COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by that method, which he saw as preferable to the electric chair or lethal injection.

Three volunteer prison employees used rifles to carry out the execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, who was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.

Sigmon killed David and Gladys Larke in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.

Sigmon's lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would “cook him alive,” and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-brad-sigmon-lethal-injection-311af3d76e1b62e2cdd7a16f845811db">send a rush</a>&nbsp;of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.

The details of South Carolina's lethal injection method are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lethal-injection-shield-law-south-carolina-0a780c87072a7315d2f9da51337137bc">kept secret</a>&nbsp;in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.

On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-firing-squad-brad-sigmon-a80baef081a7b5456808541efa64d9b6">The armed prison employees</a>&nbsp;stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) from where he sat in the state’s death chamber — the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the state’s unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.

The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.

The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.

A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.

Witnesses included three family members of the Larkes. Also present were Sigmon’s attorney and spiritual advisor, a representative from the prosecuting solicitor's office, a sheriff's investigator and three members of the news media.

Sigmon's lawyer read a closing statement that he said was “one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”

Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Sigmon’s last meal was four pieces of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea.

The firing squad is an execution method with a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/firing-squad-death-penalty-south-carolina-sigmon-05000e874b12bb67c00832c2230f42c8">long and violent history</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.

In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as “All life is precious” and “Execute justice not people” gathered outside the prison before Sigmon's execution.

Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings and also that he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness.

But McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.

Gerald “Bo” King, chief of the capital habeas unit in the federal public defender’s office, said Sigmon “used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolina’s death row.”

“It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle,” King said in a statement. “But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.”

In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-state-government-legal-proceedings-crime-prisons-4dcfa79038356927e4584e6018c8410c">suspended executions for 13 years</a>, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.

The state Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-penalty-south-carolina-lethal-injection-418b9f5ef6e5e4257458fab60b2df3c5">cleared the way</a>&nbsp;to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-freddie-owens-lethal-injection-0e15aef91dfe9ac9667264dce7df0193">put to death</a>, on Sept. 20, after McMaster denied him clemency.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-richard-moore-clemency-e3e74f9309ec23eab220d93b7b0dfc29">Richard Moore</a>&nbsp;was executed on Nov. 1 and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-marion-bowman-lethal-injection-6ea9748c15f815e01249b6d706b0fb7e">Marion Bowman Jr.</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 31.

Going forward the court will allow an execution every five weeks.

South Carolina now has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doc.sc.gov/sites/doc/files/Documents/news/death-row-report.pdf">28 inmates</a>&nbsp;on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade.

Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741391683778.png" alt="Sigmon -South Carolina Dept. of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Sigmon -South Carolina Dept. of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina man who killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat was executed by firing squad Friday, the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by that method, which he saw as preferable to the electric chair or lethal injection.Three volunteer prison employees used rifles to carry out the execution of Brad Sigmon, 67, who was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m.Sigmon killed David and Gladys Larke in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. He told police he planned to take her for a romantic weekend, then kill her and himself.Sigmon's lawyers said he chose the firing squad because the electric chair would “cook him alive,” and he feared that a lethal injection of pentobarbital into his veins would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-brad-sigmon-lethal-injection-311af3d76e1b62e2cdd7a16f845811db">send a rush</a>&nbsp;of fluid and blood into his lungs and drown him.The details of South Carolina's lethal injection method are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lethal-injection-shield-law-south-carolina-0a780c87072a7315d2f9da51337137bc">kept secret</a>&nbsp;in South Carolina, and Sigmon unsuccessfully asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to pause his execution because of that.On Friday, Sigmon wore a black jumpsuit with a hood over his head and a white target with a red bullseye over his chest.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-firing-squad-brad-sigmon-a80baef081a7b5456808541efa64d9b6">The armed prison employees</a>&nbsp;stood 15 feet (4.6 meters) from where he sat in the state’s death chamber — the same distance as the backboard is from the free-throw line on a basketball court. Visible in the same small room was the state’s unused electric chair. The gurney used to carry out lethal injections had been rolled away.The volunteers all fired at the same time through openings in a wall. They were not visible to about a dozen witnesses in a room separated from the chamber by bullet-resistant glass. Sigmon made several heavy breaths during the two minutes that elapsed from when the hood was placed to the shots being fired.The shots, which sounded like they were fired at the same time, made a loud, jarring bang that caused witnesses to flinch. His arms briefly tensed when he was shot, and the target was blasted off his chest. He appeared to give another breath or two with a red stain on his chest, and small amounts of tissue could be seen from the wound during those breaths.A doctor came out about a minute later and examined Sigmon for 90 seconds before declaring him dead.Witnesses included three family members of the Larkes. Also present were Sigmon’s attorney and spiritual advisor, a representative from the prosecuting solicitor's office, a sheriff's investigator and three members of the news media.Sigmon's lawyer read a closing statement that he said was “one of love and a calling to my fellow Christians to help us end the death penalty.”Prison spokeswoman Chrysti Shain said Sigmon’s last meal was four pieces of fried chicken, green beans, mashed potatoes with gravy, biscuits, cheesecake and sweet tea.The firing squad is an execution method with a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/firing-squad-death-penalty-south-carolina-sigmon-05000e874b12bb67c00832c2230f42c8">long and violent history</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. and around the world. Death in a hail of bullets has been used to punish mutinies and desertion in armies, as frontier justice in America’s Old West and as a tool of terror and political repression in the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.Since 1977 only three other prisoners in the U.S. have been executed by firing squad. All were in Utah, most recently Ronnie Lee Gardner in 2010. Another Utah man, Ralph Menzies, could be next; he is awaiting the result of a hearing in which his lawyers argued that his dementia makes him unfit for execution.In South Carolina on Friday, a group of protesters holding signs with messages such as “All life is precious” and “Execute justice not people” gathered outside the prison before Sigmon's execution.Supporters and lawyers for Sigmon asked Republican Gov. Henry McMaster to commute his sentence to life in prison. They said he was a model prisoner trusted by guards and worked every day to atone for the killings and also that he committed the killings after succumbing to severe mental illness.But McMaster denied the clemency plea. No governor has ever commuted a death sentence in the state, where 46 other prisoners have been executed since the death penalty resumed in the U.S. in 1976. Seven have died in the electric chair and 39 others by lethal injection.Gerald “Bo” King, chief of the capital habeas unit in the federal public defender’s office, said Sigmon “used his final statement to call on his fellow people of faith to end the death penalty and spare the lives of the 28 men still locked up on South Carolina’s death row.”“It is unfathomable that, in 2025, South Carolina would execute one of its citizens in this bloody spectacle,” King said in a statement. “But South Carolina has ended the life of a man who has devoted himself to his faith, and to ministry and service to all around him. Brad admitted his guilt at trial and shared his deep grief for his crimes with his jury and, in the years since, with everyone who knew him.”In the early 2000s, South Carolina was among the busiest death penalty states, carrying out an average of three executions a year. But officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-state-government-legal-proceedings-crime-prisons-4dcfa79038356927e4584e6018c8410c">suspended executions for 13 years</a>, in part because they were unable to obtain lethal injection drugs.The state Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/death-penalty-south-carolina-lethal-injection-418b9f5ef6e5e4257458fab60b2df3c5">cleared the way</a>&nbsp;to resume them in July. Freddie Owens was the first to be&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-freddie-owens-lethal-injection-0e15aef91dfe9ac9667264dce7df0193">put to death</a>, on Sept. 20, after McMaster denied him clemency.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-richard-moore-clemency-e3e74f9309ec23eab220d93b7b0dfc29">Richard Moore</a>&nbsp;was executed on Nov. 1 and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-carolina-execution-marion-bowman-lethal-injection-6ea9748c15f815e01249b6d706b0fb7e">Marion Bowman Jr.</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 31.Going forward the court will allow an execution every five weeks.South Carolina now has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.doc.sc.gov/sites/doc/files/Documents/news/death-row-report.pdf">28 inmates</a>&nbsp;on its death row including two who have exhausted their appeals and are awaiting execution, most likely this spring. Just one man has been added to death row in the past decade.Before executions were paused, more than 60 people faced death sentences. Many of those have either had their sentences reduced to life or died in prison.___

Volunteers performed first U.S. firing squad execution in years

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp;

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration refused to commit to keeping access to medication abortion as it is now, or changing prescribing guidelines, in response to questions from both Democrats and Republicans during his confirmation hearing Thursday.&nbsp;

Martin Makary testified that if confirmed as FDA commissioner, which appeared likely, he will review data on mifepristone and follow the research where it leads him.

