WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;pardoned his son,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter</a>, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.

Below is the full statement on the pardon released by the White House

Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.&nbsp;Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions.&nbsp;It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.&nbsp;

&nbsp;The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process.&nbsp;Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.&nbsp;In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;

For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded.&nbsp;Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I&nbsp;hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;Executive Grant of ClemencyJoseph R. Biden, Jr.President of the United States of America&nbsp;

To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:&nbsp;

Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto&nbsp;

A Full and Unconditional Pardon&nbsp;For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.&nbsp;

IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.&nbsp;

Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.

The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California.

 The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.

It caps a long-running legal saga for the president’s son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-hunter-biden-18efb958a5365eebda5bb3da411c4326">In June,</a>&nbsp;Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”

As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”

In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” alleging that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”

“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”

“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family.

He was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-trial-gun-charges-delaware-cc96568ac3428802557c85876c820dec">a gun in 2018 when</a>, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.

He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.

Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.

The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.

Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”

“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.

A spokesperson for special counsel David Weiss, who brought the cases, did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1717532173443.png" alt="File photo Hunter Biden arrives at federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)" />
 <figcaption>File photo Hunter Biden arrives at federal court, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;pardoned his son,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hunter-biden">Hunter</a>, on Sunday night, sparing the younger Biden a possible prison sentence for federal felony gun and tax convictions and reversing his past promises not to use the extraordinary powers of the presidency for the benefit of his family members.Below is the full statement on the pardon released by the White House--------Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter. From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted.&nbsp;Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions.&nbsp;It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.&nbsp;&nbsp;The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process.&nbsp;Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution.&nbsp;In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.&nbsp;&nbsp;For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded.&nbsp;Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I&nbsp;hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.&nbsp;&nbsp;###&nbsp;Executive Grant of ClemencyJoseph R. Biden, Jr.President of the United States of America&nbsp;To All to Whom These Presents Shall Come, Greeting:&nbsp;Be It Known, That This Day, I, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., President of the United States, Pursuant to My Powers Under Article II, Section 2, Clause 1, of the Constitution, Have Granted Unto&nbsp;ROBERT HUNTER BIDEN&nbsp;A Full and Unconditional Pardon&nbsp;For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.&nbsp;IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF I have hereunto signed my name and caused the Pardon to be recorded with the Department of Justice.&nbsp;Done at the City of Washington this 1st day of December in the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States the Two Hundred and Forty-ninth.-------The Democratic president had previously said he would not pardon his son or commute his sentence after his convictions in the two cases in Delaware and California.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Biden: &quot;I&#39;m extremely proud of my son Hunter. He has overcome an addiction. He&#39;s one of the brightest most decent men I know...I am satisfied...I said I&#39;d abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZGf0nHOs2o">pic.twitter.com/ZGf0nHOs2o</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1801331484365603234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div> The move comes weeks before Hunter Biden was set to receive his punishment after his trial conviction in the gun case and guilty plea on tax charges, and less than two months before President-elect Donald Trump is set to return to the White House.It caps a long-running legal saga for the president’s son, who publicly disclosed he was under federal investigation in December 2020 — a month after Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/president-joe-biden-hunter-biden-18efb958a5365eebda5bb3da411c4326">In June,</a>&nbsp;Biden categorically ruled out a pardon or commutation for his son, telling reporters as his son faced trial in the Delware gun case, “I abide by the jury decision. I will do that and I will not pardon him.”As recently as Nov. 8, days after Trump's victory, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre ruled out a pardon or clemency for the younger Biden, saying, “We’ve been asked that question multiple times. Our answer stands, which is no.”In a statement released Sunday evening, Biden said, “Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” alleging that the prosecution of his son was politically motivated and a “miscarriage of justice.”“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election,” Biden said. “No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son.”“I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision,” Biden added, claiming he made the decision this weekend. The president had spent the Thanksgiving holiday in Nantucket, Massachusetts with Hunter and his family.He was convicted in June in Delaware federal court of three felonies for purchasing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-trial-gun-charges-delaware-cc96568ac3428802557c85876c820dec">a gun in 2018 when</a>, prosecutors said, he lied on a federal form by claiming he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.He was set to stand trial in September in the California case accusing him of failing to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. But he agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor and felony charges in a surprise move hours after jury selection was set to begin.Hunter Biden said he was pleading guilty in that case to spare his family more pain and embarrassment after the gun trial aired salacious details about his struggles with a crack cocaine addiction.The tax charges carry up to 17 years behind bars and the gun charges are punishable by up to 25 years in prison, though federal sentencing guidelines were expected to call for far less time and it was possible he would avoid prison time entirely.Hunter Biden said in an emailed statement that he will never take for granted the relief granted to him and vowed to devote the life he has rebuilt “to helping those who are still sick and suffering.”“I have admitted and taken responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport,” the younger Biden said.A spokesperson for special counsel David Weiss, who brought the cases, did not respond to messages seeking comment Sunday night.

Biden pardons son Hunter on gun, tax convictions despite pledge not to

RILEY COUNTY – The Riley County Police Department is actively investigating two overnight shootings reported in Manhattan.

Just before 8p.m. Saturday, police responded to a report of shots fired in the 2000 block of College Heights, according to a media release from the RCPD. Officers located a 23-year-old woman with a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to Ascension Via Christi Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Just before 6a.m. Sunday, officers responded to another report of shots fired in the 1800 block of Claflin Road. Upon arrival, three individuals were found with gunshot wounds. EMS transported all three to Ascension Via Christi for treatment.

Officers have been on the scene throughout the day, collecting and processing evidence. Preliminary findings suggest the two incidents are related. However, there is no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

RCPD is pursuing all leads and urges anyone with information about either incident to contact the department. Tips can be submitted by calling the RCPD non-emergency line at 785-537-2112 or through Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777. Crime Stoppers allows for anonymity and may qualify tipsters for a cash reward.

These investigations remain active, and we appreciate the public’s patience as officers work diligently to gather evidence and follow up on leads.&nbsp;

RILEY COUNTY – The Riley County Police Department is actively investigating two overnight shootings reported in Manhattan.Just before 8p.m. Saturday, police responded to a report of shots fired in the 2000 block of College Heights, according to a media release from the RCPD. Officers located a 23-year-old woman with a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to Ascension Via Christi Hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.Just before 6a.m. Sunday, officers responded to another report of shots fired in the 1800 block of Claflin Road. Upon arrival, three individuals were found with gunshot wounds. EMS transported all three to Ascension Via Christi for treatment.Officers have been on the scene throughout the day, collecting and processing evidence. Preliminary findings suggest the two incidents are related. However, there is no ongoing threat to the public at this time.RCPD is pursuing all leads and urges anyone with information about either incident to contact the department. Tips can be submitted by calling the RCPD non-emergency line at 785-537-2112 or through Crime Stoppers at (785) 539-7777. Crime Stoppers allows for anonymity and may qualify tipsters for a cash reward.These investigations remain active, and we appreciate the public’s patience as officers work diligently to gather evidence and follow up on leads.&nbsp;--------------

Police: 4 hospitalized after 2 separate shootings in Manhattan

KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for hacking into the computer systems at an area nonprofit and a health club business, according to the United State's Attorney.

Nicholas Michael Kloster, 31, was charged in a two-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. That indictment was unsealed and made public following Kloster’s arrest and initial court appearance.

The federal indictment charges Kloster with one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization and obtaining information.

Kloster allegedly entered the premises of a business, identified in court documents as Company Victim 2, which operates multiple health clubs in Kansas and Missouri, shortly before midnight on April 26, 2024. The following day, Kloster sent an email to one of the owners of Company Victim 2, claiming that he had gained access to the computer system. Kloster also claimed to have “assisted over 30 small to medium-sized industrial businesses in the Kansas City, Missouri area” and attached a copy of his resume.

Following Kloster’s intrusion, the indictment says, employees with Company Victim 2 noted that Kloster’s monthly gym membership fee was reduced to $1, that his photograph was erased from the gym’s network, and determined that Kloster stole a gym staff nametag. A few weeks later, Kloster posted an image to a social media profile which appeared to be a screen capture of his desktop showing control of the security cameras for Company Victim 2, with a chatbox window with the message “how to get a company to use your security service.”

The federal indictment also charges Kloster with one count of causing reckless damage to a protected computer during unauthorized access.

