SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that may be linked to the fatal Sept. 1, shooting of 24-year-old KeShawn Ivy at a Topeka home.

Just after 4p.m.Saturday, police were sent to the area of SW Munson Avenue and SW Lincoln Street on a report of gunshots, according to Lt. Ron Ekis. 

An individual with an apparent gunshot wound arrived at a local hospital by personal vehicle shortly thereafter. The person was reported in stable condition, according to Ekis.

 Investigators determined that the incident took place in the 1100 block of SW Lincoln, the same location of&nbsp; the homicide that occurred on September 1 that left Ivy dead.

Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident and trying to determine if the two occurrences are linked.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662049282439.png" alt="Fatal shooting investigation on Sept. 1-photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Fatal shooting investigation on Sept. 1-photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that may be linked to the fatal Sept. 1, shooting of 24-year-old KeShawn Ivy at a Topeka home.Just after 4p.m.Saturday, police were sent to the area of SW Munson Avenue and SW Lincoln Street on a report of gunshots, according to Lt. Ron Ekis. An individual with an apparent gunshot wound arrived at a local hospital by personal vehicle shortly thereafter. The person was reported in stable condition, according to Ekis. Investigators determined that the incident took place in the 1100 block of SW Lincoln, the same location of&nbsp; the homicide that occurred on September 1 that left Ivy dead.Detectives are investigating the circumstances surrounding this incident and trying to determine if the two occurrences are linked.

Police: Shooting may be linked to killing of Kansas man

KANSAS CITY (AP) — During a primary debate in May, Iowa Republican Zach Nunn and his two rivals were asked to raise their hand if they thought all abortions should be illegal. “All abortions, no exceptions,” the moderator clarified.

The image has shadowed the Iowa state senator as he seeks to unseat U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, one of the most vulnerable House Democrats this election season. The two-term congresswoman has featured video of Nunn from the debate in TV ads she's been running since early August.

Nunn is among well more than a dozen strictly anti-abortion Republicans running in competitive House, Senate and governor's races this fall in Minnesota, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and elsewhere who are trying to distance themselves from their past statements.

In newspaper op-eds, during interviews and on their campaign websites, Republican challengers who expressed support for banning most or all abortions — some in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life and health of the mother — are at a minimum downplaying those positions and at most backtracking at a time when abortion rights have complicated Republicans’ focus on the economy heading into the November midterm elections.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision recognizing a federal right to abortion</a>, has prompted a backlash from abortion rights supporters and shined a light on politicians whose anti-abortion positions were only hypothetical when Roe was the law of the land.

"I think that the bait and switch will matter for those for whom abortion rights is a very important voting issue, which is an expanded group since Roe was overturned," Christine Matthews, a pollster who has worked for Republicans, said of GOP candidates trying to soften their profile on the issue. “And it may matter to a wider group if it appears that they are deceptive.”

Accusing Axne of misrepresenting his position, Nunn wrote in an op-ed published in The Des Moines Register last month that he supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life and health of the mother when he voted in 2018 for a ban on abortions after six weeks — a measure that was blocked by the courts.

Asked in an Associated Press interview why he raised his hand to the “no exceptions" question during the debate, Nunn misstated the question as “Do you support life?” instead of the actual wording, “In your mind, should all abortions be illegal in this country? Hand up if you say yes.”

“Let me be perfectly clear. I believe life begins at conception,” Nunn said in the interview. “I recognize the viability of a child. I recognize the health of the mother.”

Still, in 2017, Nunn voted for a measure requiring women seeking an abortion to wait 72 hours, which included an exception to protect the life of the mother but made no mention of rape or incest.

In Kansas, Republican Amanda Adkins — who is running against two-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids — wrote in a Kansas City Star op-ed published last week, “I don't support a federal ban on abortion."

The mention came after months of silence by Adkins after the May leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion signaling Roe was in jeopardy. A decade earlier as Kansas' Republican chair, Adkins had supported a strict abortion ban in the party's platform.

Adkins' Star piece also followed close on the heels of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">Kansas voters’ decisive rejection of a constitutional amendment that would have nullified a state Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to an abortion.</a>&nbsp;Notably, the referendum failed in Johnson County — the teeming, suburban heart of Davids' district — by more than 2-to-1. Adkins publicly supported the amendment.

Nunn's and Adkins' efforts to deemphasize their previous conservative stances on abortion are conspicuous. Others have been more subtle.

In a northwest Indiana district that includes working-class cities outside Chicago, Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green answered “none” in a 2022 online questionnaire before the Supreme Court overturned Roe that asked under “what circumstances should abortion be allowed?”

Yet, as the GOP nominee facing Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, Green says she supports an anti-abortion measure passed by the Indiana legislature in August that includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.

In suburban Minneapolis, Republican Tyler Kistner, who lost narrowly to two-term Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in 2020, is challenging her again. In 2020, his website included a section on abortion that stated he wanted to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. In this year's campaign, his website does not mention abortion.

Republicans running statewide in battleground races have undertaken similar efforts.

Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters called abortion “demonic” during the GOP primary and called for a federal personhood law that would give fetuses the rights of people. He’s toned down his rhetoric more recently, deleting references to a personhood law from his campaign website and dropping language describing himself as “100% pro-life.”

In Nevada, where a 1990 referendum guarantees the right to abortion, Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo said during a May primary debate that he would consider signing a ban on the Plan B pill. The pill, which is different from the abortion pill, can significantly lower the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

In August, after Justice Clarence Thomas indicated in the Roe reversal that other high court rulings,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">including ones protecting the use of contraceptives</a>, should also be reconsidered, Lombardo said he would not block contraceptives and has since noted on his website that he would “ensure that contraceptives stay accessible to Nevadans.”

In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs v. Mississippi decision overturning Roe,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-nancy-pelosi-womens-rights-government-and-politics-c410dbe9a8321b35a4e779b2fb226de5">an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll showed 22% of U.S. adults named abortion or women's rights, in an open-ended question, as one of up to five problems they wanted the government to address</a>. That’s more than doubled since December, when an AP-NORC poll found a notable uptick in mentions of abortion from years before, likely in anticipation of the Dobbs ruling.

In Iowa, 60% of adults say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll taken in July, higher still in the suburbs.

That would seem to be a consideration for Nunn, running in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, which includes the metro area surrounding the capital Des Moines and its booming suburbs to the north and west, as well as vast tracts of more conservative, rural southwestern Iowa.

“While it's a small group on both sides, it energizes them because it's an important issue,” Nunn said, adding that Axne is “not even willing to have a conversation about where she's been on this.”

The counterpunch is a veiled reference to bills including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-bills-house-vote-fc24d99f184d7aeec4926a6520311da5">one passed in July in the Democratic-controlled House with Axne's support that block limits on abortions late in a pregnancy</a>&nbsp;— a position Republicans have characterized as extreme.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres said Dobbs has reversed earlier Republican momentum by increasing enthusiasm among abortion rights advocates.

