By ERIKA BOLSTAD&nbsp; <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/11/16/states-test-an-electrifying-idea-roads-that-can-recharge-your-ev">Stateline</a>

From its earliest days, Route 66 has reflected the American culture of the moment.

When the road connected Chicago to Los Angeles in 1926, it represented the possibility of the automobile. In the 1930s, it served as an east-to-west escape route from the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. By the 1950s, the 2,400-mile highway lured travelers with the post-World War II promise of adventure on the open road. And as the era of interstate highway driving dawned, Route 66 began to reflect a yearning for a time when a journey was about more than the destination.

Now the eight states traversed by America’s defining highway are getting it ready for its 100th anniversary, in 2026. States are handing out grants to restore vintage neon signs along the highway. They’re installing shoulders to make the road safer for bicyclists and improving signage to make the route more obvious through cities. And they’re installing charging stations that will make it easier to travel the entire length in an electric vehicle.

The iconic highway has always been “the ultimate symbol of a restless nation on the move,” writes Michael Wallis in “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.powells.com/book/route-66-the-mother-road-9780312082857">Route 66: The Mother Road</a>,” the 1990 book that may have saved the once-vital thoroughfare from obscurity after it was decommissioned as a federal highway in 1985. That symbolism won’t change, even as the vintage highway evolves to meet modern tourism’s demands, Wallis said in an interview with&nbsp;Stateline.

“The world still comes to Route 66,” said Wallis, who was appointed last year by President Joe Biden to the Route 66 Centennial Commission, which is planning some of the national events around the anniversary. “It’s because they can get a taste of this country before it became generic, before it was just littered with cookie-cutter franchise businesses, before it was homogenized. It’s a road not so much for tourists as it is for travelers.”

To that end, many states are planning how they can attract a new generation of travelers to Route 66. The road itself is now the destination.

In Illinois, where Route 66 begins and stretches for 300 miles, the state this spring awarded $6.6 million in grants to help communities upgrade and market their Route 66 attractions in advance of the 2026 celebrations.

The grants are aimed at boosting local tourism across Illinois as well as highlighting the state’s growing electric vehicle sector, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement. It’s a way of “honoring the history of Route 66 and looking to the future,” Pritzker said. One grant will create pylons at the beginning of the road in Chicago, which will feature QR codes that tell drivers where to find EV charging stations along Route 66.

The state money also will pay for interpretative panels at historic sites highlighted in “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a guide to the midcentury service stations, motels and attractions where Black travelers were welcome in segregated states or hostile towns along the nation’s highways, including Route 66.

And this winter, the city of Edwardsville, Illinois, installed a 12.5-foot monument along its stretch of Route 66 not far from the Missouri border. The sign, a tilted version of the iconic highway shield, allows visitors to pose inside the round holes made by the number 66. It’s a Tik Tok or Instagram-friendly attraction, tourism officials say, which, as with the emphasis on neon signs, appeals to younger travelers.

In Arizona, the state developed the Route 66 Digital Passport, an app that allows travelers to tick off some of the best attractions for posting on social media. The app helped welcome a new generation of road-trippers to Arizona during the pandemic, when people sought outdoors and open-road experiences, said Josh Coddington, director of communications for the state’s Office of Tourism.

All along the route, towns are “recognizing the past, but they’re also maintaining [the road] so that it remains into the future,” said Rylie Mansuetti, the public and government affairs manager for AAA Oklahoma.

“It remains picture-worthy as we’re in the age of Instagram or TikTok,” she said. “A lot of these small towns are doing a great job at still offering that authentic taste and that step back, but making it appeal to newer generations.”

In Oklahoma, which has more than 400 miles of Route 66, the road is seen as a major tourism draw, Mansuetti said. Tulsa, known as the capital of Route 66, last year hosted the AAA Route 66 Road Fest. The party will continue this year — and will be among the signature national events of the 2026 centennial celebration.

“It’s called the Mother Road for a reason,” said Mansuetti, who notes that AAA tour guides began publishing the same year as Route 66 became a national road. “It’s absolutely a symbol of adventure and exploration, and it’s a driving force behind promoting tourism in the areas it passes through.”

In Oklahoma, the state Department of Transportation allows cities and counties to buy giant adhesive stickers to install on sections of the road, an Instagrammable and directional visual aid. To make part of Route 66 more accessible to bicyclists, Oklahoma recently received a $1 million federal grant to improve 1.3 miles of the highway near several roadside attractions, including the often photographed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://arcadiaroundbarn.com/">Arcadia Round Barn</a>.

Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, has traveled and photographed the entire length of the highway from Illinois to California. One of his favorite attractions in Oklahoma is the giant Blue Whale in Catoosa, a whimsical 20-foot-tall and 80-foot-long roadside attraction built in 1972. There are also dozens of local festivals in towns where Route 66 serves as their main street.

“If you just make time and get off the interstate, you’ll meet all kinds of amazing people and have some really great food and see things that you won’t see anywhere else,” he said. “Route 66 is about the experience. The phrase goes, it’s not about getting somewhere, it’s about going somewhere.”

An Oklahoma highway commissioner, Cyrus Avery, pushed tirelessly for Route 66’s creation as a federal highway in the 1920s, hopeful that it would divert traffic to Tulsa from other cross-country routes through Kansas City and Denver.

By 1939 with the publication of&nbsp;John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,”&nbsp;Route 66 had achieved iconic status. In the book, Steinbeck describes Route 66 as the “Mother Road” for how it served as refuge for so many people displaced by the Great Depression and the devastation in the Great Plains of the Dust Bowl years. Route 66 was “the path of a people in flight,” Steinbeck wrote, “refugees from dust and shrinking land.”

After World War II, as automobile ownership and general prosperity boomed, the highway led to vacation destinations in New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was then that travelers experienced the heyday of the mom-and-pop motels and diners with architecture and neon signage that define the peak era of the highway.

For many older baby boomers, Route 66 meant the television show that aired from 1960 to 1964, starring two young men who drove the country in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible. The show was not set exclusively on Route 66, but its title and its spirit of adventure had an outsized impact on the road trip as a cultural phenomenon.

But over the next few decades, five new interstate highways — I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15 and I-10 — began replacing Route 66. Although at least 85% of the original road is still drivable, many of the small towns along Route 66 withered away after the interstates arrived, tastes changed, and more people preferred to travel by plane than by car.

Nonetheless, Route 66 remains — as both a physical highway and in the imagination as the ultimate road trip. In 2006, a new generation was introduced to the highway via the animated Pixar feature “Cars,” featuring race car Lightning McQueen and many of the road’s noteworthy roadside attractions.

Wallis, who voiced Sheriff in “Cars,” said that despite his longtime association with the road, he’s always been wary of overly romanticizing Route 66. It’s “much more than ’57 Chevys and poodle skirts,” he said. He points out that Nat King Cole, whose 1946 rendition of “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” helped popularize the highway, would not as a Black man have been able to stay at many of the establishments along the route.

“Those of us who want to preserve and protect Route 66 and tell the honest story, we believe there’s an obligation, since it’s arguably the most famous highway in the world,” he said. “Route 66 basically was a road for everyone. It was a road for blue bloods or rednecks, everybody traveling. But the conditions were different for various people that traveled there. And that needs to be pointed out. That’s very important.

Wallis lives in Tulsa and has written many other books in the three decades since his Route 66 classic, but the Mother Road has come to define his career. He’s often asked if the road gets boring. Never, Wallis said.