Kloster allegedly entered the premises of a nonprofit corporation, identified in court documents as Company Victim 3, on May 20, 2024. Kloster entered an area that is not available to the public and accessed a computer with access to the company’s network. Kloster utilized a boot disk, the indictment says, which enabled him to access Company Victim 3’s computer through multiple user accounts. By accessing Company Victim 3’s computer in such a manner, the indictment says, the use of this boot disk enabled Kloster to circumvent the password requirements on Company Victim 3’s computer and change the password assigned to one or more of the users of Company Victim 3’s computer. Kloster was able to install a virtual private network on this computer. Since Kloster’s intrusion into its computer and its network, Company Victim 3 has sustained losses in excess of $5,000 in an attempt to remediate the effects from this intrusion.

In addition to these two victims, the indictment refers to a third victim, identified in court documents as Company Victim 1. According to the indictment, Kloster was employed by Company Victim 1 in March and April 2024. Kloster allegedly used a company credit card to make numerous personal purchases, including a thumb drive that was advertised as a means to hack into vulnerable computers.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Daly and Nicholas Heberle. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

KANSAS CITY– A Kansas City man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for hacking into the computer systems at an area nonprofit and a health club business, according to the United State's Attorney.Nicholas Michael Kloster, 31, was charged in a two-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City. That indictment was unsealed and made public following Kloster’s arrest and initial court appearance.The federal indictment charges Kloster with one count of accessing a protected computer without authorization and obtaining information.Kloster allegedly entered the premises of a business, identified in court documents as Company Victim 2, which operates multiple health clubs in Kansas and Missouri, shortly before midnight on April 26, 2024. The following day, Kloster sent an email to one of the owners of Company Victim 2, claiming that he had gained access to the computer system. Kloster also claimed to have “assisted over 30 small to medium-sized industrial businesses in the Kansas City, Missouri area” and attached a copy of his resume.Following Kloster’s intrusion, the indictment says, employees with Company Victim 2 noted that Kloster’s monthly gym membership fee was reduced to $1, that his photograph was erased from the gym’s network, and determined that Kloster stole a gym staff nametag. A few weeks later, Kloster posted an image to a social media profile which appeared to be a screen capture of his desktop showing control of the security cameras for Company Victim 2, with a chatbox window with the message “how to get a company to use your security service.”The federal indictment also charges Kloster with one count of causing reckless damage to a protected computer during unauthorized access.Kloster allegedly entered the premises of a nonprofit corporation, identified in court documents as Company Victim 3, on May 20, 2024. Kloster entered an area that is not available to the public and accessed a computer with access to the company’s network. Kloster utilized a boot disk, the indictment says, which enabled him to access Company Victim 3’s computer through multiple user accounts. By accessing Company Victim 3’s computer in such a manner, the indictment says, the use of this boot disk enabled Kloster to circumvent the password requirements on Company Victim 3’s computer and change the password assigned to one or more of the users of Company Victim 3’s computer. Kloster was able to install a virtual private network on this computer. Since Kloster’s intrusion into its computer and its network, Company Victim 3 has sustained losses in excess of $5,000 in an attempt to remediate the effects from this intrusion.In addition to these two victims, the indictment refers to a third victim, identified in court documents as Company Victim 1. According to the indictment, Kloster was employed by Company Victim 1 in March and April 2024. Kloster allegedly used a company credit card to make numerous personal purchases, including a thumb drive that was advertised as a means to hack into vulnerable computers.The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick Daly and Nicholas Heberle. It was investigated by the FBI and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

KC man accused of hacking computers of health club business

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/timhenderson/">TIM HENDERSON</a>

The U.S. Census Bureau and a growing number of states are starting to gather more detailed information about Americans’ race and ethnicity, a change some advocates of the process say will allow people to choose identities that more closely reflect how they see themselves.

Crunching and sorting through those specific details — known as data disaggregation — will help illuminate disparities in areas such as housing and health outcomes that could be hidden within large racial and ethnic categories. But some experts say the details also might make it harder for Black people from multiracial countries to identify themselves.

Racial data gleaned from the census is important because local, state, tribal and federal governments&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/race/#:~:text=Local%2C%20state%2C%20tribal%2C%20and,or%20services%20for%20specific%20groups." target="_blank">use it to guide</a>&nbsp;certain civil rights policies and&nbsp;“in planning and funding government programs that provide funds or services for specific groups,” according to the Census Bureau.

The form will have checkboxes for main categories — current census groupings include “Asian,” “Black,” “African American” and “White,” among others&nbsp;— followed by more specific checkboxes. Under Asian, for example, might be Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese. And then there will be an empty box for people to write in more specific subgroups.

Collecting more detail by allowing free-form answers, for example, will make it possible for people to identify themselves as part of more racial and ethnic subgroups — such as “Sardinian” (an autonomous region within Italy) instead of simply “Italian” — and include alternative names for certain groups, such as writing “Schitsu’umsh,” the ancient language for “Coeur D’Alene Tribe.”

And the Census Bureau will for the first time include Middle Eastern/North African as a separate racial/ethnic category for respondents with that heritage. Until now, Middle Eastern people who did not choose a race were treated as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html" target="_blank">subcategory</a>&nbsp;under “white,” based on a 1944 court&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lwv.org/blog/representing-middle-eastern-and-north-african-citizens-census#:~:text=It%20would%20not%20be%20until%20a%20district,Walter%2DMcCarran%20Act%20nullified%20all%20previous%20Asian%2Dexclusion%20laws." target="_blank">ruling</a>&nbsp;intended to protect Arab immigrants from racist laws banning U.S. citizenship for nonwhite immigrants.

Under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/29/2024-06469/revisions-to-ombs-statistical-policy-directive-no-15-standards-for-maintaining-collecting-and" target="_blank">new federal guidelines</a>&nbsp;approved in March, the bureau also will give people the option to check no race at all if they identify as Hispanic or Middle Eastern/North African.

The Census Bureau already has decided to use more open-ended questions in both the 2027 American Community Survey and the nation’s 2030 census. But the agency is seeking&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/11/18/2024-26827/the-census-bureaus-proposed-raceethnicity-code-list-for-the-american-community-survey-and-the-2030?utm_source=censusSDC&amp;utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">public comment</a>&nbsp;on the way write-in responses will be categorized.

The bureau wants to hear how people are likely to identify themselves, said Merarys Ríos-Vargas, chief of the bureau’s Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch, Population Division, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/webinar-race-ethnicity-coding-improvement.html" target="_blank">recent webinar</a>. The agency also is interested in whether there are missing or incorrect entries in its proposed list of possible responses.

Nancy López, a University of New Mexico sociology professor, said she and other experts in Black Hispanic culture think the census should have a “visual race” or “street race” question, so people can communicate how others see them as well as how they identify themselves. The answer might be “Black” or a yet-unrecognized racial category such as “brown.”

“A separate question on race as a visual status helps illuminate the kind of things we are interested in — discrimination in housing, discrimination in employment, discrimination in education and accessing health care in public spaces,” said López, who is the daughter of Dominican immigrants and a co-founder of the university’s Institute for the Study of “Race” &amp; Social Justice.

“It’s about people’s lives, it’s about the future, it’s about children, it’s about access to opportunities and it’s about fairness,” she added, noting that even if the federal government doesn’t add such questions to surveys and the decennial census, state and universities can still do it on their own as they collect data for health care, student enrollment and other topics.

The NALEO Educational Fund, an organization representing Latino elected and appointed officials, supports the decision to make a race choice optional for Hispanics.

“Many Latinos did not see themselves in any of the categories for their racial identity,” said Rosalind Gold, NALEO’s chief public policy officer. “There’s a large number of Latinos who feel that identifying as Latino is both their racial and ethnic identity.”

Gold said NALEO understands the concern some have that failing to require a race designation will obscure racial information on Black Hispanics. But her group argues that the census can get what it needs by educating the public on how to respond and by including prompts on the questionnaires to guide race choices.

Black Hispanic people often see themselves as having a single racial and ethnic identity, according to several experts in Hispanic identity who spoke at a Census Bureau National Advisory Committee meeting Nov. 7.

“They conceptualize themselves as belonging to one [group],” said Nicholas Vargas, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, speaking at the committee meeting.

“They check ‘Black’ and they check ‘Dominican’ — and don’t want to be counted as two or more,” he said.

In response, Rachel Marks, an adviser for the Census Bureau on race and ethnicity, said the bureau will consider that issue and other “feedback on how people want to be represented” before making a final decision on survey details.

The bureau may recognize a term, Afro-Latino, that could be used to indicate both Black race and Hispanic ethnicity, according to a proposed code list from the agency, as well as “Blaxican” for Black Mexican and “Blasian“ for Black Asian.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of civil rights groups, called the more detailed questions&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.census.gov/about/partners/cac/nac/meetings/2024-11/public-comment-leadership-conference-civil-rights.pdf" target="_blank">“a step forward”</a>&nbsp;but also suggested more guidance on the forms to ensure people are categorized the way they want to be. In its comment on the changes, the group noted that in 2020, some people who wrote in “British” under the Black checkbox were categorized as partly white even if they didn’t mean that.

