KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating the death of a juvenile in Kansas City have identified the victim as 15-year-old&nbsp;Tacobe Kindred.

Just after 5p.m. Sunday patrol officers were dispatched to the 3300 block of Bales in Kansas City on a reported shooting, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMartino.

First responders were directed to a home on the block. Inside they located a the boy suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers immediately began performing life saving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene.

 EMS transported Kindred to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.

Preliminary investigation revealed there was an argument at a birthday party that led to shots being fired and the victim ultimately being struck. Detectives canvassed the area for potential witnesses and crime scene investigators are gathered any available physical evidence.&nbsp;

Kansas City police asks anyone with information about the shooting to call police or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. There is a $25,000 reward for information provided through the TIPS Hotline that leads to an arrest in the case.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating the death of a juvenile in Kansas City have identified the victim as 15-year-old&nbsp;Tacobe Kindred.Just after 5p.m. Sunday patrol officers were dispatched to the 3300 block of Bales in Kansas City on a reported shooting, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMartino.First responders were directed to a home on the block. Inside they located a the boy suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers immediately began performing life saving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene. EMS transported Kindred to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.Preliminary investigation revealed there was an argument at a birthday party that led to shots being fired and the victim ultimately being struck. Detectives canvassed the area for potential witnesses and crime scene investigators are gathered any available physical evidence.&nbsp;Kansas City police asks anyone with information about the shooting to call police or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS. There is a $25,000 reward for information provided through the TIPS Hotline that leads to an arrest in the case.

Police ID boy killed during birthday party at home in Kansas City 

DAMASCUS —U.S. forces conducted precision airstrikes targeting known ISIS camps and operatives in Syria on Monday, killing 12 ISIS terrorists, according to a statement the U.S. Central Command.

The strikes against the ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps were conducted as part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, preventing the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek opportunities to reconstitute in central Syria.

These recent strikes are in former Regime and Russian controlled areas ensuring pressure is maintained on ISIS. Battle damage assessments are underway, and there are no indications of civilian casualties.

“CENTCOM, working with allies and partners in the region, will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1723583511919.png" alt="File photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DAMASCUS —U.S. forces conducted precision airstrikes targeting known ISIS camps and operatives in Syria on Monday, killing 12 ISIS terrorists, according to a statement the U.S. Central Command.The strikes against the ISIS leaders, operatives, and camps were conducted as part of the ongoing mission to disrupt, degrade, and defeat ISIS, preventing the terrorist group from conducting external operations and to ensure that ISIS does not seek opportunities to reconstitute in central Syria.These recent strikes are in former Regime and Russian controlled areas ensuring pressure is maintained on ISIS. Battle damage assessments are underway, and there are no indications of civilian casualties.“CENTCOM, working with allies and partners in the region, will not allow ISIS to reconstitute and take advantage of the current situation in Syria,” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla.

U.S. conducts airstrikes against ISIS operatives in Syria

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump pledged Monday to keep the polio vaccine available throughout his presidency, but didn’t extend that protection to other vaccines, saying he expects his administration will look closely at safety — something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already does before granting approval.

Trump’s comments came during an hour-long press conference where he hinted at trying to privatize the Postal Service and said he planned to file a lawsuit against a presidential preference poll published by The Des Moines Register that found him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the last days before the election.

Trump, who will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, also said he would solve the war between Ukraine and Russia and establish the Middle East as a “good place,” though he declined to provide details.

“Starting on day one, we’ll implement a rapid series of bold reforms to restore our nation to full prosperity,” Trump said in his first formal back-and-forth with reporters since the Nov. 5 election. “We’re going to go full prosperity and to build the greatest economy the world has ever seen, just as we had just a short time ago.”

Trump said he expects Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine denier he has said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-taps-vaccine-skeptic-rfk-jr-lead-department-health-and-human-services" target="_blank">he will nominate&nbsp;</a>to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will be “much less radical” than some people expect.

Trump said Kennedy and others in his administration will file reports sharing what they think about vaccines, but didn’t say what actions might be taken after those reports are released.

Trump said he didn’t like the idea of mandating vaccines, but didn’t go as far as saying he’d change vaccine policy for parts of the federal government, like the Defense Department, which has numerous requirements for troops, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/02/10/why-most-dreaded-injection-called-peanut-butter-shot.html" target="_blank">the so-called peanut butter shot.</a>

Kennedy is notorious for spreading misinformation about vaccine safety, one of the many issues that could imperil his attempts to garner U.S. Senate confirmation and actually lead HHS.

Trump said he wanted this administration to look at why autism rates have increased in recent decades.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked" target="_blank">Multiple research studies have debunked&nbsp;</a>any connections between vaccines and autism.

His administration, Trump said, would also look at ways to lower the costs of health care and prescription drugs within the United States, but he didn’t provide details.

Trump doubled down on his grievances with news organizations during the press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, saying he planned to file several lawsuits in the days and weeks ahead against people or organizations he believes have wronged him.

The announcement came just days after Trump’s legal team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abc-trump-lawsuit-defamation-stephanopoulos-04aea8663310af39ae2a85f4c1a56d68" target="_blank">reached a settlement with ABC News</a>&nbsp;in which the news organization agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library.

The suit centered on anchor George Stephanopoulos saying during an interview that a New York state jury had found Trump liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll, when the jury had found him civilly liable for “sexual misconduct.”

Trump said during his press conference that he would likely file lawsuits against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer, the news show “60 Minutes” and the Pulitzer Prize organization for awards given to the New York Times and Washington Post.&nbsp;

“In my opinion it was fraud and election interference,” he said of the Iowa Poll published by the Des Moines newspaper. “She’s got me right, always. She’s a very good pollster. She knows what she was doing, and she then quit before and we’ll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow.”

Selzer, a longtime pollster, said last week on Iowa PBS that she hadn’t yet figured out what went wrong with the poll she released just ahead of Election Day that showed Democratic presidential nominee Harris outperforming Trump in the state by 3 percentage points. Trump won Iowa in the election with 56% of the vote to her 42.7%.

“There wasn’t anything that we saw that needed to be fixed. The reality is that more people supporting Donald Trump turned out,” she said. “I’m eagerly awaiting the secretary of state’s turnout reports that will happen in January to see what we can glean from that.

“But there wasn’t an adjustment to my data when we saw that it was going to be a shocker that I would have said okay, let’s adjust it. It’s not like I know ahead of time what the right numbers are going to be in the future. So, you kind of take the data designed to reveal to me our best shot at what the future is going to look like.”

Selzer said during the PBS interview that she was “mystified” about allegations that she sought to interfere in the election results through the poll. Carol Hunter, executive editor of The Des Moines Register, could not be reached for comment.

Trump said he also planned to sue the CBS News program “60 Minutes” over how it edited an interview with Harris that was released before the election.

He said he wants to sue the Pulitzer Prize organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staffs-new-york-times-and-washington-post" target="_blank">for awarding&nbsp;</a>staff at The New York Times and The Washington Post the national reporting award in 2018 for their reporting on “Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”

“I want them to take back the Pulitzer Prizes and pay big damages,” Trump said.

The Pulitzer Prize Board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/news/statement-pulitzer-prize-board-2" target="_blank">announced in July 2022</a>&nbsp;that it would not revoke the prizes in response to an inquiry from Trump and two independent reviews of the work.

“Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other,” the board wrote. “The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.

“The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”

Trump said during his press conference that he would address the ongoing Israel-Gaza war as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine once he takes office, but didn’t say exactly how he’d encourage those countries to end their conflicts.

Trump said he believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a “fantastic job” and said he thinks his second administration will be able to solve longstanding issues throughout the Middle East.