“I have no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy except to take a solid, hard look at the data and to meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA,” Makary said.

Medication abortion is a two-drug regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol that accounts for about 63% of all pregnancy terminations within the United States, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020" target="_blank">research&nbsp;</a>from the Guttmacher Institute.

The FDA originally approved mifepristone in 2000 and changed its prescribing guidelines in 2016 and 2021.

It is currently approved for use up to 10 weeks gestation and can be prescribed via telehealth and shipped to patients.

Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-unveils-his-lineup-fda-cdc-and-surgeon-general" target="_blank">announced in November</a>&nbsp;that he would nominate Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, to run the FDA.

Makary’s biography says he “has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards.”

“Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” according to his biography. “Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools.”

Republican members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee asked Makary questions that appeared to recommend he revert prescribing guidelines to what was in place before changes were made during the last decade.

Democrats seemed to suggest he should keep use as it is now during&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/senate-committee/fda-commissioner-nominee-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/656394" target="_blank">the nearly two-hour hearing.</a>

Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked if Makary would reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement that used to exist and require doctors to report all adverse events or medical complications to the FDA.

Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley — whose wife, Erin Morrow Hawley,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-supreme-court-justices-seem-skeptical-limits-access-abortion-medication" target="_blank">argued a case over access to mifepristone before the U.S. Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;— asked Makary if he would require a return to the “pre-political protocol that requires in-person dispensing for chemical abortion drugs.”

Makary replied that he thinks “it makes sense to review the totality of data and ongoing data.”

“I know personally of OB doctors who prefer to insist, even though they have the option to prescribe otherwise, but they choose to insist that mifepristone be taken when necessary, in their office, as they observe the person taking it,” Makary said. “And I think their concern there is that if this drug is in the wrong hands, it could be used for coercion.”

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan also asked Makary about his views on mifepristone and whether he would keep the current prescribing guidelines in place.

She said Democrats’ questions about access to the pharmaceuticals that are involved in medication abortion weren’t about him taking an analytical look at the data.

“The concern is whether you are going to unilaterally overrule the data that currently exists for political purposes and for political reasons, and that’s what we’re looking for your reassurance on,” Hassan said.&nbsp;

“You have told us you are an independent scientist. I believe that. You have a very distinguished career as a physician,” Hassan added. “But we need to know that when you say you’re an independent scientist, that’s really what you mean. And then with the politics get heated around abortion, that you won’t abandon that independence.”

Makary repeated his earlier comments that he had “no preconceived plans to make changes to the mifepristone policy” and that he planned to review the data, if confirmed.

Senators from both political parties asked Makary about the Trump administration firing probationary employees at the FDA and whether he would try to reinstate some of those former federal workers.

Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins told Makary that she expects any assessments about staffing at FDA are undertaken by him and not an “outside force.”

“In February, we learned that hundreds of probationary employees at FDA were dismissed. And this really concerns me, because we need a flow of young, new scientists and researchers, especially since we’re seeing retirements and resignations,” Collins said. “And ironically, more than half of the FDA employees are funded under various industry user fee agreements. So there is revenue coming into the FDA to pay for these employees.”

Makary testified he hasn’t been involved in any of the decisions on FDA staffing made so far during the Trump administration.

“But, if confirmed, you have my commitment that I will do an assessment,” he said.

In response to a question from Maryland Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks later in the hearing, Makary said he welcomed “input on efficiencies at the agency.”

“At the same time, I want to make sure that the scientists and food inspectors and staff central to the core mission of the agency have all the resources they need to do their job well,” Makary said.

The food side of FDA didn’t come up often during Makary’s confirmation hearing Thursday, though he did talk about where he thinks the federal agency should focus those efforts during an exchange with Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

Makary committed to have the FDA look at preservatives and other additives in food, saying the country has to “reassess what we’re doing, because we’re not on a good path right now.”

The federal government, he said, should also ensure children’s school lunches are healthier.

“One thing I would like to work on is a school lunch program for some school districts on a pilot basis to transition to healthier foods,” Makary testified. “A lot of school districts want to, but they don’t know how, and they may not have the funds. I’ve been discussing this with Jay Bhattacharya and others in the administration, and I hope that’s something we can do.”

Bhattacharya is Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health. He had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/nominee-head-nih-probed-us-senate-panel-vaccine-autism-research" target="_blank">his confirmation hearing&nbsp;</a>on Wednesday and is awaiting a confirmation vote.

Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski asked about the FDA’s food inspections and pressed Makary not to cut federal funding for state and local governments, which she said “conduct about 60% of food processing facility inspections, 90% of produce safety inspections, 100% of retail food inspections.”

“This impacts us in the state of Alaska, when it comes to our seafood industry and in other areas,” Murkowski said. “So I’m looking for a commitment from you that under the Trump administration, the FDA is going to maintain funding for these contracts with state and local governments. They’ve proven that it’s more cost-effective, more efficient, and it also is what Congress has asked for.”

