LAWRENCE — In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act, the most recent piece of major federal education policy, required and incentivized states to address the needs of individual learners through practices including personalized learning. 

University of Kansas researchers have co-written a pair of studies showing that while all states have addressed personalized learning in their official state policies, there is no common definition for what the practice can be and little agreement on how to implement or support the practice.

Personalized learning is the practice of designing education curriculum to match the needs of individual students based on their strengths and interests instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach. Although personalized learning has gained support from policymakers and researchers, the nation still has much work to do to implement it on a mass scale, starting by defining exactly what personalized learning is, the researchers said.

The study authors analyzed ESSA plans for all 50 states, and four major themes emerged: definitions of PL, goals of PL for students, supports for PL and partnerships. The study was co-written by Ling Zhang and Sohyun Yang, recent doctoral graduate and doctoral candidate in special education at KU; and Richard Allen Carter assistant professor at the University of Wyoming and a KU alumnus. It was published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2020.1728448?scroll=top&amp;needAccess=true">Journal of Research on Technology in Education.&nbsp;</a>

Among the key findings was that several organizations and states had attempted to define what personalized learning is or should be, but there was no consensus, and not even every state attempted definitions in their policies.

“There was no common definition of what personalized learning is, so we wanted to understand better what they thought it is or can be,” Yang said.

The lack of a common definition led to varying goals on what states hoped to achieve through personalized learning, though common themes did emerge. A handful of states each stated goals of providing well-rounded educational opportunities, alternate pathways to skill attainment and graduation, using PL to benefit marginalized populations of students and school improvement through the practice.

“These main goals emerged from states’ guidance on PL. Some wanted to use it to improve the entire school itself instead of focusing on individual students,” Zhang said. “Only a few states had guidelines on how to use PL for students in marginalized groups like those with disabilities, homeless or migratory students. Also by reviewing research on personalized learning, we found a few studies included students with disabilities as participants, and one study explicitly excluded students with disabilities, even though it is supposed to be for all students.”

In terms of support for personalized learning, the analysis found states focused largely on professional development for teachers and administrators, but others also described funding, technology and resources in their policies. While all four components are related, varying state laws, especially for how education funding can be used, prevented widespread consensus on how the required practice could be supported.

The fourth major theme, partnership, revealed that states primarily focused on partnering in one of two ways to implement personalized learning. Primarily, policies emphasized partnerships between school districts to support each other in use of the practice, while others emphasized partnering with private organizations that provide educational technology training and support.

The authors made several recommendations. 

First among them is the need for a consistent definition of what the practice is. To that end, the authors recommend the development of a conceptual framework for personalized learning, based both on research and successful, comprehensive PL policies such as those in place in New Hampshire and Tennessee. Such a definition should also specify that personalized learning is a way to provide well-rounded education to all students, including those with disabilities or from marginalized groups, create alternate pathways to skill attainment and graduation, and push for schoolwide improvement, the authors argue.

Technology and the role it can play in delivering personalized learning to students should also play a role in policy and an integrated approach to implementation, involving the concerns of all stakeholders such as administrators, teachers, parents and policymakers as well, researchers said.

“Policymakers need to decide how to define PL and then have clear policies about how to implement it in their schools and states,” Yang said. “To move PL forward, we need to consider how to build these supports at an integrated level.”

The authors said additional research in personalized learning is necessary to support good policy, and that it can also focus on how to help teachers implement it to their students’ benefit in classrooms and through blended learning every day. 

An additional study by Zhang, Yang and James Basham, professor of special education at KU, published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/educational-research-review">journal Educational Research Revie</a>w, found that the majority of research in personalized learning is in the early stages, focusing on the role of technology and contextual factors in implementation, leaving room for study on how the approach can be undertaken on a whole-school level.

While the research was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors said the challenges presented to education by forcing schools to close, teach remotely and examine their daily practices can in fact be an opportunity to improve how educators reach each individual student.

“Ironically, this crisis has been an accelerator for changing the way we think about how we deliver education to every student,” Zhang said. “It has opened more conversations about how to redefine the personalized learning experience for both students and teachers.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599075864948.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>KU News ServiceLAWRENCE — In 2015, the Every Student Succeeds Act, the most recent piece of major federal education policy, required and incentivized states to address the needs of individual learners through practices including personalized learning. University of Kansas researchers have co-written a pair of studies showing that while all states have addressed personalized learning in their official state policies, there is no common definition for what the practice can be and little agreement on how to implement or support the practice.Personalized learning is the practice of designing education curriculum to match the needs of individual students based on their strengths and interests instead of using a one-size-fits-all approach. Although personalized learning has gained support from policymakers and researchers, the nation still has much work to do to implement it on a mass scale, starting by defining exactly what personalized learning is, the researchers said.The study authors analyzed ESSA plans for all 50 states, and four major themes emerged: definitions of PL, goals of PL for students, supports for PL and partnerships. The study was co-written by Ling Zhang and Sohyun Yang, recent doctoral graduate and doctoral candidate in special education at KU; and Richard Allen Carter assistant professor at the University of Wyoming and a KU alumnus. It was published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15391523.2020.1728448?scroll=top&amp;needAccess=true">Journal of Research on Technology in Education.&nbsp;</a>Among the key findings was that several organizations and states had attempted to define what personalized learning is or should be, but there was no consensus, and not even every state attempted definitions in their policies.“There was no common definition of what personalized learning is, so we wanted to understand better what they thought it is or can be,” Yang said.The lack of a common definition led to varying goals on what states hoped to achieve through personalized learning, though common themes did emerge. A handful of states each stated goals of providing well-rounded educational opportunities, alternate pathways to skill attainment and graduation, using PL to benefit marginalized populations of students and school improvement through the practice.“These main goals emerged from states’ guidance on PL. Some wanted to use it to improve the entire school itself instead of focusing on individual students,” Zhang said. “Only a few states had guidelines on how to use PL for students in marginalized groups like those with disabilities, homeless or migratory students. Also by reviewing research on personalized learning, we found a few studies included students with disabilities as participants, and one study explicitly excluded students with disabilities, even though it is supposed to be for all students.”In terms of support for personalized learning, the analysis found states focused largely on professional development for teachers and administrators, but others also described funding, technology and resources in their policies. While all four components are related, varying state laws, especially for how education funding can be used, prevented widespread consensus on how the required practice could be supported.The fourth major theme, partnership, revealed that states primarily focused on partnering in one of two ways to implement personalized learning. Primarily, policies emphasized partnerships between school districts to support each other in use of the practice, while others emphasized partnering with private organizations that provide educational technology training and support.The authors made several recommendations. First among them is the need for a consistent definition of what the practice is. To that end, the authors recommend the development of a conceptual framework for personalized learning, based both on research and successful, comprehensive PL policies such as those in place in New Hampshire and Tennessee. Such a definition should also specify that personalized learning is a way to provide well-rounded education to all students, including those with disabilities or from marginalized groups, create alternate pathways to skill attainment and graduation, and push for schoolwide improvement, the authors argue.Technology and the role it can play in delivering personalized learning to students should also play a role in policy and an integrated approach to implementation, involving the concerns of all stakeholders such as administrators, teachers, parents and policymakers as well, researchers said.“Policymakers need to decide how to define PL and then have clear policies about how to implement it in their schools and states,” Yang said. “To move PL forward, we need to consider how to build these supports at an integrated level.”The authors said additional research in personalized learning is necessary to support good policy, and that it can also focus on how to help teachers implement it to their students’ benefit in classrooms and through blended learning every day. An additional study by Zhang, Yang and James Basham, professor of special education at KU, published in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.journals.elsevier.com/educational-research-review">journal Educational Research Revie</a>w, found that the majority of research in personalized learning is in the early stages, focusing on the role of technology and contextual factors in implementation, leaving room for study on how the approach can be undertaken on a whole-school level.While the research was conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors said the challenges presented to education by forcing schools to close, teach remotely and examine their daily practices can in fact be an opportunity to improve how educators reach each individual student.“Ironically, this crisis has been an accelerator for changing the way we think about how we deliver education to every student,” Zhang said. “It has opened more conversations about how to redefine the personalized learning experience for both students and teachers.”

Study: How states can improve personalized learning for students

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Police have arrested a suspect in a deadly shooting at a Motel 6 in Omaha.

Officers responded to the motel around 9 p.m. Friday and found a 17-year-old dead in a room. Police say the 20-year-old suspect was taken into custody without incident. He has been booked him into jail on suspicion of manslaughter, use of a weapon to commit a felony, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

Police didn't immediately release the name of the victim or details about what led up to the shooting.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Police have arrested a suspect in a deadly shooting at a Motel 6 in Omaha.Officers responded to the motel around 9 p.m. Friday and found a 17-year-old dead in a room. Police say the 20-year-old suspect was taken into custody without incident. He has been booked him into jail on suspicion of manslaughter, use of a weapon to commit a felony, possession of a stolen firearm and possession of a controlled substance.Police didn't immediately release the name of the victim or details about what led up to the shooting.

Man, 20, arrested in deadly shooting of 17-year-old in Omaha

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced plans to expand the collection of personal “biometric” information by the agency in charge of immigration enforcement, raising concerns about civil liberties and data protection.

In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it would soon issue a formal proposal for a new regulation for expanding “the authorities and methods” for collecting biometrics, which are physical characteristics such as fingerprints used to identify individuals.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a component of DHS, already collects biometric data, including iris scans, from people captured trying to enter the country without legal authority.