“Every time I go out on the road, I find something new,” he said. “More importantly, I find someone new.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685794919976.png" alt=" A full-size, brightly painted old DeSoto automobile rests on top of the front of the DeSoto Barbershop building against a backdrop of clear blue sky in Ash Fork, Arizona (Leslie Connell/National Archives)." />
 <figcaption> A full-size, brightly painted old DeSoto automobile rests on top of the front of the DeSoto Barbershop building against a backdrop of clear blue sky in Ash Fork, Arizona (Leslie Connell/National Archives).</figcaption>
 </figure>By ERIKA BOLSTAD&nbsp; <a href="https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2022/11/16/states-test-an-electrifying-idea-roads-that-can-recharge-your-ev">Stateline</a>From its earliest days, Route 66 has reflected the American culture of the moment.When the road connected Chicago to Los Angeles in 1926, it represented the possibility of the automobile. In the 1930s, it served as an east-to-west escape route from the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression. By the 1950s, the 2,400-mile highway lured travelers with the post-World War II promise of adventure on the open road. And as the era of interstate highway driving dawned, Route 66 began to reflect a yearning for a time when a journey was about more than the destination.Now the eight states traversed by America’s defining highway are getting it ready for its 100th anniversary, in 2026. States are handing out grants to restore vintage neon signs along the highway. They’re installing shoulders to make the road safer for bicyclists and improving signage to make the route more obvious through cities. And they’re installing charging stations that will make it easier to travel the entire length in an electric vehicle.The iconic highway has always been “the ultimate symbol of a restless nation on the move,” writes Michael Wallis in “<a target="_blank" href="https://www.powells.com/book/route-66-the-mother-road-9780312082857">Route 66: The Mother Road</a>,” the 1990 book that may have saved the once-vital thoroughfare from obscurity after it was decommissioned as a federal highway in 1985. That symbolism won’t change, even as the vintage highway evolves to meet modern tourism’s demands, Wallis said in an interview with&nbsp;Stateline.“The world still comes to Route 66,” said Wallis, who was appointed last year by President Joe Biden to the Route 66 Centennial Commission, which is planning some of the national events around the anniversary. “It’s because they can get a taste of this country before it became generic, before it was just littered with cookie-cutter franchise businesses, before it was homogenized. It’s a road not so much for tourists as it is for travelers.”To that end, many states are planning how they can attract a new generation of travelers to Route 66. The road itself is now the destination.In Illinois, where Route 66 begins and stretches for 300 miles, the state this spring awarded $6.6 million in grants to help communities upgrade and market their Route 66 attractions in advance of the 2026 celebrations.The grants are aimed at boosting local tourism across Illinois as well as highlighting the state’s growing electric vehicle sector, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement. It’s a way of “honoring the history of Route 66 and looking to the future,” Pritzker said. One grant will create pylons at the beginning of the road in Chicago, which will feature QR codes that tell drivers where to find EV charging stations along Route 66.The state money also will pay for interpretative panels at historic sites highlighted in “The Negro Motorist Green Book,” a guide to the midcentury service stations, motels and attractions where Black travelers were welcome in segregated states or hostile towns along the nation’s highways, including Route 66.And this winter, the city of Edwardsville, Illinois, installed a 12.5-foot monument along its stretch of Route 66 not far from the Missouri border. The sign, a tilted version of the iconic highway shield, allows visitors to pose inside the round holes made by the number 66. It’s a Tik Tok or Instagram-friendly attraction, tourism officials say, which, as with the emphasis on neon signs, appeals to younger travelers.In Arizona, the state developed the Route 66 Digital Passport, an app that allows travelers to tick off some of the best attractions for posting on social media. The app helped welcome a new generation of road-trippers to Arizona during the pandemic, when people sought outdoors and open-road experiences, said Josh Coddington, director of communications for the state’s Office of Tourism.All along the route, towns are “recognizing the past, but they’re also maintaining [the road] so that it remains into the future,” said Rylie Mansuetti, the public and government affairs manager for AAA Oklahoma.“It remains picture-worthy as we’re in the age of Instagram or TikTok,” she said. “A lot of these small towns are doing a great job at still offering that authentic taste and that step back, but making it appeal to newer generations.”In Oklahoma, which has more than 400 miles of Route 66, the road is seen as a major tourism draw, Mansuetti said. Tulsa, known as the capital of Route 66, last year hosted the AAA Route 66 Road Fest. The party will continue this year — and will be among the signature national events of the 2026 centennial celebration.“It’s called the Mother Road for a reason,” said Mansuetti, who notes that AAA tour guides began publishing the same year as Route 66 became a national road. “It’s absolutely a symbol of adventure and exploration, and it’s a driving force behind promoting tourism in the areas it passes through.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685794865041.png" alt="A sign for the legendary Route 66 is pictured against the New Mexico sky (Kellie Thorne/National Archives)." />
 <figcaption>A sign for the legendary Route 66 is pictured against the New Mexico sky (Kellie Thorne/National Archives).</figcaption>
 </figure>In Oklahoma, the state Department of Transportation allows cities and counties to buy giant adhesive stickers to install on sections of the road, an Instagrammable and directional visual aid. To make part of Route 66 more accessible to bicyclists, Oklahoma recently received a $1 million federal grant to improve 1.3 miles of the highway near several roadside attractions, including the often photographed&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://arcadiaroundbarn.com/">Arcadia Round Barn</a>.Rhys Martin, president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, has traveled and photographed the entire length of the highway from Illinois to California. One of his favorite attractions in Oklahoma is the giant Blue Whale in Catoosa, a whimsical 20-foot-tall and 80-foot-long roadside attraction built in 1972. There are also dozens of local festivals in towns where Route 66 serves as their main street.“If you just make time and get off the interstate, you’ll meet all kinds of amazing people and have some really great food and see things that you won’t see anywhere else,” he said. “Route 66 is about the experience. The phrase goes, it’s not about getting somewhere, it’s about going somewhere.”An Oklahoma highway commissioner, Cyrus Avery, pushed tirelessly for Route 66’s creation as a federal highway in the 1920s, hopeful that it would divert traffic to Tulsa from other cross-country routes through Kansas City and Denver.By 1939 with the publication of&nbsp;John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,”&nbsp;Route 66 had achieved iconic status. In the book, Steinbeck describes Route 66 as the “Mother Road” for how it served as refuge for so many people displaced by the Great Depression and the devastation in the Great Plains of the Dust Bowl years. Route 66 was “the path of a people in flight,” Steinbeck wrote, “refugees from dust and shrinking land.”After World War II, as automobile ownership and general prosperity boomed, the highway led to vacation destinations in New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was then that travelers experienced the heyday of the mom-and-pop motels and diners with architecture and neon signage that define the peak era of the highway.For many older baby boomers, Route 66 meant the television show that aired from 1960 to 1964, starring two young men who drove the country in a Chevrolet Corvette convertible. The show was not set exclusively on Route 66, but its title and its spirit of adventure had an outsized impact on the road trip as a cultural phenomenon.But over the next few decades, five new interstate highways — I-55, I-44, I-40, I-15 and I-10 — began replacing Route 66. Although at least 85% of the original road is still drivable, many of the small towns along Route 66 withered away after the interstates arrived, tastes changed, and more people preferred to travel by plane than by car.Nonetheless, Route 66 remains — as both a physical highway and in the imagination as the ultimate road trip. In 2006, a new generation was introduced to the highway via the animated Pixar feature “Cars,” featuring race car Lightning McQueen and many of the road’s noteworthy roadside attractions.Wallis, who voiced Sheriff in “Cars,” said that despite his longtime association with the road, he’s always been wary of overly romanticizing Route 66. It’s “much more than ’57 Chevys and poodle skirts,” he said. He points out that Nat King Cole, whose 1946 rendition of “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” helped popularize the highway, would not as a Black man have been able to stay at many of the establishments along the route.“Those of us who want to preserve and protect Route 66 and tell the honest story, we believe there’s an obligation, since it’s arguably the most famous highway in the world,” he said. “Route 66 basically was a road for everyone. It was a road for blue bloods or rednecks, everybody traveling. But the conditions were different for various people that traveled there. And that needs to be pointed out. That’s very important.Wallis lives in Tulsa and has written many other books in the three decades since his Route 66 classic, but the Mother Road has come to define his career. He’s often asked if the road gets boring. Never, Wallis said.“Every time I go out on the road, I find something new,” he said. “More importantly, I find someone new.”

Route 66, America’s ‘Mother Road,’ readies for its centennial

KDHE striving to contact people in jeopardy of losing medical coverage

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/06/grieving-moms-plea-to-kansas-lawmakers-do-something-this-epidemic-is-killing-our-kids/">Kansas Reflector</a>

OLATHE — Gov. Laura Kelly and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids said Friday that 120,000 Kansans allowed to remain in Medicaid due to a three-year suspension of eligibility reviews during the pandemic were in jeopardy of automatically losing coverage by not applying for renewal.

The hiatus in annual eligibility assessments adopted during the national public health emergency was lifted in April by the federal government. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has started a 12-month process of determining whether about one-fourth of 530,000 Kansans who were in the program amid COVID-19 still qualified under the law.

KDHE has been challenged to accurately direct renewal notices because contact information for many participants weren’t updated since 2020. KDHE officials extended the application window by 30 days for cases scheduled for examination in April and May, in part, due to delays in delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service.

Individuals who failed to meet the deadline for submitting required information to the Medicaid clearinghouse — even if unaware it was requested — would lose coverage.

“Health insurance is foundational to healthy communities, which is why I’m glad to join forces with Representative Davids to make sure qualifying Kansans know what they need to do to keep their coverage,” Kelly said.

Davids said it was essential to make more people aware of alterations to Medicaid, which is known as KanCare in Kansas.

“We’re going to need to be really intentional and focused on getting the word out to make sure that every Kansan that can possibly stay covered actually gets to do that,” she said.

The Democratic governor and congresswoman took the opportunity of a news conference at Health Partnership Clinic, to renew their call for Kansas to follow 40 other states and the District of Columbia that expanded eligibility for Medicaid. The clinic provides health care to children and adults primarily in Johnson, Franklin and Miami counties regardless of clients’ ability to pay.

“While I’m glad we could help ensure qualifying Kansans don’t lose their health care during the KanCare reviewal process, it’s far past time for Kansas to expand Medicaid coverage,” Davids said. “I’ve worked for years to ensure all Kansans can receive the affordable, quality health care they deserve, but certain actors at the state level have forgone already-paid-for federal dollars as part of a political agenda.”

Kelly said complications of the so-called unraveling process to update Medicaid rolls made the need to expand in Kansas that much clearer.

