WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine is getting an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and the World Bank to pay the salaries of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-health-doctors-without-borders-government-and-politics-b87823403f6dc148a8d728e73ad2cbae">beleaguered health care workers</a>&nbsp;and provide other essential services.

The money coming Tuesday from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-agency-for-international-development">the U.S. Agency for International Development</a>, the Treasury Department and the World Bank is meant to alleviate the acute budget deficit caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">“brutal war of aggression,”</a>&nbsp;USAID said in a statement.

While many medical staffers have left Ukraine, some hospitals have shut down and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-maternity-hospital-pregnant-woman-dead-c0f2f859296f9f02be24fc9edfca1085">other hospitals have been bombed</a>. The health workers who remain in Ukraine do their jobs under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimes-tracker-b39137c3a96eef06f4ba1793fd694542">dire circumstances</a>.

Viktor Liashko, Ukraine’s minister of health, said paying health workers’ salaries is becoming more difficult each month “due to the overwhelming burden of war.”

“$1.7 billion is not just yet another financial support; it is an investment that makes us a step closer to victory,” Liashko said in a statement.

To date, USAID has given $4 billion in budgetary support to the Ukrainian government. These funds have been used for keeping gas and electricity flowing to hospitals and schools, getting humanitarian supplies to citizens and paying the salaries of civil servants and teachers, the organization said.

USAID Administrator&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-samantha-power-foreign-policy-development-aid-0d4ef3c6c977129b0bbe59e9e726578d">Samantha Power</a>&nbsp;said that as Putin’s “assault on Ukraine’s public services continues, the United States is rushing in with financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who are providing lifesaving support on the frontlines.”

Last week, the Biden administration said it will send&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-moscow-government-and-politics-4bff4beeecc6067b6f4e3aa8584de108">another $400 million in military equipment</a>&nbsp;to Ukraine, the 15th package of military weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine from Defense Department stocks since last August.

This new set of funds will be used for humanitarian purposes.

“This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a>&nbsp;said in a written statement.

Yellen said the money would “reach those who need it most at the front lines of Putin’s brutal and illegal war.”

Overall, the U.S. has sent about $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1">the war began</a>&nbsp;in late February.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657659622515.png" alt="USAID Administrator&nbsp;Samantha Power&nbsp;said that as Putin’s “assault on Ukraine’s public services continues, the United States is rushing in with financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who are providing lifesaving support on the frontlines.”-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>USAID Administrator&nbsp;Samantha Power&nbsp;said that as Putin’s “assault on Ukraine’s public services continues, the United States is rushing in with financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who are providing lifesaving support on the frontlines.”-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukraine is getting an additional $1.7 billion in assistance from the U.S. government and the World Bank to pay the salaries of its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-health-doctors-without-borders-government-and-politics-b87823403f6dc148a8d728e73ad2cbae">beleaguered health care workers</a>&nbsp;and provide other essential services.The money coming Tuesday from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-agency-for-international-development">the U.S. Agency for International Development</a>, the Treasury Department and the World Bank is meant to alleviate the acute budget deficit caused by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">“brutal war of aggression,”</a>&nbsp;USAID said in a statement.While many medical staffers have left Ukraine, some hospitals have shut down and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-maternity-hospital-pregnant-woman-dead-c0f2f859296f9f02be24fc9edfca1085">other hospitals have been bombed</a>. The health workers who remain in Ukraine do their jobs under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-crimes-tracker-b39137c3a96eef06f4ba1793fd694542">dire circumstances</a>.Viktor Liashko, Ukraine’s minister of health, said paying health workers’ salaries is becoming more difficult each month “due to the overwhelming burden of war.”“$1.7 billion is not just yet another financial support; it is an investment that makes us a step closer to victory,” Liashko said in a statement.To date, USAID has given $4 billion in budgetary support to the Ukrainian government. These funds have been used for keeping gas and electricity flowing to hospitals and schools, getting humanitarian supplies to citizens and paying the salaries of civil servants and teachers, the organization said.USAID Administrator&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-samantha-power-foreign-policy-development-aid-0d4ef3c6c977129b0bbe59e9e726578d">Samantha Power</a>&nbsp;said that as Putin’s “assault on Ukraine’s public services continues, the United States is rushing in with financial support to help the government keep the lights on, provide essential services to innocent citizens and pay the health care workers who are providing lifesaving support on the frontlines.”Last week, the Biden administration said it will send&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-moscow-government-and-politics-4bff4beeecc6067b6f4e3aa8584de108">another $400 million in military equipment</a>&nbsp;to Ukraine, the 15th package of military weapons and equipment transferred to Ukraine from Defense Department stocks since last August.This new set of funds will be used for humanitarian purposes.“This aid will help Ukraine’s democratic government provide essential services for the people of Ukraine,” Treasury Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/janet-yellen">Janet Yellen</a>&nbsp;said in a written statement.Yellen said the money would “reach those who need it most at the front lines of Putin’s brutal and illegal war.”Overall, the U.S. has sent about $7.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-russia-moscow-kyiv-626a8c5ec22217bacb24ece60fac4fe1">the war began</a>&nbsp;in late February.

U.S., World Bank to give Ukraine $1.7B to pay health care workers

WASHINGTON — With millions of people still waiting to file their tax 
returns, the IRS reminds them to file as soon as possible and take 
advantage of special tools available on IRS.gov that can help them file.

Summer may be a busy time for many, but it's a great time to start 
tax planning - whether you still need to file a 2021 tax return or start
 planning for next year's tax season.&nbsp;The IRS website&nbsp;is the fastest and
 most convenient way to get tax-related information and help. The online
 tools are available any time, so taxpayers can use them at their 
convenience.

Here are some important reasons for taxpayers to visit IRS.gov this summer.

Taxpayers can also download the official IRS mobile app,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs2goapp">IRS2Go</a>, to check their refund status, make payments, find free tax preparation assistance, sign up for helpful tax tips and more.

Adjust withholding now to avoid tax surprises next year

Summer is a great time for taxpayers to check their withholding to 
avoid a tax surprise next filing season. Life events like marriage, 
divorce, having a child or a change in income can affect taxes.

The IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator">Tax Withholding Estimator</a>
 on IRS.gov helps employees assess their income tax, credits, 
adjustments and deductions, and determine whether they need to change 
their withholding. If a change is recommended, the estimator will 
provide instructions to update their withholding with their employer 
either online or by submitting a new <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4">Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate</a>.

<a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc153">Taxpayers who requested an extension to October 17 or missed the April 18 deadline</a>&nbsp;can still prepare and e-file returns for free with <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>, if they qualify. The IRS accepts <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">electronically filed returns</a>
 24/7. There's no reason to wait until October 17 if filers have all the
 information and documentation they need to file an accurate return 
today. They can get their refund faster by choosing <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds/get-your-refund-faster-tell-irs-to-direct-deposit-your-refund-to-one-two-or-three-accounts">direct deposit</a>.

Taxpayers who missed the April 18 deadline and owe should file and 
pay electronically as soon as possible to reduce penalties and interest.
 Taxpayers can make payments or set up <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">payment plans online</a>.

The <a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office">Taxpayer Assistance Center Locator tool</a>
 has a new look and feel, featuring a dynamic map, a directions button 
and two tabs for inputting search criteria. It's important to remember 
that Taxpayer Assistance Centers operate by appointment only. Taxpayers 
can make an appointment by calling the number for the office they want 
to visit.

Many IRS webpages are now available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, Korean, Haitian Creole and Chinese. Some of the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/languages">multilingual resources</a> include the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxpayer-bill-of-rights">Taxpayer Bill of Rights</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">e-file resources</a> and many tax <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions">forms and publications</a>.

At the online <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/information-about-the-alternative-media-center">Alternative Media Center</a> (AMC), taxpayers will find a variety of <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/accessible-irs-tax-products">accessible products</a>
 to help with the use of assistive technology such as screen reading 
software, refreshable Braille displays and screen magnifying software. 
These products include tax forms, instructions and publications that can
 be downloaded or viewed online as Section 508 compliant PDFs, HTML, 
eBraille, text and large print.

Please note that every product is not available in all formats. For 
example, tax forms are not available as HTML. To request paper copies of
 tax forms or instructions or publications in Braille or large print, 
taxpayers can call the tax form telephone number at <a href="tel:800-829-3676">800-829-3676</a>. Taxpayers can complete <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f9000.pdf">Form 9000, Alternative Media Preference</a>PDF,
 to choose to receive their IRS tax notices in Braille, large print, 
audio or electronic formats. This includes notices about additional 
taxes or penalties owed. Taxpayers can include the completed form with 
their tax return, mail it as a standalone form to the IRS or they can 
call <a href="tel:800-829-1040">800-829-1040</a>.

