Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and a number of players, including Patrick Mahomes and Tyrann Mathieu, talked football with the Super Bowl media Wednesday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and a number of players, including Patrick Mahomes and Tyrann Mathieu, talked football with the Super Bowl media Wednesday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F217825116600933%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥Chiefs's Reid, Mahomes, Mathieu, and others talk football

By KIM BALDWIN McPherson County farmer and rancher

I was recently asked to help judge an FFA speech contest. I happily agreed to help as I thoroughly enjoy listening to young adults present their research and memorized written work before a panel of strangers. Besides, setting aside a few hours to judge is the least I can do to help support a valuable organization that helped shape me. &nbsp; This year’s contest was void of a building full of chattering high schoolers from around Kansas nervously working through their manuscripts one last time before presenting to a room of judges. There was no electric feeling in the air from teens anxiously pacing hallways prior to their events. There was no tabulation room where FFA advisors would catch up with one another over warm cups of coffee and cold donuts. There was no pizza for students and adult volunteers to devour. This year’s event was virtual. &nbsp; Some of my best FFA memories were when I’d get up hours before the sun, drive into town, get on a yellow bus with my fellow FFA members and travel to contests and events. Those were always the mornings I didn’t want to hit the snooze button. &nbsp; On the bus, I’d practice for my contest followed by a jam out session to the likes of AC/DC thanks to someone bringing their boombox. We would all look forward to seeing our friends from across the state and being able to hangout and socialize after completing our contests while waiting for judges to tabulate scorecards. We’d play cards, eat junk food, listen to music and sometimes harass our tired ag teachers. Competing was fun. Building my skills was fun. But the social aspect was something I genuinely looked forward to as well. &nbsp; I checked into the Zoom meeting room from the comfort of my kitchen. One by one, students from across the central part of Kansas would be admitted into our virtual room at their assigned time to give their prepared speech on a topic of their choice — aiming to be within six and eight minutes — before completing a five-minute question and answer session with the judges. &nbsp; I’m not sure if the absence of live, in-person stone faced judges staring at you eased the anxiety of this year’s batch of prepared public speakers. I do know there was a new set of unofficial criteria each student had to mentally check aside from making sure their tie was on straight and their jacket was zipped properly before walking into a room and giving their speech at their assigned time. &nbsp; Students had to be cognizant of their Wi-Fi connections, their audio levels, their lighting, the angle of their computer screens, their backgrounds and any background noises that could potentially derail a speaker. Hands down, there were a lot more that students had to prepare for this year. &nbsp; While some students presented their speeches in classrooms, others presented from a room in their homes. Regardless, every one of the speakers showed up on time in their official dress to present work they had spent weeks, if not months, preparing. &nbsp; While it would have been easy to take a pass on this year’s speech event because the traditional environment was nonexistent, and because students didn’t get out of school for the day, and because there was no bus ride where students could bond, and there was no opportunity to mingle with students from other schools while waiting for scores to post. I have to say that agriculture students from across central Kansas still put in the work and performed to the best of their abilities this year even though the extra perks of traveling to a contest and seeing their friends didn't happen. &nbsp; The caliber of work presented and the number of students competing was not lost.&nbsp; &nbsp; While COVID-19 sure has led to the creation of different experiences I don’t think any of us could have imagined a year ago; I admire the students (and their teachers) still pushing forward for continued self-improvement and excellence, even in the time of a pandemic.

"Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.&nbsp;Copyright © 2021 Kansas Farm Bureau, All rights reserved.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573617414005.jpeg" alt="Kim Baldwin. Photo courtesy KFB" />
 <figcaption>Kim Baldwin. Photo courtesy KFB</figcaption>
 </figure>By KIM BALDWIN McPherson County farmer and rancherI was recently asked to help judge an FFA speech contest. I happily agreed to help as I thoroughly enjoy listening to young adults present their research and memorized written work before a panel of strangers. Besides, setting aside a few hours to judge is the least I can do to help support a valuable organization that helped shape me. &nbsp; This year’s contest was void of a building full of chattering high schoolers from around Kansas nervously working through their manuscripts one last time before presenting to a room of judges. There was no electric feeling in the air from teens anxiously pacing hallways prior to their events. There was no tabulation room where FFA advisors would catch up with one another over warm cups of coffee and cold donuts. There was no pizza for students and adult volunteers to devour. This year’s event was virtual. &nbsp; Some of my best FFA memories were when I’d get up hours before the sun, drive into town, get on a yellow bus with my fellow FFA members and travel to contests and events. Those were always the mornings I didn’t want to hit the snooze button. &nbsp; On the bus, I’d practice for my contest followed by a jam out session to the likes of AC/DC thanks to someone bringing their boombox. We would all look forward to seeing our friends from across the state and being able to hangout and socialize after completing our contests while waiting for judges to tabulate scorecards. We’d play cards, eat junk food, listen to music and sometimes harass our tired ag teachers. Competing was fun. Building my skills was fun. But the social aspect was something I genuinely looked forward to as well. &nbsp; I checked into the Zoom meeting room from the comfort of my kitchen. One by one, students from across the central part of Kansas would be admitted into our virtual room at their assigned time to give their prepared speech on a topic of their choice — aiming to be within six and eight minutes — before completing a five-minute question and answer session with the judges. &nbsp; I’m not sure if the absence of live, in-person stone faced judges staring at you eased the anxiety of this year’s batch of prepared public speakers. I do know there was a new set of unofficial criteria each student had to mentally check aside from making sure their tie was on straight and their jacket was zipped properly before walking into a room and giving their speech at their assigned time. &nbsp; Students had to be cognizant of their Wi-Fi connections, their audio levels, their lighting, the angle of their computer screens, their backgrounds and any background noises that could potentially derail a speaker. Hands down, there were a lot more that students had to prepare for this year. &nbsp; While some students presented their speeches in classrooms, others presented from a room in their homes. Regardless, every one of the speakers showed up on time in their official dress to present work they had spent weeks, if not months, preparing. &nbsp; While it would have been easy to take a pass on this year’s speech event because the traditional environment was nonexistent, and because students didn’t get out of school for the day, and because there was no bus ride where students could bond, and there was no opportunity to mingle with students from other schools while waiting for scores to post. I have to say that agriculture students from across central Kansas still put in the work and performed to the best of their abilities this year even though the extra perks of traveling to a contest and seeing their friends didn't happen. &nbsp; The caliber of work presented and the number of students competing was not lost.&nbsp; &nbsp; While COVID-19 sure has led to the creation of different experiences I don’t think any of us could have imagined a year ago; I admire the students (and their teachers) still pushing forward for continued self-improvement and excellence, even in the time of a pandemic."Insight" is a weekly column published by Kansas Farm Bureau, the state's largest farm organization whose mission is to strengthen agriculture and the lives of Kansans through advocacy, education and service.&nbsp;Copyright © 2021 Kansas Farm Bureau, All rights reserved.

INSIGHT: Still pushing forward

Today is Wednesday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2021. There are 331 days left in the year. 

On Feb. 3, 1959, rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. 

In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.

In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified. 

In 1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.

In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the same day an American cargo ship, the SS Housatonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats. 

In 1930, the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.) 

In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived. (Four Army chaplains on board gave away their life jackets to save others and went down with the ship.) 

In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon. 

In 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives handed President Ronald Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his request for $36.2 million in new aid to the Nicaraguan Contras by a vote of 219-211. 

In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft. 

In 1998, Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, 38, for the pickax killings of two people in 1983; she was the first woman executed in the United States since 1984. A U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside. 

In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.

In 2019, in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, featuring just one touchdown, the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3.

Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of protesters staged unprecedented demonstrations against Yemen's autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. ally in battling Islamic militants, as unrest inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia spread further in the Arab world.

Five years ago: Rand Paul dropped his Republican campaign for president, opting to run for re-election to the Senate. Seeking to correct what he called a "hugely distorted impression" of Muslim-Americans, President Barack Obama visited a mosque in Catonsville, Maryland. Earth, Wind &amp; Fire founder Maurice White, 74, died in Los Angeles.

