SEDGWICK COUNTY —A woman accused in a deadly shooting has made her first court appearance in the case.

Mercedes Muldrew, 35 of Wichita, is charged with 1st degree murder, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just after 5:30p.m. September 22, police were dispatched to a shooting at an apartment complex in 3500 block of Inwood in Wichita, according to&nbsp; Ford.

Officers learned that a verbal altercation had taken place between 38-year-old Daryl Clark and a female suspect later identified as 35-year-old Mercedes Muldrew. The argument escalated when she reportedly began physically assaulting him, according to Wichita Police spokesperson Andrew Ford.

The situation further escalated when the Muldrew brandished a handgun and fired one shot, striking Clark in the chest.&nbsp; &nbsp;EMS transported him to an area hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 6:22 p.m. Police arrested Muldrew. Her&nbsp;next court appearance is scheduled for October 8. She remains in jail on a $750,000 bond.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727111287181.png" alt="MULDREW -photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>MULDREW -photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A woman accused in a deadly shooting has made her first court appearance in the case.Mercedes Muldrew, 35 of Wichita, is charged with 1st degree murder, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just after 5:30p.m. September 22, police were dispatched to a shooting at an apartment complex in 3500 block of Inwood in Wichita, according to&nbsp; Ford.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727129407850.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation-photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation-photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers learned that a verbal altercation had taken place between 38-year-old Daryl Clark and a female suspect later identified as 35-year-old Mercedes Muldrew. The argument escalated when she reportedly began physically assaulting him, according to Wichita Police spokesperson Andrew Ford.The situation further escalated when the Muldrew brandished a handgun and fired one shot, striking Clark in the chest.&nbsp; &nbsp;EMS transported him to an area hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 6:22 p.m. Police arrested Muldrew. Her&nbsp;next court appearance is scheduled for October 8. She remains in jail on a $750,000 bond.

Kansas woman charged in attack that killed man

State’s highest court orders new trial with different judge in Reno County

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court unanimously ordered a new trial for a Hutchinson man because a Reno County District Court judge violated the defendant’s constitutional right to assistance of an attorney during a 2019 murder trial.

The justices found Judge Trish Rose’s order that defendant Brennan Trass had to assume responsibility for his own defense violated the 6th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Trass, 40, was accused of shooting to death Jose Morales during a 2015 methamphetamine transaction. It took more than three years to go to trial, in part, because 11 attorneys assigned to defend Trass were excused after clashing with Trass or due to a lawyer’s conflict of interest.

Rose, frustrated with pace of the case, issued an order that left Trass to defend himself at trial. He challenged that order in district court before he was convicted of felony murder in 2019 and subsequently through a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court decided Rose was wrong to declare Trass forfeited his right to a court-appointed attorney. In addition, the Supreme Court said Rose failed to advise Trass of the disadvantages of self-representation or to allow Trass an opportunity to modify his behavior to meet an acceptable standard.

The judge did have a standby attorney in the courtroom at trial, who was called upon at close of the trial when Trass asked to sit out the remainder of the proceeding in jail.

“The district court violated Trass’ right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Justice Melissa Standridge said in the court’s opinion. “Because this violation constitutes structural error affecting the trial mechanism, we reverse his convictions for first-degree felony murder and criminal possession of a firearm and remand for a new trial before a different judge.”

The opinion said violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel was an issue of fundamental fairness and required automatic reversal of the conviction.

Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court established precedent in the opinion by declaring a defendant in Kansas could forfeit the right to counsel by engaging in extraordinary misconduct.

“Although we have never held as a matter of law that a criminal defendant in Kansas can forfeit the right to counsel through misconduct, we do so today,” the opinion said.

In doing so, the state appellate court said Trass’ conduct didn’t rise to the level necessary to warrant denial of counsel. The justices said Trass’ actions didn’t amount to egregious misconduct or a course of disruption designed to thwart judicial proceedings.

“Forfeiture is an extreme sanction in response to extreme conduct that jeopardizes the integrity or safety of court proceedings and should be used only under extraordinary circumstances as a last resort in response to the most serious and deliberate misconduct,” Standridge wrote.

Prior to trial in March 2019, the opinion said, Rose told Trass “that I’m finding that you have waived your right to appointed counsel by your conduct. I am finding that appointment of new counsel would be an exercise in futility.” She directed attorney Bobby Hiebert to be Trass’ standby counsel.

Reno County prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge to formally “advise the defendant of the pitfalls of representing himself.” At a subsequent pre-trial hearing, Rose declined to outline potential disadvantages of self-representation or explore Trass’ readiness to proceed in district court.

Before the trial started, Trass denied he forfeited or knowingly waived his right to counsel. He admitted to the shooting, but made the argument it was self-defense.

“Trass did not expressly waive his right to counsel, so he could only implicitly waive the right through conduct or by forfeiting the right,” the Supreme Court said. “A review of the record reflects Trass did not implicitly waive his right to counsel based on his conduct.”

The opinion also said: “The court’s failure to advise Trass about the disadvantages of self-representation — even after the state encouraged the court to hold a hearing to do so — precludes a finding that Trass knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally chose to relinquish his right to counsel.”

In another finding by the Supreme Court, the justices said the lengthy period between the 2015 homicide and the 2019 trial didn’t violate Trass’ right to a speedy trial.

The justices also said evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the conviction of Trass on charges of felony murder and possession of a firearm. Originally, Trass was sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727457645666.jpeg" alt="Brennan Trass photo Reno Co." />
 <figcaption>Brennan Trass photo Reno Co.</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>State’s highest court orders new trial with different judge in Reno County</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court unanimously ordered a new trial for a Hutchinson man because a Reno County District Court judge violated the defendant’s constitutional right to assistance of an attorney during a 2019 murder trial.The justices found Judge Trish Rose’s order that defendant Brennan Trass had to assume responsibility for his own defense violated the 6th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Trass, 40, was accused of shooting to death Jose Morales during a 2015 methamphetamine transaction. It took more than three years to go to trial, in part, because 11 attorneys assigned to defend Trass were excused after clashing with Trass or due to a lawyer’s conflict of interest.Rose, frustrated with pace of the case, issued an order that left Trass to defend himself at trial. He challenged that order in district court before he was convicted of felony murder in 2019 and subsequently through a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.The Supreme Court decided Rose was wrong to declare Trass forfeited his right to a court-appointed attorney. In addition, the Supreme Court said Rose failed to advise Trass of the disadvantages of self-representation or to allow Trass an opportunity to modify his behavior to meet an acceptable standard.The judge did have a standby attorney in the courtroom at trial, who was called upon at close of the trial when Trass asked to sit out the remainder of the proceeding in jail.“The district court violated Trass’ right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” Justice Melissa Standridge said in the court’s opinion. “Because this violation constitutes structural error affecting the trial mechanism, we reverse his convictions for first-degree felony murder and criminal possession of a firearm and remand for a new trial before a different judge.”The opinion said violation of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel was an issue of fundamental fairness and required automatic reversal of the conviction.Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court established precedent in the opinion by declaring a defendant in Kansas could forfeit the right to counsel by engaging in extraordinary misconduct.“Although we have never held as a matter of law that a criminal defendant in Kansas can forfeit the right to counsel through misconduct, we do so today,” the opinion said.In doing so, the state appellate court said Trass’ conduct didn’t rise to the level necessary to warrant denial of counsel. The justices said Trass’ actions didn’t amount to egregious misconduct or a course of disruption designed to thwart judicial proceedings.“Forfeiture is an extreme sanction in response to extreme conduct that jeopardizes the integrity or safety of court proceedings and should be used only under extraordinary circumstances as a last resort in response to the most serious and deliberate misconduct,” Standridge wrote.Prior to trial in March 2019, the opinion said, Rose told Trass “that I’m finding that you have waived your right to appointed counsel by your conduct. I am finding that appointment of new counsel would be an exercise in futility.” She directed attorney Bobby Hiebert to be Trass’ standby counsel.Reno County prosecutors filed a motion asking the judge to formally “advise the defendant of the pitfalls of representing himself.” At a subsequent pre-trial hearing, Rose declined to outline potential disadvantages of self-representation or explore Trass’ readiness to proceed in district court.Before the trial started, Trass denied he forfeited or knowingly waived his right to counsel. He admitted to the shooting, but made the argument it was self-defense.“Trass did not expressly waive his right to counsel, so he could only implicitly waive the right through conduct or by forfeiting the right,” the Supreme Court said. “A review of the record reflects Trass did not implicitly waive his right to counsel based on his conduct.”The opinion also said: “The court’s failure to advise Trass about the disadvantages of self-representation — even after the state encouraged the court to hold a hearing to do so — precludes a finding that Trass knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally chose to relinquish his right to counsel.”In another finding by the Supreme Court, the justices said the lengthy period between the 2015 homicide and the 2019 trial didn’t violate Trass’ right to a speedy trial.The justices also said evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support the conviction of Trass on charges of felony murder and possession of a firearm. Originally, Trass was sentenced to more than 50 years in prison.