“It will boost our economy, bring hard-earned tax dollars back to our state, and most importantly, save lives,” she said.

States have been allowed to amplify eligibility for Medicaid coverage since 2014. In 2017, Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed an expansion bill passed by the GOP-led House and Senate. He said the cost to the state would be “irresponsible and unsustainable.”

In 2019, the Kansas House passed another Medicaid expansion bill but it wasn’t passed by the Kansas Senate. More recent efforts at the Capitol were derailed despite bipartisan support for action.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, has denounced Medicaid expansion as a “budget busting” bloating of government, while Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, complained it would cater to able-bodied adults while diminishing the state’s opportunity to serve people with disabilities.

Kelly, who as governor has proposed five expansion plans to the Legislature, pointed to a poll indicating 80% of Kansans supported expansion. Kansas has forgone more than $6 billion in federal funding by prohibiting Medicaid expansion, and the governor said those resources would have been useful to Kansas hospitals struggling to care for the uninsured.

The governor said her Medicaid expansion recommendations were shaped to deal with objections from Republican legislators, but her ideas didn’t move the needle because GOP lawmakers controlling the debate calendar were ideologically opposed to reform.

During the news conference, Kelly said persistent rejection of health and financial arguments for expansion was “stupid” and “foolish.”

“Every year, I tailor the proposal to address concerns expressed by legislative leadership,” Kelly said. “Every year, they would move the goalposts. As a result, Kansas is now a Medicaid desert.”

She vowed to introduce a new Medicaid expansion proposal in her budget recommendations to the 2024 Legislature. She also urged Kansans to pressure senators and representatives to demand Senate and House GOP leaders allow votes on Medicaid expansion. All states surrounding Kansas have adopted Medicaid expansion.

Amy Falk, chief executive officer of the Health Partnership Clinic in Olathe, said the decision by Missouri voters to expand Medicaid a year ago prompted some Kansans without health insurance to move across the state line.

“Absolutely, all the time,” she said. “Especially where we see patients who have needs beyond walls of the partnership, that have critical illnesses, need surgeries. They bring it up and, yes, that is an issue.”

Davids, who serves the 3rd District covering the Kansas side of metropolitan Kansas City, said Kansas was in a shrinking pool of states unwilling to address health care needs of their residents through Medicaid expansion.

“I’m that much more committed to continuing to push back against any partisan politics or gamesmanship that might stop us from doing what we need to do to save lives,” she said. “Because that’s what we’re talking about, is keeping people healthy and saving lives.”

The congresswoman said she supported alternative federal legislation that would enable individuals to apply for Medicaid directly through the federal government. The measure would offer residents in non-expansion states the chance to take part in a program mirroring Medicaid. Congress would provide additional funding to states to serve that population, Davids said.

“If we continue to see partisan actors at state levels blocking expansion of Medicaid, then I think that federal option is a good direction,” she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://kansasreflector.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Christine-Osterlund-kdhe-scaled.jpg" alt="Christine Osterlund, deputy director of Medicaid operations at Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said 120,000 Kansans in Medicaid could lose services with resumption of eligibility assessments put on hold during the pandemic. She is bracketed by U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, left, and Gov. Laura Kelly. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Christine Osterlund, deputy director of Medicaid operations at Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said 120,000 Kansans in Medicaid could lose services with resumption of eligibility assessments put on hold during the pandemic. She is bracketed by U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, left, and Gov. Laura Kelly. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>KDHE striving to contact people in jeopardy of losing medical coverage</h2>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/06/grieving-moms-plea-to-kansas-lawmakers-do-something-this-epidemic-is-killing-our-kids/">Kansas Reflector</a>OLATHE — Gov. Laura Kelly and U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids said Friday that 120,000 Kansans allowed to remain in Medicaid due to a three-year suspension of eligibility reviews during the pandemic were in jeopardy of automatically losing coverage by not applying for renewal.The hiatus in annual eligibility assessments adopted during the national public health emergency was lifted in April by the federal government. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment has started a 12-month process of determining whether about one-fourth of 530,000 Kansans who were in the program amid COVID-19 still qualified under the law.KDHE has been challenged to accurately direct renewal notices because contact information for many participants weren’t updated since 2020. KDHE officials extended the application window by 30 days for cases scheduled for examination in April and May, in part, due to delays in delivery of mail by the U.S. Postal Service.Individuals who failed to meet the deadline for submitting required information to the Medicaid clearinghouse — even if unaware it was requested — would lose coverage.“Health insurance is foundational to healthy communities, which is why I’m glad to join forces with Representative Davids to make sure qualifying Kansans know what they need to do to keep their coverage,” Kelly said.Davids said it was essential to make more people aware of alterations to Medicaid, which is known as KanCare in Kansas.“We’re going to need to be really intentional and focused on getting the word out to make sure that every Kansan that can possibly stay covered actually gets to do that,” she said.<h2>Medicaid expansion?</h2>The Democratic governor and congresswoman took the opportunity of a news conference at Health Partnership Clinic, to renew their call for Kansas to follow 40 other states and the District of Columbia that expanded eligibility for Medicaid. The clinic provides health care to children and adults primarily in Johnson, Franklin and Miami counties regardless of clients’ ability to pay.“While I’m glad we could help ensure qualifying Kansans don’t lose their health care during the KanCare reviewal process, it’s far past time for Kansas to expand Medicaid coverage,” Davids said. “I’ve worked for years to ensure all Kansans can receive the affordable, quality health care they deserve, but certain actors at the state level have forgone already-paid-for federal dollars as part of a political agenda.”Kelly said complications of the so-called unraveling process to update Medicaid rolls made the need to expand in Kansas that much clearer.“It will boost our economy, bring hard-earned tax dollars back to our state, and most importantly, save lives,” she said.States have been allowed to amplify eligibility for Medicaid coverage since 2014. In 2017, Republican Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback vetoed an expansion bill passed by the GOP-led House and Senate. He said the cost to the state would be “irresponsible and unsustainable.”In 2019, the Kansas House passed another Medicaid expansion bill but it wasn’t passed by the Kansas Senate. More recent efforts at the Capitol were derailed despite bipartisan support for action.House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, has denounced Medicaid expansion as a “budget busting” bloating of government, while Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, complained it would cater to able-bodied adults while diminishing the state’s opportunity to serve people with disabilities.<h2>It’s about ideology</h2>Kelly, who as governor has proposed five expansion plans to the Legislature, pointed to a poll indicating 80% of Kansans supported expansion. Kansas has forgone more than $6 billion in federal funding by prohibiting Medicaid expansion, and the governor said those resources would have been useful to Kansas hospitals struggling to care for the uninsured.The governor said her Medicaid expansion recommendations were shaped to deal with objections from Republican legislators, but her ideas didn’t move the needle because GOP lawmakers controlling the debate calendar were ideologically opposed to reform.During the news conference, Kelly said persistent rejection of health and financial arguments for expansion was “stupid” and “foolish.”“Every year, I tailor the proposal to address concerns expressed by legislative leadership,” Kelly said. “Every year, they would move the goalposts. As a result, Kansas is now a Medicaid desert.”She vowed to introduce a new Medicaid expansion proposal in her budget recommendations to the 2024 Legislature. She also urged Kansans to pressure senators and representatives to demand Senate and House GOP leaders allow votes on Medicaid expansion. All states surrounding Kansas have adopted Medicaid expansion.Amy Falk, chief executive officer of the Health Partnership Clinic in Olathe, said the decision by Missouri voters to expand Medicaid a year ago prompted some Kansans without health insurance to move across the state line.“Absolutely, all the time,” she said. “Especially where we see patients who have needs beyond walls of the partnership, that have critical illnesses, need surgeries. They bring it up and, yes, that is an issue.”<h2>Federal alternative</h2>Davids, who serves the 3rd District covering the Kansas side of metropolitan Kansas City, said Kansas was in a shrinking pool of states unwilling to address health care needs of their residents through Medicaid expansion.“I’m that much more committed to continuing to push back against any partisan politics or gamesmanship that might stop us from doing what we need to do to save lives,” she said. “Because that’s what we’re talking about, is keeping people healthy and saving lives.”The congresswoman said she supported alternative federal legislation that would enable individuals to apply for Medicaid directly through the federal government. The measure would offer residents in non-expansion states the chance to take part in a program mirroring Medicaid. Congress would provide additional funding to states to serve that population, Davids said.“If we continue to see partisan actors at state levels blocking expansion of Medicaid, then I think that federal option is a good direction,” she said.

Gov. urges Kansans to take part in post-Covid Medicaid renewal process

WASHINGTON (AP) —In the year since the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court struck down the nationwide right to abortion</a>, America’s religious leaders and denominations have responded in strikingly diverse ways — some celebrating the state-level bans that have ensued, others angered that a conservative Christian cause has changed the law of the land in ways they consider oppressive.

The divisions are epitomized in the country’s largest denomination — the Catholic Church.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnorc.org/ap-norc-poll-details-rift-between-lay-catholics-and-bishops/">National polls</a>&nbsp;repeatedly show that a majority of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, yet the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/usccb-statement-us-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson">U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops</a>&nbsp;supports sweeping bans.

