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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FTC proposes rule that would ban employee noncompete clauses

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

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

The Sheriff's office released no additional information Sunday.

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

Sheriff IDs body found as missing Kansas man

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As COVID surges in China, US begins testing more travelers

By SUZANNE PEREZ <a href="https://www.kcur.org/2023-01-06/kansas-teacher-shortage-prompts-calls-for-higher-salaries-paying-student-teachers">Kansas News Service</a>

As Kansas faces the <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/news/2022-07-05/burned-out-as-more-educators-leave-kansas-faces-its-worst-ever-teacher-shortage" target="_blank">worst teacher shortage it’s ever known</a>, one group says the state needs to raise teacher pay, elevate the profession and offer student teachers a paycheck.

“Part
 of the problem is our salaries in education stink,” said Rick Ginsburg,
 dean of education at the University of Kansas. “Add to that working 
conditions that are challenging, a public that is rather critical. … So 
what you end up with is something that is awfully challenging.”

Ginsburg
 heads a task force created by the Kansas Board of Regents that’s 
looking at strategies to ease the teacher shortage. The group includes 
deans of education at all the public universities in Kansas.

Among the 15 recommendations in its draft report is a call to expand the <a href="https://www.kansasregents.org/resources/PDF/Students/Student_Financial_Aid/KTS_2021-2022.pdf" target="_blank">Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship</a>
 program. It’s available only for hard-to-fill teaching specialties — 
such as math, science and special education — in certain parts of the 
state.

“All fields are hard to fill, and all districts need teachers,” Ginsburg said. “Those kinds of restrictions don’t make sense.”

Expanding
 scholarships would reduce college costs and make teaching a more 
affordable career option for more people, he said. The group suggests 
increasing the annual fund from $2.8 million to $20 million over the 
next three years.

“Let’s face it: One of the barriers to coming 
into a relatively low-pay field is that the tuition is the same at each 
institution, whether you’re going into teaching or … engineering,” 
Ginsburg said. “Whatever we can do to make this more financially 
feasible makes a lot of sense.”

The task force’s plan, which it 
will present to Regents later this month, also calls for paying student 
teachers up to $5,000 for every semester they work in classrooms.

“We
 are one of the only fields where people do internships that they don’t 
get paid for, and they actually pay for credit hours to do it,” Ginsburg
 said.

Districts would have the option of participating in the 
plan, which would cost about $6.7 million a year statewide. The task 
force suggests that the state pay 75% of a student teacher’s salary and 
the local school district pay the rest.

The group also wants to 
make it easier for education majors to transfer from community colleges 
to four-year universities, creating a universal set of 60 credit hours 
that would apply to an elementary education degree.

And it wants teachers who earn advanced credentials or supplemental certificates to get paid more.

“We tend not to do that in the education world, (and) it’s dumb,” Ginsburg said. “They do it in most other fields.”

The
 task force’s draft report also calls for the Regents to work with other
 agencies and school districts to raise teacher salaries, improve 
working conditions and promote the importance of teachers for schools 
and communities.

The projected cost for that item? Likely tens of millions of dollars.

“These
 are some of the challenges we can’t resolve — i.e. salaries — but you 
also can’t sit around,” Ginsburg told the Regents last month. “We 
identified some areas that can really help our state … in terms of 
attracting more people into this field.”

The teacher shortage 
isn’t unique to Kansas, and it began even before the COVID-19 pandemic. A
 report by the Economic Policy Institute in 2019, titled <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-shortage-is-real-large-and-growing-and-worse-than-we-thought-the-first-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/" target="_blank">“The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,”</a> pointed to impending retirements, increasing vacancies and declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs.

A <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/09_27_2022.asp" target="_blank">report by the National Center for Education Statistics</a>
 showed that more than half of U.S. public schools were understaffed at 
the start of this school year. More than two-thirds said too few teacher
 candidates were applying for open positions.

In Kansas, districts
 reported about 1,620 vacancies — an increase from previous years. With 
schools scrambling to staff classrooms, the Kansas Board of Education 
recently <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2022-01-07/kansas-is-looking-to-ease-its-substitute-teacher-shortage-by-lowering-standards" target="_blank">loosened requirements</a> for people who want to work as substitutes.

Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673015176402.png" alt="A federal report shows that more than half of U.S. public schools were understaffed at the start of this school year. More than two-thirds said too few teacher candidates were applying for open positions. Suzanne Perez / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>A federal report shows that more than half of U.S. public schools were understaffed at the start of this school year. More than two-thirds said too few teacher candidates were applying for open positions. Suzanne Perez / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By SUZANNE PEREZ <a href="https://www.kcur.org/2023-01-06/kansas-teacher-shortage-prompts-calls-for-higher-salaries-paying-student-teachers">Kansas News Service</a>As Kansas faces the <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/news/2022-07-05/burned-out-as-more-educators-leave-kansas-faces-its-worst-ever-teacher-shortage" target="_blank">worst teacher shortage it’s ever known</a>, one group says the state needs to raise teacher pay, elevate the profession and offer student teachers a paycheck.“Part
 of the problem is our salaries in education stink,” said Rick Ginsburg,
 dean of education at the University of Kansas. “Add to that working 
conditions that are challenging, a public that is rather critical. … So 
what you end up with is something that is awfully challenging.”Ginsburg
 heads a task force created by the Kansas Board of Regents that’s 
looking at strategies to ease the teacher shortage. The group includes 
deans of education at all the public universities in Kansas.Among the 15 recommendations in its draft report is a call to expand the <a href="https://www.kansasregents.org/resources/PDF/Students/Student_Financial_Aid/KTS_2021-2022.pdf" target="_blank">Kansas Teacher Service Scholarship</a>
 program. It’s available only for hard-to-fill teaching specialties — 
such as math, science and special education — in certain parts of the 
state.“All fields are hard to fill, and all districts need teachers,” Ginsburg said. “Those kinds of restrictions don’t make sense.”Expanding
 scholarships would reduce college costs and make teaching a more 
affordable career option for more people, he said. The group suggests 
increasing the annual fund from $2.8 million to $20 million over the 
next three years.“Let’s face it: One of the barriers to coming 
into a relatively low-pay field is that the tuition is the same at each 
institution, whether you’re going into teaching or … engineering,” 
Ginsburg said. “Whatever we can do to make this more financially 
feasible makes a lot of sense.”The task force’s plan, which it 
will present to Regents later this month, also calls for paying student 
teachers up to $5,000 for every semester they work in classrooms.“We
 are one of the only fields where people do internships that they don’t 
get paid for, and they actually pay for credit hours to do it,” Ginsburg
 said.Districts would have the option of participating in the 
plan, which would cost about $6.7 million a year statewide. The task 
force suggests that the state pay 75% of a student teacher’s salary and 
the local school district pay the rest.The group also wants to 
make it easier for education majors to transfer from community colleges 
to four-year universities, creating a universal set of 60 credit hours 
that would apply to an elementary education degree.And it wants teachers who earn advanced credentials or supplemental certificates to get paid more.“We tend not to do that in the education world, (and) it’s dumb,” Ginsburg said. “They do it in most other fields.”The
 task force’s draft report also calls for the Regents to work with other
 agencies and school districts to raise teacher salaries, improve 
working conditions and promote the importance of teachers for schools 
and communities.The projected cost for that item? Likely tens of millions of dollars.“These
 are some of the challenges we can’t resolve — i.e. salaries — but you 
also can’t sit around,” Ginsburg told the Regents last month. “We 
identified some areas that can really help our state … in terms of 
attracting more people into this field.”The teacher shortage 
isn’t unique to Kansas, and it began even before the COVID-19 pandemic. A
 report by the Economic Policy Institute in 2019, titled <a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-shortage-is-real-large-and-growing-and-worse-than-we-thought-the-first-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/" target="_blank">“The Perfect Storm in the Teacher Labor Market,”</a> pointed to impending retirements, increasing vacancies and declining enrollment in teacher preparation programs.A <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/09_27_2022.asp" target="_blank">report by the National Center for Education Statistics</a>
 showed that more than half of U.S. public schools were understaffed at 
the start of this school year. More than two-thirds said too few teacher
 candidates were applying for open positions.In Kansas, districts
 reported about 1,620 vacancies — an increase from previous years. With 
schools scrambling to staff classrooms, the Kansas Board of Education 
recently <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2022-01-07/kansas-is-looking-to-ease-its-substitute-teacher-shortage-by-lowering-standards" target="_blank">loosened requirements</a> for people who want to work as substitutes.Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.

Kan. teacher shortage: Calls for higher pay, paid student teachers

LACLEDE COUNTY—A Missouri man died in an accident just before 5p.m. Friday in Laclede County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford Freestar driven by Christopher M. Woodrum, 46, Lebanon, was westbound on MO 32 seven miles west of Lebanon.&nbsp;

The car traveled off the road, struck a driveway, became airborne and came to rest in a ditch. Woodrum was pronounced dead at the scene. He was properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

LACLEDE COUNTY—A Missouri man died in an accident just before 5p.m. Friday in Laclede County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Ford Freestar driven by Christopher M. Woodrum, 46, Lebanon, was westbound on MO 32 seven miles west of Lebanon.&nbsp;The car traveled off the road, struck a driveway, became airborne and came to rest in a ditch. Woodrum was pronounced dead at the scene. He was properly restrained, according to the MSHP.

Missouri man dies after violent minivan crash

By ROBERT ZULLO <a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/01/03/as-another-winter-storm-strains-the-electric-grid-its-time-to-fix-transmission-experts-say/">States Newsroom</a>

The deadly winter storm, christened 
Elliott by the Weather Channel, that tore through much of the United 
States over the Christmas weekend placed a huge strain on the American 
electric grid, pushing it past the breaking point in some places.

Frigid temperatures, in some places <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2022/12/24/winter-storm-elliott-heres-which-cities-set-record-low-temperatures-so-far/?sh=4ac325fb33b0">setting records</a>,
 drove a surge in electric demand while also causing big problems for 
gas, coal and other power plants that took electric generation offline 
just when it was needed most. That forced some Southeastern utilities to
 cut power to thousands of people on a rotating basis, and led grid 
operators to <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/pjminterconnect/status/1606761678426832898?s=20&amp;t=2Wzc6NDbC9K13aikdQt8gg">urge customers</a> to conserve power.&nbsp;

“Supply and demand for electricity 
have to exactly balance in real time,” said Michael Goggin, a longtime 
electric industry analyst and vice president at Grid Strategies, a 
consulting firm focused on clean energy integration. “If not, in a 
matter of seconds the grid can collapse.”

The Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation 
announced Wednesday that they will open a<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nerc.com/news/Pages/FERC,-NERC-to-Open-Joint-Inquiry-into-Winter-Storm-Elliott.aspx"> joint investigation</a> into the power system’s performance.

“There will be multiple lessons 
learned from last week’s polar vortex that will inform future winter 
preparations,” said Jim Robb, president and CEO of NERC, the nonprofit 
regulator that sets and enforces reliability standards for the bulk 
power system in the U.S.&nbsp;

“This storm underscores the 
increasing frequency of significant extreme weather events (the fifth 
major winter event in the last 11 years) and underscores the need for 
the electric sector to change its planning scenarios and preparations 
for extreme events.”

