TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' recently reelected Democratic governor and Republican legislators are headed for a clash over how their financially flush state should cut taxes, and abortion opponents are wrestling with what ideas to pursue following last year's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">decisive statewide vote</a>&nbsp;favoring abortion rights.

Gov. Laura Kelly is scheduled to take the oath of office for her second four-year term in a ceremony at noon Monday. The Republican-controlled Legislature is set to convene in the afternoon for an annual session that's expected to last into early May.

Both Kelly and leaders of the Republicans' supermajorities in both chambers are making tax cuts a top priority but differ on what taxes to cut.

Besides abortion, almost a perennial issue for them, lawmakers expect to tackle education issues and water policy. Republicans also plan to pass another version of a bill to ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's college and K-12 sports, despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/topeka-kansas-legislature-libraries-9ffb07cf3b25faf848dda6d78bff8856">two past vetoes from Kelly.</a>

Here is a look at key issues before Kansas lawmakers:

VOTE SCRAMBLES NEARLY ANNUAL ABORTION DEBATE

Abortion opponents are constrained by a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that abortion access is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution. GOP lawmakers pushed to amend the constitution to say it doesn’t grant a right to abortion — allowing lawmakers to ban it — but voters rejected the proposed change in August.

While key anti-abortion groups haven't announced their plans, GOP lawmakers have floated several ideas, including an increase in the state's minimal aid to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers or a largely symbolic law telling doctors they must do everything they can to prevent newborns from dying, even following a botched abortion.

Abortion opponents also are upset that abortion medications are becoming more accessible in Kansas. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently finalized a rule&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-medication-d5fc3d5990dced69b0bf93a4760250fe">allowing more pharmacies to dispense</a>&nbsp;the medications. In November a state court judge blocked enforcement of the state's requirement that doctors providing the medication be in the same room when patients take it,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-kansas-city-planned-parenthood-7bbd62399537dac61093864166f0e81e">allowing teleconferencing.</a>

SURPLUS CASH PROMPTS NEW PUSH FOR TAX CUTS

Kansas garnered national attention for a 2012-13 slashing of income taxes and the persistent budget shortfalls that followed. But now, more than five years after lawmakers repealed most of the experiment, the state is headed toward ending June 2024 with $4.2 billion in surplus cash.

Kelly last year pushed to eliminate the sales tax on groceries last year, but lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/19b2052b2eea5e1ea55ec1e5f23366ac">phased it out over three years,</a>&nbsp;so that it dropped to 4% from 6.5% at the start of this year and doesn't disappear until 2025. The Democratic governor wants to zero out the tax as of April, but many Republicans are resisting.

Kelly also has proposed lower taxes on incomes in retirement, but many Republicans are more ambitious, with some wanting to eliminate it altogether.

And Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said he'd like to see Kansas move to a “flat” income tax, with one rate for all individual and corporate filers, instead of three for individuals and two for corporations. He argues that the simpler tax system would boost Kansas economically.

“I’m optimistic about a combination" that includes some version of what the governor has proposed, he said.

GOVERNOR, REPUBLICANS LIKELY TO CLASH ON EDUCATION

Conservative Republicans haven't given up on proposals that they believe will make public K-12 schools more transparent and give parents more choices about where to educate their kids, despite Kelly's veto last year of a “parental rights” measure. Critics, particularly Democratic lawmakers, see them as attacks on public schools.

GOP lawmakers expect again to pursue proposals that would require schools to post more information about what's being taught online and to make it easier for parents to seek the removal of materials and books from classrooms and libraries that they find objectionable. It's part of a push by Republicans across the U.S. to limit what's taught about gender, sexuality and the role of racism in U.S. history and society.

REPUBLICANS TO PURSUE ELECTION LAW CHANGES

While voters across the U.S. last year rejected candidates promoting baseless election conspiracies, tightening up Kansas election laws remains a priority for many Republicans. They expect to pursue proposals to limit or eliminate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-elections-legislature-kansas-4d3fbe728cfd479ed3f29a7bba0f1cc4">ballot drop boxes</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-rights-business-donald-trump-legislature-02dd97563eebcef1db384cc737cbea00">end the state's three-day grace period</a>&nbsp;for mail ballots to arrive after an election.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who vouches for the integrity of Kansas elections and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-donald-trump-arizona-9b675ed2223da37a90e5b53cfb6cf9b8">defeated an election conspiracy promoter</a>&nbsp;in last year's GOP primary, says he will have his own package of proposals to prevent voter intimidation and protect their privacy, though he hasn't made specific proposals public.

MARIJUANA, MEDICAID MEASURES ARE LIKELY NON-STARTERS

Kelly promised throughout her successful reelection campaign that she'll push again to expand the state's Medicaid health coverage to another 150,000 people, and she supports legalizing marijuana for medical uses.

Despite a perception that both ideas are widely popular among Kansas residents, neither appears likely to pass this year.

Kelly pushed Medicaid expansion throughout her first term and could put together working majorities for it in both chambers, but Republicans in key positions blocked it. Both Masterson and new Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, are vocal foes, as are the chairs of the chambers' health committees.

As for medical marijuana, a measure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-health-medical-marijuana-marijuana-7f059c07fd72dbec30180f0f50f6dc74">passed the House in 2021.</a>&nbsp;But it didn't get even a committee vote in the Senate, where top GOP leaders are wary of such a law leading to pot's legalization for recreational use.

By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' recently reelected Democratic governor and Republican legislators are headed for a clash over how their financially flush state should cut taxes, and abortion opponents are wrestling with what ideas to pursue following last year's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">decisive statewide vote</a>&nbsp;favoring abortion rights.Gov. Laura Kelly is scheduled to take the oath of office for her second four-year term in a ceremony at noon Monday. The Republican-controlled Legislature is set to convene in the afternoon for an annual session that's expected to last into early May.Both Kelly and leaders of the Republicans' supermajorities in both chambers are making tax cuts a top priority but differ on what taxes to cut.Besides abortion, almost a perennial issue for them, lawmakers expect to tackle education issues and water policy. Republicans also plan to pass another version of a bill to ban transgender athletes from girls' and women's college and K-12 sports, despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/topeka-kansas-legislature-libraries-9ffb07cf3b25faf848dda6d78bff8856">two past vetoes from Kelly.</a>Here is a look at key issues before Kansas lawmakers:VOTE SCRAMBLES NEARLY ANNUAL ABORTION DEBATEAbortion opponents are constrained by a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in 2019 that abortion access is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution. GOP lawmakers pushed to amend the constitution to say it doesn’t grant a right to abortion — allowing lawmakers to ban it — but voters rejected the proposed change in August.While key anti-abortion groups haven't announced their plans, GOP lawmakers have floated several ideas, including an increase in the state's minimal aid to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers or a largely symbolic law telling doctors they must do everything they can to prevent newborns from dying, even following a botched abortion.Abortion opponents also are upset that abortion medications are becoming more accessible in Kansas. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently finalized a rule&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-medication-d5fc3d5990dced69b0bf93a4760250fe">allowing more pharmacies to dispense</a>&nbsp;the medications. In November a state court judge blocked enforcement of the state's requirement that doctors providing the medication be in the same room when patients take it,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-kansas-city-planned-parenthood-7bbd62399537dac61093864166f0e81e">allowing teleconferencing.</a>SURPLUS CASH PROMPTS NEW PUSH FOR TAX CUTSKansas garnered national attention for a 2012-13 slashing of income taxes and the persistent budget shortfalls that followed. But now, more than five years after lawmakers repealed most of the experiment, the state is headed toward ending June 2024 with $4.2 billion in surplus cash.Kelly last year pushed to eliminate the sales tax on groceries last year, but lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/19b2052b2eea5e1ea55ec1e5f23366ac">phased it out over three years,</a>&nbsp;so that it dropped to 4% from 6.5% at the start of this year and doesn't disappear until 2025. The Democratic governor wants to zero out the tax as of April, but many Republicans are resisting.Kelly also has proposed lower taxes on incomes in retirement, but many Republicans are more ambitious, with some wanting to eliminate it altogether.And Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said he'd like to see Kansas move to a “flat” income tax, with one rate for all individual and corporate filers, instead of three for individuals and two for corporations. He argues that the simpler tax system would boost Kansas economically.“I’m optimistic about a combination" that includes some version of what the governor has proposed, he said.GOVERNOR, REPUBLICANS LIKELY TO CLASH ON EDUCATIONConservative Republicans haven't given up on proposals that they believe will make public K-12 schools more transparent and give parents more choices about where to educate their kids, despite Kelly's veto last year of a “parental rights” measure. Critics, particularly Democratic lawmakers, see them as attacks on public schools.GOP lawmakers expect again to pursue proposals that would require schools to post more information about what's being taught online and to make it easier for parents to seek the removal of materials and books from classrooms and libraries that they find objectionable. It's part of a push by Republicans across the U.S. to limit what's taught about gender, sexuality and the role of racism in U.S. history and society.REPUBLICANS TO PURSUE ELECTION LAW CHANGESWhile voters across the U.S. last year rejected candidates promoting baseless election conspiracies, tightening up Kansas election laws remains a priority for many Republicans. They expect to pursue proposals to limit or eliminate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-elections-legislature-kansas-4d3fbe728cfd479ed3f29a7bba0f1cc4">ballot drop boxes</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-rights-business-donald-trump-legislature-02dd97563eebcef1db384cc737cbea00">end the state's three-day grace period</a>&nbsp;for mail ballots to arrive after an election.Meanwhile, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Republican who vouches for the integrity of Kansas elections and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-politics-donald-trump-arizona-9b675ed2223da37a90e5b53cfb6cf9b8">defeated an election conspiracy promoter</a>&nbsp;in last year's GOP primary, says he will have his own package of proposals to prevent voter intimidation and protect their privacy, though he hasn't made specific proposals public.MARIJUANA, MEDICAID MEASURES ARE LIKELY NON-STARTERSKelly promised throughout her successful reelection campaign that she'll push again to expand the state's Medicaid health coverage to another 150,000 people, and she supports legalizing marijuana for medical uses.Despite a perception that both ideas are widely popular among Kansas residents, neither appears likely to pass this year.Kelly pushed Medicaid expansion throughout her first term and could put together working majorities for it in both chambers, but Republicans in key positions blocked it. Both Masterson and new Kansas House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, are vocal foes, as are the chairs of the chambers' health committees.As for medical marijuana, a measure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-health-medical-marijuana-marijuana-7f059c07fd72dbec30180f0f50f6dc74">passed the House in 2021.</a>&nbsp;But it didn't get even a committee vote in the Senate, where top GOP leaders are wary of such a law leading to pot's legalization for recreational use.

