WICHITA, KAN. – A southwest Kansas man faces prison time and a fine for submitting false claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the United State's Attorney.

Edward Parks, 60, Liberal, Kan., is charged with one count of submitting false claims for travel reimbursement to the Department of Veterans Affairs and one count of making a false statement to investigators from the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2019 in Sedgwick County, Kan.

The indictment alleges he falsely claimed he travelled to Wichita, Kan., from Liberal, Kan., for medical appointments, in order to be reimbursed under the Beneficiary Travel Program.

&nbsp;If convicted, he could face up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count. The Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett is prosecuting.

WICHITA, KAN. – A southwest Kansas man faces prison time and a fine for submitting false claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the United State's Attorney.Edward Parks, 60, Liberal, Kan., is charged with one count of submitting false claims for travel reimbursement to the Department of Veterans Affairs and one count of making a false statement to investigators from the Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General. The crimes are alleged to have occurred in 2019 in Sedgwick County, Kan.The indictment alleges he falsely claimed he travelled to Wichita, Kan., from Liberal, Kan., for medical appointments, in order to be reimbursed under the Beneficiary Travel Program.&nbsp;If convicted, he could face up to five years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000 on each count. The Department of Veterans Affairs – Office of Inspector General investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Barnett is prosecuting.

Indictment: Kan. man lied to get VA reimbursement 

By JOHN HANNA Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is working through the details of exactly who will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines in exactly what order as it concentrates on giving shots mostly to health care workers this month.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly told leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature last week that the vaccines have gone mostly to health care workers, though that group also includes employees in state prisons. She said vaccines could go “almost exclusively” to health care workers into mid-January but also suggested some doses already have reached nursing homes.

Kelly said that prison inmates are to get vaccinated before the general public because they’re in “congregate” housing, but the state doesn’t expect vaccines to be available for some adults for at least several months.

The state’s vaccine plan made health care workers and nursing home workers and residents the the first in line, followed by other “essential” workers and people 75 or older, particularly those at high risk of coronavirus complications. But Kelly said in an Associated Press interview that the state is considering vaccinations for some officials to preserve “continuity of operations.”

“We expect that sometime right after the first of the year, we will have a more definitive list of who will be vaccinated when,” Kelly told legislative leaders during a meeting Wednesday.

Kansas has reported nearly 210,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in early March through Wednesday, or one for every 14 of its 2.9 million residents. It has reported more than 2,500 deaths, or one for every 1,162 residents.

Kelly’s staff has repeatedly said that she will get vaccinated — in public — when it’s “her turn.” However her husband, a retired pulmonologist and sleep disorder specialist, is working part-time in a clinic screening patients for COVID-19 and other diseases before surgeries and was vaccinated Tuesday.

And the governor said the state is looking at how quickly some key officials in state agencies, the courts and the Legislature should get vaccinated.

“We’re looking at that right now, determining who ought to be vaccinated soon,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “We’ll make that decision pretty quickly.”

The state prison system — housing about 8,600 inmates — has reported nearly 5,200 cases among offenders and another 944 cases among staff. Four workers and a dozen inmates have died.

The latest staff death&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCorrectionalFacility/posts/1849168305260066" target="_blank">was reported Wednesday</a>&nbsp;by the El Dorado Correctional Facility. The prison about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Wichita described Gabe Morales as a “wonderful asset.”

Morales began his career in the state prison system at the Winfield Correctional Facility in May 2014 and moved to the El Dorado prison in July 2015. Part of Morales’s job was to prepare inmates for life after their sentences ended.

He told KAKE-TV for a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kake.com/story/40773743/class-unlocks-entrepreneurial-thinking?fbclid=IwAR0Fz3W1dQLdMAp5Drjckh-HUUl-J79wy92LIGGWRnS9SVf1lanbiuJTgqE" target="_blank">story&nbsp;</a>last year that, “It’s not about the person they are when they came in, you really want to affect them, so they’re a better person when they go out.”

Prison staff members who worked in units for inmates with COVID-19 began receiving vaccines last week.

The state’s vaccination plan calls for giving shots to “critical” populations after essential workers and at-risk older Kansans but does not specifically spell out whether prison inmates are in that group. Kelly said inmates will get shots when the state gives them to people in “congregate” living such as state hospitals.

That’s likely to spark some political backlash.

“There is no reason prisoners should ever get this vaccine before law abiding Kansans,” The Kansas Republican Party&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/KansasGOP/status/1341899222547902465" target="_blank">tweeted.</a>

But Kelly told The Capital-Journal: “There are all sorts of other people who were not convicted of a crime who work in those facilities, and vaccinations protect them, too.”

Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Environment reported that as of Wednesday, nursing homes had seen 530 clusters of two more cases, accounting for nearly 10,500 cases and almost 1,100 COVID-19 deaths — almost 44% of all the state’s coronavirus deaths. The department listed 51 active clusters of five or more cases in nursing homes, accounting for nearly 600 cases in all.

Vaccines for nursing home workers and residents are to be given on site, mostly through pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens. Both have indicated that shots could start in Kansas next week.

Kelly has been “outspoken” in making sure frail, elderly Kansans are near the top of the list for the vaccine, said Linda MowBray, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, which represents about 260 long-term care facilities. But she said had hoped the vaccines would come sooner to the homes.

“When somebody says you’re tier one, priority one, right up there with everybody else, or the health care workers, it’s a little bit disheartening that it’s not really first of the first,” she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608291149776.png" alt="Photo courtesy St. Catherine Hospital" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy St. Catherine Hospital</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN HANNA Associated PressTOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas is working through the details of exactly who will be eligible for coronavirus vaccines in exactly what order as it concentrates on giving shots mostly to health care workers this month.Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly told leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature last week that the vaccines have gone mostly to health care workers, though that group also includes employees in state prisons. She said vaccines could go “almost exclusively” to health care workers into mid-January but also suggested some doses already have reached nursing homes.Kelly said that prison inmates are to get vaccinated before the general public because they’re in “congregate” housing, but the state doesn’t expect vaccines to be available for some adults for at least several months.The state’s vaccine plan made health care workers and nursing home workers and residents the the first in line, followed by other “essential” workers and people 75 or older, particularly those at high risk of coronavirus complications. But Kelly said in an Associated Press interview that the state is considering vaccinations for some officials to preserve “continuity of operations.”“We expect that sometime right after the first of the year, we will have a more definitive list of who will be vaccinated when,” Kelly told legislative leaders during a meeting Wednesday.Kansas has reported nearly 210,000 confirmed and probable coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in early March through Wednesday, or one for every 14 of its 2.9 million residents. It has reported more than 2,500 deaths, or one for every 1,162 residents.Kelly’s staff has repeatedly said that she will get vaccinated — in public — when it’s “her turn.” However her husband, a retired pulmonologist and sleep disorder specialist, is working part-time in a clinic screening patients for COVID-19 and other diseases before surgeries and was vaccinated Tuesday.And the governor said the state is looking at how quickly some key officials in state agencies, the courts and the Legislature should get vaccinated.“We’re looking at that right now, determining who ought to be vaccinated soon,” Kelly told The Associated Press. “We’ll make that decision pretty quickly.”The state prison system — housing about 8,600 inmates — has reported nearly 5,200 cases among offenders and another 944 cases among staff. Four workers and a dozen inmates have died.The latest staff death&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ElDoradoCorrectionalFacility/posts/1849168305260066" target="_blank">was reported Wednesday</a>&nbsp;by the El Dorado Correctional Facility. The prison about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Wichita described Gabe Morales as a “wonderful asset.”Morales began his career in the state prison system at the Winfield Correctional Facility in May 2014 and moved to the El Dorado prison in July 2015. Part of Morales’s job was to prepare inmates for life after their sentences ended.He told KAKE-TV for a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kake.com/story/40773743/class-unlocks-entrepreneurial-thinking?fbclid=IwAR0Fz3W1dQLdMAp5Drjckh-HUUl-J79wy92LIGGWRnS9SVf1lanbiuJTgqE" target="_blank">story&nbsp;</a>last year that, “It’s not about the person they are when they came in, you really want to affect them, so they’re a better person when they go out.”Prison staff members who worked in units for inmates with COVID-19 began receiving vaccines last week.The state’s vaccination plan calls for giving shots to “critical” populations after essential workers and at-risk older Kansans but does not specifically spell out whether prison inmates are in that group. Kelly said inmates will get shots when the state gives them to people in “congregate” living such as state hospitals.That’s likely to spark some political backlash.“There is no reason prisoners should ever get this vaccine before law abiding Kansans,” The Kansas Republican Party&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/KansasGOP/status/1341899222547902465" target="_blank">tweeted.</a>But Kelly told The Capital-Journal: “There are all sorts of other people who were not convicted of a crime who work in those facilities, and vaccinations protect them, too.”Meanwhile, the state Department of Health and Environment reported that as of Wednesday, nursing homes had seen 530 clusters of two more cases, accounting for nearly 10,500 cases and almost 1,100 COVID-19 deaths — almost 44% of all the state’s coronavirus deaths. The department listed 51 active clusters of five or more cases in nursing homes, accounting for nearly 600 cases in all.Vaccines for nursing home workers and residents are to be given on site, mostly through pharmacy giants CVS and Walgreens. Both have indicated that shots could start in Kansas next week.Kelly has been “outspoken” in making sure frail, elderly Kansans are near the top of the list for the vaccine, said Linda MowBray, president and CEO of the Kansas Health Care Association, which represents about 260 long-term care facilities. But she said had hoped the vaccines would come sooner to the homes.“When somebody says you’re tier one, priority one, right up there with everybody else, or the health care workers, it’s a little bit disheartening that it’s not really first of the first,” she said.___

