BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Industry experts discussed the impact of hemp products on marijuana market at the MJ Unpacked Conference held in St. Louis

Missourians can walk into a CBD shop right now and buy something that looks just like the canisters of marijuana buds and joints sold in state-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Coffee shops are selling seltzers with 5mg of Delta-9 THC — an amount that would produce a strong buzz — right next to the juices in their coolers.&nbsp;

At farmers markets, bakers are selling intoxicating brownies and other homemade treats in stands right next to farm-fresh vegetables.

Many elected officials and Missourians have publicly puzzled at how this happened in a state where voters created a marijuana program designed to be highly regulated and limited to licensed dispensaries.&nbsp;

While there’s no single explanation, industry experts and cannabis advocates say much of the blame — or credit — goes to a little noticed provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that is effectively acting as a back-door to widespread marijuana legalization.&nbsp;

“Now people are saying, ‘Well, basically all marijuana is hemp,’” said David Vaillencourt, board chair and co-founder of Denver-based S3 Collective. “It’s all legal. The Farm Bill legalized it.”

Vaillencourt spoke during a panel discussion last week at the MJ Unpacked Conference held in St. Louis, where lab experts and regulators chimed in on various panels to talk about the impact of hemp products on marijuana industry and how to regulate it.&nbsp;

Since Congress descheduled hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, many states have been grappling with having two nearly identical intoxicating cannabis markets that are “bound by very different rules,” Vaillencourt said.

In Missouri, there’s no government agency in charge of making sure products being sold as intoxicating hemp are actually made from hemp. No agency is making sure these products are safe, and there’s no age restriction set by the government to buy them.&nbsp;

Vaillencourt said this market has eclipsed the state-regulated marijuana industry in size in some parts of the country.&nbsp;

“That’s significant because that marketplace didn’t exist several years ago,” he said.&nbsp;

While Delta-8 edibles or seltzers are the most recognizable products in the intoxicating hemp industry, the products are rapidly evolving — making it challenging for regulators to keep up.&nbsp;

“From a health community standpoint, we are very concerned with brand new compounds coming out of these processes that we’ve never seen before,” said Amy Moore, director of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation during one of the panel discussions at the conference. “We really have no idea what they do, either from experimentation or study.”

For Moore, it’s even more concerning that these compounds are being made “in large amounts, and just see what happens.”

This year, Missouri lawmakers attempted to address the issue, first with failed legislation and later with a stalled-out executive order issued by Gov. Mike Parson trying to ban the products.

For the third year, the upcoming legislative session will be the battlefield between the hemp and marijuana industries. Both will be pushing for their own proposals of sensible regulations.&nbsp;

This “civil war” between the two industries is happening all over the country,&nbsp; said cannabis attorney Rod Kight, who has represented hemp businesses in lawsuits nationwide.

“Which one is going to win out,” he asked, “or what is the end result here?”&nbsp;

On one hand, marijuana companies say it’s unfair that they “played by the rules,” Kight said, and now have to compete with purported hemp products available at gas stations.

On the other side, hemp industry leaders say what they’re doing is legal under federal and state law.&nbsp;

“There’s all these different things that people have in their minds about what it means to have legal hemp,” Kight said. “But the reality of the situation is, for all practical purposes, cannabis is legal in the United States. We just call it hemp.”

Parson’s attempt this summer to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/12/hemp-industry-leaders-call-missouri-governors-order-banning-thc-products-an-overreach/">ban intoxicating hemp</a>&nbsp;remains on hold, perhaps indefinitely.

When the order went into effect on Sept. 1, the governor was hoping to utilize compliance officers at both the state’s Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and DHSS’ Bureau of Environmental Health Services to implement the ban.

However, those plans quickly came to a halt when the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/22/ban-on-missouri-hemp-thc-products-delayed-in-dust-up-between-governor-secretary-of-state/">Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft rejected the emergency rules</a>&nbsp;that would have given the alcohol division the authority to conduct inspections.&nbsp;

That meant that the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/06/missouri-regulators-visit-nearly-50-stores-to-inspect-for-intoxicating-hemp-edibles/">food inspectors</a>&nbsp;were left to handle compliance on their own.

But a lawsuit by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association and a bungled “raid” for hemp seltzers at a veterans home on Sept. 11 have squashed any further actions.

The two current pathways for a ban to move forward — through administrative rules and potential new legislation — won’t see any movement until the spring.&nbsp;&nbsp;

They both will be met by the hemp industry’s growing political power, which includes the Missouri Petroleum &amp; Convenience Association and many liquor distributors.

“Frankly, alcohol sales are off,” Chris Lindsey, director of state advocacy for the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp, said during a panel discussion at the St. Louis conference. “That leaves a lot of alcohol distributors looking for new products.”

The opposition also includes a number of small business owners, Kight said.

“In Missouri, you wouldn’t ban these products because it would completely pull the rug out from underneath the multi-billion dollar industry, mostly consisting of small businesses,” Kight said, “and give it to the existing license holders, which tend to be huge corporate entities.”

The argument that banning these products would harm thousands of small businesses in Missouri and further feed what critics call the marijuana “monopoly” was largely successful in blocking proposed legislation the last two years.&nbsp;

The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control proposed new state rules this month that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products for any licensed liquor retailer. Those rules must be approved by a legislative committee that oversees administrative rules.&nbsp;

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ preliminary budget requests&nbsp;<a href="https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY26_DHSS_Appropriation_Book.pdf" target="_blank">$877,000&nbsp;</a>to fund more food inspectors to implement Parson’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2024/eo10" target="_blank">executive order</a>.&nbsp;

Those funds would become available on July 1, if lawmakers approve the request as part of the state budget.&nbsp;

The department estimates that 40,000 food establishments and smoke shops and 1,800 food manufacturers could potentially be affected by the governor’s order, the budget request states, “but the majority of these facilities are at low-risk of requiring investigation.”

“It is estimated that all seven inspection staff can conduct 2,900-3,500 site visits annually,” it states.&nbsp;

The department also budgeted $160,000 to hire two full-time attorneys, in the event that business owners challenge enforcement actions.&nbsp;

On the other side, the hemp industry will be proposing its own legislation for regulations on these products, including testing, age restrictions and package labeling.

Diana Eberlein, chair of the Cannabis Beverage Association, notes that THC seltzers and drinks are being sold at the country’s largest liquor retailers, including Total Wine.

And that’s even more of a reason why states like Missouri need to pass regulations to prevent “an absolute disaster from happening.”

“This has really evolved,” Eberlein told attendees at the St. Louis conference, “and it’s exciting, but we also need sensible regulation in place to make sure that the consumer is kept safe. We need to push for it, and alcohol is a power that can get behind us to really put this across the line.”

Moore, the head of Missouri’s marijuana regulatory agency, explained that her division has learned how to create a successful regulatory framework since medical marijuana came on line in 2018.&nbsp;

If hemp products are allowed to be sold outside of dispensaries and their regulatory framework, it would be like “starting over from scratch,” Moore said.&nbsp;

“It’s important to be very concerned about health and safety, which I think we all are,” she said. “I would say it’s a big project, a lot to be done there.”

One of the most common ways to make these products — and is often referred to as a “loophole” — is to convert the nonintoxicating compound CBD into the psychoactive compounds Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC by using a chemical conversion.

Several experts talked about this process creating new compounds that have not been tested.

“You end up creating a lot of other chemicals besides the one that you’re targeting, and it’s very expensive to pull all that back out,” Lindsey said. “That’s what companies like Pfizer and pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of time on.”

Because the products aren’t being regulated, consumers have a “false sense of security,” he said.

And those concerns are shared by hemp leaders as well, Kight said, fueling their&nbsp; push for regulations.&nbsp;

“We don’t know how they interact with humans, and safety is a big concern,” he said.&nbsp;

However, Kight sees a shift in the industry moving away from conversions and “a lot of these strange sorts of cannabinoids.”

“For the most part, you’re beginning to see more and more products that are just sort of Delta-9, CBD and THCA,” he said.&nbsp;

THCA is a naturally abundant cannabinoid that transforms into Delta-9 THC when smoked or heated. Since the 2018 Farm Bill, botanists have figured out how to breed cannabis plants capable of passing the only federal checkpoint required on hemp plants — a visit from U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors 30 days before harvest.&nbsp;

At that point, the levels of Delta-9 THC and THCA are below the federal threshold, he said, but both increase when harvested 30 days later. Kight believes there’s lots of marijuana flower sold in dispensaries that would probably meet this standard of hemp as well. It’s a point that’s being argued in court, he said.

