cure, along with other issues she has long championed, including education and military families.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-race-and-ethnicity-health-disparities-cancer-virginia-2d2b44953030216aeee380b4b64295b4">Her first trip outside of Washington</a>&nbsp;after the January 2021 inauguration was to Virginia Commonwealth University's Massey Cancer Center in Richmond to call for an end to disparities in health care that she said have hurt communities of color.She has toured cancer centers, including those for children, in New York City, South Carolina, Tennessee, Costa Rica, San Francisco and Florida, among others. She joined the Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies — two of her favorite professional sports teams — for events, including during the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-health-sports-jill-biden-baseball-976bb1c829fcb1284ae40ce5759038e5">World Series</a>, to highlight efforts to fight cancer through early detection and to honor patients.For Breast Cancer Awareness Month last October, Jill Biden hosted a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-entertainment-health-jill-government-and-politics-a662294f8cdb930e5b8a26c42b07dba1">White House event with the American Cancer Society and singer Mary J. Blige,</a>&nbsp;who became an advocate for cancer screening after losing aunts and other relatives to various forms of cancer.The first lady also partnered with the Lifetime cable channel to encourage women to get mammograms. A Democrat, she gave&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-jill-covid-government-and-politics-a5391541e8cf5323668dde873758916c">an interview last year to Newsmax</a>, the conservative cable news channel, to discuss the federal investment in accelerating the cancer fight.She regularly encourages audiences to schedule cancer screening appointments they skipped during the pandemic out of fear of visiting doctor's offices.Asked on Friday how the first lady was doing, the president flashed a thumbs-up to reporters.<a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/basal-and-squamous-cell-skin-cancer.html">Basal cell carcinoma</a>, for which the first lady was treated with the procedure known as Mohs surgery, is the most common type of skin cancer, but also the most curable form. It’s considered highly treatable, especially when caught early. It is a slow-growing cancer that doesn't usually spread and seldom causes serious complications or becomes life-threatening.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.skincancer.org/blog/first-lady-jill-biden-undergoes-mohs-surgery/">Skin Cancer Foundation</a>&nbsp;says the delicate skin around the eyes is especially vulnerable to damage from the sun’s ultraviolet rays, which makes basal cell carcinoma on and around the eyelids particularly common.

Jill Biden's skin cancer could fuel advocacy in cancer fight

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — When Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked Texas colleges to disavow critical race theory, the University of Texas faculty approved a resolution defending their freedom to decide for themselves how to teach about race.

Patrick said he took it as a message to “go to hell.”

In turn, Patrick, a Republican, said it was time to consider holding the faculty accountable, by targeting one of the top perks of their jobs.

“Maybe we need to look at tenure,” Patrick said at a news conference in November.

It’s a sentiment being echoed by conservative officials in red states across the country. The indefinite academic appointments that come with tenure — the holy grail of university employment — have faced review from lawmakers or state oversight boards in at least half a dozen states, often presented as bids to rein in academics with liberal views.

Tenure advocates are bracing for the possibility of new threats as lawmakers are back at statehouses around the country.

The trend reflects how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-ohio-education-elections-9ff6cfd34f811e91335db2b1a20e7754">conservative scrutiny</a>&nbsp;of instruction related to race, gender and sexuality has extended from schools to higher education. But budget considerations also play a role. Tenured faculty numbers have been declining even in more liberal states. Universities are hiring more part-time, adjunct instructors amid declines in financial support from state governments.

Traditionally, tenured professors can be terminated only under extreme circumstances, such as professional misconduct or a financial emergency. Advocates for tenure say it is a crucial component of academic freedom — especially as controversy grows over scholarly discussions about history and identity.

Without tenure, faculty are “liable to play it safe when it comes time to have a classroom discussion about a difficult topic,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors.

But in difficult financial and political times, even tenured professors may not be guaranteed employment.

In Kansas, Emporia State University recently cut 33 faculty — most of them tenured — using an emergency pandemic measure that allowed universities to bypass policies on staff terminations to balance budgets.

Max McCoy, Emporia State’s sole journalism professor, penned a column that began,&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/13/emporia-state-university-is-about-to-suspend-tenure-heres-why-you-should-care/">“I may be fired for writing this”</a>&nbsp;— before learning this would be his last year teaching at the school.

