By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/12/12/nebraska-hospital-leaders-call-for-help-in-battling-triple-threat-to-patient-care/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

As Nebraska combats a triple threat —
 that is, a recent surge in cases of COVID-19, RSV and influenza — 
experts from competing hospitals joined forces Monday to advise ways to 
head off a bigger crisis.

Four medical professionals said in a 
news conference that each of their respective hospital systems remains 
open for business and continues to treat sick people. But they warned 
that additional stress, on top of ongoing labor shortages, could hurt 
patient care and further overwhelm emergency rooms.

“Our hospitals are entering a very 
challenging time, and quite frankly, we need Nebraskans to help us with 
it,” said Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital 
Association, which represents 92 hospitals. “It’s pretty stark when you 
look at the numbers.”

He said that according to data from 
the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the number of 
COVID-related emergency room visits is close to what it was last year at
 this time, and, he noted, that was at the peak of the Omicron variant.

With influenza, Nordquist said, 
Nebraskans entered the season this year earlier and with higher counts 
than a year ago. “Probably about three times the rate of influenza cases
 coming into our emergency rooms,” he said.

Cases of respiratory syncytial virus 
(RSV), he said, are about three or four times higher than at the same 
point last year, though, he said, they are starting to drop a bit.

Hospital association leaders have 
been talking for weeks with medical institutions, experts and elected 
officials about capacity troubles, Nordquist said. Hospitals can’t solve
 the “crisis” on their own, he added, and that’s why medical experts 
came together to share thoughts on how Nebraskans can help.

Among common themes: Those feeling 
ill should try to contact their primary care doctor or health care 
provider before heading to an emergency room.

Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer 
at CHI Health in Omaha, noted multiple ways a person can be treated, 
including via virtual health care. He said a lengthy ER visit might not 
be the best method for treating what might be a minor illness.

Said Dr. Harris Frankel, chief 
medical officer with Nebraska Medicine: “We want people to access care 
at the right time, in the right place, for the right reason.”

Frankel and his colleagues urged people to get vaccinated to help combat viruses and hospital stays.

“This year’s influenza vaccine 
appears to be a pretty good match for the virus,” Frankel said, calling 
vaccines the best form of protection.

Dr. Kari Simonsen, chair of 
pediatrics for Children’s Hospital &amp; Medical Center, also talked of a
 “tried and true” preventative measure that’s especially relevant 
heading into a holiday season: Stay home if you’re sick.

She said some good news is that Nebraska’s RSV surge appears to have peaked and may be starting on a downward trend.

“Influenza, on the other hand, still seems to be really on an upward trajectory that doesn’t have an end in sight for us yet.”&nbsp;

Responding to the increase in 
pediatric illness, Simonsen said specialized hospitals are meeting with 
each other at least weekly to understand “pain points” and concerns 
related to the rise in admissions.

Dr. John Trapp, chief medical officer
 at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, said he was concerned about the 
number of pediatric cases and underscored ongoing staffing challenges at
 hospitals.

“Our workforce remains tired,” he said. “They’ve been through a long number of years.”

Bryan still uses traveling health 
care professionals to help fill voids, Trapp said. And while the 
travelers play a significant role in patient care, he said they also 
come at a higher expense.

“It does impact hospitals with regard
 to financial strength and what we can do and what additional 
investments we can make into our community,” Trapp said.

Frankel noted the competitive nature 
of the hospitals represented at the news conference, but said they 
united Monday, and have since the pandemic, for community and patients.

“Though we are competitors, we’ve all
 believed from the get-go, that as a community and for the patients we 
serve, we are much better together.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670958184842.jpeg" alt="Nebraska Hospital Association President Jeremy Nordquist (Courtesy of Nebraska Hospital Association)" />
 <figcaption>Nebraska Hospital Association President Jeremy Nordquist (Courtesy of Nebraska Hospital Association)</figcaption>
 </figure>By CINDY GONZALEZ <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2022/12/12/nebraska-hospital-leaders-call-for-help-in-battling-triple-threat-to-patient-care/">Nebraska Examiner</a>As Nebraska combats a triple threat —
 that is, a recent surge in cases of COVID-19, RSV and influenza — 
experts from competing hospitals joined forces Monday to advise ways to 
head off a bigger crisis.Four medical professionals said in a 
news conference that each of their respective hospital systems remains 
open for business and continues to treat sick people. But they warned 
that additional stress, on top of ongoing labor shortages, could hurt 
patient care and further overwhelm emergency rooms.“Our hospitals are entering a very 
challenging time, and quite frankly, we need Nebraskans to help us with 
it,” said Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital 
Association, which represents 92 hospitals. “It’s pretty stark when you 
look at the numbers.”<h2>How Nebraskans can help</h2>He said that according to data from 
the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, the number of 
COVID-related emergency room visits is close to what it was last year at
 this time, and, he noted, that was at the peak of the Omicron variant.With influenza, Nordquist said, 
Nebraskans entered the season this year earlier and with higher counts 
than a year ago. “Probably about three times the rate of influenza cases
 coming into our emergency rooms,” he said.Cases of respiratory syncytial virus 
(RSV), he said, are about three or four times higher than at the same 
point last year, though, he said, they are starting to drop a bit.Hospital association leaders have 
been talking for weeks with medical institutions, experts and elected 
officials about capacity troubles, Nordquist said. Hospitals can’t solve
 the “crisis” on their own, he added, and that’s why medical experts 
came together to share thoughts on how Nebraskans can help.Among common themes: Those feeling 
ill should try to contact their primary care doctor or health care 
provider before heading to an emergency room.Dr. Cary Ward, chief medical officer 
at CHI Health in Omaha, noted multiple ways a person can be treated, 
including via virtual health care. He said a lengthy ER visit might not 
be the best method for treating what might be a minor illness.Said Dr. Harris Frankel, chief 
medical officer with Nebraska Medicine: “We want people to access care 
at the right time, in the right place, for the right reason.”<h2>Vaccines urged</h2>Frankel and his colleagues urged people to get vaccinated to help combat viruses and hospital stays.“This year’s influenza vaccine 
appears to be a pretty good match for the virus,” Frankel said, calling 
vaccines the best form of protection.Dr. Kari Simonsen, chair of 
pediatrics for Children’s Hospital &amp; Medical Center, also talked of a
 “tried and true” preventative measure that’s especially relevant 
heading into a holiday season: Stay home if you’re sick.She said some good news is that Nebraska’s RSV surge appears to have peaked and may be starting on a downward trend.“Influenza, on the other hand, still seems to be really on an upward trajectory that doesn’t have an end in sight for us yet.”&nbsp;Responding to the increase in 
pediatric illness, Simonsen said specialized hospitals are meeting with 
each other at least weekly to understand “pain points” and concerns 
related to the rise in admissions.Dr. John Trapp, chief medical officer
 at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, said he was concerned about the 
number of pediatric cases and underscored ongoing staffing challenges at
 hospitals.“Our workforce remains tired,” he said. “They’ve been through a long number of years.”<h2>Competition aside</h2>Bryan still uses traveling health 
care professionals to help fill voids, Trapp said. And while the 
travelers play a significant role in patient care, he said they also 
come at a higher expense.“It does impact hospitals with regard
 to financial strength and what we can do and what additional 
investments we can make into our community,” Trapp said.Frankel noted the competitive nature 
of the hospitals represented at the news conference, but said they 
united Monday, and have since the pandemic, for community and patients.“Though we are competitors, we’ve all
 believed from the get-go, that as a community and for the patients we 
serve, we are much better together.”

