KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Germany joined the United States on Friday in authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying — a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/czechia-ukraine-russia-nato-blinken-441c9624d95f8193e99cf08effced44f">significant policy change</a>&nbsp;that comes as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war.

On Thursday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to strike&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">inside Russia</a>&nbsp;for the limited purpose of defending&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kharkiv-attacks-5023c3e67af30fc95b954a6f044112dc">Kharkiv,</a>&nbsp;according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter.&nbsp;Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Biden has been steadfast in his opposition to Ukraine's offensive use of American-made weaponry, concerned that the action could be seen as provocative and lead to Moscow widening the war.

Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration over restrictions on the use of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-hungary-ae48c473927d54f5053f3cc276f5493e">Western weapons</a>&nbsp;— especially as the border region of Kharkiv has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kharkiv-attacks-751d368a403127f2cc0e6e6e5fd43d15">endured a Russian onslaught</a>&nbsp;this month that has stretched Kyiv's outgunned and outmanned forces.

Both Germany and the U.S. specifically authorized defense of Kharkiv, whose capital city of the same name lies only 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Russia. Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city overnight, killing at least four people.

Beyond offering Ukraine a chance of better protecting Kharkiv, it’s not clear what effect the easing of restrictions might have on the direction of the conflict in what is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-mobilization-kharkiv-599753d08518b46e22bf38d1360cce86">proving to be a critical period</a>.

The German government said Ukraine can use weapons it supplies against positions just over the border, from where Russia launches its attacks on Kharkiv. A day earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/czechia-ukraine-russia-nato-blinken-441c9624d95f8193e99cf08effced44f">gave Kyiv a green light</a>&nbsp;to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The German announcement brought a furious response from Moscow, where Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said that “Ukraine and its NATO allies will receive such a devastating response that the alliance won’t be able to avoid entering the conflict” — an eventuality that Western governments have ruled out.

Western leaders have hesitated to ease the restrictions on their weapons because of the risk&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nuclear-drills-b007cffdc4fc57922042a35fbe47907f">it would provoke</a>&nbsp;Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned that the West’s direct involvement could put the world on a path to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-putin-nuclear-weapons-82ced2419d93ae733161b56fbd9b477d">nuclear conflict</a>.

But as Russia has recently gained the battlefield initiative in some parts of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, some Western leaders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-macron-weapons-e308755a31716ee0123b441bb9b548b0">have pushed</a>&nbsp;for a policy change allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-long-range-missiles-4d2254639eb5a503d8b0a291ed0680e9">long-range weapons</a>&nbsp;provided by its Western partners.

The Kremlin’s bigger and better-equipped army is exploiting Ukrainian shortages in troops and ammunition after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mike-johnson-ukraine-israel-b72aed9b195818735d24363f2bc34ea4">lengthy delay in U.S. military aid</a>. Western Europe’s inadequate military production has also slowed crucial deliveries to Ukraine.

The German government statement noted that, in recent weeks, Russia has prepared, coordinated and carried out attacks on the Kharkiv region, in particular from areas just over the border in Russia.

“Together we are convinced that Ukraine has the right under international law to defend itself against these attacks,” the statement said. “For this, it can also use the weapons delivered for that purpose in accordance with its international legal commitments, including the ones delivered by us,” it added.

Biden’s decision allows for U.S.-supplied weapons to be used for “counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them,” one official told The Associated Press.

But the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, stressed that the U.S. policy calling on Ukraine not to use American-provided ATACMS or long-range missiles and other munitions to strike offensively inside Russia has not changed.

The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-hungary-ae48c473927d54f5053f3cc276f5493e">Western-supplied weaponry</a>&nbsp;has been a delicate issue since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday he supported lifting the limits on Ukraine's use of Western weaponry, saying it's “a matter of upholding international law — Ukraine’s right to self-defense."

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström noted that his country had not restricted Ukraine's use of its weapons at all, while Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Rome won’t let Kyiv use Italian weapons outside its territory.

In Moscow, Medvedev repeated Russian warnings that the steps being taken could set NATO and Russia on the path to a nuclear conflict. “It’s not an attempt to scare or any sort of a nuclear bluff,” he said.

Russia’s newly appointed defense minister, Andrei Belousov, claimed Friday that Russian troops are “advancing in all tactical directions,” including in the Kharkiv region where he said they have pushed Ukrainian forces back by as much as 9 kilometers (5 miles). Russian forces captured 28 towns and villages over the past month, he said.

Overall since the start of the year, Russian forces have taken control of 880 square kilometers (340 square miles) of territory, he added.

It was not possible to verify his battlefield claims.

Overnight into Friday, Russia launched five ballistic missiles at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s air force said. One of them struck a residential building close to midnight and was followed by another missile 25 minutes later that hit first responders, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. At least 25 people were injured, he said.

Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russia of targeting rescue workers by hitting residential buildings with two consecutive missiles — the first one to draw emergency crews to the scene and the second one to wound or kill them. Russia used the method in Syria’s civil war.

Apart from Kharkiv, Moscow's troops are pressing in the Donetsk region further south and are assembling a force for an expected attack in the Sumy region further north, according to Ukrainian officials.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684686647430.png" alt="White House File photo&nbsp;Biden's directive allows for U.S.-supplied weapons to be used for "counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them," one official said." />
 <figcaption>White House File photo&nbsp;Biden's directive allows for U.S.-supplied weapons to be used for "counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them," one official said.</figcaption>
 </figure>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Germany joined the United States on Friday in authorizing Ukraine to hit some targets on Russian soil with the long-range weapons they are supplying — a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/czechia-ukraine-russia-nato-blinken-441c9624d95f8193e99cf08effced44f">significant policy change</a>&nbsp;that comes as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war.On Thursday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to strike&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">inside Russia</a>&nbsp;for the limited purpose of defending&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kharkiv-attacks-5023c3e67af30fc95b954a6f044112dc">Kharkiv,</a>&nbsp;according to three U.S. officials familiar with the matter.&nbsp;Since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Biden has been steadfast in his opposition to Ukraine's offensive use of American-made weaponry, concerned that the action could be seen as provocative and lead to Moscow widening the war.Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration over restrictions on the use of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-hungary-ae48c473927d54f5053f3cc276f5493e">Western weapons</a>&nbsp;— especially as the border region of Kharkiv has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kharkiv-attacks-751d368a403127f2cc0e6e6e5fd43d15">endured a Russian onslaught</a>&nbsp;this month that has stretched Kyiv's outgunned and outmanned forces.Both Germany and the U.S. specifically authorized defense of Kharkiv, whose capital city of the same name lies only 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Russia. Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment building in the city overnight, killing at least four people.Beyond offering Ukraine a chance of better protecting Kharkiv, it’s not clear what effect the easing of restrictions might have on the direction of the conflict in what is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-mobilization-kharkiv-599753d08518b46e22bf38d1360cce86">proving to be a critical period</a>.The German government said Ukraine can use weapons it supplies against positions just over the border, from where Russia launches its attacks on Kharkiv. A day earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/czechia-ukraine-russia-nato-blinken-441c9624d95f8193e99cf08effced44f">gave Kyiv a green light</a>&nbsp;to strike back with American weapons at Russian military assets targeting the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.The German announcement brought a furious response from Moscow, where Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said that “Ukraine and its NATO allies will receive such a devastating response that the alliance won’t be able to avoid entering the conflict” — an eventuality that Western governments have ruled out.Western leaders have hesitated to ease the restrictions on their weapons because of the risk&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-nuclear-drills-b007cffdc4fc57922042a35fbe47907f">it would provoke</a>&nbsp;Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned that the West’s direct involvement could put the world on a path to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-putin-nuclear-weapons-82ced2419d93ae733161b56fbd9b477d">nuclear conflict</a>.But as Russia has recently gained the battlefield initiative in some parts of the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line, some Western leaders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-macron-weapons-e308755a31716ee0123b441bb9b548b0">have pushed</a>&nbsp;for a policy change allowing Kyiv to strike military bases inside Russia with sophisticated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-long-range-missiles-4d2254639eb5a503d8b0a291ed0680e9">long-range weapons</a>&nbsp;provided by its Western partners.The Kremlin’s bigger and better-equipped army is exploiting Ukrainian shortages in troops and ammunition after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-mike-johnson-ukraine-israel-b72aed9b195818735d24363f2bc34ea4">lengthy delay in U.S. military aid</a>. Western Europe’s inadequate military production has also slowed crucial deliveries to Ukraine.The German government statement noted that, in recent weeks, Russia has prepared, coordinated and carried out attacks on the Kharkiv region, in particular from areas just over the border in Russia.“Together we are convinced that Ukraine has the right under international law to defend itself against these attacks,” the statement said. “For this, it can also use the weapons delivered for that purpose in accordance with its international legal commitments, including the ones delivered by us,” it added.Biden’s decision allows for U.S.-supplied weapons to be used for “counterfire purposes in the Kharkiv region so Ukraine can hit back against Russian forces that are attacking them or preparing to attack them,” one official told The Associated Press.But the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter, stressed that the U.S. policy calling on Ukraine not to use American-provided ATACMS or long-range missiles and other munitions to strike offensively inside Russia has not changed.The question of whether to allow Ukraine to hit targets on Russian soil with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-ukraine-war-zelenskyy-hungary-ae48c473927d54f5053f3cc276f5493e">Western-supplied weaponry</a>&nbsp;has been a delicate issue since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Friday he supported lifting the limits on Ukraine's use of Western weaponry, saying it's “a matter of upholding international law — Ukraine’s right to self-defense."Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström noted that his country had not restricted Ukraine's use of its weapons at all, while Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Rome won’t let Kyiv use Italian weapons outside its territory.In Moscow, Medvedev repeated Russian warnings that the steps being taken could set NATO and Russia on the path to a nuclear conflict. “It’s not an attempt to scare or any sort of a nuclear bluff,” he said.Russia’s newly appointed defense minister, Andrei Belousov, claimed Friday that Russian troops are “advancing in all tactical directions,” including in the Kharkiv region where he said they have pushed Ukrainian forces back by as much as 9 kilometers (5 miles). Russian forces captured 28 towns and villages over the past month, he said.Overall since the start of the year, Russian forces have taken control of 880 square kilometers (340 square miles) of territory, he added.It was not possible to verify his battlefield claims.Overnight into Friday, Russia launched five ballistic missiles at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s air force said. One of them struck a residential building close to midnight and was followed by another missile 25 minutes later that hit first responders, according to regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov. At least 25 people were injured, he said.Ukrainian officials have previously accused Russia of targeting rescue workers by hitting residential buildings with two consecutive missiles — the first one to draw emergency crews to the scene and the second one to wound or kill them. Russia used the method in Syria’s civil war.Apart from Kharkiv, Moscow's troops are pressing in the Donetsk region further south and are assembling a force for an expected attack in the Sumy region further north, according to Ukrainian officials.--------------------

Nuclear threats as Biden gives Ukraine ok to strike inside Russia with US weapons

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Bruhat Soma insisted he was nervous during the idle hours as he waited to take the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage, and he felt even more pressure to perform given that he hadn’t lost a spelling bee in eight months.

