WASHINGTON — The Biden administration redesignation of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists went into effect over the weekend, according to the U.S. Department of State.

The move was announced by the White House 30 day ago and comes as the Houthis continue to launch attacks.&nbsp; Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s offensive in Gaza</a>. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.

&nbsp;According to a statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan:

"These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism.&nbsp; They have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized global trade, and threatened freedom of navigation."

"The United States and the international community have been united in our response and in condemning these attacks in the strongest terms."

"The designation was delayed 30 days, to allow us to ensure robust humanitarian carve outs are in place so our action targets the Houthis and not the people of Yemen. We are rolling out unprecedented carve outs and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people," according to Sullivan.

Meanwhile, between 3 and 8:00 p.m. (Sanaa time), Saturday U.S. forces successfully conducted five self-defense strikes against three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), and one unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began in Oct. 23.

CENTCOM identified the anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned underwater vessel, and the unmanned surface vessel in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/10/1698021282699.png" alt="File Sec. of State Antony Blinken and President Biden -photo White House" />
 <figcaption>File Sec. of State Antony Blinken and President Biden -photo White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON — The Biden administration redesignation of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen as specially designated global terrorists went into effect over the weekend, according to the U.S. Department of State.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708226450978.png" alt="The official designation was delayed 30 days for humanitarian reasons." />
 <figcaption>The official designation was delayed 30 days for humanitarian reasons.</figcaption>
 </figure>The move was announced by the White House 30 day ago and comes as the Houthis continue to launch attacks.&nbsp; Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s offensive in Gaza</a>. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.&nbsp;According to a statement from National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan:"These attacks fit the textbook definition of terrorism.&nbsp; They have endangered U.S. personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardized global trade, and threatened freedom of navigation.""The United States and the international community have been united in our response and in condemning these attacks in the strongest terms.""The designation was delayed 30 days, to allow us to ensure robust humanitarian carve outs are in place so our action targets the Houthis and not the people of Yemen. We are rolling out unprecedented carve outs and licenses to help prevent adverse impacts on the Yemeni people," according to Sullivan.Meanwhile, between 3 and 8:00 p.m. (Sanaa time), Saturday U.S. forces successfully conducted five self-defense strikes against three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles, one unmanned underwater vessel (UUV), and one unmanned surface vessel (USV) in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. This is the first observed Houthi employment of a UUV since attacks began in Oct. 23.CENTCOM identified the anti-ship cruise missiles, unmanned underwater vessel, and the unmanned surface vessel in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.&nbsp;

US designation of Houthis as terror group now in effect  

KANSAS CITY (AP) — How much choice is too much?

Apparently for Coca-Cola, it's about 400 different types of drinks.

That's why the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/coca-cola-laying-off-2-200-workers-as-it-pares-brands-e3364940775d662b92f78fb97c8af5da">beverage company recently decided to discontinue half of them</a>, shedding brands like Tab, Zico coconut water, Diet Coke Feisty Cherry and Odwalla juices but still leaving about 200 others to choose from.

It's a move that other businesses are making as well, reducing the variety of offerings from mayonnaise to cereals to cars and instead focusing on what they think will sell best.

Stew Leonard’s, a supermarket chain that operates stores in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, now has 24 cereal flavors or types, down from 49 in 2019. Edgewell Personal Care Co., the maker of Schick razors and Banana Boat suntan lotion, has trimmed certain varieties of its anti-bacteria wipes Wet Ones, among others. And Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, used to stock six different kinds of mayonnaise on its shelves and is now looking to drop a couple of them.

“The consumer is not going to know the difference,” Todd J. Vasos, CEO of Dollar General, told analysts in December. “Actually, it’s going to make her life a little simpler when she goes to the shelf.”

Just a year ago, Kohl's store in Clifton, New Jersey had tables stacked high with sweaters and shirts in a rainbow of colors as well as dress racks crammed with a wide assortment of styles. Now, it boasts a more edited approach — tables have slim piles of knit shirts that focus on fewer colors, and many dress racks have been reduced to just three or four styles.

Under its new CEO Tom Kingsbury, Kohl's has been cutting back on the colors and variations of sweaters, jeans and other items, while sending their buyers into the New York market more frequently to bring in fresh trendy merchandise.

“We would go out, and we would buy a lot of goods and it would come in 12, 14 months later, and it didn’t perform very well,” Kingsbury told analysts in a call in November. “We're going to be using the marketplace, so that we can react to the business quickly, getting into trends.”

“It’s pretty organized,” said Kimberly Ribeiro, 30, who was at the Kohl's store on a recent Friday. “If it’s not so cluttered, then you don’t get overwhelmed.”

Even in the auto world, shoppers are finding fewer choices. Both General Motors and Ford have been touting how they are limiting the number of option combinations customers can get on their vehicles to reduce manufacturing and purchasing complexity.

That's a reversal from a few years ago when there was an explosion of choices, encouraged in part by online shopping that paid no mind to space constraints. But that didn't always lead to sales so companies started pruning selections a year or two before the pandemic.

During the pandemic, the pruning only accelerated, with companies focusing on necessities as they wrestled with supply chain clogs. But even after the pandemic, when goods began moving freely again, many businesses decided less was better and justified the limited selection by asserting shoppers don't want so much choice. It's also more profitable for companies because they're not carrying over as many leftovers that need to be discounted.

Overall, new items accounted for about 2% of products in stores in 2023 across categories such as beauty, footwear, technology and toys, down from 5% of items in 2019, says market-research firm Circana.

Eric O’Toole, president of Edgewell’s North America division, noted the pandemic presented “a really valuable stimulus” for reassessing assortment.

“We avoid jumping on fads, as the supply chain and retailer costs required to support getting to shelf typically don’t generate a return in the end," O'Toole said. "A tighter, more curated portfolio supports healthy profit management. ”

Many think they're also doing shoppers a favor, with studies showing that fewer choices, not lots of variety, actually encourage shoppers to buy more.

In 2000, psychologists Sheena Lyengar and Mark Lepper published a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMCOlPLXb9s">study</a>&nbsp;that showed limited selection is better for the shopper. In their experiment, Lyengar and Lepper found consumers were 10 times more likely to purchase jam on display when the number of jams available was cut down from 24 to 6 even though they were more likely to stop at the display offering more selection. Subsequent studies have confirmed this phenomenon.

“Retailers are recognizing that they have to be respectful of shoppers' time,” said Paco Underhill whose company, Envirosell, studies consumer behavior.

Still, retailers can't just slash products willy-nilly, said David Berliner, who leads the business restructuring and turnaround practice at BDO.

“You want to make these cuts so they’re not even aware of it, and you want the store to still look full," Berliner said. “If you do it too much, you might scare some away."

Berliner also believes reducing variety may also hurt smaller brands who relied on retailers to offer different products — and will send shoppers like Bob Friedland to other competitors.

The 48-year-old communications consultant from Little Falls, New Jersey said that for years, his go-to barbecue sauce has been Open Pit. But Friedland noticed that over the past few years, his local grocers hadn't been carrying it, and he's since turned to Amazon to buy it. That means those local stores not only lost out on Open Pit sales to Friedland. but all the other purchases he used to make while shopping for his favorite barbecue sauce.

“I really don’t love the idea of a retailer telling me what I should and should not be interested in,” Friedland said. “I like variety. I like specific brands.”

