&nbsp;(LINCOLN, NEB.)&nbsp;&nbsp;—&nbsp;&nbsp;March 9, 2024.&nbsp; Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol have conducted alcohol compliance checks in Box Butte County.

During the afternoon and evening hours on Saturday March 9, 2024, investigators conducted alcohol compliance checks in Box Butte County. This project was supported by grant #1848 form the Panhandle Public Health District.

In total, 24 businesses were checked.&nbsp; One of those businesses sold alcohol to a minor for a compliance rate of 95.8%.&nbsp; The business checked the minor’s identification before sale.

The Business that failed the compliance check was:

The businesses included convivence stores, grocery stores, restaurants, liquor stores and bars.

Businesses that sell alcohol to minors are referred to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.&nbsp; Clerks who sell alcohol to minors are cited for procuring alcohol for a minor.

Cody ThomasNebraska State Patrol&nbsp;(LINCOLN, NEB.)&nbsp;&nbsp;—&nbsp;&nbsp;March 9, 2024.&nbsp; Investigators with the Nebraska State Patrol have conducted alcohol compliance checks in Box Butte County.During the afternoon and evening hours on Saturday March 9, 2024, investigators conducted alcohol compliance checks in Box Butte County. This project was supported by grant #1848 form the Panhandle Public Health District.In total, 24 businesses were checked.&nbsp; One of those businesses sold alcohol to a minor for a compliance rate of 95.8%.&nbsp; The business checked the minor’s identification before sale.The Business that failed the compliance check was:Safeway 549 - AllianceThe businesses included convivence stores, grocery stores, restaurants, liquor stores and bars.Businesses that sell alcohol to minors are referred to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.&nbsp; Clerks who sell alcohol to minors are cited for procuring alcohol for a minor.

Alcohol Compliance Checks Held in Box Butte County

As rural hospitals continue to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/birthing-rural-hospitals-maternity-care-births-e67a91d927eb545459e83bc7b2b95a0d">struggle financially</a>, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.

Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-39a05dbce9be4070adce079fd152c7b7">hospital to keep its doors open</a>, experts say it doesn’t solve&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-rural-hospitals-legislature-63a1509ab3d6455f77e43476ea710800">all of the challenges</a>&nbsp;facing rural health care.

People might have to travel further for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.

“It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association. She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.

The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

The majority are in the South, with some in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.

The designation is aimed at a very specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that's rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.

That was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.

Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could make pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.

“We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree," he said. “But ... we felt like we had to try.”

Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital's CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.

“We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”

A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.

Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.

Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

“That's two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”

Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.

Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.

“Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.

Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.

“We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”

The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.

“That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”

That lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.

Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.

Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn't rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified."

The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of largely retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.

“We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so ... something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”

Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been negatively impacted by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.

“If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.

Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-youth-emergency-psychiatry-north-carolina-0b1349f338d3110806fcbb2276e2e42b">already scarce.</a>

Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association's chief operations officer, told the AP that upwards of 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.

As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.”&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710775775312.jpeg" alt="An unused gurney rests in the emergency room hallway outside one of the treatment rooms at the Alliance Healthcare System hospital in Holly Springs, Miss., Feb. 29, 2024. Rural emergency hospitals are starting to gain a small foothold in the United States. They provide 24/7 emergency care and receive more than $3 million in federal money a year. But the catch is there are zero inpatient beds at the facilities. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)" />
 <figcaption>An unused gurney rests in the emergency room hallway outside one of the treatment rooms at the Alliance Healthcare System hospital in Holly Springs, Miss., Feb. 29, 2024. Rural emergency hospitals are starting to gain a small foothold in the United States. They provide 24/7 emergency care and receive more than $3 million in federal money a year. But the catch is there are zero inpatient beds at the facilities. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)</figcaption>
 </figure>Story from Associated PressAs rural hospitals continue to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/birthing-rural-hospitals-maternity-care-births-e67a91d927eb545459e83bc7b2b95a0d">struggle financially</a>, a new type of hospital is slowly taking root, especially in the Southeast.Rural emergency hospitals receive more than $3 million in federal funding a year and higher Medicare reimbursements in exchange for closing all inpatient beds and providing 24/7 emergency care. While that makes it easier for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-39a05dbce9be4070adce079fd152c7b7">hospital to keep its doors open</a>, experts say it doesn’t solve&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-rural-hospitals-legislature-63a1509ab3d6455f77e43476ea710800">all of the challenges</a>&nbsp;facing rural health care.People might have to travel further for treatments for illnesses that require inpatient stays, like pneumonia or COVID-19. In some of the communities where hospitals have converted to the new designation, residents are confused about what kind of care they can receive. Plus, rural hospitals are hesitant to make the switch, because there’s no margin of error.“It’s ironic” that the facilities that might need the most help can’t afford to take the risk, said Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the National Rural Health Association. She pointed to having to give up certain services and benefits, such as a federal discount program for prescription drugs.The government, which classifies hospitals by type, rolled out the rural emergency option in January 2023. Only 19 hospitals across the U.S. received rural emergency hospital status last year, according to the University of North Carolina’s Sheps Center for Health Services Research.The majority are in the South, with some in the Midwest, and hospitals in Nebraska and Florida recently started to explore the option.The designation is aimed at a very specific population, said George Pink, deputy director of the Sheps Center’s Rural Health Research Program, and that's rural hospitals on the brink of closure with few people getting inpatient care already.Saving rural careThat was the case for Irwin County Hospital in Ocilla, Georgia, which was the second rural emergency hospital established in the U.S.Weeks prior to converting, the hospital received at least $1 million in credit from the county so it could make pay employees — money that county board of supervisors chairman Scott Carver doubted he’d see returned.“We operate on a $6 million budget for the county, so to extend that kind of line of credit was dangerous on our part to some degree," he said. “But ... we felt like we had to try.”Irwin County Hospital became a rural emergency hospital on Feb. 1, 2023. Quentin Whitwell, the hospital's CEO, said it was an ideal candidate.“We’re still finding out what some of the impacts are, given that it’s a new thing,” said Whitwell, who through his company Progressive Health Systems owns and manages six hospitals in the Southeast, most of which are rural emergency hospitals or have applied for the designation. “But the change to a rural emergency hospital has transformed this hospital.”A combination of state programs and tax credits, plus the new designation, means the hospital has $4 million in the bank, Carver said. Simply put, the work was worth it to him.Traci Harper, a longtime Ocilla resident, isn’t so sure. About a year ago, she rushed her son to the hospital for emergency care for spinal meningitis.Because the new designation requires the hospital to transfer patients to larger hospitals within 24 hours, Harper’s son was sent to another in-state facility and three days later ended up getting the care he needed in a hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.“That's two hours away,” she said. “The whole time I could have taken him there myself, but nobody told me that.”‘Barely surviving’Nebraska’s first rural emergency hospital opened in February in a city called Friend.Warren Memorial Hospital had reached a breaking point: Federal pandemic relief money had dried up. The city, which owns the hospital, had to start extending lines of credit so hospital employees could get paid. A major street repair project was even delayed, said Jared Chaffin, the hospital’s chief financial officer and one of three co-CEOs.“Back in the summer, we were barely surviving,” said Amy Thimm, the hospital’s vice president of clinical services and quality and co-CEO.Though residents expressed concerns at a September town hall about closing inpatient services, the importance of having emergency care outweighed other worries.“We have farmers and ranchers and people who don’t have the time to drive an hour to get care, so they’ll just go without,” said Ron Te Brink, co-CEO and chief information officer. “Rural health care is so extremely important to a lot of Nebraska communities like ours.”The first federal payment, about $270,000, arrived March 5. Chaffin projects the hospital’s revenue will be $6 million this year — more than it’s ever made.“That’s just insane, especially for our little hospital here,” he said. “We still have Mount Everest to climb, and we still have so much work ahead of us. The designation alone is not a savior for the hospital — it’s a lifeline.”Rural troublesThat lifeline has proven difficult to hold onto for Alliance Healthcare System in Holly Springs, Mississippi, another one of Whitwell’s hospitals and the fourth facility in the country to convert.Months after being approved as a rural emergency hospital in March 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reneged on its decision.Hospital CEO Dr. Kenneth Williams told The Associated Press that the government said the hospital isn't rural because it is less than an hour away from Memphis. A CMS spokesperson said the facility was “inadvertently certified."The hospital has until April to transition back to full service, but many in the community of largely retirees believe the hospital has closed, Williams said. Patient volume is at a record low. If the federal payments stop coming, Williams isn’t sure the hospital will survive.“We might have been closed if we hadn’t (become a rural emergency hospital), so ... something had to be done,” he said. “Do I regret all of the issues that for some reason we’ve incurred that the other (hospitals) have not? I don’t know.”Though Alliance appears to be one of few facilities that have been negatively impacted by converting to a rural emergency hospital, Pink said it’s too soon to know if the federal designation is a success.“If my intuition is correct, it will probably work well for some communities and it may not work well for others,” he said.Cochran-McClain said her organization is trying to work with Congress to change regulations that have been a barrier for rural facilities, like closing inpatient behavioral health beds that are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-youth-emergency-psychiatry-north-carolina-0b1349f338d3110806fcbb2276e2e42b">already scarce.</a>Brock Slabach, the National Rural Health Association's chief operations officer, told the AP that upwards of 30 facilities are interested in converting to rural emergency hospitals this year.As Whitwell sees it: “As this program evolves, there will be more people that I think will understand the value.”&nbsp;

A new kind of hospital is coming to rural America. To qualify, facilities must close their beds

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraskans-asked-to-check-broadband-map-for-accuracy-of-data-on-high-speed-internet-access/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — Nebraskans are being asked to examine an official map to double-check whether it accurately describes their access to high-speed internet.