“Clearly there's been movement in the Democrats' favor,” said Ayres, who is an adviser for a super PAC supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign. “The Dobbs decision gave them a reason to get engaged, and that's evident in increased Democratic enthusiasm.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1656087288784.png" alt="Protesters near the Supreme Court after the ruling&nbsp; in June-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Protesters near the Supreme Court after the ruling&nbsp; in June-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — During a primary debate in May, Iowa Republican Zach Nunn and his two rivals were asked to raise their hand if they thought all abortions should be illegal. “All abortions, no exceptions,” the moderator clarified.Nunn's left hand went up.The image has shadowed the Iowa state senator as he seeks to unseat U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, one of the most vulnerable House Democrats this election season. The two-term congresswoman has featured video of Nunn from the debate in TV ads she's been running since early August.Nunn is among well more than a dozen strictly anti-abortion Republicans running in competitive House, Senate and governor's races this fall in Minnesota, Nevada, Kansas, Arizona and elsewhere who are trying to distance themselves from their past statements.In newspaper op-eds, during interviews and on their campaign websites, Republican challengers who expressed support for banning most or all abortions — some in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life and health of the mother — are at a minimum downplaying those positions and at most backtracking at a time when abortion rights have complicated Republicans’ focus on the economy heading into the November midterm elections.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision recognizing a federal right to abortion</a>, has prompted a backlash from abortion rights supporters and shined a light on politicians whose anti-abortion positions were only hypothetical when Roe was the law of the land."I think that the bait and switch will matter for those for whom abortion rights is a very important voting issue, which is an expanded group since Roe was overturned," Christine Matthews, a pollster who has worked for Republicans, said of GOP candidates trying to soften their profile on the issue. “And it may matter to a wider group if it appears that they are deceptive.”Accusing Axne of misrepresenting his position, Nunn wrote in an op-ed published in The Des Moines Register last month that he supported exceptions for rape, incest and the life and health of the mother when he voted in 2018 for a ban on abortions after six weeks — a measure that was blocked by the courts.Asked in an Associated Press interview why he raised his hand to the “no exceptions" question during the debate, Nunn misstated the question as “Do you support life?” instead of the actual wording, “In your mind, should all abortions be illegal in this country? Hand up if you say yes.”“Let me be perfectly clear. I believe life begins at conception,” Nunn said in the interview. “I recognize the viability of a child. I recognize the health of the mother.”Still, in 2017, Nunn voted for a measure requiring women seeking an abortion to wait 72 hours, which included an exception to protect the life of the mother but made no mention of rape or incest.In Kansas, Republican Amanda Adkins — who is running against two-term Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids — wrote in a Kansas City Star op-ed published last week, “I don't support a federal ban on abortion."The mention came after months of silence by Adkins after the May leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion signaling Roe was in jeopardy. A decade earlier as Kansas' Republican chair, Adkins had supported a strict abortion ban in the party's platform.Adkins' Star piece also followed close on the heels of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">Kansas voters’ decisive rejection of a constitutional amendment that would have nullified a state Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the right to an abortion.</a>&nbsp;Notably, the referendum failed in Johnson County — the teeming, suburban heart of Davids' district — by more than 2-to-1. Adkins publicly supported the amendment.Nunn's and Adkins' efforts to deemphasize their previous conservative stances on abortion are conspicuous. Others have been more subtle.In a northwest Indiana district that includes working-class cities outside Chicago, Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green answered “none” in a 2022 online questionnaire before the Supreme Court overturned Roe that asked under “what circumstances should abortion be allowed?”Yet, as the GOP nominee facing Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan, Green says she supports an anti-abortion measure passed by the Indiana legislature in August that includes exceptions for rape, incest and the health of the mother.In suburban Minneapolis, Republican Tyler Kistner, who lost narrowly to two-term Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in 2020, is challenging her again. In 2020, his website included a section on abortion that stated he wanted to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood. In this year's campaign, his website does not mention abortion.Republicans running statewide in battleground races have undertaken similar efforts.Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters called abortion “demonic” during the GOP primary and called for a federal personhood law that would give fetuses the rights of people. He’s toned down his rhetoric more recently, deleting references to a personhood law from his campaign website and dropping language describing himself as “100% pro-life.”In Nevada, where a 1990 referendum guarantees the right to abortion, Republican gubernatorial candidate Joe Lombardo said during a May primary debate that he would consider signing a ban on the Plan B pill. The pill, which is different from the abortion pill, can significantly lower the chance of pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.In August, after Justice Clarence Thomas indicated in the Roe reversal that other high court rulings,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">including ones protecting the use of contraceptives</a>, should also be reconsidered, Lombardo said he would not block contraceptives and has since noted on his website that he would “ensure that contraceptives stay accessible to Nevadans.”In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs v. Mississippi decision overturning Roe,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-nancy-pelosi-womens-rights-government-and-politics-c410dbe9a8321b35a4e779b2fb226de5">an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll showed 22% of U.S. adults named abortion or women's rights, in an open-ended question, as one of up to five problems they wanted the government to address</a>. That’s more than doubled since December, when an AP-NORC poll found a notable uptick in mentions of abortion from years before, likely in anticipation of the Dobbs ruling.In Iowa, 60% of adults say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to a Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll taken in July, higher still in the suburbs.That would seem to be a consideration for Nunn, running in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District, which includes the metro area surrounding the capital Des Moines and its booming suburbs to the north and west, as well as vast tracts of more conservative, rural southwestern Iowa.“While it's a small group on both sides, it energizes them because it's an important issue,” Nunn said, adding that Axne is “not even willing to have a conversation about where she's been on this.”The counterpunch is a veiled reference to bills including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-bills-house-vote-fc24d99f184d7aeec4926a6520311da5">one passed in July in the Democratic-controlled House with Axne's support that block limits on abortions late in a pregnancy</a>&nbsp;— a position Republicans have characterized as extreme.Republican pollster Whit Ayres said Dobbs has reversed earlier Republican momentum by increasing enthusiasm among abortion rights advocates.“Clearly there's been movement in the Democrats' favor,” said Ayres, who is an adviser for a super PAC supporting Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign. “The Dobbs decision gave them a reason to get engaged, and that's evident in increased Democratic enthusiasm.”

GOP candidates mask rigid abortion stances after Roe ruling

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moon rocket sprang another dangerous fuel leak Saturday, forcing launch controllers to call off their second attempt to send a crew capsule into lunar orbit with test dummies.

The first attempt earlier in the week was also marred by escaping hydrogen, but those leaks were elsewhere on the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA.

There was no immediate word on when NASA might try again. After Tuesday, a two-week launch blackout period kicks in. Extensive fuel leak repairs could require that the rocket be hauled off the pad and back into its hangar, possibly pushing the flight into October.

Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team tried to plug Saturday’s leak the way they did the last time: stopping and restarting the flow of super-cold liquid hydrogen in hopes of removing the gap around a seal in the supply line. They tried that twice, in fact, and also flushed helium through the line. But the leak persisted.

Blackwell-Thompson finally halted the countdown after three to four hours of futile effort.

“We have a scrub for the day,” announced NASA's launch commentator, Derrol Nail.

NASA wants to send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon, pushing it to the limit before astronauts get on the next flight. If the five-week demo with test dummies succeeds, astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and land on it in 2025. People last walked on the moon 50 years ago.

