WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued guidance on 
the taxability of dependent care assistance programs for 2021 and 2022, 
clarifying that amounts attributable to carryovers or an extended period
 for incurring claims generally are not taxable. The guidance also 
illustrates the interaction of this standard with the one-year increase 
in the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care benefits from 
$5,000 to $10,500 for the 2021 taxable year under the American Rescue 
Plan Act.

Because of the pandemic, many people were unable to use the money 
they set aside in their dependent care assistance programs in 2020 and 
2021. Generally, under these plans, an employer allows its employees to 
set aside a certain amount of pre-tax wages to pay for dependent care 
expenses. The employee's expenses are then reimbursed from the dependent
 care assistance program.

Carryovers of unused dependent care assistance program amounts 
generally are not permitted (although a 2½ month grace period is 
allowed). However, recent coronavirus-related legislation (the Taxpayer 
Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020) allowed employers to 
amend their plans to permit the carryover of unused dependent care 
assistance program amounts to plan years ending in 2021 and 2022, or to 
extend the permissible period for incurring claims to plan years over 
the same period.

Today's <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-21-26.pdf">Notice 2021-26&nbsp;PDF</a>
 clarifies for taxpayers that if these dependent care benefits would 
have been excluded from income if used during taxable year 2020 (or 
2021, if applicable), these benefits will remain excludible from gross 
income and are not considered wages of the employee for 2021 and 2022.

<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-21-15.pdf">Notice 2021-15&nbsp;PDF</a>,
 issued in February 2021, states that if an employer adopted a carryover
 or extended period for incurring claims, the annual limits for 
dependent care assistance program amounts apply to amounts contributed, 
not to amounts reimbursed or available for reimbursement in a particular
 plan or calendar year. Therefore, participants in dependent care 
assistance programs may continue to contribute the maximum amount to 
their plans for 2021 and 2022.

For more on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-relief-and-economic-impact-payments">coronavirus-related tax relief</a>, see IRS.gov.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>IRSWASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today issued guidance on 
the taxability of dependent care assistance programs for 2021 and 2022, 
clarifying that amounts attributable to carryovers or an extended period
 for incurring claims generally are not taxable. The guidance also 
illustrates the interaction of this standard with the one-year increase 
in the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care benefits from 
$5,000 to $10,500 for the 2021 taxable year under the American Rescue 
Plan Act.Because of the pandemic, many people were unable to use the money 
they set aside in their dependent care assistance programs in 2020 and 
2021. Generally, under these plans, an employer allows its employees to 
set aside a certain amount of pre-tax wages to pay for dependent care 
expenses. The employee's expenses are then reimbursed from the dependent
 care assistance program.Carryovers of unused dependent care assistance program amounts 
generally are not permitted (although a 2½ month grace period is 
allowed). However, recent coronavirus-related legislation (the Taxpayer 
Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020) allowed employers to 
amend their plans to permit the carryover of unused dependent care 
assistance program amounts to plan years ending in 2021 and 2022, or to 
extend the permissible period for incurring claims to plan years over 
the same period.Today's <a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-21-26.pdf">Notice 2021-26&nbsp;PDF</a>
 clarifies for taxpayers that if these dependent care benefits would 
have been excluded from income if used during taxable year 2020 (or 
2021, if applicable), these benefits will remain excludible from gross 
income and are not considered wages of the employee for 2021 and 2022.<a href="https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-21-15.pdf">Notice 2021-15&nbsp;PDF</a>,
 issued in February 2021, states that if an employer adopted a carryover
 or extended period for incurring claims, the annual limits for 
dependent care assistance program amounts apply to amounts contributed, 
not to amounts reimbursed or available for reimbursement in a particular
 plan or calendar year. Therefore, participants in dependent care 
assistance programs may continue to contribute the maximum amount to 
their plans for 2021 and 2022.For more on <a href="https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus-tax-relief-and-economic-impact-payments">coronavirus-related tax relief</a>, see IRS.gov.

IRS clarifies tax rules regarding unused carry-over child care

Though still awaiting money from the latest federal coronavirus relief act, some governors and state lawmakers already are making plans to add the multibillion-dollar boon to their budgets.

Among their priorities: bailing out depleted unemployment accounts, expanding high-speed internet and providing additional aid to schools and businesses.

The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief law signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year contains $350 billion of flexible aid for state and local governments, plus billions of dollars more for specific programs such as housing assistance. Unlike earlier coronavirus aid, states have broad leeway to use the money to plug budget holes, invest in certain infrastructure or address the “negative economic impacts” of the pandemic.

States are expected to receive an initial installment soon, with a second round coming a year later.

“A billion dollars has just fallen from the sky, in some respects," said Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican. "It’s here, right in front of us. We have to invest it wisely.”

Like many governors, Scott hadn't accounted for a new influx of federal money when he presented a budget plan earlier this year. Now he's working with lawmakers to add it to the state's spending plan while still awaiting guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department on specific ways the money can — or can't — be used.

Scott wants to put the money toward economic development, climate change initiatives, water and sewer infrastructure, housing and high-speed internet. Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint also wants some to go toward workforce training.

In other states, the spending plans include bonuses for teachers and first-responders; aid to movie theaters and entertainment venues; construction at parks and public facilities; and grants to farmers, commercial fishing operations and food processors.

“Of course it’s classical politics: They announce it, no details and everybody’s filling in the void with what they want to spend it on,” Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said.

Officials in Virginia and about a dozen other states told The Associated Press they are waiting for Treasury Department guidance before developing specific spending plans. Federal law prohibits states from using the aid to make pension payments or fund tax cuts. Some state officials are concerned that other uses also could be ruled out, trigging a provision requiring them to repay the federal government.

“If we don’t know what the guidelines are, it makes it hard to spend the money, because we don’t want to spend it in the wrong way and have it clawed back,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican.

The federal law, known as the American Rescue Plan, comes on top of $150 billion the federal government sent directly to states and local governments last year.

This year's law cites infrastructure for water, sewer and broadband internet as allowable uses. It’s less clear whether money can be used for other infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. But some states are planning to do so, anyway.

A budget plan passed by the Indiana Legislature allots $192 million in federal aid to pay off bonds for an Interstate 69 project and $900 million for other “future state infrastructure projects." Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, rolled out a plan this week that allots $50 million for road and bridge work this summer.

A potentially wide-ranging provision allows states to use the federal aid for “government services” affected by a pandemic-induced reduction in revenue. States also can use the aid to provide extra pay for essential workers, such as the $1,000 bonuses included in a Florida budget for first-responders, teachers and early learning instructors.

Federal law allows states to address the pandemic's economic effects by providing aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits and industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality. But that doesn't necessarily prevent money from going to other purposes.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, wants to use more than half the state’s flexible funds to plug budget holes over the next two years. But his plan also would spend millions on social programs.

Lamont wants to use $15 million to provide free admission for children at museums, aquariums, zoos and other venues from July through Labor Day; $3.5 million to help send low-income children to sports and specialty camps; and $1.9 million for programs that provide “safe, fun and healing spaces” for teenagers. He said the programs would provide a dual benefit — aiding children who were socially isolated during the pandemic and organizations that lost money because of a lack of customers.

Mills’ wide-ranging plan would provide aid to Maine’s agriculture and seafood industries, increase public support for private-sector research and subsidize health insurers to temporarily reduce premiums for small businesses and their employees, among other things.

