BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Officials in southeastern Nebraska say a man died after a minivan he was working under fell onto him. 

Station KWBE reports that the accident happened Wednesday evening in Beatrice.

 Firefighters and first responders were called to an apartment complex where the man had been working to fix a flat tire, with the van lifted on a jack. 

Beatrice Police Sgt. Daniel Moss says the jack malfunctioned, causing the van to fall onto the victim. 

Authorities say he died at the scene. Police have not yet released his name.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — Officials in southeastern Nebraska say a man died after a minivan he was working under fell onto him. Station KWBE reports that the accident happened Wednesday evening in Beatrice. Firefighters and first responders were called to an apartment complex where the man had been working to fix a flat tire, with the van lifted on a jack. Beatrice Police Sgt. Daniel Moss says the jack malfunctioned, causing the van to fall onto the victim. Authorities say he died at the scene. Police have not yet released his name.

Officials say Nebraska man killed when car falls off jack

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court has heard final arguments in a legal battle sparked by an attempt by Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration to strike down a voter-passed constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana. 

The high court will decide whether recreational pot use, medical marijuana and hemp cultivation are enshrined in the state’s constitution.

But Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Rick Miller mounted a legal challenge to its constitutionality on Noem's behalf, and Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom also sued to block legalization. 

On Wednesday, lawyers argued before five Supreme Court justices in Pierre.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota Supreme Court has heard final arguments in a legal battle sparked by an attempt by Gov. Kristi Noem’s administration to strike down a voter-passed constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana. The high court will decide whether recreational pot use, medical marijuana and hemp cultivation are enshrined in the state’s constitution. Voters passed the measure in November. But Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Rick Miller mounted a legal challenge to its constitutionality on Noem's behalf, and Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom also sued to block legalization. On Wednesday, lawyers argued before five Supreme Court justices in Pierre.

SD Supreme Court weighs marijuana legalization battle

WASHINGTON
 — Anyone can request an automatic tax-filing extension, but some people
 get extra time without asking, according to the Internal Revenue 
Service.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year the IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-day-for-individuals-extended-to-may-17-treasury-irs-extend-filing-and-payment-deadline">postponed</a>
 the usual April 15 deadline for filing individual income tax returns 
until May 17, 2021. Even so, as is the case every year, many Americans 
will still need more time to meet their tax-filing obligation.

The IRS estimates that more than 16 million taxpayers will get an 
automatic extension this filing season, either by filing a form or 
making an electronic tax payment. But some taxpayers, including disaster
 victims, those serving in a combat zone and Americans living abroad get
 more time, even if they don't ask for it. Here are details on each of 
these special tax-relief provisions.

Victims of the February winter storms in Texas, Oklahoma and 
Louisiana have until June 15, 2021, to file their 2020 returns and pay 
any tax due.

The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any 
taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in a federally declared 
disaster area when at least one area qualifies for FEMA's Individual 
Assistance program. Ordinarily, this means that taxpayers need not 
contact the IRS to get disaster tax relief.

This relief also includes more time for making 2020 contributions to 
IRAs and other plans and making 2021 estimated tax payments. In some 
cases, relief is also available to people living outside the disaster 
area if, for example, they have a business located in the disaster area,
 have tax records located in the disaster area or are assisting in 
disaster relief. For details on all available relief, visit the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/around-the-nation">Around the Nation</a> page on IRS.gov.

Military service members and eligible support personnel serving in a 
combat zone have at least 180 days after they leave the combat zone to 
file their tax returns and pay any tax due. This includes those serving 
in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones. A complete list of 
designated combat zone localities can be found in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-3">Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide</a>, available on IRS.gov.

Combat zone extensions also give affected taxpayers more time for a 
variety of other tax-related actions, including contributing to an IRA. 
Various circumstances affect the exact length of the extension available
 to taxpayers. Details, including examples illustrating how these 
extensions are calculated, are in the Extensions of Deadlines section in
 Publication 3.

U.S. citizens and resident aliens who live and work outside the U.S. 
and Puerto Rico have until June 15, 2021 to file their 2020 tax returns 
and pay any tax due.

The special June 15 deadline also applies to members of the military 
on duty outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico who do not qualify for the 
longer combat zone extension. Affected taxpayers should attach a 
statement to their return explaining which of these situations apply.

Though taxpayers abroad get more time to pay, interest -- <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/interest-rates-remain-the-same-for-the-second-quarter-of-2021">currently</a>
 at the rate of 3% per year, compounded daily -- applies to any payment 
received after this year's May 17 deadline. For more information about 
the special tax rules for U.S. taxpayers abroad, see <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-547">Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad</a>, on IRS.gov.

Taxpayers who don't qualify for any of these three special situations
 can still get more time to file by submitting a request for an 
automatic extension. This will extend their filing deadline until 
October&nbsp;15, 2021. But because this is only a tax-filing extension, their
 2020 tax payments are still due by May 17.

An easy way to get the extra time is through <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">Free File</a>
 on IRS.gov. In a matter of minutes, anyone, regardless of income, can 
use this free service to electronically request an extension on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4868">Form 4868</a>. To get the extension, taxpayers must estimate their tax liability on this form.

Another option is to pay electronically and get a tax-filing 
extension. The IRS will automatically process an extension when a 
taxpayer selects Form 4868 and makes a full or partial federal tax 
payment by the May 17 due date using <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay">Direct Pay</a>, the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/eftps-the-electronic-federal-tax-payment-system">Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)</a>
 or a debit or credit card. Under this option, there is no need to file a
 separate Form 4868. Please note, you must register for EFTPS before 
using. Electronic payment options are available at <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">IRS.gov/payments</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON
 — Anyone can request an automatic tax-filing extension, but some people
 get extra time without asking, according to the Internal Revenue 
Service.Due to the ongoing pandemic, this year the IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/tax-day-for-individuals-extended-to-may-17-treasury-irs-extend-filing-and-payment-deadline">postponed</a>
 the usual April 15 deadline for filing individual income tax returns 
until May 17, 2021. Even so, as is the case every year, many Americans 
will still need more time to meet their tax-filing obligation.The IRS estimates that more than 16 million taxpayers will get an 
automatic extension this filing season, either by filing a form or 
making an electronic tax payment. But some taxpayers, including disaster
 victims, those serving in a combat zone and Americans living abroad get
 more time, even if they don't ask for it. Here are details on each of 
these special tax-relief provisions.<h2>Disaster victims</h2>Victims of the February winter storms in Texas, Oklahoma and 
Louisiana have until June 15, 2021, to file their 2020 returns and pay 
any tax due.The IRS automatically provides filing and penalty relief to any 
taxpayer with an IRS address of record located in a federally declared 
disaster area when at least one area qualifies for FEMA's Individual 
Assistance program. Ordinarily, this means that taxpayers need not 
contact the IRS to get disaster tax relief.This relief also includes more time for making 2020 contributions to 
IRAs and other plans and making 2021 estimated tax payments. In some 
cases, relief is also available to people living outside the disaster 
area if, for example, they have a business located in the disaster area,
 have tax records located in the disaster area or are assisting in 
disaster relief. For details on all available relief, visit the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/around-the-nation">Around the Nation</a> page on IRS.gov.<h2>Combat zone taxpayers</h2>Military service members and eligible support personnel serving in a 
combat zone have at least 180 days after they leave the combat zone to 
file their tax returns and pay any tax due. This includes those serving 
in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones. A complete list of 
designated combat zone localities can be found in <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-3">Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide</a>, available on IRS.gov.Combat zone extensions also give affected taxpayers more time for a 
variety of other tax-related actions, including contributing to an IRA. 
Various circumstances affect the exact length of the extension available
 to taxpayers. Details, including examples illustrating how these 
extensions are calculated, are in the Extensions of Deadlines section in
 Publication 3.<h2>Taxpayers outside the United States</h2>U.S. citizens and resident aliens who live and work outside the U.S. 
and Puerto Rico have until June 15, 2021 to file their 2020 tax returns 
and pay any tax due.The special June 15 deadline also applies to members of the military 
on duty outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico who do not qualify for the 
longer combat zone extension. Affected taxpayers should attach a 
statement to their return explaining which of these situations apply.Though taxpayers abroad get more time to pay, interest -- <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/interest-rates-remain-the-same-for-the-second-quarter-of-2021">currently</a>
 at the rate of 3% per year, compounded daily -- applies to any payment 
received after this year's May 17 deadline. For more information about 
the special tax rules for U.S. taxpayers abroad, see <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-547">Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad</a>, on IRS.gov.<h2>Everyone else</h2>Taxpayers who don't qualify for any of these three special situations
 can still get more time to file by submitting a request for an 
automatic extension. This will extend their filing deadline until 
October&nbsp;15, 2021. But because this is only a tax-filing extension, their
 2020 tax payments are still due by May 17.An easy way to get the extra time is through <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">Free File</a>
 on IRS.gov. In a matter of minutes, anyone, regardless of income, can 
use this free service to electronically request an extension on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-4868">Form 4868</a>. To get the extension, taxpayers must estimate their tax liability on this form.Another option is to pay electronically and get a tax-filing 
extension. The IRS will automatically process an extension when a 
taxpayer selects Form 4868 and makes a full or partial federal tax 
payment by the May 17 due date using <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/direct-pay">Direct Pay</a>, the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/eftps-the-electronic-federal-tax-payment-system">Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)</a>
 or a debit or credit card. Under this option, there is no need to file a
 separate Form 4868. Please note, you must register for EFTPS before 
using. Electronic payment options are available at <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">IRS.gov/payments</a>.

