WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Maryland parents who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ storybooks.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf">Click here to read the full Supreme Court ruling</a>

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24-297">Click here to listen</a>&nbsp;to the complete oral argument from April

The justices reversed lower-court rulings in favor of the Montgomery County school system in suburban Washington. The high court ruled that the schools likely could not require elementary school children to sit through lessons involving the books if parents expressed religious objections to the material.

The decision was not a final ruling in the case, but the justices strongly suggested that the parents will win in the end.

The court ruled that policies like the one at issue in the case are subjected to the strictest level of review, nearly always dooming them.

The school district introduced the storybooks, including "Prince &amp; Knight" and "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," in 2022 as part of an effort to better reflect the district's diversity. In "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," a niece worries that her uncle won't have as much time for her after he gets married to another man.

The justices have repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years and the case is among several religious-rights cases at the court this term. The decision also comes amid increases in recent years in books being banned from public school and public libraries.

Many of the removals were organized by Moms for Liberty and other conservative organizations that advocate for more parental input over what books are available to students. Soon after President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January, the Education Department called the book bans a "hoax" and dismissed 11 complaints that had been filed under Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

The writers' group Pen America said in a court filing in the Maryland case that the objecting parents wanted "a constitutionally suspect book ban by another name." Pen America reported more than 10,000 books were banned in the last school year.

Parents initially had been allowed to opt their children out of the lessons for religious and other reasons, but the school board reversed course a year later, prompting protests and eventually a lawsuit.

At arguments in April, a lawyer for the school district told the justices that the "opt outs" had become disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction in Montgomery schools that students can be excused from, lawyer Alan Schoenfeld said.

The case hit unusually close to home, as three justices live in the county, though they didn't send their children to public schools.

Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745333128428.png" alt="File photo A pride flag is seen in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)" />
 <figcaption>File photo A pride flag is seen in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK SHERMAN Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that Maryland parents who have religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ storybooks.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24-297_4f14.pdf">Click here to read the full Supreme Court ruling</a><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24-297">Click here to listen</a>&nbsp;to the complete oral argument from AprilThe justices reversed lower-court rulings in favor of the Montgomery County school system in suburban Washington. The high court ruled that the schools likely could not require elementary school children to sit through lessons involving the books if parents expressed religious objections to the material.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;I think the ruling was a great ruling, and I think it&#39;s a great ruling for parents... they lost control of the schools. They lost control of their child, and this is a tremendous victory for parents.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Pla2qrLE36">https://t.co/Pla2qrLE36</a> <a href="https://t.co/jqySSHA8QM">pic.twitter.com/jqySSHA8QM</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1938631684284432695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751037175947.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The decision was not a final ruling in the case, but the justices strongly suggested that the parents will win in the end.The court ruled that policies like the one at issue in the case are subjected to the strictest level of review, nearly always dooming them.The school district introduced the storybooks, including "Prince &amp; Knight" and "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," in 2022 as part of an effort to better reflect the district's diversity. In "Uncle Bobby's Wedding," a niece worries that her uncle won't have as much time for her after he gets married to another man.The justices have repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years and the case is among several religious-rights cases at the court this term. The decision also comes amid increases in recent years in books being banned from public school and public libraries.Many of the removals were organized by Moms for Liberty and other conservative organizations that advocate for more parental input over what books are available to students. Soon after President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January, the Education Department called the book bans a "hoax" and dismissed 11 complaints that had been filed under Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat.The writers' group Pen America said in a court filing in the Maryland case that the objecting parents wanted "a constitutionally suspect book ban by another name." Pen America reported more than 10,000 books were banned in the last school year.Parents initially had been allowed to opt their children out of the lessons for religious and other reasons, but the school board reversed course a year later, prompting protests and eventually a lawsuit.At arguments in April, a lawyer for the school district told the justices that the "opt outs" had become disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction in Montgomery schools that students can be excused from, lawyer Alan Schoenfeld said.The case hit unusually close to home, as three justices live in the county, though they didn't send their children to public schools.___Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

🎧Supreme Court: Parents allowed to opt children out of LGBTQ books

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump’s restrictions on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/birthright-citizenship-immigration-trump-20919d26029cf0f98ecb0dc7f90a066b">birthright citizenship</a>.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a884_8n59.pdf">Click here to read the full order from the court&nbsp;</a>

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24A884">Click here to listen to</a>&nbsp;a replay of the oral argument

The outcome was a victory for the Republican president, who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda.

But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump's order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally.

Birthright citizenship automatically makes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-immigration-trump-f01b6c942c4969628ef2e774029c6a0e">anyone born in the United States</a>&nbsp;an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/800b0a2005254ec58369b9564f53be8f?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">the Constitution’s 14th Amendment</a>.

In a notable Supreme Court decision from 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were the children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.

The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.

Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called “a priceless and profound gift” in the executive order he signed on his first day in office.

The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-trump-immigration-735d28a2572f623f199f97b3bc97644a">“subject to the jurisdiction”</a>&nbsp;of the United States, a phrase used in the amendment, and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.

But states, immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment’s adoption.

Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration.

The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings.

The Trump administration instead wanted the justices to allow Trump’s plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued. Failing that, the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the 22 states that sued. New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this case.

As a further fallback, the administration asked “at a minimum” to be allowed to make public announcements about how it plans to carry out the policy if it eventually is allowed to take effect.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1747336226952.png" alt="Protesters outside the Supreme Court during the arguments on the case in May-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Protesters outside the Supreme Court during the arguments on the case in May-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Friday ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump’s restrictions on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/birthright-citizenship-immigration-trump-20919d26029cf0f98ecb0dc7f90a066b">birthright citizenship</a>.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a884_8n59.pdf">Click here to read the full order from the court&nbsp;</a><a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24A884">Click here to listen to</a>&nbsp;a replay of the oral argument<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/T4SIRwsXOX">pic.twitter.com/T4SIRwsXOX</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1938611988697080142?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The outcome was a victory for the Republican president, who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today, the Supreme Court instructed district courts to STOP the endless barrage of nationwide injunctions against President Trump. This would not have been possible without tireless work from our excellent lawyers <a href="https://twitter.com/TheJusticeDept?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheJusticeDept</a> and our Solicitor General John Sauer. This…&mdash; Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi/status/1938602739157570000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 27, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump's order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751034373464.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Birthright citizenship automatically makes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-immigration-trump-f01b6c942c4969628ef2e774029c6a0e">anyone born in the United States</a>&nbsp;an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/800b0a2005254ec58369b9564f53be8f?utm_source=copy&amp;utm_medium=share">the Constitution’s 14th Amendment</a>.In a notable Supreme Court decision from 1898, United States v. Wong Kim Ark, the court held that the only children who did not automatically receive U.S. citizenship upon being born on U.S. soil were the children of diplomats, who have allegiance to another government; enemies present in the U.S. during hostile occupation; those born on foreign ships; and those born to members of sovereign Native American tribes.The U.S. is among about 30 countries where birthright citizenship — the principle of jus soli or “right of the soil” — is applied. Most are in the Americas, and Canada and Mexico are among them.Trump and his supporters have argued that there should be tougher standards for becoming an American citizen, which he called “a priceless and profound gift” in the executive order he signed on his first day in office.The Trump administration has asserted that children of noncitizens are not&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-birthright-citizenship-trump-immigration-735d28a2572f623f199f97b3bc97644a">“subject to the jurisdiction”</a>&nbsp;of the United States, a phrase used in the amendment, and therefore are not entitled to citizenship.But states, immigrants and rights groups that have sued to block the executive order have accused the administration of trying to unsettle the broader understanding of birthright citizenship that has been accepted since the amendment’s adoption.Judges have uniformly ruled against the administration.The Justice Department had argued that individual judges lack the power to give nationwide effect to their rulings.The Trump administration instead wanted the justices to allow Trump’s plan to go into effect for everyone except the handful of people and groups that sued. Failing that, the administration argued that the plan could remain blocked for now in the 22 states that sued. New Hampshire is covered by a separate order that is not at issue in this case.As a further fallback, the administration asked “at a minimum” to be allowed to make public announcements about how it plans to carry out the policy if it eventually is allowed to take effect.___

🎧Supreme Court sides with Trump admin. to enforce  birthright citizenship order

WASHINGTON–&nbsp;On Thursday, U.S. Senators Roger Marshall,&nbsp; Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), introduced a resolution to implement term limits on the Senate Parliamentarian, a key figure in the United States Senate who advises on rules, procedures, and precedents as it relates to the reconciliation process, according to a statement from Marshall's office.

Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.marshall.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BIN25098-1.pdf">HERE</a>&nbsp;to read the full text of the resolution

The Senators call for the parliamentarian to serve one six-year term, which would prevent power entrenchment, promote accountability, and encourage fresh perspectives.