KANSAS CITY (AP) — How much choice is too much?Apparently for Coca-Cola, it's about 400 different types of drinks.That's why the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/coca-cola-laying-off-2-200-workers-as-it-pares-brands-e3364940775d662b92f78fb97c8af5da">beverage company recently decided to discontinue half of them</a>, shedding brands like Tab, Zico coconut water, Diet Coke Feisty Cherry and Odwalla juices but still leaving about 200 others to choose from.It's a move that other businesses are making as well, reducing the variety of offerings from mayonnaise to cereals to cars and instead focusing on what they think will sell best.Stew Leonard’s, a supermarket chain that operates stores in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey, now has 24 cereal flavors or types, down from 49 in 2019. Edgewell Personal Care Co., the maker of Schick razors and Banana Boat suntan lotion, has trimmed certain varieties of its anti-bacteria wipes Wet Ones, among others. And Dollar General, based in Goodlettsville, Tennessee, used to stock six different kinds of mayonnaise on its shelves and is now looking to drop a couple of them.“The consumer is not going to know the difference,” Todd J. Vasos, CEO of Dollar General, told analysts in December. “Actually, it’s going to make her life a little simpler when she goes to the shelf.”Just a year ago, Kohl's store in Clifton, New Jersey had tables stacked high with sweaters and shirts in a rainbow of colors as well as dress racks crammed with a wide assortment of styles. Now, it boasts a more edited approach — tables have slim piles of knit shirts that focus on fewer colors, and many dress racks have been reduced to just three or four styles.Under its new CEO Tom Kingsbury, Kohl's has been cutting back on the colors and variations of sweaters, jeans and other items, while sending their buyers into the New York market more frequently to bring in fresh trendy merchandise.“We would go out, and we would buy a lot of goods and it would come in 12, 14 months later, and it didn’t perform very well,” Kingsbury told analysts in a call in November. “We're going to be using the marketplace, so that we can react to the business quickly, getting into trends.”Some customers like the changes so far.“It’s pretty organized,” said Kimberly Ribeiro, 30, who was at the Kohl's store on a recent Friday. “If it’s not so cluttered, then you don’t get overwhelmed.”Even in the auto world, shoppers are finding fewer choices. Both General Motors and Ford have been touting how they are limiting the number of option combinations customers can get on their vehicles to reduce manufacturing and purchasing complexity.That's a reversal from a few years ago when there was an explosion of choices, encouraged in part by online shopping that paid no mind to space constraints. But that didn't always lead to sales so companies started pruning selections a year or two before the pandemic.During the pandemic, the pruning only accelerated, with companies focusing on necessities as they wrestled with supply chain clogs. But even after the pandemic, when goods began moving freely again, many businesses decided less was better and justified the limited selection by asserting shoppers don't want so much choice. It's also more profitable for companies because they're not carrying over as many leftovers that need to be discounted.Overall, new items accounted for about 2% of products in stores in 2023 across categories such as beauty, footwear, technology and toys, down from 5% of items in 2019, says market-research firm Circana.Eric O’Toole, president of Edgewell’s North America division, noted the pandemic presented “a really valuable stimulus” for reassessing assortment.“We avoid jumping on fads, as the supply chain and retailer costs required to support getting to shelf typically don’t generate a return in the end," O'Toole said. "A tighter, more curated portfolio supports healthy profit management. ”Many think they're also doing shoppers a favor, with studies showing that fewer choices, not lots of variety, actually encourage shoppers to buy more.In 2000, psychologists Sheena Lyengar and Mark Lepper published a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMCOlPLXb9s">study</a>&nbsp;that showed limited selection is better for the shopper. In their experiment, Lyengar and Lepper found consumers were 10 times more likely to purchase jam on display when the number of jams available was cut down from 24 to 6 even though they were more likely to stop at the display offering more selection. Subsequent studies have confirmed this phenomenon.“Retailers are recognizing that they have to be respectful of shoppers' time,” said Paco Underhill whose company, Envirosell, studies consumer behavior.Still, retailers can't just slash products willy-nilly, said David Berliner, who leads the business restructuring and turnaround practice at BDO.“You want to make these cuts so they’re not even aware of it, and you want the store to still look full," Berliner said. “If you do it too much, you might scare some away."Berliner also believes reducing variety may also hurt smaller brands who relied on retailers to offer different products — and will send shoppers like Bob Friedland to other competitors.The 48-year-old communications consultant from Little Falls, New Jersey said that for years, his go-to barbecue sauce has been Open Pit. But Friedland noticed that over the past few years, his local grocers hadn't been carrying it, and he's since turned to Amazon to buy it. That means those local stores not only lost out on Open Pit sales to Friedland. but all the other purchases he used to make while shopping for his favorite barbecue sauce.“I really don’t love the idea of a retailer telling me what I should and should not be interested in,” Friedland said. “I like variety. I like specific brands.”

Less is more? Consumers have fewer choices as brands prune their offerings

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As he closes in on the Republican presidential nomination,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump" target="_blank">former President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;made a highly unusual stop Saturday, hawking new Trump-branded sneakers at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.”

Trump was met with loud boos as well as cheers at the Philadelphia Convention Center as he introduced what he called the first official <a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">Trump footwear.</a>

The shoes, shiny gold high tops with an American flag detail on the back, are being sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 on a new <a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">website </a>that also sells other Trump-branded shoes and “Victory47” cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle. He’d be the 47th president if elected again.

<a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">The website says</a> it has no connection to Trump’s campaign, though Trump campaign officials promoted the appearance in online posts.

The unannounced launch came a day after a judge in New York&nbsp;ordered Trump and his company to pay a whopping $355 million in penalties, finding that the former president lied about his wealth for years, scheming to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements.

<a href="https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/452564_2022_PEOPLE_OF_THE_STATE_OF_v_PEOPLE_OF_THE_STATE_OF_DECISION_AFTER_TRIAL_1688-1.pdf">Click here to read&nbsp;</a>the Judge's ruling

That penalty came after Trump was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-defamation-trial-e4ea8b93cdeb29857864ffd8d14be888" target="_blank">ordered to pay an additional $83.3 million</a>&nbsp;to the writer E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault. With interest payments,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-carroll-fines-82d423b8e7a7f9a32470729c5f4410e5" target="_blank">Trump’s legal debts might now exceed a half-billion dollars</a>&nbsp;— an amount it is unclear he can afford to pay.

Trump’s appearance was met with clashing boos from his detractors and chants of “USA!” from supporters who arrived at the sneaker event decked out in Trump gear. The dueling chants made it difficult, at times, to hear Trump speak.

Some had been given signs that read “SNEAKERHEADS LOVE TRUMP.”

“There’s a lot of emotion in this room,” Trump said of the reaction, after holding up and showing off a pair of gold shoes, then placing one on each side of his podium.

“This is something that I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years. And I think it’s going to be a big success,” he said.

As he spoke, the smell of weed occasionally wafted through the room.

Some of those who attended said they were unaware Trump would be there, and continued to shop as a crowd gathered around the stage. Many in the audience said they were not from the city and instead hailed from nearby states and Washington, D.C.

The attendees skewed younger and more diverse than Trump’s usual rally crowds. Trump’s campaign is hoping he will be able to win over more young and minority voters, particularly young Black men, in a likely rematch against President Joe Biden in November.

This isn’t the first money-making venture Trump has announced since launching his third campaign for the White House in 2022. Trump last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-financial-disclosure-filing-social-media-de11cc60d72365b01cc58f790c6005a8" target="_blank">reported making between $100,000 and $1 million from a series of digital trading cards</a>&nbsp;that portrayed him, through photo editing, in a series of cartoon-like images, including as an astronaut, a cowboy and a superhero. He has also released books featuring photos of his time in office and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-new-book-letters-oprah-bolsonaro-17e857db2d7c5f620ce5860f56d93fa0" target="_blank">letters written to him</a>&nbsp;through the years.

Before he ran for office, Trump hawked everything from steaks to vodka to a venture he called “Trump University.”

The new sneaker website says it is run by CIC Ventures LLC, a company that Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure. The website states the new venture “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.”

Still, it describes the sneakers as a limited-edition, numbered “true collector’s item” that is “Bold, gold, and tough, just like President Trump.”

“The Never Surrender sneakers are your rally cry in shoe form,” the description reads. “Lace-up and step out ready to conquer.”

A Trump spokesman did not respond to questions about the event, including whether Trump was paid to attend.

Among those in the crowd were Jonathen Santiago, 21, and Danea Mitchell, 20, Trump supporters who drove from Monroe County in the northeastern part of the state for the sneaker event. They said they were excited to see the former president and praised how he interacted with the crowd. They also had kind words for the sneakers.

“The red bottoms were a really nice touch,” Mitchell said.

She shrugged when asked about Trump’s legal troubles. “I think it’ll be an interesting four years if he’s found guilty, but I have no doubt he’ll be president,” she said.

Also in attendance was a group of “cheer moms” from New Jersey who said they were in town for a cheerleading event and decided to stop by for a chance to see Trump.