But for some experts, a major lesson 
from the storm is already plain, and it’s the same as learned in past 
severe winter weather: The U.S. grid needs to be better connected to 
enable power to be moved easily to where it’s needed in moments of 
crisis.

“Although this was a massive event 
that ultimately affected huge parts of the country, there were 
geographic elements to it,” said Ari Peskoe, director of the Electricity
 Law Initiative at Harvard Law School. “The attention belongs on the 
transmission system.”

John Moore, a meteorologist with the 
National Weather Service, said the storm was unusual in several aspects,
 including the rapid drop in temperatures triggered by a blast of arctic
 air pushing down from Canada far into the American South, the rapid 
strengthening called “<a target="_blank" href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/bombogenesis.html">bombogenesis</a>,” and the heft of the pressure behind the system, which he said set a record in Edmonton, Canada.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It’s a very broad system and it’s a 
lot of impacts associated with it. … The cold air with this one was a 
little bit stronger than we usually see this time of year,” Moore said, 
noting that the storm caused temperatures to drop 37 degrees in one hour
 at Denver International Airport, for example, and set temperature 
records in Wyoming and Montana, according to preliminary data.&nbsp;&nbsp;

As it moved east, it caused a deadly blizzard in the Buffalo area that claimed at least <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/weather-buffalo-natural-disasters-new-york-city-storms-6cb9f31599be5f698a927fa971fcf019">40 lives</a> and wreaked havoc on the electric grid.&nbsp;

“There were likely other records set across the South and East Coast,” Moore said.

Though <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/millions-without-power-as-winter-storm-batters-u-s-with-blizzards-freezing-rain">hundreds of thousands</a>
 of homes and businesses were left without power because of normal storm
 calamities such as downed power lines, many other customers in the 
Carolinas and the Tennessee Valley Authority service territory, which 
includes most of Tennessee and parts of Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, 
Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina, saw outages because of the strain 
struggling power plants and surging demand placed on the grid.

“What we saw was concerning,” said Goggin, who was monitoring data from many of the major <a target="_blank" href="https://arkansasadvocate.com/2022/09/26/amid-a-massive-american-clean-energy-shift-grid-operators-play-catch-up/">regional transmission organizations</a>
 hit by the storm. “You saw very high unplanned or forced outages of 
power plants of many types but primarily fossil.” The extreme cold shut 
down many <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-12-24/storm-elliott-latest-us-natural-gas-output-plunges">natural gas production wells</a>, he said, which limited pipeline supplies that feed power plants.&nbsp;

“We’ve seen a number of events like 
this where the extreme cold disrupts the gas system which then cascades 
to the power system,” he said.&nbsp;

On Dec. 23, with demand climbing past
 33,000 megawatts (its normal December demand is around 24,000) the TVA 
for the first time in its 90-year history instituted load shedding — 
temporary, controlled outages — and urged customers to conserve 
electricity. The service interruptions ended on Dec. 24, with the TVA 
saying it had supplied more power over the previous 24 hours than ever 
before to meet an all-time peak winter demand. POWER magazine <a target="_blank" href="https://www.powermag.com/arctic-blast-roiling-reliability-in-tva-miso-spp-pjm/">also quoted</a>
 a TVA spokesperson saying that a “limited number” of power plants in 
TVA’s territory “did not operate as expected during this event resulting
 in a loss of generation.”

“We at TVA take full responsibility for the impact we had on our customers,” the authority said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tva.com/newsroom/press-releases/tva-accepts-responsibility-starts-full-review">Dec. 28 statement</a>.
 “We are conducting a thorough review of what occurred and why. We are 
committed to sharing these lessons learned and — more importantly — the 
corrective actions we take in the weeks ahead to ensure we are prepared 
to manage significant events in the future.”

In an email to States Newsroom 
Thursday, a TVA spokesperson could not say how many customers were 
affected nor provide any information on why power plants weren’t able to
 perform, citing the ongoing review. In the Memphis area, where Memphis 
Light, Gas and Water is the TVA’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.localmemphis.com/article/news/local/mlgw-tva-utility-light-gas-water-memphis-midsouth/522-8dc09855-2efc-475d-bb39-ddabfebf76e7">largest customer</a>, more than 30,000 customers were affected, WMC-TV, a local station, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.actionnews5.com/2022/12/24/rolling-blackouts-reinstituted-thousands-mlgw-customers-without-power/">reported</a>. The Chattanooga Free Press <a target="_blank" href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2022/dec/24/power-outages-tfp/">reported on Christmas Eve</a> that the TVA had lost about 6,000 megawatts of generation the day before at coal and gas plants.

“Until the review is completed over 
the next few weeks, any discussion on individual plants would be 
inappropriate because it would just be speculation on our part,” TVA 
spokesman Scott Fiedler told States Newsroom. “As the wholesale power 
provider, we instruct our 153 local power companies to reduce load. They
 implement the process to limit the impact to their customers. We expect
 customers were affected by 15-30 minutes in a rolling fashion as LPCs 
implemented curtailments.”

Duke Energy, one of the nation’s 
largest utility companies, was forced to cut power to about 500,000 of 
its customers in North Carolina and South Carolina on Dec. 24, with the 
last of them having power restored by about 6 p.m., spokesman Jeff 
Brooks said.&nbsp;

“The combination of temperatures that
 were lower than forecast, customer usage that was higher than 
projected, some reduction in generating capacity on our system and 
limited options for additional capacity from outside of our service area
 due to extreme cold weather that impacted the eastern half of the 
United States created conditions that resulted in the need to conduct 
temporary outages,” Brooks said.&nbsp;

“We made this difficult decision to 
protect the electric grid and reliability on our system, and to avoid a 
potential longer or broader outage to customers.”

