OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska is planning a $450 million renovation of the Cornhuskers’ football stadium in Lincoln and at the same time looking to cut millions of dollars from the university system, leading critics to question whether officials care more about athletics than academics.

Faculty at Nebraska and nationally acknowledge the importance of athletics at a Big Ten university but said the divergent funding plans send a message that teaching and research take a back seat to Nebraska's football program.

“If an institution is putting zillions into athletics at the same time they are proposing cuts to academic programs and faculty, they have their priorities all wrong,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the college faculty advocacy group American Association of University Professors.

Mulvey, a mathematics professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, said it's incumbent on university and state leaders to promote a university's core academic mission to donors to ensure those programs and staff are adequately funded.

The high-priced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/college-football-sports-basketball-nebraska-b98e095217b8cc755ef0e7769e2b2290">Memorial Stadium renovation</a>&nbsp;was given preliminary approval this fall, even as the four-campus University of Nebraska system faces a $58 million budget shortfall that threatens to cut staff and academic programs. That includes deep cuts at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where students and staff have protested the school's announced elimination of its geography and theater programs, as well as cuts to other humanities offerings and its cybersecurity program.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln — the system's flagship campus and home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers — and the University of Nebraska-Omaha also are anticipating academic program cuts to deal with shortfalls blamed on inflation, stunted revenue growth and declining enrollment. UNL has also proposed cutting its Office of Diversity and Inclusion budget by more than 70%.

The cuts mirror those seen at universities across the country that have also been targeted by Republican lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-new-college-florida-woke-d281e84b0d8ce2bdd66652074a090cd8">in a battle taking aim</a>&nbsp;at schools'&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/diversity-equity-inclusion-legislation-7bd8d4d52aaaa9902dde59a257874686">college diversity initiatives</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-colleges-and-universities-florida-state-government-texas-education-4f0fe0c5c18ed227fabae3744e8ff51d">tenured professors</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-college-majors-funding-cuts-aad5a0d5c7ab013d6c5489fd41e4dc54">humanities programs</a>&nbsp;and even how colleges can&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-florida-discrimination-business-racial-injustice-a6f340a48989e67669418e85f2986ebf">teach and discuss race</a>.

The struggle facing college academia comes as a string of high-profile, high-dollar issues highlight just how much money is pouring into college athletics. That includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/contract-buyouts-jimbo-fisher-7fdd9fed9e4457bc961dbbc580b14d41">multimillion-dollar payouts</a>&nbsp;to fired college football coaches, billion-dollar athletic conference&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/college-football-nfl-entertainment-sports-basketball-4b4daca65e3359ef8ca94f893e4c46e9">media contracts</a>&nbsp;that send millions a year to member schools and yet-to-be-decided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-college-3d98cd455c2ed1c636ce46d8dd322100">court cases</a>&nbsp;that could see some of that money going to pay college athletes.

The optics of seeking a nearly half-billion dollar stadium renovation while cutting academic programs “are awful,” said UNK political science professor William Avilés. Equally as bad are the ballooning salaries of university administrators, such as the $1 million annual pay to the outgoing NU President — a nearly 40% increase over his predecessor — as academic programs are being cut.

On the UNK campus, “there's a mixture of anger, frustration, resignation,” Avilés said. “It's just another example of misplaced priorities.”

Nebraska's stadium proposal has also drawn notice because it supports a football program that seems to have been living off its long-past glory days. Nebraska was once a national powerhouse in college football, claiming five national championship titles since the early 1970s. But the Cornhuskers’ last championship win came in 1997, and the program has steadily declined since, cycling through six head coaches and going the last seven years without a bowl game appearance.

Despite the decadeslong slump, Nebraska football remains exceptionally popular in a state with no other Division 1 college football program and no professional sports teams. Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts said in a September announcement that catering to that fan base played a large role in the stadium renovation, which will include more restrooms, more concourse connectivity to make it a true “bowl,” widened walkways and adding chairbacks for stadium seating. But it will also cut the stadium's capacity by about 15,000 seats from its current capacity of 90,000 — reversing work in the previous decade that spent millions to increase seating capacity from around 75,000.

The reduction is necessary to increase comfort and amenities and keep the stadium a draw for fans, he said.

“There's been a lot of changes in college athletics,” Alberts said. “What started out for me as a very simple modernization plan based on amenities relative to fans' expectation has very quickly changed into a business strategy for the next 25 to 50 years.”

Nebraska’s athletic department is among a handful in the country that is self-sufficient, operating without taxpayer or tuition dollars. But when asked at a recent news conference whether he could pledge public money would not be used for the stadium renovation, Gov. Jim Pillen — himself a former Nebraska football player — refrained from making that commitment.

Asked this week by The Associated Press whether he's considering state funding of the project, Pillen's office said he is not including any funding for Memorial Stadium in his proposed budget.

Alberts and other university officials say the project will not use taxpayer money, instead relying on private fundraising and the athletic department's surplus funds.

“In other words, we could stop the stadium project today, but that would not do anything to mitigate the $58 million shortfall,” said Melissa Lee, spokeswoman for the University of Nebraska. “The dollars that will fund the stadium renovation cannot otherwise be used to pay university salaries or keep the lights on or fund an academic program.”

Some in academia want to see private fundraising for academic programs and staff, much the way athletics raises money for athletic programs.

UNL sociology professor Christina Falci, who is president of the American Association of University Professors' UNL chapter, said higher education fundraising outside of athletics is concentrated mostly in boosting research centers, student services and endowed chairs, not in aiding humanities and the professors who teach them.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The University of Nebraska is planning a $450 million renovation of the Cornhuskers’ football stadium in Lincoln and at the same time looking to cut millions of dollars from the university system, leading critics to question whether officials care more about athletics than academics.Faculty at Nebraska and nationally acknowledge the importance of athletics at a Big Ten university but said the divergent funding plans send a message that teaching and research take a back seat to Nebraska's football program.“If an institution is putting zillions into athletics at the same time they are proposing cuts to academic programs and faculty, they have their priorities all wrong,” said Irene Mulvey, president of the college faculty advocacy group American Association of University Professors.Mulvey, a mathematics professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut, said it's incumbent on university and state leaders to promote a university's core academic mission to donors to ensure those programs and staff are adequately funded.The high-priced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/college-football-sports-basketball-nebraska-b98e095217b8cc755ef0e7769e2b2290">Memorial Stadium renovation</a>&nbsp;was given preliminary approval this fall, even as the four-campus University of Nebraska system faces a $58 million budget shortfall that threatens to cut staff and academic programs. That includes deep cuts at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where students and staff have protested the school's announced elimination of its geography and theater programs, as well as cuts to other humanities offerings and its cybersecurity program.The University of Nebraska-Lincoln — the system's flagship campus and home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers — and the University of Nebraska-Omaha also are anticipating academic program cuts to deal with shortfalls blamed on inflation, stunted revenue growth and declining enrollment. UNL has also proposed cutting its Office of Diversity and Inclusion budget by more than 70%.The cuts mirror those seen at universities across the country that have also been targeted by Republican lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-new-college-florida-woke-d281e84b0d8ce2bdd66652074a090cd8">in a battle taking aim</a>&nbsp;at schools'&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/diversity-equity-inclusion-legislation-7bd8d4d52aaaa9902dde59a257874686">college diversity initiatives</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-colleges-and-universities-florida-state-government-texas-education-4f0fe0c5c18ed227fabae3744e8ff51d">tenured professors</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mississippi-college-majors-funding-cuts-aad5a0d5c7ab013d6c5489fd41e4dc54">humanities programs</a>&nbsp;and even how colleges can&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ron-desantis-florida-discrimination-business-racial-injustice-a6f340a48989e67669418e85f2986ebf">teach and discuss race</a>.The struggle facing college academia comes as a string of high-profile, high-dollar issues highlight just how much money is pouring into college athletics. That includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/contract-buyouts-jimbo-fisher-7fdd9fed9e4457bc961dbbc580b14d41">multimillion-dollar payouts</a>&nbsp;to fired college football coaches, billion-dollar athletic conference&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/college-football-nfl-entertainment-sports-basketball-4b4daca65e3359ef8ca94f893e4c46e9">media contracts</a>&nbsp;that send millions a year to member schools and yet-to-be-decided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-college-3d98cd455c2ed1c636ce46d8dd322100">court cases</a>&nbsp;that could see some of that money going to pay college athletes.The optics of seeking a nearly half-billion dollar stadium renovation while cutting academic programs “are awful,” said UNK political science professor William Avilés. Equally as bad are the ballooning salaries of university administrators, such as the $1 million annual pay to the outgoing NU President — a nearly 40% increase over his predecessor — as academic programs are being cut.On the UNK campus, “there's a mixture of anger, frustration, resignation,” Avilés said. “It's just another example of misplaced priorities.”Nebraska's stadium proposal has also drawn notice because it supports a football program that seems to have been living off its long-past glory days. Nebraska was once a national powerhouse in college football, claiming five national championship titles since the early 1970s. But the Cornhuskers’ last championship win came in 1997, and the program has steadily declined since, cycling through six head coaches and going the last seven years without a bowl game appearance.Despite the decadeslong slump, Nebraska football remains exceptionally popular in a state with no other Division 1 college football program and no professional sports teams. Nebraska Athletic Director Trev Alberts said in a September announcement that catering to that fan base played a large role in the stadium renovation, which will include more restrooms, more concourse connectivity to make it a true “bowl,” widened walkways and adding chairbacks for stadium seating. But it will also cut the stadium's capacity by about 15,000 seats from its current capacity of 90,000 — reversing work in the previous decade that spent millions to increase seating capacity from around 75,000.The reduction is necessary to increase comfort and amenities and keep the stadium a draw for fans, he said.“There's been a lot of changes in college athletics,” Alberts said. “What started out for me as a very simple modernization plan based on amenities relative to fans' expectation has very quickly changed into a business strategy for the next 25 to 50 years.”Nebraska’s athletic department is among a handful in the country that is self-sufficient, operating without taxpayer or tuition dollars. But when asked at a recent news conference whether he could pledge public money would not be used for the stadium renovation, Gov. Jim Pillen — himself a former Nebraska football player — refrained from making that commitment.Asked this week by The Associated Press whether he's considering state funding of the project, Pillen's office said he is not including any funding for Memorial Stadium in his proposed budget.Alberts and other university officials say the project will not use taxpayer money, instead relying on private fundraising and the athletic department's surplus funds.“In other words, we could stop the stadium project today, but that would not do anything to mitigate the $58 million shortfall,” said Melissa Lee, spokeswoman for the University of Nebraska. “The dollars that will fund the stadium renovation cannot otherwise be used to pay university salaries or keep the lights on or fund an academic program.”Some in academia want to see private fundraising for academic programs and staff, much the way athletics raises money for athletic programs.UNL sociology professor Christina Falci, who is president of the American Association of University Professors' UNL chapter, said higher education fundraising outside of athletics is concentrated mostly in boosting research centers, student services and endowed chairs, not in aiding humanities and the professors who teach them.