Makary said he would be “happy” to look at it.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741307657776.png" alt="Dr. Makary image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Dr. Makary image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jennifer-shutt/">JENNIFER SHUTT</a>&nbsp;WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Food and Drug Administration refused to commit to keeping access to medication abortion as it is now, or changing prescribing guidelines, in response to questions from both Democrats and Republicans during his confirmation hearing Thursday.&nbsp;Martin Makary testified that if confirmed as FDA commissioner, which appeared likely, he will review data on mifepristone and follow the research where it leads him.“I have no preconceived plans on mifepristone policy except to take a solid, hard look at the data and to meet with the professional career scientists who have reviewed the data at the FDA,” Makary said.Medication abortion is a two-drug regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol that accounts for about 63% of all pregnancy terminations within the United States, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.guttmacher.org/2024/03/medication-abortion-accounted-63-all-us-abortions-2023-increase-53-2020" target="_blank">research&nbsp;</a>from the Guttmacher Institute.The FDA originally approved mifepristone in 2000 and changed its prescribing guidelines in 2016 and 2021.It is currently approved for use up to 10 weeks gestation and can be prescribed via telehealth and shipped to patients.Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-unveils-his-lineup-fda-cdc-and-surgeon-general" target="_blank">announced in November</a>&nbsp;that he would nominate Makary, a surgeon at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, to run the FDA.Makary’s biography says he “has published over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has served on several editorial boards.”“Dr. Makary served in leadership at the World Health Organization Patient Safety Program and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine,” according to his biography. “Clinically, Dr. Makary is the chief of Islet Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He is the recipient of the Nobility in Science Award from the National Pancreas Foundation and has been a visiting professor at over 25 medical schools.”<h2>Prescription changes?</h2>Republican members of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP, Committee asked Makary questions that appeared to recommend he revert prescribing guidelines to what was in place before changes were made during the last decade.Democrats seemed to suggest he should keep use as it is now during&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/senate-committee/fda-commissioner-nominee-testifies-at-confirmation-hearing/656394" target="_blank">the nearly two-hour hearing.</a>Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La., asked if Makary would reinstate the in-person dispensing requirement that used to exist and require doctors to report all adverse events or medical complications to the FDA.Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley — whose wife, Erin Morrow Hawley,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-supreme-court-justices-seem-skeptical-limits-access-abortion-medication" target="_blank">argued a case over access to mifepristone before the U.S. Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;— asked Makary if he would require a return to the “pre-political protocol that requires in-person dispensing for chemical abortion drugs.”Makary replied that he thinks “it makes sense to review the totality of data and ongoing data.”“I know personally of OB doctors who prefer to insist, even though they have the option to prescribe otherwise, but they choose to insist that mifepristone be taken when necessary, in their office, as they observe the person taking it,” Makary said. “And I think their concern there is that if this drug is in the wrong hands, it could be used for coercion.”New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan also asked Makary about his views on mifepristone and whether he would keep the current prescribing guidelines in place.She said Democrats’ questions about access to the pharmaceuticals that are involved in medication abortion weren’t about him taking an analytical look at the data.“The concern is whether you are going to unilaterally overrule the data that currently exists for political purposes and for political reasons, and that’s what we’re looking for your reassurance on,” Hassan said.&nbsp;“You have told us you are an independent scientist. I believe that. You have a very distinguished career as a physician,” Hassan added. “But we need to know that when you say you’re an independent scientist, that’s really what you mean. And then with the politics get heated around abortion, that you won’t abandon that independence.”Makary repeated his earlier comments that he had “no preconceived plans to make changes to the mifepristone policy” and that he planned to review the data, if confirmed.<h2>FDA firings</h2>Senators from both political parties asked Makary about the Trump administration firing probationary employees at the FDA and whether he would try to reinstate some of those former federal workers.Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins told Makary that she expects any assessments about staffing at FDA are undertaken by him and not an “outside force.”“In February, we learned that hundreds of probationary employees at FDA were dismissed. And this really concerns me, because we need a flow of young, new scientists and researchers, especially since we’re seeing retirements and resignations,” Collins said. “And ironically, more than half of the FDA employees are funded under various industry user fee agreements. So there is revenue coming into the FDA to pay for these employees.”Makary testified he hasn’t been involved in any of the decisions on FDA staffing made so far during the Trump administration.“But, if confirmed, you have my commitment that I will do an assessment,” he said.In response to a question from Maryland Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks later in the hearing, Makary said he welcomed “input on efficiencies at the agency.”“At the same time, I want to make sure that the scientists and food inspectors and staff central to the core mission of the agency have all the resources they need to do their job well,” Makary said.<h2>Food safety</h2>The food side of FDA didn’t come up often during Makary’s confirmation hearing Thursday, though he did talk about where he thinks the federal agency should focus those efforts during an exchange with Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville.Makary committed to have the FDA look at preservatives and other additives in food, saying the country has to “reassess what we’re doing, because we’re not on a good path right now.”The federal government, he said, should also ensure children’s school lunches are healthier.“One thing I would like to work on is a school lunch program for some school districts on a pilot basis to transition to healthier foods,” Makary testified. “A lot of school districts want to, but they don’t know how, and they may not have the funds. I’ve been discussing this with Jay Bhattacharya and others in the administration, and I hope that’s something we can do.”Bhattacharya is Trump’s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health. He had&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/nominee-head-nih-probed-us-senate-panel-vaccine-autism-research" target="_blank">his confirmation hearing&nbsp;</a>on Wednesday and is awaiting a confirmation vote.Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski asked about the FDA’s food inspections and pressed Makary not to cut federal funding for state and local governments, which she said “conduct about 60% of food processing facility inspections, 90% of produce safety inspections, 100% of retail food inspections.”“This impacts us in the state of Alaska, when it comes to our seafood industry and in other areas,” Murkowski said. “So I’m looking for a commitment from you that under the Trump administration, the FDA is going to maintain funding for these contracts with state and local governments. They’ve proven that it’s more cost-effective, more efficient, and it also is what Congress has asked for.”Makary said he would be “happy” to look at it.&nbsp;

Trump nominee to head up FDA made no commitments on abortion pill access

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a homicide in Topeka.

Just after 3a.m. Saturday police responded to a reported shooting in the 2900 block of SE Freemont Road in Topeka, according to Police&nbsp;LT Donna Eubanks. First responders located one individual with life-threatening injuries who was pronounced deceased on scene by medical personnel.

Topeka Police were later notified of two other individuals that had arrived at an area hospital. One individual had life-threatening injuries and one a non-life-threatening injury.

This is the city’s 3rd homicide investigation of 2025.&nbsp; Police released no additional details early Saturday.

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a homicide in Topeka.Just after 3a.m. Saturday police responded to a reported shooting in the 2900 block of SE Freemont Road in Topeka, according to Police&nbsp;LT Donna Eubanks. First responders located one individual with life-threatening injuries who was pronounced deceased on scene by medical personnel.Topeka Police were later notified of two other individuals that had arrived at an area hospital. One individual had life-threatening injuries and one a non-life-threatening injury.This is the city’s 3rd homicide investigation of 2025.&nbsp; Police released no additional details early Saturday.

Police: 1 dead, 2 hospitalized after Kansas gunfight

WASHINGTON (AP) —Most of America “springs forward” Sunday for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spring-forward-time-change-daylight-saving-41beeca27270e67482b6a2e2904034bb">daylight saving time</a>.

Last December, President Trump said on his social media platform: “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”

He softened those comments Thursday when asked about the switch to daylight saving time that begins on Sunday.

“It’s a 50-50 issue. When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”

WASHINGTON (AP) —Most of America “springs forward” Sunday for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spring-forward-time-change-daylight-saving-41beeca27270e67482b6a2e2904034bb">daylight saving time</a>.Last December, President Trump said on his social media platform: “The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">POTUS on Daylight Savings: &quot;It&#39;s a 50/50 issue and if something is a 50/50 issue, it&#39;s hard to get excited about it. I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don&#39;t want to take their kids to school in the… <a href="https://t.co/ytn6C0AMRS">pic.twitter.com/ytn6C0AMRS</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1897741126309982210?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>He softened those comments Thursday when asked about the switch to daylight saving time that begins on Sunday.“It’s a 50-50 issue. When something’s a 50-50 issue, it’s hard to get excited about it,” he said. “I assume people would like to have more light later, but some people want to have more light earlier because they don’t want to take their kids to school in the dark.”

🎥President Trump walks back threat to end daylight saving time

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans returned from last year’s Republican National Convention dismayed by the party’s decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2024/07/08/rnc-softens-platform-stance-on-abortion/" target="_blank">soften its stance on abortion</a>.

The RNC platform would only go so far as to oppose late-term abortion.

Part of the problem, as Kansas House Majority Leader Chris Croft explained in a private video meeting with Republicans on July 26, was the ripple effect of Kansas voters overwhelmingly supporting abortion rights in the August 2022 election. Kansas Reflector obtained a recording from the meeting.

“Everybody was talking about how Kansas lost Value Them Both, and it affected the rest of the country,” Croft said during his weekly call with select Johnson County Republicans and invited guests.

For Croft, the issue underscored the need for Republicans to preserve their supermajorities in the Kansas House and Senate, which would allow them to overhaul the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected. He promised to “work on it” in the 2025 legislative session, but there was a catch.

“Remember, the problem last time was we could not agree amongst ourselves what the heck we wanted,” Croft said. “Do we want to use the federal selection process, or do we want to use election? And we got to get this thing figured out and move forward until we get it done.”

Kansas voters overwhelmingly supported anti-abortion candidates in November, expanding the GOP supermajorities in both chambers at the Statehouse and setting the stage for an overhaul of the judicial selection process.

On Thursday, the Kansas Senate adopted a resolution that calls for the election of justices to the Kansas Supreme Court by popular vote. The House now has a choice: Accept the Senate’s resolution, pass an alternative, or table the issue for another year.

The stakes, as Croft made clear last July, include abortion rights. Opponents also fear that elected justices could overturn rulings that require adequate and equitable funding of public schools.

Senate Republican leadership took a victory lap Thursday after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1611/" target="_blank">Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611</a>&nbsp;passed by a 27-13 vote, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/vote_view/je_20250306152736_842568/" target="_blank">four Republicans joining Democrats</a>&nbsp;in dissent. The resolution, which required 27 votes in the Senate and would require 84 votes in the House, would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in August 2026 that asks voters to replace the decades-old merit-based selection of justices with direct elections.

Under the current system, the&nbsp;<a href="https://kscourts.gov/Judges/Become-a-Judge/Supreme-Court-Nominating-Commission" target="_blank">Supreme Court Nominating Commission</a>&nbsp;reviews applications for a vacancy and sends three finalists to the governor, who makes the appointment from those three finalists. The commission consists of five attorneys who are elected by attorneys, and four members appointed by the governor. Justices already are subjected to retention votes after they are appointed and again every six years.

