OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An Overland Park City Council member who is facing a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery has been removed from the city’s public safety committee during the investigation.

Councilman Scott Hamblin, 42, was charged after police were called to his home on July 21. No injuries were reported. He is accused of “physical contact with a person, in a rude, insulting, or angry manner,” according to the criminal complaint.

Six council members on Monday called for Hamblin to resign, saying the charge could damage the board’s reputation. He said he would not step down and said allegations were being made before the incident had been thoroughly investigated.

Mayor Carl Gerlach said Thursday he removed Hamblin from the public safety committee because it oversees police department policies and would present a conflict of interest for Hamblin.

Hamblin’s wife, Curstin, said in a statement that the City Council was attempting to “score political gains from a private family matter.”

“This harassment toward my family is absolutely uncalled for,” she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595518705251.png" alt="Hamblin -photo Johnson Co. Jail" />
 <figcaption>Hamblin -photo Johnson Co. Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — An Overland Park City Council member who is facing a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery has been removed from the city’s public safety committee during the investigation.Councilman Scott Hamblin, 42, was charged after police were called to his home on July 21. No injuries were reported. He is accused of “physical contact with a person, in a rude, insulting, or angry manner,” according to the criminal complaint.Six council members on Monday called for Hamblin to resign, saying the charge could damage the board’s reputation. He said he would not step down and said allegations were being made before the incident had been thoroughly investigated.Mayor Carl Gerlach said Thursday he removed Hamblin from the public safety committee because it oversees police department policies and would present a conflict of interest for Hamblin.Hamblin’s wife, Curstin, said in a statement that the City Council was attempting to “score political gains from a private family matter.”“This harassment toward my family is absolutely uncalled for,” she said.

City councilman in Kan. charged with misdemeanor battery

WASHINGTON (AP) — A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive collapsing Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money ended in disappointment on Friday, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people who are losing enhanced jobless benefits and further damage for an economy pummeled by the still-raging coronavirus.

“It was a disappointing meeting,” declared top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, saying the White House had rejected an offer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to curb Democratic demands by about $1 trillion. He urged the White House to “negotiate with Democrats and meet us in the middle. Don’t say it’s your way or no way.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “Unfortunately we did not make any progress today.”

With the collapse of the talks, he said President Donald Trump was now likely to issue executive orders on home evictions and on student loan debt.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said, “This is not a perfect answer -- we’ll be the first ones to say that -- but it is all that we can do, and all the president can do within the confines of his executive power.”

Friday’s session followed a combative meeting on Thursday that, for the first time cast real doubt on the ability of the Trump administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill to come together on a fifth COVID-19 response bill. Pelosi summoned Mnuchin and Meadows in hopes of breathing life into the negotiations, which have been characterized by frustration and intransigence on both sides.

A breakdown in the talks would put at risk&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2b554a392e8bb6785deba6371cfa7900">more than $100 billion to help reopen schools</a>, a fresh round of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/61b3d38360745d64a98a2ab813501b13">$1,200 direct payments</a>&nbsp;to most people and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.

In a news conference on Friday Pelosi said she offered a major concession to Republicans.

“We’ll go down $1 trillion, you go up $1 trillion,” Pelosi said. The figures are approximate, but a Pelosi spokesman said the speaker is in general terms seeking a “top line” of perhaps $2.4 trillion since the House-passed HEROES Act is scored at $3.45 trillion. Republicans say their starting offer was about $1 trillion but have offered some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to states, among others, that have brought the White House offer higher.

Mnuchin said that renewal of a $600 per-week pandemic jobless boost and huge demands by Democrats for aid to state and local governments are the key areas where they are stuck.

“There’s a lot of areas of compromise,” he said after Friday’s meeting. “I think if we can reach an agreement on state and local and unemployment, we will reach an overall deal. And if we can’t we can’t.”

Pelosi declared the talks all but dead until Meadows and Mnuchin give ground.

“I’ve told them ‘come back when you are ready to give us a higher number,’” she said.

Democrats have offered to reduce her almost $1 trillion demand for state and local governments considerably, but some of Pelosi’s proposed cost savings would accrue chiefly because she would shorten the timeframe for benefits like food stamps.

Pelosi and Schumer continue to insist on a huge aid package to address&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e3081a60a6abf62effa2e6030556ee30">a surge in cases and deaths</a>, double-digit joblessness and the threat of poverty for millions of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f3caeadfc8c7f88900470ac96820a36c">the newly unemployed</a>.

On Friday, they pointed to the new July jobs report to try to bolster their proposals. The report showed that the U.S. added 1.8 million jobs last month, a much lower increase than in May and June.

“It’s clear the economy is losing steam,” Schumer said. “That means we need big, bold investments in America to help average folks.”

Senate Republicans have been split, with roughly half of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s rank and file opposed to another rescue bill at all. Four prior coronavirus response bills totaling almost $3 trillion have won approval on bipartisan votes despite intense wrangling, but conservatives have recoiled at the prospect of another Pelosi-brokered agreement with a whopping deficit-financed cost.

McConnell has sent the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won’t come until late next week, if then.

Pelosi and Schumer have staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their insistence for food stamps and assistance to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/833d91877e2f0fa913c5258978a9e83c">renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure</a>.

“This virus is like a freight train coming so fast and they are responding like a convoy going as slow as the slowest ship. It just doesn’t work,” Pelosi said Friday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596833441262.png" alt="House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke late Friday after negotiations ended -image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke late Friday after negotiations ended -image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A last-ditch effort by Democrats to revive collapsing Capitol Hill talks on vital COVID-19 rescue money ended in disappointment on Friday, making it increasingly likely that Washington gridlock will mean more hardship for millions of people who are losing enhanced jobless benefits and further damage for an economy pummeled by the still-raging coronavirus.“It was a disappointing meeting,” declared top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer, saying the White House had rejected an offer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to curb Democratic demands by about $1 trillion. He urged the White House to “negotiate with Democrats and meet us in the middle. Don’t say it’s your way or no way.”Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, “Unfortunately we did not make any progress today.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596833516825.png" alt="Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows left Friday's meeting looking for another way to help the American people-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows left Friday's meeting looking for another way to help the American people-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>With the collapse of the talks, he said President Donald Trump was now likely to issue executive orders on home evictions and on student loan debt.White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said, “This is not a perfect answer -- we’ll be the first ones to say that -- but it is all that we can do, and all the president can do within the confines of his executive power.”Friday’s session followed a combative meeting on Thursday that, for the first time cast real doubt on the ability of the Trump administration and Democrats on Capitol Hill to come together on a fifth COVID-19 response bill. Pelosi summoned Mnuchin and Meadows in hopes of breathing life into the negotiations, which have been characterized by frustration and intransigence on both sides.A breakdown in the talks would put at risk&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2b554a392e8bb6785deba6371cfa7900">more than $100 billion to help reopen schools</a>, a fresh round of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/61b3d38360745d64a98a2ab813501b13">$1,200 direct payments</a>&nbsp;to most people and hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments to help them avoid furloughing workers and cutting services as tax revenues shrivel.In a news conference on Friday Pelosi said she offered a major concession to Republicans.“We’ll go down $1 trillion, you go up $1 trillion,” Pelosi said. The figures are approximate, but a Pelosi spokesman said the speaker is in general terms seeking a “top line” of perhaps $2.4 trillion since the House-passed HEROES Act is scored at $3.45 trillion. Republicans say their starting offer was about $1 trillion but have offered some concessions on jobless benefits and aid to states, among others, that have brought the White House offer higher.Mnuchin said that renewal of a $600 per-week pandemic jobless boost and huge demands by Democrats for aid to state and local governments are the key areas where they are stuck.“There’s a lot of areas of compromise,” he said after Friday’s meeting. “I think if we can reach an agreement on state and local and unemployment, we will reach an overall deal. And if we can’t we can’t.”Pelosi declared the talks all but dead until Meadows and Mnuchin give ground.“I’ve told them ‘come back when you are ready to give us a higher number,’” she said.Democrats have offered to reduce her almost $1 trillion demand for state and local governments considerably, but some of Pelosi’s proposed cost savings would accrue chiefly because she would shorten the timeframe for benefits like food stamps.Pelosi and Schumer continue to insist on a huge aid package to address&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/e3081a60a6abf62effa2e6030556ee30">a surge in cases and deaths</a>, double-digit joblessness and the threat of poverty for millions of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f3caeadfc8c7f88900470ac96820a36c">the newly unemployed</a>.On Friday, they pointed to the new July jobs report to try to bolster their proposals. The report showed that the U.S. added 1.8 million jobs last month, a much lower increase than in May and June.“It’s clear the economy is losing steam,” Schumer said. “That means we need big, bold investments in America to help average folks.”Senate Republicans have been split, with roughly half of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s rank and file opposed to another rescue bill at all. Four prior coronavirus response bills totaling almost $3 trillion have won approval on bipartisan votes despite intense wrangling, but conservatives have recoiled at the prospect of another Pelosi-brokered agreement with a whopping deficit-financed cost.McConnell has sent the Senate home rather than forcing impatient senators to bide their time while Democrats play hardball. That suggests a vote won’t come until late next week, if then.Pelosi and Schumer have staked out a firm position to extend a lapsed $600-per-week bonus jobless benefit, demanded generous child care assistance and reiterated their insistence for food stamps and assistance to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/833d91877e2f0fa913c5258978a9e83c">renters and homeowners facing eviction or foreclosure</a>.“This virus is like a freight train coming so fast and they are responding like a convoy going as slow as the slowest ship. It just doesn’t work,” Pelosi said Friday.

