BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/natanyafriedheim/">NATANYA FRIEDHEIM</a>

Physician David Mehr addressed a dozen voters gathered Saturday morning at the Columbia headquarters of Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the coalition behind a proposed amendment would enshrine the right to abortion in Missouri’s constitution.

Meanwhile, physicians greeted volunteers in St. Louis County, and still more gathered in Kansas City, as part of the coalition’s final get-out-the-vote campaign before the Nov. 5 election.

“I’ve cared for women my entire life,” Mehr told the group of volunteers in Columbia. “It’s important that we keep this decision between a woman and her doctor.”

Mehr works at University of Missouri Health Care but spoke as an individual and not on behalf of the hospital.

An hour later, he was navigating a thicket in a northwest Columbia neighborhood, looking for the right door to knock on. By the end of the day, he and his canvassing partner had knocked on 44 doors.

Like other states with abortion bans, Missouri’s state law carves out exceptions “in cases of medical emergency.” Medical professionals who perform abortions deemed unnecessary can be found guilty of a Class B felony and have their license revoked or suspended.

“There’s no definition of what a medical emergency might be,” said Betsy Wickstrom, a high-risk obstetrician who works in Kansas City. “So if my patient is bleeding and her cervix is open, there’s still cardiac activity, how much do I need to let her bleed?”

Wickstrom preferred not to disclose her hospital affiliation. Her reluctance was shared by doctors who gathered in St. Louis on Saturday and reflects a broader trend of doctors keeping their workplaces hidden when talking about abortion, identified in a 2023 study.

Last month, a group of 800 medical professionals from Missouri, including 500 physicians, signed a letter supporting the abortion-rights amendment, which appears on the ballot as Amendment 3.

No doctor in any state has been criminally prosecuted for performing an abortion during a medical emergency, according to an article published last month by the Association of American Medical Colleges. However, doctors across the country have warned that lack of clarity about what constitutes a medical emergency compromises their ability to offer emergency abortions.

In August, a group of OB-GYN medical residents in Missouri anonymously published an article in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education describing their shock and fear entering the profession in a state with a strict abortion ban.

“Because the text of the law reads so punitively, it has struck fear into clinicians and caused life-saving care to be unnecessarily delayed or blatantly refused,” the authors wrote.

Since abortion became illegal in Missouri in 2022, the state has seen a more than 25% drop in applications for OB-GYN medical residencies, according to a May report by the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In a widely publicized case from 2022, two hospitals, including one in Missouri, turned away Missouri resident Mylissa Farmer when she sought care after her water broke at just 18 weeks of pregnancy. Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid found the two hospitals — Freeman Hospital West in Joplin and the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas — violated federal law when they denied Farmer care.

Numerous other examples of women being denied emergency medical care have appeared in news media since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended the constitutional right to an abortion.

Health care professionals opposed to abortion argue that media reports promote an exaggerated narrative that abortion bans jeopardize women’s access to emergency care.

“All state laws allow for maternal fetal separations to be done (through whatever means necessary) in order to save the life of the mother,” Christina Francis, an OB-GYN and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs, wrote in testimony for a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing in September.

Decisions in medicine are rarely black-and-white. When a woman’s water breaks early enough that the fetus’ viability is remote, abortion is the standard of care, said Wickstrom. When a woman is closer to 20 weeks, factors like bleeding, signs of infection and how much amniotic fluid is in the uterus are considered.

Some women want to wait, and a doctor guides the patient through that choice.

“Of course we do that, because the point is choice. The point is that it is her body to determine for herself what’s right for her, and we come alongside her and support her and guide her through what is right for her,” Wickstrom said.

If a woman does not want to continue the nonviable pregnancy, the fetus has a heartbeat and her condition is not considered an emergency, she has to leave the state for an abortion, Wickstrom said. In Kansas City and St. Louis, women can get to clinics that offer abortion care in Kansas and Illinois more easily than those in mid-Missouri.

Wickstrom brings her metal water bottle to work at a hospital in Kansas City. She keeps it on display when she talks to patients so they can see the stickers adorning it: Just above a cutout of Taylor Swift is a sticker that reads “ABORTION RESOURCES,” followed by a list of phone numbers and website URLs.

Wickstrom said she struggles to speak frankly with women who have high-risk pregnancies about their options.

“You’ve got to dance around it a lot more,” she said, “because the waters are muddy.”

This story originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/ballot-initiatives/doctors-gather-across-missouri-to-canvass-for-amendment-3/article_bad37842-93aa-11ef-a493-9b41a7d95124.html#tncms-source=Top%20Story" target="_blank">Columbia Missourian</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725887984419.png" alt=" Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability gathered at a rally hosted by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom on Feb. 6 in Kansas City (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Supporters of a proposed ballot measure to legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability gathered at a rally hosted by Missourians for Constitutional Freedom on Feb. 6 in Kansas City (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/natanyafriedheim/">NATANYA FRIEDHEIM</a>Physician David Mehr addressed a dozen voters gathered Saturday morning at the Columbia headquarters of Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the coalition behind a proposed amendment would enshrine the right to abortion in Missouri’s constitution.Meanwhile, physicians greeted volunteers in St. Louis County, and still more gathered in Kansas City, as part of the coalition’s final get-out-the-vote campaign before the Nov. 5 election.“I’ve cared for women my entire life,” Mehr told the group of volunteers in Columbia. “It’s important that we keep this decision between a woman and her doctor.”Mehr works at University of Missouri Health Care but spoke as an individual and not on behalf of the hospital.An hour later, he was navigating a thicket in a northwest Columbia neighborhood, looking for the right door to knock on. By the end of the day, he and his canvassing partner had knocked on 44 doors.Like other states with abortion bans, Missouri’s state law carves out exceptions “in cases of medical emergency.” Medical professionals who perform abortions deemed unnecessary can be found guilty of a Class B felony and have their license revoked or suspended.“There’s no definition of what a medical emergency might be,” said Betsy Wickstrom, a high-risk obstetrician who works in Kansas City. “So if my patient is bleeding and her cervix is open, there’s still cardiac activity, how much do I need to let her bleed?”Wickstrom preferred not to disclose her hospital affiliation. Her reluctance was shared by doctors who gathered in St. Louis on Saturday and reflects a broader trend of doctors keeping their workplaces hidden when talking about abortion, identified in a 2023 study.Last month, a group of 800 medical professionals from Missouri, including 500 physicians, signed a letter supporting the abortion-rights amendment, which appears on the ballot as Amendment 3.No doctor in any state has been criminally prosecuted for performing an abortion during a medical emergency, according to an article published last month by the Association of American Medical Colleges. However, doctors across the country have warned that lack of clarity about what constitutes a medical emergency compromises their ability to offer emergency abortions.In August, a group of OB-GYN medical residents in Missouri anonymously published an article in the Journal of Graduate Medical Education describing their shock and fear entering the profession in a state with a strict abortion ban.“Because the text of the law reads so punitively, it has struck fear into clinicians and caused life-saving care to be unnecessarily delayed or blatantly refused,” the authors wrote.Since abortion became illegal in Missouri in 2022, the state has seen a more than 25% drop in applications for OB-GYN medical residencies, according to a May report by the Association of American Medical Colleges.In a widely publicized case from 2022, two hospitals, including one in Missouri, turned away Missouri resident Mylissa Farmer when she sought care after her water broke at just 18 weeks of pregnancy. Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid found the two hospitals — Freeman Hospital West in Joplin and the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City, Kansas — violated federal law when they denied Farmer care.Numerous other examples of women being denied emergency medical care have appeared in news media since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ended the constitutional right to an abortion.Health care professionals opposed to abortion argue that media reports promote an exaggerated narrative that abortion bans jeopardize women’s access to emergency care.“All state laws allow for maternal fetal separations to be done (through whatever means necessary) in order to save the life of the mother,” Christina Francis, an OB-GYN and CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs, wrote in testimony for a U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing in September.Decisions in medicine are rarely black-and-white. When a woman’s water breaks early enough that the fetus’ viability is remote, abortion is the standard of care, said Wickstrom. When a woman is closer to 20 weeks, factors like bleeding, signs of infection and how much amniotic fluid is in the uterus are considered.Some women want to wait, and a doctor guides the patient through that choice.“Of course we do that, because the point is choice. The point is that it is her body to determine for herself what’s right for her, and we come alongside her and support her and guide her through what is right for her,” Wickstrom said.If a woman does not want to continue the nonviable pregnancy, the fetus has a heartbeat and her condition is not considered an emergency, she has to leave the state for an abortion, Wickstrom said. In Kansas City and St. Louis, women can get to clinics that offer abortion care in Kansas and Illinois more easily than those in mid-Missouri.Wickstrom brings her metal water bottle to work at a hospital in Kansas City. She keeps it on display when she talks to patients so they can see the stickers adorning it: Just above a cutout of Taylor Swift is a sticker that reads “ABORTION RESOURCES,” followed by a list of phone numbers and website URLs.Wickstrom said she struggles to speak frankly with women who have high-risk pregnancies about their options.“You’ve got to dance around it a lot more,” she said, “because the waters are muddy.”This story originally appeared in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/elections/ballot-initiatives/doctors-gather-across-missouri-to-canvass-for-amendment-3/article_bad37842-93aa-11ef-a493-9b41a7d95124.html#tncms-source=Top%20Story" target="_blank">Columbia Missourian</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;

Doctors gather across Missouri to canvass for abortion amendment

A 30-year-old has been killed, two others wounded in a
shooting in St. Joseph Sunday afternoon.

