By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, ERIC TUCKER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ&nbsp;

NEW YORK (AP) — With Donald Trump sitting just feet away,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-d3dce88566bafb714dbb5c1acd3e4a83">Stormy Daniels</a>&nbsp;testified Tuesday at the former president's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-cohen-9be06e3d33c25af7060552a44001cc1a">hush money trial</a>&nbsp;about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.

Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels offered a detailed and at times graphic account of the encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead when Daniels entered the courtroom, later whispering to his lawyers and shaking his head as she testified.

The testimony was by far the most-awaited spectacle in a trial that has toggled between tabloidesque elements and dry record-keeping details. A courtroom appearance by a porn actor who says she had an intimate encounter with a former American president added to the long list of historic firsts in a landmark case laden with claims of sex, payoffs and cover-ups and unfolding as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">presumptive Republican nominee</a>&nbsp;makes another bid for the White House.

Daniels veered into salacious details despite the repeated objections of defense lawyers, who demanded a mistrial over what they said were prejudicial and irrelevant comments.

“This is the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from,” attorney Todd Blanche said. “How can we come back from this in a way that’s fair to President Trump?”

The judge rejected the request and said defense lawyers should have raised more objections during the testimony. The Trump team later in the day used its opportunity to question Daniels to paint her as motivated by personal animus and profiting off her claims against Trump.

"Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels.

Daniels' statements are central to the case because in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, his then-lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cohen-stormy-daniels-grand-jury-d48153fc2d3fe7a656e8a24ad1acd082">paid her $130,000 to keep quiet</a>&nbsp;about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

Led by a prosecutor's questioning, Daniels described how an initial meeting at a golf tournament, where they discussed the adult film industry, progressed to a “brief” sexual encounter that she said Trump initiated after inviting her to dinner and back to his hotel suite.

She said she didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened, though she knew his bodyguard was outside the suite. There was also what she perceived as an imbalance of power: Trump “was bigger and blocking the way," she said.

At the time, Trump was married to his wife, Melania, who has not been in court for the trial. Daniels said Trump told her they did not sleep in the same room, prompting him to shake his head at the defense table.

After it ended, Daniels said, “It was really hard to get my shoes because my hands were shaking so hard.”

“He said, ‘Oh, it was great. Let’s get together again, honey bunch,’” Daniels said. “I just wanted to leave.”

In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story innumerable times and criticizing the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs. But there was no precedent for Tuesday's testimony, when she came face-to-face with Trump and was asked under oath in an austere courtroom to describe her experiences to a jury weighing whether to convict a former American president of felony crimes for the first time in history.

She told jurors how she met Trump because the adult film studio she worked for at the time sponsored one of the holes on the golf course. She said they had a brief conversation when Trump's group passed through, chatting about the adult film industry and her directing abilities. The celebrity real estate developer remarked that she must be “the smart one” if she was making films, Daniels recalled.

Later, in an area known as the “gift room,” where celebrity golfers collected gift bags and swag, Trump remembered her as “the smart one” and asked her to dinner, Daniels said.

She said her then-publicist suggested in a phone call that Trump’s invitation was a good excuse to skip a work dinner and would “make a great story” and perhaps help her career.

“What could possibly go wrong?” she recalled the publicist saying.

The two saw each other periodically in the ensuing years, when she said she spurned Trump's advances.

In 2011, several years after she and Trump were last in touch, she said she learned from her agent that the story of her encounter with Trump had made its way to a magazine.

She said she agreed to an interview for $15,000 because “I’d rather make the money than somebody make money off of me, and at least I could control the narrative.” The story never ran, but later that year, she was alarmed when an item turned up on a website.

Perhaps seeking to preempt defense claims that she was in urgent need of a massive payout, Daniels testified that she was in the best financial shape of her life when she authorized her manager to shop her story during the 2016 presidential campaign.

She said she had no intent of approaching Cohen or Trump to have them pay her.

“My motivation wasn’t money," she said. "It was to get the story out,” she testified.

But Necheles zeroed in on that point, pressing Daniels on the fact that she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stormy-daniels-trump-defamation-lawsuit-0ee5623fc8965ad3d2fc77a7126d24c7">owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees</a>&nbsp;stemming from an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit and that she tweeted in 2022 that she “will go to jail before I pay a penny.”

“That was me saying, ‘I will not pay for telling the truth,’” Daniels testified Tuesday.

She later forcefully denied that she was trying to squeeze Trump for money.

"You were looking to extort money from President Trump,” Necheles said.

“Well, that’s what you did,” the lawyer said.

Daniels was expected to return to the witness stand Thursday, when the trial resumes.

Testimony so far has made clear that at the time of the payment to Daniels, Trump and his campaign were reeling from the October 2016 publication of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">never-before-seen 2005 “Access Hollywood” footage</a>&nbsp;in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals without their permission.

Before that video was made public, "there was very little if any interest” in Daniels' claims,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-election-2024-d2f9badee0b28a60d32bc98c0d4e783f">according to testimony earlier in the trial</a>&nbsp;from her then-lawyer, Keith Davidson. A deal was reached with the National Enquirer for Daniels’ story, but the tabloid backed out. Davidson began negotiating with Cohen directly, hiked up the price to $130,000, and reached a deal.

After the deadline for the $130,000 payment from Cohen came and went, she authorized Davidson to cancel the deal. He did, by email, according to documents shown in court. But about two weeks later, the deal was revived.

Daniels testified that she ended up with about $96,000 of the $130,000 payment, after her lawyer and agent got their cuts.

She also said she was steadfast in abiding by her nondisclosure agreement with Cohen, declining to comment to The Wall Street Journal for a November 2016 story that reported she had been in discussions to tell her story on “Good Morning America” but that nothing had come of it. She also declined to comment for the newspaper before it broke the news of her hush money arrangement in 2018.

After that story was published, her life turned into “chaos,” she testified.

“I was front and foremost everywhere,” she recalled.

Prosecutors are building toward their star witness,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/michael-cohen">Cohen</a>, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64">pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money payments</a>.

Trump is charged with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">34 felony counts of falsifying business records</a>&nbsp;in connection with the payments. The trial is the first of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/">his four criminal cases</a>&nbsp;to reach a jury.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1715113495617.png" alt="Photo of Trump and Stormy Daniels entered into evidence released by the New York State Court System&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Photo of Trump and Stormy Daniels entered into evidence released by the New York State Court System&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ, ERIC TUCKER and JAKE OFFENHARTZ&nbsp;NEW YORK (AP) — With Donald Trump sitting just feet away,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stormy-daniels-donald-trump-d3dce88566bafb714dbb5c1acd3e4a83">Stormy Daniels</a>&nbsp;testified Tuesday at the former president's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-cohen-9be06e3d33c25af7060552a44001cc1a">hush money trial</a>&nbsp;about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels offered a detailed and at times graphic account of the encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead when Daniels entered the courtroom, later whispering to his lawyers and shaking his head as she testified.The testimony was by far the most-awaited spectacle in a trial that has toggled between tabloidesque elements and dry record-keeping details. A courtroom appearance by a porn actor who says she had an intimate encounter with a former American president added to the long list of historic firsts in a landmark case laden with claims of sex, payoffs and cover-ups and unfolding as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">presumptive Republican nominee</a>&nbsp;makes another bid for the White House.Daniels veered into salacious details despite the repeated objections of defense lawyers, who demanded a mistrial over what they said were prejudicial and irrelevant comments.“This is the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from,” attorney Todd Blanche said. “How can we come back from this in a way that’s fair to President Trump?”The judge rejected the request and said defense lawyers should have raised more objections during the testimony. The Trump team later in the day used its opportunity to question Daniels to paint her as motivated by personal animus and profiting off her claims against Trump."Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels.“Yes,” she acknowledged.Daniels' statements are central to the case because in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, his then-lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cohen-stormy-daniels-grand-jury-d48153fc2d3fe7a656e8a24ad1acd082">paid her $130,000 to keep quiet</a>&nbsp;about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe. Trump has pleaded not guilty.Led by a prosecutor's questioning, Daniels described how an initial meeting at a golf tournament, where they discussed the adult film industry, progressed to a “brief” sexual encounter that she said Trump initiated after inviting her to dinner and back to his hotel suite.She said she didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened, though she knew his bodyguard was outside the suite. There was also what she perceived as an imbalance of power: Trump “was bigger and blocking the way," she said.At the time, Trump was married to his wife, Melania, who has not been in court for the trial. Daniels said Trump told her they did not sleep in the same room, prompting him to shake his head at the defense table.After it ended, Daniels said, “It was really hard to get my shoes because my hands were shaking so hard.”“He said, ‘Oh, it was great. Let’s get together again, honey bunch,’” Daniels said. “I just wanted to leave.”In the years since the encounter was disclosed, Daniels has emerged as a vocal Trump antagonist, sharing her story innumerable times and criticizing the former president with mocking and pejorative jabs. But there was no precedent for Tuesday's testimony, when she came face-to-face with Trump and was asked under oath in an austere courtroom to describe her experiences to a jury weighing whether to convict a former American president of felony crimes for the first time in history.She told jurors how she met Trump because the adult film studio she worked for at the time sponsored one of the holes on the golf course. She said they had a brief conversation when Trump's group passed through, chatting about the adult film industry and her directing abilities. The celebrity real estate developer remarked that she must be “the smart one” if she was making films, Daniels recalled.Later, in an area known as the “gift room,” where celebrity golfers collected gift bags and swag, Trump remembered her as “the smart one” and asked her to dinner, Daniels said.She said her then-publicist suggested in a phone call that Trump’s invitation was a good excuse to skip a work dinner and would “make a great story” and perhaps help her career.“What could possibly go wrong?” she recalled the publicist saying.The two saw each other periodically in the ensuing years, when she said she spurned Trump's advances.In 2011, several years after she and Trump were last in touch, she said she learned from her agent that the story of her encounter with Trump had made its way to a magazine.She said she agreed to an interview for $15,000 because “I’d rather make the money than somebody make money off of me, and at least I could control the narrative.” The story never ran, but later that year, she was alarmed when an item turned up on a website.Perhaps seeking to preempt defense claims that she was in urgent need of a massive payout, Daniels testified that she was in the best financial shape of her life when she authorized her manager to shop her story during the 2016 presidential campaign.She said she had no intent of approaching Cohen or Trump to have them pay her.“My motivation wasn’t money," she said. "It was to get the story out,” she testified.But Necheles zeroed in on that point, pressing Daniels on the fact that she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stormy-daniels-trump-defamation-lawsuit-0ee5623fc8965ad3d2fc77a7126d24c7">owes Trump hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees</a>&nbsp;stemming from an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit and that she tweeted in 2022 that she “will go to jail before I pay a penny.”“That was me saying, ‘I will not pay for telling the truth,’” Daniels testified Tuesday.She later forcefully denied that she was trying to squeeze Trump for money."You were looking to extort money from President Trump,” Necheles said.“False,” Daniels responded.“Well, that’s what you did,” the lawyer said.“False,” Daniels answered.Daniels was expected to return to the witness stand Thursday, when the trial resumes.Testimony so far has made clear that at the time of the payment to Daniels, Trump and his campaign were reeling from the October 2016 publication of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">never-before-seen 2005 “Access Hollywood” footage</a>&nbsp;in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals without their permission.Before that video was made public, "there was very little if any interest” in Daniels' claims,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-election-2024-d2f9badee0b28a60d32bc98c0d4e783f">according to testimony earlier in the trial</a>&nbsp;from her then-lawyer, Keith Davidson. A deal was reached with the National Enquirer for Daniels’ story, but the tabloid backed out. Davidson began negotiating with Cohen directly, hiked up the price to $130,000, and reached a deal.After the deadline for the $130,000 payment from Cohen came and went, she authorized Davidson to cancel the deal. He did, by email, according to documents shown in court. But about two weeks later, the deal was revived.Daniels testified that she ended up with about $96,000 of the $130,000 payment, after her lawyer and agent got their cuts.She also said she was steadfast in abiding by her nondisclosure agreement with Cohen, declining to comment to The Wall Street Journal for a November 2016 story that reported she had been in discussions to tell her story on “Good Morning America” but that nothing had come of it. She also declined to comment for the newspaper before it broke the news of her hush money arrangement in 2018.After that story was published, her life turned into “chaos,” she testified.“I was front and foremost everywhere,” she recalled.Prosecutors are building toward their star witness,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/michael-cohen">Cohen</a>, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64">pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the hush money payments</a>.Trump is charged with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-arraignment-hush-money-81225510ef7638494852816878f612f0">34 felony counts of falsifying business records</a>&nbsp;in connection with the payments. The trial is the first of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/">his four criminal cases</a>&nbsp;to reach a jury.

