Final goodbye: The influential people we lost in 2022

The operator of the Keystone Pipeline on Thursday restarted the leg of the system that spilled thousands of barrels of heavy crude in north-central Kansas. TC Energy announced that after repairs, inspections and testing, and a controlled restart on Thursday, the Keystone system is "...operational to all delivery points." The company said it will operate what it calls the Cushing Extension through Kansas at reduced pressure and with additional risk-mitigation measures under plans approved by the &nbsp;U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). As of Friday morning the company said it had recovered 10,637 barrels of oil, out of an estimated 14,000 barrels spilled from the pipe after the rupture December 8th. Water, soil and metallurgical testing continue, but regulators have been slow to release details of the investigation into the Keystone Pipeline spill in Washington County. Despite media reports suggesting contamination downstream of the containment zone, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is holding off on releasing the results of its water testing in the area saying they need more data to establish benchmarks for analysis. The agency's Director of Communications &amp; Legislative Affairs Matt Lara said in an e-mail response that his agency has preliminary water data samples, but needs more sampling and other information before a promised release to the public. Lara says there have been no reports from farmers in the area of wells showing contamination. Free well testing is available through the pipeline operator. &nbsp; KDHE is not currently testing soil in the area. Lara said the company removed the layer of topsoil that had oil "staining." TC Energy’s environmental consultant will collect soil samples from the spill area to confirm that all contaminated soil has been removed, according to KDHE. The PHMSA continues its probe into the cause of the spill, including metals testing on the section of pipeline that ruptured.&nbsp; TC Energy was operating the Keystone Pipeline at a dramatically increased flow-rate just prior to the rupture and spill in Kansas. The Energy Consultant Wood Mackenzie confirmed broadcast reports that flows to the Midwest jumped to nearly 650,000 barrels per day on the night of the rupture, up from a baseline of 622,000 barrels per day. The company said in October it would raise flows to test the system's operational efficiency. In an email response to our request for comment, the company replied "At the time of the incident, the pipeline was operating within its design and regulatory approval requirements." Russia banned the sale of its oil and petroleum products to countries that put a cap on the price. The Kremlin is trying to undermine one of many sanctions prompted by the invasion of Ukraine. The G-7 countries want to bar the shipping, financing or insuring of seaborne Russian crude unless it is sold for $60 a barrel or less. Russia is also preparing to cut production early next year according to its oil minister. Winter weather has dramatically curtailed crude output from the number-three producing state in the country. S&amp;P Global reports current production in North Dakota of about 650,000 to 700,000 barrels per day, down from 1.12 million barrels per day in September and October. A blizzard December 19th shut in more than 400,000 barrels per day of production, and more shut-ins occurred the following week.&nbsp; US crude production drops below 12 million barrels per day for the first time in eight weeks and only the third time since June. The Energy Information Administration reports US output of 11.954 million barrels per day for the week through December 23rd, down 196,000 barrels per day from the week before. EIA reports crude imports of 6.3 million barrels per day for the week, up 433,000 barrels per day from the week before. The four-week average is down 3.8 percent from a year ago. The government said domestic crude-oil inventories increased last week by 700,000 barrels to 419 million barrels as of December 23. Stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Marathon Oil Corporation completed a big bucks acquisition first announced in November. Ensign [["EN-sign"]] Natural Resources will reap a total cash consideration of $3 billion. In return, Marathon takes over assets in the Eagle Ford basin of South Texas which they predict will deliver more than 22,000 barrels of oil per day. Crude prices Friday were up slightly. The benchmark Nymex contract was trading for $78.87 per barrel. London Brent was a few cents over $84. Kansas crude prices dropped 75 cents on Thursday, with Kansas Common crude fetching $68.75 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. That's about three dollars less than at the start of the month, and about three dollars more than at the start of the year. Just as you start driving less, pump prices plummet. According to the latest numbers from the government, gasoline stockpiles dropped by 3.1 million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration says gasoline inventories are about four percent below the five-year seasonal average. But, regular gasoline prices continue to drop, down to $3.17 a gallon nationwide (12/30). It's going for $2.79 across Kansas. Going into the holiday weekend we spotted anywhere from $2.79 to $2.89 per gallon locally. Diesel Inventories increased 300,000 barrels last week but remain about 7% below the five-year seasonal average. Diesel deliveries are down nearly seven percent from a year ago. US and statewide diesel-fuel prices remain above four dollars per gallon.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672511700944.jpeg" alt="Excavated and repaired section of the Cushing Extension in Washington County, Kansas. TC Energy photo" />
 <figcaption>Excavated and repaired section of the Cushing Extension in Washington County, Kansas. TC Energy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN P. TRETBARThe operator of the Keystone Pipeline on Thursday restarted the leg of the system that spilled thousands of barrels of heavy crude in north-central Kansas. TC Energy announced that after repairs, inspections and testing, and a controlled restart on Thursday, the Keystone system is "...operational to all delivery points." The company said it will operate what it calls the Cushing Extension through Kansas at reduced pressure and with additional risk-mitigation measures under plans approved by the &nbsp;U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). As of Friday morning the company said it had recovered 10,637 barrels of oil, out of an estimated 14,000 barrels spilled from the pipe after the rupture December 8th. Water, soil and metallurgical testing continue, but regulators have been slow to release details of the investigation into the Keystone Pipeline spill in Washington County. Despite media reports suggesting contamination downstream of the containment zone, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is holding off on releasing the results of its water testing in the area saying they need more data to establish benchmarks for analysis. The agency's Director of Communications &amp; Legislative Affairs Matt Lara said in an e-mail response that his agency has preliminary water data samples, but needs more sampling and other information before a promised release to the public. Lara says there have been no reports from farmers in the area of wells showing contamination. Free well testing is available through the pipeline operator. &nbsp; KDHE is not currently testing soil in the area. Lara said the company removed the layer of topsoil that had oil "staining." TC Energy’s environmental consultant will collect soil samples from the spill area to confirm that all contaminated soil has been removed, according to KDHE. The PHMSA continues its probe into the cause of the spill, including metals testing on the section of pipeline that ruptured.&nbsp; TC Energy was operating the Keystone Pipeline at a dramatically increased flow-rate just prior to the rupture and spill in Kansas. The Energy Consultant Wood Mackenzie confirmed broadcast reports that flows to the Midwest jumped to nearly 650,000 barrels per day on the night of the rupture, up from a baseline of 622,000 barrels per day. The company said in October it would raise flows to test the system's operational efficiency. In an email response to our request for comment, the company replied "At the time of the incident, the pipeline was operating within its design and regulatory approval requirements." Russia banned the sale of its oil and petroleum products to countries that put a cap on the price. The Kremlin is trying to undermine one of many sanctions prompted by the invasion of Ukraine. The G-7 countries want to bar the shipping, financing or insuring of seaborne Russian crude unless it is sold for $60 a barrel or less. Russia is also preparing to cut production early next year according to its oil minister. Winter weather has dramatically curtailed crude output from the number-three producing state in the country. S&amp;P Global reports current production in North Dakota of about 650,000 to 700,000 barrels per day, down from 1.12 million barrels per day in September and October. A blizzard December 19th shut in more than 400,000 barrels per day of production, and more shut-ins occurred the following week.&nbsp; US crude production drops below 12 million barrels per day for the first time in eight weeks and only the third time since June. The Energy Information Administration reports US output of 11.954 million barrels per day for the week through December 23rd, down 196,000 barrels per day from the week before. EIA reports crude imports of 6.3 million barrels per day for the week, up 433,000 barrels per day from the week before. The four-week average is down 3.8 percent from a year ago. The government said domestic crude-oil inventories increased last week by 700,000 barrels to 419 million barrels as of December 23. Stockpiles are about six percent below the five-year average for this time of year. Marathon Oil Corporation completed a big bucks acquisition first announced in November. Ensign [["EN-sign"]] Natural Resources will reap a total cash consideration of $3 billion. In return, Marathon takes over assets in the Eagle Ford basin of South Texas which they predict will deliver more than 22,000 barrels of oil per day. Crude prices Friday were up slightly. The benchmark Nymex contract was trading for $78.87 per barrel. London Brent was a few cents over $84. Kansas crude prices dropped 75 cents on Thursday, with Kansas Common crude fetching $68.75 per barrel at CHS in McPherson. That's about three dollars less than at the start of the month, and about three dollars more than at the start of the year. Just as you start driving less, pump prices plummet. According to the latest numbers from the government, gasoline stockpiles dropped by 3.1 million barrels last week. The Energy Information Administration says gasoline inventories are about four percent below the five-year seasonal average. But, regular gasoline prices continue to drop, down to $3.17 a gallon nationwide (12/30). It's going for $2.79 across Kansas. Going into the holiday weekend we spotted anywhere from $2.79 to $2.89 per gallon locally. Diesel Inventories increased 300,000 barrels last week but remain about 7% below the five-year seasonal average. Diesel deliveries are down nearly seven percent from a year ago. US and statewide diesel-fuel prices remain above four dollars per gallon.

News From the Oil Patch: Keystone restarts pipeline

Sharyl Elaine (Roberts) Cass was born on August 13, 1945, in Ransom, 
KS to Lyle L. &amp; Ila M. (Mendenhall) Roberts. In 1947 the family 
moved North of Quinter, KS where she attended school. She earned her 
High School diploma in 1963 and then went to Salina Beauty Academy. Upon
 completion of beauty school, she returned to Quinter and went to work 
in Jo Ann’s Beauty Shop.

She married Douglas Cass on 
October 22, 1966, at the Church of the Brethren in Quinter, KS. They 
made their home for a short time in Hoxie. In 1967, they moved to Moses 
Lake, Washington and she worked for Geneva Smith in her beauty salon. 
They made many friends and enjoyed dancing and going to the lake there. 
In 1972 they moved to Denver, CO where their daughter Tami Ilene was 
born on March 23, 1973. In 1974, they moved to Tasco, KS. Their son Ty 
Kyle was born on May 4, 1975, in Quinter, KS. After buying some property
 near Hoxie, they moved there and built their dream home. In 1981, she 
opened her own beauty shop, Sharyl’s Shear Delite, next to their house 
where she was still working.

Sharyl enjoyed 
entertaining family and friends, playing cards, dressing up and 
attending Halloween parties with her husband, and hosting her 
grandchildren’s graduation parties. She was a Master Gardener and loved 
working in her garden, with her flowers, landscaping, and canning. She 
was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hoxie, KS where she 
served many years as a Sunday School Teacher as well as a Trustee and an
 Elder. She attended a weekly Bible Study group for many years in Hoxie.
 Her family and faith meant everything to her, she thoroughly enjoyed 
supporting her grandchildren and attending their many activities. She 
loved camping trips, yearly family vacations, bus trips, and especially 
the Alaskan Cruise she and Douglas took in 2017 with dear friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Lyle and Ila Roberts and brother, Garry Roberts

Sharyl
 is survived by her husband, Doug, of Hoxie, Kansas; daughter, Tami 
Porsch and husband Michael of Selden, Kansas; son, Ty Cass and wife 
Becca of Ellis, Kansas; grandchildren, Tristan Porsch (Taylore), Dayton 
Porsch, Marissa Porsch, Chloe Porsch, Rylan Cass, and Tage Cass; 
great-granddaughter, Henley Porsch; and sister-in-law, Deanna Roberts.