“I think the Middle East will be in a good place,” Trump said. “I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia-Ukraine situation. I see that as more difficult.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has refused to leave the country’s borders. In the years since Russia launched a war, numerous organizations, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/un-commission-concludes-war-crimes-have-been-committed-ukraine-expresses" target="_blank">United Nations,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/11/ukraine-russian-strikes-amounting-to-war-crimes-continue-to-kill-and-injure-children/" target="_blank">Amnesty International</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a>&nbsp;have all made allegations of war crimes against Russia.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/crimes-against-humanity-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;in February 2023 that “Russia’s forces and other Russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”

Russia, he wrote, had engaged in torture, rape, execution-style killings and “deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families.”&nbsp;&nbsp;

Trump said during his press conference that he didn’t believe the Biden administration should have allowed Ukraine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-ukraine-long-range-weapons-russia-52d424158182de2044ecc8bfcf011f9c" target="_blank">to shoot long-range missiles into Russia’s sovereign territory&nbsp;</a>and said he may reverse the policy once in office.

“I thought it was a very stupid thing to do,” Trump said of the Biden administration’s policy.&nbsp;

On the Israel-Hamas war, Trump declined to clarify exactly what he meant when he said there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas had not released the remaining hostages abducted in October 2023 before Trump took over the Oval Office. He simply added that it “would not be pleasant.”

Postal Service, TikTok, primary challengers

Trump left many questions about his agenda unanswered following the press conference.

He declined to clarify whether he would press to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, saying only that there was “talk” about severing the agency and that his team is “looking at that.”

He didn’t divulge whether his administration would seek to force social media giant TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company if it wants to remain operational within the United States. TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/federal-appeals-court-upholds-rapidly-approaching-tiktok-ban" target="_blank">an appeals court order</a>&nbsp;preserving a bipartisan law forcing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to cease operations in the United States.

“We’ll take a look at that,” Trump said.

He left open supporting Republican primary challenges against GOP senators who don’t support his nominees to lead federal departments and agencies.

A senator voting against one of his nominees “for political reasons or stupid reasons” would likely earn them a primary challenger, he said. But Trump added that wouldn’t have anything to do with him.

Trump also declined to say whether he expected Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration after extending an invitation.

“If he’d like to come, I’d love to have him, but there’s been nothing much discussed,” Trump said. “I have had discussions with him, letters, etc, etc, at a very high level. You know, we had a very good relationship until COVID. COVID didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”

Trump then added he believes Xi is “an amazing person.”

Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Robin Opsahl contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734381784631.png" alt="Image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump pledged Monday to keep the polio vaccine available throughout his presidency, but didn’t extend that protection to other vaccines, saying he expects his administration will look closely at safety — something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration already does before granting approval.Trump’s comments came during an hour-long press conference where he hinted at trying to privatize the Postal Service and said he planned to file a lawsuit against a presidential preference poll published by The Des Moines Register that found him trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in the last days before the election.Trump, who will take the oath of office on Jan. 20, also said he would solve the war between Ukraine and Russia and establish the Middle East as a “good place,” though he declined to provide details.“Starting on day one, we’ll implement a rapid series of bold reforms to restore our nation to full prosperity,” Trump said in his first formal back-and-forth with reporters since the Nov. 5 election. “We’re going to go full prosperity and to build the greatest economy the world has ever seen, just as we had just a short time ago.”Trump said he expects Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the vaccine denier he has said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-taps-vaccine-skeptic-rfk-jr-lead-department-health-and-human-services" target="_blank">he will nominate&nbsp;</a>to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, will be “much less radical” than some people expect.Trump said Kennedy and others in his administration will file reports sharing what they think about vaccines, but didn’t say what actions might be taken after those reports are released.Trump said he didn’t like the idea of mandating vaccines, but didn’t go as far as saying he’d change vaccine policy for parts of the federal government, like the Defense Department, which has numerous requirements for troops, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/02/10/why-most-dreaded-injection-called-peanut-butter-shot.html" target="_blank">the so-called peanut butter shot.</a>Kennedy is notorious for spreading misinformation about vaccine safety, one of the many issues that could imperil his attempts to garner U.S. Senate confirmation and actually lead HHS.Trump said he wanted this administration to look at why autism rates have increased in recent decades.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/autism-vaccine-link-debunked" target="_blank">Multiple research studies have debunked&nbsp;</a>any connections between vaccines and autism.His administration, Trump said, would also look at ways to lower the costs of health care and prescription drugs within the United States, but he didn’t provide details.<h2>Lawsuit threats</h2>Trump doubled down on his grievances with news organizations during the press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, saying he planned to file several lawsuits in the days and weeks ahead against people or organizations he believes have wronged him.The announcement came just days after Trump’s legal team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abc-trump-lawsuit-defamation-stephanopoulos-04aea8663310af39ae2a85f4c1a56d68" target="_blank">reached a settlement with ABC News</a>&nbsp;in which the news organization agreed to pay $15 million to Trump’s presidential library.The suit centered on anchor George Stephanopoulos saying during an interview that a New York state jury had found Trump liable for the rape of writer E. Jean Carroll, when the jury had found him civilly liable for “sexual misconduct.”Trump said during his press conference that he would likely file lawsuits against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer, the news show “60 Minutes” and the Pulitzer Prize organization for awards given to the New York Times and Washington Post.&nbsp;“In my opinion it was fraud and election interference,” he said of the Iowa Poll published by the Des Moines newspaper. “She’s got me right, always. She’s a very good pollster. She knows what she was doing, and she then quit before and we’ll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow.”Selzer, a longtime pollster, said last week on Iowa PBS that she hadn’t yet figured out what went wrong with the poll she released just ahead of Election Day that showed Democratic presidential nominee Harris outperforming Trump in the state by 3 percentage points. Trump won Iowa in the election with 56% of the vote to her 42.7%.“There wasn’t anything that we saw that needed to be fixed. The reality is that more people supporting Donald Trump turned out,” she said. “I’m eagerly awaiting the secretary of state’s turnout reports that will happen in January to see what we can glean from that.“But there wasn’t an adjustment to my data when we saw that it was going to be a shocker that I would have said okay, let’s adjust it. It’s not like I know ahead of time what the right numbers are going to be in the future. So, you kind of take the data designed to reveal to me our best shot at what the future is going to look like.”Selzer said during the PBS interview that she was “mystified” about allegations that she sought to interfere in the election results through the poll. Carol Hunter, executive editor of The Des Moines Register, could not be reached for comment.Trump said he also planned to sue the CBS News program “60 Minutes” over how it edited an interview with Harris that was released before the election.He said he wants to sue the Pulitzer Prize organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/staffs-new-york-times-and-washington-post" target="_blank">for awarding&nbsp;</a>staff at The New York Times and The Washington Post the national reporting award in 2018 for their reporting on “Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”“I want them to take back the Pulitzer Prizes and pay big damages,” Trump said.The Pulitzer Prize Board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pulitzer.org/news/statement-pulitzer-prize-board-2" target="_blank">announced in July 2022</a>&nbsp;that it would not revoke the prizes in response to an inquiry from Trump and two independent reviews of the work.“Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other,” the board wrote. “The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.“The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”<h2>Israel and Ukraine</h2>Trump said during his press conference that he would address the ongoing Israel-Gaza war as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine once he takes office, but didn’t say exactly how he’d encourage those countries to end their conflicts.Trump said he believed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a “fantastic job” and said he thinks his second administration will be able to solve longstanding issues throughout the Middle East.“I think the Middle East will be in a good place,” Trump said. “I think actually more difficult is going to be the Russia-Ukraine situation. I see that as more difficult.”Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has refused to leave the country’s borders. In the years since Russia launched a war, numerous organizations, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2022/10/un-commission-concludes-war-crimes-have-been-committed-ukraine-expresses" target="_blank">United Nations,</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/11/ukraine-russian-strikes-amounting-to-war-crimes-continue-to-kill-and-injure-children/" target="_blank">Amnesty International</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/04/03/ukraine-apparent-war-crimes-russia-controlled-areas" target="_blank">Human Rights Watch</a>&nbsp;have all made allegations of war crimes against Russia.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/crimes-against-humanity-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;in February 2023 that “Russia’s forces and other Russian officials have committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.”Russia, he wrote, had engaged in torture, rape, execution-style killings and “deported hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians to Russia, including children who have been forcibly separated from their families.”&nbsp;&nbsp;Trump said during his press conference that he didn’t believe the Biden administration should have allowed Ukraine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-ukraine-long-range-weapons-russia-52d424158182de2044ecc8bfcf011f9c" target="_blank">to shoot long-range missiles into Russia’s sovereign territory&nbsp;</a>and said he may reverse the policy once in office.“I thought it was a very stupid thing to do,” Trump said of the Biden administration’s policy.&nbsp;On the Israel-Hamas war, Trump declined to clarify exactly what he meant when he said there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas had not released the remaining hostages abducted in October 2023 before Trump took over the Oval Office. He simply added that it “would not be pleasant.”<h2>Postal Service, TikTok, primary challengers</h2>Trump left many questions about his agenda unanswered following the press conference.He declined to clarify whether he would press to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, saying only that there was “talk” about severing the agency and that his team is “looking at that.”He didn’t divulge whether his administration would seek to force social media giant TikTok to divest from its Chinese parent company if it wants to remain operational within the United States. TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/federal-appeals-court-upholds-rapidly-approaching-tiktok-ban" target="_blank">an appeals court order</a>&nbsp;preserving a bipartisan law forcing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to cease operations in the United States.“We’ll take a look at that,” Trump said.He left open supporting Republican primary challenges against GOP senators who don’t support his nominees to lead federal departments and agencies.A senator voting against one of his nominees “for political reasons or stupid reasons” would likely earn them a primary challenger, he said. But Trump added that wouldn’t have anything to do with him.Trump also declined to say whether he expected Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration after extending an invitation.“If he’d like to come, I’d love to have him, but there’s been nothing much discussed,” Trump said. “I have had discussions with him, letters, etc, etc, at a very high level. You know, we had a very good relationship until COVID. COVID didn’t end the relationship, but it was a bridge too far for me.”Trump then added he believes Xi is “an amazing person.”Iowa Capital Dispatch reporter Robin Opsahl contributed to this report.