After days of stormy weather, the weather cooperated early Saturday as the launch team began loading nearly 1 million gallons of fuel into the Space Launch System&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/astronomy-space-launches-spacex-exploration-technology-5db3523e917b5a4e612b0aef158286b8">rocket</a>.

But minutes into the operation, hydrogen fuel began seeping from the engine section at the bottom of the rocket, violating safety rules.

During Monday's launch attempt, hydrogen fuel escaped from elsewhere in the rocket. Technicians tightened up the fittings over the past week, but Blackwell-Thompson cautioned that she wouldn't know whether everything was tight until Saturday's fueling.

Even more of a problem on Monday, a sensor indicated one of the rocket's four engines was too warm, but engineers later verified it actually was cold enough. The launch team planned to ignore the faulty sensor this time around and rely on other instruments to ensure each main engine was properly chilled.

Mission managers accepted the additional risk posed by the engine issue as well as a separate problem: cracks in the rocket's insulating foam. But they acknowledged other problems — like fuel leaks — could prompt yet another delay.

That didn't stop thousands from jamming the coast to see the Space Launch System rocket soar. Local authorities expected massive crowds because of the long Labor Day holiday weekend.

The $4.1 billion test flight is the first step in NASA's Artemis program of renewed lunar exploration, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.

Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during NASA’s Apollo program, the last time in 1972.

Artemis — years behind schedule and billions over budget — aims to establish a sustained human presence on the moon, with crews eventually spending weeks at a time there. It's considered a training ground for Mars.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA’s new moon rocket sprang another dangerous fuel leak Saturday, forcing launch controllers to call off their second attempt to send a crew capsule into lunar orbit with test dummies.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21X5lGlDOfg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The first attempt earlier in the week was also marred by escaping hydrogen, but those leaks were elsewhere on the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA.There was no immediate word on when NASA might try again. After Tuesday, a two-week launch blackout period kicks in. Extensive fuel leak repairs could require that the rocket be hauled off the pad and back into its hangar, possibly pushing the flight into October.Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team tried to plug Saturday’s leak the way they did the last time: stopping and restarting the flow of super-cold liquid hydrogen in hopes of removing the gap around a seal in the supply line. They tried that twice, in fact, and also flushed helium through the line. But the leak persisted.Blackwell-Thompson finally halted the countdown after three to four hours of futile effort.“We have a scrub for the day,” announced NASA's launch commentator, Derrol Nail.NASA wants to send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon, pushing it to the limit before astronauts get on the next flight. If the five-week demo with test dummies succeeds, astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and land on it in 2025. People last walked on the moon 50 years ago.After days of stormy weather, the weather cooperated early Saturday as the launch team began loading nearly 1 million gallons of fuel into the Space Launch System&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/astronomy-space-launches-spacex-exploration-technology-5db3523e917b5a4e612b0aef158286b8">rocket</a>.But minutes into the operation, hydrogen fuel began seeping from the engine section at the bottom of the rocket, violating safety rules.During Monday's launch attempt, hydrogen fuel escaped from elsewhere in the rocket. Technicians tightened up the fittings over the past week, but Blackwell-Thompson cautioned that she wouldn't know whether everything was tight until Saturday's fueling.Even more of a problem on Monday, a sensor indicated one of the rocket's four engines was too warm, but engineers later verified it actually was cold enough. The launch team planned to ignore the faulty sensor this time around and rely on other instruments to ensure each main engine was properly chilled.Mission managers accepted the additional risk posed by the engine issue as well as a separate problem: cracks in the rocket's insulating foam. But they acknowledged other problems — like fuel leaks — could prompt yet another delay.That didn't stop thousands from jamming the coast to see the Space Launch System rocket soar. Local authorities expected massive crowds because of the long Labor Day holiday weekend.The $4.1 billion test flight is the first step in NASA's Artemis program of renewed lunar exploration, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.Twelve astronauts walked on the moon during NASA’s Apollo program, the last time in 1972.Artemis — years behind schedule and billions over budget — aims to establish a sustained human presence on the moon, with crews eventually spending weeks at a time there. It's considered a training ground for Mars.

🎥:Fuel leak ruins NASA's 2nd shot at launching moon rocket

By WILL BAUER <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-08-31/as-teens-wait-for-work-ag-firms-turn-to-guest-workers-to-tend-to-midwest-cornfields">Nebraska Public Media</a>

Over time, Lynn Leif found herself with less and less work to offer to teenagers.

For
 more than 40 years, Leif and her family employed up to 500 middle and 
high schoolers to detassel corn in July and August. Based in York, 
Nebraska, she ran buses to pick up teens in neighboring Seward and all 
the way to Lincoln one hour away.

Her family contracted for 
Syngenta as well as Monsanto, the St. Louis-based agricultural behemoth 
that German-based Bayer bought in 2018 for $68 billion. Leif was in the 
business of finding workers to detassel more than 2,700 acres of corn 
controlled by the two large agriculture companies throughout her region 
of southeast Nebraska.

New advances in herbicides and plant 
breeding over the years meant Monsanto needed fewer people to detassel 
corn. And of those fewer people Monsanto used, more of them were migrant
 workers.

It became unsustainable for Leif to hire all these teens with so little work to do.

“It
 was hard for our kids because they used this for so long as an income 
and some of them had worked for us for years,” she said.

Leif 
first detasseled at 13 years old. More than 40 years later, she is out 
of the corn detasseling business altogether. For her, that was an 
adjustment.

“I never knew what you did in July other than detasseling,” she said.

Other corn detasseling operations have faced similar experiences as 
seed companies like Bayer, Syngenta and Remington Seeds, which control a
 growing amount of the Midwest’s cropland, increasingly use the H-2A 
visa program to hire temporary migrant workers. The H-2A program allows 
agriculture companies to hire migrant workers if they cannot find enough
 domestic workers.

For decades, <a href="https://youtu.be/MfCNIzoCV08" target="_blank">corn detasseling</a>
 has been more than just a job for Nebraska teenagers. Pulling the 
tassel off the top of corn stalks to prevent self-pollination paid well 
above minimum wage and offered pay raises to return following years. 
And, given the manual labor involved, detasseling was seen as a rite of 
passage for teenagers in Nebraska and the rest of the Corn Belt, a task 
that taught lessons in work ethic for young Midwesterners.

Nebraska Public Media News also learned that job postings for corn 
detasseling contained misleading or unrealistic job requirements that 
appeared to discourage local workers from applying.

Nebraska Gov. 
Pete Ricketts’ administration sought to direct seed companies toward 
using local workers, but the U.S. Department of Labor intervened and 
said temporary guest workers had already been approved and must be used.

One
 of the major companies involved with detasseling authored a 
presentation that detailed its decision to prioritize migrant workers 
because they required less company oversight and were more productive.

The
 result is what local detasseling contractors say is a vanishing 
opportunity for local teenagers and the use of migrant workers who are 
sometimes taken advantage of for the benefits of their employers.

“Detasseling
 is a huge cultural part of the state of Nebraska,” said Taylor Gage, a 
former staffer for Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts. “Really one of the 
biggest and most important aspects of this is it helps bridge the 
urban-rural divide.”

