VIENNA (AP) — Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-extremism-arrests-security-taylor-swift-7ece0b264f6e4152b8214c9fba8c425b">planned to carry out an attack</a>&nbsp;on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024.

Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-cia-vienna-concerts-foiled-attack-7e454af63efcff2a3ab0a20c718aba8d">allegiance to the Islamic State group</a>&nbsp;by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.

Vienna prosecutors also accuse the defendant of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.

Prosecutors also say that the defendant had made "several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.

Vienna public prosecutors plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.

The spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutors office confirmed to The Associated Press that the defendant is in custody. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.

Austrian authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-taylor-swift-concerts-canceled-extremism-arrests-feff9108d0a14d9941c4bc416c0eb05f">canceled three planned Taylor Swift shows</a>&nbsp;in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent plot to target the performances.

The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.

“The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission. We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733776996717.png" alt="File Taylor Swift performs during "The Eras Tour" on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)" />
                        <figcaption>File Taylor Swift performs during "The Eras Tour" on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>VIENNA (AP) — Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-extremism-arrests-security-taylor-swift-7ece0b264f6e4152b8214c9fba8c425b">planned to carry out an attack</a>&nbsp;on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024.</p><p>Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant had declared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-cia-vienna-concerts-foiled-attack-7e454af63efcff2a3ab0a20c718aba8d">allegiance to the Islamic State group</a>&nbsp;by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.</p><p>Vienna prosecutors also accuse the defendant of having “obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide” typically used by IS, and of having produced a small amount of the explosive.</p><p>Prosecutors also say that the defendant had made "several attempts” to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.</p><p>Vienna public prosecutors plan to proceed with a criminal case against the unnamed suspect in Wiener Neustadt, a town near the Austrian capital.</p><p>The spokesperson for the Vienna public prosecutors office confirmed to The Associated Press that the defendant is in custody. Austrian media identified the suspect as Beran A. and said he was arrested in August 2024.</p><p>Austrian authorities&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-taylor-swift-concerts-canceled-extremism-arrests-feff9108d0a14d9941c4bc416c0eb05f">canceled three planned Taylor Swift shows</a>&nbsp;in Vienna in August 2024 after they said they foiled an apparent plot to target the performances.</p><p>The U.S. provided intelligence that fed into the decision to cancel the concerts.</p><p>“The United States has an enduring focus on our counterterrorism mission. We work closely with partners all over the world to monitor and disrupt threats. And so as part of that work, the United States did share information with Austrian partners to enable the disruption of a threat to Taylor Swift’s concerts there in Vienna,” then-White House national security spokesman John Kirby said in August 2024.</p>

21-year-old charged in Taylor Swift concert attack plot 

JACKSON COUNTY, Kan. —Law enforcement are investigating two suspects on drug allegations.

Jus before 2a.m. Feb. 10,&nbsp; a Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a GMC Terrain for a traffic infraction near 102nd Road on U.S. Highway 75 in rural Jackson County, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

 A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted which resulted in the discovery of illegal drugs. The driver, Raymond Earl Hughes, 61, of Topeka, was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine and no proof of insurance.  The passenger, Julyn Michelle Owens, 60, of Topeka was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of a hallucinogenic drug and possession of drug paraphernalia.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770686647494.png" alt="Hughes -photo Jackson County" />
                        <figcaption>Hughes -photo Jackson County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>JACKSON COUNTY, Kan. —Law enforcement are investigating two suspects on drug allegations.</p><p>Jus before 2a.m. Feb. 10,&nbsp; a Sheriff’s Deputy conducted a traffic stop on a GMC Terrain for a traffic infraction near 102nd Road on U.S. Highway 75 in rural Jackson County, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770686610762.png" alt="Owens photo Jackson Co." />
                        <figcaption>Owens photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
                    </figure><p> A probable cause search of the vehicle was conducted which resulted in the discovery of illegal drugs. The driver, Raymond Earl Hughes, 61, of Topeka, was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of methamphetamine and no proof of insurance.  The passenger, Julyn Michelle Owens, 60, of Topeka was arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail on requested charges of possession of a hallucinogenic drug and possession of drug paraphernalia.</p>

Sheriff: Kansas couple caught transporting meth

JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement took a suspect, identified as 30-year-old Andrew McCann, according to booking records, into custody after a standoff in the city of Shawnee.

Just after 9a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to investigate a report of shots fired into an occupied dwelling that occurred Saturday near Quivira Road and W. 71st Street in Shawnee, according to a media release. No injuries were reported.

At approximately 11:40 a.m., Shawnee officers located the suspect near W. 121st Street and Ballentine Street in Overland Park, where he barricaded himself until his arrest.

<p>JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement took a suspect, identified as 30-year-old Andrew McCann, according to booking records, into custody after a standoff in the city of Shawnee.</p><p>Just after 9a.m. Sunday, police were dispatched to investigate a report of shots fired into an occupied dwelling that occurred Saturday near Quivira Road and W. 71st Street in Shawnee, according to a media release. No injuries were reported.</p><p>At approximately 11:40 a.m., Shawnee officers located the suspect near W. 121st Street and Ballentine Street in Overland Park, where he barricaded himself until his arrest.</p>

Suspect in custody after shots fired into Kansas home

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-710d3acdef86d1c3935b94f58f763d72">Investigators working</a>&nbsp;on the disappearance of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie’s</a>&nbsp;mother are consulting with Walmart management to develop leads because a backpack the suspect was wearing is sold exclusively at the stores, the Pima County, Arizona, sheriff said Monday.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">Nancy Guthrie</a>, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-ransom-deadline-arizona-3977f842fd3d1fd66952d1d763944b9d">ransom notes</a>&nbsp;were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-b765fed6b9669441383b75860263ac99">released surveillance videos</a>&nbsp;of a masked person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson the night she vanished. A porch camera&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-nest-camera-footage-kidnapper-bd5f1d886543e23f2d105535031c9445">recorded video</a>&nbsp;of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, a jacket and gloves.

Pima Count Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a text message to The Associated Press on Monday that the 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack was the only clothing item that has been “definitively identified.”

“This backpack is exclusive to Walmart and we are working with Walmart management to develop further leads,” Nanos said.

The suspect's clothing “may have been purchased from Walmart but is not exclusively available at Walmart,” the Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Monday. “This remains a possibility only.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-missing-1199fb9cb9acfacdca9fa02d61bc0554">Investigators on Sunday</a>&nbsp;announced that a glove discovered near the Guthrie home has been sent for DNA testing. The FBI said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation. The development comes as law enforcement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-investigation-64736b14fa5dbd8961325ea6147e78e7">gathers more potential evidence</a>&nbsp;and as the search for Guthrie’s mother heads into its third week. Authorities previously said they had not identified a suspect.

The FBI said the suspect in the surveillance footage is a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build.

Nanos said on Monday that members of Guthrie's family, including siblings and spouses, are not suspects.

“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” Nanos said in a statement.

Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770749564250.png" alt="<br>" />
                        <figcaption><br></figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By SCOTT BAUER <br>Associated Press</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-710d3acdef86d1c3935b94f58f763d72">Investigators working</a>&nbsp;on the disappearance of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie’s</a>&nbsp;mother are consulting with Walmart management to develop leads because a backpack the suspect was wearing is sold exclusively at the stores, the Pima County, Arizona, sheriff said Monday.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Today, the FBI is increasing its reward up to $100,000 for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance.<br><br>New identifying details about the suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie have been… <a href="https://t.co/GJcx4ra6wX">pic.twitter.com/GJcx4ra6wX</a></p>&mdash; FBI Phoenix (@FBIPhoenix) <a href="https://twitter.com/FBIPhoenix/status/2022084453699350981?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">Nancy Guthrie</a>, 84, was last seen at her Arizona home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-ransom-deadline-arizona-3977f842fd3d1fd66952d1d763944b9d">ransom notes</a>&nbsp;were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A statement from Sheriff Chris Nanos on the Nancy Guthrie Investigation: <a href="https://t.co/YfhQSPkrFJ">pic.twitter.com/YfhQSPkrFJ</a></p>&mdash; Pima County Sheriff&#39;s Department (@PimaSheriff) <a href="https://twitter.com/PimaSheriff/status/2023500234454954354?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>The Federal Bureau of Investigation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-b765fed6b9669441383b75860263ac99">released surveillance videos</a>&nbsp;of a masked person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door in Tucson the night she vanished. A porch camera&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-nest-camera-footage-kidnapper-bd5f1d886543e23f2d105535031c9445">recorded video</a>&nbsp;of a person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, a jacket and gloves.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770737956751.png" alt="Billboard in Texas -photo courtesy KVUE" />
                        <figcaption>Billboard in Texas -photo courtesy KVUE</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Pima Count Sheriff Chris Nanos said in a text message to The Associated Press on Monday that the 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack was the only clothing item that has been “definitively identified.”</p><p>“This backpack is exclusive to Walmart and we are working with Walmart management to develop further leads,” Nanos said.</p><p>The suspect's clothing “may have been purchased from Walmart but is not exclusively available at Walmart,” the Pima County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Monday. “This remains a possibility only.”</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-missing-1199fb9cb9acfacdca9fa02d61bc0554">Investigators on Sunday</a>&nbsp;announced that a glove discovered near the Guthrie home has been sent for DNA testing. The FBI said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation. The development comes as law enforcement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-investigation-64736b14fa5dbd8961325ea6147e78e7">gathers more potential evidence</a>&nbsp;and as the search for Guthrie’s mother heads into its third week. Authorities previously said they had not identified a suspect.</p><p>The FBI said the suspect in the surveillance footage is a man about 5 feet, 9 inches tall with a medium build.</p><p>Nanos said on Monday that members of Guthrie's family, including siblings and spouses, are not suspects.</p><p>“The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case,” Nanos said in a statement.</p><p>Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.</p>

Why Nancy Guthrie investigators are working with Walmart 

NEW YORK (AP) —<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/barack-obama">Former U.S. President Barack Obama</a>&nbsp;said he did not see evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” after sending social media abuzz by saying aliens were real on a podcast over the weekend.