“Based upon early reports, the Senate Parliamentarian may eliminate some $500 billion in savings for the American people, all of which are arbitrary decisions, with minimal guidance,”&nbsp;said Senator Marshall.&nbsp;“The current parliamentarian has been in office since 2012, appointed by former Democrat Senator Harry Reid. This is NOT an elected position. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Term limits on a person with this absolute power need to be implemented. Therefore, we are dropping a resolution calling for just that, limiting a parliamentarian of the Senate to a maximum of 6 years.”

“The woke, Radical Left Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and was an advisor to Al Gore, is actively trying to&nbsp;undermine&nbsp;President Trump’s agenda,”&nbsp;said Senator Tuberville.&nbsp;“Unelected bureaucrats should not be able to overturn the will of the 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump and his agenda. This is exactly why Americans hate the swamp. Proud to join my friend Senator Roger Marshall in introducing&nbsp;this resolution imposing 6-year term limits for the Senate Parliamentarian.”

“The Senate parliamentarian holds unchecked power over major legislation, despite never being elected by the American people,”&nbsp;said Senator Blackburn.&nbsp;“This individual has served for a decade, having been appointed by Harry Reid, we must act now to impose term limits on the Senate parliamentarian&nbsp;to ensure this position&nbsp;is accountable to the will of the people.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751029214593.png" alt="Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough&nbsp; -photo U.S. Senate" />
 <figcaption>Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough&nbsp; -photo U.S. Senate</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON–&nbsp;On Thursday, U.S. Senators Roger Marshall,&nbsp; Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee), introduced a resolution to implement term limits on the Senate Parliamentarian, a key figure in the United States Senate who advises on rules, procedures, and precedents as it relates to the reconciliation process, according to a statement from Marshall's office.Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.marshall.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/BIN25098-1.pdf">HERE</a>&nbsp;to read the full text of the resolution<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751027942171.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">In 2001 Leader Trent Lott fired the Senate Parliamentarian during reconciliation. It’s 2025 during reconciliation &amp; we need to again fire the Senate Parliamentarian. My resolution to term limit the parliamentarian will settle this now &amp; in the future.<a href="https://t.co/7XcVaNgcGH">https://t.co/7XcVaNgcGH</a>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1938258594178211995?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The Senators call for the parliamentarian to serve one six-year term, which would prevent power entrenchment, promote accountability, and encourage fresh perspectives.“Based upon early reports, the Senate Parliamentarian may eliminate some $500 billion in savings for the American people, all of which are arbitrary decisions, with minimal guidance,”&nbsp;said Senator Marshall.&nbsp;“The current parliamentarian has been in office since 2012, appointed by former Democrat Senator Harry Reid. This is NOT an elected position. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Term limits on a person with this absolute power need to be implemented. Therefore, we are dropping a resolution calling for just that, limiting a parliamentarian of the Senate to a maximum of 6 years.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Did Harry Reid’s Senate Parliamentarian not get the memo? President Trump’s landslide victory was a MANDATE from 77 million Americans. The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers on that mandate. The Parliamentarian is trying to UNDERMINE the President’s mandate and should be fired.&mdash; Coach Tommy Tuberville (@SenTuberville) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenTuberville/status/1938259471467438355?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The woke, Radical Left Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and was an advisor to Al Gore, is actively trying to&nbsp;undermine&nbsp;President Trump’s agenda,”&nbsp;said Senator Tuberville.&nbsp;“Unelected bureaucrats should not be able to overturn the will of the 77 million Americans who voted for President Trump and his agenda. This is exactly why Americans hate the swamp. Proud to join my friend Senator Roger Marshall in introducing&nbsp;this resolution imposing 6-year term limits for the Senate Parliamentarian.”“The Senate parliamentarian holds unchecked power over major legislation, despite never being elected by the American people,”&nbsp;said Senator Blackburn.&nbsp;“This individual has served for a decade, having been appointed by Harry Reid, we must act now to impose term limits on the Senate parliamentarian&nbsp;to ensure this position&nbsp;is accountable to the will of the people.”Background:<ul>
 <li>The parliamentarian of the Senate serves at the will of the Secretary of the Senate, who is chosen by the Senate Majority Leader.</li><li>Since 1981 only three different individuals have served as parliamentarian of the Senate. Each served on average 15 years.</li>
 </ul>

Kan. U.S. Senator calls for action to replace Senate Parliamentarian

Hutch Post has learned of an ongoing investigation by the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) into suspected drone smuggling activity at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.

Sources confirm that drones are being used to drop illegal drugs into the prison yard, where inmates retrieve the contraband. This smuggling method is believed to have contributed to a deadly drug-related incident inside the facility.

Officials have confirmed at least one inmate overdose death tied to the drug issue. The fatality occurred on March 15 of this year.

State Senator Michael Murphy responded to Hutch Post via email, stating, “I have heard there has been a serious issue with drugs getting in to the inmates.” His comments echo growing concerns about prison security and contraband prevention in Kansas correctional institutions.

Hutch Post has reached out to State Representative Bob Lewis of Garden City, who chairs the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, as well as the Kansas Department of Corrections, for further comment. At this time, no official responses have been provided.

The investigation is ongoing. Hutch Post will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates as new information becomes available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1751026772909.png" alt="Hutchinson Correctional Facility" />
 <figcaption>Hutchinson Correctional Facility</figcaption>
 </figure>MARC JACOBS Hutch Post&nbsp;Hutch Post has learned of an ongoing investigation by the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) into suspected drone smuggling activity at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.Sources confirm that drones are being used to drop illegal drugs into the prison yard, where inmates retrieve the contraband. This smuggling method is believed to have contributed to a deadly drug-related incident inside the facility.Officials have confirmed at least one inmate overdose death tied to the drug issue. The fatality occurred on March 15 of this year.State Senator Michael Murphy responded to Hutch Post via email, stating, “I have heard there has been a serious issue with drugs getting in to the inmates.” His comments echo growing concerns about prison security and contraband prevention in Kansas correctional institutions.Hutch Post has reached out to State Representative Bob Lewis of Garden City, who chairs the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee, as well as the Kansas Department of Corrections, for further comment. At this time, no official responses have been provided.The investigation is ongoing. Hutch Post will continue to follow this developing story and provide updates as new information becomes available.

Drones being used to smuggle drugs into Kansas prison

ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this fall’s flu vaccinations for just about every American — but only if they use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.

What is normally a routine step in preparing for the upcoming flu season drew intense scrutiny after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">abruptly fired</a>&nbsp;the influential 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">handpicked replacements</a>&nbsp;that include several vaccine skeptics.

(Click below to watch Redwood's presentation on thimerosal)

The seven-member panel bucked another norm Thursday as it discussed the safety of a preservative used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccinations: It deliberated based only on a presentation from an antivaccine group’s former leader — without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The preservative,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thimerosal-mercury-vaccine-preservative-7626ec1455ad98228cf8b041f6388bab">thimerosal</a>, has long been used in certain vaccines that come in multi-dose vials, to prevent contamination as each dose is withdrawn. But it has been controversial because it contains a small amount of a particular form of mercury.

Study after study has found no evidence that thimerosal causes autism or other harm. Yet since 2001, all vaccines routinely used for U.S. children age 6 years or younger have come in thimerosal-free formulas — including single-dose flu shots that account for the vast majority of influenza vaccinations.

The advisory panel first voted, with one abstention, to back the usual U.S. recommendation that nearly everyone age 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination. Then the advisers decided people should only be given thimerosal-free single-dose formulations, voting 5-1 with one abstention.

That would include single-dose shots that already are the most common type of flu vaccination, as well as the nasal spray FluMist. It would rule out the subset of flu vaccine dispensed in multi-dose vials.

“There is still no demonstrable evidence of harm,” one panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist formerly with the National Institutes of Health, said in acknowledging the committee wasn’t following its usual practice of acting on evidence.

But he added that “whether the actual molecule is a risk or not, we have to respect the fear of mercury” that might dissuade some people from getting vaccinated.

The ACIP helps the CDC determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where they’re available.

Normally the CDC’s director would decide whether to accept ACIP’s recommendation, but the Senate has not yet confirmed nominee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/susan-monarez-cdc-director-senate-hearing-rfk-c7c883f604711238643a9ffd1681bcc0">Susan Monarez</a>. Administration officials said Kennedy would make that decision.

Medical groups decried the panel’s lack of transparency in blocking a CDC analysis of thimerosal that concluded there was no link between the preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250624164828/https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/slides-2025-06-25-26/Thimerosal-Containing-Vaccines-Summary-of-Evidence-508.pdf" target="_blank">The data</a>&nbsp;had been posted on the committee’s website Tuesday, but was later removed — because, according to ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone, the report hadn’t been authorized by Kennedy’s office. Panel members said they had read it.

While Thursday’s debate involved only a small fraction of flu vaccines, some public health experts contend the discussion unnecessarily raised doubt about vaccine safety. Already, fewer than half of Americans get their yearly flu vaccinations, and mistrust in vaccines overall is growing.

