SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp; detention deputy for allegedly filing a false sexual assault report against another detention deputy.

On December 28, 2016, a detention deputy reported being the victim of a sexual assault and the suspect was a detention deputy, according to Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter during a Friday press conference.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Upon receiving the report, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a full criminal investigation.&nbsp; The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office for charging.&nbsp; No charges were filed in this case.

Subsequently, a Professional Standards investigation was conducted into this matter and both deputies received discipline for policy violations.&nbsp; The violations were not related to the sexual assault allegation.

In early 2020, the deputy, 23-year-old LeAnn Schlicher that reported the sexual assault applied to be a commissioned deputy with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.&nbsp; 

Part of the hiring process is an interview with a background investigator.&nbsp; On June 23, 2020, a background investigator conducted the interview with the her.&nbsp; During the interview, she admitted to filing a false police report to detectives about the December 2016 sexual assault report.

Because making a false report is a crime, a criminal investigation was initiated on June 25, 2020, for Interference with LEO under K.S.A 21-5904, which is a felony crime.&nbsp;

Deputies booked Schlicher booked into the Sedgwick County Detention Facility on June 26, 2020 and she has been relieved of her duties, according to Easter.

Schlicher had served as a detention deputy with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office since 2015.

"Due to recent national issues being raised about law enforcement protecting their own or not investigating their own, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office believes it is important to show the Sheriff’s Office has consistently taken every report seriously and completes full investigations made against its employees.&nbsp; 

Upon receiving the December 2016 report, a criminal and internal investigation was conducted on the sexual assault claim.&nbsp; The victim of that claim has now admitted she did not tell the truth when she initially reported a felony crime had been committed.&nbsp;

Deputies are not above the law and the Sheriff’s Office will always investigate any crime with the due diligence that the public entrusts in us.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593199436618.png" alt="SCHLICHER photo Sedgwick County Jail" />
 <figcaption>SCHLICHER photo Sedgwick County Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a&nbsp; detention deputy for allegedly filing a false sexual assault report against another detention deputy.On December 28, 2016, a detention deputy reported being the victim of a sexual assault and the suspect was a detention deputy, according to Sedgwick County Sheriff Jeff Easter during a Friday press conference.&nbsp;&nbsp;Upon receiving the report, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a full criminal investigation.&nbsp; The case was presented to the District Attorney’s Office for charging.&nbsp; No charges were filed in this case.Subsequently, a Professional Standards investigation was conducted into this matter and both deputies received discipline for policy violations.&nbsp; The violations were not related to the sexual assault allegation.In early 2020, the deputy, 23-year-old LeAnn Schlicher that reported the sexual assault applied to be a commissioned deputy with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office.&nbsp; Part of the hiring process is an interview with a background investigator.&nbsp; On June 23, 2020, a background investigator conducted the interview with the her.&nbsp; During the interview, she admitted to filing a false police report to detectives about the December 2016 sexual assault report.Because making a false report is a crime, a criminal investigation was initiated on June 25, 2020, for Interference with LEO under K.S.A 21-5904, which is a felony crime.&nbsp;Deputies booked Schlicher booked into the Sedgwick County Detention Facility on June 26, 2020 and she has been relieved of her duties, according to Easter.Schlicher had served as a detention deputy with the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office since 2015."Due to recent national issues being raised about law enforcement protecting their own or not investigating their own, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office believes it is important to show the Sheriff’s Office has consistently taken every report seriously and completes full investigations made against its employees.&nbsp; Upon receiving the December 2016 report, a criminal and internal investigation was conducted on the sexual assault claim.&nbsp; The victim of that claim has now admitted she did not tell the truth when she initially reported a felony crime had been committed.&nbsp;Deputies are not above the law and the Sheriff’s Office will always investigate any crime with the due diligence that the public entrusts in us.

Kansas jail deputy accused of filing false sexual assault report 

BARTON COUNTY—John Paul Zapata, who was wanted for aggravated escape from custody has been captured, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

 Zapata had been released on a furlough by order of the District Court. He failed to return at the appointed time.

Through various investigative techniques, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office detectives were able to locate him in Raymond, Kansas. The Rice County Sheriff’s office was notified, and a search warrant was obtained for a residence in Raymond. 

Just after 3p.m. Friday,&nbsp; Zapata was located and taken into custody.

He was returned to the Barton County Jail and faces additional charges of aggravated escape.

BARTON COUNTY— Law enforcement are asking the public for help to locate a suspect who is wanted for aggravated escape from custody.

On March 4, 2020 and again on May 8, 2020 the Barton County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants at 260 N. Washington just north of the city of Great Bend. During the April 8 incident the Sheriff’s Office was forced to use tear gas to dislodge a subject from the residence, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

The search warrants resulted in the arrest of John Paul Zapata, 34 of Great Bend. Zapata was being held in the Barton County Jail awaiting trial.

Zapata entered into a plea agreement with the court sentencing him to the Department of Corrections. Part of that plea agreement ordered the Sheriff’s Office to release Zapata on furlough “for the express purpose to get his affairs in order before being sentenced to Kansas Department of Corrections”. 

The Sheriff’s Office did not have input as to the plea agreement, according to Bellendir.

Zapata was released at 10 AM Monday as ordered by the court. The order stated Zapata was to return on June 24 at 10a.m.

 He has failed to do so. He is now wanted for aggravated escape from custody.

The Sheriff’s office is seeking the public’s assistance in locating him. Zapata has a history of resisting arrest and has been known to have firearms in his possession. 

Tattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Back, Tattoo Chest, TAT FACE, Tattoo Groin Area, Tattoo Left Hand Finger(s), Tattoo Left Hand, Tattoo Left Forearm, Tattoo Neck, Tattoo Right Calf, Tattoo Right Hand, Tattoo Right Forearm, Tattoo Upper Left Arm, Tattoo Upper Right Arm

(TAT NECK) - Lucky with clover on right side, Dakota on left side; (TAT UR ARM) - Beltran 3-2-98 Roses ad ribbon jesus "cross", ; (TAT RF ARM) - sleeve of skulls; (TAT R HND) - chinese symbol "strength"; (TAT UL ARM) - mom with rose, Praying hands, name "Adriana", ; (TAT LF ARM) - Bulldog tribal, Foot prints, name "Cheryl",chinese Symbol "Love", name with flames "Joshua",; (TAT L HND) - "TSI", name "AMY"; (TAT CHEST) - "JORDAN", "Miles", "Izabella"; (TAT ABDOM) - Right rib cage "cross with Heart"; (TAT ABDOM) - "Zapata"; (TAT GROIN) - "AMY"; (TAT R CALF) - 3 skulls and roses; (TAT L FGR) - "LOVE"; (TAT BACK) - tribal cross "TJ ROY" on each side of cross.; (TAT FACE) - Lower right eye "BABY J" with cross; (TAT ABDOM) - left ribcage "Raider Logo"

