By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/trendy-blackstone-district-developer-looks-to-build-22-million-project-in-north-omaha/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

OMAHA — A midtown real estate team 
best known for turning a forsaken urban corridor into the trendy 
Blackstone commercial district is venturing into different territory.

GreenSlate Development wants to build a sprawling warehouse in an industrial area of North Omaha.

The company has purchased 11 vacant acres north of the Storz Expressway along Ninth Street, near Eppley Airfield.

Carrying an overall price tag of 
nearly $22 million, the project calls for 160,000 square feet of 
building space, likely to be divided into four bays used for 
warehousing, distribution and storage. Tenants have yet to sign on.

GreenSlate is seeking City of Omaha 
approval for $3.2 million in tax increment financing, saying the 
one-story structure would not be feasible without the public subsidy 
created by Nebraska law to encourage economic development.&nbsp;

The Omaha Planning Board Wednesday gave its green light to the TIF request that still must be approved by the City Council.

To be TIF eligible, a project must be
 in a blighted area. It works this way: Upon city approval, the owner 
takes out a loan to cover eligible expenses, including public 
improvements. The debt is paid by using increased property tax revenue 
generated on the new development during the loan period, in this case 20
 years.&nbsp;

Once the loan is paid, the tax 
revenue on what will have become a property of higher value is 
redirected to traditional government coffers such as public schools and 
city and county governments.

GreenSlate principal Clay 
Vanderheiden said that while industrial-type digs may not be the firm’s 
typical wheelhouse investment, he views it as diversification.

And at a time when restaurants have 
been closing and traditional office-goers have been working remotely, 
industrial and distribution space has stood out as one of the strongest 
growing real estate sectors.

Some say it’s “on the top of the heap,” said Vanderheiden.

“I’m kind of a believer in not putting all your eggs in one singular basket,” he added.

Greenslate’s TIF application refers 
to the thriving industrial market, as reported by Cushman &amp; 
Wakefield/Lund Co. In the Omaha metro area at the start of the year, it 
said, about 5.3 million square feet of industrial space was in the 
construction pipeline, and most already was spoken for by owners or 
tenants.

“Developers are racing to build 
industrial properties,” said Dennis Sciscoe, Lund’s market expert. 
“Demand is so high that most of the new developments are being leased 
before construction is complete.”

He said much of the metro’s newer 
industrial space is in or around Sarpy County’s Highways 50 and 370 
corridors, including Facebook, which completed about 2.6 million square 
feet of data center space this year.

GreenSlate officials note that its 
proposed North Omaha warehouse, being close to the airport and downtown 
Omaha, “is unique to the market and the additional square footage will 
be easily absorbed into the market.”

They said the project aligns with the
 city’s master plan goals for job promotion and development of an 
industrial park near the airport.

A few other notable industrial projects are in the works near the airport.

State Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell 
McKinney of Omaha, for instance, are trying to assemble property for a 
community business and industrial park that would be funded with $60 
million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked by the 
Legislature this last session.

The City of Omaha has approved $1.2 
million in TIF for a 66,000-square-foot industrial building on four 
vacant acres near 13th and Fort Streets. A-United is expected to move 
into the property, which is expected to be ready next summer.

Under construction on 13 acres at 
5906 Abbott Drive is a 150,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution 
building by developer F&amp;J Enterprises. That project was approved for
 nearly $3.9 million in TIF.

The GreenSlate project site is just south of an existing and active Lozier warehouse operation.

Vanderheiden said the land deal was 
presented to GreenSlate, which is working with broker Sciscoe. According
 to the TIF report, land acquisition cost $2.8 million.

GreenSlate anticipates creation of 
107 new permanent jobs, not counting the 50 construction-related jobs 
during the building phase.

About 161 outdoor parking stalls would be on the site, as well as 13 stalls for semitruck parking.

Over the past decade, GreenSlate — 
including principals Jay Lund and Matt Dwyer — said it has shepherded 
the flow of roughly $250 million (invested by GreenSlate and others), 
resulting in more than 30 new businesses in the Blackstone commercial 
district.

Most buildings on the district’s main
 Farnam Street segment, east of the University of Nebraska Medical 
Center campus around 40th Street, have been redeveloped or slated for 
redevelopment. GreenSlate also is headquartered on the strip.

The city has fostered the revival by 
reconfiguring Farnam Street from one-way to two-way traffic flow and 
adding new lighting and landscaping to create a more walkable district.

Vanderheiden said Greenslate 
continues to do heavy lifting in the apartment and retail sectors, 
including a nine-story building that is to bring more housing, stores 
and parking garage space to Blackstone. That nearly $44 million project 
was approved for $6.2 million in TIF.

Greenslate also is a leader in the 
planned midtown Saddle Creek redevelopment site that will extend the 
UNMC campus with about 25 acres of housing, retailers and pieces related
 to the medical industry.

“I like to say we’re in the business of doing good projects for Omaha,” Vanderheiden said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662581021433.png" alt="GreenSlate Development owns and plans to build an industrial warehouse on 11 acres just south of the Lozier plant at 5902 N. Ninth St. in North Omaha. This is a view looking south of Lozier (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>GreenSlate Development owns and plans to build an industrial warehouse on 11 acres just south of the Lozier plant at 5902 N. Ninth St. in North Omaha. This is a view looking south of Lozier (Cindy Gonzalez/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/trendy-blackstone-district-developer-looks-to-build-22-million-project-in-north-omaha/">Nebraska Examiner</a>OMAHA — A midtown real estate team 
best known for turning a forsaken urban corridor into the trendy 
Blackstone commercial district is venturing into different territory.GreenSlate Development wants to build a sprawling warehouse in an industrial area of North Omaha.The company has purchased 11 vacant acres north of the Storz Expressway along Ninth Street, near Eppley Airfield.<h2>Near $22 million project</h2>Carrying an overall price tag of 
nearly $22 million, the project calls for 160,000 square feet of 
building space, likely to be divided into four bays used for 
warehousing, distribution and storage. Tenants have yet to sign on.GreenSlate is seeking City of Omaha 
approval for $3.2 million in tax increment financing, saying the 
one-story structure would not be feasible without the public subsidy 
created by Nebraska law to encourage economic development.&nbsp;The Omaha Planning Board Wednesday gave its green light to the TIF request that still must be approved by the City Council.To be TIF eligible, a project must be
 in a blighted area. It works this way: Upon city approval, the owner 
takes out a loan to cover eligible expenses, including public 
improvements. The debt is paid by using increased property tax revenue 
generated on the new development during the loan period, in this case 20
 years.&nbsp;Once the loan is paid, the tax 
revenue on what will have become a property of higher value is 
redirected to traditional government coffers such as public schools and 
city and county governments.<h2>Diversity </h2>GreenSlate principal Clay 
Vanderheiden said that while industrial-type digs may not be the firm’s 
typical wheelhouse investment, he views it as diversification.And at a time when restaurants have 
been closing and traditional office-goers have been working remotely, 
industrial and distribution space has stood out as one of the strongest 
growing real estate sectors.Some say it’s “on the top of the heap,” said Vanderheiden.“I’m kind of a believer in not putting all your eggs in one singular basket,” he added.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662581118642.png" alt="Site of proposed GreensSlate industrial building near Eppley Airfield. (Courtesy of Omaha Planning Department)" />
 <figcaption>Site of proposed GreensSlate industrial building near Eppley Airfield. (Courtesy of Omaha Planning Department)</figcaption>
 </figure>Greenslate’s TIF application refers 
to the thriving industrial market, as reported by Cushman &amp; 
Wakefield/Lund Co. In the Omaha metro area at the start of the year, it 
said, about 5.3 million square feet of industrial space was in the 
construction pipeline, and most already was spoken for by owners or 
tenants.“Developers are racing to build 
industrial properties,” said Dennis Sciscoe, Lund’s market expert. 
“Demand is so high that most of the new developments are being leased 
before construction is complete.”He said much of the metro’s newer 
industrial space is in or around Sarpy County’s Highways 50 and 370 
corridors, including Facebook, which completed about 2.6 million square 
feet of data center space this year.GreenSlate officials note that its 
proposed North Omaha warehouse, being close to the airport and downtown 
Omaha, “is unique to the market and the additional square footage will 
be easily absorbed into the market.”They said the project aligns with the
 city’s master plan goals for job promotion and development of an 
industrial park near the airport.<h2>Airport area development </h2>A few other notable industrial projects are in the works near the airport.State Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell 
McKinney of Omaha, for instance, are trying to assemble property for a 
community business and industrial park that would be funded with $60 
million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds earmarked by the 
Legislature this last session.The City of Omaha has approved $1.2 
million in TIF for a 66,000-square-foot industrial building on four 
vacant acres near 13th and Fort Streets. A-United is expected to move 
into the property, which is expected to be ready next summer.Under construction on 13 acres at 
5906 Abbott Drive is a 150,000-square-foot warehousing and distribution 
building by developer F&amp;J Enterprises. That project was approved for
 nearly $3.9 million in TIF.The GreenSlate project site is just south of an existing and active Lozier warehouse operation.Vanderheiden said the land deal was 
presented to GreenSlate, which is working with broker Sciscoe. According
 to the TIF report, land acquisition cost $2.8 million.GreenSlate anticipates creation of 
107 new permanent jobs, not counting the 50 construction-related jobs 
during the building phase.About 161 outdoor parking stalls would be on the site, as well as 13 stalls for semitruck parking.<h2>Blackstone revival </h2>Over the past decade, GreenSlate — 
including principals Jay Lund and Matt Dwyer — said it has shepherded 
the flow of roughly $250 million (invested by GreenSlate and others), 
resulting in more than 30 new businesses in the Blackstone commercial 
district.Most buildings on the district’s main
 Farnam Street segment, east of the University of Nebraska Medical 
Center campus around 40th Street, have been redeveloped or slated for 
redevelopment. GreenSlate also is headquartered on the strip.The city has fostered the revival by 
reconfiguring Farnam Street from one-way to two-way traffic flow and 
adding new lighting and landscaping to create a more walkable district.Vanderheiden said Greenslate 
continues to do heavy lifting in the apartment and retail sectors, 
including a nine-story building that is to bring more housing, stores 
and parking garage space to Blackstone. That nearly $44 million project 
was approved for $6.2 million in TIF.Greenslate also is a leader in the 
planned midtown Saddle Creek redevelopment site that will extend the 
UNMC campus with about 25 acres of housing, retailers and pieces related
 to the medical industry.“I like to say we’re in the business of doing good projects for Omaha,” Vanderheiden said.

