By DAVID CONDOS <a href="https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2021-10-25/how-a-meatpacking-plant-changed-one-kansas-town-40-years-ago-and-left-a-colorado-community-behind">Kansas News Service</a>

GARDEN CITY&nbsp;— Drivers approaching this cattle city on 
Kansas 156 watch as the scenery changes from a patchwork of southwest 
Kansas crop fields, pastures and feedlots to a collage of suburban 
sprawl.

The Home Depot stands next to the Dick’s Sporting Goods, 
which shares a parking lot with the Old Navy that just opened this 
summer.

Across the street, one of the town’s two Burger Kings 
serves up Whoppers in the shadow of the only Target store for a 
three-hour drive in any direction.

One hundred miles west, Russ Baldwin makes a left turn off Main Street into an empty parking lot in Lamar, Colorado.

“Behold: the former Burger King,” Baldwin said, lifting his hand from the steering wheel. “Home of the ex-Whopper.”

Plywood boards cover the drive-thru window. Next door, the old K-Mart sits vacant.

Within minutes, he drives past the airport that <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/02/07/more-on-the-cover-story-wayne-sidebar.html" target="_blank">lost its last commercial flight</a> in the early 2000s. Then the factory that used to be the town’s largest employer — until it abruptly shut down 15 years ago.

“That was pretty much the perfect storm,” Baldwin said. “You’re sitting there going, ‘What’s next, a locust invasion?’ ”

Just a few decades ago, the two outposts were basically Kansas and Colorado versions of each other. But in 1980, the <a href="https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/4939/research.pdf?sequence=3&amp;isAllowed=y" target="_blank">world’s largest meatpacking plant</a> opened on the outskirts of Garden City. Almost overnight, it became the fastest growing part of Kansas.

Thousands of new jobs. Billions of dollars in new industry. A boomtown in a region that has <a href="https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/population/popmax.pdf" target="_blank">lost residents</a> for generations.

The
 plant’s arrival marked a milestone for Garden City, making it the 
epicenter of the High Plains beef industry. And the city’s decision to 
open its doors to the thousands of immigrant and refugee workers who 
would accompany the plant has — at least so far — helped it escape the 
fate of the many surrounding towns that still see an unending exodus.&nbsp;

What’s more, the diverging trajectories of Garden City and Lamar over the past 40-some years offer a glimpse at the knife’s edge between prosperity and decline in rural America.

That’s because the town that Garden City beat out to win the meatpacking plant was Lamar.

Garden City and Lamar share the same 
river, the same highway, the same railroad line and the same Dust Bowl 
past. And through the 1960s, they were roughly the same size.

But the population of Finney County — home to Garden City — has <a href="https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/population/population.pdf" target="_blank">doubled</a> since 1970. It’s now over <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/finneycountykansas/PST045219" target="_blank">38,000</a>.

The number of people living in Prowers County — home to Lamar — has slowly <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph2/cph-2-7.pdf" target="_blank">slipped</a> under <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/prowerscountycolorado" target="_blank">12,000</a>.

Larry
 Jones has watched the transformation of western Kansas’ largest city 
from his farm and cattle company that sits just outside of town.

“If you’d been here 20 years ago and looked at it,” he said, “you wouldn't recognize the town.”

Next
 door to Jones’ milo field sits the giant, boxy structure that 
resuscitated Garden City: Tyson Foods’ Finney County beef plant. Inside,
 more than 3,000 workers — most of them immigrants and refugees — 
butcher <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/22036-the-smoldering-impact-of-tyson-holcomb-fire" target="_blank">6,000 head of cattle</a> every day.

So what made Garden City and Lamar the two finalists to win this sprawling slaughterhouse in the first place?

As often happens on the High Plains, it comes back to water.

Meatpacking
 plants historically operated in urban centers, such as Kansas City and 
Chicago. But in the 1960s, packers began to build plants in the 
countryside — away from big city unions and closer to cattle and the 
grain that fattens them through the last few months of their lives.

Around
 that same time, the number of water wells drilled into the Ogallala 
Aquifer underneath this region skyrocketed. Those wells plus new center 
pivot irrigation technology allowed farmers to grow more water-intensive
 crops in places that get hardly any rain.

It created an ecosystem. The aquifer waters the corn. The corn feeds the cows. The cows supply the meatpackers.

“The
 way to add value to grain is to put it in an animal,” Don Stull said. 
”And the way to add value to an animal is to slaughter it.”

Stull has <a href="http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/conferen/kepc11/HarvestofChange.pdf" target="_blank">tracked</a> the beef industry’s impact on Garden City for more than three decades as a University of Kansas professor and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Blues-Poultry-Industry-Contemporary/dp/1111828784" target="_blank">author</a>.
 He calls it the first of rural America’s food-processing boomtowns — 
quickly transforming from what he described as a white agrarian 
community in 1980 to one of the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/kansas-population-change-between-census-decade.html" target="_blank">most diverse</a> places in Kansas.

Yet
 the city’s metamorphosis came with growing pains. Rapid expansion 
brought plenty of challenges that it’s still dealing with, like strains 
on housing, health care, education and social services. And because many
 of the plant workers were, and are, immigrants and refugees, the type 
of growth the city experienced also worried some white residents.

“But if you ask anybody,” Stull said, “they'd rather have the problems of growth than the problems of decline.”

That’s
 why local leaders pushed hard to land the plant four decades ago — 
offering a “better package” than Lamar, Stull said — to help secure the 
town’s future economically. And so far, it has.

The beef industry now pumps around <a href="https://agriculture.ks.gov/economic-development-statistics/county-statistics-(a-h)/finney-county" target="_blank">$2 billion</a> into the county’s economy each year. The city has parlayed its growth into becoming the <a href="https://www.garden-city.org/home/showdocument?id=62" target="_blank">region’s retail hub</a>, regularly drawing shoppers from more than 100 miles away — including many from Lamar.

So what would Garden City look like today if the plant had been built somewhere else?

“Well,” Stull said, “look at Lamar.”

Russ Baldwin moved to Lamar the same year the meatpacking plant opened in Garden City. He now runs the local weekly newspaper.

As
 he ends his driving tour of shuttered businesses, he rolls to a stop in
 a parking lot on the east edge of town. Weeds grow high along the 
cracks in the pavement.

The four-story building on the other side of a chain-link fence used to house a German <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/25/us/colorado-town-looks-to-better-days-with-a-german-bus-factory.html" target="_blank">bus manufacturer</a>. At its peak, it had roughly 600 people on the payroll. In 2006, it laid off the last 300.

“There
 were no more paychecks. Things were not being bought at grocery 
stores,” Baldwin said. “People were scrambling, and there just wasn't 
another job.”

Between 2000 and 2020, Lamar’s county lost 17% of its population.

It’s a vicious cycle that’s repeated across rural America. Having 
fewer jobs and businesses makes it hard for towns to attract and retain 
residents. Having fewer residents makes it hard for towns to get and 
keep jobs and businesses.

Today, Baldwin described Lamar as a mix 
of people who want to help turn things around for the town and those who
 still cling to the fading memory of what the town used to be.

“There’s
 an element in town that reveres the status quo and doesn’t really want 
to see too much change,” he said. “But you can’t stop change, I don’t 
care how hard you try.”

Stephanie Gonzales wants to change that outlook. She heads the regional economic development organization, <a href="https://www.seced.net/mission.html" target="_blank">SECED</a>, that tries to tempt employers to move to town.

“We have wide-open spaces, so lots of places to put a business,” she said. “You can’t beat rural America.”

She
 grew up in Lamar in the 1980s. Her parents, brothers, uncles and 
cousins were among those laid off from the bus-making plant.&nbsp;

Fifteen
 years later, she said Lamar now fights the perception that the town 
doesn’t have enough people to make it worthwhile for businesses to set 
up shop there.

Meanwhile, residents often drive over an hour to shop in Garden City, essentially dooming the few businesses left in Lamar.

“The
 growth that (Garden City has) experienced, could have ... really 
benefited Lamar,” Gonzales said, “had there been maybe some different 
mentality at the time.”

That mentality was a fear of change. Some 
people in Lamar were worried about the influx of immigrant and refugee 
workers. She said that kept Lamar from pushing harder to try to get the 
plant.

“We should have welcomed the diverse numbers of people,” she said. “that would have been employed in a facility like that.”