“Selective use of data and omission of established science undermines public trust and fuels misinformation,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He said of the new panelists, “Nothing about their recent actions have been science-based or transparent.”

The flu votes marked the final step of a two-day meeting that alarmed pediatricians and other doctors’ groups, who pointed to new panelists’ lack of expertise in how to properly track vaccine safety — and a shift in focus to some longtime messages of antivaccine groups.

“What should have been a rigorous, evidence-based discussion on the national vaccine schedule instead appeared to be a predetermined exercise orchestrated to undermine the well-established safety and efficacy of vaccines and fundamental basics of science,” said Dr. Jason Goldman of the American College of Physicians.

Of special concern was the announcement by panel chairman Martin Kulldorff to reevaluate the “cumulative effect” of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/childhood-vaccines-schedule-kennedy-trump-hhs-4d5e6c52c602f5edbcd837748605e9d0">children’s vaccine schedule</a>&nbsp;— the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood. That reflects the scientifically debunked notion that children today get too many vaccinations, somehow overwhelming their immune system.

Doctors say improved vaccine technology means kids today are exposed to fewer antigens — substances that the immune system reacts to — than their grandparents despite getting more doses.

U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician and Democrat from Washington state, told reporters Thursday that children are exposed to more antigens “in one day of day care” than in all their vaccinations.

— The panel backed a new option to protect infants against RSV, a virus especially dangerous to babies. It voted 5-2 that a newly approved antibody shot from Merck could be used alongside two existing options.

— Kulldorff said the panel may look into whether hepatitis B vaccination of newborns is appropriate if the mother doesn’t carry the liver-destroying virus. Pediatricians counter that babies can catch the virus in other ways, such as from other caregivers who don’t know they’re infected.

— Kennedy already sidestepped the advisory group and announced the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women. But CDC scientists told the panel that vaccination is “the best protection” during pregnancy and that most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated. Some advisers questioned if the CDC’s extensive tracking of vaccine safety is trustworthy.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750974087831.png" alt="Image from the committee hearing" />
 <figcaption>Image from the committee hearing</figcaption>
 </figure>ATLANTA (AP) — The Trump administration’s new vaccine advisers on Thursday endorsed this fall’s flu vaccinations for just about every American — but only if they use certain shots free of an ingredient antivaccine groups have falsely tied to autism.(click below to watch the full meeting)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-16fImZoEc?si=RfPDCTz9gEs1Oz2Z&amp;start=1250" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>What is normally a routine step in preparing for the upcoming flu season drew intense scrutiny after U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">abruptly fired</a>&nbsp;the influential 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">handpicked replacements</a>&nbsp;that include several vaccine skeptics.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750973658608.png" alt="Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner who once ran the anti-vaccine group that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded, spoke at the meeting on Thursday -image from the CDC video" />
 <figcaption>Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner who once ran the anti-vaccine group that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. founded, spoke at the meeting on Thursday -image from the CDC video</figcaption>
 </figure>(Click below to watch Redwood's presentation on thimerosal)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z-16fImZoEc?si=z33-dj87jdPiqZRU&amp;start=10151" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>The seven-member panel bucked another norm Thursday as it discussed the safety of a preservative used in less than 5% of U.S. flu vaccinations: It deliberated based only on a presentation from an antivaccine group’s former leader — without allowing the usual public airing of scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.The preservative,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thimerosal-mercury-vaccine-preservative-7626ec1455ad98228cf8b041f6388bab">thimerosal</a>, has long been used in certain vaccines that come in multi-dose vials, to prevent contamination as each dose is withdrawn. But it has been controversial because it contains a small amount of a particular form of mercury.Study after study has found no evidence that thimerosal causes autism or other harm. Yet since 2001, all vaccines routinely used for U.S. children age 6 years or younger have come in thimerosal-free formulas — including single-dose flu shots that account for the vast majority of influenza vaccinations.The advisory panel first voted, with one abstention, to back the usual U.S. recommendation that nearly everyone age 6 months and older get an annual flu vaccination. Then the advisers decided people should only be given thimerosal-free single-dose formulations, voting 5-1 with one abstention.That would include single-dose shots that already are the most common type of flu vaccination, as well as the nasal spray FluMist. It would rule out the subset of flu vaccine dispensed in multi-dose vials.“There is still no demonstrable evidence of harm,” one panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist formerly with the National Institutes of Health, said in acknowledging the committee wasn’t following its usual practice of acting on evidence.But he added that “whether the actual molecule is a risk or not, we have to respect the fear of mercury” that might dissuade some people from getting vaccinated.The ACIP helps the CDC determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where they’re available.Normally the CDC’s director would decide whether to accept ACIP’s recommendation, but the Senate has not yet confirmed nominee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/susan-monarez-cdc-director-senate-hearing-rfk-c7c883f604711238643a9ffd1681bcc0">Susan Monarez</a>. Administration officials said Kennedy would make that decision.Medical groups decried the panel’s lack of transparency in blocking a CDC analysis of thimerosal that concluded there was no link between the preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20250624164828/https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/slides-2025-06-25-26/Thimerosal-Containing-Vaccines-Summary-of-Evidence-508.pdf" target="_blank">The data</a>&nbsp;had been posted on the committee’s website Tuesday, but was later removed — because, according to ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone, the report hadn’t been authorized by Kennedy’s office. Panel members said they had read it.While Thursday’s debate involved only a small fraction of flu vaccines, some public health experts contend the discussion unnecessarily raised doubt about vaccine safety. Already, fewer than half of Americans get their yearly flu vaccinations, and mistrust in vaccines overall is growing.“Selective use of data and omission of established science undermines public trust and fuels misinformation,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He said of the new panelists, “Nothing about their recent actions have been science-based or transparent.”The flu votes marked the final step of a two-day meeting that alarmed pediatricians and other doctors’ groups, who pointed to new panelists’ lack of expertise in how to properly track vaccine safety — and a shift in focus to some longtime messages of antivaccine groups.“What should have been a rigorous, evidence-based discussion on the national vaccine schedule instead appeared to be a predetermined exercise orchestrated to undermine the well-established safety and efficacy of vaccines and fundamental basics of science,” said Dr. Jason Goldman of the American College of Physicians.Of special concern was the announcement by panel chairman Martin Kulldorff to reevaluate the “cumulative effect” of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/childhood-vaccines-schedule-kennedy-trump-hhs-4d5e6c52c602f5edbcd837748605e9d0">children’s vaccine schedule</a>&nbsp;— the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood. That reflects the scientifically debunked notion that children today get too many vaccinations, somehow overwhelming their immune system.Doctors say improved vaccine technology means kids today are exposed to fewer antigens — substances that the immune system reacts to — than their grandparents despite getting more doses.U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician and Democrat from Washington state, told reporters Thursday that children are exposed to more antigens “in one day of day care” than in all their vaccinations.Also at the ACIP meeting:— The panel backed a new option to protect infants against RSV, a virus especially dangerous to babies. It voted 5-2 that a newly approved antibody shot from Merck could be used alongside two existing options.— Kulldorff said the panel may look into whether hepatitis B vaccination of newborns is appropriate if the mother doesn’t carry the liver-destroying virus. Pediatricians counter that babies can catch the virus in other ways, such as from other caregivers who don’t know they’re infected.— Kennedy already sidestepped the advisory group and announced the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women. But CDC scientists told the panel that vaccination is “the best protection” during pregnancy and that most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated. Some advisers questioned if the CDC’s extensive tracking of vaccine safety is trustworthy.___Neergaard reported from Washington.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

🎥RFK Jr’s vaccine panel votes against preservative in flu shots 

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating a fatal. hit-and-run have identified as 61-year-old Joseph R. Caldwell, according to KCPD Sergeant Jake Becchina.

Just after 10:30a.m. Wednesday, a midsize SUV was westbound on Barry Road from N Boardwalk, according to KCPD&nbsp;Officer Alayna Gonzalez.

The SUV struck a construction worker later identified as Caldwell and left the scene. A few minutes later, KC Fire Department paramedics pronounced the Caldwell deceased. The driver of the vehicle was apprehended shortly after, according to Gonzalez.&nbsp;&nbsp;

As for the involved driver, KCPD investigators are putting together the entire crash summary into an investigative case file, according to Becchina. That case file is comprised of crash reconstruction, witness/involved driver interviews, and any surveillance or evidence analysis. That case file is then presented to prosecutors for their determination of applicable charges. The process of compiling the case file usually takes several weeks.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750897462101.png" alt="Photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating a fatal. hit-and-run have identified as 61-year-old Joseph R. Caldwell, according to KCPD Sergeant Jake Becchina.Just after 10:30a.m. Wednesday, a midsize SUV was westbound on Barry Road from N Boardwalk, according to KCPD&nbsp;Officer Alayna Gonzalez.The SUV struck a construction worker later identified as Caldwell and left the scene. A few minutes later, KC Fire Department paramedics pronounced the Caldwell deceased. The driver of the vehicle was apprehended shortly after, according to Gonzalez.&nbsp;&nbsp;As for the involved driver, KCPD investigators are putting together the entire crash summary into an investigative case file, according to Becchina. That case file is comprised of crash reconstruction, witness/involved driver interviews, and any surveillance or evidence analysis. That case file is then presented to prosecutors for their determination of applicable charges. The process of compiling the case file usually takes several weeks.

