SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal shooting on Monday in Topeka have arrest 36-year-old Christopher L. Brown of Topeka, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.

Just after 6:30p.m. Monday, police were dispatched to a report of gunshots in the 2300 block of SE Bellview Avenue in Topeka, according to Police Lt. Edward Stanley.

First responders found 33-year-old Sherman Coleman, Jr. suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he died.

As a result of the investigation, police reported on Thursday they arrested Brown and booked him on requested charges of Murder in the 1st Degree, Criminal possession of a weapon and a Violation of the offender registration act.

Brown has been a registered offender since 2015 for convictions that include attempted aggravated murder, criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682071208821.png" alt="Brown-photo KBI offender registry" />
 <figcaption>Brown-photo KBI offender registry</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal shooting on Monday in Topeka have arrest 36-year-old Christopher L. Brown of Topeka, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.Just after 6:30p.m. Monday, police were dispatched to a report of gunshots in the 2300 block of SE Bellview Avenue in Topeka, according to Police Lt. Edward Stanley.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681821530853.png" alt="-Police on the scene of the investigation Monday evening-Photo by Phil Anderson courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>-Police on the scene of the investigation Monday evening-Photo by Phil Anderson courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>First responders found 33-year-old Sherman Coleman, Jr. suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he died.As a result of the investigation, police reported on Thursday they arrested Brown and booked him on requested charges of Murder in the 1st Degree, Criminal possession of a weapon and a Violation of the offender registration act.Brown has been a registered offender since 2015 for convictions that include attempted aggravated murder, criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling and aggravated assault.

Kansas registered offender arrested for man's murder

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, three people briefed on the discussions said Thursday.

The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said they were not aware that a final decision on timing had been made, but that Biden had been eyeing Tuesday, April 25,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-pa-state-wire-joe-biden-ap-top-news-donald-trump-d5c415b99a6945dbbecf60d57bcf68cb">four years to the day since the Democrat entered the 2020 race</a>. The upcoming announcement is expected to be in the form of a video released to supporters.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-2024-presidential-reelection-campaign-announcement-trump-e64cd5649d9486291715388db3e8e386">Biden, 80, has repeatedly said he intends to run</a>&nbsp;for a second term but advisers say he has felt little need to jump into campaigning because he faces no significant opposition to his party’s nomination.

It’ll be a markedly different experience from four years ago, as when Biden was written off by much of the political establishment until he consolidated support as the candidate Democrats believed was best positioned to defeat then-President Donald Trump while the coronavirus pandemic raged. This time around, he will have to juggle the challenge of running for reelection while also running the country.

Biden in recent months has been focused on implementing the massive infrastructure, technology investment and climate laws passed during his first two years in office and drawing a sharp contrast with Republicans as Washington gears up for a fight over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. Aides believe those priorities will burnish his image ahead of his reelection campaign.

The president, already the oldest person ever elected the job, will also need to contend with voter concerns about his fitness for the job. He has brushed aside those concerns, telling voters to “watch me,” and aides say he plans to mount a robust campaign ahead of what they expect to be a close general election owing to the country’s polarization, no matter who emerges as the GOP standard-bearer.

Biden has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donors-democrats-election-2024-133f053e66c361e147921cc49372b251">summoned top Democratic donors</a>&nbsp;to Washington next week for what was expected to be a dinner with him and a strategy session with his chief political advisers.

The Washington Post first reported on the expected timing of the announcement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681082649192.png" alt="The president, already the oldest person ever elected to the job, will also need to contend with voter concerns about his fitness for the job. White House photo" />
 <figcaption>The president, already the oldest person ever elected to the job, will also need to contend with voter concerns about his fitness for the job. White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as next week, three people briefed on the discussions said Thursday.The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said they were not aware that a final decision on timing had been made, but that Biden had been eyeing Tuesday, April 25,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-pa-state-wire-joe-biden-ap-top-news-donald-trump-d5c415b99a6945dbbecf60d57bcf68cb">four years to the day since the Democrat entered the 2020 race</a>. The upcoming announcement is expected to be in the form of a video released to supporters.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-2024-presidential-reelection-campaign-announcement-trump-e64cd5649d9486291715388db3e8e386">Biden, 80, has repeatedly said he intends to run</a>&nbsp;for a second term but advisers say he has felt little need to jump into campaigning because he faces no significant opposition to his party’s nomination.It’ll be a markedly different experience from four years ago, as when Biden was written off by much of the political establishment until he consolidated support as the candidate Democrats believed was best positioned to defeat then-President Donald Trump while the coronavirus pandemic raged. This time around, he will have to juggle the challenge of running for reelection while also running the country.Biden in recent months has been focused on implementing the massive infrastructure, technology investment and climate laws passed during his first two years in office and drawing a sharp contrast with Republicans as Washington gears up for a fight over raising the nation’s borrowing limit. Aides believe those priorities will burnish his image ahead of his reelection campaign.The president, already the oldest person ever elected the job, will also need to contend with voter concerns about his fitness for the job. He has brushed aside those concerns, telling voters to “watch me,” and aides say he plans to mount a robust campaign ahead of what they expect to be a close general election owing to the country’s polarization, no matter who emerges as the GOP standard-bearer.Biden has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donors-democrats-election-2024-133f053e66c361e147921cc49372b251">summoned top Democratic donors</a>&nbsp;to Washington next week for what was expected to be a dinner with him and a strategy session with his chief political advisers.The Washington Post first reported on the expected timing of the announcement.

Biden 2024 re-election announcement coming next week

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday set an execution date for a man who sexually assaulted and killed a 6-year-old St. Louis County girl in 2002.

Johnny Johnson is scheduled to be put to death Aug. 1 at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

Missouri has already executed two people in 2023 —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-legal-proceedings-missouri-st-louis-capital-punishment-b45a31029fa42d9eb67b5b4e1f6a6ffe">Amber McLaughlin</a>&nbsp;in January and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-state-government-california-homicide-94fe2fefa47faa618d3826c7f32e6f1d">Raheem Taylor</a>&nbsp;in February.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/execution-missouri-15298c399e436f00c42f5174594605dd">Michael Andrew Tisius</a>&nbsp;is scheduled for execution June 6 for fatally shooting Randolph County jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley in 2000.

Johnson, 45, was staying with friends in Valley Park, Missouri, in July 2002 when Cassandra “Casey” Williamson was discovered missing. Dozens of volunteers joined police in the search.

The girl's body was found in a pit less than a mile from her home, buried beneath rocks and debris. Johnson confessed to the crimes.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682020391567.png" alt="Johnson-photo MODOC" />
 <figcaption>Johnson-photo MODOC</figcaption>
 </figure>JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday set an execution date for a man who sexually assaulted and killed a 6-year-old St. Louis County girl in 2002.Johnny Johnson is scheduled to be put to death Aug. 1 at the state prison in Bonne Terre, Missouri.Missouri has already executed two people in 2023 —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-legal-proceedings-missouri-st-louis-capital-punishment-b45a31029fa42d9eb67b5b4e1f6a6ffe">Amber McLaughlin</a>&nbsp;in January and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/missouri-state-government-california-homicide-94fe2fefa47faa618d3826c7f32e6f1d">Raheem Taylor</a>&nbsp;in February.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/execution-missouri-15298c399e436f00c42f5174594605dd">Michael Andrew Tisius</a>&nbsp;is scheduled for execution June 6 for fatally shooting Randolph County jailers Jason Acton and Leon Egley in 2000.Johnson, 45, was staying with friends in Valley Park, Missouri, in July 2002 when Cassandra “Casey” Williamson was discovered missing. Dozens of volunteers joined police in the search.The girl's body was found in a pit less than a mile from her home, buried beneath rocks and debris. Johnson confessed to the crimes.

Execution date set for man who killed 6-year-old Missouri girl

MONTOMERY COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 3:30p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1985 Honda 3-wheeler driven by a 17-year-old boy from Jonesburg, was southbound on Ellis Road. The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at service road of Interstate 70.