Who gets vaccinated in Kansas and when 

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The wife of a former Kansas mayor who resigned abruptly before the couple was charged with making fake tickets to attend a zoo fundraiser has been granted diversion in the case. 

Elizabeth Blubaugh has to pay $945 in restitution to the Sedgwick County Zoo plus other fees, attend and complete a theft education program and perform 40 hours of community service as the part of the agreement. 

Her husband, Jamey Blubaugh, is scheduled for a bench trial next month. He resigned in August as the mayor of Goddard, a suburb of Wichita, citing conflicts with the city administrators. The misdemeanor counterfeiting charges were filed against the couple two days later.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —The mayor of Goddard who resigned on Monday was charged Wednesday with counterfeiting, a class A nonperson misdemeanor, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Jamey Blubaugh and his wife, Elizabeth, were charged Wednesday with one count of counterfeiting, which is a misdemeanor. The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office said the couple is accused of using counterfeit tickets to attend last year's Zoobilee at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The tickets were $165 each.

According to the city of Goddard, "We understand that the former Mayor, who resigned Monday, August 3, 2020, is facing serious criminal charges. We also understand that these charges have no connection with any official&nbsp;action of the former Mayor. 

The City has no role in any decision to make these charges, and it&nbsp;has not conducted any investigation of these charges. Former Mayor Jamey Blubaugh, like any&nbsp;other individual, is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

We fully support law enforcement officials, and have expressed our commitment to cooperate&nbsp;with the District Attorney’s office to find the truth of the allegations.

We recognize that Goddard City officials expect to be held accountable for any actions that&nbsp;reflect badly on the City. These charges serve as an important reminder that no one is above&nbsp;the law. The citizens of Goddard deserve public servants acting with integrity. We look&nbsp;forward to justice being served in all cases where the public’s trust has been betrayed.

We are disappointed that this event may overshadow the number of positive developments&nbsp;that are happening in the community. We are hopeful that the distraction will not obscure the&nbsp;growth and vitality of the community.

These issues are entirely unconnected to the City, representing charges brought by the District&nbsp;Attorney against the former Mayor."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608833499741.png" alt="Elizabeth Blubaugh-photo Sedgwick Co. Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Elizabeth Blubaugh-photo Sedgwick Co. Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The wife of a former Kansas mayor who resigned abruptly before the couple was charged with making fake tickets to attend a zoo fundraiser has been granted diversion in the case. Elizabeth Blubaugh has to pay $945 in restitution to the Sedgwick County Zoo plus other fees, attend and complete a theft education program and perform 40 hours of community service as the part of the agreement. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608833569407.png" alt="Jamey Blubaugh photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Jamey Blubaugh photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Her husband, Jamey Blubaugh, is scheduled for a bench trial next month. He resigned in August as the mayor of Goddard, a suburb of Wichita, citing conflicts with the city administrators. The misdemeanor counterfeiting charges were filed against the couple two days later.---------SEDGWICK COUNTY —The mayor of Goddard who resigned on Monday was charged Wednesday with counterfeiting, a class A nonperson misdemeanor, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Jamey Blubaugh and his wife, Elizabeth, were charged Wednesday with one count of counterfeiting, which is a misdemeanor. The Sedgwick County District Attorney's office said the couple is accused of using counterfeit tickets to attend last year's Zoobilee at the Sedgwick County Zoo. The tickets were $165 each.According to the city of Goddard, "We understand that the former Mayor, who resigned Monday, August 3, 2020, is facing serious criminal charges. We also understand that these charges have no connection with any official&nbsp;action of the former Mayor. The City has no role in any decision to make these charges, and it&nbsp;has not conducted any investigation of these charges. Former Mayor Jamey Blubaugh, like any&nbsp;other individual, is entitled to the presumption of innocence.We fully support law enforcement officials, and have expressed our commitment to cooperate&nbsp;with the District Attorney’s office to find the truth of the allegations.We recognize that Goddard City officials expect to be held accountable for any actions that&nbsp;reflect badly on the City. These charges serve as an important reminder that no one is above&nbsp;the law. The citizens of Goddard deserve public servants acting with integrity. We look&nbsp;forward to justice being served in all cases where the public’s trust has been betrayed.We are disappointed that this event may overshadow the number of positive developments&nbsp;that are happening in the community. We are hopeful that the distraction will not obscure the&nbsp;growth and vitality of the community.These issues are entirely unconnected to the City, representing charges brought by the District&nbsp;Attorney against the former Mayor."

Kan. woman sentenced for counterfeiting fundraiser tickets

SHAWNEE COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities are investigating a porch theft and have made an arrest.

Just before 1p.m. December 23, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a call about a suspicious man in the 2400 block of SE BurtonRoad, according to deputy Abigail Christian.

 A homeowner pulled into their own driveway, saw a man steal packages from the porch and get into a Chevrolet Equinox driven by a woman. The Equinox backed into the homeowner’s vehicle and sped away through the yard. 

Just after 2p.m. deputies located the Equinox near the 1000 block of SE Locust Street. Information was gathered during the investigation and the suspect identified as 25-year-old Erick Mendoza Weems Jr. of Topeka was located in the 1500 block of SE 10th Street.