Officials in Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine and Maryland are among those wanting to use part of their federal aid to replenish depleted unemployment trust funds. Doing so could spare businesses from temporary tax hikes that could otherwise be imposed to repay federal loans that funded benefits when jobless rates spiked during coronavirus shutdowns.

A plan passed by Kansas' Republican-led Senate would dedicate nearly $700 million to compensate small businesses that were forced to close or had their operations restricted because of the pandemic — a “pot of gold” that some Democrats said should be partly passed on to workers in higher wages.

Republican state. Sen. Mike Thompson said compensation should have been paid months ago, as pandemic restrictions were imposed.

“A lot of these businesses should not have been shut down,” Thompson said.

In Kansas and some other states, the federal funding surge has generated spats over who can control how it’s spent.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature that sought to use $1 billion for property tax cuts, $308 million for local roads and $250 million to pay off transportation bonds. Nonpartisan legislative staff had warned that those uses might not be allowed under federal law. Evers said he will instead spend the money according to his own plans, not all of which have been detailed.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed the Democratic-led Legislature’s plan to devote $600 million to the state's unemployment fund, $200 million to roads and $100 million to a college scholarship program. The Democratic governor said in her veto message that “the Legislature lacks the authority” to tell her how to use the money and that the state should wait for federal guidance.

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated PressThough still awaiting money from the latest federal coronavirus relief act, some governors and state lawmakers already are making plans to add the multibillion-dollar boon to their budgets.Among their priorities: bailing out depleted unemployment accounts, expanding high-speed internet and providing additional aid to schools and businesses.The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief law signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year contains $350 billion of flexible aid for state and local governments, plus billions of dollars more for specific programs such as housing assistance. Unlike earlier coronavirus aid, states have broad leeway to use the money to plug budget holes, invest in certain infrastructure or address the “negative economic impacts” of the pandemic.States are expected to receive an initial installment soon, with a second round coming a year later.“A billion dollars has just fallen from the sky, in some respects," said Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican. "It’s here, right in front of us. We have to invest it wisely.”Like many governors, Scott hadn't accounted for a new influx of federal money when he presented a budget plan earlier this year. Now he's working with lawmakers to add it to the state's spending plan while still awaiting guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department on specific ways the money can — or can't — be used.Scott wants to put the money toward economic development, climate change initiatives, water and sewer infrastructure, housing and high-speed internet. Democratic Senate President Pro Tem Becca Balint also wants some to go toward workforce training.In other states, the spending plans include bonuses for teachers and first-responders; aid to movie theaters and entertainment venues; construction at parks and public facilities; and grants to farmers, commercial fishing operations and food processors.“Of course it’s classical politics: They announce it, no details and everybody’s filling in the void with what they want to spend it on,” Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said.Officials in Virginia and about a dozen other states told The Associated Press they are waiting for Treasury Department guidance before developing specific spending plans. Federal law prohibits states from using the aid to make pension payments or fund tax cuts. Some state officials are concerned that other uses also could be ruled out, trigging a provision requiring them to repay the federal government.“If we don’t know what the guidelines are, it makes it hard to spend the money, because we don’t want to spend it in the wrong way and have it clawed back,” said Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican.The federal law, known as the American Rescue Plan, comes on top of $150 billion the federal government sent directly to states and local governments last year.This year's law cites infrastructure for water, sewer and broadband internet as allowable uses. It’s less clear whether money can be used for other infrastructure, such as roads and bridges. But some states are planning to do so, anyway.A budget plan passed by the Indiana Legislature allots $192 million in federal aid to pay off bonds for an Interstate 69 project and $900 million for other “future state infrastructure projects." Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, rolled out a plan this week that allots $50 million for road and bridge work this summer.A potentially wide-ranging provision allows states to use the federal aid for “government services” affected by a pandemic-induced reduction in revenue. States also can use the aid to provide extra pay for essential workers, such as the $1,000 bonuses included in a Florida budget for first-responders, teachers and early learning instructors.Federal law allows states to address the pandemic's economic effects by providing aid to households, small businesses, nonprofits and industries such as tourism, travel and hospitality. But that doesn't necessarily prevent money from going to other purposes.Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, wants to use more than half the state’s flexible funds to plug budget holes over the next two years. But his plan also would spend millions on social programs.Lamont wants to use $15 million to provide free admission for children at museums, aquariums, zoos and other venues from July through Labor Day; $3.5 million to help send low-income children to sports and specialty camps; and $1.9 million for programs that provide “safe, fun and healing spaces” for teenagers. He said the programs would provide a dual benefit — aiding children who were socially isolated during the pandemic and organizations that lost money because of a lack of customers.Mills’ wide-ranging plan would provide aid to Maine’s agriculture and seafood industries, increase public support for private-sector research and subsidize health insurers to temporarily reduce premiums for small businesses and their employees, among other things.Officials in Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine and Maryland are among those wanting to use part of their federal aid to replenish depleted unemployment trust funds. Doing so could spare businesses from temporary tax hikes that could otherwise be imposed to repay federal loans that funded benefits when jobless rates spiked during coronavirus shutdowns.A plan passed by Kansas' Republican-led Senate would dedicate nearly $700 million to compensate small businesses that were forced to close or had their operations restricted because of the pandemic — a “pot of gold” that some Democrats said should be partly passed on to workers in higher wages.Republican state. Sen. Mike Thompson said compensation should have been paid months ago, as pandemic restrictions were imposed.“A lot of these businesses should not have been shut down,” Thompson said.In Kansas and some other states, the federal funding surge has generated spats over who can control how it’s spent.Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed bills passed by the Republican-led Legislature that sought to use $1 billion for property tax cuts, $308 million for local roads and $250 million to pay off transportation bonds. Nonpartisan legislative staff had warned that those uses might not be allowed under federal law. Evers said he will instead spend the money according to his own plans, not all of which have been detailed.New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed the Democratic-led Legislature’s plan to devote $600 million to the state's unemployment fund, $200 million to roads and $100 million to a college scholarship program. The Democratic governor said in her veto message that “the Legislature lacks the authority” to tell her how to use the money and that the state should wait for federal guidance.___

Some states plan big spending with Biden's aid, others wait

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Coyotes are becoming more than a nuisance in parts of Lincoln, with two pets killed by the animals over the past year. 

Ann and Brad Kile lost their dog, Daisy, to a coyote attack in January. Another dog was killed in June. 

Animal Control officers are taking the coyotes seriously — making daily visits to the area where they’ve been seen, walking the trails, making their presence known both to neighbors and the coyotes. 

Meanwhile, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department has planted warning signs on trails, urging those who spot coyotes to make loud noises and report aggressive behavior to Animal Control.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573053574356.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Coyotes are becoming more than a nuisance in parts of Lincoln, with two pets killed by the animals over the past year. Ann and Brad Kile lost their dog, Daisy, to a coyote attack in January. Another dog was killed in June. Animal Control officers are taking the coyotes seriously — making daily visits to the area where they’ve been seen, walking the trails, making their presence known both to neighbors and the coyotes. Meanwhile, the city’s Parks and Recreation Department has planted warning signs on trails, urging those who spot coyotes to make loud noises and report aggressive behavior to Animal Control.

Coyote concerns in Lincoln include 2 pets killed by them

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Colorado Springs man in a 2018 double-slaying in which a woman and man were shot and left in a burning car in a scheme to steal marijuana. 

The panel on Friday found Nashid Rayon Rivers guilty of of first-degree murder in the killings of Serena Garcia of Parker and Marcus Denton of Atchison, Kansas. 

