WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing will change for now. That's what the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;said Friday evening about access to a widely used abortion pill.

A court case that began in Texas has sought to roll back Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug, mifepristone. Lower courts had said that women seeking the drug should face more restrictions on getting it while the case continues, but the Supreme Court disagreed.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22a901_3d9g.pdf">court’s action</a>&nbsp;almost certainly will leave access to mifepristone unchanged at least into next year, as appeals play out, including a potential appeal to the high court.

The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

The following is a look at the drug at issue in the new case, how the case got to the nation's highest court and what's next in the legal case.

Mifepristone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago. It has been used by more than 5 million women to safely end their pregnancies, and today more than half of women who end a pregnancy rely on the drug, the Justice Department said.

Over the years, the FDA has loosened restrictions on the drug’s use, extending from seven to 10 weeks of pregnancy when it can be used, reducing the dosage needed to safely end a pregnancy, eliminating the requirement to visit a doctor in person to get it and allowing pills to be obtained by mail. The FDA also approved a generic version of mifepristone that its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro, says makes up two-thirds of the domestic market.

Mifepristone is one of two pills used in medication abortions, along with misoprostol. Health care providers have said they could switch to misoprostol only if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain. Misoprostol is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.

A lawsuit over mifepristone was filed in Amarillo, Texas, late last year. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, represents the pill's opponents, who say the FDA's approval of mifepristone was flawed.

Why Amarillo?&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump, is the sole district court judge there, ensuring that all cases filed in the west Texas city land in front of him. Since taking the bench, he has ruled against President Joe Biden's administration on several other issues, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-joe-biden-new-orleans-mexico-statutes-0a3b7c93a6e6bdf06b0eee4935d7dc8f">immigration</a>&nbsp;and LGBTQ protections.

On April 7, Kacsmaryk issued a ruling that would completely&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">revoke the FDA's approval of mifepristone</a>, but he put the decision on hold for a week to allow an appeal.

Complicating matters, however, on the same day Kacsmaryk issued his order, a court in Washington state issued a separate ruling in a lawsuit brought by liberal states seeking to preserve access to mifepristone. The Washington judge, Spokane-based Thomas O. Rice, whom then-President Barack Obama nominated, ordered the FDA not to do anything that might affect the availability of mifepristone in the suing states. The Biden administration had said it would be impossible to follow both judges' directives at the same time.

HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE SUPREME COURT?

The Biden administration responded to Kacsmaryk's ruling by asking the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pills-4b65ecc66d1b908019bdf3843a428d5a">Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;to prevent it from taking effect for now.

The appeals court didn't do that, but it narrowed Kacsmaryk's ruling so that the initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 wouldn't be revoked. And it agreed with him that changes the FDA made to relax the rules for prescribing and dispensing the drug should be put on hold. It said those rules, including expanding when the drug could be taken and allowing for the drug's delivery through the mail, should be on hold while the case continued.

The appeals court acted by a 2-1 vote. The judges in the majority, Kurt Engelhardt and Andrew Oldham, are both Trump picks.

The Biden administration and the maker of mifepristone, New York-based Danco Laboratories,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">appealed to the Supreme Court</a>, saying that allowing the appeals court's restrictions to take effect would cause chaos. At first, facing a tight deadline, the Supreme Court gave itself some breathing room and issued an order suggesting it would act by Wednesday evening. But no decision came Wednesday and the court instead just gave itself an extension until just before midnight Friday. It wasn't clear why.

The court did make its second self-imposed deadline, issuing its brief decision around 6:30 p.m. in Washington. Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, said they disagreed with the court's action but no other justice commented.

The case is on a fast track. Now that the high court has set out the rules that will govern access for now, the case can continue on its path through the courts.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already announced it will hear arguments in the case in less than a month, on May 17. Both sides as well as interest groups will submit written briefs ahead of those arguments. And a three-judge panel of the court will hear the case, though the court has not yet said who those three judges will be. The group won't issue a decision from the bench but instead hear arguments and ask questions. That will give the public a sense of what they're thinking. Their decision will be made privately after oral arguments, and at some point they'll issue a written decision announcing it.

Both sides then have an opportunity to appeal, taking the case to all the judges of the appeals court or directly to the Supreme Court. The justices take a break for the summer, however, and don't start hearing cases again until October.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1680967457500.png" alt="The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright." />
 <figcaption>The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Nothing will change for now. That's what the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;said Friday evening about access to a widely used abortion pill.A court case that began in Texas has sought to roll back Food and Drug Administration approval of the drug, mifepristone. Lower courts had said that women seeking the drug should face more restrictions on getting it while the case continues, but the Supreme Court disagreed.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22a901_3d9g.pdf">court’s action</a>&nbsp;almost certainly will leave access to mifepristone unchanged at least into next year, as appeals play out, including a potential appeal to the high court.The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.The following is a look at the drug at issue in the new case, how the case got to the nation's highest court and what's next in the legal case.___WHAT IS MIFEPRISTONE?Mifepristone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago. It has been used by more than 5 million women to safely end their pregnancies, and today more than half of women who end a pregnancy rely on the drug, the Justice Department said.Over the years, the FDA has loosened restrictions on the drug’s use, extending from seven to 10 weeks of pregnancy when it can be used, reducing the dosage needed to safely end a pregnancy, eliminating the requirement to visit a doctor in person to get it and allowing pills to be obtained by mail. The FDA also approved a generic version of mifepristone that its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro, says makes up two-thirds of the domestic market.Mifepristone is one of two pills used in medication abortions, along with misoprostol. Health care providers have said they could switch to misoprostol only if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain. Misoprostol is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.___HOW DID THE CASE GET STARTED?A lawsuit over mifepristone was filed in Amarillo, Texas, late last year. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, represents the pill's opponents, who say the FDA's approval of mifepristone was flawed.Why Amarillo?&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump, is the sole district court judge there, ensuring that all cases filed in the west Texas city land in front of him. Since taking the bench, he has ruled against President Joe Biden's administration on several other issues, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-joe-biden-new-orleans-mexico-statutes-0a3b7c93a6e6bdf06b0eee4935d7dc8f">immigration</a>&nbsp;and LGBTQ protections.On April 7, Kacsmaryk issued a ruling that would completely&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">revoke the FDA's approval of mifepristone</a>, but he put the decision on hold for a week to allow an appeal.Complicating matters, however, on the same day Kacsmaryk issued his order, a court in Washington state issued a separate ruling in a lawsuit brought by liberal states seeking to preserve access to mifepristone. The Washington judge, Spokane-based Thomas O. Rice, whom then-President Barack Obama nominated, ordered the FDA not to do anything that might affect the availability of mifepristone in the suing states. The Biden administration had said it would be impossible to follow both judges' directives at the same time.___HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE SUPREME COURT?The Biden administration responded to Kacsmaryk's ruling by asking the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pills-4b65ecc66d1b908019bdf3843a428d5a">Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;to prevent it from taking effect for now.The appeals court didn't do that, but it narrowed Kacsmaryk's ruling so that the initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 wouldn't be revoked. And it agreed with him that changes the FDA made to relax the rules for prescribing and dispensing the drug should be put on hold. It said those rules, including expanding when the drug could be taken and allowing for the drug's delivery through the mail, should be on hold while the case continued.The appeals court acted by a 2-1 vote. The judges in the majority, Kurt Engelhardt and Andrew Oldham, are both Trump picks.The Biden administration and the maker of mifepristone, New York-based Danco Laboratories,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">appealed to the Supreme Court</a>, saying that allowing the appeals court's restrictions to take effect would cause chaos. At first, facing a tight deadline, the Supreme Court gave itself some breathing room and issued an order suggesting it would act by Wednesday evening. But no decision came Wednesday and the court instead just gave itself an extension until just before midnight Friday. It wasn't clear why.The court did make its second self-imposed deadline, issuing its brief decision around 6:30 p.m. in Washington. Two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, said they disagreed with the court's action but no other justice commented.___WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?The case is on a fast track. Now that the high court has set out the rules that will govern access for now, the case can continue on its path through the courts.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has already announced it will hear arguments in the case in less than a month, on May 17. Both sides as well as interest groups will submit written briefs ahead of those arguments. And a three-judge panel of the court will hear the case, though the court has not yet said who those three judges will be. The group won't issue a decision from the bench but instead hear arguments and ask questions. That will give the public a sense of what they're thinking. Their decision will be made privately after oral arguments, and at some point they'll issue a written decision announcing it.Both sides then have an opportunity to appeal, taking the case to all the judges of the appeals court or directly to the Supreme Court. The justices take a break for the summer, however, and don't start hearing cases again until October.___

Abortion pill battle on fast track after Supreme Court's order

By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina Post

SALINE COUNTY, Kansas—Police credited a Flock vehicle tag/traffic cameras for helping them arrest a Wyoming man with a stolen U-Haul in Kansas.

At approximately 9:30 a.m. Saturday, one of the new Flock cameras got a hit on a stolen U-Haul out of Wyoming and sent the alert to all Salina police personnel who were logged into the reader system, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.

The department's Flock system interfaces with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), so that if one of the department's cameras gets a hit on a vehicle wanted for a crime that has been input into NCIC, that information is sent out to all Salina Police Department personnel who are logged into the Flock system.

An officer near the intersection of N. Broadway Boulevard and University Place in Salina located the vehicle and stopped the driver, who was identified as Michael Keck, 53, of Cheyenne, Wyoming. During the stop, it was determined that Keck had an active felony warrant for burglary out of Laramie County, Wyoming.

Forrester said that while Keck was in custody, he had a medical episode and was transported to Salina Regional Health Center. While Keck was in the emergency room, the officer with him stepped out of the room. Forrester said Keck then allegedly removed medical apparatus connections and fled out a back door of the emergency room.