Neb. hospitals work to contend with 'triple threat' of illnesses 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-effacd249a42e43b9a54b28d4655b346">decades-long quest to harness</a>&nbsp;the process that powers the sun.

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.

The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.

“Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,'' Granholm told a news conference in Washington. "This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.''

Fusion ignition is “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,″ Granholm said, adding that the breakthrough “will go down in the history books.″

Appearing with Granholm, White House science adviser Arati Prabhakar called the fusion ignition “a tremendous example of what perseverance really can achieve" and "an engineering marvel beyond belief.''

Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said the announcement marked a significant advance nonetheless.

“It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. "We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.”

Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are “very significant hurdles” to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in “a few decades” rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected.

Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn't create radioactive waste.

President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good example of the need to continue to invest in research and development. “Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon,” he said at the White House.

Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-fusion-energy-lawrence-livermore-a3c1ecbb738640b0a2e384dc80b8dd07">create an extremely brief fusion reaction</a>.

The lasers focus an enormous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environment where fusion may occur.

Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there's a long road ahead before the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity.

He likened the breakthrough to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.

“You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires,” Betti said. “You can't say that you have a car.”

The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.

It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said.

Results from the California lab exceeded expectations, said Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics.

Although there's a long way to go to turn fusion into a usable power source, Chittenden said, the lab’s achievement makes him optimistic that it may someday be "the ideal power source that we thought it would be” — one that's carbon-free and runs on an abundant form of hydrogen that can be extracted from seawater.

One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-sports-france-climate-environment-and-nature-029d14f22aaabe1a33030f612d8fc52a">Last year</a>&nbsp;the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.

Chittenden said “the stakes are rising all the time” in the race to find clean alternative energy sources. Fusion "isn’t the sole solution to that. It’s part of the energy mix. We need to be trying everything we can possibly think of.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-effacd249a42e43b9a54b28d4655b346">decades-long quest to harness</a>&nbsp;the process that powers the sun.Click below to watch the announcement.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eke5PawU7rE?start=26" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.“Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,'' Granholm told a news conference in Washington. "This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.''<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fenergy%2Fvideos%2F487286266861249%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Fusion ignition is “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,″ Granholm said, adding that the breakthrough “will go down in the history books.″Appearing with Granholm, White House science adviser Arati Prabhakar called the fusion ignition “a tremendous example of what perseverance really can achieve" and "an engineering marvel beyond belief.''Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said the announcement marked a significant advance nonetheless.“It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. "We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.”Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are “very significant hurdles” to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in “a few decades” rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected.Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn't create radioactive waste.President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good example of the need to continue to invest in research and development. “Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon,” he said at the White House.Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-fusion-energy-lawrence-livermore-a3c1ecbb738640b0a2e384dc80b8dd07">create an extremely brief fusion reaction</a>.The lasers focus an enormous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environment where fusion may occur.Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there's a long road ahead before the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity.He likened the breakthrough to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.“You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires,” Betti said. “You can't say that you have a car.”The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said.Results from the California lab exceeded expectations, said Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics.Although there's a long way to go to turn fusion into a usable power source, Chittenden said, the lab’s achievement makes him optimistic that it may someday be "the ideal power source that we thought it would be” — one that's carbon-free and runs on an abundant form of hydrogen that can be extracted from seawater.One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-sports-france-climate-environment-and-nature-029d14f22aaabe1a33030f612d8fc52a">Last year</a>&nbsp;the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.Chittenden said “the stakes are rising all the time” in the race to find clean alternative energy sources. Fusion "isn’t the sole solution to that. It’s part of the energy mix. We need to be trying everything we can possibly think of.”

🎥Scientists achieve advance in fusion energy, milestone for clean energy

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther to the south saw tornadoes from a massive storm blowing across the country.

An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Meanwhile, ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.

The National Weather Service warned that up to about half an inch of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 mph in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions all threatened the region.

"This is a 'we are not kidding' kind of storm," the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said Monday in a tweet urging people to stock up on essentials, then stay home once the storm hits.