“THCA is the most abundant cannabinoid that cannabis produces,” he said. “If there’s any cannabinoid that humans have truly ingested for thousands of years, it’s THCA. The hemp industry is moving kind of back towards this more natural sort of state of affairs, and I’m very pleased with that.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731864956486.png" alt=" Amy Moore, director of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation, spoke about intoxicating hemp products during a panel discussions at the MJ Unpacked Conference, held in St. Louis on Nov. 5 (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/The Missouri Independent)" />
 <figcaption> Amy Moore, director of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation, spoke about intoxicating hemp products during a panel discussions at the MJ Unpacked Conference, held in St. Louis on Nov. 5 (Photo by Rebecca Rivas/The Missouri Independent)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a><h2>Industry experts discussed the impact of hemp products on marijuana market at the MJ Unpacked Conference held in St. Louis</h2>Missourians can walk into a CBD shop right now and buy something that looks just like the canisters of marijuana buds and joints sold in state-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;Coffee shops are selling seltzers with 5mg of Delta-9 THC — an amount that would produce a strong buzz — right next to the juices in their coolers.&nbsp;At farmers markets, bakers are selling intoxicating brownies and other homemade treats in stands right next to farm-fresh vegetables.Many elected officials and Missourians have publicly puzzled at how this happened in a state where voters created a marijuana program designed to be highly regulated and limited to licensed dispensaries.&nbsp;While there’s no single explanation, industry experts and cannabis advocates say much of the blame — or credit — goes to a little noticed provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that is effectively acting as a back-door to widespread marijuana legalization.&nbsp;“Now people are saying, ‘Well, basically all marijuana is hemp,’” said David Vaillencourt, board chair and co-founder of Denver-based S3 Collective. “It’s all legal. The Farm Bill legalized it.”Vaillencourt spoke during a panel discussion last week at the MJ Unpacked Conference held in St. Louis, where lab experts and regulators chimed in on various panels to talk about the impact of hemp products on marijuana industry and how to regulate it.&nbsp;Since Congress descheduled hemp in the 2018 Farm Bill, many states have been grappling with having two nearly identical intoxicating cannabis markets that are “bound by very different rules,” Vaillencourt said.In Missouri, there’s no government agency in charge of making sure products being sold as intoxicating hemp are actually made from hemp. No agency is making sure these products are safe, and there’s no age restriction set by the government to buy them.&nbsp;Vaillencourt said this market has eclipsed the state-regulated marijuana industry in size in some parts of the country.&nbsp;“That’s significant because that marketplace didn’t exist several years ago,” he said.&nbsp;While Delta-8 edibles or seltzers are the most recognizable products in the intoxicating hemp industry, the products are rapidly evolving — making it challenging for regulators to keep up.&nbsp;“From a health community standpoint, we are very concerned with brand new compounds coming out of these processes that we’ve never seen before,” said Amy Moore, director of the Missouri Division of Cannabis Regulation during one of the panel discussions at the conference. “We really have no idea what they do, either from experimentation or study.”For Moore, it’s even more concerning that these compounds are being made “in large amounts, and just see what happens.”This year, Missouri lawmakers attempted to address the issue, first with failed legislation and later with a stalled-out executive order issued by Gov. Mike Parson trying to ban the products.For the third year, the upcoming legislative session will be the battlefield between the hemp and marijuana industries. Both will be pushing for their own proposals of sensible regulations.&nbsp;This “civil war” between the two industries is happening all over the country,&nbsp; said cannabis attorney Rod Kight, who has represented hemp businesses in lawsuits nationwide.“Which one is going to win out,” he asked, “or what is the end result here?”&nbsp;On one hand, marijuana companies say it’s unfair that they “played by the rules,” Kight said, and now have to compete with purported hemp products available at gas stations.On the other side, hemp industry leaders say what they’re doing is legal under federal and state law.&nbsp;“There’s all these different things that people have in their minds about what it means to have legal hemp,” Kight said. “But the reality of the situation is, for all practical purposes, cannabis is legal in the United States. We just call it hemp.”<h2>Competing proposals</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725657142729.png" alt="Gov. Mike Parson speaks at his Capitol press conference announcing Executive Order 24-10 that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Missouri “until such time approved sources can be regulated by the FDA or State of Missouri through legislative action,” he said (photo courtesy of Missouri Governor’s Office)." />
 <figcaption>Gov. Mike Parson speaks at his Capitol press conference announcing Executive Order 24-10 that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Missouri “until such time approved sources can be regulated by the FDA or State of Missouri through legislative action,” he said (photo courtesy of Missouri Governor’s Office).</figcaption>
 </figure>Parson’s attempt this summer to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/12/hemp-industry-leaders-call-missouri-governors-order-banning-thc-products-an-overreach/">ban intoxicating hemp</a>&nbsp;remains on hold, perhaps indefinitely.When the order went into effect on Sept. 1, the governor was hoping to utilize compliance officers at both the state’s Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and DHSS’ Bureau of Environmental Health Services to implement the ban.However, those plans quickly came to a halt when the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/22/ban-on-missouri-hemp-thc-products-delayed-in-dust-up-between-governor-secretary-of-state/">Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft rejected the emergency rules</a>&nbsp;that would have given the alcohol division the authority to conduct inspections.&nbsp;That meant that the state’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/09/06/missouri-regulators-visit-nearly-50-stores-to-inspect-for-intoxicating-hemp-edibles/">food inspectors</a>&nbsp;were left to handle compliance on their own.But a lawsuit by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association and a bungled “raid” for hemp seltzers at a veterans home on Sept. 11 have squashed any further actions.The two current pathways for a ban to move forward — through administrative rules and potential new legislation — won’t see any movement until the spring.&nbsp;&nbsp;They both will be met by the hemp industry’s growing political power, which includes the Missouri Petroleum &amp; Convenience Association and many liquor distributors.“Frankly, alcohol sales are off,” Chris Lindsey, director of state advocacy for the American Trade Association of Cannabis and Hemp, said during a panel discussion at the St. Louis conference. “That leaves a lot of alcohol distributors looking for new products.”The opposition also includes a number of small business owners, Kight said.“In Missouri, you wouldn’t ban these products because it would completely pull the rug out from underneath the multi-billion dollar industry, mostly consisting of small businesses,” Kight said, “and give it to the existing license holders, which tend to be huge corporate entities.”The argument that banning these products would harm thousands of small businesses in Missouri and further feed what critics call the marijuana “monopoly” was largely successful in blocking proposed legislation the last two years.&nbsp;However, the state is not backing down.The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control proposed new state rules this month that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products for any licensed liquor retailer. Those rules must be approved by a legislative committee that oversees administrative rules.&nbsp;The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ preliminary budget requests&nbsp;<a href="https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY26_DHSS_Appropriation_Book.pdf" target="_blank">$877,000&nbsp;</a>to fund more food inspectors to implement Parson’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2024/eo10" target="_blank">executive order</a>.&nbsp;Those funds would become available on July 1, if lawmakers approve the request as part of the state budget.&nbsp;The department estimates that 40,000 food establishments and smoke shops and 1,800 food manufacturers could potentially be affected by the governor’s order, the budget request states, “but the majority of these facilities are at low-risk of requiring investigation.”“It is estimated that all seven inspection staff can conduct 2,900-3,500 site visits annually,” it states.&nbsp;The department also budgeted $160,000 to hire two full-time attorneys, in the event that business owners challenge enforcement actions.&nbsp;On the other side, the hemp industry will be proposing its own legislation for regulations on these products, including testing, age restrictions and package labeling.Diana Eberlein, chair of the Cannabis Beverage Association, notes that THC seltzers and drinks are being sold at the country’s largest liquor retailers, including Total Wine.And that’s even more of a reason why states like Missouri need to pass regulations to prevent “an absolute disaster from happening.”“This has really evolved,” Eberlein told attendees at the St. Louis conference, “and it’s exciting, but we also need sensible regulation in place to make sure that the consumer is kept safe. We need to push for it, and alcohol is a power that can get behind us to really put this across the line.”<h2>New compounds</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1726164449991.png" alt="A St. Louis liquor store hung a sign announcing Gov. Mike Parson’s executive order to ban intoxicating hemp beverages (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>A St. Louis liquor store hung a sign announcing Gov. Mike Parson’s executive order to ban intoxicating hemp beverages (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Moore, the head of Missouri’s marijuana regulatory agency, explained that her division has learned how to create a successful regulatory framework since medical marijuana came on line in 2018.&nbsp;If hemp products are allowed to be sold outside of dispensaries and their regulatory framework, it would be like “starting over from scratch,” Moore said.&nbsp;“It’s important to be very concerned about health and safety, which I think we all are,” she said. “I would say it’s a big project, a lot to be done there.”One of the most common ways to make these products — and is often referred to as a “loophole” — is to convert the nonintoxicating compound CBD into the psychoactive compounds Delta-8 and Delta-9 THC by using a chemical conversion.Several experts talked about this process creating new compounds that have not been tested.“You end up creating a lot of other chemicals besides the one that you’re targeting, and it’s very expensive to pull all that back out,” Lindsey said. “That’s what companies like Pfizer and pharmaceutical companies spend a lot of time on.”Because the products aren’t being regulated, consumers have a “false sense of security,” he said.And those concerns are shared by hemp leaders as well, Kight said, fueling their&nbsp; push for regulations.&nbsp;“We don’t know how they interact with humans, and safety is a big concern,” he said.&nbsp;However, Kight sees a shift in the industry moving away from conversions and “a lot of these strange sorts of cannabinoids.”“For the most part, you’re beginning to see more and more products that are just sort of Delta-9, CBD and THCA,” he said.&nbsp;THCA is a naturally abundant cannabinoid that transforms into Delta-9 THC when smoked or heated. Since the 2018 Farm Bill, botanists have figured out how to breed cannabis plants capable of passing the only federal checkpoint required on hemp plants — a visit from U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors 30 days before harvest.&nbsp;At that point, the levels of Delta-9 THC and THCA are below the federal threshold, he said, but both increase when harvested 30 days later. Kight believes there’s lots of marijuana flower sold in dispensaries that would probably meet this standard of hemp as well. It’s a point that’s being argued in court, he said.“THCA is the most abundant cannabinoid that cannabis produces,” he said. “If there’s any cannabinoid that humans have truly ingested for thousands of years, it’s THCA. The hemp industry is moving kind of back towards this more natural sort of state of affairs, and I’m very pleased with that.”