Keck eventually was located in a restroom inside the hospital.

Forrester said that a search warrant executed on the U-Haul found a Smith &amp; Wesson .22 caliber pistol with the serial number removed. Additionally, some marijuana and some psilocybin mushrooms also were located in the U-Haul.

Keck was jailed on requested charges of Aggravated attempted escape from custody, Defacing a firearm, Possession of marijuana, Possession of a hallucinogen and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682254131095.jpeg" alt="Michael Keck&nbsp;Saline County Sheriff's Office" />
 <figcaption>Michael Keck&nbsp;Saline County Sheriff's Office</figcaption>
 </figure>By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina PostSALINE COUNTY, Kansas—Police credited a Flock vehicle tag/traffic cameras for helping them arrest a Wyoming man with a stolen U-Haul in Kansas.At approximately 9:30 a.m. Saturday, one of the new Flock cameras got a hit on a stolen U-Haul out of Wyoming and sent the alert to all Salina police personnel who were logged into the reader system, according to Salina Police Captain Paul Forrester.The department's Flock system interfaces with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), so that if one of the department's cameras gets a hit on a vehicle wanted for a crime that has been input into NCIC, that information is sent out to all Salina Police Department personnel who are logged into the Flock system.An officer near the intersection of N. Broadway Boulevard and University Place in Salina located the vehicle and stopped the driver, who was identified as Michael Keck, 53, of Cheyenne, Wyoming. During the stop, it was determined that Keck had an active felony warrant for burglary out of Laramie County, Wyoming.Forrester said that while Keck was in custody, he had a medical episode and was transported to Salina Regional Health Center. While Keck was in the emergency room, the officer with him stepped out of the room. Forrester said Keck then allegedly removed medical apparatus connections and fled out a back door of the emergency room.Keck eventually was located in a restroom inside the hospital.Forrester said that a search warrant executed on the U-Haul found a Smith &amp; Wesson .22 caliber pistol with the serial number removed. Additionally, some marijuana and some psilocybin mushrooms also were located in the U-Haul.Keck was jailed on requested charges of Aggravated attempted escape from custody, Defacing a firearm, Possession of marijuana, Possession of a hallucinogen and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Wanted Wyoming burglary suspect captured in hospital bathroom

SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/daunte-wright-kim-potter-police-shooting-93c1d847f2188571ce70285d0ac55406">Kim Potter</a>, the former Minnesota police officer who said she mistook her gun for a Taser when she shot and killed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-daunte-wright">Daunte Wright</a>&nbsp;in 2021, was released from prison early Monday.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Potter was released at about 4 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution" for Potter's safety. The department confirmed Friday she would be released Monday from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, but declined to say what time due to security concerns.

Potter, a white former officer for the Brooklyn Center Police Department in suburban Minneapolis, fatally shot Wright, who was Black, during a traffic stop in April 2021. The shooting happened during the trial of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/derek-chauvin-sentencing-23c52021812168c579b3886f8139c73d">Derek Chauvin</a>, the officer who killed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a>, and Wright’s death set off several days of protests.

She was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and given a two-year sentence. Under Minnesota law, those sent to prison typically serve two-thirds of their sentence behind bars and the remaining time on supervised release. In Potter’s case, she served 16 months of her two-year sentence behind bars, said Department of Corrections spokesman Andy Skoogman.

Skoogman said Potter will be on supervised release until Dec. 21, and she will live in Wisconsin during that time.

Potter, now 50, appeared much thinner in a new photo released last week by the Department of Corrections. Her attorney, Earl Gray, said Friday he had “no idea” why her appearance had changed.

Potter's two-year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-daunte-wright-death-of-george-floyd-minnesota-george-floyd-minneapolis-a43a48970e37392efd85adfeae79ddf0">sentence</a>&nbsp;from Judge Regina Chu drew strong criticism from Wright's family and their attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump. The state attorney general’s office had sought a sentence recommended by state guidelines of just over seven years in prison.

Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said after the sentencing that Potter “murdered my son,” adding: “Today the justice system murdered him all over again.”

Defense attorneys argued at the sentencing hearing that Potter deserved leniency because Wright was trying to drive away and Potter had the right to defend herself. Chu said at the time that the case was not the same as other high-profile killings, including Floyd’s death, which resulted in a 22 1/2-year sentence for Chauvin.

“This is a cop who made a tragic mistake,” she said of Potter.

Wright, a 20-year-old father, was killed on April 11, 2021, after Brooklyn Center officers pulled him over for having expired license tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Officers discovered he had a warrant for a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and he was shot during a struggle as officers tried to arrest him.

Potter said she thought she was holding her Taser at the time, not her gun. She is heard on video yelling “Taser” several times just before she fires her pistol as Wright tried to drive away.

Potter, a 26-year police veteran, apologized to Wright’s family at the sentencing hearing and spoke directly to his mother: “Katie, I understand a mother’s love. I’m sorry I broke your heart ... my heart is broken and devastated for all of you.”

Civil rights advocates say laws against hanging objects from rearview mirrors have been used as a pretext for stopping Black motorists.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640352112509.png" alt="Potter's booking photo shows her smiling following her conviction in December 2021-photo Hennepin County Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Potter's booking photo shows her smiling following her conviction in December 2021-photo Hennepin County Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/daunte-wright-kim-potter-police-shooting-93c1d847f2188571ce70285d0ac55406">Kim Potter</a>, the former Minnesota police officer who said she mistook her gun for a Taser when she shot and killed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-daunte-wright">Daunte Wright</a>&nbsp;in 2021, was released from prison early Monday.The Minnesota Department of Corrections said Potter was released at about 4 a.m. “out of an abundance of caution" for Potter's safety. The department confirmed Friday she would be released Monday from the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee, but declined to say what time due to security concerns.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682343245082.png" alt="Potter as shown in the most recent photo released from the Minnesota Dpt. of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Potter as shown in the most recent photo released from the Minnesota Dpt. of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>Potter, a white former officer for the Brooklyn Center Police Department in suburban Minneapolis, fatally shot Wright, who was Black, during a traffic stop in April 2021. The shooting happened during the trial of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/derek-chauvin-sentencing-23c52021812168c579b3886f8139c73d">Derek Chauvin</a>, the officer who killed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a>, and Wright’s death set off several days of protests.She was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and given a two-year sentence. Under Minnesota law, those sent to prison typically serve two-thirds of their sentence behind bars and the remaining time on supervised release. In Potter’s case, she served 16 months of her two-year sentence behind bars, said Department of Corrections spokesman Andy Skoogman.Skoogman said Potter will be on supervised release until Dec. 21, and she will live in Wisconsin during that time.Potter, now 50, appeared much thinner in a new photo released last week by the Department of Corrections. Her attorney, Earl Gray, said Friday he had “no idea” why her appearance had changed.Potter's two-year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-of-daunte-wright-death-of-george-floyd-minnesota-george-floyd-minneapolis-a43a48970e37392efd85adfeae79ddf0">sentence</a>&nbsp;from Judge Regina Chu drew strong criticism from Wright's family and their attorney, civil rights lawyer Ben Crump. The state attorney general’s office had sought a sentence recommended by state guidelines of just over seven years in prison.Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, said after the sentencing that Potter “murdered my son,” adding: “Today the justice system murdered him all over again.”Defense attorneys argued at the sentencing hearing that Potter deserved leniency because Wright was trying to drive away and Potter had the right to defend herself. Chu said at the time that the case was not the same as other high-profile killings, including Floyd’s death, which resulted in a 22 1/2-year sentence for Chauvin.“This is a cop who made a tragic mistake,” she said of Potter.Wright, a 20-year-old father, was killed on April 11, 2021, after Brooklyn Center officers pulled him over for having expired license tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Officers discovered he had a warrant for a misdemeanor weapons possession charge and he was shot during a struggle as officers tried to arrest him.Potter said she thought she was holding her Taser at the time, not her gun. She is heard on video yelling “Taser” several times just before she fires her pistol as Wright tried to drive away.Potter, a 26-year police veteran, apologized to Wright’s family at the sentencing hearing and spoke directly to his mother: “Katie, I understand a mother’s love. I’m sorry I broke your heart ... my heart is broken and devastated for all of you.”Civil rights advocates say laws against hanging objects from rearview mirrors have been used as a pretext for stopping Black motorists.

Officer who pulled gun instead of Taser released from prison

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Tracy Inman, 43, of Omaha was sentenced last week in federal&nbsp;court in Omaha.&nbsp; United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Inman to 150 months in prison for one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual).&nbsp; After serving her sentence, Inman will be placed on supervised release for 5 years.&nbsp; There is no parole in the federal system.

On or about September 12, 2020, in Omaha, officers with the Omaha Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a minivan driven by Inman due to the vehicle having no plates and no visible in-transits.&nbsp; While officers were conducting a data check and drafting a citation, canine officers arrived and deployed a state-certified drug-detection canine around Inman’s vehicle. The canine indicated to the odor of narcotics emanating from the vehicle.&nbsp; During a search of the vehicle, officers found small baggies containing methamphetamine residue, a tin containing 3.1 grams of methamphetamine mixture, and paraphernalia. Officers searched Inman and found 49.684 grams of methamphetamine. In a backpack on the back seat of the vehicle, officers found an additional 72.172 grams of methamphetamine and a digital scale. At the time of the traffic stop, Inman knew the methamphetamine was in the vehicle and she intended to distribute some or all of the methamphetamine to another person.

Subsequent Nebraska Public Service Laboratory lab tests confirmed the suspected methamphetamine found in Inman’s vehicle was methamphetamine and had a weight of 121.856 grams.&nbsp; The lab tests determined the recovered methamphetamine had a purity of 95%, for a minimum amount of actual methamphetamine of 109.67 grams

This case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department.