Deputies transported Weems Jr.&nbsp; to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of theft.&nbsp; He also had an unrelated warrant for his arrest, according to Christian.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608930514000.png" alt="Weems photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Weems photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY– Law enforcement authorities are investigating a porch theft and have made an arrest.Just before 1p.m. December 23, the Shawnee County Emergency Communications Center received a call about a suspicious man in the 2400 block of SE BurtonRoad, according to deputy Abigail Christian. A homeowner pulled into their own driveway, saw a man steal packages from the porch and get into a Chevrolet Equinox driven by a woman. The Equinox backed into the homeowner’s vehicle and sped away through the yard. Just after 2p.m. deputies located the Equinox near the 1000 block of SE Locust Street. Information was gathered during the investigation and the suspect identified as 25-year-old Erick Mendoza Weems Jr. of Topeka was located in the 1500 block of SE 10th Street.Deputies transported Weems Jr.&nbsp; to the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of theft.&nbsp; He also had an unrelated warrant for his arrest, according to Christian.

Sheriff: Alleged Kansas porch pirate arrested 

WALDRON, Mo. (AP) — A pilot was hurt when a small plane crashed Saturday in the Kansas City area, authorities say.

The Platte County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened just after noon as the single-engine plane was landing at Noah's Ark Airport in Waldron. The pilot was the only person aboard and suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.

Authorities are investigating what caused the crash. Federal investigators have been called to the scene.

WALDRON, Mo. (AP) — A pilot was hurt when a small plane crashed Saturday in the Kansas City area, authorities say.The Platte County Sheriff's Office said the crash happened just after noon as the single-engine plane was landing at Noah's Ark Airport in Waldron. The pilot was the only person aboard and suffered serious but non-life threatening injuries.Authorities are investigating what caused the crash. Federal investigators have been called to the scene.

Pilot hurt after small plane crash near Kansas City

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Two people died in an accident during a police pursuit just before 2p.m. Christmas Day in Wyandotte County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Kansas City Kansas Police officer was eastbound on Orville Avenue in pursuit of a 2002 Ford F250 driven by Roberto Vallejo-Avelrya, Jr., 22, Kansas City, Kansas.

The pickup was confirmed stolen and had rammed a KCKPD patrol vehicle near the 2500 block of Grandview Boulevard.

The driver disregarded a stop sign and the pickup entered the intersection at North 17th Street and struck a northbound 2009 Cadillac DTS driven by&nbsp; Mario F. Madruga, 89, Kan., on its driver's side.

 The impact forced the Cadillac into the yard of 401 North 17th Street where it struck a tree. 

Madruga and a passenger Delia Madruga, 85, Kansas City, Kan. were pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported a passenger in the pickup&nbsp; Jesse A.&nbsp;Acosta III, 26, Kansas City, Kan. to KU Medical Center. He was not wearing a seat&nbsp;

Vallejo-Avelrya, Jr. then fled on foot from the area.&nbsp; Police have not reported an arrest in the case.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Two people died in an accident during a police pursuit just before 2p.m. Christmas Day in Wyandotte County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a Kansas City Kansas Police officer was eastbound on Orville Avenue in pursuit of a 2002 Ford F250 driven by Roberto Vallejo-Avelrya, Jr., 22, Kansas City, Kansas.The pickup was confirmed stolen and had rammed a KCKPD patrol vehicle near the 2500 block of Grandview Boulevard.The driver disregarded a stop sign and the pickup entered the intersection at North 17th Street and struck a northbound 2009 Cadillac DTS driven by&nbsp; Mario F. Madruga, 89, Kan., on its driver's side. The impact forced the Cadillac into the yard of 401 North 17th Street where it struck a tree. Madruga and a passenger Delia Madruga, 85, Kansas City, Kan. were pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported a passenger in the pickup&nbsp; Jesse A.&nbsp;Acosta III, 26, Kansas City, Kan. to KU Medical Center. He was not wearing a seat&nbsp;Vallejo-Avelrya, Jr. then fled on foot from the area.&nbsp; Police have not reported an arrest in the case.

KHP: 2 dead after crash during stolen pickup chase 

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, Associated Press

Does it spread more easily? Make people sicker? Mean that treatments and vaccines won’t work? Questions are multiplying as fast as new strains of the coronavirus, especially the one now moving through England. Scientists say there is reason for concern but that the new strains should not cause alarm.

“There’s zero evidence that there’s any increase in severity” of COVID-19 from the latest strain, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan said Monday.

“We don’t want to overreact,” the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN.

Worry has been growing since Dec. 19, when Britain’s prime minister said a new strain, or variant, of the coronavirus seemed to spread more easily than earlier ones and was moving rapidly through England. Dozens of countries barred flights from the U.K., and southern England was placed under strict lockdown measures.

Here are some questions and answers on what’s known about the virus so far.

A: New variants have been seen almost since the virus was first detected in China nearly a year ago. Viruses often mutate, or develop small changes, as they reproduce and move through a population — something “that’s natural and expected,” WHO said in a statement Monday.

“Most of the mutations are trivial. It’s the change of one or two letters in the genetic alphabet that doesn’t make much difference in the ability to cause disease,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who directs a global health program at Boston College.

A more concerning situation is when a virus mutates by changing the proteins on its surface to help it escape from drugs or the immune system, or if it acquires a lot of changes that make it very different from previous versions.

A: That can happen if one strain is a “founder” strain — the first one to take hold and start spreading in an area, or because “super spreader” events helped it become established.

It also can happen if a mutation gives a new variant an advantage, such as helping it spread more easily than other strains that are circulating, as may be the case in Britain.

“It’s more contagious than the original strain,” Landrigan said. “The reason it’s becoming the dominant strain in England is because it out-competes the other strains and moves faster and infects more people, so it wins the race.”

Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser for the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign, said scientists are still working to confirm whether the strain in England spreads more easily. He said it’s also possible that “seeding” of hidden cases “happened in the shadows” before scientists started looking for it.

The strain was first detected in September, WHO officials said.

A: It has many mutations -- nearly two dozen -- and eight are on the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to and infect cells. The spike is what vaccines and antibody drugs target.

Dr. Ravi Gupta, a virus expert at the University of Cambridge in England, said modeling studies suggest it may be up to two times more infectious than the strain that’s been most common in England so far. He and other researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.14.422555v2" target="_blank">posted a report</a>&nbsp;of it on a website scientists use to quickly share developments but it has not been formally reviewed or published in a journal.

Q: DOES IT MAKE PEOPLE SICKER OR MORE LIKELY TO DIE?

A: “There’s no indication that either of those is true, but clearly those are two issues we’ve got to watch,” Landrigan said. As more patients get infected with the new strain, “they’ll know fairly soon if the new strain makes people sicker.”

A WHO outbreak expert, Maria Van Kerkhove, said Monday that “the information that we have so far is that there isn’t a change” in the kind of illness or its severity from the new strain.

Q: WHAT DO THE MUTATIONS MEAN FOR TREATMENTS?

A: A couple of cases in England raise concern that the mutations in some of the emerging new strains could hurt the potency of drugs that supply antibodies to block the virus from infecting cells.

“The studies on antibody response are currently under way. We expect results in coming days and weeks,” Van Kerkhove said.

One drugmaker, Eli Lilly, said that tests in its lab using strains that contain the most concerning mutation suggest that its drug remains fully active.

A: Slaoui said the presumption is that current vaccines would still be effective against the variant, but that scientists are working to confirm that.

“My expectation is, this will not be a problem,” he said.

United Kingdom officials have said “they don’t believe there is impact on the vaccines,” Van Kerkhove said.

Vaccines induce broad immune system responses besides just prompting the immune system to make antibodies to the virus, so they are expected to still work, several scientists said.

“If the new strain is indeed more contagious than the original strain, then it’s very, very sensible to restrict travel,” he said. “It will slow things down. Any time you can break the chain of transmission you can slow the virus down.”

CNN quoted Fauci as saying that he was not criticizing other countries for suspending travel to England but that he would not advise the United States to take such a step.

The presence or extent of the new strain in the United States is unknown at this time.