Intoxicating hemp booming in Missouri as regulators, marijuana industry try to shut it down

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect for allegedly stealing the same vehicle twice.

On November 9, a minivan was missing from the 4700 block of SW Topeka Blvd., according to Deputy Abigail Christian. The minivan was found and returned to the owner the following Monday, but without the key.

The minivan was stolen once again on November 14 from Topeka area home. It was located later in the day near SW 29th and Gage, where a brief pursuit was started. That was called off for safety reasons, but the minivan was found once again shortly after near SW 15th and Mulvane.

Brandon Norris, 27, was arrested after a K-9 officer tracked him from the vehicle. Norris was booked into the Shawnee County jail on requested charges of theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property, fleeing law enforcement, reckless driving, driving without a license, and drug possession.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1613410475366.png" alt="Norris photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Norris photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect for allegedly stealing the same vehicle twice.On November 9, a minivan was missing from the 4700 block of SW Topeka Blvd., according to Deputy Abigail Christian. The minivan was found and returned to the owner the following Monday, but without the key.The minivan was stolen once again on November 14 from Topeka area home. It was located later in the day near SW 29th and Gage, where a brief pursuit was started. That was called off for safety reasons, but the minivan was found once again shortly after near SW 15th and Mulvane.Brandon Norris, 27, was arrested after a K-9 officer tracked him from the vehicle. Norris was booked into the Shawnee County jail on requested charges of theft of a motor vehicle, possession of stolen property, fleeing law enforcement, reckless driving, driving without a license, and drug possession.

Sheriff: Kansas man stole minivan twice in less than a week 

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">ARIANA FIGUEROA</a> State's Newsroom

WASHINGTON — Republicans in the Nov. 5 election took over the White House, the U.S. Senate and as of late Wednesday, the House, after calls were made in enough races to project a majority.

They are expressing high hopes for unified control of government. But before they’ll be able to celebrate enacting sweeping changes to the country’s tax code or overhauling the health insurance marketplace, they’ll need to broker agreement between centrist lawmakers and far-right members in Congress.

More often than not, those two factions of the GOP hold significantly different ideas about how to draft legislation and strong opinions about whether to amend it on the floor.

Keeping everyone on the same page will be crucial for Republican leaders once the new Congress begins Jan. 3, especially since they have just three votes to spare in the Senate and a razor-thin majority in the House.

States Newsroom looked at what’s ahead for Republicans as they begin sorting through where to make changes to U.S. law in seven key policy areas:

Nearly every Republican politician campaigned on addressing the country’s tax structure, making it one of the first issues the party is expected to take up when the next session of Congress begins.

The GOP will likely use the complicated budget reconciliation process to address the tax code, the same way lawmakers did in 2017 when they passed their signature tax law during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office.

That reconciliation process would allow Republicans to avoid the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster that would otherwise require them to get Democratic support. But the process has strict rules and requires a marathon amendment voting session in the Senate that’s often called a vote-a-rama.

Some provisions in Republicans’ original tax law have already expired or will do so in the coming months, giving the GOP incentives to jump through the many hoops that come with the reconciliation process.

Extending the expiring provisions will bring along a hefty price tag, however.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/press-releases/tax-cuts-need-offsets-not-baseline-games" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;released in late September that extending the individual and estate tax elements in the law would increase the deficit by $3.9 trillion through 2035. Republicans opting to extend or bring back tax code changes for business would likely increase the deficit to $4.8 trillion.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, expressed concerns at the time about lawmakers ignoring or diminishing the deficit impact.&nbsp;

“There will undoubtedly be efforts to pretend that extending the tax cuts is free – obviously this is not the case,” she said. “Extending policies that are scheduled to expire — and were scored as expiring — would clearly add to the national debt.”

MacGuineas added that lawmakers “should consider carefully which parts of the TCJA are working, which parts aren’t, and if they want to extend some parts, how to responsibly extend them without increasing the debt beyond current law.”

Republicans are expected to hold votes on legislation addressing border security and immigration after much of their campaign for Congress focused on those two areas.

Whether they’ll be able to do that through the reconciliation process with only GOP support or through the traditional legislative process, which requires bipartisanship in the Senate, will depend on how exactly they write the bill and what budget impacts the various provisions will have.

Immigration and border security legislation would fail to comply with a reconciliation rule in the Senate, also known as the&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30862" target="_blank">Byrd Rule</a>, if it produces a change in federal revenues or spending that is deemed “merely incidental” by the Senate parliamentarian.

While the requirement is vague, it could apply to several items that don’t have big price tags when considered as part of the multi-trillion-dollar federal budget.

For example, Democrats’ efforts to raise the federal minimum wage as part of the reconciliation process in 2021&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2021/02/25/senate-parliamentarian-nixes-minimum-wage-boost-in-aid-package/" target="_blank">were deemed “merely incidental”</a>&nbsp;by the Senate parliamentarian and removed from the bill.

Trump has already laid out his wish list for an immigration-related bill he wants Congress to send to his desk.

Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1855365133121253420" target="_blank">reposted campaign videos</a>&nbsp;on social media in early September requesting Congress pass legislation to prevent future presidents from using executive authority to grant humanitarian parole — something the Biden administration has used to allow more than 1 million people to obtain work permits and live in the United States temporarily.&nbsp;

Trump has called the use of parole authority “abuse,” but it’s been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/use-parole-under-immigration-law" target="_blank">used by presidents since 1956</a>, during the Eisenhower administration.

Trump, who campaigned on mass deportations of immigrants without proper legal status, is also expected to ask Congress to foot the bill for his promise to deport more than 13 million people.

Getting any immigration-related policy to the president-elect’s desk will be daunting since it’s been almost four decades since Congress overhauled U.S. immigration law.

“The last big immigration bill was passed in 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president and both houses of Congress were held by Democrats,” according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-immigration-reform-happen-a-look-back/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;from the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. “A smaller bill was passed in 1990 when George H.W. Bush was president and both houses of Congress were still controlled by Democrats.”

Earlier this year, a bipartisan border security and immigration bill was brokered by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford and Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.