Trump at press conference backs polio vaccine but won’t commit to others, attacks media

HARVEY COUNTY — A man is dead after a weekend hunting accident south of Burrton.

The Harvey County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched Saturday at 7:10 a.m. to the 8200 block of South Prairie Lake Road.

Reports indicated three people were hunting in a duck blind when one individual accidentally discharged a shotgun. The gunshot fatally wounded one hunter. No one else was injured.

Aaron Snook, 41, of Goddard, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Sheriff’s Office has concluded its investigation, ruling the death accidental. No foul play was suspected.

HARVEY COUNTY —A man died in a hunting accident on Saturday in Harvey County.

The man was&nbsp;was shot by another person he was hunting with south of Burrton, according to Harvey County spokesman Kyle McCaskey.

 The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The death was ruled accidental, according to McCaskey.&nbsp; Authorities released no additional details including the name of the victim.

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

HARVEY COUNTY — A man is dead after a weekend hunting accident south of Burrton.The Harvey County Sheriff’s Office was dispatched Saturday at 7:10 a.m. to the 8200 block of South Prairie Lake Road.Reports indicated three people were hunting in a duck blind when one individual accidentally discharged a shotgun. The gunshot fatally wounded one hunter. No one else was injured.Aaron Snook, 41, of Goddard, was pronounced dead at the scene.The Sheriff’s Office has concluded its investigation, ruling the death accidental. No foul play was suspected.-----------HARVEY COUNTY —A man died in a hunting accident on Saturday in Harvey County.The man was&nbsp;was shot by another person he was hunting with south of Burrton, according to Harvey County spokesman Kyle McCaskey. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The death was ruled accidental, according to McCaskey.&nbsp; Authorities released no additional details including the name of the victim.Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Sheriff IDs Kansas man who died in hunting accident

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a homicide in Topeka have made an arrest.

have released the name of the victim as 45-year-old David Bentley, according to police spokesperson Rosie Nichols

Just before&nbsp;11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Police responded to the 2000 Block of SW Stone for a check welfare on an individual.

First responders found 45-year-old David Bentley suffering from a gun shot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical personnel.

As a result of the investigation, Colton G. Miller, 27, Topeka was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and is being held on requested charges of Murder in the 1st degree, Unlawful to acquire proceeds from a drug transaction, Use of communication facility in commission of a felony drug violation and Distribute controlled substance.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734368304027.png" alt="Miller photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Miller photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a homicide in Topeka have made an arrest.have released the name of the victim as 45-year-old David Bentley, according to police spokesperson Rosie NicholsJust before&nbsp;11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Police responded to the 2000 Block of SW Stone for a check welfare on an individual.First responders found 45-year-old David Bentley suffering from a gun shot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical personnel.As a result of the investigation, Colton G. Miller, 27, Topeka was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and is being held on requested charges of Murder in the 1st degree, Unlawful to acquire proceeds from a drug transaction, Use of communication facility in commission of a felony drug violation and Distribute controlled substance.

Suspect jailed for murder of Kansas man

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/caseyquinlan/">CASEY QUINLAN</a>

A rise in food prices makes for a less than merry holiday season.

Grocery prices rose 0.4% in November,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;the Consumer Price Index, released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Eggs made one of the biggest jumps at 8.2% over the month, and 37.5% over the past year, providing challenges for people trying to eat a somewhat cheaper protein and families cooking holiday foods such as sugar cookies and challah.

Although the increase in food prices has moderated a bit from past years, they are still more than 20% higher than they were before the pandemic, according to David Ortega, at Michigan State University.

“It was a key issue in the election in terms of people really feeling that sticker shock at the grocery store,” said Ortega, a food economist.

President-elect Donald Trump vowed to bring down prices during his campaign and blamed the Biden administration for how they reached this point. But in an&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/7201565/person-of-the-year-2024-donald-trump-transcript/" target="_blank">interview with</a>&nbsp;TIME published last week, Trump said he does not believe his presidency would be a failure if grocery prices do not come down.

“It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up,” he said.

Price changes to understand before you set the holiday table

The increase in grocery, or food at home prices, was partly driven by the rise in egg and beef prices, Ortega said. He said the price of holiday roast has been affected by drought and high feed prices. This year, the inventory of beef cattle was the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smallest-in-73-years#:~:text=1%2C%202024%2C%20was%2028.2%20million,U.S.%20beef%20herd%20since%201951." target="_blank">smallest beef herd</a>&nbsp;since 1951.

“On eggs, the story continues to be bird flu together with increased consumer demand given the holiday season,” he said following Wednesday’s release of the latest Consumer Price Index. “And for beef the issue is supply — high input costs and decisions that beef producers made a couple of years back when they were facing drought and high feed prices which has reduced beef supply, and this in turn is affecting beef prices.”

The latest food price numbers presented a mixed bag for holiday shoppers looking to bake treats this month. Flour and prepared four mixes fell 1% and bread decreased 1.3%, while sugar and sweets rose 0.2%, and butter ticked up 1.5%.

Oranges, including the popular stocking stuffers tangerines, fell 1.8% in the latest Consumer Price Index report.

The rise in cost of eating your meals at home compared to the rise in cost of eating out is also getting narrower, with the gap in inflation between restaurant menu prices and grocery year-over-year prices being the narrowest it has been since May 2023,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supermarketnews.com/consumer-trends/retail-food-inflation-outpaced-restaurant-menu-prices-for-2nd-time-in-three-months" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;Supermarket News. Food at home in previous reports rose 0.2% and 0.4% compared to 0.2% and 0.3% for the past two food away from home reports.