If anyone has information as to the whereabouts of John Paul Zapata please call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 620-792-1300.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593031608394.png" alt="Zapata" />
 <figcaption>Zapata</figcaption>
 </figure>BARTON COUNTY—John Paul Zapata, who was wanted for aggravated escape from custody has been captured, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir. Zapata had been released on a furlough by order of the District Court. He failed to return at the appointed time.Through various investigative techniques, the Barton County Sheriff’s Office detectives were able to locate him in Raymond, Kansas. The Rice County Sheriff’s office was notified, and a search warrant was obtained for a residence in Raymond. Just after 3p.m. Friday,&nbsp; Zapata was located and taken into custody.He was returned to the Barton County Jail and faces additional charges of aggravated escape.----------BARTON COUNTY— Law enforcement are asking the public for help to locate a suspect who is wanted for aggravated escape from custody.On March 4, 2020 and again on May 8, 2020 the Barton County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants at 260 N. Washington just north of the city of Great Bend. During the April 8 incident the Sheriff’s Office was forced to use tear gas to dislodge a subject from the residence, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.The search warrants resulted in the arrest of John Paul Zapata, 34 of Great Bend. Zapata was being held in the Barton County Jail awaiting trial.Zapata entered into a plea agreement with the court sentencing him to the Department of Corrections. Part of that plea agreement ordered the Sheriff’s Office to release Zapata on furlough “for the express purpose to get his affairs in order before being sentenced to Kansas Department of Corrections”. The Sheriff’s Office did not have input as to the plea agreement, according to Bellendir.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1588988120890.png" alt="Zapata from an earlier arrest in Barton Co." />
 <figcaption>Zapata from an earlier arrest in Barton Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Zapata was released at 10 AM Monday as ordered by the court. The order stated Zapata was to return on June 24 at 10a.m. He has failed to do so. He is now wanted for aggravated escape from custody.The Sheriff’s office is seeking the public’s assistance in locating him. Zapata has a history of resisting arrest and has been known to have firearms in his possession. Height 5-foot-6Weight 175 lbs.Hair Black, Length Short, Partial BeardSkin Light BrownBuild SlimEyes BrownLanguage EnglishRight handedScar Left Hip(SC L HIP) - 2 scars 2 inches long eachTattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Abdomen, Tattoo Back, Tattoo Chest, TAT FACE, Tattoo Groin Area, Tattoo Left Hand Finger(s), Tattoo Left Hand, Tattoo Left Forearm, Tattoo Neck, Tattoo Right Calf, Tattoo Right Hand, Tattoo Right Forearm, Tattoo Upper Left Arm, Tattoo Upper Right Arm(TAT NECK) - Lucky with clover on right side, Dakota on left side; (TAT UR ARM) - Beltran 3-2-98 Roses ad ribbon jesus "cross", ; (TAT RF ARM) - sleeve of skulls; (TAT R HND) - chinese symbol "strength"; (TAT UL ARM) - mom with rose, Praying hands, name "Adriana", ; (TAT LF ARM) - Bulldog tribal, Foot prints, name "Cheryl",chinese Symbol "Love", name with flames "Joshua",; (TAT L HND) - "TSI", name "AMY"; (TAT CHEST) - "JORDAN", "Miles", "Izabella"; (TAT ABDOM) - Right rib cage "cross with Heart"; (TAT ABDOM) - "Zapata"; (TAT GROIN) - "AMY"; (TAT R CALF) - 3 skulls and roses; (TAT L FGR) - "LOVE"; (TAT BACK) - tribal cross "TJ ROY" on each side of cross.; (TAT FACE) - Lower right eye "BABY J" with cross; (TAT ABDOM) - left ribcage "Raider Logo"If anyone has information as to the whereabouts of John Paul Zapata please call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 620-792-1300.

Sheriff: Deputies arrest Kan. man wanted for escape from custody

BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged drug distribution.

On Thursday, Sheriff’s deputies and detectives executed a search warrant at 161 SW. 10th Avenue just south of the city of Great Bend, according to sheriff Brian Bellendir.

Sheriff’s Office detectives had been working a distribution case; sales of methamphetamine were suspected at that location. 

Just after 7 AM Sheriff’s deputies made entry into the residence. Officers discovered numerous firearms, methamphetamine and evidence of distribution of drugs.

Arrested at the scene was Rick Novotny age 62 of Great Bend. Novotny was booked on charges of distribution of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia and criminal possession of a firearm. He was being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond. 

He has since posted bond and been released, according to Bellendir.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593205874198.png" alt="Novotny" />
 <figcaption>Novotny</figcaption>
 </figure>BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas man for alleged drug distribution.On Thursday, Sheriff’s deputies and detectives executed a search warrant at 161 SW. 10th Avenue just south of the city of Great Bend, according to sheriff Brian Bellendir.Sheriff’s Office detectives had been working a distribution case; sales of methamphetamine were suspected at that location. Just after 7 AM Sheriff’s deputies made entry into the residence. Officers discovered numerous firearms, methamphetamine and evidence of distribution of drugs.Arrested at the scene was Rick Novotny age 62 of Great Bend. Novotny was booked on charges of distribution of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia and criminal possession of a firearm. He was being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond. He has since posted bond and been released, according to Bellendir.

Deputies bust alleged drug dealer near Great Bend

TOPEKA —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of burglaries and asking the public&nbsp; for help to locate a suspect.

The burglaries involved tools and equipment taken from construction sites along the Kansas Turnpike, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

Investigators believe the suspect works in construction or a traffic control related business.

Anyone with information on the suspect or the vehicle should contact the Kansas Highway Patrol

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593200327972.png" alt="Suspect photo KHP" />
 <figcaption>Suspect photo KHP</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of burglaries and asking the public&nbsp; for help to locate a suspect.The burglaries involved tools and equipment taken from construction sites along the Kansas Turnpike, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593200459570.png" alt="photo KHP" />
 <figcaption>photo KHP</figcaption>
 </figure>Investigators believe the suspect works in construction or a traffic control related business.Anyone with information on the suspect or the vehicle should contact the Kansas Highway Patrol

KHP looking for suspect in Turnpike construction site burglaries

Topeka— The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, along with local public health, is encouraging people who are attending sporting tournaments to please exercise appropriate prevention measures for COVID-19 as clusters are beginning to develop and potential exposures have occurred.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Sports settings by their very nature may pose a higher risk for spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary. “Sports have athletes breathing heavy from physical exertion and spreading respiratory droplets, close contact with other players, indoor spaces where it may be difficult for individuals to remain 6 feet apart and attendees who travel from outside the local area. Because of this, it is paramount that individuals choosing to participate or attend sporting events take precautions.”&nbsp;

KDHE and local public health are currently investigating a total of four clusters connected to sports practices and tournaments across the state; the MAYB tournaments account for two of the four clusters. KDHE has confirmed that two people associated with the MAYB Boys Tournament and two people associated with the MAYB Girls Tournament have tested positive for COVID-19. People who attended these events may have been exposed and should be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19.

The tournaments were June 20 and 21 at the Hays Recreation Commission and the Wichita Sports Forum.

Anyone who attended any of these tournaments during the identified days and times should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days after the last day they attended (monitoring ending July 4 or July 5). Those symptoms include fever, cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, fatigue, diarrhea, and/or shortness of breath/difficulty breathing. If symptoms develop, please stay home and contact your health care provider or local health department for guidance on testing. In an emergency please call 911 and notify first responders that you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and, if possible, wear a cloth face mask before they arrive.