Last-ditch virus aid talks collapse; no new help for jobless

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Missouri State Rep. Jon Carpenter is the likely winner of a Democratic primary for a seat on the Clay County Commission after a programming error initially showed his opponent won the election.

Clay County (20 miles north of Kansas City) election officials spent much of Thursday re-certifying about 44,000 votes after initial results showed Carpenter had not received any votes in 21 of the county’s 40 precincts. Clay County Assessor Cathy Rinehart received 73% of the vote in Tuesday’s initial results.

County Republican election director Patty Lamb said Friday a programming error on tabulators caused results to be read incorrectly in six Democratic county races. She said the ballots were out of order, changing how a machine read the results. The other five races were uncontested so the outcomes were not affected.

Lamb stressed the races were in order on ballots, every vote cast on Tuesday was counted and there was no evidence of tampering. She said she and Democratic director Tiffany Ellison work together to ensure a proper outcome no matter the candidate’s party.

“We don’t have skin in the game,” she said. “Our focus is to be sure every registered voter is counted and we work together in checks and balances to make sure that happens.”

The final, official results were expected to be certified late Friday.

Brent Wagoner, account manager for Adkins Printing, the county’s election vendor, said Friday the company is working to determine how the problem occurred. He said it was the first time Adkins had experienced the problem, and it was the only counting error reported in the 74 counties the company served in Tuesday’s election.

“We are going to figure it out and get provisions in place to make sure it never happens again,” Wagoner said.

Carpenter, who reached his term limit after serving eight years in the Missouri House, will face Republican Lydia McEvoy in the general election for a commission seat in the western district of Clay County.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596830116252.png" alt="Jon Carpenter courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Jon Carpenter courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Missouri State Rep. Jon Carpenter is the likely winner of a Democratic primary for a seat on the Clay County Commission after a programming error initially showed his opponent won the election.Clay County (20 miles north of Kansas City) election officials spent much of Thursday re-certifying about 44,000 votes after initial results showed Carpenter had not received any votes in 21 of the county’s 40 precincts. Clay County Assessor Cathy Rinehart received 73% of the vote in Tuesday’s initial results.County Republican election director Patty Lamb said Friday a programming error on tabulators caused results to be read incorrectly in six Democratic county races. She said the ballots were out of order, changing how a machine read the results. The other five races were uncontested so the outcomes were not affected.Lamb stressed the races were in order on ballots, every vote cast on Tuesday was counted and there was no evidence of tampering. She said she and Democratic director Tiffany Ellison work together to ensure a proper outcome no matter the candidate’s party.“We don’t have skin in the game,” she said. “Our focus is to be sure every registered voter is counted and we work together in checks and balances to make sure that happens.”The final, official results were expected to be certified late Friday.Brent Wagoner, account manager for Adkins Printing, the county’s election vendor, said Friday the company is working to determine how the problem occurred. He said it was the first time Adkins had experienced the problem, and it was the only counting error reported in the 74 counties the company served in Tuesday’s election.“We are going to figure it out and get provisions in place to make sure it never happens again,” Wagoner said.Carpenter, who reached his term limit after serving eight years in the Missouri House, will face Republican Lydia McEvoy in the general election for a commission seat in the western district of Clay County.

Vote recount: Candidate goes from big loss to easy victory

By TIM CARPENTER &amp; NOAH TABORDA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/08/07/ksu-ku-taking-different-avenues-on-covid-19-testing-of-students/">Kansas Reflector</a>

MANHATTAN – Kansas State 
University and the University of Kansas, the state’s largest public 
universities, will greet 50,000 students returning to their campuses 
with diverging COVID-19 testing strategies.

KU decided to mandate 
every student take a test for coronavirus at outset of fall semester 
classes. This blanket policy is an attempt to restrain spread of the 
virus by enabling the temporary isolation of everyone who tests 
positive.

The plan at Kansas State 
is to concentrate testing at locations of heavy student interaction, 
such as residence halls. The intent is to compile testing data so health
 professionals better understand unfolding outbreaks. This is a targeted
 approach that reflects U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
recommendations that don’t advise testing of entire populations.

“The CDC does not recommend testing of asymptomatic folks,” said Kansas State President Richard Myers.

KU Chancellor Doug Girod 
said testing prior to start of the semester would be compulsory for all 
students, faculty and staff on the main campus in Lawrence and the 
Edwards campus in Johnson County.

“An important part of a 
successful fall semester is helping to keep our KU and Lawrence 
community safe by minimizing exposures to the COVID-19 virus,” said 
Girod, who is a physician. “One way to do this is to identify those 
among us who have the infection, even without symptoms, as we all return
 to campus.”

The non-invasive saliva 
test deployed by KU will be available free of charge. This testing 
process began Friday as students moved into residence halls in Lawrence.

“I just got tested,” said 
freshman Brianna Ibarra, who had help from her dad, George, while moving
 belongings into a dormitory. She said it was exciting to launch her 
college career at KU, but was enrolled in fall semester courses that 
didn’t have in-person instruction. “All my classes are online.”

Emporia State University 
was the only other university in the Kansas Board of Regents system to 
offer mass testing for on-campus students and faculty.

Questions about 
constitutionality of a COVID-19 testing mandate on students haven’t been
 formally answered. The office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt 
declined to comment on legal issues pertaining to imposition of the 
testing requirement at KU. In the past, Schmidt objected to attempts by 
state and local health departments to engage in contact tracing of 
potentially infected Kansans. The 2020 Legislature passed a bill at 
Schmidt’s urging that made contact tracing voluntary.

Gov. Laura Kelly, who 
visited Kansas State’s campus on Thursday, said she didn’t have concern 
about KU’s testing program for students, faculty and staff. She said 
there were limits to what testing would tell public health analysts.

“The problem with 
mandating tests is that you give the test on Tuesday, the results may be
 different if you gave that test Wednesday. Where do you stop?” the 
governor said.

Erin Sorrell, an assistant
 research professor of microbiology and immunology and a member of the 
Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, 
said there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all blueprint for relaunching 
in-person instruction at colleges and universities across the nation.

“There isn’t one right 
answer to this reopening question,” she said. “Some universities are in 
larger cities. Others are in much more rural areas with smaller 
communities around them. Some have larger populations. We have to be 
conscious of the factors that influence each school community 
differently.”

Implementation of a consistent testing program is one key to a safe reintegration of students, faculty and staff, Sorrell said.

“Ideally, you test 
students and faculty when they come on to campus and then, within a 
randomized schedule, you test subsets of the population, specifically 
those that might be at higher risk,” Sorrell said.

Despite varied case counts
 in Kansas’ 105 counties, the universities in the Board of Regents 
system have all taken coronavirus-related steps to adjust campus 
housing, class schedules and classroom spaces to mitigate anticipated 
health risks. For some, the possibility of exposure to COVID-19 was too 
substantial to enroll this fall or significant enough to take part in 
courses offered online.

The mask requirement at KU
 and the generally accepted idea of frequent hand washing and social 
distancing at a range of six feet cannot protect everyone from the 
virus, Sorrell said.

“I don’t think there is an
 environment that is zero risk,” she said. “Pandemic or not, people 
become ill. They catch colds. They interact while they are on campus 
frequently.”

Grant Daly, the student 
body vice president at KU, said administrators who devoted much of the 
summer to preparing for the fall opening had gone the extra mile in 
terms of dealing with an unpredictable virus.

He said KU student 
feedback had been largely positive, but his peers pointed to several 
lingering issues. He said there were unresolved questions about what 
coursework options were available to students who test positive for 
COVID-19. There is apprehension about availability of student housing if
 the campus had to be shut down in wake of a major outbreak, he said.

