CD Tradepost in Salina is closing its doors for the final time June 5.

The longtime store at 2342 Planet Avenue posted the following statement on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TradepostSalinaKS">Facebook page</a>.

After 20+ years we've made a very difficult decision to close our Salina store. Our last day will be Sunday June 5th.

We truly appreciate all of the wonderful customers and employees that have passed through our doors over the years, and perhaps a store in a different location is not entirely out of the question as we re-evaluate options in the future.

We have a big memorial day sale coming up this weekend and then remaining inventory will be further discounted throughout the last week that we're open.

We'd appreciate it if you stop in and say hi and make a purchase as every bit helps.

Any store credit will of course continue to be valid at any Tradepost location (closest stores are in Wichita) or online at <a href="http://www.TradepostEntertainment.com">www.TradepostEntertainment.com</a>.

Starting now our hours at this location are 12pm - 6pm everyday.

If you have any additional questions you can reach us at <a href="mailto:web@cdtradepost.com">web@cdtradepost.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653798365426.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy&nbsp;CD Tradepost&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TradepostSalinaKS">Facebook page</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy&nbsp;CD Tradepost&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TradepostSalinaKS">Facebook page</a></figcaption>
 </figure>CD Tradepost in Salina is closing its doors for the final time June 5.The longtime store at 2342 Planet Avenue posted the following statement on its <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TradepostSalinaKS">Facebook page</a>.After 20+ years we've made a very difficult decision to close our Salina store. Our last day will be Sunday June 5th. We truly appreciate all of the wonderful customers and employees that have passed through our doors over the years, and perhaps a store in a different location is not entirely out of the question as we re-evaluate options in the future. We have a big memorial day sale coming up this weekend and then remaining inventory will be further discounted throughout the last week that we're open. We'd appreciate it if you stop in and say hi and make a purchase as every bit helps. Any store credit will of course continue to be valid at any Tradepost location (closest stores are in Wichita) or online at <a href="http://www.TradepostEntertainment.com">www.TradepostEntertainment.com</a>.Starting now our hours at this location are 12pm - 6pm everyday.If you have any additional questions you can reach us at <a href="mailto:web@cdtradepost.com">web@cdtradepost.com</a>.Thank You -Team Tradepost.

CD Tradepost in Salina closing June 5

RUSSELL COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Russell County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1994 GMC passenger vehicle driven by Aaron T. Bostick, 20, Bastrop, Louisiana, was westbound on Interstate 70 two miles east of U.S. 281.

The driver lost control of the vehicle. It traveled off the road, across the median and onto eastbound Interstate 70. 

An eastbound 2016 International semi driven by Alan K. Putnam, 63, Tipton, Missouri , struck the GMC.

Bostick was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to&nbsp;Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary. Putnam was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

RUSSELL COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Saturday in Russell County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1994 GMC passenger vehicle driven by Aaron T. Bostick, 20, Bastrop, Louisiana, was westbound on Interstate 70 two miles east of U.S. 281.The driver lost control of the vehicle. It traveled off the road, across the median and onto eastbound Interstate 70. An eastbound 2016 International semi driven by Alan K. Putnam, 63, Tipton, Missouri , struck the GMC.Bostick was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to&nbsp;Pohlman-Varner-Peeler Mortuary. Putnam was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

20-year-old dies after crash with a semi on Interstate 70

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City-area man has been charged in the fatal shooting on Tuesday of Elijah Flores in a vacant lot in the 700 block of Ditman Avenue in Kansas City, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Mark Sellars, 43, faces charges of Murder 2nd Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and &nbsp;Armed Criminal Action.

According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched to the 700 block of Ditman Avenue regarding a shooting. They found the victim, Elijah Flores, dob: 3/3/1983, on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. He was declared deceased at the scene. The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. 

Witnesses told police the shooting occurred inside a nearby residence. A witness told police she saw the victim with a man wearing a mask and the defendant. But the victim and defendant became involved in a verbal altercation. Sellars pulled a handgun and shot the victim in the back. Another witness told police that he heard three gunshots, then he saw the victim hobbling up the street, yelling for help. A man, identified as the defendant, held a handgun in his right hand

Prosecutors requested the defendant be held on no bond.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653677867033.png" alt="Sellars has a previous conviction for 2nd degree murder and was on parole-photo MODOC" />
 <figcaption>Sellars has a previous conviction for 2nd degree murder and was on parole-photo MODOC</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City-area man has been charged in the fatal shooting on Tuesday of Elijah Flores in a vacant lot in the 700 block of Ditman Avenue in Kansas City, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Mark Sellars, 43, faces charges of Murder 2nd Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Unlawful Possession of a Firearm, and &nbsp;Armed Criminal Action.According to court records, Kansas City police were dispatched to the 700 block of Ditman Avenue regarding a shooting. They found the victim, Elijah Flores, dob: 3/3/1983, on the ground suffering from gunshot wounds. He was declared deceased at the scene. The Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide. Witnesses told police the shooting occurred inside a nearby residence. A witness told police she saw the victim with a man wearing a mask and the defendant. But the victim and defendant became involved in a verbal altercation. Sellars pulled a handgun and shot the victim in the back. Another witness told police that he heard three gunshots, then he saw the victim hobbling up the street, yelling for help. A man, identified as the defendant, held a handgun in his right handProsecutors requested the defendant be held on no bond.

Convicted killer charged in Kansas City murder

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A&nbsp;California&nbsp;woman who punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant<a href="https://mailchi.mp/portofsandiego/release-of-video-footage-from-march-1-2021-officer-involved-shooting-2941918?e=12ca50da48"> in the face during a flight,</a> breaking her teeth, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.

Vyvianna Quinonez was also ordered Tuesday by the federal judge in San Diego to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution and a $7,500 fine for the assault on a May 23, 2021 Southwest flight between Sacramento and San Diego.

