When parents receive notice of school closure due to inclement weather, USD 475 students will participate in remote learning for that day. USD 475 Marketing and Media Relations Coordinator, Sacha Dent, said the District is preparing remote learning opportunities to ensure education will continue even when bad weather closes school buildings.

Delivering instruction and student learning will be equivalent in effort and rigor to a typical school day. Students will be provided lessons through Schoology on those days. Unsafe travel for pedestrians, buses and vehicles will also be avoided.&nbsp;

When the District has adequate notice of an incoming storm and can advise students to take devices home, an inclement weather closure can now be replaced with a remote learning day.

When parents receive notice of school closure due to inclement weather, USD 475 students will participate in remote learning for that day. USD 475 Marketing and Media Relations Coordinator, Sacha Dent, said the District is preparing remote learning opportunities to ensure education will continue even when bad weather closes school buildings.Delivering instruction and student learning will be equivalent in effort and rigor to a typical school day. Students will be provided lessons through Schoology on those days. Unsafe travel for pedestrians, buses and vehicles will also be avoided.&nbsp;When the District has adequate notice of an incoming storm and can advise students to take devices home, an inclement weather closure can now be replaced with a remote learning day.

Inclement weather days will become remote learning days

MANHATTAN – City Commissioner Aaron Estabrook notified City Administration Thursday that he has he tested positive for COVID-19. 

According to a media release from the city, Estabrook began experiencing symptoms on Saturday, October 17 and was tested Tuesday afternoon, October 20. His test results came back today. Estabrook has remained in isolation at his home since first experiencing symptoms on Saturday and used a Zoom connection to participate in the October 20 City Commission meeting virtually. &nbsp;

“The exposure likely occurred between October 10 and 17 and is due to community spread. I have not had any close contact with a positive patient, and have not had close contact with any other Commissioners” said Commissioner Estabrook. “I encourage everyone in the community to continue taking precautions to keep themselves and their families safe. Keep your distance, wash your hands, wear your mask, and above all else, please stay home if you are sick.”

Anyone who had close contact with Commissioner Estabrook after October 15 is advised to complete a 14 day quarantine period and to contact a medical professional immediately if they begin experiencing any symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) define close contact as: Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

Anyone who has symptoms, is a close contact of a positive patient, or would like information about how to get tested should contact their health care provider or call the Riley County Screening Line at 785-323-6400.

“My daughters are at their mom’s house and are quarantining there. They did not attend school this week because I was showing symptoms,” said Commissioner Estabrook. “My wife is experiencing some mild symptoms and is in isolation at home with me.”

Estabrook stated that he is experiencing many of the common symptoms of COVID-19 including body and muscle aches, fatigue, sore throat, cough, congestion, and loss of taste and smell.

Commissioner Estabrook plans to continue attending governmental meetings, such as next week’s Intergovernmental and City Commission meetings, virtually as long as his symptoms will allow.

MANHATTAN – City Commissioner Aaron Estabrook notified City Administration Thursday that he has he tested positive for COVID-19. According to a media release from the city, Estabrook began experiencing symptoms on Saturday, October 17 and was tested Tuesday afternoon, October 20. His test results came back today. Estabrook has remained in isolation at his home since first experiencing symptoms on Saturday and used a Zoom connection to participate in the October 20 City Commission meeting virtually. &nbsp;“The exposure likely occurred between October 10 and 17 and is due to community spread. I have not had any close contact with a positive patient, and have not had close contact with any other Commissioners” said Commissioner Estabrook. “I encourage everyone in the community to continue taking precautions to keep themselves and their families safe. Keep your distance, wash your hands, wear your mask, and above all else, please stay home if you are sick.”Anyone who had close contact with Commissioner Estabrook after October 15 is advised to complete a 14 day quarantine period and to contact a medical professional immediately if they begin experiencing any symptoms.The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) define close contact as: Someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to test specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.Anyone who has symptoms, is a close contact of a positive patient, or would like information about how to get tested should contact their health care provider or call the Riley County Screening Line at 785-323-6400.“My daughters are at their mom’s house and are quarantining there. They did not attend school this week because I was showing symptoms,” said Commissioner Estabrook. “My wife is experiencing some mild symptoms and is in isolation at home with me.”Estabrook stated that he is experiencing many of the common symptoms of COVID-19 including body and muscle aches, fatigue, sore throat, cough, congestion, and loss of taste and smell.Commissioner Estabrook plans to continue attending governmental meetings, such as next week’s Intergovernmental and City Commission meetings, virtually as long as his symptoms will allow.

Manhattan city commissioner Estabrook tests positive for virus

Information on the Kansas Eviction Prevention program has been provided to the City of Junction City from the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation. The program is designed to decrease evictions and increase housing stability by assisting landlords and tenants experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID pandemic.

Through the KEEP program, landlords and tenants apply for up to $5,000 per household to pay delinquent rental payments dating as far back as April 1. Payments will be made directly to the landlord, who must agree not to evict the household for nonpayment of rent or charge late fees for the month's assistance is received.

Information on the Kansas Eviction Prevention program has been provided to the City of Junction City from the Kansas Housing Resource Corporation. The program is designed to decrease evictions and increase housing stability by assisting landlords and tenants experiencing financial hardship due to the COVID pandemic.Through the KEEP program, landlords and tenants apply for up to $5,000 per household to pay delinquent rental payments dating as far back as April 1. Payments will be made directly to the landlord, who must agree not to evict the household for nonpayment of rent or charge late fees for the month's assistance is received.

City gets update on Kansas Eviction Prevention Program

Manhattan Konza Rotarian members are taking action on October 23, 2020 —for World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds, and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.

The Purple Pinky Project will raise $20000 towards Global Polio Eradication. The Manhattan Konza Club is partnering with our local HyVee to sell 10 Longjohn Donuts per box (the donuts are frosted with a purple tip). The significance of the purple tip on the donut is - each vaccinated child has their pinky finger painted purple for identification purposes. Through matching contributions from the Rotary District and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation each box of donuts will result in a $56 donation to End Polio. The money goes towards purchasing the vaccine ($3 to immunize each child), research, detection of the poliovirus and transportation to get the vaccine to the children. The donuts are being distributed on Friday, October 23, 2020 at HyVee- under the Pharmacy drive thru from 7:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.

When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Today, polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent, and just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.

With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts. The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.

Joan Pierce, End Polio Chairperson said, “Manhattan Konza Rotary has always participated in raising funds for End Polio, but this year we’re raising the most money we’ve ever raised in the history of the club.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603411698522.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Manhattan Konza Rotary&nbsp;Manhattan Konza Rotarian members are taking action on October 23, 2020 —for World Polio Day to raise awareness, funds, and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.The Purple Pinky Project will raise $20000 towards Global Polio Eradication. The Manhattan Konza Club is partnering with our local HyVee to sell 10 Longjohn Donuts per box (the donuts are frosted with a purple tip). The significance of the purple tip on the donut is - each vaccinated child has their pinky finger painted purple for identification purposes. Through matching contributions from the Rotary District and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation each box of donuts will result in a $56 donation to End Polio. The money goes towards purchasing the vaccine ($3 to immunize each child), research, detection of the poliovirus and transportation to get the vaccine to the children. The donuts are being distributed on Friday, October 23, 2020 at HyVee- under the Pharmacy drive thru from 7:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.When Rotary and its partners launched the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries every year. We’ve made great progress against the disease since then. Today, polio cases have been reduced by 99.9 percent, and just two countries continue to report cases of wild poliovirus: Afghanistan and Pakistan. And we remain committed to the end.With polio nearly eradicated, Rotary and its partners must sustain this progress and continue to reach every child with the polio vaccine. Without full funding and political commitment, this paralyzing disease could return to polio-free countries, putting children everywhere at risk. Rotary has committed to raising US$50 million each year to support global polio eradication efforts. The Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to match that 2-to-1, for a total yearly contribution of $150 million.Joan Pierce, End Polio Chairperson said, “Manhattan Konza Rotary has always participated in raising funds for End Polio, but this year we’re raising the most money we’ve ever raised in the history of the club.”

Donuts: Rotary Club of Manhattan Konza fundraiser

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — Officials at Junction City high school are investigating after a student was told to remove her Islamic head scarf, known as a hijab, prompting other students to stage a demonstration.

A spokeswoman for the Geary County School District said officials are still determining details of the incident, but a student reported an employee at Junction City High School told her to remove the hijab on Tuesday.

That prompted students to demonstrate outside the school Wednesday before classes started to protest religious discrimination. The demonstration ended without incident, and the students returned to class.

The high school principal met with the students to discuss their concerns and school officials have called a emergency meeting for Friday, which will be closed to the public because they intend to discuss personnel matters, spokeswoman Sacha Dent said.

