SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in the&nbsp;&nbsp;alleged kidnappings involving three juveniles near a Kansas elementary school made his first court appearance Tuesday.

<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20063339">&nbsp;Manasseh Ward, 21, Wichita,</a> is charged with kidnapping, 4 counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated kidnapping, 3 counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, 2 counts of attempted rape, aggravated assault and interference with law enforcement, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just before 4p.m. January 4, a teenage girl reported being kidnapped by a bi-racial man driving a blue vehicle in the 6600 block of East Boston in Wichita, according to Officer Chad Ditch.

 The man attempted to sexually assault the girl in the car. The man let the child go and she reported the incident to a family member.

Just before 9a.m. January 5, two elementary-aged children, a boy and girl, left their home on foot in the 900 block of South Drury to head to Clark Elementary School at 650 S Apache in Wichita.

A man in a blue vehicle kidnapped the children. The suspect put both kids in his vehicle and then drove away. A short time later he dropped the boy victim off and left with the girl..

While gathering information officers were patrolling the area and located the suspect vehicle and attempted to stop it. &nbsp;A brief foot pursuit occurred and officers took Ward into custody in the 6600 block of East Boston.&nbsp; 

<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20063339">He is being held on $1, 600,000 bond.</a>&nbsp;The next court hearing in the case is January 26, according to the district attorney's office. His bond in an earlier probation violation is one-million dollar

In September, police arrested Ward on requested charges of of aggravated domestic battery, according to Sedgwick County booking report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673010286685.png" alt="Ward-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Ward-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in the&nbsp;&nbsp;alleged kidnappings involving three juveniles near a Kansas elementary school made his first court appearance Tuesday.<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20063339">&nbsp;Manasseh Ward, 21, Wichita,</a> is charged with kidnapping, 4 counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, aggravated kidnapping, 3 counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, 2 counts of attempted rape, aggravated assault and interference with law enforcement, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just before 4p.m. January 4, a teenage girl reported being kidnapped by a bi-racial man driving a blue vehicle in the 6600 block of East Boston in Wichita, according to Officer Chad Ditch. The man attempted to sexually assault the girl in the car. The man let the child go and she reported the incident to a family member.Just before 9a.m. January 5, two elementary-aged children, a boy and girl, left their home on foot in the 900 block of South Drury to head to Clark Elementary School at 650 S Apache in Wichita.A man in a blue vehicle kidnapped the children. The suspect put both kids in his vehicle and then drove away. A short time later he dropped the boy victim off and left with the girl..While gathering information officers were patrolling the area and located the suspect vehicle and attempted to stop it. &nbsp;A brief foot pursuit occurred and officers took Ward into custody in the 6600 block of East Boston.&nbsp; <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20063339">He is being held on $1, 600,000 bond.</a>&nbsp;The next court hearing in the case is January 26, according to the district attorney's office. His bond in an earlier probation violation is one-million dollarIn September, police arrested Ward on requested charges of of aggravated domestic battery, according to Sedgwick County booking report.

Man charged in kidnapping, sex assault of kids near Kan. school

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/states-mental-health-providers-tout-transformational-bill-aiding-development-of-community-clinics/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s mental health providers are touting a 
“transformational” proposal to establish federally certified behavioral 
health clinics in communities across the state.

State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln on Tuesday introduced a bill to 
aid the development of at least six such clinics in Omaha, Lincoln, 
Fremont, Kearney and Hastings through the state’s Medicaid program.

Wishart said she’s heard over and over during her six years in the 
Legislature how Nebraska lacks mental health services and how that 
shortage impacts state prisons and local jails, as well as the calls for
 service to law enforcement.

Her Legislative Bill 276 is a chance for the state to “step up” to address that problem, she said.

“It’s a more contemporary way of 
managing health care for those with mental health issues and struggling 
with addiction,” Wishart said.

The “certified community behavioral health clinics” called for in the
 bill are the mental health equivalent of federally qualified health 
centers, such as OneWorld and Charles Drew Center in Omaha, that provide
 a wide array of health care to low-income families.

About 500 community behavioral health clinics have been established 
across the country, and they have proved to improve outcomes for those 
who seek sobriety and stability and to avoid more expensive trips to 
emergency rooms for people in crisis, said Topher Hansen of Lincoln’s 
CenterPointe treatment campus.

“The data is pretty well known, and the savings are pretty well known,” Hansen said. 

Last year, an official with the State of Missouri’s certified 
behavioral health clinics told state lawmakers that establishing such 
centers there had expanded access to mental health care and led to the 
hiring of more clinicians and psychiatrists.

Such “certified” community clinics are required to provide nine core 
services so that a broader array of help is available and more 
accessible, advocates say. Such clinics are also required to seek better
 coordination with local law enforcement.

 Bob Shueey of South Central 
Behavioral Services of Hastings and Kearney said that in the current 
system, very few mental health providers are able to offer a complete 
array of high quality services.

“This causes difficulty as people 
often encounter barriers as they try to navigate the system to find the 
provider who is offering the specific service or services they need,” 
Shueey said.

Hansen said the motto at CenterPointe is to help people help themselves “get better, sooner and for longer” to avoid relapses and promote a healthy life.

CenterPointe, along with Lutheran 
Family of Omaha and Fremont and Community Alliance of Omaha, have 
already developed certified community behavioral health clinics as 
federal demonstration projects. Others clinics are in the development 
stage at Heartland Family Services in Omaha and South Central Behavioral
 Health.

LB 276 would increase funding and set up a more stable funding 
process for such clinics, as well as include them in an amendment of the
 state’s Medicaid program, according to Annette Dubas, executive 
director of the Nebraska Association of Behavioral Health Organizations.

Dubas, a former state senator, said such clinics have been 
“transformational” in other states. reducing costs for emergency rooms 
as well as youth foster care.