Salacious testimony: Stormy Daniels tells all during historic Trump trial

Beef producers must continue to improve efficiency to stay in the cattle business, and beef research needs to support that. That was the message researchers from University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Colorado State University and USDA’s Ag Research Service took away from a two-day meeting at UNL’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center recently.

The goal of the meeting was to bring together researchers from different institutions to set priorities for future research and identify overlaps and gaps in existing research.

"The primary discussion is how do we optimize a beef production system on a landscape or ranch," said Dr. Mark Boggess, director of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Nebraska. "How do we give that producer the best tools or the best opportunity to most optimally match their genetics, their forage base and their management systems?"

While that’s enough of a challenge, Boggess said, research also needs to consider potential future effects of climate change, extreme weather events, socioeconomic factors like animal husbandry practices, and other emerging issues, like carbon and nitrogen, greenhouse gas emissions and public perception.

"We need to be able to demonstrate to the producers and society that maybe we are a lot better with respect to carbon and methane than we think," Boggess said. "But we need to be able to understand those challenges. We need the research in place to do the methane work and to do the nitrogen cycling and the carbon work and to help producers understand their opportunities, help them understand how it all fits together with ecosystem services. So it’s complex and growing. That’s why this meeting is so important, to bring all those people together."

The meeting included a tour of the Klosterman Feedlot Innovation Center, which is still under construction but is expected to start receiving cattle this summer. The KFIC is a commercial-scale feedlot research facility located at ENREEC that has been funded largely by industry donations, evidence that the industry understands the need for research that can both help improve efficiency and support the environmental benefits of beef production, said Galen Erickson, professor of animal science at UNL. The KFIC will double the current cattle feeding capacity at ENREEC to 5,000.

The meeting also tied into UNL’s Beef Innovation hub, a group of stakeholders including beef producers, allied industry professionals and researchers and educators from across all beef-related disciplines at UNL. The Beef Innovation hub includes representatives from range management to ecology, ag economics to genetics, meat science to social sciences, Erickson said. The industry advisors provide real-world input about the problems facing the beef industry, help researchers set priorities and identify funding opportunities, and give feedback about the results, shaping continuing projects.

Having those producers and industry professionals involved in the priority process with UNL allows UNL researchers to bring that perspective and those concerns to larger groups like this one, Erickson said, where researchers can share what they have already learned and collaborate and prioritize to maximize future research efforts.

For instance, Justin Derner, lead scientist with USDA ARS in Fort Collins, said their research into environmental, management and socioeconomic systems has been strong, but they would like to improve the genetics component of their research. "Because of this meeting we have connections now to enhance that genetics capacity and provide that sort of information to folks working in genetics, but also provide the value-added aspect to producers working with us from the genetic side. I’m pretty darn excited coming out of this that those sorts of collaborations are now in place and I’m looking forward to the next four to five years."

Matt Spangler, UNL beef genetics specialist, said one of the most important aspects of this meeting, beyond the value of the research discussions, was getting to know people and understanding beyond the scientific questions. "There is a common interest in agriculture and helping address concerns that consumers have. It’s those one-on-one interactions, in my experience, that actually lead to long-term, sustainable collaborations," Spangler said. "We’ve got exciting times ahead. I would say, though, I think it’s going to be an impossibility to raise cattle in 2050, using science from 1950. And so the challenge is to make sure we address the needs of the beef industry and the consumer, and ensure beef cattle producers have the opportunity to deploy scientific discovery. That requires education of not only beef cattle producers, but also education of consumers, and consumers who are willing to be consumers of science as well."

UNL BeefBeef producers must continue to improve efficiency to stay in the cattle business, and beef research needs to support that. That was the message researchers from University of Nebraska—Lincoln, Colorado State University and USDA’s Ag Research Service took away from a two-day meeting at UNL’s Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center recently.The goal of the meeting was to bring together researchers from different institutions to set priorities for future research and identify overlaps and gaps in existing research."The primary discussion is how do we optimize a beef production system on a landscape or ranch," said Dr. Mark Boggess, director of the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center at Clay Center, Nebraska. "How do we give that producer the best tools or the best opportunity to most optimally match their genetics, their forage base and their management systems?"While that’s enough of a challenge, Boggess said, research also needs to consider potential future effects of climate change, extreme weather events, socioeconomic factors like animal husbandry practices, and other emerging issues, like carbon and nitrogen, greenhouse gas emissions and public perception."We need to be able to demonstrate to the producers and society that maybe we are a lot better with respect to carbon and methane than we think," Boggess said. "But we need to be able to understand those challenges. We need the research in place to do the methane work and to do the nitrogen cycling and the carbon work and to help producers understand their opportunities, help them understand how it all fits together with ecosystem services. So it’s complex and growing. That’s why this meeting is so important, to bring all those people together."The meeting included a tour of the Klosterman Feedlot Innovation Center, which is still under construction but is expected to start receiving cattle this summer. The KFIC is a commercial-scale feedlot research facility located at ENREEC that has been funded largely by industry donations, evidence that the industry understands the need for research that can both help improve efficiency and support the environmental benefits of beef production, said Galen Erickson, professor of animal science at UNL. The KFIC will double the current cattle feeding capacity at ENREEC to 5,000.The meeting also tied into UNL’s Beef Innovation hub, a group of stakeholders including beef producers, allied industry professionals and researchers and educators from across all beef-related disciplines at UNL. The Beef Innovation hub includes representatives from range management to ecology, ag economics to genetics, meat science to social sciences, Erickson said. The industry advisors provide real-world input about the problems facing the beef industry, help researchers set priorities and identify funding opportunities, and give feedback about the results, shaping continuing projects.Having those producers and industry professionals involved in the priority process with UNL allows UNL researchers to bring that perspective and those concerns to larger groups like this one, Erickson said, where researchers can share what they have already learned and collaborate and prioritize to maximize future research efforts.For instance, Justin Derner, lead scientist with USDA ARS in Fort Collins, said their research into environmental, management and socioeconomic systems has been strong, but they would like to improve the genetics component of their research. "Because of this meeting we have connections now to enhance that genetics capacity and provide that sort of information to folks working in genetics, but also provide the value-added aspect to producers working with us from the genetic side. I’m pretty darn excited coming out of this that those sorts of collaborations are now in place and I’m looking forward to the next four to five years."Matt Spangler, UNL beef genetics specialist, said one of the most important aspects of this meeting, beyond the value of the research discussions, was getting to know people and understanding beyond the scientific questions. "There is a common interest in agriculture and helping address concerns that consumers have. It’s those one-on-one interactions, in my experience, that actually lead to long-term, sustainable collaborations," Spangler said. "We’ve got exciting times ahead. I would say, though, I think it’s going to be an impossibility to raise cattle in 2050, using science from 1950. And so the challenge is to make sure we address the needs of the beef industry and the consumer, and ensure beef cattle producers have the opportunity to deploy scientific discovery. That requires education of not only beef cattle producers, but also education of consumers, and consumers who are willing to be consumers of science as well."