Are companies profiting off uncertain times?

Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collective, a left-of-center economic think tank, said that just a few seed producers, meatpackers, and grocers dominate the food industry, which is a key part of the story of what drives grocery prices. This hurts lower-income shoppers the hardest. Oklahoma, Iowa, and Arkansas are some of the states&nbsp;<a href="https://grocerygapatlas.rafiusa.org/posts/market-dominance" target="_blank">most dominated</a>&nbsp;by a single grocer, such as Walmart or Hy-Vee.

“Across the food and grocery industry, we have a sector that is deeply consolidated,” Mabud said.&nbsp; … And so when you have big companies controlling such large chunks of the market, we know that they have used things like inflation, things like supply chain shocks to jack up prices far beyond what their input costs to justify.”

Mabud said that when there is this level of market concentration, companies can signal to each other in earnings calls that they are going to start raising prices.

“If you know that your only other competitors are also raising prices, there’s kind of no reason for you to try to undercut them if you both hold giant shares of a market,” she said.

An economic paper published this year&nbsp;<a href="https://scholarworks.umass.edu/entities/publication/c7155aaf-40b6-4da4-8d36-15556100ee7e" target="_blank">found</a>&nbsp;that companies are able to coordinate price increases around cost shocks and increase profits from these events. Mabud said the holidays provide plenty of opportunity for the food industry to raise prices on things people ordinarily don’t buy and don’t have a price comparison for during a less in-demand season.

“Grocers and the food industry kind of know that they know that they have more information about the underlying cost of a good than a consumer who only comes to buy the Christmas ham once a year. And so they can take advantage of that,” she said.

Economists are watching out for how the next administration will impact food prices.

Trump’s promise to impose&nbsp;<a href="https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/12/02/donald-trump-promised-to-bring-down-prices-but-experts-say-his-tariff-plans-will-do-the-opposite/" target="_blank">heavy tariffs</a>&nbsp;on the U.S.’s biggest trading partners – Mexico, Canada and China – are expected to drive up the cost of everything, including groceries.

Products the U.S. can’t produce year round, like fruit and coffee, will be affected, Ortega said.

“There’s still a lot of uncertainty in terms of whether these tariffs are really going to be implemented or are they a negotiating tool? But that creates a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “Even that amount of uncertainty can lead to a rise in costs as companies prepare for the potential of these tariffs taking place.”

Trump’s expected policy of mass deportation of immigrants will also affect the agriculture industry, in addition to the major human rights implications.

“If there’s a mass deportation that is a shock to the labor supply and the agricultural sector. And that will lead to an increase in costs as producers and companies have to offer higher wages to attract enough labor. Ultimately that gets passed down to the consumer in the form of higher prices,” Ortega said.

Mabud is also concerned that expected tariffs could mean companies take advantage of the policy change well beyond the actual financial impact to their business.

“It’s a policy change where consumers don’t necessarily know how much the price of an avocado is going up because of a tariff versus a supply chain issue versus the grocery store just wanting to increase the price,” she said.

Patricia “Pogo” Overmeyer, 65, who works as a lawyer in Arizona and lives with her retired husband, said she has always been focused on how to save money on groceries. But she said she has become even more thrifty since inflation worsened.

She said she’s been using more meatless meals and stocks up on holiday food all year round when prices are low, some of which she freezes and cans.

“Once I retire, our income will not be as high,” she said, “Most likely I will forgo some foods or make substitutions. It’s anyone’s guess as to what we will be paying for groceries.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673438313098.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/caseyquinlan/">CASEY QUINLAN</a>A rise in food prices makes for a less than merry holiday season.Grocery prices rose 0.4% in November,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t02.htm" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;the Consumer Price Index, released this week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.Eggs made one of the biggest jumps at 8.2% over the month, and 37.5% over the past year, providing challenges for people trying to eat a somewhat cheaper protein and families cooking holiday foods such as sugar cookies and challah.Although the increase in food prices has moderated a bit from past years, they are still more than 20% higher than they were before the pandemic, according to David Ortega, at Michigan State University.“It was a key issue in the election in terms of people really feeling that sticker shock at the grocery store,” said Ortega, a food economist.President-elect Donald Trump vowed to bring down prices during his campaign and blamed the Biden administration for how they reached this point. But in an&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/7201565/person-of-the-year-2024-donald-trump-transcript/" target="_blank">interview with</a>&nbsp;TIME published last week, Trump said he does not believe his presidency would be a failure if grocery prices do not come down.“It’s hard to bring things down once they’re up,” he said.<h2>Price changes to understand before you set the holiday table</h2>The increase in grocery, or food at home prices, was partly driven by the rise in egg and beef prices, Ortega said. He said the price of holiday roast has been affected by drought and high feed prices. This year, the inventory of beef cattle was the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fb.org/market-intel/u-s-cattle-inventory-smallest-in-73-years#:~:text=1%2C%202024%2C%20was%2028.2%20million,U.S.%20beef%20herd%20since%201951." target="_blank">smallest beef herd</a>&nbsp;since 1951.“On eggs, the story continues to be bird flu together with increased consumer demand given the holiday season,” he said following Wednesday’s release of the latest Consumer Price Index. “And for beef the issue is supply — high input costs and decisions that beef producers made a couple of years back when they were facing drought and high feed prices which has reduced beef supply, and this in turn is affecting beef prices.”The latest food price numbers presented a mixed bag for holiday shoppers looking to bake treats this month. Flour and prepared four mixes fell 1% and bread decreased 1.3%, while sugar and sweets rose 0.2%, and butter ticked up 1.5%.Oranges, including the popular stocking stuffers tangerines, fell 1.8% in the latest Consumer Price Index report.The rise in cost of eating your meals at home compared to the rise in cost of eating out is also getting narrower, with the gap in inflation between restaurant menu prices and grocery year-over-year prices being the narrowest it has been since May 2023,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supermarketnews.com/consumer-trends/retail-food-inflation-outpaced-restaurant-menu-prices-for-2nd-time-in-three-months" target="_blank">according to</a>&nbsp;Supermarket News. Food at home in previous reports rose 0.2% and 0.4% compared to 0.2% and 0.3% for the past two food away from home reports.<h2>Are companies profiting off uncertain times?</h2>Rakeen Mabud, chief economist at the Groundwork Collective, a left-of-center economic think tank, said that just a few seed producers, meatpackers, and grocers dominate the food industry, which is a key part of the story of what drives grocery prices. This hurts lower-income shoppers the hardest. Oklahoma, Iowa, and Arkansas are some of the states&nbsp;<a href="https://grocerygapatlas.rafiusa.org/posts/market-dominance" target="_blank">most dominated</a>&nbsp;by a single grocer, such as Walmart or Hy-Vee.“Across the food and grocery industry, we have a sector that is deeply consolidated,” Mabud said.&nbsp; … And so when you have big companies controlling such large chunks of the market, we know that they have used things like inflation, things like supply chain shocks to jack up prices far beyond what their input costs to justify.”Mabud said that when there is this level of market concentration, companies can signal to each other in earnings calls that they are going to start raising prices.“If you know that your only other competitors are also raising prices, there’s kind of no reason for you to try to undercut them if you both hold giant shares of a market,” she said.An economic paper published this year&nbsp;<a href="https://scholarworks.umass.edu/entities/publication/c7155aaf-40b6-4da4-8d36-15556100ee7e" target="_blank">found</a>&nbsp;that companies are able to coordinate price increases around cost shocks and increase profits from these events. Mabud said the holidays provide plenty of opportunity for the food industry to raise prices on things people ordinarily don’t buy and don’t have a price comparison for during a less in-demand season.“Grocers and the food industry kind of know that they know that they have more information about the underlying cost of a good than a consumer who only comes to buy the Christmas ham once a year. And so they can take advantage of that,” she said.<h2>An unhappy new year for grocery shoppers</h2>Economists are watching out for how the next administration will impact food prices.Trump’s promise to impose&nbsp;<a href="https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2024/12/02/donald-trump-promised-to-bring-down-prices-but-experts-say-his-tariff-plans-will-do-the-opposite/" target="_blank">heavy tariffs</a>&nbsp;on the U.S.’s biggest trading partners – Mexico, Canada and China – are expected to drive up the cost of everything, including groceries.Products the U.S. can’t produce year round, like fruit and coffee, will be affected, Ortega said.“There’s still a lot of uncertainty in terms of whether these tariffs are really going to be implemented or are they a negotiating tool? But that creates a lot of uncertainty,” he said. “Even that amount of uncertainty can lead to a rise in costs as companies prepare for the potential of these tariffs taking place.”Trump’s expected policy of mass deportation of immigrants will also affect the agriculture industry, in addition to the major human rights implications.“If there’s a mass deportation that is a shock to the labor supply and the agricultural sector. And that will lead to an increase in costs as producers and companies have to offer higher wages to attract enough labor. Ultimately that gets passed down to the consumer in the form of higher prices,” Ortega said.Mabud is also concerned that expected tariffs could mean companies take advantage of the policy change well beyond the actual financial impact to their business.“It’s a policy change where consumers don’t necessarily know how much the price of an avocado is going up because of a tariff versus a supply chain issue versus the grocery store just wanting to increase the price,” she said.Patricia “Pogo” Overmeyer, 65, who works as a lawyer in Arizona and lives with her retired husband, said she has always been focused on how to save money on groceries. But she said she has become even more thrifty since inflation worsened.She said she’s been using more meatless meals and stocks up on holiday food all year round when prices are low, some of which she freezes and cans.“Once I retire, our income will not be as high,” she said, “Most likely I will forgo some foods or make substitutions. It’s anyone’s guess as to what we will be paying for groceries.”