Among Protestants, a solid majority of white evangelicals favor outlawing abortion. But most mainline Protestants support the right to abortion, and several of their top leaders have decried the year-old Supreme Court ruling that undermined that right by reversing the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

For example, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, said he was “deeply grieved” by that ruling.

The decision “institutionalizes inequality because women with access to resources will be able to exercise their moral judgment in ways that women without the same resources will not,” Curry said.

Some religious Americans have gone beyond expressions of dismay, filing lawsuits contending that new abortion bans infringed on their own religious beliefs. Jewish women played roles in such lawsuits in Indiana and Kentucky; in Florida, a synagogue in Boynton Beach — Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor — contended in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-religion-lawsuits-florida-6e115c5c1f23eff92161d136940ae91e">a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;that a state abortion ban violated Jewish teachings.

Dr. Sara Imershein, who performs first-trimester abortions in northern Virginia, said her Reform Judaism beliefs informed her decision to choose that path.

“I looked more at the liturgy of Judaism and found that it really supported my work,” she said. “I studied with my local rabbi.”

Imershein was in college when abortion was legalized nationwide. Now, at 69, she has seen Roe's demise.

“Laws that restrict abortion … ignore our Jewish teachings that are very old, and they stomp on our religious freedom,” she said.

In Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism, there also is widespread acceptance of abortion in some circumstances. Most U.S. Hindus are “very much in support of choice,” said Dheepa Sundaram, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Denver; she cited the concept of karma which holds that each person has the liberty to act and face the consequences of their actions — good or bad.

Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Dartmouth College, says the abortion debate is so intractable in part because believers in the opposing camps view the Bible — which doesn’t include the word “abortion” — as supporting their side.

“It shows the pliability of Scripture — the way that each group tries to marshal arguments on its behalf,” he said. “The Bible can be manipulated.”

“What strikes me about both sides is there’s no humility in their position,” Balmer added. “They stake out what they believe is God’s will, and everybody else is a heretic.”

Even within individual churches, divisions over abortion can flare. Bishop Timothy Clarke, pastor of First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, frequently exhorts his predominantly African American congregation to respect those with opposing views.

Clarke describes himself as “biblically pro-life,” yet he criticizes the stringent abortion bans enacted in numerous Republican-led states as “excessive and extreme.”

Referring to laws that would criminalize abortion-providing doctors and deny abortion to victims of rape, he said many people in his church “are saying this is going too far. It’s beyond the pale.”

There is similar sentiment among some U.S. Catholics, says Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a professor of American studies and history at the University of Notre Dame and director of its Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.

“There are some horrific stories coming out of pregnant women with severe issues who are being denied health care,” she said, referring to the consequences of some state abortion bans.

“We have to have a more human approach,” she said. “I think we’ll see more Catholics saying, ‘I’m not pro-abortion. But I want mercy. I want health care.’"

As a group, Catholic bishops are unwavering, as conveyed in a statement earlier this year from their conference’s president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio.

“The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable,” he said.

<a href="https://apnorc.org/ap-norc-poll-details-rift-between-lay-catholics-and-bishops/">A poll last year</a>&nbsp;from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed a clear gap between the prevalent views of U.S. Catholics, and the anti-abortion positions of the bishops. According to the poll, 63% of Catholic adults said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 68% opposed Roe v. Wade's reversal.

“On every issue having to do with sexuality or reproductive health, there’s a huge gap between the way lay Catholics think and what the hierarchy is teaching,” said Jamie Manson, president of Catholics for Choice.

“What’s challenging,” she said, “is that even though most Catholics believe abortion should be legal, they don’t speak about it publicly because of the taboo … the fear of being ostracized by their community.”

Manson noted that a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/report/characteristics-us-abortion-patients-2014">2014 survey</a>&nbsp;by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that nearly one-fourth of U.S. abortion patients identify as Catholic.

“There’s an all-male hierarchy telling them they’re complicit in murder,” Manson said. “I wish what bishops and priests would do is listen to these women, listen to their stories of why they choose abortion.”

Among mainline Protestant denominations, there have been official statements acknowledging that abortion is a complex issue, but prevailing sentiment is that last year’s Supreme Court ruling was an injustice to women, particularly those already facing economic hardships and racial discrimination.

“This decision further complicates the struggle and creates division, anger, and chaos in an already divided and conflicted country,” wrote Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops.

Some Protestant pastors have emerged as outspoken advocates of abortion rights; among them is Jacqui Lewis, the first African American and first woman to serve as a senior minister in New York City’s historic Middle Collegiate Church.

She evoked the fear and heartache felt by many of the women affected by the new abortion bans.

“These are the poorest of us, the most disenfranchised and they’re struggling more because some portion of Christianity feels they have the right to decide for other people what is moral,” Lewis said. “It breaks my soul to see religion weaponized this way … it’s the opposite of what religion should be.”

Among the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, by far the largest evangelical denomination, there’s unified opposition to abortion. However, there has been sharp disagreement over whether to impose criminal penalties on women who get abortions.

The SBC’s president, Bart Barber, opposes criminalization of women in such cases and has sparred verbally with Baptist pastors who argue that such women. in some instances, should be considered murderers.

“I think it is unjust, unnecessary, and unwise to include in abortion laws the prosecution of women who seek or obtain an abortion,” Barber writes in a lengthy&nbsp;<a href="https://erlc.com/resource-library/commentary-articles/working-toward-the-end-of-abortion/">article.</a>&nbsp;“The abortionist is the murderer, and any law banning abortion should identify the abortionist uniquely as such.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/6/1656088183967.png" alt="Protestors for and against abortion outside the Supreme Court ruling in June 2022-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Protestors for and against abortion outside the Supreme Court ruling in June 2022-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY DAVID CRARY&nbsp;WASHINGTON (AP) —In the year since the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court struck down the nationwide right to abortion</a>, America’s religious leaders and denominations have responded in strikingly diverse ways — some celebrating the state-level bans that have ensued, others angered that a conservative Christian cause has changed the law of the land in ways they consider oppressive.The divisions are epitomized in the country’s largest denomination — the Catholic Church.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnorc.org/ap-norc-poll-details-rift-between-lay-catholics-and-bishops/">National polls</a>&nbsp;repeatedly show that a majority of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, yet the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usccb.org/news/2022/usccb-statement-us-supreme-court-ruling-dobbs-v-jackson">U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops</a>&nbsp;supports sweeping bans.Among Protestants, a solid majority of white evangelicals favor outlawing abortion. But most mainline Protestants support the right to abortion, and several of their top leaders have decried the year-old Supreme Court ruling that undermined that right by reversing the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.For example, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, Michael Curry, said he was “deeply grieved” by that ruling.The decision “institutionalizes inequality because women with access to resources will be able to exercise their moral judgment in ways that women without the same resources will not,” Curry said.Some religious Americans have gone beyond expressions of dismay, filing lawsuits contending that new abortion bans infringed on their own religious beliefs. Jewish women played roles in such lawsuits in Indiana and Kentucky; in Florida, a synagogue in Boynton Beach — Congregation L’Dor Va-Dor — contended in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-health-religion-lawsuits-florida-6e115c5c1f23eff92161d136940ae91e">a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;that a state abortion ban violated Jewish teachings.Dr. Sara Imershein, who performs first-trimester abortions in northern Virginia, said her Reform Judaism beliefs informed her decision to choose that path.“I looked more at the liturgy of Judaism and found that it really supported my work,” she said. “I studied with my local rabbi.”Imershein was in college when abortion was legalized nationwide. Now, at 69, she has seen Roe's demise.“Laws that restrict abortion … ignore our Jewish teachings that are very old, and they stomp on our religious freedom,” she said.In Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism, there also is widespread acceptance of abortion in some circumstances. Most U.S. Hindus are “very much in support of choice,” said Dheepa Sundaram, assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Denver; she cited the concept of karma which holds that each person has the liberty to act and face the consequences of their actions — good or bad.Randall Balmer, a professor of American religious history at Dartmouth College, says the abortion debate is so intractable in part because believers in the opposing camps view the Bible — which doesn’t include the word “abortion” — as supporting their side.“It shows the pliability of Scripture — the way that each group tries to marshal arguments on its behalf,” he said. “The Bible can be manipulated.”“What strikes me about both sides is there’s no humility in their position,” Balmer added. “They stake out what they believe is God’s will, and everybody else is a heretic.”Even within individual churches, divisions over abortion can flare. Bishop Timothy Clarke, pastor of First Church of God in Columbus, Ohio, frequently exhorts his predominantly African American congregation to respect those with opposing views.Clarke describes himself as “biblically pro-life,” yet he criticizes the stringent abortion bans enacted in numerous Republican-led states as “excessive and extreme.”Referring to laws that would criminalize abortion-providing doctors and deny abortion to victims of rape, he said many people in his church “are saying this is going too far. It’s beyond the pale.”There is similar sentiment among some U.S. Catholics, says Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a professor of American studies and history at the University of Notre Dame and director of its Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.“There are some horrific stories coming out of pregnant women with severe issues who are being denied health care,” she said, referring to the consequences of some state abortion bans.“We have to have a more human approach,” she said. “I think we’ll see more Catholics saying, ‘I’m not pro-abortion. But I want mercy. I want health care.’"As a group, Catholic bishops are unwavering, as conveyed in a statement earlier this year from their conference’s president, Archbishop Timothy Broglio.“The Catholic bishops of the United States are united in our commitment to life and will continue to work as one body in Christ to make abortion unthinkable,” he said.<a href="https://apnorc.org/ap-norc-poll-details-rift-between-lay-catholics-and-bishops/">A poll last year</a>&nbsp;from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research showed a clear gap between the prevalent views of U.S. Catholics, and the anti-abortion positions of the bishops. According to the poll, 63% of Catholic adults said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, and 68% opposed Roe v. Wade's reversal.“On every issue having to do with sexuality or reproductive health, there’s a huge gap between the way lay Catholics think and what the hierarchy is teaching,” said Jamie Manson, president of Catholics for Choice.“What’s challenging,” she said, “is that even though most Catholics believe abortion should be legal, they don’t speak about it publicly because of the taboo … the fear of being ostracized by their community.”Manson noted that a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/report/characteristics-us-abortion-patients-2014">2014 survey</a>&nbsp;by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that nearly one-fourth of U.S. abortion patients identify as Catholic.“There’s an all-male hierarchy telling them they’re complicit in murder,” Manson said. “I wish what bishops and priests would do is listen to these women, listen to their stories of why they choose abortion.”Among mainline Protestant denominations, there have been official statements acknowledging that abortion is a complex issue, but prevailing sentiment is that last year’s Supreme Court ruling was an injustice to women, particularly those already facing economic hardships and racial discrimination.“This decision further complicates the struggle and creates division, anger, and chaos in an already divided and conflicted country,” wrote Bishop Thomas Bickerton, president of the United Methodist Church’s Council of Bishops.Some Protestant pastors have emerged as outspoken advocates of abortion rights; among them is Jacqui Lewis, the first African American and first woman to serve as a senior minister in New York City’s historic Middle Collegiate Church.She evoked the fear and heartache felt by many of the women affected by the new abortion bans.“These are the poorest of us, the most disenfranchised and they’re struggling more because some portion of Christianity feels they have the right to decide for other people what is moral,” Lewis said. “It breaks my soul to see religion weaponized this way … it’s the opposite of what religion should be.”Among the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, by far the largest evangelical denomination, there’s unified opposition to abortion. However, there has been sharp disagreement over whether to impose criminal penalties on women who get abortions.The SBC’s president, Bart Barber, opposes criminalization of women in such cases and has sparred verbally with Baptist pastors who argue that such women. in some instances, should be considered murderers.“I think it is unjust, unnecessary, and unwise to include in abortion laws the prosecution of women who seek or obtain an abortion,” Barber writes in a lengthy&nbsp;<a href="https://erlc.com/resource-library/commentary-articles/working-toward-the-end-of-abortion/">article.</a>&nbsp;“The abortionist is the murderer, and any law banning abortion should identify the abortionist uniquely as such.”___