A
 Funeral Service will be held Friday, December 30, 2022, 10:30 A.M., at 
the Hoxie United Methodist Church, Hoxie, Kansas. Interment will 
immediately follow the service in the Hoxie City Cemetery. Visitation 
will be held Thursday, December 29, 2022, from 1:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M.
 at the Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home with family receiving friends from 
5:30 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. 

The family suggests memorials to the Sheridan 
County Amusement Company and may be sent in care of the Mickey-Leopold 
Funeral Home, PO Box 987, Hoxie, Kansas 67740. Words of comfort may be 
left at www.mickeyleopoldfuneral.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672165787900.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Sharyl Elaine (Roberts) Cass was born on August 13, 1945, in Ransom, 
KS to Lyle L. &amp; Ila M. (Mendenhall) Roberts. In 1947 the family 
moved North of Quinter, KS where she attended school. She earned her 
High School diploma in 1963 and then went to Salina Beauty Academy. Upon
 completion of beauty school, she returned to Quinter and went to work 
in Jo Ann’s Beauty Shop.She married Douglas Cass on 
October 22, 1966, at the Church of the Brethren in Quinter, KS. They 
made their home for a short time in Hoxie. In 1967, they moved to Moses 
Lake, Washington and she worked for Geneva Smith in her beauty salon. 
They made many friends and enjoyed dancing and going to the lake there. 
In 1972 they moved to Denver, CO where their daughter Tami Ilene was 
born on March 23, 1973. In 1974, they moved to Tasco, KS. Their son Ty 
Kyle was born on May 4, 1975, in Quinter, KS. After buying some property
 near Hoxie, they moved there and built their dream home. In 1981, she 
opened her own beauty shop, Sharyl’s Shear Delite, next to their house 
where she was still working.Sharyl enjoyed 
entertaining family and friends, playing cards, dressing up and 
attending Halloween parties with her husband, and hosting her 
grandchildren’s graduation parties. She was a Master Gardener and loved 
working in her garden, with her flowers, landscaping, and canning. She 
was a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Hoxie, KS where she 
served many years as a Sunday School Teacher as well as a Trustee and an
 Elder. She attended a weekly Bible Study group for many years in Hoxie.
 Her family and faith meant everything to her, she thoroughly enjoyed 
supporting her grandchildren and attending their many activities. She 
loved camping trips, yearly family vacations, bus trips, and especially 
the Alaskan Cruise she and Douglas took in 2017 with dear friends.She is preceded in death by her parents, Lyle and Ila Roberts and brother, Garry RobertsSharyl
 is survived by her husband, Doug, of Hoxie, Kansas; daughter, Tami 
Porsch and husband Michael of Selden, Kansas; son, Ty Cass and wife 
Becca of Ellis, Kansas; grandchildren, Tristan Porsch (Taylore), Dayton 
Porsch, Marissa Porsch, Chloe Porsch, Rylan Cass, and Tage Cass; 
great-granddaughter, Henley Porsch; and sister-in-law, Deanna Roberts.A
 Funeral Service will be held Friday, December 30, 2022, 10:30 A.M., at 
the Hoxie United Methodist Church, Hoxie, Kansas. Interment will 
immediately follow the service in the Hoxie City Cemetery. Visitation 
will be held Thursday, December 29, 2022, from 1:00 P.M. until 7:00 P.M.
 at the Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home with family receiving friends from 
5:30 P.M. until 7:00 P.M. The family suggests memorials to the Sheridan 
County Amusement Company and may be sent in care of the Mickey-Leopold 
Funeral Home, PO Box 987, Hoxie, Kansas 67740. Words of comfort may be 
left at www.mickeyleopoldfuneral.com

Sharyl Elaine (Roberts) Cass

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the shy German theologian who tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe but will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, died Saturday. He was 95.

Pope Francis will celebrate his funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, an unprecedented event in which a current pope will celebrate the funeral of a former one.

Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced, in his typical, soft-spoken Latin, that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference.

His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Francis as his successor. The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future “popes emeritus” to do the same.

A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Saturday morning said that: “With sorrow I inform you that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be released as soon as possible.”

The Vatican said Benedict’s remains would be on public display in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Monday for the faithful to pay their final respects. Benedict's request was that his funeral would be celebrated solemnly but with “simplicity,” Bruni told reporters.

He added that Benedict, whose health had deteriorated over Christmas, had received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick on Wednesday, after his daily Mass, in the presence of his his longtime secretary and the consecrated women who tend to his household.

The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria.

Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St. John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist.

Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him.

Nevertheless, he set about the job with a single-minded vision to rekindle the faith in a world that, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.

“In vast areas of the world today, there is a strange forgetfulness of God,” he told 1 million young people gathered on a vast field for his first foreign trip as pope, to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. “It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him.”

With some decisive, often controversial moves, he tried to remind Europe of its Christian heritage. And he set the Catholic Church on a conservative, tradition-minded path that often alienated progressives. He relaxed the restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass and launched a crackdown on American nuns, insisting that the church stay true to its doctrine and traditions in the face of a changing world. It was a path that in many ways was reversed by his successor, Francis, whose mercy-over-morals priorities alienated the traditionalists who had been so indulged by Benedict.

Benedict’s style couldn’t have been more different from that of John Paul or Francis. No globe-trotting media darling or populist, Benedict was a teacher, theologian and academic to the core: quiet and pensive with a fierce mind. He spoke in paragraphs, not soundbites. He had a weakness for orange Fanta as well as his beloved library; when he was elected pope, he had his entire study moved — as is — from his apartment just outside the Vatican walls into the Apostolic Palace. The books followed him to his retirement home.

“In them are all my advisers,” he said of his books in the 2010 book-length interview “Light of the World.” “I know every nook and cranny, and everything has its history.”

It was Benedict’s devotion to history and tradition that endeared him to members of the traditionalist wing of the Catholic Church. For them, Benedict remained even in retirement a beacon of nostalgia for the orthodoxy and Latin Mass of their youth — and the pope they much preferred over Francis.

In time, this group of arch-conservatives, whose complaints were amplified by sympathetic U.S.-based conservative Catholic media, would become a key source of opposition to Francis who responded to what he said were threats of division by reimposing the restrictions on the old Latin Mass that Benedict had loosened.

Like his predecessor John Paul, Benedict made reaching out to Jews a hallmark of his papacy. His first official act as pope was a letter to Rome’s Jewish community and he became the second pope in history, after John Paul, to enter a synagogue.

In his 2011 book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Benedict made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Christ, explaining biblically and theologically why there was no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus’ death.

“It’s very clear Benedict is a true friend of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi David Rosen, who heads the interreligious relations office for the American Jewish Committee, at the time of Benedict’s retirement.

Yet Benedict also offended some Jews who were incensed at his constant defense of and promotion toward sainthood of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope accused by some of having failed to sufficiently denounce the Holocaust. And they harshly criticized Benedict when he removed the excommunication of a traditionalist British bishop who had denied the Holocaust.

Benedict’s relations with the Muslim world were also a mixed bag. He riled Muslims with a speech in September 2006 — five years after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States — in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly his command to spread the faith “by the sword.”

A subsequent comment after the massacre of Christians in Egypt led the Al Azhar center in Cairo, the seat of Sunni Muslim learning, to suspend ties with the Vatican, which were only restored under Francis.

The Vatican under Benedict suffered notorious PR gaffes, and sometimes Benedict himself was to blame. He enraged the United Nations and several European governments in 2009 when, en route to Africa, he told reporters that the AIDS problem couldn’t be resolved by distributing condoms.

“On the contrary, it increases the problem,” Benedict said. A year later, he issued a revision saying that if a male prostitute were to use a condom to avoid passing HIV to his partner, he might be taking a first step toward a more responsible sexuality.

But Benedict’s legacy was irreversibly colored by the global eruption in 2010 of the sex abuse scandal, even though as a cardinal he was responsible for turning the Vatican around on the issue.

Documents revealed that the Vatican knew very well of the problem yet turned a blind eye for decades, at times rebuffing bishops who tried to do the right thing.

Benedict had firsthand knowledge of the scope of the problem, since his old office — the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he had headed since 1982 — was responsible for dealing with abuse cases.

In fact, it was he who, before becoming pope, took the then-revolutionary decision in 2001 to assume responsibility for processing those cases after he realized bishops around the world weren’t punishing abusers but were just moving them from parish to parish where they could rape again.

And once he became pope, Benedict essentially reversed his beloved predecessor, John Paul, by taking action against the 20th century’s most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel. Benedict took over Maciel’s Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order held up as a model of orthodoxy by John Paul, after it was revealed that Maciel sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.

In retirement, Benedict was faulted by an independent report for his handling of four priests while he was bishop of Munich; he denied any personal wrongdoing but apologized for any “grievous faults.”

As soon as the abuse scandal calmed down for Benedict, another one erupted.

In October 2012, Benedict’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted of aggravated theft after Vatican police found a huge stash of papal documents in his apartment. Gabriele told Vatican investigators he gave the documents to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi because he thought the pope wasn’t being informed of the “evil and corruption” in the Vatican and that exposing it publicly would put the church on the right track.

Once the “Vatileaks” scandal was resolved, including with a papal pardon of Gabriele, Benedict felt free to take the extraordinary decision that he had hinted at previously: He announced that he would resign rather than die in office as all his predecessors had done for almost six centuries.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited” to the demands of being the pope, he told cardinals.

He made his last public appearances in February 2013 and then boarded a helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, to sit out the conclave in private. Benedict then largely kept to his word that he would live a life of prayer in retirement, emerging only occasionally from his converted monastery for special events and writing occasional book prefaces and messages.

Usually they were innocuous, but one 2020 book — in which Benedict defended the celibate priesthood at a time when Francis was considering an exception — sparked demands for future “popes emeritus” to keep quiet.

Despite his very different style and priorities, Francis frequently said that having Benedict in the Vatican was like having a “wise grandfather” living at home.

Benedict was often misunderstood: Nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” by the unsympathetic media, he was actually a very sweet and fiercely smart academic who devoted his life to serving the church he loved.

“Thank you for having given us the luminous example of the simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” Benedict’s longtime deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, told him in one of his final public events as pope.

Benedict inherited the seemingly impossible task of following in the footsteps of John Paul when he was elected the 265th leader of the Church on April 19, 2005. He was the oldest pope elected in 275 years and the first German in nearly 1,000 years.

Born April 16, 1927, in Marktl Am Inn, in Bavaria, Benedict wrote in his memoirs of being enlisted in the Nazi youth movement against his will in 1941, when he was 14 and membership was compulsory. He deserted the German army in April 1945, the waning days of the war.

Benedict was ordained, along with his brother, Georg, in 1951. After spending several years teaching theology in Germany, he was appointed bishop of Munich in 1977 and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI.