“This is a purge,” he said. He said all the fired professors were “Democrats or liberal in our thinking.”

University spokesperson Gwen Larson said individual professors were not targeted for dismissal. She said the cuts followed a review of how demand for academic programs is changing and “where we needed to move in the future.

Attacks on higher education have been fueled by a shift in how conservatives see colleges and universities, said Jeremy Young, of the free-expression group PEN America. The share of Republicans and independent-leaning Republicans who said higher education was having a negative effect on the country grew from 37% to 59% from 2015 to 2019 in Pew Research Center polling.

In Texas, university administrators are working behind the scenes to squash anticipated legislation that would target tenure, fearful it will hurt recruitment, said Jeff Blodgett, president of the Texas Conference of AAUP.

Some people already aren’t applying for university jobs because of the discussions, said Pat Heintzelman, president of the Texas Faculty Association.

In Florida, a federal judge in November blocked the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-florida-discrimination-business-racial-injustice-a6f340a48989e67669418e85f2986ebf">“Stop-WOKE" Act</a>, a law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in colleges. The governor’s office is appealing the injunction. Compliance with the law would be part of the criteria for evaluating tenured professors under a review process that the university system’s Board of Governors is weighing.

“They’ve latched onto the idea that many totalitarian regimes have done over the years, which is if you can stop students from learning about ideas that a political party in power disagrees with, that is one way to stop those ideas from existing in the society at all,” said Andrew Gothard, president of United Faculty of Florida.

DeSantis, though, has questioned the argument that tenure provides academic freedom.

“If anything, it’s created more of an intellectual orthodoxy where people that have dissenting views, it's harder for them to be tenured in the first place," he said at a news conference in April.

In Louisiana, lawmakers set up a task force to study tenure with the Republican-backed resolution noting that students should be confident that courses are free of “political, ideological, religious, or antireligious indoctrination.” Professors raised concerns until they learned the task force’s members were mostly tenure supporters.

In Georgia, the state’s Board of Regents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/georgia-education-27eaf233e573c0f8ace42244dff79bed">approved</a>&nbsp;a policy that made it easier to remove tenured faculty who have had a negative performance review. Elsewhere, legislation to ban or restrict tenure also has been introduced in recent years in Iowa, South Carolina and Mississippi, but failed to win passage.

The pushback follows decades of declining rates of tenured faculty. According to the AAUP, 24% of faculty members held full-time tenured appointments in fall 2020, compared with 39% in fall 1987, the first year for which directly comparable information is available.

Part-time college instructors rarely receive benefits. They frequently must travel from campus to campus to cobble together a living.

“It’s a nightmare,” said Caprice Lawless, who wrote the “Adjunct Cookbook,” replete with recipes that poorly compensated Ph.D.s can cobble together with food pantry staples.

“I’ve taken Ph.D.s to foodbanks and watched them cry because they can’t get enough food for their family,” said Lawless, who said she served as a social worker of sorts before retiring two years ago from Front Range Community College in Westminster, Colorado.

The opposition to tenure has united conservatives for different reasons: Not all share the same concerns about “woke higher education,” said Marc Stein, a San Francisco State University history professor, who has written about the shift to part-time faculty.

“But,” he said, “if you attack the ‘wokeness’ of higher education and that leads to declining funding for higher education, then economic conservatives are happy.”

Tenure exploded after World War II when it helped with recruitment as the GI Bill sent enrollment soaring, said Sol Gittleman, a former provost of Tufts University who has written on the issue. Lately, the country has overproduced Ph.D.s, said Gittleman, who predicts tenure will largely disappear in the coming decades outside the top 100 colleges and universities.

