DOUGLAS COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a hit-and-run incident that critically injured a woman and killed. her dog have located the vehicle involved, according to the Lawrence Police Department.

On Monday, the driver of a vehicle captured on security camera struck a 74-year-old woman and a dog at 23rd and Barker in Lawrence. The woman was hospitalized with critical injuries, and the dog was killed. The driver never stopped.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Police reported late Tuesday they have interviewed the driver and continue to investigate.

&nbsp;Tips on this case can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (785)843-TIPS (8477)

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710784655210.png" alt="Photo Lawrence Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo Lawrence Police</figcaption>
 </figure>DOUGLAS COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a hit-and-run incident that critically injured a woman and killed. her dog have located the vehicle involved, according to the Lawrence Police Department.On Monday, the driver of a vehicle captured on security camera struck a 74-year-old woman and a dog at 23rd and Barker in Lawrence. The woman was hospitalized with critical injuries, and the dog was killed. The driver never stopped.&nbsp;&nbsp;Police reported late Tuesday they have interviewed the driver and continue to investigate.&nbsp;Tips on this case can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (785)843-TIPS (8477)

Police locate driver in Kan. hit-and-run that injured woman, killed dog

DES MOINES (AP) —The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $977 million for Friday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night.

The winning numbers drawn on Tuesday were 24, 46, 49, 62, 66 and the gold Mega Ball was 7. The estimated jackpot was $893 million with a cash prize of $421.4 million. The cash prize for Friday's drawing is $461 million.

Four people won $1 million each in California, Texas, Virginia and Florida.

It’s just the sixth time in the game’s nearly 22-year history that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/largest-lottery-jackpots-mega-millions-powerball-cb473805c48cd3b74a84d7ee4127450d">the jackpot has reached this level</a>; only five jackpots exceeding $1 billion have been higher.

Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has awarded five jackpots exceeding $1 billion, all in different states. South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023 and Florida last August.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/powerball-mega-millions-winning-odds-numbers-a3e5a8e8e7ed15d7500c1d6acdab6785">odds of winning any lottery jackpot are very slim</a>. Mega Millions players have a 1 in 302.6 million chance of taking home the top prize.

Mega Millions tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

DES MOINES (AP) —The Mega Millions jackpot has reached $977 million for Friday night’s drawing after no tickets matched all six numbers drawn on Tuesday night.The winning numbers drawn on Tuesday were 24, 46, 49, 62, 66 and the gold Mega Ball was 7. The estimated jackpot was $893 million with a cash prize of $421.4 million. The cash prize for Friday's drawing is $461 million.Four people won $1 million each in California, Texas, Virginia and Florida.It’s just the sixth time in the game’s nearly 22-year history that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/largest-lottery-jackpots-mega-millions-powerball-cb473805c48cd3b74a84d7ee4127450d">the jackpot has reached this level</a>; only five jackpots exceeding $1 billion have been higher.Mega Millions is the only lottery game that has awarded five jackpots exceeding $1 billion, all in different states. South Carolina was the first in 2018, followed by Michigan in 2021, Illinois in 2022, Maine in early 2023 and Florida last August.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/powerball-mega-millions-winning-odds-numbers-a3e5a8e8e7ed15d7500c1d6acdab6785">odds of winning any lottery jackpot are very slim</a>. Mega Millions players have a 1 in 302.6 million chance of taking home the top prize.Mega Millions tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mega Millions jackpot reaches $977 million after no winner Tuesday

JOHNSON COUNTY—A man was injured in an accident Tuesday evening in Johnson County.

Police assisted MEDACT with the investigation of a construction worker/truck driver who fell off the bridge at U.S. 69 Highway and 119th Street, according to Overland Park Police Captain Ray Tisinger.&nbsp;

The worker received a serious injuries from the fall. He was transported to a local hospital.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710930256913.png" alt="Image KC Scout camera" />
 <figcaption>Image KC Scout camera</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY—A man was injured in an accident Tuesday evening in Johnson County.Police assisted MEDACT with the investigation of a construction worker/truck driver who fell off the bridge at U.S. 69 Highway and 119th Street, according to Overland Park Police Captain Ray Tisinger.&nbsp;The worker received a serious injuries from the fall. He was transported to a local hospital.&nbsp;Police released no additional details.

Construction worker injured after fall from Kansas bridge

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas'&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-texas-2edc0f202156bf792cd531e814bbf2f5">plans to arrest migrants</a>&nbsp;suspected of entering the U.S. illegally were again on hold Wednesday after setting off uncertainty along the border and anger from Mexico flared during a brief few hours that the law was allowed to take effect.

A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-migrant-arrests-texas-13ffaed316d16f42e928f6958f0658f2">late-night order Tuesday</a>&nbsp;from a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel temporarily put on hold — again — Texas' dramatic state expansion into border enforcement. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the strict immigration law, dealing a victory to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/greg-abbott">Republican Gov. Greg Abbott</a>&nbsp;and encouraging GOP lawmakers in other states that are pushing for similar measures.

But later in a 2-1 order, an appeals court panel continued the legal seesaw surrounding the Texas law, again putting it on pause ahead of oral arguments that were scheduled for Wednesday. It was not clear how quickly the next decision might come.

During the short time the law was in effect Tuesday, Texas authorities did not announce that any arrests had been made or say whether it was being actively enforced. Along the border in Kinney County, Sheriff Brad Coe embraced the arrest powers but said deputies would need probable cause.

“It is unlikely that observers will see an overnight change,” said Coe, whose county covers a stretch of border near Del Rio that until recently had been the busiest corridor for illegal crossings but has quieted considerably.

The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the law. It instead kicked back to the lower appeals court a challenge led by the Justice Department, which has argued that Texas is overstepping the federal government's immigration authority.

The latest appeals court order included no explanation from the panel. But it had the effect of restoring an injunction&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-migrant-arrests-court-ruling-3bcded91620cbd9686575caa6bcac203">issued in February</a>&nbsp;by U.S. District Judge David Ezra, who rebuked the law on multiple fronts. His 114-page opinion brushed off Republicans' claims of an “invasion” along the southern border due to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">record-high</a>&nbsp;illegal crossings. Ezra, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, also warned that the law could hamper U.S. foreign relations.

Under the Texas law, once defendants are in custody on illegal entry charges, they can agree to a judge's order to leave the U.S. or face prosecution. On Tuesday, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary said in a sharply worded statement that it would refuse to take anyone back who is ordered to cross the border.

“Mexico reiterates the legitimate right to protect the rights of its nationals in the United States and to determine its own policies regarding entry into its territory,” the government said.

The impact extends far beyond the Texas border. Republican legislators wrote the law so that it applies in all of the state’s 254 counties, although Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said he expects it will mostly be enforced near the border.

Other GOP-led states are already looking to follow Texas’ path. In Iowa, the state House on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would also give its state law enforcement the power to arrest people who are in the U.S. illegally and have previously been denied entry into the country.

It now goes to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. If signed, it would take effect in July.

“The federal government has abdicated its responsibilities and states can and must act,” Republican Iowa state Rep. Steven Holt said.

In Texas, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the top county executive, said immigration enforcement should remain a federal, not state, responsibility, echoing the Biden administration's view. He said heightened law enforcement presence in the city of El Paso during a previous migrant surge brought high-speed chases and traffic stops based on assumptions that passengers were in the country illegally.

“We had accidents, we had injuries, we got a little glimpse of what would happen if the state begins to control what happens in respect to immigration,” Samaniego said.

Skylor Hearn, executive director of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, said sheriffs' offices have been training since last year.

“If a county chooses to take it on themselves, they are choosing for their taxpayers to take it on themselves as well,” Hearn said. “As long as the federal government is willing to do its part that it is supposed to be doing, it is ideal for them to take possession and custody of these people."

