WASHINGTON —Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy delivered his Moonshot speech at Rice University, committing to putting a man on the moon and bring him back. Monday afternoon at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, President Biden discussed his bold vision for another American moonshot: ending cancer as we know it, in a statement from the White House.

&nbsp;It is a vision that will change people’s lives for the better, improve their health, and decrease the burden of the disease.

Click below to watch the President and&nbsp;Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy make the announcement.

Cancer not only afflicts Democrats and Republicans, but all Americans. When we come together as a nation around ideas that unite us – like fighting cancer – we can show the world that anything is possible. The President has long believed that America can be defined with one word: possibilities. And the American people demonstrate every day what is possible.

When President Kennedy delivered his Moonshot speech, the United States had the building blocks to know what was possible. However, there were major scientific and societal advances that needed to happen.&nbsp;As a nation, we needed to fully commit to a future in which traveling to the moon was possible – and we did just that.&nbsp;

Today, we have many of the building blocks needed to make significant progress combatting cancer, but we must come together to equitably deliver on this promise.&nbsp;

President Biden will announce new actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to deliver on this mission for the American people, and discuss progress made to date, including:

In March, President Biden created the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/advanced-research-projects-agency-for-health-arpa-h/">Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)</a>&nbsp;to improve the U.S. government’s ability to speed health and biomedical research. Today, President Biden is announcing his intention to appoint Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of the new agency. Dr. Wegrzyn, a leading biomedical scientist with professional experience working for two of the institutions that inspired the creation of ARPA-H – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) – will deliver the strategy for the agency’s nascent research portfolio and inaugural budget. &nbsp; America has an extraordinary biomedical system that has delivered stunning advances previously seen as inconceivable – from COVID-19 vaccines to drugs that can eliminate certain cancers. Under Dr. Wegrzyn’s leadership, ARPA-H will support programs and projects that undertake challenges ranging from the molecular to the societal, with the potential to transform entire areas of medicine and health in order to prevent, detect, and treat some of the most complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer, providing benefits for all Americans. NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY &amp; BIOMANUFACTURING INITIATIVE Today, President Biden will sign an executive order that establishes the Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative to ensure cutting-edge biotechnologies necessary to end cancer as we know it and other innovations will be developed and manufactured in America. This will save lives, create jobs at home, build stronger supply chains, and lower prices for American families even in times of global turbulence. Other countries are positioning themselves to become the world’s resource for biotechnology solutions and bio-manufactured products — this new initiative adds to President Biden’s economic plan to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States. The United States has for too long relied heavily on foreign materials for bioproduction, and our past off-shoring of critical industries, including biotechnology, presents a threat to our ability to access key materials like including the active pharmaceutical ingredients for life-saving medications. This initiative will grow the strength and diversity of domestic biomanufacturing capacity, expand market opportunities for bio-based products through the federal programs, drive research and development across all relevant agencies, streamline and harmonize appropriate regulation, and prioritize investments in applied biosafety research in biosecurity to reduce risk throughout research and development lifecycles. This initiative is rooted in the principles of equity, ethics, safety, and security that will help benefit all Americans and the global community, and maintain United States technological leadership and economic competitiveness. CANCER CABINET’S PROGRESS TOWARDS ENDING CANCER AS WE KNOW IT When the President and First Lady reignited the Cancer Moonshot seven months ago, the first-ever Cancer Cabinet was formed to mobilize all levers of the federal government and realize the President’s vision of ending cancer as we know it. In July 2022, the Cancer Cabinet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/13/fact-sheet-president-biden-appoints-cancer-panel-members-and-cancer-cabinet-unveils-priority-actions/">unveiled priority actions</a>&nbsp;to: (1) close the screening gap, (2) understand and address environmental exposure, (3) decrease the impact of preventable cancers, (4) bring cutting edge research through the pipeline to patients and communities, and (5) support patients and caregivers. The Cancer Cabinet is announcing the following progress made towards reaching these goals:

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663015243912.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON —Sixty years ago today, President John F. Kennedy delivered his Moonshot speech at Rice University, committing to putting a man on the moon and bring him back. Monday afternoon at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, President Biden discussed his bold vision for another American moonshot: ending cancer as we know it, in a statement from the White House.&nbsp;It is a vision that will change people’s lives for the better, improve their health, and decrease the burden of the disease.Click below to watch the President and&nbsp;Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy make the announcement.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YB8uXAwVu9U" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div> Cancer not only afflicts Democrats and Republicans, but all Americans. When we come together as a nation around ideas that unite us – like fighting cancer – we can show the world that anything is possible. The President has long believed that America can be defined with one word: possibilities. And the American people demonstrate every day what is possible.When President Kennedy delivered his Moonshot speech, the United States had the building blocks to know what was possible. However, there were major scientific and societal advances that needed to happen.&nbsp;As a nation, we needed to fully commit to a future in which traveling to the moon was possible – and we did just that.&nbsp;Today, we have many of the building blocks needed to make significant progress combatting cancer, but we must come together to equitably deliver on this promise.&nbsp;President Biden will announce new actions the Biden-Harris Administration is taking to deliver on this mission for the American people, and discuss progress made to date, including:<ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/12/president-biden-announces-intent-to-appoint-dr-renee-wegrzyn-as-inaugural-director-of-advanced-research-projects-agency-for-health-arpa-h/">Announcing Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural Director of ARPA-H</a>, a new agency to drive biomedical innovation that supports the health of all Americans; and</li><li><a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/12/fact-sheet-president-biden-to-launch-a-national-biotechnology-and-biomanufacturing-initiative/">Signing an Executive Order to launch a National Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative</a>&nbsp;to ensure the United States makes cutting-edge biotechnologies and other innovations;</li><li>The Cancer Cabinet’s progress towards delivering game-changing cancer detection technologies and support talented researchers from across the United States.</li>
 </ul><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663014644949.png" alt="Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy spoke during Biden's announcement." />
 <figcaption>Caroline Kennedy, the daughter and only surviving child of former President John F. Kennedy spoke during Biden's announcement.</figcaption>
 </figure>INAUGURAL ARPA-H DIRECTORIn March, President Biden created the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/advanced-research-projects-agency-for-health-arpa-h/">Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)</a>&nbsp;to improve the U.S. government’s ability to speed health and biomedical research. Today, President Biden is announcing his intention to appoint Dr. Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of the new agency. Dr. Wegrzyn, a leading biomedical scientist with professional experience working for two of the institutions that inspired the creation of ARPA-H – the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) – will deliver the strategy for the agency’s nascent research portfolio and inaugural budget. &nbsp; America has an extraordinary biomedical system that has delivered stunning advances previously seen as inconceivable – from COVID-19 vaccines to drugs that can eliminate certain cancers. Under Dr. Wegrzyn’s leadership, ARPA-H will support programs and projects that undertake challenges ranging from the molecular to the societal, with the potential to transform entire areas of medicine and health in order to prevent, detect, and treat some of the most complex diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cancer, providing benefits for all Americans. NATIONAL BIOTECHNOLOGY &amp; BIOMANUFACTURING INITIATIVE Today, President Biden will sign an executive order that establishes the Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative to ensure cutting-edge biotechnologies necessary to end cancer as we know it and other innovations will be developed and manufactured in America. This will save lives, create jobs at home, build stronger supply chains, and lower prices for American families even in times of global turbulence. Other countries are positioning themselves to become the world’s resource for biotechnology solutions and bio-manufactured products — this new initiative adds to President Biden’s economic plan to bring back manufacturing jobs to the United States. The United States has for too long relied heavily on foreign materials for bioproduction, and our past off-shoring of critical industries, including biotechnology, presents a threat to our ability to access key materials like including the active pharmaceutical ingredients for life-saving medications. This initiative will grow the strength and diversity of domestic biomanufacturing capacity, expand market opportunities for bio-based products through the federal programs, drive research and development across all relevant agencies, streamline and harmonize appropriate regulation, and prioritize investments in applied biosafety research in biosecurity to reduce risk throughout research and development lifecycles. This initiative is rooted in the principles of equity, ethics, safety, and security that will help benefit all Americans and the global community, and maintain United States technological leadership and economic competitiveness. CANCER CABINET’S PROGRESS TOWARDS ENDING CANCER AS WE KNOW IT When the President and First Lady reignited the Cancer Moonshot seven months ago, the first-ever Cancer Cabinet was formed to mobilize all levers of the federal government and realize the President’s vision of ending cancer as we know it. In July 2022, the Cancer Cabinet&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/07/13/fact-sheet-president-biden-appoints-cancer-panel-members-and-cancer-cabinet-unveils-priority-actions/">unveiled priority actions</a>&nbsp;to: (1) close the screening gap, (2) understand and address environmental exposure, (3) decrease the impact of preventable cancers, (4) bring cutting edge research through the pipeline to patients and communities, and (5) support patients and caregivers. The Cancer Cabinet is announcing the following progress made towards reaching these goals: <ul>
 <li>Inflation Reduction Act Lowers Costs of Prescription Drugs for Cancer Patients:&nbsp;Because President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $2,000 per year for Medicare beneficiaries, tens of thousands of cancer patients could see their prescription drug costs go down by thousands annually. For example, in 2019, Zytiga, a drug used to treat prostate cancer, had an expected out-of-pocket cost of $8,181 per year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/report-section/the-out-of-pocket-cost-burden-for-specialty-drugs-in-medicare-part-d-in-2019-findings/">researchers</a>&nbsp;found. Thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act, seniors and other beneficiaries who use that drug could save over $6,000 each year. Moreover, the number of beneficiaries who benefit from the cap is likely to increase, since 30% of Medicare unsubsidized beneficiaries fail to fill prescriptions for cancer drugs when faced with such high costs, a recent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2021.01742">study</a>&nbsp;found. &nbsp;</li><li>National Cancer Institute (NCI) Launches Vanguard Study on Multi-Cancer Detection:&nbsp;As a central component of the Cancer Moonshot, the National Cancer Institute launched a large national trial that, if successful will identify effective blood tests for the detection of one or more cancers, providing the opportunity for additional, less-invasive tools for early detection. A&nbsp;<a href="https://prevention.cancer.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/major_program/Cancer-Screening-Research-Network-MCED-20220615.pdf">new four-year pilot study</a>&nbsp;will enroll 24,000 people ages 45 to 70 years to lay the groundwork for a large randomized controlled trial that will enroll 225,000 people. The studies will be funded in part by 21st&nbsp;Century Cures Act Cancer Moonshot funds and will begin enrolling in 2024. Grant opportunities studies have recently been opened with more to be released before the end of 2022. </li><li>Cancer Moonshot Scholars Program Now Accepts Applications from the Next Generation of Cancer Innovators: The National Cancer Institute has opened a brand-new early-career grant opportunity to invest in the next generation of innovative cancer researchers with a focus on developing a cancer research workforce that is more representative of the U.S. population. The goal of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cancer.gov/moonshotscholars">Cancer Moonshot Scholars</a>&nbsp;program is to inspire and support the next generation of world-class and diverse researchers focused on scientific breakthroughs that will make a difference for patients and drive progress toward the goal of ending cancer as we know it today. NCI expects to support cohorts of dozens of Cancer Moonshot Scholars in initial rounds, beginning in 2023 with project periods of up to five years. </li><li>White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Issues Guidance to Make Federally-Funded Research Available:&nbsp;Recently, the Biden-Harris Administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp/news-updates/2022/08/25/ostp-issues-guidance-to-make-federally-funded-research-freely-available-without-delay/">updated U.S. policy guidance</a>&nbsp;to make the results of taxpayer-supported research immediately available to the American public at no cost. In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/08-2022-OSTP-Public-Access-Memo.pdf">memorandum</a>&nbsp;to federal departments and agencies, Dr. Alondra Nelson, the head of OSTP, delivered guidance for agencies to update their public access policies as soon as possible and no later than December 31, 2025 to make publications and research funded by taxpayers publicly accessible, without an embargo or cost. This updated guidance will affect the more than 200,000 federally-funded studies each year, delivering to all areas of scientific discovery what was already required of Cancer Moonshot grants from the National Cancer Institute as part of then-Vice President Biden’s vision for how to bring the benefits of federally-funded research to all Americans. </li><li>Department of Defense Creates Research Program to Understand Military Toxic Exposure:&nbsp;The Department of Defense’s&nbsp;<a href="https://medschool.usuhs.edu/sur/research/murtha-cancer-center">Murtha Cancer Center Research Program</a>&nbsp;has launched a new program with the goal of understanding the impact of service-related toxic exposure on the development of cancer in members of the military.&nbsp;<a href="https://medschool.usuhs.edu/sur/research/murtha-cancer-center/research">PROMETHEUS</a>, or the PROject for Military Exposures and Toxin History Evaluation in U.S. service members will bring together agency and private sector innovators to understand and address cancer in exposed service members. It brings together significant DoD capabilities including the DoD Serum Repository which contains blood samples for all service members; the Individual Longitudinal Exposure Record (ILER) which tracks toxin exposures; the DOD Tumor Registry which tracks cancer diagnoses in active duty; DoD Framingham which analyzes blood proteins in active duty with cancer; the Joint Pathology Center which is the DoD’s pathology center of excellence; and APOLLO, which was created in response to the Cancer Moonshot in 2016 now with a network of 13 hospitals to carry out military-specific research. </li><li>NCI Establishes Telehealth Centers of Excellence to Improve Cancer Care:&nbsp;Last month, NCI announced $23 million to support the creation of a&nbsp;<a href="https://healthcaredelivery.cancer.gov/telehealth/trace.html">Telehealth Research Centers of Excellence (TRACE),</a>&nbsp;which will study the role of telehealth in cancer prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship, and equity of access and outcomes. Four funded research centers will conduct large trials in real-world clinical settings, including hospitals, nd primary care offices, to determine whether the use of telehealth —used broadly during the COVID-19 pandemic – can effectively deliver quality cancer care. This ground-breaking program will identify best practices for cancer telehealth to drive implementation of sustainable telehealth practices to offer many benefits to patients.&nbsp; </li><li>National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Expands Partnerships to Deliver New Cancer Technologies:&nbsp;NIST and the Department of Commerce-sponsored Manufacturing USA institute, The National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, recently&nbsp;<a href="https://niimbl.force.com/s/news/a0a3u00000Aglx2AAB/niimbl-announces-158m-to-fund-14-new-biopharmaceutical-manufacturing-projects">awarded funding to two project teams</a>&nbsp;to ensure that cellular therapies for cancer can be more efficiently and consistently manufactured.&nbsp;Together, the projects will produce innovative and scalable manufacturing processes and create new partnerships for workforce training in cell and gene-therapy manufacturing. NIST and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nist.gov/mml/bbd/bioassay-methods/cancer">Medical Device Innovation Consortium</a>&nbsp;signed a cooperative research and development agreement to develop and manufacture DNA reference samples engineered to contain mutations commonly tested for diagnosing and targeting drugs for cancer. These investments hold the promise to speed progress in the development of advancing cancer precision medicine by simplifying the process for validating diagnostics and enabling technology, bioinformatics, and artificial intelligence developers to optimize and demonstrate accuracy of their methods. </li><li>Facilitate Data Sharing Advances the Bioeconomy:&nbsp;As part of the new Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing Initiative, the National Institutes of Health is expanding the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cancer.gov/research/infrastructure/bioinformatics/cancer-research-data-ecosystem-infographic">Cancer Research Data Ecosystem</a>, a national data infrastructure that encourages data sharing to support cancer care for individual patients and enables discovery of new treatments.&nbsp;USDA is working with NIH to ensure that data on persistent poverty can be integrated with cancer surveillance.&nbsp;The National Science Foundation recently announced a competition for a new $20 million biosciences data center to increase our understanding of living systems at small scales, which will produce new biotechnology designs to make products in agriculture, medicine and health, and materials.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul>

