SUMNER COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a crash that left a Kansas man dead.

Just before 8am. Sunday, Wellington officers and Fire/EMS responded to the westside of Woods Park in the 1100 block West 4th street, regarding a vehicle being submerged in Slate Creek, according to Police Chief Tracy Heath. A Wellington citizen had alerted Sumner E911.

First responders entered the water and subsequently removed a man later identified as 42-year-old Ralph Lee Pingry of Wellington from the vehicle. He was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to Heath.

Strickland Tow Service removed the black 2014 Ford Mustang from the water.&nbsp; Officers suspect the vehicle was westbound through Woods Park at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control of the car. It left the roadway struck a metal post and flipped upside down when entering the water.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683583052253.png" alt="The car left the roadway struck a metal post and flipped upside down when entering the creek -Google image" />
 <figcaption>The car left the roadway struck a metal post and flipped upside down when entering the creek -Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>SUMNER COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a crash that left a Kansas man dead.Just before 8am. Sunday, Wellington officers and Fire/EMS responded to the westside of Woods Park in the 1100 block West 4th street, regarding a vehicle being submerged in Slate Creek, according to Police Chief Tracy Heath. A Wellington citizen had alerted Sumner E911.First responders entered the water and subsequently removed a man later identified as 42-year-old Ralph Lee Pingry of Wellington from the vehicle. He was pronounced deceased at the scene, according to Heath.Strickland Tow Service removed the black 2014 Ford Mustang from the water.&nbsp; Officers suspect the vehicle was westbound through Woods Park at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control of the car. It left the roadway struck a metal post and flipped upside down when entering the water.

Fatal crash: Car flipped upside down into Kansas creek

Authorities are investigating a train derailment in Braymer that occurred Monday afternoon.

The incident happened near South Main Street at about 1:20 p.m.

Police evacuated downtown Braymer as a precaution, but later confirmed that no hazardous materials were spilled.

The derailment of roughly 10 train cars was blocking A Highway, which is also Main Street in Braymer. There were no injuries.

The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

By TOMMY REZACSt. Joseph PostAuthorities are investigating a train derailment in Braymer that occurred Monday afternoon.The incident happened near South Main Street at about 1:20 p.m.Police evacuated downtown Braymer as a precaution, but later confirmed that no hazardous materials were spilled.The derailment of roughly 10 train cars was blocking A Highway, which is also Main Street in Braymer. There were no injuries.The cause of the derailment is under investigation.

Downtown Braymer evacuated as a precaution after train derailment Monday

DICKINSON COUNTY –&nbsp; On Monday, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Herington man on a warrant, according to a media release from the agency.

Russell L. Thomas, 61, of Herington, was arrested on requested charges that include three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and misdemeanor battery.

The arrest occurred at 9:50 a.m. at 434 Union Road in Herington, Kansas, according to the KBI.&nbsp;Thomas is a middle school science teacher at Herington USD 487,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heringtonschools.org/staff?search=Thomas">according to the district web site.</a>

Agents arrested Thomas in April for aggravated intimidation of a witness connected to the investigation. He was released after bond was posted.

Following Monday’s arrest, Thomas was booked into the Dickinson County Jail.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1681400869626.png" alt="Thomas-photo Dickinson Co." />
 <figcaption>Thomas-photo Dickinson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>DICKINSON COUNTY –&nbsp; On Monday, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Herington man on a warrant, according to a media release from the agency.Russell L. Thomas, 61, of Herington, was arrested on requested charges that include three counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child, and misdemeanor battery.The arrest occurred at 9:50 a.m. at 434 Union Road in Herington, Kansas, according to the KBI.&nbsp;Thomas is a middle school science teacher at Herington USD 487,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.heringtonschools.org/staff?search=Thomas">according to the district web site.</a>Agents arrested Thomas in April for aggravated intimidation of a witness connected to the investigation. He was released after bond was posted.Following Monday’s arrest, Thomas was booked into the Dickinson County Jail.

Kansas teacher now accused of child sex crime

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a scam that led to a woman losing $200,000 last week, according to the Clay County, Missouri Sheriff.

A man called the victim saying her cyber security service had expired. He spoofed the phone number of the cyber security company the victim actually used and knew her account information. 

The victim reported the scammer did not sound like he was from the United States.

The victim allowed the scammer remote access to her computer. The scammer said he would refund her $1,500 for her security service subscription, but he accidentally sent the money twice. 

He asked the victim to return the money to him via a Bitcoin kiosk in Liberty. Over the course of several days, he continued to say he was working on her computer and requesting the victim make deposits at various Bitcoin kiosks. The victim soon discovered $200,000 was missing from her bank accounts.

The sheriff's office provided some tips to avoid being a victim:

* Never allow anyone to access your computer remotely unless you have initiated the interaction with a member of a trusted business or organization.

* If something seems suspicious, call the company directly before providing any information or access.

* Do not provide information about financial accounts over the phone on a call you did not initiate.

* Legitimate businesses will not request payment via Bitcoin kiosk, gift card or similar unconventional methods. They also won’t “accidentally” deposit too much money in your account.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a scam that led to a woman losing $200,000 last week, according to the Clay County, Missouri Sheriff.A man called the victim saying her cyber security service had expired. He spoofed the phone number of the cyber security company the victim actually used and knew her account information. The victim reported the scammer did not sound like he was from the United States.The victim allowed the scammer remote access to her computer. The scammer said he would refund her $1,500 for her security service subscription, but he accidentally sent the money twice. He asked the victim to return the money to him via a Bitcoin kiosk in Liberty. Over the course of several days, he continued to say he was working on her computer and requesting the victim make deposits at various Bitcoin kiosks. The victim soon discovered $200,000 was missing from her bank accounts.The sheriff's office provided some tips to avoid being a victim:* Never allow anyone to access your computer remotely unless you have initiated the interaction with a member of a trusted business or organization.* If something seems suspicious, call the company directly before providing any information or access.* Do not provide information about financial accounts over the phone on a call you did not initiate.* Legitimate businesses will not request payment via Bitcoin kiosk, gift card or similar unconventional methods. They also won’t “accidentally” deposit too much money in your account.

Sheriff: KC-area woman lost $200,000 in cyber security scam

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Gas prices are staying slightly above the $3 a gallon mark, depending on where you are in the Sunflower State, says Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas.

"I think the fear of a global economic recession is leading to some of these falling prices we're seeing at the pumps," Steward said. "Crude oil dropped in the middle of last week to about $66 a barrel, which is pretty low for what we've seen recently. I see today, we're back up to about $73 dollars per barrel on the global market."

"There's lots of oil market volatility, as we've seen throughout much of this year," Steward said. "In the past week or so, we saw sort of a pre-summer driving season lull in domestic gasoline demand. Maybe people are just kind of saving up until the kids get out of school. We should be seeing a pretty robust summer driving season starting soon."

It's also important to note that summer blend gasoline is more expensive to produce than winter blend and that factors like an additional ethanol percentage in those cars that can use it, like flex fuel vehicles, can have an impact.

