PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, according to aid organization El Roi Haiti.

The Christian group founded by Dorsainvil’s husband asked that neither she nor her family be contacted: “There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation," the group said in a statement.

The group added that it confirmed the safe release “with a heart of gratitude and immense joy.” No other details were immediately available, including whether any ransom was paid.

The U.S. State Department said it welcomed news that the two had been freed and thanked its Haitian and U.S. interagency partners for facilitating the release.

“We have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the agency said. “As you can imagine, these individuals have been through a very difficult ordeal, both physically and mentally.”

Witnesses told The Associated Press that armed men had seized the New Hampshire native and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works.

The Christian group has offered medical care, education and other basic services to people in the country’s poorest areas.

Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-killed-b56a0f8fec0832028bdc51e8d59c6af2">2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.</a>&nbsp;Gang members regularly kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. A local nonprofit has documented&nbsp;<a href="https://cardh.org/celulle-dobservation-de-la-criminalite">539 kidnappings since January</a>, a significant rise over previous years.

On July 27, the U.S. State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Haiti, which remains under a “do not travel” advisory.

In a video posted on the El Roi Haiti website, Dorsainvil describes Haitians as “full of joy, and life and love,” people she was blessed to know.

In a blog post, El Roi Haiti said Dorsainvil fell in love with Haiti’s people on a visit there after the devastating 2010 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation.

Dorsainvil graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where a program supports nursing education in Haiti.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1690900441506.png" alt="Alix Dorsainvil as shown in a photo on the El Roi Haiti web site" />
 <figcaption>Alix Dorsainvil as shown in a photo on the El Roi Haiti web site</figcaption>
 </figure>PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — American nurse Alix Dorsainvil and her daughter were freed Wednesday, nearly two weeks after they were kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, according to aid organization El Roi Haiti.The Christian group founded by Dorsainvil’s husband asked that neither she nor her family be contacted: “There is still much to process and to heal from in this situation," the group said in a statement.The group added that it confirmed the safe release “with a heart of gratitude and immense joy.” No other details were immediately available, including whether any ransom was paid.The U.S. State Department said it welcomed news that the two had been freed and thanked its Haitian and U.S. interagency partners for facilitating the release.“We have no greater priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” the agency said. “As you can imagine, these individuals have been through a very difficult ordeal, both physically and mentally.”Officials provided no other details.Witnesses told The Associated Press that armed men had seized the New Hampshire native and her young daughter in late July from a clinic in a gang-controlled area of Port-au-Prince where Dorsainvil works.The Christian group has offered medical care, education and other basic services to people in the country’s poorest areas.Gang warfare has increasingly plagued Haiti since the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/haiti-president-jovenel-moise-killed-b56a0f8fec0832028bdc51e8d59c6af2">2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.</a>&nbsp;Gang members regularly kill, rape and hold residents for ransom. A local nonprofit has documented&nbsp;<a href="https://cardh.org/celulle-dobservation-de-la-criminalite">539 kidnappings since January</a>, a significant rise over previous years.On July 27, the U.S. State Department had ordered the departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel from Haiti, which remains under a “do not travel” advisory.In a video posted on the El Roi Haiti website, Dorsainvil describes Haitians as “full of joy, and life and love,” people she was blessed to know.In a blog post, El Roi Haiti said Dorsainvil fell in love with Haiti’s people on a visit there after the devastating 2010 earthquake hit the Caribbean nation.Dorsainvil graduated from Regis College in Weston, Massachusetts, where a program supports nursing education in Haiti.

American nurse, daughter freed by kidnappers in Haiti

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Missouri man on Tuesday was charged with child endangerment and armed criminal action in the accidental shooting of his 7-year-old grandson, one of two children who died Monday in unrelated shootings in the St. Louis area.

Walter Macon, 45, was held Tuesday at the St. Louis County jail on a $100,000 cash only bond in the death of his grandson, Darnell Macon, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/grandfather-charged-after-7-year-old-accidentally-shoots-kills-self-in-berkeley/article_ff03e1da-35fc-11ee-9964-a3f81682926b.html?utm_source=stltoday.com&amp;utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Flocal%2Ftrending&amp;utm_medium=PostUp&amp;lctg=3732300&amp;tn_email_eh1=1be2e162154cae33b2eaf3128c932815eb089c39">reported</a>.

St. Louis County Circuit Court did not have record of a lawyer for Walter Macon as of Tuesday, and contact information for his family was not immediately available.

Police said Walter Macon left his grandson alone in his truck with a loaded gun for less than 6 minutes as he was picking up recording equipment.

When he returned, he found the boy slumped over with a gunshot wound to his head, police said. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 5-year-old girl from another St. Louis suburb&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/5-year-old-girl-shot-and-killed-in-belleville/article_14af84b8-3598-11ee-9105-67bfa1487073.html#tracking-source=home-top-story">also died Monday from a shooting</a>, but police have not yet released additional information about her death.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691529666952.png" alt="Macon-photo St. Louis Co. Jail" />
 <figcaption>Macon-photo St. Louis Co. Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A Missouri man on Tuesday was charged with child endangerment and armed criminal action in the accidental shooting of his 7-year-old grandson, one of two children who died Monday in unrelated shootings in the St. Louis area.Walter Macon, 45, was held Tuesday at the St. Louis County jail on a $100,000 cash only bond in the death of his grandson, Darnell Macon, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/grandfather-charged-after-7-year-old-accidentally-shoots-kills-self-in-berkeley/article_ff03e1da-35fc-11ee-9964-a3f81682926b.html?utm_source=stltoday.com&amp;utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletter-templates%2Flocal%2Ftrending&amp;utm_medium=PostUp&amp;lctg=3732300&amp;tn_email_eh1=1be2e162154cae33b2eaf3128c932815eb089c39">reported</a>.St. Louis County Circuit Court did not have record of a lawyer for Walter Macon as of Tuesday, and contact information for his family was not immediately available.Police said Walter Macon left his grandson alone in his truck with a loaded gun for less than 6 minutes as he was picking up recording equipment.When he returned, he found the boy slumped over with a gunshot wound to his head, police said. The child was pronounced dead at the scene.A 5-year-old girl from another St. Louis suburb&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-courts/5-year-old-girl-shot-and-killed-in-belleville/article_14af84b8-3598-11ee-9105-67bfa1487073.html#tracking-source=home-top-story">also died Monday from a shooting</a>, but police have not yet released additional information about her death.

Man charged in grandson's accidental shooting death

By RACHEL MIPRO <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/05/kansas-lawmakers-debate-definition-of-female-and-male-for-county-jails/">Kansas Reflector</a>

OLATHE — The state has put a “thumb on the scale against abortion,” attorney Alice Wang said Tuesday in arguments for a temporary injunction to block long-standing abortion restrictions in Kansas.

Over the span of an hour and a half hearing in Johnson County District Court, Wang, an attorney from the Center for Reproductive Rights, and her opponent, Denise Harle of Alliance Defending Freedom, argued the constitutionality of the “Women’s Right to Know Act,” legislation that uses medically inaccurate information to dictate abortion restrictions.

“No one has been OK with these laws,” Wang said. “The fact that plaintiff providers have been bending over backwards and engaging in Herculean efforts to try and comply with the laws so that they can still provide quality reproductive health care to their patients doesn’t make the laws any more constitutional.”

The lawsuit, filed by abortion providers June 6, challenges requirements in the law, such as a mandatory ultrasound, a 30-minute wait period before the abortion procedure, a requirement that a physician has to listen to the fetus’ heartbeat and offer the patient the chance to do so as well, and a mandate that certain paperwork has to be given to patients in printed form, in specific typeface, font size and color, at least 24 hours in advance of an abortion.

Another challenged section of the law requires providers to post inaccurate information on their websites and in clinics that abortions could increase risk of breast cancer and premature birth in the future — a claim not supported by scientific research.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said the law was a “common sense measure.”

“The Women’s Right to Know Act has been in place for more than 20 years and has been an important part of ensuring informed consent before any abortions are performed,” Kobach said in a news release after the day’s arguments. “We’re confident that the court will uphold this common sense statute.”

Plaintiffs in the case say the restrictions are a violation of the state constitution and patients’ right to reproductive health care. Among others, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Herbert Hodes and Traci Lynn Nauser. The board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists’ challenge of a different state law led to the Kansas Supreme Court’s landmark 2019 ruling that the right to bodily autonomy in the Kansas Constitution includes the right to terminate a pregnancy..

Defendants in the new case include Kobach, Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, and Susan Gile and Ronald Varner, officials from the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.

Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said the landscape following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, as well as a new state law requiring doctors to tell patients about a medically unsound “abortion reversal,” made the lawsuit necessary.

Following last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, states with abortion access have dwindled, making Kansas an outlier in the region. Kansas law allows abortions up to 22 weeks after gestation, and in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.