“We are proud that our students choose to stand up for what they believe is an injustice within their community,” Dent said in a statement. “These young people are our future, and (Wednesday) they showed that they were able to demonstrate peacefully for a cause that they believed in.”

Dent said the Geary County School District does not tolerate bias or discrimination against students and requires “robust diversity training, active community engagement, and more education of different cultures and beliefs.”

The Kansas Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Thursday that it welcomed the investigation by the school district.

“We will closely monitor the investigation, but strongly believe and demand that the Junction City High School and its school district must examine policies to determine if changes must be made to prevent such incidents in the future,” said CAIR-Kansas Board Chairman Moussa Elbayoumy. “All district personnel, especially school administrators, should be offered diversity training on the right to religious accommodations for students and staff and the proper way to enforce the district’s policies.”

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. (AP) — Officials at Junction City high school are investigating after a student was told to remove her Islamic head scarf, known as a hijab, prompting other students to stage a demonstration.A spokeswoman for the Geary County School District said officials are still determining details of the incident, but a student reported an employee at Junction City High School told her to remove the hijab on Tuesday.That prompted students to demonstrate outside the school Wednesday before classes started to protest religious discrimination. The demonstration ended without incident, and the students returned to class.The high school principal met with the students to discuss their concerns and school officials have called a emergency meeting for Friday, which will be closed to the public because they intend to discuss personnel matters, spokeswoman Sacha Dent said.“We are proud that our students choose to stand up for what they believe is an injustice within their community,” Dent said in a statement. “These young people are our future, and (Wednesday) they showed that they were able to demonstrate peacefully for a cause that they believed in.”Dent said the Geary County School District does not tolerate bias or discrimination against students and requires “robust diversity training, active community engagement, and more education of different cultures and beliefs.”The Kansas Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement Thursday that it welcomed the investigation by the school district.“We will closely monitor the investigation, but strongly believe and demand that the Junction City High School and its school district must examine policies to determine if changes must be made to prevent such incidents in the future,” said CAIR-Kansas Board Chairman Moussa Elbayoumy. “All district personnel, especially school administrators, should be offered diversity training on the right to religious accommodations for students and staff and the proper way to enforce the district’s policies.”

Update on protest at Junction City school after student told to remove hijab

There will not be any school for students in Pre-K through Grade 5 on Friday in USD 475. District officials have noted that it is an elementary plan day.

There will not be any school for students in Pre-K through Grade 5 on Friday in USD 475. District officials have noted that it is an elementary plan day.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603386478095.png" alt="" />
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No school for Pre-K through Grade 5 on Friday in USD 475

MANHATTAN —&nbsp;Following an election before the Sept. 18 semiannual — and this year virtual — meeting of the Kansas State University Foundation's board of trustees, one member was reelected to a three-year term on the foundation's board of directors, and 88 members were elected to four-year terms on itsboard of trustees. The KSU Foundation now has 353 trustees serving as the university's premier advocates, ambassadors and investors. The foundation's board of directors oversees management, control and supervision of the foundation's business and affairs. Reelected to the board of directors was Dave Everitt,&nbsp;Marco Island, Florida, who earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the College of Engineering in 1975. The following individuals were elected or reelected to the board of trustees: Brice and Megan Lowe,&nbsp;Andover; Mark and Eva Gardiner, and Bill and Jan Shaw, all from&nbsp;Ashland; Jim and Karol Kadel,&nbsp;Beloit; Bill Miller and Debbie Leckron Miller, and Marty White, all from&nbsp;Council Grove; John and Carol Hill,&nbsp;Fort Scott; Mark Coberly,&nbsp;Gove. From&nbsp;Greater Kansas City: Lindsay Preisinger,&nbsp;Fairway; Chris Curtin, and Pat Friesen and Chuck Jasper, all from&nbsp;Leawood; Barbie and Loren Breedlove, Glenn and Jill Hubbard, and Bill and Marilyn Taylor, all from&nbsp;Olathe; Paul and Teresa Bartak, Bill Meredith Jr., and Garry Robben, all from&nbsp;Overland Park; and Dennis Hulsing,&nbsp;Prairie Village. John and Becky Howard,&nbsp;Hiawatha; Steve Johnson,&nbsp;Lawrence. From&nbsp;Manhattan: Terry Arthur; Charley and Nancy Cole; Jayson and Libby Cyr; Tom and Mary Kevin Giller; Don and Linda Glaser; Mary Lee Graham; Chuck and Susie Grier; Mary Vanier; and Al and Karen Walczak. Dan and Rona Wassenberg,&nbsp;Marysville; Bob Sjogren,&nbsp;Newton; Gib and Brenda Compton,&nbsp;Park City; Kent and Ellen Townsend,&nbsp;Topeka; and Jim and Debra Gordon,&nbsp;Westmoreland. From out of state:&nbsp;

Ed and Eunice Wambsganss,&nbsp;Fountain Hills, Arizona; Brian Bednar,&nbsp;Scottsdale, Arizona; Janice Hamilton,&nbsp;Tucson, Arizona; Mark and Susan Carlson,&nbsp;Calabasas, California; Eric Stonestreet,&nbsp;Toluca Lake, California; Jim Johnson,&nbsp;Colorado Springs, Colorado; Mike Goss,&nbsp;Westport, Connecticut; Blair and Ann Jones,&nbsp;Marietta, Georgia; Lynn and Brent Rockers,&nbsp;Clive, Iowa; Steve and Cathy Lacy,&nbsp;Des Moines, Iowa; Jay Longinaker and Lora Damme,&nbsp;Randolph, Iowa; George Yapp,&nbsp;Barrington Hills, Illinois; Travis Lenkner and Erin Delaney, Chicago, Illinois.&nbsp;

Charles and Denise Warta,&nbsp;Victoria, Minnesota; Gary Boomer, and Diane Patrick, both from&nbsp;Kansas City, Missouri; Mike and Susan Christensen,&nbsp;Walton, Nebraska; Brian and Silvia Zerr,&nbsp;New York, New York; Damon Hininger,&nbsp;Brentwood, Tennessee; Tracy Turner,&nbsp;Garland, Texas; and John and Linda Morgan,&nbsp;Spicewood, Texas.&nbsp;

As Kansas State University's strategic partner for philanthropy, the KSU Foundation inspires and guides philanthropy toward university priorities to boldly advance K-State family. Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksufoundation.org/" target="_blank">www.ksufoundation.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.&nbsp;

K-State News and Communications Services

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603384138350.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>MANHATTAN —&nbsp;Following an election before the Sept. 18 semiannual — and this year virtual — meeting of the Kansas State University Foundation's board of trustees, one member was reelected to a three-year term on the foundation's board of directors, and 88 members were elected to four-year terms on itsboard of trustees. The KSU Foundation now has 353 trustees serving as the university's premier advocates, ambassadors and investors. The foundation's board of directors oversees management, control and supervision of the foundation's business and affairs. Reelected to the board of directors was Dave Everitt,&nbsp;Marco Island, Florida, who earned his bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the College of Engineering in 1975. The following individuals were elected or reelected to the board of trustees: Brice and Megan Lowe,&nbsp;Andover; Mark and Eva Gardiner, and Bill and Jan Shaw, all from&nbsp;Ashland; Jim and Karol Kadel,&nbsp;Beloit; Bill Miller and Debbie Leckron Miller, and Marty White, all from&nbsp;Council Grove; John and Carol Hill,&nbsp;Fort Scott; Mark Coberly,&nbsp;Gove. From&nbsp;Greater Kansas City: Lindsay Preisinger,&nbsp;Fairway; Chris Curtin, and Pat Friesen and Chuck Jasper, all from&nbsp;Leawood; Barbie and Loren Breedlove, Glenn and Jill Hubbard, and Bill and Marilyn Taylor, all from&nbsp;Olathe; Paul and Teresa Bartak, Bill Meredith Jr., and Garry Robben, all from&nbsp;Overland Park; and Dennis Hulsing,&nbsp;Prairie Village. John and Becky Howard,&nbsp;Hiawatha; Steve Johnson,&nbsp;Lawrence. From&nbsp;Manhattan: Terry Arthur; Charley and Nancy Cole; Jayson and Libby Cyr; Tom and Mary Kevin Giller; Don and Linda Glaser; Mary Lee Graham; Chuck and Susie Grier; Mary Vanier; and Al and Karen Walczak. Dan and Rona Wassenberg,&nbsp;Marysville; Bob Sjogren,&nbsp;Newton; Gib and Brenda Compton,&nbsp;Park City; Kent and Ellen Townsend,&nbsp;Topeka; and Jim and Debra Gordon,&nbsp;Westmoreland. From out of state:&nbsp; Ed and Eunice Wambsganss,&nbsp;Fountain Hills, Arizona; Brian Bednar,&nbsp;Scottsdale, Arizona; Janice Hamilton,&nbsp;Tucson, Arizona; Mark and Susan Carlson,&nbsp;Calabasas, California; Eric Stonestreet,&nbsp;Toluca Lake, California; Jim Johnson,&nbsp;Colorado Springs, Colorado; Mike Goss,&nbsp;Westport, Connecticut; Blair and Ann Jones,&nbsp;Marietta, Georgia; Lynn and Brent Rockers,&nbsp;Clive, Iowa; Steve and Cathy Lacy,&nbsp;Des Moines, Iowa; Jay Longinaker and Lora Damme,&nbsp;Randolph, Iowa; George Yapp,&nbsp;Barrington Hills, Illinois; Travis Lenkner and Erin Delaney, Chicago, Illinois.&nbsp; Charles and Denise Warta,&nbsp;Victoria, Minnesota; Gary Boomer, and Diane Patrick, both from&nbsp;Kansas City, Missouri; Mike and Susan Christensen,&nbsp;Walton, Nebraska; Brian and Silvia Zerr,&nbsp;New York, New York; Damon Hininger,&nbsp;Brentwood, Tennessee; Tracy Turner,&nbsp;Garland, Texas; and John and Linda Morgan,&nbsp;Spicewood, Texas.&nbsp;As Kansas State University's strategic partner for philanthropy, the KSU Foundation inspires and guides philanthropy toward university priorities to boldly advance K-State family. Visit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksufoundation.org/" target="_blank">www.ksufoundation.org</a>&nbsp;for more information.&nbsp; K-State News and Communications Services

