Double R Boxing Presents the 90th Annual Central District Golden Gloves Tournament at the Heartland Events Center at Fonner Park and will host 15-20 amateur Boxing matches. These young boxers will try to advance to the National Golden Gloves Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Come and watch boxers from Lincoln all the way to the panhandle of Nebraska to South Dakota and everywhere in between square off for the right to be called the 90th Central District Golden Gloves Champion.

Tickets go on sale March, 1, 2022 at 10:00 am. Fight night as stated above is Saturday, April 2nd, doors open at 5 pm and fights start at 6 pm. Ticket costs are: General Admission $20, Preferred Seating $40, Table Seats $50 per seat (10 seats per table). All tickets can be purchased at the Heartland Events Center box office or online at etix.com.

For sponsor tables please contact Justin Collins at justincollins1978@gmail.com.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646667050710.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>News Release Fonner ParkDouble R Boxing Presents the 90th Annual Central District Golden Gloves Tournament at the Heartland Events Center at Fonner Park and will host 15-20 amateur Boxing matches. These young boxers will try to advance to the National Golden Gloves Tournament in Tulsa, Oklahoma.Come and watch boxers from Lincoln all the way to the panhandle of Nebraska to South Dakota and everywhere in between square off for the right to be called the 90th Central District Golden Gloves Champion.Tickets go on sale March, 1, 2022 at 10:00 am. Fight night as stated above is Saturday, April 2nd, doors open at 5 pm and fights start at 6 pm. Ticket costs are: General Admission $20, Preferred Seating $40, Table Seats $50 per seat (10 seats per table). All tickets can be purchased at the Heartland Events Center box office or online at etix.com.For sponsor tables please contact Justin Collins at justincollins1978@gmail.com.

Fonner Park to host Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament

‘It was like Omaha … and then it changed overnight’

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/03/06/ukrainians-in-nebraska-worry-for-loved-ones-dread-what-the-future-may-bring/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — The message on Halyna Carbullido’s Facebook page says a lot:&nbsp;

“My morning doesn’t start with coffee any more. It starts with making sure my friends and relatives in Ukraine are still alive.”

This
 is the world inhabited by Ukranians in America right now. They’re glued
 to the internet, to their cell phone, to news reports to follow what’s 
happening in their home country.

They’re
 collecting first-aid kits and bandages to ship back home. They’re 
speaking at rallies seeking American support. They’re spending sleepless
 nights, worrying about loved ones.&nbsp;

“Every
 waking moment I’m online,” said Carbullido, who emigrated from Ukraine 
to Omaha in 1991 and has been married to her husband, Ken Carbullido, 
for 10 years. Everyone knows her by her nickname, “Hala.”

The
 56-year-old, who does IT work for an Omaha bank, was helping load up a 
truck Sunday with medical supplies for shipment to Chicago and on to her
 home country. These days, she said, sleep comes only “with help.”

In
 Lincoln on Sunday, 20-year old Yulia Iziumova, a junior at Nebraska 
Wesleyan University, spoke to a “Rally to Support Peace in Ukraine” on 
the steps of the State Capitol.

The
 former exchange student at Lincoln High School said the fighting hasn’t
 yet reached her hometown of Chornomorsk, near the port city of Odessa. 
But the war is close by, in eastern Ukraine, and is closing in.

“I have classmates who are now at the front,” Iziumova said of friends in Ukraine.&nbsp;

Her
 mother fled across the border to Moldova, but her father, Igor, a 
42-year-old crane operator at the port of Odessa, has stayed behind, 
with her grandparents, an aunt and uncle and some cousins.

“He thought it was the right thing to stay and help defend the country in any way he can,” Iziumova said of her father.

Right
 now, the port is closed, but soldiers are there, sandbagging, preparing
 for a possible invasion of Odessa. She said she can feel the tension, 
the horrible anticipation. She said she’s become a “slave” to the news 
feed.

“I’m just hoping not to hear the word ‘Odessa,’” Iziumova said.

“Nobody knows what tomorrow looks like,” she added. “That’s a very hard thing.”

In Omaha, Carbullido feels the same anxiety, the same awful feeling about what could happen next.

She grew up in Lviv, in western Ukraine, a cultural hub near Poland that has escaped the shellings so far.

But
 she knows people in the east where bombs are falling and people are 
dying. And her 61-year-old brother, Rostyslav, a retired oil company 
logistics manager, and his wife are still in Lviv, waiting.

The
 brother, she said, drove his former daughter-in-law (their son died 
three years ago), her three kids and her new husband to the Polish 
border just after the war broke out. They waited in line for 18 hours 
before being allowed to leave Ukraine and are now at a refugee dormitory
 in Germany, waiting for COVID-19 tests to clear them to find temporary 
housing.

Carbullido said her brother doesn’t want her to ask what he will do when the war comes to Lviv.

&nbsp;“He refuses to talk about it,” she said. “He doesn’t want me to bug him about, ‘You must have your luggage packed.’”

“’At least do that,’ I told him,” Carbullido said.&nbsp;

For
 now, the brother is “staying out of the way.” She said he is part of a 
network of Lviv residents who are giving rides to those evacuating the 
city of 717,000.

Lviv,
 Carbullido said, is known as “The Paris of Ukraine” because of its 
beautiful architecture, culture and monuments. But now residents are 
boarding up windows and covering the monuments to protect them when the 
shooting starts.&nbsp;

“It
 was like Omaha,” Carbullido said of Lviv. “You wake up in the morning, 
you go to work, you drop your kids at school, you meet your friends for 
drinks at night …

“And then it changed overnight,” she said. “Now Ukraine is in ruins.”

Carbullido,
 who landed in Omaha because a local Ukranian church was willing to 
sponsor her and her son, said that Ukraine did not ask for war but that 
she expected that Russian president Vladmir Putin would someday invent a
 reason to invade.

“They
 think Ukraine belongs to them. They think Ukraine should work hard to 
support Russia and doesn’t deserve to be a separate country,” she said.

Carbuillido
 said that her home country, which she last visited nine years ago, has 
political divisions like any nation, but is united in the fight against 
Russia.

“They know what kind of life their relatives have across the border (in Russia) and they don’t want it,” she said.

Both
 Carbullido and Iziumova said the war in Ukraine is more than a fight 
between that country and Russia, but a fight against the whole world.

No one, they said, expects the U.S. to send troops there, but Ukraine needs more help.

Send
 drones, Carbullido posted on her Facebook page — along with pictures of
 newborns housed in a bomb shelter, a woman confronting a Russian 
soldier, and elderly women cooking food for Ukrainian troops.&nbsp;

“Oh, my God. I don’t know,” Carbullido said. “I’ve been reading different analyses. I don’t know.”