DHS said in a written statement that the new rule would authorize new techniques, including voice and facial recognition to verify people’s identity.

The agency did not release the proposed regulation or provide details. BuzzFeed News, which obtained a draft of the policy, reported earlier Tuesday that it included a provision for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is also a component of DHS, to collect biometric data from non-citizens legally working and living in the U.S. or seeking to do so.

It would also require U.S. citizens sponsoring relatives to come to the country to provide biometric data, including in some cases their DNA, if it was needed to verify someone’s identity.

“This is a remarkable expansion of surveillance, especially the idea that immigrants could be called in at any point to give these biometrics,” said Sarah Pierce, an analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.

It typically takes several months for a new regulation to take effect after a public comment period. This measure is likely to prompt legal challenges, as have most immigration measures introduced under President Donald Trump.

Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli characterized the new regulation in a written statement as a way to improve the verification of people’s identities and modernize operations.

“Leveraging readily available technology to verify the identity of an individual we are screening is responsible governing,” Cuccinelli said. “The collection of biometric information also guards against identity theft and thwarts fraudsters who are not who they claim to be.”

DHS is charged with enforcing the strict immigration enforcement policies that have been a hallmark of the Trump administration. But the agency is also in charge Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is responsible for enabling people to legally live and work in the United States.

A lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights watchdog, said there’s no justification for expanding biometric data collection, and no clear rules for how long the information can be retained, how it can be used, and whether it can be shared with foreign governments or other agencies.

“There doesn’t really seem to be any indication that this will help with combating fraud or anything like that,” said EFF staff attorney Saira Hussain. “Rather, it’s about making it so the government can engage in dragnet surveillance of immigrant communities by being able to access some of their most unique and sensitive biometric information.”

There are also concerns about protecting the data. CBP said last year that photos of travelers and their license plates at a border crossing were compromised in a cyber attack on a government contractor.

“The more data you collect and the more sensitive it is the more that opens up the government to potential data breaches,” Hussain said.

Andrea Flores, deputy director of policy for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the new policy would be an invasion of privacy rights and is a part of a broader administration effort to curtail all immigration.

“They really are trying to shut down legal immigration by creating new barriers, in this case asking people to turn over their most personal information and discouraging people from coming forward and using our legal immigration pathways.” said Flores, a policy analyst at DHS in the Obama administration. “It’s saying that immigrants are suspect and not welcome here, and if you’re related to an immigrant we’re also concerned about your presence.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced plans to expand the collection of personal “biometric” information by the agency in charge of immigration enforcement, raising concerns about civil liberties and data protection.In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said it would soon issue a formal proposal for a new regulation for expanding “the authorities and methods” for collecting biometrics, which are physical characteristics such as fingerprints used to identify individuals.U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a component of DHS, already collects biometric data, including iris scans, from people captured trying to enter the country without legal authority.DHS said in a written statement that the new rule would authorize new techniques, including voice and facial recognition to verify people’s identity.The agency did not release the proposed regulation or provide details. BuzzFeed News, which obtained a draft of the policy, reported earlier Tuesday that it included a provision for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is also a component of DHS, to collect biometric data from non-citizens legally working and living in the U.S. or seeking to do so.It would also require U.S. citizens sponsoring relatives to come to the country to provide biometric data, including in some cases their DNA, if it was needed to verify someone’s identity.“This is a remarkable expansion of surveillance, especially the idea that immigrants could be called in at any point to give these biometrics,” said Sarah Pierce, an analyst with the Migration Policy Institute.It typically takes several months for a new regulation to take effect after a public comment period. This measure is likely to prompt legal challenges, as have most immigration measures introduced under President Donald Trump.Acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli characterized the new regulation in a written statement as a way to improve the verification of people’s identities and modernize operations.“Leveraging readily available technology to verify the identity of an individual we are screening is responsible governing,” Cuccinelli said. “The collection of biometric information also guards against identity theft and thwarts fraudsters who are not who they claim to be.”DHS is charged with enforcing the strict immigration enforcement policies that have been a hallmark of the Trump administration. But the agency is also in charge Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is responsible for enabling people to legally live and work in the United States.A lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights watchdog, said there’s no justification for expanding biometric data collection, and no clear rules for how long the information can be retained, how it can be used, and whether it can be shared with foreign governments or other agencies.“There doesn’t really seem to be any indication that this will help with combating fraud or anything like that,” said EFF staff attorney Saira Hussain. “Rather, it’s about making it so the government can engage in dragnet surveillance of immigrant communities by being able to access some of their most unique and sensitive biometric information.”There are also concerns about protecting the data. CBP said last year that photos of travelers and their license plates at a border crossing were compromised in a cyber attack on a government contractor.“The more data you collect and the more sensitive it is the more that opens up the government to potential data breaches,” Hussain said.Andrea Flores, deputy director of policy for the American Civil Liberties Union, said the new policy would be an invasion of privacy rights and is a part of a broader administration effort to curtail all immigration.“They really are trying to shut down legal immigration by creating new barriers, in this case asking people to turn over their most personal information and discouraging people from coming forward and using our legal immigration pathways.” said Flores, a policy analyst at DHS in the Obama administration. “It’s saying that immigrants are suspect and not welcome here, and if you’re related to an immigrant we’re also concerned about your presence.”_____

Homeland Security plans expanded use of personal data

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Stir-crazy in some cases after the dreary Summer of COVID-19, Americans headed into the Labor Day weekend amid warnings from public health officials not to make the same mistakes they did over Memorial Day and July Fourth.

The fear is that backyard parties, crowded bars and other gatherings will cause the coronavirus to come surging back

“I look upon the Labor Day weekend really as a critical point,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert. “Are we going to go in the right direction and continue the momentum downward, or are we going to have to step back a bit as we start another surge?”

The warnings came as a widely cited model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a worsening outbreak in the U.S. that will peak in early December at about 2,900 deaths per day, up from about 860 a day now, unless government officials take action.

Over the summer, the U.S. saw a rise in infections, deaths and hospitalizations, primarily in the South and West, that was blamed in part on Americans behaving heedlessly over Memorial Day and July Fourth.

The landscape has improved in recent weeks, with the numbers headed in the right direction in hard-hit states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, but there are certain risk factors that could combine with Labor Day: Children are going back to school, university campuses are seeing soaring case counts, college football is starting, more businesses are open, and flu season is around the corner.

And a few states are heading into the holiday with less room in hospitals than they had over Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Alabama, for example, had about 800 people hospitalized with the virus on July 1. This week, it has just under 1,000.

More beaches will be open on Labor Day than on Memorial Day, but Fauci said that is not cause in itself for concern, as long as people keep their distance.

“I would rather see someone on a beach, being physically separated enough, than someone crowded in an indoor bar,” he said.

Americans, cooped up for months, appeared more than ready to venture out and socialize — though with some precautions.

In New York City, once the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., Jennifer Bolstad of Brooklyn picked up the keys to a rented minivan with plans to drive with her two children to Maryland this weekend to visit family she hasn’t seen in a year.

“I monitored the quarantine list pathologically, and they are finally a place I can visit,” she said, referring to the list of states that New York has advised are safe to travel to. “I think a lot of people are going stir-crazy and are going somewhere this weekend and possibly not be as cautious as they should about not bringing their germs back with them.”

Fellow New Yorker 30-year-old Heather Poole and her fiance, Jason Goldrosen, decided to pack up some bedding along with the makings for s’mores and head to a tiny home on the property of a brewery for the long weekend about two hours north of the city. She figures it will be one last blast of freedom before she is cooped up again this fall.

“It’s kind of a way to enjoy the outdoors and be able to walk outside and not run into a lot of people or feel the need to wear a mask the second you walk out your door,” she said.

In Cicero, Indiana, 40-year-old Matt McInnis planned to continue with tradition by getting together with about 15 neighborhood friends for a barbecue. And forget wearing masks.

“With the picnic being outdoors, we feel that we can space enough, and with the fresh air that we are going to be safe with it being outdoors and in the wide open,” McInnis said. He said they won’t be asking the eight children at the picnic to socially distance either.

Dawn Love of Bolton, Connecticut, decided to host an outdoor breakfast Saturday for her running group, The Crazy Legs, at her cottage on a lake. The 20 members normally run the local roads together every weekend but haven’t seen each other since March.

Love, 62, said she expects just a few people to show up, with some deciding it was still too risky and begging off.

“Everyone is bringing their own breakfast, their own beverage and a mask,” she said. “We’re going to meet and have the chairs 6 feet apart. Wearing the mask will depend on the comfort level with the person you’re talking to. I have a bathroom inside the cottage, with paper towels and a basket, so there is no shared towels.”

The gathering comes as governors throughout the Northeast discouraged people from traveling out of state this weekend. Visitors from 33 states and territories must quarantine for 14 days after arriving in New Jersey, New York or Connecticut.

The outbreak is blamed for about 187,000 deaths and almost 6.2 million confirmed infections in the U.S., by far the highest totals in the world. Cases of COVID-19, which spiked from about 20,000 per day to around 70,000 during the summertime surge in the South, are now down to about 40,000.

Worldwide, the number of deaths has topped 870,000, with more than 26.4 million infections.