🎥 Biden announces 'moonshot' in bid to end cancer

By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/25-million-radius-campus-an-alternative-to-jailing-youths-or-sending-them-away-rises-in-north-omaha/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA — A $25 million residential 
youth treatment center rising in North Omaha aims to fill a service gap 
in the metro area, one that has had courts and families sending some 
troubled teens off to other states to get help.

The new Radius nonprofit will feature
 a 24-bedroom facility for residents ages 12 to 18 years, along with 
behavioral, recreational and education programs and a stand-alone health
 clinic open to families and community.

Poised to open next summer at 50th 
and Grand Avenues, the alternative to more restrictive juvenile 
detention is designed to strengthen the entire family.

While a private philanthropist-driven
 campaign paid for construction, Radius is to operate with help from 
government funding via referrals from the state juvenile probation 
system and courts.

Staffed by Charles Drew Health Center, the partnering clinic will accept Medicaid and different insurance coverage plans.

Radius CEO Nick Juliano said the 
combination of a residential program with clinical support that can 
involve entire families will help Douglas County take care of its own 
youth and improve odds of long-term success as they grow in their 
community.

“Where we will be unique is that we 
will start that family work on the day of admission and have someone 
working with family throughout the youth’s stay,” said Juliano, 
previously director of Boys Town regional advocacy and public policy.

Currently, he said, youths who cross 
the law but are deemed better served outside of traditional jail too 
often are placed in residential treatment outside their home county or 
even out of Nebraska. He said that while there are local facilities 
addressing the need, those often are full. He said Radius supporters 
want to avoid keeping a youth in jail until a residential treatment spot
 opens.

Radius intends to be a “gap-filler,” 
he said, allowing local youths to get intense treatment nearer to family
 members who ideally become part of the antidote that propels the youths
 onto a more productive path.

Juliano said the typical Radius 
resident may suffer from a combination of extreme behaviors beyond law 
violations. Their needs may call for a place less intense than a 
psychiatric hospital but more than a traditional group home.

”They may have co-occurring mental 
health and substance abuse treatment needs. Our program is designed to 
deal with all of those as well as to have services that can continue on 
after they leave our programs.”

Chris Rodgers, a Douglas County 
commissioner heavily involved in juvenile justice reform, said the 
county lauds Radius. He called it one of the “core tools” that could 
help fulfill a goal of keeping the population in the new downtown Omaha 
juvenile justice center only for those who need to be jailed.

That county detention facility, poised to open in 2023, has fewer 
beds than the current youth center, and Rodgers said the vision always 
was to have additional community resources to reduce reliance on jail 
for nonviolent youths.

The Radius campus plan, which 
includes nearly 30,000 square feet of new building space, was earlier 
met by concern and opposition from area residents when presented to the 
City Council. Security features were added before the council approved 
the project.

A next-door neighbor to Radius is 
Metro Area Youth Services (MAYS) — which is a separate nonprofit that 
recently moved to the former St. Paul Lutheran Church and school. 
Together, the youth-focused entities occupy about 10 acres.

Radius, formerly known as the 
Nebraska Youth Justice Initiative, emanated from an advisory committee 
assembled in 2019 to look at the shortfall of residential services for 
youths with trauma, mental health and substance abuse problems.

On the advisory committee were 
government, mental health and other professionals, along with a parent 
and a young person who at one time had to leave the state to access the 
type of services that Radius will provide.

By then, much attention and time already had been spent in state and county government exploring justice reform.

“We have a continuum of services for 
these young people. It’s a very good continuum. Even with that, we had 
this group of youth that was not getting what they needed right here in 
Omaha,” Juliano said. “We are now filling that gap, very intentionally 
and focused so we’re not duplicating with others.”

The Radius name was designed to tell 
its story: “Trauma-informed care begins at the center, where the causes 
of personal struggles are identified then radiates toward healing and 
redemption.”

Youths likely will live on-site for 
nine months to a year, Juliano said, taking classes and earning credits 
under a program approved by the Nebraska Department of Education. They’ll receive therapies and recreational programming.

“It is a ripple effect that will benefit our youth, families, neighborhood and community,” he said.

Juliano emphasized that youths and 
families who are not involved in the juvenile justice system also can 
get help at the Charles Drew Health Clinic. He said the clinic services 
also aim to prevent problems and court intervention.

Radius is backed by philanthropic 
foundations. Board members include key representatives of the University
 of Nebraska Medical Center’s psychiatry department, Charles Drew 
centers, Sherwood Foundation, Security National Bank and the legal 
profession.

Long-term success, said Juliano, is 
returning rehabilitated youths back home and keeping them and their 
family connected to a health provider.