A: Follow the advice to wear a mask, wash your hands often, maintain social distance and avoid crowds, public health experts say.

“The bottom line is we need to suppress transmission” of all virus strains that can cause COVID-19, said the WHO’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“The more we allow it to spread, the more mutations will happen.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608566572342.png" alt="Image courtesy GISAID" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy GISAID</figcaption>
 </figure> By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, Associated PressDoes it spread more easily? Make people sicker? Mean that treatments and vaccines won’t work? Questions are multiplying as fast as new strains of the coronavirus, especially the one now moving through England. Scientists say there is reason for concern but that the new strains should not cause alarm.“There’s zero evidence that there’s any increase in severity” of COVID-19 from the latest strain, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan said Monday.“We don’t want to overreact,” the U.S. government’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told CNN.Worry has been growing since Dec. 19, when Britain’s prime minister said a new strain, or variant, of the coronavirus seemed to spread more easily than earlier ones and was moving rapidly through England. Dozens of countries barred flights from the U.K., and southern England was placed under strict lockdown measures.Here are some questions and answers on what’s known about the virus so far.Q: WHERE DID THIS NEW STRAIN COME FROM?A: New variants have been seen almost since the virus was first detected in China nearly a year ago. Viruses often mutate, or develop small changes, as they reproduce and move through a population — something “that’s natural and expected,” WHO said in a statement Monday.“Most of the mutations are trivial. It’s the change of one or two letters in the genetic alphabet that doesn’t make much difference in the ability to cause disease,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientist who directs a global health program at Boston College.A more concerning situation is when a virus mutates by changing the proteins on its surface to help it escape from drugs or the immune system, or if it acquires a lot of changes that make it very different from previous versions.Q: HOW DOES ONE STRAIN BECOME DOMINANT?A: That can happen if one strain is a “founder” strain — the first one to take hold and start spreading in an area, or because “super spreader” events helped it become established.It also can happen if a mutation gives a new variant an advantage, such as helping it spread more easily than other strains that are circulating, as may be the case in Britain.“It’s more contagious than the original strain,” Landrigan said. “The reason it’s becoming the dominant strain in England is because it out-competes the other strains and moves faster and infects more people, so it wins the race.”Moncef Slaoui, the chief science adviser for the U.S. government’s COVID-19 vaccine campaign, said scientists are still working to confirm whether the strain in England spreads more easily. He said it’s also possible that “seeding” of hidden cases “happened in the shadows” before scientists started looking for it.The strain was first detected in September, WHO officials said.Q: WHAT’S WORRISOME ABOUT IT?A: It has many mutations -- nearly two dozen -- and eight are on the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to and infect cells. The spike is what vaccines and antibody drugs target.Dr. Ravi Gupta, a virus expert at the University of Cambridge in England, said modeling studies suggest it may be up to two times more infectious than the strain that’s been most common in England so far. He and other researchers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.14.422555v2" target="_blank">posted a report</a>&nbsp;of it on a website scientists use to quickly share developments but it has not been formally reviewed or published in a journal.Q: DOES IT MAKE PEOPLE SICKER OR MORE LIKELY TO DIE?A: “There’s no indication that either of those is true, but clearly those are two issues we’ve got to watch,” Landrigan said. As more patients get infected with the new strain, “they’ll know fairly soon if the new strain makes people sicker.”A WHO outbreak expert, Maria Van Kerkhove, said Monday that “the information that we have so far is that there isn’t a change” in the kind of illness or its severity from the new strain.Q: WHAT DO THE MUTATIONS MEAN FOR TREATMENTS?A: A couple of cases in England raise concern that the mutations in some of the emerging new strains could hurt the potency of drugs that supply antibodies to block the virus from infecting cells.“The studies on antibody response are currently under way. We expect results in coming days and weeks,” Van Kerkhove said.One drugmaker, Eli Lilly, said that tests in its lab using strains that contain the most concerning mutation suggest that its drug remains fully active.Q: WHAT ABOUT VACCINES?A: Slaoui said the presumption is that current vaccines would still be effective against the variant, but that scientists are working to confirm that.“My expectation is, this will not be a problem,” he said.United Kingdom officials have said “they don’t believe there is impact on the vaccines,” Van Kerkhove said.Vaccines induce broad immune system responses besides just prompting the immune system to make antibodies to the virus, so they are expected to still work, several scientists said.Q: CAN TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS DO ANY GOOD?A: Landrigan thinks they can.“If the new strain is indeed more contagious than the original strain, then it’s very, very sensible to restrict travel,” he said. “It will slow things down. Any time you can break the chain of transmission you can slow the virus down.”CNN quoted Fauci as saying that he was not criticizing other countries for suspending travel to England but that he would not advise the United States to take such a step.The presence or extent of the new strain in the United States is unknown at this time.Q: WHAT CAN I DO TO REDUCE MY RISK?A: Follow the advice to wear a mask, wash your hands often, maintain social distance and avoid crowds, public health experts say.“The bottom line is we need to suppress transmission” of all virus strains that can cause COVID-19, said the WHO’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.“The more we allow it to spread, the more mutations will happen.”___

Scientists not alarmed over new virus strains

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Faculty and staff at the University of Kansas are protesting a reorganization of its diversity office that cost two employees their jobs, saying the changes were made without consulting the marginalized communities affected.

The changes for what had been the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion were announced earlier this month by Chancellor Douglas Girod and Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer.

The vice provost for diversity and equity has been assigned to another job, six programs reporting to her will be reassigned to other departments, and the jobs of two employees who developed and led social justice training were eliminated.

The university will create two new associate vice provost positions, and the office is now the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.

University spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson wrote in an email that Girod and Bichelmeyer listened to hundreds of people about how to improve diversity and inclusion efforts.

But about 60 department chairs, numerous faculty staff councils and a graduate teaching assistants union, signed letters to the two administrators last week, asking them to reverse or reconsider the changes. Among other things, they said, an advisory council on diversity set up this summer was not consulted.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Faculty and staff at the University of Kansas are protesting a reorganization of its diversity office that cost two employees their jobs, saying the changes were made without consulting the marginalized communities affected.The changes for what had been the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion were announced earlier this month by Chancellor Douglas Girod and Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer.The vice provost for diversity and equity has been assigned to another job, six programs reporting to her will be reassigned to other departments, and the jobs of two employees who developed and led social justice training were eliminated.The university will create two new associate vice provost positions, and the office is now the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging.University spokeswoman Erinn Barcomb-Peterson wrote in an email that Girod and Bichelmeyer listened to hundreds of people about how to improve diversity and inclusion efforts.But about 60 department chairs, numerous faculty staff councils and a graduate teaching assistants union, signed letters to the two administrators last week, asking them to reverse or reconsider the changes. Among other things, they said, an advisory council on diversity set up this summer was not consulted.

Reorganization of KU diversity office draws criticism

TOPEKA—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects 0n multiple charges after they broke into a downtown building.

Just before 9a.m. Christmas Eve, police were dispatched to 100 E 9th Street in Topeka on a report of a suspicious person, according to Lt. Ron Ekis. 

Upon arrival an employee informed officers that two male suspects had gained entry to the building and demanded checks. 

The employee was able to call police and the subjects fled inside the large building. Suspects were eventually located on the 7th floor and taken into custody.

Another victim was identified and indicated that she had been battered and was held against her will in one of the apartments. Officers were able to locate narcotics and drug paraphernalia after taking the suspects into custody.

Both suspects were brought to the Law Enforcement Center for interviews and ultimately booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. Brady Brooks, 34 of Topeka, is being held on requested charges of criminal threat (DV), criminal restraint (DV), attempted aggravated burglary, burglary, theft and criminal damage to property.

