OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor filed involuntary manslaughter charges Friday against the parents of a 15-year-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-1fc42fc06308770d302a59c266604c58">accused of killing four students&nbsp;</a>and wounding seven other people at a Michigan High School.

James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter.

Authorities have said Ethan Crumbley opened fire shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Seven students and a teacher were shot before Crumbley surrendered to sheriff’s deputies.

Three of the students died Tuesday. The fourth died Wednesday at a hospital.

The semi-automatic gun used in the shooting was purchased legally by Crumbley’s father last week, according to investigators, and given to the boy.

“The parents were the only individuals in the position to know the access to weapons,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said Thursday. The gun “seems to have been just freely available to that individual.”

She said then that the parents’ actions went “far beyond negligence.”

During a Friday news conference, McDonald said the parents were summoned a few hours before the shooting after a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “help me.” 

&nbsp;Crumbley was returned to his classroom and later emerged from a bathroom, firing a gun at students. He’s charged with murder and other other charges.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638551635768.png" alt="Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism. -photo Oakland Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with two dozen crimes, including murder, attempted murder and terrorism. -photo Oakland Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — A prosecutor filed involuntary manslaughter charges Friday against the parents of a 15-year-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michigan-oxford-high-school-shooting-1fc42fc06308770d302a59c266604c58">accused of killing four students&nbsp;</a>and wounding seven other people at a Michigan High School.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638552839270.png" alt="Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald during Friday's announcement-image courtesy Oakland Co. District Attorney's office" />
 <figcaption>Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald during Friday's announcement-image courtesy Oakland Co. District Attorney's office</figcaption>
 </figure>James and Jennifer Crumbley were charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter.Authorities have said Ethan Crumbley opened fire shortly before 1 p.m. Tuesday at Oxford High School, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Seven students and a teacher were shot before Crumbley surrendered to sheriff’s deputies.Three of the students died Tuesday. The fourth died Wednesday at a hospital.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638381044457.png" alt="First responders on the scene of the school shooting photo courtesy WWJT" />
 <figcaption>First responders on the scene of the school shooting photo courtesy WWJT</figcaption>
 </figure>The semi-automatic gun used in the shooting was purchased legally by Crumbley’s father last week, according to investigators, and given to the boy.“The parents were the only individuals in the position to know the access to weapons,” Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald said Thursday. The gun “seems to have been just freely available to that individual.”She said then that the parents’ actions went “far beyond negligence.”During a Friday news conference, McDonald said the parents were summoned a few hours before the shooting after a teacher found a drawing of a gun, a person bleeding and the words “help me.” &nbsp;Crumbley was returned to his classroom and later emerged from a bathroom, firing a gun at students. He’s charged with murder and other other charges.&nbsp;

Teen suspect's parents charged in Michigan school shooting

News Release United States Attorney-Omaha

Acting United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Matthew G. Garabrandt, 30, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for possession of child pornography.&nbsp; Garabrandt was sentenced to 4 years in prison and will also serve 5 years on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.&nbsp; After serving his prison sentence, Garabrandt will also be required to register as a sex offender.

In October, 2015, a concerned citizen reported to Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa that her ex-boyfriend had child pornography on his cellular phone.&nbsp; The investigators obtained a search warrant for the telephone and his residence in Scranton, Iowa.&nbsp; During the execution of the search warrant of that residence, the Sheriff’s Office seized two additional cellular telephones and a computer.&nbsp; Forensic examination of those cell phones led investigators to a phone number, later identified to belong to Garabrandt and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was informed.

In June, 2016, agents of the FBI interviewed Garabrandt at his residence in Omaha, Nebraska.&nbsp; Garabrandt admitted to sending and receiving child pornography and also admitted to downloading child pornography from a web forum.&nbsp; Investigators found approximately 15 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct as defined by federal law during the forensic examination of the computer equipment seized from the Iowa residence that were sent by Garabrandt.&nbsp;

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

This case was investigated by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

News Release United States Attorney-OmahaActing United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Matthew G. Garabrandt, 30, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for possession of child pornography.&nbsp; Garabrandt was sentenced to 4 years in prison and will also serve 5 years on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.&nbsp; After serving his prison sentence, Garabrandt will also be required to register as a sex offender.In October, 2015, a concerned citizen reported to Greene County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa that her ex-boyfriend had child pornography on his cellular phone.&nbsp; The investigators obtained a search warrant for the telephone and his residence in Scranton, Iowa.&nbsp; During the execution of the search warrant of that residence, the Sheriff’s Office seized two additional cellular telephones and a computer.&nbsp; Forensic examination of those cell phones led investigators to a phone number, later identified to belong to Garabrandt and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was informed.In June, 2016, agents of the FBI interviewed Garabrandt at his residence in Omaha, Nebraska.&nbsp; Garabrandt admitted to sending and receiving child pornography and also admitted to downloading child pornography from a web forum.&nbsp; Investigators found approximately 15 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct as defined by federal law during the forensic examination of the computer equipment seized from the Iowa residence that were sent by Garabrandt.&nbsp;This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.justice.gov/psc" target="_blank">www.justice.gov/psc</a>.This case was investigated by the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Omaha man sentenced to 4 years for child porn

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19, which had been undetected in the U.S. before the middle of this week, had been discovered <a href="https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/">in at least five states </a>by the end of Thursday, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease.

Just a day after the first known U.S. case was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-new-variant-omicron-explainer-116ef818ac4a8e7bc23bb28d6511ecad">found in California</a>, tests showed the omicron variant had infected at least five people in the New York City metropolitan area, plus a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November.

A Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa, a Hawaii resident with no recent travel history, and another California resident who traveled to South Africa last month also were infected by the variant, officials said.

Much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it can thwart vaccines and whether it makes people as sick as the original strain.

Health officials in each state said there was no cause for undue alarm. But the spread of the cases, some involving people who hadn’t been away from home recently, meant the variant was likely already circulating domestically in some parts of the U.S.

“We gotta assume there’s a lot more behind that and that it has been here for a meaningful amount of time,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference with Gov. Kathy Hochul.

The infected New Yorkers included a 67-year-old woman on Long Island who had recently traveled to South Africa, residents of Brooklyn and Queens and another case possibly linked to travel. At least one person had received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but officials did not have details about the vaccination status of the four other cases.

In Minnesota, health officials said a man who had not traveled outside the U.S. began experiencing symptoms the day after attending the Anime NYC 2021 convention in New York City. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said it’s likely the man contracted COVID-19 at the convention, but officials did not know for sure.

Officials in New York said they were working to trace attendees of the convention, which was held Nov. 19-21 and drew about 50,000 people, according to event organizers. Attendees were required to wear masks and show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

It was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center as New York City prepared to host the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and braced for throngs of tourists to return after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-lifestyle-health-canada-75b91e1770dc99c3a9d682129e2e006c">U.S. opened up to vaccinated international travelers.</a>

City Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi urged people who attended the event to get tested.

“This is not just due to people who are traveling to southern Africa or to other parts of the world where omicron has already been identified,” Chokshi said Thursday.

The Minnesota man began experiencing mild symptoms Nov. 22. He had been vaccinated and received a booster shot in early November, according to health officials in his home state. He sought COVID-19 testing Nov. 24, and his symptoms have subsided, officials said.

Nov. 22 was the same day the person infected in the first California case returned to the U.S. from South Africa.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-lifestyle-health-travel-1f007a419afc45c840ad1d8d80eede8f">The California traveler, who was vaccinated,&nbsp;</a>developed mild symptoms and tested positive Monday. The second person in the state didn’t need medical care and was also vaccinated.

The unvaccinated adult infected with the variant in Hawaii had gotten COVID-19 a year ago. The person isn’t currently hospitalized and had “mild-to-moderate” symptoms including headache, body aches and cough, Hawaii Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said.

She wouldn’t identify the patient other to say the person lives on the island of Oahu.

Omicron is classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern” as scientists work to determine how it may compare with the predominant delta variant in terms of transmissibility and severity. Scientists also are studying the degree to which existing vaccines and therapies protect against omicron.

Scientists in South Africa first reported it, but the samples came from several countries in southern Africa. And health officials in the Netherlands now say it was found there prior to the South Africa detection.

As comfort over air travel returns, it’s inevitable that new variants like omicron will spread from country to country and state to state, said professor Danielle Ompad, an epidemiologist at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

“We shouldn’t panic, but we should be concerned,” she said.