The Honda traveled into the path of a westbound 2014 GMC Sierra driven by Jeffrey D. Fort, 55, Portland, Missouri.&nbsp;

The teen was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Schlanker Funeral Home. Fort refused treatment at the scene.

MONTOMERY COUNTY —One person was injured in an accident just after 3:30p.m. Thursday in Montgomery County.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1985 Honda 3-wheeler driven by a 17-year-old boy from Jonesburg, was southbound on Ellis Road. The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at service road of Interstate 70.The Honda traveled into the path of a westbound 2014 GMC Sierra driven by Jeffrey D. Fort, 55, Portland, Missouri.&nbsp;The teen was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Schlanker Funeral Home. Fort refused treatment at the scene.

Missouri teen dies after pickup, ATV crash

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

On Tuesday, members of the Topeka Police Department Narcotics Unit and Shawnee County Drug Task Force served a search warrant in the 100 Block NE Grattan Street related to an ongoing investigation, according to Police Lt. Ronnie Connell.

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

As a result 29-year-old Andre Murphy was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and booked on requested charges of Manufacturing/Cultivating methamphetamine, Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of drug paraphernalia w/intent to manufacture controlled substance, Possession of opioids and Possession of drug paraphernalia,

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681909727428.png" alt="Murphy-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Murphy-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on drug allegations.On Tuesday, members of the Topeka Police Department Narcotics Unit and Shawnee County Drug Task Force served a search warrant in the 100 Block NE Grattan Street related to an ongoing investigation, according to Police Lt. Ronnie Connell.While conducting the search warrant, officers located methamphetamine, opioids and drug paraphernalia.As a result 29-year-old Andre Murphy was transported to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections and booked on requested charges of Manufacturing/Cultivating methamphetamine, Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of drug paraphernalia w/intent to manufacture controlled substance, Possession of opioids and Possession of drug paraphernalia,

Police: Kansas man was making methamphetamine

WASHINGTON COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 9a.m. Thursday in Washington County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup driven by J. Douglas Toll, 78, Clifton, was&nbsp;eastbound on 5th Road four miles north of Kansas Highway 9.

 The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at Bismark Road.

The Chevy collided in the intersection with a southbound&nbsp;Caterpillar Motor Grader driven by Jeremiah James Peters, 45, Washington, Kansas.

Toll was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Neill-Schwensen-Rook Funeral Home. Peters was not injured.&nbsp; The drivers were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

WASHINGTON COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 9a.m. Thursday in Washington County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2000 Chevy S-10 pickup driven by J. Douglas Toll, 78, Clifton, was&nbsp;eastbound on 5th Road four miles north of Kansas Highway 9. The driver failed to stop at the stop sign at Bismark Road.The Chevy collided in the intersection with a southbound&nbsp;Caterpillar Motor Grader driven by Jeremiah James Peters, 45, Washington, Kansas.Toll was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Neill-Schwensen-Rook Funeral Home. Peters was not injured.&nbsp; The drivers were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after crash with road grader

LINCOLN COUNTY, Nebraska—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged kidnapping. Authorities found the missing 14-year-old girl safe.

Cameron Quintin, 26, Topeka, Kan., was taken into custody on requested charges of kidnapping and violation of child custody. He is being held in Shawnee County without bond.

On Wednesday morning, police reported 14-year-old Gertie Werkmeister was missing. She had last been seen wearing a light blue hooded sweat shirt and black sweatpants. She left Adams Middle School and met with a white male dressed in all black in his mid- to late-20s at the Rec Center.

Just after 10:30 a.m., the two&nbsp; left the Rec Center traveling eastbound on Francis Street in a dark-colored Toyota Tacoma with out-of-state plates.

The North Platte 911 Center issued a citywide RAVE alert to all cell phones and land lines registered with the Smart 911 system. The North Platte Police Department, along with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Nebraska State Patrol searched for her.&nbsp;The Topeka Police Department, The FBI, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation assisted in the search.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682021004720.png" alt="Quintin-photo Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Quintin-photo Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN COUNTY, Nebraska—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged kidnapping. Authorities found the missing 14-year-old girl safe.Cameron Quintin, 26, Topeka, Kan., was taken into custody on requested charges of kidnapping and violation of child custody. He is being held in Shawnee County without bond.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681932643124.jpeg" alt="Gertie Werkeister&nbsp; photo North Platte PD" />
 <figcaption>Gertie Werkeister&nbsp; photo North Platte PD</figcaption>
 </figure>On Wednesday morning, police reported 14-year-old Gertie Werkmeister was missing. She had last been seen wearing a light blue hooded sweat shirt and black sweatpants. She left Adams Middle School and met with a white male dressed in all black in his mid- to late-20s at the Rec Center.Just after 10:30 a.m., the two&nbsp; left the Rec Center traveling eastbound on Francis Street in a dark-colored Toyota Tacoma with out-of-state plates.The North Platte 911 Center issued a citywide RAVE alert to all cell phones and land lines registered with the Smart 911 system. The North Platte Police Department, along with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Nebraska State Patrol searched for her.&nbsp;The Topeka Police Department, The FBI, and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation assisted in the search.

Kansas man accused of kidnapping Nebraska teen  

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed Republican legislation aimed at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-kansas-ef3e4d9ef40a29da3d8059d80bbed3a5">ending gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;for children and teens, and another, sweeping GOP proposal for preventing transgender people from using bathrooms and other public facilities associated with their gender identities.

Gov. Laura Kelly's actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who've made rolling back transgender rights a priority.

At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-transgender-health-care-minors-68c86fdba600b357013540fa32d4fba3">including North Dakota as of Wednesday</a>. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools. Earlier this month, Kansas lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-athletes-ban-kansas-08604c663518fb2538565f3e1ac3d4ba">overrode Kelly's veto</a>&nbsp;of a ban on female transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, making Kansas among at least 21 states with such a law.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-rights-bathroom-bill-kansas-cbdc14be5bf1fb6e1a0749cad52e8ebc">The Kansas bathroom bill</a>&nbsp;would have applied to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools, as well as to prisons, jails, rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. Because it also sought to define “sex” as “either male or female, at birth,” transgender people wouldn’t have been able to change the gender marker on their driver’s license, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.

Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-kansas-state-government-arkansas-health-8f2edaa40b962e5642e108b83bc14246">legally erasing</a>&nbsp;transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender fluid or gender non-conforming people.

“I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet,” Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. “We are in a fight for our lives, literally.”

Kelly's vetoes Thursday were in keeping with public promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. She also has argued that measures rolling back LGBTQ+ rights would hurt the state's efforts to attract businesses.

The bathroom bill appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto when it passed earlier this month, though the margin was close in the House. The bill on gender-affirming care was well short in the House.

GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that people’s gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don't want cisgendered women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.

“They're parents who are saying, ‘My child showed no signs of gender dysphoria until they got to be in middle school, and then they started using social media,’" Republican state Rep. Susan Humphreys, of Wichita, said during a debate on the gender-affirming care bill, promoting a “social contagion” narrative debunked by multiple studies.

<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2023_24/measures/documents/sb26_enrolled.pdf">The Kansas measure</a>&nbsp;would have required the state's medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care, and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.

Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applies to “causing” acts that "affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex” if it differs from their gender assigned at birth.

Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gender-transition-treatment-guidelines-9dbe54f670a3a0f5f2831c2bf14f9bbb">are endorsed by major medical associations.</a>

“It’s one thing to have a family member that’s unaffirming of who you are as a person,” said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New York’s Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. “It’s a whole other thing to have a system tell you you’re not fully human or you don’t have the same rights as other folks.”

<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2023_24/measures/documents/sb180_enrolled.pdf">The Kansas bathroom bill</a>&nbsp;borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says “important governmental objectives" of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and applies “where biology, safety or privacy” prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a person’s reproductive anatomy at birth.

Kansas House health committee Chair Brenda Landwehr told colleagues who opposed the bill during a debate that they were telling her that she couldn’t walk into a bathroom and know that only cisgendered women would be there.