Rivers also was convicted of aggravated robbery, tampering with human bodies and other counts. Fourth Judicial District Judge Frances Johnson imposed an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole. Rivers told the judge he was innocent.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620501970018.png" alt="Rivers is being held in El Paso County, according to online jail records" />
 <figcaption>Rivers is being held in El Paso County, according to online jail records</figcaption>
 </figure>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A jury has convicted a Colorado Springs man in a 2018 double-slaying in which a woman and man were shot and left in a burning car in a scheme to steal marijuana. The panel on Friday found Nashid Rayon Rivers guilty of of first-degree murder in the killings of Serena Garcia of Parker and Marcus Denton of Atchison, Kansas. Rivers also was convicted of aggravated robbery, tampering with human bodies and other counts. Fourth Judicial District Judge Frances Johnson imposed an automatic penalty of life in prison without parole. Rivers told the judge he was innocent.

Man sentenced for deaths of pair from Kansas, Colorado

DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s auto safety agency is investigating multiple complaints about steering failures that could affect more than 1.1 million Honda Accord sedans. 

In documents posted Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it received 31 complaints about the problem. Honda has 77 more. 

Owners complained about the cars veering from their intended travel path. Two crashes and two injuries were reported. The probe covers Accords from 2013 through 2015. 

The agency opened the probe after getting a petition from an owner in October of last year. It will investigate how often the problem happens, how many vehicles are affected, and the safety consequences. 

The probe could lead to a recall. A message was left Monday seeking comment from Honda.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620660442885.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. government’s auto safety agency is investigating multiple complaints about steering failures that could affect more than 1.1 million Honda Accord sedans. In documents posted Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it received 31 complaints about the problem. Honda has 77 more. Owners complained about the cars veering from their intended travel path. Two crashes and two injuries were reported. The probe covers Accords from 2013 through 2015. The agency opened the probe after getting a petition from an owner in October of last year. It will investigate how often the problem happens, how many vehicles are affected, and the safety consequences. The probe could lead to a recall. A message was left Monday seeking comment from Honda.

US opens probe of steering problems in Honda Accord sedans

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Six people including a small child were injured in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Topeka.

A silver passenger vehicle was northbound in the 3000 Block of SE California Avenue and collided head-on with a gray SUV, according to Police Lt. Ron Ekis.

EMS transported one adult and a toddler from the silver car and four in the SUV to an area hospital. The child had life-threatening injuries, according to Ekis.&nbsp;

The Topeka Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit responded to the scene to investigate the accident. SE California Avenue was closed from SE 29th Terrace to SE 32nd Street. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620642086517.png" alt="6 people were hospitalized after Sunday head-on crash-photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>6 people were hospitalized after Sunday head-on crash-photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY — Six people including a small child were injured in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Topeka.A silver passenger vehicle was northbound in the 3000 Block of SE California Avenue and collided head-on with a gray SUV, according to Police Lt. Ron Ekis.EMS transported one adult and a toddler from the silver car and four in the SUV to an area hospital. The child had life-threatening injuries, according to Ekis.&nbsp;The Topeka Police Department’s Accident Reconstruction Unit responded to the scene to investigate the accident. SE California Avenue was closed from SE 29th Terrace to SE 32nd Street. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Police: Toddler with life-threatening injuries after head-on crash

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said.

The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said.

Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital,&nbsp;<a href="https://gazette.com/news/local/7-dead-including-suspect-in-overnight-birthday-party-shooting-at-colorado-springs-mobile-home-police/article_4186ea1a-b0cc-11eb-b3e5-9f195dc56ec0.html" target="_blank">the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.</a>

The suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and opened fire before shooting himself, police said. Children at the attack weren’t hurt and were placed with relatives.

The birthday party was for one of the people killed, police said.

Police on Sunday hadn’t released the identities of the shooter or victims. Authorities say a motive wasn’t immediately known.

“My heart breaks for the families who have lost someone they love and for the children who have lost their parents,” Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said in a statement.

It was Colorado’s worst mass shooting since a gunman killed 10 people at a Boulder supermarket March 22.

“The tragic shooting in Colorado Springs is devastating,” Gov. Jared Polis said Sunday, “especially as many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who have made us the people we are today.”

Colorado Springs, population 465,000, is Colorado’s second-biggest city after Denver.

In 2015, a man shot three people to death at random before dying in a shootout with police in Colorado Springs on Halloween. Less than a month later, a man killed three people, including a police officer, and injured eight others in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Seven people are dead after a man opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado.

The shooting happened just after midnight Sunday in a mobile home park on the east side of <a href="https://coloradosprings.gov/police-department/article/news/update-homicide-investigation-2800-block">Colorado Springs, police said.</a>

Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital.

The suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and began shooting before killing himself, police said.

Police on Sunday hadn’t identified the shooter or victims. Children at the shooting were placed with relatives.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620594883726.png" alt="Police at the scene of the investigation on Sunday -photo courtesy KCNC TV" />
 <figcaption>Police at the scene of the investigation on Sunday -photo courtesy KCNC TV</figcaption>
 </figure>COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado, slaying six adults before killing himself Sunday, police said.The shooting happened just after midnight in a mobile home park on the east side of Colorado Springs, police said.Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital,&nbsp;<a href="https://gazette.com/news/local/7-dead-including-suspect-in-overnight-birthday-party-shooting-at-colorado-springs-mobile-home-police/article_4186ea1a-b0cc-11eb-b3e5-9f195dc56ec0.html" target="_blank">the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.</a>The suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and opened fire before shooting himself, police said. Children at the attack weren’t hurt and were placed with relatives.The birthday party was for one of the people killed, police said.Police on Sunday hadn’t released the identities of the shooter or victims. Authorities say a motive wasn’t immediately known.“My heart breaks for the families who have lost someone they love and for the children who have lost their parents,” Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said in a statement.It was Colorado’s worst mass shooting since a gunman killed 10 people at a Boulder supermarket March 22.“The tragic shooting in Colorado Springs is devastating,” Gov. Jared Polis said Sunday, “especially as many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who have made us the people we are today.”Colorado Springs, population 465,000, is Colorado’s second-biggest city after Denver.In 2015, a man shot three people to death at random before dying in a shootout with police in Colorado Springs on Halloween. Less than a month later, a man killed three people, including a police officer, and injured eight others in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city.---------COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Seven people are dead after a man opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado.The shooting happened just after midnight Sunday in a mobile home park on the east side of <a href="https://coloradosprings.gov/police-department/article/news/update-homicide-investigation-2800-block">Colorado Springs, police said.</a>Officers arrived at a trailer to find six dead adults and a man with serious injuries who died later at a hospital.The suspected shooter was the boyfriend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He walked inside and began shooting before killing himself, police said.Police on Sunday hadn’t identified the shooter or victims. Children at the shooting were placed with relatives.

Update: 7 dead including gunman in Colo. birthday party shooting

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An 18-year-old woman and her boyfriend have been arrested on suspicion of trying to kill her father.

According to court documents, Gabriella Laws and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Joshua Fithian were both arrested last week in connection with the Jan. 17 attack in Papillion.

Officials said Fithian assaulted Laws’ father with a mallet, but the man survived.

Fithian and Laws have both been charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault and a weapons charge. 

Laws and Fithian were being held in the Sarpy County Jail on Sunday.

PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — An 18-year-old woman and her boyfriend have been arrested on suspicion of trying to kill her father.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620593626502.png" alt="Laws" />
 <figcaption>Laws</figcaption>
 </figure>According to court documents, Gabriella Laws and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Joshua Fithian were both arrested last week in connection with the Jan. 17 attack in Papillion.Officials said Fithian assaulted Laws’ father with a mallet, but the man survived.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620593695305.png" alt="Fithian" />
 <figcaption>Fithian</figcaption>
 </figure>Fithian and Laws have both been charged with attempted first-degree murder, assault and a weapons charge. Laws and Fithian were being held in the Sarpy County Jail on Sunday.

Nebraska woman, boyfriend charged with attacking her father

KANSAS CITY (AP) —Cece Linder was living in a 770-square-foot apartment outside Washington, D.C., last spring when the area went into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In May 2020, after a few months of both living and working in the small space, Linder decided to leave the capital area and move into the 2,000-square-foot beachside home she jointly owns with her parents in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Now she gets to see the sunrise over the water each morning before work.

“If I’m teleworking anyway, why not move to this other place that is more visually attractive, it’s beachside, and someone can occasionally cook for me?” Linder said. “Though that didn’t exactly work out. My mom has me cooking for them.”

Linder was not alone in her thinking. According to a new study and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, she was one of thousands of people who migrated out of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas and into smaller ones during the pandemic.

The study found that, like Linder, many of the migrants weren’t driven by new jobs or weather — or even a fear of the virus — but a desire to be closer to family and a freedom to make it happen because of remote working. Although the pattern of people moving from larger to smaller cities has been going on for several years, the pandemic exacerbated that trend, said Peter Haslag of Vanderbilt University, who conducted the study on migrant motivations with Daniel Weagley of Georgia Tech. Their paper has not yet been published.

The data adds to understanding of how the pandemic has changed where and how Americans live. The moves were most common among those with higher incomes and more job flexibility. If the trends continue, it could have long-term implications for real estate markets, tax bases and the wealth inequality in cities, according to researchers.

“For us, the question is, is this a temporary blip or is it going to continue?” Haslag said. “If work-from-home really is going to be a factor in job and company decisions, and by allowing work and location to be separate decisions, people are going to be able to optimize their locations, if they have the right jobs.”

The Census Bureau data shows that the New York metro area — which was hit early by the new coronavirus — declined by about 108,000 residents, or 0.5%. Roughly 216,000 residents moved out of the metropolitan area, but the natural increase from births and gains in international migration offset the departures. The New York metro area has experienced decelerated growth over the past several years, but last year’s decline was a bigger bite of the Big Apple than in 2019, when it lost 60,000 residents.

The nation’s next largest metro areas — Los Angeles and Chicago — also experienced greater population declines last year compared to the previous year: around 0.5% last year compared to 0.3% in 2019 for both metros. San Francisco also had a drop of around 0.5% last year compared to a 0.1% gain in 2019.

“I think some core urban counties like Manhattan, San Francisco and others may have taken a bigger brunt of pandemic-related out-movement, as well as lower immigration,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. “Overall, it was a year of slow growth with selective movement out of some urban centers.”

Smaller metros in the Sun Belt and West, several with large communities of vacation homes, saw the biggest population gains last year, mostly driven by migration. Led by the Florida retirement community The Villages, the metros seeing population increases between 3% and 4% included St. George, Utah; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

Sun Belt megalopolises, such as Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, also grew last year, though not as much as their smaller cousins.

The Census Bureau data captured changes in states, metros and counties between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020. The last third of that time-frame overlapped with the first three months of the spread of the virus in the U.S. Population-change estimates are different from the 2020 census, a head count of every U.S. resident that determines how many congressional seats each state gets. Those numbers were released last week. Population changes are estimated using data on births, deaths and migration.

Haslag and Weagley estimate that 10% to 20% of the 300,000 interstate moves they studied between April 2020 and February 2021 were influenced by the pandemic. Their study used four years of long-distance moving data obtained from UniGroup, the parent company of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit.

Job-related reasons for moving dropped from 46.6% of responses before the pandemic to 34.5% after the start of the pandemic in the U.S. in March 2020, while the desire to be closer to family jumped from 24.7% to 29.9%. The researchers theorized the jump for family reasons was due to people wanting to create social “bubbles” with family members, and the drop in job-related reasons was due to remote working and the decoupling of jobs from offices.

“It’s not really about the infection rate when it comes to moving. It’s about all the other things that came with the pandemic, whether it was to be closer to family or work from home,” Haslag said. “That was really surprising to us.”

Higher-income households moved less because of job loss or to take a new job than for other reasons such as lifestyle or the ability to work remotely. In fact, 75% of those who cited the ability to work remotely had annual households earnings of $100,000 or more. Lower-income households were more likely to move for financial reasons such as job loss or to move to a place with a lower cost of living, the researchers said.

David Mann and his wife, Lauren, had been wanting to move to the U.S. southeast from Dallas to be closer to family and friends for some time, but it was the pandemic that made it possible. Knowing they could work from home in their jobs in supply-chain consulting and merchandise planning, they made the leap and moved to Atlanta last summer.

“Working from home gave us the opportunity to move without having to look for new jobs,” Mann said.

KANSAS CITY (AP) —Cece Linder was living in a 770-square-foot apartment outside Washington, D.C., last spring when the area went into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.In May 2020, after a few months of both living and working in the small space, Linder decided to leave the capital area and move into the 2,000-square-foot beachside home she jointly owns with her parents in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Now she gets to see the sunrise over the water each morning before work.“If I’m teleworking anyway, why not move to this other place that is more visually attractive, it’s beachside, and someone can occasionally cook for me?” Linder said. “Though that didn’t exactly work out. My mom has me cooking for them.”Linder was not alone in her thinking. According to a new study and data from the U.S. Census Bureau, she was one of thousands of people who migrated out of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas and into smaller ones during the pandemic.The study found that, like Linder, many of the migrants weren’t driven by new jobs or weather — or even a fear of the virus — but a desire to be closer to family and a freedom to make it happen because of remote working. Although the pattern of people moving from larger to smaller cities has been going on for several years, the pandemic exacerbated that trend, said Peter Haslag of Vanderbilt University, who conducted the study on migrant motivations with Daniel Weagley of Georgia Tech. Their paper has not yet been published.The data adds to understanding of how the pandemic has changed where and how Americans live. The moves were most common among those with higher incomes and more job flexibility. If the trends continue, it could have long-term implications for real estate markets, tax bases and the wealth inequality in cities, according to researchers.“For us, the question is, is this a temporary blip or is it going to continue?” Haslag said. “If work-from-home really is going to be a factor in job and company decisions, and by allowing work and location to be separate decisions, people are going to be able to optimize their locations, if they have the right jobs.”The Census Bureau data shows that the New York metro area — which was hit early by the new coronavirus — declined by about 108,000 residents, or 0.5%. Roughly 216,000 residents moved out of the metropolitan area, but the natural increase from births and gains in international migration offset the departures. The New York metro area has experienced decelerated growth over the past several years, but last year’s decline was a bigger bite of the Big Apple than in 2019, when it lost 60,000 residents.The nation’s next largest metro areas — Los Angeles and Chicago — also experienced greater population declines last year compared to the previous year: around 0.5% last year compared to 0.3% in 2019 for both metros. San Francisco also had a drop of around 0.5% last year compared to a 0.1% gain in 2019.“I think some core urban counties like Manhattan, San Francisco and others may have taken a bigger brunt of pandemic-related out-movement, as well as lower immigration,” said William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution. “Overall, it was a year of slow growth with selective movement out of some urban centers.”Smaller metros in the Sun Belt and West, several with large communities of vacation homes, saw the biggest population gains last year, mostly driven by migration. Led by the Florida retirement community The Villages, the metros seeing population increases between 3% and 4% included St. George, Utah; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.Sun Belt megalopolises, such as Dallas, Houston and Phoenix, also grew last year, though not as much as their smaller cousins.The Census Bureau data captured changes in states, metros and counties between July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020. The last third of that time-frame overlapped with the first three months of the spread of the virus in the U.S. Population-change estimates are different from the 2020 census, a head count of every U.S. resident that determines how many congressional seats each state gets. Those numbers were released last week. Population changes are estimated using data on births, deaths and migration.Haslag and Weagley estimate that 10% to 20% of the 300,000 interstate moves they studied between April 2020 and February 2021 were influenced by the pandemic. Their study used four years of long-distance moving data obtained from UniGroup, the parent company of United Van Lines and Mayflower Transit.Job-related reasons for moving dropped from 46.6% of responses before the pandemic to 34.5% after the start of the pandemic in the U.S. in March 2020, while the desire to be closer to family jumped from 24.7% to 29.9%. The researchers theorized the jump for family reasons was due to people wanting to create social “bubbles” with family members, and the drop in job-related reasons was due to remote working and the decoupling of jobs from offices.“It’s not really about the infection rate when it comes to moving. It’s about all the other things that came with the pandemic, whether it was to be closer to family or work from home,” Haslag said. “That was really surprising to us.”Higher-income households moved less because of job loss or to take a new job than for other reasons such as lifestyle or the ability to work remotely. In fact, 75% of those who cited the ability to work remotely had annual households earnings of $100,000 or more. Lower-income households were more likely to move for financial reasons such as job loss or to move to a place with a lower cost of living, the researchers said.David Mann and his wife, Lauren, had been wanting to move to the U.S. southeast from Dallas to be closer to family and friends for some time, but it was the pandemic that made it possible. Knowing they could work from home in their jobs in supply-chain consulting and merchandise planning, they made the leap and moved to Atlanta last summer.“Working from home gave us the opportunity to move without having to look for new jobs,” Mann said.