Daniel Morales, an associate professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, said the Texas law "will be a mess, very clearly, to enforce.”

“It’s very clear that Greg Abbott wants to enforce the law so he can get lots of photo ops and opportunities, but it’s gonna take a lot of state resources to implement. And I don’t know, in fact, how much appetite and capacity for that the state government actually has,” Morales said. Texas will find enforcement is “difficult and taxing,” he said.

Arrests for illegal crossings&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-security-migrants-homeland-security-1c6e9f612dff721191c0254f980947a5">fell by half in January</a>&nbsp;from a record-high of 250,000 in December, with sharp declines in Texas. Arrests in the Border Patrol's Del Rio sector, the focus of Abbott's enforcement, fell 76% from December. Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings for much of the last decade, recorded its fewest arrests since June 2020.

Tucson, Arizona, has been the busiest corridor in recent months, followed by San Diego in January, but reasons for sudden shifts are often complicated and are dictated by smuggling organizations.

When President Joe Biden visited the Rio Grande Valley for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/border-immigration-biden-trump-42c945d02742b169bde40601a27fde02">his second trip to the border</a>&nbsp;as president last month, administration officials credited Mexico for heightened enforcement on that part of the border for the drop in arrests. They said conditions were more challenging for Mexican law enforcement in Sonora, the state that lies south of Arizona.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1671577993523.png" alt="Photo courtesy Rep. Tony Gonzales" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Rep. Tony Gonzales</figcaption>
 </figure>McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Texas'&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-texas-2edc0f202156bf792cd531e814bbf2f5">plans to arrest migrants</a>&nbsp;suspected of entering the U.S. illegally were again on hold Wednesday after setting off uncertainty along the border and anger from Mexico flared during a brief few hours that the law was allowed to take effect.A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-migrant-arrests-texas-13ffaed316d16f42e928f6958f0658f2">late-night order Tuesday</a>&nbsp;from a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel temporarily put on hold — again — Texas' dramatic state expansion into border enforcement. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Supreme Court had cleared the way for the strict immigration law, dealing a victory to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/greg-abbott">Republican Gov. Greg Abbott</a>&nbsp;and encouraging GOP lawmakers in other states that are pushing for similar measures.But later in a 2-1 order, an appeals court panel continued the legal seesaw surrounding the Texas law, again putting it on pause ahead of oral arguments that were scheduled for Wednesday. It was not clear how quickly the next decision might come.During the short time the law was in effect Tuesday, Texas authorities did not announce that any arrests had been made or say whether it was being actively enforced. Along the border in Kinney County, Sheriff Brad Coe embraced the arrest powers but said deputies would need probable cause.“It is unlikely that observers will see an overnight change,” said Coe, whose county covers a stretch of border near Del Rio that until recently had been the busiest corridor for illegal crossings but has quieted considerably.The Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the law. It instead kicked back to the lower appeals court a challenge led by the Justice Department, which has argued that Texas is overstepping the federal government's immigration authority.The latest appeals court order included no explanation from the panel. But it had the effect of restoring an injunction&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-migrant-arrests-court-ruling-3bcded91620cbd9686575caa6bcac203">issued in February</a>&nbsp;by U.S. District Judge David Ezra, who rebuked the law on multiple fronts. His 114-page opinion brushed off Republicans' claims of an “invasion” along the southern border due to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-crossings-mexico-biden-18ac91ef502e0c5433f74de6cc629b32">record-high</a>&nbsp;illegal crossings. Ezra, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, also warned that the law could hamper U.S. foreign relations.Under the Texas law, once defendants are in custody on illegal entry charges, they can agree to a judge's order to leave the U.S. or face prosecution. On Tuesday, Mexico’s Foreign Affairs Secretary said in a sharply worded statement that it would refuse to take anyone back who is ordered to cross the border.“Mexico reiterates the legitimate right to protect the rights of its nationals in the United States and to determine its own policies regarding entry into its territory,” the government said.The impact extends far beyond the Texas border. Republican legislators wrote the law so that it applies in all of the state’s 254 counties, although Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said he expects it will mostly be enforced near the border.Other GOP-led states are already looking to follow Texas’ path. In Iowa, the state House on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill that would also give its state law enforcement the power to arrest people who are in the U.S. illegally and have previously been denied entry into the country.It now goes to Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. If signed, it would take effect in July.“The federal government has abdicated its responsibilities and states can and must act,” Republican Iowa state Rep. Steven Holt said.In Texas, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, the top county executive, said immigration enforcement should remain a federal, not state, responsibility, echoing the Biden administration's view. He said heightened law enforcement presence in the city of El Paso during a previous migrant surge brought high-speed chases and traffic stops based on assumptions that passengers were in the country illegally.“We had accidents, we had injuries, we got a little glimpse of what would happen if the state begins to control what happens in respect to immigration,” Samaniego said.Skylor Hearn, executive director of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas, said sheriffs' offices have been training since last year.“If a county chooses to take it on themselves, they are choosing for their taxpayers to take it on themselves as well,” Hearn said. “As long as the federal government is willing to do its part that it is supposed to be doing, it is ideal for them to take possession and custody of these people."Daniel Morales, an associate professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center, said the Texas law "will be a mess, very clearly, to enforce.”“It’s very clear that Greg Abbott wants to enforce the law so he can get lots of photo ops and opportunities, but it’s gonna take a lot of state resources to implement. And I don’t know, in fact, how much appetite and capacity for that the state government actually has,” Morales said. Texas will find enforcement is “difficult and taxing,” he said.Arrests for illegal crossings&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-border-security-migrants-homeland-security-1c6e9f612dff721191c0254f980947a5">fell by half in January</a>&nbsp;from a record-high of 250,000 in December, with sharp declines in Texas. Arrests in the Border Patrol's Del Rio sector, the focus of Abbott's enforcement, fell 76% from December. Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings for much of the last decade, recorded its fewest arrests since June 2020.Tucson, Arizona, has been the busiest corridor in recent months, followed by San Diego in January, but reasons for sudden shifts are often complicated and are dictated by smuggling organizations.When President Joe Biden visited the Rio Grande Valley for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/border-immigration-biden-trump-42c945d02742b169bde40601a27fde02">his second trip to the border</a>&nbsp;as president last month, administration officials credited Mexico for heightened enforcement on that part of the border for the drop in arrests. They said conditions were more challenging for Mexican law enforcement in Sonora, the state that lies south of Arizona.___

Texas' illegal migrant arrest law back on hold after Appeals Court ruling

Topeka (AP) — As Joe Biden and Donald Trump moved closer to a November rematch, primary voters around the country on Tuesday urged their favored candidate to keep up the fight and worried about what might happen if their side loses this fall.

<a href="https://ent.sos.ks.gov/kssos_ent.html">Click here to see&nbsp;</a>the county results from the Kan. Secretary of State

There was little suspense about Tuesday's results as both candidates are already their parties' presumptive nominees. Trump easily won Republican primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden did the same except in Florida, where Democrats had canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden.

Instead, the primaries and key downballot races became a reflection of the national political mood. With many Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-campaign-democrats-republicans-440088966619e68dbf89f745788bb372">unenthusiastic about 2024’s choice for the White House</a>, both Biden and Trump’s campaigns are working to fire up their bases by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">tearing into each other</a>&nbsp;and warning of the perils of the opponent.

Those who did turn out to vote Tuesday seemed to hear that.

Pat Shackleford, an 84-year-old caregiver in Mesa, Arizona, said she voted for Trump in Arizona's primary to send the former president a message.

“I wanted to encourage him that the fight has been worthwhile, that more of us are behind him than maybe the media tells you,” Shackleford said.

Jamie and Cassandra Neal, sisters who both live in Phoenix, said they were unenthusiastic Biden supporters until they saw the vigor the president brought to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-union-biden-gaza-ukraine-israel-1a42ff9d4ef3e0f2753e43ac8d39fc18">his State of the Union speech</a>. It fired them up for the coming election.