Kansas voters in August 2022 overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional amendment to take away the right to abortion.

Abortion numbers in the state have skyrocketed in the year since federal abortion protections were overturned, with record numbers of out-of-state travelers coming to Kansas clinics.

Wales estimated providers in her organization have had to turn away 2-10 people every day because of bureaucratic form requirements, including patients who come in with the wrong font color on their forms.

Wales said the organization used to be able to reschedule patients, but with new volume and few providers, clinics are now forced to turn women away.

“Now what we say is, ‘Can you get to Colorado?’ ” Wales said. “How many hours on the road will it be for you to get from home to Chicago?”

Harle, of Alliance Defending Freedom, said those factors shouldn’t impact Kansas law.

“External factors suddenly make this law, which they’ve never had an issue with, unconstitutional just because other people in other states are making decisions?” Harle questioned. “That’s not how constitutionality works.”

Wales said the newly implemented “abortion reversal” law added a sense of urgency to the lawsuit. Republican lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto to fold the junk science requirement into the Women’s Right to Know Act during the recent legislative session. The law — which won’t be implemented till the settling of the lawsuit — requires abortion providers to tell patients they can reverse the effects of mifepristone, the first of two pills used in medication abortion.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Anti-abortion lobbyists point to a debunked study to claim pregnancy can be preserved by taking progesterone. The “abortion reversal” has significant health risks, including risk of hemorrhaging, and respected medical institutions have warned against the practice, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/medication-abortion-reversal-is-not-supported-by-science">which called the process</a>&nbsp;scientifically unsound, unproven and unethical.

Harle said providers should give women the abortion reversal information.

“They’re putting the profit over the women,” Harle said. “The women deserve this information and they deserve better.”

Harle said the “abortion reversal” was about providing women with information and that the reversal process was an area of “medical uncertainty,” one of several claims questioned by District Judge Krishnan Jayaram.

“Is it though?” Jayaram interjected, before adding he didn’t believe the reversal stood up to medical scrutiny.

Jayaram said he will decide whether to go through with the injunction in “short order,” with a decision likely to be released in the coming days.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691541420136.png" alt="Alice Wang, staff attorney for Center for Reproductive Rights, answers reporters’ questions following arguments Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court about the constitutionality of abortion restrictions in state law. (Pool photo by John Hanna/Associated Press)" />
 <figcaption>Alice Wang, staff attorney for Center for Reproductive Rights, answers reporters’ questions following arguments Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court about the constitutionality of abortion restrictions in state law. (Pool photo by John Hanna/Associated Press)</figcaption>
 </figure>By RACHEL MIPRO <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/04/05/kansas-lawmakers-debate-definition-of-female-and-male-for-county-jails/">Kansas Reflector</a>OLATHE — The state has put a “thumb on the scale against abortion,” attorney Alice Wang said Tuesday in arguments for a temporary injunction to block long-standing abortion restrictions in Kansas.Over the span of an hour and a half hearing in Johnson County District Court, Wang, an attorney from the Center for Reproductive Rights, and her opponent, Denise Harle of Alliance Defending Freedom, argued the constitutionality of the “Women’s Right to Know Act,” legislation that uses medically inaccurate information to dictate abortion restrictions.“No one has been OK with these laws,” Wang said. “The fact that plaintiff providers have been bending over backwards and engaging in Herculean efforts to try and comply with the laws so that they can still provide quality reproductive health care to their patients doesn’t make the laws any more constitutional.”The lawsuit, filed by abortion providers June 6, challenges requirements in the law, such as a mandatory ultrasound, a 30-minute wait period before the abortion procedure, a requirement that a physician has to listen to the fetus’ heartbeat and offer the patient the chance to do so as well, and a mandate that certain paperwork has to be given to patients in printed form, in specific typeface, font size and color, at least 24 hours in advance of an abortion.Another challenged section of the law requires providers to post inaccurate information on their websites and in clinics that abortions could increase risk of breast cancer and premature birth in the future — a claim not supported by scientific research.Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said the law was a “common sense measure.”“The Women’s Right to Know Act has been in place for more than 20 years and has been an important part of ensuring informed consent before any abortions are performed,” Kobach said in a news release after the day’s arguments. “We’re confident that the court will uphold this common sense statute.”Plaintiffs in the case say the restrictions are a violation of the state constitution and patients’ right to reproductive health care. Among others, plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Herbert Hodes and Traci Lynn Nauser. The board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists’ challenge of a different state law led to the Kansas Supreme Court’s landmark 2019 ruling that the right to bodily autonomy in the Kansas Constitution includes the right to terminate a pregnancy..Defendants in the new case include Kobach, Johnson County District Attorney Stephen Howe, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, and Susan Gile and Ronald Varner, officials from the Kansas Board of Healing Arts.Emily Wales, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said the landscape following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, as well as a new state law requiring doctors to tell patients about a medically unsound “abortion reversal,” made the lawsuit necessary.Following last year’s reversal of Roe v. Wade, states with abortion access have dwindled, making Kansas an outlier in the region. Kansas law allows abortions up to 22 weeks after gestation, and in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.Kansas voters in August 2022 overwhelmingly defeated a constitutional amendment to take away the right to abortion.Abortion numbers in the state have skyrocketed in the year since federal abortion protections were overturned, with record numbers of out-of-state travelers coming to Kansas clinics.Wales estimated providers in her organization have had to turn away 2-10 people every day because of bureaucratic form requirements, including patients who come in with the wrong font color on their forms.Wales said the organization used to be able to reschedule patients, but with new volume and few providers, clinics are now forced to turn women away.“Now what we say is, ‘Can you get to Colorado?’ ” Wales said. “How many hours on the road will it be for you to get from home to Chicago?”Harle, of Alliance Defending Freedom, said those factors shouldn’t impact Kansas law.“External factors suddenly make this law, which they’ve never had an issue with, unconstitutional just because other people in other states are making decisions?” Harle questioned. “That’s not how constitutionality works.”Wales said the newly implemented “abortion reversal” law added a sense of urgency to the lawsuit. Republican lawmakers overrode Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto to fold the junk science requirement into the Women’s Right to Know Act during the recent legislative session. The law — which won’t be implemented till the settling of the lawsuit — requires abortion providers to tell patients they can reverse the effects of mifepristone, the first of two pills used in medication abortion.&nbsp;&nbsp;Anti-abortion lobbyists point to a debunked study to claim pregnancy can be preserved by taking progesterone. The “abortion reversal” has significant health risks, including risk of hemorrhaging, and respected medical institutions have warned against the practice, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.acog.org/advocacy/facts-are-important/medication-abortion-reversal-is-not-supported-by-science">which called the process</a>&nbsp;scientifically unsound, unproven and unethical.Harle said providers should give women the abortion reversal information.“They’re putting the profit over the women,” Harle said. “The women deserve this information and they deserve better.”Harle said the “abortion reversal” was about providing women with information and that the reversal process was an area of “medical uncertainty,” one of several claims questioned by District Judge Krishnan Jayaram.“Is it though?” Jayaram interjected, before adding he didn’t believe the reversal stood up to medical scrutiny.Jayaram said he will decide whether to go through with the injunction in “short order,” with a decision likely to be released in the coming days.___

Kansas judge hears objections to Kansas abortion restrictions

JOHNSON COUNTY —A woman involved in chase and deadly exchange of gunfire that left a Kansas police officer and suspect dead made a court appearance Tuesday

Angela Cothran, 32,&nbsp; Portland, Tennessee, was charged with aggravated battery, fleeing law enforcement, felony theft and reckless driving.&nbsp;&nbsp;She remains jailed on a $1 million bond, according to online jail records.

Just after 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a stolen vehicle call at the QuikTrip at 95th Street and Interstate 35, according to a media release from Lenexa Police.

 Officers located that car and the suspect in the stolen vehicle struck one of Lenexa police department's patrol vehicles and drove away.

Police pursued the suspect northbound on Interstate 35 until the suspects left the vehicle and ran to a QuikTrip in the 4700 Block of Lamar Avenue in Mission.

Police from multiple agencies were trying to arrest the suspects when gunfire broke out. A suspect later identified as 40-year-old&nbsp;Shannon Wayne Marshall of Ashland City, Tennessee was shot and killed and&nbsp; Fairway Kansas police officer Jonah Oswald was shot, hospitalized and died on Monday.

The other suspect later identified as&nbsp; Cothran was arrested.