Karla Burke, 48, said she heard some people booing and making noise, but that most people around her had been supporters. “At the front was a different vibe,” she said.

As for Friday’s penalty in Trump’s civil fraud trial, Burke said it doesn’t change her support. “I think it was unfair,” she said. “They’re just going after him so he’s not the Republican candidate.”

Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler slammed the appearance, saying: “Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life.”

Trump flew from Philadelphia to Michigan, where he held a rally in the suburbs of Detroit and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-michigan-2024-campaign-fraud-ruling-f264eac7cbba97c4e83919642d42bc97" target="_blank">railed against Friday’s judgment</a>, which he has vowed to appeal. Both Pennsylvania and Michigan are expected to be critical battleground states.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708263577122.png" alt="Photo by Margo Martin, Donald Trump for President Deputy Director of Communications" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Margo Martin, Donald Trump for President Deputy Director of Communications</figcaption>
 </figure>PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As he closes in on the Republican presidential nomination,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump" target="_blank">former President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;made a highly unusual stop Saturday, hawking new Trump-branded sneakers at “Sneaker Con,” a gathering that bills itself as the “The Greatest Sneaker Show on Earth.”Trump was met with loud boos as well as cheers at the Philadelphia Convention Center as he introduced what he called the first official <a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">Trump footwear.</a><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Trump takes the stage at <a href="https://twitter.com/SneakerCon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SneakerCon</a> with GOLD sneakers in hand!! <a href="https://t.co/XUrrmpmxio">pic.twitter.com/XUrrmpmxio</a>&mdash; Margo Martin (@margommartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/margommartin/status/1758958014080438720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The shoes, shiny gold high tops with an American flag detail on the back, are being sold as “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 on a new <a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">website </a>that also sells other Trump-branded shoes and “Victory47” cologne and perfume for $99 a bottle. He’d be the 47th president if elected again.<a href="https://gettrumpsneakers.com/">The website says</a> it has no connection to Trump’s campaign, though Trump campaign officials promoted the appearance in online posts.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">SOLD OUT. The Never Surrender High-Tops are Officially Sold Out. Thank You!<a href="https://t.co/RkMRexkS7w">https://t.co/RkMRexkS7w</a> <a href="https://t.co/vNixKu61R8">pic.twitter.com/vNixKu61R8</a>&mdash; GetTrumpSneakers (@TrumpSneakers) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpSneakers/status/1758986524702429189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The unannounced launch came a day after a judge in New York&nbsp;ordered Trump and his company to pay a whopping $355 million in penalties, finding that the former president lied about his wealth for years, scheming to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements.<a href="https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/452564_2022_PEOPLE_OF_THE_STATE_OF_v_PEOPLE_OF_THE_STATE_OF_DECISION_AFTER_TRIAL_1688-1.pdf">Click here to read&nbsp;</a>the Judge's rulingThat penalty came after Trump was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-carroll-defamation-trial-e4ea8b93cdeb29857864ffd8d14be888" target="_blank">ordered to pay an additional $83.3 million</a>&nbsp;to the writer E. Jean Carroll for damaging her reputation after she accused him of sexual assault. With interest payments,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-carroll-fines-82d423b8e7a7f9a32470729c5f4410e5" target="_blank">Trump’s legal debts might now exceed a half-billion dollars</a>&nbsp;— an amount it is unclear he can afford to pay.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708263707417.png" alt="Photo by Margo Martin, Donald Trump for President Deputy Director of Communications" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Margo Martin, Donald Trump for President Deputy Director of Communications</figcaption>
 </figure>Trump’s appearance was met with clashing boos from his detractors and chants of “USA!” from supporters who arrived at the sneaker event decked out in Trump gear. The dueling chants made it difficult, at times, to hear Trump speak.Some had been given signs that read “SNEAKERHEADS LOVE TRUMP.”“There’s a lot of emotion in this room,” Trump said of the reaction, after holding up and showing off a pair of gold shoes, then placing one on each side of his podium.“This is something that I’ve been talking about for 12 years, 13 years. And I think it’s going to be a big success,” he said.As he spoke, the smell of weed occasionally wafted through the room.Some of those who attended said they were unaware Trump would be there, and continued to shop as a crowd gathered around the stage. Many in the audience said they were not from the city and instead hailed from nearby states and Washington, D.C.The attendees skewed younger and more diverse than Trump’s usual rally crowds. Trump’s campaign is hoping he will be able to win over more young and minority voters, particularly young Black men, in a likely rematch against President Joe Biden in November.This isn’t the first money-making venture Trump has announced since launching his third campaign for the White House in 2022. Trump last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-financial-disclosure-filing-social-media-de11cc60d72365b01cc58f790c6005a8" target="_blank">reported making between $100,000 and $1 million from a series of digital trading cards</a>&nbsp;that portrayed him, through photo editing, in a series of cartoon-like images, including as an astronaut, a cowboy and a superhero. He has also released books featuring photos of his time in office and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-new-book-letters-oprah-bolsonaro-17e857db2d7c5f620ce5860f56d93fa0" target="_blank">letters written to him</a>&nbsp;through the years.Before he ran for office, Trump hawked everything from steaks to vodka to a venture he called “Trump University.”The new sneaker website says it is run by CIC Ventures LLC, a company that Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure. The website states the new venture “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.”Still, it describes the sneakers as a limited-edition, numbered “true collector’s item” that is “Bold, gold, and tough, just like President Trump.”“The Never Surrender sneakers are your rally cry in shoe form,” the description reads. “Lace-up and step out ready to conquer.”A Trump spokesman did not respond to questions about the event, including whether Trump was paid to attend.Among those in the crowd were Jonathen Santiago, 21, and Danea Mitchell, 20, Trump supporters who drove from Monroe County in the northeastern part of the state for the sneaker event. They said they were excited to see the former president and praised how he interacted with the crowd. They also had kind words for the sneakers.“The red bottoms were a really nice touch,” Mitchell said.She shrugged when asked about Trump’s legal troubles. “I think it’ll be an interesting four years if he’s found guilty, but I have no doubt he’ll be president,” she said.Also in attendance was a group of “cheer moms” from New Jersey who said they were in town for a cheerleading event and decided to stop by for a chance to see Trump.Karla Burke, 48, said she heard some people booing and making noise, but that most people around her had been supporters. “At the front was a different vibe,” she said.As for Friday’s penalty in Trump’s civil fraud trial, Burke said it doesn’t change her support. “I think it was unfair,” she said. “They’re just going after him so he’s not the Republican candidate.”Biden-Harris 2024 Communications Director Michael Tyler slammed the appearance, saying: “Donald Trump showing up to hawk bootleg Off-Whites is the closest he’ll get to any Air Force Ones ever again for the rest of his life.”Trump flew from Philadelphia to Michigan, where he held a rally in the suburbs of Detroit and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-michigan-2024-campaign-fraud-ruling-f264eac7cbba97c4e83919642d42bc97" target="_blank">railed against Friday’s judgment</a>, which he has vowed to appeal. Both Pennsylvania and Michigan are expected to be critical battleground states.<h2>___</h2>

Trump hawks $399 shoes after a $355M ruling against him

JERUSALEM (AP) — The families of two Palestinian-American teenagers killed in separate but eerily similar incidents in the West Bank say investigators from the American Embassy have visited their homes to look into the shootings.

Launching American probes into the killings of Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar reflects what appears to be a lack of confidence in the Israeli justice system to properly investigate the cases. Rights groups have long said that Israeli investigations into killings of Palestinians rarely lead to prosecutions, and the State Department has previously called for an “expeditious" and "thorough” Israeli investigation into Abdel Jabbar's killing.

Both shootings happened as the Biden administration signals a desire to crack down on settler violence in the volatile territory.

Khdour, who was born in Hollywood, Florida, was shot last Saturday while driving with a cousin on a hillside in Biddu, the town just outside of Jerusalem where Khdour had lived since the age of 2, relatives said.

Seeking some fresh air after studying, Khdour joined the cousin on a drive to the forested hillside where villagers often barbecued, his brother Hamed Khdour said.