Kansas Supreme Court says trial judge violated constitutional right of murder defendant

&nbsp;JACKSON COUNTY (JASO) —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on drug allegations.

Shortly before 8a.m. Sept. 26, a Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2003 Acura LT on U.S. Hwy 75 and 214th Road near Holton for multiple alleged traffic infractions, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

Upon contacting the occupants of the vehicle, the driver was identified as Paula Louise Michael, 61, of Topeka, Kansas. During the course of the traffic stop a Jackson County Sheriff’s K9 alerted to the odor of illegal narcotics within the vehicle. A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted and resulted in the discovery of illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

Michael was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine, a hallucinogenic drug, and possession of drug paraphernalia.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727468514804.png" alt="Michael-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Michael-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;JACKSON COUNTY (JASO) —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on drug allegations.Shortly before 8a.m. Sept. 26, a Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a 2003 Acura LT on U.S. Hwy 75 and 214th Road near Holton for multiple alleged traffic infractions, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.Upon contacting the occupants of the vehicle, the driver was identified as Paula Louise Michael, 61, of Topeka, Kansas. During the course of the traffic stop a Jackson County Sheriff’s K9 alerted to the odor of illegal narcotics within the vehicle. A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted and resulted in the discovery of illegal narcotics and drug paraphernalia.Michael was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine, a hallucinogenic drug, and possession of drug paraphernalia.&nbsp;

Kansas sheriff's K9 found drugs during traffic stop

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

WASHINGTON — With the clock ticking on former President Donald Trump’s signature 2017 tax law, and high housing, food and child care costs darkening Americans’ mood, tax cuts have become the star of the 2024 presidential contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump wants to overall extend his tax provisions beyond the 2025 expiration date and then some, promising to lower the corporate tax rate even further and lift the cap on the state and local taxes deduction.

He argues the loss in federal revenue will be made up by imposing steep tariffs on imported goods.

Tariff is a “beautiful word,” he told a crowd in Savannah, Georgia, Tuesday night, “one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard.”

“We will take in hundreds of billions of dollars into our treasury and use that money to benefit the American citizens,” he said.

Harris is running on an “opportunity economy” platform that keeps the Biden administration’s promises to not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 and enact a “billionaire” tax.

The vice president has also vowed to give tax deductions and credits to budding entrepreneurs and first-time homebuyers, and permanently expand the Child Tax Credit.

“Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a middle-class tax break that includes $6,000 for new parents during the first year of their child’s life,” Harris said Wednesday at a campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Whoever wins the Oval Office&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/racing-toward-election-day-control-us-senate-and-house-grabs%C2%A0" target="_blank">will need</a>&nbsp;a cooperative Congress to enact these policies — with the exception of tariffs, over which the president enjoys wide&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11030" target="_blank">latitude</a>.

The barrage of proposals has kept economists busy with near-constant and evolving&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/issue-area/us-budget-watch-2024" target="_blank">analyses</a>&nbsp;of how much the&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/harris-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">tax</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">cut</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/federal-tax/2024-tax-plans/?utm_content=308246052&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;hss_channel=tw-16686673" target="_blank">promises</a>&nbsp;would add to the nation’s ballooning federal deficit and change the economy.

Both candidates’ plans come with a price tag in the trillions of dollars, though Trump’s is the more expensive of the two.

Models released in late August by the Penn Wharton Budget Model project Trump’s plan&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">would add</a>&nbsp;up to $5.8 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, while Harris’ plan would&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/harris-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">increase</a>&nbsp;the deficit by up to $2 trillion over the same time period.

“I think that both candidates are missing the mark when it comes to fiscal responsibility and economic responsibility,” the Tax Foundation’s Erica York told States Newsroom in an interview Monday.

“Neither of them have really outlined a plan that would get us on a sustainable path in terms of debt and deficits, nor that would boost growth and opportunity in the economy. Both are likely to have a negative impact on the economy,” said York, senior economist and research director for the foundation, which generally favors lower taxes.

Trump, followed by Harris, has proposed to nix taxes on tipped workers — though Harris has suggested limiting the benefit to workers in the service and hospitality industries who earn less than $75,000.

She has also said the tax break would not apply to payroll taxes, meaning the contribution workers pay toward Social Security and Medicare. Trump has not detailed any limits on his proposal for tipped workers.

Economists across the board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-floats-plan-end-taxes-tips-though-experts-raise-doubts" target="_blank">warn</a>&nbsp;Trump’s plan could incentivize more tipped work. They also question whether Trump and Harris’ proposals would actually benefit low-income workers.

After all, tax benefits for lower income workers who have children phase in as the person earns income. Reporting less income means those taxpayers could ultimately see less help from the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit.

“If you work and you report income, you get these provisions. But if you don’t, you don’t get these provisions. Well, you add exemptions into the tax code that reduces the amount of earned income that you report to the IRS, you could potentially reduce the value of these credits for very low-income households,” Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told States Newsroom in an interview Monday.

For instance, a tipped worker who has one child and earns $24,000 annually, half of which comes from tips, could see a $300 decrease in refundable tax credits under this policy, Pomerleau and senior AEI fellows Alex Brill and Stan Veuger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aei.org/economics/a-tip-exemption-is-not-sound-tax-policy/" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;in August.

The same principle for lower income taxpayers applies to Trump’s recent promise to eliminate taxes on overtime.

“There could be a negative effect there, depending on how this is structured,” Pomerleau said Monday.

The nonpartisan watchdog Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-proposal-end-taxes-overtime" target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;an elimination of taxes on all overtime would cost the country $1.7 trillion in lost revenue over 10 years. With no guardrails preventing workers switching from salaried to hourly, the price tag could reach up to $6 trillion in the most extreme case, CRFB estimates.

Economists monitoring the nation’s Social Security coffers continue to sound alarm bells on the program’s solvency — with little reaction on the campaign trail.

The fund that provides money to senior citizens and people with disabilities is on track to be depleted by 2035, and recipients would face an immediate 17% cut in benefits, as the Tax Foundation’s Alex Durante&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/social-security-reform-options/?utm_content=309361439&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;hss_channel=tw-16686673" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;Tuesday.

Trump has mentioned Social Security during campaign rallies and on his social media platform, but in the context of eliminating taxes on the benefit payments.

While low-income recipients do not pay taxes on their benefits, others do and are projected to contribute $94 billion this year back into the fund.

Nixing those taxes could speed up Social Security’s insolvency by one year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-suggestion-end-taxation-social-security-benefits" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Promise: New corporate tax rates and tariffs

Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which cleared Congress strictly along party lines, permanently lowered the top corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.

Harris has vowed, if elected, she will bump the rate up to 28%.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/kamala-harris-proposal-raise-corporate-tax-rate-28" target="_blank">Analyses</a>&nbsp;from the CFRB, the Tax Foundation, Penn Wharton and the Yale Budget Lab estimate the increase would raise roughly $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade.

The former president wants to&nbsp;<a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/09/05/trump-promotes-raising-tariffs-corporate-tax-cut-in-battle-over-economy-with-harris/" target="_blank">cut</a>&nbsp;the rate even further to 15%, a&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-corporate-tax-rates-brackets/" target="_blank">level</a>&nbsp;not seen in the U.S. since the 1930s. Economists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-proposal-lower-corporate-tax-rate-15" target="_blank">estimate</a>&nbsp;the cut would reduce revenue anywhere from $460 billion to $673 billion over 10 years.

“Here is the deal that I will be offering to every major company and manufacturer on Earth: I will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burden and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet, but only if you make your product here in America,” Trump said in Georgia Tuesday.

Trump has big plans for products imported into the U.S. He’s planning to impose up to 20% tariffs on most imports, reaching as high as 60% on Chinese goods and 100% on countries that turn away from the U.S. dollar.

That could cost the typical American household about $2,600 a year as costs on consumer goods would shift to the customer, particularly affecting those with lower incomes,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/trumps-bigger-tariff-proposals-would-cost-typical-american-household-over?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to economists Kimberly Clausing and Mary Lovely at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Speaking at a farming roundtable in Pennsylvania Monday, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?538599-1/president-trump-speaks-farming-roundtable-smithton-pennsylvania" target="_blank">publicly warned</a>&nbsp;John Deere that if the company moves manufacturing to Mexico, he’ll impose a 200% tariff on tractors coming back over the border.

Experts warn another downside is that the policy invites foreign retaliation.

“So if we are, say, exporting Kentucky bourbon to China, China may say, well, to retaliate for the 60% tax on imports, we’re going to place taxes on this export, and that’s going to have a direct impact on the incomes of Americans and make us poorer,” Pomerleau said.

A familiar refrain from Harris and the Biden administration is that billionaires and wealthy corporations should pay their “fair share.”

The U.S. individual tax rate already progresses with an earner’s income, meaning that the higher your income, the higher your tax rate.

Both Harris and Trump want to keep individual tax rates that were lowered across the board in the 2017 law, but Harris is seeking to increase taxes on long-term capital gains, and levy a minimum tax on unrealized capital gains for very high earners.