The trio of senators spent months negotiating the particulars of the deal only to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-kills-immigration-overhaul-hits-stalemate-israel-ukraine-aid" target="_blank">have it scuttled</a>&nbsp;after Trump told GOP members he didn’t want the legislation to pass.

That legislation could be used as a starting point if Republicans are unable to move an immigration bill through the reconciliation process and want to get a bill past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.

Tariffs could become one point of contention between Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration.

The president-elect has vowed to stack tariffs of at least 10% on nearly all goods entering the country, raising alarm bells with economists and free-trade Republicans about the impact that would have on consumer prices.

Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-vows-levy-horrible-tariffs-imports-rejecting-fears-inflation-spike" target="_blank">said in mid-October at the Economic Club of Chicago</a>&nbsp;that he hoped to implement tariffs on foreign-made products as high as 100% or 200%.

“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States, and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff,” Trump said, rejecting the premise that high tariffs could harm Americans.

Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/foreign-policy-where-do-harris-and-trump-stand" target="_blank">in an October interview</a>&nbsp;that imposing tariffs could risk “starting a trade war with the entire world.”

Lovely’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/trumps-bigger-tariff-proposals-would-cost-typical-american-household-over" target="_blank">research</a>&nbsp;with economist Kimberly Clausing, also of PIIE, found that Trump’s threats to slap tariffs as high as 20% on all foreign products, combined with his threats of 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods, could cost the typical American household over $2,600 annually.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said repeatedly during the final weeks of the campaign that he wants to overhaul the 2010 health care law that most people refer to as the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.

He hasn’t shared details about what aspects of that law he wants to end or change, but said during a late October interview on Fox Business that he wants to address health outcomes.

“I said the ACA, unfortunately, is deeply ingrained in our health care system now,” Johnson said. “Do we need further improvements? Absolutely. We need to expand quality of care, access to care and obviously lower the cost of health care.”

Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to try to repeal and replace the ACA in 2017, but were unsuccessful,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-bills-0bd309f182de44d9bc320f334be94875" target="_blank">largely due to the late Arizona Sen. John McCain</a>&nbsp;rejecting the bill.

Even with the budget reconciliation process to get Republicans around the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster, it will be extremely difficult for leaders to get the party unified on any health care bill of that magnitude.

Republicans using the budget reconciliation process for tax policy and health care would take up two of the three opportunities they’ll have to adopt budget resolutions with reconciliation instructions during the 119th Congress.

GOP leaders could try for a round three, though once all is said and done with the first two reconciliation bills, Republicans might need to shift their attention toward the 2026 midterm campaigns.

Republican lawmakers have argued legislation is needed to bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections, even though it is already illegal and rarely happens. The party is expected to try again next Congress, once it holds a majority in both chambers of Congress.&nbsp;

The GOP House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-bill-requiring-proof-citizenship-vote-federal-races" target="_blank">passed a bill this summer</a>&nbsp;that would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote, but the Democratic-controlled Senate never acted on it.

Trump wrote on social media that he would demand that voter ID laws and proof of citizenship be required for voting, something that Congress would have to pass, although it’s unclear if such legislation could overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.

The issue is important to Trump, as Johnson traveled to the president-elect’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-supports-us-house-speaker-johnson-elections-agenda-joint-appearance" target="_blank">to unveil the House’s intention</a>&nbsp;to pursue the issue.

Republicans campaigned this year on cutting government spending, but have rarely done so when they held the majority in both chambers of Congress.

The challenge lies in how government spending is approved and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727" target="_blank">how much the various departments and agencies</a>&nbsp;require to function.

During fiscal 2023, the federal government spent $6.1 trillion, with $3.4 trillion going to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59728" target="_blank">mandatory programs</a>, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs run on autopilot, so lawmakers don’t need to negotiate the particulars every year the way they do other programs.

An additional $1.7 trillion was spent on so-called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59729" target="_blank">discretionary programs</a>, which are funded through Congress’ annual appropriations process. That funding went to programs categorized as either nondefense, which received $917 billion, or defense, which got $805 billion.

The nondefense funding goes to several departments, including Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, State and Transportation. Smaller agencies, like NASA and the National Science Foundation, are also funded through nondefense accounts.

Republicans have proposed cuts in the past, but members of the party who understand the federal ledger often explain that if members really want to address the government spending more than it takes in, they’ll have to address Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Republicans could make tweaks when they write their reconciliation bills, though they’ll need those to comply with the Byrd Rule and not have a “merely incidental” impact on the federal ledger.&nbsp;

Having secured unified GOP control of government,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-won-presidency-what-does-mean-education" target="_blank">Trump’s sweeping vision</a>&nbsp;to “save American education” could set the stage for significant changes in U.S. education policy.

The president-elect has vowed to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and said he wants to move education “back to the states.” States and local governments bear much of the responsibility for funding K-12 schools, but the Department of Education handles Pell Grants for college students who demonstrate financial need and enforces civil rights cases, among other things.

Congress going along with plans to eliminate the department could have profound impacts on the billions of dollars in funding the agency provides for low-income K-12 schools, special education and federal student aid.

Trump also vowed to roll back updated Title IX regulations on his first day back in office.

President Joe Biden unveiled the final rule for Title IX in April, which strengthens federal protections for LGBTQ+ students and&nbsp;“protects against discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-releases-final-title-ix-regulations-providing" target="_blank">Education Department</a>.

GOP members on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce have criticized the new Title IX rules and are likely to fall in step with Trump’s wishes to roll back the regulations.

Trump has also criticized the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness efforts, dubbing them “not even legal.” He could discontinue the Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE. The plan is currently on pause due to legal challenges from Republican-led states.

Last year, Senate Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/attempt-kill-biden-student-debt-relief-plan-tied-income-fails-us-senate" target="_blank">tried to strike down the rule.</a>

Like Trump, Republicans have focused on “parental rights” in education. House Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-bill-establishing-federal-parental-bill-rights-passed-us-house" target="_blank">passed their own bill</a>&nbsp;on the issue last year.

Republicans are likely to continue scrutinizing higher education institutions from diversity initiatives to college students protesting the war in Gaza.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-anti-woke-bill-aimed-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-higher-ed%C2%A0" target="_blank">GOP measure</a>&nbsp;that would bar accrediting organizations from requiring colleges and universities to adopt diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a condition of accreditation passed the House in September.