US Grocery Prices – and Eggs in Particular – Climb Heading into Holiday Season

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating the death of a juvenile in Kansas City.

First responders were directed to a home on the block. Inside they located a juvenile male victim suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers immediately began performing life saving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene.

 EMS transported the victim to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.

Preliminary investigation revealed there was an argument that led to shots being fired and the victim ultimately being struck. Detectives canvassed the area for potential witnesses and crime scene investigators are gathered any available physical evidence.&nbsp; The name of the victim has not been released. Police have not reported an arrest.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734317845598.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating the death of a juvenile in Kansas City.Just after 5p.m. Sunday patrol officers were dispatched to the 3300 block of Bales in Kansas City on a reported shooting, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMartino.First responders were directed to a home on the block. Inside they located a juvenile male victim suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers immediately began performing life saving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene. EMS transported the victim to a local hospital where he died of his injuries.Preliminary investigation revealed there was an argument that led to shots being fired and the victim ultimately being struck. Detectives canvassed the area for potential witnesses and crime scene investigators are gathered any available physical evidence.&nbsp; The name of the victim has not been released. Police have not reported an arrest.

Police: Argument led to death of juvenile at KC home

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating an alleged theft in Riley County.

Just before 10:30a.m. Friday, officers filed a report of theft in the 500 block of Richards Drive, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.

A 30-year-old man reported he agreed to donate $5 to a charitable cause but his credit card was charged $6,000. 

Total loss associated with this report is $6,000. Anyone with information can contact&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rileycountypolice.org/287/Crime-Stoppers">Crime Stoppers</a>. Using Crime Stoppers allows you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

RILEY COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating an alleged theft in Riley County.Just before 10:30a.m. Friday, officers filed a report of theft in the 500 block of Richards Drive, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.A 30-year-old man reported he agreed to donate $5 to a charitable cause but his credit card was charged $6,000. Total loss associated with this report is $6,000. Anyone with information can contact&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rileycountypolice.org/287/Crime-Stoppers">Crime Stoppers</a>. Using Crime Stoppers allows you to remain anonymous and could qualify you for a cash reward of up to $1,000.

Police: Kan.  man charged $6,000 after $5 charitable donation

KANSAS CITY —A Jackson County judge sentenced to 18 years in prison two men convicted in November of multiple felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with a gun battle on a January afternoon inside Crown Center in Kansas, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

In November, following a bench trial, the judge convicted Brian Favela, 23, and Joel Olivas, 24, identified by prosecutors as East Side gang members of two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Class B felonies, and two counts of Armed Criminal Action, as well as three misdemeanor counts of Harassment in the 2nd Degree. 

The judge dismissed one count of Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Armed Criminal Action finding not enough evidence was shown to overcome Missouri's self-defense laws on those two counts.

An agreement among parties capped a prison sentence for these defendants at 25 years. Prosecutors, in a sentencing memorandum, asked the judge to impose that maximum amount due to the devastating nature of the shootings. On Thursday, the judge set the sentence at 18 years for each defendant.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1709159804082.png" alt="Favela photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Favela photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Jackson County judge sentenced to 18 years in prison two men convicted in November of multiple felony and misdemeanor charges in connection with a gun battle on a January afternoon inside Crown Center in Kansas, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1705578003872.png" alt="View of Crown Center business with police crime scene tape -image courtesy KMBC" />
 <figcaption>View of Crown Center business with police crime scene tape -image courtesy KMBC</figcaption>
 </figure>In November, following a bench trial, the judge convicted Brian Favela, 23, and Joel Olivas, 24, identified by prosecutors as East Side gang members of two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Class B felonies, and two counts of Armed Criminal Action, as well as three misdemeanor counts of Harassment in the 2nd Degree. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1709159745533.png" alt="Olivas photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Olivas photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>The judge dismissed one count of Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Armed Criminal Action finding not enough evidence was shown to overcome Missouri's self-defense laws on those two counts.An agreement among parties capped a prison sentence for these defendants at 25 years. Prosecutors, in a sentencing memorandum, asked the judge to impose that maximum amount due to the devastating nature of the shootings. On Thursday, the judge set the sentence at 18 years for each defendant.

Two going to prison for gang gun battle at Crown Center

Three bills are backed by hemp industry leaders, while one has the support of the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Every time Missouri lawmakers have proposed legislation to essentially ban intoxicating-hemp products in the last few years, the hemp industry has mounted a united opposition to stop them.

Products like Delta-8 THC drinks can currently be bought everywhere from bars to coffee shops statewide.&nbsp;

Year after year, hemp business owners and distributors have asked the state to impose age restrictions and testing requirements, rather than ban the products outright.

“We don’t have any mechanism to regulate them right now, and so they’re in no man’s land,” said Steven Busch, owner of Krey Distributing, one of the state’s alcohol distributors. “And that’s our biggest problem right now — that there are no rules. The 21-plus rule isn’t even law, though everyone’s doing it.”

Now for the first time, leaders of the hemp industry are pushing their own legislation to establish business licenses and regulations.

But the industry is far from united.&nbsp;

Three bills have been pre-filed — one backed by Busch, one supported by the Missouri Beer Wholesalers Association and one backed by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association. Other bills are waiting in the wings to potentially be added as amendments.

The beer wholesalers’ legislation, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Barry Hovis of Whitewater, lays out regulations only for hemp beverages, which would regulate popular bar drinks like Missouri-based Mighty Kind cannabis seltzers. It would also establish the same three-tier distribution system that the alcohol industry has long abided by.

The bill backed by Busch and sponsored by Republican state Rep. Dave Hinman of O’Fallon would regulate beverages as well, but it also includes guidelines for edibles, vapes and tinctures.&nbsp;

The hemp trade association believes both bills set the maximum THC content for all items too low. The association also vehemently opposes the three-tier system.