For those earning upwards of $1 million a year, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/09/05/trump-promotes-raising-tariffs-corporate-tax-cut-in-battle-over-economy-with-harris/" target="_blank">proposed</a>&nbsp;raising taxes to 28%, up from 20%, on profits made from the sale of an asset, like stocks, bonds, or real estate, that have been held by the owner for more than a year.

The vice president also proposes quadrupling the&nbsp;<a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/how-the-u-s-taxes-stock-buybacks-and-dividends/" target="_blank">stock buyback tax</a>&nbsp;to 4%, up from 1%.

For ultra-wealthy households that have more than $100 million in assets, Harris follows Biden in proposing a 25% tax rate — sometimes referred to as the “billionaire tax.”

Those high-wealth individuals would need to calculate their regular income tax liability and compare it to their total net worth, meaning income plus unrealized capital gains, multiplied by 25%.

“Whichever is greater you pay,” Pomerleau explains. “So if you are in a situation where you have a low effective tax rate relative to this broader definition of income, the minimum tax will kick in and you’ll start paying increments.”

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/kamala-harris-plan-taxing-capital-income" target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;the plan could raise $750 billion in revenue over ten years.

Ahead of a mid-September campaign rally on Long Island, New York, Trump pledged to abandon the cap in his 2017 law on the state and local tax deduction — simply known in tax parlance as SALT.

As the law stands now, taxpayers can only deduct up to $10,000 of their state and local tax bill from their federal tax liability.

A full SALT deduction is more valuable for higher income taxpayers, and prior to the 2017 cap, 91% of taxpayers who claimed it lived in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/glossary/salt-deduction/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;by the Tax Foundation.

Eliminating the cap would cut taxes by an average of more than $140,000 for the highest earning 0.1% of households, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/repealing-salt-cap-would-overwhelmingly-benefit-those-high-incomes" target="_blank">modeling</a>&nbsp;by the Tax Policy Center, a collaboration between the left-leaning Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.

The Committee for a Responsible Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/salt-cap-expiration-could-be-costly-mistake#:~:text=Some%20policymakers%20have%20suggested%20allowing,%241.2%20trillion%20over%20a%20decade." target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;the move could cost $1.2 trillion over a ten-year budget window.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1724867447394.png" alt="Photo Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>Photo Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>WASHINGTON — With the clock ticking on former President Donald Trump’s signature 2017 tax law, and high housing, food and child care costs darkening Americans’ mood, tax cuts have become the star of the 2024 presidential contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.Trump wants to overall extend his tax provisions beyond the 2025 expiration date and then some, promising to lower the corporate tax rate even further and lift the cap on the state and local taxes deduction.He argues the loss in federal revenue will be made up by imposing steep tariffs on imported goods.Tariff is a “beautiful word,” he told a crowd in Savannah, Georgia, Tuesday night, “one of the most beautiful words I’ve ever heard.”“We will take in hundreds of billions of dollars into our treasury and use that money to benefit the American citizens,” he said.Harris is running on an “opportunity economy” platform that keeps the Biden administration’s promises to not raise taxes on those making less than $400,000 and enact a “billionaire” tax.The vice president has also vowed to give tax deductions and credits to budding entrepreneurs and first-time homebuyers, and permanently expand the Child Tax Credit.“Under my plan, more than 100 million Americans will get a middle-class tax break that includes $6,000 for new parents during the first year of their child’s life,” Harris said Wednesday at a campaign speech in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Whoever wins the Oval Office&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/racing-toward-election-day-control-us-senate-and-house-grabs%C2%A0" target="_blank">will need</a>&nbsp;a cooperative Congress to enact these policies — with the exception of tariffs, over which the president enjoys wide&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11030" target="_blank">latitude</a>.<h2>What would it cost?</h2>The barrage of proposals has kept economists busy with near-constant and evolving&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/issue-area/us-budget-watch-2024" target="_blank">analyses</a>&nbsp;of how much the&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/harris-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">tax</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">cut</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/federal-tax/2024-tax-plans/?utm_content=308246052&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;hss_channel=tw-16686673" target="_blank">promises</a>&nbsp;would add to the nation’s ballooning federal deficit and change the economy.Both candidates’ plans come with a price tag in the trillions of dollars, though Trump’s is the more expensive of the two.Models released in late August by the Penn Wharton Budget Model project Trump’s plan&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/trump-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">would add</a>&nbsp;up to $5.8 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, while Harris’ plan would&nbsp;<a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/8/26/harris-campaign-policy-proposals-2024?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">increase</a>&nbsp;the deficit by up to $2 trillion over the same time period.“I think that both candidates are missing the mark when it comes to fiscal responsibility and economic responsibility,” the Tax Foundation’s Erica York told States Newsroom in an interview Monday.“Neither of them have really outlined a plan that would get us on a sustainable path in terms of debt and deficits, nor that would boost growth and opportunity in the economy. Both are likely to have a negative impact on the economy,” said York, senior economist and research director for the foundation, which generally favors lower taxes.<h2>Promise: No taxes on tips, overtime</h2>Trump, followed by Harris, has proposed to nix taxes on tipped workers — though Harris has suggested limiting the benefit to workers in the service and hospitality industries who earn less than $75,000.She has also said the tax break would not apply to payroll taxes, meaning the contribution workers pay toward Social Security and Medicare. Trump has not detailed any limits on his proposal for tipped workers.Economists across the board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-floats-plan-end-taxes-tips-though-experts-raise-doubts" target="_blank">warn</a>&nbsp;Trump’s plan could incentivize more tipped work. They also question whether Trump and Harris’ proposals would actually benefit low-income workers.After all, tax benefits for lower income workers who have children phase in as the person earns income. Reporting less income means those taxpayers could ultimately see less help from the Child Tax Credit or the Earned Income Tax Credit.“If you work and you report income, you get these provisions. But if you don’t, you don’t get these provisions. Well, you add exemptions into the tax code that reduces the amount of earned income that you report to the IRS, you could potentially reduce the value of these credits for very low-income households,” Kyle Pomerleau, senior fellow at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told States Newsroom in an interview Monday.For instance, a tipped worker who has one child and earns $24,000 annually, half of which comes from tips, could see a $300 decrease in refundable tax credits under this policy, Pomerleau and senior AEI fellows Alex Brill and Stan Veuger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aei.org/economics/a-tip-exemption-is-not-sound-tax-policy/" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;in August.The same principle for lower income taxpayers applies to Trump’s recent promise to eliminate taxes on overtime.“There could be a negative effect there, depending on how this is structured,” Pomerleau said Monday.The nonpartisan watchdog Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-proposal-end-taxes-overtime" target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;an elimination of taxes on all overtime would cost the country $1.7 trillion in lost revenue over 10 years. With no guardrails preventing workers switching from salaried to hourly, the price tag could reach up to $6 trillion in the most extreme case, CRFB estimates.<h2>Promise: No taxes on Social Security</h2>Economists monitoring the nation’s Social Security coffers continue to sound alarm bells on the program’s solvency — with little reaction on the campaign trail.The fund that provides money to senior citizens and people with disabilities is on track to be depleted by 2035, and recipients would face an immediate 17% cut in benefits, as the Tax Foundation’s Alex Durante&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/social-security-reform-options/?utm_content=309361439&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;hss_channel=tw-16686673" target="_blank">wrote</a>&nbsp;Tuesday.Trump has mentioned Social Security during campaign rallies and on his social media platform, but in the context of eliminating taxes on the benefit payments.While low-income recipients do not pay taxes on their benefits, others do and are projected to contribute $94 billion this year back into the fund.Nixing those taxes could speed up Social Security’s insolvency by one year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-suggestion-end-taxation-social-security-benefits" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to an analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.<h2>Promise: New corporate tax rates and tariffs</h2>Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which cleared Congress strictly along party lines, permanently lowered the top corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%.Harris has vowed, if elected, she will bump the rate up to 28%.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/kamala-harris-proposal-raise-corporate-tax-rate-28" target="_blank">Analyses</a>&nbsp;from the CFRB, the Tax Foundation, Penn Wharton and the Yale Budget Lab estimate the increase would raise roughly $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion in federal revenue over the next decade.The former president wants to&nbsp;<a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/09/05/trump-promotes-raising-tariffs-corporate-tax-cut-in-battle-over-economy-with-harris/" target="_blank">cut</a>&nbsp;the rate even further to 15%, a&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/federal/historical-corporate-tax-rates-brackets/" target="_blank">level</a>&nbsp;not seen in the U.S. since the 1930s. Economists&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/donald-trumps-proposal-lower-corporate-tax-rate-15" target="_blank">estimate</a>&nbsp;the cut would reduce revenue anywhere from $460 billion to $673 billion over 10 years.“Here is the deal that I will be offering to every major company and manufacturer on Earth: I will give you the lowest taxes, the lowest energy costs, the lowest regulatory burden and free access to the best and biggest market on the planet, but only if you make your product here in America,” Trump said in Georgia Tuesday.Trump has big plans for products imported into the U.S. He’s planning to impose up to 20% tariffs on most imports, reaching as high as 60% on Chinese goods and 100% on countries that turn away from the U.S. dollar.That could cost the typical American household about $2,600 a year as costs on consumer goods would shift to the customer, particularly affecting those with lower incomes,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2024/trumps-bigger-tariff-proposals-would-cost-typical-american-household-over?te=1&amp;nl=the-morning&amp;emc=edit_nn_20240903" target="_blank">according</a>&nbsp;to economists Kimberly Clausing and Mary Lovely at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.Speaking at a farming roundtable in Pennsylvania Monday, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?538599-1/president-trump-speaks-farming-roundtable-smithton-pennsylvania" target="_blank">publicly warned</a>&nbsp;John Deere that if the company moves manufacturing to Mexico, he’ll impose a 200% tariff on tractors coming back over the border.Experts warn another downside is that the policy invites foreign retaliation.“So if we are, say, exporting Kentucky bourbon to China, China may say, well, to retaliate for the 60% tax on imports, we’re going to place taxes on this export, and that’s going to have a direct impact on the incomes of Americans and make us poorer,” Pomerleau said.<h2>Promise: A billionaire tax</h2>A familiar refrain from Harris and the Biden administration is that billionaires and wealthy corporations should pay their “fair share.”The U.S. individual tax rate already progresses with an earner’s income, meaning that the higher your income, the higher your tax rate.Both Harris and Trump want to keep individual tax rates that were lowered across the board in the 2017 law, but Harris is seeking to increase taxes on long-term capital gains, and levy a minimum tax on unrealized capital gains for very high earners.For those earning upwards of $1 million a year, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://newjerseymonitor.com/2024/09/05/trump-promotes-raising-tariffs-corporate-tax-cut-in-battle-over-economy-with-harris/" target="_blank">proposed</a>&nbsp;raising taxes to 28%, up from 20%, on profits made from the sale of an asset, like stocks, bonds, or real estate, that have been held by the owner for more than a year.The vice president also proposes quadrupling the&nbsp;<a href="https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/how-the-u-s-taxes-stock-buybacks-and-dividends/" target="_blank">stock buyback tax</a>&nbsp;to 4%, up from 1%.For ultra-wealthy households that have more than $100 million in assets, Harris follows Biden in proposing a 25% tax rate — sometimes referred to as the “billionaire tax.”Those high-wealth individuals would need to calculate their regular income tax liability and compare it to their total net worth, meaning income plus unrealized capital gains, multiplied by 25%.“Whichever is greater you pay,” Pomerleau explains. “So if you are in a situation where you have a low effective tax rate relative to this broader definition of income, the minimum tax will kick in and you’ll start paying increments.”The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/kamala-harris-plan-taxing-capital-income" target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;the plan could raise $750 billion in revenue over ten years.<h2>Promise: No SALT cap</h2>Ahead of a mid-September campaign rally on Long Island, New York, Trump pledged to abandon the cap in his 2017 law on the state and local tax deduction — simply known in tax parlance as SALT.As the law stands now, taxpayers can only deduct up to $10,000 of their state and local tax bill from their federal tax liability.A full SALT deduction is more valuable for higher income taxpayers, and prior to the 2017 cap, 91% of taxpayers who claimed it lived in California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Texas and Pennsylvania, according to an&nbsp;<a href="https://taxfoundation.org/taxedu/glossary/salt-deduction/" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;by the Tax Foundation.Eliminating the cap would cut taxes by an average of more than $140,000 for the highest earning 0.1% of households, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/repealing-salt-cap-would-overwhelmingly-benefit-those-high-incomes" target="_blank">modeling</a>&nbsp;by the Tax Policy Center, a collaboration between the left-leaning Urban Institute and Brookings Institution.The Committee for a Responsible Budget&nbsp;<a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/salt-cap-expiration-could-be-costly-mistake#:~:text=Some%20policymakers%20have%20suggested%20allowing,%241.2%20trillion%20over%20a%20decade." target="_blank">estimates</a>&nbsp;the move could cost $1.2 trillion over a ten-year budget window.