Hochul said the case involving the Minnesota visitor underlined the need for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a booster shot if they have not already.

“There is one way to address this — New Yorkers, get vaccinated, get boosted, and get ready,” the Democrat said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638537167399.png" alt="Most recent reported occurrences across the United State-image courtesy GISAID-The GISAID Initiative promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19. " />
 <figcaption>Most recent reported occurrences across the United State-image courtesy GISAID-The GISAID Initiative promotes the rapid sharing of data from all influenza viruses and the coronavirus causing COVID-19. </figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — The omicron variant of COVID-19, which had been undetected in the U.S. before the middle of this week, had been discovered <a href="https://www.gisaid.org/hcov19-variants/">in at least five states </a>by the end of Thursday, showing yet again how mutations of the virus can circumnavigate the globe with speed and ease.Just a day after the first known U.S. case was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-new-variant-omicron-explainer-116ef818ac4a8e7bc23bb28d6511ecad">found in California</a>, tests showed the omicron variant had infected at least five people in the New York City metropolitan area, plus a man from Minnesota who had attended an anime convention in Manhattan in late November.A Colorado woman who had recently traveled to southern Africa, a Hawaii resident with no recent travel history, and another California resident who traveled to South Africa last month also were infected by the variant, officials said.Much remains unknown about omicron, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it can thwart vaccines and whether it makes people as sick as the original strain.Health officials in each state said there was no cause for undue alarm. But the spread of the cases, some involving people who hadn’t been away from home recently, meant the variant was likely already circulating domestically in some parts of the U.S.“We gotta assume there’s a lot more behind that and that it has been here for a meaningful amount of time,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference with Gov. Kathy Hochul.The infected New Yorkers included a 67-year-old woman on Long Island who had recently traveled to South Africa, residents of Brooklyn and Queens and another case possibly linked to travel. At least one person had received a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine but officials did not have details about the vaccination status of the four other cases.In Minnesota, health officials said a man who had not traveled outside the U.S. began experiencing symptoms the day after attending the Anime NYC 2021 convention in New York City. Minnesota Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm said it’s likely the man contracted COVID-19 at the convention, but officials did not know for sure.Officials in New York said they were working to trace attendees of the convention, which was held Nov. 19-21 and drew about 50,000 people, according to event organizers. Attendees were required to wear masks and show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.It was held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center as New York City prepared to host the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and braced for throngs of tourists to return after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-lifestyle-health-canada-75b91e1770dc99c3a9d682129e2e006c">U.S. opened up to vaccinated international travelers.</a>City Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi urged people who attended the event to get tested.“This is not just due to people who are traveling to southern Africa or to other parts of the world where omicron has already been identified,” Chokshi said Thursday.The Minnesota man began experiencing mild symptoms Nov. 22. He had been vaccinated and received a booster shot in early November, according to health officials in his home state. He sought COVID-19 testing Nov. 24, and his symptoms have subsided, officials said.Nov. 22 was the same day the person infected in the first California case returned to the U.S. from South Africa.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-lifestyle-health-travel-1f007a419afc45c840ad1d8d80eede8f">The California traveler, who was vaccinated,&nbsp;</a>developed mild symptoms and tested positive Monday. The second person in the state didn’t need medical care and was also vaccinated.The unvaccinated adult infected with the variant in Hawaii had gotten COVID-19 a year ago. The person isn’t currently hospitalized and had “mild-to-moderate” symptoms including headache, body aches and cough, Hawaii Epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Kemble said.She wouldn’t identify the patient other to say the person lives on the island of Oahu.Omicron is classified by the World Health Organization as a “variant of concern” as scientists work to determine how it may compare with the predominant delta variant in terms of transmissibility and severity. Scientists also are studying the degree to which existing vaccines and therapies protect against omicron.Scientists in South Africa first reported it, but the samples came from several countries in southern Africa. And health officials in the Netherlands now say it was found there prior to the South Africa detection.As comfort over air travel returns, it’s inevitable that new variants like omicron will spread from country to country and state to state, said professor Danielle Ompad, an epidemiologist at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.“We shouldn’t panic, but we should be concerned,” she said.Hochul said the case involving the Minnesota visitor underlined the need for everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a booster shot if they have not already.“There is one way to address this — New Yorkers, get vaccinated, get boosted, and get ready,” the Democrat said.___

Omicron coronavirus variant found in multiple US states

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

Earlier in the day, congressional leaders announced they had finally reached an agreement to keep the government running for 11 more weeks, generally at current spending levels, while adding $7 billion to aid Afghanistan evacuees.

Once the House voted to approve the measure, senators soon announced an agreement that would allow them to vote on it quickly

“I am glad that in the end, cooler heads prevailed. The government will stay open and I thank the members of this chamber for walking us back from the brink of an avoidable, needless and costly shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 69-28.

The Democratic-led House passed the measure by a 221-212 vote. The Republican leadership urged members to vote no; the lone GOP vote for the bill came from Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

Lawmakers bemoaned the short-term fix and blamed the opposing party for the lack of progress on this year’s spending bills. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would, however, allow for negotiations on a package covering the full budget year through September.

“Make no mistake, a vote against this continuing resolution is a vote to shut government down,” DeLauro said during the House debate.

Before the votes, Biden said he had spoken with Senate leaders and he played down fears of a shutdown.

“There is a plan in place unless somebody decides to be totally erratic, and I don’t think that will happen,” Biden said.

Some Republicans opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules wanted Congress to take a hard stand against the mandated shots for workers at larger businesses, even if that meant shutting down federal offices over the weekend by blocking a request that would expedite a final vote on the spending bill.

It was just the latest instance of the brinkmanship around government funding that has triggered several costly shutdowns and partial closures over the past two decades. The longest shutdown in history happened under President Donald Trump — 35 days stretching into January 2019, when Democrats refused to approve money for his U.S-Mexico border wall. Both parties agree the stoppages are irresponsible, yet few deadlines pass without a late scramble to avoid them.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Democrats knew last month that several Republicans would use all means at their disposal to oppose legislation that funds or allows the enforcement of the employer vaccine mandate. He blamed Schumer for not negotiating and for ignoring their position.

If the choice is between “suspending nonessential functions” or standing idle while Americans lose their ability to work, “I’ll stand with American workers every time,” Lee said.

Lee and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., authored an amendment that prohibited federal dollars being spent to implement and enforce a series of vaccine mandates put in place by the Biden administration. The amendment went down to defeat with 48 yes votes and 50 no votes. But having the vote opened the door to taking up the full spending bill immediately.

Lee said millions were being forced to choose between an unwanted medical procedure and losing their job.

“Their jobs are being threatened by their own government,” Lee said.

“Let’s give employers certainty and employees peace of mind that they will still have a job this new year,” Marshall urged before the vote.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., countered that the federal government should be using every tool to keep Americans safe and that is why the Biden administration has taken steps to urge employers to make sure their workers are fully vaccinated or test negative before they come to the workplace.

“No one wants to go to work and be worried they might come home to their family with a deadly virus,” Murray said.

The White House sees the vaccinations as the quickest way to end a pandemic that has killed more than 780,000 people in the United States and is still evolving, as seen Wednesday with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-japan-192d15ef14bb3dd478bc36ab4aa325f0">the country’s first detected case&nbsp;</a>of a troubling new variant.

Courts have knocked back against the mandates, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-business-congress-e710c221e0648cfa24346c36e60e6ae9">ruling this week&nbsp;</a>blocking enforcement of a requirement for some health care workers.

For some Republicans, the court cases and lawmakers’ fears about a potentially disruptive shutdown were factors against engaging in a high-stakes shutdown.

“One of the things I’m a little concerned about is: Why would we make ourselves the object of public attention by creating the specter of a government shutdown?” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a GOP leader.

The administration has pursued vaccine requirements for several groups of workers, but the effort is facing legal setbacks.

A federal judge this week blocked the administration from enforcing a vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states. Earlier,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/appeals-court-stays-vaccine-mandate-coronavirus-biden-b235b6fa858bd23b02ab5f9c009428db">a federal appeals court temporarily halted&nbsp;</a>the OSHA requirement affecting employers with 100 or more workers.

The administration has also put in place policies requiring millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military troops, to be fully vaccinated. Those efforts are also under challenge.