He never showed any nerves in front of the microphone, though, and when the bee abruptly went to a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off,” he could not have been more comfortable.

The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Tampa, Florida, blitzed through 30 words in 90 seconds Thursday night, sounding more like an auctioneer than the best speller in the English language, and judges determined that he spelled 29 of them correctly — nine more than his competitor, Faizan Zaki. As the champion, Bruhat receives a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

He rehearsed the spell-off every day for six months.

“I was pretty confident that I had a chance at winning because I’ve been working so hard,” Bruhat said, explaining his rationale for spending so much time on a tiebreaker he might not even need. “And I really wanted to win. That’s why I practiced the spell-off so much.”

Had he known the way Scripps would conduct the final rounds, he might have spent even more time on his speed training. There was no doubt Bruhat was a worthy champion, but the conclusion left many observers disappointed and confused.

“I don’t think it was a good bee,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2023-spelling-bee-finals-updates-1b09d39ba7631d26f3a3c833f7aeefea">Dev Shah, last year’s champion</a>. “It’s not about spelling as many words as you can in 90 seconds. That’s not what the spelling bee is.”

The finals began with eight spellers, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear that Scripps was trying to fill the 2-hour broadcast window on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. Frequent, lengthy commercial breaks allowed spellers to mill about at the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, relatives and supporters.

And then bee officials announced it was time for the tiebreaker before Bruhat and Faizan were even given a chance to compete in a conventional round.

“I do wish that we would have gotten to see more of a duel between them,” said Charlotte Walsh, who finished runner-up to Dev in 2023.

The competition rules state that a spell-off is used in the interest of time, but Scripps still squeezed in another commercial break between the tiebreaker and the announcement of Bruhat’s victory.

“It felt so forced and manufactured,” Dev said.

Scripps said Bruhat’s winning word was “abseil,” defined as “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.” In the tiebreaker — which was used once before, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-san-antonio-education-cf165d27b93b784ab7fb7c0f9e7ecbf0">Harini Logan won in 2022</a>&nbsp;— the winning word is the one that gives a speller one more correct word than their competitor.

Shortly after Bruhat was showered with confetti and handed the trophy, Faizan was in tears at the side of the stage, accepting hugs from other spellers. A few minutes earlier, he had embraced his good friend, Shrey Parikh, after Shrey was eliminated.

Faizan spelled his final word in the regular competition in walk-off fashion, dashing through “nicuri” without asking a single question and striding back to his seat, a moment that recalled&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS2ArgpV0fw">Shourav Dasari’s mic-drop spelling of “Mogollon”</a>&nbsp;in 2017.

But the 12-year-old sixth-grader from Allen, Texas, wasn’t given a chance to do it again.

“I definitely think they should have been given an opportunity to have some conventional spelling rounds before they defaulted to the spell-off,” said Scott Remer, one of four coaches who worked with Faizan.

Coming into the competition, Bruhat won the Words of Wisdom bee hosted by Remer, a former speller and study guide author. He won the SpellPundit bee organized by that study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee emceed by Dev, last year’s Scripps champion.

“I always want to win. And this was, like, my main goal,” Bruhat said. “It didn’t matter if I won all those other bees. This is what I was aiming for. So I’m just really happy that I won this.”

His last loss was in September at the WishWin senior spelling bee. He misspelled “Gloucester,” a cheese named for the city in England. He said he knew the city but didn’t know it was also a cheese, and he guessed “glaucester.”

“After that, I guess I just went on a winning streak,” he said.

Bruhat said there was one word Thursday night he didn’t know: “tennesi,” a monetary unit of Turkmenistan. Ananya Prassanna got that one right during the most diabolical round of the bee, when every word had an unknown, obscure or nonexistent language of origin. The 13-year-old from Apex, North Carolina, finished in a tie for third.

Bruhat is the second straight champion from the Tampa Bay area, and his victory means 29 of the last 35 spelling champs have been Indian American. His parents immigrated from the southern Indian state of Telangana, a region that's well-represented among&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spelling-bee-indian-americans-immigration-b14ba87533dfcd8af813de568ee5958f">the run of Indian American champions</a>&nbsp;and contenders that began in 1999.

Nupur Lala was the winner that year who inspired a generation, especially after her triumph was featured in the documentary “Spellbound.” Now a neuro-oncologist, Lala returned to the bee this year for the first time in a decade.

Bruhat’s victory was also a proud moment for a previously unknown former speller-turned-coach: 16-year-old Sam Evans, who worked with three of the top four finishers. He also tutored Faizan and Shrey, a 12-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California. Both are sixth-graders and have two years of eligibility left.

Evans was frequently astonished by Bruhat, saying his pupil could remember any word he saw and that once he missed a word, he'd never get it wrong again.

“He always says he's nervous, but he doesn't look nervous, like most of them look nervous,” Evans said. “I can't explain that. I don't know how he does it.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717122085411.png" alt="Bruhat Soma courtesy photo&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Bruhat Soma courtesy photo&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Bruhat Soma insisted he was nervous during the idle hours as he waited to take the Scripps National Spelling Bee stage, and he felt even more pressure to perform given that he hadn’t lost a spelling bee in eight months.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fscrippsnationalspellingbee%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0i3AU93DDE2eBvUGhSScNNVwj2fwzCX8bS24thibWS71uPP4gz6ZbGxxnkG3pDhxZl&show_text=true&width=500&is_preview=true" width="500" height="250" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>He never showed any nerves in front of the microphone, though, and when the bee abruptly went to a lightning-round tiebreaker known as a “spell-off,” he could not have been more comfortable.The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Tampa, Florida, blitzed through 30 words in 90 seconds Thursday night, sounding more like an auctioneer than the best speller in the English language, and judges determined that he spelled 29 of them correctly — nine more than his competitor, Faizan Zaki. As the champion, Bruhat receives a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.He rehearsed the spell-off every day for six months.“I was pretty confident that I had a chance at winning because I’ve been working so hard,” Bruhat said, explaining his rationale for spending so much time on a tiebreaker he might not even need. “And I really wanted to win. That’s why I practiced the spell-off so much.”Had he known the way Scripps would conduct the final rounds, he might have spent even more time on his speed training. There was no doubt Bruhat was a worthy champion, but the conclusion left many observers disappointed and confused.“I don’t think it was a good bee,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2023-spelling-bee-finals-updates-1b09d39ba7631d26f3a3c833f7aeefea">Dev Shah, last year’s champion</a>. “It’s not about spelling as many words as you can in 90 seconds. That’s not what the spelling bee is.”The finals began with eight spellers, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear that Scripps was trying to fill the 2-hour broadcast window on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. Frequent, lengthy commercial breaks allowed spellers to mill about at the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, relatives and supporters.And then bee officials announced it was time for the tiebreaker before Bruhat and Faizan were even given a chance to compete in a conventional round.“I do wish that we would have gotten to see more of a duel between them,” said Charlotte Walsh, who finished runner-up to Dev in 2023.The competition rules state that a spell-off is used in the interest of time, but Scripps still squeezed in another commercial break between the tiebreaker and the announcement of Bruhat’s victory.“It felt so forced and manufactured,” Dev said.Scripps said Bruhat’s winning word was “abseil,” defined as “descent in mountaineering by means of a rope looped over a projection above.” In the tiebreaker — which was used once before, when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-san-antonio-education-cf165d27b93b784ab7fb7c0f9e7ecbf0">Harini Logan won in 2022</a>&nbsp;— the winning word is the one that gives a speller one more correct word than their competitor.Shortly after Bruhat was showered with confetti and handed the trophy, Faizan was in tears at the side of the stage, accepting hugs from other spellers. A few minutes earlier, he had embraced his good friend, Shrey Parikh, after Shrey was eliminated.Faizan spelled his final word in the regular competition in walk-off fashion, dashing through “nicuri” without asking a single question and striding back to his seat, a moment that recalled&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS2ArgpV0fw">Shourav Dasari’s mic-drop spelling of “Mogollon”</a>&nbsp;in 2017.But the 12-year-old sixth-grader from Allen, Texas, wasn’t given a chance to do it again.“I definitely think they should have been given an opportunity to have some conventional spelling rounds before they defaulted to the spell-off,” said Scott Remer, one of four coaches who worked with Faizan.Coming into the competition, Bruhat won the Words of Wisdom bee hosted by Remer, a former speller and study guide author. He won the SpellPundit bee organized by that study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee emceed by Dev, last year’s Scripps champion.“I always want to win. And this was, like, my main goal,” Bruhat said. “It didn’t matter if I won all those other bees. This is what I was aiming for. So I’m just really happy that I won this.”His last loss was in September at the WishWin senior spelling bee. He misspelled “Gloucester,” a cheese named for the city in England. He said he knew the city but didn’t know it was also a cheese, and he guessed “glaucester.”“After that, I guess I just went on a winning streak,” he said.Bruhat said there was one word Thursday night he didn’t know: “tennesi,” a monetary unit of Turkmenistan. Ananya Prassanna got that one right during the most diabolical round of the bee, when every word had an unknown, obscure or nonexistent language of origin. The 13-year-old from Apex, North Carolina, finished in a tie for third.Bruhat is the second straight champion from the Tampa Bay area, and his victory means 29 of the last 35 spelling champs have been Indian American. His parents immigrated from the southern Indian state of Telangana, a region that's well-represented among&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spelling-bee-indian-americans-immigration-b14ba87533dfcd8af813de568ee5958f">the run of Indian American champions</a>&nbsp;and contenders that began in 1999.Nupur Lala was the winner that year who inspired a generation, especially after her triumph was featured in the documentary “Spellbound.” Now a neuro-oncologist, Lala returned to the bee this year for the first time in a decade.Bruhat’s victory was also a proud moment for a previously unknown former speller-turned-coach: 16-year-old Sam Evans, who worked with three of the top four finishers. He also tutored Faizan and Shrey, a 12-year-old from Rancho Cucamonga, California. Both are sixth-graders and have two years of eligibility left.Evans was frequently astonished by Bruhat, saying his pupil could remember any word he saw and that once he missed a word, he'd never get it wrong again.“He always says he's nervous, but he doesn't look nervous, like most of them look nervous,” Evans said. “I can't explain that. I don't know how he does it.”