Scientists from USDA and universities work together to set priorities, collaborate on beef research

Nebraska Public Service Commission

Lincoln, May 7, 2024- The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) is accepting applications from interested Nebraskans to apply for appointment to the 911 Service System Advisory Committee (911SSAC).

Created by the Legislature with the passage of LB993, the 911SSAC makes recommendations tothe PSC, on matters concerning the implementation, coordination operation, management,maintenance, and funding of the 911 Service System as the State transitions to Next Generation911. A list of current committee members can be found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/state-911/ng911-information-911-service-system-advisory-committee" target="_blank">Next Generation 911</a>&nbsp;page of thePSC website.

“The terms of all of our current board members are expiring in July,” said David Sankey,Director State 911 Department. “We want to thank them for their service and wouldencourage them and other interested parties to apply.”

The 14 members appointed by the Commission serve for a term of three years. Committeemembers serve without pay but will receive reimbursement for expenses related to committeeduties. Appointed committee members must represent public safety agencies (4), countyofficials or employees (2), municipal officials or employees (2), telecommunications industry(2), Public Safety Answering Points (2), Nebraska Association of County Officials (1), Leagueof Municipalities (1).&nbsp;

Those wishing to apply for a position on the 911SSAC will need to fill out a&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/911-ssac-application" target="_blank">911 Service System Advisory Committee Application</a>&nbsp;found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/state-911/ng911-information-911-service-system-advisory-committee" target="_blank">Next Generation 911</a>&nbsp;page of the PSC website. Applications must be received by the close of business on Friday, May 24.

Deb CollinsNebraska Public Service CommissionLincoln, May 7, 2024- The Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC) is accepting applications from interested Nebraskans to apply for appointment to the 911 Service System Advisory Committee (911SSAC).Created by the Legislature with the passage of LB993, the 911SSAC makes recommendations tothe PSC, on matters concerning the implementation, coordination operation, management,maintenance, and funding of the 911 Service System as the State transitions to Next Generation911. A list of current committee members can be found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/state-911/ng911-information-911-service-system-advisory-committee" target="_blank">Next Generation 911</a>&nbsp;page of thePSC website.“The terms of all of our current board members are expiring in July,” said David Sankey,Director State 911 Department. “We want to thank them for their service and wouldencourage them and other interested parties to apply.”The 14 members appointed by the Commission serve for a term of three years. Committeemembers serve without pay but will receive reimbursement for expenses related to committeeduties. Appointed committee members must represent public safety agencies (4), countyofficials or employees (2), municipal officials or employees (2), telecommunications industry(2), Public Safety Answering Points (2), Nebraska Association of County Officials (1), Leagueof Municipalities (1).&nbsp;Those wishing to apply for a position on the 911SSAC will need to fill out a&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/911-ssac-application" target="_blank">911 Service System Advisory Committee Application</a>&nbsp;found on the&nbsp;<a href="https://psc.nebraska.gov/state-911/ng911-information-911-service-system-advisory-committee" target="_blank">Next Generation 911</a>&nbsp;page of the PSC website. Applications must be received by the close of business on Friday, May 24.

PSC SEEKS APPLICATIONS FOR 911 SERVICE SYSTEM ADVISORY COMMITTEE

WASHINGTON (AP)—TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-lawsuit-biden-42840d6596dbb6671442db94fe95cddd">over a law that would ban</a>&nbsp;the popular video-sharing app unless it’s sold to another company, arguing that it relies on vaguely painting it as a threat to national security to get around the First Amendment.

The widely expected lawsuit filed on Tuesday may be setting up what will likely be a protracted legal fight over TikTok's future in the United States — and could end up before the Supreme Court. If TikTok loses, it says it will be forced to shut down next year.

The popular social video company says that the law, which President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mike-johnson-ukraine-israel-b72aed9b195818735d24363f2bc34ea4">signed</a>&nbsp;as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package, is so “obviously unconstitutional” that the sponsors of The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act are trying to portray it not as a ban, but as a regulation of TikTok's ownership. It's the first time the U.S. government has singled out a social media company with a potential ban, which free speech advocates note is more common in repressive regimes such as Iran or China.

“Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet,” ByteDance said in its suit, filed in a federal appeals court in Washington D.C. “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.”

The law requires TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to sell the platform within nine months. If a sale is already in progress, the company will get another three months to complete the deal. ByteDance has said it “doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.” But even if it wanted to divest, the company would have to get a blessing from Beijing. According to the lawsuit, the Chinese government has “made clear” that it would not permit ByteDance to divest of the recommendation engine that is “key to the success of TikTok in the United States.”

TikTok and ByteDance argued in the lawsuit that it isn't being given a choice.

“The ‘qualified divestiture’ demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally,” they said.

“There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit argues that it would be impossible for ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok platform as a separate entity from the rest of TikTok, which has 1 billion users worldwide — most of them outside of the United States. A U.S.-only TikTok, the suit says, would operate as an “island” that's detached from the rest of the world.

TikTok also paints divestment as a technological impossibility, since the law requires all of TikTok's millions of lines of software code to be wrested from ByteDance so that there is no “operational relationship” between the Chinese company and the new U.S. app.

“Specifically, to comply with the law’s divestiture requirement, that code base would have to be moved to a large, alternative team of engineers — a team that does not exist and would have no understanding of the complex code necessary to run the platform,” the lawsuit says. “It would take years for an entirely new set of engineers to gain sufficient familiarity with the source code to perform the ongoing, necessary maintenance and development activities for the platform.”

The parties argued that they should be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. They are seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act violates the U.S. Constitution; an order enjoining Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing the Act and any further relief that the court may deem appropriate.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the suit Tuesday.

The fight over TikTok takes place as U.S.-China relations have shifted to that of intense strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security.

U.S. lawmakers from both parties, as well as administration and law enforcement officials, have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1051/text?s=1&amp;r=42">expressed concerns</a>&nbsp;that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion by manipulating the algorithm that populates users' feeds. Some have also pointed to a Rutgers University study that maintains TikTok content was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-israel-hamas-war-research-7e94266c51b21f48e21b648463e65b0c">being amplified or underrepresented</a>&nbsp;based on how it aligns with the interests of the Chinese government, which the company disputes.

Opponents of the law argue that Chinese authorities — or any nefarious parties — could easily get information on Americans in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that rent or sell personal information. They note the U.S. government hasn't provided public evidence that shows TikTok sharing U.S. user information with Chinese authorities, or tinkering with its algorithm for China's benefit. They also say attempts to ban the app could violate free speech rights in the U.S.

Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, expects TikTok's challenge to the ban to succeed.

“The First Amendment means the government can’t restrict Americans’ access to ideas, information, or media from abroad without a very good reason for it—and no such reason exists here,” Jaffer said in a printed statement.

While TikTok has prevailed in its earlier First Amendment challenges, it is not clear whether the current lawsuit will be as simple.

“The bipartisan nature of this federal law may make judges more likely to defer to a Congressional determination that the company poses a national security risk,” said Gautam Hans, a law professor and associate director of the First Amendment Clinic at Cornell University. "Without public discussion of what exactly the risks are, however, it’s difficult to determine why the courts should validate such an unprecedented law.”

WASHINGTON (AP)—TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance are suing the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-china-lawsuit-biden-42840d6596dbb6671442db94fe95cddd">over a law that would ban</a>&nbsp;the popular video-sharing app unless it’s sold to another company, arguing that it relies on vaguely painting it as a threat to national security to get around the First Amendment.The widely expected lawsuit filed on Tuesday may be setting up what will likely be a protracted legal fight over TikTok's future in the United States — and could end up before the Supreme Court. If TikTok loses, it says it will be forced to shut down next year.The popular social video company says that the law, which President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mike-johnson-ukraine-israel-b72aed9b195818735d24363f2bc34ea4">signed</a>&nbsp;as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package, is so “obviously unconstitutional” that the sponsors of The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act are trying to portray it not as a ban, but as a regulation of TikTok's ownership. It's the first time the U.S. government has singled out a social media company with a potential ban, which free speech advocates note is more common in repressive regimes such as Iran or China.“Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet,” ByteDance said in its suit, filed in a federal appeals court in Washington D.C. “For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.”The law requires TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, to sell the platform within nine months. If a sale is already in progress, the company will get another three months to complete the deal. ByteDance has said it “doesn’t have any plan to sell TikTok.” But even if it wanted to divest, the company would have to get a blessing from Beijing. According to the lawsuit, the Chinese government has “made clear” that it would not permit ByteDance to divest of the recommendation engine that is “key to the success of TikTok in the United States.”TikTok and ByteDance argued in the lawsuit that it isn't being given a choice.“The ‘qualified divestiture’ demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally,” they said.“There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025,” the lawsuit says.The lawsuit argues that it would be impossible for ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok platform as a separate entity from the rest of TikTok, which has 1 billion users worldwide — most of them outside of the United States. A U.S.-only TikTok, the suit says, would operate as an “island” that's detached from the rest of the world.TikTok also paints divestment as a technological impossibility, since the law requires all of TikTok's millions of lines of software code to be wrested from ByteDance so that there is no “operational relationship” between the Chinese company and the new U.S. app.“Specifically, to comply with the law’s divestiture requirement, that code base would have to be moved to a large, alternative team of engineers — a team that does not exist and would have no understanding of the complex code necessary to run the platform,” the lawsuit says. “It would take years for an entirely new set of engineers to gain sufficient familiarity with the source code to perform the ongoing, necessary maintenance and development activities for the platform.”The parties argued that they should be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of expression. They are seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act violates the U.S. Constitution; an order enjoining Attorney General Merrick Garland from enforcing the Act and any further relief that the court may deem appropriate.The Justice Department declined to comment on the suit Tuesday.The fight over TikTok takes place as U.S.-China relations have shifted to that of intense strategic rivalry, especially in areas such as advanced technologies and data security, seen as essential to each country’s economic prowess and national security.U.S. lawmakers from both parties, as well as administration and law enforcement officials, have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1051/text?s=1&amp;r=42">expressed concerns</a>&nbsp;that Chinese authorities could force ByteDance to hand over U.S. user data or sway public opinion by manipulating the algorithm that populates users' feeds. Some have also pointed to a Rutgers University study that maintains TikTok content was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-china-israel-hamas-war-research-7e94266c51b21f48e21b648463e65b0c">being amplified or underrepresented</a>&nbsp;based on how it aligns with the interests of the Chinese government, which the company disputes.Opponents of the law argue that Chinese authorities — or any nefarious parties — could easily get information on Americans in other ways, including through commercial data brokers that rent or sell personal information. They note the U.S. government hasn't provided public evidence that shows TikTok sharing U.S. user information with Chinese authorities, or tinkering with its algorithm for China's benefit. They also say attempts to ban the app could violate free speech rights in the U.S.Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, expects TikTok's challenge to the ban to succeed.“The First Amendment means the government can’t restrict Americans’ access to ideas, information, or media from abroad without a very good reason for it—and no such reason exists here,” Jaffer said in a printed statement.While TikTok has prevailed in its earlier First Amendment challenges, it is not clear whether the current lawsuit will be as simple.“The bipartisan nature of this federal law may make judges more likely to defer to a Congressional determination that the company poses a national security risk,” said Gautam Hans, a law professor and associate director of the First Amendment Clinic at Cornell University. "Without public discussion of what exactly the risks are, however, it’s difficult to determine why the courts should validate such an unprecedented law.”