“The majority of people 
I’ve talked to want to be back on campus,” Daly said, “but they want to 
be back under the right conditions.”

KU law student Trey Duran 
was more skeptical of the university’s preparations for the fall. Beyond
 the testing mandate, KU is interested in performing contact tracing 
once someone tests positive.

“There are a lot of 
concerns about equity for all campus communities, about contact tracing,
 about privacy, that still needs answering. Better communication with 
students from the university would go a long way,” Duran said.

Mindy Markham, the Faculty
 Senate president at Kansas State, said the administration regularly 
involved faculty in development of the reopening plan.

“It’s challenging because 
there are so many variables,” Markham said, “but they have been 
responsive to our concerns over health and safety thus far.”

Classes resume at Kansas 
State and at KU in mid-to-late August and follow a calendar that calls 
for an end to in-person class sessions prior to the Thanksgiving break 
in November. The final days of classes and the final exams in December 
are to be conducted online. That means students won’t personally be in 
classrooms at KU and KSU again until the spring semester in January.

Other Board of Regents 
universities, including Pittsburg State, Wichita State, Washburn and 
Emporia State, intend to follow a similar process.

Fort Hays State University
 plans to execute a regular academic calendar this fall, said Scott 
Cason, a spokesman for the university. The plan recognizes Fort Hays is 
among the state system’s smaller universities in terms of enrollment and
 that most of the students are from Kansas, he said.

“Our community has been 
supportive and understanding that there are a lot of things we may not 
have answers to right away,” Cason said. “We have asked each department 
to submit fairly detailed plans on health and safety. What we cannot 
control is the pandemic kicking back up again.”

Pittsburg State University
 closed their residence halls to all but students without a permanent 
U.S. residence. Officials at Emporia State University, KU and Kansas 
State decided to keep dormitories open.

Myers, a retired four-star general in the U.S. Air Force and the 15th&nbsp;chairman
 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he receives medical care at Walter 
Reed facilities in Bethesda, Maryland. The flow of humanity through the 
military complex on any given day rivals that of a college campus.

“Thousands of people go in
 that facility every day. Lot of them go in sick,” he said. “They wear 
masks, wash hands and maintain social distancing. Everybody obeys and 
does it.”

In terms of Kansas State, he said, that spirit of cooperation is needed for the university to function during COVID-19.

“Can it be done? Yes. The 
biggest fear is not campus. Campus is going to be fine. The biggest fear
 is what they’re going to do off campus,” he said.

Kelly said the challenges 
faced by Myers, Girod and other administrators at state universities to 
prepare for in-person classes amid COVID-19 were profound. It’s more 
than opening a business in the morning and monitoring the front door to 
make certain folks wear a mask, she said.

“This is opening up an 
entire community,” the governor said. “It’s a daunting task to say the 
least. I appreciate the efforts that our universities have put in to try
 to do this as safely, cautiously and wisely as possible. It’s going to 
take a lot of cooperation.

“You know that bringing 
people together in one setting is where spread happens. There’s no two 
ways about it. We’ve got bars, restaurants here and this age group is 
going to want to congregate. We have to count on them to do their part 
to make it possible for us to keep these universities open.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596830224776.jpeg" alt="Brianna Ibarra, a Shawnee freshman at the University of Kansas, said Friday she willingly participated in the mandatory COVID-19 testing of students as the campus prepares for opening of fall semester classes. Her father, George, helped with her belongings outside a KU residence hall. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Brianna Ibarra, a Shawnee freshman at the University of Kansas, said Friday she willingly participated in the mandatory COVID-19 testing of students as the campus prepares for opening of fall semester classes. Her father, George, helped with her belongings outside a KU residence hall. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER &amp; NOAH TABORDA <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2020/08/07/ksu-ku-taking-different-avenues-on-covid-19-testing-of-students/">Kansas Reflector</a>MANHATTAN – Kansas State 
University and the University of Kansas, the state’s largest public 
universities, will greet 50,000 students returning to their campuses 
with diverging COVID-19 testing strategies.KU decided to mandate 
every student take a test for coronavirus at outset of fall semester 
classes. This blanket policy is an attempt to restrain spread of the 
virus by enabling the temporary isolation of everyone who tests 
positive.The plan at Kansas State 
is to concentrate testing at locations of heavy student interaction, 
such as residence halls. The intent is to compile testing data so health
 professionals better understand unfolding outbreaks. This is a targeted
 approach that reflects U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
recommendations that don’t advise testing of entire populations.“The CDC does not recommend testing of asymptomatic folks,” said Kansas State President Richard Myers.KU Chancellor Doug Girod 
said testing prior to start of the semester would be compulsory for all 
students, faculty and staff on the main campus in Lawrence and the 
Edwards campus in Johnson County.“An important part of a 
successful fall semester is helping to keep our KU and Lawrence 
community safe by minimizing exposures to the COVID-19 virus,” said 
Girod, who is a physician. “One way to do this is to identify those 
among us who have the infection, even without symptoms, as we all return
 to campus.”The non-invasive saliva 
test deployed by KU will be available free of charge. This testing 
process began Friday as students moved into residence halls in Lawrence.“I just got tested,” said 
freshman Brianna Ibarra, who had help from her dad, George, while moving
 belongings into a dormitory. She said it was exciting to launch her 
college career at KU, but was enrolled in fall semester courses that 
didn’t have in-person instruction. “All my classes are online.”Emporia State University 
was the only other university in the Kansas Board of Regents system to 
offer mass testing for on-campus students and faculty.Questions about 
constitutionality of a COVID-19 testing mandate on students haven’t been
 formally answered. The office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt 
declined to comment on legal issues pertaining to imposition of the 
testing requirement at KU. In the past, Schmidt objected to attempts by 
state and local health departments to engage in contact tracing of 
potentially infected Kansans. The 2020 Legislature passed a bill at 
Schmidt’s urging that made contact tracing voluntary.Gov. Laura Kelly, who 
visited Kansas State’s campus on Thursday, said she didn’t have concern 
about KU’s testing program for students, faculty and staff. She said 
there were limits to what testing would tell public health analysts.“The problem with 
mandating tests is that you give the test on Tuesday, the results may be
 different if you gave that test Wednesday. Where do you stop?” the 
governor said.<h2>No absolutes</h2>Erin Sorrell, an assistant
 research professor of microbiology and immunology and a member of the 
Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University, 
said there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all blueprint for relaunching 
in-person instruction at colleges and universities across the nation.“There isn’t one right 
answer to this reopening question,” she said. “Some universities are in 
larger cities. Others are in much more rural areas with smaller 
communities around them. Some have larger populations. We have to be 
conscious of the factors that influence each school community 
differently.”Implementation of a consistent testing program is one key to a safe reintegration of students, faculty and staff, Sorrell said.“Ideally, you test 
students and faculty when they come on to campus and then, within a 
randomized schedule, you test subsets of the population, specifically 
those that might be at higher risk,” Sorrell said.Despite varied case counts
 in Kansas’ 105 counties, the universities in the Board of Regents 
system have all taken coronavirus-related steps to adjust campus 
housing, class schedules and classroom spaces to mitigate anticipated 
health risks. For some, the possibility of exposure to COVID-19 was too 
substantial to enroll this fall or significant enough to take part in 
courses offered online.The mask requirement at KU
 and the generally accepted idea of frequent hand washing and social 
distancing at a range of six feet cannot protect everyone from the 
virus, Sorrell said.“I don’t think there is an
 environment that is zero risk,” she said. “Pandemic or not, people 
become ill. They catch colds. They interact while they are on campus 
frequently.”<h2>Student, faculty vibe</h2>Grant Daly, the student 
body vice president at KU, said administrators who devoted much of the 
summer to preparing for the fall opening had gone the extra mile in 
terms of dealing with an unpredictable virus.He said KU student 
feedback had been largely positive, but his peers pointed to several 
lingering issues. He said there were unresolved questions about what 
coursework options were available to students who test positive for 
COVID-19. There is apprehension about availability of student housing if
 the campus had to be shut down in wake of a major outbreak, he said.“The majority of people 
I’ve talked to want to be back on campus,” Daly said, “but they want to 
be back under the right conditions.”KU law student Trey Duran 
was more skeptical of the university’s preparations for the fall. Beyond
 the testing mandate, KU is interested in performing contact tracing 
once someone tests positive.“There are a lot of 
concerns about equity for all campus communities, about contact tracing,
 about privacy, that still needs answering. Better communication with 
students from the university would go a long way,” Duran said.Mindy Markham, the Faculty
 Senate president at Kansas State, said the administration regularly 
involved faculty in development of the reopening plan.“It’s challenging because 
there are so many variables,” Markham said, “but they have been 
responsive to our concerns over health and safety thus far.”<h2>Altered calendars</h2>Classes resume at Kansas 
State and at KU in mid-to-late August and follow a calendar that calls 
for an end to in-person class sessions prior to the Thanksgiving break 
in November. The final days of classes and the final exams in December 
are to be conducted online. That means students won’t personally be in 
classrooms at KU and KSU again until the spring semester in January.Other Board of Regents 
universities, including Pittsburg State, Wichita State, Washburn and 
Emporia State, intend to follow a similar process.Fort Hays State University
 plans to execute a regular academic calendar this fall, said Scott 
Cason, a spokesman for the university. The plan recognizes Fort Hays is 
among the state system’s smaller universities in terms of enrollment and
 that most of the students are from Kansas, he said.“Our community has been 
supportive and understanding that there are a lot of things we may not 
have answers to right away,” Cason said. “We have asked each department 
to submit fairly detailed plans on health and safety. What we cannot 
control is the pandemic kicking back up again.”Pittsburg State University
 closed their residence halls to all but students without a permanent 
U.S. residence. Officials at Emporia State University, KU and Kansas 
State decided to keep dormitories open.<h2>Aggieville as hotspot?</h2>Myers, a retired four-star general in the U.S. Air Force and the 15th&nbsp;chairman
 of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he receives medical care at Walter 
Reed facilities in Bethesda, Maryland. The flow of humanity through the 
military complex on any given day rivals that of a college campus.“Thousands of people go in
 that facility every day. Lot of them go in sick,” he said. “They wear 
masks, wash hands and maintain social distancing. Everybody obeys and 
does it.”In terms of Kansas State, he said, that spirit of cooperation is needed for the university to function during COVID-19.“Can it be done? Yes. The 
biggest fear is not campus. Campus is going to be fine. The biggest fear
 is what they’re going to do off campus,” he said.Kelly said the challenges 
faced by Myers, Girod and other administrators at state universities to 
prepare for in-person classes amid COVID-19 were profound. It’s more 
than opening a business in the morning and monitoring the front door to 
make certain folks wear a mask, she said.“This is opening up an 
entire community,” the governor said. “It’s a daunting task to say the 
least. I appreciate the efforts that our universities have put in to try
 to do this as safely, cautiously and wisely as possible. It’s going to 
take a lot of cooperation.“You know that bringing 
people together in one setting is where spread happens. There’s no two 
ways about it. We’ve got bars, restaurants here and this age group is 
going to want to congregate. We have to count on them to do their part 
to make it possible for us to keep these universities open.”