His brother Georg was a frequent visitor to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo until he died in 2020. His sister died years previously. His “papal family” consisted of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, his longtime private secretary who was always by his side, another secretary and consecrated women who tended to the papal apartment.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672490465534.png" alt="FILE - Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to bless the nativity scene on Dec. 31, 2011. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)" />
 <figcaption>FILE - Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful as he arrives in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican to bless the nativity scene on Dec. 31, 2011. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the German theologian who will be remembered as the first pope in 600 years to resign, has died, the Vatican announced Saturday. He was 95. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)</figcaption>
 </figure>VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the shy German theologian who tried to reawaken Christianity in a secularized Europe but will forever be remembered as the first pontiff in 600 years to resign from the job, died Saturday. He was 95.Pope Francis will celebrate his funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday, an unprecedented event in which a current pope will celebrate the funeral of a former one.Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, 2013, when he announced, in his typical, soft-spoken Latin, that he no longer had the strength to run the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church that he had steered for eight years through scandal and indifference.His dramatic decision paved the way for the conclave that elected Francis as his successor. The two popes then lived side-by-side in the Vatican gardens, an unprecedented arrangement that set the stage for future “popes emeritus” to do the same.A statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Saturday morning said that: “With sorrow I inform you that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesia Monastery in the Vatican. Further information will be released as soon as possible.”The Vatican said Benedict’s remains would be on public display in St. Peter’s Basilica starting Monday for the faithful to pay their final respects. Benedict's request was that his funeral would be celebrated solemnly but with “simplicity,” Bruni told reporters.He added that Benedict, whose health had deteriorated over Christmas, had received the sacrament of the anointing of the sick on Wednesday, after his daily Mass, in the presence of his his longtime secretary and the consecrated women who tend to his household.The former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had never wanted to be pope, planning at age 78 to spend his final years writing in the “peace and quiet” of his native Bavaria.Instead, he was forced to follow the footsteps of the beloved St. John Paul II and run the church through the fallout of the clerical sex abuse scandal and then a second scandal that erupted when his own butler stole his personal papers and gave them to a journalist.Being elected pope, he once said, felt like a “guillotine” had come down on him.Nevertheless, he set about the job with a single-minded vision to rekindle the faith in a world that, he frequently lamented, seemed to think it could do without God.“In vast areas of the world today, there is a strange forgetfulness of God,” he told 1 million young people gathered on a vast field for his first foreign trip as pope, to World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, in 2005. “It seems as if everything would be just the same even without him.”With some decisive, often controversial moves, he tried to remind Europe of its Christian heritage. And he set the Catholic Church on a conservative, tradition-minded path that often alienated progressives. He relaxed the restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass and launched a crackdown on American nuns, insisting that the church stay true to its doctrine and traditions in the face of a changing world. It was a path that in many ways was reversed by his successor, Francis, whose mercy-over-morals priorities alienated the traditionalists who had been so indulged by Benedict.Benedict’s style couldn’t have been more different from that of John Paul or Francis. No globe-trotting media darling or populist, Benedict was a teacher, theologian and academic to the core: quiet and pensive with a fierce mind. He spoke in paragraphs, not soundbites. He had a weakness for orange Fanta as well as his beloved library; when he was elected pope, he had his entire study moved — as is — from his apartment just outside the Vatican walls into the Apostolic Palace. The books followed him to his retirement home.“In them are all my advisers,” he said of his books in the 2010 book-length interview “Light of the World.” “I know every nook and cranny, and everything has its history.”It was Benedict’s devotion to history and tradition that endeared him to members of the traditionalist wing of the Catholic Church. For them, Benedict remained even in retirement a beacon of nostalgia for the orthodoxy and Latin Mass of their youth — and the pope they much preferred over Francis.In time, this group of arch-conservatives, whose complaints were amplified by sympathetic U.S.-based conservative Catholic media, would become a key source of opposition to Francis who responded to what he said were threats of division by reimposing the restrictions on the old Latin Mass that Benedict had loosened.Like his predecessor John Paul, Benedict made reaching out to Jews a hallmark of his papacy. His first official act as pope was a letter to Rome’s Jewish community and he became the second pope in history, after John Paul, to enter a synagogue.In his 2011 book, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Benedict made a sweeping exoneration of the Jewish people for the death of Christ, explaining biblically and theologically why there was no basis in Scripture for the argument that the Jewish people as a whole were responsible for Jesus’ death.“It’s very clear Benedict is a true friend of the Jewish people,” said Rabbi David Rosen, who heads the interreligious relations office for the American Jewish Committee, at the time of Benedict’s retirement.Yet Benedict also offended some Jews who were incensed at his constant defense of and promotion toward sainthood of Pope Pius XII, the World War II-era pope accused by some of having failed to sufficiently denounce the Holocaust. And they harshly criticized Benedict when he removed the excommunication of a traditionalist British bishop who had denied the Holocaust.Benedict’s relations with the Muslim world were also a mixed bag. He riled Muslims with a speech in September 2006 — five years after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States — in which he quoted a Byzantine emperor who characterized some of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad as “evil and inhuman,” particularly his command to spread the faith “by the sword.”A subsequent comment after the massacre of Christians in Egypt led the Al Azhar center in Cairo, the seat of Sunni Muslim learning, to suspend ties with the Vatican, which were only restored under Francis.The Vatican under Benedict suffered notorious PR gaffes, and sometimes Benedict himself was to blame. He enraged the United Nations and several European governments in 2009 when, en route to Africa, he told reporters that the AIDS problem couldn’t be resolved by distributing condoms.“On the contrary, it increases the problem,” Benedict said. A year later, he issued a revision saying that if a male prostitute were to use a condom to avoid passing HIV to his partner, he might be taking a first step toward a more responsible sexuality.But Benedict’s legacy was irreversibly colored by the global eruption in 2010 of the sex abuse scandal, even though as a cardinal he was responsible for turning the Vatican around on the issue.Documents revealed that the Vatican knew very well of the problem yet turned a blind eye for decades, at times rebuffing bishops who tried to do the right thing.Benedict had firsthand knowledge of the scope of the problem, since his old office — the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he had headed since 1982 — was responsible for dealing with abuse cases.In fact, it was he who, before becoming pope, took the then-revolutionary decision in 2001 to assume responsibility for processing those cases after he realized bishops around the world weren’t punishing abusers but were just moving them from parish to parish where they could rape again.And once he became pope, Benedict essentially reversed his beloved predecessor, John Paul, by taking action against the 20th century’s most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Marcial Maciel. Benedict took over Maciel’s Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order held up as a model of orthodoxy by John Paul, after it was revealed that Maciel sexually abused seminarians and fathered at least three children.In retirement, Benedict was faulted by an independent report for his handling of four priests while he was bishop of Munich; he denied any personal wrongdoing but apologized for any “grievous faults.”As soon as the abuse scandal calmed down for Benedict, another one erupted.In October 2012, Benedict’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, was convicted of aggravated theft after Vatican police found a huge stash of papal documents in his apartment. Gabriele told Vatican investigators he gave the documents to Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi because he thought the pope wasn’t being informed of the “evil and corruption” in the Vatican and that exposing it publicly would put the church on the right track.Once the “Vatileaks” scandal was resolved, including with a papal pardon of Gabriele, Benedict felt free to take the extraordinary decision that he had hinted at previously: He announced that he would resign rather than die in office as all his predecessors had done for almost six centuries.“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited” to the demands of being the pope, he told cardinals.He made his last public appearances in February 2013 and then boarded a helicopter to the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo, to sit out the conclave in private. Benedict then largely kept to his word that he would live a life of prayer in retirement, emerging only occasionally from his converted monastery for special events and writing occasional book prefaces and messages.Usually they were innocuous, but one 2020 book — in which Benedict defended the celibate priesthood at a time when Francis was considering an exception — sparked demands for future “popes emeritus” to keep quiet.Despite his very different style and priorities, Francis frequently said that having Benedict in the Vatican was like having a “wise grandfather” living at home.Benedict was often misunderstood: Nicknamed “God’s Rottweiler” by the unsympathetic media, he was actually a very sweet and fiercely smart academic who devoted his life to serving the church he loved.“Thank you for having given us the luminous example of the simple and humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,” Benedict’s longtime deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, told him in one of his final public events as pope.Benedict inherited the seemingly impossible task of following in the footsteps of John Paul when he was elected the 265th leader of the Church on April 19, 2005. He was the oldest pope elected in 275 years and the first German in nearly 1,000 years.Born April 16, 1927, in Marktl Am Inn, in Bavaria, Benedict wrote in his memoirs of being enlisted in the Nazi youth movement against his will in 1941, when he was 14 and membership was compulsory. He deserted the German army in April 1945, the waning days of the war.Benedict was ordained, along with his brother, Georg, in 1951. After spending several years teaching theology in Germany, he was appointed bishop of Munich in 1977 and elevated to cardinal three months later by Pope Paul VI.His brother Georg was a frequent visitor to the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo until he died in 2020. His sister died years previously. His “papal family” consisted of Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, his longtime private secretary who was always by his side, another secretary and consecrated women who tended to the papal apartment.

Benedict XVI, first pope to resign in 600 years, dies at 95

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are perhaps the most 
stable franchise in the NFL these days, led by a coach in Andy Reid who 
commands league-wide respect and a quarterback in Patrick Mahomes who is
 in the mix for a second MVP award.

So it's no surprise <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/unsung-players-join-chiefs-stars-making-postseason-push">they have clinched the AFC West</a> and are tied with Buffalo for the conference's best record.

Then
 there's the Denver Broncos (4-11), the Chiefs' opponent Sunday, who 
mortgaged much of their future to acquire struggling Russell Wilson from
 the Seahawks and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-rams-denver-broncos-nfl-sports-69d6d952bd4279972d67867eabf585db">just fired coach Nathaniel Hackett</a> with two games left in his first year.

So it's also not surprising <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-broncos-sports-nfl-football-greg-penner-russell-wilson-0dfedb0b1b8002ca3f312f43e6c97e20">they'll be sitting out the playoffs</a> for the seventh straight season.

“They
 played us tough this last one. They gave us everything that we could 
ask for,” said Mahomes, who nevertheless led the Chiefs (12-3) to <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/mahomes-chiefs-outlast-broncos-34-28-wilson-concussed">a 34-28 victory in Denver</a>
 three weeks ago. “We have to go out and play our best ball. If you look
 at the tape, you see the talent that they have and how hard they play.”

It will be <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-browns-atlanta-falcons-denver-broncos-baltimore-ravens-sports-2450309727d8088a16d80f79c6028d46">up to 67-year-old Jerry Rosburg</a> to finally get that talent playing at a high level.

The
 Broncos turned to the career assistant, who has 18 years of NFL 
coaching experience, to bridge the gap from Hackett's firing into next 
season. He was special teams coordinator in Baltimore for a decade with 
stops in Atlanta and Cleveland, and was hired by the Broncos in 
September to hire in-game management when Hackett struggled in his first
 two games.

“He actually worked for (Ravens coach) John Harbaugh 
for a number of years,” Reid said. “One of the top special teams coaches
 in the NFL and a good football coach, period. But a tremendous special 
teams coach. Good guy.”

“He’s
 a fine man. He’s been so gracious with my family over the years,” 
Rosburg said of Reid, who was Harbaugh's mentor in Philadelphia. “He’s a
 model for all coaches. We should all aspire to be like Andy Reid.”