Officer Oswald, a 4-year-veteran of the Fairway, Kansas, police department, leaves behind a wife and two young children.&nbsp;

Cothran is listed on the Tennessee sex offender registry for a July 2019 conviction for solicitation to commit sexual exploitation of a minor. She has three previous convictions for child abuse and a probation violation for drugs, according to the Tennessee offender registry.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691521167515.png" alt="Cothran-photo Johnson Co." />
 <figcaption>Cothran-photo Johnson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —A woman involved in chase and deadly exchange of gunfire that left a Kansas police officer and suspect dead made a court appearance TuesdayAngela Cothran, 32,&nbsp; Portland, Tennessee, was charged with aggravated battery, fleeing law enforcement, felony theft and reckless driving.&nbsp;&nbsp;She remains jailed on a $1 million bond, according to online jail records.Just after 7:30 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a stolen vehicle call at the QuikTrip at 95th Street and Interstate 35, according to a media release from Lenexa Police. Officers located that car and the suspect in the stolen vehicle struck one of Lenexa police department's patrol vehicles and drove away.Police pursued the suspect northbound on Interstate 35 until the suspects left the vehicle and ran to a QuikTrip in the 4700 Block of Lamar Avenue in Mission.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691356366635.png" alt="Police on the scene near the shooting&nbsp; on Sunday-photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene near the shooting&nbsp; on Sunday-photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>Police from multiple agencies were trying to arrest the suspects when gunfire broke out. A suspect later identified as 40-year-old&nbsp;Shannon Wayne Marshall of Ashland City, Tennessee was shot and killed and&nbsp; Fairway Kansas police officer Jonah Oswald was shot, hospitalized and died on Monday.The other suspect later identified as&nbsp; Cothran was arrested.Officer Oswald, a 4-year-veteran of the Fairway, Kansas, police department, leaves behind a wife and two young children.&nbsp;Cothran is listed on the Tennessee sex offender registry for a July 2019 conviction for solicitation to commit sexual exploitation of a minor. She has three previous convictions for child abuse and a probation violation for drugs, according to the Tennessee offender registry.&nbsp;

 Sex offender charged for incident that left Kan. officer dead

NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. (AP) —A single ticket sold in Florida is good for a $1.58 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mega-millions-jackpot-155-billion-tuesday-b588a87889a4ba7ff27c1ee8a9a24fc6">Mega Millions jackpot</a>, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months.

A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday night were: 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball 14.

A message was left seeking comment Wednesday from Publix. Messages left for the Florida Lottery weren’t immediately returned.

Before the big win, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lottery-jackpot-mega-millions-powerball-b77dd9c7de3f0ab09545a01113b1f111">third-largest ever in U.S. history</a>.

Mega Millions jackpot winners are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-lottery-us-news-ap-top-news-ia-state-wire-b5572da1e5d74f6e974bea45c707b5cb">so rare thanks to odds</a>&nbsp;of one in 302.6 million.

The $1.58 billion payout would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot was an estimated $783.3 million.

The prize money is subject to federal taxes. Many states also tax lottery winnings.

Mega Millions&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-alabama-alaska-lotteries-business-86424cf8e2b7cccf8ae9d06f6652d559">is played in 45 states</a>, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Neptune Beach has just over 7,000 residents and is 16 miles (26 kilometers) east of Jacksonville on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla. (AP) —A single ticket sold in Florida is good for a $1.58 billion&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mega-millions-jackpot-155-billion-tuesday-b588a87889a4ba7ff27c1ee8a9a24fc6">Mega Millions jackpot</a>, ending a stretch of lottery futility that had stretched for nearly four months.A Publix grocery store in Neptune Beach sold the winning ticket, according to the Florida Lottery. The winning numbers drawn Tuesday night were: 13, 19, 20, 32, 33 and the yellow ball 14.A message was left seeking comment Wednesday from Publix. Messages left for the Florida Lottery weren’t immediately returned.Before the big win, there had been 31 straight drawings since the last time someone won the game’s jackpot on April 18. That enabled the prize to steadily grow to be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lottery-jackpot-mega-millions-powerball-b77dd9c7de3f0ab09545a01113b1f111">third-largest ever in U.S. history</a>.Mega Millions jackpot winners are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-lottery-us-news-ap-top-news-ia-state-wire-b5572da1e5d74f6e974bea45c707b5cb">so rare thanks to odds</a>&nbsp;of one in 302.6 million.The $1.58 billion payout would go to the winner if they opt for an annuity, doled out over 30 years. But people usually prefer a lump sum option, which for Tuesday’s jackpot was an estimated $783.3 million.The prize money is subject to federal taxes. Many states also tax lottery winnings.Mega Millions&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-alabama-alaska-lotteries-business-86424cf8e2b7cccf8ae9d06f6652d559">is played in 45 states</a>, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.Neptune Beach has just over 7,000 residents and is 16 miles (26 kilometers) east of Jacksonville on Florida's Atlantic Coast.

Mega Millions player wins $1.58 billion jackpot, 3rd largest prize in US history

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted special counsel Jack Smith anew and vowed to continue campaigning on his criminal cases even as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-capitol-riot-indictment-protective-order-71cd642e876c47fff4e1283c15f8ca01">prosecutors seek a protective order</a>&nbsp;to limit the evidence that he and his team can share.

In the early voting state of New Hampshire, Trump assailed Smith as a “thug prosecutor” and a “deranged guy” a week after being indicted on felony charges for his efforts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-hearings-trump-capitol-10351fe6d555eaee7554379ceed8bb24">to overturn the results</a>&nbsp;of the 2020 election in the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The former president lobbed the insults at Smith just days after the Department of Justice asked a judge to approve a protective order stopping Trump from publicly disclosing evidence. Federal prosecutors contend that Trump is seeking to “try the case in the media rather than in the courtroom."

The judge overseeing the case has scheduled a hearing over the protective order for Friday morning.

Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-jan-6-indictment-protective-order-chutkan-7188eddf6cac0a34379aae71eb16a226">lawyers have argued that</a>&nbsp;the prospective order is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights of free speech, something Trump echoed on stage Tuesday.

“I will talk about it. They’re not taking away my First Amendment,” Trump said, speaking to supporters during a rally at a high school in the southeastern New Hampshire town of Windham.

The former president said he needs to be able to respond to reporters' questions about the case on the campaign trail — something he has not made a practice of doing — and cited the movie “2000 Mules,” which made&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-covid-technology-health-arizona-e1b49d2311bf900f44fa5c6dac406762">various debunked claims</a>&nbsp;about mail ballots, drop boxes and ballot collection in the 2020 presidential election.

“All of this will come up during this trial," Trump said.

In the four-count indictment filed against Trump last week, the Justice Department accused him of orchestrating a scheme to block the peaceful transfer of power. He was told by multiple people in trusted positions that his claims were false, prosecutors said, but he spread them anyway to sow public mistrust about the election.

Trump, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, repeated his lies about the election on Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-pence-electoral-college-elections-health-2d9bd47a8bd3561682ac46c6b3873a10">despite the fact</a>&nbsp;that numerous federal and local election officials of both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.

“There was never a second of any day that I didn’t believe that that election was rigged. It was a rigged election, and it was a stolen disgusting election and this country should be ashamed," Trump said.

Trump, who is also facing charges in Florida and New York, is gearing up for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-2020-election-georgia-grand-jury-investigation-30f7874b58137831cfa5dd86415a9e9f">possible fourth indictment</a>, in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state. The county district attorney, Fani Willis, has signaled that any indictments in the case would likely come this month.

Trump alluded to that Tuesday, predicting that when it comes to indictments, “I should have four by sometime next week." He also launched into a highly personal attack on Willis, who is Black, calling the 52-year-old prosecutor "a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta.”

“She’s got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office,” he said.

A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.

Beyond his criminal cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-investigations-other-charges-b8b064a00caad4306fb54d2f6a320468">Trump faces several civil cases</a>&nbsp;that are working their way through the courts.

Although he usually boasts that his legal problems only help his campaign prospects, he made a rare statement Tuesday that they are taking a financial toll. His political operation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-legal-bills-pac-defense-fund-campaign-filing-2024-36fe10e4988a56de34f120cff38e1552">spent more than $40 million on legal fees so far this year,</a>&nbsp;according to recent campaign finance disclosures.

Trump, who has portrayed the investigations as politically motivated, said they are forcing him “to spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus made-up accusations and charges.”

“That's what they're doing. 'I'm sorry, I won't be able to go to Iowa today. I won't be able to go to New Hampshire today,'" he said. “Because I'm sitting in a courtroom on bull—-.”

The crowd cheered and broke into chants of “bull——!”

Trump smiled and shook his head while he watched the crowd chant.