“So they can be there safely without 
any more law violations. They can graduate high school and eventually 
are employed in our community.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662998465588.png" alt="Radius, a new residential complex for troubled youth under construction at 50th and Grand Avenues, shares about 10 acres with a separate nonprofit, Metro Area Youth Services, which is in the former St. Paul Lutheran Church and school. (Courtesy of HDR)" />
 <figcaption>Radius, a new residential complex for troubled youth under construction at 50th and Grand Avenues, shares about 10 acres with a separate nonprofit, Metro Area Youth Services, which is in the former St. Paul Lutheran Church and school. (Courtesy of HDR)</figcaption>
 </figure>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/25-million-radius-campus-an-alternative-to-jailing-youths-or-sending-them-away-rises-in-north-omaha/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — A $25 million residential 
youth treatment center rising in North Omaha aims to fill a service gap 
in the metro area, one that has had courts and families sending some 
troubled teens off to other states to get help.The new Radius nonprofit will feature
 a 24-bedroom facility for residents ages 12 to 18 years, along with 
behavioral, recreational and education programs and a stand-alone health
 clinic open to families and community.Poised to open next summer at 50th 
and Grand Avenues, the alternative to more restrictive juvenile 
detention is designed to strengthen the entire family.<h2>$25 million capital campaign</h2>While a private philanthropist-driven
 campaign paid for construction, Radius is to operate with help from 
government funding via referrals from the state juvenile probation 
system and courts.Staffed by Charles Drew Health Center, the partnering clinic will accept Medicaid and different insurance coverage plans.Radius CEO Nick Juliano said the 
combination of a residential program with clinical support that can 
involve entire families will help Douglas County take care of its own 
youth and improve odds of long-term success as they grow in their 
community.“Where we will be unique is that we 
will start that family work on the day of admission and have someone 
working with family throughout the youth’s stay,” said Juliano, 
previously director of Boys Town regional advocacy and public policy.Currently, he said, youths who cross 
the law but are deemed better served outside of traditional jail too 
often are placed in residential treatment outside their home county or 
even out of Nebraska. He said that while there are local facilities 
addressing the need, those often are full. He said Radius supporters 
want to avoid keeping a youth in jail until a residential treatment spot
 opens.Radius intends to be a “gap-filler,” 
he said, allowing local youths to get intense treatment nearer to family
 members who ideally become part of the antidote that propels the youths
 onto a more productive path.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662998601012.png" alt="Radius is an under-construction residential campus for youth in need of services to address trauma, mental health and substance abuse disorders. Funded with a $25 million capital campaign, it is on five acres at 50th and Grand Avenues.&nbsp; (Courtesy of HDR )" />
 <figcaption>Radius is an under-construction residential campus for youth in need of services to address trauma, mental health and substance abuse disorders. Funded with a $25 million capital campaign, it is on five acres at 50th and Grand Avenues.&nbsp; (Courtesy of HDR )</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Nearly 30,000 square feet of new space</h2>Juliano said the typical Radius 
resident may suffer from a combination of extreme behaviors beyond law 
violations. Their needs may call for a place less intense than a 
psychiatric hospital but more than a traditional group home.”They may have co-occurring mental 
health and substance abuse treatment needs. Our program is designed to 
deal with all of those as well as to have services that can continue on 
after they leave our programs.”Chris Rodgers, a Douglas County 
commissioner heavily involved in juvenile justice reform, said the 
county lauds Radius. He called it one of the “core tools” that could 
help fulfill a goal of keeping the population in the new downtown Omaha 
juvenile justice center only for those who need to be jailed.That county detention facility, poised to open in 2023, has fewer 
beds than the current youth center, and Rodgers said the vision always 
was to have additional community resources to reduce reliance on jail 
for nonviolent youths.The Radius campus plan, which 
includes nearly 30,000 square feet of new building space, was earlier 
met by concern and opposition from area residents when presented to the 
City Council. Security features were added before the council approved 
the project.A next-door neighbor to Radius is 
Metro Area Youth Services (MAYS) — which is a separate nonprofit that 
recently moved to the former St. Paul Lutheran Church and school. 
Together, the youth-focused entities occupy about 10 acres.Radius, formerly known as the 
Nebraska Youth Justice Initiative, emanated from an advisory committee 
assembled in 2019 to look at the shortfall of residential services for 
youths with trauma, mental health and substance abuse problems.<h2>‘Radius’ name tells a story</h2>On the advisory committee were 
government, mental health and other professionals, along with a parent 
and a young person who at one time had to leave the state to access the 
type of services that Radius will provide.By then, much attention and time already had been spent in state and county government exploring justice reform.“We have a continuum of services for 
these young people. It’s a very good continuum. Even with that, we had 
this group of youth that was not getting what they needed right here in 
Omaha,” Juliano said. “We are now filling that gap, very intentionally 
and focused so we’re not duplicating with others.”The Radius name was designed to tell 
its story: “Trauma-informed care begins at the center, where the causes 
of personal struggles are identified then radiates toward healing and 
redemption.”Youths likely will live on-site for 
nine months to a year, Juliano said, taking classes and earning credits 
under a program approved by the Nebraska Department of Education. They’ll receive therapies and recreational programming.“It is a ripple effect that will benefit our youth, families, neighborhood and community,” he said.Juliano emphasized that youths and 
families who are not involved in the juvenile justice system also can 
get help at the Charles Drew Health Clinic. He said the clinic services 
also aim to prevent problems and court intervention.<h2>Lasting success</h2>Radius is backed by philanthropic 
foundations. Board members include key representatives of the University
 of Nebraska Medical Center’s psychiatry department, Charles Drew 
centers, Sherwood Foundation, Security National Bank and the legal 
profession.Long-term success, said Juliano, is 
returning rehabilitated youths back home and keeping them and their 
family connected to a health provider.“So they can be there safely without 
any more law violations. They can graduate high school and eventually 
are employed in our community.”

$25M campus for youth residential treatment rises in North Omaha

By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/gov-ricketts-takes-aim-at-title-ix-changes-sought-by-federal-officials/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

Gov. Pete Ricketts is criticizing the
 U.S. Department of Education’s proposed revisions to Title IX, and on 
Friday he called on other Nebraskans to weigh in as well.

Federal education officials have 
stated that a review of current regulations, and of public and 
stakeholder meetings, suggest that the existing rules do not best 
fulfill the requirement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
 That is, that schools and institutions receiving federal financial 
assistance eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex in their 
programs or activities.

The department has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2021-OCR-0166-0001">proposed changes</a>
 to clarify that recipients do not discriminate based on sex 
stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy, sexual orientation and 
gender identity.

In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/57aryao61cdecc1/Governor%20Ricketts%20Title%20IX%20Comments.pdf?dl=0">letter</a>
 to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Ricketts said the proposed 
changes “purposely misinterpret and misapply” Supreme Court opinion to 
expand the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity, 
sexual orientation and sexual characteristics.

The governor said that would end 
separation of restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities based on 
biological sex in schools and instead separate based on gender identity.

&nbsp;“Federal efforts to dictate how 
schools respond to the transgender issue is blatant overreach,” Ricketts
 wrote. “States have a right to determine how schools operate.”

Federal officials have estimated that the proposed changes would save recipients $9.8 million to $28.2 million over a decade.&nbsp;

A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2021-OCR-0166-0001">posting</a>
 by the department went on to say: “Although the department cannot 
quantify, in monetary terms, the benefits of the proposed regulations to
 those who have been subjected to sex discrimination, the department 
recognizes that sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment, can 
have profound and long-lasting economic costs for students, employees, 
and other members of a recipient’s surrounding community.”

Comments can be submitted through Monday via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662998338435.png" alt="Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner" />
 <figcaption>Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner</figcaption>
 </figure>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/gov-ricketts-takes-aim-at-title-ix-changes-sought-by-federal-officials/">Nebraska Examiner</a>Gov. Pete Ricketts is criticizing the
 U.S. Department of Education’s proposed revisions to Title IX, and on 
Friday he called on other Nebraskans to weigh in as well.Federal education officials have 
stated that a review of current regulations, and of public and 
stakeholder meetings, suggest that the existing rules do not best 
fulfill the requirement of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
 That is, that schools and institutions receiving federal financial 
assistance eliminate discrimination on the basis of sex in their 
programs or activities.The department has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2021-OCR-0166-0001">proposed changes</a>
 to clarify that recipients do not discriminate based on sex 
stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy, sexual orientation and 
gender identity.In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/57aryao61cdecc1/Governor%20Ricketts%20Title%20IX%20Comments.pdf?dl=0">letter</a>
 to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Ricketts said the proposed 
changes “purposely misinterpret and misapply” Supreme Court opinion to 
expand the definition of sex discrimination to include gender identity, 
sexual orientation and sexual characteristics.The governor said that would end 
separation of restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities based on 
biological sex in schools and instead separate based on gender identity.&nbsp;“Federal efforts to dictate how 
schools respond to the transgender issue is blatant overreach,” Ricketts
 wrote. “States have a right to determine how schools operate.”Federal officials have estimated that the proposed changes would save recipients $9.8 million to $28.2 million over a decade.&nbsp;A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/ED-2021-OCR-0166-0001">posting</a>
 by the department went on to say: “Although the department cannot 
quantify, in monetary terms, the benefits of the proposed regulations to
 those who have been subjected to sex discrimination, the department 
recognizes that sex discrimination, including sex-based harassment, can 
have profound and long-lasting economic costs for students, employees, 
and other members of a recipient’s surrounding community.”Comments can be submitted through Monday via the Federal eRulemaking Portal at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.

Ricketts takes aim at Title IX changes sought by federal officials

NEW YORK (AP) — Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting.

But the decision by Visa, the world's largest payment processor, will likely provoke the ire of gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists, who have argued that categorizing gun sales would unfairly flag an industry when most sales do not lead to mass shootings. It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.

Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, which was announced on Friday. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.”

“Following ISO’s decision to establish a new merchant category code, Visa will proceed with next steps, while ensuring we protect all legal commerce on the Visa network in accordance with our long-standing rules,” the payment processor said in a statement.

Visa’s adoption is significant as the largest payment network, and with Mastercard and AmeEx, will likely put pressure on the banks as the card issuers to adopt the standard as well. Visa acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to happen on their issued cards.

Gun control advocates had gained significant wins on this front in recent weeks. New York City officials and pension funds had pressured the ISO and banks to adopt this code.

Two of the country's largest public pension funds, in California and New York, have been pressing the country's largest credit card firms to establish sales codes specifically for firearm-related sales that could flag suspicious purchases or more easily trace how guns and ammunition are sold.

Merchant category codes now exist for almost every kind of purchase, including those made at supermarkets, clothing stores, coffee shops and many other retailers.

“When you buy an airline ticket or pay for your groceries, your credit card company has a special code for those retailers. It’s just common sense that we have the same policies in place for gun and ammunition stores,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who blames the proliferation of guns for his city's deadly violence.

The city's comptroller, Brad Lander, said it made moral and financial sense as a tool to push back against gun violence.

“Unfortunately, the credit card companies have failed to support this simple, practical, potentially lifesaving tool. The time has come for them to do so," Lander said recently, before Visa and others had adopted the move.

Lander is a trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System — which together own 667,200 shares in American Express valued at approximately $92.49 million; 1.1 million shares in MasterCard valued at approximately $347.59 million; and 1.85 million shares in Visa valued at approximately $363.86 million.

The pension funds and gun control advocates argue that creating a merchant category code for standalone firearm and ammunition stores could aid in the battle against gun violence. A week before the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/about/annual-report/2016/worst-mass-shooting-in-us-history-50-slain-at-gay-nightclub.html">mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub</a>&nbsp;in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people died after a shooter opened fire in 2016, the assailant used credit cards to buy more than $26,000 worth of guns and ammunition, including purchases at a stand-alone gun retailer.