While Wilson is suffering through the worst season of his career, <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-mahomes-making-mvp-bid-more-balanced-approach">Mahomes is on another tear for the Chiefs</a>,
 putting himself in position to break the NFL record for yards passing 
in a season — albeit in a 17-game schedule rather than 16. And Rosburg 
has seen enough of Mahomes over the years that he's plenty impressed by 
him.

He's just not so excited about facing Mahomes in his first game running the show for Denver.

“I
 could list them, and you all know them,” Rosburg said of the Chiefs' 
playmakers. “Who would sign up for this? You get to coach in the 
National Football League? OK, here are the Kansas City Chiefs. Here I 
am, choose me.”

While <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-dump-seahawks-24-10-stay-tied-afcs-best-record">the Chiefs are tied with the Bills</a>
 for the AFC's best record, Buffalo would get the No. 1 seed and lone 
first-round bye because of its head-to-head win in October in Kansas 
City. So not only do the Chiefs need to beat Denver, and probably Las 
Vegas next week, they also need the Bengals or Patriots to beat the 
Bills down the stretch.

The Chiefs have 
won 14 straight against their longtime division rival, a franchise 
record for any opponent. It's the fifth-longest streak by any team 
against an opponent in NFL history, and one more would tie for the third
 longest. The last time the Broncos beat the Chiefs was a 31-24 victory 
on Sept. 17, 2015, in Kansas City.

The 
priority for the Broncos is fixing Wilson, who was brought in at a high 
cost (three players, four prime draft picks to Seattle) and signed to a 
five-year extension with about $165 million in guarantees. But this 
version of Wilson has been head-scratching: He’s on pace for career 
worsts in touchdowns, completion percentage and sacks.

“I believe 
in myself at the highest level,” Wilson said. “It’s not going to happen 
this year, but the mission is still the same and that’s to help bring 
Super Bowls to Denver. That’s the goal.”

Rosburg
 makes five different Broncos coaches for safety Justin Simmons since he
 was taken in the third-round of the 2016 draft. If owner and CEO Greg 
Penner wanted his opinion on, say, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero 
getting a shot at the head coaching job, Simmons would gladly give it. 
Denver’s defense has been one of the best in the league until a clunker 
last weekend in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-rams-denver-broncos-nfl-sports-football-34fb53c032cefd20475d7d3568556fe9">a 51-14 loss to Baker Mayfield and the Los Angeles Rams</a>.

“I
 just want to win,” Simmons said. “When stuff like this happens like 
with Coach Hackett, I think about what I could’ve done better to help 
keep his job stable. Whatever it is, whoever it is, I just want to win.”

The Chiefs <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-expect-wr-hardman-back-field-after-nearly-2-months">expect to have wide receiver Mecole Hardman back</a>
 for the first time since an abdominal injury in Week 9 put him on 
injured reserve. He practiced the last couple of weeks, but has not been
 inactive for games. He was on a tear before getting hurt, too, scoring 
five touchdowns in his last three games.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are perhaps the most 
stable franchise in the NFL these days, led by a coach in Andy Reid who 
commands league-wide respect and a quarterback in Patrick Mahomes who is
 in the mix for a second MVP award.So it's no surprise <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/unsung-players-join-chiefs-stars-making-postseason-push">they have clinched the AFC West</a> and are tied with Buffalo for the conference's best record.Then
 there's the Denver Broncos (4-11), the Chiefs' opponent Sunday, who 
mortgaged much of their future to acquire struggling Russell Wilson from
 the Seahawks and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-rams-denver-broncos-nfl-sports-69d6d952bd4279972d67867eabf585db">just fired coach Nathaniel Hackett</a> with two games left in his first year.So it's also not surprising <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-broncos-sports-nfl-football-greg-penner-russell-wilson-0dfedb0b1b8002ca3f312f43e6c97e20">they'll be sitting out the playoffs</a> for the seventh straight season.“They
 played us tough this last one. They gave us everything that we could 
ask for,” said Mahomes, who nevertheless led the Chiefs (12-3) to <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/mahomes-chiefs-outlast-broncos-34-28-wilson-concussed">a 34-28 victory in Denver</a>
 three weeks ago. “We have to go out and play our best ball. If you look
 at the tape, you see the talent that they have and how hard they play.”It will be <a href="https://apnews.com/article/cleveland-browns-atlanta-falcons-denver-broncos-baltimore-ravens-sports-2450309727d8088a16d80f79c6028d46">up to 67-year-old Jerry Rosburg</a> to finally get that talent playing at a high level.The
 Broncos turned to the career assistant, who has 18 years of NFL 
coaching experience, to bridge the gap from Hackett's firing into next 
season. He was special teams coordinator in Baltimore for a decade with 
stops in Atlanta and Cleveland, and was hired by the Broncos in 
September to hire in-game management when Hackett struggled in his first
 two games.“He actually worked for (Ravens coach) John Harbaugh 
for a number of years,” Reid said. “One of the top special teams coaches
 in the NFL and a good football coach, period. But a tremendous special 
teams coach. Good guy.”Turns out the affection goes both ways.“He’s
 a fine man. He’s been so gracious with my family over the years,” 
Rosburg said of Reid, who was Harbaugh's mentor in Philadelphia. “He’s a
 model for all coaches. We should all aspire to be like Andy Reid.”While Wilson is suffering through the worst season of his career, <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-mahomes-making-mvp-bid-more-balanced-approach">Mahomes is on another tear for the Chiefs</a>,
 putting himself in position to break the NFL record for yards passing 
in a season — albeit in a 17-game schedule rather than 16. And Rosburg 
has seen enough of Mahomes over the years that he's plenty impressed by 
him.He's just not so excited about facing Mahomes in his first game running the show for Denver.“I
 could list them, and you all know them,” Rosburg said of the Chiefs' 
playmakers. “Who would sign up for this? You get to coach in the 
National Football League? OK, here are the Kansas City Chiefs. Here I 
am, choose me.”<h2>PLAYOFF POSITION</h2>While <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-dump-seahawks-24-10-stay-tied-afcs-best-record">the Chiefs are tied with the Bills</a>
 for the AFC's best record, Buffalo would get the No. 1 seed and lone 
first-round bye because of its head-to-head win in October in Kansas 
City. So not only do the Chiefs need to beat Denver, and probably Las 
Vegas next week, they also need the Bengals or Patriots to beat the 
Bills down the stretch.<h2>DOMINANCE OF DENVER</h2>The Chiefs have 
won 14 straight against their longtime division rival, a franchise 
record for any opponent. It's the fifth-longest streak by any team 
against an opponent in NFL history, and one more would tie for the third
 longest. The last time the Broncos beat the Chiefs was a 31-24 victory 
on Sept. 17, 2015, in Kansas City.<h2>FIXING WILSON</h2>The 
priority for the Broncos is fixing Wilson, who was brought in at a high 
cost (three players, four prime draft picks to Seattle) and signed to a 
five-year extension with about $165 million in guarantees. But this 
version of Wilson has been head-scratching: He’s on pace for career 
worsts in touchdowns, completion percentage and sacks.“I believe 
in myself at the highest level,” Wilson said. “It’s not going to happen 
this year, but the mission is still the same and that’s to help bring 
Super Bowls to Denver. That’s the goal.”<h2>COACHING CAROUSEL</h2>Rosburg
 makes five different Broncos coaches for safety Justin Simmons since he
 was taken in the third-round of the 2016 draft. If owner and CEO Greg 
Penner wanted his opinion on, say, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero 
getting a shot at the head coaching job, Simmons would gladly give it. 
Denver’s defense has been one of the best in the league until a clunker 
last weekend in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-rams-denver-broncos-nfl-sports-football-34fb53c032cefd20475d7d3568556fe9">a 51-14 loss to Baker Mayfield and the Los Angeles Rams</a>.“I
 just want to win,” Simmons said. “When stuff like this happens like 
with Coach Hackett, I think about what I could’ve done better to help 
keep his job stable. Whatever it is, whoever it is, I just want to win.”<h2>WEAPON RETURNING</h2>The Chiefs <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/chiefs-expect-wr-hardman-back-field-after-nearly-2-months">expect to have wide receiver Mecole Hardman back</a>
 for the first time since an abdominal injury in Week 9 put him on 
injured reserve. He practiced the last couple of weeks, but has not been
 inactive for games. He was on a tear before getting hurt, too, scoring 
five touchdowns in his last three games.

🏈 Stable Chiefs face reeling Broncos in midst of playoff push

WASHINGTON (AP) —Democrats in Congress released six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, the culmination of a yearslong effort to learn about the finances of a onetime business mogul who broke decades of political precedent when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/be17fb95a8564a88996d1331ebaf763b">refused to voluntarily release the information</a>&nbsp;as he sought the White House.

<a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Attachment_E.zip">Click here to download and read</a> the massive file

The returns, which include redactions of some personal sensitive information such as Social Security and bank account numbers, are from 2015 to 2020. They span nearly 6,000 pages, including more than 2,700 pages of individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, and more than 3,000 pages in returns for Trump's business entities.

Their release follows a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/videos-9ac33a7c71844b45bd2a88f8969929ce">party-line vote</a>&nbsp;in the House Ways and Means Committee last week to make the returns public. Committee Democrats argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake, while Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.

Trump had refused to release his returns when he ran for president and had waged a legal battle to keep them secret while he was in the White House. But the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-donald-trump-business-john-roberts-congress-8ea516dace48875ad7c5dd472dd16dcf">Supreme Court ruled</a>&nbsp;last month that he had to turn them over to the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

Trump blasted the decision, arguing it would further divide the country.

“The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people," he said in a statement. “The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”

He said the returns "once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”

The release, just days before Trump’s fellow Republicans retake control of the House from the Democrats, raises the potential of new revelations about Trump’s finances, which have been shrouded in mystery and intrigue since his days as an up-and-coming Manhattan real estate developer in the 1980s. The returns could take on added significance now that Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">launched a campaign</a>&nbsp;for the White House in 2024.

They are likely to offer the clearest picture yet of his finances during his time in office.

Trump, known for building skyscrapers and hosting a reality TV show before winning the White House, did give some limited details about his holdings and income on mandatory disclosure forms. He has promoted his wealth in the annual financial statements he provides to banks to secure loans and to financial magazines to justify his place on rankings of the world’s billionaires.

Trump’s longtime accounting firm has since disavowed the statements, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-sued-new-york-letitia-james-ec6b3b91b6c8594495ada7d0a2b80a2f">filed a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;alleging Trump and his Trump Organization inflated asset values on the statements as part of a yearslong fraud. Trump and his company have denied wrongdoing.

It will not be the first time Trump's tax returns have been under scrutiny.

In October 2018, The New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series based on leaked tax records that showed that Trump received a modern-day equivalent of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate holdings, with much of that money coming from what the Times called “tax dodges” in the 1990s.

A second series in 2020 showed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018, as well as no income taxes at all in 10 of the past 15 years because he generally lost more money than he made.

In its report last week, the Ways and Means Committee indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded a post-Watergate requirement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-richard-neal-c697c4e300948a9e2638d0d9fbbe2f96">mandating audits of a president’s tax filings</a>.