Trendy developer looks to build $22M project in North Omaha

By ARIANA FIGUEROA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/04/candidates-mostly-republican-skip-debates-bar-press-during-midterm-campaigns/">States Newsroom</a>

WASHINGTON — With two months left of 
the 2022 campaign season, a majority of Republican candidates are 
continuing to skirt away from not only talking to local and national 
media outlets about their policy issues, but their own constituents, 
leaving voters with little information on their policy positions.

“If we are to hold our elected officials accountable on their policy stance(s), we have to know what they are,” said Nicholas Valentino, a political science and research professor in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan.&nbsp;

The relationship between the press 
and politicians has always had some amount of contention, throughout 
Republican and Democratic-controlled congressional terms and White House
 administrations.&nbsp;

The Obama administration more than any White House administration<a target="_blank" href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/jan/10/jake-tapper/cnns-tapper-obama-has-used-espionage-act-more-all-/"> used the Espionage Act </a>to
 go after whistleblowers who leaked to the press. For example, the 
government has used that act 11 times to go after federal workers who 
shared classified information with the press, and the Obama 
administration alone used the act seven of those times.

But the refusal to talk to 
journalists and barring them from covering political events that would 
inform voters of their policy positions, has gotten worse over the 
years, and it’s showing up in local elections.&nbsp;

“If you can undermine the credibility
 of the press, then you can also absolve yourself the responsibility to 
speak to the press, and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the United 
States in that kind of behavior,” Valentino said.

He said it’s a trend that worries experts who study democratic stability not only in the United States, but across the world.

“One of the key indicators of 
democratic backsliding is our restriction of information to the free 
press and an unwillingness to speak to the press,” Valentino said.

It’s not just the media that 
Republican candidates are opting out of speaking to, it’s their own 
constituents. In Iowa, Republicans such as Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Sen. 
Chuck Grassley and U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and 
Mariannette Miller-Meeks <a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/08/22/gop-candidates-who-snub-mainstream-media-are-turning-their-backs-on-voters/">skipped an Iowa State Fair tradition</a>
 – the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox where candidates talk to 
the public about where they stand on the issues. The only Republicans 
who spoke were those challenging Democratic incumbents.&nbsp;

A majority of Republican candidates are also refusing to debate their Democratic opponents. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine <a target="_blank" href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/03/11/gov-dewine-turns-down-debate-invitation-without-explanation/">refused to debate Republican challengers </a>in the primary and now has said he will not debate <a target="_blank" href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/08/29/dewine-ducks-whaleys-call-for-debate/">his Democratic challenger</a>, former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.

In Nebraska, GOP governor candidate <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/17/gop-candidate-pillen-wont-debate-democrat-blood-in-governors-race/">Jim Pillen also refuses to debate his Democratic challenger</a>,
 State Sen. Carol Blood. If elected, Pillen would become Nebraska’s 
first governor since at least the 1970s to be elected without facing his
 opponents on a debate stage. (Nebraska U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, on the 
other hand, will <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bacon-and-vargas-to-debate-twice-in-october/">participate in two debates</a> and recently tweeted “I love debates.”)

And in a closely watched Georgia U.S. Senate race, Republican candidate Herschel Walker has yet to hold a public debate with Democratic
 Sen. Raphael Warnock, who became Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator 
after a special election in January of last year. Walker has challenged 
Warnock to several debates, which Warnock agreed to, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/herschel-walker-declines-invitation-to-debate-senator-warnock-in-macon-georgia/93-fb884d87-4e85-4f6a-8a02-a1cf47948d9a?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot">Walker has backed out of those debates.</a>&nbsp;

Walker has agreed to an Oct. 14 debate hosted by Nexstar Media Group. Warnock has not agreed to the debate, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/article265070919.html">refused to answer the question when asked by a reporter from the Ledger-Enquirer.&nbsp;</a>

Warnock’s campaign responded to States Newsroom, but did not answer if he would attend the Oct. 14 debate.&nbsp; 

“How can we expect Herschel Walker to stand up for Georgians in the Senate if he refuses to debate on stage?” Warnock <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1564667089138454531">wrote on Twitter</a> on Tuesday.&nbsp;

Walker has also frequently <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/the-jolt-herschel-walkers-campaign-bars-press-brings-in-reinforcements/E772YHRBJFCGNCPUEK42FWEWSA/">put restrictions on local press</a>, opting to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/herschel-walker-glad-anti-trump-gop-group-used-ex-wifes-graphic-comments-new-ad">release statements to conservative outlets like Fox News instead.</a>

Not all Republican candidates are declining debate invitations. For instance, Republican Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is running for governor, has <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/01/kelly-schmidt-agree-to-take-part-in-two-debates-one-forum-in-governors-race/">agreed to debate</a>
 Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Schmidt, however, waited three months 
after announcing his running mate before holding his first press 
conference.

And a few Democratic candidates have been criticized for turning down invitations.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman <a target="_blank" href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/election-2022/fetterman-still-recovering-from-stroke-declines-kdka-tvs-debate-invite/">has largely stayed away from interviews and accepting debate invitations</a> for weeks following a stroke in May. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/could-john-fetterman-shitpost-his-way-to-the-senate">His campaign has largely run on memes</a>, attacking his GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mehmet Oz for being a New Jersey resident.&nbsp;

Oz has agreed to attend what would be the first televised debate for the race, hosted by Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV, on Sept. 6.&nbsp;

And in Maryland, Democratic candidate Wes Moore and Republican candidate Dan Cox <a target="_blank" href="https://themsuspokesman.com/13881/special-coverage/cox-punches-ticket-moore-declines-spokesman-gubernatorial-forum/">were invited to a Sept. 27</a> gubernatorial forum by Morgan
 State University’s student-run news publication. Cox accepted, but 
Moore declined, with his spokesman saying Moore did not want to “elevate the dangerous views” of his challenger.&nbsp;

When political candidates refuse to 
step on the debate stage to either defend or explain their policy 
position, it makes it difficult for voters to be informed on what their 
representatives are doing, Valentino said.&nbsp;

“One of the major discoveries in 
political psychology over the last 50 or 60 years, which is that in 
fact, it is highly rare and difficult for constituencies to hold their 
elected officials accountable,” he said.&nbsp;

And when voters don’t have a clear 
idea of policy values a candidate holds, then their votes become more 
partisan, said Daniel Hopkins, a political science professor in the 
Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

“Voters, when they go to the polls, 
have a lot of information about national politics, and very little 
information about state and local politics,” he said. “There have been a
 whole set of very compelling studies in recent years, showing that when
 local newspapers go out of business, voters then tend to vote in more 
partisan ways.”&nbsp;

Voting based on party affiliation alone, is also a shift away from American democratic norms, Hopkins added.&nbsp;

“The reason that we ask voters to 
vote on all of these specific candidates, rather than just voting for a 
party, is because of the idea that the candidate matters, that 
candidates can take different positions, that these individuals are not 
just functionaries of their parties,” he said. “And so if voters are 
increasingly just joining the party line, that does pose a real tension 
with the way that we conduct our elections, which asks people to develop
 opinions about so many different political actors.”&nbsp;

And refusing to allow press into political rallies, also makes it difficult to inform voters, Hopkins added.&nbsp;

“They have less information, and so they’re going to stick with their partisanship,” Hopkins said.