County Commissioner Ron Cook said Lamar has missed out on several 
opportunities over the years — in addition to the meatpacking plant — 
because of those fears. So the town has had to adjust.

“We’ve
 learned. We’re more open to diversity and changing things in the 
county,” Cook said. “I wish they were possibly a little more open with 
that back in the day.”

Lamar has seen some modest successes. A couple of data and call centers have relocated to town recently. A new $500,000 <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/09/fall-sod-covering-escondido-park-for-2022/" target="_blank">sports complex</a> plans to open early next spring. Residents will soon <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/07/lamar-marijuana-ballot-questions-approved-on-first-reading/" target="_blank">decide</a> if Lamar will join Colorado’s lucrative recreational marijuana market.

But Wendy Buxton-Andrade, another county commissioner, said the loss of the meatpacking plant continues to haunt Lamar.

“Forty years later, hindsight’s always 20/20,” Buxton-Andrade said. “It’s a shame. … We missed a huge opportunity.”

Yet in the High Plains, prosperity is no given — even for Garden City.

“If the Tyson plant were to close tomorrow,” said Stull, the KU professor, “Garden City would be in a world of hurt.”

It won’t close tomorrow. But Stull said it’s just a matter of time before this boomtown goes bust.

The end will come when the water — it’s irrigating those crops that 
feed the cows that end up in the giant slaughterhouses — runs out. Some 
meatpacking plants have <a href="https://www.manufacturing.net/operations/news/13173458/meatpackers-close-with-fewer-us-cows" target="_blank">already moved out</a> of the southern High Plains in search of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/121558/what-climate-change-doing-texas-cattle-ranch" target="_blank">more reliable water</a> sources.

And eventually — likely <a href="http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/pic18/" target="_blank">just decades</a> from now — the Ogallala Aquifer under southwest Kansas will go dry, parching Garden City’s beef industry along with it.

“Unless
 something can be done to turn that trend around,” Stull said, 
“ultimately, western Kansas will look like eastern Colorado.”

