SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary.

On Thursday morning, police were dispatched to the 300 block of SE 21st Street in Topeka on the citizen report of an overnight burglary to a business captured on video, according to Lt. Shane Hilton.

Officers, going off of the suspect vehicle description,&nbsp;located the vehicle behind another business on SW Topeka Boulevard. The occupant identified as&nbsp;Curtis Callarman, 43, of Topeka, was questioned and taken into custody without incident.

Callarman, 43, of Topeka, was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of burglary, according to Hilton.

In October, police arrested Callarman in the 3800 block of SW Topeka Blvd. in connection with Burglary and Theft from businesses in the Topeka area.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640894137857.png" alt="Callarman photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Callarman photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary.On Thursday morning, police were dispatched to the 300 block of SE 21st Street in Topeka on the citizen report of an overnight burglary to a business captured on video, according to Lt. Shane Hilton.Officers, going off of the suspect vehicle description,&nbsp;located the vehicle behind another business on SW Topeka Boulevard. The occupant identified as&nbsp;Curtis Callarman, 43, of Topeka, was questioned and taken into custody without incident.Callarman, 43, of Topeka, was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of burglary, according to Hilton.In October, police arrested Callarman in the 3800 block of SW Topeka Blvd. in connection with Burglary and Theft from businesses in the Topeka area.

Police use video of Kan. business burglary to track down suspect

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 2a.m. Saturday in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Chrysler Town and Country driven by Ernesto Lopez, 20, Platte City,&nbsp;was southbound at highway speeds or greater on Interstate 435 just south of Leavenworth Road and rear-end  a 2018 KDOT Plow truck with its warning lights activated treating the roadway and driven by Randol&nbsp;Toom, 59, Edwardsville.

Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Frontier Forensics.&nbsp;Toom was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal accident that occurred just before 2a.m. Saturday in Wyandotte County.

The KHP reported&nbsp; a vehicle was southbound at highway speeds or greater on Interstate 435 just south of Leavenworth Road and rear-end&nbsp; a KDOT Plow truck with its warning lights activated treating the roadway.&nbsp;

The KHP did not release additional details early Saturday afternoon. Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1641063866204.png" alt="Image courtesy KanDrive" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy KanDrive</figcaption>
 </figure>WYANDOTTE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 2a.m. Saturday in Wyandotte County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Chrysler Town and Country driven by Ernesto Lopez, 20, Platte City,&nbsp;was southbound at highway speeds or greater on Interstate 435 just south of Leavenworth Road and rear-end a 2018 KDOT Plow truck with its warning lights activated treating the roadway and driven by Randol&nbsp;Toom, 59, Edwardsville.Lopez was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Frontier Forensics.&nbsp;Toom was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.----------------WYANDOTTE COUNTY —The Kansas Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal accident that occurred just before 2a.m. Saturday in Wyandotte County.The KHP reported&nbsp; a vehicle was southbound at highway speeds or greater on Interstate 435 just south of Leavenworth Road and rear-end&nbsp; a KDOT Plow truck with its warning lights activated treating the roadway.&nbsp;The KHP did not release additional details early Saturday afternoon. Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.

KHP IDs driver who died after crash into KDOT plow truck

CHICAGO (AP) — States and the federal government carried out 11 executions this year, the fewest since 1988, as support for the death penalty has continued to decline.

That’s according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-year-end-reports/the-death-penalty-in-2021-year-end-report" target="_blank">annual report on the death penalty </a>&nbsp;which was also sharply critical of the Supreme Court and its role in green-lighting executions. Three of the death sentences were carried out in January during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-death-penalty-legacy-838932ac2b665b42373309336d130f56">an unprecedented run of federal executions</a>&nbsp;that ended days before President Donald Trump left office. Annual executions have steadily declined since peaking at 98 in 1999.

Pandemic-related disruptions partly accounted for the low number of executions this year — though 2021 marked the seventh consecutive year when there were fewer than 30 executions and fewer than 50 new death sentences, the report said.

The federal death penalty was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-executions-government-and-politics-9daf230ef2257b901cb0dfeeeb60be44">put on hold in June&nbsp;</a>by Attorney General Merrick Garland, well short of the permanent abolition activists hoped for when Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-executions-health-coronavirus-pandemic-67ed5dd28d92f11629310ddb7590357a">became the first sitting U.S. president</a>&nbsp;to have openly opposed the death penalty. State executions continue despite growing numbers of Americans opposed to the death penalty.

The report from the Death Penalty Information Center said far from representing the “worst of the worst,” 10 of the 11 prisoners executed this year had “significant impairments,” including IQs in the intellectually disabled range.

Many cases were tainted by poor legal representation at trial and jurisdictions engaging in “shocking conduct” to thwart judicial review of credible constitutional claims, the report said.

“As death-penalty usage continues to erode, its flaws become even more evident,” the report from the Washington, D.C.-based center said.

The report also noted the three conservative appointments to the Supreme Court by Trump and said the justices demonstrated “deep hostility to stays of execution,” denying or lifting every stay of execution requested — other than a few on religious grounds that inmates should have fuller access to spiritual advisers.

The report also noted how some death-penalty states scrambled for alternative execution methods after pharmaceutical companies restricted access to drugs once widely used for lethal injections. It highlighted Arizona’s proposal this year to use&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-executions-health-coronavirus-pandemic-67ed5dd28d92f11629310ddb7590357a"></a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-executions-business-health-government-and-politics-c3f67a6ec65959fea817b4c3193bb15e">the same cyanide hydrogen gas</a>&nbsp;deployed by Nazis to kill Jews.

Support for the death penalty, meanwhile, has plummeted from a high of 80% in 1994 to 54% this year, according to a 2021 Gallup poll cited in the report. Since the mid-1990s, opposition has risen from under 20% to around 45% now.

States also continue to rescind death penalty laws.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-to-end-death-penalty-ralph-northam-0a5b51f2e4458a0600bce6b75e6389bd">Virginia, once a prolific executioner, did so in March</a>, bringing the number of states to have abolished the death penalty to 23. Three, including California, have moratoriums on executions.

Executions have been increasingly concentrated in a few Southern states. Texas executed three inmates and Oklahoma two in 2021. Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri each executed one. The Trump administration executed three. The last, Dustin Higgs, was executed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-wildlife-coronavirus-pandemic-crime-terre-haute-28e44cc5c026dc16472751bbde0ead50">five days before Joe Biden’s inauguration</a>. The federal executions brought the year’s total to 11.

Trump’s Justice Department executed 10 federal prisoners in 2020, ending a 17-year hiatus&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/public-health-prisons-health-coronavirus-pandemic-executions-ac5afd6c1df5b8acbeece712830e6469">as COVID raged through prisons</a>. States suspended their death penalty programs during the height of the pandemic.

— Seven states imposed 18 new death sentences in 2021 — tying a record low. Alabama and Oklahoma imposed four each. California and Texas both imposed three. Florida imposed two and Nebraska and Tennessee one each.

— Six of the 11 inmates executed in 2021 were Black. Black and Hispanic defendants made up more than 60% of the death sentences imposed this year.

— Some 2,500 prisoners remain on state death rows. Some 50 are left on federal death row at a Terre Haute, Indiana, prison after the Trump executions reduced their numbers by nearly a quarter.

The Justice Department’s June order halted federal executions while it reviewed Trump-era practices. The Biden administration also withdrew notices of intent to seek the death penalty in several cases. But the administration did still keep pressing for death sentences for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-crime-courts-south-carolina-hate-crimes-0db104e0c60baaa954d9833daccaf6b4">white supremacist Dylann Roof</a>, convicted in the 2015 slayings of nine members of a Black congregation in South Carolina, and for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-sports-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-boston-bombings-ad5f5d675c401d55ec27b54d9e3ef202">Boston Marathon bomber</a>&nbsp;Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-death-row-inmates-talk-biden-executions-6381ed8b3e821a34a6b6ade6bb3375c0">a campaign pledge to decisively end executions</a>, Biden hasn’t addressed the issue publicly as president. The report noted he hasn’t backed legislation to strike the death penalty from U.S. statutes. Activists fear federal executions could restart if Trump were to run again for president and win a second term or if another capital punishment advocate becomes president.

The report spotlighted several individual executions.

It described Oklahoma’s execution of John Grant on Oct. 28 as “botched.” The 60-year-old, convicted in the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker, repeatedly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-prisons-executions-oklahoma-oklahoma-attorney-generals-office-6e5eedd1956a38f83db96187651f145c">convulsed and vomited</a>&nbsp;after his lethal injection. Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections said the execution occurred “without complication.”

The report also pointed to the May 19 Texas execution of Quintin Jones, 41, convicted of killing his great aunt in 1999. It proceeded&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-executions-lifestyle-747fc8994706df9dee9e64909c464b99">without media witnesses</a>, the first time since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982 that no journalist was present. Officials blamed a failure to bring in reporters waiting nearby on miscommunication.

Two death row inmates were exonerated in 2021, both in Mississippi. One, Eddie Lee Howard Jr., who is Black, was freed after spending&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-mississippi-crime-f13826a919f192108cba4502f965d4ef">26 years on death row&nbsp;</a>after debunked bite-mark testimony and DNA evidence cleared him in the 1992 rape and killing of an 84-year-old white woman.