Taxes: Where do Trump and Harris stand?

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Authorities on Friday reported they positively identified the human remains found on September 11 in the yard of a home in the city of Rose Hill as&nbsp;Kennedy Jean Schroer, according to Rose Hill Police Chief Taylor Parlier.

"We understand that many in the public might be confused how an arrest in this case has not been made, that is completely understandable, Parlier stated in a media release.

"What we would like to convey is that we have one chance to gather as much information as possible, to find out what happened to this child and to tell her story. While we understand the desire to hold persons accountable, we need to get this correct and not fast. Releasing too much information might appear to implicate a person or persons who were not involved, so in our search for the truth we need to equally work to protect peoples’ rights."

Kennedy Jean Schroer, born on July 14, 2014, was adopted by Crystina and Joe Schroer in November 2018 and is believed to have died in late 2020, according to a statement from Rose Hill, Kansas Police Chief Taylor Parlier.

The remains were brought to the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center for the postmortem. Due to the advanced level of decomposition, the medical examiner was unable to identify a cause of death. Their preliminary report gave findings that no visible injuries were observed, nor were any healing or healed injuries observable, according to the police chief.

"Through our investigation we believe the time of death occurred within the month of November 2020. The medical examiner has not released the full report of the postmortem but has confirmed Kennedy’s identity through DNA analysis," Parlier stated.

"This investigation is ongoing. Officers, Detectives, surrounding law enforcement agencies, social workers, mental health professionals, and many others are hard at work to find answers. What we can assure anyone interested in this case, Kennedy is the center of our universe and will remain so until we have answers."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727450427639.png" alt="-Kennedy Jean Schroer-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>-Kennedy Jean Schroer-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Authorities on Friday reported they positively identified the human remains found on September 11 in the yard of a home in the city of Rose Hill as&nbsp;Kennedy Jean Schroer, according to Rose Hill Police Chief Taylor Parlier."We understand that many in the public might be confused how an arrest in this case has not been made, that is completely understandable, Parlier stated in a media release."What we would like to convey is that we have one chance to gather as much information as possible, to find out what happened to this child and to tell her story. While we understand the desire to hold persons accountable, we need to get this correct and not fast. Releasing too much information might appear to implicate a person or persons who were not involved, so in our search for the truth we need to equally work to protect peoples’ rights."Kennedy Jean Schroer, born on July 14, 2014, was adopted by Crystina and Joe Schroer in November 2018 and is believed to have died in late 2020, according to a statement from Rose Hill, Kansas Police Chief Taylor Parlier.The remains were brought to the Sedgwick County Forensic Science Center for the postmortem. Due to the advanced level of decomposition, the medical examiner was unable to identify a cause of death. Their preliminary report gave findings that no visible injuries were observed, nor were any healing or healed injuries observable, according to the police chief."Through our investigation we believe the time of death occurred within the month of November 2020. The medical examiner has not released the full report of the postmortem but has confirmed Kennedy’s identity through DNA analysis," Parlier stated."This investigation is ongoing. Officers, Detectives, surrounding law enforcement agencies, social workers, mental health professionals, and many others are hard at work to find answers. What we can assure anyone interested in this case, Kennedy is the center of our universe and will remain so until we have answers."

Police Chief on why no arrest after remains found in yard of Kan. home

The Attorney General’s Office, the Missouri Press Association and the Freedom Center of Missouri seek ruling on form and content of meeting notices and agendas

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

A rural Missouri fire district near Kansas City committed so many violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law that listing them separately wasn’t the best way to present them, attorney Jim Layton told Western District Court of Appeals during oral arguments.

Under questioning from Presiding Judge Thomas Chapman, Layton said he counted 46 violations committed in 11 meetings of the Western Cass Fire Protection board. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Appellants%20Brief%20Redacted.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=453073" target="_blank">appeal brief</a>&nbsp;gives a narrative of events, seeking to show a multiplicity of violations at any particular meeting, rather than individually enumerated violations for each meeting.

“We have to look at it and weigh the evidence in each one of these instances, and it just seems like it kind of was a shotgun approach on these,” Chapman said.

The nature of the appeal led to the format he chose, Layton said. Cass County Circuit Judge R. Michael Wagner entered a judgment against his client, Citizens for Transparency and Accountability, when he concluded his portion of the case during a June 2023 trial.

Wagner didn’t give any reasons for his decision in his judgment. The appeal is of that single act, so a narrative is the correct format, Layton said.

“I will confess that I struggled with how to draft points relied on in this case as much as I ever have on an appeal because of the nature of how this was decided below,” Layton said.

Wednesday’s hearing at the appeals court is just the latest round in battles, in and out of court, involving the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.westerncassfire.org/" target="_blank">fire district</a>, based in Cleveland, that serves about 2,600 homes. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article281486948.html" target="_blank">battling factions</a>&nbsp;of the board have made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.northcassherald.com/post/citizens-group-files-suit-against-western-cass-fire" target="_blank">numerous headlines</a>, and the appeal drew the attention of three important voices for open government.

Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, the Missouri Press Association and the Freedom Center of Missouri all wrote briefs urging the court to overturn the trial court. The issues involved are some of the most fundamental aspects of what constitutes proper notice of a meeting, how much can be added to an agenda after it is posted, and what information must be presented about an item to be considered.

“If you can obscure the matters that are actually going to be discussed and decided at a public meeting, then you can kind of slip under the public’s radar and address matters that otherwise members of the public would very much like to have input,” said Dave Roland, litigation director of the Freedom Center of Missouri.

An example from the Western Cass case is the Aug. 3, 2022, meeting, where the notice included an item called “special considerations,” with no more detail. What board members Kerri VanMeveren and Darvin Schildknecht didn’t know, and found out only when the agenda item was reached that evening, was that “special considerations” meant booting them off the board.

“I asked at the start of the meeting, before we adopted the agenda, ‘can you please explain what special considerations mean?’” VanMeveren said in an interview with The Independent. Board president “John Webb would not answer the question. And I kept saying, ‘I think the public has a right to know,’ and he just would not answer it.”

Defending the judgment on Wednesday, attorney Aaron Racine told the court that any violations that may have occurred were inadvertent, due to inexperience of new members.

Judge Alok Ahuja was skeptical of that as he looked at the Aug. 3, 2022, meeting agenda.

“What does special considerations mean?” he asked. “Special considerations of weather? Special considerations of finances? Special considerations of personnel?”

Even the phrasing of particular agenda items can be traced to inexperience, Racine said.

“I think those are the mitigating or exigent circumstances, and that you had an inexperienced board trying to comply with the law,” he said.

VanMeveren won election to the district Board of Directors in 2020, running for the position after a brush fire spread onto her property in 2018 and she felt the tactics employed showed poor training.

“It was just kind of a clown show,” VanMeveren said.

When she became district treasurer, she said, she found that tax rates for a bond issue had been improperly calculated, bringing in excessive revenue.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://auditor.mo.gov/AuditReport/ViewReport?report=2021037" target="_blank">state auditor’s report in 2021</a>, prepared in response to a residents’ petition, found problems with bidding procedures, budget information and Sunshine Law compliance. VanMeveren recruited new board members, including John Webb, a conservative Republican who unsuccessfully challenged then-U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler several times in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/18/challenger-john-webb-says-he/21725111007/" target="_blank">4th Congressional District GOP primary</a>.&nbsp;

But she and Webb were soon battling over issues that included payroll expenses for contractors and a contract for lawn care at the firehouse,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article281486948.html" target="_blank">the Kansas City Star reported</a>. In the late summer and early fall of 2022, three departments in Belton, Dolan-West Dolan and West Peculiar canceled their mutual aid agreements.

VanMeveren resigned as treasurer in May 2022 but remained on the board. A lawsuit was filed by the board to oust her and Schildknecht. It was dismissed when a recall effort began that succeeded in removing VanMeveren and Schildknecht in August 2023.

VanMeveren and Schildknecht formed Citizens for Transparency and Accountability and filed a countersuit, the case now in the hands of the Western District Court of Appeals.

They testified in the spring in favor of a bill that gives the State Auditor&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/28/new-missouri-law-expands-state-auditors-powers-to-dig-into-local-governments/">new power to investigate wrongdoing</a>&nbsp;in local government. Instead of a time-consuming petition process, the auditor can now open a full audit if investigation of a complaint shows problems that require more attention.&nbsp;

And the cost of the audit would be borne by the auditor’s office instead of taxpayers in the political subdivision being examined.

The new power is an important tool to help taxpayers, Schildknecht testified in a Missouri House hearing.&nbsp;

“Over the years some people who come on the board who do want to try and do the right things, but I have also seen others who realize there is no outside agencies monitoring fire districts and take advantage of this, knowing there is nobody watching that they follow the laws,” he said.

Widespread issues the case will address brought amicus, or friend of the court, briefs from the attorney general’s office, the press association and the Freedom Center of Missouri.

“Several issues raised in this appeal are brought to this office’s attention with increasing frequency in complaints filed by citizens against local public governmental bodies, in question-and-answer sessions during training programs, and phone call inquiries from the public and public governmental bodies,” Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis wrote. “Unfortunately, many of these issues have not yet been conclusively addressed by Missouri’s appellate courts.”

Those questions include what an agenda must have when a meeting notice is posted and what can be added later.

“All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered,”&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=610.020&amp;bid=30417&amp;hl=" target="_blank">the law states</a>.&nbsp;

The fire district board used the word tentative in the broadest sense. At one meeting in November 2022, Layton’s appeal brief states, the board approved “a contract for a medical director; creating and sending a newsletter throughout the district; adopting a program that would allow firefighters to reside at the fire station; changing the bid solicitation for one of the fire stations; an insurance rider for proof of loss; barring one director from taking photographs at the fire station; having and paying for a party; and purchasing a generator battery.”

No violation occurred when items were added, Racine told the judges.

“Tentative means what tentative means, and absent some statutory or court guidance as to what tentative means, we have to look to its plain meaning, which is subject to change going forward,” Racine said.

All three of the amicus briefs argued that tentative means subject to change for unforeseen reasons, such as a storm that prevents the meeting from being held or the absence of someone essential that prevents an item from being considered.

It cannot mean that new items can be added at will because the public, and their watchdogs, deserve full notice of the items to be considered, attorney Jean Maneke wrote for the press association.

“Reporters recognize that they cannot be everywhere at once and the agenda gives them the&nbsp;information they need to make the best use of their time,” Maneke wrote. “Like the public, the reporters rely on the agenda to inform them regarding which activities/issues will be addressed at each public meeting.”

Other meeting notice issues the appeal addresses are the amount of information that must be provided. Fire district notices often gave the least possible information, appellants argue, such as a resolution number and no other details under the heading “Banking” on the July 20, 2022, meeting.

During the same meeting, while on the agenda item with the heading “reports,” the board adopted changes to the duties of some personnel without any indication that was the intent.

“It’s crucial that public governmental bodies not be able to shoehorn in agenda items at the last minute, and that’s why they need to provide an acceptable level of specificity when it comes to what they’re going to be considering and voting on,” Roland said.

The attorney general’s brief also argues that notices must provide details that show the intent of the action.&nbsp;

“That means that a public governmental body cannot hide an elephant in a mouse hole by using vague or excessively broad terms to hide what the body intends to do,” Lewis wrote. “The tentative agenda must be specific enough for the public to be able to make an informed decision about whether to attend the meeting.”

The court could create a test that would help agencies in the preparation of meeting notices and agendas, Lewis wrote.

“The Attorney General’s Office is eager for resolution of these issues at the appellate level,” Lewis wrote, “which will provide both this office and the public with significant guidance in resolving citizens’ Sunshine Law complaints, providing education to local public governmental bodies, and seeking enforcement when appropriate.”