Polling from The Associated Press shows&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-health-5b62c8e442ea495c58ed51d9f50d7c0d">Americans are divided</a>&nbsp;over Biden’s effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats overwhelmingly for it while most Republicans are against.

Some Republicans prefer an effort from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to vote to reject the administration’s mandates in a congressional review action expected next week, separate from the funding fight.

Separately, some health care providers protested the stopgap spending measure. Hospitals say it does nothing to shield them from Medicare payment cuts scheduled to go into effect amid uncertainty about the new omicron variant.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638531359660.png" alt="All 50 Senate Democrats voted against an&nbsp;amendment&nbsp;offered by U.S. Senator Roger Marshall that would have defunded each of Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>All 50 Senate Democrats voted against an&nbsp;amendment&nbsp;offered by U.S. Senator Roger Marshall that would have defunded each of Joe Biden’s COVID vaccine mandates.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate passed a stopgap spending bill Thursday that avoids a short-term shutdown and funds the federal government through Feb. 18 after leaders defused a partisan standoff over federal vaccine mandates. The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.Earlier in the day, congressional leaders announced they had finally reached an agreement to keep the government running for 11 more weeks, generally at current spending levels, while adding $7 billion to aid Afghanistan evacuees.Once the House voted to approve the measure, senators soon announced an agreement that would allow them to vote on it quickly“I am glad that in the end, cooler heads prevailed. The government will stay open and I thank the members of this chamber for walking us back from the brink of an avoidable, needless and costly shutdown,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.The Senate approved the measure by a vote of 69-28.The Democratic-led House passed the measure by a 221-212 vote. The Republican leadership urged members to vote no; the lone GOP vote for the bill came from Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger.Lawmakers bemoaned the short-term fix and blamed the opposing party for the lack of progress on this year’s spending bills. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said the measure would, however, allow for negotiations on a package covering the full budget year through September.“Make no mistake, a vote against this continuing resolution is a vote to shut government down,” DeLauro said during the House debate.Before the votes, Biden said he had spoken with Senate leaders and he played down fears of a shutdown.“There is a plan in place unless somebody decides to be totally erratic, and I don’t think that will happen,” Biden said.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UMo6tl7EoFs" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Some Republicans opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules wanted Congress to take a hard stand against the mandated shots for workers at larger businesses, even if that meant shutting down federal offices over the weekend by blocking a request that would expedite a final vote on the spending bill.It was just the latest instance of the brinkmanship around government funding that has triggered several costly shutdowns and partial closures over the past two decades. The longest shutdown in history happened under President Donald Trump — 35 days stretching into January 2019, when Democrats refused to approve money for his U.S-Mexico border wall. Both parties agree the stoppages are irresponsible, yet few deadlines pass without a late scramble to avoid them.Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said Democrats knew last month that several Republicans would use all means at their disposal to oppose legislation that funds or allows the enforcement of the employer vaccine mandate. He blamed Schumer for not negotiating and for ignoring their position.If the choice is between “suspending nonessential functions” or standing idle while Americans lose their ability to work, “I’ll stand with American workers every time,” Lee said.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today&#39;s vote to block the vax mandates was an opportunity to right a wrong. The results were a disappointment to not just me but the 44m Americans whose jobs are now at risk. I show up every day w/ the best interest of the great people of KS in mind &amp; represented them well today.&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1466598858499272710?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Lee and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., authored an amendment that prohibited federal dollars being spent to implement and enforce a series of vaccine mandates put in place by the Biden administration. The amendment went down to defeat with 48 yes votes and 50 no votes. But having the vote opened the door to taking up the full spending bill immediately.Lee said millions were being forced to choose between an unwanted medical procedure and losing their job.“Their jobs are being threatened by their own government,” Lee said.“Let’s give employers certainty and employees peace of mind that they will still have a job this new year,” Marshall urged before the vote.Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., countered that the federal government should be using every tool to keep Americans safe and that is why the Biden administration has taken steps to urge employers to make sure their workers are fully vaccinated or test negative before they come to the workplace.“No one wants to go to work and be worried they might come home to their family with a deadly virus,” Murray said.The White House sees the vaccinations as the quickest way to end a pandemic that has killed more than 780,000 people in the United States and is still evolving, as seen Wednesday with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-japan-192d15ef14bb3dd478bc36ab4aa325f0">the country’s first detected case&nbsp;</a>of a troubling new variant.Courts have knocked back against the mandates, including a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-business-congress-e710c221e0648cfa24346c36e60e6ae9">ruling this week&nbsp;</a>blocking enforcement of a requirement for some health care workers.For some Republicans, the court cases and lawmakers’ fears about a potentially disruptive shutdown were factors against engaging in a high-stakes shutdown.“One of the things I’m a little concerned about is: Why would we make ourselves the object of public attention by creating the specter of a government shutdown?” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a GOP leader.The administration has pursued vaccine requirements for several groups of workers, but the effort is facing legal setbacks.A federal judge this week blocked the administration from enforcing a vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states. Earlier,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/appeals-court-stays-vaccine-mandate-coronavirus-biden-b235b6fa858bd23b02ab5f9c009428db">a federal appeals court temporarily halted&nbsp;</a>the OSHA requirement affecting employers with 100 or more workers.The administration has also put in place policies requiring millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military troops, to be fully vaccinated. Those efforts are also under challenge.Polling from The Associated Press shows&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-health-5b62c8e442ea495c58ed51d9f50d7c0d">Americans are divided</a>&nbsp;over Biden’s effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats overwhelmingly for it while most Republicans are against.Some Republicans prefer an effort from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to vote to reject the administration’s mandates in a congressional review action expected next week, separate from the funding fight.Separately, some health care providers protested the stopgap spending measure. Hospitals say it does nothing to shield them from Medicare payment cuts scheduled to go into effect amid uncertainty about the new omicron variant.

🎥 Senate passes bill to avoid shutdown, rejects Marshall vax mandate amendment 

DENVER (AP) — Colorado became the third U.S. state to detect a case of the omicron variant in a woman who had recently traveled to Africa, state health officials announced Thursday.

The Colorado case comes after two other confirmed omicron variant cases were found in California and Minnesota.

Officials in Colorado detected the new case in a woman who is a resident of Arapahoe County, an area just southeast of Denver. She recently traveled as a tourist to several countries in Africa, including South Africa, the state health department said in a statement.

The woman is fully vaccinated, but had not received her booster shot yet, they said.

She is experiencing mild symptoms, health officials said. The woman’s close contacts in Colorado have tested negative, they said.

The Colorado health department is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate and coordinate contact tracing efforts domestically and internationally.

Given the realities of international travel, scientists said it was inevitable that the omicron variant would be discovered in the U.S., and they believe it may have been spreading in the country before it was detected.

Scientists monitor variants and the coronavirus’ evolution through genetic tests that are separate from the kinds of tests used to determine whether someone has COVID-19. This genetic sequencing allows scientists to monitor how the virus changes over time.

The coronavirus is continually evolving, but most mutations are inconsequential. At this point, scientists are trying to figure out whether omicron spreads more easily or causes more severe disease than the delta variant that now dominates in the U.S. They are also studying how well the current vaccines work against it.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1638148803210.png" alt="&nbsp;3D structure of spike with amino acid changes in Omicron -photo courtesy GISAID" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;3D structure of spike with amino acid changes in Omicron -photo courtesy GISAID</figcaption>
 </figure>DENVER (AP) — Colorado became the third U.S. state to detect a case of the omicron variant in a woman who had recently traveled to Africa, state health officials announced Thursday.The Colorado case comes after two other confirmed omicron variant cases were found in California and Minnesota.Officials in Colorado detected the new case in a woman who is a resident of Arapahoe County, an area just southeast of Denver. She recently traveled as a tourist to several countries in Africa, including South Africa, the state health department said in a statement.The woman is fully vaccinated, but had not received her booster shot yet, they said.She is experiencing mild symptoms, health officials said. The woman’s close contacts in Colorado have tested negative, they said.The Colorado health department is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate and coordinate contact tracing efforts domestically and internationally.Given the realities of international travel, scientists said it was inevitable that the omicron variant would be discovered in the U.S., and they believe it may have been spreading in the country before it was detected.Scientists monitor variants and the coronavirus’ evolution through genetic tests that are separate from the kinds of tests used to determine whether someone has COVID-19. This genetic sequencing allows scientists to monitor how the virus changes over time.The coronavirus is continually evolving, but most mutations are inconsequential. At this point, scientists are trying to figure out whether omicron spreads more easily or causes more severe disease than the delta variant that now dominates in the U.S. They are also studying how well the current vaccines work against it.