Gun rights advocates argue that tracking sales at gun stores would unfairly target legal gun purchases, since merchant codes just track the type of merchant where the credit or debit card is used, not the actual items purchased. A sale of a gun safe, worth thousands of dollars and an item considered part of responsible gun ownership, could be seen as a just a large purchase at a gun shop.

“The (industry's) decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time,” said Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.

Over the years, public pension funds have used their extensive investment portfolios to influence public policy and the market place.

The California teacher's fund, the second largest pension fund in the country, has long taken aim on the gun industry. It has divested its holdings from gun manufacturers and has sought to persuade some retailers from selling guns.

Four years ago, the teacher's fund made guns a key initiative. It called for background checks and called on retailers “monitor irregularities at the point of sale, to record all firearm sales, to audit firearms inventory on a regular basis, and to proactively assist law enforcement.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/3/1614775839571.jpg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Payment processor Visa Inc. said Saturday that it plans to start separately categorizing sales at gun shops, a major win for gun control advocates who say it will help better track suspicious surges of gun sales that could be a prelude to a mass shooting.But the decision by Visa, the world's largest payment processor, will likely provoke the ire of gun rights advocates and gun lobbyists, who have argued that categorizing gun sales would unfairly flag an industry when most sales do not lead to mass shootings. It joins Mastercard and American Express, which also said they plan to move forward with categorizing gun shop sales.Visa said it would adopt the International Organization for Standardization’s new merchant code for gun sales, which was announced on Friday. Until Friday, gun store sales were considered “general merchandise.”“Following ISO’s decision to establish a new merchant category code, Visa will proceed with next steps, while ensuring we protect all legal commerce on the Visa network in accordance with our long-standing rules,” the payment processor said in a statement.Visa’s adoption is significant as the largest payment network, and with Mastercard and AmeEx, will likely put pressure on the banks as the card issuers to adopt the standard as well. Visa acts as a middleman between merchants and banks, and it will be up to banks to decide whether they will allow sales at gun stores to happen on their issued cards.Gun control advocates had gained significant wins on this front in recent weeks. New York City officials and pension funds had pressured the ISO and banks to adopt this code.Two of the country's largest public pension funds, in California and New York, have been pressing the country's largest credit card firms to establish sales codes specifically for firearm-related sales that could flag suspicious purchases or more easily trace how guns and ammunition are sold.Merchant category codes now exist for almost every kind of purchase, including those made at supermarkets, clothing stores, coffee shops and many other retailers.“When you buy an airline ticket or pay for your groceries, your credit card company has a special code for those retailers. It’s just common sense that we have the same policies in place for gun and ammunition stores,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who blames the proliferation of guns for his city's deadly violence.The city's comptroller, Brad Lander, said it made moral and financial sense as a tool to push back against gun violence.“Unfortunately, the credit card companies have failed to support this simple, practical, potentially lifesaving tool. The time has come for them to do so," Lander said recently, before Visa and others had adopted the move.Lander is a trustee of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and Board of Education Retirement System — which together own 667,200 shares in American Express valued at approximately $92.49 million; 1.1 million shares in MasterCard valued at approximately $347.59 million; and 1.85 million shares in Visa valued at approximately $363.86 million.The pension funds and gun control advocates argue that creating a merchant category code for standalone firearm and ammunition stores could aid in the battle against gun violence. A week before the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/about/annual-report/2016/worst-mass-shooting-in-us-history-50-slain-at-gay-nightclub.html">mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub</a>&nbsp;in Orlando, Florida, where 49 people died after a shooter opened fire in 2016, the assailant used credit cards to buy more than $26,000 worth of guns and ammunition, including purchases at a stand-alone gun retailer.Gun rights advocates argue that tracking sales at gun stores would unfairly target legal gun purchases, since merchant codes just track the type of merchant where the credit or debit card is used, not the actual items purchased. A sale of a gun safe, worth thousands of dollars and an item considered part of responsible gun ownership, could be seen as a just a large purchase at a gun shop.“The (industry's) decision to create a firearm specific code is nothing more than a capitulation to anti-gun politicians and activists bent on eroding the rights of law-abiding Americans one transaction at a time,” said Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association.Over the years, public pension funds have used their extensive investment portfolios to influence public policy and the market place.The California teacher's fund, the second largest pension fund in the country, has long taken aim on the gun industry. It has divested its holdings from gun manufacturers and has sought to persuade some retailers from selling guns.Four years ago, the teacher's fund made guns a key initiative. It called for background checks and called on retailers “monitor irregularities at the point of sale, to record all firearm sales, to audit firearms inventory on a regular basis, and to proactively assist law enforcement.”___

Credit card firms will track firearm, ammunition purchases

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The heads of the nation's two largest rail unions said Sunday that the freight railroads' move to begin delaying some shipments ahead of this week's looming strike deadline is only an attempt to get shippers to increase the pressure on Congress to intervene and block a work stoppage by imposing a contract on workers.

The heads of the unions that represent engineers and conductors — the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union — issued a joint statement blasting the move, which the railroads announced late Friday. A strike or lockout won't be allowed until this coming Friday, but the railroads appear to be bracing for one by saying they would begin curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and other chemicals on Monday to ensure carloads of those dangerous products won't be stranded along the tracks if the trains stop moving.

“The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism,” said Jeremy Fergunson with SMART-TD and Dennis Pierce with the BLET union.

Those two unions have been demanding that CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and the other railroads go beyond the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-strikes-a83dffef79d38e36dc25588b19bf54b4">proposed deal recommended</a>&nbsp;by a group of arbitrators&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-transportation-strikes-ba718974eb14fcd615d606bfcdffb3d2">President Joe Biden appointed.</a>&nbsp;They want them to address concerns about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-5123fda3d039543700b23d939e0bdda2">strict attendance policies</a>&nbsp;that they say make it hard to take any time off and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">increasing workloads</a>&nbsp;after the railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforces in recent years.

The railroad trade group has said there’s no way trucks can pick up the slack if the railroads stop moving because roughly 467,000 additional trucks a day would be needed to handle all the cargo trains haul and there is already a shortage of truck drivers.

Five of the 12 railroad unions that together represent 115,000 workers had already reached&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-497a373594515a27e7435cdf97df7a41">tentative agreements</a>&nbsp;based on the Presidential Emergency Board's recommendations that will deliver 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses over a five-year contract that's retroactive to 2020. The coalition negotiating on behalf of the railroads announced three more tentative agreements Sunday, so deals covering roughly 45,000 workers have now been announced. Members of the unions with tentative deals still have to vote on them.

If the two sides can't agree on a deal by the end of the week, Congress is expected to step in to block a strike because of the dire economic consequences if a strike happens because so many businesses rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products. The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/economy-congress-government-and-politics-a53abd85fa6f8b3ccd622222ea9a4c46">report</a>&nbsp;last week estimating that the economy would take a $2 billion a day hit if the trains stop moving and passenger traffic would be disrupted nationwide because Amtrak and many commuter railroads use tracks owned by the freight railroads.

The railroads said in a statement Friday that they needed to start delaying shipments of sensitive cargo to “ensure that no such cargo is left on an unattended or unsecured train in the event of a work stoppage due to an impasse in labor negotiations.” The railroads also said other shipments could be affected this week.

The railroad trade group didn't immediately respond to the unions' criticisms Sunday.

Already, a number of trade groups representing railroad shippers have urged lawmakers to be prepared to block a strike. A coalition of 31 agricultural groups sent a letter to Congress last week, and the Fertilizer Institute trade group joined the chorus of concerned shippers Saturday because shipments of ammonia and other fertilizers will be delayed.

“Supply chains are already strained and there is currently zero elasticity in rail transportation,” TFI President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch said. “This situation will get exponentially worse every day there is no resolution."

He said more than half of all fertilizer is hauled by railroads. More than 75% of all finished vehicles are taken from factories to dealerships by train, and countless other products move by rail.

The railroad trade group said that a single railcar can carry up to 2,000 UPS packages, or enough plastic pellets to make some two million two-liter bottles.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1660926703727.jpg" alt="The railroad trade group has said there’s no way trucks can pick up the slack if the railroads stop moving because roughly 467,000 additional trucks a day would be needed to handle all the cargo trains haul and there is already a shortage of truck drivers." />
 <figcaption>The railroad trade group has said there’s no way trucks can pick up the slack if the railroads stop moving because roughly 467,000 additional trucks a day would be needed to handle all the cargo trains haul and there is already a shortage of truck drivers.</figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The heads of the nation's two largest rail unions said Sunday that the freight railroads' move to begin delaying some shipments ahead of this week's looming strike deadline is only an attempt to get shippers to increase the pressure on Congress to intervene and block a work stoppage by imposing a contract on workers.The heads of the unions that represent engineers and conductors — the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers — Transportation Division union and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union — issued a joint statement blasting the move, which the railroads announced late Friday. A strike or lockout won't be allowed until this coming Friday, but the railroads appear to be bracing for one by saying they would begin curtailing shipments of hazardous materials and other chemicals on Monday to ensure carloads of those dangerous products won't be stranded along the tracks if the trains stop moving.“The railroads are using shippers, consumers, and the supply chain of our nation as pawns in an effort to get our unions to cave into their contract demands knowing that our members would never accept them. Our unions will not cave into these scare tactics, and Congress must not cave into what can only be described as corporate terrorism,” said Jeremy Fergunson with SMART-TD and Dennis Pierce with the BLET union.Those two unions have been demanding that CSX, Union Pacific, BNSF, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern and the other railroads go beyond the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-strikes-a83dffef79d38e36dc25588b19bf54b4">proposed deal recommended</a>&nbsp;by a group of arbitrators&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-transportation-strikes-ba718974eb14fcd615d606bfcdffb3d2">President Joe Biden appointed.</a>&nbsp;They want them to address concerns about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-5123fda3d039543700b23d939e0bdda2">strict attendance policies</a>&nbsp;that they say make it hard to take any time off and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">increasing workloads</a>&nbsp;after the railroads cut nearly one-third of their workforces in recent years.The railroad trade group has said there’s no way trucks can pick up the slack if the railroads stop moving because roughly 467,000 additional trucks a day would be needed to handle all the cargo trains haul and there is already a shortage of truck drivers.Five of the 12 railroad unions that together represent 115,000 workers had already reached&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-and-politics-497a373594515a27e7435cdf97df7a41">tentative agreements</a>&nbsp;based on the Presidential Emergency Board's recommendations that will deliver 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses over a five-year contract that's retroactive to 2020. The coalition negotiating on behalf of the railroads announced three more tentative agreements Sunday, so deals covering roughly 45,000 workers have now been announced. Members of the unions with tentative deals still have to vote on them.If the two sides can't agree on a deal by the end of the week, Congress is expected to step in to block a strike because of the dire economic consequences if a strike happens because so many businesses rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products. The Association of American Railroads trade group put out a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/economy-congress-government-and-politics-a53abd85fa6f8b3ccd622222ea9a4c46">report</a>&nbsp;last week estimating that the economy would take a $2 billion a day hit if the trains stop moving and passenger traffic would be disrupted nationwide because Amtrak and many commuter railroads use tracks owned by the freight railroads.The railroads said in a statement Friday that they needed to start delaying shipments of sensitive cargo to “ensure that no such cargo is left on an unattended or unsecured train in the event of a work stoppage due to an impasse in labor negotiations.” The railroads also said other shipments could be affected this week.The railroad trade group didn't immediately respond to the unions' criticisms Sunday.Already, a number of trade groups representing railroad shippers have urged lawmakers to be prepared to block a strike. A coalition of 31 agricultural groups sent a letter to Congress last week, and the Fertilizer Institute trade group joined the chorus of concerned shippers Saturday because shipments of ammonia and other fertilizers will be delayed.“Supply chains are already strained and there is currently zero elasticity in rail transportation,” TFI President and CEO Corey Rosenbusch said. “This situation will get exponentially worse every day there is no resolution."He said more than half of all fertilizer is hauled by railroads. More than 75% of all finished vehicles are taken from factories to dealerships by train, and countless other products move by rail.The railroad trade group said that a single railcar can carry up to 2,000 UPS packages, or enough plastic pellets to make some two million two-liter bottles.