<h2>The Attorney General’s Office, the Missouri Press Association and the Freedom Center of Missouri seek ruling on form and content of meeting notices and agendas</h2>By RUDI KELLER&nbsp; <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>A rural Missouri fire district near Kansas City committed so many violations of the Missouri Sunshine Law that listing them separately wasn’t the best way to present them, attorney Jim Layton told Western District Court of Appeals during oral arguments.Under questioning from Presiding Judge Thomas Chapman, Layton said he counted 46 violations committed in 11 meetings of the Western Cass Fire Protection board. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Appellants%20Brief%20Redacted.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=453073" target="_blank">appeal brief</a>&nbsp;gives a narrative of events, seeking to show a multiplicity of violations at any particular meeting, rather than individually enumerated violations for each meeting.“We have to look at it and weigh the evidence in each one of these instances, and it just seems like it kind of was a shotgun approach on these,” Chapman said.The nature of the appeal led to the format he chose, Layton said. Cass County Circuit Judge R. Michael Wagner entered a judgment against his client, Citizens for Transparency and Accountability, when he concluded his portion of the case during a June 2023 trial.Wagner didn’t give any reasons for his decision in his judgment. The appeal is of that single act, so a narrative is the correct format, Layton said.“I will confess that I struggled with how to draft points relied on in this case as much as I ever have on an appeal because of the nature of how this was decided below,” Layton said.Wednesday’s hearing at the appeals court is just the latest round in battles, in and out of court, involving the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.westerncassfire.org/" target="_blank">fire district</a>, based in Cleveland, that serves about 2,600 homes. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article281486948.html" target="_blank">battling factions</a>&nbsp;of the board have made&nbsp;<a href="https://www.northcassherald.com/post/citizens-group-files-suit-against-western-cass-fire" target="_blank">numerous headlines</a>, and the appeal drew the attention of three important voices for open government.Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, the Missouri Press Association and the Freedom Center of Missouri all wrote briefs urging the court to overturn the trial court. The issues involved are some of the most fundamental aspects of what constitutes proper notice of a meeting, how much can be added to an agenda after it is posted, and what information must be presented about an item to be considered.“If you can obscure the matters that are actually going to be discussed and decided at a public meeting, then you can kind of slip under the public’s radar and address matters that otherwise members of the public would very much like to have input,” said Dave Roland, litigation director of the Freedom Center of Missouri.An example from the Western Cass case is the Aug. 3, 2022, meeting, where the notice included an item called “special considerations,” with no more detail. What board members Kerri VanMeveren and Darvin Schildknecht didn’t know, and found out only when the agenda item was reached that evening, was that “special considerations” meant booting them off the board.“I asked at the start of the meeting, before we adopted the agenda, ‘can you please explain what special considerations mean?’” VanMeveren said in an interview with The Independent. Board president “John Webb would not answer the question. And I kept saying, ‘I think the public has a right to know,’ and he just would not answer it.”Defending the judgment on Wednesday, attorney Aaron Racine told the court that any violations that may have occurred were inadvertent, due to inexperience of new members.Judge Alok Ahuja was skeptical of that as he looked at the Aug. 3, 2022, meeting agenda.“What does special considerations mean?” he asked. “Special considerations of weather? Special considerations of finances? Special considerations of personnel?”Even the phrasing of particular agenda items can be traced to inexperience, Racine said.“I think those are the mitigating or exigent circumstances, and that you had an inexperienced board trying to comply with the law,” he said.<h2>Origins of the dispute</h2>VanMeveren won election to the district Board of Directors in 2020, running for the position after a brush fire spread onto her property in 2018 and she felt the tactics employed showed poor training.“It was just kind of a clown show,” VanMeveren said.When she became district treasurer, she said, she found that tax rates for a bond issue had been improperly calculated, bringing in excessive revenue.A&nbsp;<a href="https://auditor.mo.gov/AuditReport/ViewReport?report=2021037" target="_blank">state auditor’s report in 2021</a>, prepared in response to a residents’ petition, found problems with bidding procedures, budget information and Sunshine Law compliance. VanMeveren recruited new board members, including John Webb, a conservative Republican who unsuccessfully challenged then-U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler several times in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/18/challenger-john-webb-says-he/21725111007/" target="_blank">4th Congressional District GOP primary</a>.&nbsp;But she and Webb were soon battling over issues that included payroll expenses for contractors and a contract for lawn care at the firehouse,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article281486948.html" target="_blank">the Kansas City Star reported</a>. In the late summer and early fall of 2022, three departments in Belton, Dolan-West Dolan and West Peculiar canceled their mutual aid agreements.VanMeveren resigned as treasurer in May 2022 but remained on the board. A lawsuit was filed by the board to oust her and Schildknecht. It was dismissed when a recall effort began that succeeded in removing VanMeveren and Schildknecht in August 2023.VanMeveren and Schildknecht formed Citizens for Transparency and Accountability and filed a countersuit, the case now in the hands of the Western District Court of Appeals.They testified in the spring in favor of a bill that gives the State Auditor&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/08/28/new-missouri-law-expands-state-auditors-powers-to-dig-into-local-governments/">new power to investigate wrongdoing</a>&nbsp;in local government. Instead of a time-consuming petition process, the auditor can now open a full audit if investigation of a complaint shows problems that require more attention.&nbsp;And the cost of the audit would be borne by the auditor’s office instead of taxpayers in the political subdivision being examined.The new power is an important tool to help taxpayers, Schildknecht testified in a Missouri House hearing.&nbsp;“Over the years some people who come on the board who do want to try and do the right things, but I have also seen others who realize there is no outside agencies monitoring fire districts and take advantage of this, knowing there is nobody watching that they follow the laws,” he said.<h2>The meaning of “tentative”</h2>Widespread issues the case will address brought amicus, or friend of the court, briefs from the attorney general’s office, the press association and the Freedom Center of Missouri.“Several issues raised in this appeal are brought to this office’s attention with increasing frequency in complaints filed by citizens against local public governmental bodies, in question-and-answer sessions during training programs, and phone call inquiries from the public and public governmental bodies,” Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis wrote. “Unfortunately, many of these issues have not yet been conclusively addressed by Missouri’s appellate courts.”Those questions include what an agenda must have when a meeting notice is posted and what can be added later.“All public governmental bodies shall give notice of the time, date, and place of each meeting, and its tentative agenda, in a manner reasonably calculated to advise the public of the matters to be considered,”&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=610.020&amp;bid=30417&amp;hl=" target="_blank">the law states</a>.&nbsp;The fire district board used the word tentative in the broadest sense. At one meeting in November 2022, Layton’s appeal brief states, the board approved “a contract for a medical director; creating and sending a newsletter throughout the district; adopting a program that would allow firefighters to reside at the fire station; changing the bid solicitation for one of the fire stations; an insurance rider for proof of loss; barring one director from taking photographs at the fire station; having and paying for a party; and purchasing a generator battery.”None of those items were on the agenda.No violation occurred when items were added, Racine told the judges.“Tentative means what tentative means, and absent some statutory or court guidance as to what tentative means, we have to look to its plain meaning, which is subject to change going forward,” Racine said.All three of the amicus briefs argued that tentative means subject to change for unforeseen reasons, such as a storm that prevents the meeting from being held or the absence of someone essential that prevents an item from being considered.It cannot mean that new items can be added at will because the public, and their watchdogs, deserve full notice of the items to be considered, attorney Jean Maneke wrote for the press association.“Reporters recognize that they cannot be everywhere at once and the agenda gives them the&nbsp;information they need to make the best use of their time,” Maneke wrote. “Like the public, the reporters rely on the agenda to inform them regarding which activities/issues will be addressed at each public meeting.”Other meeting notice issues the appeal addresses are the amount of information that must be provided. Fire district notices often gave the least possible information, appellants argue, such as a resolution number and no other details under the heading “Banking” on the July 20, 2022, meeting.During the same meeting, while on the agenda item with the heading “reports,” the board adopted changes to the duties of some personnel without any indication that was the intent.“It’s crucial that public governmental bodies not be able to shoehorn in agenda items at the last minute, and that’s why they need to provide an acceptable level of specificity when it comes to what they’re going to be considering and voting on,” Roland said.The attorney general’s brief also argues that notices must provide details that show the intent of the action.&nbsp;“That means that a public governmental body cannot hide an elephant in a mouse hole by using vague or excessively broad terms to hide what the body intends to do,” Lewis wrote. “The tentative agenda must be specific enough for the public to be able to make an informed decision about whether to attend the meeting.”The court could create a test that would help agencies in the preparation of meeting notices and agendas, Lewis wrote.“The Attorney General’s Office is eager for resolution of these issues at the appellate level,” Lewis wrote, “which will provide both this office and the public with significant guidance in resolving citizens’ Sunshine Law complaints, providing education to local public governmental bodies, and seeking enforcement when appropriate.”

Missouri Sunshine Law appeal from Cass County digs into public notice requirements

DAMASCUS –&nbsp;U.S.Forces conducted two targeted strikes in Syria, killing 37 terrorist operatives, including multiple senior leaders of the terrorist organizations of ISIS and Hurras al-Din, an Al Qaeda affiliate, according to a media release from the U.S. Central Command.

The airstrikes are part of CENTCOM's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.

On Sept. 24, CENTCOM Forces conducted a targeted strike in northwest Syria, killing nine terrorist operatives, including Marwan Bassam 'Abd-al-Ra'uf, a senior Hurras al-Din leader responsible for overseeing military operations from Syria. Hurras al-Din is an Al Qaeda-affiliated organization based in Syria with global aspirations to conduct attacks against U.S. and Western interests. The successful strike against Marwan Bassam 'Abd-al-Ra'uf comes a month after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3883634/us-central-command-forces-killed-hurras-al-din-senior-leader/">a successful strike that killed another Hurras al-Din senior leader, Abu-'Abd al-Rahman al Makki.</a>

Additionally, on the early morning of Sept. 16, CENTCOM forces conducted a large-scale airstrike on a remote ISIS training camp in central Syria, killing at least 28 ISIS operatives, including at least four senior leaders. The airstrike will disrupt ISIS' capability to conduct operations against U.S. interests, as well as our allies and partners.

“These strikes against leadership and operatives of ISIS and the Al Qaeda affiliate, Hurras al-Din, represent CENTCOM's commitment to the enduring defeat of terrorist organizations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility and our support to regional stability," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.