Battle to ban TikTok in the US moves to court 

Lincoln, NE – Colleen McKeon of Ravenna is the first winner of a 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck in the 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game.

McKeon purchased her winning Truck$ &amp; Buck$ ticket at Fill-N-Chill #04 at 401 Grand Ave. in Ravenna. She was presented with her new truck at Fill-N-Chill on Monday, May 6 by Nebraska Lottery officials.

It was a quick stop for snacks on her way to see her dad that netted McKeon her big win.

“He loves chocolate stars and the only place I can get them is here,” she said. “So I grabbed two bags of chocolate stars and five Truck$ &amp; Buck$.”

She held off on scratching the tickets for a little bit, finally scratching them off while having coffee out on her back deck.

The shock of winning was so big McKeon said she started having technical difficulties with her phone.

“When I hit the truck I was shaking,” she said. “I have the [Nebraska Lottery] app and I couldn’t even open it to check.”

The 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s popular $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game features the 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck as its top prize. Players have the opportunity to win one of eight Ford F-150 trucks as well as thousands of cash prizes. The truck prize is valued at $81,500, which includes $976 for costs associated with ownership and state and federal withholding paid by the Nebraska Lottery of $4,075 and $19,560, respectively. The odds of winning the top prize in Truck$ &amp; Buck$ are 1 in 336,000, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.69.

The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $978 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1715096996633.jpeg" alt="Colleen McKeon of Ravenna won the first Ford F-150 truck prize in the 2024 edition of the Nebraska Lottery's $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game. She was presented with her new truck at an event at Fill-N-Chill, 401 Grand Avenue in Ravenna on May 6, 2024." />
 <figcaption>Colleen McKeon of Ravenna won the first Ford F-150 truck prize in the 2024 edition of the Nebraska Lottery's $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game. She was presented with her new truck at an event at Fill-N-Chill, 401 Grand Avenue in Ravenna on May 6, 2024.</figcaption>
 </figure>Neil WatsonNebraska LotteryLincoln, NE – Colleen McKeon of Ravenna is the first winner of a 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck in the 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game.McKeon purchased her winning Truck$ &amp; Buck$ ticket at Fill-N-Chill #04 at 401 Grand Ave. in Ravenna. She was presented with her new truck at Fill-N-Chill on Monday, May 6 by Nebraska Lottery officials.It was a quick stop for snacks on her way to see her dad that netted McKeon her big win.“He loves chocolate stars and the only place I can get them is here,” she said. “So I grabbed two bags of chocolate stars and five Truck$ &amp; Buck$.”She held off on scratching the tickets for a little bit, finally scratching them off while having coffee out on her back deck.The shock of winning was so big McKeon said she started having technical difficulties with her phone.“When I hit the truck I was shaking,” she said. “I have the [Nebraska Lottery] app and I couldn’t even open it to check.”The 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s popular $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game features the 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck as its top prize. Players have the opportunity to win one of eight Ford F-150 trucks as well as thousands of cash prizes. The truck prize is valued at $81,500, which includes $976 for costs associated with ownership and state and federal withholding paid by the Nebraska Lottery of $4,075 and $19,560, respectively. The odds of winning the top prize in Truck$ &amp; Buck$ are 1 in 336,000, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.69.The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $978 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

Central Nebraska Woman Claims First Truck$ & Buck$ Truck

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/boy-scouts-of-america">Boy Scouts of America</a>&nbsp;is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.

The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks. With an eye on increasing flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization announced the name change Tuesday at its annual meeting in Florida.

“In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,” Roger Krone,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boys-scouts-new-president-bankruptcy-516869e181513c073ac7edc139ad48d3">who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer,</a>&nbsp;said in an interview before the announcement.

The organization began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/47bac00392fb4ba7a89d06946607bf34">allowing gay youth in 2013</a>&nbsp;and ended a blanket ban on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c4795353c1904ca1ab56691cb0a356e6">gay adult leaders in 2015.</a>&nbsp;In 2017, it made the historic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/7f690adec7ad45d2a9469baac8e90ac7">announcement that girls</a>&nbsp;would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d3efeda8ffb74b79b367fce426780d6f">renamed Scouts BSA</a>&nbsp;— in 2019.

There were nearly 1,000 young women in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-minneapolis-8018efd354ba18713b128776b3fda085">inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts</a>&nbsp;in 2021, including Selby Chipman. The all-girls troop she was a founding member of in her hometown of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, has grown from five girls to nearly 50, and she thinks the name change will encourage even more girls to realize they can join.

“Girls were like: ‘You can join Boy Scouts of America?’” said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop.

Within days of the announcement that girls would be allowed, Bob Brady went to work. A father of two girls and a proud Eagle Scout himself, the New Jersey attorney eagerly formed an all-girls troop. At their first weekend gathering with other troops, the boys were happy to have the girls involved but some adult leaders seemed concerned, he recalled. Their worries seemed to melt away as soon as the girls led a traditional cheer around the campfire.

“You could see a change in the attitude of some of the doubters who weren’t sure and they realized, wait, these kids are exactly the same, they just happen to have ponytails,” said Brady. His daughters are among the 13 girls in his troop and 6,000 girls nationwide who have achieved the vaunted Eagle Scout rank.

Like other organizations, the scouts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-health-coronavirus-pandemic-7afeb2667df0a391de3be67b38495972">lost members during the pandemic,</a>&nbsp;when participation was difficult. After a highpoint over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.

The move by the Boy Scouts to accept girls throughout their ranks strained a bond with the Girl Scouts of the USA, which sued, saying it created marketplace confusion and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-00ed4641c60828eefca1c14d57faada3">damaged their recruitment efforts</a>. They reached a settlement agreement after a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boy-scouts-of-america-new-york-united-states-manhattan-lifestyle-d97b9453aaf6c8b6385e45d81b954f24">rejected those claims</a>, saying both groups are free to use words like “scouts” and “scouting.”

While camping remains an integral activity for the Boy Scouts, the organization offers something for everyone today, from high adventures to merit badges for robotics and digital technology, Krone said: “About anything kids want to do today, they can do in a structured way within the scouting program."

The Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-child-sexual-abuse-02d3a401645f337e483f9fd844d9a809">bankruptcy reorganization plan</a>&nbsp;took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while scouting.

Angelique Minett, the first woman chairperson of Scouts BSA, gets excited about the future of scouting when she sees the about 20-person youth council from across the United States help guide the program by raising issues important to them, like sustainability, and things that they'd like to see changed, like the fit on some of the uniforms.

“When we think scouts we think knots and camping, but those are a means to an end," Minett said. “We are actually teaching kids a much bigger thing. We are teaching them how to have grit, and we’re teaching them life skills and we’re teaching them how to be good leaders.”

The organization won't officially become Scouting America until Feb. 8, 2025, the organization's 115th birthday. But Krone said he expects people will start immediately using the name.