Colorado becomes 3rd state to detect omicron variant

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal crash identified 55-year-old Tracey Crawford of Wichita 

Just after 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to an injury accident at the intersection of Rock and Funston. On arrival, they located Crawford deceased after an apparent collision with a vehicle.

Investigators learned that Crawford was attempting to cross Rock Road in an electric wheelchair near Funston, from West to East, when she was struck by a Northbound SUV. The occupants of the SUV and numerous witnesses remained on scene to assist with the investigation.

This is the 42nd vehicular fatality for this year and the 11th pedestrian fatality, according to Macy.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a woman in a motorized wheelchair was hit and killed by a vehicle as she crossed a Wichita road, marking the city's second crash death of a pedestrian in a wheelchair since mid-November. 

Police say the crash happened Wednesday afternoon at an intersection in east Wichita, just north of McConnell Air Force Base. Police say the 55-year-old woman was crossing Rock Road when she was hit by a sport utility vehicle. 

There is no crosswalk at the intersection. The woman, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. Police say the SUV driver is cooperating with the investigation. On Nov. 15, a 71-year-old wheelchair-bound man died after being hit by a car near the Wichita State University campus

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638400075176.png" alt="First responders at the scene of the accident-photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>First responders at the scene of the accident-photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal crash identified 55-year-old Tracey Crawford of Wichita Just after 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to an injury accident at the intersection of Rock and Funston. On arrival, they located Crawford deceased after an apparent collision with a vehicle.Investigators learned that Crawford was attempting to cross Rock Road in an electric wheelchair near Funston, from West to East, when she was struck by a Northbound SUV. The occupants of the SUV and numerous witnesses remained on scene to assist with the investigation.This is the 42nd vehicular fatality for this year and the 11th pedestrian fatality, according to Macy.WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Police say a woman in a motorized wheelchair was hit and killed by a vehicle as she crossed a Wichita road, marking the city's second crash death of a pedestrian in a wheelchair since mid-November. Police say the crash happened Wednesday afternoon at an intersection in east Wichita, just north of McConnell Air Force Base. Police say the 55-year-old woman was crossing Rock Road when she was hit by a sport utility vehicle. There is no crosswalk at the intersection. The woman, whose name has not been released, died at the scene. Police say the SUV driver is cooperating with the investigation. On Nov. 15, a 71-year-old wheelchair-bound man died after being hit by a car near the Wichita State University campus

Police ID Kan. woman killed crossing street in motorized wheelchair

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?516453-1/president-biden-outlines-strategy-combat-covid-19-omicron-variant&amp;live">Click here to watch</a> the President's comments

BETHESDA (AP) — President Joe Biden kicked off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-boosters-adults-cdc-fda-pfizer-moderna-34aabde2c1c5a88c7763fa1dac77df5f">COVID-19 booster shots</a>&nbsp;Thursday as he unveiled his winter plans for combating&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the coronavirus</a>&nbsp;and its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-new-variant-omicron-explainer-116ef818ac4a8e7bc23bb28d6511ecad">omicron variant</a>&nbsp;with enhanced availability of shots and vaccines but without major new restrictions.

The plan includes a requirement for private insurers to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests and a tightening of testing requirements for people entering the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status. But as some other nations&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-new-variant-southern-africa-omicron-33fa0983af6c9f961a186f4f4bb1147d">close their borders or reimpose lockdowns</a>, officials said Biden was not moving to impose additional restrictions beyond his recommendation that Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-infectious-diseases-anthony-fauci-44fab8b3448ad31f0865aebb26f91741">wear masks indoors</a>&nbsp;in public settings.

Biden traveled to the National Institutes of Health outside Washington on Thursday for a briefing on the virus with his COVID-19 response team and scientific advisers before delivering remarks outlining his strategy.

Biden said Wednesday that going forward the U.S. would fight the virus “not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.”

The White House released details of Biden’s plan early Thursday, in advance of the speech.

The Biden administration has come to view widespread adoption of booster shots as its most effective tool for combating COVID-19 this winter. Medical experts say boosters provide enhanced and more enduring protection against COVID-19, including new variants.

“There’s a national campaign to get the 100 million eligible Americans who have not yet gotten their booster a booster,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Thursday on CBS.

Much remains unknown about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-japan-192d15ef14bb3dd478bc36ab4aa325f0">the omicron variant</a>, including whether it is more contagious, whether it makes people more seriously ill and whether it can thwart the vaccines.

About 100 million Americans are eligible for boosters under current U.S. policy, with more becoming eligible every day. Convincing those who have already been vaccinated to get another dose, officials believe, will be far easier than vaccinating the roughly 43 million adult Americans who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-science-health-government-and-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-36ea18ee3a3397da7edd5b8249f0e477">haven’t gotten a shot</a>&nbsp;despite widespread public pressure campaigns to roll up their sleeves.

And while Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-health-ac0826d72c7c6653154ea157c2148eb1">vaccination-or-testing requirement for workers at larger employers</a>&nbsp;has been held up by legal challenges, the president on Thursday will renew his call for businesses to move ahead and impose their own mandates on workers so they can stay open without outbreaks.

In a effort to encourage more people to take the booster doses, the Biden administration is stepping up direct outreach to seniors —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-bypass-some-older-adults-374da36856dd9428643db2c3e85564da">the population most vulnerable</a>&nbsp;to the virus. The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services will send a notice to all 63 million Medicare beneficiaries encouraging them to get booster doses, the White House said. The AARP will work with the administration on education campaigns for seniors.

So far about 42 million Americans, about half of them seniors, have received a booster dose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week broadened its booster dose recommendation to cover all Americans aged at least 18 starting six months after their second dose of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna.

The White House said the CDC was also developing new guidance for schools in an effort to reduce or eliminate current quarantine requirements for those are not fully vaccinated and exposed to the virus. The new policies, which the White House said will be released in the coming weeks, could include so-called “test-to-stay” policies, in which those who are considered close contacts can continue to go to school but wear masks and undergo serial testing, in a bid to minimize learning loss and disruption.

The administration’s upcoming rule to require private insurers to cover at-home testing is still being drafted, and many details remain to be worked out, including under what criteria they will be reimbursable, officials said.

Those insured by Medicare and Medicaid would not be eligible, but the White House said as many as 150 million people with private insurance would see easier and cheaper access to the at-home tests. The administration said it is making 50 million COVID-19 tests free for older people and other vulnerable groups for pickup at senior centers and community sites.

Beginning next week, the White House said, all travelers to the U.S., regardless of nationality or vaccination status, will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day of boarding their flights. That’s down from three days right now for those who have been vaccinated, in an added precaution against the omicron variant. But the White House has shelved tougher options, like requiring post-arrival testing or requiring quarantines upon arrival in the U.S.

The White House has not yet moved to require domestic U.S. travelers to be vaccinated or get tested, as officials believe such a requirement would be immediately mired in litigation.

“We base our decisions on the advice of the health and medical experts, what’s going to be most effective and what we can implement,” said press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday. “What’s most implementable, so we look at a range of factors as we make decisions about what steps we can put in place.”

Biden is also extending his directive requiring masks on airplanes and other public transit, which had been set to expire in January, through at least the middle of March, the White House said.