In videos and photos taken before the shooting and seen by The Associated Press, the boys joked around, taking photos of each other for social media and eating chocolate-covered waffles.

The boys were returning to the village, Hamed said, when they heard gunfire. At least one shot came through the car window, hitting Mohammad squarely in the head.

Hamed said his cousin told the family that the shots came from a white Mitsubishi with an Israeli license plate parked on a road below the hill, a vehicle that villagers said they had seen before. Hamed said the car was across the security fence separating Biddu from Israeli territory. The cousin then managed to escape and run back to the village.

A video taken directly after the incident and seen by The Associated Press showed a group of men pulling a body out of the car, littered with shattered glass and stained with blood. Hamed said Mohammad was pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital late Saturday night.

Ahmad Khdour, Mohammad's father, said he did not know if Israel had begun investigating the case and had heard nothing from Israeli officials.

The Israeli military referred questions to the Shin Bet internal security service, which did not respond to requests for comment.

But U.S. Embassy officials visited the home and the scene of the shooting Thursday, taking pictures of the car Khdour was driving and the scene around it, Mohammad's father said. He said the officials told the family they are preparing a report on the incident.

The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “devastated” by the killing and called for “a quick, thorough, and transparent investigation, including full accountability.”

Khdour lived in Biddu with his mother and four brothers. He hoped to go back to the U.S. to study law once he finished his final year of high school, Hamed said.

“Mohammad was a simple kid, like any other kid. He had dreams. He loved cars,” said Hamed. “He never fought with anyone. Everyone liked him.”

The shooting came nearly a month after the killing of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, also a 17-year-old Palestinian-American shot while driving down a dirt road close to his village in the northern West Bank.

The sole passenger in the vehicle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-teen-shooting-death-west-bank-violence-1783ff3a7fa5f65f5b792372fd093445">said the shooting was unprovoked</a>, describing apparent Israeli fire hitting the back of the vehicle before it overturned several times. The incident prompted an expression of concern from the White House and an uncommonly quick pledge from the Israeli police to investigate.

But Israeli police have still not released any new findings in the case.

A video shared with the AP by Abdel Jabbar’s father raised new questions of the police’s original theory, which never mentioned that the teen had been shot while driving.

Instead, the police said that a civilian, an off-duty police officer and a soldier had targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities” along a main West Bank thoroughfare.

The video, which the father said was taken moments after the shooting, shows two Israeli soldiers standing about 20 meters (yards) from the vehicle, guns cocked — indicating that soldiers were in the vicinity that day.

Abdel Jabbar's father said that Israeli investigators took the vehicle into custody for under a week before returning it.

He said that last week U.S. Embassy investigators collected medical and legal reports issued by the Ramallah prosecutor's office and the hospital that treated Abdel Jabbar.

The reports indicated that the cause of Tawfic's death was a gunshot wound to the right side of the head.

Tawfic was from Gretna, Louisiana, and had been in the West Bank for under a year. Like Khdour, he was planning to return to the U.S. for college.

In an unrelated incident, Israel arrested a 46-year-old Palestinian-American woman, also from Gretna, last week for alleged incitement in posts on social media. The woman's family says they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-west-bank-us-louisiana-ec8eb1c057217f40483e66e69fef7499">have not seen or heard from her</a>&nbsp;since.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said a week ago that he was “confident” that Ambassador Jack Lew was looking into Samaher Esmail's case, as well as circumstances around the detention of two Palestinian-Americans in Gaza that Israel says are affiliated with Hamas.

“Obviously, this is the kind of thing we take very seriously, so we’ll be talking to our Israeli counterparts and trying to get information, more context here about what happened,” he said.

The deaths come as violence surges across the occupied territory. Since the shock attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 from Gaza into southern Israel, Israel has held the West Bank in a tight grip.

Biden’s administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-israel-hamas-middle-east-criticism-ea5685fc1ed577d3bf1b5a3aa4acf0db">provided military and diplomatic support</a>&nbsp;for Israel’s war against Hamas. Still, the administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/west-bank-palestinians-israel-military-raid-3deed25c4c14a5e3048778cbc79523c5">condemned rising violence by Israeli settlers</a>&nbsp;against Palestinians in the West Bank, most recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-west-bank-israeli-settlers-palestinians-80f9e6be6f6a7bb75dc86360ac2fa6ce">releasing sanctions targeting four settlers</a>.

Since Oct. 7, 395 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire, according to Palestinian health officials. Most have been killed in clashes during near nightly Israeli army raids aimed at suspected militants.

JERUSALEM (AP) — The families of two Palestinian-American teenagers killed in separate but eerily similar incidents in the West Bank say investigators from the American Embassy have visited their homes to look into the shootings.Launching American probes into the killings of Mohammad Khdour and Tawfic Abdel Jabbar reflects what appears to be a lack of confidence in the Israeli justice system to properly investigate the cases. Rights groups have long said that Israeli investigations into killings of Palestinians rarely lead to prosecutions, and the State Department has previously called for an “expeditious" and "thorough” Israeli investigation into Abdel Jabbar's killing.Both shootings happened as the Biden administration signals a desire to crack down on settler violence in the volatile territory.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We are devastated by the killing of 17-year-old U.S. citizen Mohammad Ahmad Khdour. The United States has no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens. We urgently call for a quick, thorough, and transparent investigation, including full accountability. <a href="https://t.co/RqIXdWG3sj">pic.twitter.com/RqIXdWG3sj</a>&mdash; U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs (@USPalAffairs) <a href="https://twitter.com/USPalAffairs/status/1757841809235984635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 14, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Khdour, who was born in Hollywood, Florida, was shot last Saturday while driving with a cousin on a hillside in Biddu, the town just outside of Jerusalem where Khdour had lived since the age of 2, relatives said.Seeking some fresh air after studying, Khdour joined the cousin on a drive to the forested hillside where villagers often barbecued, his brother Hamed Khdour said.In videos and photos taken before the shooting and seen by The Associated Press, the boys joked around, taking photos of each other for social media and eating chocolate-covered waffles.The boys were returning to the village, Hamed said, when they heard gunfire. At least one shot came through the car window, hitting Mohammad squarely in the head.Hamed said his cousin told the family that the shots came from a white Mitsubishi with an Israeli license plate parked on a road below the hill, a vehicle that villagers said they had seen before. Hamed said the car was across the security fence separating Biddu from Israeli territory. The cousin then managed to escape and run back to the village.A video taken directly after the incident and seen by The Associated Press showed a group of men pulling a body out of the car, littered with shattered glass and stained with blood. Hamed said Mohammad was pronounced dead at a Ramallah hospital late Saturday night.Ahmad Khdour, Mohammad's father, said he did not know if Israel had begun investigating the case and had heard nothing from Israeli officials.The Israeli military referred questions to the Shin Bet internal security service, which did not respond to requests for comment.But U.S. Embassy officials visited the home and the scene of the shooting Thursday, taking pictures of the car Khdour was driving and the scene around it, Mohammad's father said. He said the officials told the family they are preparing a report on the incident.The U.S. Office of Palestinian Affairs wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that it was “devastated” by the killing and called for “a quick, thorough, and transparent investigation, including full accountability.”Khdour lived in Biddu with his mother and four brothers. He hoped to go back to the U.S. to study law once he finished his final year of high school, Hamed said.“Mohammad was a simple kid, like any other kid. He had dreams. He loved cars,” said Hamed. “He never fought with anyone. Everyone liked him.”The shooting came nearly a month after the killing of Tawfic Abdel Jabbar, also a 17-year-old Palestinian-American shot while driving down a dirt road close to his village in the northern West Bank.The sole passenger in the vehicle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-teen-shooting-death-west-bank-violence-1783ff3a7fa5f65f5b792372fd093445">said the shooting was unprovoked</a>, describing apparent Israeli fire hitting the back of the vehicle before it overturned several times. The incident prompted an expression of concern from the White House and an uncommonly quick pledge from the Israeli police to investigate.But Israeli police have still not released any new findings in the case.A video shared with the AP by Abdel Jabbar’s father raised new questions of the police’s original theory, which never mentioned that the teen had been shot while driving.Instead, the police said that a civilian, an off-duty police officer and a soldier had targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities” along a main West Bank thoroughfare.The video, which the father said was taken moments after the shooting, shows two Israeli soldiers standing about 20 meters (yards) from the vehicle, guns cocked — indicating that soldiers were in the vicinity that day.Abdel Jabbar's father said that Israeli investigators took the vehicle into custody for under a week before returning it.He said that last week U.S. Embassy investigators collected medical and legal reports issued by the Ramallah prosecutor's office and the hospital that treated Abdel Jabbar.The reports indicated that the cause of Tawfic's death was a gunshot wound to the right side of the head.Tawfic was from Gretna, Louisiana, and had been in the West Bank for under a year. Like Khdour, he was planning to return to the U.S. for college.In an unrelated incident, Israel arrested a 46-year-old Palestinian-American woman, also from Gretna, last week for alleged incitement in posts on social media. The woman's family says they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-west-bank-us-louisiana-ec8eb1c057217f40483e66e69fef7499">have not seen or heard from her</a>&nbsp;since.National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said a week ago that he was “confident” that Ambassador Jack Lew was looking into Samaher Esmail's case, as well as circumstances around the detention of two Palestinian-Americans in Gaza that Israel says are affiliated with Hamas.“Obviously, this is the kind of thing we take very seriously, so we’ll be talking to our Israeli counterparts and trying to get information, more context here about what happened,” he said.The deaths come as violence surges across the occupied territory. Since the shock attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 from Gaza into southern Israel, Israel has held the West Bank in a tight grip.Biden’s administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-israel-hamas-middle-east-criticism-ea5685fc1ed577d3bf1b5a3aa4acf0db">provided military and diplomatic support</a>&nbsp;for Israel’s war against Hamas. Still, the administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/west-bank-palestinians-israel-military-raid-3deed25c4c14a5e3048778cbc79523c5">condemned rising violence by Israeli settlers</a>&nbsp;against Palestinians in the West Bank, most recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-west-bank-israeli-settlers-palestinians-80f9e6be6f6a7bb75dc86360ac2fa6ce">releasing sanctions targeting four settlers</a>.Since Oct. 7, 395 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli fire, according to Palestinian health officials. Most have been killed in clashes during near nightly Israeli army raids aimed at suspected militants.