“Participants and spectators at these events are advised to exercise extra caution and practice social distancing, appropriate hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and wear cloth facemasks,” said Dr. Norman.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1590778958989.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman" />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman</figcaption>
 </figure>Topeka— The Kansas Department of Health and Environment, along with local public health, is encouraging people who are attending sporting tournaments to please exercise appropriate prevention measures for COVID-19 as clusters are beginning to develop and potential exposures have occurred.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Sports settings by their very nature may pose a higher risk for spread of COVID-19,” said Dr. Lee Norman, KDHE Secretary. “Sports have athletes breathing heavy from physical exertion and spreading respiratory droplets, close contact with other players, indoor spaces where it may be difficult for individuals to remain 6 feet apart and attendees who travel from outside the local area. Because of this, it is paramount that individuals choosing to participate or attend sporting events take precautions.”&nbsp;KDHE and local public health are currently investigating a total of four clusters connected to sports practices and tournaments across the state; the MAYB tournaments account for two of the four clusters. KDHE has confirmed that two people associated with the MAYB Boys Tournament and two people associated with the MAYB Girls Tournament have tested positive for COVID-19. People who attended these events may have been exposed and should be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19.The tournaments were June 20 and 21 at the Hays Recreation Commission and the Wichita Sports Forum.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593196652624.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Anyone who attended any of these tournaments during the identified days and times should monitor themselves for symptoms of COVID-19 for 14 days after the last day they attended (monitoring ending July 4 or July 5). Those symptoms include fever, cough, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, fatigue, diarrhea, and/or shortness of breath/difficulty breathing. If symptoms develop, please stay home and contact your health care provider or local health department for guidance on testing. In an emergency please call 911 and notify first responders that you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 and, if possible, wear a cloth face mask before they arrive.“Participants and spectators at these events are advised to exercise extra caution and practice social distancing, appropriate hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette, and wear cloth facemasks,” said Dr. Norman.

KDHE: After possible exposure in Hays, Wichita, take care at tournaments

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Police in Kansas City have arrested two men suspected of vandalizing a downtown statue of Andrew Jackson during a protest.

Officers were called to the Jackson County Courthouse around 5:30 p.m. for a report of people defacing the statue that stands outside the steps of the courthouse, police said. Jackson County is named for the 19th century U.S. president.

The statue had been spray-painted with expletives and the words “Slave Owner,” and police said responding officers saw the two men they believed were responsible from a distance. Police did not give the names of the men arrested, but said both men were 25.

The defacing of the Kansas City statue comes as protesters across the nation have defaced and torn down statues of historic figures during recent demonstrations against racial injustice.

Following the incident, Jackson County Executive Frank White issued a written statement calling for the removal of the Jackson statue, as well as an identical one that stands outside the courthouse in Independence.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593205974188.png" alt="<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Jackson_statue_County_Courthouse_KC_Missouri.jpg">Public domain image</a>" />
 <figcaption><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Jackson_statue_County_Courthouse_KC_Missouri.jpg">Public domain image</a></figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Police in Kansas City have arrested two men suspected of vandalizing a downtown statue of Andrew Jackson during a protest.Officers were called to the Jackson County Courthouse around 5:30 p.m. for a report of people defacing the statue that stands outside the steps of the courthouse, police said. Jackson County is named for the 19th century U.S. president.The statue had been spray-painted with expletives and the words “Slave Owner,” and police said responding officers saw the two men they believed were responsible from a distance. Police did not give the names of the men arrested, but said both men were 25.The defacing of the Kansas City statue comes as protesters across the nation have defaced and torn down statues of historic figures during recent demonstrations against racial injustice.Following the incident, Jackson County Executive Frank White issued a written statement calling for the removal of the Jackson statue, as well as an identical one that stands outside the courthouse in Independence.

Kansas City police arrest 2 for Andrew Jackson statue damage

Kansas City (AP) — Police officers have shot a 15-year-old carjacking suspect in the arm near Kansas City after the officers were fired upon, authorities say.

Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe said Independence police officers were responding to an argument in an apartment complex when they heard the carjacking victim yelling for help. Lowe said officers tried to stop the driver of stolen vehicle before it crashed into fencing around the complex.

He said the 15-year-old and a 17-year-old suspect then got out of the vehicle and fired toward officers. Officers returned fired, striking the younger teen in the upper arm.

Lowe said the teens took off running and were apprehended a short time later. Lowe described the wounded teen's injury as non-life threatening.

The patrol was called to help with the investigation early Friday. Lowe said the disturbance and carjacking are not related.

No officer was injured. The names of the teens were not immediately released. The patrol said the investigation is ongoing.

Kansas City (AP) — Police officers have shot a 15-year-old carjacking suspect in the arm near Kansas City after the officers were fired upon, authorities say.Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Bill Lowe said Independence police officers were responding to an argument in an apartment complex when they heard the carjacking victim yelling for help. Lowe said officers tried to stop the driver of stolen vehicle before it crashed into fencing around the complex.He said the 15-year-old and a 17-year-old suspect then got out of the vehicle and fired toward officers. Officers returned fired, striking the younger teen in the upper arm.Lowe said the teens took off running and were apprehended a short time later. Lowe described the wounded teen's injury as non-life threatening.The patrol was called to help with the investigation early Friday. Lowe said the disturbance and carjacking are not related.No officer was injured. The names of the teens were not immediately released. The patrol said the investigation is ongoing.

Police wound 15-year-old accused of shooting at officers in Kansas City

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 568 to a total of 13,538, the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional numbers from the KDHE.

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Kansas increased by 568 to a total of 13,538, the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;Coronavirus deaths were reported at 264<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional numbers from the KDHE.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593191085169.png" alt="June 26, 2020 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>June 26, 2020 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>

KDHE: Latest coronavirus numbers in Kansas

TOPEKA - Governor Laura Kelly called the State Finance Council back to work Friday in response to the committee delaying a vote on the certificate of indebtedness.&nbsp; 

In less than 30 minutes, the council approved the certificate.&nbsp; The delay on a vote jeopardized the state’s economic health and the paychecks of thousands of state employees and teachers, according to the governor.

<a href="http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200626/-1/9600">Click here&nbsp;</a>to listen to a replay of the council's meeting that started at 9a.m. Friday.

Following the council's approval, Governor Kelly said,&nbsp; “I was glad to see my fellow State Finance Council members vote to pass the certificate of indebtedness this morning. This will ensure our teachers and state employees get paid without delay, and Kansans can get the resources they need as we continue on our road to economic recovery.”

TOPEKA&nbsp;- Governor Laura Kelly will reconvene the State Finance Council Friday morning.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Governor Kelly is calling the meeting in response to Republican members delaying a vote that could jeopardize the state’s economic health and the paychecks of thousands of state employees and teachers.

“The same Republicans on the State Finance Council who voted against the certificate of indebtedness, rubber-stamped every action Sam Brownback took as he drove our state’s finances into the ground, including approving several previous certificates of indebtedness,” Governor Kelly said in a media release from her office.

“Without this certificate we threaten the future of our state -- we can’t pay our teachers, we can’t pay our 40,000 state employees, and we can’t get the PPE we need to protect Kansans from the threat of COVID-19. I won’t let that happen, so I will call back the State Finance Council tomorrow morning, and every morning until our Republican colleagues approve this certificate of indebtedness.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1589571102270.png" alt="Kansas Governor Laura Kelly" />
 <figcaption>Kansas Governor Laura Kelly</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA - Governor Laura Kelly called the State Finance Council back to work Friday in response to the committee delaying a vote on the certificate of indebtedness.&nbsp; In less than 30 minutes, the council approved the certificate.&nbsp; The delay on a vote jeopardized the state’s economic health and the paychecks of thousands of state employees and teachers, according to the governor.<a href="http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00287/Harmony/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20200626/-1/9600">Click here&nbsp;</a>to listen to a replay of the council's meeting that started at 9a.m. Friday.Following the council's approval, Governor Kelly said,&nbsp; “I was glad to see my fellow State Finance Council members vote to pass the certificate of indebtedness this morning. This will ensure our teachers and state employees get paid without delay, and Kansans can get the resources they need as we continue on our road to economic recovery.”--------------TOPEKA&nbsp;- Governor Laura Kelly will reconvene the State Finance Council Friday morning.&nbsp;&nbsp;Governor Kelly is calling the meeting in response to Republican members delaying a vote that could jeopardize the state’s economic health and the paychecks of thousands of state employees and teachers.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I will call back the State Finance Council tomorrow morning, and every morning until our Republican colleagues approve this certificate of indebtedness. <a href="https://t.co/LBZN6MoegD">pic.twitter.com/LBZN6MoegD</a>&mdash; Governor Laura Kelly (@GovLauraKelly) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovLauraKelly/status/1276257758267019272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The same Republicans on the State Finance Council who voted against the certificate of indebtedness, rubber-stamped every action Sam Brownback took as he drove our state’s finances into the ground, including approving several previous certificates of indebtedness,” Governor Kelly said in a media release from her office.“Without this certificate we threaten the future of our state -- we can’t pay our teachers, we can’t pay our 40,000 state employees, and we can’t get the PPE we need to protect Kansans from the threat of COVID-19. I won’t let that happen, so I will call back the State Finance Council tomorrow morning, and every morning until our Republican colleagues approve this certificate of indebtedness.”

