By CARSON VAUGHN <a href="https://flatwaterfreepress.org/minds-polluted-film-claims-teachers-are-grooming-students-experts-say-its-filled-with-falsehoods/">Flatwater Free Press</a>

On a Saturday this March, Stephanie 
Nantkes walked into the Civic Center in downtown Seward, Neb., and found a few 
dozen people gathered in the meeting room downstairs, heads bowed in 
prayer. She found Kirk Penner, running for re-election to the Nebraska 
State Board of Education. She found Jessie Bremer and Jacob Bierbaum, 
local school board candidates.&nbsp;

She found a table of fellow teachers.
 Some retired, like her. Some still at it: grading essays, revising 
lesson plans and organizing field trips.&nbsp;

Together, they waited for a new film 
called “The Mind Polluters” to begin – a film that would eventually be 
publicly screened by Nebraska for Founders’ Values and the Protect 
Nebraska Children Coalition roughly two dozen times across the state, 
from Omaha to Gordon.&nbsp;

The lights were dimmed. The projector turned on.&nbsp;

“Let me ask you a question…,” Mark 
Archer, the film’s director and narrator, begins. “What if I told you 
that your child was being not only sexually harassed, but shown 
pornography in an effort to groom them for sexual activity? What if they
 were being groomed for homosexual activity? What if they were being 
groomed for sex with pedophiles….”

“Now here’s the big question: What if I told you all these things were happening to your child in their school classroom?”

Nantkes watched as speakers rifled accusations at “government schooling systems”&nbsp;— at teachers like herself, she felt. 

Months later, Nantkes, mother of 
former ACLU of Nebraska director Danielle Conrad, struggled to 
articulate the depths of her bewilderment.

“A horror film,” she called it.&nbsp;

“How insane is this?” she asked. “There isn’t one fact behind what they were saying.”

She hadn’t spent 40 years teaching in
 Nebraska’s public schools and served two terms on the Seward school 
board only to have her life’s pursuit portrayed as the work of the 
Antichrist.

“And that’s the proper definition…,” 
insists author Alex Newman near the film’s end. “So parents, you have an
 obligation as a Christian to remove those children from that school.”

When the film ended and Penner rose to speak, Nantkes snapped.

She kept at it until the hosts tried —
 and failed — to usher her from the building. She dared them to call the
 police. They backed down.&nbsp;

“They were telling people lies about what I’ve loved my entire life,” she says. “And I will go down fighting for it.”

Leaders of the Nebraskans for 
Founders’ Values and the Protect Nebraska Children Coalition rejected 
interview requests for this story, as did Nebraska Board of Education 
member Penner and state board candidates Elizabeth Tegtmeier, Marni 
Hodgen and Sherry Jones, who have been endorsed by the PNCC and 
participated in a showing of the film.

“Any
 statements attributed to the PNCC or myself will be disavowed,” wrote 
Sue Greenwald, retired pediatrician and Protect Nebraska Children 
Coalition member. “If you would like to talk about the film, I would 
suggest you talk to the producers.”

Mark and Amber Archer, the Indiana-based husband-wife filmmaking duo who produced the film, also declined to comment.&nbsp;

Doug Brady, candidate for the 
Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties’ Coordinating Council, 
hosted an April viewing of “The Mind Polluters” in Bellevue, Neb.&nbsp;

“A real eye opener,” he said. A movie that “tells a lot about what’s actually going on in our school districts around here.”

“The Mind Polluters” is the second 
feature-length film produced by the Archers. The movie alleges that 
“government schools” are “grooming” children through programs like 
comprehensive sex-ed and social-emotional learning, in addition to what 
speakers call pornographic children’s books.&nbsp;

“Overcoming the natural inhibitions 
that children have is the goal of both the sexual predator and the 
sexual educator,” Amber Archer says. “Breaking down the God-given 
barriers that children have towards sexual content and behavior is the 
key: the key to manipulation and ultimately enslavement …”

The film doesn’t interview any active
 public school teachers, administrators, academics or experts in public 
health or child psychological development.&nbsp;

The Nebraska Department of Education 
and the Nebraska State Education Association — the teachers’ union — 
&nbsp;don’t always see eye to eye.&nbsp;

Both agree that “The Mind Polluters” has no basis in reality.&nbsp;

“This movie is pure propaganda,” wrote NSEA President Jenni Benson in an email.&nbsp;

“I think it’s detrimental to the 
schools,” said David Jespersen, the Nebraska Department of Education’s 
public information officer. “I think it’s detrimental to the teachers. 
And I think it’s actually detrimental to society to be making these 
broad, baseless claims.”

Unlike the couple’s first film —&nbsp;about disgraced Indiana doctor and abortion provider George Klopfer —&nbsp;“The
 Mind Polluters” was prohibited from release on Amazon. (Amazon could 
not be reached for comment). It costs $24.99 to rent on Vimeo.

The Nebraskans for Founders’ Values 
(whose director, Mark Bonkiewicz, also stars in the film) and the 
Protect Nebraska Children Coalition began jointly screening “The Mind 
Polluters” in churches, libraries and community centers this spring, 
shortly after the Nebraska Board of Education voted to indefinitely 
postpone the state’s first-ever health education standards.

State and local school board candidates endorsed by the groups appeared as guest speakers at these events.&nbsp;

Word of the “The Mind Polluters” quickly spread on social media and bled into local school board meetings.&nbsp;

Amanda Ripley, a Lincoln nurse and 
mother of two, streamed the movie online. She then publicly addressed 
the Lincoln Board of Education, certain the state’s proposed health 
standards would soon inch their way back into consideration.

“It would almost be negligent for 
anyone to vote yes or no on the proposed health standards without seeing
 this very comprehensive and well-sourced documentary,” she told the 
school board in February.&nbsp;

In a follow-up interview, Ripley said
 she hasn’t personally seen any of the grooming activities alleged in 
“Mind Polluters.” She called the teachers at her kids’ public school 
“lovely people” and said she hasn’t hosted a screening of the film 
“because this does seem super extreme for Lincoln, Nebraska.”

“It does seem … to paint teachers in a
 bad light,” she said. “So if I were a teacher, would I be happy with 
that? No. But then prove yourself. Prove that you’re better and can be 
trusted with our kids …”

Jespersen, at the Nebraska Department
 of Education, said there’s no evidence to support the film’s 
accusations. He said Nebraska recently made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/29/furries-litter-box-nebraska-bostelman/">headlines</a> when similar “baseless claims” were aired in the Legislature.&nbsp;

Repeating a rumor that spread from 
the PNCC Facebook page, Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard claimed public 
schools were providing litter boxes to “furries,” or children 
identifying as cats. Multiple school districts discredited the rumor. 
Bostelman apologized.

“If parents truly believe something’s going on, it should be investigated. ... And if you think the administration is pushing it, then the Department of Education should get involved,” Jespersen said. “But we don’t have those claims.”

Teachers are the single biggest reporters of child abuse each year in Nebraska, he said.

If parents are morally opposed to 
part of the curriculum, they can typically opt their child out, he said.
 If they believe material is inappropriate, they can file notice with 
the school board and district for review.

“But we’re just not aware of any of these things happening,” he said.&nbsp;

Even as it misleads, the film may have power because, in many ways, the United States has transformed. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/389792/lgbt-identification-ticks-up.aspx">a recent Gallup poll</a>, 7.1 percernt of American adults who now identify as LGBT, nearly twice as many as a decade ago. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20210615/big-rise-in-us-teens-identifying-as-gay-bisexual">The number of LGBT teenagers is rising sharply.</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/number-adults-identify-lgbt-doubled-past-decade-study/story?id=82961330">The country’s multiracial population is growing at an unprecedented rate. The percentage of white Americans is shrinking</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">and so, too, is the percentage of self-identifying Christians.</a>

“The world is becoming a frightening place to many because it is changing,” said Rita Bennett, former Lincoln Education Association president, who opposes the documentary.

Brady, candidate for the Learning 
Community’s Coordinating Council, agrees that things are changing. He 
said schools are pushing that change.

He said lessons about gender and 
sexuality taught in schools are often inappropriate. Any knowledge about
 sex should be taught by parents, he said.

Citing “The Mind Polluters” as evidence, he said schools are teaching children that it’s acceptable to have sex with adults.

“The big thing they always say is ‘No means no and yes means yes,’ ” Brady said. “They’re telling a young child that is is OK for them to give permission to have sex, even to older people.”

Jill Brown, Creighton University 
professor who teaches “The Psychology of Gender,” testified before the 
Legislature’s Education Committee supporting the proposed health 
standards<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/107/PDF/Transcripts/Education/2022-02-15.pdf"> in February</a>.&nbsp;

She said “Mind Polluters” does a 
disservice to “the real work” of preventing sexual abuse, which many 
studies have shown can be significantly reduced when comprehensive 
sexual education is taught in schools.&nbsp;

Many claims made in the film are disproven by current research.

The film says “every cell in your 
body testifies to the fact that you’re either male or female.” According
 to a United Nations report, up to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Intersex-English.pdf"> 1.7 percent of the world’s population is born with intersex traits</a>.

The film says transgenderism is the result of trauma, confusion or whimsy. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/09540261.2015.1113163">But numerous studies have shown </a>otherwise.

The film says children’s “natural aversion” to sex will prevent abuse.&nbsp; But the U.S. government reports<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childsexualabuse/fastfact.html#:~:text=Although%20estimates%20vary%20across%20studies,States%20experience%20child%20sexual%20abuse."> nearly one in four girls and one in 13 boys experience sexual abuse every year.</a>

After the “Mind Polluters” program in
 Seward was finished, Nantkes and other teachers from her table 
reconvened outside the Civic Center. They were shocked. Angry. One of 
them later compared it to stepping off a roller coaster. “Your back is 
up against the wall, and they have you get out, and you’re just wobbling
 around like, ‘What just happened here?’ ”

But they were also filled with conviction. All of them, Nantkes said, are “hellbent” on damning the flow of disinformation.