U.S. Attorney's OfficeUnited States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Tracy Inman, 43, of Omaha was sentenced last week in federal&nbsp;court in Omaha.&nbsp; United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Inman to 150 months in prison for one count of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual).&nbsp; After serving her sentence, Inman will be placed on supervised release for 5 years.&nbsp; There is no parole in the federal system.On or about September 12, 2020, in Omaha, officers with the Omaha Police Department conducted a traffic stop on a minivan driven by Inman due to the vehicle having no plates and no visible in-transits.&nbsp; While officers were conducting a data check and drafting a citation, canine officers arrived and deployed a state-certified drug-detection canine around Inman’s vehicle. The canine indicated to the odor of narcotics emanating from the vehicle.&nbsp; During a search of the vehicle, officers found small baggies containing methamphetamine residue, a tin containing 3.1 grams of methamphetamine mixture, and paraphernalia. Officers searched Inman and found 49.684 grams of methamphetamine. In a backpack on the back seat of the vehicle, officers found an additional 72.172 grams of methamphetamine and a digital scale. At the time of the traffic stop, Inman knew the methamphetamine was in the vehicle and she intended to distribute some or all of the methamphetamine to another person.Subsequent Nebraska Public Service Laboratory lab tests confirmed the suspected methamphetamine found in Inman’s vehicle was methamphetamine and had a weight of 121.856 grams.&nbsp; The lab tests determined the recovered methamphetamine had a purity of 95%, for a minimum amount of actual methamphetamine of 109.67 gramsThis case was investigated by the Omaha Police Department.

Federal meth charges results in 12+ years in prison for Neb. woman

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/four-buildings-constructed-as-part-of-the-new-deal-added-to-national-register-of-historic-places/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Four structures built as part of the Depression-era New 
Deal are among those added recently to the National Register of Historic
 Places.

History Nebraska, which reviews applications, said six properties 
were recently approved for the Register by the National Park Service.

Included were four project built via the Works Progress 
Administration, which employed thousands of people on construction 
projects during the Depression and through the early years of World War 
II.

Other structures added to the Register were:

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682268733116.png" alt="The York Auditorium, built in 1940, was among several structures added to the National Register of Historic Places recently. (Courtesy of History Nebraska)" />
 <figcaption>The York Auditorium, built in 1940, was among several structures added to the National Register of Historic Places recently. (Courtesy of History Nebraska)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/four-buildings-constructed-as-part-of-the-new-deal-added-to-national-register-of-historic-places/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Four structures built as part of the Depression-era New 
Deal are among those added recently to the National Register of Historic
 Places.History Nebraska, which reviews applications, said six properties 
were recently approved for the Register by the National Park Service.<h2>WPA projects</h2>Included were four project built via the Works Progress 
Administration, which employed thousands of people on construction 
projects during the Depression and through the early years of World War 
II.Those were:<ul>
 <li>The art deco York Auditorium in York, built in 1940. The concrete 
structure remains an auditorium and sports venue today and also houses a
 local museum.</li><li>The Agricultural Society Building in Weeping Water, which hosted the
 Cass County Fair until 1967. The two-story Streamline Moderne style 
building sits in Weeping Water’s business district.</li><li>The Inavale Community Center in Inavale, in rural 
Webster County. Builders used salvaged concrete blocks from a building 
in neighboring Red Cloud in 1942. The building was a roller rink until 
1979 but is now vacant.</li><li>The Bohning Memorial Auditorium in Ravenna, a brick structure built in 1934. It remains in use for community events.</li>
 </ul>Other structures added to the Register were:<ul>
 <li>The Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church in Beatrice, built in 1930.
 The structure represents Late English Gothic Revival church 
architecture with its tall, turret-topped tower, buttresses, arched art 
glass windows and arcaded arches.</li><li>The Iowa-Nebraska Light and Power Company Plant in Lincoln, an Art 
Deco structure built in 1930. Now known as the K Street Power Plant, it 
is scheduled for rehabilitation.</li>
 </ul>

Four Neb. New Deal buildings added to National Register

LONDON (AP) — Len Goodman, a long-serving judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing" who helped revive interest in ballroom dancing on both sides of the Atlantic, has died, his agent said Monday. He was 78.

Agent Jackie Gill said Goodman “passed away peacefully" on Saturday night. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer.

A former professional ballroom dancer and British champion, Goodman was head judge on “Strictly Come Dancing” for 12 years from its launch on the BBC in 2004. The dance competition, which pairs celebrities with professional dance partners, was a surprise hit and has become one of the network’s most popular shows.

Goodman's pithy observations, delivered in a Cockney accent, endeared him to viewers. “You floated across that floor like butter on a crumpet," he remarked after one foxtrot. He praised a salsa-dancing couple as “like two sizzling sausages on a barbecue.”

Goodman was head judge on the U.S. version of the show, ABC's “Dancing With the Stars,” for 15 years until his retirement in November. For several years he judged the British and American shows simultaneously each autumn, criss-crossing the Atlantic weekly.

Buckingham Palace said Camilla, the queen consort, was “saddened to hear” of Goodman's death. The wife of King Charles III is a fan of “Strictly,” and danced with Goodman at a 2019 event celebrating the British Dance Council.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said Goodman was “a great entertainer” who would be “missed by many.”

British broadcaster Esther Rantzen said Goodman had been “astonished and delighted” by his late-life fame.

“One of the reasons he succeeded so well in the States is that he was quintessentially British," she said. "He was firm but fair, funny but a gentleman and I hope the nation will adopt his favorite expostulation of ‘pickle me walnuts.'”

Goodman also presented BBC radio programs and made TV documentaries, including a 2012 program about the sinking of the Titanic. As a young man, Goodman had worked as a shipyard welder for the company that built the doomed ship.

BBC director-general Tim Davie said Goodman was “a wonderful, warm entertainer who was adored by millions. He appealed to all ages and felt like a member of everyone’s family. Len was at the very heart of Strictly’s success. He will be hugely missed by the public and his many friends and family.”

Goodman was also a recipient of the Carl Alan Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance, and owned the Goodman Academy dance school in southern England.

LONDON (AP) — Len Goodman, a long-serving judge on “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing" who helped revive interest in ballroom dancing on both sides of the Atlantic, has died, his agent said Monday. He was 78.Agent Jackie Gill said Goodman “passed away peacefully" on Saturday night. He had been diagnosed with bone cancer.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Hart broken my dear friend and partner for 19 years the one and only ballroom LEGEND <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LenGoodman?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LenGoodman</a> passed away I will treasure the memories of our adventures <a href="https://twitter.com/bbcstrictly?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@bbcstrictly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/officialdwts?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@officialdwts</a> there will never be anyone like you you will always be my perfect 10 ❤️ <a href="https://t.co/M5qnHedx5S">pic.twitter.com/M5qnHedx5S</a>&mdash; Bruno Tonioli (@BrunoTonioli) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrunoTonioli/status/1650441152783437825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>A former professional ballroom dancer and British champion, Goodman was head judge on “Strictly Come Dancing” for 12 years from its launch on the BBC in 2004. The dance competition, which pairs celebrities with professional dance partners, was a surprise hit and has become one of the network’s most popular shows.Goodman's pithy observations, delivered in a Cockney accent, endeared him to viewers. “You floated across that floor like butter on a crumpet," he remarked after one foxtrot. He praised a salsa-dancing couple as “like two sizzling sausages on a barbecue.”Goodman was head judge on the U.S. version of the show, ABC's “Dancing With the Stars,” for 15 years until his retirement in November. For several years he judged the British and American shows simultaneously each autumn, criss-crossing the Atlantic weekly.Buckingham Palace said Camilla, the queen consort, was “saddened to hear” of Goodman's death. The wife of King Charles III is a fan of “Strictly,” and danced with Goodman at a 2019 event celebrating the British Dance Council.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's spokesman said Goodman was “a great entertainer” who would be “missed by many.”British broadcaster Esther Rantzen said Goodman had been “astonished and delighted” by his late-life fame.“One of the reasons he succeeded so well in the States is that he was quintessentially British," she said. "He was firm but fair, funny but a gentleman and I hope the nation will adopt his favorite expostulation of ‘pickle me walnuts.'”Goodman also presented BBC radio programs and made TV documentaries, including a 2012 program about the sinking of the Titanic. As a young man, Goodman had worked as a shipyard welder for the company that built the doomed ship.BBC director-general Tim Davie said Goodman was “a wonderful, warm entertainer who was adored by millions. He appealed to all ages and felt like a member of everyone’s family. Len was at the very heart of Strictly’s success. He will be hugely missed by the public and his many friends and family.”Goodman was also a recipient of the Carl Alan Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to dance, and owned the Goodman Academy dance school in southern England.

'Dancing With the Stars' judge Len Goodman dies at 78

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/21/massive-pipeline-spill-caused-by-crack-created-during-installation-third-party-review-concludes/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — A third-party review of a pipeline spill that released 
500,000 gallons of crude oil onto Kansas farmland and a nearby stream 
was caused by a crack in the metal pipe that eventually ruptured under 
pressure.

That was the conclusion of a third-party review that was ordered by a
 federal pipeline safety agency to investigate the December failure of 
the 36-inch Keystone pipeline, just south of the Nebraska border near 
Washington, Kansas.

It was the largest oil pipeline spill in the U.S. in nine years.

The “Root Cause Failure Analysis” for the so-called “Milepost 14 incident” reached the <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/keystone-pipeline-owner-blames-kansas-spill-on-faulty-weld-estimates-480m-remediation-cost/">same conclusion as an independent analysis</a> of the metal pipeline released in February.

“The primary cause of the rupture was a progressive fatigue crack 
that originated at a girth weld connecting a manufactured elbow fitting 
to the pipe constructed across Mill Creek (in Kansas),” the operator of 
the pipeline, TC Energy, said in a press release Friday.