Study: Residents left big metros during pandemic for family

VALLEY, Neb. (AP) — Two people died and two others were hurt in a fiery crash about 7 miles south of Valley in eastern Nebraska Saturday. 

Chief Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Wayne Hudson said an eastbound van collided with a westbound truck while trying to pass another vehicle around 4 p.m. Saturday on West Center Road near the Platte River, and one of the vehicles caught fire. 

The driver of the van and one person in the pickup truck died, but their names were not immediately available Sunday. 

The two injured people who had been in the truck were taken to an Omaha hospital.

VALLEY, Neb. (AP) — Two people died and two others were hurt in a fiery crash about 7 miles south of Valley in eastern Nebraska Saturday. Chief Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Wayne Hudson said an eastbound van collided with a westbound truck while trying to pass another vehicle around 4 p.m. Saturday on West Center Road near the Platte River, and one of the vehicles caught fire. The driver of the van and one person in the pickup truck died, but their names were not immediately available Sunday. The two injured people who had been in the truck were taken to an Omaha hospital.

Two people die and two others injured in fiery Nebraska crash

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Thirteen years after he was injured in a tornado that killed four boys at a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, Kevin Hanna is graduating from medical school. 

Hanna said the time he spent in rehabilitation after breaking his pelvis when the storm struck the Little Sioux Scout Ranch prompted him to choose a career in medicine. He graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Saturday. 

Hanna, now 26, spent more than a week in the hospital and a few months in a wheelchair recovering. 

Hanna said he feels lucky to have survived the storm, and he wants to live his life in a way that honors the boys who didn't.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/6/1561900937732.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Thirteen years after he was injured in a tornado that killed four boys at a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa, Kevin Hanna is graduating from medical school. Hanna said the time he spent in rehabilitation after breaking his pelvis when the storm struck the Little Sioux Scout Ranch prompted him to choose a career in medicine. He graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Saturday. Hanna, now 26, spent more than a week in the hospital and a few months in a wheelchair recovering. Hanna said he feels lucky to have survived the storm, and he wants to live his life in a way that honors the boys who didn't.

Man who survived tornado at scout camp graduates med school

By
NICK GOSNELL <a href="https://hutchpost.com">Hutch Post</a>


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — There are thousands of Kansas taxpayers who will leave money on the table if they don't act by May 17.

"Not
 filing a tax return can mean you lose a refund," said Michael Devine 
with the IRS. "In 2017, more than 13,000 Kansas taxpayers didn't claim 
refunds worth more than $13 million."

Normally these three-year 
old returns have to be filed by April 15, but that deadline was extended
 with the rest to the 17th of May earlier this year.c

"Some people
 don't file because they don't have a requirement to, they don't make 
enough money," said Devine. "They don't make enough money. They should 
file, because they could be eligible for a refund or even for something 
like the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2017, that could have been more 
than $6,000 in a refund. Some people owe money and they don't want to 
file a tax return, because they think the IRS will find them. The IRS 
doesn't forget people that don't file."

In fact, filing those old returns can help you with your tax bill in some circumstances.

"If
 you're not current on your taxes, filing those tax returns, if you were
 due a refund in 2017, but you had a tax bill in 2018, that refund that 
you would get for 2017 would be credited to any federal tax debts or 
even student loans," Devine said. "Filing the tax return could reduce a 
tax bill. I promise the longer you wait to get current on your taxes, 
the more you would owe in interest and penalties."

For more information on catching up on your tax filing, go to <a href="https://irs.gov">irs.gov</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599869632873.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL <a href="https://hutchpost.com">Hutch Post</a>
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — There are thousands of Kansas taxpayers who will leave money on the table if they don't act by May 17."Not
 filing a tax return can mean you lose a refund," said Michael Devine 
with the IRS. "In 2017, more than 13,000 Kansas taxpayers didn't claim 
refunds worth more than $13 million."Normally these three-year 
old returns have to be filed by April 15, but that deadline was extended
 with the rest to the 17th of May earlier this year.c"Some people
 don't file because they don't have a requirement to, they don't make 
enough money," said Devine. "They don't make enough money. They should 
file, because they could be eligible for a refund or even for something 
like the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2017, that could have been more 
than $6,000 in a refund. Some people owe money and they don't want to 
file a tax return, because they think the IRS will find them. The IRS 
doesn't forget people that don't file."In fact, filing those old returns can help you with your tax bill in some circumstances."If
 you're not current on your taxes, filing those tax returns, if you were
 due a refund in 2017, but you had a tax bill in 2018, that refund that 
you would get for 2017 would be credited to any federal tax debts or 
even student loans," Devine said. "Filing the tax return could reduce a 
tax bill. I promise the longer you wait to get current on your taxes, 
the more you would owe in interest and penalties."For more information on catching up on your tax filing, go to <a href="https://irs.gov">irs.gov</a>.

IRS: 2017 Refund dollars left on the table if you don't file by May 17

LYON COUNTY — Three Kansas teens died in an accident Saturday in Lyon County.

Just before 6:30p.m. Saturday, police and sheriff's deputies responded to reports of an injured woman walking in the 800 Block of Road 147&nbsp; five miles south of Emporia, according to the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.

When they arrived, they located&nbsp; 15-year-old Ashely Edwards who had been a passenger in a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix that traveled off the road and into the Cottonwood River.

First responders found three others&nbsp; dead inside the car which was submerged in the river. The sheriff's department identified them as 17-year-0ld Chase Luby, 13-year-old Paxton Luby and 17-year-old Shelby Phoenix.