During a lightning round of questions with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked, “Are aliens real?”

“They’re real,” he answered, continuing: “But I haven’t seen them. And, they’re not being kept in Area 51.”

On Sunday, the former president released a statement on Instagram, appearing to clarify what he meant by his comments that have since gone viral.

“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”

Secrecy around Area 51, a top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert, has long fueled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts.

In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the existence of the site, but not UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.

Declassified documents referred to the 8,000-square-mile (20,700-square-kilometer) installation by name after decades of U.S. government officials refusing to acknowledge it.

The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1622822273014.png" alt="UFO image courtesy U.S. Department of Defense Naval Air System Command" />
                        <figcaption>UFO image courtesy U.S. Department of Defense Naval Air System Command</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>NEW YORK (AP) —<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/barack-obama">Former U.S. President Barack Obama</a>&nbsp;said he did not see evidence that aliens “have made contact with us,” after sending social media abuzz by saying aliens were real on a podcast over the weekend.</p><p>During a lightning round of questions with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked, “Are aliens real?”</p><p>“They’re real,” he answered, continuing: “But I haven’t seen them. And, they’re not being kept in Area 51.”</p><p>On Sunday, the former president released a statement on Instagram, appearing to clarify what he meant by his comments that have since gone viral.</p><p>“I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it’s gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!”</p><p>Secrecy around Area 51, a top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert, has long fueled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts.</p><p>In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the existence of the site, but not UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.</p><p>Declassified documents referred to the 8,000-square-mile (20,700-square-kilometer) installation by name after decades of U.S. government officials refusing to acknowledge it.</p><p>The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.</p><p>___</p>

Obama clarifies alien comments after telling podcast ‘they’re real’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor of matchless versatility and dedication whose classic roles included the intrepid consigliere of the first two “Godfather” movies and the over-the-hill country music singer in “Tender Mercies,” has died at age 95.

Duvall died “peacefully” at his home Sunday in Middleburg, Virginia, according to an announcement from his publicist and from a statement posted on his Facebook page by his wife, Luciana Duvall.

“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall wrote. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented.”

The bald, wiry Duvall didn’t have leading man looks, but few “character actors” enjoyed such a long, rewarding and unpredictable career, in leading and supporting roles, from an itinerant preacher to Josef Stalin. Beginning with his 1962 film debut as Boo Radley, the reclusive neighbor in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Duvall created a gallery of unforgettable portrayals. They earned him seven Academy Award nominations and the best actor prize for “Tender Mercies,” which came out in 1983. He also won four Golden Globes, including one for playing the philosophical cattle-drive boss in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” a role he often cited as his favorite.

He had been acting for some 20 years when “The Godfather,” released in 1972, established him as one of the most in-demand performers of Hollywood. He had made a previous film, “The Rain People,” with Francis Coppola, and the director chose him to play Tom Hagen in the mafia epic that featured Al Pacino and Marlon Brando among others. Duvall was a master of subtlety as an Irishman among Italians, rarely at the center of a scene, but often listening and advising in the background, an irreplaceable thread through the saga of the Corleone crime family.

“Stars and Italians alike depend on his efficiency, his tidying up around their grand gestures, his being the perfect shortstop on a team of personality sluggers,” wrote the critic David Thomson. “Was there ever a role better designed for its actor than that of Tom Hagen in both parts of ‘The Godfather?’”

In another Coppola film, “Apocalypse Now,” Duvall was wildly out front, the embodiment of deranged masculinity as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, who with equal vigor enjoyed surfing and bombing raids on the Viet Cong. Duvall required few takes for one of the most famous passages in movie history, barked out on the battlefield by a bare-chested, cavalry-hatted Kilgore: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body.

“The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like — victory.”

Coppola once commented about Duvall: “Actors click into character at different times — the first week, third week. Bobby’s hot after one or two takes.”

He was Oscar-nominated as supporting actor for “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” but a dispute over money led him to turn down the third Godfather epic, a loss deeply felt by critics, fans and “Godfather” colleagues. Duvall would complain publicly about being offered less than his co-stars.

Fellow actors marveled at Duvall’s studious research and planning, and his coiled energy. Michael Caine, who co-starred with him in the 2003 “Secondhand Lions,” once told The Associated Press: “Before a big scene, Bobby just sits there, absolutely quiet; you know when not to talk to him.” Anyone who disturbed him would suffer the well-known Duvall temper, famously on display during the filming of the John Wayne Western “True Grit,” when Duvall seethed at director Henry Hathaway’s advice to “tense up” before a scene.

Duvall was awarded an Oscar in 1984 for his leading role as the troubled singer and songwriter Mac Sledge in “Tender Mercies,” a prize he accepted while clad in a cowboy tuxedo with Western tie. In 1998, he was nominated for best actor in “The Apostle,” a drama about a wayward Southern evangelist which he wrote, directed, starred in, produced and largely financed. With customary thoroughness, he visited dozens of country churches and spent 12 years writing the script and trying to get it made.

Among other notable roles: the outlaw gang leader who gets ambushed by John Wayne in “True Grit"; Jesse James in “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid"; the pious and beleaguered Frank Burns in “M-A-S-H"; the TV hatchet man in “Network"; Dr. Watson in “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"; and the sadistic father in “The Great Santini.”

“When I was doing ‘Colors’ in 1988 with Sean Penn, someone asked me how I do it all these years, keep it fresh. Well, if you don’t overwork, have some hobbies, you can do it and stay hungry even if you’re not really hungry,” Duvall told The Associated Press in 1990.

In his mid-80s, he received a supporting Oscar nomination as the title character of the 2014 release “The Judge,” in which he is accused of causing a death in a hit-and-run accident. More recent films included “Widows” and “12 Mighty Orphans.”

Robert Selden Duvall grew up in the Navy towns of Annapolis and the San Diego area, where he was born in 1931. He spent time in other cities as his father, who rose to be an admiral, was assigned to various duties.

The boy’s experience helped in his adult profession as he learned the nuances of regional speech and observed the psyche of military men, which he would portray in several films.

Duvall reportedly used his Navy officer father as the basis for his portrayal of the explosive militarist in “The Great Santini,” based on the Pat Conroy novel. He commented in 2003: “My dad was a gentleman but a seether, a stern, blustery guy, and away a lot of the time.” Bobby took after his mother, an amateur actress, in playing a guitar and performing. He was a wrestler like his father and enjoyed besting kids older than himself.

He lacked the concentration for schoolwork and nearly flunked out of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. His despairing parents decided he needed something to keep him in college so he wouldn’t be drafted for the Korean War. “They recommended acting as an expedient thing to get through,” he recalled. “I’m glad they did.” He flourished in drama classes.

“Way back when I was in college,” Duvall told the AP in 1990, “there was a wonderful man named Frank Parker, who had been a dancer in World War I. We did a full-length mime play and I played a Harlequin clown. I really liked that.

“Then, I played an older guy in ‘All My Sons,’ and at one point I had this emotional moment, where this emotion was pouring out. Parker said at that moment he didn’t think acting can be carried any further than that. And this guy was a very critical guy. So I thought, at that moment at least, this is what I wanted to do.”

After two years in the Army, he used the G.I. Bill to finance his studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, hanging out with such other young hopefuls as Robert Morse, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. After a one-night performance in “A View From the Bridge,” Duvall began getting offers for work in TV series, among them “The Naked City” and “The Defenders.”

Between his high-paying jobs in major productions, Duvall devoted himself to directing personal projects: a documentary about a prairie family, “We’re Not the Jet Set”; a film about gypsies, “Angelo, My Love”; and “Assassination Tango,” in which he also starred.

Duvall had been a tango dancer since seeing the musical “Tango Argentina” in the 1980s and visited in Argentina dozens of times to study the dance and the culture. The result was the 2003 release about a hit man with a passion for tango.

His co-star was Luciana Pedraza, 42 years his junior, whom he married in 2005. Duvall’s three previous marriages — to Barbara Benjamin, Gail Youngs and Sharon Brophy — ended in divorce.