IRS: Despite May 17 tax deadline, return extensions still available

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden declared that “America is rising anew” as he called for an expansion of federal programs to drive the economy past the pandemic and broadly extend the social safety net on a scale not seen in decades.

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?511121-1/president-biden-addresses-joint-session-congress">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;a replay of he President's address&nbsp;

Biden’s nationally televised address to Congress, his first, raised the stakes for his ability to sell his plans to voters of both parties, even if Republican lawmakers prove resistant. The president is following Wednesday night’s speech by pushing his plans in person, beginning in Georgia on Thursday and then on to Pennsylvania and Virginia in the days ahead.

In the address, Biden pointed optimistically to the nation’s emergence from the coronavirus scourge as a moment for America to prove that its democracy can still work and maintain primacy in the world.

Speaking in highly personal terms while demanding massive structural changes, the president marked his first 100 days in office by proposing a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education to help rebuild an economy devastated by the virus and compete with rising global competitors.

His speech represented both an audacious vision and a considerable gamble. He is governing with the most slender of majorities in Congress, and even some in his own party have blanched at the price tag of his proposals.

At the same time, the speech highlighted Biden’s fundamental belief in the power of government as a force for good, even at a time when it is so often the object of scorn.

“I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,” he said. “Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.”

While the ceremonial setting of the Capitol was the same as usual, the visual images were unlike any previous presidential address. Members of Congress wore masks and were seated apart because of pandemic restrictions. Outside the grounds were still surrounded by fencing after insurrectionists in January protesting Biden’s election stormed to the doors of the House chamber where he gave his address.

“America is ready for takeoff. We are working again. Dreaming again. Discovering again. Leading the world again. We have shown each other and the world: There is no quit in America,” Biden said.

This year’s scene at the front of the House chamber also had a historic look: For the first time, a female vice president, Kamala Harris, was seated behind the chief executive. And she was next to another woman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The first ovation came as Biden greeted “Madam Vice President.” He added, “No president has ever said those words from this podium, and it’s about time.”

The chamber was so sparsely populated that individual claps could be heard echoing off the walls.

Yet Biden said, “I have never been more confident or more optimistic about America. We have stared into an abyss of insurrection and autocracy — of pandemic and pain — and ‘We the People’ did not flinch.”

At times, the president plainly made his case for democracy itself.

Biden demanded that the government take care of its own as a powerful symbol to the world of an America willing to forcefully follow its ideals and people. He confronted an issue rarely faced by an American president, namely that in order to compete with autocracies like China, the nation needs “to prove that democracy still works” after his predecessor’s baseless claims of election fraud and the ensuing attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate and fears that have pulled us apart?” he asked. “America’s adversaries – the autocrats of the world – are betting it can’t. They believe we are too full of anger and division and rage. They look at the images of the mob that assaulted this Capitol as proof that the sun is setting on American democracy. They are wrong. And we have to prove them wrong.”

Biden repeatedly hammered home that his plans would put Americans back to work, restoring the millions of jobs lost to the virus. He laid out an extensive proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas target frailties that were uncovered by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the pandemic</a>, and he argues that economic growth will best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.

Biden’s speech also provided an update on combating the COVID-19 crisis he was elected to tame, showcasing hundreds of millions of vaccinations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-house-virus-relief-checks-3eed6a4659f1fb7d36b4ced0eba58f86">relief checks</a>&nbsp;delivered to help offset the devastation wrought by a virus that has&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">killed more than 573,000 people in the United States</a>. He also championed his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">$2.3 trillion infrastructure plan</a>, a staggering figure to be financed by higher taxes on corporations.

His appeals were often emotive and personal, talking about Americans needing food and rental assistance. He also spoke to members of Congress as a peer as much as a president, singling out Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republicans’ leader, to praise him and speaking as one at a professional homecoming.

The GOP members in the chamber largely stayed silent, even refusing to clap for seemingly universal goals like reducing childhood poverty. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said, in the Republicans’ designated response, that Biden was more rhetoric than action.

“Our president seems like a good man,” Scott said. “But our nation is starving for more than empty platitudes.”

The president spoke against a backdrop of the weakening but still lethal pandemic, staggering unemployment and a roiling debate about police violence against Blacks. He also used his address to touch on the broader national reckoning over race in America, urging legislation be passed by the anniversary of George Floyd’s death next month, and to call on Congress to act on the thorny issues of prescription drug pricing, gun control and modernizing the nation’s immigration system.

In his first three months in office, Biden has signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — passed without a single GOP vote — and has shepherded direct payments of $1,400 per person to more than 160 million households. Hundreds of billions of dollars in aid will soon arrive for state and local governments, enough money that overall U.S. growth this year could eclipse 6% — a level not seen since 1984. Administration officials are betting that it will be enough to bring back all 8.4 million jobs lost to the pandemic by next year.

A significant amount proposed just Wednesday would ensure that eligible families receive at least $250 monthly per child through 2025, extending the enhanced tax credit that was part of Biden’s COVID-19 aid. There would be more than $400 billion for subsidized child care and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

Another combined $425 billion would go to permanently reduce health insurance premiums for people who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act, as well a national paid family and medical leave program. Further spending would be directed toward Pell Grants, historically Black and tribal institutions and to allow people to attend community college tuition-free for two years.

Funding all of this would be a series of tax increases on the wealthy that would raise about $1.5 trillion over a decade. Republican lawmakers in Congress so far have balked at the price tags of Biden’s plans, complicating the chances of passage in a deeply divided Washington.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden declared Wednesday night in his first address to a joint session of Congress that “America is rising anew” on the verge of overcoming the historic pandemic. Looking to the future, he urged a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform roles the government plays in American life.

Biden marked his first 100 days in office as the nation emerges from a menacing mix of crises, making his case before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators because of pandemic restrictions. The speech took place in a setting unlike any other presidential address in the familiar venue, the U.S. Capitol still surrounded by fencing after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">insurrectionists in January protesting his election</a>&nbsp;stormed to the doors of the House chamber where he gave his address.

The nationally televised ritual of a president standing before Congress for the first time was one of the most watched moments of Biden’s presidency, raising the stakes for his ability to sell his plans to voters of both parties, even if Republican lawmakers prove resistant.

“America is ready for takeoff. We are working again. Dreaming again. Discovering again. Leading the world again. We have shown each other and the world: There is no quit in America,” Biden said. “100 days ago, America’s house was on fire. We had to act.”