Kansas lawmakers expect clash over abortion, tax cuts 

ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an arrest.

Just after 10:30p.m. Friday, police arrested 44-year-old&nbsp;George N. Lewis of Atchison in the 500 block North 9th for fleeing and attempting to elude, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

He is also facing requested charges of driving while suspended, no insurance and reckless driving.&nbsp;

In August, Lewis spent time in custody on requested charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to online jail records. He has two previous convictions for burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673273691206.png" alt="Lewis-photo Atchison County" />
 <figcaption>Lewis-photo Atchison County</figcaption>
 </figure>ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon on new charges after an arrest.Just after 10:30p.m. Friday, police arrested 44-year-old&nbsp;George N. Lewis of Atchison in the 500 block North 9th for fleeing and attempting to elude, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.He is also facing requested charges of driving while suspended, no insurance and reckless driving.&nbsp;In August, Lewis spent time in custody on requested charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to online jail records. He has two previous convictions for burglary, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Kansas felon accused of attempting to flee from police

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a weekend homicide.

Just before 9a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 1300 Block of SE Madison in Topeka, according to Lt. Donna Eubanks.

First responders found one victim suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene. Police released no additional details and have not reported an arrest.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a weekend homicide.Just before 9a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 1300 Block of SE Madison in Topeka, according to Lt. Donna Eubanks.First responders found one victim suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene. Police released no additional details and have not reported an arrest.

Police: One dead in weekend Kansas shooting 

EL PASO, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and inspected a busy port of entry Sunday on his first trip to the region after two years in office, a visit shadowed by the fraught politics of immigration as Republicans try to blame him for the record numbers of migrants crossing into the country.

At his first stop, the president observed as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. Next, he traveled to a dusty street with abandoned buildings and a small playground. Near the street was a metal border fence that separated the U.S. city from Ciudad Juarez. Biden walked slowly along the border wall, initially joined by two Border Patrol agents.&nbsp;

Senator Jerry Moran announced Sunday evening that he will visit El Paso on Monday. He will join a bipartisan group of senators that will tour various points along the border.

In a sign of the deep tensions over immigration, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, handed Biden a letter upon his arrival in the state that said the “chaos” at the border was a “direct result” of the president's failure to enforce federal laws. Biden later took the letter out of his jacket pocket during his tour, telling reporters, “I haven't read it yet.”

Asked what he’s learned by seeing the border firsthand and speaking with the officers who work along it, Biden said: “They need a lot of resources. We’re going to get it for them.”

Immigration for years has been a serious point of conflict, exposing both the dysfunction of the U.S. system as well as the turmoil within migrants' home countries that has pushed many to flee. Administration officials have tried to counter Republican criticism by saying Congress should work with them to increase border security funding and overhaul immigration policy.

Biden was spending just a few hours in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.elpasotexas.gov/Migrant-Crisis">the city</a>, which is currently the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-el-paso-united-states-government-cuba-82701453fb018778c04255c1e2b10564">biggest corridor for illegal crossings</a>, in large part due to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime and poverty in their country. They are among migrants from four countries who are now subject to quick expulsion under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mexico-immigration-af0643a4fb8f45388fe247e44c9b2c5e">new rules enacted by the Biden administration</a>&nbsp;in the past week that drew strong criticism from immigration advocates.

The president also was to visit the El Paso County Migrant Services Center and meet with nonprofits and religious groups that support migrants arriving to the U.S. It was not clear whether he would talk to any migrants.

Biden's announcement on border security and his visit to the border are aimed in part at quelling the political noise and blunting the impact of upcoming investigations into immigration promised by House Republicans. But any enduring solution will require action by the sharply divided Congress, where multiple efforts to enact sweeping changes have failed in recent years.

From El Paso, Biden was to continue south to Mexico City, where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-mexico-government-us-national-security-council-united-states-599d640834d079503c5dd568c312c19f">he and the leaders of Mexico and Canada will gather</a>&nbsp;on Monday and Tuesday for a North American leaders summit. Immigration is among the items on the agenda.

In El Paso, where migrants congregate at bus stops and in parks before traveling on, border patrol agents stepped up security before Biden's visit.

“I think they’re trying to send a message that they’re going to more consistently check people’s documented status, and if you have not been processed they are going to pick you up,” said Ruben Garcia of the Annunciation House aid group in El Paso.

Migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing violence and persecution have increasingly found that protections in the United States are available primarily to those with money or the savvy to find someone to vouch for them financially.

Venezuelan migrant Jose Castillo, who said he traveled without family members for five months from his home on Margarita Island to arrive in El Paso on Dec. 29, said he hoped Biden “will take us into consideration as the human beings we are.”

Castillo was among a group of about 30 migrants who gathered for prayers Sunday morning outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church where many of the newcomers have been camping.

“We have suffered a lot since entering the jungle of the Darien Gap and passing through Mexico. It has all been a battle, battle, battle,” he said. “I know that we are here illegally, but please give us a chance.”

The numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has risen dramatically during Biden’s first two years in office. There were more than 2.38 million stops during the year that ended Sept. 30, the first time the number topped 2 million. The administration has struggled to clamp down on crossings, reluctant to take hard-line measures that would resemble those of former President Donald Trump's administration.

The policy changes announced this past week are Biden's biggest move yet to contain illegal border crossings and will turn away tens of thousands of migrants arriving at the border. At the same time, 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela will get the chance to come to the U.S. legally as long as they travel by plane, get a sponsor and pass background checks.

The U.S. will also turn away migrants who do not seek asylum first in a country they traveled through en route to the U.S. Migrants are being asked to complete a form on a phone app so that they they can go to a port of entry at a pre-scheduled date and time.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration is trying to “incentivize a safe and orderly way and cut out the smuggling organizations,” saying the policies are “not a ban at all" but an attempt to protect migrants from the trauma that smuggling can create.

The changes were welcomed by some, particularly leaders in cities where migrants have been massing. But Biden was excoriated by immigrant advocate groups, which accused him of taking measures modeled after those of the former president. Administration officials disputed that characterization.

For all of his international travel over his 50 years in public service, Biden has not spent much time at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The only visit that the White House could point to was Biden's drive by the border while he was campaigning for president in 2008. He sent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-immigration-2c5747617f9c60b2b3be4ce99895a0b8">Vice President Kamala Harris to El Paso in 2021</a>, but she was criticized for largely bypassing the action, because El Paso wasn't the center of crossings that it is now.

<a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/10/remarks-president-comprehensive-immigration-reform-el-paso-texas">President Barack Obama made a 2011 trip to El Paso</a>, where he toured border operations and the Paso Del Norte international bridge, but he was later criticized for not going back as tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.