The administration is also informing states that it has more than 60 teams available to help them or their municipalities address surges in cases and public health shortages heading into the winter, with half aimed at bolstering hospital services and 20 targeted at supporting life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638470662002.png" alt="President Biden said it is a sad commentary that anti-covid measures are political.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>President Biden said it is a sad commentary that anti-covid measures are political.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?516453-1/president-biden-outlines-strategy-combat-covid-19-omicron-variant&amp;live">Click here to watch</a> the President's commentsBETHESDA (AP) — President Joe Biden kicked off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-boosters-adults-cdc-fda-pfizer-moderna-34aabde2c1c5a88c7763fa1dac77df5f">COVID-19 booster shots</a>&nbsp;Thursday as he unveiled his winter plans for combating&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">the coronavirus</a>&nbsp;and its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-new-variant-omicron-explainer-116ef818ac4a8e7bc23bb28d6511ecad">omicron variant</a>&nbsp;with enhanced availability of shots and vaccines but without major new restrictions.The plan includes a requirement for private insurers to cover the cost of at-home COVID-19 tests and a tightening of testing requirements for people entering the U.S. regardless of their vaccination status. But as some other nations&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-new-variant-southern-africa-omicron-33fa0983af6c9f961a186f4f4bb1147d">close their borders or reimpose lockdowns</a>, officials said Biden was not moving to impose additional restrictions beyond his recommendation that Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-infectious-diseases-anthony-fauci-44fab8b3448ad31f0865aebb26f91741">wear masks indoors</a>&nbsp;in public settings.Biden traveled to the National Institutes of Health outside Washington on Thursday for a briefing on the virus with his COVID-19 response team and scientific advisers before delivering remarks outlining his strategy.Biden said Wednesday that going forward the U.S. would fight the virus “not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.”The White House released details of Biden’s plan early Thursday, in advance of the speech.The Biden administration has come to view widespread adoption of booster shots as its most effective tool for combating COVID-19 this winter. Medical experts say boosters provide enhanced and more enduring protection against COVID-19, including new variants.“There’s a national campaign to get the 100 million eligible Americans who have not yet gotten their booster a booster,” White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients said Thursday on CBS.Much remains unknown about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-japan-192d15ef14bb3dd478bc36ab4aa325f0">the omicron variant</a>, including whether it is more contagious, whether it makes people more seriously ill and whether it can thwart the vaccines.About 100 million Americans are eligible for boosters under current U.S. policy, with more becoming eligible every day. Convincing those who have already been vaccinated to get another dose, officials believe, will be far easier than vaccinating the roughly 43 million adult Americans who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-science-health-government-and-politics-coronavirus-pandemic-36ea18ee3a3397da7edd5b8249f0e477">haven’t gotten a shot</a>&nbsp;despite widespread public pressure campaigns to roll up their sleeves.And while Biden’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-health-ac0826d72c7c6653154ea157c2148eb1">vaccination-or-testing requirement for workers at larger employers</a>&nbsp;has been held up by legal challenges, the president on Thursday will renew his call for businesses to move ahead and impose their own mandates on workers so they can stay open without outbreaks.In a effort to encourage more people to take the booster doses, the Biden administration is stepping up direct outreach to seniors —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-vaccine-bypass-some-older-adults-374da36856dd9428643db2c3e85564da">the population most vulnerable</a>&nbsp;to the virus. The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services will send a notice to all 63 million Medicare beneficiaries encouraging them to get booster doses, the White House said. The AARP will work with the administration on education campaigns for seniors.So far about 42 million Americans, about half of them seniors, have received a booster dose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week broadened its booster dose recommendation to cover all Americans aged at least 18 starting six months after their second dose of the mRNA vaccines from Pfizer or Moderna.The White House said the CDC was also developing new guidance for schools in an effort to reduce or eliminate current quarantine requirements for those are not fully vaccinated and exposed to the virus. The new policies, which the White House said will be released in the coming weeks, could include so-called “test-to-stay” policies, in which those who are considered close contacts can continue to go to school but wear masks and undergo serial testing, in a bid to minimize learning loss and disruption.The administration’s upcoming rule to require private insurers to cover at-home testing is still being drafted, and many details remain to be worked out, including under what criteria they will be reimbursable, officials said.Those insured by Medicare and Medicaid would not be eligible, but the White House said as many as 150 million people with private insurance would see easier and cheaper access to the at-home tests. The administration said it is making 50 million COVID-19 tests free for older people and other vulnerable groups for pickup at senior centers and community sites.Beginning next week, the White House said, all travelers to the U.S., regardless of nationality or vaccination status, will need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test within one day of boarding their flights. That’s down from three days right now for those who have been vaccinated, in an added precaution against the omicron variant. But the White House has shelved tougher options, like requiring post-arrival testing or requiring quarantines upon arrival in the U.S.The White House has not yet moved to require domestic U.S. travelers to be vaccinated or get tested, as officials believe such a requirement would be immediately mired in litigation.“We base our decisions on the advice of the health and medical experts, what’s going to be most effective and what we can implement,” said press secretary Jen Psaki on Thursday. “What’s most implementable, so we look at a range of factors as we make decisions about what steps we can put in place.”Biden is also extending his directive requiring masks on airplanes and other public transit, which had been set to expire in January, through at least the middle of March, the White House said.The administration is also informing states that it has more than 60 teams available to help them or their municipalities address surges in cases and public health shortages heading into the winter, with half aimed at bolstering hospital services and 20 targeted at supporting life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments.

🎥 Biden launches plan to battle winter resurgence of COVID

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Kellogg’s has reached a tentative agreement with its 1,400 cereal plant workers that will deliver 3% raises and end a nearly two-month-long strike. 

The Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said Thursday the five-year deal with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union also includes cost of living adjustments in the later years of the contract and it maintains the workers’ current health benefits. 

The deal covers workers at all four plants in Battle Creek; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee where all of Kellogg’s well-known brands of cereal, including Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies. 

The workers who have been on strike since Oct. 5 will vote Sunday on the new contract.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Kellogg’s has reached a tentative agreement with its 1,400 cereal plant workers that will deliver 3% raises and end a nearly two-month-long strike. The Battle Creek, Michigan-based company said Thursday the five-year deal with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union also includes cost of living adjustments in the later years of the contract and it maintains the workers’ current health benefits. The deal covers workers at all four plants in Battle Creek; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Memphis, Tennessee where all of Kellogg’s well-known brands of cereal, including Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies. The workers who have been on strike since Oct. 5 will vote Sunday on the new contract.

Striking Kellogg's workers to get 3% raises in new contract

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal incident and have identified 50-year-old Stephen Long of Seguin, Texas as the victim.

Just after 2:00 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a disturbance call at Blu nightclub in the 8700 block of W. Maple in Wichita, according to Officer Trevor Macy.&nbsp; Police located Long in the parking lot, unresponsive with a head injury.

Investigators learned that Long was leaving the bar and got into an argument with someone in the parking lot. A 34-year-old man later identified as Christopher Parish of Wichita went up to Long and shoved him, causing him to fall backward and hit his head, according to Macy.

EMS&nbsp;pronounced Long deceased at the scene.

Police contacted Parish at the scene and transported him to City Hall and subsequently booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of involuntary manslaughter.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638381464881.png" alt="Police at the scene of the early Wednesday morning investigation -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police at the scene of the early Wednesday morning investigation -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal incident and have identified 50-year-old Stephen Long of Seguin, Texas as the victim.Just after 2:00 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a disturbance call at Blu nightclub in the 8700 block of W. Maple in Wichita, according to Officer Trevor Macy.&nbsp; Police located Long in the parking lot, unresponsive with a head injury.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638392716488.png" alt="Parish-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Parish-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Investigators learned that Long was leaving the bar and got into an argument with someone in the parking lot. A 34-year-old man later identified as Christopher Parish of Wichita went up to Long and shoved him, causing him to fall backward and hit his head, according to Macy.EMS&nbsp;pronounced Long deceased at the scene.Police contacted Parish at the scene and transported him to City Hall and subsequently booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Police: Man dies after he is shoved in Kan. bar parking lot argument

WASHINGTON (AP) — Greeks who are over age 60 and refuse&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">coronavirus</a>&nbsp;vaccinations could be hit with monthly fines of more than one-quarter of their pensions — a get-tough policy that the country’s politicians say will cost votes but save lives.

In Israel, potential carriers of the new omicron variant&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-pandemics-israel-coronavirus-pandemic-tel-aviv-336a805c6cda2313468cbe1ad052caee">could be tracked</a>&nbsp;by the nation’s domestic security agency in seeming defiance of a Supreme Court ruling from the last go-round.

Weekly protests in the Netherlands over the country’s 5 p.m. lockdown and other new restrictions have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-riots-netherlands-rotterdam-8dec504840df02613cd6a7f3236e1e91">descended into violence</a>, despite what appears to be overwhelming acceptance of the rules.

With the delta variant of COVID-19 pushing up cases in Europe and growing fears over the omicron variant, governments around the world are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/omicron-variant-travel-industry-d90a5190aefa24ae6e076b13e9dd22d4">weighing new measures</a>&nbsp;for populations tired of hearing about restrictions and vaccines.

It’s a thorny calculus&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-riots-netherlands-rotterdam-445b8e7e0b3c53081d6525c83dc4dbca">made more difficult</a>&nbsp;by the prospect of backlash, increased social divisions and, for many politicians, the fear of being voted out of office.