David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/davidcondos" target="_blank">@davidcondos</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186722644.png" alt="Local officials and meatpacking executives shovel dirt at the groundbreaking of the meatpacking plant just outside Garden City in 1979. Finney County Historical Society" />
 <figcaption>Local officials and meatpacking executives shovel dirt at the groundbreaking of the meatpacking plant just outside Garden City in 1979. Finney County Historical Society</figcaption>
 </figure>By DAVID CONDOS <a href="https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2021-10-25/how-a-meatpacking-plant-changed-one-kansas-town-40-years-ago-and-left-a-colorado-community-behind">Kansas News Service</a>GARDEN CITY&nbsp;— Drivers approaching this cattle city on 
Kansas 156 watch as the scenery changes from a patchwork of southwest 
Kansas crop fields, pastures and feedlots to a collage of suburban 
sprawl.The Home Depot stands next to the Dick’s Sporting Goods, 
which shares a parking lot with the Old Navy that just opened this 
summer.Across the street, one of the town’s two Burger Kings 
serves up Whoppers in the shadow of the only Target store for a 
three-hour drive in any direction.One hundred miles west, Russ Baldwin makes a left turn off Main Street into an empty parking lot in Lamar, Colorado.“Behold: the former Burger King,” Baldwin said, lifting his hand from the steering wheel. “Home of the ex-Whopper.”Plywood boards cover the drive-thru window. Next door, the old K-Mart sits vacant.Within minutes, he drives past the airport that <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2014/02/07/more-on-the-cover-story-wayne-sidebar.html" target="_blank">lost its last commercial flight</a> in the early 2000s. Then the factory that used to be the town’s largest employer — until it abruptly shut down 15 years ago.“That was pretty much the perfect storm,” Baldwin said. “You’re sitting there going, ‘What’s next, a locust invasion?’ ”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186799155.png" alt="Lamar (left) has seen some of its businesses, like this Burger King, close over the past two decades. Garden City's Burger King (right) stands in the middle of the city's growing retail district, next to the region's only Target store. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>Lamar (left) has seen some of its businesses, like this Burger King, close over the past two decades. Garden City's Burger King (right) stands in the middle of the city's growing retail district, next to the region's only Target store. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure>Just a few decades ago, the two outposts were basically Kansas and Colorado versions of each other. But in 1980, the <a href="https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/4939/research.pdf?sequence=3&amp;isAllowed=y" target="_blank">world’s largest meatpacking plant</a> opened on the outskirts of Garden City. Almost overnight, it became the fastest growing part of Kansas.Thousands of new jobs. Billions of dollars in new industry. A boomtown in a region that has <a href="https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/population/popmax.pdf" target="_blank">lost residents</a> for generations.The
 plant’s arrival marked a milestone for Garden City, making it the 
epicenter of the High Plains beef industry. And the city’s decision to 
open its doors to the thousands of immigrant and refugee workers who 
would accompany the plant has — at least so far — helped it escape the 
fate of the many surrounding towns that still see an unending exodus.&nbsp;What’s more, the diverging trajectories of Garden City and Lamar over the past 40-some years offer a glimpse at the knife’s edge between prosperity and decline in rural America.That’s because the town that Garden City beat out to win the meatpacking plant was Lamar.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186831709.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Fork in the road</h2>Garden City and Lamar share the same 
river, the same highway, the same railroad line and the same Dust Bowl 
past. And through the 1960s, they were roughly the same size.But the population of Finney County — home to Garden City — has <a href="https://ipsr.ku.edu/ksdata/ksah/population/population.pdf" target="_blank">doubled</a> since 1970. It’s now over <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/finneycountykansas/PST045219" target="_blank">38,000</a>.The number of people living in Prowers County — home to Lamar — has slowly <a href="https://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph2/cph-2-7.pdf" target="_blank">slipped</a> under <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/prowerscountycolorado" target="_blank">12,000</a>.Larry
 Jones has watched the transformation of western Kansas’ largest city 
from his farm and cattle company that sits just outside of town.“If you’d been here 20 years ago and looked at it,” he said, “you wouldn't recognize the town.”Next
 door to Jones’ milo field sits the giant, boxy structure that 
resuscitated Garden City: Tyson Foods’ Finney County beef plant. Inside,
 more than 3,000 workers — most of them immigrants and refugees — 
butcher <a href="https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/22036-the-smoldering-impact-of-tyson-holcomb-fire" target="_blank">6,000 head of cattle</a> every day.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186871760.png" alt="Larry Jones' farm is so close to the Tyson Foods' meatpacking plant that beef trucks often take wrong turns into his fields. The plant can be seen in the distance over his right shoulder. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>Larry Jones' farm is so close to the Tyson Foods' meatpacking plant that beef trucks often take wrong turns into his fields. The plant can be seen in the distance over his right shoulder. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure>So what made Garden City and Lamar the two finalists to win this sprawling slaughterhouse in the first place?As often happens on the High Plains, it comes back to water.Meatpacking
 plants historically operated in urban centers, such as Kansas City and 
Chicago. But in the 1960s, packers began to build plants in the 
countryside — away from big city unions and closer to cattle and the 
grain that fattens them through the last few months of their lives.Around
 that same time, the number of water wells drilled into the Ogallala 
Aquifer underneath this region skyrocketed. Those wells plus new center 
pivot irrigation technology allowed farmers to grow more water-intensive
 crops in places that get hardly any rain.It created an ecosystem. The aquifer waters the corn. The corn feeds the cows. The cows supply the meatpackers.“The
 way to add value to grain is to put it in an animal,” Don Stull said. 
”And the way to add value to an animal is to slaughter it.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186911563.png" alt="In this photo from 1990, two meatpacking workers trim beef carcasses inside the plant near Garden City. Finney County Historical Society" />
 <figcaption>In this photo from 1990, two meatpacking workers trim beef carcasses inside the plant near Garden City. Finney County Historical Society</figcaption>
 </figure>Stull has <a href="http://www.ipsr.ku.edu/conferen/kepc11/HarvestofChange.pdf" target="_blank">tracked</a> the beef industry’s impact on Garden City for more than three decades as a University of Kansas professor and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Blues-Poultry-Industry-Contemporary/dp/1111828784" target="_blank">author</a>.
 He calls it the first of rural America’s food-processing boomtowns — 
quickly transforming from what he described as a white agrarian 
community in 1980 to one of the <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/kansas-population-change-between-census-decade.html" target="_blank">most diverse</a> places in Kansas.Yet
 the city’s metamorphosis came with growing pains. Rapid expansion 
brought plenty of challenges that it’s still dealing with, like strains 
on housing, health care, education and social services. And because many
 of the plant workers were, and are, immigrants and refugees, the type 
of growth the city experienced also worried some white residents.“But if you ask anybody,” Stull said, “they'd rather have the problems of growth than the problems of decline.”That’s
 why local leaders pushed hard to land the plant four decades ago — 
offering a “better package” than Lamar, Stull said — to help secure the 
town’s future economically. And so far, it has.The beef industry now pumps around <a href="https://agriculture.ks.gov/economic-development-statistics/county-statistics-(a-h)/finney-county" target="_blank">$2 billion</a> into the county’s economy each year. The city has parlayed its growth into becoming the <a href="https://www.garden-city.org/home/showdocument?id=62" target="_blank">region’s retail hub</a>, regularly drawing shoppers from more than 100 miles away — including many from Lamar.So what would Garden City look like today if the plant had been built somewhere else?“Well,” Stull said, “look at Lamar.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635186977245.png" alt="The population of Garden City's county has doubled since 1970 to more than 38,000. But the number of people living in Lamar's county has slipped under 12,000. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>The population of Garden City's county has doubled since 1970 to more than 38,000. But the number of people living in Lamar's county has slipped under 12,000. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The other side</h2>Russ Baldwin moved to Lamar the same year the meatpacking plant opened in Garden City. He now runs the local weekly newspaper.As
 he ends his driving tour of shuttered businesses, he rolls to a stop in
 a parking lot on the east edge of town. Weeds grow high along the 
cracks in the pavement.The four-story building on the other side of a chain-link fence used to house a German <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/25/us/colorado-town-looks-to-better-days-with-a-german-bus-factory.html" target="_blank">bus manufacturer</a>. At its peak, it had roughly 600 people on the payroll. In 2006, it laid off the last 300.“There
 were no more paychecks. Things were not being bought at grocery 
stores,” Baldwin said. “People were scrambling, and there just wasn't 
another job.”Between 2000 and 2020, Lamar’s county lost 17% of its population.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635187023255.png" alt="This building used to be home to Lamar's Neoplan bus manufacturing plant before it laid off its last 300 workers in 2006. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>This building used to be home to Lamar's Neoplan bus manufacturing plant before it laid off its last 300 workers in 2006. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure>It’s a vicious cycle that’s repeated across rural America. Having 
fewer jobs and businesses makes it hard for towns to attract and retain 
residents. Having fewer residents makes it hard for towns to get and 
keep jobs and businesses.Today, Baldwin described Lamar as a mix 
of people who want to help turn things around for the town and those who
 still cling to the fading memory of what the town used to be.“There’s
 an element in town that reveres the status quo and doesn’t really want 
to see too much change,” he said. “But you can’t stop change, I don’t 
care how hard you try.”<h2>‘Hindsight’s always 20/20’</h2>Stephanie Gonzales wants to change that outlook. She heads the regional economic development organization, <a href="https://www.seced.net/mission.html" target="_blank">SECED</a>, that tries to tempt employers to move to town.“We have wide-open spaces, so lots of places to put a business,” she said. “You can’t beat rural America.”She
 grew up in Lamar in the 1980s. Her parents, brothers, uncles and 
cousins were among those laid off from the bus-making plant.&nbsp;Fifteen
 years later, she said Lamar now fights the perception that the town 
doesn’t have enough people to make it worthwhile for businesses to set 
up shop there.Meanwhile, residents often drive over an hour to shop in Garden City, essentially dooming the few businesses left in Lamar.“The
 growth that (Garden City has) experienced, could have ... really 
benefited Lamar,” Gonzales said, “had there been maybe some different 
mentality at the time.”That mentality was a fear of change. Some 
people in Lamar were worried about the influx of immigrant and refugee 
workers. She said that kept Lamar from pushing harder to try to get the 
plant.“We should have welcomed the diverse numbers of people,” she said. “that would have been employed in a facility like that.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635187070106.png" alt="An old convenience store sign on Lamar's Main Street misses some letters it has lost over the years. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>An old convenience store sign on Lamar's Main Street misses some letters it has lost over the years. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure>County Commissioner Ron Cook said Lamar has missed out on several 
opportunities over the years — in addition to the meatpacking plant — 
because of those fears. So the town has had to adjust.“We’ve
 learned. We’re more open to diversity and changing things in the 
county,” Cook said. “I wish they were possibly a little more open with 
that back in the day.”Lamar has seen some modest successes. A couple of data and call centers have relocated to town recently. A new $500,000 <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/09/fall-sod-covering-escondido-park-for-2022/" target="_blank">sports complex</a> plans to open early next spring. Residents will soon <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/07/lamar-marijuana-ballot-questions-approved-on-first-reading/" target="_blank">decide</a> if Lamar will join Colorado’s lucrative recreational marijuana market.But Wendy Buxton-Andrade, another county commissioner, said the loss of the meatpacking plant continues to haunt Lamar.“Forty years later, hindsight’s always 20/20,” Buxton-Andrade said. “It’s a shame. … We missed a huge opportunity.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635187098980.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>County Commissioner Ron Cook said Lamar has missed out on several 
opportunities over the years — in addition to the meatpacking plant — 
because of those fears. So the town has had to adjust.“We’ve
 learned. We’re more open to diversity and changing things in the 
county,” Cook said. “I wish they were possibly a little more open with 
that back in the day.”Lamar has seen some modest successes. A couple of data and call centers have relocated to town recently. A new $500,000 <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/09/fall-sod-covering-escondido-park-for-2022/" target="_blank">sports complex</a> plans to open early next spring. Residents will soon <a href="https://theprowersjournal.com/2021/07/lamar-marijuana-ballot-questions-approved-on-first-reading/" target="_blank">decide</a> if Lamar will join Colorado’s lucrative recreational marijuana market.But Wendy Buxton-Andrade, another county commissioner, said the loss of the meatpacking plant continues to haunt Lamar.“Forty years later, hindsight’s always 20/20,” Buxton-Andrade said. “It’s a shame. … We missed a huge opportunity.”<h2>Going bust</h2>Yet in the High Plains, prosperity is no given — even for Garden City.“If the Tyson plant were to close tomorrow,” said Stull, the KU professor, “Garden City would be in a world of hurt.”It won’t close tomorrow. But Stull said it’s just a matter of time before this boomtown goes bust.The end will come when the water — it’s irrigating those crops that 
feed the cows that end up in the giant slaughterhouses — runs out. Some 
meatpacking plants have <a href="https://www.manufacturing.net/operations/news/13173458/meatpackers-close-with-fewer-us-cows" target="_blank">already moved out</a> of the southern High Plains in search of <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/121558/what-climate-change-doing-texas-cattle-ranch" target="_blank">more reliable water</a> sources.And eventually — likely <a href="http://www.kgs.ku.edu/Publications/pic18/" target="_blank">just decades</a> from now — the Ogallala Aquifer under southwest Kansas will go dry, parching Garden City’s beef industry along with it.“Unless
 something can be done to turn that trend around,” Stull said, 
“ultimately, western Kansas will look like eastern Colorado.”David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/davidcondos" target="_blank">@davidcondos</a>.

Tale of two cities: How meatpacking changed one town, left another behind

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than six weeks after promising a new vaccination-or-testing rule covering the millions of Americans at companies with 100 or more workers, President Joe Biden’s most aggressive move yet to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is almost ready to see the light of day.

The three largest public universities in Kansas will require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Officials with Kansas State, the University of Kansas and Wichita State all announced Friday that employees will need to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8. The announcement came after the Board of Regents determined that an executive order from President Joe Biden applies to universities that work on federal contracts.&nbsp;

An obscure White House office is expected to give the green light any day to the rule’s fine print detailing how and when companies will have to require their employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.

The full enforcement deadline, which could carry penalties of about $14,000 per violation, may not take effect until after the new year. That’s why Biden and his aides have for weeks encouraged businesses to act as though the rule was already in effect and start imposing vaccination requirements.

The regulation, to be published in the Federal Register, was drafted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under emergency authorities to protect worker safety and will cover an estimated 80 million U.S. workers. The White House sees it as a potent tool to winnow down the ranks of roughly 65 million Americans who have thus far refused to get a shot.