Religious leaders sharply divided over abortion, a year after Roe reversal

JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in Olathe.

Just before 6 p.m. Saturday, police were conducting a traffic stop in the 200 block of North Water Street, according to a media release.

During the course of the traffic stop, a separate and unrelated vehicle arrived on scene and the driver of that vehicle advanced on officers armed with a knife. 

Two Officers discharged their department issued handguns striking the man.&nbsp; The 58-year-old man, received medical attention by responding Officers as well as Johnson County Med-Act. He was pronounced deceased on scene. The Officers were not injured.

The Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (OICIIT) was activated.&nbsp; Investigators from multiple agencies are leading the investigation of the incident.&nbsp; The Johnson County Crime Lab&nbsp; processed the scene.

As a matter of standard procedure, the involved Officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation by the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (OICIIT).&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685845131430.png" alt="Police on the scene of the fatal officer-involved shooting photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the fatal officer-involved shooting photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting in Olathe.Just before 6 p.m. Saturday, police were conducting a traffic stop in the 200 block of North Water Street, according to a media release.During the course of the traffic stop, a separate and unrelated vehicle arrived on scene and the driver of that vehicle advanced on officers armed with a knife. Two Officers discharged their department issued handguns striking the man.&nbsp; The 58-year-old man, received medical attention by responding Officers as well as Johnson County Med-Act. He was pronounced deceased on scene. The Officers were not injured.The Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (OICIIT) was activated.&nbsp; Investigators from multiple agencies are leading the investigation of the incident.&nbsp; The Johnson County Crime Lab&nbsp; processed the scene.As a matter of standard procedure, the involved Officers have been placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation by the Johnson County Officer Involved Critical Incident Investigation Team (OICIIT).&nbsp;&nbsp;

Man armed with a knife dies in Kansas officer shooting

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp; shooting that sent a 19-year-old from Wichita to the hospital where she died May 23, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.

Officers continue the search for a suspect identified as&nbsp; 19-year-old La’Niha Banks who is considered armed and dangerous.

Just after 11 p.m. May 20, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 1000 block of E 1st Street N in Wichita.

First responders located a woman with two gunshot wounds to her upper body. The victim was transported to an area hospital in critical condition and with life-threatening injuries.

The investigation revealed that the victim was trying to break up a physical altercation between an acquaintance of hers and Banks in a parking lot. 

After the victim managed to stop the fight, she started to drive away, but&nbsp; Banks produced a handgun and started to shoot into the occupied vehicle.

During the investigation, detectives were able to confirm Banks as the suspect. She was last seen fleeing in a red 2014 Buick Lacrosse with a paper 60-day tag. The police have located the car.

&nbsp;Banks is wanted on requested charges of aggravated battery, five counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts of discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle, and one count of&nbsp; murder.&nbsp; If you see Banks or know where she is, call 911.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684684649459.png" alt="Banks-photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Banks-photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp; shooting that sent a 19-year-old from Wichita to the hospital where she died May 23, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.Officers continue the search for a suspect identified as&nbsp; 19-year-old La’Niha Banks who is considered armed and dangerous.Just after 11 p.m. May 20, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 1000 block of E 1st Street N in Wichita.First responders located a woman with two gunshot wounds to her upper body. The victim was transported to an area hospital in critical condition and with life-threatening injuries.The investigation revealed that the victim was trying to break up a physical altercation between an acquaintance of hers and Banks in a parking lot. After the victim managed to stop the fight, she started to drive away, but&nbsp; Banks produced a handgun and started to shoot into the occupied vehicle.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684688157483.png" alt="Police reported on May 23 they had recovered Banks' car -photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Police reported on May 23 they had recovered Banks' car -photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>During the investigation, detectives were able to confirm Banks as the suspect. She was last seen fleeing in a red 2014 Buick Lacrosse with a paper 60-day tag. The police have located the car.&nbsp;Banks is wanted on requested charges of aggravated battery, five counts of Aggravated Assault, two counts of discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle, and one count of&nbsp; murder.&nbsp; If you see Banks or know where she is, call 911.

Kansas murder suspect still hiding from police

SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed Saturday that Washington would not stand for any “coercion and bullying” of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the United States remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum bringing together top defense officials, diplomats and leaders in Singapore, Austin&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-military-aquilino-china-security-north-korea-bb41e692490b13cfcc0a6e28fd8f9bef">lobbied for support for Washington's vision</a>&nbsp;of a “free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best course to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

The U.S. has been expanding its own activities around the Indo-Pacific to counter sweeping territorial claims from China, including regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.

“We are committed to ensuring that every country can fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," he said at the forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. "And every country, large or small, must remain free to conduct lawful maritime activities.”

Austin noted that the U.S. had provided millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic and is regularly involved in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance efforts in the region. He said it is working to combat climate change, illegal fishing and ensure that supply chains do not suffer disruptions — ticking off many issues of importance to Asian-Pacific nations.

“We're doubling down on our alliances and partnerships,” he said.

He said the U.S. is also committed to deterring North Korea's missile threat and China's claims on Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that Beijing says is its territory, and said Washington has been stepping up defense planning, coordination and training with partner nations in the region.

“To be clear, we do not seek conflict or confrontation,” he said. “But we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion.”

Underscoring Austin's words, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed Saturday through the Taiwan Strait, “waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said. There was no immediate word of a Chinese response.

In Singapore, Chinese Lt. Gen. Jing Jianfeng, a senior member of the delegation accompanying Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, accused Austin of “overtly or covertly making false accusations against China” in his address.

Speaking with reporters after Austin spoke, Jing alleged the U.S. has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-blinken-papua-biden-debt-limit-solomon-6bcfcfc6ea5c6bd179c072295c87b145">“deceiving and exploiting” Asia-Pacific nations</a>&nbsp;to advance its own self-interests to preserve “its dominant position" in the region.