“I know the frustration that we all feel with this omicron variant, the sense of exhaustion that we could be going through this all over again,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday, two days after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-england-boris-johnson-scotland-8886fa8e4414d5993ddc618781e0456f">government announced that masks would be mandatory</a>&nbsp;again in stores and on public transportation and required all visitors from abroad to undergo a COVID-19 test and quarantine. “We’re trying to take a balanced and proportioned approach.”

New restrictions, or variations on the old ones, are cropping up around the world, especially in Europe, where leaders are at pains to explain what looks like a failed promise: that mass vaccinations would mean an end to widely loathed limitations.

“People need normality. They need families, they need to see people, obviously safely, socially distancing, but I really think, this Christmas now, people have had enough,” said Belinda Storey, who runs a stall at a Christmas market in Nottingham, England.

In the Netherlands, where the curfew went into effect last week, mounted police patrol to break up demonstrations against the new lockdown, which is among the world’s strictest. But most people appeared resigned to rush through errands and head home.

“The only thing we can do is to listen to the rules, follow them and hope it’s not getting worse. For me it’s no problem. I’m a nurse. I know how sick people get,” said Wilma van Kampen.

In Greece, residents over 60 face fines of 100 euros ($113) a month&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-greece-52f34d671f16b23e075a1f4b52f747a2">if they fail to get vaccinated</a>. The fines will be tacked onto tax bills in January.

About 17% of Greeks over 60 are unvaccinated despite various efforts to prod them to get their shots, and nine in 10 Greeks currently dying of COVID-19 are over 60.

“I don’t care whether the measure will cost me some extra votes in the elections,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday after lawmakers passed the measure. “I am convinced that we are doing the right thing, and I am convinced that this policy will save lives.”

Employing a carrot instead of a stick, Slovakia’s government is proposing to give people 60 and older a 500-euro ($568) bonus if they get vaccinated.

In Israel, the government this week approved resuming the use of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-technology-travel-health-lifestyle-36287673df09cdc3630e5dd1e05cdc7c">controversial phone-monitoring technology</a>&nbsp;to perform contact tracing of people confirmed to have the omicron variant.

Israeli rights groups have decried the use of the technology as a violation of privacy rights, and others have noted that its accuracy in indoor places is flawed, leading to large numbers of people being wrongly flagged. The Supreme Court earlier this year issued a ruling limiting its use.

“We need to use this tool in extreme situations, and I am not convinced we are in that kind of situation,” Justice Minister Gideon Saar told Israeli public broadcaster Kan this week.

In South Africa, which alerted the World Health Organization to the omicron variant, previous restrictions included curfews and a ban on alcohol sales. This time, President Cyril Ramaphosa is simply calling on more people to get vaccines “to help restore the social freedoms we all yearn for.”

In the U.S., there is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-infectious-diseases-anthony-fauci-44fab8b3448ad31f0865aebb26f91741">little appetite in either political party</a>&nbsp;for a return to lockdowns or strict contact tracing. Enforcing even simple measures like mask-wearing has become a political flashpoint. And Republicans are suing to block the Biden administration’s new get-vaccinated-or-get-tested requirement for large employers.

President Joe Biden, whose&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-lifestyle-health-c6c9d651f631464e168f7a47b6e353bf">political fate may well hinge on controlling the pandemic</a>, has used a combination of pressure and urgent appeals to induce people to get their first shots or a booster. Also, the administration is working toward requiring that all air travelers to the U.S. be tested within a day before boarding their flight, instead of the current three days.

But Biden has said the U.S. will fight COVID-19 and the new variant “not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.”

“If people are vaccinated and wear their masks, there’s no need for the lockdowns,” he added.

The rise of the new variant makes little difference to Mark Christensen, a grain buyer for an ethanol plant in Nebraska. He rejects any vaccination mandate and doesn’t understand why it would be needed. In any event, he said, most businesses in his corner of the state are too small to fall under the regulations.

“If they were just encouraging me to take it, that’s one thing,” Christensen said. “But I believe in freedom of choice, not decisions by force.”

Chile has taken a harder line since the emergence of omicron: People over 18 must receive a booster dose every six months to keep their pass that allows access to restaurants, hotels and public gatherings.

And Chile never dropped its requirement to wear masks in public — probably the most common renewed restriction around the world.

Dr. Madhukar Pai, of McGill University’s School of Population and Public Health, said that masks are an easy and pain-free way of keeping transmission down, but that cheap, at-home tests need to be much more widespread, in both rich and poor countries.

He said both approaches give people a sense of control over their own behavior that is lost with a lockdown and make it easier to accept the need to do things like cancel a party or stay inside.

Pai said requiring boosters universally, as is essentially the case in Israel, Chile and many countries in Europe, including France, will only prolong the pandemic by making it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/65898ec544463b26ca78ba1e696edf19">harder to get first doses to the developing world</a>. That raises the odds of still more variants.

Lockdowns, he said, should be the very last choice.

“Lockdowns only come up when a system is failing,” he said. “We do it when the hospital system is about to collapse. It’s a last resort that indicates you have failed to do all the right things.”

That’s not&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-business-taiwan-wuhan-a5bf3ccccf435a5adf45faa57758c9f7">how lockdowns are seen</a>&nbsp;in communist China, which allows little dissent. At each new outbreak, entire cities are sealed, and sometimes millions of people undergo mass testing. In the strictest lockdowns, people are forbidden to leave their homes, and groceries are brought to their door.