Another Duke Energy spokesman <a target="_blank" href="https://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2022/12/09/reliability-watchdog-warns-of-potential-electric-shortfalls-this-winter/#sthash.BtyAWOBF.dpbs">told States Newsroom</a>
 in November, in response to a report by NERC that its service territory
 might be vulnerable to electric outages in the event of extreme winter 
weather, that the company was “ready to meet the energy needs of our 
customers every day, regardless of weather.”&nbsp;

Brooks said the company is still 
examining generation performance during the storm and assembling 
information for regulators and couldn’t provide more details on what 
type of power plants failed to perform.&nbsp;

Duke Energy officials <a target="_blank" href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article270559742.html">are scheduled to brief</a> the N.C. Utilities Commission staff on the outages on Tuesday.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“It was a combination of generation 
on our system that was either reduced or unavailable that evening, 
coupled with the inability to import additional electricity from out of 
state (which is something we can typically do to add to our native 
generation) that resulted in the need to initiate temporary outages,” 
Brooks said, noting that solar wasn’t a factor because it was dark when 
the outages were initiated. As of 2021, wind, solar and hydroelectric 
power <a target="_blank" href="https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/clean-generation-remains-duke-energys-focus-as-it-plans-to-triple-renewable-energy-this-decade">made up</a> just 7% of Duke’s company-owned output.

“We did believe that we had adequate 
generation going into Friday evening to meet the forecasted demand for 
electricity,” Brooks said. “That demand ultimately came in higher than 
we forecast.”

Faced with plunging temperatures, 
surging power demand and some power plants struggling to perform, PJM, 
the nation’s largest grid operator, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pjm.com/-/media/about-pjm/newsroom/2022-releases/20221223-news-release-w1-statement-call-for-conservation.ashx">issued a call </a>for customers to conserve energy a day before Christmas Eve. The call came as a surprise for electric industry experts.

In a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nerc.com/pa/RAPA/ra/Reliability%20Assessments%20DL/NERC_WRA_2022.pdf">winter reliability assessment</a>,
 NERC said that PJM — which coordinates the movement of electricity for 
65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, 
Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, 
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of 
Columbia — “expects no resource problems over the entire 2022-23 winter 
peak season because installed capacity is almost three times the reserve
 requirement.”

But a big portion of that excess 
electric generation capacity was struggling to produce power, said 
Michael Bryson, PJM’s senior vice president of system operations.

The Midcontinent Independent System 
Operator declared a maximum generation event on Dec. 23 “due to 
unplanned generation outages and higher-than-expected electricity 
consumption.”&nbsp;

MISO manages electricity across all 
or part of 15 U.S. states (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, 
Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North 
Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin) and the Canadian province of
 Manitoba, an area that includes 45 million people.

Declaring that event involves 
multiple steps, including directing its members to turn on all available
 emergency power generation, asking electric customers to reduce energy 
usage and purchasing any available emergency energy from neighbors. 
Rolling outages are a last resort, but that never happened.&nbsp;

A MISO spokesman told States Newsroom
 collection of data from the storm is underway and more information 
might be available soon. 

“We saw pretty significant generation
 outage data coming in, failing to start or tripping offline, far 
exceeding our ability to keep up,” Bryson said. In its <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pjm.com/-/media/documents/ferc/orders/2022/20221224-pjm-202c-doe-order.ashx">request</a>
 to the Department of Energy for a temporary waiver of environmental 
rules for generation units, PJM said its peak load, or electric demand, 
exceeded 135,000 megawatts on Dec. 23 while about 45,000 megawatts of 
generation were out or underperforming. (<a target="_blank" href="http://learn.pjm.com/-/media/about-pjm/newsroom/fact-sheets/power-in-balance-fact-sheet.ashx#:~:text=PJM%20controls%20the%20operation%20of,in%20usage%20from%20demand%20resources.">PJM lists </a>about 185,000 megawatts of total generation capacity)

Bryson said in an interview that the 
performance problems affected coal, gas and nuclear plants. Wind, which 
makes up the majority of renewable energy in PJM’s generation mix 
(though it is <a target="_blank" href="https://pjm.com/">dwarfed</a>
 by coal, gas and nuclear) performed well during the storm, Bryson said.
 He had not had the chance to review how solar energy fared during the 
event.&nbsp;

“We’ll be working through those 
issues unit by unit over the next week,” he said, adding that power 
plants that failed to meet their performance criteria risk financial 
penalties.&nbsp;

In addition to participating in the 
NERC-FERC inquiry, “we’re going to kick off a pretty comprehensive 
lessons-learned session ourselves,” Bryson said, including examining the
 organization’s own extreme cold electric load forecasting. He said 
PJM’s forecast was low by about 7 to 10% on Dec. 23.

Creating a grid ‘bigger than the weather’

Peskoe, the director of the 
electricity law initiative at Harvard, and Goggin, the energy consulting
 firm executive, both said too often in the aftermath of major storms 
that stress the power grid, one form of generation or another comes 
under fire.&nbsp;

“Extreme weather like this does 
affect all generation sources,” Goggin said, though he said it appeared 
that renewables, which don’t need coal piles that can freeze or 
pipelines that can be curtailed by cold, largely fared well during the 
storm.

But the real task for the people in 
charge of the nation’s electric grid is to grow a transmission system 
that’s “bigger than the weather,” as Goggin put it.