The company said that during construction of this segment of the 
Keystone pipeline, which as completed in 2011, “inadvertent bending 
stresses sufficient to initiate a crack” occurred on the elbow fitting.

Over time, and under the high pressure needed to push the oil down 
the pipeline, the crack worsened, eventually resulting in the leak.

The pipeline, which carries tar sands oil from Canada to refineries 
on the U.S. Gulf Coast, was operating at a pressure of 1,153 pounds per 
square gauge at the time of the Dec. 7 rupture, according to the federal
 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Since 2009, the Keystone pipeline has experienced three failures on similar girth welds, according to PHMSA.

<a target="_blank" href="https://hazmat.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2023-03/TC%20Oil%20Pipeline%20-%2032022074CAO_Amended%20Corrective%20Action%20Order_03072023_%2822-261792%29.pdf">In March, the agency</a>
 ordered TC Energy to reduce the operating pressure to 923 ppsg on the 
segment of the Keystone pipeline from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing, 
Okla., due to a “repetitious pattern of failures related to the original
 design, manufacture, and construction.”

On Friday, TC Energy, in a press release, said it had recovered 98% 
of the released product and cleaned up 90% of the shoreline of Mill 
Creek, where the failure occurred. Previously, the company has estimated
 its cost of responding and cleaning up the leak at $480 million.

Thousands of cubic yards of oil-soaked soil and other materials removed from the spill site were trucked <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/23/oil-soaked-soil-from-kansas-pipeline-spill-was-sent-to-landfill-near-omaha/">to a landfill just outside Omaha.</a>

TC Energy said that in response to the failure analysis, it plans to:

The company said the latest review confirmed that the welding 
workmanship on the pipeline was “compliant with applicable codes and 
standards.”

A lobbyist with the Sierra Club of Kansas, however, said the latest report just reaffirms that there were flaws in original design, material and installation of the Keystone pipeline that make more oil spills inevitable.

“This shouldn’t give us any relief or assurance,” said Zack Pistora of the Sierra Club. “This only reaffirms that it’s only a matter of time before another weld fails or a design flaw causes another disaster.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682268577079.png" alt="TC Energy workers at the site of a pipeline spill near Washington, Kansas, just a few miles south of the Nebraska border (Courtesy of TC Energy) " />
 <figcaption>TC Energy workers at the site of a pipeline spill near Washington, Kansas, just a few miles south of the Nebraska border (Courtesy of TC Energy) </figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/04/21/massive-pipeline-spill-caused-by-crack-created-during-installation-third-party-review-concludes/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — A third-party review of a pipeline spill that released 
500,000 gallons of crude oil onto Kansas farmland and a nearby stream 
was caused by a crack in the metal pipe that eventually ruptured under 
pressure.That was the conclusion of a third-party review that was ordered by a
 federal pipeline safety agency to investigate the December failure of 
the 36-inch Keystone pipeline, just south of the Nebraska border near 
Washington, Kansas.It was the largest oil pipeline spill in the U.S. in nine years.The “Root Cause Failure Analysis” for the so-called “Milepost 14 incident” reached the <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/keystone-pipeline-owner-blames-kansas-spill-on-faulty-weld-estimates-480m-remediation-cost/">same conclusion as an independent analysis</a> of the metal pipeline released in February.<h2>‘Fatigue crack’</h2>“The primary cause of the rupture was a progressive fatigue crack 
that originated at a girth weld connecting a manufactured elbow fitting 
to the pipe constructed across Mill Creek (in Kansas),” the operator of 
the pipeline, TC Energy, said in a press release Friday.The company said that during construction of this segment of the 
Keystone pipeline, which as completed in 2011, “inadvertent bending 
stresses sufficient to initiate a crack” occurred on the elbow fitting.Over time, and under the high pressure needed to push the oil down 
the pipeline, the crack worsened, eventually resulting in the leak.The pipeline, which carries tar sands oil from Canada to refineries 
on the U.S. Gulf Coast, was operating at a pressure of 1,153 pounds per 
square gauge at the time of the Dec. 7 rupture, according to the federal
 Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.<h2>‘Repetitious pattern of failures’</h2>Since 2009, the Keystone pipeline has experienced three failures on similar girth welds, according to PHMSA.<a target="_blank" href="https://hazmat.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2023-03/TC%20Oil%20Pipeline%20-%2032022074CAO_Amended%20Corrective%20Action%20Order_03072023_%2822-261792%29.pdf">In March, the agency</a>
 ordered TC Energy to reduce the operating pressure to 923 ppsg on the 
segment of the Keystone pipeline from Steele City, Neb., to Cushing, 
Okla., due to a “repetitious pattern of failures related to the original
 design, manufacture, and construction.”On Friday, TC Energy, in a press release, said it had recovered 98% 
of the released product and cleaned up 90% of the shoreline of Mill 
Creek, where the failure occurred. Previously, the company has estimated
 its cost of responding and cleaning up the leak at $480 million.Thousands of cubic yards of oil-soaked soil and other materials removed from the spill site were trucked <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/02/23/oil-soaked-soil-from-kansas-pipeline-spill-was-sent-to-landfill-near-omaha/">to a landfill just outside Omaha.</a><h2>Excavation, more inspections planned</h2>TC Energy said that in response to the failure analysis, it plans to:<ul>
 <li>Excavate and investigate other Keystone pipeline sites with characteristics like the incident location.</li><li>Perform additional in-line inspections of the pipeline.</li><li>Review evolving pipeline design guidelines.</li>
 </ul><h2>‘Only a matter of time’</h2>The company said the latest review confirmed that the welding 
workmanship on the pipeline was “compliant with applicable codes and 
standards.”A lobbyist with the Sierra Club of Kansas, however, said the latest report just reaffirms that there were flaws in original design, material and installation of the Keystone pipeline that make more oil spills inevitable.“This shouldn’t give us any relief or assurance,” said Zack Pistora of the Sierra Club. “This only reaffirms that it’s only a matter of time before another weld fails or a design flaw causes another disaster.”

Kansas pipeline spill caused by crack created during installation

By ZACH WENDLING <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/north-omaha-residents-installing-air-quality-monitors-near-coal-burning-station/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN
 —&nbsp;Residents in North Omaha are stepping up to install air quality 
monitors in the neighborhood, a move designed to empower citizens as 
coal burning continues in the area.

The Omaha Public Power District determined in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wowt.com/2022/08/19/coal-will-burn-three-years-longer-oppds-north-omaha-station/">August</a>
 it would need to delay the cessation of burning coal at its North Omaha
 station for at least a few years, partially due to permitting and 
approval process delays.&nbsp;

In response, residents with the help of the Nebraska Sierra Club have installed one <a target="_blank" href="https://www2.purpleair.com/">PurpleAir monitor</a> blocks away from the plant. More monitors are expected to be added soon.

PurpleAir monitors provide the 
ability to measure air quality in real time, collecting particle 
pollution for hyper-local networks.

That is advantageous because data 
from OPPD, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, the 
Douglas County Health Department and others may not be readily 
available, said John Crabtree, Nebraska Beyond Coal Campaign 
representative for the Sierra Club.

Crabtree said the citizen-based 
science and data acquisition is not meant to be better than academic or 
regulatory data that is currently required. For example, OPPD is 
required to monitor air quality already.

“It’s more engaging, and people in 
the community are more likely to see it, experience it, act on it and 
use it to influence the decisions that they make and the decisions that 
are made at the other levels that affect their lives,” Crabtree said.

The initiative is a way for neighbors
 to help one another and be a more effective way of communicating data 
not just for Omaha but the state at large, he added.&nbsp;

Air pollution can lead to increased 
asthma rates and other health issues, the Sierra Club said in a 
statement, such as more blood clots, heart attacks, lung cancer, 
diabetes or premature death.

Crabtree said the hope is to improve future health outcomes.&nbsp;

OPPD said in a statement that 
interest in ambient air monitoring is “consistent with the ongoing 
conversations we’ve had with the community.” The utility adds it is 
critical to maintain the use of coal “temporarily” in North Omaha 
Station Units 4 and 5.

“While OPPD does perform the required
 monitoring and stack testing at the plant, we know that air quality is 
impacted by many variables,” OPPD said in its statement. “OPPD 
appreciates citizens’ input on this topic. We are proud that our 
employees, retirees and family members also live in the community where 
the station has produced reliable electricity for nearly 70 years.”

Next week, the Sierra Club will help 
install a PurpleAir monitor at The Boss radio station at 2314 N 24th St.
 in Omaha. Organizers are also eying a North Omaha elementary school as a
 future location.

Crabtree said anyone interested in learning more can connect with the organization.