The accuracy, or inaccuracy, of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/broadbandavailabilitymap/">Nebraska Broadband Availability Map</a>&nbsp;will help determine how the state spends federal money to expand high-speed internet services across the state.

Nebraska is scheduled to receive $405 million via the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/BEAD-Frequently-Asked-Questions-%28FAQs%29_Version-2.0.pdf">Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Act</a>, which was part of the infrastructure law promoted by the Biden administration.

BEAD funds are to be used to deploy broadband in areas that are currently unserved, or underserved, by 2030. Locations that have access to internet with speeds of 100 Mbps for downloads and 20 Mbps uploads are considered “served” under the program.

The Nebraska Broadband Office, in a press release, said that the best way to ensure that a location is eligible for funding is to check the map and the status of service to a specific home, ranch or farm.

If the information is incorrect, the Broadband Office urges people to contact a local government office, a nonprofit or an internet service provider because they are the “advocates” that can submit challenges to the accuracy of the map.

Such entities should register with the State Broadband Office as advocates for their communities. Current, registered advocates are:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/challenge/consumers/find-an-advocate/">broadband.nebraska.gov/challenge/consumers/find-an-advocate</a>

The deadline for challenges to the map is April 14.

For more information, refer to the website,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/">broadband.nebraska.gov</a>

Paul Hammel<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/briefs/nebraskans-asked-to-check-broadband-map-for-accuracy-of-data-on-high-speed-internet-access/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — Nebraskans are being asked to examine an official map to double-check whether it accurately describes their access to high-speed internet.The accuracy, or inaccuracy, of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/broadbandavailabilitymap/">Nebraska Broadband Availability Map</a>&nbsp;will help determine how the state spends federal money to expand high-speed internet services across the state.Nebraska is scheduled to receive $405 million via the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadbandusa.ntia.doc.gov/sites/default/files/2022-09/BEAD-Frequently-Asked-Questions-%28FAQs%29_Version-2.0.pdf">Broadband, Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Act</a>, which was part of the infrastructure law promoted by the Biden administration.BEAD funds are to be used to deploy broadband in areas that are currently unserved, or underserved, by 2030. Locations that have access to internet with speeds of 100 Mbps for downloads and 20 Mbps uploads are considered “served” under the program.The Nebraska Broadband Office, in a press release, said that the best way to ensure that a location is eligible for funding is to check the map and the status of service to a specific home, ranch or farm.If the information is incorrect, the Broadband Office urges people to contact a local government office, a nonprofit or an internet service provider because they are the “advocates” that can submit challenges to the accuracy of the map.Such entities should register with the State Broadband Office as advocates for their communities. Current, registered advocates are:&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/challenge/consumers/find-an-advocate/">broadband.nebraska.gov/challenge/consumers/find-an-advocate</a>The deadline for challenges to the map is April 14.For more information, refer to the website,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://broadband.nebraska.gov/">broadband.nebraska.gov</a>

Nebraskans asked to check broadband map for accuracy of data on high-speed internet access

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a state government agency that sought to charge a news organization nearly $45,000 for public records on water pollution, leading to concerns that exorbitant fees could be used to keep information from the public.

The high court found that state law allows special fees to comply with records requests that take more than four hours to compile.

Matthew Hansen, the editor of the nonprofit news provider Flatwater Free Press at the center of the case, panned Friday’s ruling in an editorial, calling it a blow to Nebraska’s public records law.

“This clears the way for the state of Nebraska to charge us an ungodly amount of money to gain access to public records related to the state’s growing nitrate-in-groundwater problem,” Hansen wrote. “This decision is a blow to Nebraska’s public records law, a law written to protect media outlets like ours and Nebraskans like yourselves from the secrecy of those who hold power.”

The ruling came during&nbsp;<a href="https://sunshineweek.org/">Sunshine Week</a>, an observance of the importance of public access to government information. A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/open-records-government-transparency-lawsuits-sunshine-week-8623bd3a8069edf41c6a487bbaff6854">nationwide review</a>&nbsp;of procedures by The Associated Press and CNHI News revealed a patchwork of complicated systems for resolving open government disputes that often put the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/open-records-government-transparency-lawsuits-sunshine-week-58becea049a4eb5fac688e8aee1aac0e">burden of enforcing transparency laws on private citizens</a>.

The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by Flatwater in its effort to obtain public records from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy regarding groundwater pollution. According to court records, an agency manager initially estimated the cost to be $2,000 to carry out a broad request seeking all emails mentioning “nitrate,” “fertilizer” and other keywords over a 12-year period.

Flatwater then narrowed its request to emails containing those words among a handful of natural resource districts over a nearly six-year period. The agency manager then estimated the cost of producing those records at more than $44,000, based on an hourly rate for 102 employees to search, analyze and save emails, as well as the hours it would take to review the emails to see if they should be excluded as confidential.

A district court judge sided with Flatwater, saying state law only allows fees to be charged for physically redacting emails, not reviewing them to see whether they can legally be withheld. The state agency appealed, and the state's high court reversed the lower court ruling.

It relied on long-standing precedent that appeals courts must rely on the plain language of law, not reading anything into or out of that language to infer the intent of the Legislature. Based on that, the high court found that the law explicitly allows a special service charge for “searching, identifying, physically redacting, or copying” the public information requested if it take more than four hours.

Flatwater argued on appeal that the word “reviewing” isn't included in state law allowing special fees and therefore can't be read into the law under the plain language precedent.

“But review is intrinsic to ‘searching, identifying, physically redacting, or copying,’” Justice William Cassel wrote in the opinion for the high court, adding that the court applied “well-known rules of statutory interpretation and construction" to come to that conclusion.

The Nebraska Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court, ordering a judgment that conforms with the high court’s ruling. The problem with that, said Flatwater attorney Daniel Gutman, is that the high court didn't define what types of review of records requested are subject to charges.

State law specifically does not allow a government division to charge fees to have an attorney review the requested records to determine if they're exempt from open record laws. In the Flatwater case, Gutman said, the agency had its employees — not an attorney — review the records to get around that exemption.

“This is a very intensive legal review,” Gutman said. “We continue to believe that it is not lawful for non-attorneys to charge for this review that, under law, only attorneys can perform.”

The news group is reviewing its next options, Gutman said.

The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which represented the Department of Environment and Energy, declined to comment on Friday's ruling.