Over the last several years, Hopkins 
said polarization has increased and certain Republican candidates have 
been “abandoning the idea that the news media can be a neutral outlet.”&nbsp;

He pointed to former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/142421000/by-attacking-the-media-gingrich-built-a-following">whose frequent attacks on the media helped him build a right-wing following ahead of the 2012 presidential primaries. </a>He
 lost the Republican presidential primary, but the norm of attacking the
 press as a biased institution, was quickly followed as a tactic for 
former Republican President Donald Trump.&nbsp;

The Trump administration also 
frequently attacked media outlets and barred them from press briefings 
and threatened to take away their White House press credentials. And in 
2017, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/greg-gianforte-bodyslams-reporter-ben-jacobs-montana">Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs was physically assaulted</a> by U.S. House Montana-at large Republican candidate Greg Gianforte, while asking him a question about health care.&nbsp;

Gianforte won the special election and is currently the governor of Montana.&nbsp;

The Republican National Committee this year <a target="_blank" href="https://gop.com/press-release/rnc-unanimously-votes-to-withdraw-from-commission-on-presidential-debates/">voted unanimously</a>
 to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates ahead of the 
2024 presidential election, arguing that it would not be a fair debate. 
The commission is a nonpartisan organization that has sponsored 
president and vice president debates since the ’80s and has Republican 
and Democratic membership.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“The Commission on Presidential 
Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and common sense 
reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before 
voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for 
candidates on the debate stage,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a 
statement.&nbsp;

And in Florida, GOP elected officials only allowed conservative media outlets to attend Sunshine
 Summit, an event where Republicans in the state discuss their political
 agendas. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, taunted non-conservative 
media outlets on Twitter who were barred from the event.&nbsp;

“It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren’t allowed into<a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SunshineSummit?src=hashtag_click"> #SunshineSummit</a>
 this weekend,” she wrote. “My message to them is to try crying about 
it. Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit 
piece you were gonna write anyway.”

Republican Alaskan candidate Sarah Palin <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/12/sarah-palin-reconsidered/">also avoided talking to the press</a> during the special election to finish the term of the state’s only member of Congress, Rep. Don Young, who died in March.&nbsp;

However, Palin <a target="_blank" href="https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/qa-with-2022-alaska-u-s-house-candidate-sarah-palin/">did answer a survey response by the Alaskan Beacon</a>
 about her various policy stances such as abortion (she doesn’t believe 
in codifying Roe. v. Wade), the validity of the 2020 presidential 
election (she believes the falsehood that former President Donald Trump 
won the election) and marijuana legalization (she believes it should be 
legal), among other issues.&nbsp;

She lost against Democratic candidate Mary Peltola after <a target="_blank" href="https://alaskabeacon.com/2022/08/31/peltola-wins-u-s-house-race-first-woman-and-alaska-native-to-represent-alaska-in-house/">rank choice votes were announced Wednesday night</a>.
 Peltola will become the first woman to represent Alaska in the U.S. 
House of Representatives, and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in 
Congress.

But shutting the press out isn’t the 
only concern that a democratic country is backsliding, Valentino said. 
The passage of strict voting laws – a trend among Republican 
state-controlled legislatures since the 2020 presidential election – and
 the denying of valid elections are some of the more egregious trends of
 eroding democracy.

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/how-election-denying-gop-governors-could-tilt-2024-presidential-election">Many 2020 election deniers have been nominated</a> as GOP candidates for governor in four critical swing states – Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Valentino said if election deniers 
started overturning elections, “that would ironically be one of the 
first major indications of election fraud occurring on behalf of the 
party that’s been accusing the other side of election fraud for years 
now.”