Unions blast rail move to delay shipments before strike deadline

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual acts with a child and taking nude pictures and videos of the child. According to court documents, Joshua Courtney, 35, of Bonner Springs pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and four counts of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received cybertips from Google, Snapchat, and Dropbox about child sexual abuse material photos and videos within accounts identified as belonging to Joshua Courtney. 

Agents found dozens of pornographic images in Courtney’s Google photos, including some of which were later identified to be of a 10-year-old child. 

Courtney admitted to investigators he took nude photos of the child, filmed himself while engaged in sexual acts with the child, and sent these materials to others. He also admitted receiving child pornography of other children on his cell phone.

“The Secret Service is proud of the effective partnerships it maintains with the Kansas Bureau of Investigations, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the United States Attorney’s Office, whose tireless efforts were instrumental in seeing justice served in this case,” said Kansas City Field Office Special Agent in Charge Brandon Bridgeforth. &nbsp;“We can think of no greater outcome than protecting our children from predators such as Joshua Courtney.”

Courtney faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each count of child exploitation and up to 20 years in prison for each count of possession of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for December 1. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662754490228.png" alt="Courtney -photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Courtney -photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A Kansas man pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual acts with a child and taking nude pictures and videos of the child. According to court documents, Joshua Courtney, 35, of Bonner Springs pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and four counts of possession of child pornography, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice.The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received cybertips from Google, Snapchat, and Dropbox about child sexual abuse material photos and videos within accounts identified as belonging to Joshua Courtney. Agents found dozens of pornographic images in Courtney’s Google photos, including some of which were later identified to be of a 10-year-old child. Courtney admitted to investigators he took nude photos of the child, filmed himself while engaged in sexual acts with the child, and sent these materials to others. He also admitted receiving child pornography of other children on his cell phone.“The Secret Service is proud of the effective partnerships it maintains with the Kansas Bureau of Investigations, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the United States Attorney’s Office, whose tireless efforts were instrumental in seeing justice served in this case,” said Kansas City Field Office Special Agent in Charge Brandon Bridgeforth. &nbsp;“We can think of no greater outcome than protecting our children from predators such as Joshua Courtney.”Courtney faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each count of child exploitation and up to 20 years in prison for each count of possession of child pornography. His sentencing is scheduled for December 1. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Kansas man admits using a child to make porn videos

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;marked&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-government-and-politics-c5e1bcbcf3327938bb3c1a34e4807a5d">the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks</a>, taking part in a somber wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon held under a steady rain and paying tribute to “extraordinary Americans” who gave their lives on one of the nation's darkest days.

Sunday's ceremony occurred&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-afghanistan-biden-al-qaida-ayman-zawahri-92a61266ea72b54aeefe14fe2450792b">a little more than a year</a>&nbsp;after Biden ended the long and costly war in Afghanistan that the U.S. and allies launched in response to the terror attacks.

Biden noted that even after the United States left Afghanistan that his administration continues to pursue those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Last month, Biden announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ayman-al-zawahri-al-qaida-terrorism-biden-36e5f10256c9bc9972b252849eda91f2">the U.S. had killed Ayman al-Zawahri</a>, the al-Qaida leader who helped plot the Sept. 11 attacks, in a clandestine operation.

“We will never forget, we will never give up,” Biden said. “Our commitment to preventing another attack on the United States is without end.”

The president was joined by family members of the fallen, first responders who had been at the Pentagon on the day of the attack, as well as Defense Department leadership for the annual moment of tribute carried out in New York City, the Pentagon and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

In ending the Afghanistan war, the Democratic president followed through on a campaign pledge to bring home U.S. troops from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-islamic-state-group-e10e038baea732dae879c11234507f81">the country's longest conflict</a>. But the war concluded chaotically in August 2021, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5">the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed</a>, a grisly bombing killed 170 Afghans and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-bombings-kabul-42e66fb3b72492dbec3ef070b73cf018">13 U.S. troops at Kabul's airport</a>, and thousands of desperate Afghans gathered in hopes of escape before the final U.S. cargo planes departed over the Hindu Kush.

Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan late last month in low-key fashion. He issued a statement in honor of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the bombing at the Kabul airport and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-biden-veterans-national-security-government-and-politics-37f7409b05b8c4236bd4a1272c2affbe">spoke by phone with U.S. veterans</a>&nbsp;assisting ongoing efforts to resettle in the United States Afghans who helped the war effort.

Biden on Sunday said an “incredible debt” was owed to the U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan as well as their families. More than 2,200 U.S. service members were killed and more than 20,000 were wounded over the course of the nearly 20-year war,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/casualty.pdf">according to the Pentagon.</a>

He also vowed that the nation will “never fail to meet the sacred obligation to you to properly prepare and equip those that we send into harm’s way and care for those and their families when they come home — and to never, ever, ever forget.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday criticized Biden's handling of the end of the war and noted that the country has spiraled downward under renewed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-covid-entertainment-health-ashraf-ghani-458d17a5eba416b2845e127ecbe35ebc">Taliban rule</a>&nbsp;since the U.S. withdrawal.

“Now, one year on from last August’s disaster, the devastating scale of the fallout from President Biden’s decision has come into sharper focus," McConnell said. “Afghanistan has become a global pariah. Its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-business-united-nations-economy-9cbaf19f8b4e79311305b35295a9ad6d">economy has shrunk</a>&nbsp;by nearly a third. Half of its population is now suffering critical levels of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-prices-united-nations-d74bb5f7326d57e53e17258a42452d92">food insecurity</a>."

The president also remembered the words of comfort Queen Elizabeth II, who died last week, sent to the American people soon after the 2001 attacks: “Grief is the price we pay for love." Biden said those words remain as poignant as they did 21 years ago but the weight of loss also remains heavy.

“On this day, when the price feels so great, Jill and I are holding all of you close to our hearts.” Biden said.

Biden has recently dialed up warnings about what he calls the “extreme ideology” of former President Donald Trump and his “MAGA Republican" adherents as a threat to American democracy. Without naming Trump, Biden again on Sunday raised a call for Americans to safeguard democracy.

“It’s not enough to stand up for democracy once a year or every now and then,” Biden said. “It’s something we have to do every single day. So this is a day not only to remember, but also is a day for renewal and resolve for each and every American in our devotion to this country, to the principles it embodies, to our democracy.”

First lady&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-jill-biden-congress-government-and-politics-adf38eae4d6395768b096f57218a3f79">Jill Biden</a>&nbsp;spoke to a crowd at the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where she recalled the concern she had about her sister Bonny Jacobs, a United Airlines flight attendant.

She said the attacks showed that “with courage and kindness we can be a light in that darkness.”

“It showed us that we are all connected to one another,” said Biden, who was joined by her sister in Shanksville for Sunday's commemoration. “So as we stand on this sacred and scarred earth, a record of our collective grief and a monument to the memories that live on each day, this is the legacy we much carry forward: Hope that defies hate.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband attended a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial in New York.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;is set to mark&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-government-and-politics-c5e1bcbcf3327938bb3c1a34e4807a5d">the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks</a>&nbsp;at the Pentagon, a year after he ended the long and costly war in Afghanistan that the U.S. and allies launched in response to the terror attacks.

In ending the Afghanistan war, the Democratic president followed through on a campaign pledge to bring home U.S. troops from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-islamic-state-group-e10e038baea732dae879c11234507f81">the country's longest conflict</a>. But the war concluded chaotically in August 2021, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5">the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed</a>&nbsp;in the face of a countrywide Taliban advance that returned the fundamentalist group to power. A bombing claimed by an Afghanistan-based extremist group killed 170 Afghans and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-bombings-kabul-42e66fb3b72492dbec3ef070b73cf018">13 U.S. troops at Kabul's airport</a>, where thousands of desperate Afghans gathered in hopes of escape before the final U.S. cargo planes departed over the Hindu Kush.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden in his remarks Sunday will recognize the impact&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/9-11-a-world-changed">the 2001 attacks</a>&nbsp;had on the U.S. and the world and honor the nearly 3,000 people killed that day when al-Qaida hijackers took control of commercial planes and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

“I think you’ll hear him talk about how America will stay vigilant to the threat but also look to future threats and challenges and be able to learn to meet those threats and challenges,” Kirby said.