12-year-old wins tiebreaker to take Scripps National Spelling Bee title

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Joint British-U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, the rebels said Friday, the highest publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over the rebels' attacks on shipping.

Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a then-ongoing attack, described the strikes Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities. They called it a response to a recent surge in attacks by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-red-sea-attacks-iran-503de70230fba0cd7c992558e2d1b83a">Iran-backed militia group</a>&nbsp;on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over the Israel-Hamas war.

The U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets involved in the strikes took off from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, officials said. Other U.S. warships in the region also participated.

But the Houthis focused Friday morning on just one of the strikes, which they said struck a building housing Hodeida Radio and civilian homes in the port city on the Red Sea. Their Al Masirah satellite news channel aired images of one bloodied man being carried down stairs and others in the hospital, receiving aid.

The Houthis described all those killed and hurt in Hodeida as civilians, something The Associated Press couldn't immediately confirm. The rebel force that's held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014 includes fighters who often aren't in uniform.

Other strikes hit outside of Sanaa near its airport, and communication equipment in Taiz, the broadcaster said. Little other information was released on those sites — likely signaling that Houthi military sites had been struck.

“We confirm this brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its position in support of Gaza, in support of Israel to continue its crimes of genocide against the wounded, besieged and steadfast Gaza Strip,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, threatened both the U.S. and U.K. with further retaliation.

“We will meet escalation with escalation,” he wrote on X.

In the United Kingdom, the country's Defense Ministry said that Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on both Hodeida and further south in Ghulayfiqah. It described its targets as “buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones, as well as surface-to-air weapons.”

“The strikes were taken in self-defense in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose,” U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. “There's an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”

The U.S. and the U.K. have launched strikes against the Houthis since January, with the U.S. regularly carrying out its own in the time since as well. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis’ secretive supreme leader, offered an overall death toll for the strikes up to that point as 40 people killed and 35 others wounded. He didn't offer a breakdown between civilian and combatant casualties at the time.

The Houthis have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">war began after Hamas-led militants</a>&nbsp;attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks</a>&nbsp;on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. This week, they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-red-sea-attacks-iran-503de70230fba0cd7c992558e2d1b83a">attacked a ship carrying grain to Iran</a>, the rebels' main benefactor.

On Wednesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/FFEAU_ALINDIEN/status/1795837694960189920">another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone</a>&nbsp;apparently crashed in Yemen, with the Houthis claiming they fired a surface-to-air missile at it. The U.S. Air Force didn’t report any aircraft missing, leading to suspicion that the drone may have been piloted by the CIA. As many as three may have been lost in May alone.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708813391502.png" alt="File photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Joint British-U.S. airstrikes targeting Yemen's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;killed at least 16 people and wounded 35 others, the rebels said Friday, the highest publicly acknowledged death toll from the multiple rounds of strikes carried out over the rebels' attacks on shipping.Three U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a then-ongoing attack, described the strikes Thursday as hitting a wide range of underground facilities, missile launchers, command and control sites, a Houthi vessel and other facilities. They called it a response to a recent surge in attacks by the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-red-sea-attacks-iran-503de70230fba0cd7c992558e2d1b83a">Iran-backed militia group</a>&nbsp;on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden over the Israel-Hamas war.The U.S. F/A-18 fighter jets involved in the strikes took off from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, officials said. Other U.S. warships in the region also participated.But the Houthis focused Friday morning on just one of the strikes, which they said struck a building housing Hodeida Radio and civilian homes in the port city on the Red Sea. Their Al Masirah satellite news channel aired images of one bloodied man being carried down stairs and others in the hospital, receiving aid.The Houthis described all those killed and hurt in Hodeida as civilians, something The Associated Press couldn't immediately confirm. The rebel force that's held Yemen's capital, Sanaa, since 2014 includes fighters who often aren't in uniform.Other strikes hit outside of Sanaa near its airport, and communication equipment in Taiz, the broadcaster said. Little other information was released on those sites — likely signaling that Houthi military sites had been struck.“We confirm this brutal aggression against Yemen as punishment for its position in support of Gaza, in support of Israel to continue its crimes of genocide against the wounded, besieged and steadfast Gaza Strip,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on X.Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, threatened both the U.S. and U.K. with further retaliation.“We will meet escalation with escalation,” he wrote on X.In the United Kingdom, the country's Defense Ministry said that Royal Air Force Typhoon FGR4s conducted strikes on both Hodeida and further south in Ghulayfiqah. It described its targets as “buildings identified as housing drone ground control facilities and providing storage for very long-range drones, as well as surface-to-air weapons.”“The strikes were taken in self-defense in the face of an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose,” U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said. “There's an ongoing threat that the Houthis pose.”The U.S. and the U.K. have launched strikes against the Houthis since January, with the U.S. regularly carrying out its own in the time since as well. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the Houthis’ secretive supreme leader, offered an overall death toll for the strikes up to that point as 40 people killed and 35 others wounded. He didn't offer a breakdown between civilian and combatant casualties at the time.The Houthis have stepped up attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, demanding that Israel end the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians there. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">war began after Hamas-led militants</a>&nbsp;attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks</a>&nbsp;on shipping, killed three sailors, seized one vessel and sunk another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration. This week, they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebels-red-sea-attacks-iran-503de70230fba0cd7c992558e2d1b83a">attacked a ship carrying grain to Iran</a>, the rebels' main benefactor.On Wednesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/FFEAU_ALINDIEN/status/1795837694960189920">another U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone</a>&nbsp;apparently crashed in Yemen, with the Houthis claiming they fired a surface-to-air missile at it. The U.S. Air Force didn’t report any aircraft missing, leading to suspicion that the drone may have been piloted by the CIA. As many as three may have been lost in May alone.

US-British airstrikes hit several strategic sites across Yemen

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

The Biden-Harris campaign issued a statement on the verdict.

Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below could be heard in the hallway on the courthouse's 15th floor where the decision was revealed after more than nine hours of deliberations.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” an angry Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”

Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders, who remained resolute in their support in the immediate aftermath of the verdict, are expected to formally make him their nominee.

The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks to reclaim the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.

Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he returns to the campaign trail with felony convictions. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week.

The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would not say Thursday if prosecutors intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-gag-order-fae616037d3606cc60abbffb0e91f7ee">who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations</a>&nbsp;— would impose that punishment even if asked.

The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.

Trump faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/">three other felony indictments</a>, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.

Ahead of the verdict, Trump’s campaign had argued that, no matter what the jury decided, the outcome was unlikely to sway voters — and that the election would instead be decided by issues such as inflation.

For another candidate in another time, a criminal conviction might doom a presidential run, but Trump’s political career has endured through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">two impeachments</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db">allegations of sexual abuse</a>, investigations into everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ac945e1c9ff24e5eb745eb76c5bd8a2a">potential ties to Russia</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indicted-jan-6-investigation-special-counsel-debb59bb7a4d9f93f7e2dace01feccdc">plotting to overturn an election</a>, and personally salacious storylines&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">including the emergence of a recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals</a>.

In addition, the general allegations of the case have been known to voters for years and, while tawdry, are widely seen as less grievous than the allegations he faces in three other cases that charge him with subverting American democracy and mishandling national security secrets.

Even so, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats space to sharpen arguments that Trump is unfit for office, though for now the White House offered only a muted statement saying that it respected the rule of law. On the other hand, the decision will also provide fodder for the presumptive Republican nominee to advance his unsupported claims that he is victimized by a criminal justice system he insists is politically motivated against him.

Trump maintained throughout the trial that he had done nothing wrong and that the case should never have been brought, railing against the proceedings from inside the courthouse —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-speaker-mike-johnson-court-09aef3de395fa77843f2600f40da6ac3">where he was joined by a parade of high-profile Republican allies</a>&nbsp;— and racking up fines for violating a gag order with inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses.

Republicans showed no sign of loosening their embrace of the party leader, with House Speaker Mike Johnson releasing a statement lamenting what he called “a shameful day in American history.” He called the case "a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”

The first criminal trial of a former American president always presented a unique test of the court system, not only because of Trump’s prominence but also because of his relentless verbal attacks on the foundation of the case and its participants. But the verdict from the 12-person jury marked a repudiation of Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the proceedings or to potentially impress the panel with a show of GOP support.