WINDHAM, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday blasted special counsel Jack Smith anew and vowed to continue campaigning on his criminal cases even as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-capitol-riot-indictment-protective-order-71cd642e876c47fff4e1283c15f8ca01">prosecutors seek a protective order</a>&nbsp;to limit the evidence that he and his team can share.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Former President Trump: &quot;I&#39;m sorry I won&#39;t be able to go to Iowa today, I won&#39;t be able to go to New Hampshire today because I&#39;m sitting in a court room on bullshit because his attorney general charged me with something.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Ox2n9rrH7v">pic.twitter.com/Ox2n9rrH7v</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1689005551139627008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 8, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In the early voting state of New Hampshire, Trump assailed Smith as a “thug prosecutor” and a “deranged guy” a week after being indicted on felony charges for his efforts&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-hearings-trump-capitol-10351fe6d555eaee7554379ceed8bb24">to overturn the results</a>&nbsp;of the 2020 election in the run-up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.The former president lobbed the insults at Smith just days after the Department of Justice asked a judge to approve a protective order stopping Trump from publicly disclosing evidence. Federal prosecutors contend that Trump is seeking to “try the case in the media rather than in the courtroom."The judge overseeing the case has scheduled a hearing over the protective order for Friday morning.Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-jan-6-indictment-protective-order-chutkan-7188eddf6cac0a34379aae71eb16a226">lawyers have argued that</a>&nbsp;the prospective order is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights of free speech, something Trump echoed on stage Tuesday.“I will talk about it. They’re not taking away my First Amendment,” Trump said, speaking to supporters during a rally at a high school in the southeastern New Hampshire town of Windham.The former president said he needs to be able to respond to reporters' questions about the case on the campaign trail — something he has not made a practice of doing — and cited the movie “2000 Mules,” which made&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-covid-technology-health-arizona-e1b49d2311bf900f44fa5c6dac406762">various debunked claims</a>&nbsp;about mail ballots, drop boxes and ballot collection in the 2020 presidential election.“All of this will come up during this trial," Trump said.In the four-count indictment filed against Trump last week, the Justice Department accused him of orchestrating a scheme to block the peaceful transfer of power. He was told by multiple people in trusted positions that his claims were false, prosecutors said, but he spread them anyway to sow public mistrust about the election.Trump, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, repeated his lies about the election on Tuesday,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-pence-electoral-college-elections-health-2d9bd47a8bd3561682ac46c6b3873a10">despite the fact</a>&nbsp;that numerous federal and local election officials of both parties, a long list of courts, top former campaign staffers and even his attorney general have all said there is no evidence of the fraud he alleges.Trump will have none of that.“There was never a second of any day that I didn’t believe that that election was rigged. It was a rigged election, and it was a stolen disgusting election and this country should be ashamed," Trump said.Trump, who is also facing charges in Florida and New York, is gearing up for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-2020-election-georgia-grand-jury-investigation-30f7874b58137831cfa5dd86415a9e9f">possible fourth indictment</a>, in a case out of Fulton County, Georgia, over alleged efforts by him and his allies to illegally meddle in the 2020 election in that state. The county district attorney, Fani Willis, has signaled that any indictments in the case would likely come this month.Trump alluded to that Tuesday, predicting that when it comes to indictments, “I should have four by sometime next week." He also launched into a highly personal attack on Willis, who is Black, calling the 52-year-old prosecutor "a young woman, a young racist in Atlanta.”“She’s got a lot of problems. But she wants to indict me to try to run for some other office,” he said.A spokesperson for Willis declined to comment.Beyond his criminal cases,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-investigations-other-charges-b8b064a00caad4306fb54d2f6a320468">Trump faces several civil cases</a>&nbsp;that are working their way through the courts.Although he usually boasts that his legal problems only help his campaign prospects, he made a rare statement Tuesday that they are taking a financial toll. His political operation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-legal-bills-pac-defense-fund-campaign-filing-2024-36fe10e4988a56de34f120cff38e1552">spent more than $40 million on legal fees so far this year,</a>&nbsp;according to recent campaign finance disclosures.Trump, who has portrayed the investigations as politically motivated, said they are forcing him “to spend time and money away from the campaign trail in order to fight bogus made-up accusations and charges.”“That's what they're doing. 'I'm sorry, I won't be able to go to Iowa today. I won't be able to go to New Hampshire today,'" he said. “Because I'm sitting in a courtroom on bull—-.”The crowd cheered and broke into chants of “bull——!”Trump smiled and shook his head while he watched the crowd chant.“Thank you very much,” he said.

🎥 Trump vows to keep campaigning on criminal cases 

KANSAS CITY—A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment charging multiple people for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine within the state of Kansas and elsewhere between February 2020 and July 2023, according to the United State's Attorney.

According to court documents, Jose Roman, 43, Marcos Valencia Jr, 32, Ezequil Castro, 37, Juan Gonzalez (all of Kansas City, Kansas), Manuel Alvarez, 28, of Seneca, Manuel Faudoa, 23, of Dodge City, and Gerardo Sierra-Martinez, 21, of Kansas City, Missouri, are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

Roman is also charged with five counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and one count of money laundering.

Sierra-Martinez is charged with two counts of money laundering for allegedly sending money wire transfers totaling $55,500 to a person in Mexico City, Mexico in order to promote unlawful activity. He is also charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

Gonzalez and Faudoa are charged with two counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and Alvarez is charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Jackson County, Missouri Drug Task Force, the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Nebraska Highway Patrol, and the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program are investigating the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691513633800.png" alt="Valencia from a previous arrest in Wyandotte Co." />
 <figcaption>Valencia from a previous arrest in Wyandotte Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment charging multiple people for their alleged involvement in a conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine within the state of Kansas and elsewhere between February 2020 and July 2023, according to the United State's Attorney.According to court documents, Jose Roman, 43, Marcos Valencia Jr, 32, Ezequil Castro, 37, Juan Gonzalez (all of Kansas City, Kansas), Manuel Alvarez, 28, of Seneca, Manuel Faudoa, 23, of Dodge City, and Gerardo Sierra-Martinez, 21, of Kansas City, Missouri, are charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.Roman is also charged with five counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and one count of money laundering.Sierra-Martinez is charged with two counts of money laundering for allegedly sending money wire transfers totaling $55,500 to a person in Mexico City, Mexico in order to promote unlawful activity. He is also charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.Gonzalez and Faudoa are charged with two counts of distribution of methamphetamine, and Alvarez is charged with one count of distribution of methamphetamine.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Jackson County, Missouri Drug Task Force, the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department, the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Nebraska Highway Patrol, and the Midwest High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program are investigating the case.

Indictment: 7 accused of distributing meth across Kansas

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year.

The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments, rather than the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/constitutional-access-ohio-house-abortion-ballot-95cae24b996ce943c976dbf06d7d9867">60% supermajority that was proposed</a>. Its supporters said the higher bar would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups.

Voter opposition to the proposal was widespread, even spreading into traditionally Republican territory. In fact, in early returns, support for the measure fell far short of former President Donald Trump’s performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county.

Dennis Willard, a spokesperson for the opposition campaign One Person One Vote, called Issue 1 a “deceptive power grab” that was intended to diminish the influence of the state’s voters.

“Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio,” Willard told a jubilant crowd at the opposition campaign’s watch party. “The majority still rules in Ohio.”

President Joe Biden hailed Tuesday's result, releasing a statement saying: “This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions. Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won.”

A major national group that opposes abortion rights, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the result “a sad day for Ohio" while criticizing the outside money that helped the opposition — even though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-rights-ohio-election-constitution-special-interests-06217130060cd97d398169052b6d511a">both sides relied on national groups</a>&nbsp;and individuals in their campaigns.

Republican lawmakers who had pushed the measure — and put it before voters during the height of summer vacation season — explained away the defeat as a result of too little time to adequately explain its virtues to voters. A main backer, Republican Senate President Matt Huffman, predicted lawmakers would try again, though probably not as soon as next year.

“Obviously, there are a lot of folks that did not want this to happen — not just because of the November issues, but for all of the other ones that are coming,” he said, expressing disappointment that Republicans didn't stick together. In a statement, Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens advised supporters to move past Tuesday's results to focus on trying to defeat the abortion rights measure: “The people of Ohio have spoken."

While&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-referendum-election-2023-7ea8656d35adce9dfb8d9a9bf8c69d60">abortion</a>&nbsp;was not directly on the special election ballot, the result marks the latest setback for Republicans in a conservative-leaning state who favor imposing tough restrictions on the procedure. Ohio Republicans placed the question on the summer ballot in hopes of undercutting the citizen initiative that voters will decide in November that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state.

Other states where voters have considered abortion rights since last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court ruling</a>&nbsp;have protected them, including in red states such as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">Kansas</a>&nbsp;and Kentucky.

Dr. Marcela Azevedo, one of the leaders of a coalition advancing the fall abortion question, said Tuesday that Issue 1’s defeat should allow the measure to pass in November.