St. Joseph police report the shooting took place in the
2200 block of South 14th Street shortly before three o’clock
Sunday afternoon.

Police confirm a 30-year-old man was pronounced dead at the
scene. Two others are hospitalized and undergoing treatment. The extent of the
wounds has not been disclosed.

There are no suspects at this time. The investigation
continues.

You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA 30-year-old has been killed, two others wounded in a
shooting in St. Joseph Sunday afternoon.St. Joseph police report the shooting took place in the
2200 block of South 14th Street shortly before three o’clock
Sunday afternoon.Little is being released at this time.Police confirm a 30-year-old man was pronounced dead at the
scene. Two others are hospitalized and undergoing treatment. The extent of the
wounds has not been disclosed.There are no suspects at this time. The investigation
continues.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

One dead, two wounded in St. Joseph shooting

KANSAS CITY – A Mexican national who worked with a drug-trafficking organization tied to the Cárteles Unidos cartel in Michoacán, Mexico, was convicted by a federal trial jury last week for his role in a $4.7 million conspiracy to distribute more than 335 kilograms of methamphetamine and 22 kilograms of heroin in the Kansas City metropolitan area and throughout the United States, according to the United State's Attorney.

Luis Eduardo Pineda-Zarao, 29, a citizen of Mexico residing in Lebanon, Tennessee, was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin from Feb. 28, 2020, to June 1, 2022.

The indictment alleges the conspiracy involved the distribution of more than 335.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an average street price of $300 per ounce, and more than 22.1 kilograms of heroin, with an average street price of $1,500 per ounce.

During the investigation, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations conducted two undercover bulk cash pickups totaling $308,775 and seized $610,400 in bulk cash, over 56 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5.5 kilograms of heroin, 2.6 kilograms of marijuana, and at least eight firearms, two of which were stolen. Law enforcement officers also seized $277,863 during a vehicle stop and $114,863 while executing search warrants at four Kansas City, Mo., residences.

Pineda-Zarao is among 44 defendants charged in this case. Nine co-defendants have been sentenced and 34 co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.

Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for less than an hour before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Greg Kays, ending a trial that began Monday, Oct. 21.

Under federal statutes, Pineda-Zarao is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick C. Edwards and Megan Baker. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jackson County Drug Task Force, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Olmsted County, Minn., Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force

This case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.

This prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

KANSAS CITY – A Mexican national who worked with a drug-trafficking organization tied to the Cárteles Unidos cartel in Michoacán, Mexico, was convicted by a federal trial jury last week for his role in a $4.7 million conspiracy to distribute more than 335 kilograms of methamphetamine and 22 kilograms of heroin in the Kansas City metropolitan area and throughout the United States, according to the United State's Attorney.Luis Eduardo Pineda-Zarao, 29, a citizen of Mexico residing in Lebanon, Tennessee, was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and heroin from Feb. 28, 2020, to June 1, 2022.The indictment alleges the conspiracy involved the distribution of more than 335.5 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an average street price of $300 per ounce, and more than 22.1 kilograms of heroin, with an average street price of $1,500 per ounce.During the investigation, federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations conducted two undercover bulk cash pickups totaling $308,775 and seized $610,400 in bulk cash, over 56 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5.5 kilograms of heroin, 2.6 kilograms of marijuana, and at least eight firearms, two of which were stolen. Law enforcement officers also seized $277,863 during a vehicle stop and $114,863 while executing search warrants at four Kansas City, Mo., residences.Pineda-Zarao is among 44 defendants charged in this case. Nine co-defendants have been sentenced and 34 co-defendants have pleaded guilty and await sentencing.Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for less than an hour before returning guilty verdicts to U.S. District Judge Greg Kays, ending a trial that began Monday, Oct. 21.Under federal statutes, Pineda-Zarao is subject to a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patrick C. Edwards and Megan Baker. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Jackson County Drug Task Force, IRS-Criminal Investigation, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department, the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Kansas Highway Patrol, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Olmsted County, Minn., Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the FBI, the Clay County, Mo., Sheriff’s Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshals Service.Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task ForceThis case is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. Additional information about the OCDETF Program can be found at https://www.justice.gov/OCDETF.KC Metro Strike ForceThis prosecution was brought as a part of the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Co-located Strike Forces Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations against a continuum of priority targets and their affiliate illicit financial networks. These prosecutor-led co-located Strike Forces capitalize on the synergy created through the long-term relationships that can be forged by agents, analysts, and prosecutors who remain together over time, and they epitomize the model that has proven most effective in combating organized crime. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking organizations, transnational criminal organizations, and money laundering organizations that present a significant threat to the public safety, economic, or national security of the United States.

Jury: Mexican national guilty of $4.7 million meth, heroin conspiracy in KC

(Radio Iowa) - The map released this morning by the U-S Drought Monitor shows -all- of Iowa is again experiencing some level of drought. 

Last week's map showed about two-and-a-half percent of the state was still in the normal category, but even that's gone now. The new map indicates about 16-percent of Iowa is abnormally dry, all in south-central Iowa, while almost two-thirds of the state is in moderate drought. 

That leaves about 19-percent that's in severe drought, with large patches of that category in northwest, west-central and northeast Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) - The map released this morning by the U-S Drought Monitor shows -all- of Iowa is again experiencing some level of drought. Last week's map showed about two-and-a-half percent of the state was still in the normal category, but even that's gone now. The new map indicates about 16-percent of Iowa is abnormally dry, all in south-central Iowa, while almost two-thirds of the state is in moderate drought. That leaves about 19-percent that's in severe drought, with large patches of that category in northwest, west-central and northeast Iowa.

Drought conditions worsen in Iowa, but rain is in the forecast

A woman that a court has found was wrongly convicted of a St.
Joseph murder in 1980 has taken yet another step toward freedom.

The Western Missouri Court of Appeals has upheld a lower
court’s ruling that Sandra Hemme was wrongly convicted in the death of Patricia
Jeschke, a library worker at the St. Joseph State Hospital.

Hemme was released from the Chillicothe women’s prison in July
after Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ordered Hemme be released or
retried. Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected and sought to block her
release.

Horsman ruled evidence in the case now points to a discredited
former St. Joseph police officer, the late Michael Holman.

Buchanan County Prosecutor Michelle Davidson has 10 days to
decide whether to retry Hemme or dismiss the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/7/1721392686501.png" alt="Sandra Hemme/Missouri Dept. Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Sandra Hemme/Missouri Dept. Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>By BRENT MARTINSt. Joseph PostA woman that a court has found was wrongly convicted of a St.
Joseph murder in 1980 has taken yet another step toward freedom.The Western Missouri Court of Appeals has upheld a lower
court’s ruling that Sandra Hemme was wrongly convicted in the death of Patricia
Jeschke, a library worker at the St. Joseph State Hospital.Hemme was released from the Chillicothe women’s prison in July
after Livingston County Circuit Judge Ryan Horsman ordered Hemme be released or
retried. Attorney General Andrew Bailey objected and sought to block her
release.Horsman ruled evidence in the case now points to a discredited
former St. Joseph police officer, the late Michael Holman.Buchanan County Prosecutor Michelle Davidson has 10 days to
decide whether to retry Hemme or dismiss the case.Hemme spent 43 years in prison.You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.

Woman found by courts to be wrongly convicted in 1980 St. Joseph murder nears freedom

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>

WASHINGTON — The next U.S. president must steer the nation through crises across the globe, including worsening violence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to retreat from Ukraine and U.S-China trade relations.