Portions of Interstate 90 and Interstate 29 through South Dakota were expected to be closed by mid-morning Tuesday due to "freezing rain, substantial snow totals, low visibility, drifting snow and high winds," the state's Department of Transportation said. Secondary highways will likely become "impassable," it said.

Farther south, tornadoes, strong winds, hail and flash flooding were expected Tuesday with eastern Texas, much of Louisiana and western Mississippi at greatest risk for severe storms. Early Tuesday, tornado warnings were issued in parts of central Oklahoma and north Texas.

Damage was reported in the Oklahoma town of Wayne after the weather service warned of a "confirmed tornado" shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. Video footage from Oklahoma TV station KOCO showed substantial damage to a home in Wayne, which is about 45 miles south of Oklahoma City.

In Texas, at least two tornadoes were spotted along the front edge of the storm as it headed toward the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area Tuesday morning, though the extent of any damage was not immediately known.

The severe weather threat continues into Wednesday for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

"It will be a busy week while this system moves across the country," said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the weather service's headquarters in College Park, Maryland.

The weather is part of the same system that dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend before moving east.

In northern Utah, a tour bus crashed Monday morning as snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the region. The bus flipped onto its side in Tremonton after the driver lost control while switching lanes, the state's Highway Patrol said in a statement. The Highway Patrol said 23 passengers were injured, including some seriously.

Thousands of students from Native American communities across Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas were traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, for this week's Lakota Nation Invitational, a high school athletic event. Brian Brewer, one of the organizers, said he had urged schools and participants to travel early.

"We told them with this storm coming — if you leave tomorrow, there's a good chance you might not make it," he said Monday.

In Northern California, most mountain highways had reopened Monday. Remaining warnings in the Southern California mountains expired Monday night, the weather service said.

With winter still more than a week away, it was the latest fall storm to bring significant precipitation to California, which is dealing with the impacts of years of drought that have spurred calls for water conservation.

The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab northwest of Lake Tahoe reported the storm dropped 54.5 inches of snow.

The Sierra snowpack, which on average is at its peak April 1, is normally a significant source of water when it melts in the spring. Throughout the drought, experts have cautioned about optimism over early season storms as climate change makes what were once average conditions rare.

Last year, a powerful atmospheric river storm dumped huge amounts of rain on California in October and a wet stretch in December left parts of the Sierra Nevada buried in snow. Then the state experienced its driest January through April on record.

Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Salt Lake City, Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis, John Antczak in Los Angeles and Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670943406830.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHEN GROVES Associated PressSIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther to the south saw tornadoes from a massive storm blowing across the country.An area stretching from Montana into western Nebraska and Colorado was under blizzard warnings, and the National Weather Service said that as much as 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow was possible in some areas of western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska. Meanwhile, ice and sleet were expected in the eastern Great Plains.The National Weather Service warned that up to about half an inch of ice could form and winds could gust up to 45 mph in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and South Dakota. Power outages, tree damage, falling branches and hazardous travel conditions all threatened the region."This is a 'we are not kidding' kind of storm," the South Dakota Department of Public Safety said Monday in a tweet urging people to stock up on essentials, then stay home once the storm hits.Portions of Interstate 90 and Interstate 29 through South Dakota were expected to be closed by mid-morning Tuesday due to "freezing rain, substantial snow totals, low visibility, drifting snow and high winds," the state's Department of Transportation said. Secondary highways will likely become "impassable," it said.Farther south, tornadoes, strong winds, hail and flash flooding were expected Tuesday with eastern Texas, much of Louisiana and western Mississippi at greatest risk for severe storms. Early Tuesday, tornado warnings were issued in parts of central Oklahoma and north Texas.Damage was reported in the Oklahoma town of Wayne after the weather service warned of a "confirmed tornado" shortly after 5 a.m. Tuesday. Video footage from Oklahoma TV station KOCO showed substantial damage to a home in Wayne, which is about 45 miles south of Oklahoma City.In Texas, at least two tornadoes were spotted along the front edge of the storm as it headed toward the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area Tuesday morning, though the extent of any damage was not immediately known.The severe weather threat continues into Wednesday for Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, according to the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma."It will be a busy week while this system moves across the country," said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the weather service's headquarters in College Park, Maryland.The weather is part of the same system that dumped heavy snow in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend before moving east.In northern Utah, a tour bus crashed Monday morning as snow and frigid temperatures blanketed the region. The bus flipped onto its side in Tremonton after the driver lost control while switching lanes, the state's Highway Patrol said in a statement. The Highway Patrol said 23 passengers were injured, including some seriously.Thousands of students from Native American communities across Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas were traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota, for this week's Lakota Nation Invitational, a high school athletic event. Brian Brewer, one of the organizers, said he had urged schools and participants to travel early."We told them with this storm coming — if you leave tomorrow, there's a good chance you might not make it," he said Monday.In Northern California, most mountain highways had reopened Monday. Remaining warnings in the Southern California mountains expired Monday night, the weather service said.With winter still more than a week away, it was the latest fall storm to bring significant precipitation to California, which is dealing with the impacts of years of drought that have spurred calls for water conservation.The UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab northwest of Lake Tahoe reported the storm dropped 54.5 inches of snow.The Sierra snowpack, which on average is at its peak April 1, is normally a significant source of water when it melts in the spring. Throughout the drought, experts have cautioned about optimism over early season storms as climate change makes what were once average conditions rare.Last year, a powerful atmospheric river storm dumped huge amounts of rain on California in October and a wet stretch in December left parts of the Sierra Nevada buried in snow. Then the state experienced its driest January through April on record.___Associated Press writers Sam Metz in Salt Lake City, Trisha Ahmed in Minneapolis, John Antczak in Los Angeles and Jill Bleed in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed to this report.

Massive US storm brings tornadoes to South, blizzard threat

By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.

And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.