Taxpayers can <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/subscribe-to-irs-tax-tips">subscribe</a> to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-tax-tips">IRS Tax Tips</a>
 to get easy-to-read articles sent directly to their e-mail from the 
IRS. Tax Tips are brief, to the point and cover various tax topics, like
 <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/year-round-tax-planning-all-taxpayers-should-understand-eligibility-for-credits-and-deductions">year-round tax planning</a> and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/understanding-taxpayer-rights-everyone-has-the-right-to-finality">understanding taxpayer rights</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — With millions of people still waiting to file their tax 
returns, the IRS reminds them to file as soon as possible and take 
advantage of special tools available on IRS.gov that can help them file.Summer may be a busy time for many, but it's a great time to start 
tax planning - whether you still need to file a 2021 tax return or start
 planning for next year's tax season.&nbsp;The IRS website&nbsp;is the fastest and
 most convenient way to get tax-related information and help. The online
 tools are available any time, so taxpayers can use them at their 
convenience.Here are some important reasons for taxpayers to visit IRS.gov this summer.<h2>Get tax information 24/7</h2>Taxpayers can use IRS.gov to:<ul>
 <li>View the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">filing page</a> to get information on most federal income tax topics.</li><li>Access the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/ita">Interactive Tax Assistant</a> tool for answers to many tax law questions.</li><li>Sign into their individual <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments/your-online-account">IRS online account</a> to view their balance an tax records, manage communication preferences, make payments and more.</li><li>Find the most up-to-date information about their tax refunds using the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds">Where's My Refund?</a> tool. Taxpayers can check the status of their refund 24 hours after the IRS acknowledges receipt of an e-filed return.</li>
 </ul>Taxpayers can also download the official IRS mobile app,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs2goapp">IRS2Go</a>, to check their refund status, make payments, find free tax preparation assistance, sign up for helpful tax tips and more.<h2>Adjust withholding now to avoid tax surprises next year</h2>Summer is a great time for taxpayers to check their withholding to 
avoid a tax surprise next filing season. Life events like marriage, 
divorce, having a child or a change in income can affect taxes.The IRS <a href="https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-withholding-estimator">Tax Withholding Estimator</a>
 on IRS.gov helps employees assess their income tax, credits, 
adjustments and deductions, and determine whether they need to change 
their withholding. If a change is recommended, the estimator will 
provide instructions to update their withholding with their employer 
either online or by submitting a new <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-4">Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate</a>.<h2>File electronically</h2><a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc153">Taxpayers who requested an extension to October 17 or missed the April 18 deadline</a>&nbsp;can still prepare and e-file returns for free with <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free">IRS Free File</a>, if they qualify. The IRS accepts <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">electronically filed returns</a>
 24/7. There's no reason to wait until October 17 if filers have all the
 information and documentation they need to file an accurate return 
today. They can get their refund faster by choosing <a href="https://www.irs.gov/refunds/get-your-refund-faster-tell-irs-to-direct-deposit-your-refund-to-one-two-or-three-accounts">direct deposit</a>.Taxpayers who missed the April 18 deadline and owe should file and 
pay electronically as soon as possible to reduce penalties and interest.
 Taxpayers can make payments or set up <a href="https://www.irs.gov/payments">payment plans online</a>.<h2>Find a taxpayer assistance center</h2>The <a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/contact-your-local-irs-office">Taxpayer Assistance Center Locator tool</a>
 has a new look and feel, featuring a dynamic map, a directions button 
and two tabs for inputting search criteria. It's important to remember 
that Taxpayer Assistance Centers operate by appointment only. Taxpayers 
can make an appointment by calling the number for the office they want 
to visit.<h2>Read information in other languages</h2>Many IRS webpages are now available in Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, Korean, Haitian Creole and Chinese. Some of the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/help/languages">multilingual resources</a> include the <a href="https://www.irs.gov/taxpayer-bill-of-rights">Taxpayer Bill of Rights</a>, <a href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/e-file-options">e-file resources</a> and many tax <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions">forms and publications</a>.<h2>Access the Alternative Media Center</h2>At the online <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/information-about-the-alternative-media-center">Alternative Media Center</a> (AMC), taxpayers will find a variety of <a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/accessible-irs-tax-products">accessible products</a>
 to help with the use of assistive technology such as screen reading 
software, refreshable Braille displays and screen magnifying software. 
These products include tax forms, instructions and publications that can
 be downloaded or viewed online as Section 508 compliant PDFs, HTML, 
eBraille, text and large print.Please note that every product is not available in all formats. For 
example, tax forms are not available as HTML. To request paper copies of
 tax forms or instructions or publications in Braille or large print, 
taxpayers can call the tax form telephone number at <a href="tel:800-829-3676">800-829-3676</a>. Taxpayers can complete <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f9000.pdf">Form 9000, Alternative Media Preference</a>PDF,
 to choose to receive their IRS tax notices in Braille, large print, 
audio or electronic formats. This includes notices about additional 
taxes or penalties owed. Taxpayers can include the completed form with 
their tax return, mail it as a standalone form to the IRS or they can 
call <a href="tel:800-829-1040">800-829-1040</a>.<h2>Keep current with IRS Tax Tips</h2>Taxpayers can <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/subscribe-to-irs-tax-tips">subscribe</a> to <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-tax-tips">IRS Tax Tips</a>
 to get easy-to-read articles sent directly to their e-mail from the 
IRS. Tax Tips are brief, to the point and cover various tax topics, like
 <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/year-round-tax-planning-all-taxpayers-should-understand-eligibility-for-credits-and-deductions">year-round tax planning</a> and <a href="https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/understanding-taxpayer-rights-everyone-has-the-right-to-finality">understanding taxpayer rights</a>.<h2>More helpful links:</h2><ul>
 <li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/businesses/gig-economy-tax-center">Gig Economy Tax Center</a></li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-503">Child and Dependent Care Credit</a></li><li><a href="https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-2">About Form W-2</a></li>
 </ul>

File a tax extension? IRS advises taking these steps soon

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-congress-donald-trump-subpoenas-government-and-politics-af491858a41ce4f42416fe3a7131592e">Abruptly raising the question of witness tampering, the Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;revealed Tuesday that Donald Trump had attempted to contact a person who was talking to the panel about its investigation of the former president and the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. She said the committee had notified the Justice Department.

The person Trump tried to contact declined to answer or respond to his call, Cheney said. Instead the person alerted their lawyer who contacted the committee.

The disclosure by Cheney was not the first time the panel has raised concerns about witnesses being contacted by Trump's team in ways that could reflect or at least create the appearance of inappropriate influence. It divulged examples last week of other times witnesses have received outreach from Trump allies, some suggesting he was aware they were talking to the committee, ahead of testimony before the panel.

A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hearing Tuesday was the seventh for the Jan. 6 committee. Over the past month, the panel has created a narrative of a defeated Trump “detached from reality,” clinging to false claims of voter fraud and working feverishly to reverse his election defeat. It all culminated with the attack on the Capitol, the committee says.

Tuesday's session revealed details of an “unhinged” late night meeting at the White House with Donald Trump’s outside lawyers suggesting the military seize state voting machines in a last-ditch effort to pursue his false claims of voter fraud before the defeated president summoned&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">a mob to the U.S. Capitol.</a>

The committee investigating last year's attack at the Capitol is working to show how far-right extremists answered Trump's call to come for a big rally in Washington. As dozens of lawsuits and his claims of voter fraud fizzled, Trump met late into the night of Dec. 18 with attorneys at the White House before tweeting the rally invitation — “Be there, will be wild!” Members of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-e7ad5f0a566bf332477ed223abdd5f12">Proud Boys and Oath Keepers</a>&nbsp;groups are now facing rare sedition charges over the siege.

“This tweet served as a call to action -- and in some cases a call to arms.” said one panel member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.

The panel featured&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-crime-donald-trump-presidential-elections-election-2020-fcec3b203ff165d2952ef119ef892352">new video testimony from Pat Cipollone</a>, Trump's former White House counsel, recalling the explosive meeting at the White House when Trump's outside legal team brought a draft executive order to seize states' voting machines — a “terrible idea,” he said.

“That's not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified.

Another aide called the meeting “unhinged.”

Cipollone and other White House officials scrambled to intervene in the late-night meeting Trump was having with attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, retired national security aide Michael Flynn and the head of the online retail company Overstock. It erupted in shouting and screaming, another aide testified.

“Where is the evidence?" Cipollone demanded of the false claims of voter fraud.

"What they were proposing, I thought, was nuts," testified another White House official, Eric Herschmann.

But Trump was intrigued and essentially told his White House lawyers that at least Powell and outside allies were trying to do something.

“You guys are not tough enough,” Giuliani in video testimony recalled the president telling the White House attorneys. “You guys are p——-,” he said, using crass language.

As night turned to morning, Trump tweeted the call for supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6, when Congress would be tallying the Electoral College results. “Be there. Will be wild,” Trump wrote.

The panel showed graphic and violent text messages and played videos of right-wing figures, including Alex Jones, and others laying out that Jan. 6 would be the day they fight for the president.

In vulgar and often racist language the messages beaming across the far-right forums planned for the big day that they said Trump was asking for in Washington. It would be a “red wedding,” said one, a reference to mass killing. “Bring handcuffs."

Several members of the U.S. Capitol Police who fought the mob that day sat stone-faced in the front row of the committee room.

“The problem of politicians whipping up mob violence to destroy fair elections is the oldest domestic enemy of constitutional democracy,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., in opening remarks.

At the witness table to testify in person was Jason Van Tatenhove, an ally of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. Another witness was Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last month to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He has said that on Jan. 2, 2021, he posted an image stating that Trump was “calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest.”

The committee is probing whether the extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon adherents who had rallied for Trump before, coordinated with White House allies for Jan. 6. The Oath Keepers have denied there was any plan to storm the Capitol.

The committee began the second half of the hearing making connections between Trump allies Flynn and Roger Stone and the extremist groups who were preparing to come to Washington.

It showed showing a picture of Rhodes, the Oath Keeper leader, walking with Flynn, the former national security aide to Trump, outside the Capitol at some point.

This was the only hearing this week, as new details emerge. An expected prime-time hearing Thursday has been shelved for now.

This week's session comes after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-government-and-politics-9e7c03bb83f43fb17b4fd90d1360993d">former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided stunning accounts</a>&nbsp;under oath of an angry Trump who knowingly sent armed supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and then refused to quickly call them off as violence erupted, siding with the rioters as they searched menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence.

Trump has said Cassidy's account is not true. But Cipollone at Friday's private session did not contradict earlier testimony. Raskin said the panel planned to use “a lot” of Cipollone's testimony.

The Proud Boys have said their membership grew after Trump, during his first debate with Biden, refused to outright condemn the group but instead told them to “stand back and stand by.”