The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, largely built her career as a prosecutor, but once in Washington she sat on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a position that comes with access to highly classified national security files.

As vice president she’s represented the U.S. at high-profile international meetings, including the Munich Security Conference and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who followed his wealthy father’s path into real estate and ascended to the status of celebrity businessman, has already held the elected position of Commander-in-Chief for four years — though high-ranking officials who served under him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/milley-trump-biden-democracy-military-d2abb76858291c87ae856f91e9556d8e" target="_blank">say</a>&nbsp;he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bolton-excoriates-trump-fresh-introduction-his-memoir-2024-01-30/" target="_blank">should</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/30/mark-esper-wont-vote-for-trump-wont-say-he-will-vote-for-biden-sot-nr-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">not</a>&nbsp;occupy that seat again.

Trump and Harris’ track records can provide clues on how, if elected, they would handle complex and challenging national and economic security policies.

But overall on the campaign trail, foreign policy “has played a back seat role to domestic politics in the 2024 election,” James M. Lindsay, a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy for the Council on Foreign Relations, told States Newsroom in an interview.

That’s not unusual, Lindsay said, as presidential year politics generally tend to have a domestic focus.

“This has been more a campaign about personalities than about specific policy prescriptions. It’s safe to say that the two candidates have very different world views,” Lindsay said.

Harris centers relationship building, and promised in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to “stand strong” with NATO allies.

In Trump’s convention speech he lamented that the U.S. has “long been taken advantage of” by “so-called allies.”

Observers say the former president leads with a transactional outlook: In other words, nations must pay for access to U.S. markets and security.

“Trump thinks that U.S. support to allies is a bad deal for America, whereas Harris realizes that the United States benefits immensely from them,” Matthew Waxman, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and chair of Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program, told States Newsroom.

But predicting how a presidential candidate would act on the global stage, if elected, is tricky. Conflicts continue to evolve, and those in top defense and diplomatic jobs are likely to turn over.

“It’s partly because a President Harris or President Trump could face a very different situation in the Middle East or in Ukraine come Inauguration Day, but it’s also because in Washington personnel are policy, people are policy,” Lindsay said.

Here are some of the serious international situations either administration will face:

The deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, launched from the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, reignited smoldering regional tensions and highlighted the inextricable U.S. role. Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 in the brutal and unexpected incursion, and took 250 hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity.

President Joe Biden immediately&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47828" target="_blank">surged</a>&nbsp;weapons and security aid to the key U.S. defense partner, and in April Congress approved his request for $8.7 billion more in foreign military financing and missile defense.

Israel’s year-long campaign to completely eliminate Iranian-allied Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip has resulted in a staggering death toll, now over 41,000, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas’ assault also set in motion attacks from other Iranian-backed militias, opening up a war front between Israel and Hezbollah fighters to the north in Lebanon. And for months, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis have terrorized commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Biden has faced fierce criticism for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war tactics.

Harris, as early as March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1234822836/kamala-harris-benny-gantz-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas" target="_blank">publicly</a>&nbsp;criticized Israel over the humanitarian “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-vp-harris-urges-israeli-government-do-more-boost-aid-into-gaza-2024-03-03/" target="_blank">catastrophe</a>” in Gaza and called for an immediate six-week cease-fire.

Harris, who became the Democratic presidential nominee in mid-summer after Biden dropped his bid, has repeatedly said she defends Israel’s right to defend itself but that “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/" target="_blank">how it does so matters</a>.”

Protesters could be heard in the distance Monday as Harris planted a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack. Pro-Palestinian activists protesting the death toll in Gaza have marched and rallied throughout the U.S. during the past year.

Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/one-year-oct-7-attack-israel-us-leaders-honor-victims-and-protesters-march" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;reporters that the administration is “not giving up” on negotiating a cease-fire deal and release of hostages, an effort that has so far floundered.

“It’s one of the most important ways we will be able to end this war and bring any type of stability to the region. It’s one of the highest priorities of this administration,” she said.

She has not indicated any slowdown or conditions on assistance to Israel if elected — though she continues to advocate for a two-state solution.

“Trump may give Jerusalem less public chastising and criticism, but I’m not sure the policy differences would be that great either,” Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and foreign policy research director at the Brookings Institution, told States Newsroom. O’Hanlon recently published an article arguing the Trump and Harris defense strategies would at least “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-partially-convergent-trump-and-harris-defense-policies/" target="_blank">partially</a>” converge.

Trump maintains that Oct. 7 “would never have happened” had he been in office, and he accuses the Biden administration of inviting the attack because of its “weak” relationship with Iran.

“What is needed more than ever is a return of unwavering American leadership and unquestioned American strength. We were strong, we were powerful … That’s what I intend to deliver as the 47th president of the United States,” he said Monday while in Miami marking one year since the ambush on Israel.

The attack also wrecked any forward progress on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/" target="_blank">Abraham Accords</a>&nbsp;— Trump’s signature Middle East achievement that created full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. While those established channels remain steady, the Biden administration’s efforts to strike a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia are now at a standstill.

Trump is increasingly selling himself on the campaign trail as the candidate of stability who can quash Iran’s aggression — which is pretty much a “standard approach to campaigning,” Lindsay said.

“He is not the first challenger to argue that the incumbent president has been weak.”

But Lindsay said, “the important question isn’t whether he was tougher, it’s whether his policies were more effective.”

For example, the Iranian-backed so-called “axis of resistance” militias currently upending the Middle East were also operating during Trump’s presidency.

“(They) pre-dated his coming into office but it’s not that a Trump administration ended that network of anti-Western, anti-Israeli groups,” Lindsay said. “And during the Trump administration it was the case that Iran both underwrote attacks on American troops and actually launched attacks on American troops.”

Trump drew attention last week to an early January 2020 barrage on U.S. troops in Iraq when he again&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-describes-traumatic-brain-injuries-sustained-us-troops-iraq-headache" target="_blank">described</a>&nbsp;the traumatic brain injuries they suffered as “headaches.”

U.S. troops&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/us-troops-middle-east-mapping-military-presence" target="_blank">in Iraq and Syria</a>, already a target, have come under increasing fire from Iran-backed militants, with more than 100&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/drone-strike-risks-dangerous-us-iran-escalation" target="_blank">attacks</a>&nbsp;on U.S. service members since Israel began its post-Oct. 7 offensive. A drone strike in January&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan/index.html" target="_blank">killed</a>&nbsp;three U.S. soldiers and injured 30 at an outpost in Jordan on the Syrian border. The U.S. retaliated by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike" target="_blank">launching</a>&nbsp;more than 100 precision rockets at 85 of Iran military sites in Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. assisted Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3923123/us-assets-in-mediterranean-again-helped-defend-israel-against-iranian-missiles/" target="_blank">twice</a>&nbsp;in 2024 in intercepting rockets fired directly from Iran — once in April following Israel’s bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and again in September after Israel’s assassination of Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon.

“We’re in the last months of the Biden presidency, and Biden’s own, I think, personal influence here is quite diminished. And you know, I can’t predict what Trump policy really would be. I assume he would be less likely to be trying to restrain the Israelis, but so is the Biden administration. And maybe that is a Biden-Harris policy,” Elliott Abrams, CFR’s senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, told reporters on Oct. 2, the day after Iran launched its second direct&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/iran-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-israel-us-warns" target="_blank">attack</a>.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with both&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/zelenskyy-washington-meets-us-leaders-beef-support-ukraine" target="_blank">Harris</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/09/27/u-s-government-unveils-charges-against-iranians-who-hacked-into-trump-2024-campaign/" target="_blank">Trump</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks to shore up continued U.S. support for his country’s ongoing war against Russia’s occupation.

Harris’ meeting with the Ukrainian leader was her seventh, and she pledged continued aid for the eastern European nation on the principle that Putin would continue marching into Europe if allies relent on Ukraine.

Harris supports continued U.S. assistance, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine" target="_blank">totaled</a>&nbsp;roughly $175 billion since 2022. At the Ukraine peace&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/16/joint-communique-on-a-peace-framework-summit-on-peace-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">summit</a>&nbsp;in Switzerland in June, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240723-from-gaza-to-china-where-kamala-harris-stands-on-foreign-policy-issues" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jun-15-2024-/vice-president-kamala-harris-announces-over-1-billion-bolster-ukraines-energy-sector-address-humanitarian-needs-and-strengthen-civilian-security" target="_blank">nearly</a>&nbsp;$2 billion, some new and some redirected, to bolster the country’s energy sector and add to humanitarian efforts.