“What about my rights? What about my comfort zone?” said Landwehr, a Wichita Republican. “What about my granddaughters?”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1680642960114.png" alt=" Ian Benalcázar delivers a speech March 31 at the Statehouse as part of the March for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy. photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector" />
 <figcaption> Ian Benalcázar delivers a speech March 31 at the Statehouse as part of the March for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy. photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN HANNA AP Political WriterTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' Democratic governor on Thursday vetoed Republican legislation aimed at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-kansas-ef3e4d9ef40a29da3d8059d80bbed3a5">ending gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;for children and teens, and another, sweeping GOP proposal for preventing transgender people from using bathrooms and other public facilities associated with their gender identities.Gov. Laura Kelly's actions highlighted how her Republican-leaning state has become a fiercely contested battleground as GOP lawmakers across the U.S. target LGBTQ+ rights through several hundred proposals. Kelly narrowly won reelection in November, but the the Legislature has GOP supermajorities and conservative leaders who've made rolling back transgender rights a priority.At least 14 states with GOP-led legislatures have enacted laws against gender-affirming care for minors,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-dakota-transgender-health-care-minors-68c86fdba600b357013540fa32d4fba3">including North Dakota as of Wednesday</a>. At least seven have bathroom laws, mostly focusing on schools. Earlier this month, Kansas lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-athletes-ban-kansas-08604c663518fb2538565f3e1ac3d4ba">overrode Kelly's veto</a>&nbsp;of a ban on female transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, making Kansas among at least 21 states with such a law.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-rights-bathroom-bill-kansas-cbdc14be5bf1fb6e1a0749cad52e8ebc">The Kansas bathroom bill</a>&nbsp;would have applied to bathrooms and locker rooms outside schools, as well as to prisons, jails, rape crisis centers and domestic violence shelters. Because it also sought to define “sex” as “either male or female, at birth,” transgender people wouldn’t have been able to change the gender marker on their driver’s license, though a 2019 federal court decree still would have allowed them to change their birth certificates.Advocates of LGBTQ+ rights see the measure as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-kansas-state-government-arkansas-health-8f2edaa40b962e5642e108b83bc14246">legally erasing</a>&nbsp;transgender people and denying recognition to non-binary, gender fluid or gender non-conforming people.“I am not going to go back to those days of hiding in the closet,” Justin Brace, executive director of Transgender Kansas, said during a recent transgender rights rally outside the Statehouse. “We are in a fight for our lives, literally.”Kelly's vetoes Thursday were in keeping with public promises to block any measure she views as discriminating against LGBTQ+ people. She also has argued that measures rolling back LGBTQ+ rights would hurt the state's efforts to attract businesses.The bathroom bill appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto when it passed earlier this month, though the margin was close in the House. The bill on gender-affirming care was well short in the House.GOP conservatives argue that many of their constituents reject the cultural shift toward accepting that people’s gender identities can differ from the sex assigned them a birth; don't want cisgendered women sharing bathrooms and locker rooms with transgender women; and question gender-affirming care such as puberty-blocking drugs, hormone therapies and surgeries.“They're parents who are saying, ‘My child showed no signs of gender dysphoria until they got to be in middle school, and then they started using social media,’" Republican state Rep. Susan Humphreys, of Wichita, said during a debate on the gender-affirming care bill, promoting a “social contagion” narrative debunked by multiple studies.<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2023_24/measures/documents/sb26_enrolled.pdf">The Kansas measure</a>&nbsp;would have required the state's medical board to revoke the license of any doctor discovered to have provided such care, and allowed people who received such care as children to sue health care providers later.Supporters said the bill would not keep transgender youth from receiving counseling or psychiatric therapy. But the measure also applies to “causing” acts that "affirm the child’s perception of the child’s sex” if it differs from their gender assigned at birth.Treatments for children and teens have been available in the U.S. for more than a decade and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gender-transition-treatment-guidelines-9dbe54f670a3a0f5f2831c2bf14f9bbb">are endorsed by major medical associations.</a>“It’s one thing to have a family member that’s unaffirming of who you are as a person,” said Derrick Jordan, a licensed therapist who works with trans youth and directs the Gender and Family Project at New York’s Ackerman Institute for training child and family therapists. “It’s a whole other thing to have a system tell you you’re not fully human or you don’t have the same rights as other folks.”<a href="http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2023_24/measures/documents/sb180_enrolled.pdf">The Kansas bathroom bill</a>&nbsp;borrows language from a proposal from several anti-trans groups. It says “important governmental objectives" of protecting health safety and privacy justify separate public facilities for men and women and applies “where biology, safety or privacy” prompt sex-separation. It defines male and female based on a person’s reproductive anatomy at birth.Kansas House health committee Chair Brenda Landwehr told colleagues who opposed the bill during a debate that they were telling her that she couldn’t walk into a bathroom and know that only cisgendered women would be there.“What about my rights? What about my comfort zone?” said Landwehr, a Wichita Republican. “What about my granddaughters?”

Kan. governor vetoes bills on transgender youth care, bathrooms

BARTON COUNTY —A Kansas felon who allegedly shot at police during a pursuit is in custody in California.

On Wednesday, officials in Red Bluff, California notified Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir they had 38-year-old William Thomas Frederick in custody.

Frederick was a suspect in an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of April 1 during a pursuit involving Sheriff’s deputies and a Hoisington Police Department officer when he allegedly fired on officers. 

Warrants were issued by the Barton County District Court on requested charges of two counts of Attempted Murder in the 2nd Degree, Aggravated Assault of Law Enforcement Officer and Interference with a Law Enforcement Officer. The bond on the warrants has been set at $100,000.

&nbsp;Frederick had been listed as an absconder on February 27, 2023. It is not known to law enforcement or the public how many violations he had committed prior to being listed as an absconder. The Sheriff’s office will be in contact with California authorities to facilitate extradition. Frederick will be transported back to Barton County as soon as extradition proceedings are complete, according to Bellendir.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682014202047.png" alt="Frederick-photo Tehama County Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Frederick-photo Tehama County Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>BARTON COUNTY —A Kansas felon who allegedly shot at police during a pursuit is in custody in California.On Wednesday, officials in Red Bluff, California notified Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir they had 38-year-old William Thomas Frederick in custody.Frederick was a suspect in an incident that occurred in the early morning hours of April 1 during a pursuit involving Sheriff’s deputies and a Hoisington Police Department officer when he allegedly fired on officers. Warrants were issued by the Barton County District Court on requested charges of two counts of Attempted Murder in the 2nd Degree, Aggravated Assault of Law Enforcement Officer and Interference with a Law Enforcement Officer. The bond on the warrants has been set at $100,000.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682010880759.jpeg" alt="Photo Barton Co. sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Barton Co. sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;Frederick had been listed as an absconder on February 27, 2023. It is not known to law enforcement or the public how many violations he had committed prior to being listed as an absconder. The Sheriff’s office will be in contact with California authorities to facilitate extradition. Frederick will be transported back to Barton County as soon as extradition proceedings are complete, according to Bellendir.----------

Kan. felon who allegedly shot at police jailed in California

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;initially gave itself a deadline of Wednesday to decide whether women seeking access to a widely used abortion pill would face more restrictions while a court case plays out. But on the day of the highly anticipated decision the justices had only this to say:&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-mifepristone-abortion-drug-8457b38f7a4799778e894da1858c8aa2">We need more time</a>.

In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/041923zr1_kjfm.pdf">one-sentence order,</a>&nbsp;the court said it now expects to act by Friday evening. There was no explanation of the reason for the delay.

The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

The following is a look at the drug at issue in the new case, how the case got to the nation's highest court and what the delay might say about what's going on.

Mifepristone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago. It has been used by more than 5 million women to safely end their pregnancies, and today more than half of women who end a pregnancy rely on the drug, the Justice Department said.

Over the years, the FDA has loosened restrictions on the drug’s use, extending from seven to 10 weeks of pregnancy when it can be used, reducing the dosage needed to safely end a pregnancy, eliminating the requirement to visit a doctor in person to get it and allowing pills to be obtained by mail. The FDA also approved a generic version of mifepristone that its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro, says makes up two-thirds of the domestic market.