🎤Update: Governor calls State Finance Council back to work over delayed vote

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating after homemade weapons were located at the Sedgwick County Jail.

On Thursday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of a housing unit after a tip was received of possible dangerous contraband in the unit, according to Sgt. Tim Myers.

The search was conducted for the safety and security of the employees working in the detention facility and for the inmates housed in the facility.&nbsp;

During the search, 6 dangerous weapons were located in the housing unit.&nbsp; These dangerous weapons are commonly referred to as “shanks”.&nbsp; The weapons are typically fashioned by inmates out of common materials, such as a door strike plate or an outlet cover.&nbsp;

This type of discovery is disturbing, but not uncommon.&nbsp; Authorities will pursue charges on inmates found in possession of weapons.&nbsp;&nbsp;The investigation will determine how these weapons were produced and what materials were used, according to Myers.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593121996003.png" alt="Photo Sedgwick Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sedgwick Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating after homemade weapons were located at the Sedgwick County Jail.On Thursday, the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search of a housing unit after a tip was received of possible dangerous contraband in the unit, according to Sgt. Tim Myers.The search was conducted for the safety and security of the employees working in the detention facility and for the inmates housed in the facility.&nbsp;During the search, 6 dangerous weapons were located in the housing unit.&nbsp; These dangerous weapons are commonly referred to as “shanks”.&nbsp; The weapons are typically fashioned by inmates out of common materials, such as a door strike plate or an outlet cover.&nbsp;This type of discovery is disturbing, but not uncommon.&nbsp; Authorities will pursue charges on inmates found in possession of weapons.&nbsp;&nbsp;The investigation will determine how these weapons were produced and what materials were used, according to Myers.

Tip leads to discovery of homemade weapons at Kansas jail

By DAN MARGOLIES <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-06-25/ku-faculty-leaders-say-in-person-class-mandate-is-unwieldy-discriminatory-and-perhaps-illegal">Kansas News Service</a>

LAWRENCE —&nbsp;Fifty-two University of Kansas department chairs have signed a letter
 challenging the school’s requirement that most classes this fall be 
offered in person. The faculty members insist they should have the 
option of teaching online.

The letter, addressed to Provost 
Barbara Bichelmeyer, was sent after Chancellor Douglas Girod announced 
last week that KU would hold in-person classes starting on Aug. 24 as 
part of a shortened semester ending before Thanksgiving. Students will 
be encouraged to leave the campus after the holiday to minimize the risk
 of spreading the novel coronavirus.

Under the plan, instructors 
can ask for an exemption from the in-person class requirement under the 
Americans with Disabilities Act. The letter from the department heads 
calls that process “impossibly unwieldy, discriminatory and perhaps 
illegal.”

“The process raises weighty confidentiality concerns, 
and we believe that many urgent questions remain to be answered about” 
complying with the ADA and federal anti-discrimination and safety rules,
 the letter states. “The plan asks instructors to divulge personal 
health (including mental health) information that is not in fact counted
 as a disability by law in order to learn that our request may have been
 denied.”

<a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability/ada" target="_blank">The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities</a>
 in several areas, including employment, transportation, public 
accommodations, communications and access to state and local government 
programs and services.

Wednesday was the deadline for faculty 
chairs to submit a spreadsheet indicating how their fall classes will 
comply with KU’s in-person class mandate.

The letter was emailed to Bichelmeyer on Monday and signed by 38 department chairs. Since then, another 14 have signed.

The
 signatories, some of them outgoing chairs and others incoming, comprise
 a majority of the 57 departments in KU’s College of Liberal Arts and 
Sciences.

Bichelmeyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The
 dilemma for a school like KU, the state’s flagship school, is that 
without in-person classes its local monopoly advantage disappears. On 
the one hand, the Lawrence campus faces competition from cheaper online 
schools. On the other, it faces competition from more elite, 
better-resourced schools.

And it faces a real financial dilemma as
 well: the prospect of students withdrawing because they’re not getting 
the college experience they expected.

But the letter says that 
professors and instructors shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice 
confidentiality concerns in order to safeguard their health and that of 
their students.

“We would like the university to allow faculty to 
make their own decisions about the way that they want to teach in the 
fall,” said Nicholas Syrett, chair of the Department of Women, Gender, 
and Sexuality Studies.

Many faculty don’t qualify for ADA 
exemptions, Syrett said, but they may be caring for an elderly relative 
or a child or simply may not wish to disclose their medical condition.

“None
 of those faculty have the option of making the choice for themselves,” 
Syrett said. “And I would say this is also important — it's not just 
faculty, it’s graduate teaching assistant instructors and lecturers and 
adjuncts lecturers, anyone who teaches.”

Ani Kokobobo, another 
signatory to the letter and chair of the Department of Slavic and 
Eurasian Languages and Literatures, said she wastorn about whether to 
teach in person. She's a single mother and worries about balancing the 
safety of her son against her allegiance to KU.

“And then I have 
people in my unit that are vulnerable that I would love to be able to 
advocate for and give options to beyond myself,” Kokobobo said.

In the end, she said, it came down to a matter of KU failing to consult the people directly affected by the in-person mandate.

“I’m
 here weighing my family’s welfare and my university’s welfare together 
and, yes, sure, I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Kokobobo said. 
“I’ll sacrifice in some way. But ask me, at the very least, because of 
the risk that is involved.”