“Beforehand it was like, ‘Well, he’s the only decent one there,’” said Cassandra Neal, 42. “After his address it was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’”

Jamie Neal, 45, said Biden had been “way too nice” before and needed to match Trump, whom she described as “vicious.”

“I hate to say it, sometimes you need to equal the lowness to get the person out," she said. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”

In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-ohio-moreno-larose-dolan-cffe7722ac68e79deebae8353dd2fb18">Ohio’s Republican Senate primary</a>, Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno defeated two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.

Moreno and Trump appeared together Saturday at a rally where Trump praised his endorsed candidate as a “warrior” and ramped up his dark rhetoric, saying that were he not to be elected, “it's going to be a bloodbath for the country.” His campaign insists he was referring to the auto industry and not the country as a whole.

In the final days of the campaign, The Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-senate-election-2024-bernie-moreno-09e34f6331708c192c89d7c1727c2458">reported on Thursday</a>&nbsp;that in 2008, someone with access to Moreno’s work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Moreno himself. Moreno’s lawyer said a former intern created the account and provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”

Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month, sparking frustration among senior Republican operatives about Moreno’s potential vulnerability in a general election, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter. They requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump and his allies.

Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.

Trump, a Florida voter, cast his ballot at a recreation center in Palm Beach on Tuesday and told reporters, “I voted for Donald Trump.”

Trump and Biden are running on their records in office and casting the other as a threat to America. Trump, 77, portrays the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-orban-hungary-conservatives-autocrats-biden-97d6998f747d3543f2f1df069b0f9165">foreign strongmen</a>.

Those themes were evident Tuesday at some polling locations.

“President Biden, I don't think he knows how to tie his shoes anymore,” said Trump supporter Linda Bennet, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not far from the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort.

Even as she echoed Trump's arguments about Biden, she criticized Trump's rhetoric and “the way he composes himself” as “not presidential at all.” But she said the former president is “a man of his word,” and she said the country, especially the economy, felt stronger to her under Trump's leadership.

In Columbus, Ohio, Democrat Brenda Woodfolk voted for Biden and shared the president's framing of the choice this fall.

“It's scary,” she said of the prospect that Trump could be in the Oval Office again. “Trump wants to be a dictator, talking about making America white again and all this kind of crap. There's too much hate going on."

Bennet and Woodfolk agreed that immigration is one of their top concerns, though they offered different takes on why.

“This border thing is out of control,” said Bennet, the Republican voter. “I think it's the government's plot or plan to bring these people in to change the whole dynamic for their benefit, so I'm pretty peeved.”

Woodfolk, the Democrat, said she doesn't mind immigrants “sharing” opportunities in the U.S. but worried it comes at the expense of “people who've been here all their lives.”

Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalize on the issue well beyond border states. Biden has ratcheted up a counteroffensive in recent weeks after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-ukraine-aid-border-security-386dcc54b29a5491f8bd87b727a284f8">Senate Republicans killed a migration compromise</a>&nbsp;they had negotiated with the White House, withholding their support only after Trump said he opposed the deal. Biden has used the circumstances to argue that Trump and Republicans have no interest in solving the issue but instead want to inflame voters in an election year.

For the last year, Trump has coupled his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-bond-appeal-million-75ef3efb5b70d6ea43bea85b65ff7810">more than $500 million</a>&nbsp;in fines.

His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial-delay-8e41f4be00f0420056433d2381189df8">delayed the trial for 30 days</a>&nbsp;after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump's lawyers said they needed time to review.

Speaking outside his polling place with a voter's sticker affixed to his lapel, Trump insisted the cases against him were political and defended himself against criticism of his attacks a day earlier on Jewish Democrats, in which he alleged they hate Israel and their own religion. Democratic leaders on Tuesday criticized his comments as promoting antisemitic tropes about having divided loyalties.

Standing next to him was former first lady Melania Trump, who didn't have on a sticker. She has rarely appeared in public with Trump since he launched his third bid for the White House.

Asked if she would campaign with him, she replied: “Stay tuned.”

TOPEKA (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their parties' primaries in Kansas on Tuesday, notching more delegates as they continue their march to a rematch in November's presidential election.

Biden and Trump also easily won primaries Tuesday in Ohio and Illinois. Trump also won Florida's Republican primary. There was no contest for Biden to win in Florida as Democrats there canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to him, a move that has precedence for an incumbent president. Trump and Biden are also expected to easily win primaries Tuesday in Arizona, banking more support after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/presumptive-nominee-biden-trump-6b2a3beb31896894ded9e96aa30cfcec">becoming their parties’ presumptive nominees</a>&nbsp;last week.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-march-19-ohio-senate-chicago-homeless-tax-9e839e351af47872e9ff812fa5ef5adb">Other races outside of the presidency</a>&nbsp;could provide insight into the national political mood. In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-ohio-moreno-larose-dolan-cffe7722ac68e79deebae8353dd2fb18">Ohio's Republican Senate primary</a>, Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno defeated two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.

Chicago voters will decide whether to assess a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-march-19-ohio-senate-chicago-homeless-tax-9e839e351af47872e9ff812fa5ef5adb">one-time real estate tax</a>&nbsp;to pay for new homeless services. And voters in California will move toward deciding a replacement for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned his seat after being pushed out of Republican leadership.

Trump on Saturday rallied in Ohio, which has for several years been reliably Republican after once being a national bellwether in presidential elections. Trump won the state by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. But there are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-race-ohio-sherrod-brown-873f34413637043dc6b1ff6edb83d181">signs the state could be more competitive</a>&nbsp;in 2024. Last year, Ohio voted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-amendment-election-2023-fe3e06747b616507d8ca21ea26485270">overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights</a>&nbsp;in its constitution and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-marijuana-legalization-election-2023-6d15efb27fdcd41e7364f2b7cd3177f4">voted to legalize marijuana</a>.

Biden, meanwhile, is visiting Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday, two states that were among the closest in 2020 and remain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-battleground-super-tuesday-republican-democrat-c02530a6e86e63f72eb6a616c16b0b4a">top priorities for both</a>&nbsp;campaigns.

Bennet and Woodfolk agreed that immigration in one of their top concerns, though they offered different takes on why.