New trustees election to KSU Foundation board

Don Manley, President and Nita Miller, member of the JC Breakfast Optimist Club, baked homemade treats for the Junction City Firefighters at Stations 1 and 2 on Thursday. The Optimists share the community’s support and appreciation for local firefighters/first responders and thank them for all they do.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603383825089.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603383845016.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Don Manley, President and Nita Miller, member of the JC Breakfast Optimist Club, baked homemade treats for the Junction City Firefighters at Stations 1 and 2 on Thursday. The Optimists share the community’s support and appreciation for local firefighters/first responders and thank them for all they do.

JC Breakfast Optimists appreciate the efforts of firefighters

Rotary Club of Junction City marked historic progress toward a polio-free world and urged the community to help end the paralyzing disease. Club members are taking action on World Polio Day this Saturday to raise awareness, funds and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.&nbsp;

Susan Jagerson, Club President, said Junction City Rotarians have been asked to collect dollars throughout the month of October to donate to World Polio Day. Mayor Jeff Underhill has proclaimed Saturday, Oct. 24, as World Polio Day in Junction City.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603379029775.jpeg" alt="L-R Susan Jagerson and Jeff Underhill" />
 <figcaption>L-R Susan Jagerson and Jeff Underhill</figcaption>
 </figure>Rotary Club of Junction City marked historic progress toward a polio-free world and urged the community to help end the paralyzing disease. Club members are taking action on World Polio Day this Saturday to raise awareness, funds and support to end polio, a vaccine-preventable disease that still threatens children in parts of the world today.&nbsp;Susan Jagerson, Club President, said Junction City Rotarians have been asked to collect dollars throughout the month of October to donate to World Polio Day. Mayor Jeff Underhill has proclaimed Saturday, Oct. 24, as World Polio Day in Junction City.

Saturday is proclaimed as World Polio Day in Junction City

Former 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley commander, Gen. William Hartzog died this past Monday at the age of 79. According to information posted on social media by Fort Riley, Hartzog commanded the Big Red One and Fort Riley from 1991-1993. He went on to lead U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.

Former 1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley commander, Gen. William Hartzog died this past Monday at the age of 79. According to information posted on social media by Fort Riley, Hartzog commanded the Big Red One and Fort Riley from 1991-1993. He went on to lead U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603378853376.jpeg" alt="U.S. Army Gen. William Hartzog" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Army Gen. William Hartzog</figcaption>
 </figure>

1st Infantry Division and Fort Riley remember General William Hartzog

<img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/9/1569336839553.jpeg">Click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.jcpost.com/category/obituaries/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(39, 163, 209);">HERE</a>&nbsp;to view the most recent obituaries and service times from our funeral home partners.JC Post is honored to publish full obituaries and photos at no cost to families.

Recent obituaries

No. 20 Kansas State could extend its winning streak over Kansas to a series-record 12 consecutive games when the rivals meet in the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday in Manhattan. 

But more importantly, the Wildcats (3-1, 3-0) can remain unbeaten and in first place in the Big 12. The Jayhawks (0-4, 0-3) could finally end a streak of misery that began under Mark Mangino, continued under Turner Gill, got worse under Charlie Weis and David Beaty, and extended yet another season under Les Miles a year ago.

No. 20 Kansas State could extend its winning streak over Kansas to a series-record 12 consecutive games when the rivals meet in the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday in Manhattan. But more importantly, the Wildcats (3-1, 3-0) can remain unbeaten and in first place in the Big 12. The Jayhawks (0-4, 0-3) could finally end a streak of misery that began under Mark Mangino, continued under Turner Gill, got worse under Charlie Weis and David Beaty, and extended yet another season under Les Miles a year ago.

K-State seeks 12th straight win over Kansas

The Junction City Blue Jay football game with Highland Park that was scheduled Thursday night in Topeka has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues experienced by Highland Park. The contest will not be rescheduled. The information was confirmed by JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus.

Junction City had already clinched a share of the Centennial League championship and with a win over Highland Park could have&nbsp; claimed the title outright. Westerhaus noted that the league title will be determined by winning percentage. "So, we will be guaranteed a league championship."

Junction City will finish the regular season with a 6-1 record and the Blue Jays went undefeated, 6-0, against Centennial League opponents.

Next up for the Blue Jays will be postseason play, which is scheduled to begin on Friday Oct. 30th.&nbsp;

The Junction City Blue Jay football game with Highland Park that was scheduled Thursday night in Topeka has been canceled due to COVID-19 issues experienced by Highland Park. The contest will not be rescheduled. The information was confirmed by JCHS Athletic Director Matt Westerhaus.Junction City had already clinched a share of the Centennial League championship and with a win over Highland Park could have&nbsp; claimed the title outright. Westerhaus noted that the league title will be determined by winning percentage. "So, we will be guaranteed a league championship."Junction City will finish the regular season with a 6-1 record and the Blue Jays went undefeated, 6-0, against Centennial League opponents.Next up for the Blue Jays will be postseason play, which is scheduled to begin on Friday Oct. 30th.&nbsp;

Blue Jay football game is canceled but the league title will go to JCHS

Kickoff for the Junction City - Highland Park football game Thursday night at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka is being moved up one-half hour to 6:30 p.m.&nbsp; The game had originally been scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

Matt Westerhaus, JCHS Athletic Director, confirmed the starting&nbsp; time was being moved up to avoid potential thunderstorms.

You can hear the game on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK AM.

Kickoff for the Junction City - Highland Park football game Thursday night at Hummer Sports Park in Topeka is being moved up one-half hour to 6:30 p.m.&nbsp; The game had originally been scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.Matt Westerhaus, JCHS Athletic Director, confirmed the starting&nbsp; time was being moved up to avoid potential thunderstorms.You can hear the game on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK AM.

Kickoff time is moving up for the Blue Jays - Scots

Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman, as well as Seniors Jahron McPherson, Briley Moore, Harry Trotter, and Junior Wyatt Hubert spoke to the media Tuesday.

Kansas State hosts in-state rival Kansas Saturday. The Audio from each session is below. Click the link to listen.

<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/chris-klieman-10-20">Chris Klieman</a>

<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/jahron-mcpherson-10-20">Jahron McPherson</a>

<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/briley-moore-10-20">Briley Moore</a>

<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/harry-trotter-10-20">Harry Trotter</a>

<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/wyatt-hubert-10-20">Wyatt Hubert</a>

By Jackson SchneiderKansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman, as well as Seniors Jahron McPherson, Briley Moore, Harry Trotter, and Junior Wyatt Hubert spoke to the media Tuesday.Kansas State hosts in-state rival Kansas Saturday. The Audio from each session is below. Click the link to listen.AUDIO:<a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/chris-klieman-10-20">Chris Klieman</a><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/jahron-mcpherson-10-20">Jahron McPherson</a><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/briley-moore-10-20">Briley Moore</a><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/harry-trotter-10-20">Harry Trotter</a><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/wyatt-hubert-10-20">Wyatt Hubert</a>

ICYMI: Klieman, Players Spoke to Media Prior to Sunflower Showdown

MANHATTAN, Kan.&nbsp;– A meeting between Kansas State and Texas A&amp;M at Bramlage Coliseum is one of 10 games scheduled between the Big 12 and SEC on Saturday, January 30, 2021, as ESPN and the two conferences announced the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Wednesday morning (October 21).