Interest in Tuesday's special election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-constitutional-amendments-voters-turnout-election-65381bfc596ab5e34c830f67cef05fc2">was intense</a>, even after Republicans ignored their own law that took effect earlier this year to place the question before voters in August. Voters cast nearly 700,000 early in-person and mail ballots ahead of Tuesday’s final day of voting, more than double the number of advance votes in a typical primary election. Early turnout was especially heavy in the Democratic-leaning counties surrounding Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.

One Person One Vote represented a broad, bipartisan coalition of voting rights, labor, faith and community groups. The group also had as allies four living ex-governors of the state and five former state attorneys general of both parties, who called the proposed change bad public policy.

In place since 1912, the simple majority standard is a much more surmountable hurdle for Ohioans for Reproductive Rights, the group advancing November’s abortion rights amendment. It would establish “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” with “reasonable limits.”

Voters in several states have approved ballot questions protecting access to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but typically have done so with less than 60% of the vote. AP VoteCast polling last year found that 59% of Ohio voters say abortion should generally be legal.

Eric Chon, a Columbus resident who voted against the measure, said there was a clear anti-abortion agenda to the election. Noting that the GOP voted just last year to get rid of August elections entirely due to low turnout for hyperlocal issues, Chon said, “Every time something doesn’t go their way, they change the rules.”

The election result came in the very type of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-constitution-access-august-election-f76b958805b4ff5a1cf7ad21724b68da">August special election</a>&nbsp;that Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a candidate for U.S. Senate, had previously testified against as undemocratic because of historically low turnout.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-gun-rights-vaccines-constitution-ohio-4e3443dfafd071c94a72204606723a47">Republican lawmakers</a>&nbsp;just last year had voted to mostly eliminate such elections, a law they ignored for this year’s election.

Al Daum, of Hilliard, just west of Columbus, said he didn’t feel the rules were being changed to undermine the power of his vote and said he was in favor of the special election measure. Along with increasing the threshold to 60%, it would mandate that any signatures for a constitutional amendment be gathered from all of Ohio’s 88 counties, not just 44.

It’s a change that Daum said would give more Ohio residents a chance to make their voices heard.

Voters’ rejection of the proposal marked a rare rebuke for Ohio Republicans, who have held power across every branch of state government for 12 years. GOP lawmakers had cited possible future amendments related to gun control, minimum wage increases and more as reasons a higher threshold should be required.

Protect Ohio Women, the campaign working to defeat the fall abortion rights amendment, vowed to continue fighting into the fall.

“Our pro-life, pro-parent coalition is more motivated than ever,” the group said in a statement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691543919337.png" alt="A yard sign in Mount Vernon, Ohio, against Ohio Issue (Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)" />
 <figcaption>A yard sign in Mount Vernon, Ohio, against Ohio Issue (Graham Stokes for Ohio Capital Journal)</figcaption>
 </figure>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly rejected a Republican-backed measure that would have made it more difficult to change the state’s constitution, setting up a fall campaign that will become the nation’s latest referendum on abortion rights since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned nationwide protections last year.The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments, rather than the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/constitutional-access-ohio-house-abortion-ballot-95cae24b996ce943c976dbf06d7d9867">60% supermajority that was proposed</a>. Its supporters said the higher bar would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups.Voter opposition to the proposal was widespread, even spreading into traditionally Republican territory. In fact, in early returns, support for the measure fell far short of former President Donald Trump’s performance during the 2020 election in nearly every county.Dennis Willard, a spokesperson for the opposition campaign One Person One Vote, called Issue 1 a “deceptive power grab” that was intended to diminish the influence of the state’s voters.“Tonight is a major victory for democracy in Ohio,” Willard told a jubilant crowd at the opposition campaign’s watch party. “The majority still rules in Ohio.”President Joe Biden hailed Tuesday's result, releasing a statement saying: “This measure was a blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions. Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won.”A major national group that opposes abortion rights, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, called the result “a sad day for Ohio" while criticizing the outside money that helped the opposition — even though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-rights-ohio-election-constitution-special-interests-06217130060cd97d398169052b6d511a">both sides relied on national groups</a>&nbsp;and individuals in their campaigns.Republican lawmakers who had pushed the measure — and put it before voters during the height of summer vacation season — explained away the defeat as a result of too little time to adequately explain its virtues to voters. A main backer, Republican Senate President Matt Huffman, predicted lawmakers would try again, though probably not as soon as next year.“Obviously, there are a lot of folks that did not want this to happen — not just because of the November issues, but for all of the other ones that are coming,” he said, expressing disappointment that Republicans didn't stick together. In a statement, Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens advised supporters to move past Tuesday's results to focus on trying to defeat the abortion rights measure: “The people of Ohio have spoken."While&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-referendum-election-2023-7ea8656d35adce9dfb8d9a9bf8c69d60">abortion</a>&nbsp;was not directly on the special election ballot, the result marks the latest setback for Republicans in a conservative-leaning state who favor imposing tough restrictions on the procedure. Ohio Republicans placed the question on the summer ballot in hopes of undercutting the citizen initiative that voters will decide in November that seeks to enshrine abortion rights in the state.Other states where voters have considered abortion rights since last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-supreme-court-decision-854f60302f21c2c35129e58cf8d8a7b0">Supreme Court ruling</a>&nbsp;have protected them, including in red states such as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">Kansas</a>&nbsp;and Kentucky.Dr. Marcela Azevedo, one of the leaders of a coalition advancing the fall abortion question, said Tuesday that Issue 1’s defeat should allow the measure to pass in November.Interest in Tuesday's special election&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-ohio-constitutional-amendments-voters-turnout-election-65381bfc596ab5e34c830f67cef05fc2">was intense</a>, even after Republicans ignored their own law that took effect earlier this year to place the question before voters in August. Voters cast nearly 700,000 early in-person and mail ballots ahead of Tuesday’s final day of voting, more than double the number of advance votes in a typical primary election. Early turnout was especially heavy in the Democratic-leaning counties surrounding Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.One Person One Vote represented a broad, bipartisan coalition of voting rights, labor, faith and community groups. The group also had as allies four living ex-governors of the state and five former state attorneys general of both parties, who called the proposed change bad public policy.In place since 1912, the simple majority standard is a much more surmountable hurdle for Ohioans for Reproductive Rights, the group advancing November’s abortion rights amendment. It would establish “a fundamental right to reproductive freedom” with “reasonable limits.”Voters in several states have approved ballot questions protecting access to abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but typically have done so with less than 60% of the vote. AP VoteCast polling last year found that 59% of Ohio voters say abortion should generally be legal.Eric Chon, a Columbus resident who voted against the measure, said there was a clear anti-abortion agenda to the election. Noting that the GOP voted just last year to get rid of August elections entirely due to low turnout for hyperlocal issues, Chon said, “Every time something doesn’t go their way, they change the rules.”The election result came in the very type of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-constitution-access-august-election-f76b958805b4ff5a1cf7ad21724b68da">August special election</a>&nbsp;that Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a candidate for U.S. Senate, had previously testified against as undemocratic because of historically low turnout.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-gun-rights-vaccines-constitution-ohio-4e3443dfafd071c94a72204606723a47">Republican lawmakers</a>&nbsp;just last year had voted to mostly eliminate such elections, a law they ignored for this year’s election.Al Daum, of Hilliard, just west of Columbus, said he didn’t feel the rules were being changed to undermine the power of his vote and said he was in favor of the special election measure. Along with increasing the threshold to 60%, it would mandate that any signatures for a constitutional amendment be gathered from all of Ohio’s 88 counties, not just 44.It’s a change that Daum said would give more Ohio residents a chance to make their voices heard.Voters’ rejection of the proposal marked a rare rebuke for Ohio Republicans, who have held power across every branch of state government for 12 years. GOP lawmakers had cited possible future amendments related to gun control, minimum wage increases and more as reasons a higher threshold should be required.Protect Ohio Women, the campaign working to defeat the fall abortion rights amendment, vowed to continue fighting into the fall.“Our pro-life, pro-parent coalition is more motivated than ever,” the group said in a statement.

Win for abortion-rights supporters; Ohio voters reject Issue 1

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and have a suspect in custody.

Just after 9 a.m. August 5, police responded to a report of a burglary at Crocker’s Car Care, 1001 SE 21st street, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.

Officers were notified of forced entry into the business and that motor vehicles had been stolen.

Just after 8a.m. Sunday., police located a person of interest in the investigation identified as Tiffany D. Woosley, 33, of Topeka, in the 1900 block of SE Pennsylvania.