“Rather than a system that consolidates authority in the hands of an elite society of super voters, it’s time to restore the power to all Kansans,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican.

Before the vote, 17 organizations issued a joint statement opposing the resolution and supporting the current method for selecting justices. The organizations include the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, Kansas National Education Association, Kansas AFL-CIO, and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas.

The statement warned of the likelihood, based on elections in other states, that dark money would dominate the judiciary.

“SCR 1611 shifts too much power over the selection of Kansas Supreme Court justices to special interests outside the state of Kansas who do not care about the rule of law in our state,” the statement read.

After the Senate vote, Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, wrote on X: “Republicans are mad that our Supreme Court wanted us to fully fund school and not ban abortions so now they want to change the Supreme Court.”

House Republican leadership has not publicly indicated whether it will take up the Senate’s resolution or produce its own. One alternative would be to require Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointments.

When Croft, an Overland Park Republican, brought the issue up in July, he lamented that “nobody in the Legislature gets a vote” on those appointments.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741385265690.png" alt=" House Majority Leader Chris Croft talks to colleagues during a Feb. 25, 2025, session of the House. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> House Majority Leader Chris Croft talks to colleagues during a Feb. 25, 2025, session of the House. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/sherman-smith/">SHERMAN SMITH</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans returned from last year’s Republican National Convention dismayed by the party’s decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://rollcall.com/2024/07/08/rnc-softens-platform-stance-on-abortion/" target="_blank">soften its stance on abortion</a>.The RNC platform would only go so far as to oppose late-term abortion.Part of the problem, as Kansas House Majority Leader Chris Croft explained in a private video meeting with Republicans on July 26, was the ripple effect of Kansas voters overwhelmingly supporting abortion rights in the August 2022 election. Kansas Reflector obtained a recording from the meeting.“Everybody was talking about how Kansas lost Value Them Both, and it affected the rest of the country,” Croft said during his weekly call with select Johnson County Republicans and invited guests.For Croft, the issue underscored the need for Republicans to preserve their supermajorities in the Kansas House and Senate, which would allow them to overhaul the way Kansas Supreme Court justices are selected. He promised to “work on it” in the 2025 legislative session, but there was a catch.“Remember, the problem last time was we could not agree amongst ourselves what the heck we wanted,” Croft said. “Do we want to use the federal selection process, or do we want to use election? And we got to get this thing figured out and move forward until we get it done.”Kansas voters overwhelmingly supported anti-abortion candidates in November, expanding the GOP supermajorities in both chambers at the Statehouse and setting the stage for an overhaul of the judicial selection process.On Thursday, the Kansas Senate adopted a resolution that calls for the election of justices to the Kansas Supreme Court by popular vote. The House now has a choice: Accept the Senate’s resolution, pass an alternative, or table the issue for another year.The stakes, as Croft made clear last July, include abortion rights. Opponents also fear that elected justices could overturn rulings that require adequate and equitable funding of public schools.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741385213225.png" alt=" Senate President Ty Masterson presides over the Senate on March 5, 2025, before debating a resolution to make the Kansas Supreme Court an elected office. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Senate President Ty Masterson presides over the Senate on March 5, 2025, before debating a resolution to make the Kansas Supreme Court an elected office. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>Senate Republican leadership took a victory lap Thursday after&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1611/" target="_blank">Senate Concurrent Resolution 1611</a>&nbsp;passed by a 27-13 vote, with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/vote_view/je_20250306152736_842568/" target="_blank">four Republicans joining Democrats</a>&nbsp;in dissent. The resolution, which required 27 votes in the Senate and would require 84 votes in the House, would place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in August 2026 that asks voters to replace the decades-old merit-based selection of justices with direct elections.Under the current system, the&nbsp;<a href="https://kscourts.gov/Judges/Become-a-Judge/Supreme-Court-Nominating-Commission" target="_blank">Supreme Court Nominating Commission</a>&nbsp;reviews applications for a vacancy and sends three finalists to the governor, who makes the appointment from those three finalists. The commission consists of five attorneys who are elected by attorneys, and four members appointed by the governor. Justices already are subjected to retention votes after they are appointed and again every six years.“Rather than a system that consolidates authority in the hands of an elite society of super voters, it’s time to restore the power to all Kansans,” said Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican.Before the vote, 17 organizations issued a joint statement opposing the resolution and supporting the current method for selecting justices. The organizations include the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes, Kansas National Education Association, Kansas AFL-CIO, and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas.The statement warned of the likelihood, based on elections in other states, that dark money would dominate the judiciary.“SCR 1611 shifts too much power over the selection of Kansas Supreme Court justices to special interests outside the state of Kansas who do not care about the rule of law in our state,” the statement read.After the Senate vote, Rep. Rui Xu, a Westwood Democrat, wrote on X: “Republicans are mad that our Supreme Court wanted us to fully fund school and not ban abortions so now they want to change the Supreme Court.”House Republican leadership has not publicly indicated whether it will take up the Senate’s resolution or produce its own. One alternative would be to require Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointments.When Croft, an Overland Park Republican, brought the issue up in July, he lamented that “nobody in the Legislature gets a vote” on those appointments.“That’s gotta be fixed,” he said.

Kansas Senate adopts plan to elect Supreme Court justices, a step toward overturning abortion rights

SEDGWICK COUNTY—The Wichita Police Department continues asking for information about the whereabouts of Brent Cruz, who is wanted in connection with a homicide investigation from 2022.

If you know his whereabouts, please call 911 immediately or contact WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—The Wichita Police Department continues asking for information about the whereabouts of Brent Cruz, who is wanted in connection with a homicide investigation from 2022.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740681835763.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>If you know his whereabouts, please call 911 immediately or contact WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407.

Police: Search continues for Kansas homicide suspect

DENVER (AP) — Immigration authorities don't need to revert to a Biden-era policy limiting arrests at schools after officials in Denver challenged new policies from the Trump administration, a federal judge ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said Denver Public Schools failed to prove that a drop in attendance was due to the Trump administration's new policy. It wasn’t clear how much of the fear surrounding possible enforcement actions in schools was really due to the new rules as opposed to broader concerns of increased immigration actions, he said.

The new policy has not yet been acted upon, according to a group representing large urban school districts across the U.S.

Besides a drop in attendance, Denver Public Schools says it has had to divert resources to respond to fear among students and families over the lifting of longtime rules restricting immigration enforcement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-sensitive-locations-trump-ab0d2d2652e9df696f14410ebb52a1fc">near schools, churches and other sensitive locations</a>.

“This includes providing mental health support to students, diverting administrator attention from academics to immigration issues, and assisting students who miss school to catch up,” lawyers for the school district said in their request to block the new rules.

The ruling came just days after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and the Democratic leaders of other cities were in Washington to answer questions from Republican members of Congress about their their so-called&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-sanctuary-cities-trump-immigration-border-49766af8d0bad4be8b4e46d0ffa0ab02">sanctuary city policies</a>&nbsp;that they see as undermining President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-address-congress-takeaways-partisan-divide-b25327f1c728190102c2a7ade61cb498">Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;immigration and mass deportation efforts. The lawsuit was brought by the school district, not the city.

Under the previous “sensitive locations” guidance issued in 2021, officers were generally required to get approval for any enforcement operations at those locations, although exceptions were allowed for matters like national security. The change announced in January by the acting leader of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, scrapped that guidance and emphasized that field agents should use “common sense” and “discretion” to conduct immigration enforcement operations.

However, Domenico noted that the head of ICE later issued a directive for its officers that immigration arrests at sensitive places like schools still had to be approved by supervisors. The fear over the new rules, as well as the belief that the old rules provided protection to schools, both seem to be “overstated", Domenico said.

Domenico, a Trump appointee and Colorado's former solicitor general, denied a request that he grant a nationwide preliminary injunction forcing immigration officials to revert to the 2021 guidance.