Shauneen Miranda and Ashley Murray contributed to this report.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731670443807.png" alt="-South Dakota Sen. John Thune speaks to reporters after being elected Republican leader during a closed-door, secret ballot election held Nov. 13, 2024, inside the old Senate chamber in the U.S. Capitol building.&nbsp;At right is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican elected as the Republican Policy Committee chair. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom" />
 <figcaption>-South Dakota Sen. John Thune speaks to reporters after being elected Republican leader during a closed-door, secret ballot election held Nov. 13, 2024, inside the old Senate chamber in the U.S. Capitol building.&nbsp;At right is Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican elected as the Republican Policy Committee chair. (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/ariana-figueroa/">ARIANA FIGUEROA</a> State's Newsroom WASHINGTON — Republicans in the Nov. 5 election took over the White House, the U.S. Senate and as of late Wednesday, the House, after calls were made in enough races to project a majority.They are expressing high hopes for unified control of government. But before they’ll be able to celebrate enacting sweeping changes to the country’s tax code or overhauling the health insurance marketplace, they’ll need to broker agreement between centrist lawmakers and far-right members in Congress.More often than not, those two factions of the GOP hold significantly different ideas about how to draft legislation and strong opinions about whether to amend it on the floor.Keeping everyone on the same page will be crucial for Republican leaders once the new Congress begins Jan. 3, especially since they have just three votes to spare in the Senate and a razor-thin majority in the House.States Newsroom looked at what’s ahead for Republicans as they begin sorting through where to make changes to U.S. law in seven key policy areas:<h2>TAXES</h2>Nearly every Republican politician campaigned on addressing the country’s tax structure, making it one of the first issues the party is expected to take up when the next session of Congress begins.The GOP will likely use the complicated budget reconciliation process to address the tax code, the same way lawmakers did in 2017 when they passed their signature tax law during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office.That reconciliation process would allow Republicans to avoid the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster that would otherwise require them to get Democratic support. But the process has strict rules and requires a marathon amendment voting session in the Senate that’s often called a vote-a-rama.Some provisions in Republicans’ original tax law have already expired or will do so in the coming months, giving the GOP incentives to jump through the many hoops that come with the reconciliation process.Extending the expiring provisions will bring along a hefty price tag, however.The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget wrote in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/press-releases/tax-cuts-need-offsets-not-baseline-games" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;released in late September that extending the individual and estate tax elements in the law would increase the deficit by $3.9 trillion through 2035. Republicans opting to extend or bring back tax code changes for business would likely increase the deficit to $4.8 trillion.Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, expressed concerns at the time about lawmakers ignoring or diminishing the deficit impact.&nbsp;“There will undoubtedly be efforts to pretend that extending the tax cuts is free – obviously this is not the case,” she said. “Extending policies that are scheduled to expire — and were scored as expiring — would clearly add to the national debt.”MacGuineas added that lawmakers “should consider carefully which parts of the TCJA are working, which parts aren’t, and if they want to extend some parts, how to responsibly extend them without increasing the debt beyond current law.”<h2>IMMIGRATION</h2>Republicans are expected to hold votes on legislation addressing border security and immigration after much of their campaign for Congress focused on those two areas.Whether they’ll be able to do that through the reconciliation process with only GOP support or through the traditional legislative process, which requires bipartisanship in the Senate, will depend on how exactly they write the bill and what budget impacts the various provisions will have.Immigration and border security legislation would fail to comply with a reconciliation rule in the Senate, also known as the&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL30862" target="_blank">Byrd Rule</a>, if it produces a change in federal revenues or spending that is deemed “merely incidental” by the Senate parliamentarian.While the requirement is vague, it could apply to several items that don’t have big price tags when considered as part of the multi-trillion-dollar federal budget.For example, Democrats’ efforts to raise the federal minimum wage as part of the reconciliation process in 2021&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2021/02/25/senate-parliamentarian-nixes-minimum-wage-boost-in-aid-package/" target="_blank">were deemed “merely incidental”</a>&nbsp;by the Senate parliamentarian and removed from the bill.Trump has already laid out his wish list for an immigration-related bill he wants Congress to send to his desk.Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1855365133121253420" target="_blank">reposted campaign videos</a>&nbsp;on social media in early September requesting Congress pass legislation to prevent future presidents from using executive authority to grant humanitarian parole — something the Biden administration has used to allow more than 1 million people to obtain work permits and live in the United States temporarily.&nbsp;Trump has called the use of parole authority “abuse,” but it’s been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/use-parole-under-immigration-law" target="_blank">used by presidents since 1956</a>, during the Eisenhower administration.Trump, who campaigned on mass deportations of immigrants without proper legal status, is also expected to ask Congress to foot the bill for his promise to deport more than 13 million people.Getting any immigration-related policy to the president-elect’s desk will be daunting since it’s been almost four decades since Congress overhauled U.S. immigration law.“The last big immigration bill was passed in 1986 when Ronald Reagan was president and both houses of Congress were held by Democrats,” according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/can-immigration-reform-happen-a-look-back/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;from the nonpartisan Brookings Institution. “A smaller bill was passed in 1990 when George H.W. Bush was president and both houses of Congress were still controlled by Democrats.”Earlier this year, a bipartisan border security and immigration bill was brokered by Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford and Arizona independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.The trio of senators spent months negotiating the particulars of the deal only to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-kills-immigration-overhaul-hits-stalemate-israel-ukraine-aid" target="_blank">have it scuttled</a>&nbsp;after Trump told GOP members he didn’t want the legislation to pass.That legislation could be used as a starting point if Republicans are unable to move an immigration bill through the reconciliation process and want to get a bill past the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster.<h2>TARIFFS</h2>Tariffs could become one point of contention between Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration.The president-elect has vowed to stack tariffs of at least 10% on nearly all goods entering the country, raising alarm bells with economists and free-trade Republicans about the impact that would have on consumer prices.Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-vows-levy-horrible-tariffs-imports-rejecting-fears-inflation-spike" target="_blank">said in mid-October at the Economic Club of Chicago</a>&nbsp;that he hoped to implement tariffs on foreign-made products as high as 100% or 200%.“The higher the tariff, the more likely it is that the company will come into the United States, and build a factory in the United States so it doesn’t have to pay the tariff,” Trump said, rejecting the premise that high tariffs could harm Americans.Mary Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/foreign-policy-where-do-harris-and-trump-stand" target="_blank">in an October interview</a>&nbsp;that imposing tariffs could risk “starting a trade war with the entire world.”Lovely’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/trumps-bigger-tariff-proposals-would-cost-typical-american-household-over" target="_blank">research</a>&nbsp;with economist Kimberly Clausing, also of PIIE, found that Trump’s threats to slap tariffs as high as 20% on all foreign products, combined with his threats of 60% tariffs on all Chinese goods, could cost the typical American household over $2,600 annually.<h2>HEALTH CARE</h2>House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said repeatedly during the final weeks of the campaign that he wants to overhaul the 2010 health care law that most people refer to as the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.He hasn’t shared details about what aspects of that law he wants to end or change, but said during a late October interview on Fox Business that he wants to address health outcomes.“I said the ACA, unfortunately, is deeply ingrained in our health care system now,” Johnson said. “Do we need further improvements? Absolutely. We need to expand quality of care, access to care and obviously lower the cost of health care.”Republicans used the budget reconciliation process to try to repeal and replace the ACA in 2017, but were unsuccessful,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-us-news-ap-top-news-bills-0bd309f182de44d9bc320f334be94875" target="_blank">largely due to the late Arizona Sen. John McCain</a>&nbsp;rejecting the bill.Even with the budget reconciliation process to get Republicans around the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster, it will be extremely difficult for leaders to get the party unified on any health care bill of that magnitude.Republicans using the budget reconciliation process for tax policy and health care would take up two of the three opportunities they’ll have to adopt budget resolutions with reconciliation instructions during the 119th Congress.GOP leaders could try for a round three, though once all is said and done with the first two reconciliation bills, Republicans might need to shift their attention toward the 2026 midterm campaigns.<h2>VOTING</h2>Republican lawmakers have argued legislation is needed to bar noncitizens from voting in federal elections, even though it is already illegal and rarely happens. The party is expected to try again next Congress, once it holds a majority in both chambers of Congress.&nbsp;The GOP House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-bill-requiring-proof-citizenship-vote-federal-races" target="_blank">passed a bill this summer</a>&nbsp;that would have required proof of citizenship to register to vote, but the Democratic-controlled Senate never acted on it.Trump wrote on social media that he would demand that voter ID laws and proof of citizenship be required for voting, something that Congress would have to pass, although it’s unclear if such legislation could overcome the 60-vote threshold in the Senate.The issue is important to Trump, as Johnson traveled to the president-elect’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-supports-us-house-speaker-johnson-elections-agenda-joint-appearance" target="_blank">to unveil the House’s intention</a>&nbsp;to pursue the issue.<h2>SPENDING</h2>Republicans campaigned this year on cutting government spending, but have rarely done so when they held the majority in both chambers of Congress.The challenge lies in how government spending is approved and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59727" target="_blank">how much the various departments and agencies</a>&nbsp;require to function.During fiscal 2023, the federal government spent $6.1 trillion, with $3.4 trillion going to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59728" target="_blank">mandatory programs</a>, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs run on autopilot, so lawmakers don’t need to negotiate the particulars every year the way they do other programs.An additional $1.7 trillion was spent on so-called&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59729" target="_blank">discretionary programs</a>, which are funded through Congress’ annual appropriations process. That funding went to programs categorized as either nondefense, which received $917 billion, or defense, which got $805 billion.The nondefense funding goes to several departments, including Agriculture, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Interior, Justice, State and Transportation. Smaller agencies, like NASA and the National Science Foundation, are also funded through nondefense accounts.Republicans have proposed cuts in the past, but members of the party who understand the federal ledger often explain that if members really want to address the government spending more than it takes in, they’ll have to address Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.The math, otherwise, won’t work.Republicans could make tweaks when they write their reconciliation bills, though they’ll need those to comply with the Byrd Rule and not have a “merely incidental” impact on the federal ledger.&nbsp;<h2>EDUCATION</h2>Having secured unified GOP control of government,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-won-presidency-what-does-mean-education" target="_blank">Trump’s sweeping vision</a>&nbsp;to “save American education” could set the stage for significant changes in U.S. education policy.The president-elect has vowed to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education and said he wants to move education “back to the states.” States and local governments bear much of the responsibility for funding K-12 schools, but the Department of Education handles Pell Grants for college students who demonstrate financial need and enforces civil rights cases, among other things.Congress going along with plans to eliminate the department could have profound impacts on the billions of dollars in funding the agency provides for low-income K-12 schools, special education and federal student aid.Trump also vowed to roll back updated Title IX regulations on his first day back in office.President Joe Biden unveiled the final rule for Title IX in April, which strengthens federal protections for LGBTQ+ students and&nbsp;“protects against discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics,” according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-education-releases-final-title-ix-regulations-providing" target="_blank">Education Department</a>.GOP members on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce have criticized the new Title IX rules and are likely to fall in step with Trump’s wishes to roll back the regulations.Trump has also criticized the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness efforts, dubbing them “not even legal.” He could discontinue the Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan known as Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE. The plan is currently on pause due to legal challenges from Republican-led states.Last year, Senate Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/attempt-kill-biden-student-debt-relief-plan-tied-income-fails-us-senate" target="_blank">tried to strike down the rule.</a>Like Trump, Republicans have focused on “parental rights” in education. House Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-bill-establishing-federal-parental-bill-rights-passed-us-house" target="_blank">passed their own bill</a>&nbsp;on the issue last year.Republicans are likely to continue scrutinizing higher education institutions from diversity initiatives to college students protesting the war in Gaza.A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-house-passes-anti-woke-bill-aimed-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-higher-ed%C2%A0" target="_blank">GOP measure</a>&nbsp;that would bar accrediting organizations from requiring colleges and universities to adopt diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a condition of accreditation passed the House in September.Shauneen Miranda and Ashley Murray contributed to this report.&nbsp;&nbsp;