It’s a frustration shared by the Nebraska Department of Education.

“People see films like this and they 
wonder why teachers are having a hard time right now. This definitely 
contributes,” Jespersen said. “With everything that we’re asking of 
teachers, we should be celebrating them, not using baseless claims to 
bring them down.”

Flatwater Free Press reporter Natalia Alamdari contributed to this story.&nbsp;&nbsp;This first appeared in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://flatwaterfreepress.org/">The Flatwater Free Press,</a>&nbsp;Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

By CARSON VAUGHN <a href="https://flatwaterfreepress.org/minds-polluted-film-claims-teachers-are-grooming-students-experts-say-its-filled-with-falsehoods/">Flatwater Free Press</a>On a Saturday this March, Stephanie 
Nantkes walked into the Civic Center in downtown Seward, Neb., and found a few 
dozen people gathered in the meeting room downstairs, heads bowed in 
prayer. She found Kirk Penner, running for re-election to the Nebraska 
State Board of Education. She found Jessie Bremer and Jacob Bierbaum, 
local school board candidates.&nbsp;She found a table of fellow teachers.
 Some retired, like her. Some still at it: grading essays, revising 
lesson plans and organizing field trips.&nbsp;Together, they waited for a new film 
called “The Mind Polluters” to begin – a film that would eventually be 
publicly screened by Nebraska for Founders’ Values and the Protect 
Nebraska Children Coalition roughly two dozen times across the state, 
from Omaha to Gordon.&nbsp;The lights were dimmed. The projector turned on.&nbsp;“Let me ask you a question…,” Mark 
Archer, the film’s director and narrator, begins. “What if I told you 
that your child was being not only sexually harassed, but shown 
pornography in an effort to groom them for sexual activity? What if they
 were being groomed for homosexual activity? What if they were being 
groomed for sex with pedophiles….”He speaks slowly, softly. Concerned.“Now here’s the big question: What if I told you all these things were happening to your child in their school classroom?”Nantkes watched as speakers rifled accusations at “government schooling systems”&nbsp;— at teachers like herself, she felt. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658263908293.jpeg" alt="Stephanie Nantkes (Courtesy of Flatwater Free Press)" />
 <figcaption>Stephanie Nantkes (Courtesy of Flatwater Free Press)</figcaption>
 </figure>Months later, Nantkes, mother of 
former ACLU of Nebraska director Danielle Conrad, struggled to 
articulate the depths of her bewilderment.“A horror film,” she called it.&nbsp;“How insane is this?” she asked. “There isn’t one fact behind what they were saying.”She hadn’t spent 40 years teaching in
 Nebraska’s public schools and served two terms on the Seward school 
board only to have her life’s pursuit portrayed as the work of the 
Antichrist.“And that’s the proper definition…,” 
insists author Alex Newman near the film’s end. “So parents, you have an
 obligation as a Christian to remove those children from that school.”When the film ended and Penner rose to speak, Nantkes snapped.“Boo!” she yelled. “Boo! Boo!”She kept at it until the hosts tried —
 and failed — to usher her from the building. She dared them to call the
 police. They backed down.&nbsp;“They were telling people lies about what I’ve loved my entire life,” she says. “And I will go down fighting for it.”Leaders of the Nebraskans for 
Founders’ Values and the Protect Nebraska Children Coalition rejected 
interview requests for this story, as did Nebraska Board of Education 
member Penner and state board candidates Elizabeth Tegtmeier, Marni 
Hodgen and Sherry Jones, who have been endorsed by the PNCC and 
participated in a showing of the film.“Any
 statements attributed to the PNCC or myself will be disavowed,” wrote 
Sue Greenwald, retired pediatrician and Protect Nebraska Children 
Coalition member. “If you would like to talk about the film, I would 
suggest you talk to the producers.”Mark and Amber Archer, the Indiana-based husband-wife filmmaking duo who produced the film, also declined to comment.&nbsp;Doug Brady, candidate for the 
Learning Community of Douglas and Sarpy Counties’ Coordinating Council, 
hosted an April viewing of “The Mind Polluters” in Bellevue, Neb.&nbsp;“A real eye opener,” he said. A movie that “tells a lot about what’s actually going on in our school districts around here.”***“The Mind Polluters” is the second 
feature-length film produced by the Archers. The movie alleges that 
“government schools” are “grooming” children through programs like 
comprehensive sex-ed and social-emotional learning, in addition to what 
speakers call pornographic children’s books.&nbsp;“Overcoming the natural inhibitions 
that children have is the goal of both the sexual predator and the 
sexual educator,” Amber Archer says. “Breaking down the God-given 
barriers that children have towards sexual content and behavior is the 
key: the key to manipulation and ultimately enslavement …”The film doesn’t interview any active
 public school teachers, administrators, academics or experts in public 
health or child psychological development.&nbsp;The Nebraska Department of Education 
and the Nebraska State Education Association — the teachers’ union — 
&nbsp;don’t always see eye to eye.&nbsp;Both agree that “The Mind Polluters” has no basis in reality.&nbsp;“This movie is pure propaganda,” wrote NSEA President Jenni Benson in an email.&nbsp;“I think it’s detrimental to the 
schools,” said David Jespersen, the Nebraska Department of Education’s 
public information officer. “I think it’s detrimental to the teachers. 
And I think it’s actually detrimental to society to be making these 
broad, baseless claims.”Unlike the couple’s first film —&nbsp;about disgraced Indiana doctor and abortion provider George Klopfer —&nbsp;“The
 Mind Polluters” was prohibited from release on Amazon. (Amazon could 
not be reached for comment). It costs $24.99 to rent on Vimeo.The Nebraskans for Founders’ Values 
(whose director, Mark Bonkiewicz, also stars in the film) and the 
Protect Nebraska Children Coalition began jointly screening “The Mind 
Polluters” in churches, libraries and community centers this spring, 
shortly after the Nebraska Board of Education voted to indefinitely 
postpone the state’s first-ever health education standards.State and local school board candidates endorsed by the groups appeared as guest speakers at these events.&nbsp;Word of the “The Mind Polluters” quickly spread on social media and bled into local school board meetings.&nbsp;Amanda Ripley, a Lincoln nurse and 
mother of two, streamed the movie online. She then publicly addressed 
the Lincoln Board of Education, certain the state’s proposed health 
standards would soon inch their way back into consideration.“It would almost be negligent for 
anyone to vote yes or no on the proposed health standards without seeing
 this very comprehensive and well-sourced documentary,” she told the 
school board in February.&nbsp;In a follow-up interview, Ripley said
 she hasn’t personally seen any of the grooming activities alleged in 
“Mind Polluters.” She called the teachers at her kids’ public school 
“lovely people” and said she hasn’t hosted a screening of the film 
“because this does seem super extreme for Lincoln, Nebraska.”“It does seem … to paint teachers in a
 bad light,” she said. “So if I were a teacher, would I be happy with 
that? No. But then prove yourself. Prove that you’re better and can be 
trusted with our kids …”Jespersen, at the Nebraska Department
 of Education, said there’s no evidence to support the film’s 
accusations. He said Nebraska recently made <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/03/29/furries-litter-box-nebraska-bostelman/">headlines</a> when similar “baseless claims” were aired in the Legislature.&nbsp;Repeating a rumor that spread from 
the PNCC Facebook page, Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard claimed public 
schools were providing litter boxes to “furries,” or children 
identifying as cats. Multiple school districts discredited the rumor. 
Bostelman apologized.“If parents truly believe something’s going on, it should be investigated. ... And if you think the administration is pushing it, then the Department of Education should get involved,” Jespersen said. “But we don’t have those claims.”Teachers are the single biggest reporters of child abuse each year in Nebraska, he said.If parents are morally opposed to 
part of the curriculum, they can typically opt their child out, he said.
 If they believe material is inappropriate, they can file notice with 
the school board and district for review.“But we’re just not aware of any of these things happening,” he said.&nbsp;Even as it misleads, the film may have power because, in many ways, the United States has transformed. According to <a target="_blank" href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/389792/lgbt-identification-ticks-up.aspx">a recent Gallup poll</a>, 7.1 percernt of American adults who now identify as LGBT, nearly twice as many as a decade ago. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webmd.com/sex-relationships/news/20210615/big-rise-in-us-teens-identifying-as-gay-bisexual">The number of LGBT teenagers is rising sharply.</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/number-adults-identify-lgbt-doubled-past-decade-study/story?id=82961330">The country’s multiracial population is growing at an unprecedented rate. The percentage of white Americans is shrinking</a> <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/12/14/about-three-in-ten-u-s-adults-are-now-religiously-unaffiliated/">and so, too, is the percentage of self-identifying Christians.</a>“The world is becoming a frightening place to many because it is changing,” said Rita Bennett, former Lincoln Education Association president, who opposes the documentary.Brady, candidate for the Learning 
Community’s Coordinating Council, agrees that things are changing. He 
said schools are pushing that change.He said lessons about gender and 
sexuality taught in schools are often inappropriate. Any knowledge about
 sex should be taught by parents, he said.Citing “The Mind Polluters” as evidence, he said schools are teaching children that it’s acceptable to have sex with adults.“The big thing they always say is ‘No means no and yes means yes,’ ” Brady said. “They’re telling a young child that is is OK for them to give permission to have sex, even to older people.”Jill Brown, Creighton University 
professor who teaches “The Psychology of Gender,” testified before the 
Legislature’s Education Committee supporting the proposed health 
standards<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nebraskalegislature.gov/FloorDocs/107/PDF/Transcripts/Education/2022-02-15.pdf"> in February</a>.&nbsp;She said “Mind Polluters” does a 
disservice to “the real work” of preventing sexual abuse, which many 
studies have shown can be significantly reduced when comprehensive 
sexual education is taught in schools.&nbsp;Many claims made in the film are disproven by current research.The film says “every cell in your 
body testifies to the fact that you’re either male or female.” According
 to a United Nations report, up to<a target="_blank" href="https://www.unfe.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Intersex-English.pdf"> 1.7 percent of the world’s population is born with intersex traits</a>.The film says transgenderism is the result of trauma, confusion or whimsy. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/09540261.2015.1113163">But numerous studies have shown </a>otherwise.The film says children’s “natural aversion” to sex will prevent abuse.&nbsp; But the U.S. government reports<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/childsexualabuse/fastfact.html#:~:text=Although%20estimates%20vary%20across%20studies,States%20experience%20child%20sexual%20abuse."> nearly one in four girls and one in 13 boys experience sexual abuse every year.</a>***After the “Mind Polluters” program in
 Seward was finished, Nantkes and other teachers from her table 
reconvened outside the Civic Center. They were shocked. Angry. One of 
them later compared it to stepping off a roller coaster. “Your back is 
up against the wall, and they have you get out, and you’re just wobbling
 around like, ‘What just happened here?’ ”But they were also filled with conviction. All of them, Nantkes said, are “hellbent” on damning the flow of disinformation.It’s a frustration shared by the Nebraska Department of Education.“People see films like this and they 
wonder why teachers are having a hard time right now. This definitely 
contributes,” Jespersen said. “With everything that we’re asking of 
teachers, we should be celebrating them, not using baseless claims to 
bring them down.”Flatwater Free Press reporter Natalia Alamdari contributed to this story.&nbsp;&nbsp;This first appeared in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://flatwaterfreepress.org/">The Flatwater Free Press,</a>&nbsp;Nebraska’s first independent, nonprofit newsroom focused on investigations and feature stories that matter.