“It creates a monopoly on behalf of the distributors,” said Craig Katz, spokesman for the Missouri Hemp Trade Association. “It may have worked over decades in the alcohol industry and they’re used to it, but it doesn’t really work for the hemp industry.”

It’s not only the alcohol industry that’s used to the system.&nbsp;

All three bills direct the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control to regulate hemp licensees, and the state agency has used the three-tier system since prohibition ended in the 1930s. It prohibits distribution companies from holding a license for retail or manufacturing facilities. Back then, it was intended to prevent market domination by restricting any one tier from having financial interest in another.

On the other end of the spectrum, Republican state Sen. Nick Schroer of Defiance has once again proposed legislation that would essentially ban a good portion of intoxicating hemp products outright and require the eligible ones only to be sold in regulated marijuana dispensaries.&nbsp;

His bill is supported by the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.&nbsp;

Andrew Mullins, executive director for MoCannTrade, said all sides agree that unregulated, intoxicating products are a health and public safety risk. The “only real question” for policymakers, he said, is whether the state should establish a “dual, parallel, expensive system of regulation” for these intoxicating products, which often have the THC potency as those found in highly-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;

“Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant,” Mullins said. “If it’s non-intoxicating, it’s hemp. If it comes from the cannabis plant and it’s intoxicating – it’s marijuana and Missouri law should treat it as such.”

Busch and the hemp trade association worked together over the summer to&nbsp; write one piece of legislation, but then a rift over distribution and THC content severed the groups in September. And it’s evident in the nearly-identical language in the two bills.

“We were working with them for almost four months, trying to gather feedback and get in alignment,” Busch said. “One of their board members took our bill, our work product, and decided that they were going to use whatever parts of it they wanted.”

Katz doesn’t deny that they included some of the language, but said the association also sourced from other places.

Busch’s bill proposes to limit edibles to only 5 mg of THC per serving and beverages to 10mg of THC per serving.

The association’s bill would limit it to 100 mg of THC per serving, saying that some people who use the products medicinally require a higher dose.

Brian Riegel, owner of South Point Hemp manufacturer, said some of his customers use the products for arthritis and other pain.&nbsp;

“If they were taking something that’s been federally legal for the last six years,” he said, “in August they’re going back to being a criminal again.”&nbsp;

Katz said the three-tier system prevents small businesses from selling their products online to customers, and it might be difficult for them to get picked up by distributors.&nbsp;

Another major difference is that Busch’s proposal would essentially ban THCA flower, which makes up nearly 50% of the industry, Katz said, and is growing.&nbsp;

Missourians can walk into a CBD shop right now and buy something that looks just like the canisters of marijuana buds and joints sold in state-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Busch said he has no problem with the beer wholesalers’ bill, as it’s closely aligned with his. However, he doesn’t believe Missouri lawmakers can “responsibly” stop at beverages.&nbsp;

“Let’s say that bill passed, then we still haven’t addressed what the governor identified this summer as illicit products being sold to children,” Busch said. “We’re not going to have anything different than we have right now.”

He believes this session will be different because all parties – from regulators to hemp retailers – believe that some legislation must get passed this year.

“The regulated marijuana side and our side,” Busch said, “we want to get something done because otherwise, every month or year that goes by… the market gets bigger and bigger. And there’s no way to police it.”

The argument that banning these products would harm thousands of small businesses in Missouri and further feed what critics call the marijuana “monopoly” was largely successful in blocking proposed legislation in the past.

However, the state has upped the stakes this year.

While Gov. Mike Parson’s attempt this summer to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/12/hemp-industry-leaders-call-missouri-governors-order-banning-thc-products-an-overreach/">ban intoxicating hemp</a>&nbsp;through an executive order remains on hold, administrative rules are currently making their way to accomplish that goal.

The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control proposed new state rules in November that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products for any licensed liquor retailer. Those rules must be approved by a legislative committee that oversees administrative rules.&nbsp;

The Missouri Hemp Trade Association’s attorney Chuck Hatfield submitted a public comment to the division, saying it doesn’t have the authority to implement a ban through rules — only legislation.

The division is authorized to “issue, suspend, or revoke liquor licenses, enforce Missouri’s alcohol and tobacco laws, and collect revenue from alcoholic beverage excise taxes and license fees,” Hatfield states in the comment.&nbsp;

“Until the legislature acts,” it states, “[the division’s] hands are tied with respect to hemp-derived products.”&nbsp;

The division was only one part of the enforcement efforts outlined in Parson’s order.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ preliminary budget requests&nbsp;<a href="https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY26_DHSS_Appropriation_Book.pdf" target="_blank">$877,000&nbsp;</a>to fund more food inspectors to implement Parson’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2024/eo10" target="_blank">executive order</a>.&nbsp;

Those funds would become available on July 1, if lawmakers approve the request as part of the state budget.&nbsp;

The department estimates that 40,000 food establishments and smoke shops and 1,800 food manufacturers could potentially be affected by the governor’s order, the budget request states, “but the majority of these facilities are at low-risk of requiring investigation.”

“It is estimated that all seven inspection staff can conduct 2,900-3,500 site visits annually,” it states.&nbsp;