He suggested that Washington has been holding on to alliances that are “remnants of the Cold War” and establishing new pacts, like the AUKUS agreement with Britain and Australia and the “Quad” grouping with Australia, India and Japan “to divide the world into ideologically-driven camps and provoke confrontation.”

Jing, who took no questions, said that by contrast, “China is committed to the region's development and prosperity.”

Austin sought to assure China that the U.S. remained “deeply committed” to the longstanding one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing as the government of China but allows informal relations with Taiwan, and continues to “categorically oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.”

He added that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had served to underline how dangerous the world would be if big countries were able to "just invade their peaceful neighbors with impunity.”

“Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable,” Austin said. “Deterrence is strong today — and it’s our job to keep it that way. The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

But Jing accused the U.S. of hollowing out the one-China policy, accusing Washington of supporting Taiwanese separatists without citing any evidence, and reiterating Beijing's claim that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's sovereign territory.”

“There's no room for us to concede or compromise,” he said.

He added that “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and the adjacent waters.”

Li, who became China’s defense minister in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-us-military-taiwan-balloon-singapore-e78f67d3d590294a2e4a351e6430e6ec">declined Austin’s invitation to talk</a>&nbsp;on the sidelines of the conference, though the two did shake hands before sitting down at opposite sides of the same table together as the forum opened Friday.

“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement,” he said.

Li, who was named defense minister in March, is under American sanctions that are part of a broad package of measures against Russia — but predate its invasion of Ukraine — that were imposed in 2018 over Li’s involvement in China’s purchase of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.

The sanctions, which broadly prevent Li from doing business in the United States, do not prevent him from holding official talks, American defense officials have said.

It was not clear whether Li, who is to address the forum Sunday morning, was in the room while Austin talked. He did join the American defense secretary and others later for a ministerial roundtable.

Austin reiterated calls that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made in his opening address at the forum for China to engage in regular, direct communications to help prevent any possible conflict.

“For responsible defense leaders, the right time to talk is anytime,” Austin said. “The right time to talk is every time. And the right time to talk is now.”

Jing said, however, that lines of communication needed to be based upon “mutual respect.”

“But the U.S. has been calling for communications on one hand and undermining China’s interests and concerns on the other,” he said.

The U.S. has noted that since 2021 — well before Li became defense minister — China has declined or failed to respond to more than a dozen requests from the U.S. Defense Department to talk with senior leaders, as well as multiple requests for standing dialogues and working-level engagements.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1685562587349.png" alt="From a video of the Chinese J-16 fighter pilot that "flew directly in front of the nose of a U.S. RC-135,&nbsp;forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake. Image INDOPACOM" />
 <figcaption>From a video of the Chinese J-16 fighter pilot that "flew directly in front of the nose of a U.S. RC-135,&nbsp;forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake. Image INDOPACOM</figcaption>
 </figure>SINGAPORE (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed Saturday that Washington would not stand for any “coercion and bullying” of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the United States remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum bringing together top defense officials, diplomats and leaders in Singapore, Austin&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-military-aquilino-china-security-north-korea-bb41e692490b13cfcc0a6e28fd8f9bef">lobbied for support for Washington's vision</a>&nbsp;of a “free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best course to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.The U.S. has been expanding its own activities around the Indo-Pacific to counter sweeping territorial claims from China, including regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea.“We are committed to ensuring that every country can fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," he said at the forum hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank. "And every country, large or small, must remain free to conduct lawful maritime activities.”Austin noted that the U.S. had provided millions of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic and is regularly involved in disaster relief and humanitarian assistance efforts in the region. He said it is working to combat climate change, illegal fishing and ensure that supply chains do not suffer disruptions — ticking off many issues of importance to Asian-Pacific nations.“We're doubling down on our alliances and partnerships,” he said.He said the U.S. is also committed to deterring North Korea's missile threat and China's claims on Taiwan, a self-governing island democracy that Beijing says is its territory, and said Washington has been stepping up defense planning, coordination and training with partner nations in the region.“To be clear, we do not seek conflict or confrontation,” he said. “But we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion.”Underscoring Austin's words, a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate sailed Saturday through the Taiwan Strait, “waters where high-seas freedoms of navigation and overflight apply in accordance with international law,” the U.S. 7th Fleet said. There was no immediate word of a Chinese response.In Singapore, Chinese Lt. Gen. Jing Jianfeng, a senior member of the delegation accompanying Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, accused Austin of “overtly or covertly making false accusations against China” in his address.Speaking with reporters after Austin spoke, Jing alleged the U.S. has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-blinken-papua-biden-debt-limit-solomon-6bcfcfc6ea5c6bd179c072295c87b145">“deceiving and exploiting” Asia-Pacific nations</a>&nbsp;to advance its own self-interests to preserve “its dominant position" in the region.He suggested that Washington has been holding on to alliances that are “remnants of the Cold War” and establishing new pacts, like the AUKUS agreement with Britain and Australia and the “Quad” grouping with Australia, India and Japan “to divide the world into ideologically-driven camps and provoke confrontation.”Jing, who took no questions, said that by contrast, “China is committed to the region's development and prosperity.”Austin sought to assure China that the U.S. remained “deeply committed” to the longstanding one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing as the government of China but allows informal relations with Taiwan, and continues to “categorically oppose unilateral changes to the status quo from either side.”He added that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had served to underline how dangerous the world would be if big countries were able to "just invade their peaceful neighbors with impunity.”“Conflict is neither imminent nor inevitable,” Austin said. “Deterrence is strong today — and it’s our job to keep it that way. The whole world has a stake in maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”But Jing accused the U.S. of hollowing out the one-China policy, accusing Washington of supporting Taiwanese separatists without citing any evidence, and reiterating Beijing's claim that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's sovereign territory.”“There's no room for us to concede or compromise,” he said.He added that “China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and the adjacent waters.”Li, who became China’s defense minister in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-us-military-taiwan-balloon-singapore-e78f67d3d590294a2e4a351e6430e6ec">declined Austin’s invitation to talk</a>&nbsp;on the sidelines of the conference, though the two did shake hands before sitting down at opposite sides of the same table together as the forum opened Friday.Austin said this was not enough.“A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement,” he said.Li, who was named defense minister in March, is under American sanctions that are part of a broad package of measures against Russia — but predate its invasion of Ukraine — that were imposed in 2018 over Li’s involvement in China’s purchase of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.The sanctions, which broadly prevent Li from doing business in the United States, do not prevent him from holding official talks, American defense officials have said.It was not clear whether Li, who is to address the forum Sunday morning, was in the room while Austin talked. He did join the American defense secretary and others later for a ministerial roundtable.Austin reiterated calls that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made in his opening address at the forum for China to engage in regular, direct communications to help prevent any possible conflict.“For responsible defense leaders, the right time to talk is anytime,” Austin said. “The right time to talk is every time. And the right time to talk is now.”Jing said, however, that lines of communication needed to be based upon “mutual respect.”“But the U.S. has been calling for communications on one hand and undermining China’s interests and concerns on the other,” he said.The U.S. has noted that since 2021 — well before Li became defense minister — China has declined or failed to respond to more than a dozen requests from the U.S. Defense Department to talk with senior leaders, as well as multiple requests for standing dialogues and working-level engagements.

Defense secretary: U.S. won't stand for bullying from China

LAWRENCE COUNTY —Four people died in a six vehicle accident just before 11:30a.m. Saturday in Lawrence County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Toyota Corolla driven by Theresa L. Manetzke, 51, Aurora, was southbound on MO 39 three miles north of Aurora.

The car crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Jesse W. Clinkingbeard, 54, Aurora; a 2000 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Cody J. Zielinski, 35, Aurora; a 2003 Honda motorcycle driven by James R. Olmsted, 59, Aurora; a 2000 Honda motorcycle driven by Darrell J. Trueblood, 37, Aurora and a 2005 Honda motorcycle driven by&nbsp; Kameron L. Hale, 28, Aurora.

The impact caused all the motorcycles to overturned ejecting the drivers. The 2003 Honda also caught fire.

Olmsted, Hale, Linda G. Anderson, 61, Aurora, a passenger on the 2006 Harley and a 17-year-old female passenger on the 2003 Honda were pronounced dead at the scene.

EMS transported Manetzke, Clinkingbeard, Zielinski, Trueblood, and three other motorcycle passengers to area hospitals. All of those on motorcycles were wearing helmets, according to the MSHP.

LAWRENCE COUNTY —Four people died in a six vehicle accident just before 11:30a.m. Saturday in Lawrence County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Toyota Corolla driven by Theresa L. Manetzke, 51, Aurora, was southbound on MO 39 three miles north of Aurora.The car crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Jesse W. Clinkingbeard, 54, Aurora; a 2000 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Cody J. Zielinski, 35, Aurora; a 2003 Honda motorcycle driven by James R. Olmsted, 59, Aurora; a 2000 Honda motorcycle driven by Darrell J. Trueblood, 37, Aurora and a 2005 Honda motorcycle driven by&nbsp; Kameron L. Hale, 28, Aurora.The impact caused all the motorcycles to overturned ejecting the drivers. The 2003 Honda also caught fire.Olmsted, Hale, Linda G. Anderson, 61, Aurora, a passenger on the 2006 Harley and a 17-year-old female passenger on the 2003 Honda were pronounced dead at the scene.EMS transported Manetzke, Clinkingbeard, Zielinski, Trueblood, and three other motorcycle passengers to area hospitals. All of those on motorcycles were wearing helmets, according to the MSHP.