Quinonez, 29, of Sacramento, woman is prohibited from flying for three years while she is on supervised release and must participate in anger management classes or counseling.

Quinonez last year pleaded guilty to one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants, admitting she punched the flight attendant in the face and head with a closed fist and grabbed her hair. Neither she or her attorney could be reached for comment Tuesday.

During the flight’s final descent, the attendant had asked Quinonez to buckle her seat belt, stow her tray table down, and put on her facemask properly.

Instead, Quinonez began recording the attendant on her cellphone, pushed her, then stood up and punched the woman in the face and grabbed her hair before other passengers intervened, authorities said.

The assault was recorded on another passenger’s cellphone.

The plea agreement said that the flight attendant suffered three chipped teeth, two of which needed crowns, along with bruises and a cut under her left eye that needed stitches.

“Attacks on flight crew members, who perform vital jobs to ensure passenger safety, will not be tolerated," said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement after the sentencing.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said the sentence should “send a very strong message to air travelers — the FBI will vigorously pursue anyone who assaults or interferes with flight crews.”

The incident was part of an escalation in unruly behavior by airline passengers amid the coronavirus pandemic and led the president of the flight attendants’ union to ask for more federal air marshals on planes.

Airlines in 2021 reported more than 5,000 incidents of unruly passengers to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Most were passengers refusing to follow the federal requirement for passengers to wear face masks while on planes, but nearly 300 involved intoxicated passengers, the FAA said.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A&nbsp;California&nbsp;woman who punched a Southwest Airlines flight attendant<a href="https://mailchi.mp/portofsandiego/release-of-video-footage-from-march-1-2021-officer-involved-shooting-2941918?e=12ca50da48"> in the face during a flight,</a> breaking her teeth, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.Vyvianna Quinonez was also ordered Tuesday by the federal judge in San Diego to pay nearly $26,000 in restitution and a $7,500 fine for the assault on a May 23, 2021 Southwest flight between Sacramento and San Diego.Quinonez, 29, of Sacramento, woman is prohibited from flying for three years while she is on supervised release and must participate in anger management classes or counseling.Quinonez last year pleaded guilty to one count of interference with flight crew members and attendants, admitting she punched the flight attendant in the face and head with a closed fist and grabbed her hair. Neither she or her attorney could be reached for comment Tuesday.During the flight’s final descent, the attendant had asked Quinonez to buckle her seat belt, stow her tray table down, and put on her facemask properly.Instead, Quinonez began recording the attendant on her cellphone, pushed her, then stood up and punched the woman in the face and grabbed her hair before other passengers intervened, authorities said.The assault was recorded on another passenger’s cellphone.The plea agreement said that the flight attendant suffered three chipped teeth, two of which needed crowns, along with bruises and a cut under her left eye that needed stitches.“Attacks on flight crew members, who perform vital jobs to ensure passenger safety, will not be tolerated," said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement after the sentencing.FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy said the sentence should “send a very strong message to air travelers — the FBI will vigorously pursue anyone who assaults or interferes with flight crews.”The incident was part of an escalation in unruly behavior by airline passengers amid the coronavirus pandemic and led the president of the flight attendants’ union to ask for more federal air marshals on planes.Airlines in 2021 reported more than 5,000 incidents of unruly passengers to the Federal Aviation Administration.Most were passengers refusing to follow the federal requirement for passengers to wear face masks while on planes, but nearly 300 involved intoxicated passengers, the FAA said.

Woman sentenced to prison for punching flight attendant

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Capri Isidoro broke down in tears in the office of a lactation consultant.

The mother of two had been struggling to breastfeed her 1-month-old daughter ever since she was born, when the hospital gave the baby formula first without consulting her on her desire to breastfeed.

Now, with massive safety recall and supply disruptions causing formula shortages across the United States, she also can’t find the specific formula that helps with her baby’s gas pains.

“It is so sad. It shouldn’t be like this,” said Isidoro, who lives in the Baltimore suburb of Ellicott City. “We need formula for our kid, and where is this formula going to come from?”

As parents across the United States struggle to find formula to feed their children, the pain is particularly acute among Black and Hispanic women. Black women have historically faced obstacles to breastfeeding, including a lack of lactation support in the hospital, more pressure to formula feed and cultural roadblocks. It’s one of many inequalities for Black mothers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2020/maternal-mortality-rates-2020.htm" target="_blank">: They are far more likely to die from pregnancy complications</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516047113" target="_blank">less likely to have their concerns about pain taken seriously by doctors.</a>

Low-income families buy the majority of formula in the U.S., and face a particular struggle: Experts fear small neighborhood grocery stores that serve these vulnerable populations are not replenishing as much as larger retail stores, leaving some of these families without the resources or means to hunt for formula.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of Black women and 23% of Hispanic women exclusively breastfeed through six months, compared to 29% of white women. The overall rate stands at 26%. Hospitals that encourage breastfeeding and overall lactation support are less prevalent in Black neighborhoods, according to the CDC.

The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses also says Hispanic and Black women classified as low wage workers have less access to lactation support in their workplaces.

The racial disparities reach far back in America’s history. The demands of slave labor prevented mothers from nursing their children, and slave owners separated mothers from their own babies to have them serve as wet nurses, breastfeeding other women’s children.

In the 1950s, racially targeted commercials falsely advertised formula as a superior source of nutrition for infants. And studies continue to show that the babies of Black mothers are more likely to be introduced to formula in the hospital than the babies of white mothers, which happened to Isidoro after her emergency cesarean section.

Physicians say introducing formula means the baby will require fewer feedings from the mother, decreasing the milk supply as the breast is not stimulated enough to produce.