Mifepristone is one of two pills used in medication abortions, along with misoprostol. Health care providers have said they could switch to misoprostol only if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain. Misoprostol is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.

A lawsuit over mifepristone was filed in Amarillo, Texas, late last year. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, represents the pill's opponents, who say the FDA's approval of mifepristone was flawed.

Why Amarillo?&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump, is the sole district court judge there, ensuring that all cases filed in the west Texas city land in front of him. Since taking the bench, he has ruled against President Joe Biden's administration on several other issues, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-joe-biden-new-orleans-mexico-statutes-0a3b7c93a6e6bdf06b0eee4935d7dc8f">immigration</a>&nbsp;and LGBTQ protections.

On April 7, Kacsmaryk issued a ruling that would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">revoke the FDA's approval of mifepristone</a>, but he put the decision on hold for a week to allow an appeal.

Complicating matters, however, on the same day Kacsmaryk issued his order, a court in Washington state issued a separate ruling in a lawsuit brought by liberal states seeking to preserve access to mifepristone. The Washington judge, Spokane-based Thomas O. Rice, whom then-President Barack Obama nominated, ordered the FDA not to do anything that might affect the availability of mifepristone in the suing states. The Biden administration has said it is impossible to follow both judges' directives at the same time.

HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE SUPREME COURT?

The Biden administration responded to Kacsmaryk's ruling by asking the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pills-4b65ecc66d1b908019bdf3843a428d5a">Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;to prevent it from taking effect for now.

Last week, the appeals court narrowed Kacsmaryk's ruling so that the initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 is not affected, for now. But it agreed with him that changes the FDA made to relax the rules for prescribing and dispensing the drug should be put on hold. Those rules included expanding when the drug could be taken and allowing for the drug's delivery through the mail.

The appeals court acted by a 2-1 vote. The judges in the majority, Kurt Engelhardt and Andrew Oldham, are both Trump picks.

The Biden administration and the maker of mifepristone, New York-based Danco Laboratories,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">appealed to the Supreme Court</a>, saying that allowing the appeals court's restrictions to take effect would cause chaos. Facing a tight deadline, the Supreme Court gave itself some breathing room and issued an order suggesting it would act by Wednesday evening. That timeline was extended to Friday, the day the justices will hold a previously scheduled private conference.

The justices could talk about the issue further then. The additional time could also be part of an effort to craft an order that has broad support among the nine justices. Or one or more justices might be writing a separate opinion and asked for a couple of extra days.

The Supreme Court’s delay suggests a maddening reality about an institution that ordinarily adheres to a schedule that hasn’t changed much in years: Even experts can be in the dark about when the court will decide things and how.

Cases are argued over seven months from October to April, and the most important decisions typically come right before the justices take a long summer break. The court does not say which cases it plans to hand down on a given day, and the court, in a search for consensus, will sometimes pass on the biggest issues it faces and decide a very small legal point.

But nowhere is the uncertainty as great as a separate category of cases that have come to be known as the shadow docket.

Apart from death row inmates seeking 11th-hour reprieves, shadow docket cases generally involve emergency appeals to the justices before lower courts have reached final decisions. That includes the mifepristone case.

When the justices consider this set of cases, they don’t usually have a deadline to act. A few years back, an order concerning an elections case in Texas came in the wee hours of a Saturday morning for no reason other than that’s when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg finished work on her dissenting opinion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/how-medication-abortion-works-f913375ec6f8ebcb1f1055e57a3aef63">abortion pill</a>&nbsp;untouched until at least Friday, while the justices consider whether to allow&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">restrictions</a>&nbsp;on the drug mifepristone to take effect.

The court is dealing with a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/abortion">abortion</a>&nbsp;controversy less than a year after its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.

At stake now is whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone ordered by a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23774813-5th-circuit-abortion-pill-stay-order">lower court</a>&nbsp;to take effect while a legal challenge to the medication's Food and Drug Administration approval continues.

The justices had at first given themselves a Wednesday evening deadline in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">a fast-moving case from Texas</a>&nbsp;in which abortion opponents are seeking to roll back FDA approval of mifepristone, which is used in the most common method of abortion in the United States.

But on Wednesday afternoon, Justice Samuel Alito issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/041923zr1_kjfm.pdf">one-sentence order</a>&nbsp;giving the court more time and indicating it expects to act by Friday night. Alito, the justice in charge of handling emergency appeals from Texas, provided no explanation.

The justices are scheduled to meet for a private conference Friday, where they could talk about the issue. The additional time could be part of an effort to craft an order that has broad support among the justices. Or one or more justices might be writing a separate opinion, and asked for a couple of extra days.

The drug first won FDA approval in 2000, and conditions on its use have been loosened in recent years, including making it available by mail in states that allow access.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-ff152a443d8439e8fa5d9376070822b2">The Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories</a>, the maker of the drug, want the nation’s highest court to reject limits on mifepristone’s use imposed by lower courts, at least as long as the legal case makes it way through the courts. They say women who want the drug and providers who dispense it will face chaos if limits on the drug take effect. Depending on what the justices decide, that could include requiring women to take a higher dosage of the drug than the FDA says is necessary.

Alliance Defending Freedom, representing anti-abortion doctors and medical groups in a challenge to the drug, is defending the rulings in calling on the Supreme Court to restrict access now.

Complicating the situation, a federal judge in Washington has ordered the FDA to preserve access to mifepristone under the current rules in 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia that filed a separate lawsuit.

The Biden administration has said the rulings conflict and create an untenable situation for the FDA.

Even as the abortion landscape changed dramatically in several states,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-mifepristone-abortion-drug-3855bb5d5c791e4c0465958bae94519e">abortion opponents</a>&nbsp;set their sights on medication abortions, which make up more than half of all abortions in the United States.

The abortion opponents filed suit in November in Amarillo, Texas. The legal challenge quickly reached the Supreme Court after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">a federal judge issued a ruling</a>&nbsp;on April 7 that would revoke FDA approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions.

Less than a week later, a federal appeals court modified the ruling so that mifepristone would remain available while the case continues, but with limits. The appeals court said the drug should only be approved through seven weeks of pregnancy for now, even though the FDA since 2016 has endorsed its use through 10 weeks of pregnancy.

The court also said that the drug can’t be mailed or dispensed as a generic and that patients who seek it need to make three in-person visits with a doctor, among other things.

The generic version of mifepristone makes up two-thirds of the supply in the United States, its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro Inc., wrote in a court filing that underscored the perils of allowing the restrictions to be put into effect.

In the latest legal twist surrounding the case, GenBioPro filed a lawsuit Wednesday to preemptively block the FDA from removing its drug from the market, in the event that the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene.

The FDA approved the company’s generic pill in 2019, based on data and studies showing it is essentially identical to the original version of mifepristone. Both versions have been studied extensively and deemed safe for women.

If the justices aren't inclined to block the ruling from taking effect for now, the Democratic administration and Danco have a fallback argument, asking the court to take up the challenge to mifepristone, hear arguments and decide the case by early summer.

The court only rarely takes such a step before at least one appeals court has thoroughly examined the legal issues involved.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans already has ordered an accelerated schedule for hearing the case, with arguments set for May 17.

Mifepristone has been available for use in medication abortions in the United States since the FDA granted approval in 2000. Since then, more than 5 million women have used it, along with another drug, misoprostol, to induce abortions.

<a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/1648782842292494336">Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi</a>&nbsp;said in an interview with The Associated Press that for the court to allow restrictions intervening with FDA decisions “would be ludicrous, if it wasn't so serious.”