“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.

In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.

But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.

The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.

Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”

Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.

Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.

Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.

“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.

In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.

Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.

People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.

About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.

States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.

“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.

People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.

Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.

And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.

“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.

One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.

HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.

Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.

HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.

The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.

Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.

“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670875530434.png" alt="CDC image" />
 <figcaption>CDC image</figcaption>
 </figure>By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

COVID treatment Paxlovid has been free; now comes the sticker shock

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX with orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors.

An SEC complaint filed Tuesday alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors since May 2019 by promoting FTX as a safe, responsible platform for trading crypto assets.

The civil complaint says Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds to Alameda Research LLC, his privately-held crypto fund, without telling them. The complaint also says Bankman-Fried commingled FTX customers’ funds at Alameda to make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases, and large political donations.

Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said.

The arrest was made after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.

The SEC charges are separate from the criminal charges expected to be unsealed later Tuesday.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.

Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just a day before he was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX’s customers, would not get to see Bankman-Fried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">testify under oath</a>.

That hearing, however, will be held Tuesday despite the arrest of Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

That all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.

NEW YORK (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto-downfall-a2eaec231027dfd9f18426ff8982bbf8">former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX</a>, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said Monday.

The arrest was made Monday after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-government-and-politics-9ab6a46f5b07d9a4fe7095d9d9589f84">filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11</a>, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.

Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the Bahamas would “promptly” extradite Bankman-Fried to the U.S. once the indictment is unsealed and U.S. authorities make a formal request. FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas and Bankman-Fried has largely remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau since the company's failure.

Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">a day before he was due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX's customers, would not get to see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">Bankman-Fried testify under oath</a>.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">That all unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.

The House Financial Services Committee is still expected to hear testimony Tuesday from current CEO John Ray III. Ray, who took over FTX on Nov. 11 and is a long-time restructuring specialist, has said in court filings that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ftx-trading-former-ceo-d2c2b881dc0eb0ec37b454674f446b52">the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron</a>.

Bahamian authorities plan to continue their own investigation into Bankman-Fried.

“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” said Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, in a statement.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it had authorized separate charges related to alleged violations of securities laws and would file them publicly Tuesday.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency firm FTX will testify before a Congressional committee Tuesday, his first appearance under oath since FTX filed for bankruptcy roughly a month ago.

Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, along with the company's current CEO, John Ray III. Bankman-Fried has done several media interviews since his firm collapsed but has not publicly testified about what happened. He is expected to appear remotely from the Bahamas.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when the firm ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run. The collapse of crypto's second-largest exchange has garnered worldwide attention, and Bankman-Fried is under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities.

The atmosphere Tuesday should be markedly different from Bankman-Fried's previous trips to Congress, when he testified in favor of certain bills that would regulate the crypto industry in ways that favored FTX. He became prominent in Washington and donated millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democrat political campaigns, and was hailed as the new face of the crypto industry.

A handful of members of the Financial Services Committee have previously taken political donations from FTX or Bankman-Fried, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. and Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.

It wasn't clear at first whether Bankman-Fried would voluntarily agree to testify, or whether the committee would have to subpoena him. He has, more or less, remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau, and temporarily out of reach of U.S. authorities.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California and chairwoman of the committee, said she planned to go forward with the hearing regardless of whether Bankman-Fried agreed to testify.

This will be the first public appearance by Ray since FTX's collapse as well. Before FTX, the restructuring expert was best known for having to clean up the mess at Enron roughly 20 years ago. Ray has said in court filings that the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron, and that he has no confidence in FTX's bookkeeping before he took over the firm.

“FTX Group’s collapse appears to stem from the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals who failed to implement virtually any of the systems or controls that are necessary for a company that is entrusted with other people’s money or assets,” Ray said in his prepared remarks for Tuesday's hearing.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX with orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors.An SEC complaint filed Tuesday alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors since May 2019 by promoting FTX as a safe, responsible platform for trading crypto assets.The civil complaint says Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds to Alameda Research LLC, his privately-held crypto fund, without telling them. The complaint also says Bankman-Fried commingled FTX customers’ funds at Alameda to make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases, and large political donations.Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said.The arrest was made after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.The SEC charges are separate from the criminal charges expected to be unsealed later Tuesday.A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just a day before he was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX’s customers, would not get to see Bankman-Fried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">testify under oath</a>.That hearing, however, will be held Tuesday despite the arrest of Bankman-Fried.Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.That all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.---------NEW YORK (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto-downfall-a2eaec231027dfd9f18426ff8982bbf8">former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX</a>, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said Monday.The arrest was made Monday after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-government-and-politics-9ab6a46f5b07d9a4fe7095d9d9589f84">filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11</a>, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the Bahamas would “promptly” extradite Bankman-Fried to the U.S. once the indictment is unsealed and U.S. authorities make a formal request. FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas and Bankman-Fried has largely remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau since the company's failure.A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">a day before he was due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX's customers, would not get to see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">Bankman-Fried testify under oath</a>.Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">That all unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.The House Financial Services Committee is still expected to hear testimony Tuesday from current CEO John Ray III. Ray, who took over FTX on Nov. 11 and is a long-time restructuring specialist, has said in court filings that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ftx-trading-former-ceo-d2c2b881dc0eb0ec37b454674f446b52">the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron</a>.Bahamian authorities plan to continue their own investigation into Bankman-Fried.“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” said Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, in a statement.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it had authorized separate charges related to alleged violations of securities laws and would file them publicly Tuesday.-----------CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency firm FTX will testify before a Congressional committee Tuesday, his first appearance under oath since FTX filed for bankruptcy roughly a month ago.Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, along with the company's current CEO, John Ray III. Bankman-Fried has done several media interviews since his firm collapsed but has not publicly testified about what happened. He is expected to appear remotely from the Bahamas.FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when the firm ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run. The collapse of crypto's second-largest exchange has garnered worldwide attention, and Bankman-Fried is under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities.The atmosphere Tuesday should be markedly different from Bankman-Fried's previous trips to Congress, when he testified in favor of certain bills that would regulate the crypto industry in ways that favored FTX. He became prominent in Washington and donated millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democrat political campaigns, and was hailed as the new face of the crypto industry.A handful of members of the Financial Services Committee have previously taken political donations from FTX or Bankman-Fried, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. and Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.It wasn't clear at first whether Bankman-Fried would voluntarily agree to testify, or whether the committee would have to subpoena him. He has, more or less, remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau, and temporarily out of reach of U.S. authorities.Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California and chairwoman of the committee, said she planned to go forward with the hearing regardless of whether Bankman-Fried agreed to testify.This will be the first public appearance by Ray since FTX's collapse as well. Before FTX, the restructuring expert was best known for having to clean up the mess at Enron roughly 20 years ago. Ray has said in court filings that the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron, and that he has no confidence in FTX's bookkeeping before he took over the firm.“FTX Group’s collapse appears to stem from the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals who failed to implement virtually any of the systems or controls that are necessary for a company that is entrusted with other people’s money or assets,” Ray said in his prepared remarks for Tuesday's hearing.