“Just get in touch with us and ask,” Crabtree said. “We’d be happy to follow up with everybody.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682268464813.png" alt="A PurpleAir monitor is installed at a North Omaha home blocks away from the coal plant in the area. (Courtesy of the Sierra Club)" />
 <figcaption>A PurpleAir monitor is installed at a North Omaha home blocks away from the coal plant in the area. (Courtesy of the Sierra Club)</figcaption>
 </figure>By ZACH WENDLING <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/north-omaha-residents-installing-air-quality-monitors-near-coal-burning-station/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN
 —&nbsp;Residents in North Omaha are stepping up to install air quality 
monitors in the neighborhood, a move designed to empower citizens as 
coal burning continues in the area.The Omaha Public Power District determined in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wowt.com/2022/08/19/coal-will-burn-three-years-longer-oppds-north-omaha-station/">August</a>
 it would need to delay the cessation of burning coal at its North Omaha
 station for at least a few years, partially due to permitting and 
approval process delays.&nbsp;In response, residents with the help of the Nebraska Sierra Club have installed one <a target="_blank" href="https://www2.purpleair.com/">PurpleAir monitor</a> blocks away from the plant. More monitors are expected to be added soon.PurpleAir monitors provide the 
ability to measure air quality in real time, collecting particle 
pollution for hyper-local networks.That is advantageous because data 
from OPPD, the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy, the 
Douglas County Health Department and others may not be readily 
available, said John Crabtree, Nebraska Beyond Coal Campaign 
representative for the Sierra Club.Crabtree said the citizen-based 
science and data acquisition is not meant to be better than academic or 
regulatory data that is currently required. For example, OPPD is 
required to monitor air quality already.“It’s more engaging, and people in 
the community are more likely to see it, experience it, act on it and 
use it to influence the decisions that they make and the decisions that 
are made at the other levels that affect their lives,” Crabtree said.The initiative is a way for neighbors
 to help one another and be a more effective way of communicating data 
not just for Omaha but the state at large, he added.&nbsp;Air pollution can lead to increased 
asthma rates and other health issues, the Sierra Club said in a 
statement, such as more blood clots, heart attacks, lung cancer, 
diabetes or premature death.Crabtree said the hope is to improve future health outcomes.&nbsp;OPPD said in a statement that 
interest in ambient air monitoring is “consistent with the ongoing 
conversations we’ve had with the community.” The utility adds it is 
critical to maintain the use of coal “temporarily” in North Omaha 
Station Units 4 and 5.“While OPPD does perform the required
 monitoring and stack testing at the plant, we know that air quality is 
impacted by many variables,” OPPD said in its statement. “OPPD 
appreciates citizens’ input on this topic. We are proud that our 
employees, retirees and family members also live in the community where 
the station has produced reliable electricity for nearly 70 years.”Next week, the Sierra Club will help 
install a PurpleAir monitor at The Boss radio station at 2314 N 24th St.
 in Omaha. Organizers are also eying a North Omaha elementary school as a
 future location.Crabtree said anyone interested in learning more can connect with the organization.“Just get in touch with us and ask,” Crabtree said. “We’d be happy to follow up with everybody.”

Air quality monitors installed near Neb. coal-burning station

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;last week&nbsp; wrestled with the case of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-post-office-christian-85291b805b5630e958ac1200ef711cf2">Christian mail carrier</a>&nbsp;who refused to work on Sundays when he was required to deliver Amazon packages.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-174">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral arguments

While the court seemed in broad agreement that businesses like the Postal Service can't cite minor costs or hardships to reject such requests to accommodate religious practices, it was less clear what they might do about the particular worker's case.

The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. He declined, saying his Sundays are for church and family. U.S. Postal Service officials initially tried to get substitutes for the man’s shifts, but they couldn’t always accommodate him. When he didn’t show, that meant more work for others. Ultimately, the man quit and sued for religious discrimination.

During the arguments, the justices struggled with the question of when employers have to accommodate employees' religious needs. Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/ketanji-brown-jackson">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>&nbsp;said the circumstances of each case matter and that "the answer is: it depends.”

The case is the latest religious confrontation the high court has been asked to referee. In recent years, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to the concerns of religious plaintiffs. That includes a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-coach-prayer-2981a8073ea82a1a688c367270c941aa">ruling last year</a>&nbsp;in which the court said a public high school football coach should be allowed to pray on the field after games. Another case the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-entertainment-religion-race-and-ethnicity-discrimination-9f2a76e9c72b6e0dc2a513a968328799">court is weighing</a>&nbsp;this term involves a Christian graphic artist who wants to create wedding websites, but doesn't want to serve gay couples.

A federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would be an “undue hardship” for the business. But a Supreme Court case from 1977, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, says in part that employers can deny religious accommodations to employees when they impose “more than a de minimis cost” on the business.

Three current justices have said the court should reconsider the Hardison case. And on Tuesday other justices also suggested the “more than de minimis cost language” was problematic.

Even Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer who was representing the Post Office, told the justices that the Hardison case as a whole requires an employer who wants to deny an accommodation to show more. She said that most often requests for religious accommodation come up when employees seek schedule changes like the Sabbath off or midday prayer breaks or exemptions from a company's dress code or grooming policies. They also come up when an employee wants to display a religious symbol in the workplace.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who along with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito has said Hardison should be reconsidered, suggested the justices could simply say that “some courts have taken this de minimis language" too far and that has “been a serious misunderstanding.” He suggested the justices could do “a good day's work and put a period at the end of it by saying that that is not the law.”

The justices seemed less in agreement, however, about what to do on the facts of the case in front of them involving Gerald Groff, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country. For years, Groff was a fill-in mail carrier who worked on days when other mail carriers were off.

But when an Amazon.com contract with the Postal Service required carriers to start delivering packages on Sundays, Groff balked. Initially, to avoid the shifts, Groff transferred to a more rural post office not yet doing Sunday deliveries, but eventually that post office was required to do them, too.

Whenever Groff was scheduled on a Sunday, another carrier had to work or his spot went unfilled. Officials said Groff’s absences created a tense environment and contributed to morale problems. It also meant other carriers had to deliver more Sunday mail than they otherwise would.

Justice Elena Kagan suggested there was enough evidence that Groff's Sunday absences were causing a hardship and that the Postal Service did nothing wrong in denying an accommodation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that the Postal Service had “one employee quit, one employee transfer and another file a grievance” as a result of Groff's Sunday absences. But other justices including Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested the justices might want to send Groff's case back to lower courts for another look.

Groff resigned in 2019 rather than wait to be fired. His lawyer Aaron Streett urged the Supreme Court to overrule the Hardison case and to say that employers must show “significant difficulty or expense” if they want to reject a religious accommodation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596998822010.png" alt="The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays.-Google image" />
 <figcaption>The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays.-Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;last week&nbsp; wrestled with the case of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-post-office-christian-85291b805b5630e958ac1200ef711cf2">Christian mail carrier</a>&nbsp;who refused to work on Sundays when he was required to deliver Amazon packages.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2022/22-174">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argumentsWhile the court seemed in broad agreement that businesses like the Postal Service can't cite minor costs or hardships to reject such requests to accommodate religious practices, it was less clear what they might do about the particular worker's case.The case before the court involves a mail carrier in rural Pennsylvania. The man was told that as part of his job he’d need to start delivering Amazon packages on Sundays. He declined, saying his Sundays are for church and family. U.S. Postal Service officials initially tried to get substitutes for the man’s shifts, but they couldn’t always accommodate him. When he didn’t show, that meant more work for others. Ultimately, the man quit and sued for religious discrimination.During the arguments, the justices struggled with the question of when employers have to accommodate employees' religious needs. Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/ketanji-brown-jackson">Ketanji Brown Jackson</a>&nbsp;said the circumstances of each case matter and that "the answer is: it depends.”The case is the latest religious confrontation the high court has been asked to referee. In recent years, the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has been particularly sensitive to the concerns of religious plaintiffs. That includes a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-coach-prayer-2981a8073ea82a1a688c367270c941aa">ruling last year</a>&nbsp;in which the court said a public high school football coach should be allowed to pray on the field after games. Another case the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-entertainment-religion-race-and-ethnicity-discrimination-9f2a76e9c72b6e0dc2a513a968328799">court is weighing</a>&nbsp;this term involves a Christian graphic artist who wants to create wedding websites, but doesn't want to serve gay couples.A federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, requires employers to accommodate employees’ religious practices unless doing so would be an “undue hardship” for the business. But a Supreme Court case from 1977, Trans World Airlines v. Hardison, says in part that employers can deny religious accommodations to employees when they impose “more than a de minimis cost” on the business.Three current justices have said the court should reconsider the Hardison case. And on Tuesday other justices also suggested the “more than de minimis cost language” was problematic.Even Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the Biden administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer who was representing the Post Office, told the justices that the Hardison case as a whole requires an employer who wants to deny an accommodation to show more. She said that most often requests for religious accommodation come up when employees seek schedule changes like the Sabbath off or midday prayer breaks or exemptions from a company's dress code or grooming policies. They also come up when an employee wants to display a religious symbol in the workplace.Justice Neil Gorsuch, who along with Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito has said Hardison should be reconsidered, suggested the justices could simply say that “some courts have taken this de minimis language" too far and that has “been a serious misunderstanding.” He suggested the justices could do “a good day's work and put a period at the end of it by saying that that is not the law.”The justices seemed less in agreement, however, about what to do on the facts of the case in front of them involving Gerald Groff, a former employee of the U.S. Postal Service in Pennsylvania’s Amish Country. For years, Groff was a fill-in mail carrier who worked on days when other mail carriers were off.But when an Amazon.com contract with the Postal Service required carriers to start delivering packages on Sundays, Groff balked. Initially, to avoid the shifts, Groff transferred to a more rural post office not yet doing Sunday deliveries, but eventually that post office was required to do them, too.Whenever Groff was scheduled on a Sunday, another carrier had to work or his spot went unfilled. Officials said Groff’s absences created a tense environment and contributed to morale problems. It also meant other carriers had to deliver more Sunday mail than they otherwise would.Justice Elena Kagan suggested there was enough evidence that Groff's Sunday absences were causing a hardship and that the Postal Service did nothing wrong in denying an accommodation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh pointed out that the Postal Service had “one employee quit, one employee transfer and another file a grievance” as a result of Groff's Sunday absences. But other justices including Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested the justices might want to send Groff's case back to lower courts for another look.Groff resigned in 2019 rather than wait to be fired. His lawyer Aaron Streett urged the Supreme Court to overrule the Hardison case and to say that employers must show “significant difficulty or expense” if they want to reject a religious accommodation.The case is Groff v. DeJoy, 22-174.

🎤Supreme Court case tests religious tolerance on Sunday work

By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/ron-hull-was-a-pioneer-of-public-broadcasting-in-nebraska-and-the-nation/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Born in a brothel in South Dakota, Ron Hull went on to 
become a “champion” of public broadcasting in Nebraska, in the nation 
and even in southeast Asia.