“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today in this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors, by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor,” Bragg told reporters after the verdict.

The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-gag-order-d853768fff5fafbdee55623579889140">Stormy Daniels</a>, the porn actor who said she had sex with the married Trump in 2006.

The $130,000 payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-cohen-hush-money-stormy-daniels-735aadfd1ce015e05ba955c203a96f1b">Michael Cohen</a>&nbsp;to buy Daniels’ silence during the final weeks of the 2016 race in what prosecutors allege was an effort to interfere in the election. When Cohen was reimbursed, the payments were recorded as legal expenses, which prosecutors said was an unlawful attempt to mask the true purpose of the transaction. Trump’s lawyers contend they were legitimate payments for legal services.

Trump has denied the sexual encounter, and his lawyers argued during the trial that his celebrity status, particularly during the 2016 campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-cohen-9be06e3d33c25af7060552a44001cc1a">made him a target for extortion</a>. They’ve said hush money deals to bury negative stories about Trump were motivated by personal considerations such as the impact on his family and brand as a businessman, not political ones. They also sought to undermine the credibility of Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64">the star prosecution witness who pleaded guilty in 2018</a>&nbsp;to federal charges related to the payments, as driven by personal animus toward Trump as well as fame and money.

The trial featured more than four weeks of occasionally riveting testimony that revisited an already well-documented chapter from Trump’s past, when his 2016 campaign was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">threatened by the disclosure of an “Access Hollywood”</a>&nbsp;recording that captured him talking about grabbing women sexually without their permission and the prospect of other stories about Trump and sex surfacing that would be harmful to his candidacy.

Trump himself did not testify, but jurors heard his voice through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">secret recording of a conversation</a>&nbsp;with Cohen in which he and the lawyer discussed a $150,000 hush money deal involving a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump was heard saying on the recording made by Cohen.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-c69d54c51e2fccbbc0b19e2220222b0e">Daniels herself testified</a>, offering at times a graphic recounting of the sexual encounter she says they had in a hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. The former publisher of the National Enquirer,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-national-enquirer-1dd3c3111febf219bdf1d8627504a3c5">David Pecker,</a>&nbsp;testified about how he worked to keep stories harmful to the Trump campaign from becoming public at all, including by having his company buy McDougal’s story.

Jurors also heard from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">Keith Davidson</a>, the lawyer who negotiated the hush money payments on behalf of Daniels and McDougal.

He detailed the tense negotiations to get both women compensated for their silence but also faced an aggressive round of questioning from a Trump attorney who noted that Davidson had helped broker similar hush money deals in cases involving other prominent figures.

But the most pivotal witness, by far, was Cohen, who spent days on the stand and gave jurors an insider’s view of the hush money scheme and what he said was Trump’s detailed knowledge of it.

“Just take care of it,” he quoted Trump as saying at one point.

He offered jurors the most direct link between Trump and the heart of the charges, recounting a meeting in which they and the then-chief financial officer of Trump Organization described a plan to have Cohen reimbursed in monthly installments for legal services.

And he emotionally described his dramatic break with Trump in 2018, when he decided to cooperate with prosecutors after a decade-long career as the then-president’s personal fixer.

“To keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” Cohen told the jury.

The hush money case, though criticized by some legal experts who called it the weakest of the four prosecutions against Trump, took on added importance not only because it proceeded to trial first but also because it could be the only one of the cases to reach a jury before the election.

The other three — local and federal cases in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records — are bogged down by delays or appeals.

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;became the first former American president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of all 34 charges in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex.The Biden-Harris campaign issued a statement on the verdict.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717113294540.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below could be heard in the hallway on the courthouse's 15th floor where the decision was revealed after more than nine hours of deliberations.“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” an angry Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where GOP leaders, who remained resolute in their support in the immediate aftermath of the verdict, are expected to formally make him their nominee.The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks to reclaim the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he returns to the campaign trail with felony convictions. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week.The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg would not say Thursday if prosecutors intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-gag-order-fae616037d3606cc60abbffb0e91f7ee">who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations</a>&nbsp;— would impose that punishment even if asked.The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.Trump faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/">three other felony indictments</a>, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.Ahead of the verdict, Trump’s campaign had argued that, no matter what the jury decided, the outcome was unlikely to sway voters — and that the election would instead be decided by issues such as inflation.For another candidate in another time, a criminal conviction might doom a presidential run, but Trump’s political career has endured through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">two impeachments</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db">allegations of sexual abuse</a>, investigations into everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ac945e1c9ff24e5eb745eb76c5bd8a2a">potential ties to Russia</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indicted-jan-6-investigation-special-counsel-debb59bb7a4d9f93f7e2dace01feccdc">plotting to overturn an election</a>, and personally salacious storylines&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">including the emergence of a recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals</a>.In addition, the general allegations of the case have been known to voters for years and, while tawdry, are widely seen as less grievous than the allegations he faces in three other cases that charge him with subverting American democracy and mishandling national security secrets.Even so, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats space to sharpen arguments that Trump is unfit for office, though for now the White House offered only a muted statement saying that it respected the rule of law. On the other hand, the decision will also provide fodder for the presumptive Republican nominee to advance his unsupported claims that he is victimized by a criminal justice system he insists is politically motivated against him.Trump maintained throughout the trial that he had done nothing wrong and that the case should never have been brought, railing against the proceedings from inside the courthouse —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-speaker-mike-johnson-court-09aef3de395fa77843f2600f40da6ac3">where he was joined by a parade of high-profile Republican allies</a>&nbsp;— and racking up fines for violating a gag order with inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses.Republicans showed no sign of loosening their embrace of the party leader, with House Speaker Mike Johnson releasing a statement lamenting what he called “a shameful day in American history.” He called the case "a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”The first criminal trial of a former American president always presented a unique test of the court system, not only because of Trump’s prominence but also because of his relentless verbal attacks on the foundation of the case and its participants. But the verdict from the 12-person jury marked a repudiation of Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the proceedings or to potentially impress the panel with a show of GOP support.“While this defendant may be unlike any other in American history, we arrived at this trial and ultimately today in this verdict in the same manner as every other case that comes through the courtroom doors, by following the facts and the law and doing so without fear or favor,” Bragg told reporters after the verdict.The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-gag-order-d853768fff5fafbdee55623579889140">Stormy Daniels</a>, the porn actor who said she had sex with the married Trump in 2006.The $130,000 payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-cohen-hush-money-stormy-daniels-735aadfd1ce015e05ba955c203a96f1b">Michael Cohen</a>&nbsp;to buy Daniels’ silence during the final weeks of the 2016 race in what prosecutors allege was an effort to interfere in the election. When Cohen was reimbursed, the payments were recorded as legal expenses, which prosecutors said was an unlawful attempt to mask the true purpose of the transaction. Trump’s lawyers contend they were legitimate payments for legal services.Trump has denied the sexual encounter, and his lawyers argued during the trial that his celebrity status, particularly during the 2016 campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-cohen-9be06e3d33c25af7060552a44001cc1a">made him a target for extortion</a>. They’ve said hush money deals to bury negative stories about Trump were motivated by personal considerations such as the impact on his family and brand as a businessman, not political ones. They also sought to undermine the credibility of Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64">the star prosecution witness who pleaded guilty in 2018</a>&nbsp;to federal charges related to the payments, as driven by personal animus toward Trump as well as fame and money.The trial featured more than four weeks of occasionally riveting testimony that revisited an already well-documented chapter from Trump’s past, when his 2016 campaign was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">threatened by the disclosure of an “Access Hollywood”</a>&nbsp;recording that captured him talking about grabbing women sexually without their permission and the prospect of other stories about Trump and sex surfacing that would be harmful to his candidacy.Trump himself did not testify, but jurors heard his voice through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">secret recording of a conversation</a>&nbsp;with Cohen in which he and the lawyer discussed a $150,000 hush money deal involving a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump was heard saying on the recording made by Cohen.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-c69d54c51e2fccbbc0b19e2220222b0e">Daniels herself testified</a>, offering at times a graphic recounting of the sexual encounter she says they had in a hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. The former publisher of the National Enquirer,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-national-enquirer-1dd3c3111febf219bdf1d8627504a3c5">David Pecker,</a>&nbsp;testified about how he worked to keep stories harmful to the Trump campaign from becoming public at all, including by having his company buy McDougal’s story.Jurors also heard from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">Keith Davidson</a>, the lawyer who negotiated the hush money payments on behalf of Daniels and McDougal.He detailed the tense negotiations to get both women compensated for their silence but also faced an aggressive round of questioning from a Trump attorney who noted that Davidson had helped broker similar hush money deals in cases involving other prominent figures.But the most pivotal witness, by far, was Cohen, who spent days on the stand and gave jurors an insider’s view of the hush money scheme and what he said was Trump’s detailed knowledge of it.“Just take care of it,” he quoted Trump as saying at one point.He offered jurors the most direct link between Trump and the heart of the charges, recounting a meeting in which they and the then-chief financial officer of Trump Organization described a plan to have Cohen reimbursed in monthly installments for legal services.And he emotionally described his dramatic break with Trump in 2018, when he decided to cooperate with prosecutors after a decade-long career as the then-president’s personal fixer.“To keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” Cohen told the jury.The hush money case, though criticized by some legal experts who called it the weakest of the four prosecutions against Trump, took on added importance not only because it proceeded to trial first but also because it could be the only one of the cases to reach a jury before the election.The other three — local and federal cases in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records — are bogged down by delays or appeals.

Read Biden campaign statement on Trump guilty verdict

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.

Jurors deliberated for 9.5 hours over two days before convicting Trump of all 34 counts he faced. Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below — where supporters and detractors of the former president were gathered — could be heard in the hallway on courthouse's 15th floor where the decision was revealed.