His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial-delay-8e41f4be00f0420056433d2381189df8">delayed the trial for 30 days</a>&nbsp;after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump's lawyers said they needed time to review. — Jackson reported from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Price reported from New York. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710295653190.png" alt="Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.-AP file photo" />
 <figcaption>Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.-AP file photo</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710929146933.png" alt="Unofficial vote totals from the Kansas Secretary of State" />
 <figcaption>Unofficial vote totals from the Kansas Secretary of State</figcaption>
 </figure>Topeka (AP) — As Joe Biden and Donald Trump moved closer to a November rematch, primary voters around the country on Tuesday urged their favored candidate to keep up the fight and worried about what might happen if their side loses this fall.<a href="https://ent.sos.ks.gov/kssos_ent.html">Click here to see&nbsp;</a>the county results from the Kan. Secretary of StateThere was little suspense about Tuesday's results as both candidates are already their parties' presumptive nominees. Trump easily won Republican primaries in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Biden did the same except in Florida, where Democrats had canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to Biden.Instead, the primaries and key downballot races became a reflection of the national political mood. With many Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-2024-campaign-democrats-republicans-440088966619e68dbf89f745788bb372">unenthusiastic about 2024’s choice for the White House</a>, both Biden and Trump’s campaigns are working to fire up their bases by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-primary-georgia-washington-mississippi-hawaii-15bb0084ad656903ffef14cfae822abd">tearing into each other</a>&nbsp;and warning of the perils of the opponent.Those who did turn out to vote Tuesday seemed to hear that.Pat Shackleford, an 84-year-old caregiver in Mesa, Arizona, said she voted for Trump in Arizona's primary to send the former president a message.“I wanted to encourage him that the fight has been worthwhile, that more of us are behind him than maybe the media tells you,” Shackleford said.Jamie and Cassandra Neal, sisters who both live in Phoenix, said they were unenthusiastic Biden supporters until they saw the vigor the president brought to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-of-union-biden-gaza-ukraine-israel-1a42ff9d4ef3e0f2753e43ac8d39fc18">his State of the Union speech</a>. It fired them up for the coming election.“Beforehand it was like, ‘Well, he’s the only decent one there,’” said Cassandra Neal, 42. “After his address it was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’”Jamie Neal, 45, said Biden had been “way too nice” before and needed to match Trump, whom she described as “vicious.”“I hate to say it, sometimes you need to equal the lowness to get the person out," she said. “Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.”In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-ohio-moreno-larose-dolan-cffe7722ac68e79deebae8353dd2fb18">Ohio’s Republican Senate primary</a>, Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno defeated two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.Moreno and Trump appeared together Saturday at a rally where Trump praised his endorsed candidate as a “warrior” and ramped up his dark rhetoric, saying that were he not to be elected, “it's going to be a bloodbath for the country.” His campaign insists he was referring to the auto industry and not the country as a whole.In the final days of the campaign, The Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-senate-election-2024-bernie-moreno-09e34f6331708c192c89d7c1727c2458">reported on Thursday</a>&nbsp;that in 2008, someone with access to Moreno’s work email account created a profile on an adult website seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex.” The AP could not definitively confirm that it was created by Moreno himself. Moreno’s lawyer said a former intern created the account and provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month, sparking frustration among senior Republican operatives about Moreno’s potential vulnerability in a general election, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter. They requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump and his allies.Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.Trump, a Florida voter, cast his ballot at a recreation center in Palm Beach on Tuesday and told reporters, “I voted for Donald Trump.”Trump and Biden are running on their records in office and casting the other as a threat to America. Trump, 77, portrays the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-orban-hungary-conservatives-autocrats-biden-97d6998f747d3543f2f1df069b0f9165">foreign strongmen</a>.Those themes were evident Tuesday at some polling locations.“President Biden, I don't think he knows how to tie his shoes anymore,” said Trump supporter Linda Bennet, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not far from the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort.Even as she echoed Trump's arguments about Biden, she criticized Trump's rhetoric and “the way he composes himself” as “not presidential at all.” But she said the former president is “a man of his word,” and she said the country, especially the economy, felt stronger to her under Trump's leadership.In Columbus, Ohio, Democrat Brenda Woodfolk voted for Biden and shared the president's framing of the choice this fall.“It's scary,” she said of the prospect that Trump could be in the Oval Office again. “Trump wants to be a dictator, talking about making America white again and all this kind of crap. There's too much hate going on."Bennet and Woodfolk agreed that immigration is one of their top concerns, though they offered different takes on why.“This border thing is out of control,” said Bennet, the Republican voter. “I think it's the government's plot or plan to bring these people in to change the whole dynamic for their benefit, so I'm pretty peeved.”Woodfolk, the Democrat, said she doesn't mind immigrants “sharing” opportunities in the U.S. but worried it comes at the expense of “people who've been here all their lives.”Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalize on the issue well beyond border states. Biden has ratcheted up a counteroffensive in recent weeks after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-ukraine-aid-border-security-386dcc54b29a5491f8bd87b727a284f8">Senate Republicans killed a migration compromise</a>&nbsp;they had negotiated with the White House, withholding their support only after Trump said he opposed the deal. Biden has used the circumstances to argue that Trump and Republicans have no interest in solving the issue but instead want to inflame voters in an election year.For the last year, Trump has coupled his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-bond-appeal-million-75ef3efb5b70d6ea43bea85b65ff7810">more than $500 million</a>&nbsp;in fines.His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial-delay-8e41f4be00f0420056433d2381189df8">delayed the trial for 30 days</a>&nbsp;after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump's lawyers said they needed time to review.Speaking outside his polling place with a voter's sticker affixed to his lapel, Trump insisted the cases against him were political and defended himself against criticism of his attacks a day earlier on Jewish Democrats, in which he alleged they hate Israel and their own religion. Democratic leaders on Tuesday criticized his comments as promoting antisemitic tropes about having divided loyalties.Standing next to him was former first lady Melania Trump, who didn't have on a sticker. She has rarely appeared in public with Trump since he launched his third bid for the White House.Asked if she would campaign with him, she replied: “Stay tuned.”--------------TOPEKA (AP) — Joe Biden and Donald Trump won their parties' primaries in Kansas on Tuesday, notching more delegates as they continue their march to a rematch in November's presidential election.Biden and Trump also easily won primaries Tuesday in Ohio and Illinois. Trump also won Florida's Republican primary. There was no contest for Biden to win in Florida as Democrats there canceled their primary and opted to award all 224 of their delegates to him, a move that has precedence for an incumbent president. Trump and Biden are also expected to easily win primaries Tuesday in Arizona, banking more support after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/presumptive-nominee-biden-trump-6b2a3beb31896894ded9e96aa30cfcec">becoming their parties’ presumptive nominees</a>&nbsp;last week.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-march-19-ohio-senate-chicago-homeless-tax-9e839e351af47872e9ff812fa5ef5adb">Other races outside of the presidency</a>&nbsp;could provide insight into the national political mood. In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-ohio-moreno-larose-dolan-cffe7722ac68e79deebae8353dd2fb18">Ohio's Republican Senate primary</a>, Trump-backed businessman Bernie Moreno defeated two challengers, Ohio Secretary of State Frank Frank LaRose and Matt Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team.Chicago voters will decide whether to assess a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-march-19-ohio-senate-chicago-homeless-tax-9e839e351af47872e9ff812fa5ef5adb">one-time real estate tax</a>&nbsp;to pay for new homeless services. And voters in California will move toward deciding a replacement for former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned his seat after being pushed out of Republican leadership.Trump and Biden have for weeks been focused on the general election, aiming their campaigns lately on states that could be competitive in November rather than merely those holding primaries.Trump, a Florida voter, cast his ballot at a recreation center in Palm Beach on Tuesday and told reporters, “I voted for Donald Trump.”Trump on Saturday rallied in Ohio, which has for several years been reliably Republican after once being a national bellwether in presidential elections. Trump won the state by about 8 percentage points in 2016 and 2020. But there are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-senate-race-ohio-sherrod-brown-873f34413637043dc6b1ff6edb83d181">signs the state could be more competitive</a>&nbsp;in 2024. Last year, Ohio voted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-abortion-amendment-election-2023-fe3e06747b616507d8ca21ea26485270">overwhelmingly to protect abortion rights</a>&nbsp;in its constitution and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-marijuana-legalization-election-2023-6d15efb27fdcd41e7364f2b7cd3177f4">voted to legalize marijuana</a>.Biden, meanwhile, is visiting Nevada and Arizona on Tuesday, two states that were among the closest in 2020 and remain&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-trump-battleground-super-tuesday-republican-democrat-c02530a6e86e63f72eb6a616c16b0b4a">top priorities for both</a>&nbsp;campaigns.Trump and Biden are running on their records in office and casting the other as a threat to America. Trump, 77, portrays the 81-year-old Biden as mentally unfit. The president has described his Republican rival as a threat to democracy after his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and his praise of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-orban-hungary-conservatives-autocrats-biden-97d6998f747d3543f2f1df069b0f9165">foreign strongmen</a>.Those themes were evident Tuesday at some polling locations.“President Biden, I don't think he knows how to tie his shoes anymore,” said Trump supporter Linda Bennet, a resident of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, not far from the former president's Mar-a-Lago resort.Even as she echoed Trump's arguments about Biden, she criticized Trump's rhetoric and “the way he composes himself” as “not presidential at all.” But she said the former president is “a man of his word,” and she said the country, especially the economy, felt stronger to her under Trump's leadership.In Columbus, Ohio, Democrat Brenda Woodfolk voted for Biden and shared the president's framing of the choice this fall.“It's scary,” she said of the prospect that Trump could be in the Oval Office again. “Trump wants to be a dictator, talking about making America white again and all this kind of crap. There's too much hate going on."Bennet and Woodfolk agreed that immigration in one of their top concerns, though they offered different takes on why.“This border thing is out of control,” said Bennet, the Republican voter. “I think it's the government's plot or plan to bring these people in to change the whole dynamic for their benefit, so I'm pretty peeved.”Woodfolk, the Democrat, said she doesn't mind immigrants “sharing” opportunities in the U.S. but worried it comes at the expense of “people who've been here all their lives.”Trump and Republicans have hammered Biden on the influx of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, seeking to capitalize on the issue well beyond border states. Biden has ratcheted up a counteroffensive in recent weeks after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-ukraine-aid-border-security-386dcc54b29a5491f8bd87b727a284f8">Senate Republicans killed a migration compromise</a>&nbsp;they had negotiated with the White House, withholding their support only after Trump said he opposed the deal. Biden has used the circumstances to argue that Trump and Republicans have no interest in solving the issue but instead want to inflame voters in an election year.For the last year, Trump has coupled his campaign with his legal challenges, including dozens of criminal counts and civil cases in which he faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fraud-bond-appeal-million-75ef3efb5b70d6ea43bea85b65ff7810">more than $500 million</a>&nbsp;in fines.His first criminal trial was scheduled to start Monday in New York on allegations he falsified business records to cover up hush money payments. But a judge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hush-money-criminal-trial-delay-8e41f4be00f0420056433d2381189df8">delayed the trial for 30 days</a>&nbsp;after the recent disclosure of new evidence that Trump's lawyers said they needed time to review. — Jackson reported from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Price reported from New York. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report.