Those exonerations bring the total number of exonerees out of more than 9,600 death sentences since the early 1970s to 186, the report said.

That figure, it added, “revealed that the American death-penalty system is even more frighteningly unreliable than was previously understood.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1621882682950.png" alt="Ernest Johnson was executed in October for killing three workers while robbing a Missouri convenience store in 1994-photo MODOC" />
 <figcaption>Ernest Johnson was executed in October for killing three workers while robbing a Missouri convenience store in 1994-photo MODOC</figcaption>
 </figure>CHICAGO (AP) — States and the federal government carried out 11 executions this year, the fewest since 1988, as support for the death penalty has continued to decline.That’s according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-and-research/dpic-reports/dpic-year-end-reports/the-death-penalty-in-2021-year-end-report" target="_blank">annual report on the death penalty </a>&nbsp;which was also sharply critical of the Supreme Court and its role in green-lighting executions. Three of the death sentences were carried out in January during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-death-penalty-legacy-838932ac2b665b42373309336d130f56">an unprecedented run of federal executions</a>&nbsp;that ended days before President Donald Trump left office. Annual executions have steadily declined since peaking at 98 in 1999.Pandemic-related disruptions partly accounted for the low number of executions this year — though 2021 marked the seventh consecutive year when there were fewer than 30 executions and fewer than 50 new death sentences, the report said.The federal death penalty was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-executions-government-and-politics-9daf230ef2257b901cb0dfeeeb60be44">put on hold in June&nbsp;</a>by Attorney General Merrick Garland, well short of the permanent abolition activists hoped for when Joe Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-executions-health-coronavirus-pandemic-67ed5dd28d92f11629310ddb7590357a">became the first sitting U.S. president</a>&nbsp;to have openly opposed the death penalty. State executions continue despite growing numbers of Americans opposed to the death penalty.The report from the Death Penalty Information Center said far from representing the “worst of the worst,” 10 of the 11 prisoners executed this year had “significant impairments,” including IQs in the intellectually disabled range.Many cases were tainted by poor legal representation at trial and jurisdictions engaging in “shocking conduct” to thwart judicial review of credible constitutional claims, the report said.“As death-penalty usage continues to erode, its flaws become even more evident,” the report from the Washington, D.C.-based center said.The report also noted the three conservative appointments to the Supreme Court by Trump and said the justices demonstrated “deep hostility to stays of execution,” denying or lifting every stay of execution requested — other than a few on religious grounds that inmates should have fuller access to spiritual advisers.The report also noted how some death-penalty states scrambled for alternative execution methods after pharmaceutical companies restricted access to drugs once widely used for lethal injections. It highlighted Arizona’s proposal this year to use&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-executions-health-coronavirus-pandemic-67ed5dd28d92f11629310ddb7590357a"></a><a href="https://apnews.com/article/arizona-executions-business-health-government-and-politics-c3f67a6ec65959fea817b4c3193bb15e">the same cyanide hydrogen gas</a>&nbsp;deployed by Nazis to kill Jews.Support for the death penalty, meanwhile, has plummeted from a high of 80% in 1994 to 54% this year, according to a 2021 Gallup poll cited in the report. Since the mid-1990s, opposition has risen from under 20% to around 45% now.States also continue to rescind death penalty laws.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-to-end-death-penalty-ralph-northam-0a5b51f2e4458a0600bce6b75e6389bd">Virginia, once a prolific executioner, did so in March</a>, bringing the number of states to have abolished the death penalty to 23. Three, including California, have moratoriums on executions.Executions have been increasingly concentrated in a few Southern states. Texas executed three inmates and Oklahoma two in 2021. Alabama, Mississippi and Missouri each executed one. The Trump administration executed three. The last, Dustin Higgs, was executed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-wildlife-coronavirus-pandemic-crime-terre-haute-28e44cc5c026dc16472751bbde0ead50">five days before Joe Biden’s inauguration</a>. The federal executions brought the year’s total to 11.Trump’s Justice Department executed 10 federal prisoners in 2020, ending a 17-year hiatus&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/public-health-prisons-health-coronavirus-pandemic-executions-ac5afd6c1df5b8acbeece712830e6469">as COVID raged through prisons</a>. States suspended their death penalty programs during the height of the pandemic.Among other report highlights:— Seven states imposed 18 new death sentences in 2021 — tying a record low. Alabama and Oklahoma imposed four each. California and Texas both imposed three. Florida imposed two and Nebraska and Tennessee one each.— Six of the 11 inmates executed in 2021 were Black. Black and Hispanic defendants made up more than 60% of the death sentences imposed this year.— Some 2,500 prisoners remain on state death rows. Some 50 are left on federal death row at a Terre Haute, Indiana, prison after the Trump executions reduced their numbers by nearly a quarter.The Justice Department’s June order halted federal executions while it reviewed Trump-era practices. The Biden administration also withdrew notices of intent to seek the death penalty in several cases. But the administration did still keep pressing for death sentences for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-crime-courts-south-carolina-hate-crimes-0db104e0c60baaa954d9833daccaf6b4">white supremacist Dylann Roof</a>, convicted in the 2015 slayings of nine members of a Black congregation in South Carolina, and for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-sports-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-boston-bombings-ad5f5d675c401d55ec27b54d9e3ef202">Boston Marathon bomber</a>&nbsp;Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.Despite&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-death-row-inmates-talk-biden-executions-6381ed8b3e821a34a6b6ade6bb3375c0">a campaign pledge to decisively end executions</a>, Biden hasn’t addressed the issue publicly as president. The report noted he hasn’t backed legislation to strike the death penalty from U.S. statutes. Activists fear federal executions could restart if Trump were to run again for president and win a second term or if another capital punishment advocate becomes president.The report spotlighted several individual executions.It described Oklahoma’s execution of John Grant on Oct. 28 as “botched.” The 60-year-old, convicted in the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker, repeatedly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-prisons-executions-oklahoma-oklahoma-attorney-generals-office-6e5eedd1956a38f83db96187651f145c">convulsed and vomited</a>&nbsp;after his lethal injection. Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections said the execution occurred “without complication.”The report also pointed to the May 19 Texas execution of Quintin Jones, 41, convicted of killing his great aunt in 1999. It proceeded&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-executions-lifestyle-747fc8994706df9dee9e64909c464b99">without media witnesses</a>, the first time since Texas resumed capital punishment in 1982 that no journalist was present. Officials blamed a failure to bring in reporters waiting nearby on miscommunication.Two death row inmates were exonerated in 2021, both in Mississippi. One, Eddie Lee Howard Jr., who is Black, was freed after spending&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-mississippi-crime-f13826a919f192108cba4502f965d4ef">26 years on death row&nbsp;</a>after debunked bite-mark testimony and DNA evidence cleared him in the 1992 rape and killing of an 84-year-old white woman.Those exonerations bring the total number of exonerees out of more than 9,600 death sentences since the early 1970s to 186, the report said.That figure, it added, “revealed that the American death-penalty system is even more frighteningly unreliable than was previously understood.”

Report: 11 executions in 2021 mark three-decade low

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas was much larger to end 2021 than on New Year's Day a year ago.

On January 1, 2021, the Kansas Department of Health reported an increase of 5,312 cases of COVID to a total of 227,745 statewide. Coronavirus deaths were reported at 2,879 an increase of 138.

<a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.

<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.

This year, due to the holiday, the KDHE released no new numbers on New Year's Eve Friday. On Wednesday, the state reported an increase of 7,083 COVID cases for a total of 519,544. The state reported 37 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday for a total of 7,001 since the beginning of the pandemic.

As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection&nbsp;(e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;

Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas was much larger to end 2021 than on New Year's Day a year ago.On January 1, 2021, the Kansas Department of Health reported an increase of 5,312 cases of COVID to a total of 227,745 statewide. Coronavirus deaths were reported at 2,879 an increase of 138.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1609526207240.png" alt="Friday Jan. 1, 2021 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Friday Jan. 1, 2021 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a>&nbsp;about the COVID-19 vaccine.<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.This year, due to the holiday, the KDHE released no new numbers on New Year's Eve Friday. On Wednesday, the state reported an increase of 7,083 COVID cases for a total of 519,544. The state reported 37 additional COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday for a total of 7,001 since the beginning of the pandemic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640805043111.png" alt="Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Wednesday Dec. 29, 2021 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection&nbsp;(e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.

KDHE: Comparing COVID numbers from New Year's Day 2021

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Twenty-three years after a&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City, Kansas, woman was killed, her family is still hoping for justice.

WDAF-TV reports that relatives of Christina Ranae King gathered Monday evening to pray and release balloons in her memory. King was fatally beaten on Christmas Day in 1998, leaving behind a daughter who was 10 at the time.

The vigil was organized by Justice for Wyandotte, an advocacy group that works to promote transparency in law enforcement. Organizer Khadijah Hardaway says cases like King's are why the police department should open a cold case unit.

A police spokeswoman says the case remains open and that developing a cold case unit is a top priority for Chief Karl Oakman.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640698236162.png" alt="King's family gathered to remember her on Monday-photo courtesy Fox4Kansas City" />
 <figcaption>King's family gathered to remember her on Monday-photo courtesy Fox4Kansas City</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Twenty-three years after a&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;City, Kansas, woman was killed, her family is still hoping for justice.WDAF-TV reports that relatives of Christina Ranae King gathered Monday evening to pray and release balloons in her memory. King was fatally beaten on Christmas Day in 1998, leaving behind a daughter who was 10 at the time.The vigil was organized by Justice for Wyandotte, an advocacy group that works to promote transparency in law enforcement. Organizer Khadijah Hardaway says cases like King's are why the police department should open a cold case unit.A police spokeswoman says the case remains open and that developing a cold case unit is a top priority for Chief Karl Oakman.