“I’m scared to think of the worst-case scenario: Occupation,” she said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646661986560.png" alt="Dozens of people rallied on Saturday in Lincoln in support of Ukraine. Another rally by Nebraskans for Peace was held Sunday on the steps of the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Dozens of people rallied on Saturday in Lincoln in support of Ukraine. Another rally by Nebraskans for Peace was held Sunday on the steps of the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>‘It was like Omaha … and then it changed overnight’</h2>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/03/06/ukrainians-in-nebraska-worry-for-loved-ones-dread-what-the-future-may-bring/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — The message on Halyna Carbullido’s Facebook page says a lot:&nbsp;“My morning doesn’t start with coffee any more. It starts with making sure my friends and relatives in Ukraine are still alive.”This
 is the world inhabited by Ukranians in America right now. They’re glued
 to the internet, to their cell phone, to news reports to follow what’s 
happening in their home country.<h2>‘Every waking moment I’m online’</h2>They’re
 collecting first-aid kits and bandages to ship back home. They’re 
speaking at rallies seeking American support. They’re spending sleepless
 nights, worrying about loved ones.&nbsp;“Every
 waking moment I’m online,” said Carbullido, who emigrated from Ukraine 
to Omaha in 1991 and has been married to her husband, Ken Carbullido, 
for 10 years. Everyone knows her by her nickname, “Hala.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646662064069.jpeg" alt="On Sunday, Ukraine supporters in Omaha collected first-aid kits and other supplies for shipment to the war-torn country. Pictured is the organizer, Natalia Lys. (Courtesy of Hala Carbullido)" />
 <figcaption>On Sunday, Ukraine supporters in Omaha collected first-aid kits and other supplies for shipment to the war-torn country. Pictured is the organizer, Natalia Lys. (Courtesy of Hala Carbullido)</figcaption>
 </figure>The
 56-year-old, who does IT work for an Omaha bank, was helping load up a 
truck Sunday with medical supplies for shipment to Chicago and on to her
 home country. These days, she said, sleep comes only “with help.”In
 Lincoln on Sunday, 20-year old Yulia Iziumova, a junior at Nebraska 
Wesleyan University, spoke to a “Rally to Support Peace in Ukraine” on 
the steps of the State Capitol.<h2>Classmates at the front</h2>The
 former exchange student at Lincoln High School said the fighting hasn’t
 yet reached her hometown of Chornomorsk, near the port city of Odessa. 
But the war is close by, in eastern Ukraine, and is closing in.“I have classmates who are now at the front,” Iziumova said of friends in Ukraine.&nbsp;Her
 mother fled across the border to Moldova, but her father, Igor, a 
42-year-old crane operator at the port of Odessa, has stayed behind, 
with her grandparents, an aunt and uncle and some cousins.“He thought it was the right thing to stay and help defend the country in any way he can,” Iziumova said of her father.Right
 now, the port is closed, but soldiers are there, sandbagging, preparing
 for a possible invasion of Odessa. She said she can feel the tension, 
the horrible anticipation. She said she’s become a “slave” to the news 
feed.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646662090050.jpeg" alt="Yulia Iziumova, a Ukranian student at Nebraska Wesleyan University (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Yulia Iziumova, a Ukranian student at Nebraska Wesleyan University (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Hoping not to hear ‘Odessa’</h2>“I’m just hoping not to hear the word ‘Odessa,’” Iziumova said.“Nobody knows what tomorrow looks like,” she added. “That’s a very hard thing.”In Omaha, Carbullido feels the same anxiety, the same awful feeling about what could happen next.She grew up in Lviv, in western Ukraine, a cultural hub near Poland that has escaped the shellings so far.But
 she knows people in the east where bombs are falling and people are 
dying. And her 61-year-old brother, Rostyslav, a retired oil company 
logistics manager, and his wife are still in Lviv, waiting.<h2>Fled to Germany</h2>The
 brother, she said, drove his former daughter-in-law (their son died 
three years ago), her three kids and her new husband to the Polish 
border just after the war broke out. They waited in line for 18 hours 
before being allowed to leave Ukraine and are now at a refugee dormitory
 in Germany, waiting for COVID-19 tests to clear them to find temporary 
housing.Carbullido said her brother doesn’t want her to ask what he will do when the war comes to Lviv.&nbsp;“He refuses to talk about it,” she said. “He doesn’t want me to bug him about, ‘You must have your luggage packed.’”“’At least do that,’ I told him,” Carbullido said.&nbsp;For
 now, the brother is “staying out of the way.” She said he is part of a 
network of Lviv residents who are giving rides to those evacuating the 
city of 717,000.<h2>‘It was like Omaha …”</h2>Lviv,
 Carbullido said, is known as “The Paris of Ukraine” because of its 
beautiful architecture, culture and monuments. But now residents are 
boarding up windows and covering the monuments to protect them when the 
shooting starts.&nbsp;“It
 was like Omaha,” Carbullido said of Lviv. “You wake up in the morning, 
you go to work, you drop your kids at school, you meet your friends for 
drinks at night …“And then it changed overnight,” she said. “Now Ukraine is in ruins.”Carbullido,
 who landed in Omaha because a local Ukranian church was willing to 
sponsor her and her son, said that Ukraine did not ask for war but that 
she expected that Russian president Vladmir Putin would someday invent a
 reason to invade.“They
 think Ukraine belongs to them. They think Ukraine should work hard to 
support Russia and doesn’t deserve to be a separate country,” she said.Carbuillido
 said that her home country, which she last visited nine years ago, has 
political divisions like any nation, but is united in the fight against 
Russia.“They know what kind of life their relatives have across the border (in Russia) and they don’t want it,” she said.Both
 Carbullido and Iziumova said the war in Ukraine is more than a fight 
between that country and Russia, but a fight against the whole world.<h2>Send drones</h2>No one, they said, expects the U.S. to send troops there, but Ukraine needs more help.Send
 drones, Carbullido posted on her Facebook page — along with pictures of
 newborns housed in a bomb shelter, a woman confronting a Russian 
soldier, and elderly women cooking food for Ukrainian troops.&nbsp;What’s to come for her home country?“Oh, my God. I don’t know,” Carbullido said. “I’ve been reading different analyses. I don’t know.”“I’m scared to think of the worst-case scenario: Occupation,” she said. “It’s just heartbreaking.”

Ukrainians in Nebraska worry for loved ones, worry for future

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced it has 
begun using voice and chat bots on two of its specialized toll-free 
telephone assistance lines and IRS.gov, enabling taxpayers with simple 
payment or collection notice questions to get what they need quickly and
 avoid waiting. Taxpayers can still speak with an IRS telephone 
representative if needed.

"Our phone lines continue to see unprecedented demand, and the IRS 
continues to look for ways to help people and avoid long wait times," 
said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Our telephone representatives 
remain an important part of the service we provide, but these bots can 
help some people avoid lengthy phone delays for something that could be 
resolved on the spot. This is part of a larger effort to help people get
 the assistance they need this tax season."

The IRS in recent weeks has deployed voice and chat bots in English 
and Spanish for phone lines that assist taxpayers with tax payments 
issues or understanding an IRS notice they may have received. People 
with general tax season questions generally will not encounter these 
features at this time. The bots are now available to help taxpayers 
with:

Voice bots are software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) 
that allow a caller to navigate an interactive voice response (IVR) 
system with their voice, generally using natural language. Chat bots 
simulate human conversation through web-based text interaction, also 
using AI-powered software to respond to natural language prompts. 
Taxpayers who request to speak with a customer service representative 
will be placed in queue for English or Spanish ACS telephone assistance.
 The IRS voice and chat bots currently provide unauthenticated services,
 which means they cannot provide assistance with a taxpayer's protected 
account information.