KSU, KU taking different avenues on COVID-19 testing of students

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">📊COVID-19 update for August 7: - 57,379 cumulative cases - 1,301 total deaths - 996 new cases, 21 new deaths (past 24 hours) - 10.7%: 7 day positivity rate To learn more about Missouri’s COVID-19 response and statistics, visit <a href="https://t.co/V6es2EUkO0">https://t.co/V6es2EUkO0</a>.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShowMeStrong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShowMeStrong</a> <a href="https://t.co/ZS5VBr5h2P">pic.twitter.com/ZS5VBr5h2P</a>&mdash; Mo Health &amp; Sr Srvcs (@HealthyLivingMo) <a href="https://twitter.com/HealthyLivingMo/status/1291810867940655106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>

Missouri reports 21 more deaths from coronavirus

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday after being in a public meeting last month with a legislative leader who’d been infected and hospitalized, a spokesman said.

Spokesman Sam Coleman said the governor was tested Friday morning and received her results quickly. She decided to get tested after Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. disclosed in an email to fellow GOP House members Thursday that he’d tested positive for the coronavirus on July 13.

The Kansas House speaker, a Republican, is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected as the number of reported cases in the state approaches 30,000. GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma tested positive last month.

Ryckman attended a July 29 meeting at the Statehouse of the State Finance Council with Kelly and other top lawmakers. The Democratic governor and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature make up the council, and state law requires it to review Kelly’s orders on the coronavirus pandemic.

Ryckman said he was hospitalized for about a week starting July 16 and was cleared by a doctor to stop isolating, allowing him to go to the meeting. Kelly called his decision “reckless and dangerous.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1595327875164.png" alt="Kansas Governor Laura Kelly&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Kansas Governor Laura Kelly&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly tested negative for the coronavirus on Friday after being in a public meeting last month with a legislative leader who’d been infected and hospitalized, a spokesman said.Spokesman Sam Coleman said the governor was tested Friday morning and received her results quickly. She decided to get tested after Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr. disclosed in an email to fellow GOP House members Thursday that he’d tested positive for the coronavirus on July 13.The Kansas House speaker, a Republican, is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected as the number of reported cases in the state approaches 30,000. GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma tested positive last month.Ryckman attended a July 29 meeting at the Statehouse of the State Finance Council with Kelly and other top lawmakers. The Democratic governor and eight leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature make up the council, and state law requires it to review Kelly’s orders on the coronavirus pandemic.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596795733282.png" alt="\Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr." />
 <figcaption>\Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr.</figcaption>
 </figure>Ryckman said he was hospitalized for about a week starting July 16 and was cleared by a doctor to stop isolating, allowing him to go to the meeting. Kelly called his decision “reckless and dangerous.”

Kansas governor tests negative for coronavirus, aide says

PULASKI COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 11p.m. Thursday in Pulaski County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Harley Davidson driven by Virgil T. Maddox, 64, Waynesville, was southbound on Highway T just south of Swedeborg.

The motorcycle traveled off the road and the driver was ejected.

Maddox was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Waynesville Memorial Chapel. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

PULASKI COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 11p.m. Thursday in Pulaski County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Harley Davidson driven by Virgil T. Maddox, 64, Waynesville, was southbound on Highway T just south of Swedeborg.The motorcycle traveled off the road and the driver was ejected.Maddox was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Waynesville Memorial Chapel. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

Missouri man dies after ejected from motorcycle

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 921 to a total of 30,638 the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;

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

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 921 to a total of 30,638 the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;Coronavirus deaths were reported at 380<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional numbers from the KDHE.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596819841387.png" alt="August 7, 2020 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>August 7, 2020 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>

KDHE: Latest coronavirus numbers in Kansas

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal hit and run accident and are asking the public for help locating two people for questioning, according to a John Lacy with Overland Park Police

The accident occurred just after 10p.m. July 29 near West 77th Street and Metcalf Avenue.&nbsp; The pickup struck and killed a 63-year-old woman later identified as Sherry J. Dunn of Overland. Park who was crossing in the middle of the street. EMS transported her to a local hospital where she died. The driver continued north on Metcalf and never stopped.

Anyone with information which could help investigators locate Jerry Lee Hall, Mary Kirk, and the 2005 Chevrolet Silverado please contact the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596817629838.png" alt="Jerry Lee Hall and Mary Kirk -photo OP Police. Investigators believe the bed cover&nbsp; and license plate have since been removed from the 2005 Chevy Silverado." />
 <figcaption>Jerry Lee Hall and Mary Kirk -photo OP Police. Investigators believe the bed cover&nbsp; and license plate have since been removed from the 2005 Chevy Silverado.</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal hit and run accident and are asking the public for help locating two people for questioning, according to a John Lacy with Overland Park PoliceThe accident occurred just after 10p.m. July 29 near West 77th Street and Metcalf Avenue.&nbsp; The pickup struck and killed a 63-year-old woman later identified as Sherry J. Dunn of Overland. Park who was crossing in the middle of the street. EMS transported her to a local hospital where she died. The driver continued north on Metcalf and never stopped.Anyone with information which could help investigators locate Jerry Lee Hall, Mary Kirk, and the 2005 Chevrolet Silverado please contact the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.

Police: Search continues for 2 in fatal Kansas hit and run

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/kansas-attorney-general-asks-feds-to-ease-drivers-license-reinstatment/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas 
attorney general is part of a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys 
general requesting Congress offer financial incentives for states to 
reform laws that stand as obstacles to low-income people reinstating 
their driving privileges.

Attorney General Derek 
Schmidt, a Republican, signed onto a letter to the U.S. Senate 
requesting adoption of legislation that extended federal funding to 
states that repealed unreasonable license suspension laws. Forty percent
 of U.S. driver’s license suspensions are issued for conduct other than 
improper driving.