The vice president has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/19/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference/" target="_blank">represented</a>&nbsp;the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/18/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-2/" target="_blank">three</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/02/16/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-munich-germany/" target="_blank">times</a>&nbsp;at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, where she praised the NATO alliance and said the U.S. commitment to its principles is “ironclad.”

When facing Harris on the presidential debate stage in September, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/harris-tears-trump-over-abortion-rights-and-race-tense-presidential-debate" target="_blank">refused</a>&nbsp;to answer whether he wants Ukraine to be victorious over Russia.

Trump’s rhetoric and past behavior “spells bad news for Ukraine,” Waxman said.

“He is likely to reduce American support for Ukraine and push Ukraine to make concessions to Russia. Overall, Trump’s transactional approach to leader-to-leader diplomacy is likely to benefit Putin,” Waxman continued. “Whereas Harris wants to invest in alliances like NATO, Trump is skeptical of them.”

That type of leader-to-leader communication was notoriously highlighted in 2019 when U.S. House lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-9/ALDE_00000035/" target="_blank">impeached</a>&nbsp;Trump for directly threatening to withhold Ukraine aid if Zelenskyy did not announce an investigation into Biden — Trump’s presidential campaign rival at the time. The Senate acquitted Trump.

Like his campaign line on the Israel attack, Trump also repeatedly claims that had he been in office, instead of Biden, Russia would have never launched its February 2022 attack on Ukraine.

“The war in Ukraine did not begin in February of ‘22, it began back in 2014,” Lindsay said, referring to Putin’s forced annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Trump’s own administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/on-the-record-the-u-s-administrations-actions-on-russia/" target="_blank">expanded</a>&nbsp;Obama-era sanctions meant to punish Russia’s actions in Crimea.

“Experts can argue about how to dole out criticism across administrations, but clearly the issue of Russian support for a notionally independent insurrection in eastern Ukraine was not solved during the Trump presidency,” Lindsay continued.

Foreign trade is a “political hot potato,” and neither Harris nor Trump are offering much clarity for U.S. trading partners around the world, Mary E. Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom in an interview.

Lovely described the Biden-Harris approach as multipronged, in that they’ve instituted policies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. while also aiming to maintain good trade relationships with partner nations.

The tightrope walk becomes even trickier as U.S. policy also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/while-us-and-china-decouple-eu-and-china-deepen-trade-dependencies" target="_blank">disincentivizes</a>&nbsp;materials and components from China — one of the world’s largest trading nations — in the final products imported from trading partners. Think: components in solar panels and electric vehicles.

The Biden administration’s major legislative accomplishments — the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act — provided major subsidies for “reshoring,” or returning to the U.S., clean energy and semiconductor production. But the policies were not without risks to U.S. trading partners.

“We had a lot of things (in the legislation), including things that upset the allies — you know, subsidies for American businesses, that they saw potentially as pulling investment out of their economies,” Lovely said.

“These are things that the European Union, Japan, Korea were concerned about,” Lovely continued. “So we’ve seen it there — this tension between foreign policy and this idea of economic security.”

While Lovely said she worries about how some of the Biden-Harris trade policies might affect competition and the nation’s ability to sign timely trade agreements, she said Trump’s plans are overall “destabilizing.”

“The increased use of tariffs is misguided at best,” Lovely said.

Trump’s promise to not only increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 60%, but also to slap flat 10% to 20% tariffs on all imports across the board is akin to “starting a trade war with the entire world.”

“We’re not going to see those kinds of tariffs without retaliation,” Lovely said.

If enacted, the tariffs would be particularly challenging for Indo-Pacific countries that rely on U.S. partnership in the face of China’s regional dominance.

“I mean, you can imagine how this will go down in, say, Japan and Korea, two countries which rely on the U.S. for a security umbrella, which is why Trump thinks that he can do stuff to them. But they also have to protect their own economies,” Lovely said. “So it’s going to put them in a really terrible position because it’s very important for them to maintain their alliance with the U.S., economic as well as military.”