“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”

Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he returns to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week. Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Republican leaders who remained resolute in their support in the immediate aftermath of the verdict are expected to formally make him their nominee.

The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-gag-order-fae616037d3606cc60abbffb0e91f7ee">who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations</a>&nbsp;— would impose that punishment even if asked. The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.

Even so, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats space to sharpen arguments that Trump is unfit for office, even as it provides fodder for the presumptive Republican nominee to advance his unsupported claims that he is victimized by a criminal justice system he insists is politically motivated against him.

The outcome provides a degree of vindication for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-manhattan-da-bragg-hush-money-trial-a164881f43b1d5064a528b36eada937e">Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg</a>, who had characterized the case as being about election interference rather than hush money and defended it against criticism from legal experts who called it the weakest of the four prosecutions against Trump.

But it took on added importance not only because it proceeded to trial first but also because it could be the only one of the cases to reach a jury before the election.

The other three cases — local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records — are bogged down by delays or appeals.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717105639201.png" alt="“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes Thursday as a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election through hush money payments to a porn actor who said the two had sex.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Former President Trump reacts to being found guilty on 34 felony counts in hush money case: &quot;This was a rigged, disgraceful trial. The real verdict is going to be November 5th by the people.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/AA7F4zFNCf">pic.twitter.com/AA7F4zFNCf</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1796298500264603989?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 30, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717106964399.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Jurors deliberated for 9.5 hours over two days before convicting Trump of all 34 counts he faced. Trump sat stone-faced while the verdict was read as cheering from the street below — where supporters and detractors of the former president were gathered — could be heard in the hallway on courthouse's 15th floor where the decision was revealed.“This was a rigged, disgraceful trial,” Trump told reporters after leaving the courtroom. “The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people. They know what happened, and everyone knows what happened here.”The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks to reclaim the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he returns to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week. Judge Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Republican leaders who remained resolute in their support in the immediate aftermath of the verdict are expected to formally make him their nominee.The falsifying business records charges carry up to four years behind bars, though prosecutors have not said whether they intend to seek imprisonment, and it is not clear whether the judge —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-gag-order-fae616037d3606cc60abbffb0e91f7ee">who earlier in the trial warned of jail time for gag order violations</a>&nbsp;— would impose that punishment even if asked. The conviction, and even imprisonment, will not bar Trump from continuing his pursuit of the White House.Trump faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/trump-investigations-civil-criminal-tracker/">three other felony indictments</a>, but the New York case may be the only one to reach a conclusion before the November election, adding to the significance of the outcome. Though the legal and historical implications of the verdict are readily apparent, the political consequences are less so given its potential to reinforce rather than reshape already-hardened opinions about Trump.For another candidate in another time, a criminal conviction might doom a presidential run, but Trump’s political career has endured through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">two impeachments</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-rape-carroll-trial-fe68259a4b98bb3947d42af9ec83d7db">allegations of sexual abuse</a>, investigations into everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ac945e1c9ff24e5eb745eb76c5bd8a2a">potential ties to Russia</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-indicted-jan-6-investigation-special-counsel-debb59bb7a4d9f93f7e2dace01feccdc">plotting to overturn an election</a>, and personally salacious storylines&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">including the emergence of a recording in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitals</a>.In addition, the general allegations of the case have been known to voters for years and, while tawdry, are widely seen as less grievous than the allegations he faces in three other cases that charge him with subverting American democracy and mishandling national security secrets.Even so, the verdict is likely to give President Joe Biden and fellow Democrats space to sharpen arguments that Trump is unfit for office, even as it provides fodder for the presumptive Republican nominee to advance his unsupported claims that he is victimized by a criminal justice system he insists is politically motivated against him.Trump maintained throughout the trial that he had done nothing wrong and that the case should never have been brought, railing against the proceedings from inside the courthouse —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-speaker-mike-johnson-court-09aef3de395fa77843f2600f40da6ac3">where he was joined by a parade of high-profile Republican allies</a>&nbsp;— and racking up fines for violating a gag order with inflammatory out-of-court comments about witnesses.Republicans showed no sign of loosening their embrace of the party leader, with House Speaker Mike Johnson releasing a statement lamenting what he called “a shameful day in American history.” He called the case "a purely political exercise, not a legal one.”The first criminal trial of a former American president always presented a unique test of the court system, not only because of Trump’s prominence but also because of his relentless verbal attacks on the foundation of the case and its participants. But the verdict from the 12-person jury marked a repudiation of Trump’s efforts to undermine confidence in the proceedings or to potentially impress the panel with a show of GOP support.The trial involved charges that Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-gag-order-d853768fff5fafbdee55623579889140">Stormy Daniels</a>, the porn actor who said she had sex with the married Trump in 2006.The $130,000 payment was made by Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-cohen-hush-money-stormy-daniels-735aadfd1ce015e05ba955c203a96f1b">Michael Cohen</a>&nbsp;to buy Daniels’ silence during the final weeks of the 2016 race in what prosecutors allege was an effort to interfere in the election. When Cohen was reimbursed, the payments were recorded as legal expenses, which prosecutors said was an unlawful attempt to mask the true purpose of the transaction. Trump’s lawyers contend they were legitimate payments for legal services.Trump has denied the sexual encounter, and his lawyers argued during the trial that his celebrity status, particularly during the 2016 campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-cohen-9be06e3d33c25af7060552a44001cc1a">made him a target for extortion</a>. They’ve said hush money deals to bury negative stories about Trump were motivated by personal considerations such as the impact on his family and brand as a businessman, not political ones. They also sought to undermine the credibility of Cohen,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-michael-cohen-74aaf72511d64fceb1d64529207bde64">the star prosecution witness who pleaded guilty in 2018</a>&nbsp;to federal charges related to the payments, as driven by personal animus toward Trump as well as fame and money.The trial featured more than four weeks of occasionally riveting testimony that revisited an already well-documented chapter from Trump’s past, when his 2016 campaign was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-access-hollywood-hush-money-new-york-2c52279a45ede2a111ff1fe447d2fdac">threatened by the disclosure of an “Access Hollywood”</a>&nbsp;recording that captured him talking about grabbing women sexually without their permission and the prospect of other stories about Trump and sex surfacing that would be harmful to his candidacy.Trump himself did not testify, but jurors heard his voice through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">secret recording of a conversation</a>&nbsp;with Cohen in which he and the lawyer discussed a $150,000 hush money deal involving a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who has said she had an affair with Trump: “What do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Trump was heard saying on the recording made by Cohen.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trial-hush-money-stormy-daniels-c69d54c51e2fccbbc0b19e2220222b0e">Daniels herself testified</a>, offering at times a graphic recounting of the sexual encounter she says they had in a hotel suite during a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. The former publisher of the National Enquirer,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-trial-national-enquirer-1dd3c3111febf219bdf1d8627504a3c5">David Pecker,</a>&nbsp;testified about how he worked to keep stories harmful to the Trump campaign from becoming public at all, including by having his company buy McDougal’s story.Jurors also heard from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hush-money-trial-new-fines-testimony-trump-fe6995afbc96650b67f46d813ab05f06">Keith Davidson</a>, the lawyer who negotiated the hush money payments on behalf of Daniels and McDougal.He detailed the tense negotiations to get both women compensated for their silence but also faced an aggressive round of questioning from a Trump attorney who noted that Davidson had helped broker similar hush money deals in cases involving other prominent figures.But the most pivotal witness, by far, was Cohen, who spent days on the stand and gave jurors an insider’s view of the hush money scheme and what he said was Trump’s detailed knowledge of it.“Just take care of it,” he quoted Trump as saying at one point.He offered jurors the most direct link between Trump and the heart of the charges, recounting a meeting in which they and the then-chief financial officer of Trump Organization described a plan to have Cohen reimbursed in monthly installments for legal services.And he emotionally described his dramatic break with Trump in 2018, when he decided to cooperate with prosecutors after a decade-long career as the then-president’s personal fixer.“To keep the loyalty and to do the things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as has my family,” Cohen told the jury.The outcome provides a degree of vindication for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-manhattan-da-bragg-hush-money-trial-a164881f43b1d5064a528b36eada937e">Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg</a>, who had characterized the case as being about election interference rather than hush money and defended it against criticism from legal experts who called it the weakest of the four prosecutions against Trump.But it took on added importance not only because it proceeded to trial first but also because it could be the only one of the cases to reach a jury before the election.The other three cases — local and federal charges in Atlanta and Washington that he conspired to undo the 2020 election, as well as a federal indictment in Florida charging him with illegally hoarding top-secret records — are bogged down by delays or appeals.

🎥 Former President Trump reacts to being found guilty on 34 felony counts

Jurors convicted Trump on all 34 counts after deliberating for 9.5 hours. As the verdict was read, he sat stone-faced in court, looking down.

The verdict is a stunning legal reckoning for Trump and exposes him to potential prison time in the city where his manipulations of the tabloid press helped catapult him from a real estate tycoon to reality television star and ultimately president. As he seeks a return to the White House in this year’s election, the judgment presents voters with another test of their willingness to accept Trump’s boundary-breaking behavior.

Trump is expected to quickly appeal the verdict and will face an awkward dynamic as he seeks to return to the campaign trail as a convicted felon. There are no campaign rallies on the calendar for now, though he’s expected to hold fundraisers next week. It will likely take several months for Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the case, to decide whether to sentence Trump to prison.

Guilty: Trump is first former U.S. president convicted of felony crimes

Lincoln, NE–Billy Broyles of Chadron is the second winner of a 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck in the 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game.

Broyles purchased his winning Truck$ &amp; Buck$ ticket at Common Cents Food Store at 301 West Main St. in Chadron. He was presented with his new truck at Common Cents on Wednesday, May 29 by Nebraska Lottery officials.

Broyles said he usually sticks to Lotto games like Nebraska Pick 5, Powerball and Mega Millions, but something that day told him to get some Scratch tickets. After winning $45 on another ticket, Broyles decided to roll the dice.