4 dead after car strikes 5 motorcycles on Missouri highway

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man faces charges for the fatal shooting&nbsp; in the parking lot of a Kansas City apartment complex, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Mikell R. Grigsby, 23, faces Voluntary Manslaugther and Armed Criminal Action charges.

According to court records, on May 20, Kansas City police responded to an outside disturbance with persons fighting in the area of the 8600 block of Drury Avenue. 

A calling party reported gunfire and hearing a man say, "I'm going to shoot." Witnesses confirmed two women were fighting. Knives were involved. And the victim was armed with a firearm, as well as Grigsby. Video surveillance showed that when the victim panned his weapon toward one of the woman and appeared to lower the weapon, Grigsby fired and hit the victim.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1685542166314.png" alt="Grigsby-photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Grigsby-photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man faces charges for the fatal shooting&nbsp; in the parking lot of a Kansas City apartment complex, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Mikell R. Grigsby, 23, faces Voluntary Manslaugther and Armed Criminal Action charges.According to court records, on May 20, Kansas City police responded to an outside disturbance with persons fighting in the area of the 8600 block of Drury Avenue. A calling party reported gunfire and hearing a man say, "I'm going to shoot." Witnesses confirmed two women were fighting. Knives were involved. And the victim was armed with a firearm, as well as Grigsby. Video surveillance showed that when the victim panned his weapon toward one of the woman and appeared to lower the weapon, Grigsby fired and hit the victim.&nbsp;

Kansas City man accused of deadly shooting amid knife fight

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas woman has been charged with multiple felony counts in connection with a recent shooting at a hotel in Blue Springs, Missouri, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Samantha J. Thrasher, 24, faces two counts of Assault 1st Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.

According to court records, Blue Springs police officers were dispatched&nbsp; on May 20, to a hotel in the 700 block of NW South Outer Road in Blue Springs after a caller said a shot had been fired inside the hotel. 

Officers located two victims, one an adult who had been shot multiple times and the other, a juvenile, was wounded in the elbow. Video surveillance showed the defendant taking a gun from a vehicle. She went into the hotel lobby, where she earlier was involved in an altercation, and fired multiple shots, striking both victims.

The Blue Springs Police Department has an active arrest warrant&nbsp; Thrasher's arrest. She is considered armed and very dangerous, so do not attempt to apprehend but call 911 if you see her.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685702150583.png" alt="Thrasher-photo Blue Springs Police" />
 <figcaption>Thrasher-photo Blue Springs Police</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas woman has been charged with multiple felony counts in connection with a recent shooting at a hotel in Blue Springs, Missouri, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Samantha J. Thrasher, 24, faces two counts of Assault 1st Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685702173582.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>According to court records, Blue Springs police officers were dispatched&nbsp; on May 20, to a hotel in the 700 block of NW South Outer Road in Blue Springs after a caller said a shot had been fired inside the hotel. Officers located two victims, one an adult who had been shot multiple times and the other, a juvenile, was wounded in the elbow. Video surveillance showed the defendant taking a gun from a vehicle. She went into the hotel lobby, where she earlier was involved in an altercation, and fired multiple shots, striking both victims.The Blue Springs Police Department has an active arrest warrant&nbsp; Thrasher's arrest. She is considered armed and very dangerous, so do not attempt to apprehend but call 911 if you see her.

Kansas woman charged in shooting child, man at hotel

Missouri Family Health Council will distribute over 5,500 kits containing emergency contraception pills in a pilot program launching Thursday

By CLARA BATES <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>

Anyone with a Missouri address can now request emergency contraception pills be shipped to them by mail, for free,&nbsp;under a pilot program launched Thursday by a health care nonprofit.

Missouri Family Health Council Inc. launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://mfhc.org/EC">“Free EC” initiative</a>&nbsp;using federal Title X funds for family planning programs. Missourians can request the pills through an online form on the nonprofit’s website or pick them up at designated in-person centers.

Also known as the morning-after pill, or by the brand name Plan B, the emergency contraception pill is an over-the-counter form of birth control that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex to avoid pregnancy.&nbsp;

The goal of the initiative, Executive Director Michelle Trupiano said, is to reduce geographic and financial barriers Missourians face in accessing emergency contraception pills.

“Really since the&nbsp;Dobbs&nbsp;ruling last summer,” Trupiano said in an interview with The Independent, “we realized that it was more important to combat misinformation and stigma about and to improve access to emergency contraception.”

Since last summer, abortion has been outlawed in Missouri except in cases of medical emergency.&nbsp;

Emergency contraception pills have remained legal, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/29/missouri-ag-says-state-abortion-ban-does-not-prohibit-plan-b-or-contraception/">confusion</a>&nbsp;and misinformation around that fact in Missouri and nationally has mounted.&nbsp;

A poll conducted by the health policy research nonprofit&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/the-public-including-women-of-childbearing-age-are-largely-confused-about-the-legality-of-medication-abortion-and-emergency-contraceptives-in-their-states/">KFF</a>&nbsp;this year found that one-third of American adults said they are “unsure” if emergency contraception is legal in their state, though it is legal in all 50 states. Confusion about its legality is more pronounced in states where abortion is banned, the poll found.

The emergency contraception pill&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/plan-b-one-step-15-mg-levonorgestrel-information#:~:text=One%2DStep%20work%3F-,A.,similar%20way%20to%20prevent%20pregnancy.">works</a>&nbsp;similarly to birth control pills, generally to prevent ovulation, but most adults incorrectly believe it can end early pregnancy, KFF found.

“We definitely hope that as more people become aware of this [initiative], that it will combat the misinformation that maybe emergency contraception is illegal,” Trupiano said.&nbsp;

“And so that more people will feel more confidence that they understand the difference between emergency contraception and medication abortion, and that they are able to talk about it and feel confident in terms of the legality of all methods of birth control.”

The nonprofit created more than 5,500 kits, Trupiano said, each of which includes two doses of the emergency contraception pill, along with safer sex supplies like condoms and family planning information.

“While we partly did this as a response to the&nbsp;Dobbs&nbsp;decision, we also know that it’s not a solution to the abortion access crisis,” Trupiano said. “It’s just one way to try to ensure that as many people have access to preventive care as possible.”

Missourians can request one of the kits by submitting a form on the nonprofit’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://mfhc.org/EC">website</a>, or going to one of the in-person distribution centers partnering with the nonprofit, which include health centers and private community partners such as domestic violence organizations.

Trupiano hopes that down the line, Missouri Family Health Council can “secure additional funding, continue this in a sustainable way,” she said, “because we know the need is great.”

The Missouri Family Health Council is the state’s sole grantee of federal family planning funding through Title X. The state has tried, in recent years,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/02/17/missouri-state-health-agency-seeks-control-of-title-x-funds-that-go-to-planned-parenthood/">to oversee the funds themselves,</a>&nbsp;raising advocates’ concerns the state would limit which providers could receive the federal planning dollars. But so far, that attempt to control the funds has been unsuccessful.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1685626036011.png" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Missouri Family Health Council will distribute over 5,500 kits containing emergency contraception pills in a pilot program launching Thursday</h2>By CLARA BATES <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/09/21/missouri-judge-once-again-delays-decision-on-closing-agape-boarding-school/">Missouri Independent</a>Anyone with a Missouri address can now request emergency contraception pills be shipped to them by mail, for free,&nbsp;under a pilot program launched Thursday by a health care nonprofit.Missouri Family Health Council Inc. launched the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://mfhc.org/EC">“Free EC” initiative</a>&nbsp;using federal Title X funds for family planning programs. Missourians can request the pills through an online form on the nonprofit’s website or pick them up at designated in-person centers.Also known as the morning-after pill, or by the brand name Plan B, the emergency contraception pill is an over-the-counter form of birth control that can be taken up to five days after unprotected sex to avoid pregnancy.&nbsp;The goal of the initiative, Executive Director Michelle Trupiano said, is to reduce geographic and financial barriers Missourians face in accessing emergency contraception pills.“Really since the&nbsp;Dobbs&nbsp;ruling last summer,” Trupiano said in an interview with The Independent, “we realized that it was more important to combat misinformation and stigma about and to improve access to emergency contraception.”Since last summer, abortion has been outlawed in Missouri except in cases of medical emergency.&nbsp;Emergency contraception pills have remained legal, but&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/06/29/missouri-ag-says-state-abortion-ban-does-not-prohibit-plan-b-or-contraception/">confusion</a>&nbsp;and misinformation around that fact in Missouri and nationally has mounted.&nbsp;A poll conducted by the health policy research nonprofit&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/press-release/the-public-including-women-of-childbearing-age-are-largely-confused-about-the-legality-of-medication-abortion-and-emergency-contraceptives-in-their-states/">KFF</a>&nbsp;this year found that one-third of American adults said they are “unsure” if emergency contraception is legal in their state, though it is legal in all 50 states. Confusion about its legality is more pronounced in states where abortion is banned, the poll found.The emergency contraception pill&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/plan-b-one-step-15-mg-levonorgestrel-information#:~:text=One%2DStep%20work%3F-,A.,similar%20way%20to%20prevent%20pregnancy.">works</a>&nbsp;similarly to birth control pills, generally to prevent ovulation, but most adults incorrectly believe it can end early pregnancy, KFF found.“We definitely hope that as more people become aware of this [initiative], that it will combat the misinformation that maybe emergency contraception is illegal,” Trupiano said.&nbsp;“And so that more people will feel more confidence that they understand the difference between emergency contraception and medication abortion, and that they are able to talk about it and feel confident in terms of the legality of all methods of birth control.”The nonprofit created more than 5,500 kits, Trupiano said, each of which includes two doses of the emergency contraception pill, along with safer sex supplies like condoms and family planning information.“While we partly did this as a response to the&nbsp;Dobbs&nbsp;decision, we also know that it’s not a solution to the abortion access crisis,” Trupiano said. “It’s just one way to try to ensure that as many people have access to preventive care as possible.”Missourians can request one of the kits by submitting a form on the nonprofit’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="http://mfhc.org/EC">website</a>, or going to one of the in-person distribution centers partnering with the nonprofit, which include health centers and private community partners such as domestic violence organizations.Trupiano hopes that down the line, Missouri Family Health Council can “secure additional funding, continue this in a sustainable way,” she said, “because we know the need is great.”The Missouri Family Health Council is the state’s sole grantee of federal family planning funding through Title X. The state has tried, in recent years,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/02/17/missouri-state-health-agency-seeks-control-of-title-x-funds-that-go-to-planned-parenthood/">to oversee the funds themselves,</a>&nbsp;raising advocates’ concerns the state would limit which providers could receive the federal planning dollars. But so far, that attempt to control the funds has been unsuccessful.