Andrea Freeman, author of the book “Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race and Injustice,” said these mothers still aren’t getting the support they need when it comes to having the choice of whether to breastfeed or use formula. They also may have jobs that do not accommodate the time and space needed for breastfeeding or pumping milk, Freeman said.

“Nobody’s taking responsibility for the fact that they’ve steered families of color toward formula for so many years and made people rely on it and taken away choice. And then when it falls apart, there’s not really any recognition or accountability,” Freeman said.

Breastfeeding practices are often influenced by previous generations, with some studies suggesting better outcomes for mothers who were breastfed when they were babies.

Kate Bauer, an associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said she began hearing back in February about Black and Latino families in Detroit and Grand Rapids feeling stuck after finding smaller grocery stores running out of formula.

Some were told to go to the local office of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, the federal program that supports low-income expectant and new mothers. Between 50% and 65% of the formula in the U.S. is bought through the program.

“Going to the WIC office is like a full day’s errand for some moms,” Bauer said.

She fears mothers are getting desperate enough to try foods that are not recommended for babies under 6 months.

Yury Navas, a Salvadoran immigrant who works at a restaurant and lives in Laurel, Maryland, says she was not able to produce enough breast milk and struggled to find the right formula for her nearly 3-month-old baby Jose Ismael, after others caused vomiting, diarrhea and discomfort.

One time, they drove half an hour to a store where workers told them they had the type she needed, but it was gone when they got there. Her husband goes out every night to search pharmacies around midnight.

“It’s so hard to find this type,” she said, saying sometimes they have run out before they can secure more formula. “The baby will cry and cry, so we give him rice water.”

On a recent day, she was down to her last container and called an advocacy group that had told her it would try to get her some at an appointment in five days. But the group could not guarantee anything.

Some mothers have turned to social media and even befriended other locals to cast a wider net during shopping trips.

In Miami, Denise Castro, who owns a construction company, started a virtual group to support new moms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it’s helping moms get the formula they need as they go back to work. One of them is a Hispanic teacher whose job leaves her with little flexibility to care for her 2-month old infant, who has been sensitive to a lot of formula brands.

“Most of the moms we have been helping are Black and Latinas,” Castro said. “These moms really don’t have the time to visit three to four places in their lunch hour.”

Lisette Fernandez, a 34-year-old Cuban American first-time mother of twins, has relied on friends and family to find the liquid 2-ounce bottles she needs for her boy and girl. Earlier this week, her father went to four different pharmacies before he was able to get her some boxes with the tiny bottles. They run out quickly as the babies grow.

Fernandez said she wasn’t able to initiate breastfeeding, trying with an electric pump but saying she produced very little. Her mother, who arrived in Miami from Cuba as a 7-year-old girl, had chosen not to breastfeed her children, saying she did not want to, and taken medication to suppress lactation.

Some studies have attributed changes in breastfeeding behavior among Hispanics to assimilation, saying Latina immigrants perceive formula feeding as an American practice.

“Over the last three to six weeks it has been insane,” Fernandez said. “I am used to everything that COVID has brought. But worrying about my children not having milk? I did not see that coming.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653255522967.png" alt="The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of Black women and 23% of Hispanic women exclusively breastfeed through six months, compared to 29% of white women. -White House photo" />
 <figcaption>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of Black women and 23% of Hispanic women exclusively breastfeed through six months, compared to 29% of white women. -White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Capri Isidoro broke down in tears in the office of a lactation consultant.The mother of two had been struggling to breastfeed her 1-month-old daughter ever since she was born, when the hospital gave the baby formula first without consulting her on her desire to breastfeed.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My Administration is invoking the Defense Production Act for the third time in less than a week to help Cargill deliver the materials needed to maximize production of infant formula. We’re using the full power of the federal government to ramp up production and increase supply.&mdash; President Biden (@POTUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1530543942424576000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 28, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Now, with massive safety recall and supply disruptions causing formula shortages across the United States, she also can’t find the specific formula that helps with her baby’s gas pains.“It is so sad. It shouldn’t be like this,” said Isidoro, who lives in the Baltimore suburb of Ellicott City. “We need formula for our kid, and where is this formula going to come from?”As parents across the United States struggle to find formula to feed their children, the pain is particularly acute among Black and Hispanic women. Black women have historically faced obstacles to breastfeeding, including a lack of lactation support in the hospital, more pressure to formula feed and cultural roadblocks. It’s one of many inequalities for Black mothers&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/maternal-mortality/2020/maternal-mortality-rates-2020.htm" target="_blank">: They are far more likely to die from pregnancy complications</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516047113" target="_blank">less likely to have their concerns about pain taken seriously by doctors.</a>Low-income families buy the majority of formula in the U.S., and face a particular struggle: Experts fear small neighborhood grocery stores that serve these vulnerable populations are not replenishing as much as larger retail stores, leaving some of these families without the resources or means to hunt for formula.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20% of Black women and 23% of Hispanic women exclusively breastfeed through six months, compared to 29% of white women. The overall rate stands at 26%. Hospitals that encourage breastfeeding and overall lactation support are less prevalent in Black neighborhoods, according to the CDC.The Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses also says Hispanic and Black women classified as low wage workers have less access to lactation support in their workplaces.The racial disparities reach far back in America’s history. The demands of slave labor prevented mothers from nursing their children, and slave owners separated mothers from their own babies to have them serve as wet nurses, breastfeeding other women’s children.In the 1950s, racially targeted commercials falsely advertised formula as a superior source of nutrition for infants. And studies continue to show that the babies of Black mothers are more likely to be introduced to formula in the hospital than the babies of white mothers, which happened to Isidoro after her emergency cesarean section.Physicians say introducing formula means the baby will require fewer feedings from the mother, decreasing the milk supply as the breast is not stimulated enough to produce.Andrea Freeman, author of the book “Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race and Injustice,” said these mothers still aren’t getting the support they need when it comes to having the choice of whether to breastfeed or use formula. They also may have jobs that do not accommodate the time and space needed for breastfeeding or pumping milk, Freeman said.“Nobody’s taking responsibility for the fact that they’ve steered families of color toward formula for so many years and made people rely on it and taken away choice. And then when it falls apart, there’s not really any recognition or accountability,” Freeman said.Breastfeeding practices are often influenced by previous generations, with some studies suggesting better outcomes for mothers who were breastfed when they were babies.Kate Bauer, an associate professor of nutritional sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said she began hearing back in February about Black and Latino families in Detroit and Grand Rapids feeling stuck after finding smaller grocery stores running out of formula.Some were told to go to the local office of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, the federal program that supports low-income expectant and new mothers. Between 50% and 65% of the formula in the U.S. is bought through the program.“Going to the WIC office is like a full day’s errand for some moms,” Bauer said.She fears mothers are getting desperate enough to try foods that are not recommended for babies under 6 months.Yury Navas, a Salvadoran immigrant who works at a restaurant and lives in Laurel, Maryland, says she was not able to produce enough breast milk and struggled to find the right formula for her nearly 3-month-old baby Jose Ismael, after others caused vomiting, diarrhea and discomfort.One time, they drove half an hour to a store where workers told them they had the type she needed, but it was gone when they got there. Her husband goes out every night to search pharmacies around midnight.“It’s so hard to find this type,” she said, saying sometimes they have run out before they can secure more formula. “The baby will cry and cry, so we give him rice water.”On a recent day, she was down to her last container and called an advocacy group that had told her it would try to get her some at an appointment in five days. But the group could not guarantee anything.Some mothers have turned to social media and even befriended other locals to cast a wider net during shopping trips.In Miami, Denise Castro, who owns a construction company, started a virtual group to support new moms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now it’s helping moms get the formula they need as they go back to work. One of them is a Hispanic teacher whose job leaves her with little flexibility to care for her 2-month old infant, who has been sensitive to a lot of formula brands.“Most of the moms we have been helping are Black and Latinas,” Castro said. “These moms really don’t have the time to visit three to four places in their lunch hour.”Lisette Fernandez, a 34-year-old Cuban American first-time mother of twins, has relied on friends and family to find the liquid 2-ounce bottles she needs for her boy and girl. Earlier this week, her father went to four different pharmacies before he was able to get her some boxes with the tiny bottles. They run out quickly as the babies grow.Fernandez said she wasn’t able to initiate breastfeeding, trying with an electric pump but saying she produced very little. Her mother, who arrived in Miami from Cuba as a 7-year-old girl, had chosen not to breastfeed her children, saying she did not want to, and taken medication to suppress lactation.Some studies have attributed changes in breastfeeding behavior among Hispanics to assimilation, saying Latina immigrants perceive formula feeding as an American practice.“Over the last three to six weeks it has been insane,” Fernandez said. “I am used to everything that COVID has brought. But worrying about my children not having milk? I did not see that coming.”