Minds polluted? Film making rounds filled with falsehoods, educators say

News Release Lincoln Police Department

LINCOLN, Neb.-The Lincoln Police Department is investigating a shooting that injured four people during the early morning hours of July 19.

At 12:27 a.m., officers responded to 28th and ‘T’ Street on several reports of gunshots being heard followed by a dark vehicle leaving the area. When officers arrived, they discovered evidence of gunshots being fired however were unable to locate any injured parties. At approximately the same time, officers were informed four people had just arrived at a local hospital with gunshot wounds. 

A 36-year-old female was treated and released for gunshot injuries to her right leg and arm. A 23-year-old male was treated and released for gunshot injuries to his right shoulder. A 15-year-old male was treated and released for a gunshot injury to his foot. A 27-year-old male remains hospitalized in critical, but stable condition, after suffering multiple gunshot injuries.

At this time, no arrests have been made. The Lincoln Police Department Crime Scene Unit is currently processing the scene and gathering forensic evidence. Officers have also been canvassing the area, searching for video evidence to aid in the investigation. We are expecting it to take several hours for the Crime Scene Unit to thoroughly process the scene and ask everyone to avoid the area if possible.

This investigation is ongoing and in the very early stages. The Lincoln Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed this incident or has information regarding this incident to come forward. We encourage anyone with information to call 402.441.6000 or Crime Stoppers at 402.475.3600

<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/2ddcec21-000f-4ace-b19e-4250120d6629">&nbsp;&nbsp;Download The Post app for iOs or Android</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658252787316.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>News Release Lincoln Police DepartmentLINCOLN, Neb.-The Lincoln Police Department is investigating a shooting that injured four people during the early morning hours of July 19.At 12:27 a.m., officers responded to 28th and ‘T’ Street on several reports of gunshots being heard followed by a dark vehicle leaving the area. When officers arrived, they discovered evidence of gunshots being fired however were unable to locate any injured parties. At approximately the same time, officers were informed four people had just arrived at a local hospital with gunshot wounds. A 36-year-old female was treated and released for gunshot injuries to her right leg and arm. A 23-year-old male was treated and released for gunshot injuries to his right shoulder. A 15-year-old male was treated and released for a gunshot injury to his foot. A 27-year-old male remains hospitalized in critical, but stable condition, after suffering multiple gunshot injuries.At this time, no arrests have been made. The Lincoln Police Department Crime Scene Unit is currently processing the scene and gathering forensic evidence. Officers have also been canvassing the area, searching for video evidence to aid in the investigation. We are expecting it to take several hours for the Crime Scene Unit to thoroughly process the scene and ask everyone to avoid the area if possible.This investigation is ongoing and in the very early stages. The Lincoln Police Department is asking anyone who witnessed this incident or has information regarding this incident to come forward. We encourage anyone with information to call 402.441.6000 or Crime Stoppers at 402.475.3600<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/2ddcec21-000f-4ace-b19e-4250120d6629">&nbsp;&nbsp;Download The Post app for iOs or Android</a><figure>
 <img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/y0sEshok_vkmKpDx_KKD-696cgYaAOKzO2u4pwvlpDkD53XEXtgWppTwybfVFk2xEKCwfcgc57GtFKQYI6_yaZnsz1570WilX4Jsd_maQilu4XKPjTVPIK13_lND7SlujqeQ02ONloCSX5YlPg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Police investigate shooting that injured 4 in Lincoln

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway now owns nearly $11 billion worth of Occidental Petroleum stock after buying another 1.9 million shares in the past week.

The latest purchases of nearly $117 million in stock that Berkshire reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday give the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate control of 19.4% of the oil producer's stock.

Berkshire is quickly approaching owning more than 20% of Houston-based Occidental's shares. At that point, Berkshire would be able to start reporting a proportional share of Occidental's earnings within its own earnings reports, which would give Berkshire a significant boost.

Berkshire has bought more than $1.3 billion worth of Occidental shares this month alone, and now holds nearly 181.7 million shares.

In addition to its current Occidental stake, Berkshire holds warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares for $59.62 apiece that it received in 2019 when it helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko. Berkshire also holds 100,000 preferred shares in Occidental that pays an 8% dividend

Occidental shares gained more than 1.4% Tuesday to trade at $60.91. Berkshire has been purchasing the stock when it trades below $60. The most recent purchases made last last week were completed at prices between $56.14 and $59.67.

In addition to Berkshire's investment portfolio, which is dominated by a massive Apple stake, the conglomerate owns more than 90 companies outright, including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an eclectic assortment of manufacturing and retail businesses.

By Associated PressOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway now owns nearly $11 billion worth of Occidental Petroleum stock after buying another 1.9 million shares in the past week.The latest purchases of nearly $117 million in stock that Berkshire reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission Monday give the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate control of 19.4% of the oil producer's stock.Berkshire is quickly approaching owning more than 20% of Houston-based Occidental's shares. At that point, Berkshire would be able to start reporting a proportional share of Occidental's earnings within its own earnings reports, which would give Berkshire a significant boost.Berkshire has bought more than $1.3 billion worth of Occidental shares this month alone, and now holds nearly 181.7 million shares.In addition to its current Occidental stake, Berkshire holds warrants to buy another 83.9 million shares for $59.62 apiece that it received in 2019 when it helped finance Occidental's purchase of Anadarko. Berkshire also holds 100,000 preferred shares in Occidental that pays an 8% dividendOccidental shares gained more than 1.4% Tuesday to trade at $60.91. Berkshire has been purchasing the stock when it trades below $60. The most recent purchases made last last week were completed at prices between $56.14 and $59.67.In addition to Berkshire's investment portfolio, which is dominated by a massive Apple stake, the conglomerate owns more than 90 companies outright, including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an eclectic assortment of manufacturing and retail businesses.

Warren Buffett's firm owns nearly $11B of Occidental stock

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriages, a direct confrontation with the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access</a>&nbsp;has sparked concerns that other rights enjoyed by countless Americans may be in jeopardy.

Tuesday’s vote in the House is part political strategy setting up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-bills-house-vote-fc24d99f184d7aeec4926a6520311da5">an election-year roll call</a>&nbsp;that will force all lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record with their views on the high-profile social issue. It’s also part of the legislative branch asserting its authority, pushing back against&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-us-supreme-court-right-to-privacy-6e1d7ee2a6d26bef09392971fd4948b5">an aggressive court that appears intent on revisiting many settled U.S. laws.</a>

“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

While the Respect for Marriage Act is expected to pass the House, it is almost certain to stall in the Senate, where most Republicans would surely block it. It’s one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are pushing to confront the court’s conservative majority. Another bill, guaranteeing access to contraceptive services, is set for a vote later this week.

The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal a leftover law still on the books from the Clinton era that defines marriage as a heterogeneous relationship between man and woman. It would also provide legal protections for interracial marriages by prohibiting any state from denying out-of-state marriage licenses and benefits on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.

The 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, had basically been sidelined by Obama-era court rulings, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-courts-marriage-supreme-court-of-the-united-states-united-states-government-9e1933cd1e1a4e969ab45f5952bbb45f">Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the rights of same-sex couples to marry nationwide,</a>&nbsp;a landmark case for gay rights.

But last month, in doing away with the Roe v. Wade constitutional right to an abortion, the conservative court majority put in place during the Trump era left critics concerned there may be more to come.

In writing for the majority overturning Roe, Justice Samuel Alito argued for a more narrow interpretation of the rights guaranteed to Americans, saying the right to an abortion is not spelled out in the Constitution.