This year’s scene at the front of the House chamber had a historic look: For the first time, a female vice president, Kamala Harris, was seated behind the chief executive. And she was next to another woman, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, both clad in pastel.

The first ovation came as Biden greeted, “Madam Vice President.” He added “No president has ever said those words from this podium, and it’s about time.”

The entire House setting was unlike that for any of Biden’s predecessors, with members of Congress spread out, a sole Supreme Court justice in attendance and many Republicans citing “scheduling conflicts” to stay away. There was no need for a “designated survivor,” with so many Cabinet members not there, and the chamber was so sparsely populated that individual claps could be heard echoing off the walls.

Biden repeatedly hammered home how his plans would put Americans back to work, restoring the millions of jobs lost to the virus. He laid out a sweeping proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas target frailties that were uncovered by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the pandemic</a>, and he argues that that economic growth will best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.

“I can report to the nation: America is on the move again,” Biden said. “Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.”

For Biden, whose moment has been nearly a half century in the making, his speech also provided an update on combating the COVID-19 crisis he was elected to tame, showcasing hundreds of millions of vaccinations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-house-virus-relief-checks-3eed6a4659f1fb7d36b4ced0eba58f86">relief checks</a>&nbsp;delivered to help offset the devastation wrought by a virus that has&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">killed more than 573,000 people in the United States</a>. He also championed his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">$2.3 trillion infrastructure plan</a>, a staggering figure to be financed by higher taxes on corporations.

Seizing an opportunity born of calamity, Biden has embraced major action over incremental change. But he will be forced to thread a needle between Republicans who cry government overreach and some Democrats who fear he won’t go big enough.

The Democratic president’s strategy is to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-impeachments-barack-obama-4c79ff8d59f8ce19f9dae6b550223bf0">sidestep polarization</a>&nbsp;and appeal directly to voters. His prime-time speech underscored a trio of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-climate-iran-nuclear-immigration-de7b288aa2b4315b5b7fe38559a6e666">central campaign promises</a>: to manage the deadly pandemic, to turn down the tension in Washington in the aftermath of the insurrection and to restore faith in government as an effective force for good.

Biden also was addressing an issue rarely confronted by an American president, namely that in order to compete with autocracies like China, the nation needs “to prove that democracy still works” after his predecessor’s baseless claims of election fraud and the ensuing attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“In our first 100 days together, we have acted to restore the people’s faith in our democracy to deliver,” he said in the excerpts, pointing to actions against the pandemic and resulting economic slide.

Unimpressed, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina was to say in the Republicans’ designated response that Biden was claiming too much credit.

“This administration inherited a tide that had already turned,” Scott said in excerpts released in advance. “The coronavirus is on the run.”

No American politician has more familiarity with the presidential address to Congress than Biden. He spent three decades in the audience as a senator and eight years as vice president seated behind President Barack Obama during the annual address.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday, “President Biden ran as a moderate, but I’m hard pressed to think of anything at all that he’s done so far that would indicate some degree of moderation.”

Yet the desire for swift action is born from political necessity. Biden understands that the time for passing his agenda could be perilously short given that presidents’ parties historically lose congressional seats in the midterm elections, less than two years away. The Democrats’ margins are already razor-thin.

He spoke against a backdrop of the weakening but still lethal pandemic, staggering unemployment and a roiling debate about police violence against Blacks. Biden was also using his address to touch on the broader national reckoning over race in America, and to call on Congress to act on prescription drug pricing, gun control and modernizing the nation’s immigration system.

New in his Wednesday speech was a “families” plan that could cement Biden’s legacy with $1.8 trillion worth of spending over 10 years.

A significant amount would ensure that eligible families receive at least $250 monthly per child through 2025, extending the enhanced tax credit that was part of Biden’s COVID-19 aid. There would be more than $400 billion for subsidized child care and free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

Another combined $425 billion would go to permanently reduce health insurance premiums for people who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act, as well a national paid family and medical leave program. Further spending would be directed toward Pell Grants, historically Black and tribal institutions and allow people to could attend community college tuition-free for two years.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to declare the nation is “turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity."

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?511121-1/president-biden-addresses-joint-session-congress">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;the President's address 7:30p.m. CDT

He's urging a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform roles the government plays in American life.  Biden is marking his first 100 days in office as the nation emerges from a confluence of crises, making his case Wednesday night before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators because of coronavirus restrictions. 

In excerpts released in advance, he says, “I can report to the nation: America is on the move again. ... Turning peril into possibility. Crisis into opportunity. Setback into strength.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to pitch a $1.8 trillion investment in children, families and education that would transform the role government plays in American life. 

Biden delivers the Wednesday night speech on the eve of his 100th day in office. He will make his case before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators due to coronavirus restrictions. 

The Democrat will speak in a Capitol still surrounded by fencing after the Jan. 6 storming of the building by insurrectionists protesting his election. 

Biden will lay out a sweeping proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents.

🎥 Biden's declaration: America's democracy 'is rising anew'

Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic first steps on the lunar surface, died Wednesday. He was 90.

<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/statements-on-passing-of-michael-collins">Click here to read</a> NASA's statement on Collins.

Collins died of cancer, his family said in a statement: “Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way.”

Collins was part of the three-man Apollo 11 crew that in 1969 effectively ended the space race between the United States and Russia and fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s.

Though he traveled some 238,000 miles to the moon and came within 69 miles, Collins never set foot on the lunar surface like his crewmates Aldrin and Armstrong, who died in 2012. None of the men flew in space after the Apollo 11 mission.

“It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand,” Collins said on the 10th anniversary of the moon landing in 1979. “Exploration is not a choice really — it’s an imperative, and it’s simply a matter of timing as to when the option is exercised.”

“Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America’s first steps into the cosmos,” acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a statement Wednesday.

Collins spent the eight-day mission piloting the command module. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the moon’s surface in the lunar lander, Eagle, Collins remained alone in the command module, Columbia.

“I guess you’re about the only person around that doesn’t have TV coverage of the scene,” Mission Control radioed Collins after the landing.

“That’s all right. I don’t mind a bit,” he responded.

Collins was alone for nearly 28 hours before Armstrong and Aldrin finished their tasks on the moon’s surface and lifted off in the lunar lander. Collins was responsible for re-docking the two spacecraft before the men could begin heading back to Earth. Had something gone wrong and Aldrin and Armstrong been stuck on the moon’s surface — a real fear — Collins would have returned to Earth alone.

Though he was frequently asked if he regretted not landing on the moon, that was never an option for Collins, at least not on Apollo 11. Collins’ specialty was as a command module pilot, a job he compared to being the base-camp operator on a mountain climbing expedition. As a result, it meant he wasn’t considered to take part in the July 20, 1969, landing.

“I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have,” he wrote in his 1974 autobiography, “Carrying the Fire.” “This venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two.”

Aldrin, the remaining Apollo 11 astronaut, tweeted a picture Wednesday of the three crewmates laughing, saying: “Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future.”

Collins was born in Rome on Halloween 1930. His parents were Virginia Collins and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James L. Collins. After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952, a year behind Aldrin, Collins joined the Air Force, where he became a fighter pilot and test pilot.

John Glenn’s 1962 flight making him the first American to orbit the Earth persuaded Collins to apply to NASA. He was accepted on his second try, in 1963, as part of the third group of astronauts selected. Collins’ first mission was 1966′s Gemini 10, one of the two-man missions made in preparation for flights to the moon.

Along with John Young, Collins practiced maneuvers necessary for a moon landing and performed a spacewalk during the three-day mission. During the spacewalk, he famously lost a camera, which is frequently cited as one of the items of “space junk” orbiting Earth.

On Jan. 9, 1969, NASA announced that Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin would be on the crew of Apollo 11, the United States’ first moon landing attempt. Of his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts, Collins said they were: “Smart as hell, both of them, competent and experienced, each in his own way.” Still, Collins called the group “amiable strangers” because the trio never developed as intense a bond as other crews.