Denver Public Schools issued a statement expressing disappointment in his ruling, while asserting that its lawsuit was successful in making public details of the Trump administration rules.

Arrests at schools have been rare. According to data from ICE cited by lawyers for Denver schools, there were only two immigration arrests made in schools between 2018 and 2020 along with 18 arrests near schools.

There have not been any arrests at schools under the new policy as of last week, according to a filing submitted by the Council of the Great City Schools in support of Denver’s lawsuit.

Last month, a federal judge in Maryland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dhs-immigration-agents-churches-trump-7c12f2509966dadeba98e920578f24c2">blocked immigration agents</a>&nbsp;from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-immigration-california-migrants-c23754f4ed025097af119c660cf6b788">Quakers</a>&nbsp;and a handful of other religious groups after they filed a lawsuit challenging the directive. The order does not apply to any religious groups beyond the ones who brought the lawsuit.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1738002670796.png" alt="File photo Homeland Security" />
 <figcaption>File photo Homeland Security</figcaption>
 </figure>DENVER (AP) — Immigration authorities don't need to revert to a Biden-era policy limiting arrests at schools after officials in Denver challenged new policies from the Trump administration, a federal judge ruled Friday.U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico said Denver Public Schools failed to prove that a drop in attendance was due to the Trump administration's new policy. It wasn’t clear how much of the fear surrounding possible enforcement actions in schools was really due to the new rules as opposed to broader concerns of increased immigration actions, he said.The new policy has not yet been acted upon, according to a group representing large urban school districts across the U.S.Besides a drop in attendance, Denver Public Schools says it has had to divert resources to respond to fear among students and families over the lifting of longtime rules restricting immigration enforcement&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-enforcement-sensitive-locations-trump-ab0d2d2652e9df696f14410ebb52a1fc">near schools, churches and other sensitive locations</a>.“This includes providing mental health support to students, diverting administrator attention from academics to immigration issues, and assisting students who miss school to catch up,” lawyers for the school district said in their request to block the new rules.The ruling came just days after Denver Mayor Mike Johnston and the Democratic leaders of other cities were in Washington to answer questions from Republican members of Congress about their their so-called&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-sanctuary-cities-trump-immigration-border-49766af8d0bad4be8b4e46d0ffa0ab02">sanctuary city policies</a>&nbsp;that they see as undermining President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-address-congress-takeaways-partisan-divide-b25327f1c728190102c2a7ade61cb498">Donald Trump’s</a>&nbsp;immigration and mass deportation efforts. The lawsuit was brought by the school district, not the city.Under the previous “sensitive locations” guidance issued in 2021, officers were generally required to get approval for any enforcement operations at those locations, although exceptions were allowed for matters like national security. The change announced in January by the acting leader of the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement, scrapped that guidance and emphasized that field agents should use “common sense” and “discretion” to conduct immigration enforcement operations.However, Domenico noted that the head of ICE later issued a directive for its officers that immigration arrests at sensitive places like schools still had to be approved by supervisors. The fear over the new rules, as well as the belief that the old rules provided protection to schools, both seem to be “overstated", Domenico said.Domenico, a Trump appointee and Colorado's former solicitor general, denied a request that he grant a nationwide preliminary injunction forcing immigration officials to revert to the 2021 guidance.Denver Public Schools issued a statement expressing disappointment in his ruling, while asserting that its lawsuit was successful in making public details of the Trump administration rules.Arrests at schools have been rare. According to data from ICE cited by lawyers for Denver schools, there were only two immigration arrests made in schools between 2018 and 2020 along with 18 arrests near schools.There have not been any arrests at schools under the new policy as of last week, according to a filing submitted by the Council of the Great City Schools in support of Denver’s lawsuit.Last month, a federal judge in Maryland&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dhs-immigration-agents-churches-trump-7c12f2509966dadeba98e920578f24c2">blocked immigration agents</a>&nbsp;from conducting enforcement operations in houses of worship for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-immigration-california-migrants-c23754f4ed025097af119c660cf6b788">Quakers</a>&nbsp;and a handful of other religious groups after they filed a lawsuit challenging the directive. The order does not apply to any religious groups beyond the ones who brought the lawsuit.

Federal judge won't order immigration officials to change school arrests policy

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City is facing charges for stealing a Kansas City Area Transportation Authority city bus and then assaulting an officer, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2524/PRATT-Complaint-Redacted">Shahid Pratt, 49, was charged</a>&nbsp;with Assault in the 2nd Degree, Stealing a Motor Vehicle, and Tampering in the 1st Degree.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2525/Shahid-Pratt-PC">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police responded to the area of East 75th Street and Prospect Avenue regarding a stolen KCATA bus and observed Pratt in the driver’s seat. Officers gave Pratt multiple verbal commands to exit the bus, and he refused.

When officers attempted to unlock the bus doors, the defendant reached out of the driver’s window and struck an officer with a metal bar. Officers were able to use multiple less-lethal options to detain him.

Pratt has 11 prior felony convictions. He remains jailed on a $50,000 bond, according to the Johnson.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741383836374.png" alt="Pratt photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Pratt photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City is facing charges for stealing a Kansas City Area Transportation Authority city bus and then assaulting an officer, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2524/PRATT-Complaint-Redacted">Shahid Pratt, 49, was charged</a>&nbsp;with Assault in the 2nd Degree, Stealing a Motor Vehicle, and Tampering in the 1st Degree.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2525/Shahid-Pratt-PC">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police responded to the area of East 75th Street and Prospect Avenue regarding a stolen KCATA bus and observed Pratt in the driver’s seat. Officers gave Pratt multiple verbal commands to exit the bus, and he refused. When officers attempted to unlock the bus doors, the defendant reached out of the driver’s window and struck an officer with a metal bar. Officers were able to use multiple less-lethal options to detain him.Pratt has 11 prior felony convictions. He remains jailed on a $50,000 bond, according to the Johnson.&nbsp;

Man accused of stealing a Kansas City public transit bus

Hutchinson, KAN. –&nbsp;Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) resident Devon Malechi Stutesman, 24, died Monday, March 3, 2025. Stutesman was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived. He was transported to a local hospital where he died Monday afternoon. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.

Stutesman was serving a 122-month sentence for convictions of possession and distribution of heroin and attempt to traffic firearms into a correctional facility in Lyon County, Kansas.

Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741376489351.png" alt="Stutesman photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Stutesman photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>Hutchinson, KAN. –&nbsp;Hutchinson Correctional Facility (HCF) resident Devon Malechi Stutesman, 24, died Monday, March 3, 2025. Stutesman was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.Staff began life-saving measures immediately and continued after emergency medical services arrived. He was transported to a local hospital where he died Monday afternoon. The cause of death is pending the results of an independent autopsy.Stutesman was serving a 122-month sentence for convictions of possession and distribution of heroin and attempt to traffic firearms into a correctional facility in Lyon County, Kansas.Per protocol, when a resident dies in the custody of the KDOC, the death is under investigation by the KDOC and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. The investigation is ongoing.

Kan. inmate serving time for selling heroin has died

FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug allegations.

On March 5, the Garden City Police Department and Finney County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at 109 N. Taylor Avenue in Garden City as part of an extensive narcotics investigation by the Garden City/Finney County Joint Drug Task Force, according to a media release.

The warrant was served with the assistance of the Garden City/Finney County SWAT Team, Dodge City SWAT Team, and Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

During the service of the search warrant, Francisco Gracia Jr., 44, and Britta Thompson, 42, were located and taken into custody without incident. Inside the residence, suspected methamphetamine and marijuana, various drug paraphernalia indicative of the distribution and consumption of illegal narcotics, a firearm, and numerous rounds of ammunition were seized as evidence.