“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,” Alito wrote.

In a concurring opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas went further, saying other rulings similar to Roe, including those around same-sex marriage and the right for couples to use contraception,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">should be reconsidered</a>.

While Alito insisted in the majority opinion that “this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” others have taken notice.

Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and now running as a Democrat for the Ohio House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">said after the court’s ruling on abortion</a>, “When we lose one right that we have relied on and enjoyed, other rights are at risk.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658238554165.png" alt="“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement." />
 <figcaption>“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is set to vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriages, a direct confrontation with the Supreme Court, whose conservative majority in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturning Roe v. Wade abortion access</a>&nbsp;has sparked concerns that other rights enjoyed by countless Americans may be in jeopardy.Tuesday’s vote in the House is part political strategy setting up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-bills-house-vote-fc24d99f184d7aeec4926a6520311da5">an election-year roll call</a>&nbsp;that will force all lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats, to go on the record with their views on the high-profile social issue. It’s also part of the legislative branch asserting its authority, pushing back against&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-us-supreme-court-right-to-privacy-6e1d7ee2a6d26bef09392971fd4948b5">an aggressive court that appears intent on revisiting many settled U.S. laws.</a>“As this Court may take aim at other fundamental rights, we cannot sit idly by,” Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.While the Respect for Marriage Act is expected to pass the House, it is almost certain to stall in the Senate, where most Republicans would surely block it. It’s one of several bills, including those enshrining abortion access, that Democrats are pushing to confront the court’s conservative majority. Another bill, guaranteeing access to contraceptive services, is set for a vote later this week.The Respect for Marriage Act would repeal a leftover law still on the books from the Clinton era that defines marriage as a heterogeneous relationship between man and woman. It would also provide legal protections for interracial marriages by prohibiting any state from denying out-of-state marriage licenses and benefits on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity or national origin.The 1996 law, the Defense of Marriage Act, had basically been sidelined by Obama-era court rulings, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-courts-marriage-supreme-court-of-the-united-states-united-states-government-9e1933cd1e1a4e969ab45f5952bbb45f">Obergefell v. Hodges, which established the rights of same-sex couples to marry nationwide,</a>&nbsp;a landmark case for gay rights.But last month, in doing away with the Roe v. Wade constitutional right to an abortion, the conservative court majority put in place during the Trump era left critics concerned there may be more to come.In writing for the majority overturning Roe, Justice Samuel Alito argued for a more narrow interpretation of the rights guaranteed to Americans, saying the right to an abortion is not spelled out in the Constitution.“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion,” Alito wrote.In a concurring opinion, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas went further, saying other rulings similar to Roe, including those around same-sex marriage and the right for couples to use contraception,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">should be reconsidered</a>.While Alito insisted in the majority opinion that “this decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right,” others have taken notice.Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and now running as a Democrat for the Ohio House,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-government-and-politics-marriage-a0cee537c6f9f10d29fa71f6e7a4d19d">said after the court’s ruling on abortion</a>, “When we lose one right that we have relied on and enjoyed, other rights are at risk.”

House set to vote to protect same-sex and interracial marriage 

DENVER (AP) — Four people died in a small plane crash Sunday in the foothills west of Boulder, Colorado, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.

The crash sparked a small fire that was quickly contained in the forested area. The cause of the crash was unknown, according to the FAA's preliminary report. FAA spokesman Steve Kulm did not provide more information about the crash.

A witness called in the crash at 9:41 a.m. Sunday morning when the plane went down in a wooded area called Lefthand Canyon west of Denver near the college town of Boulder, said Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Haverfield. She said the fire and heat blocked responders from entering the plane until Monday.

The plane, a twin-engine Cessna T337G, took off with three passengers and the pilot, Haverfield said.

Aerial footage shot by news station Denver7 shows first responders weaving through charred trees at the crash site.

Peter Knudson, spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, said that an investigator is arriving to the site Monday and will spend two to three days documenting the crash site. A report about the crash is expected in several weeks, he said.

The NTSB investigator is coming from Wyoming, where two people died in a plane crash Thursday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/8/1564663567068.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSDENVER (AP) — Four people died in a small plane crash Sunday in the foothills west of Boulder, Colorado, the Federal Aviation Administration said Monday.The crash sparked a small fire that was quickly contained in the forested area. The cause of the crash was unknown, according to the FAA's preliminary report. FAA spokesman Steve Kulm did not provide more information about the crash.A witness called in the crash at 9:41 a.m. Sunday morning when the plane went down in a wooded area called Lefthand Canyon west of Denver near the college town of Boulder, said Boulder County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Haverfield. She said the fire and heat blocked responders from entering the plane until Monday.The plane, a twin-engine Cessna T337G, took off with three passengers and the pilot, Haverfield said.Aerial footage shot by news station Denver7 shows first responders weaving through charred trees at the crash site.Peter Knudson, spokesperson for the National Transportation Safety Board, said that an investigator is arriving to the site Monday and will spend two to three days documenting the crash site. A report about the crash is expected in several weeks, he said.The NTSB investigator is coming from Wyoming, where two people died in a plane crash Thursday.<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/2ddcec21-000f-4ace-b19e-4250120d6629">&nbsp;&nbsp;Download The Post app for iOs or Android</a><figure>
 <img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/y0sEshok_vkmKpDx_KKD-696cgYaAOKzO2u4pwvlpDkD53XEXtgWppTwybfVFk2xEKCwfcgc57GtFKQYI6_yaZnsz1570WilX4Jsd_maQilu4XKPjTVPIK13_lND7SlujqeQ02ONloCSX5YlPg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

4 dead in weekend Colorado crash of small plane in woods

By KATHRYN H. JACOBSEN <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-monkeypox-a-pandemic-an-epidemiologist-explains-why-it-isnt-likely-to-become-as-widespread-as-covid-19-but-is-worth-watching-186872">The Conversation</a>

Monkeypox is the latest global public health threat to make 
headlines. Most people who contract the monkeypox virus experience 
flu-like symptoms and a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html">blistery rash</a> that lasts two to four weeks, but a small percentage of infected people develop sepsis or other severe and <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">potentially fatal complications</a>.

It is not uncommon for there to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007791">small outbreaks of monkeypox</a> in Central and West Africa, but in the last few weeks, dozens of countries from other world regions have reported <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/monkeypox">thousands of cases of monkeypox</a>.

As an infectious disease epidemiologist, I’ve received many inquiries
 from colleagues and friends about whether a monkeypox pandemic will be 
the next big disruption to our lives. A disease is considered to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192897855.003.0002">pandemic</a>
 when two separate conditions are met: cases are occurring globally and 
the number of cases being diagnosed is large enough to qualify as <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-pandemic-epidemic-and-outbreak-133048">epidemic</a>. An epidemic is characterized by new cases of a disease occurring at a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section11.html">higher than typical rate in at least several communities</a>.

While the monkeypox situation is certainly newsworthy, as of mid-July
 2022, it did not clearly meet both of the requirements for pandemic 
status. More importantly, the current evidence suggests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-monkeypox-a-microbiologist-explains-whats-known-about-this-smallpox-cousin-183499">monkeypox</a> is very unlikely to become a global health catastrophe even if the virus spreads and becomes pandemic.

Both the 2009 <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/influenza-a-(h1n1)-outbreak">H1N1 influenza</a> virus and the <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus</a>
 that emerged in 2019 quickly spread to every region of the world. 
Global health experts were in full agreement that those were pandemic 
events. By contrast, the <a href="https://www.who.int/groups/ebola-virus-disease-in-west-africa-(2014-2015)-ihr-emergency-committee">Ebola virus</a> epidemic in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 was mostly contained to just that one region of the world and never spread globally.

The <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/monkeypox-oubreak-2022">current distribution</a> of monkeypox cases is somewhere between those two scenarios. As of mid-July 2022, about <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-covid-19-media-briefing--12-july-2022">9,200 total cases</a>
 of monkeypox had been reported by 63 countries. For reasons that are 
not yet fully understood, almost all of those cases happened in <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/2021-dha-docs/20220706_monkeypox_external_sitrep_final.pdf">Europe and the Americas</a>, and only a few cases were reported by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/monkeypox">African, Asian and Middle Eastern</a> countries.

Is that distribution sufficiently global to meet the definition of a pandemic? Maybe. 

The next condition to meet the pandemic threshold is whether places where monkeypox is present are experiencing epidemics.

Europe and the Americas typically have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010141">zero cases</a> of monkeypox per year, so the current case counts in these regions are much higher than normal.

But it is also important to look at how much community transmission 
is happening. If hundreds of people get sick after attending a single 
event – like a concert or festival – that would typically be classified 
as an outbreak. The situation would only become an epidemic if 
infections started occurring among many people who were not close 
contacts of event attendees. Once widespread and sustained community 
transmission begins occurring, it is much harder to control a virus. 

Most of the people diagnosed with monkeypox in May and June 2022 were 20- to 50-year-old men who identify as members of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add5497">LGBT+ community</a>. In July 2022, cases were not yet occurring at significant levels in multiple age and sociodemographic groups.

Is the current pattern of spread sufficient to classify monkeypox as 
an epidemic rather than an outbreak? Maybe, but only in some of the 
countries that have reported monkeypox cases this year.

Since the answers to whether monkeypox is global and an epidemic are 
both “maybe” rather than “yes,” this suggests that monkeypox is not a 
pandemic – at least not yet. But it could become one soon.

How worried should you be about monkeypox?