Jane Kirtley, director of The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, cautioned that access to public records is essential for an informed citizenry.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a state government agency that sought to charge a news organization nearly $45,000 for public records on water pollution, leading to concerns that exorbitant fees could be used to keep information from the public.The high court found that state law allows special fees to comply with records requests that take more than four hours to compile.Matthew Hansen, the editor of the nonprofit news provider Flatwater Free Press at the center of the case, panned Friday’s ruling in an editorial, calling it a blow to Nebraska’s public records law.“This clears the way for the state of Nebraska to charge us an ungodly amount of money to gain access to public records related to the state’s growing nitrate-in-groundwater problem,” Hansen wrote. “This decision is a blow to Nebraska’s public records law, a law written to protect media outlets like ours and Nebraskans like yourselves from the secrecy of those who hold power.”The ruling came during&nbsp;<a href="https://sunshineweek.org/">Sunshine Week</a>, an observance of the importance of public access to government information. A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/open-records-government-transparency-lawsuits-sunshine-week-8623bd3a8069edf41c6a487bbaff6854">nationwide review</a>&nbsp;of procedures by The Associated Press and CNHI News revealed a patchwork of complicated systems for resolving open government disputes that often put the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/open-records-government-transparency-lawsuits-sunshine-week-58becea049a4eb5fac688e8aee1aac0e">burden of enforcing transparency laws on private citizens</a>.The ruling stems from a lawsuit brought by Flatwater in its effort to obtain public records from the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy regarding groundwater pollution. According to court records, an agency manager initially estimated the cost to be $2,000 to carry out a broad request seeking all emails mentioning “nitrate,” “fertilizer” and other keywords over a 12-year period.Flatwater then narrowed its request to emails containing those words among a handful of natural resource districts over a nearly six-year period. The agency manager then estimated the cost of producing those records at more than $44,000, based on an hourly rate for 102 employees to search, analyze and save emails, as well as the hours it would take to review the emails to see if they should be excluded as confidential.A district court judge sided with Flatwater, saying state law only allows fees to be charged for physically redacting emails, not reviewing them to see whether they can legally be withheld. The state agency appealed, and the state's high court reversed the lower court ruling.It relied on long-standing precedent that appeals courts must rely on the plain language of law, not reading anything into or out of that language to infer the intent of the Legislature. Based on that, the high court found that the law explicitly allows a special service charge for “searching, identifying, physically redacting, or copying” the public information requested if it take more than four hours.Flatwater argued on appeal that the word “reviewing” isn't included in state law allowing special fees and therefore can't be read into the law under the plain language precedent.“But review is intrinsic to ‘searching, identifying, physically redacting, or copying,’” Justice William Cassel wrote in the opinion for the high court, adding that the court applied “well-known rules of statutory interpretation and construction" to come to that conclusion.The Nebraska Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower court, ordering a judgment that conforms with the high court’s ruling. The problem with that, said Flatwater attorney Daniel Gutman, is that the high court didn't define what types of review of records requested are subject to charges.State law specifically does not allow a government division to charge fees to have an attorney review the requested records to determine if they're exempt from open record laws. In the Flatwater case, Gutman said, the agency had its employees — not an attorney — review the records to get around that exemption.“This is a very intensive legal review,” Gutman said. “We continue to believe that it is not lawful for non-attorneys to charge for this review that, under law, only attorneys can perform.”The news group is reviewing its next options, Gutman said.The Nebraska Attorney General's Office, which represented the Department of Environment and Energy, declined to comment on Friday's ruling.Jane Kirtley, director of The Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law at the University of Minnesota, cautioned that access to public records is essential for an informed citizenry.

Watchdogs worry a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling could lead to high fees for open records

<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/03/16/nu-leadership-choice-was-deadlocked-between-unmc-chancellor-and-state-chamber-head/">Nebraska Examiner</a>

LINCOLN — The search for the next University of Nebraska president has stuck close to home, meaning NU is following at least part of a wish list set by Gov. Jim Pillen, a former regent.

Every candidate currently being seriously considered by the NU Board of Regents could meet three criteria Pillen acknowledged conveying to regents.

He confirmed Thursday that he wanted the next NU president to: 1.) Have Nebraska ties. 2.) Be willing to stay in the post 10 years. 3.) Respect the values of conservative Nebraskans, which some familiar with the search said was a push for someone who won’t advocate for the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that Pillen campaigned against in 2022.

NU regents and members of the presidential search committee are bound not to discuss the search process publicly. This article is based on interviews with a number of people with knowledge of the discussions, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. &nbsp;

For months, the board has been deadlocked 4-4 between University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Dr. Jeffrey Gold and Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. Neither Gold nor Slone immediately returned messages seeking comment.&nbsp;

Gold has been a builder known to big-dollar donors in Omaha from his work at UNMC and his stint helping lead the University of Nebraska at Omaha during its search for a chancellor.

Slone ran an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2014. He is known for his work with state lawmakers and local economic development officials on business growth and on tax and regulatory policy.

Discussions also have touched on other potential candidates.&nbsp;

At least one NU representative contacted U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., to gauge his interest, Flood confirmed through a staffer Friday. Flood is running for re-election in the 1st Congressional District.&nbsp;

He said he is “committed to the people of this district” and respects “the faith they have placed in me.”

Flood owns News Channel Nebraska, a network of news websites and broadcast stations across Nebraska. He was speaker of the Nebraska Legislature for six years and was elected to Congress in 2022.

“I appreciate the many people who have reached out about NU President, and I share their passion for our University system,” Flood said. “I support the Board of Regents and their process and look forward to partnering with the new President.”&nbsp;

There was chatter this week that NU would do well to contact former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., president of the University of Florida. He was president of Midland University in Fremont before being elected to the Senate.

Property records show his family still has a home in the Fremont Lakes area. The Examiner has learned that he also discussed the NU presidency with university leaders in 2018-19.&nbsp;

A source close to Sasse during his time in Nebraska confirmed this week that Sasse “has not applied nor been contacted by the Board of Regents or the search committee.”

Part of the frustration Pillen aired Thursday, in a statement urging the board to hire a president soon, reflects unease about a leadership vacuum at NU, he said.&nbsp;

Former NU President Ted Carter left for Ohio State University at the end of December. Huskers Athletics Director Trev Alberts announced Wednesday night he is taking the AD job at Texas A&amp;M University.

Their departures follow recent turnover among the chancellorships at NU campuses in Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha. Some of those interviewed have criticized Pillen, previous governors and some state lawmakers for contributing to an increasingly charged political environment surrounding the university.

The board’s long stalemate is unusual. Members typically disagree for a time and then coalesce around a favored candidate and approve a candidate unanimously, board observers explained.

People familiar with the presidential search told the Examiner there may be more to Pillen’s push than meets the eye, partly because of the stalemate. The governor has told some he wants the board to declare a failed search, several said privately. His office had no immediate response to a reporter’s question Friday about the process.

If a failed search was declared, the board could consider candidates who earlier agreed to stay out of the search, including NU interim President Chris Kabourek, who has some campus support. &nbsp;

Some who know the interim president said he might be interested if the board wanted him to apply. Officially, he has stood by his statement that he is not a candidate.

NU has asked its recent interim presidents to agree not to apply for a permanent post, in order to encourage a wider applicant pool and to avoid discouraging potential outside applicants from perceiving a favored candidate.

Pillen could have pushed board to act now

University observers said the governor’s public criticism of the board this week could be enough to push a single member to change his or her vote and help resolve the process.

Others familiar with the process said Regent Tim Clare, the search committee chairman, might be interested in the job. On Friday, he rejected that speculation, saying, “I am not going to be a candidate.”

“The search is going well,” he said.&nbsp;

While Alberts did not say so publicly, he hinted in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald that the seven to eight months the board has taken to hire a new president was a factor in Alberts’ departure.

That timeline largely mirrors how long it took to hire Carter in 2019, when then-regent Pillen led the search. Pillen said the current search should’ve taken no more than 90 days.