The group&nbsp;<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/leadership-conference-comments-on-timeline-for-updated-race-and-ethnicity-standards-implementation-on-the-acs/" target="_blank">also said</a>&nbsp;it is “concerned about a conflation of the concepts of race and ethnicity,” and it asked for more research to make sure people understand how to respond.

Some states are acting on their own to gather more detailed data about identity.

New Jersey is among the latest states to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562024/20240112g.shtml" target="_blank">pass a law</a>&nbsp;requiring more detailed race and ethnic data collection for state records such as health data and school enrollment.

A similar&nbsp;<a href="https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2024-HB-5447" target="_blank">bill</a>&nbsp;in Michigan would require state agencies that gather information to offer “multiracial” and “Middle Eastern or North African” as choices; the bill remains in committee.

And advocates in Oregon, which already&nbsp;<a href="https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/viewSingleRule.action?ruleVrsnRsn=315084" target="_blank">has a law</a>&nbsp;requiring detailed ethnic data collection, are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2024/10/asian-american-students-advocates-call-for-the-state-to-collect-more-detailed-data-about-their-ethnicities.html" target="_blank">asking the state</a>&nbsp;for more details on Asian subgroups who face education challenges.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://civilrights.org/edfund/resource/disaggregation-nation-a-landscape-review-of-state-race-ethnicity-data-collection/" target="_blank">December 2023 report</a>&nbsp;by The Leadership Conference Education Fund identified 13 other states with laws requiring more detailed state data on ethnic and racial groups, including laws passed last year in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Nevada.

The states of California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington already had such laws, the group found.

<a href="https://stateline.org/" target="_blank">Stateline</a>&nbsp;is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:info@stateline.org">info@stateline.org</a>. Follow Stateline on&nbsp;<a href="https://facebook.com/statelinenewsroom" target="_blank">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/stateline_news" target="_blank">X</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1732917563275.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/timhenderson/">TIM HENDERSON</a>The U.S. Census Bureau and a growing number of states are starting to gather more detailed information about Americans’ race and ethnicity, a change some advocates of the process say will allow people to choose identities that more closely reflect how they see themselves.Crunching and sorting through those specific details — known as data disaggregation — will help illuminate disparities in areas such as housing and health outcomes that could be hidden within large racial and ethnic categories. But some experts say the details also might make it harder for Black people from multiracial countries to identify themselves.Racial data gleaned from the census is important because local, state, tribal and federal governments&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/acs/www/about/why-we-ask-each-question/race/#:~:text=Local%2C%20state%2C%20tribal%2C%20and,or%20services%20for%20specific%20groups." target="_blank">use it to guide</a>&nbsp;certain civil rights policies and&nbsp;“in planning and funding government programs that provide funds or services for specific groups,” according to the Census Bureau.The form will have checkboxes for main categories — current census groupings include “Asian,” “Black,” “African American” and “White,” among others&nbsp;— followed by more specific checkboxes. Under Asian, for example, might be Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean or Japanese. And then there will be an empty box for people to write in more specific subgroups.Collecting more detail by allowing free-form answers, for example, will make it possible for people to identify themselves as part of more racial and ethnic subgroups — such as “Sardinian” (an autonomous region within Italy) instead of simply “Italian” — and include alternative names for certain groups, such as writing “Schitsu’umsh,” the ancient language for “Coeur D’Alene Tribe.”And the Census Bureau will for the first time include Middle Eastern/North African as a separate racial/ethnic category for respondents with that heritage. Until now, Middle Eastern people who did not choose a race were treated as a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2023/09/2020-census-dhc-a-mena-population.html" target="_blank">subcategory</a>&nbsp;under “white,” based on a 1944 court&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lwv.org/blog/representing-middle-eastern-and-north-african-citizens-census#:~:text=It%20would%20not%20be%20until%20a%20district,Walter%2DMcCarran%20Act%20nullified%20all%20previous%20Asian%2Dexclusion%20laws." target="_blank">ruling</a>&nbsp;intended to protect Arab immigrants from racist laws banning U.S. citizenship for nonwhite immigrants.Under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/03/29/2024-06469/revisions-to-ombs-statistical-policy-directive-no-15-standards-for-maintaining-collecting-and" target="_blank">new federal guidelines</a>&nbsp;approved in March, the bureau also will give people the option to check no race at all if they identify as Hispanic or Middle Eastern/North African.The Census Bureau already has decided to use more open-ended questions in both the 2027 American Community Survey and the nation’s 2030 census. But the agency is seeking&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/11/18/2024-26827/the-census-bureaus-proposed-raceethnicity-code-list-for-the-american-community-survey-and-the-2030?utm_source=censusSDC&amp;utm_medium=twitter" target="_blank">public comment</a>&nbsp;on the way write-in responses will be categorized.The bureau wants to hear how people are likely to identify themselves, said Merarys Ríos-Vargas, chief of the bureau’s Ethnicity and Ancestry Branch, Population Division, in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2024/webinar-race-ethnicity-coding-improvement.html" target="_blank">recent webinar</a>. The agency also is interested in whether there are missing or incorrect entries in its proposed list of possible responses.<h2>‘It’s about people’s lives’</h2>Nancy López, a University of New Mexico sociology professor, said she and other experts in Black Hispanic culture think the census should have a “visual race” or “street race” question, so people can communicate how others see them as well as how they identify themselves. The answer might be “Black” or a yet-unrecognized racial category such as “brown.”“A separate question on race as a visual status helps illuminate the kind of things we are interested in — discrimination in housing, discrimination in employment, discrimination in education and accessing health care in public spaces,” said López, who is the daughter of Dominican immigrants and a co-founder of the university’s Institute for the Study of “Race” &amp; Social Justice.“It’s about people’s lives, it’s about the future, it’s about children, it’s about access to opportunities and it’s about fairness,” she added, noting that even if the federal government doesn’t add such questions to surveys and the decennial census, state and universities can still do it on their own as they collect data for health care, student enrollment and other topics.The NALEO Educational Fund, an organization representing Latino elected and appointed officials, supports the decision to make a race choice optional for Hispanics.“Many Latinos did not see themselves in any of the categories for their racial identity,” said Rosalind Gold, NALEO’s chief public policy officer. “There’s a large number of Latinos who feel that identifying as Latino is both their racial and ethnic identity.”Gold said NALEO understands the concern some have that failing to require a race designation will obscure racial information on Black Hispanics. But her group argues that the census can get what it needs by educating the public on how to respond and by including prompts on the questionnaires to guide race choices.Black Hispanic people often see themselves as having a single racial and ethnic identity, according to several experts in Hispanic identity who spoke at a Census Bureau National Advisory Committee meeting Nov. 7.“They conceptualize themselves as belonging to one [group],” said Nicholas Vargas, an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, speaking at the committee meeting.“They check ‘Black’ and they check ‘Dominican’ — and don’t want to be counted as two or more,” he said.In response, Rachel Marks, an adviser for the Census Bureau on race and ethnicity, said the bureau will consider that issue and other “feedback on how people want to be represented” before making a final decision on survey details.The bureau may recognize a term, Afro-Latino, that could be used to indicate both Black race and Hispanic ethnicity, according to a proposed code list from the agency, as well as “Blaxican” for Black Mexican and “Blasian“ for Black Asian.The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of civil rights groups, called the more detailed questions&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.census.gov/about/partners/cac/nac/meetings/2024-11/public-comment-leadership-conference-civil-rights.pdf" target="_blank">“a step forward”</a>&nbsp;but also suggested more guidance on the forms to ensure people are categorized the way they want to be. In its comment on the changes, the group noted that in 2020, some people who wrote in “British” under the Black checkbox were categorized as partly white even if they didn’t mean that.The group&nbsp;<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/leadership-conference-comments-on-timeline-for-updated-race-and-ethnicity-standards-implementation-on-the-acs/" target="_blank">also said</a>&nbsp;it is “concerned about a conflation of the concepts of race and ethnicity,” and it asked for more research to make sure people understand how to respond.<h2>State actions</h2>Some states are acting on their own to gather more detailed data about identity.New Jersey is among the latest states to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562024/20240112g.shtml" target="_blank">pass a law</a>&nbsp;requiring more detailed race and ethnic data collection for state records such as health data and school enrollment.A similar&nbsp;<a href="https://legislature.mi.gov/Bills/Bill?ObjectName=2024-HB-5447" target="_blank">bill</a>&nbsp;in Michigan would require state agencies that gather information to offer “multiracial” and “Middle Eastern or North African” as choices; the bill remains in committee.And advocates in Oregon, which already&nbsp;<a href="https://secure.sos.state.or.us/oard/viewSingleRule.action?ruleVrsnRsn=315084" target="_blank">has a law</a>&nbsp;requiring detailed ethnic data collection, are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2024/10/asian-american-students-advocates-call-for-the-state-to-collect-more-detailed-data-about-their-ethnicities.html" target="_blank">asking the state</a>&nbsp;for more details on Asian subgroups who face education challenges.A&nbsp;<a href="https://civilrights.org/edfund/resource/disaggregation-nation-a-landscape-review-of-state-race-ethnicity-data-collection/" target="_blank">December 2023 report</a>&nbsp;by The Leadership Conference Education Fund identified 13 other states with laws requiring more detailed state data on ethnic and racial groups, including laws passed last year in Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and Nevada.The states of California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington already had such laws, the group found.<a href="https://stateline.org/" target="_blank">Stateline</a>&nbsp;is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:info@stateline.org">info@stateline.org</a>. Follow Stateline on&nbsp;<a href="https://facebook.com/statelinenewsroom" target="_blank">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/stateline_news" target="_blank">X</a>.