IRVING, Texas (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/boy-scouts-of-america">Boy Scouts of America</a>&nbsp;is changing its name for the first time in its 114-year history and will become Scouting America. It's a significant shift as the organization emerges from bankruptcy following a flood of sexual abuse claims and seeks to focus on inclusion.The organization steeped in tradition has made seismic changes after decades of turmoil, from finally allowing gay youth to welcoming girls throughout its ranks. With an eye on increasing flagging membership numbers, the Irving, Texas-based organization announced the name change Tuesday at its annual meeting in Florida.“In the next 100 years we want any youth in America to feel very, very welcome to come into our programs,” Roger Krone,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boys-scouts-new-president-bankruptcy-516869e181513c073ac7edc139ad48d3">who took over last fall as president and chief executive officer,</a>&nbsp;said in an interview before the announcement.The organization began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/47bac00392fb4ba7a89d06946607bf34">allowing gay youth in 2013</a>&nbsp;and ended a blanket ban on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c4795353c1904ca1ab56691cb0a356e6">gay adult leaders in 2015.</a>&nbsp;In 2017, it made the historic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/7f690adec7ad45d2a9469baac8e90ac7">announcement that girls</a>&nbsp;would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d3efeda8ffb74b79b367fce426780d6f">renamed Scouts BSA</a>&nbsp;— in 2019.There were nearly 1,000 young women in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-minneapolis-8018efd354ba18713b128776b3fda085">inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts</a>&nbsp;in 2021, including Selby Chipman. The all-girls troop she was a founding member of in her hometown of Oak Ridge, North Carolina, has grown from five girls to nearly 50, and she thinks the name change will encourage even more girls to realize they can join.“Girls were like: ‘You can join Boy Scouts of America?’” said Chipman, now a 20-year-old college student and assistant scoutmaster of her troop.Within days of the announcement that girls would be allowed, Bob Brady went to work. A father of two girls and a proud Eagle Scout himself, the New Jersey attorney eagerly formed an all-girls troop. At their first weekend gathering with other troops, the boys were happy to have the girls involved but some adult leaders seemed concerned, he recalled. Their worries seemed to melt away as soon as the girls led a traditional cheer around the campfire.“You could see a change in the attitude of some of the doubters who weren’t sure and they realized, wait, these kids are exactly the same, they just happen to have ponytails,” said Brady. His daughters are among the 13 girls in his troop and 6,000 girls nationwide who have achieved the vaunted Eagle Scout rank.Like other organizations, the scouts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/only-on-ap-health-coronavirus-pandemic-7afeb2667df0a391de3be67b38495972">lost members during the pandemic,</a>&nbsp;when participation was difficult. After a highpoint over the last decade of over 2 million members in 2018, the organization currently services just over 1 million youths, including more than 176,000 girls and young women. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.The move by the Boy Scouts to accept girls throughout their ranks strained a bond with the Girl Scouts of the USA, which sued, saying it created marketplace confusion and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-00ed4641c60828eefca1c14d57faada3">damaged their recruitment efforts</a>. They reached a settlement agreement after a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boy-scouts-of-america-new-york-united-states-manhattan-lifestyle-d97b9453aaf6c8b6385e45d81b954f24">rejected those claims</a>, saying both groups are free to use words like “scouts” and “scouting.”While camping remains an integral activity for the Boy Scouts, the organization offers something for everyone today, from high adventures to merit badges for robotics and digital technology, Krone said: “About anything kids want to do today, they can do in a structured way within the scouting program."The Boy Scouts’ $2.4 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boy-scouts-bankruptcy-child-sexual-abuse-02d3a401645f337e483f9fd844d9a809">bankruptcy reorganization plan</a>&nbsp;took effect last year, allowing the organization to keep operating while compensating the more than 80,000 men who say they were sexually abused as children while scouting.Angelique Minett, the first woman chairperson of Scouts BSA, gets excited about the future of scouting when she sees the about 20-person youth council from across the United States help guide the program by raising issues important to them, like sustainability, and things that they'd like to see changed, like the fit on some of the uniforms.“When we think scouts we think knots and camping, but those are a means to an end," Minett said. “We are actually teaching kids a much bigger thing. We are teaching them how to have grit, and we’re teaching them life skills and we’re teaching them how to be good leaders.”The organization won't officially become Scouting America until Feb. 8, 2025, the organization's 115th birthday. But Krone said he expects people will start immediately using the name.

Boy Scouts of America changing name to be more inclusive 

Office of Nebraska State Treasurer Tom Briese

(LINCOLN, Neb., May 7, 2024) – Nebraska children born in 2023 will receive a one-time $50 seed contribution this spring to a Meadowlark savings account, as directed by the Meadowlark Act.

Families will receive a letter from the State Treasurer announcing their qualification for the&nbsp;<a href="https://nest529.com/meadowlark/" target="_blank">Meadowlark Savings Pledge</a>, a program designed to help children and families start saving for higher education. The starter contribution has the potential to grow over time. When it’s time to continue their education after high school, students can use the funds toward education expenses. In addition to Nebraska colleges and universities, funds can be used for technical, trade, and vocational schools.

Nebraska babies born in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023 are eligible to receive this one-time Meadowlark seed contribution. It is an automatic enrollment that does not require families to pay extra costs or complete any paperwork.

The Meadowlark Program is the beginning of a child’s educational savings journey, setting them up to soar.&nbsp;Close to 70,000 children have received Meadowlark contributions since its inception in 2020.&nbsp;It is important for families to start saving sooner rather than later, and&nbsp;Meadowlark, combined with a NEST 529 account, is an easy way to help loved ones take flight toward their dreams.

Meadowlark is an important beginning on your savings path. But families should also open a NEST 529 account to start building for their loved ones’ futures today. A NEST 529 account gives families the ability to make routine contributions that can be put to work helping their loved one achieve their aspirations.

Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://nest529.com/" target="_blank">NEST529.com</a>&nbsp;to learn more about the benefits of a NEST 529 College Savings Plan.&nbsp;For more information on the Meadowlark Program, go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nest529.com/meadowlark" target="_blank">NEST529.com/Meadowlark</a>.

The State Treasurer serves as the Program Trustee. All investments, including the portfolio structure offered through the NEST 529 Plan, are vetted&nbsp;and approved by the Nebraska Investment Council.

Office of Nebraska State Treasurer Tom Briese(LINCOLN, Neb., May 7, 2024) – Nebraska children born in 2023 will receive a one-time $50 seed contribution this spring to a Meadowlark savings account, as directed by the Meadowlark Act.Families will receive a letter from the State Treasurer announcing their qualification for the&nbsp;<a href="https://nest529.com/meadowlark/" target="_blank">Meadowlark Savings Pledge</a>, a program designed to help children and families start saving for higher education. The starter contribution has the potential to grow over time. When it’s time to continue their education after high school, students can use the funds toward education expenses. In addition to Nebraska colleges and universities, funds can be used for technical, trade, and vocational schools.Nebraska babies born in 2020, 2021, 2022, or 2023 are eligible to receive this one-time Meadowlark seed contribution. It is an automatic enrollment that does not require families to pay extra costs or complete any paperwork.The Meadowlark Program is the beginning of a child’s educational savings journey, setting them up to soar.&nbsp;Close to 70,000 children have received Meadowlark contributions since its inception in 2020.&nbsp;It is important for families to start saving sooner rather than later, and&nbsp;Meadowlark, combined with a NEST 529 account, is an easy way to help loved ones take flight toward their dreams.NEST 529 College Saving PlanMeadowlark is an important beginning on your savings path. But families should also open a NEST 529 account to start building for their loved ones’ futures today. A NEST 529 account gives families the ability to make routine contributions that can be put to work helping their loved one achieve their aspirations.Key features include:&nbsp;<ul>
 <li>Flexibility—A NEST 529 account can be opened in just 10 minutes. Families can manage everything easily online, from contributing and reallocating funds to making their investment selections.</li><li>Tax Benefits—Tax-advantaged savings include a Nebraska state tax deduction, tax-deferred growth, and tax-free qualified withdrawals.1&nbsp;Account Owners in Nebraska are eligible for an annual state income tax deduction of up to $10,000 for NEST 529 contributions, or $5,000 if married filing separately.2&nbsp;</li><li>Investment Options—Families can customize their investment portfolio to fit risk tolerance, time frame, and savings goals. Saving is made even easier with automatic contributions from bank accounts or paychecks.</li><li>Diverse Fund Families—NEST offers quality funds from multiple fund families including Vanguard, T. Rowe Price, and others.</li>
 </ul>Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://nest529.com/" target="_blank">NEST529.com</a>&nbsp;to learn more about the benefits of a NEST 529 College Savings Plan.&nbsp;For more information on the Meadowlark Program, go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nest529.com/meadowlark" target="_blank">NEST529.com/Meadowlark</a>.The State Treasurer serves as the Program Trustee. All investments, including the portfolio structure offered through the NEST 529 Plan, are vetted&nbsp;and approved by the Nebraska Investment Council.

Nebraska Babies Born in 2023 to Be Given Meadowlark Savings Pledge Funds

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/05/06/once-controversial-summer-ebt-food-program-for-low-income-ne-kids-set-for-rollout/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Nebraska’s plan to carry out the once-controversial Summer EBT food program for low-income youths has been given the green light from the federal government.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the state’s planned rollout of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program, which include details such as “touchpoints” that local officials designed to improve outreach, according to a media release Monday from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.

So-called touchpoints include providing Nebraska parents with information on types of nutritious foods to buy and follow-up surveys to identify additional needs or concerns.

State officials expect the Summer EBT program to serve about 175,000 students, or 80,000 households that meet certain criteria, including an income that makes them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during the school year.

That count is up from an earlier estimate of about 150,000 children anticipated to benefit at a state cost of about $400,000 per year to administer the federally-funded program.

Each qualified child is to receive a card loaded with a total of $120 in grocery-buying benefits. The program is designed to allow access to nutritious food during summer months when school is out.

Modeled after pilot projects and a nationwide pandemic-era initiative that ended, Congress authorized the more permanent summer program through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.

State Sen. Jen Day of Gretna during the past legislative session<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/02/01/proposal-to-force-ne-to-accept-18m-in-federal-food-funds-for-kids-draws-no-opponents-at-hearing/">&nbsp;introduced Legislative Bill 952,</a>&nbsp;which stalled but had been&nbsp; prioritized by Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island to push the state to implement the federal program.

Gov. Jim Pillen&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/20/gov-pillen-decides-ne-wont-opt-into-new-18-million-child-nutrition-program/">had balked</a>&nbsp;at opting in, describing the program as a leftover from the pandemic that had ended.