“I bought 10 Truck$ tickets, which I never play,” he said. “It paid off because I won the truck!”

The win came at a great time, Broyles said, as his current car has bad shocks, rear brakes and wheel bearings. The new truck was an exciting prospect, he said.

“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I had to work at midnight and I couldn’t close my eyes.”

The 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s popular $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game features the 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck as its top prize. Players have the opportunity to win one of eight Ford F-150 trucks as well as thousands of cash prizes. The truck prize is valued at $81,500, which includes $976 for costs associated with ownership and state and federal withholding paid by the Nebraska Lottery of $4,075 and $19,560, respectively. The odds of winning the top prize in Truck$ &amp; Buck$ are 1 in 336,000, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.69.

The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $978 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717089523318.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Nebraska LotteryLincoln, NE–Billy Broyles of Chadron is the second winner of a 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck in the 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game.Broyles purchased his winning Truck$ &amp; Buck$ ticket at Common Cents Food Store at 301 West Main St. in Chadron. He was presented with his new truck at Common Cents on Wednesday, May 29 by Nebraska Lottery officials.Broyles said he usually sticks to Lotto games like Nebraska Pick 5, Powerball and Mega Millions, but something that day told him to get some Scratch tickets. After winning $45 on another ticket, Broyles decided to roll the dice.“I bought 10 Truck$ tickets, which I never play,” he said. “It paid off because I won the truck!”The win came at a great time, Broyles said, as his current car has bad shocks, rear brakes and wheel bearings. The new truck was an exciting prospect, he said.“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I had to work at midnight and I couldn’t close my eyes.”The 29th edition of the Nebraska Lottery’s popular $2 Truck$ &amp; Buck$ Scratch game features the 2024 Ford F-150 XLT 4x4 SuperCrew truck as its top prize. Players have the opportunity to win one of eight Ford F-150 trucks as well as thousands of cash prizes. The truck prize is valued at $81,500, which includes $976 for costs associated with ownership and state and federal withholding paid by the Nebraska Lottery of $4,075 and $19,560, respectively. The odds of winning the top prize in Truck$ &amp; Buck$ are 1 in 336,000, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 3.69.The mission of the Nebraska Lottery is to generate proceeds for good causes while providing quality entertainment options to Nebraskans. Over $978 million has been raised for the Nebraska Lottery’s beneficiary funds since the Lottery began in 1993. All 93 counties in Nebraska have benefited from projects funded with these Nebraska Lottery proceeds.

Chadron man claims second Truck$ & Buck$ Truck

POSSIBLE SIGHTING 1038 HOURS WEDNESDAY MAY 29 NORTHBOUND ON THE 2800 BLOCK OF BIG HORNPLEASE CHECK YOUR SECURITY CAMERAS FOR ANY SIGHTINGS IN ORDER FOR US TO FOLLOW UP ON

To view a video click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/v/GjZRfpqwxKDULYtG/">HERE</a>

Distinguishing Features: Surgery scar on left leg approximately 4 inches

Last Seen Wearing: Light colored shirt or a black jacket with purple on it, jeans, and gray Hey-Dude slip-on shoes

Accessories: Wears wire glasses, several gold or silver rings, and a gold eagle necklace

Last Known Location: Southbound on Flack Avenue from East 8th Street on May 28, 2024, at approximately 10:40PM

Additional Information:Patricia Eichhorn suffers from Alzheimer's and may be disoriented. Despite extensive search efforts by citizens and law enforcement, including on foot and with drones, Patricia has not yet been located. NSP, WING, and Box Butte County Sheriff's Office are all coordinating search efforts with us.We encourage citizens to review any surveillance footage from their homes or businesses, even if they don’t think it will help.

Additionally, we urge citizens to check campers, garages, and sheds in an attempt to locate her.

Contact Information: If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Patricia Eichhorn, please contact the Alliance Police Department at 308-762-4955 or comments@bbcpublicsafety.us.&nbsp;&nbsp;

By Alliance Police Depart<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1717090102978.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>POSSIBLE SIGHTING 1038 HOURS WEDNESDAY MAY 29 NORTHBOUND ON THE 2800 BLOCK OF BIG HORNPLEASE CHECK YOUR SECURITY CAMERAS FOR ANY SIGHTINGS IN ORDER FOR US TO FOLLOW UP ONTo view a video click&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/v/GjZRfpqwxKDULYtG/">HERE</a>Name: Patricia EichhornAge: 75Gender: FemaleRace/Ethnicity: WhiteHeight: 5'7"Weight: 140 lbsHair Color: GrayEye Color: BrownDistinguishing Features: Surgery scar on left leg approximately 4 inchesLast Seen Wearing: Light colored shirt or a black jacket with purple on it, jeans, and gray Hey-Dude slip-on shoesAccessories: Wears wire glasses, several gold or silver rings, and a gold eagle necklaceLast Known Location: Southbound on Flack Avenue from East 8th Street on May 28, 2024, at approximately 10:40PMAdditional Information:Patricia Eichhorn suffers from Alzheimer's and may be disoriented. Despite extensive search efforts by citizens and law enforcement, including on foot and with drones, Patricia has not yet been located. NSP, WING, and Box Butte County Sheriff's Office are all coordinating search efforts with us.We encourage citizens to review any surveillance footage from their homes or businesses, even if they don’t think it will help.Additionally, we urge citizens to check campers, garages, and sheds in an attempt to locate her.Contact Information: If you have any information regarding the whereabouts of Patricia Eichhorn, please contact the Alliance Police Department at 308-762-4955 or comments@bbcpublicsafety.us.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Alliance police, NSP continue to search for missing woman

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp; State's Newsroom

WASHINGTON — U.S. senators will go on record next month with whether they support legislation from Democrats that would guarantee access to contraception — a right currently upheld by two Supreme Court cases, but one that has been singled out by a conservative justice.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, announced last week the chamber would vote on the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4381/text?s=6&amp;r=1">bill</a>&nbsp;in June, saying it would help to bolster women’s reproductive rights at a crucial time. Sixty votes will be needed for the bill to advance.

“Now, more than ever, contraception is a critical piece of protecting women’s reproductive freedoms,” Schumer said.

The move to hold a procedural vote on the legislation, which has&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4381/cosponsors?s=6&amp;r=1">49 co-sponsors</a>, came just one day after Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee for president, said that his campaign&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-signals-hes-open-state-limits-contraceptive-access-then-insists-hes-not">would be releasing a policy on contraception</a>&nbsp;in the next week.

Trump seemed to be open to state restrictions on contraception, though he later backtracked in social media comments.

“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,” Trump said on KDKA in Pittsburgh. “It’s another issue that’s very interesting. But you will find it very smart. I think it’s a smart decision, but we’ll be releasing it very soon.”

Trump had been asked if he supports “any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception.”

Trump later said that “things really do have a lot to do with the states. And some states are going to have different policies than others.” That comment came after Trump was asked if he “may want to support some restrictions, like the morning-after pill or something?”

The House&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-bill-guaranteeing-contraception-access-eight-gop-votes">approved a bill&nbsp;</a>similar to the Senate legislation in July 2022 that was sponsored by North Carolina Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning. The chamber at the time was controlled by Democrats.

That measure defined contraception as “an action taken to prevent pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives or fertility-awareness based methods, and sterilization procedures.”

Senate Democrats&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bill-guaranteeing-right-birth-control-blocked-us-senate-republicans">tried to pass</a>&nbsp;their version of the so-called Right to Contraception Act the same month, but Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst blocked the unanimous consent request.

Unanimous consent is the fastest way to approve legislation in the Senate, but it allows any one lawmaker to block passage. There is no recorded vote during that process, but there will be next month when Schumer holds the procedural vote.

If the legislation gains 60 votes, it would move on to a simple majority vote.

Democrats were attempting to enact statutory protections for contraception two years ago following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the Supreme Court that ended the constitutional right to abortion. That right was established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case and affirmed in the 1992 Casey v. Planned Parenthood ruling.

In a dissenting&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">opinion</a>&nbsp;in Dobbs, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the justices should “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents” that relied on the same right to privacy legal thinking that justices had cited in Roe and Casey.

Thomas specifically mentioned the Griswold v. Connecticut, Obergefell v. Hodges and Lawrence v. Texas cases.

Griswold was the 1965&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/479/">case</a>&nbsp;where the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut state law that had prevented married couples from using contraception.

The Supreme Court held that a “right to privacy can be inferred from several amendments in the Bill of Rights, and this right prevents states from making the use of contraception by married couples illegal.”

Those rights were extended to unmarried people in the 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/405/438/">ruling</a>.

Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-march-2024-abortion-in-the-2024-election-and-beyond/">released</a>&nbsp;in March, shows that 45% of adults said they believe access to contraception is “a secure right likely to remain in place.”