Gracia Jr. is being held on requested charges of Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Distribute, Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Distribute, Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia with the Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Thompson is being held on an outstanding warrant.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741314466232.png" alt="Gracia photo Finney Co." />
 <figcaption>Gracia photo Finney Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug allegations.On March 5, the Garden City Police Department and Finney County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at 109 N. Taylor Avenue in Garden City as part of an extensive narcotics investigation by the Garden City/Finney County Joint Drug Task Force, according to a media release.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741314383535.png" alt="Thompson photo Finney Co." />
 <figcaption>Thompson photo Finney Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>The warrant was served with the assistance of the Garden City/Finney County SWAT Team, Dodge City SWAT Team, and Kansas Bureau of Investigation.During the service of the search warrant, Francisco Gracia Jr., 44, and Britta Thompson, 42, were located and taken into custody without incident. Inside the residence, suspected methamphetamine and marijuana, various drug paraphernalia indicative of the distribution and consumption of illegal narcotics, a firearm, and numerous rounds of ammunition were seized as evidence.Gracia Jr. is being held on requested charges of Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Distribute, Possession of Marijuana with the Intent to Distribute, Criminal Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia with the Intent to Distribute and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Thompson is being held on an outstanding warrant.

SWAT team helps make drug bust at SW Kansas home

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gene-hackman">Actor Gene Hackman</a>&nbsp;died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-betsy-arakawa-hantavirus-death-rodent-af52b4943d854b52a5da36100113bc1b">hantavirus</a>&nbsp;in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, authorities revealed Friday.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-obituary-dies-a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d">Both deaths</a>&nbsp;were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference.

“Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Jarrell said. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.”

Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/betsy-arakawa-obit-gene-hackman-f7813a04c0313f6eaf73828ec54bd298">Betsy Arakawa</a>, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-betsy-arakawa-dead-investigation-f77231a7a04bb7eff5de3c391d56a031">carbon monoxide poisoning were negative</a>.

Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday.

Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm on Feb. 18., the day he likely died, Jarrell said.

Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said.

“It’s quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Jarrell said.

Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer’s disease and unable to deal with his wife’s death in the last week of his life.

“You are talking about very severe Alzheimer’s disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care of him until she passed away,” Baden said.

Their bodies were found a little over a week later. Hackman was found in the home’s entryway. His death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing.

Arakawa was found in a bathroom. Authorities linked her death to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. Thyroid medication pills prescribed to Arakawa were found nearby and weren’t listed as contributing to her death, Jarrell said.

Hantavirus typically is reported in spring and summer, often due to exposures that occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas. This is the first confirmed case of hantavirus in New Mexico this year.

While hantavirus is found throughout the world, most cases in the U.S. have been found in western states. The virus can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection. Symptoms can include coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest.

Jarrell said it was not known how quickly Arakawa died.

Investigators earlier retrieved personal items from the couple’s home, including a monthly planner and two cellphones.

One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs survived. Authorities initially&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-died-dogs-santa-fe-22d7f6921577f012c87027de8652795d">misidentified the breed</a>.

Dogs do not get sick from hantavirus, said Erin Phipps, a veterinarian with the New Mexico Health Department. A necropsy will be done on the dog. The sheriff considers this an open investigation until they finish checking into cellphone data and receive results of the dog’s necropsy.

When Hackman and Arakawa were found, the bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet (2,200 meters).

Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including “The French Connection,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-sports-hoosiers-7bcee7d0694f1daee94057ac7ec33430">“Hoosiers”</a>&nbsp;and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.

Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.

The couple’s stucco, Pueblo-revival style home sits on a hill in a gated community at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-santa-fe-new-mexico-1ad28385c861861f289516767410267f">Santa Fe</a>&nbsp;is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.

Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood’s social circuit. He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740789743372.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gene-hackman">Actor Gene Hackman</a>&nbsp;died of heart disease a full week after his wife died from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-betsy-arakawa-hantavirus-death-rodent-af52b4943d854b52a5da36100113bc1b">hantavirus</a>&nbsp;in their New Mexico hillside home, likely unaware that she was dead because he was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, authorities revealed Friday.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-obituary-dies-a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d">Both deaths</a>&nbsp;were ruled to be from natural causes, chief medical examiner Dr. Heather Jarrell said alongside state fire and health officials at a news conference.“Mr. Hackman showed evidence of advanced Alzheimer’s disease,” Jarrell said. “He was in a very poor state of health. He had significant heart disease, and I think ultimately that’s what resulted in his death.”Authorities didn't suspect foul play after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/betsy-arakawa-obit-gene-hackman-f7813a04c0313f6eaf73828ec54bd298">Betsy Arakawa</a>, 65, were discovered Feb 26. Immediate tests for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-betsy-arakawa-dead-investigation-f77231a7a04bb7eff5de3c391d56a031">carbon monoxide poisoning were negative</a>.Investigators found that the last known communication and activity from Arakawa was Feb. 11 when she visited a pharmacy, pet store and grocery before returning to their gated neighborhood that afternoon, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said Friday.Hackman's pacemaker last showed signs of activity a week later and that he had an abnormal heart rhythm on Feb. 18., the day he likely died, Jarrell said.Although there was no reliable way to determine the date and time when both died, all signs point to their deaths coming a week apart, Jarrell said.“It’s quite possible he was not aware she was deceased,” Jarrell said.Dr. Michael Baden, a former New York City medical examiner, said he believes Hackman was severely impaired due to Alzheimer’s disease and unable to deal with his wife’s death in the last week of his life.“You are talking about very severe Alzheimer’s disease that normal people would be in a nursing home or have a nurse, but she was taking care of him until she passed away,” Baden said.Their bodies were found a little over a week later. Hackman was found in the home’s entryway. His death was tied to heart disease with Alzheimer’s disease contributing.Arakawa was found in a bathroom. Authorities linked her death to hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by infected rodent droppings. Thyroid medication pills prescribed to Arakawa were found nearby and weren’t listed as contributing to her death, Jarrell said.Hantavirus typically is reported in spring and summer, often due to exposures that occur when people are near mouse droppings in homes, sheds or poorly ventilated areas. This is the first confirmed case of hantavirus in New Mexico this year.While hantavirus is found throughout the world, most cases in the U.S. have been found in western states. The virus can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection. Symptoms can include coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest.Jarrell said it was not known how quickly Arakawa died.Investigators earlier retrieved personal items from the couple’s home, including a monthly planner and two cellphones.One of the couple’s three dogs also was found dead in a crate in a bathroom closet near Arakawa, while two other dogs survived. Authorities initially&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-died-dogs-santa-fe-22d7f6921577f012c87027de8652795d">misidentified the breed</a>.Dogs do not get sick from hantavirus, said Erin Phipps, a veterinarian with the New Mexico Health Department. A necropsy will be done on the dog. The sheriff considers this an open investigation until they finish checking into cellphone data and receive results of the dog’s necropsy.When Hackman and Arakawa were found, the bodies were decomposing with some mummification, a consequence of body type and climate in Santa Fe’s especially dry air at an elevation of nearly 7,200 feet (2,200 meters).Hackman, a Hollywood icon, won two Oscars during a storied career in films including “The French Connection,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-sports-hoosiers-7bcee7d0694f1daee94057ac7ec33430">“Hoosiers”</a>&nbsp;and “Superman” from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s.Arakawa, born in Hawaii, studied as a concert pianist, attended the University of Southern California and met Hackman in the mid-1980s while working at a California gym.The couple’s stucco, Pueblo-revival style home sits on a hill in a gated community at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gene-hackman-santa-fe-new-mexico-1ad28385c861861f289516767410267f">Santa Fe</a>&nbsp;is known as a refuge for celebrities, artists and authors.Hackman dedicated much of his time in retirement to painting and writing novels far from Hollywood’s social circuit. He served for several years on the board of trustees at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, and he and his wife were investors in local businesses.___

Authorities reveal what killed actor Gene Hackman and his wife

BY&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/devi-shastri">DEVI SHASTRI</a> Associated Press

An adult who was infected with measles has died in New Mexico, state health officials announced Thursday, though the virus has not been confirmed as the cause.

The person who died was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care, a state health department spokesperson said in a statement. The person’s exact age and other details were not immediately released.

The person was from Lea County, just across the state line from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-texas-rfk-vaccines-8cf4641b04731c713edb524ca943490c">the West Texas</a>&nbsp;region where 159 measles cases have been identified and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-west-texas-death-rfk-41adc66641e4a56ce2b2677480031ab9">a school-age child died last week</a>. New Mexico health officials have not linked the outbreak there to the Texas cases.