&nbsp;Ben Polasky, 38 of Topeka is being held on requested charges for burglary, theft and criminal damage to property

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608988947954.png" alt="Brooks-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Brooks-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects 0n multiple charges after they broke into a downtown building.Just before 9a.m. Christmas Eve, police were dispatched to 100 E 9th Street in Topeka on a report of a suspicious person, according to Lt. Ron Ekis. Upon arrival an employee informed officers that two male suspects had gained entry to the building and demanded checks. The employee was able to call police and the subjects fled inside the large building. Suspects were eventually located on the 7th floor and taken into custody.Another victim was identified and indicated that she had been battered and was held against her will in one of the apartments. Officers were able to locate narcotics and drug paraphernalia after taking the suspects into custody.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608988691258.png" alt="Polasky photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Polasky photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Both suspects were brought to the Law Enforcement Center for interviews and ultimately booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections. Brady Brooks, 34 of Topeka, is being held on requested charges of criminal threat (DV), criminal restraint (DV), attempted aggravated burglary, burglary, theft and criminal damage to property.&nbsp;Ben Polasky, 38 of Topeka is being held on requested charges for burglary, theft and criminal damage to property

2 Kan. men jailed for attempted Christmas Eve burglary

By ANNE KNIGGENDORF <a href="https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2020-12-23/kansas-city-poliovirus-survivor-hopes-and-prays-many-will-agree-to-covid-19-vaccine">Kansas News Service</a>

Pat Gray speaks matter-of-factly about taking her last unassisted steps just before her 13th birthday in 1953.

She
 says she’d been suffering from a gastro-intestinal illness for a few 
days. Her fever was high, and her mother was caring for her on a sofa in
 the dining room of the family’s Kansas City, Kansas, home.

Gray was miserable, so her mother suggested she move to her own bed.

“I
 remember getting up, going up the steps to my bedroom, and my legs just
 gave out. I didn’t make it the rest of the way up the steps; I had to 
crawl. That was the last time I walked,” Gray, now 80, says in the 
library of her Lenexa assisted living facility.

While the 
poliovirus and the coronavirus are not the same classes of virus, are 
not contracted the same, and the coronavirus is much more contagious, 
Gray sees several parallels — including the urgent need for widespread 
dissemination of the vaccine.

She's disturbed by reports that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-norc-poll-us-half-want-vaccine-shots-4d98dbfc0a64d60d52ac84c3065dac55" target="_blank">as many as half of Americans</a> will refuse the vaccine once it's available to the general public.

“I
 hope and pray that that number goes down. I think that unless everybody
 takes it, we’re still going to be fighting the virus,” Gray says.

She
 recalls a concentrated effort to encourage the public to take the polio
 vaccine in the years after her illness. And even though polio is just a
 word now to most people — not a vivid memory as it is for her — she 
thinks most parents understand the importance of inoculating their 
children against it.

The first major outbreak of the poliovirus in the United States was documented in <a href="https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline#EVT_100300" target="_blank">1894</a>,
 and until widespread distribution of the vaccine in the mid to late 
1950s, the number of cases climbed, reaching nearly 60,000 in 1952.

While
 most who contracted one of the three strains of the poliovirus were 
asymptomatic, in 1952 a third of patients, including Gray, experienced 
paralysis. 

Polio, or poliomyelitis, is classified as an 
enterovirus, meaning it enters the gastrointestinal tract and attacks 
the nervous system. It’s contracted by fecal matter entering the body 
through the mouth, which is why swimming pools were associated with its 
spread.

“The poliovirus primarily affects the nerves, whereas the COVID virus is primarily affecting the respiratory track,” says <a href="http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/population-health/faculty-and-staff/faculty/edward-f-ellerbeck.html" target="_blank">Dr. Edward Ellerbeck</a>, chair of population health at the University of Kansas Medical Center.

Although each virus can affect a person’s ability to breathe, the causes are not the same.

In
 polio patients who had the strain of the virus that hindered their 
breathing, Ellerbeck explains that “what happens is they lost the 
innervation from the nerve to the muscles that actually control their 
breathing. It wasn’t that their lungs were affected; their lungs were 
fine.”

COVID patients’ breathing is affected because the lung 
tissue is destroyed, though the surrounding nerves are fine. But both 
viruses can create long-lasting problems.

Gray has for decades struggled with complications and post-polio 
syndrome, a little-understood condition that causes extreme weariness. 
In 2006, she traded in braces and crutches for a wheelchair in order to 
save the strength in her arms. 

A couple of years ago, she visited <a href="https://www.kcbj.com/?JointClinic" target="_blank">Kansas City Bone &amp; Joint Clinic</a>
 to be fitted for an upgrade. As she worked on the voluminous amount of 
required paperwork — feeling stressed and impatient — an encounter with a
 nurse practitioner brought her full circle with her past.

Laurel Short walked in, and Gray says she felt a calm come over her. 

The
 two talked, and Gray told Short she was treated for her childhood bout 
with polio at Bethany Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.

“I 
had this odd feeling when she said that," Short says. "And I said, ‘Do 
you remember the name of your doctor?’ And she did not miss a beat. She 
said, ‘Dr. Phil Nohe,’ so then I knew that she had been treated by my 
grandfather.”

Gray says Short’s features must be so like her grandfather’s that she was subconsciously soothed by the sight of her.

Short
 has only ever seen photos of Nohe, who died the week she was born in 
1983. Still, she likes to think that her style of care is similar to 
his. 

Short says she’s already started hearing stories of clinics scheduling rehabilitation for people who’ve survived COVID..

“We
 know the field of rehabilitation is going to be integral to working 
with these folks and educating primary care providers will be really 
important, too,” Short says. “We don’t understand all the long-term 
effects.” 

Gray had thought the lasting effect of being unable to walk unassisted was the long-term effect she’d be dealing with; she was well into adulthood before post-polio set in.

Short
 says post-polio is still not well understood, but patients experience 
new weakness, new atrophy of muscles and intense fatigue.

Those 
who contracted poliovirus were affected in a spectrum of ways from mild 
to life-threatening. For some, the long-term evidence is a slightly 
smaller foot, shorter leg, or the development of scoliosis due to 
asymmetrical growth caused by the disease.

“We see that with 
COVID-19 where some people say, ‘Oh, it’s just like the flu,’" Short 
says. "And we cannot predict who will get the mild form and who will get
 the severe form, and that is completely similar to polio, even though 
they’re different types of viruses.” 

Fortunately, says Ellerbeck,
 vaccine development has advanced significantly since Dr. Jonas Salk 
introduced his polio vaccine in 1955 — two years after the disease 
interrupted Gray's childhood.

He says recipients of the new coronavirus vaccines should feel more secure than the first people who took the polio vaccine. 

“Both
 of them had tremendous public awareness related to them,” Ellerbeck 
says, but “we’re light years beyond where we were in the development of 
the polio vaccine in our safety control methods. Now we have much better
 safety monitoring and safety controls on our vaccine development.”

Gray
 doesn’t think people are resistant to the COVID vaccine because the 
polio epidemic is now only a distant memory. She thinks the resistance 
stems from people simply not wanting to be told what to do.

“And 
that’s a sad thing,” Gray says, “because if we all are in this together,
 then we need to work together to solve the problem.”