Critics pan planned $450M Nebraska football stadium renovation as academic programs face cuts

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan O'Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from a TV soap opera to an Oscar-nominated role in "Love Story" and delivered a wry performance opposite his charismatic 9-year-old daughter Tatum in "Paper Moon," died Friday, his son said.

“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us,” Patrick O'Neal, a Los Angeles sportscaster, posted on Instagram.

Attempts to reach O'Neal representatives were not immediately successful.

He did not give a cause. Ryan O'Neal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, a decade after he was first diagnosed with chronic leukemia. He was 82.

O'Neal was among the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1970s, who worked with many of the era's most celebrated directors including Peter Bogdanovich on “Paper Moon” and Stanley Kubrick on "Barry Lyndon. He often used his boyish, blond good looks to play men who hid shadowy or sinister backgrounds behind their clean-cut images.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/0ae46f1c-5331-49eb-8366-7538e9ce5854">Portions of "Paper Moon" in and around Hays, Wilson and St. Jospeh Mo.</a>&nbsp;The movie recently celebrated 50 years since its release.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/67bee6b6-2d7a-42ac-b543-dad1b4c610e3">RELATED STORY: 'Paper Moon' extras recall filming during 50th anniversary festival in Wilson</a>

O’Neal maintained a steady television acting career into his 70s in the 2010s, appearing for stints on “Bones” and “Desperate Housewives,” but his longtime relationship with Farrah Fawcett and his tumultuous family life kept him in news.

Twice divorced, O'Neal was romantically involved with Fawcett for nearly 30 years, and they had a son, Redmond, born in 1985. The couple split in 1997, but reunited a few years later. He remained by Fawcett’s side as she battled cancer, which killed her in 2009 at age 62.

With his first wife, Joanna Moore, O'Neal fathered actors Griffin O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal, his co-star in the 1973 movie "Paper Moon," for which she won an Oscar for best supporting actress. He had son Patrick with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young.

Ryan O'Neal had his own best-actor Oscar nomination for the 1970 tear-jerker drama "Love Story," co-starring Ali MacGraw, about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. The movie includes the memorable, but often satirized line: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

The actor had at times strained relationships with three of his children, including estrangement from his daughter, squabbles with son Griffin and a drug-related arrest sparked by a probation check of his son Redmond. The personal drama often over-shadowed his later career, although his attempts to reconcile with Tatum O’Neal were turned into a short-lived reality series.

O’Neal played bit parts and performed some stunt work before claiming a lead role on the prime-time soap opera "Peyton Place" (1964-69), which also made a star of Mia Farrow.

From there O'Neal jumped to the big screen with 1969's "The Big Bounce," which co-stared his then-wife, Leigh Taylor-Young. But it was "Love Story" that made him a movie star.

The romantic melodrama became one of Paramount Pictures' biggest hits and collected seven Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. It won for best music.

O'Neal then starred for Bogdanovich as a bumbling professor opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1972 screwball comedy "What's Up, Doc?" The filmmaker cast him the next year in the Depression-era con artist comedy "Paper Moon."

O'Neal played an unscrupulous Bible salesman preying on widows he located through obituary notices. His real-life daughter, Tatum, played a trash-talking, cigarette-smoking orphan who needs his help — and eventually helps redeem him.

Although critics praised both actors, the little girl's brash performance overshadowed her father's and made her the youngest person in history to win a regular Academy Award. She was 10 when the award was presented in 1974. (Younger performers such as Shirley Temple have won special Oscars.)

The elder O'Neal's next major film was Kubrick's 18th century epic "Barry Lyndon," in which he played a poor Irish rogue who traveled Europe trying to pass himself off as an aristocrat.

Filming the three-hour movie was tedious work, however, and Kubrick's notorious perfectionism created a rift between him and the actor that never healed.

O'Neal then reteamed with Tatum in Bogdanovich's early Hollywood comedy "Nickelodeon" (1976). But the film was a flop and they never worked together again. An attempt to capitalize on his "Love Story" character, Oliver Barrett, with the sequel "Oliver's Story" (1978) resulted in another flop.

Father and daughter drifted apart as Tatum O’Neal grew older, with the elder actor learning about his daughter’s marriage to tennis great John McEnroe by a belated telegram, Ryan O’Neal wrote in a 2012 book about his relationship with Fawcett.

“A door inside me locked the morning the telegram came, and I am still blindly searching for the key to open it,” O’Neal wrote in “Both of Us.”

O'Neal's career cooled further in the 1980s with the emerald heist drama "Green Ice" (1981) and the 1984 comedy "Irreconcilable Differences," in which he played a busy father in an unhappy marriage whose daughter, played by 9-year-old Drew Barrymore, tries to divorce her parents.

The decade was also a low-point in O'Neal's personal life. His son Griffin faced numerous brushes with the law, including a 1986 boating accident that killed Gian-Carlo Coppola, 23, son of movie director Francis Ford Coppola in Maryland. Griffin O’Neal was convicted of negligently and recklessly operating a boat, received a community service sentence and later served a brief stint in jail as a result.

With his Hollywood status diminishing, Ryan O'Neal began appearing in TV movies and eventually returned to series television opposite then-lover Fawcett with the 1991 sitcom "Good Sports," but the show ran only one season.

Both acknowledged the work put a strain on their relationship.

"We get into fights," O'Neal said in 1991. "She's tough. She expects to be treated well. On a set that can get lost when you're trying to create a moment and you're fighting the clock."

O'Neal began accepting more supporting roles with the 1989 film "Chances Are." He began a second career as a character actor, playing a husband who hires a hitman to kill his wife in "Faithful" (1996) and a mysterious tycoon in the blackmail comedy "Zero Effect" (1998).

By then his relationship with Fawcett had ended, although they remained close and eventually rekindled their romance in the 2000s. The volatile O’Neal family dynamics that had taxed their relationship before, however, remained.

In 2007 the elder O'Neal was arrested in 2007 for alleged assault and firing a weapon in an altercation with Griffin, but charges were never pursued. Their son Redmond was repeatedly arrested, jailed and spent several years in court-mandated rehab.