First lady&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-jill-biden-congress-government-and-politics-adf38eae4d6395768b096f57218a3f79">Jill Biden</a>&nbsp;will speak Sunday at the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband will go to New York City for a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;marked&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-government-and-politics-c5e1bcbcf3327938bb3c1a34e4807a5d">the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks</a>, taking part in a somber wreath-laying ceremony at the Pentagon held under a steady rain and paying tribute to “extraordinary Americans” who gave their lives on one of the nation's darkest days.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">In the midst of the dark days following September 11th, we found a true sense of national unity. <a href="https://t.co/vxQLF5GRIv">pic.twitter.com/vxQLF5GRIv</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1569049531878178818?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Sunday's ceremony occurred&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-afghanistan-biden-al-qaida-ayman-zawahri-92a61266ea72b54aeefe14fe2450792b">a little more than a year</a>&nbsp;after Biden ended the long and costly war in Afghanistan that the U.S. and allies launched in response to the terror attacks.Biden noted that even after the United States left Afghanistan that his administration continues to pursue those responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Last month, Biden announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ayman-al-zawahri-al-qaida-terrorism-biden-36e5f10256c9bc9972b252849eda91f2">the U.S. had killed Ayman al-Zawahri</a>, the al-Qaida leader who helped plot the Sept. 11 attacks, in a clandestine operation.“We will never forget, we will never give up,” Biden said. “Our commitment to preventing another attack on the United States is without end.”The president was joined by family members of the fallen, first responders who had been at the Pentagon on the day of the attack, as well as Defense Department leadership for the annual moment of tribute carried out in New York City, the Pentagon and Somerset County, Pennsylvania.In ending the Afghanistan war, the Democratic president followed through on a campaign pledge to bring home U.S. troops from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-islamic-state-group-e10e038baea732dae879c11234507f81">the country's longest conflict</a>. But the war concluded chaotically in August 2021, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5">the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed</a>, a grisly bombing killed 170 Afghans and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-bombings-kabul-42e66fb3b72492dbec3ef070b73cf018">13 U.S. troops at Kabul's airport</a>, and thousands of desperate Afghans gathered in hopes of escape before the final U.S. cargo planes departed over the Hindu Kush.Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan late last month in low-key fashion. He issued a statement in honor of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the bombing at the Kabul airport and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-biden-veterans-national-security-government-and-politics-37f7409b05b8c4236bd4a1272c2affbe">spoke by phone with U.S. veterans</a>&nbsp;assisting ongoing efforts to resettle in the United States Afghans who helped the war effort.Biden on Sunday said an “incredible debt” was owed to the U.S. troops who served in Afghanistan as well as their families. More than 2,200 U.S. service members were killed and more than 20,000 were wounded over the course of the nearly 20-year war,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/casualty.pdf">according to the Pentagon.</a>He also vowed that the nation will “never fail to meet the sacred obligation to you to properly prepare and equip those that we send into harm’s way and care for those and their families when they come home — and to never, ever, ever forget.”Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday criticized Biden's handling of the end of the war and noted that the country has spiraled downward under renewed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-covid-entertainment-health-ashraf-ghani-458d17a5eba416b2845e127ecbe35ebc">Taliban rule</a>&nbsp;since the U.S. withdrawal.“Now, one year on from last August’s disaster, the devastating scale of the fallout from President Biden’s decision has come into sharper focus," McConnell said. “Afghanistan has become a global pariah. Its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-business-united-nations-economy-9cbaf19f8b4e79311305b35295a9ad6d">economy has shrunk</a>&nbsp;by nearly a third. Half of its population is now suffering critical levels of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-prices-united-nations-d74bb5f7326d57e53e17258a42452d92">food insecurity</a>."The president also remembered the words of comfort Queen Elizabeth II, who died last week, sent to the American people soon after the 2001 attacks: “Grief is the price we pay for love." Biden said those words remain as poignant as they did 21 years ago but the weight of loss also remains heavy.“On this day, when the price feels so great, Jill and I are holding all of you close to our hearts.” Biden said.Biden has recently dialed up warnings about what he calls the “extreme ideology” of former President Donald Trump and his “MAGA Republican" adherents as a threat to American democracy. Without naming Trump, Biden again on Sunday raised a call for Americans to safeguard democracy.“It’s not enough to stand up for democracy once a year or every now and then,” Biden said. “It’s something we have to do every single day. So this is a day not only to remember, but also is a day for renewal and resolve for each and every American in our devotion to this country, to the principles it embodies, to our democracy.”First lady&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-jill-biden-congress-government-and-politics-adf38eae4d6395768b096f57218a3f79">Jill Biden</a>&nbsp;spoke to a crowd at the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where she recalled the concern she had about her sister Bonny Jacobs, a United Airlines flight attendant.She said the attacks showed that “with courage and kindness we can be a light in that darkness.”“It showed us that we are all connected to one another,” said Biden, who was joined by her sister in Shanksville for Sunday's commemoration. “So as we stand on this sacred and scarred earth, a record of our collective grief and a monument to the memories that live on each day, this is the legacy we much carry forward: Hope that defies hate.”Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband attended a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial in New York.------WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;is set to mark&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-government-and-politics-c5e1bcbcf3327938bb3c1a34e4807a5d">the 21st anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks</a>&nbsp;at the Pentagon, a year after he ended the long and costly war in Afghanistan that the U.S. and allies launched in response to the terror attacks.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Twenty-one years later, we keep alive the memory of all the precious lives stolen from us at Ground Zero, in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. To the families and loved ones who still feel the ache, Jill and I hold you close in our hearts. We will never forget. <a href="https://t.co/IZlAmyone2">pic.twitter.com/IZlAmyone2</a>&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1568932731622490112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In ending the Afghanistan war, the Democratic president followed through on a campaign pledge to bring home U.S. troops from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-islamic-state-group-e10e038baea732dae879c11234507f81">the country's longest conflict</a>. But the war concluded chaotically in August 2021, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-kabul-bagram-e1ed33fe0c665ee67ba132c51b8e32a5">the U.S.-backed Afghan government collapsed</a>&nbsp;in the face of a countrywide Taliban advance that returned the fundamentalist group to power. A bombing claimed by an Afghanistan-based extremist group killed 170 Afghans and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-bombings-kabul-42e66fb3b72492dbec3ef070b73cf018">13 U.S. troops at Kabul's airport</a>, where thousands of desperate Afghans gathered in hopes of escape before the final U.S. cargo planes departed over the Hindu Kush.White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden in his remarks Sunday will recognize the impact&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/9-11-a-world-changed">the 2001 attacks</a>&nbsp;had on the U.S. and the world and honor the nearly 3,000 people killed that day when al-Qaida hijackers took control of commercial planes and crashed them into New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.“I think you’ll hear him talk about how America will stay vigilant to the threat but also look to future threats and challenges and be able to learn to meet those threats and challenges,” Kirby said.Biden marked the one-year anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan late last month in low-key fashion. He issued a statement in honor of the 13 U.S. troops killed in the bombing at the Kabul airport and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-biden-veterans-national-security-government-and-politics-37f7409b05b8c4236bd4a1272c2affbe">spoke by phone with U.S. veterans</a>&nbsp;assisting ongoing efforts to resettle in the United States Afghans who helped the war effort.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday criticized Biden's handling of the end of the war and noted that the country has spiraled downward under renewed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-covid-entertainment-health-ashraf-ghani-458d17a5eba416b2845e127ecbe35ebc">Taliban rule</a>&nbsp;since the U.S. withdrawal.“Now, one year on from last August’s disaster, the devastating scale of the fallout from President Biden’s decision has come into sharper focus," McConnell said. “Afghanistan has become a global pariah. Its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-business-united-nations-economy-9cbaf19f8b4e79311305b35295a9ad6d">economy has shrunk</a>&nbsp;by nearly a third. Half of its population is now suffering critical levels of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-health-prices-united-nations-d74bb5f7326d57e53e17258a42452d92">food insecurity</a>."First lady&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pennsylvania-jill-biden-congress-government-and-politics-adf38eae4d6395768b096f57218a3f79">Jill Biden</a>&nbsp;will speak Sunday at the Flight 93 National Memorial Observance in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband will go to New York City for a commemoration ceremony at the National September 11th Memorial.

🎥Biden honors 9/11 victims, vows commitment to thwart terror

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration hopes to make getting a COVID-19 booster as routine as going in for the yearly flu shot.

That’s at the heart of its campaign&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-omicron-booster-shot-227514678d25a99b65b7ee092735fb03?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_2">to sell the newly authorized shot</a>&nbsp;to an American public that has widely rejected COVID-19 boosters since they first became available last fall.

Shots of the updated boosters, specifically designed by Pfizer and Moderna to respond to the omicron strain, are available. The U.S. government has purchased 170 million doses and is emphasizing that everyone will have free access to the booster.

White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said this latest round of shots offer protection during the busy cold and flu season, with the hope of transitioning people to get the vaccine yearly. Typically,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/dashboard/vaccination-dashboard.html">at least half of U.S. adults get a flu shot</a>.

“We expect them to provide more durable protection over time,” Jha said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The goal very much is to get to a point where people get their COVID shot on a regular basis, the way they do their flu shot.”

Community health workers in North Carolina, home to the country’s lowest COVID-19 booster rate, like the strategy, especially because of confusion among some people about vaccine schedules.

“I believe in keeping things simple,” said Marty Stamey, an outreach coordinator for the Mountain Area Health Education Center in western North Carolina. “I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I think I’ll just wait and try to do it like the flu shots.’”

The White House plan also relies in part of on local health departments, providers and community groups to reach out and encourage people to get the updated booster. Pharmacies, health providers and state or local health departments are preparing to send text messages to millions of people that will encourage them to get a booster this fall, White House officials said.

Jha said he recommends most Americans get the booster by the end of October.

Still, this latest vaccination campaign faces several challenges.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-additional-dose-totalpop">majority of Americans got their first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine</a>&nbsp;when it was released last year but they’ve been more reluctant to get a booster jab, with less than half getting their first booster since it became available late last year.

Congress also has not moved forward on President Joe Biden’s $22.5 billion request&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-business-health-congress-e5b411a879b2becf3e342fea3b0df981">earlier this year for the COVID-19 response</a>. Republicans criticized the request, pointing to the $1.9 trillion already spent on responding to the pandemic. Running short on funds, the government announced it would stop shipping COVID-19 tests to people’s homes after Friday.

And COVID-19 funding is drying up for many of the community groups that received millions of federal tax dollars to hire workers who spent months reaching deep into neighborhoods with door knocks, mobile vaccine clinics and posters encouraging people to inoculate against COVID-19.

White House officials say those local leaders deserve a lot of credit for stamping out misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and convincing many around the country that the shot will protect them.

“Those are the really critical messengers,” Jha said.

That on-the-ground work has been crucial to getting people vaccinated in the rural, Spanish- and Haitian-speaking communities that the Migrant Clinicians Network has reached throughout Texas, California and Maryland with its $8.5 million federal grant.

“Simply having the vaccines available is one thing, but getting the shots in the arms is another,” said Amy Liebman, a chief program officer for the nonprofit group.

Some of those local health organizations, too, are now stretched as they work to get low&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fda-pfizer-covid-vaccines-kids-1423b2ab0a51bc9c36dbe86964777c07">vaccination rates among children under 12 up</a>. Only a third of 5- to 11-year-olds received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since becoming eligible late last year. Meanwhile, just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-vaccination-trends/">7% of children under 5</a>&nbsp;have gotten a first dose since it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-politics-health-us-news-368ca7b4ab393dc48ffa04b5a3171d5b">was made available this summer</a>.