But one thing is for sure, Lovely said: “Everybody wants to know what’s going to happen. Everybody in every embassy here in Washington.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695389171060.png" alt="File photo -President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy&nbsp; and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin- photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>File photo -President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy&nbsp; and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin- photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>WASHINGTON — The next U.S. president must steer the nation through crises across the globe, including worsening violence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to retreat from Ukraine and U.S-China trade relations.The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, largely built her career as a prosecutor, but once in Washington she sat on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a position that comes with access to highly classified national security files.As vice president she’s represented the U.S. at high-profile international meetings, including the Munich Security Conference and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who followed his wealthy father’s path into real estate and ascended to the status of celebrity businessman, has already held the elected position of Commander-in-Chief for four years — though high-ranking officials who served under him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/milley-trump-biden-democracy-military-d2abb76858291c87ae856f91e9556d8e" target="_blank">say</a>&nbsp;he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bolton-excoriates-trump-fresh-introduction-his-memoir-2024-01-30/" target="_blank">should</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/30/mark-esper-wont-vote-for-trump-wont-say-he-will-vote-for-biden-sot-nr-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">not</a>&nbsp;occupy that seat again.Trump and Harris’ track records can provide clues on how, if elected, they would handle complex and challenging national and economic security policies.But overall on the campaign trail, foreign policy “has played a back seat role to domestic politics in the 2024 election,” James M. Lindsay, a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy for the Council on Foreign Relations, told States Newsroom in an interview.That’s not unusual, Lindsay said, as presidential year politics generally tend to have a domestic focus.“This has been more a campaign about personalities than about specific policy prescriptions. It’s safe to say that the two candidates have very different world views,” Lindsay said.<h2>Relationships with allies</h2>Harris centers relationship building, and promised in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to “stand strong” with NATO allies.In Trump’s convention speech he lamented that the U.S. has “long been taken advantage of” by “so-called allies.”Observers say the former president leads with a transactional outlook: In other words, nations must pay for access to U.S. markets and security.“Trump thinks that U.S. support to allies is a bad deal for America, whereas Harris realizes that the United States benefits immensely from them,” Matthew Waxman, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and chair of Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program, told States Newsroom.But predicting how a presidential candidate would act on the global stage, if elected, is tricky. Conflicts continue to evolve, and those in top defense and diplomatic jobs are likely to turn over.“It’s partly because a President Harris or President Trump could face a very different situation in the Middle East or in Ukraine come Inauguration Day, but it’s also because in Washington personnel are policy, people are policy,” Lindsay said.Here are some of the serious international situations either administration will face:<h2>Middle East</h2>The deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, launched from the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, reignited smoldering regional tensions and highlighted the inextricable U.S. role. Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 in the brutal and unexpected incursion, and took 250 hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity.President Joe Biden immediately&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47828" target="_blank">surged</a>&nbsp;weapons and security aid to the key U.S. defense partner, and in April Congress approved his request for $8.7 billion more in foreign military financing and missile defense.Israel’s year-long campaign to completely eliminate Iranian-allied Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip has resulted in a staggering death toll, now over 41,000, according to Gaza health officials.Hamas’ assault also set in motion attacks from other Iranian-backed militias, opening up a war front between Israel and Hezbollah fighters to the north in Lebanon. And for months, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis have terrorized commercial shipping in the Red Sea.Biden has faced fierce criticism for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war tactics.Harris, as early as March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1234822836/kamala-harris-benny-gantz-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas" target="_blank">publicly</a>&nbsp;criticized Israel over the humanitarian “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-vp-harris-urges-israeli-government-do-more-boost-aid-into-gaza-2024-03-03/" target="_blank">catastrophe</a>” in Gaza and called for an immediate six-week cease-fire.Harris, who became the Democratic presidential nominee in mid-summer after Biden dropped his bid, has repeatedly said she defends Israel’s right to defend itself but that “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/" target="_blank">how it does so matters</a>.”Protesters could be heard in the distance Monday as Harris planted a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack. Pro-Palestinian activists protesting the death toll in Gaza have marched and rallied throughout the U.S. during the past year.Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/one-year-oct-7-attack-israel-us-leaders-honor-victims-and-protesters-march" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;reporters that the administration is “not giving up” on negotiating a cease-fire deal and release of hostages, an effort that has so far floundered.“It’s one of the most important ways we will be able to end this war and bring any type of stability to the region. It’s one of the highest priorities of this administration,” she said.She has not indicated any slowdown or conditions on assistance to Israel if elected — though she continues to advocate for a two-state solution.“Trump may give Jerusalem less public chastising and criticism, but I’m not sure the policy differences would be that great either,” Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and foreign policy research director at the Brookings Institution, told States Newsroom. O’Hanlon recently published an article arguing the Trump and Harris defense strategies would at least “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-partially-convergent-trump-and-harris-defense-policies/" target="_blank">partially</a>” converge.Trump maintains that Oct. 7 “would never have happened” had he been in office, and he accuses the Biden administration of inviting the attack because of its “weak” relationship with Iran.“What is needed more than ever is a return of unwavering American leadership and unquestioned American strength. We were strong, we were powerful … That’s what I intend to deliver as the 47th president of the United States,” he said Monday while in Miami marking one year since the ambush on Israel.The attack also wrecked any forward progress on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/" target="_blank">Abraham Accords</a>&nbsp;— Trump’s signature Middle East achievement that created full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. While those established channels remain steady, the Biden administration’s efforts to strike a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia are now at a standstill.Trump is increasingly selling himself on the campaign trail as the candidate of stability who can quash Iran’s aggression — which is pretty much a “standard approach to campaigning,” Lindsay said.“He is not the first challenger to argue that the incumbent president has been weak.”But Lindsay said, “the important question isn’t whether he was tougher, it’s whether his policies were more effective.”For example, the Iranian-backed so-called “axis of resistance” militias currently upending the Middle East were also operating during Trump’s presidency.“(They) pre-dated his coming into office but it’s not that a Trump administration ended that network of anti-Western, anti-Israeli groups,” Lindsay said. “And during the Trump administration it was the case that Iran both underwrote attacks on American troops and actually launched attacks on American troops.”Trump drew attention last week to an early January 2020 barrage on U.S. troops in Iraq when he again&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-describes-traumatic-brain-injuries-sustained-us-troops-iraq-headache" target="_blank">described</a>&nbsp;the traumatic brain injuries they suffered as “headaches.”U.S. troops&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/us-troops-middle-east-mapping-military-presence" target="_blank">in Iraq and Syria</a>, already a target, have come under increasing fire from Iran-backed militants, with more than 100&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/drone-strike-risks-dangerous-us-iran-escalation" target="_blank">attacks</a>&nbsp;on U.S. service members since Israel began its post-Oct. 7 offensive. A drone strike in January&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan/index.html" target="_blank">killed</a>&nbsp;three U.S. soldiers and injured 30 at an outpost in Jordan on the Syrian border. The U.S. retaliated by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike" target="_blank">launching</a>&nbsp;more than 100 precision rockets at 85 of Iran military sites in Iraq and Syria.The U.S. assisted Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3923123/us-assets-in-mediterranean-again-helped-defend-israel-against-iranian-missiles/" target="_blank">twice</a>&nbsp;in 2024 in intercepting rockets fired directly from Iran — once in April following Israel’s bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and again in September after Israel’s assassination of Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon.“We’re in the last months of the Biden presidency, and Biden’s own, I think, personal influence here is quite diminished. And you know, I can’t predict what Trump policy really would be. I assume he would be less likely to be trying to restrain the Israelis, but so is the Biden administration. And maybe that is a Biden-Harris policy,” Elliott Abrams, CFR’s senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, told reporters on Oct. 2, the day after Iran launched its second direct&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/iran-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-israel-us-warns" target="_blank">attack</a>.<h2>Ukraine and NATO</h2>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with both&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/zelenskyy-washington-meets-us-leaders-beef-support-ukraine" target="_blank">Harris</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/09/27/u-s-government-unveils-charges-against-iranians-who-hacked-into-trump-2024-campaign/" target="_blank">Trump</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks to shore up continued U.S. support for his country’s ongoing war against Russia’s occupation.Harris’ meeting with the Ukrainian leader was her seventh, and she pledged continued aid for the eastern European nation on the principle that Putin would continue marching into Europe if allies relent on Ukraine.Harris supports continued U.S. assistance, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine" target="_blank">totaled</a>&nbsp;roughly $175 billion since 2022. At the Ukraine peace&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/16/joint-communique-on-a-peace-framework-summit-on-peace-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">summit</a>&nbsp;in Switzerland in June, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240723-from-gaza-to-china-where-kamala-harris-stands-on-foreign-policy-issues" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jun-15-2024-/vice-president-kamala-harris-announces-over-1-billion-bolster-ukraines-energy-sector-address-humanitarian-needs-and-strengthen-civilian-security" target="_blank">nearly</a>&nbsp;$2 billion, some new and some redirected, to bolster the country’s energy sector and add to humanitarian efforts.The vice president has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/19/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference/" target="_blank">represented</a>&nbsp;the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/18/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-2/" target="_blank">three</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/02/16/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-munich-germany/" target="_blank">times</a>&nbsp;at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, where she praised the NATO alliance and said the U.S. commitment to its principles is “ironclad.”When facing Harris on the presidential debate stage in September, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/harris-tears-trump-over-abortion-rights-and-race-tense-presidential-debate" target="_blank">refused</a>&nbsp;to answer whether he wants Ukraine to be victorious over Russia.Trump’s rhetoric and past behavior “spells bad news for Ukraine,” Waxman said.“He is likely to reduce American support for Ukraine and push Ukraine to make concessions to Russia. Overall, Trump’s transactional approach to leader-to-leader diplomacy is likely to benefit Putin,” Waxman continued. “Whereas Harris wants to invest in alliances like NATO, Trump is skeptical of them.”That type of leader-to-leader communication was notoriously highlighted in 2019 when U.S. House lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-9/ALDE_00000035/" target="_blank">impeached</a>&nbsp;Trump for directly threatening to withhold Ukraine aid if Zelenskyy did not announce an investigation into Biden — Trump’s presidential campaign rival at the time. The Senate acquitted Trump.Like his campaign line on the Israel attack, Trump also repeatedly claims that had he been in office, instead of Biden, Russia would have never launched its February 2022 attack on Ukraine.“The war in Ukraine did not begin in February of ‘22, it began back in 2014,” Lindsay said, referring to Putin’s forced annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.Trump’s own administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/on-the-record-the-u-s-administrations-actions-on-russia/" target="_blank">expanded</a>&nbsp;Obama-era sanctions meant to punish Russia’s actions in Crimea.“Experts can argue about how to dole out criticism across administrations, but clearly the issue of Russian support for a notionally independent insurrection in eastern Ukraine was not solved during the Trump presidency,” Lindsay continued.<h2>China and trade</h2>Foreign trade is a “political hot potato,” and neither Harris nor Trump are offering much clarity for U.S. trading partners around the world, Mary E. Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom in an interview.Lovely described the Biden-Harris approach as multipronged, in that they’ve instituted policies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. while also aiming to maintain good trade relationships with partner nations.The tightrope walk becomes even trickier as U.S. policy also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/while-us-and-china-decouple-eu-and-china-deepen-trade-dependencies" target="_blank">disincentivizes</a>&nbsp;materials and components from China — one of the world’s largest trading nations — in the final products imported from trading partners. Think: components in solar panels and electric vehicles.The Biden administration’s major legislative accomplishments — the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act — provided major subsidies for “reshoring,” or returning to the U.S., clean energy and semiconductor production. But the policies were not without risks to U.S. trading partners.“We had a lot of things (in the legislation), including things that upset the allies — you know, subsidies for American businesses, that they saw potentially as pulling investment out of their economies,” Lovely said.“These are things that the European Union, Japan, Korea were concerned about,” Lovely continued. “So we’ve seen it there — this tension between foreign policy and this idea of economic security.”While Lovely said she worries about how some of the Biden-Harris trade policies might affect competition and the nation’s ability to sign timely trade agreements, she said Trump’s plans are overall “destabilizing.”“The increased use of tariffs is misguided at best,” Lovely said.Trump’s promise to not only increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 60%, but also to slap flat 10% to 20% tariffs on all imports across the board is akin to “starting a trade war with the entire world.”“We’re not going to see those kinds of tariffs without retaliation,” Lovely said.If enacted, the tariffs would be particularly challenging for Indo-Pacific countries that rely on U.S. partnership in the face of China’s regional dominance.“I mean, you can imagine how this will go down in, say, Japan and Korea, two countries which rely on the U.S. for a security umbrella, which is why Trump thinks that he can do stuff to them. But they also have to protect their own economies,” Lovely said. “So it’s going to put them in a really terrible position because it’s very important for them to maintain their alliance with the U.S., economic as well as military.”But one thing is for sure, Lovely said: “Everybody wants to know what’s going to happen. Everybody in every embassy here in Washington.”

Foreign policy: Where do Harris and Trump stand?