US investigators visit homes of Palestinian-American teens killed in the West Bank

Schools canceled classes for what was supposed to be a joyful event. But after the Chiefs parade ended in a shooting, educators are making sure students have support and stability

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/mariabenevento/">MARIA BENEVENTO</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/tracesalzbrenner/">TRACE SALZBRENNER</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/milimansaray/">MILI MANSARAY</a>

For starters, experts suggest, get the kids back into school. Routines matter in the raw aftermath of trauma.

Child health experts say the shooting that killed a mother and wounded several children at the close of Kansas City’s celebration of the Chiefs’ latest championship likely left kids traumatized. Whether they were near Union Station or, for some, just hearing the news.

Schools quickly made social workers and counselors available Thursday and put out advice to parents on how to help children return to a sense of normalcy and safety.

Some children, the experts say, need to talk about their concerns. That, the experts say, needs to be balanced against dwelling too much on what happened or trying to force conversations that could go wrong.

Wednesday’s violence came after clinicians saw a troubling mental health hangover from the pandemic.

Resources for talking to kids about violence and tragedy after the Super Bowl parade shooting

“Rates of anxiety and depression doubled for young people,” said Dr. Shayla Sullivant, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Children’s Mercy Hospital. “Now we have more kids that have experienced trauma.”

Multiple school districts told The Beacon that they’re turning to what’s familiar — like going right back to school — to help restore calm after a calamity.

When disaster strikes, “it comes from a place that we didn’t expect, and we don’t know how to deal with that,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District. “Being able to connect people, kids, to the familiar, to the routine, can be helpful and give them a comfort that the world is returning to the world that they know and (where) they feel safe.”

Adults matter, too. Parents and teachers, Smith said, need to recognize and seek support for their own distress “in order for us to be there for our kids.”

The shooting marked a “community-level trauma,” said Damon Daniel, president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, even in a city that saw a record 182 homicides last year.

“We live in a city where we’re not strangers to violence,” he said.

His group worked with prosecutors and other organizations to offer counseling on Thursday at the Kansas City United Church of Christ in Brookside. He said it’s time to talk with professionals and not to lean on isolation, substance abuse or more violence to cope.

“It’s a very complex problem. It’s not one solution,” Daniel said. “There’s no silver bullet to this.”

For starters, public places might never feel the same to some people after the Union Station shooting. Chris Williams, a counselor with Heartland Therapy Connection, said teenagers and young adults might be particularly damaged by the trauma.

“There are no public places they can look at and be, like, ‘I’m safe here,’” he said. “More and more children are on guard, looking out.”

He said survivors can experience extreme post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, such as paranoia or fear of loud noises, and will look to adults for assurance.

“We’re losing that ability to tell them it’s gonna be OK,” Williams said. “There are no safe spaces.”

Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Jennifer Collier emailed parents urging them to address the trauma directly.

“While our instinct may be to shield them from the harsh realities of the world,” she wrote, “it’s essential to proactively address their concerns, especially with our older students who are more likely to seek information independently.”

The district was still sorting out Thursday how many students were close to the shooting even as it suggested parents limit their children’s exposure to news coverage.

Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools also enlisted counselors and social workers and told parents that their kids need someone to turn to.

“People deal with pain and tragedy differently,” district spokesperson Edwin Birch said. “The main thing is just being available.”

At Wichita’s USD 259, the largest school district in Kansas, administrators strove to return to the routine.

“Children are pretty quick to move on to the next thing,” said Stephanie Anderson, who works in the district’s counseling services. “They don’t dwell on stuff like this, unless they hear adults dwelling on it.”

That, she said, needs to be paired with candor.

“(Don’t) sugarcoat it or don’t create fear,” Anderson said.

She and other experts suggest parents look for routines breaking down in the aftermath of the Super Bowl parade. Is your child having trouble sleeping? Has their appetite dwindled? Are they crankier than usual?

An adult’s ear can prove especially helpful, said&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.drtoricordiano.com/">Tori Cordiano</a>, a clinical psychologist specializing in children and adolescents at Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

She said trusted adults — family, mental health professionals, school staff — need to be available. Cordiano said younger children may prefer to process their emotions about the parade shooting through art, and older children will need someone to confide in.

“When they have those places to talk,” Cordiano said, “it can help them cope.”

The more comfortable kids feel to talk, she said, the better to keep them grounded and feeling safe.

“When we shut it down,” she said, “it makes it too big or scary.”

Yet exposure to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/06/20/missouri-children-gun-violence-2023/">gun violence</a>&nbsp;leaves some psyches damaged for a lifetime. Starsky Wilson, president of the left-leaning Children’s Defense Fund, said gun violence can heighten children’s risk of abusing drugs and alcohol or weigh them down with depression and anxiety.

“The normalization of gun violence in society can desensitize children to the impact of violence and contribute to a sense of helplessness or resignation about the problem,” he said in an email to The Beacon.

Wilson said, in turn, that can make it harder to feel secure, form relationships or thrive in school.

“When exposed to violence,” he wrote, “school-aged children tend to exhibit lower academic grades and increased absenteeism.”

This story was compiled by Scott Canon based on staff reporting.&nbsp;Suzanne King contributed.