Family still hoping for answers in Kansas woman's 1998 killing

KANSAS CITY, Kan. —One person died in an accident just after 12:15a.m. Saturday in Kansas City.

A vehicle was westbound in the 1800 Block of State Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to a media release from KCK Police. The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the road and struck a house.

Emergency crews extricated the driver from the house. EMS transported the driver to an area hospital in serious condition, according to police. The passenger was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.

Police have not released the names of the victims. The accident remains under investigation.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. —One person died in an accident just after 12:15a.m. Saturday in Kansas City.A vehicle was westbound in the 1800 Block of State Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to a media release from KCK Police. The driver lost control of the vehicle. It left the road and struck a house.Emergency crews extricated the driver from the house. EMS transported the driver to an area hospital in serious condition, according to police. The passenger was ejected and pronounced dead at the scene.Police have not released the names of the victims. The accident remains under investigation.

Police: 1 dead, another injured after crash into Kansas house

GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Novavax Inc. said it filed data Friday with the Food and Drug Administration to support clearance of its long-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine, a different kind of shot than current U.S. options.

Novavax said the data package is the last requirement before the company formally submits its emergency-use application next month to become the fourth U.S. COVID-19 vaccine. The announcement comes shortly after the European Commission and World Health Organization cleared use of the Maryland-based company’s two-dose shot.

Novavax developed a protein vaccine, similar to shots used for years against other diseases and a strategy that might appeal to people hesitant to use COVID-19 vaccines made with newer technologies. But Novavax, a small biotech company, faced months of delays in finding manufacturers to mass-produce its vaccine.

The Serum Institute of India currently is manufacturing the vaccine. Novavax has lined up additional production facilities in the Czech Republic, South Korea and elsewhere that are expected to eventually add to supplies.

In studies of tens of thousands of people in the U.S., U.K. and Mexico, the vaccine proved safe and 90% effective against symptomatic infection from earlier coronavirus variants. A booster dose six months later revved up protection against the recent delta variant. Novavax says it is currently testing how the shots hold up against the newest scourge, omicron.

The vaccine is made with lab-grown copies of the coronavirus spike protein and mixed with an immune-boosting chemical.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640978029009.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Novavax Inc. said it filed data Friday with the Food and Drug Administration to support clearance of its long-anticipated COVID-19 vaccine, a different kind of shot than current U.S. options.Novavax said the data package is the last requirement before the company formally submits its emergency-use application next month to become the fourth U.S. COVID-19 vaccine. The announcement comes shortly after the European Commission and World Health Organization cleared use of the Maryland-based company’s two-dose shot.Novavax developed a protein vaccine, similar to shots used for years against other diseases and a strategy that might appeal to people hesitant to use COVID-19 vaccines made with newer technologies. But Novavax, a small biotech company, faced months of delays in finding manufacturers to mass-produce its vaccine.The Serum Institute of India currently is manufacturing the vaccine. Novavax has lined up additional production facilities in the Czech Republic, South Korea and elsewhere that are expected to eventually add to supplies.In studies of tens of thousands of people in the U.S., U.K. and Mexico, the vaccine proved safe and 90% effective against symptomatic infection from earlier coronavirus variants. A booster dose six months later revved up protection against the recent delta variant. Novavax says it is currently testing how the shots hold up against the newest scourge, omicron.The vaccine is made with lab-grown copies of the coronavirus spike protein and mixed with an immune-boosting chemical.

New COVID vaccine might appeal to those hesitant to get shots

By DANA GENTRY <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/holidays-are-no-holiday-amazon%C2%A0">States Newsroom</a>

It’s called ‘peak season’ – the time 
of year when 10-hour days for some of the nation’s more than one 
million Amazon employees extend into eleven-hour shifts packed into a 
backbreaking blur of six-day work weeks.

“They work us like crazy with hardly any days off, especially during the holidays. They
 don’t care about the safety of their employees,” says Johnny Acejo, who
 spent five years employed at an Amazon facility in Phoenix.&nbsp;

Amazon declined to answer the majority of questions posed for this story.

Unwinding after a long shift while 
facing the prospect of doing it again involves video games, booze, or 
weed, according to about a dozen employees interviewed by the Current. 
Others turn to the sleep aid Unisom, purchased online from Amazon.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“They literally keep track of your 
restroom time,” Acejo says of a scanner worn by employees that allows 
Amazon to track their movements. “I took five minutes in the restroom 
because I had real bad stomach pains and I was throwing up. I got a 
write up. All they care about is the numbers.”

Ecommerce sales in the U.S. topped $800 billion in the last year. As of October, Amazon owned 41% of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/274255/market-share-of-the-leading-retailers-in-us-e-commerce/">market share</a>, followed by Walmart at 6%, according to Statista.

Amazon’s net income for the twelve months ending September 30, 2021 was $26.263 billion, up&nbsp; 51.14% year-to-year.

Amazon is the second largest employer
 in the U.S. (behind Walmart) with more than a million workers. Amazon 
employs more than 10,500 Nevadans at more than a dozen warehouses, 
distribution facilities, and fulfillment centers throughout the state, 
mostly in Southern Nevada.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Amazon is changing the nature of 
work in our country,” says a resolution passed by the International 
Brotherhood of Teamsters last summer, which noted the company “presents 
an existential threat to the standards we have set” in Teamster-related 
industries Amazon has disrupted, such as parcel delivery, freight, food 
distribution, and movie production.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

The resolution says the union 
“recognizes that there is no clearer example of how America is failing 
the working class than Amazon. From its start as a book retailer, Amazon
 has grown to become an ecommerce giant and has disrupted industry after
 industry and displaced hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

“Amazon is very rightly worried that 
if one fulfillment center were to organize and unionize, it could start a
 domino reaction that would cause all others to fall in line,” says 
Avery, a former Amazon worker and host of the podcast The Amazon.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Amazon exploits its employees, 
contractors, and employees of contractors via: wage theft, fraudulent 
classification, intense production quotas, dehumanizing work 
environments, unsafe workplaces and production standards, low wages, 
high turnover, no voice on the job, lack of job security and outsourced 
jobs,” says the Teamsters’ resolution.&nbsp;

But the union’s effort to organize Amazon workers appears stalled.&nbsp;

“We are not discussing specific locations or strategies at this time,” said a national spokesperson for the Teamsters.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Members of local Teamsters chapters 
say they’re unaware of any efforts to unionize Amazon workers in Nevada,
 as is a spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO of Nevada.

For the last two decades, Amazon has deflected union overtures – most recently in Bessemer, Alabama, when it turned back the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents poultry plant workers in that state.

Last month, a judge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/29/22565851/amazon-bessemer-union-vote-nlrb-appeal-overturned-second-election">ruled</a> Amazon interfered in the vote and ordered a do-over.&nbsp;

“I’d say the ability to organize is a
 slim chance due to attrition, union busters, and Amazon’s brazen 
ability to not break but obliterate labor law with little to no 
consequences,” says Avery of The Amazon podcast. “Every chip is stacked 
against the workers and through pure grit a large number of them are 
still fighting the good fight.”

“Organizing is hard due to the fact 
that no one stays,” he says. “Union organizers at Bessemer estimated 
they lost 60 ‘yes’ ballots a day due to attrition and Amazon’s ability 
to legally prolong the organizing attempt. People simply don’t stay in a
 shit hole long.”

A group of Whole Foods employees unsuccessfully <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/06/whole-foods-workers-seek-to-unionize-says-amazon-is-exploiting-our-dedication/#:~:text=Since%20the%20Amazon%20acquisition%2C%20several%20hundred%20Whole%20Foods,have%20saved%20millionsas%20a%20result%20of%20the%20shake-up.">attempted to organize </a>in
 2018 after Amazon laid off several hundred employees and increased the 
cost of doing business for suppliers, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-era-at-amazons-whole-foods-grates-on-some-suppliers-employees-1530526964">Wall Street Journa</a>l, when it purchased the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in 2017.

“Amazon won’t allow that because it 
will cost them more in the long run,” said one Whole Foods delivery 
driver in San Diego who asked not to be named. Paying union dues will 
just be a burden to workers, she fears.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

In February, Amazon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/02/amazon-pay-617-million-settle-ftc-charges-it-withheld-some">agreed</a> to pay $61.7 million to settle charges leveled by the FTC that it withheld tips from its delivery drivers. Another <a target="_blank" href="https://www.classaction.org/news/amazon-illegally-withheld-tips-from-flex-drivers-class-action-claims">suit </a>with similar allegations followed within days.

“We do not believe unions are in the 
best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or most importantly, 
our associates,” says an anti-union <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpwVwFxyk4">vide</a>o
 produced by Amazon for its employees. “Our business model is built upon
 speed, innovation, and customer obsession—things that are generally not
 associated with union. When we lose sight of those critical focus areas
 we jeopardize everyone’s job security: yours, mine, and the 
associates’.”