Baby formula shortage highlights racial disparities

SALINE COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday night in Saline County.

Just before 10:30 p.m. on Friday, two deputies with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the residence of 2708 S. Holmes Road in rural Saline County, to serve an arrest warrant to Dustin Vance, 42, of Hoisington, according to a media release from the KBI.

The arrest warrant was issued through the Barton County District Court for the charges of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, and contributing to a child’s misconduct.

As deputies approached the residence, they were met by Vance who exited the house onto the porch. Vance was armed with a holstered handgun. Vance did not comply with several verbal commands given by the deputies, and drew his handgun. At around 10:20 p.m., one deputy fired multiple times and struck Vance.

EMS declared Vance deceased at the residence.

At the time of the shooting, two other subjects were inside the home. A 41-year-old woman from Salina was in close proximity to the porch and was struck by one of the rounds fired. 

Deputies rendered aid to her, and EMS transported her to Salina Regional Health Center. She is currently in stable condition and is expected to recover from her injuries, according to the KBI.

The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this shooting. Once the investigation has concluded, the findings will be turned over to the Saline County Attorney for review.

SALINE COUNTY – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred Friday night in Saline County.Just before 10:30 p.m. on Friday, two deputies with the Saline County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the residence of 2708 S. Holmes Road in rural Saline County, to serve an arrest warrant to Dustin Vance, 42, of Hoisington, according to a media release from the KBI.The arrest warrant was issued through the Barton County District Court for the charges of rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, and contributing to a child’s misconduct.As deputies approached the residence, they were met by Vance who exited the house onto the porch. Vance was armed with a holstered handgun. Vance did not comply with several verbal commands given by the deputies, and drew his handgun. At around 10:20 p.m., one deputy fired multiple times and struck Vance.EMS declared Vance deceased at the residence.At the time of the shooting, two other subjects were inside the home. A 41-year-old woman from Salina was in close proximity to the porch and was struck by one of the rounds fired. Deputies rendered aid to her, and EMS transported her to Salina Regional Health Center. She is currently in stable condition and is expected to recover from her injuries, according to the KBI.The KBI will conduct a thorough and independent investigation into this shooting. Once the investigation has concluded, the findings will be turned over to the Saline County Attorney for review.

KBI: Sex crime suspect dies in Kan. officer-involved shooting

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/27/national-gop-groups-attack-advertisement-at-center-of-dispute-with-kansas-governors-campaign/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A Republican Governors 
Association political action committee filed an ethics complaint in wake
 of an attempt to derail their attack ad targeting Democratic Gov. Laura
 Kelly for allegedly dropping in 2019 a requirement adults work 
part-time, search for a job or get employment training to qualify for 
food stamps and other assistance.

