KANSAS CITY (AP) —As significant numbers of Americans seek&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-religion-los-angeles-arkansas-3ba53f2f00e1ab7105d7d128f2b1e65d">religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates</a>, many faith leaders are saying: Not with our endorsement.

Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goarch.org/-/holy-eparchial-synod-ccmmunique" target="_blank">said Thursday&nbsp;</a>that while some people may have medical reasons for not receiving the vaccine, “there is no exemption in the Orthodox Church for Her faithful from any vaccination for religious reasons.”

The Holy Eparchial Synod of the nationwide archdiocese, representing the largest share of Eastern Orthodox people in the United States, urged members to “pay heed to competent medical authorities, and to avoid the false narratives utterly unfounded in science.”

“No clergy are to issue such religious exemption letters,” Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros said, and any such letter “is not valid.”

Similarly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America issued a recent statement encouraging vaccine use and saying that “there is no evident basis for religious exemption” in its own or the wider Lutheran tradition.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York laid out its own stance during the summer, saying that any priest issuing an exemption letter would be “acting in contradiction” to statements from Pope Francis that receiving the vaccine is morally acceptable and responsible.

Both the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said Catholics can receive the vaccines in good conscience given the lack of alternatives and the goal of alleviating suffering — even while objecting to research with even a remote connection to abortion.

A number of dioceses have adopted policies similar to New York’s, and bishops in El Paso, Texas, and Lexington, Kentucky, have mandated vaccines for employees.

But other Catholic jurisdictions are more accommodating of exemptions. The Colorado Catholic Conference, the policy arm of the state’s bishops, has posted online a template for a letter that priests can sign saying an individual parishioner may draw on Catholic values to object to the vaccines. South Dakota’s bishops have also taken that stance.

At issue for many Catholics and other abortion opponents is that the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines were tested on fetal cell lines developed over decades in laboratories, though the vaccines themselves do not contain any such material.

The issue is becoming more heated as public- and private-sector employers increasingly impose mandates.

A clerical letter wouldn’t necessarily be needed for someone to be granted an exemption — federal law requires employers make reasonable accommodations for “sincerely held” religious beliefs — though a clergy endorsement could help bolster a person’s claim.

The Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch, said he and his staff “are neither offering nor encouraging members to seek religious exemptions from the vaccine mandates.”

“There is no credible religious argument against the vaccines,” he said via email. “Christians who are troubled by the use of a fetal cell line for the testing of the vaccines would also have to abstain from the use of Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Ibuprofen, and other products that used the same cell line if they are sincere in their objection.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not provide religious exemptions for vaccines for members, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. Leaders of the Utah-based faith have made pleas for members to get vaccinated even as doctrine acknowledges it’s up to individual choice.

The church’s Brigham Young University has asked students to report their vaccination status but is not requiring vaccinations, and the church is also requiring U.S. missionaries serving in foreign countries to be vaccinated.

Some other religious groups, such as the Orthodox Union, an umbrella organization for Orthodox Judaism, and the United Methodist Church, have encouraged people to get vaccines but have not issued policy statements on exemptions.

The Fiqh Council of North America, made up of Islamic scholars, has advised Muslims to receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and to debunk “baseless rumors and myths” about them.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/7/1627688144182.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) —As significant numbers of Americans seek&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-health-religion-los-angeles-arkansas-3ba53f2f00e1ab7105d7d128f2b1e65d">religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates</a>, many faith leaders are saying: Not with our endorsement.Leaders of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America&nbsp;<a href="https://www.goarch.org/-/holy-eparchial-synod-ccmmunique" target="_blank">said Thursday&nbsp;</a>that while some people may have medical reasons for not receiving the vaccine, “there is no exemption in the Orthodox Church for Her faithful from any vaccination for religious reasons.”The Holy Eparchial Synod of the nationwide archdiocese, representing the largest share of Eastern Orthodox people in the United States, urged members to “pay heed to competent medical authorities, and to avoid the false narratives utterly unfounded in science.”“No clergy are to issue such religious exemption letters,” Greek Orthodox Archbishop Elpidophoros said, and any such letter “is not valid.”Similarly, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America issued a recent statement encouraging vaccine use and saying that “there is no evident basis for religious exemption” in its own or the wider Lutheran tradition.The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York laid out its own stance during the summer, saying that any priest issuing an exemption letter would be “acting in contradiction” to statements from Pope Francis that receiving the vaccine is morally acceptable and responsible.Both the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have said Catholics can receive the vaccines in good conscience given the lack of alternatives and the goal of alleviating suffering — even while objecting to research with even a remote connection to abortion.A number of dioceses have adopted policies similar to New York’s, and bishops in El Paso, Texas, and Lexington, Kentucky, have mandated vaccines for employees.But other Catholic jurisdictions are more accommodating of exemptions. The Colorado Catholic Conference, the policy arm of the state’s bishops, has posted online a template for a letter that priests can sign saying an individual parishioner may draw on Catholic values to object to the vaccines. South Dakota’s bishops have also taken that stance.At issue for many Catholics and other abortion opponents is that the most widely used COVID-19 vaccines were tested on fetal cell lines developed over decades in laboratories, though the vaccines themselves do not contain any such material.The issue is becoming more heated as public- and private-sector employers increasingly impose mandates.A clerical letter wouldn’t necessarily be needed for someone to be granted an exemption — federal law requires employers make reasonable accommodations for “sincerely held” religious beliefs — though a clergy endorsement could help bolster a person’s claim.The Rev. Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, a Southern Baptist megachurch, said he and his staff “are neither offering nor encouraging members to seek religious exemptions from the vaccine mandates.”“There is no credible religious argument against the vaccines,” he said via email. “Christians who are troubled by the use of a fetal cell line for the testing of the vaccines would also have to abstain from the use of Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, Ibuprofen, and other products that used the same cell line if they are sincere in their objection.”The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not provide religious exemptions for vaccines for members, according to church spokesman Eric Hawkins. Leaders of the Utah-based faith have made pleas for members to get vaccinated even as doctrine acknowledges it’s up to individual choice.The church’s Brigham Young University has asked students to report their vaccination status but is not requiring vaccinations, and the church is also requiring U.S. missionaries serving in foreign countries to be vaccinated.Some other religious groups, such as the Orthodox Union, an umbrella organization for Orthodox Judaism, and the United Methodist Church, have encouraged people to get vaccines but have not issued policy statements on exemptions.The Fiqh Council of North America, made up of Islamic scholars, has advised Muslims to receive the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and to debunk “baseless rumors and myths” about them.

Many faith leaders say no to endorsing vaccine exemptions

Everyone loves a deal – including scammers. Con artists often offer <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/24206-bbb-scam-alert-when-booking-a-rental-car-watch-out-for-phony-deals" target="_blank">too good to be true discounts</a> in the hope that price-conscious consumers will jump on these “deals” without doing their research. Recently, <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a> has seen numerous reports of scammers impersonating well-known companies and offering COVID-19 themed discounts. &nbsp;

You receive a text message from a large, reputable company. The 
message claims that, due to the pandemic, the company would like to help
 people out by offering them an amazing deal. These range from free or 
discounted services to gift cards and cash.

For example, consumers reported receiving the following text messages using this ploy:

Of course, these messages don’t really originate with that company. 
They come from impersonators who hope to steal your personal 
information. If you click the link, you may be prompted to log into a 
lookalike website that scammers use to get hold of your login ID and 
password. With that information, scammers can access your accounts and 
even make purchases using your saved payment methods.

While the latest <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a>
 reports mention Hulu, Netflix, and Verizon, watch out for scammers 
impersonating other companies too. If one name stops being effective, 
they’ll quickly switch to another company.

Learn more about this kind of scam by reading the BBB Tip on <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/16758-bbb-tip-phishing-scams" target="_blank">phishing scams</a>. Read about a similar con that offers you <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/20913-scam-alert-great-deal-on-your-cable-could-be-a-trick" target="_blank">a discount on your utility bills</a>.