EMS transported Edwards to the hospital in Emporia. The cause of the accident remains under investigation, according to the sheriff's department.

LYON COUNTY — Three Kansas teens died in an accident Saturday in Lyon County.Just before 6:30p.m. Saturday, police and sheriff's deputies responded to reports of an injured woman walking in the 800 Block of Road 147&nbsp; five miles south of Emporia, according to the Lyon County Sheriff's Department.When they arrived, they located&nbsp; 15-year-old Ashely Edwards who had been a passenger in a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix that traveled off the road and into the Cottonwood River.First responders found three others&nbsp; dead inside the car which was submerged in the river. The sheriff's department identified them as 17-year-0ld Chase Luby, 13-year-old Paxton Luby and 17-year-old Shelby Phoenix.EMS transported Edwards to the hospital in Emporia. The cause of the accident remains under investigation, according to the sheriff's department.

Sheriff: 3 Kansas teens dead after car lands in river

BOSTON (AP) — A court ruling striking down a national eviction moratorium has placed additional pressure on the federal and state governments to deliver tens of billions of dollars in promised rental aid. 

A U.S. district court on Wednesday found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority when it imposed the moratorium. The ban remains in place during an appeal from the Justice Department. 

Housing advocates say that without the moratorium the only thing standing between tenants and eviction is the more than $50 billion in aid the federal government has promised. But they say very little of the aid has been received and may not arrive in time to prevent future evictions.

BOSTON (AP) — A court ruling striking down a national eviction moratorium has placed additional pressure on the federal and state governments to deliver tens of billions of dollars in promised rental aid. A U.S. district court on Wednesday found that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority when it imposed the moratorium. The ban remains in place during an appeal from the Justice Department. Housing advocates say that without the moratorium the only thing standing between tenants and eviction is the more than $50 billion in aid the federal government has promised. But they say very little of the aid has been received and may not arrive in time to prevent future evictions.

After court nixes eviction ban, race is on for federal help

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is working with the Georgia-based company that shut down a major pipeline transporting fuel across the East Coast after a ransomware attack, the White House says.

The government is planning for various scenarios and working with state and local authorities on measures to mitigate any potential supply issues, officials said Saturday. The attack is unlikely to affect gasoline supply and prices unless it leads to a prolonged shutdown, experts said.

Colonial Pipeline did not say what was demanded or who made the demand. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers who scramble data, paralyzing victim networks, and demand a large payment to decrypt it.

The attack on the company, which says it delivers roughly 45% of fuel consumed on the East Coast, underscores again the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to damaging cyberattacks that threaten to impede operations. It presents a new challenge for an administration still dealing with its response to major hacks from months ago, including a massive breach of government agencies and corporations for which the U.S. sanctioned Russia last month.

In this case, Colonial Pipeline said the ransomware attack Friday affected some of its information technology systems and that the company moved “proactively” to take certain systems offline, halting pipeline operations. In an earlier statement, it said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve this issue” with an eye toward returning to normal operations.

The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey. Its pipeline system spans more than 5,500 miles, transporting more than 100 million gallon a day.

The private cybersecurity firm FireEye said it's been hired to manage the incident response investigation.

Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one day or two would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could cause shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., region.

Lipow said a key concern about a lengthy delay would be the supply of jet fuel needed to keep major airports operating, like those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

A leading expert in industrial control systems, Dragos CEO Robert Lee, said systems such as those that directly manage the pipeline’s operation have been increasingly connected to computer networks in the past decade.

But critical infrastructure companies in the energy and electricity industries also tend to have invested more in cybersecurity than other sectors. If Colonial’s shutdown was mostly precautionary — and it detected the ransomware attack early and was well-prepared — the impact may not be great, Lee said.

While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately. The Justice Department has a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks.

The attack “underscores the threat that ransomware poses to organizations regardless of size or sector,” said Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director of the cybersecurity division at the federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency.

“We encourage every organization to take action to strengthen their cybersecurity posture to reduce their exposure to these types of threats,” Goldstein said in a statement.

Ransomware scrambles a victim organization’s data with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for how to negotiate ransom payments and, once paid, provide software decryption keys.

The attacks, mostly by criminal syndicates operating out of Russia and other safe havens, reached epidemic proportions last year, costing hospitals, medical researchers private businesses, state and local governments and schools tens of billions of dollars. Biden administration officials are warning of a national security threat, especially after criminals began stealing data before scrambling victim networks and saying they will expose it online unless a ransom is paid.

Average ransoms paid in the United States jumped nearly threefold to more than $310,000 last year. The average downtime for victims of ransomware attacks is 21 days, according to the firm Coveware, which helps victims respond.

U.S. law enforcement officials say some of these criminals have worked with Russia’s security services and that the Kremlin benefits by damaging adversaries’ economies. These operations also potentially provide cover for intelligence-gathering.

“Ransomware is the most common disruptive event that organizations are seeing right now that would cause them to shut down to prevent the spread,” said Dave White, president of cybersecurity firm Axio.

Mike Chapple, teaching professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a former computer scientist with the National Security Agency, said systems that control pipelines should not be connected to the internet and vulnerable to cyber intrusions.

“The attacks were extremely sophisticated and they were able to defeat some pretty sophisticated security controls, or the right degree of security controls weren’t in place,” Chapple said.

Brian Bethune, a professor of applied economics at Boston College, also said the impact on consumer prices should be short-lived as long as the shutdown does not last for more than a week or two. “But it is an indication of how vulnerable our infrastructure is to these kinds of cyberattacks,” he said.

Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy reopens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by 4 cents since Monday to $2.94.

Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and emerging technology, said in an interview with The Associated Press in April that the government was undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks. She said the goal was to ensure that control systems serving 50,000 or more Americans have the core technology to detect and block malicious cyber activity.

Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The operator of a major pipeline system that transports fuel across the East Coast said Saturday that it had been victimized by a ransomware attack and that it had halted all pipeline operations to deal with the threat. The attack is unlikely to affect gasoline supply and prices unless it leads to a prolonged shutdown of the pipeline, experts said.

Colonial Pipeline did not say what was demanded or by whom, but ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers who seize data and demand a large payment in order to release it.

The attack on a pipeline operator, which says it delivers roughly 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, underscored again the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to cyberattacks both by criminal hackers and U.S. adversaries. It presents a new challenge for an administration still grappling with its response to major hacks from months ago, including a massive breach of government agencies and corporations for which the U.S. sanctioned Russia last month.

In this case, Colonial Pipeline said the ransomware attack Friday affected some of its information technology systems and that the company moved “proactively” to take certain systems online, halting pipeline operations.

The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey.

The company said it hired a cybersecurity firm to investigate the nature and scope of the attack and has also contacted law enforcement and federal agencies.

In a statement late Friday, Colonial Pipeline said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve this issue,” focused primarily on ”the safe and efficient restoration of our service and our efforts to return to normal operation.” It said it was “working diligently to address this matter and to minimize disruption to our customers and those who rely on Colonial Pipeline.”

While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately.

Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one or two days would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could cause shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., area.

Ransomware&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-canada-health-coronavirus-technology-288c8979c10b648ba72a4b0fc34b02ac">scrambles a victim organization’s data</a>&nbsp;with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for how to negotiate ransom payments and, once paid, provide software decryption keys.

Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy reopens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by four cents since Monday to $2.94.

Colonial Pipeline said it transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through a pipeline system spanning more than 5,500 miles.

The FBI and the White House’s National Security Council did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency referred questions about the incident to the company.