A University of Missouri researcher has developed a new vaccine to protect cattle from a tick-borne disease that is common in Missouri. Bovine anaplasmosis infects the red blood cells of cattle and causes millions of dollars in economic losses nationwide due to production declines. Researcher Roman Ganta says that his vaccine works, “We found out that the animals remained, all the cattle that we tested, remained healthy, whether the infection is coming from a mechanical route, which is the standard way many cattle get it in a cattle ranch or by tick transmission.” Ganta Says.

A University of Missouri researcher has developed a new vaccine to protect cattle from a tick-borne disease that is common in Missouri. Bovine anaplasmosis infects the red blood cells of cattle and causes millions of dollars in economic losses nationwide due to production declines. Researcher Roman Ganta says that his vaccine works, “We found out that the animals remained, all the cattle that we tested, remained healthy, whether the infection is coming from a mechanical route, which is the standard way many cattle get it in a cattle ranch or by tick transmission.” Ganta Says.

Missouri ag creates vaccine to protect cattle 

Reports show the U.S. corn and soybean harvests are double digits ahead of their five-year averages. Most reports credit the fast pace to dry weather stretched across most of the U.S. through the past week. Corn harvest jumped 18 points nationally to 65 percent complete as of last Sunday, 13 percent over the five-year average. Soybean harvest slowed a little over the past week but still rose 14 percent to reach 81 percent completed as of last Sunday. 

Reports show the U.S. corn and soybean harvests are double digits ahead of their five-year averages. Most reports credit the fast pace to dry weather stretched across most of the U.S. through the past week. Corn harvest jumped 18 points nationally to 65 percent complete as of last Sunday, 13 percent over the five-year average. Soybean harvest slowed a little over the past week but still rose 14 percent to reach 81 percent completed as of last Sunday.

Fall harvest double digits ahead of last year’s pace

(Radio Iowa) - Halloween is one of the deadliest nights of the year for pedestrians, according to a University of Iowa researcher who studies how to make roads, sidewalks and crossings safer. 

Elizabeth O'Neal, a U-I professor of community and behavioral health, says costumed kids get excited -- and distracted -- while trick-or-treating and that can be a dangerous combination when it comes to crossing a street. Parents can drill into a child how they need to look both ways before crossing the street, but they may have to repeatedly reinforce that mantra during trick-or-treat night. 

A few cosmetic changes to a costume could make a tremendous difference in their visibility without destroying the spooky illusion, like using glow sticks and bracelets to help illuminate pedestrians.

(Radio Iowa) - Halloween is one of the deadliest nights of the year for pedestrians, according to a University of Iowa researcher who studies how to make roads, sidewalks and crossings safer. Elizabeth O'Neal, a U-I professor of community and behavioral health, says costumed kids get excited -- and distracted -- while trick-or-treating and that can be a dangerous combination when it comes to crossing a street. Parents can drill into a child how they need to look both ways before crossing the street, but they may have to repeatedly reinforce that mantra during trick-or-treat night. A few cosmetic changes to a costume could make a tremendous difference in their visibility without destroying the spooky illusion, like using glow sticks and bracelets to help illuminate pedestrians.

Trick-or-treating can bring genuine scares for Iowa kids on busy streets

New technology to streamline renewals will speed lines at license offices, allow for online renewals for some adults, officials say

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rudi-keller/">RUDI KELLER</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Of the many annoyances in life, a trip to the local motor vehicle office can rank near the top.

In early November, the Missouri Department of Revenue will activate new equipment intended to reduce the aggravation, speed up lines and get all of its systems talking to one another.

“With this roll out, there’s going to be new computers, scanners and a tablet for the customer,” said Ken Struemph, director of the Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing.

The tablet will let the license applicant check their information for errors, while approximately 175 new work stations at the 275 license offices will speed lines.&nbsp;

“The license will look the same, but the experience will be different, because it should be able to be processed a lot quicker than it had in the past,” department Director Wayne Wallingford said.

One way the process will be quicker is eliminating trips to the local license office, Struemph said. Adult drivers between 21 and 49 will be able to renew their licenses online at every other renewal period, meaning 12 years between trips to the office for a license. And drivers will be able to obtain a new license online in cases where a license is lost or damaged, he said.

“If you happen to lose your driver’s license, you can go online and get a duplicate driver’s license every other time,” Struemph said. “We don’t want to open up duplicates to where I am going to apply for 10 and share them with all my buddies. You can get one duplicate online, and then the next time you would have to visit a driver’s license office.”

To implement the system, license offices will not process any driver license or non-driver identification applications between Nov. 6 and Nov. 11. Some offices will close entirely on Nov. 7, all offices will close Nov. 8 and every office should be ready with the new system when the doors open Nov. 12 after the Veterans Day holiday.

New features include easier online navigation, eliminating the need for new drivers to bring a physical copy of a Missouri State Highway Patrol driver test to the office and easier use by employees processing licenses.

The new system, which Struemph said is being installed at a cost of $33 million, is part of a complete modernization of the department’s driver and vehicle licensing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/21Info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=54235423" target="_blank">authorized by legislation passed in 2021</a>. That bill required auto dealers to turn over 10% of administrative fees charged to customers to fund the technology upgrades.

The second phase, which will be operational in July 2026, will connect the department to auto dealerships, who will be required to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/18/missouri-bill-would-shift-sales-tax-collection-to-car-dealers/">start collecting sales tax</a>&nbsp;on vehicles at the time of sale. Once all dealers are collecting sales tax, Wallingford said, the number of vehicles on the road with expired temporary tags should decline.

“That’s our hope, because I see a lot of them,” he said.

Currently, sales taxes — which can be several thousand dollars on a new vehicle — are collected at the license office at the time of registration. The department’s current system is so old and inefficient that when the bill to require dealers to collect the tax was passed, there was no way of knowing how many owners were driving cars and trucks on temporary tags.

Every license office in the state is operated by a contractor who receives a fee on each transaction to support their operations. At each office currently, a person who needs to renew a license at the same time they file or renew a vehicle registration must go through two lines.

That will change once the new system is fully operational, Struemph said.

“We really don’t think that we’re going to have to have more staff in the offices, but we’ve got more flexibility in the offices,” he said.

When motorists renew their licenses, they will retain the choice of obtaining a REAL ID compliant license or to have their license issued without the REAL ID certification. Passed in 2005 in response to the 9-11 terror attacks, the federal law requires states to&nbsp;<a href="https://dor.mo.gov/forms/REAL%20ID-Compliant.pdf" target="_blank">verify identity</a>&nbsp;from documents such as birth certificates or passports, legal status through citizenship or legal resident documentation and status with the Social Security system.

Many of the same documents required for REAL ID are&nbsp;<a href="https://dor.mo.gov/forms/Non%20REAL%20ID-Compliant.pdf" target="_blank">needed to obtain a license</a>&nbsp;that is not compliant.&nbsp;

Federal law requires a REAL ID-compliant card to enter some federal facilities. After numerous extensions, starting May 7, 2025, a REAL ID will be required as identification to board airline flights.

One feature of the new system will allow motorists to access their license through an online app, Struemph said.

“You hit that app, and then it’ll show your driver’s license,” he said. “And it actually makes sure through the new technologies, that ‘yep, this is really Ken Struemph’ looking at it, and you got access to your driver’s license.”

The new app’s security features include using biometric technology to verify identity, he said.