Former Associated Press Hollywood correspondent Bob Thomas, who died in 2014, was the primary writer of this obituary

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771268313413.png" alt="FILE - Actor Robert Duvall holds the Golden Globe award he won for best actor in a dramatic motion picture for his role in "Tender Mercies" in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 29,198 4. (AP Photo/Lennox Mclendon, File)" />
                        <figcaption>FILE - Actor Robert Duvall holds the Golden Globe award he won for best actor in a dramatic motion picture for his role in "Tender Mercies" in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Jan. 29,198 4. (AP Photo/Lennox Mclendon, File)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor of matchless versatility and dedication whose classic roles included the intrepid consigliere of the first two “Godfather” movies and the over-the-hill country music singer in “Tender Mercies,” has died at age 95.</p><p>Duvall died “peacefully” at his home Sunday in Middleburg, Virginia, according to an announcement from his publicist and from a statement posted on his Facebook page by his wife, Luciana Duvall.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Robert Duvall had one C-SPAN appearance, at a dinner where Secretary Colin Powell received the George C. Marshall Award in 2003. RIP. <a href="https://t.co/e92kz8t4ck">pic.twitter.com/e92kz8t4ck</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2023483217391526332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall wrote. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented.”</p><p>The bald, wiry Duvall didn’t have leading man looks, but few “character actors” enjoyed such a long, rewarding and unpredictable career, in leading and supporting roles, from an itinerant preacher to Josef Stalin. Beginning with his 1962 film debut as Boo Radley, the reclusive neighbor in “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Duvall created a gallery of unforgettable portrayals. They earned him seven Academy Award nominations and the best actor prize for “Tender Mercies,” which came out in 1983. He also won four Golden Globes, including one for playing the philosophical cattle-drive boss in the 1989 miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” a role he often cited as his favorite.</p><p>He had been acting for some 20 years when “The Godfather,” released in 1972, established him as one of the most in-demand performers of Hollywood. He had made a previous film, “The Rain People,” with Francis Coppola, and the director chose him to play Tom Hagen in the mafia epic that featured Al Pacino and Marlon Brando among others. Duvall was a master of subtlety as an Irishman among Italians, rarely at the center of a scene, but often listening and advising in the background, an irreplaceable thread through the saga of the Corleone crime family.</p><p>“Stars and Italians alike depend on his efficiency, his tidying up around their grand gestures, his being the perfect shortstop on a team of personality sluggers,” wrote the critic David Thomson. “Was there ever a role better designed for its actor than that of Tom Hagen in both parts of ‘The Godfather?’”</p><p>In another Coppola film, “Apocalypse Now,” Duvall was wildly out front, the embodiment of deranged masculinity as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, who with equal vigor enjoyed surfing and bombing raids on the Viet Cong. Duvall required few takes for one of the most famous passages in movie history, barked out on the battlefield by a bare-chested, cavalry-hatted Kilgore: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn’t find one of ‘em, not one stinkin’ dink body.</p><p>“The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like — victory.”</p><p>Coppola once commented about Duvall: “Actors click into character at different times — the first week, third week. Bobby’s hot after one or two takes.”</p><h2>Honored, but still hungry</h2><p>He was Oscar-nominated as supporting actor for “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now,” but a dispute over money led him to turn down the third Godfather epic, a loss deeply felt by critics, fans and “Godfather” colleagues. Duvall would complain publicly about being offered less than his co-stars.</p><p>Fellow actors marveled at Duvall’s studious research and planning, and his coiled energy. Michael Caine, who co-starred with him in the 2003 “Secondhand Lions,” once told The Associated Press: “Before a big scene, Bobby just sits there, absolutely quiet; you know when not to talk to him.” Anyone who disturbed him would suffer the well-known Duvall temper, famously on display during the filming of the John Wayne Western “True Grit,” when Duvall seethed at director Henry Hathaway’s advice to “tense up” before a scene.</p><p>Duvall was awarded an Oscar in 1984 for his leading role as the troubled singer and songwriter Mac Sledge in “Tender Mercies,” a prize he accepted while clad in a cowboy tuxedo with Western tie. In 1998, he was nominated for best actor in “The Apostle,” a drama about a wayward Southern evangelist which he wrote, directed, starred in, produced and largely financed. With customary thoroughness, he visited dozens of country churches and spent 12 years writing the script and trying to get it made.</p><p>Among other notable roles: the outlaw gang leader who gets ambushed by John Wayne in “True Grit"; Jesse James in “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid"; the pious and beleaguered Frank Burns in “M-A-S-H"; the TV hatchet man in “Network"; Dr. Watson in “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution"; and the sadistic father in “The Great Santini.”</p><p>“When I was doing ‘Colors’ in 1988 with Sean Penn, someone asked me how I do it all these years, keep it fresh. Well, if you don’t overwork, have some hobbies, you can do it and stay hungry even if you’re not really hungry,” Duvall told The Associated Press in 1990.</p><p>In his mid-80s, he received a supporting Oscar nomination as the title character of the 2014 release “The Judge,” in which he is accused of causing a death in a hit-and-run accident. More recent films included “Widows” and “12 Mighty Orphans.”</p><h2>Ungifted in school, gifted on stage</h2><p>Robert Selden Duvall grew up in the Navy towns of Annapolis and the San Diego area, where he was born in 1931. He spent time in other cities as his father, who rose to be an admiral, was assigned to various duties.</p><p>The boy’s experience helped in his adult profession as he learned the nuances of regional speech and observed the psyche of military men, which he would portray in several films.</p><p>Duvall reportedly used his Navy officer father as the basis for his portrayal of the explosive militarist in “The Great Santini,” based on the Pat Conroy novel. He commented in 2003: “My dad was a gentleman but a seether, a stern, blustery guy, and away a lot of the time.” Bobby took after his mother, an amateur actress, in playing a guitar and performing. He was a wrestler like his father and enjoyed besting kids older than himself.</p><p>He lacked the concentration for schoolwork and nearly flunked out of Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. His despairing parents decided he needed something to keep him in college so he wouldn’t be drafted for the Korean War. “They recommended acting as an expedient thing to get through,” he recalled. “I’m glad they did.” He flourished in drama classes.</p><p>“Way back when I was in college,” Duvall told the AP in 1990, “there was a wonderful man named Frank Parker, who had been a dancer in World War I. We did a full-length mime play and I played a Harlequin clown. I really liked that.</p><p>“Then, I played an older guy in ‘All My Sons,’ and at one point I had this emotional moment, where this emotion was pouring out. Parker said at that moment he didn’t think acting can be carried any further than that. And this guy was a very critical guy. So I thought, at that moment at least, this is what I wanted to do.”</p><p>After two years in the Army, he used the G.I. Bill to finance his studies at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York, hanging out with such other young hopefuls as Robert Morse, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. After a one-night performance in “A View From the Bridge,” Duvall began getting offers for work in TV series, among them “The Naked City” and “The Defenders.”</p><p>Between his high-paying jobs in major productions, Duvall devoted himself to directing personal projects: a documentary about a prairie family, “We’re Not the Jet Set”; a film about gypsies, “Angelo, My Love”; and “Assassination Tango,” in which he also starred.</p><p>Duvall had been a tango dancer since seeing the musical “Tango Argentina” in the 1980s and visited in Argentina dozens of times to study the dance and the culture. The result was the 2003 release about a hit man with a passion for tango.</p><p>His co-star was Luciana Pedraza, 42 years his junior, whom he married in 2005. Duvall’s three previous marriages — to Barbara Benjamin, Gail Youngs and Sharon Brophy — ended in divorce.</p><p>—-</p><p>Former Associated Press Hollywood correspondent Bob Thomas, who died in 2014, was the primary writer of this obituary</p>

Robert Duvall, Oscar winner and star of The Godfather dead at 95

Governor Laura Kelly&nbsp;issued a verbal state of disaster emergency proclamation&nbsp;on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 11:48&nbsp;a.m.&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;an&nbsp;extended period of dangerous fire weather and the potential for extreme fire spread from Tuesday through Thursday, according to a media release from the Adjutant General’s&nbsp;Department. This declaration&nbsp;allows&nbsp;resources to be&nbsp;used to&nbsp;provide state&nbsp;assistance.&nbsp;

“With high winds and dry conditions, there is a high risk for wildland fires over the next few days,”&nbsp;<b>Governor Laura Kelly</b>&nbsp;<b>said</b>. “I urge&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;residents to avoid activities that could spark fires, remain alert to changing conditions, and follow local emergency guidance.”&nbsp;

Dangerous fire weather is expected Tuesday through Thursday, with Northwest and Southwest Kansas seeing Red Flag conditions driven by strong 30–40 mph winds with gusts to 65 mph, humidity as low as 10&nbsp;percent, rapidly drying grass fuels, blowing dust, and shifting winds that could cause rapid fire growth and extreme and erratic fire behavior.&nbsp; A Fire Watch is in effect for most of North Central, Northeast, and East Central Kansas on Tuesday.&nbsp;Officials emphasize that dry grass and other fuels can dry out in as little as one hour under these conditions, significantly increasing the risk of&nbsp;rapid&nbsp;fire&nbsp;ignition and spread.&nbsp;

“Across Kansas,&nbsp;we’re&nbsp;beginning to see the seasonal shift into more typical fire weather patterns,”&nbsp;<b>Bill Waln, Kansas Forest Service Fire Management Officer</b>&nbsp;said.&nbsp;“We strongly urge the public to avoid activities that could spark a fire and to report any smoke or fire&nbsp;immediately. Early reporting is critical to keeping fires small and protecting lives and property.”&nbsp;