FTX CEO arrested, charged in billion dollar investor fraud scheme

Rosseau has been located and is safe. The Missing Endangered Advisory has been cancelled.

Issued On: Monday, December 12, 2022 at 10:00:52 PM Name:&nbsp;<a href="https://statepatrol.nebraska.gov/ema#">Mark ROUSSEAU</a> Description: An Endangered Missing Advisory has been activated to determine the whereabouts of Mark ROUSSEAU. An Endangered Missing Advisory has been issued for Eastern Nebraska. The Omaha Police Department is attempting to locate Mark ROUSSEAU, 82, white male approximately 5’ 9" tall, approximately 165 pounds, with white hair, white beard, and blue eyes, and wearing a red and blue plaid shirt, blue Jeans, L.L Bean Dark brown jacket.

ROUSSEAU is missing from the 5000 block of Izard Street in Omaha, Nebraska, and last seen at 5:30 pm on December 12, 2022. 

ROUSSEAU was traveling to the vicinity of 44th and Dodge this evening and driving a silver 2014 Honda CR-V (NE plate ROU). 

If you have any information, please call 911, or contact the Omaha Police Department at 911 immediately.

<a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/2ddcec21-000f-4ace-b19e-4250120d6629">&nbsp;&nbsp;Download The Post app for iOs or Android</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670931944790.png" alt="Rosseau" />
 <figcaption>Rosseau</figcaption>
 </figure>By NEBRASKA STATE PATROLRosseau has been located and is safe. The Missing Endangered Advisory has been cancelled.Issued On: Monday, December 12, 2022 at 10:00:52 PM Name:&nbsp;<a href="https://statepatrol.nebraska.gov/ema#">Mark ROUSSEAU</a> Description: An Endangered Missing Advisory has been activated to determine the whereabouts of Mark ROUSSEAU. An Endangered Missing Advisory has been issued for Eastern Nebraska. The Omaha Police Department is attempting to locate Mark ROUSSEAU, 82, white male approximately 5’ 9" tall, approximately 165 pounds, with white hair, white beard, and blue eyes, and wearing a red and blue plaid shirt, blue Jeans, L.L Bean Dark brown jacket. ROUSSEAU is missing from the 5000 block of Izard Street in Omaha, Nebraska, and last seen at 5:30 pm on December 12, 2022. ROUSSEAU was traveling to the vicinity of 44th and Dodge this evening and driving a silver 2014 Honda CR-V (NE plate ROU). ROUSSEAU has dementia. If you have any information, please call 911, or contact the Omaha Police Department at 911 immediately. <a href="https://northplattepost.com/posts/2ddcec21-000f-4ace-b19e-4250120d6629">&nbsp;&nbsp;Download The Post app for iOs or Android</a><figure>
 <img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/J4qoS2fmTIsGhV3C3GouuC3QHKB2BeK-gZd9O1oY3JtiHD7LyKBbKvTVYn32zvLHA35JVga2ii8FWc0QaKKxDN_SLHAVbrO4cqQqWwqeWgohHqs-HSwPf3p_AdNuLeOd-33xCumx6FkLnZzKYVzoDwowJThZ-oCvuHJQowjOeZQZemuSklf3koLL8jLw" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

UPDATED Endangered Missing Advisory issued for Omaha man with dementia

Millions of Americans were — for a time — eligible for student loan forgiveness, but a legal battle over the constitutionality of the Biden administration's plan put everything on hold.

Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Education pulled a mea culpa on emails sent in late November that told recipients they were approved for student loan forgiveness, citing a "vendor error."

Due to a vendor error, you recently received an email with a subject line indicating your application for the one-time Student Loan Debt Relief Plan had been approved. The subject line was inaccurate. The body of the previous email was accurate.&nbsp;

We have received your application but are not permitted to review your eligibility because of ongoing litigation. We will keep your application information and review your eligibility if and when we prevail in court.

We apologize for the confusion, and you do not need to take any further action at this time. We will keep you updated with any developments.

Millions of Americans were — for a time — eligible for student loan forgiveness, but a legal battle over the constitutionality of the Biden administration's plan put everything on hold.Monday evening, the U.S. Department of Education pulled a mea culpa on emails sent in late November that told recipients they were approved for student loan forgiveness, citing a "vendor error."-----The correction read:Due to a vendor error, you recently received an email with a subject line indicating your application for the one-time Student Loan Debt Relief Plan had been approved. The subject line was inaccurate. The body of the previous email was accurate.&nbsp;We have received your application but are not permitted to review your eligibility because of ongoing litigation. We will keep your application information and review your eligibility if and when we prevail in court.We apologize for the confusion, and you do not need to take any further action at this time. We will keep you updated with any developments.