If the justices take such a step, said Pelosi, D-Calif., "they’ve been too long on Mount Olympus, and it is time for a bright light to be shone."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1680967457500.png" alt="About 60% of abortions in Kansas involve the abortion pill. photo Associated Press" />
 <figcaption>About 60% of abortions in Kansas involve the abortion pill. photo Associated Press</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;initially gave itself a deadline of Wednesday to decide whether women seeking access to a widely used abortion pill would face more restrictions while a court case plays out. But on the day of the highly anticipated decision the justices had only this to say:&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-mifepristone-abortion-drug-8457b38f7a4799778e894da1858c8aa2">We need more time</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681934229833.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/041923zr1_kjfm.pdf">one-sentence order,</a>&nbsp;the court said it now expects to act by Friday evening. There was no explanation of the reason for the delay.The new abortion controversy comes less than a year after the Supreme Court's conservative majority&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.The following is a look at the drug at issue in the new case, how the case got to the nation's highest court and what the delay might say about what's going on.___WHAT IS MIFEPRISTONE?Mifepristone was approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration more than two decades ago. It has been used by more than 5 million women to safely end their pregnancies, and today more than half of women who end a pregnancy rely on the drug, the Justice Department said.Over the years, the FDA has loosened restrictions on the drug’s use, extending from seven to 10 weeks of pregnancy when it can be used, reducing the dosage needed to safely end a pregnancy, eliminating the requirement to visit a doctor in person to get it and allowing pills to be obtained by mail. The FDA also approved a generic version of mifepristone that its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro, says makes up two-thirds of the domestic market.Mifepristone is one of two pills used in medication abortions, along with misoprostol. Health care providers have said they could switch to misoprostol only if mifepristone is no longer available or is too hard to obtain. Misoprostol is somewhat less effective in ending pregnancies.___HOW DID THE CASE GET STARTED?A lawsuit over mifepristone was filed in Amarillo, Texas, late last year. Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, represents the pill's opponents, who say the FDA's approval of mifepristone was flawed.Why Amarillo?&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk</a>, who was nominated by then-President Donald Trump, is the sole district court judge there, ensuring that all cases filed in the west Texas city land in front of him. Since taking the bench, he has ruled against President Joe Biden's administration on several other issues, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-joe-biden-new-orleans-mexico-statutes-0a3b7c93a6e6bdf06b0eee4935d7dc8f">immigration</a>&nbsp;and LGBTQ protections.On April 7, Kacsmaryk issued a ruling that would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">revoke the FDA's approval of mifepristone</a>, but he put the decision on hold for a week to allow an appeal.Complicating matters, however, on the same day Kacsmaryk issued his order, a court in Washington state issued a separate ruling in a lawsuit brought by liberal states seeking to preserve access to mifepristone. The Washington judge, Spokane-based Thomas O. Rice, whom then-President Barack Obama nominated, ordered the FDA not to do anything that might affect the availability of mifepristone in the suing states. The Biden administration has said it is impossible to follow both judges' directives at the same time.___HOW DID THE CASE GET TO THE SUPREME COURT?The Biden administration responded to Kacsmaryk's ruling by asking the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pills-4b65ecc66d1b908019bdf3843a428d5a">Court of Appeals</a>&nbsp;to prevent it from taking effect for now.Last week, the appeals court narrowed Kacsmaryk's ruling so that the initial approval of mifepristone in 2000 is not affected, for now. But it agreed with him that changes the FDA made to relax the rules for prescribing and dispensing the drug should be put on hold. Those rules included expanding when the drug could be taken and allowing for the drug's delivery through the mail.The appeals court acted by a 2-1 vote. The judges in the majority, Kurt Engelhardt and Andrew Oldham, are both Trump picks.The Biden administration and the maker of mifepristone, New York-based Danco Laboratories,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">appealed to the Supreme Court</a>, saying that allowing the appeals court's restrictions to take effect would cause chaos. Facing a tight deadline, the Supreme Court gave itself some breathing room and issued an order suggesting it would act by Wednesday evening. That timeline was extended to Friday, the day the justices will hold a previously scheduled private conference.The justices could talk about the issue further then. The additional time could also be part of an effort to craft an order that has broad support among the nine justices. Or one or more justices might be writing a separate opinion and asked for a couple of extra days.___WHAT COULD HAPPEN NEXT?The Supreme Court’s delay suggests a maddening reality about an institution that ordinarily adheres to a schedule that hasn’t changed much in years: Even experts can be in the dark about when the court will decide things and how.Cases are argued over seven months from October to April, and the most important decisions typically come right before the justices take a long summer break. The court does not say which cases it plans to hand down on a given day, and the court, in a search for consensus, will sometimes pass on the biggest issues it faces and decide a very small legal point.But nowhere is the uncertainty as great as a separate category of cases that have come to be known as the shadow docket.Apart from death row inmates seeking 11th-hour reprieves, shadow docket cases generally involve emergency appeals to the justices before lower courts have reached final decisions. That includes the mifepristone case.When the justices consider this set of cases, they don’t usually have a deadline to act. A few years back, an order concerning an elections case in Texas came in the wee hours of a Saturday morning for no reason other than that’s when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg finished work on her dissenting opinion.___WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is leaving women's access to a widely used&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/how-medication-abortion-works-f913375ec6f8ebcb1f1055e57a3aef63">abortion pill</a>&nbsp;untouched until at least Friday, while the justices consider whether to allow&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-abortion-pill-appeal-fe13d36218f1fb43590aff29b5ba4e9c">restrictions</a>&nbsp;on the drug mifepristone to take effect.The court is dealing with a new&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/abortion">abortion</a>&nbsp;controversy less than a year after its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade</a>&nbsp;and allowed more than a dozen states to effectively ban abortion outright.At stake now is whether to allow restrictions on mifepristone ordered by a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23774813-5th-circuit-abortion-pill-stay-order">lower court</a>&nbsp;to take effect while a legal challenge to the medication's Food and Drug Administration approval continues.The justices had at first given themselves a Wednesday evening deadline in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-judge-matthew-kacsmaryk-abortion-pill-fda-75964b777ef09593a1ad948c6cfc0237">a fast-moving case from Texas</a>&nbsp;in which abortion opponents are seeking to roll back FDA approval of mifepristone, which is used in the most common method of abortion in the United States.But on Wednesday afternoon, Justice Samuel Alito issued a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/041923zr1_kjfm.pdf">one-sentence order</a>&nbsp;giving the court more time and indicating it expects to act by Friday night. Alito, the justice in charge of handling emergency appeals from Texas, provided no explanation.The justices are scheduled to meet for a private conference Friday, where they could talk about the issue. The additional time could be part of an effort to craft an order that has broad support among the justices. Or one or more justices might be writing a separate opinion, and asked for a couple of extra days.The drug first won FDA approval in 2000, and conditions on its use have been loosened in recent years, including making it available by mail in states that allow access.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-abortion-pill-mifepristone-ff152a443d8439e8fa5d9376070822b2">The Biden administration and New York-based Danco Laboratories</a>, the maker of the drug, want the nation’s highest court to reject limits on mifepristone’s use imposed by lower courts, at least as long as the legal case makes it way through the courts. They say women who want the drug and providers who dispense it will face chaos if limits on the drug take effect. Depending on what the justices decide, that could include requiring women to take a higher dosage of the drug than the FDA says is necessary.Alliance Defending Freedom, representing anti-abortion doctors and medical groups in a challenge to the drug, is defending the rulings in calling on the Supreme Court to restrict access now.Complicating the situation, a federal judge in Washington has ordered the FDA to preserve access to mifepristone under the current rules in 17 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia that filed a separate lawsuit.The Biden administration has said the rulings conflict and create an untenable situation for the FDA.Even as the abortion landscape changed dramatically in several states,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-mifepristone-abortion-drug-3855bb5d5c791e4c0465958bae94519e">abortion opponents</a>&nbsp;set their sights on medication abortions, which make up more than half of all abortions in the United States.The abortion opponents filed suit in November in Amarillo, Texas. The legal challenge quickly reached the Supreme Court after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-pill-lawsuit-mifepristone-misoprostol-kacsmaryk-74cb1c4cfab2c04f6cf2696151bc86ef">a federal judge issued a ruling</a>&nbsp;on April 7 that would revoke FDA approval of mifepristone, one of two drugs used in medication abortions.Less than a week later, a federal appeals court modified the ruling so that mifepristone would remain available while the case continues, but with limits. The appeals court said the drug should only be approved through seven weeks of pregnancy for now, even though the FDA since 2016 has endorsed its use through 10 weeks of pregnancy.The court also said that the drug can’t be mailed or dispensed as a generic and that patients who seek it need to make three in-person visits with a doctor, among other things.The generic version of mifepristone makes up two-thirds of the supply in the United States, its manufacturer, Las Vegas-based GenBioPro Inc., wrote in a court filing that underscored the perils of allowing the restrictions to be put into effect.In the latest legal twist surrounding the case, GenBioPro filed a lawsuit Wednesday to preemptively block the FDA from removing its drug from the market, in the event that the Supreme Court doesn’t intervene.The FDA approved the company’s generic pill in 2019, based on data and studies showing it is essentially identical to the original version of mifepristone. Both versions have been studied extensively and deemed safe for women.If the justices aren't inclined to block the ruling from taking effect for now, the Democratic administration and Danco have a fallback argument, asking the court to take up the challenge to mifepristone, hear arguments and decide the case by early summer.The court only rarely takes such a step before at least one appeals court has thoroughly examined the legal issues involved.The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans already has ordered an accelerated schedule for hearing the case, with arguments set for May 17.Mifepristone has been available for use in medication abortions in the United States since the FDA granted approval in 2000. Since then, more than 5 million women have used it, along with another drug, misoprostol, to induce abortions.<a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/1648782842292494336">Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi</a>&nbsp;said in an interview with The Associated Press that for the court to allow restrictions intervening with FDA decisions “would be ludicrous, if it wasn't so serious.”If the justices take such a step, said Pelosi, D-Calif., "they’ve been too long on Mount Olympus, and it is time for a bright light to be shone."