A probation check on Redmond O’Neal in September 2008 at his father’s Malibu home led to the actor’s arrest for methamphetamine possession. Ryan O’Neal pleaded guilty to the charge and entered a drug diversion program, but he publicly denied the drugs were his. He said he confiscated them from his son and was trying to protect him.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1702073318758.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ryan O'Neal, the heartthrob actor who went from a TV soap opera to an Oscar-nominated role in "Love Story" and delivered a wry performance opposite his charismatic 9-year-old daughter Tatum in "Paper Moon," died Friday, his son said.“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us,” Patrick O'Neal, a Los Angeles sportscaster, posted on Instagram.Attempts to reach O'Neal representatives were not immediately successful.He did not give a cause. Ryan O'Neal was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012, a decade after he was first diagnosed with chronic leukemia. He was 82.O'Neal was among the biggest movie stars in the world in the 1970s, who worked with many of the era's most celebrated directors including Peter Bogdanovich on “Paper Moon” and Stanley Kubrick on "Barry Lyndon. He often used his boyish, blond good looks to play men who hid shadowy or sinister backgrounds behind their clean-cut images.<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/0ae46f1c-5331-49eb-8366-7538e9ce5854">Portions of "Paper Moon" in and around Hays, Wilson and St. Jospeh Mo.</a>&nbsp;The movie recently celebrated 50 years since its release.<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/67bee6b6-2d7a-42ac-b543-dad1b4c610e3">RELATED STORY: 'Paper Moon' extras recall filming during 50th anniversary festival in Wilson</a>O’Neal maintained a steady television acting career into his 70s in the 2010s, appearing for stints on “Bones” and “Desperate Housewives,” but his longtime relationship with Farrah Fawcett and his tumultuous family life kept him in news.Twice divorced, O'Neal was romantically involved with Fawcett for nearly 30 years, and they had a son, Redmond, born in 1985. The couple split in 1997, but reunited a few years later. He remained by Fawcett’s side as she battled cancer, which killed her in 2009 at age 62.With his first wife, Joanna Moore, O'Neal fathered actors Griffin O'Neal and Tatum O'Neal, his co-star in the 1973 movie "Paper Moon," for which she won an Oscar for best supporting actress. He had son Patrick with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young.Ryan O'Neal had his own best-actor Oscar nomination for the 1970 tear-jerker drama "Love Story," co-starring Ali MacGraw, about a young couple who fall in love, marry and discover she is dying of cancer. The movie includes the memorable, but often satirized line: "Love means never having to say you're sorry."The actor had at times strained relationships with three of his children, including estrangement from his daughter, squabbles with son Griffin and a drug-related arrest sparked by a probation check of his son Redmond. The personal drama often over-shadowed his later career, although his attempts to reconcile with Tatum O’Neal were turned into a short-lived reality series.O’Neal played bit parts and performed some stunt work before claiming a lead role on the prime-time soap opera "Peyton Place" (1964-69), which also made a star of Mia Farrow.From there O'Neal jumped to the big screen with 1969's "The Big Bounce," which co-stared his then-wife, Leigh Taylor-Young. But it was "Love Story" that made him a movie star.The romantic melodrama became one of Paramount Pictures' biggest hits and collected seven Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. It won for best music.O'Neal then starred for Bogdanovich as a bumbling professor opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1972 screwball comedy "What's Up, Doc?" The filmmaker cast him the next year in the Depression-era con artist comedy "Paper Moon."O'Neal played an unscrupulous Bible salesman preying on widows he located through obituary notices. His real-life daughter, Tatum, played a trash-talking, cigarette-smoking orphan who needs his help — and eventually helps redeem him.Although critics praised both actors, the little girl's brash performance overshadowed her father's and made her the youngest person in history to win a regular Academy Award. She was 10 when the award was presented in 1974. (Younger performers such as Shirley Temple have won special Oscars.)The elder O'Neal's next major film was Kubrick's 18th century epic "Barry Lyndon," in which he played a poor Irish rogue who traveled Europe trying to pass himself off as an aristocrat.Filming the three-hour movie was tedious work, however, and Kubrick's notorious perfectionism created a rift between him and the actor that never healed.O'Neal then reteamed with Tatum in Bogdanovich's early Hollywood comedy "Nickelodeon" (1976). But the film was a flop and they never worked together again. An attempt to capitalize on his "Love Story" character, Oliver Barrett, with the sequel "Oliver's Story" (1978) resulted in another flop.Father and daughter drifted apart as Tatum O’Neal grew older, with the elder actor learning about his daughter’s marriage to tennis great John McEnroe by a belated telegram, Ryan O’Neal wrote in a 2012 book about his relationship with Fawcett.“A door inside me locked the morning the telegram came, and I am still blindly searching for the key to open it,” O’Neal wrote in “Both of Us.”O'Neal's career cooled further in the 1980s with the emerald heist drama "Green Ice" (1981) and the 1984 comedy "Irreconcilable Differences," in which he played a busy father in an unhappy marriage whose daughter, played by 9-year-old Drew Barrymore, tries to divorce her parents.The decade was also a low-point in O'Neal's personal life. His son Griffin faced numerous brushes with the law, including a 1986 boating accident that killed Gian-Carlo Coppola, 23, son of movie director Francis Ford Coppola in Maryland. Griffin O’Neal was convicted of negligently and recklessly operating a boat, received a community service sentence and later served a brief stint in jail as a result.With his Hollywood status diminishing, Ryan O'Neal began appearing in TV movies and eventually returned to series television opposite then-lover Fawcett with the 1991 sitcom "Good Sports," but the show ran only one season.Both acknowledged the work put a strain on their relationship."We get into fights," O'Neal said in 1991. "She's tough. She expects to be treated well. On a set that can get lost when you're trying to create a moment and you're fighting the clock."O'Neal began accepting more supporting roles with the 1989 film "Chances Are." He began a second career as a character actor, playing a husband who hires a hitman to kill his wife in "Faithful" (1996) and a mysterious tycoon in the blackmail comedy "Zero Effect" (1998).By then his relationship with Fawcett had ended, although they remained close and eventually rekindled their romance in the 2000s. The volatile O’Neal family dynamics that had taxed their relationship before, however, remained.In 2007 the elder O'Neal was arrested in 2007 for alleged assault and firing a weapon in an altercation with Griffin, but charges were never pursued. Their son Redmond was repeatedly arrested, jailed and spent several years in court-mandated rehab.A probation check on Redmond O’Neal in September 2008 at his father’s Malibu home led to the actor’s arrest for methamphetamine possession. Ryan O’Neal pleaded guilty to the charge and entered a drug diversion program, but he publicly denied the drugs were his. He said he confiscated them from his son and was trying to protect him.

Ryan O’Neal, star of ‘Paper Moon' and ‘Love Story’ has died

DECEMBER 8, 2023 (LINCOLN, NEB.)&nbsp;&nbsp;— Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested a Lincoln man after a pursuit that began near Beatrice and ended in Lincoln.

At approximately 10:55 p.m. Thursday, a trooper observed a motorcycle speeding on southbound Highway 77, south of Pickrell. The trooper attempted a traffic stop, but the rider refused to yield and continued southbound. As the motorcycle reached Beatrice on Highway 77, it turned and accelerated northbound. The rider continued northbound, with speeds varying from 40 miles per hour to over 120 miles per hour, and at times traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Highway 77.

As the motorcycle reached Lincoln, the NSP AirWing took over the pursuit from the air. The NSP helicopter followed the rider as it drove through the Haymarket, then over a pedestrian bridge, and continued driving on streets and trails for some time. NSP Pilots continued to direct units on the ground to the location of the motorcycle as it drove through Lincoln.

Shortly after midnight, the motorcycle came to a stop near Antelope Park on the Billy Wolff Trail and the rider was taken into custody without further incident. Troopers discovered that the motorcycle was stolen.

The rider, Tyler Yates, 28, of Lincoln, was arrested for theft by receiving stolen property $5,000+, flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, defacing a vehicle identification number, possession of a controlled substance, driving under suspension, and several traffic violations. Yates also had an outstanding warrant. He was lodged in Lancaster County Jail.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and Lincoln Police Department assisted during this incident.

Cody ThomasDECEMBER 8, 2023 (LINCOLN, NEB.)&nbsp;&nbsp;— Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have arrested a Lincoln man after a pursuit that began near Beatrice and ended in Lincoln.At approximately 10:55 p.m. Thursday, a trooper observed a motorcycle speeding on southbound Highway 77, south of Pickrell. The trooper attempted a traffic stop, but the rider refused to yield and continued southbound. As the motorcycle reached Beatrice on Highway 77, it turned and accelerated northbound. The rider continued northbound, with speeds varying from 40 miles per hour to over 120 miles per hour, and at times traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of Highway 77.As the motorcycle reached Lincoln, the NSP AirWing took over the pursuit from the air. The NSP helicopter followed the rider as it drove through the Haymarket, then over a pedestrian bridge, and continued driving on streets and trails for some time. NSP Pilots continued to direct units on the ground to the location of the motorcycle as it drove through Lincoln.Shortly after midnight, the motorcycle came to a stop near Antelope Park on the Billy Wolff Trail and the rider was taken into custody without further incident. Troopers discovered that the motorcycle was stolen.The rider, Tyler Yates, 28, of Lincoln, was arrested for theft by receiving stolen property $5,000+, flight to avoid arrest, willful reckless driving, defacing a vehicle identification number, possession of a controlled substance, driving under suspension, and several traffic violations. Yates also had an outstanding warrant. He was lodged in Lancaster County Jail.The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office and Lincoln Police Department assisted during this incident.

NSP AirWing Assist Leads to Arrest Following Pursuit

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter Biden</a>&nbsp;was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden's son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.

<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.907805/gov.uscourts.cacd.907805.1.0_1.pdf">Click here to read</a> the indictment

The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection.

Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.

If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could a maximum of 17 years in prison. The special counsel probe remains open, Weiss said.

In a fiery response, defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure" in the case.

“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said in a statement.

The White House declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.

The charging documents filed in California, where he lives, details spending on everything from drugs and strippers to luxury hotels and exotic cars, “in short, everything but his taxes," prosecutor Leo Wise wrote.