If you’ve been the victim of a similar scam, report it to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbb.org/ScamTracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a>. Your first-hand experience can help other consumers recognize scammers’ tactics before it’s too late.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632077748908.jpeg" alt="Pixabay image" />
 <figcaption>Pixabay image</figcaption>
 </figure>BBBEveryone loves a deal – including scammers. Con artists often offer <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/24206-bbb-scam-alert-when-booking-a-rental-car-watch-out-for-phony-deals" target="_blank">too good to be true discounts</a> in the hope that price-conscious consumers will jump on these “deals” without doing their research. Recently, <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a> has seen numerous reports of scammers impersonating well-known companies and offering COVID-19 themed discounts. &nbsp;<h2>How the Scam Works</h2>You receive a text message from a large, reputable company. The 
message claims that, due to the pandemic, the company would like to help
 people out by offering them an amazing deal. These range from free or 
discounted services to gift cards and cash.For example, consumers reported receiving the following text messages using this ploy:<ul>
 <li>“COVID-19 REFUND. VERIZON COMPANY is giving out $950 to all users of our Verizon service, If yes kindly text your Verizon”</li><li>“Due to the pandemic, Hulu is giving everyone a free 1-year subscription to help you stay at home. Get yours here [link].”</li>
 </ul>Of course, these messages don’t really originate with that company. 
They come from impersonators who hope to steal your personal 
information. If you click the link, you may be prompted to log into a 
lookalike website that scammers use to get hold of your login ID and 
password. With that information, scammers can access your accounts and 
even make purchases using your saved payment methods.While the latest <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a>
 reports mention Hulu, Netflix, and Verizon, watch out for scammers 
impersonating other companies too. If one name stops being effective, 
they’ll quickly switch to another company.<h2>How to avoid Text Message Scams</h2><ul>
 <li>Treat messages from unknown senders with caution. If
 you receive a message from a number you don’t recognize, be careful. 
Many companies engage in SMS marketing, but keep in mind that consumers 
must opt in to receive messages. If you haven’t given a company 
permission to text you, it’s probably a scam. </li><li>Don’t click on links from strangers. Scammers often
 send shortened links that don’t let you see where they really lead in 
the body of their text message. If you click the link, you could be 
directed to a dangerous website, or you could download malware onto your
 device. </li><li>Confirm deals directly with the company before you accept.
 If you are really hoping the deal is legitimate, go to the company’s 
official website and send them an email, or call to inquire. The company
 can let you know if the deal is real or not. </li><li>Install antivirus software on your computer and mobile devices.
 This kind of scam can come from text messages or emails, so make sure 
all your electronics are protected. Antivirus software can scan for 
malware and alert you before you open a malicious website link. </li>
 </ul><h2>For More Information</h2>Learn more about this kind of scam by reading the BBB Tip on <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/16758-bbb-tip-phishing-scams" target="_blank">phishing scams</a>. Read about a similar con that offers you <a href="https://www.bbb.org/article/news-releases/20913-scam-alert-great-deal-on-your-cable-could-be-a-trick" target="_blank">a discount on your utility bills</a>.If you’ve been the victim of a similar scam, report it to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbb.org/ScamTracker" target="_blank">BBB Scam Tracker</a>. Your first-hand experience can help other consumers recognize scammers’ tactics before it’s too late.

Received a text with a surprising pandemic offer? Don’t click that link!

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman has been killed in a head-on crash southeast of Lincoln.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that the crash happened around 9 p.m. Friday when a car crossed the center line of Nebraska Highway 2 and struck a minivan. 

The Omaha World-Herald reports that 55-year-old Kimberly Haes was driving the car and was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The four people in the minivan were taken to the hospital with injuries that weren’t expected to be life-threatening.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632016989688.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a woman has been killed in a head-on crash southeast of Lincoln.The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that the crash happened around 9 p.m. Friday when a car crossed the center line of Nebraska Highway 2 and struck a minivan. The Omaha World-Herald reports that 55-year-old Kimberly Haes was driving the car and was pronounced dead at the scene. The four people in the minivan were taken to the hospital with injuries that weren’t expected to be life-threatening.

Crash near Lincoln leaves 1 woman dead, authorities say

By LAURA OLSON <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/09/15/putting-on-pandemic-pounds-state-obesity-rates-hit-all-time-highs/">Kansas Reflector</a>

WASHINGTON — The number of states with high obesity among residents has nearly doubled since 2018, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html">new data</a> Wednesday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were 16 states that had obesity
 rates among adult residents of at least 35% last year, with Iowa, Ohio,
 Delaware and Texas on that list for the first time. That’s an increase 
from 12 states in 2019 and nine states in 2018.

Officials with the Association of 
State and Territorial Health Officials described the obesity rates as 
having hit all-time highs, and that they signal how the COVID-19 
pandemic exacerbated the decades-long pattern of obesity in the United 
States.

“Our attention on COVID-19 diverted 
us from focusing on chronic disease prevention, which we need to get 
back to,” said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer at the association.
 “We must get back on track to assure that we have the policies, systems
 and environments in place to support equitable access to physical 
activity opportunities and nutrition security for all.”

As recently as 2012, no state had an adult obesity rate above 35%, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2021/">according to the Trust for America’s Health</a>, a D.C.-based health policy organization.&nbsp;

Last year, more than 20% of adults in every state were obese, according to the CDC.

Mississippi had the highest rate nationally, at 39.7%. The rate in Kansas is 35.3%.

Others that ranked high were Alabama,
 Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Colorado had the lowest obesity rate, at 24.2%.&nbsp;

Others in the lowest tier — between 20% and 25% — were Hawaii, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.

The obesity rates are based on 
self-reported height and weight data gathered through telephone surveys 
on health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of 
preventive services.

Analyzing obesity rates from 2018 to 2020, federal health researchers identified racial, educational and regional trends.

No state had an obesity prevalence at
 or above 35% among Asian residents, seven had high obesity rates among 
white residents, 22 had high rates among Hispanic residents, and 35 
states had obesity rates at or above 35% among Black residents.&nbsp;

Among adults without a high school degree, obesity rates were 38.8%, while it was 25% among college graduates.

The Midwest and South had the highest levels of obesity among residents, at 34.1% in each region.&nbsp;

Western states had a rate of 29%, with 28% among residents in the Northeast.

Laura covers the nation's capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, a network of nonprofit outlets that includes Kansas Reflector.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631800950996.png" alt="Carrots are an excellent source of Vitamin A, which is necessary for healthy eyesight, skin, growth, and also aids our bodies in resisting infection. Carrots are also a good source of potassium. Carrots have a higher natural sugar content than all other vegetables with the exception of beets. This is why they make a wonderful snack when eaten raw, and make a tasty addition to a variety of cooked dishes. (Mary Anne Fenley/CDC)" />
 <figcaption>Carrots are an excellent source of Vitamin A, which is necessary for healthy eyesight, skin, growth, and also aids our bodies in resisting infection. Carrots are also a good source of potassium. Carrots have a higher natural sugar content than all other vegetables with the exception of beets. This is why they make a wonderful snack when eaten raw, and make a tasty addition to a variety of cooked dishes. (Mary Anne Fenley/CDC)</figcaption>
 </figure>By LAURA OLSON <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/09/15/putting-on-pandemic-pounds-state-obesity-rates-hit-all-time-highs/">Kansas Reflector</a>WASHINGTON — The number of states with high obesity among residents has nearly doubled since 2018, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/prevalence-maps.html">new data</a> Wednesday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.There were 16 states that had obesity
 rates among adult residents of at least 35% last year, with Iowa, Ohio,
 Delaware and Texas on that list for the first time. That’s an increase 
from 12 states in 2019 and nine states in 2018.Officials with the Association of 
State and Territorial Health Officials described the obesity rates as 
having hit all-time highs, and that they signal how the COVID-19 
pandemic exacerbated the decades-long pattern of obesity in the United 
States.“Our attention on COVID-19 diverted 
us from focusing on chronic disease prevention, which we need to get 
back to,” said Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer at the association.
 “We must get back on track to assure that we have the policies, systems
 and environments in place to support equitable access to physical 
activity opportunities and nutrition security for all.”As recently as 2012, no state had an adult obesity rate above 35%, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tfah.org/report-details/state-of-obesity-2021/">according to the Trust for America’s Health</a>, a D.C.-based health policy organization.&nbsp;Last year, more than 20% of adults in every state were obese, according to the CDC.Mississippi had the highest rate nationally, at 39.7%. The rate in Kansas is 35.3%.Others that ranked high were Alabama,
 Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Oklahoma, South 
Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.Colorado had the lowest obesity rate, at 24.2%.&nbsp;Others in the lowest tier — between 20% and 25% — were Hawaii, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia.The obesity rates are based on 
self-reported height and weight data gathered through telephone surveys 
on health-related risk behaviors, chronic health conditions, and use of 
preventive services.Analyzing obesity rates from 2018 to 2020, federal health researchers identified racial, educational and regional trends.No state had an obesity prevalence at
 or above 35% among Asian residents, seven had high obesity rates among 
white residents, 22 had high rates among Hispanic residents, and 35 
states had obesity rates at or above 35% among Black residents.&nbsp;Among adults without a high school degree, obesity rates were 38.8%, while it was 25% among college graduates.The Midwest and South had the highest levels of obesity among residents, at 34.1% in each region.&nbsp;Western states had a rate of 29%, with 28% among residents in the Northeast.Laura covers the nation's capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom, a network of nonprofit outlets that includes Kansas Reflector.&nbsp;