Anne Kniggendorf writes about arts and culture for KCUR and is the author of Secret Kansas City . Follow her on Twitter, @annekniggendorf.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608741831895.png" alt="Pat Gray gave up her crutches in 2006 and began using a wheelchair so that her arms would stay strong. Anne Kniggendorf / KCUR 89.3" />
 <figcaption>Pat Gray gave up her crutches in 2006 and began using a wheelchair so that her arms would stay strong. Anne Kniggendorf / KCUR 89.3</figcaption>
 </figure>By ANNE KNIGGENDORF <a href="https://www.kcur.org/arts-life/2020-12-23/kansas-city-poliovirus-survivor-hopes-and-prays-many-will-agree-to-covid-19-vaccine">Kansas News Service</a>Pat Gray speaks matter-of-factly about taking her last unassisted steps just before her 13th birthday in 1953.She
 says she’d been suffering from a gastro-intestinal illness for a few 
days. Her fever was high, and her mother was caring for her on a sofa in
 the dining room of the family’s Kansas City, Kansas, home.Gray was miserable, so her mother suggested she move to her own bed.“I
 remember getting up, going up the steps to my bedroom, and my legs just
 gave out. I didn’t make it the rest of the way up the steps; I had to 
crawl. That was the last time I walked,” Gray, now 80, says in the 
library of her Lenexa assisted living facility.While the 
poliovirus and the coronavirus are not the same classes of virus, are 
not contracted the same, and the coronavirus is much more contagious, 
Gray sees several parallels — including the urgent need for widespread 
dissemination of the vaccine.She's disturbed by reports that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-norc-poll-us-half-want-vaccine-shots-4d98dbfc0a64d60d52ac84c3065dac55" target="_blank">as many as half of Americans</a> will refuse the vaccine once it's available to the general public.“I
 hope and pray that that number goes down. I think that unless everybody
 takes it, we’re still going to be fighting the virus,” Gray says.She
 recalls a concentrated effort to encourage the public to take the polio
 vaccine in the years after her illness. And even though polio is just a
 word now to most people — not a vivid memory as it is for her — she 
thinks most parents understand the importance of inoculating their 
children against it.The first major outbreak of the poliovirus in the United States was documented in <a href="https://www.historyofvaccines.org/timeline#EVT_100300" target="_blank">1894</a>,
 and until widespread distribution of the vaccine in the mid to late 
1950s, the number of cases climbed, reaching nearly 60,000 in 1952.While
 most who contracted one of the three strains of the poliovirus were 
asymptomatic, in 1952 a third of patients, including Gray, experienced 
paralysis. Polio, or poliomyelitis, is classified as an 
enterovirus, meaning it enters the gastrointestinal tract and attacks 
the nervous system. It’s contracted by fecal matter entering the body 
through the mouth, which is why swimming pools were associated with its 
spread.The coronavirus is strictly respiratory.“The poliovirus primarily affects the nerves, whereas the COVID virus is primarily affecting the respiratory track,” says <a href="http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/population-health/faculty-and-staff/faculty/edward-f-ellerbeck.html" target="_blank">Dr. Edward Ellerbeck</a>, chair of population health at the University of Kansas Medical Center.Although each virus can affect a person’s ability to breathe, the causes are not the same.In
 polio patients who had the strain of the virus that hindered their 
breathing, Ellerbeck explains that “what happens is they lost the 
innervation from the nerve to the muscles that actually control their 
breathing. It wasn’t that their lungs were affected; their lungs were 
fine.”COVID patients’ breathing is affected because the lung 
tissue is destroyed, though the surrounding nerves are fine. But both 
viruses can create long-lasting problems.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608741902411.png" alt="Pat and husband Jim Gray circa 1966 at her parents' home in Roeland Park. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Pat and husband Jim Gray circa 1966 at her parents' home in Roeland Park. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Gray has for decades struggled with complications and post-polio 
syndrome, a little-understood condition that causes extreme weariness. 
In 2006, she traded in braces and crutches for a wheelchair in order to 
save the strength in her arms. A couple of years ago, she visited <a href="https://www.kcbj.com/?JointClinic" target="_blank">Kansas City Bone &amp; Joint Clinic</a>
 to be fitted for an upgrade. As she worked on the voluminous amount of 
required paperwork — feeling stressed and impatient — an encounter with a
 nurse practitioner brought her full circle with her past.Laurel Short walked in, and Gray says she felt a calm come over her. The
 two talked, and Gray told Short she was treated for her childhood bout 
with polio at Bethany Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.“I 
had this odd feeling when she said that," Short says. "And I said, ‘Do 
you remember the name of your doctor?’ And she did not miss a beat. She 
said, ‘Dr. Phil Nohe,’ so then I knew that she had been treated by my 
grandfather.”Gray says Short’s features must be so like her grandfather’s that she was subconsciously soothed by the sight of her.Short
 has only ever seen photos of Nohe, who died the week she was born in 
1983. Still, she likes to think that her style of care is similar to 
his. Short says she’s already started hearing stories of clinics scheduling rehabilitation for people who’ve survived COVID..“We
 know the field of rehabilitation is going to be integral to working 
with these folks and educating primary care providers will be really 
important, too,” Short says. “We don’t understand all the long-term 
effects.” Gray had thought the lasting effect of being unable to walk unassisted was the long-term effect she’d be dealing with; she was well into adulthood before post-polio set in.Short
 says post-polio is still not well understood, but patients experience 
new weakness, new atrophy of muscles and intense fatigue.Those 
who contracted poliovirus were affected in a spectrum of ways from mild 
to life-threatening. For some, the long-term evidence is a slightly 
smaller foot, shorter leg, or the development of scoliosis due to 
asymmetrical growth caused by the disease.“We see that with 
COVID-19 where some people say, ‘Oh, it’s just like the flu,’" Short 
says. "And we cannot predict who will get the mild form and who will get
 the severe form, and that is completely similar to polio, even though 
they’re different types of viruses.” Fortunately, says Ellerbeck,
 vaccine development has advanced significantly since Dr. Jonas Salk 
introduced his polio vaccine in 1955 — two years after the disease 
interrupted Gray's childhood.He says recipients of the new coronavirus vaccines should feel more secure than the first people who took the polio vaccine. “Both
 of them had tremendous public awareness related to them,” Ellerbeck 
says, but “we’re light years beyond where we were in the development of 
the polio vaccine in our safety control methods. Now we have much better
 safety monitoring and safety controls on our vaccine development.”Gray
 doesn’t think people are resistant to the COVID vaccine because the 
polio epidemic is now only a distant memory. She thinks the resistance 
stems from people simply not wanting to be told what to do.“And 
that’s a sad thing,” Gray says, “because if we all are in this together,
 then we need to work together to solve the problem.”Anne Kniggendorf writes about arts and culture for KCUR and is the author of Secret Kansas City . Follow her on Twitter, @annekniggendorf.

KC poliovirus survivor 'hopes and prays' many will agree to COVID vaccine 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, are investigating a Christmas morning homicide. 

Police responded to a report of a shooting in the area of the Fairfax Bluffs Apartments north of Kansas Highway 5 and south of the Quindaro Power Station around 6:20 a.m. Friday. They found a Hispanic male in his 30s with apparent gunshot wounds.

He was taken to an area hospital and later died. Police released no further details.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, are investigating a Christmas morning homicide. Police responded to a report of a shooting in the area of the Fairfax Bluffs Apartments north of Kansas Highway 5 and south of the Quindaro Power Station around 6:20 a.m. Friday. They found a Hispanic male in his 30s with apparent gunshot wounds.He was taken to an area hospital and later died. Police released no further details.

Police investigating Christmas homicide in Kansas

KANSAS CITY, KAN. -&nbsp;An Overland Park woman who operated massage parlors in Olathe and Leawood was sentenced Monday to serve five years of federal supervised release on an interstate prostitution charge, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.

Chunqui Wu, 62, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of transportation with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Wu operated three massage parlors: Alpha Massage at 116 S. Clairborne, #A, in Olathe, Kan.; A Plus Massage at 527 N. Mur-Len Road, in Olathe, Kan.; and King Spa at 13104 State Line Road in Leawood, Kan.