His critics said some of what has made the search take longer has been the outside interference in the university’s business.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710767509800.jpeg" alt=" The University of Nebraska Board of Regents typically meets in Varner Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus. (Courtesy of the University of Nebraska)" />
 <figcaption> The University of Nebraska Board of Regents typically meets in Varner Hall on the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s East Campus. (Courtesy of the University of Nebraska)</figcaption>
 </figure>Aaron Sanderford<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/03/16/nu-leadership-choice-was-deadlocked-between-unmc-chancellor-and-state-chamber-head/">Nebraska Examiner</a>LINCOLN — The search for the next University of Nebraska president has stuck close to home, meaning NU is following at least part of a wish list set by Gov. Jim Pillen, a former regent.Every candidate currently being seriously considered by the NU Board of Regents could meet three criteria Pillen acknowledged conveying to regents.He confirmed Thursday that he wanted the next NU president to: 1.) Have Nebraska ties. 2.) Be willing to stay in the post 10 years. 3.) Respect the values of conservative Nebraskans, which some familiar with the search said was a push for someone who won’t advocate for the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that Pillen campaigned against in 2022.NU regents and members of the presidential search committee are bound not to discuss the search process publicly. This article is based on interviews with a number of people with knowledge of the discussions, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity. &nbsp;For months, the board has been deadlocked 4-4 between University of Nebraska Medical Center Chancellor Dr. Jeffrey Gold and Bryan Slone, president of the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce. Neither Gold nor Slone immediately returned messages seeking comment.&nbsp;Gold has been a builder known to big-dollar donors in Omaha from his work at UNMC and his stint helping lead the University of Nebraska at Omaha during its search for a chancellor.Slone ran an unsuccessful bid for governor in 2014. He is known for his work with state lawmakers and local economic development officials on business growth and on tax and regulatory policy.<h2>Flood, Sasse possible?</h2>Discussions also have touched on other potential candidates.&nbsp;At least one NU representative contacted U.S. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., to gauge his interest, Flood confirmed through a staffer Friday. Flood is running for re-election in the 1st Congressional District.&nbsp;He said he is “committed to the people of this district” and respects “the faith they have placed in me.”Flood owns News Channel Nebraska, a network of news websites and broadcast stations across Nebraska. He was speaker of the Nebraska Legislature for six years and was elected to Congress in 2022.“I appreciate the many people who have reached out about NU President, and I share their passion for our University system,” Flood said. “I support the Board of Regents and their process and look forward to partnering with the new President.”&nbsp;There was chatter this week that NU would do well to contact former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., president of the University of Florida. He was president of Midland University in Fremont before being elected to the Senate.Property records show his family still has a home in the Fremont Lakes area. The Examiner has learned that he also discussed the NU presidency with university leaders in 2018-19.&nbsp;A source close to Sasse during his time in Nebraska confirmed this week that Sasse “has not applied nor been contacted by the Board of Regents or the search committee.”<h2>Possible extra internal candidate</h2>Part of the frustration Pillen aired Thursday, in a statement urging the board to hire a president soon, reflects unease about a leadership vacuum at NU, he said.&nbsp;Former NU President Ted Carter left for Ohio State University at the end of December. Huskers Athletics Director Trev Alberts announced Wednesday night he is taking the AD job at Texas A&amp;M University.Their departures follow recent turnover among the chancellorships at NU campuses in Kearney, Lincoln and Omaha. Some of those interviewed have criticized Pillen, previous governors and some state lawmakers for contributing to an increasingly charged political environment surrounding the university.The board’s long stalemate is unusual. Members typically disagree for a time and then coalesce around a favored candidate and approve a candidate unanimously, board observers explained.People familiar with the presidential search told the Examiner there may be more to Pillen’s push than meets the eye, partly because of the stalemate. The governor has told some he wants the board to declare a failed search, several said privately. His office had no immediate response to a reporter’s question Friday about the process.If a failed search was declared, the board could consider candidates who earlier agreed to stay out of the search, including NU interim President Chris Kabourek, who has some campus support. &nbsp;Some who know the interim president said he might be interested if the board wanted him to apply. Officially, he has stood by his statement that he is not a candidate.NU has asked its recent interim presidents to agree not to apply for a permanent post, in order to encourage a wider applicant pool and to avoid discouraging potential outside applicants from perceiving a favored candidate.<h2>Pillen could have pushed board to act now</h2>University observers said the governor’s public criticism of the board this week could be enough to push a single member to change his or her vote and help resolve the process.Others familiar with the process said Regent Tim Clare, the search committee chairman, might be interested in the job. On Friday, he rejected that speculation, saying, “I am not going to be a candidate.”“The search is going well,” he said.&nbsp;While Alberts did not say so publicly, he hinted in an interview with the Omaha World-Herald that the seven to eight months the board has taken to hire a new president was a factor in Alberts’ departure.That timeline largely mirrors how long it took to hire Carter in 2019, when then-regent Pillen led the search. Pillen said the current search should’ve taken no more than 90 days.His critics said some of what has made the search take longer has been the outside interference in the university’s business.

NU leadership choice was deadlocked between UNMC chancellor and State Chamber head

MIAMI (AP) — A charter flight carrying dozens of U.S. citizens fleeing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-violence-guatemala-looting-e253c80da9e58fc9f2c809aed27fbe9a">spiraling gang violence</a>&nbsp;in Haiti landed Sunday in Miami, U.S. State Department officials said.

More than 30 U.S. citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in the Miami International Airport after the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince earlier this month urged U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible” as chaos grips Haiti.

Passenger Avlot Quessa, who lives in Boston, traveled from the center of the country to board the charter flight after going to Haiti last month for was supposed to be a weeklong trip to visit his mother.

On Saturday, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall's office encouraged anyone in Haiti or with family in the country to email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:EvacHelp@marshall.senate.gov">EvacHelp@marshall.senate.gov</a>&nbsp;or call (785) 829-9000.

“It’s just terrible ... The suffering, you can only imagine,” Quessa told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/article286799990.html">the Miami Herald</a>&nbsp;of the nearby Caribbean nation. “Haiti is my homeland and it’s very stressful to see the homeland going through this act of violence, destruction ... and they are our neighbors.”

Haiti’s main airport in Port-au-Prince remains closed following gang attacks that have raged through Haiti in recent weeks, pushing many people to the brink of famine. Government and aid agencies this weekend reported looting of aid supplies as the situation worsened.

The State Department announced Saturday that it would offer limited charter flights for American citizens from the less chaotic northern city of Cap-Haïtien.

Officials said they could not provide ground transportation to Cap-Haïtien and that U.S. citizens should consider the charter flights “only if you think you can reach Cap-Haïtien airport safely.”

“We encourage U.S. citizens still in Haiti who seek to depart to contact the Department of State using the crisis intake form on our website if they have not already done so,” the agency said.

People taking the U.S. government-coordinated flights must sign a promissory bill agreeing to reimburse the government.

Another passenger on Sunday’s flight, Marie Lucie St. Fleur, 69, of West Palm Beach, said she feels most at home in Haiti and it pains her to see what her homeland is enduring.

“I don’t feel well at all. I would like to live in my country and I can’t,” she said while sitting in a wheelchair.

The State Department said government officials in Miami were helping the newly arrived evacuees to determine their next steps.

The U.S. military last week flew in additional forces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-us-embassy-security-gang-violence-1b720280fa85c87ccf0768d3156dbd23">to bolster security</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Embassy, which is in a neighborhood largely controlled by gangs.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710725528636.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>MIAMI (AP) — A charter flight carrying dozens of U.S. citizens fleeing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-gangs-violence-guatemala-looting-e253c80da9e58fc9f2c809aed27fbe9a">spiraling gang violence</a>&nbsp;in Haiti landed Sunday in Miami, U.S. State Department officials said.More than 30 U.S. citizens were on the government-chartered flight, officials said in a statement. It arrived in the Miami International Airport after the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince earlier this month urged U.S. citizens to leave “as soon as possible” as chaos grips Haiti.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FACSPortauPrince%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0bae6RV3HXLRpFB3Jy6oNLkVbQS9gqQ6122cVmPspeh51PbT6q6igC37FiVsxhUthl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="370" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>Passenger Avlot Quessa, who lives in Boston, traveled from the center of the country to board the charter flight after going to Haiti last month for was supposed to be a weeklong trip to visit his mother.On Saturday, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall's office encouraged anyone in Haiti or with family in the country to email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:EvacHelp@marshall.senate.gov">EvacHelp@marshall.senate.gov</a>&nbsp;or call (785) 829-9000.“It’s just terrible ... The suffering, you can only imagine,” Quessa told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/article286799990.html">the Miami Herald</a>&nbsp;of the nearby Caribbean nation. “Haiti is my homeland and it’s very stressful to see the homeland going through this act of violence, destruction ... and they are our neighbors.”Haiti’s main airport in Port-au-Prince remains closed following gang attacks that have raged through Haiti in recent weeks, pushing many people to the brink of famine. Government and aid agencies this weekend reported looting of aid supplies as the situation worsened.The State Department announced Saturday that it would offer limited charter flights for American citizens from the less chaotic northern city of Cap-Haïtien.Officials said they could not provide ground transportation to Cap-Haïtien and that U.S. citizens should consider the charter flights “only if you think you can reach Cap-Haïtien airport safely.”“We encourage U.S. citizens still in Haiti who seek to depart to contact the Department of State using the crisis intake form on our website if they have not already done so,” the agency said.People taking the U.S. government-coordinated flights must sign a promissory bill agreeing to reimburse the government.Another passenger on Sunday’s flight, Marie Lucie St. Fleur, 69, of West Palm Beach, said she feels most at home in Haiti and it pains her to see what her homeland is enduring.“I don’t feel well at all. I would like to live in my country and I can’t,” she said while sitting in a wheelchair.The State Department said government officials in Miami were helping the newly arrived evacuees to determine their next steps.The U.S. military last week flew in additional forces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-us-embassy-security-gang-violence-1b720280fa85c87ccf0768d3156dbd23">to bolster security</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Embassy, which is in a neighborhood largely controlled by gangs.