"Voice and chat bots interact with taxpayers in easy-to-follow ways, 
which means taxpayers don't have to wait on hold to handle simple 
tasks," said Darren Guillot, Commissioner of Small Business/Self 
Employed Collection at the IRS.

Later in 2022, IRS voice bots will also enable taxpayers to 
authenticate their identity to establish payment plans, request a 
transcript and obtain information about their accounts, such as payoff 
details. The IRS plans to roll out more voice and chat bots later in 
2022 to assist taxpayers with more complex issues.

IRS toll-free telephone lines receive millions of calls a year. A 
customer service representative spends on average nearly 20 minutes with
 each taxpayer they help on a collection issue. Freeing up IRS phone 
assistors for taxpayers with complex collection issues who need to speak
 with someone is another major benefit of voice and chat bots.

In addition to the payment lines, voice bots helped people calling 
the Economic Impact Payment (EIP) toll-free line, providing general 
procedural responses to frequently asked questions. The IRS also added 
voice bots for the Advance Child Tax Credit toll-free line in February 
to provide similar assistance to callers who need help reconciling the 
credits on their 2021 tax return.

The IRS also reminds taxpayers about numerous other <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/get-ready-for-taxes-bookmark-irsgov-resources-and-online-tools-to-use-before-during-and-after-filing">self-service options</a> that are available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced it has 
begun using voice and chat bots on two of its specialized toll-free 
telephone assistance lines and IRS.gov, enabling taxpayers with simple 
payment or collection notice questions to get what they need quickly and
 avoid waiting. Taxpayers can still speak with an IRS telephone 
representative if needed."Our phone lines continue to see unprecedented demand, and the IRS 
continues to look for ways to help people and avoid long wait times," 
said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig. "Our telephone representatives 
remain an important part of the service we provide, but these bots can 
help some people avoid lengthy phone delays for something that could be 
resolved on the spot. This is part of a larger effort to help people get
 the assistance they need this tax season."The IRS in recent weeks has deployed voice and chat bots in English 
and Spanish for phone lines that assist taxpayers with tax payments 
issues or understanding an IRS notice they may have received. People 
with general tax season questions generally will not encounter these 
features at this time. The bots are now available to help taxpayers 
with:<ul>
 <li>How to make one-time payments</li><li>Answers to frequently asked questions</li><li>Collection notice clarification</li>
 </ul>Voice bots are software powered by artificial intelligence (AI) 
that allow a caller to navigate an interactive voice response (IVR) 
system with their voice, generally using natural language. Chat bots 
simulate human conversation through web-based text interaction, also 
using AI-powered software to respond to natural language prompts. 
Taxpayers who request to speak with a customer service representative 
will be placed in queue for English or Spanish ACS telephone assistance.
 The IRS voice and chat bots currently provide unauthenticated services,
 which means they cannot provide assistance with a taxpayer's protected 
account information."Voice and chat bots interact with taxpayers in easy-to-follow ways, 
which means taxpayers don't have to wait on hold to handle simple 
tasks," said Darren Guillot, Commissioner of Small Business/Self 
Employed Collection at the IRS.Later in 2022, IRS voice bots will also enable taxpayers to 
authenticate their identity to establish payment plans, request a 
transcript and obtain information about their accounts, such as payoff 
details. The IRS plans to roll out more voice and chat bots later in 
2022 to assist taxpayers with more complex issues.IRS toll-free telephone lines receive millions of calls a year. A 
customer service representative spends on average nearly 20 minutes with
 each taxpayer they help on a collection issue. Freeing up IRS phone 
assistors for taxpayers with complex collection issues who need to speak
 with someone is another major benefit of voice and chat bots.In addition to the payment lines, voice bots helped people calling 
the Economic Impact Payment (EIP) toll-free line, providing general 
procedural responses to frequently asked questions. The IRS also added 
voice bots for the Advance Child Tax Credit toll-free line in February 
to provide similar assistance to callers who need help reconciling the 
credits on their 2021 tax return.The IRS also reminds taxpayers about numerous other <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/get-ready-for-taxes-bookmark-irsgov-resources-and-online-tools-to-use-before-during-and-after-filing">self-service options</a> that are available.Cover image courtesy Pixabay

IRS: Voice, text bots will now answer your tax questions

NEW YORK (AP) — The average price of regular gasoline across the U.S. has risen above $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008. 

The AAA motor club said the price of regular gas went up by almost 41 cents during the past week. That comes in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and represents the second-largest jump in average national prices in a week. 

The head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy said the Russian invasion and seasonal price changes mean Americans should prepare to pay more for gas than ever before. 

The all-time high for average gasoline prices was set in July 17, 2008 at $4.10 per gallon.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646653109818.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSNEW YORK (AP) — The average price of regular gasoline across the U.S. has risen above $4 per gallon for the first time since 2008. The AAA motor club said the price of regular gas went up by almost 41 cents during the past week. That comes in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and represents the second-largest jump in average national prices in a week. The head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy said the Russian invasion and seasonal price changes mean Americans should prepare to pay more for gas than ever before. The all-time high for average gasoline prices was set in July 17, 2008 at $4.10 per gallon.

Gas tops $4 per gallon average, 1st time since 2008

(AP)-Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

Pulling the plug on online entertainment — and information — is likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services, technology and a variety of consumer products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. 

Other companies that said they were cutting ties to Russia Sunday included two of the Big Four accounting firms and American Express.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1646653035162.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS(AP)-Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Pulling the plug on online entertainment — and information — is likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of multinational businesses have cut off Russia from vital financial services, technology and a variety of consumer products in response to Western economic sanctions and global outrage over the invasion of Ukraine. Other companies that said they were cutting ties to Russia Sunday included two of the Big Four accounting firms and American Express.

Netflix, TikTok block services in Russia to avoid crackdown

BANGKOK (AP) — The official global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over.

The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is the latest tragic reminder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">unrelenting nature of the pandemic</a>&nbsp;even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-religion-new-zealand-fiji-27b40edd3d6e94c5b10185e49bbf182f">Remote Pacific islands,</a>&nbsp;whose isolation had protected them for more than two years, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.

Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-400065ee2ffd08eee45411d6dc099cca">testing its entire population of 7.5 million&nbsp;</a>three times this month as it clings to mainland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-2f6cf36849799aa67cd8ee8d4f5bfd64">China’s “zero-COVID” strategy</a>.

As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war-torn Ukraine</a>, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths.

And despite its wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.

Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.

“This is a disease of the unvaccinated — look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed,” said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. “The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population.”

It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million — more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.

But despite the enormity of the figure, the world undoubtedly hit its 6 millionth death some time ago. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full.

Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a>&nbsp;portal, said that — when countries’ excess mortality figures are studied — as many as nearly four times the reported death toll have likely died because of the pandemic.

An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates" target="_blank">analysis of excess deaths by a team at The Economist</a>&nbsp;estimates that the number of COVID-19 deaths is between 14.1 million and 23.8 million.

“Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause of death,” Mathieu told The Associated Press. “In some, mostly rich, countries that fraction is high and the official tally can be considered to be fairly accurate, but in others it is highly underestimated.”

The United States has the biggest official death toll in the world, but the numbers have been trending downward over the last month.

Lonnie Bailey lost his 17-year-old nephew, Carlos Nunez Jr., who contracted COVID-19 last April — the same month Kentucky opened his age group to vaccinations. The Louisville resident said the family is still suffering, including Carlos’ younger sibling, who had to be hospitalized himself and still has lingering symptoms. The aggressive reopening of the country has been jarring for them to witness.

“For us it is hard to let our guard down; it’s going to take a while for us to adjust,” Bailey said.

The world has seen more than 445 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and new weekly cases have been declining recently in all regions except for the Western Pacific, which includes China, Japan and South Korea, among others, the World Health Organization reported this week.

Although the overall figures in the Pacific islands seeing their first outbreaks are small compared to larger countries, they are significant among their tiny populations and threaten to overwhelm fragile health care systems.

“Given what we know about COVID ... it’s likely to hit them for the next year or so at least,” said Katie Greenwood, head of the Red Cross Pacific delegation.

Tonga reported its first outbreak after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-covid-outbreak-lockdown-73b2d73b2b41092898b3d92be3dabcc4">virus arrived with international aid vessels</a>&nbsp;following the Jan. 15 eruption of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-eruption-impact-whats-next-01288e5ecc43aa9a9bf3bc2803efd7e2">massive volcano</a>, followed by a tsunami. It now has several hundred cases, but — with 66% of its population fully vaccinated — it has so far reported people suffering mostly mild symptoms and no deaths.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-solomon-islands-honiara-30d3df8cb0f809c9e3e5a0cc5c6f886f">Solomon Islands</a>&nbsp;saw the first outbreak in January and now has thousands of cases and more than 100 deaths. The actual death toll is likely much higher, with the capital’s hospital overwhelmed and many dying at home, Greenwood said.

Only 12% of Solomon Islanders are fully vaccinated, though the outbreak has provided new impetus to the country’s vaccination campaign and 29% now have at least one shot.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-inequality-dac9c07b324e29d3597037b8dc1d908a">Global vaccine disparity continues</a>, with only 6.95% of people in low-income countries fully vaccinated, compared to more than 73% in high-income nations, according to Our World in Data.

In a good sign, at the end of last month Africa surpassed Europe in the number of doses administered daily, but only about 12.5% of its population has received two shots.

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still pressing for more vaccines, though it has been a challenge. Some shipments arrive with little warning for countries’ health systems and others near the expiration date — forcing doses to be destroyed.

Eastern Europe has been particularly hard hit by the omicron variant, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new risk has emerged as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-diversity-230b0cc790820b9bf8883f918fc8e313">hundreds of thousands of people flee</a>&nbsp;to places like Poland on crowded trains. Health officials there have been offering free vaccinations to all refugees, but have not been making them test upon arrival or quarantine.

“This is really tragic because great stress has a very negative effect on natural immunity and increases the risk of infections,” said Anna Boron-Kaczmarska, a Polish infectious disease specialist. “They are in very high stress, being afraid for their lives, the lives of their children, they family members.”

Mexico has reported 300,000 deaths, but with little testing, a government analysis of death certificates puts the real number closer to 500,000. Still, four weeks of falling infection rates have left health officials optimistic.

In India, where the world was shocked by images of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15">open-air pyres of bodies</a>&nbsp;burned as crematoria were overwhelmed, the scars are fading as the number of new cases and deaths has slowed.

India has recorded more than 500,000 deaths, but experts believe its true toll is in the millions, primarily from the delta variant. Migrants from India’s vast hinterland are now returning to its megacities in search of jobs, and the streets are packed with traffic. Shopping malls have customers, albeit still masked, while schools and universities are welcoming students after a months-long gap.

In Britain, infections have fallen since an omicron-driven surge in December, but remain high. England has now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-6a4a2509fd5443d7b36f5331b01f7431">lifted all restrictions</a>, including mask mandates and the requirement that all who test positive isolate at home.

With about 250,000 reported deaths, the African continent’s smaller death toll is thought to stem from underreporting, as well as a generally younger and less mobile population.

“Africa is a big question mark for me, because it has been relatively spared from the worst so far, but it could just be a time bomb,” Pang said, noting its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-middle-east-africa-lifestyle-1f2c92d6a306819c363c87661dc7818d">low vaccination rates</a>.

In South Africa, Soweto resident Thoko Dube said she received news of the deaths of two family members on the same day in January 2021 — a month before the country received its first vaccines.