One year ago: In closing arguments at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Democratic prosecutors urged senators to stop a "runaway presidency" and recognize Trump's actions in Ukraine as part of a pattern of behavior that would allow him to "cheat" in the 2020 election; Trump's defenders accused Democrats of trying to undo the 2016 election and said voters should decide Trump's fate. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a "handful" of flights would head to China to bring Americans home from the province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak. Iowa's Democratic caucuses were plagued by technical glitches that led to inconsistencies in the numbers and a delay in reporting the results. (The state Democratic Party would later award 14 delegates to Pete Buttigieg and 12 to Bernie Sanders.) Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

Today's Birthdays: Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 81. Actor Bridget Hanley is 80. Actor Blythe Danner is 78. Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese is 76. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 74. Singer Melanie is 74. Actor Morgan Fairchild is 71. Actor Pamela Franklin is 71. Actor Nathan Lane is 65. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 65. Actor Thomas Calabro is 62. Rock musician/author Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) is 62. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 60. Actor Michele Greene is 59. Country singer Matraca&nbsp; Berg is 57. Actor Maura Tierney is 56. Actor Warwick Davis is 51. Actor Elisa Donovan is 50. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 45. Actor Isla Fisher is 45. Human rights activist Amal Clooney is 43. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp is 39. Actor Matthew Moy is 37. Rapper Sean Kingston is 31. Actor Brandon Micheal Hall is 28.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573488868914.jpeg" alt="Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Wednesday, Feb. 3, the 34th day of 2021. There are 331 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Feb. 3, 1959, rock-and-roll stars Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson died in a small plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. On this date: In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens held a shipboard peace conference off the Virginia coast; the talks deadlocked over the issue of Southern autonomy.In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for a federal income tax, was ratified. In 1916, Canada's original Parliament Buildings, in Ottawa, burned down.In 1917, the United States broke off diplomatic relations with Germany, the same day an American cargo ship, the SS Housatonic, was sunk by a U-boat off Britain after the crew was allowed to board lifeboats. In 1930, the chief justice of the United States, William Howard Taft, resigned for health reasons. (He died just over a month later.) In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. transport ship SS Dorchester, which was carrying troops to Greenland, sank after being hit by a German torpedo in the Labrador Sea; of the more than 900 men aboard, only some 230 survived. (Four Army chaplains on board gave away their life jackets to save others and went down with the ship.) In 1966, the Soviet probe Luna 9 became the first manmade object to make a soft landing on the moon. In 1988, the U.S. House of Representatives handed President Ronald Reagan a major defeat, rejecting his request for $36.2 million in new aid to the Nicaraguan Contras by a vote of 219-211. In 1994, the space shuttle Discovery lifted off, carrying Sergei Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a U.S. spacecraft. In 1998, Texas executed Karla Faye Tucker, 38, for the pickax killings of two people in 1983; she was the first woman executed in the United States since 1984. A U.S. Marine plane sliced through the cable of a ski gondola in Italy, causing the car to plunge hundreds of feet, killing all 20 people inside. In 2006, an Egyptian passenger ferry sank in the Red Sea during bad weather, killing more than 1,000 passengers.In 2019, in the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever, featuring just one touchdown, the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams, 13-3.Ten years ago: Tens of thousands of protesters staged unprecedented demonstrations against Yemen's autocratic president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key U.S. ally in battling Islamic militants, as unrest inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia spread further in the Arab world.Five years ago: Rand Paul dropped his Republican campaign for president, opting to run for re-election to the Senate. Seeking to correct what he called a "hugely distorted impression" of Muslim-Americans, President Barack Obama visited a mosque in Catonsville, Maryland. Earth, Wind &amp; Fire founder Maurice White, 74, died in Los Angeles.One year ago: In closing arguments at President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Democratic prosecutors urged senators to stop a "runaway presidency" and recognize Trump's actions in Ukraine as part of a pattern of behavior that would allow him to "cheat" in the 2020 election; Trump's defenders accused Democrats of trying to undo the 2016 election and said voters should decide Trump's fate. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said a "handful" of flights would head to China to bring Americans home from the province at the center of the coronavirus outbreak. Iowa's Democratic caucuses were plagued by technical glitches that led to inconsistencies in the numbers and a delay in reporting the results. (The state Democratic Party would later award 14 delegates to Pete Buttigieg and 12 to Bernie Sanders.) Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners that he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.Today's Birthdays: Football Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is 81. Actor Bridget Hanley is 80. Actor Blythe Danner is 78. Football Hall of Famer Bob Griese is 76. Singer-guitarist Dave Davies (The Kinks) is 74. Singer Melanie is 74. Actor Morgan Fairchild is 71. Actor Pamela Franklin is 71. Actor Nathan Lane is 65. Rock musician Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) is 65. Actor Thomas Calabro is 62. Rock musician/author Lol Tolhurst (The Cure) is 62. Actor-director Keith Gordon is 60. Actor Michele Greene is 59. Country singer Matraca&nbsp; Berg is 57. Actor Maura Tierney is 56. Actor Warwick Davis is 51. Actor Elisa Donovan is 50. Reggaeton singer Daddy Yankee is 45. Actor Isla Fisher is 45. Human rights activist Amal Clooney is 43. Singer-songwriter Jessica Harp is 39. Actor Matthew Moy is 37. Rapper Sean Kingston is 31. Actor Brandon Micheal Hall is 28.

Today in History -- Feb. 3

All sorts of Kansas City Chiefs are talking with the Super Bowl media today. This time, it is the coordinators' turn. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

All sorts of Kansas City Chiefs are talking with the Super Bowl media today. This time, it is the coordinators' turn. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F277546210374378%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥Chiefs coordinators field media questions during Super Bowl Tuesday

Resplendent in one of his signature Hawaiian shirts, Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and players&nbsp;Patrick Mahomes, Le’Veon Bell, Sammy Watkins, Darrel Williams, Dan Sorensen, Harrison Butker, Mike Remmers, Juan Thornhill, and Bashaud Breeland chatted with the media during a Super Bowl presser Tuesday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

Resplendent in one of his signature Hawaiian shirts, Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid and players&nbsp;Patrick Mahomes, Le’Veon Bell, Sammy Watkins, Darrel Williams, Dan Sorensen, Harrison Butker, Mike Remmers, Juan Thornhill, and Bashaud Breeland chatted with the media during a Super Bowl presser Tuesday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F910042376409380%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥Chiefs' Reid, number of players field Super Bowl media questions

A variety of Chiefs talked football on Monday before the Super Bowl. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a>&nbsp;Facebook page:

A variety of Chiefs talked football on Monday before the Super Bowl. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a>&nbsp;Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F275940813957941%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥A variety of Chiefs talked to the media on Super Bowl Monday

Southeast of Saline students are getting into the Super Bowl spirit. From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Southeast-of-Saline-Elementary-1182330031783483/">Southeast of Saline Elementary</a> Facebook page:

Southeast of Saline students are getting into the Super Bowl spirit. From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Southeast-of-Saline-Elementary-1182330031783483/">Southeast of Saline Elementary</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%3D4366502920032829%26id%3D1182330031783483&width=500&show_text=true&height=645&appId" width="500" height="645" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

SES Elementary students participate in Mahomes Monday

Rolling Hills Zoo has announced that Ryan VanZant has been selected as the zoo’s new executive director. 

VanZant will succeed Bob Jenkins who retired as the zoo’s Executive Director after eight years leading the organization.

“The Board of Directors of Rolling Hills Zoo (RHZ) is excited to welcome Ryan VanZant, as our new executive director,” said Sandy Walker, RHZ board president. “Following a nationwide search, Ryan was chosen for his diverse body of experience and his self-described 'roll up your shirt sleeves and get it done' approach. Ryan has a warm and engaging presence and is experienced in, among other things, zoo management, exhibit design and construction, and fundraising. We are confident that he will make a significant contribution to our zoo.”

“At Rolling Hills Zoo, my focus will be on the visitor experience and the institution’s continued success,” VanZant said. “The biggest accomplishment of RHZ to me is how it came to be. I spent time at the zoo’s fantastic 20th anniversary exhibit in 2019, absorbing every word about its creation through Mr. Walker’s vision and 'go big' enthusiasm to create a top notch zoological and cultural institution. The Zoo’s mission, physical and prairie location, and its built 'by its own bootstraps' history make it an easy place for me to fall in love with. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Rolling Hills Zoo into its next twenty years.”

Prior to joining Rolling Hills Zoo, VanZant served as the director at Hutchinson Zoo where he made significant improvements in the company culture, completed long awaited capital projects, and achieved reaccreditation through the Association of Zoos &amp; Aquariums (AZA).

VanZant has also served as the director of education at the Sutton&nbsp; Avian Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, and as a trainer with Natural Encounters, Inc. for Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Flights of Wonder.

With a Master of Arts from the University of Oklahoma in museum studies, whose primarily focus was leadership and management of natural history museums, VanZant has a refreshed perspective on the effectiveness and importance of this segment of public trust.

VanZant is also looking forward to his move to Salina, which in his eyes is a growing hub, literally at the crossroads of central Kansas, with a strong representation of arts and humanities, entertainment, education and health care.