As a result of the investigation , police transported Woosley to the Shawnee County Department.Corrections. She is being held on requested charges of Burglary; Non dwelling, theft; motor vehicle and criminal damage to property, according to Eubanks.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691413631726.png" alt="Woosley" />
 <figcaption>Woosley</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and have a suspect in custody.Just after 9 a.m. August 5, police responded to a report of a burglary at Crocker’s Car Care, 1001 SE 21st street, according to Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.Officers were notified of forced entry into the business and that motor vehicles had been stolen.Just after 8a.m. Sunday., police located a person of interest in the investigation identified as Tiffany D. Woosley, 33, of Topeka, in the 1900 block of SE Pennsylvania.As a result of the investigation , police transported Woosley to the Shawnee County Department.Corrections. She is being held on requested charges of Burglary; Non dwelling, theft; motor vehicle and criminal damage to property, according to Eubanks.

Kansas woman jailed after vehicles stolen from repair shop

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a hit and run and asking the public to help locate a vehicle.

According to Kansas City Police,&nbsp; a white Dodge Challenger struck a person in a hit and run at Westport and Broadway early Saturday morning.


The 2-door vehicle has black rims, a sunroof, damage to the front drivers side bumper and is missing the driver side headlight.


If you have any information, please call Det. Richardson, KCPD Traffic Investigation Section, at 816-482-8190. You can also remain anonymous at <a href="https://t.co/hdgjMWueud" target="_blank">https://kccrimestoppers.com</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691518007764.png" alt="photo KCPD" />
 <figcaption>photo KCPD</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a hit and run and asking the public to help locate a vehicle.According to Kansas City Police,&nbsp; a white Dodge Challenger struck a person in a hit and run at Westport and Broadway early Saturday morning.
The 2-door vehicle has black rims, a sunroof, damage to the front drivers side bumper and is missing the driver side headlight.

If you have any information, please call Det. Richardson, KCPD Traffic Investigation Section, at 816-482-8190. You can also remain anonymous at <a href="https://t.co/hdgjMWueud" target="_blank">https://kccrimestoppers.com</a>

KCPD looking for vehicle that struck pedestrian and fled

JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are asking for help identifying a a man who died in late spring of this year, according to a media release from Overland Park Police.

Officers located the man's body near the W. 103rd Street bridge over U.S. 69 Hwy.

 Foul play is not suspected in terms of his cause of death. The man did not have any form of identification with him, and attempts to determine his identity without the public’s assistance have been exhausted.

The man was 5-foot-7, with a thin build and has a tattoo on his left shoulder blade.

He appears to be between the age of 35 to 45. A few weeks prior to this incident, an Overland Park Patrol Officer made contact with the same man near Interstate 435 Highway and Metcalf Aveue.

The man didn’t have any identification on him at that time either, but verbally identified himself as Alberto Gomez born January 11, 1983. 

Investigators were unable to locate a positive match using the above name and date of birth. 

If you have information which could assist Investigators in positively identifying this man, please contact Detective Wimsatt at 913-344-8742.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691530463554.png" alt="Photo Overland. Park Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo Overland. Park Police</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are asking for help identifying a a man who died in late spring of this year, according to a media release from Overland Park Police.Officers located the man's body near the W. 103rd Street bridge over U.S. 69 Hwy. Foul play is not suspected in terms of his cause of death. The man did not have any form of identification with him, and attempts to determine his identity without the public’s assistance have been exhausted.The man was 5-foot-7, with a thin build and has a tattoo on his left shoulder blade.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1693932845760.png" alt="Overland Park" />
 <figcaption>Overland Park</figcaption>
 </figure>He appears to be between the age of 35 to 45. A few weeks prior to this incident, an Overland Park Patrol Officer made contact with the same man near Interstate 435 Highway and Metcalf Aveue.The man didn’t have any identification on him at that time either, but verbally identified himself as Alberto Gomez born January 11, 1983. Investigators were unable to locate a positive match using the above name and date of birth. If you have information which could assist Investigators in positively identifying this man, please contact Detective Wimsatt at 913-344-8742.

Police ask for help to ID man who died this spring in Kansas

NESS COUNTY&nbsp;–&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Tuesday morning outside a residence in Ransom, Kansas, according to a media release from the KBI.

Preliminary information indicates that on Tuesday morning, 911 calls were placed indicating a man was armed with a firearm and making threats inside a residence at an unknown address in Ransom. Deputies pinpointed the exact house where the domestic disturbance was occurring, and multiple sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene at 207 S. Vermont St. A sheriff’s deputy began talking to the armed man on the phone. They identified the man as Jesse L. Nicholls, 46, of Ransom.

The deputy eventually convinced Nicholls to come out of the house. When Nicholls came out and into the front yard, he initially complied with commands to put the pistol he was carrying down, but then picked it up and fired toward the ground.&nbsp;Immediately upon Nicholls’ firing of the weapon, a deputy from the Ness County Sheriff’s Office fired multiple times striking Nicholls.

EMS, who had been staged in the area, quickly responded and attempted life-saving measures. They transported Nicholls to the Grisell Memorial Hospital. Medical intervention was unsuccessful, and Nicholls was pronounced dead at the hospital. No deputies were injured during the shooting.

The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this incident. Once the investigation concludes, the findings will be turned over to the Ness County Attorney for review.

&nbsp;NESS COUNTY —The KBI and our Crime Scene Response Team are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred in Ransom, Kansas, involving the&nbsp;Ness County Sheriff's Office, according to a media release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

The shooting took place just before 10 a.m. near Vermont Ave. and 3rd Street in Ransom. No sheriff's deputies were injured. A male suspect was shot during the incident, and has since died from his injuries.

NESS COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting.

On Tuesday morning, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation&nbsp;responded to an officer-involved shooting in Ness County, according to KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood.

No law enforcement officers were injured. One subject was hospitalized.

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691576725429.png" alt="KBI on the scene in Ness City Tuesday -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>KBI on the scene in Ness City Tuesday -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>NESS COUNTY&nbsp;–&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Tuesday morning outside a residence in Ransom, Kansas, according to a media release from the KBI.Preliminary information indicates that on Tuesday morning, 911 calls were placed indicating a man was armed with a firearm and making threats inside a residence at an unknown address in Ransom. Deputies pinpointed the exact house where the domestic disturbance was occurring, and multiple sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene at 207 S. Vermont St. A sheriff’s deputy began talking to the armed man on the phone. They identified the man as Jesse L. Nicholls, 46, of Ransom.The deputy eventually convinced Nicholls to come out of the house. When Nicholls came out and into the front yard, he initially complied with commands to put the pistol he was carrying down, but then picked it up and fired toward the ground.&nbsp;Immediately upon Nicholls’ firing of the weapon, a deputy from the Ness County Sheriff’s Office fired multiple times striking Nicholls.EMS, who had been staged in the area, quickly responded and attempted life-saving measures. They transported Nicholls to the Grisell Memorial Hospital. Medical intervention was unsuccessful, and Nicholls was pronounced dead at the hospital. No deputies were injured during the shooting.The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this incident. Once the investigation concludes, the findings will be turned over to the Ness County Attorney for review.-------------------------&nbsp;NESS COUNTY —The KBI and our Crime Scene Response Team are investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred in Ransom, Kansas, involving the&nbsp;Ness County Sheriff's Office, according to a media release from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.The shooting took place just before 10 a.m. near Vermont Ave. and 3rd Street in Ransom. No sheriff's deputies were injured. A male suspect was shot during the incident, and has since died from his injuries. ---------------------NESS COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting.On Tuesday morning, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation&nbsp;responded to an officer-involved shooting in Ness County, according to KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood.No law enforcement officers were injured. One subject was hospitalized.Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

KBI IDs man who died in rural Kan. officer-involved shooting 

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A law enforcement officer is recovering from injuries in accident that occurred just after 12:30p.m. Saturday in Wichita.

A 2020 Ford Explorer driven by Officer Christopher Ruhlen, 34,Wichita, was southbound on Main Street in Wichita after he received an alert from a Flock camera about a stolen vehicle, according to Officer Juan Rebolldo.

The Officer Ruhlen drove to the area where the camera was when he saw the stolen vehicle driving by him. The officer turned his lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop and entered the intersection atKellogg Drive.

An eastbound 2018 Ford F150 driven by Ernest Ramirez, 60, Hutchinson,&nbsp; struck the officer's SUV on the passenger side door and quarter panel.

EMS transported both drivers to a local hospital for treatment.&nbsp; Ruhlen was treated and has been released. Two juveniles were present in the vehicle; juvenile record protected data, according to the KHP.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691332520774.png" alt="View of the crash scene -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>View of the crash scene -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A law enforcement officer is recovering from injuries in accident that occurred just after 12:30p.m. Saturday in Wichita.A 2020 Ford Explorer driven by Officer Christopher Ruhlen, 34,Wichita, was southbound on Main Street in Wichita after he received an alert from a Flock camera about a stolen vehicle, according to Officer Juan Rebolldo.The Officer Ruhlen drove to the area where the camera was when he saw the stolen vehicle driving by him. The officer turned his lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop and entered the intersection atKellogg Drive.An eastbound 2018 Ford F150 driven by Ernest Ramirez, 60, Hutchinson,&nbsp; struck the officer's SUV on the passenger side door and quarter panel.EMS transported both drivers to a local hospital for treatment.&nbsp; Ruhlen was treated and has been released. Two juveniles were present in the vehicle; juvenile record protected data, according to the KHP.