Wu’s plea agreement says investigators worked with an undercover confidential source who contacted Wu and asked for a job working in Wu’s massage parlors. Wu made statements indicating she allowed her employees to perform sexual services for tips. Investigators working undercover confirmed that employees in Wu’s massage parlors were offering sexual services to customers.

Wu was arrested when she went to the Kansas City International airport in Kansas City, Mo., to meet the undercover confidential source and transport her back to Kansas to work in one of Wu’s massage parlors.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598900345466.png" alt="Wu -photo Johnson Co." />
 <figcaption>Wu -photo Johnson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, KAN. -&nbsp;An Overland Park woman who operated massage parlors in Olathe and Leawood was sentenced Monday to serve five years of federal supervised release on an interstate prostitution charge, according to U.S. Attorney Stephen McAllister.Chunqui Wu, 62, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of transportation with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Wu operated three massage parlors: Alpha Massage at 116 S. Clairborne, #A, in Olathe, Kan.; A Plus Massage at 527 N. Mur-Len Road, in Olathe, Kan.; and King Spa at 13104 State Line Road in Leawood, Kan.Wu’s plea agreement says investigators worked with an undercover confidential source who contacted Wu and asked for a job working in Wu’s massage parlors. Wu made statements indicating she allowed her employees to perform sexual services for tips. Investigators working undercover confirmed that employees in Wu’s massage parlors were offering sexual services to customers.Wu was arrested when she went to the Kansas City International airport in Kansas City, Mo., to meet the undercover confidential source and transport her back to Kansas to work in one of Wu’s massage parlors.

No prison time for Kan. woman on prostitution charge

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded holiday travel at the city’s airport. Authorities said they believe the blast was intentional.

Police were responding to a report of shots fired Friday when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad. The RV exploded shortly afterward, Drake said at a news conference.

“It looks like a bomb went off on Second Avenue,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said after touring the site. Cooper issued a state of emergency and a curfew for the area.

Police did not immediately indicate a possible motive or the target.

Surveillance video published on a Twitter account Friday that appeared to be across the street from the blast captured the warning issuing from the RV, “... if you can hear this message, evacuate now,” seconds before the explosion.

The blast sent black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville’s tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook and windows shattered streets away from the explosion near a building owned by AT&amp;T that lies one block from the company’s office tower, a landmark in downtown.

“We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention,” police spokesman Don Aaron said. Aaron said earlier that some people were taken to the department’s central precinct for questioning but declined to give details.

AT&amp;T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The blast interrupted service, but the company declined to say how widespread outages were.

“Service for some customers in Nashville and the surrounding areas may be affected by damage to our facilities from the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service,” AT&amp;T spokesman Jim Greer said in an emailed statement.

The AT&amp;T outages site showed service issues in middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including Bowling Green about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Nashville. Several police agencies reported that their 911 systems were down because of the outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, home to Knoxville about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Nashville.

The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport because of telecommunications issues associated with the explosion.

Three people were taken to area hospitals for treatment after the blast, although none were in critical condition, Aaron said. Cooper said the city was lucky that the number of injuries was limited. Authorities don’t know whether anyone was in the vehicle when it exploded.

Human remains were found in the vicinity, two law enforcement officials told the The Associated Press. It was unclear how the remains were related to the explosion or whether they might belong to the person believed to be responsible or a victim. The officials could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

The FBI will be taking the lead in the investigation, agency spokesman Joel Siskovic said. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene. The FBI is the primary law enforcement agency responsible for investigating federal crimes, such as explosives violations and acts of terrorism.

A Philadelphia man staying in a nearby hotel said that when he heard the blast, he was knew it wasn’t harmless.

“We tried to rationalize it that it was an earthquake or something, but it was obvious it wasn’t an earthquake,” Joseph Fafara said. He said he traveled to Tennessee with his family on Christmas because the state has looser COVID-19 restrictions than Philadelphia.

When he went to look at the damage, police barricades had already been put in place. At noon, police dogs continued to search cars and buildings in the nearby area.

Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background along with cries of people in distress. A fire is visible in the street outside.

McCoy said he heard gunfire 15 minutes before the explosion rocked his building, set cars in the street on fire and blew trees apart.

“All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would have been horrible,” he said.

“It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he told The Associated Press.

President Donald Trump has been briefed, according to White House spokesperson Judd Deere. The U.S. Justice Department said Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was also briefed and directed all department resources be made available to help with the investigation.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter that the state would provide the resources necessary “to determine what happened and who was responsible.”

The American&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RedCrossTN/status/1342540844872695808" target="_blank">Red Cross of Tennessee</a>&nbsp;announced that it was working with officials to open a shelter for victims.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport due to telecommunications issues associated with the explosion in downtown Nashville. Service was expected to resume by 3 p.m. local time.

Authorities say the explosion inside a recreational vehicle parked downtown early Christmas morning was deliberate. Three people were hurt in the blast, which shattered windows and damaged buildings.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An explosion shook the largely deserted streets of downtown Nashville early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional.

Police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered a recreational vehicle blaring a recording that said a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad.

“Shortly after that, the RV exploded,” Drake said at a midday news conference.

Surveillance video published on a Twitter account Friday that appeared to be across the street from the blast captured the recorded warning issuing from the RV, “... if you can hear this message, evacuate now,” seconds before the explosion.

The blast sent black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville’s tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook streets over from the explosion near a building owned by AT&amp;T, which is one block away from the company’s office tower.

“We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention,” police spokesman Don Aaron said.

AT&amp;T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. Some service was interrupted, but the company has not said how widespread the outages are. Police agencies were reporting that their 911 systems were down because of outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, about 180 miles from Nashville

Three people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, although none were in critical condition, Aaron said. Authorities don’t know whether anyone was in the vehicle when it exploded. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the city was lucky that the number of injuries was limited.

Aaron said earlier that some people were taken to the department’s central precinct for questioning but declined to give more details.