On a final note VanZant shared, “many find it odd, but the tall grass prairie is where I feel most at home. I have set foot on most continents and experienced many different ecosystems in the name of conservation throughout my career, but my most fulfilling times have been spent at sunrise listening to the prairie chickens boom in the light fog among the sea of grass. Each time I visited Rolling Hills Zoo I am enamored by the landscape. Additionally, the wildlife museum is as exciting as the zoo.”

VanZant will begin his role as Executive Director at Rolling Hills Zoo on Monday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1611930086640.jpeg" alt="Ryan VanZant. Photo courtesy RHZ" />
 <figcaption>Ryan VanZant. Photo courtesy RHZ</figcaption>
 </figure>Rolling Hills Zoo has announced that Ryan VanZant has been selected as the zoo’s new executive director. VanZant will succeed Bob Jenkins who retired as the zoo’s Executive Director after eight years leading the organization.“The Board of Directors of Rolling Hills Zoo (RHZ) is excited to welcome Ryan VanZant, as our new executive director,” said Sandy Walker, RHZ board president. “Following a nationwide search, Ryan was chosen for his diverse body of experience and his self-described 'roll up your shirt sleeves and get it done' approach. Ryan has a warm and engaging presence and is experienced in, among other things, zoo management, exhibit design and construction, and fundraising. We are confident that he will make a significant contribution to our zoo.”“At Rolling Hills Zoo, my focus will be on the visitor experience and the institution’s continued success,” VanZant said. “The biggest accomplishment of RHZ to me is how it came to be. I spent time at the zoo’s fantastic 20th anniversary exhibit in 2019, absorbing every word about its creation through Mr. Walker’s vision and 'go big' enthusiasm to create a top notch zoological and cultural institution. The Zoo’s mission, physical and prairie location, and its built 'by its own bootstraps' history make it an easy place for me to fall in love with. I am honored to have the opportunity to lead Rolling Hills Zoo into its next twenty years.”Prior to joining Rolling Hills Zoo, VanZant served as the director at Hutchinson Zoo where he made significant improvements in the company culture, completed long awaited capital projects, and achieved reaccreditation through the Association of Zoos &amp; Aquariums (AZA).VanZant has also served as the director of education at the Sutton&nbsp; Avian Research Center at the University of Oklahoma, and as a trainer with Natural Encounters, Inc. for Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Flights of Wonder.With a Master of Arts from the University of Oklahoma in museum studies, whose primarily focus was leadership and management of natural history museums, VanZant has a refreshed perspective on the effectiveness and importance of this segment of public trust.VanZant is also looking forward to his move to Salina, which in his eyes is a growing hub, literally at the crossroads of central Kansas, with a strong representation of arts and humanities, entertainment, education and health care.On a final note VanZant shared, “many find it odd, but the tall grass prairie is where I feel most at home. I have set foot on most continents and experienced many different ecosystems in the name of conservation throughout my career, but my most fulfilling times have been spent at sunrise listening to the prairie chickens boom in the light fog among the sea of grass. Each time I visited Rolling Hills Zoo I am enamored by the landscape. Additionally, the wildlife museum is as exciting as the zoo.”VanZant will begin his role as Executive Director at Rolling Hills Zoo on Monday.

VanZant selected as zoo’s new executive director

Your plan has been a lifesaver for us. Why do you think some people are unwilling to listen to good advice, and make changes in their finances?

Thank you so much for all the kind words. I’m really proud of you two for putting in the effort and hard work that goes along changing your financial behaviors and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.everydollar.com/guide-to-budgeting-dave-says" target="_blank">gaining control</a>&nbsp;of your money.

I think there are several reasons why some folks resist making changes in their lives, even when those changes would make things a whole lot better and easier for them. One of those things is often denial.

My dad used to tell me 90 percent of solving a problem is realizing and admitting a problem exists. I’m convinced that one of the major factors keeping people from winning with money is they don’t realize they even have a problem. If you are apathetic because you think things like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/debt/debt-and-income-crisis" target="_blank">debt</a>&nbsp;and living paycheck-to-paycheck are okay or just the way things are, you’ll be unwilling—or even afraid—to make the big changes necessary to achieve big results. Debt is so ingrained into our culture that most Americans can’t envision a car without a payment, or college without&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/student-loan-payoff-calculator" target="_blank">student loans</a>. We’ve been sold on the idea of debt so aggressively that most folks don’t believe life without a pile of payments is possible.&nbsp;

Also, change is painful. Most people won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change. No matter who you are, where you’re at right now financially is, in large part, a sum total of the decisions you’ve made to this point. If you don’t like where you are, you have to acknowledge the fact that things need to change—you&nbsp;need to change.

Finally, there’s an element of ignorance involved. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean being dumb or stupid. What I’m talking about is a simple lack of good, solid information. Anyone can learn things, if they’ll just admit they don’t have all the answers and set their minds to studying and educating themselves. If you’re not careful, what you don’t know about money will&nbsp;make&nbsp;you broke and&nbsp;keep&nbsp;you broke!

<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/" target="_blank">Dave Ramsey</a>&nbsp;is a seven-time No. 1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Dave Ramsey Show, heard by more than 16 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596845065840.jpeg" alt="Dave Ramsey" />
 <figcaption>Dave Ramsey</figcaption>
 </figure>Dear Dave,Your plan has been a lifesaver for us. Why do you think some people are unwilling to listen to good advice, and make changes in their finances?TammiDear Tammi,Thank you so much for all the kind words. I’m really proud of you two for putting in the effort and hard work that goes along changing your financial behaviors and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.everydollar.com/guide-to-budgeting-dave-says" target="_blank">gaining control</a>&nbsp;of your money.I think there are several reasons why some folks resist making changes in their lives, even when those changes would make things a whole lot better and easier for them. One of those things is often denial.My dad used to tell me 90 percent of solving a problem is realizing and admitting a problem exists. I’m convinced that one of the major factors keeping people from winning with money is they don’t realize they even have a problem. If you are apathetic because you think things like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/askdave/debt/debt-and-income-crisis" target="_blank">debt</a>&nbsp;and living paycheck-to-paycheck are okay or just the way things are, you’ll be unwilling—or even afraid—to make the big changes necessary to achieve big results. Debt is so ingrained into our culture that most Americans can’t envision a car without a payment, or college without&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/student-loan-payoff-calculator" target="_blank">student loans</a>. We’ve been sold on the idea of debt so aggressively that most folks don’t believe life without a pile of payments is possible.&nbsp;Also, change is painful. Most people won’t change until the pain of where they are exceeds the pain of change. No matter who you are, where you’re at right now financially is, in large part, a sum total of the decisions you’ve made to this point. If you don’t like where you are, you have to acknowledge the fact that things need to change—you&nbsp;need to change.Finally, there’s an element of ignorance involved. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean being dumb or stupid. What I’m talking about is a simple lack of good, solid information. Anyone can learn things, if they’ll just admit they don’t have all the answers and set their minds to studying and educating themselves. If you’re not careful, what you don’t know about money will&nbsp;make&nbsp;you broke and&nbsp;keep&nbsp;you broke!<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/" target="_blank">Dave Ramsey</a>&nbsp;is a seven-time No. 1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Dave Ramsey Show, heard by more than 16 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions

DAVE SAYS: Don’t embrace the wrong things

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs'&nbsp;Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu, and Chris Jones talked with the media Thursday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs'&nbsp;Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu, and Chris Jones talked with the media Thursday. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F1305174153201542%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥Chiefs' Reid, multiple players, talk football Thursday

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid reviewed the AFC Championship and looked forward to the Super Bowl during a Monday presser. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid reviewed the AFC Championship and looked forward to the Super Bowl during a Monday presser. From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F1278275519223016%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the Super Bowl on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM).

🎥Chiefs' Reid: Good team win; Fisher has torn achilles

Obituary for John Hein - Due to unforeseen circumstances the visitation and services have been postponed.