“When you do that, it allows you to 
bring in power from areas that are less affected,” he said. “Having a 
large grid that allows you to move power around as events like this 
unfold provides a lot of value.”&nbsp;

Goggin said he monitored data from 
the regional transmission organizations affected by the storm, including
 the Southwest Power Pool and MISO (Midcontinent Independent System 
Operator), neither of which had to resort to rolling outages, and 
noticed that wind electric prices in those markets plunged to very low 
or even negative levels. That means there wasn’t enough transmission 
capacity to get the large amount of electricity the turbines were 
producing to where it was needed.

“That power would have been extremely
 valuable in locations farther east but it couldn’t get out of the 
wind-producing areas,” he said.&nbsp;

Simon Mahan, executive director of 
the Southern Renewable Energy Association, a trade group for large 
renewable energy and energy storage companies, said the storm showed how
 critical interconnection between regions is for reliability and that 
other parts of the southern electric grid are vulnerable to severe 
winter weather like the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/final-report-february-2021-freeze-underscores-winterization-recommendations">catastrophic grid collapse</a> Texas saw in 2021

“Being connected with our neighbors 
is exceptionally important,” he said. “If we weren’t connected with MISO
 and PJM, things would have been a disaster. … Winter Storm Elliott is 
kind of that storm that showed that the rest of the Southeast is 
vulnerable like Texas was.”

Mahan noted that the storm raised 
transparency issues as well, with real-time data on generation and load 
coming in from areas controlled by regional transmission organizations 
like PJM and MISO but not so much from areas controlled by the TVA or 
monopoly utilities like those owned by Duke in the Carolinas and 
Southern Company in Alabama and Georgia.

“It’s very easy to see where there 
are problems. But in the Southeast, because there’s so little 
transparency, it’s hard to see,” he said.&nbsp;

The storm came as FERC is weighing a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ferc.gov/news-events/news/ferc-issues-transmission-nopr-addressing-planning-cost-allocation">major proposed rule</a>
 on streamlining regional electric transmission planning and cost 
allocation as well as taking into account broader benefits. And it comes
 less than a month after a <a target="_blank" href="https://cms.ferc.gov/media/day-1-establishing-interregional-transfer-capability-transmission-planning-cost-allocation">FERC-led meeting</a>
 on potentially requiring a minimum amount of interregional electric 
transfer capability — electricity that can be moved between regional 
transmission systems —&nbsp; for public utility transmission providers. 
Supporters described it as an “insurance policy” in the event of grid 
crises like extreme weather.&nbsp;

“One thing that I hope is explored as
 people try to dissect what happened is what would the value have been 
of interregional transfer capability during this event,” Peskoe said.

FERC Commissioner Willie Phillips at 
the meeting said better transfer capability can improve reliability and 
resilience, lower costs for customers by allowing them to access cheaper
 electricity and accommodate more renewable power.&nbsp;

“Given the likelihood of future 
extreme weather events and related generation shortfalls, many 
stakeholders have been asking us to do something,” Philips said. “Both 
Winter Storm Uri and the 2014 polar vortex, these events have shown that
 greater interregional transfer capability has a significant reliability
 benefit.”&nbsp;

Not everyone was a fan of the idea 
though. Tricia Pridemore, chair of the Georgia Public Service 
Commission, which regulates utilities, said states like Georgia that are
 not part of regional transmission organizations, don’t need a new 
transfer requirement, citing the state’s utility planning process and 
cooperation with other southeastern utilities.&nbsp;

“Our bottom-up approach maintains 
reliability and does not put upward pressure on rates by constructing 
unnecessary or duplicative transmission assets,” she said. “Georgia is 
better for maintaining a safe, reliable affordable system all while not 
being told to do so from a top-down governance structure.”&nbsp;

According to the federal Energy Information Administration, Georgia is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eia.gov/state/rankings/?sid=GA#series/31">one of the more</a> expensive states in the South in terms of average residential retail electric price and Pridemore’s commission just approved a <a target="_blank" href="https://georgiarecorder.com/2022/12/20/georgia-power-customers-will-foot-1-8b-rate-hike-tab-after-state-regulators-ok-three-year-plan/">big rate hike</a> for the state’s dominant utility, Georgia Power.&nbsp;

“The reality is during the storm and 
this past week after the storm, Southern Company and Georgia have really
 relied on imports from MISO and a significant amount of power from 
Canada that has been brought into MISO,” Mahan said. “It’s pretty 
incredible how Canada is helping keep the power on in places like 
Atlanta.” 

Experts: As storms strain electric grid, it’s time to fix transmission

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it has distributed 30 charging affidavits to prosecutors as part of its investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests but, so far, no charges have been filed.

<a href="https://ag.ks.gov/docs/default-source/documents/20230106-kbi-clergy-report.pdf?sfvrsn=695cbd1a_2">Click here to read the full</a>&nbsp;report

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt released the KBI's report concluding an investigation of the state’s four Roman Catholic dioceses in Wichita, Salina, Dodge City and Kansas City, Kansas.

The bureau said it would continue to investigate clergy associated with the Society of Saint Pius X, a breakaway Catholic group with a large branch in St. Marys.

A summary of the report said a six-member task force had interviewed 137 victims of abuse, initiated 125 criminal cases and distributed 30 affidavits to prosecutors for charging consideration.

Investigators identified 188 clergy members suspected of committing various criminal acts from records that stretched to the 1950s.

Michael McDonnell, a spokesperson for the international Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that while the numbers of alleged abuses before 1990 are not surprising, the numbers after that are “still questionable” because many victims likely have not come forward.