Police ID construction worker killed in hit-and-run crash

Mayor Quinton Lucas issued a statement Thursday on the retention of the Chiefs and Royals in Kansas City, Missouri

Mayor Quinton Lucas issued a statement Thursday on the retention of the Chiefs and Royals in Kansas City, Missouri<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750991539385.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

KCMO Mayor issues a statement on retention of the Chief and Royals

By MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST&nbsp;

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including President Donald Trump's bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.

The justices take the bench at 10 a.m. for their last public session until the start of their new term on Oct. 6.

The birthright citizenship order has been blocked nationwide by three lower courts. The Trump administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to narrow the court orders that have prevented the citizenship changes from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.

The issue before the justices is whether to limit the authority of judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which have plagued both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past 10 years.

These nationwide court orders have emerged as an important check on Trump's efforts and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.

Decisions also are expected in several other important cases.

The court seemed likely during arguments in April to side with Maryland parents in a religious rights case over LGBTQ storybooks in public schools.

Parents in the Montgomery County school system, in suburban Washington, want to be able to pull their children out of lessons that use the storybooks, which the county added to the curriculum to better reflect the district's diversity.

The school system at one point allowed parents to remove their children from those lessons, but then reversed course because it found the opt-out policy to be disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction with an opt-out provision in the county's schools.

The justices also are weighing a three-year battle over congressional districts in Louisiana that is making its second trip to the Supreme Court.

Before the court now is a map that created a second Black majority congressional district among Louisiana's six seats in the House of Representatives. The district elected a Black Democrat in 2024.

Lower courts have struck down two Louisiana congressional maps since 2022 and the justices are considering whether to send state lawmakers back to the map-drawing board for a third time.

The case involves the interplay between race and politics in drawing political boundaries in front of a conservative-led court that has been skeptical of considerations of race in public life.

At arguments in March, several of the court's conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.

Free speech rights are at the center of a case over a Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing online pornography.

Texas is among more than a dozen states with age verification laws. The states argue the laws are necessary as smartphones have made access to online porn, including hardcore obscene material, almost instantaneous.

The question for the court is whether the measure infringes on the constitutional rights of adults as well. The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment industry trade group, agrees that children shouldn't be seeing pornography. But it says the Texas law is written too broadly and wrongly affects adults by requiring them to submit personal identifying information online that is vulnerable to hacking or tracking.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1672235865420.png" alt="Supreme Court Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States" />
 <figcaption>Supreme Court Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARK SHERMAN and LINDSAY WHITEHURST&nbsp;WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is meeting Friday to decide the final six cases of its term, including President Donald Trump's bid to enforce his executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally.The justices take the bench at 10 a.m. for their last public session until the start of their new term on Oct. 6.The birthright citizenship order has been blocked nationwide by three lower courts. The Trump administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to narrow the court orders that have prevented the citizenship changes from taking effect anywhere in the U.S.The issue before the justices is whether to limit the authority of judges to issue nationwide injunctions, which have plagued both Republican and Democratic administrations in the past 10 years.These nationwide court orders have emerged as an important check on Trump's efforts and a source of mounting frustration to the Republican president and his allies.Decisions also are expected in several other important cases.The court seemed likely during arguments in April to side with Maryland parents in a religious rights case over LGBTQ storybooks in public schools.Parents in the Montgomery County school system, in suburban Washington, want to be able to pull their children out of lessons that use the storybooks, which the county added to the curriculum to better reflect the district's diversity.The school system at one point allowed parents to remove their children from those lessons, but then reversed course because it found the opt-out policy to be disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction with an opt-out provision in the county's schools.The justices also are weighing a three-year battle over congressional districts in Louisiana that is making its second trip to the Supreme Court.Before the court now is a map that created a second Black majority congressional district among Louisiana's six seats in the House of Representatives. The district elected a Black Democrat in 2024.Lower courts have struck down two Louisiana congressional maps since 2022 and the justices are considering whether to send state lawmakers back to the map-drawing board for a third time.The case involves the interplay between race and politics in drawing political boundaries in front of a conservative-led court that has been skeptical of considerations of race in public life.At arguments in March, several of the court's conservative justices suggested they could vote to throw out the map and make it harder, if not impossible, to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.Free speech rights are at the center of a case over a Texas law aimed at blocking kids from seeing online pornography.Texas is among more than a dozen states with age verification laws. The states argue the laws are necessary as smartphones have made access to online porn, including hardcore obscene material, almost instantaneous.The question for the court is whether the measure infringes on the constitutional rights of adults as well. The Free Speech Coalition, an adult-entertainment industry trade group, agrees that children shouldn't be seeing pornography. But it says the Texas law is written too broadly and wrongly affects adults by requiring them to submit personal identifying information online that is vulnerable to hacking or tracking.

Supreme Court tees up blockbuster final day of term

ATCHISON COUNTY —A joint investigation conducted by the Atchison Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation resulted in a number of arrests on Wednesday night, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

 The investigation continued throughout the night with police officers, detectives, and KBI agents taking into seven into custody.

Allison R. Blakley, 29, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 600 block College Street on requested charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, and possession of a controlled substance. Taken to County Jail.

Ivan Cushinberry, Jr., 66, Atchison, arrested at 1518 South 7th Street on requested charges of distribution and possession of cocaine, manufacturing a controlled substance, and distribution and possession of methamphetamine. Shortly before 2:00AM on Thursday officers and agents executed a search warrant at 1518 South 7th Street where numerous items of evidence were seized. Cushinberry was taken to the County Jail.

Cecilia Y. Daniels, 57, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 600 block Commercial on requested charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several traffic charges. Taken to County Jail.

Harold D. Bowen, 76, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 600 block Commercial on requested charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.

Felicia K. Lynch, 33, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 1200 block South 6th Street on requested charges of possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.

Kevin V. Maxey, Jr., 37, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 600 block College Street and charged with felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance, and disorderly conduct. Taken to County Jail.

Kattibrie D. Lynch, 30, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 800 block Raven Hill Road on requested charges with possession of methamphetamine, possession of fentanyl, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.

ATCHISON COUNTY —A joint investigation conducted by the Atchison Police Department and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation resulted in a number of arrests on Wednesday night, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson. The investigation continued throughout the night with police officers, detectives, and KBI agents taking into seven into custody.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750969497358.png" alt="Blakley has previous convictions for aggravated arson, interference with law enforcement, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the KDOC." />
 <figcaption>Blakley has previous convictions for aggravated arson, interference with law enforcement, criminal damage to property and for drugs, according to the KDOC.</figcaption>
 </figure>Allison R. Blakley, 29, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 600 block College Street on requested charges of felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, and possession of a controlled substance. Taken to County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750969734157.png" alt="Cushinberry photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Cushinberry photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Ivan Cushinberry, Jr., 66, Atchison, arrested at 1518 South 7th Street on requested charges of distribution and possession of cocaine, manufacturing a controlled substance, and distribution and possession of methamphetamine. Shortly before 2:00AM on Thursday officers and agents executed a search warrant at 1518 South 7th Street where numerous items of evidence were seized. Cushinberry was taken to the County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750969800559.png" alt="Daniels photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Daniels photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Cecilia Y. Daniels, 57, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 600 block Commercial on requested charged with possession of cocaine, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and several traffic charges. Taken to County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750969850282.png" alt="Bowen photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Bowen photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Harold D. Bowen, 76, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 600 block Commercial on requested charges of possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750969976133.png" alt="Felicia Lynch-photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Felicia Lynch-photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Felicia K. Lynch, 33, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 1200 block South 6th Street on requested charges of possession of cocaine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750970116281.png" alt="Maxey photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Maxey photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Kevin V. Maxey, Jr., 37, Atchison, arrested on a traffic stop in the 600 block College Street and charged with felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a controlled substance, and disorderly conduct. Taken to County Jail.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750970037950.png" alt="Kattibrie Lynch -photo Atchison Co." />
 <figcaption>Kattibrie Lynch -photo Atchison Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Kattibrie D. Lynch, 30, Atchison, arrested following a traffic stop in the 800 block Raven Hill Road on requested charges with possession of methamphetamine, possession of fentanyl, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Taken to County Jail.

Seven arrested in KBI drug investigation

SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating two suspects on multiple allegations in connection with a shooting that occurred earlier this month in the parking lot of Pancho's 3029 Riffel in Salina.