The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-joe-biden-impeachment-congress-subpoena-37fe9652539c2c501d8b8bd8c3cc8901">impeachment inquiry into President Biden</a>, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.

No evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes, though questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business.

The separate, long-running criminal investigation into Hunter Biden had been expected to wind down with a plea deal where he would have gotten two years' probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and avoided prosecution on the gun charge if he stayed out of trouble.

The agreement was pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. He is facing his own criminal cases, including charges that he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-immunity-9528a29b2dbebb6ee4a4ebd26780f98c">plotted to overturn</a>&nbsp;the results of the 2020 election.

Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, gave credit for the new charges Thursday to two IRS investigators who testified before Congress that the Justice Department had mishandled and “slow walked” the investigation into the president's son. Justice officials have denied those allegations.

The two IRS employees, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, said the indictment was “a complete vindication of our thorough investigation.”

The new charges against Hunter Biden include filing a false return and tax evasion felonies, as well as misdemeanor failure to file and failure to pay.

The defense signaled that it plans to fight the new charges, likely at least in part relying on immunity provisions from the original plea deal. Defense attorneys have argued those remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.

Prosecutors have disagreed, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.

Lowell said he's also planning to push for dismissal of the gun charges next week, calling them “unprecedented and unconstitutional."

The three federal gun charges filed in Delaware allege Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.

Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse worsened after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, according to court documents and his memoir “Beautiful Things," which ends with him getting clean in 2019.

His gross income nevertheless totaled some $7 million between 2016 and 2020, prosecutors said, pointing to his roles on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and a Chinese private equity fund as well as his position at a law firm.

Hunter did eventually file his taxes in 2020, while facing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-child-support-arkansas-paternity-89fb7080985efe52c5c3bc94c37d6ac1">child-support case</a>&nbsp;in Arkansas, and the back taxes were paid by a “third party,” prosecutors have said in court documents.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695255188333.png" alt="-Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>-Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter Biden</a>&nbsp;was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of President Joe Biden's son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.907805/gov.uscourts.cacd.907805.1.0_1.pdf">Click here to read</a> the indictmentThe new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — are in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke laws against drug users having guns in 2018. They come after the implosion of a plea deal over the summer that would have spared him jail time, putting the case on track to a possible trial as his father campaigns for reelection.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1702004663484.png" alt="The indictment includes summary of the expenditures Hunter Biden made instead of paying his taxes, per prosectors " />
 <figcaption>The indictment includes summary of the expenditures Hunter Biden made instead of paying his taxes, per prosectors </figcaption>
 </figure>Hunter Biden “spent millions of dollars on an extravagant lifestyle rather than paying his tax bills,” special counsel David Weiss said in a statement. The charges are centered on at least $1.4 million in taxes Hunter Biden owed during between 2016 and 2019, a period where he has acknowledged struggling with addiction. The back taxes have since been paid.If convicted, Hunter Biden, 53, could a maximum of 17 years in prison. The special counsel probe remains open, Weiss said.In a fiery response, defense attorney Abbe Lowell accused Weiss of “bowing to Republican pressure" in the case.“Based on the facts and the law, if Hunter’s last name was anything other than Biden, the charges in Delaware, and now California, would not have been brought," Lowell said in a statement.The White House declined to comment on Thursday’s indictment, referring questions to the Justice Department or Hunter Biden’s personal representatives.The charging documents filed in California, where he lives, details spending on everything from drugs and strippers to luxury hotels and exotic cars, “in short, everything but his taxes," prosecutor Leo Wise wrote.The indictment comes as congressional Republicans pursue an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-joe-biden-impeachment-congress-subpoena-37fe9652539c2c501d8b8bd8c3cc8901">impeachment inquiry into President Biden</a>, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.No evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes, though questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business.The separate, long-running criminal investigation into Hunter Biden had been expected to wind down with a plea deal where he would have gotten two years' probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and avoided prosecution on the gun charge if he stayed out of trouble.The agreement was pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans, including former President Donald Trump. He is facing his own criminal cases, including charges that he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-immunity-9528a29b2dbebb6ee4a4ebd26780f98c">plotted to overturn</a>&nbsp;the results of the 2020 election.Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, gave credit for the new charges Thursday to two IRS investigators who testified before Congress that the Justice Department had mishandled and “slow walked” the investigation into the president's son. Justice officials have denied those allegations.The two IRS employees, Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, said the indictment was “a complete vindication of our thorough investigation.”The new charges against Hunter Biden include filing a false return and tax evasion felonies, as well as misdemeanor failure to file and failure to pay.The defense signaled that it plans to fight the new charges, likely at least in part relying on immunity provisions from the original plea deal. Defense attorneys have argued those remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.Prosecutors have disagreed, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.Lowell said he's also planning to push for dismissal of the gun charges next week, calling them “unprecedented and unconstitutional."The three federal gun charges filed in Delaware allege Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse worsened after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, according to court documents and his memoir “Beautiful Things," which ends with him getting clean in 2019.His gross income nevertheless totaled some $7 million between 2016 and 2020, prosecutors said, pointing to his roles on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma and a Chinese private equity fund as well as his position at a law firm.Hunter did eventually file his taxes in 2020, while facing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-child-support-arkansas-paternity-89fb7080985efe52c5c3bc94c37d6ac1">child-support case</a>&nbsp;in Arkansas, and the back taxes were paid by a “third party,” prosecutors have said in court documents.

What Hunter Biden is accused of spending money on instead of paying taxes

NEW YORK (AP) — Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/12/default-end-to-end-encryption-on-messenger/">announced Thursday</a>.

Such encryption means that no one other than the sender and the recipient — not even Meta — can decipher people’s messages. Encrypted chats, first introduced as an optional feature in Messenger in 2016, will now be the standard for all users going forward, according to Messenger head Loredana Crisan.

“This has taken years to deliver because we’ve taken our time to get this right,” Crisan wrote in a blog post. “Our engineers, cryptographers, designers, policy experts and product managers have worked tirelessly to rebuild Messenger features from the ground up.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised, back in 2019, to bring end-to-end encryption to its platforms after the social media company suffered a string of high profile scandals, notably when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-steve-bannon-technology-lawsuits-campaigns-9a8b7633eb11d08d0a58a45b7dab1770">Cambridge Analytica accessed user data on Facebook</a>. Privacy advocates again shined a spotlight on Meta after Nebraska investigators reviewed private Facebook messages while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-technology-health-c62b071aae11783fe0aeed99bbf8fffc">investigating an abortion</a>&nbsp;that violated a state 20-week ban.

Meta, whose WhatsApp platform already encrypts messages, said the feature can help keep users safe from hackers, fraudsters and criminals.

Meanwhile, encryption critics, law enforcement and even a Meta report released in 2022 note the risks of enhanced encryption, including users who could abuse the privacy feature to sexually exploit children, facilitate human trafficking and spread hate speech.

“What will Meta’s bosses say to children who have suffered sexual abuse, whose trauma will be compounded by their decision not to preserve their privacy? How will they justify turning a blind eye to this illegal and harmful content being spread via their platforms?" said Internet Watch Foundation chief executive Susie Hargreaves. “The company has a strong track record in detecting large amounts of child sexual abuse material before it appears on its platforms. We urge Meta to continue this vital protection."

The new features will be available immediately, but Crisan wrote that it would take some time for the privacy feature to be rolled out to all of its users.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701978195681.jpeg" alt="The META logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris in Paris, France on June 14, 2023. Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company announced Thursday.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)" />
 <figcaption>The META logo is seen at the Vivatech show in Paris in Paris, France on June 14, 2023. Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company announced Thursday.(AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for calls and messages across its Facebook and Messenger platforms, the company&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2023/12/default-end-to-end-encryption-on-messenger/">announced Thursday</a>.Such encryption means that no one other than the sender and the recipient — not even Meta — can decipher people’s messages. Encrypted chats, first introduced as an optional feature in Messenger in 2016, will now be the standard for all users going forward, according to Messenger head Loredana Crisan.“This has taken years to deliver because we’ve taken our time to get this right,” Crisan wrote in a blog post. “Our engineers, cryptographers, designers, policy experts and product managers have worked tirelessly to rebuild Messenger features from the ground up.”Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised, back in 2019, to bring end-to-end encryption to its platforms after the social media company suffered a string of high profile scandals, notably when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-steve-bannon-technology-lawsuits-campaigns-9a8b7633eb11d08d0a58a45b7dab1770">Cambridge Analytica accessed user data on Facebook</a>. Privacy advocates again shined a spotlight on Meta after Nebraska investigators reviewed private Facebook messages while&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-technology-health-c62b071aae11783fe0aeed99bbf8fffc">investigating an abortion</a>&nbsp;that violated a state 20-week ban.Meta, whose WhatsApp platform already encrypts messages, said the feature can help keep users safe from hackers, fraudsters and criminals.Meanwhile, encryption critics, law enforcement and even a Meta report released in 2022 note the risks of enhanced encryption, including users who could abuse the privacy feature to sexually exploit children, facilitate human trafficking and spread hate speech.“What will Meta’s bosses say to children who have suffered sexual abuse, whose trauma will be compounded by their decision not to preserve their privacy? How will they justify turning a blind eye to this illegal and harmful content being spread via their platforms?" said Internet Watch Foundation chief executive Susie Hargreaves. “The company has a strong track record in detecting large amounts of child sexual abuse material before it appears on its platforms. We urge Meta to continue this vital protection."The new features will be available immediately, but Crisan wrote that it would take some time for the privacy feature to be rolled out to all of its users.