Of the three, Collins was the acknowledged jokester. Aldrin called him the “easygoing guy who brought levity into things.” In summarizing Kennedy’s famous challenge to go to the moon, for example, Collins later said: “It was beautiful in its simplicity. Do what? Moon. When? End of decade.”

The Apollo 11 crew trained for just six months before launching on July 16, 1969, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The mission insignia — an eagle landing on the moon with an olive branch in its talons — was largely Collins’ creation.

Collins said one of the things that struck him most was the way the Earth looked from space — peaceful and serene but also delicate.

“As I look back on Apollo 11, I more and more am attracted to my recollection, not of the moon, but of the Earth. Tiny, little Earth in its little black velvet background,” Collins said while marking the mission’s 50th anniversary in 2019.

In contrast, he said the moon seemed almost hostile. In fact, it was considered so hostile that on their return, Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin all spent several days in a quarantine trailer. They received visitors, including President Richard Nixon, staring through a window.

When the group was finally deemed safe, they went on a world tour, visiting 25 countries in just over five weeks.

Collins often remarked that he was surprised that everywhere they went people didn’t say “Well, you Americans finally did it.” Instead, they said, “Well, we finally did it,” meaning “we” humans.

Early on, Collins said Apollo 11 would be his last mission, though officials at NASA wanted him to continue flying. Collins soon left NASA and joined the State Department as assistant secretary for public affairs. Though he enjoyed the people he later wrote that “long hours in Washington flying a great mahogany desk” didn’t suit him.

After about a year he left and joined the Smithsonian Institution. There, he led a team responsible for planning and opening the&nbsp;<a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/amp-stories/dark-side-of-the-moon/" target="_blank">Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.</a>&nbsp;The Apollo 11 capsule is in the museum’s collection along with some of Collins’ personal items from that mission — flight checklists, his toothbrush, razor and a tube of Old Spice shaving cream.

He is survived by two daughters and grandchildren.

Along with his autobiography, Collins wrote a book on his experience for younger readers, “Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut’s Story.” In a 1994 preface to the book, Collins urged more spending on space exploration and on an astronaut mission to Mars.

“I am too old to fly to Mars, and I regret that. But I still think I have been very, very lucky,” he wrote. “I was born in the days of biplanes and Buck Rogers, learned to fly in the early jets, and hit my peak when moon rockets came along. That’s hard to beat.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619639725786.png" alt="Astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo 11 command module pilot Credits: NASA" />
 <figcaption>Astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo 11 command module pilot Credits: NASA</figcaption>
 </figure>By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated PressApollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their historic first steps on the lunar surface, died Wednesday. He was 90.<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/statements-on-passing-of-michael-collins">Click here to read</a> NASA's statement on Collins.Collins died of cancer, his family said in a statement: “Mike always faced the challenges of life with grace and humility, and faced this, his final challenge, in the same way.”Collins was part of the three-man Apollo 11 crew that in 1969 effectively ended the space race between the United States and Russia and fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to reach the moon by the end of the 1960s.Though he traveled some 238,000 miles to the moon and came within 69 miles, Collins never set foot on the lunar surface like his crewmates Aldrin and Armstrong, who died in 2012. None of the men flew in space after the Apollo 11 mission.“It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand,” Collins said on the 10th anniversary of the moon landing in 1979. “Exploration is not a choice really — it’s an imperative, and it’s simply a matter of timing as to when the option is exercised.”“Whether his work was behind the scenes or on full view, his legacy will always be as one of the leaders who took America’s first steps into the cosmos,” acting NASA administrator Steve Jurczyk said in a statement Wednesday.Collins spent the eight-day mission piloting the command module. While Armstrong and Aldrin descended to the moon’s surface in the lunar lander, Eagle, Collins remained alone in the command module, Columbia.“I guess you’re about the only person around that doesn’t have TV coverage of the scene,” Mission Control radioed Collins after the landing.“That’s all right. I don’t mind a bit,” he responded.Collins was alone for nearly 28 hours before Armstrong and Aldrin finished their tasks on the moon’s surface and lifted off in the lunar lander. Collins was responsible for re-docking the two spacecraft before the men could begin heading back to Earth. Had something gone wrong and Aldrin and Armstrong been stuck on the moon’s surface — a real fear — Collins would have returned to Earth alone.Though he was frequently asked if he regretted not landing on the moon, that was never an option for Collins, at least not on Apollo 11. Collins’ specialty was as a command module pilot, a job he compared to being the base-camp operator on a mountain climbing expedition. As a result, it meant he wasn’t considered to take part in the July 20, 1969, landing.“I know that I would be a liar or a fool if I said that I have the best of the three Apollo 11 seats, but I can say with truth and equanimity that I am perfectly satisfied with the one I have,” he wrote in his 1974 autobiography, “Carrying the Fire.” “This venture has been structured for three men, and I consider my third to be as necessary as either of the other two.”Aldrin, the remaining Apollo 11 astronaut, tweeted a picture Wednesday of the three crewmates laughing, saying: “Dear Mike, Wherever you have been or will be, you will always have the Fire to Carry us deftly to new heights and to the future.”Collins was born in Rome on Halloween 1930. His parents were Virginia Collins and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. James L. Collins. After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952, a year behind Aldrin, Collins joined the Air Force, where he became a fighter pilot and test pilot.John Glenn’s 1962 flight making him the first American to orbit the Earth persuaded Collins to apply to NASA. He was accepted on his second try, in 1963, as part of the third group of astronauts selected. Collins’ first mission was 1966′s Gemini 10, one of the two-man missions made in preparation for flights to the moon.Along with John Young, Collins practiced maneuvers necessary for a moon landing and performed a spacewalk during the three-day mission. During the spacewalk, he famously lost a camera, which is frequently cited as one of the items of “space junk” orbiting Earth.On Jan. 9, 1969, NASA announced that Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin would be on the crew of Apollo 11, the United States’ first moon landing attempt. Of his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts, Collins said they were: “Smart as hell, both of them, competent and experienced, each in his own way.” Still, Collins called the group “amiable strangers” because the trio never developed as intense a bond as other crews.Of the three, Collins was the acknowledged jokester. Aldrin called him the “easygoing guy who brought levity into things.” In summarizing Kennedy’s famous challenge to go to the moon, for example, Collins later said: “It was beautiful in its simplicity. Do what? Moon. When? End of decade.”The Apollo 11 crew trained for just six months before launching on July 16, 1969, from Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The mission insignia — an eagle landing on the moon with an olive branch in its talons — was largely Collins’ creation.Collins said one of the things that struck him most was the way the Earth looked from space — peaceful and serene but also delicate.“As I look back on Apollo 11, I more and more am attracted to my recollection, not of the moon, but of the Earth. Tiny, little Earth in its little black velvet background,” Collins said while marking the mission’s 50th anniversary in 2019.In contrast, he said the moon seemed almost hostile. In fact, it was considered so hostile that on their return, Collins, Armstrong and Aldrin all spent several days in a quarantine trailer. They received visitors, including President Richard Nixon, staring through a window.When the group was finally deemed safe, they went on a world tour, visiting 25 countries in just over five weeks.Collins often remarked that he was surprised that everywhere they went people didn’t say “Well, you Americans finally did it.” Instead, they said, “Well, we finally did it,” meaning “we” humans.Early on, Collins said Apollo 11 would be his last mission, though officials at NASA wanted him to continue flying. Collins soon left NASA and joined the State Department as assistant secretary for public affairs. Though he enjoyed the people he later wrote that “long hours in Washington flying a great mahogany desk” didn’t suit him.After about a year he left and joined the Smithsonian Institution. There, he led a team responsible for planning and opening the&nbsp;<a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/amp-stories/dark-side-of-the-moon/" target="_blank">Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.</a>&nbsp;The Apollo 11 capsule is in the museum’s collection along with some of Collins’ personal items from that mission — flight checklists, his toothbrush, razor and a tube of Old Spice shaving cream.He is survived by two daughters and grandchildren.Along with his autobiography, Collins wrote a book on his experience for younger readers, “Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut’s Story.” In a 1994 preface to the book, Collins urged more spending on space exploration and on an astronaut mission to Mars.“I am too old to fly to Mars, and I regret that. But I still think I have been very, very lucky,” he wrote. “I was born in the days of biplanes and Buck Rogers, learned to fly in the early jets, and hit my peak when moon rockets came along. That’s hard to beat.”