Pandemic pounds: State obesity rates hit all-time highs

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha Marine killed last month in Afghanistan was remembered as a hero who died while trying to help others. 

The Rev. Suzanne Howe spoke of Bible scriptures during the funeral Friday for Marine Cpl. Daegan Page. 

He was one of 13 U.S. service members killed Aug. 26 in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. 

Howe said Jesus stood in the breach between good and evil, and that Page was killed as he “stood in that breach for as many of his fellow human beings as he could.” 

After the service, Page’s remains were taken to Omaha National Cemetery for burial. Page was born in Omaha. He lived in Red Oak, Iowa, before moving with his family to Omaha. He enlisted in the Marines in 2017.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631964625999.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha Marine killed last month in Afghanistan was remembered as a hero who died while trying to help others. The Rev. Suzanne Howe spoke of Bible scriptures during the funeral Friday for Marine Cpl. Daegan Page. He was one of 13 U.S. service members killed Aug. 26 in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport. Howe said Jesus stood in the breach between good and evil, and that Page was killed as he “stood in that breach for as many of his fellow human beings as he could.” After the service, Page’s remains were taken to Omaha National Cemetery for burial. Page was born in Omaha. He lived in Red Oak, Iowa, before moving with his family to Omaha. He enlisted in the Marines in 2017.

Omaha Marine recalled as hero who died while helping others

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.

“The strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.

McKenzie apologized for the error and said the United States is considering making reparation payments to the family of the victims. He said the decision to strike a white Toyota Corolla sedan, after having tracked it for about eight hours, was made in an “earnest belief” — based on a standard of “reasonable certainty” — that it posed an imminent threat to American forces at Kabul airport. The car was believed to have been carrying explosives in its trunk, he said.

For days after the Aug. 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite 10 civilians being killed, including seven children. News organizations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.

The airstrike was the last of a U.S. war that ended as it had begun in 2001 — with the Taliban in power in Kabul. The speed with which the Taliban overran the country took the U.S. government by surprise and forced it to send several thousand troops to the Kabul airport for a hurried evacuation of Americans, Afghans and others. The evacuation, which began Aug. 14, unfolded under a near-constant threat of attack by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.

McKenzie, who oversaw U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, including a final evacuation of U.S. forces and more than 120,000 civilians from Kabul airport, expressed his condolences to the family and friends of those killed.

“I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike,” McKenzie said. “Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces,” he added, referring to the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.

Prior to the strike, U.S. intelligence had indicated a likelihood that a white Toyota Corolla would be used in an attack against U.S. forces, McKenzie said. On the morning of Aug. 29, such a vehicle was detected at a compound in Kabul that U.S. intelligence in the preceding 48 hours had determined was used by the Islamic State group to plan and facilitate attacks. The vehicle was tracked by U.S. drone aircraft from that compound to numerous other locations in the city before the decision was made to attack it at a point just a couple of miles from Kabul airport, McKenzie said.

“Clearly our intelligence was wrong on this particular white Toyota Corolla,” he said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a written statement, apologized for what he called “a horrible mistake.”

“We now know that there was no connection” between the driver of the vehicle and the Islamic State group, and that the driver’s activities that day were “completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced,” Austin said.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters two days after the attack that it appeared to have been a “righteous” strike and that at least one of the people killed was a “facilitator” for the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, which had killed 169 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.

After McKenzie’s remarks on Friday, Milley expressed regret.

“This is a horrible tragedy of war and it’s heart wrenching,” Milley told reporters traveling with him in Europe. “We are committed to being fully transparent about this incident.”

“In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed,” Milley added.

Accounts from the family of the victims, documents from colleagues seen by The Associated Press, and the scene at the family home — where Zemerai Ahmadi’s car was struck by a Hellfire missile just as he pulled into the driveway — all painted a picture of a family that had worked for Americans and were trying to gain visas to the United States, fearing for their lives under the Taliban.

The family said that when the 37-year-old Zemerai, alone in his car, pulled up to the house, he honked his horn. His 11-year-old son ran out and Zemerai let the boy get in and drive the car into the driveway. The other kids ran out to watch, and the Hellfire missile incinerated the car, killing seven children and an adult son and nephew of Zemerai.

Amnesty International, the humanitarian aid group, called the U.S. military’s admission of a mistake a good first step.

“The U.S. must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident,” said Brian Castner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International. “Anyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial. Survivors and families of the victims should be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and be given full reparation.”

Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said a fuller explanation must be provided.

“We need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” he said. “I am also concerned about the accuracy and completeness of public statements made in the immediate aftermath of the strike, and whether those accounted for all of the information possessed by the government at the time.”

--------WHAT the U.S. military originally reported

WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden's promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the U.S. military said it killed two members of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate with a drone strike in the group's eastern stronghold.

The attack Saturday local time came amid what the White House called indications that IS planned to strike again as the U.S.-led evacuation from Kabul airport moved into its final days. Biden has set Tuesday as his deadline for completing the exit.

Biden authorized the drone strike and it was ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet publicly announced. It was not immediately clear whether the targeted IS members were directly involved in Thursday's airport attack. The U.S. military initially said one person was killed.

“It was a single mission to get these targets and as the assessments and information flowed over time, we were able to recognize that another was killed as well and one wounded,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a Defense Department briefing Saturday.

"They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators and that’s enough reason there alone. I won’t speak to the details of these individuals and what their specific roles might be," Kirby said. He added: "We have the ability and the means to carry over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we’re going to defend ourselves.’’

He declined to identify those killed but said the United States knew who they were.

The airstrike was launched from beyond Afghanistan less than 48 hours after the devastating Kabul attack that killed 13 Americans and 169 Afghans with just days left in a final U.S. withdrawal after 20 years of war. U.S. Central Command said it believed its strike killed no civilians.

The speed with which the U.S. military retaliated reflected its close monitoring of IS and years of experience in targeting extremists in remote parts of the world. But it also shows the limits of U.S. power to eliminate extremist threats, which some believe will have more freedom of movement in Afghanistan now that the Taliban is in power.

The airstrike came after Biden declared Thursday that perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president ordered.

The president was warned Friday to expect another lethal attack in the closing days of a frantic U.S.-led evacuation. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden's national security team offered a grim outlook.

"They advised the president and vice president that another terror attack in Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul airport,” Psaki said, echoing what the Pentagon has been saying since the bombing Thursday at Kabul airport.

Late Friday, the State Department again urged Americans to stay away from airport gates, including “the New Ministry of Interior gate.”

Few new details about the airport attack emerged a day later, but the Pentagon corrected its initial report that there had been suicide bombings at two locations. It said there was just one — at or near the Abbey Gate — followed by gunfire. The initial report of a second bombing at the nearby Baron Hotel proved to be false, said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon's Joint Staff; he attributed the mistake to initial confusion.