“That in some ways, most scholars 
would say, is far more serious than attacks on the press, because it 
would mean that you were actually taking votes that had been cast, and 
throwing them out,” he said. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662467393215.png" alt="Most Republican candidates for statewide and federal office skipped The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at this year’s Iowa State Fair. (Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)" />
 <figcaption>Most Republican candidates for statewide and federal office skipped The Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at this year’s Iowa State Fair. (Jared Strong/Iowa Capital Dispatch)</figcaption>
 </figure>By ARIANA FIGUEROA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/04/candidates-mostly-republican-skip-debates-bar-press-during-midterm-campaigns/">States Newsroom</a>WASHINGTON — With two months left of 
the 2022 campaign season, a majority of Republican candidates are 
continuing to skirt away from not only talking to local and national 
media outlets about their policy issues, but their own constituents, 
leaving voters with little information on their policy positions.“If we are to hold our elected officials accountable on their policy stance(s), we have to know what they are,” said Nicholas Valentino, a political science and research professor in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan.&nbsp;The relationship between the press 
and politicians has always had some amount of contention, throughout 
Republican and Democratic-controlled congressional terms and White House
 administrations.&nbsp;The Obama administration more than any White House administration<a target="_blank" href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2014/jan/10/jake-tapper/cnns-tapper-obama-has-used-espionage-act-more-all-/"> used the Espionage Act </a>to
 go after whistleblowers who leaked to the press. For example, the 
government has used that act 11 times to go after federal workers who 
shared classified information with the press, and the Obama 
administration alone used the act seven of those times.But the refusal to talk to 
journalists and barring them from covering political events that would 
inform voters of their policy positions, has gotten worse over the 
years, and it’s showing up in local elections.&nbsp;“If you can undermine the credibility
 of the press, then you can also absolve yourself the responsibility to 
speak to the press, and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the United 
States in that kind of behavior,” Valentino said.He said it’s a trend that worries experts who study democratic stability not only in the United States, but across the world.“One of the key indicators of 
democratic backsliding is our restriction of information to the free 
press and an unwillingness to speak to the press,” Valentino said.<h2>Debates are off the table too</h2>It’s not just the media that 
Republican candidates are opting out of speaking to, it’s their own 
constituents. In Iowa, Republicans such as Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Sen. 
Chuck Grassley and U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson and 
Mariannette Miller-Meeks <a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2022/08/22/gop-candidates-who-snub-mainstream-media-are-turning-their-backs-on-voters/">skipped an Iowa State Fair tradition</a>
 – the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox where candidates talk to 
the public about where they stand on the issues. The only Republicans 
who spoke were those challenging Democratic incumbents.&nbsp;A majority of Republican candidates are also refusing to debate their Democratic opponents. Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine <a target="_blank" href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/03/11/gov-dewine-turns-down-debate-invitation-without-explanation/">refused to debate Republican challengers </a>in the primary and now has said he will not debate <a target="_blank" href="https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2022/08/29/dewine-ducks-whaleys-call-for-debate/">his Democratic challenger</a>, former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley.In Nebraska, GOP governor candidate <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/08/17/gop-candidate-pillen-wont-debate-democrat-blood-in-governors-race/">Jim Pillen also refuses to debate his Democratic challenger</a>,
 State Sen. Carol Blood. If elected, Pillen would become Nebraska’s 
first governor since at least the 1970s to be elected without facing his
 opponents on a debate stage. (Nebraska U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, on the 
other hand, will <a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/bacon-and-vargas-to-debate-twice-in-october/">participate in two debates</a> and recently tweeted “I love debates.”)And in a closely watched Georgia U.S. Senate race, Republican candidate Herschel Walker has yet to hold a public debate with Democratic
 Sen. Raphael Warnock, who became Georgia’s first Black U.S. senator 
after a special election in January of last year. Walker has challenged 
Warnock to several debates, which Warnock agreed to, but <a target="_blank" href="https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/herschel-walker-declines-invitation-to-debate-senator-warnock-in-macon-georgia/93-fb884d87-4e85-4f6a-8a02-a1cf47948d9a?utm_campaign=snd-autopilot">Walker has backed out of those debates.</a>&nbsp;Walker has agreed to an Oct. 14 debate hosted by Nexstar Media Group. Warnock has not agreed to the debate, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/article265070919.html">refused to answer the question when asked by a reporter from the Ledger-Enquirer.&nbsp;</a>Warnock’s campaign responded to States Newsroom, but did not answer if he would attend the Oct. 14 debate.&nbsp; “How can we expect Herschel Walker to stand up for Georgians in the Senate if he refuses to debate on stage?” Warnock <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/ReverendWarnock/status/1564667089138454531">wrote on Twitter</a> on Tuesday.&nbsp;Walker has also frequently <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/the-jolt-herschel-walkers-campaign-bars-press-brings-in-reinforcements/E772YHRBJFCGNCPUEK42FWEWSA/">put restrictions on local press</a>, opting to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/herschel-walker-glad-anti-trump-gop-group-used-ex-wifes-graphic-comments-new-ad">release statements to conservative outlets like Fox News instead.</a>Not all Republican candidates are declining debate invitations. For instance, Republican Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is running for governor, has <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/01/kelly-schmidt-agree-to-take-part-in-two-debates-one-forum-in-governors-race/">agreed to debate</a>
 Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly. Schmidt, however, waited three months 
after announcing his running mate before holding his first press 
conference.And a few Democratic candidates have been criticized for turning down invitations.In Pennsylvania, Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman <a target="_blank" href="https://www.penncapital-star.com/election-2022/fetterman-still-recovering-from-stroke-declines-kdka-tvs-debate-invite/">has largely stayed away from interviews and accepting debate invitations</a> for weeks following a stroke in May. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/could-john-fetterman-shitpost-his-way-to-the-senate">His campaign has largely run on memes</a>, attacking his GOP U.S. Senate nominee Mehmet Oz for being a New Jersey resident.&nbsp;Oz has agreed to attend what would be the first televised debate for the race, hosted by Pittsburgh’s KDKA-TV, on Sept. 6.&nbsp;And in Maryland, Democratic candidate Wes Moore and Republican candidate Dan Cox <a target="_blank" href="https://themsuspokesman.com/13881/special-coverage/cox-punches-ticket-moore-declines-spokesman-gubernatorial-forum/">were invited to a Sept. 27</a> gubernatorial forum by Morgan
 State University’s student-run news publication. Cox accepted, but 
Moore declined, with his spokesman saying Moore did not want to “elevate the dangerous views” of his challenger.&nbsp;<h2>The rise of partisanship voting</h2>When political candidates refuse to 
step on the debate stage to either defend or explain their policy 
position, it makes it difficult for voters to be informed on what their 
representatives are doing, Valentino said.&nbsp;“One of the major discoveries in 
political psychology over the last 50 or 60 years, which is that in 
fact, it is highly rare and difficult for constituencies to hold their 
elected officials accountable,” he said.&nbsp;And when voters don’t have a clear 
idea of policy values a candidate holds, then their votes become more 
partisan, said Daniel Hopkins, a political science professor in the 
Department of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania.“Voters, when they go to the polls, 
have a lot of information about national politics, and very little 
information about state and local politics,” he said. “There have been a
 whole set of very compelling studies in recent years, showing that when
 local newspapers go out of business, voters then tend to vote in more 
partisan ways.”&nbsp;Voting based on party affiliation alone, is also a shift away from American democratic norms, Hopkins added.&nbsp;“The reason that we ask voters to 
vote on all of these specific candidates, rather than just voting for a 
party, is because of the idea that the candidate matters, that 
candidates can take different positions, that these individuals are not 
just functionaries of their parties,” he said. “And so if voters are 
increasingly just joining the party line, that does pose a real tension 
with the way that we conduct our elections, which asks people to develop
 opinions about so many different political actors.”&nbsp;And refusing to allow press into political rallies, also makes it difficult to inform voters, Hopkins added.&nbsp;“They have less information, and so they’re going to stick with their partisanship,” Hopkins said.<h2>Attacks on the press as strategy&nbsp;</h2>Over the last several years, Hopkins 
said polarization has increased and certain Republican candidates have 
been “abandoning the idea that the news media can be a neutral outlet.”&nbsp;He pointed to former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.npr.org/2011/11/17/142421000/by-attacking-the-media-gingrich-built-a-following">whose frequent attacks on the media helped him build a right-wing following ahead of the 2012 presidential primaries. </a>He
 lost the Republican presidential primary, but the norm of attacking the
 press as a biased institution, was quickly followed as a tactic for 
former Republican President Donald Trump.&nbsp;The Trump administration also 
frequently attacked media outlets and barred them from press briefings 
and threatened to take away their White House press credentials. And in 
2017, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/24/greg-gianforte-bodyslams-reporter-ben-jacobs-montana">Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs was physically assaulted</a> by U.S. House Montana-at large Republican candidate Greg Gianforte, while asking him a question about health care.&nbsp;Gianforte won the special election and is currently the governor of Montana.&nbsp;The Republican National Committee this year <a target="_blank" href="https://gop.com/press-release/rnc-unanimously-votes-to-withdraw-from-commission-on-presidential-debates/">voted unanimously</a>
 to withdraw from the Commission on Presidential Debates ahead of the 
2024 presidential election, arguing that it would not be a fair debate. 
The commission is a nonpartisan organization that has sponsored 
president and vice president debates since the ’80s and has Republican 
and Democratic membership.&nbsp;&nbsp;“The Commission on Presidential 
Debates is biased and has refused to enact simple and common sense 
reforms to help ensure fair debates including hosting debates before 
voting begins and selecting moderators who have never worked for 
candidates on the debate stage,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said in a 
statement.&nbsp;And in Florida, GOP elected officials only allowed conservative media outlets to attend Sunshine
 Summit, an event where Republicans in the state discuss their political
 agendas. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary, taunted non-conservative 
media outlets on Twitter who were barred from the event.&nbsp;“It has come to my attention that some liberal media activists are mad because they aren’t allowed into<a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SunshineSummit?src=hashtag_click"> #SunshineSummit</a>
 this weekend,” she wrote. “My message to them is to try crying about 
it. Then go to kickboxing and have a margarita. And write the same hit 
piece you were gonna write anyway.”Republican Alaskan candidate Sarah Palin <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/07/12/sarah-palin-reconsidered/">also avoided talking to the press</a> during the special election to finish the term of the state’s only member of Congress, Rep. Don Young, who died in March.&nbsp;However, Palin <a target="_blank" href="https://alaskabeacon.com/briefs/qa-with-2022-alaska-u-s-house-candidate-sarah-palin/">did answer a survey response by the Alaskan Beacon</a>
 about her various policy stances such as abortion (she doesn’t believe 
in codifying Roe. v. Wade), the validity of the 2020 presidential 
election (she believes the falsehood that former President Donald Trump 
won the election) and marijuana legalization (she believes it should be 
legal), among other issues.&nbsp;She lost against Democratic candidate Mary Peltola after <a target="_blank" href="https://alaskabeacon.com/2022/08/31/peltola-wins-u-s-house-race-first-woman-and-alaska-native-to-represent-alaska-in-house/">rank choice votes were announced Wednesday night</a>.
 Peltola will become the first woman to represent Alaska in the U.S. 
House of Representatives, and the first Alaska Native ever to serve in 
Congress.But shutting the press out isn’t the 
only concern that a democratic country is backsliding, Valentino said. 
The passage of strict voting laws – a trend among Republican 
state-controlled legislatures since the 2020 presidential election – and
 the denying of valid elections are some of the more egregious trends of
 eroding democracy.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/how-election-denying-gop-governors-could-tilt-2024-presidential-election">Many 2020 election deniers have been nominated</a> as GOP candidates for governor in four critical swing states – Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.Valentino said if election deniers 
started overturning elections, “that would ironically be one of the 
first major indications of election fraud occurring on behalf of the 
party that’s been accusing the other side of election fraud for years 
now.”“That in some ways, most scholars 
would say, is far more serious than attacks on the press, because it 
would mean that you were actually taking votes that had been cast, and 
throwing them out,” he said.

More candidates skip debates, bar press during midterms

WASHINGTON —The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory Tuesday to disseminate&nbsp;tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs)  associated with Vice Society actors identified through FBI investigations as recently as this month, according to a statement from the agency.

 The FBI has recently observed Vice Society actors disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks.

Over the Labor Day weekend, a ransomware attack targeting the huge Los Angeles school district prompted an unprecedented shutdown of its computer systems, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District sounded alarms across the country, from urgent talks with the White House and the National Security Council after the first signs of ransomware were discovered late Saturday night to mandated password changes for 540,000 students and 70,000 district employees.

Though the attack used technology that encrypts data and won’t unlock it unless a ransom is paid, in this case the district’s superintendent said no immediate demand for money was made and schools in the nation’s second-largest district opened as scheduled on Tuesday.

Such attacks have become a growing threat to U.S. schools, with several high-profile incidents reported since last year as pandemic-forced reliance on technology increases the impact. And ransomware gangs have in the past planned major attacks on U.S. holiday weekends, when they know IT staffing will be thin and security experts relaxing.

While it was not immediately clear when the LA attack began — officials have only said when it was detected and a district spokesperson declined to answer additional questions — Saturday night's discovery reached the highest levels of the federal government's cybersecurity agencies.

According to a senior administration official, this pattern of support was consistent with the Biden administration’s efforts to provide maximum assistance to critical industries affected by such breaches.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the federal response, said the school district did not pay ransom, but would not get into detail on what potentially might have been stolen or damaged and what systems were affected by the breach.

The White House's response to the LA incursion reflects a growing national security concern: A Pew Research Center survey, published last month, found that 71% of Americans say cyberattacks from other countries are a major threat to the U.S.

Authorities believe the LA attack originated internationally and have identified three potential countries where it may have come from, though LA Superintendent Alberto Carvalho would not say which countries may be involved. Most ransomware criminals are Russian speakers who operate without interference from the Kremlin.

LA officials did not identify the ransomware used.

“This was an act of cowardice,” said Nick Melvoin, the school board vice president. “A criminal act against kids, against their teachers and against an education system.”

So far this year, 26 U.S. school districts — including Los Angeles — and 24 colleges and universities have been hit by so-called ransomware, according to Brett Callow, a ransomware analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.

With victims increasingly refusing to pay to have their data unlocked, many cybercriminals instead use the same technology to steal sensitive information and demand extortion payments. If the victim doesn’t pay, the data gets dumped online.

Callow said at least 31 of the schools hit this year had data stolen and released online, and noted that eight of the school districts have been hit since Aug. 1. The upsurge on schools as summer vacations end is almost certainly not coincidental, he said.

“It is the No. 1 threat to our safety,” said Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It is an invisible foe and it is tireless.”