The next census will gather more racial, ethnic information

LUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Would you trust an “AI Jesus” with your innermost thoughts and troubles?

Researchers and religious leaders on Wednesday released findings from a two-month experiment through art in a Catholic chapel in Switzerland, where an avatar of “Jesus” on a computer screen — tucked into a confessional — took questions by visitors on faith, morality and modern-day woes, and offered responses based on Scripture.

The idea, said the chapel’s theological assistant, was to recognize the growing importance of artificial intelligence in human lives, even when it comes to religion, and explore the limits of human trust in a machine.

After the two-month run of the “Deus in Machina” exhibit at Peter’s Chapel starting in late August, some 900 conversations from visitors –- some came more than once –- were transcribed anonymously. Those behind the project said it was largely a success: Visitors often came out moved or deep in thought, and found it easy to use.

A small sign invited visitors to enter a confessional -– chosen for its intimacy –- and below a lattice screen across which penitent believers would usually speak with a priest, a green light signaled the visitor's turn to speak, and a red one came on when “AI Jesus” on a computer screen on the other side was responding.

Often, a lag time was needed to wait for the response – a testament to the technical complexities. After exiting, nearly 300 visitors filled out questionnaires that informed the report released Wednesday.

Philipp Haslbauer, an IT specialist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts who pulled together the technical side of the project, said the AI responsible for taking the role of “AI Jesus” and generating responses was&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fopenai.com%2Findex%2Fhello-gpt-4o%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cjkeaten%40ap.org%7Ce41aba33ee584785f25708dd0efc2418%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638683198312208533%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=svNj3jjFZaSGW2ruEhkUaPwPJYGp1d8BrCytcNcP36w%3D&amp;reserved=0">GPT-4o</a>&nbsp;by OpenAI, and an open-source version of the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-health-business-90020cdf5fa16c79ca2e5b6c4c9bbb14">Whisper</a>&nbsp;was used for speech comprehension.

An AI video generator from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heygen.com/?sid=rewardful&amp;via=giber&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAxqC6BhBcEiwAlXp453OJr4YSu9Ehc-Y-essmJSnYoT-uPdQBY0ZOri6YLVE_yp6zcb-e7xoCGWMQAvD_BwE">Heygen</a>&nbsp;was used to produce voice and video from a real person, he said. Haslbauer said no specific safeguards were used “because we observed GPT-4o to respond fairly well to controversial topics.”

Visitors broached many topics, including true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering in the world, the existence of God, plus issues like sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church or its position on homosexuality.

Most visitors described themselves as Christians, though agnostics, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists took part too, according to a recap of the project released by the Catholic parish of Lucerne.

About one-third were German speakers, but “AI Jesus” — which is conversant in about 100 languages — also had conversations in languages like Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Spanish.

“What was really interesting (was) to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way. They didn’t come to make jokes,” said chapel theologian Marco Schmid, who spearheaded the project. Most visitors were aged 40 to 70, and more Catholics respondents found the experience stimulating than did Protestants, the report showed.

Schmid was quick to point out that the “AI Jesus” – billed as a “Jesus-like” persona – was an artistic experiment to get people thinking about the intersection between the digital and the divine, not substitute for human interaction or sacramental confessions with a priest, nor was it intended to save pastoral resources.

“For the people it was clear that it was a computer ... It was clear it was not a confession,” Schmid said. “He wasn’t programmed to give absolutions or prayers. At the end, it was more summary of the conversation.”

The Catholic Church from the Vatican on down has been wrestling with the challenges –- and possible opportunities -– presented by the explosion in public interest in AI since generative artificial intelligence captured the world’s attention two years ago when OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut.

The Vatican has appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-ethics-benanti-vatican-italy-friar-microsoft-7a49d562633937efa0e826fb1fa08cc1">a friar from a medieval Franciscan order</a>&nbsp;as its top expert on AI, and a Lutheran church in Bavaria served up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">sermons delivered by a chatbot</a>&nbsp;last year. Pope Francis, in his annual peace message for this year, pushed for an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-ai-artificial-intelligence-9805fec11681adbf88d3a7c73bdf47de">international treaty to ensure the ethical use</a>&nbsp;of AI technology.

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by algorithmic models trained on vast pools of text and other data to mimic speech and generate seemingly unique and human-like responses.

Haslbauer is sensitive to public reaction and has noted chatter on social media saying the project is “blasphemous” or the “work of the devil.”

“If you read comments on the internet about it, some are very negative — which is scary,” Haslbauer, whose long-haired look featured as a basis for the image of the virtual Jesus.

In a demonstration of the technology in the chapel, Haslbauer queried “AI Jesus” about its message for a troubled world, and about whether AI could be helpful as a way for people to find God.

“All knowledge and wisdom ultimately come from God," the chatbot said in a soothing voice, after a pause to respond, and the image briefly crackled. “If used wisely, AI can indeed be a tool to explore the wonders of creation, deepen our understanding of Scripture, and foster connections among people.”

"Yet it remains essential to seek God with all your heart and soul beyond any technology,” it added.

Kenneth Cukier, a journalist, author and expert with the U.S.-based nonprofit group called “AI and Faith,” said if “AI Jesus” helps people connect deeper to themselves and the world, it “has to be a good thing.”

“It will lead to better individuals and a better world,” he said. “However — and there’s a big however — this does feel a little bit infantile, and pardon my pun, machine-like.”

“The risk is that it pulls people, ultimately, farther away from that which is more meaningful, deeper and authentic in spirituality,” said Cukier, co-author of “Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think.”

For Schmid, the exhibit was a pilot project — and he doesn't foresee a second coming of “AI Jesus” anytime soon.

“For us, it was also clear it was just a limited time that we will expose this Jesus," he said, adding that any return would need to be done after deeper thought.

“We are discussing ... how we could revive him again," he said, noting interest from parishes, schoolteachers, researchers and others as the project got media attention in Switzerland and beyond. “They all are interested and would like to have this ‘AI Jesus’. So we have now a little bit to reflect on how we want to continue."