Countdown on for Supreme Court decision on abortion pill

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas appears likely to keep giving voters three days after polls close to return mail ballots to county election officials.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday vetoed a Republican bill to eliminate the grace period. The GOP-controlled Legislature created the grace period in 2017 as U.S. Postal Service mail delivery was slowing down, but many Republicans rethought the policy as baseless election conspiracy theories circulated widely following the 2020 election.

When the bill passed the Legislature, it didn't have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto.

Kelly and other Democrats argued eliminating the grace period would disenfranchise voters, particularly those in rural areas and military personnel serving outside the U.S.

“We should be doing everything we can to make it easier – not harder – for Kansans to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” Kelly said in a statement.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the bill would have closed an election security “loophole." There’s no evidence that the grace period has led to fraud.

Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said Kelly wants “an endless counting of ballots.” Kansas law requires counties to certify their results the second Monday after an election.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas appears likely to keep giving voters three days after polls close to return mail ballots to county election officials.Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Wednesday vetoed a Republican bill to eliminate the grace period. The GOP-controlled Legislature created the grace period in 2017 as U.S. Postal Service mail delivery was slowing down, but many Republicans rethought the policy as baseless election conspiracy theories circulated widely following the 2020 election.When the bill passed the Legislature, it didn't have the two-thirds majorities needed to override a veto.Kelly and other Democrats argued eliminating the grace period would disenfranchise voters, particularly those in rural areas and military personnel serving outside the U.S.“We should be doing everything we can to make it easier – not harder – for Kansans to make their voices heard at the ballot box,” Kelly said in a statement.House Speaker Dan Hawkins, a Wichita Republican, said the bill would have closed an election security “loophole." There’s no evidence that the grace period has led to fraud.Senate President Ty Masterson, a Wichita-area Republican, said Kelly wants “an endless counting of ballots.” Kansas law requires counties to certify their results the second Monday after an election.

Kansas likely to keep 3-day grace period for mail ballots

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would bar federally supported schools and colleges from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male to compete on girls or women's sports teams.

The legislation approved by a 219-203 vote is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it.

Supporters said the legislation, which would put violators at risk of losing taxpayer dollars, is necessary to ensure competitive fairness. They framed the vote as supporting female athletes disadvantaged by having to compete against those whose gender identify does not match their sex assigned at birth. Opponents criticized the bill as ostracizing an already vulnerable group for political gain.

The House action comes as at least&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-sports-ban-north-carolina-e09882f3f3e2ace72de2004d2f438a7e">20 other states</a>&nbsp;have imposed similar limits on trans athletes at the K-12 or collegiate level.

The bill would amend landmark civil rights legislation passed more than 50 years ago. The amendment would prohibit recipients of federal money from permitting a person “whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.” The bill defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”

The sponsor, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., highlighted the case of Emma Weyant, a resident of his district and a 2020 member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team who finished second in the NCAA women’s 500-yeard freestyle championship last year. She was defeated by Lia Thomas, who had competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before joining the women’s team.

“The integrity of women’s sports must be protected,” Steube said.

Rep. Aaron Bean, R- Fla, said that every time a male takes a lane in the pool or at the starting line, a female athlete loses the opportunity to compete.

“We are in a battle for the very survival of women’s sports,” Bean said.

Democrats said every child regardless of gender identify deserves the opportunity to belong to a team and that preventing competitors from doing so sends the message that they don’t matter.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has a transgender daughter, said Republicans were cruelly scapegoating transgender children to score political points. She said three-quarters of transgender students report having experienced harassment or discrimination at school and many have considered suicide.

“These bills tell some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they do not belong," Jayapal said. "Shame on you.”

Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said most people in the United States don’t know anyone who is transgender and that can create fear for politicians to exploit. The bill, he said, does nothing to address the severe inequities in the resources dedicated to men’s and women’s sports.

He highlighted the stance taken by Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, who last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-health-legislature-mental-health-utah-f0e76dad68c1dd9986cee0be1b057cef">vetoed</a>&nbsp;a bill banning transgender students from playing girls sports. Cox said: “I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion."

Pocan noted that in Utah at the time of the veto there were four transgender players out of 85,000 competing in high school sports, with only one competing in girls sports.

“There’s your raging national problem,” Pocan said. “What’s the Republicans response to this nonexistent issue? Hurt kids for being kids.”

In a message this week threatening a veto, the White House said that being part of a team is an important part of growing up, staying engaged in school and learning leadership and life skills. It said a national ban that does not account for competitiveness or grade level targets people for who they are and is discriminatory.

The administration also has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trans-athletes-sports-ban-2f6cf412d306e73e68efa2377fb5081a">issued a proposed rule</a>&nbsp;that would prevent any school or college that receives federal money from imposing a “one-size-fits-all” policy that categorically bans trans students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Such policies would be considered a violation of Title IX.