Final vote totals: Biden and Trump win presidential primaries in Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. — Winfield Correctional Facility (WCF) resident Michael Lynn Youngblood died Tuesday, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

He collapsed while working with a crew picking up trash along a highway near Wichita. EMS was called to administer life-saving measures. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy and is currently under investigation.

Youngblood, 59, was serving a 56-month sentence of Drug Possession with intent to distribute heroin or methamphetamine in McPherson County, Kansas. He had eleven previous convictions in McPherson and Harvey County for drugs, criminal threat, domestic battery and disorderly conduct, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710895275972.png" alt="Youngblood from his arrest in McPherson County" />
 <figcaption>Youngblood from his arrest in McPherson County</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. — Winfield Correctional Facility (WCF) resident Michael Lynn Youngblood died Tuesday, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.He collapsed while working with a crew picking up trash along a highway near Wichita. EMS was called to administer life-saving measures. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy and is currently under investigation.Youngblood, 59, was serving a 56-month sentence of Drug Possession with intent to distribute heroin or methamphetamine in McPherson County, Kansas. He had eleven previous convictions in McPherson and Harvey County for drugs, criminal threat, domestic battery and disorderly conduct, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Kansas inmate dies while picking up trash on highway

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating the death of a man in pond have identified the victim as 53-year-old Christopher Larson of Bucyrus, Kansas.

Just before 9:30p.m. Monday, police and fire crews&nbsp;responded to a home in the 19300 block of Flint in Overland Park reference a drowning, according to Officer John Lacy.&nbsp; First responders found Larson in a pond behind a private residence.

 Prior to arrival of police, emergency medical staff on scene declared Larson as deceased

The Johnson County Medical Examiner Office was notified and responded to the scene.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating the death of a man in pond have identified the victim as 53-year-old Christopher Larson of Bucyrus, Kansas.Just before 9:30p.m. Monday, police and fire crews&nbsp;responded to a home in the 19300 block of Flint in Overland Park reference a drowning, according to Officer John Lacy.&nbsp; First responders found Larson in a pond behind a private residence. Prior to arrival of police, emergency medical staff on scene declared Larson as deceasedThe Johnson County Medical Examiner Office was notified and responded to the scene.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

Police ID man found deceased in pond behind Kansas home

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug allegations.

On Friday, members of the Topeka Police Department Narcotics Unit served search warrants in 3400 Block SE Girard Street in Topeka.related to an ongoing investigation, according to Lt. Ronnie Connell.

While conducting the search warrant, officers located cocaine and drug paraphernalia.

As a result, Ford Sanders, 64 years of age, was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges that include Distribution of a cocaine, Possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, Drug tax stamp and Unlawful to acquire proceeds from drug transactions, according to Connell.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710703600548.png" alt="Sanders-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Sanders-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug allegations.On Friday, members of the Topeka Police Department Narcotics Unit served search warrants in 3400 Block SE Girard Street in Topeka.related to an ongoing investigation, according to Lt. Ronnie Connell.While conducting the search warrant, officers located cocaine and drug paraphernalia.As a result, Ford Sanders, 64 years of age, was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges that include Distribution of a cocaine, Possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, Drug tax stamp and Unlawful to acquire proceeds from drug transactions, according to Connell.

Police: Kansas man was selling cocaine from his home

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.

Just after 10a.m. Tuesday, police responded to North Ambassador Drive and NW Polo Drive of a call from petitioner of an ex parte order of protection who had concerns about the respondent and wanted police to speak to the respondent, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol who is in charge of the investigation.

As the two officers responded along North Ambassador Drive they observed a woman, the respondent, walking along the road. Officers attempted to speak with her. She was not compliant.&nbsp; She was armed and presented a hand gun. One of the officers discharged his duty gun and wounded the woman.

&nbsp;Officers immediately rendered medical aid&nbsp; and she was transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.

The patrol released no additional details Tuesday afternoon.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710870929165.png" alt="Police on the scene of the KCPD officer-involved shooting Tuesday morning-photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the KCPD officer-involved shooting Tuesday morning-photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.Just after 10a.m. Tuesday, police responded to North Ambassador Drive and NW Polo Drive of a call from petitioner of an ex parte order of protection who had concerns about the respondent and wanted police to speak to the respondent, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol who is in charge of the investigation.As the two officers responded along North Ambassador Drive they observed a woman, the respondent, walking along the road. Officers attempted to speak with her. She was not compliant.&nbsp; She was armed and presented a hand gun. One of the officers discharged his duty gun and wounded the woman.&nbsp;Officers immediately rendered medical aid&nbsp; and she was transported to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.The patrol released no additional details Tuesday afternoon.&nbsp;

Woman wounded in Kansas City officer shooting

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.

Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.

“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”

Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.

More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.

“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”

Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.

Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.

While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;

The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.

Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.

Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.

In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;

“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710861810230.png" alt="A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

Survey: Kansas voters worry about health, child care, hunger — and out-of-touch lawmakers

Republican gubernatorial hopeful enlists help of economists who crafted Kansas tax plan that crashed revenues to prepare proposal for Missouri tax revisions

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

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wants to eliminate Missouri’s income tax, which provides two out of every three dollars in the state’s general revenue fund, and says budget cuts can pay for it.

To help craft the plan, Ashcroft has enlisted some of the well-known&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ashcroftformissouri.com/taxes">conservative economists and low-tax advocates</a>&nbsp;that advised then-Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on a massive tax cut enacted in that state in 2012. The resulting plunge in revenues led to the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/31601/Alvord_ku_0099D_16760_DATA_1.pdf?sequence=1">repeal of the cuts in 2017</a>&nbsp;and contributed to Republicans losing the Kansas governorship in the 2018 election.

Ashcroft, one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for governor, said he will not repeat the Kansas debacle.