The Oath Keepers had also been organizing for Jan. 6 and established a “quick response force” at a nearby hotel in Virginia, according to court filings.

The panel also noted that many of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol appeared to be QAnon believers. Federal authorities have explicitly linked at least 38 rioters to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, according to an Associated Press review of court records.

One of the most recognizable figures from the attack was a shirtless Arizona man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” carried a spear and wore face paint and a Viking hat with fur and horns.

The panel has shown, over the course of fast-paced hearings and with eyewitness accounts from the former president's inner circle, that Trump was told “over and over," as Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, that he had lost the election and his claims of voter fraud were just not true. Nevertheless, Trump summoned his supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol in what panel Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has called an “attempted coup.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-congress-donald-trump-subpoenas-government-and-politics-af491858a41ce4f42416fe3a7131592e">Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;is set to highlight the way violent far-right extremists answered Donald Trump’s “siren call” to come to Washington for a big rally, as some now face rare sedition charges over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the deadly U.S. Capitol attack</a>&nbsp;and effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol siege convenes Tuesday for a public hearing probing what it calls the final phase of Trump's multi-pronged effort to halt Joe Biden's victory. As dozens of lawsuits and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-ap-fact-check-joe-biden-donald-trump-technology-49a24edd6d10888dbad61689c24b05a5">false claims of voter fraud</a>&nbsp;fizzled, Trump tweeted the rally invitation, a pivotal moment, the committee said.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-e7ad5f0a566bf332477ed223abdd5f12">The far-right Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and others now facing criminal charges</a>&nbsp;readily answered.

“We will lay out the body of evidence that we have that talks about how the president’s tweet on the wee hours of December 19th of ‘Be there, be wild,’ was a siren call to these folks,” said one panel member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., over the weekend on “Meet the Press.” In fact, Trump tweeted, "Be there, will be wild!”

Among those expected to testify is Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last month to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He admitted that on Jan. 2, 2021, he posted an image stating that Trump was “calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest." Another witness is Jason Van Tatenhove, an ally of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. The witnesses were confirmed by someone familiar with the testimony who spoke on condition of anonymity because the witnesses had not yet been announced.

This is the seventh hearing in a series that has presented numerous blockbuster revelations from the Jan. 6 committee. Over the past month, the panel has created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-presidential-elections-election-2020-congress-eb90b5a11a77fe528fa610cccb442c1e">a stark narrative of a defeated Trump “detached from reality,”</a>&nbsp;clinging to his false claims of voter fraud and working feverishly to reverse&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">his election defeat</a>. It all culminated with the deadly attack on the Capitol, the committee said.

What the committee intends to probe Tuesday is whether the extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon adherents who had rallied for Trump before, coordinated with White House allies for Jan. 6. The Oath Keepers have denied there was any plan to storm the Capitol.

The panel is also expected to highlight&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-crime-donald-trump-presidential-elections-election-2020-fcec3b203ff165d2952ef119ef892352">new testimony from Pat Cipollone</a>, the former White House counsel, who “was aware of every major move” Trump was making, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who will lead the session.

It's the only hearing set for this week, as new details emerge. An expected prime-time hearing Thursday has been shelved for now.

The panel is expected to highlight a meeting on Dec. 18, 2020, at the White House in which former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, one-time Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and others floated ideas for overturning the election results,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-steve-bannon-politics-congress-zoe-lofgren-b1d1256bd8b51aa74f69640b90884c87">Raskin told CBS over the weekend</a>.

This was days after the Electoral College had met on Dec. 14 to certify the results for Biden — a time time when other key Republicans were announcing that the election and its challenges were over.

On Dec. 19, Trump would send the tweet beckoning supporters to Washington for the Jan. 6 rally, the day Congress was set to certify the Electoral College count: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”

The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, extremist far-right groups whose leaders and others are now facing rare sedition charges for their roles in the attack, prepared to come to Washington, according to court filings.

On Dec. 29, the Proud Boys chairman posted a message on social media that said members planned to “turn out in record numbers on Jan. 6th," according to a federal indictment.

The group planned to meet at the Washington Monument, its members instructed not to wear its traditional black and yellow colors, but be “incognito.”

The Proud Boys have contended that membership grew after Trump, during his first debate with Biden, refused to outright condemn the group but instead told them to “stand back and stand by.”

The night before Jan. 6, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio met with Rhodes at an underground parking garage, according to court filings along with images a documentary filmmaker trailing the group provided to the panel.

After the Capitol siege, Rhodes called someone with an urgent message for Trump, another group member has said. Rhodes was denied an chance to speak to Trump, but urged the person on the phone to tell the Republican president to call upon militia groups to fight to keep the president in power.

An attorney for Rhodes recently told the committee that their client wants to testify publicly. Rhodes was already interviewed by the committee privately, and it's unlikely the panel will agree.

The panel also intends to discuss the way many of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 appeared to be QAnon believers. Federal authorities have explicitly linked at least 38 rioters to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, according to an Associated Press review of court records.

One of the most recognizable figures from the Jan. 6 attack was a shirtless Arizona man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” carried a spear and wore face paint and a Viking hat with fur and horns.

A core belief among QAnon followers is that Trump was secretly fighting a cabal of deep state operatives, prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites who worship Satan and engage in sex trafficking of children.

The panel has shown, over the course of fast-paced hearings and with eyewitness accounts from the former president's inner circle, how Trump was told “over and over” again, as Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, that he had lost the election and his false claims of voter fraud were just not true. Nevertheless, Trump summoned his supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol in what Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has called an “attempted coup.”