Any limits would have to consider the sport, the level of competition and the age of students. Elementary school students would generally be allowed to participate on any teams consistent with their gender identity, for example. More competitive teams at high schools and colleges could add limits, but those would be discouraged in teams that don’t have tryouts or cuts.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682003635674.png" alt="House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. speaks ahead of the vote -photo courtesy House GOP" />
 <figcaption>House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. speaks ahead of the vote -photo courtesy House GOP</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led House passed a bill Thursday that would bar federally supported schools and colleges from allowing transgender athletes whose biological sex assigned at birth was male to compete on girls or women's sports teams.The legislation approved by a 219-203 vote is unlikely to advance further because the Democratic-led Senate will not support it and the White House said President Joe Biden would veto it.Supporters said the legislation, which would put violators at risk of losing taxpayer dollars, is necessary to ensure competitive fairness. They framed the vote as supporting female athletes disadvantaged by having to compete against those whose gender identify does not match their sex assigned at birth. Opponents criticized the bill as ostracizing an already vulnerable group for political gain.The House action comes as at least&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-sports-ban-north-carolina-e09882f3f3e2ace72de2004d2f438a7e">20 other states</a>&nbsp;have imposed similar limits on trans athletes at the K-12 or collegiate level.The bill would amend landmark civil rights legislation passed more than 50 years ago. The amendment would prohibit recipients of federal money from permitting a person “whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls.” The bill defines sex as “based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth.”The sponsor, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., highlighted the case of Emma Weyant, a resident of his district and a 2020 member of the U.S. Olympic swimming team who finished second in the NCAA women’s 500-yeard freestyle championship last year. She was defeated by Lia Thomas, who had competed for three years on the University of Pennsylvania men’s swimming team before joining the women’s team.“The integrity of women’s sports must be protected,” Steube said.Rep. Aaron Bean, R- Fla, said that every time a male takes a lane in the pool or at the starting line, a female athlete loses the opportunity to compete.“We are in a battle for the very survival of women’s sports,” Bean said.Democrats said every child regardless of gender identify deserves the opportunity to belong to a team and that preventing competitors from doing so sends the message that they don’t matter.Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who has a transgender daughter, said Republicans were cruelly scapegoating transgender children to score political points. She said three-quarters of transgender students report having experienced harassment or discrimination at school and many have considered suicide.“These bills tell some of the most vulnerable children in our country that they do not belong," Jayapal said. "Shame on you.”Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., said most people in the United States don’t know anyone who is transgender and that can create fear for politicians to exploit. The bill, he said, does nothing to address the severe inequities in the resources dedicated to men’s and women’s sports.He highlighted the stance taken by Gov. Spencer Cox, R-Utah, who last year&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sports-health-legislature-mental-health-utah-f0e76dad68c1dd9986cee0be1b057cef">vetoed</a>&nbsp;a bill banning transgender students from playing girls sports. Cox said: “I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion."Pocan noted that in Utah at the time of the veto there were four transgender players out of 85,000 competing in high school sports, with only one competing in girls sports.“There’s your raging national problem,” Pocan said. “What’s the Republicans response to this nonexistent issue? Hurt kids for being kids.”In a message this week threatening a veto, the White House said that being part of a team is an important part of growing up, staying engaged in school and learning leadership and life skills. It said a national ban that does not account for competitiveness or grade level targets people for who they are and is discriminatory.The administration also has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trans-athletes-sports-ban-2f6cf412d306e73e68efa2377fb5081a">issued a proposed rule</a>&nbsp;that would prevent any school or college that receives federal money from imposing a “one-size-fits-all” policy that categorically bans trans students from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Such policies would be considered a violation of Title IX.Any limits would have to consider the sport, the level of competition and the age of students. Elementary school students would generally be allowed to participate on any teams consistent with their gender identity, for example. More competitive teams at high schools and colleges could add limits, but those would be discouraged in teams that don’t have tryouts or cuts.

House passes trans athlete ban for girls and women's sports

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for an alleged violent attack on a man and woman.

On Sunday, April 9, deputies responded to a report of a disturbance with an assault in progress at a residence in the 5000 block of SE Adams Street in rural Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.

Deputies located a man and woman with injuries.&nbsp;The male was treated at a local hospital for injuries to his face and head and the woman sustained minor facial injuries.

During the investigation, it was discovered that a 45-year-old female arrived at the residence and appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition. The male homeowner was attempting to help the woman when a man later identified as 20-year-old Brevin O. Canady of Topeka, arrived on scene. Canady then attacked the homeowner and the woman, unprovoked, before leaving the scene. 

Unknown to the homeowner, the woman who arrived at the residence had previously taken a vehicle from Canady. On April 15, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Canady.

On April 18, members of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Warrant Unit took Canady into custody in the 4400 block of SE Adams Street, according to Christian. He is being held on requested charges of aggravated battery and battery.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681931667604.png" alt="Canady-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Canady-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect for an alleged violent attack on a man and woman.On Sunday, April 9, deputies responded to a report of a disturbance with an assault in progress at a residence in the 5000 block of SE Adams Street in rural Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian.Deputies located a man and woman with injuries.&nbsp;The male was treated at a local hospital for injuries to his face and head and the woman sustained minor facial injuries.During the investigation, it was discovered that a 45-year-old female arrived at the residence and appeared to be suffering from a mental health condition. The male homeowner was attempting to help the woman when a man later identified as 20-year-old Brevin O. Canady of Topeka, arrived on scene. Canady then attacked the homeowner and the woman, unprovoked, before leaving the scene. Unknown to the homeowner, the woman who arrived at the residence had previously taken a vehicle from Canady. On April 15, 2023, an arrest warrant was issued for Canady.On April 18, members of the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Warrant Unit took Canady into custody in the 4400 block of SE Adams Street, according to Christian. He is being held on requested charges of aggravated battery and battery.

Fugitive task force arrests Kansas man for violent attack on couple

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.

Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.

The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf. After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.

Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: “Go, baby, go!”

The company plans to use&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spacex-musk-starship-launch-test-flight-11de145e989e0534b6399640bc437b8e">Starship</a>&nbsp;to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

It was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/starship-space-launch-rocket-spacex-musk-c22f4b7dc476c6ca2d44522a2f9b68a5">second launch attempt</a>. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA’s moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.

The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, blasted off Thursday on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky in an attempt to orbit the world.

Elon Musk’s company launched the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The plan called for the booster to peel away and plummet into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff, with the spacecraft hurtling ever higher toward the east in a bid to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.

No people or satellites were aboard for this debut launch.

Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s giant new rocket blasted off on its first test flight Thursday but exploded minutes after rising from the launch pad and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Liftoff of Starship! <a href="https://t.co/4t8mRP37Gp">pic.twitter.com/4t8mRP37Gp</a>&mdash; SpaceX (@SpaceX) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1649043715686793218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Elon Musk’s company was aiming to send the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket on a round-the-world trip from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. It carried no people or satellites.The plan called for the booster to peel away from the spacecraft minutes after liftoff, but that didn't happen. The rocket began to tumble and then exploded four minutes into the flight, plummeting into the gulf. After separating, the spacecraft was supposed to continue east and attempt to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.Throngs of spectators watched from South Padre Island, several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off limits. As it lifted off, the crowd screamed: “Go, baby, go!”The company plans to use&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spacex-musk-starship-launch-test-flight-11de145e989e0534b6399640bc437b8e">Starship</a>&nbsp;to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.It was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/starship-space-launch-rocket-spacex-musk-c22f4b7dc476c6ca2d44522a2f9b68a5">second launch attempt</a>. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.At 394 feet and nearly 17 million pounds of thrust, Starship easily surpasses NASA’s moon rockets — past, present and future. The stainless steel rocket is designed to be fully reusable with fast turnaround, dramatically lowering costs, similar to what SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets have done soaring from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Nothing was to be saved from the test flight.The futuristic spacecraft flew several miles into the air during testing a few years ago, landing successfully only once. But this was to be the inaugural launch of the first-stage booster with 33 methane-fueled engines.--------------SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, blasted off Thursday on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky in an attempt to orbit the world.Elon Musk’s company launched the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The plan called for the booster to peel away and plummet into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff, with the spacecraft hurtling ever higher toward the east in a bid to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.No people or satellites were aboard for this debut launch.Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.The company plans to use&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spacex-musk-starship-launch-test-flight-11de145e989e0534b6399640bc437b8e">Starship</a>&nbsp;to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.It was the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/starship-space-launch-rocket-spacex-musk-c22f4b7dc476c6ca2d44522a2f9b68a5">second launch attempt</a>. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

SpaceX giant rocket explodes minutes after launch from Texas

KANSAS CITY—A man is dead after an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.

Just after 4:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to East 27th Street near Brighton after a citizen reported an individual acting erratically and pointing a handgun indiscriminately at other people, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol

When officers arrived on the scene they encountered the suspect in the middle of the street who was armed with a handgun.  Officers told the suspect to drop the weapon and he refused to do so.  He was subsequently shot by one of the officers.