The department also budgeted $160,000 to hire two full-time attorneys, in the event that business owners challenge enforcement actions.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734358244994.jpeg" alt=" Year after year, hemp business owners and distributors have asked the state to impose age restrictions and testing requirements, rather than ban the products outright (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)" />
 <figcaption> Year after year, hemp business owners and distributors have asked the state to impose age restrictions and testing requirements, rather than ban the products outright (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Three bills are backed by hemp industry leaders, while one has the support of the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/rebecca-rivas/">REBECCA RIVAS</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Every time Missouri lawmakers have proposed legislation to essentially ban intoxicating-hemp products in the last few years, the hemp industry has mounted a united opposition to stop them.Products like Delta-8 THC drinks can currently be bought everywhere from bars to coffee shops statewide.&nbsp;Year after year, hemp business owners and distributors have asked the state to impose age restrictions and testing requirements, rather than ban the products outright.“We don’t have any mechanism to regulate them right now, and so they’re in no man’s land,” said Steven Busch, owner of Krey Distributing, one of the state’s alcohol distributors. “And that’s our biggest problem right now — that there are no rules. The 21-plus rule isn’t even law, though everyone’s doing it.”Now for the first time, leaders of the hemp industry are pushing their own legislation to establish business licenses and regulations.But the industry is far from united.&nbsp;Three bills have been pre-filed — one backed by Busch, one supported by the Missouri Beer Wholesalers Association and one backed by the Missouri Hemp Trade Association. Other bills are waiting in the wings to potentially be added as amendments.The beer wholesalers’ legislation, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Barry Hovis of Whitewater, lays out regulations only for hemp beverages, which would regulate popular bar drinks like Missouri-based Mighty Kind cannabis seltzers. It would also establish the same three-tier distribution system that the alcohol industry has long abided by.The bill backed by Busch and sponsored by Republican state Rep. Dave Hinman of O’Fallon would regulate beverages as well, but it also includes guidelines for edibles, vapes and tinctures.&nbsp;The hemp trade association believes both bills set the maximum THC content for all items too low. The association also vehemently opposes the three-tier system.“It creates a monopoly on behalf of the distributors,” said Craig Katz, spokesman for the Missouri Hemp Trade Association. “It may have worked over decades in the alcohol industry and they’re used to it, but it doesn’t really work for the hemp industry.”It’s not only the alcohol industry that’s used to the system.&nbsp;All three bills direct the Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control to regulate hemp licensees, and the state agency has used the three-tier system since prohibition ended in the 1930s. It prohibits distribution companies from holding a license for retail or manufacturing facilities. Back then, it was intended to prevent market domination by restricting any one tier from having financial interest in another.On the other end of the spectrum, Republican state Sen. Nick Schroer of Defiance has once again proposed legislation that would essentially ban a good portion of intoxicating hemp products outright and require the eligible ones only to be sold in regulated marijuana dispensaries.&nbsp;His bill is supported by the Missouri Cannabis Trade Association.&nbsp;Andrew Mullins, executive director for MoCannTrade, said all sides agree that unregulated, intoxicating products are a health and public safety risk. The “only real question” for policymakers, he said, is whether the state should establish a “dual, parallel, expensive system of regulation” for these intoxicating products, which often have the THC potency as those found in highly-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;“Hemp and marijuana come from the same plant,” Mullins said. “If it’s non-intoxicating, it’s hemp. If it comes from the cannabis plant and it’s intoxicating – it’s marijuana and Missouri law should treat it as such.”<h2>‘No way to police it’</h2>Busch and the hemp trade association worked together over the summer to&nbsp; write one piece of legislation, but then a rift over distribution and THC content severed the groups in September. And it’s evident in the nearly-identical language in the two bills.“We were working with them for almost four months, trying to gather feedback and get in alignment,” Busch said. “One of their board members took our bill, our work product, and decided that they were going to use whatever parts of it they wanted.”Katz doesn’t deny that they included some of the language, but said the association also sourced from other places.Busch’s bill proposes to limit edibles to only 5 mg of THC per serving and beverages to 10mg of THC per serving.The association’s bill would limit it to 100 mg of THC per serving, saying that some people who use the products medicinally require a higher dose.Brian Riegel, owner of South Point Hemp manufacturer, said some of his customers use the products for arthritis and other pain.&nbsp;“If they were taking something that’s been federally legal for the last six years,” he said, “in August they’re going back to being a criminal again.”&nbsp;Katz said the three-tier system prevents small businesses from selling their products online to customers, and it might be difficult for them to get picked up by distributors.&nbsp;Another major difference is that Busch’s proposal would essentially ban THCA flower, which makes up nearly 50% of the industry, Katz said, and is growing.&nbsp;Missourians can walk into a CBD shop right now and buy something that looks just like the canisters of marijuana buds and joints sold in state-regulated dispensaries.&nbsp;&nbsp;Busch said he has no problem with the beer wholesalers’ bill, as it’s closely aligned with his. However, he doesn’t believe Missouri lawmakers can “responsibly” stop at beverages.&nbsp;“Let’s say that bill passed, then we still haven’t addressed what the governor identified this summer as illicit products being sold to children,” Busch said. “We’re not going to have anything different than we have right now.”He believes this session will be different because all parties – from regulators to hemp retailers – believe that some legislation must get passed this year.“The regulated marijuana side and our side,” Busch said, “we want to get something done because otherwise, every month or year that goes by… the market gets bigger and bigger. And there’s no way to police it.”<h2>The state fights back</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725657142729.png" alt="Gov. Mike Parson speaks at his Capitol press conference announcing Executive Order 24-10 that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Missouri “until such time approved sources can be regulated by the FDA or State of Missouri through legislative action,” he said (photo courtesy of Missouri Governor’s Office)." />
 <figcaption>Gov. Mike Parson speaks at his Capitol press conference announcing Executive Order 24-10 that bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products in Missouri “until such time approved sources can be regulated by the FDA or State of Missouri through legislative action,” he said (photo courtesy of Missouri Governor’s Office).</figcaption>
 </figure>The argument that banning these products would harm thousands of small businesses in Missouri and further feed what critics call the marijuana “monopoly” was largely successful in blocking proposed legislation in the past.However, the state has upped the stakes this year.While Gov. Mike Parson’s attempt this summer to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/12/hemp-industry-leaders-call-missouri-governors-order-banning-thc-products-an-overreach/">ban intoxicating hemp</a>&nbsp;through an executive order remains on hold, administrative rules are currently making their way to accomplish that goal.The Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control proposed new state rules in November that would ban the sale of hemp-derived products for any licensed liquor retailer. Those rules must be approved by a legislative committee that oversees administrative rules.&nbsp;The Missouri Hemp Trade Association’s attorney Chuck Hatfield submitted a public comment to the division, saying it doesn’t have the authority to implement a ban through rules — only legislation.The division is authorized to “issue, suspend, or revoke liquor licenses, enforce Missouri’s alcohol and tobacco laws, and collect revenue from alcoholic beverage excise taxes and license fees,” Hatfield states in the comment.&nbsp;“Until the legislature acts,” it states, “[the division’s] hands are tied with respect to hemp-derived products.”&nbsp;The division was only one part of the enforcement efforts outlined in Parson’s order.The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services’ preliminary budget requests&nbsp;<a href="https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY26_DHSS_Appropriation_Book.pdf" target="_blank">$877,000&nbsp;</a>to fund more food inspectors to implement Parson’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sos.mo.gov/library/reference/orders/2024/eo10" target="_blank">executive order</a>.&nbsp;Those funds would become available on July 1, if lawmakers approve the request as part of the state budget.&nbsp;The department estimates that 40,000 food establishments and smoke shops and 1,800 food manufacturers could potentially be affected by the governor’s order, the budget request states, “but the majority of these facilities are at low-risk of requiring investigation.”“It is estimated that all seven inspection staff can conduct 2,900-3,500 site visits annually,” it states.&nbsp;The department also budgeted $160,000 to hire two full-time attorneys, in the event that business owners challenge enforcement actions.

Missouri lawmakers file bills enacting new regulations on intoxicating hemp products

DAMASCUS —The security situation in Syria continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and terrorism throughout the country.&nbsp; U.S. citizens should depart Syria if possible. U.S. citizens who are unable to depart should prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods.


The U.S. Embassy in Damascus suspended its operations in 2012.&nbsp; The U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria. U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.



For U.S. citizens seeking to depart Syria through the Jordanian border:

The Nabil-Jaber border crossing from Syria to Jordan is currently open.

U.S. citizens with valid, unexpired U.S. passports should be permitted to cross for limited hours.

U.S. citizens with expired, missing, or damaged passports must contact the U.S. Embassy in Amman at Amman-ACS@state.gov to facilitate entry to Jordan.
U.S. citizens with family members pending immigrant visa appointments, should also contact the U.S. Embassy via email at AmmanACSOutreach@state.gov.

Actions to Take:
If you are in Syria, be prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate.
Ensure you and your family have your travel documents (unexpired U.S. passport) in order and are prepared to travel.

Review your personal security plans.

Keep your cell phone charged in case of emergency.


Exercise caution, monitor the news closely for breaking developments that could affect internal security, and factor updated information into your travel plans and activities.
Have a contingency plan for emergencies and review the Traveler’s Checklist .
Enroll and encourage other U.S. citizens in Syria to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts.


U.S. citizens in Syria and around the world can now receive messages and alerts from the U.S.&nbsp; Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs via WhatsApp , or by email via enrollment in STEP.  &nbsp;To follow the U.S. Department of State – Crisis Updates for U.S. Citizens WhatsApp Channel, use the QR code below or click here  using your device with WhatsApp installed. &nbsp;We suggest you click the bell button in the upper-right corner of the channel to turn on notifications. You can unfollow the channel at any time.

DAMASCUS —The security situation in Syria continues to be volatile and unpredictable with armed conflict and terrorism throughout the country.&nbsp; U.S. citizens should depart Syria if possible. U.S. citizens who are unable to depart should prepare contingency plans for emergency situations and be prepared to shelter in place for extended periods.
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus suspended its operations in 2012.&nbsp; The U.S. government is unable to provide any routine or emergency consular services to U.S. citizens in Syria. U.S. citizens in Syria who are in need of emergency assistance to depart should contact the U.S. Embassy in the country they plan to enter.