Meta makes end-to-end encryption a default on Facebook Messenger

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A judge on Thursday gave a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis permission to get an abortion in an unprecedented challenge over bans that more than a dozen states have enacted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-dobbs-anniversary-state-laws-51c2a83899f133556e715342abfcface">since Roe v. Wade was overturned</a>.

The lawsuit by Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-lawsuit-dc5f97fdccf801f572bb5acffac3ad45">is believed to be the first time</a>&nbsp;since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that a woman has asked a court to approve an immediate abortion. The order only applies to Cox and her attorneys afterward spoke cautiously about any wider impacts, calling it unfeasible that scores of other women seeking abortions would also now to turn to courts.

“This can't be the new normal,” said Marc Hearron, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “I don’t think you can expect to see now hundreds of cases being filed on behalf of patients. It's just not realistic.”

State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, an elected Democrat, granted a temporary restraining order allowing Cox to have an abortion under what are narrow exceptions to Texas' ban. Her attorneys afterward said they would not disclose what Cox was planning to do next, citing concerns for her safety.

Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office argued that Cox did not meet the criteria for a medical exception, issued a statement that did not say whether the state would appeal. But in a letter to three Houston hospitals, Paxton warned that legal consequences were still possible if Cox's physician provided the abortion.

Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, attended the hearing via Zoom along with her husband but did not address the court. Doctors have told Cox that if the baby’s heartbeat were to stop, inducing labor would carry a risk of a uterine rupture because of her prior cesareans sections, and that another C-section at full term would would endanger her ability to carry another child.

“The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice," Gamble said.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Cox, has said this lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Since that landmark ruling, Texas and 12 other states rushed to ban abortion at nearly all stages of pregnancy. Opponents have sought to weaken those bans, including an ongoing Texas challenge over whether the state's law is too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications.

“I do not want to continue the pain and suffering that has plagued this pregnancy or continue to put my body or my mental health through the risks of continuing this pregnancy,” Cox wrote in an editorial&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/12/07/i-need-to-end-my-pregnancy-now-it-is-the-best-chance-for-my-health-and-well-being/?utm_term=344619&amp;utm_medium=%E2%80%98I%20need%20to%20end%20my%20pregnancy%20now&amp;utm_source=pushly&amp;utm_content=e152fa1d-81d2-4ccc-bfdb-67c78f7fe2b5&amp;utm_campaign=3898389">published in The Dallas Morning News</a>. “I do not want my baby to arrive in this world only to watch her suffer.”

The temporary restraining order stops Texas from enforcing the state's ban on Cox and lasts for 14 days. Under the restrictions in Texas, doctors who provide abortions could face criminal charges that carry a punishment of up to life in prison. They could also be fined. Pregnant women cannot be criminally charged for having an abortion in Texas.

Paxton told the Houston hospitals the order “will not insulate you” from civil and criminal liabilities, arguing that private citizens could still bring lawsuits and local prosecutors could still bring charges.

Seth Chandler, a law professor at the University of Houston, said he would have concerns as a physician based on both legal issues and Paxton's “apparent zeal” to enforce the state's abortion ban.

“If I were one of the doctors involved here, I would not sleep easy performing that abortion,” he said.

Although Texas allows exceptions under the ban, doctors and women have argued that the requirements are so vaguely worded that physicians still won't risk providing abortions, lest they face potential criminal charges or lawsuits.

State officials had asked Gamble to deny the request, arguing that Cox has not shown her life is in imminent danger and that she is therefore unable to qualify for an exception to the ban.

The decision was handed down just two days after Cox filed the lawsuit, which says doctors told her the baby will likely be stillborn or live for a week at most.

Cox had cesarean sections with her previous pregnancies. She learned she was pregnant for a third time in August and was told weeks later that her baby was at a high risk for a condition known as trisomy 18, which has a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed a week after the Texas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-exceptions-lawsuit-82611bda29112775247d8e7adbc0a81b">heard arguments</a>&nbsp;about whether the ban is too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications. That case is among the biggest ongoing challenges to abortion bans in the U.S., although a ruling from the all-Republican court may not come for months.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A judge on Thursday gave a pregnant woman whose fetus has a fatal diagnosis permission to get an abortion in an unprecedented challenge over bans that more than a dozen states have enacted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-dobbs-anniversary-state-laws-51c2a83899f133556e715342abfcface">since Roe v. Wade was overturned</a>.The lawsuit by Kate Cox, a 31-year-old mother of two from the Dallas area,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-lawsuit-dc5f97fdccf801f572bb5acffac3ad45">is believed to be the first time</a>&nbsp;since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that a woman has asked a court to approve an immediate abortion. The order only applies to Cox and her attorneys afterward spoke cautiously about any wider impacts, calling it unfeasible that scores of other women seeking abortions would also now to turn to courts.“This can't be the new normal,” said Marc Hearron, an attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights. “I don’t think you can expect to see now hundreds of cases being filed on behalf of patients. It's just not realistic.”State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, an elected Democrat, granted a temporary restraining order allowing Cox to have an abortion under what are narrow exceptions to Texas' ban. Her attorneys afterward said they would not disclose what Cox was planning to do next, citing concerns for her safety.Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office argued that Cox did not meet the criteria for a medical exception, issued a statement that did not say whether the state would appeal. But in a letter to three Houston hospitals, Paxton warned that legal consequences were still possible if Cox's physician provided the abortion.Cox, who is 20 weeks pregnant, attended the hearing via Zoom along with her husband but did not address the court. Doctors have told Cox that if the baby’s heartbeat were to stop, inducing labor would carry a risk of a uterine rupture because of her prior cesareans sections, and that another C-section at full term would would endanger her ability to carry another child.“The idea that Ms. Cox wants so desperately to be a parent and this law may have her lose that ability is shocking and would be a genuine miscarriage of justice," Gamble said.The Center for Reproductive Rights, which is representing Cox, has said this lawsuit is believed to be the first of its kind since Roe v. Wade was overturned. Since that landmark ruling, Texas and 12 other states rushed to ban abortion at nearly all stages of pregnancy. Opponents have sought to weaken those bans, including an ongoing Texas challenge over whether the state's law is too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications.“I do not want to continue the pain and suffering that has plagued this pregnancy or continue to put my body or my mental health through the risks of continuing this pregnancy,” Cox wrote in an editorial&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2023/12/07/i-need-to-end-my-pregnancy-now-it-is-the-best-chance-for-my-health-and-well-being/?utm_term=344619&amp;utm_medium=%E2%80%98I%20need%20to%20end%20my%20pregnancy%20now&amp;utm_source=pushly&amp;utm_content=e152fa1d-81d2-4ccc-bfdb-67c78f7fe2b5&amp;utm_campaign=3898389">published in The Dallas Morning News</a>. “I do not want my baby to arrive in this world only to watch her suffer.”The temporary restraining order stops Texas from enforcing the state's ban on Cox and lasts for 14 days. Under the restrictions in Texas, doctors who provide abortions could face criminal charges that carry a punishment of up to life in prison. They could also be fined. Pregnant women cannot be criminally charged for having an abortion in Texas.Paxton told the Houston hospitals the order “will not insulate you” from civil and criminal liabilities, arguing that private citizens could still bring lawsuits and local prosecutors could still bring charges.Seth Chandler, a law professor at the University of Houston, said he would have concerns as a physician based on both legal issues and Paxton's “apparent zeal” to enforce the state's abortion ban.“If I were one of the doctors involved here, I would not sleep easy performing that abortion,” he said.Although Texas allows exceptions under the ban, doctors and women have argued that the requirements are so vaguely worded that physicians still won't risk providing abortions, lest they face potential criminal charges or lawsuits.State officials had asked Gamble to deny the request, arguing that Cox has not shown her life is in imminent danger and that she is therefore unable to qualify for an exception to the ban.The decision was handed down just two days after Cox filed the lawsuit, which says doctors told her the baby will likely be stillborn or live for a week at most.Cox had cesarean sections with her previous pregnancies. She learned she was pregnant for a third time in August and was told weeks later that her baby was at a high risk for a condition known as trisomy 18, which has a very high likelihood of miscarriage or stillbirth and low survival rates, according to the lawsuit.The lawsuit was filed a week after the Texas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-texas-exceptions-lawsuit-82611bda29112775247d8e7adbc0a81b">heard arguments</a>&nbsp;about whether the ban is too restrictive for women with pregnancy complications. That case is among the biggest ongoing challenges to abortion bans in the U.S., although a ruling from the all-Republican court may not come for months.