U.S. Dept. of Ed issues correction to loan forgiveness email

By DYLAN LYSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-12-12/250-workers-deployed-to-the-keystone-pipeline-spill-in-kansas-but-the-end-to-cleanup-isnt-in-sight">Kansas News Service</a>

The largest inland oil spill in nearly a decade has prompted the 
owner of the Keystone pipeline to build an earthen dam three miles 
downstream from the release in an attempt to limit the contamination in 
north-central Kansas.

Canadian company TC Energy also said it’s 
deployed some 250 workers to limit the damage from the pipeline’s 
rupture last week and the release of 14,000 barrels worth of crude — 
enough sludge to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Meantime, federal regulators said it appears the oil has not fouled groundwater.

TC
 Energy says it’s unclear how long it will take to clean up the damage 
and remediate the soil in Washington County, just south of the Nebraska 
border.

On Monday, its workers further surveyed the damage and 
prepared for rainy weather in the forecast. The pipeline company said 
it’s also conducting air quality checks, but it has detected no reason 
for public health concerns.

The company said it will continue 
clean-up efforts at the site until it is completely remedied and the 
pipeline will not restart until regulators say it’s safe.

“The 
health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding 
community, and mitigating risk to the environment is our primary focus 
right now,” TC Energy said on its website.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3eeb9a56-7c04-4a38-b0b7-0739d7358e02">Click HERE for drone footage of the spill site.</a>

The spill of roughly 580,000 gallons came with <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-12-08/keystone-pipeline-spills-in-kansas-dirtying-creek-and-causing-oil-prices-to-spike" target="_blank">pipeline rupture last week</a> that had residents waking up to an odor that smelled like petroleum.

Kellen
 Ashford, a spokesperson for the U.S. The Environmental Protection 
Agency, said Monday the cause of the rupture will be determined by crews
 from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which 
is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Officials for that 
agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ashford said the EPA has no timeline for TC Energy’s remediation efforts.

The
 oil had made it about three miles downstream in Mill Creek but was 
contained within the dam waterway. No groundwater has been affected, 
Ashford said.

“The only water that has been impacted has been the 
surface water in the creek,” the EPA spokesperson said. “The drinking 
water has not been impacted by the pipeline rupture.”

The type of 
oil in the Keystone pipeline is sludgy and often sinks to the bottom of 
waterways – making it more difficult to clean than conventional crude 
oil. The pipeline carries oil from Canada to American refineries. It has
 previously leaked in South Dakota and North Dakota, CNN reported.

TC
 Energy had planned to build an additional pipeline called the Keystone 
XL, which sparked years of political debate, legal wrestling and 
protests — primarily generated by environmental groups worried that 
expanding fossil fuels infrastructure would hurt efforts to fight carbon
 emissions and slow climate change. President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958823085/biden-order-blocks-keystone-xl-pipeline" target="_blank">blocked the XL pipeline</a> immediately upon taking office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670881926358.png" alt="A massive oil spill in north-central Kansas seeped into Mill Creek and traveled about three miles downstream. Clean up crews contained the spill with a dam about four miles downstream. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency" />
 <figcaption>A massive oil spill in north-central Kansas seeped into Mill Creek and traveled about three miles downstream. Clean up crews contained the spill with a dam about four miles downstream. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</figcaption>
 </figure>By DYLAN LYSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-12-12/250-workers-deployed-to-the-keystone-pipeline-spill-in-kansas-but-the-end-to-cleanup-isnt-in-sight">Kansas News Service</a>The largest inland oil spill in nearly a decade has prompted the 
owner of the Keystone pipeline to build an earthen dam three miles 
downstream from the release in an attempt to limit the contamination in 
north-central Kansas.Canadian company TC Energy also said it’s 
deployed some 250 workers to limit the damage from the pipeline’s 
rupture last week and the release of 14,000 barrels worth of crude — 
enough sludge to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool.Meantime, federal regulators said it appears the oil has not fouled groundwater.TC
 Energy says it’s unclear how long it will take to clean up the damage 
and remediate the soil in Washington County, just south of the Nebraska 
border.On Monday, its workers further surveyed the damage and 
prepared for rainy weather in the forecast. The pipeline company said 
it’s also conducting air quality checks, but it has detected no reason 
for public health concerns.The company said it will continue 
clean-up efforts at the site until it is completely remedied and the 
pipeline will not restart until regulators say it’s safe.“The 
health and safety of onsite staff and personnel, the surrounding 
community, and mitigating risk to the environment is our primary focus 
right now,” TC Energy said on its website.<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3eeb9a56-7c04-4a38-b0b7-0739d7358e02">Click HERE for drone footage of the spill site.</a>The spill of roughly 580,000 gallons came with <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2022-12-08/keystone-pipeline-spills-in-kansas-dirtying-creek-and-causing-oil-prices-to-spike" target="_blank">pipeline rupture last week</a> that had residents waking up to an odor that smelled like petroleum.Kellen
 Ashford, a spokesperson for the U.S. The Environmental Protection 
Agency, said Monday the cause of the rupture will be determined by crews
 from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, which 
is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Officials for that 
agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Ashford said the EPA has no timeline for TC Energy’s remediation efforts.The
 oil had made it about three miles downstream in Mill Creek but was 
contained within the dam waterway. No groundwater has been affected, 
Ashford said.“The only water that has been impacted has been the 
surface water in the creek,” the EPA spokesperson said. “The drinking 
water has not been impacted by the pipeline rupture.”The type of 
oil in the Keystone pipeline is sludgy and often sinks to the bottom of 
waterways – making it more difficult to clean than conventional crude 
oil. The pipeline carries oil from Canada to American refineries. It has
 previously leaked in South Dakota and North Dakota, CNN reported.TC
 Energy had planned to build an additional pipeline called the Keystone 
XL, which sparked years of political debate, legal wrestling and 
protests — primarily generated by environmental groups worried that 
expanding fossil fuels infrastructure would hurt efforts to fight carbon
 emissions and slow climate change. President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958823085/biden-order-blocks-keystone-xl-pipeline" target="_blank">blocked the XL pipeline</a> immediately upon taking office.