Unlike healthcare providers or federal employees, who may not have a testing alternative to vaccination, private sector workers won’t necessarily face termination if they don’t get vaccinated. But some businesses may choose to impose their own more stringent vaccination mandate, and it’s possible that businesses may be allowed to pass on the cost of weekly COVID-19 testing to their unvaccinated employees.

White House officials declined to discuss when the rule will be published or go into details on when businesses will have to comply.

For the last week, federal officials have hosted more than two dozen listening sessions with industry groups, businesses and advocacy organizations. Some have been supportive of the rule, others vehemently opposed, but all are eager to learn more about the fine print of the regulation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups that represent large employers are worried that the proposal’s threshold -– applying to companies with 100 or more employees – could cause workers to migrate to jobs at smaller employers where they won’t need to be vaccinated.

“We really stressed the concern about employers losing employees, and what that would mean in the context of current supply-chain challenges and the upcoming holiday season,” said Marc Freedman, vice president for employment policy at the Chamber of Commerce. “You could start to see some very serious disruptions.”

Freedman, who took part in the chamber’s call with administration officials, said the 100-worker threshold would also hurt job creation by giving employers who have 90 or 95 employees a reason not to expand.

The experience of United Airlines and health-care providers that acted early to require vaccination suggests that very few employees will give up their jobs because of a vaccine mandate. United says about 200 of its 67,000 U.S. workers face termination for refusing to get vaccinated and another 2,000 are still seeking medical or religious exemptions.

State government vaccination mandate deadlines went into effect this week in Washington state, Massachusetts and New Jersey after a host of legal challenges by state employees and first responders’ unions.

In Washington, the state patrol lost 127 employees, including 67 troopers, who left due to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for state employees, about 6% of the agency’s staff, officials said.

The Northwest state’s mandate also led to the high-profile firing of Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich and his four assistants, who wouldn’t get vaccinated.

In Massachusetts, nearly 1,600 state employees had not proved they were vaccinated or had sought a vaccine exemption by a Sunday deadline. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced in August that some 44,000 executive branch workers and contractors would be required to get vaccinated or face suspension and ultimately the loss of their jobs.

The National Association of Manufacturers is arguing that companies should get credit — perhaps an exemption from the rules — for taking early steps to get a high percentage of workers vaccinated. Manufacturers have expressed worry that they could see higher quit rates because many plants are located in rural areas where opposition to vaccination is stronger.

The manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are also pushing the administration to let employers make unvaccinated workers pay for their own weekly COVID-19 testing.

“A lot of our members feel strongly that the vaccine is widely available, it is free, and so if a person opts not to be vaccinated potentially the onus of the test can and should fall on the employee who has made a choice not to vaccinate,” said Robyn Boerstling, a NAM vice president. She said employers should pay for testing if an employee has a medical condition or a “proven and true” religious reason for seeking an exemption.

Business groups, however, are not optimistic on the test-cost issue, saying that OSHA has a history of making employers bear the cost of new regulations.

Retailers are worried about the timing of the new regulation taking effect as they prepare for the critical holiday season. They want to push the rule’s effective date into next year.

Several people who took part in the discussions with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is doing the final review of the proposal, said they got no hints whether their arguments would sway the administration. They described conference-call meetings –- virtual because of the pandemic -– in which White House staffers listened and did not respond to their arguments.

It is not clear how the business community will respond once the final rule is published.

Business officials said legal challenges are more likely to come from Republican-led states such as Texas. And Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the conservative Job Creators Network, reiterated his pledge Tuesday after meeting with the White House officials to sue to block the rule’s implementation. Two dozen attorneys general in GOP states vowed last month to use “every available legal option” to kill the mandate.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631817363595.png" alt="President Biden says,"just get the shot." However, White House officials declined to discuss when the rule will be published or go into details on when businesses will have to comply.-photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>President Biden says,"just get the shot." However, White House officials declined to discuss when the rule will be published or go into details on when businesses will have to comply.-photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — More than six weeks after promising a new vaccination-or-testing rule covering the millions of Americans at companies with 100 or more workers, President Joe Biden’s most aggressive move yet to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is almost ready to see the light of day.The three largest public universities in Kansas will require all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Officials with Kansas State, the University of Kansas and Wichita State all announced Friday that employees will need to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8. The announcement came after the Board of Regents determined that an executive order from President Joe Biden applies to universities that work on federal contracts.&nbsp;An obscure White House office is expected to give the green light any day to the rule’s fine print detailing how and when companies will have to require their employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.The full enforcement deadline, which could carry penalties of about $14,000 per violation, may not take effect until after the new year. That’s why Biden and his aides have for weeks encouraged businesses to act as though the rule was already in effect and start imposing vaccination requirements.The regulation, to be published in the Federal Register, was drafted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration under emergency authorities to protect worker safety and will cover an estimated 80 million U.S. workers. The White House sees it as a potent tool to winnow down the ranks of roughly 65 million Americans who have thus far refused to get a shot.Unlike healthcare providers or federal employees, who may not have a testing alternative to vaccination, private sector workers won’t necessarily face termination if they don’t get vaccinated. But some businesses may choose to impose their own more stringent vaccination mandate, and it’s possible that businesses may be allowed to pass on the cost of weekly COVID-19 testing to their unvaccinated employees.White House officials declined to discuss when the rule will be published or go into details on when businesses will have to comply.For the last week, federal officials have hosted more than two dozen listening sessions with industry groups, businesses and advocacy organizations. Some have been supportive of the rule, others vehemently opposed, but all are eager to learn more about the fine print of the regulation.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups that represent large employers are worried that the proposal’s threshold -– applying to companies with 100 or more employees – could cause workers to migrate to jobs at smaller employers where they won’t need to be vaccinated.“We really stressed the concern about employers losing employees, and what that would mean in the context of current supply-chain challenges and the upcoming holiday season,” said Marc Freedman, vice president for employment policy at the Chamber of Commerce. “You could start to see some very serious disruptions.”Freedman, who took part in the chamber’s call with administration officials, said the 100-worker threshold would also hurt job creation by giving employers who have 90 or 95 employees a reason not to expand.The experience of United Airlines and health-care providers that acted early to require vaccination suggests that very few employees will give up their jobs because of a vaccine mandate. United says about 200 of its 67,000 U.S. workers face termination for refusing to get vaccinated and another 2,000 are still seeking medical or religious exemptions.State government vaccination mandate deadlines went into effect this week in Washington state, Massachusetts and New Jersey after a host of legal challenges by state employees and first responders’ unions.In Washington, the state patrol lost 127 employees, including 67 troopers, who left due to the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for state employees, about 6% of the agency’s staff, officials said.The Northwest state’s mandate also led to the high-profile firing of Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich and his four assistants, who wouldn’t get vaccinated.In Massachusetts, nearly 1,600 state employees had not proved they were vaccinated or had sought a vaccine exemption by a Sunday deadline. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker announced in August that some 44,000 executive branch workers and contractors would be required to get vaccinated or face suspension and ultimately the loss of their jobs.The National Association of Manufacturers is arguing that companies should get credit — perhaps an exemption from the rules — for taking early steps to get a high percentage of workers vaccinated. Manufacturers have expressed worry that they could see higher quit rates because many plants are located in rural areas where opposition to vaccination is stronger.The manufacturers, the Chamber of Commerce and other business groups are also pushing the administration to let employers make unvaccinated workers pay for their own weekly COVID-19 testing.“A lot of our members feel strongly that the vaccine is widely available, it is free, and so if a person opts not to be vaccinated potentially the onus of the test can and should fall on the employee who has made a choice not to vaccinate,” said Robyn Boerstling, a NAM vice president. She said employers should pay for testing if an employee has a medical condition or a “proven and true” religious reason for seeking an exemption.Business groups, however, are not optimistic on the test-cost issue, saying that OSHA has a history of making employers bear the cost of new regulations.Retailers are worried about the timing of the new regulation taking effect as they prepare for the critical holiday season. They want to push the rule’s effective date into next year.Several people who took part in the discussions with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which is doing the final review of the proposal, said they got no hints whether their arguments would sway the administration. They described conference-call meetings –- virtual because of the pandemic -– in which White House staffers listened and did not respond to their arguments.It is not clear how the business community will respond once the final rule is published.Business officials said legal challenges are more likely to come from Republican-led states such as Texas. And Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the conservative Job Creators Network, reiterated his pledge Tuesday after meeting with the White House officials to sue to block the rule’s implementation. Two dozen attorneys general in GOP states vowed last month to use “every available legal option” to kill the mandate.