He later added that he didn’t believe in “welfare,” which brought more criticism because the governor, a hog producer and co-owner of a pork processing plant, has accepted federal assistance.

Already, Pillen had been&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/29/advocates-issue-final-plea-to-governor-to-participate-in-new-summer-lunch-program/">flooded by pleas</a>&nbsp;from food banks, advocates of the poor and protesters.

Ultimately the governor reversed his stand, attributing the change of heart to a visit with Aguilar, a Republican, and discussions he had with students at Boys Town and during a youth legislative day.&nbsp;

Day, who had led a letter-writing effort supported by 15 state lawmakers, said Monday that although Nebraska was one of the last states to opt in to the new summer program, it was the fourth in the nation to have its plan approved.

“I’m glad that we’ll be able to feed 175,000 Nebraska kids this summer and relieve some of the economic stress that many families are feeling right now,” Day said.

She praised the work of the DHHS and Department of Education in crafting the plan.

“These programs are crucial for making sure that kids in our state receive nutritious meals during the months they are not in school,” DHHS CEO Steve Corsi said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the USDA said the agency is pleased Nebraska chose to participate.

“We are impressed that the state’s plan includes a range of services to reach kids and also robust outreach to the community,” said Cheryl Kennedy, regional administrator for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. “This will be a great benefit to the children of Nebraska.”

Eric Savaiano, food and access manager for Nebraska Appleseed, a nonprofit that fought early on for participation in the program, said federal approval of Nebraska’s plan is a big step. Now, he said, there is contact information and other detail available for families.

“This puts details behind the program that means it is actually going to happen,” Savaiano said.

In addition to the Summer EBT program, the State Department of Education said it also is administering the Summer Food Service Program, which provides no-cost meals to kids from age 1 to 18 at about 300 sites across Nebraska.

No applications or paperwork are required to receive meals from approved Summer Food Service Program sites, most of which begin providing meals the first week of June.

School-age, income-qualified youths are eligible for Summer EBT cards.

According to DHHS, kids already approved for free and reduced-priced school lunches, or who participate in state-administered public assistance, should receive their cards by mail and don’t have to formally apply.

If in doubt, or for more information on eligibility and application, the state offers a website for the Summer EBT program and the Summer Food Service Program:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Summer-EBT.aspx">https://dhhs.ne.gov/SummerEBT.&nbsp;</a>

Once a Summer EBT card is received and activated, it can be used like any other EBT card.

Cards are accepted at approved SNAP retailers, supermarkets and grocery stores. For a list, visit&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer-locator">https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer-locator</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1715087389051.jpeg" alt="Alyssa Schukar for Feeding America)" />
 <figcaption>Alyssa Schukar for Feeding America)</figcaption>
 </figure>Cindy Gonzalez<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/05/06/once-controversial-summer-ebt-food-program-for-low-income-ne-kids-set-for-rollout/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Nebraska’s plan to carry out the once-controversial Summer EBT food program for low-income youths has been given the green light from the federal government.The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved the state’s planned rollout of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program, which include details such as “touchpoints” that local officials designed to improve outreach, according to a media release Monday from the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.So-called touchpoints include providing Nebraska parents with information on types of nutritious foods to buy and follow-up surveys to identify additional needs or concerns.<h2>175,000 students</h2>State officials expect the Summer EBT program to serve about 175,000 students, or 80,000 households that meet certain criteria, including an income that makes them eligible for free or reduced-price lunch during the school year.That count is up from an earlier estimate of about 150,000 children anticipated to benefit at a state cost of about $400,000 per year to administer the federally-funded program.Each qualified child is to receive a card loaded with a total of $120 in grocery-buying benefits. The program is designed to allow access to nutritious food during summer months when school is out.Modeled after pilot projects and a nationwide pandemic-era initiative that ended, Congress authorized the more permanent summer program through the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.State Sen. Jen Day of Gretna during the past legislative session<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/02/01/proposal-to-force-ne-to-accept-18m-in-federal-food-funds-for-kids-draws-no-opponents-at-hearing/">&nbsp;introduced Legislative Bill 952,</a>&nbsp;which stalled but had been&nbsp; prioritized by Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island to push the state to implement the federal program.Gov. Jim Pillen&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/20/gov-pillen-decides-ne-wont-opt-into-new-18-million-child-nutrition-program/">had balked</a>&nbsp;at opting in, describing the program as a leftover from the pandemic that had ended.He later added that he didn’t believe in “welfare,” which brought more criticism because the governor, a hog producer and co-owner of a pork processing plant, has accepted federal assistance.Already, Pillen had been&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/29/advocates-issue-final-plea-to-governor-to-participate-in-new-summer-lunch-program/">flooded by pleas</a>&nbsp;from food banks, advocates of the poor and protesters.Ultimately the governor reversed his stand, attributing the change of heart to a visit with Aguilar, a Republican, and discussions he had with students at Boys Town and during a youth legislative day.&nbsp;<h2>Big step</h2>Day, who had led a letter-writing effort supported by 15 state lawmakers, said Monday that although Nebraska was one of the last states to opt in to the new summer program, it was the fourth in the nation to have its plan approved.“I’m glad that we’ll be able to feed 175,000 Nebraska kids this summer and relieve some of the economic stress that many families are feeling right now,” Day said.She praised the work of the DHHS and Department of Education in crafting the plan.“These programs are crucial for making sure that kids in our state receive nutritious meals during the months they are not in school,” DHHS CEO Steve Corsi said in a statement.A spokeswoman for the USDA said the agency is pleased Nebraska chose to participate.“We are impressed that the state’s plan includes a range of services to reach kids and also robust outreach to the community,” said Cheryl Kennedy, regional administrator for the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. “This will be a great benefit to the children of Nebraska.”Eric Savaiano, food and access manager for Nebraska Appleseed, a nonprofit that fought early on for participation in the program, said federal approval of Nebraska’s plan is a big step. Now, he said, there is contact information and other detail available for families.“This puts details behind the program that means it is actually going to happen,” Savaiano said.In addition to the Summer EBT program, the State Department of Education said it also is administering the Summer Food Service Program, which provides no-cost meals to kids from age 1 to 18 at about 300 sites across Nebraska.No applications or paperwork are required to receive meals from approved Summer Food Service Program sites, most of which begin providing meals the first week of June.<h2>Summer EBT eligibility</h2>School-age, income-qualified youths are eligible for Summer EBT cards.According to DHHS, kids already approved for free and reduced-priced school lunches, or who participate in state-administered public assistance, should receive their cards by mail and don’t have to formally apply.If in doubt, or for more information on eligibility and application, the state offers a website for the Summer EBT program and the Summer Food Service Program:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/Summer-EBT.aspx">https://dhhs.ne.gov/SummerEBT.&nbsp;</a>Once a Summer EBT card is received and activated, it can be used like any other EBT card.Cards are accepted at approved SNAP retailers, supermarkets and grocery stores. For a list, visit&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer-locator">https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailer-locator</a>

Once-controversial Summer EBT food program for low-income NE kids set for rollout

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pulitzer-prize-awards">Pulitzer Prizes</a>&nbsp;apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-pulitzer-award-journalism-23aeee7cc4a770e8a2e4be5ae1a82277">coverage of global migration</a>&nbsp;to the U.S.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2024">Click here to see the list</a> or watch the announcement video below

Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as “wide-ranging and revelatory,” while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza.

The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work.

The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pulitzer-prizes-night-watch-jayne-anne-phillips-c1639c1c9574616a03ebc4074b494e18">eight arts categories</a>&nbsp;focused on books, music and theater. The public service winner receives a gold medal. All other winners receive $15,000.

The 15 photos in AP’s winning entry were taken across Latin America and along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and California in a year when immigration was one of the world’s biggest stories. They were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia.

“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.

The United States has seen more than 10 million border arrivals in the last five years, with migrants arriving from a wide range of new locations like Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Africa, in contrast with earlier eras.

The AP has won 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The news cooperative was named a finalist for the national reporting Pulitzer on Monday for its coverage of hundreds of thousands of children who&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/missing-children/index.html">disappeared from public schools during the pandemic</a>.

In citing the Times for its work in Israel and Gaza, the Pulitzer board mentioned its coverage of the country’s intelligence failures, along with the attack and Israel’s military response.

The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage; last month a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/04/29/new-york-times-oct-7-journalism-professors-letter/">group of journalism professors</a>&nbsp;called on the publication to address questions about an investigation into gender-based violence during the Hamas attack on Israel.

The Times’ Hannah Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the newspaper’s third Pulitzer, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarch’s dementia.

“Every one of the winners and finalists showcases a drive for original, revelatory reporting that underpins so much of what we produce, from the biggest storylines in the news to feature writing as well as classic investigations,” said Joe Kahn, the Times' executive editor.

The Washington Post staff won in national reporting for its “sobering examination” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which came with some gut-wrenching photos. “We were eager to find a way to cover it differently and change the conversation about mass shootings,” Peter Walstein, the Post’s senior national enterprise editor, said in the newspaper.

The Post’s David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a “compelling and well-researched” series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russian-prisoner-vladimir-kara-murza-vladimir-putin-72fa647534d743c22fceef9fe4a78dc4">contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza</a>, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.

The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers. Sarah Stillman won in explanatory reporting for her report on the legal system’s reliance on felony murder charges. Contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story humanizing inmates in the Rikers Island jail in New York City.

The staff of Lookout Santa Cruz in California won in the breaking news category for what the prize board called “nimble community-minded coverage” of flooding and mudslides. On its website Monday, Lookout Santa Cruz said that it made its coverage free at a time of crisis in the community, and also used text messages to reach people without power.