Tireless — and expensive, even outside of any monetary demands. A ransomware extortion attack in Albuquerque’s biggest school district forced schools to close for two days in January, while Baltimore City's response to a 2019 hit on its computer servers cost upwards of $18 million.

The LA attack was discovered around 10:30 p.m. Saturday when staff first detected “unusual activity," Carvalho said. The perpetrators appear to have targeted the facilities systems, which involves information about private-sector contractor payments — which are publicly available through records requests — rather than confidential details like payroll, health and other data.

He said district IT officials detected the malware and stopped it from propagating but not until after it infected key network systems, necessitating the reset of passwords for all staff and students.

Authorities scrambled to trace the intruders and restrict potential damage.

“We basically shut down every one of our systems,” Carvalho said, noting that each one had been checked and all but one — the facilities system — restarted by late Monday night, when the district first notified the public of the hit.

On Tuesday, federal authorities separately warned of potential ransomware attacks by the criminal syndicate known as Vice Society, which has allegedly disproportionately targeted the education sector.

Authorities have not said whether they believe Vice Society is involved in the LA attack and the group did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

“The fact that a joint cybersecurity advisory relating to Vice Society was issued within days of the attack on LAUSD being discovered may be telling, especially as this gang has frequently targeted the education sector in both the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Callow, the ransomware expert.

Vice Society first appeared in May 2021 and, rather than a unique variant, it has used ransomware widely available in the Russian-speaking underground, security researchers say. Among victims claimed by Vice Society are the Elmbrook School district in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/wisconsin">Wisconsin</a>&nbsp;and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Ransomware gangs routinely dissolve after high-profile attacks such as last year’s Colonial Pipeline incident, which triggered runs on gas stations. Their members then reconstitute under new names.

While there was pressure to cancel school in Los Angeles on Tuesday, officials ultimately decided to stay open.

Had the activity not been discovered on Saturday night, Carvalho said there could have been “catastrophic” consequences.

“If we had lost the ability to run our school buses, over 40,000 of our students would not have been able to get to school, or it would have been a highly disrupted system,” he said.

The district plans to do a forensic audit of the attack to see what can be done to prevent future incursions.

“Every teacher, every employee, every student can be a weak point,” said Soheil Katal, the district's chief information officer.

WASHINGTON —The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center released a joint Cybersecurity Advisory Tuesday to disseminate&nbsp;tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) and indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with Vice Society actors identified through FBI investigations as recently as this month, according to a statement from the agency. The FBI has recently observed Vice Society actors disproportionately targeting the education sector with ransomware attacks.Over the Labor Day weekend, a ransomware attack targeting the huge Los Angeles school district prompted an unprecedented shutdown of its computer systems, according to a report by the Associated Press.The attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District sounded alarms across the country, from urgent talks with the White House and the National Security Council after the first signs of ransomware were discovered late Saturday night to mandated password changes for 540,000 students and 70,000 district employees.Though the attack used technology that encrypts data and won’t unlock it unless a ransom is paid, in this case the district’s superintendent said no immediate demand for money was made and schools in the nation’s second-largest district opened as scheduled on Tuesday.Such attacks have become a growing threat to U.S. schools, with several high-profile incidents reported since last year as pandemic-forced reliance on technology increases the impact. And ransomware gangs have in the past planned major attacks on U.S. holiday weekends, when they know IT staffing will be thin and security experts relaxing.While it was not immediately clear when the LA attack began — officials have only said when it was detected and a district spokesperson declined to answer additional questions — Saturday night's discovery reached the highest levels of the federal government's cybersecurity agencies.According to a senior administration official, this pattern of support was consistent with the Biden administration’s efforts to provide maximum assistance to critical industries affected by such breaches.The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the federal response, said the school district did not pay ransom, but would not get into detail on what potentially might have been stolen or damaged and what systems were affected by the breach.The White House's response to the LA incursion reflects a growing national security concern: A Pew Research Center survey, published last month, found that 71% of Americans say cyberattacks from other countries are a major threat to the U.S.Authorities believe the LA attack originated internationally and have identified three potential countries where it may have come from, though LA Superintendent Alberto Carvalho would not say which countries may be involved. Most ransomware criminals are Russian speakers who operate without interference from the Kremlin.LA officials did not identify the ransomware used.“This was an act of cowardice,” said Nick Melvoin, the school board vice president. “A criminal act against kids, against their teachers and against an education system.”So far this year, 26 U.S. school districts — including Los Angeles — and 24 colleges and universities have been hit by so-called ransomware, according to Brett Callow, a ransomware analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft.With victims increasingly refusing to pay to have their data unlocked, many cybercriminals instead use the same technology to steal sensitive information and demand extortion payments. If the victim doesn’t pay, the data gets dumped online.Callow said at least 31 of the schools hit this year had data stolen and released online, and noted that eight of the school districts have been hit since Aug. 1. The upsurge on schools as summer vacations end is almost certainly not coincidental, he said.“It is the No. 1 threat to our safety,” said Michel Moore, chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. “It is an invisible foe and it is tireless.”Tireless — and expensive, even outside of any monetary demands. A ransomware extortion attack in Albuquerque’s biggest school district forced schools to close for two days in January, while Baltimore City's response to a 2019 hit on its computer servers cost upwards of $18 million.The LA attack was discovered around 10:30 p.m. Saturday when staff first detected “unusual activity," Carvalho said. The perpetrators appear to have targeted the facilities systems, which involves information about private-sector contractor payments — which are publicly available through records requests — rather than confidential details like payroll, health and other data.He said district IT officials detected the malware and stopped it from propagating but not until after it infected key network systems, necessitating the reset of passwords for all staff and students.Authorities scrambled to trace the intruders and restrict potential damage.“We basically shut down every one of our systems,” Carvalho said, noting that each one had been checked and all but one — the facilities system — restarted by late Monday night, when the district first notified the public of the hit.On Tuesday, federal authorities separately warned of potential ransomware attacks by the criminal syndicate known as Vice Society, which has allegedly disproportionately targeted the education sector.Authorities have not said whether they believe Vice Society is involved in the LA attack and the group did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.“The fact that a joint cybersecurity advisory relating to Vice Society was issued within days of the attack on LAUSD being discovered may be telling, especially as this gang has frequently targeted the education sector in both the U.S. and the U.K.,” said Callow, the ransomware expert.Vice Society first appeared in May 2021 and, rather than a unique variant, it has used ransomware widely available in the Russian-speaking underground, security researchers say. Among victims claimed by Vice Society are the Elmbrook School district in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/wisconsin">Wisconsin</a>&nbsp;and the Savannah College of Art and Design.Ransomware gangs routinely dissolve after high-profile attacks such as last year’s Colonial Pipeline incident, which triggered runs on gas stations. Their members then reconstitute under new names.While there was pressure to cancel school in Los Angeles on Tuesday, officials ultimately decided to stay open.Had the activity not been discovered on Saturday night, Carvalho said there could have been “catastrophic” consequences.“If we had lost the ability to run our school buses, over 40,000 of our students would not have been able to get to school, or it would have been a highly disrupted system,” he said.The district plans to do a forensic audit of the attack to see what can be done to prevent future incursions.“Every teacher, every employee, every student can be a weak point,” said Soheil Katal, the district's chief information officer.-----

FBI issues cyber attack warning for schools nationwide

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/nebraska-looks-to-deploy-millions-of-dollars-to-address-broadband-needs/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts again on Wednesday criticized the 
“partisan” American Rescue Plan Act pushed by President Joe Biden to 
help the country recover from the pandemic, saying it is fueling today’s
 high inflation.

But the Republican governor said that doesn’t mean Nebraska isn’t 
going after the millions and millions of dollars of federal funds that 
ARPA is sending to the states to improve high-speed internet service.

“The money’s available, we’re going to take advantage of it,” Ricketts said. “It doesn’t mean the stimulus package was the right policy for our country.”

On Wednesday, the governor announced that the state will launch a new
 website Monday to help Nebraskans and local companies get involved in 
the deployment of nearly $200 million in recent federal funds to bring 
broadband to under- and unserved areas of the state.

The state was<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-gets-87-7-million-in-additional-funds-for-broadband-expansion/"> just awarded $87.7 million</a>
 for broadband improvement via ARPA, which was passed along partisan 
lines by Congress. Nebraska expects to receive at least $100 million 
through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program 
authorized through Biden’s infrastructure bill.

Those monies are in addition to $30 million the state received to 
help companies expand high-speed internet through the CARES Act, passed 
under former President Donald Trump, and $40 million allocated by 
Nebraska through the Broadband Bridge Act. Another $7.2 million in 
federal funds are headed to the state to better educate Nebraskans on 
using the internet.

High-speed internet, Ricketts said, is essential for growing 
businesses, educating our citizens, using high-tech farm equipment and 
expanding access to health care.

He related the story of a Mullen High School student who had to drive
 10 miles on his family’s remote ranch to get a strong enough internet 
connection to do homework. One pig farmer, Ricketts said, was able to 
double his operation once he had high-speed internet.

“When we have it, we can expand,” he said.

At a press conference, Patrick Redmond, the state’s 
broadband coordinator, said Nebraska plans to use planning funds 
allocated through the BEAD program to determine “the gaps” in internet 
coverage across the state and where funds should be deployed.