Trump, who made hardening immigration a signature issue, traveled to the border several times. During one visit, he crammed into a small border station to inspect cash and drugs confiscated by agents.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-19bec277a1ac48fda6aeab0bd9c950e0">During a trip to McAllen, Texas</a>, then the center of a growing crisis, he made one of his most-often repeated claims, that Mexico would pay to build a border wall.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-football-politics-immigration-850cf00b403e230809f9d07e2a0a9c7d">American taxpayers</a>&nbsp;ended up footing the bill after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/28e60e866f6d32cdadedd126e292eba7">Mexican leaders flatly rejected the idea.</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673215903534.png" alt="A large "Welcome to Mexico" sign hung over the Bridge of the Americas is visible as President Joe Biden tours the El Paso port of entry, Bridge of the Americas, a busy port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, in El Paso Texas, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)" />
 <figcaption>A large "Welcome to Mexico" sign hung over the Bridge of the Americas is visible as President Joe Biden tours the El Paso port of entry, Bridge of the Americas, a busy port of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border, in El Paso Texas, Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)</figcaption>
 </figure>EL PASO, Texas (AP) — President Joe Biden walked a muddy stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and inspected a busy port of entry Sunday on his first trip to the region after two years in office, a visit shadowed by the fraught politics of immigration as Republicans try to blame him for the record numbers of migrants crossing into the country.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Biden traveled to El Paso today to assess border enforcement operations and meet with local officials who have been important partners in managing the historic number of migrants feeling political oppression and violence in Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba. <a href="https://t.co/PRvoemzdou">pic.twitter.com/PRvoemzdou</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1612276626900877312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 9, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>At his first stop, the president observed as border officers in El Paso demonstrated how they search vehicles for drugs, money and other contraband. Next, he traveled to a dusty street with abandoned buildings and a small playground. Near the street was a metal border fence that separated the U.S. city from Ciudad Juarez. Biden walked slowly along the border wall, initially joined by two Border Patrol agents.&nbsp;Senator Jerry Moran announced Sunday evening that he will visit El Paso on Monday. He will join a bipartisan group of senators that will tour various points along the border.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today, I met with President Biden during his first visit to the border. I hand-delivered a letter asking him to do his constitutional duty to secure our border and keep Texans — and Americans — safe. Full letter: <a href="https://t.co/04B6hYfKRJ">https://t.co/04B6hYfKRJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/bAHxCbBNJ8">pic.twitter.com/bAHxCbBNJ8</a>&mdash; Gov. Greg Abbott (@GovAbbott) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovAbbott/status/1612176391289569280?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a sign of the deep tensions over immigration, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, handed Biden a letter upon his arrival in the state that said the “chaos” at the border was a “direct result” of the president's failure to enforce federal laws. Biden later took the letter out of his jacket pocket during his tour, telling reporters, “I haven't read it yet.”Asked what he’s learned by seeing the border firsthand and speaking with the officers who work along it, Biden said: “They need a lot of resources. We’re going to get it for them.”Immigration for years has been a serious point of conflict, exposing both the dysfunction of the U.S. system as well as the turmoil within migrants' home countries that has pushed many to flee. Administration officials have tried to counter Republican criticism by saying Congress should work with them to increase border security funding and overhaul immigration policy.Biden was spending just a few hours in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.elpasotexas.gov/Migrant-Crisis">the city</a>, which is currently the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-el-paso-united-states-government-cuba-82701453fb018778c04255c1e2b10564">biggest corridor for illegal crossings</a>, in large part due to Nicaraguans fleeing repression, crime and poverty in their country. They are among migrants from four countries who are now subject to quick expulsion under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-mexico-immigration-af0643a4fb8f45388fe247e44c9b2c5e">new rules enacted by the Biden administration</a>&nbsp;in the past week that drew strong criticism from immigration advocates.The president also was to visit the El Paso County Migrant Services Center and meet with nonprofits and religious groups that support migrants arriving to the U.S. It was not clear whether he would talk to any migrants.Biden's announcement on border security and his visit to the border are aimed in part at quelling the political noise and blunting the impact of upcoming investigations into immigration promised by House Republicans. But any enduring solution will require action by the sharply divided Congress, where multiple efforts to enact sweeping changes have failed in recent years.From El Paso, Biden was to continue south to Mexico City, where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-mexico-government-us-national-security-council-united-states-599d640834d079503c5dd568c312c19f">he and the leaders of Mexico and Canada will gather</a>&nbsp;on Monday and Tuesday for a North American leaders summit. Immigration is among the items on the agenda.In El Paso, where migrants congregate at bus stops and in parks before traveling on, border patrol agents stepped up security before Biden's visit.“I think they’re trying to send a message that they’re going to more consistently check people’s documented status, and if you have not been processed they are going to pick you up,” said Ruben Garcia of the Annunciation House aid group in El Paso.Migrants and asylum-seekers fleeing violence and persecution have increasingly found that protections in the United States are available primarily to those with money or the savvy to find someone to vouch for them financially.Venezuelan migrant Jose Castillo, who said he traveled without family members for five months from his home on Margarita Island to arrive in El Paso on Dec. 29, said he hoped Biden “will take us into consideration as the human beings we are.”Castillo was among a group of about 30 migrants who gathered for prayers Sunday morning outside the Sacred Heart Catholic Church where many of the newcomers have been camping.“We have suffered a lot since entering the jungle of the Darien Gap and passing through Mexico. It has all been a battle, battle, battle,” he said. “I know that we are here illegally, but please give us a chance.”The numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border has risen dramatically during Biden’s first two years in office. There were more than 2.38 million stops during the year that ended Sept. 30, the first time the number topped 2 million. The administration has struggled to clamp down on crossings, reluctant to take hard-line measures that would resemble those of former President Donald Trump's administration.The policy changes announced this past week are Biden's biggest move yet to contain illegal border crossings and will turn away tens of thousands of migrants arriving at the border. At the same time, 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela will get the chance to come to the U.S. legally as long as they travel by plane, get a sponsor and pass background checks.The U.S. will also turn away migrants who do not seek asylum first in a country they traveled through en route to the U.S. Migrants are being asked to complete a form on a phone app so that they they can go to a port of entry at a pre-scheduled date and time.Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters aboard Air Force One that the administration is trying to “incentivize a safe and orderly way and cut out the smuggling organizations,” saying the policies are “not a ban at all" but an attempt to protect migrants from the trauma that smuggling can create.The changes were welcomed by some, particularly leaders in cities where migrants have been massing. But Biden was excoriated by immigrant advocate groups, which accused him of taking measures modeled after those of the former president. Administration officials disputed that characterization.For all of his international travel over his 50 years in public service, Biden has not spent much time at the U.S.-Mexico border.The only visit that the White House could point to was Biden's drive by the border while he was campaigning for president in 2008. He sent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-immigration-2c5747617f9c60b2b3be4ce99895a0b8">Vice President Kamala Harris to El Paso in 2021</a>, but she was criticized for largely bypassing the action, because El Paso wasn't the center of crossings that it is now.<a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/10/remarks-president-comprehensive-immigration-reform-el-paso-texas">President Barack Obama made a 2011 trip to El Paso</a>, where he toured border operations and the Paso Del Norte international bridge, but he was later criticized for not going back as tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors crossed into the U.S. from Mexico.Trump, who made hardening immigration a signature issue, traveled to the border several times. During one visit, he crammed into a small border station to inspect cash and drugs confiscated by agents.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-politics-19bec277a1ac48fda6aeab0bd9c950e0">During a trip to McAllen, Texas</a>, then the center of a growing crisis, he made one of his most-often repeated claims, that Mexico would pay to build a border wall.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ap-top-news-football-politics-immigration-850cf00b403e230809f9d07e2a0a9c7d">American taxpayers</a>&nbsp;ended up footing the bill after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/28e60e866f6d32cdadedd126e292eba7">Mexican leaders flatly rejected the idea.</a>------------

Biden inspects stretch of US-Mexico border; Moran to visit Monday

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and released a video asking for help to identify suspects.

Just before 2:30a.m. November 21, police responded to an assault call at the QuikTrip in the 1000 block of W 31st Street South in Wichita, according to Officer Trevor Macy. A 911 caller reported two suspects had stolen items from the store and one of them threw a hot drink in an employees face. 

The employee was treated on scene for minor injuries, and video surveillance was obtained that shows two suspects selecting various snack items before throwing a hot cup of liquid in themclerks face and leaving the store. 

The suspects fled in a grey/silver sedan. Anyone with information regarding this crime, or any crime that occurred in Sedgwick County is eligible to receive a reward by submitting a tip through Crime Stoppers by calling 316- 267-2111 or online at www.stopcrime316.com. Tipsters are always anonymous – CrimeStoppers will never ask someone to identify themselves. If your information leads to an arrest in a felony case, you could be eligible to receive up to $2,500.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673020200305.png" alt="Image from the video -Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Image from the video -Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a robbery and released a video asking for help to identify suspects.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZUpAu3A-HAQ?start=2" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Just before 2:30a.m. November 21, police responded to an assault call at the QuikTrip in the 1000 block of W 31st Street South in Wichita, according to Officer Trevor Macy. A 911 caller reported two suspects had stolen items from the store and one of them threw a hot drink in an employees face. The employee was treated on scene for minor injuries, and video surveillance was obtained that shows two suspects selecting various snack items before throwing a hot cup of liquid in themclerks face and leaving the store. The suspects fled in a grey/silver sedan. Anyone with information regarding this crime, or any crime that occurred in Sedgwick County is eligible to receive a reward by submitting a tip through Crime Stoppers by calling 316- 267-2111 or online at www.stopcrime316.com. Tipsters are always anonymous – CrimeStoppers will never ask someone to identify themselves. If your information leads to an arrest in a felony case, you could be eligible to receive up to $2,500.