"The summer blend gasoline should be out in the market now, which does typically raise the price of gas a little bit," Steward said. "Ethanol is able to put a little bit of a limit on the price at the pumps. It does have some effect of keeping costs down. That's one thing for drivers and something that we can expect going forward."&nbsp;

The Environmental Protection Agency&nbsp;(EPA)&nbsp;has granted Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vZ292ZXJub3Iua2Fuc2FzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMy8wMy9FMTUtTGV0dGVyLTAzLjMwLjIzLnBkZiIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMzA1MDMuNzYxNzE5NjEifQ.O0UpSwiHwJdFzwzDkwcCxqu5Ebcwj-Py6UM2uAk-7Ys/s/2958202315/br/174611144107-l" target="_blank">&nbsp;request to allow the sale of E15 products</a>&nbsp;– gasoline blended with 15%&nbsp;ethanol&nbsp;– during the summer months&nbsp;through&nbsp;an emergency waiver.&nbsp; &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683569425684.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NICK GOSNELL Hutch PostHUTCHINSON, Kan. — Gas prices are staying slightly above the $3 a gallon mark, depending on where you are in the Sunflower State, says Shawn Steward with AAA Kansas."I think the fear of a global economic recession is leading to some of these falling prices we're seeing at the pumps," Steward said. "Crude oil dropped in the middle of last week to about $66 a barrel, which is pretty low for what we've seen recently. I see today, we're back up to about $73 dollars per barrel on the global market.""There's lots of oil market volatility, as we've seen throughout much of this year," Steward said. "In the past week or so, we saw sort of a pre-summer driving season lull in domestic gasoline demand. Maybe people are just kind of saving up until the kids get out of school. We should be seeing a pretty robust summer driving season starting soon."It's also important to note that summer blend gasoline is more expensive to produce than winter blend and that factors like an additional ethanol percentage in those cars that can use it, like flex fuel vehicles, can have an impact."The summer blend gasoline should be out in the market now, which does typically raise the price of gas a little bit," Steward said. "Ethanol is able to put a little bit of a limit on the price at the pumps. It does have some effect of keeping costs down. That's one thing for drivers and something that we can expect going forward."&nbsp;The Environmental Protection Agency&nbsp;(EPA)&nbsp;has granted Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vZ292ZXJub3Iua2Fuc2FzLmdvdi93cC1jb250ZW50L3VwbG9hZHMvMjAyMy8wMy9FMTUtTGV0dGVyLTAzLjMwLjIzLnBkZiIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMzA1MDMuNzYxNzE5NjEifQ.O0UpSwiHwJdFzwzDkwcCxqu5Ebcwj-Py6UM2uAk-7Ys/s/2958202315/br/174611144107-l" target="_blank">&nbsp;request to allow the sale of E15 products</a>&nbsp;– gasoline blended with 15%&nbsp;ethanol&nbsp;– during the summer months&nbsp;through&nbsp;an emergency waiver.&nbsp; &nbsp;

AAA: Gas prices still well below last year

NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-inflation-interest-rate-hikes-recession-aba096229d327d8abeb4bc13d85d1b2b">raised its key interest rate</a>&nbsp;yet again in its drive to cool inflation, a move that will directly affect most Americans.

On Wednesday, the central bank boosted its benchmark rate by a quarter-point to 5.1%. Rates on credit cards, mortgages and auto loans, which have been surging since the Fed began raising rates last year, all stand to rise even more. The result will be more burdensome loan costs for both consumers and businesses.

On the other hand, many banks are now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rate-banks-saving-high-yield-cd-e44a5c704006035187a2c487a8817dd6">offering higher rates on savings accounts</a>, giving savers the opportunity to earn more interest.

Economists worry, though, that the Fed’s streak of 10 rate hikes since March 2022 could eventually cause the economy to slow too much and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/recession-gdp-economy-inflation-interest-rates-growth-b6276997368000bdd2bb12bdcf34f3b8">cause a recession</a>.

The short answer: inflation. Inflation has been slowing in recent months, but it's still high. Measured over a year earlier, consumer prices were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates-recession-prices-d933973089cce63f07cceb6da1e5dbc9">up 5% in March</a>, down sharply from February’s 6% year-over-year increase.

The Fed’s goal is to slow consumer spending, thereby reducing demand for homes, cars and other goods and services, eventually cooling the economy and lowering prices.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has acknowledged in the past that aggressively raising rates would bring “some pain” for households but said that doing so is necessary to crush high inflation.

Anyone borrowing money to make a large purchase, such as a home, car or large appliance, will likely take a hit. The new rate will also increase monthly payments and costs for any consumer who is already paying interest on credit card debt.

“Consumers should focus on building up emergency savings and paying down debt,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst. “Even if this proves to be the final Fed rate hike, interest rates are still high and will remain that way.”

Even before the Fed’s latest move,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-credit-card-debt-interest-rates-a2e1d35cb957153058d188652570c48e">credit card borrowing</a>&nbsp;had reached the highest level since 1996, according to Bankrate.com.

The most recent data available showed that 46% of people were carrying debt from month to month, up from 39% a year ago. Total credit card balances were $986 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the Fed, a record high, though that amount isn’t adjusted for inflation.

For those who don’t qualify for low-rate credit cards because of weak credit scores, the higher interest rates are already affecting their balances.

HOW WILL AN INCREASE AFFECT CREDIT CARD RATES?

The Fed doesn’t directly dictate how much interest you pay on your&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-0a536993ce494fc8d6fe2c5d637da5b5">credit card debt</a>. But the Fed’s rate is the basis for your bank’s prime rate. In combination with other factors, such as your credit score, the prime rate helps determine the Annual Percentage Rate, or APR, on your credit card.

The latest increase will likely raise the APR on your credit card 0.25%. So, if you have a 20.9% rate, which is the average according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/">the Fed's data</a>, it might increase to 21.15%.

If you don’t carry a balance from month to month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-interest-rates-credit-cards-a1a5c342b60b63f45d1a700798b70b3a">the APR is less important</a>.

But suppose you have a $4,000 credit balance and your interest rate is 20%. If you made only a fixed payment of $110 per month, it would take you a bit under five years to pay off your credit card debt, and you would pay about $2,200 in interest.

If your APR increased by a percentage point, paying off your balance would take two months longer and cost an additional $215.

After years of paying low rates for savers, some banks are finally&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rate-banks-saving-high-yield-cd-e44a5c704006035187a2c487a8817dd6">offering better interest on deposits</a>. Though the increases may seem small, compounding interest adds up over the years.

Interest on savings accounts doesn't always track what the Fed does. But as rates have continued to rise, some&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/banks-savings-cds-money-markets-deposits-08cde0e6bb4263c9194fa6544851a78f">banks have improved their terms</a>&nbsp;for savers as well. Even if you’re only keeping modest savings in your bank account, you could make more significant gains over the long term by finding an account with a better rate.

While the biggest national banks have yet to dramatically change the rates on their savings accounts (clocking in at an average of just 0.23%, according to Bankrate), some mid-size and smaller banks have made changes more in line with the Fed’s moves.

Online banks in particular — which save money by not having brick-and-mortar branches and associated expenses — are now offering savings accounts with annual percentage yields of between 3% and 4%, or even higher, as well as 4% or higher on one-year Certificates of Deposit (CDs). Some promotional rates can reach as high as 5%.

Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-interest-home-loan-real-estate-6357ce36e617f387fb99679b6060f6a9">mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported</a>&nbsp;that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year mortgage edged up to 6.43% from 6.39% the week prior. A year ago, the average rate was lower: 5.10%. Higher rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to mortgage payments.

Rates for 30-year mortgages usually track the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield. Rates can also be influenced by investors’ expectations for future inflation, global demand for U.S. Treasuries and what the Fed does.

Most mortgages last for decades, so if you already have a mortgage, you won't be impacted. But if you're looking to buy and already paying more for food, gas and other necessities, a higher mortgage rate could put home ownership out of reach.

With shortages of computer chips and other parts easing, automakers are producing more vehicles. Many are even reducing prices or offering limited discounts. But rising loan rates and lower used-vehicle trade-in values have erased much of the savings on monthly payments.