The IRS only began to audit Trump’s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019 — more than two years into his presidency — when the committee chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., asked the agency for information related to the tax returns.

By comparison, there were audits of President Joe Biden for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson. A spokesperson for former President Barack Obama said Obama was audited in each of his eight years in office.

A report from Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation raised multiple red flags about aspects of Trump’s tax filings, including his carryover losses, deductions tied to conservation and charitable donations, and loans to his children that could be taxable gifts.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-775097263d0e3526a35723f0952e8d0f">House passed a bill</a>&nbsp;in response that would require audits of any president’s income tax filings. Republicans strongly opposed the legislation, raising concerns that a law requiring audits would infringe on taxpayer privacy and could lead to audits being weaponized for political gain.

The measure, approved mostly along party lines, has little chance of becoming law anytime soon with a new Republican-led House being sworn in in January. Rather, it is seen as a starting point for future efforts to bolster oversight of the presidency.

Republicans have argued that Democrats will regret the move once Republicans take power next week, and they warn that the committee’s new GOP chair will be under pressure to seek and make public the tax returns of other prominent people.

Rep. Don Beyer, chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee and a Ways and Means Committee member, presided over the routine pro forma session in the House as the tax returns were released. Beyer, D-Va., said the release was delayed as committee staff worked to redact Tpersonal and identifying information, a promise Democrats made to Republicans during a closed meeting last week.

“We’ve been trying to be very careful to make sure that we weren’t ‘weaponizing’ the IRS returns,” he said.

Every president and major-party candidate since Richard Nixon has voluntarily made at least summaries of their tax information available to the public. Trump bucked that trend as a candidate and as president, repeatedly asserting that his taxes were “under audit” and couldn’t be released.

Trump’s lawyers were repeatedly denied in their quest to keep his tax returns from the House committee. A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-personal-taxes-congress-government-and-politics-386ef94dc8c41c75ea77d02d36afe446">three-judge federal appeals court panel in August</a>&nbsp;upheld a lower-court ruling granting the committee access.

Trump’s lawyers also tried and failed to block the Manhattan district attorney’s office from getting Trump’s tax records as part of its investigation into his business practices, losing twice in the Supreme Court.

Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, testified at the Trump Organization’s recent Manhattan criminal trial that Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-manhattan-donald-trump-896e245936aaf71d26b1c29c0070c8eb">reported losses on his tax returns every year</a>&nbsp;for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010.

Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Trump’s personal tax returns, said Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through the Trump Organization.

The Trump Organization was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-manhattan-donald-trump-government-and-politics-86177401a887c85ab50d8b78eb1ed397">convicted earlier this month</a>&nbsp;on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672416879967.png" alt="Copies of former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump individual tax returns for the years 2015 to 2020, released by the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee, are photographed Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. The returns, which include redactions of some personal sensitive information such as Social Security and bank account numbers, span nearly 6,000 pages, including more than 2,700 pages of individual returns, and more than 3,000 pages in returns for Trump's business entities. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)" />
 <figcaption>Copies of former President Donald Trump and former first lady Melania Trump individual tax returns for the years 2015 to 2020, released by the Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee, are photographed Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. The returns, which include redactions of some personal sensitive information such as Social Security and bank account numbers, span nearly 6,000 pages, including more than 2,700 pages of individual returns, and more than 3,000 pages in returns for Trump's business entities. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —Democrats in Congress released six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, the culmination of a yearslong effort to learn about the finances of a onetime business mogul who broke decades of political precedent when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/be17fb95a8564a88996d1331ebaf763b">refused to voluntarily release the information</a>&nbsp;as he sought the White House.<a href="https://waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/Attachment_E.zip">Click here to download and read</a> the massive fileThe returns, which include redactions of some personal sensitive information such as Social Security and bank account numbers, are from 2015 to 2020. They span nearly 6,000 pages, including more than 2,700 pages of individual returns from Trump and his wife, Melania, and more than 3,000 pages in returns for Trump's business entities.Their release follows a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/videos-9ac33a7c71844b45bd2a88f8969929ce">party-line vote</a>&nbsp;in the House Ways and Means Committee last week to make the returns public. Committee Democrats argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake, while Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.Trump had refused to release his returns when he ran for president and had waged a legal battle to keep them secret while he was in the White House. But the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-donald-trump-business-john-roberts-congress-8ea516dace48875ad7c5dd472dd16dcf">Supreme Court ruled</a>&nbsp;last month that he had to turn them over to the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.Trump blasted the decision, arguing it would further divide the country.“The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people," he said in a statement. “The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!”He said the returns "once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”The release, just days before Trump’s fellow Republicans retake control of the House from the Democrats, raises the potential of new revelations about Trump’s finances, which have been shrouded in mystery and intrigue since his days as an up-and-coming Manhattan real estate developer in the 1980s. The returns could take on added significance now that Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">launched a campaign</a>&nbsp;for the White House in 2024.They are likely to offer the clearest picture yet of his finances during his time in office.Trump, known for building skyscrapers and hosting a reality TV show before winning the White House, did give some limited details about his holdings and income on mandatory disclosure forms. He has promoted his wealth in the annual financial statements he provides to banks to secure loans and to financial magazines to justify his place on rankings of the world’s billionaires.Trump’s longtime accounting firm has since disavowed the statements, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-sued-new-york-letitia-james-ec6b3b91b6c8594495ada7d0a2b80a2f">filed a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;alleging Trump and his Trump Organization inflated asset values on the statements as part of a yearslong fraud. Trump and his company have denied wrongdoing.It will not be the first time Trump's tax returns have been under scrutiny.In October 2018, The New York Times published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series based on leaked tax records that showed that Trump received a modern-day equivalent of at least $413 million from his father’s real estate holdings, with much of that money coming from what the Times called “tax dodges” in the 1990s.A second series in 2020 showed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018, as well as no income taxes at all in 10 of the past 15 years because he generally lost more money than he made.In its report last week, the Ways and Means Committee indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded a post-Watergate requirement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-richard-neal-c697c4e300948a9e2638d0d9fbbe2f96">mandating audits of a president’s tax filings</a>.The IRS only began to audit Trump’s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019 — more than two years into his presidency — when the committee chairman, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., asked the agency for information related to the tax returns.By comparison, there were audits of President Joe Biden for the 2020 and 2021 tax years, said Andrew Bates, a White House spokesperson. A spokesperson for former President Barack Obama said Obama was audited in each of his eight years in office.A report from Congress’ nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation raised multiple red flags about aspects of Trump’s tax filings, including his carryover losses, deductions tied to conservation and charitable donations, and loans to his children that could be taxable gifts.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-donald-trump-775097263d0e3526a35723f0952e8d0f">House passed a bill</a>&nbsp;in response that would require audits of any president’s income tax filings. Republicans strongly opposed the legislation, raising concerns that a law requiring audits would infringe on taxpayer privacy and could lead to audits being weaponized for political gain.The measure, approved mostly along party lines, has little chance of becoming law anytime soon with a new Republican-led House being sworn in in January. Rather, it is seen as a starting point for future efforts to bolster oversight of the presidency.Republicans have argued that Democrats will regret the move once Republicans take power next week, and they warn that the committee’s new GOP chair will be under pressure to seek and make public the tax returns of other prominent people.Rep. Don Beyer, chairman of the congressional Joint Economic Committee and a Ways and Means Committee member, presided over the routine pro forma session in the House as the tax returns were released. Beyer, D-Va., said the release was delayed as committee staff worked to redact Tpersonal and identifying information, a promise Democrats made to Republicans during a closed meeting last week.“We’ve been trying to be very careful to make sure that we weren’t ‘weaponizing’ the IRS returns,” he said.Every president and major-party candidate since Richard Nixon has voluntarily made at least summaries of their tax information available to the public. Trump bucked that trend as a candidate and as president, repeatedly asserting that his taxes were “under audit” and couldn’t be released.Trump’s lawyers were repeatedly denied in their quest to keep his tax returns from the House committee. A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-personal-taxes-congress-government-and-politics-386ef94dc8c41c75ea77d02d36afe446">three-judge federal appeals court panel in August</a>&nbsp;upheld a lower-court ruling granting the committee access.Trump’s lawyers also tried and failed to block the Manhattan district attorney’s office from getting Trump’s tax records as part of its investigation into his business practices, losing twice in the Supreme Court.Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, testified at the Trump Organization’s recent Manhattan criminal trial that Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-manhattan-donald-trump-896e245936aaf71d26b1c29c0070c8eb">reported losses on his tax returns every year</a>&nbsp;for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010.Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Trump’s personal tax returns, said Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through the Trump Organization.The Trump Organization was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-new-york-manhattan-donald-trump-government-and-politics-86177401a887c85ab50d8b78eb1ed397">convicted earlier this month</a>&nbsp;on tax fraud charges for helping some executives dodge taxes on company-paid perks such as apartments and luxury cars.___

Read 6-years of former President Trump's tax returns 

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The major questions doctrine holds that courts should not defer to agency statutory interpretations that concern questions of "vast economic or political significance."

In late June, the Supreme Court issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf">ruling</a>&nbsp;stating that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot put state-level caps on carbon emissions under the 1970 Clean Air Act, calling that a 'major question'.

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka. McEowen notes that this is a case where the administration at the time tried to make changes without asking Congress.

"What this was, was an attempt by the Obama EPA to basically rewrite and say, we're going to just shift to regulating out of existence coal-fired plants, fossil fuel generated electricity and we're going to regulate them out. They were doing this by regulation, so this would never come up for a vote in Congress and people wouldn't see it. It would just happen."

Now the follow up to the use of the&nbsp;major questions doctrine is, naturally, how do you define what a major question is?

"What the regulatory body is trying to do, when does it impact the entire economy?" McEowen said. "Of course, the Supreme Court doesn't tell us that. They just decide that on a case by case basis. Here they said that changing the manner in which energy is produced is national. That was kind of an easy one for them. There will be harder questions that will come up in the future, because the various administrations and agencies will try to push the envelope."

One area that will be constantly monitored by lawyers is that of the Waters of the U.S. rule, because the regulation of waterways will likely always be a source of contention for as long as humans need clean water to drink and plants and animals need water to survive. The two agencies tasked with figuring out how to interpret WOTUS are the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.&nbsp;

"There's a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on this out of Idaho," McEowen said. "That was also argued in October. We will probably see an opinion, I'm thinking February or March on this, to again try to define what a water of the United States is that gives the federal government jurisdiction to regulate it. It's a huge issue for agriculture, because we use a lot of water in agriculture for irrigation purposes, for livestock watering purposes. We don't want to have a puddle in a farm field defined as a wetland that the government can regulate, because that impacts farming activities."

In this particular case, the court appears to be looking to decide what test it should use to apply the WOTUS portion of the Clean Water Act, rather than calling it a major question that needs further clarification from Congress, even though almost every living thing uses water.