🎥Suspects threw hot drink at employee before Kan. robbery

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One person died and two people are injured after an SUV being pursued by police crashed into another vehicle early Sunday.

Police said the crash happened around 2 a.m. Sunday after officers from Kansas City, Kansas, pursued a GMC Terrain that had been taken in an armed robbery into Kansas City, Missouri.

The GMC was traveling at a high speed when it went through a red light and struck a Nissan Altima, according to Kansas City, Missouri, Police spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina.

A passenger in the front of the Nissan died at the scene of the crash. The Nissan's driver suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. The GMC driver was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — One person died and two people are injured after an SUV being pursued by police crashed into another vehicle early Sunday.Police said the crash happened around 2 a.m. Sunday after officers from Kansas City, Kansas, pursued a GMC Terrain that had been taken in an armed robbery into Kansas City, Missouri.The GMC was traveling at a high speed when it went through a red light and struck a Nissan Altima, according to Kansas City, Missouri, Police spokesman Sgt. Jake Becchina.A passenger in the front of the Nissan died at the scene of the crash. The Nissan's driver suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to a hospital. The GMC driver was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

1 dead, 2 hurt after Kansas police pursuit crash in Missouri

LANSING, Kan. – Following an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, a Kansas City man was arrested for the suspected 2014 murder of a 16-year-old girl, according to a media release from the KBI.&nbsp;

Just after 1p.m. Friday, Billy I. Dupree, 38, of Kansas City, Kansas, an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility, was arrested for first-degree murder connected to the death of 16-year-old D.K., a resident of Kansas City, Missouri. 

KBI agents obtained an arrest warrant, which was served to Dupree with assistance from the Kansas Department of Corrections, at the Lansing Correctional Facility where Dupree was incarcerated.

On December 21, 2014, the body of the 16-year-old teen was discovered in Kansas City, Missouri, near 24th St. and Monroe Ave. on December 21, 2014.

In August 2022, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office requested the KBI join the homicide investigation when the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department determined the murder had taken place in Kansas City, Kansas, and not in their jurisdiction.

Dupree has previous convictions that included aggravated indecent liberties with minors, aggravated assault, robbery, criminal restraint, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections. He has been registered as a sex offender since June 0f 2014.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office is expected to prosecute the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673217941215.png" alt="Dupree has previous convictions that included aggravated indecent liberties with minors, aggravated assault, robbery, criminal restraint, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections." />
 <figcaption>Dupree has previous convictions that included aggravated indecent liberties with minors, aggravated assault, robbery, criminal restraint, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.</figcaption>
 </figure>LANSING, Kan. – Following an investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Kansas City Missouri Police Department, a Kansas City man was arrested for the suspected 2014 murder of a 16-year-old girl, according to a media release from the KBI.&nbsp;Just after 1p.m. Friday, Billy I. Dupree, 38, of Kansas City, Kansas, an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility, was arrested for first-degree murder connected to the death of 16-year-old D.K., a resident of Kansas City, Missouri. KBI agents obtained an arrest warrant, which was served to Dupree with assistance from the Kansas Department of Corrections, at the Lansing Correctional Facility where Dupree was incarcerated.On December 21, 2014, the body of the 16-year-old teen was discovered in Kansas City, Missouri, near 24th St. and Monroe Ave. on December 21, 2014.In August 2022, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office requested the KBI join the homicide investigation when the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department determined the murder had taken place in Kansas City, Kansas, and not in their jurisdiction.Dupree has previous convictions that included aggravated indecent liberties with minors, aggravated assault, robbery, criminal restraint, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections. He has been registered as a sex offender since June 0f 2014.The Kansas Attorney General’s Office is expected to prosecute the case.

Kansas sex offender accused of girl's 2014 murder

‘Sick and tired of going to other people’s funerals out here’

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/04/kansas-farmers-ranchers-plant-seeds-of-change-to-erode-stigma-of-mental-illness/">Kansas Reflector</a>

MANHATTAN — Sedgwick County 
farmer Mick Rausch’s struggle with depression coincided with his 
brother’s cancer diagnosis and a freeze that thwarted harvest of a wheat
 crop.

Rausch had promised his father-in-law that he would not let the 
family’s century-old farm go under. Quitting wasn’t an option, he said.

He kept shoving aside reality of compounding stress and strain. He 
dodged his wife’s inquiries. He didn’t want to utter three powerful 
words: I need help. The problem came to a head when he crawled under a 
piece of farm equipment to perform routine maintenance and ended up 
taking a three-hour nap. That out-of-character slumber convinced him to 
get serious about his mental well-being.

“It’s really hard for a guy to admit to a problem,” Rausch said. 
“You’re in agriculture. We know how to deal with a problem — take care 
of it, work a little harder, work a little longer. Things kind of 
snowballed and I just got to the point I had to seek help.”

He made an appointment with a doctor and was able to talk with 
professionals about his mental health challenges. He was put on 
medication that made a difference.

“All the credit goes to my wife,” he said. “She stuck with me through a very difficult summer.”

It led about 15 years later to the Kansas Farm Bureau convention in 
Manhattan and a seat next to Ashley Beying, an Osage County nurse 
practitioner and rancher, and Donna Wise, a Clearwater corn, wheat, 
sorghum and soybean farmer who was 18 when her father died of suicide.

The trio’s task was to share with farmers, ranchers and others their 
understanding of how to manage the inevitable stress of a life in 
agriculture. They were guests of the Women’s Leadership Committee of the
 Farm Bureau.

Rausch said he learned to welcome the opportunity to speak to others about his journey of despair and recovery.

“The first thing I tell people is I’m sick and tired of going to 
other people’s funerals out here that I could have prevented,” he said.

Wise, who grew up walking on egg shells at home due to her father’s 
severe depression, said her mother chose to blame Wise and her sibling 
brother for their father’s condition. She learned to cope by being 
self-reliant and spending as much time as possible outdoors. Her father 
was unable to find a way to deal with the pain and took his life more 
than 50 years ago, Wise said. She continues to mourn that loss.

“Farmers spend so much time alone working on the farm,” said Wise, 
who became an ordained minister and relied on her experience to assist 
people talking of suicide. “That’s a lot of time to think and think and 
get into some deep, dark places.”

She said people in crisis needed to understand their families 
wouldn’t be better off without them. Family members feel abandoned in 
wake of a suicide, she said.

Beying, the nurse practitioner who works at a rural health clinic, 
said the national conversation about mental illness had lowered barriers
 that deterred people from being transparent about depression, anxiety 
and other conditions that could benefit from medical intervention. If 
someone could feel more stable by taking prescription medication, she 
said, family or society had no right to stigmatize that solution.

“Mental health wasn’t something that was typically talked about when I
 was younger,” Beying said. “As a health care provider, looking at my 
patients, I would want to take care of their blood pressure, take care 
of their cholesterol, their diabetes. So, why wouldn’t I want to take 
care of their mind?”

She said the nation’s capacity to provide mental health services 
needed to grow exponentially because the demand outstripped available 
facilities and personnel. In Kansas, there are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansasagstress.org/mental-health">resources available to people struggling with mental health</a>.

Wise said harsh opinions associated with mental illness had 
diminished over the years, but less progress had been made with the 
stigma of suicide.

“From my experience,” she said, “I have often felt I was not allowed 
to talk about the fact I had suicide in my family. People don’t want to 
hear about it. They run away.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported farmers 
and ranchers were almost two times more likely to die from suicide than 
people engaged in other occupations. In 2021, Kansas Health Institute 
reported the rate of suicide in rural counties in Kansas climbed 55% 
from 2000 to 2019.

Wise and Beying said onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 required 
folks to spend more time at home and offered a chance for people to 
become more sensitized to what they were feeling. It gave people an 
opportunity to take advantage of therapy through telehealth services or 
online formats, they said.

“In my area, we didn’t have good internet when the pandemic came on. 
We were basically isolated,” he said. “I’m kind of a people person. To 
me, mental health is about your mind and being out with people. If 
you’re locked up, nobody knows how you are.”

Rausch said if a friend didn’t look right or was acting strange, he would start a conversation and stick to the basics.