“Does your Chair take comfort in the 
outcome of the recent union vote in Bessemer? No, he doesn’t,” Jeff 
Bezos wrote earlier this year in his 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2020-letter-to-shareholders?utm_source=social&amp;utm_medium=tw&amp;utm_term=amznnews&amp;utm_content=2020shareholderletter&amp;linkId=116261313">letter</a> to shareholders. “I think we need to do a better job for our employees.”&nbsp;

Bezos went on to say that even though
 the vote was in Amazon’s favor, “it’s clear to me that we need a better
 vision for how we create value for employees – a vision for their 
success.”

Bezos rejected the notion that Amazon
 employees are “desperate souls and treated as robots. That’s not 
accurate. They’re sophisticated and thoughtful people who have options 
for where to work. When we survey fulfillment center employees, 94% say 
they would recommend Amazon to a friend as a place to work.”

Avery, host of The Amazon podcast, says job satisfaction is elusive at an Amazon fulfillment center.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Satisfaction isn’t near what most 
people get from a job at Amazon, it’d be hard to be satisfied when 
Amazon averages a 150% turnover rate and near double the average of 
serious accidents in the workplace,” he says.

He’s referring to a Washington Post 
investigation that revealed Amazon reported twice as many accidents to 
OSHA as other warehouse and storage companies.&nbsp;&nbsp;

OSHA is currently investigating the 
storm-related deaths this month of half a dozen Amazon employees at an 
Indiana warehouse.&nbsp; Some employees say they were not allowed to leave 
the warehouse to seek shelter.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“As soon as there was a tornado 
warning, the team took immediate action to move to shelter in place 
locations,” Amazon spokeswoman Alisa Carroll told the Current via 
email.&nbsp;

“When a site is made aware of a 
tornado warning in the area, all employees are notified and directed to 
move to a designated and marked shelter in place location,” she said. 
“This is the safest approach to ensure no one is on the road or outside 
during a tornado.”

Carroll said the site got warnings 
between 8:06 and 8:16, and “leaders directed people on site to 
immediately take shelter. At 8:27, the tornado struck the building.”

Validated OSHA complaints from 
Amazon’s Nevada workers the last year range from safety concerns, some 
resulting from a reduced workforce certain days of the week, to 
violations of COVID protocols.

“Scanners and carts used by employees
 for order picking are not being sanitized after being used,” says one 
complaint to OSHA, echoed frequently by workers interviewed 
nationwide.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But the most common complaint from Amazon workers in Nevada was the heat.&nbsp;&nbsp;

A complaint of “poor air quality” prompted an OSHA inspection of DLV 7, a facility in North Las Vegas ,on April 27.

“There is poor air quality in the 
workplace. The air filters are dirty,” says the complaint. “It is very 
hot in the building. Employees are experiencing headaches due to the 
heat and wearing a mask.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Employees in the warehouse are not 
provided with enough water or rest and are being potentially exposed to 
heat stress related illness,” says a complaint that brought OSHA to DLV 2
 on Alexander Rd. in North Las Vegas on June 1. “The warehouse fans are 
operational but are not providing adequate airflow for the given volume 
of the warehouse.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Inside the warehouse employees are 
exposed to heat stress,” says a complaint that resulted in an inspection
 of LAS 1 on Bermuda Rd. in Henderson on June 22. “There is only one fan
 and no air-conditioning in the building.”

On June 28, inspectors visited the 
LAS 7 fulfillment center on Tropical Pkwy. in North Las Vegas,&nbsp; after 
receiving complaints that employees were “experiencing heat issues since
 the summer began due to the lack of air conditioning on the south end 
of the warehouse. Operation managers have advised that fans would be 
installed at each station throughout the warehouse however that has yet 
to occur for all stations. It is warm on the north side of the 
warehouse, but it is hot on the south side of the warehouse.”&nbsp;

OSHA records say the complaint was resolved.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Employees are working under heat 
stress up to 100 degrees inside the establishment,” says a complaint 
filed in July by a worker at LAS 1 in Henderson. “The employer does not 
allow employees to use the fans in the trailers. The fans are locked up 
and employees that unlock the fans face retaliation including 
termination.”

The same substantiated complaint says
 workers “are rarely able to take breaks during their shifts. Employees 
typically do not receive any breaks during their shifts.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Amazon is among hundreds of companies
 that have agreed to pay a statutorily approved average wage and certain
 benefits to be eligible for incentives to do business in Nevada.&nbsp;&nbsp;

In 2014, the state ponied up a 
combination of incentives and tax abatements expected to save Amazon 
$1.365 million over the course of several years, while generating a 
projected $393 in economic impact for every dollar of abated tax.&nbsp;

“The proposed plan will bring a new non-sort operation to the Reno area. The state incentive program is a critical factor in the company’s decision for this expansion,” Amazon said in its proposal.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The company noted the majority of 
jobs would pay under the $20.62 per hour dictated by Nevada law to 
qualify a firm for the abatements.

“500 of the 600 positions will make 
an annual wage of $29,100 ($14/hr at 40 hrs/week). Of the remaining 100,
 50 will earn $41,600/yr ($20/hr) and the other 50 is above the 
statewide wage requirement,” its proposal said.

Companies that receive abatements are
 audited after two years and again after five years, according to Greg 
Bortolin, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.&nbsp;

“The company projections in 2014 
estimated they would produce 600 jobs at an average wage of $16.50 per 
hour and make a capital expenditure of $10 million,” he said via email. 
“The audit findings found they created 533 jobs at an average wage of 
$23.37 per hour and made a capital expenditure of $15,295,110.”

A second <a target="_blank" href="https://www.diversifynevada.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Amazon.com_.kydc_Board_Packet_4.pdf">contract</a>
 with Amazon in 2016 bestowed benefits valued at $1.8 million on Amazon 
in return for building and operating a warehouse in Clark County.&nbsp; The 
company estimated the economic impact at $707 for every dollar of tax 
revenue sacrificed by the government.&nbsp;

“The
 company projections in 2016 estimated they would produce 1,000 jobs at 
an average wage of $14.64 per hour and make a capital expenditure of $18
 million,” says Bortolin. “The audit findings found they created 704 
jobs at an average wage of $52.63 and made a capital expenditure of 
$7,439,082.”

Both the jobs and wages generated were in compliance with the abatements, Bortolin says.

When Amazon was looking for a second national headquarters, then-Gov. Brian Sandoval <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/100-free-acres-in-las-vegas-part-of-bid-for-amazons-2nd-hq/">offered </a>to pony up $800 million in incentives toward the effort.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Avery of The Amazon podcast says the 
idea behind subsidies that employees “would reinvest all of their 
paycheck back into the city via housing and taxes and just going 
downtown to buy stuff,” is questionable. “In reality, it’s hard to say 
that that would happen. Those employees work for Amazon. They have the 
biggest company store known to man where anything can arrive to them 
faster than ever, no matter how much subsidizing is done.”

Why does a company valued near $2 trillion need public money from the states where it does business?&nbsp;

Nevada Democratic state Sen. Dina Neal attempted in 2019 to create a legislative committee to oversee incentives and abatements.&nbsp; Gov. Steve Sisolak vetoed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6857/Overview">bill</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The state’s arrangement with Amazon 
has put it at odds with its own interests, as it incentivizes higher 
wages from private employers while failing to invest in its own critical
 workforce.&nbsp;

In a letter to Sisolak in October, 
the Governor’s Committee on Behavioral Health lamented that pay for 
“…front line staff working with the intellectually disabled and 
psychiatrically ill adults is far below that of large local employers 
such as Amazon and Walmart,” the Current <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2021/10/14/sisolak-asked-to-make-mental-health-worker-pay-competitive-with-other-local-employers/">reported</a>.&nbsp;

While Amazon offers subsidies to 
employees to cover part of a health plan for workers who can purchase 
through an exchange, it has the most workers of any Nevada employer 
enrolled in Medicaid – 3,648 employees and 4,244 dependents at a cost of
 $ 21,326,448 in 2020, according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://dhhs.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dhhsnvgov/content/Programs/Office_of_Analytics/Nevada%20Medicaid%20Recipients%20Employed%20by%20Employers%20with%2050%20or%20More%20Employees%20SFY%202020%20SB%20366.pdf"> state report</a>.&nbsp;