Businesses nervously await fine print of Biden vax-or-test rule

SUPERIOR&nbsp; — The Nebraska State Patrol is now able to release the names of the two victims who were killed in a shooting Thursday afternoon at Agrex Inc. in Superior. Those deceased victims are identified as:

Sandra Nelson was pronounced deceased at the scene of the incident in Superior. Darin Koepke was flown to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln where he was later pronounced deceased.

A third victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital in Superior and released Thursday afternoon. After the shooting began, an Agrex employee retrieved a shotgun from an office and returning fire, striking the suspect. The suspect has been identified as Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior. Hoskinson was pronounced deceased at the hospital in Superior.

In consultation with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and the Nuckolls County Attorney’s Office, no charges are anticipated in relation to the employee who returned fire in protection of himself and other innocent parties present at the time of the incident.

The names of other individuals involved in this incident are being withheld at this time due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.

 Additional information will be released when possible.

SUPERIOR&nbsp; — The Nebraska State Patrol is now able to release the names of the two victims who were killed in a shooting Thursday afternoon at Agrex Inc. in Superior. Those deceased victims are identified as:Sandra Nelson, 60, of Formoso, KansasDarin Koepke, 53, of Hadar, NebraskaSandra Nelson was pronounced deceased at the scene of the incident in Superior. Darin Koepke was flown to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln where he was later pronounced deceased.A third victim was treated for non-life-threatening injuries at the hospital in Superior and released Thursday afternoon. After the shooting began, an Agrex employee retrieved a shotgun from an office and returning fire, striking the suspect. The suspect has been identified as Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior. Hoskinson was pronounced deceased at the hospital in Superior.In consultation with the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and the Nuckolls County Attorney’s Office, no charges are anticipated in relation to the employee who returned fire in protection of himself and other innocent parties present at the time of the incident.The names of other individuals involved in this incident are being withheld at this time due to the ongoing nature of the investigation. Additional information will be released when possible.

NSP releases names of victims in fatal Superior shooting

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs woman was fatally shot in her home early Friday, and police are searching for a 28-year-old man in the killing. 

Police say officers called to a home just before 3:30 a.m. Friday found 24-year-old McKayla Glover with a gunshot wound.

 She was rushed to a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, where she died. 

Police say they've identified a 28-year-old man as a person of interest in the shooting and were trying to find him. 

No arrests in the killing had been made by midday Friday. 

Police did not offer details on what led up to the shooting.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Council Bluffs woman was fatally shot in her home early Friday, and police are searching for a 28-year-old man in the killing. Police say officers called to a home just before 3:30 a.m. Friday found 24-year-old McKayla Glover with a gunshot wound. She was rushed to a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, where she died. Police say they've identified a 28-year-old man as a person of interest in the shooting and were trying to find him. No arrests in the killing had been made by midday Friday. Police did not offer details on what led up to the shooting.

Police seek 28-year-old man in killing of western Iowa woman

TAYLOR, Neb. (AP) — Investigators are looking for the cause of an explosion that leveled a vacant building in the small north-central Nebraska town of Taylor. 

The explosion happened Tuesday afternoon, when Loup County volunteer firefighters were called to the town of about 200 people and found the shattered ruins of a vacant downtown building that had been converted into a home. 

No injuries were reported, but the Lincoln Journal Star reports that the blast damaged the post office and a livestock barn on either side of the building and blew out windows for blocks around.

TAYLOR, Neb. (AP) — Investigators are looking for the cause of an explosion that leveled a vacant building in the small north-central Nebraska town of Taylor. The explosion happened Tuesday afternoon, when Loup County volunteer firefighters were called to the town of about 200 people and found the shattered ruins of a vacant downtown building that had been converted into a home. No injuries were reported, but the Lincoln Journal Star reports that the blast damaged the post office and a livestock barn on either side of the building and blew out windows for blocks around.

Cause of explosion sought that leveled building in Taylor

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and Democrats are hurriedly reworking key aspects of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic policy plan, trimming the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-health-care-69c7bb592f8d73232bec1d8e15be82e3">social services&nbsp;</a>and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-joe-biden-business-environment-and-nature-environment-e9b976d57b1b8b35e459c9950b34fca0">climate change programs</a>&nbsp;and rethinking new taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for a scaled-back package.

The changes come as Biden more forcefully appeals to the American public, including in a televised town hall Thursday, for what he says are the middle-class values at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-seniors-medicare-congress-c544f9a1cd4d3ef0d7d5b99b129ccca7">the heart of his proposal</a>.

Biden mentioned during the evening event the challenge he faces in wrangling the sharply divergent factions in the Democratic party to agree to the final contours of the bill. With an evenly divided Senate, he can’t afford to lose a single vote, and he is navigating the competing demands of progressives, who want major investments in social services, and centrists, who want to see the price tag on the package come down.

“When you’re president of the United States, you have 50 Democrats — every one is a president. Every single one. So you gotta work things out,” he said during a CNN town hall.

Still, he expressed optimism about the process, saying “I think so” when asked if Democrats were close to a deal.

“It’s all about compromise. Compromise has become a dirty word, but bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible,” he said.

Biden later said the discussions are “down to four or five issues.”

On one issue — the taxes to pay for the package — the White House idea seemed to be making headway with a new strategy of abandoning plans for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">reversing Trump-era tax cuts&nbsp;</a>in favor of an approach that would involve taxing the investment incomes of billionaires to help finance the deal.

Biden has faced resistance from key holdouts, in particular&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-az-state-wire-government-and-politics-6632b84d43dcd5f897dbaea36d780bbb">Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.,</a>&nbsp;who has not been on board with her party’s plan to undo President Donald Trump’s tax breaks for big corporations or individuals earning more than $400,000 a year.

The president was unusually forthcoming Thursday night about the sticking points in the negotiations with Sinema and another key Democrat, conservative Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

While the president said Sinema “will not raise a single penny in taxes” on the wealthy or corporations, a White House official later clarified that the president was referring to raising the top tax rates, not the range of tax proposals “which Senator Sinema supports.”

Biden said Manchin doesn’t want to “rush” the transition to clean energy so quickly it will result in major job losses in his coal-producing state.

Even as he seemed encouraged by progress, Biden acknowledged major reductions to his original vision. He signaled the final plan would no longer provide free community college, but said he hoped to increase Pell Grants to compensate for the loss of the policy.

“It’s not going to get us the whole thing, but it is a start,” he said.

He also said that what had been envisioned as a federally paid, months-long family leave program would be just four weeks.

As long-sought programs are adjusted or eliminated, Democratic leaders are working to swiftly wrap up talks, possibly in the days ahead.

Talks between the White House and Democratic lawmakers are focused on reducing what had been a $3.5 trillion package to about $2 trillion, in what would be an unprecedented federal effort to expand social services for millions and address the rising threat of climate change.

“We have a goal. We have a timetable. We have milestones, and we’ve met them all,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who predicted Thursday, “It will pass soon.”

An abrupt change of course came late Wednesday when the White House floated new ways to pay for parts of the proposal.

Biden himself signaled flexibility on the tax provisions of the bill, as long as it’s paid for and it doesn’t increase taxes on those earning $400,000 or less.

“I’m willing to make sure that we pay for everything,” he said when pressed on what tax proposal he’d support.

The newly proposed tax provisions, though, are likely to sour progressives and even some moderate Democrats who have long campaigned on scrapping the Republican-backed 2017 tax cuts that many believe unduly reward the wealthy and cost the government untold sums in lost revenue at a time of gaping income inequality. Many are furious that perhaps a lone senator could stymie that goal.

The chairman of the tax-writing Ways &amp; Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said he spoke for more than 30 minutes with the centrist Arizona senator, whose closely held views are a mystery to her colleagues.

“I said, Kyrsten, you and I both know this has got to pass. She said: ‘I couldn’t agree more,’” Neal told reporters at the Capitol.

Sinema’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Under existing law passed in 2017, the corporate tax rate is 21%. Democrats had proposed raising it to 26.5% for companies earning more than $5 million a year. The top individual income tax rate would go from 37% to 39.6% for those earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for married couples.