So far, China hasn’t seen the need for new restrictions in response to the omicron variant. The head of China’s Center for Disease Control’s Epidemiology unit, Wu Zunyou, said omicron, for now, poses a manageable threat, and “no matter what variant, our public health measures are effective.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638445855822.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Greeks who are over age 60 and refuse&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">coronavirus</a>&nbsp;vaccinations could be hit with monthly fines of more than one-quarter of their pensions — a get-tough policy that the country’s politicians say will cost votes but save lives.In Israel, potential carriers of the new omicron variant&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-pandemics-israel-coronavirus-pandemic-tel-aviv-336a805c6cda2313468cbe1ad052caee">could be tracked</a>&nbsp;by the nation’s domestic security agency in seeming defiance of a Supreme Court ruling from the last go-round.Weekly protests in the Netherlands over the country’s 5 p.m. lockdown and other new restrictions have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-riots-netherlands-rotterdam-8dec504840df02613cd6a7f3236e1e91">descended into violence</a>, despite what appears to be overwhelming acceptance of the rules.With the delta variant of COVID-19 pushing up cases in Europe and growing fears over the omicron variant, governments around the world are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/omicron-variant-travel-industry-d90a5190aefa24ae6e076b13e9dd22d4">weighing new measures</a>&nbsp;for populations tired of hearing about restrictions and vaccines.It’s a thorny calculus&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-riots-netherlands-rotterdam-445b8e7e0b3c53081d6525c83dc4dbca">made more difficult</a>&nbsp;by the prospect of backlash, increased social divisions and, for many politicians, the fear of being voted out of office.“I know the frustration that we all feel with this omicron variant, the sense of exhaustion that we could be going through this all over again,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Tuesday, two days after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-england-boris-johnson-scotland-8886fa8e4414d5993ddc618781e0456f">government announced that masks would be mandatory</a>&nbsp;again in stores and on public transportation and required all visitors from abroad to undergo a COVID-19 test and quarantine. “We’re trying to take a balanced and proportioned approach.”New restrictions, or variations on the old ones, are cropping up around the world, especially in Europe, where leaders are at pains to explain what looks like a failed promise: that mass vaccinations would mean an end to widely loathed limitations.“People need normality. They need families, they need to see people, obviously safely, socially distancing, but I really think, this Christmas now, people have had enough,” said Belinda Storey, who runs a stall at a Christmas market in Nottingham, England.In the Netherlands, where the curfew went into effect last week, mounted police patrol to break up demonstrations against the new lockdown, which is among the world’s strictest. But most people appeared resigned to rush through errands and head home.“The only thing we can do is to listen to the rules, follow them and hope it’s not getting worse. For me it’s no problem. I’m a nurse. I know how sick people get,” said Wilma van Kampen.In Greece, residents over 60 face fines of 100 euros ($113) a month&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-europe-greece-52f34d671f16b23e075a1f4b52f747a2">if they fail to get vaccinated</a>. The fines will be tacked onto tax bills in January.About 17% of Greeks over 60 are unvaccinated despite various efforts to prod them to get their shots, and nine in 10 Greeks currently dying of COVID-19 are over 60.“I don’t care whether the measure will cost me some extra votes in the elections,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday after lawmakers passed the measure. “I am convinced that we are doing the right thing, and I am convinced that this policy will save lives.”Employing a carrot instead of a stick, Slovakia’s government is proposing to give people 60 and older a 500-euro ($568) bonus if they get vaccinated.In Israel, the government this week approved resuming the use of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-technology-travel-health-lifestyle-36287673df09cdc3630e5dd1e05cdc7c">controversial phone-monitoring technology</a>&nbsp;to perform contact tracing of people confirmed to have the omicron variant.Israeli rights groups have decried the use of the technology as a violation of privacy rights, and others have noted that its accuracy in indoor places is flawed, leading to large numbers of people being wrongly flagged. The Supreme Court earlier this year issued a ruling limiting its use.“We need to use this tool in extreme situations, and I am not convinced we are in that kind of situation,” Justice Minister Gideon Saar told Israeli public broadcaster Kan this week.In South Africa, which alerted the World Health Organization to the omicron variant, previous restrictions included curfews and a ban on alcohol sales. This time, President Cyril Ramaphosa is simply calling on more people to get vaccines “to help restore the social freedoms we all yearn for.”In the U.S., there is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-infectious-diseases-anthony-fauci-44fab8b3448ad31f0865aebb26f91741">little appetite in either political party</a>&nbsp;for a return to lockdowns or strict contact tracing. Enforcing even simple measures like mask-wearing has become a political flashpoint. And Republicans are suing to block the Biden administration’s new get-vaccinated-or-get-tested requirement for large employers.President Joe Biden, whose&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-business-lifestyle-health-c6c9d651f631464e168f7a47b6e353bf">political fate may well hinge on controlling the pandemic</a>, has used a combination of pressure and urgent appeals to induce people to get their first shots or a booster. Also, the administration is working toward requiring that all air travelers to the U.S. be tested within a day before boarding their flight, instead of the current three days.But Biden has said the U.S. will fight COVID-19 and the new variant “not with shutdowns or lockdowns but with more widespread vaccinations, boosters, testing, and more.”“If people are vaccinated and wear their masks, there’s no need for the lockdowns,” he added.The rise of the new variant makes little difference to Mark Christensen, a grain buyer for an ethanol plant in Nebraska. He rejects any vaccination mandate and doesn’t understand why it would be needed. In any event, he said, most businesses in his corner of the state are too small to fall under the regulations.“If they were just encouraging me to take it, that’s one thing,” Christensen said. “But I believe in freedom of choice, not decisions by force.”Chile has taken a harder line since the emergence of omicron: People over 18 must receive a booster dose every six months to keep their pass that allows access to restaurants, hotels and public gatherings.And Chile never dropped its requirement to wear masks in public — probably the most common renewed restriction around the world.Dr. Madhukar Pai, of McGill University’s School of Population and Public Health, said that masks are an easy and pain-free way of keeping transmission down, but that cheap, at-home tests need to be much more widespread, in both rich and poor countries.He said both approaches give people a sense of control over their own behavior that is lost with a lockdown and make it easier to accept the need to do things like cancel a party or stay inside.Pai said requiring boosters universally, as is essentially the case in Israel, Chile and many countries in Europe, including France, will only prolong the pandemic by making it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/65898ec544463b26ca78ba1e696edf19">harder to get first doses to the developing world</a>. That raises the odds of still more variants.Lockdowns, he said, should be the very last choice.“Lockdowns only come up when a system is failing,” he said. “We do it when the hospital system is about to collapse. It’s a last resort that indicates you have failed to do all the right things.”That’s not&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-immigration-business-taiwan-wuhan-a5bf3ccccf435a5adf45faa57758c9f7">how lockdowns are seen</a>&nbsp;in communist China, which allows little dissent. At each new outbreak, entire cities are sealed, and sometimes millions of people undergo mass testing. In the strictest lockdowns, people are forbidden to leave their homes, and groceries are brought to their door.So far, China hasn’t seen the need for new restrictions in response to the omicron variant. The head of China’s Center for Disease Control’s Epidemiology unit, Wu Zunyou, said omicron, for now, poses a manageable threat, and “no matter what variant, our public health measures are effective.”___

Omicron and delta spell return of unpopular restrictions

The
 Federal Trade Commission is sending 71,899 checks totaling more than 
$1.8 million to consumers, including many older Americans, tricked into 
paying for supposedly free in-home medical alert devices. The money 
comes from a settlement with New York-based Lifewatch, Inc.<a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/DoNotCallComplaints/Maps"></a>

The<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2015/07/ftc-florida-attorney-general-sue-stop-deceptive-robocalls">FTC’s complaint</a>,
 filed jointly with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, alleged that 
the defendants bombarded consumers with at least a billion unsolicited 
robocalls to pitch supposedly “free” medical alert systems. These
 pre-recorded messages claimed that Lifewatch’s medical alert system was
 endorsed or recommended by reputable organizations like the American 
Heart Association. The company’s telemarketers often told consumers that
 a medical alert system had been purchased for them, and they could 
receive it “at no cost whatsoever.” Consumers eventually learned that 
they were responsible for monthly monitoring fees and that it was 
difficult to cancel without paying a penalty.

In addition to imposing the monetary penalty to provide consumer refunds, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/142_3123_lifewatch_-_final_order_0.pdf">the order settling the FTC’s charges</a> bans
 the Lifewatch defendants from telemarketing and prohibits them from 
misrepresenting the terms associated with the sale of any product or 
service.

The
 FTC is returning $1,808,260 to defrauded consumers. All checks are for 
$25.15, and will expire in 90 days, as indicated on the check. 
Recipients who have questions about their refund can call the 
administrator, Analytics, LLC, at 1-866-484-1466. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check. 

In
 2020, FTC actions led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers
 across the country, but the United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the FTC lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief in federal court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission works to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-competition">promote competition</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection">stop deceptive and unfair business practices and scams</a>, and <a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/">educate consumers</a>. Report fraud, scams, or bad business practices at <a href="https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/">ReportFraud.ftc.gov</a>. Get consumer advice at <a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/">consumer.ftc.gov</a>. Also, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/social-media">follow the FTC on social media</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/stay-connected">subscribe to press releases</a>, and read the FTC’s <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs">blogs</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619632629588.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>FTCThe
 Federal Trade Commission is sending 71,899 checks totaling more than 
$1.8 million to consumers, including many older Americans, tricked into 
paying for supposedly free in-home medical alert devices. The money 
comes from a settlement with New York-based Lifewatch, Inc.<a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/DoNotCallComplaints/Maps"></a> The<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2015/07/ftc-florida-attorney-general-sue-stop-deceptive-robocalls">FTC’s complaint</a>,
 filed jointly with the Florida Attorney General’s Office, alleged that 
the defendants bombarded consumers with at least a billion unsolicited 
robocalls to pitch supposedly “free” medical alert systems. These
 pre-recorded messages claimed that Lifewatch’s medical alert system was
 endorsed or recommended by reputable organizations like the American 
Heart Association. The company’s telemarketers often told consumers that
 a medical alert system had been purchased for them, and they could 
receive it “at no cost whatsoever.” Consumers eventually learned that 
they were responsible for monthly monitoring fees and that it was 
difficult to cancel without paying a penalty.In addition to imposing the monetary penalty to provide consumer refunds, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/cases/142_3123_lifewatch_-_final_order_0.pdf">the order settling the FTC’s charges</a> bans
 the Lifewatch defendants from telemarketing and prohibits them from 
misrepresenting the terms associated with the sale of any product or 
service.The
 FTC is returning $1,808,260 to defrauded consumers. All checks are for 
$25.15, and will expire in 90 days, as indicated on the check. 
Recipients who have questions about their refund can call the 
administrator, Analytics, LLC, at 1-866-484-1466. The FTC never requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a refund check. In
 2020, FTC actions led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers
 across the country, but the United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the FTC lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief in federal court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.The Federal Trade Commission works to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-competition">promote competition</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection">stop deceptive and unfair business practices and scams</a>, and <a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/">educate consumers</a>. Report fraud, scams, or bad business practices at <a href="https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/">ReportFraud.ftc.gov</a>. Get consumer advice at <a href="https://consumer.ftc.gov/">consumer.ftc.gov</a>. Also, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/social-media">follow the FTC on social media</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/stay-connected">subscribe to press releases</a>, and read the FTC’s <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs">blogs</a>.