Judge issues ruling in unprecedented abortion case

WASHINGTON&nbsp; (AP) —A salmonella outbreak tied to tainted cantaloupe has now killed eight people — three in the U.S. and five in Canada, health officials reported Thursday.

Dozens more illnesses were reported by both countries. In the U.S., at least 230 people have been ill in 38 states and 96 have been hospitalized since mid-November, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The tainted cantaloupe was also shipped to Canada, where 129 cases have been reported, including 44 hospitalizations, health officials reported.

.Many of the people who fell ill reported eating pre-cut cantaloupe in clamshell packages and trays sold in stores. Consumers should not buy, eat or serve cantaloupe, if they don’t know the source, the CDC said.

New recalls of whole and pre-cut fruit have been added to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/major-product-recalls/2023-recalls-food-products-associated-cantaloupes-due-potential-risk-salmonella" target="_blank">growing list,</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/cut-fruit-express-recalls-fresh-cut-fruit-mix-containing-cantaloupe-because-possible-health-risk" target="_blank">Cut Fruit Express</a>&nbsp;initiated a recall of cantaloupe chunks and fruit mixes containing cantaloupe. On Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/tgd-cuts-llc-recalls-certain-fresh-cut-fruit-cup-clamshell-and-tray-products-due-possible-health" target="_blank">TGD Cuts, LLC</a>&nbsp;launched a recall of specific fresh fruit cup, clamshell and tray products that contained cantaloupe from the company TruFresh.

Health officials are still working to determine whether additional products are linked to the illnesses.

Salmonella can cause serious illness in young children, people older than 65 and those with weakened immune systems.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701997370458.png" alt="-&nbsp; This map shows where the 230 people in this Salmonella outbreak lived. This outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses, and the true number of sick people is likely much higher than the number reported. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella. FDA Map December 7&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>-&nbsp; This map shows where the 230 people in this Salmonella outbreak lived. This outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses, and the true number of sick people is likely much higher than the number reported. This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for Salmonella. FDA Map December 7&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON&nbsp; (AP) —A salmonella outbreak tied to tainted cantaloupe has now killed eight people — three in the U.S. and five in Canada, health officials reported Thursday.Dozens more illnesses were reported by both countries. In the U.S., at least 230 people have been ill in 38 states and 96 have been hospitalized since mid-November, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The tainted cantaloupe was also shipped to Canada, where 129 cases have been reported, including 44 hospitalizations, health officials reported..Many of the people who fell ill reported eating pre-cut cantaloupe in clamshell packages and trays sold in stores. Consumers should not buy, eat or serve cantaloupe, if they don’t know the source, the CDC said.New recalls of whole and pre-cut fruit have been added to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/major-product-recalls/2023-recalls-food-products-associated-cantaloupes-due-potential-risk-salmonella" target="_blank">growing list,</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said. Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/cut-fruit-express-recalls-fresh-cut-fruit-mix-containing-cantaloupe-because-possible-health-risk" target="_blank">Cut Fruit Express</a>&nbsp;initiated a recall of cantaloupe chunks and fruit mixes containing cantaloupe. On Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/tgd-cuts-llc-recalls-certain-fresh-cut-fruit-cup-clamshell-and-tray-products-due-possible-health" target="_blank">TGD Cuts, LLC</a>&nbsp;launched a recall of specific fresh fruit cup, clamshell and tray products that contained cantaloupe from the company TruFresh.Health officials are still working to determine whether additional products are linked to the illnesses.Salmonella can cause serious illness in young children, people older than 65 and those with weakened immune systems.

US Embassy in Baghdad attacked with rockets

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter Biden</a>&nbsp;was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of the president's son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.

The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.

He had been previously expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors who said he failed to pay taxes on $4 million in personal income in 2017 and 2018. Defense attorneys have signaled they plan to fight any new charges.

The agreement imploded in July after a judge raised questions about it. It had also been pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans investigating nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden's business dealings as well as the Justice Department's handling of the case.

Congressional Republicans have also pursued an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-joe-biden-impeachment-congress-subpoena-37fe9652539c2c501d8b8bd8c3cc8901">impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden</a>, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.

While questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, no evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes.

The criminal investigation led by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss has been open since 2018, and was expected to wind down with the plea deal that Hunter Biden had planned to strike with prosecutors over the summer. He would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges and would have entered a separate agreement on the gun charge. He would have served two years of probation rather than get jail time.

The agreement also contained immunity provisions, and defense attorneys have argued that they remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.

Prosecutors disagree, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.

After the deal fell apart, prosecutors filed three federal gun charges alleging that Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.

Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse had worsened during that period after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, prosecutors wrote in a draft plea agreement filed in court in Delaware.

He still made “substantial income” in 2017 and 2018, including $2.6 million in business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEOs of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, but did not pay his taxes, prosecutors said in that filing.

He did eventually file his taxes in 2020 and the back taxes were paid by a “third party” the following year, prosecutors said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695255188333.png" alt="The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter Biden</a>&nbsp;was indicted on nine tax charges in California on Thursday as a special counsel investigation into the business dealings of the president's son intensifies against the backdrop of the looming 2024 election.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1702004663484.png" alt="Indictment includes summary of the expenditures Hunter Biden made instead of paying his taxes, per prosectors&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Indictment includes summary of the expenditures Hunter Biden made instead of paying his taxes, per prosectors&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>The new charges — three felonies and six misdemeanors — come in addition to federal firearms charges in Delaware alleging Hunter Biden broke a law against drug users having guns in 2018.He had been previously expected to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges as part of a plea deal with prosecutors who said he failed to pay taxes on $4 million in personal income in 2017 and 2018. Defense attorneys have signaled they plan to fight any new charges.The agreement imploded in July after a judge raised questions about it. It had also been pilloried as a “sweetheart deal” by Republicans investigating nearly every aspect of Hunter Biden's business dealings as well as the Justice Department's handling of the case.Congressional Republicans have also pursued an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-joe-biden-impeachment-congress-subpoena-37fe9652539c2c501d8b8bd8c3cc8901">impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden</a>, claiming he was engaged in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The House is expected to vote next week on formally authorizing the inquiry.While questions have arisen about the ethics surrounding the Biden family’s international business, no evidence has emerged so far to prove that Joe Biden, in his current or previous office, abused his role or accepted bribes.The criminal investigation led by Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss has been open since 2018, and was expected to wind down with the plea deal that Hunter Biden had planned to strike with prosecutors over the summer. He would have pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor tax evasion charges and would have entered a separate agreement on the gun charge. He would have served two years of probation rather than get jail time.The agreement also contained immunity provisions, and defense attorneys have argued that they remain in force since that part of the agreement was signed by a prosecutor before the deal was scrapped.Prosecutors disagree, pointing out the documents weren’t signed by a judge and are invalid.After the deal fell apart, prosecutors filed three federal gun charges alleging that Hunter Biden had lied about his drug use to buy a gun that he kept for 11 days in 2018. Federal law bans gun possession by “habitual drug users,” though the measure is seldom seen as a stand-alone charge and has been called into question by a federal appeals court.Hunter Biden’s longstanding struggle with substance abuse had worsened during that period after the death of his brother Beau Biden in 2015, prosecutors wrote in a draft plea agreement filed in court in Delaware.He still made “substantial income” in 2017 and 2018, including $2.6 million in business and consulting fees from a company he formed with the CEOs of a Chinese business conglomerate and the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, but did not pay his taxes, prosecutors said in that filing.He did eventually file his taxes in 2020 and the back taxes were paid by a “third party” the following year, prosecutors said.

Hunter Biden hit with 9 tax-related charges in new indictment

In recent years, city leaders in Grand Island, Nebraska, observed that many workers and students were walking or biking long distances to their jobs or schools. So when city administrator, Laura McAloon, learned of an opportunity to study the development of a bus system to meet those transportation needs, she jumped at it.

The opportunity was funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with the International City/County Management Association, a network of local government administrators. And it sent McAloon to Washington along with other local leaders to learn about strategies and policies to lift people in their community out of poverty.

The Gates Foundation announced Thursday that it will donate $100 million to expand its work on economic mobility — a move that the country’s largest foundation says is a change in how it operates, putting more power in the hands of grantees and looking to accelerate the speed at which its gifts have impact. The commitment is part of the $460 million the foundation said in 2022 it would donate over four years to this part of its portfolio.

Ryan Rippel, the founding director for the Gates Foundation’s economic opportunity and mobility strategy, said the grants represent an important and deliberate change in how it works, with large grants going to organizations that will have a great deal of autonomy in directing their own work and the work of subgrantees.

The strategy, he said, is a result of feedback they heard from speaking with others in the field and the people they hope to help.

“I went to a conference in Washington and was very proudly talking about a data investment that we had made that we think could actually help governments make very different decisions about allocating resources,” he said. “And a woman stood up in the back of the room and she shouted, ‘I just need a tank of gas.’ And that really stuck with me. And it stuck with our team as a profound lesson that these are very concrete, daily needs.”