Dan Margolies is senior reporter and editor at KCUR. He can be reached by email at dan@kcur.org or on Twitter @DanMargolies.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593110404049.png" alt="The majority of faculty chairs in the College of Arts and Sciences signed a letter objecting to the mandate. Erica Hunzinger / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>The majority of faculty chairs in the College of Arts and Sciences signed a letter objecting to the mandate. Erica Hunzinger / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By DAN MARGOLIES <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-06-25/ku-faculty-leaders-say-in-person-class-mandate-is-unwieldy-discriminatory-and-perhaps-illegal">Kansas News Service</a>LAWRENCE —&nbsp;Fifty-two University of Kansas department chairs have signed a letter
 challenging the school’s requirement that most classes this fall be 
offered in person. The faculty members insist they should have the 
option of teaching online.The letter, addressed to Provost 
Barbara Bichelmeyer, was sent after Chancellor Douglas Girod announced 
last week that KU would hold in-person classes starting on Aug. 24 as 
part of a shortened semester ending before Thanksgiving. Students will 
be encouraged to leave the campus after the holiday to minimize the risk
 of spreading the novel coronavirus.Under the plan, instructors 
can ask for an exemption from the in-person class requirement under the 
Americans with Disabilities Act. The letter from the department heads 
calls that process “impossibly unwieldy, discriminatory and perhaps 
illegal.”“The process raises weighty confidentiality concerns, 
and we believe that many urgent questions remain to be answered about” 
complying with the ADA and federal anti-discrimination and safety rules,
 the letter states. “The plan asks instructors to divulge personal 
health (including mental health) information that is not in fact counted
 as a disability by law in order to learn that our request may have been
 denied.”<a href="https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/disability/ada" target="_blank">The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities</a>
 in several areas, including employment, transportation, public 
accommodations, communications and access to state and local government 
programs and services.Wednesday was the deadline for faculty 
chairs to submit a spreadsheet indicating how their fall classes will 
comply with KU’s in-person class mandate.The letter was emailed to Bichelmeyer on Monday and signed by 38 department chairs. Since then, another 14 have signed.The
 signatories, some of them outgoing chairs and others incoming, comprise
 a majority of the 57 departments in KU’s College of Liberal Arts and 
Sciences.Bichelmeyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment.The
 dilemma for a school like KU, the state’s flagship school, is that 
without in-person classes its local monopoly advantage disappears. On 
the one hand, the Lawrence campus faces competition from cheaper online 
schools. On the other, it faces competition from more elite, 
better-resourced schools.And it faces a real financial dilemma as
 well: the prospect of students withdrawing because they’re not getting 
the college experience they expected.But the letter says that 
professors and instructors shouldn’t be forced to sacrifice 
confidentiality concerns in order to safeguard their health and that of 
their students.“We would like the university to allow faculty to 
make their own decisions about the way that they want to teach in the 
fall,” said Nicholas Syrett, chair of the Department of Women, Gender, 
and Sexuality Studies.Many faculty don’t qualify for ADA 
exemptions, Syrett said, but they may be caring for an elderly relative 
or a child or simply may not wish to disclose their medical condition.“None
 of those faculty have the option of making the choice for themselves,” 
Syrett said. “And I would say this is also important — it's not just 
faculty, it’s graduate teaching assistant instructors and lecturers and 
adjuncts lecturers, anyone who teaches.”Ani Kokobobo, another 
signatory to the letter and chair of the Department of Slavic and 
Eurasian Languages and Literatures, said she wastorn about whether to 
teach in person. She's a single mother and worries about balancing the 
safety of her son against her allegiance to KU.“And then I have 
people in my unit that are vulnerable that I would love to be able to 
advocate for and give options to beyond myself,” Kokobobo said.In the end, she said, it came down to a matter of KU failing to consult the people directly affected by the in-person mandate.“I’m
 here weighing my family’s welfare and my university’s welfare together 
and, yes, sure, I’ll do whatever you need me to do,” Kokobobo said. 
“I’ll sacrifice in some way. But ask me, at the very least, because of 
the risk that is involved.”Dan Margolies is senior reporter and editor at KCUR. He can be reached by email at dan@kcur.org or on Twitter @DanMargolies.&nbsp;

KU profs: In-person mandate 'unwieldy, discriminatory and perhaps illegal'

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible.

Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed. Officials have long known that millions of people were infected without knowing it and that many cases are being missed because of gaps in testing.

The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;</a>as about a dozen&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/778da4a2da7e5d9d12e6105c012b8cf9">states are seeing worrisome increases</a>&nbsp;in cases.

The administration also looks to get its scientific experts back before the public more as it tries to allay anxieties about the pandemic while states begin reopening. Since mid-May, when the government began stressing the need to get the economy moving again, the panel’s public health experts have been far less visible than in the pandemic’s early weeks.

Twenty million infections means that about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have been infected.

“It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a call with reporters Thursday. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 more infections.”

Previously, CDC officials and the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said that as many as 25% of infected people might not have symptoms.

“There’s an enormous number of people that are still vulnerable,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It still remains a potentially lethal disease. It’s a roll of the dice for everybody who gets the illness. Also, you’re rolling the dice for other people who you may give the virus to.”

The new estimate is based on CDC studies of blood samples collected nationwide — some by the CDC and others from blood donations and other sources. Many infections were not caught in early testing, when supplies were limited and federal officials prioritized testing for those with symptoms.

Administration officials are pointing to the new data to allay public anxieties, claiming that while there have been significant spikes, they have the outbreaks well in hand. They maintained they were not trying to minimize a public health crisis, but said the nation is in a markedly different place with the virus now than when the U.S. last saw similar infection numbers in mid-April, when testing infrastructure was weaker. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Wednesday to discuss the matter candidly.

“This is still serious,” Redfield said on the call with reporters Thursday. “But I’m asking people to recognize that we’re in a different situation today than we were in March or April,” with more cases today in younger people who are not as likely to develop serious illness or die from infection, he said.

President Donald Trump, who refuses to wear a face mask in public, has tried to play down the risk. He told a crowd in Wisconsin on Thursday that the administration had done an “incredible job” fighting the virus and added that “if we didn’t test, we wouldn’t have cases,” which ignores other indicators of the extent of the problem such as surging hospitalizations in some areas.

Redfield said infection prevalence rates ranged from 1% in some areas of the West Coast to much higher in New York City.

Several independent experts said the methods and locations of sampling are key to interpreting the numbers.

Dr. Thomas Tsai, a Harvard University health policy researcher, said 20 million seems reasonable, but “most of these estimates exist in a range” and it’s important to know how wide that is.

“It’s hard to interpret this just from a single number and without the context for it,” such as what locations were sampled and whether it was truly a random slice of a population or areas of low or high prevalence, which can skew the results.

Justin Lessler, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said 20 million infected “is about what you’d expect based on the case fatality rate” and the number of deaths that have occurred so far in the U.S.

Despite the phaseout of daily White House coronavirus briefings, the administration has been closely monitoring data on the spread of COVID-19 and has been deploying teams from the CDC to identify and stem outbreaks around the country.

A dozen states in recent weeks have seen a worrisome uptick in new cases, as well as in the more critical measure of the percentage of positive cases discovered in tests performed. Seven states have seen more than 10% of tests come back positive. And troublesome spikes in Sun Belt states have dominated news coverage in recent days, to the consternation of Trump administration officials.

They point instead to more nuanced county-level data, which shows positivity rates exceeding 10% in just 3% of the nation’s counties. Yet they acknowledge that some of the areas with the highest transmission rates are generally the most populous, suggesting tens of millions of Americans could be living in areas with spiking infections.

As states reopen, the administration says it is up to governors and local officials to determine how to respond to the spikes. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, put a hold on any further steps to reopen and reimposed a ban on elective surgeries in some areas to preserve hospital space after the number of patients statewide more than doubled in two weeks.

The CDC teams, officials said, are working to trace new outbreaks and reinforce protective measures like social distancing and mask wearing in hard-hit areas and to remind vulnerable populations to take extreme precautions. The administration says those efforts have helped slow new infections in North Carolina and Alabama, where they were deployed earlier this month.

One of the hard-hit areas is Phoenix, where Trump held an event Tuesday with thousands of young attendees, nearly all of whom were maskless.

The officials say the nature of the outbreak now is different than months ago, when deaths topped more than 1,000 per day for weeks and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity across the country. The new increase in positive cases, they said, is capturing what has long been there. They say it is only now showing up in data because the U.S. has increased testing and surveillance.

Meanwhile, mortality data has steadily declined, as have hospitalizations in all but a few hot spots.

To the administration officials, that reinforces their hypothesis that millions unknowingly had the virus earlier this year. Through early May, federal guidelines prioritized testing for symptomatic people, those exposed to a positive case and those in high-risk environments.

With testing far more widespread now, officials believe 50% of new cases in Florida and Texas are among people ages 35 or younger, and most of them are asymptomatic.

The U.S. is testing about 500,000 patients per day. On a per capita basis, the U.S. rate falls behind several other countries, including Spain, Australia, Russia and Iceland, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

There is no scientific consensus on the rate of testing needed to control the virus. But many experts say the U.S. should be testing roughly 1 million to 3 million people daily to catch new cases and prevent flareups. Administration officials said they expect to be able to run 20-40 million tests per month beginning this fall.