Police update details on pursuit crash that injured Kan. officer

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;is reinstating a regulation aimed at reining in the proliferation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-are-ghost-guns-aab2ded78314603e8e87e92dbe4def3f">ghost guns</a>, firearms without serial numbers that have been turning up at crime scenes across the nation in increasing numbers.

The court on Tuesday voted 5-4 to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in Texas that invalidated the Biden administration's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-bureau-of-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives-gun-politics-5f0f26cdb5d3bcbc6f9c5daf471c118d">regulation of ghost gun kits</a>. The regulation will be in effect while the administration appeals the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — and potentially the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court's three liberal members to form the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas would have kept the regulation on hold during the appeals process. Neither side provided an explanation.

The Justice Department had told the court that local law enforcement agencies seized more than 19,000 ghost guns at crime scenes in 2021, a more than tenfold increase in just five years.

"The public-safety interests in reversing the flow of ghost guns to dangerous and otherwise prohibited persons easily outweighs the minor costs that respondents will incur,"&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-us-supreme-court-only-on-ap-19ad9190f158f5df1ac5d2f569dcdc80">Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar</a>, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, wrote in a court filing.

The new rule was issued last year and changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished parts, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun, so they can be tracked more easily. Those parts must be licensed and include serial numbers. Manufacturers must also run background checks before a sale — as they do with other commercially made firearms. The requirement applies regardless of how the firearm was made, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts or kits or by 3D printers.

The rule does not prohibit people from purchasing a kit or any type of firearm.

U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, in Fort Worth, Texas, struck down the rule in late June, concluding that it exceeded the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' authority. O'Connor wrote that the definition of a firearm in federal law does not cover all the parts of a gun. Congress could change the law, he wrote.

Lawyers for individuals, businesses and advocacy groups challenging the rule told the Supreme Court that O'Connor was right and that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bureau-of-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives">the ATF</a>&nbsp;had departed from more than 50 years of regulatory practice in expanding the definition of a firearm.

The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which has long supported regulation of ghost guns, praised the Supreme Court's action. “The challenged rule simply requires that ghost gun kits are regulated like the guns that they are. It will save lives,” David Pucino, the group's deputy chief counsel, said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;is reinstating a regulation aimed at reining in the proliferation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/what-are-ghost-guns-aab2ded78314603e8e87e92dbe4def3f">ghost guns</a>, firearms without serial numbers that have been turning up at crime scenes across the nation in increasing numbers.The court on Tuesday voted 5-4 to put on hold a ruling from a federal judge in Texas that invalidated the Biden administration's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-bureau-of-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives-gun-politics-5f0f26cdb5d3bcbc6f9c5daf471c118d">regulation of ghost gun kits</a>. The regulation will be in effect while the administration appeals the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans — and potentially the Supreme Court.Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined with the court's three liberal members to form the majority. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas would have kept the regulation on hold during the appeals process. Neither side provided an explanation.The Justice Department had told the court that local law enforcement agencies seized more than 19,000 ghost guns at crime scenes in 2021, a more than tenfold increase in just five years."The public-safety interests in reversing the flow of ghost guns to dangerous and otherwise prohibited persons easily outweighs the minor costs that respondents will incur,"&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-us-supreme-court-only-on-ap-19ad9190f158f5df1ac5d2f569dcdc80">Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar</a>, the administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer, wrote in a court filing.The new rule was issued last year and changed the definition of a firearm under federal law to include unfinished parts, like the frame of a handgun or the receiver of a long gun, so they can be tracked more easily. Those parts must be licensed and include serial numbers. Manufacturers must also run background checks before a sale — as they do with other commercially made firearms. The requirement applies regardless of how the firearm was made, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts or kits or by 3D printers.The rule does not prohibit people from purchasing a kit or any type of firearm.U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor, in Fort Worth, Texas, struck down the rule in late June, concluding that it exceeded the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' authority. O'Connor wrote that the definition of a firearm in federal law does not cover all the parts of a gun. Congress could change the law, he wrote.Lawyers for individuals, businesses and advocacy groups challenging the rule told the Supreme Court that O'Connor was right and that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bureau-of-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives">the ATF</a>&nbsp;had departed from more than 50 years of regulatory practice in expanding the definition of a firearm.The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which has long supported regulation of ghost guns, praised the Supreme Court's action. “The challenged rule simply requires that ghost gun kits are regulated like the guns that they are. It will save lives,” David Pucino, the group's deputy chief counsel, said in a statement.

Supreme Court allows Biden administration to regulate ghost guns

By&nbsp;ROBIN OPSAHL&nbsp;AND&nbsp;JAY WAAGEMEESTER&nbsp; <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/30/u-s-judge-rules-insurers-dont-have-to-cover-many-free-preventive-health-services/">States Newsroom</a>

In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s most recent indictments, his opponents in the campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination railed against the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice at a fundraising event Sunday for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.

More than 300 people attended Hinson’s BBQ Bash at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids. It was an opportunity for presidential hopefuls to socialize and take photos with potential caucus-goers — and a chance for them to seek the support of Iowans who voted for Hinson and other Republicans in 2022.

Last year, Hinson said, Iowans helped remove U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House speaker – and in 2024, she said, they will help remove President Joe Biden from office.

“Taking our country back starts right here in Iowa, and starts right here today,” Hinson said. “And remember this: Iowa picks presidents.”

Seven of the 2024 GOP candidates spoke at the event. Trump, who was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/08/01/trump-indicted-in-connection-with-jan-6-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol/">recently indicted on criminal charges</a>&nbsp;tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, was not at the event, but was on the minds of many attending.

Linda Devark of Cedar Rapids said Trump remains her top choice as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Devark said she is not concerned about the former president’s indictments, saying the Justice Department’s focus on Trump is meant to draw attention away from the president and his son, Hunter Biden.

“I think it’s interesting that any day that something takes place with Hunter Biden or Joe Biden, by the next day there’s an indictment,” Devark said.

Hinson had expressed similar sentiments on Aug. 1, linking the most recent indictment of Trump to what she called “another Biden scandal,” adding, “We must stop the unAmerican politicization of the judicial system.”

Other Iowans attending Sunday’s event said they’re looking for alternatives to Trump. Rick Ransom, a retired salesman from Benton County said it is too early to make a decision, but Trump’s “baggage” hurts his chances at reclaiming the White House.

“I think his time has passed,” Ransom said. “He’s got too much baggage now. A lot of baggage.”

Ransom said he would vote for Trump if he happens to be the nominee, but until then, it is too early to make a decision.&nbsp;&nbsp;“I want to hear more,” he said, adding that his three preferred candidates are currently Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Carolia Sen. Tim Scott.

Don Bayliss of Wellman said Trump has proven himself but said he’s not entirely committed to the former president this far out from the caucuses.&nbsp;&nbsp;“We know what he can do,” Bayliss said. “He did it for four years.”

Bayliss said he is open to other candidates, with DeSantis, Burgum, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Scott ranking as his next choices for president.

“We’re listening,” Bayliss said. “We got to see what there is, what each candidate has to offer and what they would like to do for our country to put it on its feet again.”

Although Trump was not in attendance, members of his campaign team set up a booth at the event.