Pathogens like <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00241">monkeypox</a> are usually spread through touch and other types of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">close contact</a>
 with an infected person. Epidemiologists worry much less about 
pathogens with “person-to-person” transmission than they do about 
respiratory viruses like influenza and the coronavirus that can spread 
easily through the air.

Over the course of just a few months, COVID-19 transitioned from a 
local concern in Wuhan, China, into the worst pandemic in a century. 
That is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cit703">not going to happen with monkeypox</a>.

Why? First, the monkeypox virus is <a href="https://doi.org/10.2471%2FBLT.19.242347">much less contagious</a> than the circulating strains of coronavirus. Second, monkeypox is less deadly than COVID-19. The <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/2021-dha-docs/20220706_monkeypox_external_sitrep_final.pdf">case fatality rate</a>
 during the current international outbreak is less than one death for 
every 1,000 adult cases, which is lower than the percentage of 
unvaccinated people who die after getting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30244-9">COVID-19</a>. And, third, <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1433527/retrieve">existing vaccines</a> will be able to help slow the spread of monkeypox in high-risk populations if <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/public-health-clinics-running-out-of-monkeypox-vaccine-as-lines-form-and-systems-crash/ar-AAZxMuv">problems with limited supplies</a> can be resolved.

The World Health Organization follows a set of rules called the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241580496">International Health Regulations</a>
 that guide global public health responses to emerging threats. Under 
these regulations, the WHO has the authority to declare a “public health
 emergency of international concern” – commonly shortened to the acronym
 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjtm%2Ftaaa227">PHEIC</a> – when an 
infectious disease is spreading internationally and might “potentially 
require a coordinated international response.” The goal is to detect and
 respond to potential global health crises and prevent them from 
becoming pandemics.

An <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/monkeypox-oubreak-2022">expert panel convened by the World Health Organization on June 23</a>
 determined that monkeypox was a “multi-country outbreak” but did not 
meet the criteria to be a public health emergency of international 
concern. The panel will meet again on July 21 to examine the 
distribution and frequency of new case reports. If the rate of new cases
 continues to increase and there is evidence of transmission within more
 diverse populations, monkeypox may be declared a public health 
emergency.

But even if monkeypox is declared to be a public health emergency of 
international concern, it is not going to become a devastating pandemic 
like COVID-19.

Kathryn H. Jacobsen is William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair, Professor of Health Studies, University of Richmond.

By KATHRYN H. JACOBSEN <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-monkeypox-a-pandemic-an-epidemiologist-explains-why-it-isnt-likely-to-become-as-widespread-as-covid-19-but-is-worth-watching-186872">The Conversation</a>Monkeypox is the latest global public health threat to make 
headlines. Most people who contract the monkeypox virus experience 
flu-like symptoms and a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html">blistery rash</a> that lasts two to four weeks, but a small percentage of infected people develop sepsis or other severe and <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/monkeypox">potentially fatal complications</a>.It is not uncommon for there to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007791">small outbreaks of monkeypox</a> in Central and West Africa, but in the last few weeks, dozens of countries from other world regions have reported <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/monkeypox">thousands of cases of monkeypox</a>. As an infectious disease epidemiologist, I’ve received many inquiries
 from colleagues and friends about whether a monkeypox pandemic will be 
the next big disruption to our lives. A disease is considered to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192897855.003.0002">pandemic</a>
 when two separate conditions are met: cases are occurring globally and 
the number of cases being diagnosed is large enough to qualify as <a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-the-difference-between-pandemic-epidemic-and-outbreak-133048">epidemic</a>. An epidemic is characterized by new cases of a disease occurring at a <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dsepd/ss1978/lesson1/section11.html">higher than typical rate in at least several communities</a>.While the monkeypox situation is certainly newsworthy, as of mid-July
 2022, it did not clearly meet both of the requirements for pandemic 
status. More importantly, the current evidence suggests that <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-monkeypox-a-microbiologist-explains-whats-known-about-this-smallpox-cousin-183499">monkeypox</a> is very unlikely to become a global health catastrophe even if the virus spreads and becomes pandemic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657902105594.png" alt=" As of mid-July 2022, monkeypox cases associated with the current outbreak (shown in red on the map, with previous outbreaks in other colors) were occurring mostly in Europe and the Americas, and few cases were being reported from Africa and Asia. ArcMachaon/Wikimedia Commons " />
 <figcaption> As of mid-July 2022, monkeypox cases associated with the current outbreak (shown in red on the map, with previous outbreaks in other colors) were occurring mostly in Europe and the Americas, and few cases were being reported from Africa and Asia. ArcMachaon/Wikimedia Commons </figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Is monkeypox global?</h2>Both the 2009 <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/influenza-a-(h1n1)-outbreak">H1N1 influenza</a> virus and the <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019">SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus</a>
 that emerged in 2019 quickly spread to every region of the world. 
Global health experts were in full agreement that those were pandemic 
events. By contrast, the <a href="https://www.who.int/groups/ebola-virus-disease-in-west-africa-(2014-2015)-ihr-emergency-committee">Ebola virus</a> epidemic in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 was mostly contained to just that one region of the world and never spread globally. The <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/monkeypox-oubreak-2022">current distribution</a> of monkeypox cases is somewhere between those two scenarios. As of mid-July 2022, about <a href="https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-covid-19-media-briefing--12-july-2022">9,200 total cases</a>
 of monkeypox had been reported by 63 countries. For reasons that are 
not yet fully understood, almost all of those cases happened in <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/2021-dha-docs/20220706_monkeypox_external_sitrep_final.pdf">Europe and the Americas</a>, and only a few cases were reported by <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/monkeypox">African, Asian and Middle Eastern</a> countries.Is that distribution sufficiently global to meet the definition of a pandemic? Maybe. <h2>Is monkeypox an epidemic?</h2>The next condition to meet the pandemic threshold is whether places where monkeypox is present are experiencing epidemics.Europe and the Americas typically have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010141">zero cases</a> of monkeypox per year, so the current case counts in these regions are much higher than normal. But it is also important to look at how much community transmission 
is happening. If hundreds of people get sick after attending a single 
event – like a concert or festival – that would typically be classified 
as an outbreak. The situation would only become an epidemic if 
infections started occurring among many people who were not close 
contacts of event attendees. Once widespread and sustained community 
transmission begins occurring, it is much harder to control a virus. Most of the people diagnosed with monkeypox in May and June 2022 were 20- to 50-year-old men who identify as members of the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.add5497">LGBT+ community</a>. In July 2022, cases were not yet occurring at significant levels in multiple age and sociodemographic groups. Is the current pattern of spread sufficient to classify monkeypox as 
an epidemic rather than an outbreak? Maybe, but only in some of the 
countries that have reported monkeypox cases this year.Since the answers to whether monkeypox is global and an epidemic are 
both “maybe” rather than “yes,” this suggests that monkeypox is not a 
pandemic – at least not yet. But it could become one soon.<h2>How worried should you be about monkeypox?</h2>Pathogens like <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00241">monkeypox</a> are usually spread through touch and other types of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">close contact</a>
 with an infected person. Epidemiologists worry much less about 
pathogens with “person-to-person” transmission than they do about 
respiratory viruses like influenza and the coronavirus that can spread 
easily through the air.Over the course of just a few months, COVID-19 transitioned from a 
local concern in Wuhan, China, into the worst pandemic in a century. 
That is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cit703">not going to happen with monkeypox</a>.Why? First, the monkeypox virus is <a href="https://doi.org/10.2471%2FBLT.19.242347">much less contagious</a> than the circulating strains of coronavirus. Second, monkeypox is less deadly than COVID-19. The <a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/2021-dha-docs/20220706_monkeypox_external_sitrep_final.pdf">case fatality rate</a>
 during the current international outbreak is less than one death for 
every 1,000 adult cases, which is lower than the percentage of 
unvaccinated people who die after getting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30244-9">COVID-19</a>. And, third, <a href="https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1433527/retrieve">existing vaccines</a> will be able to help slow the spread of monkeypox in high-risk populations if <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/public-health-clinics-running-out-of-monkeypox-vaccine-as-lines-form-and-systems-crash/ar-AAZxMuv">problems with limited supplies</a> can be resolved.The World Health Organization follows a set of rules called the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241580496">International Health Regulations</a>
 that guide global public health responses to emerging threats. Under 
these regulations, the WHO has the authority to declare a “public health
 emergency of international concern” – commonly shortened to the acronym
 <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fjtm%2Ftaaa227">PHEIC</a> – when an 
infectious disease is spreading internationally and might “potentially 
require a coordinated international response.” The goal is to detect and
 respond to potential global health crises and prevent them from 
becoming pandemics.An <a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/situations/monkeypox-oubreak-2022">expert panel convened by the World Health Organization on June 23</a>
 determined that monkeypox was a “multi-country outbreak” but did not 
meet the criteria to be a public health emergency of international 
concern. The panel will meet again on July 21 to examine the 
distribution and frequency of new case reports. If the rate of new cases
 continues to increase and there is evidence of transmission within more
 diverse populations, monkeypox may be declared a public health 
emergency. But even if monkeypox is declared to be a public health emergency of 
international concern, it is not going to become a devastating pandemic 
like COVID-19.Kathryn H. Jacobsen is William E. Cooper Distinguished University Chair, Professor of Health Studies, University of Richmond.<div><iframe src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186872/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" width="1" height="1"></iframe></div>

Epidemiologist: Monkeypox not a pandemic yet — but worth watching

By PAUL HAMMELL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/public-hearings-scheduled-for-latest-nominees-to-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Three public hearing have been set to gather testimony about the eight new nominees to the Nebraska Hall of Fame.

The State Hall of Fame Commission will hold hearings in each of the state’s three congressional districts.