Dr. Niharika Khanna at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has just started making progress on convincing new mothers that the vaccine is safe and effective for their babies.

Her program, which has hired more than 269 health workers and administered more than 12,000 vaccinations and boosters across Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, isn’t quite ready to transition back to pushing COVID-19 boosters.

“All of these people, all of these relationships we’ve carefully cultivated are at risk for falling apart,” Khanna said. “Today if you were to say to me switch to booster, I’d say no. I need another two to three weeks to really get these people going.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1648688148561.png" alt="The latest vaccination campaign faces challenges-photo White House" />
 <figcaption>The latest vaccination campaign faces challenges-photo White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration hopes to make getting a COVID-19 booster as routine as going in for the yearly flu shot.That’s at the heart of its campaign&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-omicron-booster-shot-227514678d25a99b65b7ee092735fb03?utm_source=homepage&amp;utm_medium=TopNews&amp;utm_campaign=position_2">to sell the newly authorized shot</a>&nbsp;to an American public that has widely rejected COVID-19 boosters since they first became available last fall.Shots of the updated boosters, specifically designed by Pfizer and Moderna to respond to the omicron strain, are available. The U.S. government has purchased 170 million doses and is emphasizing that everyone will have free access to the booster.White House COVID-19 coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said this latest round of shots offer protection during the busy cold and flu season, with the hope of transitioning people to get the vaccine yearly. Typically,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/dashboard/vaccination-dashboard.html">at least half of U.S. adults get a flu shot</a>.“We expect them to provide more durable protection over time,” Jha said in an interview with The Associated Press. “The goal very much is to get to a point where people get their COVID shot on a regular basis, the way they do their flu shot.”Community health workers in North Carolina, home to the country’s lowest COVID-19 booster rate, like the strategy, especially because of confusion among some people about vaccine schedules.“I believe in keeping things simple,” said Marty Stamey, an outreach coordinator for the Mountain Area Health Education Center in western North Carolina. “I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘I think I’ll just wait and try to do it like the flu shots.’”The White House plan also relies in part of on local health departments, providers and community groups to reach out and encourage people to get the updated booster. Pharmacies, health providers and state or local health departments are preparing to send text messages to millions of people that will encourage them to get a booster this fall, White House officials said.Jha said he recommends most Americans get the booster by the end of October.Still, this latest vaccination campaign faces several challenges.A&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-people-additional-dose-totalpop">majority of Americans got their first and second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine</a>&nbsp;when it was released last year but they’ve been more reluctant to get a booster jab, with less than half getting their first booster since it became available late last year.Congress also has not moved forward on President Joe Biden’s $22.5 billion request&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-business-health-congress-e5b411a879b2becf3e342fea3b0df981">earlier this year for the COVID-19 response</a>. Republicans criticized the request, pointing to the $1.9 trillion already spent on responding to the pandemic. Running short on funds, the government announced it would stop shipping COVID-19 tests to people’s homes after Friday.And COVID-19 funding is drying up for many of the community groups that received millions of federal tax dollars to hire workers who spent months reaching deep into neighborhoods with door knocks, mobile vaccine clinics and posters encouraging people to inoculate against COVID-19.White House officials say those local leaders deserve a lot of credit for stamping out misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and convincing many around the country that the shot will protect them.“Those are the really critical messengers,” Jha said.That on-the-ground work has been crucial to getting people vaccinated in the rural, Spanish- and Haitian-speaking communities that the Migrant Clinicians Network has reached throughout Texas, California and Maryland with its $8.5 million federal grant.“Simply having the vaccines available is one thing, but getting the shots in the arms is another,” said Amy Liebman, a chief program officer for the nonprofit group.Some of those local health organizations, too, are now stretched as they work to get low&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fda-pfizer-covid-vaccines-kids-1423b2ab0a51bc9c36dbe86964777c07">vaccination rates among children under 12 up</a>. Only a third of 5- to 11-year-olds received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine since becoming eligible late last year. Meanwhile, just&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-vaccination-trends/">7% of children under 5</a>&nbsp;have gotten a first dose since it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-politics-health-us-news-368ca7b4ab393dc48ffa04b5a3171d5b">was made available this summer</a>.Dr. Niharika Khanna at the University of Maryland School of Medicine has just started making progress on convincing new mothers that the vaccine is safe and effective for their babies.Her program, which has hired more than 269 health workers and administered more than 12,000 vaccinations and boosters across Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, isn’t quite ready to transition back to pushing COVID-19 boosters.“All of these people, all of these relationships we’ve carefully cultivated are at risk for falling apart,” Khanna said. “Today if you were to say to me switch to booster, I’d say no. I need another two to three weeks to really get these people going.”

Fall COVID vaccination campaign faces many challenges

By AARON SANDERFORD <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/09/wwii-veteran-charles-jackson-frenchs-name-now-on-benson-post-office/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA — The brick post office in Benson now bears the name of a Navy man with Omaha ties: World War II hero Charles Jackson French.

Members of the French family and elected leaders attended a ceremony Friday celebrating naming the building for him.

“If his parents and his siblings were living, they would be very proud,” said Chester French, one of Charles’ nephews.&nbsp;

Another nephew, Roscoe Harris, 
thanked the group of more than 50 attendees for honoring their uncle’s 
sacrifice. Both nephews live in Omaha.

Eighty years ago this month, Japanese forces sank the ship on which French served, the USS Gregory, near Guadalcanal Island.&nbsp;

Petty Officer 1st Class French, a 
Black man who lived in Omaha before entering the Navy, saved the lives 
of 15 injured white sailors.&nbsp;

French tied a rope to his waist, jumped into the ocean and swam for six to eight hours, pulling a raft with the injured men.

At that point, the Navy was segregated and limited service members of color to jobs in the ship’s galley.&nbsp;

After French and the sailors were rescued, a crew tried separating him from the others. Sailors vouched for him.&nbsp;

Chester French said his family have 
heard from the daughters of one sailor who hung off the side of the raft
 and helped Charles navigate. They also have heard from family members 
of others on the raft.&nbsp;

Navy Capt. Ben Selph, who works now at STRATCOM, said French’s selfless example is one that American sailors aspire to match.

“Petty Officer French, Charles Jackson French, knew before so many in our country
 did that what matters is the content of a man’s character over the 
color of his skin,” said Selph, who was previously based in San Diego.

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bill-to-name-benson-post-office-bill-after-wwii-hero-charles-jackson-french-advances-to-voice-vote-in-senate/">led an effort that was joined by the rest of the Nebraska congressional delegation</a> to rename the post office for French.&nbsp;

Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier 
general, said at the ceremony that people who have served in the 
military recognize “gallantry, courage, never leaving your buddy 
behind.” They see a brother in French, he said.&nbsp;

“He changed hearts of 15 sailors who 
were there that day,” Bacon said. “It has taken thousands of Petty 
Officer Frenches to change hearts and minds.”

Fischer called Friday a joyous 
occasion that was “a long time coming.” She said the country needed to 
honor French for his service and sacrifice.&nbsp;

“It’s important for future 
generations that they can be inspired by this story of one man and his 
remarkable actions to save his colleagues,” she said. “It is our duty to
 keep those stories alive.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662834580773.png" alt="The U.S. Postal Service held a ceremony Friday in Omaha to formally rename the Benson branch post pffice for World War II Navy veteran Charles Jackson French. A photo of French is shown outside the building at 63rd and Maple Streets. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>The U.S. Postal Service held a ceremony Friday in Omaha to formally rename the Benson branch post pffice for World War II Navy veteran Charles Jackson French. A photo of French is shown outside the building at 63rd and Maple Streets. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By AARON SANDERFORD <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/09/wwii-veteran-charles-jackson-frenchs-name-now-on-benson-post-office/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — The brick post office in Benson now bears the name of a Navy man with Omaha ties: World War II hero Charles Jackson French.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662834663120.jpeg" alt="Chester French, a nephew of Navy World War II veteran Charles Jackson French, speaks during the ceremony marking the renaming of the Benson post office after his uncle. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Chester French, a nephew of Navy World War II veteran Charles Jackson French, speaks during the ceremony marking the renaming of the Benson post office after his uncle. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Members of the French family and elected leaders attended a ceremony Friday celebrating naming the building for him.“If his parents and his siblings were living, they would be very proud,” said Chester French, one of Charles’ nephews.&nbsp;Another nephew, Roscoe Harris, 
thanked the group of more than 50 attendees for honoring their uncle’s 
sacrifice. Both nephews live in Omaha.Eighty years ago this month, Japanese forces sank the ship on which French served, the USS Gregory, near Guadalcanal Island.&nbsp;Petty Officer 1st Class French, a 
Black man who lived in Omaha before entering the Navy, saved the lives 
of 15 injured white sailors.&nbsp;French tied a rope to his waist, jumped into the ocean and swam for six to eight hours, pulling a raft with the injured men.At that point, the Navy was segregated and limited service members of color to jobs in the ship’s galley.&nbsp;After French and the sailors were rescued, a crew tried separating him from the others. Sailors vouched for him.&nbsp;Chester French said his family have 
heard from the daughters of one sailor who hung off the side of the raft
 and helped Charles navigate. They also have heard from family members 
of others on the raft.&nbsp;Navy Capt. Ben Selph, who works now at STRATCOM, said French’s selfless example is one that American sailors aspire to match.“Petty Officer French, Charles Jackson French, knew before so many in our country
 did that what matters is the content of a man’s character over the 
color of his skin,” said Selph, who was previously based in San Diego.U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bill-to-name-benson-post-office-bill-after-wwii-hero-charles-jackson-french-advances-to-voice-vote-in-senate/">led an effort that was joined by the rest of the Nebraska congressional delegation</a> to rename the post office for French.&nbsp;Bacon, a retired Air Force brigadier 
general, said at the ceremony that people who have served in the 
military recognize “gallantry, courage, never leaving your buddy 
behind.” They see a brother in French, he said.&nbsp;“He changed hearts of 15 sailors who 
were there that day,” Bacon said. “It has taken thousands of Petty 
Officer Frenches to change hearts and minds.”Fischer called Friday a joyous 
occasion that was “a long time coming.” She said the country needed to 
honor French for his service and sacrifice.&nbsp;“It’s important for future 
generations that they can be inspired by this story of one man and his 
remarkable actions to save his colleagues,” she said. “It is our duty to
 keep those stories alive.”

World War II veteran's name now on Nebraska post office

LONDON (AP) —Palace officials say the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will take place on Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London after the public gets an opportunity to pay their last respects to the monarch.

Elizabeth, the nation’s longest-reigning sovereign, died Thursday at her summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands.

Details on the 96-year old queen’s funeral will be released later, but organizers on Saturday described the ceremony as a “a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times.’’