ESPN will provide coverage of all games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU with start times and complete television information to be released later.

“The Challenge series continues to be a great success for both the Big 12 and SEC,” said head coach&nbsp;Bruce Weber.

“It has also become one of the most competitive in the country with the conferences tying for the second time in the last four years in 2020. Texas A&amp;M is another great addition to our schedule and we know that any Buzz Williams-coached team will be difficult opponent to play.”

The two leagues tied for the second time in 2020 with five wins each. The Big 12, which led the nation in non-conference strength of schedule and was second in the NET ranking and overall strength of schedule in 2019-20,

has won four of the seven Challenge series (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019), posting a 40-30 (.571) overall record.

K-State is 3-4 all-time in the Challenge series with all three wins coming at home (Ole Miss in 2013 and 2016 and Georgia in 2018). This will be second meeting with Texas A&amp;M in the Challenge series and the first time since the Aggies posted a 65-53 win at Reed Arena in College Station in the latest meeting on January 26, 2019.

Overall, K-State leads the series, 18-9, including 11-0 at home venues. This will be the eighth non-conference meeting (1960, 1967, 1990, 1993, 2014, 2015, 2019) and the fourth since Texas A&amp;M departed the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012-13. The teams split a home-and-home series in 2014 (K-State, 71-64, in Kansas City) and 2015 (Texas A&amp;M, 78-68, in College Station) before the last meeting in the Challenge series in 2019.

The former league partners met at least once a year from 1997 until 2012 with the Wildcats holding a 13-7 advantage, including an 8-0 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.

Led by second-year head coach and 2020 AP SEC Coach of the Year&nbsp;Buzz Williams, the Aggies return three starters (Savion Flagg,&nbsp;Andre Gordon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Emanuel Miller) from a team that rebounded from a tough start to post a school-record 10 SEC wins en route to a 16-14 overall record in the shortened 2019-20 season. The Aggies were just 6-6 in non-conference play but rallied for a tie for sixth place in SEC play with a 10-8 mark, which included five wins in their last seven outings.

A rising senior, Flagg was second on the team in scoring a year ago, averaging 10.4 points on 41 percent shooting, including 37 from 3-point range, to go with 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in starting 29 of 30 games. Miller led the Aggies with 6.3 rebounds per game (and 6.4 points) in 25 starts as a true freshman, while fellow rookie Gordon added 6.3 points and 2.1 rebounds averages in 18 starts.

This will be the second scheduled meeting with a former conference rival in 2020-21, as the Wildcats are set to play Colorado on Friday, November 27 in the Little Apple Classic at Bramlage Coliseum.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603297081622.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>MANHATTAN, Kan.&nbsp;– A meeting between Kansas State and Texas A&amp;M at Bramlage Coliseum is one of 10 games scheduled between the Big 12 and SEC on Saturday, January 30, 2021, as ESPN and the two conferences announced the eighth annual SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Wednesday morning (October 21).ESPN will provide coverage of all games on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU with start times and complete television information to be released later.“The Challenge series continues to be a great success for both the Big 12 and SEC,” said head coach&nbsp;Bruce Weber.“It has also become one of the most competitive in the country with the conferences tying for the second time in the last four years in 2020. Texas A&amp;M is another great addition to our schedule and we know that any Buzz Williams-coached team will be difficult opponent to play.”The two leagues tied for the second time in 2020 with five wins each. The Big 12, which led the nation in non-conference strength of schedule and was second in the NET ranking and overall strength of schedule in 2019-20,has won four of the seven Challenge series (2014, 2015, 2016, 2019), posting a 40-30 (.571) overall record.K-State is 3-4 all-time in the Challenge series with all three wins coming at home (Ole Miss in 2013 and 2016 and Georgia in 2018). This will be second meeting with Texas A&amp;M in the Challenge series and the first time since the Aggies posted a 65-53 win at Reed Arena in College Station in the latest meeting on January 26, 2019.Overall, K-State leads the series, 18-9, including 11-0 at home venues. This will be the eighth non-conference meeting (1960, 1967, 1990, 1993, 2014, 2015, 2019) and the fourth since Texas A&amp;M departed the Big 12 for the SEC in 2012-13. The teams split a home-and-home series in 2014 (K-State, 71-64, in Kansas City) and 2015 (Texas A&amp;M, 78-68, in College Station) before the last meeting in the Challenge series in 2019.The former league partners met at least once a year from 1997 until 2012 with the Wildcats holding a 13-7 advantage, including an 8-0 mark at Bramlage Coliseum.Led by second-year head coach and 2020 AP SEC Coach of the Year&nbsp;Buzz Williams, the Aggies return three starters (Savion Flagg,&nbsp;Andre Gordon&nbsp;and&nbsp;Emanuel Miller) from a team that rebounded from a tough start to post a school-record 10 SEC wins en route to a 16-14 overall record in the shortened 2019-20 season. The Aggies were just 6-6 in non-conference play but rallied for a tie for sixth place in SEC play with a 10-8 mark, which included five wins in their last seven outings.A rising senior, Flagg was second on the team in scoring a year ago, averaging 10.4 points on 41 percent shooting, including 37 from 3-point range, to go with 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in starting 29 of 30 games. Miller led the Aggies with 6.3 rebounds per game (and 6.4 points) in 25 starts as a true freshman, while fellow rookie Gordon added 6.3 points and 2.1 rebounds averages in 18 starts.This will be the second scheduled meeting with a former conference rival in 2020-21, as the Wildcats are set to play Colorado on Friday, November 27 in the Little Apple Classic at Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State to Host Texas A&M in SEC/Big 12 Challenge

MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman, as well as select members of the football program spoke to media via Zoom call on Tuesday for their weekly press conference ahead of this week's bout with in-state rival Kansas.&nbsp;

When asked his thoughts on the game, Klieman emphasized that despite the series being lopsided of late, the magnitude of the game was unchanged.

"I think it's a big rivalry. Obviously, I've only been here for one year, but for the state of Kansas, it's a big deal," said Klieman. "So many of our guys know a lot of players on their team, and absolutely any time that you have teams from the same state going against each other... I think it's a big deal."&nbsp;

Kansas has the edge in the all-time series between the two schools 64-48-5, but Kansas State has won 11-consecutive matchups, and 24 of the last 29 dating back to 1991.&nbsp;

"Our kids, and our alums, and our fanbase and community, and the state, this is a big game, so our guys are excited for the opportunity," Klieman added.&nbsp;

Last season, Kansas state throttled the Jayhawks in Lawrence 38-10 in front of a near sellout crowd at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, but this year, fan attendance will be limited; however, Jahron McPherson says the lack of fans won't impact the team's play.

"In all honesty, I think me and my teammates, when we're out there we don't even recognize the crowd," said the Basehor, Kansas native. "It's just blocked out because we're so tuned in on the goal at hand, and that's to try to win."&nbsp;

McPherson, as well as the other three Wildcat athletes who spoke to the media all seemed to share one thought on Kansas, and it's that they were overlooked in recruiting by the Jayhawks and that it provided a chip on their shoulder, or motivation heading into the contest.&nbsp;

"You know, growing up in Topeka and only being 30 minutes away from the university, was kind of just a respect thing," said Defensive End Wyatt Hubert. "Kansas State came out and offered me first, and had that trust and belief in me, and kind of KU really not having that, was kind of a disappointment a little bit."&nbsp;

Hubert earned First Team All-Big 12 honors at defensive end in 2019, totaling seven sacks from his position on the line.&nbsp;

The shared sentiment among the players of being overlooked by Kansas surely weighs into their motivation on Saturday, but there was also a shared attitude of "taking this game like it's any other game," cementing K-State's weekly focus on the opponent at hand.&nbsp;

This week, the Wildcats will look to hold on to the Governor's Cup for a 12th-consecutive season, which would set a record for most consecutive wins in the rivalry.

Kansas State enters at 3-1 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 play, while their in-state rival Kansas is coming off a road loss to West Virginia, in which they lead 10-0 to begin the game before falling 38-17. The Jayhawks are 0-4 on the year and 0-3 in league play.