Since the Fed began raising rates in March 2022, the average new-vehicle loan rate has jumped from 4.5% to 7%, according to Edmunds data. Used vehicle loans dropped slightly to 11.1%. Loan durations average around 70 months — nearly six years — for new and used vehicles.

Largely because of rate increases, the average monthly payment for both new and used vehicles has risen since March 2022, Edmunds says. The average new vehicle payment is up $72 to $729, Edmunds says. For used vehicles, the payment rose $20 a month to $546.

The higher rates will keep out of the market people who have the ability to wait for more favorable terms, said Joseph Yoon, Edmunds’ consumer insights analyst.

“But with inventory levels improving, it’s a matter of time before discounts and incentives start coming back into the equation," attracting more buyers, Yoon said.

New vehicle average prices are down from the end of last year to $47,749. But they're still high compared with even a year ago. The average used vehicle price dropped 7% from last May's peak, to $28,729, but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/used-cars-prices-new-vehicles-supply-522266dc94e089859f6eb393a4a786e1">prices are edging back up</a>.

Financing a new vehicle now costs $8,655 in interest. Analysts say that's enough to chase many out of the auto market.

Any Fed rate increase is typically passed through to auto borrowers, though it will be offset a bit by subsidized rates from manufacturers.

The nation’s employers kept hiring in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-unemployment-inflation-layoffs-economy-federal-reserve-40add7d390eca72a0294c8d5c80b2dd6">adding a healthy 236,000 jobs</a>. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January. At the same time, the report from the Labor Department suggested a slowdown, with pay growth also easing.

Some economists argue that layoffs could help slow rising prices, and that a tight labor market fuels wage growth and higher inflation.

Economists expect the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-economy-employment-labor-31bb6127bb22135711bee3834f47e4be">unemployment rate to go up</a>&nbsp;to 3.6% in April, a slight increase from January's half-century low of 3.4%.

Borrowers who take out new private student loans should prepare to pay more as as rates increase. The current range for federal loans is between about 5% and 7.5%.

That said,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-scotus-what-to-know-06a8ac6187fb39b2edc2cf5a379c22c0">payments on federal student loans</a>&nbsp;are suspended with zero interest until summer 2023 as part of an emergency measure put in place early in the pandemic. President Joe Biden has also announced some loan forgiveness, of up to $10,000 for most borrowers, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients — a policy that’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">now being challenged in the courts.</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587780450451.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Reserve has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-inflation-interest-rate-hikes-recession-aba096229d327d8abeb4bc13d85d1b2b">raised its key interest rate</a>&nbsp;yet again in its drive to cool inflation, a move that will directly affect most Americans.On Wednesday, the central bank boosted its benchmark rate by a quarter-point to 5.1%. Rates on credit cards, mortgages and auto loans, which have been surging since the Fed began raising rates last year, all stand to rise even more. The result will be more burdensome loan costs for both consumers and businesses.On the other hand, many banks are now&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rate-banks-saving-high-yield-cd-e44a5c704006035187a2c487a8817dd6">offering higher rates on savings accounts</a>, giving savers the opportunity to earn more interest.Economists worry, though, that the Fed’s streak of 10 rate hikes since March 2022 could eventually cause the economy to slow too much and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/recession-gdp-economy-inflation-interest-rates-growth-b6276997368000bdd2bb12bdcf34f3b8">cause a recession</a>.Here’s what to know:WHAT’S PROMPTING THE RATE INCREASES?The short answer: inflation. Inflation has been slowing in recent months, but it's still high. Measured over a year earlier, consumer prices were&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates-recession-prices-d933973089cce63f07cceb6da1e5dbc9">up 5% in March</a>, down sharply from February’s 6% year-over-year increase.The Fed’s goal is to slow consumer spending, thereby reducing demand for homes, cars and other goods and services, eventually cooling the economy and lowering prices.Fed Chair Jerome Powell has acknowledged in the past that aggressively raising rates would bring “some pain” for households but said that doing so is necessary to crush high inflation.WHO IS MOST AFFECTED?Anyone borrowing money to make a large purchase, such as a home, car or large appliance, will likely take a hit. The new rate will also increase monthly payments and costs for any consumer who is already paying interest on credit card debt.“Consumers should focus on building up emergency savings and paying down debt,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst. “Even if this proves to be the final Fed rate hike, interest rates are still high and will remain that way.”WHAT'S HAPPENING WITH CREDIT CARDS?Even before the Fed’s latest move,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-credit-card-debt-interest-rates-a2e1d35cb957153058d188652570c48e">credit card borrowing</a>&nbsp;had reached the highest level since 1996, according to Bankrate.com.The most recent data available showed that 46% of people were carrying debt from month to month, up from 39% a year ago. Total credit card balances were $986 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the Fed, a record high, though that amount isn’t adjusted for inflation.For those who don’t qualify for low-rate credit cards because of weak credit scores, the higher interest rates are already affecting their balances.HOW WILL AN INCREASE AFFECT CREDIT CARD RATES?The Fed doesn’t directly dictate how much interest you pay on your&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-0a536993ce494fc8d6fe2c5d637da5b5">credit card debt</a>. But the Fed’s rate is the basis for your bank’s prime rate. In combination with other factors, such as your credit score, the prime rate helps determine the Annual Percentage Rate, or APR, on your credit card.The latest increase will likely raise the APR on your credit card 0.25%. So, if you have a 20.9% rate, which is the average according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/current/">the Fed's data</a>, it might increase to 21.15%.If you don’t carry a balance from month to month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-interest-rates-credit-cards-a1a5c342b60b63f45d1a700798b70b3a">the APR is less important</a>.But suppose you have a $4,000 credit balance and your interest rate is 20%. If you made only a fixed payment of $110 per month, it would take you a bit under five years to pay off your credit card debt, and you would pay about $2,200 in interest.If your APR increased by a percentage point, paying off your balance would take two months longer and cost an additional $215.WHAT IF I HAVE MONEY TO SAVE?After years of paying low rates for savers, some banks are finally&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rate-banks-saving-high-yield-cd-e44a5c704006035187a2c487a8817dd6">offering better interest on deposits</a>. Though the increases may seem small, compounding interest adds up over the years.Interest on savings accounts doesn't always track what the Fed does. But as rates have continued to rise, some&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/banks-savings-cds-money-markets-deposits-08cde0e6bb4263c9194fa6544851a78f">banks have improved their terms</a>&nbsp;for savers as well. Even if you’re only keeping modest savings in your bank account, you could make more significant gains over the long term by finding an account with a better rate.While the biggest national banks have yet to dramatically change the rates on their savings accounts (clocking in at an average of just 0.23%, according to Bankrate), some mid-size and smaller banks have made changes more in line with the Fed’s moves.Online banks in particular — which save money by not having brick-and-mortar branches and associated expenses — are now offering savings accounts with annual percentage yields of between 3% and 4%, or even higher, as well as 4% or higher on one-year Certificates of Deposit (CDs). Some promotional rates can reach as high as 5%.WILL THIS AFFECT HOME OWNERSHIP?Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-interest-home-loan-real-estate-6357ce36e617f387fb99679b6060f6a9">mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported</a>&nbsp;that the average rate on the benchmark 30-year mortgage edged up to 6.43% from 6.39% the week prior. A year ago, the average rate was lower: 5.10%. Higher rates can add hundreds of dollars a month to mortgage payments.Rates for 30-year mortgages usually track the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield. Rates can also be influenced by investors’ expectations for future inflation, global demand for U.S. Treasuries and what the Fed does.Most mortgages last for decades, so if you already have a mortgage, you won't be impacted. But if you're looking to buy and already paying more for food, gas and other necessities, a higher mortgage rate could put home ownership out of reach.WHAT IF I WANT TO BUY A CAR?With shortages of computer chips and other parts easing, automakers are producing more vehicles. Many are even reducing prices or offering limited discounts. But rising loan rates and lower used-vehicle trade-in values have erased much of the savings on monthly payments.Since the Fed began raising rates in March 2022, the average new-vehicle loan rate has jumped from 4.5% to 7%, according to Edmunds data. Used vehicle loans dropped slightly to 11.1%. Loan durations average around 70 months — nearly six years — for new and used vehicles.Largely because of rate increases, the average monthly payment for both new and used vehicles has risen since March 2022, Edmunds says. The average new vehicle payment is up $72 to $729, Edmunds says. For used vehicles, the payment rose $20 a month to $546.The higher rates will keep out of the market people who have the ability to wait for more favorable terms, said Joseph Yoon, Edmunds’ consumer insights analyst.“But with inventory levels improving, it’s a matter of time before discounts and incentives start coming back into the equation," attracting more buyers, Yoon said.New vehicle average prices are down from the end of last year to $47,749. But they're still high compared with even a year ago. The average used vehicle price dropped 7% from last May's peak, to $28,729, but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/used-cars-prices-new-vehicles-supply-522266dc94e089859f6eb393a4a786e1">prices are edging back up</a>.Financing a new vehicle now costs $8,655 in interest. Analysts say that's enough to chase many out of the auto market.Any Fed rate increase is typically passed through to auto borrowers, though it will be offset a bit by subsidized rates from manufacturers.WHAT ABOUT MY JOB?The nation’s employers kept hiring in March,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-unemployment-inflation-layoffs-economy-federal-reserve-40add7d390eca72a0294c8d5c80b2dd6">adding a healthy 236,000 jobs</a>. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, just above the 53-year low of 3.4% set in January. At the same time, the report from the Labor Department suggested a slowdown, with pay growth also easing.Some economists argue that layoffs could help slow rising prices, and that a tight labor market fuels wage growth and higher inflation.Economists expect the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-economy-employment-labor-31bb6127bb22135711bee3834f47e4be">unemployment rate to go up</a>&nbsp;to 3.6% in April, a slight increase from January's half-century low of 3.4%.WILL THIS AFFECT STUDENT LOANS?Borrowers who take out new private student loans should prepare to pay more as as rates increase. The current range for federal loans is between about 5% and 7.5%.That said,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-scotus-what-to-know-06a8ac6187fb39b2edc2cf5a379c22c0">payments on federal student loans</a>&nbsp;are suspended with zero interest until summer 2023 as part of an emergency measure put in place early in the pandemic. President Joe Biden has also announced some loan forgiveness, of up to $10,000 for most borrowers, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients — a policy that’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/student-loan-forgiveness-supreme-court-case-explained-8c62622e87c4ebff995f971263d932fc">now being challenged in the courts.</a>___