An additional 21% responded that they believe it is “a threatened right likely to be overturned.” A total of 34% of respondents said they were not sure.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1657750242184.jpg" alt="Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Wednesday that&nbsp;the Senate will vote in June on legislation guaranteeing the right to access contraception " />
 <figcaption>Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Wednesday that&nbsp;the Senate will vote in June on legislation guaranteeing the right to access contraception </figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp; State's NewsroomWASHINGTON — U.S. senators will go on record next month with whether they support legislation from Democrats that would guarantee access to contraception — a right currently upheld by two Supreme Court cases, but one that has been singled out by a conservative justice.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, announced last week the chamber would vote on the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4381/text?s=6&amp;r=1">bill</a>&nbsp;in June, saying it would help to bolster women’s reproductive rights at a crucial time. Sixty votes will be needed for the bill to advance.“Now, more than ever, contraception is a critical piece of protecting women’s reproductive freedoms,” Schumer said.The move to hold a procedural vote on the legislation, which has&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/4381/cosponsors?s=6&amp;r=1">49 co-sponsors</a>, came just one day after Donald Trump, the Republican presumptive nominee for president, said that his campaign&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-signals-hes-open-state-limits-contraceptive-access-then-insists-hes-not">would be releasing a policy on contraception</a>&nbsp;in the next week.Trump seemed to be open to state restrictions on contraception, though he later backtracked in social media comments.“We’re looking at that and I’m going to have a policy on that very shortly and I think it’s something that you’ll find interesting,” Trump said on KDKA in Pittsburgh. “It’s another issue that’s very interesting. But you will find it very smart. I think it’s a smart decision, but we’ll be releasing it very soon.”Trump had been asked if he supports “any restrictions on a person’s right to contraception.”Trump later said that “things really do have a lot to do with the states. And some states are going to have different policies than others.” That comment came after Trump was asked if he “may want to support some restrictions, like the morning-after pill or something?”<h2>In Congress</h2>The House&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-bill-guaranteeing-contraception-access-eight-gop-votes">approved a bill&nbsp;</a>similar to the Senate legislation in July 2022 that was sponsored by North Carolina Democratic Rep. Kathy Manning. The chamber at the time was controlled by Democrats.That measure defined contraception as “an action taken to prevent pregnancy, including the use of contraceptives or fertility-awareness based methods, and sterilization procedures.”Senate Democrats&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bill-guaranteeing-right-birth-control-blocked-us-senate-republicans">tried to pass</a>&nbsp;their version of the so-called Right to Contraception Act the same month, but Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst blocked the unanimous consent request.Unanimous consent is the fastest way to approve legislation in the Senate, but it allows any one lawmaker to block passage. There is no recorded vote during that process, but there will be next month when Schumer holds the procedural vote.If the legislation gains 60 votes, it would move on to a simple majority vote.Democrats were attempting to enact statutory protections for contraception two years ago following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the Supreme Court that ended the constitutional right to abortion. That right was established in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case and affirmed in the 1992 Casey v. Planned Parenthood ruling.In a dissenting&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf">opinion</a>&nbsp;in Dobbs, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the justices should “reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents” that relied on the same right to privacy legal thinking that justices had cited in Roe and Casey.Thomas specifically mentioned the Griswold v. Connecticut, Obergefell v. Hodges and Lawrence v. Texas cases.Griswold was the 1965&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/381/479/">case</a>&nbsp;where the Supreme Court struck down a Connecticut state law that had prevented married couples from using contraception.The Supreme Court held that a “right to privacy can be inferred from several amendments in the Bill of Rights, and this right prevents states from making the use of contraception by married couples illegal.”Those rights were extended to unmarried people in the 1972 Eisenstadt v. Baird&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/405/438/">ruling</a>.Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/poll-finding/kff-health-tracking-poll-march-2024-abortion-in-the-2024-election-and-beyond/">released</a>&nbsp;in March, shows that 45% of adults said they believe access to contraception is “a secure right likely to remain in place.”An additional 21% responded that they believe it is “a threatened right likely to be overturned.” A total of 34% of respondents said they were not sure.

U.S. Senators face a vote on whether they support contraception access

Lincoln, Neb. May 29, 2024 — Jay Parsons was selected in April as the new director of the Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, following the retirement of Larry Van Tassell, who served as the center’s director since its inception in July 2021.

Parsons, a professor and extension farm and ranch management specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics, joined the university as an associate professor in 2014. He also serves as Nebraska Extension’s agricultural profitability program area leader.

The Center for Agricultural Profitability (CAP) is based in the Department of Agricultural Economics. It facilitates interdisciplinary faculty research and outreach to serve agricultural producers and agribusiness professionals with educational programs and information to keep Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers financially healthy.

Parsons said he is looking forward to building on the momentum the center has achieved in the last three years by continuing to focus on reaching Nebraska’s agricultural stakeholders with information that helps keep the state’s farms and ranches on solid financial footing.

“The center is going to keep working to bring together resources from across the University of Nebraska, as well as outside agencies and other universities, to help producers and professionals who work with them to have more confidence and clarity in making the many important decisions impacting their farm or ranch business,” he said.

Parsons began his career as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Colorado State University, where he earned a Ph. D in Agricultural and Resource Economics in 2003, moving to the same department that year. Between 2009 and 2014, he served as co-director of the Western Center for Integrated Resource Management at Colorado State. In 2002, helped co-found the RightRisk Education Team, a multi-state educational effort allowing him the opportunity to work with producers and colleagues throughout North America to better understand risk and decision-making in agriculture.

“In its first three years, the Center for Agricultural Profitability has fulfilled a critical role in providing current, research-based, holistic information that helps guide producers in making important decisions for their operations,” said Mike Boehm, NU vice president and Harlan Vice Chancellor for UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Dr. Parsons is a talented economist who understands how important resources like the ones CAP provides are and will continue to be. I am thrilled he will serve as the next director of this center.”

Parsons noted that the center’s outreach, including weekly webinars, regular in-person workshops, decision tools, frequent publications and multimedia content, has already provided a solid foundation to build on.

“CAP is still relatively new, and we see opportunities to continue confronting modern challenges that agriculture is facing, helping producers find solutions to not only be successful now, but to ensure their operations are viable for generations to come,” he said. “We will continue to meet producers where they are to equip them with new education and tools to find that success.”

Parsons teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Agricultural Economics and conducts research in the areas of production economics, risk management, decision analysis, farm and ranch management and more. He has served on committees in the Agricultural Economics Department and the Center for Grassland Studies.

“Dr. Parsons has been a valued and active faculty member in the department for a decade now, effectively serving students on campus and ag producers and industry across the state through his extension work,” said Kate Brooks, head of the Department of Agricultural Economics. “CAP is a big part of the department and Dr. Parsons’ knowledge, skills and leadership abilities make him a great choice to lead the center going forward.”

More information about the Center for Agricultural Profitability is available on its website,&nbsp;<a href="https://unl233.lt.acemlnb.com/Prod/link-tracker?redirectUrl=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&amp;sig=9TQ2gGrojS29HBKUGav4YrjwuPYNAc78j1H34dUWA6H7&amp;iat=1717010665&amp;a=%7C%7C68108822%7C%7C&amp;account=unl233%2Eactivehosted%2Ecom&amp;email=BxDyDUlyuaw89Yfh76U5oBsey6yxtN5WO8peDUAP6aT1DclFYbPcy7A%3D%3Antg6%2FACk67GTI6%2BgTzqOMZ%2FsJYskL%2BPa&amp;s=073f67d35943f6c01a66f2eac84e284e&amp;i=801A902A50A16870" target="_blank">https://cap.unl.edu</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Lincoln, Neb. May 29, 2024 — Jay Parsons was selected in April as the new director of the Center for Agricultural Profitability at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, following the retirement of Larry Van Tassell, who served as the center’s director since its inception in July 2021.Parsons, a professor and extension farm and ranch management specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics, joined the university as an associate professor in 2014. He also serves as Nebraska Extension’s agricultural profitability program area leader.The Center for Agricultural Profitability (CAP) is based in the Department of Agricultural Economics. It facilitates interdisciplinary faculty research and outreach to serve agricultural producers and agribusiness professionals with educational programs and information to keep Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers financially healthy.Parsons said he is looking forward to building on the momentum the center has achieved in the last three years by continuing to focus on reaching Nebraska’s agricultural stakeholders with information that helps keep the state’s farms and ranches on solid financial footing.“The center is going to keep working to bring together resources from across the University of Nebraska, as well as outside agencies and other universities, to help producers and professionals who work with them to have more confidence and clarity in making the many important decisions impacting their farm or ranch business,” he said.Parsons began his career as an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics at Colorado State University, where he earned a Ph. D in Agricultural and Resource Economics in 2003, moving to the same department that year. Between 2009 and 2014, he served as co-director of the Western Center for Integrated Resource Management at Colorado State. In 2002, helped co-found the RightRisk Education Team, a multi-state educational effort allowing him the opportunity to work with producers and colleagues throughout North America to better understand risk and decision-making in agriculture.“In its first three years, the Center for Agricultural Profitability has fulfilled a critical role in providing current, research-based, holistic information that helps guide producers in making important decisions for their operations,” said Mike Boehm, NU vice president and Harlan Vice Chancellor for UNL’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources. “Dr. Parsons is a talented economist who understands how important resources like the ones CAP provides are and will continue to be. I am thrilled he will serve as the next director of this center.”Parsons noted that the center’s outreach, including weekly webinars, regular in-person workshops, decision tools, frequent publications and multimedia content, has already provided a solid foundation to build on.“CAP is still relatively new, and we see opportunities to continue confronting modern challenges that agriculture is facing, helping producers find solutions to not only be successful now, but to ensure their operations are viable for generations to come,” he said. “We will continue to meet producers where they are to equip them with new education and tools to find that success.”Parsons teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Department of Agricultural Economics and conducts research in the areas of production economics, risk management, decision analysis, farm and ranch management and more. He has served on committees in the Agricultural Economics Department and the Center for Grassland Studies.“Dr. Parsons has been a valued and active faculty member in the department for a decade now, effectively serving students on campus and ag producers and industry across the state through his extension work,” said Kate Brooks, head of the Department of Agricultural Economics. “CAP is a big part of the department and Dr. Parsons’ knowledge, skills and leadership abilities make him a great choice to lead the center going forward.”More information about the Center for Agricultural Profitability is available on its website,&nbsp;<a href="https://unl233.lt.acemlnb.com/Prod/link-tracker?redirectUrl=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&amp;sig=9TQ2gGrojS29HBKUGav4YrjwuPYNAc78j1H34dUWA6H7&amp;iat=1717010665&amp;a=%7C%7C68108822%7C%7C&amp;account=unl233%2Eactivehosted%2Ecom&amp;email=BxDyDUlyuaw89Yfh76U5oBsey6yxtN5WO8peDUAP6aT1DclFYbPcy7A%3D%3Antg6%2FACk67GTI6%2BgTzqOMZ%2FsJYskL%2BPa&amp;s=073f67d35943f6c01a66f2eac84e284e&amp;i=801A902A50A16870" target="_blank">https://cap.unl.edu</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Parsons selected as new Center for Agricultural Profitability director

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — A spelling champion from Nebraska did an outstanding job but was eliminated in round 8 of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday afternoon.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;Sarah Fernandes, a 12-year-old 6th grade at St. Stephan the Martyr Catholic School just missed a trip to the finals. She misspelled&nbsp;opelu. She spelled it opalu.