In 2019, 
Gov. Ricketts took note of a wait-list that contained hundreds of 
Nebraskans who were interested in detasseling corn that summer. So, it 
came as a surprise to learn that contractors for seed companies had been
 approved to hire migrant workers under the H-2A program.

The H-2A
 visa, created in 1986, allows agricultural companies to hire seasonal 
temporary foreign workers. But companies can only bring on H-2A workers 
after they’ve shown that they tried to hire local workers and found 
there’s not enough interest or capability.

Ricketts wrote to federal officials later that year to let them know local workers wanted to detassel corn.

“In
 2019, Nebraska detasseling (harvest) companies had 710 employees 
wait-listed,” Ricketts wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of 
Labor, “but certifications were still granted for H-2A workers to 
perform detasseling.”

Ricketts heard from local contractors who 
raised concerns about the trend of contractors for seed companies using 
H-2A workers. His letter urged the Department of Labor to reform the 
H-2A program by requiring seed companies to first petition the local 
contractors for the amount of available work before they can apply for 
migrant workers, which is not currently a requirement.

“This 
requirement would ensure that the hiring of American workers is 
prioritized and prevent seed companies from manipulating the system by 
indirectly employing H-2A workers through the utilization of third-party
 harvest companies when there are more than adequate numbers of American
 workers who are willing to perform the needed services,” Ricketts’ 
letter said.

Asked about Ricketts’ letter, the U.S. Department of 
Labor (DOL) said a wait list of available teenage laborers amounted to 
insufficient evidence to prompt federal officials to act.

“Such a 
waitlist may show individuals are interested generally in employment in a
 certain area, such as corn detasseling, but it is not evidence that 
U.S. workers actually applied for a specific job opportunity offered in 
conjunction with an H-2A application or U.S. workers applied and were 
unlawfully rejected,” a department spokesperson said in a statement.

In
 order for the U.S. DOL to reject an H-2A application, the department 
needed evidence that Nebraska workers both applied to those jobs and 
were unlawfully rejected, according to the spokesperson.

But 
Nebraska Department of Labor officials investigated job postings for 
detasseling jobs and found signs that job descriptions discouraged local
 applicants.

John 
Albin, the Nebraska Labor Commissioner, and Bradley Pierce, the director
 of re-eeployment services at Nebraska’s DOL, checked postings for 
detasseling jobs listed on their website – <a href="https://neworks.nebraska.gov/vosnet/Default.aspx" target="_blank">NEworks.nebraska.gov</a>.

Pierce said NDOL found no evidence that wages were discriminatory, or that migrant workers were treated unfairly.

But
 Nebraska labor officials discovered that seed companies and H-2A 
contractors posted what appeared to be deceptive job descriptions.

Some of the job descriptions said detasseling work would last through
 October, far later in the season that usually wraps up by the end of 
August — and during a time when teenagers return to school.

“You don’t have to be an agronomy major to know that nobody's detasseling in Nebraska in October,” Albin said.

Some postings required workers to be at least 18 years old, even though people as young as 12 can detassel legally in Nebraska.

Other job applications asked for hemp detasseling.

“Hemp cannot be detasseled,” Pierce wrote in an email to the U.S. DOL’s Chicago office in May 2020.

Listing
 a job with unreasonable age requirements, unnecessary experience, much 
longer seasons and overly-detailed job responsibilities are among 
various tactics to strategically yield few — especially teenage — 
applicants, Albin and Pierce said.

“Obviously, some of the terms and conditions were not conducive with the local employment of youth,” Pierce said.

Asked whether or not these actions appeared to be intentional and deliberate, Albin said he didn’t know.

“It's
 difficult to read anyone's mind, and I think we're pretty good 
administrators, but mind readers, we're not,” Albin said. “It certainly 
can have that effect.”

In 2020, Nebraska rejected four H-2A 
petitions for detasseling jobs, but the U.S. Department of Labor 
overruled Nebraska. A state workforce agency does not have the authority
 to reject federal H-2A petitions. Under federal rules, Nebraska’s DOL 
could change what’s included in job applications. Albin and Pierce now 
amend any job applications seen with deceitful or disingenuous hiring 
tactics.

“It's sad to consider that a win because that's how it should be in general,” Pierce said.

Javier Chapa defends the use of H-2A workers.

He owns Chapa Global Contracting Inc., and has worked in the agricultural labor business for 34 years out of McAllen, Texas.

During
 detasseling season, Chapa runs one of the many H-2A migrant crews 
working in Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. In Nebraska, he contracts with 
Remington Seeds.

“We don't find enough people (who want) to do the
 job, and I understand the reason: Because it's hard work,” Chapa said 
from his pickup truck parked outside of Hastings, Nebraska. “I mean, the
 youngest generations, they go to school to try not to be in the 
fields.”

Since 2013, he’s hired H-2A workers because, he said, 
Chapa Global Contracting's job postings have yielded very few local 
applicants.

Chapa writes the job descriptions for detasseling jobs with the help 
of lawyers and employment experts. He also petitions the federal 
government for H-2A workers. He said both Remington and his company 
follow DOL rules.

“We don’t try to take nobody’s job,” Chapa said.
 “We just tried to cover what the local people don’t want to do or they 
can’t do.”

Chapa was the only H-2A contractor who agreed to an interview for this story.

Triple
 M and Gulf Citrus, Florida companies that both contract with Bayer, did
 not respond to nine interview requests. Rodriguez Harvesting, another 
H-2A contractor that’s based in Georgia and works with Syngenta, 
declined an interview request.

Multiple Syngenta employees in 
Nebraska did not return calls seeking comment. A corporate spokesman 
declined an interview request but provided Nebraska Public Media written
 answers to a detailed list of questions.

“Third-party contractors
 are responsible for assembling and hiring the mix of workers and would 
be best to answer any questions regarding their hiring practices,” the 
spokesman wrote in a statement.

The Syngenta spokesman said H-2A workers provide seed companies with flexibility, which is why they are needed.

“In
 general, having access to both local workers and H-2A workers — both 
hired/provided by third-party contractors — allows seed companies to 
balance the inconsistent schedules of young people working in the local 
labor crews,” the spokesman wrote. “Many young people involved in 
detasseling typically have other summer activities that conflict with 
their ability to work during the key part of the season.”

According
 to the spokesman, who declined to provide details about the workforce 
Syngenta uses to detassel corn, three-fourths of the detasseling is 
supported by local workers.

“Young people are a key part of our 
success to completing this important seed production work, allowing us 
to deliver the quality products that farmers need to meet their crop 
demands.”

Heather Scar 
runs a pig farm in western Iowa, near the small town of Adair, between 
Omaha and Des Moines. She ran detasseling crews of mostly local 
teenagers for 11 years.

AgReliant Genetics, one of the two corn seed companies she worked for, told her in May they didn’t need her team this year.

“I
 was a little upset because there wasn't any indication that we wouldn't
 be coming back this year until they called,” she said.

Scar also 
detasseled fields for what was then Monsanto, which Bayer bought in 
2018. The largely agrochemical company told Scar three years ago it 
would be using other contractors for the summer’s detasseling. Both 
AgReliant and Bayer later told her those were H-2A migrant crews, she 
said.