Palace officials said there would be opportunities to see the late sovereign’s oak coffin as it journeys from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Edinburgh and again in London, where her body will lie in state for four days starting Wednesday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662828587465.png" alt="The condolence book at the British Consulate General in Houston, Texas-photo courtesy&nbsp; office of British Consulate General" />
 <figcaption>The condolence book at the British Consulate General in Houston, Texas-photo courtesy&nbsp; office of British Consulate General</figcaption>
 </figure>LONDON (AP) —Palace officials say the state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II will take place on Sept. 19 at Westminster Abbey in London after the public gets an opportunity to pay their last respects to the monarch.Elizabeth, the nation’s longest-reigning sovereign, died Thursday at her summer retreat in the Scottish Highlands.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen will take place at Westminster Abbey on Monday 19th September. Prior to the State Funeral, The Queen will Lie-in-State in Westminster Hall for four days, to allow the public to pay their respects.&mdash; The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily/status/1568631258657312770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Details on the 96-year old queen’s funeral will be released later, but organizers on Saturday described the ceremony as a “a fitting farewell to one of the defining figures of our times.’’Palace officials said there would be opportunities to see the late sovereign’s oak coffin as it journeys from Balmoral Castle in Scotland to Edinburgh and again in London, where her body will lie in state for four days starting Wednesday.

Palace sets date for Queen Elizabeth II's funeral 

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III vowed in his first speech as monarch Friday to carry on Queen Elizabeth II's “lifelong service,” as Britain entered an uncertain new age under a new sovereign. Around the world, the queen's exceptional reign was commemorated, celebrated and debated.

Charles, who spent much of his 73 years preparing for the role of king, addressed a nation grieving the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known. He takes the throne in an era of unease for both his country and the monarchy itself.

He spoke of his “profound sorrow” over the death of his mother, calling her “an inspiration and example to me and to all my family.”

“That promise of lifelong service I renew to all today,” he said in the 9 1/2-minute address, recorded earlier in the day and delivered with a framed photo of the queen on a desk in front of him.

“As the queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I, too, now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation," he said.

The king's speech was broadcast on television and streamed at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where some 2,000 people attended a service of remembrance for the queen. They included Prime Minister Liz Truss and members of her government.

As the country began a 10-day mourning period, people around the globe gathered at British embassies to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-russia-ukraine-putin-biden-united-nations-3308a9ada3312a6b7f294997231ebb23">pay homage to the queen</a>, who died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

In London and at military sites across the United Kingdom, cannons fired 96 shots in an elaborate, 16-minute salute marking each year of the queen’s life.

The widespread admiration for Elizabeth in Britain and across its former colonies was occasionally mixed with scorn for the institution and the imperial history she symbolized.

Charles, who became the monarch immediately upon his mother’s death, will be formally proclaimed king at a ceremony on Saturday. He is expected to tour the United Kingdom in the coming days.

The queen’s coffin will be brought to London, where she will lie in state before a funeral at Westminster Abbey, expected around Sept. 19.

On the king's first full day of duties, Charles left Balmoral and flew to London for a meeting with Truss, appointed by the queen just two days before her death.

He arrived at Buckingham Palace, the monarch's London home, for the first time as sovereign, emerging from the official state Bentley limousine alongside Camilla, the queen consort, to shouts from the crowd of “Well done, Charlie!” and the singing of the national anthem, now called “God Save the King.” One woman gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Under intense scrutiny and pressure to show he can be both caring and regal, Charles walked slowly past flowers heaped at the palace gates for his mother. The mood was both grieving and celebratory.

The seismic change of monarch comes at a time when many Britons are facing an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f4ea4c93b9d0b30063ed6018e7727959">energy crisis</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/storms-inflation-economy-prices-f4ea4c93b9d0b30063ed6018e7727959">soaring cost of living</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war in Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and the fallout from Brexit.

In his speech, Charles looked to both the past — noting his mother's unwavering “dedication and devotion as sovereign” — and the future, seeking to strike a reassuring note of constancy.

He reflected on how the country had changed during the queen's reign into a society “of many cultures and many faiths" while “our values have remained, and must remain, constant.”

He spoke of his son Prince William, now heir to the throne and formally given the title that Charles long held, Prince of Wales.

“With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given,” Charles said, referring to the couple's work on homelessness, mental health and other issues.

And he struck a note of reconciliation after a raw family rift when he said, “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas."

Prince Harry and wife Meghan have been in a tense relationship with the royal family since they stepped away from their official duties and left the country in 2020, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media toward the biracial American actress.

As the second Elizabethan Age came to a close, throngs of people arrived all day to grieve together and lay flowers outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences.

Finance worker Giles Cudmore said the queen had “just been a constant through everything, everything good and bad.”

At Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, mourner April Hamilton stood with her young daughter, struggling to hold back tears.

“It’s just such a momentous change that is going to happen,” she said. “I’m trying to hold it together today.”

Many sporting and cultural events were canceled as a mark of respect, and some businesses — including Selfridges department store and the Legoland amusement park — shut their doors. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-russia-ukraine-united-kingdom-3b41a590eda012fa9da043a53324d00b">Bank of England</a>&nbsp;postponed its meeting by a week.

Elizabeth was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a symbol of constancy in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and upheaval in her family, including the messy divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

The public’s affection for the queen had helped sustain support for the monarchy amid complaints in some quarters that it had outlived its usefulness. But Charles does not command that kind of popularity.

“Charles can never replace her, you know," said 31-year-old Londoner Mariam Sherwani.

Like many, she referred to Elizabeth as a grandmother figure. Others compared her to their mothers, or great-grandmothers.

But around the world, her passing revealed conflicting emotions about the nation and institutions she represented.

In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, entrepreneur Dhiren Singh described his own personal sadness at her death, but added, “I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world."

LONDON (AP) — King Charles III vowed in his first speech as monarch Friday to carry on Queen Elizabeth II's “lifelong service,” as Britain entered an uncertain new age under a new sovereign. Around the world, the queen's exceptional reign was commemorated, celebrated and debated.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/E_5REdx2Vtk?start=12" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Charles, who spent much of his 73 years preparing for the role of king, addressed a nation grieving the only British monarch most people alive today had ever known. He takes the throne in an era of unease for both his country and the monarchy itself.He spoke of his “profound sorrow” over the death of his mother, calling her “an inspiration and example to me and to all my family.”“That promise of lifelong service I renew to all today,” he said in the 9 1/2-minute address, recorded earlier in the day and delivered with a framed photo of the queen on a desk in front of him.“As the queen herself did with such unswerving devotion, I, too, now solemnly pledge myself, throughout the remaining time God grants me, to uphold the constitutional principles at the heart of our nation," he said.The king's speech was broadcast on television and streamed at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where some 2,000 people attended a service of remembrance for the queen. They included Prime Minister Liz Truss and members of her government.As the country began a 10-day mourning period, people around the globe gathered at British embassies to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-russia-ukraine-putin-biden-united-nations-3308a9ada3312a6b7f294997231ebb23">pay homage to the queen</a>, who died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.In London and at military sites across the United Kingdom, cannons fired 96 shots in an elaborate, 16-minute salute marking each year of the queen’s life.The widespread admiration for Elizabeth in Britain and across its former colonies was occasionally mixed with scorn for the institution and the imperial history she symbolized.Charles, who became the monarch immediately upon his mother’s death, will be formally proclaimed king at a ceremony on Saturday. He is expected to tour the United Kingdom in the coming days.The queen’s coffin will be brought to London, where she will lie in state before a funeral at Westminster Abbey, expected around Sept. 19.On the king's first full day of duties, Charles left Balmoral and flew to London for a meeting with Truss, appointed by the queen just two days before her death.He arrived at Buckingham Palace, the monarch's London home, for the first time as sovereign, emerging from the official state Bentley limousine alongside Camilla, the queen consort, to shouts from the crowd of “Well done, Charlie!” and the singing of the national anthem, now called “God Save the King.” One woman gave him a kiss on the cheek.Under intense scrutiny and pressure to show he can be both caring and regal, Charles walked slowly past flowers heaped at the palace gates for his mother. The mood was both grieving and celebratory.The seismic change of monarch comes at a time when many Britons are facing an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f4ea4c93b9d0b30063ed6018e7727959">energy crisis</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/storms-inflation-economy-prices-f4ea4c93b9d0b30063ed6018e7727959">soaring cost of living</a>, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war in Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and the fallout from Brexit.In his speech, Charles looked to both the past — noting his mother's unwavering “dedication and devotion as sovereign” — and the future, seeking to strike a reassuring note of constancy.He reflected on how the country had changed during the queen's reign into a society “of many cultures and many faiths" while “our values have remained, and must remain, constant.”He spoke of his son Prince William, now heir to the throne and formally given the title that Charles long held, Prince of Wales.“With Catherine beside him, our new Prince and Princess of Wales will, I know, continue to inspire and lead our national conversations, helping to bring the marginal to the center ground where vital help can be given,” Charles said, referring to the couple's work on homelessness, mental health and other issues.And he struck a note of reconciliation after a raw family rift when he said, “I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas."Prince Harry and wife Meghan have been in a tense relationship with the royal family since they stepped away from their official duties and left the country in 2020, citing what they said were the unbearable intrusions and racist attitudes of the British media toward the biracial American actress.As the second Elizabethan Age came to a close, throngs of people arrived all day to grieve together and lay flowers outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and other royal residences.Finance worker Giles Cudmore said the queen had “just been a constant through everything, everything good and bad.”At Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, mourner April Hamilton stood with her young daughter, struggling to hold back tears.“It’s just such a momentous change that is going to happen,” she said. “I’m trying to hold it together today.”Many sporting and cultural events were canceled as a mark of respect, and some businesses — including Selfridges department store and the Legoland amusement park — shut their doors. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-russia-ukraine-united-kingdom-3b41a590eda012fa9da043a53324d00b">Bank of England</a>&nbsp;postponed its meeting by a week.Elizabeth was Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a symbol of constancy in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and upheaval in her family, including the messy divorce of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.The public’s affection for the queen had helped sustain support for the monarchy amid complaints in some quarters that it had outlived its usefulness. But Charles does not command that kind of popularity.“Charles can never replace her, you know," said 31-year-old Londoner Mariam Sherwani.Like many, she referred to Elizabeth as a grandmother figure. Others compared her to their mothers, or great-grandmothers.But around the world, her passing revealed conflicting emotions about the nation and institutions she represented.In Ireland, some soccer fans cheered.In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, entrepreneur Dhiren Singh described his own personal sadness at her death, but added, “I do not think we have any place for kings and queens in today’s world."For some, Elizabeth was a queen whose coronation glittered with shards of a stunning 3,106-carat diamond pulled from grim southern African mines, a monarch who inherited an empire they resented.Across Africa, nations rejected British rule and chose independence in her first decade on the throne.