“The Catholic Church will consistently say this is a thing of the past. We always say it’s a thing very much of the present and very much a thing of the future,” McDonnell said.

As of Friday, no prosecutor had filed charges, primarily because of laws that limit how long authorities have to pursue certain cases, the KBI said.

McDonnell said it's “the Catholic Church playbook” to run out the clock on potential criminal charges and then be cooperative.

“Well, what we want to know is who was complicit?” McDonnell said, adding that abusers were allowed “to continue their careers in transfer upon transfer upon transfer only to go on to abuse more children?”

The executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference said each of the four Kansas dioceses was reviewing the report. Schmidt directed the KBI to begin the investigation at the request of Kansas City Archdiocese Archbishop Joseph Naumann.

The investigators found several cases that lacked probable cause to present to prosecutors. In nearly all the cases where affidavits were filed, the statute of limitations had expired or the priest was dead, according to the report.

That prompted SNAP to call on Kansas legislators to both eliminate the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits over alleged abuse and to add clergy to the list of people required by law to report suspected child abuse to authorities. Lawmakers convene Monday for their annual session.

“This report is yet another signal flare that legislative change is needed in order to support survivors and protect children,” the group said in a statement.

In a letter accompanying the report, KBI Director Kirk Thompson praised the victims who came forward to report their abuse to investigators.

“It is our deepest and most sincere hope these victims find a way to continue to survive and heal,” Thompson wrote. “And for those victims who are still traumatized who did not report, it is our hope they find the strength to seek help.”

The report was released on the final full day in office for Schmidt, who unsuccessfully ran for Kansas governor last year. Thompson plans to retire from the KBI on Tuesday.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Friday that it has distributed 30 charging affidavits to prosecutors as part of its investigation into sexual abuse by Catholic priests but, so far, no charges have been filed.<a href="https://ag.ks.gov/docs/default-source/documents/20230106-kbi-clergy-report.pdf?sfvrsn=695cbd1a_2">Click here to read the full</a>&nbsp;reportKansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt released the KBI's report concluding an investigation of the state’s four Roman Catholic dioceses in Wichita, Salina, Dodge City and Kansas City, Kansas.The bureau said it would continue to investigate clergy associated with the Society of Saint Pius X, a breakaway Catholic group with a large branch in St. Marys.A summary of the report said a six-member task force had interviewed 137 victims of abuse, initiated 125 criminal cases and distributed 30 affidavits to prosecutors for charging consideration.Investigators identified 188 clergy members suspected of committing various criminal acts from records that stretched to the 1950s.Michael McDonnell, a spokesperson for the international Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said that while the numbers of alleged abuses before 1990 are not surprising, the numbers after that are “still questionable” because many victims likely have not come forward.“The Catholic Church will consistently say this is a thing of the past. We always say it’s a thing very much of the present and very much a thing of the future,” McDonnell said.As of Friday, no prosecutor had filed charges, primarily because of laws that limit how long authorities have to pursue certain cases, the KBI said.McDonnell said it's “the Catholic Church playbook” to run out the clock on potential criminal charges and then be cooperative.“Well, what we want to know is who was complicit?” McDonnell said, adding that abusers were allowed “to continue their careers in transfer upon transfer upon transfer only to go on to abuse more children?”The executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference said each of the four Kansas dioceses was reviewing the report. Schmidt directed the KBI to begin the investigation at the request of Kansas City Archdiocese Archbishop Joseph Naumann.The investigators found several cases that lacked probable cause to present to prosecutors. In nearly all the cases where affidavits were filed, the statute of limitations had expired or the priest was dead, according to the report.That prompted SNAP to call on Kansas legislators to both eliminate the statute of limitations for filing lawsuits over alleged abuse and to add clergy to the list of people required by law to report suspected child abuse to authorities. Lawmakers convene Monday for their annual session.“This report is yet another signal flare that legislative change is needed in order to support survivors and protect children,” the group said in a statement.In a letter accompanying the report, KBI Director Kirk Thompson praised the victims who came forward to report their abuse to investigators.“It is our deepest and most sincere hope these victims find a way to continue to survive and heal,” Thompson wrote. “And for those victims who are still traumatized who did not report, it is our hope they find the strength to seek help.”The report was released on the final full day in office for Schmidt, who unsuccessfully ran for Kansas governor last year. Thompson plans to retire from the KBI on Tuesday.

Kansas Catholic priest sex abuse report leads to no charges

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man already serving jail time for taking lewd pictures of women and young girls&nbsp;has been sentenced&nbsp; to more than 54 years&nbsp;for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old child in 2015.&nbsp;

In November, 33-year-old James Dayvault, of Wichita, was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. In December,&nbsp;District Judge Kevin O'Connor sentenced Dayvault to 54-years in prison, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. The sentence will run consecutive to his current prison term.

In March 2020, Dayvault&nbsp; was sentenced to 57 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, lewd and lascivious behavior, attempted breach of privacy and breach of privacy, according to the district attorney's office.

A neighbor reported seeing Dayvault following young children and photographing them. During the investigation, police recovered photos on his cell phone that included pornographic images of children and images taken up women’s skirts at various locations in the city including a local church and department store parking lot.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/11/1668786106708.png" alt="Dayvault-photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Dayvault-photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man already serving jail time for taking lewd pictures of women and young girls&nbsp;has been sentenced&nbsp; to more than 54 years&nbsp;for the sexual abuse of a 7-year-old child in 2015.&nbsp;In November, 33-year-old James Dayvault, of Wichita, was convicted of aggravated indecent liberties with a child. In December,&nbsp;District Judge Kevin O'Connor sentenced Dayvault to 54-years in prison, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. The sentence will run consecutive to his current prison term.In March 2020, Dayvault&nbsp; was sentenced to 57 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child, lewd and lascivious behavior, attempted breach of privacy and breach of privacy, according to the district attorney's office.A neighbor reported seeing Dayvault following young children and photographing them. During the investigation, police recovered photos on his cell phone that included pornographic images of children and images taken up women’s skirts at various locations in the city including a local church and department store parking lot.