Based on a preliminary assessment, U.S. officials believe the suicide vest used in the attack, which killed at least 169 Afghans in addition to the 13 Americans, carried about 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel, a U.S. official said Friday. A suicide bomb typically carries five to 10 pounds of explosives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary assessments of the bombing.

Biden still faces the problem over the longer term of containing an array of potential extremist threats based in Afghanistan, which will be harder with fewer U.S. intelligence assets and no military presence in the nation.

In an Oval Office appearance Friday, Biden again expressed his condolences to victims of the attack. The return home of U.S. military members' remains in coming days will provide painful and poignant reminders not just of the devastation at the Kabul airport but also of the costly way the war is ending. More than 2,400 U.S. service members died in the war and tens of thousands were injured over the past two decades.

The Marine Corps said 11 of the 13 Americans killed were Marines. One was a Navy sailor and one an Army soldier. Their names have not been released pending notification of their families, but the Pentagon said Saturday they would be released soon.

Still, sorrowful details of those killed were starting to emerge. One Marine from Wyoming was on his first tour in Afghanistan and his wife is expecting a baby in three weeks; another was a 20-year-old man from Missouri whose father was devastated by the loss. A third, a 20-year-old from Texas, had joined the armed services out of high school.

Biden ordered U.S. flags to half-staff across the country in honor of the 13.

They were the first U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan since February 2020, the month the Trump administration struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for the militant group to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for a U.S. agreement to remove all American troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced in April that he would have all forces out by September.

Psaki said the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and others, including vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, “will be the most dangerous period to date.”

The Pentagon said Saturday morning that about 6,800 people were airlifted from Kabul on U.S. and coalition aircraft in the past 24 hours, and about 117,000 people have been airlifted over the last two weeks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">LIVE: <a href="https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PentagonPresSec</a> John F. Kirby and <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CENTCOM</a> commander, Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., hold a news briefing at the Pentagon. <a href="https://t.co/qSwXqCVfoo">https://t.co/qSwXqCVfoo</a>&mdash; Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/1438941219757846530?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 17, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The strike was a tragic mistake,” Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.McKenzie apologized for the error and said the United States is considering making reparation payments to the family of the victims. He said the decision to strike a white Toyota Corolla sedan, after having tracked it for about eight hours, was made in an “earnest belief” — based on a standard of “reasonable certainty” — that it posed an imminent threat to American forces at Kabul airport. The car was believed to have been carrying explosives in its trunk, he said.For days after the Aug. 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite 10 civilians being killed, including seven children. News organizations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon’s assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.The airstrike was the last of a U.S. war that ended as it had begun in 2001 — with the Taliban in power in Kabul. The speed with which the Taliban overran the country took the U.S. government by surprise and forced it to send several thousand troops to the Kabul airport for a hurried evacuation of Americans, Afghans and others. The evacuation, which began Aug. 14, unfolded under a near-constant threat of attack by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.McKenzie, who oversaw U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, including a final evacuation of U.S. forces and more than 120,000 civilians from Kabul airport, expressed his condolences to the family and friends of those killed.“I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike,” McKenzie said. “Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K or were a direct threat to U.S. forces,” he added, referring to the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.Prior to the strike, U.S. intelligence had indicated a likelihood that a white Toyota Corolla would be used in an attack against U.S. forces, McKenzie said. On the morning of Aug. 29, such a vehicle was detected at a compound in Kabul that U.S. intelligence in the preceding 48 hours had determined was used by the Islamic State group to plan and facilitate attacks. The vehicle was tracked by U.S. drone aircraft from that compound to numerous other locations in the city before the decision was made to attack it at a point just a couple of miles from Kabul airport, McKenzie said.“Clearly our intelligence was wrong on this particular white Toyota Corolla,” he said.Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a written statement, apologized for what he called “a horrible mistake.”“We now know that there was no connection” between the driver of the vehicle and the Islamic State group, and that the driver’s activities that day were “completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced,” Austin said.Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters two days after the attack that it appeared to have been a “righteous” strike and that at least one of the people killed was a “facilitator” for the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, which had killed 169 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.After McKenzie’s remarks on Friday, Milley expressed regret.“This is a horrible tragedy of war and it’s heart wrenching,” Milley told reporters traveling with him in Europe. “We are committed to being fully transparent about this incident.”“In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed,” Milley added.Accounts from the family of the victims, documents from colleagues seen by The Associated Press, and the scene at the family home — where Zemerai Ahmadi’s car was struck by a Hellfire missile just as he pulled into the driveway — all painted a picture of a family that had worked for Americans and were trying to gain visas to the United States, fearing for their lives under the Taliban.The family said that when the 37-year-old Zemerai, alone in his car, pulled up to the house, he honked his horn. His 11-year-old son ran out and Zemerai let the boy get in and drive the car into the driveway. The other kids ran out to watch, and the Hellfire missile incinerated the car, killing seven children and an adult son and nephew of Zemerai.Amnesty International, the humanitarian aid group, called the U.S. military’s admission of a mistake a good first step.“The U.S. must now commit to a full, transparent, and impartial investigation into this incident,” said Brian Castner, a senior crisis adviser with Amnesty International. “Anyone suspected of criminal responsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial. Survivors and families of the victims should be kept informed of the progress of the investigation and be given full reparation.”Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said a fuller explanation must be provided.“We need to know what went wrong in the hours and minutes leading up to the strike to prevent similar tragedies in the future,” he said. “I am also concerned about the accuracy and completeness of public statements made in the immediate aftermath of the strike, and whether those accounted for all of the information possessed by the government at the time.”--------WHAT the U.S. military originally reportedWASHINGTON (AP) — Acting swiftly on President Joe Biden's promise to retaliate for the deadly suicide bombing at Kabul airport, the U.S. military said it killed two members of the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate with a drone strike in the group's eastern stronghold.The attack Saturday local time came amid what the White House called indications that IS planned to strike again as the U.S.-led evacuation from Kabul airport moved into its final days. Biden has set Tuesday as his deadline for completing the exit.Biden authorized the drone strike and it was ordered by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet publicly announced. It was not immediately clear whether the targeted IS members were directly involved in Thursday's airport attack. The U.S. military initially said one person was killed.“It was a single mission to get these targets and as the assessments and information flowed over time, we were able to recognize that another was killed as well and one wounded,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a Defense Department briefing Saturday."They were ISIS-K planners and facilitators and that’s enough reason there alone. I won’t speak to the details of these individuals and what their specific roles might be," Kirby said. He added: "We have the ability and the means to carry over the horizon counterterrorism capabilities and we’re going to defend ourselves.’’He declined to identify those killed but said the United States knew who they were.The airstrike was launched from beyond Afghanistan less than 48 hours after the devastating Kabul attack that killed 13 Americans and 169 Afghans with just days left in a final U.S. withdrawal after 20 years of war. U.S. Central Command said it believed its strike killed no civilians.The speed with which the U.S. military retaliated reflected its close monitoring of IS and years of experience in targeting extremists in remote parts of the world. But it also shows the limits of U.S. power to eliminate extremist threats, which some believe will have more freedom of movement in Afghanistan now that the Taliban is in power.The airstrike came after Biden declared Thursday that perpetrators of the attack would not be able to hide. “We will hunt you down and make you pay,” he said. Pentagon leaders told reporters Friday that they were prepared for whatever retaliatory action the president ordered.The president was warned Friday to expect another lethal attack in the closing days of a frantic U.S.-led evacuation. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden's national security team offered a grim outlook."They advised the president and vice president that another terror attack in Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul airport,” Psaki said, echoing what the Pentagon has been saying since the bombing Thursday at Kabul airport.Late Friday, the State Department again urged Americans to stay away from airport gates, including “the New Ministry of Interior gate.”Few new details about the airport attack emerged a day later, but the Pentagon corrected its initial report that there had been suicide bombings at two locations. It said there was just one — at or near the Abbey Gate — followed by gunfire. The initial report of a second bombing at the nearby Baron Hotel proved to be false, said Maj. Gen. Hank Taylor of the Pentagon's Joint Staff; he attributed the mistake to initial confusion.Based on a preliminary assessment, U.S. officials believe the suicide vest used in the attack, which killed at least 169 Afghans in addition to the 13 Americans, carried about 25 pounds of explosives and was loaded with shrapnel, a U.S. official said Friday. A suicide bomb typically carries five to 10 pounds of explosives, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss preliminary assessments of the bombing.Biden still faces the problem over the longer term of containing an array of potential extremist threats based in Afghanistan, which will be harder with fewer U.S. intelligence assets and no military presence in the nation.In an Oval Office appearance Friday, Biden again expressed his condolences to victims of the attack. The return home of U.S. military members' remains in coming days will provide painful and poignant reminders not just of the devastation at the Kabul airport but also of the costly way the war is ending. More than 2,400 U.S. service members died in the war and tens of thousands were injured over the past two decades.The Marine Corps said 11 of the 13 Americans killed were Marines. One was a Navy sailor and one an Army soldier. Their names have not been released pending notification of their families, but the Pentagon said Saturday they would be released soon.Still, sorrowful details of those killed were starting to emerge. One Marine from Wyoming was on his first tour in Afghanistan and his wife is expecting a baby in three weeks; another was a 20-year-old man from Missouri whose father was devastated by the loss. A third, a 20-year-old from Texas, had joined the armed services out of high school.Biden ordered U.S. flags to half-staff across the country in honor of the 13.They were the first U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan since February 2020, the month the Trump administration struck an agreement with the Taliban that called for the militant group to halt attacks on Americans in exchange for a U.S. agreement to remove all American troops and contractors by May 2021. Biden announced in April that he would have all forces out by September.Psaki said the next few days of the mission to evacuate Americans and others, including vulnerable Afghans fleeing Taliban rule, “will be the most dangerous period to date.”The Pentagon said Saturday morning that about 6,800 people were airlifted from Kabul on U.S. and coalition aircraft in the past 24 hours, and about 117,000 people have been airlifted over the last two weeks.___