250 deployed to Kan. pipeline spill; cleanup's end isn't in sight

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Chris Beard, who coached Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA championship game and was hired away by Texas with expectations he’d elevate his alma mater to the same elite level, was arrested early Monday on a felony family violence charge after a woman told police he strangled and bit her.

The school suspended Beard without pay “until further notice” and said assistant Rodney Terry would coach the No. 7 Longhorns against Rice on Monday night.

Beard was arrested by Austin police and booked at the Travis County jail at 4:18 a.m. on a charge of assault on a family or household member in which their breath was impeded. The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison.

According to the arrest affidavit first reported by the Austin American-Statesman, the woman told police she is his fiance and they have been in a relationship for six years. She said they had been in an argument where she broke his glasses before he “just snapped on me and became super violent.”

According to the affidavit, the woman told police “he choked me, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around and going nuts.”

She told police Beard choked her from behind with his arm around her neck and she couldn’t breathe for about five seconds. Police say she she had a bite mark on her right arm and an abrasion to her right temple among other visible injuries.

When questioned by police, Beard said he had audio recordings of the incident that would show he was not the primary aggressor. But he refused to share them with officers, police said.

Beard went before a magistrate judge for his bond hearing, wearing jailhouse black-and-grey stripes and his hands cuffed in front at his waist. Beard was told he could communicate with the woman but not in a threatening manner, was ordered to stay 200 yards away from the residence where police were called and was told he is barred from possessing a firearm.

Beard nodded his head and answered “yes, sir” several times when addressing the judge. Jail records show Beard posted $10,000 bond. He didn’t answer questions when he left the jail with his attorney Perry Minton.

Minton declined comment but earlier told the American-Statesman the coach is innocent.

“He should never have been arrested,” Minton told the newspaper. “The complainant wants him released immediately and all charges dismissed. It is truly inconceivable.”

It wasn’t immediately known if the woman has an attorney. She was identified in the affidavit, but The Associated Press does not typically identify alleged victims of extreme violence without their consent.

“The university takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously,” the school said in announcing Beard’s suspension. It did not commit to Terry as the acting coach beyond Monday night. Terry was a head coach at UTEP (2018-21) and Fresno State (2011-18).

Beard is in his second season of a seven-year guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per year. Before that, he was 112-55 in five seasons with the Red Raiders. He was named The Associated Press coach of the year in 2019 as he guided Texas Tech to a 31-7 finish and lost in an overtime thriller to Virginia in the national championship game.

His departure for Texas — a deal reached after a meeting with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte that included a McDonald’s breakfast an hour’s drive north of Lubbock — left Texas Tech officials frustrated.

Beard said it was a difficult move, but he could not turn down&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/basketball-texas-longhorns-mens-basketball-texas-tech-red-raiders-mens-basketball-chris-beard-texas-a65e56eee131de24a128b0f9f9cb4d2c">a chance to coach at his alma mater, where he was a student assistant three decades ago.</a>&nbsp;Earlier this year, he led Texas to a first-round victory over Virginia Tech that was the Longhorns’ first NCAA Tournament win since 2014.

Beard’s contract includes a provision under which he can be fired for cause for conduct the administration reasonably determines reflects poorly on the coach, program, school or university system. That includes being charged with a felony. University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife did not return a message seeking comment.

Texas freshman guard Arterio Morris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-texas-mens-college-basketball-chris-beard-fed29b4832f13e492868d779e3207406">faces a misdemeanor family violence charge stemming from a June arrest after an incident with a former girlfriend.</a>&nbsp;He faces a Wednesday court hearing in Denton County near Dallas.

Morris, a top national recruit, has been allowed to play this season despite the charge, and averages 17 minutes and 6.5 points per game. Morris’ attorney, Justin Moore, has said Moore is innocent of the assault charge.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas men’s basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested early Monday on a felony family violence charge, according to Travis County Jail records.&nbsp;

Just after midnight, police responded to a 911 call for a disturbance at a home in the 1900 Block of Vista Lane, according to a media release from Austin Police. The caller reported the disturbance was no longer ongoing and one of the individuals had left the house.&nbsp;

Police responded and found a woman a woman who stated she had been assaulted and strangled by Chris Beard.

The county Sheriff’s Office said the 49-year-old Beard was arrested by Austin police and booked at 4:18 a.m. on a charge of assault on a family or household member in which their breath was impeded, or choking, in common terms.

The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison. The jail records showed Beard had not yet posted bond as of Monday morning and did not indicate when he would be making an initial court appearance. No attorney for him was listed.

“The university is aware of the situation regarding Chris Beard. We are continuing to gather information and monitoring the legal process,” the school said in a statement.

The Longhorns (7-1), who have been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 this season, host Rice on Monday night.

Beard is in his second season of a seven-year guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per year. Before coming to Texas, he Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA Tournament championship game.

Texas freshman guard Arterio Morris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-texas-mens-college-basketball-chris-beard-fed29b4832f13e492868d779e3207406">also faces a misdemeanor family violence charge stemming from a June arrest after an incident with a former girlfriend</a>&nbsp;and faces a Wednesday court hearing in Denton County near Dallas.