There is no indication any civilians were harmed in either strike.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708813391502.png" alt="File photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DAMASCUS –&nbsp;U.S.Forces conducted two targeted strikes in Syria, killing 37 terrorist operatives, including multiple senior leaders of the terrorist organizations of ISIS and Hurras al-Din, an Al Qaeda affiliate, according to a media release from the U.S. Central Command.The airstrikes are part of CENTCOM's ongoing commitment, along with partners in the region, to disrupt and degrade efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against civilians and military personnel from the U.S., our allies, and our partners throughout the region and beyond.On Sept. 24, CENTCOM Forces conducted a targeted strike in northwest Syria, killing nine terrorist operatives, including Marwan Bassam 'Abd-al-Ra'uf, a senior Hurras al-Din leader responsible for overseeing military operations from Syria. Hurras al-Din is an Al Qaeda-affiliated organization based in Syria with global aspirations to conduct attacks against U.S. and Western interests. The successful strike against Marwan Bassam 'Abd-al-Ra'uf comes a month after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/PRESS-RELEASES/Press-Release-View/Article/3883634/us-central-command-forces-killed-hurras-al-din-senior-leader/">a successful strike that killed another Hurras al-Din senior leader, Abu-'Abd al-Rahman al Makki.</a>Additionally, on the early morning of Sept. 16, CENTCOM forces conducted a large-scale airstrike on a remote ISIS training camp in central Syria, killing at least 28 ISIS operatives, including at least four senior leaders. The airstrike will disrupt ISIS' capability to conduct operations against U.S. interests, as well as our allies and partners.“These strikes against leadership and operatives of ISIS and the Al Qaeda affiliate, Hurras al-Din, represent CENTCOM's commitment to the enduring defeat of terrorist organizations in the CENTCOM area of responsibility and our support to regional stability," said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander, U.S. Central Command.There is no indication any civilians were harmed in either strike.

U.S. airstrikes on Syria kill 37 militants affiliated with extremist groups

SALINA—Police in Salina and officials with USD 305 are investigating an alleged threat about a shooting at school dance and have made an arrest.

On Saturday evening, the Salina Police Department became aware of a threat made against Central High School via social media, according to a media release from Salina Police.

 An immediate investigation was undertaken that revealed a 16-year old Central High Student made comments about “shooting everyone at this dance.” 

Further inquiry by officers and school resource officers identified the “dance” to be the Salina Central Homecoming dance. USD305 and school officials were notified, and the juvenile was located by officers away from the school. 

Police arrested the juvenile for alleged criminal threat and transported to the Saline County Jail with eventual transfer to the Juvenile Detention Center in Junction City. 

Based on the investigation, there does not appear to be any further threat to students or staff at Central High, according to Salina Police.

 The Salina Police Department appreciated the collaboration with District and School staff in ensuring the safety of students, and strive for prompt investigations and actions to ensure everyone’s safety.

SALINA—Police in Salina and officials with USD 305 are investigating an alleged threat about a shooting at school dance and have made an arrest.On Saturday evening, the Salina Police Department became aware of a threat made against Central High School via social media, according to a media release from Salina Police. An immediate investigation was undertaken that revealed a 16-year old Central High Student made comments about “shooting everyone at this dance.” Further inquiry by officers and school resource officers identified the “dance” to be the Salina Central Homecoming dance. USD305 and school officials were notified, and the juvenile was located by officers away from the school. Police arrested the juvenile for alleged criminal threat and transported to the Saline County Jail with eventual transfer to the Juvenile Detention Center in Junction City. Based on the investigation, there does not appear to be any further threat to students or staff at Central High, according to Salina Police. The Salina Police Department appreciated the collaboration with District and School staff in ensuring the safety of students, and strive for prompt investigations and actions to ensure everyone’s safety.

Police: Kan. high school student made threat to shoot up school dance

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement and fire officials investigating a fire at a Kansas home have made an arrest.

Just before 5:30p.m. Thursday, crews&nbsp;were dispatched to a reported house fire at 716 SW Polk Street in Topeka, according to department spokesperson Rosie Nichols.&nbsp; First arriving units found heavy fire and smoke coming from the rear of a multi-unit residential building. 

Crews quickly extinguished the fire keeping all damage contained to the building where the fire started.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Investigators determined the the fire was intentionally set. The total dollar loss is $25,000.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Topeka Police Department along with the Topeka Fire Department officials also arrested 28-year-old Alisha M Doty on a requested charge off Aggravated Arson.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727433692275.png" alt="Doty-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Doty-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement and fire officials investigating a fire at a Kansas home have made an arrest.Just before 5:30p.m. Thursday, crews&nbsp;were dispatched to a reported house fire at 716 SW Polk Street in Topeka, according to department spokesperson Rosie Nichols.&nbsp; First arriving units found heavy fire and smoke coming from the rear of a multi-unit residential building. Crews quickly extinguished the fire keeping all damage contained to the building where the fire started.&nbsp;&nbsp;Investigators determined the the fire was intentionally set. The total dollar loss is $25,000.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Topeka Police Department along with the Topeka Fire Department officials also arrested 28-year-old Alisha M Doty on a requested charge off Aggravated Arson.

Kansas woman accused of starting house fire

KANSAS CITY —A woman is accused of stealing nearly $26,000 worth of candles from a store on the Country Club Plaza.

Employees contacted police to report 25-year-old Destiny Moore and another person entered the store where she and the other suspect had previously shoplifted from the store.

Officers responded and arrested both. Court documents shows officers recovered a total of 30 candles, worth nearly $700 from&nbsp; Moore and the other person.

According to court records, Moore is accused of shoplifting more than two dozen times at stores across the Kansas City area since April. She sometimes worked alone, while other times worked with accomplices.

Moore is accused of shoplifting from stores across the metro, often stealing hundreds of dollars worth of candles at a time.

A probable cause statement outlined the dates of Moore’s alleged shoplifting:

Moore made her first appearance in court Sept. 23.&nbsp; She remains jailed on Jackson County.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727141858666.png" alt="Moore -photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Moore -photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A woman is accused of stealing nearly $26,000 worth of candles from a store on the Country Club Plaza.Employees contacted police to report 25-year-old Destiny Moore and another person entered the store where she and the other suspect had previously shoplifted from the store.Officers responded and arrested both. Court documents shows officers recovered a total of 30 candles, worth nearly $700 from&nbsp; Moore and the other person.According to court records, Moore is accused of shoplifting more than two dozen times at stores across the Kansas City area since April. She sometimes worked alone, while other times worked with accomplices.Moore is accused of shoplifting from stores across the metro, often stealing hundreds of dollars worth of candles at a time.A probable cause statement outlined the dates of Moore’s alleged shoplifting:<ul>
 <li>April 28, Accused of stealing 47 candles worth nearly $1,300</li><li>Accused of stealing 47 candles worth nearly $1,300</li><li>May 1, Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $540</li><li>Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $540</li><li>May 13, Accused of stealing 18 candles worth $545</li><li>Accused of stealing 18 candles worth $545</li><li>May 14, Accused of stealing 30 candles worth more than $800</li><li>Accused of stealing 30 candles worth more than $800</li><li>May 31, Accused of stealing 50 candles worth nearly $1,350</li><li>Accused of stealing 50 candles worth nearly $1,350</li><li>June 6, Accused of stealing 23 candles worth $560</li><li>Accused of stealing 23 candles worth $560</li><li>June 13, Accused of stealing 51 candles worth $1,100</li><li>Accused of stealing 51 candles worth $1,100</li><li>June 17, Accused of stealing 78 candles worth $2,000</li><li>Accused of stealing 78 candles worth $2,000</li><li>June 21, Accused of stealing 74 candles worth $2,018.30</li><li>Accused of stealing 74 candles worth $2,018.30</li><li>June 26, Accused of stealing 46 candles worth $1,176.70</li><li>Accused of stealing 46 candles worth $1,176.70</li><li>July 2, Accused of stealing 17 candles worth $458.15</li><li>Accused of stealing 17 candles worth $458.15</li><li>July 18, Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $539</li><li>Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $539</li><li>July 20, Accused of stealing 41 candles worth $950.95</li><li>Accused of stealing 41 candles worth $950.95</li><li>July 21, Accused of stealing 65 candles worth $1,751.75</li><li>Accused of stealing 65 candles worth $1,751.75</li><li>July 23, Accused of stealing 75 candles worth $2,021.25</li><li>Accused of stealing 75 candles worth $2,021.25</li><li>July 24, Accused of stealing 50 candles worth $1,347.50</li><li>Accused of stealing 50 candles worth $1,347.50</li><li>July 27, Accused of stealing 12 candles worth $215.40</li><li>Accused of stealing 12 candles worth $215.40</li><li>July 30, Accused of stealing 3 candles worth $80.85</li><li>Accused of stealing 3 candles worth $80.85</li><li>August 1, Accused of stealing 16 candles worth $312.20</li><li>Accused of stealing 16 candles worth $312.20</li><li>August 4, Accused of stealing 25 candles worth $573.75</li><li>Accused of stealing 25 candles worth $573.75</li><li>August 6, Accused of stealing 60 candles worth $1,617.00</li><li>Accused of stealing 60 candles worth $1,617.00</li><li>August 18, Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $539.00</li><li>Accused of stealing 20 candles worth $539.00</li><li>September 2, Accused of stealing 42 candles worth $1,308.00</li><li>Accused of stealing 42 candles worth $1,308.00</li><li>September 6, Accused of stealing 40 candles worth $1,078.00</li><li>Accused of stealing 40 candles worth $1,078.00</li><li>September 12, Accused of stealing 25 candles for $673.75</li><li>Accused of stealing 25 candles for $673.75</li><li>September 20, Accused of stealing 22 candles worth $446.90</li><li>Accused of stealing 22 candles worth $446.90</li><li>September 21, Accused of stealing 30 candles worth $694.50</li><li>Accused of stealing 30 candles worth $694.50</li>
 </ul>Moore made her first appearance in court Sept. 23.&nbsp; She remains jailed on Jackson County.