Astronaut Michael Collins, Apollo 11 pilot, dead at 90

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Months after President Joe Biden snubbed Canadian officials by canceling Keystone XL, a showdown over a second crude oil pipeline threatens to further strain ties between the two neighbors.

 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has set a May 12 deadline for Canadian energy company Enbridge to shut down its Line 5, which delivers oil from Alberta to refineries in the U.S. Midwest and eastern Canada.

 Whitmer agrees with environmentalists who consider the pipeline an environmental hazard, mostly because one 68-year-old section crosses a channel linking two Great Lakes.

 Canadian officials say closing the pipeline would hurt the economy and cost jobs in both countries.

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Months after President Joe Biden snubbed Canadian officials by canceling Keystone XL, a showdown over a second crude oil pipeline threatens to further strain ties between the two neighbors. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has set a May 12 deadline for Canadian energy company Enbridge to shut down its Line 5, which delivers oil from Alberta to refineries in the U.S. Midwest and eastern Canada. Whitmer agrees with environmentalists who consider the pipeline an environmental hazard, mostly because one 68-year-old section crosses a channel linking two Great Lakes. Canadian officials say closing the pipeline would hurt the economy and cost jobs in both countries.

Oil pipeline disputes raise tensions between U.S. and Canada

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman faces a slew of charges after police say she sexually assaulted much younger girls on a dance team of which they were all members. 

The Omaha World-Herald reports that prosecutors have charged 23-year-old Brittianee Bates with three counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child and two counts of intentional child abuse. 

Bates is accused of sexually assaulting three girls who were on the same drill team as Bates and a fourth girl who went to a day care where Bates worked. 

Prosecutors say the abuse dates back to 2015 and that the victims ranged in age from 7 to 12. Bates is being held on $500,000 bail.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman faces a slew of charges after police say she sexually assaulted much younger girls on a dance team of which they were all members. The Omaha World-Herald reports that prosecutors have charged 23-year-old Brittianee Bates with three counts of first-degree sexual assault, three counts of third-degree sexual assault of a child and two counts of intentional child abuse. Bates is accused of sexually assaulting three girls who were on the same drill team as Bates and a fourth girl who went to a day care where Bates worked. Prosecutors say the abuse dates back to 2015 and that the victims ranged in age from 7 to 12. Bates is being held on $500,000 bail.

Omaha woman accused of molesting young drill team members

CENTRAL CITY, Neb.-Authorities in Merrick County say three people were injured in a crash on Tuesday.

According to officials, deputies were dispatched to an accident involving multiple vehicles at Highway 30 and 19th Rd., just west of Central City.

Officials said a pickup pulling a stock trailer was eastbound and was slowing down for a turning vehicle when an eastbound semi-truck struck it from behind. The collision forced the pickup into the westbound lane where it was struck by a westbound semi-truck.

Three people were transported by ambulance to Merrick Medical Center before being transferred to Bryan West Hospital in Lincoln.

Officials said seatbelts were not in use by the pickup's occupants.

By Scott Carlson-North Platte PostCENTRAL CITY, Neb.-Authorities in Merrick County say three people were injured in a crash on Tuesday.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619627523813.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>According to officials, deputies were dispatched to an accident involving multiple vehicles at Highway 30 and 19th Rd., just west of Central City.Officials said a pickup pulling a stock trailer was eastbound and was slowing down for a turning vehicle when an eastbound semi-truck struck it from behind. The collision forced the pickup into the westbound lane where it was struck by a westbound semi-truck.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619627446291.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Three people were transported by ambulance to Merrick Medical Center before being transferred to Bryan West Hospital in Lincoln.Officials said seatbelts were not in use by the pickup's occupants.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619627504690.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Merrick County crash seriously injures 3

NORTH PLATTE&nbsp; — The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a crash near Holdrege that claimed two lives and sent a child to the hospital.

At approximately 7:50 a.m. Tuesday, a Chevrolet Silverado was traveling westbound on Highway 6, four miles west of Holdrege, when it crossed the center line and struck an eastbound Dodge Grand Caravan.

The Silverado’s lone occupant, Dylan Skeen, 29, of Holdrege, was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, where he was pronounced deceased. The driver of the Grand Caravan, Kerri Bernstrauch, 36, Holdrege, was pronounced deceased at the scene. A child passenger in the Grand Caravan was also transported to Good Samaritan Hospital and then flown to Omaha for further treatment of serious injuries.

Seat belts were in use in the Grand Caravan. A seat belt was not in use in the Silverado. The crash remains under investigation.

NORTH PLATTE&nbsp; — The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating a crash near Holdrege that claimed two lives and sent a child to the hospital.At approximately 7:50 a.m. Tuesday, a Chevrolet Silverado was traveling westbound on Highway 6, four miles west of Holdrege, when it crossed the center line and struck an eastbound Dodge Grand Caravan.The Silverado’s lone occupant, Dylan Skeen, 29, of Holdrege, was transported to Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney, where he was pronounced deceased. The driver of the Grand Caravan, Kerri Bernstrauch, 36, Holdrege, was pronounced deceased at the scene. A child passenger in the Grand Caravan was also transported to Good Samaritan Hospital and then flown to Omaha for further treatment of serious injuries.Seat belts were in use in the Grand Caravan. A seat belt was not in use in the Silverado. The crash remains under investigation.

Vehicle crash near Holdrege claims two lives

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple is following through on its pledge to crack down on Facebook and other snoopy apps that secretly shadow people on their iPhones in order to target more advertising at users.

The new privacy feature, dubbed “App Tracking Transparency,” rolled out this week as part of an update to the operating system powering the iPhone and iPad. The anti-tracking shield included in iOS 14.5 arrives after a seven-month delay during which Apple and Facebook attacked each other’s business models and motives for decisions that affect billions of people around the world.

“What this feud demonstrates more than anything is that Facebook and Apple have tremendous gatekeeping powers over the market,” said Elizabeth Renieris, founding director of the Technology Ethics Lab at the University of Notre Dame.

But Apple says it is just looking out for the best interests of the more than 1 billion people currently using iPhones.

“Now is a good time to bring this out, both because of because of the increasing amount of data they have on their devices, and their sensitivity (about the privacy risks) is increasing, too," Erik Neuenschwander, Apple's chief privacy engineer, told The Associated Press in an interview.

Once the software update is installed -- something most iPhone users do -- even existing apps already on the device will be required to ask and receive consent to track online activities. That’s a shift Facebook fiercely resisted, most prominently in a series of full-page newspaper ads blasting Apple.

Until now, Facebook and other apps have been able to automatically conduct their surveillance on iPhones unless users took the time and trouble to go into their settings to prevent it -- a process that few people bother to navigate.

“This is an important step toward consumers getting the transparency and the controls they have clearly been looking for,” said Daniel Barber, CEO of DataGrail, a firm that helps companies manage personal privacy.

In its attacks on Apple's anti-tracking controls, Facebook blasted the move as an abuse of power designed to force more apps to charge for their services instead of relying on ads. Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut on most payments processed through an iPhone app.

Online tracking has long helped Facebook and thousands of other apps accumulate information about their user’s interests and habits so they can show customized ads. Although Facebook executives initially acknowledged Apple’s changes would probably reduce its revenue by billions of dollars annually, the social networking company has framed most of its public criticism as a defense of small businesses that rely on online ads to stay alive.

Apple, in turn, has pilloried Facebook and other apps for prying so deeply into people's lives that it has created a societal crisis.

In a speech given a few weeks after the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed out how personal information collected through tracking by Facebook and other social media can sometimes push people toward more misinformation and hate speech as part of the efforts to show more ads.

“What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations?” Cook asked. “What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends more?”