The first public hearing will be held 
Monday, at 6 p.m., at the Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln. For the 
first time, the Hall of Fame Commission will consider nominees based on 
the location of their nomination, so Alexander, Clover, Hanson and Pound
 will be considered in Lincoln.

The Omaha hearing will be held Wednesday 
at 6 p.m. at the Revive Center, 2402 Lizzie Robinson Ave. Nominees for 
discussion are Chapman and Malcolm X.

The hearing for the 3rd Congressional 
District will be held July 25 at 6 p.m. at the Phelps County Historical 
Society, 2701 Burlington St. in Holdrege. Alexander, Herminghaus and 
Kano are the nominees to be considered.

The Nebraska Hall of Fame was established
 in 1961 to recognize prominent Nebraskans. One inductee is added every 
five years. To be eligible, a person must have been dead for at least 35
 years. Busts of the Hall of Fame selections are displayed at the State 
Capitol.

Honorees must have been born in Nebraska 
or gained prominence while living in Nebraska, or whose residence in 
Nebraska was an important influence on their lives and their greatness.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658159710554.png" alt="Famed Oglala Lakota Chief Red Cloud is among those enshrined in the Nebraska Hall of Fame, located in the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) " />
 <figcaption>Famed Oglala Lakota Chief Red Cloud is among those enshrined in the Nebraska Hall of Fame, located in the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner) </figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMELL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/public-hearings-scheduled-for-latest-nominees-to-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Three public hearing have been set to gather testimony about the eight new nominees to the Nebraska Hall of Fame.The State Hall of Fame Commission will hold hearings in each of the state’s three congressional districts.This year’s nominees are:<ul>
 <li>Famed baseball pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander of St. Paul.</li><li>Calvin Chapman of Nebraska City, said to be a key figure in the Underground Railroad and a former mayor.&nbsp;</li><li>Elzada Urseba Clover, born in Auburn, the first botanist to catalog plants in the Grand Canyon.</li><li>Howard Hanson of Wahoo, a composer, 
educator and champion of classical music. Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1944 
for his Symphony No. 4.</li><li>Ernst H. Herminghaus of Omaha and 
Lincoln. A landscape architect, he designed Lincoln’s Pioneers Park and 
was one of the founders of the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra.</li><li>The Rev. Hiram Hisanori Kano of 
Litchfield, an Episcopal priest who was interred during World War II 
along with other Japanese-Americans. He is considered a saint by the 
Episcopal Church.</li><li>Malcolm X, born in Omaha, also known as
 Malcolm Little and El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. He was a major figure in 
the Black power movement of the 1960s and an advocate for civil rights.</li><li>Emma Louise Pound of Lincoln, author 
and folklorist. She taught English at the University of Nebraska and was
 a pioneer in linguistic studies. As an athlete, Pound was the first
 and only woman in NU history to earn a men’s varsity letter, winning 
the university tennis title in 1891 and 1892 against men.</li>
 </ul>The first public hearing will be held 
Monday, at 6 p.m., at the Nebraska History Museum in Lincoln. For the 
first time, the Hall of Fame Commission will consider nominees based on 
the location of their nomination, so Alexander, Clover, Hanson and Pound
 will be considered in Lincoln.The Omaha hearing will be held Wednesday 
at 6 p.m. at the Revive Center, 2402 Lizzie Robinson Ave. Nominees for 
discussion are Chapman and Malcolm X.The hearing for the 3rd Congressional 
District will be held July 25 at 6 p.m. at the Phelps County Historical 
Society, 2701 Burlington St. in Holdrege. Alexander, Herminghaus and 
Kano are the nominees to be considered.The Nebraska Hall of Fame was established
 in 1961 to recognize prominent Nebraskans. One inductee is added every 
five years. To be eligible, a person must have been dead for at least 35
 years. Busts of the Hall of Fame selections are displayed at the State 
Capitol.Honorees must have been born in Nebraska 
or gained prominence while living in Nebraska, or whose residence in 
Nebraska was an important influence on their lives and their greatness.

Hearings scheduled for latest nominees to Nebraska Hall of Fame

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri resident who was infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that likely happened after swimming in a southwestern Iowa lake has died, health officials said Friday.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said the patient died due to primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and usually fatal infection caused by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/">naegleria fowleri ameba.</a>

The death was first reported by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/07/15/brain-eating-amoeba-iowa-missouri-resident-dies-naegleria-fowleri-beach/10069451002/">the Des Moines Register</a>.

Health officials said they believe the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lakes-iowa-missouri-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-climate-environment-e3e629a4725a16ae641ea09f250ee247">parasite was contracted</a>&nbsp;at Lake of Three Fires near Bedford, Iowa, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of Kansas City. The name and age of the patient will not be released, officials said.

Iowa officials closed the Lake of Three Fires State Park near Taylor County as a precaution on July 7. The beach remains closed.

People are infected when water containing the ameba enters the body through the nose, usually while victims are swimming or diving in lakes and rivers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say. The fatality rate is more than 97%, according to CDC statistics.

The infections have primarily occurred in southern-tier states. It is the first case discovered in Iowa since infections were first confirmed in 1962 and possibly ever, the CDC said.

Among bordering states, Minnesota has had two cases and Missouri one, with none reported in Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Kansas has confirmed one case.

By Associated PressKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri resident who was infected with a rare brain-eating amoeba that likely happened after swimming in a southwestern Iowa lake has died, health officials said Friday.The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services said the patient died due to primary amebic meningoencephalitis, a rare and usually fatal infection caused by the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/naegleria/">naegleria fowleri ameba.</a>The death was first reported by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2022/07/15/brain-eating-amoeba-iowa-missouri-resident-dies-naegleria-fowleri-beach/10069451002/">the Des Moines Register</a>.Health officials said they believe the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lakes-iowa-missouri-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-climate-environment-e3e629a4725a16ae641ea09f250ee247">parasite was contracted</a>&nbsp;at Lake of Three Fires near Bedford, Iowa, about 120 miles (193 kilometers) north of Kansas City. The name and age of the patient will not be released, officials said.Iowa officials closed the Lake of Three Fires State Park near Taylor County as a precaution on July 7. The beach remains closed.People are infected when water containing the ameba enters the body through the nose, usually while victims are swimming or diving in lakes and rivers, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say. The fatality rate is more than 97%, according to CDC statistics.The infections have primarily occurred in southern-tier states. It is the first case discovered in Iowa since infections were first confirmed in 1962 and possibly ever, the CDC said.Among bordering states, Minnesota has had two cases and Missouri one, with none reported in Illinois, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Kansas has confirmed one case.

Missouri swimmer likely infected with amoeba in Iowa dies

WASHINGTON (AP) —A judge has temporarily barred two federal agencies from enforcing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-business-us-supreme-court-c462bcdd2ef65573712a916177e1ca32">directives issued by President Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;administration that extended protections for LGBTQ people in schools and workplaces.

U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. in an order on Friday ruled for the 20 state attorneys general including Doug Peterson of Nebraska and Derek Schmidt of Kansas who sued last August claiming the Biden administration directives infringe on states' right to enact laws that, for example, prevent students from participating in sports based on their gender identity or requiring schools and businesses to provide bathrooms and showers to accommodate transgender people.

Atchley, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, agreed with the attorneys generals’ argument and issued a temporary injunction that prevents the agencies from applying that guidance on LGBTQ discrimination until the matter can be resolved by courts.

“As demonstrated above, the harm alleged by Plaintiff States is already occurring — their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is hampered by the issuance of Defendants’ guidance and they face substantial pressure to change their state laws as a result,” Atchley wrote.

The attorneys general are from Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia.

The directives regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation was issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June following a landmark civil rights decision by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">U.S. Supreme Court in 2020</a>&nbsp;that, under a provision called Title VII, protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace.

The Department of Education guidance from June 2021 said discrimination based on a student's sexual orientation or gender identity would be treated as a violation of Title IX, the 1972 federal law that protects sex discrimination in education.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released guidance that month about what could constitute discrimination against LGBTQ people and advised the public about how to file a complaint.

With its guidance, the Biden administration in part took a stand against laws and proposals in a growing number of states that aim to forbid transgender girls from participating on female sports teams. The state attorneys general contend that the authority over such policies “properly belongs to Congress, the States, and the people.”

The education policy carried the possibility of federal sanctions against schools and colleges that fail to protect gay and transgender students.

The attorneys general argued that a delaying a legal review of the directives would “cause them significant hardship, as Defendants would be allowed to use the ‘fear of future sanctions’ to force ‘immediate compliance’ with the challenged guidance,” Atchley wrote.

“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have shown a credible threat of enforcement,” Atchley wrote. “Plaintiffs highlight that private litigants are relying on Defendants’ guidance to challenge Plaintiffs’ state laws.”