Tragic mistake: U.S. airstrike killed 7 children, no terrorists

WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential federal advisory panel has overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans, but it approved the extra doses for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease. 

The twin votes Friday represented a heavy blow to the Biden administration’s sweeping effort to shore up nearly all Americans’ protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. The decision was made by a committee of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential federal advisory panel has rejected a plan to offer Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans. The vote Friday, 16-2, was a blow to the Biden administration's plan to shore up people's protection against the virus amid the highly contagious delta variant.

Over several hours of discussion, members of the Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on safety of extra doses. And they complained that data provided by Israeli researchers about their booster campaign might not be suitable for predicting the U.S. experience.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s embattled plan to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to most Americans faced its first major hurdle Friday as a government advisory panel met to decide whether to endorse extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

Scientists inside and outside the government have been divided in recent days over the need for boosters and who should get them, and the World Health Organization has strongly objected to rich nations giving a third round of shots when poor countries don’t have enough vaccine for their first.

The panel, made up of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration, weighed a less than clear-cut case: While research suggests immunity levels in those who have been vaccinated wane over time and boosters can reverse that, the Pfizer vaccine is still highly protective against severe illness and death, even amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

The FDA experts were scheduled to vote on one basic question: Does the evidence show that a Pfizer booster would be safe and effective for people 16 and older? In the event of a yes vote, the FDA is expected to quickly approve boosters for Pfizer’s shot.

But that is just one step in the process. The more thorny question of who should get the shots and when will be debated next week by advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC generally adopts the recommendations of the group, which sets policy for U.S. vaccination campaigns.

Some group members have made clear they favor giving third doses to older people, nursing home residents and front-line health care workers, rather than all adults.

Separate FDA and CDC decisions will be needed in order for people who received the Moderna or J&amp;J shots to get boosters.

Friday’s meeting came as the delta variant continues to drive U.S. cases and deaths back to levels not seen since last winter. That has given urgency to efforts by top health officials to shore up Americans’ protection against the virus.

Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine regulator, acknowledged the intense disagreements in opening remarks to the advisory panel.

“We know there may be differing opinions in interpreting the data,” he said. “We strongly encourage all the different viewpoints to be voiced and discussed regarding the data, which is complex and evolving.”

President Joe Biden’s top health advisers, including the heads of the FDA and CDC, first announced plans for widespread booster shots a month ago, targeting the week of Sept. 20 as an all-but-certain start date. It said boosters would be dispensed eight months after the second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

But that was before FDA staff scientists had completed their own assessments of the data. Some experts questioned whether Biden was breaking his own pledge to “follow the science” on COVID-19 by getting out ahead of government scientists.

Earlier this week, two top FDA vaccine reviewers joined a group of international scientists in publishing an editorial rejecting the need for boosters in healthy people. The scientists said continuing studies show the shots are working well despite the delta variant.

The editorial came two weeks after the two reviewers announced plans to retire from the FDA. One of them, Dr. Marian Gruber, addressed the American people directly in her opening remarks Friday but gave no reason for her retirement.

“All my actions and decisions over my 32-year FDA career have been grounded in science with you in mind and in the best interest of your health and safety,” Gruber said.

The Biden booster plan has raised major ethical concerns, given the dire shortages of vaccine in impoverished parts of the world. But the administration has argued that the plan is not an us-or-them choice and noted that the U.S. is supplying large quantities of vaccine to the rest of the globe.

The U.S. has already approved Pfizer and Moderna boosters for certain people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. And some Americans, healthy or not, have managed to get boosters on the sly by going to clinics and pretending they have yet to get their initial shots.

Pfizer was expected Friday to present data suggesting immunity from its vaccine begins to wane somewhere around six to eight months after the second dose.

The panel was also set to hear from Israeli health officials, who began offering boosters over the summer. Officials there tracked about 1 million people 60 and older and found that those who got the extra shot were far less likely to become infected soon afterward.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608677701818.png" alt="A worker prepares doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19 -photo courtesy Truman Medical Center" />
 <figcaption>A worker prepares doses of Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19 -photo courtesy Truman Medical Center</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential federal advisory panel has overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans, but it approved the extra doses for those who are 65 or older or run a high risk of severe disease. <div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bQevYc2jX7Y" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The twin votes Friday represented a heavy blow to the Biden administration’s sweeping effort to shore up nearly all Americans’ protection amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. The decision was made by a committee of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration.-------------WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential federal advisory panel has rejected a plan to offer Pfizer booster shots against COVID-19 to most Americans. The vote Friday, 16-2, was a blow to the Biden administration's plan to shore up people's protection against the virus amid the highly contagious delta variant.Over several hours of discussion, members of the Food and Drug Administration panel of outside experts voiced frustration that Pfizer had provided little data on safety of extra doses. And they complained that data provided by Israeli researchers about their booster campaign might not be suitable for predicting the U.S. experience.----------WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s embattled plan to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to most Americans faced its first major hurdle Friday as a government advisory panel met to decide whether to endorse extra doses of the Pfizer vaccine.Scientists inside and outside the government have been divided in recent days over the need for boosters and who should get them, and the World Health Organization has strongly objected to rich nations giving a third round of shots when poor countries don’t have enough vaccine for their first.The panel, made up of outside experts who advise the Food and Drug Administration, weighed a less than clear-cut case: While research suggests immunity levels in those who have been vaccinated wane over time and boosters can reverse that, the Pfizer vaccine is still highly protective against severe illness and death, even amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.The FDA experts were scheduled to vote on one basic question: Does the evidence show that a Pfizer booster would be safe and effective for people 16 and older? In the event of a yes vote, the FDA is expected to quickly approve boosters for Pfizer’s shot.But that is just one step in the process. The more thorny question of who should get the shots and when will be debated next week by advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC generally adopts the recommendations of the group, which sets policy for U.S. vaccination campaigns.Some group members have made clear they favor giving third doses to older people, nursing home residents and front-line health care workers, rather than all adults.Separate FDA and CDC decisions will be needed in order for people who received the Moderna or J&amp;J shots to get boosters.Friday’s meeting came as the delta variant continues to drive U.S. cases and deaths back to levels not seen since last winter. That has given urgency to efforts by top health officials to shore up Americans’ protection against the virus.Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine regulator, acknowledged the intense disagreements in opening remarks to the advisory panel.“We know there may be differing opinions in interpreting the data,” he said. “We strongly encourage all the different viewpoints to be voiced and discussed regarding the data, which is complex and evolving.”President Joe Biden’s top health advisers, including the heads of the FDA and CDC, first announced plans for widespread booster shots a month ago, targeting the week of Sept. 20 as an all-but-certain start date. It said boosters would be dispensed eight months after the second dose of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.But that was before FDA staff scientists had completed their own assessments of the data. Some experts questioned whether Biden was breaking his own pledge to “follow the science” on COVID-19 by getting out ahead of government scientists.Earlier this week, two top FDA vaccine reviewers joined a group of international scientists in publishing an editorial rejecting the need for boosters in healthy people. The scientists said continuing studies show the shots are working well despite the delta variant.The editorial came two weeks after the two reviewers announced plans to retire from the FDA. One of them, Dr. Marian Gruber, addressed the American people directly in her opening remarks Friday but gave no reason for her retirement.“All my actions and decisions over my 32-year FDA career have been grounded in science with you in mind and in the best interest of your health and safety,” Gruber said.The Biden booster plan has raised major ethical concerns, given the dire shortages of vaccine in impoverished parts of the world. But the administration has argued that the plan is not an us-or-them choice and noted that the U.S. is supplying large quantities of vaccine to the rest of the globe.The U.S. has already approved Pfizer and Moderna boosters for certain people with weakened immune systems, such as cancer patients and transplant recipients. And some Americans, healthy or not, have managed to get boosters on the sly by going to clinics and pretending they have yet to get their initial shots.Pfizer was expected Friday to present data suggesting immunity from its vaccine begins to wane somewhere around six to eight months after the second dose.The panel was also set to hear from Israeli health officials, who began offering boosters over the summer. Officials there tracked about 1 million people 60 and older and found that those who got the extra shot were far less likely to become infected soon afterward.