Just after 6:30a.m. Wednesday, the Salina Police Department SWAT team with the assistance of the Kansas Highway Patrol SWAT team served a search warrant at a residence in the 900 block of Spruce in Salina, according to Salina Police Captain James Feldman.

Officers took 32-year-old Calvin Frenzley Jr. and&nbsp; 30-year-old Sydney Holt both residents of the home.

Frenzley was initially taken into custody on a requested charge of Aggravated Assault in reference to the initial investigation. Both Frenzley and Holt also jailed on requested charges of Felony Interference, Possesion of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana, and Aggravated Endangerment of a Child since there was a child under the age of 18 at the residence. Additional arrests are anticipated, according to Feldman.

On June 8, police responded to the restaurant after a suspect allegedly stepped out of a black,  Jeep SUV and fired one round at a white Chevy Camaro.&nbsp;Investigators found one spent .30 caliber shell casing in the parking lot. The Jeep was in front of the Camaro in the drive-through lane just before the incident. Both vehicles left the scene.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750944358562.jpeg" alt="Frenzley -photo Saline Co." />
 <figcaption>Frenzley -photo Saline Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SALINE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating two suspects on multiple allegations in connection with a shooting that occurred earlier this month in the parking lot of Pancho's 3029 Riffel in Salina.Just after 6:30a.m. Wednesday, the Salina Police Department SWAT team with the assistance of the Kansas Highway Patrol SWAT team served a search warrant at a residence in the 900 block of Spruce in Salina, according to Salina Police Captain James Feldman.Officers took 32-year-old Calvin Frenzley Jr. and&nbsp; 30-year-old Sydney Holt both residents of the home.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750944760124.jpeg" alt="Holt photo Saline Co." />
 <figcaption>Holt photo Saline Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Frenzley was initially taken into custody on a requested charge of Aggravated Assault in reference to the initial investigation. Both Frenzley and Holt also jailed on requested charges of Felony Interference, Possesion of Methamphetamine, Possession of Marijuana, and Aggravated Endangerment of a Child since there was a child under the age of 18 at the residence. Additional arrests are anticipated, according to Feldman.On June 8, police responded to the restaurant after a suspect allegedly stepped out of a black, Jeep SUV and fired one round at a white Chevy Camaro.&nbsp;Investigators found one spent .30 caliber shell casing in the parking lot. The Jeep was in front of the Camaro in the drive-through lane just before the incident. Both vehicles left the scene.

Suspects in Kan. drive-through restaurant shooting arrested

KANSAS CITY —One person died in an accident just after 10:30p.m. Wednesday in Kansas City.

A white and red Mack Dump Truck was southbound on Manchester Avenue making a left turn onto the entrance ramp for westbound Interstate 70, according to KCPD Sergeant Jake Becchina. A northbound minibike without lights struck the dump truck when it was mid-way through its turn.

The operator of the minibike was ejected off the vehile and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver of the Mack was uninjured in the collision.&nbsp; Police did not released the name of the victim.

 This is fatality #40 compared with #49 at this time last year, according to Becchina.&nbsp;&nbsp;

KANSAS CITY —One person died in an accident just after 10:30p.m. Wednesday in Kansas City.A white and red Mack Dump Truck was southbound on Manchester Avenue making a left turn onto the entrance ramp for westbound Interstate 70, according to KCPD Sergeant Jake Becchina. A northbound minibike without lights struck the dump truck when it was mid-way through its turn.The operator of the minibike was ejected off the vehile and was pronounced deceased at the scene. The driver of the Mack was uninjured in the collision.&nbsp; Police did not released the name of the victim. This is fatality #40 compared with #49 at this time last year, according to Becchina.&nbsp;&nbsp;

KCPD: Mini bike rider dies after crash with dump truck

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon leaders laid out new details Thursday about military tactics and explosives to bolster their argument that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-talks-geneva-news-06-21-2025-a7b0cdaba28b5817467ccf712d214579">U.S. attacks</a>&nbsp;had destroyed key Iranian nuclear facilities, but little more emerged on how far back the bombing had set&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-06-26-2025-d09bf2282deea3b2edd63f29c867c058">Tehran’s atomic program</a>.

Click below to watch the entire Pentagon press briefing

In a rare Pentagon news briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-iran-nuclear-strikes-intel-863369a112a14021cb59cbf985a1c74b">shift the debate</a>&nbsp;from whether the nuclear targets were “obliterated,” as President Donald Trump has said, to what they portrayed as the heroism of the strikes as well as the extensive research and preparation that went into carrying them out.

"You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack," Hegseth said in an often combative session with the media.

“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack,” Hegseth said in an often combative session with reporters.

It was the latest example of how Trump has marshaled top administration officials to defend his claims about the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes. At stake is the legacy of the Republican president's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-israel-ceasefire-agreement-terms-b5fc5cc8a8c32b4899646130b496798a">intervention in the brief war</a>&nbsp;between Israel and Iran, as well as the future of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-trump-ceasefire-nuclear-talks-330d6d6d1a8939c0c8866941992f65c5">American foreign policy toward Iran</a>.

Pentagon gives little detail on status of Iran's highly enriched uranium

Hegseth appeared less confident that the strikes got all of Iran's highly enriched nuclear material.

Asked repeatedly whether any of it was moved to other locations before the U.S. attack, Hegseth acknowledged that the Pentagon was “looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where."

He added, “I’m not aware of any intelligence that says things were not where they were supposed to be” or that they were moved.

Satellite imagery showed trucks and bulldozers at Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment site, the main target of the bombings, days before the strikes, which occurred between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT Saturday. Experts said enriched uranium stocks can be moved in small canisters and are hard to find.

“It would be extremely challenging to try and detect locations where Iran may be hiding highly enriched uranium,” said Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the nonpartisan Arms Control Association.

Trump expressed confidence that uranium was not pulled out before the attack.

“Nothing was taken out of facility,” he said on social media. “Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!”

New details emerge on how the U.S. carried out the attacks

U.S. stealth bombers dropped 12 deep penetrator bombs, called bunker busters, on Fordo and two on the Natanz site, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.

Hegseth and Caine described 15 years of study and planning going into the bombing mission and they showed video of a test explosion of a&nbsp;<a href="https://international%20atomic%20energy%20agency/">“bunker buster” munition</a>, designed to penetrate deep into mountains.

While Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, spent the bulk of his time slamming the media coverage and personally insulting reporters who questioned him, Caine stuck to the military details of the bombing.

Caine said the U.S. targeted the ventilation shafts at the Fordo facility as the entry point for the bombs. In the days before the U.S. attack, the Iranians placed large concrete slabs on top of both ventilation routes from the underground facilities to try to protect them, he said.

He said the first bomb dropped was used to eliminate the concrete slab, and then four of the bombs were dropped down the main shaft with slightly different angles to take out various parts of the underground facility.

The pilots of the bombers described the flash after the bomb drop as “the brightest explosion they had ever seen,” Caine said.

He noted it is not his job to do the assessment of the damage. Asked if he has been pressured to provide a more optimistic view of the results, Caine said no.

“I’ve never been pressured by the president or the secretary to do anything other than tell them exactly what I’m thinking. And that’s exactly what I’ve done,” he said.

Caine also lauded the troops who remained at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/al-udeid-air-base-military-qatar-iran-501e9e64e80480ef3aa4ee43c1243235">Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar</a>&nbsp;when the Iran launched its counterattack Monday. He said just 44 soldiers stayed to operate the two Patriot missile batteries and protect the entire air base.

“You know that you’re going to have approximately two minutes, 120 seconds, to either succeed or fail,” Caine said, adding, “They absolutely crushed it.”

Hegseth dismisses initial assessment from the Pentagon’s own intelligence agency

Hegseth repeated assertions that an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-program-military-strikes-trump-f0fc085a2605e7da3e2f47ff9ac0e01d">early assessment</a>&nbsp;from the Defense Intelligence Agency, a part of the Defense Department, was preliminary and that the report acknowledged there was low confidence and gaps in information.

Hegseth repeatedly scolded reporters for “breathlessly” focusing on that assessment and said such stories were just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-trump-intelligence-assessment-cia-nuclear-distrust-13d39a9cd96ff4021e9be780bf5f8491">attempts to undermine Trump.</a>

That report said that while the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bunker-buster-bomb-israel-iran-fordo-fordow-b2-nuclear-8a612cbf16aa0f99bd9992334ffc93d7">did significant damage</a>, the sites were not totally destroyed and that Tehran's program was only set back by a few months.

Hegseth and others have not disputed the contents of the DIA report but have focused on a CIA statement and other intelligence assessments, including those out of Iran and Israel, that said the strikes severely damaged the nuclear sites and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is not now able to assess the exact damage to the Fordo site, but the centrifuges there are “no longer operational,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told Radio France Internationale on Thursday.

Trump appeared buoyed by Hegseth’s fierce display of loyalty and his repeated attacks on news organizations during the briefing. The president said on social media that it was "one of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen!”