John Matthew Hein, 46, of El Dorado, Kansas passed away Friday, January 1st, 2020 peacefully in his sleep at his residence. John was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 17, 1974, a son of Melinda L. (Tucker-Hein) Grisham and Bobby C. Hein. John attended Lincoln grade school, McPherson Middle School and McPherson High School, McPherson, Kansas. John Matthew Hein was united in marriage to Danielle Frazier in May of 1994. The young couple established their first home together in McPherson. This union was blessed with the birth of two sons, Gunnar and Brendan. John was a member of the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in McPherson. John enjoyed playing fantasy football and cheering for the Oklahoma Sooners and Dallas Cowboys Football Teams, listening to music, and spending time with his friends and family, especially his boys. He is survived by his parents Bob Hein, of McPherson, Kansas &amp; Melinda Grisham, of El Dorado, Kansas; his sons, Gunnar Hein, of Lawrence, Kansas and Brendan Hein, of Topeka, Kansas; his siblings, Heather Fields and her husband Jeff, of McPherson, Kansas, Tim Hein and his wife Stephanie Hein, of McPherson, Kansas and Shawn Hein and his wife Tammy, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is also survived by grandson, Avery Hein. Visitation will be held on later date at the Glidden-Ediger Chapel. Family request to wear a mask. A private memorial service will be held on a later date at Glidden - Ediger Chapel, McPherson, Kansas, with Pastor Tim Leaf officiating. Other friends and family can watch the service through Facebook Live on Tim Hein's Facebook page. Refer to Tim Hein's page for the livestream of the service, share, and refer back to. Burial will be at a later date Memorials are to the John Hein Memorial Fund and they can be sent to Glidden-Ediger Funeral Home, 222 W. Euclid, McPherson, Kansas 67460.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1611533480198.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Obituary for John Hein - Due to unforeseen circumstances the visitation and services have been postponed.</h2>John Matthew Hein, 46, of El Dorado, Kansas passed away Friday, January 1st, 2020 peacefully in his sleep at his residence. John was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on October 17, 1974, a son of Melinda L. (Tucker-Hein) Grisham and Bobby C. Hein. John attended Lincoln grade school, McPherson Middle School and McPherson High School, McPherson, Kansas. John Matthew Hein was united in marriage to Danielle Frazier in May of 1994. The young couple established their first home together in McPherson. This union was blessed with the birth of two sons, Gunnar and Brendan. John was a member of the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in McPherson. John enjoyed playing fantasy football and cheering for the Oklahoma Sooners and Dallas Cowboys Football Teams, listening to music, and spending time with his friends and family, especially his boys. He is survived by his parents Bob Hein, of McPherson, Kansas &amp; Melinda Grisham, of El Dorado, Kansas; his sons, Gunnar Hein, of Lawrence, Kansas and Brendan Hein, of Topeka, Kansas; his siblings, Heather Fields and her husband Jeff, of McPherson, Kansas, Tim Hein and his wife Stephanie Hein, of McPherson, Kansas and Shawn Hein and his wife Tammy, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is also survived by grandson, Avery Hein. Visitation will be held on later date at the Glidden-Ediger Chapel. Family request to wear a mask. A private memorial service will be held on a later date at Glidden - Ediger Chapel, McPherson, Kansas, with Pastor Tim Leaf officiating. Other friends and family can watch the service through Facebook Live on Tim Hein's Facebook page. Refer to Tim Hein's page for the livestream of the service, share, and refer back to. Burial will be at a later date Memorials are to the John Hein Memorial Fund and they can be sent to Glidden-Ediger Funeral Home, 222 W. Euclid, McPherson, Kansas 67460.

John Matthew Hein

It's Championship Sunday! Are you ready for some football? From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NFL">NFL</a> Facebook page:

Don't forget, if you can't watch the Chiefs-Bills game, you can listen to it on&nbsp;on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM), your local Chiefs Radio Network stations.

It's Championship Sunday! Are you ready for some football? From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NFL">NFL</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FNFL%2Fposts%2F10159217315181263&width=500&show_text=true&height=590&appId" width="500" height="590" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>Don't forget, if you can't watch the Chiefs-Bills game, you can listen to it on&nbsp;on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM), your local Chiefs Radio Network stations.

NFL Championship Sunday schedule

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Migrant workers lined up by the hundreds during a break from picking produce this week to receive the coronavirus vaccine on a Southern California grape farm.

The farmworkers who got their shots are among vulnerable immigrants in the United States — particularly the 11 million in the country illegally — who advocacy groups say may be some of the most difficult people to reach during the largest vaccination campaign in American history.

Some immigrants in the country illegally fear that information taken during vaccinations could be turned over to authorities and so may not seek out vaccines, while those who speak little or no English may find it difficult to access them.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-norc-poll-us-half-want-vaccine-shots-4d98dbfc0a64d60d52ac84c3065dac55">Like other groups</a>, some are also hesitant about receiving a newly approved shot — and language barriers may also make it harder to get messages countering misinformation to them.

While these challenges may exist for many vulnerable immigrant groups, they are particularly worrying for Latino immigrants, who make a large portion of the workforce in industries where they have a significant risk of exposure.

“There is anxiety and it’s real ... but so is the fear of dying of COVID-19,” said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.

To tackle these challenges, groups that advocate for Latino immigrants are heading into farm fields to bring vaccines and information to migrant laborers and trying to counter misinformation in Spanish and other languages.

In California’s sprawling Riverside County, home to a $1.3 billion agriculture industry, the health care nonprofit that brought vaccines to the grape farm recently took tablets into the fields to register workers for vaccine appointments, said Conrado Bárzaga, CEO of Desert Healthcare District and Foundation. The organization also shares information about the virus and how to get tested for it on WhatsApp in Spanish and Purépecha, an indigenous language from western Mexico spoken by some farm workers in California.

The National Day Laborer Organizing Network has used a Spanish-language radio show on social media to share information throughout the pandemic about the virus. Now, the show’s hosts, many of them migrants and low-income workers themselves, plan to spend airtime debunking myths about the vaccine to their 300,000 weekly listeners, Alvarado said.

He believes countering misinformation on social media is key to overcoming most hesitancy about the vaccine — such as knocking down&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3287934e9316b008e2a6c7735b7b01df">false claims that the vaccine would insert a microchip&nbsp;</a>into people.

Daniel Cortés, a 58-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives in New York, is among those with doubts. He’s not authorized to live in the U.S. but any fears of deportation have nothing to do with it. He says he would not take the vaccine because he is healthy and fears a bad reaction. Trials for the vaccines being given in the U.S. involving tens of thousands of participants have so far surfaced no signs of serious side effects, and few unexpected adverse reactions have been reported in the early days of vaccine distribution in the country.

“I maintain social distancing, wash my hands, change my clothes when I get home,” Cortés said, explaining that he thinks those precautions are enough. “I haven’t been sick in eight years and hopefully it will stay that way.”

President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” includes a program to set up community vaccination centers across the U.S. and use mobile clinics to access hard-to-reach communities. It has also said it would take steps to make the vaccine free to all U.S. residents independent of their immigration status.

But some advocacy groups say the legacy of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies will make reaching some immigrants especially tough.

In Florida, Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami, said fears persist about the former administration’s so-called public charge rule, which sought to deny green cards to immigrants who receive food stamps or other public benefits.

While the public charge rule never restricted access to testing or vaccinations for a communicable disease — and it is being challenged in courts — Rodriguez says, “it doesn’t matter, the perception still exists.”

Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts recently came under criticism when he said workers with legal status would be prioritized in the state’s vaccine rollout over those without legal status when he was asked about the plan to protect the state’s meatpacking facilities, which historically have relied on foreign-born labor. But a day later, Ricketts appeared to walk back his statement, saying through his spokesman that “proof of citizenship is not required for vaccination,”&nbsp;<a href="https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/us-citizenship-not-a-requirement-for-covid-vaccine-in-nebraska/article_4da1d138-4fac-11eb-89a9-c3052b2306d2.html" target="_blank">the Omaha-World Herald reported</a>.

Blanca Flores, a community organizer at the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, an alliance of female farmworkers, said many of the women she works with in rural Homestead, Florida, believe that any personal information they provide could somehow be used against them later. They also worry about missing a few day’s work and possibly getting fired if they suffer adverse side effects.

“They would like to wait a month or two to see what happens and decide later,” said Flores, a Colombian-born immigrant with legal residency.

But others are eager — perhaps reflecting the way in which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d3c55be27a2549afa2906c190fe5adc9">Latino immigrant communities</a>&nbsp;have been disproportionately hit by the virus. In New York, Francisco Flores, a Mexican immigrant who lost a brother, a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law to COVID-19, said he would not hesitate to take the shot.

Flores, who is 54 and has lived without authorization in the U.S. for more than 20 years, plans to sign up the moment he can.