The person is the 10th in Lea County to have a confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-mmr-vaccine-texas-rfk-ff8e744b19ead87698d7217de02814ee">measles infection</a>. Seven were unvaccinated. The vaccination status of the other three is unknown. Six of the cases are in adults and the rest are in children younger than 17.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that they were sending a team to Texas to help local public health officials respond to the outbreak, which began in late January.

Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/measles/hcp/index.html" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>.

he measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.

“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” said Dr. Chad Smelser, the deputy state epidemiologist. “The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740584009532.png" alt="A sign warning of measles is posted on a glass door as a patient checks in for an appointment in the family medicine wing of at the Texas Tech Physicians of the Permian Basin Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Odessa, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)" />
 <figcaption>A sign warning of measles is posted on a glass door as a patient checks in for an appointment in the family medicine wing of at the Texas Tech Physicians of the Permian Basin Monday, Feb. 24, 2025, in Odessa, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/devi-shastri">DEVI SHASTRI</a> Associated PressAn adult who was infected with measles has died in New Mexico, state health officials announced Thursday, though the virus has not been confirmed as the cause.The person who died was unvaccinated and did not seek medical care, a state health department spokesperson said in a statement. The person’s exact age and other details were not immediately released.The person was from Lea County, just across the state line from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-texas-rfk-vaccines-8cf4641b04731c713edb524ca943490c">the West Texas</a>&nbsp;region where 159 measles cases have been identified and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-west-texas-death-rfk-41adc66641e4a56ce2b2677480031ab9">a school-age child died last week</a>. New Mexico health officials have not linked the outbreak there to the Texas cases.The person is the 10th in Lea County to have a confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/measles-mmr-vaccine-texas-rfk-ff8e744b19ead87698d7217de02814ee">measles infection</a>. Seven were unvaccinated. The vaccination status of the other three is unknown. Six of the cases are in adults and the rest are in children younger than 17.On Tuesday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that they were sending a team to Texas to help local public health officials respond to the outbreak, which began in late January.Measles is a respiratory virus that can survive in the air for up to two hours. Up to 9 out of 10 people who are susceptible will get the virus if exposed,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/measles/hcp/index.html" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>.he measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe and highly effective at preventing infection and severe cases. The first shot is recommended for children ages 12 to 15 months, and the second for ages 4 to 6 years.“We don’t want to see New Mexicans getting sick or dying from measles,” said Dr. Chad Smelser, the deputy state epidemiologist. “The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine is the best protection against this serious disease.”

2nd suspected measles death reported in US outbreak

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — The lunch rush in downtown Topeka’s restaurants and cafés hasn’t been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Seth Wagoner, an investment executive.

Thousands of state employees who once worked in office buildings in Kansas’ capital and frequented downtown businesses for lunch and happy hour now work from home all or part of the time. They could be called back to the office under proposed legislation.

At a Thursday hearing in the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency, legislators considered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb256/" target="_blank">Senate Bill 256</a>, or the “back to work act.” Wagoner, the CEO of private equity firm AIM Strategies, said in testimony that at some lunch hotspots in downtown Topeka, business is still down by 10% from pre-pandemic times, accounting for inflation.

He was the one proponent to speak, and five state employees, testifying as private citizens, spoke against the bill.

One employee, Frances Dewell, who works in the protection report center within Kansas Department for Children and Families, which fields calls related to suspected abuse and neglect, said mandating state workers back to the office full time risks losing at least a quarter of their staff.

“Yes, state workers could return to a pre-COVID office setting,” Dewell said. “However, the changes that have developed over the last five years have compelled us to evolve.”

A virtual work culture has developed in her workplace and allowed prioritization of employee growth and well-being, she said.

A 2023 report from the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit examining 81 state executive branch agencies found that 30% of state workers work from home all or part of the time.

Of the state’s roughly 18,000 employees, the estimated 5,500 who work remotely under a telework agreement, the state’s official term for working from home full-time or on a hybrid schedule involving remote and in-office work, would be required to return to office buildings full-time with some exceptions. Agency heads would be allowed to offer exemptions to employees with atypical work hours, positions that don’t reasonably require in-office work and if office space constraints would mean added costs to accommodate a return to work mandate.

In smaller agencies that have around 100 employees or fewer, most or all of them telework, according to the data from spring 2023. That includes the Kansas Water Office, the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the state board of optometry examiners and the board of mortuary arts. It also includes the Kansas Board of Regents, the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.

In the largest agencies, the popularity of remote work varies. In the Kansas Department for Children and Families, 85% of employees engaged in some form of remote work as of April 2023. At the Kansas Department of Transportation, which employed more than 2,100 people at the same time, around 14% had telework agreements. More than half of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s roughly 1,500 employees worked remotely.

“Telework is viewed as a benefit by many state employees,” said Adam Proffitt, speaking on behalf of the Department of Administration, which includes Gov. Laura Kelly’s office.

Proffitt, who shared that he often works from home one day a week usually when the Legislature is not in session, told legislators that the state offers a template for agencies that dictates the roles eligible for telework and the number of days employees can work remotely. He said telework can be a tool to attract and retain employees, and “can actually expand our radius of talent,” by hiring employees who don’t live in Topeka or cannot commute.

The department of administration will be required under the bill to create a report for the government efficiency committee listing state agencies granting exceptions to the mandate, the number of exceptions granted, the job descriptions or titles associated with each exception, the number and costs of buildings leased by each agency and the number of state employees assigned to a physical office space but working remotely.

However, concerns for state employees with disabilities arose in the Thursday hearing because of the job description or title reporting requirement. Employees with disabilities could be identifiable in smaller agencies, a violation of legal protections including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Martha Gabehart, the executive director of the Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns, said in written testimony that the mandate would be out of sync with Kansas’ reputation as a model employer for people with disabilities.

“By creating a policy that would, if not implemented correctly, violate the rights of employees with disabilities, we would no longer be considered a model employer,” she said.

A back to work mandate would be costly to the state, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. The health department estimates the change would cost the state a combined $1.3 million over the next two fiscal years. More than 160 of the department’s employees are fully remote, and office space for them does not currently exist. Several other agencies noted increased costs associated with finding new office space for returning employees and the possibility of employees resigning if the back to work act is implemented. Agencies including the Department of Corrections noted no or minimal cost increases because the majority of their employees have returned to in-person work.