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733063189050.png" alt="Image from video released by the Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Image from video released by the Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMEY KEATEN Associated PressLUCERNE, Switzerland (AP) — Would you trust an “AI Jesus” with your innermost thoughts and troubles?Researchers and religious leaders on Wednesday released findings from a two-month experiment through art in a Catholic chapel in Switzerland, where an avatar of “Jesus” on a computer screen — tucked into a confessional — took questions by visitors on faith, morality and modern-day woes, and offered responses based on Scripture.The idea, said the chapel’s theological assistant, was to recognize the growing importance of artificial intelligence in human lives, even when it comes to religion, and explore the limits of human trust in a machine.After the two-month run of the “Deus in Machina” exhibit at Peter’s Chapel starting in late August, some 900 conversations from visitors –- some came more than once –- were transcribed anonymously. Those behind the project said it was largely a success: Visitors often came out moved or deep in thought, and found it easy to use.A small sign invited visitors to enter a confessional -– chosen for its intimacy –- and below a lattice screen across which penitent believers would usually speak with a priest, a green light signaled the visitor's turn to speak, and a red one came on when “AI Jesus” on a computer screen on the other side was responding.Often, a lag time was needed to wait for the response – a testament to the technical complexities. After exiting, nearly 300 visitors filled out questionnaires that informed the report released Wednesday.<h2>Of love, war, suffering and solitude</h2>Philipp Haslbauer, an IT specialist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts who pulled together the technical side of the project, said the AI responsible for taking the role of “AI Jesus” and generating responses was&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fopenai.com%2Findex%2Fhello-gpt-4o%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cjkeaten%40ap.org%7Ce41aba33ee584785f25708dd0efc2418%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C638683198312208533%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=svNj3jjFZaSGW2ruEhkUaPwPJYGp1d8BrCytcNcP36w%3D&amp;reserved=0">GPT-4o</a>&nbsp;by OpenAI, and an open-source version of the company’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-health-business-90020cdf5fa16c79ca2e5b6c4c9bbb14">Whisper</a>&nbsp;was used for speech comprehension.An AI video generator from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heygen.com/?sid=rewardful&amp;via=giber&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAxqC6BhBcEiwAlXp453OJr4YSu9Ehc-Y-essmJSnYoT-uPdQBY0ZOri6YLVE_yp6zcb-e7xoCGWMQAvD_BwE">Heygen</a>&nbsp;was used to produce voice and video from a real person, he said. Haslbauer said no specific safeguards were used “because we observed GPT-4o to respond fairly well to controversial topics.”Visitors broached many topics, including true love, the afterlife, feelings of solitude, war and suffering in the world, the existence of God, plus issues like sexual abuse cases in the Catholic Church or its position on homosexuality.Most visitors described themselves as Christians, though agnostics, atheists, Muslims, Buddhists and Taoists took part too, according to a recap of the project released by the Catholic parish of Lucerne.About one-third were German speakers, but “AI Jesus” — which is conversant in about 100 languages — also had conversations in languages like Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Italian, Russian and Spanish.<h2>‘Work of the Devil’?</h2>“What was really interesting (was) to see that the people really talked with him in a serious way. They didn’t come to make jokes,” said chapel theologian Marco Schmid, who spearheaded the project. Most visitors were aged 40 to 70, and more Catholics respondents found the experience stimulating than did Protestants, the report showed.Schmid was quick to point out that the “AI Jesus” – billed as a “Jesus-like” persona – was an artistic experiment to get people thinking about the intersection between the digital and the divine, not substitute for human interaction or sacramental confessions with a priest, nor was it intended to save pastoral resources.“For the people it was clear that it was a computer ... It was clear it was not a confession,” Schmid said. “He wasn’t programmed to give absolutions or prayers. At the end, it was more summary of the conversation.”The Catholic Church from the Vatican on down has been wrestling with the challenges –- and possible opportunities -– presented by the explosion in public interest in AI since generative artificial intelligence captured the world’s attention two years ago when OpenAI's ChatGPT made its debut.The Vatican has appointed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-ethics-benanti-vatican-italy-friar-microsoft-7a49d562633937efa0e826fb1fa08cc1">a friar from a medieval Franciscan order</a>&nbsp;as its top expert on AI, and a Lutheran church in Bavaria served up&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-church-protestants-chatgpt-ai-sermon-651f21c24cfb47e3122e987a7263d348">sermons delivered by a chatbot</a>&nbsp;last year. Pope Francis, in his annual peace message for this year, pushed for an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-ai-artificial-intelligence-9805fec11681adbf88d3a7c73bdf47de">international treaty to ensure the ethical use</a>&nbsp;of AI technology.Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by algorithmic models trained on vast pools of text and other data to mimic speech and generate seemingly unique and human-like responses.Haslbauer is sensitive to public reaction and has noted chatter on social media saying the project is “blasphemous” or the “work of the devil.”“If you read comments on the internet about it, some are very negative — which is scary,” Haslbauer, whose long-haired look featured as a basis for the image of the virtual Jesus.In a demonstration of the technology in the chapel, Haslbauer queried “AI Jesus” about its message for a troubled world, and about whether AI could be helpful as a way for people to find God.“All knowledge and wisdom ultimately come from God," the chatbot said in a soothing voice, after a pause to respond, and the image briefly crackled. “If used wisely, AI can indeed be a tool to explore the wonders of creation, deepen our understanding of Scripture, and foster connections among people.”"Yet it remains essential to seek God with all your heart and soul beyond any technology,” it added.<h2>A good side, and downsides</h2>Kenneth Cukier, a journalist, author and expert with the U.S.-based nonprofit group called “AI and Faith,” said if “AI Jesus” helps people connect deeper to themselves and the world, it “has to be a good thing.”“It will lead to better individuals and a better world,” he said. “However — and there’s a big however — this does feel a little bit infantile, and pardon my pun, machine-like.”“The risk is that it pulls people, ultimately, farther away from that which is more meaningful, deeper and authentic in spirituality,” said Cukier, co-author of “Big Data: A Revolution that Will Transform How We Work, Live and Think.”For Schmid, the exhibit was a pilot project — and he doesn't foresee a second coming of “AI Jesus” anytime soon.“For us, it was also clear it was just a limited time that we will expose this Jesus," he said, adding that any return would need to be done after deeper thought.“We are discussing ... how we could revive him again," he said, noting interest from parishes, schoolteachers, researchers and others as the project got media attention in Switzerland and beyond. “They all are interested and would like to have this ‘AI Jesus’. So we have now a little bit to reflect on how we want to continue."___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.——

'AI Jesus' avatar tests man's faith in machines and the divine

Appeal stems from murder, wounding of Washburn football players

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court clarified the timeframe for formulating premeditation while weighing the appeal of a Shawnee County man sentenced to life in prison plus nearly 500 years for murdering a Washburn University football player and wounding a future NFL player.

Justices of the state’s highest court assessed Francisco “Frankie” Alejandro Mendez’ nine claims of trial error after a jury in 2022 found him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree premediated murder and seven counts of aggravated robbery.

He was prosecuted for his part in a three-day crime spree in 2019 that culminated in the death of WU player Dwane Simmons and wounding of teammate Corey Ballentine. They were shot after attending a party celebrating Ballentine’s selection in the NFL draft.

Justice Caleb Stegall wrote the opinion reversing three of Mendez’ convictions for aggravated robbery due to lack of evidence. Otherwise, the Supreme Court affirmed all other convictions.

The justices agreed Mendez received a fair trial despite finding a Shawnee County District Court’s instruction to the jury on aiding and abetting was “legally inappropriate” and that a Shawnee County prosecutor improperly told the jury premeditation could be formed in a single second.

“Though it is prosecutorial error for the state to assert premeditation can be formed in one second, it is not error for the prosecutor to state that premeditation can be formed in five seconds. Five seconds can be enough time for an internal second-thought or hesitation to arise,” the opinion said.

Survivors of the shooting outside a Topeka residence testified Mendez and other occupants of a stolen car drove up to the five Washburn football players engaged in conversation near the street. The players had just left the house party celebrating Ballentine’s draft into the NFL.

People in the vehicle with Mendez asked the players if they had marijuana and to identify themselves. The players said they didn’t have pot and told occupants of the car not to worry about their names.

“The car then began to drive away and the football players resumed their conversation,” Stegall’s opinion said. “Moments later, the car screeched to a halt and the men in the car began shooting at the football players.”

Ballentine was wounded in the pelvic bone while running away, while Ross was fatally shot in the head with a bullet from a revolver. That Colt Trooper .38-caliber weapon, which Mendez had claimed ownership of during a traffic stop prior to the murder, was recovered by police one year after Mendez’ crime spree when a Topeka firearms dealer killed himself by accidentally discharging the gun.

At the scene of the attack on the football players, law enforcement officers collected 18 shell casings from three different semiautomatic guns.

“The victims did not provoke the shooters,” Stegall wrote. “As the state argues, refusing to tell a car full of strangers your name after they pull up at 1 a.m. and ask for weed is not provocation to be shot.”

Stegall’s opinion said sufficient evidence of premeditation existed because it took 10 seconds to 15 seconds for Mendez to drive away, stop the car and begin shooting.

The opinion did fault a Shawnee County prosecutor for claiming premeditation could be equated to an idea that existed for no more than one second.

“To have thought the matter over beforehand and then acted on it, that’s what premeditation is,” the prosecutor told jurors. “It can be a second. It could be five seconds. It could be two weeks of premeditation.”

The Supreme Court said Kansas justices had repeatedly warned prosecutors about making comments analogous to stating premeditation could occur in the same instant as the act resulting in a death.

Stegall, appointed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014, pulled out the court’s cookie analogy to demonstrate how five seconds — rather than a single second — was enough time to form premeditation in a person’s mind. Premeditation can develop in the time required to observe a cookie, reach for it and hesitate while pondering if the cookie should be eaten before dinner, the opinion said.