Tiffany Wenzel lost her Michigan acres in 2020.

“I'm trying to see if we can get those acres back,” Wenzel said.

Wenzel,
 41, took over her family farm and detasseling business that started 
long before she was born. Before Wenzel’s family business, Myers 
Detasseling, closed, it employed up to 200 workers who traveled in five 
buses to the “corn capital of the world.”

Michigan is home to two major corn seed companies near Constantine, Michigan, in the southwest corner of the state.

Bayer informed Wenzel she wasn’t needed this year because of a decrease in acres Bayer would need to detassel, she said.

“They
 were pleased with our work,” Wenzel said. “It was nothing against our 
company, but they simply didn't need as many contractors.”

At 
first, Wenzel said she was relieved. For the first time in years, she 
could attend a July wedding. But later in the summer, she saw 
detasselers out in the fields, and she realized she missed being out 
there. She said she felt slighted because the work is still being done –
 just not by her crew.

She spoke to her Bayer representative, who told her at least some of the new crews were H-2A workers.

“If I have local workers who can do the work, then I should be given that precedence over a non-local crew,” she said.

Multiple
 Nebraska detasselers who are still in business declined to comment for 
this story out of fear of retribution from seed companies.

In
 a presentation obtained by Nebraska Public Media through a public 
records request, Bayer laid out its rationale for choosing H-2A workers.

The
 Bayer presentation, which was sent by the Nebraska Department of 
Labor’s general counsel to a federal employee, says the seed company 
will use more “independent” labor in future.

The H-2A program fits under this “independent” classification and 
forgoes Bayer’s responsibility to provide workers compensation, 
liability or unemployment insurance because an H-2A contractor would 
take responsibility. In some cases, the company would also be relieved 
from paying for housing, transportation and even drinking water for 
detasselers. Independent agricultural labor only requires Bayer to 
provide personal protective equipment.

The other option is the 
“traditional” labor models, which include local teenagers, and require 
more direct involvement from Bayer, like timekeeping and payroll.

The
 presentation also acknowledges raising the minimum age to 14 years old 
discouraged what it called the “feeder effect.” In other words, raising 
the minimum age would reduce the number of workers who catch on to corn 
detasseling at a young age and return to the job the following year.

This
 shift to H-2A workers by Bayer reflects a larger trend in the industry.
 In the last 10 years, the number of H-2A workers in Corn Belt states 
has exploded.

H-2A workers aren’t limited to detasseling corn. 
According to data from the U.S. DOL, many migrants herd sheep, construct
 farm equipment or harvest fruit. Attorneys who specialize in 
farmworkers’ and migrant workers’ rights at Iowa Legal Aid said H-2As 
are often used regularly in the pork industry in that state.

Nebraska
 has seen a nearly 250% increase in H-2A workers from 2015 to 2021, 
according to a Nebraska Public Media analysis of data from the U.S. DOL.
 H-2A workers also rapidly increased in other Corn Belt states over the 
same time frame. In 2015, for example, the DOL approved 809 H-2A workers
 for work in Illinois. In 2021, the DOL approved 3,010.

The Bayer presentation also said there’s less corn for workers to 
detassel because of new developments in crop herbicides and genetically 
modified corn that requires less manual labor.

“While we’ve seen 
some shifts in labor as a whole, across Nebraska, the vast majority of 
our workers continue to be local youth laborers,” a Bayer spokesperson 
wrote in a statement. “The entire industry continues to face challenges 
in recruiting youth workers, and in many cases, these positions go 
unfilled.”

In 2020, the chief operating officer of Bayer’s crop science division sent a letter to Ricketts after the two spoke.

“I
 appreciate your passion for agriculture and your interest in our 
operations in Nebraska,” Brett Begemann wrote to Ricketts from St. 
Louis. “At Bayer, we support the opportunity to provide employment in 
the communities where we have sites located. Nebraskans, both youth and 
adult, will always be a critical part of our summer labor force.”

The letter was obtained through a public records request to the governor’s office.

Begemann
 said in the letter (dated May 6, 2020) that Bayer would employ 2,050 to
 2,670 youth and 187 to 207 adult H-2A workers for detasseling that 
summer.

Bayer also declined interview requests. In a statement for
 this story, the Bayer spokesperson stressed detasseling looks much 
different today than a generation ago.

“Migrant labor crews allow us to address our detasseling labor needs,
 while also diversifying our workforce and providing valuable talent in 
other parts of our production operations, including harvest, for 
example,” the spokesperson wrote. “Using this workforce in this manner 
helps us streamline our approach to meeting our labor needs.”

Danny Reynaga, a Legal Aid attorney in western Nebraska, said the shift to migrant work has been clear in his line of work.

As teens wait for work, ag firms opt for guest workers to tend cornfields

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have identified three people who were found dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning inside a west Omaha home.

David Coleman, 52, Thomas Coleman, 18, and Cole Oban, 19, all died in the home, likely from carbon monoxide, Omaha police said Thursday. Officers were called to the home Wednesday evening and found the three people and a dog dead. A fourth person, a woman, was found alive but ill and taken to a hospital for treatment.

The woman was later reported in good condition, television&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-police-identify-three-people-dead-millard-suspected-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/41059011">station KETV reported</a>&nbsp;Friday.

Police have not said how the four were related.

An Omaha fire investigator said there were high levels of carbon monoxide in the home.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662211371069.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Police have identified three people who were found dead of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning inside a west Omaha home.David Coleman, 52, Thomas Coleman, 18, and Cole Oban, 19, all died in the home, likely from carbon monoxide, Omaha police said Thursday. Officers were called to the home Wednesday evening and found the three people and a dog dead. A fourth person, a woman, was found alive but ill and taken to a hospital for treatment.The woman was later reported in good condition, television&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-police-identify-three-people-dead-millard-suspected-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/41059011">station KETV reported</a>&nbsp;Friday.Police have not said how the four were related.An Omaha fire investigator said there were high levels of carbon monoxide in the home.

Police ID 3 dead of suspected carbon monoxide in Omaha home

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/02/nebraska-attorney-general-to-explore-whether-state-was-a-victim-of-fraud-in-saint-francis-contract/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson indicated Friday he
 will evaluate the state’s legal options in pursuing funds that may have
 been fraudulently spent via the state’s contract with a Kansas foster 
care provider.

Peterson responded to a request by state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh to 
explore whether Saint Francis Ministries defrauded the State of Nebraska
 during its failed child welfare contract.

The state severed its contract with Saint Francis in December 2021, 
after the organization failed to fulfill its obligations to 2,500 foster
 children it oversaw in eastern Nebraska. The failure came despite an 
additional $110 million in emergency funding from the state.

The request Thursday by Cavanaugh, who has led criticism of the 
contract with Kansas-based Saint Francis, comes on the heels of 
revelations by Kansas Reflector.

Kansas Reflector recently reported the FBI moved to seize assets of a
 subcontractor of Saint Francis, WMK Research, and its owner, William 
Whymark, after it was discovered that Whymark had submitted millions of 
dollars of fraudulent invoices to Saint Francis. The invoices inflated 
Whymark’s expenses as well as the information technology work he claimed
 to have performed.