The bill is awaiting final approval in the Senate committee and has yet to be introduced in the House.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1741373059207.png" alt="Adam Proffitt, Secretary of the Department of Administration and the state budget director, addressing Kansas legislators on Jan. 16, 2025. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Adam Proffitt, Secretary of the Department of Administration and the state budget director, addressing Kansas legislators on Jan. 16, 2025. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — The lunch rush in downtown Topeka’s restaurants and cafés hasn’t been the same since the COVID-19 pandemic, said Seth Wagoner, an investment executive.Thousands of state employees who once worked in office buildings in Kansas’ capital and frequented downtown businesses for lunch and happy hour now work from home all or part of the time. They could be called back to the office under proposed legislation.At a Thursday hearing in the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency, legislators considered&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb256/" target="_blank">Senate Bill 256</a>, or the “back to work act.” Wagoner, the CEO of private equity firm AIM Strategies, said in testimony that at some lunch hotspots in downtown Topeka, business is still down by 10% from pre-pandemic times, accounting for inflation.He was the one proponent to speak, and five state employees, testifying as private citizens, spoke against the bill.One employee, Frances Dewell, who works in the protection report center within Kansas Department for Children and Families, which fields calls related to suspected abuse and neglect, said mandating state workers back to the office full time risks losing at least a quarter of their staff.“Yes, state workers could return to a pre-COVID office setting,” Dewell said. “However, the changes that have developed over the last five years have compelled us to evolve.”A virtual work culture has developed in her workplace and allowed prioritization of employee growth and well-being, she said.A 2023 report from the Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit examining 81 state executive branch agencies found that 30% of state workers work from home all or part of the time.Of the state’s roughly 18,000 employees, the estimated 5,500 who work remotely under a telework agreement, the state’s official term for working from home full-time or on a hybrid schedule involving remote and in-office work, would be required to return to office buildings full-time with some exceptions. Agency heads would be allowed to offer exemptions to employees with atypical work hours, positions that don’t reasonably require in-office work and if office space constraints would mean added costs to accommodate a return to work mandate.In smaller agencies that have around 100 employees or fewer, most or all of them telework, according to the data from spring 2023. That includes the Kansas Water Office, the Kansas Sentencing Commission, the state board of optometry examiners and the board of mortuary arts. It also includes the Kansas Board of Regents, the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.In the largest agencies, the popularity of remote work varies. In the Kansas Department for Children and Families, 85% of employees engaged in some form of remote work as of April 2023. At the Kansas Department of Transportation, which employed more than 2,100 people at the same time, around 14% had telework agreements. More than half of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s roughly 1,500 employees worked remotely.“Telework is viewed as a benefit by many state employees,” said Adam Proffitt, speaking on behalf of the Department of Administration, which includes Gov. Laura Kelly’s office.Proffitt, who shared that he often works from home one day a week usually when the Legislature is not in session, told legislators that the state offers a template for agencies that dictates the roles eligible for telework and the number of days employees can work remotely. He said telework can be a tool to attract and retain employees, and “can actually expand our radius of talent,” by hiring employees who don’t live in Topeka or cannot commute.The department of administration will be required under the bill to create a report for the government efficiency committee listing state agencies granting exceptions to the mandate, the number of exceptions granted, the job descriptions or titles associated with each exception, the number and costs of buildings leased by each agency and the number of state employees assigned to a physical office space but working remotely.However, concerns for state employees with disabilities arose in the Thursday hearing because of the job description or title reporting requirement. Employees with disabilities could be identifiable in smaller agencies, a violation of legal protections including the Americans with Disabilities Act.Martha Gabehart, the executive director of the Kansas Commission on Disability Concerns, said in written testimony that the mandate would be out of sync with Kansas’ reputation as a model employer for people with disabilities.“By creating a policy that would, if not implemented correctly, violate the rights of employees with disabilities, we would no longer be considered a model employer,” she said.A back to work mandate would be costly to the state, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. The health department estimates the change would cost the state a combined $1.3 million over the next two fiscal years. More than 160 of the department’s employees are fully remote, and office space for them does not currently exist. Several other agencies noted increased costs associated with finding new office space for returning employees and the possibility of employees resigning if the back to work act is implemented. Agencies including the Department of Corrections noted no or minimal cost increases because the majority of their employees have returned to in-person work.The bill is awaiting final approval in the Senate committee and has yet to be introduced in the House.

Kansas ‘back to work act’ would force state employees to return to offices

The City of Salina has spent $538,791 in legal fees related to the ongoing case involving the Cozy Inn, according to Interim City Manager Jacob Wood. The case, which revolves around a dispute regarding artwork on the iconic 103-year-old establishment, has yet to go to trial but has involved multiple legal proceedings.

Wood stated that the city’s legal team, Fairfield and Woods, a Colorado-based law firm specializing in sign and mural-related cases, has been handling the matter.

"There's certainly been lots of court actions," Wood said. "So most recently, we have filed a motion for summary judgment, and then they've [Cozy Inn Inc.]&nbsp; also filed a motion as well, and we're waiting for the court to hear that, and once the court makes a decision, they really have the option to grant all or part of that summary judgment, and depending on the result of that, then it could go to trial."

In 2024, Howard commissioned artwork on the restaurant’s exterior without city approval, sparking a legal dispute over whether it qualified as art or a sign under Salina’s zoning codes. City officials flagged the mural as a sign code violation, stating it far exceeded the allowable size for commercial signage.

Under&nbsp;<a href="https://library.municode.com/ks/salina/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH42ZORE_ARTXSI">Salina’s commercial sign regulations</a>, businesses are allotted a specific amount of signage space based on their building frontage. In the C-4 commercial district, where the Cozy Inn is located, businesses are allowed three square feet of signage per linear foot of street frontage.

The Cozy Inn, with a 20.8-foot frontage, is allowed approximately 63 square feet of signage. The restaurant already uses 52.88 square feet for existing signs, leaving only about 10 square feet available. The new mural, estimated at 528 square feet, exceeds the allotted amount by nearly nine times the legal limit.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/11/1699905373563.jpeg" alt="Cozy Inn Hamburgers' new mural was put on pause by the City of Salina because restaurant owner, Steve Howard, did not follow procedures set in place by the Salina City Design and Review Board. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier" />
 <figcaption>Cozy Inn Hamburgers' new mural was put on pause by the City of Salina because restaurant owner, Steve Howard, did not follow procedures set in place by the Salina City Design and Review Board. Photo by Olivia Bergmeier</figcaption>
 </figure>By NATE KING Salina PostThe City of Salina has spent $538,791 in legal fees related to the ongoing case involving the Cozy Inn, according to Interim City Manager Jacob Wood. The case, which revolves around a dispute regarding artwork on the iconic 103-year-old establishment, has yet to go to trial but has involved multiple legal proceedings.Wood stated that the city’s legal team, Fairfield and Woods, a Colorado-based law firm specializing in sign and mural-related cases, has been handling the matter."There's certainly been lots of court actions," Wood said. "So most recently, we have filed a motion for summary judgment, and then they've [Cozy Inn Inc.]&nbsp; also filed a motion as well, and we're waiting for the court to hear that, and once the court makes a decision, they really have the option to grant all or part of that summary judgment, and depending on the result of that, then it could go to trial."In 2024, Howard commissioned artwork on the restaurant’s exterior without city approval, sparking a legal dispute over whether it qualified as art or a sign under Salina’s zoning codes. City officials flagged the mural as a sign code violation, stating it far exceeded the allowable size for commercial signage.Under&nbsp;<a href="https://library.municode.com/ks/salina/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CH42ZORE_ARTXSI">Salina’s commercial sign regulations</a>, businesses are allotted a specific amount of signage space based on their building frontage. In the C-4 commercial district, where the Cozy Inn is located, businesses are allowed three square feet of signage per linear foot of street frontage.The Cozy Inn, with a 20.8-foot frontage, is allowed approximately 63 square feet of signage. The restaurant already uses 52.88 square feet for existing signs, leaving only about 10 square feet available. The new mural, estimated at 528 square feet, exceeds the allotted amount by nearly nine times the legal limit.Depending on the outcome, the case could either be resolved or proceed to trial in the fall of 2025, tentatively between October and November. Steve Howard, the owner of the iconic burger joint, The Cozy Inn,&nbsp;<a href="https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUTWVmLiTQcdKeCuRdHGrhObFtpAmqNqXzpRRwxU4Zb2-2BoEyY03VwQVkWBe6RECH38iYVm0KzdGhLXN0bDZZvwls-3D-MCN_7wBycvMPybCLu9GEHh-2FcwqfbnXzgwmf7GRZSag-2BFX4lUpRt6aeWBQhflJsGWNYaQ8qxX7ipByHIK4v-2FxkDTNjzJ3funygAXOW8VTBoXX1SdPiWInznp49Uq13sycpaAMzqgtbobwD7gTiYtCJZVqF-2Fk9Z0PqkuOgn0ah2l9ofTcwMK5gqFzm7PFE9e2rUiqz1888kcw-2BIMziWPu503DZBedxTC-2FWPU5lVTIlKkx4fKz2zpNjbEVyWS7diBaj6MIiuQz-2FNAambyU5ffDHq3lusQjc6OxiFNHhKTLgeC5avT4SwWXn6nYsH6NKMY2uH-2FPkKSHd6rLKjEounYBz8DSVEk9QJ59001oKM3dc7Gy2E04-3D" target="_blank">filed a federal lawsuit</a>&nbsp;with the support of the Kansas Justice Institute back in Feb. of 2024 against the City of Salina, Kansas.&nbsp;While Wood did not have an exact number of hours billed by the legal firm, he noted that retrieving such details would require a formal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.Salina Post is in the process of submitting a FOIA request and will update this story as new information becomes available.&nbsp;