“Critical race theory — that's an excuse,” he said. “If there was a shortage of faculty, you wouldn’t hear that.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673215622068.png" alt="In Kansas, Emporia State University last fall cut 33 faculty — most of them tenured- Google image&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>In Kansas, Emporia State University last fall cut 33 faculty — most of them tenured- Google image&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>MISSION, Kan. (AP) — When Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick asked Texas colleges to disavow critical race theory, the University of Texas faculty approved a resolution defending their freedom to decide for themselves how to teach about race.Patrick said he took it as a message to “go to hell.”In turn, Patrick, a Republican, said it was time to consider holding the faculty accountable, by targeting one of the top perks of their jobs.“Maybe we need to look at tenure,” Patrick said at a news conference in November.It’s a sentiment being echoed by conservative officials in red states across the country. The indefinite academic appointments that come with tenure — the holy grail of university employment — have faced review from lawmakers or state oversight boards in at least half a dozen states, often presented as bids to rein in academics with liberal views.Tenure advocates are bracing for the possibility of new threats as lawmakers are back at statehouses around the country.The trend reflects how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-ohio-education-elections-9ff6cfd34f811e91335db2b1a20e7754">conservative scrutiny</a>&nbsp;of instruction related to race, gender and sexuality has extended from schools to higher education. But budget considerations also play a role. Tenured faculty numbers have been declining even in more liberal states. Universities are hiring more part-time, adjunct instructors amid declines in financial support from state governments.Traditionally, tenured professors can be terminated only under extreme circumstances, such as professional misconduct or a financial emergency. Advocates for tenure say it is a crucial component of academic freedom — especially as controversy grows over scholarly discussions about history and identity.Without tenure, faculty are “liable to play it safe when it comes time to have a classroom discussion about a difficult topic,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors.But in difficult financial and political times, even tenured professors may not be guaranteed employment.In Kansas, Emporia State University recently cut 33 faculty — most of them tenured — using an emergency pandemic measure that allowed universities to bypass policies on staff terminations to balance budgets.Max McCoy, Emporia State’s sole journalism professor, penned a column that began,&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/13/emporia-state-university-is-about-to-suspend-tenure-heres-why-you-should-care/">“I may be fired for writing this”</a>&nbsp;— before learning this would be his last year teaching at the school.“This is a purge,” he said. He said all the fired professors were “Democrats or liberal in our thinking.”University spokesperson Gwen Larson said individual professors were not targeted for dismissal. She said the cuts followed a review of how demand for academic programs is changing and “where we needed to move in the future.Attacks on higher education have been fueled by a shift in how conservatives see colleges and universities, said Jeremy Young, of the free-expression group PEN America. The share of Republicans and independent-leaning Republicans who said higher education was having a negative effect on the country grew from 37% to 59% from 2015 to 2019 in Pew Research Center polling.In Texas, university administrators are working behind the scenes to squash anticipated legislation that would target tenure, fearful it will hurt recruitment, said Jeff Blodgett, president of the Texas Conference of AAUP.Some people already aren’t applying for university jobs because of the discussions, said Pat Heintzelman, president of the Texas Faculty Association.In Florida, a federal judge in November blocked the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-florida-discrimination-business-racial-injustice-a6f340a48989e67669418e85f2986ebf">“Stop-WOKE" Act</a>, a law pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis that restricts certain race-based conversations and analysis in colleges. The governor’s office is appealing the injunction. Compliance with the law would be part of the criteria for evaluating tenured professors under a review process that the university system’s Board of Governors is weighing.“They’ve latched onto the idea that many totalitarian regimes have done over the years, which is if you can stop students from learning about ideas that a political party in power disagrees with, that is one way to stop those ideas from existing in the society at all,” said Andrew Gothard, president of United Faculty of Florida.DeSantis, though, has questioned the argument that tenure provides academic freedom.“If anything, it’s created more of an intellectual orthodoxy where people that have dissenting views, it's harder for them to be tenured in the first place," he said at a news conference in April.In Louisiana, lawmakers set up a task force to study tenure with the Republican-backed resolution noting that students should be confident that courses are free of “political, ideological, religious, or antireligious indoctrination.” Professors raised concerns until they learned the task force’s members were mostly tenure supporters.In Georgia, the state’s Board of Regents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/georgia-education-27eaf233e573c0f8ace42244dff79bed">approved</a>&nbsp;a policy that made it easier to remove tenured faculty who have had a negative performance review. Elsewhere, legislation to ban or restrict tenure also has been introduced in recent years in Iowa, South Carolina and Mississippi, but failed to win passage.The pushback follows decades of declining rates of tenured faculty. According to the AAUP, 24% of faculty members held full-time tenured appointments in fall 2020, compared with 39% in fall 1987, the first year for which directly comparable information is available.Part-time college instructors rarely receive benefits. They frequently must travel from campus to campus to cobble together a living.“It’s a nightmare,” said Caprice Lawless, who wrote the “Adjunct Cookbook,” replete with recipes that poorly compensated Ph.D.s can cobble together with food pantry staples.“I’ve taken Ph.D.s to foodbanks and watched them cry because they can’t get enough food for their family,” said Lawless, who said she served as a social worker of sorts before retiring two years ago from Front Range Community College in Westminster, Colorado.The opposition to tenure has united conservatives for different reasons: Not all share the same concerns about “woke higher education,” said Marc Stein, a San Francisco State University history professor, who has written about the shift to part-time faculty.“But,” he said, “if you attack the ‘wokeness’ of higher education and that leads to declining funding for higher education, then economic conservatives are happy.”Tenure exploded after World War II when it helped with recruitment as the GI Bill sent enrollment soaring, said Sol Gittleman, a former provost of Tufts University who has written on the issue. Lately, the country has overproduced Ph.D.s, said Gittleman, who predicts tenure will largely disappear in the coming decades outside the top 100 colleges and universities.“Critical race theory — that's an excuse,” he said. “If there was a shortage of faculty, you wouldn’t hear that.”