“In short, we did our jobs,” the staff said in an unsigned article, “and we heard so many thanks for it. The Pulitzer is icing on that cake.”

The Pulitzers gave a second award in national reporting to the Reuters staff for an “eye-opening” series that probed Elon Musk’s automobile and aerospace businesses.

In local reporting, Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won for an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago, which showed how racism and the police contributed to the problem.

The Pulitzer in criticism went to Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times for evocative and genre-spanning coverage of movies. The Pulitzer board's second special citation went to the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate.

The awards are administered by Columbia University in New York, which itself has been in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The Pulitzer board met away from Columbia this past weekend to deliberate on its winners.

The Pulitzers announced that five of the 45 finalists this year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/five-of-this-years-pulitzer-finalists-are-ai-powered,248629">used artificial intelligence</a>&nbsp;in research and reporting of their submissions. It was the first time the board required applicants for the award to disclose use of AI.

The prizes were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times and The Washington Post were awarded three&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pulitzer-prize-awards">Pulitzer Prizes</a>&nbsp;apiece on Monday for work in 2023 that dealt with everything from the war in Gaza to gun violence, and The Associated Press won in the feature photography category for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-pulitzer-award-journalism-23aeee7cc4a770e8a2e4be5ae1a82277">coverage of global migration</a>&nbsp;to the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2024">Click here to see the list</a> or watch the announcement video below<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1k3v4rB1BhY?si=Y0rKa0mAS4L5CQqK" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and its aftermath produced work that resulted in two Pulitzers and a special citation. The Times won for text coverage that the Pulitzer board described as “wide-ranging and revelatory,” while the Reuters news service won for its photography. The citation went to journalists and other writers covering the war in Gaza.The prestigious public service award went to ProPublica for reporting that “pierced the thick wall of secrecy” around the U.S. Supreme Court to show how billionaires gave expensive gifts to justices and paid for luxury travel. Reporters Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Brett Murphy, Alex Mierjeski and Kirsten Berg were honored for their work.The Pulitzers honored the best in journalism from 2023 in 15 categories, as well as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pulitzer-prizes-night-watch-jayne-anne-phillips-c1639c1c9574616a03ebc4074b494e18">eight arts categories</a>&nbsp;focused on books, music and theater. The public service winner receives a gold medal. All other winners receive $15,000.The 15 photos in AP’s winning entry were taken across Latin America and along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas and California in a year when immigration was one of the world’s biggest stories. They were shot by AP staffers Greg Bull, Eric Gay, Fernando Llano, Marco Ugarte and Eduardo Verdugo, and longtime AP freelancers Christian Chavez, Felix Marquez and Ivan Valencia.“These raw and emotional images came about through day-to-day coverage of a historic moment in multiple countries documenting migrants at every step of their treacherous journeys,” said Julie Pace, the AP’s senior vice president and executive editor.The United States has seen more than 10 million border arrivals in the last five years, with migrants arriving from a wide range of new locations like Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Haiti and Africa, in contrast with earlier eras.The AP has won 59 Pulitzer Prizes, including 36 for photography. The news cooperative was named a finalist for the national reporting Pulitzer on Monday for its coverage of hundreds of thousands of children who&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.apnews.com/features/2023/missing-children/index.html">disappeared from public schools during the pandemic</a>.In citing the Times for its work in Israel and Gaza, the Pulitzer board mentioned its coverage of the country’s intelligence failures, along with the attack and Israel’s military response.The award comes even as The Times has faced some controversy about its coverage; last month a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/media/2024/04/29/new-york-times-oct-7-journalism-professors-letter/">group of journalism professors</a>&nbsp;called on the publication to address questions about an investigation into gender-based violence during the Hamas attack on Israel.The Times’ Hannah Dreier won a Pulitzer in investigative reporting for her stories on migrant child labor across the United States. Contributing writer Katie Engelhart won the newspaper’s third Pulitzer, in feature writing, for her portrait of a family struggling with a matriarch’s dementia.“Every one of the winners and finalists showcases a drive for original, revelatory reporting that underpins so much of what we produce, from the biggest storylines in the news to feature writing as well as classic investigations,” said Joe Kahn, the Times' executive editor.The Washington Post staff won in national reporting for its “sobering examination” of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, which came with some gut-wrenching photos. “We were eager to find a way to cover it differently and change the conversation about mass shootings,” Peter Walstein, the Post’s senior national enterprise editor, said in the newspaper.The Post’s David E. Hoffman won in editorial writing for a “compelling and well-researched” series on how authoritarian regimes repress dissent in the digital age. Its third award went to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russian-prisoner-vladimir-kara-murza-vladimir-putin-72fa647534d743c22fceef9fe4a78dc4">contributor Vladimir Kara-Murza</a>, for commentaries written from a Russian prison cell.The New Yorker magazine won two Pulitzers. Sarah Stillman won in explanatory reporting for her report on the legal system’s reliance on felony murder charges. Contributor Medar de la Cruz won in illustrated reporting and commentary for his story humanizing inmates in the Rikers Island jail in New York City.The staff of Lookout Santa Cruz in California won in the breaking news category for what the prize board called “nimble community-minded coverage” of flooding and mudslides. On its website Monday, Lookout Santa Cruz said that it made its coverage free at a time of crisis in the community, and also used text messages to reach people without power.“In short, we did our jobs,” the staff said in an unsigned article, “and we heard so many thanks for it. The Pulitzer is icing on that cake.”The Pulitzers gave a second award in national reporting to the Reuters staff for an “eye-opening” series that probed Elon Musk’s automobile and aerospace businesses.In local reporting, Sarah Conway of City Bureau and Trina Reynolds-Tyler of the Invisible Institute won for an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago, which showed how racism and the police contributed to the problem.The Pulitzer in criticism went to Justin Chang of The Los Angeles Times for evocative and genre-spanning coverage of movies. The Pulitzer board's second special citation went to the late hip-hop critic Greg Tate.The awards are administered by Columbia University in New York, which itself has been in the news for student demonstrations against the war in Gaza. The Pulitzer board met away from Columbia this past weekend to deliberate on its winners.The Pulitzers announced that five of the 45 finalists this year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/five-of-this-years-pulitzer-finalists-are-ai-powered,248629">used artificial intelligence</a>&nbsp;in research and reporting of their submissions. It was the first time the board required applicants for the award to disclose use of AI.The prizes were established in the will of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer and first awarded in 1917.

🎥See the complete list of 2024 Pulitzer Prize winners

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials.

U.S. officials said the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.

Cynthia Smith, Army spokeswoman, confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier's family.

“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said.

It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL.

The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-us-citizen-crossed-border-e4aaa883901052e65f5c400c8279438b">sprinted into North Korea</a>&nbsp;across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-travis-king-quick-release-analysis-e0e1a2e3a90097c0d666cb385b185071">later announced</a>&nbsp;that it would expel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/travis-king/">King</a>, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion.

Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release.

Others detained include&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-musician-arrested-drug-trafficking-3d32c6e75660d17f993dd6afe396eea7">Travis Leake</a>, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-american-journalist-radio-free-europe-alsu-kurmasheva-0bd25c4f04201eed5b3a9aa871e1f6ad">Alsu Kurmasheva</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-woman-arrest-russia-ukraine-3a121981719ed1904c0bbdbdb38f14ab">Ksenia Khavana</a>.

The soldier's arrest in Russia was first reported by NBC News.

The soldier, who is not being identified, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to the United States. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials.U.S. officials said the soldier, Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to Fort Cavazos in Texas. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.Cynthia Smith, Army spokeswoman, confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier's family.“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said.It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL.The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-us-citizen-crossed-border-e4aaa883901052e65f5c400c8279438b">sprinted into North Korea</a>&nbsp;across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-travis-king-quick-release-analysis-e0e1a2e3a90097c0d666cb385b185071">later announced</a>&nbsp;that it would expel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/travis-king/">King</a>, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion.Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release.Others detained include&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-musician-arrested-drug-trafficking-3d32c6e75660d17f993dd6afe396eea7">Travis Leake</a>, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-american-journalist-radio-free-europe-alsu-kurmasheva-0bd25c4f04201eed5b3a9aa871e1f6ad">Alsu Kurmasheva</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-woman-arrest-russia-ukraine-3a121981719ed1904c0bbdbdb38f14ab">Ksenia Khavana</a>.The soldier's arrest in Russia was first reported by NBC News.-----------------WASHINGTON (AP) — An American soldier has been arrested in Russia and accused of stealing, according to two U.S. officials.The soldier, who is not being identified, was stationed in South Korea and was in the process of returning home to the United States. Instead, officials said he traveled to Russia.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.Cynthia Smith, Army spokeswoman, confirmed that a soldier was detained on Thursday in Vladivostok, a major military and commercial Pacific port, on charges of criminal misconduct. She said Russia notified the U.S. and the Army told the soldier's family.“The U.S. Department of State is providing appropriate consular support to the soldier in Russia,” Smith said.It was unclear Monday if the soldier is considered absent without leave, or AWOL.The arrest comes less than a year after American soldier Travis King&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-us-citizen-crossed-border-e4aaa883901052e65f5c400c8279438b">sprinted into North Korea</a>&nbsp;across the heavily fortified border between the Koreas. North Korea&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-travis-king-quick-release-analysis-e0e1a2e3a90097c0d666cb385b185071">later announced</a>&nbsp;that it would expel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/travis-king/">King</a>, who was returned to the U.S. He was eventually charged with desertion.Russia is known to be holding a number of Americans in its jails, including corporate security executive Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, The U.S. government has designated both as wrongfully detained and has been trying to negotiate for their release.Others detained include&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-musician-arrested-drug-trafficking-3d32c6e75660d17f993dd6afe396eea7">Travis Leake</a>, a musician who had been living in Russia for years and was arrested last year on drug-related charges; Marc Fogel, a teacher in Moscow, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also on drug charges; and dual nationals&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-american-journalist-radio-free-europe-alsu-kurmasheva-0bd25c4f04201eed5b3a9aa871e1f6ad">Alsu Kurmasheva</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-woman-arrest-russia-ukraine-3a121981719ed1904c0bbdbdb38f14ab">Ksenia Khavana</a>.