This&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2024/02/15/kansas-city-parade-shooting-child-trauma/">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/">The Beacon</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1707945570654.jpeg" alt="A woman is taken to an ambulance after an incident following the Kansas City Chiefs NFL football Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers Sunday in the Super Bowl 58. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann)." />
 <figcaption>A woman is taken to an ambulance after an incident following the Kansas City Chiefs NFL football Super Bowl celebration in Kansas City, Mo., Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. The Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers Sunday in the Super Bowl 58. (AP Photo/Reed Hoffmann).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Schools canceled classes for what was supposed to be a joyful event. But after the Chiefs parade ended in a shooting, educators are making sure students have support and stability</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/mariabenevento/">MARIA BENEVENTO</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/tracesalzbrenner/">TRACE SALZBRENNER</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/milimansaray/">MILI MANSARAY</a>For starters, experts suggest, get the kids back into school. Routines matter in the raw aftermath of trauma.Child health experts say the shooting that killed a mother and wounded several children at the close of Kansas City’s celebration of the Chiefs’ latest championship likely left kids traumatized. Whether they were near Union Station or, for some, just hearing the news.Schools quickly made social workers and counselors available Thursday and put out advice to parents on how to help children return to a sense of normalcy and safety.Some children, the experts say, need to talk about their concerns. That, the experts say, needs to be balanced against dwelling too much on what happened or trying to force conversations that could go wrong.Wednesday’s violence came after clinicians saw a troubling mental health hangover from the pandemic. Resources for talking to kids about violence and tragedy after the Super Bowl parade shooting<ul>
 <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasponline.org/resources-and-publications/resources-and-podcasts/school-safety-and-crisis/school-violence-resources/talking-to-children-about-violence-tips-for-families-and-educators">Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Families and Educators</a>&nbsp;from the National Association of School Psychologists</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://mhanational.org/talking-kids-about-fear-and-violence">Talking to Kids About Fear and Violence</a>, from Mental Health America</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.smore.com/c4sdx-feb-15-kcps-message-to-families?ref=email">Message from Kansas City Public Schools</a>&nbsp;superintendent (English and Spanish)</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.childrensmercy.org/health-and-safety-resources/helping-kids-parade-shootings/">Helping Kids Navigate the Tragedy of the Super Bowl Parade Shootings</a>&nbsp;from Children’s Mercy Hospital:</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Talking-To-Children-About-Tragedies-and-Other-News-Events.aspx">How to Talk With Kids About Tragedies &amp; Other Traumatic News Events</a>&nbsp;</li>
 </ul>“Rates of anxiety and depression doubled for young people,” said Dr. Shayla Sullivant, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Children’s Mercy Hospital. “Now we have more kids that have experienced trauma.”Multiple school districts told The Beacon that they’re turning to what’s familiar — like going right back to school — to help restore calm after a calamity.When disaster strikes, “it comes from a place that we didn’t expect, and we don’t know how to deal with that,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District. “Being able to connect people, kids, to the familiar, to the routine, can be helpful and give them a comfort that the world is returning to the world that they know and (where) they feel safe.”Adults matter, too. Parents and teachers, Smith said, need to recognize and seek support for their own distress “in order for us to be there for our kids.”The shooting marked a “community-level trauma,” said Damon Daniel, president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, even in a city that saw a record 182 homicides last year.“We live in a city where we’re not strangers to violence,” he said.His group worked with prosecutors and other organizations to offer counseling on Thursday at the Kansas City United Church of Christ in Brookside. He said it’s time to talk with professionals and not to lean on isolation, substance abuse or more violence to cope.“It’s a very complex problem. It’s not one solution,” Daniel said. “There’s no silver bullet to this.”For starters, public places might never feel the same to some people after the Union Station shooting. Chris Williams, a counselor with Heartland Therapy Connection, said teenagers and young adults might be particularly damaged by the trauma.“There are no public places they can look at and be, like, ‘I’m safe here,’” he said. “More and more children are on guard, looking out.”He said survivors can experience extreme post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, such as paranoia or fear of loud noises, and will look to adults for assurance.“We’re losing that ability to tell them it’s gonna be OK,” Williams said. “There are no safe spaces.”Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Jennifer Collier emailed parents urging them to address the trauma directly.“While our instinct may be to shield them from the harsh realities of the world,” she wrote, “it’s essential to proactively address their concerns, especially with our older students who are more likely to seek information independently.”The district was still sorting out Thursday how many students were close to the shooting even as it suggested parents limit their children’s exposure to news coverage.Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools also enlisted counselors and social workers and told parents that their kids need someone to turn to.“People deal with pain and tragedy differently,” district spokesperson Edwin Birch said. “The main thing is just being available.”At Wichita’s USD 259, the largest school district in Kansas, administrators strove to return to the routine.“Children are pretty quick to move on to the next thing,” said Stephanie Anderson, who works in the district’s counseling services. “They don’t dwell on stuff like this, unless they hear adults dwelling on it.”That, she said, needs to be paired with candor.“(Don’t) sugarcoat it or don’t create fear,” Anderson said.She and other experts suggest parents look for routines breaking down in the aftermath of the Super Bowl parade. Is your child having trouble sleeping? Has their appetite dwindled? Are they crankier than usual?An adult’s ear can prove especially helpful, said&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.drtoricordiano.com/">Tori Cordiano</a>, a clinical psychologist specializing in children and adolescents at Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls in Shaker Heights, Ohio.She said trusted adults — family, mental health professionals, school staff — need to be available. Cordiano said younger children may prefer to process their emotions about the parade shooting through art, and older children will need someone to confide in.“When they have those places to talk,” Cordiano said, “it can help them cope.”The more comfortable kids feel to talk, she said, the better to keep them grounded and feeling safe.“When we shut it down,” she said, “it makes it too big or scary.”Yet exposure to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2023/06/20/missouri-children-gun-violence-2023/">gun violence</a>&nbsp;leaves some psyches damaged for a lifetime. Starsky Wilson, president of the left-leaning Children’s Defense Fund, said gun violence can heighten children’s risk of abusing drugs and alcohol or weigh them down with depression and anxiety.“The normalization of gun violence in society can desensitize children to the impact of violence and contribute to a sense of helplessness or resignation about the problem,” he said in an email to The Beacon.Wilson said, in turn, that can make it harder to feel secure, form relationships or thrive in school.“When exposed to violence,” he wrote, “school-aged children tend to exhibit lower academic grades and increased absenteeism.”This story was compiled by Scott Canon based on staff reporting.&nbsp;Suzanne King contributed.This&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2024/02/15/kansas-city-parade-shooting-child-trauma/">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/">The Beacon</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

How to help kids traumatized by Kansas City parade mass shooting

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The maker of ChatGPT on Thursday unveiled its next leap into generative artificial intelligence with a tool that instantly makes short videos in response to written commands.

San Francisco-based OpenAI's new text-to-video generator, called Sora, isn't the first of its kind. Google, Meta and the startup Runway ML are among the other companies to have demonstrated similar technology.

But the high quality of videos displayed by OpenAI — some after CEO Sam Altman asked social media users to send in ideas for written prompts — astounded observers while also raising fears about the ethical and societal implications.

“A instructional cooking session for homemade gnocchi hosted by a grandmother social media influencer set in a rustic Tuscan country kitchen with cinematic lighting,” was a prompt suggested on X by a freelance photographer from New Hampshire. Altman responded a short time later with a realistic video that depicted what the prompt described.

The tool isn't yet publicly available and OpenAI has revealed limited information about how it was built. The company, which has been sued by some authors and The New York Times over its use of copyrighted works of writing to train ChatGPT, also hasn't disclosed what imagery and video sources were used to train Sora. (OpenAI pays an undisclosed fee to The Associated Press to license its text news archive).

OpenAI said in a blog post that it's engaging with artists, policymakers and others before releasing the new tool to the public.

“We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model,” the company said. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/7/1689956124232.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The maker of ChatGPT on Thursday unveiled its next leap into generative artificial intelligence with a tool that instantly makes short videos in response to written commands.San Francisco-based OpenAI's new text-to-video generator, called Sora, isn't the first of its kind. Google, Meta and the startup Runway ML are among the other companies to have demonstrated similar technology.But the high quality of videos displayed by OpenAI — some after CEO Sam Altman asked social media users to send in ideas for written prompts — astounded observers while also raising fears about the ethical and societal implications.“A instructional cooking session for homemade gnocchi hosted by a grandmother social media influencer set in a rustic Tuscan country kitchen with cinematic lighting,” was a prompt suggested on X by a freelance photographer from New Hampshire. Altman responded a short time later with a realistic video that depicted what the prompt described.The tool isn't yet publicly available and OpenAI has revealed limited information about how it was built. The company, which has been sued by some authors and The New York Times over its use of copyrighted works of writing to train ChatGPT, also hasn't disclosed what imagery and video sources were used to train Sora. (OpenAI pays an undisclosed fee to The Associated Press to license its text news archive).OpenAI said in a blog post that it's engaging with artists, policymakers and others before releasing the new tool to the public.“We are working with red teamers — domain experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias — who will be adversarially testing the model,” the company said. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”

OpenAI Sora: New tool makes instant videos from written prompts

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jacob-fischler/">JACOB FISCHLER</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/21/kansas-board-of-regents-sculpts-plan-for-boosting-state-aid-to-public-higher-education/?emci=78717300-c858-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&amp;emdi=fc107f78-2659-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

The U.S. House voted Thursday to approve a bill that would preempt the Biden administration’s move last month to pause new approvals for some liquified natural gas exports.