Kelly campaign lawyers Courtney Weisman and Jonathan Berkon urged 
Kansas television stations to reject the RGA’s ad because it incorrectly
 claimed the governor “stopped” enforcing a rule that able-bodied adults
 had to earn their food stamps and cash aid. The governor’s reelection 
campaign argued the Kelly administration contemplated a policy shift, 
but amendments to eligibility rules weren’t implemented due to GOP 
criticism.

The complaint submitted to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission 
and signed by the RGA’s executive director in Washington, D.C., 
contended a Kelly administration Cabinet secretary shouldn’t have 
introduced into the debate a letter documenting the agency’s history of 
compliance with welfare eligibility rules. The secretary’s letter was 
relied upon — improperly, RGA said — by the Kelly campaign in an attempt
 to convince broadcast stations KSNT and KTKA to pull the RGA 
commercial.

The complaint said Laura Howard, secretary of the Kansas Department 
for Children and Families, improperly provided the Kelly campaign an 
agency memo on official DCF letterhead. It’s not clear Howard knew how 
the governor’s office or her campaign would make use of the one-page 
letter.

“Unfortunately for Kelly, no matter how much she improperly uses 
state resources and taxpayer-funded staff to aide her political 
campaign, we will keep holding her accountable and voters will reject 
her this November,” said&nbsp;RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez.

The RGA is engaged in the Kansas gubernatorial campaign on behalf of 
Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is seeking the Republican nomination
 to run against Kelly.

“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the RGA is lying about 
Governor Kelly’s strong track record. It’s this type of campaigning that
 Kansans despise,” said Lauren Fitzgerald, a Kelly campaign spokeswoman.

Howard’s letter to Will Lawrence, the Democratic governor’s chief of 
staff, said DCF didn’t relax rules to extend food stamp benefits to 
unqualified adults in 2019 or 2020.

RGA officials asserted, but didn’t offer evidence, that Kelly and 
Lawrence forced Howard to get involved in the political dispute. Under 
Kansas law, RGA staff said, state employees in Kansas couldn’t be 
coerced into engaging in political activities. Kansas statute also says 
state officers or employees couldn’t make use of public funds or time to
 expressly advocate nomination, election or defeat of a candidate, the 
RGA said.

&nbsp;The Associated Press published a 
story in December 2018 that said Kelly wanted to “roll back cash 
assistance rules.” Kelly wasn’t sworn into office until January 2019. An
 article published by The Wichita Eagle in July 2019 said the attorney 
general gave Kelly a deadline to “drop (her) welfare plan.” A subsequent
 Wichita Eagle story said Kelly 
abandoned the welfare eligibility reform idea due to concern articulated
 by Republicans and the potential of an expensive legal fight.

Howard’s memo said a DCF document issued July 11, 2019, stated 
discretionary exemptions from work mandates wouldn’t be applied to 
welfare recipients. That document reversed an earlier DCF memo 
indicating the goal was to use limited exemptions.

“To claim that Governor Kelly ‘stopped’ requiring healthy adults to 
look for work while receiving welfare benefits is simply false,” Kelly’s
 campaign attorneys said in a letter to broadcasters. “You have a duty to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.”

Jessica Furst Johnson, counsel to the RGA’s political action 
committee, said in correspondence to TV stations the Kelly campaign 
shouldn’t be permitted to “infringe on the PAC’s right to speak by 
distorting claims and inventing alternate reality in an effort to 
carefully curate what Kansans see on the airwaves.”

The RGA’s commercial, labeled “Rough Road,” was a response to Kelly’s
 campaign ad outlining how she brought Republicans and Democrats 
together to produce a record budget surplus, fully fund K-12 public 
education and implement a program to fix Kansas highways.

“Like most Kansans, I am not too far right or too far left,” Kelly 
said while speaking from a roadway in Auburn near Topeka. “Amazing what 
you can do when you govern from the middle.”

The RGA political action committee’s rebuttal commercial raised 
objections to Kelly’s vetoes of tax legislation and bills requiring boys
 or men to participate in school or college sports according to gender 
at birth.