It has been difficult, but “the family is coping,” she said. “We have accepted it because it has been happening to other families.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593379644162.png" alt="And despite&nbsp; wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.-map courtesy John Hopkins University" />
 <figcaption>And despite&nbsp; wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.-map courtesy John Hopkins University</figcaption>
 </figure>BANGKOK (AP) — The official global death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 6 million on Monday — underscoring that the pandemic, now entering its third year, is far from over.The milestone, recorded by Johns Hopkins University, is the latest tragic reminder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">unrelenting nature of the pandemic</a>&nbsp;even as people are shedding masks, travel is resuming and businesses are reopening around the globe.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-religion-new-zealand-fiji-27b40edd3d6e94c5b10185e49bbf182f">Remote Pacific islands,</a>&nbsp;whose isolation had protected them for more than two years, are just now grappling with their first outbreaks and deaths, fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant.Hong Kong, which is seeing deaths soar, is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-400065ee2ffd08eee45411d6dc099cca">testing its entire population of 7.5 million&nbsp;</a>three times this month as it clings to mainland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-china-hong-kong-2f6cf36849799aa67cd8ee8d4f5bfd64">China’s “zero-COVID” strategy</a>.As death rates remain high in Poland, Hungary, Romania and other Eastern European countries, the region has seen more than 1.5 million refugees arrive from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war-torn Ukraine</a>, a country with poor vaccination coverage and high rates of cases and deaths.And despite its wealth and vaccine availability, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-hits-covid-deaths-milestone-coronavirus-omicron-76dc452fb7263612529e09eb23bc0f24">United States is nearing 1 million</a>&nbsp;reported deaths on its own.Death rates worldwide are still highest among people unvaccinated against the virus, said Tikki Pang, a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s medical school and co-chair of the Asia Pacific Immunization Coalition.“This is a disease of the unvaccinated — look what is happening in Hong Kong right now, the health system is being overwhelmed,” said Pang, the former director of research policy and cooperation with the World Health Organization. “The large majority of the deaths and the severe cases are in the unvaccinated, vulnerable segment of the population.”It took the world seven months to record its first million deaths from the virus after the pandemic began in early 2020. Four months later another million people had died, and 1 million have died every three months since, until the death toll hit 5 million at the end of October. Now it has reached 6 million — more than the populations of Berlin and Brussels combined, or the entire state of Maryland.But despite the enormity of the figure, the world undoubtedly hit its 6 millionth death some time ago. Poor record-keeping and testing in many parts of the world has led to an undercount in coronavirus deaths, in addition to excess deaths related to the pandemic but not from actual COVID-19 infections, like people who died from preventable causes but could not receive treatment because hospitals were full.Edouard Mathieu, head of data for the&nbsp;<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus" target="_blank">Our World in Data</a>&nbsp;portal, said that — when countries’ excess mortality figures are studied — as many as nearly four times the reported death toll have likely died because of the pandemic.An&nbsp;<a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/coronavirus-excess-deaths-estimates" target="_blank">analysis of excess deaths by a team at The Economist</a>&nbsp;estimates that the number of COVID-19 deaths is between 14.1 million and 23.8 million.“Confirmed deaths represent a fraction of the true number of deaths due to COVID, mostly because of limited testing, and challenges in the attribution of the cause of death,” Mathieu told The Associated Press. “In some, mostly rich, countries that fraction is high and the official tally can be considered to be fairly accurate, but in others it is highly underestimated.”The United States has the biggest official death toll in the world, but the numbers have been trending downward over the last month.Lonnie Bailey lost his 17-year-old nephew, Carlos Nunez Jr., who contracted COVID-19 last April — the same month Kentucky opened his age group to vaccinations. The Louisville resident said the family is still suffering, including Carlos’ younger sibling, who had to be hospitalized himself and still has lingering symptoms. The aggressive reopening of the country has been jarring for them to witness.“For us it is hard to let our guard down; it’s going to take a while for us to adjust,” Bailey said.The world has seen more than 445 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, and new weekly cases have been declining recently in all regions except for the Western Pacific, which includes China, Japan and South Korea, among others, the World Health Organization reported this week.Although the overall figures in the Pacific islands seeing their first outbreaks are small compared to larger countries, they are significant among their tiny populations and threaten to overwhelm fragile health care systems.“Given what we know about COVID ... it’s likely to hit them for the next year or so at least,” said Katie Greenwood, head of the Red Cross Pacific delegation.Tonga reported its first outbreak after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-covid-outbreak-lockdown-73b2d73b2b41092898b3d92be3dabcc4">virus arrived with international aid vessels</a>&nbsp;following the Jan. 15 eruption of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tonga-volcano-eruption-impact-whats-next-01288e5ecc43aa9a9bf3bc2803efd7e2">massive volcano</a>, followed by a tsunami. It now has several hundred cases, but — with 66% of its population fully vaccinated — it has so far reported people suffering mostly mild symptoms and no deaths.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-solomon-islands-honiara-30d3df8cb0f809c9e3e5a0cc5c6f886f">Solomon Islands</a>&nbsp;saw the first outbreak in January and now has thousands of cases and more than 100 deaths. The actual death toll is likely much higher, with the capital’s hospital overwhelmed and many dying at home, Greenwood said.Only 12% of Solomon Islanders are fully vaccinated, though the outbreak has provided new impetus to the country’s vaccination campaign and 29% now have at least one shot.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-inequality-dac9c07b324e29d3597037b8dc1d908a">Global vaccine disparity continues</a>, with only 6.95% of people in low-income countries fully vaccinated, compared to more than 73% in high-income nations, according to Our World in Data.In a good sign, at the end of last month Africa surpassed Europe in the number of doses administered daily, but only about 12.5% of its population has received two shots.The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still pressing for more vaccines, though it has been a challenge. Some shipments arrive with little warning for countries’ health systems and others near the expiration date — forcing doses to be destroyed.Eastern Europe has been particularly hard hit by the omicron variant, and with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a new risk has emerged as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-refugees-diversity-230b0cc790820b9bf8883f918fc8e313">hundreds of thousands of people flee</a>&nbsp;to places like Poland on crowded trains. Health officials there have been offering free vaccinations to all refugees, but have not been making them test upon arrival or quarantine.“This is really tragic because great stress has a very negative effect on natural immunity and increases the risk of infections,” said Anna Boron-Kaczmarska, a Polish infectious disease specialist. “They are in very high stress, being afraid for their lives, the lives of their children, they family members.”Mexico has reported 300,000 deaths, but with little testing, a government analysis of death certificates puts the real number closer to 500,000. Still, four weeks of falling infection rates have left health officials optimistic.In India, where the world was shocked by images of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-india-coronavirus-8788a4dadc2103ec30f40111dec92f15">open-air pyres of bodies</a>&nbsp;burned as crematoria were overwhelmed, the scars are fading as the number of new cases and deaths has slowed.India has recorded more than 500,000 deaths, but experts believe its true toll is in the millions, primarily from the delta variant. Migrants from India’s vast hinterland are now returning to its megacities in search of jobs, and the streets are packed with traffic. Shopping malls have customers, albeit still masked, while schools and universities are welcoming students after a months-long gap.In Britain, infections have fallen since an omicron-driven surge in December, but remain high. England has now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boris-johnson-coronavirus-pandemic-health-europe-london-6a4a2509fd5443d7b36f5331b01f7431">lifted all restrictions</a>, including mask mandates and the requirement that all who test positive isolate at home.With about 250,000 reported deaths, the African continent’s smaller death toll is thought to stem from underreporting, as well as a generally younger and less mobile population.“Africa is a big question mark for me, because it has been relatively spared from the worst so far, but it could just be a time bomb,” Pang said, noting its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-middle-east-africa-lifestyle-1f2c92d6a306819c363c87661dc7818d">low vaccination rates</a>.In South Africa, Soweto resident Thoko Dube said she received news of the deaths of two family members on the same day in January 2021 — a month before the country received its first vaccines.It has been difficult, but “the family is coping,” she said. “We have accepted it because it has been happening to other families.”

Death toll surpasses 6 million for pandemic now in 3rd year

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today updated its frequently asked questions (FAQs) (<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/newsroom/fs-2022-17.pdf">FS-2022-17</a>&nbsp;PDF)
 on the 2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments. 
These updates are to help eligible families properly claim the credit 
when they prepare and file their 2021 tax return.

These changes reflect that Publication 972, Child Tax Credit, has become obsolete. Taxpayers should refer to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-8812-form-1040">Schedule 8812 (Form 1040)</a>.
 Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) is now used to calculate child tax credits 
and to report advance child tax credit payments received in 2021, and to
 figure any additional tax owed if excess advance child tax credit 
payments were received during 2021.