A similar proposal last year, which had a fiscal note of $10 million 
in state and federal costs, failed to advance. But Wishart said she has 
higher hopes for LB 276 as the concept of such clinics are better known.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673458816203.png" alt="One of the state’s certified community behavioral health clinics will be located on the new CenterPoint Campus for Health and Well Being, under construction in Lincoln (Courtesy of Clark &amp; Enersen)" />
 <figcaption>One of the state’s certified community behavioral health clinics will be located on the new CenterPoint Campus for Health and Well Being, under construction in Lincoln (Courtesy of Clark &amp; Enersen)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/states-mental-health-providers-tout-transformational-bill-aiding-development-of-community-clinics/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Nebraska’s mental health providers are touting a 
“transformational” proposal to establish federally certified behavioral 
health clinics in communities across the state.State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln on Tuesday introduced a bill to 
aid the development of at least six such clinics in Omaha, Lincoln, 
Fremont, Kearney and Hastings through the state’s Medicaid program.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1660224007414.jpeg" alt="State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)</figcaption>
 </figure>Wishart said she’s heard over and over during her six years in the 
Legislature how Nebraska lacks mental health services and how that 
shortage impacts state prisons and local jails, as well as the calls for
 service to law enforcement.Her Legislative Bill 276 is a chance for the state to “step up” to address that problem, she said.“It’s a more contemporary way of 
managing health care for those with mental health issues and struggling 
with addiction,” Wishart said.The “certified community behavioral health clinics” called for in the
 bill are the mental health equivalent of federally qualified health 
centers, such as OneWorld and Charles Drew Center in Omaha, that provide
 a wide array of health care to low-income families.<h2>Data, savings ‘well known’</h2>About 500 community behavioral health clinics have been established 
across the country, and they have proved to improve outcomes for those 
who seek sobriety and stability and to avoid more expensive trips to 
emergency rooms for people in crisis, said Topher Hansen of Lincoln’s 
CenterPointe treatment campus.“The data is pretty well known, and the savings are pretty well known,” Hansen said. Last year, an official with the State of Missouri’s certified 
behavioral health clinics told state lawmakers that establishing such 
centers there had expanded access to mental health care and led to the 
hiring of more clinicians and psychiatrists.Such “certified” community clinics are required to provide nine core 
services so that a broader array of help is available and more 
accessible, advocates say. Such clinics are also required to seek better
 coordination with local law enforcement. Bob Shueey of South Central 
Behavioral Services of Hastings and Kearney said that in the current 
system, very few mental health providers are able to offer a complete 
array of high quality services.<h2>Removes ‘barriers’</h2>“This causes difficulty as people 
often encounter barriers as they try to navigate the system to find the 
provider who is offering the specific service or services they need,” 
Shueey said.Hansen said the motto at CenterPointe is to help people help themselves “get better, sooner and for longer” to avoid relapses and promote a healthy life.CenterPointe, along with Lutheran 
Family of Omaha and Fremont and Community Alliance of Omaha, have 
already developed certified community behavioral health clinics as 
federal demonstration projects. Others clinics are in the development 
stage at Heartland Family Services in Omaha and South Central Behavioral
 Health.LB 276 would increase funding and set up a more stable funding 
process for such clinics, as well as include them in an amendment of the
 state’s Medicaid program, according to Annette Dubas, executive 
director of the Nebraska Association of Behavioral Health Organizations.Dubas, a former state senator, said such clinics have been 
“transformational” in other states. reducing costs for emergency rooms 
as well as youth foster care.A similar proposal last year, which had a fiscal note of $10 million 
in state and federal costs, failed to advance. But Wishart said she has 
higher hopes for LB 276 as the concept of such clinics are better known.

Neb. mental health providers: Community clinic bill ‘transformational’

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bills safety Damar Hamlin was released from a Buffalo hospital on Wednesday, more than a week after he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated during a game at Cincinnati, after his doctors said they completed a series of tests.

A news release from the Bills quoted Dr. Jamie Nadler as saying: “We have completed a series of tests and evaluation and in consultation with the team physicians, we are confident that Damar can be safely discharged.” Nadler said Hamlin will continue his rehabilitation with the Bills.

Hamlin is going home after spending two days undergoing tests at Buffalo General Medical Center. He was transferred to Buffalo after spending last week at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where the 24-year-old from the Pittsburgh area experienced what doctors called “a remarkable recovery.”

Hamlin collapsed on the field after being struck in the chest by Bengals receiver Tee Higgins while making what appeared to be a routine tackle during the first quarter of Buffalo’s since-canceled game at Cincinnati on Jan. 2.

He spent the first two days in hospital under sedation. He was awakened and able to grip people’s hands at his bedside, and eventually taken off a ventilator and able to address his teammates on Friday.

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Bills safety Damar Hamlin was released from a Buffalo hospital on Wednesday, more than a week after he went into cardiac arrest and had to be resuscitated during a game at Cincinnati, after his doctors said they completed a series of tests.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">An amazing Damar Hamlin update. ❤️💙 <a href="https://t.co/GyP2uDQry0">pic.twitter.com/GyP2uDQry0</a>&mdash; Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuffaloBills/status/1613211636990644224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>A news release from the Bills quoted Dr. Jamie Nadler as saying: “We have completed a series of tests and evaluation and in consultation with the team physicians, we are confident that Damar can be safely discharged.” Nadler said Hamlin will continue his rehabilitation with the Bills.Hamlin is going home after spending two days undergoing tests at Buffalo General Medical Center. He was transferred to Buffalo after spending last week at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where the 24-year-old from the Pittsburgh area experienced what doctors called “a remarkable recovery.”Hamlin collapsed on the field after being struck in the chest by Bengals receiver Tee Higgins while making what appeared to be a routine tackle during the first quarter of Buffalo’s since-canceled game at Cincinnati on Jan. 2.He spent the first two days in hospital under sedation. He was awakened and able to grip people’s hands at his bedside, and eventually taken off a ventilator and able to address his teammates on Friday.

Bill's Damar Hamlin released from Buffalo hospital

By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — Like the tobacco, oil, gun, opioid and vaping industries before them, the big U.S. social media companies are now facing lawsuits brought by public entities that seek to hold them accountable for a huge societal problem — in their case, the mental health crisis among youth.

But the new lawsuits — one by the public school district in Seattle last week, with a second filed by a suburban district Monday and almost certainly more to come — face an uncertain legal road.

The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month over the extent to which federal law protects the tech industry from such claims when social media algorithms push potentially harmful content.

Even if the high court were to clear the way for lawsuits like Seattle's, the district has a daunting challenge in proving the industry's liability.

And the tech industry insists there are many ways social media's effects on teen mental health differ from, say, big pharma's role in pushing opioid addiction.

"The underlying argument is that the tech industry is to blame for the emotional state of teenagers, because they made recommendations on content that has caused emotional harm," said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of the tech industry trade association NetChoice. "It would be absurd to sue Barnes &amp; Noble because an employee recommended a book that caused emotional harm or made a teenager feel bad. But that's exactly what this lawsuit is doing."

Seattle Public Schools on Friday sued the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, alleging they have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children. The Kent School District south of Seattle followed suit Monday.

The districts blame the companies for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media and providing additional training to teachers.

"Our students — and young people everywhere — face unprecedented learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media," Seattle Superintendent Brent Jones said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "We are confident and hopeful that this lawsuit is a significant step toward reversing this trend for our students."

Federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms. But the lawsuits argue the provision, which predates all the social media platforms, does not protect the tech giants' behavior in this case, where their own algorithms promote harmful content.

That's also the issue in Gonzalez v. Google, the parent company of YouTube, set for argument at the Supreme Court on Feb. 21. In that case, the family of an American woman killed in an Islamic State group attack in Paris in 2015 alleges YouTube's algorithms aided the terror group's recruitment.

If the high court's decision makes clear that tech companies can be held liable in such cases, the school districts will still have to show that social media was in fact to blame. Seattle's lawsuit says that from 2009 to 2019, there was on average a 30% increase in the number of its students who reported feeling "so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row" that they stopped doing some typical activities.

But Szabo pointed out that Seattle's graduation rates have been on the rise since 2019, during a time when many kids relied on social media to keep in touch with their friends throughout the pandemic. If social media were truly so harmful to the district's educational efforts, the graduation rate wouldn't be rising, he suggested.

"The complaint focuses on only how social media harms kids, and there might be evidence of that," said Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law in Silicon Valley. "But there's also a lot of evidence that social media benefits teenagers and other kids. What we don't know is what the distress rate would look like without social media. It's possible the distress rate would be higher, not lower."

The companies have insisted that they take the safety of their users, especially kids, seriously, and they have introduced tools to make it easier for parents to know whom their children are contacting; made mental health resources, including the new 988 crisis hotline, more prominent; and improved age verification and screen time limits.

"We automatically set teens' accounts to private when they join Instagram, and we send notifications encouraging them to take regular breaks," Anitigone Davis, Meta's global head of safety, said in an emailed statement. "We don't allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, and of the content we remove or take action on, we identify over 99% of it before it's reported to us."

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal studies in 2021 showing the company knew Instagram negatively affected teenagers by harming their body images and worsening eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. She alleged the platform prioritized profits over safety and hid its research from investors and the public.

Even if social media benefits some students, that doesn't erase the serious harm to many others, said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit working to insulate children from commercialization and marketing.

"The mental health costs to students, the amount of time schools have to spend monitoring and responding to social media drama, is exorbitant," Golin said. "It is ridiculous that schools are responsible for the damages caused by these social media platforms to young people. Nobody is seeing the kinds of cumulative effects that social media is causing to the extent school districts are."

Both cases were filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, but they are based on state public nuisance law — a broad, vaguely defined legal concept whose origins date back at least to 13th century England. In Washington, public nuisance is defined, in part, as "every act unlawfully done and every omission to perform a duty" which "shall annoy, injure or endanger the safety, health, comfort, or repose of any considerable number of persons."

Most famously, public nuisance claims helped prompt the tobacco industry's $246 billion, 25-year settlement with the states in 1998. But public nuisance law also has been at least part of the basis for litigation by state, city, county or tribal governments seeking to hold oil companies responsible for climate change, the gun industry for gun violence, the pharmaceutical industry for the opioid crisis and vaping companies like Juul for teen vaping.

Much of the litigation is ongoing. Juul Labs last month agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits — including 1,400 from school districts, cities and counties — for a reported $1.2 billion.

The Seattle litigation has the potential to enact massive change, prompting questions about the appropriateness of addressing big societal issues in court rather than through lawmaking. Yet there is little risk to the school district because a private law firm filed the complaint on a contingency basis in which the firm is paid only if the case succeeds.

Jolina Cuaresma, senior counsel for privacy and tech policy at Common Sense Media, which aims to make media safer for children, said she was thrilled to see a school district make a public nuisance claim against the tech companies.

"Folks have become tired waiting for Congress to do something," she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673457414258.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By GENE JOHNSON Associated PressSEATTLE (AP) — Like the tobacco, oil, gun, opioid and vaping industries before them, the big U.S. social media companies are now facing lawsuits brought by public entities that seek to hold them accountable for a huge societal problem — in their case, the mental health crisis among youth.But the new lawsuits — one by the public school district in Seattle last week, with a second filed by a suburban district Monday and almost certainly more to come — face an uncertain legal road.The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments next month over the extent to which federal law protects the tech industry from such claims when social media algorithms push potentially harmful content.Even if the high court were to clear the way for lawsuits like Seattle's, the district has a daunting challenge in proving the industry's liability.And the tech industry insists there are many ways social media's effects on teen mental health differ from, say, big pharma's role in pushing opioid addiction."The underlying argument is that the tech industry is to blame for the emotional state of teenagers, because they made recommendations on content that has caused emotional harm," said Carl Szabo, vice president and general counsel of the tech industry trade association NetChoice. "It would be absurd to sue Barnes &amp; Noble because an employee recommended a book that caused emotional harm or made a teenager feel bad. But that's exactly what this lawsuit is doing."Seattle Public Schools on Friday sued the tech giants behind TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat, alleging they have created a public nuisance by targeting their products to children. The Kent School District south of Seattle followed suit Monday.The districts blame the companies for worsening mental health and behavioral disorders including anxiety, depression, disordered eating and cyberbullying; making it more difficult to educate students; and forcing schools to take steps such as hiring additional mental health professionals, developing lesson plans about the effects of social media and providing additional training to teachers."Our students — and young people everywhere — face unprecedented learning and life struggles that are amplified by the negative impacts of increased screen time, unfiltered content, and potentially addictive properties of social media," Seattle Superintendent Brent Jones said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "We are confident and hopeful that this lawsuit is a significant step toward reversing this trend for our students."Federal law — Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 — helps protect online companies from liability arising from what third-party users post on their platforms. But the lawsuits argue the provision, which predates all the social media platforms, does not protect the tech giants' behavior in this case, where their own algorithms promote harmful content.That's also the issue in Gonzalez v. Google, the parent company of YouTube, set for argument at the Supreme Court on Feb. 21. In that case, the family of an American woman killed in an Islamic State group attack in Paris in 2015 alleges YouTube's algorithms aided the terror group's recruitment.If the high court's decision makes clear that tech companies can be held liable in such cases, the school districts will still have to show that social media was in fact to blame. Seattle's lawsuit says that from 2009 to 2019, there was on average a 30% increase in the number of its students who reported feeling "so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row" that they stopped doing some typical activities.But Szabo pointed out that Seattle's graduation rates have been on the rise since 2019, during a time when many kids relied on social media to keep in touch with their friends throughout the pandemic. If social media were truly so harmful to the district's educational efforts, the graduation rate wouldn't be rising, he suggested."The complaint focuses on only how social media harms kids, and there might be evidence of that," said Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law in Silicon Valley. "But there's also a lot of evidence that social media benefits teenagers and other kids. What we don't know is what the distress rate would look like without social media. It's possible the distress rate would be higher, not lower."The companies have insisted that they take the safety of their users, especially kids, seriously, and they have introduced tools to make it easier for parents to know whom their children are contacting; made mental health resources, including the new 988 crisis hotline, more prominent; and improved age verification and screen time limits."We automatically set teens' accounts to private when they join Instagram, and we send notifications encouraging them to take regular breaks," Anitigone Davis, Meta's global head of safety, said in an emailed statement. "We don't allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, and of the content we remove or take action on, we identify over 99% of it before it's reported to us."Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal studies in 2021 showing the company knew Instagram negatively affected teenagers by harming their body images and worsening eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. She alleged the platform prioritized profits over safety and hid its research from investors and the public.Even if social media benefits some students, that doesn't erase the serious harm to many others, said Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, a nonprofit working to insulate children from commercialization and marketing."The mental health costs to students, the amount of time schools have to spend monitoring and responding to social media drama, is exorbitant," Golin said. "It is ridiculous that schools are responsible for the damages caused by these social media platforms to young people. Nobody is seeing the kinds of cumulative effects that social media is causing to the extent school districts are."Both cases were filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, but they are based on state public nuisance law — a broad, vaguely defined legal concept whose origins date back at least to 13th century England. In Washington, public nuisance is defined, in part, as "every act unlawfully done and every omission to perform a duty" which "shall annoy, injure or endanger the safety, health, comfort, or repose of any considerable number of persons."Most famously, public nuisance claims helped prompt the tobacco industry's $246 billion, 25-year settlement with the states in 1998. But public nuisance law also has been at least part of the basis for litigation by state, city, county or tribal governments seeking to hold oil companies responsible for climate change, the gun industry for gun violence, the pharmaceutical industry for the opioid crisis and vaping companies like Juul for teen vaping.Much of the litigation is ongoing. Juul Labs last month agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits — including 1,400 from school districts, cities and counties — for a reported $1.2 billion.The Seattle litigation has the potential to enact massive change, prompting questions about the appropriateness of addressing big societal issues in court rather than through lawmaking. Yet there is little risk to the school district because a private law firm filed the complaint on a contingency basis in which the firm is paid only if the case succeeds.Jolina Cuaresma, senior counsel for privacy and tech policy at Common Sense Media, which aims to make media safer for children, said she was thrilled to see a school district make a public nuisance claim against the tech companies."Folks have become tired waiting for Congress to do something," she said.