However, Congress could clarify future applications of law more generally if they would take up large concepts like air and water as a legislative body on a regular basis, at least once per Presidential Administration, rather than leaving it to courts and agencies to fight, or choose not to, based on who is in the White House.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584977157818.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — The major questions doctrine holds that courts should not defer to agency statutory interpretations that concern questions of "vast economic or political significance."In late June, the Supreme Court issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1530_n758.pdf">ruling</a>&nbsp;stating that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot put state-level caps on carbon emissions under the 1970 Clean Air Act, calling that a 'major question'.Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka. McEowen notes that this is a case where the administration at the time tried to make changes without asking Congress."What this was, was an attempt by the Obama EPA to basically rewrite and say, we're going to just shift to regulating out of existence coal-fired plants, fossil fuel generated electricity and we're going to regulate them out. They were doing this by regulation, so this would never come up for a vote in Congress and people wouldn't see it. It would just happen."Now the follow up to the use of the&nbsp;major questions doctrine is, naturally, how do you define what a major question is?"What the regulatory body is trying to do, when does it impact the entire economy?" McEowen said. "Of course, the Supreme Court doesn't tell us that. They just decide that on a case by case basis. Here they said that changing the manner in which energy is produced is national. That was kind of an easy one for them. There will be harder questions that will come up in the future, because the various administrations and agencies will try to push the envelope."One area that will be constantly monitored by lawyers is that of the Waters of the U.S. rule, because the regulation of waterways will likely always be a source of contention for as long as humans need clean water to drink and plants and animals need water to survive. The two agencies tasked with figuring out how to interpret WOTUS are the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers.&nbsp;"There's a case before the U.S. Supreme Court on this out of Idaho," McEowen said. "That was also argued in October. We will probably see an opinion, I'm thinking February or March on this, to again try to define what a water of the United States is that gives the federal government jurisdiction to regulate it. It's a huge issue for agriculture, because we use a lot of water in agriculture for irrigation purposes, for livestock watering purposes. We don't want to have a puddle in a farm field defined as a wetland that the government can regulate, because that impacts farming activities."In this particular case, the court appears to be looking to decide what test it should use to apply the WOTUS portion of the Clean Water Act, rather than calling it a major question that needs further clarification from Congress, even though almost every living thing uses water.However, Congress could clarify future applications of law more generally if they would take up large concepts like air and water as a legislative body on a regular basis, at least once per Presidential Administration, rather than leaving it to courts and agencies to fight, or choose not to, based on who is in the White House.

Washburn Ag Law Prof: EPA questions continue before Supreme Court

JACKSON COUNTY— A Kansas City man charged in the October double-murder of Chantell Gipson and Austin Scott is now in custody, according to a statement from Kansas City Police.

Glenn A. Pulluaim II, 28, faces two Murder 1st Degree charges and two Armed Criminal Action charges, according to Jackson County. Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

According to court records, on Oct. 17, Kansas City police&nbsp; were dispatched to the 8700 block of Chestnut Circle to check on the welfare of an individual. 

Inside an apartment, police officers found the body of Chantell Gipson. She had been shot. In another bedroom they found the second victim, Austin Scott, Gipson's cousin. 

Witnesses helped identify Pulluaiam. His DNA profile was founnd&nbsp; on spent shells found at the crime scene.

Pulluaim fled the scene im the victim's vehicle. Police recovered the vehicle and have exhausted all leads in an attempted to find him until Thursday.&nbsp; Police have released no additional details on the arrest.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671103315937.png" alt="Pulluaim-photo KCPD" />
 <figcaption>Pulluaim-photo KCPD</figcaption>
 </figure>JACKSON COUNTY— A Kansas City man charged in the October double-murder of Chantell Gipson and Austin Scott is now in custody, according to a statement from Kansas City Police.Glenn A. Pulluaim II, 28, faces two Murder 1st Degree charges and two Armed Criminal Action charges, according to Jackson County. Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.According to court records, on Oct. 17, Kansas City police&nbsp; were dispatched to the 8700 block of Chestnut Circle to check on the welfare of an individual. Inside an apartment, police officers found the body of Chantell Gipson. She had been shot. In another bedroom they found the second victim, Austin Scott, Gipson's cousin. Witnesses helped identify Pulluaiam. His DNA profile was founnd&nbsp; on spent shells found at the crime scene.Pulluaim fled the scene im the victim's vehicle. Police recovered the vehicle and have exhausted all leads in an attempted to find him until Thursday.&nbsp; Police have released no additional details on the arrest.

Police catch man wanted for double-murder in Kansas City

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-committee-final-report-trump-bcfea6162fe9cfa0d120e86d069af0e4">The House Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;has dropped its subpoena against former President Donald Trump as it wraps up work and prepares to dissolve next week.

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democratic chairman, wrote in a letter to Trump lawyer David Warrington on Wednesday that he is formally withdrawing the subpoena.

“As you may know, the Select Committee has concluded its hearings, released its final report and will very soon reach its end,” Thompson wrote. “In light of the imminent end of our investigation, the Select Committee can no longer pursue the specific information covered by the subpoena.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-subpoena-jan-6-committee-2d63a2ba74c1874ef6ef0d8ae6d788c1">The committee had voted to subpoena Trump</a>&nbsp;during its final televised hearing before the midterm elections in October, demanding testimony and documents from the former president as it has investigated his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat.

<a href="https://cdn.nucleusfiles.com/27/27b7896f-01c5-4609-93c7-742e5cb22e96/830-am-final-january-6th-committee-letter14446.pdf?utm_medium=email_hf&amp;utm_source=ncl__&amp;utm_campaign=20221014___sa&amp;utm_content=__6167&amp;_nlid=test123&amp;_nhids=TEST">CLICK here to read</a>&nbsp;the full letter Trump sent in October to the Jan. 6 committee&nbsp;

Lawmakers on the panel have acknowledged the subpoena would be difficult to enforce, especially as Republicans are poised to take over the House in January. But the move had political and symbolic value.

“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chairwoman and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee, said at the time. “And every American is entitled to those answers.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-lawsuits-subpoenas-congress-d4318c5a2622f8f973b966e834a5631e">Trump then sued the panel</a>&nbsp;in November to avoid cooperating. The lawsuit contended that while former presidents have voluntarily agreed to provide testimony or documents in response to congressional subpoenas in the past, “no president or former president has ever been compelled to do so.”

The committee’s request for documents was sweeping, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups. Trump’s attorneys said it was overly broad and framed it as an infringement of his First Amendment rights.

While the panel never gained Trump's testimony, the committee interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including most of his closest White House aides and allies. Many of those witnesses provided substantive detail about his efforts to sway state legislators, federal officials and lawmakers to help him overturn his defeat. And White House aides who were with him on Jan. 6 told the panel about his resistance to tell the violent mob of his supporters to leave the Capitol after they had broken in and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

In its final report issued last week, the committee concluded that Trump engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to upend the 2020 election and failed to act on the violence. The panel also recommended that the Justice Department investigate the former president for four separate crimes, including aiding an insurrection.

On social media Wednesday evening, Trump and his lawyers construed the move as a victory. “They probably did so because they knew I did nothing wrong, or they were about to lose in Court,” Trump wrote on his social media site. He called the panel “political Thugs.”

On Twitter, Trump lawyer Harmeet Dhillon said the panel had “waved the white flag."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665779973146.png" alt="-Former President Trump as shown from Dec. 2, 2020, in the Jan. 6 committee hearing video&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>-Former President Trump as shown from Dec. 2, 2020, in the Jan. 6 committee hearing video&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-committee-final-report-trump-bcfea6162fe9cfa0d120e86d069af0e4">The House Jan. 6 committee</a>&nbsp;has dropped its subpoena against former President Donald Trump as it wraps up work and prepares to dissolve next week.Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the committee's Democratic chairman, wrote in a letter to Trump lawyer David Warrington on Wednesday that he is formally withdrawing the subpoena.“As you may know, the Select Committee has concluded its hearings, released its final report and will very soon reach its end,” Thompson wrote. “In light of the imminent end of our investigation, the Select Committee can no longer pursue the specific information covered by the subpoena.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665779185751.png" alt="Trump's response to the Jan. 6 panel following the Oct. subpoena vote" />
 <figcaption>Trump's response to the Jan. 6 panel following the Oct. subpoena vote</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-subpoena-jan-6-committee-2d63a2ba74c1874ef6ef0d8ae6d788c1">The committee had voted to subpoena Trump</a>&nbsp;during its final televised hearing before the midterm elections in October, demanding testimony and documents from the former president as it has investigated his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection and efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat.<a href="https://cdn.nucleusfiles.com/27/27b7896f-01c5-4609-93c7-742e5cb22e96/830-am-final-january-6th-committee-letter14446.pdf?utm_medium=email_hf&amp;utm_source=ncl__&amp;utm_campaign=20221014___sa&amp;utm_content=__6167&amp;_nlid=test123&amp;_nhids=TEST">CLICK here to read</a>&nbsp;the full letter Trump sent in October to the Jan. 6 committee&nbsp;Lawmakers on the panel have acknowledged the subpoena would be difficult to enforce, especially as Republicans are poised to take over the House in January. But the move had political and symbolic value.“We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion,” Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice chairwoman and one of two Republicans on the nine-member committee, said at the time. “And every American is entitled to those answers.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-lawsuits-subpoenas-congress-d4318c5a2622f8f973b966e834a5631e">Trump then sued the panel</a>&nbsp;in November to avoid cooperating. The lawsuit contended that while former presidents have voluntarily agreed to provide testimony or documents in response to congressional subpoenas in the past, “no president or former president has ever been compelled to do so.”The committee’s request for documents was sweeping, including personal communications between Trump and members of Congress as well as extremist groups. Trump’s attorneys said it was overly broad and framed it as an infringement of his First Amendment rights.While the panel never gained Trump's testimony, the committee interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses, including most of his closest White House aides and allies. Many of those witnesses provided substantive detail about his efforts to sway state legislators, federal officials and lawmakers to help him overturn his defeat. And White House aides who were with him on Jan. 6 told the panel about his resistance to tell the violent mob of his supporters to leave the Capitol after they had broken in and interrupted the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.In its final report issued last week, the committee concluded that Trump engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to upend the 2020 election and failed to act on the violence. The panel also recommended that the Justice Department investigate the former president for four separate crimes, including aiding an insurrection.On social media Wednesday evening, Trump and his lawyers construed the move as a victory. “They probably did so because they knew I did nothing wrong, or they were about to lose in Court,” Trump wrote on his social media site. He called the panel “political Thugs.”On Twitter, Trump lawyer Harmeet Dhillon said the panel had “waved the white flag."

Jan. 6 panel drops Trump subpoena as it wraps up work

DALLAS (AP) — Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered another wave of canceled flights Thursday, and pressure grows on the federal government to help customers get reimbursed for unexpected expenses they incurred because of the airline’s meltdown.

Exhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded. The airline’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal.

Southwest Airlines has opened a self-service tool to help travelers impacted by their travel disruptions.

If your flight has been significantly delayed or canceled, <a href="https://www.southwest.com/traveldisruption/?clk=CALLVOLUME_HPHERO_221227&amp;fbclid=IwAR0SKcCpcT6GdozvyXMNGoSsL0whMtEGvrkElL-G4dZYjrwheCbUTZuAbuI">click here </a>to request a refund and other services you are entitled to.

Adontis Barber, a 34-year-old jazz pianist from Kansas City had camped out in the city’s airport since his Southwest flight was canceled Saturday, hoping to reach a New Year's gig in Washington, D.C.