Testing is constrained by laboratory supplies needed to run the tests but also lack of demand for tests in some areas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/5/1589829316756.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. The Agency reported&nbsp; 12,970 positive virus cases in Kansas on Wednesday. Missouri has reported&nbsp; 19,421 cases." />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman. The Agency reported&nbsp; 12,970 positive virus cases in Kansas on Wednesday. Missouri has reported&nbsp; 19,421 cases.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials estimate that 20 million Americans have been infected with the coronavirus since it first arrived in the United States, meaning that the vast majority of the population remains susceptible.Thursday’s estimate is roughly 10 times as many infections as the 2.3 million cases that have been confirmed. Officials have long known that millions of people were infected without knowing it and that many cases are being missed because of gaps in testing.The news comes as the Trump administration works to tamp down nationwide concern about the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak">COVID-19 pandemic&nbsp;</a>as about a dozen&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/778da4a2da7e5d9d12e6105c012b8cf9">states are seeing worrisome increases</a>&nbsp;in cases.The administration also looks to get its scientific experts back before the public more as it tries to allay anxieties about the pandemic while states begin reopening. Since mid-May, when the government began stressing the need to get the economy moving again, the panel’s public health experts have been far less visible than in the pandemic’s early weeks.Twenty million infections means that about 6% of the nation’s 331 million people have been infected.“It’s clear that many individuals in this nation are still susceptible,” Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on a call with reporters Thursday. “Our best estimate right now is that for every case that was reported, there actually are 10 more infections.”Previously, CDC officials and the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, have said that as many as 25% of infected people might not have symptoms.“There’s an enormous number of people that are still vulnerable,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It still remains a potentially lethal disease. It’s a roll of the dice for everybody who gets the illness. Also, you’re rolling the dice for other people who you may give the virus to.”The new estimate is based on CDC studies of blood samples collected nationwide — some by the CDC and others from blood donations and other sources. Many infections were not caught in early testing, when supplies were limited and federal officials prioritized testing for those with symptoms.Administration officials are pointing to the new data to allay public anxieties, claiming that while there have been significant spikes, they have the outbreaks well in hand. They maintained they were not trying to minimize a public health crisis, but said the nation is in a markedly different place with the virus now than when the U.S. last saw similar infection numbers in mid-April, when testing infrastructure was weaker. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity late Wednesday to discuss the matter candidly.“This is still serious,” Redfield said on the call with reporters Thursday. “But I’m asking people to recognize that we’re in a different situation today than we were in March or April,” with more cases today in younger people who are not as likely to develop serious illness or die from infection, he said.President Donald Trump, who refuses to wear a face mask in public, has tried to play down the risk. He told a crowd in Wisconsin on Thursday that the administration had done an “incredible job” fighting the virus and added that “if we didn’t test, we wouldn’t have cases,” which ignores other indicators of the extent of the problem such as surging hospitalizations in some areas.Redfield said infection prevalence rates ranged from 1% in some areas of the West Coast to much higher in New York City.Several independent experts said the methods and locations of sampling are key to interpreting the numbers.Dr. Thomas Tsai, a Harvard University health policy researcher, said 20 million seems reasonable, but “most of these estimates exist in a range” and it’s important to know how wide that is.“It’s hard to interpret this just from a single number and without the context for it,” such as what locations were sampled and whether it was truly a random slice of a population or areas of low or high prevalence, which can skew the results.Justin Lessler, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said 20 million infected “is about what you’d expect based on the case fatality rate” and the number of deaths that have occurred so far in the U.S.Despite the phaseout of daily White House coronavirus briefings, the administration has been closely monitoring data on the spread of COVID-19 and has been deploying teams from the CDC to identify and stem outbreaks around the country.A dozen states in recent weeks have seen a worrisome uptick in new cases, as well as in the more critical measure of the percentage of positive cases discovered in tests performed. Seven states have seen more than 10% of tests come back positive. And troublesome spikes in Sun Belt states have dominated news coverage in recent days, to the consternation of Trump administration officials.They point instead to more nuanced county-level data, which shows positivity rates exceeding 10% in just 3% of the nation’s counties. Yet they acknowledge that some of the areas with the highest transmission rates are generally the most populous, suggesting tens of millions of Americans could be living in areas with spiking infections.As states reopen, the administration says it is up to governors and local officials to determine how to respond to the spikes. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, for example, put a hold on any further steps to reopen and reimposed a ban on elective surgeries in some areas to preserve hospital space after the number of patients statewide more than doubled in two weeks.The CDC teams, officials said, are working to trace new outbreaks and reinforce protective measures like social distancing and mask wearing in hard-hit areas and to remind vulnerable populations to take extreme precautions. The administration says those efforts have helped slow new infections in North Carolina and Alabama, where they were deployed earlier this month.One of the hard-hit areas is Phoenix, where Trump held an event Tuesday with thousands of young attendees, nearly all of whom were maskless.The officials say the nature of the outbreak now is different than months ago, when deaths topped more than 1,000 per day for weeks and hospitals were stretched beyond capacity across the country. The new increase in positive cases, they said, is capturing what has long been there. They say it is only now showing up in data because the U.S. has increased testing and surveillance.Meanwhile, mortality data has steadily declined, as have hospitalizations in all but a few hot spots.To the administration officials, that reinforces their hypothesis that millions unknowingly had the virus earlier this year. Through early May, federal guidelines prioritized testing for symptomatic people, those exposed to a positive case and those in high-risk environments.With testing far more widespread now, officials believe 50% of new cases in Florida and Texas are among people ages 35 or younger, and most of them are asymptomatic.The U.S. is testing about 500,000 patients per day. On a per capita basis, the U.S. rate falls behind several other countries, including Spain, Australia, Russia and Iceland, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.There is no scientific consensus on the rate of testing needed to control the virus. But many experts say the U.S. should be testing roughly 1 million to 3 million people daily to catch new cases and prevent flareups. Administration officials said they expect to be able to run 20-40 million tests per month beginning this fall.Testing is constrained by laboratory supplies needed to run the tests but also lack of demand for tests in some areas.

Health officials estimate 20M Americans have had coronavirus

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Decades after influential developer J.C. Nichols kept Blacks, Jews and other minorities out of subdivisions he built that transformed the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas">Kansas</a>&nbsp;City region, protests over the death of George Floyd might lead to his name being removed from one of the city's most iconic sites.

The Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation is considering removing Nichols' name from a fountain and an adjacent parkway near the upscale Country Club Plaza, which Nichols developed. The J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is the best known and most photographed fountain in the “City of Fountains” and adorns most tourism and marketing promotions for Kansas City.

It honors a man who developed more than 4000 acres (16 square kilometers) of residential property in the area in the 1900s, offering middle-class to upscale homes on tree-lined streets with large lawns and other amenities not generally available at the time. The neighborhoods he built are still among the most desirable residential areas in the region.

His reputation is being scrutinized because Nichols used deed restrictions to keep Blacks, Jews and other minorities from buying his homes — a practice known as redlining — relegating them to poorer neighborhoods and helping to create a racially separated city that remains to this day. Nichols also became influential nationally, with developers elsewhere following his practices, according to history professor William Worley.

The idea of removing Nichols' name gained momentum amid protests over racial injustice, sparked by the May 25 death of Floyd in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee onto the handcuffed Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes.

“When you look at what's going on — the racial climate, the push for social justice — the attention to J.C. Nichols really is part of a bigger conversation," said Chris Goode, a parks board commissioner who introduced the proposal to rename the fountain and parkway. “His practices helped lead to the climate we have today. Collectively, the world and Kansas City are just ready to turn the page, start a new day.”