School lawsuits over social media harm face tough legal road

NEW YORK (AP) — The world’s largest aircraft fleet was grounded for hours by a cascading outage in a government system that delayed or cancelled thousands of flights across the U.S. on Wednesday.

The White House initially said that there was no evidence of a cyberattack behind the outage that ruined travel plans for millions of passengers. President Joe Biden said Wednesday morning that he’s directed the Department of Transportation to investigate.

Whatever the cause, the outage revealed how dependent the world's largest economy is on air travel, and how dependent air travel is on an antiquated computer system called the Notice to Air Missions System, or NOTAM.

Before commencing a flight, pilots are required to consult NOTAMs, which list potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the potential for icing. The system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for the information, but has moved online.

The NOTAM system broke down late Tuesday, leading to more than 1,000 flight cancellations and more than 6,000 delayed flights by 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware.

The chaos is expected to grow as backups compound. More than 21,000 flights were scheduled to take off in the U.S. today, mostly domestic trips, and about 1,840 international flights expected to fly to the U.S., according to aviation data firm Cirium.

Longtime aviation insiders could not recall an outage of such magnitude caused by a technology breakdown. Some compared it to the nationwide shutdown of airspace after the terror attacks of September 2001.

“Periodically there have been local issues here or there, but this is pretty significant historically,” said Tim Campbell, a former senior vice president of air operations at American Airlines and now a consultant in Minneapolis.

Campbell said there has long been concern about the Federal Aviation Administration’s technology, and not just the NOTAM system.

“So much of their systems are old mainframe systems that are generally reliable but they are out of date,” he said.

John Cox, a former airline pilot and aviation safety expert, said there has been talk in the aviation industry for years about trying to modernize the NOTAM system, but he did not know the age of the servers that the FAA uses.

He couldn’t say whether a cyberattack was possible.

“I’ve been flying 53 years. I’ve never heard the system go down like this,” Cox said. “So something unusual happened.”

According to FAA advisories, the NOTAM system failed at 8:28 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday preventing new or amended notices from being distributed to pilots. The FAA resorted to a telephone hotline to keep departures flying overnight, but as daytime traffic picked up it overwhelmed the telephone backup system.

The FAA ordered all departing flights grounded early Wednesday morning, affecting all passenger and shipping flights.

Some medical flights could get clearance and the outage did not impact any military operations or mobility.

Flights for the U.S. military’s Air Mobility Command, were not affected.

Biden said Wednesday morning that he was briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don’t know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes,” Biden said. “I told him to report directly to me when they find out.

Julia Macpherson was on a United Airlines flight from Sydney to Los Angeles on Wednesday when she learned of possible delays.

“As I was up in the air I got news from my friend who was also traveling overseas that there was a power outage,” said Macpherson, who was returning to Florida from Hobart, Tasmania. Once she lands in Los Angeles, she still has a connection in Denver on her flight to Jacksonville, Florida.

She said there have been no announcements on the flight about the FAA issue.

Macpherson said she had already experienced a delay in her travels because her original flight from Melbourne to San Francisco was canceled and she rebooked a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.

Similar stories came out of Chicago, Washington, Atlanta and other major U.S. airports.

European flights into the U.S. appeared to be largely unaffected.

Irish carrier Aer Lingus said services to the U.S. continue, and Dublin Airport’s website showed that its flights to Newark, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles were running on schedule.

“Aer Lingus plan to operate all transatlantic flights as scheduled today,” the carrier said in a prepared statement. “We will continue to monitor but we do not anticipate any disruption to our services arising from the technical issue in the United States.”

It was the latest headache for travelers in the U.S. who faced flight cancellations over the holidays amid winter storms and a breakdown with staffing technology at Southwest Airlines. They also ran into long lines, lost baggage, and cancellations and delays over the summer as travel demand roared back from the COVID-19 pandemic and ran into staffing cutbacks at airports and airlines in the U.S. and Europe.

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of flight delays and cancellations rippled across the U.S. early Wednesday after computer outage led to a grounding order for all departing aircraft by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA is working to restore what is known as the Notice to Air Missions System.