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Chris Megerian and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750954444210.png" alt="Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from Pentagon video" />
 <figcaption>Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth from Pentagon video</figcaption>
 </figure>By TARA COPP and LOLITA C. BALDOR&nbsp;WASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon leaders laid out new details Thursday about military tactics and explosives to bolster their argument that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-talks-geneva-news-06-21-2025-a7b0cdaba28b5817467ccf712d214579">U.S. attacks</a>&nbsp;had destroyed key Iranian nuclear facilities, but little more emerged on how far back the bombing had set&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-war-nuclear-06-26-2025-d09bf2282deea3b2edd63f29c867c058">Tehran’s atomic program</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NO OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD HAS THE WEAPONRY OR THE CAPABILITIES THAT THE UNITED STATES HAS. <a href="https://t.co/7lqcsUFe3a">pic.twitter.com/7lqcsUFe3a</a>&mdash; DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DODResponse/status/1938231510139867614?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Click below to watch the entire Pentagon press briefing<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FDeptofDefense%2Fvideos%2F9721452061316507%2F&show_text=true&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pentagon releases test footage showing how bunker-busters work.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecDef</a> Hegseth: “Because of the hatred of this press... your people are trying to leak &amp; spin that it wasn&#39;t successful. It&#39;s irresponsible.” Gen. “Razin” Caine, on the mission: “I have chills..talking about this.” <a href="https://t.co/nS1q6ml7Ae">pic.twitter.com/nS1q6ml7Ae</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1938259832416391576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a rare Pentagon news briefing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, worked to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-iran-nuclear-strikes-intel-863369a112a14021cb59cbf985a1c74b">shift the debate</a>&nbsp;from whether the nuclear targets were “obliterated,” as President Donald Trump has said, to what they portrayed as the heroism of the strikes as well as the extensive research and preparation that went into carrying them out.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750954654873.png" alt="Image from Pentagon video" />
 <figcaption>Image from Pentagon video</figcaption>
 </figure>"You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack," Hegseth said in an often combative session with the media.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750954719039.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750954749972.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically successful attack,” Hegseth said in an often combative session with reporters.It was the latest example of how Trump has marshaled top administration officials to defend his claims about the effectiveness of the U.S. strikes. At stake is the legacy of the Republican president's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-israel-ceasefire-agreement-terms-b5fc5cc8a8c32b4899646130b496798a">intervention in the brief war</a>&nbsp;between Israel and Iran, as well as the future of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-trump-ceasefire-nuclear-talks-330d6d6d1a8939c0c8866941992f65c5">American foreign policy toward Iran</a>.<h2>Pentagon gives little detail on status of Iran's highly enriched uranium</h2>Hegseth appeared less confident that the strikes got all of Iran's highly enriched nuclear material.Asked repeatedly whether any of it was moved to other locations before the U.S. attack, Hegseth acknowledged that the Pentagon was “looking at all aspects of intelligence and making sure we have a sense of what was where."He added, “I’m not aware of any intelligence that says things were not where they were supposed to be” or that they were moved.Satellite imagery showed trucks and bulldozers at Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment site, the main target of the bombings, days before the strikes, which occurred between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT Saturday. Experts said enriched uranium stocks can be moved in small canisters and are hard to find.“It would be extremely challenging to try and detect locations where Iran may be hiding highly enriched uranium,” said Kelsey Davenport, director of nonproliferation policy at the nonpartisan Arms Control Association.Trump expressed confidence that uranium was not pulled out before the attack.“Nothing was taken out of facility,” he said on social media. “Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!”<h2>New details emerge on how the U.S. carried out the attacks</h2>U.S. stealth bombers dropped 12 deep penetrator bombs, called bunker busters, on Fordo and two on the Natanz site, a U.S. official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.Hegseth and Caine described 15 years of study and planning going into the bombing mission and they showed video of a test explosion of a&nbsp;<a href="https://international%20atomic%20energy%20agency/">“bunker buster” munition</a>, designed to penetrate deep into mountains.While Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor, spent the bulk of his time slamming the media coverage and personally insulting reporters who questioned him, Caine stuck to the military details of the bombing.Caine said the U.S. targeted the ventilation shafts at the Fordo facility as the entry point for the bombs. In the days before the U.S. attack, the Iranians placed large concrete slabs on top of both ventilation routes from the underground facilities to try to protect them, he said.He said the first bomb dropped was used to eliminate the concrete slab, and then four of the bombs were dropped down the main shaft with slightly different angles to take out various parts of the underground facility.The pilots of the bombers described the flash after the bomb drop as “the brightest explosion they had ever seen,” Caine said.He noted it is not his job to do the assessment of the damage. Asked if he has been pressured to provide a more optimistic view of the results, Caine said no.“I’ve never been pressured by the president or the secretary to do anything other than tell them exactly what I’m thinking. And that’s exactly what I’ve done,” he said.Caine also lauded the troops who remained at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/al-udeid-air-base-military-qatar-iran-501e9e64e80480ef3aa4ee43c1243235">Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar</a>&nbsp;when the Iran launched its counterattack Monday. He said just 44 soldiers stayed to operate the two Patriot missile batteries and protect the entire air base.“You know that you’re going to have approximately two minutes, 120 seconds, to either succeed or fail,” Caine said, adding, “They absolutely crushed it.”<h2>Hegseth dismisses initial assessment from the Pentagon’s own intelligence agency</h2><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">The fake news has turned to LEAKS from a preliminary low-confidence report that will continue to be REFINED as additional intelligence becomes available. HERE ARE THE FACTS: <a href="https://t.co/OFJVeIVvB4">pic.twitter.com/OFJVeIVvB4</a>&mdash; DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) <a href="https://twitter.com/DODResponse/status/1938211836991816063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Hegseth repeated assertions that an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-nuclear-program-military-strikes-trump-f0fc085a2605e7da3e2f47ff9ac0e01d">early assessment</a>&nbsp;from the Defense Intelligence Agency, a part of the Defense Department, was preliminary and that the report acknowledged there was low confidence and gaps in information.Hegseth repeatedly scolded reporters for “breathlessly” focusing on that assessment and said such stories were just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-trump-intelligence-assessment-cia-nuclear-distrust-13d39a9cd96ff4021e9be780bf5f8491">attempts to undermine Trump.</a>That report said that while the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bunker-buster-bomb-israel-iran-fordo-fordow-b2-nuclear-8a612cbf16aa0f99bd9992334ffc93d7">did significant damage</a>, the sites were not totally destroyed and that Tehran's program was only set back by a few months.Hegseth and others have not disputed the contents of the DIA report but have focused on a CIA statement and other intelligence assessments, including those out of Iran and Israel, that said the strikes severely damaged the nuclear sites and rendered the enrichment facility inoperable.The International Atomic Energy Agency is not now able to assess the exact damage to the Fordo site, but the centrifuges there are “no longer operational,” the U.N. nuclear watchdog's chief, Rafael Mariano Grossi, told Radio France Internationale on Thursday.Trump appeared buoyed by Hegseth’s fierce display of loyalty and his repeated attacks on news organizations during the briefing. The president said on social media that it was "one of the greatest, most professional, and most ‘confirming’ News Conferences I have ever seen!”___Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Chris Megerian and Ellen Knickmeyer contributed to this report.

🎥Pentagon video shows weapons used in US attack on Iran

By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/"></a><a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate president said Thursday a meeting with bipartisan legislative leadership would be called July 7 to extend the deadline for the Kansas City Chiefs or Kansas City Royals to accept an offer of financial support for construction of professional sports stadiums in Kansas.

Senate President Ty Masterson said the Republican-dominated Legislative Coordinating Council, which conducts state business when the Legislature isn’t in session, would consider an extension of the one-year&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/21/kansas-gov-kelly-signs-bill-to-poach-kansas-city-chiefs-royals-from-missouri/">STAR bond deadline enacted in July 2024</a>. Masterson didn’t indicate how lengthy the extension could be.

Masterson said Mark Donovan, president of the Chiefs, asked Kansas officials to alter the deadline “in light of substantial progress the Chiefs have made in discussions” with the Kansas Department of Commerce on an NFL development on the Kansas side of the border with Missouri.

Those discussions have included building of a stadium, headquarters, practice facility and related business developments, Donovan said.

“The letter from Mark Donovan indicates that the drive to bring this historic project to Kansas is moving down the field,” Masterson said. “Now that we are in the red zone, this extension will provide stakeholders sufficient time to ensure the ball crosses the goal line.”

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill last year authorizing issuance of bonds that would cover up to 70% of stadium construction, but the law set the deadline for making a deal at June 30, 2025.

Last month, Missouri Gov. Mike&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-governor-signs-kansas-city-stadium-funding-st-louis-disaster-aid/" target="_blank">Kehoe signed legislation&nbsp;</a>that would finance up to 50% of the cost to renovate or build new stadiums for the Royals and Chiefs. Missouri’s commitment of tax revenue would be capped at $1.5 billion.