Conservatives take aim at tenure for university professors

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden made a historical pilgrimage Sunday to “America's freedom church” to mark&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-boston-united-states-government-atlanta-civil-rights-cb6609246b1817bbe6ce1e6dcf2f01a6">Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday</a>, saying democracy was at a perilous moment and that the civil rights leader's life and legacy "show us the way and we should pay attention.”

(Click below to watch the President's sermon)

As the first sitting president to deliver a Sunday morning sermon at King's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-georgia-senate-2563753b703f7a46af9a0e75565b84db">Ebenezer Baptist Church</a>, Biden cited the telling question that King himself once asked of the nation.

“He said, 'Where do we go from here?’” Biden said from the pulpit. ”Well, my message to this nation on this day is we go forward, we go together, when we choose democracy over autocracy, a beloved community over chaos, when we choose believers and the dreams, to be doers, to be unafraid, always keeping the faith.”

In a divided country only two years removed from a violent insurrection, Biden told congregants, elected officials and dignitaries that “the battle for the soul of this nation is perennial. It’s a constant struggle ... between hope and fear, kindness and cruelty, justice and injustice."

He spoke out against those who “traffic in racism, extremism, insurrection” and said the struggle to safeguard democracy was playing out in courthouses and ballot boxes, protests and other ways. ”At our best, the American promise wins out. … But I don’t need to tell you that we’re not always at our best. We’re fallible. We fail and fall.’’

The stop at Ebenezer came at a delicate moment for Biden after Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-home-wilmington-33479d12c7cf0a822adb2f44c32b88fd">appointment of a special counsel</a>&nbsp;to investigate how the president handled classified documents after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-0574fd762159e8cb5f31c85205df3dc0">The White House on Saturday</a>&nbsp;revealed that additional classified records were found at&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/Biden's%20home%20near%20Wilmington,%20Delaware.">Biden’s home near Wilmington, Delaware</a>.

In introducing Biden, the church's senior pastor, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock noted that the president was “a devout Catholic” for whom "this Baptist service might be a little bit rambunctious and animated. But I saw him over there clapping his hands.”

King, “the greatest American prophet of the 20th century," as Warnock put it, served as co-pastor from 1960 until he was assassinated in 1968.

Warnock, like many battleground state Democrats who won reelection in 2022,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rev-raphael-warnock-biden-voting-rights-politics-georgia-state-government-4ab203d49a120aae1eb07d248c0579a4">kept his distance during the campaign from Biden</a>&nbsp;as the president's approval rating lagged and the inflation rate climbed.

But with the election behind him and a full six-year term ahead, Warnock fully embraced Biden at the service. Near the close, he asked Biden to come to the front of the church and asked Ebenezer's congregants to pray for the president as he listed several of Biden's legislative achievements.