Fernandes had plenty of company among the 140 spellers eliminated on Wednesday, spelling's saddest day.

“I didn't expect to get out, but I did, and I guess I have to accept the truth now,” said Achyut Ethiraj, an eighth-grader from Fort Wayne, Indiana. “I'm happy to do high school and do other things, but I'm kind of confused what to do now that I'm done with spelling."

“It's my last year, and I expected to do better, but I guess it is what it is," he said. "And I have to move on.”

The structure of the spelling bee has undergone plenty of changes over time, but over the past three years under executive director Corrie Loeffler, the competition has gotten very hard, very fast for spellers who make it past the preliminary rounds.

The morning began with 148 spellers. By the end of the first quarterfinal round, there were 59 left, and 46 of those got through a vocabulary round to reach the semifinals. By the end of the day, eight finalists remained. They will return Thursday night, when the winner will receive a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

The champion won't be Shradha Rachamreddy, who finished third last year and was a consensus favorite to go all the way. She was eliminated on exactly the sort of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/scripps-national-spelling-bee-preliminary-2024-6331732d552c3b07bab29e5485fc813c">“super short, tricky word”</a>&nbsp;she said she concentrated on studying after misspelling “orle” last year. This year it was “varan,” a type of lizard. She added an extra “r,” and former spellers in the audience gasped at her mistake.

“I am in shock and despair,” said Dev Shah, the 2023 champion.

“We all thought she was going to win,” added Charlotte Walsh, last year's runner-up.

Starting in the quarterfinals,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-spelling-bee-word-list-6b67fd86e9008d3f61cc7f256dbad480">the bee's word panel</a>&nbsp;can use any of the more than half a million words in Webster's Unabridged dictionary, plus some geographical names that aren't even listed in that volume. While the panel tries to maintain a consistent level of difficulty in each round, it can vary from word to word.

Achyut was asked to spell the word “sistine.” Derived from the Sistine Chapel, it's an adjective meaning “a light blue color.” He went with “cistine,” and his coach, Grace Walters, was second-guessing herself.

“I'm sure when I was making my lists, I just assumed, ‘Oh, everybody knows the Sistine Chapel.’ But the reality is these kids are like 10 to 14. They might not have the ... cultural knowledge that us older people have,” said the 22-year-old Walters, a former speller. “So that's definitely something I feel like I overlooked in helping him prepare.”

Two years ago, Achyut finished in a tie for 14th place, and last year he tied for 23rd. This year, he tied for 60th place alongside the 88 others eliminated in the round.

“My rank has been going lower. But the reality is my preparation has been increasing a lot,” Achyut said. “And I don't know how that matches up, but I know that I know the words and I deserve a good break.”

He has plenty of company. Rare is a speller like Vanya Shivashankar, who came in with enormous buzz in 2015 after years of strong finishes and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-52b763355a874abfacdb02fc290ceaed">ended up winning</a>. Even Shivashankar&nbsp;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article22176948.html">had a setback the previous year</a>&nbsp;when a written spelling and vocabulary test kept her out of the finals.

Naysa Modi,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5d8561545c954ac28b82f2a3d889c1a7">the 2018 runner-up</a>, didn't make the finals the following year. Ishika Varipilli, who hoped to make a run at the trophy this year in her third and final attempt, bowed out in a tie for 47th after missing a vocabulary word, “swanky," and said afterward she was “trying to keep it together.”

In the semifinals, Shradha was followed to the exit by two more top-ten finishers from 2023: Aryan Khedkar and Sarah Fernandes. Aryan got a long hug from fellow competitor Faizan Zaki before leaving the stage.

“These kids put a lot of pressure on themselves. I think they get nervous. They get worried. They get more focused on, ‘What if I don’t make it? What if this happens? What if that happens?'” Walters said. “The kids feel it around them that, you know, they're being looked up to as previous finalists, previous semifinalists, and they internalize that people expect something from them.”

Aliyah Alpert, who finished ninth in 2022, missed the bee entirely last year because she flubbed the word “recoup” in the Yavapai County spelling bee in her home state of Arizona.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/5/1716913401526.png" alt="Sarah Grace Fernandes, 12, 6th grade, St. Stephan the Martyr Catholic School, Omaha-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Sarah Grace Fernandes, 12, 6th grade, St. Stephan the Martyr Catholic School, Omaha-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — A spelling champion from Nebraska did an outstanding job but was eliminated in round 8 of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday afternoon.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sarah Fernandes, a 12-year-old 6th grade at St. Stephan the Martyr Catholic School just missed a trip to the finals. She misspelled&nbsp;opelu. She spelled it opalu.Fernandes had plenty of company among the 140 spellers eliminated on Wednesday, spelling's saddest day.“I didn't expect to get out, but I did, and I guess I have to accept the truth now,” said Achyut Ethiraj, an eighth-grader from Fort Wayne, Indiana. “I'm happy to do high school and do other things, but I'm kind of confused what to do now that I'm done with spelling."“It's my last year, and I expected to do better, but I guess it is what it is," he said. "And I have to move on.”The structure of the spelling bee has undergone plenty of changes over time, but over the past three years under executive director Corrie Loeffler, the competition has gotten very hard, very fast for spellers who make it past the preliminary rounds.The morning began with 148 spellers. By the end of the first quarterfinal round, there were 59 left, and 46 of those got through a vocabulary round to reach the semifinals. By the end of the day, eight finalists remained. They will return Thursday night, when the winner will receive a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.The champion won't be Shradha Rachamreddy, who finished third last year and was a consensus favorite to go all the way. She was eliminated on exactly the sort of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/scripps-national-spelling-bee-preliminary-2024-6331732d552c3b07bab29e5485fc813c">“super short, tricky word”</a>&nbsp;she said she concentrated on studying after misspelling “orle” last year. This year it was “varan,” a type of lizard. She added an extra “r,” and former spellers in the audience gasped at her mistake.“I am in shock and despair,” said Dev Shah, the 2023 champion.“We all thought she was going to win,” added Charlotte Walsh, last year's runner-up.Starting in the quarterfinals,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-spelling-bee-word-list-6b67fd86e9008d3f61cc7f256dbad480">the bee's word panel</a>&nbsp;can use any of the more than half a million words in Webster's Unabridged dictionary, plus some geographical names that aren't even listed in that volume. While the panel tries to maintain a consistent level of difficulty in each round, it can vary from word to word.That's when luck comes into play.Achyut was asked to spell the word “sistine.” Derived from the Sistine Chapel, it's an adjective meaning “a light blue color.” He went with “cistine,” and his coach, Grace Walters, was second-guessing herself.“I'm sure when I was making my lists, I just assumed, ‘Oh, everybody knows the Sistine Chapel.’ But the reality is these kids are like 10 to 14. They might not have the ... cultural knowledge that us older people have,” said the 22-year-old Walters, a former speller. “So that's definitely something I feel like I overlooked in helping him prepare.”Two years ago, Achyut finished in a tie for 14th place, and last year he tied for 23rd. This year, he tied for 60th place alongside the 88 others eliminated in the round.“My rank has been going lower. But the reality is my preparation has been increasing a lot,” Achyut said. “And I don't know how that matches up, but I know that I know the words and I deserve a good break.”He has plenty of company. Rare is a speller like Vanya Shivashankar, who came in with enormous buzz in 2015 after years of strong finishes and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-52b763355a874abfacdb02fc290ceaed">ended up winning</a>. Even Shivashankar&nbsp;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article22176948.html">had a setback the previous year</a>&nbsp;when a written spelling and vocabulary test kept her out of the finals.Naysa Modi,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5d8561545c954ac28b82f2a3d889c1a7">the 2018 runner-up</a>, didn't make the finals the following year. Ishika Varipilli, who hoped to make a run at the trophy this year in her third and final attempt, bowed out in a tie for 47th after missing a vocabulary word, “swanky," and said afterward she was “trying to keep it together.”In the semifinals, Shradha was followed to the exit by two more top-ten finishers from 2023: Aryan Khedkar and Sarah Fernandes. Aryan got a long hug from fellow competitor Faizan Zaki before leaving the stage.“These kids put a lot of pressure on themselves. I think they get nervous. They get worried. They get more focused on, ‘What if I don’t make it? What if this happens? What if that happens?'” Walters said. “The kids feel it around them that, you know, they're being looked up to as previous finalists, previous semifinalists, and they internalize that people expect something from them.”Aliyah Alpert, who finished ninth in 2022, missed the bee entirely last year because she flubbed the word “recoup” in the Yavapai County spelling bee in her home state of Arizona.“It was on-list, I totally knew the word, but I blanked. Choked,” said 13-year-old Aliyah, who returned this year and was ousted in the semifinals.Matthew Bader came in knowing he might not improve upon his finish last year, a tie for 57th.“The farther you make it in the competition one year, that's the more chance you'll do worse next year,” said Matthew, a 14-year-old from Peachtree City, Georgia. “Actually, I didn’t really mind getting out. Win or lose, to be here, it’s a pretty big accomplishment.”Ananth Chepuri of Bradenton, Florida, thought his daughter, 11-year-old Amara, was eliminated by one of the most difficult words ("ephectic") of what he called an inconsistent round.“It's been brutal,” Chepuri said. “The first kid, I felt so sorry for him. This was a bloodbath!”