How the interest rate increase could affect credit card debt, auto loans

By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina Post

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement arrested a Salina man following an incident at a local gentlemen's club early Saturday morning.

Just before 2a.m. Saturday, deputies were sent to the Shady Lady, 1540 W. Old Highway 40 after a report of people being shot, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan. First responders found near the entrance a 25-year-old man and a 31-year-old man with gunshot wounds.

Both men were transported to Salina Regional Health Center before one was transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita and the other to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita, Soldan said.

A third shooting victim who also had been near the entrance, a 23-year-old man, had already been dropped off at Salina Regional Health Center. by his friend, Dyeon Presley, 23, of Salina.&nbsp;

Sheriff's office personnel believed&nbsp; Presley was the shooter..

"Apparently the bouncers were trying to get people out of the club at the end of the night. Somebody bumped into his Presley's girlfriend who was with him and said something that he took offense to, and they exchanged words and he just started shooting at him at the front door of the club," Soldan said.&nbsp; The weapon was a 9mm handgun, he said.

The 25-year-old and the 31-year-old were next to a bouncer when they were shot, Soldan said.

Later on Saturday morning, deputies served a search warrant at Presley's residence in the 2200 block of Roach Street to look for evidence in the case. After they had secured the residence and had begun searching it, Presley showed up on the porch looking for his girlfriend, Soldan said.

Sheriff's deputies arrested Presley on requested charges of Three counts of attempted murder, Aggravated assault, Criminal damage to property and Criminal discharge of a firearm in an occupied building, according to Soldan.&nbsp; &nbsp;The 23-year-old shooting victim was treated and released at Salina Regional, according to Soldan.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683464320993.jpeg" alt="&nbsp;Presley-Photo Saline County Sheriff's Office" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Presley-Photo Saline County Sheriff's Office</figcaption>
 </figure>By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina PostSALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement arrested a Salina man following an incident at a local gentlemen's club early Saturday morning.Just before 2a.m. Saturday, deputies were sent to the Shady Lady, 1540 W. Old Highway 40 after a report of people being shot, according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan. First responders found near the entrance a 25-year-old man and a 31-year-old man with gunshot wounds.Both men were transported to Salina Regional Health Center before one was transported to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita and the other to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis in Wichita, Soldan said.A third shooting victim who also had been near the entrance, a 23-year-old man, had already been dropped off at Salina Regional Health Center. by his friend, Dyeon Presley, 23, of Salina.&nbsp;Sheriff's office personnel believed&nbsp; Presley was the shooter.."Apparently the bouncers were trying to get people out of the club at the end of the night. Somebody bumped into his Presley's girlfriend who was with him and said something that he took offense to, and they exchanged words and he just started shooting at him at the front door of the club," Soldan said.&nbsp; The weapon was a 9mm handgun, he said.The 25-year-old and the 31-year-old were next to a bouncer when they were shot, Soldan said.Later on Saturday morning, deputies served a search warrant at Presley's residence in the 2200 block of Roach Street to look for evidence in the case. After they had secured the residence and had begun searching it, Presley showed up on the porch looking for his girlfriend, Soldan said.Sheriff's deputies arrested Presley on requested charges of Three counts of attempted murder, Aggravated assault, Criminal damage to property and Criminal discharge of a firearm in an occupied building, according to Soldan.&nbsp; &nbsp;The 23-year-old shooting victim was treated and released at Salina Regional, according to Soldan.

 Sheriff: Man shot 3 at Kansas gentlemen's club 

LAFAYETTE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30a.m. Sunday.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Dodge 1500 driven by Sarah M. Dunn, 28, Moundsville, West Virginia, was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Concordia exit.

The driver lost control of the pickup when the attached trailer began to fishtail.

The pickup traveled off the sough side of the road, rolled&nbsp; and a passenger identified as Kayla E. Opicka, 29, Fort Riley, was partially ejected.&nbsp;&nbsp;

First responders pronounced her dead at the scene. EMS transported Dunn to Research Medical Center in Kansas City. Dunn was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

LAFAYETTE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30a.m. Sunday.The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Dodge 1500 driven by Sarah M. Dunn, 28, Moundsville, West Virginia, was eastbound on Interstate 70 just west of the Concordia exit.The driver lost control of the pickup when the attached trailer began to fishtail.The pickup traveled off the sough side of the road, rolled&nbsp; and a passenger identified as Kayla E. Opicka, 29, Fort Riley, was partially ejected.&nbsp;&nbsp;First responders pronounced her dead at the scene. EMS transported Dunn to Research Medical Center in Kansas City. Dunn was not wearing a seat belt, according to the MSHP.

Kansas woman dies after pickup rollover crash 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials have identified elevated levels of liver cancer among people living in several historically Black neighborhoods in Wichita where groundwater was polluted by a rail yard chemical spill.