“She stopped requiring healthy adults to look for work while 
receiving welfare checks,” the RGA ad’s voice over said. “Under Laura 
Kelly, our families are facing a rough road ahead.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653676566023.png" alt="Gov. Laura Kelly’s reelection campaign urged television stations to pull the Republican Governors Association’s ad by alleging it falsely Kelly halted work requirements for welfare recipients. NGA responded by filing an ethics complaint. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>Gov. Laura Kelly’s reelection campaign urged television stations to pull the Republican Governors Association’s ad by alleging it falsely Kelly halted work requirements for welfare recipients. NGA responded by filing an ethics complaint. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/05/27/national-gop-groups-attack-advertisement-at-center-of-dispute-with-kansas-governors-campaign/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A Republican Governors 
Association political action committee filed an ethics complaint in wake
 of an attempt to derail their attack ad targeting Democratic Gov. Laura
 Kelly for allegedly dropping in 2019 a requirement adults work 
part-time, search for a job or get employment training to qualify for 
food stamps and other assistance.Kelly campaign lawyers Courtney Weisman and Jonathan Berkon urged 
Kansas television stations to reject the RGA’s ad because it incorrectly
 claimed the governor “stopped” enforcing a rule that able-bodied adults
 had to earn their food stamps and cash aid. The governor’s reelection 
campaign argued the Kelly administration contemplated a policy shift, 
but amendments to eligibility rules weren’t implemented due to GOP 
criticism.The complaint submitted to the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission 
and signed by the RGA’s executive director in Washington, D.C., 
contended a Kelly administration Cabinet secretary shouldn’t have 
introduced into the debate a letter documenting the agency’s history of 
compliance with welfare eligibility rules. The secretary’s letter was 
relied upon — improperly, RGA said — by the Kelly campaign in an attempt
 to convince broadcast stations KSNT and KTKA to pull the RGA 
commercial.The complaint said Laura Howard, secretary of the Kansas Department 
for Children and Families, improperly provided the Kelly campaign an 
agency memo on official DCF letterhead. It’s not clear Howard knew how 
the governor’s office or her campaign would make use of the one-page 
letter.“Unfortunately for Kelly, no matter how much she improperly uses 
state resources and taxpayer-funded staff to aide her political 
campaign, we will keep holding her accountable and voters will reject 
her this November,” said&nbsp;RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez.The RGA is engaged in the Kansas gubernatorial campaign on behalf of 
Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who is seeking the Republican nomination
 to run against Kelly.“It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that the RGA is lying about 
Governor Kelly’s strong track record. It’s this type of campaigning that
 Kansans despise,” said Lauren Fitzgerald, a Kelly campaign spokeswoman.Howard’s letter to Will Lawrence, the Democratic governor’s chief of 
staff, said DCF didn’t relax rules to extend food stamp benefits to 
unqualified adults in 2019 or 2020.RGA officials asserted, but didn’t offer evidence, that Kelly and 
Lawrence forced Howard to get involved in the political dispute. Under 
Kansas law, RGA staff said, state employees in Kansas couldn’t be 
coerced into engaging in political activities. Kansas statute also says 
state officers or employees couldn’t make use of public funds or time to
 expressly advocate nomination, election or defeat of a candidate, the 
RGA said.&nbsp;The Associated Press published a 
story in December 2018 that said Kelly wanted to “roll back cash 
assistance rules.” Kelly wasn’t sworn into office until January 2019. An
 article published by The Wichita Eagle in July 2019 said the attorney 
general gave Kelly a deadline to “drop (her) welfare plan.” A subsequent
 Wichita Eagle story said Kelly 
abandoned the welfare eligibility reform idea due to concern articulated
 by Republicans and the potential of an expensive legal fight.Howard’s memo said a DCF document issued July 11, 2019, stated 
discretionary exemptions from work mandates wouldn’t be applied to 
welfare recipients. That document reversed an earlier DCF memo 
indicating the goal was to use limited exemptions.“To claim that Governor Kelly ‘stopped’ requiring healthy adults to 
look for work while receiving welfare benefits is simply false,” Kelly’s
 campaign attorneys said in a letter to broadcasters. “You have a duty to protect the public from false, misleading or deceptive advertising.”Jessica Furst Johnson, counsel to the RGA’s political action 
committee, said in correspondence to TV stations the Kelly campaign 
shouldn’t be permitted to “infringe on the PAC’s right to speak by 
distorting claims and inventing alternate reality in an effort to 
carefully curate what Kansans see on the airwaves.”The RGA’s commercial, labeled “Rough Road,” was a response to Kelly’s
 campaign ad outlining how she brought Republicans and Democrats 
together to produce a record budget surplus, fully fund K-12 public 
education and implement a program to fix Kansas highways.“Like most Kansans, I am not too far right or too far left,” Kelly 
said while speaking from a roadway in Auburn near Topeka. “Amazing what 
you can do when you govern from the middle.”The RGA political action committee’s rebuttal commercial raised 
objections to Kelly’s vetoes of tax legislation and bills requiring boys
 or men to participate in school or college sports according to gender 
at birth.“She stopped requiring healthy adults to look for work while 
receiving welfare checks,” the RGA ad’s voice over said. “Under Laura 
Kelly, our families are facing a rough road ahead.”

Nat'l GOP group’s ad at center of dispute with Kan. governor’s campaign

Houses built in rural Kansas help local economies

By GREG DOERING <a href="https://kansaslivingmagazine.com/articles/2022/05/09/rural-housing-in-kansas-sees-improvements">Kansas Living</a>

The state song of Kansas begins “Oh, give me a home …” and calls to 
the state’s frontier days, when the land served as a beacon of hope for 
thousands seeking new lives, land of their own and, of course, a place 
to call home.

In 1871, Brewster M. Higley was enticed by the prospect of free land 
for a homestead in Smith County. He settled on a site near West Beaver 
Creek, eventually penning the poem that became widely known as the song 
“Home on the Range” along the creekbank. Higley, along with some help 
from his friends, built a one-room cabin a year later.

While Higley’s poem probably served as a wish for a frontier life 
that no longer existed, with most buffalo, deer and antelope pushed out 
by settlers, the opening verse still rings true for Kansans today 
searching for home. The only difference is, residents might face more 
obstacles to finding a home, especially in rural areas, than Higley had 
building a shelter nearly 150 years ago.

Without housing, small cities and towns struggle to attract 
professionals in education, health care, manufacturing and food 
processing. Fixing rural housing isn’t just an issue for the cities and 
towns afflicted with a shortage; rather, it’s about unleashing the 
state’s full economic potential.

Stafford County economic development director Carolyn Dunn knows how 
important access to housing is for companies eyeing a new location, and 
she knows just how difficult it can be to build even a single home to 
begin addressing a shortage of quality, affordable accommodations. She 
says housing is the No. 1 priority for her agency right now.

Part of the problem can be traced back to what happened about two 
decades ago. Or rather what didn’t happen in the county of just over 
4,000 about 90 minutes north and west of Wichita.

“We’ve had entire years, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s, 
when there wasn’t a single house built in the county,” Dunn says. “A lot
 of those 20-year-old houses would be very desirable. We just don’t have
 them.”

The median age of a home in Stafford County is 70 years, with the average age about a decade older.

“Part of our problem is we don’t have those houses that are not brand
 new but also not so old they are needing significant rebuilding,” Dunn 
says.

Rural housing has posed a challenge for several years — different 
cities have tried a variety of solutions from giving away free land to 
offering cash for people willing to build new homes — with a mixed 
result.

For Stafford County, even a $25,000 stipend toward a new home wasn’t 
enough to incentivize much construction, and most of the money reserved 
for the program wasn’t spent.