Under the changes being floated the corporate rate would not change. But the revisions would not be all positive for big companies and the wealthy.

The White House is reviving the idea of a minimum corporate tax rate, similar to the 15% rate Biden had proposed this year. That’s even for companies that say they had no taxable income — a frequent target of Biden, who complains they pay “zero” in taxes.

The new tax on the wealthiest individuals would be modeled on legislation from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He has proposed taxing stock gains of people with more than $1 billion in assets — fewer than 1,000 Americans.

Other tax options are also being considered, and Democrats are almost certain to include a provision to beef up the Internal Revenue Service to go after tax dodgers.

Biden and his party are trying to shore up middle-class households, tackle climate change and stem the trend toward rising income inequality.

In the mix are at least $500 billion to battle climate change, $350 billion for child care subsidies and free prekindergarten, a one-year extension of the $300 monthly child tax credit put in place during the COVID-19 crisis, and money for health care provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.

The president especially wants to advance the legislation by the time he departs next week for a global climate summit in Scotland.

Manchin has made clear&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-joe-biden-business-environment-environment-and-nature-81ccfa671e8cdd095ce26b62c33641ce">he opposes the president’s initial energy plan,&nbsp;</a>which was to have the government impose penalties on electric utilities that fail to meet clean energy benchmarks and provide financial rewards to those that do.

Instead, Biden is focused on providing at least $500 billion in tax credits, grants and loans for energy producers that reach emission-reduction goals.

Democrats also want to add funding to provide&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-seniors-environment-health-7c573827e3e96f1f4c15bb3234815321">dental, vision and hearing aid benefits&nbsp;</a>to people on Medicare proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1634847207082.png" alt="“We have a goal. We have a timetable. We have milestones, and we’ve met them all,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who predicted Thursday, “It will pass soon.”-photo courtesy office of House Speaker" />
 <figcaption>“We have a goal. We have a timetable. We have milestones, and we’ve met them all,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who predicted Thursday, “It will pass soon.”-photo courtesy office of House Speaker</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House and Democrats are hurriedly reworking key aspects of President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion domestic policy plan, trimming the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-health-care-69c7bb592f8d73232bec1d8e15be82e3">social services&nbsp;</a>and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-joe-biden-business-environment-and-nature-environment-e9b976d57b1b8b35e459c9950b34fca0">climate change programs</a>&nbsp;and rethinking new taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for a scaled-back package.The changes come as Biden more forcefully appeals to the American public, including in a televised town hall Thursday, for what he says are the middle-class values at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-seniors-medicare-congress-c544f9a1cd4d3ef0d7d5b99b129ccca7">the heart of his proposal</a>.Biden mentioned during the evening event the challenge he faces in wrangling the sharply divergent factions in the Democratic party to agree to the final contours of the bill. With an evenly divided Senate, he can’t afford to lose a single vote, and he is navigating the competing demands of progressives, who want major investments in social services, and centrists, who want to see the price tag on the package come down.“When you’re president of the United States, you have 50 Democrats — every one is a president. Every single one. So you gotta work things out,” he said during a CNN town hall.Still, he expressed optimism about the process, saying “I think so” when asked if Democrats were close to a deal.“It’s all about compromise. Compromise has become a dirty word, but bipartisanship and compromise still has to be possible,” he said.Biden later said the discussions are “down to four or five issues.”On one issue — the taxes to pay for the package — the White House idea seemed to be making headway with a new strategy of abandoning plans for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">reversing Trump-era tax cuts&nbsp;</a>in favor of an approach that would involve taxing the investment incomes of billionaires to help finance the deal.Biden has faced resistance from key holdouts, in particular&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-az-state-wire-government-and-politics-6632b84d43dcd5f897dbaea36d780bbb">Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.,</a>&nbsp;who has not been on board with her party’s plan to undo President Donald Trump’s tax breaks for big corporations or individuals earning more than $400,000 a year.The president was unusually forthcoming Thursday night about the sticking points in the negotiations with Sinema and another key Democrat, conservative Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia.While the president said Sinema “will not raise a single penny in taxes” on the wealthy or corporations, a White House official later clarified that the president was referring to raising the top tax rates, not the range of tax proposals “which Senator Sinema supports.”Biden said Manchin doesn’t want to “rush” the transition to clean energy so quickly it will result in major job losses in his coal-producing state.Even as he seemed encouraged by progress, Biden acknowledged major reductions to his original vision. He signaled the final plan would no longer provide free community college, but said he hoped to increase Pell Grants to compensate for the loss of the policy.“It’s not going to get us the whole thing, but it is a start,” he said.He also said that what had been envisioned as a federally paid, months-long family leave program would be just four weeks.As long-sought programs are adjusted or eliminated, Democratic leaders are working to swiftly wrap up talks, possibly in the days ahead.Talks between the White House and Democratic lawmakers are focused on reducing what had been a $3.5 trillion package to about $2 trillion, in what would be an unprecedented federal effort to expand social services for millions and address the rising threat of climate change.“We have a goal. We have a timetable. We have milestones, and we’ve met them all,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who predicted Thursday, “It will pass soon.”An abrupt change of course came late Wednesday when the White House floated new ways to pay for parts of the proposal.Biden himself signaled flexibility on the tax provisions of the bill, as long as it’s paid for and it doesn’t increase taxes on those earning $400,000 or less.“I’m willing to make sure that we pay for everything,” he said when pressed on what tax proposal he’d support.The newly proposed tax provisions, though, are likely to sour progressives and even some moderate Democrats who have long campaigned on scrapping the Republican-backed 2017 tax cuts that many believe unduly reward the wealthy and cost the government untold sums in lost revenue at a time of gaping income inequality. Many are furious that perhaps a lone senator could stymie that goal.The chairman of the tax-writing Ways &amp; Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., said he spoke for more than 30 minutes with the centrist Arizona senator, whose closely held views are a mystery to her colleagues.“I said, Kyrsten, you and I both know this has got to pass. She said: ‘I couldn’t agree more,’” Neal told reporters at the Capitol.Sinema’s office did not respond to a request for comment.Under existing law passed in 2017, the corporate tax rate is 21%. Democrats had proposed raising it to 26.5% for companies earning more than $5 million a year. The top individual income tax rate would go from 37% to 39.6% for those earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for married couples.Under the changes being floated the corporate rate would not change. But the revisions would not be all positive for big companies and the wealthy.The White House is reviving the idea of a minimum corporate tax rate, similar to the 15% rate Biden had proposed this year. That’s even for companies that say they had no taxable income — a frequent target of Biden, who complains they pay “zero” in taxes.The new tax on the wealthiest individuals would be modeled on legislation from Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He has proposed taxing stock gains of people with more than $1 billion in assets — fewer than 1,000 Americans.Other tax options are also being considered, and Democrats are almost certain to include a provision to beef up the Internal Revenue Service to go after tax dodgers.Biden and his party are trying to shore up middle-class households, tackle climate change and stem the trend toward rising income inequality.In the mix are at least $500 billion to battle climate change, $350 billion for child care subsidies and free prekindergarten, a one-year extension of the $300 monthly child tax credit put in place during the COVID-19 crisis, and money for health care provided through the Affordable Care Act and Medicare.The president especially wants to advance the legislation by the time he departs next week for a global climate summit in Scotland.Manchin has made clear&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-joe-biden-business-environment-environment-and-nature-81ccfa671e8cdd095ce26b62c33641ce">he opposes the president’s initial energy plan,&nbsp;</a>which was to have the government impose penalties on electric utilities that fail to meet clean energy benchmarks and provide financial rewards to those that do.Instead, Biden is focused on providing at least $500 billion in tax credits, grants and loans for energy producers that reach emission-reduction goals.Democrats also want to add funding to provide&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-seniors-environment-health-7c573827e3e96f1f4c15bb3234815321">dental, vision and hearing aid benefits&nbsp;</a>to people on Medicare proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

White House, Dems hurriedly reworking Biden's $2 trillion plan

WALTHILL, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a woman died after she was struck by a patrol vehicle near Walthill. 

The patrol says an investigator was driving south on Highway 77 early Thursday when his vehicle struck a woman in the southbound lane of the highway.

 The patrol investigator called for paramedics but the woman died at the scene. 

A preliminary investigation shows the woman left a home near the highway and crossed the northbound lane before being struck on the southbound lane. 