The IHME model Friday predicted that worsening outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere will lead to 1.9 million more COVID-19 deaths in the remaining months of 2020 unless governments take action.

Mask mandates and social distancing could save hundreds of thousands of lives, but there is “a tremendous amount of COVID fatigue” among the world’s leaders because of the economic downturn, said IHME’s Dr. Christopher Murray.

Dr. Albert Ko, a Yale University epidemiologist, said he is concerned about students heading back to school across the nation next week after coming back from holiday travel and a weekend of social gatherings.

“Any transmission events that happen here could be amplified unless we’re careful about it,” Ko said. “Whether it’s going to be a perfect storm, l don’t think so. People are aware of the risk, and people have been socially distancing. But this is certainly a concern.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1591911691981.png" alt="Snap Chat image of the crowded Memorial weekend pool party at Lake of the Ozarks." />
 <figcaption>Snap Chat image of the crowded Memorial weekend pool party at Lake of the Ozarks.</figcaption>
 </figure>HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Stir-crazy in some cases after the dreary Summer of COVID-19, Americans headed into the Labor Day weekend amid warnings from public health officials not to make the same mistakes they did over Memorial Day and July Fourth.The fear is that backyard parties, crowded bars and other gatherings will cause the coronavirus to come surging back“I look upon the Labor Day weekend really as a critical point,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert. “Are we going to go in the right direction and continue the momentum downward, or are we going to have to step back a bit as we start another surge?”The warnings came as a widely cited model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projected a worsening outbreak in the U.S. that will peak in early December at about 2,900 deaths per day, up from about 860 a day now, unless government officials take action.Over the summer, the U.S. saw a rise in infections, deaths and hospitalizations, primarily in the South and West, that was blamed in part on Americans behaving heedlessly over Memorial Day and July Fourth.The landscape has improved in recent weeks, with the numbers headed in the right direction in hard-hit states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, but there are certain risk factors that could combine with Labor Day: Children are going back to school, university campuses are seeing soaring case counts, college football is starting, more businesses are open, and flu season is around the corner.And a few states are heading into the holiday with less room in hospitals than they had over Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Alabama, for example, had about 800 people hospitalized with the virus on July 1. This week, it has just under 1,000.More beaches will be open on Labor Day than on Memorial Day, but Fauci said that is not cause in itself for concern, as long as people keep their distance.“I would rather see someone on a beach, being physically separated enough, than someone crowded in an indoor bar,” he said.Americans, cooped up for months, appeared more than ready to venture out and socialize — though with some precautions.In New York City, once the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., Jennifer Bolstad of Brooklyn picked up the keys to a rented minivan with plans to drive with her two children to Maryland this weekend to visit family she hasn’t seen in a year.“I monitored the quarantine list pathologically, and they are finally a place I can visit,” she said, referring to the list of states that New York has advised are safe to travel to. “I think a lot of people are going stir-crazy and are going somewhere this weekend and possibly not be as cautious as they should about not bringing their germs back with them.”Fellow New Yorker 30-year-old Heather Poole and her fiance, Jason Goldrosen, decided to pack up some bedding along with the makings for s’mores and head to a tiny home on the property of a brewery for the long weekend about two hours north of the city. She figures it will be one last blast of freedom before she is cooped up again this fall.“It’s kind of a way to enjoy the outdoors and be able to walk outside and not run into a lot of people or feel the need to wear a mask the second you walk out your door,” she said.In Cicero, Indiana, 40-year-old Matt McInnis planned to continue with tradition by getting together with about 15 neighborhood friends for a barbecue. And forget wearing masks.“With the picnic being outdoors, we feel that we can space enough, and with the fresh air that we are going to be safe with it being outdoors and in the wide open,” McInnis said. He said they won’t be asking the eight children at the picnic to socially distance either.Dawn Love of Bolton, Connecticut, decided to host an outdoor breakfast Saturday for her running group, The Crazy Legs, at her cottage on a lake. The 20 members normally run the local roads together every weekend but haven’t seen each other since March.Love, 62, said she expects just a few people to show up, with some deciding it was still too risky and begging off.“Everyone is bringing their own breakfast, their own beverage and a mask,” she said. “We’re going to meet and have the chairs 6 feet apart. Wearing the mask will depend on the comfort level with the person you’re talking to. I have a bathroom inside the cottage, with paper towels and a basket, so there is no shared towels.”The gathering comes as governors throughout the Northeast discouraged people from traveling out of state this weekend. Visitors from 33 states and territories must quarantine for 14 days after arriving in New Jersey, New York or Connecticut.The outbreak is blamed for about 187,000 deaths and almost 6.2 million confirmed infections in the U.S., by far the highest totals in the world. Cases of COVID-19, which spiked from about 20,000 per day to around 70,000 during the summertime surge in the South, are now down to about 40,000.Worldwide, the number of deaths has topped 870,000, with more than 26.4 million infections.The IHME model Friday predicted that worsening outbreaks in the Northern Hemisphere will lead to 1.9 million more COVID-19 deaths in the remaining months of 2020 unless governments take action.Mask mandates and social distancing could save hundreds of thousands of lives, but there is “a tremendous amount of COVID fatigue” among the world’s leaders because of the economic downturn, said IHME’s Dr. Christopher Murray.Dr. Albert Ko, a Yale University epidemiologist, said he is concerned about students heading back to school across the nation next week after coming back from holiday travel and a weekend of social gatherings.“Any transmission events that happen here could be amplified unless we’re careful about it,” Ko said. “Whether it’s going to be a perfect storm, l don’t think so. People are aware of the risk, and people have been socially distancing. But this is certainly a concern.”___

Will long Labor Day weekend mean another coronavirus spike?

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that on September 2, 2020, Nathan Lee Kempter of Highlands Ranch, Colorado was found guilty following a jury trial before Chief United States District Judge John M. Gerrard of enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.&nbsp; Kempter will be sentenced on December 11, 2020, and faces up to life in prison on the two counts.&nbsp;

In August of 2019, the Lincoln Police Department was contacted regarding the missing status of a 14-year-old female who had left a Lincoln, Nebraska residence through the back door and was no longer in the area. The reporting party indicated that the minor female had been overheard talking to someone on the phone.&nbsp; After a quick initial search of the neighborhood, the police were contacted.&nbsp; Reports to investigators indicated that the victim girl was observed getting into a smaller, red, four door SUV and leaving the area.&nbsp; Lincoln Police reviewed the victim’s phone for additional information and identified a Colorado telephone number that the victim had called.&nbsp; LPD was able to identify the number as belonging to Nathan Kempter who resided in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Kempter was also the registered owner of a red 2015 Nissan Versa.&nbsp; With assistance from the cellular phone company, LPD was able to track the movement of Kempter’s cellphone and determined it was located just across the Nebraska/Colorado border on Interstate 76. Lincoln Police contacted law enforcement authorities in Colorado.&nbsp;

On August 02, 2019 at 11:54 p.m., Douglas County, Colorado Sheriff’s deputies saw the red Nissan Versa driving toward Kempter’s residence in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Deputies stopped the vehicle in front of the residence and Kempter was arrested.&nbsp; At that time, Kempter informed the deputies that the young girl in his vehicle was 14 years old.&nbsp;

Later, the victim stated she met Kempter on the Reddit website, in a chat room for teen runaways. Her screen name indicated she was a 14-year-old female. After communicating with Kempter on Reddit, they moved their conversation to Tumblr, another social media platform, and exchanged message between July 23, 2019 and August 2, 2019.&nbsp; They exchanged e-mails. During these conversations, Kempter indicated he wanted to have sex with the minor victim and would bring her to Colorado to live with him.&nbsp;

The victim said that Kempter picked her up at her residence and began to drive west on Interstate 80.&nbsp; She was told to lay down in the front seat and cover herself so that she would not be seen. She said at some point while they were still in Nebraska, Kempter stopped at a Walmart so that he could buy her new clothes. Evidence obtained in a search of Kempter’s vehicle revealed the purchase of boy’s pants and shirt, and a blanket.&nbsp; The victim was told what to say and do if they were contacted by anyone in an attempt to avoid detection.&nbsp;

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/" target="_blank">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.