Officials ID U.S. Army soldier arrested in Russia

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/05/06/nebraska-supreme-court-dismisses-foster-care-abuse-case-against-dhhs-expands-immunity/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN —&nbsp;A new Nebraska Supreme Court decision added fuel to some lawmakers’ desire to try again, as early as this year, to increase accountability for child sexual assault and abuse.

An unsigned majority of the state’s highest court,&nbsp;in a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/N00010954PUB.pdf">4-1 opinion in Joshua v. State</a>, issued Friday, upheld certain immunity for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services after three siblings alleged negligence after more than a decade of sexual and physical abuse in foster care. The opinion built upon the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/N00007360PUB.pdf">2020 decision Moser v. State</a>&nbsp;and overruled related cases, too.

Justices Jeffrey Funke and John Freudenberg did not participate in the decision.

State lawmakers passed legislation to change the underlying state law before Gov. Jim Pillen&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/04/24/pillen-vetoes-nebraska-child-sexual-assault-and-abuse-proposal/">vetoed those revisions</a>&nbsp;last month. Leading senators said they might try to call for a special session this summer on their own if the governor does not.

“We need a special session immediately to address this issue,” State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, who helped lead legislative efforts this spring, said in a Friday text.

‘Public policy’ or ‘statutory construction’

At hand is the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, which forbids certain lawsuits against political subdivisions, upholding “sovereign immunity.” This includes cases of assault or battery, which the majority said could be changed by the Legislature “as a matter of public policy.”

“This court is required by settled principles of strict construction to read that exemption broadly in order to preserve the state’s immunity,” the majority wrote.

A penned dissent from the court’s longest serving member, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, said the court “overlooked an opportunity” to limit the 2020 decision and differentiate between immune child assault and nonimmune child abuse.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1715018704594.jpeg" alt="Judges of the Nebraska Supreme Court (and when they were appointed), front row from left: Lindsey Miller-Lerman (1998), Chief Justice Michael Heavican (2006), William Cassel (2012). Back row, from left: Jonathan Papik (2018), Stephanie Stacy (2015), Jeffrey Funke (2016) and John Freudenberg (2018). (Courtesy of the court)" />
 <figcaption>Judges of the Nebraska Supreme Court (and when they were appointed), front row from left: Lindsey Miller-Lerman (1998), Chief Justice Michael Heavican (2006), William Cassel (2012). Back row, from left: Jonathan Papik (2018), Stephanie Stacy (2015), Jeffrey Funke (2016) and John Freudenberg (2018). (Courtesy of the court)</figcaption>
 </figure>Zach Wendling<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/05/06/nebraska-supreme-court-dismisses-foster-care-abuse-case-against-dhhs-expands-immunity/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN —&nbsp;A new Nebraska Supreme Court decision added fuel to some lawmakers’ desire to try again, as early as this year, to increase accountability for child sexual assault and abuse.An unsigned majority of the state’s highest court,&nbsp;in a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/N00010954PUB.pdf">4-1 opinion in Joshua v. State</a>, issued Friday, upheld certain immunity for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services after three siblings alleged negligence after more than a decade of sexual and physical abuse in foster care. The opinion built upon the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/N00007360PUB.pdf">2020 decision Moser v. State</a>&nbsp;and overruled related cases, too.Justices Jeffrey Funke and John Freudenberg did not participate in the decision.State lawmakers passed legislation to change the underlying state law before Gov. Jim Pillen&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/04/24/pillen-vetoes-nebraska-child-sexual-assault-and-abuse-proposal/">vetoed those revisions</a>&nbsp;last month. Leading senators said they might try to call for a special session this summer on their own if the governor does not.“We need a special session immediately to address this issue,” State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, who helped lead legislative efforts this spring, said in a Friday text.<h2>‘Public policy’ or ‘statutory construction’</h2>At hand is the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, which forbids certain lawsuits against political subdivisions, upholding “sovereign immunity.” This includes cases of assault or battery, which the majority said could be changed by the Legislature “as a matter of public policy.”“This court is required by settled principles of strict construction to read that exemption broadly in order to preserve the state’s immunity,” the majority wrote.A penned dissent from the court’s longest serving member, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, said the court “overlooked an opportunity” to limit the 2020 decision and differentiate between immune child assault and nonimmune child abuse.Miller-Lerman said even under the Moser decision, “the actions of DHHS are nonliable.” She also dissented on the Moser decision, stating then that it diverted from the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1987/87-626">U.S. Supreme Court</a>.&nbsp;The senior justice would have returned the decision to a lower court to consider allegations of non-assault claims, including emotional abuse and domestic violence involving the foster family’s dogs.“The problematic outcome in this case is the result of the application by the majority of its statutory interpretation in Moser and the progeny thereof with which, as I have repeatedly written, I respectfully disagree,” Miller-Lerman wrote.“In my view, this issue is one of statutory construction, not public policy, and the solution is within the majority’s grasp,” Miller-Lerman continued. “In the absence of ambiguity, statutory interpretation is not a matter of public policy.”<h2>Timeline of abuse</h2>In January 1996, three siblings (Joshua, Sydnie and Abigail) became wards of the state after a serious car accident left their mother severely disabled and unable to care for them. Their biological father was deemed an unfit parent due to active alcoholism and instability in employment and housing.The siblings were placed in a foster home with Miles Ruch Sr. and Carol Ruch during which it is “generally undisputed” that the siblings were subjected to frequent physical and sexual abuse.In August 2004, Sydnie and Abigail each told their foster mother that her husband had been sexually abusing them, and Miles Ruch was arrested, charged and convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault of a child.The siblings remained in Carol Ruch’s custody for several months until reports indicated Carol Ruch had physically assaulted and injured Joshua.In July 2005, the siblings were returned to their biological father’s custody, based in part on DHHS recommendations. Several months later, he was arrested for sexually assaulting Sydnie and Abigail.A decade later, in December 2015, the siblings alleged DHHS failed to properly screen and monitor their foster home placement and later remove them from their home. The agency also failed to protect the children, they alleged, when they were reunited with their biological father.<h2>Trial court passed on immunity</h2>The district court issued $2.9 million in damages against Miles Ruch — but it concluded “that the siblings had adduced no evidence suggesting DHHS had any reason to foresee that he [the biological father] would sexually abuse the siblings.”DHHS had argued it had immunity, which the lower court said was “somewhat compelling,” though it ultimately ruled a 1977 state case precluded immunity.The Nebraska Supreme Court disagreed, stating the facts of the case were “undeniably tragic” and abuse of a child entrusted in the state’s foster court system “is deplorable.”“But it is not the proper role of this court, even when faced with tragic and compelling facts, to pick and choose which tort claims arising out of an assault or battery should be permitted under the [laws] and which should not,” the court wrote.Miller-Lerman said DHHS received multiple reports of abuse, yet the court’s reluctance means the majority has “effectively ruled that once there is an assault in the picture rendering the State immune, the State is also immune from suit resulting from cruel emotional child abuse.”“I do not think this holding is supported by statute or the record,” she said.Friday’s decision does not affect the $2.9 million award against Miles Ruch.<h2>‘This is the wrong outcome’</h2>State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, an attorney, said the court’s decision to explicitly overrule a handful of other related cases, while it had done so “implicitly” before, was “breathtaking.”For four years, lawmakers have sought to amend the act and expand lawsuits against political subdivisions —&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/04/25/we-were-so-close-nebraska-mother-responds-to-veto-of-child-sexual-assault-and-abuse-bill/">such as schools</a>&nbsp;and state agencies.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=50137">In the latest case</a>, it would have been if subdivisions failed to use “reasonable care” to control or protect a child in their care in cases of sexual assault or abuse. Damages could have been awarded up to $1 million.Lawmakers passed that measure 28-17 last month, but Pillen said it was “overly broad” and would “substantially erode” sovereign immunity protections, passing off costs to taxpayers.“We must hold perpetrators accountable and protect children from abuse by enforcing the criminal laws that exist and by targeting the wrongdoer,” Pillen said in his April 24 veto letter. “Taxpayers should not bear this burden.”The “callous veto” along with the court’s bad decision, Conrad said, was “yet another example of why the Legislature must act to reset the scales of justice and ensure that big government is held accountable when their actions or inactions hurt or harm its citizens.”“You don’t need to be a legal scholar to understand that this is the wrong outcome,” Conrad said. “This shouldn’t be a political issue — this is a common sense issue.”<h2>Special session could be next step</h2>In Nebraska, a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/articles.php?article=IV-8">special session</a>&nbsp;can only be called through a governor’s proclamation, which the governor or&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nebraskalegislature.gov/laws/statutes.php?statute=50-125">33 senators can initiate</a>.In the case of the Legislature itself — which has not happened in Unicameral history —&nbsp;10 or more senators must formally declare the purpose or purposes of the session to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s Office. Within 10 days, the secretary must poll the body; if 33 or more agree, the governor has five days after receiving notice to convene the special session.Special sessions are not limited to one topic, and a consideration of such legislation could come at the same time as an expected session on property taxes this summer.“Make no mistake: whether it’s through a special session, which I think is the best remedy, or in next year’s regular session, this issue is not going away,” Conrad said. “We need Nebraskans to join us, to call for change to right this wrong, to say, ‘Not in our name.’”