“Ask them, ‘Is there an issue? Is there something I can help you with?’ And, then, listen.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1672848195501.png" alt="Sedgwick County farmers Mick Rausch and Donna Wise, left and center, and Osage County nurse practitioner and rancher Ashley Beying shared their experiences with mental illness in agricultural settings during a meeting of the Kansas Farm Bureau. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Sedgwick County farmers Mick Rausch and Donna Wise, left and center, and Osage County nurse practitioner and rancher Ashley Beying shared their experiences with mental illness in agricultural settings during a meeting of the Kansas Farm Bureau. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>‘Sick and tired of going to other people’s funerals out here’</h2>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/04/kansas-farmers-ranchers-plant-seeds-of-change-to-erode-stigma-of-mental-illness/">Kansas Reflector</a>MANHATTAN — Sedgwick County 
farmer Mick Rausch’s struggle with depression coincided with his 
brother’s cancer diagnosis and a freeze that thwarted harvest of a wheat
 crop.Rausch had promised his father-in-law that he would not let the 
family’s century-old farm go under. Quitting wasn’t an option, he said.He kept shoving aside reality of compounding stress and strain. He 
dodged his wife’s inquiries. He didn’t want to utter three powerful 
words: I need help. The problem came to a head when he crawled under a 
piece of farm equipment to perform routine maintenance and ended up 
taking a three-hour nap. That out-of-character slumber convinced him to 
get serious about his mental well-being.“It’s really hard for a guy to admit to a problem,” Rausch said. 
“You’re in agriculture. We know how to deal with a problem — take care 
of it, work a little harder, work a little longer. Things kind of 
snowballed and I just got to the point I had to seek help.”He made an appointment with a doctor and was able to talk with 
professionals about his mental health challenges. He was put on 
medication that made a difference.“All the credit goes to my wife,” he said. “She stuck with me through a very difficult summer.”It led about 15 years later to the Kansas Farm Bureau convention in 
Manhattan and a seat next to Ashley Beying, an Osage County nurse 
practitioner and rancher, and Donna Wise, a Clearwater corn, wheat, 
sorghum and soybean farmer who was 18 when her father died of suicide.The trio’s task was to share with farmers, ranchers and others their 
understanding of how to manage the inevitable stress of a life in 
agriculture. They were guests of the Women’s Leadership Committee of the
 Farm Bureau.Rausch said he learned to welcome the opportunity to speak to others about his journey of despair and recovery.“The first thing I tell people is I’m sick and tired of going to 
other people’s funerals out here that I could have prevented,” he said.<h2>Walking on egg shells</h2>Wise, who grew up walking on egg shells at home due to her father’s 
severe depression, said her mother chose to blame Wise and her sibling 
brother for their father’s condition. She learned to cope by being 
self-reliant and spending as much time as possible outdoors. Her father 
was unable to find a way to deal with the pain and took his life more 
than 50 years ago, Wise said. She continues to mourn that loss.“Farmers spend so much time alone working on the farm,” said Wise, 
who became an ordained minister and relied on her experience to assist 
people talking of suicide. “That’s a lot of time to think and think and 
get into some deep, dark places.”She said people in crisis needed to understand their families 
wouldn’t be better off without them. Family members feel abandoned in 
wake of a suicide, she said.Beying, the nurse practitioner who works at a rural health clinic, 
said the national conversation about mental illness had lowered barriers
 that deterred people from being transparent about depression, anxiety 
and other conditions that could benefit from medical intervention. If 
someone could feel more stable by taking prescription medication, she 
said, family or society had no right to stigmatize that solution.“Mental health wasn’t something that was typically talked about when I
 was younger,” Beying said. “As a health care provider, looking at my 
patients, I would want to take care of their blood pressure, take care 
of their cholesterol, their diabetes. So, why wouldn’t I want to take 
care of their mind?”She said the nation’s capacity to provide mental health services 
needed to grow exponentially because the demand outstripped available 
facilities and personnel. In Kansas, there are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kansasagstress.org/mental-health">resources available to people struggling with mental health</a>.Wise said harsh opinions associated with mental illness had 
diminished over the years, but less progress had been made with the 
stigma of suicide.“From my experience,” she said, “I have often felt I was not allowed 
to talk about the fact I had suicide in my family. People don’t want to 
hear about it. They run away.”The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported farmers 
and ranchers were almost two times more likely to die from suicide than 
people engaged in other occupations. In 2021, Kansas Health Institute 
reported the rate of suicide in rural counties in Kansas climbed 55% 
from 2000 to 2019.<h2>COVID-19 factor</h2>Wise and Beying said onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 required 
folks to spend more time at home and offered a chance for people to 
become more sensitized to what they were feeling. It gave people an 
opportunity to take advantage of therapy through telehealth services or 
online formats, they said.Rausch took the opposite perspective.“In my area, we didn’t have good internet when the pandemic came on. 
We were basically isolated,” he said. “I’m kind of a people person. To 
me, mental health is about your mind and being out with people. If 
you’re locked up, nobody knows how you are.”Rausch said if a friend didn’t look right or was acting strange, he would start a conversation and stick to the basics.“Ask them, ‘Is there an issue? Is there something I can help you with?’ And, then, listen.”

Farmers, ranchers plant seeds of change to erode mental illness stigma

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve continues to make are having an effect.

"We're seeing it across the economy," Goss said. "Not seeing it so much in the job market. Even in the Mid-America region and in Kansas, the overall job numbers are looking reasonably well. In other words, the unemployment rate is down at really good levels. The issue, of course, is the shortage of workers."

Goss still sees that as residual effects from COVID relief.

"The labor force in Kansas and in the region is down," Goss said. "Some of that is just due to the government providing a lot of support and a lot of incentive. Incentivizing individuals to not come back to work, even at this late stage."

Goss said the Fed is prepared for a little bit of an issue with unemployment.

"Their prediction is for the unemployment rate to rise to 4.5% by the end of 2023. I think it's going to be higher than that. We're seeing, of course, in Kansas, you've got about 1100 workers less in the labor market today than you had pre-pandemic, that would be Feb. 2020."

Goss expects another, smaller, quarter-percent rate hike from the Fed on Feb. 1.

NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says the interest rate hikes the Federal Reserve continues to make are having an effect."We're seeing it across the economy," Goss said. "Not seeing it so much in the job market. Even in the Mid-America region and in Kansas, the overall job numbers are looking reasonably well. In other words, the unemployment rate is down at really good levels. The issue, of course, is the shortage of workers."Goss still sees that as residual effects from COVID relief."The labor force in Kansas and in the region is down," Goss said. "Some of that is just due to the government providing a lot of support and a lot of incentive. Incentivizing individuals to not come back to work, even at this late stage."Goss said the Fed is prepared for a little bit of an issue with unemployment."Their prediction is for the unemployment rate to rise to 4.5% by the end of 2023. I think it's going to be higher than that. We're seeing, of course, in Kansas, you've got about 1100 workers less in the labor market today than you had pre-pandemic, that would be Feb. 2020."Goss expects another, smaller, quarter-percent rate hike from the Fed on Feb. 1.

Goss: Unemployment is bright spot, even as interest rates rise

NEW YORK (AP) — Russell Banks, an award-winning fiction writer who rooted such novels as “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” in the wintry, rural communities of his native Northeast and imagined the dreams and downfalls of everyone from modern blue-collar workers to the radical abolitionist John Brown, has died. He was 82.

Banks, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, died Saturday in upstate New York, his editor, Dan Halpern, told The Associated Press. Banks was being treated for cancer, Halpern said.

Joyce Carol Oates, who referred to Banks on Twitter as a great American writer and “beloved friend of so many," said he died peacefully in his home.

“I loved Russell &amp; loved his tremendous talent &amp; magnanimous heart,” Oates said. “'Cloudsplitter,'” (was) his masterpiece, but all his work is exceptional.”

Born in Newton, Massachusetts, and raised in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Banks was a self-styled heir to such 19th century writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman, aspiring to high art and a deep grasp of the country’s spirit. He was a plumber’s son who wrote often about working class families and those who died trying to break out, caught up in a “kind of madness” that the past can be erased, and those like himself who got away and survived and asked “Why me, Lord?”

Banks lived part of the year in Florida, and for a time had a home in Jamaica, but he was essentially a man of the North, with an old Puritan’s sense of consequences. Snow fell often in his fiction, whether on the upstate New York community torn by a bus crash in “The Sweet Hereafter” or on the desperate, divorced New Hampshire policeman undone by his paranoid fantasies in “Affliction.”

In Banks’ critical breakthrough “Continental Drift,” published in 1985, oil burner repairman Bob Dubois flees from his native New Hampshire and goes into business with his wealthy brother in Florida, only to learn his brother’s life was as hollow as his own.

“His brother’s strut and brag were empty from the start, and in a deep, barely conscious way, Bob knew that all along and forgave him his strut and brag simply because he knew they were empty. But he had never believed it would come to this, to nothing,” Banks wrote.

“Cloudsplitter” was his most ambitious novel, a 750-page narrative on John Brown and his improbable quest to rid the country of slavery.

The story long precedes Banks’ lifetime, but the inspiration was literally close to home. Banks lived near Brown’s burial ground in North Elba, New York, and he would pass by often enough that Brown “became a kind of ghostly presence,” the author told the AP in 1998.