This case was investigated by the Lincoln Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that on September 2, 2020, Nathan Lee Kempter of Highlands Ranch, Colorado was found guilty following a jury trial before Chief United States District Judge John M. Gerrard of enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct.&nbsp; Kempter will be sentenced on December 11, 2020, and faces up to life in prison on the two counts.&nbsp;In August of 2019, the Lincoln Police Department was contacted regarding the missing status of a 14-year-old female who had left a Lincoln, Nebraska residence through the back door and was no longer in the area. The reporting party indicated that the minor female had been overheard talking to someone on the phone.&nbsp; After a quick initial search of the neighborhood, the police were contacted.&nbsp; Reports to investigators indicated that the victim girl was observed getting into a smaller, red, four door SUV and leaving the area.&nbsp; Lincoln Police reviewed the victim’s phone for additional information and identified a Colorado telephone number that the victim had called.&nbsp; LPD was able to identify the number as belonging to Nathan Kempter who resided in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Kempter was also the registered owner of a red 2015 Nissan Versa.&nbsp; With assistance from the cellular phone company, LPD was able to track the movement of Kempter’s cellphone and determined it was located just across the Nebraska/Colorado border on Interstate 76. Lincoln Police contacted law enforcement authorities in Colorado.&nbsp;On August 02, 2019 at 11:54 p.m., Douglas County, Colorado Sheriff’s deputies saw the red Nissan Versa driving toward Kempter’s residence in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. Deputies stopped the vehicle in front of the residence and Kempter was arrested.&nbsp; At that time, Kempter informed the deputies that the young girl in his vehicle was 14 years old.&nbsp;Later, the victim stated she met Kempter on the Reddit website, in a chat room for teen runaways. Her screen name indicated she was a 14-year-old female. After communicating with Kempter on Reddit, they moved their conversation to Tumblr, another social media platform, and exchanged message between July 23, 2019 and August 2, 2019.&nbsp; They exchanged e-mails. During these conversations, Kempter indicated he wanted to have sex with the minor victim and would bring her to Colorado to live with him.&nbsp;The victim said that Kempter picked her up at her residence and began to drive west on Interstate 80.&nbsp; She was told to lay down in the front seat and cover herself so that she would not be seen. She said at some point while they were still in Nebraska, Kempter stopped at a Walmart so that he could buy her new clothes. Evidence obtained in a search of Kempter’s vehicle revealed the purchase of boy’s pants and shirt, and a blanket.&nbsp; The victim was told what to say and do if they were contacted by anyone in an attempt to avoid detection.&nbsp;This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/" target="_blank">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.This case was investigated by the Lincoln Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Colorado man convicted of enticement of a minor in Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday upheld the rejection of a lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate killed in 2017 by another inmate.

The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the estate of 22-year-old Terry Berry, who was killed in April 2017 by his new cellmate Patrick Schroeder.

The lawsuit accused the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services of negligence and wrongful death for putting Schroeder - who was known by prison officials to be bad-tempered - in the same cell with Berry. Schroeder readily admitted to strangling Berry, saying he killed the talkative Berry after warning him several times to "shut up." Schroeder, who was already serving a life sentence for the 2006 murder of a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer, is currently on death row Berry's killing.

In its ruling, the state's high court said that state law so broadly defines government immunity that it had no choice but to uphold dismissal of the lawsuit. It suggested that the "Legislature may wish to revisit the state's sovereign immunity in cases such as the one presented by this appeal."

In a dissent, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman argued the majority wrongly bucked precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court on immunity and said the lawsuit should have been allowed to go before a jury.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday upheld the rejection of a lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate killed in 2017 by another inmate.The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the estate of 22-year-old Terry Berry, who was killed in April 2017 by his new cellmate Patrick Schroeder.The lawsuit accused the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services of negligence and wrongful death for putting Schroeder - who was known by prison officials to be bad-tempered - in the same cell with Berry. Schroeder readily admitted to strangling Berry, saying he killed the talkative Berry after warning him several times to "shut up." Schroeder, who was already serving a life sentence for the 2006 murder of a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer, is currently on death row Berry's killing.In its ruling, the state's high court said that state law so broadly defines government immunity that it had no choice but to uphold dismissal of the lawsuit. It suggested that the "Legislature may wish to revisit the state's sovereign immunity in cases such as the one presented by this appeal."In a dissent, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman argued the majority wrongly bucked precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court on immunity and said the lawsuit should have been allowed to go before a jury.

Court nixes lawsuit by family of slain Nebraska inmate

DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) - A northeastern Nebraska man has been convicted of killing and dismembering another man, bringing to an end a case that has languished in the court system for nearly four years.

Andres Surber, 29, Wakefield, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and two weapons counts in the Nov. 1, 2016, death of 42-year-old Kraig Kubik, the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/surber-found-guilty-of-murder/article_b4c2229f-58db-5249-a0a3-efa6022e08b3.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.

Authorities say Surber and Brayan Galvan-Hernandez killed Kubik at Kubik's home in Emerson. Officials believe the pair shot Kubik to death when he refused their demands that he give them a car that once belonged to Surber.

Kublk's dismembered body was found in a culvert four days after he was reported missing, and other body parts of Kubik's were found in the trunk of a car. Galvan-Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to 50 to 60 years in prison in 2017, but Surber's case was delayed as he was found repeatedly to be mentally incompetent before a judge eventually found him stable enough to stand trial.

Surber will be sentenced at a later date.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599246165463.png" alt="Andres Surber" />
 <figcaption>Andres Surber</figcaption>
 </figure>DAKOTA CITY, Neb. (AP) - A northeastern Nebraska man has been convicted of killing and dismembering another man, bringing to an end a case that has languished in the court system for nearly four years.Andres Surber, 29, Wakefield, was found guilty Thursday of first-degree murder and two weapons counts in the Nov. 1, 2016, death of 42-year-old Kraig Kubik, the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal&nbsp;<a href="https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/surber-found-guilty-of-murder/article_b4c2229f-58db-5249-a0a3-efa6022e08b3.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.Authorities say Surber and Brayan Galvan-Hernandez killed Kubik at Kubik's home in Emerson. Officials believe the pair shot Kubik to death when he refused their demands that he give them a car that once belonged to Surber.Kublk's dismembered body was found in a culvert four days after he was reported missing, and other body parts of Kubik's were found in the trunk of a car. Galvan-Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to 50 to 60 years in prison in 2017, but Surber's case was delayed as he was found repeatedly to be mentally incompetent before a judge eventually found him stable enough to stand trial.Surber will be sentenced at a later date.

Jury convicts man of 2016 dismemberment killing in Nebraska

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began.

Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.

Friday’s report added to evidence that nearly six months after the coronavirus paralyzed the country, the economy is mounting only a fitful recovery. From small businesses to hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, a wide spectrum of companies are struggling to survive the loss of customers with confirmed viral cases still high.

After an epic collapse in the spring, when the economy shrank at a roughly 30% annual rate, growth has been rebounding as states have reopened at least parts of their economies. Yet the recovery remains far from complete.

Many economists think significant hiring may be hard to sustain because employers are operating under a cloud of uncertainty about the virus. Daily confirmed case counts have fallen from 70,000 in June to about 40,000. The decline has leveled off in the past week and the viral caseload remains higher than it was in May and June.

As a result activities like restaurant dining and air travel are still far below pre-pandemic levels. Most economists say a meaningful economic recovery will likely be impossible until the coronavirus is brought under control, most likely from the widespread use of a vaccine.

Friday’s jobs data was the second-to-last employment report — for most voters, the most visible barometer of the economy — before Election Day, Nov. 3. President Donald Trump faces the daunting task of seeking re-election in the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Yet voters in surveys have generally given him higher marks on the economy than they have on other aspects of his presidency.

The jobs report coincides with growing signs that more companies are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/89992979ca3c3ba72eb2cd31a9ca0e5d">making permanent job cuts</a>&nbsp;rather than temporary furloughs. That trend could keep the unemployment rate persistently high. It is typically harder for an unemployed worker to find a new job at a new company or in a new industry than to return to a previous employer.

Casino and hotel operator MGM Resorts, slammed by declines in travel and tourism, said last week that it’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/707956d4258acfd535ddbae31d849217">eliminating 18,000 jobs</a>. Coca Cola, which derives half its sales from stadiums, theaters and other venues that have been largely shut down, is offering buyouts to 4,000 employees. Salesforce said it is cutting 1,000 jobs. Bed, Bath &amp; Beyond will shed 2,800.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/abc046be35b12996fe00147013075e7b">Federal Reserve report</a>&nbsp;this week based on anecdotal reports from businesses found “rising instances of furloughed workers being laid off permanently as demand remained soft.”

Roughly 29 million Americans are receiving state unemployment aid, although their total benefits, on average, have shrunk by more than half since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal supplement more than a month ago. The Trump administration has set up a program that will provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.

But new rules and requirements&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/195893e537c8f9b0680c7655486c1fcb">will make many of the unemployed ineligible</a>. Only people who receive at least $100 a week in state unemployment aid will qualify for the $300 federal supplement — a requirement that could exclude at least 850,000 Americans.

The ongoing job losses and economic slump have left a rising share of Americans out of work for longer periods. From June to July, the number of people who were unemployed for 15 weeks or longer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e0aca194f0f4870b01280049ca567a87">tripled to more than 6 million</a>.

One consequence is that rising stress and anxiety are evident at therapists’ offices and mental health hotlines around the country. Calls from March through July to the U.S. government-funded Disaster Distress Helpline, which offers counseling and emotional support,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/208872f1d9fa3a3f3b50a4a902132124">surged 335%</a>&nbsp;from the same period last year.

And half of U.S. adults reported at least some signs of depression, such as hopelessness, feelings of failure or an inability to derive pleasure from daily activities, in a survey published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. That amounted to twice the rate from a survey two years ago.

“Not many days go by where I don’t have a couple where one partner or both are not working or furloughed,” said Todd Creager, a therapist in Southern California who treats mostly middle- to upper-middle-class adults.

What’s more, the economy appears to be operating on two tracks, resulting in an uneven and unequal recovery. Manufacturers are enjoying a solid rebound in demand for cars, appliances and electronics, with factory orders nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.

Home sales are also booming. So are home prices. Sales of existing homes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/d224305938a20e3bdfa8b8dc67689270">surged by the most on record</a>&nbsp;in July and are now nearly 9% higher than a year ago.

In addition, wealthier and well-educated workers have been far less likely to lose jobs to the pandemic than lower-income and minority workers have, in part because of a greater ability to work from home.