<a href="https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/1938/29th-and-Grove-Site">Click here to read details</a> from the KDHE

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment released a study Friday that found a liver and biliary tract cancer diagnosis rate of 15.7 per 100,000 people in the contamination zone, which was more than double the statewide rate of 6.4 per 100,000.

Among non-Hispanic Black residents, the diagnosis rate was even higher, at 23.9 per 100,000.

Experts believe that the spill of trichloroethene (TCE), a common solvent that is used to clean off paint and remove grease, could have happened as early as the 1970s, although it wasn't identified until 1994. It created a plume of polluted groundwater that runs for 2.9 miles from the Union Pacific Railroad rail yard site.

TCE can cause cancer in humans — “especially kidney cancer and possibly liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But State Epidemiologist and Environmental Health Officer Dr. Farah Ahmed cautioned that there is no way to know definitively if TCE is responsible for the outsized number of liver cancer diagnoses.

“The study can only really report on whether an increase was observed, not the cause of the increase,” Ahmed said.

According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment report, all but one of the nearly 2,800 properties in the contaminated area were connected to city water before the spill is believed to have occurred, meaning it’s unlikely people would have drank directly from contaminated groundwater wells. But there are other risk factors for TCE exposure, which occurs when a person breathes, ingests or touches the chemical.

According to the EPA, water is contaminated if it contains more than 5 parts per billion of TCE.

Two thirds of the 66 water quality tests conducted in May 2021 — 40 to 50 years after the chemical spill — found samples with higher-than-acceptable levels, including samples of as much as 823 TCE parts per billion.

Sedgwick County Commissioner Ryan Baty was critical of health officials during a briefing Friday.

After hosting a forum about the contamination site in 2003, the state did not hold another public meeting about it until November 2022, when community members learned about the presence of TCE for the first time and asked for a health study to be conducted.

“This is really a systematic failure of communication,” Baty said.

Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson said the city and county are working to secure free cancer screenings for residents and former residents of the affected area. Officials want Union Pacific to contribute to the cancer screening fund, but the railroad could not be reached for comment by the paper.

The railroad is already on the hook to pay $13.9 million for the cleanup, which started nearly a decade ago.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683478491393.png" alt="Rail line near the spill site -Google image" />
 <figcaption>Rail line near the spill site -Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials have identified elevated levels of liver cancer among people living in several historically Black neighborhoods in Wichita where groundwater was polluted by a rail yard chemical spill.<a href="https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/1938/29th-and-Grove-Site">Click here to read details</a> from the KDHEThe Kansas Department of Health and Environment released a study Friday that found a liver and biliary tract cancer diagnosis rate of 15.7 per 100,000 people in the contamination zone, which was more than double the statewide rate of 6.4 per 100,000.Among non-Hispanic Black residents, the diagnosis rate was even higher, at 23.9 per 100,000.Experts believe that the spill of trichloroethene (TCE), a common solvent that is used to clean off paint and remove grease, could have happened as early as the 1970s, although it wasn't identified until 1994. It created a plume of polluted groundwater that runs for 2.9 miles from the Union Pacific Railroad rail yard site.TCE can cause cancer in humans — “especially kidney cancer and possibly liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.But State Epidemiologist and Environmental Health Officer Dr. Farah Ahmed cautioned that there is no way to know definitively if TCE is responsible for the outsized number of liver cancer diagnoses.“The study can only really report on whether an increase was observed, not the cause of the increase,” Ahmed said.According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment report, all but one of the nearly 2,800 properties in the contaminated area were connected to city water before the spill is believed to have occurred, meaning it’s unlikely people would have drank directly from contaminated groundwater wells. But there are other risk factors for TCE exposure, which occurs when a person breathes, ingests or touches the chemical.According to the EPA, water is contaminated if it contains more than 5 parts per billion of TCE.Two thirds of the 66 water quality tests conducted in May 2021 — 40 to 50 years after the chemical spill — found samples with higher-than-acceptable levels, including samples of as much as 823 TCE parts per billion.Sedgwick County Commissioner Ryan Baty was critical of health officials during a briefing Friday.After hosting a forum about the contamination site in 2003, the state did not hold another public meeting about it until November 2022, when community members learned about the presence of TCE for the first time and asked for a health study to be conducted.“This is really a systematic failure of communication,” Baty said.Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson said the city and county are working to secure free cancer screenings for residents and former residents of the affected area. Officials want Union Pacific to contribute to the cancer screening fund, but the railroad could not be reached for comment by the paper.The railroad is already on the hook to pay $13.9 million for the cleanup, which started nearly a decade ago.

Elevated cancer rates found near Kansas chemical spill

BUTLER COUNTY—Two people including a registered Kansas offender were injured in an accident just after 1p.m. Sunday in Butler County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Mazda 6 driven by Sheldon Tyler Flyingout, 30, a registered violent offender from Wichita, was westbound on U.S. 54 just east of southwest Diamond Road fleeing law enforcement.

A westbound 2017 Ford F150 driven by Melodee Denise Brown, 68, Douglas, was in the outside lane and attempted to yield to law enforcement by moving to the right shoulder. 

The Mazda attempted to pass the pickup on the right shoulder and rear-ended the Ford.&nbsp; EMS transported Brown to&nbsp;Susan B Allen Memorial Hospital. Flyingout was not transported for treatment of a minor injury. He has been listed as a Registered Kansas Violent Offender since 2013 for convictions that include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, according to the offender registry. He has additional convictions for burglary, theft and violations of the offender registration act, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections. He was discharged from prison in February.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683502173794.png" alt="Flyingout-photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Flyingout-photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>BUTLER COUNTY—Two people including a registered Kansas offender were injured in an accident just after 1p.m. Sunday in Butler County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2010 Mazda 6 driven by Sheldon Tyler Flyingout, 30, a registered violent offender from Wichita, was westbound on U.S. 54 just east of southwest Diamond Road fleeing law enforcement.A westbound 2017 Ford F150 driven by Melodee Denise Brown, 68, Douglas, was in the outside lane and attempted to yield to law enforcement by moving to the right shoulder. The Mazda attempted to pass the pickup on the right shoulder and rear-ended the Ford.&nbsp; EMS transported Brown to&nbsp;Susan B Allen Memorial Hospital. Flyingout was not transported for treatment of a minor injury. He has been listed as a Registered Kansas Violent Offender since 2013 for convictions that include aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling, according to the offender registry. He has additional convictions for burglary, theft and violations of the offender registration act, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections. He was discharged from prison in February.

Woman injured in crash with Kan. offender fleeing police

Changes to the initiative petition process, open enrollment and a ban on transgender health care are among a litany of bills Republicans hope to finalize with time running out on the 2023 session

By JASON HANCOCK <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>

Missouri lawmakers must adjourn for the year at 6 p.m. on Friday, leaving just five days to complete work on some of the highest-profile — and controversial — items on the GOP supermajority’s agenda.&nbsp;

And while the last two legislative sessions were defined in their final week by the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/05/12/missouri-senate-adjourns-early-after-passing-congressional-redistricting-map/">simmering tension between Republicans</a>&nbsp;in the Senate, this year it will likely be clashes between the two legislative chambers that decides the fate of a laundry list of proposals.&nbsp;

For weeks, House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, has lamented the slow pace of the Senate, complaining that top GOP priorities approved by the House languished across the Capitol rotunda in the Senate.&nbsp;

“We continue to look for action out of the Senate,” Plocher told reporters late last month. “The House has lived up to the expectations of the conservative voters of this state… we’re just waiting for the Senate.”&nbsp;

Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican and likely candidate for governor, says it is Plocher who decided to slow down progress on Senate bills as a negotiating tactic, putting their chances at risk as time winds down before adjournment.&nbsp;

“We had months to send to the governor’s desk bills that matched the priorities of the people of this state,” Eigel said. “Remember, it was the speaker of the House who said he was going to slow down all Senate bills until he got exactly what he wanted on a particular priority. He slowed down Senate bills for weeks to leverage this chamber.”&nbsp;

Hanging in the balance are bills that have been among the most hotly debated of the year, ranging from the initiative petition process to public education to LGBTQ rights.&nbsp;

Other priorities — legalized sports betting, corporate tax cuts, a state takeover of the St. Louis police — face incredibly long odds as time ticks down toward 6 p.m. Friday.&nbsp;

But after two years of watching as the Senate collapsed in the session’s final days in a cloud of GOP infighting, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden struck an optimistic tone for this year’s homestretch.&nbsp;

“There’s no reason to believe.. that we won’t have, you know, a relatively normal last week,” said Rowden, R-Columbia.

Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said his colleagues have worked hard to stop legislation they believe will hurt the state while keeping the chamber functioning.

But Rizzo isn’t sure how much longer the 10 Democrats in the 34-member Senate can hold the line.&nbsp;

“Democrats are here to be the adults in the room,” he said to reporters on Friday. “Sometimes that means pulling us back from the brink. But it’s only a matter of time before we won’t be able to stop it. Let’s hope that that time is not next week.”

Rowden said he expects the Senate to debate as early as Tuesday a bill that would allow public school students to transfer from their home district to any other school district that has opted into the program.&nbsp;

The open enrollment legislation&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/04/open-enrollment-gets-hearing-in-missouri-senate/">barely squeaked out of the House in March</a>&nbsp;with just three votes to spare. And so far the Senate hasn’t made any changes to the bill, meaning it is one vote away from heading to the governor.&nbsp;

But Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, recently told the Columbia Missourian&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/fragile-open-enrollment-bill-unlikely-to-pass-despite-sponsors-optimism/article_75f79468-e43f-11ed-ab02-cb93e4e36b8c.html">he doesn’t believe the bill has enough support to pass</a>&nbsp;unless it is expanded to include “pieces that might be unrelated to open enrollment.”&nbsp;

The bill was originally supposed to be debated last week, but a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/04/dispute-over-kc-landfill-derails-missouri-senate-as-deadline-to-pass-state-budget-looms/">dust up over a Kansas City landfill led to a day-long filibuster&nbsp;</a>and the education debate to be delayed.&nbsp;

Rizzo said passing an open enrollment bill will be tough.&nbsp;

“I will tell you,” he said, “it’s an uphill battle.”

Both the House and Senate have approved bills that would ask voters to make it harder to amend the constitution through the initiative petition process.&nbsp;

But differences between the two chambers will need to be ironed out before the proposal heads to the ballot.&nbsp;

The House version would raise the threshold for voters to amend the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. The Senate version&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/27/missouri-senate-passes-initiative-petition-changes-certain-to-trigger-strong-opposition-effort/">would require 57% of the vote</a>&nbsp;or a simple majority statewide and in five of eight congressional districts.&nbsp;

“If we got a version back from the conference committee that just changes the number,” Eigel said, “and takes out those concurrent majority provisions, that would probably run into a lot of trouble in this chamber, especially in the last week.”

But House leadership has expressed reservations about the Senate’s changes, worrying they will draw well-financed opposition that could doom its chances on the 2024 ballot.&nbsp;

There was also a provision added in the Senate that says that if any portion of a constitutional initiative petition was ever tossed out by a court, the entire amendment would be void.&nbsp;

“To a non-attorney, and I am a non-attorney, this proposal doesn’t sound constitutional to me,” said Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City, said to the bill’s sponsor, GOP Rep. Mike Henderson of Bonne Terre.

“We are trying to sort that out,” Henderson replied, “and that’s why we are going to conference.”

One of the bills the House is expected to take up this week would limit access to certain medical treatments for transgender minors.

The House passed a version of the bill last month that would establish a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-house-votes-to-limit-transgender-athletes-participation-in-school-sports/">total ban on puberty blockers</a>, hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender Missourians younger than 18.

The Senate version was the result of a compromise with Democrats. It includes an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/23/missouri-senate-advances-bill-banning-transgender-care-for-minors/">expiration date for the bans</a>&nbsp;on puberty blockers and hormone therapy and allows those already taking puberty blockers or hormone therapy to continue.&nbsp;

Rowden has said repeatedly that the Senate cannot approve anything that is more restrictive than the bill it has already passed. If the House won’t sign off on the Senate version as is, he said, then the bill is dead.&nbsp;

If lawmakers do fail to approve the bill, Gov. Mike Parson&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/27/missouri-governor-threatens-to-call-special-session-to-ban-gender-affirming-care/">has threatened to call them back into special session to continue the effort</a>.&nbsp;

When St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced last week&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/04/embattled-st-louis-prosecutor-kim-gardner-will-resign-june-1/">she would resign effective June 1</a>, part of the deal was that the Senate would stop its push to pass a bill targeting her office.&nbsp;

The bill would give the governor the ability to strip the authority of any elected prosecutor to handle violent crime cases and appoint a special prosecutor — or the attorney general — to take over those cases for five years.

While that particular proposal is dead, Rowden said other provisions of the bill have bipartisan support.&nbsp;

“I still think we’ll have a conversation about public safety,” he said.

Plocher told reporters that the House would push for the public safety bill as “hard as ever.

“We are going to have to continue to show support for the police, for the communities, and to continue to prosecute and hold people accountable,” he said.&nbsp;

Gardner was facing a legal challenge from Attorney General Andrew Bailey seeking to remove her from office. Bailey told the Post-Dispatch he has no intention of dropping his lawsuit and believes the legislature&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-won-t-dismiss-suit-against-kim-gardner-the-fight-s-not/article_a5fc5e9a-eb43-11ed-87ec-abd27ecb5687.html#tncms-source=login">should pass a bill that would prevent people like Gardner from running for the office again</a>.

Rowden demurred when asked about the attorney general’s comments.&nbsp;