The proposal seems to have broad support in the city of about 500,000 residents, about 30% of whom are Black. During a recent public meeting, only four of about 40 people who spoke opposed removing Nichols' name. Goode said about only 18% of the initial 350 emails the parks board received were from opponents. No organized group has formed to keep Nichols' name.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas supports removing the name, saying in a statement: “No person accelerated white flight, redlining, and racial division in the Kansas City area more than J.C. Nichols."

Tim O'Mara, a Kansas City salesman, was among those arguing to keep Nichols' name. He told The Associated Press that he doesn't defend Nichols' racist policies but believes they were a reflection of his times.

“I'm not in favor of throwing out our history, of throwing out all the old statues and monuments,” O'Mara said. “I don't think anything about the (deed restrictions) was acceptable, but there's no need to wipe him away from our history."

Worley, who wrote “J.C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City,” said deed restrictions go back in English law to at least the 16th century and were designed to protect property values.

“I'm not going to defend his racial decisions, but his main reasons were economic,” Worley said. “He was interested primarily in attracting people to his developments who could afford his homes and would maintain them for many years. Making an economic decision that was also racially discriminatory was in line with most developers of that era."

Many people aren't aware of Nichols' national influence, Goode said, which makes it important for Kansas City to symbolically reject his practices by removing his name. He argues that statues, monuments and street names represent the city's brand and should make everyone feel welcome.

The parks board’s next meeting is Tuesday. If it votes to remove the name, city officials would continue to take suggestions for new names until at least July 7.

Goode has suggested renaming the fountain the Dream Fountain. He initially proposed renaming the J.C. Nichols Parkway for Martin Luther King Jr., but withdrew that suggestion after the Southern Christian Leadership Conference objected, saying the short parkway was not a sufficient honor for the civil rights leader.

Kansas City is one of the largest cities in the country with no street named for King after a debate erupted last year when officials renamed a major thoroughfare for him. Voters overwhelmingly chose to return the street's name to The Paseo.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1591180588986.png" alt="Protesters face police near the Country Club Plaza last month photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Protesters face police near the Country Club Plaza last month photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Decades after influential developer J.C. Nichols kept Blacks, Jews and other minorities out of subdivisions he built that transformed the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas">Kansas</a>&nbsp;City region, protests over the death of George Floyd might lead to his name being removed from one of the city's most iconic sites.The Kansas City Board of Parks and Recreation is considering removing Nichols' name from a fountain and an adjacent parkway near the upscale Country Club Plaza, which Nichols developed. The J.C. Nichols Memorial Fountain is the best known and most photographed fountain in the “City of Fountains” and adorns most tourism and marketing promotions for Kansas City.It honors a man who developed more than 4000 acres (16 square kilometers) of residential property in the area in the 1900s, offering middle-class to upscale homes on tree-lined streets with large lawns and other amenities not generally available at the time. The neighborhoods he built are still among the most desirable residential areas in the region.His reputation is being scrutinized because Nichols used deed restrictions to keep Blacks, Jews and other minorities from buying his homes — a practice known as redlining — relegating them to poorer neighborhoods and helping to create a racially separated city that remains to this day. Nichols also became influential nationally, with developers elsewhere following his practices, according to history professor William Worley.The idea of removing Nichols' name gained momentum amid protests over racial injustice, sparked by the May 25 death of Floyd in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee onto the handcuffed Black man’s neck for nearly eight minutes.“When you look at what's going on — the racial climate, the push for social justice — the attention to J.C. Nichols really is part of a bigger conversation," said Chris Goode, a parks board commissioner who introduced the proposal to rename the fountain and parkway. “His practices helped lead to the climate we have today. Collectively, the world and Kansas City are just ready to turn the page, start a new day.”The proposal seems to have broad support in the city of about 500,000 residents, about 30% of whom are Black. During a recent public meeting, only four of about 40 people who spoke opposed removing Nichols' name. Goode said about only 18% of the initial 350 emails the parks board received were from opponents. No organized group has formed to keep Nichols' name.Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas supports removing the name, saying in a statement: “No person accelerated white flight, redlining, and racial division in the Kansas City area more than J.C. Nichols."Tim O'Mara, a Kansas City salesman, was among those arguing to keep Nichols' name. He told The Associated Press that he doesn't defend Nichols' racist policies but believes they were a reflection of his times.“I'm not in favor of throwing out our history, of throwing out all the old statues and monuments,” O'Mara said. “I don't think anything about the (deed restrictions) was acceptable, but there's no need to wipe him away from our history."Worley, who wrote “J.C. Nichols and the Shaping of Kansas City,” said deed restrictions go back in English law to at least the 16th century and were designed to protect property values.“I'm not going to defend his racial decisions, but his main reasons were economic,” Worley said. “He was interested primarily in attracting people to his developments who could afford his homes and would maintain them for many years. Making an economic decision that was also racially discriminatory was in line with most developers of that era."Many people aren't aware of Nichols' national influence, Goode said, which makes it important for Kansas City to symbolically reject his practices by removing his name. He argues that statues, monuments and street names represent the city's brand and should make everyone feel welcome.The parks board’s next meeting is Tuesday. If it votes to remove the name, city officials would continue to take suggestions for new names until at least July 7.Goode has suggested renaming the fountain the Dream Fountain. He initially proposed renaming the J.C. Nichols Parkway for Martin Luther King Jr., but withdrew that suggestion after the Southern Christian Leadership Conference objected, saying the short parkway was not a sufficient honor for the civil rights leader.Kansas City is one of the largest cities in the country with no street named for King after a debate erupted last year when officials renamed a major thoroughfare for him. Voters overwhelmingly chose to return the street's name to The Paseo.

Protests spark move to rename iconic Kansas City fountain

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas researcher accused of concealing work he was doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas defrauded the U.S. government and the university, according to revised federal charges filed Thursday.

The new indictment charges Feng “Franklin” Tao of Lawrence, Kansas, with seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements. It also seeks, if convicted, the forfeiture of funds obtained from the offenses.

“Franklin Tao is not guilty of these charges, and looks forward to being fully vindicated so that he can move on with his life and his research,” defense attorney Peter Zeidenbert said in an email.

Federal prosecutors allege that from May 2017 until August 2019, Tao schemed to obtain money and property from the university, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.

The indictment alleges the purpose of the scheme was to benefit China by participating in its “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/37dbfeb99038edd9d67dc397fa602a12">talent plan</a>,” which prosecutors say is designed to encourage the transfer of original ideas and intellectual property from U.S. university to Chinese government institutions.

The indictment accuses Tao of not informing the University of Kansas that he was selected for the Changjiang Professorship or the salary for his appointment to Fuzhou University in Fuzhou, China.

Tao was first charged in November with one count of wire fraud and three counts of program fraud. A far more detailed indictment in January charged him with two counts of wire fraud and one count of program fraud. The latest indictment added more wire fraud counts along with the new counts of making false statements.

Tao, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Kansas, was born in China and moved to the United States in 2002. He has been employed since August 2014 at the Kansas university’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis in Lawrence. The center conducts research on sustainable technology to conserve natural resources and energy.