McCoy said he heard gunfire 15 minutes before the explosion rocked his building. The said cars in the street were on fire and trees were blown apart.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608929052115.png" alt="FBI and ATF investigating the 6:30 a.m. explosion on 2nd Ave N linked to an RV. This appears to have been an intentional act, according to Metro Nashville Police. Law enforcement closed downtown streets as investigation continues. photo courtesy Metro Nashville PD." />
 <figcaption>FBI and ATF investigating the 6:30 a.m. explosion on 2nd Ave N linked to an RV. This appears to have been an intentional act, according to Metro Nashville Police. Law enforcement closed downtown streets as investigation continues. photo courtesy Metro Nashville PD.</figcaption>
 </figure>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A recreational vehicle parked in the deserted streets of downtown Nashville exploded early Christmas morning, causing widespread communications outages that took down police emergency systems and grounded holiday travel at the city’s airport. Authorities said they believe the blast was intentional.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING: This is the RV that exploded on 2nd Ave N this morning. It arrived on 2nd Ave at 1:22 a.m. Have you seen this vehicle in our area or do you have information about it? Please contact us via Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463 or online via <a href="https://t.co/dVGS7o0m4v">https://t.co/dVGS7o0m4v</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/ATFHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ATFHQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/JNx9sDinAH">pic.twitter.com/JNx9sDinAH</a>&mdash; Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) <a href="https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1342565893486899201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Police were responding to a report of shots fired Friday when they encountered the RV blaring a recorded warning that a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad. The RV exploded shortly afterward, Drake said at a news conference.“It looks like a bomb went off on Second Avenue,” Nashville Mayor John Cooper said after touring the site. Cooper issued a state of emergency and a curfew for the area.Police did not immediately indicate a possible motive or the target.Surveillance video published on a Twitter account Friday that appeared to be across the street from the blast captured the warning issuing from the RV, “... if you can hear this message, evacuate now,” seconds before the explosion.The blast sent black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville’s tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook and windows shattered streets away from the explosion near a building owned by AT&amp;T that lies one block from the company’s office tower, a landmark in downtown.“We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention,” police spokesman Don Aaron said. Aaron said earlier that some people were taken to the department’s central precinct for questioning but declined to give details.AT&amp;T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. The blast interrupted service, but the company declined to say how widespread outages were.“Service for some customers in Nashville and the surrounding areas may be affected by damage to our facilities from the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service,” AT&amp;T spokesman Jim Greer said in an emailed statement.The AT&amp;T outages site showed service issues in middle Tennessee and Kentucky, including Bowling Green about 65 miles (105 kilometers) north of Nashville. Several police agencies reported that their 911 systems were down because of the outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, home to Knoxville about 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of Nashville.The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport because of telecommunications issues associated with the explosion.Three people were taken to area hospitals for treatment after the blast, although none were in critical condition, Aaron said. Cooper said the city was lucky that the number of injuries was limited. Authorities don’t know whether anyone was in the vehicle when it exploded.Human remains were found in the vicinity, two law enforcement officials told the The Associated Press. It was unclear how the remains were related to the explosion or whether they might belong to the person believed to be responsible or a victim. The officials could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.The FBI will be taking the lead in the investigation, agency spokesman Joel Siskovic said. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene. The FBI is the primary law enforcement agency responsible for investigating federal crimes, such as explosives violations and acts of terrorism.A Philadelphia man staying in a nearby hotel said that when he heard the blast, he was knew it wasn’t harmless.“We tried to rationalize it that it was an earthquake or something, but it was obvious it wasn’t an earthquake,” Joseph Fafara said. He said he traveled to Tennessee with his family on Christmas because the state has looser COVID-19 restrictions than Philadelphia.When he went to look at the damage, police barricades had already been put in place. At noon, police dogs continued to search cars and buildings in the nearby area.Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background along with cries of people in distress. A fire is visible in the street outside.McCoy said he heard gunfire 15 minutes before the explosion rocked his building, set cars in the street on fire and blew trees apart.“All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would have been horrible,” he said.“It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he told The Associated Press.President Donald Trump has been briefed, according to White House spokesperson Judd Deere. The U.S. Justice Department said Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was also briefed and directed all department resources be made available to help with the investigation.Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter that the state would provide the resources necessary “to determine what happened and who was responsible.”The American&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RedCrossTN/status/1342540844872695808" target="_blank">Red Cross of Tennessee</a>&nbsp;announced that it was working with officials to open a shelter for victims.----------NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration temporarily halted flights out of Nashville International Airport due to telecommunications issues associated with the explosion in downtown Nashville. Service was expected to resume by 3 p.m. local time.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING: This is the RV that exploded on 2nd Ave N this morning. It arrived on 2nd Ave at 1:22 a.m. Have you seen this vehicle in our area or do you have information about it? Please contact us via Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463 or online via <a href="https://t.co/dVGS7o0m4v">https://t.co/dVGS7o0m4v</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/ATFHQ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ATFHQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/JNx9sDinAH">pic.twitter.com/JNx9sDinAH</a>&mdash; Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) <a href="https://twitter.com/MNPDNashville/status/1342565893486899201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 25, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Authorities say the explosion inside a recreational vehicle parked downtown early Christmas morning was deliberate. Three people were hurt in the blast, which shattered windows and damaged buildings.--------<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/12/1608929052115.png" alt="FBI and ATF investigating the 6:30 a.m. explosion on 2nd Ave N linked to an RV. This appears to have been an intentional act, according to Metro Nashville Police. Law enforcement closed downtown streets as investigation continues. photo courtesy Metro Nashville PD." />
 <figcaption>FBI and ATF investigating the 6:30 a.m. explosion on 2nd Ave N linked to an RV. This appears to have been an intentional act, according to Metro Nashville Police. Law enforcement closed downtown streets as investigation continues. photo courtesy Metro Nashville PD.</figcaption>
 </figure>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An explosion shook the largely deserted streets of downtown Nashville early Christmas morning, shattering windows, damaging buildings and wounding three people. Authorities said they believed the blast was intentional.Police were responding to a report of shots fired when they encountered a recreational vehicle blaring a recording that said a bomb would detonate in 15 minutes, Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake said. Police evacuated nearby buildings and called in the bomb squad.“Shortly after that, the RV exploded,” Drake said at a midday news conference.Surveillance video published on a Twitter account Friday that appeared to be across the street from the blast captured the recorded warning issuing from the RV, “... if you can hear this message, evacuate now,” seconds before the explosion.The blast sent black smoke and flames billowing from the heart of downtown Nashville’s tourist scene, an area packed with honky-tonks, restaurants and shops. Buildings shook streets over from the explosion near a building owned by AT&amp;T, which is one block away from the company’s office tower.“We do not know if that was a coincidence, or if that was the intention,” police spokesman Don Aaron said.AT&amp;T said the affected building is the central office of a telephone exchange, with network equipment in it. Some service was interrupted, but the company has not said how widespread the outages are. Police agencies were reporting that their 911 systems were down because of outage, including Murfreesboro and Knox County, about 180 miles from NashvilleThree people were taken to area hospitals for treatment, although none were in critical condition, Aaron said. Authorities don’t know whether anyone was in the vehicle when it exploded. Nashville Mayor John Cooper said the city was lucky that the number of injuries was limited.Aaron said earlier that some people were taken to the department’s central precinct for questioning but declined to give more details.The FBI will be taking the lead in the investigation, agency spokesman Joel Siskovic said. Federal investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene. The FBI is the primary law enforcement agency responsible for investigating federal crimes, such as explosives violations and acts of terrorism.A Philadelphia man staying in a nearby hotel said that when he heard the blast, he was knew it wasn’t harmless.“We tried to rationalize it that it was an earthquake or something, but it was obvious it wasn’t an earthquake,” Joseph Fafara said. He said he traveled to Tennessee with his family on Christmas because the state has looser COVID-19 restrictions than Philadelphia.When he went to look at the damage, police barricades had already been put in place. At noon, police dogs continued to search cars and buildings in the nearby area.Buck McCoy, who lives near the area, posted videos on Facebook that show water pouring down the ceiling of his home. Alarms blare in the background along with cries of people in distress. A fire is visible in the street outside.McCoy said he heard gunfire 15 minutes before the explosion rocked his building. The said cars in the street were on fire and trees were blown apart.“All my windows, every single one of them got blown into the next room. If I had been standing there it would have been horrible,” he said.“It felt like a bomb. It was that big,” he told The Associated Press.AT&amp;T’s outages site showed service issues in Bowling Green, Kentucky, about 65 miles north of Nashville, while Putnam County, about 60 miles east, said 911 was down for people calling from AT&amp;T, Verizon and US Cellular cellphones.“Service for some customers in Nashville and the surrounding areas may be affected by damage to our facilities from the explosion this morning. We are in contact with law enforcement and working as quickly and safely as possible to restore service,” AT&amp;T spokesman Jim Greer said in an emailed statement.President Donald Trump has been briefed, according to White House spokesperson Judd Deere. The U.S. Justice Department said Acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen was also briefed and directed all department resources be made available to help with the investigation.Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said on Twitter that the state would provide the resources necessary “to determine what happened and who was responsible.”The American&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/RedCrossTN/status/1342540844872695808" target="_blank">Red Cross of Tennessee</a>&nbsp;announced that it was working with officials to open a shelter for victims.