“The temporal space required to complete that process may be very short — a mere hesitation, perhaps, as my hand hovers over the cookie and I complete the internal double-check,” the opinion says. “While the temporal space required to complete the internal double-check cannot happen in one second or instantly, it may very well occur within five seconds.”

Two nights after the attack of Washburn football players, five people were hanging out in Topeka’s Central Park. Mendez and several other people approached the group and, without provocation, pulled guns and took wallets from two individuals. One shot was fired through the car window of a woman who refused to surrender her telephone to a person thought to be Mendez.

The Supreme Court agreed with Mendez on appeal there was insufficient evidence property was taken from several victims. That led to reversal of three convictions for aggravated robbery.

Justice Evelyn Wilson, appointed in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, signed a concurring opinion. She agreed with the majority’s analysis and holdings except to reiterate disagreement with the way the Supreme Court handled jury instruction errors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/10/1570915422888.png" alt="Dwane Simmons photo courtesy Washburn Athletics" />
 <figcaption>Dwane Simmons photo courtesy Washburn Athletics</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Appeal stems from murder, wounding of Washburn football players</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court clarified the timeframe for formulating premeditation while weighing the appeal of a Shawnee County man sentenced to life in prison plus nearly 500 years for murdering a Washburn University football player and wounding a future NFL player.Justices of the state’s highest court assessed Francisco “Frankie” Alejandro Mendez’ nine claims of trial error after a jury in 2022 found him guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, four counts of attempted first-degree premediated murder and seven counts of aggravated robbery.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/9/1569579773491.png" alt="Mendez photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Mendez photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>He was prosecuted for his part in a three-day crime spree in 2019 that culminated in the death of WU player Dwane Simmons and wounding of teammate Corey Ballentine. They were shot after attending a party celebrating Ballentine’s selection in the NFL draft.Justice Caleb Stegall wrote the opinion reversing three of Mendez’ convictions for aggravated robbery due to lack of evidence. Otherwise, the Supreme Court affirmed all other convictions.The justices agreed Mendez received a fair trial despite finding a Shawnee County District Court’s instruction to the jury on aiding and abetting was “legally inappropriate” and that a Shawnee County prosecutor improperly told the jury premeditation could be formed in a single second.“Though it is prosecutorial error for the state to assert premeditation can be formed in one second, it is not error for the prosecutor to state that premeditation can be formed in five seconds. Five seconds can be enough time for an internal second-thought or hesitation to arise,” the opinion said.Survivors of the shooting outside a Topeka residence testified Mendez and other occupants of a stolen car drove up to the five Washburn football players engaged in conversation near the street. The players had just left the house party celebrating Ballentine’s draft into the NFL.People in the vehicle with Mendez asked the players if they had marijuana and to identify themselves. The players said they didn’t have pot and told occupants of the car not to worry about their names.“The car then began to drive away and the football players resumed their conversation,” Stegall’s opinion said. “Moments later, the car screeched to a halt and the men in the car began shooting at the football players.”Ballentine was wounded in the pelvic bone while running away, while Ross was fatally shot in the head with a bullet from a revolver. That Colt Trooper .38-caliber weapon, which Mendez had claimed ownership of during a traffic stop prior to the murder, was recovered by police one year after Mendez’ crime spree when a Topeka firearms dealer killed himself by accidentally discharging the gun.At the scene of the attack on the football players, law enforcement officers collected 18 shell casings from three different semiautomatic guns.“The victims did not provoke the shooters,” Stegall wrote. “As the state argues, refusing to tell a car full of strangers your name after they pull up at 1 a.m. and ask for weed is not provocation to be shot.”Stegall’s opinion said sufficient evidence of premeditation existed because it took 10 seconds to 15 seconds for Mendez to drive away, stop the car and begin shooting.The opinion did fault a Shawnee County prosecutor for claiming premeditation could be equated to an idea that existed for no more than one second.“To have thought the matter over beforehand and then acted on it, that’s what premeditation is,” the prosecutor told jurors. “It can be a second. It could be five seconds. It could be two weeks of premeditation.”The Supreme Court said Kansas justices had repeatedly warned prosecutors about making comments analogous to stating premeditation could occur in the same instant as the act resulting in a death.Stegall, appointed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014, pulled out the court’s cookie analogy to demonstrate how five seconds — rather than a single second — was enough time to form premeditation in a person’s mind. Premeditation can develop in the time required to observe a cookie, reach for it and hesitate while pondering if the cookie should be eaten before dinner, the opinion said.“The temporal space required to complete that process may be very short — a mere hesitation, perhaps, as my hand hovers over the cookie and I complete the internal double-check,” the opinion says. “While the temporal space required to complete the internal double-check cannot happen in one second or instantly, it may very well occur within five seconds.”Two nights after the attack of Washburn football players, five people were hanging out in Topeka’s Central Park. Mendez and several other people approached the group and, without provocation, pulled guns and took wallets from two individuals. One shot was fired through the car window of a woman who refused to surrender her telephone to a person thought to be Mendez.The Supreme Court agreed with Mendez on appeal there was insufficient evidence property was taken from several victims. That led to reversal of three convictions for aggravated robbery.Justice Evelyn Wilson, appointed in 2019 by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, signed a concurring opinion. She agreed with the majority’s analysis and holdings except to reiterate disagreement with the way the Supreme Court handled jury instruction errors.

Kansas Supreme Court refines premeditation definition in appeal of murder case

DANIA BEACH, Florida (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">As immigration</a>&nbsp;remains a hotly contested&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-border-asylum-mass-deportation-a681c4980ef25e2b3a7ae670c9094f4a">priority for the Trump administration</a>&nbsp;after playing a decisive role in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-votecast-trump-harris-election-president-voters-86225516e8424431ab1d19e57a74f198">deeply polarized election</a>, the Border Patrol agents tasked with enforcing many of its laws are wrestling with growing challenges on and off the job.

More are training to become chaplains to help their peers as they tackle security threats, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-cartels-smuggling-chiapas-us-border-67d4851eefa60981bceb772bf26d7204">powerful cartels that control</a>&nbsp;much of the border dynamic, and witness growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-immigration-trump-cbp-one-border-deportation-5b3ad43ffc1a8211615efdc5bf584b7f">suffering among migrants</a>&nbsp;— all while policies in Washington keep shifting and public outrage targets them from all sides.

“The hardest thing is, people … don’t know what we do, and we’ve been called terrible names,” said Brandon Fredrick, a Buffalo, New York-based agent some of whose family members have resorted to name-calling.

Earlier this month, he served as a training academy instructor for Border Patrol chaplains, whose numbers have almost doubled in the last four years. It's an effort to help agents motivated by the desire to keep the U.S. borders safe cope with mounting distress before it leads to family dysfunction, addiction, even suicide.

Chaplains academy trains agents to tackle emotional distress

During the latest academy, held at a Border Patrol station near Miami, Fredrick evaluated pairs of chaplains-in-training as they role-played checking on a fellow agent who hadn’t reported for work.

They discovered he’d been drowning in alcohol his angst at being deployed away from his family for the holidays at one of the border’s hotspots. The training scenario was achingly real for the South Florida-based agent role-playing the distressed one — he had struggled when relocated for 18 months to Del Rio, Texas, away from his two children — and also for Fredrick, who overcame alcoholism before becoming a chaplain.

Interacting with chaplains can reduce the agents' reluctance to express their emotional trials, Fredrick said.

“My mission every day is that there’s not a young agent Fredrick suffering alone,” he added. Fredrick, a Catholic, has been an agent for more than 15 years and worked tragic cases like a smuggling attempt where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-canada-india-smuggling-deaths-trial-verdict-de2f999332e6cc8be1ea78c7fdfb6590">an Indian family froze to death at the Canada-U.S. border</a>.

Confidential support, with a side of faith

Unlike the police or military, which recruits faith leaders for help with everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/navy-suicide-prevention-chaplains-norfolk-74910c421b5c2404db87c1d8fc6dd4c6">suicide prevention</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-paul-christianity-minnesota-racial-injustice-6f69d7ef3c4d005da12879b312b78c3c">dealing with the unrest</a>&nbsp;after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-floyd">George Floyd’s murder</a>, the Border Patrol trains mostly lay agents endorsed by their faith denominations to become chaplains.

After graduating, they join about 240 other chaplains and resume their regular jobs — but they’re constantly on call to provide largely confidential care for their 20,000 fellow agents’ well-being.

While most chaplains are Christian, Muslim and Jewish agents also have been trained recently. The chaplains don’t offer faith-specific worship and only bring up religion if the person they’re helping does first.