“The government already has my data. I have been here for a long time. I have a driver’s license, bank accounts. I have nothing to fear,” said Flores, who works for a company that makes golf courses. “And after what we went through with COVID, I would not hesitate to take the vaccine.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1609851067615.png" alt="Vaccine arrived January 18 in Southwest Kansas- photo courtesy Western Plains Medical Center" />
 <figcaption>Vaccine arrived January 18 in Southwest Kansas- photo courtesy Western Plains Medical Center</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Migrant workers lined up by the hundreds during a break from picking produce this week to receive the coronavirus vaccine on a Southern California grape farm.The farmworkers who got their shots are among vulnerable immigrants in the United States — particularly the 11 million in the country illegally — who advocacy groups say may be some of the most difficult people to reach during the largest vaccination campaign in American history.Some immigrants in the country illegally fear that information taken during vaccinations could be turned over to authorities and so may not seek out vaccines, while those who speak little or no English may find it difficult to access them.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-norc-poll-us-half-want-vaccine-shots-4d98dbfc0a64d60d52ac84c3065dac55">Like other groups</a>, some are also hesitant about receiving a newly approved shot — and language barriers may also make it harder to get messages countering misinformation to them.While these challenges may exist for many vulnerable immigrant groups, they are particularly worrying for Latino immigrants, who make a large portion of the workforce in industries where they have a significant risk of exposure.“There is anxiety and it’s real ... but so is the fear of dying of COVID-19,” said Pablo Alvarado, director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network.To tackle these challenges, groups that advocate for Latino immigrants are heading into farm fields to bring vaccines and information to migrant laborers and trying to counter misinformation in Spanish and other languages.In California’s sprawling Riverside County, home to a $1.3 billion agriculture industry, the health care nonprofit that brought vaccines to the grape farm recently took tablets into the fields to register workers for vaccine appointments, said Conrado Bárzaga, CEO of Desert Healthcare District and Foundation. The organization also shares information about the virus and how to get tested for it on WhatsApp in Spanish and Purépecha, an indigenous language from western Mexico spoken by some farm workers in California.The National Day Laborer Organizing Network has used a Spanish-language radio show on social media to share information throughout the pandemic about the virus. Now, the show’s hosts, many of them migrants and low-income workers themselves, plan to spend airtime debunking myths about the vaccine to their 300,000 weekly listeners, Alvarado said.He believes countering misinformation on social media is key to overcoming most hesitancy about the vaccine — such as knocking down&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3287934e9316b008e2a6c7735b7b01df">false claims that the vaccine would insert a microchip&nbsp;</a>into people.Daniel Cortés, a 58-year-old Mexican immigrant who lives in New York, is among those with doubts. He’s not authorized to live in the U.S. but any fears of deportation have nothing to do with it. He says he would not take the vaccine because he is healthy and fears a bad reaction. Trials for the vaccines being given in the U.S. involving tens of thousands of participants have so far surfaced no signs of serious side effects, and few unexpected adverse reactions have been reported in the early days of vaccine distribution in the country.“I maintain social distancing, wash my hands, change my clothes when I get home,” Cortés said, explaining that he thinks those precautions are enough. “I haven’t been sick in eight years and hopefully it will stay that way.”President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan” includes a program to set up community vaccination centers across the U.S. and use mobile clinics to access hard-to-reach communities. It has also said it would take steps to make the vaccine free to all U.S. residents independent of their immigration status.But some advocacy groups say the legacy of the Trump administration’s restrictive immigration policies will make reaching some immigrants especially tough.In Florida, Maria Rodriguez, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition in Miami, said fears persist about the former administration’s so-called public charge rule, which sought to deny green cards to immigrants who receive food stamps or other public benefits.While the public charge rule never restricted access to testing or vaccinations for a communicable disease — and it is being challenged in courts — Rodriguez says, “it doesn’t matter, the perception still exists.”Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts recently came under criticism when he said workers with legal status would be prioritized in the state’s vaccine rollout over those without legal status when he was asked about the plan to protect the state’s meatpacking facilities, which historically have relied on foreign-born labor. But a day later, Ricketts appeared to walk back his statement, saying through his spokesman that “proof of citizenship is not required for vaccination,”&nbsp;<a href="https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/us-citizenship-not-a-requirement-for-covid-vaccine-in-nebraska/article_4da1d138-4fac-11eb-89a9-c3052b2306d2.html" target="_blank">the Omaha-World Herald reported</a>.Blanca Flores, a community organizer at the Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, an alliance of female farmworkers, said many of the women she works with in rural Homestead, Florida, believe that any personal information they provide could somehow be used against them later. They also worry about missing a few day’s work and possibly getting fired if they suffer adverse side effects.“They would like to wait a month or two to see what happens and decide later,” said Flores, a Colombian-born immigrant with legal residency.But others are eager — perhaps reflecting the way in which&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/d3c55be27a2549afa2906c190fe5adc9">Latino immigrant communities</a>&nbsp;have been disproportionately hit by the virus. In New York, Francisco Flores, a Mexican immigrant who lost a brother, a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law to COVID-19, said he would not hesitate to take the shot.Flores, who is 54 and has lived without authorization in the U.S. for more than 20 years, plans to sign up the moment he can.“The government already has my data. I have been here for a long time. I have a driver’s license, bank accounts. I have nothing to fear,” said Flores, who works for a company that makes golf courses. “And after what we went through with COVID, I would not hesitate to take the vaccine.”___

Language barriers, wariness make vaccinating immigrants hard

Last year, I got to go to my sister-in-law’s wedding. At the reception, as people were finishing up their dinner and cake, the DJ got the music going and everyone made their way to the dance floor. I grabbed my 5-year-old son’s hand, walked onto the floor, and started to twirl him around. We danced and danced and danced. I felt a spark of joy that I hadn’t felt in years and thought,&nbsp;There you are. You love to dance.&nbsp;It was like finding a part of me that had been missing for a long time.

Life is so busy that it can often feel more like business than life. In the day-to-day grind of fixing lunches and changing diapers and running from errands to meetings to appointments, it’s easy to wonder,&nbsp;Where am I? Who am I?&nbsp;We lose ourselves in our own lives and even forget simple things—like how much we love to dance.&nbsp;

If you’re feeling the same way I am, you’re tired of the rush, the exhaustion, and the jam-packed calendar. You’re missing the person you used to be before life got so stinking busy. And the truth is, we&nbsp;can&nbsp;rediscover the passion, the joy and the fun that makes us feel alive.

You aren’t going to find yourself by accident, so here are two important truths that will help you reconnect with who you are in 2021:

To find yourself, you must choose to pause and reset. Our lives are so busy that we need to intentionally schedule time to be still and reflect. Translation:&nbsp;Put it on the calendar. We both know that if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not going to happen. Carve out space for yourself to be still, to journal and think and dream. Listen to the questions your heart is asking and commit to rediscovering who you are this year.&nbsp;

Taking the time to find yourself is not selfish or wrong. In fact, it’s one of the best gifts you can give your family or your friends. If you’re living fully alive, with the joy and fun and spark of being you, you’ll be able to be a better sister, brother, friend, wife, husband, mom, dad, employee—you get it. By taking care of yourself, you’re taking care of others, too.

No matter what’s headed our way in 2021, I hope this is the year you rediscover who you are and find your spark again!

Christy Wright&nbsp;is a No. 1 national best-selling author,&nbsp;personal development expert, and host of The Christy Wright Show.&nbsp;She’s been featured on Today Show and Fox News, and in Entrepreneur and Woman’s Day Magazines.&nbsp;Since 2009, Christy has served at Ramsey Solutions, where she teaches on&nbsp;personal development, business, and faith. You can follow Christy&nbsp;on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube or online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.christywright.com/" target="_blank">www.christywright.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1602376792935.jpeg" alt="Christy Wright" />
 <figcaption>Christy Wright</figcaption>
 </figure>By CHRISTY WRIGHTLast year, I got to go to my sister-in-law’s wedding. At the reception, as people were finishing up their dinner and cake, the DJ got the music going and everyone made their way to the dance floor. I grabbed my 5-year-old son’s hand, walked onto the floor, and started to twirl him around. We danced and danced and danced. I felt a spark of joy that I hadn’t felt in years and thought,&nbsp;There you are. You love to dance.&nbsp;It was like finding a part of me that had been missing for a long time.Life is so busy that it can often feel more like business than life. In the day-to-day grind of fixing lunches and changing diapers and running from errands to meetings to appointments, it’s easy to wonder,&nbsp;Where am I? Who am I?&nbsp;We lose ourselves in our own lives and even forget simple things—like how much we love to dance.&nbsp;If you’re feeling the same way I am, you’re tired of the rush, the exhaustion, and the jam-packed calendar. You’re missing the person you used to be before life got so stinking busy. And the truth is, we&nbsp;can&nbsp;rediscover the passion, the joy and the fun that makes us feel alive.You aren’t going to find yourself by accident, so here are two important truths that will help you reconnect with who you are in 2021:To find yourself, you must choose to pause and reset. Our lives are so busy that we need to intentionally schedule time to be still and reflect. Translation:&nbsp;Put it on the calendar. We both know that if it’s not on the calendar, it’s not going to happen. Carve out space for yourself to be still, to journal and think and dream. Listen to the questions your heart is asking and commit to rediscovering who you are this year.&nbsp;Taking the time to find yourself is not selfish or wrong. In fact, it’s one of the best gifts you can give your family or your friends. If you’re living fully alive, with the joy and fun and spark of being you, you’ll be able to be a better sister, brother, friend, wife, husband, mom, dad, employee—you get it. By taking care of yourself, you’re taking care of others, too.No matter what’s headed our way in 2021, I hope this is the year you rediscover who you are and find your spark again!Christy Wright&nbsp;is a No. 1 national best-selling author,&nbsp;personal development expert, and host of The Christy Wright Show.&nbsp;She’s been featured on Today Show and Fox News, and in Entrepreneur and Woman’s Day Magazines.&nbsp;Since 2009, Christy has served at Ramsey Solutions, where she teaches on&nbsp;personal development, business, and faith. You can follow Christy&nbsp;on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube or online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.christywright.com/" target="_blank">www.christywright.com</a>.