Before commencing a flight, pilots are required to consult NOTAMs, or Notices to Air Missions, which list potential adverse impacts on flights, from runway construction to the potential for icing. The system used to be telephone-based, with pilots calling dedicated flight service stations for the information, but has now moved online.

While the White House initially said that there is no evidence of a cyberattack, President Joe Biden said “we don’t know” and told reporters that he’s directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the disruption.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

The stop order was lifted just before 9 a.m., but delays and cancellations are expected to snowball. Departure gates at major airports are filled with aircraft that had been ordered grounded for hours. More than 21,000 flights were scheduled to take off in the U.S. today, mostly domestic trips, and about 1,840 international flights expected to fly to the U.S., according to aviation data firm Cirium.

More than 4,300 flights were delayed and more than 800 were cancelled by around 9:30 a.m.

The stop order by the FAA impacted almost all flights of shippers and passenger airlines.

Some medical flights could get clearance and the outage did not impact any military operations or the mobility of U.S. defense forces.

Biden addressed the FAA issue Wednesday before leaving the White House to accompany his wife to a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside of Washington. He said he had just been briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told him they still had not identified what went wrong.

“I just spoke to Buttigieg. They don’t know what the cause is. But I was on the phone with him about 10 minutes," Biden said. "I told him to report directly to me when they find out. Air traffic can still land safely, just not take off right now. We don’t know what the cause of it is.”

Buttigieg said in a tweet that he is in touch with the FAA and monitoring the situation.

Delays and cancellations that began on East Coast quickly spread west, with disruptions at almost all major U.S. airports.

The FAA said it was working on restoring its Notice to Air Missions System.

“We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now,” the FAA said. “Operations across the National Airspace System are affected.”

Breakdowns in the NOTAM system appear to be rare.

“I’ve been flying 53 years. I’ve never heard the system go down like this," Cox said. "So something unusual happened.”

According FAA advisories, the NOTAM system failed at 8:28 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday preventing new or amended notices from being distributed to pilots. The FAA resorted to a telephone hotline in an effort to keep departures flying overnight, but as daytime traffic picked up it overwhelmed the telephone backup system.

Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek said the U.S. military flights were not impacted because the military has its own NOTAMS system separate from the FAA system and the military’s system was not affected by the outage.

This is just the latest headache for travelers in the U.S. who faced flight cancellations over the holidays amid winter storms and a breakdown with staffing technology at Southwest Airlines. They also ran into long lines, lost baggage, and cancellations and delays over the summer as travel demand roared back from the COVID-19 pandemic and ran into staffing cutbacks at airports and airlines in the U.S. and Europe.

The FAA said that it would provide frequent updates as it made progress.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is lifting a ground stop on flights across the U.S. following a computer outage early Wednesday that resulted in thousands of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.

Earlier in the morning the FAA ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until at least 9 a.m. Eastern. Due to heavy congestion, the FAA cleared flights to depart at Newark Liberty and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports. The agency said that normal air traffic operations were resuming gradually across the U.S. following the outage.

More than 3,700 flights were delayed and more than 640 were cancelled early in the day.

The FAA said that it continues to look into the cause of the initial problem.

NEW YORK (AP) — A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. early Wednesday, with thousands of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.

The FAA ordered all U.S. flights to delay departures until at least 9 a.m. Eastern. Due to heavy congestion, the FAA cleared flights to depart at Newark Liberty and Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airports and departures were expected to resume at other airports soon.

There were more than 3,700 flights delayed by 8:30 a.m. Eastern, more than all the delayed flights for the entirety of the previous day, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 640 have been cancelled.

Those numbers are likely to grow, and the groundings impact almost all aircraft, including shipping and passenger flights.

More than 21,000 flights were scheduled to take off in the U.S. today, mostly domestic trips, and about 1,840 international flights expected to fly to the U.S., according to aviation data firm Cirium.

Some medical flights can get clearance and the outage is not impacting any military operations or mobility.

Early Wednesday, flights for the U.S. military’s Air Mobility Command had not been impacted, said Air Force Col. Damien Pickart, a spokesman for Air Mobility Command is responsible for all the troop movement and supply flights, such as the C-17s that carry the president’s motorcade vehicles when he travels, but also all the flights that transport troops from one base to another. Air Mobility Command was working with the FAA on the issue.

While the White House initially said that there is no evidence of a cyberattack, President Joe Biden said “we don’t know” and told reporters he’s directed the Department of Transportation to investigate the cause of the disruption.

President Joe Biden addressed the FAA issue Wednesday before leaving the White House to accompany his wife to a medical procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside of Washington. He said he had just been briefed by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who told him they still had not identified what went wrong.

Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast, but were beginning to spread west. Inbound international flights into Miami International Airport continued to land, but all departures have been delayed since 6:30 a.m., said airport spokesman Greg Chin.

The agency said that some functions are beginning to come back on line, but that “National Airspace System operations remain limited.”

United Airlines said that it had temporarily delayed all domestic flights and would issue an update once it learned more from the FAA. American Airlines said that it was closely monitoring the situation.

“I don’t ever remember the NOTAM system going down like this. I’ve been flying 53 years,” said John Cox, a former airline pilot and now an aviation-safety consultant.

Air travel across US thrown into chaos after computer outage

By AARON SANDERFORD <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/11/nebraska-anti-abortion-senators-proposing-heartbeat-bill/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Nebraskans would have about six weeks to decide on ending a pregnancy, instead of the current 20 weeks, under legislation anti-abortion senators plan to propose this session.

The bill, expected this week, would ban abortions after an ultrasound can detect a fetal heartbeat.

The new proposal would not 
criminalize either patients seeking abortions or doctors performing 
them, based on draft language obtained by the Nebraska Examiner and 
verified by the bill sponsor.

Doctors, however, would lose their 
medical licenses if they performed an abortion after an ultrasound finds
 a heartbeat or if they performed an abortion without the required 
ultrasound.

The bill would rely on the existing 
medical licensing structure at the Nebraska Department of Health and 
Human Services to enforce the law, including review by a panel of 
medical peers.

Supporters of new restrictions say the language is modeled after what anti-abortion advocates call “heartbeat bills”&nbsp;passed in Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia, to name some.

Earlier this month, South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled that a law with similar exceptions to the Nebraska proposal was an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/south-carolina-supreme-court-rules-fetal-heartbeat-law-unconstitutional">unconstitutional breach</a> of privacy.&nbsp;

The Nebraska draft contains 
exceptions for rape, incest and medical threats to a mother’s life. It 
spells out protections for in vitro fertilization and procedures after 
miscarriages.

State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston,
 the bill’s sponsor, said Tuesday she would have preferred proposing a 
full ban with fewer exceptions, like the bill that fell two votes short 
of passage last year.