How will Republicans handle 7 key issues with their trifecta control of Washington?

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A federal judge granted a request to&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/11/11/topeka-man-who-participated-in-jan-6-attack-requests-trial-delay-after-trump-victory/">delay the trial</a>&nbsp;of a Topeka man who blocked officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building.&nbsp;

William Pope, who is representing himself in the case charging him with federal crimes in connection with his actions on Jan. 6, requested a trial delay on Nov. 8, citing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and concerns over a fair jury.&nbsp;

Trump promised throughout his third presidential campaign to pardon those criminally charged Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol if he were to be reelected. Pope was one of many defendants pursuing case changes following Trump’s win.&nbsp;

Judge&nbsp;Rudolph Contreras for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was sympathetic to Pope’s arguments during a Thursday hearing, which culminated in Contreras granting Pope’s motion to delay the trial.&nbsp;

Contreras said he’d been considering motions like Pope’s on a case-by-case basis,&nbsp;according to an official transcript of the Thursday hearing.

In his original motion, Pope argued his jury “was the entire American public, and they voted for a mandate to set me free.” He also expressed concerns that his case wouldn’t be heard by a fair jury because the vast majority of D.C. residents voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Contreras said he was focused on the conservation of resources for the case’s parties, the court and any potential jurors or witnesses, according to the transcript.

“I don’t want them to bring in 70 people or so just to have it go for naught, which there’s a real possibility of,” Contreras said. “Of course, it’s speculative, but there is a real possibility of that happening.”

Federal prosecutors opposed any delay. Benet Kearney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said during Thursday’s hearing that the case could be efficiently tried if it proceeded as scheduled. Instead, it was Pope’s “insistence of going down, kind of, a side rabbit hole that has the potential to drag this out,” Benet said.

“And so this is a manufactured situation by the defendant, you know?” she said.&nbsp;

Pope’s case has dragged on since he was indicted in February 2021, jailed in Shawnee County that same month and released on his own recognizance in early March 2021. His July 2024 trial date was delayed to weigh the possible impacts of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that threw out charges against a former Pennsylvania police officer who also participated in the Jan. 6 attack.

The parties are scheduled to meet again in December to set a future trial date.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1613161028525.png" alt="&nbsp;Will Pope, in red, holds a flag inside the Senate Carriage Entrance on the east side of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Pope ran for the Topeka City Council in 2018. (Screen capture from Jayden X video on YouTube)" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Will Pope, in red, holds a flag inside the Senate Carriage Entrance on the east side of the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Pope ran for the Topeka City Council in 2018. (Screen capture from Jayden X video on YouTube)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A federal judge granted a request to&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/11/11/topeka-man-who-participated-in-jan-6-attack-requests-trial-delay-after-trump-victory/">delay the trial</a>&nbsp;of a Topeka man who blocked officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building.&nbsp;William Pope, who is representing himself in the case charging him with federal crimes in connection with his actions on Jan. 6, requested a trial delay on Nov. 8, citing President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and concerns over a fair jury.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1613160278542.png" alt="Pope photo Shawnee Co. Jail" />
 <figcaption>Pope photo Shawnee Co. Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>Trump promised throughout his third presidential campaign to pardon those criminally charged Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol if he were to be reelected. Pope was one of many defendants pursuing case changes following Trump’s win.&nbsp;Judge&nbsp;Rudolph Contreras for the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., was sympathetic to Pope’s arguments during a Thursday hearing, which culminated in Contreras granting Pope’s motion to delay the trial.&nbsp;A new trial date was not set.Contreras said he’d been considering motions like Pope’s on a case-by-case basis,&nbsp;according to an official transcript of the Thursday hearing.In his original motion, Pope argued his jury “was the entire American public, and they voted for a mandate to set me free.” He also expressed concerns that his case wouldn’t be heard by a fair jury because the vast majority of D.C. residents voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.Contreras said he was focused on the conservation of resources for the case’s parties, the court and any potential jurors or witnesses, according to the transcript.“I don’t want them to bring in 70 people or so just to have it go for naught, which there’s a real possibility of,” Contreras said. “Of course, it’s speculative, but there is a real possibility of that happening.”Federal prosecutors opposed any delay. Benet Kearney with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said during Thursday’s hearing that the case could be efficiently tried if it proceeded as scheduled. Instead, it was Pope’s “insistence of going down, kind of, a side rabbit hole that has the potential to drag this out,” Benet said.“And so this is a manufactured situation by the defendant, you know?” she said.&nbsp;Pope’s case has dragged on since he was indicted in February 2021, jailed in Shawnee County that same month and released on his own recognizance in early March 2021. His July 2024 trial date was delayed to weigh the possible impacts of a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that threw out charges against a former Pennsylvania police officer who also participated in the Jan. 6 attack.The parties are scheduled to meet again in December to set a future trial date.

Judge delays trial for Kansas man who participated in Jan. 6 attack

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man was sentenced to 35 years in prison last week for a series of crimes against a young child who was found naked in the area of Brush Creek in 2019, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Gerald Smith was convicted of Statutory Sodomy in the 1st Degree, Assault in the 1st Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He was sentenced today to 20 years on the Statutory Sodomy conviction and 15 years on the Assault in the 1st Degree conviction. Those were sentenced to run consecutively for a total of 35 years. The Endangering the Welfare of a Child conviction was sentenced to 7 years and was set by the judge to run concurrently to the Assault conviction.

According to court records, police were dispatched Sept. 13, 2019 to the area Blue Parkway and Lawn on a reported found juvenile. The caller told responding officers that he had seen a naked girl in the middle of the road. Officers found the child. The girl was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. KCPD detectives used video, cell phone records and other data to pinpoint the defendant. In April 2020, Detectives were notified that the defendant's DNA was found on the child victim.

The prosecutor's office has made every effort to protect the identity of this victim.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725033186313.png" alt="Smith photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Smith photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man was sentenced to 35 years in prison last week for a series of crimes against a young child who was found naked in the area of Brush Creek in 2019, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Gerald Smith was convicted of Statutory Sodomy in the 1st Degree, Assault in the 1st Degree and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. He was sentenced today to 20 years on the Statutory Sodomy conviction and 15 years on the Assault in the 1st Degree conviction. Those were sentenced to run consecutively for a total of 35 years. The Endangering the Welfare of a Child conviction was sentenced to 7 years and was set by the judge to run concurrently to the Assault conviction.According to court records, police were dispatched Sept. 13, 2019 to the area Blue Parkway and Lawn on a reported found juvenile. The caller told responding officers that he had seen a naked girl in the middle of the road. Officers found the child. The girl was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment. KCPD detectives used video, cell phone records and other data to pinpoint the defendant. In April 2020, Detectives were notified that the defendant's DNA was found on the child victim.The prosecutor's office has made every effort to protect the identity of this victim.