Kickoff of the 2020 Sunflower Showdown will be Saturday at 11 a.m. from Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

By Jackson SchneiderMANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman, as well as select members of the football program spoke to media via Zoom call on Tuesday for their weekly press conference ahead of this week's bout with in-state rival Kansas.&nbsp;When asked his thoughts on the game, Klieman emphasized that despite the series being lopsided of late, the magnitude of the game was unchanged."I think it's a big rivalry. Obviously, I've only been here for one year, but for the state of Kansas, it's a big deal," said Klieman. "So many of our guys know a lot of players on their team, and absolutely any time that you have teams from the same state going against each other... I think it's a big deal."&nbsp;Kansas has the edge in the all-time series between the two schools 64-48-5, but Kansas State has won 11-consecutive matchups, and 24 of the last 29 dating back to 1991.&nbsp;"Our kids, and our alums, and our fanbase and community, and the state, this is a big game, so our guys are excited for the opportunity," Klieman added.&nbsp;Last season, Kansas state throttled the Jayhawks in Lawrence 38-10 in front of a near sellout crowd at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium, but this year, fan attendance will be limited; however, Jahron McPherson says the lack of fans won't impact the team's play."In all honesty, I think me and my teammates, when we're out there we don't even recognize the crowd," said the Basehor, Kansas native. "It's just blocked out because we're so tuned in on the goal at hand, and that's to try to win."&nbsp;McPherson, as well as the other three Wildcat athletes who spoke to the media all seemed to share one thought on Kansas, and it's that they were overlooked in recruiting by the Jayhawks and that it provided a chip on their shoulder, or motivation heading into the contest.&nbsp;"You know, growing up in Topeka and only being 30 minutes away from the university, was kind of just a respect thing," said Defensive End Wyatt Hubert. "Kansas State came out and offered me first, and had that trust and belief in me, and kind of KU really not having that, was kind of a disappointment a little bit."&nbsp;Hubert earned First Team All-Big 12 honors at defensive end in 2019, totaling seven sacks from his position on the line.&nbsp;The shared sentiment among the players of being overlooked by Kansas surely weighs into their motivation on Saturday, but there was also a shared attitude of "taking this game like it's any other game," cementing K-State's weekly focus on the opponent at hand.&nbsp;This week, the Wildcats will look to hold on to the Governor's Cup for a 12th-consecutive season, which would set a record for most consecutive wins in the rivalry.Kansas State enters at 3-1 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 play, while their in-state rival Kansas is coming off a road loss to West Virginia, in which they lead 10-0 to begin the game before falling 38-17. The Jayhawks are 0-4 on the year and 0-3 in league play.Kickoff of the 2020 Sunflower Showdown will be Saturday at 11 a.m. from Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Kansas State Speaks to Media Ahead of Sunflower Showdown

Clyde Edwards-Helaire showed new teammate Le’Veon Bell and the rest of the NFL how dominant the Kansas City Chiefs’ running attack is already. The rookie had 161 yards rushing and Patrick Mahomes threw two touchdown passes to Travis Kelce, leading the Chiefs to a 26-17 win over the Buffalo Bills. 

Monday night's game was originally scheduled for last Thursday. Mahomes finished 21 of 26 for 225 yards. His first scoring toss to Kelce was the 90th of his career in his 37th game, breaking the NFL record for fewest games to 90 TD passes. Josh Allen had a quiet night for Buffalo, going 14 of 27 for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

Clyde Edwards-Helaire showed new teammate Le’Veon Bell and the rest of the NFL how dominant the Kansas City Chiefs’ running attack is already. The rookie had 161 yards rushing and Patrick Mahomes threw two touchdown passes to Travis Kelce, leading the Chiefs to a 26-17 win over the Buffalo Bills. Monday night's game was originally scheduled for last Thursday. Mahomes finished 21 of 26 for 225 yards. His first scoring toss to Kelce was the 90th of his career in his 37th game, breaking the NFL record for fewest games to 90 TD passes. Josh Allen had a quiet night for Buffalo, going 14 of 27 for 122 yards and two touchdowns.

Chiefs defeat Buffalo 26-17

The Junction City Blue Jay cross country team finished seventh in the Centennial League meet with a score of 160 points. Manhattan won the team title. Leading the way for the Blue Jays was Tyler Atkins with a seventh place finish in the individual competition with a time of 16:40.1 Also for Junction City, Hayden Diestelkamp turned in a time of 18:41.3 to finish 35th, Neil Naputo 18:45.1 for 36th, Carlos Lozano 18:50.7 for 39th, Isaiah Smith 19:17.7 to finish 43rd. Ty Raulston finished 44th in 19:23.9 and Evan Hall 46th in 20:00.1.

The Lady Jays did not field a full time but did have four individual finishers. Manhattan won the team title.

For Junction City Lorna Rae Pierce finished 22nd in 21:47.2, Amyah O'Neal 33rd in 23:09.7, Murin Burkett 34th in 23:12.0 and Ashlynn Shea 36th in 23:21.8.

The Junction City Blue Jay cross country team finished seventh in the Centennial League meet with a score of 160 points. Manhattan won the team title. Leading the way for the Blue Jays was Tyler Atkins with a seventh place finish in the individual competition with a time of 16:40.1 Also for Junction City, Hayden Diestelkamp turned in a time of 18:41.3 to finish 35th, Neil Naputo 18:45.1 for 36th, Carlos Lozano 18:50.7 for 39th, Isaiah Smith 19:17.7 to finish 43rd. Ty Raulston finished 44th in 19:23.9 and Evan Hall 46th in 20:00.1.The Lady Jays did not field a full time but did have four individual finishers. Manhattan won the team title.For Junction City Lorna Rae Pierce finished 22nd in 21:47.2, Amyah O'Neal 33rd in 23:09.7, Murin Burkett 34th in 23:12.0 and Ashlynn Shea 36th in 23:21.8.

JCHS cross country teams compete in Centennial League meet

<a>The Big 12 Conference and ESPN announced Monday that Kansas State’s October 31 game at West Virginia will kick at 11 a.m. (CT) and will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2. The network designation will be made after games are played this weekend.</a>

It will be the Wildcats’ third morning game this season and second in as many weeks.

K-State is looking to snap a four-game losing streak to the Mountaineers, including a two-game skid in Morgantown. The Wildcats’ last win in the series was a 24-23 home victory in the 2015 regular-season finale, which made K-State bowl eligible that season. K-State’s last victory at West Virginia was on a Thursday night the year prior in a 26-20 triumph.

K-State, which is ranked in the top 20 this week in both the Associated Press Top 25 (20th) and the Amway Coaches’ Poll (19th), hosts Kansas in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown this Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game, which kicks at 11 a.m., will be shown on FS1

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603123140472.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><a>The Big 12 Conference and ESPN announced Monday that Kansas State’s October 31 game at West Virginia will kick at 11 a.m. (CT) and will be shown on either ESPN or ESPN2. The network designation will be made after games are played this weekend.</a>It will be the Wildcats’ third morning game this season and second in as many weeks.K-State is looking to snap a four-game losing streak to the Mountaineers, including a two-game skid in Morgantown. The Wildcats’ last win in the series was a 24-23 home victory in the 2015 regular-season finale, which made K-State bowl eligible that season. K-State’s last victory at West Virginia was on a Thursday night the year prior in a 26-20 triumph.K-State, which is ranked in the top 20 this week in both the Associated Press Top 25 (20th) and the Amway Coaches’ Poll (19th), hosts Kansas in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown this Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game, which kicks at 11 a.m., will be shown on FS1

K-State's game at West Virginia slated for morning kick

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are National League champions for the 25th time after winning the last three games of their NLCS against Atlanta.

The Dodgers erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 before completing a 4-3 win over the Braves in Game 7. Cody Bellinger gave L.A. the lead with a solo homer off Chris Martin in the seventh, one inning after Kiké (KEE’-kay) Hernández tied it with a solo blast.

Will Smith furnished a two-run single for the Dodgers, who will take on the Rays in the World Series beginning Tuesday.

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The Los Angeles Dodgers are National League champions for the 25th time after winning the last three games of their NLCS against Atlanta.The Dodgers erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 before completing a 4-3 win over the Braves in Game 7. Cody Bellinger gave L.A. the lead with a solo homer off Chris Martin in the seventh, one inning after Kiké (KEE’-kay) Hernández tied it with a solo blast.Will Smith furnished a two-run single for the Dodgers, who will take on the Rays in the World Series beginning Tuesday.

Dodgers win the National League pennant

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/debates/?debate=second#past-debates">Click here </a>to watch the debate 8p.m. CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden hurtled toward Thursday night’s final debate, which could be the trailing incumbent’s best chance to change the race’s trajectory with just 12 days left until the election.

The Nashville debate offered their final national stage to outline starkly different visions for a country in the grips of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 225,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs. Despite historic tumult, the race has remained largely unchanged with Biden holding advantages in many battleground states while Trump faces a shortage of campaign cash and, crucially, time.

Worried that Trump could lose the White House and cost Republicans the Senate, some advisers urged him to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style and put the spotlight on Biden, whom he derides as “Sleepy Joe.” But Trump made no such promise.

Biden,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barack-obama-joe-biden-campaign-event-d66623baa009686300d3ba7e1ae05df8">who has stepped off the campaign trail</a>&nbsp;for several days in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-elections-7cf6f0889ec03a2fa858eb2f46fd47d1">see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distract&nbsp;</a>from the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises of Trump’s term.