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-congress-donald-trump-subpoenas-government-and-politics-af491858a41ce4f42416fe3a7131592e">Abruptly raising the question of witness tampering, the Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;revealed Tuesday that Donald Trump had attempted to contact a person who was talking to the panel about its investigation of the former president and the 2021 attack on the Capitol.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rrUa0hfG6Lo?start=716" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>“We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. She said the committee had notified the Justice Department.The person Trump tried to contact declined to answer or respond to his call, Cheney said. Instead the person alerted their lawyer who contacted the committee.The disclosure by Cheney was not the first time the panel has raised concerns about witnesses being contacted by Trump's team in ways that could reflect or at least create the appearance of inappropriate influence. It divulged examples last week of other times witnesses have received outreach from Trump allies, some suggesting he was aware they were talking to the committee, ahead of testimony before the panel.A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The hearing Tuesday was the seventh for the Jan. 6 committee. Over the past month, the panel has created a narrative of a defeated Trump “detached from reality,” clinging to false claims of voter fraud and working feverishly to reverse his election defeat. It all culminated with the attack on the Capitol, the committee says.Tuesday's session revealed details of an “unhinged” late night meeting at the White House with Donald Trump’s outside lawyers suggesting the military seize state voting machines in a last-ditch effort to pursue his false claims of voter fraud before the defeated president summoned&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">a mob to the U.S. Capitol.</a>The committee investigating last year's attack at the Capitol is working to show how far-right extremists answered Trump's call to come for a big rally in Washington. As dozens of lawsuits and his claims of voter fraud fizzled, Trump met late into the night of Dec. 18 with attorneys at the White House before tweeting the rally invitation — “Be there, will be wild!” Members of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-e7ad5f0a566bf332477ed223abdd5f12">Proud Boys and Oath Keepers</a>&nbsp;groups are now facing rare sedition charges over the siege.“This tweet served as a call to action -- and in some cases a call to arms.” said one panel member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla.The panel featured&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-crime-donald-trump-presidential-elections-election-2020-fcec3b203ff165d2952ef119ef892352">new video testimony from Pat Cipollone</a>, Trump's former White House counsel, recalling the explosive meeting at the White House when Trump's outside legal team brought a draft executive order to seize states' voting machines — a “terrible idea,” he said.“That's not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified.Another aide called the meeting “unhinged.”Cipollone and other White House officials scrambled to intervene in the late-night meeting Trump was having with attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, retired national security aide Michael Flynn and the head of the online retail company Overstock. It erupted in shouting and screaming, another aide testified.“Where is the evidence?" Cipollone demanded of the false claims of voter fraud."What they were proposing, I thought, was nuts," testified another White House official, Eric Herschmann.But Trump was intrigued and essentially told his White House lawyers that at least Powell and outside allies were trying to do something.“You guys are not tough enough,” Giuliani in video testimony recalled the president telling the White House attorneys. “You guys are p——-,” he said, using crass language.As night turned to morning, Trump tweeted the call for supporters to come to Washington on Jan. 6, when Congress would be tallying the Electoral College results. “Be there. Will be wild,” Trump wrote.Immediately, the extremists reacted.The panel showed graphic and violent text messages and played videos of right-wing figures, including Alex Jones, and others laying out that Jan. 6 would be the day they fight for the president.In vulgar and often racist language the messages beaming across the far-right forums planned for the big day that they said Trump was asking for in Washington. It would be a “red wedding,” said one, a reference to mass killing. “Bring handcuffs."Several members of the U.S. Capitol Police who fought the mob that day sat stone-faced in the front row of the committee room.“The problem of politicians whipping up mob violence to destroy fair elections is the oldest domestic enemy of constitutional democracy,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., in opening remarks.At the witness table to testify in person was Jason Van Tatenhove, an ally of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. Another witness was Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last month to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He has said that on Jan. 2, 2021, he posted an image stating that Trump was “calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest.”The committee is probing whether the extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon adherents who had rallied for Trump before, coordinated with White House allies for Jan. 6. The Oath Keepers have denied there was any plan to storm the Capitol.The committee began the second half of the hearing making connections between Trump allies Flynn and Roger Stone and the extremist groups who were preparing to come to Washington.It showed showing a picture of Rhodes, the Oath Keeper leader, walking with Flynn, the former national security aide to Trump, outside the Capitol at some point.This was the only hearing this week, as new details emerge. An expected prime-time hearing Thursday has been shelved for now.This week's session comes after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-government-and-politics-9e7c03bb83f43fb17b4fd90d1360993d">former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided stunning accounts</a>&nbsp;under oath of an angry Trump who knowingly sent armed supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and then refused to quickly call them off as violence erupted, siding with the rioters as they searched menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence.Trump has said Cassidy's account is not true. But Cipollone at Friday's private session did not contradict earlier testimony. Raskin said the panel planned to use “a lot” of Cipollone's testimony.The Proud Boys have said their membership grew after Trump, during his first debate with Biden, refused to outright condemn the group but instead told them to “stand back and stand by.”The Oath Keepers had also been organizing for Jan. 6 and established a “quick response force” at a nearby hotel in Virginia, according to court filings.The panel also noted that many of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol appeared to be QAnon believers. Federal authorities have explicitly linked at least 38 rioters to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, according to an Associated Press review of court records.One of the most recognizable figures from the attack was a shirtless Arizona man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” carried a spear and wore face paint and a Viking hat with fur and horns.The panel has shown, over the course of fast-paced hearings and with eyewitness accounts from the former president's inner circle, that Trump was told “over and over," as Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, that he had lost the election and his claims of voter fraud were just not true. Nevertheless, Trump summoned his supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol in what panel Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has called an “attempted coup.”-----WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-congress-donald-trump-subpoenas-government-and-politics-af491858a41ce4f42416fe3a7131592e">Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;is set to highlight the way violent far-right extremists answered Donald Trump’s “siren call” to come to Washington for a big rally, as some now face rare sedition charges over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the deadly U.S. Capitol attack</a>&nbsp;and effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.The panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol siege convenes Tuesday for a public hearing probing what it calls the final phase of Trump's multi-pronged effort to halt Joe Biden's victory. As dozens of lawsuits and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-ap-fact-check-joe-biden-donald-trump-technology-49a24edd6d10888dbad61689c24b05a5">false claims of voter fraud</a>&nbsp;fizzled, Trump tweeted the rally invitation, a pivotal moment, the committee said.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-congress-government-and-politics-e7ad5f0a566bf332477ed223abdd5f12">The far-right Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and others now facing criminal charges</a>&nbsp;readily answered.“We will lay out the body of evidence that we have that talks about how the president’s tweet on the wee hours of December 19th of ‘Be there, be wild,’ was a siren call to these folks,” said one panel member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., over the weekend on “Meet the Press.” In fact, Trump tweeted, "Be there, will be wild!”Among those expected to testify is Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty last month to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. He admitted that on Jan. 2, 2021, he posted an image stating that Trump was “calling on us to come back to Washington on January 6th for a big protest." Another witness is Jason Van Tatenhove, an ally of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. The witnesses were confirmed by someone familiar with the testimony who spoke on condition of anonymity because the witnesses had not yet been announced.This is the seventh hearing in a series that has presented numerous blockbuster revelations from the Jan. 6 committee. Over the past month, the panel has created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-biden-presidential-elections-election-2020-congress-eb90b5a11a77fe528fa610cccb442c1e">a stark narrative of a defeated Trump “detached from reality,”</a>&nbsp;clinging to his false claims of voter fraud and working feverishly to reverse&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">his election defeat</a>. It all culminated with the deadly attack on the Capitol, the committee said.What the committee intends to probe Tuesday is whether the extremist groups, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon adherents who had rallied for Trump before, coordinated with White House allies for Jan. 6. The Oath Keepers have denied there was any plan to storm the Capitol.The panel is also expected to highlight&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-crime-donald-trump-presidential-elections-election-2020-fcec3b203ff165d2952ef119ef892352">new testimony from Pat Cipollone</a>, the former White House counsel, who “was aware of every major move” Trump was making, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who will lead the session.It's the only hearing set for this week, as new details emerge. An expected prime-time hearing Thursday has been shelved for now.This week's session comes after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-government-and-politics-9e7c03bb83f43fb17b4fd90d1360993d">former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson provided stunning accounts</a>&nbsp;under oath of an angry Trump who knowingly sent armed supporters to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and then refused to quickly call them off as violence erupted, siding with the rioters as they searched menacingly for Vice President Mike Pence.Trump has said Cassidy's account is not true. But Cipollone at Friday's private session did not contradict earlier testimony. Raskin said the panel planned to use “a lot” of Cipollone's testimony.The panel is expected to highlight a meeting on Dec. 18, 2020, at the White House in which former Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, one-time Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and others floated ideas for overturning the election results,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-steve-bannon-politics-congress-zoe-lofgren-b1d1256bd8b51aa74f69640b90884c87">Raskin told CBS over the weekend</a>.This was days after the Electoral College had met on Dec. 14 to certify the results for Biden — a time time when other key Republicans were announcing that the election and its challenges were over.On Dec. 19, Trump would send the tweet beckoning supporters to Washington for the Jan. 6 rally, the day Congress was set to certify the Electoral College count: "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, extremist far-right groups whose leaders and others are now facing rare sedition charges for their roles in the attack, prepared to come to Washington, according to court filings.On Dec. 29, the Proud Boys chairman posted a message on social media that said members planned to “turn out in record numbers on Jan. 6th," according to a federal indictment.The group planned to meet at the Washington Monument, its members instructed not to wear its traditional black and yellow colors, but be “incognito.”The Proud Boys have contended that membership grew after Trump, during his first debate with Biden, refused to outright condemn the group but instead told them to “stand back and stand by.”The night before Jan. 6, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio met with Rhodes at an underground parking garage, according to court filings along with images a documentary filmmaker trailing the group provided to the panel.The Oath Keepers had also been organizing for Jan. 6 and established a “quick response force” at a nearby hotel in Virginia, according to court filings.After the Capitol siege, Rhodes called someone with an urgent message for Trump, another group member has said. Rhodes was denied an chance to speak to Trump, but urged the person on the phone to tell the Republican president to call upon militia groups to fight to keep the president in power.An attorney for Rhodes recently told the committee that their client wants to testify publicly. Rhodes was already interviewed by the committee privately, and it's unlikely the panel will agree.The panel also intends to discuss the way many of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 appeared to be QAnon believers. Federal authorities have explicitly linked at least 38 rioters to the pro-Trump conspiracy theory, according to an Associated Press review of court records.One of the most recognizable figures from the Jan. 6 attack was a shirtless Arizona man who called himself the “QAnon Shaman,” carried a spear and wore face paint and a Viking hat with fur and horns.A core belief among QAnon followers is that Trump was secretly fighting a cabal of deep state operatives, prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites who worship Satan and engage in sex trafficking of children.The panel has shown, over the course of fast-paced hearings and with eyewitness accounts from the former president's inner circle, how Trump was told “over and over” again, as Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, that he had lost the election and his false claims of voter fraud were just not true. Nevertheless, Trump summoned his supporters to Washington and then sent them to the Capitol in what Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., has called an “attempted coup.”

🎥 Jan. 6 panel day 7 replay: Trump's 'siren call' to extremists

RILEY COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of an accident that shut down a rural road for several hours on Monday.

Just after 9a.m., police responded to the report of an overturned semi-truck near the intersection of Fancy Creek Road and Winkler Mills Road near Randolph, according to Riley County Fire District 1.

The driver of a 2016 Peterbuilt truck with an attached livestock trailer carrying cattle lost control of the vehicle.&nbsp; It traveled down an embankment and overturned.

The driver received minor cuts and scrapes while exiting the truck and was treated on scene.

Riley County Fire District #1 responded to assist with extrication of cattle from the trailer and Riley County Emergency Medical Service (EMS) arrived on scene to monitor responders for heat-related illness. Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) was also on scene to evaluate the truck.

“This was quite an ordeal,” said RCFD #1 Deputy Chief John Martens. “There were over 60 head of cattle in the trailer when it overturned. Crews were out in the heat for about five hours using the jaws of life to get the cattle out. Unfortunately, at least 10 cows were either killed during the crash or had to be put down because of injuries. Neighbors and local farmers helped round up the cattle while we worked on the trailer.”&nbsp;

A total of 15 RCFD#1 volunteers and personnel responded to the call. RCPD’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Team was also on scene assisting in the location of some missing cattle.

“Today has been a great example of how people in Riley County pull together and help when needed,” said Martens.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657636292048.png" alt="The driver received minor injuries -photo Riley Co. Fire District 1" />
 <figcaption>The driver received minor injuries -photo Riley Co. Fire District 1</figcaption>
 </figure>RILEY COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of an accident that shut down a rural road for several hours on Monday.Just after 9a.m., police responded to the report of an overturned semi-truck near the intersection of Fancy Creek Road and Winkler Mills Road near Randolph, according to Riley County Fire District 1.The driver of a 2016 Peterbuilt truck with an attached livestock trailer carrying cattle lost control of the vehicle.&nbsp; It traveled down an embankment and overturned.The driver received minor cuts and scrapes while exiting the truck and was treated on scene.Riley County Fire District #1 responded to assist with extrication of cattle from the trailer and Riley County Emergency Medical Service (EMS) arrived on scene to monitor responders for heat-related illness. Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) was also on scene to evaluate the truck.“This was quite an ordeal,” said RCFD #1 Deputy Chief John Martens. “There were over 60 head of cattle in the trailer when it overturned. Crews were out in the heat for about five hours using the jaws of life to get the cattle out. Unfortunately, at least 10 cows were either killed during the crash or had to be put down because of injuries. Neighbors and local farmers helped round up the cattle while we worked on the trailer.”&nbsp;A total of 15 RCFD#1 volunteers and personnel responded to the call. RCPD’s Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Team was also on scene assisting in the location of some missing cattle.“Today has been a great example of how people in Riley County pull together and help when needed,” said Martens.