“I’m not there to convert or proselytize,” said academy instructor Jason Wilhite, an agent in Casa Grande, Arizona, and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A chaplain since 2015, he was previously involved in the agency's nonreligious, mental health-focused peer support program after a fellow agent died in a car accident.

Agent Jesus Vasavilbaso decided to join the Border Patrol's peer support program after witnessing the trauma of repeatedly responding to calls from lost and dying migrants in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-mountains-arizona-tucson-deserts-f9d1b468c33dfcf7c43401de24c1754a">unforgiving desert southwest of Tucson, Arizona</a>.

“Sometimes you go home and keep thinking you didn’t find them,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important we check on each other all the time.”

Training to deal with deaths at the border

At the most recent chaplain academy, which lasted 2.5 weeks, the 15 chaplains-in-training — mostly from the Border Patrol, plus a few Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management officers — practiced real-life scenarios, including responding to a deadly wreck involving agents and notifying a spouse their loved one died on the job.

Chris Day, a chaplain since 2017, evaluated trainees trying to comfort an agent who kept screaming that it was all his fault his partner was killed. In the training scenario, their car crashed as they chased someone crossing the border illegally.

Day praised the trainees' efforts to get the agent to talk, but advised them not to say, “'I understand.' Because you don’t.”

Later, Day told the class he had helped an agent who watched the smugglers he was chasing smash their car into a family, gravely injuring a toddler. He said the agent had “ugly cried" at the scene and kept repeating that his child was the same age, so Day took him aside briefly and followed up after.

“We hugged it out,” said Day, a Baptist with a Psalm verse tattooed on his right arm.

He also has helped the wife of an agent who killed himself, and prayed for migrants who request it.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-deaths-new-mexico-677a6b57e729ca076a0d12dba31c3b70">More than 100 migrants have died</a>&nbsp;so far this year in New Mexico's desert, where Day is stationed.

“The smells and visuals stay with you forever,” Day said. “We have empathy for people coming across.”

Combining vigilance with empathy on and off duty

Trying to comfort migrant children in their custody, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-guatemala-us-election-youth-indigenous-faith-6c919ad842feac8d42f90ed9f9c871ec">thousands who cross the border alone</a>, is also a wrenching task for agents.

At the academy, Trinidad Balderas, a father and medic in McAllen, Texas, and Yaira Santiago, a former schoolteacher who runs a Border Patrol migrant processing center at the other end of the southern border in San Diego, California, said they both seek to provide some calm in the chaos of the children's situation.

“One tries to give them support within the limits of what your work allows. I always have the biggest smile,” Santiago said.

Border Patrol assistant chief and chaplaincy program manager Spencer Hatch highlighted the need to maintain both the “hypervigilance” of law enforcement and the humanitarian instinct to empathize with migrants and fellow agents.

He also taught strategies to protect the agents’ families from “spillover trauma.” Divorces increase when agents are redeployed during migrant surges — some up to 9 times over 18 months during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">the record border crossings</a>&nbsp;early in the Biden Administration.

Many agents’ children are scared to reveal their parent’s job — especially in border communities. They might be going to school with children of cartel members, or of undocumented migrants, or those who see the Border Patrol as “keeping people from living the American dream,” in Hatch’s words.

“That’s a really hard thing to deal with, as things tend to flip from one side to the other, and we’re still in the crossfire,” he added.

Hatch uses as a case study of moral injury, a 2021 incident in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-texas-immigration-del-rio-border-patrols-12379b2959ecf20224a4a7bee05cb8ea">Del Rio where agents on horseback</a>&nbsp;appeared in some viral photos to be whipping immigrants with their reins — which a federal investigation later determined hadn’t happened.

“For one picture to be taken out of context and to have the highest levels of government shaming those people, that was very disheartening. That hurt all of us,” Hatch said.

Wrestling with moral standards and a higher calling

Dealing with that “dissonance” of enforcing immigration laws, including rescuing migrants, and hearing their jobs demonized by the public, is a major challenge, said Tucson-area chaplain Jimmy Stout. He was one of first four chaplains when the program was started through a grassroots effort at the southern border in the late 1990s.

“We go over this on day one,” Stout said. “Is what they’re doing meeting their personal standards?”

For the agents who got their chaplain pins last week, those standards now involve a higher calling, too.

Class speaker Matt Kiniery, a father of three who joined the Army after 9/11 and the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, in 2009, decided to become a chaplain after an on-duty car wreck so bad the doctor called his survival miraculous.

“‘The guy upstairs has got something for you.’ I took that to heart,” Kiniery said. Chaplains helped his wife Jeanna then, and the couple is now eager to support his new role.

“Even in moments of uncertainty, your presence is often enough,” the 6-foot-5 agent told the graduating class, before his voice broke. Several instructors in the audience wiped away tears.