“Hopefully he’ll play by the rules,” Biden said as he boarded his plane for Tennessee. “I’m looking forward to this.”

Final debates often play an outsized role in electoral outcomes. But Thursday night’s showdown will be different from those past.

More than 46 million people have already cast their ballots as part of a pandemic-era rise in early voting. In an election dominated by a polarizing president, far fewer undecided voters remain than at this point in 2016.

In a visual reminder of the pandemic that has rewritten the norms of American society and fundamentally changed the campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-nashville-ec5be595b624d894d1d5d8b2c5eb062e">sheets of plexiglass had been installed onstage Wednesday</a>&nbsp;between the two men. But in the hours before the debate, they were removed.

The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, is a final chance for each man to make his case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters. And questions swirled as to how Trump, whose hectoring performance at the first debate was viewed by aides as a mistake that turned off viewers, would perform amid a stretch of the campaign in which he has taken angry aim at the news media and unleashed deeply personal attacks on Biden and his adult son.

In an effort to curtail interruptions this time, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Trump and Biden would each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivered an opening two-minute answer to each of six debate topics.

The mute button won’t figure in the open discussion portion of the debate.

When he feels cornered, Trump has often lashed out, going as negative as possible. In one stunning moment during the 2016 campaign, in an effort to deflect from the release of the Access Hollywood tape in which he is heard boasting about groping women, Trump held a press conference just before a debate with Hillary Clinton during which he appeared with women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. He then invited them to watch as audience members.

In a similar move, Trump’s campaign held another surprise pre-debate news conference, this time featuring Tony Bobulinski, a man who said he was Hunter Biden’s former business partner and made unproven allegations that the vice president’s son consulted with his father on China-related business dealings.

Trump — who has urged Attorney General William Barr to investigate the Bidens — has been promoting an unconfirmed New York Post report from last week that cites an email in which an official from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma apparently thanks Hunter Biden, who served on the company’s board, for arranging for him to meet Joe Biden during a 2015 visit to Washington. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and notes that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official.

As for the pandemic, Biden and Trump were both tested for COVID-19 on Thursday and the results came back negative.

Trump announced just two days after the first debate that he had tested positive for the virus. He spent three nights in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before returning to the White House.

The initial debate’s belligerent tone was somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. Amid heated clashes over the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-senate-elections-boycotts-de2972aa47e2eb081178389f818e6cff">the Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and the integrity of the election itself, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

After Trump’s COVID diagnosis, the debate commission ruled that the second debate, which was to have been held last week, be virtual. Trump balked, and the two men holding dueling town halls instead, speaking at the same time more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) apart.

Biden could also expect questions about his comments in a CBS interview, released Thursday, in which he wouldn’t rule out trying to add justices to the Supreme Court. The issue has followed him since the Sept. 18 death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the GOP-controlled Senate’s rush to confirm Trump’s nominee to succeed her, Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While millions of people will be watching on television, only around 200 will be allowed inside the massive college arena in Nashville where President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, meet Thursday night for the final presidential debate of the 2020 election.

A representative of the Commission on Presidential Debates — not the moderator — will ensure each candidate has two full minutes uninterrupted to deliver opening answers to six major topics, according to debate commission chair Frank Fahrenkopf. A member of the Trump and Biden campaigns is expected to monitor the person who controls the mute button backstage, Fahrenkopf said, noting that the button would not be used beyond the first four minutes of each topic.

The mute button is among a handful of changes implemented by the nonpartisan debate commission to help ensure a better sense of safety and order following the raucous opening debate 23 days ago. Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 two days after that first meeting.

Trump and Biden will be separated on stage by plexiglass barriers — despite objections from the Trump campaign. Additionally, any audience member who refuses to wear a mask will be removed, organizers report. Last month, several members of the Trump family removed their masks once seated in the debate hall.

The plexiglass alone is not enough to protect the candidates from the coronavirus, but the barrier combined with universal mask usage from the other people in the hall will help, said Fahrenkopf, acknowledging that the Trump campaign opposed the use of plexiglass for Thursday’s event, just as they did ahead of last week’s vice presidential debate.

“The Trump campaign’s attitude was that the president was not contagious anymore, but we’re going to go with our medical advisers,” he said.

The primetime affair is playing out inside a 90,000-square-foot arena at Belmont University, a picturesque institution of more than 8,200 students just a mile from Nashville’s music row. The university also hosted a town hall-style debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in 2008.

There will be a far smaller audience this time around.

The debate commission says that only around 200 people will be inside the arena, a mix of invited guests of the campaigns and the debate commission, students, the commission’s production team, security, and health and safety personnel. Audience members will be seated in accordance with social distancing recommendations; several empty seats separated each person or small group.T

All audience members and support staff were required to undergo coronavirus testing onsite within three days of the event. They wore colored wrist bands as evidence of their negative tests.

There were several layers of security protecting the attendees, but only a handful of protesters on campus beyond the security perimeter early in the day. One of them held a large white sign: “220,000 DEAD... Trump FAILED US.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday, one of the last high-profile opportunities for the trailing incumbent to change the trajectory of an increasingly contentious campaign.

Worried about losing the White House, some advisers are urging Trump to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style that puts Biden more squarely in the spotlight. But it’s unclear whether the president will listen.

Biden,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barack-obama-joe-biden-campaign-event-d66623baa009686300d3ba7e1ae05df8">who has stepped off the campaign trail</a>&nbsp;in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-elections-7cf6f0889ec03a2fa858eb2f46fd47d1">see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distract&nbsp;</a>from the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises.

With less than two weeks until Election Day, Biden is leading most national polls and has a narrower advantage in the battleground states that could decide the race. More than 42 million people have already cast their ballots. The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, is a final chance for both men to make their case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters.

“The rule is that last debates before the election have a big impact,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who made clear the legacy of the candidates’ first faceoff: “That was the most out-of-control presidential debate we have seen.”

Trump, who staged a remarkable comeback in the closing days of the 2016 campaign, believes he can do it again by using the power of the presidency to attack his rival.

Trump on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-russia-elections-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-c0c78784bdf639013fcf453817b27816">called on Attorney General William Barr to immediately launch an investigation</a>&nbsp;into unverified claims about Biden and his son Hunter, effectively demanding that the Justice Department muddy his political opponent and abandon its historic resistance to getting involved in elections.

The president has promoted an unconfirmed New York Post report published last week that cites an email in which an official from Ukrainian gas company Burisma thanked Hunter Biden, who served on the company’s board, for arranging for him to meet Joe Biden during a 2015 visit to Washington. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and noted that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official.

Some former national security officials and other experts said the episode raised multiple red flags of a possible foreign disinformation effort, especially given the involvement of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and Giuliani’s active role in promoting an anti-Biden narrative on Ukraine.

But John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, dismissed that disinformation theory. And the FBI appeared to endorse Ratcliffe’s position in a letter to a Senate committee that had requested information on a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden.

Trump’s attacks on the Biden family have been relentless, including his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, which led to Trump’s impeachment. It’s part of a determined, yet so-far-unsuccessful effort to drive up his opponent’s negatives, as he did with Hillary Clinton four years ago.

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said, “Trump is still the political outsider, while Biden is the ultimate insider. We now know that Biden allowed his son to sell access to him while he was vice president.”

While Biden will defend his own record and his son, aides have said,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-virus-outbreak-joe-biden-donald-trump-erie-013f03e6898f004c306316b0d81cc96f">he hopes to focus on making the case that Trump is unfit for office</a>&nbsp;and let the nation down during a confluence of crises.

“He knows that people want to hear about how we’re going to help working families get through the end of the month and pay the rent,” his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, said Wednesday in North Carolina. “That’s what people care about, and one of the things I love about Joe Biden — he doesn’t take on or talk about other people’s kids.”

The one-two punch of the first debate and the president’s three-day hospital stint after contracting COVID-19 rattled his base of support and triggered alarm among Republicans who fear the White House and Senate could be slipping away.

The initial debate was the most tumultuous in modern history, with a belligerent tone that was persistent and somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. Amid heated clashes over the pandemic, the Supreme Court and the integrity of the election itself, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

The two men frequently talked over each other with Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Biden eventually snapped at him, “Will you shut up, man?”

Aides have urged Trump, who has skipped debate prep, to show some restraint this time, allowing Biden to speak more and get himself in trouble with verbal gaffes and lapses. But the president has made no promises.

“Some people think, ‘Let him talk,’ because he loses his train (of thought), he just loses it and he doesn’t speak the train of thought,” Trump said in a town hall discussion taped at the White House Rose Garden and aired by Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday evening. “But we’ll see what happens. I mean, you will have to be there.”

It was two days after the first debate in Cleveland when Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. The White House has refused to reveal when the president had last tested negative before the debate, raising questions as to whether he was already infected when he took the stage.