The Kansas Division of Emergency Management will staff the State Emergency Operations Center&nbsp;starting&nbsp;tomorrow&nbsp;with Emergency Support Function partners&nbsp;from the Office of the State Fire Marshal,&nbsp;Kansas Forest Service,&nbsp;and other state agencies&nbsp;to coordinate&nbsp;state&nbsp;efforts&nbsp;and pre‑staging resources to support local&nbsp;counties and local responders if requested.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1640026900635.jpeg" alt="Post photo" />
                        <figcaption>Post photo</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Governor Laura Kelly&nbsp;issued a verbal state of disaster emergency proclamation&nbsp;on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 11:48&nbsp;a.m.&nbsp;due&nbsp;to&nbsp;an&nbsp;extended period of dangerous fire weather and the potential for extreme fire spread from Tuesday through Thursday, according to a media release from the Adjutant General’s&nbsp;Department. This declaration&nbsp;allows&nbsp;resources to be&nbsp;used to&nbsp;provide state&nbsp;assistance.&nbsp;</p><p>“With high winds and dry conditions, there is a high risk for wildland fires over the next few days,”&nbsp;<b>Governor Laura Kelly</b>&nbsp;<b>said</b>. “I urge&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp;residents to avoid activities that could spark fires, remain alert to changing conditions, and follow local emergency guidance.”&nbsp;</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tuesday will see high winds and dry humidities culminating in a critical and potentially dangerous fire weather risk. A Red Flag Warning is also in effect Tuesday. See below for details. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kswx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kswx</a> <a href="https://t.co/rDAWJZYzjP">pic.twitter.com/rDAWJZYzjP</a></p>&mdash; NWS Dodge City (@NWSDodgeCity) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSDodgeCity/status/2023405314129674647?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A fire weather watch has been issued for Tuesday from 12 noon through 7 PM for north central, northeast, and east central KS. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kswx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kswx</a> <a href="https://t.co/TxEmZ3bK6n">pic.twitter.com/TxEmZ3bK6n</a></p>&mdash; NWS Topeka (@NWSTopeka) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSTopeka/status/2023341151026135193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Here&#39;s an overview of what we&#39;re expecting today through Wednesday (February 16-18, 2026). Open flames and sparks could have devastating impacts this week, especially on Tuesday. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/kswx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#kswx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cowx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#cowx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/newx?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#newx</a> <a href="https://t.co/oQ6ePU4IXU">pic.twitter.com/oQ6ePU4IXU</a></p>&mdash; NWS Goodland (@NWSGoodland) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSGoodland/status/2023352073471811759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Dangerous fire weather is expected Tuesday through Thursday, with Northwest and Southwest Kansas seeing Red Flag conditions driven by strong 30–40 mph winds with gusts to 65 mph, humidity as low as 10&nbsp;percent, rapidly drying grass fuels, blowing dust, and shifting winds that could cause rapid fire growth and extreme and erratic fire behavior.&nbsp; A Fire Watch is in effect for most of North Central, Northeast, and East Central Kansas on Tuesday.&nbsp;Officials emphasize that dry grass and other fuels can dry out in as little as one hour under these conditions, significantly increasing the risk of&nbsp;rapid&nbsp;fire&nbsp;ignition and spread.&nbsp;</p><p>“Across Kansas,&nbsp;we’re&nbsp;beginning to see the seasonal shift into more typical fire weather patterns,”&nbsp;<b>Bill Waln, Kansas Forest Service Fire Management Officer</b>&nbsp;said.&nbsp;“We strongly urge the public to avoid activities that could spark a fire and to report any smoke or fire&nbsp;immediately. Early reporting is critical to keeping fires small and protecting lives and property.”&nbsp;</p><p>The Kansas Division of Emergency Management will staff the State Emergency Operations Center&nbsp;starting&nbsp;tomorrow&nbsp;with Emergency Support Function partners&nbsp;from the Office of the State Fire Marshal,&nbsp;Kansas Forest Service,&nbsp;and other state agencies&nbsp;to coordinate&nbsp;state&nbsp;efforts&nbsp;and pre‑staging resources to support local&nbsp;counties and local responders if requested.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Kan. gov. issues state of disaster emergency for wildland fires 

LABETTE COUNTY – The Labette County Sheriff’s Office reported to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) that 80-year-old Richard Bulkley was located in Sedalia, Missouri, and is now safe.

LABETTE COUNTY –&nbsp;The Labette County Sheriff's Office requested the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing Parsons man, according to a media release.

The whereabouts of 80-year-old Richard Bulkley, of Parsons, are unknown and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate him.

Bulkley is likely driving a Black 2011 Ford F-150 bearing Kansas veteran tag 1526. He was last believed to be heading north around Highway 169 and K-47, near Thayer, on the evening of Feb. 15.

Bulkley is a white male who is around 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 175 pounds. He has white hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing gray and white flannel pajama pants, and a blue fleece jacket. Bulkley has dementia.

If you see Richard Bulkley, or his vehicle, call 911 immediately. If you have other information about his whereabouts, please call the Labette County Sheriff's Office at 620-795-2565.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771239800485.png" alt="Bulkley photo KBI" />
                        <figcaption>Bulkley photo KBI</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>LABETTE COUNTY – The Labette County Sheriff’s Office reported to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) that 80-year-old Richard Bulkley was located in Sedalia, Missouri, and is now safe.</p><p>-------------</p><p>LABETTE COUNTY –&nbsp;The Labette County Sheriff's Office requested the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing Parsons man, according to a media release.</p><p>The whereabouts of 80-year-old Richard Bulkley, of Parsons, are unknown and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate him.</p><p>Bulkley is likely driving a Black 2011 Ford F-150 bearing Kansas veteran tag 1526. He was last believed to be heading north around Highway 169 and K-47, near Thayer, on the evening of Feb. 15.</p><p>Bulkley is a white male who is around 5 foot 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 175 pounds. He has white hair, brown eyes, and was last seen wearing gray and white flannel pajama pants, and a blue fleece jacket. Bulkley has dementia.</p><p>If you see Richard Bulkley, or his vehicle, call 911 immediately. If you have other information about his whereabouts, please call the Labette County Sheriff's Office at 620-795-2565.</p>

KBI: Silver Alert canceled, missing Kansas man found safe

By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jacobrichey/">Jacob Richey</a>

A Cole County judge ruled Friday that Gov. Mike Kehoe had the constitutional authority to call the special session that resulted in the passage of a new gerrymandered congressional map for Missouri.

During the special session, legislators redrew the map to favor Republicans. The Missouri NAACP filed the lawsuit against state officials including Kehoe in September in an attempt to stop the special session from happening, but the court did not take up the case in time to stop legislators from meeting for the session.

The lawsuit alleged that while the Missouri Constitution allows the governor to call special sessions for extraordinary occasions, Kehoe’s reasoning to call the most recent session did not qualify as an extraordinary occasion.

Judge Christopher Limbaugh disagreed, stating in the ruling issued Friday that the governor has the constitutional discretion to decide what qualifies as an extraordinary occasion.

Article 4, Section 9 of the Missouri Constitution, which describes the powers of the governor, states that on extraordinary occasions, the governor may convene the General Assembly by proclamation and state matters for the legislature to take action on.

Kehoe called Missouri lawmakers to a special session on Aug. 29, 2025, directing them to focus the session on redistricting the state and changing the initiative petition process.

The new congressional map, which is at the center of multiple lawsuits, would likely give the Republican Party a 7-to-1 majority in Missouri’s U.S. House seats. Republicans already hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.

This story originally appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.komu.com/news/state/special-session-to-redraw-missouris-congressional-districts-was-constitutional-judge-rules/article_0782f59f-c883-497d-9260-dbae0a12fae2.html" target="_blank">KOMU.com</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757444658128.png" alt="Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors / Map by Anna Sago  " />
                        <figcaption>Source: U.S. Census Bureau. Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors / Map by Anna Sago  </figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By:<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jacobrichey/">Jacob Richey</a></p><p>A Cole County judge ruled Friday that Gov. Mike Kehoe had the constitutional authority to call the special session that resulted in the passage of a new gerrymandered congressional map for Missouri.</p><p>During the special session, legislators redrew the map to favor Republicans. The Missouri NAACP filed the lawsuit against state officials including Kehoe in September in an attempt to stop the special session from happening, but the court did not take up the case in time to stop legislators from meeting for the session.</p><p>The lawsuit alleged that while the Missouri Constitution allows the governor to call special sessions for extraordinary occasions, Kehoe’s reasoning to call the most recent session did not qualify as an extraordinary occasion.</p><p>Judge Christopher Limbaugh disagreed, stating in the ruling issued Friday that the governor has the constitutional discretion to decide what qualifies as an extraordinary occasion.</p><p>Article 4, Section 9 of the Missouri Constitution, which describes the powers of the governor, states that on extraordinary occasions, the governor may convene the General Assembly by proclamation and state matters for the legislature to take action on.</p><p>Kehoe called Missouri lawmakers to a special session on Aug. 29, 2025, directing them to focus the session on redistricting the state and changing the initiative petition process.</p><p>The new congressional map, which is at the center of multiple lawsuits, would likely give the Republican Party a 7-to-1 majority in Missouri’s U.S. House seats. Republicans already hold six of Missouri’s eight congressional seats.</p><p>This story originally appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.komu.com/news/state/special-session-to-redraw-missouris-congressional-districts-was-constitutional-judge-rules/article_0782f59f-c883-497d-9260-dbae0a12fae2.html" target="_blank">KOMU.com</a>. It can be republished in print or online.&nbsp;</p>

Special session to redraw Missouri congressional districts was constitutional, judge rules

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement continue searching for suspects in a deadly nightclub shooting in Kansas City, Missouri and have identified the women who died as 29-year-old Eboni Silas and 24-year-old Tishauna Ballard, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.