“I can’t tell you we’re going to repeal the income tax all in one day,” Ashcroft said in an interview with The Independent. “It’s not going to work out that way. But we’re going to put the state on the glide path to do that.”

Ashcroft also wants to repeal the 12.5-cents per gallon fuel tax increase enacted in 2021. That increase is being phased in at 2.5 cents per year. So far, 7.5 cents has taken effect, with another 2.5 cents per gallon to be added July 1 and again on July 1, 2025.

A lawsuit that found the Highways and Transportation Commission had authority to use&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/11/01/judge-approves-pay-raise-plan-for-missouri-transportation-agency-workers/">money in the state Road Fund</a>&nbsp;to finance a program to raise salaries shows the new tax wasn’t really needed, Ashcroft said. The October ruling&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/appeal-delays-raises-under-missouri-highways-commission-pay-plan/">is being appealed</a>&nbsp;and no raises beyond the general state pay plan have been awarded.

“When that gas tax got passed, the immediate thing that transportation did was they started giving out salary increases to people,” Ashcroft said. “It wasn’t about new roads. It wasn’t about repairing roads. First and foremost. It was about new salaries.”

The $50 million salary plan was the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission’s reaction to rapid turnover in the department. The tax increase, when fully implemented, was expected to add $337.5 million annually to the state road fund and provide $125 million for city and county governments to spend on local roads&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2021/05/11/gas-tax-increase-on-its-way-to-governor-after-clearing-missouri-house/">when it was passed in 2021</a>.

The department said at the time that the extra money was essential to matching available federal highway funds.

Ashcroft unveiled his tax proposal last week and it immediately drew sarcastic criticism from one of his rivals for the nomination, state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring.

“Nice to have you endorsing my plans…,” Eigel&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/BillEigel/status/1768289347004997971?s=20">wrote on social media</a>. “Where have you been the last 8 years? If only you were a real conservative in office, not just during the campaign…”

On his campaign website, Eigel states he wants to eliminate both the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://billeigel.com/platform">personal and corporate income taxes</a>&nbsp;and the personal property tax that almost entirely funds local government operations.

Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the other Republican running a full-scale campaign for the nomination, has not posted any stands on tax policy on his campaign website or reacted to Ashcroft’s proposal on social media.

In a statement issued by campaign spokesman Mike Hafner, the Kehoe campaign takes partial credit for the tax cuts enacted while he was in the Senate, saying he voted for tax cuts totaling $2.5 billion.

Kehoe, like Ashcroft and Eigel, wants to repeal the income tax, the statement read.

“As governor, Mike will continue this progress by working to eliminate the income tax altogether and control state spending,” the statement read.

Democratic candidates for governor asked for reactions to Ashcroft’s proposal noted the overlapping of low-tax advocates of the group that advised Brownback in Kansas and the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ashcroftformissouri.com/taxes">“task force of experts”</a>&nbsp;Ashcroft says he enlisted to help him.

At least three – Arthur Laffer, creator of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/08/laffer-curve.asp">the Laffer Curve</a>&nbsp;purporting to show the relationship between tax rates and total revenue; Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation; and Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council – were on Brownback’s advisory panel.

Other prominent names are Grover Norquist, who founded Americans for Tax Reform, and Aaron Hedlund, a former University of Missouri economist who now works at Purdue University, who was chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers during President Donald Trump’s final year in office.

Norquist, in 2015, two years after Brownback’s cuts and at a time when revenues were far short of projections, said other states should emulate its moves.

“Kansas is the future,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3tFqzeXI0g">he said in an interview</a>. “Kansas is the model.”

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield, a Democrat running for governor, said Missouri’s current tax system needs reform, but “trusting the same people who thought up the failed Brownback debacle in Kansas would be laughable if the stakes for hardworking Missouri families weren’t so dire.”

Quade’s chief opponent in the Democratic primary, businessman Mike Hamra of Springfield, also noted the links to the Kansas cuts.

“This is a strategy for earning Grover Norquist’s support and funding in the primary, not a realistic plan for moving Missouri forward,” Hamra said. “Kansas tried this experiment a decade ago with disastrous results – a budget crisis, schools closing weeks early, multiple credit downgrades, and slowed economic growth.”

Ashcroft, in the interview, did not name any new source of revenue he would propose to replace the almost $10 billion generated by the income tax.

Instead, he said, every dollar spent by the state should be examined and if it does not pay for education, public safety or “roads, bridges and waterways,” it should be reduced or eliminated.

“It’s gonna have to be kind of a starting from the beginning, what are the core responsibilities of the government, and then how do we pay for those core responsibilities?” Ashcroft said.

There are numerous earmarked funds in state government, ranging from fees paid to licensing boards and appropriated for regulatory operations to taxes that pay for conservation and state parks.

Missourians should be asked if they want to retain those earmarked accounts or put all the money into the general revenue fund for appropriation as determined by lawmakers, Ashcroft said.

“We need to not just figure out how to limp along for another five to 10 years, but how do we put our state on the path we want for the next 30 or 40?” Ashcroft said. “And it’s going to have to be looking at not just a general revenue, it’s going to be looking at some of those special funds and going back to people.”

In the webpage on his tax plan, Ashcroft cites states that have no income tax as having superior economies. Some of those states, like Tennessee and Texas, have&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2024-sales-taxes/">high sales tax rates</a>&nbsp;and others, like Alaska, have taxes on extraction of natural resources that provide the bulk of state revenues.

Missouri is already a high sales tax state, mainly because local option taxes, on average, almost double the 4.225% rate imposed for state purposes.

When pressed on where he would find the revenue to operate state programs without an income tax, Ashcroft again referred to the need to cut spending.

“You’ve got to cut and that’s the hardest thing for any elected official to do because they want to be able to hand out stuff,” Ashcroft said.

From 1972 to 2018, the top income tax rate in Missouri was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=143.011&amp;bid=51511&amp;hl=">6% of taxable income above $9,000</a>.

The last time the tax code was changed so the income tax would produce more revenue was in 1993, when lawmakers capped the deduction for federal income taxes so wealthy Missourians would pay more in state taxes.

The corporate income tax rate was also increased in 1993 and was set at 6.25%.

Soon after Kansas enacted its tax cuts in 2012, the Republican supermajorities in the Missouri legislature tried to follow suit. With the dire results of immediate sharp cuts apparent by 2014, a bill passed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/06/missouri-house-follows-senate-to/21722550007/">over the veto of Gov. Jay Nixon</a>&nbsp;made small cuts of 0.1 percentage point in the top rate contingent on an annual revenue growth target of $150 million.

The growth trigger wasn’t achieved until fiscal 2017 and the first cut took effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

Since Republicans took control of the executive branch with the election of Eric Greitens in 2016, the cuts have accelerated.

This year, the top tax rate is 4.8% for taxable incomes greater than $8,911. There are three adjustments of 0.1 percentage point to come that will be triggered by revenue growth of at least $200 million.

In the period since the first income tax cuts took effect, income tax receipts have increased from $7.2 billion in fiscal 2018 to just under $10 billion in the year that ended June 30.

When the next cut will occur is uncertain. Revenue is expected to fall 0.7% in the current year and actual receipts through Friday show a decline slightly larger than that amount. And revenue is not expected to grow substantially in the coming fiscal year.

That means the next reduction in the top income tax rate would not occur until at least Jan. 1, 2027.

Republicans have also been busy exempting income from taxation and cutting the corporate tax.&nbsp;

The 2014 tax law also cut the percentage of income from businesses that is reported on personal tax returns, taxing only 75% of the total.&nbsp;

Quade, in a statement, argued those tax cuts overwhelmingly benefited higher-income Missourians.