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders <a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3410#:~:text=Stop%20Bad%20Employers%20by%20Zeroing%20Out%20Subsidies%20Act,employees%20on%20business%20days%20during%20the%20preceding%20year.">attempted</a>
 unsuccessfully in 2018 to impose a tax on companies with 500 employees 
“equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low wage 
workers.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640715507348.png" alt="An Amazon employee in a fulfillment center. (Amazon press photo)" />
 <figcaption>An Amazon employee in a fulfillment center. (Amazon press photo)</figcaption>
 </figure>By DANA GENTRY <a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/holidays-are-no-holiday-amazon%C2%A0">States Newsroom</a>It’s called ‘peak season’ – the time 
of year when 10-hour days for some of the nation’s more than one 
million Amazon employees extend into eleven-hour shifts packed into a 
backbreaking blur of six-day work weeks.“They work us like crazy with hardly any days off, especially during the holidays. They
 don’t care about the safety of their employees,” says Johnny Acejo, who
 spent five years employed at an Amazon facility in Phoenix.&nbsp;Amazon declined to answer the majority of questions posed for this story.Unwinding after a long shift while 
facing the prospect of doing it again involves video games, booze, or 
weed, according to about a dozen employees interviewed by the Current. 
Others turn to the sleep aid Unisom, purchased online from Amazon.&nbsp;&nbsp;The job is consuming.&nbsp;&nbsp;“They literally keep track of your 
restroom time,” Acejo says of a scanner worn by employees that allows 
Amazon to track their movements. “I took five minutes in the restroom 
because I had real bad stomach pains and I was throwing up. I got a 
write up. All they care about is the numbers.”The numbers are good.&nbsp;Ecommerce sales in the U.S. topped $800 billion in the last year. As of October, Amazon owned 41% of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/274255/market-share-of-the-leading-retailers-in-us-e-commerce/">market share</a>, followed by Walmart at 6%, according to Statista.Amazon’s net income for the twelve months ending September 30, 2021 was $26.263 billion, up&nbsp; 51.14% year-to-year.Amazon is the second largest employer
 in the U.S. (behind Walmart) with more than a million workers. Amazon 
employs more than 10,500 Nevadans at more than a dozen warehouses, 
distribution facilities, and fulfillment centers throughout the state, 
mostly in Southern Nevada.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Union no</h2>“Amazon is changing the nature of 
work in our country,” says a resolution passed by the International 
Brotherhood of Teamsters last summer, which noted the company “presents 
an existential threat to the standards we have set” in Teamster-related 
industries Amazon has disrupted, such as parcel delivery, freight, food 
distribution, and movie production.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The resolution says the union 
“recognizes that there is no clearer example of how America is failing 
the working class than Amazon. From its start as a book retailer, Amazon
 has grown to become an ecommerce giant and has disrupted industry after
 industry and displaced hundreds of thousands of jobs.”“Amazon is very rightly worried that 
if one fulfillment center were to organize and unionize, it could start a
 domino reaction that would cause all others to fall in line,” says 
Avery, a former Amazon worker and host of the podcast The Amazon.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Amazon exploits its employees, 
contractors, and employees of contractors via: wage theft, fraudulent 
classification, intense production quotas, dehumanizing work 
environments, unsafe workplaces and production standards, low wages, 
high turnover, no voice on the job, lack of job security and outsourced 
jobs,” says the Teamsters’ resolution.&nbsp;But the union’s effort to organize Amazon workers appears stalled.&nbsp;“We are not discussing specific locations or strategies at this time,” said a national spokesperson for the Teamsters.&nbsp;&nbsp;Members of local Teamsters chapters 
say they’re unaware of any efforts to unionize Amazon workers in Nevada,
 as is a spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO of Nevada.For the last two decades, Amazon has deflected union overtures – most recently in Bessemer, Alabama, when it turned back the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents poultry plant workers in that state.Last month, a judge <a target="_blank" href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/29/22565851/amazon-bessemer-union-vote-nlrb-appeal-overturned-second-election">ruled</a> Amazon interfered in the vote and ordered a do-over.&nbsp;“I’d say the ability to organize is a
 slim chance due to attrition, union busters, and Amazon’s brazen 
ability to not break but obliterate labor law with little to no 
consequences,” says Avery of The Amazon podcast. “Every chip is stacked 
against the workers and through pure grit a large number of them are 
still fighting the good fight.”“Organizing is hard due to the fact 
that no one stays,” he says. “Union organizers at Bessemer estimated 
they lost 60 ‘yes’ ballots a day due to attrition and Amazon’s ability 
to legally prolong the organizing attempt. People simply don’t stay in a
 shit hole long.”A group of Whole Foods employees unsuccessfully <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/06/whole-foods-workers-seek-to-unionize-says-amazon-is-exploiting-our-dedication/#:~:text=Since%20the%20Amazon%20acquisition%2C%20several%20hundred%20Whole%20Foods,have%20saved%20millionsas%20a%20result%20of%20the%20shake-up.">attempted to organize </a>in
 2018 after Amazon laid off several hundred employees and increased the 
cost of doing business for suppliers, according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-era-at-amazons-whole-foods-grates-on-some-suppliers-employees-1530526964">Wall Street Journa</a>l, when it purchased the grocery chain for $13.7 billion in 2017.“Amazon won’t allow that because it 
will cost them more in the long run,” said one Whole Foods delivery 
driver in San Diego who asked not to be named. Paying union dues will 
just be a burden to workers, she fears.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In February, Amazon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/02/amazon-pay-617-million-settle-ftc-charges-it-withheld-some">agreed</a> to pay $61.7 million to settle charges leveled by the FTC that it withheld tips from its delivery drivers. Another <a target="_blank" href="https://www.classaction.org/news/amazon-illegally-withheld-tips-from-flex-drivers-class-action-claims">suit </a>with similar allegations followed within days.“We do not believe unions are in the 
best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or most importantly, 
our associates,” says an anti-union <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRpwVwFxyk4">vide</a>o
 produced by Amazon for its employees. “Our business model is built upon
 speed, innovation, and customer obsession—things that are generally not
 associated with union. When we lose sight of those critical focus areas
 we jeopardize everyone’s job security: yours, mine, and the 
associates’.”“Does your Chair take comfort in the 
outcome of the recent union vote in Bessemer? No, he doesn’t,” Jeff 
Bezos wrote earlier this year in his 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/company-news/2020-letter-to-shareholders?utm_source=social&amp;utm_medium=tw&amp;utm_term=amznnews&amp;utm_content=2020shareholderletter&amp;linkId=116261313">letter</a> to shareholders. “I think we need to do a better job for our employees.”&nbsp;Bezos went on to say that even though
 the vote was in Amazon’s favor, “it’s clear to me that we need a better
 vision for how we create value for employees – a vision for their 
success.”Bezos rejected the notion that Amazon
 employees are “desperate souls and treated as robots. That’s not 
accurate. They’re sophisticated and thoughtful people who have options 
for where to work. When we survey fulfillment center employees, 94% say 
they would recommend Amazon to a friend as a place to work.”Avery, host of The Amazon podcast, says job satisfaction is elusive at an Amazon fulfillment center.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Satisfaction isn’t near what most 
people get from a job at Amazon, it’d be hard to be satisfied when 
Amazon averages a 150% turnover rate and near double the average of 
serious accidents in the workplace,” he says.He’s referring to a Washington Post 
investigation that revealed Amazon reported twice as many accidents to 
OSHA as other warehouse and storage companies.&nbsp;&nbsp;OSHA is currently investigating the 
storm-related deaths this month of half a dozen Amazon employees at an 
Indiana warehouse.&nbsp; Some employees say they were not allowed to leave 
the warehouse to seek shelter.&nbsp;&nbsp;“As soon as there was a tornado 
warning, the team took immediate action to move to shelter in place 
locations,” Amazon spokeswoman Alisa Carroll told the Current via 
email.&nbsp;“When a site is made aware of a 
tornado warning in the area, all employees are notified and directed to 
move to a designated and marked shelter in place location,” she said. 
“This is the safest approach to ensure no one is on the road or outside 
during a tornado.”Carroll said the site got warnings 
between 8:06 and 8:16, and “leaders directed people on site to 
immediately take shelter. At 8:27, the tornado struck the building.”Validated OSHA complaints from 
Amazon’s Nevada workers the last year range from safety concerns, some 
resulting from a reduced workforce certain days of the week, to 
violations of COVID protocols.“Scanners and carts used by employees
 for order picking are not being sanitized after being used,” says one 
complaint to OSHA, echoed frequently by workers interviewed 
nationwide.&nbsp;&nbsp;But the most common complaint from Amazon workers in Nevada was the heat.&nbsp;&nbsp;A complaint of “poor air quality” prompted an OSHA inspection of DLV 7, a facility in North Las Vegas ,on April 27.“There is poor air quality in the 
workplace. The air filters are dirty,” says the complaint. “It is very 
hot in the building. Employees are experiencing headaches due to the 
heat and wearing a mask.”&nbsp;&nbsp;“Employees in the warehouse are not 
provided with enough water or rest and are being potentially exposed to 
heat stress related illness,” says a complaint that brought OSHA to DLV 2
 on Alexander Rd. in North Las Vegas on June 1. “The warehouse fans are 
operational but are not providing adequate airflow for the given volume 
of the warehouse.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“Inside the warehouse employees are 
exposed to heat stress,” says a complaint that resulted in an inspection
 of LAS 1 on Bermuda Rd. in Henderson on June 22. “There is only one fan
 and no air-conditioning in the building.”On June 28, inspectors visited the 
LAS 7 fulfillment center on Tropical Pkwy. in North Las Vegas,&nbsp; after 
receiving complaints that employees were “experiencing heat issues since
 the summer began due to the lack of air conditioning on the south end 
of the warehouse. Operation managers have advised that fans would be 
installed at each station throughout the warehouse however that has yet 
to occur for all stations. It is warm on the north side of the 
warehouse, but it is hot on the south side of the warehouse.”&nbsp;OSHA records say the complaint was resolved.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Employees are working under heat 
stress up to 100 degrees inside the establishment,” says a complaint 
filed in July by a worker at LAS 1 in Henderson. “The employer does not 
allow employees to use the fans in the trailers. The fans are locked up 
and employees that unlock the fans face retaliation including 
termination.”The same substantiated complaint says
 workers “are rarely able to take breaks during their shifts. Employees 
typically do not receive any breaks during their shifts.”&nbsp;&nbsp;<h2>Paying for the privilege</h2>Amazon is among hundreds of companies
 that have agreed to pay a statutorily approved average wage and certain
 benefits to be eligible for incentives to do business in Nevada.&nbsp;&nbsp;In 2014, the state ponied up a 
combination of incentives and tax abatements expected to save Amazon 
$1.365 million over the course of several years, while generating a 
projected $393 in economic impact for every dollar of abated tax.&nbsp;“The proposed plan will bring a new non-sort operation to the Reno area. The state incentive program is a critical factor in the company’s decision for this expansion,” Amazon said in its proposal.&nbsp;&nbsp;The company noted the majority of 
jobs would pay under the $20.62 per hour dictated by Nevada law to 
qualify a firm for the abatements.“500 of the 600 positions will make 
an annual wage of $29,100 ($14/hr at 40 hrs/week). Of the remaining 100,
 50 will earn $41,600/yr ($20/hr) and the other 50 is above the 
statewide wage requirement,” its proposal said.Companies that receive abatements are
 audited after two years and again after five years, according to Greg 
Bortolin, spokesman for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.&nbsp;“The company projections in 2014 
estimated they would produce 600 jobs at an average wage of $16.50 per 
hour and make a capital expenditure of $10 million,” he said via email. 
“The audit findings found they created 533 jobs at an average wage of 
$23.37 per hour and made a capital expenditure of $15,295,110.”A second <a target="_blank" href="https://www.diversifynevada.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Amazon.com_.kydc_Board_Packet_4.pdf">contract</a>
 with Amazon in 2016 bestowed benefits valued at $1.8 million on Amazon 
in return for building and operating a warehouse in Clark County.&nbsp; The 
company estimated the economic impact at $707 for every dollar of tax 
revenue sacrificed by the government.&nbsp;“The
 company projections in 2016 estimated they would produce 1,000 jobs at 
an average wage of $14.64 per hour and make a capital expenditure of $18
 million,” says Bortolin. “The audit findings found they created 704 
jobs at an average wage of $52.63 and made a capital expenditure of 
$7,439,082.”Both the jobs and wages generated were in compliance with the abatements, Bortolin says.When Amazon was looking for a second national headquarters, then-Gov. Brian Sandoval <a target="_blank" href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/100-free-acres-in-las-vegas-part-of-bid-for-amazons-2nd-hq/">offered </a>to pony up $800 million in incentives toward the effort.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Avery of The Amazon podcast says the 
idea behind subsidies that employees “would reinvest all of their 
paycheck back into the city via housing and taxes and just going 
downtown to buy stuff,” is questionable. “In reality, it’s hard to say 
that that would happen. Those employees work for Amazon. They have the 
biggest company store known to man where anything can arrive to them 
faster than ever, no matter how much subsidizing is done.”Why does a company valued near $2 trillion need public money from the states where it does business?&nbsp;Nevada Democratic state Sen. Dina Neal attempted in 2019 to create a legislative committee to oversee incentives and abatements.&nbsp; Gov. Steve Sisolak vetoed the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/80th2019/Bill/6857/Overview">bill</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;The state’s arrangement with Amazon 
has put it at odds with its own interests, as it incentivizes higher 
wages from private employers while failing to invest in its own critical
 workforce.&nbsp;In a letter to Sisolak in October, 
the Governor’s Committee on Behavioral Health lamented that pay for 
“…front line staff working with the intellectually disabled and 
psychiatrically ill adults is far below that of large local employers 
such as Amazon and Walmart,” the Current <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nevadacurrent.com/2021/10/14/sisolak-asked-to-make-mental-health-worker-pay-competitive-with-other-local-employers/">reported</a>.&nbsp;While Amazon offers subsidies to 
employees to cover part of a health plan for workers who can purchase 
through an exchange, it has the most workers of any Nevada employer 
enrolled in Medicaid – 3,648 employees and 4,244 dependents at a cost of
 $ 21,326,448 in 2020, according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://dhhs.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/dhhsnvgov/content/Programs/Office_of_Analytics/Nevada%20Medicaid%20Recipients%20Employed%20by%20Employers%20with%2050%20or%20More%20Employees%20SFY%202020%20SB%20366.pdf"> state report</a>.&nbsp;U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders <a target="_blank" href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-bill/3410#:~:text=Stop%20Bad%20Employers%20by%20Zeroing%20Out%20Subsidies%20Act,employees%20on%20business%20days%20during%20the%20preceding%20year.">attempted</a>
 unsuccessfully in 2018 to impose a tax on companies with 500 employees 
“equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low wage 
workers.”