“We have got to find a way to build housing that’s affordable for the
 kind of income we have here,” Dunn says. “The median household income 
here is $45,000 a year. That’s too high to be considered low-income and 
qualify for subsidized housing. It’s also not high enough to qualify for
 much of a mortgage.”

Instead of relying on individuals to come forward, Dunn opted to take
 control of building projects herself after a chance encounter in 2018 
with Michael Gibson, an associate professor in Kansas State University’s
 College of Architecture.

“We were both interested in seeing how to move the needle on this,” 
Dunn says. “He was also receptive to the idea that rural areas aren’t 
getting much attention.”

Stafford County was selected as a project for one of Gibson’s classes
 in 2019, in which students conducted visits, tours and focus groups 
before working on home designs that could be built near a $100,000 price
 point.

Work on the first home didn’t start until July 2020 and it was finished about a year later after COVID-19 delayed progress.

“We had really optimistic projections of what things would cost under
 normal circumstances, but material costs did go up and that affected 
things to a degree,” Dunn says. “K-State brought some money to the 
table, and we had a $50,000 grant from the Kansas Housing Resources 
Corporation. Theoretically, we should have been able to cover most of 
the cost between those two but that wasn’t the case.”

Dunn says they were able to cover the shortfall with a grant from a 
private foundation, and the overall experience was positive and involved
 a lot of learning.

The home’s design comes with several tradeoffs to make it more 
affordable. There’s no basement or attached garage. The bedrooms are 
smaller to allow for a larger living area capable of hosting family 
functions or parties.

Stafford County is already putting that education to use, having just 
finished a second home with three others under construction across the 
county. In all, the county’s economic development office plans to build 
10 new homes.

“They put a lot of thought into a layout that’s very livable. We had 
an open house with probably 30 people and they all fit into the living 
room,” she says. “It’s not going to be the house for everyone. It just 
has to be a fit for some and that’s progress.”

Rural housing projects and their limitations

Dunn says most of the money available for housing projects like those
 undertaken by Stafford County are targeted to low-income residents 
because that’s where the federal government allocates most of its grant 
money.

Rent on the new homes is income-based and will be in the range of 
$500 to $550 per month, or about half of what the government formula 
would allow. But, Dunn says, that raised the other issue Stafford County
 faces in trying to develop new housing or even preserve the existing 
stock.

“A lot of people would consider a reasonable rental rate here $400 
per month,” she says. “That’s part of the challenge. At $400 per month, 
there’s not enough income there to maintain housing well or entice 
investors. In some ways, cheap housing is our enemy.”

Dunn’s hope is once all 10 homes are built and occupied, her agency 
will have the cash flow to start building so-called workforce housing.

“We’re trying to find a way to build housing that’s affordable to 
people making $50,000 to $90,000,” she says. “That could be a couple of 
teachers. It could be people who work at grain elevators or feedlots. We
 can’t wait another 20 years to get that housing here.”

Growing funds for expansion of rural housing

Trisha Purdon is familiar with the struggles in Stafford County and 
has heard similar stories across the state as the director of Kansas’ 
Office of Rural Prosperity. She’s hopeful a recently completed survey of
 the state’s housing needs will lead to more investment.

“If you have a full analysis of what’s needed in these communities 
for housing, you can show a developer or business interested in building
 houses the potential benefits,” Purdon says.

One of Purdon’s current projects is turning her agency into a 
one-stop shop for advice on how to get projects done, whether that’s 
pointing people to grant opportunities or helping navigate the red tape 
associated with existing programs.

“I worked in economic development for about a decade before moving 
into this position, and even I had no idea who I needed to talk to for 
the rehab of a downtown building or how to go about getting federal 
grants,” she says. “If I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I don’t 
know, how is the local volunteer dabbling in economic development in a 
small town going to do it?”

Another piece of “low-hanging fruit” Purdon has identified is closing
 the gap between what it costs to build a home in a rural area compared 
to what a bank is willing to lend on a property. Known as the appraisal 
gap, Purdon says states like Iowa and Nebraska have successfully 
implemented programs to offset it.

How local communities impact rural housing issues

Purdon says neither the state nor federal government can be wholly 
responsible for solving the rural housing puzzle. Instead, it will be 
cities and regions coming together to find the best solutions for their 
individual problems.

In early April, the Kansas legislature approved spending 
approximately $100 million on housing incentives, including significant 
investments in rural housing.

Included in the spending package is $40 million to spur 
moderate-income housing programs. An additional $20 million is targeted 
to a revolving loan fund dedicated specifically to rural housing. These 
measures represent the bulk of the spending that will occur over the 
next several years and be multiplied many times over by private 
investment.

The funding comes from the state’s general fund and federal COVID-19 
relief money. Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB), along with more than a dozen 
other organizations, supported these spending measures as a first step 
to address the rural housing shortage in Kansas and to help facilitate 
economic development across the state.

"I’ve heard from people across the state how a lack of housing is 
holding rural areas back from growing their local economies. I commend 
our legislators and Gov. Laura Kelly for taking advantage of the state’s
 extraordinary budget surplus to make a significant investment to 
improve the lives of Kansans and lower a barrier to rural economic 
growth." - KFB President Rich Felts