The coronavirus has also reshaped much of the consumption of affluent households: While spending less on restaurants and at shops and movie theaters, they are buying new homes to gain more space or renovating their houses to serve as workplaces as well as homes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. unemployment rate fell sharply in August to 8.4% from 10.2% even as hiring slowed, with employers adding the fewest jobs since the pandemic began.Employers added 1.4 million jobs, the Labor Department said, down from 1.7 million in July. The U.S. economy has recovered about half the 22 million jobs lost to the pandemic.Friday’s report added to evidence that nearly six months after the coronavirus paralyzed the country, the economy is mounting only a fitful recovery. From small businesses to hotels, restaurants, airlines and entertainment venues, a wide spectrum of companies are struggling to survive the loss of customers with confirmed viral cases still high.After an epic collapse in the spring, when the economy shrank at a roughly 30% annual rate, growth has been rebounding as states have reopened at least parts of their economies. Yet the recovery remains far from complete.Many economists think significant hiring may be hard to sustain because employers are operating under a cloud of uncertainty about the virus. Daily confirmed case counts have fallen from 70,000 in June to about 40,000. The decline has leveled off in the past week and the viral caseload remains higher than it was in May and June.As a result activities like restaurant dining and air travel are still far below pre-pandemic levels. Most economists say a meaningful economic recovery will likely be impossible until the coronavirus is brought under control, most likely from the widespread use of a vaccine.Friday’s jobs data was the second-to-last employment report — for most voters, the most visible barometer of the economy — before Election Day, Nov. 3. President Donald Trump faces the daunting task of seeking re-election in the worst economic downturn since the 1930s. Yet voters in surveys have generally given him higher marks on the economy than they have on other aspects of his presidency.The jobs report coincides with growing signs that more companies are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/89992979ca3c3ba72eb2cd31a9ca0e5d">making permanent job cuts</a>&nbsp;rather than temporary furloughs. That trend could keep the unemployment rate persistently high. It is typically harder for an unemployed worker to find a new job at a new company or in a new industry than to return to a previous employer.Casino and hotel operator MGM Resorts, slammed by declines in travel and tourism, said last week that it’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/707956d4258acfd535ddbae31d849217">eliminating 18,000 jobs</a>. Coca Cola, which derives half its sales from stadiums, theaters and other venues that have been largely shut down, is offering buyouts to 4,000 employees. Salesforce said it is cutting 1,000 jobs. Bed, Bath &amp; Beyond will shed 2,800.A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/abc046be35b12996fe00147013075e7b">Federal Reserve report</a>&nbsp;this week based on anecdotal reports from businesses found “rising instances of furloughed workers being laid off permanently as demand remained soft.”Roughly 29 million Americans are receiving state unemployment aid, although their total benefits, on average, have shrunk by more than half since the expiration of a $600-a-week federal supplement more than a month ago. The Trump administration has set up a program that will provide some of the unemployed with $300 a week.But new rules and requirements&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/195893e537c8f9b0680c7655486c1fcb">will make many of the unemployed ineligible</a>. Only people who receive at least $100 a week in state unemployment aid will qualify for the $300 federal supplement — a requirement that could exclude at least 850,000 Americans.The ongoing job losses and economic slump have left a rising share of Americans out of work for longer periods. From June to July, the number of people who were unemployed for 15 weeks or longer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e0aca194f0f4870b01280049ca567a87">tripled to more than 6 million</a>.One consequence is that rising stress and anxiety are evident at therapists’ offices and mental health hotlines around the country. Calls from March through July to the U.S. government-funded Disaster Distress Helpline, which offers counseling and emotional support,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/208872f1d9fa3a3f3b50a4a902132124">surged 335%</a>&nbsp;from the same period last year.And half of U.S. adults reported at least some signs of depression, such as hopelessness, feelings of failure or an inability to derive pleasure from daily activities, in a survey published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. That amounted to twice the rate from a survey two years ago.“Not many days go by where I don’t have a couple where one partner or both are not working or furloughed,” said Todd Creager, a therapist in Southern California who treats mostly middle- to upper-middle-class adults.What’s more, the economy appears to be operating on two tracks, resulting in an uneven and unequal recovery. Manufacturers are enjoying a solid rebound in demand for cars, appliances and electronics, with factory orders nearly back to pre-pandemic levels.Home sales are also booming. So are home prices. Sales of existing homes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/d224305938a20e3bdfa8b8dc67689270">surged by the most on record</a>&nbsp;in July and are now nearly 9% higher than a year ago.In addition, wealthier and well-educated workers have been far less likely to lose jobs to the pandemic than lower-income and minority workers have, in part because of a greater ability to work from home.The coronavirus has also reshaped much of the consumption of affluent households: While spending less on restaurants and at shops and movie theaters, they are buying new homes to gain more space or renovating their houses to serve as workplaces as well as homes.___

Unemployment below 10% for first time since pandemic began

WASHINGTON (AP) —Public health departments, which have struggled for months to test and trace everyone exposed to the novel coronavirus, are now being told to prepare to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as early as Nov. 1.

In a&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">four-page memo</a>&nbsp;this summer, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told health departments across the country to draft vaccination plans by Oct. 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.”

The CDC’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, also wrote to governors last week about the urgent need to have vaccine distribution sites up and running by Nov. 1. Redfield asked governors to expedite the process for setting up these facilities. McClatchy first reported Redfield’s letter.

But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e28724a125a127f650a9b6f48f7bb938">health departments</a>&nbsp;that have been&nbsp;<a href="https://khn.org/news/get-the-data-hollowed-out-public-health-system-faces-more-cuts-amid-virus/" target="_blank">underfunded for decades</a>&nbsp;say they currently lack the staff, money and tools to educate people about vaccines and then to distribute, administer and track doses to some 330 million people. Nor do they know when, or if, they’ll get federal aid to do that.

“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to be prepared for this vaccination program and it will not be complete by Nov. 1,” said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. “States will need more financial resources than they have now.”

Dozens of doctors, nurses and health officials interviewed by Kaiser Health News and The Associated Press expressed concern about the country’s readiness to conduct mass vaccinations, as well as frustration with months of inconsistent information from the federal government.

The gaps include figuring out how officials will keep track of who has gotten which doses and how they’ll keep the workers who give the shots safe, with enough protective gear and syringes to do their jobs.

With&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/dacdc8bc428dd4df6511bfa259cfec44">only about half</a>&nbsp;of Americans saying they would get vaccinated, according to a poll from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, it also will be crucial to educate people about the benefits of vaccination, said Molly Howell, who manages the North Dakota Department of Health’s immunization program.

The unprecedented pace of vaccine development has left many Americans skeptical about the safety of COVID-19 immunizations; others simply don’t trust the federal government.

“We’re in a very deep-red state,” said Ann Lewis, CEO of CareSouth Carolina, a group of community health centers that serve mostly low-income people in five rural counties in South Carolina. “The message that is coming out is not a message of trust and confidence in medical or scientific evidence.”

The U.S. has committed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/app/barda/coronavirus/COVID19.aspx?filter=vaccine" target="_blank">$10 billion to develop new coronavirus vaccines</a>&nbsp;but hasn’t allocated money specifically for distributing and administering vaccines.

And while states, territories and 154 large cities and counties received billions in congressional emergency funding, that money can be used for a variety of purposes, including testing and overtime pay.

An ongoing investigation by KHN and the AP has detailed how state and local public health departments across the U.S. have been starved for decades, leaving them&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/UnderfundedandUnderThreat">underfunded and without adequate resources</a>&nbsp;to confront the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation further found that federal coronavirus funds have been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33228796a8a66a50546c9e3ddacfef1b">slow to reach</a>&nbsp;public health departments, forcing some communities to cancel non-coronavirus vaccine clinics and other essential services.

States are allowed to use some of the federal money they’ve already received to prepare for immunizations. But AP and KHN found that many health departments are so overwhelmed with the current costs of the pandemic — such as for testing and contact tracing — that they can’t reserve money for the vaccine work to come. Health departments will need to hire people to administer the vaccines and systems to track them, and pay for supplies such as protective medical masks, gowns and gloves, as well as warehouses and refrigerator space.

CareSouth Carolina is collaborating with the state health department on testing and the pandemic response. It used federal funding to purchase $140,000 retrofitted vans for mobile testing, which it plans to continue to use to keep vaccines cold and deliver them to residents when the time comes, said Lewis.

Pima County, Arizona, for example, is already at least $30 million short of what health officials need to fight the pandemic, let alone plan for vaccines, said Dr. Francisco Garcia, deputy county administrator and chief medical officer.

Some federal funds will expire soon. The $150 billion that states and local governments received from a fund in the CARES Act, for example, covers only expenses made through&nbsp;<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/state-and-local-governments" target="_blank">the end of the year</a>, said Gretchen Musicant, health commissioner in Minneapolis. That’s a problem, given vaccine distribution may not have even begun.

Although public health officials say they need more money, Congress left Washington for its summer recess without passing a new pandemic relief bill that would include additional funding for vaccine distribution.

“States are anxious to receive those funds as soon as possible, so they can do what they need to be prepared,” said Moore of the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. “We can’t assume they can take existing funding and attempt the largest vaccination campaign in history.”