Cavanaugh said Nebraska, in the interest of its taxpayers, needs to 
explore if it was also a victim of fraud and whether it should be 
pursuing reimbursement of funds it spent.

The senator said she appreciated the response from the attorney general.

“They gave me a response fairly quickly,” Cavanaugh said Friday. “I’m
 hopeful that means they agree that there’s something worth looking 
into.”

A spokeswoman for Peterson declined to comment on Thursday.

But in an email to Cavanaugh on Friday, Peterson said he would “sit 
down with a team of lawyers to evaluate our legal options” based on the 
recent information.

Cavanaugh said it’s particularly important that the Attorney 
General’s Office explore this issue before Peterson, who did not seek 
reelection, leaves office in January.

Saint Francis, the largest foster care provider in Kansas, has sued 
its former leadership, alleging they hid the misspending of millions of 
dollars from its board of directors.

Federal investigators, in court documents, have identified nearly $11 million in billing to Sant Francis as probably fraudulent.

Saint Francis Ministries has taken issue with an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/12/kansas-foster-care-provider-suing-former-leaders-for-alleged-financial-misconduct/">Aug. 12 story</a>
 by Kansas Reflector, calling portions of it “inaccurate” and “false.” 
But Saint Francis would not, when asked, identify specific statements in
 question.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662152675167.png" alt="The Salina, Kansas-based Saint Francis Ministries, which provides foster care services, sued its former leadership in January for alleged legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duties. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Salina, Kansas-based Saint Francis Ministries, which provides foster care services, sued its former leadership in January for alleged legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duties. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/02/nebraska-attorney-general-to-explore-whether-state-was-a-victim-of-fraud-in-saint-francis-contract/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson indicated Friday he
 will evaluate the state’s legal options in pursuing funds that may have
 been fraudulently spent via the state’s contract with a Kansas foster 
care provider.Peterson responded to a request by state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh to 
explore whether Saint Francis Ministries defrauded the State of Nebraska
 during its failed child welfare contract.The state severed its contract with Saint Francis in December 2021, 
after the organization failed to fulfill its obligations to 2,500 foster
 children it oversaw in eastern Nebraska. The failure came despite an 
additional $110 million in emergency funding from the state.The request Thursday by Cavanaugh, who has led criticism of the 
contract with Kansas-based Saint Francis, comes on the heels of 
revelations by Kansas Reflector.Kansas Reflector recently reported the FBI moved to seize assets of a
 subcontractor of Saint Francis, WMK Research, and its owner, William 
Whymark, after it was discovered that Whymark had submitted millions of 
dollars of fraudulent invoices to Saint Francis. The invoices inflated 
Whymark’s expenses as well as the information technology work he claimed
 to have performed.Cavanaugh said Nebraska, in the interest of its taxpayers, needs to 
explore if it was also a victim of fraud and whether it should be 
pursuing reimbursement of funds it spent.The senator said she appreciated the response from the attorney general.“They gave me a response fairly quickly,” Cavanaugh said Friday. “I’m
 hopeful that means they agree that there’s something worth looking 
into.”A spokeswoman for Peterson declined to comment on Thursday.But in an email to Cavanaugh on Friday, Peterson said he would “sit 
down with a team of lawyers to evaluate our legal options” based on the 
recent information.Cavanaugh said it’s particularly important that the Attorney 
General’s Office explore this issue before Peterson, who did not seek 
reelection, leaves office in January.Saint Francis, the largest foster care provider in Kansas, has sued 
its former leadership, alleging they hid the misspending of millions of 
dollars from its board of directors.Federal investigators, in court documents, have identified nearly $11 million in billing to Sant Francis as probably fraudulent.Saint Francis Ministries has taken issue with an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/08/12/kansas-foster-care-provider-suing-former-leaders-for-alleged-financial-misconduct/">Aug. 12 story</a>
 by Kansas Reflector, calling portions of it “inaccurate” and “false.” 
But Saint Francis would not, when asked, identify specific statements in
 question.

AG to explore if state was victim of fraud in Saint Francis contract

By OSEA GIUNTELLA <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-way-to-help-college-students-get-enough-sleep-pay-them-to-go-to-bed-189492">The Conversation</a>

Small financial incentives can get college students to go to bed 
earlier and sleep significantly longer. That’s what my colleagues and I 
found through an <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w30375">experiment</a> that involved 508 students at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oxford.

When the students were offered US$7.50 per night Monday through 
Thursday – a total of $30 per week – to sleep longer, they were 13% more
 likely than those who were not offered the incentive to sleep seven to 
nine hours. They were also 16% less likely to sleep fewer than six 
hours.

We collected data from wearable activity trackers, surveys and 
time-use diaries. The people to whom the incentives were offered were 
chosen randomly from the group of people who agreed to be part of the 
study.

The incentives were offered for three weeks, but the effects lasted 
even after they were removed. Specifically, those who had initially 
gotten the incentives were still 9% more likely to sleep seven to nine 
hours per night for up to six weeks after students stopped receiving 
them. This suggests the effects of the incentives may last for several 
weeks.

The time-use diaries documented a reduction in screen time. That is, 
students spent less time watching TV and videos or using smart devices 
during the experiment. There was no evidence of a decline in time spent 
studying or in time spent socializing. This suggests students gave up 
screen time rather than time with friends to get to bed earlier and 
sleep longer.

Sleep deprivation has been <a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/sleep-deprivation-described-serious-public-health-problem">recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7010001">public health epidemic</a>. It can have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/">adverse effects on people’s physical and mental health</a>,
 decision-making and productivity. Our findings shine light on what it 
takes to get people to adopt better sleeping habits and avoid these 
negative outcomes.

Sleep deprivation is a big problem among college students. Most college students <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26396272/">sleep less than</a> the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html">recommended minimum of seven hours per night</a>.

Good sleep is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-019-0055-z">better academic performance</a>. Sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality have been linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156372">mental health problems among college students</a>.

Since college often marks the first time young adults may find 
themselves fully in charge of their schedules, they could benefit from 
help or incentives to form good sleep habits.

<a href="https://realtimeresearch.invisibly.com/insights/america-sleeps-brado">Multiple surveys</a> indicate that many people feel they are <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/more-than-60-percent-of-americans-rarely-feel-rested-and-energized-in-the-morning/">not getting enough sleep</a>. When people experience a night of poor sleep, the effects are felt the next day.

Our results suggest that just knowing about the benefits of good 
sleep is not enough for people to actually adopt better sleeping habits.
 Rather, it may take incentives. 

Interventions that help individuals form routines, such as reduced screen time, may have longer-lasting effects. 

A relevant question is whether similar people can be motivated to get
 better sleep without monetary incentives and with less costly nudges. 

In the future, we plan to explore whether interventions to improve 
sleep habits during college may also help students boost their academic 
performance. We’d also like to examine whether these interventions can 
work with different populations and in different places.