It’s part of Apple’s attempt to use the privacy issue to its competitive advantage, Barber said, a tactic he now expects more major brands to embrace if the new anti-tracking controls prove popular among most consumers.

In a change of tone, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently suggested that Apple’s new privacy controls could actually help his company in the long run. His rationale: The inability to automatically track iPhone users may prod more companies to sell their products directly on Facebook and affiliated services such as Instagram if they can't collect enough personal information to effectively target ads within their own apps.

“It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms,” Zuckerberg said last month during a discussion held on the audio chat app Clubhouse.

In the same interview, Zuckerberg also asserted most people realize that advertising is a “time-tested model” that enables them to get more services for free or at extremely low prices.

“People get for the most part that if they are going to see ads, they want them to be relevant ads,” Zuckerberg said. He didn’t say whether he believes most iPhone users will consent to tracking in exchange for ads tailored to their interests.

Google also depends on personal information to fuel a digital ad network even bigger than Facebook’s, but it has said it would be able to adjust to the iPhone’s new privacy controls. Unlike Facebook, Google has close business ties with Apple. Google pays Apple an estimated $9 billion to $12 billion annually to be the preferred search engine on iPhone and iPad. That arrangement is currently one element of an antitrust case filed last year by the U.S. Justice Department.

Facebook is also defending itself against a federal antitrust lawsuit seeking to break the company apart. Meanwhile, Apple is being scrutinized by lawmakers and regulators around the world for the commissions it collects on purchases made through iPhone apps and its ability to shake up markets through new rules that are turning it into a de facto regulator.

“Even if Apple’s business model and side in this battle is more rights protective and better for consumer privacy, there is still a question of whether we want a large corporation like Apple effectively ‘legislating’ through the app store,” Renieris said.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Technology WriterSAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Apple is following through on its pledge to crack down on Facebook and other snoopy apps that secretly shadow people on their iPhones in order to target more advertising at users.The new privacy feature, dubbed “App Tracking Transparency,” rolled out this week as part of an update to the operating system powering the iPhone and iPad. The anti-tracking shield included in iOS 14.5 arrives after a seven-month delay during which Apple and Facebook attacked each other’s business models and motives for decisions that affect billions of people around the world.“What this feud demonstrates more than anything is that Facebook and Apple have tremendous gatekeeping powers over the market,” said Elizabeth Renieris, founding director of the Technology Ethics Lab at the University of Notre Dame.But Apple says it is just looking out for the best interests of the more than 1 billion people currently using iPhones.“Now is a good time to bring this out, both because of because of the increasing amount of data they have on their devices, and their sensitivity (about the privacy risks) is increasing, too," Erik Neuenschwander, Apple's chief privacy engineer, told The Associated Press in an interview.Once the software update is installed -- something most iPhone users do -- even existing apps already on the device will be required to ask and receive consent to track online activities. That’s a shift Facebook fiercely resisted, most prominently in a series of full-page newspaper ads blasting Apple.Until now, Facebook and other apps have been able to automatically conduct their surveillance on iPhones unless users took the time and trouble to go into their settings to prevent it -- a process that few people bother to navigate.“This is an important step toward consumers getting the transparency and the controls they have clearly been looking for,” said Daniel Barber, CEO of DataGrail, a firm that helps companies manage personal privacy.In its attacks on Apple's anti-tracking controls, Facebook blasted the move as an abuse of power designed to force more apps to charge for their services instead of relying on ads. Apple takes a 15% to 30% cut on most payments processed through an iPhone app.Online tracking has long helped Facebook and thousands of other apps accumulate information about their user’s interests and habits so they can show customized ads. Although Facebook executives initially acknowledged Apple’s changes would probably reduce its revenue by billions of dollars annually, the social networking company has framed most of its public criticism as a defense of small businesses that rely on online ads to stay alive.Apple, in turn, has pilloried Facebook and other apps for prying so deeply into people's lives that it has created a societal crisis.In a speech given a few weeks after the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed out how personal information collected through tracking by Facebook and other social media can sometimes push people toward more misinformation and hate speech as part of the efforts to show more ads.“What are the consequences of not just tolerating but rewarding content that undermines public trust in life-saving vaccinations?” Cook asked. “What are the consequences of seeing thousands of users join extremist groups and then perpetuating an algorithm that recommends more?”It’s part of Apple’s attempt to use the privacy issue to its competitive advantage, Barber said, a tactic he now expects more major brands to embrace if the new anti-tracking controls prove popular among most consumers.In a change of tone, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently suggested that Apple’s new privacy controls could actually help his company in the long run. His rationale: The inability to automatically track iPhone users may prod more companies to sell their products directly on Facebook and affiliated services such as Instagram if they can't collect enough personal information to effectively target ads within their own apps.“It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms,” Zuckerberg said last month during a discussion held on the audio chat app Clubhouse.In the same interview, Zuckerberg also asserted most people realize that advertising is a “time-tested model” that enables them to get more services for free or at extremely low prices.“People get for the most part that if they are going to see ads, they want them to be relevant ads,” Zuckerberg said. He didn’t say whether he believes most iPhone users will consent to tracking in exchange for ads tailored to their interests.Google also depends on personal information to fuel a digital ad network even bigger than Facebook’s, but it has said it would be able to adjust to the iPhone’s new privacy controls. Unlike Facebook, Google has close business ties with Apple. Google pays Apple an estimated $9 billion to $12 billion annually to be the preferred search engine on iPhone and iPad. That arrangement is currently one element of an antitrust case filed last year by the U.S. Justice Department.Facebook is also defending itself against a federal antitrust lawsuit seeking to break the company apart. Meanwhile, Apple is being scrutinized by lawmakers and regulators around the world for the commissions it collects on purchases made through iPhone apps and its ability to shake up markets through new rules that are turning it into a de facto regulator.“Even if Apple’s business model and side in this battle is more rights protective and better for consumer privacy, there is still a question of whether we want a large corporation like Apple effectively ‘legislating’ through the app store,” Renieris said.

Apple finally releases anti-tracking feature on iPhone

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marking his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to pitch&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-business-government-and-politics-9e352e3dea44997725edb279751abab3">a $1.8 trillion investment</a>&nbsp;in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform the role government plays in American life.

Biden will make his case Wednesday night before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators due to coronavirus restrictions and in a U.S. Capitol still surrounded by black fencing after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">insurrectionists protesting his election</a>&nbsp;occupied the very dais where he will stand.

In the nationally televised ritual of a president standing before Congress, Biden will lay out a sweeping proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas reflect the frailties that were uncovered last year by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the pandemic</a>, and he will make the case that economic growth would best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.

His speech will also provide an update on progress in combating the COVID-19 crisis he was elected to tame, showcasing hundreds of millions of vaccinations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-house-virus-relief-checks-3eed6a4659f1fb7d36b4ced0eba58f86">relief checks</a>&nbsp;delivered to help offset the devastation wrought by a virus that has&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">killed more than 573,000 people in the United States</a>. He will also champion his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">$2.3 trillion infrastructure plan</a>, a staggering figure to be financed solely by higher taxes on corporations.

Seizing an opportunity born of generational calamity, Biden has embraced momentous action over incremental progress, with the goal of making the economy fairer and stronger. But he will be forced to thread the needle between Republicans who cry government overreach and some Democrats who fear he won’t go big enough.

The Democratic president’s strategy is to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-impeachments-barack-obama-4c79ff8d59f8ce19f9dae6b550223bf0">sidestep the polarization</a>&nbsp;and make his appeal directly to voters. His prime-time speech will underscore a trio of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-climate-iran-nuclear-immigration-de7b288aa2b4315b5b7fe38559a6e666">central campaign promises</a>: to manage the deadly pandemic, to turn down the tension in Washington and to restore faith in government as an effective force for good.

“He is a big-government Democrat, and he has not been at all reluctant to propose big initiatives in a response to a national crisis,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University presidential historian.

No American politician has more familiarity with the presidential address to Congress than Biden. He spent three decades in the audience as a senator and another eight years seated behind President Barack Obama during the annual address when he was vice president.