The NFL and MLB franchises play at facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, that were built in the early 1970s. Owners of the teams have encouraged formation of public funding packages that would support replacement of those stadiums. Debate about the future of both franchises has rekindled the&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/26/missouri-or-kansas-business-leaders-dont-care-as-long-as-chiefs-and-royals-stay-near-kc/">economic border war between Missouri and Kansas</a>.

The Legislative Coordinating Council would take up the measure altering the deadline at 2 p.m. July 7 in Topeka.

“The complexity and scale of the project, and the importance of crafting a structure that works for all stakeholders, make it clear that more time is needed to bring the effort to full fruition,” Donovan said in a letter to Masterson.

He said the Chiefs had engaged in multiple rounds of dialogue about stadium proposals with the state Department of Commerce. The Chiefs hadn’t received a response to the franchise’s latest proposal in six weeks, he said.

“Extending the secretary’s authority will allow that process to continue productively and will preserve Kansas’ ability to secure the most significant economic development initiative in its history,” Donovan’s letter said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1748263709817.png" alt="GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, is pictured on Sat. Feb. 8 (Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, is pictured on Sat. Feb. 8 (Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/"></a><a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate president said Thursday a meeting with bipartisan legislative leadership would be called July 7 to extend the deadline for the Kansas City Chiefs or Kansas City Royals to accept an offer of financial support for construction of professional sports stadiums in Kansas.Senate President Ty Masterson said the Republican-dominated Legislative Coordinating Council, which conducts state business when the Legislature isn’t in session, would consider an extension of the one-year&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2024/06/21/kansas-gov-kelly-signs-bill-to-poach-kansas-city-chiefs-royals-from-missouri/">STAR bond deadline enacted in July 2024</a>. Masterson didn’t indicate how lengthy the extension could be.Masterson said Mark Donovan, president of the Chiefs, asked Kansas officials to alter the deadline “in light of substantial progress the Chiefs have made in discussions” with the Kansas Department of Commerce on an NFL development on the Kansas side of the border with Missouri.Those discussions have included building of a stadium, headquarters, practice facility and related business developments, Donovan said.“The letter from Mark Donovan indicates that the drive to bring this historic project to Kansas is moving down the field,” Masterson said. “Now that we are in the red zone, this extension will provide stakeholders sufficient time to ensure the ball crosses the goal line.”Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill last year authorizing issuance of bonds that would cover up to 70% of stadium construction, but the law set the deadline for making a deal at June 30, 2025.Last month, Missouri Gov. Mike&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-governor-signs-kansas-city-stadium-funding-st-louis-disaster-aid/" target="_blank">Kehoe signed legislation&nbsp;</a>that would finance up to 50% of the cost to renovate or build new stadiums for the Royals and Chiefs. Missouri’s commitment of tax revenue would be capped at $1.5 billion.The NFL and MLB franchises play at facilities in Kansas City, Missouri, that were built in the early 1970s. Owners of the teams have encouraged formation of public funding packages that would support replacement of those stadiums. Debate about the future of both franchises has rekindled the&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/06/26/missouri-or-kansas-business-leaders-dont-care-as-long-as-chiefs-and-royals-stay-near-kc/">economic border war between Missouri and Kansas</a>.The Legislative Coordinating Council would take up the measure altering the deadline at 2 p.m. July 7 in Topeka.“The complexity and scale of the project, and the importance of crafting a structure that works for all stakeholders, make it clear that more time is needed to bring the effort to full fruition,” Donovan said in a letter to Masterson.He said the Chiefs had engaged in multiple rounds of dialogue about stadium proposals with the state Department of Commerce. The Chiefs hadn’t received a response to the franchise’s latest proposal in six weeks, he said.“Extending the secretary’s authority will allow that process to continue productively and will preserve Kansas’ ability to secure the most significant economic development initiative in its history,” Donovan’s letter said.

Kansas prepares to extend deadline for Chiefs, Royals to claim incentive for stadium construction

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market ran up to the edge of another record on Thursday.

The S&amp;P 500 climbed 0.8% and is sitting just 0.05% below its all-time closing high, which was set in February. It briefly topped the mark during the afternoon in the latest milestone for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, which had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-tariffs-china-trump-b686ef0259c2f4894f9fcd1f3649a956">dropped roughly 20% below its record</a>&nbsp;during the spring on worries about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/consumer-prices-inflation-trump-trade-6ea513a44876c2f4dc948a25c15b0eb0">President Donald Trump’s tariffs</a>.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 404 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%.

McCormick, the seller of cooking spices, helped lead the way and jumped 5.3% after delivering a better-than-expected profit report. The company also gave a forecast for profit over its full fiscal year that topped analysts’ expectations, including planned efforts to offset increased costs caused by tariffs.

Over the longer term, it’s been big technology stocks that have led the market for years and since the S&amp;P 500 hit a bottom in April.

Chip company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nvidia-france-artificial-intelligence-1a6b50633db24c22b584597142a564ac">Nvidia</a>, which has been the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, added 0.5%. It’s the most valuable company in the U.S. stock market after rushing 61% higher since April 8, towering over the S&amp;P 500’s gain of 23%. Another AI darling, Super Micro Computer, rose 5.7% to bring its gain since April 8 to 55%.

Micron Technology, which sells computer memory and data storage, swung between gains and losses after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it’s seeing growing AI-driven memory demand, and the company gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Its stock ended the day down 1%.

All told, the S&amp;P 500 rose 48.86 points to 6,141.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 404.41 to 43,386.84, and the Nasdaq composite gained 194.36 to 20,167.91.

Wall Street’s worries about Trump’s tariffs have receded since the president shocked the world in April with stiff proposed levies, but they have not disappeared. The wait is still on to see how big the tariffs will ultimately be, how much they will hurt the economy and how much they will push up inflation.

The economy so far seems to be holding up OK, though slowing, and more reports arrived on Thursday bolstering that. One said that orders for washing machines and other manufactured goods that last at least three years grew by more last month than economists expected. A second said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-unemployment-economy-69f4fda3dc0c7a6053c799f70fc4522e">fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits</a>&nbsp;last week, a potential signal of fewer layoffs.

A third report said the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/economy-tariffs-trump-gdp-shrink-86d1f15e66c646ac4ce88ffc0a956942">U.S. economy shrank by more</a>&nbsp;during the first three months of 2025 than earlier estimated. But many economists say those numbers got distorted by a surge of purchases of foreign products by U.S. companies hoping to get ahead of tariffs. They’re expecting a better performance in upcoming months.

Following the reports, Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market before easing.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.29% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, fell to 3.71% from 3.74% late Wednesday.

Analysts said yields may have felt pressure because of a report from The Wall Street Journal saying Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell unusually early, in an attempt to undermine him. That could hurt confidence among investors about the Fed’s capability to make unpopular decisions when it comes to fighting inflation.

Powell has been repeating recently that the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fed-powell-tariffs-inflation-bias-2a6a403f44697d444dac67c6fd3ff214">Federal Reserve is waiting to see</a>&nbsp;how Trump’s tariffs will affect the economy before deciding when to resume cutting interest rates. It has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-interest-rates-fed-fa91e7b38ca858ff54f57bc642111188">on pause this year</a>&nbsp;because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with providing the economy a boost.

Trump, though, has been adamant about wanting cuts to rates sooner and has insulted Powell repeatedly. Two of his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rates-economy-inflation-a90fe4835c1e5d381d16e32bc778981d">appointees to the Fed have also said recently</a>&nbsp;that they would consider cutting rates as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in July.

“Yields fell, the dollar weakened, and break evens rose, all suggesting that a puppet of the White House in the seat of the Chair could be bad for inflation,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. But Jacobsen said decisions on interest rates would still rest with a committee of Fed officials, not just the chair, and other officials could possibly keep the new leader “in check if needed.”