Morris was a top national recruit out of Dallas and has been allowed to play this season despite the charge, and averages 17 minutes and 6.5 points per game. Morris’ attorney Justin Moore has said Moore is innocent of the assault charge.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670872672542.png" alt="Beard-photo Travis County" />
 <figcaption>Beard-photo Travis County</figcaption>
 </figure>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Chris Beard, who coached Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA championship game and was hired away by Texas with expectations he’d elevate his alma mater to the same elite level, was arrested early Monday on a felony family violence charge after a woman told police he strangled and bit her.The school suspended Beard without pay “until further notice” and said assistant Rodney Terry would coach the No. 7 Longhorns against Rice on Monday night.Beard was arrested by Austin police and booked at the Travis County jail at 4:18 a.m. on a charge of assault on a family or household member in which their breath was impeded. The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison.According to the arrest affidavit first reported by the Austin American-Statesman, the woman told police she is his fiance and they have been in a relationship for six years. She said they had been in an argument where she broke his glasses before he “just snapped on me and became super violent.”According to the affidavit, the woman told police “he choked me, bit me, bruises all over my leg, throwing me around and going nuts.”She told police Beard choked her from behind with his arm around her neck and she couldn’t breathe for about five seconds. Police say she she had a bite mark on her right arm and an abrasion to her right temple among other visible injuries.When questioned by police, Beard said he had audio recordings of the incident that would show he was not the primary aggressor. But he refused to share them with officers, police said.Beard went before a magistrate judge for his bond hearing, wearing jailhouse black-and-grey stripes and his hands cuffed in front at his waist. Beard was told he could communicate with the woman but not in a threatening manner, was ordered to stay 200 yards away from the residence where police were called and was told he is barred from possessing a firearm.Beard nodded his head and answered “yes, sir” several times when addressing the judge. Jail records show Beard posted $10,000 bond. He didn’t answer questions when he left the jail with his attorney Perry Minton.Minton declined comment but earlier told the American-Statesman the coach is innocent.“He should never have been arrested,” Minton told the newspaper. “The complainant wants him released immediately and all charges dismissed. It is truly inconceivable.”It wasn’t immediately known if the woman has an attorney. She was identified in the affidavit, but The Associated Press does not typically identify alleged victims of extreme violence without their consent.“The university takes matters of interpersonal violence involving members of its community seriously,” the school said in announcing Beard’s suspension. It did not commit to Terry as the acting coach beyond Monday night. Terry was a head coach at UTEP (2018-21) and Fresno State (2011-18).Beard is in his second season of a seven-year guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per year. Before that, he was 112-55 in five seasons with the Red Raiders. He was named The Associated Press coach of the year in 2019 as he guided Texas Tech to a 31-7 finish and lost in an overtime thriller to Virginia in the national championship game.His departure for Texas — a deal reached after a meeting with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte that included a McDonald’s breakfast an hour’s drive north of Lubbock — left Texas Tech officials frustrated.Beard said it was a difficult move, but he could not turn down&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/basketball-texas-longhorns-mens-basketball-texas-tech-red-raiders-mens-basketball-chris-beard-texas-a65e56eee131de24a128b0f9f9cb4d2c">a chance to coach at his alma mater, where he was a student assistant three decades ago.</a>&nbsp;Earlier this year, he led Texas to a first-round victory over Virginia Tech that was the Longhorns’ first NCAA Tournament win since 2014.Beard’s contract includes a provision under which he can be fired for cause for conduct the administration reasonably determines reflects poorly on the coach, program, school or university system. That includes being charged with a felony. University of Texas System Board of Regents Chairman Kevin Eltife did not return a message seeking comment.Texas freshman guard Arterio Morris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-texas-mens-college-basketball-chris-beard-fed29b4832f13e492868d779e3207406">faces a misdemeanor family violence charge stemming from a June arrest after an incident with a former girlfriend.</a>&nbsp;He faces a Wednesday court hearing in Denton County near Dallas.Morris, a top national recruit, has been allowed to play this season despite the charge, and averages 17 minutes and 6.5 points per game. Morris’ attorney, Justin Moore, has said Moore is innocent of the assault charge.-------------AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas men’s basketball coach Chris Beard was arrested early Monday on a felony family violence charge, according to Travis County Jail records.&nbsp;Just after midnight, police responded to a 911 call for a disturbance at a home in the 1900 Block of Vista Lane, according to a media release from Austin Police. The caller reported the disturbance was no longer ongoing and one of the individuals had left the house.&nbsp;Police responded and found a woman a woman who stated she had been assaulted and strangled by Chris Beard.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670863360648.png" alt="Travis County jail records" />
 <figcaption>Travis County jail records</figcaption>
 </figure>The county Sheriff’s Office said the 49-year-old Beard was arrested by Austin police and booked at 4:18 a.m. on a charge of assault on a family or household member in which their breath was impeded, or choking, in common terms.The charge is a third-degree felony in Texas, with a possible punishment of two to 10 years in prison. The jail records showed Beard had not yet posted bond as of Monday morning and did not indicate when he would be making an initial court appearance. No attorney for him was listed.“The university is aware of the situation regarding Chris Beard. We are continuing to gather information and monitoring the legal process,” the school said in a statement.The Longhorns (7-1), who have been ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25 this season, host Rice on Monday night.Beard is in his second season of a seven-year guaranteed contract that pays him more than $5 million per year. Before coming to Texas, he Texas Tech to the 2019 NCAA Tournament championship game.Texas freshman guard Arterio Morris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-texas-mens-college-basketball-chris-beard-fed29b4832f13e492868d779e3207406">also faces a misdemeanor family violence charge stemming from a June arrest after an incident with a former girlfriend</a>&nbsp;and faces a Wednesday court hearing in Denton County near Dallas.Morris was a top national recruit out of Dallas and has been allowed to play this season despite the charge, and averages 17 minutes and 6.5 points per game. Morris’ attorney Justin Moore has said Moore is innocent of the assault charge.