“That, my friends, is God’s work,” said Warnock, adding that Biden “had a little something to do with it.”

As Biden begins to turn his attention toward an expected 2024 reelection effort, Georgia is going to get plenty of his attention.

In 2020, Biden managed to win Georgia as well as closely contested Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Black votes made up a disproportionate share of the Democratic electorate. Turning out Black voters in those states will be essential to Biden's 2024 hopes.

The White House has tried to promote Biden's agenda in minority communities. The White House has cited efforts to encourage states&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-transportation-pete-buttigieg-48e09f253781c89359d875f19fc70f9d">to take equity into account for public works projects</a>&nbsp;as they spend money from the administration's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-infrastructure-bill-signing-b5b8cca843133de060778f049861b144">$1 trillion infrastructure bill.</a>&nbsp;The administration also has acted to end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/merrick-garland-5d6ca72c3620e0ef3ecd55ec60f590a4">sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses</a>, scrapping a policy widely seen as racist.

The administration also highlights Biden's work to diversify the federal judiciary, including his appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-swearing-in-5a5115f58e163789dfda5a8af0b14221">the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and the confirmation of 11 Black women judges to federal appeals courts —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-biden-politics-wisconsin-state-government-united-states-8e2e4f826096e431fcc7b1605426ec0a">more than those installed to those powerful courts under all previous presidents combined.</a>

Biden’s failure to win passage of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-voting-rights-bill-collapses-27c888b4f9bf876520913d7036a942b0">measure that would have bolstered voting right protections</a>, a central campaign pledge, is one of his biggest disappointments of his first two years in office. The task is even steeper now that Republicans control the House.

In his remarks, the president said that for all the progress the United States has made, the country had now reached a critical point in its history. He said democracies can backslide, noting the collapse of the institutional structures of democracy in places such as Brazil.

"Progress is never easy, but it’s always possible and things do get better in our march to a more perfect union,” he said. “But at this inflection point, we know a lot of work that has to continue on economic justice civil rights, voting rights, protecting our democracy. And I’m remembering our job is to redeem the soul of America.”

This moment, he said, “is the time of choosing. … Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy? Couldn't ask that question 15 years ago because everybody thought democracy was settled. ... But it's not." Americans, he said, " have to choose a community over chaos. ... These are the vital questions of our time and the reason why I’m here as your president. I believe Dr. King’s life and legacy show us the way and we should pay attention.”