Here’s what presidential candidates told the crowd at Hinson’s fundraiser:

DeSantis did not bring up Trump, his top rival for the 2024 Iowa caucuses, instead focusing on his conservative victories in Florida.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691516540473.png" alt=" Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)" />
 <figcaption> Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;ROBIN OPSAHL&nbsp;AND&nbsp;JAY WAAGEMEESTER&nbsp; <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2023/03/30/u-s-judge-rules-insurers-dont-have-to-cover-many-free-preventive-health-services/">States Newsroom</a>In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s most recent indictments, his opponents in the campaign for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination railed against the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice at a fundraising event Sunday for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson.More than 300 people attended Hinson’s BBQ Bash at Hawkeye Downs in Cedar Rapids. It was an opportunity for presidential hopefuls to socialize and take photos with potential caucus-goers — and a chance for them to seek the support of Iowans who voted for Hinson and other Republicans in 2022.Last year, Hinson said, Iowans helped remove U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi as House speaker – and in 2024, she said, they will help remove President Joe Biden from office.“Taking our country back starts right here in Iowa, and starts right here today,” Hinson said. “And remember this: Iowa picks presidents.”Seven of the 2024 GOP candidates spoke at the event. Trump, who was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/08/01/trump-indicted-in-connection-with-jan-6-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol/">recently indicted on criminal charges</a>&nbsp;tied to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, was not at the event, but was on the minds of many attending.Linda Devark of Cedar Rapids said Trump remains her top choice as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee. Devark said she is not concerned about the former president’s indictments, saying the Justice Department’s focus on Trump is meant to draw attention away from the president and his son, Hunter Biden.“I think it’s interesting that any day that something takes place with Hunter Biden or Joe Biden, by the next day there’s an indictment,” Devark said.Hinson had expressed similar sentiments on Aug. 1, linking the most recent indictment of Trump to what she called “another Biden scandal,” adding, “We must stop the unAmerican politicization of the judicial system.”Other Iowans attending Sunday’s event said they’re looking for alternatives to Trump. Rick Ransom, a retired salesman from Benton County said it is too early to make a decision, but Trump’s “baggage” hurts his chances at reclaiming the White House.“I think his time has passed,” Ransom said. “He’s got too much baggage now. A lot of baggage.”Ransom said he would vote for Trump if he happens to be the nominee, but until then, it is too early to make a decision.&nbsp;&nbsp;“I want to hear more,” he said, adding that his three preferred candidates are currently Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and South Carolia Sen. Tim Scott.Don Bayliss of Wellman said Trump has proven himself but said he’s not entirely committed to the former president this far out from the caucuses.&nbsp;&nbsp;“We know what he can do,” Bayliss said. “He did it for four years.”Bayliss said he is open to other candidates, with DeSantis, Burgum, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Scott ranking as his next choices for president.“We’re listening,” Bayliss said. “We got to see what there is, what each candidate has to offer and what they would like to do for our country to put it on its feet again.”Although Trump was not in attendance, members of his campaign team set up a booth at the event.Here’s what presidential candidates told the crowd at Hinson’s fundraiser:<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691516631574.png" alt="Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)" />
 <figcaption>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis</h2>DeSantis did not bring up Trump, his top rival for the 2024 Iowa caucuses, instead focusing on his conservative victories in Florida.Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and DeSantis bantered in their speeches about the competition among states with GOP governors, with Reynolds pointing to&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/best-states-to-retire-2023-iowa-florida-bankrate/">a recent study</a>&nbsp;that found Iowa surpassed Florida as the best state to retire based on metrics like affordability, quality of health care, weather and crime.DeSantis went through his accomplishments as governor, the crowd cheering when he said Florida “stood up” to Disney, cut taxes and served as a “refuge of sanity” during the COVID-19 pandemic.“In Florida, most people that run for office, they overpromise and underdeliver,” DeSantis said. “We made bold promises to the people of Florida, we met every single commitment we made, and in fact, we over-delivered on our promises.”If elected president, DeSantis said, he would end the “weaponization of government,” adding that he would replace FBI Director Christopher Wray on his first day as president and make changes to the Department of Justice. But, he said, voters need to make sure they don’t “squander” the election.“I’m asking for your support in the January caucuses because I can pledge to you this: I will get the job done,” DeSantis said. “I will not let you down.”<h2>North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum</h2>Not only are small-town values the key to a successful White House, Burgum said, they are a driving factor in his campaign.“When someone tells me that you can’t be from a small town and run for president, it’s just like jumping on my start button, because D.C. needs more small-town values,” Burgum said.Burgum described America as having two realities, “Two things can happen at the same time that are opposites,” Burgum said.“You go to communities like this and see neighbors helping neighbors … We need to focus on the best of America, you turn on social media you never hear about the best of America.”Burgum said the Biden administration “needs a course correction, they are 180 degrees wrong on the economy, energy and on national security.”America must sell energy to allies instead of purchasing it from enemies, Burgum said, a common line from his stump speech.Burgum also called for a smaller federal government.“There’s a huge opportunity to take 10% or 20% of the cost out of the federal government,” Burgum said. “I know how to do that. I’ve done it before.”Burgum planned to visit the U.S.-Mexico border Monday.<h2>Perry Johnson</h2>Businessman Perry Johnson, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Iowa Capital Dispatch)Businessman Perry Johnson said he wants to make sure the Republican National Committee is not “corrupt,” calling for all candidates to be included in any polling focused on the 2024 Republican field.Johnson said “they have done everything to try to get me out of the debate,” but that he now has 40,000 individual donors — meeting the threshold needed to make it onto the Milwaukee debate stage.“I’m going to have 50,000,” Johnson said. “I just need to make sure they include me in the poll.”He said other candidates that have not met that threshold should also be included in polling.Johnson also called for the impeachment of Biden and the pardoning of Trump, who has yet to be convicted of any crimes. The Michigan Republican said that Americans know roughly $10 million went to the Biden family through a “myriad of corporations.”“They have all these corporations strung together, stealing that money, bribing – who knows what it is,” Johnson said. “But I say let’s investigate it.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/8/1691516686376.png" alt="Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)" />
 <figcaption>Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, speaks at U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson’s annual BBQ Bash in Cedar Rapids Sunday, August 6. (Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Vivek Ramaswamy</h2>Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, gathered applause when he said he will “drain the swamp,” if elected.The youngest candidate in the field called for term limits for “the bureaucracy,” and he also called for term limits for employees of government agencies.“We will not just reform those agencies, we will get in there and shut them down, that is how we revive our constitutional republic in the United States of America,” Ramaswamy said.Arguing that America has an identity crisis, Ramaswamy called for a revolution.“Do you want incremental reform or do you want revolution?” he asked the crowd. He said he “stands on the side of the American Revolution, those 1776 ideals that set this county in motion.”“We are so starved for purpose and meaning and identity at a time in our national history with the things that used to fill that hunger — faith, patriotism, hard work, family, these things have disappeared,” Ramaswamy said. “And that leaves a black hole or moral vacuum in its wake. And when you have a black hole that runs that deep, that is when the poison fills the void. Wokeism, transgenderism, climateism, COVIDism, globalism, depression, anxiety, fentanyl, suicide. These are symptoms of a deeper void of purpose and meaning in our country.”Ramaswamy also criticized affirmative action, saying it “has been a cancer on our national soul.”<h2>Larry Elder</h2>Larry Elder, who ran for California governor against Gov. Gavin Newsom in the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, brought up his former rival’s agreement to debate DeSantis – one of Elder’s current rivals for the nomination.“Wouldn’t it have been nice if somebody had pressured him to debate me during the recall election when it mattered?” Elder asked.In June, Newsom told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would be willing to debate DeSantis. The Florida governor&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/03/ron-desantis-gavin-newsom-debate/">agreed to the debate</a>&nbsp;when speaking with Hannity, who would moderate, earlier in August.Both governors have proposed several dates to hold the debate, but have not agreed on proposed rules, such as whether to have a live audience or to give opening remarks.Elder asked Iowans to donate to his campaign so he can get on the August debate stage, saying he was the only candidate to speak about issues such as the “epidemic of fatherlessness” and to call for a U.S. constitutional amendment that would tie federal spending to a percentage of the country’s GDP.<h2>Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson</h2>Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson took the stage to share his criticisms of Biden and outline his goal of restoring the rule of law.“Biden has diminished respect for rule of law in this country,” Hutchinson said.Hutchinson said he supported rule of law during periods of unrest after the murder of George Floyd by bringing in the National Guard and the state police.“I’ve met challenges in our country, as governor, we had protests all across the country after the George Floyd murder,” Hutchinson said. “And whatever we have those protests, many of them turned violent. In Little Rock, Arkansas there was no exception. I saw violence in the street, buildings being burned, the Capitol being threatened and I said enough is enough.”The former governor also thanked the Iowa Legislature for passing a 6-week abortion ban and acknowleged the challenges he faces in his campaign.“I know that this is an uphill battle, because there’s one candidate in the race that has got, like, 50% of the vote,” he said referring to Trump.<h2>Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley</h2>China represents the biggest threat to the U.S. “since Pearl Harbor,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said.China has been “planning war with the United States for years,” she told the crowd, pointing to Chinese companies buying land in the U.S. She cited fentanyl trafficking and intellectual property theft as proof that China is the biggest national security threat that America faces.“Don’t think for a second China doesn’t know what they’re doing,” Haley said.If elected president, Haley said, she would take steps such as denying China access to certain U.S.-developed technology, preventing foreign interests from lobbying members of Congress and stopping “favoritism with defense projects” to make sure the country is prepared for potential conflict with China.She said Americans are “totally distracted” from the threat of China by issues now being discussed in the 2024 presidential campaign.“We’re talking about a bunch of other things that don’t even matter,” Haley said. “All of these issues are big issues. But if we don’t have national security, none of it matters.”This article first appeared in the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2023/08/06/gop-presidential-candidates-rally-at-iowa-fundraiser/">Iowa Capital Dispatch</a>,&nbsp;a sister&nbsp;site of the Nebraska Examiner in the States Newsroom network.