The patrol has asked the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the crash.

WALTHILL, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a woman died after she was struck by a patrol vehicle near Walthill. The patrol says an investigator was driving south on Highway 77 early Thursday when his vehicle struck a woman in the southbound lane of the highway. The patrol investigator called for paramedics but the woman died at the scene. A preliminary investigation shows the woman left a home near the highway and crossed the northbound lane before being struck on the southbound lane. No further details have been released. The patrol has asked the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office to investigate the crash.

Pedestrian dies after being struck by state patrol vehicle

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 48-year-old Bellevue man has been sentenced for cyberstalking in a case involving threats against the wife of a candidate for the Nebraska Legislature. 

Dennis Sryniawski was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in federal prison. He was convicted in June of cyberstalking. 

FBI investigators determined that Sryniawski sent threatening and sexually explicit emails to Jeff Parris, of La Vista, who was running for the Nebraska Legislature in October 2018. 

He threatened to release personal information and a nude photo of Parris' wife if he didn't drop out of the race. 

Parris' wife was married to Sryniawski for two years about 25 years ago.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 48-year-old Bellevue man has been sentenced for cyberstalking in a case involving threats against the wife of a candidate for the Nebraska Legislature. Dennis Sryniawski was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in federal prison. He was convicted in June of cyberstalking. FBI investigators determined that Sryniawski sent threatening and sexually explicit emails to Jeff Parris, of La Vista, who was running for the Nebraska Legislature in October 2018. He threatened to release personal information and a nude photo of Parris' wife if he didn't drop out of the race. Parris' wife was married to Sryniawski for two years about 25 years ago.

Man sentenced for cyberstalking legislative candidate's wife

WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions more Americans can get a COVID-19 booster and choose a different company’s vaccine for that next shot, federal health officials said Thursday.

Certain people who received Pfizer vaccinations months ago already are eligible for a booster and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says specific Moderna and Johnson &amp; Johnson recipients qualify, too. And in a bigger change, the agency is allowing the flexibility of “mixing and matching” that extra dose regardless of which type people received first.

The Food and Drug Administration had already authorized such an expansion of the nation’s booster campaign on Wednesday, and it was also endorsed Thursday by a CDC advisory panel. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had the final word on who gets the extra doses.

“These past 20 months have taught us many things, but mostly to have humility,” she told the panel. “We are constantly learning about this virus, growing the evidence base and accumulating more data.”

There still are restrictions on who qualifies and when for a booster. Starting six months past their last Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, people are urged to get a booster if they’re 65 or older, nursing home residents, or at least 50 and at increased risk of severe disease because of health problems. Boosters also were allowed, but not urged, for adults of any age at increased risk of infection because of health problems or their jobs or living conditions. That includes health care workers, teachers and people in jails or homeless shelters.

Moderna’s booster will come at half the dose of the original two shots.

As for recipients of the single-shot J&amp;J vaccine, a COVID-19 booster is recommended for everyone at least two months after their vaccination. That’s because the J&amp;J vaccine hasn’t proved as protective as the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer options.

The CDC panel didn’t explicitly recommend anyone get a different brand than they started with but left open the option — saying only that a booster of some sort was recommended. And some of the advisers said they would prefer that J&amp;J recipients receive a competitor’s booster, citing preliminary data from an ongoing government study that suggested a bigger boost in virus-fighting antibodies from that combination.

“We’re at a different place in the pandemic than we were earlier” when supply constraints meant people had to take whatever shot they were offered, noted CDC adviser Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University.

She called it “priceless” to be able to choose a different kind for the booster if, for example, someone might be at risk for a rare side effect from a specific vaccine.

About two-thirds of Americans eligible for COVID-19 shots are fully vaccinated, and the government says getting first shots to the unvaccinated remain the priority. While health authorities hope boosters will shore up waning immunity against milder coronavirus infections, all the vaccines still offer strong protection against hospitalizations and death, even as the extra-contagious delta variant burned through the country.

And CDC’s advisers wrestled with whether people who didn’t really need boosters might be getting them, especially young, otherwise healthy adults whose only qualification was their job.

Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University voiced concerns about opening those people to rare but serious side effects from another dose if they already were adequately protected.

“I have my own concerns that we appear to be recommending vaccines for people who I don’t think need it,” added Dr. Beth Bell of the University of Washington.

But she stressed that the vaccines work and that moving forward with the recommendations makes sense for the sake of being clear and allowing flexibility when it comes to boosters.

Despite the concerns by some members, the panels’ votes ended up being unanimous.

The vast majority of the nearly 190 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have received the Pfizer or Moderna options, while J&amp;J recipients account for only about 15 million.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1634854349255.png" alt="CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had the final word on who gets the extra doses." />
 <figcaption>CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had the final word on who gets the extra doses.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions more Americans can get a COVID-19 booster and choose a different company’s vaccine for that next shot, federal health officials said Thursday.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qoqia5YkwHc?start=24501" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Certain people who received Pfizer vaccinations months ago already are eligible for a booster and now the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says specific Moderna and Johnson &amp; Johnson recipients qualify, too. And in a bigger change, the agency is allowing the flexibility of “mixing and matching” that extra dose regardless of which type people received first.The Food and Drug Administration had already authorized such an expansion of the nation’s booster campaign on Wednesday, and it was also endorsed Thursday by a CDC advisory panel. CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky had the final word on who gets the extra doses.“These past 20 months have taught us many things, but mostly to have humility,” she told the panel. “We are constantly learning about this virus, growing the evidence base and accumulating more data.”There still are restrictions on who qualifies and when for a booster. Starting six months past their last Pfizer or Moderna vaccination, people are urged to get a booster if they’re 65 or older, nursing home residents, or at least 50 and at increased risk of severe disease because of health problems. Boosters also were allowed, but not urged, for adults of any age at increased risk of infection because of health problems or their jobs or living conditions. That includes health care workers, teachers and people in jails or homeless shelters.Moderna’s booster will come at half the dose of the original two shots.As for recipients of the single-shot J&amp;J vaccine, a COVID-19 booster is recommended for everyone at least two months after their vaccination. That’s because the J&amp;J vaccine hasn’t proved as protective as the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer options.The CDC panel didn’t explicitly recommend anyone get a different brand than they started with but left open the option — saying only that a booster of some sort was recommended. And some of the advisers said they would prefer that J&amp;J recipients receive a competitor’s booster, citing preliminary data from an ongoing government study that suggested a bigger boost in virus-fighting antibodies from that combination.“We’re at a different place in the pandemic than we were earlier” when supply constraints meant people had to take whatever shot they were offered, noted CDC adviser Dr. Helen Keipp Talbot of Vanderbilt University.She called it “priceless” to be able to choose a different kind for the booster if, for example, someone might be at risk for a rare side effect from a specific vaccine.About two-thirds of Americans eligible for COVID-19 shots are fully vaccinated, and the government says getting first shots to the unvaccinated remain the priority. While health authorities hope boosters will shore up waning immunity against milder coronavirus infections, all the vaccines still offer strong protection against hospitalizations and death, even as the extra-contagious delta variant burned through the country.And CDC’s advisers wrestled with whether people who didn’t really need boosters might be getting them, especially young, otherwise healthy adults whose only qualification was their job.Dr. Sarah Long of Drexel University voiced concerns about opening those people to rare but serious side effects from another dose if they already were adequately protected.“I have my own concerns that we appear to be recommending vaccines for people who I don’t think need it,” added Dr. Beth Bell of the University of Washington.But she stressed that the vaccines work and that moving forward with the recommendations makes sense for the sake of being clear and allowing flexibility when it comes to boosters.Despite the concerns by some members, the panels’ votes ended up being unanimous.The vast majority of the nearly 190 million Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 have received the Pfizer or Moderna options, while J&amp;J recipients account for only about 15 million.___

🎥 COVID-19 vaccine: CDC panel backs expanded booster rollout

SUPERIOR, Neb. (AP) — A man who had been fired from a grain elevator in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska">Nebraska</a>&nbsp;on Thursday returned with a gun and shot three people, killing one, before he was shot and killed by another employee, the Nebraska State Patrol said.

The patrol said the shooting occurred at the Agrex Elevator in Superior, a town in southeast Nebraska near the&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;border.

A preliminary investigation showed that Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior, was fired from the grain elevator on Thursday. He returned around 2 p.m. with a handgun and shot three people, the patrol said.