WRIGHT: New year, old you; How to find yourself in 2021

A nod to “1984” author&nbsp;George Orwell: We have met Big Brother and often, he is us.

The nation rightly remains outraged at the Jan. 6 riot that trashed the U.S. Capitol, threatened elected officials and resulted in five deaths. Pressure was on police to swiftly arrest those involved.

Each day brings new reports of federal authorities using what they say are social media photos, cellphone records and other data to identify members of the mob.

Orwell predicated his draconian vision on government’s installing a device in every home, watching, tracking and recording each life. In 2021, we are the ones installing the devices, 24/7, and not just in homes but in pockets, purses and cars.

Combine this self-generating trove of online personal information with an ever-greater number of cameras in public and private spaces, the increasing forensic ability of facial-recognition software and the mushrooming presence of smart devices in our daily lives. We have every reason for new concerns about the potential chilling effect on free expression and our rights of assembly and petition.

In media reports, we’ve seen how easy it is for the FBI to identify a rioter within hours by taking the merest flash of cellphone photo, applying facial identification examination even to people wearing masks, then marrying that computer construct to earlier, less-obscured photos. In one case, authorities matched earlier photos taken in a Washington, D.C., hotel lobby with photos posted online from the Capitol and identified and arrested a suspect shown standing in the U.S. House chamber in full riot gear.

To be sure, we have tolerated, even encouraged, growing government surveillance methods and technology for many years, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, in the hope they will make us more safe.

By 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court was openly musing about the effects of pervasive high-tech government surveillance, even though the case at hand involved the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/10-1259" target="_blank">somewhat low-tech use of a GPS monitor</a>.

At the time,&nbsp;Justice Sonia Sotomayor&nbsp;was concerned about a chill on “associational and expressive freedoms … (through) generating a precise, comprehensive record of a person’s public movements.” She also warned that “government can store such records and efficiently mine them for information years into the future.”

In 2019, in a case involving&nbsp;<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/585/16-402/" target="_blank">surveillance of a robbery suspect</a>,&nbsp;Chief Justice John Roberts&nbsp;observed that many people “compulsively carry cellphones with them all the time. A cellphone faithfully follows its owner beyond public thoroughfares and into private residences, doctor’s offices, political headquarters and other potentially revealing locales. … Accordingly, when the government tracks the location of a cellphone, it achieves near-perfect surveillance as if it had attached an ankle monitor to the phone’s user.”

In words foreshadowing today’s post-riot investigations, Roberts wrote, “the government can now travel back in time to retrace a person’s whereabouts … (and) because location information is continually logged for all of the (then) 400 million devices in the United States … police need not even know in advance whether they want to follow a particular individual, or when.”

Police should have ready access to effective tools in fighting terrorists and other criminals. As the widespread demand for swift justice for the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol shows, many, if not most of us, applaud law enforcement’s use of high-tech tools.

History tells us that successful technology both endures and expands in scope and that freedoms lost are hard to restore. The early days of taps on phone wires has evolved into high-tech gadgets that use the vibration of windowpanes caused by speech to monitor conversations inside an office. Listening devices hidden inside walls designed to capture a simple conversation have morphed into government access to massive data dumps containing the details of millions of phone calls that can be analyzed to track separate calls worldwide.

Add in the digital trail we leave from cellphones and on social media and we hand the government an intimate self-portrait more complete that even our closest family members could draw.

We need to continually review safeguards on the government’s power to track our lives and to set limits when such surveillance is warranted — literally, by the courts. The most critical times for such alertness are in the aftermath of shocks to the nation’s psyche such as the disgraceful Capitol invasion.

What is the impact on those assembling peaceably to petition government for change when, via technology, we automatically create records of conversations and meetings and their exact times, dates and locations — potentially illustrated with photos and videos of participants?

We’re already seeing pushback because of flaws in both the technology and its application, ranging from gross misidentification to racial bias or worse: China is reportedly using facial recognition to track and arrest some racial minorities.

To be clear: Members of the mob that ransacked the Capitol should face prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. But we all need to be wary of the law of unintended consequences, of unexamined recognition of the use of pervasive, all-seeing technology in the hands of those who would, willingly or unwittingly, chip away at our core First Amendment freedoms in the name of protecting them.

Gene Policinski is a senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum. He can be reached at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:gpolicinski@freedomforum.org" target="_blank">gpolicinski@freedomforum.org</a>, or follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/@genefac" target="_blank">@genefac</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1593729871227.png" alt="Gene Policinski. Photo courtesy Freedom Forum" />
 <figcaption>Gene Policinski. Photo courtesy Freedom Forum</figcaption>
 </figure>By GENE POLICINSKIA nod to “1984” author&nbsp;George Orwell: We have met Big Brother and often, he is us.The nation rightly remains outraged at the Jan. 6 riot that trashed the U.S. Capitol, threatened elected officials and resulted in five deaths. Pressure was on police to swiftly arrest those involved.Each day brings new reports of federal authorities using what they say are social media photos, cellphone records and other data to identify members of the mob.Orwell predicated his draconian vision on government’s installing a device in every home, watching, tracking and recording each life. In 2021, we are the ones installing the devices, 24/7, and not just in homes but in pockets, purses and cars.Combine this self-generating trove of online personal information with an ever-greater number of cameras in public and private spaces, the increasing forensic ability of facial-recognition software and the mushrooming presence of smart devices in our daily lives. We have every reason for new concerns about the potential chilling effect on free expression and our rights of assembly and petition.In media reports, we’ve seen how easy it is for the FBI to identify a rioter within hours by taking the merest flash of cellphone photo, applying facial identification examination even to people wearing masks, then marrying that computer construct to earlier, less-obscured photos. In one case, authorities matched earlier photos taken in a Washington, D.C., hotel lobby with photos posted online from the Capitol and identified and arrested a suspect shown standing in the U.S. House chamber in full riot gear.To be sure, we have tolerated, even encouraged, growing government surveillance methods and technology for many years, particularly in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, in the hope they will make us more safe.By 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court was openly musing about the effects of pervasive high-tech government surveillance, even though the case at hand involved the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/10-1259" target="_blank">somewhat low-tech use of a GPS monitor</a>.At the time,&nbsp;Justice Sonia Sotomayor&nbsp;was concerned about a chill on “associational and expressive freedoms … (through) generating a precise, comprehensive record of a person’s public movements.” She also warned that “government can store such records and efficiently mine them for information years into the future.”In 2019, in a case involving&nbsp;<a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/585/16-402/" target="_blank">surveillance of a robbery suspect</a>,&nbsp;Chief Justice John Roberts&nbsp;observed that many people “compulsively carry cellphones with them all the time. A cellphone faithfully follows its owner beyond public thoroughfares and into private residences, doctor’s offices, political headquarters and other potentially revealing locales. … Accordingly, when the government tracks the location of a cellphone, it achieves near-perfect surveillance as if it had attached an ankle monitor to the phone’s user.”In words foreshadowing today’s post-riot investigations, Roberts wrote, “the government can now travel back in time to retrace a person’s whereabouts … (and) because location information is continually logged for all of the (then) 400 million devices in the United States … police need not even know in advance whether they want to follow a particular individual, or when.”Police should have ready access to effective tools in fighting terrorists and other criminals. As the widespread demand for swift justice for the insurrectionists who invaded the Capitol shows, many, if not most of us, applaud law enforcement’s use of high-tech tools.History tells us that successful technology both endures and expands in scope and that freedoms lost are hard to restore. The early days of taps on phone wires has evolved into high-tech gadgets that use the vibration of windowpanes caused by speech to monitor conversations inside an office. Listening devices hidden inside walls designed to capture a simple conversation have morphed into government access to massive data dumps containing the details of millions of phone calls that can be analyzed to track separate calls worldwide.Add in the digital trail we leave from cellphones and on social media and we hand the government an intimate self-portrait more complete that even our closest family members could draw.We need to continually review safeguards on the government’s power to track our lives and to set limits when such surveillance is warranted — literally, by the courts. The most critical times for such alertness are in the aftermath of shocks to the nation’s psyche such as the disgraceful Capitol invasion.What is the impact on those assembling peaceably to petition government for change when, via technology, we automatically create records of conversations and meetings and their exact times, dates and locations — potentially illustrated with photos and videos of participants?We’re already seeing pushback because of flaws in both the technology and its application, ranging from gross misidentification to racial bias or worse: China is reportedly using facial recognition to track and arrest some racial minorities.To be clear: Members of the mob that ransacked the Capitol should face prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. But we all need to be wary of the law of unintended consequences, of unexamined recognition of the use of pervasive, all-seeing technology in the hands of those who would, willingly or unwittingly, chip away at our core First Amendment freedoms in the name of protecting them.Gene Policinski is a senior fellow for the First Amendment at the Freedom Forum. He can be reached at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:gpolicinski@freedomforum.org" target="_blank">gpolicinski@freedomforum.org</a>, or follow him on Twitter at&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/@genefac" target="_blank">@genefac</a>.