A hacker’s botched attempt to poison the water supply of a small Florida city raised alarms about how vulnerable the nation’s critical infrastructure may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders.

Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The Justice Department has also announced a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. energy company says a cyberattack forced it to temporarily halt all operations on a major pipeline that delivers roughly 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast.

Colonial Pipeline said the attack took place Friday and also affected some of its information technology systems. The company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey.

The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company said it hired an outside cybersecurity firm to investigate the nature and scope of the attack and has also contacted law enforcement and federal agencies. While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately.

Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one or two days would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could causes shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., area.

The precise nature of the attack was unclear, including who launched it and what the motives were. A Colonial Pipeline spokeswoman declined to say whether the company had received a ransom demand, as is common in attacks from cyber criminal syndicates.

A leading expert in industrial control systems, CEO Robert Lee of Dragos, Inc., said everything points to a ransomware attack.

“How long they’ll be down depends on how far and wide this is,” he said. The pipeline could be back up and running relatively quickly if only IT systems are affected and Colonial was well-prepared. But if the network that directly controls pipeline functions is impacted it could take days, he said.

“It would not be unreasonable for a longer term, a week or so, of outages if it’s impactful on the operations side. We just don’t know that yet,” Lee said.

Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy re-opens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by four cents since Monday to $2.94.

Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The Justice Department has also announced a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks in which data is seized by hackers who demand payment from victims in order to release it.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620494037231.png" alt="Pipeline tank farm in Dorsey, Maryland-photo courtesy Colonial Pipeline" />
 <figcaption>Pipeline tank farm in Dorsey, Maryland-photo courtesy Colonial Pipeline</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government is working with the Georgia-based company that shut down a major pipeline transporting fuel across the East Coast after a ransomware attack, the White House says.The government is planning for various scenarios and working with state and local authorities on measures to mitigate any potential supply issues, officials said Saturday. The attack is unlikely to affect gasoline supply and prices unless it leads to a prolonged shutdown, experts said.Colonial Pipeline did not say what was demanded or who made the demand. Ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers who scramble data, paralyzing victim networks, and demand a large payment to decrypt it.The attack on the company, which says it delivers roughly 45% of fuel consumed on the East Coast, underscores again the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to damaging cyberattacks that threaten to impede operations. It presents a new challenge for an administration still dealing with its response to major hacks from months ago, including a massive breach of government agencies and corporations for which the U.S. sanctioned Russia last month.In this case, Colonial Pipeline said the ransomware attack Friday affected some of its information technology systems and that the company moved “proactively” to take certain systems offline, halting pipeline operations. In an earlier statement, it said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve this issue” with an eye toward returning to normal operations.The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey. Its pipeline system spans more than 5,500 miles, transporting more than 100 million gallon a day.The private cybersecurity firm FireEye said it's been hired to manage the incident response investigation.Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one day or two would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could cause shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., region.Lipow said a key concern about a lengthy delay would be the supply of jet fuel needed to keep major airports operating, like those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.A leading expert in industrial control systems, Dragos CEO Robert Lee, said systems such as those that directly manage the pipeline’s operation have been increasingly connected to computer networks in the past decade.But critical infrastructure companies in the energy and electricity industries also tend to have invested more in cybersecurity than other sectors. If Colonial’s shutdown was mostly precautionary — and it detected the ransomware attack early and was well-prepared — the impact may not be great, Lee said.While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately. The Justice Department has a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks.The attack “underscores the threat that ransomware poses to organizations regardless of size or sector,” said Eric Goldstein, executive assistant director of the cybersecurity division at the federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency.“We encourage every organization to take action to strengthen their cybersecurity posture to reduce their exposure to these types of threats,” Goldstein said in a statement.Ransomware scrambles a victim organization’s data with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for how to negotiate ransom payments and, once paid, provide software decryption keys.The attacks, mostly by criminal syndicates operating out of Russia and other safe havens, reached epidemic proportions last year, costing hospitals, medical researchers private businesses, state and local governments and schools tens of billions of dollars. Biden administration officials are warning of a national security threat, especially after criminals began stealing data before scrambling victim networks and saying they will expose it online unless a ransom is paid.Average ransoms paid in the United States jumped nearly threefold to more than $310,000 last year. The average downtime for victims of ransomware attacks is 21 days, according to the firm Coveware, which helps victims respond.U.S. law enforcement officials say some of these criminals have worked with Russia’s security services and that the Kremlin benefits by damaging adversaries’ economies. These operations also potentially provide cover for intelligence-gathering.“Ransomware is the most common disruptive event that organizations are seeing right now that would cause them to shut down to prevent the spread,” said Dave White, president of cybersecurity firm Axio.Mike Chapple, teaching professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a former computer scientist with the National Security Agency, said systems that control pipelines should not be connected to the internet and vulnerable to cyber intrusions.“The attacks were extremely sophisticated and they were able to defeat some pretty sophisticated security controls, or the right degree of security controls weren’t in place,” Chapple said.Brian Bethune, a professor of applied economics at Boston College, also said the impact on consumer prices should be short-lived as long as the shutdown does not last for more than a week or two. “But it is an indication of how vulnerable our infrastructure is to these kinds of cyberattacks,” he said.Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy reopens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by 4 cents since Monday to $2.94.Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and emerging technology, said in an interview with The Associated Press in April that the government was undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks. She said the goal was to ensure that control systems serving 50,000 or more Americans have the core technology to detect and block malicious cyber activity.Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time.--------WASHINGTON (AP) — The operator of a major pipeline system that transports fuel across the East Coast said Saturday that it had been victimized by a ransomware attack and that it had halted all pipeline operations to deal with the threat. The attack is unlikely to affect gasoline supply and prices unless it leads to a prolonged shutdown of the pipeline, experts said.Colonial Pipeline did not say what was demanded or by whom, but ransomware attacks are typically carried out by criminal hackers who seize data and demand a large payment in order to release it.The attack on a pipeline operator, which says it delivers roughly 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, underscored again the vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure to cyberattacks both by criminal hackers and U.S. adversaries. It presents a new challenge for an administration still grappling with its response to major hacks from months ago, including a massive breach of government agencies and corporations for which the U.S. sanctioned Russia last month.In this case, Colonial Pipeline said the ransomware attack Friday affected some of its information technology systems and that the company moved “proactively” to take certain systems online, halting pipeline operations.The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey.The company said it hired a cybersecurity firm to investigate the nature and scope of the attack and has also contacted law enforcement and federal agencies.In a statement late Friday, Colonial Pipeline said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve this issue,” focused primarily on ”the safe and efficient restoration of our service and our efforts to return to normal operation.” It said it was “working diligently to address this matter and to minimize disruption to our customers and those who rely on Colonial Pipeline.”While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately.Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one or two days would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could cause shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., area.Lipow said a key concern about a lengthy delay would be the supply of jet fuel needed to keep major airports operating, like those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.A leading expert in industrial control systems, Dragos CEO Robert Lee, said systems such as those that directly manage the pipeline’s operation have been increasingly connected to computer networks in the past decade.But critical infrastructure companies in the energy and electricity industries also tend to have invested more in cybersecurity than other sectors. If Colonial’s shutdown was mostly precautionary — and it detected the ransomware attack early and was well-prepared — the impact may not be great, Lee said.Ransomware&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-canada-health-coronavirus-technology-288c8979c10b648ba72a4b0fc34b02ac">scrambles a victim organization’s data</a>&nbsp;with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for how to negotiate ransom payments and, once paid, provide software decryption keys.Mike Chapple, teaching professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a former computer scientist with the National Security Agency, said systems that control pipelines should not be connected to the internet and vulnerable to cyber intrusions.“The attacks were extremely sophisticated and they were able to defeat some pretty sophisticated security controls, or the right degree of security controls weren’t in place,” Chapple said.Brian Bethune, a professor of applied economics at Boston College, also said the impact on consumer prices should be short-lived as long as the shutdown does not last for more than a week or two. “But it is an indication of how vulnerable our infrastructure is to these kinds of cyberattacks,” he said.Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy reopens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by four cents since Monday to $2.94.Colonial Pipeline said it transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through a pipeline system spanning more than 5,500 miles.The FBI and the White House’s National Security Council did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency referred questions about the incident to the company.A hacker’s botched attempt to poison the water supply of a small Florida city raised alarms about how vulnerable the nation’s critical infrastructure may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders.Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and emerging technology, said in an interview with The Associated Press in April that the government was undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks. She said the goal was to ensure that control systems serving 50,000 or more Americans have the core technology to detect and block malicious cyber activity.Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The Justice Department has also announced a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks.---------WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. energy company says a cyberattack forced it to temporarily halt all operations on a major pipeline that delivers roughly 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast.Colonial Pipeline said the attack took place Friday and also affected some of its information technology systems. The company transports gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil from refineries primarily located on the Gulf Coast through pipelines running from Texas to New Jersey.The Alpharetta, Georgia-based company said it hired an outside cybersecurity firm to investigate the nature and scope of the attack and has also contacted law enforcement and federal agencies. While there have long been fears about U.S. adversaries disrupting American energy suppliers, ransomware attacks by criminal syndicates are much more common and have been soaring lately.In a statement late Friday, Colonial Pipeline said it was “taking steps to understand and resolve this issue,” focused primarily on ”the safe and efficient restoration of our service and our efforts to return to normal operation.” It said it was “working diligently to address this matter and to minimize disruption to our customers and those who rely on Colonial Pipeline.”Oil analyst Andy Lipow said the impact of the attack on fuel supplies and prices depends on how long the pipeline is down. An outage of one or two days would be minimal, he said, but an outage of five or six days could causes shortages and price hikes, particularly in an area stretching from central Alabama to the Washington, D.C., area.Lipow said a key concern about a lengthy delay would be the supply of jet fuel needed to keep major airports operating, like those in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.The precise nature of the attack was unclear, including who launched it and what the motives were. A Colonial Pipeline spokeswoman declined to say whether the company had received a ransom demand, as is common in attacks from cyber criminal syndicates.A leading expert in industrial control systems, CEO Robert Lee of Dragos, Inc., said everything points to a ransomware attack.“How long they’ll be down depends on how far and wide this is,” he said. The pipeline could be back up and running relatively quickly if only IT systems are affected and Colonial was well-prepared. But if the network that directly controls pipeline functions is impacted it could take days, he said.“It would not be unreasonable for a longer term, a week or so, of outages if it’s impactful on the operations side. We just don’t know that yet,” Lee said.Ransomware&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-canada-health-coronavirus-technology-288c8979c10b648ba72a4b0fc34b02ac">scrambles a victim organization’s data</a>&nbsp;with encryption. The criminals leave instructions on infected computers for how to negotiate ransom payments and, once paid, provide software decryption keys.Mike Chapple, teaching professor of IT, analytics and operations at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a former computer scientist with the National Security Agency, said systems that control pipelines should not be connected to the internet and vulnerable to cyber intrusions.“The attacks were extremely sophisticated and they were able to defeat some pretty sophisticated security controls, or the right degree of security controls weren’t in place,” Chapple said.Brian Bethune, a professor of applied economics at Boston College, also said the impact on consumer prices should be short-lived as long as the shutdown does not last for more than a week or two. “But it is an indication of how vulnerable our infrastructure is to these kinds of cyberattacks,” he said.Bethune noted the shutdown is occurring at a time when energy prices have already been rising as the economy re-opens further as pandemic restrictions are lifted. According to the AAA auto club, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline has increased by four cents since Monday to $2.94.Colonial Pipeline said it transports more than 100 million gallons of fuel daily, through a pipeline system spanning more than 5,500 miles.The FBI and the White House’s National Security Council did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The federal Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency referred questions about the incident to the company.A hacker’s botched attempt to poison the water supply of a small Florida city raised alarms about how vulnerable the nation’s critical infrastructure may be to attacks by more sophisticated intruders.Anne Neuberger, the Biden administration’s deputy national security adviser for cybersecurity and emerging technology, said in an interview with The Associated Press in April that the government was undertaking a new effort to help electric utilities, water districts and other critical industries protect against potentially damaging cyberattacks. She said the goal was to ensure that control systems serving 50,000 or more Americans have the core technology to detect and block malicious cyber activity.Since then, the White House has announced a 100-day initiative aimed at protecting the country’s electricity system from cyberattacks by encouraging owners and operators of power plants and electric utilities to improve their capabilities for identifying cyber threats to their networks. It includes concrete milestones for them to put technologies into use so they can spot and respond to intrusions in real time. The Justice Department has also announced a new task force dedicated to countering ransomware attacks in which data is seized by hackers who demand payment from victims in order to release it.___