Just after 2a.m. Sunday Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies were in the area of 28th and Southwest Boulevard working off duty for a nightclub/bar business there when they heard the sound of gunfire inside the bar, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.

At the same time 911 received calls for a shooting inside the business.&nbsp;On arrival officers were led inside the business where they located 3 adult female shooting victims.

Officers began rendering aid and called for EMS to come in.&nbsp;EMS declared one shooting victim deceased at the scene. EMS&nbsp; then transported the other two victims to the hospital for treatment. At the hospital one of the two victims was declared deceased, and the other victim has what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries, according to Becchina.

While officers were at the scene they were notified of a 4th shooting victim, an adult male, who arrived at the hospital by private vehicle. That victim is reported to be in critical condition.&nbsp;

Detectives talked with people who were at the scene when officers arrived and processed through the evidence gathered. As the investigation progresses it is still believed the shooting occurred inside the business, so anyone who may have been there that has not talked to police yet is urged to contact detectives or the TIPS Hotline anonymously. 

Police have not been advised of any change in the status of either of the surviving victims.

&nbsp;Preliminary information indicates the victims were inside the business when there was an interaction with one or more suspects that escalated and led to shots being fired which struck the victims.&nbsp; Police have not released any details on a possible suspect.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771169150673.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
                        <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement continue searching for suspects in a deadly nightclub shooting in Kansas City, Missouri and have identified the women who died as 29-year-old Eboni Silas and 24-year-old Tishauna Ballard, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.</p><p>Just after 2a.m. Sunday Jackson County Sheriff’s deputies were in the area of 28th and Southwest Boulevard working off duty for a nightclub/bar business there when they heard the sound of gunfire inside the bar, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.</p><p>At the same time 911 received calls for a shooting inside the business.&nbsp;On arrival officers were led inside the business where they located 3 adult female shooting victims.</p><p>Officers began rendering aid and called for EMS to come in.&nbsp;EMS declared one shooting victim deceased at the scene. EMS&nbsp; then transported the other two victims to the hospital for treatment. At the hospital one of the two victims was declared deceased, and the other victim has what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries, according to Becchina.</p><p>While officers were at the scene they were notified of a 4th shooting victim, an adult male, who arrived at the hospital by private vehicle. That victim is reported to be in critical condition.&nbsp;</p><p>Detectives talked with people who were at the scene when officers arrived and processed through the evidence gathered. As the investigation progresses it is still believed the shooting occurred inside the business, so anyone who may have been there that has not talked to police yet is urged to contact detectives or the TIPS Hotline anonymously. </p><p>Police have not been advised of any change in the status of either of the surviving victims.</p><p>&nbsp;Preliminary information indicates the victims were inside the business when there was an interaction with one or more suspects that escalated and led to shots being fired which struck the victims.&nbsp; Police have not released any details on a possible suspect.</p>

Police ID 2 women who died in Kansas City nightclub shooting

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise Sunday in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-shutdown-ice-funding-7bf62bc50ca0a6a6013a714bee2ffdb4">a pause in funding</a>&nbsp;for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-homeland-security">Department of Homeland Security</a>.

A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump's team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-funding-shutdown-democrats-trump-4e9c4cebd45396e77f8333fd6cc31944">failed to reach a deal</a>&nbsp;on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-protester-alex-pretti-15ade7de6e19cb0291734e85dac763dc">Alex Pretti</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5">Renee Good</a>&nbsp;by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.

Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dhs-shutdown-tsa-travel-airports-delays-ff8b225c6ff8d57172fd301a550057b3">impasse affects</a>&nbsp;agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The work at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trump’s tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies that can be tapped for deportation operations. About 90% of DHS employees were to continue working during the shutdown, but do so without pay — and missed paychecks could mean financial hardships. Last year there was a record&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-reopen-update-house-returns-5771f2befb15f4ab45e327369f2e98d9">43-day government shutdown</a>.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-metro-surge-ice-523d18d5d75c81cbf9f24c602f1884ff">White House border czar Tom Homan</a>&nbsp;said the administration was unwilling to agree to Democrats' demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations and display unique ID numbers.

“I don’t like the masks, either,” Homan said, But, he said, “These men and women have to protect themselves."

Democrats also want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras and mandate judicial warrants for arrests on private property.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats are only asking for federal agents to abide by rules followed by law enforcement agencies around the country.

“And the question that Americans are asking is, ‘Why aren’t Republicans going along with these commonsense proposals?’” Schumer said. "They’re not crazy. They’re not way out. They’re what every police department in America does.”

Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could back Democrats calls to equip immigration officers with body cameras and would support efforts to bolster training. But he balked at their demands that federal officers remove masks and clearly identify themselves, noting some officers taking part in immigration enforcement operations have faced doxing and other harassment.

“What are you going to do, expose their faces so you can intimidate their families?” Mullins said. "What we want is ICE to be able to do their job. And we would love for local law enforcement and for states to cooperate with us.”

Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a Trump ally who had pushed for a two-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continued, said it was "shortsighted of Democrats to walk away" from talks.

Trump made enforcement of the nation's immigration laws a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign for the White House and he promised to be aggressive in detaining and deporting people living in the United States without legal permission.

DHS reports it has deported more than 675,000 migrants since Trump's return to office last year and claims some 2.2 million others have “self-deported” as the Republican president has made his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">immigration crackdown</a>&nbsp;a priority.

“President Trump is not going to back away from the mission, the mission that American people said they wanted him to complete, and that is securing our border and making sure that we actually do interior enforcement," Britt said.

Homan was on CBS' “Face the Nation,” Schumer and Mullin appeared on CNN's “State of the Union” and Britt was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.”

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1759315749226.png" alt="Photo CSPAN" />
                        <figcaption>Photo CSPAN</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By AAMER MADHANI&nbsp;</p><p>WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Lawmakers and the White House offered no signs of compromise Sunday in their battle over oversight of federal immigration officers that has led to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-shutdown-ice-funding-7bf62bc50ca0a6a6013a714bee2ffdb4">a pause in funding</a>&nbsp;for the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-department-of-homeland-security">Department of Homeland Security</a>.</p><p>A partial government shutdown began Saturday after congressional Democrats and President Donald Trump's team&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-funding-shutdown-democrats-trump-4e9c4cebd45396e77f8333fd6cc31944">failed to reach a deal</a>&nbsp;on legislation to fund the department through September. Democrats are demanding changes to how immigration operations are conducted after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-minnesota-protester-alex-pretti-15ade7de6e19cb0291734e85dac763dc">Alex Pretti</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ice-shooting-minneapolis-minnesota-9aa822670b705c89906f2c699f1d16c5">Renee Good</a>&nbsp;by federal officers in Minneapolis last month.</p><p>Congress is on recess until Feb. 23, and both sides appear dug into their positions. The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dhs-shutdown-tsa-travel-airports-delays-ff8b225c6ff8d57172fd301a550057b3">impasse affects</a>&nbsp;agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard, the Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.</p><p>The work at ICE and CBP goes on unabated because Trump’s tax and spending cut law from 2025 provided billions more to those agencies that can be tapped for deportation operations. About 90% of DHS employees were to continue working during the shutdown, but do so without pay — and missed paychecks could mean financial hardships. Last year there was a record&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-reopen-update-house-returns-5771f2befb15f4ab45e327369f2e98d9">43-day government shutdown</a>.</p><p><a href="https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-metro-surge-ice-523d18d5d75c81cbf9f24c602f1884ff">White House border czar Tom Homan</a>&nbsp;said the administration was unwilling to agree to Democrats' demands that federal officers clearly identify themselves, remove masks during operations and display unique ID numbers.</p><p>“I don’t like the masks, either,” Homan said, But, he said, “These men and women have to protect themselves."</p><p>Democrats also want to require immigration agents to wear body cameras and mandate judicial warrants for arrests on private property.</p><p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats are only asking for federal agents to abide by rules followed by law enforcement agencies around the country.</p><p>“And the question that Americans are asking is, ‘Why aren’t Republicans going along with these commonsense proposals?’” Schumer said. "They’re not crazy. They’re not way out. They’re what every police department in America does.”</p><p>Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., said he could back Democrats calls to equip immigration officers with body cameras and would support efforts to bolster training. But he balked at their demands that federal officers remove masks and clearly identify themselves, noting some officers taking part in immigration enforcement operations have faced doxing and other harassment.</p><p>“What are you going to do, expose their faces so you can intimidate their families?” Mullins said. "What we want is ICE to be able to do their job. And we would love for local law enforcement and for states to cooperate with us.”</p><p>Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a Trump ally who had pushed for a two-week extension of DHS funding while negotiations continued, said it was "shortsighted of Democrats to walk away" from talks.</p><p>Trump made enforcement of the nation's immigration laws a centerpiece of his 2024 campaign for the White House and he promised to be aggressive in detaining and deporting people living in the United States without legal permission.</p><p>DHS reports it has deported more than 675,000 migrants since Trump's return to office last year and claims some 2.2 million others have “self-deported” as the Republican president has made his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/immigration">immigration crackdown</a>&nbsp;a priority.</p><p>“President Trump is not going to back away from the mission, the mission that American people said they wanted him to complete, and that is securing our border and making sure that we actually do interior enforcement," Britt said.</p><p>Homan was on CBS' “Face the Nation,” Schumer and Mullin appeared on CNN's “State of the Union” and Britt was interviewed on “Fox News Sunday.”</p>

No clear path to ending the partial government shutdown 

BOSTON (AP) — More than a decade before he became the country's first president, George Washington was leading a critical campaign in the early days of the American Revolution. The Siege of Boston was his first campaign as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and, in many ways, set the stage for his military and political successes — celebrated on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/presidents-day-history-george-washington-birthday-f9cdcb41b3128c63af0ffdf5066e10b9">Presidents Day</a>.

Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, militias had pinned down the British in Boston in April 1775. The Continental Congress, recognizing the need for a more organized military effort, selected Washington to lead the newly formed army.

On this day&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/america-250-declaration-of-independence-democracy-d49050f62425ed6ddecc5dfb42ba8a20">250 years ago</a>, Washington would have been nearing the end of an almost yearlong siege that bottled up as many as 11,000 British troops and hundreds more loyalists. The British were occupying Boston at the time, and the goal of the siege was to force them out.

A critical decision made by Washington was sending Henry Knox, a young bookseller, to Fort Ticonderoga in New York to retrieve dozens of cannons. The cannons, transported hundreds of miles in the dead of winter, were eventually used to fire on British positions. That contributed to the decision by the British, facing dwindling supplies, to abandon the city by boat on March 17, 1776.

Historians argue that the British abandoning their positions, celebrated in Boston as Evacuation Day, rid the city of loyalists at a critical time, denied the British access to an important port and gave patriots a huge morale boost.

“The success of the Siege of Boston gave new life and momentum to the Revolution,” Chris Beagan, the site manager at Longfellow House in Cambridge, a National Historic Site that served as Washington's headquarters during the American Revolution. “Had it failed, royal control of New England would have continued, and the Continental Army likely would have dissolved."

The siege was also a critical test for Washington. A surveyor and farmer, Washington had been out of the military for nearly 20 years after commanding troops for the British during the French and Indian War. His successful campaign ensured Washington remained the commander-in-chief for the remainder of the revolution.

Doug Bradburn, president of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, said Washington took the first steps to creating a geographically diverse army that included militiamen from Massachusetts to Virginia and, by the end of the war, a fighting force with significant Black and Native American representation. It was the most integrated military until President Harry S. Truman’s desegregated the armed forces in 1948, he said.

Washington, a slave owner who depended on hundreds of slaves on his Mount Vernon estate, was initially opposed to admitting formerly enslaved and free Black soldiers into the army. But short of men, Washington came to realize “there are free Blacks who want to enlist and he needs them to keep the British from breaking out” during the siege, Bradburn said.

Ridding Boston of the British also turned Washington into one of the country's most popular political figures.

“He comes to embody the cause in a time before you have a nation, before you have a Declaration of Independence, before you’re really sure what is the goal of this struggle,” Bradburn said. “He becomes the face of the revolutionary movement.”

Commanding the military for more than eight years also prepared Washington for the presidency, Pulitzer Prize-winning military historian&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Frick-atkinson-book-deal-pulitzer-crown-b808b83109be45bf1c97af55ebcad830&amp;data=05%7C02%7CMCasey%40ap.org%7C549bdcc2d044437e269208de6755641d%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C639061813625339374%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=mJ4SU1Q8H%2B4OyYiF%2FjRlRGunbsH%2FnWpIVbJFmwfhSBM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Rick Atkinson</a>&nbsp;said. “Perhaps most important, it gave him a sense that Americans could and should be a single people, rather than denizens of thirteen different entities.”

His rise to prominence also led to plenty of myths about Washington, many which persist to this day.

One of the most popular is the cherry tree myth. It was invented by one of Washington's first biographers, according to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, who created the story after his death. Supposedly, a 6-year-old Washington took an ax to a cherry tree and admitted as much when caught by his father, famously saying “I cannot tell a lie … I did cut it with my hatchet."

The second one is the wooden teeth myth. It was rumored that Washington had wooden dentures and scholars, well into the 20th century, were quoted as saying his false teeth were made from wood. Not true. He never wore wooden dentures, instead using those with ivory, gold and even human teeth.

During his lifetime, Washington had myriad pursuits. He was known as an innovative farmer, according to the George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and an advocate for Western expansion, buying up to 50,000 acres of land in several Mid-Atlantic states. After returning to Mount Vernon, he built a whiskey distillery that became one of the largest in the country.

His connection to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/slavery-exhibit-removed-philadelphia-trump-executive-order-dd764277133f47ec1173e8dc16703958">slavery</a>&nbsp;was complicated. He advocated for ending slavery, and his will called for freeing all the slaves he owned after the death of his wife, Martha Washington. But he didn't own all the slaves at Mount Vernon so he couldn't legally free all of them.

For fans of George Washington, Presidents Day is their Super Bowl. Originated to celebrate Washington's birthday, which falls on Feb. 22, the holiday has become associated with good deals at the mall. Still, there are plenty of places celebrating all things Washington on this day.

There will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon, and there will be a Continental Army encampment. There will be a parade honoring Washington in Alexandria, Virginia, and, in Laredo, Texas, a monthlong celebration features a carnival, pageants, an air show and jalapeno festival.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771246659982.png" alt="<br>" />
                        <figcaption><br></figcaption>
                    </figure><p>BOSTON (AP) — More than a decade before he became the country's first president, George Washington was leading a critical campaign in the early days of the American Revolution. The Siege of Boston was his first campaign as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and, in many ways, set the stage for his military and political successes — celebrated on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/presidents-day-history-george-washington-birthday-f9cdcb41b3128c63af0ffdf5066e10b9">Presidents Day</a>.</p><p>Following the Battles of Lexington and Concord, militias had pinned down the British in Boston in April 1775. The Continental Congress, recognizing the need for a more organized military effort, selected Washington to lead the newly formed army.</p><h2>The Siege of Boston and its significance</h2><p>On this day&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/america-250-declaration-of-independence-democracy-d49050f62425ed6ddecc5dfb42ba8a20">250 years ago</a>, Washington would have been nearing the end of an almost yearlong siege that bottled up as many as 11,000 British troops and hundreds more loyalists. The British were occupying Boston at the time, and the goal of the siege was to force them out.</p><p>A critical decision made by Washington was sending Henry Knox, a young bookseller, to Fort Ticonderoga in New York to retrieve dozens of cannons. The cannons, transported hundreds of miles in the dead of winter, were eventually used to fire on British positions. That contributed to the decision by the British, facing dwindling supplies, to abandon the city by boat on March 17, 1776.</p><p>Historians argue that the British abandoning their positions, celebrated in Boston as Evacuation Day, rid the city of loyalists at a critical time, denied the British access to an important port and gave patriots a huge morale boost.</p><p>“The success of the Siege of Boston gave new life and momentum to the Revolution,” Chris Beagan, the site manager at Longfellow House in Cambridge, a National Historic Site that served as Washington's headquarters during the American Revolution. “Had it failed, royal control of New England would have continued, and the Continental Army likely would have dissolved."</p><h2>How the siege shaped Washington</h2><p>The siege was also a critical test for Washington. A surveyor and farmer, Washington had been out of the military for nearly 20 years after commanding troops for the British during the French and Indian War. His successful campaign ensured Washington remained the commander-in-chief for the remainder of the revolution.</p><p>Doug Bradburn, president of George Washington’s Mount Vernon, said Washington took the first steps to creating a geographically diverse army that included militiamen from Massachusetts to Virginia and, by the end of the war, a fighting force with significant Black and Native American representation. It was the most integrated military until President Harry S. Truman’s desegregated the armed forces in 1948, he said.</p><p>Washington, a slave owner who depended on hundreds of slaves on his Mount Vernon estate, was initially opposed to admitting formerly enslaved and free Black soldiers into the army. But short of men, Washington came to realize “there are free Blacks who want to enlist and he needs them to keep the British from breaking out” during the siege, Bradburn said.</p><p>Ridding Boston of the British also turned Washington into one of the country's most popular political figures.</p><p>“He comes to embody the cause in a time before you have a nation, before you have a Declaration of Independence, before you’re really sure what is the goal of this struggle,” Bradburn said. “He becomes the face of the revolutionary movement.”</p><p>Commanding the military for more than eight years also prepared Washington for the presidency, Pulitzer Prize-winning military historian&nbsp;<a href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Frick-atkinson-book-deal-pulitzer-crown-b808b83109be45bf1c97af55ebcad830&amp;data=05%7C02%7CMCasey%40ap.org%7C549bdcc2d044437e269208de6755641d%7Ce442e1abfd6b4ba3abf3b020eb50df37%7C1%7C0%7C639061813625339374%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=mJ4SU1Q8H%2B4OyYiF%2FjRlRGunbsH%2FnWpIVbJFmwfhSBM%3D&amp;reserved=0">Rick Atkinson</a>&nbsp;said. “Perhaps most important, it gave him a sense that Americans could and should be a single people, rather than denizens of thirteen different entities.”</p><h2>Myths of Washington</h2><p>His rise to prominence also led to plenty of myths about Washington, many which persist to this day.</p><p>One of the most popular is the cherry tree myth. It was invented by one of Washington's first biographers, according to George Washington’s Mount Vernon, who created the story after his death. Supposedly, a 6-year-old Washington took an ax to a cherry tree and admitted as much when caught by his father, famously saying “I cannot tell a lie … I did cut it with my hatchet."</p><p>The second one is the wooden teeth myth. It was rumored that Washington had wooden dentures and scholars, well into the 20th century, were quoted as saying his false teeth were made from wood. Not true. He never wore wooden dentures, instead using those with ivory, gold and even human teeth.</p><h2>More than a statesman</h2><p>During his lifetime, Washington had myriad pursuits. He was known as an innovative farmer, according to the George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and an advocate for Western expansion, buying up to 50,000 acres of land in several Mid-Atlantic states. After returning to Mount Vernon, he built a whiskey distillery that became one of the largest in the country.</p><p>His connection to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/slavery-exhibit-removed-philadelphia-trump-executive-order-dd764277133f47ec1173e8dc16703958">slavery</a>&nbsp;was complicated. He advocated for ending slavery, and his will called for freeing all the slaves he owned after the death of his wife, Martha Washington. But he didn't own all the slaves at Mount Vernon so he couldn't legally free all of them.</p><h2>Celebrating Presidents Day</h2><p>For fans of George Washington, Presidents Day is their Super Bowl. Originated to celebrate Washington's birthday, which falls on Feb. 22, the holiday has become associated with good deals at the mall. Still, there are plenty of places celebrating all things Washington on this day.</p><p>There will be a wreath-laying ceremony at Washington's tomb at Mount Vernon, and there will be a Continental Army encampment. There will be a parade honoring Washington in Alexandria, Virginia, and, in Laredo, Texas, a monthlong celebration features a carnival, pageants, an air show and jalapeno festival.</p>

