BOYCE F. MARTIN, JR., Circuit Judge. This matter is before the court upon the joint petition requesting a direct appeal to this court under 28 U.S.C. § 157(d)(2). The petition seeks appeal of the order confirming the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan and rejecting the trustee’s objections. Only one issue is presented: whether the vehicle ownership expense is an allowable expense when the debtor has no loan or lease payment.

The petition for leave to take a direct appeal is DENIED.

MERRITT, Circuit Judge. The defendant, Joseph Swafford, challenges his conviction for selling iodine used in the production of methamphetamine, a controlled substance. We agree with the defendant that his conviction on the two conspiracy counts suffers from an impermissible variance because in each charge there were multiple conspiracies with different participants, and therefore the conspiracy convictions must be overturned. Additionally, we find that the district court erred by denying the defendant’s amended motion to strike or elect the substantive counts. The 38 substantive counts must therefore be merged into 19 counts. Accordingly, we reverse the district court opinion in part and remand with instructions to resentence the defendant in accordance with this opinion.

MERRITT, Circuit Judge. The defendant, Scotty Ridner, appeals the district court’s in limine ruling that denied him the opportunity to present a necessity defense at trial to charges of being a felon-in-possession of ammunition. As a result of the adverse ruling, Ridner entered into a conditional guilty plea, reserving his right to appeal the court’s order precluding the necessity defense. We are constrained to hold that the district court’s pre-trial order preventing a criminal defendant from asserting a defense at trial is proper according to this Circuit’s precedent although we note that the issue has never been addressed by the Supreme Court. The district court held that the defendant failed to establish a prima facie case of necessity pursuant to the five-factor test set forth in United States v. Singleton, 902 F.2d 471, 472 (6th Cir. 1990). Because we agree that the defendant has failed to present evidence to satisfy two of the Singleton factors, we affirm the district court’s opinion.

CURTIS L. COLLIER, Chief District Judge. Plaintiffs Shara Jenkins (“Jenkins”) and Brenda Mulkey (“Mulkey”) filed this consolidated appeal challenging the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendants Lloyd Evans (“Evans”) and the Rock Hill School Board (“School Board”) on their First Amendment retaliation and privacy claims. In analyzing the retaliation claims, the district court incorrectly limited constitutionally protected activities to matters of public concern. However, because the district court reached the correct decision on all claims except Jenkins’s retaliation claim against Evans, we REVERSE the district court’s decision on that claim and AFFIRM its decision on all others.