The portfolio is a small portion of the foundation’s overall budget, which was $7 billion last year, but it’s grown significantly. Rippel said that is because they’ve learned so much about the strategies, interventions and organizations that can lift people out of poverty. The continued expansion of their work, he said, depends on whether they meet their goal of improving economic mobility for 50 million people in the U.S. who earn 200% of the poverty level or less, which is $29,160 in annual income for an individual.

The foundation will fund organizations working to expand support for local government implementing evidence-based policies, connecting people with skills but without college degrees to jobs, helping people claim government benefits and influencing small- and medium-businesses to adjust working conditions to help people balance personal and work commitments. The grantees include Opportunity@Work, Families and Workers Fund, Prosperity Now, Pacific Community Ventures, Results for America and the Urban Institute.

It was at a meeting in Washington in May where the Urban Institute introduced the tools and research they’ve developed to help cities and counties understand barriers to economic mobility that McAloon from Grand Island realized that her city of 53,000, located about 150 miles west from Omaha, needed to collect more information.

“We looked at each other and said, we don’t know that we have the data, the metrics, to show that this problem exists that we said we were going to come up with a solution for,” said McAloon, of her colleagues from the local community college and public school district who were with her.

By the end of the conference, they’d altered their objectives and launched a data collective and analysis project, which included surveying local residents with the help of translators at a summer festival and consulting with the human resources departments of major local employers.

What they learned is that transportation had been a problem for workers but when the meatpacking plant and other manufacturers raised wages during the period of low unemployment after the pandemic, many households were able to afford cars. Now the issue, the employers said, was housing.

“It’s a multi-pronged approach to actually creating opportunities for economic growth and personal income growth,” McAloon said. “There’s just no one silver bullet. There’s no one problem. You have to address all of it in order to make really significant change.”

The Gates Foundation is far from alone in this field with large funders, like philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Blue Meridian Partners, also making multimillion dollar commitments, sometimes to the same organizations, in recent years.

Last week, Blue Meridian Partners announced it was granting $50 million each to three municipalities, San Antonio and Dallas County in Texas, and Spartanburg County, South Carolina, who each also raised at least $50 million from other sources, to support specific interventions like doubling the number of young adults making a living wage and increasing the percent of high schoolers who enroll in further education.

Jim Shelton, president and chief investment and impact officer at Blue Meridian Partners, said that while the interrelated issues that hold people in poverty are complex, there is a growing body of evidence for policies and programs that can have an outsized impact on people's life trajectory.

“Once you start to disaggregate the problem that way, you start to recognize that there are all over the place, pieces of solutions that actually work,” he said. “But what we lack is the coherence to bring it all together in a way that consistently change people’s lives.”

When asked whether growing inequality in the U.S. played a role in its decision to increase funding for economic mobility, the Gates Foundation said, "Our increased investment is based on promising work from partners in the early years of the strategy and our belief that the foundation can play a unique role in improving systems that help people get back on their feet in times of need and get ahead economically.”

At the close of Grand Island's research study this fall, McAloon said they determined it won't be possible to set up a bus system, in part because of federal funding rules. Instead, they are exploring a van pool that is partially funded by employers and with state funds.

But, because of the new communication and coordination across agencies, schools and local organizations prompted by the study, her office heard that a lack of plumbers and electricians was holding up new housing developments. She reached out to the community college, which is now setting up a technical training program to funnel high school students into those trades.

“It was a matter of a couple of emails,” she said. “And they’re already working on developing the curriculum and creating an apprenticeship program that hopefully will start making an impact on that issue that’s keeping us from building more houses.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701978068593.jpeg" alt="Laura McAloon, Grand Island City Administrator, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Grand Island, Nebraska. McAloon observed that many workers and students were walking or biking long distances to their jobs or schools. So when she learned of an opportunity to study the development of a bus system to meet those transportation needs, she jumped at it. The opportunity was funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation announced Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, that it will donate $100 million over four years to expand its work on economic mobility in the U.S., which will include helping people without college degrees find jobs and connecting people with government benefits for which they are eligible. (AP Photo/John Peterson)" />
 <figcaption>Laura McAloon, Grand Island City Administrator, poses for a photo on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, in Grand Island, Nebraska. McAloon observed that many workers and students were walking or biking long distances to their jobs or schools. So when she learned of an opportunity to study the development of a bus system to meet those transportation needs, she jumped at it. The opportunity was funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation announced Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, that it will donate $100 million over four years to expand its work on economic mobility in the U.S., which will include helping people without college degrees find jobs and connecting people with government benefits for which they are eligible. (AP Photo/John Peterson)</figcaption>
 </figure>Associated PressIn recent years, city leaders in Grand Island, Nebraska, observed that many workers and students were walking or biking long distances to their jobs or schools. So when city administrator, Laura McAloon, learned of an opportunity to study the development of a bus system to meet those transportation needs, she jumped at it.The opportunity was funded by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, in collaboration with the International City/County Management Association, a network of local government administrators. And it sent McAloon to Washington along with other local leaders to learn about strategies and policies to lift people in their community out of poverty.The Gates Foundation announced Thursday that it will donate $100 million to expand its work on economic mobility — a move that the country’s largest foundation says is a change in how it operates, putting more power in the hands of grantees and looking to accelerate the speed at which its gifts have impact. The commitment is part of the $460 million the foundation said in 2022 it would donate over four years to this part of its portfolio.Ryan Rippel, the founding director for the Gates Foundation’s economic opportunity and mobility strategy, said the grants represent an important and deliberate change in how it works, with large grants going to organizations that will have a great deal of autonomy in directing their own work and the work of subgrantees.The strategy, he said, is a result of feedback they heard from speaking with others in the field and the people they hope to help.“I went to a conference in Washington and was very proudly talking about a data investment that we had made that we think could actually help governments make very different decisions about allocating resources,” he said. “And a woman stood up in the back of the room and she shouted, ‘I just need a tank of gas.’ And that really stuck with me. And it stuck with our team as a profound lesson that these are very concrete, daily needs.”Goal to help 50 million AmericansThe portfolio is a small portion of the foundation’s overall budget, which was $7 billion last year, but it’s grown significantly. Rippel said that is because they’ve learned so much about the strategies, interventions and organizations that can lift people out of poverty. The continued expansion of their work, he said, depends on whether they meet their goal of improving economic mobility for 50 million people in the U.S. who earn 200% of the poverty level or less, which is $29,160 in annual income for an individual.The foundation will fund organizations working to expand support for local government implementing evidence-based policies, connecting people with skills but without college degrees to jobs, helping people claim government benefits and influencing small- and medium-businesses to adjust working conditions to help people balance personal and work commitments. The grantees include Opportunity@Work, Families and Workers Fund, Prosperity Now, Pacific Community Ventures, Results for America and the Urban Institute.It was at a meeting in Washington in May where the Urban Institute introduced the tools and research they’ve developed to help cities and counties understand barriers to economic mobility that McAloon from Grand Island realized that her city of 53,000, located about 150 miles west from Omaha, needed to collect more information.“We looked at each other and said, we don’t know that we have the data, the metrics, to show that this problem exists that we said we were going to come up with a solution for,” said McAloon, of her colleagues from the local community college and public school district who were with her.By the end of the conference, they’d altered their objectives and launched a data collective and analysis project, which included surveying local residents with the help of translators at a summer festival and consulting with the human resources departments of major local employers.‘No one silver bullet’What they learned is that transportation had been a problem for workers but when the meatpacking plant and other manufacturers raised wages during the period of low unemployment after the pandemic, many households were able to afford cars. Now the issue, the employers said, was housing.“It’s a multi-pronged approach to actually creating opportunities for economic growth and personal income growth,” McAloon said. “There’s just no one silver bullet. There’s no one problem. You have to address all of it in order to make really significant change.”The Gates Foundation is far from alone in this field with large funders, like philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Blue Meridian Partners, also making multimillion dollar commitments, sometimes to the same organizations, in recent years.Last week, Blue Meridian Partners announced it was granting $50 million each to three municipalities, San Antonio and Dallas County in Texas, and Spartanburg County, South Carolina, who each also raised at least $50 million from other sources, to support specific interventions like doubling the number of young adults making a living wage and increasing the percent of high schoolers who enroll in further education.Jim Shelton, president and chief investment and impact officer at Blue Meridian Partners, said that while the interrelated issues that hold people in poverty are complex, there is a growing body of evidence for policies and programs that can have an outsized impact on people's life trajectory.“Once you start to disaggregate the problem that way, you start to recognize that there are all over the place, pieces of solutions that actually work,” he said. “But what we lack is the coherence to bring it all together in a way that consistently change people’s lives.”When asked whether growing inequality in the U.S. played a role in its decision to increase funding for economic mobility, the Gates Foundation said, "Our increased investment is based on promising work from partners in the early years of the strategy and our belief that the foundation can play a unique role in improving systems that help people get back on their feet in times of need and get ahead economically.”Using coordination to find solutionsAt the close of Grand Island's research study this fall, McAloon said they determined it won't be possible to set up a bus system, in part because of federal funding rules. Instead, they are exploring a van pool that is partially funded by employers and with state funds.But, because of the new communication and coordination across agencies, schools and local organizations prompted by the study, her office heard that a lack of plumbers and electricians was holding up new housing developments. She reached out to the community college, which is now setting up a technical training program to funnel high school students into those trades.“It was a matter of a couple of emails,” she said. “And they’re already working on developing the curriculum and creating an apprenticeship program that hopefully will start making an impact on that issue that’s keeping us from building more houses.”