“I think it’s time for everybody to move on,” Rowden said, “including the attorney general.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/4/1682518701629.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Missouri House of Representatives" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Missouri House of Representatives</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Changes to the initiative petition process, open enrollment and a ban on transgender health care are among a litany of bills Republicans hope to finalize with time running out on the 2023 session</h2>By JASON HANCOCK <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>Missouri lawmakers must adjourn for the year at 6 p.m. on Friday, leaving just five days to complete work on some of the highest-profile — and controversial — items on the GOP supermajority’s agenda.&nbsp;And while the last two legislative sessions were defined in their final week by the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2022/05/12/missouri-senate-adjourns-early-after-passing-congressional-redistricting-map/">simmering tension between Republicans</a>&nbsp;in the Senate, this year it will likely be clashes between the two legislative chambers that decides the fate of a laundry list of proposals.&nbsp;For weeks, House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, has lamented the slow pace of the Senate, complaining that top GOP priorities approved by the House languished across the Capitol rotunda in the Senate.&nbsp;“We continue to look for action out of the Senate,” Plocher told reporters late last month. “The House has lived up to the expectations of the conservative voters of this state… we’re just waiting for the Senate.”&nbsp;Meanwhile, Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican and likely candidate for governor, says it is Plocher who decided to slow down progress on Senate bills as a negotiating tactic, putting their chances at risk as time winds down before adjournment.&nbsp;“We had months to send to the governor’s desk bills that matched the priorities of the people of this state,” Eigel said. “Remember, it was the speaker of the House who said he was going to slow down all Senate bills until he got exactly what he wanted on a particular priority. He slowed down Senate bills for weeks to leverage this chamber.”&nbsp;Hanging in the balance are bills that have been among the most hotly debated of the year, ranging from the initiative petition process to public education to LGBTQ rights.&nbsp;Other priorities — legalized sports betting, corporate tax cuts, a state takeover of the St. Louis police — face incredibly long odds as time ticks down toward 6 p.m. Friday.&nbsp;But after two years of watching as the Senate collapsed in the session’s final days in a cloud of GOP infighting, Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden struck an optimistic tone for this year’s homestretch.&nbsp;“There’s no reason to believe.. that we won’t have, you know, a relatively normal last week,” said Rowden, R-Columbia.Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said his colleagues have worked hard to stop legislation they believe will hurt the state while keeping the chamber functioning.But Rizzo isn’t sure how much longer the 10 Democrats in the 34-member Senate can hold the line.&nbsp;“Democrats are here to be the adults in the room,” he said to reporters on Friday. “Sometimes that means pulling us back from the brink. But it’s only a matter of time before we won’t be able to stop it. Let’s hope that that time is not next week.”<h2>Education</h2>Rowden said he expects the Senate to debate as early as Tuesday a bill that would allow public school students to transfer from their home district to any other school district that has opted into the program.&nbsp;The open enrollment legislation&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/04/open-enrollment-gets-hearing-in-missouri-senate/">barely squeaked out of the House in March</a>&nbsp;with just three votes to spare. And so far the Senate hasn’t made any changes to the bill, meaning it is one vote away from heading to the governor.&nbsp;But Sen. Andrew Koenig, a Manchester Republican who chairs the Senate education committee, recently told the Columbia Missourian&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.columbiamissourian.com/news/state_news/fragile-open-enrollment-bill-unlikely-to-pass-despite-sponsors-optimism/article_75f79468-e43f-11ed-ab02-cb93e4e36b8c.html">he doesn’t believe the bill has enough support to pass</a>&nbsp;unless it is expanded to include “pieces that might be unrelated to open enrollment.”&nbsp;The bill was originally supposed to be debated last week, but a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/04/dispute-over-kc-landfill-derails-missouri-senate-as-deadline-to-pass-state-budget-looms/">dust up over a Kansas City landfill led to a day-long filibuster&nbsp;</a>and the education debate to be delayed.&nbsp;Rizzo said passing an open enrollment bill will be tough.&nbsp;“I will tell you,” he said, “it’s an uphill battle.”<h2>Initiative petition changes</h2>Both the House and Senate have approved bills that would ask voters to make it harder to amend the constitution through the initiative petition process.&nbsp;But differences between the two chambers will need to be ironed out before the proposal heads to the ballot.&nbsp;The House version would raise the threshold for voters to amend the constitution from a simple majority to 60%. The Senate version&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/27/missouri-senate-passes-initiative-petition-changes-certain-to-trigger-strong-opposition-effort/">would require 57% of the vote</a>&nbsp;or a simple majority statewide and in five of eight congressional districts.&nbsp;“If we got a version back from the conference committee that just changes the number,” Eigel said, “and takes out those concurrent majority provisions, that would probably run into a lot of trouble in this chamber, especially in the last week.”But House leadership has expressed reservations about the Senate’s changes, worrying they will draw well-financed opposition that could doom its chances on the 2024 ballot.&nbsp;There was also a provision added in the Senate that says that if any portion of a constitutional initiative petition was ever tossed out by a court, the entire amendment would be void.&nbsp;“To a non-attorney, and I am a non-attorney, this proposal doesn’t sound constitutional to me,” said Rep. Joe Adams, D-University City, said to the bill’s sponsor, GOP Rep. Mike Henderson of Bonne Terre.“We are trying to sort that out,” Henderson replied, “and that’s why we are going to conference.”<h2>Transgender health care</h2>One of the bills the House is expected to take up this week would limit access to certain medical treatments for transgender minors.The House passed a version of the bill last month that would establish a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-house-votes-to-limit-transgender-athletes-participation-in-school-sports/">total ban on puberty blockers</a>, hormone therapy and surgeries for transgender Missourians younger than 18.The Senate version was the result of a compromise with Democrats. It includes an&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/03/23/missouri-senate-advances-bill-banning-transgender-care-for-minors/">expiration date for the bans</a>&nbsp;on puberty blockers and hormone therapy and allows those already taking puberty blockers or hormone therapy to continue.&nbsp;Rowden has said repeatedly that the Senate cannot approve anything that is more restrictive than the bill it has already passed. If the House won’t sign off on the Senate version as is, he said, then the bill is dead.&nbsp;If lawmakers do fail to approve the bill, Gov. Mike Parson&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/04/27/missouri-governor-threatens-to-call-special-session-to-ban-gender-affirming-care/">has threatened to call them back into special session to continue the effort</a>.&nbsp;<h2>Public safety</h2>When St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced last week&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/05/04/embattled-st-louis-prosecutor-kim-gardner-will-resign-june-1/">she would resign effective June 1</a>, part of the deal was that the Senate would stop its push to pass a bill targeting her office.&nbsp;The bill would give the governor the ability to strip the authority of any elected prosecutor to handle violent crime cases and appoint a special prosecutor — or the attorney general — to take over those cases for five years.While that particular proposal is dead, Rowden said other provisions of the bill have bipartisan support.&nbsp;“I still think we’ll have a conversation about public safety,” he said.Plocher told reporters that the House would push for the public safety bill as “hard as ever.“We are going to have to continue to show support for the police, for the communities, and to continue to prosecute and hold people accountable,” he said.&nbsp;Gardner was facing a legal challenge from Attorney General Andrew Bailey seeking to remove her from office. Bailey told the Post-Dispatch he has no intention of dropping his lawsuit and believes the legislature&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-ag-andrew-bailey-won-t-dismiss-suit-against-kim-gardner-the-fight-s-not/article_a5fc5e9a-eb43-11ed-87ec-abd27ecb5687.html#tncms-source=login">should pass a bill that would prevent people like Gardner from running for the office again</a>.Rowden demurred when asked about the attorney general’s comments.&nbsp;“I think it’s time for everybody to move on,” Rowden said, “including the attorney general.”

Missouri lawmakers enter final week of session

WASHINGTON— The Department of Defense announced&nbsp; additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs, according to a statement from the agency.

 This authorization is the Biden Administration’s thirty-seventh drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.&nbsp;

<a href="https://media.defense.gov/2023/May/03/2003214586/-1/-1/1/UKRAINE-FACT-SHEET-MAY-3.PDF">Click here to read more </a>on the U.S. security assistance spending in Ukraine.

The latest assistance includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression valued at up to $300 million.

The capabilities in this package include:

The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.