For the first time on Wednesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-vice-president-f86d6be83bf83fe9b823ae7e21f94796">a female vice president</a>, Kamala Harris, will be seated behind the chief executive for the speech.

Biden also knows that most of those seated before him have, like he did, looked at the president and envisioned themselves one day in his place. He has heard the memorable phrases and the long list of promises — often unmet — and seen the partisan reactions intensify as the years have hurried by.

He chose to delay this speech, typically given in the afterglow of a presidential inaugural. In doing so, he gave himself the chance to not simply speak of the pain of the COVID-19 crisis but also to talk about tangible progress in beating it back.

The setting will be unlike for any of his predecessors, with members of Congress spread out and socially distanced and many Republicans citing “scheduling conflicts” to explain their absence. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Biden’s presidency “can best be described as the Biden bait and switch.”

“President Biden ran as a moderate, but I’m hard pressed to think of anything at all that he’s done so far that would indicate some degree of moderation,” McConnell said.

Yet the desire for swift action is born from political necessity. Biden understands that the time for passing his agenda could be perilously short given that president’s parties historically lose congressional seats in the midterm elections, less than two years away. The Democrats’ margins are already razor-thin.

Biden will talk to Congress amid the start of a potentially booming recovery, one that could determine whether the U.S. economy can once again fire on all cylinders after a morale-crushing pandemic and a humbling financial crisis with shock waves that linger a dozen years later.

In his first three months in office, Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — passed without a single GOP vote — and has shepherded direct payments of $1,400 per person to more than 160 million households. Hundreds of billions of dollars in aid will soon arrive for state and local governments, enough money that overall U.S. growth this year could eclipse 6% — a level not seen since 1984. Administration officials are betting that it will be enough to bring back all 8.4 million jobs lost to the pandemic by next year.

Biden’s speech Wednesday is about how to sustain those gains once the debt-financed boost fades. Federal Reserve estimates suggest that the economy will slip to more modest 1.8% growth after at least two years of robust gains, potentially leaving the Biden era with some happy memories but few enduring legacies.

New in his Wednesday speech is a “families” plan that could cement his legacy with $1.8 trillion worth of spending over 10 years.

A significant amount of the proposal would ensure that eligible families receive at least $250 monthly per child through 2025, extending the enhanced tax credit that was part of Biden’s COVID-19 aid. There would be $200 billion for free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Another $225 billion would pay for subsidized child care and invest in child care workers.

A national paid family and medical leave program would be started at a cost of $225 billion. Another $200 billion would go to permanently reduce health insurance premiums for people who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act.

For $109 billion, people could attend community college tuition-free for two years. There would be $85 billion for Pell Grants to help more people afford higher education. Historically Black and tribal institutions would be eligible to receive $46 billion.

Funding all of this would be a series of tax increases on the wealthy that would raise about $1.5 trillion over a decade.

Biden wants to boost IRS enforcement and require disclosures by financial institutions, specifically targeting the rich. The White House estimates that would bring in $700 billion over 10 years. He would raise the top tax rate on the most affluent families from 37% to 39.6%. People earning in excess of $1 million a year would see their rate on capital gains — the profits from a sale of a stock or home — nearly double from 20% to 39.6%, which would mean the wealthiest Americans could no longer pay at a lower rate than many families who identify as middle class.

The president has drawn a firm red line that no household earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes, a move that both broadened the definition of the middle class and clearly delineated just how extreme inequality has become.

Economist Owen Zidar, whose research suggested that capital gains tax hikes could raise meaningful revenues, said the programs funded by the proceeds might allow poorer children to become inventors and entrepreneurs, positions that are increasingly reserved for the offspring of wealthy parents.

“There are many missing Einsteins and Elon Musks,” Zidar said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Marking his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden will use his first joint address to Congress to pitch&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/education-business-government-and-politics-9e352e3dea44997725edb279751abab3">a $1.8 trillion investment</a>&nbsp;in children, families and education that would fundamentally transform the role government plays in American life.Biden will make his case Wednesday night before a pared-down gathering of mask-wearing legislators due to coronavirus restrictions and in a U.S. Capitol still surrounded by black fencing after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">insurrectionists protesting his election</a>&nbsp;occupied the very dais where he will stand.In the nationally televised ritual of a president standing before Congress, Biden will lay out a sweeping proposal for universal preschool, two years of free community college, $225 billion for child care and monthly payments of at least $250 to parents. His ideas reflect the frailties that were uncovered last year by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the pandemic</a>, and he will make the case that economic growth would best come from taxing the rich to help the middle class and the poor.His speech will also provide an update on progress in combating the COVID-19 crisis he was elected to tame, showcasing hundreds of millions of vaccinations and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-house-virus-relief-checks-3eed6a4659f1fb7d36b4ced0eba58f86">relief checks</a>&nbsp;delivered to help offset the devastation wrought by a virus that has&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">killed more than 573,000 people in the United States</a>. He will also champion his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-technology-coronavirus-pandemic-pittsburgh-jen-psaki-8865ffc8f5ad3142155a5bd3c3a3e6d3">$2.3 trillion infrastructure plan</a>, a staggering figure to be financed solely by higher taxes on corporations.Seizing an opportunity born of generational calamity, Biden has embraced momentous action over incremental progress, with the goal of making the economy fairer and stronger. But he will be forced to thread the needle between Republicans who cry government overreach and some Democrats who fear he won’t go big enough.The Democratic president’s strategy is to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic-impeachments-barack-obama-4c79ff8d59f8ce19f9dae6b550223bf0">sidestep the polarization</a>&nbsp;and make his appeal directly to voters. His prime-time speech will underscore a trio of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-climate-iran-nuclear-immigration-de7b288aa2b4315b5b7fe38559a6e666">central campaign promises</a>: to manage the deadly pandemic, to turn down the tension in Washington and to restore faith in government as an effective force for good.“He is a big-government Democrat, and he has not been at all reluctant to propose big initiatives in a response to a national crisis,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University presidential historian.No American politician has more familiarity with the presidential address to Congress than Biden. He spent three decades in the audience as a senator and another eight years seated behind President Barack Obama during the annual address when he was vice president.For the first time on Wednesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-vice-president-f86d6be83bf83fe9b823ae7e21f94796">a female vice president</a>, Kamala Harris, will be seated behind the chief executive for the speech.Biden also knows that most of those seated before him have, like he did, looked at the president and envisioned themselves one day in his place. He has heard the memorable phrases and the long list of promises — often unmet — and seen the partisan reactions intensify as the years have hurried by.He chose to delay this speech, typically given in the afterglow of a presidential inaugural. In doing so, he gave himself the chance to not simply speak of the pain of the COVID-19 crisis but also to talk about tangible progress in beating it back.The setting will be unlike for any of his predecessors, with members of Congress spread out and socially distanced and many Republicans citing “scheduling conflicts” to explain their absence. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that Biden’s presidency “can best be described as the Biden bait and switch.”“President Biden ran as a moderate, but I’m hard pressed to think of anything at all that he’s done so far that would indicate some degree of moderation,” McConnell said.Yet the desire for swift action is born from political necessity. Biden understands that the time for passing his agenda could be perilously short given that president’s parties historically lose congressional seats in the midterm elections, less than two years away. The Democrats’ margins are already razor-thin.Biden will talk to Congress amid the start of a potentially booming recovery, one that could determine whether the U.S. economy can once again fire on all cylinders after a morale-crushing pandemic and a humbling financial crisis with shock waves that linger a dozen years later.In his first three months in office, Biden signed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill — passed without a single GOP vote — and has shepherded direct payments of $1,400 per person to more than 160 million households. Hundreds of billions of dollars in aid will soon arrive for state and local governments, enough money that overall U.S. growth this year could eclipse 6% — a level not seen since 1984. Administration officials are betting that it will be enough to bring back all 8.4 million jobs lost to the pandemic by next year.Biden’s speech Wednesday is about how to sustain those gains once the debt-financed boost fades. Federal Reserve estimates suggest that the economy will slip to more modest 1.8% growth after at least two years of robust gains, potentially leaving the Biden era with some happy memories but few enduring legacies.New in his Wednesday speech is a “families” plan that could cement his legacy with $1.8 trillion worth of spending over 10 years.A significant amount of the proposal would ensure that eligible families receive at least $250 monthly per child through 2025, extending the enhanced tax credit that was part of Biden’s COVID-19 aid. There would be $200 billion for free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds. Another $225 billion would pay for subsidized child care and invest in child care workers.A national paid family and medical leave program would be started at a cost of $225 billion. Another $200 billion would go to permanently reduce health insurance premiums for people who receive coverage through the Affordable Care Act.For $109 billion, people could attend community college tuition-free for two years. There would be $85 billion for Pell Grants to help more people afford higher education. Historically Black and tribal institutions would be eligible to receive $46 billion.Funding all of this would be a series of tax increases on the wealthy that would raise about $1.5 trillion over a decade.Biden wants to boost IRS enforcement and require disclosures by financial institutions, specifically targeting the rich. The White House estimates that would bring in $700 billion over 10 years. He would raise the top tax rate on the most affluent families from 37% to 39.6%. People earning in excess of $1 million a year would see their rate on capital gains — the profits from a sale of a stock or home — nearly double from 20% to 39.6%, which would mean the wealthiest Americans could no longer pay at a lower rate than many families who identify as middle class.The president has drawn a firm red line that no household earning less than $400,000 a year will pay more in taxes, a move that both broadened the definition of the middle class and clearly delineated just how extreme inequality has become.Economist Owen Zidar, whose research suggested that capital gains tax hikes could raise meaningful revenues, said the programs funded by the proceeds might allow poorer children to become inventors and entrepreneurs, positions that are increasingly reserved for the offspring of wealthy parents.“There are many missing Einsteins and Elon Musks,” Zidar said.___