The holidays are no holiday at Amazon 

KANSAS CITY— Jackson County judge sentenced Jason Cook to six years in prison for the fatal Jan. 21, 2019 shooting of 23-year-old Cameron Douglas, according to the Jackson County attorney's office.

According to court records filed Dec. 21, Kansas City police were dispatched on Jan. 21, 2019, to the 5300 block of Oak Leaf Drive in Kansas City on a reported shooting. 

Officers found the Douglas deceased on the front stoop of an apartment building. 

Eight shell casings were found at the scene. Surveillance video showed an encounter between Douglas and the Coo.

Douglas turned to walk away, but stopped and turned back toward the Cook. Douglas had his hands in his pockets. Cook began shooting. Douglas ran and the Cook continued firing before he fled.

The prosecutor's office charged the defendant with Murder 2nd Degree and Armed Criminal Action, but the jury in October convicted him of the lesser charge of Involuntary Manslaughter and Armed Criminal Action. Prosecutors requested the judge order the maximum penalty of six years for those convictions.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640200512228.png" alt="Cook-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Cook-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY— Jackson County judge sentenced Jason Cook to six years in prison for the fatal Jan. 21, 2019 shooting of 23-year-old Cameron Douglas, according to the Jackson County attorney's office.According to court records filed Dec. 21, Kansas City police were dispatched on Jan. 21, 2019, to the 5300 block of Oak Leaf Drive in Kansas City on a reported shooting. Officers found the Douglas deceased on the front stoop of an apartment building. Eight shell casings were found at the scene. Surveillance video showed an encounter between Douglas and the Coo.Douglas turned to walk away, but stopped and turned back toward the Cook. Douglas had his hands in his pockets. Cook began shooting. Douglas ran and the Cook continued firing before he fled.The prosecutor's office charged the defendant with Murder 2nd Degree and Armed Criminal Action, but the jury in October convicted him of the lesser charge of Involuntary Manslaughter and Armed Criminal Action. Prosecutors requested the judge order the maximum penalty of six years for those convictions.

Man sentenced for violent KC shooting death of 23-year-old

BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization says he’s worried about the omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 producing a “tsunami” of cases between them, but he’s still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">pandemic</a>&nbsp;behind it in 2022.

Two years after the coronavirus first emerged, top officials with the U.N. health agency cautioned that it’s still too early to be reassured by initial data suggesting that omicron, the latest variant, leads to milder disease. First reported last month in southern Africa, it is already the dominant variant in the United States and parts of Europe.

And after 92 of the WHO’s 194 member countries missed a target to vaccinate 40% of their populations by the end of this year, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a “new year’s resolution” to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries’ populations by the beginning of July.

According to WHO’s figures, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with nearly 4.99 million newly reported from Dec. 20-26. New cases in Europe — which accounted for more than half of the total — were up 3% while those in the Americas rose 39% and there was a 7% increase in Africa. The global gain followed a gradual increase since October.

“I’m highly concerned that omicron, being more transmissible (and) circulating at the same time as delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” Tedros said at an online news conference. That, he said, will put “immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse.”

WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that the “overall risk” related to omicron “remains very high.” It cited “consistent evidence” that it has a growth advantage over the delta variant.

It noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the U.K. and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization with omicron, but said that more data is needed.

WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, underlined that note of caution. He said it will be important in coming weeks to “suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can.”

Ryan said that omicron infections began largely among young people, “but what we haven’t seen is the omicron wave fully established in the broader population. And I’m a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in those older and more vulnerable populations.”

WHO officials didn’t offer specific comments on decisions by the U.S. and other countries to reduce self-isolation periods. Ryan said “these are judgement calls that countries make” — taking into account scientific, economic and other factors. He noted that the average incubation period to date has been around five to six days.

“We need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we’re seeing” about omicron, Ryan said.

Tedros renewed longstanding warnings that “ending health inequity remains the key to ending the pandemic.” He said that missing the target of getting 40% of populations vaccinated this year “is not only a moral shame — it cost lives and provided the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate.”

Countries largely missed the target because of limited supply to low-income nations for most of the year and then vaccines arriving close to their expiry date, without things such as syringes, he said.