Osea Giuntella is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662152961172.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By OSEA GIUNTELLA <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-way-to-help-college-students-get-enough-sleep-pay-them-to-go-to-bed-189492">The Conversation</a><h2>The big idea</h2>Small financial incentives can get college students to go to bed 
earlier and sleep significantly longer. That’s what my colleagues and I 
found through an <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w30375">experiment</a> that involved 508 students at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Oxford.When the students were offered US$7.50 per night Monday through 
Thursday – a total of $30 per week – to sleep longer, they were 13% more
 likely than those who were not offered the incentive to sleep seven to 
nine hours. They were also 16% less likely to sleep fewer than six 
hours.We collected data from wearable activity trackers, surveys and 
time-use diaries. The people to whom the incentives were offered were 
chosen randomly from the group of people who agreed to be part of the 
study.The incentives were offered for three weeks, but the effects lasted 
even after they were removed. Specifically, those who had initially 
gotten the incentives were still 9% more likely to sleep seven to nine 
hours per night for up to six weeks after students stopped receiving 
them. This suggests the effects of the incentives may last for several 
weeks.The time-use diaries documented a reduction in screen time. That is, 
students spent less time watching TV and videos or using smart devices 
during the experiment. There was no evidence of a decline in time spent 
studying or in time spent socializing. This suggests students gave up 
screen time rather than time with friends to get to bed earlier and 
sleep longer.<h2>Why it matters</h2>Sleep deprivation has been <a href="https://www.aaas.org/news/sleep-deprivation-described-serious-public-health-problem">recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare7010001">public health epidemic</a>. It can have <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19961/">adverse effects on people’s physical and mental health</a>,
 decision-making and productivity. Our findings shine light on what it 
takes to get people to adopt better sleeping habits and avoid these 
negative outcomes.Sleep deprivation is a big problem among college students. Most college students <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26396272/">sleep less than</a> the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/how_much_sleep.html">recommended minimum of seven hours per night</a>. Good sleep is associated with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-019-0055-z">better academic performance</a>. Sleep deprivation and poor sleep quality have been linked to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0156372">mental health problems among college students</a>. Since college often marks the first time young adults may find 
themselves fully in charge of their schedules, they could benefit from 
help or incentives to form good sleep habits.<a href="https://realtimeresearch.invisibly.com/insights/america-sleeps-brado">Multiple surveys</a> indicate that many people feel they are <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/05/27/more-than-60-percent-of-americans-rarely-feel-rested-and-energized-in-the-morning/">not getting enough sleep</a>. When people experience a night of poor sleep, the effects are felt the next day.Our results suggest that just knowing about the benefits of good 
sleep is not enough for people to actually adopt better sleeping habits.
 Rather, it may take incentives. Interventions that help individuals form routines, such as reduced screen time, may have longer-lasting effects. <h2>What is still unknown</h2>A relevant question is whether similar people can be motivated to get
 better sleep without monetary incentives and with less costly nudges. <h2>What’s next</h2>In the future, we plan to explore whether interventions to improve 
sleep habits during college may also help students boost their academic 
performance. We’d also like to examine whether these interventions can 
work with different populations and in different places.Osea Giuntella is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Pittsburgh.<div><iframe src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189492/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" width="1" height="1"></iframe></div>

Help college students get enough sleep? Pay them to go to bed

WASHINGTON – Throughout 2022, Americans have experienced an unacceptable level of flight delays and cancellations. When these disruptions occur, airlines are required to support passengers based on commitments made in their customer service plans, but too often passengers find those plans are difficult to understand and do not guarantee services – such as meals or hotel accommodations when they must wait overnight at an airport – even for flights that are delayed or canceled because of the carrier, according to statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard">Click here to go to the </a>airline customer service dashboard

To ensure the traveling public has easy access to this information, the U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday rolled out a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/flighthelp">airline customer service dashboard</a>, which includes recent improvements to customer service made by airlines at the urging of Secretary Buttigieg. &nbsp;

Two weeks ago, Secretary Buttigieg wrote a letter to airline CEOs informing them that DOT would publish the dashboard before Labor Day and urged the airlines to improve their customer service plans before the release. As a result, all but one of the ten largest U.S. airlines made significant changes to their plans to improve services provided to passengers when their flights are canceled or delayed because of an airline issue. For example, no airline unconditionally guaranteed meal vouchers or hotels prior to Secretary Buttigieg’s letter. Now, nine of the 10 guarantee meals and eight of the 10 guarantee hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes the delay or cancelation. &nbsp;

The dashboard provides air travelers a one-stop location to obtain information on the services and amenities they should receive from airlines if they experience delays or cancelations that are caused by something within the airline’s control like a mechanical or staffing issue. The dashboard also provides a clear comparison of amenities the airlines have committed to provide, which will assist consumers when deciding which airline to fly. The creation of this new tool is one of the many steps the Department is taking to improve customer service provided to travelers. The Department will hold airlines accountable if they fail to provide the promised services. The Department has also provided direct links to airlines’ customer service plans on its Aviation Consumer Protection website.&nbsp;

“Passengers deserve transparency and clarity on what to expect from an airline when there is a cancelation or disruption,”&nbsp;said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “This dashboard collects that information in one place so travelers can easily understand their rights, compare airline practices, and make informed decisions. The Department will continue to support passengers and to hold airlines responsible for adhering to their customer obligations.”&nbsp;

Regardless of the cause of the delays or cancelations, the Department expects airlines to provide timely and responsive customer service during and after periods of flight disruptions. Moreover, regardless of the cause of significant delays or cancelations, airlines are required to provide prompt refunds to ticketed passengers should a passenger choose not to accept the alternative offered such as rebooking on another flight.&nbsp;

In addition to the dashboard, the Department is currently collecting comments on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/part-ongoing-airline-consumer-protections-efforts-usdot-announces-new-rulemaking">proposed rule</a>&nbsp;that would 1) require airlines to proactively inform passengers that they have a right to receive a refund when a flight is canceled or significantly changed, 2) define a significant change and cancellation that would entitle a consumer to a refund, 3) require airlines to provide non-expiring vouchers or travel credits when people can’t travel because they have COVID-19 or other communicable diseases; and 4) require airlines that receive significant government assistance related to a pandemic to issue refunds instead of non-expiring travel credits or vouchers when passengers are unable or advised not to travel because of a serious communicable disease. The Department is also considering options for an additional rulemaking that would further expand the rights of airline passengers who experience flight disruptions.&nbsp;

In addition, the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer">(OACP)</a>&nbsp;recently concluded its investigation of 10 airlines and is pursuing enforcement action against them for extreme delays in providing refunds for flights the airlines canceled or significantly changed. The Office is also actively investigating the refund practices of additional airlines flying to, from, or within the United States. In November 2021, OACP issued its largest fine ever against an airline for extreme delays in providing refunds to thousands of consumers for flights to or from the United States that a carrier canceled.&nbsp;