Tao, who was put on paid administrative leave after he was charged in November, earns a salary of $110,682. During his time at the University of Kansas, he has been principal investigator on federal grants totaling more than $4.16 million, the university said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574105486339.png" alt="Feng “Franklin” Tao photo courtesy University of Kansas" />
 <figcaption>Feng “Franklin” Tao photo courtesy University of Kansas</figcaption>
 </figure>BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas researcher accused of concealing work he was doing for China while employed at the University of Kansas defrauded the U.S. government and the university, according to revised federal charges filed Thursday.The new indictment charges Feng “Franklin” Tao of Lawrence, Kansas, with seven counts of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements. It also seeks, if convicted, the forfeiture of funds obtained from the offenses.“Franklin Tao is not guilty of these charges, and looks forward to being fully vindicated so that he can move on with his life and his research,” defense attorney Peter Zeidenbert said in an email.Federal prosecutors allege that from May 2017 until August 2019, Tao schemed to obtain money and property from the university, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation.The indictment alleges the purpose of the scheme was to benefit China by participating in its “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/37dbfeb99038edd9d67dc397fa602a12">talent plan</a>,” which prosecutors say is designed to encourage the transfer of original ideas and intellectual property from U.S. university to Chinese government institutions.The indictment accuses Tao of not informing the University of Kansas that he was selected for the Changjiang Professorship or the salary for his appointment to Fuzhou University in Fuzhou, China.Tao was first charged in November with one count of wire fraud and three counts of program fraud. A far more detailed indictment in January charged him with two counts of wire fraud and one count of program fraud. The latest indictment added more wire fraud counts along with the new counts of making false statements.Tao, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Kansas, was born in China and moved to the United States in 2002. He has been employed since August 2014 at the Kansas university’s Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis in Lawrence. The center conducts research on sustainable technology to conserve natural resources and energy.Tao, who was put on paid administrative leave after he was charged in November, earns a salary of $110,682. During his time at the University of Kansas, he has been principal investigator on federal grants totaling more than $4.16 million, the university said.

Prosecutors file more charges against researcher working at KU 

FORD COUTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Thursday in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford F150 driven by Cristian Alexander Velasques, 21, Dodge City was eastbound at 11252 Highway Bypass in Dodge City.

The pickup rear-ended a 2008 International truck driven by Freddie Rosales, 56, Wright, who was facing eastbound waiting in the highway to turn north.&nbsp;

Velasques was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Ziegler Funeral Chapel. Rosales was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

FORD COUTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Thursday in Ford County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford F150 driven by Cristian Alexander Velasques, 21, Dodge City was eastbound at 11252 Highway Bypass in Dodge City.The pickup rear-ended a 2008 International truck driven by Freddie Rosales, 56, Wright, who was facing eastbound waiting in the highway to turn north.&nbsp;Velasques was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Ziegler Funeral Chapel. Rosales was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after rear-end pickup crash

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a drive-by shooting and have five suspects in custody.

Just after 8p.m. Thursday, police responded to a disturbance with weapons at Kellogg and Hoover in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

At the scene, a 36-year-old man and 32-year-old woman reported to police they were shot at while driving westbound in their pickup on Kellogg. The suspects were driving a silver Ford Escape and began following them, pulled along side them and pointed a gun, according to Davidson.

After the gunshots, the victims told police they saw the suspect vehicle parked in the 5700 Block of West Kellogg. Police responded to that location and located&nbsp;20-year-old Neosha Allen,&nbsp;21-year-old Nicholas Aldridge and&nbsp;37-year-old Bruce Mabry in a motel room.

They also found&nbsp;37-year-old Samuel Camacho and another 20-year-old passenger in the motel parking lot.&nbsp; A short time later, officers found&nbsp;24-year-old Micahel Simrell in a parking lot nearby and arrested him after a short foot pursuit.

The victim's truck was struck once by gunfire, according to Davidson but there were no injuries.

Allen is being held on requested charges of aggravated assault. Aldridge is being held on requested charges of aggravated assault and aggravated robbery involving a separate case , according to Davidson.

&nbsp;Simrell is jailed on requested charges of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and an aggravated weapons violation.

Camacho is jailed on a requested charges of aggravated assault and criminal possession of a firearm

&nbsp;Bruce Mabry is jailed on a Kansas Dept. of Corrections Warrant, according to Davidson.&nbsp; Police are still working to determine what prompted the shooting.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593108633192.png" alt="Aldridge -photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Aldridge -photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a drive-by shooting and have five suspects in custody.Just after 8p.m. Thursday, police responded to a disturbance with weapons at Kellogg and Hoover in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.At the scene, a 36-year-old man and 32-year-old woman reported to police they were shot at while driving westbound in their pickup on Kellogg. The suspects were driving a silver Ford Escape and began following them, pulled along side them and pointed a gun, according to Davidson.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593108676220.png" alt="Allen-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Allen-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>After the gunshots, the victims told police they saw the suspect vehicle parked in the 5700 Block of West Kellogg. Police responded to that location and located&nbsp;20-year-old Neosha Allen,&nbsp;21-year-old Nicholas Aldridge and&nbsp;37-year-old Bruce Mabry in a motel room.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593108757769.png" alt="Camacho-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Camacho-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>They also found&nbsp;37-year-old Samuel Camacho and another 20-year-old passenger in the motel parking lot.&nbsp; A short time later, officers found&nbsp;24-year-old Micahel Simrell in a parking lot nearby and arrested him after a short foot pursuit.The victim's truck was struck once by gunfire, according to Davidson but there were no injuries.Allen is being held on requested charges of aggravated assault. Aldridge is being held on requested charges of aggravated assault and aggravated robbery involving a separate case , according to Davidson.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593108891287.png" alt="Simrell-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Simrell-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;Simrell is jailed on requested charges of aggravated assault, felon in possession of a firearm and an aggravated weapons violation.Camacho is jailed on a requested charges of aggravated assault and criminal possession of a firearm<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/6/1593108836875.png" alt="Mabry photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Mabry photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;Bruce Mabry is jailed on a Kansas Dept. of Corrections Warrant, according to Davidson.&nbsp; Police are still working to determine what prompted the shooting.

Police arrest 5 after Kansas drive-by shooting

KANSAS CITY(AP) — Missouri's health department on Thursday issued another license to the state's only abortion clinic following a yearlong legal battle over whether the Planned Parenthood center could stay open.

“We are pleased to put the licensure issue to rest after more than a year of being targeted by Missouri’s health department," said Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, in a statement.

The Department of Health and Senior Services last year declined to renew the clinic's license, which meant the clinic wouldn't have been allowed to provide abortions.

Planned Parenthood sued. After a yearlong legal battle, the state's Administrative Hearing Commission ruled in May that the health department was wrong not to renew the clinic's license.

Rodríguez said the health department conducted another inspection at the St. Louis clinic before issuing the license.

“That process was prompt, the inspectors were cordial, and we appreciate the department’s work to issue the license,” Rodríguez said.

The health department, which is represented by the state Attorney General's Office, hasn't indicated if it will appeal the Administrative Hearing Commission ruling. Monday is the deadline to appeal.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/12/1575976892214.png" alt="Planned Parenthood Missouri" />
 <figcaption>Planned Parenthood Missouri</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY(AP) — Missouri's health department on Thursday issued another license to the state's only abortion clinic following a yearlong legal battle over whether the Planned Parenthood center could stay open.“We are pleased to put the licensure issue to rest after more than a year of being targeted by Missouri’s health department," said Yamelsie Rodríguez, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region, in a statement.The Department of Health and Senior Services last year declined to renew the clinic's license, which meant the clinic wouldn't have been allowed to provide abortions.Planned Parenthood sued. After a yearlong legal battle, the state's Administrative Hearing Commission ruled in May that the health department was wrong not to renew the clinic's license.Rodríguez said the health department conducted another inspection at the St. Louis clinic before issuing the license.“That process was prompt, the inspectors were cordial, and we appreciate the department’s work to issue the license,” Rodríguez said.The health department, which is represented by the state Attorney General's Office, hasn't indicated if it will appeal the Administrative Hearing Commission ruling. Monday is the deadline to appeal.