FIRST FIVE: Post-capitol riot -- cellphones, selfies and Orwell

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Today's Chiefs' presser included&nbsp;Andy Reid, Frank Clark, Travis Kelce, Dan Sorensen, and Patrick Mahomes. From The Kansas City Chiefs Facebook page:&nbsp;

You can listen to the Chiefs' games on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM), your local Chiefs Radio Network stations.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Today's Chiefs' presser included&nbsp;Andy Reid, Frank Clark, Travis Kelce, Dan Sorensen, and Patrick Mahomes. From The Kansas City Chiefs Facebook page:&nbsp;<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F2771090419822118%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs' games on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM), your local Chiefs Radio Network stations.

🎥Chiefs's Reid, Clark, Kelce, Sorensen, Mahomes talk football

I was talking to a friend the other day, and I couldn’t remember what you said about the three good uses for money and why each is important. Would you go over them again?

I’ve been doing this for a lot of years, and after all that time studying finance and teaching people about money, I can still find only three good uses for money—spending, saving, and giving. You should be doing all three while you’re working your way&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/the-truth-about-debt-reduction" target="_blank">out of debt</a>&nbsp;and towards wealth,&nbsp;and&nbsp;after you become wealthy.&nbsp;

The kid in us likes the spending part of this equation, because it’s so much fun. The problem with most people is they can’t really afford the fun they have. You should have some fun no matter where you are on the financial scale, but it should be inexpensive fun in the beginning. Then, the fun can get bigger, better, and more frequent once you’re out of debt and building wealth.

The grown-up part of us likes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/smartvestor/investment-calculator?snid=tools.investingcalc" target="_blank">investing</a>&nbsp;and saving, because that’s what can prepare you for retirement and make you wealthy. After a while, though, investing can feel a little bit like Monopoly. You can be up, or you can be down. Sometimes the market fluctuates, but a mature investor will ride out the waves and stay in for the long-term. If you have quality investments with long track records of success, they will come back up. Start investing 15% of your income for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chrishogan360.com/riq/" target="_blank">retirement</a>&nbsp;once you’ve paid off all debt except for your home&nbsp;and&nbsp;you have three to six months of expenses saved for an emergency fund.

The most mature part of you will meet the kid inside when you give. Giving is the most fun you’ll ever have with money. Every financially, mentally, and spiritually healthy person I’ve ever met has been turned on by giving. I’ve met and talked with thousands of millionaires in my career, and one thing all the healthy ones have in common is a love of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/importance-of-giving-back" target="_blank">giving</a>.

Someone who never has fun with money misses the point. Someone who never saves or invests money will never have any. And someone who never gives is holding on too tight. Do some of each, and enjoy the ride!

<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/" target="_blank">Dave Ramsey</a>is a seven-time No. 1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Dave Ramsey Show, heard by more than 16 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596845065840.jpeg" alt="Dave Ramsey" />
 <figcaption>Dave Ramsey</figcaption>
 </figure>Dear Dave,I was talking to a friend the other day, and I couldn’t remember what you said about the three good uses for money and why each is important. Would you go over them again?AlbertDear Albert,I’ve been doing this for a lot of years, and after all that time studying finance and teaching people about money, I can still find only three good uses for money—spending, saving, and giving. You should be doing all three while you’re working your way&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/the-truth-about-debt-reduction" target="_blank">out of debt</a>&nbsp;and towards wealth,&nbsp;and&nbsp;after you become wealthy.&nbsp;The kid in us likes the spending part of this equation, because it’s so much fun. The problem with most people is they can’t really afford the fun they have. You should have some fun no matter where you are on the financial scale, but it should be inexpensive fun in the beginning. Then, the fun can get bigger, better, and more frequent once you’re out of debt and building wealth.The grown-up part of us likes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/smartvestor/investment-calculator?snid=tools.investingcalc" target="_blank">investing</a>&nbsp;and saving, because that’s what can prepare you for retirement and make you wealthy. After a while, though, investing can feel a little bit like Monopoly. You can be up, or you can be down. Sometimes the market fluctuates, but a mature investor will ride out the waves and stay in for the long-term. If you have quality investments with long track records of success, they will come back up. Start investing 15% of your income for&nbsp;<a href="https://www.chrishogan360.com/riq/" target="_blank">retirement</a>&nbsp;once you’ve paid off all debt except for your home&nbsp;and&nbsp;you have three to six months of expenses saved for an emergency fund.The most mature part of you will meet the kid inside when you give. Giving is the most fun you’ll ever have with money. Every financially, mentally, and spiritually healthy person I’ve ever met has been turned on by giving. I’ve met and talked with thousands of millionaires in my career, and one thing all the healthy ones have in common is a love of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/importance-of-giving-back" target="_blank">giving</a>.Someone who never has fun with money misses the point. Someone who never saves or invests money will never have any. And someone who never gives is holding on too tight. Do some of each, and enjoy the ride!Dave<a href="https://www.daveramsey.com/" target="_blank">Dave Ramsey</a>is a seven-time No. 1 national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of The Dave Ramsey Show, heard by more than 16 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions

DAVE SAYS: Do some of all three, and enjoy the ride

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs'&nbsp;Andy Reid, Anthony Hitchens, Harrison Butker, Darrel Williams, Steve Spagnuolo, Eric Bieniemy, and Dave Toub talk football during a Thursday presser.&nbsp;

Reid said that QB1 Patrick Mahomes took the majority of the starter snaps during practice today, but still remains in the concussion protocol.

From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs'&nbsp;Andy Reid, Anthony Hitchens, Harrison Butker, Darrel Williams, Steve Spagnuolo, Eric Bieniemy, and Dave Toub talk football during a Thursday presser.&nbsp;Reid said that QB1 Patrick Mahomes took the majority of the starter snaps during practice today, but still remains in the concussion protocol.From <a href="https://www.facebook.com/KansasCityChiefs">The Kansas City Chiefs</a> Facebook page:<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FKansasCityChiefs%2Fvideos%2F406872617265309%2F&show_text=true&width=560" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>You can listen to the Chiefs' games on KINA (910 AM and 107.5 FM) and 99KG (99.9 FM), your local Chiefs Radio Network stations.

🎥Chiefs Reid: Mahomes still in protocol, takes most of snaps

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday, summoning American resilience to confront a historic confluence of crises and urging people to come together to end an “uncivil war” in a nation deeply divided after four tumultuous years

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?507998-1/presidential-inauguration&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here to watch</a>&nbsp;a replay of the inauguration.

Declaring that “democracy has prevailed,” Biden took the oath at a U.S. Capitol that had been battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks earlier.

On a chilly Washington morning dotted with snow flurries, the quadrennial ceremony unfolded within a circle of security forces evocative of a war zone and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, Biden gazed out over 200,000 American flags planted on the National Mall to symbolize those who could not attend in person.

“The will of the people has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded. We’ve learned again that democracy is precious and democracy is fragile. At this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed,” Biden said. “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. A day in history and hope, of renewal and resolve.”

Biden never mentioned his predecessor, who defied tradition and left town ahead of the ceremony, but his speech was an implicit rebuke of Donald Trump. The new president denounced “lies told for power and for profit” and was blunt about the challenges ahead.

Central among them: the surging virus that has&nbsp;<a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">claimed more than 400,000 lives</a>&nbsp;in the United States, as well as economic strains and a national reckoning over race.

“We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain,” Biden said. “Few people in our nation’s history have been more challenged, or found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now.”

Biden was eager to go big early, with an ambitious first 100 days that includes a push to speed up the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations to anxious Americans and pass a $1.9 trillion virus relief package. On Day One, he planned a series of executive actions to roll back Trump administration initiatives and also planned to send an immigration proposal to Capitol Hill that would create an eight-year path to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally.