🎥  FDA rejects Pfizer booster shots for general public

WASHINGTON (AP) — The architect of a Washington protest planned for Saturday that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-d2fb23af3f01387412a1a00b4eac531c">aims to rewrite history about the violent January assault&nbsp;</a>on the U.S. Capitol is hardly a household name.

Matt Braynard worked as an analyst for the Republican Party, crunched data for a small election firm and later started a consulting business that attracted few federal clients, records show. He started a nonprofit after he was dismissed by Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign following several months on the job, but struggled to raise money. The group’s tax-exempt status was revoked last year.

But Braynard’s fortunes changed abruptly after Trump’s 2020 election loss. He joined an aggrieved group of Trump allies seeking to overturn the election — and in the process reaped recognition, lucrative fees and a fundraising windfall that enabled him to rekindle his nonprofit.

Now, Braynard and his group, Look Ahead America, are using his newfound platform and resources to present an alternate history of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6 attack that was meant to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory</a>, rebranding those who were charged as “political prisoners.”

Although many members of Congress, including those who are allied with Braynard’s cause, have been mum on whether they will attend Saturday’s protest, the event has put law enforcement on edge,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-a88ed1eb0525a50bf2fa5b047c56ec56">led to stepped-up security measures</a>&nbsp;and created worries that members of the same extremist groups that were present on Jan 6. could also be in attendance.

How much of a draw his “Justice for J6” rally ends up being will test the reach and potency of the emerging far-right movement, as well as the extent of Braynard’s own reach.

Braynard, who is in his 40s, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The Associated Press earlier declined to accept his condition that an interview of him be broadcast live.

But a review of court records, campaign finance disclosures and social media postings, as well as Braynard’s past interviews with journalists that he has posted online, document his efforts to build his influence over the past year, culminating in Saturday’s event.

“At no point will I cancel this rally,” Braynard told WTOP radio in Washington. “This is happening even if I’m there by myself with a megaphone.”

The seeds of the rally were planted the day after the 2020 election as Trump made false claims of widespread voter fraud, which were later rejected by numerous courts, election officials and his own&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barr-no-widespread-election-fraud-b1f1488796c9a98c4b1a9061a6c7f49d">attorney general at the time, William Barr</a>.

Braynard suggested on Twitter that there could have been fraud in the election, while promoting an online fundraiser he created to defray the cost of analyzing voting data in states where the Trump campaign insisted it was winning.

He told BuzzFeed News in a summer interview that he brought some early findings to the attention of the Trump campaign. The campaign, which had declined to rehire him earlier in the 2020 campaign as a low-level field staffer, initially agreed to hear him out. But after he arrived at campaign headquarters, campaign officials changed their minds, he said.

“I stood on the sidewalk for an hour while they fought inside about whether or not to let me in,” he said. “Ultimately, I was told I would not be let in and I went home.”

His online fundraising, however, took off. After the crowdfunding site GoFundMe.com took down an early effort, citing misleading information, Braynard migrated to an conservative friendly site and quickly took in over $675,000.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/3/1615213886851.png" alt="Security fence is up again around the U.S. Capitol ahead of the rally-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Security fence is up again around the U.S. Capitol ahead of the rally-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The architect of a Washington protest planned for Saturday that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-d2fb23af3f01387412a1a00b4eac531c">aims to rewrite history about the violent January assault&nbsp;</a>on the U.S. Capitol is hardly a household name.Matt Braynard worked as an analyst for the Republican Party, crunched data for a small election firm and later started a consulting business that attracted few federal clients, records show. He started a nonprofit after he was dismissed by Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign following several months on the job, but struggled to raise money. The group’s tax-exempt status was revoked last year.But Braynard’s fortunes changed abruptly after Trump’s 2020 election loss. He joined an aggrieved group of Trump allies seeking to overturn the election — and in the process reaped recognition, lucrative fees and a fundraising windfall that enabled him to rekindle his nonprofit.Now, Braynard and his group, Look Ahead America, are using his newfound platform and resources to present an alternate history of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6 attack that was meant to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory</a>, rebranding those who were charged as “political prisoners.”Although many members of Congress, including those who are allied with Braynard’s cause, have been mum on whether they will attend Saturday’s protest, the event has put law enforcement on edge,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-a88ed1eb0525a50bf2fa5b047c56ec56">led to stepped-up security measures</a>&nbsp;and created worries that members of the same extremist groups that were present on Jan 6. could also be in attendance.How much of a draw his “Justice for J6” rally ends up being will test the reach and potency of the emerging far-right movement, as well as the extent of Braynard’s own reach.Braynard, who is in his 40s, did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The Associated Press earlier declined to accept his condition that an interview of him be broadcast live.But a review of court records, campaign finance disclosures and social media postings, as well as Braynard’s past interviews with journalists that he has posted online, document his efforts to build his influence over the past year, culminating in Saturday’s event.“At no point will I cancel this rally,” Braynard told WTOP radio in Washington. “This is happening even if I’m there by myself with a megaphone.”The seeds of the rally were planted the day after the 2020 election as Trump made false claims of widespread voter fraud, which were later rejected by numerous courts, election officials and his own&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barr-no-widespread-election-fraud-b1f1488796c9a98c4b1a9061a6c7f49d">attorney general at the time, William Barr</a>.Braynard suggested on Twitter that there could have been fraud in the election, while promoting an online fundraiser he created to defray the cost of analyzing voting data in states where the Trump campaign insisted it was winning.He told BuzzFeed News in a summer interview that he brought some early findings to the attention of the Trump campaign. The campaign, which had declined to rehire him earlier in the 2020 campaign as a low-level field staffer, initially agreed to hear him out. But after he arrived at campaign headquarters, campaign officials changed their minds, he said.“I stood on the sidewalk for an hour while they fought inside about whether or not to let me in,” he said. “Ultimately, I was told I would not be let in and I went home.”His online fundraising, however, took off. After the crowdfunding site GoFundMe.com took down an early effort, citing misleading information, Braynard migrated to an conservative friendly site and quickly took in over $675,000.

Organizer of Capitol rally looks to rewrite Jan. 6 history

WASHINGTON (AP) —Two dozen Republican attorneys general warned the White House on Thursday of impending legal action if a proposed coronavirus vaccine requirement for as many as 100 million Americans goes into effect.