But she and other supporters of 
additional abortion restrictions acknowledged the political reality of 
recent polling that indicated a majority of Nebraskans favor neither 
extreme on abortion.

Bold Nebraska polling released by the
 Nebraska Democratic Party indicated that more than half of Nebraskans 
oppose an outright abortion ban, and many senators expect fierce 
opposition to new restrictions.&nbsp;

Polling done for Nebraska Right to 
Life, the Nebraska Family Alliance and the Nebraska Catholic Conference 
indicated majority support for restricting abortion after a heartbeat is
 heard. All three anti-abortion groups support Albrecht’s bill.

“I know that in Nebraska, after 
bringing the trigger bill that we did, I knew that I had to be 
open-minded to some movement,” Albrecht said. “I’m listening to 
Nebraskans.”

Many political observers expected 
Nebraska to follow other conservative states that have reduced legal 
abortions from 20 weeks to 15 or 12.&nbsp;

Abortion-rights advocates have 
pledged to filibuster any efforts to further restrict, limit or ban a 
procedure they describe as a private decision between a woman and her 
doctor.

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, in a 
recent interview about the likelihood of new efforts to increase 
restrictions, warned about the risks of “extreme abortion bans across 
the country.”

She pointed to states with six-week 
bans, such as Missouri and Ohio, where she said doctors are afraid of 
running afoul of the law and are risking lives by refusing to perform 
abortions.

She called abortion bans “bad for 
Nebraskans” and said doctors “are being put in situations where they are
 thinking about legal liability when they should be … treating their 
patient.”

Those advocating for the six-week 
ban, including Sandy Danek of Nebraska Right to Life, say they want to 
reduce the number of abortions in the state as sharply as possible.

“We’ve always focused on the fetal 
development of the child,” Danek said. “I’m excited about the 
‘heartbeat’ bill, because I think it reveals the humanity of the child.”

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen told the 
Examiner in a recent interview that he would support any legislative 
movement toward fewer abortions, up to and including an outright ban.&nbsp;He supports the bill.

The number of abortions performed in 
Nebraska has trended down since 2000, from a high that year of 4,178 to a
 low of 1,907 in 2016. The most recent data available, from 2021, was 
2,360, according to the State Department of Health and Human Services.&nbsp;

According to DHHS, about 85% of 
abortions in Nebraska occur after six weeks. Albrecht said that should 
motivate passage of her proposal.

“I really think (abortion-rights 
advocates) want women to be able to do what they’ve been able to do the 
last 50 years,” she said. “We have to stand up and support and protect 
that unborn child.”

Albrecht also plans to introduce a 
bill that would offer a tax credit to individual, group and corporate 
donors to pregnancy support organizations that do not perform abortions.

These nonprofit groups, which the 
bill requires to be verified by the Nebraska Department of Revenue as 
legitimate, provide services that include counseling, diapers and baby 
formula.

A number of the groups have religious
 ties and have been accused by abortion-rights advocates of misleading 
or confusing women into carrying babies to term after seeking an 
abortion.

The tax credit bill, as written, 
would cap the annual amount of tax credit available at $10 million. The 
credit would not be refundable, but it would match a person’s donations 
in a given year up to 50% of state income tax liability, based on the 
language the Examiner reviewed.

The bill would require the Revenue Department to compile a list of qualifying pregnancy support organizations.

By AARON SANDERFORD <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/11/nebraska-anti-abortion-senators-proposing-heartbeat-bill/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Nebraskans would have about six weeks to decide on ending a pregnancy, instead of the current 20 weeks, under legislation anti-abortion senators plan to propose this session.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673454484582.jpeg" alt="State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston testifies at a committee hearing in the Nebraska Legislature. (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)" />
 <figcaption>State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston testifies at a committee hearing in the Nebraska Legislature. (Courtesy of Unicameral Information Office)</figcaption>
 </figure>The bill, expected this week, would ban abortions after an ultrasound can detect a fetal heartbeat.The new proposal would not 
criminalize either patients seeking abortions or doctors performing 
them, based on draft language obtained by the Nebraska Examiner and 
verified by the bill sponsor.<h2>How the bill would work</h2>Doctors, however, would lose their 
medical licenses if they performed an abortion after an ultrasound finds
 a heartbeat or if they performed an abortion without the required 
ultrasound.The bill would rely on the existing 
medical licensing structure at the Nebraska Department of Health and 
Human Services to enforce the law, including review by a panel of 
medical peers.Supporters of new restrictions say the language is modeled after what anti-abortion advocates call “heartbeat bills”&nbsp;passed in Iowa, Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio and Georgia, to name some.Earlier this month, South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled that a law with similar exceptions to the Nebraska proposal was an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/south-carolina-supreme-court-rules-fetal-heartbeat-law-unconstitutional">unconstitutional breach</a> of privacy.&nbsp;The Nebraska draft contains 
exceptions for rape, incest and medical threats to a mother’s life. It 
spells out protections for in vitro fertilization and procedures after 
miscarriages.<h2>Mixed public sentiment</h2>State Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston,
 the bill’s sponsor, said Tuesday she would have preferred proposing a 
full ban with fewer exceptions, like the bill that fell two votes short 
of passage last year.But she and other supporters of 
additional abortion restrictions acknowledged the political reality of 
recent polling that indicated a majority of Nebraskans favor neither 
extreme on abortion.Bold Nebraska polling released by the
 Nebraska Democratic Party indicated that more than half of Nebraskans 
oppose an outright abortion ban, and many senators expect fierce 
opposition to new restrictions.&nbsp;Polling done for Nebraska Right to 
Life, the Nebraska Family Alliance and the Nebraska Catholic Conference 
indicated majority support for restricting abortion after a heartbeat is
 heard. All three anti-abortion groups support Albrecht’s bill.“I know that in Nebraska, after 
bringing the trigger bill that we did, I knew that I had to be 
open-minded to some movement,” Albrecht said. “I’m listening to 
Nebraskans.”Many political observers expected 
Nebraska to follow other conservative states that have reduced legal 
abortions from 20 weeks to 15 or 12.&nbsp;<h2>Opponents to fight new restrictions</h2>Abortion-rights advocates have 
pledged to filibuster any efforts to further restrict, limit or ban a 
procedure they describe as a private decision between a woman and her 
doctor.State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, in a 
recent interview about the likelihood of new efforts to increase 
restrictions, warned about the risks of “extreme abortion bans across 
the country.”She pointed to states with six-week 
bans, such as Missouri and Ohio, where she said doctors are afraid of 
running afoul of the law and are risking lives by refusing to perform 
abortions.She called abortion bans “bad for 
Nebraskans” and said doctors “are being put in situations where they are
 thinking about legal liability when they should be … treating their 
patient.”Those advocating for the six-week 
ban, including Sandy Danek of Nebraska Right to Life, say they want to 
reduce the number of abortions in the state as sharply as possible.“We’ve always focused on the fetal 
development of the child,” Danek said. “I’m excited about the 
‘heartbeat’ bill, because I think it reveals the humanity of the child.”<h2>Governor backs bill</h2>Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen told the 
Examiner in a recent interview that he would support any legislative 
movement toward fewer abortions, up to and including an outright ban.&nbsp;He supports the bill.The number of abortions performed in 
Nebraska has trended down since 2000, from a high that year of 4,178 to a
 low of 1,907 in 2016. The most recent data available, from 2021, was 
2,360, according to the State Department of Health and Human Services.&nbsp;According to DHHS, about 85% of 
abortions in Nebraska occur after six weeks. Albrecht said that should 
motivate passage of her proposal.“I really think (abortion-rights 
advocates) want women to be able to do what they’ve been able to do the 
last 50 years,” she said. “We have to stand up and support and protect 
that unborn child.”<h2>Tax credit for pregnancy support orgs</h2>Albrecht also plans to introduce a 
bill that would offer a tax credit to individual, group and corporate 
donors to pregnancy support organizations that do not perform abortions.These nonprofit groups, which the 
bill requires to be verified by the Nebraska Department of Revenue as 
legitimate, provide services that include counseling, diapers and baby 
formula.A number of the groups have religious
 ties and have been accused by abortion-rights advocates of misleading 
or confusing women into carrying babies to term after seeking an 
abortion.The tax credit bill, as written, 
would cap the annual amount of tax credit available at $10 million. The 
credit would not be refundable, but it would match a person’s donations 
in a given year up to 50% of state income tax liability, based on the 
language the Examiner reviewed.The bill would require the Revenue Department to compile a list of qualifying pregnancy support organizations.