“The last few income tax cuts passed by Republicans have overwhelmingly given the rich tax breaks,” she said, “while working Missourians save pennies.”&nbsp;

Last year, lawmakers passed a bill making&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/06/missouri-house-follows-senate-to/21722550007/">Social Security and retirement income</a>&nbsp;off limits for the state income tax.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The corporate tax rate was cut to 4% effective in 2020, and the Missouri House is poised to pass a bill this year&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?year=2024&amp;bill=HB2274&amp;code=R%20&amp;cal=1">completely eliminating the tax.</a>

The general revenue fund took in $14.8 billion in the year that ended June 30, before paying out refunds. The personal income tax provided just over two-thirds of that amount, with another 20% from sales tax.

Corporate taxes made up 7.1% of the total, or about half the amount that didn’t come from personal income or sales taxes. The rest comes from interest on daily balances, liquor and beer taxes and other small levies.

The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=IX++++3(b)&amp;bid=31886&amp;constit=y">Missouri Constitution requires</a>&nbsp;“twenty-five percent of the state revenue, exclusive of interest and sinking fund, to be applied annually to the support of the free public schools.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710860474873.png" alt="Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a candidate for governor, speaks Thursday evening at the Boone County Republican Lincoln Days dinner in Columbia (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, a candidate for governor, speaks Thursday evening at the Boone County Republican Lincoln Days dinner in Columbia (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Republican gubernatorial hopeful enlists help of economists who crafted Kansas tax plan that crashed revenues to prepare proposal for Missouri tax revisions</h2>By RUDI KELLER,&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wants to eliminate Missouri’s income tax, which provides two out of every three dollars in the state’s general revenue fund, and says budget cuts can pay for it.To help craft the plan, Ashcroft has enlisted some of the well-known&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ashcroftformissouri.com/taxes">conservative economists and low-tax advocates</a>&nbsp;that advised then-Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback on a massive tax cut enacted in that state in 2012. The resulting plunge in revenues led to the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/31601/Alvord_ku_0099D_16760_DATA_1.pdf?sequence=1">repeal of the cuts in 2017</a>&nbsp;and contributed to Republicans losing the Kansas governorship in the 2018 election.Ashcroft, one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for governor, said he will not repeat the Kansas debacle.“I can’t tell you we’re going to repeal the income tax all in one day,” Ashcroft said in an interview with The Independent. “It’s not going to work out that way. But we’re going to put the state on the glide path to do that.”Ashcroft also wants to repeal the 12.5-cents per gallon fuel tax increase enacted in 2021. That increase is being phased in at 2.5 cents per year. So far, 7.5 cents has taken effect, with another 2.5 cents per gallon to be added July 1 and again on July 1, 2025.A lawsuit that found the Highways and Transportation Commission had authority to use&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/11/01/judge-approves-pay-raise-plan-for-missouri-transportation-agency-workers/">money in the state Road Fund</a>&nbsp;to finance a program to raise salaries shows the new tax wasn’t really needed, Ashcroft said. The October ruling&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/appeal-delays-raises-under-missouri-highways-commission-pay-plan/">is being appealed</a>&nbsp;and no raises beyond the general state pay plan have been awarded.“When that gas tax got passed, the immediate thing that transportation did was they started giving out salary increases to people,” Ashcroft said. “It wasn’t about new roads. It wasn’t about repairing roads. First and foremost. It was about new salaries.”The $50 million salary plan was the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission’s reaction to rapid turnover in the department. The tax increase, when fully implemented, was expected to add $337.5 million annually to the state road fund and provide $125 million for city and county governments to spend on local roads&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2021/05/11/gas-tax-increase-on-its-way-to-governor-after-clearing-missouri-house/">when it was passed in 2021</a>.The department said at the time that the extra money was essential to matching available federal highway funds.Ashcroft unveiled his tax proposal last week and it immediately drew sarcastic criticism from one of his rivals for the nomination, state Sen. Bill Eigel of Weldon Spring.“Nice to have you endorsing my plans…,” Eigel&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/BillEigel/status/1768289347004997971?s=20">wrote on social media</a>. “Where have you been the last 8 years? If only you were a real conservative in office, not just during the campaign…”On his campaign website, Eigel states he wants to eliminate both the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://billeigel.com/platform">personal and corporate income taxes</a>&nbsp;and the personal property tax that almost entirely funds local government operations.Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe, the other Republican running a full-scale campaign for the nomination, has not posted any stands on tax policy on his campaign website or reacted to Ashcroft’s proposal on social media.In a statement issued by campaign spokesman Mike Hafner, the Kehoe campaign takes partial credit for the tax cuts enacted while he was in the Senate, saying he voted for tax cuts totaling $2.5 billion.Kehoe, like Ashcroft and Eigel, wants to repeal the income tax, the statement read.“As governor, Mike will continue this progress by working to eliminate the income tax altogether and control state spending,” the statement read.Democratic candidates for governor asked for reactions to Ashcroft’s proposal noted the overlapping of low-tax advocates of the group that advised Brownback in Kansas and the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ashcroftformissouri.com/taxes">“task force of experts”</a>&nbsp;Ashcroft says he enlisted to help him.At least three – Arthur Laffer, creator of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/08/laffer-curve.asp">the Laffer Curve</a>&nbsp;purporting to show the relationship between tax rates and total revenue; Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation; and Jonathan Williams of the American Legislative Exchange Council – were on Brownback’s advisory panel.Other prominent names are Grover Norquist, who founded Americans for Tax Reform, and Aaron Hedlund, a former University of Missouri economist who now works at Purdue University, who was chief economist for the White House Council of Economic Advisers during President Donald Trump’s final year in office.Norquist, in 2015, two years after Brownback’s cuts and at a time when revenues were far short of projections, said other states should emulate its moves.“Kansas is the future,”&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3tFqzeXI0g">he said in an interview</a>. “Kansas is the model.”House Minority Leader Crystal Quade of Springfield, a Democrat running for governor, said Missouri’s current tax system needs reform, but “trusting the same people who thought up the failed Brownback debacle in Kansas would be laughable if the stakes for hardworking Missouri families weren’t so dire.”Quade’s chief opponent in the Democratic primary, businessman Mike Hamra of Springfield, also noted the links to the Kansas cuts.“This is a strategy for earning Grover Norquist’s support and funding in the primary, not a realistic plan for moving Missouri forward,” Hamra said. “Kansas tried this experiment a decade ago with disastrous results – a budget crisis, schools closing weeks early, multiple credit downgrades, and slowed economic growth.”<h2>Budget cuts</h2>Ashcroft, in the interview, did not name any new source of revenue he would propose to replace the almost $10 billion generated by the income tax.Instead, he said, every dollar spent by the state should be examined and if it does not pay for education, public safety or “roads, bridges and waterways,” it should be reduced or eliminated.“It’s gonna have to be kind of a starting from the beginning, what are the core responsibilities of the government, and then how do we pay for those core responsibilities?” Ashcroft said.There are numerous earmarked funds in state government, ranging from fees paid to licensing boards and appropriated for regulatory operations to taxes that pay for conservation and state parks.Missourians should be asked if they want to retain those earmarked accounts or put all the money into the general revenue fund for appropriation as determined by lawmakers, Ashcroft said.“We need to not just figure out how to limp along for another five to 10 years, but how do we put our state on the path we want for the next 30 or 40?” Ashcroft said. “And it’s going to have to be looking at not just a general revenue, it’s going to be looking at some of those special funds and going back to people.”In the webpage on his tax plan, Ashcroft cites states that have no income tax as having superior economies. Some of those states, like Tennessee and Texas, have&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://taxfoundation.org/data/all/state/2024-sales-taxes/">high sales tax rates</a>&nbsp;and others, like Alaska, have taxes on extraction of natural resources that provide the bulk of state revenues.Missouri is already a high sales tax state, mainly because local option taxes, on average, almost double the 4.225% rate imposed for state purposes.When pressed on where he would find the revenue to operate state programs without an income tax, Ashcroft again referred to the need to cut spending.“You’ve got to cut and that’s the hardest thing for any elected official to do because they want to be able to hand out stuff,” Ashcroft said.<h2>Income taxes</h2>From 1972 to 2018, the top income tax rate in Missouri was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=143.011&amp;bid=51511&amp;hl=">6% of taxable income above $9,000</a>.The last time the tax code was changed so the income tax would produce more revenue was in 1993, when lawmakers capped the deduction for federal income taxes so wealthy Missourians would pay more in state taxes.The corporate income tax rate was also increased in 1993 and was set at 6.25%.Soon after Kansas enacted its tax cuts in 2012, the Republican supermajorities in the Missouri legislature tried to follow suit. With the dire results of immediate sharp cuts apparent by 2014, a bill passed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/06/missouri-house-follows-senate-to/21722550007/">over the veto of Gov. Jay Nixon</a>&nbsp;made small cuts of 0.1 percentage point in the top rate contingent on an annual revenue growth target of $150 million.The growth trigger wasn’t achieved until fiscal 2017 and the first cut took effect on Jan. 1, 2018.Since Republicans took control of the executive branch with the election of Eric Greitens in 2016, the cuts have accelerated.This year, the top tax rate is 4.8% for taxable incomes greater than $8,911. There are three adjustments of 0.1 percentage point to come that will be triggered by revenue growth of at least $200 million.In the period since the first income tax cuts took effect, income tax receipts have increased from $7.2 billion in fiscal 2018 to just under $10 billion in the year that ended June 30.When the next cut will occur is uncertain. Revenue is expected to fall 0.7% in the current year and actual receipts through Friday show a decline slightly larger than that amount. And revenue is not expected to grow substantially in the coming fiscal year.That means the next reduction in the top income tax rate would not occur until at least Jan. 1, 2027.Republicans have also been busy exempting income from taxation and cutting the corporate tax.&nbsp;The 2014 tax law also cut the percentage of income from businesses that is reported on personal tax returns, taxing only 75% of the total.&nbsp;Quade, in a statement, argued those tax cuts overwhelmingly benefited higher-income Missourians.“The last few income tax cuts passed by Republicans have overwhelmingly given the rich tax breaks,” she said, “while working Missourians save pennies.”&nbsp;Last year, lawmakers passed a bill making&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/politics/2014/05/06/missouri-house-follows-senate-to/21722550007/">Social Security and retirement income</a>&nbsp;off limits for the state income tax.&nbsp;&nbsp;The corporate tax rate was cut to 4% effective in 2020, and the Missouri House is poised to pass a bill this year&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?year=2024&amp;bill=HB2274&amp;code=R%20&amp;cal=1">completely eliminating the tax.</a>The general revenue fund took in $14.8 billion in the year that ended June 30, before paying out refunds. The personal income tax provided just over two-thirds of that amount, with another 20% from sales tax.Corporate taxes made up 7.1% of the total, or about half the amount that didn’t come from personal income or sales taxes. The rest comes from interest on daily balances, liquor and beer taxes and other small levies.The&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=IX++++3(b)&amp;bid=31886&amp;constit=y">Missouri Constitution requires</a>&nbsp;“twenty-five percent of the state revenue, exclusive of interest and sinking fund, to be applied annually to the support of the free public schools.”