“Your plan is disastrous and counterproductive,” the prosecutors, led by Attorney General Alan Wilson of South Carolina,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scag.gov/media/flsf1np3/ags-letter-to-pres-biden-on-vaccine-mandate-final-02715056xd2c78.pdf" target="_blank">wrote in a letter sent to President Joe Biden</a>. “If your Administration does not alter its course, the undersigned state Attorneys General will seek every available legal option to hold you accountable and uphold the rule of law.”

The letter is the latest GOP opposition to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-executive-branch-18fb12993f05be13bf760946a6fb89be">sweeping new federal vaccine requirements</a>&nbsp;for private-sector employees, health care workers and federal contractors announced by Biden earlier this month. The requirement, to be enacted through a rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is part of an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant.

The OSHA rule, which covers nearly two-thirds of the private sector workforce, would last six months, after which it must be replaced by a permanent measure. Employers that don’t comply could face penalties of up to $13,600 per violation.

Once it’s out, the rule would take effect in 29 states where OSHA has jurisdiction, according to a primer by the law firm Fisher Phillips. Other states like California and North Carolina that have their own federally approved workplace safety agencies would have up to 30 days to adopt equivalent measures.

Republican leaders — and some union chiefs, too — have said that Biden was going too far in trying to muscle private companies and workers. One of the first to speak out was Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who said on Twitter that his state would fight to “the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.”

Writing to Biden that the vaccine “edict is also illegal,” Wilson warned that courts have fully upheld only one of 10 emergency temporary OSHA standards in recent decades

The prosecutors also cautioned that the “edict is unlikely to win hearts and minds — it will simply drive further skepticism” over vaccines.

“Your vaccine mandate represents not only a threat to individual liberty, but a public health disaster that will displace vulnerable workers and exacerbate a nationwide hospital staffing crisis, with severe consequences for all Americans,” they write.

In lieu of vaccine or weekly testing requirements, the prosecutors proposed that some companies could have employees work remotely, rather than report in person.

In addition to Wilson in South Carolina, the letter was signed by attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631875943863.png" alt="President Biden&nbsp;spoke about his economic proposals during a speech at White House Thursday afternoon. He refused to take questions-photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>President Biden&nbsp;spoke about his economic proposals during a speech at White House Thursday afternoon. He refused to take questions-photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —Two dozen Republican attorneys general warned the White House on Thursday of impending legal action if a proposed coronavirus vaccine requirement for as many as 100 million Americans goes into effect.“Your plan is disastrous and counterproductive,” the prosecutors, led by Attorney General Alan Wilson of South Carolina,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.scag.gov/media/flsf1np3/ags-letter-to-pres-biden-on-vaccine-mandate-final-02715056xd2c78.pdf" target="_blank">wrote in a letter sent to President Joe Biden</a>. “If your Administration does not alter its course, the undersigned state Attorneys General will seek every available legal option to hold you accountable and uphold the rule of law.”The letter is the latest GOP opposition to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-health-coronavirus-pandemic-executive-branch-18fb12993f05be13bf760946a6fb89be">sweeping new federal vaccine requirements</a>&nbsp;for private-sector employees, health care workers and federal contractors announced by Biden earlier this month. The requirement, to be enacted through a rule from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is part of an all-out effort to curb the surging COVID-19 delta variant.The OSHA rule, which covers nearly two-thirds of the private sector workforce, would last six months, after which it must be replaced by a permanent measure. Employers that don’t comply could face penalties of up to $13,600 per violation.Once it’s out, the rule would take effect in 29 states where OSHA has jurisdiction, according to a primer by the law firm Fisher Phillips. Other states like California and North Carolina that have their own federally approved workplace safety agencies would have up to 30 days to adopt equivalent measures.Republican leaders — and some union chiefs, too — have said that Biden was going too far in trying to muscle private companies and workers. One of the first to speak out was Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who said on Twitter that his state would fight to “the gates of hell to protect the liberty and livelihood of every South Carolinian.”Writing to Biden that the vaccine “edict is also illegal,” Wilson warned that courts have fully upheld only one of 10 emergency temporary OSHA standards in recent decadesThe prosecutors also cautioned that the “edict is unlikely to win hearts and minds — it will simply drive further skepticism” over vaccines.“Your vaccine mandate represents not only a threat to individual liberty, but a public health disaster that will displace vulnerable workers and exacerbate a nationwide hospital staffing crisis, with severe consequences for all Americans,” they write.In lieu of vaccine or weekly testing requirements, the prosecutors proposed that some companies could have employees work remotely, rather than report in person.In addition to Wilson in South Carolina, the letter was signed by attorneys general in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.___

Nebraska joins other states warning Biden over vaccine mandates

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Rumors that a middle school class gecko had died prompted one Nebraska girl to slap another student. 

Police said the girl admitted slapping a 13-year-old boy during a football game at Millard Central Middle School on Monday because the lizard was missing and some classmates had said the boy had killed it. 

But the Omaha World-Herald reports that the gecko was actually fine and was found in his cage Tuesday morning safe and sound, according to the police report. 

However, the 13-year-old girl wound up in a heap of trouble. 

She was cited on suspicion of third-degree assault and released to her mother’s custody.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Rumors that a middle school class gecko had died prompted one Nebraska girl to slap another student. Police said the girl admitted slapping a 13-year-old boy during a football game at Millard Central Middle School on Monday because the lizard was missing and some classmates had said the boy had killed it. But the Omaha World-Herald reports that the gecko was actually fine and was found in his cage Tuesday morning safe and sound, according to the police report. However, the 13-year-old girl wound up in a heap of trouble. She was cited on suspicion of third-degree assault and released to her mother’s custody.

Nebraska girl slaps boy over rumors that class lizard died

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-passes-budget-blueprint-0a1258e07b1a8b9aeddb69980093c838">“build back better” agenda</a>&nbsp;is poised to be the most far-reaching federal investment since FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society — a prodigious effort to tax the rich and shift money into projects and programs touching the lives of nearly every American.

The thousands of pages being drafted and debated in Congress are the template for grand ambitions of the Biden agenda, a full funding of Democratic orthodoxy. The plan envisions the government shoring up U.S. households, setting industrial policy to tackle climate change and confronting the gaping income inequality that was laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis.

As the contours of the $3.5 trillion package come into focus, an undertaking on par with those earlier landmark bills, Americans will have to assess: Is this what they signed up for when Biden won the White House?

Lawmakers on the front lines are about to find out.

“We’re doing hard things,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign committee tasked with maintaining the party’s slender majority.

“We’re not perfect,” he said in a conference call Wednesday about the party and its goals, “but we’re responsible adults, and we’re here to fix problems.”

Republicans fundamentally disagree, attempting to label the Biden agenda as “far left” and “socialism” that they will fiercely oppose.

If Biden can pass his plan, it will become a central referendum in the midterm elections in 2022 on whether voters embrace the vision put forth by Democrats who control the White House and Congress.

Among the Democrats’ goals are priorities like universal child care and lower prescription drug prices that have been elusive for decades.

Republicans have largely sidelined themselves from the debate, other than to say they are a hard “no” on Biden’s priorities. Democrats are relying on a budget process that will enable them to pass or fail with their votes alone, resulting in bruising internal party debate between centrists and liberals.

The Democratic differences may yet doom Biden’s project. Biden was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-kamala-harris-kyrsten-sinema-joe-manchin-3f796484455ad3f36aea0da36ac3363a">meeting separately Wednesday at the White House&nbsp;</a>with key centrist holdouts, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who want to lower the price-tag substantially. Meanwhile, the House was almost forced to halt deliberations as centrists objected to new restrictions on pharmaceutical company drug pricing.

Still, Democrats appear determined not to let this moment slip. Even with their majority at risk, they appear poised to push the package to passage.

“Democrats see that we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to head this country in a better direction,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., after an intense private meeting of Democrats this week.

“People talk about how big this package is, it’s big because we have under-invested for so long,” she said.