First responders use jaws of life to save cattle after Kan. crash

News Release Drug Enforcement Administration

OMAHA-Investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division seized approximately 32,000 fake pills in Omaha, some laced with lethal doses of fentanyl, in a two-day span beginning July 8. During the first six months of 2022, DEA investigators seized approximately 151,500 pills in Nebraska, marking an 83 percent increase over the 82,775 pills seized in all of 2021.

“Fake pills, designed to look like legitimate prescription medications, are readily available on the streets of Nebraska,” DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said. “No city or town, be it rural or urban, big or small, is immune to this substance. We want people to be aware of the dangers of taking these pills and other substances of unknown origin.”

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 time stronger than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, equivalent in size to 10 to 20 grains of salt, is considered a potentially lethal dose.

DEA lab testing reveals that four out of every 10 pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. Marketed as M30’s, Blues and Mexican Oxy, these pills are designed to look like prescription opioids including oxycodone (Oxycontin ®, Percocet ®), hydrocodone (Vicodin ®) and alprazolam (Adderall ®). In Nebraska, fake pills can sell for as low as $3 to $5 per pill, making the recent 32,000 pills seized worth an estimated $96,000-$160,000.

According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading cause of death for Americans age 15-44 is drug overdose. The CDC estimates that more than 107,000 people died as a result of drug overdose in the United States during the 12-month period ending January 2022. Sixty-seven percent of overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.&nbsp;

“Cartels are producing fake pills in mass quantity and social media continues to play a significant role in the upward trend of these potentially lethal drugs,” King said. They’re easy to purchase and easy to conceal. We need everyone to understand that taking just one fake pill can have deadly consequences.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

The DEA launched its One Pill Can Kill campaign in the fall of 2021 as a way to make people aware of the dangers of fake pills.&nbsp;

<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/2022/7/1657637528404.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>News Release Drug Enforcement AdministrationOMAHA-Investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Omaha Division seized approximately 32,000 fake pills in Omaha, some laced with lethal doses of fentanyl, in a two-day span beginning July 8. During the first six months of 2022, DEA investigators seized approximately 151,500 pills in Nebraska, marking an 83 percent increase over the 82,775 pills seized in all of 2021.“Fake pills, designed to look like legitimate prescription medications, are readily available on the streets of Nebraska,” DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said. “No city or town, be it rural or urban, big or small, is immune to this substance. We want people to be aware of the dangers of taking these pills and other substances of unknown origin.”Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 time stronger than morphine. Just two milligrams of fentanyl, equivalent in size to 10 to 20 grains of salt, is considered a potentially lethal dose.DEA lab testing reveals that four out of every 10 pills with fentanyl contain a potentially lethal dose. Marketed as M30’s, Blues and Mexican Oxy, these pills are designed to look like prescription opioids including oxycodone (Oxycontin ®, Percocet ®), hydrocodone (Vicodin ®) and alprazolam (Adderall ®). In Nebraska, fake pills can sell for as low as $3 to $5 per pill, making the recent 32,000 pills seized worth an estimated $96,000-$160,000.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657637560252.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>According to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the leading cause of death for Americans age 15-44 is drug overdose. The CDC estimates that more than 107,000 people died as a result of drug overdose in the United States during the 12-month period ending January 2022. Sixty-seven percent of overdose deaths involved synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.&nbsp;“Cartels are producing fake pills in mass quantity and social media continues to play a significant role in the upward trend of these potentially lethal drugs,” King said. They’re easy to purchase and easy to conceal. We need everyone to understand that taking just one fake pill can have deadly consequences.”&nbsp;&nbsp;The DEA launched its One Pill Can Kill campaign in the fall of 2021 as a way to make people aware of the dangers of fake pills.&nbsp;<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/YjPkNdLXriDu0-t84r0xPt2VJJSuBxlcLBlZnIDJ0l-QZ6h_fv1Om4eBB8zl_TKVHuGjGy0f0VteVuQfqhABiYoqIYpaQCrqRwHGLY-i9aPfAepqHr2oKHMdxxVa-zS8E1slZCRfLJBYVGY4vg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

DEA seizes 32,000 fake fentanyl pill over 2-day stretch in Omaha

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee is launching a digital ad campaign to energize its voters after last month’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade</a>, warning that Republicans’ ultimate goal is to outlaw&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/abortion">abortion nationwide</a>.

The committee is sponsoring an at least $10,000 ad buy beginning Tuesday on the websites of more than 20 lifestyle publications, including Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Essence, GQ, Men’s Health and Esquire.

The ads feature a picture of Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell alongside pink, white and blue text that says: “Republicans are pushing to ban abortion nationally. Join us in fighting back."

The cost is modest for a national campaign — especially when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-us-supreme-court-government-and-politics-0e6496122de46f1039cbb2b5145d6d60">activists have accused President Joe Biden and other top Democrats of failing to respond forcefully enough</a>&nbsp;to the Supreme Court's decision. Still, Democrats are betting outrage over the high court's action can fire up their base ahead of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections">the midterm elections</a>, while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-prices-20fc7ddf3789332c914da0709b3db3a7">inflation is at record highs and Biden's approval ratings sag</a>.

The DNC says it also plans to launch a separate, six-figure television ad campaign encouraging activism to defend abortion rights later this week across a dozen media markets in battleground areas.

Many top Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to lean into the fight against abortion rights, seeing the overturning of Roe as a promise they kept to voters.

Since the Supreme Court nullified Roe v. Wade,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-timeline-25f379808fff516ff2a28eae9abb973a">the 1973 decision</a>&nbsp;that legalized the right to an abortion, in a ruling June 24,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-ruling-states-a767801145ad01617100e57410a0a21d">many Republican-led states have rushed to enact broad restrictions</a>&nbsp;on the procedure. No federal legislation outlawing it exists, and getting such a bill through Congress would likely be difficult — but McConnell suggested even before the Supreme Court's ruling that a future nationwide ban was “possible."

Former Vice President Mike Pence said after the ruling that "we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”

The DNC's digital ads are promoting what it is calling a “week of action” devoted to defending abortion rights.

“With this Defend Choice Week of Action, we’re giving people across the country a chance to turn their anger into action by holding anti-choice Republicans accountable and helping to elect Democrats," DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.

The digital ads, and the television campaign beginning later this week, are also helping publicize DefendChoice.org, a website the various Democratic campaign arms created after the Supreme Court ruling.

The DNC says the site connects grassroots activists with the party's existing national infrastructure, and it notes that its volunteers made 23,000-plus calls in the weekend following the ruling — its most active weekend since last November's election. The committee says even before the ruling, it held briefings for state parties, elected officials and campaign staff to share research and messaging ideas compiled on the national level.

Tuesday’s digital ad buy and the upcoming TV buy follow a five-figure digital campaign launched June 29 in which the DNC proclaimed that Republicans “want to go further and ban abortion. Believe them.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1614286506235.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By ASSOCIATED PRESSWASHINGTON (AP) — The Democratic National Committee is launching a digital ad campaign to energize its voters after last month’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade</a>, warning that Republicans’ ultimate goal is to outlaw&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/abortion">abortion nationwide</a>.The committee is sponsoring an at least $10,000 ad buy beginning Tuesday on the websites of more than 20 lifestyle publications, including Teen Vogue, Refinery29, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Essence, GQ, Men’s Health and Esquire.The ads feature a picture of Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell alongside pink, white and blue text that says: “Republicans are pushing to ban abortion nationally. Join us in fighting back."The cost is modest for a national campaign — especially when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-biden-us-supreme-court-government-and-politics-0e6496122de46f1039cbb2b5145d6d60">activists have accused President Joe Biden and other top Democrats of failing to respond forcefully enough</a>&nbsp;to the Supreme Court's decision. Still, Democrats are betting outrage over the high court's action can fire up their base ahead of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections">the midterm elections</a>, while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-prices-20fc7ddf3789332c914da0709b3db3a7">inflation is at record highs and Biden's approval ratings sag</a>.The DNC says it also plans to launch a separate, six-figure television ad campaign encouraging activism to defend abortion rights later this week across a dozen media markets in battleground areas.Many top Republicans, meanwhile, are eager to lean into the fight against abortion rights, seeing the overturning of Roe as a promise they kept to voters.Since the Supreme Court nullified Roe v. Wade,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-timeline-25f379808fff516ff2a28eae9abb973a">the 1973 decision</a>&nbsp;that legalized the right to an abortion, in a ruling June 24,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-ruling-states-a767801145ad01617100e57410a0a21d">many Republican-led states have rushed to enact broad restrictions</a>&nbsp;on the procedure. No federal legislation outlawing it exists, and getting such a bill through Congress would likely be difficult — but McConnell suggested even before the Supreme Court's ruling that a future nationwide ban was “possible."Former Vice President Mike Pence said after the ruling that "we must not rest and must not relent until the sanctity of life is restored to the center of American law in every state in the land.”The DNC's digital ads are promoting what it is calling a “week of action” devoted to defending abortion rights.“With this Defend Choice Week of Action, we’re giving people across the country a chance to turn their anger into action by holding anti-choice Republicans accountable and helping to elect Democrats," DNC chair Jaime Harrison said in a statement.The digital ads, and the television campaign beginning later this week, are also helping publicize DefendChoice.org, a website the various Democratic campaign arms created after the Supreme Court ruling.The DNC says the site connects grassroots activists with the party's existing national infrastructure, and it notes that its volunteers made 23,000-plus calls in the weekend following the ruling — its most active weekend since last November's election. The committee says even before the ruling, it held briefings for state parties, elected officials and campaign staff to share research and messaging ideas compiled on the national level.Tuesday’s digital ad buy and the upcoming TV buy follow a five-figure digital campaign launched June 29 in which the DNC proclaimed that Republicans “want to go further and ban abortion. Believe them.”<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/YjPkNdLXriDu0-t84r0xPt2VJJSuBxlcLBlZnIDJ0l-QZ6h_fv1Om4eBB8zl_TKVHuGjGy0f0VteVuQfqhABiYoqIYpaQCrqRwHGLY-i9aPfAepqHr2oKHMdxxVa-zS8E1slZCRfLJBYVGY4vg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

DNC ads warn voters that GOP wants nationwide abortion ban

By LAURA UNGAR and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL, Associated Press

The quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists as it gains ground and pops up in numerous countries, including the United States.