Cyber attack update: Major U.S. fuel pipeline halts operations 

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A string of lights that lobbed across the night sky in parts of the United States over three nights earlier this week had callers frantically calling TV stations from Texas to Wisconsin and speculating that a fleet of UFOs was coming. 

But the string of lights was actually a series of relatively low-flying satellites launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX as part of its Starlink internet service plan. And it had amateur stargazers and professional astronomers lamenting the industrialization of space. 

Professional astronomers say the company has voluntarily worked to significantly reduce the light reflected by its satellites, but they hope for more progress before thousands of more satellites are launched into the night sky.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620525825476.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A string of lights that lobbed across the night sky in parts of the United States over three nights earlier this week had callers frantically calling TV stations from Texas to Wisconsin and speculating that a fleet of UFOs was coming. But the string of lights was actually a series of relatively low-flying satellites launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX as part of its Starlink internet service plan. And it had amateur stargazers and professional astronomers lamenting the industrialization of space. Professional astronomers say the company has voluntarily worked to significantly reduce the light reflected by its satellites, but they hope for more progress before thousands of more satellites are launched into the night sky.

String of satellites baffles residents, bugs astronomers

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old man who allegedly fled child enticement charges in Omaha is coming back to Nebraska — from Nicaragua. 

KETV-TV reports that Adam Hawhee was returned to the U.S. on Friday. Hawhee was charged last year with two counts of child enticement and 26 counts of possession of child pornography. 

He was suspected to trying to entice girls at a park, but was freed after posting bond. He went back to jail in July after allegedly exposing himself to a boy. 

Hawhee was freed again after posting bond in August. He missed a December court appearance and authorities said he was on the run.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620501477079.png" alt="Hawhee" />
 <figcaption>Hawhee</figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A 29-year-old man who allegedly fled child enticement charges in Omaha is coming back to Nebraska — from Nicaragua. KETV-TV reports that Adam Hawhee was returned to the U.S. on Friday. Hawhee was charged last year with two counts of child enticement and 26 counts of possession of child pornography. He was suspected to trying to entice girls at a park, but was freed after posting bond. He went back to jail in July after allegedly exposing himself to a boy. Hawhee was freed again after posting bond in August. He missed a December court appearance and authorities said he was on the run.