Nearly two-dozen state 
prosecutors, including those of Colorado and Iowa, argued for federal 
action to reward states that did away with laws leading to suspension of
 licenses for failure to pay unrelated fines and fees.

“Without a license or 
access to a strong system of public transportation, these individuals 
lack the means to get to their jobs, bring children to child car. And to
 get groceries, medical care and other necessities in the most 
cost-effective way,” the attorneys general said. “They end up in the 
loop of higher expenses and lower income, and potentially steeper 
fines.”

In the 2020 legislative 
session, a bill mirroring the federal reform sought by the attorneys 
general was introduced in the Kansas House but didn’t advance.

The Kansas Criminal 
Justice Reform Commission recommended legislation in 2019 to ease 
re-entry of inmates into their communities by making reinstatement of a 
license more practical.

Law enforcement officers 
devote valuable time to processing suspension orders, transporting a 
driver to jail and waiting for tow trucks when there was no reasonable 
suspicion the driver posed a threat to motorist. Loss of a license adds 
obstacles to going to work and completing basic household functions.

Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596812571786.jpeg" alt="Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt endorsed federal reform to make it easier for people to secure a driver's license. Similar legislation proposed in Kansas has failed to advance. (Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt endorsed federal reform to make it easier for people to secure a driver's license. Similar legislation proposed in Kansas has failed to advance. (Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/kansas-attorney-general-asks-feds-to-ease-drivers-license-reinstatment/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas 
attorney general is part of a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys 
general requesting Congress offer financial incentives for states to 
reform laws that stand as obstacles to low-income people reinstating 
their driving privileges.Attorney General Derek 
Schmidt, a Republican, signed onto a letter to the U.S. Senate 
requesting adoption of legislation that extended federal funding to 
states that repealed unreasonable license suspension laws. Forty percent
 of U.S. driver’s license suspensions are issued for conduct other than 
improper driving.Nearly two-dozen state 
prosecutors, including those of Colorado and Iowa, argued for federal 
action to reward states that did away with laws leading to suspension of
 licenses for failure to pay unrelated fines and fees.“Without a license or 
access to a strong system of public transportation, these individuals 
lack the means to get to their jobs, bring children to child car. And to
 get groceries, medical care and other necessities in the most 
cost-effective way,” the attorneys general said. “They end up in the 
loop of higher expenses and lower income, and potentially steeper 
fines.”In the 2020 legislative 
session, a bill mirroring the federal reform sought by the attorneys 
general was introduced in the Kansas House but didn’t advance.The Kansas Criminal 
Justice Reform Commission recommended legislation in 2019 to ease 
re-entry of inmates into their communities by making reinstatement of a 
license more practical.Law enforcement officers 
devote valuable time to processing suspension orders, transporting a 
driver to jail and waiting for tow trucks when there was no reasonable 
suspicion the driver posed a threat to motorist. Loss of a license adds 
obstacles to going to work and completing basic household functions.Tim Carpenter has reported on Kansas for 35 years. He covered the Capitol for 16 years at the Topeka Capital-Journal and previously worked for the Lawrence Journal-World and United Press International.

Kan. attorney general asks feds to ease driver’s license reinstatment

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping but vague ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of popular social media apps&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2d3064d67b71aad7ea35793f16109fae">TikTok</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/ab55806ba6e54456b4dadadbc795ccc5">WeChat</a>&nbsp;on security grounds, a move China’s government criticized as “political manipulation.”

The twin executive orders Thursday — one for each app — add to growing U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and security. They take effect in 45 days and could bar the apps from the Apple and Google app stores, effectively removing them from U.S. distribution.

China’s foreign ministry said it opposed the move but gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate.

Earlier, Trump threatened a deadline of Sept. 15 to “close down” TikTok in the United States unless Microsoft Corp. or another company acquires it.

TikTok, owned by Beijing-headquartered ByteDance Ltd., is popular for its short, catchy videos. The company says it has 100 million users in the United States and hundreds of millions worldwide.

The Trump administration has expressed concern Chinese social media services could provide American users’ personal information to Chinese authorities, though it has given no evidence TikTok did that.

Instead, officials point to the Communist Party’s ability to compel cooperation from Chinese companies. U.S. regulators cited similar security concerns last year when the Chinese owner of Grindr was ordered to sell the dating app.

In a statement, TikTok expressed shock at the order and complained it violates U.S. law. The company said it doesn’t store American user data in China and never has given it to Beijing or censored content at the government’s request.

TikTok said it spent nearly a year trying to reach a “constructive solution” but the Trump administration “paid no attention to facts” and tried improperly to insert itself into business negotiations. TikTok said it would “pursue all remedies” available to ensure the company and its users are “are treated fairly.”

Tencent and Microsoft declined to comment.

On Friday, shares of WeChat’s owner, Tencent Holding Ltd., declined 5% in trading in Hong Kong. Tencent, Asia’s most valuable tech company with a market capitalization of $650 million, makes most of its money from online games and entertainment in China.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced an expansion of the U.S. crackdown on Chinese technology to include barring Chinese apps from U.S. app stores, citing alleged security threats and calling out TikTok and WeChat by name.

The Chinese foreign ministry accused Washington of “political manipulation” and said the moves will hurt American companies and consumers.

“The United States is using national security as an excuse, frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppresses companies of other countries,” said a ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin. “This is an outright hegemonic act. China is firmly opposed to it.”

Wang, who didn’t mention TikTok or any other company by name, called on the Trump administration to “correct its wrongdoing” but gave no indication how Beijing might respond.

Trump’s orders say the Chinese-owned apps “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” They cite the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act and call on the Commerce secretary to define the banned dealings by Sept. 15.

WeChat, known in Chinese as Weixin, is a hugely popular messaging app that links to finance and other services. It has more than 1 billion users. Around the world, many people of Chinese descent use WeChat to stay in touch with friends and family and to conduct business in mainland China.

Within China, WeChat is censored and expected to adhere to content restrictions set by authorities. The Citizen Lab internet watchdog group in Toronto says WeChat monitors files and images shared abroad to aid its censorship in China.

Tencent also owns stakes in major game companies such as Epic Games, publisher of Fortnite, a major video game hit, and Riot Games, which is behind League of Legends.

The Trump administration already was embroiled in a tariff war with Beijing over its technology ambitions. Washington has blocked acquisitions of some U.S. assets by Chinese buyers and has cut off most access to American components and other technology for Huawei Technologies Ltd., a maker of smartphones and network equipment that is China’s first global tech brand.

China-backed hackers have been blamed for breaches of U.S. federal databases and the credit agency Equifax.

In China, the Communist Party limits what foreign tech companies can do and blocks access to the Google search engine, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, along with thousands of websites operated by news organizations and human rights, pro-democracy and other activist groups.

The ruling party has used the entirely state-controlled press to encourage public anger at Trump’s actions.

“I don’t want to use American products any more,” said Sun Fanyu, an insurance salesperson in Beijing. “I will support domestic substitute products.”

Leading mobile security experts say TikTok is no more intrusive in its harvesting of user data and monitoring of user activity than U.S. apps owned by Facebook and Google.

“The U.S. thinking is that anything that is Chinese is suspect,” said Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. “They’re being targeted not because of what they’ve done, but who they are.”

The order doesn’t seem to ban Americans from using TikTok, which would be nearly impossible to enforce, said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame.

“This is a pretty broad and pretty quick expansion of the technology Cold War between the U.S. and China,” said Steven Weber, faculty director for the Berkeley Center for Long Term Cybersecurity.

NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has ordered a sweeping but vague ban on dealings with the Chinese owners of popular social media apps&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2d3064d67b71aad7ea35793f16109fae">TikTok</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/ab55806ba6e54456b4dadadbc795ccc5">WeChat</a>&nbsp;on security grounds, a move China’s government criticized as “political manipulation.”The twin executive orders Thursday — one for each app — add to growing U.S.-Chinese conflict over technology and security. They take effect in 45 days and could bar the apps from the Apple and Google app stores, effectively removing them from U.S. distribution.China’s foreign ministry said it opposed the move but gave no indication whether Beijing might retaliate.Earlier, Trump threatened a deadline of Sept. 15 to “close down” TikTok in the United States unless Microsoft Corp. or another company acquires it.TikTok, owned by Beijing-headquartered ByteDance Ltd., is popular for its short, catchy videos. The company says it has 100 million users in the United States and hundreds of millions worldwide.The Trump administration has expressed concern Chinese social media services could provide American users’ personal information to Chinese authorities, though it has given no evidence TikTok did that.Instead, officials point to the Communist Party’s ability to compel cooperation from Chinese companies. U.S. regulators cited similar security concerns last year when the Chinese owner of Grindr was ordered to sell the dating app.In a statement, TikTok expressed shock at the order and complained it violates U.S. law. The company said it doesn’t store American user data in China and never has given it to Beijing or censored content at the government’s request.TikTok said it spent nearly a year trying to reach a “constructive solution” but the Trump administration “paid no attention to facts” and tried improperly to insert itself into business negotiations. TikTok said it would “pursue all remedies” available to ensure the company and its users are “are treated fairly.”Tencent and Microsoft declined to comment.On Friday, shares of WeChat’s owner, Tencent Holding Ltd., declined 5% in trading in Hong Kong. Tencent, Asia’s most valuable tech company with a market capitalization of $650 million, makes most of its money from online games and entertainment in China.On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced an expansion of the U.S. crackdown on Chinese technology to include barring Chinese apps from U.S. app stores, citing alleged security threats and calling out TikTok and WeChat by name.The Chinese foreign ministry accused Washington of “political manipulation” and said the moves will hurt American companies and consumers.“The United States is using national security as an excuse, frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppresses companies of other countries,” said a ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin. “This is an outright hegemonic act. China is firmly opposed to it.”Wang, who didn’t mention TikTok or any other company by name, called on the Trump administration to “correct its wrongdoing” but gave no indication how Beijing might respond.Trump’s orders say the Chinese-owned apps “threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.” They cite the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act and call on the Commerce secretary to define the banned dealings by Sept. 15.WeChat, known in Chinese as Weixin, is a hugely popular messaging app that links to finance and other services. It has more than 1 billion users. Around the world, many people of Chinese descent use WeChat to stay in touch with friends and family and to conduct business in mainland China.Within China, WeChat is censored and expected to adhere to content restrictions set by authorities. The Citizen Lab internet watchdog group in Toronto says WeChat monitors files and images shared abroad to aid its censorship in China.Tencent also owns stakes in major game companies such as Epic Games, publisher of Fortnite, a major video game hit, and Riot Games, which is behind League of Legends.The Trump administration already was embroiled in a tariff war with Beijing over its technology ambitions. Washington has blocked acquisitions of some U.S. assets by Chinese buyers and has cut off most access to American components and other technology for Huawei Technologies Ltd., a maker of smartphones and network equipment that is China’s first global tech brand.China-backed hackers have been blamed for breaches of U.S. federal databases and the credit agency Equifax.In China, the Communist Party limits what foreign tech companies can do and blocks access to the Google search engine, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, along with thousands of websites operated by news organizations and human rights, pro-democracy and other activist groups.The ruling party has used the entirely state-controlled press to encourage public anger at Trump’s actions.“I don’t want to use American products any more,” said Sun Fanyu, an insurance salesperson in Beijing. “I will support domestic substitute products.”Leading mobile security experts say TikTok is no more intrusive in its harvesting of user data and monitoring of user activity than U.S. apps owned by Facebook and Google.“The U.S. thinking is that anything that is Chinese is suspect,” said Andy Mok, a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization in Beijing. “They’re being targeted not because of what they’ve done, but who they are.”The order doesn’t seem to ban Americans from using TikTok, which would be nearly impossible to enforce, said Kirsten Martin, a professor of technology ethics at the University of Notre Dame.“This is a pretty broad and pretty quick expansion of the technology Cold War between the U.S. and China,” said Steven Weber, faculty director for the Berkeley Center for Long Term Cybersecurity.___

Trump issues ban on Chinese owners of TikTok, WeChat apps

<a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-05/what-a-pending-football-game-says-about-covid-19-the-fate-small-colleges-and-college-towns">Kansas News Service</a>

STERLING —&nbsp;There’s a lot riding on a kickoff set for 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.

The
 Sterling College Warriors are scheduled to take on the McPherson 
College Bulldogs at home. If that familiar thud of shoe against football
 and cheer from the stands doesn’t happen, the college that keeps the 
central Kansas town’s economy humming, that gives it cultural vitality, 
and that separates Sterling from the hollowing out that defines so many 
other small Midwestern towns, might not survive.

The school, after
 133 years, could die and doom the town that takes such pride in the 
football squad and embraces the student body like family.

“If 
COVID defeats the athletic season this year, it will probably defeat a 
lot of small colleges,” said Jeb Miller, a non-traditional senior at 
Sterling College. “And, as a result, harm a lot of small towns. Badly.”

Hundreds
 of small colleges dotting the country rely on students paying tens of 
thousands of dollars a year in exchange for a distinctive, personal, 
high-touch college experience.

Many of those colleges hung on 
year-to-year even before the pandemic. Now COVID-19 threatens to cut off
 the oxygen sustaining these schools, and the sports programs that drive
 enrollment.

But the very thing small colleges need to stay afloat
 — students coming in, spending money, playing sports — also poses a 
major risk to relatively isolated little towns that, so far, have dodged
 major coronavirus outbreaks.

Only about 2,200 people live in 
Sterling out on the flat, flat plains of south-central Kansas. But this 
small city boasts an almost idyllic downtown. New office buildings. Two 
good coffee shops. A nice grocery store, a bowling alley, you name it.

Sterling
 has good schools, competitive sports teams. Locals say school plays, 
games and concerts draw big crowds. Without the college, the money, 
diversity and energy that defines life in Sterling could evaporate 
quickly.

“There is just so much overlap,” said Kyler Comley, a 
Sterling College senior who’s lived in the town all his life. “The 
community supports the college. The college supports the community. You 
know, you just see how everything’s intertwined and how people are just 
so overly giving and involved.”

Every student attending Sterling 
College gets paired with a family in town. Those families speak 
endearingly about their adopted scholars.

The students left in 
March. Most haven’t come back. Like many people here, Sterling criminal 
justice professor Mark Tremaine said that starting classes up again in 
person this month is make or break for Sterling College.

“The 
bottom line is, we’ve got to get students back to campus. If we’re going
 to survive,” he said.“We have to accept whatever the risks are and do 
it.”

And that’s the plan. Sterling doesn’t have much of a choice.

“We
 have committed to open up in the fall,” Sterling College President 
Scott Rich said. “With face to face classes, face-to-face coursework, 
dorms and activities and full swing. But we’re committed to doing it 
safely.”

Rich said the school will quarantine students coming back to the 
dorms, test them liberally, and isolate those who come down sick in 
local hotels.

Rich said the freshman class looks strong, with 
about 200 new students. But he is desperately trying to woo 50 or so 
upperclassmen who haven’t signed on this year. The school needs them 
because, like many other small institutions, Sterling College scrapes by
 from year to year.

“We’re always dependent upon enrollment, 
always dependent upon that next year, always dependent upon persistence 
or retention,” Rich said. “We have to get students to come back.”

Other small-town schools across the country, and the communities tied to their fate, face the same existential crisis.

“Some
 of the people I know are looking at hundreds of colleges going out of 
business within the next several years, if this pandemic continues and 
if the economic devastation associated with it continues,” said Scott 
Carlson with the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Small liberal arts
 colleges have been shaky for years. Enrollments have slumped, 
endowments have been drained. Many schools have piled on debt in a 
building boom fueled by competition for students.

Most offer 
courses online, but online classes don’t pay the bills. Small schools 
survive only by providing an expensive, in-person college experience. 
And Carlson said the pandemic shreds that business model, and threatens 
to trigger the higher education equivalent of a mass extinction.

“It’s
 kind of sad," he said. "These colleges are unique, little entities all 
on their own, and each one of them provides a unique spin on higher 
education.”

Sterling College, 
for instance, leans heavily on a particular interpretation of 
Christianity. Guarding the front door of the classic, old limestone 
building that anchors campus is a statue of Christ — not being tortured 
on the cross, but humbly washing the feet of a disciple. “Servant 
leadership,” as anyone here will tell you, guides the campus ethic.

But Jesus doesn’t keep the lights on here. Football does.

“We
 do have a good football team,” said Sterling’s athletic director, Scott
 Downing. “They’ve been fairly successful the last dozen years and been 
to the national playoffs, won the conference championship.”

The team helps bring the students together, but more importantly, it drives enrollment.

“With
 a football team number of about 125 to 135 student-athletes, quite a 
bit of our student body is involved in that sport,” Downing said.

That’s
 an understatement. There are only about 500 students on campus in a 
given year, one in four is on the football team. And there are 20 other 
sports.

The chance to play college sports is a major selling point
 for schools like Sterling. It drives enrollment. But in a pandemic, 
sports can be vectors for disease. And Jed Miller, who’s finishing his 
degree at Sterling online next year, says that’s another vulnerability.