The more “needs” the state can show through its own mapping of 
internet speeds, the more money Nebraska is likely to receive, Ricketts 
said.

As of February 2021, according to Ricketts, an 
estimated 80,000 Nebraska households did not have access to internet 
speeds of 25 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload, which is considered 
minimal broadband service. An estimated 150,000 Nebraskans did not have 
access to 100/20 speed service in 2021.

Internet speeds of 100/100 are being sought through the state’s broadband programs.

Dan Watermeier, the chairman of the Nebraska Public Service 
Commission, said that elected body is well-situated to distribute the 
federal funds the state is getting for broadband.

The PSC, he added, has already been involved in distributing funds 
through the state and federal Universal Service Funds to expand 
high-speed internet. It is also in its second round of distributing 
Broadband Bridge Act monies.

“We’ve been in this business a long time,” Watermeier said.

Among other information, the new website,
 “broadband.nebraska.gov” will provide schedules on “listening sessions”
 for Nebraskans to weigh in on high-speed internet needs and issues.

Ricketts said today’s high inflation can be directly tied to the 2021
 ARPA passage, which provided $1.9 trillion in federal funds to 
jumpstart the economy after the pandemic.

Analysts have said ARPA contributed to about half of today’s 
inflation, with higher energy prices, as well as post-COVID-19 supply 
chain problems and labor shortages, also contributing.

Former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Bob Kerrey, <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/07/25/who-deserves-thanks-for-the-arpa-funding/">in a recent commentary</a>
 in the Nebraska Examiner, criticized politicians who have failed to 
given enough credit for “a lot of good” the ARPA funds have done for 
Nebraska.

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/nebraska-looks-to-deploy-millions-of-dollars-to-address-broadband-needs/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Gov. Pete Ricketts again on Wednesday criticized the 
“partisan” American Rescue Plan Act pushed by President Joe Biden to 
help the country recover from the pandemic, saying it is fueling today’s
 high inflation.But the Republican governor said that doesn’t mean Nebraska isn’t 
going after the millions and millions of dollars of federal funds that 
ARPA is sending to the states to improve high-speed internet service.“The money’s available, we’re going to take advantage of it,” Ricketts said. “It doesn’t mean the stimulus package was the right policy for our country.”On Wednesday, the governor announced that the state will launch a new
 website Monday to help Nebraskans and local companies get involved in 
the deployment of nearly $200 million in recent federal funds to bring 
broadband to under- and unserved areas of the state.The state was<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-gets-87-7-million-in-additional-funds-for-broadband-expansion/"> just awarded $87.7 million</a>
 for broadband improvement via ARPA, which was passed along partisan 
lines by Congress. Nebraska expects to receive at least $100 million 
through the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program 
authorized through Biden’s infrastructure bill.<h2>CARES Act under Trump</h2>Those monies are in addition to $30 million the state received to 
help companies expand high-speed internet through the CARES Act, passed 
under former President Donald Trump, and $40 million allocated by 
Nebraska through the Broadband Bridge Act. Another $7.2 million in 
federal funds are headed to the state to better educate Nebraskans on 
using the internet.High-speed internet, Ricketts said, is essential for growing 
businesses, educating our citizens, using high-tech farm equipment and 
expanding access to health care.He related the story of a Mullen High School student who had to drive
 10 miles on his family’s remote ranch to get a strong enough internet 
connection to do homework. One pig farmer, Ricketts said, was able to 
double his operation once he had high-speed internet.“When we have it, we can expand,” he said.At a press conference, Patrick Redmond, the state’s 
broadband coordinator, said Nebraska plans to use planning funds 
allocated through the BEAD program to determine “the gaps” in internet 
coverage across the state and where funds should be deployed.The more “needs” the state can show through its own mapping of 
internet speeds, the more money Nebraska is likely to receive, Ricketts 
said.As of February 2021, according to Ricketts, an 
estimated 80,000 Nebraska households did not have access to internet 
speeds of 25 Mbit/s download and 3 Mbit/s upload, which is considered 
minimal broadband service. An estimated 150,000 Nebraskans did not have 
access to 100/20 speed service in 2021.Internet speeds of 100/100 are being sought through the state’s broadband programs.<h2>PSC already distributing funds</h2>Dan Watermeier, the chairman of the Nebraska Public Service 
Commission, said that elected body is well-situated to distribute the 
federal funds the state is getting for broadband.The PSC, he added, has already been involved in distributing funds 
through the state and federal Universal Service Funds to expand 
high-speed internet. It is also in its second round of distributing 
Broadband Bridge Act monies.“We’ve been in this business a long time,” Watermeier said.Among other information, the new website,
 “broadband.nebraska.gov” will provide schedules on “listening sessions”
 for Nebraskans to weigh in on high-speed internet needs and issues.Ricketts said today’s high inflation can be directly tied to the 2021
 ARPA passage, which provided $1.9 trillion in federal funds to 
jumpstart the economy after the pandemic.Analysts have said ARPA contributed to about half of today’s 
inflation, with higher energy prices, as well as post-COVID-19 supply 
chain problems and labor shortages, also contributing.Former U.S. Sen. and Gov. Bob Kerrey, <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/07/25/who-deserves-thanks-for-the-arpa-funding/">in a recent commentary</a>
 in the Nebraska Examiner, criticized politicians who have failed to 
given enough credit for “a lot of good” the ARPA funds have done for 
Nebraska.

Nebraska looks to deploy millions to address broadband needs

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/massive-tire-pile-is-no-more-village-of-alvo-and-new-recycler-look-ahead/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN – A massive pile of scrap
 tires in a small Nebraska village, which had posed both a dangerous 
fire threat and a breeding ground for mosquitos, has been cleaned up.

Regulators with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy 
affirmed recently that the huge pile of scrap tires — as high as 20 feet
 tall and containing hundreds of thousands of tires — had been removed 
at a recycling facility in Alvo, a village of 130 people between Omaha 
and Lincoln.

“We spent an obscene amount of money, but we made a 
commitment to clean it up,” said Pete Langer, who took over the business
 from an ailing father a year ago.

He said that nearly 5,000 tons of scrap tires were shredded and 
removed over the past year, which was more than had been estimated to 
have piled up at the facility.

Jim Macy, director of the NDEE, said the case shows that when the 
agency uses its enforcement authority, in conjunction with “willing 
people who want to do the right thing,” you can get facilities cleaned 
up and back in compliance.

The Alvo recycling facility, operated by B-Rose Tire Recycling and 
its affiliate, LAL Enterprises, had been the subject of months of 
complaints, as well as orders from the NDEE and State Fire Marshall’s 
Office to clean it up.

At one point, the pile of scrap tires had grown to more than twice 
its allowable limit of 160,000 “passenger tire equivalents,” a 
calculation of the car, truck and tractor tires.

A year ago, the operation still hadn’t sufficiently reduced the size 
of the pile. Langer said that his father, Larry, the former owner, 
suffered from cancer, which was the main reason the process of shredding
 the tires and hauling them off to a landfill got so far behind.

Pete Langer, who owns a recycling/diesel truck repair business based 
in Scottsbluff, said he appreciated that the NDEE was willing to work 
with him after seeing that he was making progress in removing the tires.

Now, he said, scrap tires that the business collects are quickly shredded for transport to the landfill.

The NDEE, during a site visit in May, confirmed that all the waste tires “have been removed.”

“It’s cleaned up like you wouldn’t believe,” said Chris Juilfs, the chairman of the Alvo Village Board.

Langer said he’s still deciding how to use the site in the future as 
part of his Langer Industrial Services, which has operations in Lincoln,
 Scottsbluff, Colby and Hays, Kansas, and Torrington, Wyoming,

It’s possible that the scrap tires might be used to generate electricity in Wyoming, he said, where such use is permitted.

Alvo has been jolted by a series of problems. Alvo’s village clerk 
pleaded guilty four years ago to embezzling $105,000 in town funds. Two 
years ago, criminal charges were filed against the fire chief, accusing 
him of using $18,000 in fire department money for personal expenses.

Juilfs said that the village is making progress in climbing out of 
debt, and is expected to get some restitution soon for some of the 
stolen funds.

“We’re moving forward,” he said. “By next year, we will have money to make improvements to our roads and our water system.”

The NDEE, which by law seeks to obtain voluntary compliance with 
regulations before seeking fines or sanctions, continues to work on a 
higher profile, clean-up project — to get contaminated waste removed 
from the site of the former AltEn ethanol plant near Mead. It has been 
working with an environmental firm hired by a group of seed corn 
companies to accomplish that.