Presidents Day: No, George Washington didn't have wooden teeth

HAMILTON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a shooting at a southwest Kansas cafe on Valentine's Day.

Just after 7p.m. Saturday,&nbsp;the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a shooting at Maria’s Cafe in Coolidge, Kansas, according to a media release.

Shortly after the initial report, an additional call was received regarding a vehicle that had been struck by gunfire within the city of Coolidge. Additional reports of gunshots were later received from across the state line in Colorado. No injuries were reported in Coolidge.

The Prowers County Sheriff’s Office located and took one subject into custody in connection with the incident.&nbsp; Police have not released the name of the suspect of possible charges.

<p>HAMILTON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a shooting at a southwest Kansas cafe on Valentine's Day.</p><p>Just after 7p.m. Saturday,&nbsp;the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a shooting at Maria’s Cafe in Coolidge, Kansas, according to a media release.</p><p>Shortly after the initial report, an additional call was received regarding a vehicle that had been struck by gunfire within the city of Coolidge. Additional reports of gunshots were later received from across the state line in Colorado. No injuries were reported in Coolidge.</p><p>The Prowers County Sheriff’s Office located and took one subject into custody in connection with the incident.&nbsp; Police have not released the name of the suspect of possible charges.</p>

Suspect jailed after Valentine's Day shooting at SW Kan. cafe

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Police released the name of the juvenile killed Feb. 10, at an apartment complex in Kansas City, Kansas. Jai Barnes, Jr., 17, was resident of Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release from KCK Police.

Just before 3p.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 7400 Block of Armstrong in Kansas City, Kansas.

First responders located Barnes outside an apartment complex, the victim of apparent gunshot wounds. He was getting off the school bus in front of his home at the time of the shooting, according to <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-heartfelt-farewell-for-jai-barnes-jr">an online fundraiser.</a>

He was transported to an area hospital where he died from his injuries.&nbsp;There are currently no suspects in custody.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771242738386.png" alt="Barnes photo GoFundMe" />
                        <figcaption>Barnes photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Police released the name of the juvenile killed Feb. 10, at an apartment complex in Kansas City, Kansas. Jai Barnes, Jr., 17, was resident of Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release from KCK Police.</p><p>Just before 3p.m. Tuesday, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 7400 Block of Armstrong in Kansas City, Kansas.</p><p>First responders located Barnes outside an apartment complex, the victim of apparent gunshot wounds. He was getting off the school bus in front of his home at the time of the shooting, according to <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-heartfelt-farewell-for-jai-barnes-jr">an online fundraiser.</a></p><p>He was transported to an area hospital where he died from his injuries.&nbsp;There are currently no suspects in custody.</p>

Kansas teen was getting off school bus when he was shot, killed

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-710d3acdef86d1c3935b94f58f763d72">glove containing DNA</a>&nbsp;found a couple of miles from the Arizona home of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie</a>&nbsp;’s missing mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her house the night she disappeared, the FBI said Sunday.

The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence in the search for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">Nancy Guthrie</a>, 84, which heads into its third week.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-ransom-deadline-arizona-3977f842fd3d1fd66952d1d763944b9d">ransom notes</a>&nbsp;were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.

Here’s what to know about her disappearance and the search to find her:

Video of masked man and discovery of a glove

The FBI on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-b765fed6b9669441383b75860263ac99">released surveillance videos</a>&nbsp;of a person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished. A porch camera&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-nest-camera-footage-kidnapper-bd5f1d886543e23f2d105535031c9445">recorded video</a>&nbsp;of the person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.

On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.

On Sunday, the FBI said in a statement that a glove, found in a field near the side of a road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the home, had been sent off for DNA testing. The agency said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.

Late Friday, law enforcement agents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-investigation-64736b14fa5dbd8961325ea6147e78e7">sealed off a road</a>&nbsp;about two miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.

Investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation.

Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her, the sheriff’s department said. Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.

Evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case, the department said.

The FBI has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.

The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced&nbsp;<a href="https://pimasheriff.org/" target="_blank">phone numbers</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://tips.fbi.gov/home" target="_blank">website</a>&nbsp;to offer tips. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff’s department said.

The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.

The sheriff’s department has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.

On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-6f1016e390e2c59d82604731f795a8ba">confirmed he was released</a>.

The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.

Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have gone on social media and shared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-instagram-videos-timeline-37d24fdea0bbc787900d8c02ea34b390">multiple video messages</a>&nbsp;to their mother’s purported captor.

The family’s Instagram videos have shifted in tone from impassioned pleas to whoever may have their mom, saying they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">want to talk</a>&nbsp;and are even willing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-92dff046a91f2c5c0093f17cd3b7ad42">pay a ransom</a>, to bleaker and more desperate requests for the public’s help. A video on Thursday was simply a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.”

And on Sunday night, Savannah Guthrie posted an Instagram video in which she issued an appeal to whoever abducted her mother or anyone who knows where she is being kept. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Guthrie said. “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”

Nancy Guthrie lived alone in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street by long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.

Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and once worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined “Today” in 2011.

In a video, she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”