All the same, “I still remain optimistic that this can be the year we can not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security,” Tedros said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640816747031.png" alt="Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a “new year’s resolution” to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries’ populations by the beginning of July-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a “new year’s resolution” to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries’ populations by the beginning of July-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>BERLIN (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization says he’s worried about the omicron and delta variants of COVID-19 producing a “tsunami” of cases between them, but he’s still hopeful that the world will put the worst of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic">pandemic</a>&nbsp;behind it in 2022.Two years after the coronavirus first emerged, top officials with the U.N. health agency cautioned that it’s still too early to be reassured by initial data suggesting that omicron, the latest variant, leads to milder disease. First reported last month in southern Africa, it is already the dominant variant in the United States and parts of Europe.And after 92 of the WHO’s 194 member countries missed a target to vaccinate 40% of their populations by the end of this year, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged everyone to make a “new year’s resolution” to get behind a campaign to vaccinate 70% of countries’ populations by the beginning of July.According to WHO’s figures, the number of COVID-19 cases recorded worldwide increased by 11% last week compared with the previous week, with nearly 4.99 million newly reported from Dec. 20-26. New cases in Europe — which accounted for more than half of the total — were up 3% while those in the Americas rose 39% and there was a 7% increase in Africa. The global gain followed a gradual increase since October.“I’m highly concerned that omicron, being more transmissible (and) circulating at the same time as delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” Tedros said at an online news conference. That, he said, will put “immense pressure on exhausted health workers and health systems on the brink of collapse.”WHO said in its weekly epidemiological report that the “overall risk” related to omicron “remains very high.” It cited “consistent evidence” that it has a growth advantage over the delta variant.It noted that a decline in case incidence has been seen in South Africa, and that early data from that country, the U.K. and Denmark suggest a reduced risk of hospitalization with omicron, but said that more data is needed.WHO’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, underlined that note of caution. He said it will be important in coming weeks to “suppress transmission of both variants to the minimum that we can.”Ryan said that omicron infections began largely among young people, “but what we haven’t seen is the omicron wave fully established in the broader population. And I’m a little nervous to make positive predictions until we see how well the vaccine protection is going to work in those older and more vulnerable populations.”WHO officials didn’t offer specific comments on decisions by the U.S. and other countries to reduce self-isolation periods. Ryan said “these are judgement calls that countries make” — taking into account scientific, economic and other factors. He noted that the average incubation period to date has been around five to six days.“We need to be careful about changing tactics and strategies immediately on the basis of what we’re seeing” about omicron, Ryan said.Tedros renewed longstanding warnings that “ending health inequity remains the key to ending the pandemic.” He said that missing the target of getting 40% of populations vaccinated this year “is not only a moral shame — it cost lives and provided the virus with opportunities to circulate unchecked and mutate.”Countries largely missed the target because of limited supply to low-income nations for most of the year and then vaccines arriving close to their expiry date, without things such as syringes, he said.All the same, “I still remain optimistic that this can be the year we can not only end the acute stage of the pandemic, but we also chart a path to stronger health security,” Tedros said.___

WHO chief hopeful world will put the worst of pandemic behind it in 2022

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” or the loopy housemate on “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 99.

White’s death was confirmed by her longtime agent Jeff Witjas in a phone call Friday with publicist Pam Golum. White would have turned 100 on Jan. 17, 2022.

She launched her TV career in daytime talk shows when the medium was still in its infancy and endured well into the age of cable and streaming. Her combination of sweetness and edginess gave life to a roster of quirky characters in shows from the sitcom “Life With Elizabeth” in the early 1950s to oddball Rose Nylund in “The Golden Girls” in the ’80s to “Boston Legal,” which ran from 2004 to 2008.

But it was in 2010 that White’s stardom erupted as never before.

In a Snickers commercial that premiered during that year’s Super Bowl telecast, she impersonated an energy-sapped dude getting tackled during a backlot football game.

“Mike, you’re playing like Betty White out there,” jeered one of his chums. White, flat on the ground and covered in mud, fired back, “That’s not what your girlfriend said!”

The instantly-viral video helped spark a Facebook campaign called “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!,” whose half-million fans led to her co-hosting “Saturday Night Live” in a much-watched, watch-hailed edition that Mother’s Day weekend. The appearance won her a seventh Emmy award.

A month later, cable’s TV Land premiered “Hot In Cleveland,” the network’s first original scripted series, which starred Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick as three past-their-prime show-biz veterans who move to Cleveland to escape the youth obsession of Hollywood. They move into a home being looked after by an elderly Polish widow — a character, played by White, who was meant to appear only in the pilot episode.

But White stole the show, and the salty Elka Ostrovsky became a key part of the series, an immediate hit. She was voted the Entertainer of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

“It’s ridiculous,” White said of the honor. “They haven’t caught on to me, and I hope they never do.”

By then, White had not only become the hippest star around, but also a role model for how to grow old joyously.

“Don’t try to be young,” she told The AP. “Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them.”

Such was her popularity that even White’s birthday became a national event: In January 2012, NBC aired “Betty White’s 90th Birthday Party” as a star-studded prime-time special. She would later appear in such series as “Bones” and Fireside Chat With Esther” and in 2019 gave voice to one of the toys, “Bitey White,” in “Toy Story 4.”

White remained youthful in part through her skill at playing bawdy or naughty while radiating niceness. The horror spoof “Lake Placid” and the comedy “The Proposal” were marked by her characters’ surprisingly salty language. And her character Catherine Piper killed a man with a skillet on “Boston Legal.”

But she almost wasn’t cast as “Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1973. She and her husband, Allen Ludden, were close friends of Moore and Moore’s then-husband, producer Grant Tinker. It was feared that if White failed on the show, which already was a huge hit, it would be embarrassing for all four. But CBS casting head Ethel Winant declared White the logical choice. Originally planned as a one-shot appearance, the role of Sue Ann (which humorously foreshadowed Martha Stewart) lasted until Moore ended the series in 1977.

“While she’s icky-sweet on her cooking show, Sue is really a piranha type,” White once said. The role brought her two Emmys as supporting actress in a comedy series.

In 1985, White starred on NBC with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty in “The Golden Girls.” Its cast of mature actresses, playing single women in Miami retirement, presented a gamble in a youth-conscious industry. But it proved a solid hit and lasted until 1992.

White played Rose, a gentle, dim widow who managed to misinterpret most situations. She drove her roommates crazy with off-the-wall tales of childhood in fictional St. Olaf, Minnesota, an off-kilter version of Lake Wobegon.

The role won her another Emmy, and she reprised it in a short-lived spinoff, “The Golden Palace.”

After her co-star Arthur died in 2009, White told Entertainment Tonight: “She showed me how to be very brave in playing comedy. I’ll miss that courage.”

White’s other TV series included “Mama’s Family,” as Vicki Lawrence’s irascible mother; “Just Men,” a game show in which women tried to predict answers to questions directed to male celebrities; and “Ladies Man,” as the catty mother of Alfred Molina.

“Just Men” brought her a daytime Emmy, while she won a fourth prime time Emmy in 1996 for a guest shot on “The John Larroquette Show.”

She also appeared in numerous miniseries and TV movies and made her film debut as a female U.S. senator in Otto Preminger’s 1962 Capitol Hill drama “Advise and Consent.”

White began her television career as $50-a-week sidekick to a local Los Angeles TV personality in 1949. She was hired for a local daytime show starring Al Jarvis, the best-known disc jockey in Los Angeles.

It was then she got a tip to start lying about her age.

“We are so age-conscious in this country,” she said in a 2011 interview with The Associated Press. “It’s silly, but that’s the way we are. So I was told, ‘Knock four years off right now. You’ll be blessing yourself down the road.’

“I was born in 1922. So I thought, ‘I must always remember that I was born in 1926.’ But then I would have to do the math. Finally, I decided to heck with it.”

White proved to be a natural for the new medium. She was bright, pretty and likable, with a dimpled, eye-crinkling smile. A 1951 Los Angeles Times headline said: “Betty White Hailed as TV’s Busiest Gal.”

“I did that show 5½ hours a day, six days a week, for 4½ years,” she recalled in 1975. Jarvis was replaced by actor Eddie Albert, and when he went to Europe for the film “Roman Holiday,” she headed the show.

A sketch she had done with Jarvis turned into a syndicated series, “Life With Elizabeth,” which won her first Emmy. For a time she did interviews on “The Betty White Show” in the daytime, filmed the series at night and often turned up on a late-night talk show. She also appeared on commercials and every New Year’s narrated the Pasadena Rose Parade.

With the glib tongue and quick responses nurtured in the Jarvis years, she was a welcome guest on “I’ve Got a Secret,” “To Tell the Truth,” “What’s My Line” and other game shows — all the way up to the 2008 “Million Dollar Password,” which revived the game once hosted by Ludden, whom she had met when a contestant on his original “Password.”

That was in 1961, and the next year, while touring in summer theater during television’s off season, she starred with Ludden — by then a widower with three children — in the comedy “Critic’s Choice.”

White, who had claimed to be “militantly single” since a 1947-1949 marriage, weakened in her resolve.

“I had always said on `The Tonight Show’ and everywhere else that I would never get married again,” she told a reporter in 1963. “But Allen outnumbered me. He started in and even the children got in the act. And I surrendered — willingly.”

The marriage lasted from 1963 until his death from cancer in 1981.

Off-screen, White tirelessly raised money for animal causes such as the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. In 1970-1971, she wrote, produced and hosted a syndicated TV show, “The Pet Set,” to which celebrities brought their dogs and cats. She wrote a 1983 book titled “Betty White’s Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us,” and, in 2011, published “Betty &amp; Friends: My Life at the Zoo.”

Her devotion to pets was such that she declined a plum role in the hit 1997 movie “As Good As It Gets.” She objected to a scene in which Jack Nicholson drops a small dog down a laundry chute.