Nebraska anti-abortion senators proposing ‘heartbeat bill’

By ZACH WNEDLING <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/10/nebraska-environmental-trust-awards-11-3-million-in-grants-hopes-reforms-reduce-confusion/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN —&nbsp;Months of criticisms 
against the Nebraska Environmental Trust for its grant decisions fizzled
 out Tuesday as the board approved $11.3 million for 23 projects.

Of the 81 “legitimate” grant 
applications the Trust received by its September deadline, 47 
applications were deemed eligible —&nbsp;a marked decrease from recent years 
—&nbsp;and 23 of those were approved Tuesday.

That’s a disbursal of just more than 
half of the Trust’s approximate $20 million available for aid. The 
remaining money will stay with the Trust, in its cash fund, but will 
require legislative approval if it is ever to see the light of day 
again.

The board approved the grants 12-1 (a
 handful were passed 11-1 with Jim Macy, director of the Nebraska 
Department of Environment and Energy, and Tim McCoy, director of the 
Nebraska Game &amp; Parks Commission, abstaining on certain grants their
 respective agencies are involved with).

The lone “no” came from Paul Dunn of 
Omaha, who voted against all of the grants — not because he disapproved 
of them but because he wanted to give out more funds.

“It’s just that I feel it is a 
mistake for us not to be deploying more money,” Dunn said at one point 
during the meeting. “We had applications. We chose to strike out a good 
number of them, to not even consider them, and then not even to fund 
them.&nbsp;

“I’m very disappointed,” he continued.

The Trust’s executive director, Karl 
Elmshauser, said the funds are like a checkbook, with the Trust 
authorized to spend $20 million.

“You can’t not allocate funds, but you don’t have to allocate all the funds,” Elmshauser said.

McCoy moved to approve 16 more 
grants, deeming those “average” or “above average” according to how the 
Trust’s Grants Committee scored the grants.

These grants scored between 30 and 
33.17 on a 50-point scale — all greater scores were awarded funding. The
 requests totaled an additional $6.97 million.

“I struggled with it because … everything we come up with, the cutoff always seems arbitrary to me,” McCoy said.

The motion failed 2-9, with McCoy and Dunn voting in favor and two members abstaining.

Sandy Scofield, the president of the 
watchdog group Friends of the Nebraska Environmental Trust, said after 
the meeting that the board’s actions were predictable.

Scofield, a former state senator, 
said her group “obviously” supports quality grants and financial 
responsibility but said there is concern the current process is 
discouraging applicants.

The Trust is undergoing a process to 
internally update, and clarify, its governing language in Title 137, a 
process that Scofield hopes will help applicants.

“If you recall, the original intent 
of this was more to help local and regional groups do things that they 
couldn’t otherwise do and the state government would not do and should 
not do,” Scofield told the Trust.

Kyle Kinyoun of Clay Center thanked 
the board during the meeting for taking time to review proposals and not
 spend money “foolishly,” as he said has been done in the past.

“I think what happened was a lot of 
them weren’t good projects because what [the Trust] did was they just 
spent every penny, that was the whole goal,” Kinyoun said. “I think that
 you guys have taken the time and actually went over the applicants and 
have used your best judgment to sit there and filter out the ones that 
are actually worthy of being funded.”

Trust members nearly rejected a grant
 request of $70,000 over the definition of the term “regulatory,” one of
 13 eligibility requirements grants must meet.

“I bring that up, not that I’m 
against the project, it’s just following guidelines, making sure we’re 
crossing our T’s, dotting our I’s,” board member Rod Christen of 
Steinauer said. “That’s what we’re kind of compelled to do.”

The grant proposals had been public 
for months, chair Mark Quandahl of Omaha said, but the last-minute 
discussion showed there is some confusion — including among board 
members —&nbsp;over the board’s language.

Clarifying that language could also 
reduce the number of denied applications, according to Josh Andersen of 
Edgar, who chairs the committee looking at the Trust’s governing 
policies.

“We don’t like that. We don’t want 
that. They don’t want that,” Andersen said, indicating the public. “But 
part of that is lack of clarity in some of these questions.”&nbsp;

Quandahl said he thought the grants 
process went well, with the best of the eligible grants obtaining 
funding, though there’s still room for improvement.

“No matter how well we do things 
today, we can always strive to do better tomorrow,” Quandahl said. “And 
that’s what we’re doing.”

Director Elmshauser emphasized that the actions taken by the Trust would set it up for success moving forward.