His death ended a remarkable, 70-year career of helping launch public
 television in Nebraska, interviewing famous authors and celebrities and
 initiating the “American Experience” program during a stint with the 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

“He is an admired pioneer across Nebraska, in Washington, D.C., and 
around the world,” said Mark Leonard, the CEO and general manager of 
Nebraska Public Media (NPM) in a press release.

“The impact he had on public media has been profound,” Leonard added.

Hull, who was continuing to work as a senior adviser to Nebraska 
Public Media, began his career as a producer and director at the 
fledgling statewide network in 1955. He was one of only five employees 
at a public television station that had no studio, no cameras and no 
budget, according to NPM.

Over the years, he interviewed many of Nebraska’s literary treasures,
 including author Mari Sandoz and writer/poet John Neihardt, as well as 
actors Sandy Dennis and Henry Fonda, and talk show host Dick Cavett.

His testimony at the Nebraska Legislature helped obtain funding for NET’s headquarters building in Lincoln.

In the early 1980s, Hull worked for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, securing funding for “NOVA” and programming from New 
York’s Metropolitan Opera and initiating the “American Experience” 
series.

Hull, according to NPM, also brought newscaster Bill Moyers back to 
public television and gave Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary film
 director, seed money for his documentary series about the Civil War.

Hull’s career included work as a telecommunications adviser to the government of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Hull was a tireless promoter of Nebraska literary events, helping to 
promote conferences associated with Sandoz and Willa Cather, and for 
more than 50 years, serving as master of ceremonies at the annual 
Neihardt Day in Bancroft.

Hull was honored with numerous awards, including being inducted into 
the Gold Circle honor society of the National Academy of Television Arts
 and Sciences. He received the “Sower Award” from Humanities Nebraska 
and the “Distinguished Nebraskan Award” from the Nebraska Society of 
Washington, D.C.

Hull helped spearhead Nebraska’s commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s bicentennial in 2003-2006.

Most recently, Hull <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/malcolm-x-edges-nu-educator-louise-pound-for-induction-into-the-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">chaired the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission</a>, which selected Malcolm X as its next inductee.

He was preceded in death by his wife,&nbsp;Naomi, and is survived by four children, Kevin, Brian, Brandon and Kathryn.

A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 29 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104428627.png" alt="Ron Hull, at right, interviewed many of Nebraska’s giants of literature and entertainment, including talk-show host Dick Cavett, pictured here in a 2008 interview. (Courtesy of Nebraska Public Media)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull, at right, interviewed many of Nebraska’s giants of literature and entertainment, including talk-show host Dick Cavett, pictured here in a 2008 interview. (Courtesy of Nebraska Public Media)</figcaption>
 </figure>By PAUL HAMMEL <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/ron-hull-was-a-pioneer-of-public-broadcasting-in-nebraska-and-the-nation/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Born in a brothel in South Dakota, Ron Hull went on to 
become a “champion” of public broadcasting in Nebraska, in the nation 
and even in southeast Asia.Hull, 92, died Thursday.His death ended a remarkable, 70-year career of helping launch public
 television in Nebraska, interviewing famous authors and celebrities and
 initiating the “American Experience” program during a stint with the 
Corporation for Public Broadcasting.<h2>‘Profound impact’</h2>“He is an admired pioneer across Nebraska, in Washington, D.C., and 
around the world,” said Mark Leonard, the CEO and general manager of 
Nebraska Public Media (NPM) in a press release.“The impact he had on public media has been profound,” Leonard added.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104504927.jpeg" alt="Ron Hull speaks at a 2021 event honoring poet John Neihardt at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull speaks at a 2021 event honoring poet John Neihardt at the State Capitol. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Hull, who was continuing to work as a senior adviser to Nebraska 
Public Media, began his career as a producer and director at the 
fledgling statewide network in 1955. He was one of only five employees 
at a public television station that had no studio, no cameras and no 
budget, according to NPM.Over the years, he interviewed many of Nebraska’s literary treasures,
 including author Mari Sandoz and writer/poet John Neihardt, as well as 
actors Sandy Dennis and Henry Fonda, and talk show host Dick Cavett.His testimony at the Nebraska Legislature helped obtain funding for NET’s headquarters building in Lincoln.In the early 1980s, Hull worked for the Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting, securing funding for “NOVA” and programming from New 
York’s Metropolitan Opera and initiating the “American Experience” 
series.Hull, according to NPM, also brought newscaster Bill Moyers back to 
public television and gave Ken Burns, the award-winning documentary film
 director, seed money for his documentary series about the Civil War.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682104543361.jpeg" alt="Ron Hull, standing, cast the fourth and deciding vote in favor of Malcolm X’s induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in September 2022. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>Ron Hull, standing, cast the fourth and deciding vote in favor of Malcolm X’s induction into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in September 2022. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Hull’s career included work as a telecommunications adviser to the government of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.Hull was a tireless promoter of Nebraska literary events, helping to 
promote conferences associated with Sandoz and Willa Cather, and for 
more than 50 years, serving as master of ceremonies at the annual 
Neihardt Day in Bancroft.Hull was honored with numerous awards, including being inducted into 
the Gold Circle honor society of the National Academy of Television Arts
 and Sciences. He received the “Sower Award” from Humanities Nebraska 
and the “Distinguished Nebraskan Award” from the Nebraska Society of 
Washington, D.C.Hull helped spearhead Nebraska’s commemoration of the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s bicentennial in 2003-2006.Most recently, Hull <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/09/12/malcolm-x-edges-nu-educator-louise-pound-for-induction-into-the-nebraska-hall-of-fame/">chaired the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission</a>, which selected Malcolm X as its next inductee.He was preceded in death by his wife,&nbsp;Naomi, and is survived by four children, Kevin, Brian, Brandon and Kathryn.A funeral service is scheduled for 10 a.m. April 29 at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Lincoln.

Pioneer of Nebraska broadcasting remembered

KANSAS CITY (AP) —In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas.

All of them, and dozens more across America, were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrong-place-shootings-3c6e5061adb30d889ac3d071893ef129">met by gunfire</a>. Some were injured, some killed.

In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and fear has been politicized, honest mistakes and simple acts like going to the wrong address or car in a parking lot, or even just ringing the wrong doorbell, can seem like a fateful question of trust.

It is a tension not lost on Jae Moyer, who was at a rally at the federal courthouse in Kansas City on Tuesday, demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.

“I want to be welcoming and inviting to anyone that comes to my home. Even if they are asking for help and I can’t help them I’m going to be kind to them. I think that’s the way everyone should be,” Moyer said.

“But I don’t think that’s the culture we have right now,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of fear in our country.”

In the early 1970s, surveys showed that about half of America believed most people were trustworthy. By 2020, that number had fallen to less than one-third. Meanwhile, Americans have believed for decades that crime is going up — even in years when it is going down — and also wildly overestimate their chances of being a crime victim.

“Part of that is you guys,” said Warren Eller, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, referring to the media’s relentless focus on crime. “We get 24 hours a day of all the dangers out there.”

That’s hardly surprising. Politicians have long used crime as a wedge issue to gain footholds. Neighborhood message boards foment paranoia about suspicious outsiders. And local and national newscasts bombard TV viewers daily with images of grainy surveillance videos showing a variety of crimes and provocative headlines about cities in decay.

That includes shootings where innocent victims are shot by people who wrongly believe that they are under threat. While there are few statistics on these shootings, they appear to make up a very small percentage of the more than 15,000 people killed every year in the U.S. in firearm homicides.

And yet in just six days in April, four young people across the U.S. were shot — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kaylin-gillis-wrong-driveway-532de0f3d1fbdcff922fe49f78003976">the woman in New York killed</a>&nbsp;— for being at what someone decided was the wrong place. Just Tuesday, a man&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-cheerleaders-shot-mistaken-location-4b5d0659a3768bc2a46b4756e6a5ee4a">shot and wounded two cheerleaders</a>&nbsp;in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own. One cheerleader was grazed by a bullet and treated at the scene. Her teammate was shot in the leg and back.

This American mistrust has settled in as something that, while not normal, is less surprising than ever. And when mixed with legal confusion, easy access to weapons, poor firearms training and sometimes outright racism, it has produced a string of shootings like these that never seems to end.

Take the legal issues. Shooters in incidents like these often use defenses based on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-stand-your-ground-69f91b0a09b25f9758219897f5890278">“stand-your-ground” laws</a>, which have broadened people's rights to defend themselves if they are threatened. But those laws, which have spread across America in the last 25 years, may have actually driven up violence.

A study published in 2022 by the JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that monthly homicide rates increased between 8% and 11% in states with stand-your-ground laws.

“I think it has commonly become known of as a license to use deadly force whenever someone feels threatened,” said Geoffrey Corn, the chair of criminal law at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He has extensively studied such laws, which he believes are deeply misunderstood by the public.

“The fear has to be justified by the circumstances," he said. “You don't get to kill somebody just because you fear them.”

Legal experts expect Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old man who shot Yarl, to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s stand-your-ground law. On Wednesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-updates-c13170d6759f2963b01a68fc8a6332f7">pleaded not guilty</a>&nbsp;in Yarl’s shooting.

Corn, a 22-year-military veteran, also wonders about America’s recent boom in firearm sales and whether it has combined with insufficient training to compound the problem.

“What troubles me isn’t that there are a lot of firearms, it’s that nothing is required of someone who takes on the awesome responsibility" of wielding them, Corn said. Even in states that require firearms training, he says training is often insufficient, with poor explanations of self-defense laws.

When he was in the military, he had weeks of training before he was even allowed to touch a bullet. “I was always conscious of the awesome killing power of a firearm,” he said.