Kan. man in prison for upskirt filming sentenced for sex assault

By ERIC THOMAS <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/06/january-ushers-in-covid-19-turning-points-year-after-year-in-kansas/">Courtesy Kansas Reflector</a>

The COVID-19 pandemic has crafted 
many of its dark landmarks during recent Januarys. The last three 
installments have brought perhaps the most significant events related to
 the virus: the month that introduced COVID-19 to Kansas, two months 
that contained the two most deadly and contagious surges, and also a 
month that introduced widespread vaccination.

Three years into the pandemic, it’s 
tempting to think that we know everything about this cataclysm that 
interrupted our lives — and then gave our lives back to us. Looking 
back, as my history teachers have instructed me, revealed what I 
couldn’t remember, and what I never knew.

In writing this column, some of what I
 learned (or relearned) came from scrolling back through the YouTube 
channel of the University of Kansas Health System, featuring chief 
medical officer Steven Stites. The updates that he, his colleagues and 
his staff posted so dutifully are like dispatches from the pandemic 
past, complete with the emotions of the moment and vital statistics from
 people who worked the front lines.

The last three years tested us as Kansans in dramatic ways. January provided the decisive moments.

Many of us think of March 2020 as the
 beginning of the pandemic in Kansas, because that is when we heard 
about the first cases of COVID-19 in the state, followed rapidly by the 
dramatic closures of almost all public institutions, notably schools.

However, two months earlier, in January 2020, the first Kansan died from COVID-19, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/08/24/first-covid-19-death-in-kansas-now-believed-to-be-from-early-january-2020/">a death certificate that was publicized more than a year later.</a>

As reported by the San Jose Mercury 
News, Lovell “Cookie” Brown, a grandmother from Leavenworth County, was 
the first Kansan whose death was attributed to the virus. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/02/exclusive-how-did-a-kansas-grandmother-just-become-the-first-u-s-covid-death-not-even-her-family-knew-until-this-week/">The Mercury News also reported</a>
 how Brown’s death appeared “to turn the clock back on the virus’ 
arrival in the U.S. but also suggest that it had surfaced much sooner in
 America’s heartland, far beyond the country’s early coastal hotspots.”