Another employee retrieved a shotgun from an office and shot Hoskinson, who was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the patrol.

One of the victims shot by Hoskinson died at the scene. Another was flown to a hospital in Lincoln with injuries considered life-threatening. The third person was treated and released at a hospital in Superior.

Police have not released names of the victims.

&nbsp;NUCKOLL COUNTY, NE. —The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a shooting incident that occurred in Superior Thursday afternoon, according to a media release from the agency.&nbsp;

At approximately 2:00 p.m. Thursday, NSP was dispatched to assist the Nuckolls County Sheriff’s Office and Superior Police Department with response to an active shooter incident at the Agrex Elevator in Superior. The Superior and Nelson Fire Departments also responded to the scene. The facility is located at 1401 E. 3rd&nbsp;Street in Superior.

Upon arrival, investigators located one deceased individual and multiple other victims. The reported shooter was also injured. There were no outstanding suspects at the time investigators arrived on scene.

A preliminary investigation has identified the shooter as Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior. Hoskinson’s employment with Agrex had been terminated earlier in the day.

Shortly before 2:00 p.m., Hoskinson returned to Agrex with a handgun and opened fire, striking three individuals. An employee then retrieved a shotgun from an office and returned fire, striking Hoskinson.

One of the victims shot by Hoskinson has been pronounced deceased at the scene. Another has been transported by life-flight to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln with life-threatening injuries. The third victim has been treated and released from the hospital in Superior. Hoskinson was transported to the hospital in Superior and was pronounced deceased.

SUPERIOR, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a man who was fired from a grain elevator returned later in the day and shot three people, killing one, before he was shot to death by another employee. 

The patrol says the shooting happened Thursday afternoon at the Agrex Elevator in Superior. 

A preliminary investigation found that 61-year-old Max Hoskinson, of Superior, was fired Thursday. The patrol says he came back around 2 p.m. and shot three people before an employee retrieved a shotgun and shot Hoskinson, who died at a hospital. One of the people shot by Hoskinson had life-threatening injuries. The other was treated and released at a Superior hospital.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1634854632151.png" alt="The shooting happened Thursday afternoon at the Agrex Elevator in Superior.Photo courtesy KSNB TV" />
 <figcaption>The shooting happened Thursday afternoon at the Agrex Elevator in Superior.Photo courtesy KSNB TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SUPERIOR, Neb. (AP) — A man who had been fired from a grain elevator in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nebraska">Nebraska</a>&nbsp;on Thursday returned with a gun and shot three people, killing one, before he was shot and killed by another employee, the Nebraska State Patrol said.The patrol said the shooting occurred at the Agrex Elevator in Superior, a town in southeast Nebraska near the&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;border.A preliminary investigation showed that Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior, was fired from the grain elevator on Thursday. He returned around 2 p.m. with a handgun and shot three people, the patrol said.Another employee retrieved a shotgun from an office and shot Hoskinson, who was pronounced dead at a hospital, according to the patrol.One of the victims shot by Hoskinson died at the scene. Another was flown to a hospital in Lincoln with injuries considered life-threatening. The third person was treated and released at a hospital in Superior.Police have not released names of the victims.----------&nbsp;NUCKOLL COUNTY, NE. —The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a shooting incident that occurred in Superior Thursday afternoon, according to a media release from the agency.&nbsp;At approximately 2:00 p.m. Thursday, NSP was dispatched to assist the Nuckolls County Sheriff’s Office and Superior Police Department with response to an active shooter incident at the Agrex Elevator in Superior. The Superior and Nelson Fire Departments also responded to the scene. The facility is located at 1401 E. 3rd&nbsp;Street in Superior.Upon arrival, investigators located one deceased individual and multiple other victims. The reported shooter was also injured. There were no outstanding suspects at the time investigators arrived on scene.A preliminary investigation has identified the shooter as Max Hoskinson, 61, of Superior. Hoskinson’s employment with Agrex had been terminated earlier in the day.Shortly before 2:00 p.m., Hoskinson returned to Agrex with a handgun and opened fire, striking three individuals. An employee then retrieved a shotgun from an office and returned fire, striking Hoskinson.One of the victims shot by Hoskinson has been pronounced deceased at the scene. Another has been transported by life-flight to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln with life-threatening injuries. The third victim has been treated and released from the hospital in Superior. Hoskinson was transported to the hospital in Superior and was pronounced deceased.--------------SUPERIOR, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska State Patrol says a man who was fired from a grain elevator returned later in the day and shot three people, killing one, before he was shot to death by another employee. The patrol says the shooting happened Thursday afternoon at the Agrex Elevator in Superior. A preliminary investigation found that 61-year-old Max Hoskinson, of Superior, was fired Thursday. The patrol says he came back around 2 p.m. and shot three people before an employee retrieved a shotgun and shot Hoskinson, who died at a hospital. One of the people shot by Hoskinson had life-threatening injuries. The other was treated and released at a Superior hospital.

Update: Fired grain elevator worker shot 3 people, killing 2

A new text message scam seems so innocent that it’s tempting to reply. But con artists are using phony “wrong number” texts to lure victims into conversation and falling for a scam.

You receive a text that reads something like this: “Hey 
is this John? It’s Amanda. We chatted on Tinder before when I came to 
visit my cousin but we never met irl. I’m back in town if you want to 
meet up this time, are you free?”

If you reply to a text like this, even with a polite, “Sorry, wrong 
number,” the stranger responds anyway, seemingly ignoring your answer. 
Usually, you’ll receive a few compliments and some photos of “Amanda,” 
who appears to be a scantily clad blonde woman. However, as the word 
gets out about this scam, scammers will change up the names, backstory, 
and photos.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579883951052.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BBBA new text message scam seems so innocent that it’s tempting to reply. But con artists are using phony “wrong number” texts to lure victims into conversation and falling for a scam.How the Scam Works You receive a text that reads something like this: “Hey 
is this John? It’s Amanda. We chatted on Tinder before when I came to 
visit my cousin but we never met irl. I’m back in town if you want to 
meet up this time, are you free?”If you reply to a text like this, even with a polite, “Sorry, wrong 
number,” the stranger responds anyway, seemingly ignoring your answer. 
Usually, you’ll receive a few compliments and some photos of “Amanda,” 
who appears to be a scantily clad blonde woman. However, as the word 
gets out about this scam, scammers will change up the names, backstory, 
and photos.If you continue to engage with the stranger, who is really a chat 
bot, it tries to trick you into registering for dating or adult 
websites. Your new “friend” will encourage you to sign up for a specific
 website to see more explicit photos, which may involve offering up your
 credit card number. &nbsp;Considering the dubious nature of this scam, if 
you hand over your credit card information at any point, you could be 
putting yourself at risk for fraudulent charges and identity theft.How to Avoid Chat Bot Scams&nbsp;<ul>
 <li>Ignore texts from strangers. If you receive a text 
from someone you don’t know, simply don’t reply. It’s the safest route. 
If you engage with a scammer, even briefly, they will mark your number 
as active and you could receive even more shady texts in the future. </li><li>Block numbers that appear to come from scammers. 
Unsolicited texts that look like they come from a chat bot or that ask 
you to click on suspicious links are probably not safe. Block these 
numbers to prevent scammers from contacting you through them again. </li><li>Never give your personal information to strangers. 
Never share your credit card or banking information, your full name, 
home address, or social security number with someone you never met in 
person.</li>
 </ul>For More Information Read the <a href="https://www.bbb.org/all/spot-a-scam/how-to-spot-a-phony-text-message" target="_blank">BBB Tip: Spot the red flags of fake text messages</a>. Read more about similar scams, such about <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/25888-bbb-scam-alert-receive-a-text-with-a-surprise-offer-dont-click-that-link" target="_blank">text messages with surprise offers</a> or <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/21903-scam-alert-mandatory-covid-19-test-texts-are-a-scam" target="_blank">mandatory COVID-19 tests</a>.&nbsp;If you’ve been the victim of a text message scam, report it at <a href="http://www.BBB.org/ScamTracker" target="_blank">BBB.org/ScamTracker</a>. Your report can help expose scammers’ tactics so others won’t fall prey.&nbsp;Check out our <a href="https://www.bbb.org/all/spot-a-scam" target="_blank">Spot a Scam</a> page for more ways to keep yourself safe.