For all its scope, many of the tax and spending policies are not necessarily new, or even that revolutionary.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">tax provisions&nbsp;</a>largely push top rates back to where they were before the 2017 GOP tax cuts, and the spending expands on popular safety net programs -- for example, adding dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors on Medicare.

The top tax rate bumps up to 39.6% on households earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for married couples, before then President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress lowered the top rate to 37%.

For corporations, the proposed 26.5% rate would be an increase from today’s 21%, but not as high as the 28% it had been before the GOP tax cuts.

There would be a tax on wealthier Americans -- 3% on earnings above $5 million a year -- but so far the House has refrained from imposing a billionaires or wealth tax as the Senate is considering, mindful as Republicans pile on complaints that Democrats are sliding toward European-styled socialism.

“The demonization of prosperity is unwise,” said Republican Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska, during Wednesday’s session at the tax-writing Ways &amp; Means Committee.

On the spending side, the bill would mostly expand on existing programs — continuing a COVID-19 increase in subsidies for people who buy their own health insurance and boosting funding for states to make community colleges free and for Pell Grants to make university tuitions more affordable.

As the coronavirus forced millions of parents, particularly women, out of the workforce to care for children and elderly adults, the Democrats are seizing on the opportunity to upgrade the safety net and begin to address simmering inequities along racial and class lines.

There’s universal pre-kindergarten, lower cost child care, paid family leave for working adults, an extension of the $300 a month child tax credit that was put in place during the COVID crisis. To help care for elderly Americans, it would shift Medicaid funding away from nursing homes for poorer seniors and toward home healthcare, as many older adults prefer to age in place.

The climate change provisions tap into long-running ideas to impose new emissions restrictions with a federal clean energy requirement and to boost the electrical vehicles industry with tax breaks and charging station infrastructure.

The last time Democrats succeeded in accomplishing something this big, the Affordable Care Act, it cost them their House majority in the 2010 midterm election, during then-President Barack Obama’s first term.

Americans say they overwhelmingly support the public works infrastructure proposals in an earlier $1 trillion package for roads, bridges, broadband and water systems that was approved by the Senate last month. But slimmer majorities backed some of the other ideas being considered now, including expanding child tax credits, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-government-and-politics-only-on-ap-a5454467619247e89b9c87697ac0d6f5">July polling&nbsp;</a>from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research.

Support is generally stronger for funding for free preschool programs, with about two-thirds in support, including about 8 in 10 Democrats and about half of Republicans.

Having learned lessons from the Obamacare debate, Democrats and allied groups are fast at work framing the arguments to avoid a repeat of the health care battles from a decade ago.

“We have their backs,” said Danielle Melfi, the executive director of Building Back Together, which organized some 1,000 events supporting the project during the August congressional recess.

The organization’s own survey of polling shows the Biden plans are popular. “The American people voted for President Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on the promises,” she said. “On our side we have such a strong case to make.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1631817363595.png" alt="During his statement on Thursday afternoon, President Biden said it's time the working people got the tax breaks" />
 <figcaption>During his statement on Thursday afternoon, President Biden said it's time the working people got the tax breaks</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/house-passes-budget-blueprint-0a1258e07b1a8b9aeddb69980093c838">“build back better” agenda</a>&nbsp;is poised to be the most far-reaching federal investment since FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society — a prodigious effort to tax the rich and shift money into projects and programs touching the lives of nearly every American.The thousands of pages being drafted and debated in Congress are the template for grand ambitions of the Biden agenda, a full funding of Democratic orthodoxy. The plan envisions the government shoring up U.S. households, setting industrial policy to tackle climate change and confronting the gaping income inequality that was laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis.As the contours of the $3.5 trillion package come into focus, an undertaking on par with those earlier landmark bills, Americans will have to assess: Is this what they signed up for when Biden won the White House?Lawmakers on the front lines are about to find out.“We’re doing hard things,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign committee tasked with maintaining the party’s slender majority.“We’re not perfect,” he said in a conference call Wednesday about the party and its goals, “but we’re responsible adults, and we’re here to fix problems.”Republicans fundamentally disagree, attempting to label the Biden agenda as “far left” and “socialism” that they will fiercely oppose.If Biden can pass his plan, it will become a central referendum in the midterm elections in 2022 on whether voters embrace the vision put forth by Democrats who control the White House and Congress.Among the Democrats’ goals are priorities like universal child care and lower prescription drug prices that have been elusive for decades.Republicans have largely sidelined themselves from the debate, other than to say they are a hard “no” on Biden’s priorities. Democrats are relying on a budget process that will enable them to pass or fail with their votes alone, resulting in bruising internal party debate between centrists and liberals.The Democratic differences may yet doom Biden’s project. Biden was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-kamala-harris-kyrsten-sinema-joe-manchin-3f796484455ad3f36aea0da36ac3363a">meeting separately Wednesday at the White House&nbsp;</a>with key centrist holdouts, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who want to lower the price-tag substantially. Meanwhile, the House was almost forced to halt deliberations as centrists objected to new restrictions on pharmaceutical company drug pricing.Still, Democrats appear determined not to let this moment slip. Even with their majority at risk, they appear poised to push the package to passage.“Democrats see that we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to head this country in a better direction,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., after an intense private meeting of Democrats this week.“People talk about how big this package is, it’s big because we have under-invested for so long,” she said.For all its scope, many of the tax and spending policies are not necessarily new, or even that revolutionary.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">tax provisions&nbsp;</a>largely push top rates back to where they were before the 2017 GOP tax cuts, and the spending expands on popular safety net programs -- for example, adding dental, vision and hearing aid benefits for seniors on Medicare.The top tax rate bumps up to 39.6% on households earning more than $400,000, or $450,000 for married couples, before then President Donald Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress lowered the top rate to 37%.For corporations, the proposed 26.5% rate would be an increase from today’s 21%, but not as high as the 28% it had been before the GOP tax cuts.There would be a tax on wealthier Americans -- 3% on earnings above $5 million a year -- but so far the House has refrained from imposing a billionaires or wealth tax as the Senate is considering, mindful as Republicans pile on complaints that Democrats are sliding toward European-styled socialism.“The demonization of prosperity is unwise,” said Republican Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska, during Wednesday’s session at the tax-writing Ways &amp; Means Committee.On the spending side, the bill would mostly expand on existing programs — continuing a COVID-19 increase in subsidies for people who buy their own health insurance and boosting funding for states to make community colleges free and for Pell Grants to make university tuitions more affordable.As the coronavirus forced millions of parents, particularly women, out of the workforce to care for children and elderly adults, the Democrats are seizing on the opportunity to upgrade the safety net and begin to address simmering inequities along racial and class lines.There’s universal pre-kindergarten, lower cost child care, paid family leave for working adults, an extension of the $300 a month child tax credit that was put in place during the COVID crisis. To help care for elderly Americans, it would shift Medicaid funding away from nursing homes for poorer seniors and toward home healthcare, as many older adults prefer to age in place.The climate change provisions tap into long-running ideas to impose new emissions restrictions with a federal clean energy requirement and to boost the electrical vehicles industry with tax breaks and charging station infrastructure.The last time Democrats succeeded in accomplishing something this big, the Affordable Care Act, it cost them their House majority in the 2010 midterm election, during then-President Barack Obama’s first term.Americans say they overwhelmingly support the public works infrastructure proposals in an earlier $1 trillion package for roads, bridges, broadband and water systems that was approved by the Senate last month. But slimmer majorities backed some of the other ideas being considered now, including expanding child tax credits, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-government-and-politics-only-on-ap-a5454467619247e89b9c87697ac0d6f5">July polling&nbsp;</a>from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs research.Support is generally stronger for funding for free preschool programs, with about two-thirds in support, including about 8 in 10 Democrats and about half of Republicans.Having learned lessons from the Obamacare debate, Democrats and allied groups are fast at work framing the arguments to avoid a repeat of the health care battles from a decade ago.“We have their backs,” said Danielle Melfi, the executive director of Building Back Together, which organized some 1,000 events supporting the project during the August congressional recess.The organization’s own survey of polling shows the Biden plans are popular. “The American people voted for President Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on the promises,” she said. “On our side we have such a strong case to make.”