First charter flight with US citizens fleeing Haiti lands in U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The big news this week, President Joe Biden said at a weekend Washington roast, was that two candidates&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">had clinched their party's nomination</a>&nbsp;for president. But one was too old, too mentally unfit for the job, he said.

The digs&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ohio-moreno-senate-social-security-3b450dcfc24a02c8cac3a3feb657ddc8">against Republican Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;kept coming from the president at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, as Biden deflected ongoing criticism&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-memory-age-special-counsel-report-doj-f4232bc8316e556ed467185b67c3e0a8">that his memory is hazy</a>&nbsp;and he appears confused, instead highlighting moments when the 77-year-old Trump has slipped up, too.

“Don't tell him, he thinks he's running against Barack Obama, that's what he said," said Biden, 81, who also quipped that he was staying up way past his bedtime.

It was the first time Biden has attended the dinner during his presidency, and comes as the 2024 election looms and the rematch between Biden and Trump heats up. The annual bacchanalia, now in its 139th year, traces its history to 1885 — that was the year President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since has come to at least one Gridiron.

Biden veered quickly into the somber, though, highlighting what he sees as a real threat to democracy should Trump — who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen — return to the White House. The speech had echoes of Biden's campaign remarks, criticizing Trump as well as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” he said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin's on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want.’”

Biden then introduced the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

“We will not bow down. They will not bow down, and I will not bow down,” he said.

Biden, dressed in white-tie attire as is the custom, brought his daughter Ashley.

The dinner has a reputation as a night of bipartisan mirth, and was jam-packed with politicians and who's-who of Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, at least eight other Cabinet members, at least five members of Congress, five governors and at least five ambassadors. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who’s in town for St. Patrick’s Day, also attended.

Also speaking at the dinner were Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican.

Biden closed out the dinner, speaking also about the importance of a free press. Although he may not agree with everything the news media prints, he said, he understands the necessity of journalism and said he was still working to bring home&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gershkovich-russia-jailed-journalist-putin-custody-extended-e53ec909dd55b3cfe94a11e4d4b713ed">journalists Evan Gershovich</a>&nbsp;and Austin Tice, one held in Russia, the other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-syria-lebanon-middle-east-beirut-1ed67016bc0594b4e8e998bad8659fdd">who disappeared during a reporting trip in Syria</a>.

“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” he said. “We need you.”

Biden and Harris were seated at the head table along with other administration officials and the foreign leaders, plus Gridiron president Dan Balz of the Washington Post. Seated also at the table were Balz's bosses, the Post's Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos.

The dinner was held at the Grand Hyatt. No photos or TV were allowed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710675638300.png" alt="President Joe Biden during a meeting on Friday with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office -White House photo" />
 <figcaption>President Joe Biden during a meeting on Friday with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office -White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The big news this week, President Joe Biden said at a weekend Washington roast, was that two candidates&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">had clinched their party's nomination</a>&nbsp;for president. But one was too old, too mentally unfit for the job, he said.“The other's me," Biden quipped.The digs&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ohio-moreno-senate-social-security-3b450dcfc24a02c8cac3a3feb657ddc8">against Republican Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;kept coming from the president at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, as Biden deflected ongoing criticism&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-memory-age-special-counsel-report-doj-f4232bc8316e556ed467185b67c3e0a8">that his memory is hazy</a>&nbsp;and he appears confused, instead highlighting moments when the 77-year-old Trump has slipped up, too.“Don't tell him, he thinks he's running against Barack Obama, that's what he said," said Biden, 81, who also quipped that he was staying up way past his bedtime.It was the first time Biden has attended the dinner during his presidency, and comes as the 2024 election looms and the rematch between Biden and Trump heats up. The annual bacchanalia, now in its 139th year, traces its history to 1885 — that was the year President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since has come to at least one Gridiron.Biden veered quickly into the somber, though, highlighting what he sees as a real threat to democracy should Trump — who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen — return to the White House. The speech had echoes of Biden's campaign remarks, criticizing Trump as well as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” he said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin's on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want.’”Biden then introduced the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.“We will not bow down. They will not bow down, and I will not bow down,” he said.Biden, dressed in white-tie attire as is the custom, brought his daughter Ashley.The dinner has a reputation as a night of bipartisan mirth, and was jam-packed with politicians and who's-who of Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, at least eight other Cabinet members, at least five members of Congress, five governors and at least five ambassadors. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who’s in town for St. Patrick’s Day, also attended.Also speaking at the dinner were Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican.Biden closed out the dinner, speaking also about the importance of a free press. Although he may not agree with everything the news media prints, he said, he understands the necessity of journalism and said he was still working to bring home&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gershkovich-russia-jailed-journalist-putin-custody-extended-e53ec909dd55b3cfe94a11e4d4b713ed">journalists Evan Gershovich</a>&nbsp;and Austin Tice, one held in Russia, the other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-syria-lebanon-middle-east-beirut-1ed67016bc0594b4e8e998bad8659fdd">who disappeared during a reporting trip in Syria</a>.“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” he said. “We need you.”Biden and Harris were seated at the head table along with other administration officials and the foreign leaders, plus Gridiron president Dan Balz of the Washington Post. Seated also at the table were Balz's bosses, the Post's Executive Editor Sally Buzbee and the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos.The dinner was held at the Grand Hyatt. No photos or TV were allowed.

Biden at DC roast: Of 2 presidential candidates, 1 mentally unfit. 'The other's me'

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz," according to an indictment made public Sunday.

Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.

The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5f15402e28f04341b6a25d179b070fc5">the FBI recovered them in 2018</a>.

The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage" — specifically, "an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’" The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t keep her mouth shut about the slippers.

Saliterman was in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen during his Friday court appearance. His oxygen machine hummed throughout the hearing and he bounced his knee nervously during breaks in the proceedings. He responded with “yes,” when U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright asked whether he understood the charges against him, but he said nothing about the allegations.

The case was not openly discussed in court. The magistrate ordered Friday that the indictment be unsealed, but it did not become publicly available until Sunday.

Saliterman’s attorney, John Brink, said after Friday's hearing that he couldn’t say much about the case, but: “He’s not guilty. He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Saliterman, who was released on his own recognizance, declined to comment to The Associated Press outside the courthouse.

The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wizard-oz-stolen-ruby-slippers-judy-garland-f2bd6d4455a9821c311d1d0a03f6d77a">pleaded guilty in October</a>&nbsp;to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum's door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after turning away from a life of crime. He was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oz-stolen-ruby-slippers-sentencing-2479d587123b97eda5c47672322d2d6e">sentenced in January</a>&nbsp;to time served because of his poor health.

Martin’s lawyer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stolen-ruby-slippers-judy-garland-wizard-oz-f93b3da8331f050cc81bf7f1f79877e8">said in court documents</a>&nbsp;that an old associate of Martin's with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.

Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at an October hearing that he hoped to take what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him the rubies weren’t real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers.

Defense attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in court documents that Martin’s unidentified former associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “one last score,” even though Martin had seemed to have “finally put his demons to rest” after finishing his last prison term nearly 10 years earlier.

“But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote.

According to DeKrey’s memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.”

The documents unsealed Sunday do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may have been connected.

In the classic 1939 musical, Garland’s character, Dorothy, had to click the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain.

The FBI never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers’ market value at about $3.5 million.

Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned the pair to the museum before Martin stole them. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.si.edu/object/dorothys-ruby-slippers:nmah_670130">Smithsonian Museum of American History</a>&nbsp;and a private collector. According to John Kelsh, founding director of the museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held by an auction house that plans to sell them.

Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/16889e9c55dd4728a45ee11a783b74de">lived in Grand Rapids</a>, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.judygarlandmuseum.com/">Judy Garland Museum,</a>&nbsp;which includes the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684352824766.png" alt="FILE - A pair of ruby slippers once worn by actress Judy Garland in the "The Wizard of Oz" sit on display at a news conference on Sept. 4, 2018, at the FBI office in Brooklyn Center, Minn. Federal prosecutors say a man has been indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, on charges of stealing a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” The FBI recovered the slippers in 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Baenen, File)" />
 <figcaption>FILE - A pair of ruby slippers once worn by actress Judy Garland in the "The Wizard of Oz" sit on display at a news conference on Sept. 4, 2018, at the FBI office in Brooklyn Center, Minn. Federal prosecutors say a man has been indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday, May 16, 2023, on charges of stealing a pair of ruby red slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz.” The FBI recovered the slippers in 2018. (AP Photo/Jeff Baenen, File)</figcaption>
 </figure>ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A second man has been charged in connection with the 2005 theft of a pair of ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz," according to an indictment made public Sunday.Jerry Hal Saliterman, 76, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering. He did not enter a plea when he made his first appearance Friday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul.The slippers, adorned with sequins and glass beads, were stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in the late actor's hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, nearly 20 years ago and their whereabouts remained a mystery until&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5f15402e28f04341b6a25d179b070fc5">the FBI recovered them in 2018</a>.The indictment says that from August 2005 to July 2018 Saliterman “received, concealed, and disposed of an object of cultural heritage" — specifically, "an authentic pair of ‘ruby slippers’ worn by Judy Garland in the 1939 movie ‘The Wizard of Oz.’" The indictment says Saliterman knew they were stolen, and that he threatened to release a sex tape of a woman and “take her down with him” if she didn’t keep her mouth shut about the slippers.Saliterman was in a wheelchair and on supplemental oxygen during his Friday court appearance. His oxygen machine hummed throughout the hearing and he bounced his knee nervously during breaks in the proceedings. He responded with “yes,” when U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Cowan Wright asked whether he understood the charges against him, but he said nothing about the allegations.The case was not openly discussed in court. The magistrate ordered Friday that the indictment be unsealed, but it did not become publicly available until Sunday.Saliterman’s attorney, John Brink, said after Friday's hearing that he couldn’t say much about the case, but: “He’s not guilty. He hasn’t done anything wrong.” Saliterman, who was released on his own recognizance, declined to comment to The Associated Press outside the courthouse.The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, 76,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wizard-oz-stolen-ruby-slippers-judy-garland-f2bd6d4455a9821c311d1d0a03f6d77a">pleaded guilty in October</a>&nbsp;to theft of a major artwork, admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum's door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after turning away from a life of crime. He was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oz-stolen-ruby-slippers-sentencing-2479d587123b97eda5c47672322d2d6e">sentenced in January</a>&nbsp;to time served because of his poor health.Martin’s lawyer&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stolen-ruby-slippers-judy-garland-wizard-oz-f93b3da8331f050cc81bf7f1f79877e8">said in court documents</a>&nbsp;that an old associate of Martin's with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.Martin, who lives near Grand Rapids, said at an October hearing that he hoped to take what he thought were real rubies from the shoes and sell them. But a person who deals in stolen goods, known as a fence, informed him the rubies weren’t real, Martin said. So he got rid of the slippers.Defense attorney Dane DeKrey wrote in court documents that Martin’s unidentified former associate persuaded him to steal the slippers as “one last score,” even though Martin had seemed to have “finally put his demons to rest” after finishing his last prison term nearly 10 years earlier.“But old habits die hard, and the thought of a ‘final score’ kept him up at night,” DeKrey wrote.According to DeKrey’s memo, Martin had no idea about the cultural significance of the ruby slippers and had never seen “The Wizard of Oz.”The documents unsealed Sunday do not indicate how Martin and Saliterman may have been connected.In the classic 1939 musical, Garland’s character, Dorothy, had to click the heels of her ruby slippers three times and repeat, “There’s no place like home,” to return to Kansas from Oz. She wore several pairs during filming, but only four authentic pairs are known to remain.The FBI never disclosed exactly how it tracked down the slippers. The bureau said a man approached the insurer in 2017 and claimed he could help recover them but demanded more than the $200,000 reward being offered. The slippers were recovered during an FBI sting in Minneapolis the next year. Federal prosecutors have put the slippers’ market value at about $3.5 million.Hollywood memorabilia collector Michael Shaw had loaned the pair to the museum before Martin stole them. The other pairs are held by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.si.edu/object/dorothys-ruby-slippers:nmah_670130">Smithsonian Museum of American History</a>&nbsp;and a private collector. According to John Kelsh, founding director of the museum, the slippers were returned to Shaw and are being held by an auction house that plans to sell them.Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922. She&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/16889e9c55dd4728a45ee11a783b74de">lived in Grand Rapids</a>, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Minneapolis, until she was 4, when her family moved to Los Angeles. She died in 1969. The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.judygarlandmuseum.com/">Judy Garland Museum,</a>&nbsp;which includes the house where she lived, says it has the world’s largest collection of Garland and “Wizard of Oz” memorabilia.

2nd man charged for theft of ruby slippers worn in 'The Wizard of Oz'

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lori Shelton can't fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that's a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year's presidential election.

Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay covered her apartment's security deposit. But it also cut into her next paycheck, leaving her bank account dangerously low when the rent was due — a cycle that never seems to end.

“I'm always one step behind,” said Shelton, her voice choking up. “It’s a nightmare, it’s a freaking nightmare right now.”

The United States is slogging through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">housing affordability crisis</a>&nbsp;that was decades in the making. At the root of this problem: America failed to build enough homes for its growing population. The shortage strikes at the heart of the American dream of homeownership — dampening President Joe Biden's assurances that the U.S. economy is strong and underscoring the degree to which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican Donald Trump</a>, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, has largely overlooked the shortage.

The lack of housing has caused a record number of renters to devote an excessive amount of income to housing, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/affordable-housing-rent-eviction-price-harvard-congress-f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3">Harvard University analysis</a>. Not enough homes are for sale or being built, keeping prices elevated. Average mortgage rates have more than doubled and further worsened affordability.

In fact, the Census Bureau reported that homeownership fell slightly at the end of last year in an otherwise solid economy. If it wasn’t for shelter costs, inflation — Biden’s most pronounced economic problem — would be running at a healthy and stable 1.8%. Instead, it's hovering around 3.2%.

Administration officials are confident that shelter inflation will soon cool, but the damage across several years is apparent to advocates and economists.

“I’ve been doing housing work for 30 years — the housing affordability challenge is the worst I've ever seen in my career,” said Shaun Donovan, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama years who now leads the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.

Donovan noted that this is an increasingly bipartisan challenge that could bring the political parties together. Expensive housing was once the domain of Democratic areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It's now moved into Republican states as places such as Boise, Idaho, grapple with higher prices.

“It is a first-tier issue almost everywhere,” he said. “And that is changing the national politics around it in a way that I think is quite different than I’ve ever seen.”

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that the outcome of the November election could ultimately depend on the path of 30-year mortgage rates.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-530356e889579526a953e46dcd8ca7d1">Rates currently average about 6.74%.</a>&nbsp;If they dropped closer to 6%, the odds of a Biden victory would increase. But rates moving near 8% might enable Trump to prevail, Zandi said.

“Given the current housing affordability crisis, higher rates will make owning a home completely out of reach for nearly all potential first-time homebuyers,” he said. “Since homeownership is a key part of the American dream, if it appears unattainable, this will deeply impact voters’ sense of the economy.”

Biden, a Democrat, acknowledged the pain many are feeling in his State of the Union address earlier this month and in his budget proposal released on Monday.

The president wants to fund the building and preservation of 2 million housing units — a meaningful sum, but not enough to solve the shortage. He also proposed a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to homebuyers. Over the past three years, he has increased rental assistance to 100,000 households.

“The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” Biden said Monday in a speech to the National League of Cities. “That’s how we bring down housing costs for good.”

Rapidly climbing home prices were also a festering problem under Trump, who first achieved celebrity status as a real estate developer. While president, Trump called for limiting construction in the suburbs. He claimed during the 2020 election that Biden's policies to spur building and affordability would “destroy your neighborhood.”

During the 2018 to 2020 years of Trump's presidency, the country’s housing shortage surged 52% to 3.8 million units, according to the mortgage company Freddie Mac.

The Associated Press contacted Trump's campaign for his policy plans but did not get a response. The America First Policy Institute, a think tank promoting Trump's vision, said the key is to cut government borrowing to reduce mortgage rates. The former president has pledged to reduce deficits, but an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows that his policies in office will have likely added&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-much-did-president-trump-add-debt">more than $8 trillion to the national debt.</a>

“The best way for us to improve access to homeownership for young people is to get interest rates back down, not to provide subsidies that cause housing unaffordability to worsen,” said Mike Faulkender, chief economist at the institute.

Lower rates might play well with voters, but most economists say they would at best offer temporary financial relief. Purchase prices would likely adjust upward in response to greater demand from falling rates.