Gates Foundation takes on poverty in the U.S. with $100 million commitment

FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — The family of a 46-year-old Florida man has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against one of the biggest fast-casual restaurant chains in the U.S., claiming Panera Bread Company's caffeine-filled lemonade drink led to his death.

David Brown had high blood pressure and didn't drink energy drinks, but the lawsuit said he believed the Panera Charged Lemonade was safe since it was not advertised as an energy drink. It was offered in the same place as the restaurant chain’s non-caffeinated or less-caffeinated drinks, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Delaware, where Panera Bread Company is registered.

The lawsuit states that on Oct. 9, Brown had the drink three times during a visit to the Panera Bread Company location in Fleming Island, Florida. On his walk home, he suffered cardiac arrest and died a short time later. He had ordered a Panera Charged Lemonade at least seven times over the course of two weeks in September and October, according to the lawsuit.

“Defendants knew or should have known that the Panera Charged Lemonade, as designed and formulated, once consumed, could injure children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people sensitive to caffeine by causing catastrophic injuries and/or death,” the lawsuit said.

No one from Panera’s corporate offices responded to an inquiry seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

Brown had a chromosomal deficiency disorder, developmental delays, some blurred vision and mild intellectual disability, the lawsuit said. He had worked for 17 years at Publix Super Markets and would regularly go to the Panera restaurant after work for meals, as many as three times a week, because the lawsuit said he felt the chain advertised as being a healthy alternative to other restaurants.

Another wrongful death lawsuit was filed in October by the family of 21-year-old Sarah Katz, a University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition who died in September 2022 after consuming the drink, according to media reports.

The privately-held Panera Bread Company, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, operates in 48 U.S. states and Canada.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701984246710.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>FLEMING ISLAND, Fla. (AP) — The family of a 46-year-old Florida man has filed a wrongful death and negligence lawsuit against one of the biggest fast-casual restaurant chains in the U.S., claiming Panera Bread Company's caffeine-filled lemonade drink led to his death.David Brown had high blood pressure and didn't drink energy drinks, but the lawsuit said he believed the Panera Charged Lemonade was safe since it was not advertised as an energy drink. It was offered in the same place as the restaurant chain’s non-caffeinated or less-caffeinated drinks, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Delaware, where Panera Bread Company is registered.The lawsuit states that on Oct. 9, Brown had the drink three times during a visit to the Panera Bread Company location in Fleming Island, Florida. On his walk home, he suffered cardiac arrest and died a short time later. He had ordered a Panera Charged Lemonade at least seven times over the course of two weeks in September and October, according to the lawsuit.“Defendants knew or should have known that the Panera Charged Lemonade, as designed and formulated, once consumed, could injure children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people sensitive to caffeine by causing catastrophic injuries and/or death,” the lawsuit said.No one from Panera’s corporate offices responded to an inquiry seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.Brown had a chromosomal deficiency disorder, developmental delays, some blurred vision and mild intellectual disability, the lawsuit said. He had worked for 17 years at Publix Super Markets and would regularly go to the Panera restaurant after work for meals, as many as three times a week, because the lawsuit said he felt the chain advertised as being a healthy alternative to other restaurants.Another wrongful death lawsuit was filed in October by the family of 21-year-old Sarah Katz, a University of Pennsylvania student with a heart condition who died in September 2022 after consuming the drink, according to media reports.The privately-held Panera Bread Company, which is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, operates in 48 U.S. states and Canada.

Panera's 'Charged Lemonade' blamed for second death 

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/07/nebraska-state-employees-union-renews-demands-to-bargain-for-remote-work/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

Editor’s note: This report will be updated after the union’s press conference.

LINCOLN —&nbsp;The state employees union is renewing demands that the state bargain around remote work as the governor calls for state employees to return to in-person offices by Jan. 2.

The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, on Thursday shared the results of a survey of union members conducted in the last week and planned a 12:15 rally at the Nebraska State Capitol. The union&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/11/28/state-employees-union-demands-negotiation-over-pillen-order-to-end-working-from-home/">initially called for a demand to negotiate</a>&nbsp;Nov. 28.

Gov. Jim Pillen’s office and the Department of Administrative Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.

More than 1,700 employees responded to the survey, with nearly 1,400 (16% of the total state workforce, indicating they are considering non-state jobs because of the executive order:

“The survey results show that remote work opportunities are critical to retaining our current workforce,” said Melissa Haynes, president of the union and a lead social services worker in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement.

Pillen signed the&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/11/13/governor-orders-end-to-remote-work-directs-state-workers-back-to-offices/">Nov. 13 executive order</a>&nbsp;ordering an end to remote work for state employees and stating they had to return to their offices full time by Jan. 2. In his&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/EO-No.-23-17-Bringing-Nebraskas-Public-Servant-Workforce-Back-to-the-Office.pdf">order</a>, Pillen stated the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a great increase in remote work, is over.

The governor also dictated that the regular work hours of all employed public servants shall be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701977699324.jpeg" alt="The Nebraska State Capitol (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)" />
 <figcaption>The Nebraska State Capitol (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)</figcaption>
 </figure>Zach Wendling<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/12/07/nebraska-state-employees-union-renews-demands-to-bargain-for-remote-work/">Nebraska Examiner</a>Editor’s note: This report will be updated after the union’s press conference.LINCOLN —&nbsp;The state employees union is renewing demands that the state bargain around remote work as the governor calls for state employees to return to in-person offices by Jan. 2.The Nebraska Association of Public Employees, which represents more than 8,000 state employees, on Thursday shared the results of a survey of union members conducted in the last week and planned a 12:15 rally at the Nebraska State Capitol. The union&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/11/28/state-employees-union-demands-negotiation-over-pillen-order-to-end-working-from-home/">initially called for a demand to negotiate</a>&nbsp;Nov. 28.Gov. Jim Pillen’s office and the Department of Administrative Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.More than 1,700 employees responded to the survey, with nearly 1,400 (16% of the total state workforce, indicating they are considering non-state jobs because of the executive order:<ul>
 <li>797 employees said they were considering looking for a new employer.</li><li>593 more employees said they are actively looking or have already applied for new employment.</li>
 </ul>“The survey results show that remote work opportunities are critical to retaining our current workforce,” said Melissa Haynes, president of the union and a lead social services worker in the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement.<h2>State says bargaining not required</h2>Pillen signed the&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/11/13/governor-orders-end-to-remote-work-directs-state-workers-back-to-offices/">Nov. 13 executive order</a>&nbsp;ordering an end to remote work for state employees and stating they had to return to their offices full time by Jan. 2. In his&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/EO-No.-23-17-Bringing-Nebraskas-Public-Servant-Workforce-Back-to-the-Office.pdf">order</a>, Pillen stated the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to a great increase in remote work, is over.The governor also dictated that the regular work hours of all employed public servants shall be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.&nbsp;The order allows certain exceptions, such as if offices don’t have sufficient space.Dan Birdsall, employee relations administrator and the state’s chief negotiator, has said there is no need to bargain because Pillen’s order simply assigns worksites and schedules, according to the union.<h2>‘One-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work’</h2>However, Justin Hubly, executive director of the union, said in a Wednesday email to Birdsall that the order “requires wholesale changes to the status quo” and that the related terms and conditions have not been negotiated.Those negotiations are required, Hubly added, pursuant to Article 1.4 of the labor contract, the State Employees Collective Bargaining Act and the Industrial Relations Act.“We are aware of hundreds of employees who were hired with a promise and advertisement of remote work opportunities, and who have never been assigned to a state office,” Hubly wrote, referring to a state webpage that advertises flexible work schedules.Haynes said many workers, in both public and private sectors, have found remote work to be beneficial and to improve workplace efficiency.“A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work in 2023,” Haynes added.The union said there is “good news,” however: 1,210 of the employees who said they’re considering leaving (87%) said they would stay if the executive order is rescinded.“That’s why bargaining over this issue is so important,” Hubly said in a statement. “We are confident that through negotiations we can work out contract language that is beneficial to all, especially our fellow Nebraskans.”<h2>Bargain demands</h2>Hubly said the following items must be bargained, though the list, he said, is not exhaustive:<ul>
 <li>The definition of remote work and remote location.</li><li>The assignment procedures, criteria and expenses if an in-office arrangement is not possible.</li><li>The assignment procedures, criteria and expenses if an office is at full capacity.</li><li>The definition, criteria and duration for exceptions to sustain critical operations.</li><li>The definition and requirements to declare a workforce shortfall to allow remote work.</li><li>Remote work options in lieu of using leave during severe weather or other emergencies.</li><li>The criteria for an agency head to make exceptions on an individual basis.</li><li>The procedures for measuring and confirming productivity in remote assignments.</li><li>Parking availability and assignments.</li>
 </ul>