<p>TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-710d3acdef86d1c3935b94f58f763d72">glove containing DNA</a>&nbsp;found a couple of miles from the Arizona home of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie</a>&nbsp;’s missing mother appears to match those worn by a masked person outside her house the night she disappeared, the FBI said Sunday.</p><div><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUzJ-_1AWWF/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUzJ-_1AWWF/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; 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overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUzJ-_1AWWF/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;" target="_blank">A post shared by Savannah Guthrie (@savannahguthrie)</a></p></div></blockquote>
<script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script></div><p>The development comes as law enforcement gathers more potential evidence in the search for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">Nancy Guthrie</a>, 84, which heads into its third week.</p><p>Nancy Guthrie was last seen at her Tucson home on Jan. 31 and was reported missing the following day. Authorities say her blood was found on the front porch. Purported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-ransom-deadline-arizona-3977f842fd3d1fd66952d1d763944b9d">ransom notes</a>&nbsp;were sent to news outlets, but two deadlines for paying have passed.</p><p>Authorities have expressed concern about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs vital daily medicine. She is said to have a pacemaker and have dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.</p><p>Here’s what to know about her disappearance and the search to find her:</p><h2>Video of masked man and discovery of a glove</h2><p>The FBI on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-b765fed6b9669441383b75860263ac99">released surveillance videos</a>&nbsp;of a person wearing a handgun holster outside Guthrie’s front door the night she vanished. A porch camera&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-nest-camera-footage-kidnapper-bd5f1d886543e23f2d105535031c9445">recorded video</a>&nbsp;of the person with a backpack who was wearing a ski mask, long pants, jacket and gloves.</p><p>On Thursday, the FBI called the person a suspect. It described him as a man about 5 feet, 9 inches (1.75 meters) tall with a medium build. The agency said he was carrying a 25-liter “Ozark Trail Hiker Pack” backpack.</p><p>On Sunday, the FBI said in a statement that a glove, found in a field near the side of a road about 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from the home, had been sent off for DNA testing. The agency said that it received preliminary results Saturday and was awaiting official confirmation.</p><p>Late Friday, law enforcement agents&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-investigation-64736b14fa5dbd8961325ea6147e78e7">sealed off a road</a>&nbsp;about two miles (3.2 kilometers) from Guthrie’s home as part of their investigation. A series of sheriff’s and FBI vehicles, including forensics vehicles, passed through the roadblock.</p><p>Investigators also tagged and towed a Range Rover SUV from a nearby restaurant parking lot. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said the activity was part of the Guthrie investigation.</p><h2>Studying DNA</h2><p>Investigators collected DNA from Guthrie’s property which doesn’t belong to Guthrie or those in close contact with her, the sheriff’s department said. Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.</p><p>Evidence requiring forensic analysis is being sent to the same out-of-state lab that has been used since the beginning of the case, the department said.</p><p>The FBI has said approximately 16 gloves were found in various spots near the house, most of which were searchers’ gloves that had been discarded.</p><h2>Sorting through tips</h2><p>The Pima County sheriff and the FBI announced&nbsp;<a href="https://pimasheriff.org/" target="_blank">phone numbers</a>&nbsp;and a&nbsp;<a href="https://tips.fbi.gov/home" target="_blank">website</a>&nbsp;to offer tips. Several hundred detectives and agents have been assigned to the case, the sheriff’s department said.</p><p>The FBI said it has collected more than 13,000 tips since Feb. 1. The sheriff’s department, meanwhile, said it has taken at least 18,000 calls.</p><p>The sheriff’s department has not said whether any tips have advanced the investigation.</p><p>On Tuesday, sheriff deputies detained a person for questioning during a traffic stop south of Tucson. Authorities didn’t say what led them to stop the man but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-arizona-6f1016e390e2c59d82604731f795a8ba">confirmed he was released</a>.</p><p>The same day, deputies and FBI agents conducted a court-authorized search in Rio Rico, about an hour’s drive south of the city.</p><h2>Family pleas</h2><p>Savannah Guthrie, her sister and her brother have gone on social media and shared&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nancy-guthrie-instagram-videos-timeline-37d24fdea0bbc787900d8c02ea34b390">multiple video messages</a>&nbsp;to their mother’s purported captor.</p><p>The family’s Instagram videos have shifted in tone from impassioned pleas to whoever may have their mom, saying they&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-nancy-guthrie-mom-missing-88e8731270d05e6e667730d2ed8633d3">want to talk</a>&nbsp;and are even willing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mom-missing-92dff046a91f2c5c0093f17cd3b7ad42">pay a ransom</a>, to bleaker and more desperate requests for the public’s help. A video on Thursday was simply a home video of their mother and a promise to “never give up on her.”</p><p>And on Sunday night, Savannah Guthrie posted an Instagram video in which she issued an appeal to whoever abducted her mother or anyone who knows where she is being kept. “It is never too late to do the right thing,” Guthrie said. “And we are here. And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being, that it’s never too late.”</p><h2>A quiet neighborhood</h2><p>Nancy Guthrie lived alone in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood, where houses are spaced far apart and set back from the street by long driveways, gates and dense desert vegetation.</p><p>Savannah Guthrie grew up in Tucson, graduated from the University of Arizona and once worked at a television station in the city, where her parents settled in the 1970s. She joined “Today” in 2011.</p><p>In a video, she described her mother as a “loving woman of goodness and light.”</p>

'Today' show host posts new video 2 weeks after mother's abduction

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said Sunday.

Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-oil-trump-sanctions-maduro-a2ef5b45b48365861e0a724d8c27dce3">smuggle crude into global supply chains</a>. President Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-what-to-know-a57528ff315a7f70ed51a1721f5e0bc2">then-President Nicolás Maduro</a>&nbsp;before Maduro was apprehended in January during an American military operation.

Several tankers fled the Venezuelan coast in the wake of the raid, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight. The Defense Department said in a post on X that U.S. forces boarded the Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”

“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.”

Video posted by the Pentagon shows U.S. troops boarding the tanker.

The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel under U.S. sanctions related to Iran, according to the website of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Panama Maritime Authority said Sunday in a brief statement that the ship was no longer registered there and had been canceled in December 2024.

The Veronica III left Venezuela on Jan. 3, the same day as Maduro’s capture, with nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil, TankerTrackers.com posted Sunday on X.

“Since 2023, she’s been involved with Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil,” the organization said.

Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told The Associated Press in January that his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine.

The Trump administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-oil-tanker-us-military-trump-086d42db3d56f0e952014f97fa30faaf">been seizing tankers</a>&nbsp;as part of its broader efforts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131">to take control</a>&nbsp;of the Venezuela’s oil. The Pentagon did not say in the post whether the Veronica III was formally seized and placed under U.S. control, and later told the AP in an email that it had no additional information to provide beyond that post.

Last week, the U.S. military&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-oil-tanker-boarded-sanctions-trump-4f414338f38aad774ce732ddd1ac7796">boarded a different tanker</a>&nbsp;in the Indian Ocean, the Aquila II. The ship was being held while its ultimate fate was decided by the United States, according to a defense official who spoke last week on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing decision-making.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Alma Solís in Panama City contributed to this report.

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military forces boarded another sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking the vessel from the Caribbean Sea in an effort to target illicit oil connected to Venezuela, the Pentagon said Sunday.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/asox5ONqtb">pic.twitter.com/asox5ONqtb</a></p>&mdash; Department of War 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofWar/status/2022998012591808827?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 15, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Venezuela had faced U.S. sanctions on its oil for several years, relying on a shadow fleet of falsely flagged tankers to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-oil-trump-sanctions-maduro-a2ef5b45b48365861e0a724d8c27dce3">smuggle crude into global supply chains</a>. President Donald Trump ordered a quarantine of sanctioned tankers in December to pressure&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-what-to-know-a57528ff315a7f70ed51a1721f5e0bc2">then-President Nicolás Maduro</a>&nbsp;before Maduro was apprehended in January during an American military operation.</p><p>Several tankers fled the Venezuelan coast in the wake of the raid, including the ship that was boarded in the Indian Ocean overnight. The Defense Department said in a post on X that U.S. forces boarded the Veronica III, conducting “a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding.”</p><p>“The vessel tried to defy President Trump’s quarantine — hoping to slip away,” the Pentagon said. “We tracked it from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, closed the distance, and shut it down.”</p><p>Video posted by the Pentagon shows U.S. troops boarding the tanker.</p><p>The Veronica III is a Panamanian-flagged vessel under U.S. sanctions related to Iran, according to the website of the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. The Panama Maritime Authority said Sunday in a brief statement that the ship was no longer registered there and had been canceled in December 2024.</p><p>The Veronica III left Venezuela on Jan. 3, the same day as Maduro’s capture, with nearly 2 million barrels of crude and fuel oil, TankerTrackers.com posted Sunday on X.</p><p>“Since 2023, she’s been involved with Russian, Iranian and Venezuelan oil,” the organization said.</p><p>Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, told The Associated Press in January that his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document that at least 16 tankers left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine.</p><p>The Trump administration has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-oil-tanker-us-military-trump-086d42db3d56f0e952014f97fa30faaf">been seizing tankers</a>&nbsp;as part of its broader efforts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-venezuela-oil-tanker-77f2c1441dda8217b37f9e38c3ae9131">to take control</a>&nbsp;of the Venezuela’s oil. The Pentagon did not say in the post whether the Veronica III was formally seized and placed under U.S. control, and later told the AP in an email that it had no additional information to provide beyond that post.</p><p>Last week, the U.S. military&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pentagon-oil-tanker-boarded-sanctions-trump-4f414338f38aad774ce732ddd1ac7796">boarded a different tanker</a>&nbsp;in the Indian Ocean, the Aquila II. The ship was being held while its ultimate fate was decided by the United States, according to a defense official who spoke last week on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing decision-making.</p><p>—-</p><p>Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Alma Solís in Panama City contributed to this report.</p>

🎥US military boards another oil tanker in Indian Ocean

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A  woman is going to prison for the shooting death of her boyfriend on his birthday.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/4/1713961470429.png" alt="Cavitt photo Sedgwick County" />
                        <figcaption>Cavitt photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A  woman is going to prison for the shooting death of her boyfriend on his birthday.</p><p>On Friday Judge Tyler Roush sentenced&nbsp;21-year-old Amunique Cavitt of Wichita to 165 months in prison, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office..</p><p>In December a jury found her guilty of 2nd degree intentional murder with a domestic violence finding, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.</p><p>Around noon April 23, 2024, police responded to the 1400 block of Minnesota Avenue in Wichita following reports of a shooting., according to police spokesman Andrew Ford. First responders found 34-year-old&nbsp; Norman E. Carter III with multiple gunshot wounds to his upper body.</p><p>Responding officers immediately started life-saving measures until Sedgwick County EMS arrived and transported Carter to a local hospital. He was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m, according to Ford.&nbsp; It was his birthday, according to<a href="https://www.heavenlygatesmortuary.com/obituary/norman-carter">&nbsp;his obituary.</a></p><p>Police detained a person of interest in their investigation and later booked&nbsp; &nbsp;Cavitt into jail.</p>