Construction, the more enduring solution, would take years to achieve and require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oregon-land-use-law-urban-growth-boundary-housing-d85c2413f169cd02cbf6b15fd9c95329">new rules by states and cities</a>. The administration is trying to incentivize zoning changes, but the major choices are outside the White House's control.

“Even as incomes are going up and the economy is doing well and inflation is coming down, people can’t buy homes,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at the brokerage Redfin. “That’s like the biggest problem for Biden because it’s not one that he can solve.”

The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage. A typical household looking to buy a home would have to devote 41% of its income to mortgage payments, according to Redfin.

There are far-reaching economic risks because of this. High housing costs can lead people to cut back spending elsewhere. Advocates said it enables landlords to neglect their properties since there is always a ready tenant.

Evictions can worsen health and educational outcomes for children and exact an even wider cost on society, said Zach Neumann, a Denver-based lawyer who provides more than $30 million annually in rental assistance through the nonprofit Community Economic Defense Project.

The cumulative costs of evicting poorer renters are "$20,000 to $30,000 a year when you include shelter nights and emergency room visits,” Neumann said. “It’s really overwhelming when you think about the total numbers and these folks are fighting to have a roof over their heads.”

While there is bipartisan agreement on the need for more housing, there has yet to be a significant plan that has passed the House and Senate. Biden has proposed housing aid throughout his administration that never materialized.

“Had Congress passed some of the investments that the president has called for since the beginning of the administration, had they done that three years ago, as he was advocating, we’d have affordable units coming online right now," said Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.

But Mark Calabria, who was director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the Trump administration, said that many of the federal tools to increase housing such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could further push up demand without adding enough construction.

“My worry would be we’ve done a number of things that increased demand when the problem is supply,” said Calabria, now an adviser with the libertarian Cato Institute.

But for renters such as Lori Shelton in Colorado, the debate about how to add housing supply is cold comfort when she owes rent now. She's previously dealt with the threat of eviction and late fees. She gets some rent money from her son, but she has also relied at times on her church to cover the $2,399 a month.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lori Shelton can't fathom ever having the money to buy a home — and that's a major reason why so many voters feel down on the economy ahead of this year's presidential election.Shelton, 67, drives an Uber to help pay rent in Aurora, Colorado. An advance on her pay covered her apartment's security deposit. But it also cut into her next paycheck, leaving her bank account dangerously low when the rent was due — a cycle that never seems to end.“I'm always one step behind,” said Shelton, her voice choking up. “It’s a nightmare, it’s a freaking nightmare right now.”The United States is slogging through a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-affordability-century-21-ceo-b60d7bf34139334a843f9760a976f33c">housing affordability crisis</a>&nbsp;that was decades in the making. At the root of this problem: America failed to build enough homes for its growing population. The shortage strikes at the heart of the American dream of homeownership — dampening President Joe Biden's assurances that the U.S. economy is strong and underscoring the degree to which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican Donald Trump</a>, the former president and presumptive GOP nominee for 2024, has largely overlooked the shortage.The lack of housing has caused a record number of renters to devote an excessive amount of income to housing, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/affordable-housing-rent-eviction-price-harvard-congress-f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3">Harvard University analysis</a>. Not enough homes are for sale or being built, keeping prices elevated. Average mortgage rates have more than doubled and further worsened affordability.In fact, the Census Bureau reported that homeownership fell slightly at the end of last year in an otherwise solid economy. If it wasn’t for shelter costs, inflation — Biden’s most pronounced economic problem — would be running at a healthy and stable 1.8%. Instead, it's hovering around 3.2%.Administration officials are confident that shelter inflation will soon cool, but the damage across several years is apparent to advocates and economists.“I’ve been doing housing work for 30 years — the housing affordability challenge is the worst I've ever seen in my career,” said Shaun Donovan, a former secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama years who now leads the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners.Donovan noted that this is an increasingly bipartisan challenge that could bring the political parties together. Expensive housing was once the domain of Democratic areas such as New York City and San Francisco. It's now moved into Republican states as places such as Boise, Idaho, grapple with higher prices.“It is a first-tier issue almost everywhere,” he said. “And that is changing the national politics around it in a way that I think is quite different than I’ve ever seen.”Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that the outcome of the November election could ultimately depend on the path of 30-year mortgage rates.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-530356e889579526a953e46dcd8ca7d1">Rates currently average about 6.74%.</a>&nbsp;If they dropped closer to 6%, the odds of a Biden victory would increase. But rates moving near 8% might enable Trump to prevail, Zandi said.“Given the current housing affordability crisis, higher rates will make owning a home completely out of reach for nearly all potential first-time homebuyers,” he said. “Since homeownership is a key part of the American dream, if it appears unattainable, this will deeply impact voters’ sense of the economy.”Biden, a Democrat, acknowledged the pain many are feeling in his State of the Union address earlier this month and in his budget proposal released on Monday.The president wants to fund the building and preservation of 2 million housing units — a meaningful sum, but not enough to solve the shortage. He also proposed a tax credit worth up to $10,000 to homebuyers. Over the past three years, he has increased rental assistance to 100,000 households.“The bottom line is we have to build, build, build,” Biden said Monday in a speech to the National League of Cities. “That’s how we bring down housing costs for good.”Rapidly climbing home prices were also a festering problem under Trump, who first achieved celebrity status as a real estate developer. While president, Trump called for limiting construction in the suburbs. He claimed during the 2020 election that Biden's policies to spur building and affordability would “destroy your neighborhood.”During the 2018 to 2020 years of Trump's presidency, the country’s housing shortage surged 52% to 3.8 million units, according to the mortgage company Freddie Mac.The Associated Press contacted Trump's campaign for his policy plans but did not get a response. The America First Policy Institute, a think tank promoting Trump's vision, said the key is to cut government borrowing to reduce mortgage rates. The former president has pledged to reduce deficits, but an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget shows that his policies in office will have likely added&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-much-did-president-trump-add-debt">more than $8 trillion to the national debt.</a>“The best way for us to improve access to homeownership for young people is to get interest rates back down, not to provide subsidies that cause housing unaffordability to worsen,” said Mike Faulkender, chief economist at the institute.Lower rates might play well with voters, but most economists say they would at best offer temporary financial relief. Purchase prices would likely adjust upward in response to greater demand from falling rates.Construction, the more enduring solution, would take years to achieve and require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oregon-land-use-law-urban-growth-boundary-housing-d85c2413f169cd02cbf6b15fd9c95329">new rules by states and cities</a>. The administration is trying to incentivize zoning changes, but the major choices are outside the White House's control.“Even as incomes are going up and the economy is doing well and inflation is coming down, people can’t buy homes,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at the brokerage Redfin. “That’s like the biggest problem for Biden because it’s not one that he can solve.”The general rule of thumb is that people should pay no more than 30% of their income on rent or a mortgage. A typical household looking to buy a home would have to devote 41% of its income to mortgage payments, according to Redfin.There are far-reaching economic risks because of this. High housing costs can lead people to cut back spending elsewhere. Advocates said it enables landlords to neglect their properties since there is always a ready tenant.Evictions can worsen health and educational outcomes for children and exact an even wider cost on society, said Zach Neumann, a Denver-based lawyer who provides more than $30 million annually in rental assistance through the nonprofit Community Economic Defense Project.The cumulative costs of evicting poorer renters are "$20,000 to $30,000 a year when you include shelter nights and emergency room visits,” Neumann said. “It’s really overwhelming when you think about the total numbers and these folks are fighting to have a roof over their heads.”While there is bipartisan agreement on the need for more housing, there has yet to be a significant plan that has passed the House and Senate. Biden has proposed housing aid throughout his administration that never materialized.“Had Congress passed some of the investments that the president has called for since the beginning of the administration, had they done that three years ago, as he was advocating, we’d have affordable units coming online right now," said Daniel Hornung, deputy director of the White House National Economic Council.But Mark Calabria, who was director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency during the Trump administration, said that many of the federal tools to increase housing such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit could further push up demand without adding enough construction.“My worry would be we’ve done a number of things that increased demand when the problem is supply,” said Calabria, now an adviser with the libertarian Cato Institute.But for renters such as Lori Shelton in Colorado, the debate about how to add housing supply is cold comfort when she owes rent now. She's previously dealt with the threat of eviction and late fees. She gets some rent money from her son, but she has also relied at times on her church to cover the $2,399 a month.