Life saving measures were attempted by the officers, however the suspect was fatally wounded.  No officers were injured during the incident.  This investigation is ongoing by the MSHP Division of Drug &amp; Crime Control.&nbsp; Police have not released the name of the man who died or additional details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681993393030.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation Wednesday -photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation Wednesday -photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—A man is dead after an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.Just after 4:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to East 27th Street near Brighton after a citizen reported an individual acting erratically and pointing a handgun indiscriminately at other people, according to the Missouri State Highway PatrolWhen officers arrived on the scene they encountered the suspect in the middle of the street who was armed with a handgun. Officers told the suspect to drop the weapon and he refused to do so. He was subsequently shot by one of the officers.Life saving measures were attempted by the officers, however the suspect was fatally wounded. No officers were injured during the incident. This investigation is ongoing by the MSHP Division of Drug &amp; Crime Control.&nbsp; Police have not released the name of the man who died or additional details.

Man dies in Kansas City officer-involved shooting

CHASE COUNTY –A strong storm with hail and tornadoes did considerable damage across Chase County, Kansas Wednesday night.

The storm damaged homes and businesses, downed power lines, trees and knocked out power to much of the county, according to the Chase County Sheriff's Department. 

Strong winds overturned a semi and also lifted a car off the ground and broke all the windows in the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office.&nbsp; There are no reports of serious injury.&nbsp;Power was back on in Cottonwood Falls early Thursday.&nbsp;

The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, with forecasters warning people to find shelter.

Authorities said at least two people were killed in the small town of Cole in McClain County, Oklahoma about 25 miles south of Oklahoma City.&nbsp; Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma and an airport received damage before the tornado moved off and weakened.

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681956822399.png" alt="National Weather Service radar image of the storm Wednesday over eastern Kansas." />
 <figcaption>National Weather Service radar image of the storm Wednesday over eastern Kansas.</figcaption>
 </figure>CHASE COUNTY –A strong storm with hail and tornadoes did considerable damage across Chase County, Kansas Wednesday night.The storm damaged homes and businesses, downed power lines, trees and knocked out power to much of the county, according to the Chase County Sheriff's Department. Strong winds overturned a semi and also lifted a car off the ground and broke all the windows in the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office.&nbsp; There are no reports of serious injury.&nbsp;Power was back on in Cottonwood Falls early Thursday.&nbsp;The National Weather Service began issuing tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings Wednesday evening in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa, with forecasters warning people to find shelter.Authorities said at least two people were killed in the small town of Cole in McClain County, Oklahoma about 25 miles south of Oklahoma City.&nbsp; Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma and an airport received damage before the tornado moved off and weakened.Check the Post for additional details as they become available.The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Spring storm brings tornadoes, large hail to parts of Kansas 

SHAWNEE COUNTY–Law enforcement authorities investigating a second fatal shooting this week in Topeka have identified the victim as 55-year-old Troy Shepard ofTopeka and arrested 32-year-old Christopher F. Ray of Topeka in connection with the killing.

Just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to report of a shooting in the 900 block of SW 17th Street in Topeka, according to Lt. Ron Ekis.

Officers located Shepard suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.&nbsp;

Ray is being held on requested charges of first-degree murder, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.

On Monday 33-year-old Sherman Coleman Jr, of Topeka died from injuries in a shooting in the&nbsp;&nbsp;2300 block of SE Bellview Avenue in Topeka.

Police have not released&nbsp; possible suspect details in these cases.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681931386406.png" alt="Ray-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Ray-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY–Law enforcement authorities investigating a second fatal shooting this week in Topeka have identified the victim as 55-year-old Troy Shepard ofTopeka and arrested 32-year-old Christopher F. Ray of Topeka in connection with the killing.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681864464057.png" alt="-Police on the scene of the investigation Tuesday -photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>-Police on the scene of the investigation Tuesday -photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>Just before 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, police responded to report of a shooting in the 900 block of SW 17th Street in Topeka, according to Lt. Ron Ekis.Officers located Shepard suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to a local hospital where he later succumbed to his injuries.&nbsp;Ray is being held on requested charges of first-degree murder, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.On Monday 33-year-old Sherman Coleman Jr, of Topeka died from injuries in a shooting in the&nbsp;&nbsp;2300 block of SE Bellview Avenue in Topeka.Police have not released&nbsp; possible suspect details in these cases.

Police arrest suspect in Kansas homicide investigation

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country's defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.

The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/1/1673396092973.png" alt="Ukrainian troops trained at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system-Photo U.S. Defense Department" />
 <figcaption>Ukrainian troops trained at Oklahoma’s Fort Sill Army base operating and maintaining the Patriot missile defense system-Photo U.S. Defense Department</figcaption>
 </figure>KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — American-made Patriot missiles have arrived in Ukraine, the country's defense minister said Wednesday, providing Kyiv with a long-sought new shield against the Russian airstrikes that have devastated cities and civilian infrastructure.The U.S. agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.“Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said in a tweet.The missiles are the latest contribution from Western allies, who have also pledged tanks, artillery and some types of fighter jets as Ukraine gears up for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-counteroffensive-russia-war-oleksiy-danilov-interview-6e8e4fec0916bf10a9bcd642374103f9">an expected counteroffensive</a>.Reznikov thanked the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, without saying how many missile systems had been delivered or when they arrived.Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said late Tuesday that delivery of the systems would be a landmark event, allowing Ukrainians to knock out Russian targets at a greater distance.Germany’s federal government website on Tuesday listed a Patriot system as among the military items delivered within the past week to Ukraine. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock confirmed that to lawmakers Wednesday in Berlin.Germany has also delivered the second of four medium-range IRIS-T air defense systems that it pledged last year, Baerbock said.Reznikov said he first asked for Patriot systems when visiting the U.S. in August 2021, five months before Russia's full-scale invasion and seven years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. He described possessing the system as “a dream” but said he was told in the U.S. at the time that it was “impossible.”Ukrainian personnel have been trained on the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-patriot-missile-system-explainer-b16125509161de8a7a3b4c38022534c7">Patriot battery</a>, which requires up to 90 troops to operate and maintain it.“Our air defenders have mastered (the Patriot systems) as far as they could. And our partners have kept their word,” Reznikov wrote.Experts have cautioned that the system’s effectiveness is limited and that it may not significantly change the shape of the war, even though it will add to Ukraine’s arsenal against its bigger enemy.The Patriot was first deployed by the U.S. in the 1980s. The system costs approximately $4 million per missile, and the launchers cost about $10 million each, analysts say. At such a cost, it’s not advantageous to use the Patriot to shoot down the smaller, cheaper Iranian drones that Russia has been buying and using in Ukraine.In other developments Wednesday, China denied recent reports that Chinese drones have been found on Ukraine battlefields. China has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-taiwan-weapons-germany-ukraine-2a51d2c64c12fca75683d20fbafba475">insisted that it will not help arm Russia</a>, one of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-china-defense-minister-putin-xi-military-cooperation-018129169d50f64df3a06793f89776c5">its key allies</a>.The Chinese Commerce Ministry said in a statement that Beijing maintains strict control over the export of drones in keeping with international standards preventing them from being used for nonpeaceful purposes.China, which has repeatedly criticized the U.S. and other countries’ support for Ukraine as “adding fuel to the fire” of the war, has an “objective and fair stance” and seeks peace, the statement said.Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-putin-285966d09f3b0659e29c3292ff957d3d">recently visited</a>&nbsp;Moscow-controlled parts of Ukraine’s southern Kherson and easternmost Luhansk provinces.“The purpose of the trip was to meet with the military, whom I did not want to distract for a long time and a long distance from the deployment of the units they command,” he said.Kyiv officials have reported daily civilian, but not military, casualties from Russian bombardment.At least four civilians were killed and 27 others were wounded Tuesday and overnight, Ukraine’s defense ministry reported.A 50-year-old man and 44-year-old woman were killed in a Russian airstrike on a border town in the northeastern Kharkiv region, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in televised remarks.Russian forces launched 12 rocket, artillery, mortar, tank and drone attacks on Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, killing one civilian at a market in the center of Kherson, the region’s namesake capital, and a nearby school, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said.A woman was killed and another was wounded in northern Ukraine after Russian forces shelled the border village of Richki from multiple rocket launchers, the local military administration said.Russian forces also fired exploding drones at Ukraine’s southern Odesa region.___ Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing, and Geir Moulson in Berlin, contributed to this report.