Scientists say the variant – called BA.2.75 – may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection. It’s unclear whether it could cause more serious disease than other omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5.

“It’s still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “But it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase." Whether it will outcompete BA.5, he said, is yet to be determined.

Still, the fact that it has already been detected in many parts of the world even with lower levels of viral surveillance “is an early indication it is spreading,” said Shishi Luo, head of infectious diseases for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.helix.com/pages/helix-covid-19-surveillance-dashboard">Helix</a>, a company that supplies viral sequencing information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The latest mutant has been spotted in several distant states in India, and appears to be spreading faster than other variants there, said Lipi Thukral, a scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi. It’s also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Two cases were recently identified on the West Coast of the U.S., and Helix identified a third U.S. case last week.

Fueling experts’ concerns are a large number of mutations separating this new variant from omicron predecessors. Some of those mutations are in areas that relate to the spike protein and could allow the virus to bind onto cells more efficiently, Binnicker said.

Another concern is that the genetic tweaks may make it easier for the virus to skirt past antibodies — protective proteins made by the body in response to a vaccine or infection from an earlier variant.

But experts say vaccines and boosters are still the best defense against severe COVID-19. In the fall it’s likely the U.S. will see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-57a21c137541c97a6eafed41b2497971">updated formulations</a>&nbsp;of the vaccine being developed that target more recent omicron strains.

“Some may say, ‘Well, vaccination and boosting hasn’t prevented people from getting infected.’ And, yes, that is true,” he said. “But what we have seen is that the rates of people ending up in the hospital and dying have significantly decreased. As more people have been vaccinated, boosted or naturally infected, we are starting to see the background levels of immunity worldwide creep up.”

It may take several weeks to get a sense of whether the latest omicron mutant may affect the trajectory of the pandemic. Meanwhile Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at India’s Christian Medical College in Vellore, said the growing concern over the variant underlines the need for more sustained efforts to track and trace viruses that combine genetic efforts with real world information about who is getting sick and how badly. “It is important that surveillance isn’t a start-stop strategy,” she said.

Luo said BA.2.75 is another reminder that the coronavirus is continually evolving – and spreading.

“We would like to return to pre-pandemic life, but we still need to be careful,” she said. “ We need to accept that we’re now living with a higher level of risk than we used to.”

Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657579209849.png" alt="CDC community transmission map July 11, 2022" />
 <figcaption>CDC community transmission map July 11, 2022</figcaption>
 </figure>By LAURA UNGAR and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL, Associated PressThe quickly changing coronavirus has spawned yet another super contagious omicron mutant that’s worrying scientists as it gains ground and pops up in numerous countries, including the United States.Scientists say the variant – called BA.2.75 – may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection. It’s unclear whether it could cause more serious disease than other omicron variants, including the globally prominent BA.5.“It’s still really early on for us to draw too many conclusions,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. “But it does look like, especially in India, the rates of transmission are showing kind of that exponential increase." Whether it will outcompete BA.5, he said, is yet to be determined.Still, the fact that it has already been detected in many parts of the world even with lower levels of viral surveillance “is an early indication it is spreading,” said Shishi Luo, head of infectious diseases for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.helix.com/pages/helix-covid-19-surveillance-dashboard">Helix</a>, a company that supplies viral sequencing information to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The latest mutant has been spotted in several distant states in India, and appears to be spreading faster than other variants there, said Lipi Thukral, a scientist at the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology in New Delhi. It’s also been detected in about 10 other countries, including Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada. Two cases were recently identified on the West Coast of the U.S., and Helix identified a third U.S. case last week.Fueling experts’ concerns are a large number of mutations separating this new variant from omicron predecessors. Some of those mutations are in areas that relate to the spike protein and could allow the virus to bind onto cells more efficiently, Binnicker said.Another concern is that the genetic tweaks may make it easier for the virus to skirt past antibodies — protective proteins made by the body in response to a vaccine or infection from an earlier variant.But experts say vaccines and boosters are still the best defense against severe COVID-19. In the fall it’s likely the U.S. will see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-science-health-57a21c137541c97a6eafed41b2497971">updated formulations</a>&nbsp;of the vaccine being developed that target more recent omicron strains.“Some may say, ‘Well, vaccination and boosting hasn’t prevented people from getting infected.’ And, yes, that is true,” he said. “But what we have seen is that the rates of people ending up in the hospital and dying have significantly decreased. As more people have been vaccinated, boosted or naturally infected, we are starting to see the background levels of immunity worldwide creep up.”It may take several weeks to get a sense of whether the latest omicron mutant may affect the trajectory of the pandemic. Meanwhile Dr. Gagandeep Kang, who studies viruses at India’s Christian Medical College in Vellore, said the growing concern over the variant underlines the need for more sustained efforts to track and trace viruses that combine genetic efforts with real world information about who is getting sick and how badly. “It is important that surveillance isn’t a start-stop strategy,” she said.Luo said BA.2.75 is another reminder that the coronavirus is continually evolving – and spreading.“We would like to return to pre-pandemic life, but we still need to be careful,” she said. “ We need to accept that we’re now living with a higher level of risk than we used to.”___Ghosal reported from New Delhi. Ungar reported from Louisville, Kentucky.The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

New coronavirus mutant raises concerns globally 

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a day after the U.S. warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine. 

The White House on Monday said it believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war in Ukraine</a>.

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the unmanned systems to Russia, but said the U.S. has “information” that indicates Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as soon as this month.

“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline," he told reporters Monday.

Sullivan said it was proof the Russia's overwhelming bombardments in Ukraine, which have led it to consolidate gains in the country's east in recent weeks, was "coming at a cost to the sustainment of its own weapons."

Sullivan's revelation comes on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-mideast-trip-what-to-watch-for-5b132a6a3c83aaf401c0cfc0b8473339">President Joe Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia</a>, where Iran's nuclear program and malign activities in the region will be a key subject of discussion.

The U.S. decision to publicly reveal that the two countries' chief regional rival was helping to rearm Russia comes as both Israel and Saudi Arabia have resisted joining global efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine due to their domestic interests.

Sullivan also noted that Iran has provided similar unmanned aerial vehicles to Yemen's Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia before a ceasefire was reached earlier this year.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a day after the U.S. warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine. The White House on Monday said it believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">war in Ukraine</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan: &quot;Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/mQXrKHPqKC">pic.twitter.com/mQXrKHPqKC</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1546597369810149378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the unmanned systems to Russia, but said the U.S. has “information” that indicates Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as soon as this month.“Our information indicates that the Iranian government is preparing to provide Russia with up to several hundred UAVs, including weapons-capable UAVs on an expedited timeline," he told reporters Monday.Sullivan said it was proof the Russia's overwhelming bombardments in Ukraine, which have led it to consolidate gains in the country's east in recent weeks, was "coming at a cost to the sustainment of its own weapons."Sullivan's revelation comes on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-mideast-trip-what-to-watch-for-5b132a6a3c83aaf401c0cfc0b8473339">President Joe Biden's trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia</a>, where Iran's nuclear program and malign activities in the region will be a key subject of discussion.The U.S. decision to publicly reveal that the two countries' chief regional rival was helping to rearm Russia comes as both Israel and Saudi Arabia have resisted joining global efforts to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine due to their domestic interests.Sullivan also noted that Iran has provided similar unmanned aerial vehicles to Yemen's Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia before a ceasefire was reached earlier this year.

🎥 US warning: Iran to give Russia drones for Ukraine war

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they “must” provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court's decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">to end a constitutional right to abortion</a>.

The Department of Health and Human Services cited requirements on medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires medical facilities to determine whether a person seeking treatment may be in labor or whether they face an emergency health situation — or one that could develop into an emergency — and to provide treatment.

“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment,” the agency's guidance states. “When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted.”

The department said emergency conditions include “ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”

Currently, even&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-ruling-states-a767801145ad01617100e57410a0a21d">the states</a>&nbsp;with the most stringent bans on abortion do allow exceptions when the health of a mother is at risk, though the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/emergency-medical-care-letter-to-health-care-providers.pdf">a letter</a>&nbsp;to health care providers, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote, “It is critical that providers know that a physician or other qualified medical personnel’s professional and legal duty to provide stabilizing medical treatment to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an emergency medical condition preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment.”

The department says its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-22-22-hospitals.pdf">guidance</a>&nbsp;doesn't reflect new policy, but merely reminds doctors and providers of their existing obligations under federal law.

“Under federal law, providers in emergency situations are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with an emergency medical condition, including abortion care if necessary, regardless of the state where they live,” said Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. "CMS will do everything within our authority to ensure that patients get the care they need.”

Mississippi’s trigger law, which went into effect Thursday, says abortion will be legal only if the woman’s life is in danger or if a pregnancy is caused by a rape reported to law enforcement. It does not have an exception for pregnancies caused by incest.

When asked about the Biden administration’s new guidance, Michelle Williams, chief of staff to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, pointed to the existing exception in Mississippi’s abortion law.