Then there’s the basic question of scale. The federally funded Vaccines for Children program immunizes&nbsp;<a href="https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-04-10-00430.pdf" target="_blank">40 million children each year</a>. In 2009 and 2010, the CDC scaled up to vaccinate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2010/04/h1n1-lessons-learned-vaccination-campaign-weathered-rough-road-paid" target="_blank">81 million people</a>&nbsp;against pandemic H1N1 influenza. And last winter, the country distributed 175 million vaccines for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm" target="_blank">seasonal influenza vaccine</a>, according to the CDC.

But for the U.S. to reach herd immunity against the coronavirus, most experts say, the nation would likely need to vaccinate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/herd-immunity-and-coronavirus/art-20486808" target="_blank">roughly 70% of Americans</a>, which translates to 200 million people and — because the first vaccines will require two doses to be effective — 400 million shots.

Although the CDC has overseen immunization campaigns in the past, the Trump administration created a new program, called Operation Warp Speed, to facilitate vaccine development and distribution. In August, the administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/08/14/trump-administration-collaborates-mckesson-covid-19-vaccine-distribution.html" target="_blank">announced that McKesson Corp.</a>, which distributed H1N1 vaccines during that pandemic, will also distribute COVID-19 vaccines to doctors’ offices and clinics.

“With few exceptions, our commercial distribution partners will be responsible for handling all the vaccines,” Operation Warp Speed’s Paul Mango said in an email.

“We’re not going to have 300 million doses all at once,” said Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Health and Human Services Department, despite earlier government pledges to have many doses ready by the new year. “We believe we are maximizing our probability of success of having&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/14/cdc-asks-4-states-city-draft-coronavirus-distribution-plans/" target="_blank">tens of millions of doses</a>&nbsp;of vaccines by January 2021, which is our goal.”

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said it will take time for the vaccines to be widespread enough for life to return to what’s considered normal. “We have to be prepared to deal with this virus in the absence of significant vaccine-induced immunity for a period of maybe a year or longer,” Adalja said in August.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">preliminary guidance</a>&nbsp;for state vaccine managers, the CDC said doses will be distributed free of charge from a central location. Health departments’ local vaccination plans may be reviewed by both the CDC and Operation Warp Speed.

The CDC spent two days working with vaccine planners in five locations — North Dakota, Florida, California, Minnesota and Philadelphia — to discuss potential obstacles and solutions.

No actual vaccines were distributed during the planning sessions, which focused on how to get vaccines to people in places as different as urban Philadelphia, where pharmacies abound, and rural North Dakota, which has few chain drugstores but many clinics run by the federal Indian Health Service, said Kris Ehresmann, who directs infectious disease control at the Minnesota Department of Health.

Those planning sessions have made Ehresmann feel more confident about who’s in charge of distributing vaccines. “We are getting more specific guidance from CDC on planning now,” she said. “We feel better about the process, though there are still a lot of unknowns.”

OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY COULD HAMPER RESPONSE

Still, many public health departments will struggle to adequately track who has been vaccinated and when, because a lack of funding in recent decades has left them in the technological dark ages, said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

In Mississippi, for example, health officials still rely on faxes, said the state’s health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. “You can’t manually handle 1,200 faxes a day and expect anything efficient to happen,″ he said.

When COVID-19 vaccines become available, health providers will need to track where and when patients receive their vaccines, said Moore, the medical director of Tennessee’s immunization plan during the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and 2010. And with many different shots in the works, they will need to know exactly which one each patient got, she said.

People will need to receive their second COVID-19 dose 21 or 28 days after the first, so health providers will need to remind patients to receive their second shot, Moore said, and ensure that the second dose is the same brand as the first.

The CDC will require vaccinators to provide “&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">dose-level accounting</a>&nbsp;and reporting” for immunizations, so that the agency knows where every dose of COVID-19 vaccine is “at any point in time,” Moore said. Although “the sophistication of these systems has improved dramatically” in the past decade, she said, “many states will still face major challenges meeting data tracking and reporting expectations.”

The CDC is developing an app called the Vaccine Administration Monitoring System for health departments whose data systems don’t meet standards for COVID-19 response, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, a nonprofit based in Rockville, Maryland.

“Those standards haven’t been released,” Hannan said, “so health departments are waiting to invest in necessary IT enhancements.″ The CDC needs to release standards and data expectations as quickly as possible, she added.

Meanwhile, health departments are dealing with what Minnesota’s Ehresmann described as “legacy” vaccine registries, sometimes dating to the late 1980s.

Overwhelmed public health teams are already working long hours to test patients and trace their contacts, a time-consuming process that will need to continue even after vaccines become available.

When vaccines are ready, health departments will need more staffers to identify people at high risk for COVID-19, who should get the vaccine first, Moore said. Public health staff also will be needed to educate the public about the importance of vaccines and to administer shots, she said, as well as monitor patients and report serious side effects.

At an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/08-07-2020/committee-on-equitable-allocation-of-vaccine-for-the-novel-coronavirus-committee-meeting-3" target="_blank">August meeting</a>&nbsp;about vaccine distribution, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of Illinois’ health department, said her state will need to recruit additional health professionals to administer the shots, including nursing students, medical students, dentists, dental hygienists and even veterinarians. Such vaccinators will need medical-grade masks, gowns and gloves to keep themselves safe as they handle needles.

Many health officials say they feel burned by the country’s struggle to provide hospitals with ventilators last spring, when states found themselves&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2cb6b67a6cce880b22f8d277a45b80b7">bidding against one another</a>&nbsp;for a limited supply. Those concerns are amplified by the continuing difficulties&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/113726f3a679413505f3524e3a131c7e">providing enough testing kits</a>; supplying health workers with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/712b9ddb2678ef0d67be57c71f7abe06">personal protective equipment</a>; allocating drugs such as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b41b3eae4574d3630d6904261ad88871">remdesivir</a>; and recruiting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fe2fd477ac117c7d81d458ac2bf08cbc">contact tracers</a>&nbsp;— who track down everyone with whom people diagnosed with COVID-19 have been in contact.

Although Ehresmann said she’s concerned Minnesota could run out of syringes, she said the CDC has assured her it will provide them.

Given that vaccines are far more complex than personal protective equipment and other medical supplies — one vaccine candidate must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — Plescia said people should be prepared for shortages, delays and mix-ups.

“It’s probably going to be even worse than the problems with testing and PPE,” Plescia said.

Szabo is a writer for Kaiser Health News. Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith and KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber contributed to this report.