He left his airport vigil Wednesday. “I give up,” he said. “I’m starting to feel homeless.”

By early afternoon on the East Coast, about 90% of all canceled flights Wednesday in the U.S. were on Southwest, according to the FlightAware tracking service.

Other airlines recovered from ferocious winter storms that hit large swaths of the country over the weekend, but not Southwest, which scrubbed 2,500 flights Wednesday and 2,300 more on Thursday.

The Dallas airline was undone by a combination of factors including an antiquated crew-scheduling system and a network design that allows cancellations in one region to cascade throughout the country rapidly. Those weaknesses are not new — they helped cause a similar failure by Southwest in October 2021.

The U.S. Transportation Department is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline. A Senate committee promises to investigate too.

In a video that Southwest posted late Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to be “back on track before next week.”

“We have some real work to do in making this right,” said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. “For now, I want you to know that we are committed to that.”

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said that “meltdown” was the only word he could think of to describe this week’s events at Southwest. He noted that while cancellations across the rest of the industry declined to about 4% of scheduled flights, they remained above 60% at Southwest.

From the high rate of cancellations to customers’ inability to reach Southwest on the phone, the airline’s performance has been unacceptable, Buttigieg said. He vowed to hold the airline accountable and push it to reimburse travelers.

“They need to make sure that those stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are provided adequate compensation,” including for missed flights, hotels and meals, he said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Robert Mann, an aviation consultant and former airline executive, said the Transportation Department could force Southwest to pay refunds for all flights that were canceled for reasons within the airline’s control, such as lack of crews. He estimated that could total 6,000 cancellations affecting 1 million customers and adding up to $300 million.

Since Southwest plans to pay $428 million in shareholder dividends next month, “the numbers are not life-threatening, although brand damage has been done,” Mann said.

Some consumer advocates are skeptical the government will punish Southwest.

William McGee, a travel expert at the American Economic Liberties Project, noted that the Transportation Department fined Frontier Airlines and several foreign carriers for slow refunds early in the pandemic but didn't touch the four biggest U.S. airlines.

“What Pete Buttigieg should do and what he will do are probably two different things,” McGee said. His group wants a change in federal law that would make it easier for states and private parties to sue airlines for harming consumers.

On its website, Southwest told customers affected by canceled or delayed flights between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 to submit receipts. The airline said, "We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation.”

Navy physician Lt. Cmdr. Manoj Mathew said after spending hours on hold over two days Southwest reimbursed him for the first leg of his family's trip from Washington to Houston — they drove through terrible weather after the Dec. 23 flight was canceled. Now he is worried whether Southwest will operate the return flight Sunday.

“I’m trying to reach other airlines,” he said. “There are no flights, plus it’s very expensive for us.”

Delta Air Lines said it was capping last-minute fares in Southwest markets through the weekend, and American Airlines said it too was limiting fares in “select” cities. Neither provided figures.

Leaders of Southwest labor unions have warned for years that the airline’s crew-scheduling system, which dates to the 1990s, was not keeping up as the route map grew more complicated.

“The fact is this is not the same airline that (Southwest co-founder) Herb Kelleher built where planes went point-to-point,” Randy Barnes, president of the union that represents Southwest ground workers, said Wednesday. “If airline managers had planned better, the meltdown we’ve witnessed in recent days could have been lessened or averted.”

The other large U.S. airlines use “hub and spoke” networks in which flights radiate out from a few major or hub airports. That helps limit the reach of disruptions caused by bad weather in part of the country.

Southwest, however, has a “point-to-point” network in which planes crisscross the country during the day. This can increase the utilization and efficiency of each plane, but problems in one place can ripple across the country and leave crews trapped out of position. (Crews can be stranded at hub-and-spoke airlines too.)

Those issues don't explain all the complaints that stranded travelers made about Southwest, including no ability to reach the airline on the phone and a lack of help with hotels and meals.

Teal Williams, a 48-year-old active-duty Army reservist from Utah, was stuck at the Denver airport with her husband and two teenage kids on Christmas Day after their flight to Des Moines, Iowa, was canceled. She said Southwest employees had no information about flights and didn’t offer food vouchers while elderly passengers sat in wheelchairs for hours and mothers ran out of formula for their infants.

“It was just imploding, and no one could tell you anything,” Williams said. The airline employees “were desperately trying to help, but you could tell they were just as clueless as everybody else... it was scary.”

Unable to find plane, train or bus seats, Williams and her family felt lucky to score a rental car. They drove 12 hours to Iowa.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672320886223.png" alt="The U.S. Transportation Department is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline.-photo courtesy KMBC" />
 <figcaption>The U.S. Transportation Department is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline.-photo courtesy KMBC</figcaption>
 </figure>DALLAS (AP) — Travelers who counted on Southwest Airlines to get them home suffered another wave of canceled flights Thursday, and pressure grows on the federal government to help customers get reimbursed for unexpected expenses they incurred because of the airline’s meltdown.Exhausted Southwest travelers tried finding seats on other airlines or renting cars to get to their destination, but many remained stranded. The airline’s CEO said it could be next week before the flight schedule returns to normal.Southwest Airlines has opened a self-service tool to help travelers impacted by their travel disruptions.If your flight has been significantly delayed or canceled, <a href="https://www.southwest.com/traveldisruption/?clk=CALLVOLUME_HPHERO_221227&amp;fbclid=IwAR0SKcCpcT6GdozvyXMNGoSsL0whMtEGvrkElL-G4dZYjrwheCbUTZuAbuI">click here </a>to request a refund and other services you are entitled to.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We’ve let our Customers and Employees down, and we pledge to do everything we can to make it right. If you still need assistance rearranging your travel, getting a refund, or tracking down your luggage, please visit <a href="https://t.co/II3YgdPy7J">https://t.co/II3YgdPy7J</a>. <a href="https://t.co/64Fdt8jJPn">pic.twitter.com/64Fdt8jJPn</a>&mdash; Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/1608303039181647873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Adontis Barber, a 34-year-old jazz pianist from Kansas City had camped out in the city’s airport since his Southwest flight was canceled Saturday, hoping to reach a New Year's gig in Washington, D.C.He left his airport vigil Wednesday. “I give up,” he said. “I’m starting to feel homeless.”By early afternoon on the East Coast, about 90% of all canceled flights Wednesday in the U.S. were on Southwest, according to the FlightAware tracking service.Other airlines recovered from ferocious winter storms that hit large swaths of the country over the weekend, but not Southwest, which scrubbed 2,500 flights Wednesday and 2,300 more on Thursday.The Dallas airline was undone by a combination of factors including an antiquated crew-scheduling system and a network design that allows cancellations in one region to cascade throughout the country rapidly. Those weaknesses are not new — they helped cause a similar failure by Southwest in October 2021.The U.S. Transportation Department is now investigating what happened at Southwest, which carries more passengers within the United States than any other airline. A Senate committee promises to investigate too.In a video that Southwest posted late Tuesday, CEO Robert Jordan said Southwest would operate a reduced schedule for several days but hoped to be “back on track before next week.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">On the heels of wide-scale disruptions, we&#39;re working diligently to Safely recover our operation &amp; accommodate displaced Customers &amp; Crews. We know this is unacceptable &amp; sincerely apologize. If your travel was impacted, explore self-service options here: <a href="https://t.co/B6L8HR9Yqc">https://t.co/B6L8HR9Yqc</a> <a href="https://t.co/mLWndYMned">pic.twitter.com/mLWndYMned</a>&mdash; Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/1607905087074013185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“We have some real work to do in making this right,” said Jordan, a 34-year Southwest veteran who became CEO in February. “For now, I want you to know that we are committed to that.”Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has criticized airlines for previous disruptions, said that “meltdown” was the only word he could think of to describe this week’s events at Southwest. He noted that while cancellations across the rest of the industry declined to about 4% of scheduled flights, they remained above 60% at Southwest.From the high rate of cancellations to customers’ inability to reach Southwest on the phone, the airline’s performance has been unacceptable, Buttigieg said. He vowed to hold the airline accountable and push it to reimburse travelers.“They need to make sure that those stranded passengers get to where they need to go and that they are provided adequate compensation,” including for missed flights, hotels and meals, he said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”Robert Mann, an aviation consultant and former airline executive, said the Transportation Department could force Southwest to pay refunds for all flights that were canceled for reasons within the airline’s control, such as lack of crews. He estimated that could total 6,000 cancellations affecting 1 million customers and adding up to $300 million.Since Southwest plans to pay $428 million in shareholder dividends next month, “the numbers are not life-threatening, although brand damage has been done,” Mann said.Some consumer advocates are skeptical the government will punish Southwest.William McGee, a travel expert at the American Economic Liberties Project, noted that the Transportation Department fined Frontier Airlines and several foreign carriers for slow refunds early in the pandemic but didn't touch the four biggest U.S. airlines.“What Pete Buttigieg should do and what he will do are probably two different things,” McGee said. His group wants a change in federal law that would make it easier for states and private parties to sue airlines for harming consumers.On its website, Southwest told customers affected by canceled or delayed flights between Dec. 24 and Jan. 2 to submit receipts. The airline said, "We will honor reasonable requests for reimbursement for meals, hotel, and alternate transportation.”Navy physician Lt. Cmdr. Manoj Mathew said after spending hours on hold over two days Southwest reimbursed him for the first leg of his family's trip from Washington to Houston — they drove through terrible weather after the Dec. 23 flight was canceled. Now he is worried whether Southwest will operate the return flight Sunday.“I’m trying to reach other airlines,” he said. “There are no flights, plus it’s very expensive for us.”Delta Air Lines said it was capping last-minute fares in Southwest markets through the weekend, and American Airlines said it too was limiting fares in “select” cities. Neither provided figures.Leaders of Southwest labor unions have warned for years that the airline’s crew-scheduling system, which dates to the 1990s, was not keeping up as the route map grew more complicated.“The fact is this is not the same airline that (Southwest co-founder) Herb Kelleher built where planes went point-to-point,” Randy Barnes, president of the union that represents Southwest ground workers, said Wednesday. “If airline managers had planned better, the meltdown we’ve witnessed in recent days could have been lessened or averted.”The other large U.S. airlines use “hub and spoke” networks in which flights radiate out from a few major or hub airports. That helps limit the reach of disruptions caused by bad weather in part of the country.Southwest, however, has a “point-to-point” network in which planes crisscross the country during the day. This can increase the utilization and efficiency of each plane, but problems in one place can ripple across the country and leave crews trapped out of position. (Crews can be stranded at hub-and-spoke airlines too.)Those issues don't explain all the complaints that stranded travelers made about Southwest, including no ability to reach the airline on the phone and a lack of help with hotels and meals.Teal Williams, a 48-year-old active-duty Army reservist from Utah, was stuck at the Denver airport with her husband and two teenage kids on Christmas Day after their flight to Des Moines, Iowa, was canceled. She said Southwest employees had no information about flights and didn’t offer food vouchers while elderly passengers sat in wheelchairs for hours and mothers ran out of formula for their infants.“It was just imploding, and no one could tell you anything,” Williams said. The airline employees “were desperately trying to help, but you could tell they were just as clueless as everybody else... it was scary.”Unable to find plane, train or bus seats, Williams and her family felt lucky to score a rental car. They drove 12 hours to Iowa.