“Mississippi’s law already makes an exception for preservation of the mother’s life,” Williams told The Associated Press on Monday. “The Biden Administration’s statement of existing law today is about nothing more than maintaining the false narrative that women’s lives are in danger in order to appease his base.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657500474660.png" alt="BIden" />
 <figcaption>BIden</figcaption>
 </figure>By ASSOCIATED PRESSWASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday told hospitals that they “must” provide abortion services if the life of the mother is at risk, saying federal law on emergency treatment guidelines preempts state laws in jurisdictions that now ban the procedure without any exceptions following the Supreme Court's decision&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">to end a constitutional right to abortion</a>.The Department of Health and Human Services cited requirements on medical facilities in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA. The law requires medical facilities to determine whether a person seeking treatment may be in labor or whether they face an emergency health situation — or one that could develop into an emergency — and to provide treatment.“If a physician believes that a pregnant patient presenting at an emergency department is experiencing an emergency medical condition as defined by EMTALA, and that abortion is the stabilizing treatment necessary to resolve that condition, the physician must provide that treatment,” the agency's guidance states. “When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted.”The department said emergency conditions include “ectopic pregnancy, complications of pregnancy loss, or emergent hypertensive disorders, such as preeclampsia with severe features.”Currently, even&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-ruling-states-a767801145ad01617100e57410a0a21d">the states</a>&nbsp;with the most stringent bans on abortion do allow exceptions when the health of a mother is at risk, though the threat of prosecution has created confusion for some doctors.In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/emergency-medical-care-letter-to-health-care-providers.pdf">a letter</a>&nbsp;to health care providers, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote, “It is critical that providers know that a physician or other qualified medical personnel’s professional and legal duty to provide stabilizing medical treatment to a patient who presents to the emergency department and is found to have an emergency medical condition preempts any directly conflicting state law or mandate that might otherwise prohibit such treatment.”The department says its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-22-22-hospitals.pdf">guidance</a>&nbsp;doesn't reflect new policy, but merely reminds doctors and providers of their existing obligations under federal law.“Under federal law, providers in emergency situations are required to provide stabilizing care to someone with an emergency medical condition, including abortion care if necessary, regardless of the state where they live,” said Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. "CMS will do everything within our authority to ensure that patients get the care they need.”Mississippi’s trigger law, which went into effect Thursday, says abortion will be legal only if the woman’s life is in danger or if a pregnancy is caused by a rape reported to law enforcement. It does not have an exception for pregnancies caused by incest.When asked about the Biden administration’s new guidance, Michelle Williams, chief of staff to Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, pointed to the existing exception in Mississippi’s abortion law.“Mississippi’s law already makes an exception for preservation of the mother’s life,” Williams told The Associated Press on Monday. “The Biden Administration’s statement of existing law today is about nothing more than maintaining the false narrative that women’s lives are in danger in order to appease his base.”<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/YjPkNdLXriDu0-t84r0xPt2VJJSuBxlcLBlZnIDJ0l-QZ6h_fv1Om4eBB8zl_TKVHuGjGy0f0VteVuQfqhABiYoqIYpaQCrqRwHGLY-i9aPfAepqHr2oKHMdxxVa-zS8E1slZCRfLJBYVGY4vg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Biden admin: Docs must offer abortion if mom's life at risk

(AP)-Amazon is heading into its annual Prime Day sales event on Tuesday much differently than how it entered the pandemic.

The company has long used the two-day event — one of its biggest all year — to lure people to its Prime membership, for which Amazon recently raised the price to $139 a year from $119 a year.

Amazon doesn’t disclose total Prime Day sales, though growth estimates for last year’s event had ranged from 7% to 9%. Research firm Insider Intelligence suggests sales could grow even more this year in part because of the event’s mid-July timing, which compared to last year’s June date would allow the company to capture more consumers doing back-to-school shopping.

Amazon could use the boost amid a slowdown in overall online sales. Once the darling of the pandemic economy, the company posted a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-technology-health-business-lifestyle-f6b8ef8a06d75dc46cc36a68012b3b6b">rare quarterly loss</a>&nbsp;in April as well as its slowest rate of revenue growth in nearly two decades — at 7%. Inflation had added roughly $2 billion in costs.

Amazon also acknowledged it had too many workers and expects its excess capacity from its massive warehouse expansion during the pandemic to total $10 billion in extra costs for the first half of this year.

“It’s causing pain at the moment, and that pain is considerable,” said Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData Retail.

It's quite a reversal from the early days of the pandemic when the e-commerce giant's profits soared as homebound shoppers turned to online shopping to avoid contracting the coronavirus. The demand was so high that Amazon nearly doubled its workforce in the last two years to more than 1.6 million people.

It also increased its warehouse capacity to match the avalanche of orders flooding its site. By the end of 2021, Amazon had leased and owned roughly 387.1 million square feet of space for its warehouses and data centers — more than double what it reported in 2019.

Then, the worst of the pandemic eased. Americans felt more comfortable leaving their homes, and demand also slowed across the board. The retail sector's online sales growth in the U.S., which spiked to 36.4% in 2020, returned to more normal growth in 2021 and 2022, clocking in at 17.8% and 9.4% respectively, according to Insider Intelligence.

Retail sales figures for June, due to be released Friday, will shed more light on how e-commerce is faring. The most recent figures from May showed online sales falling 1% while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/retail-sales-economy-inflation-prices-1b9fa15cfc6c43efd860a5279baebc24">overall retail sales declined 0.3%</a>&nbsp;from April amid skyrocketing inflation.

“This is a period of time when consumers are being much more frugal thinking about how they’re spending and buying,” said David Niekerk, a former Amazon vice president of human resources who oversaw operations. “That’s having an impact on Amazon.”

Brian Olsavsky, the company’s chief financial officer, has said many of Amazon's warehouse expansion decisions were made as far back as two years ago, limiting what the company can do to adjust midyear. That said, Amazon will spend less on warehouse projects this year compared to last, and transportation investments will be flat to slightly down.

Saunders said the excess capacity is likely to be a short-term problem for Amazon, which he points out has continued to take steps to grow its retail business and draw more sellers to its service. In April, it announced it will extend the benefits of a Prime subscription to online stores beyond its own site, a move that will allow merchants to tap into the company’s vast fulfillment and delivery networks.

To fix its warehousing woes, CEO Andy Jassy said in May the company was going to let some of its leases expire and defer construction on others. Amazon is also subleasing warehouses to cut costs.

Preliminary data from the real estate marketplace provider Costar Group suggests the company is disproportionately shutting down its smaller facilities, which tend to have fewer loading docks and parking and are less efficient to operate, said Adrian Ponsen, Costar's U.S. director of Industrial Analytics.

Still, closures are already creating issues. A handful of workers at an Amazon delivery station in Bellmawr, New Jersey recently walked off the job to protest transfers to other sites after Amazon decided to shutter the facility.

Paul Blundell, an Amazon worker who led the walkout, said some workers wanted to transfer to nearby facilities after being asked to go to sites as far as 20 miles away. They also wanted a $1 hourly raise to make up for the disruption. Meanwhile, the company says employees are being given the opportunity to transfer to other sites with better perks.

Amazon signaled its other problem — overstaffing — emerged after onboarding new hires to fill in for workers who were sick when the omicron variant swept the nation last year. But when the sick workers returned, Amazon had too many people, adding roughly $2 billion in costs. That's a far cry from last year, when the company boosted pay to $18 to attract hourly workers in a tight labor market.

The issue might be solved naturally by the company’s high attrition rate. Saunders said Amazon is also likely to find use for the excess labor as the holidays approach, and might be able to rein in the problem by not hiring new workers in locations where they’re overstaffed.

However it happens, analysts are closely watching how Jassy will attempt to right the ship. A few weeks ago,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-700427e5ad1d9ab66e81df39018158bb">he tapped Doug Herrington</a>, a 17-year Amazon veteran, to replace Dave Clark, the former head of Amazon’s retail business who unexpectedly resigned last month after 23 years at the company.

Amazon stock has tumbled this year, dropping roughly 39% year-to-date. And Jassy is under the gun to bring back profitability, Nieker said.