By LIZ SZABOWASHINGTON (AP) —Public health departments, which have struggled for months to test and trace everyone exposed to the novel coronavirus, are now being told to prepare to distribute COVID-19 vaccines as early as Nov. 1.In a&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">four-page memo</a>&nbsp;this summer, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told health departments across the country to draft vaccination plans by Oct. 1 “to coincide with the earliest possible release of COVID-19 vaccine.”The CDC’s director, Dr. Robert Redfield, also wrote to governors last week about the urgent need to have vaccine distribution sites up and running by Nov. 1. Redfield asked governors to expedite the process for setting up these facilities. McClatchy first reported Redfield’s letter.But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e28724a125a127f650a9b6f48f7bb938">health departments</a>&nbsp;that have been&nbsp;<a href="https://khn.org/news/get-the-data-hollowed-out-public-health-system-faces-more-cuts-amid-virus/" target="_blank">underfunded for decades</a>&nbsp;say they currently lack the staff, money and tools to educate people about vaccines and then to distribute, administer and track doses to some 330 million people. Nor do they know when, or if, they’ll get federal aid to do that.“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to be prepared for this vaccination program and it will not be complete by Nov. 1,” said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. “States will need more financial resources than they have now.”Dozens of doctors, nurses and health officials interviewed by Kaiser Health News and The Associated Press expressed concern about the country’s readiness to conduct mass vaccinations, as well as frustration with months of inconsistent information from the federal government.The gaps include figuring out how officials will keep track of who has gotten which doses and how they’ll keep the workers who give the shots safe, with enough protective gear and syringes to do their jobs.With&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/dacdc8bc428dd4df6511bfa259cfec44">only about half</a>&nbsp;of Americans saying they would get vaccinated, according to a poll from AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, it also will be crucial to educate people about the benefits of vaccination, said Molly Howell, who manages the North Dakota Department of Health’s immunization program.The unprecedented pace of vaccine development has left many Americans skeptical about the safety of COVID-19 immunizations; others simply don’t trust the federal government.“We’re in a very deep-red state,” said Ann Lewis, CEO of CareSouth Carolina, a group of community health centers that serve mostly low-income people in five rural counties in South Carolina. “The message that is coming out is not a message of trust and confidence in medical or scientific evidence.”PAYING FOR THE ROLLOUTThe U.S. has committed more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medicalcountermeasures.gov/app/barda/coronavirus/COVID19.aspx?filter=vaccine" target="_blank">$10 billion to develop new coronavirus vaccines</a>&nbsp;but hasn’t allocated money specifically for distributing and administering vaccines.And while states, territories and 154 large cities and counties received billions in congressional emergency funding, that money can be used for a variety of purposes, including testing and overtime pay.An ongoing investigation by KHN and the AP has detailed how state and local public health departments across the U.S. have been starved for decades, leaving them&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/UnderfundedandUnderThreat">underfunded and without adequate resources</a>&nbsp;to confront the coronavirus pandemic. The investigation further found that federal coronavirus funds have been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33228796a8a66a50546c9e3ddacfef1b">slow to reach</a>&nbsp;public health departments, forcing some communities to cancel non-coronavirus vaccine clinics and other essential services.States are allowed to use some of the federal money they’ve already received to prepare for immunizations. But AP and KHN found that many health departments are so overwhelmed with the current costs of the pandemic — such as for testing and contact tracing — that they can’t reserve money for the vaccine work to come. Health departments will need to hire people to administer the vaccines and systems to track them, and pay for supplies such as protective medical masks, gowns and gloves, as well as warehouses and refrigerator space.CareSouth Carolina is collaborating with the state health department on testing and the pandemic response. It used federal funding to purchase $140,000 retrofitted vans for mobile testing, which it plans to continue to use to keep vaccines cold and deliver them to residents when the time comes, said Lewis.But most vaccine costs will be new.Pima County, Arizona, for example, is already at least $30 million short of what health officials need to fight the pandemic, let alone plan for vaccines, said Dr. Francisco Garcia, deputy county administrator and chief medical officer.Some federal funds will expire soon. The $150 billion that states and local governments received from a fund in the CARES Act, for example, covers only expenses made through&nbsp;<a href="https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/state-and-local-governments" target="_blank">the end of the year</a>, said Gretchen Musicant, health commissioner in Minneapolis. That’s a problem, given vaccine distribution may not have even begun.Although public health officials say they need more money, Congress left Washington for its summer recess without passing a new pandemic relief bill that would include additional funding for vaccine distribution.“States are anxious to receive those funds as soon as possible, so they can do what they need to be prepared,” said Moore of the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. “We can’t assume they can take existing funding and attempt the largest vaccination campaign in history.”WHAT’S THE PLAN?Then there’s the basic question of scale. The federally funded Vaccines for Children program immunizes&nbsp;<a href="https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-04-10-00430.pdf" target="_blank">40 million children each year</a>. In 2009 and 2010, the CDC scaled up to vaccinate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2010/04/h1n1-lessons-learned-vaccination-campaign-weathered-rough-road-paid" target="_blank">81 million people</a>&nbsp;against pandemic H1N1 influenza. And last winter, the country distributed 175 million vaccines for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm" target="_blank">seasonal influenza vaccine</a>, according to the CDC.But for the U.S. to reach herd immunity against the coronavirus, most experts say, the nation would likely need to vaccinate&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/herd-immunity-and-coronavirus/art-20486808" target="_blank">roughly 70% of Americans</a>, which translates to 200 million people and — because the first vaccines will require two doses to be effective — 400 million shots.Although the CDC has overseen immunization campaigns in the past, the Trump administration created a new program, called Operation Warp Speed, to facilitate vaccine development and distribution. In August, the administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/08/14/trump-administration-collaborates-mckesson-covid-19-vaccine-distribution.html" target="_blank">announced that McKesson Corp.</a>, which distributed H1N1 vaccines during that pandemic, will also distribute COVID-19 vaccines to doctors’ offices and clinics.“With few exceptions, our commercial distribution partners will be responsible for handling all the vaccines,” Operation Warp Speed’s Paul Mango said in an email.“We’re not going to have 300 million doses all at once,” said Mango, deputy chief of staff for policy at the Health and Human Services Department, despite earlier government pledges to have many doses ready by the new year. “We believe we are maximizing our probability of success of having&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/14/cdc-asks-4-states-city-draft-coronavirus-distribution-plans/" target="_blank">tens of millions of doses</a>&nbsp;of vaccines by January 2021, which is our goal.”Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said it will take time for the vaccines to be widespread enough for life to return to what’s considered normal. “We have to be prepared to deal with this virus in the absence of significant vaccine-induced immunity for a period of maybe a year or longer,” Adalja said in August.In&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">preliminary guidance</a>&nbsp;for state vaccine managers, the CDC said doses will be distributed free of charge from a central location. Health departments’ local vaccination plans may be reviewed by both the CDC and Operation Warp Speed.The CDC spent two days working with vaccine planners in five locations — North Dakota, Florida, California, Minnesota and Philadelphia — to discuss potential obstacles and solutions.No actual vaccines were distributed during the planning sessions, which focused on how to get vaccines to people in places as different as urban Philadelphia, where pharmacies abound, and rural North Dakota, which has few chain drugstores but many clinics run by the federal Indian Health Service, said Kris Ehresmann, who directs infectious disease control at the Minnesota Department of Health.Those planning sessions have made Ehresmann feel more confident about who’s in charge of distributing vaccines. “We are getting more specific guidance from CDC on planning now,” she said. “We feel better about the process, though there are still a lot of unknowns.”OUTDATED TECHNOLOGY COULD HAMPER RESPONSEStill, many public health departments will struggle to adequately track who has been vaccinated and when, because a lack of funding in recent decades has left them in the technological dark ages, said Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.In Mississippi, for example, health officials still rely on faxes, said the state’s health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs. “You can’t manually handle 1,200 faxes a day and expect anything efficient to happen,″ he said.When COVID-19 vaccines become available, health providers will need to track where and when patients receive their vaccines, said Moore, the medical director of Tennessee’s immunization plan during the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 and 2010. And with many different shots in the works, they will need to know exactly which one each patient got, she said.People will need to receive their second COVID-19 dose 21 or 28 days after the first, so health providers will need to remind patients to receive their second shot, Moore said, and ensure that the second dose is the same brand as the first.The CDC will require vaccinators to provide “&nbsp;<a href="https://astho.informz.net/ASTHO/data/images/COVID-19%20Pandemic%20Vaccination%20Planning_aug%20State%20ltr_final.pdf" target="_blank">dose-level accounting</a>&nbsp;and reporting” for immunizations, so that the agency knows where every dose of COVID-19 vaccine is “at any point in time,” Moore said. Although “the sophistication of these systems has improved dramatically” in the past decade, she said, “many states will still face major challenges meeting data tracking and reporting expectations.”The CDC is developing an app called the Vaccine Administration Monitoring System for health departments whose data systems don’t meet standards for COVID-19 response, said Claire Hannan, executive director of the Association of Immunization Managers, a nonprofit based in Rockville, Maryland.“Those standards haven’t been released,” Hannan said, “so health departments are waiting to invest in necessary IT enhancements.″ The CDC needs to release standards and data expectations as quickly as possible, she added.Meanwhile, health departments are dealing with what Minnesota’s Ehresmann described as “legacy” vaccine registries, sometimes dating to the late 1980s.A HISTORIC TASKOverwhelmed public health teams are already working long hours to test patients and trace their contacts, a time-consuming process that will need to continue even after vaccines become available.When vaccines are ready, health departments will need more staffers to identify people at high risk for COVID-19, who should get the vaccine first, Moore said. Public health staff also will be needed to educate the public about the importance of vaccines and to administer shots, she said, as well as monitor patients and report serious side effects.At an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/event/08-07-2020/committee-on-equitable-allocation-of-vaccine-for-the-novel-coronavirus-committee-meeting-3" target="_blank">August meeting</a>&nbsp;about vaccine distribution, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of Illinois’ health department, said her state will need to recruit additional health professionals to administer the shots, including nursing students, medical students, dentists, dental hygienists and even veterinarians. Such vaccinators will need medical-grade masks, gowns and gloves to keep themselves safe as they handle needles.Many health officials say they feel burned by the country’s struggle to provide hospitals with ventilators last spring, when states found themselves&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2cb6b67a6cce880b22f8d277a45b80b7">bidding against one another</a>&nbsp;for a limited supply. Those concerns are amplified by the continuing difficulties&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/113726f3a679413505f3524e3a131c7e">providing enough testing kits</a>; supplying health workers with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/712b9ddb2678ef0d67be57c71f7abe06">personal protective equipment</a>; allocating drugs such as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b41b3eae4574d3630d6904261ad88871">remdesivir</a>; and recruiting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fe2fd477ac117c7d81d458ac2bf08cbc">contact tracers</a>&nbsp;— who track down everyone with whom people diagnosed with COVID-19 have been in contact.Although Ehresmann said she’s concerned Minnesota could run out of syringes, she said the CDC has assured her it will provide them.Given that vaccines are far more complex than personal protective equipment and other medical supplies — one vaccine candidate must be stored at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit — Plescia said people should be prepared for shortages, delays and mix-ups.“It’s probably going to be even worse than the problems with testing and PPE,” Plescia said.___Szabo is a writer for Kaiser Health News. Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith and KHN Midwest correspondent Lauren Weber contributed to this report.

Health officials worry nation not ready for COVID-19 vaccine

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest is suing the Omaha Archdiocese for defamation nearly two years after he was removed from his parish in northeast Nebraska and listed among a group of clergy found to be credibly accused of sexual misconduct.

The Rev. Andrew Syring says in the lawsuit that his career and life have been in tatters since the archdiocese abruptly removed him from public ministry in West Point in October 2018. A month later, the archdiocese published his name on the list of clergy abusers.

Syring had been an ordained priest for two years when he was accused in 2013 of boundary violations that included "publicly hugging and kissing minors on the cheek," his lawsuit says. Syring vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and after a psychological evaluation and investigations by the church and law enforcement that found no criminal misconduct, he said, he was returned to public ministry.

Syring said he served four more years without incident in various parishes within the Omaha Archdiocese. His dismissal and listing among priests suspected of wrongdoing came within the same month the archdiocese faced a firestorm of public criticism for its handling of an associate pastor in an Omaha parish accused of sexual misconduct with an adult parishioner, Syring said.