“Biometric, absolutely,” Struemph said. “It looks at many different features, many different features.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/7/1563375258062.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>New technology to streamline renewals will speed lines at license offices, allow for online renewals for some adults, officials say</h2>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rudi-keller/">RUDI KELLER</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Of the many annoyances in life, a trip to the local motor vehicle office can rank near the top.In early November, the Missouri Department of Revenue will activate new equipment intended to reduce the aggravation, speed up lines and get all of its systems talking to one another.“With this roll out, there’s going to be new computers, scanners and a tablet for the customer,” said Ken Struemph, director of the Division of Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing.The tablet will let the license applicant check their information for errors, while approximately 175 new work stations at the 275 license offices will speed lines.&nbsp;“The license will look the same, but the experience will be different, because it should be able to be processed a lot quicker than it had in the past,” department Director Wayne Wallingford said.One way the process will be quicker is eliminating trips to the local license office, Struemph said. Adult drivers between 21 and 49 will be able to renew their licenses online at every other renewal period, meaning 12 years between trips to the office for a license. And drivers will be able to obtain a new license online in cases where a license is lost or damaged, he said.“If you happen to lose your driver’s license, you can go online and get a duplicate driver’s license every other time,” Struemph said. “We don’t want to open up duplicates to where I am going to apply for 10 and share them with all my buddies. You can get one duplicate online, and then the next time you would have to visit a driver’s license office.”To implement the system, license offices will not process any driver license or non-driver identification applications between Nov. 6 and Nov. 11. Some offices will close entirely on Nov. 7, all offices will close Nov. 8 and every office should be ready with the new system when the doors open Nov. 12 after the Veterans Day holiday.New features include easier online navigation, eliminating the need for new drivers to bring a physical copy of a Missouri State Highway Patrol driver test to the office and easier use by employees processing licenses.The new system, which Struemph said is being installed at a cost of $33 million, is part of a complete modernization of the department’s driver and vehicle licensing&nbsp;<a href="https://www.senate.mo.gov/21Info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&amp;BillID=54235423" target="_blank">authorized by legislation passed in 2021</a>. That bill required auto dealers to turn over 10% of administrative fees charged to customers to fund the technology upgrades.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729777524073.png" alt="The Missouri Department of Revenue is beginning to implement new technology that could reduce the number of vehicles with expired temporary tags like this one that expired at Christmas 2022 and was found during May 2023 in a Columbia parking lot. (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>The Missouri Department of Revenue is beginning to implement new technology that could reduce the number of vehicles with expired temporary tags like this one that expired at Christmas 2022 and was found during May 2023 in a Columbia parking lot. (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>The second phase, which will be operational in July 2026, will connect the department to auto dealerships, who will be required to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/18/missouri-bill-would-shift-sales-tax-collection-to-car-dealers/">start collecting sales tax</a>&nbsp;on vehicles at the time of sale. Once all dealers are collecting sales tax, Wallingford said, the number of vehicles on the road with expired temporary tags should decline.“That’s our hope, because I see a lot of them,” he said.Currently, sales taxes — which can be several thousand dollars on a new vehicle — are collected at the license office at the time of registration. The department’s current system is so old and inefficient that when the bill to require dealers to collect the tax was passed, there was no way of knowing how many owners were driving cars and trucks on temporary tags.Every license office in the state is operated by a contractor who receives a fee on each transaction to support their operations. At each office currently, a person who needs to renew a license at the same time they file or renew a vehicle registration must go through two lines.That will change once the new system is fully operational, Struemph said.“We really don’t think that we’re going to have to have more staff in the offices, but we’ve got more flexibility in the offices,” he said.When motorists renew their licenses, they will retain the choice of obtaining a REAL ID compliant license or to have their license issued without the REAL ID certification. Passed in 2005 in response to the 9-11 terror attacks, the federal law requires states to&nbsp;<a href="https://dor.mo.gov/forms/REAL%20ID-Compliant.pdf" target="_blank">verify identity</a>&nbsp;from documents such as birth certificates or passports, legal status through citizenship or legal resident documentation and status with the Social Security system.Many of the same documents required for REAL ID are&nbsp;<a href="https://dor.mo.gov/forms/Non%20REAL%20ID-Compliant.pdf" target="_blank">needed to obtain a license</a>&nbsp;that is not compliant.&nbsp;Federal law requires a REAL ID-compliant card to enter some federal facilities. After numerous extensions, starting May 7, 2025, a REAL ID will be required as identification to board airline flights.One feature of the new system will allow motorists to access their license through an online app, Struemph said.“You hit that app, and then it’ll show your driver’s license,” he said. “And it actually makes sure through the new technologies, that ‘yep, this is really Ken Struemph’ looking at it, and you got access to your driver’s license.”The new app’s security features include using biometric technology to verify identity, he said.“Biometric, absolutely,” Struemph said. “It looks at many different features, many different features.”

Missouri to launch new driver licensing system early next month

SEATTLE&nbsp;– Frontline Boeing workers voted 64% against accepting the latest contract proposal put forth by their employer, according to a media release from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Jon Holden, President of IAM District 751 and Brandon Bryant, President of IAM District W24, issued the following joint statement following the votes being tallied:

“The elected negotiating committee of workers did not recommend for or against this particular proposal. After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly. This is workplace democracy – and also clear evidence that there are consequences when a company mistreats its workers year after year. Workers across America know what it’s like for a company to take and take – and Boeing workers are saying they are fully and strongly committed to balancing that out by winning back more of what was taken from them by the company for more than a decade. Ten years of holding workers back unfortunately cannot be undone quickly or easily, but we will continue to negotiate in good faith until we have made gains that workers feel adequately make up for what the company took from them in the past.”

IAM International President Brian Bryant&nbsp;issued the following statement:

“The entire IAM Union, all 600,000 members across North America, stand with our District 751 and W24 membership. Their fight is our fight – and we support their decision to continue this strike for fairness and dignity for Boeing workers.”

33,000 IAM District 751 and W24 members at Boeing in Washington state, Oregon and California are seeking to make up ground for nearly 10 years of stagnant wages and many givebacks that were part of prior negotiations. Their strike will continue and the union said it plans to immediately send new dates for further negotiations to the company.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727171580133.png" alt="Photo International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers" />
 <figcaption>Photo International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers</figcaption>
 </figure>SEATTLE&nbsp;– Frontline Boeing workers voted 64% against accepting the latest contract proposal put forth by their employer, according to a media release from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.Jon Holden, President of IAM District 751 and Brandon Bryant, President of IAM District W24, issued the following joint statement following the votes being tallied:“The elected negotiating committee of workers did not recommend for or against this particular proposal. After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly. This is workplace democracy – and also clear evidence that there are consequences when a company mistreats its workers year after year. Workers across America know what it’s like for a company to take and take – and Boeing workers are saying they are fully and strongly committed to balancing that out by winning back more of what was taken from them by the company for more than a decade. Ten years of holding workers back unfortunately cannot be undone quickly or easily, but we will continue to negotiate in good faith until we have made gains that workers feel adequately make up for what the company took from them in the past.”IAM International President Brian Bryant&nbsp;issued the following statement:“The entire IAM Union, all 600,000 members across North America, stand with our District 751 and W24 membership. Their fight is our fight – and we support their decision to continue this strike for fairness and dignity for Boeing workers.”33,000 IAM District 751 and W24 members at Boeing in Washington state, Oregon and California are seeking to make up ground for nearly 10 years of stagnant wages and many givebacks that were part of prior negotiations. Their strike will continue and the union said it plans to immediately send new dates for further negotiations to the company.

Boeing workers reject new labor contract, extending strike

(Radio Iowa) - As drought conditions worsen across the state, one southwestern Iowa community is enacting tighter water conservation restraints. 

The Shenandoah City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to enact what it calls Stage 4 water rationing. City water superintendent Tim Martin says the restrictions include a ban on all non-commercial irrigation, unless the business sells or grows plants. 

Using a hose to wash vehicles is banned, though car washes will remain open. Powerwashing of things like sidewalks, houses and decks is also out. Three-quarters of the state is in moderate to extreme drought.

(Radio Iowa) - As drought conditions worsen across the state, one southwestern Iowa community is enacting tighter water conservation restraints. The Shenandoah City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to enact what it calls Stage 4 water rationing. City water superintendent Tim Martin says the restrictions include a ban on all non-commercial irrigation, unless the business sells or grows plants. Using a hose to wash vehicles is banned, though car washes will remain open. Powerwashing of things like sidewalks, houses and decks is also out. Three-quarters of the state is in moderate to extreme drought.

Water rationing now in place in SW Iowa city

USDA will issue more than $2.14 billion in payments to eligible agricultural producers and landowners, providing much-needed support through conservation and farm safety-net programs. Producers should soon receive payments from the Farm Service Agency for their participation in these programs aimed at conserving natural resources and keeping family farms economically viable. Program participants are expected to receive more than $1.7 billion through the Conservation Reserve Program and CRP Transition Incentive Program. 

USDA will issue more than $2.14 billion in payments to eligible agricultural producers and landowners, providing much-needed support through conservation and farm safety-net programs. Producers should soon receive payments from the Farm Service Agency for their participation in these programs aimed at conserving natural resources and keeping family farms economically viable. Program participants are expected to receive more than $1.7 billion through the Conservation Reserve Program and CRP Transition Incentive Program.

USDA/FSA begins issuing funds to producers

Both the U.S. corn and soybean harvests are now double digits ahead of their five-year averages as dry weather continued across most of the country last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.

-- Crop development: Corn mature was pegged at 98%, 1 point ahead of last year's 97% and 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 95%.