“If
 COVID defeats the athletic season this year, it will probably defeat a 
lot of small colleges,” he said. “And as a result, hurt a lot of small 
towns ... badly.”

So, the same colleges that keep some small towns vibrant now pose a particular threat to public health.

“The
 college probably is the most dangerous element for us in terms of 
COVID,” said Kristina Darnauer, a family practice doctor in Sterling. 
“It potentially brings back students from all over the US who have 
variable levels of exposure.”

Darnauer is torn. She loves 
Sterling, loves the college, and fully appreciates how important it is 
to the school and the town that college ramp almost as normal this fall.

But
 she’s got patients to care for. And she said this county, with only one
 hospital and no intensive care unit is not ready for a cluster of 
coronavirus cases.

“If we have a huge outbreak,” Darnauer said, “we’re going to be out of resources very quickly.”

Small colleges and college towns across much of the country face the same worries.

But
 some analysts say that a pruning of universities may prove inevitable, 
and that the coronavirus has only sped up the thinning of the higher 
education herd.

“I actually see the future of higher education, 
broadly speaking, as entering a new golden age,” said Richard Price, a 
research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. It’s a think tank 
that presses for dramatic change in institutions.

Price said the 
pandemic may hasten the evolution to better online classes, and a public
 education system that’s much more accessible and equitable.

“The 
traditional model, it was originally for the landed elite and it wasn’t 
for all genders,” Price said. “It wasn’t for all races. And that is 
slowly getting phased out along with some older business models that 
aren’t pivoting well.”

And Price thinks many little colleges will 
adapt. Lots of them have cheated death before. But he said there’s 
little doubt that this time next year the United States will have many 
fewer colleges. Folks in Sterling, Kansas, hope and, yes, pray, that 
Sterling College is among the survivors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596722865321.png" alt="A local gospel quintet entertains Sterling residents on a recent Tuesday evening. Frank Morris photo" />
 <figcaption>A local gospel quintet entertains Sterling residents on a recent Tuesday evening. Frank Morris photo</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-05/what-a-pending-football-game-says-about-covid-19-the-fate-small-colleges-and-college-towns">Kansas News Service</a>STERLING —&nbsp;There’s a lot riding on a kickoff set for 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12.The
 Sterling College Warriors are scheduled to take on the McPherson 
College Bulldogs at home. If that familiar thud of shoe against football
 and cheer from the stands doesn’t happen, the college that keeps the 
central Kansas town’s economy humming, that gives it cultural vitality, 
and that separates Sterling from the hollowing out that defines so many 
other small Midwestern towns, might not survive.The school, after
 133 years, could die and doom the town that takes such pride in the 
football squad and embraces the student body like family.“If 
COVID defeats the athletic season this year, it will probably defeat a 
lot of small colleges,” said Jeb Miller, a non-traditional senior at 
Sterling College. “And, as a result, harm a lot of small towns. Badly.”<h2>Small town institutions</h2>Hundreds
 of small colleges dotting the country rely on students paying tens of 
thousands of dollars a year in exchange for a distinctive, personal, 
high-touch college experience.Many of those colleges hung on 
year-to-year even before the pandemic. Now COVID-19 threatens to cut off
 the oxygen sustaining these schools, and the sports programs that drive
 enrollment.But the very thing small colleges need to stay afloat
 — students coming in, spending money, playing sports — also poses a 
major risk to relatively isolated little towns that, so far, have dodged
 major coronavirus outbreaks.Only about 2,200 people live in 
Sterling out on the flat, flat plains of south-central Kansas. But this 
small city boasts an almost idyllic downtown. New office buildings. Two 
good coffee shops. A nice grocery store, a bowling alley, you name it.Sterling
 has good schools, competitive sports teams. Locals say school plays, 
games and concerts draw big crowds. Without the college, the money, 
diversity and energy that defines life in Sterling could evaporate 
quickly.“There is just so much overlap,” said Kyler Comley, a 
Sterling College senior who’s lived in the town all his life. “The 
community supports the college. The college supports the community. You 
know, you just see how everything’s intertwined and how people are just 
so overly giving and involved.”Every student attending Sterling 
College gets paired with a family in town. Those families speak 
endearingly about their adopted scholars.The students left in 
March. Most haven’t come back. Like many people here, Sterling criminal 
justice professor Mark Tremaine said that starting classes up again in 
person this month is make or break for Sterling College.“The 
bottom line is, we’ve got to get students back to campus. If we’re going
 to survive,” he said.“We have to accept whatever the risks are and do 
it.”And that’s the plan. Sterling doesn’t have much of a choice.<h2>Staying alive</h2>“We
 have committed to open up in the fall,” Sterling College President 
Scott Rich said. “With face to face classes, face-to-face coursework, 
dorms and activities and full swing. But we’re committed to doing it 
safely.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596722974216.png" alt="Sterling College President Scot Rich. Frank Morris photo" />
 <figcaption>Sterling College President Scot Rich. Frank Morris photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Rich said the school will quarantine students coming back to the 
dorms, test them liberally, and isolate those who come down sick in 
local hotels.Rich said the freshman class looks strong, with 
about 200 new students. But he is desperately trying to woo 50 or so 
upperclassmen who haven’t signed on this year. The school needs them 
because, like many other small institutions, Sterling College scrapes by
 from year to year.“We’re always dependent upon enrollment, 
always dependent upon that next year, always dependent upon persistence 
or retention,” Rich said. “We have to get students to come back.”Other small-town schools across the country, and the communities tied to their fate, face the same existential crisis.“Some
 of the people I know are looking at hundreds of colleges going out of 
business within the next several years, if this pandemic continues and 
if the economic devastation associated with it continues,” said Scott 
Carlson with the Chronicle of Higher Education.Small liberal arts
 colleges have been shaky for years. Enrollments have slumped, 
endowments have been drained. Many schools have piled on debt in a 
building boom fueled by competition for students.Most offer 
courses online, but online classes don’t pay the bills. Small schools 
survive only by providing an expensive, in-person college experience. 
And Carlson said the pandemic shreds that business model, and threatens 
to trigger the higher education equivalent of a mass extinction.“It’s
 kind of sad," he said. "These colleges are unique, little entities all 
on their own, and each one of them provides a unique spin on higher 
education.”<h2>‘Servant leadership’</h2>Sterling College, 
for instance, leans heavily on a particular interpretation of 
Christianity. Guarding the front door of the classic, old limestone 
building that anchors campus is a statue of Christ — not being tortured 
on the cross, but humbly washing the feet of a disciple. “Servant 
leadership,” as anyone here will tell you, guides the campus ethic.But Jesus doesn’t keep the lights on here. Football does.“We
 do have a good football team,” said Sterling’s athletic director, Scott
 Downing. “They’ve been fairly successful the last dozen years and been 
to the national playoffs, won the conference championship.”The team helps bring the students together, but more importantly, it drives enrollment.“With
 a football team number of about 125 to 135 student-athletes, quite a 
bit of our student body is involved in that sport,” Downing said.That’s
 an understatement. There are only about 500 students on campus in a 
given year, one in four is on the football team. And there are 20 other 
sports.The chance to play college sports is a major selling point
 for schools like Sterling. It drives enrollment. But in a pandemic, 
sports can be vectors for disease. And Jed Miller, who’s finishing his 
degree at Sterling online next year, says that’s another vulnerability.“If
 COVID defeats the athletic season this year, it will probably defeat a 
lot of small colleges,” he said. “And as a result, hurt a lot of small 
towns ... badly.”So, the same colleges that keep some small towns vibrant now pose a particular threat to public health.“The
 college probably is the most dangerous element for us in terms of 
COVID,” said Kristina Darnauer, a family practice doctor in Sterling. 
“It potentially brings back students from all over the US who have 
variable levels of exposure.”Darnauer is torn. She loves 
Sterling, loves the college, and fully appreciates how important it is 
to the school and the town that college ramp almost as normal this fall.But
 she’s got patients to care for. And she said this county, with only one
 hospital and no intensive care unit is not ready for a cluster of 
coronavirus cases.“If we have a huge outbreak,” Darnauer said, “we’re going to be out of resources very quickly.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596723019769.png" alt="An aging note on a door at the University of Missouri Kansas City promises a speedy reopening. Frank Morris photo" />
 <figcaption>An aging note on a door at the University of Missouri Kansas City promises a speedy reopening. Frank Morris photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>A new era</h2>Small colleges and college towns across much of the country face the same worries.But
 some analysts say that a pruning of universities may prove inevitable, 
and that the coronavirus has only sped up the thinning of the higher 
education herd.“I actually see the future of higher education, 
broadly speaking, as entering a new golden age,” said Richard Price, a 
research fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute. It’s a think tank 
that presses for dramatic change in institutions.Price said the 
pandemic may hasten the evolution to better online classes, and a public
 education system that’s much more accessible and equitable.“The 
traditional model, it was originally for the landed elite and it wasn’t 
for all genders,” Price said. “It wasn’t for all races. And that is 
slowly getting phased out along with some older business models that 
aren’t pivoting well.”And Price thinks many little colleges will 
adapt. Lots of them have cheated death before. But he said there’s 
little doubt that this time next year the United States will have many 
fewer colleges. Folks in Sterling, Kansas, hope and, yes, pray, that 
Sterling College is among the survivors.