In her 2011 book “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t),” White explained the origins of her love for dogs. During the Depression, her dad made radios to sell to make extra money. But since few people had money to buy the radios, he willingly traded them for dogs, which, housed in kennels in the backyard, at times numbered as many as 15 and made White’s happy childhood even happier.

Are there any critters she doesn’t like?

“No,” White told the AP. “Anything with a leg on each corner.”

She was born Betty Marion White in Oak Park, Illinois, and the family moved to Los Angeles when she was a toddler.

“I’m an only child, and I had a mother and dad who never drew a straight line: They just thought funny,” she told The Associated Press in 2015. “We’d sit around the breakfast table and then we’d start kicking it around. My dad was a salesman and he would come home with jokes. He’d say, `Sweetheart, you can take THAT one to school. But I wouldn’t take THIS one.′ We had such a wonderful time.”

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Betty White, whose saucy, up-for-anything charm made her a television mainstay for more than 60 years, whether as a man-crazy TV hostess on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” or the loopy housemate on “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 99.White’s death was confirmed by her longtime agent Jeff Witjas in a phone call Friday with publicist Pam Golum. White would have turned 100 on Jan. 17, 2022.She launched her TV career in daytime talk shows when the medium was still in its infancy and endured well into the age of cable and streaming. Her combination of sweetness and edginess gave life to a roster of quirky characters in shows from the sitcom “Life With Elizabeth” in the early 1950s to oddball Rose Nylund in “The Golden Girls” in the ’80s to “Boston Legal,” which ran from 2004 to 2008.But it was in 2010 that White’s stardom erupted as never before.In a Snickers commercial that premiered during that year’s Super Bowl telecast, she impersonated an energy-sapped dude getting tackled during a backlot football game.“Mike, you’re playing like Betty White out there,” jeered one of his chums. White, flat on the ground and covered in mud, fired back, “That’s not what your girlfriend said!”The instantly-viral video helped spark a Facebook campaign called “Betty White to Host SNL (please?)!,” whose half-million fans led to her co-hosting “Saturday Night Live” in a much-watched, watch-hailed edition that Mother’s Day weekend. The appearance won her a seventh Emmy award.A month later, cable’s TV Land premiered “Hot In Cleveland,” the network’s first original scripted series, which starred Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick as three past-their-prime show-biz veterans who move to Cleveland to escape the youth obsession of Hollywood. They move into a home being looked after by an elderly Polish widow — a character, played by White, who was meant to appear only in the pilot episode.But White stole the show, and the salty Elka Ostrovsky became a key part of the series, an immediate hit. She was voted the Entertainer of the Year by members of The Associated Press.“It’s ridiculous,” White said of the honor. “They haven’t caught on to me, and I hope they never do.”By then, White had not only become the hippest star around, but also a role model for how to grow old joyously.“Don’t try to be young,” she told The AP. “Just open your mind. Stay interested in stuff. There are so many things I won’t live long enough to find out about, but I’m still curious about them.”Such was her popularity that even White’s birthday became a national event: In January 2012, NBC aired “Betty White’s 90th Birthday Party” as a star-studded prime-time special. She would later appear in such series as “Bones” and Fireside Chat With Esther” and in 2019 gave voice to one of the toys, “Bitey White,” in “Toy Story 4.”White remained youthful in part through her skill at playing bawdy or naughty while radiating niceness. The horror spoof “Lake Placid” and the comedy “The Proposal” were marked by her characters’ surprisingly salty language. And her character Catherine Piper killed a man with a skillet on “Boston Legal.”But she almost wasn’t cast as “Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens in “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in 1973. She and her husband, Allen Ludden, were close friends of Moore and Moore’s then-husband, producer Grant Tinker. It was feared that if White failed on the show, which already was a huge hit, it would be embarrassing for all four. But CBS casting head Ethel Winant declared White the logical choice. Originally planned as a one-shot appearance, the role of Sue Ann (which humorously foreshadowed Martha Stewart) lasted until Moore ended the series in 1977.“While she’s icky-sweet on her cooking show, Sue is really a piranha type,” White once said. The role brought her two Emmys as supporting actress in a comedy series.In 1985, White starred on NBC with Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty in “The Golden Girls.” Its cast of mature actresses, playing single women in Miami retirement, presented a gamble in a youth-conscious industry. But it proved a solid hit and lasted until 1992.White played Rose, a gentle, dim widow who managed to misinterpret most situations. She drove her roommates crazy with off-the-wall tales of childhood in fictional St. Olaf, Minnesota, an off-kilter version of Lake Wobegon.The role won her another Emmy, and she reprised it in a short-lived spinoff, “The Golden Palace.”After her co-star Arthur died in 2009, White told Entertainment Tonight: “She showed me how to be very brave in playing comedy. I’ll miss that courage.”White’s other TV series included “Mama’s Family,” as Vicki Lawrence’s irascible mother; “Just Men,” a game show in which women tried to predict answers to questions directed to male celebrities; and “Ladies Man,” as the catty mother of Alfred Molina.“Just Men” brought her a daytime Emmy, while she won a fourth prime time Emmy in 1996 for a guest shot on “The John Larroquette Show.”She also appeared in numerous miniseries and TV movies and made her film debut as a female U.S. senator in Otto Preminger’s 1962 Capitol Hill drama “Advise and Consent.”White began her television career as $50-a-week sidekick to a local Los Angeles TV personality in 1949. She was hired for a local daytime show starring Al Jarvis, the best-known disc jockey in Los Angeles.It was then she got a tip to start lying about her age.“We are so age-conscious in this country,” she said in a 2011 interview with The Associated Press. “It’s silly, but that’s the way we are. So I was told, ‘Knock four years off right now. You’ll be blessing yourself down the road.’“I was born in 1922. So I thought, ‘I must always remember that I was born in 1926.’ But then I would have to do the math. Finally, I decided to heck with it.”White proved to be a natural for the new medium. She was bright, pretty and likable, with a dimpled, eye-crinkling smile. A 1951 Los Angeles Times headline said: “Betty White Hailed as TV’s Busiest Gal.”“I did that show 5½ hours a day, six days a week, for 4½ years,” she recalled in 1975. Jarvis was replaced by actor Eddie Albert, and when he went to Europe for the film “Roman Holiday,” she headed the show.A sketch she had done with Jarvis turned into a syndicated series, “Life With Elizabeth,” which won her first Emmy. For a time she did interviews on “The Betty White Show” in the daytime, filmed the series at night and often turned up on a late-night talk show. She also appeared on commercials and every New Year’s narrated the Pasadena Rose Parade.With the glib tongue and quick responses nurtured in the Jarvis years, she was a welcome guest on “I’ve Got a Secret,” “To Tell the Truth,” “What’s My Line” and other game shows — all the way up to the 2008 “Million Dollar Password,” which revived the game once hosted by Ludden, whom she had met when a contestant on his original “Password.”That was in 1961, and the next year, while touring in summer theater during television’s off season, she starred with Ludden — by then a widower with three children — in the comedy “Critic’s Choice.”White, who had claimed to be “militantly single” since a 1947-1949 marriage, weakened in her resolve.“I had always said on `The Tonight Show’ and everywhere else that I would never get married again,” she told a reporter in 1963. “But Allen outnumbered me. He started in and even the children got in the act. And I surrendered — willingly.”The marriage lasted from 1963 until his death from cancer in 1981.Off-screen, White tirelessly raised money for animal causes such as the Morris Animal Foundation and the Los Angeles Zoo. In 1970-1971, she wrote, produced and hosted a syndicated TV show, “The Pet Set,” to which celebrities brought their dogs and cats. She wrote a 1983 book titled “Betty White’s Pet Love: How Pets Take Care of Us,” and, in 2011, published “Betty &amp; Friends: My Life at the Zoo.”Her devotion to pets was such that she declined a plum role in the hit 1997 movie “As Good As It Gets.” She objected to a scene in which Jack Nicholson drops a small dog down a laundry chute.In her 2011 book “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t),” White explained the origins of her love for dogs. During the Depression, her dad made radios to sell to make extra money. But since few people had money to buy the radios, he willingly traded them for dogs, which, housed in kennels in the backyard, at times numbered as many as 15 and made White’s happy childhood even happier.Are there any critters she doesn’t like?“No,” White told the AP. “Anything with a leg on each corner.”Then what about snakes?“Ohhh, I LOVE snakes!”She was born Betty Marion White in Oak Park, Illinois, and the family moved to Los Angeles when she was a toddler.“I’m an only child, and I had a mother and dad who never drew a straight line: They just thought funny,” she told The Associated Press in 2015. “We’d sit around the breakfast table and then we’d start kicking it around. My dad was a salesman and he would come home with jokes. He’d say, `Sweetheart, you can take THAT one to school. But I wouldn’t take THIS one.′ We had such a wonderful time.”Her early ambition was to be a writer, and she wrote her grammar school graduation play, giving herself the leading role.At Beverly Hills High School, her ambition turned to acting, and she appeared in several school plays. Her parents hoped she’d go to college, but instead she took roles in a small theater and played bit parts in radio dramas.Explaining in 2011 how she kept up her frantic pace even as an octogenarian, she explained that she only needed four hours of sleep each night.And when asked how she had managed to be universally beloved during her decades-spanning career, she summed up with a dimpled smile: “I just make it my business to get along with people so I can have fun. It’s that simple.”___