DANIA BEACH, Florida (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">As immigration</a>&nbsp;remains a hotly contested&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-border-asylum-mass-deportation-a681c4980ef25e2b3a7ae670c9094f4a">priority for the Trump administration</a>&nbsp;after playing a decisive role in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-votecast-trump-harris-election-president-voters-86225516e8424431ab1d19e57a74f198">deeply polarized election</a>, the Border Patrol agents tasked with enforcing many of its laws are wrestling with growing challenges on and off the job.More are training to become chaplains to help their peers as they tackle security threats, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-cartels-smuggling-chiapas-us-border-67d4851eefa60981bceb772bf26d7204">powerful cartels that control</a>&nbsp;much of the border dynamic, and witness growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-immigration-trump-cbp-one-border-deportation-5b3ad43ffc1a8211615efdc5bf584b7f">suffering among migrants</a>&nbsp;— all while policies in Washington keep shifting and public outrage targets them from all sides.“The hardest thing is, people … don’t know what we do, and we’ve been called terrible names,” said Brandon Fredrick, a Buffalo, New York-based agent some of whose family members have resorted to name-calling.Earlier this month, he served as a training academy instructor for Border Patrol chaplains, whose numbers have almost doubled in the last four years. It's an effort to help agents motivated by the desire to keep the U.S. borders safe cope with mounting distress before it leads to family dysfunction, addiction, even suicide.<h2>Chaplains academy trains agents to tackle emotional distress</h2>During the latest academy, held at a Border Patrol station near Miami, Fredrick evaluated pairs of chaplains-in-training as they role-played checking on a fellow agent who hadn’t reported for work.They discovered he’d been drowning in alcohol his angst at being deployed away from his family for the holidays at one of the border’s hotspots. The training scenario was achingly real for the South Florida-based agent role-playing the distressed one — he had struggled when relocated for 18 months to Del Rio, Texas, away from his two children — and also for Fredrick, who overcame alcoholism before becoming a chaplain.Interacting with chaplains can reduce the agents' reluctance to express their emotional trials, Fredrick said.“My mission every day is that there’s not a young agent Fredrick suffering alone,” he added. Fredrick, a Catholic, has been an agent for more than 15 years and worked tragic cases like a smuggling attempt where&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-canada-india-smuggling-deaths-trial-verdict-de2f999332e6cc8be1ea78c7fdfb6590">an Indian family froze to death at the Canada-U.S. border</a>.<h2>Confidential support, with a side of faith</h2>Unlike the police or military, which recruits faith leaders for help with everything from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/navy-suicide-prevention-chaplains-norfolk-74910c421b5c2404db87c1d8fc6dd4c6">suicide prevention</a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/st-paul-christianity-minnesota-racial-injustice-6f69d7ef3c4d005da12879b312b78c3c">dealing with the unrest</a>&nbsp;after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-floyd">George Floyd’s murder</a>, the Border Patrol trains mostly lay agents endorsed by their faith denominations to become chaplains.After graduating, they join about 240 other chaplains and resume their regular jobs — but they’re constantly on call to provide largely confidential care for their 20,000 fellow agents’ well-being.While most chaplains are Christian, Muslim and Jewish agents also have been trained recently. The chaplains don’t offer faith-specific worship and only bring up religion if the person they’re helping does first.“I’m not there to convert or proselytize,” said academy instructor Jason Wilhite, an agent in Casa Grande, Arizona, and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A chaplain since 2015, he was previously involved in the agency's nonreligious, mental health-focused peer support program after a fellow agent died in a car accident.Agent Jesus Vasavilbaso decided to join the Border Patrol's peer support program after witnessing the trauma of repeatedly responding to calls from lost and dying migrants in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-mountains-arizona-tucson-deserts-f9d1b468c33dfcf7c43401de24c1754a">unforgiving desert southwest of Tucson, Arizona</a>.“Sometimes you go home and keep thinking you didn’t find them,” he said. “That’s why it’s so important we check on each other all the time.”<h2>Training to deal with deaths at the border</h2>At the most recent chaplain academy, which lasted 2.5 weeks, the 15 chaplains-in-training — mostly from the Border Patrol, plus a few Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management officers — practiced real-life scenarios, including responding to a deadly wreck involving agents and notifying a spouse their loved one died on the job.Chris Day, a chaplain since 2017, evaluated trainees trying to comfort an agent who kept screaming that it was all his fault his partner was killed. In the training scenario, their car crashed as they chased someone crossing the border illegally.Day praised the trainees' efforts to get the agent to talk, but advised them not to say, “'I understand.' Because you don’t.”Later, Day told the class he had helped an agent who watched the smugglers he was chasing smash their car into a family, gravely injuring a toddler. He said the agent had “ugly cried" at the scene and kept repeating that his child was the same age, so Day took him aside briefly and followed up after.“We hugged it out,” said Day, a Baptist with a Psalm verse tattooed on his right arm.He also has helped the wife of an agent who killed himself, and prayed for migrants who request it.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-deaths-new-mexico-677a6b57e729ca076a0d12dba31c3b70">More than 100 migrants have died</a>&nbsp;so far this year in New Mexico's desert, where Day is stationed.“The smells and visuals stay with you forever,” Day said. “We have empathy for people coming across.”<h2>Combining vigilance with empathy on and off duty</h2>Trying to comfort migrant children in their custody, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-guatemala-us-election-youth-indigenous-faith-6c919ad842feac8d42f90ed9f9c871ec">thousands who cross the border alone</a>, is also a wrenching task for agents.At the academy, Trinidad Balderas, a father and medic in McAllen, Texas, and Yaira Santiago, a former schoolteacher who runs a Border Patrol migrant processing center at the other end of the southern border in San Diego, California, said they both seek to provide some calm in the chaos of the children's situation.“One tries to give them support within the limits of what your work allows. I always have the biggest smile,” Santiago said.Border Patrol assistant chief and chaplaincy program manager Spencer Hatch highlighted the need to maintain both the “hypervigilance” of law enforcement and the humanitarian instinct to empathize with migrants and fellow agents.He also taught strategies to protect the agents’ families from “spillover trauma.” Divorces increase when agents are redeployed during migrant surges — some up to 9 times over 18 months during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">the record border crossings</a>&nbsp;early in the Biden Administration.Many agents’ children are scared to reveal their parent’s job — especially in border communities. They might be going to school with children of cartel members, or of undocumented migrants, or those who see the Border Patrol as “keeping people from living the American dream,” in Hatch’s words.“That’s a really hard thing to deal with, as things tend to flip from one side to the other, and we’re still in the crossfire,” he added.Hatch uses as a case study of moral injury, a 2021 incident in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-texas-immigration-del-rio-border-patrols-12379b2959ecf20224a4a7bee05cb8ea">Del Rio where agents on horseback</a>&nbsp;appeared in some viral photos to be whipping immigrants with their reins — which a federal investigation later determined hadn’t happened.“For one picture to be taken out of context and to have the highest levels of government shaming those people, that was very disheartening. That hurt all of us,” Hatch said.<h2>Wrestling with moral standards and a higher calling</h2>Dealing with that “dissonance” of enforcing immigration laws, including rescuing migrants, and hearing their jobs demonized by the public, is a major challenge, said Tucson-area chaplain Jimmy Stout. He was one of first four chaplains when the program was started through a grassroots effort at the southern border in the late 1990s.“We go over this on day one,” Stout said. “Is what they’re doing meeting their personal standards?”For the agents who got their chaplain pins last week, those standards now involve a higher calling, too.Class speaker Matt Kiniery, a father of three who joined the Army after 9/11 and the Border Patrol in El Paso, Texas, in 2009, decided to become a chaplain after an on-duty car wreck so bad the doctor called his survival miraculous.“‘The guy upstairs has got something for you.’ I took that to heart,” Kiniery said. Chaplains helped his wife Jeanna then, and the couple is now eager to support his new role.“Even in moments of uncertainty, your presence is often enough,” the 6-foot-5 agent told the graduating class, before his voice broke. Several instructors in the audience wiped away tears.

Border Patrol trains more chaplains as the job and polarizing immigration debate rattle agents

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating the murder of a Kansas man.

Just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the area of N. 2nd Street and Quindaro Blvd. in Kansas City, Kansas, after reports of a deceased person inside a vehicle, according to a media release from police.

First responders found a man inside a vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp; Police did not release the name of the victim or possible suspect details.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating the murder of a Kansas man.Just before 11:30 a.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the area of N. 2nd Street and Quindaro Blvd. in Kansas City, Kansas, after reports of a deceased person inside a vehicle, according to a media release from police.First responders found a man inside a vehicle with an apparent gunshot wound. This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp; Police did not release the name of the victim or possible suspect details.

Homicide: Kansas man found dead in vehicle

President-elect&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;has filled the key posts for his second term in office, prioritizing loyalty to him after he felt bruised and hampered by internal squabbling during his first term.

Some of his choices could face difficult confirmation fights in the Senate, even with Republicans in control, and one candidate has already withdrawn from consideration.

Trump would turn a former critic into an ally as the nation's top diplomat.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marco-rubio-trump-latin-america-secretary-of-state-87aff0ce93f638fb69e30b067ecd84fb">Rubio</a>, 53, is a noted hawk on China, Cuba and Iran, and was a finalist to be Trump's running mate before the slot went to JD Vance. Rubio is vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

His selection punctuates the hard pivot&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-marco-rubio-secretary-of-state-25664371f80dcf3332838352165e4d48">Rubio</a>&nbsp;has made with Trump, whom the senator once called a “con man" during his own unsuccessful campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-defense-secretary-pentagon-2d8030921ecef933778cf92afd40ec72">Hegseth</a>, 44, was a co-host of Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends Weekend” and had been a contributor with the network since 2014. He developed a friendship with Trump, who made regular appearances on the show.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/who-is-pete-hegseth-trump-defense-secretary-2e2bdd16c8e90f5d037f763cfadbde94">Hegseth</a>&nbsp;served in the Army National Guard from 2002 to 2021, deploying to Iraq in 2005 and Afghanistan in 2011 and earning two Bronze Stars. He lacks senior military and national security experience and would oversee global crises ranging from Europe to the Middle East.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-assault-allegations-police-report-trump-e6ebec0a1a5c7fb51cb5e2198f5e12a5">A woman told police that she was sexually assaulted</a>&nbsp;in 2017 by Hegseth after he took her phone, blocked the door to a California hotel room and refused to let her leave, according to a detailed investigative report recently made public. Hegseth told police at the time that the encounter had been consensual and has denied any wrongdoing.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/treasury-election-scott-bessent-trump-e4df1ef61309ee78f2affc2d9eabeff1">Bessent</a>, 62, is a former money manager for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/george-soros">George Soros</a>, a big Democratic donor, and an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/budget-deficit-trump-harris-kamala-debt-1ee3ff65e22ccf19d19b792ee22c46da">advocate for deficit reduction</a>. He founded the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management after having worked on and off for Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the nation’s first openly gay treasury secretary.

He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join Trump’s campaign in part to attack the mounting U.S. national debt. That would include slashing government programs and other spending.

Director of national intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard

Gabbard, 43, is a former Democratic House member from Hawaii who has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tulsi-gabbard-intelligence-director-russia-putin-0f661dd39bd16e248b16c049e6aa26c5">accused of echoing Russian propaganda.</a>&nbsp;She unsuccessfully sought the party’s 2020 presidential nomination and left the party in 2022. Gabbard endorsed Trump in August and campaigned often with him.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gabbard-director-national-intelligence-466dfdfe2f949ea20bc2f4ef13e21438">Gabbard</a>&nbsp;has served in the Army National Guard for more than two decades and deployed to Iraq and Kuwait. If confirmed she would come to the role as an outsider compared to her predecessor. The current director, Avril Haines, spent several years in top national security and intelligence positions.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gaetz-trump-fbi-justice-department-248b46ba0c882dd46d661568e8bd3bd7">Bondi</a>, 59, was Florida's first female attorney general, serving between 2011 and 2019. She was on Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial in 2020.

Considered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/things-to-know-pam-bondi-eec1d16075c7debda62223b475e3977d">a loyalist</a>, Bondi also has served with the America First Policy Institute, a Trump-allied group that has helped lay the groundwork for his future administration.

Bondi was among a group of Republicans who showed up to support Trump at his hush-money criminal trial in New York that ended in May with a conviction on 34 felony counts. A fierce defender of Trump, she also frequently appeared on Fox News and has been critical of the criminal cases against him.