Atchley noted that the U.S. Department of Education has filed a statement of interest in a West Virginia lawsuit taking a position that Title IX prohibits the state from excluding transgender girls from participating in single-sex sports restricted to girls.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1656352811868.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —A judge has temporarily barred two federal agencies from enforcing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-business-us-supreme-court-c462bcdd2ef65573712a916177e1ca32">directives issued by President Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;administration that extended protections for LGBTQ people in schools and workplaces.U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. in an order on Friday ruled for the 20 state attorneys general including Doug Peterson of Nebraska and Derek Schmidt of Kansas who sued last August claiming the Biden administration directives infringe on states' right to enact laws that, for example, prevent students from participating in sports based on their gender identity or requiring schools and businesses to provide bathrooms and showers to accommodate transgender people.Atchley, appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, agreed with the attorneys generals’ argument and issued a temporary injunction that prevents the agencies from applying that guidance on LGBTQ discrimination until the matter can be resolved by courts.“As demonstrated above, the harm alleged by Plaintiff States is already occurring — their sovereign power to enforce their own legal code is hampered by the issuance of Defendants’ guidance and they face substantial pressure to change their state laws as a result,” Atchley wrote.The attorneys general are from Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and West Virginia.The directives regarding discrimination based on sexual orientation was issued by the U.S. Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June following a landmark civil rights decision by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">U.S. Supreme Court in 2020</a>&nbsp;that, under a provision called Title VII, protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace.The Department of Education guidance from June 2021 said discrimination based on a student's sexual orientation or gender identity would be treated as a violation of Title IX, the 1972 federal law that protects sex discrimination in education.The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released guidance that month about what could constitute discrimination against LGBTQ people and advised the public about how to file a complaint.With its guidance, the Biden administration in part took a stand against laws and proposals in a growing number of states that aim to forbid transgender girls from participating on female sports teams. The state attorneys general contend that the authority over such policies “properly belongs to Congress, the States, and the people.”The education policy carried the possibility of federal sanctions against schools and colleges that fail to protect gay and transgender students.The attorneys general argued that a delaying a legal review of the directives would “cause them significant hardship, as Defendants would be allowed to use the ‘fear of future sanctions’ to force ‘immediate compliance’ with the challenged guidance,” Atchley wrote.“The Court finds that Plaintiffs have shown a credible threat of enforcement,” Atchley wrote. “Plaintiffs highlight that private litigants are relying on Defendants’ guidance to challenge Plaintiffs’ state laws.”Atchley noted that the U.S. Department of Education has filed a statement of interest in a West Virginia lawsuit taking a position that Title IX prohibits the state from excluding transgender girls from participating in single-sex sports restricted to girls.

Win for Neb. AG: US agencies barred from enforcing LGBTQ guidance

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The area in northern Colorado where a flash flood swept away a camping trailer, killing a woman and a child, received nearly an inch of rain in a matter of minutes.

Frank Cooper, a National Weather Service meteorologist, tells the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2022/07/16/fatal-larimer-county-flood-caused-by-20-minute-downpour-on-burn-scar/65375001007/">Fort Collins Coloradoan</a>&nbsp;that a gauge 3 to 4 miles (4.8 to 6.4 kilometers) northwest of Crystal Mountain received .91 inches (2.3 centimeters) of rain, with .67 inches (1.7 centimeters) of that coming from 5 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. Friday. He noted that radar estimated higher amounts of rain in the area that includes the burn scar left by the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire.

“The threshold for flash flooding is pretty low up there because of the soils in the burn scar,″ Cooper said. “One to two inches of rain in an hour is plenty sufficient to cause problems.″

David Moore, a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, told the newspaper that multiple reports of flash flooding in the area west of Fort Collins started coming in Friday evening, including one about a trailer being washed away in the upper to middle section of Buckhorn Canyon.

The victims — a woman and a girl — were found dead Friday night. Their names have not been released.

The flash flooding also destroyed a home, but the occupants were accounted for and no injuries were reported.

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The area in northern Colorado where a flash flood swept away a camping trailer, killing a woman and a child, received nearly an inch of rain in a matter of minutes.Frank Cooper, a National Weather Service meteorologist, tells the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2022/07/16/fatal-larimer-county-flood-caused-by-20-minute-downpour-on-burn-scar/65375001007/">Fort Collins Coloradoan</a>&nbsp;that a gauge 3 to 4 miles (4.8 to 6.4 kilometers) northwest of Crystal Mountain received .91 inches (2.3 centimeters) of rain, with .67 inches (1.7 centimeters) of that coming from 5 p.m. to 5:20 p.m. Friday. He noted that radar estimated higher amounts of rain in the area that includes the burn scar left by the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire.“The threshold for flash flooding is pretty low up there because of the soils in the burn scar,″ Cooper said. “One to two inches of rain in an hour is plenty sufficient to cause problems.″David Moore, a spokesman for the Larimer County Sheriff's Office, told the newspaper that multiple reports of flash flooding in the area west of Fort Collins started coming in Friday evening, including one about a trailer being washed away in the upper to middle section of Buckhorn Canyon.The victims — a woman and a girl — were found dead Friday night. Their names have not been released.The flash flooding also destroyed a home, but the occupants were accounted for and no injuries were reported.

Fatal Colorado flood caused by quick downpour on burn scar

NUCKOLLS COUNTY, NE. — The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake centered near the Kansas, Nebraska state line in Nuckolls County had a preliminary magnitude of 3.7.

 The quake was reported just before 8a.m. Sunday, 4.3 miles southwest of Superior, Nebraska and was felt in many areas of Jewell County, Kansas. The Kansas Geological Survey indicated the quake measured magnitude 4.0.&nbsp;There were no immediate reports of damage.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1658096570056.png" alt="Location of Sunday's quake-USGS image" />
 <figcaption>Location of Sunday's quake-USGS image</figcaption>
 </figure>NUCKOLLS COUNTY, NE. — The U.S. Geological Survey says an earthquake centered near the Kansas, Nebraska state line in Nuckolls County had a preliminary magnitude of 3.7. The quake was reported just before 8a.m. Sunday, 4.3 miles southwest of Superior, Nebraska and was felt in many areas of Jewell County, Kansas. The Kansas Geological Survey indicated the quake measured magnitude 4.0.&nbsp;There were no immediate reports of damage.&nbsp;

Earthquake reported near the Nebraska, Kansas state line

Eagle Radio operates <a href="https://hayspost.com/pages/post-news-network">nine Post news sites</a> in communities across Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.

Here is a sampling of stories from last week:

<a href="https://littleapplepost.com/posts/c6b40452-04cf-43f9-9543-51f0dc203a79">🎥: Kansas-native plays Country Stampede for 10th time</a> From Little Apple Post

<a href="https://stjosephpost.com/posts/406c2e91-d9da-4b84-9332-990b9cc7fb74#//">It's not too late to seek a new career, Missouri Western can help</a> From St. Joseph Post

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/63c386cd-e851-43c7-b628-073b8f2d09bf">NAMI brings mental health support to jails, prisons</a> From Hays Post

<a href="https://panhandlepost.com/posts/e2a29261-117a-4410-a9ac-44d9ca43da85">A-Town Zesto continues burger legacy in Alliance</a> From Panhandle Post

<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/a9425a02-e0c5-4309-95ef-4cc50c2acd9e">$60,000 customized car missing from Salina dealership</a> From Salina Post

<a href="https://jcpost.com/posts/e942541b-d464-490b-b88d-8cc5d6ef7a67">Concrete grandstand at Al Simpler Stadium is taken down</a> From JC Post

<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/257df2ac-df7b-496b-9643-3eefc15df397">Edward's Street Brew &amp; Bites cuts ribbon in Larned</a> From Great Bend Post

<a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/ca578a56-f6d6-4f47-9ebc-f854801e657f">Communities That Care data shows kids in Reno County need help</a> From Hutch Post

<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/9e9ec18a-adf5-45ab-a8e0-80c7991fdf01">Eagle Radio employee-owner, Schmidt Foundation make donation to North Platte Habitat for Humanity</a> From North Platte Post

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587155364471.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Eagle Radio operates <a href="https://hayspost.com/pages/post-news-network">nine Post news sites</a> in communities across Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.Here is a sampling of stories from last week:<a href="https://littleapplepost.com/posts/c6b40452-04cf-43f9-9543-51f0dc203a79">🎥: Kansas-native plays Country Stampede for 10th time</a> From Little Apple Post<a href="https://stjosephpost.com/posts/406c2e91-d9da-4b84-9332-990b9cc7fb74#//">It's not too late to seek a new career, Missouri Western can help</a> From St. Joseph Post<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/63c386cd-e851-43c7-b628-073b8f2d09bf">NAMI brings mental health support to jails, prisons</a> From Hays Post<a href="https://panhandlepost.com/posts/e2a29261-117a-4410-a9ac-44d9ca43da85">A-Town Zesto continues burger legacy in Alliance</a> From Panhandle Post<a href="https://salinapost.com/posts/a9425a02-e0c5-4309-95ef-4cc50c2acd9e">$60,000 customized car missing from Salina dealership</a> From Salina Post<a href="https://jcpost.com/posts/e942541b-d464-490b-b88d-8cc5d6ef7a67">Concrete grandstand at Al Simpler Stadium is taken down</a> From JC Post<a href="https://greatbendpost.com/posts/257df2ac-df7b-496b-9643-3eefc15df397">Edward's Street Brew &amp; Bites cuts ribbon in Larned</a> From Great Bend Post<a href="https://hutchpost.com/posts/ca578a56-f6d6-4f47-9ebc-f854801e657f">Communities That Care data shows kids in Reno County need help</a> From Hutch Post<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/9e9ec18a-adf5-45ab-a8e0-80c7991fdf01">Eagle Radio employee-owner, Schmidt Foundation make donation to North Platte Habitat for Humanity</a> From North Platte Post

News From Around the Post News Network

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Long lines are back at food banks around the U.S. as working Americans overwhelmed by inflation turn to handouts to help feed their families.

With gas prices soaring along with grocery costs, many people are seeking charitable food for the first time, and more are arriving on foot.

Inflation in the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-economy-prices-consumer-74e1a5c9bced40460e4079f62e980095">is at a 40-year high</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-us-supreme-court-united-states-prices-congress-fd9b475349dc1d8365fbc2497a07de3b">gas prices have been surging</a>&nbsp;since April 2020, with the average cost nationwide briefly hitting $5 a gallon in June. Rapidly rising rents and an end to federal COVID-19 relief have also taken a financial toll.