Anecdotally, many of us knew this to 
be true: The virus was present long before medical experts could prove 
it. For instance, one of my friends was devastated by fever, chills and 
coughing fits after traveling with me in January 2020. Months later, he 
tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, with no other sickness to 
explain them. He likely had COVID-19 during that first January.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673024619311.png" alt="Steven Stites, chief medical officer of the University of Kansas Health System, said January 2022 was the most difficult moment in the COVID-19 pandemic for medical care providers. (Screen capture by Kansas Reflector from University of Kansas Health System video)" />
 <figcaption>Steven Stites, chief medical officer of the University of Kansas Health System, said January 2022 was the most difficult moment in the COVID-19 pandemic for medical care providers. (Screen capture by Kansas Reflector from University of Kansas Health System video)</figcaption>
 </figure>By ERIC THOMAS <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/01/06/january-ushers-in-covid-19-turning-points-year-after-year-in-kansas/">Courtesy Kansas Reflector</a>The COVID-19 pandemic has crafted 
many of its dark landmarks during recent Januarys. The last three 
installments have brought perhaps the most significant events related to
 the virus: the month that introduced COVID-19 to Kansas, two months 
that contained the two most deadly and contagious surges, and also a 
month that introduced widespread vaccination.So it is that we arrive in January 2023.Three years into the pandemic, it’s 
tempting to think that we know everything about this cataclysm that 
interrupted our lives — and then gave our lives back to us. Looking 
back, as my history teachers have instructed me, revealed what I 
couldn’t remember, and what I never knew.In writing this column, some of what I
 learned (or relearned) came from scrolling back through the YouTube 
channel of the University of Kansas Health System, featuring chief 
medical officer Steven Stites. The updates that he, his colleagues and 
his staff posted so dutifully are like dispatches from the pandemic 
past, complete with the emotions of the moment and vital statistics from
 people who worked the front lines.The last three years tested us as Kansans in dramatic ways. January provided the decisive moments.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673024693260.png" alt="A Jayhawk statue at the University of Kansas in Lawrence sports a face mask in the later months of 2020. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A Jayhawk statue at the University of Kansas in Lawrence sports a face mask in the later months of 2020. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>January 2020: The start</h2>Many of us think of March 2020 as the
 beginning of the pandemic in Kansas, because that is when we heard 
about the first cases of COVID-19 in the state, followed rapidly by the 
dramatic closures of almost all public institutions, notably schools.However, two months earlier, in January 2020, the first Kansan died from COVID-19, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://kansasreflector.com/2021/08/24/first-covid-19-death-in-kansas-now-believed-to-be-from-early-january-2020/">a death certificate that was publicized more than a year later.</a>As reported by the San Jose Mercury 
News, Lovell “Cookie” Brown, a grandmother from Leavenworth County, was 
the first Kansan whose death was attributed to the virus. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/09/02/exclusive-how-did-a-kansas-grandmother-just-become-the-first-u-s-covid-death-not-even-her-family-knew-until-this-week/">The Mercury News also reported</a>
 how Brown’s death appeared “to turn the clock back on the virus’ 
arrival in the U.S. but also suggest that it had surfaced much sooner in
 America’s heartland, far beyond the country’s early coastal hotspots.”Anecdotally, many of us knew this to 
be true: The virus was present long before medical experts could prove 
it. For instance, one of my friends was devastated by fever, chills and 
coughing fits after traveling with me in January 2020. Months later, he 
tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, with no other sickness to 
explain them. He likely had COVID-19 during that first January.COVID-19 was lurking, undetected, in Kansas well before we were aware.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html">Also during January 2020</a>:
 The Chinese city of Wuhan was locked down by the Chinese government. 
The virus was confirmed — for the first time contemporaneously — in the 
United States.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673024735476.png" alt="A participant looks away at the moment a COVID-19 vaccine needle makes contact during a temporary clinic at Topeka High School in 2021. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A participant looks away at the moment a COVID-19 vaccine needle makes contact during a temporary clinic at Topeka High School in 2021. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>January 2021: The battle</h2>The deadliest time for Kansans 
fighting the COVID-19 virus ran right through January two years ago. 
Buttressed by a surge in December on one side and a frantic peak in 
February on the other, four weeks in January witnessed the death of 949 
Kansans, according to the CDC. A deadly January fed an even more lethal 
February.According to the CDC, about 100,000 
tests were being performed each week, one of the most active times of 
testing for the entire pandemic.However, January 2021 was distinct 
because of the battle beginning between virus and vaccine. More than 
four times as many Kansans were vaccinated during that month (more than 
214,000) than had been vaccinated during the previous month. The 
recovery had already begun.Those January days were a clear 
turning point. The virus would kill almost 6,000 additional Kansans (and
 counting) in the following years, but vaccination slowed the 
infections. It was dazzling how much happened in 12 months.“A year ago, we were just hearing the
 rumblings about what was going on across the ocean, and now look where 
we are at,” Stites said on a January episode of his YouTube series. That
 month, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsPHedUF9g4">Stites happily rolled up his sleeve</a> for a vaccination.Seeing that reminded me of the 
urgency of those vaccinations. At that point, we asked ourselves, “Can I
 continue social distancing, masking and quarantine for just a bit 
longer, until I get the vaccine? Can I stay safe for a few more weeks?”I recall how eager I was to get the 
vaccine, both to safeguard myself and to feel like I was helping slow 
the infection rate that was so deadly and so steadily climbing.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html">Also in January 2021</a>: The CDC required face masks on public transportation and inside transportation hubs.<h2>January 2022: The peak</h2>After Omicron was <a target="_blank" href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-kansas-f539218dc9d3c0500691c74a09c00b25">confirmed in Kansas in December 2021</a>,
 the new year was a viral extravaganza. During the week that started 
Jan. 19, 2022, more than 79,000 people in Kansas tested positive. The 
state had not seen that many positive cases — in total — during the 
first six months of the pandemic.If you search for the top four weeks 
of positive infections in Kansas, three of those weeks were in January 
2022. We struggled to locate enough tests, staking out pharmacies and 
trading tips with friends about where to get tested.The number of resulting deaths was 
both infuriating and heartbreaking. Many Kansans died in hospital ICUs 
after refusing vaccination out of stubbornness or misinformation. Others
 died from underlying conditions that doomed them, once combined with 
the virus.The conference call of regional medical experts that month was partially and ominously titled, “From Bad to Worse.”Stites’ guests sighed and dispatched 
the latest news from their hospitals, where blood supplies were low, 
morgues were full and ventilators were tenuous.“I would start by saying that the COVID blizzard continues.”“This has been a difficult time.”“I wish we could paint a different picture, but it’s not here.”“Even when we try to prepare, it hits us pretty hard, and that’s where we are right now.”Reacting to 17 recent deaths at the 
Kansas Medical Center and staring at a nationwide map of COVID-19 cases,
 Stites observed: “This is really a difficult map to see right now. I’ve
 never seen the country all be so purple at the same time. If you look 
at Kansas and Missouri, that’s really difficult.”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html">Also in January 2022</a>: Nationwide, the news was similar; the U.S. had almost 1 million new infections, more than any other nation.<h2>January 2023: The hope</h2>This January, however, we Kansans 
largely find ourselves less wondering what will happen next and more 
confident that the pandemic is simply over. That’s not to say that we 
are free from risk.On his most recent COVID-19 update, 
Stites said: “I think that surge that we are going to see with everyone 
inside, with the Christmas and New Year’s Eve parties and get togethers,
 we will see how that plays out.”Jennifer Schrimsher of Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Douglas County said: “COVID is still here. It still kills people.”&nbsp;&nbsp;However, the conversations between 
the medical officers on Stites’ conference call sound more reflective 
than their previous urgency.“I’m brought to a focus on how 
chronic this disease has become,” said Kevin Dishman, chief medical and 
quality officer at Stormont Vail Health in Topeka. “And we are all 
starting to use that word, which I think we are hearing both from 
doctors at academic centers and also across the state, and also now 
nationally, that the chronicity of this disease is going to be a 
challenge going forward.”Dishman said on the conference call that the Topeka media center had consistently cared for 15 to 17 COVID-19 patients recently.“If you think that, a few years ago 
we didn’t have anyone in the hospital like this,” Stites added. “And now
 10 to 15 percent of our hospital beds are taken up with one disease 
entity — one viral entity.”Eric Thomas directs the Kansas Scholastic Press Association, a nonprofit that supports student journalism throughout the state. He also teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575913663048.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>