Biden to propose free preschool, community college in speech to Congress

WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department
 of the Treasury, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service announced they 
are disbursing nearly 2 million payments in the seventh batch of 
Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan.

Today's announcement brings the total disbursed so far to 
approximately 163 million payments, with a total value of approximately 
$384 billion, since these payments began rolling out to Americans in 
batches <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-begins-delivering-third-round-of-economic-impact-payments-to-americans">as announced</a> on March 12.

The seventh batch of payments began processing on Friday, April 23, 
with an official payment date of April 28, with some people receiving 
direct payments in their accounts earlier as provisional or pending 
deposits. Here is additional information on this batch of payments:

Additional information is available on the first six batches of 
Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan, which processed 
weekly on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/two-million-more-economic-impact-payments-disbursed-under-the-american-rescue-plan-total-reaches-approximately-161-million-as-payments-continue">April 16</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-2-million-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan-va-beneficiaries-bring-total-to-approximately-159-million-as-payments-continue">April 9</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-25-million-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan">April 2</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan-total-tops-130-million-with-more-to-come">March 26</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-another-37-million-economic-impact-payments-from-the-american-rescue-plan">March 19</a> and <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0063">March 12</a>.

The IRS will continue to make Economic Impact Payments on a weekly 
basis. Ongoing payments will be sent to eligible individuals for whom 
the IRS previously did not have information to issue a payment but who 
recently filed a tax return, as well to people who qualify for "plus-up"
 payments.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department
 of the Treasury, and the Bureau of the Fiscal Service announced they 
are disbursing nearly 2 million payments in the seventh batch of 
Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan.Today's announcement brings the total disbursed so far to 
approximately 163 million payments, with a total value of approximately 
$384 billion, since these payments began rolling out to Americans in 
batches <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-begins-delivering-third-round-of-economic-impact-payments-to-americans">as announced</a> on March 12.The seventh batch of payments began processing on Friday, April 23, 
with an official payment date of April 28, with some people receiving 
direct payments in their accounts earlier as provisional or pending 
deposits. Here is additional information on this batch of payments:<ul>
 <li>In total, this batch includes nearly 2 million payments with a value of more than $4.3 billion.</li><li>More than 1.2 million payments, with a value of over $3 billion, 
went to eligible individuals for whom the IRS previously did not have 
information to issue an Economic Impact Payment but who recently filed a
 tax return.&nbsp;</li><li>This batch also includes additional ongoing supplemental payments 
for people who earlier this year received payments based on their 2019 
tax returns but are eligible for a new or larger payment based on their 
recently processed 2020 tax returns. This batch included more than 
730,000 of these "plus-up" payments, with a value of over $1.3 billion.</li><li>Overall, this seventh batch of payments contains about 1.1 million 
direct deposit payments (with a total value of $2.5 billion) and about 
850,000 paper check payments (with a total value of more than $1.8 
billion).</li>
 </ul>Additional information is available on the first six batches of 
Economic Impact Payments from the American Rescue Plan, which processed 
weekly on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/two-million-more-economic-impact-payments-disbursed-under-the-american-rescue-plan-total-reaches-approximately-161-million-as-payments-continue">April 16</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-2-million-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan-va-beneficiaries-bring-total-to-approximately-159-million-as-payments-continue">April 9</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-25-million-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan">April 2</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-more-economic-impact-payments-under-the-american-rescue-plan-total-tops-130-million-with-more-to-come">March 26</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-treasury-disburse-another-37-million-economic-impact-payments-from-the-american-rescue-plan">March 19</a> and <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0063">March 12</a>.The IRS will continue to make Economic Impact Payments on a weekly 
basis. Ongoing payments will be sent to eligible individuals for whom 
the IRS previously did not have information to issue a payment but who 
recently filed a tax return, as well to people who qualify for "plus-up"
 payments.<h2>Special reminder for those who don't normally file a tax return</h2>Although payments are automatic for most people, the IRS continues to
 urge people who don't normally file a tax return and haven't received 
Economic Impact Payments to file a 2020 tax return to get all the 
benefits they're entitled to under the law, including tax credits such 
as the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit">2020 Recovery Rebate Credit</a>,
 the Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. Filing a 2020 
tax return will also assist the IRS in determining whether someone is 
eligible for an advance payment of the 2021 Child Tax Credit, which will
 begin to be disbursed this summer.For example, some federal benefits recipients may need to file a 2020
 tax return – even if they don't usually file – to provide information 
the IRS needs to send payments for a qualifying dependent. Eligible 
individuals in this group should file a 2020 tax return as quickly as 
possible to be considered for an additional payment for their qualifying
 dependents.People who don't normally file a tax return and don't receive federal
 benefits may qualify for these Economic Impact Payments. This includes 
those experiencing <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/those-experiencing-homelessness-can-get-economic-impact-payments-and-other-tax-benefits-permanent-address-not-required">homelessness</a>,
 the rural poor, and others. Individuals who didn't get a first or 
second round Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amounts 
may be eligible for the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit">2020 Recovery Rebate Credit</a>, but they'll need to file a 2020 tax return. See the special section on IRS.gov: <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/recovery-rebate-credit-topic-a-claiming-the-recovery-rebate-credit-if-you-arent-required-to-file-a-tax-return">Claiming the 2020 Recovery Rebate Credit if you aren't required to file a tax return</a>.Free <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/free-tax-return-preparation-for-qualifying-taxpayers">tax return preparation</a> is available for qualifying people.The IRS reminds taxpayers that the income levels in this third round 
of Economic Impact Payments have changed. This means that some people 
won't be eligible for the third payment even if they received a first or
 second Economic Impact Payment or claimed a 2020 Recovery Rebate 
Credit. Payments will begin to be reduced for individuals making $75,000
 or above in Adjusted Gross Income ($150,000 for married filing 
jointly). The payments end at $80,000 for individuals ($160,000 for 
married filing jointly); people with Adjusted Gross Incomes above these 
levels are ineligible for a payment.Individuals can check the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment">Get My Payment</a>&nbsp;tool on IRS.gov to see the payment status of these payments. Additional information on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/economic-impact-payments">Economic Impact Payments</a> is available on IRS.gov.