The absence of Biden’s predecessor from the inaugural ceremony, a break from tradition, underscored the rift to be healed.

But a bipartisan trio of three former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — were there to witness the ceremonial transfer of power. Trump, awaiting&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-vote-capitol-siege-0a6f2a348a6e43f27d5e1dc486027860">his second impeachment trial</a>, was at his Florida resort by the time the swearing-in took place.

Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. Biden did not mention Trump by name but alluded to the rifts his predecessor had helped create.

“I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. But I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we all are created equal and the harsh, ugly reality of racism, nativism, fear, demonization that have long torn us apart,” Biden said. “This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward and we must meet this moment as the United States of America.”

Biden came to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At age 78, he was the oldest president inaugurated.

More history was made at his side, as Kamala Harris became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/urn:publicid:ap.org:5ac8fff8bbe1c70479604e3ff62ecb10">the first woman to be vice president</a>. The former U.S. senator from California is also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/46ef207f32a089b2b54ed35d57c9413f">the first Black person</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/0dc9ab1834475308435b7175bf0288d1">the first person of South Asian descent</a>&nbsp;elected to the vice presidency and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.

The two were sworn in during an inauguration ceremony with few parallels. Tens of thousands of troops were on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters, incited by the Republican president, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.

“Here we stand, just days after a riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people,” Biden said. “To stop the work of our democracy. To drive us from this sacred ground. It did not happen. It will never happen. Not today, not tomorrow. Not ever. Not ever.”

The tense atmosphere evoked the 1861 inauguration of Lincoln, who was secretly transported to Washington to avoid assassins on the eve of the Civil War, or Roosevelt’s inaugural in 1945, when he opted for a small, secure ceremony at the White House in the waning months of World War II.

But Washington, all but deserted downtown and in its federal areas, was quiet. And calm also prevailed outside heavily fortified state Capitol buildings across nation after the FBI had warned of the possibility for armed demonstrations leading up to the inauguration.

The day began with a reach across the political aisle after four years of bitter partisan battles under Trump. At Biden’s invitation, congressional leaders from both parties bowed their heads in prayer in the socially distanced service just a few blocks from the White House.

Biden was sworn in by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-inauguration-joe-biden-donald-trump-barack-obama-health-3e80a8e8224e973fd71295939c9e67d9">Chief Justice John Roberts</a>; Harris by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina member of the Supreme Court. Vice President Mike Pence, standing in for Trump, sat nearby as Lady Gaga, holding a golden microphone, sang the National Anthem accompanied by the U.S. Marine Corps band.

When Pence, in a last act of the outgoing administration, left the Capitol, he walked through a door with badly cracked glass from the riot two weeks ago. Later, Biden, Harris and their spouses were joined by the former presidents to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Ceremony.

Biden was also to join the end of a slimmed-down inaugural parade as he moves into the White House. Because of the pandemic, much of this year’s parade was to be a virtual affair featuring performances from around the nation.

In the evening, in lieu of the traditional glitzy balls that welcome a new president to Washington, Biden will take part in a televised concert that also marks the return of A-list celebrities to the White House orbit after they largely eschewed Trump. Among those in the lineup: Bruce Springsteen, Justin Timberlake and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

This was not an inauguration for the crowds. But Americans in the capital city nonetheless brought their hopes to the moment.

“I feel so hopeful, so thankful,” said Karen Jennings Crooms, a D.C. resident who hoped to catch a glimpse of the presidential motorcade on Pennsylvania Avenue with her husband. “It makes us sad that this is where we are but hopeful that democracy will win out in the end. That’s what I’m focusing on.”

Trump was the first president in more than a century to skip the inauguration of his successor. After a brief farewell celebration at nearby Joint Base Andrews, he boarded Air Force One for the final time as president.

“I will always fight for you. I will be watching. I will be listening and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better,” said Trump. He wished the incoming administration well but never mentioned Biden’s name.

The symbolism was striking: The very moment Trump disappeared into the doorway of Air Force One, Biden emerged from Blair House, the traditional guest lodging for presidents-in-waiting, and into his motorcade for the short ride to church.

Trump did adhere to one tradition and left a personal note for Biden in the Oval Office, according to the White House, which did not release its contents. And Trump, in his farewell remarks, hinted at a political return, saying “we will be back in some form.”

Without question, he will shadow Biden’s first days in office.

Trump’s second impeachment trial could start as early as this week. That could test the ability of the Senate, poised to come under Democratic control, to balance impeachment proceedings with confirmation hearings and votes on Biden’s Cabinet choices.

Biden planned a 10-day blitz of executive orders on matters that don’t require congressional approval — a mix of substantive and symbolic steps to unwind the Trump years. Among the planned steps: rescinding travel restrictions on people from several predominantly Muslim countries; rejoining the Paris climate accord; issuing a mask mandate for those on federal property; and ordering agencies to figure out how to reunite children separated from their families after crossing the border.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States on Wednesday, swearing the oath of office just before noon to take the helm of a deeply divided nation while inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors.

Biden’s inauguration came at a time of national tumult and uncertainty, a ceremony of resilience as the hallowed American democratic rite unfurled at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago. On a chilly Washington day dotted with snow flurries, a bipartisan trio of ex-presidents along with the elite of nation’s government gathered, ensuring the quadrennial ceremony persevered, even though it was encircled by security forces evocative of a war zone and devoid of crowds because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stay home, Americans were exhorted, to prevent further spread of a surging virus that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States. Biden looked out over a capital city dotted with empty storefronts that attest to the pandemic’s deep economic toll and where summer protests laid bare the nation’s renewed reckoning on racial injustice.

And he was not applauded by his predecessor.

Flouting tradition, Donald Trump departed Washington on Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration rather than accompany his successor to the Capitol. Though three other former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — gathered to watch the ceremonial transfer of power, Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, instead flew to Florida after stoking grievance among his supporters with the lie that Biden’s win was illegitimate.

Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. On his first day, Biden will take a series of executive actions — on the pandemic, climate, immigration and more — to undo the heart of Trump’s agenda at a moment with the bonds of the republic strained.

“Biden will face a series of urgent, burning crises like we have not seen before, and they all have to be solved at once. It is very hard to find a parallel in history,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss. “I think we have been through a near-death experience as a democracy. Americans who will watch the new president be sworn in are now acutely aware of how fragile our democracy is and how much it needs to be protected.”

Biden will come to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At age 78, he was the oldest president inaugurated.

More history was made at his side, as Kamala Harris became the first woman to be vice president. The former U.S. senator from California is also the first Black person and the first person of South Asian descent elected to the vice presidency and will become the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in government.

The two were sworn in during an inauguration ceremony with few parallels in history.

Tens of thousands of troops are on the streets to provide security precisely two weeks after a violent mob of Trump supporters, incited by the Republican president, stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of Biden’s victory.

The day began with a reach across the aisle after four years of bitter partisan battles under Trump. At Biden’s invitation, congressional leaders from both parties bowed their heads in prayer in the socially distanced service just a few blocks from the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden swears the oath of office at noon (EDT) Wednesday to become the 46th president of the United States, taking the helm of a deeply divided nation and inheriting a confluence of crises arguably greater than any faced by his predecessors.

<a href="https://bideninaugural.org/watch/">Click here to watch</a> beginning 8a.m. CDT

The very ceremony in which presidential power is transferred, a hallowed American democratic tradition, will serve as a jarring reminder of the challenges Biden faces: The inauguration unfolds at a U.S. Capitol battered by an insurrectionist siege just two weeks ago, encircled by security forces evocative of those in a war zone, and devoid of crowds because of the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

Stay home, Americans were exhorted, to prevent further spread of a surging virus that has claimed 400,000 American lives. Biden will look out over a capital city dotted with empty storefronts that attest to the pandemic’s deep economic toll and where summer protests laid bare the nation’s renewed reckoning on racial justice.

He will not be applauded — or likely even acknowledged — by his predecessor.

Flouting tradition, Donald Trump planned to depart Washington on Wednesday morning ahead of the inauguration rather than accompany his successor to the Capitol. Trump, awaiting his second impeachment trial, stoked grievance among his supporters with the lie that Biden’s win was illegitimate.

Biden, in his third run for the presidency, staked his candidacy less on any distinctive political ideology than on galvanizing a broad coalition of voters around the notion that Trump posed an existential threat to American democracy. On his first day, Biden will take a series of executive actions — on the pandemic, climate, immigration and more — to undo the heart of Trump’s agenda. He takes office with the bonds of the republic strained and the nation reeling from challenges that rival those faced by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Biden will come to office with a well of empathy and resolve born by personal tragedy as well as a depth of experience forged from more than four decades in Washington. At age 78, he will be the oldest president inaugurated.