The facility, unlike other ethanol plants, had utilized expired seed 
corn coated in pesticides to produce ethanol, leaving behind a reeking 
byproduct and pesticide residues that have been found in nearby streams 
and at least one home.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662569813766.png" alt="A pile of scrap tires, pictured here in July 2021, once stretched over a large portion of a scrap yard in Alvo (courtesy Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy)" />
 <figcaption>A pile of scrap tires, pictured here in July 2021, once stretched over a large portion of a scrap yard in Alvo (courtesy Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/07/massive-tire-pile-is-no-more-village-of-alvo-and-new-recycler-look-ahead/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN – A massive pile of scrap
 tires in a small Nebraska village, which had posed both a dangerous 
fire threat and a breeding ground for mosquitos, has been cleaned up.Regulators with the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy 
affirmed recently that the huge pile of scrap tires — as high as 20 feet
 tall and containing hundreds of thousands of tires — had been removed 
at a recycling facility in Alvo, a village of 130 people between Omaha 
and Lincoln.“We spent an obscene amount of money, but we made a 
commitment to clean it up,” said Pete Langer, who took over the business
 from an ailing father a year ago.<h2>5,000 tons removed</h2>He said that nearly 5,000 tons of scrap tires were shredded and 
removed over the past year, which was more than had been estimated to 
have piled up at the facility.Jim Macy, director of the NDEE, said the case shows that when the 
agency uses its enforcement authority, in conjunction with “willing 
people who want to do the right thing,” you can get facilities cleaned 
up and back in compliance.The Alvo recycling facility, operated by B-Rose Tire Recycling and 
its affiliate, LAL Enterprises, had been the subject of months of 
complaints, as well as orders from the NDEE and State Fire Marshall’s 
Office to clean it up.<h2>Twice allowable size</h2>At one point, the pile of scrap tires had grown to more than twice 
its allowable limit of 160,000 “passenger tire equivalents,” a 
calculation of the car, truck and tractor tires.A year ago, the operation still hadn’t sufficiently reduced the size 
of the pile. Langer said that his father, Larry, the former owner, 
suffered from cancer, which was the main reason the process of shredding
 the tires and hauling them off to a landfill got so far behind.Pete Langer, who owns a recycling/diesel truck repair business based 
in Scottsbluff, said he appreciated that the NDEE was willing to work 
with him after seeing that he was making progress in removing the tires.Now, he said, scrap tires that the business collects are quickly shredded for transport to the landfill.<h2>Site visit in May</h2>The NDEE, during a site visit in May, confirmed that all the waste tires “have been removed.”“It’s cleaned up like you wouldn’t believe,” said Chris Juilfs, the chairman of the Alvo Village Board.Langer said he’s still deciding how to use the site in the future as 
part of his Langer Industrial Services, which has operations in Lincoln,
 Scottsbluff, Colby and Hays, Kansas, and Torrington, Wyoming,<h2>Tires for energy</h2>It’s possible that the scrap tires might be used to generate electricity in Wyoming, he said, where such use is permitted.Alvo has been jolted by a series of problems. Alvo’s village clerk 
pleaded guilty four years ago to embezzling $105,000 in town funds. Two 
years ago, criminal charges were filed against the fire chief, accusing 
him of using $18,000 in fire department money for personal expenses.Juilfs said that the village is making progress in climbing out of 
debt, and is expected to get some restitution soon for some of the 
stolen funds.“We’re moving forward,” he said. “By next year, we will have money to make improvements to our roads and our water system.”The NDEE, which by law seeks to obtain voluntary compliance with 
regulations before seeking fines or sanctions, continues to work on a 
higher profile, clean-up project — to get contaminated waste removed 
from the site of the former AltEn ethanol plant near Mead. It has been 
working with an environmental firm hired by a group of seed corn 
companies to accomplish that.The facility, unlike other ethanol plants, had utilized expired seed 
corn coated in pesticides to produce ethanol, leaving behind a reeking 
byproduct and pesticide residues that have been found in nearby streams 
and at least one home.

Massive eastern Nebraska tire pile is no more

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico state district court judge on Tuesday disqualified county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin from holding public office for engaging in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The judgment from state District Court Judge Francis Mathew permanently bars Griffin from federal and local public office. It arrived amid a spate of lawsuits aimed at sidelining political candidates and elected officials linked to the Capitol riots.

Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.

The new ruling immediately removes Griffin from his position as a commissioner in Otero County in southern New Mexico. He also is barred from serving as a presidential elector.

“Mr. Griffin aided the insurrection even though he did not personally engage in violence,” Mathew wrote. “By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings.”

Griffin said he was notified of his removal from office by Otero County staff, who prevented him from accessing his work computer and office space at a county building in Alamogordo.

Griffin, who served as his own legal counsel at a two-day bench trial in August, called the ruling a “total disgrace” that disenfranchises his constituents in Otero County.

“The actions that are being taken are, I believe, perfect evidence of the tyranny that we’re right now living under,” Griffin said. “The left continues to speak about democracy being under attack, but is this democracy? Whenever you’re removed from office by the civil courts by the opinion of a liberal judge.”

A flurry of similar lawsuits around the country are seeking to punish politicians who took part in Jan. 6 under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-north-carolina-elections-5544cab86d8a2190a44460d5cae36828">provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution</a>, which holds that anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution can be barred from office for engaging in insurrection or rebellion.

The provisions were put in place shortly after the Civil War.

“It was written to deal with former Confederates ... and it’s basically been dormant ever since with one or two odd exceptions,” said Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “There was nothing else that could be described as an insurrection against the Constitution until Jan. 6.”

At trial, Griffin invoked free speech guarantees in his defense and argued that removing him from office would cut against the will of the people and set a “dangerous precedent.” Elected in 2018, Griffin withstood a recall vote last year but isn’t running for reelection or other office in November.

Mathew wrote that Griffin’s arguments “disregard that the Constitution itself reflects the will of the people.”

Griffin “overlooks that his own insurrectionary conduct on January 6 sought to subvert the results of a free and fair election, which would have disenfranchised millions of voters.”

The lawsuit against Griffin was brought by three plaintiffs in New Mexico with assistance from the Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Supportive briefs were filed by the NAACP and progressive watchdog group Common Cause. A federal court declined a recent request to take up the case.

Tuesday’s judgment is “a historic win for accountability for the January 6th insurrection and the efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.

Griffin, a Republican,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">forged a group of rodeo acquaintances</a>&nbsp;in 2019 into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump that staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.

This year, Griffin&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">voted twice as a county commissioner against certifying</a>&nbsp;New Mexico’s June 7 primary election, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">standoff over election integrity</a>&nbsp;fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment in the Republican-dominated county.

Two other commissioners eventually agreed to certify, but Griffin cast the lone dissenting vote while acknowledging that he had no specific basis for questioning the results of the election — attributing his decision to “my gut feeling and my own intuition.”

Griffin is among a dozen people charged in the Jan. 6 riot that had either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the two and a half years before the attack. Of those, seven have been convicted of crimes for their participation.

Unlike Griffin, the members of Congress targeted for disqualification were neither charged nor convicted of crimes associated with the Capitol riot.

In Georgia, a federal judge allowed a 14th Amendment challenge against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green to advance, but a state administrative law judge found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to back voters’ claims that she had engaged in insurrection, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Greene was qualified to run.

Greene won her primary, and the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the decision last week to leave her on the ballot. The federal appeal is pending.

In North Carolina, a federal judge blocked the state elections board from formally examining whether U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at the rally that preceded the riot, should remain on the state’s May 17 primary ballot.

Cawthorn narrowly lost that election, and later in May a federal appeals court reversed the lower court decision. The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trial judge got it wrong when he ruled that an 1872 law that removed office-holding disqualifications from most ex-Confederates also exempted current members of Congress like Cawthorn. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed as moot because Cawthorn isn’t on the November ballot.