“He made a commitment to shareholders and others that he’s going to really focus now on getting back to profitability in the company,” Nieker said. "And a big part of that is the consumer business.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574302417941.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By ASSOCIATED PRESS(AP)-Amazon is heading into its annual Prime Day sales event on Tuesday much differently than how it entered the pandemic.The company has long used the two-day event — one of its biggest all year — to lure people to its Prime membership, for which Amazon recently raised the price to $139 a year from $119 a year.Amazon doesn’t disclose total Prime Day sales, though growth estimates for last year’s event had ranged from 7% to 9%. Research firm Insider Intelligence suggests sales could grow even more this year in part because of the event’s mid-July timing, which compared to last year’s June date would allow the company to capture more consumers doing back-to-school shopping.Amazon could use the boost amid a slowdown in overall online sales. Once the darling of the pandemic economy, the company posted a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-technology-health-business-lifestyle-f6b8ef8a06d75dc46cc36a68012b3b6b">rare quarterly loss</a>&nbsp;in April as well as its slowest rate of revenue growth in nearly two decades — at 7%. Inflation had added roughly $2 billion in costs.Amazon also acknowledged it had too many workers and expects its excess capacity from its massive warehouse expansion during the pandemic to total $10 billion in extra costs for the first half of this year.“It’s causing pain at the moment, and that pain is considerable,” said Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData Retail.It's quite a reversal from the early days of the pandemic when the e-commerce giant's profits soared as homebound shoppers turned to online shopping to avoid contracting the coronavirus. The demand was so high that Amazon nearly doubled its workforce in the last two years to more than 1.6 million people.It also increased its warehouse capacity to match the avalanche of orders flooding its site. By the end of 2021, Amazon had leased and owned roughly 387.1 million square feet of space for its warehouses and data centers — more than double what it reported in 2019.Then, the worst of the pandemic eased. Americans felt more comfortable leaving their homes, and demand also slowed across the board. The retail sector's online sales growth in the U.S., which spiked to 36.4% in 2020, returned to more normal growth in 2021 and 2022, clocking in at 17.8% and 9.4% respectively, according to Insider Intelligence.Retail sales figures for June, due to be released Friday, will shed more light on how e-commerce is faring. The most recent figures from May showed online sales falling 1% while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/retail-sales-economy-inflation-prices-1b9fa15cfc6c43efd860a5279baebc24">overall retail sales declined 0.3%</a>&nbsp;from April amid skyrocketing inflation.“This is a period of time when consumers are being much more frugal thinking about how they’re spending and buying,” said David Niekerk, a former Amazon vice president of human resources who oversaw operations. “That’s having an impact on Amazon.”Brian Olsavsky, the company’s chief financial officer, has said many of Amazon's warehouse expansion decisions were made as far back as two years ago, limiting what the company can do to adjust midyear. That said, Amazon will spend less on warehouse projects this year compared to last, and transportation investments will be flat to slightly down.Saunders said the excess capacity is likely to be a short-term problem for Amazon, which he points out has continued to take steps to grow its retail business and draw more sellers to its service. In April, it announced it will extend the benefits of a Prime subscription to online stores beyond its own site, a move that will allow merchants to tap into the company’s vast fulfillment and delivery networks.To fix its warehousing woes, CEO Andy Jassy said in May the company was going to let some of its leases expire and defer construction on others. Amazon is also subleasing warehouses to cut costs.Preliminary data from the real estate marketplace provider Costar Group suggests the company is disproportionately shutting down its smaller facilities, which tend to have fewer loading docks and parking and are less efficient to operate, said Adrian Ponsen, Costar's U.S. director of Industrial Analytics.Still, closures are already creating issues. A handful of workers at an Amazon delivery station in Bellmawr, New Jersey recently walked off the job to protest transfers to other sites after Amazon decided to shutter the facility.Paul Blundell, an Amazon worker who led the walkout, said some workers wanted to transfer to nearby facilities after being asked to go to sites as far as 20 miles away. They also wanted a $1 hourly raise to make up for the disruption. Meanwhile, the company says employees are being given the opportunity to transfer to other sites with better perks.Amazon signaled its other problem — overstaffing — emerged after onboarding new hires to fill in for workers who were sick when the omicron variant swept the nation last year. But when the sick workers returned, Amazon had too many people, adding roughly $2 billion in costs. That's a far cry from last year, when the company boosted pay to $18 to attract hourly workers in a tight labor market.The issue might be solved naturally by the company’s high attrition rate. Saunders said Amazon is also likely to find use for the excess labor as the holidays approach, and might be able to rein in the problem by not hiring new workers in locations where they’re overstaffed.However it happens, analysts are closely watching how Jassy will attempt to right the ship. A few weeks ago,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-700427e5ad1d9ab66e81df39018158bb">he tapped Doug Herrington</a>, a 17-year Amazon veteran, to replace Dave Clark, the former head of Amazon’s retail business who unexpectedly resigned last month after 23 years at the company.Amazon stock has tumbled this year, dropping roughly 39% year-to-date. And Jassy is under the gun to bring back profitability, Nieker said.“He made a commitment to shareholders and others that he’s going to really focus now on getting back to profitability in the company,” Nieker said. "And a big part of that is the consumer business.”<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/YjPkNdLXriDu0-t84r0xPt2VJJSuBxlcLBlZnIDJ0l-QZ6h_fv1Om4eBB8zl_TKVHuGjGy0f0VteVuQfqhABiYoqIYpaQCrqRwHGLY-i9aPfAepqHr2oKHMdxxVa-zS8E1slZCRfLJBYVGY4vg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Amazon Prime Day comes amid slowdown in online sales growth

Our view of the universe just expanded: The first image from NASA’s new space telescope unveiled Monday is brimming with galaxies and offers the deepest look of the cosmos ever captured.

(Click below to watch President Biden receive a briefing from NASA officials and preview the first images from the Webb Space Telescope – the highest-resolution images of the infrared universe ever captured.)

The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe. That image will be followed Tuesday by the release of four more galactic beauty shots from the telescope’s initial outward gazes.

The “deep field" image released at during a brief White House event is filled with lots of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there. Part of the image is light from not too long after the Big Bang, which was 13.8 billion years ago.

President Joe Biden marveled at the image that he said showed “the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from over 13 billion -- let me say that again -- 13 billion years ago. It’s hard to fathom.”

The busy image with hundreds of specks, streaks, spirals and swirls of white, yellow, orange and red is only “one little speck of the universe,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.

“What we saw today is the early universe,” Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov said in a phone interview after the reveal.

Sasselov said he and his colleague Charles Alcock first thought “we’ve seen this before." Then they looked closer at the image and pronounced the result not only beautiful but "worth all that waiting” for the much-delayed project.

And even more is coming Tuesday. The pictures on tap include a view of a giant gaseous planet outside our solar system, two images of a nebula where stars are born and die in spectacular beauty and an update of a classic image of five tightly clustered galaxies that dance around each other.

The world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away last December from French Guiana in South America. It reached its lookout point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in January. Then the lengthy process began to align the mirrors, get the infrared detectors cold enough to operate and calibrate the science instruments, all protected by a sunshade the size of a tennis court that keeps the telescope cool.

The plan is to use the telescope to peer back so far that scientists will get a glimpse of the early days of the universe about 13.7 billion years ago and zoom in on closer cosmic objects, even our own solar system, with sharper focus.

How far back past 13 billion years did that first image look? NASA didn't provide any estimate Monday. Outside scientists said those calculations will take time, but they are fairly certain somewhere in the busy image is a galaxy older than humanity has ever seen, probably back to 500 million or 600 million years after the Big Bang.

“It takes a little bit of time to dig out those galaxies,” University of California, Santa Cruz, astrophysicist Garth Illingworth said. “It's the things you almost can't see here, the tiniest little red dots.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657587600689.png" alt="The “deep field" image released during aWhite House event is filled with lots of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there." />
 <figcaption>The “deep field" image released during aWhite House event is filled with lots of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there.</figcaption>
 </figure>By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science WriterOur view of the universe just expanded: The first image from NASA’s new space telescope unveiled Monday is brimming with galaxies and offers the deepest look of the cosmos ever captured.(Click below to watch President Biden receive a briefing from NASA officials and preview the first images from the Webb Space Telescope – the highest-resolution images of the infrared universe ever captured.)<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fvideos%2F768089370864197%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=1365" 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>The first image from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is the farthest humanity has ever seen in both time and distance, closer to the dawn of time and the edge of the universe. That image will be followed Tuesday by the release of four more galactic beauty shots from the telescope’s initial outward gazes.The “deep field" image released at during a brief White House event is filled with lots of stars, with massive galaxies in the foreground and faint and extremely distant galaxies peeking through here and there. Part of the image is light from not too long after the Big Bang, which was 13.8 billion years ago.President Joe Biden marveled at the image that he said showed “the oldest documented light in the history of the universe from over 13 billion -- let me say that again -- 13 billion years ago. It’s hard to fathom.”The busy image with hundreds of specks, streaks, spirals and swirls of white, yellow, orange and red is only “one little speck of the universe,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said.“What we saw today is the early universe,” Harvard astronomer Dimitar Sasselov said in a phone interview after the reveal.Sasselov said he and his colleague Charles Alcock first thought “we’ve seen this before." Then they looked closer at the image and pronounced the result not only beautiful but "worth all that waiting” for the much-delayed project.And even more is coming Tuesday. The pictures on tap include a view of a giant gaseous planet outside our solar system, two images of a nebula where stars are born and die in spectacular beauty and an update of a classic image of five tightly clustered galaxies that dance around each other.The world’s biggest and most powerful space telescope rocketed away last December from French Guiana in South America. It reached its lookout point 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth in January. Then the lengthy process began to align the mirrors, get the infrared detectors cold enough to operate and calibrate the science instruments, all protected by a sunshade the size of a tennis court that keeps the telescope cool.The plan is to use the telescope to peer back so far that scientists will get a glimpse of the early days of the universe about 13.7 billion years ago and zoom in on closer cosmic objects, even our own solar system, with sharper focus.How far back past 13 billion years did that first image look? NASA didn't provide any estimate Monday. Outside scientists said those calculations will take time, but they are fairly certain somewhere in the busy image is a galaxy older than humanity has ever seen, probably back to 500 million or 600 million years after the Big Bang.“It takes a little bit of time to dig out those galaxies,” University of California, Santa Cruz, astrophysicist Garth Illingworth said. “It's the things you almost can't see here, the tiniest little red dots.”“This is absolutely spectacular, absolutely amazing,” he added. “This is everything we’ve dreamed of in a telescope like this.”Webb is considered the successor to the highly successful, but aging Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble has stared as far back as 13.4 billion years. It found the light wave signature of an extremely bright galaxy in 2016. Astronomers measure how far back they look in light-years with one light-year being 5.8 trillion miles (9.3 trillion kilometers).“Webb can see backwards in time to just after the Big Bang by looking for galaxies that are so far away that the light has taken many billions of years to get from those galaxies to our telescopes,” said Jonathan Gardner, Webb’s deputy project scientist said during a June media briefing.The deepest view of the cosmos “is not a record that will stand for very long,” project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan said during the briefing, since scientists are expected to use the Webb telescope to go even deeper.At 21 feet (6.4 meters), Webb’s gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror is the biggest and most sensitive ever sent into space. It’s comprised of 18 segments, one of which was smacked by a bigger than anticipated micrometeoroid in May. Four previous micrometeoroid strikes to the mirror were smaller. Despite the impacts, the telescope has continued to exceed mission requirements, with barely any data loss, according to NASA.NASA is collaborating on Webb with the European and Canadian space agencies.“I’m now really excited as this dramatic progress augurs well for reaching the ultimate prize for many astronomers like myself: pinpointing “Cosmic Dawn” — the moment when the universe was first bathed in starlight,” Richard Ellis, professor of astrophysics at University College London, said by email.