These FAQs revisions and additions are as follows:

These FAQs are being issued to provide general information to taxpayers and tax professionals as expeditiously as possible.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today updated its frequently asked questions (FAQs) (<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/newsroom/fs-2022-17.pdf">FS-2022-17</a>&nbsp;PDF)
 on the 2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments. 
These updates are to help eligible families properly claim the credit 
when they prepare and file their 2021 tax return.These changes reflect that Publication 972, Child Tax Credit, has become obsolete. Taxpayers should refer to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-schedule-8812-form-1040">Schedule 8812 (Form 1040)</a>.
 Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) is now used to calculate child tax credits 
and to report advance child tax credit payments received in 2021, and to
 figure any additional tax owed if excess advance child tax credit 
payments were received during 2021.These FAQs revisions and additions are as follows:<ul>
 <li>2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments — 
Topic B: Eligibility for Advance Child Tax Credit Payments and the 2021 
Child Tax Credit: Q3</li><li>2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments — Topic C: Calculation of the 2021 Child Tax Credit: Q1</li><li>2021 Child Tax Credit and Advance Child Tax Credit Payments — Topic D: Calculation of Advance Child Tax Credit Payments: Q1</li>
 </ul>These FAQs are being issued to provide general information to taxpayers and tax professionals as expeditiously as possible.

IRS: New details on 2021 Child Tax Credit, Advance Child Tax Credit payments

A group of theologically conservative United Methodists plans to launch a new worldwide denomination on May 1, impatient to get started after yet another pandemic-related delay to a formalized divorce agreement with their denomination.

The creation of the Global Methodist Church, announced Thursday, was long in the making, organized by conservatives who were fed up with liberal churches’ continued defiance of the United Methodist Church’s bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.

Global Methodist Church organizers had originally expected to launch the denomination only after the next General Conference of the UMC. That legislative body is the only one that could approve a tentative agreement — unveiled in 2020 after negotiations between conservatives, liberals and centrists — to allow churches and regional groups to leave the denomination and keep their property.

But the General Conference, originally scheduled for 2020, was already delayed for two straight years by the pandemic. On Thursday, the United Methodist Church announced it was pushing off the next gathering yet again — to 2024 — due to long delays in the U.S. processing of visa applications. A little more than half of the denomination’s members are overseas, notably in Africa and the Philippines.

UMC officials said the visa process has been delayed as long as 800 days in some cases.

“The visa issue is a reality that is simply outside our control as we seek to achieve a reasonable threshold of delegate presence and participation,” said a statement by Kim Simpson, who chairs the denomination’s Commission on the General Conference.

But the delay is hastening the breakup of one of the largest religious bodies in the United States.

Already some conservative churches have left the denomination, and more are eager to do so, said a statement from the Global Methodist Church organizers.

“Many United Methodists have grown impatient with a denomination clearly struggling to function effectively at the general church level,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council, which is organizing the Global Methodist Church.

“Theologically conservative local churches and annual conferences want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together,” he said. “We are confident many existing congregations will join the new Global Methodist Church in waves over the next few years, and new church plants will sprout up.”

Boyette, a Virginia-based Methodist elder, said he didn’t know how many churches would initially join the new denomination and “does not want to make any speculations.”

Under United Methodist law, church properties are held in trust for the larger denomination. “However there have always been avenues for churches to separate from the denomination,” said a statement from Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey of Louisiana, president of the UMC’s Council of Bishops. Churches can negotiate separation agreements with their bishops.

The organizers of the Global Methodist Church predicted some of its prospective members will reach amicable agreements to separate from their local conferences and that others would face more opposition.

The United Methodist Church claims 6.3 million members in the U.S. and 6.5 million overseas.

Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have simmered for years in the UMC, and came to a head in 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 to strengthen bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.

In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-methodist-church-breakaway-lgbt-f599979835addfd354856ff5b2024989">proposals to let the UMC split</a>&nbsp;along theological lines.

The most prominent plan, the Protocol of Reconciliation &amp; Grace Through Separation, was endorsed by a wide spectrum of bishops and activists after it was reached through famed mediation lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, whose law firm has overseen the distribution of other massive legal settlements such as the 9/11 victims fund.

Under the protocol, conservative congregations and regional bodies would be allowed to separate from the UMC and form a new denomination. They would receive $25 million in UMC funds and be able to keep their properties.

Assuming a large exodus of conservatives, the remaining United Methodist Church would be poised to reverse its longstanding bans on gay ordination and marriage.

Reconciling Ministries — a pro-LGBTQ advocacy caucus within the United Methodist Church — said that while the pandemic-related delay was necessary, “we also lament this lengthening test of our patience.”

But it pledged to “continue to work for the fullness of life for God’s LGBTQ+ children no matter when the next General Conference is held.”

By PETER SMITH, Associated PressA group of theologically conservative United Methodists plans to launch a new worldwide denomination on May 1, impatient to get started after yet another pandemic-related delay to a formalized divorce agreement with their denomination.The creation of the Global Methodist Church, announced Thursday, was long in the making, organized by conservatives who were fed up with liberal churches’ continued defiance of the United Methodist Church’s bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of openly gay clergy.Global Methodist Church organizers had originally expected to launch the denomination only after the next General Conference of the UMC. That legislative body is the only one that could approve a tentative agreement — unveiled in 2020 after negotiations between conservatives, liberals and centrists — to allow churches and regional groups to leave the denomination and keep their property.But the General Conference, originally scheduled for 2020, was already delayed for two straight years by the pandemic. On Thursday, the United Methodist Church announced it was pushing off the next gathering yet again — to 2024 — due to long delays in the U.S. processing of visa applications. A little more than half of the denomination’s members are overseas, notably in Africa and the Philippines.UMC officials said the visa process has been delayed as long as 800 days in some cases.“The visa issue is a reality that is simply outside our control as we seek to achieve a reasonable threshold of delegate presence and participation,” said a statement by Kim Simpson, who chairs the denomination’s Commission on the General Conference.But the delay is hastening the breakup of one of the largest religious bodies in the United States.Already some conservative churches have left the denomination, and more are eager to do so, said a statement from the Global Methodist Church organizers.“Many United Methodists have grown impatient with a denomination clearly struggling to function effectively at the general church level,” said the Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council, which is organizing the Global Methodist Church.“Theologically conservative local churches and annual conferences want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together,” he said. “We are confident many existing congregations will join the new Global Methodist Church in waves over the next few years, and new church plants will sprout up.”Boyette, a Virginia-based Methodist elder, said he didn’t know how many churches would initially join the new denomination and “does not want to make any speculations.”Under United Methodist law, church properties are held in trust for the larger denomination. “However there have always been avenues for churches to separate from the denomination,” said a statement from Bishop Cynthia Fierro Harvey of Louisiana, president of the UMC’s Council of Bishops. Churches can negotiate separation agreements with their bishops.The organizers of the Global Methodist Church predicted some of its prospective members will reach amicable agreements to separate from their local conferences and that others would face more opposition.The United Methodist Church claims 6.3 million members in the U.S. and 6.5 million overseas.Differences over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy have simmered for years in the UMC, and came to a head in 2019 at a conference in St. Louis where delegates voted 438-384 to strengthen bans on LGBTQ-inclusive practices. Most U.S.-based delegates opposed that plan and favored LGBTQ-friendly options; they were outvoted by U.S. conservatives teamed with most of the delegates from Methodist strongholds in Africa and the Philippines.In the aftermath of that meeting, many moderate and liberal clergy made clear they would not abide by the bans, and various groups worked on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-methodist-church-breakaway-lgbt-f599979835addfd354856ff5b2024989">proposals to let the UMC split</a>&nbsp;along theological lines.The most prominent plan, the Protocol of Reconciliation &amp; Grace Through Separation, was endorsed by a wide spectrum of bishops and activists after it was reached through famed mediation lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, whose law firm has overseen the distribution of other massive legal settlements such as the 9/11 victims fund.Under the protocol, conservative congregations and regional bodies would be allowed to separate from the UMC and form a new denomination. They would receive $25 million in UMC funds and be able to keep their properties.Assuming a large exodus of conservatives, the remaining United Methodist Church would be poised to reverse its longstanding bans on gay ordination and marriage.Reconciling Ministries — a pro-LGBTQ advocacy caucus within the United Methodist Church — said that while the pandemic-related delay was necessary, “we also lament this lengthening test of our patience.”But it pledged to “continue to work for the fullness of life for God’s LGBTQ+ children no matter when the next General Conference is held.”___