“Cloudsplitter” reads like a prequel to Banks’ contemporary works, a summoning of Hawthorne and other early influences. As remembered by son Owen Brown, John Brown was a haunted man of the Old World whose resolve to free the slaves and punish the enslavers made his face burn like a revivalist preacher’s.

“I was a boy; I was frightened by my father’s face,” Banks’ narrator explains. “I remember father looking straight into our eyes, burning us with his gaze, as he told us to hear him now. He had determined that he would henceforth put his sins of pride and vanity behind him. And he would go out from here and wage war on slavery. The time has come, he declared, and he wished to join the time in full cry.”

Banks was a Pulitzer finalist for “Cloudsplitter” in 1999 and had been one 13 years earlier for “Continental Drift.” His other honors included the Anisfeld-Book Award for “Cloudsplitter” and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Two of his books were adapted into acclaimed film releases in the late 1990s: “The Sweet Hereafter,” directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Ian Holm, and director Paul Schrader’s “Affliction,” which brought James Coburn an Academy Award for best supporting actor.

More recent works by Banks included the story collection “A Permanent Member of the Family” and the 2021 novel “Foregone,” in which an American filmmaker who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War looks back on his impulsive youth — a background Banks understood from the inside.

His books often told of absent and otherwise failing fathers and Banks’ own father, Earl Banks, was an alcoholic whom the author says beat him as a child and left him with a permanently damaged left eye.

Russell was meant for other worlds, smart enough to have the nickname “Teacher” in high school and become the first of his family to attend college, receiving a full scholarship from Colgate University.

He was an idealist in search of ideals, among countless young people of the 1960s to adopt Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” as a kind of Bible. He dropped out of Colgate and drove South with dreams of joining Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army in Cuba, a quest which ended in St. Petersburg, Florida.

He was married twice by his early 20s (and eventually had four children), endured more than a few bar fights, wrote poetry bad enough that he later wished he had burned it, worked for a time with his father as a plumber back in New Hampshire and resumed his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He was in his mid-30s, and nearing the end of his second marriage, when he published his first story collection, “Searching for Survivors,” and first novel, “Family Life.”

By the start of the 1990s, when he turned 50, he was an established author and had settled into a lasting marriage with his fourth wife, the poet Chase Twichell.

“Over the years, I think that I’ve been able to make my anger coherent to myself, and that’s allowed me to become more lucid as a human being, as a writer, as — I hope — a husband, father, and friend,” he told Ploughshares for an interview that appeared in the magazine’s Winter 1993-94 issue. “It’s very hard to be a decent human being if you’re controlled by anger that you can’t understand. When you begin to acquire that understanding, you begin to become useful to other people.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Russell Banks, an award-winning fiction writer who rooted such novels as “Affliction” and “The Sweet Hereafter” in the wintry, rural communities of his native Northeast and imagined the dreams and downfalls of everyone from modern blue-collar workers to the radical abolitionist John Brown, has died. He was 82.Banks, a professor emeritus at Princeton University, died Saturday in upstate New York, his editor, Dan Halpern, told The Associated Press. Banks was being treated for cancer, Halpern said.Joyce Carol Oates, who referred to Banks on Twitter as a great American writer and “beloved friend of so many," said he died peacefully in his home.“I loved Russell &amp; loved his tremendous talent &amp; magnanimous heart,” Oates said. “'Cloudsplitter,'” (was) his masterpiece, but all his work is exceptional.”Born in Newton, Massachusetts, and raised in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Banks was a self-styled heir to such 19th century writers as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Walt Whitman, aspiring to high art and a deep grasp of the country’s spirit. He was a plumber’s son who wrote often about working class families and those who died trying to break out, caught up in a “kind of madness” that the past can be erased, and those like himself who got away and survived and asked “Why me, Lord?”Banks lived part of the year in Florida, and for a time had a home in Jamaica, but he was essentially a man of the North, with an old Puritan’s sense of consequences. Snow fell often in his fiction, whether on the upstate New York community torn by a bus crash in “The Sweet Hereafter” or on the desperate, divorced New Hampshire policeman undone by his paranoid fantasies in “Affliction.”In Banks’ critical breakthrough “Continental Drift,” published in 1985, oil burner repairman Bob Dubois flees from his native New Hampshire and goes into business with his wealthy brother in Florida, only to learn his brother’s life was as hollow as his own.“His brother’s strut and brag were empty from the start, and in a deep, barely conscious way, Bob knew that all along and forgave him his strut and brag simply because he knew they were empty. But he had never believed it would come to this, to nothing,” Banks wrote.“Cloudsplitter” was his most ambitious novel, a 750-page narrative on John Brown and his improbable quest to rid the country of slavery.The story long precedes Banks’ lifetime, but the inspiration was literally close to home. Banks lived near Brown’s burial ground in North Elba, New York, and he would pass by often enough that Brown “became a kind of ghostly presence,” the author told the AP in 1998.“Cloudsplitter” reads like a prequel to Banks’ contemporary works, a summoning of Hawthorne and other early influences. As remembered by son Owen Brown, John Brown was a haunted man of the Old World whose resolve to free the slaves and punish the enslavers made his face burn like a revivalist preacher’s.“I was a boy; I was frightened by my father’s face,” Banks’ narrator explains. “I remember father looking straight into our eyes, burning us with his gaze, as he told us to hear him now. He had determined that he would henceforth put his sins of pride and vanity behind him. And he would go out from here and wage war on slavery. The time has come, he declared, and he wished to join the time in full cry.”Banks was a Pulitzer finalist for “Cloudsplitter” in 1999 and had been one 13 years earlier for “Continental Drift.” His other honors included the Anisfeld-Book Award for “Cloudsplitter” and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.Two of his books were adapted into acclaimed film releases in the late 1990s: “The Sweet Hereafter,” directed by Atom Egoyan and starring Ian Holm, and director Paul Schrader’s “Affliction,” which brought James Coburn an Academy Award for best supporting actor.More recent works by Banks included the story collection “A Permanent Member of the Family” and the 2021 novel “Foregone,” in which an American filmmaker who fled to Canada during the Vietnam War looks back on his impulsive youth — a background Banks understood from the inside.His books often told of absent and otherwise failing fathers and Banks’ own father, Earl Banks, was an alcoholic whom the author says beat him as a child and left him with a permanently damaged left eye.Russell was meant for other worlds, smart enough to have the nickname “Teacher” in high school and become the first of his family to attend college, receiving a full scholarship from Colgate University.He was an idealist in search of ideals, among countless young people of the 1960s to adopt Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” as a kind of Bible. He dropped out of Colgate and drove South with dreams of joining Fidel Castro’s revolutionary army in Cuba, a quest which ended in St. Petersburg, Florida.He was married twice by his early 20s (and eventually had four children), endured more than a few bar fights, wrote poetry bad enough that he later wished he had burned it, worked for a time with his father as a plumber back in New Hampshire and resumed his education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.He was in his mid-30s, and nearing the end of his second marriage, when he published his first story collection, “Searching for Survivors,” and first novel, “Family Life.”By the start of the 1990s, when he turned 50, he was an established author and had settled into a lasting marriage with his fourth wife, the poet Chase Twichell.“Over the years, I think that I’ve been able to make my anger coherent to myself, and that’s allowed me to become more lucid as a human being, as a writer, as — I hope — a husband, father, and friend,” he told Ploughshares for an interview that appeared in the magazine’s Winter 1993-94 issue. “It’s very hard to be a decent human being if you’re controlled by anger that you can’t understand. When you begin to acquire that understanding, you begin to become useful to other people.”

Russell Banks, author of novel on abolitionist John Brown, has died

WASHINGTON (AP) —The Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule Thursday that would ban U.S. employers from imposing noncompete clauses on workers, a sweeping measure that could make it easier for people to switch jobs and deepen competition for labor across a wide range of industries.

The proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/non-compete-clause-rulemaking">rule</a>&nbsp;would prevent employers from imposing contract clauses that prohibit their employees from joining a competitor, typically for a period of time, after they leave the company.

Advocates of the new rule argue that noncompete agreements contribute to wage stagnation because one of the most effective ways to secure higher pay is switching companies. They argue that the clauses have become so commonplace that they have swept up even low-wage workers.

Opponents argue that by facilitating retention, noncompete clauses have encouraged companies to promote workers and invest in training, especially in a tight labor market. The public has 60 days to submit commentary on the rule before it takes effect.

During a Cabinet meeting, President Joe Biden called the FTC action “a huge step forward in banning non-compete agreements that are designed simply to lower people’s wages.”

"These agreements block millions of retail workers, construction workers and other working folks from taking better jobs and getting better pay and benefits in the same field,” Biden said.

The FTC has moved aggressively to curb the power of major corporations under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/frances-haugen-lina-khan-elizabeth-holmes-37d14570b9221962010171c0844e534a">Chair Lina Khan</a>, a legal scholar and Washington outsider whose appointment by Biden signaled a tough antitrust stance.

The agency estimates that the new rule could boost wages by nearly $300 billion a year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans.

“Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand,” Khan said in a prepared statement.

The FTC’s proposal comes amid&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-jobs-and-careers-federal-reserve-system-005ac62672d87fb9f81bd9b97caecfc5">an already competitive job market,</a>&nbsp;particularly in industries that suffered mass layoffs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and have since struggled to recall their workers. Many workers remain on the sidelines, holding out for better pay, coping with lingering childcare or health issues, or opting for early retirement.

"There is a potential that it will contribute to the ‘great resignation' that everyone is talking about to some degree, but employers are simply losing one of the tools in their toolbox and there are other ways to retain top talent," said Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and director of human resources for Engage PEO, which provides HR services for small- and medium-sized companies. "You will see a lot of business trying to retain top talent via raises or other fringe benefits.”

Employers nationwide are still hiring and layoffs are historically low, despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-san-francisco-marc-benioff-bbb2f3a09eafdfc7cda54a3b87e538ad">high-profile job cut announcements</a>&nbsp;from companies such as software provider Salesforce, Facebook’s parent company Meta, and Amazon. The government is expected to announce Friday that employers added a solid 200,000 jobs last month, and that unemployment remained 3.7%, near a half-century low.

A 2019 analysis by the liberal Economic Policy Institute estimated that 36 million to 60 million workers could be subject to noncompete agreements, which the group said companies have increasingly adopted in recent years.

While such agreements are most common among higher-paid workers, the study found that a significant number of low-wage workers were subjected to them, including more than quarter of those making an average wage of less than $13 an hour.

On Wednesday, for example, the FTC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/01/ftc-cracks-down-companies-impose-harmful-noncompete-restrictions-thousands-workers?ftag=YHFa5b931b">took action</a>&nbsp;against three companies for unlawfully imposing noncompete clauses against workers, including low-wage security guards who were threatened with a $100,000 fine if they violated the agreement.

The EPI study found that many companies still impose noncompete clauses in several states that already ban or restrict them, including in California, where the practice has been prohibited for a century.

The proposed FTC rule would require companies to scrap existing noncompete causes and actively inform workers that they are no longer in effect, as well as prohibiting the imposition of new ones.

The proposal is based on a preliminary finding that noncompete clauses quash competition in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. It would not generally apply to other types of employment restrictions, like non-disclosure agreements.

But Emily Dickens, chief of staff and head of public affairs for the Society of Human Resources Management, said the proposed FTC rule is overly broad and could potentially harm businesses that depend on them to thrive. She cited very small, emerging industries where crucial know-how cannot be safeguarded through non-disclosure agreements alone.

Dickens said SHRM, a group of more than 300,000 human resources professionals and executives around the world, will encourage its members to present specific situations that could justify noncompete clauses during the FTC's commentary period.

Although "there are jobs where it makes no sense to have noncompete," Dickens said, “this kind of blanket ban is going to stifle innovation.”

While defenders of non-compete clauses argue they help start-ups and small business retain talent, opponents say they hinder recruitment at those same entities.

The Economic Innovation Group, a Washington-based public policy research group, applauded the rule and called on Congress to pass proposed legislation that would impose a similar ban with more permanency.

“Restricting the use of non-compete agreements is fundamentally good policy that will boost wages, improve workforce mobility, and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the economy,” said John Lettieri, EIG's president and CEO.

WASHINGTON (AP) —The Federal Trade Commission proposed a rule Thursday that would ban U.S. employers from imposing noncompete clauses on workers, a sweeping measure that could make it easier for people to switch jobs and deepen competition for labor across a wide range of industries.The proposed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/federal-register-notices/non-compete-clause-rulemaking">rule</a>&nbsp;would prevent employers from imposing contract clauses that prohibit their employees from joining a competitor, typically for a period of time, after they leave the company.Advocates of the new rule argue that noncompete agreements contribute to wage stagnation because one of the most effective ways to secure higher pay is switching companies. They argue that the clauses have become so commonplace that they have swept up even low-wage workers.Opponents argue that by facilitating retention, noncompete clauses have encouraged companies to promote workers and invest in training, especially in a tight labor market. The public has 60 days to submit commentary on the rule before it takes effect.During a Cabinet meeting, President Joe Biden called the FTC action “a huge step forward in banning non-compete agreements that are designed simply to lower people’s wages.”"These agreements block millions of retail workers, construction workers and other working folks from taking better jobs and getting better pay and benefits in the same field,” Biden said.The FTC has moved aggressively to curb the power of major corporations under&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/frances-haugen-lina-khan-elizabeth-holmes-37d14570b9221962010171c0844e534a">Chair Lina Khan</a>, a legal scholar and Washington outsider whose appointment by Biden signaled a tough antitrust stance.The agency estimates that the new rule could boost wages by nearly $300 billion a year and expand career opportunities for about 30 million Americans.“Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand,” Khan said in a prepared statement.The FTC’s proposal comes amid&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-jobs-and-careers-federal-reserve-system-005ac62672d87fb9f81bd9b97caecfc5">an already competitive job market,</a>&nbsp;particularly in industries that suffered mass layoffs during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and have since struggled to recall their workers. Many workers remain on the sidelines, holding out for better pay, coping with lingering childcare or health issues, or opting for early retirement."There is a potential that it will contribute to the ‘great resignation' that everyone is talking about to some degree, but employers are simply losing one of the tools in their toolbox and there are other ways to retain top talent," said Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and director of human resources for Engage PEO, which provides HR services for small- and medium-sized companies. "You will see a lot of business trying to retain top talent via raises or other fringe benefits.”Employers nationwide are still hiring and layoffs are historically low, despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-san-francisco-marc-benioff-bbb2f3a09eafdfc7cda54a3b87e538ad">high-profile job cut announcements</a>&nbsp;from companies such as software provider Salesforce, Facebook’s parent company Meta, and Amazon. The government is expected to announce Friday that employers added a solid 200,000 jobs last month, and that unemployment remained 3.7%, near a half-century low.A 2019 analysis by the liberal Economic Policy Institute estimated that 36 million to 60 million workers could be subject to noncompete agreements, which the group said companies have increasingly adopted in recent years.While such agreements are most common among higher-paid workers, the study found that a significant number of low-wage workers were subjected to them, including more than quarter of those making an average wage of less than $13 an hour.On Wednesday, for example, the FTC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/01/ftc-cracks-down-companies-impose-harmful-noncompete-restrictions-thousands-workers?ftag=YHFa5b931b">took action</a>&nbsp;against three companies for unlawfully imposing noncompete clauses against workers, including low-wage security guards who were threatened with a $100,000 fine if they violated the agreement.The EPI study found that many companies still impose noncompete clauses in several states that already ban or restrict them, including in California, where the practice has been prohibited for a century.The proposed FTC rule would require companies to scrap existing noncompete causes and actively inform workers that they are no longer in effect, as well as prohibiting the imposition of new ones.The proposal is based on a preliminary finding that noncompete clauses quash competition in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. It would not generally apply to other types of employment restrictions, like non-disclosure agreements.But Emily Dickens, chief of staff and head of public affairs for the Society of Human Resources Management, said the proposed FTC rule is overly broad and could potentially harm businesses that depend on them to thrive. She cited very small, emerging industries where crucial know-how cannot be safeguarded through non-disclosure agreements alone.Dickens said SHRM, a group of more than 300,000 human resources professionals and executives around the world, will encourage its members to present specific situations that could justify noncompete clauses during the FTC's commentary period.Although "there are jobs where it makes no sense to have noncompete," Dickens said, “this kind of blanket ban is going to stifle innovation.”While defenders of non-compete clauses argue they help start-ups and small business retain talent, opponents say they hinder recruitment at those same entities.The Economic Innovation Group, a Washington-based public policy research group, applauded the rule and called on Congress to pass proposed legislation that would impose a similar ban with more permanency.“Restricting the use of non-compete agreements is fundamentally good policy that will boost wages, improve workforce mobility, and encourage entrepreneurship and innovation throughout the economy,” said John Lettieri, EIG's president and CEO.—-

FTC proposes rule that would ban employee noncompete clauses

RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities investigating a body found on the west edge of Hutchinson on Dec. 20 have&nbsp;positively identified the victim as 67-year-old Leonard Anthony Williams, according to a statement from the Reno County Sheriff's office.

&nbsp;Williams was first reported missing on October 9, and when reporting his disappearance, the office said he was last seen in the area of Fun Valley.

The Sheriff's office released no additional information Sunday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673187385478.jpeg" alt="Leonard Williams -photo Reno Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Leonard Williams -photo Reno Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>RENO COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities investigating a body found on the west edge of Hutchinson on Dec. 20 have&nbsp;positively identified the victim as 67-year-old Leonard Anthony Williams, according to a statement from the Reno County Sheriff's office.&nbsp;Williams was first reported missing on October 9, and when reporting his disappearance, the office said he was last seen in the area of Fun Valley.The Sheriff's office released no additional information Sunday.