What a football game says about COVID-19, fate of small colleges

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican legislator in Kansas was hospitalized last month after testing positive for the novel coronavirus and didn’t disclose it to colleagues until this week. The state’s Democratic governor declared Thursday that she’ll get tested because the two of them attended a meeting together after he was hospitalized.

Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr.’s delayed acknowledgment of his hospitalization — in an email to fellow House Republicans after Tuesday’s primary — concerned colleagues, particularly Democrats. Gov. Laura Kelly called his decision to attend a July 29 meeting at the Statehouse “reckless and dangerous.”

Ryckman, from the Kansas City area, is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b7f0791859d371ed8e8bb6bbe2173d87">Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt</a>&nbsp;of Oklahoma tested positive last month.

Ryckman said in an interview that he tested positive on July 13, began showing symptoms that evening and was hospitalized for about a week starting July 16. He said he remained isolated, both at home and in the hospital and was cleared by a doctor to attend of the State Finance Council on July 29. The governor and eight top legislative leaders make up the council, and state law has required it to review orders from Kelly to deal with the pandemic.

“I was hospitalized, have followed doctor’s orders, and self-isolated during that time,” Ryckman, a Kansas City-area Republican, said in his email to colleagues. “I am now past what doctors consider the contagious stage and am on the road to recovery.”

Ryckman’s disclosure roiled Kansas politics immediately after it was first reported Thursday by the Sunflower State Journal. Kelly spokesman Sam Coleman said the governor’s office “was not aware” of Ryckman’s positive test and that Kelly will get tested “as soon as we can set it up.”

The governor said she wishes Ryckman good health and is glad he is recovering but added that she was “dismayed” to learn that he’d been infected.

“Speaker Ryckman’s decision to attend the State Finance Council meeting after being released from the hospital, while concealing his diagnosis from those of us in the room and taking his mask off, was reckless and dangerous,” Kelly said in a statement. “As elected officials, we have a unique responsibility to set the right example for the people of Kansas, and to follow the commonsense guidance from medical experts.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1596795733282.png" alt="House Speaker Ron Ryckman, Jr.&nbsp;is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected- photo courtesy Kansas House of Representatives" />
 <figcaption>House Speaker Ron Ryckman, Jr.&nbsp;is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected- photo courtesy Kansas House of Representatives</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN HANNATOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A top Republican legislator in Kansas was hospitalized last month after testing positive for the novel coronavirus and didn’t disclose it to colleagues until this week. The state’s Democratic governor declared Thursday that she’ll get tested because the two of them attended a meeting together after he was hospitalized.Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman Jr.’s delayed acknowledgment of his hospitalization — in an email to fellow House Republicans after Tuesday’s primary — concerned colleagues, particularly Democrats. Gov. Laura Kelly called his decision to attend a July 29 meeting at the Statehouse “reckless and dangerous.”Ryckman, from the Kansas City area, is the highest-ranking official in Kansas known to have been infected.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b7f0791859d371ed8e8bb6bbe2173d87">Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt</a>&nbsp;of Oklahoma tested positive last month.Ryckman said in an interview that he tested positive on July 13, began showing symptoms that evening and was hospitalized for about a week starting July 16. He said he remained isolated, both at home and in the hospital and was cleared by a doctor to attend of the State Finance Council on July 29. The governor and eight top legislative leaders make up the council, and state law has required it to review orders from Kelly to deal with the pandemic.“I was hospitalized, have followed doctor’s orders, and self-isolated during that time,” Ryckman, a Kansas City-area Republican, said in his email to colleagues. “I am now past what doctors consider the contagious stage and am on the road to recovery.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The Governor’s public response to my personal experience with COVID is fear mongering and public shaming. I informed everyone I came into contact with &amp; took precautions far beyond CDC &amp; KDHE guidelines. Today, I opted to share my story more broadly. Here are the facts. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ksleg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ksleg</a> <a href="https://t.co/jDCN2nuutN">pic.twitter.com/jDCN2nuutN</a>&mdash; Speaker Ryckman (@RonRyckman) <a href="https://twitter.com/RonRyckman/status/1291568153118617600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Ryckman’s disclosure roiled Kansas politics immediately after it was first reported Thursday by the Sunflower State Journal. Kelly spokesman Sam Coleman said the governor’s office “was not aware” of Ryckman’s positive test and that Kelly will get tested “as soon as we can set it up.”The governor said she wishes Ryckman good health and is glad he is recovering but added that she was “dismayed” to learn that he’d been infected.“Speaker Ryckman’s decision to attend the State Finance Council meeting after being released from the hospital, while concealing his diagnosis from those of us in the room and taking his mask off, was reckless and dangerous,” Kelly said in a statement. “As elected officials, we have a unique responsibility to set the right example for the people of Kansas, and to follow the commonsense guidance from medical experts.”Ryckman later accused Kelly in&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RonRyckman/status/1291568153118617600" target="_blank">a tweet&nbsp;</a>of “fear mongering and public shaming” and said he’d told people with whom he’d been in contact. He said his personal precautions went beyond state and federal COVID-19 guidelines and that he opted to share his story more broadly later to “help reduce the stigma” faced by people who’ve been infected.Kansas saw its reported coronavirus cases reach nearly 30,000 as of Wednesday after increasing almost 93% in July, according to state health department statistics. The state also is reporting 368 COVID-19-related deaths.The University of Kansas is requiring all students, faculty and staff returning to its campuses in Lawrence and the Kansas City area to take a free COVID-19 test before the fall semester begins Aug. 24,&nbsp;<a href="https://www2.ljworld.com/news/ku/2020/aug/05/ku-will-mandate-initial-covid-19-testing-for-campus-community-girod-says/" target="_blank">The Lawrence Journal-World reported.</a>&nbsp;Meanwhile, health officials in Wabaunsee County west of Topeka are encouraging anyone who attended the county fair on July 24-27 to monitor themselves for symptoms because one person who attended tested positive.Kelly and Republican lawmakers have been at odds for months over how best to check the spread of the coronavirus, with the GOP preferring to allow local officials make decisions because the number of reported cases per 1,000 residents continues to vary widely. After weeks of complaints that Kelly was moving too slowly to reopen the state’s coronavirus-battered economy, she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/a5e30a0ec7a5943ada9f03af22ee1970">lifted statewide restrictions</a>&nbsp;on businesses and public gatherings on May 26.The state’s 105 counties now set the rules and most have opted of a July 2 order from Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f218e1a38cce6b2af63c1cd23f1d234e">requiring people to wear masks&nbsp;</a>in public. Also, the Republican-controlled State Board of Education&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6a64799654f6a9ccb944299898f8d367">blocked a plan</a>&nbsp;from Kelly to delay the reopening of public and private K-12 schools from mid-August until after Labor Day, leaving the start of fall classes to 286 locally elected school boards.Kansas House Democrats reacted angrily to the news of Ryckman’s coronavirus infection, tweeting on their official account that he had “knowingly putting lives at risk.”“Not alerting every member of the House and Senate is indefensible,” they tweeted. “He must be held accountable for his negligence.”And Heather Scanlon, chief of staff for House Democratic Leader Tom Sawyer, sent The Associated Press a July 29 text that said was in response to news from a staffer that Ryckman intended to phone into the Finance Council meeting. She asked whether Ryckman was doing OK, and the reply was, “Oh he’s doing fine.”Scanlon tweeted back, “Oh ok good. I heard he had covid.” She got no reply to that message, she said.Ryckman said he was notified July 10 by phone by that he’d been in contact with someone who might have the virus and began self-isolating. He said that person did not have coronavirus, and his family also did not get infected.As for the House Democrats’ criticism of him, he said in a text to The AP that he understand that the unknowns surrounding COVID-19 “make people uncomfortable.”“That’s why I listened to my doctor for my medical care and clearance before end(ing) self-isolating,” he said.