-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead 18 percentage points nationally to reach 65% complete as of Sunday. That was 10 points ahead of last year's 55% and 13 points ahead of the five-year average of 52%. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin were all ahead of their five-year averages.

-- Harvest progress: Soybean harvest slowed last week, moving ahead 14 percentage points to reach 81% complete as of Sunday. That was still 9 points ahead of last year's 72% and 14 points ahead of the five-year average of 67%. Key states Illinois and Iowa are 76% and 91% harvested, respectively, with Minnesota now 95% done.

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting also slowed last week, moving ahead 9 points to reach 73% complete nationwide as of Sunday, 1 point behind last year's 74% and 3 points behind the five-year average of 76%. Oklahoma continued to be the furthest behind at 55% planted, 16 points behind the state's five-year average of 71%.

-- Crop development: An estimated 46% of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday, 3 points behind last year's 49% and 4 points behind the five-year average of 50%.

Both the U.S. corn and soybean harvests are now double digits ahead of their five-year averages as dry weather continued across most of the country last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress report on Monday.CORN-- Crop development: Corn mature was pegged at 98%, 1 point ahead of last year's 97% and 3 percentage points ahead of the five-year average of 95%.-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest moved ahead 18 percentage points nationally to reach 65% complete as of Sunday. That was 10 points ahead of last year's 55% and 13 points ahead of the five-year average of 52%. Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin were all ahead of their five-year averages.SOYBEANS-- Harvest progress: Soybean harvest slowed last week, moving ahead 14 percentage points to reach 81% complete as of Sunday. That was still 9 points ahead of last year's 72% and 14 points ahead of the five-year average of 67%. Key states Illinois and Iowa are 76% and 91% harvested, respectively, with Minnesota now 95% done.WINTER WHEAT-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting also slowed last week, moving ahead 9 points to reach 73% complete nationwide as of Sunday, 1 point behind last year's 74% and 3 points behind the five-year average of 76%. Oklahoma continued to be the furthest behind at 55% planted, 16 points behind the state's five-year average of 71%.-- Crop development: An estimated 46% of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday, 3 points behind last year's 49% and 4 points behind the five-year average of 50%.

Harvest continues race to completion

(Radio Iowa) - The pheasant season opens this Saturday and D-N-R Wildlife Biologist Todd Bogenshutz says hunters will likely not duplicate last year. 

It was one of the better years in the last two decades with just shy of 600-thousand roosters tkaen. The roadside survey shows the wet spring did have some impact on bird numbers, but Bogenshutz there could be close to 400-thousand birds taken. 

Most of the soybeans have been harvested and large portion of corn as well, which Bogenshutz says will help hunters as they have better success when there are less standing crops for the birds to utilize for cover. The pheasant season runs through January 10th.

(Radio Iowa) - The pheasant season opens this Saturday and D-N-R Wildlife Biologist Todd Bogenshutz says hunters will likely not duplicate last year. It was one of the better years in the last two decades with just shy of 600-thousand roosters tkaen. The roadside survey shows the wet spring did have some impact on bird numbers, but Bogenshutz there could be close to 400-thousand birds taken. Most of the soybeans have been harvested and large portion of corn as well, which Bogenshutz says will help hunters as they have better success when there are less standing crops for the birds to utilize for cover. The pheasant season runs through January 10th.

Pheasant Season Opens Saturday

(Radio Iowa) - All four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U-S House are seeking reelection, including fourth district Congressman Randy Feenstra.

 Feenstra's 2024 race is a General Election rematch with Ryan Melton, a Democrat from Webster City. Feenstra's Republican opponent in the June Primary got 40 percent of the vote and that candidate -- Kevin Virgil -- endorsed Melton in August. The primary reason? Melton and Virgil both oppose the use of eminent domain to seize land for a carbon pipeline. Feenstra says he's also opposed to eminent domain, but the pipeline is a state issue, not a federal issue. Melton says he expects to get some protest votes from Republicans. 

However, there are 90-thousand more registered Republicans than Democrats in the district and Iowa State University political science professor Dave Peterson says that's a big advantage for Feenstra.

(Radio Iowa) - All four Republicans who represent Iowa in the U-S House are seeking reelection, including fourth district Congressman Randy Feenstra. Feenstra's 2024 race is a General Election rematch with Ryan Melton, a Democrat from Webster City. Feenstra's Republican opponent in the June Primary got 40 percent of the vote and that candidate -- Kevin Virgil -- endorsed Melton in August. The primary reason? Melton and Virgil both oppose the use of eminent domain to seize land for a carbon pipeline. Feenstra says he's also opposed to eminent domain, but the pipeline is a state issue, not a federal issue. Melton says he expects to get some protest votes from Republicans. However, there are 90-thousand more registered Republicans than Democrats in the district and Iowa State University political science professor Dave Peterson says that's a big advantage for Feenstra.

Feenstra-Melton rematch in Iowa's fourth congressional district

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jason-hancock/">JASON HANCOCK</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>

A reporter for a Kansas City television station was struck by a bullet fragment Tuesday while covering a shooting range campaign event for Democrat Lucas Kunce.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729709021542.png" alt=" Lucas Kunce applies first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck him in the arm while former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger looks on (photo: Lucas Kunce for Missouri)." />
 <figcaption> Lucas Kunce applies first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck him in the arm while former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger looks on (photo: Lucas Kunce for Missouri).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jason-hancock/">JASON HANCOCK</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>A reporter for a Kansas City television station was struck by a bullet fragment Tuesday while covering a shooting range campaign event for Democrat Lucas Kunce.Kunce, a Marine veteran hoping to unseat U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, provided first aid to KSHB reporter Ryan Gamboa after a bullet fragment ricocheted off a target and struck him in the arm.<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/local-news/kshb-41-reporter-injured-at-lucas-kunce-campaign-event" target="_blank">KSHB reports</a>&nbsp;Gamboa’s injuries were minor and he was released from the hospital on Tuesday.Kunce was holding an event at a shooting range near Kansas City with former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, an Illinois Republican. After the event, Kunce released a statement on social media reminding shooters to “<a href="https://x.com/LucasKunceMO/status/1848886246749184008" target="_blank">always have your first aid kit handy</a>.”“Shrapnel can always fly when you hit a target like today,” Kunce said, “and you’ve got to be ready to go. We had four first aid kits, so we were able to take care of the situation, and I’m glad Ryan is okay and was able to continue reporting.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My grandma is a better shot than Lucas Kunce <a href="https://t.co/rSjnBTlWeh">pic.twitter.com/rSjnBTlWeh</a>&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848891356942344506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Hawley was quick to&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/HawleyMO/status/1848884106077127065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1848884106077127065%7Ctwgr%5Ee19a1ddce1021972d3df84fa37f490823eff4b4b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.komu.com%2Fnews%2Fstate%2Ftv-reporter-struck-by-bullet-fragment-at-lucas-kunce-campaign-event%2Farticle_b74dd53a-90dc-11ef-9bfb-53ccc95f1294.html" target="_blank">mock Kunce for the shooting range incident</a>, jokingly posting on social media: “I condemn all acts of violence against reporters and call on Kunce never to shoot another one.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I condemn all acts of violence against reporters and call on Kunce never to shoot another one 😂😂😂&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848884106077127065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><a href="https://x.com/HawleyMO/status/1848906167130493056" target="_blank">He added</a>: “I know the Kunce campaign needed a shot in the arm, but this is taking it a little far.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Will Kamala condemn the gun violence by Kunce and Kinzinger?&mdash; Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) <a href="https://twitter.com/HawleyMO/status/1848905255511331049?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Kunce later responded by sharing&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/LucasKunceMO/status/1848887386840686785" target="_blank">video footage of Hawley fleeing from a mob of rioters</a>&nbsp;after they breached the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, trying to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election.“The last time Josh Hawley saw a gun,” Kunce wrote,&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/abigailmarone/status/1848887632509481230" target="_blank">garnering a response</a>&nbsp;from Hawley’s spokeswoman: “You just shot someone, relax.”Every public poll of the race has shown Hawley in the lead, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/senate/general/2024/missouri/hawley-vs-kunce" target="_blank">most putting the Republican up by double digits</a>. And Missouri hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2018.But Kunce has c<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/10/16/democrat-lucas-kunce-outraises-missouri-republican-sen-josh-hawley/">onsistently outraised Hawley</a>, including in the last quarter where he reported raising $7.6 million compared to around $4 million for Hawley and a supportive political action committee. But Hawley ended the quarter with more cash on hand, finishing September with $2.6 million for the campaign’s homestretch compared with $1.5 million for Kunce.

Kbct