Then there is the unavoidable question of race, a central pillar of American distrust across the centuries.

False notions about threats posed by nonwhite people have played out repeatedly in modern American history, including in a number of high-profile cases when assailants attacked Black or Hispanic people who they believed meant them harm, even when no threat was apparent.

Yarl’s shooting has drawn comparisons to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/trayvon-martin">the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin</a>, 17, a Black teenager visiting his father’s home in a gated Florida community when George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, decided he looked suspicious and shot him to death. Zimmerman was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the state’s stand-your-ground law as a defense.

It also echoes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-shootings-michigan-detroit-4495fe92a5c152ab707f74bcc6cb2f04">the case of Renisha McBride</a>, a Black woman who knocked on doors in a Detroit-area community in 2013, seeking help after a car accident. She was fatally shot by a white resident who fired through his screen door, saying he feared she meant him harm.

These cases, said Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of books on racism and founder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfYXscTCBySJ0PRmHgZQ1ZOfxEbFn76YeCJGKSX_2J4aB6yMPl-eVP0aAp2PEALw_wcB">Center for Antiracist Research</a>&nbsp;at Boston University, occurred because people of all races and backgrounds are groomed to fear Black people as more prone to criminality and violence.

“No one is born fearing another person because of their skin color,” Kendi said. “There’s so many different ways in which people are taught that Black people are dangerous, and those ideas actually create all sorts of dangers for Black people, including Black teenagers.”

“The more we unlearn that idea and realize that we can’t attach danger to skin color in any way," he said, “the less likely people are going to be to use lethal force against a 16-year-old child who is ringing their doorbell.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681726215314.png" alt="Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.-photo GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.-photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM SULLIVAN and AARON MORRISON&nbsp;KANSAS CITY (AP) —In suburban Detroit, it was a lost 14-year-old looking for directions. In Kansas City, it was a 16-year-old who went to the wrong house to pick up his younger brothers. There was the 12-year-old rummaging around in a yard in small-town Alabama, the 20-year-old woman who found herself in the wrong driveway in upstate New York and the cheerleader who got into the wrong car in Texas.All of them, and dozens more across America, were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wrong-place-shootings-3c6e5061adb30d889ac3d071893ef129">met by gunfire</a>. Some were injured, some killed.In a nation where strangers are all too often seen as threats and fear has been politicized, honest mistakes and simple acts like going to the wrong address or car in a parking lot, or even just ringing the wrong doorbell, can seem like a fateful question of trust.It is a tension not lost on Jae Moyer, who was at a rally at the federal courthouse in Kansas City on Tuesday, demanding a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into the shooting of Ralph Yarl, the Black teenager&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-kansas-city-black-teen-154c4e3275732b83bc9f0026a9981b81">shot last week</a>&nbsp;when he went to the door of an elderly white man while looking for his brothers. Yarl, who was shot in the head and arm, is recovering at home.“I want to be welcoming and inviting to anyone that comes to my home. Even if they are asking for help and I can’t help them I’m going to be kind to them. I think that’s the way everyone should be,” Moyer said.“But I don’t think that’s the culture we have right now,” Moyer said. “There’s a lot of fear in our country.”There is also plenty of mistrust.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ralph Yarl is home and recovering! How the bullet in his head did not cause more extensive damage is truly a miracle. To God be the glory! <a href="https://t.co/y5mWpQNcY4">pic.twitter.com/y5mWpQNcY4</a>&mdash; Lee Merritt (@MerrittForTexas) <a href="https://twitter.com/MerrittForTexas/status/1648707056159866880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>AMERICAN SUSPICIONIn the early 1970s, surveys showed that about half of America believed most people were trustworthy. By 2020, that number had fallen to less than one-third. Meanwhile, Americans have believed for decades that crime is going up — even in years when it is going down — and also wildly overestimate their chances of being a crime victim.“Part of that is you guys,” said Warren Eller, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, referring to the media’s relentless focus on crime. “We get 24 hours a day of all the dangers out there.”That’s hardly surprising. Politicians have long used crime as a wedge issue to gain footholds. Neighborhood message boards foment paranoia about suspicious outsiders. And local and national newscasts bombard TV viewers daily with images of grainy surveillance videos showing a variety of crimes and provocative headlines about cities in decay.That includes shootings where innocent victims are shot by people who wrongly believe that they are under threat. While there are few statistics on these shootings, they appear to make up a very small percentage of the more than 15,000 people killed every year in the U.S. in firearm homicides.And yet in just six days in April, four young people across the U.S. were shot — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kaylin-gillis-wrong-driveway-532de0f3d1fbdcff922fe49f78003976">the woman in New York killed</a>&nbsp;— for being at what someone decided was the wrong place. Just Tuesday, a man&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-cheerleaders-shot-mistaken-location-4b5d0659a3768bc2a46b4756e6a5ee4a">shot and wounded two cheerleaders</a>&nbsp;in a Texas supermarket parking lot after one said she mistakenly got into his car thinking it was her own. One cheerleader was grazed by a bullet and treated at the scene. Her teammate was shot in the leg and back.This American mistrust has settled in as something that, while not normal, is less surprising than ever. And when mixed with legal confusion, easy access to weapons, poor firearms training and sometimes outright racism, it has produced a string of shootings like these that never seems to end.Take the legal issues. Shooters in incidents like these often use defenses based on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-stand-your-ground-69f91b0a09b25f9758219897f5890278">“stand-your-ground” laws</a>, which have broadened people's rights to defend themselves if they are threatened. But those laws, which have spread across America in the last 25 years, may have actually driven up violence.A study published in 2022 by the JAMA Network Open, a peer-reviewed medical journal, found that monthly homicide rates increased between 8% and 11% in states with stand-your-ground laws.“I think it has commonly become known of as a license to use deadly force whenever someone feels threatened,” said Geoffrey Corn, the chair of criminal law at the Texas Tech University School of Law. He has extensively studied such laws, which he believes are deeply misunderstood by the public.“The fear has to be justified by the circumstances," he said. “You don't get to kill somebody just because you fear them.”AGGRAVATING FACTORSLegal experts expect Andrew Lester, the 84-year-old man who shot Yarl, to claim self-defense and cite Missouri’s stand-your-ground law. On Wednesday, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralph-yarl-shooting-updates-c13170d6759f2963b01a68fc8a6332f7">pleaded not guilty</a>&nbsp;in Yarl’s shooting.Corn, a 22-year-military veteran, also wonders about America’s recent boom in firearm sales and whether it has combined with insufficient training to compound the problem.“What troubles me isn’t that there are a lot of firearms, it’s that nothing is required of someone who takes on the awesome responsibility" of wielding them, Corn said. Even in states that require firearms training, he says training is often insufficient, with poor explanations of self-defense laws.When he was in the military, he had weeks of training before he was even allowed to touch a bullet. “I was always conscious of the awesome killing power of a firearm,” he said.Then there is the unavoidable question of race, a central pillar of American distrust across the centuries.False notions about threats posed by nonwhite people have played out repeatedly in modern American history, including in a number of high-profile cases when assailants attacked Black or Hispanic people who they believed meant them harm, even when no threat was apparent.Yarl’s shooting has drawn comparisons to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/trayvon-martin">the 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin</a>, 17, a Black teenager visiting his father’s home in a gated Florida community when George Zimmerman, a volunteer neighborhood watchman, decided he looked suspicious and shot him to death. Zimmerman was acquitted after a trial in which his attorneys essentially used the state’s stand-your-ground law as a defense.It also echoes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-shootings-michigan-detroit-4495fe92a5c152ab707f74bcc6cb2f04">the case of Renisha McBride</a>, a Black woman who knocked on doors in a Detroit-area community in 2013, seeking help after a car accident. She was fatally shot by a white resident who fired through his screen door, saying he feared she meant him harm.These cases, said Ibram X. Kendi, the bestselling author of books on racism and founder of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bu.edu/antiracism-center/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwxYOiBhC9ARIsANiEIfYXscTCBySJ0PRmHgZQ1ZOfxEbFn76YeCJGKSX_2J4aB6yMPl-eVP0aAp2PEALw_wcB">Center for Antiracist Research</a>&nbsp;at Boston University, occurred because people of all races and backgrounds are groomed to fear Black people as more prone to criminality and violence.“No one is born fearing another person because of their skin color,” Kendi said. “There’s so many different ways in which people are taught that Black people are dangerous, and those ideas actually create all sorts of dangers for Black people, including Black teenagers.”“The more we unlearn that idea and realize that we can’t attach danger to skin color in any way," he said, “the less likely people are going to be to use lethal force against a 16-year-old child who is ringing their doorbell.”___

Distrust in America: Small mistakes, deep fear — and gunfire

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Matthew Carlson, 40, of Omaha was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Omaha for receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Carlson to 180 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal prison system. After his release from prison, Carlson will be on supervised release for life.

In November 2021, federal agents began investigating after receiving a Cybertip from Dropbox stating that a user had uploaded child pornography. Agents contacted Carlson who admitted to receiving a link, accessing the Dropbox account, and viewing child pornography. Carlson had two prior convictions for possession of child pornography.

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

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.

U.S. Attorney's OfficeUnited States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Matthew Carlson, 40, of Omaha was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Omaha for receipt of child pornography. United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Carlson to 180 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal prison system. After his release from prison, Carlson will be on supervised release for life.In November 2021, federal agents began investigating after receiving a Cybertip from Dropbox stating that a user had uploaded child pornography. Agents contacted Carlson who admitted to receiving a link, accessing the Dropbox account, and viewing child pornography. Carlson had two prior convictions for possession of child pornography.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit<a href="http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/">www.projectsafechildhood.gov</a>.This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations.