🎥 Airline offers self-service tool as travel nightmare continues

WASHINGTON (AP) —The U.S. announced new COVID-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travelers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.

The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation's strict anti-virus controls. China's “zero COVID” policies had kept the country's infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.

The new U.S. requirements, which start Jan. 5, apply to travelers regardless of their nationality and vaccination status.

In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p1228-COVID-china.html">statement explaining the testing</a>, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of adequate and transparent information from China, including genomic sequencing on the viral strains circulating in the country.

“These data are critical to monitor the case surge effectively and decrease the chance for entry of a novel variant of concern,” the CDC said.

Some scientists are worried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-china-covid-306b688d84e31a9462f82d0ead1f4584">the COVID-19 surge in China could unleash a new coronavirus variant</a>&nbsp;on the world that may or may not be similar to the ones circulating now. That’s because every infection is another chance for the virus to mutate.

“What we want to avoid is having a variant enter into the U.S. and spread like we saw with delta or omicron,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

But the CDC's action may be less about stopping a new variant from crossing U.S. borders and more about increasing pressure on China to share more information, said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, adding he hopes the restrictions "aren’t kept in place longer than they need to be.”

“I don’t think it’s going to have a major impact in slowing the spread of COVID-19,” Dowdy said. “We have a whole lot of transmission of COVID-19 here within our borders already.”

Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, agreed China isn't sharing enough genomic sequencing information. But he also said the U.S. has become a little complacent about sequencing and needs to redouble its own efforts. The CDC also announced the expansion of an early warning program that tests volunteers at select airports for new and rare variants of the coronavirus. That program will expand to airports in Seattle and Los Angeles.

Under the new U.S. rules, travelers to the U.S. from China, Hong Kong and Macau, will be required to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative test before boarding their flight. The testing applies to anyone 2 years and older, including U.S. citizens.

It will apply to people traveling from China via a third country and to people connecting through the U.S. as they go on to other destinations. Anyone testing positive more than 10 days before the flight can provide documentation showing they’ve recovered from COVID-19 instead of a negative test result.

It will be up to the airlines to confirm negative tests and documentation of recovery before passengers board.

Other countries have taken similar steps in an effort to keep infections from spreading beyond China's borders. Japan will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travelers from China, and Malaysia announced new tracking and surveillance measures. India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan are requiring virus tests for visitors from China.

Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22, is usually China's busiest travel season, and China announced Tuesday it will resume issuing passports for tourism for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020.

“We look forward to welcoming Chinese travelers back to the United States,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a statement. He called the U.S. approach to testing inbound travelers “reasonable and appreciated.”

The U.S. action is a return to testing requirements for some international travelers. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-travel-government-and-politics-air-af509c58df1c931caac6ecf957ea1aed">Biden administration lifted the last of such mandates in June</a>. At that time, the CDC continued to recommend that people boarding flights to the U.S. get tested close to departure time and not travel if they are sick.

“We’ve done this before. We can do it again,” Dowdy said.

Early in the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-9e22f8aabe2f454593b9f9b4c67eb31f">the U.S. barred entry to foreigners traveling from China,</a>&nbsp;weeks after the virus first emerged there three years ago, and dozens of other countries were added to the list. The country started lifting travel bans late last year, but required travelers to the U.S. to be vaccinated and tested.&nbsp;

BEIJING (AP) — China says it will resume issuing passports for tourism in another big step away from anti-virus controls that isolated the country for almost three years, setting up a potential flood of Chinese going abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday.

WASHINGTON (AP) —The U.S. announced new COVID-19 testing requirements Wednesday for all travelers from China, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation's strict anti-virus controls. China's “zero COVID” policies had kept the country's infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.The new U.S. requirements, which start Jan. 5, apply to travelers regardless of their nationality and vaccination status.In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p1228-COVID-china.html">statement explaining the testing</a>, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of adequate and transparent information from China, including genomic sequencing on the viral strains circulating in the country.“These data are critical to monitor the case surge effectively and decrease the chance for entry of a novel variant of concern,” the CDC said.Some scientists are worried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-china-covid-306b688d84e31a9462f82d0ead1f4584">the COVID-19 surge in China could unleash a new coronavirus variant</a>&nbsp;on the world that may or may not be similar to the ones circulating now. That’s because every infection is another chance for the virus to mutate.“What we want to avoid is having a variant enter into the U.S. and spread like we saw with delta or omicron,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.But the CDC's action may be less about stopping a new variant from crossing U.S. borders and more about increasing pressure on China to share more information, said Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, adding he hopes the restrictions "aren’t kept in place longer than they need to be.”“I don’t think it’s going to have a major impact in slowing the spread of COVID-19,” Dowdy said. “We have a whole lot of transmission of COVID-19 here within our borders already.”Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, agreed China isn't sharing enough genomic sequencing information. But he also said the U.S. has become a little complacent about sequencing and needs to redouble its own efforts. The CDC also announced the expansion of an early warning program that tests volunteers at select airports for new and rare variants of the coronavirus. That program will expand to airports in Seattle and Los Angeles.Under the new U.S. rules, travelers to the U.S. from China, Hong Kong and Macau, will be required to take a COVID-19 test no more than two days before travel and provide a negative test before boarding their flight. The testing applies to anyone 2 years and older, including U.S. citizens.It will apply to people traveling from China via a third country and to people connecting through the U.S. as they go on to other destinations. Anyone testing positive more than 10 days before the flight can provide documentation showing they’ve recovered from COVID-19 instead of a negative test result.It will be up to the airlines to confirm negative tests and documentation of recovery before passengers board.Other countries have taken similar steps in an effort to keep infections from spreading beyond China's borders. Japan will require a negative COVID-19 test upon arrival for travelers from China, and Malaysia announced new tracking and surveillance measures. India, Italy, South Korea and Taiwan are requiring virus tests for visitors from China.Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22, is usually China's busiest travel season, and China announced Tuesday it will resume issuing passports for tourism for the first time since the start of the pandemic in 2020.“We look forward to welcoming Chinese travelers back to the United States,” U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Geoff Freeman said in a statement. He called the U.S. approach to testing inbound travelers “reasonable and appreciated.”The U.S. action is a return to testing requirements for some international travelers. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-travel-government-and-politics-air-af509c58df1c931caac6ecf957ea1aed">Biden administration lifted the last of such mandates in June</a>. At that time, the CDC continued to recommend that people boarding flights to the U.S. get tested close to departure time and not travel if they are sick.“We’ve done this before. We can do it again,” Dowdy said.Early in the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-virus-outbreak-9e22f8aabe2f454593b9f9b4c67eb31f">the U.S. barred entry to foreigners traveling from China,</a>&nbsp;weeks after the virus first emerged there three years ago, and dozens of other countries were added to the list. The country started lifting travel bans late last year, but required travelers to the U.S. to be vaccinated and tested.&nbsp;------------BEIJING (AP) — China says it will resume issuing passports for tourism in another big step away from anti-virus controls that isolated the country for almost three years, setting up a potential flood of Chinese going abroad for next month’s Lunar New Year holiday.The announcement Tuesday adds to abrupt changes that are rolling back some of the world’s strictest anti-virus controls as President Xi Jinping's government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/floods-health-business-beijing-covid-f0253b7a9a888a56835cb9bb09364b2d">tries to reverse an economic slump.</a>&nbsp;Rules that confined millions of people to their homes kept China’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.The latest decision could send free-spending Chinese tourists to revenue-starved destinations in Asia and Europe for Lunar New Year, which begins Jan. 22 and usually is the country's busiest travel season. But it also presents a danger they might spread COVID-19 as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-covid-d0718b53ded7fb1a70c2db8e564ed072">infections surge in China.</a>Travel services companies Trip.com and Qunar said international ticket bookings and searches for visa information on their websites rose five to eight times after Tuesday's announcement. Top destinations included Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States, Britain and Australia.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-japan-covid-0935f496eea6a5be28ae0fc5f8a44ea7">Japan, India, South Korea and Taiwan</a>&nbsp;have responded to the Chinese wave of infections by requiring virus tests for visitors from China.China stopped issuing visas to foreigners and passports to its own people at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.The National Immigration Administration of China said it will start taking applications Jan. 8 for passports for tourists to go abroad.The agency said it will take applications to extend, renew or reissue visas but gave no indication when they might be issued to first-time applicants.China will “gradually resume” admitting foreign visitors, the agency said. It gave no indication when tourist travel from abroad might resume.The changes will “create better conditions for orderly cross-border travel" and "bring more benefits to global economic development,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin.China will “work with all countries” to “restore safety and stability to global industrial and supply chains and promote world economic recovery,” Wang said.Health experts and economists expect the ruling Communist Party to keep limits on travel into China until at least mid-2023 while it carries out a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-china-beijing-covid-0ad4ad8851cb1cea47a67abd16024c15">campaign to vaccinate millions of elderly people.</a>&nbsp;Experts say that is necessary to prevent a public health crisis.During the pandemic, Chinese with family emergencies or work travel deemed important could obtain passports, but some students and businesspeople with visas to go to foreign countries were blocked by border guards from leaving. The handful of foreign businesspeople and others who were allowed into China were quarantined for up to one week.Before the pandemic, China was the biggest source of foreign tourists for most of its Asian neighbors and an important market for Europe and the United States.The government has dropped or eased most quarantine, testing and other restrictions within China, joining the United States, Japan and other governments in trying to live with the virus instead of stamping out transmission.Japan and India have begun requiring virus tests for travelers from China. South Korea tests all visitors with elevated temperatures. South Korea says anyone who tests positive will be quarantined at home or in a hotel for a week.South Korean officials said possible additional measures for arrivals from China will be announced Friday.U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to relate internal discussions, said Washington is considering taking similar steps.Taiwan on Wednesday announced visitors from China will be tested starting Jan. 1.Hong Kong authorities said Wednesday they would scrap some of the city's COVID-19 restrictions, including PCR tests for all inbound travelers and vaccination requirements to enter certain venues. The easing comes as the southern city prepares for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-health-china-beijing-xi-jinping-ec64078ae99587e02ff5e91c5f0cf490">reopening of borders with mainland China next month.</a>On Monday, the Chinese government said it would remove&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-business-china-covid-ce7061b5d5c1782eefc1f05c79ddd835">quarantine requirements for travelers arriving from abroad,</a>&nbsp;also effective Jan. 8. Foreign companies welcomed the change as an important step to revive slumping business activity.Business groups have warned global companies were shifting investment away from China because foreign executives were blocked from visiting.The American Chamber of Commerce in China says more than 70% of companies that responded to a poll this month expect the impact of the latest wave of outbreaks to last no more than three months, ending in early 2023.The government has stopped reporting nationwide case numbers but announcements by some cities indicate at least tens and possibly hundreds of millions of people might have been infected since the surge began in early October.Experts have forecast 1 million to 2 million deaths in China through the end of 2023.Also Monday, the government downgraded the official seriousness of COVID-19 and removed it from a list of illnesses that require quarantine. It said authorities would stop tracking close contacts and designating areas as being at high or low risk of infection.___