Prison for KC man after young child found naked on the road

Law enforcement officials are seeking information which will lead to the identification of an unknown individual known as John Doe 49, according to a media release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

&nbsp; It is believed that this individual may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in a sexual exploitation investigation.

The video depicting John Doe 49 is believed to have been produced on or before July of 2024.&nbsp;

John Doe 49 is described as a White male between 45 and 65 years old, bald, with a dark goatee. He has at least five visual tattoos: the word Dabby on the right side of his chest, 197 followed by possible additional unknown text on his left bicep, and additional tattoos on his left and right forearms and right bicep.

If you have any information concerning this case, please call the FBI's toll-free tip-line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), contact a Crimes Against Children Investigator at your<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field/" target="_blank">local FBI office</a>, or the nearest&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/legat/" target="_blank">American Embassy or Consulate</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731603932482.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Law enforcement officials are seeking information which will lead to the identification of an unknown individual known as John Doe 49, according to a media release from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.&nbsp; It is believed that this individual may have critical information pertaining to the identity of a child victim in a sexual exploitation investigation.The video depicting John Doe 49 is believed to have been produced on or before July of 2024.&nbsp;John Doe 49 is described as a White male between 45 and 65 years old, bald, with a dark goatee. He has at least five visual tattoos: the word Dabby on the right side of his chest, 197 followed by possible additional unknown text on his left bicep, and additional tattoos on his left and right forearms and right bicep.<ul>
 <li><a href="mailto:RescueMe@fbi.gov?subject=Contact%20an%20Investigator">Contact an ECAP Investigator</a></li>
 </ul><h2>Submit a Tip:</h2>If you have any information concerning this case, please call the FBI's toll-free tip-line at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), contact a Crimes Against Children Investigator at your<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field/" target="_blank">local FBI office</a>, or the nearest&nbsp;<a href="http://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/legat/" target="_blank">American Embassy or Consulate</a>.

FBI seeks identity of 'John Doe 49' in child sexual exploitation case

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Two brothers involved in a stabbing on Friday morning in Lawrence are in custody.

The attack occurred about 10a.m in the 1900 block of East 19th Street, according to a media release. The victim was in serious condition when paramedics transported him to an area trauma center. 

Evidence shows one of the brothers sent a threatening message to an ex-girlfriend stating they were coming to her home to harm her other “ex”, who was there. Investigators found they did just that – and when the four met, a fight started. The man who was visiting was stabbed. The brothers fled.

Officers safely arrested one of the brothers at his home and, after a short search, were able to take the other into custody.

The victim is expected to recover. Police did not release names of the suspects. Police detective are working to submit an affidavit to the District Attorney’s Office detailing what led up to the violence.

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Two brothers involved in a stabbing on Friday morning in Lawrence are in custody.The attack occurred about 10a.m in the 1900 block of East 19th Street, according to a media release. The victim was in serious condition when paramedics transported him to an area trauma center. Evidence shows one of the brothers sent a threatening message to an ex-girlfriend stating they were coming to her home to harm her other “ex”, who was there. Investigators found they did just that – and when the four met, a fight started. The man who was visiting was stabbed. The brothers fled.Officers safely arrested one of the brothers at his home and, after a short search, were able to take the other into custody.The victim is expected to recover. Police did not release names of the suspects. Police detective are working to submit an affidavit to the District Attorney’s Office detailing what led up to the violence.

Two Kan. brothers jailed after knife attack at ex-girlfriend's home

SALINA, Kan. –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) completed its investigation into the July 24 officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of Jesse Wray, of Salina.&nbsp;

KBI’s investigation included shooting reconstruction, forensic testing of evidence, interviews of witnesses and first responders, autopsy, and a review of video footage including body-worn cameras, dashboard cameras, and surveillance videos. These investigative efforts resulted in a thorough understanding of the events of this critical incident.

Findings indicated that when officers from Salina Police Department (SPD) took Larry Wray Jr. into custody on a warrant, an officer saw Jesse Wray inside the detached garage, pointing a gun at him. Jesse Wray had a warrant for his arrest, so officers retreated and called for further assistance. Additional SPD officers and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) arrived on scene, and were made aware that Wray was in possession of a firearm. Wray did not comply with multiple commands to “come out with your hands up” and similar directives.

After a period of time, officers observed smoke and flames coming from the garage, and the garage door began to open. A female subject exited the garage first, with her hands up, and Wray ran out behind her. Wray ducked behind a parked truck in the driveway where he crouched in what appeared to be a shooting stance, extending his hands in front of him and toward officers. Two officers from SPD fired nine rounds, but no rounds struck Wray.

Wray then ran to the west side of the garage where KHP troopers and a SPD officer were positioned. He emerged face-to-face with them. A trooper and an SPD officer fired four shots, fatally wounding Wray. Only 6.35 seconds passed from the initial gunfire at the front of the garage to the final shots on the west side.

The Office of the State Fire Marshal investigated the fire that occurred in the unattached garage. They determined the fire was intentionally set. A black BB gun, that was manufactured to look like a revolver, was recovered inside the fire-damaged garage.

On Nov. 4, the KBI received a letter from Saline County Attorney Jeffery Ebel summarizing his review of the officer-involved shooting case. He stated, “The video is clear that there is not a gun in his hand at this time [when Wray exits the garage and takes position], however, the gesture and body posture would lead any reasonable person to believe that a gun was being raised and pointed at officers.”

In reference to the subsequent shots fired by the trooper and SPD officer, County Attorney Ebel determined, “Both officers stated they heard shots from a handgun and both attributed those shots to Wray, as they knew he had a gun and heard yelling.”

“Under Kansas law, and the facts of the case, I conclude that the officers are immune from prosecution and no criminal charges can be filed against the officers because any reasonable officer would believe that the use of deadly force was justified,” said Ebel.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1660826304117.jpeg" alt="Jesse Wray photo Saline County" />
 <figcaption>Jesse Wray photo Saline County</figcaption>
 </figure>SALINA, Kan. –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) completed its investigation into the July 24 officer-involved shooting resulting in the death of Jesse Wray, of Salina.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731703477207.png" alt="Wray’s position right before first shots fired, according to the KBI report released on Nov. 15." />
 <figcaption>Wray’s position right before first shots fired, according to the KBI report released on Nov. 15.</figcaption>
 </figure>KBI’s investigation included shooting reconstruction, forensic testing of evidence, interviews of witnesses and first responders, autopsy, and a review of video footage including body-worn cameras, dashboard cameras, and surveillance videos. These investigative efforts resulted in a thorough understanding of the events of this critical incident.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731703663062.png" alt="Firearm located in garage-image KBI" />
 <figcaption>Firearm located in garage-image KBI</figcaption>
 </figure>Findings indicated that when officers from Salina Police Department (SPD) took Larry Wray Jr. into custody on a warrant, an officer saw Jesse Wray inside the detached garage, pointing a gun at him. Jesse Wray had a warrant for his arrest, so officers retreated and called for further assistance. Additional SPD officers and the Kansas Highway Patrol (KHP) arrived on scene, and were made aware that Wray was in possession of a firearm. Wray did not comply with multiple commands to “come out with your hands up” and similar directives.After a period of time, officers observed smoke and flames coming from the garage, and the garage door began to open. A female subject exited the garage first, with her hands up, and Wray ran out behind her. Wray ducked behind a parked truck in the driveway where he crouched in what appeared to be a shooting stance, extending his hands in front of him and toward officers. Two officers from SPD fired nine rounds, but no rounds struck Wray.Wray then ran to the west side of the garage where KHP troopers and a SPD officer were positioned. He emerged face-to-face with them. A trooper and an SPD officer fired four shots, fatally wounding Wray. Only 6.35 seconds passed from the initial gunfire at the front of the garage to the final shots on the west side.The Office of the State Fire Marshal investigated the fire that occurred in the unattached garage. They determined the fire was intentionally set. A black BB gun, that was manufactured to look like a revolver, was recovered inside the fire-damaged garage.On Nov. 4, the KBI received a letter from Saline County Attorney Jeffery Ebel summarizing his review of the officer-involved shooting case. He stated, “The video is clear that there is not a gun in his hand at this time [when Wray exits the garage and takes position], however, the gesture and body posture would lead any reasonable person to believe that a gun was being raised and pointed at officers.”In reference to the subsequent shots fired by the trooper and SPD officer, County Attorney Ebel determined, “Both officers stated they heard shots from a handgun and both attributed those shots to Wray, as they knew he had a gun and heard yelling.”“Under Kansas law, and the facts of the case, I conclude that the officers are immune from prosecution and no criminal charges can be filed against the officers because any reasonable officer would believe that the use of deadly force was justified,” said Ebel.