Neb. man sentenced for receipt of child pornography

NEW YORK (AP) — Bed Bath &amp; Beyond — one of the original big box retailers — has filed for bankruptcy protection, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans.&nbsp;The company still has stores in Nebraska in Lincoln and two in Omaha.

The beleaguered home goods chain made the filing Sunday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and said it will start an orderly wind down of its operations including eventually closing its stores, while seeking a buyer for all or some of its businesses. For now, its 360 Bed Bath &amp; Beyond stores and its 120 Buy Buy Baby stores as well as its websites will remain open to serve customers.

It listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion. The move comes after the company failed to secure funds to stay afloat.

In a statement, the company based in Union, New Jersey, said it voluntarily made the filing "to implement an orderly wind down of its businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets." The store closings will put thousands of jobs at risk.

The company said it also intends to uphold commitments to customers, employees and partners. The retailer said it secured a commitment of roughly $240 million in financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. to allow it to keep operating during the bankruptcy process.

The filing comes as the company’s shares have tumbled even more as speculation of an impending bankruptcy filing increased. Its financial performance has also deteriorated. In late March, it noted that preliminary results showed anywhere from a 40% to 50% decline in sales at stores opened at least a year for the quarter ended Feb. 25.

The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late March that it planned to sell $300 million worth of shares to avoid bankruptcy filing.

The home goods retailer had been issuing several warnings about a potential bankruptcy filing since earlier this year. In late January, it noted in a government filing it was in default of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bankruptcy-business-2fd56f01b26c8484e2b30230cb439e4e">loans</a>&nbsp;and didn’t have the funds to repay what it owes. The company had said the default is forcing the company to look at various alternatives including restructuring its debt in bankruptcy court.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-875189eb9c27eac251670f80357c8ca3">warned</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 5 that it was considering various options including filing for bankruptcy and said that there was “substantial doubt” that it could stay in business. A week later, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond posted a 33% drop in sales and a widening loss for the fiscal third quarter, ended Nov. 26, compared with the year-ago period. Sales at stores opened at least a year — a key indicator of a company’s health — dropped 32%.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s recently appointed president and CEO Sue Gove blamed the poor holiday performance on inventory constraints and reduced credit limits that resulted in shortages of merchandise on store shelves.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond joins a growing list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy so far this year including party supplies chain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-new-york-city-party-holdco-inc-business-bankruptcy-6103152baf9d5d633fb5adc167d0046c">Party City</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/davids-bridal-bankruptcy-filing-wedding-ace0eadbedadc97337b8c50213e73bca">David’s Bridal</a>. And the bankruptcy could offer a window of what's more to come, giving the changing landscape of the retail industry and the increasing challenges in the U.S. economy.

During the depths of the pandemic, a number of retailers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy including Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney. But in 2022, there was a respite in retail bankruptcy filings as shoppers, flush with government stimulus money and a pile of savings, spent with abandon, helping to lift all types of retailers. But as credit tightens and inflation remains stubborn, shoppers have been tightening their purse strings in recent months, leaving struggling retailers like Bed Bath &amp; Beyond more vulnerable.

Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had been trying to turn around its business and slash costs after previous management’s new strategies worsened a sales slump. The company announced last August it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-offerings-chewy-inc-6af2d83aec7cde2cd7b0706b892a4c0c">close</a>&nbsp;about 150 of its namesake stores and slash its workforce by 20%. It also lined up more than $500 million of new financing.

Founded in 1971, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had for years enjoyed its status as a big box retailer that offered a vast selection of sheets, towels and gadgets unmatched by department store rivals. It was among the first to introduce shoppers to many of today’s household items like the air fryer or single-serve coffee maker, and its 15% to 20% coupons were ubiquitous.

But for the last decade or so, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond struggled with weak sales, largely because of its messy assortments and lagging online strategy that made it hard to compete with the likes of Target and Walmart, both of which have spruced up their home departments with higher quality sheets and beddings. Meanwhile, online players like Wayfair have lured customers with affordable and trendy furniture and home décor.

In late 2019, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous for the retailer.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bed Bath &amp; Beyond — one of the original big box retailers — has filed for bankruptcy protection, following years of dismal sales and losses and numerous failed turnaround plans.&nbsp;The company still has stores in Nebraska in Lincoln and two in Omaha.The beleaguered home goods chain made the filing Sunday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey and said it will start an orderly wind down of its operations including eventually closing its stores, while seeking a buyer for all or some of its businesses. For now, its 360 Bed Bath &amp; Beyond stores and its 120 Buy Buy Baby stores as well as its websites will remain open to serve customers.It listed estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion and $10 billion. The move comes after the company failed to secure funds to stay afloat.In a statement, the company based in Union, New Jersey, said it voluntarily made the filing "to implement an orderly wind down of its businesses while conducting a limited marketing process to solicit interest in one or more sales of some or all of its assets." The store closings will put thousands of jobs at risk.The company said it also intends to uphold commitments to customers, employees and partners. The retailer said it secured a commitment of roughly $240 million in financing from Sixth Street Specialty Lending, Inc. to allow it to keep operating during the bankruptcy process.The filing comes as the company’s shares have tumbled even more as speculation of an impending bankruptcy filing increased. Its financial performance has also deteriorated. In late March, it noted that preliminary results showed anywhere from a 40% to 50% decline in sales at stores opened at least a year for the quarter ended Feb. 25.The company also said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing in late March that it planned to sell $300 million worth of shares to avoid bankruptcy filing.The home goods retailer had been issuing several warnings about a potential bankruptcy filing since earlier this year. In late January, it noted in a government filing it was in default of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bankruptcy-business-2fd56f01b26c8484e2b30230cb439e4e">loans</a>&nbsp;and didn’t have the funds to repay what it owes. The company had said the default is forcing the company to look at various alternatives including restructuring its debt in bankruptcy court.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-875189eb9c27eac251670f80357c8ca3">warned</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 5 that it was considering various options including filing for bankruptcy and said that there was “substantial doubt” that it could stay in business. A week later, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond posted a 33% drop in sales and a widening loss for the fiscal third quarter, ended Nov. 26, compared with the year-ago period. Sales at stores opened at least a year — a key indicator of a company’s health — dropped 32%.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s recently appointed president and CEO Sue Gove blamed the poor holiday performance on inventory constraints and reduced credit limits that resulted in shortages of merchandise on store shelves.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond joins a growing list of retailers that have filed for bankruptcy so far this year including party supplies chain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-new-york-city-party-holdco-inc-business-bankruptcy-6103152baf9d5d633fb5adc167d0046c">Party City</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/davids-bridal-bankruptcy-filing-wedding-ace0eadbedadc97337b8c50213e73bca">David’s Bridal</a>. And the bankruptcy could offer a window of what's more to come, giving the changing landscape of the retail industry and the increasing challenges in the U.S. economy.During the depths of the pandemic, a number of retailers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy including Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney. But in 2022, there was a respite in retail bankruptcy filings as shoppers, flush with government stimulus money and a pile of savings, spent with abandon, helping to lift all types of retailers. But as credit tightens and inflation remains stubborn, shoppers have been tightening their purse strings in recent months, leaving struggling retailers like Bed Bath &amp; Beyond more vulnerable.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had been trying to turn around its business and slash costs after previous management’s new strategies worsened a sales slump. The company announced last August it would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stock-offerings-chewy-inc-6af2d83aec7cde2cd7b0706b892a4c0c">close</a>&nbsp;about 150 of its namesake stores and slash its workforce by 20%. It also lined up more than $500 million of new financing.Founded in 1971, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond had for years enjoyed its status as a big box retailer that offered a vast selection of sheets, towels and gadgets unmatched by department store rivals. It was among the first to introduce shoppers to many of today’s household items like the air fryer or single-serve coffee maker, and its 15% to 20% coupons were ubiquitous.But for the last decade or so, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond struggled with weak sales, largely because of its messy assortments and lagging online strategy that made it hard to compete with the likes of Target and Walmart, both of which have spruced up their home departments with higher quality sheets and beddings. Meanwhile, online players like Wayfair have lured customers with affordable and trendy furniture and home décor.In late 2019, Bed Bath &amp; Beyond tapped Target executive Mark Tritton to take the helm and turn around sales. Tritton quickly reduced coupons and started to introduce store label brands at the expense of national labels, a strategy that proved disastrous for the retailer.And the pandemic, which happened shortly after his arrival, forced the retailer to temporarily close its stores. It was never able to use the health crisis to pivot to a successful online strategy as others had, analysts said. And while many retailers were grappling with supply chain issues a year ago, Bed Bath was among the most vulnerable, missing many of its 200 best-selling items including kitchen appliances and personal electronics, during the holiday 2021 season.The retailer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/33fa91f0e8114f4536dd0d1271ae1d2b">ousted</a>&nbsp;Tritton in June 2022 after two back-to-back quarters of disastrous sales. In recent months, the company went back to its original strategy of focusing on national brands, instead of pushing its own store labels. But the company has had a hard time having suppliers commit to delivering merchandise because of the retailer’s financial woes. This past holiday season, the stores were missing many key items, and it lost many customers.Bed Bath &amp; Beyond’s shares, which were trading at distressed levels, have also been on a turbulent run. It made a monstrous run from $5.77 to $23.08 in a little more than two weeks in August. The trading was reminiscent of last year’s meme-stock craze, when out-of-favor companies suddenly became darlings of smaller-pocketed investors.But the stock fell back to Earth after Ryan Cohen, the billionaire co-founder of online pet-products retailer Chewy Inc. who purchased a nearly 10% stake in Bed Bath &amp; Beyond last March, sold off all his shares.Shares were hovering close to 30 cents in the past few days. A year ago, shares were trading at around $17.The company had 32,000 employees as of Feb. 26, 2022, but that number has come down since then as the retailer has slashed jobs.