ATLANTA (AP) — President Joe Biden made a historical pilgrimage Sunday to “America's freedom church” to mark&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-boston-united-states-government-atlanta-civil-rights-cb6609246b1817bbe6ce1e6dcf2f01a6">Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday</a>, saying democracy was at a perilous moment and that the civil rights leader's life and legacy "show us the way and we should pay attention.” (Click below to watch the President's sermon)<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Tune in as I deliver remarks at Ebenezer Baptist Church, honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. <a href="https://t.co/ffRVfHTjsU">https://t.co/ffRVfHTjsU</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1614665198086008835?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 15, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>As the first sitting president to deliver a Sunday morning sermon at King's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-georgia-senate-2563753b703f7a46af9a0e75565b84db">Ebenezer Baptist Church</a>, Biden cited the telling question that King himself once asked of the nation.“He said, 'Where do we go from here?’” Biden said from the pulpit. ”Well, my message to this nation on this day is we go forward, we go together, when we choose democracy over autocracy, a beloved community over chaos, when we choose believers and the dreams, to be doers, to be unafraid, always keeping the faith.”In a divided country only two years removed from a violent insurrection, Biden told congregants, elected officials and dignitaries that “the battle for the soul of this nation is perennial. It’s a constant struggle ... between hope and fear, kindness and cruelty, justice and injustice."He spoke out against those who “traffic in racism, extremism, insurrection” and said the struggle to safeguard democracy was playing out in courthouses and ballot boxes, protests and other ways. ”At our best, the American promise wins out. … But I don’t need to tell you that we’re not always at our best. We’re fallible. We fail and fall.’’The stop at Ebenezer came at a delicate moment for Biden after Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday announced the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/classified-documents-biden-home-wilmington-33479d12c7cf0a822adb2f44c32b88fd">appointment of a special counsel</a>&nbsp;to investigate how the president handled classified documents after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-united-states-government-district-of-columbia-0574fd762159e8cb5f31c85205df3dc0">The White House on Saturday</a>&nbsp;revealed that additional classified records were found at&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/Biden's%20home%20near%20Wilmington,%20Delaware.">Biden’s home near Wilmington, Delaware</a>.In introducing Biden, the church's senior pastor, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock noted that the president was “a devout Catholic” for whom "this Baptist service might be a little bit rambunctious and animated. But I saw him over there clapping his hands.”King, “the greatest American prophet of the 20th century," as Warnock put it, served as co-pastor from 1960 until he was assassinated in 1968.Warnock, like many battleground state Democrats who won reelection in 2022,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rev-raphael-warnock-biden-voting-rights-politics-georgia-state-government-4ab203d49a120aae1eb07d248c0579a4">kept his distance during the campaign from Biden</a>&nbsp;as the president's approval rating lagged and the inflation rate climbed.But with the election behind him and a full six-year term ahead, Warnock fully embraced Biden at the service. Near the close, he asked Biden to come to the front of the church and asked Ebenezer's congregants to pray for the president as he listed several of Biden's legislative achievements.“That, my friends, is God’s work,” said Warnock, adding that Biden “had a little something to do with it.”As Biden begins to turn his attention toward an expected 2024 reelection effort, Georgia is going to get plenty of his attention.In 2020, Biden managed to win Georgia as well as closely contested Michigan and Pennsylvania, where Black votes made up a disproportionate share of the Democratic electorate. Turning out Black voters in those states will be essential to Biden's 2024 hopes.The White House has tried to promote Biden's agenda in minority communities. The White House has cited efforts to encourage states&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-transportation-pete-buttigieg-48e09f253781c89359d875f19fc70f9d">to take equity into account for public works projects</a>&nbsp;as they spend money from the administration's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-infrastructure-bill-signing-b5b8cca843133de060778f049861b144">$1 trillion infrastructure bill.</a>&nbsp;The administration also has acted to end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/merrick-garland-5d6ca72c3620e0ef3ecd55ec60f590a4">sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses</a>, scrapping a policy widely seen as racist.The administration also highlights Biden's work to diversify the federal judiciary, including his appointment of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-swearing-in-5a5115f58e163789dfda5a8af0b14221">the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and the confirmation of 11 Black women judges to federal appeals courts —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ketanji-brown-jackson-biden-politics-wisconsin-state-government-united-states-8e2e4f826096e431fcc7b1605426ec0a">more than those installed to those powerful courts under all previous presidents combined.</a>Biden’s failure to win passage of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-voting-rights-bill-collapses-27c888b4f9bf876520913d7036a942b0">measure that would have bolstered voting right protections</a>, a central campaign pledge, is one of his biggest disappointments of his first two years in office. The task is even steeper now that Republicans control the House.In his remarks, the president said that for all the progress the United States has made, the country had now reached a critical point in its history. He said democracies can backslide, noting the collapse of the institutional structures of democracy in places such as Brazil."Progress is never easy, but it’s always possible and things do get better in our march to a more perfect union,” he said. “But at this inflection point, we know a lot of work that has to continue on economic justice civil rights, voting rights, protecting our democracy. And I’m remembering our job is to redeem the soul of America.”This moment, he said, “is the time of choosing. … Are we a people who will choose democracy over autocracy? Couldn't ask that question 15 years ago because everybody thought democracy was settled. ... But it's not." Americans, he said, " have to choose a community over chaos. ... These are the vital questions of our time and the reason why I’m here as your president. I believe Dr. King’s life and legacy show us the way and we should pay attention.”King, who was born on Jan. 15, 1929, was killed at age 39. He helped drive passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965. Members of King's family attended the service, including his 95-year-old sister, Christine King Farris.``I’ve spoken before parliaments, kings, queens, leaders of the world ... but this is intimidating,” Biden said in opening his sermon.The president plans to be in Washington on Monday to speak at the National Action Network’s annual breakfast on the King holiday.