Nine Democrats voted with every Republican in favor of the bill, which the chamber&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202452?Page=2">approved 224-200.</a>&nbsp;The bill would remove the federal requirement that the Department of Energy considers an LNG export permit in the public interest before allowing a project to move forward.

Democrats voting for the bill were Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Jim Costa of California, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Marc Veasey of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Rick Larsen and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Mary Peltola of Alaska.

The bill does not appear likely to win the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, even if some Democrats would support it.

The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican August Pfluger, targets a recent endeavor by President Joe Biden’s administration to pause new Energy Department permits for LNG exports to non-free-trade-agreement countries.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-administration-temporarily-halt-some-export-approvals-liquified-natural-gas">The pause</a>&nbsp;has no specified end date and would be in place while the department reviews its criteria for its public-interest evaluations.

Like many of Biden’s energy policies, the move drew the ire&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bidens-natural-gas-export-pause-fought-over-us-house-panel">of Republicans</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/manchin-blasts-white-house-siding-climate-activists-natural-gas-pause%C2%A0">some energy-state Democrats</a>&nbsp;who said it would reduce domestic natural gas production.

Advocates for the measure say LNG releases fewer climate-changing emissions than coal and other fossil fuels, and U.S. production and exportation of the fuel closes more of the European market to Russian-sourced LNG.

“President Biden has issued executive orders and given direction to the federal agencies across the government to shut down American energy production, even at the expense of jobs, economic development, national security and the climate,” South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan said Thursday.

Releasing more American supply would hamper Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to raise money for that country’s invasion of Ukraine, Duncan said. Russia is a large exporter of natural gas.

“Putin and his energy oligarchs are exporting to Europe 40% more than they did before the war in Ukraine,” Duncan said. “That’s 40% more money flowing right into the pocket of Vladimir Putin to fund his war with Ukraine. I would rather that money flow into the pockets of American energy producers and tax bases and communities all around this country.”

Duncan, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and the Grid, and other Republicans said Thursday the pause was an election-year ploy to gain favor with environmental groups and was not a well-informed policy goal.

The bill would reverse the pause by revoking the Energy Department’s authority to review export applications.

Instead, approvals for new exports would be overseen only by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Under the bill, that commission would be required to deem all LNG exports in the public interest.

Democrats lined up on the floor Thursday to oppose the bill, which they said would remove a critical environmental guardrail.

“Ensuring that LNG exports are in America’s best interest is something we should all want,” Energy and Commerce ranking Democrat Frank Pallone of New Jersey said. “Instead, we’re here considering a bill that does the opposite.”

The bill “goes so much further” than simply reversing the administration’s pause by requiring that FERC find any proposed LNG export in the public interest, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Colorado’s Diana DeGette, said.

“It says all LNG exports must be in the public interest,” DeGette said. “And it prohibits the Department of Energy from finding otherwise.”

If increased exports lead to higher rates for U.S. consumers or “exorbitant” release of pollution, the department would be powerless to stop expansion, she said.

The pause does not impact current LNG exports, which are ample, DeGette added. The U.S. is the world’s leading producer of LNG. Exports have tripled since 2019.

The Biden administration opposes the bill, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SAP-HR7176.pdf">Tuesday statement</a>.

The bill would undermine the administration’s ability to ensure exports are aligned with economic, energy security, geopolitical and environmental goals, the statement said.

“The Administration believes that the critical protections current law provides, which this legislation would repeal, should be retained to protect residential and industrial consumers and national and domestic energy security,” the statement said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1707834737989.png" alt="&nbsp;Nine Democrats voted with every Republican in favor of legislation that would remove the federal requirement that the Department of Energy considers an LNG export permit in the public interest before allowing a project to move forward. photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Nine Democrats voted with every Republican in favor of legislation that would remove the federal requirement that the Department of Energy considers an LNG export permit in the public interest before allowing a project to move forward. photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jacob-fischler/">JACOB FISCHLER</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/09/21/kansas-board-of-regents-sculpts-plan-for-boosting-state-aid-to-public-higher-education/?emci=78717300-c858-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&amp;emdi=fc107f78-2659-ee11-9937-00224832eb73&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>The U.S. House voted Thursday to approve a bill that would preempt the Biden administration’s move last month to pause new approvals for some liquified natural gas exports.Nine Democrats voted with every Republican in favor of the bill, which the chamber&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202452?Page=2">approved 224-200.</a>&nbsp;The bill would remove the federal requirement that the Department of Energy considers an LNG export permit in the public interest before allowing a project to move forward.Democrats voting for the bill were Yadira Caraveo of Colorado, Jim Costa of California, Henry Cuellar, Vicente Gonzalez and Marc Veasey of Texas, Jared Golden of Maine, Rick Larsen and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and Mary Peltola of Alaska.The bill does not appear likely to win the 60 votes needed to advance in the Senate, even if some Democrats would support it.The bill, sponsored by Texas Republican August Pfluger, targets a recent endeavor by President Joe Biden’s administration to pause new Energy Department permits for LNG exports to non-free-trade-agreement countries.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/biden-administration-temporarily-halt-some-export-approvals-liquified-natural-gas">The pause</a>&nbsp;has no specified end date and would be in place while the department reviews its criteria for its public-interest evaluations.Like many of Biden’s energy policies, the move drew the ire&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/bidens-natural-gas-export-pause-fought-over-us-house-panel">of Republicans</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/manchin-blasts-white-house-siding-climate-activists-natural-gas-pause%C2%A0">some energy-state Democrats</a>&nbsp;who said it would reduce domestic natural gas production.<h2>European market</h2>Advocates for the measure say LNG releases fewer climate-changing emissions than coal and other fossil fuels, and U.S. production and exportation of the fuel closes more of the European market to Russian-sourced LNG.“President Biden has issued executive orders and given direction to the federal agencies across the government to shut down American energy production, even at the expense of jobs, economic development, national security and the climate,” South Carolina Republican Jeff Duncan said Thursday.Releasing more American supply would hamper Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to raise money for that country’s invasion of Ukraine, Duncan said. Russia is a large exporter of natural gas.“Putin and his energy oligarchs are exporting to Europe 40% more than they did before the war in Ukraine,” Duncan said. “That’s 40% more money flowing right into the pocket of Vladimir Putin to fund his war with Ukraine. I would rather that money flow into the pockets of American energy producers and tax bases and communities all around this country.”Duncan, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, Climate and the Grid, and other Republicans said Thursday the pause was an election-year ploy to gain favor with environmental groups and was not a well-informed policy goal.The bill would reverse the pause by revoking the Energy Department’s authority to review export applications.Instead, approvals for new exports would be overseen only by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Under the bill, that commission would be required to deem all LNG exports in the public interest.<h2>Bill would gut key protection, Dems say</h2>Democrats lined up on the floor Thursday to oppose the bill, which they said would remove a critical environmental guardrail.“Ensuring that LNG exports are in America’s best interest is something we should all want,” Energy and Commerce ranking Democrat Frank Pallone of New Jersey said. “Instead, we’re here considering a bill that does the opposite.”The bill “goes so much further” than simply reversing the administration’s pause by requiring that FERC find any proposed LNG export in the public interest, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Colorado’s Diana DeGette, said.“It says all LNG exports must be in the public interest,” DeGette said. “And it prohibits the Department of Energy from finding otherwise.”If increased exports lead to higher rates for U.S. consumers or “exorbitant” release of pollution, the department would be powerless to stop expansion, she said.The pause does not impact current LNG exports, which are ample, DeGette added. The U.S. is the world’s leading producer of LNG. Exports have tripled since 2019.The Biden administration opposes the bill, the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/SAP-HR7176.pdf">Tuesday statement</a>.The bill would undermine the administration’s ability to ensure exports are aligned with economic, energy security, geopolitical and environmental goals, the statement said.“The Administration believes that the critical protections current law provides, which this legislation would repeal, should be retained to protect residential and industrial consumers and national and domestic energy security,” the statement said.