KC woman jailed for stealing thousands of dollars worth of candles

WASHINGTON —The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/obituary-nasrallah-lebanon-israel-2da3789a02fd4e2e88511a7f59174d19">Hassan Nasrallah</a>&nbsp;was a “measure of justice" for victims of a four-decade “reign of terror,” President Joe Biden said Saturday.

In a statement on issued from the White House, Biden said, "Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.&nbsp; His death from an Israeli airstrike is a&nbsp;measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."

'The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023.&nbsp; Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a “northern front” against Israel."

"The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis,&nbsp;and any&nbsp;other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just yesterday, I directed my Secretary of Defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war."

"Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means. &nbsp;In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the UN Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.&nbsp; In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon.&nbsp; It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability."

WASHINGTON —The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/obituary-nasrallah-lebanon-israel-2da3789a02fd4e2e88511a7f59174d19">Hassan Nasrallah</a>&nbsp;was a “measure of justice" for victims of a four-decade “reign of terror,” President Joe Biden said Saturday. <div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Hassan Nasrallah will no longer be able to terrorize the world. <a href="https://t.co/gBWxK9FW2F">pic.twitter.com/gBWxK9FW2F</a>&mdash; Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) <a href="https://twitter.com/IAFsite/status/1839951448190099460?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a statement on issued from the White House, Biden said, "Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror.&nbsp; His death from an Israeli airstrike is a&nbsp;measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."'The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’s massacre on October 7, 2023.&nbsp; Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a “northern front” against Israel.""The United States fully supports Israel’s right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis,&nbsp;and any&nbsp;other Iranian-supported terrorist groups.&nbsp;&nbsp;Just yesterday, I directed my Secretary of Defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war.""Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means. &nbsp;In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the UN Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages.&nbsp; In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon.&nbsp; It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability."

Biden: Israeli strike killing terrorist leader a 'measure of justice'

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

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats attempted to pass a resolution Tuesday addressing abortion access in emergency medical situations, but Republicans blocked it from moving forward.

The floor action followed months of unsuccessful attempts by congressional Democrats to approve legislation on various reproductive rights, including access to birth control and in vitro fertilization.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday she introduced the resolution to clarify what Congress’ objective was several decades ago when lawmakers approved the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA.

“We want to make it clear that Congress’s intent is that women can get life-saving care when they go to an emergency room anywhere in this country,” Murray said.

Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford blocked Murray’s unanimous consent request to approve the resolution, saying that doctors in emergency departments are able to act in cases of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and life-threatening situations.

“This is a false claim that somehow what happened in the Dobbs decision and what’s happening in states is limiting that,” Lankford said. “It’s actually the political rhetoric that’s making people afraid.”

Lankford objected to another of Murray’s unanimous consent requests in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-us-sen-lankford-oklahoma-blocks-bill-expanding-ivf-vets-service-members" target="_blank">blocking approval of legislation</a>&nbsp;that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military members and veterans.

Unanimous consent is the fastest way to approve legislative items in the Senate. Under the process, any one senator can ask to approve a bill or resolution and any one senator can object. There is no recorded vote that puts all senators on the record.

Murray’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-resolution/828/text?s=8&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22patty+murray%22%7D" target="_blank">two-page resolution</a>, which had the backing of 40 cosponsors, would have expressed “the sense of the Senate that every person has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care.”

The resolution also expressed that “State laws that purport to ban and restrict abortion in emergency circumstances force medical providers to decide between withholding necessary, stabilizing medical care from a patient experiencing a medical emergency or facing criminal prosecution, and put the lives, health, and futures of patients at risk.”

This resolution wouldn’t have actually changed the text of EMTALA.

The 1986 law states that hospital emergency departments must treat or transfer patients who have emergency medical conditions, regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay.

It defines an emergency medical condition as something that could result in the health of the patient being in “serious jeopardy,” such as the patient “experiencing serious impairment to bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.”

The federal law has been the center of political and legal debate since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion two years ago in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727292249434.png" alt=" Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol about border policy negotiations (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)" />
 <figcaption> Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol about border policy negotiations (Jennifer Shutt/States Newsroom)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a> State's NewsroomWASHINGTON — Senate Democrats attempted to pass a resolution Tuesday addressing abortion access in emergency medical situations, but Republicans blocked it from moving forward.The floor action followed months of unsuccessful attempts by congressional Democrats to approve legislation on various reproductive rights, including access to birth control and in vitro fertilization.Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said Tuesday she introduced the resolution to clarify what Congress’ objective was several decades ago when lawmakers approved the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, or EMTALA.“We want to make it clear that Congress’s intent is that women can get life-saving care when they go to an emergency room anywhere in this country,” Murray said.Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford blocked Murray’s unanimous consent request to approve the resolution, saying that doctors in emergency departments are able to act in cases of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and life-threatening situations.“This is a false claim that somehow what happened in the Dobbs decision and what’s happening in states is limiting that,” Lankford said. “It’s actually the political rhetoric that’s making people afraid.”Lankford objected to another of Murray’s unanimous consent requests in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gop-us-sen-lankford-oklahoma-blocks-bill-expanding-ivf-vets-service-members" target="_blank">blocking approval of legislation</a>&nbsp;that would have expanded access to in vitro fertilization for military members and veterans.<h2>No recorded vote</h2>Unanimous consent is the fastest way to approve legislative items in the Senate. Under the process, any one senator can ask to approve a bill or resolution and any one senator can object. There is no recorded vote that puts all senators on the record.Murray’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-resolution/828/text?s=8&amp;r=1&amp;q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22patty+murray%22%7D" target="_blank">two-page resolution</a>, which had the backing of 40 cosponsors, would have expressed “the sense of the Senate that every person has the basic right to emergency health care, including abortion care.”The resolution also expressed that “State laws that purport to ban and restrict abortion in emergency circumstances force medical providers to decide between withholding necessary, stabilizing medical care from a patient experiencing a medical emergency or facing criminal prosecution, and put the lives, health, and futures of patients at risk.”This resolution wouldn’t have actually changed the text of EMTALA.The 1986 law states that hospital emergency departments must treat or transfer patients who have emergency medical conditions, regardless of their health insurance status or ability to pay.It defines an emergency medical condition as something that could result in the health of the patient being in “serious jeopardy,” such as the patient “experiencing serious impairment to bodily functions, or serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.”<h2>Dobbs decision</h2>The federal law has been the center of political and legal debate since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to abortion two years ago in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.The Biden administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/state-bans-abortion-dont-apply-emergency-health-care-white-house-reminds-providers" target="_blank">issued a public letter</a>&nbsp;shortly afterward saying EMTALA protected doctors and other qualified health care providers who ended a pregnancy to stabilize the patient if their life or health was at risk.Republican attorneys general in several states challenged that view of the law and the U.S. Department of Justice later sued Idaho over its abortion law.That case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, but the justices ultimately decided to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-supreme-court-sends-idaho-abortion-case-back-down-lower-courts" target="_blank">send it back</a>&nbsp;to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The high court said it should have waited to hear the case until after the lower court ruled.At the center of the disagreement between Republican state attorneys general and the Biden administration is that the federal law applies when a pregnant patient’s life or health is at risk; many of the conservative state laws only allow abortions after a certain gestational age when a woman’s life is at risk.Exactly when a woman’s life becomes at risk due to pregnancy complications has led to dozens of stories from women throughout the country, who say they had to wait for treatment until their health deteriorated further.Analysis from the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pregnant-women-emergency-room-ectopic-er-edd66276d2f6c412c988051b618fb8f9" target="_blank">released</a>&nbsp;in August found that more than 100 women experiencing medical distress during pregnancy were turned away from hospitals or negligently treated during the last two years.ProPublica&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/2024/09/16/abortion-bans-have-delayed-medical-care-experts-say-this-georgia-mothers-death-was-preventable/" target="_blank">recently obtained</a>&nbsp;reports “that confirm that at least two women have already died after they couldn’t access legal abortions and timely medical care in their state.”<h2>‘This cruelty is unforgivable and unacceptable’</h2>The Senate resolution that Republicans rejected Tuesday is nearly identical to one House Democrats&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/democrats-introduce-resolution-stating-us-house-support-emergency-abortion-care" target="_blank">introduced</a>&nbsp;earlier this month.Murray said ahead of her UC request that women and their families will not forget about being denied medical care due to Republican state restrictions on abortion access.“No woman is ever going to forget when she was sent off to miscarry alone after her doctor said, ‘Look, I know your life is in danger, but I’m not sure I’m allowed to save you right now,’” Murray said. “No husband is going to forget calling 911 in a panic after finding his wife bloody and unconscious. No child is going to forget, for a single day of their life, the mother that was taken from them by Republican abortion bans.“This cruelty is unforgivable and unacceptable. Democrats will not let it become settled status quo.”