Methodist conservatives set to launch breakaway group 

News Release United States Attorney-Omaha

United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Riley Griffy, age 29, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for unlawfully possessing a machine gun.&nbsp; Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Griffy to 57 months of imprisonment.&nbsp; There is no parole in the federal system.&nbsp; After completing his term of imprisonment, Griffy will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.&nbsp;

On April 15, 2021, Griffy sold a 3D printed conversion device that converted a semiautomatic Glock pistol into an automatic weapon.&nbsp; Griffy used a 3D printer to build the device, which is a machine gun as defined by federal law.&nbsp; Griffy continued illegally manufacturing machine guns which converted firearms into automatic weapons until he was arrested on June 2, 2021.&nbsp; In total, Griffy manufactured and sold nine machine guns and one silencer.

This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and were part of Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. 

The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

News Release United States Attorney-OmahaUnited States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Riley Griffy, age 29, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for unlawfully possessing a machine gun.&nbsp; Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Griffy to 57 months of imprisonment.&nbsp; There is no parole in the federal system.&nbsp; After completing his term of imprisonment, Griffy will begin a 3-year term of supervised release.&nbsp;On April 15, 2021, Griffy sold a 3D printed conversion device that converted a semiautomatic Glock pistol into an automatic weapon.&nbsp; Griffy used a 3D printer to build the device, which is a machine gun as defined by federal law.&nbsp; Griffy continued illegally manufacturing machine guns which converted firearms into automatic weapons until he was arrested on June 2, 2021.&nbsp; In total, Griffy manufactured and sold nine machine guns and one silencer.This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and were part of Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. The Department of Justice reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.

Omaha man gets prison for turning glocks into machine guns with 3D printer

News Release Nebraska State Patrol

OMAHA, Neb.-Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol, with assistance from Omaha Police Department, have arrested one person following a pursuit in Douglas County.

Friday at approximately 1:40 a.m., a trooper attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle for driving in excess of 100 MPH on Interstate 80 in Omaha, near the L Street interchange. The vehicle failed to yield and fled the traffic stop. The trooper initiated a pursuit.

The suspect vehicle continued eastbound on I-80 for several miles. When the vehicle exited and began traveling in a residential area, the trooper discontinued the pursuit out of concern for public safety. The Omaha Police Department’s ABLE-1 located the vehicle and then directed patrol units on the ground to its location near 42nd&nbsp;and D streets.

The driver, Nicholas Salcedo, 26, of Omaha, NE, was taken into custody without further incident. He was lodged at Douglas County Corrections for willful reckless driving, flight to avoid arrest, driving under suspension, driving under the influence of alcohol - .15+, and other traffic violations.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1607969259324.jpg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>News Release Nebraska State PatrolOMAHA, Neb.-Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol, with assistance from Omaha Police Department, have arrested one person following a pursuit in Douglas County.Friday at approximately 1:40 a.m., a trooper attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle for driving in excess of 100 MPH on Interstate 80 in Omaha, near the L Street interchange. The vehicle failed to yield and fled the traffic stop. The trooper initiated a pursuit.The suspect vehicle continued eastbound on I-80 for several miles. When the vehicle exited and began traveling in a residential area, the trooper discontinued the pursuit out of concern for public safety. The Omaha Police Department’s ABLE-1 located the vehicle and then directed patrol units on the ground to its location near 42nd&nbsp;and D streets.The driver, Nicholas Salcedo, 26, of Omaha, NE, was taken into custody without further incident. He was lodged at Douglas County Corrections for willful reckless driving, flight to avoid arrest, driving under suspension, driving under the influence of alcohol - .15+, and other traffic violations.

Troopers arrest 1 following pursuit in Douglas County

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian troops Friday seized the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe after a middle-of-the-night attack that set it on fire and briefly raised worldwide fears of a catastrophe in the most chilling turn yet in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Firefighters put out the blaze, and no radiation was released, U.N. and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces pressed on with their week-old offensive on multiple fronts and the number of refugees fleeing the country eclipsed 1.2 million.

While the vast Russian armored column threatening Kyiv remained stalled outside the capital, President Vladimir Putin’s military has launched hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites around the country, and made significant gains on the ground in the south in an apparent bid to cut off Ukraine’s access to the sea.

In the atttack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar, the chief of the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said a Russian “projectile” hit a training center, not any of the six reactors.

The attack triggered global alarm and fear of a catastrophe that could dwarf the world’s worst nuclear disaster, at Ukraine’s Chernobyl in 1986. In an emotional nighttime speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he feared an explosion that would be “the end for everyone. The end for Europe. The evacuation of Europe.”

But nuclear officials from Sweden to China said no radiation spikes had been reported, as did Grossi.

Authorities said that Russian troops had taken control of the overall site but that the plant staff continued to run it. Only one reactor was operating, running at 60% of capacity, Grossi said in the aftermath of the attack.

Two people were injured in the fire, Grossi said. Ukraine’s state nuclear plant operator Enerhoatom said three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two wounded.

In the U.S., Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the episode “underscores the recklessness with which the Russians have been perpetrating this unprovoked invasion.” At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, said the fire broke out as a result of Russian shelling of the plant and accused Moscow of committing “an act of nuclear terrorism.”

Without producing evidence, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that a Ukrainian “sabotage group” had set the fire at Zaporozhizhia.

The crisis at Zaporizhzhia unfolded after Grossi earlier in the week expressed grave concern that the fighting could cause accidental damage to Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors at four plants around the country.

Atomic safety experts said a war fought amid nuclear reactors represents an unprecedented and highly dangerous situation.

“These plants are now in a situation that few people ever seriously contemplated when they were originally built,” said Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington. “No nuclear plant has been designed to withstand a potential threat of a full-scale military attack.”

Dr. Alex Rosen of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War said the incident was probably the result of military units overestimating the precision of their weapons, given that the prevailing winds would have carried any radioactive fallout straight toward Russia.

“Russia cannot have any interest in contaminating its own territory,” he said. He said the danger comes not just from the reactors but from the risk of enemy fire hitting storage facilities that hold spent fuel rods.