FTC: $1.8M in refunds sent to victims of telemarketing scheme

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government could be heading for temporary shutdown, with Republicans poised to stall a must-pass funding bill in their effort to force a debate in Congress on rolling back the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandates for some workers.

Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate who are opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules want Congress to take a hardline stand against the mandated shots, even if it means shutting down federal offices over the weekend. But not all Republicans are on board. One GOP senator after another left a private lunch meeting Wednesday voicing concern they will be blamed for even a short stoppage of the federal government that will not play well with the public.

Friday is a government funding deadline and the Republican objections — particularly in the Senate, where any single senator can hold up proceedings to stall a vote — could delay passage of legislation needed to keep federal operations running.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber saying Democrats are prepared to support the funding bill and urging Republicans not to engage in shutdown politics.

“Our Republican colleagues, meanwhile, can either work with us to move the process quickly through the chamber, or they can engage in obstructive tactics that will make a government shutdown almost a certainty,” said Schumer, D-N.Y.

Political backlash over the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccine mandates has been building for months. The White House sees the vaccinations as the quickest way to end the pandemic that has claimed more than 780,000 deaths in the U.S. Wednesday sparked fresh fears, with the country's first detected case of a troubling new variant. During the last government shutdown battle in September, Republicans also tried to halt the vaccine mandate.

As the political arguments mount over slapping vaccine requirements on some groups of workers, so too have legal challenges. Courts have been knocking back the Biden administration's vaccine mandates — including a ruling this week blocking enforcement of a requirement for some health care workers.

For some Republicans, the court cases, along with their own worries about a potentially disruptive government shutdown, are shifting them away from engaging in a high-stakes shutdown.

“One of the things I’m a little concerned about is: Why would we make ourselves the object of public attention by creating the specter of a government shutdown?” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a party leader.

On Wednesday, one Republican, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, made the case to his colleagues to link the effort to halt the vaccine mandates to the spending bill during a private lunch meeting at the Capitol.

The idea is to have the Senate vote to strip funding from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement the Biden administration's requirement that private employers with 100 or more workers ensure they are vaccinated or regularly tested, senators said.

Lee appears to have backing from a few senators and hardline Republicans in the House. “This is a chance to correct a wrong," said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who launched a similar effort against vaccine mandates during the last government funding battle.

But among most other Republican senators, enthusiasm for a shutdown ran thin.

“I just hate to see a shutdown — shut down the government — because people have been through a lot," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said while exiting the lunch session.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters that with the new coronavirus variant: “There’s too much chaos in our country right now, too much concern about omicron. The last thing we need is more confusion and fear.”

Minority leader Mitch McConnell has been opposed to the shutdown strategy, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. He did not say a word during the private lunch, but publicly McConnell has been upbeat that there will be no shutdown of the federal government.

“We’re going to be OK,” McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters in the halls of the Capitol.

The Biden administration has pursued vaccine requirements on several groups of workers at it seeks to get more shots in arms to crush the virus, but the effort is facing one setback after another in legal cases.

This week, a federal judge blocked the administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states. Earlier, a federal appeals court temporarily halted the OSHA requirement that employers with 100 or more workers ensure they are fully vaccinated.

The administration has previously implemented policies requiring millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military troops, to be fully vaccinated. Those efforts are also being contested in federal courts.

Polling from The Associated Press shows Americans are divided over Biden's effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats overwhelmingly for it while most Republicans are against it.

Some Republicans prefer an effort from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to simply vote to reject the administration’s mandates in a congressional review action expected next week, separate from the federal funding fight.

From the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was confident the government funding bill would be approved by Congress and routine federal operations would not shut down this weekend.

“We have every confidence they will move forward and prevent the government from shutting down,” Psaki said.

She was highly critical of Republicans seeking to prevent the mandates from going into effect.

“These supporters of the former president are advocating for shutting the federal government down, so that 20% of the public who are refusing to get vaccinated or tested can be free to infect their coworkers, our children, filling hospitals,” Psaki said. “They want to shut the government down in order to advocate for people to assert that on society.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government could be heading for temporary shutdown, with Republicans poised to stall a must-pass funding bill in their effort to force a debate in Congress on rolling back the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandates for some workers.Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate who are opposed to Biden’s vaccine rules want Congress to take a hardline stand against the mandated shots, even if it means shutting down federal offices over the weekend. But not all Republicans are on board. One GOP senator after another left a private lunch meeting Wednesday voicing concern they will be blamed for even a short stoppage of the federal government that will not play well with the public.Friday is a government funding deadline and the Republican objections — particularly in the Senate, where any single senator can hold up proceedings to stall a vote — could delay passage of legislation needed to keep federal operations running.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened the chamber saying Democrats are prepared to support the funding bill and urging Republicans not to engage in shutdown politics.“Our Republican colleagues, meanwhile, can either work with us to move the process quickly through the chamber, or they can engage in obstructive tactics that will make a government shutdown almost a certainty,” said Schumer, D-N.Y.Political backlash over the Biden administration's coronavirus vaccine mandates has been building for months. The White House sees the vaccinations as the quickest way to end the pandemic that has claimed more than 780,000 deaths in the U.S. Wednesday sparked fresh fears, with the country's first detected case of a troubling new variant. During the last government shutdown battle in September, Republicans also tried to halt the vaccine mandate.As the political arguments mount over slapping vaccine requirements on some groups of workers, so too have legal challenges. Courts have been knocking back the Biden administration's vaccine mandates — including a ruling this week blocking enforcement of a requirement for some health care workers.For some Republicans, the court cases, along with their own worries about a potentially disruptive government shutdown, are shifting them away from engaging in a high-stakes shutdown.“One of the things I’m a little concerned about is: Why would we make ourselves the object of public attention by creating the specter of a government shutdown?” said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a party leader.On Wednesday, one Republican, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, made the case to his colleagues to link the effort to halt the vaccine mandates to the spending bill during a private lunch meeting at the Capitol.The idea is to have the Senate vote to strip funding from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to implement the Biden administration's requirement that private employers with 100 or more workers ensure they are vaccinated or regularly tested, senators said.Lee appears to have backing from a few senators and hardline Republicans in the House. “This is a chance to correct a wrong," said Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who launched a similar effort against vaccine mandates during the last government funding battle.But among most other Republican senators, enthusiasm for a shutdown ran thin.“I just hate to see a shutdown — shut down the government — because people have been through a lot," Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said while exiting the lunch session.Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told reporters that with the new coronavirus variant: “There’s too much chaos in our country right now, too much concern about omicron. The last thing we need is more confusion and fear.”Minority leader Mitch McConnell has been opposed to the shutdown strategy, according to a Republican granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. He did not say a word during the private lunch, but publicly McConnell has been upbeat that there will be no shutdown of the federal government.“We’re going to be OK,” McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters in the halls of the Capitol.The Biden administration has pursued vaccine requirements on several groups of workers at it seeks to get more shots in arms to crush the virus, but the effort is facing one setback after another in legal cases.This week, a federal judge blocked the administration from enforcing a coronavirus vaccine mandate on thousands of health care workers in 10 states. Earlier, a federal appeals court temporarily halted the OSHA requirement that employers with 100 or more workers ensure they are fully vaccinated.The administration has previously implemented policies requiring millions of federal employees and federal contractors, including military troops, to be fully vaccinated. Those efforts are also being contested in federal courts.Polling from The Associated Press shows Americans are divided over Biden's effort to vaccinate workers, with Democrats overwhelmingly for it while most Republicans are against it.Some Republicans prefer an effort from Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., to simply vote to reject the administration’s mandates in a congressional review action expected next week, separate from the federal funding fight.From the White House, Press Secretary Jen Psaki was confident the government funding bill would be approved by Congress and routine federal operations would not shut down this weekend.“We have every confidence they will move forward and prevent the government from shutting down,” Psaki said.She was highly critical of Republicans seeking to prevent the mandates from going into effect.“These supporters of the former president are advocating for shutting the federal government down, so that 20% of the public who are refusing to get vaccinated or tested can be free to infect their coworkers, our children, filling hospitals,” Psaki said. “They want to shut the government down in order to advocate for people to assert that on society.”