The food banks, which had started to see some relief as people returned to work after pandemic shutdowns, are struggling to meet the latest need even as federal programs provide less food to distribute, grocery store donations wane and cash gifts don’t go nearly as far.

Tomasina John was among hundreds of families lined up in several lanes of cars that went around the block one recent day outside St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix. John said her family had never visited a food bank before because her husband had easily supported her and their four children with his construction work.

“But it’s really impossible to get by now without some help,” said John, who traveled with a neighbor to share gas costs as they idled under a scorching desert sun. “The prices are way too high.”

“It’s a real struggle,” said Pascual, a janitor who estimated he spends several hundred dollars a month on groceries for him, his wife and their five children aged 11 to 19.

The same scene is repeated across the nation, where food bank workers predict a rough summer keeping ahead of demand.

The surge in food prices comes after state governments&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-nebraska-iowa-des-moines-4ff5e0d51f61e6704f44dfc31279376a">ended COVID-19 disaster declarations</a>&nbsp;that temporarily allowed increased benefits under SNAP, the federal food stamp program covering some 40 million Americans .

“It does not look like it’s going to get better overnight,” said Katie Fitzgerald, president and chief operating officer for the national food bank network Feeding America. “Demand is really making the supply challenges complex.”

Charitable food distribution&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-hunger-coronavirus-pandemic-4c7f1705c6d8ef5bac241e6cc8e331bb">has remained far above amounts given away before the coronavirus pandemic</a>, even though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-united-states-health-hunger-2c509e7e1ce108c47287b42315e2a0c3">demand tapered off somewhat late last year</a>.

Feeding America officials say second quarter data won't be ready until August, but they are hearing anecdotally from food banks nationwide that demand is soaring.

The Phoenix food bank's main distribution center doled out food packages to 4,271 families during the third week in June, a 78% increase over the 2,396 families served during the same week last year, said St. Mary's spokesman Jerry Brown.

More than 900 families line up at the distribution center every weekday for an emergency government food box stuffed with goods such as canned beans, peanut butter and rice, said Brown. St. Mary’s adds products purchased with cash donations, as well as food provided by local supermarkets like bread, carrots and pork chops for a combined package worth about $75.

Distribution by the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Northern California has ticked up since hitting a pandemic low at the beginning of this year, increasing from 890 households served on the third Friday in January to 1,410 households on the third Friday in June, said marketing director Michael Altfest.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657814437167.png" alt="The surge in food prices comes after state governments&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-nebraska-iowa-des-moines-4ff5e0d51f61e6704f44dfc31279376a">ended COVID-19 disaster declarations</a>&nbsp;that temporarily allowed increased benefits under SNAP, the federal food stamp program covering some 40 million Americans." />
 <figcaption>The surge in food prices comes after state governments&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-nebraska-iowa-des-moines-4ff5e0d51f61e6704f44dfc31279376a">ended COVID-19 disaster declarations</a>&nbsp;that temporarily allowed increased benefits under SNAP, the federal food stamp program covering some 40 million Americans.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Long lines are back at food banks around the U.S. as working Americans overwhelmed by inflation turn to handouts to help feed their families.With gas prices soaring along with grocery costs, many people are seeking charitable food for the first time, and more are arriving on foot.Inflation in the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-economy-prices-consumer-74e1a5c9bced40460e4079f62e980095">is at a 40-year high</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-us-supreme-court-united-states-prices-congress-fd9b475349dc1d8365fbc2497a07de3b">gas prices have been surging</a>&nbsp;since April 2020, with the average cost nationwide briefly hitting $5 a gallon in June. Rapidly rising rents and an end to federal COVID-19 relief have also taken a financial toll.The food banks, which had started to see some relief as people returned to work after pandemic shutdowns, are struggling to meet the latest need even as federal programs provide less food to distribute, grocery store donations wane and cash gifts don’t go nearly as far.Tomasina John was among hundreds of families lined up in several lanes of cars that went around the block one recent day outside St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix. John said her family had never visited a food bank before because her husband had easily supported her and their four children with his construction work.“But it’s really impossible to get by now without some help,” said John, who traveled with a neighbor to share gas costs as they idled under a scorching desert sun. “The prices are way too high.”Jesus Pascual was also in the queue.“It’s a real struggle,” said Pascual, a janitor who estimated he spends several hundred dollars a month on groceries for him, his wife and their five children aged 11 to 19.The same scene is repeated across the nation, where food bank workers predict a rough summer keeping ahead of demand.The surge in food prices comes after state governments&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-nebraska-iowa-des-moines-4ff5e0d51f61e6704f44dfc31279376a">ended COVID-19 disaster declarations</a>&nbsp;that temporarily allowed increased benefits under SNAP, the federal food stamp program covering some 40 million Americans .“It does not look like it’s going to get better overnight,” said Katie Fitzgerald, president and chief operating officer for the national food bank network Feeding America. “Demand is really making the supply challenges complex.”Charitable food distribution&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-hunger-coronavirus-pandemic-4c7f1705c6d8ef5bac241e6cc8e331bb">has remained far above amounts given away before the coronavirus pandemic</a>, even though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-united-states-health-hunger-2c509e7e1ce108c47287b42315e2a0c3">demand tapered off somewhat late last year</a>.Feeding America officials say second quarter data won't be ready until August, but they are hearing anecdotally from food banks nationwide that demand is soaring.The Phoenix food bank's main distribution center doled out food packages to 4,271 families during the third week in June, a 78% increase over the 2,396 families served during the same week last year, said St. Mary's spokesman Jerry Brown.More than 900 families line up at the distribution center every weekday for an emergency government food box stuffed with goods such as canned beans, peanut butter and rice, said Brown. St. Mary’s adds products purchased with cash donations, as well as food provided by local supermarkets like bread, carrots and pork chops for a combined package worth about $75.Distribution by the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Northern California has ticked up since hitting a pandemic low at the beginning of this year, increasing from 890 households served on the third Friday in January to 1,410 households on the third Friday in June, said marketing director Michael Altfest.At the Houston Food Bank, the largest food bank in the U.S. where food distribution levels earlier in the pandemic briefly peaked at a staggering 1 million pounds a day, an average of 610,000 pounds is now being given out daily.That's up from about 500,000 pounds a day before the pandemic, said spokeswoman Paula Murphy said.Murphy said cash donations have not eased, but inflation ensures they don’t go as far.Food bank executives said the sudden surge in demand caught them off guard.“Last year, we had expected a decrease in demand for 2022 because the economy had been doing so well,” said Michael Flood, CEO for the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank. “This issue with inflation came on pretty suddenly.”“A lot of these are people who are working and did OK during the pandemic and maybe even saw their wages go up,” said Flood. “But they have also seen food prices go up beyond their budgets.”The Los Angeles bank gave away about 30 million pounds of food during the first three months of this year, slightly less than the previous quarter but still far more than the 22 million pounds given away during the first quarter of 2020.Feeding America's Fitzgerald is calling on USDA and Congress to find a way to restore hundreds of millions of dollars worth of commodities recently lost with the end of several temporary programs to provide food to people in need. USDA commodities, which generally can represent as much as 30% of the food the banks disperse, accounted for more than 40% of all food distributed in fiscal year 2021 by the Feeding America network.“There is a critical need for the public sector to purchase more food now," said Fitzgerald.During the Trump administration, USDA bought several billions of dollars in pork, apples, dairy, potatoes and other products in a program that gave most of it to food banks. The “Food Purchase &amp; Distribution Program” designed to help American farmers harmed by tariffs and other practices of U.S. trade partners has since ended. There was $1.2 billion authorized for the 2019 fiscal year and another $1.4 billion authorized for fiscal 2020.Another temporary&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ams.usda.gov/selling-food-to-usda/farmers-to-families-food-box">USDA “Farmers to Families” program</a>&nbsp;that provided emergency relief provided more than 155 million food boxes for families in need across the U.S. during the height of the pandemic before ending May 31, 2021.For now, there's enough food, but there might not be in the future, said Michael G. Manning, president and CEO at Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank in Louisiana. He said high fuel costs also make it far more expensive to collect and distribute food.The USDA's Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, which included Farmers to Families, was "a boon” for the Alameda County Community Food Bank, providing 5 billion pounds of commodities over a single year, said spokesman Altfest.“So losing that was a big hit,” he said.Altfest said as many as 10% of the people now seeking food are first timers, and a growing number are showing up on foot rather than in cars to save gas.“The food they get from us is helping them save already-stretched budgets for other expenses like gas, rent, diapers and baby formula,” he said.Meanwhile, food purchases by the bank have jumped from a monthly average of $250,000 before the pandemic to as high as $1.5 million now because of food prices. Rocketing gasoline costs forced the bank to increase its fuel budget by 66%, Altfest said.Supply chain issues are also a problem, requiring the food bank to become more aggressive with procurement.“We used to reorder when our inventory dropped to three weeks’ worth, now we reorder up to six weeks out,” said Altfest.He said the food bank has already ordered and paid for whole chickens, stuffing, cranberries and other holiday feast items it will distribute for Thanksgiving, the busiest time of the year.At the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation in Montebello east of Los Angeles, workers say they are seeing many families along with older people like Diane Martinez, who lined up one recent morning on foot.Some of the hundreds of mostly Spanish-speaking recipients had cars parked nearby. They carried cloth bags, cardboard boxes or shoved pushcarts to pick up their food packages from the distribution site the Los Angeles bank serves.“The prices of food are so high and they’re going up higher every day,” said Martinez, who expressed gratitude for the bags of black beans, ground beef and other groceries. “I’m so glad that they’re able to help us.”