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9% for two of the bigger moves.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663590370434.jpeg" alt="&nbsp;Yuki iwamura Ap photo" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Yuki iwamura Ap photo</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market ran up to the edge of another record on Thursday.The S&amp;P 500 climbed 0.8% and is sitting just 0.05% below its all-time closing high, which was set in February. It briefly topped the mark during the afternoon in the latest milestone for the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts, which had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/stocks-markets-tariffs-china-trump-b686ef0259c2f4894f9fcd1f3649a956">dropped roughly 20% below its record</a>&nbsp;during the spring on worries about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/consumer-prices-inflation-trump-trade-6ea513a44876c2f4dc948a25c15b0eb0">President Donald Trump’s tariffs</a>.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 404 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%.McCormick, the seller of cooking spices, helped lead the way and jumped 5.3% after delivering a better-than-expected profit report. The company also gave a forecast for profit over its full fiscal year that topped analysts’ expectations, including planned efforts to offset increased costs caused by tariffs.Over the longer term, it’s been big technology stocks that have led the market for years and since the S&amp;P 500 hit a bottom in April.Chip company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nvidia-france-artificial-intelligence-1a6b50633db24c22b584597142a564ac">Nvidia</a>, which has been the poster child of the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology, added 0.5%. It’s the most valuable company in the U.S. stock market after rushing 61% higher since April 8, towering over the S&amp;P 500’s gain of 23%. Another AI darling, Super Micro Computer, rose 5.7% to bring its gain since April 8 to 55%.Micron Technology, which sells computer memory and data storage, swung between gains and losses after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said it’s seeing growing AI-driven memory demand, and the company gave a forecast for profit in the current quarter that topped analysts’ expectations. Its stock ended the day down 1%.All told, the S&amp;P 500 rose 48.86 points to 6,141.02. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 404.41 to 43,386.84, and the Nasdaq composite gained 194.36 to 20,167.91.Wall Street’s worries about Trump’s tariffs have receded since the president shocked the world in April with stiff proposed levies, but they have not disappeared. The wait is still on to see how big the tariffs will ultimately be, how much they will hurt the economy and how much they will push up inflation.The economy so far seems to be holding up OK, though slowing, and more reports arrived on Thursday bolstering that. One said that orders for washing machines and other manufactured goods that last at least three years grew by more last month than economists expected. A second said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jobs-unemployment-economy-69f4fda3dc0c7a6053c799f70fc4522e">fewer U.S. workers filed for unemployment benefits</a>&nbsp;last week, a potential signal of fewer layoffs.A third report said the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/economy-tariffs-trump-gdp-shrink-86d1f15e66c646ac4ce88ffc0a956942">U.S. economy shrank by more</a>&nbsp;during the first three months of 2025 than earlier estimated. But many economists say those numbers got distorted by a surge of purchases of foreign products by U.S. companies hoping to get ahead of tariffs. They’re expecting a better performance in upcoming months.Following the reports, Treasury yields swiveled up and down in the bond market before easing.The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.29% late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do, fell to 3.71% from 3.74% late Wednesday.Analysts said yields may have felt pressure because of a report from The Wall Street Journal saying Trump could name his nominee to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell unusually early, in an attempt to undermine him. That could hurt confidence among investors about the Fed’s capability to make unpopular decisions when it comes to fighting inflation.Powell has been repeating recently that the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fed-powell-tariffs-inflation-bias-2a6a403f44697d444dac67c6fd3ff214">Federal Reserve is waiting to see</a>&nbsp;how Trump’s tariffs will affect the economy before deciding when to resume cutting interest rates. It has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-interest-rates-fed-fa91e7b38ca858ff54f57bc642111188">on pause this year</a>&nbsp;because lower rates can give inflation more fuel, along with providing the economy a boost.Trump, though, has been adamant about wanting cuts to rates sooner and has insulted Powell repeatedly. Two of his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rates-economy-inflation-a90fe4835c1e5d381d16e32bc778981d">appointees to the Fed have also said recently</a>&nbsp;that they would consider cutting rates as soon as the Fed’s next meeting in July.“Yields fell, the dollar weakened, and break evens rose, all suggesting that a puppet of the White House in the seat of the Chair could be bad for inflation,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. But Jacobsen said decisions on interest rates would still rest with a committee of Fed officials, not just the chair, and other officials could possibly keep the new leader “in check if needed.”In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.9% for two of the bigger moves.

US stocks rise to the brink of a record, recover nearly all their springtime drop

NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/television">television’s</a>&nbsp;most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91.

Moyer died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. He did not cite Moyers' cause of death.

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 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/television">television’s</a>&nbsp;most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91.Moyer died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. He did not cite Moyers' cause of death.Moyer’s career ranged from youthful Baptist minister to deputy director of the Peace Corps, from Johnson’s press secretary to newspaper publisher, senior news analyst for “The CBS Evening News” and chief correspondent for “CBS Reports.”But it was for public television that Moyers produced some of TV’s most cerebral and provocative series. In hundreds of hours of PBS programs, he proved at home with subjects ranging from government corruption to modern dance, from drug addiction to media consolidation, from religion to environmental abuse.In 1988, Moyers produced “The Secret Government” about the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration and simultaneously published a book under the same name. Around that time, he galvanized viewers with “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,” a series of six one-hour interviews with the prominent religious scholar. The accompanying book became a best-seller.His televised chats with poet Robert Bly almost single-handedly launched the 1990s Men’s Movement, and his 1993 series “Healing and the Mind” had a profound impact on the medical community and on medical education.In a medium that supposedly abhors “talking heads” — shots of subject and interviewer talking — Moyers came to specialize in just that. He once explained why: “The question is, are the talking heads thinking minds and thinking people? Are they interesting to watch? I think the most fascinating production value is the human face.”<h2>(Softly) speaking truth to power</h2>Demonstrating what someone called “a soft, probing style” in the native Texas accent he never lost, Moyers was a humanist who investigated the world with a calm, reasoned perspective, whatever the subject.From some quarters, he was blasted as a liberal thanks to his links with Johnson and public television, as well as his no-holds-barred approach to investigative journalism. It was a label he didn’t necessarily deny.“I’m an old-fashion liberal when it comes to being open and being interested in other people’s ideas,” he said during a 2004 radio interview. But Moyers preferred to term himself a “citizen journalist” operating independently, outside the establishment.Public television (and his self-financed production company) gave him free rein to throw “the conversation of democracy open to all comers,” he said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press.“I think my peers in commercial television are talented and devoted journalists,” he said another time, “but they’ve chosen to work in a corporate mainstream that trims their talent to fit the corporate nature of American life. And you do not get rewarded for telling the hard truths about America in a profit-seeking environment.”Over the years, Moyers was showered with honors, including more than 30 Emmys, 11 George Foster Peabody awards, three George Polks and, twice, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Gold Baton Award for career excellence in broadcast journalism. In 1995, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.<h2>From sports to sports writing</h2>Born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, Billy Don Moyers was the son of a dirt farmer-truck driver who soon moved his family to Marshall, Texas. High school led him into journalism.“I wanted to play football, but I was too small. But I found that by writing sports in the school newspaper, the players were always waiting around at the newsstand to see what I wrote,” he recalled.He worked for the Marshall News Messenger at age 16. Deciding that Bill Moyers was a more appropriate byline for a sportswriter, he dropped the “y” from his name.He graduated from the University of Texas and earned a master’s in divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained and preached part time at two churches but later decided his call to the ministry “was a wrong number.”His relationship with Johnson began when he was in college; he wrote the then-senator offering to work in his 1954 re-election campaign. Johnson was impressed and hired him for a summer job. He was back in Johnson’s employ as a personal assistant in the early 1960s and for two years, he worked at the Peace Corps, eventually becoming deputy director.On the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Moyers was in Austin helping with the presidential trip. He flew back to Washington on Air Force One with newly sworn-in President Johnson, for whom he held various jobs over the ensuing years, including press secretary.Moyers’ stint as presidential press secretary was marked by efforts to mend the deteriorating relationship between Johnson and the media. But the Vietnam war took its toll and Moyers resigned in December 1966.Of his departure from the White House, he wrote later, “We had become a war government, not a reform government, and there was no creative role left for me under those circumstances.”He conceded that he may have been “too zealous in my defense of our policies” and said he regretted criticizing journalists such as Pulitzer Prize-winner Peter Arnett, then a special correspondent with the AP, and CBS’s Morley Safer for their war coverage.<h2>A long run on television</h2>In 1967, Moyers became publisher of Long Island-based Newsday and concentrated on adding news analyses, investigative pieces and lively features. Within three years, the suburban daily had won two Pulitzers. He left the paper in 1970 after the ownership changed. That summer, he traveled 13,000 miles around the country and wrote a best-selling account of his odyssey: “Listening to America: a Traveler Rediscovers His Country.”His next venture was in public television and he won critical acclaim for “Bill Moyers Journal,” a series in which interviews ranged from Gunnar Myrdal, the Swedish economist, to poet Maya Angelou. He was chief correspondent of “CBS Reports” from 1976 to 1978, went back to PBS for three years, and then was senior news analyst for CBS from 1981 to 1986.When CBS cut back on documentaries, he returned to PBS for much less money. “If you have a skill that you can fold with your tent and go wherever you feel you have to go, you can follow your heart’s desire,” he once said.Then in 1986, he and his wife, Judith Davidson Moyers, became their own bosses by forming Public Affairs Television, an independent shop that has not only produced programs such as the 10-hour “In Search of the Constitution,” but also paid for them through its own fundraising efforts.His projects in the 21st century included “Now,” a weekly PBS public affairs program; a new edition of “Bill Moyers Journal” and a podcast covering racism, voting rights and the rise of Donald Trump, among other subjects.Moyers married Judith Davidson, a college classmate, in 1954, and they raised three children, among them the author Suzanne Moyers and author-TV producer William Cope Moyers. Judith eventually became her husband’s partner, creative collaborator and president of their production company.___AP writer Dave Bauder and Former Associated Press writer Robert Monroe contributed to this report. Moore retired from the AP in 2017.