Jay Ashcroft proposes slashing state budget to eliminate Missouri income tax

SUMNER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities will present details of a weekend crash that killed a Kansas police officer on his way home from work to the Sumner County District Attorney on Wednesday for possible charges, according Sumner County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Friday.

The accident occurred just before 3:30a.m. Saturday when a passenger vehicle driven by 26-year-old Scott Hollingsworth was southbound on U.S. 81 at 119th Street, according to Friday. A westbound pickup struck the vehicle driven by Hollingsworth.&nbsp;

Hollingsworth was pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported three passengers in the pickup to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The pickup driver was not injured, according to Friday.

The sheriff's office will report additional details of the crash after the district attorney's office determines possible charges.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710681634704.png" alt="Officer Scott Hollingsworth-photo city of Clearwater" />
 <figcaption>Officer Scott Hollingsworth-photo city of Clearwater</figcaption>
 </figure>SUMNER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities will present details of a weekend crash that killed a Kansas police officer on his way home from work to the Sumner County District Attorney on Wednesday for possible charges, according Sumner County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Friday.The accident occurred just before 3:30a.m. Saturday when a passenger vehicle driven by 26-year-old Scott Hollingsworth was southbound on U.S. 81 at 119th Street, according to Friday. A westbound pickup struck the vehicle driven by Hollingsworth.&nbsp;Hollingsworth was pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported three passengers in the pickup to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The pickup driver was not injured, according to Friday.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FClearwaterKS%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0Cn79XeUkedxXpjvctn3AGZY4rBbUC1vmFw4Siii2o1QsqFaYyvFUtuqtpnp2wa89l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="703" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>The sheriff's office will report additional details of the crash after the district attorney's office determines possible charges.

Details of crash that killed Kan. officer will be presented to DA

By Jill Pritchard, Missouri Department of Conservation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – &nbsp;The 2024 paddlefish snagging season is off to a great start after an angler reeled in a world record fish at the Lake of the Ozarks.

 The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulated Chad Williams of Olathe, Kansas&nbsp;for snagging a 164-pound, 13-ounce paddlefish at the Lake of the Ozarks March 17. 

The fish not only breaks the previous state record of 140 pounds, but also the previous world record of 164 pounds.

“I was lucky enough to get invited to go out snagging with friends,” Williams said. “I’d never been snagging before. Never seen a paddlefish – didn’t even know what it was!”

Shortly into the snagging trip, Williams hooked into something massive.

“I was thinking I was extremely weak because it was taking so long to reel in. My body was aching,” he recalled.

After the fish made it onto the boat, the group immediately knew it was a record. They later met MDC Fisheries and Protection staff at Three Brothers Meat Company in Montreal to weigh the fish on a certified scale. This makes the second state record caught in 2024.

Williams said he and his wife kept some of the paddlefish meat and shared the rest with their fishing group. He plans to taxidermy the head.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710852897111.png" alt="Photo courtesy Chad Williams via Missouri Department of Conservation" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Chad Williams via Missouri Department of Conservation</figcaption>
 </figure>By Jill Pritchard, Missouri Department of ConservationJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – &nbsp;The 2024 paddlefish snagging season is off to a great start after an angler reeled in a world record fish at the Lake of the Ozarks. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulated Chad Williams of Olathe, Kansas&nbsp;for snagging a 164-pound, 13-ounce paddlefish at the Lake of the Ozarks March 17. The fish not only breaks the previous state record of 140 pounds, but also the previous world record of 164 pounds.“I was lucky enough to get invited to go out snagging with friends,” Williams said. “I’d never been snagging before. Never seen a paddlefish – didn’t even know what it was!”Shortly into the snagging trip, Williams hooked into something massive.“I was thinking I was extremely weak because it was taking so long to reel in. My body was aching,” he recalled.After the fish made it onto the boat, the group immediately knew it was a record. They later met MDC Fisheries and Protection staff at Three Brothers Meat Company in Montreal to weigh the fish on a certified scale. This makes the second state record caught in 2024.Williams said he and his wife kept some of the paddlefish meat and shared the rest with their fishing group. He plans to taxidermy the head.“I’m honestly still processing this whole thing,” he laughed. “Conservation Agent Tyler Brown was in disbelief it was my first time snagging. He said, ‘You don’t have to go out fishing ever again! Nothing can top this!’ and he’s probably right!”Missouri state record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include trotline, throwline, limb line, bank line, jug line, gig, bow, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or atlatl. <a href="https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/trophies-certificates/state-record-fish">Click here for more</a> information on state record fish.