For U.S. citizens seeking to depart Syria through the Jordanian border:

The Nabil-Jaber border crossing from Syria to Jordan is currently open.

U.S. citizens with valid, unexpired U.S. passports should be permitted to cross for limited hours.

U.S. citizens with expired, missing, or damaged passports must contact the U.S. Embassy in Amman at Amman-ACS@state.gov to facilitate entry to Jordan.
U.S. citizens with family members pending immigrant visa appointments, should also contact the U.S. Embassy via email at AmmanACSOutreach@state.gov.

Actions to Take:
If you are in Syria, be prepared to shelter in place should the situation deteriorate.
Ensure you and your family have your travel documents (unexpired U.S. passport) in order and are prepared to travel.

Review your personal security plans.

Keep your cell phone charged in case of emergency.
Exercise caution, monitor the news closely for breaking developments that could affect internal security, and factor updated information into your travel plans and activities.
Have a contingency plan for emergencies and review the Traveler’s Checklist .
Enroll and encourage other U.S. citizens in Syria to enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts.
U.S. citizens in Syria and around the world can now receive messages and alerts from the U.S.&nbsp; Department of State’s Bureau of Consular Affairs via WhatsApp , or by email via enrollment in STEP. &nbsp;To follow the U.S. Department of State – Crisis Updates for U.S. Citizens WhatsApp Channel, use the QR code below or click here using your device with WhatsApp installed. &nbsp;We suggest you click the bell button in the upper-right corner of the channel to turn on notifications. You can unfollow the channel at any time.

US embassy advises Americans to leave Syria

MONTGOMERY COUNTY —A Kansas man accused of selling drugs remains jailed in Kansas.

Last month, sheriff's deputies&nbsp;conducted a traffic stop on a 1991 Toyota pickup north of Dearing, Kansas, for a traffic violation, according to Montgomery County sheriff Ron Wade.

 During the stop, Police Service Dog (PSD) Pax was deployed for an open-air sniff around the vehicle. PSD Pax alerted deputies to the presence of illegal narcotics within the vehicle. Following the alert, deputies conducted a search of the vehicle, discovering over a pound of methamphetamine later confirmed to be mixed with fentanyl.

 Additional items found included syringes, marijuana, and various drug paraphernalia. Deputies arrested the driver and sole occupant 69-year-old Donny Sumner of Wayside, Kansas. 

Sumner was subsequently transported to the Montgomery County Department of Corrections and booked on requested charges that include Distribution of opiates, opium, or narcotic stimulants, 100 grams to less than 1 kilogram, Possession of drug paraphernalia with intent for use• Failure to maintain vehicle liability insurance• Unsafe turning or stopping, failure to signal, Possession of marijuana

He is being held without bond, according to online jail records.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734131289336.png" alt="Sumner photo Montgomery County" />
 <figcaption>Sumner photo Montgomery County</figcaption>
 </figure>MONTGOMERY COUNTY —A Kansas man accused of selling drugs remains jailed in Kansas.Last month, sheriff's deputies&nbsp;conducted a traffic stop on a 1991 Toyota pickup north of Dearing, Kansas, for a traffic violation, according to Montgomery County sheriff Ron Wade. During the stop, Police Service Dog (PSD) Pax was deployed for an open-air sniff around the vehicle. PSD Pax alerted deputies to the presence of illegal narcotics within the vehicle. Following the alert, deputies conducted a search of the vehicle, discovering over a pound of methamphetamine later confirmed to be mixed with fentanyl. Additional items found included syringes, marijuana, and various drug paraphernalia. Deputies arrested the driver and sole occupant 69-year-old Donny Sumner of Wayside, Kansas. Sumner was subsequently transported to the Montgomery County Department of Corrections and booked on requested charges that include Distribution of opiates, opium, or narcotic stimulants, 100 grams to less than 1 kilogram, Possession of drug paraphernalia with intent for use• Failure to maintain vehicle liability insurance• Unsafe turning or stopping, failure to signal, Possession of marijuanaHe is being held without bond, according to online jail records.

Sheriff: Kansas drug dealer had meth mixed with fentanyl

WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testified Wednesday that more than 700 threats against members of Congress were made during the last month alone, with at least 50 cases of people making false 911 calls in an attempt to get police teams to respond to lawmakers’ homes, often called “swatting.”

Manger, who took over the police department following the Jan. 6 attack, said the agency has done a relatively good job bolstering security at the Capitol building during the last few years, but needs more officers and money to address lawmakers’ security when they are back home or at offsite events.

Manger pointed to the dignitary protection division, which is responsible for keeping congressional leadership safe wherever they go, as “woefully understaffed.”

“We provide the protection at the level it needs to be. But you do that through officers working double shifts and averaging … 50 hours of overtime every pay period,” Manger said.

The division that protects leadership currently holds about 250 officers, but Manger pressed for that to be doubled to at least 500.

“And not only can we provide protection for the leadership 24/7, but when we have people that have threats against them that require us to stand up temporary details, we can do that,” Manger said. “Because right now, when we do it, we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’re yanking somebody off another detail to stand up a detail to help someone for a temporary threat situation.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1734108078507.png" alt="U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testifies during a Senate this week-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testifies during a Senate this week-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger testified Wednesday that more than 700 threats against members of Congress were made during the last month alone, with at least 50 cases of people making false 911 calls in an attempt to get police teams to respond to lawmakers’ homes, often called “swatting.”Manger, who took over the police department following the Jan. 6 attack, said the agency has done a relatively good job bolstering security at the Capitol building during the last few years, but needs more officers and money to address lawmakers’ security when they are back home or at offsite events.Manger pointed to the dignitary protection division, which is responsible for keeping congressional leadership safe wherever they go, as “woefully understaffed.”“We provide the protection at the level it needs to be. But you do that through officers working double shifts and averaging … 50 hours of overtime every pay period,” Manger said.The division that protects leadership currently holds about 250 officers, but Manger pressed for that to be doubled to at least 500.“And not only can we provide protection for the leadership 24/7, but when we have people that have threats against them that require us to stand up temporary details, we can do that,” Manger said. “Because right now, when we do it, we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul. We’re yanking somebody off another detail to stand up a detail to help someone for a temporary threat situation.”There are numerous situations, he testified, where if USCP had more officers it could better protect lawmakers both on and off Capitol Hill. For example, USCP needs more than the 20 or so agents it currently has investigating threats against members of Congress.<h2>Woman in Georgia killed</h2>Threats against lawmakers have been on the rise for years, but are having increasingly dire consequences. Just this week&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/briefs/motorist-killed-as-police-respond-to-bomb-threat-targeting-marjorie-taylor-greene/" target="_blank">a woman in Georgia was killed</a>&nbsp;in what local police described as a “tragic chain of events” after an email falsely claimed there was a bomb in the mailbox at Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s home there.Manger said during the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?540508-1/us-capitol-police-chief-testifies-oversight-department&amp;live" target="_blank">hearing</a>&nbsp;in the Senate Rules Committee that lawmakers need to raise USCP’s spending levels to allow it to continue holding 12 recruiting classes per year of 25 officers each for the next few years.The mandatory retirement age for USCP should also be raised from 60 to 65 to match the “tweak” the Secret Service holds that allows it to keep senior officers working above the ceiling of 57 years old for federal law enforcement, which Manger called “shameful” because he believes it is too low.“We have people that are in the prime of their career at that age and they got to go. And so, you know, I’ve been able to get the Capitol Police Board to agree to extend it to the age 60. And I have several officers that I’ve spoken with just in the last month who are hitting 60 years old, and they said, ‘Chief, I don’t want to go,’” Manger said. “And you look at them, and they look like they’re 35 and they certainly can still do the job, physically, mentally, and they’re some of the best cops you’d ever want to work with. But I have no ability to hold on to them.”&nbsp;