Further, over the past year, the Department has taken a number of other actions to improve protection for airline passengers such as: &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662036320157.png" alt="Image U.S. DOT" />
 <figcaption>Image U.S. DOT</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON – Throughout 2022, Americans have experienced an unacceptable level of flight delays and cancellations. When these disruptions occur, airlines are required to support passengers based on commitments made in their customer service plans, but too often passengers find those plans are difficult to understand and do not guarantee services – such as meals or hotel accommodations when they must wait overnight at an airport – even for flights that are delayed or canceled because of the carrier, according to statement released by the U.S. Department of Transportation.<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/airline-customer-service-dashboard">Click here to go to the </a>airline customer service dashboardTo ensure the traveling public has easy access to this information, the U.S. Department of Transportation Thursday rolled out a new&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/flighthelp">airline customer service dashboard</a>, which includes recent improvements to customer service made by airlines at the urging of Secretary Buttigieg. &nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662036500540.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Two weeks ago, Secretary Buttigieg wrote a letter to airline CEOs informing them that DOT would publish the dashboard before Labor Day and urged the airlines to improve their customer service plans before the release. As a result, all but one of the ten largest U.S. airlines made significant changes to their plans to improve services provided to passengers when their flights are canceled or delayed because of an airline issue. For example, no airline unconditionally guaranteed meal vouchers or hotels prior to Secretary Buttigieg’s letter. Now, nine of the 10 guarantee meals and eight of the 10 guarantee hotel accommodations when an airline issue causes the delay or cancelation. &nbsp;The dashboard provides air travelers a one-stop location to obtain information on the services and amenities they should receive from airlines if they experience delays or cancelations that are caused by something within the airline’s control like a mechanical or staffing issue. The dashboard also provides a clear comparison of amenities the airlines have committed to provide, which will assist consumers when deciding which airline to fly. The creation of this new tool is one of the many steps the Department is taking to improve customer service provided to travelers. The Department will hold airlines accountable if they fail to provide the promised services. The Department has also provided direct links to airlines’ customer service plans on its Aviation Consumer Protection website.&nbsp;“Passengers deserve transparency and clarity on what to expect from an airline when there is a cancelation or disruption,”&nbsp;said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “This dashboard collects that information in one place so travelers can easily understand their rights, compare airline practices, and make informed decisions. The Department will continue to support passengers and to hold airlines responsible for adhering to their customer obligations.”&nbsp;Regardless of the cause of the delays or cancelations, the Department expects airlines to provide timely and responsive customer service during and after periods of flight disruptions. Moreover, regardless of the cause of significant delays or cancelations, airlines are required to provide prompt refunds to ticketed passengers should a passenger choose not to accept the alternative offered such as rebooking on another flight.&nbsp;In addition to the dashboard, the Department is currently collecting comments on a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/part-ongoing-airline-consumer-protections-efforts-usdot-announces-new-rulemaking">proposed rule</a>&nbsp;that would 1) require airlines to proactively inform passengers that they have a right to receive a refund when a flight is canceled or significantly changed, 2) define a significant change and cancellation that would entitle a consumer to a refund, 3) require airlines to provide non-expiring vouchers or travel credits when people can’t travel because they have COVID-19 or other communicable diseases; and 4) require airlines that receive significant government assistance related to a pandemic to issue refunds instead of non-expiring travel credits or vouchers when passengers are unable or advised not to travel because of a serious communicable disease. The Department is also considering options for an additional rulemaking that would further expand the rights of airline passengers who experience flight disruptions.&nbsp;In addition, the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer">(OACP)</a>&nbsp;recently concluded its investigation of 10 airlines and is pursuing enforcement action against them for extreme delays in providing refunds for flights the airlines canceled or significantly changed. The Office is also actively investigating the refund practices of additional airlines flying to, from, or within the United States. In November 2021, OACP issued its largest fine ever against an airline for extreme delays in providing refunds to thousands of consumers for flights to or from the United States that a carrier canceled.&nbsp;Further, over the past year, the Department has taken a number of other actions to improve protection for airline passengers such as: &nbsp;<ul>
 <li>Calling on airlines to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot-announces-first-ever-bill-rights-passengers-disabilities-calls-airlines-seat">seat families together free of charge</a>.&nbsp;</li><li>Issuing fines to multiple airlines that violated tarmac delay rule violations. &nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Issuing a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/us-department-transportation-announces-proposed-rule-improve-accessibility-lavatories">proposed rule</a>&nbsp;to improve accessibility of lavatories on single-aisle aircraft for individuals with disabilities and creating the first-ever&nbsp;<a href="https://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer/disabilitybillofrights">Airline Passengers with Disabilities Bill of Rights</a>.&nbsp;</li>
 </ul>

New help for airline passengers from U.S. Dept. of Transportation

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By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-robotics-cluster-to-receive-25-million-from-biden-challenge-to-train-more-workers-in-high-tech-ag-jobs/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — A Nebraska coalition seeking to
 increase the state’s workforce in robotics and automated manufacturing 
in agriculture will receive $25 million through a workforce initiative 
of President Joe Biden.

On Friday, the White House announced that the Heartland Robotics Cluster is one of 21 recipients nationally in the $1 billion <a target="_blank" href="https://whitehouse.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c97630621baff8c44fe607661&amp;id=e8c8cf9f55&amp;e=6636f28dae">Build Back Better Regional Challenge</a>, launched by the president as part of his plan for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraska-robotics-cluster-to-receive-25-million-from-biden-challenge-to-train-more-workers-in-high-tech-ag-jobs/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — A Nebraska coalition seeking to
 increase the state’s workforce in robotics and automated manufacturing 
in agriculture will receive $25 million through a workforce initiative 
of President Joe Biden.On Friday, the White House announced that the Heartland Robotics Cluster is one of 21 recipients nationally in the $1 billion <a target="_blank" href="https://whitehouse.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c97630621baff8c44fe607661&amp;id=e8c8cf9f55&amp;e=6636f28dae">Build Back Better Regional Challenge</a>, launched by the president as part of his plan for economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.The Heartland Robotics Cluster is a 
coalition, led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, that includes 
Invest Nebraska, community colleges in Norfolk and Omaha, and the 
Nebraska Manufacturing Extension Partnership.&nbsp;“Today, we start the long process of investing in our state’s 
automation infrastructure and growing the future talent pipeline in 
automation, robotics, computer vision and AI,” said Dan Hoffman of 
Invest Nebraska, which organized the cluster and led the application for
 the federal funds.In a YouTube presentation, officials with
 Invest Nebraska said that increased use of automation and innovation in
 agricultural-related industries is critical in Nebraska due to its 
workforce shortage. They said they also hope to increase start-ups in 
the ag manufacturing arena.According to a press release, the Robotics Cluster will use the
 funding to expand programming and robotics equipment at Nebraska 
Innovation campus at UNL, increase robotics engineering curriculum at 
UNL and Metro and Northeast community colleges, and increase workforce 
outreach in rural areas.UNL announced that it will use $10 million to build robotics-related 
research and teaching labs at Kiewit Hall, the Scott Engineering Center 
and Splinter labs.&nbsp;The
 cluster also plans to provide demonstration “spaces” of new 
technologies for manufacturers, and to work with private industry to 
expand the use of technology.The $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge  is funded via 
the American Rescue Plan Act, and, according to its website, is an 
effort to “boost economic recovery from the pandemic and rebuild 
American communities, including those grappling with decades of 
disinvestment.”Cover image courtesy Pixabay