Nonprofit launches initiative to provide free emergency contraception by mail

RUSSELL COUNTY —A firefighter was injured&nbsp; while on the scene of a fire in Russell.

Just after 9 p.m. Friday, the City of Russell Fire Department was paged to a structure fire at 1706 N. Main Street, according to a media release. Shortly after the first units arrived on the scene, a police officer reported an explosion and a firefighter injured.

Russell County EMS transported Fire Chief Dylan Riedel to Russell Regional Hospital. 

EagleMed then transported him to a burn unit at Via Christi in Wichita. Fire crews contained the fire to the garage. The Kansas State Fire Marshall was contacted to assist in the investigation. The origin of the fire is still under investigation.

RUSSELL COUNTY —A firefighter was injured&nbsp; while on the scene of a fire in Russell.Just after 9 p.m. Friday, the City of Russell Fire Department was paged to a structure fire at 1706 N. Main Street, according to a media release. Shortly after the first units arrived on the scene, a police officer reported an explosion and a firefighter injured.Russell County EMS transported Fire Chief Dylan Riedel to Russell Regional Hospital. EagleMed then transported him to a burn unit at Via Christi in Wichita. Fire crews contained the fire to the garage. The Kansas State Fire Marshall was contacted to assist in the investigation. The origin of the fire is still under investigation.

Fire Chief injured in explosion while fighting Kansas fire

KANSAS CITY (AP) — The family of a Black Kansas City teenager who was shot by a white man after he mistakenly knocked on the man's door are frustrated with the prosecutor's handling of the case, attorneys for the family said Thursday.

The complaints came after a preliminary hearing for 84-year-old Andrew Lester was set for Aug. 31-Sept. 1 and just days after a Clay County judge approved a request by Lester's attorney to seal documents in the case.

Lester has pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, who knocked on Lester’s door on April 13 while trying to pick up his young brothers, who were at a home a block away.

Civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Lee Merritt said in a Zoom news conference that they had previously asked Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson to step aside and let Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker be named as a special prosecutor in the case but that Thompson “adamantly” refused.

The family is upset that Thompson did not more aggressively challenge the motion to seal court records and that the preliminary hearing was delayed for 90 days, which Thompson did not object to in court.

“We continue to encourage the prosecutor to zealously prosecute this case as he would had the dynamics been different,” Crump said. “We don’t want any different form of justice or policy because we have a young teenage Black kid shot by an older white man.”

Thompson's office said in a statement that the focus of his office “remains squarely on following the law and achieving justice.”

The shooting drew international attention amid claims that Lester received preferential treatment from investigators after he shot Yarl. President Joe Biden and several celebrities issued statements calling for justice for Yarl.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681726215314.png" alt="Ralph Yarl-photo GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Ralph Yarl-photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — The family of a Black Kansas City teenager who was shot by a white man after he mistakenly knocked on the man's door are frustrated with the prosecutor's handling of the case, attorneys for the family said Thursday.The complaints came after a preliminary hearing for 84-year-old Andrew Lester was set for Aug. 31-Sept. 1 and just days after a Clay County judge approved a request by Lester's attorney to seal documents in the case.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681844207619.png" alt="Lester-photo Clay Co." />
 <figcaption>Lester-photo Clay Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Lester has pleaded not guilty to first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of Ralph Yarl, who knocked on Lester’s door on April 13 while trying to pick up his young brothers, who were at a home a block away.Civil rights attorneys Benjamin Crump and Lee Merritt said in a Zoom news conference that they had previously asked Clay County Prosecutor Zachary Thompson to step aside and let Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker be named as a special prosecutor in the case but that Thompson “adamantly” refused.The family is upset that Thompson did not more aggressively challenge the motion to seal court records and that the preliminary hearing was delayed for 90 days, which Thompson did not object to in court.“We continue to encourage the prosecutor to zealously prosecute this case as he would had the dynamics been different,” Crump said. “We don’t want any different form of justice or policy because we have a young teenage Black kid shot by an older white man.”Thompson's office said in a statement that the focus of his office “remains squarely on following the law and achieving justice.”The shooting drew international attention amid claims that Lester received preferential treatment from investigators after he shot Yarl. President Joe Biden and several celebrities issued statements calling for justice for Yarl.Lester admitted that he shot Yarl through the door without warning because he was “scared to death” he was about to be robbed by the Black person standing at his door. He remains free after posting $20,000 — 10% of his $200,000 bond.The teen’s father, Paul Yarl, said after Thursday’s hearing that he hopes Lester eventually serves jail time.“The shooter was going to kill Ralph,” Paul Yarl said. “It’s obvious, right? He shot him twice. His intent was to finish him off. So yeah, we need justice for that.”Ralph Yarl, who has celebrated his 17th birthday since the shooting, suffered gunshot wounds to his head and wrist and continues to recover at home. His mother, Cleo Nagbe, said he is trying to get back some normalcy in his life.“The longer we stretch this out, the longer it takes him to get that little bit of normalcy he needs to spend his teenage years just doing teenager stuff ... Ralph needs to be the teenager that he needs to be that Lester is stealing away from him," Nagbe said.Merritt said the appropriate circumstances to seal court documents have not been met and sealing them benefits Lester at the expense of Yarl and his family.“The state's failure, Mr. Thompson's failure to make the appropriate objections to the seal is costing this family peace of mind," Merritt said. “It's costing them access to equal justice under the law.”On Tuesday, Clay County Judge Louis Angles granted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yarl-shooting-court-motion-seal-case-4198795a6a1e67d38f5cd49200ab8a15">a request from Lester's attorney</a>&nbsp;to seal the court documents, saying the publicity led to threats against Lester, who his attorney says has been forced to move three times. He also said the publicity has made it more difficult for the case to be heard before a fair and impartial jury.“The overwhelming majority of the reporting continues to assert that the alleged actions of (Lester) were racially motivated, which if believed, virtually eliminates the defense available to (Lester) related to the reasonableness of his actions,” Angles wrote in the ruling.The judge noted in his order that Lester's personal cell phone number was posted on a public platform after the shooting, leading to several text messages calling him a “murderer” who “should burn in hell.” Others threatened to shoot up Lester's home, which has been vandalized since the shooting.In his reply to the motion, Thompson argued that legal precedents largely favored&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yarl-motion-court-records-sealed-0bb0bab807449b383d243f450624b89a">keeping court documents open</a>&nbsp;to the public, but he did not directly oppose sealing the records.Nagbe and Yarl’s aunt, Faith Spoonmore, said the family was upset that some of the arguments for sealing court records focused on Lester’s suffering health problems and being harassed since the shooting with little discussion about the continuing problems Ralph is facing.They said Ralph, who will be a senior in high school in the fall, has restrictions on playing with friends and playing his band instruments, while also suffering from the emotional trauma of the shooting.“That is what we need to talk about, that is what the judge needs to understand,” Spoonmore said. “That Lester is suffering the consequences of his actions, but Ralph is suffering the consequences of being Black in America. That is what the judge needs to hear.”