“We are positioning the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the future generation,” he said. “That is where we’re going.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673448059568.png" alt="Nebraska Environmental Trust executive director Karl Elmshauser explains the Trust’s finances to the board on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Nebraska Environmental Trust executive director Karl Elmshauser explains the Trust’s finances to the board on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By ZACH WNEDLING <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/10/nebraska-environmental-trust-awards-11-3-million-in-grants-hopes-reforms-reduce-confusion/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN —&nbsp;Months of criticisms 
against the Nebraska Environmental Trust for its grant decisions fizzled
 out Tuesday as the board approved $11.3 million for 23 projects.Of the 81 “legitimate” grant 
applications the Trust received by its September deadline, 47 
applications were deemed eligible —&nbsp;a marked decrease from recent years 
—&nbsp;and 23 of those were approved Tuesday.That’s a disbursal of just more than 
half of the Trust’s approximate $20 million available for aid. The 
remaining money will stay with the Trust, in its cash fund, but will 
require legislative approval if it is ever to see the light of day 
again.<h2>‘Very disappointed’</h2>The board approved the grants 12-1 (a
 handful were passed 11-1 with Jim Macy, director of the Nebraska 
Department of Environment and Energy, and Tim McCoy, director of the 
Nebraska Game &amp; Parks Commission, abstaining on certain grants their
 respective agencies are involved with).The lone “no” came from Paul Dunn of 
Omaha, who voted against all of the grants — not because he disapproved 
of them but because he wanted to give out more funds.“It’s just that I feel it is a 
mistake for us not to be deploying more money,” Dunn said at one point 
during the meeting. “We had applications. We chose to strike out a good 
number of them, to not even consider them, and then not even to fund 
them.&nbsp;“I’m very disappointed,” he continued.The Trust’s executive director, Karl 
Elmshauser, said the funds are like a checkbook, with the Trust 
authorized to spend $20 million.“You can’t not allocate funds, but you don’t have to allocate all the funds,” Elmshauser said.<h2>Nearly awarding more funds</h2>McCoy moved to approve 16 more 
grants, deeming those “average” or “above average” according to how the 
Trust’s Grants Committee scored the grants.These grants scored between 30 and 
33.17 on a 50-point scale — all greater scores were awarded funding. The
 requests totaled an additional $6.97 million.“I struggled with it because … everything we come up with, the cutoff always seems arbitrary to me,” McCoy said.The motion failed 2-9, with McCoy and Dunn voting in favor and two members abstaining.<h2>Governing policies cause confusion</h2>Sandy Scofield, the president of the 
watchdog group Friends of the Nebraska Environmental Trust, said after 
the meeting that the board’s actions were predictable.Scofield, a former state senator, 
said her group “obviously” supports quality grants and financial 
responsibility but said there is concern the current process is 
discouraging applicants.The Trust is undergoing a process to 
internally update, and clarify, its governing language in Title 137, a 
process that Scofield hopes will help applicants.“If you recall, the original intent 
of this was more to help local and regional groups do things that they 
couldn’t otherwise do and the state government would not do and should 
not do,” Scofield told the Trust.Kyle Kinyoun of Clay Center thanked 
the board during the meeting for taking time to review proposals and not
 spend money “foolishly,” as he said has been done in the past.“I think what happened was a lot of 
them weren’t good projects because what [the Trust] did was they just 
spent every penny, that was the whole goal,” Kinyoun said. “I think that
 you guys have taken the time and actually went over the applicants and 
have used your best judgment to sit there and filter out the ones that 
are actually worthy of being funded.”Trust members nearly rejected a grant
 request of $70,000 over the definition of the term “regulatory,” one of
 13 eligibility requirements grants must meet.“I bring that up, not that I’m 
against the project, it’s just following guidelines, making sure we’re 
crossing our T’s, dotting our I’s,” board member Rod Christen of 
Steinauer said. “That’s what we’re kind of compelled to do.”The grant proposals had been public 
for months, chair Mark Quandahl of Omaha said, but the last-minute 
discussion showed there is some confusion — including among board 
members —&nbsp;over the board’s language.Clarifying that language could also 
reduce the number of denied applications, according to Josh Andersen of 
Edgar, who chairs the committee looking at the Trust’s governing 
policies.“We don’t like that. We don’t want 
that. They don’t want that,” Andersen said, indicating the public. “But 
part of that is lack of clarity in some of these questions.”&nbsp;<h2>‘The future generation’ of the Trust</h2>Quandahl said he thought the grants 
process went well, with the best of the eligible grants obtaining 
funding, though there’s still room for improvement.“No matter how well we do things 
today, we can always strive to do better tomorrow,” Quandahl said. “And 
that’s what we’re doing.”Director Elmshauser emphasized that the actions taken by the Trust would set it up for success moving forward.“We are positioning the Nebraska Environmental Trust for the future generation,” he said. “That is where we’re going.”

Nebraska Environmental Trust awards $11.3 million in grants

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. on Wednesday, with hundreds of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.

At 7 a.m. Eastern, there were more than 1,200 delayed flights within, into or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 100 have been cancelled.

Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast, but were beginning to spread west. Airlines have begun to delay flights in response to the outage.

"We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now," the FAA said. "Operations across the National Airspace System are affected."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1652459203138.png" alt="Southwest Airlines was rated first for airline quality in the annual Airline Quality Report. Pieter van Marion / Flickr Creative Commons" />
 <figcaption>Southwest Airlines was rated first for airline quality in the annual Airline Quality Report. Pieter van Marion / Flickr Creative Commons</figcaption>
 </figure>By MICHELLE CHAPMAN AP Business WriterNEW YORK (AP) — A computer outage at the Federal Aviation Administration brought flights to a standstill across the U.S. on Wednesday, with hundreds of delays quickly cascading through the system at airports nationwide.At 7 a.m. Eastern, there were more than 1,200 delayed flights within, into or out of the United States, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. More than 100 have been cancelled.Most delays were concentrated along the East Coast, but were beginning to spread west. Airlines have begun to delay flights in response to the outage.The FAA said it was working on restoring its Notice to Air Missions System."We are performing final validation checks and reloading the system now," the FAA said. "Operations across the National Airspace System are affected."The agency said that some functions are beginning to come back on line, but that "National Airspace System operations remain limited."Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a tweet that he is in touch with the FAA and monitoring the situation.United Airlines said that it had temporarily delayed all domestic flights and would issue an update once it learned more from the FAA.The FAA is working to restore what is known as the Notice to Air Missions System.NOTAMs used to be available through a hotline but that was phased out with the internet. The alerts span from mundane information about construction at airports to urgent flight restrictions or broken equipment.There is a potential for widespread disruption because of the outage. All aircraft are required to route through the system, including commercial and military flights.The agency said that it would provide frequent updates as it made progress._______AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.