In total, the United States has committed more than $36.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, including more than $35.7 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24, 2022.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661277535073.png" alt="In total, the United States has committed more than $36.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>In total, the United States has committed more than $36.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON— The Department of Defense announced&nbsp; additional security assistance to meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs, according to a statement from the agency. This authorization is the Biden Administration’s thirty-seventh drawdown of equipment from DoD inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.&nbsp;<a href="https://media.defense.gov/2023/May/03/2003214586/-1/-1/1/UKRAINE-FACT-SHEET-MAY-3.PDF">Click here to read more </a>on the U.S. security assistance spending in Ukraine.The latest assistance includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided HIMARS, additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression valued at up to $300 million.The capabilities in this package include:<ul>
 <li>Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS);</li><li>155mm Howitzers;&nbsp;</li><li>155mm artillery rounds;</li><li>120mm, 81mm, and 60mm mortar rounds;</li><li>Tube-Launched, Optically-Tracked, Wire-Guided (TOW) missiles;</li><li>AT-4 and Carl Gustaf anti-armor weapon systems;</li><li>Hydra-70 aircraft rockets;&nbsp;</li><li>Small arms and small arms ammunition;&nbsp;</li><li>Demolition munitions for obstacle clearing;</li><li>Trucks and trailers to transport heavy equipment;&nbsp;</li><li>Testing and diagnostic equipment to support vehicle maintenance and repair;</li><li>Spare parts and other field equipment.</li>
 </ul>The United States will continue to work with its Allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements.In total, the United States has committed more than $36.4 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of the Biden Administration, including more than $35.7 billion since the beginning of Russia’s unprovoked and brutal invasion on February 24, 2022.

U.S. sending another $300 million military aid to Ukraine

WASHINGTON — A group of 43 Republican Senators including&nbsp; Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall of Kansas sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Saturday expressing&nbsp; a collective commitment to oppose raising the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's name is not on the letter.

Of the letter,&nbsp;Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said,&nbsp;“It is now clear that Senate Republicans aren’t going to bail out Biden and Schumer, they have to negotiate. I thank my colleagues for joining my effort to emphasize this point in the clearest possible terms.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1675989554413.png" alt="photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON — A group of 43 Republican Senators including&nbsp; Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall of Kansas sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Saturday expressing&nbsp; a collective commitment to oppose raising the debt ceiling without substantive spending and budget reforms. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley's name is not on the letter.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683404763018.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Of the letter,&nbsp;Sen. Mike Lee of Utah said,&nbsp;“It is now clear that Senate Republicans aren’t going to bail out Biden and Schumer, they have to negotiate. I thank my colleagues for joining my effort to emphasize this point in the clearest possible terms.”

Schmitt signs letter against raising debt limit without spending reforms

WYANDOTTE —The search continues for a suspect in the shooting May 3, in the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas that took the life of a 6-year-old Sir'Antonio Brown who was playing in his front yard.

On May 4, police confirmed they had located the vehicle involved.

The attack, when it was still daylight, doesn't appear to have been a “random act,” police Maj. Violeta Magee told reporters at the scene.&nbsp;

Officers found the wounded boy in the front yard. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Magee said. Police found more than 30 shell casings at the scene.&nbsp;

Police haven't said whether they think more than one person was involved in the attack, or whether the intended target was the boy or the adult he was with.&nbsp;

 Anyone with info should call  TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One or more shooters opened fire on a child playing in the front yard of a Kansas home, killing him, authorities said.

The attack Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Kansas, when it was still daylight, doesn't appear to have been a “random act,” police Maj. Violeta Magee told reporters at the scene. Police didn't release the name or age of the child but described him as a “young juvenile.”

Officers found the wounded boy in the front yard. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Magee said.

Police found more than 30 shell casings at the scene. They are looking for a maroon Subaru Legacy with a missing front bumper that may be connected to the attack.

Police haven't said whether they think more than one person was involved in the attack, or whether the intended target was the boy or the adult he was with. Police didn’t immediately respond Thursday to phone and email messages seeking additional information.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide that left one juvenile dead.&nbsp;

Just after 6p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of a shooting in the 3100 Block of Greeley Avenue, in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. First responders found a boy who had been shot while playing in the front yard of a home. EMS transported the child to an area hospital where he later died of his injuries.

Detectives are looking for a mid 2000s, maroon Subaru Legacy missing the front bumper and with a possible Kansas tag.

The Kansas City, Kansas Police Departments Major Case/Homicide Unit is in charge of the investigation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683336213432.png" alt="Sir’Antonio Brown -photo GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Sir’Antonio Brown -photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>WYANDOTTE —The search continues for a suspect in the shooting May 3, in the 3100 block of Greeley Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas that took the life of a 6-year-old Sir'Antonio Brown who was playing in his front yard.On May 4, police confirmed they had located the vehicle involved.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683195620849.png" alt="Photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>The attack, when it was still daylight, doesn't appear to have been a “random act,” police Maj. Violeta Magee told reporters at the scene.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683195327042.png" alt="Photo KCK Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo KCK Police</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers found the wounded boy in the front yard. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Magee said. Police found more than 30 shell casings at the scene.&nbsp;Police haven't said whether they think more than one person was involved in the attack, or whether the intended target was the boy or the adult he was with.&nbsp; Anyone with info should call TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477).--------KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — One or more shooters opened fire on a child playing in the front yard of a Kansas home, killing him, authorities said.The attack Wednesday evening in Kansas City, Kansas, when it was still daylight, doesn't appear to have been a “random act,” police Maj. Violeta Magee told reporters at the scene. Police didn't release the name or age of the child but described him as a “young juvenile.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683195327042.png" alt="Photo KCK Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo KCK Police</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers found the wounded boy in the front yard. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Magee said.Police found more than 30 shell casings at the scene. They are looking for a maroon Subaru Legacy with a missing front bumper that may be connected to the attack.Police haven't said whether they think more than one person was involved in the attack, or whether the intended target was the boy or the adult he was with. Police didn’t immediately respond Thursday to phone and email messages seeking additional information.--------------------WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide that left one juvenile dead.&nbsp;Just after 6p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of a shooting in the 3100 Block of Greeley Avenue, in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. First responders found a boy who had been shot while playing in the front yard of a home. EMS transported the child to an area hospital where he later died of his injuries.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683195327042.png" alt="photo KCK Police" />
 <figcaption>photo KCK Police</figcaption>
 </figure>Detectives are looking for a mid 2000s, maroon Subaru Legacy missing the front bumper and with a possible Kansas tag.The Kansas City, Kansas Police Departments Major Case/Homicide Unit is in charge of the investigation.

Search continues for suspect who shot Kan. boy playing in front yard

HARVEY COUNTY —The Silver Alert has been canceled. Roy W. McGonigal Jr. was located in Schuyler, Nebraska. He was disoriented but otherwise in good condition, according to the Newton Police Department

HARVEY COUNTY –&nbsp;The Newton Police Department requested that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing Arkansas man who was last seen in Newton, Kansas.

The whereabouts of 79-year-old Roy W. McGonigal Jr. are unknown, and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate him.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683507107631.png" alt="photo KBI" />
 <figcaption>photo KBI</figcaption>
 </figure>HARVEY COUNTY —The Silver Alert has been canceled. Roy W. McGonigal Jr. was located in Schuyler, Nebraska. He was disoriented but otherwise in good condition, according to the Newton Police Department----------HARVEY COUNTY –&nbsp;The Newton Police Department requested that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing Arkansas man who was last seen in Newton, Kansas.The whereabouts of 79-year-old Roy W. McGonigal Jr. are unknown, and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate him.Roy was last seen leaving a residence in the 400 block of East 10th&nbsp;St. in Newton, around 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 6, according to a media release from the KBI.&nbsp; Roy did not arrive at his hotel in Newton and hasn’t been heard from since. Roy drives a light blue 2013 Toyota Corolla bearing Arkansas tag USACRXD. He was last seen wearing a white collared shirt, black pants, and black shoes.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683507155552.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Roy is a white male, approximately 5 ft. 8 in. tall, weighing around 184 pounds. He has brown eyes and wears glasses. Roy has a white beard and is balding with white hair. He requires oxygen to breathe, as he has been diagnosed with COPD and emphysema.If you see Roy McGonigal, Jr., or his vehicle, please immediately contact 911. If you have other information about his whereabouts, please call&nbsp;Harvey County Communications at 316-283-4190.