Sheriff IDs body found as missing Kansas man

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Shubham Chandra knows how dangerous the coronavirus can be: He lost his dad during the pandemic. So when he cleared customs at Newark Liberty International Airport and saw people offering anonymous COVID-19 testing, he was happy to volunteer.

“It’s a minimum amount of effort to help a lot of people," said the 27-year-old New York City man, who had just stepped off a plane from Cancun, Mexico.

The airport testing is part of the government's early warning system for detecting new variants, which began expanding recently in the wake of a COVID-19 surge in China.

With the addition of Los Angeles and Seattle, there are now seven airports where arriving passengers can volunteer for COVID-19 tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program now covers about 500 flights from at least 30 countries, including more than half from China and surrounding areas.

As of Thursday, the CDC is also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-china-covid-19-pandemic-ab51ca49e69633ae7028db36d06c54f3">requiring travelers</a>&nbsp;to the U.S. from China, Hong Kong and Macao to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative result before boarding a flight.

And down the road, some scientists are calling for wider use of an additional strategy: screening wastewater from toilet tanks on arriving airplanes.

“Without surveillance, it’s very hard to know what’s going on,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. “Hopefully, with more sampling, we will get more information about what’s circulating.”

Some scientists are worried the COVID-19 surge in China&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-china-covid-306b688d84e31a9462f82d0ead1f4584">could unleash</a>&nbsp;a new coronavirus mutant on the world, since every infection is another chance for the virus to change. There's no sign of a new variant from China at this point. But one reason for new testing requirements, according to the CDC, is a lack of adequate and transparent information from China on viral strains infecting people there.

“We have very little control over what happens elsewhere,” said epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, a consultant to the CDC. “What we can control is what’s happening in the United States.”

The airport program is based on an unfortunate reality: “Travelers … go across the globe quickly and they can get and spread infectious diseases really fast,” said Dr. Cindy Friedman, chief of CDC’s travelers’ health branch.

Friedman said the program is a partnership with two companies that take care of the testing and lab work — XpresCheck and Concentric by Ginkgo. A pilot program was expanded around the time the first omicron variant emerged in the U.S. more than a year ago. Besides Newark, Seattle and Los Angeles, the program includes New York's Kennedy, Washington's Dulles and airports in Atlanta and San Francisco.

The latest expansion of the traveler surveillance program aims to capture more flights from China. But on Wednesday in Newark, some of the targeted planes arrived from Mexico, France and Belgium. After clearing customs, travelers could stop at a table, swab their noses and fill out a form. Chandra said it took about a minute.

Like other travelers, he won't get the results. But he tests for COVID-19 when he flies to Ohio every other month to see his mom, he said, since “the last thing I want to do is bring (the virus) home to her.”

About 10% of people on targeted flights volunteer. Their samples are pooled and PCR tested. Positive ones are genetically sequenced. Volunteers get free home COVID-19 tests.

Over time, Friedman expects the program to grow and potentially go global. It’s already shown it can spot coronavirus variants early — detecting omicron variants BA.2 and BA.3 and reporting them to a global database weeks before others did.

But Jetelina said a surveillance program at seven airports is “just not that big” so trying to spot variants might be like “looking for a needle in the haystack."

To aid the search, experts suggest taking more samples from airplane bathrooms.

“It’s a little gross when you start thinking about it,” Jetelina said. “But these are really long flights and we would expect the majority of people would go to the bathroom.”

The CDC, which monitors wastewater in municipal systems, ran a pilot program last summer testing airplane wastewater at Kennedy airport. Friedman said the agency is working to expand this type of surveillance.

Such testing has been used elsewhere. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021005638">study last year</a>&nbsp;in the journal Environment International looked at wastewater testing from 37 flights chartered to bring Australians home earlier in the pandemic, concluding that the practice “can provide an additional and effective tool” for monitoring the virus coming into a country. Recently, Canada announced an expanded wastewater pilot program and Belgium said it would test wastewater from airplanes coming from China.

As surveillance continues, scientists believe that the omicron variant BF.7, which is extremely adept at evading immunity, is driving China's current surge.&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions">CDC data shows</a>&nbsp;BF.7 is already in the U.S., and currently accounts for about 2% of COVID-19 cases. The most prevalent mutant in the U.S. is XBB.1.5, another variant responsible for 41% of U.S. cases. Ray said this one attaches more tightly than its competitors to a receptor that allows viruses to enter a cell.

Scientists said the virus will surely keep evolving — which is why they need to keep searching for new variants. The coronavirus is like a predator stalking humanity, Ray said, and “the predator adapts to the prey.”

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Shubham Chandra knows how dangerous the coronavirus can be: He lost his dad during the pandemic. So when he cleared customs at Newark Liberty International Airport and saw people offering anonymous COVID-19 testing, he was happy to volunteer.“It’s a minimum amount of effort to help a lot of people," said the 27-year-old New York City man, who had just stepped off a plane from Cancun, Mexico.The airport testing is part of the government's early warning system for detecting new variants, which began expanding recently in the wake of a COVID-19 surge in China.With the addition of Los Angeles and Seattle, there are now seven airports where arriving passengers can volunteer for COVID-19 tests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention program now covers about 500 flights from at least 30 countries, including more than half from China and surrounding areas.As of Thursday, the CDC is also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-china-covid-19-pandemic-ab51ca49e69633ae7028db36d06c54f3">requiring travelers</a>&nbsp;to the U.S. from China, Hong Kong and Macao to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative result before boarding a flight.And down the road, some scientists are calling for wider use of an additional strategy: screening wastewater from toilet tanks on arriving airplanes.“Without surveillance, it’s very hard to know what’s going on,” said Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University. “Hopefully, with more sampling, we will get more information about what’s circulating.”Some scientists are worried the COVID-19 surge in China&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-china-covid-306b688d84e31a9462f82d0ead1f4584">could unleash</a>&nbsp;a new coronavirus mutant on the world, since every infection is another chance for the virus to change. There's no sign of a new variant from China at this point. But one reason for new testing requirements, according to the CDC, is a lack of adequate and transparent information from China on viral strains infecting people there.“We have very little control over what happens elsewhere,” said epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina, a consultant to the CDC. “What we can control is what’s happening in the United States.”The airport program is based on an unfortunate reality: “Travelers … go across the globe quickly and they can get and spread infectious diseases really fast,” said Dr. Cindy Friedman, chief of CDC’s travelers’ health branch.Friedman said the program is a partnership with two companies that take care of the testing and lab work — XpresCheck and Concentric by Ginkgo. A pilot program was expanded around the time the first omicron variant emerged in the U.S. more than a year ago. Besides Newark, Seattle and Los Angeles, the program includes New York's Kennedy, Washington's Dulles and airports in Atlanta and San Francisco.The latest expansion of the traveler surveillance program aims to capture more flights from China. But on Wednesday in Newark, some of the targeted planes arrived from Mexico, France and Belgium. After clearing customs, travelers could stop at a table, swab their noses and fill out a form. Chandra said it took about a minute.Like other travelers, he won't get the results. But he tests for COVID-19 when he flies to Ohio every other month to see his mom, he said, since “the last thing I want to do is bring (the virus) home to her.”About 10% of people on targeted flights volunteer. Their samples are pooled and PCR tested. Positive ones are genetically sequenced. Volunteers get free home COVID-19 tests.Over time, Friedman expects the program to grow and potentially go global. It’s already shown it can spot coronavirus variants early — detecting omicron variants BA.2 and BA.3 and reporting them to a global database weeks before others did.But Jetelina said a surveillance program at seven airports is “just not that big” so trying to spot variants might be like “looking for a needle in the haystack."To aid the search, experts suggest taking more samples from airplane bathrooms.“It’s a little gross when you start thinking about it,” Jetelina said. “But these are really long flights and we would expect the majority of people would go to the bathroom.”The CDC, which monitors wastewater in municipal systems, ran a pilot program last summer testing airplane wastewater at Kennedy airport. Friedman said the agency is working to expand this type of surveillance.Such testing has been used elsewhere. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412021005638">study last year</a>&nbsp;in the journal Environment International looked at wastewater testing from 37 flights chartered to bring Australians home earlier in the pandemic, concluding that the practice “can provide an additional and effective tool” for monitoring the virus coming into a country. Recently, Canada announced an expanded wastewater pilot program and Belgium said it would test wastewater from airplanes coming from China.As surveillance continues, scientists believe that the omicron variant BF.7, which is extremely adept at evading immunity, is driving China's current surge.&nbsp;<a href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions">CDC data shows</a>&nbsp;BF.7 is already in the U.S., and currently accounts for about 2% of COVID-19 cases. The most prevalent mutant in the U.S. is XBB.1.5, another variant responsible for 41% of U.S. cases. Ray said this one attaches more tightly than its competitors to a receptor that allows viruses to enter a cell.Scientists said the virus will surely keep evolving — which is why they need to keep searching for new variants. The coronavirus is like a predator stalking humanity, Ray said, and “the predator adapts to the prey.”