After the diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential Debates ruled that the second debate, which was to have been held last week, be virtual. Trump balked, leading to the cancellation of the debate and the two men holding dueling town halls instead, speaking at the same time more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) apart.

On the debate stage Wednesday, two large plexiglass shields had been put in place in front of the candidates’ lecterns.

On Thursday night, in an effort to curtail interruptions, Trump and Biden will each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivers an opening two-minute answer to each of the six debate topics, the commission announced. The mute button won’t figure in the open discussion portion of the debate, but has drawn criticism from Trump.

“The mute is very unfair,” he said Wednesday as he left the White House for a campaign rally.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1602793246633.png" alt="President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.c-span.org/debates/?debate=second#past-debates">Click here </a>to watch the debate 8p.m. CDTNASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden hurtled toward Thursday night’s final debate, which could be the trailing incumbent’s best chance to change the race’s trajectory with just 12 days left until the election.The Nashville debate offered their final national stage to outline starkly different visions for a country in the grips of a surging pandemic that has killed more than 225,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs. Despite historic tumult, the race has remained largely unchanged with Biden holding advantages in many battleground states while Trump faces a shortage of campaign cash and, crucially, time.Worried that Trump could lose the White House and cost Republicans the Senate, some advisers urged him to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style and put the spotlight on Biden, whom he derides as “Sleepy Joe.” But Trump made no such promise.Biden,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barack-obama-joe-biden-campaign-event-d66623baa009686300d3ba7e1ae05df8">who has stepped off the campaign trail</a>&nbsp;for several days in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-elections-7cf6f0889ec03a2fa858eb2f46fd47d1">see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distract&nbsp;</a>from the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises of Trump’s term.“Hopefully he’ll play by the rules,” Biden said as he boarded his plane for Tennessee. “I’m looking forward to this.”Final debates often play an outsized role in electoral outcomes. But Thursday night’s showdown will be different from those past.More than 46 million people have already cast their ballots as part of a pandemic-era rise in early voting. In an election dominated by a polarizing president, far fewer undecided voters remain than at this point in 2016.In a visual reminder of the pandemic that has rewritten the norms of American society and fundamentally changed the campaign,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-nashville-ec5be595b624d894d1d5d8b2c5eb062e">sheets of plexiglass had been installed onstage Wednesday</a>&nbsp;between the two men. But in the hours before the debate, they were removed.The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, is a final chance for each man to make his case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters. And questions swirled as to how Trump, whose hectoring performance at the first debate was viewed by aides as a mistake that turned off viewers, would perform amid a stretch of the campaign in which he has taken angry aim at the news media and unleashed deeply personal attacks on Biden and his adult son.In an effort to curtail interruptions this time, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that Trump and Biden would each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivered an opening two-minute answer to each of six debate topics.The mute button won’t figure in the open discussion portion of the debate.When he feels cornered, Trump has often lashed out, going as negative as possible. In one stunning moment during the 2016 campaign, in an effort to deflect from the release of the Access Hollywood tape in which he is heard boasting about groping women, Trump held a press conference just before a debate with Hillary Clinton during which he appeared with women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault. He then invited them to watch as audience members.In a similar move, Trump’s campaign held another surprise pre-debate news conference, this time featuring Tony Bobulinski, a man who said he was Hunter Biden’s former business partner and made unproven allegations that the vice president’s son consulted with his father on China-related business dealings.Trump — who has urged Attorney General William Barr to investigate the Bidens — has been promoting an unconfirmed New York Post report from last week that cites an email in which an official from the Ukrainian gas company Burisma apparently thanks Hunter Biden, who served on the company’s board, for arranging for him to meet Joe Biden during a 2015 visit to Washington. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and notes that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official.As for the pandemic, Biden and Trump were both tested for COVID-19 on Thursday and the results came back negative.Trump announced just two days after the first debate that he had tested positive for the virus. He spent three nights in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center before returning to the White House.The initial debate’s belligerent tone was somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. Amid heated clashes over the pandemic,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-senate-elections-boycotts-de2972aa47e2eb081178389f818e6cff">the Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and the integrity of the election itself, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”After Trump’s COVID diagnosis, the debate commission ruled that the second debate, which was to have been held last week, be virtual. Trump balked, and the two men holding dueling town halls instead, speaking at the same time more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) apart.Biden could also expect questions about his comments in a CBS interview, released Thursday, in which he wouldn’t rule out trying to add justices to the Supreme Court. The issue has followed him since the Sept. 18 death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the GOP-controlled Senate’s rush to confirm Trump’s nominee to succeed her, Judge Amy Coney Barrett.___NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While millions of people will be watching on television, only around 200 will be allowed inside the massive college arena in Nashville where President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, meet Thursday night for the final presidential debate of the 2020 election.One of them will control a mute button.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603362953924.png" alt="Photo courtesy Belmont University" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Belmont University</figcaption>
 </figure>A representative of the Commission on Presidential Debates — not the moderator — will ensure each candidate has two full minutes uninterrupted to deliver opening answers to six major topics, according to debate commission chair Frank Fahrenkopf. A member of the Trump and Biden campaigns is expected to monitor the person who controls the mute button backstage, Fahrenkopf said, noting that the button would not be used beyond the first four minutes of each topic.The mute button is among a handful of changes implemented by the nonpartisan debate commission to help ensure a better sense of safety and order following the raucous opening debate 23 days ago. Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19 two days after that first meeting.Trump and Biden will be separated on stage by plexiglass barriers — despite objections from the Trump campaign. Additionally, any audience member who refuses to wear a mask will be removed, organizers report. Last month, several members of the Trump family removed their masks once seated in the debate hall.The plexiglass alone is not enough to protect the candidates from the coronavirus, but the barrier combined with universal mask usage from the other people in the hall will help, said Fahrenkopf, acknowledging that the Trump campaign opposed the use of plexiglass for Thursday’s event, just as they did ahead of last week’s vice presidential debate.“The Trump campaign’s attitude was that the president was not contagious anymore, but we’re going to go with our medical advisers,” he said.The primetime affair is playing out inside a 90,000-square-foot arena at Belmont University, a picturesque institution of more than 8,200 students just a mile from Nashville’s music row. The university also hosted a town hall-style debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain in 2008.There will be a far smaller audience this time around.The debate commission says that only around 200 people will be inside the arena, a mix of invited guests of the campaigns and the debate commission, students, the commission’s production team, security, and health and safety personnel. Audience members will be seated in accordance with social distancing recommendations; several empty seats separated each person or small group.TAll audience members and support staff were required to undergo coronavirus testing onsite within three days of the event. They wore colored wrist bands as evidence of their negative tests.There were several layers of security protecting the attendees, but only a handful of protesters on campus beyond the security perimeter early in the day. One of them held a large white sign: “220,000 DEAD... Trump FAILED US.”-------NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, are set to square off in their final debate Thursday, one of the last high-profile opportunities for the trailing incumbent to change the trajectory of an increasingly contentious campaign.Worried about losing the White House, some advisers are urging Trump to trade his aggressive demeanor from the first debate for a lower-key style that puts Biden more squarely in the spotlight. But it’s unclear whether the president will listen.Biden,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/barack-obama-joe-biden-campaign-event-d66623baa009686300d3ba7e1ae05df8">who has stepped off the campaign trail</a>&nbsp;in favor of debate prep, expects Trump to get intensely personal. The former vice president and his inner circle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-joe-biden-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-elections-7cf6f0889ec03a2fa858eb2f46fd47d1">see the president’s approach chiefly as an effort to distract&nbsp;</a>from the coronavirus, its economic fallout and other crises.With less than two weeks until Election Day, Biden is leading most national polls and has a narrower advantage in the battleground states that could decide the race. More than 42 million people have already cast their ballots. The debate, moderated by NBC’s Kristen Welker, is a final chance for both men to make their case to a television audience of tens of millions of voters.“The rule is that last debates before the election have a big impact,” said presidential historian Michael Beschloss, who made clear the legacy of the candidates’ first faceoff: “That was the most out-of-control presidential debate we have seen.”Trump, who staged a remarkable comeback in the closing days of the 2016 campaign, believes he can do it again by using the power of the presidency to attack his rival.Trump on Tuesday&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-russia-elections-voting-fraud-and-irregularities-c0c78784bdf639013fcf453817b27816">called on Attorney General William Barr to immediately launch an investigation</a>&nbsp;into unverified claims about Biden and his son Hunter, effectively demanding that the Justice Department muddy his political opponent and abandon its historic resistance to getting involved in elections.The president has promoted an unconfirmed New York Post report published last week that cites an email in which an official from Ukrainian gas company Burisma thanked Hunter Biden, who served on the company’s board, for arranging for him to meet Joe Biden during a 2015 visit to Washington. The Biden campaign has rejected Trump’s assertion of wrongdoing and noted that Biden’s schedule did not show a meeting with the Burisma official.Some former national security officials and other experts said the episode raised multiple red flags of a possible foreign disinformation effort, especially given the involvement of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and Giuliani’s active role in promoting an anti-Biden narrative on Ukraine.But John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, dismissed that disinformation theory. And the FBI appeared to endorse Ratcliffe’s position in a letter to a Senate committee that had requested information on a laptop purportedly belonging to Hunter Biden.Trump’s attacks on the Biden family have been relentless, including his efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, which led to Trump’s impeachment. It’s part of a determined, yet so-far-unsuccessful effort to drive up his opponent’s negatives, as he did with Hillary Clinton four years ago.Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said, “Trump is still the political outsider, while Biden is the ultimate insider. We now know that Biden allowed his son to sell access to him while he was vice president.”While Biden will defend his own record and his son, aides have said,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-virus-outbreak-joe-biden-donald-trump-erie-013f03e6898f004c306316b0d81cc96f">he hopes to focus on making the case that Trump is unfit for office</a>&nbsp;and let the nation down during a confluence of crises.“He knows that people want to hear about how we’re going to help working families get through the end of the month and pay the rent,” his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, said Wednesday in North Carolina. “That’s what people care about, and one of the things I love about Joe Biden — he doesn’t take on or talk about other people’s kids.”The one-two punch of the first debate and the president’s three-day hospital stint after contracting COVID-19 rattled his base of support and triggered alarm among Republicans who fear the White House and Senate could be slipping away.The initial debate was the most tumultuous in modern history, with a belligerent tone that was persistent and somehow fitting for what has been an extraordinarily ugly campaign. Amid heated clashes over the pandemic, the Supreme Court and the integrity of the election itself, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists who have supported him, telling one such group known as the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”The two men frequently talked over each other with Trump interrupting, nearly shouting, so often that Biden eventually snapped at him, “Will you shut up, man?”Aides have urged Trump, who has skipped debate prep, to show some restraint this time, allowing Biden to speak more and get himself in trouble with verbal gaffes and lapses. But the president has made no promises.“Some people think, ‘Let him talk,’ because he loses his train (of thought), he just loses it and he doesn’t speak the train of thought,” Trump said in a town hall discussion taped at the White House Rose Garden and aired by Sinclair Broadcast Group on Wednesday evening. “But we’ll see what happens. I mean, you will have to be there.”It was two days after the first debate in Cleveland when Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. The White House has refused to reveal when the president had last tested negative before the debate, raising questions as to whether he was already infected when he took the stage.After the diagnosis, the Commission on Presidential Debates ruled that the second debate, which was to have been held last week, be virtual. Trump balked, leading to the cancellation of the debate and the two men holding dueling town halls instead, speaking at the same time more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) apart.On the debate stage Wednesday, two large plexiglass shields had been put in place in front of the candidates’ lecterns.On Thursday night, in an effort to curtail interruptions, Trump and Biden will each have his microphone cut off while his rival delivers an opening two-minute answer to each of the six debate topics, the commission announced. The mute button won’t figure in the open discussion portion of the debate, but has drawn criticism from Trump.“The mute is very unfair,” he said Wednesday as he left the White House for a campaign rally.___