KBI: No charges against officers in shooting that left 25-year-old dead

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City have identified the victim as 34-year-old&nbsp;&nbsp;Waleed M. Shaban, according to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez.

Just before 1p.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to a reported shooting in the the&nbsp;300&nbsp;block&nbsp;of&nbsp;E.&nbsp;Linwood&nbsp;Boulevard in Kansas City, according to Gonzalez.

When officers responded to the area, several people pointed in the direction of a nearby business advising someone had been shot. 

First responders found Shaban who was unresponsive in a business parking lot suffering from apparent gunshot trauma.&nbsp;

EMS responded shortly after and declared the him deceased at the scene.A person of interest was immediately located and taken into custody for further questioning.

Preliminary details indicate that two individuals were&nbsp;engaged in an argument that&nbsp;escalated into gunfire. The relationship between the victim and suspect is actively being investigated, as well as any connection to the business. Detectives are not currently looking for any additional persons of interest, according to Gonzalez.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731615779173.png" alt="Photo by Alex Love courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Alex Love courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City have identified the victim as 34-year-old&nbsp;&nbsp;Waleed M. Shaban, according to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez.Just before 1p.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to a reported shooting in the the&nbsp;300&nbsp;block&nbsp;of&nbsp;E.&nbsp;Linwood&nbsp;Boulevard in Kansas City, according to Gonzalez.When officers responded to the area, several people pointed in the direction of a nearby business advising someone had been shot. First responders found Shaban who was unresponsive in a business parking lot suffering from apparent gunshot trauma.&nbsp;EMS responded shortly after and declared the him deceased at the scene.A person of interest was immediately located and taken into custody for further questioning.Preliminary details indicate that two individuals were&nbsp;engaged in an argument that&nbsp;escalated into gunfire. The relationship between the victim and suspect is actively being investigated, as well as any connection to the business. Detectives are not currently looking for any additional persons of interest, according to Gonzalez.

Police ID man killed in Kansas City business parking lot

ATLANTA —Worldwide, there were an estimated 10.3 million cases of measles in 2023, a 20% increase from 2022, according to new estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge in cases, according to the CDC.

Measles is preventable with two doses of the measles vaccine; yet more than 22 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023. Globally, an estimated 83% of children received their first dose of measles vaccine last year, while only 74% received the recommended second dose.

Coverage of 95% or greater of two doses of measles vaccine is needed in each country and community to prevent outbreaks and protect populations from one of the world's most contagious human viruses.

As of November 7, 2024, a total of 277 measles cases were reported by 32 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.

"Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "To save even more lives and stop this deadly virus from harming the most vulnerable, we must invest in immunization for every person, no matter where they live."

"The number of measles infections are rising around the globe, endangering lives and health," CDC Director Mandy Cohen said. "The measles vaccine is our best protection against the virus, and we must continue to invest in efforts to increase access."

As a result of global gaps in vaccination coverage, 57 countries experienced large or disruptive measles outbreaks in 2023, affecting all regions except the Americas, and representing a nearly 60% increase from 36 countries in the previous year. The WHO African, Eastern Mediterranean, European, Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions experienced a substantial upsurge in cases. Nearly half of all large or disruptive outbreaks occurred in the African region.

An unacceptable death toll due to rising measles cases

The new data show that an estimated 107,500 people, mostly children younger than 5 years of age, died due to measles in 2023. Although this is an 8% decrease from the previous year, far too many children are still dying from this preventable disease. This slight reduction in deaths was mainly because the surge in cases occurred in countries and regions where children with measles are less likely to die, due to better nutritional status and access to health services.

Even when people survive measles, serious health effects can occur, some of which are lifelong. Infants and young children are at greatest risk of serious complications from the disease, which include blindness, pneumonia, and encephalitis (an infection causing brain swelling and potentially brain damage).

As measles cases surge and outbreaks increase, the world's elimination goal, as laid out in Immunization Agenda 2030, is under threat. Worldwide, 82 countries had achieved or maintained measles elimination at the end of 2023. Just this week, Brazil was reverified as having eliminated measles, making the WHO Americas Region once again free of endemic measles. With the exception of the African Region, at least 1 country in all WHO regions has eliminated the disease.

Urgent and targeted efforts by countries and partners, particularly in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions, and in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings, are needed to vaccinate all children fully with two doses of measles vaccine. This requires achieving and maintaining high-performing routine immunization programmes and delivering high-quality, high-coverage campaigns when those programmes are not yet sufficient to protect every child.

Countries and global immunization partners must also strengthen disease surveillance, including the Global Measles Rubella Laboratory Network (GMRLN). Strong disease surveillance is critical to optimizing immunization programmes and detecting and responding rapidly to measles outbreaks in order to mitigate their size and impact.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731697519867.png" alt="CDC image" />
 <figcaption>CDC image</figcaption>
 </figure>ATLANTA —Worldwide, there were an estimated 10.3 million cases of measles in 2023, a 20% increase from 2022, according to new estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Inadequate immunization coverage globally is driving the surge in cases, according to the CDC.Measles is preventable with two doses of the measles vaccine; yet more than 22 million children missed their first dose of the measles vaccine in 2023. Globally, an estimated 83% of children received their first dose of measles vaccine last year, while only 74% received the recommended second dose.Coverage of 95% or greater of two doses of measles vaccine is needed in each country and community to prevent outbreaks and protect populations from one of the world's most contagious human viruses.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731697414720.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>As of November 7, 2024, a total of 277 measles cases were reported by 32 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and West Virginia.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1731697454790.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>"Measles vaccine has saved more lives than any other vaccine in the past 50 years," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "To save even more lives and stop this deadly virus from harming the most vulnerable, we must invest in immunization for every person, no matter where they live.""The number of measles infections are rising around the globe, endangering lives and health," CDC Director Mandy Cohen said. "The measles vaccine is our best protection against the virus, and we must continue to invest in efforts to increase access."As a result of global gaps in vaccination coverage, 57 countries experienced large or disruptive measles outbreaks in 2023, affecting all regions except the Americas, and representing a nearly 60% increase from 36 countries in the previous year. The WHO African, Eastern Mediterranean, European, Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions experienced a substantial upsurge in cases. Nearly half of all large or disruptive outbreaks occurred in the African region.An unacceptable death toll due to rising measles casesThe new data show that an estimated 107,500 people, mostly children younger than 5 years of age, died due to measles in 2023. Although this is an 8% decrease from the previous year, far too many children are still dying from this preventable disease. This slight reduction in deaths was mainly because the surge in cases occurred in countries and regions where children with measles are less likely to die, due to better nutritional status and access to health services.Even when people survive measles, serious health effects can occur, some of which are lifelong. Infants and young children are at greatest risk of serious complications from the disease, which include blindness, pneumonia, and encephalitis (an infection causing brain swelling and potentially brain damage).As measles cases surge and outbreaks increase, the world's elimination goal, as laid out in Immunization Agenda 2030, is under threat. Worldwide, 82 countries had achieved or maintained measles elimination at the end of 2023. Just this week, Brazil was reverified as having eliminated measles, making the WHO Americas Region once again free of endemic measles. With the exception of the African Region, at least 1 country in all WHO regions has eliminated the disease.Urgent and targeted efforts by countries and partners, particularly in the African and Eastern Mediterranean regions, and in fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable settings, are needed to vaccinate all children fully with two doses of measles vaccine. This requires achieving and maintaining high-performing routine immunization programmes and delivering high-quality, high-coverage campaigns when those programmes are not yet sufficient to protect every child.Countries and global immunization partners must also strengthen disease surveillance, including the Global Measles Rubella Laboratory Network (GMRLN). Strong disease surveillance is critical to optimizing immunization programmes and detecting and responding rapidly to measles outbreaks in order to mitigate their size and impact.