In the wake of the attack, Zelenskyy appealed again to the West to enforce a no-fly zone over his country. But NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg ruled out that possibility, citing the risk of a much wider war in Europe. He said that to enforce a no-fly zone, NATO planes would have to shoot down Russian aircraft.

“We understand the desperation, but we also believe that if we did that, we would end up with something that could end in a full-fledged war in Europe,” Stoltenberg said.

The plant fire was the second time since the invasion began that concerns about a potential nuclear accident arose, following a battle at the heavily contaminated site of the now-decommissioned Chernobyl plant.

Russian forces, meanwhile, pressed their offensive in the southern part of the country. Severing Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov would deal a severe blow to its economy and could worsen an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-photo-gallery-children-c3a83cdaa77b7bfe9c3b2f3ae4d0ad03">already dire humanitarian situation.</a>

A round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement Thursday to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-boris-johnson-technology-business-ddbace81e2e09028e0da1ec37619d148">set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens&nbsp;</a>and deliver food and medicine. But the necessary details still had to be worked out.

The U.N. human rights office said 331 civilians had been confirmed killed in the invasion but that the true number is probably much higher.

In Romania, one newly arrived refugee, Anton Kostyuchyk, struggled to hold back tears as he recounted leaving everything behind in Kyiv and sleeping in churches with his wife and three children during their journey out.

“I’m leaving my home, my country. I was born there, and I lived there,” he said. “And what now?”

Appearing on video in a message to antiwar protesters in several European cities, Zelenskyy continued to appeal for help.

“If we fall, you will fall,” he said. “And if we win, and I’m sure we’ll win, this will be the victory of the whole democratic world. This will be the victory of our freedom. This will be the victory of light over darkness, of freedom over slavery.”

Facing worldwide indignation over the invasion, Russia sought to crack down on the flow of information at home.

Putin signed a law making it a crime to intentionally spread what is deemed to be fake news. Russians could get up to 15 years in prison for disseminating information that goes against the official government line on the war.

Russian authorities also blocked all access to Facebook and Twitter and raided the offices of human rights organizations.

Inside Ukraine, frequent shelling could be heard in the center of Kyiv, though more distant than in recent days, with loud thudding every 10 minutes resonating over the rooftops.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said battles involving airstrikes and artillery continued northwest of Kyiv, and the northeastern cities of Kharkiv and Okhtyrka came under heavy fire.

He said Ukrainian forces were still holding the northern city of Chernihiv and had prevented Russian efforts to take the important southern city of Mykolaiv. Ukrainian artillery also defended Odesa from repeated attempts by Russian ships to fire on the Black Sea port, Arestovic said. Odesa is Ukraine’s biggest port city and home to a large naval base.

The Ukrainian Navy scuttled its flagship at the shipyard where it was undergoing repairs to keep the frigate from being seized by the Russians, authorities said.

Another strategic port, Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, was “partially under siege,” and Ukrainian forces were pushing back efforts to surround the city, Arestovich said.

“The humanitarian situation is tense,” he said.

Battles have knocked out the city’s electricity, heat and water systems, as well as most phone service, officials said.

Amid the warfare, there were occasional signs of hope.

As explosions sounded on the fringes of Kyiv, Dmytro Shybalov and Anna Panasyk smiled and blushed at the civil registry office where they married Friday. They fell in love in 2015 in Donetsk amid the fighting between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces that was a precursor to the countrywide war.

“It’s 2022 and the situation hasn’t changed,” Shybalov said. “It’s scary to think what will happen when our children will be born.”

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by a Russian attack and no radiation was released, U.N. and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">pressed their campaign&nbsp;</a>to cripple the country despite global condemnation.

The head of the United Nations’ atomic agency said that a Russian “projectile” hit a training center at the Zaporizhzhia plant. Ukrainian officials have said Russian troops took control of the overall site, but the plant’s staff are continuing to ensure its operations. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi sad that Russian forces were at the plant, but the Ukrainians were in control.

Ukraine’s state nuclear plant operator Enerhoatom said that three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two wounded in the attack. Grossi said two people were injured in the blaze that broke out.

Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator earlier said that no changes in radiation levels have been recorded so far after the plant came under attack. Grossi later said no radioactive material was released.

The attack caused worldwide concern — and evoked memories of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, at Ukraine’s Chernobyl.

The shelling of the plant came as the Russian military advanced on a strategic city on the Dnieper River near where the facility is located, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-boris-johnson-technology-business-ddbace81e2e09028e0da1ec37619d148">gained ground&nbsp;</a>in their bid to cut the country off from the sea. That move would deal a severe blow to Ukraine’s economy and could worsen an already&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-wartime-imagery-849debb0f952d442ddd9a7db67706b14">dire humanitarian situation</a>.

With the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-fires-united-nations-4185db27571ff7510721e6f6a497c03f">invasion in its second week</a>, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid to the country, overturned by a war that has sent more than 1 million fleeing over the border and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-photo-gallery-children-c3a83cdaa77b7bfe9c3b2f3ae4d0ad03">countless others sheltering underground night after night</a>. A handful cities are without heat and at least one is struggling to get food and water.

Initial reports conflicted over whether one or two fires broke out at the plant in the city of Enerhodar. Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television overnight that shells fell directly on the facility, and set fire to reactor No. 1, which is under renovation and not operating, and to an administrative training building.

On Friday morning, officials only referenced a blaze at the training building when they said that all fires at the plant were out — which Grossi also confirmed. The regional military administration reported unspecified damage to the compartment of reactor No. 1, but said it does not affect the safety of the power unit.

The nuclear regulator said staff are studying the site to check for other damage.

Grossi confirmed Friday that the building hit was a training center and “not part of the reactor.” He said he did not know what hit the plant but called a “projectile” from Russian forces.

He said that only one reactor at the plant is operating, at about 60% capacity.

The confusion&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-science-boris-johnson-business-united-nations-aaf111310ba81ec6616541c1282524cb">itself underscored the dangers&nbsp;</a>of active fighting near a nuclear power plant. It was the second time since the invasion began just over a week ago that concerns about a nuclear accident or a release of radiation materialized, following a battle at Chernobyl.

The regulator noted in a statement on Facebook the importance of maintaining the ability to cool nuclear fuel, saying the loss of such ability could lead to an accident even worse than 1986 Chernobyl disaster or the 2011 Fukushima meltdowns in Japan. It also noted that there is a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel at the site, though there was no sign that facility was hit by shelling.

Leading nuclear authorities were worried but not panicked. The assault led to phone calls between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders. The U.S. Department of Energy activated its nuclear incident response team as a precaution.

The Zaporizhzhia regional military administration said that measurements taken at 7 a.m. Friday (0500 GMT) showed radiation levels in the region “remain unchanged and do not endanger the lives and health of the population.” Nuclear officials from Sweden to China also said no radiation spikes have been reported.

“The fire at the (nuclear plant) has indeed been extinguished,” Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov announced on his Telegram channel Friday morning. His office told The Associated Press that the information came from firefighters who were allowed onto the site overnight.