"It saddens me that when the archdiocese was confronted by justifiable outrage from a parish it failed, it responded out of fear and chose to 'burn the whole house down' rather than making meaningful, individualized decisions about its clergy members," Syring said in a statement.

The lawsuit was filed last week in Cuming County District Court and accuses the archdiocese of defamation and violation of due process, among other things. It seeks to recoup wages - estimated at $2.1 million - from the time Syring was removed from public ministry through the next 35 years, when he would have been expected to retire.

A spokesman for the archdiocese, Deacon Timothy McNeil, declined to comment on Syring's accusations and lawsuit, saying they're "now a matter of litigation."

Syring acknowledged the seriousness of the sexual abuse scandal within the church and said he supports holding abusive priests and the church accountable for such abuse. But he maintains he was wrongly targeted in that attempt.

"Where can an innocent priest go to restore his name when truth is sacrificed at the altar of expedience?" Syring asked.

By MARGERY A. BECK-Associated Press OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Roman Catholic priest is suing the Omaha Archdiocese for defamation nearly two years after he was removed from his parish in northeast Nebraska and listed among a group of clergy found to be credibly accused of sexual misconduct.The Rev. Andrew Syring says in the lawsuit that his career and life have been in tatters since the archdiocese abruptly removed him from public ministry in West Point in October 2018. A month later, the archdiocese published his name on the list of clergy abusers.Syring had been an ordained priest for two years when he was accused in 2013 of boundary violations that included "publicly hugging and kissing minors on the cheek," his lawsuit says. Syring vehemently denied any wrongdoing, and after a psychological evaluation and investigations by the church and law enforcement that found no criminal misconduct, he said, he was returned to public ministry.Syring said he served four more years without incident in various parishes within the Omaha Archdiocese. His dismissal and listing among priests suspected of wrongdoing came within the same month the archdiocese faced a firestorm of public criticism for its handling of an associate pastor in an Omaha parish accused of sexual misconduct with an adult parishioner, Syring said."It saddens me that when the archdiocese was confronted by justifiable outrage from a parish it failed, it responded out of fear and chose to 'burn the whole house down' rather than making meaningful, individualized decisions about its clergy members," Syring said in a statement.The lawsuit was filed last week in Cuming County District Court and accuses the archdiocese of defamation and violation of due process, among other things. It seeks to recoup wages - estimated at $2.1 million - from the time Syring was removed from public ministry through the next 35 years, when he would have been expected to retire.A spokesman for the archdiocese, Deacon Timothy McNeil, declined to comment on Syring's accusations and lawsuit, saying they're "now a matter of litigation."Syring acknowledged the seriousness of the sexual abuse scandal within the church and said he supports holding abusive priests and the church accountable for such abuse. But he maintains he was wrongly targeted in that attempt."Where can an innocent priest go to restore his name when truth is sacrificed at the altar of expedience?" Syring asked.

Nebraska priest sues Omaha Archdiocese for defamation

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Norfolk man was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution for a bank fraud scheme involving his cattle company, federal prosecutors said.

Max Kant, 48, was sentenced Wednesday in Omaha to one year and one day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Joe Kelly said.

Kant owned MK Feedlots in Battle Creek, which housed and fed cattle to be sold for slaughter.

Federal prosecutors said Kant twice submitted fraudulent cattle purchase contracts to Security National Bank that indicated a company planned to buy thousands of cattle from him. The fraudulent contracts persuaded the bank to extend Kant's line of credit, The Norfolk Daily News&nbsp;<a href="https://norfolkdailynews.com/news/northeast-nebraskan-sentenced-for-bank-fraud/article_a840f7b4-edef-11ea-8529-83244bc7cec2.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.

In September 2017, Kant admitted to Security National Bank that one of the contracts was fraudulent and MK Feedlots closed.

Security National Bank reported a loss of $2.1 million because of Kant's actions

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A Norfolk man was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution for a bank fraud scheme involving his cattle company, federal prosecutors said.Max Kant, 48, was sentenced Wednesday in Omaha to one year and one day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Joe Kelly said.Kant owned MK Feedlots in Battle Creek, which housed and fed cattle to be sold for slaughter.Federal prosecutors said Kant twice submitted fraudulent cattle purchase contracts to Security National Bank that indicated a company planned to buy thousands of cattle from him. The fraudulent contracts persuaded the bank to extend Kant's line of credit, The Norfolk Daily News&nbsp;<a href="https://norfolkdailynews.com/news/northeast-nebraskan-sentenced-for-bank-fraud/article_a840f7b4-edef-11ea-8529-83244bc7cec2.html" target="_blank">reported</a>.In September 2017, Kant admitted to Security National Bank that one of the contracts was fraudulent and MK Feedlots closed.Security National Bank reported a loss of $2.1 million because of Kant's actions

Norfolk man sentenced for $1.5 million bank fraud

Secretary of State Bob Evnen announces early ballot applications are now on their way to every registered voter in Nebraska. “For voters who have concerns about voting at the polls in November, an early ballot request for a mail-in ballot is a good option,” said Secretary Evnen.&nbsp; “Anyone who wishes to vote early should request their ballot as soon as possible.”

The first ballots will be mailed out September 28 to those voters who requested an early ballot. The deadline for a voter to request an early ballot is October 23. USPS recommendation for returning your early ballot by mail is October 27. Voters can track their mailed in ballot once they are returned on the Secretary of State website.

Voters also have the option of going to the polls to vote. The polls will be opened for the General Election, November 3.&nbsp; 

For information, regarding early voting and/or tracking your mail-in ballot visit the Secretary of State website&nbsp;<a href="https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/early-voting" target="_blank">https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/early-voting</a>

Secretary of State Bob Evnen announces early ballot applications are now on their way to every registered voter in Nebraska. “For voters who have concerns about voting at the polls in November, an early ballot request for a mail-in ballot is a good option,” said Secretary Evnen.&nbsp; “Anyone who wishes to vote early should request their ballot as soon as possible.”The first ballots will be mailed out September 28 to those voters who requested an early ballot. The deadline for a voter to request an early ballot is October 23. USPS recommendation for returning your early ballot by mail is October 27. Voters can track their mailed in ballot once they are returned on the Secretary of State website.Voters also have the option of going to the polls to vote. The polls will be opened for the General Election, November 3.&nbsp; For information, regarding early voting and/or tracking your mail-in ballot visit the Secretary of State website&nbsp;<a href="https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/early-voting" target="_blank">https://sos.nebraska.gov/elections/early-voting</a>

Early ballot applications have begun to be mailed to Nebraska Registered Voters

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - In an age of growing divisive political discourse across the country, a Nebraska man is drawing attention for his impassioned plea to take action - against boneless chicken wings.

Video of Ander Christensen's satirical rant before the Lincoln City Council on Monday pleading to ban the "boneless chicken wing" moniker has garnered widespread attention on social media and news sites.

Christensen, who is the son of a council member, made his case that the meat in boneless wings doesn't come from a chicken's wing at all, but from its breast.

"We've been living a lie for far too long," he told the council.

Instead, he suggested the dish could be renamed, "buffalo-style chicken tenders, wet tenders, saucy nugs or trash."

His plea, of course, was for the children.

"Our children are afraid of having bones attached to their meat, which is where meat comes from. It grows on bones!" he said. "We need to teach them that the wings of a chicken are from a chicken, and it's delicious."

Here's the video...the chicken wings come at around the 1:47:00 mark.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599153134270.png" alt="Photo: Screenshot LNKTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo: Screenshot LNKTV</figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - In an age of growing divisive political discourse across the country, a Nebraska man is drawing attention for his impassioned plea to take action - against boneless chicken wings.Video of Ander Christensen's satirical rant before the Lincoln City Council on Monday pleading to ban the "boneless chicken wing" moniker has garnered widespread attention on social media and news sites.Christensen, who is the son of a council member, made his case that the meat in boneless wings doesn't come from a chicken's wing at all, but from its breast."We've been living a lie for far too long," he told the council.Instead, he suggested the dish could be renamed, "buffalo-style chicken tenders, wet tenders, saucy nugs or trash."His plea, of course, was for the children."Our children are afraid of having bones attached to their meat, which is where meat comes from. It grows on bones!" he said. "We need to teach them that the wings of a chicken are from a chicken, and it's delicious."Here's the video...the chicken wings come at around the 1:47:00 mark.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FLNKTVcity%2Fvideos%2F2783781811947840%2F&show_text=0&width=560" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>

Saucy nugs? Man calls 'boneless chicken wings' moniker a lie

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The mother of an unarmed man killed by a sheriff’s deputy after a traffic stop in Laramie has filed a federal lawsuit alleging excessive use of force and failures in hiring and training the deputy. 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The mother of an unarmed man killed by a sheriff’s deputy after a traffic stop in Laramie has filed a federal lawsuit alleging excessive use of force and failures in hiring and training the deputy. Debra Hinkel is suing Albany County sheriff’s Cpl. Derek Colling, Sheriff David O’Malley and others for the death of 39-year-old Robert “Robbie” Ramirez in 2018. The lawsuit seeks at least $75,000 in damages. Colling shot Ramirez after pulling him over for allegedly failing to signal a turn. Colling and O'Malley didn't return messages seeking comment. Albany County Attorney Peggy Trent declined to comment, saying she had not seen the lawsuit.