Why are so many voters frustrated by the US economy? Home prices

NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-elections-social-media-technology-4086949d878336f8ea6daa4dee725d94">disinformation</a>&nbsp;worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.

It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c737b8bd4d24487db64194d95ec4d5f0">teams of people</a>&nbsp;with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality “deepfakes” with just a simple text prompt.

A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-elections-2024-preview-cb77b0940964c5c95a9affc8ebb6f0b7">more than 50 countries heading to the polls</a>&nbsp;this year.

“You don’t need to look far to see some people ... being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,” said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.

The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.

As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-election-interference-wray-2024-campaign-ai-a0c4a95c818839b18f919c6d648c4dcf">warned about the growing threat</a>, saying generative AI makes it easy for "foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”

With AI deepfakes,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-trump-ai-biden-tiktok-72194f59823037391b3888a1720ba7c2">a candidate’s image</a>&nbsp;can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates — or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.

By ALI SWENSON and KELVIN CHAN&nbsp;NEW YORK (AP) — Artificial intelligence is supercharging the threat of election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-elections-social-media-technology-4086949d878336f8ea6daa4dee725d94">disinformation</a>&nbsp;worldwide, making it easy for anyone with a smartphone and a devious imagination to create fake – but convincing – content aimed at fooling voters.It marks a quantum leap from a few years ago, when creating phony photos, videos or audio clips required&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c737b8bd4d24487db64194d95ec4d5f0">teams of people</a>&nbsp;with time, technical skill and money. Now, using free and low-cost generative artificial intelligence services from companies like Google and OpenAI, anyone can create high-quality “deepfakes” with just a simple text prompt.A wave of AI deepfakes tied to elections in Europe and Asia has coursed through social media for months, serving as a warning for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/global-elections-2024-preview-cb77b0940964c5c95a9affc8ebb6f0b7">more than 50 countries heading to the polls</a>&nbsp;this year.“You don’t need to look far to see some people ... being clearly confused as to whether something is real or not,” said Henry Ajder, a leading expert in generative AI based in Cambridge, England.The question is no longer whether AI deepfakes could affect elections, but how influential they will be, said Ajder, who runs a consulting firm called Latent Space Advisory.As the U.S. presidential race heats up, FBI Director Christopher Wray recently&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-election-interference-wray-2024-campaign-ai-a0c4a95c818839b18f919c6d648c4dcf">warned about the growing threat</a>, saying generative AI makes it easy for "foreign adversaries to engage in malign influence.”With AI deepfakes,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/deepfake-trump-ai-biden-tiktok-72194f59823037391b3888a1720ba7c2">a candidate’s image</a>&nbsp;can be smeared, or softened. Voters can be steered toward or away from candidates — or even to avoid the polls altogether. But perhaps the greatest threat to democracy, experts say, is that a surge of AI deepfakes could erode the public’s trust in what they see and hear.Some recent examples of AI deepfakes include:— A video of Moldova's pro-Western president throwing her support behind a political party friendly to Russia.— Audio clips of Slovakia's liberal party leader discussing vote rigging and raising the price of beer.— A video of an opposition lawmaker in Bangladesh — a conservative Muslim majority nation — wearing a bikini.The novelty and sophistication of the technology makes it hard to track who is behind AI deepfakes. Experts say governments and companies are not yet capable of stopping the deluge, nor are they moving fast enough to solve the problem.As the technology improves, “definitive answers about a lot of the fake content are going to be hard to come by,” Ajder said.ERODING TRUSTSome AI deepfakes aim to sow doubt about candidates' allegiances.In Moldova, an Eastern European country bordering Ukraine, pro-Western President Maia Sandu has been a frequent target. One AI deepfake that circulated shortly before local elections depicted her endorsing a Russian-friendly party and announcing plans to resign.Officials in Moldova believe the Russian government is behind the activity. With presidential elections this year, the deepfakes aim “to erode trust in our electoral process, candidates and institutions — but also to erode trust between people,” said Olga Rosca, an adviser to Sandu. The Russian government declined to comment for this story.China has also been accused of weaponizing generative AI for political purposes.In Taiwan, a self-ruled island that China claims as its own, an AI deepfake gained attention earlier this year by stirring concerns about U.S. interference in local politics.The fake clip circulating on TikTok showed U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman, vice chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, promising stronger U.S. military support for Taiwan if the incumbent party's candidates were elected in January.Wittman blamed the Chinese Communist Party for trying to meddle in Taiwanese politics, saying it uses TikTok — a Chinese-owned company — to spread “propaganda.”A spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said his government doesn't comment on fake videos and that it opposes interference in other countries' internal affairs. The Taiwan election, he stressed, “is a local affair of China.”BLURRING REALITYAudio-only deepfakes are especially hard to verify because, unlike photos and videos, they lack telltale signs of manipulated content.In Slovakia, another country overshadowed by Russian influence, audio clips resembling the voice of the liberal party chief were shared widely on social media just days before parliamentary elections. The clips purportedly captured him talking about hiking beer prices and rigging the vote.It's understandable that voters might fall for the deception, Ajder said, because humans are “much more used to judging with our eyes than with our ears.”In the U.S., robocalls impersonating U.S. President Joe Biden urged voters in New Hampshire to abstain from voting in January's primary election. The calls were later&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-robocall-biden-new-hampshire-primary-2024-f94aa2d7f835ccc3cc254a90cd481a99">traced to a political consultant</a>&nbsp;who said he was trying to publicize the dangers of AI deepfakes.In poorer countries, where media literacy lags, even low-quality AI fakes can be effective.Such was the case last year in Bangladesh, where opposition lawmaker Rumeen Farhana — a vocal critic of the ruling party — was falsely depicted wearing a bikini. The viral video sparked outrage in the conservative, majority-Muslim nation.“They trust whatever they see on Facebook,” Farhana said.Experts are particularly concerned about upcoming elections in India, the world’s largest democracy and where social media platforms are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/misinformation-surges-india-covid-c52d04de1c3b2332d572736ee069a495">breeding grounds for disinformation</a>.A CHALLENGE TO DEMOCRACYSome political campaigns are using generative AI to bolster their candidate’s image.In Indonesia, the team that ran&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-president-election-prabowo-subianto-dce462b4c334cd4fb92f95de0ddc3804">the presidential campaign of Prabowo Subianto</a>&nbsp;deployed a simple mobile app to build a deeper connection with supporters across the vast island nation. The app enabled voters to upload photos and make AI-generated images of themselves with Subianto.As the types of AI deepfakes multiply, authorities around the world are scrambling to come up with guardrails.The European Union already requires social media platforms to cut the risk of spreading disinformation or “election manipulation.” It will mandate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-act-european-union-chatbots-155157e2be2e42d0f1acca33983d8c82">special labeling of AI deepfakes</a>&nbsp;starting next year, too late for the EU's parliamentary elections in June. Still, the rest of the world is a lot further behind.The world's biggest tech companies recently — and voluntarily — signed a pact to prevent AI tools from disrupting elections. For example, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook has said it will&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/meta-adds-labels-to-ai-imagery-deepfakes-415163d053ed915042a04f1ec3d9eafa">start labeling</a>&nbsp;deepfakes that appear on its platforms.But deepfakes are harder to rein in on apps like the Telegram chat service, which did not sign the voluntary pact and uses encrypted chats that can be difficult to monitor.Some experts worry that efforts to rein in AI deepfakes could have unintended consequences.Well-meaning governments or companies might trample on the sometimes “very thin” line between political commentary and an “illegitimate attempt to smear a candidate,” said Tim Harper, a senior policy analyst at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington.Major generative AI services have rules to limit political disinformation. But experts say it remains too easy to outwit the platforms' restrictions or use alternative services that don't have the same safeguards.Even without bad intentions, the rising use of AI is problematic. Many popular AI-powered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-chatbots-elections-artificial-intelligence-chatgpt-falsehoods-cc50dd0f3f4e7cc322c7235220fc4c69?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">chatbots are still spitting out false and misleading information</a>&nbsp;that threatens to disenfranchise voters.And software isn't the only threat. Candidates could try to deceive voters by claiming that real events portraying them in an unfavorable light were manufactured by AI.“A world in which everything is suspect — and so everyone gets to choose what they believe — is also a world that’s really challenging for a flourishing democracy,” said Lisa Reppell, a researcher at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems in Arlington, Virginia.__Swenson reported from New York. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Krutika Pathi in New Delhi, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok, Edna Tarigan in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dake Kang in Beijing, and Stephen McGrath in Bucharest, Romania, contributed to this report.__