🎥 Mute button ready: Trump, Biden meet for final debate

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The former president and CEO of Blue Bell Creameries has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly trying to cover up a 2015 listeria outbreak linked to the company’s ice cream that killed three people in Kansas and sickened several others, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

A federal grand jury in Austin returned a seven-count indictment charging Paul Kruse with six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a Justice Department statement.

Health officials notified Blue Bell in February 2015 that two ice cream products from the company’s flagship factory in the central Texas city of Brenham and its Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, plant tested positive for listeria. The bacterium can cause severe illness or even death in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and the immuno-compromised.

Blue Bell recalled products after its ice cream was linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.

Prosecutors allege that Kruse schemed to deceive Blue Bell customers by directing employees to remove potentially contaminated products from store freezers without alerting grocers and consumers as to why. They say he also directed employees to tell customers who asked that there was an unspecified issue with a manufacturing machine. The company did not immediately recall the products or issue a formal warning to customers about potential contamination.

“American consumers trust that the individuals who lead food manufacturing companies will put the public safety before profits,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) The former president and CEO of Blue Bell Creameries has been charged with wire fraud for allegedly trying to cover up a 2015 listeria outbreak linked to the company’s ice cream that killed three people in Kansas and sickened several others, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.A federal grand jury in Austin returned a seven-count indictment charging Paul Kruse with six counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a Justice Department statement.Health officials notified Blue Bell in February 2015 that two ice cream products from the company’s flagship factory in the central Texas city of Brenham and its Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, plant tested positive for listeria. The bacterium can cause severe illness or even death in vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, newborns, the elderly and the immuno-compromised.Blue Bell recalled products after its ice cream was linked to 10 listeria cases in four states, including three deaths in Kansas.Prosecutors allege that Kruse schemed to deceive Blue Bell customers by directing employees to remove potentially contaminated products from store freezers without alerting grocers and consumers as to why. They say he also directed employees to tell customers who asked that there was an unspecified issue with a manufacturing machine. The company did not immediately recall the products or issue a formal warning to customers about potential contamination.“American consumers trust that the individuals who lead food manufacturing companies will put the public safety before profits,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

New charges in listeria outbreak that killed 3 in Kansas

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ coronavirus positivity rate has climbed above 20%, even as one top GOP lawmaker pushed back against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s call for a statewide mask mandate to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“I’ve stated all along, and still believe, a one-size-fits-all COVID solution doesn’t work for our diverse state,” Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said Thursday in a written statement. “Local leaders have done a great job in dictating local responses after public hearings and discussions with their constituents.”

More than 90 of the state’s 105 counties have opted out of the current mask order. That’s why Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-topeka-phil-griffin-kansas-1d391dc693eed0754c33ab83624dad8b">said</a>&nbsp;Wednesday that she plans to speak with House and Senate leadership to work toward a bipartisan mask requirement with more teeth.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603360957118.png" alt="Kansas Governor Laura Kelly puts on her face mask following a press briefing Wednesday in Topeka." />
 <figcaption>Kansas Governor Laura Kelly puts on her face mask following a press briefing Wednesday in Topeka.</figcaption>
 </figure>MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ coronavirus positivity rate has climbed above 20%, even as one top GOP lawmaker pushed back against Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s call for a statewide mask mandate to curb the spread of COVID-19.“I’ve stated all along, and still believe, a one-size-fits-all COVID solution doesn’t work for our diverse state,” Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said Thursday in a written statement. “Local leaders have done a great job in dictating local responses after public hearings and discussions with their constituents.”More than 90 of the state’s 105 counties have opted out of the current mask order. That’s why Kelly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-topeka-phil-griffin-kansas-1d391dc693eed0754c33ab83624dad8b">said</a>&nbsp;Wednesday that she plans to speak with House and Senate leadership to work toward a bipartisan mask requirement with more teeth.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/10/1603300066901.png" alt="Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Wednesday Oct. 21, 2020 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>Her announcement came as the seven-day rolling average of the positivity rate in Kansas rose from 15.04% on Oct. 7 to 20.64% on Wednesday, according to data from The COVID Tracking Project. Only three states fared worse. The seven-day average for new cases also set another record of 757 on Wednesday, with many of the new cases coming from rural parts of the state.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/9/1599689971178.png" alt="KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman during a Sept. press conference in Topeka." />
 <figcaption>KDHE Secretary Dr. Lee Norman during a Sept. press conference in Topeka.</figcaption>
 </figure>Earlier this month, the state’s top public health official, Dr. Lee Norman, blamed the state’s worsening numbers on residents’ refusal to consistently follow public health guidelines for mask-wearing, social distancing and avoiding large public gatherings.But many lawmakers are resistant to imposing statewide restrictions, wanting the decisions left to local officials. Kelly said during a news conference that there would be legislative challenges but that the research was clear: masks work.“People don’t have time for us to wait around for an election to be over with,” Kelly said. “We need to start these conversations. We need to come to a resolution as soon as we can. We know we have a problem, and that’s why we need a solution.”Even in Wichita, the state’s largest city, restrictions have been weakened. An ordinance there requiring protective face masks was quietly allowed to expire by the City Council this week. That means control over masks now shifts to Sedgwick County. The county commission has twice rejected mask orders from Kelly, though orders from county health officer have been allowed to stay in place.But police cannot write tickets for violations of the county’s public health order, as they could under the city’s stronger ordinance. The county version can only be enforced through the lengthy procedure of filing a civil lawsuit and obtaining a court order, The Wichita Eagle&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/coronavirus/article246562573.html" target="_blank">reports</a>.

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