Arizona state courts have kept U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs and a state legislator on the ballot amid efforts to disqualify them. A judge agreed in April with the lawmakers that Congress created no enforcement mechanism for the 14th Amendment, barring a criminal conviction.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662516267888.png" alt=" Couy Griffin photo courtesy Cowboys For Trump Facebook" />
 <figcaption> Couy Griffin photo courtesy Cowboys For Trump Facebook</figcaption>
 </figure>SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico state district court judge on Tuesday disqualified county commissioner and Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin from holding public office for engaging in insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.The judgment from state District Court Judge Francis Mathew permanently bars Griffin from federal and local public office. It arrived amid a spate of lawsuits aimed at sidelining political candidates and elected officials linked to the Capitol riots.Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.The new ruling immediately removes Griffin from his position as a commissioner in Otero County in southern New Mexico. He also is barred from serving as a presidential elector.“Mr. Griffin aided the insurrection even though he did not personally engage in violence,” Mathew wrote. “By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’s election-certification proceedings.”Griffin said he was notified of his removal from office by Otero County staff, who prevented him from accessing his work computer and office space at a county building in Alamogordo.Griffin, who served as his own legal counsel at a two-day bench trial in August, called the ruling a “total disgrace” that disenfranchises his constituents in Otero County.“The actions that are being taken are, I believe, perfect evidence of the tyranny that we’re right now living under,” Griffin said. “The left continues to speak about democracy being under attack, but is this democracy? Whenever you’re removed from office by the civil courts by the opinion of a liberal judge.”A flurry of similar lawsuits around the country are seeking to punish politicians who took part in Jan. 6 under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-marjorie-taylor-greene-north-carolina-elections-5544cab86d8a2190a44460d5cae36828">provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution</a>, which holds that anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution can be barred from office for engaging in insurrection or rebellion.The provisions were put in place shortly after the Civil War.“It was written to deal with former Confederates ... and it’s basically been dormant ever since with one or two odd exceptions,” said Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “There was nothing else that could be described as an insurrection against the Constitution until Jan. 6.”At trial, Griffin invoked free speech guarantees in his defense and argued that removing him from office would cut against the will of the people and set a “dangerous precedent.” Elected in 2018, Griffin withstood a recall vote last year but isn’t running for reelection or other office in November.Mathew wrote that Griffin’s arguments “disregard that the Constitution itself reflects the will of the people.”Griffin “overlooks that his own insurrectionary conduct on January 6 sought to subvert the results of a free and fair election, which would have disenfranchised millions of voters.”The lawsuit against Griffin was brought by three plaintiffs in New Mexico with assistance from the Washington-based Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Supportive briefs were filed by the NAACP and progressive watchdog group Common Cause. A federal court declined a recent request to take up the case.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1654808700580.png" alt="Griffin is among a dozen people charged in the Jan. 6 riot that had either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the two and a half years before the attack. Of those, seven have been convicted of crimes for their participation.-Photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Griffin is among a dozen people charged in the Jan. 6 riot that had either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the two and a half years before the attack. Of those, seven have been convicted of crimes for their participation.-Photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>Tuesday’s judgment is “a historic win for accountability for the January 6th insurrection and the efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics President Noah Bookbinder said in a statement.Griffin, a Republican,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">forged a group of rodeo acquaintances</a>&nbsp;in 2019 into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump that staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.This year, Griffin&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">voted twice as a county commissioner against certifying</a>&nbsp;New Mexico’s June 7 primary election, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/In%20Georgia,%20a%20federal%20judge%20allowed%20a%2014th%20Amendment%20challenge%20against%20Rep.%20Marjorie%20Taylor%20Green%20to%20continue,%20but%20a%20state%20administrative%20law%20judge%20found%20there%20wasn%E2%80%99t%20sufficient%20evidence%20to%20back%20voters%E2%80%99%20claims%20that%20she%20had%20engaged%20in%20insurrection,%20and%20Secretary%20of%20State%20Brad%20Raffensperger%20said%20Greene%20was%20qualified%20to%20run.%20She%20also%20won%20her%20primary.%20The%20Georgia%20Supreme%20Court%20upheld%20that%20decision%20last%20week.%20The%20federal%20appeal%20is%20pending." target="_blank">standoff over election integrity</a>&nbsp;fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment in the Republican-dominated county.Two other commissioners eventually agreed to certify, but Griffin cast the lone dissenting vote while acknowledging that he had no specific basis for questioning the results of the election — attributing his decision to “my gut feeling and my own intuition.”Griffin is among a dozen people charged in the Jan. 6 riot that had either held public office or ran for a government leadership post in the two and a half years before the attack. Of those, seven have been convicted of crimes for their participation.Unlike Griffin, the members of Congress targeted for disqualification were neither charged nor convicted of crimes associated with the Capitol riot.In Georgia, a federal judge allowed a 14th Amendment challenge against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green to advance, but a state administrative law judge found there wasn’t sufficient evidence to back voters’ claims that she had engaged in insurrection, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Greene was qualified to run.Greene won her primary, and the Georgia Supreme Court upheld the decision last week to leave her on the ballot. The federal appeal is pending.In North Carolina, a federal judge blocked the state elections board from formally examining whether U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who spoke at the rally that preceded the riot, should remain on the state’s May 17 primary ballot.Cawthorn narrowly lost that election, and later in May a federal appeals court reversed the lower court decision. The panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trial judge got it wrong when he ruled that an 1872 law that removed office-holding disqualifications from most ex-Confederates also exempted current members of Congress like Cawthorn. The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed as moot because Cawthorn isn’t on the November ballot.Arizona state courts have kept U.S. Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs and a state legislator on the ballot amid efforts to disqualify them. A judge agreed in April with the lawmakers that Congress created no enforcement mechanism for the 14th Amendment, barring a criminal conviction.___

First time 14th amendment used to disqualify official from office 

BARTON COUNTY — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Great Bend Police Department on Tuesday announced new evidence in the unsolved double murder of 79-year-old Mary Drake and 24-year-old Mandi Alexander, that occurred at the Dolly Madison Bakery, 1004 Harrison, in Great Bend on Sept. 4, 2002.&nbsp;

After 20 years, the KBI reported Tuesday it has found new DNA evidence on a sample collected from the body of one of the victims.

<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/b71f6fd9-f340-4839-bd6a-9eb7b0f92322">RELATED: 20 years later: Memories of life before, after Dolly Madison murders</a>

KBI agents and detectives from the Great Bend Police Department have collected numerous DNA samples for comparison to the DNA discovered, and will continue with these efforts in order to possibly make an arrest.&nbsp;

A witness described seeing a white male — 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2, 175 pounds with collar-length light brown to blond hair and a slight beard — walking away from the front door of the bakery.&nbsp;

A bakery delivery driver found the victims at approximately 8 p.m. on the day of the murders. Alexander worked at the bakery and Drake was a customer.

According to a media release from the KBI, forensics scientists and special agents completed a review of all the physical evidence collected in the investigation. They reassessed the potential for additional results by using current forensic technologies, especially those that have had significant advancements in the years since the murders.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is offering a $17,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction for the deaths of Mandi Alexander and Mary Drake.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662488188603.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BARTON COUNTY — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Great Bend Police Department on Tuesday announced new evidence in the unsolved double murder of 79-year-old Mary Drake and 24-year-old Mandi Alexander, that occurred at the Dolly Madison Bakery, 1004 Harrison, in Great Bend on Sept. 4, 2002.&nbsp;After 20 years, the KBI reported Tuesday it has found new DNA evidence on a sample collected from the body of one of the victims.<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/b71f6fd9-f340-4839-bd6a-9eb7b0f92322">RELATED: 20 years later: Memories of life before, after Dolly Madison murders</a>KBI agents and detectives from the Great Bend Police Department have collected numerous DNA samples for comparison to the DNA discovered, and will continue with these efforts in order to possibly make an arrest.&nbsp;A witness described seeing a white male — 6-foot-1 or 6-foot-2, 175 pounds with collar-length light brown to blond hair and a slight beard — walking away from the front door of the bakery.&nbsp;A bakery delivery driver found the victims at approximately 8 p.m. on the day of the murders. Alexander worked at the bakery and Drake was a customer.According to a media release from the KBI, forensics scientists and special agents completed a review of all the physical evidence collected in the investigation. They reassessed the potential for additional results by using current forensic technologies, especially those that have had significant advancements in the years since the murders.The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is offering a $17,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction for the deaths of Mandi Alexander and Mary Drake.

KBI: New evidence in 20-year-old Kansas murder case

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-tree-program-celebrates-100-million-trees-and-shrubs-planted/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — A 50-year-old program that annually distributes hundreds of
 thousands of tree and shrub seedlings celebrated a milestone recently, 
planting a tree at the Nebraska State Capitol to represent that 100 
million trees and shrubs have been put in the ground.

The Conservation Tree Program, run by Nebraska’s Natural Resources 
Districts since 1972, distributes the trees and shrubs for wind breaks, 
erosion control, wildlife habitat and other conservation purposes.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662495632166.png" alt="A ceremonial 100 millionth tree was planted Friday on the grounds of the Nebraska State Capitol to commemorate the work of the state’s Natural Resources Districts to get trees and shrubs planted for wildlife habitat and erosion control. (Courtesy Nebraska Association of Resources Districts)" />
 <figcaption>A ceremonial 100 millionth tree was planted Friday on the grounds of the Nebraska State Capitol to commemorate the work of the state’s Natural Resources Districts to get trees and shrubs planted for wildlife habitat and erosion control. (Courtesy Nebraska Association of Resources Districts)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-tree-program-celebrates-100-million-trees-and-shrubs-planted/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — A 50-year-old program that annually distributes hundreds of
 thousands of tree and shrub seedlings celebrated a milestone recently, 
planting a tree at the Nebraska State Capitol to represent that 100 
million trees and shrubs have been put in the ground.The Conservation Tree Program, run by Nebraska’s Natural Resources 
Districts since 1972, distributes the trees and shrubs for wind breaks, 
erosion control, wildlife habitat and other conservation purposes.Officials estimated that the 100 millionth tree was planted this 
spring and that, all told, 50 trees and shrubs per Nebraska resident 
have been planted through the program across the state.“Nebraska has a proud history of planting trees and putting the 100 
millionth tree in the ground reflects Nebraskans’ willingness to invest 
in the future,” said Dr. Orval Gigstad, president of the Nebraska 
Association of Resources Districts.Nebraska was once known as the “Tree Planters State” due to its commitment to establish trees on the mostly tree-less prairie.A majority of the NRD conservation trees come from a nursery at the U.S. Forest Service’s Bessey Nursery in Halsey.The trees and shrubs are sold in bundles — the NRDs take orders 
between November and March, then distribute the trees and shrubs in 
April in time for planting.