U.S. House passes bill to reverse Biden pause of some liquified natural gas exports

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)— Missile fire apparently targeted a ship Friday off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/yemen">Yemen</a>&nbsp;in the Red Sea, the latest attack suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The vessel’s captain reported an explosion nearby the ship in the Red Sea off the Yemeni city of Mocha, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization center said.

“The crew and the vessel are reported safe,” the UKMTO said.

It did not immediately identify the vessel targeted.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels did not immediately acknowledge carrying out the attack. However, the rebels typically take several hours before claiming their assaults.

Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s offensive in Gaza</a>. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.

The U.S. and British militaries have conducted multiple rounds of airstrikes targeting the Houthis’ missile arsenals and launch sites in territory they hold.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s Central Command acknowledged carrying out new airstrikes targeting the Houthis on Thursday. It described hitting three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled territory that “were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1707089021196.png" alt="File photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)— Missile fire apparently targeted a ship Friday off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/yemen">Yemen</a>&nbsp;in the Red Sea, the latest attack suspected to have been carried out by Yemen’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;amid Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.The vessel’s captain reported an explosion nearby the ship in the Red Sea off the Yemeni city of Mocha, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization center said.“The crew and the vessel are reported safe,” the UKMTO said.It did not immediately identify the vessel targeted.Yemen’s Houthi rebels did not immediately acknowledge carrying out the attack. However, the rebels typically take several hours before claiming their assaults.Since November, the rebels have repeatedly targeted ships in the Red Sea over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s offensive in Gaza</a>. They have frequently targeted vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.The U.S. and British militaries have conducted multiple rounds of airstrikes targeting the Houthis’ missile arsenals and launch sites in territory they hold.Meanwhile, the U.S. military’s Central Command acknowledged carrying out new airstrikes targeting the Houthis on Thursday. It described hitting three mobile anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled territory that “were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.”

U.S. conducts new airstrikes targeting Iran-backed rebels

A Nebraska lawmaker whose north Omaha district has struggled for years with a housing shortage is pushing a bill that, if passed, could make Nebraska the first in the country to forbid out-of-state hedge funds and other corporate entities from buying up single-family properties.

Sen. Justin Wayne’s bill echoes legislative efforts in other states and in Congress to curtail corporate amassing of single-family homes, which critics say has helped cause the price of homes, rent and real estate taxes to soar in recent years. Wayne said that has been the case in his district, where an Ohio corporation has bought more than 150 single-family homes in recent years — often pushing out individual homebuyers with all-cash offers. The company then rents out the homes.

Experts say the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">scarcity of homes</a>&nbsp;for purchase can be blamed on a multitude of factors, including sky-high mortgage interest rates and years of underbuilding modest homes.

Wayne's bill offers few specifics. It consists of a single sentence that says a corporation, hedge fund or other business may not buy purchase single-family housing in Nebraska unless it's located in and its principal members live in Nebraska.

“The aim of this is to preserve Nebraska's limited existing housing stock for Nebraskans,” Wayne said this week at a committee hearing where he presented the bill. “If we did this, we would be the first state in the country to take this issue seriously and address the problem.”

A 14-page bill dubbed the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act has been introduced in both chambers of Congress and would impose a 10-year deadline for hedge funds to sell off the single-family homes they own and, until they do, would saddle those investment trusts with hefty taxes. In turn, those tax penalties would be used to help people put down payments on the divested homes.

Democratic lawmakers in a number of other states have introduced similar bills, including in Minnesota, Indiana, North Carolina and Texas, but those bills have either stalled or failed.

The housing squeeze coming from out-of-state corporate interests isn't just an Omaha problem, said Wayne Mortensen, director of a Lincoln-based affordable housing developer called NeighborWorks Lincoln.

Mortensen said the recession of 2008 and, more recently, the economic downturn driven by the COVID-19 pandemic made single-family housing a more attractive corporate investment than bond markets.

“When that became the case, housing was commoditized and became just like trading any stock,” he said. “Those outside investors are solely interested in how much value they can extract from the Lincoln housing market."

Those corporations often invest no upkeep in the homes, he said.

“And as a result of that, we're seeing incredible dilapidation and housing decline in many of our neighborhoods because of these absentee landlords that have no accountability to the local communities,” Mortensen said.

Currently, about 13% of single-family homes in Lincoln are owned by out-of-state corporate firms, he said.

As in other states, Wayne's bill likely faces an uphill slog in the deep red state of Nebraska. At Monday's hearing before the Banking, Insurance and Commerce Committee, several Republican lawmakers acknowledged a statewide housing shortage, but they cast doubt on Wayne's solution.

“You know, you can set up shell companies, you set up different layers of ownership. You can move your domicile base. There's just a ton of workarounds here,” Omaha Sen. Brad von Gillern said. “I also — as just as a pure capitalist — fundamentally oppose the idea.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708097532092.jpeg" alt="Senator Justin Wayne" />
 <figcaption>Senator Justin Wayne</figcaption>
 </figure>Associated PressA Nebraska lawmaker whose north Omaha district has struggled for years with a housing shortage is pushing a bill that, if passed, could make Nebraska the first in the country to forbid out-of-state hedge funds and other corporate entities from buying up single-family properties.Sen. Justin Wayne’s bill echoes legislative efforts in other states and in Congress to curtail corporate amassing of single-family homes, which critics say has helped cause the price of homes, rent and real estate taxes to soar in recent years. Wayne said that has been the case in his district, where an Ohio corporation has bought more than 150 single-family homes in recent years — often pushing out individual homebuyers with all-cash offers. The company then rents out the homes.Experts say the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">scarcity of homes</a>&nbsp;for purchase can be blamed on a multitude of factors, including sky-high mortgage interest rates and years of underbuilding modest homes.Wayne's bill offers few specifics. It consists of a single sentence that says a corporation, hedge fund or other business may not buy purchase single-family housing in Nebraska unless it's located in and its principal members live in Nebraska.“The aim of this is to preserve Nebraska's limited existing housing stock for Nebraskans,” Wayne said this week at a committee hearing where he presented the bill. “If we did this, we would be the first state in the country to take this issue seriously and address the problem.”A 14-page bill dubbed the End Hedge Fund Control of American Homes Act has been introduced in both chambers of Congress and would impose a 10-year deadline for hedge funds to sell off the single-family homes they own and, until they do, would saddle those investment trusts with hefty taxes. In turn, those tax penalties would be used to help people put down payments on the divested homes.Democratic lawmakers in a number of other states have introduced similar bills, including in Minnesota, Indiana, North Carolina and Texas, but those bills have either stalled or failed.The housing squeeze coming from out-of-state corporate interests isn't just an Omaha problem, said Wayne Mortensen, director of a Lincoln-based affordable housing developer called NeighborWorks Lincoln.Mortensen said the recession of 2008 and, more recently, the economic downturn driven by the COVID-19 pandemic made single-family housing a more attractive corporate investment than bond markets.“When that became the case, housing was commoditized and became just like trading any stock,” he said. “Those outside investors are solely interested in how much value they can extract from the Lincoln housing market."Those corporations often invest no upkeep in the homes, he said.“And as a result of that, we're seeing incredible dilapidation and housing decline in many of our neighborhoods because of these absentee landlords that have no accountability to the local communities,” Mortensen said.Currently, about 13% of single-family homes in Lincoln are owned by out-of-state corporate firms, he said.As in other states, Wayne's bill likely faces an uphill slog in the deep red state of Nebraska. At Monday's hearing before the Banking, Insurance and Commerce Committee, several Republican lawmakers acknowledged a statewide housing shortage, but they cast doubt on Wayne's solution.“You know, you can set up shell companies, you set up different layers of ownership. You can move your domicile base. There's just a ton of workarounds here,” Omaha Sen. Brad von Gillern said. “I also — as just as a pure capitalist — fundamentally oppose the idea.”