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653577308911.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Houses built in rural Kansas help local economies</h2>By GREG DOERING <a href="https://kansaslivingmagazine.com/articles/2022/05/09/rural-housing-in-kansas-sees-improvements">Kansas Living</a>The state song of Kansas begins “Oh, give me a home …” and calls to 
the state’s frontier days, when the land served as a beacon of hope for 
thousands seeking new lives, land of their own and, of course, a place 
to call home.In 1871, Brewster M. Higley was enticed by the prospect of free land 
for a homestead in Smith County. He settled on a site near West Beaver 
Creek, eventually penning the poem that became widely known as the song 
“Home on the Range” along the creekbank. Higley, along with some help 
from his friends, built a one-room cabin a year later.While Higley’s poem probably served as a wish for a frontier life 
that no longer existed, with most buffalo, deer and antelope pushed out 
by settlers, the opening verse still rings true for Kansans today 
searching for home. The only difference is, residents might face more 
obstacles to finding a home, especially in rural areas, than Higley had 
building a shelter nearly 150 years ago.Without housing, small cities and towns struggle to attract 
professionals in education, health care, manufacturing and food 
processing. Fixing rural housing isn’t just an issue for the cities and 
towns afflicted with a shortage; rather, it’s about unleashing the 
state’s full economic potential.<h2>How to make rural housing accessible</h2>Stafford County economic development director Carolyn Dunn knows how 
important access to housing is for companies eyeing a new location, and 
she knows just how difficult it can be to build even a single home to 
begin addressing a shortage of quality, affordable accommodations. She 
says housing is the No. 1 priority for her agency right now.Part of the problem can be traced back to what happened about two 
decades ago. Or rather what didn’t happen in the county of just over 
4,000 about 90 minutes north and west of Wichita.“We’ve had entire years, especially in the 1990s and early 2000s, 
when there wasn’t a single house built in the county,” Dunn says. “A lot
 of those 20-year-old houses would be very desirable. We just don’t have
 them.”The median age of a home in Stafford County is 70 years, with the average age about a decade older.“Part of our problem is we don’t have those houses that are not brand
 new but also not so old they are needing significant rebuilding,” Dunn 
says.<h2>The challenges&nbsp; of rural housing</h2>Rural housing has posed a challenge for several years — different 
cities have tried a variety of solutions from giving away free land to 
offering cash for people willing to build new homes — with a mixed 
result.For Stafford County, even a $25,000 stipend toward a new home wasn’t 
enough to incentivize much construction, and most of the money reserved 
for the program wasn’t spent.“We have got to find a way to build housing that’s affordable for the
 kind of income we have here,” Dunn says. “The median household income 
here is $45,000 a year. That’s too high to be considered low-income and 
qualify for subsidized housing. It’s also not high enough to qualify for
 much of a mortgage.”Instead of relying on individuals to come forward, Dunn opted to take
 control of building projects herself after a chance encounter in 2018 
with Michael Gibson, an associate professor in Kansas State University’s
 College of Architecture.“We were both interested in seeing how to move the needle on this,” 
Dunn says. “He was also receptive to the idea that rural areas aren’t 
getting much attention.”Stafford County was selected as a project for one of Gibson’s classes
 in 2019, in which students conducted visits, tours and focus groups 
before working on home designs that could be built near a $100,000 price
 point.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653577371079.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Work on the first home didn’t start until July 2020 and it was finished about a year later after COVID-19 delayed progress.“We had really optimistic projections of what things would cost under
 normal circumstances, but material costs did go up and that affected 
things to a degree,” Dunn says. “K-State brought some money to the 
table, and we had a $50,000 grant from the Kansas Housing Resources 
Corporation. Theoretically, we should have been able to cover most of 
the cost between those two but that wasn’t the case.”Dunn says they were able to cover the shortfall with a grant from a 
private foundation, and the overall experience was positive and involved
 a lot of learning.<h2>Making rural housing affordable</h2>The home’s design comes with several tradeoffs to make it more 
affordable. There’s no basement or attached garage. The bedrooms are 
smaller to allow for a larger living area capable of hosting family 
functions or parties.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653577408372.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Stafford County is already putting that education to use, having just 
finished a second home with three others under construction across the 
county. In all, the county’s economic development office plans to build 
10 new homes.“They put a lot of thought into a layout that’s very livable. We had 
an open house with probably 30 people and they all fit into the living 
room,” she says. “It’s not going to be the house for everyone. It just 
has to be a fit for some and that’s progress.”<h2>Rural housing projects and their limitations</h2>Dunn says most of the money available for housing projects like those
 undertaken by Stafford County are targeted to low-income residents 
because that’s where the federal government allocates most of its grant 
money.Rent on the new homes is income-based and will be in the range of 
$500 to $550 per month, or about half of what the government formula 
would allow. But, Dunn says, that raised the other issue Stafford County
 faces in trying to develop new housing or even preserve the existing 
stock.“A lot of people would consider a reasonable rental rate here $400 
per month,” she says. “That’s part of the challenge. At $400 per month, 
there’s not enough income there to maintain housing well or entice 
investors. In some ways, cheap housing is our enemy.”Dunn’s hope is once all 10 homes are built and occupied, her agency 
will have the cash flow to start building so-called workforce housing.“We’re trying to find a way to build housing that’s affordable to 
people making $50,000 to $90,000,” she says. “That could be a couple of 
teachers. It could be people who work at grain elevators or feedlots. We
 can’t wait another 20 years to get that housing here.”<h2>Growing funds for expansion of rural housing</h2>Trisha Purdon is familiar with the struggles in Stafford County and 
has heard similar stories across the state as the director of Kansas’ 
Office of Rural Prosperity. She’s hopeful a recently completed survey of
 the state’s housing needs will lead to more investment.“If you have a full analysis of what’s needed in these communities 
for housing, you can show a developer or business interested in building
 houses the potential benefits,” Purdon says.One of Purdon’s current projects is turning her agency into a 
one-stop shop for advice on how to get projects done, whether that’s 
pointing people to grant opportunities or helping navigate the red tape 
associated with existing programs.“I worked in economic development for about a decade before moving 
into this position, and even I had no idea who I needed to talk to for 
the rehab of a downtown building or how to go about getting federal 
grants,” she says. “If I’ve been doing this for 10 years and I don’t 
know, how is the local volunteer dabbling in economic development in a 
small town going to do it?”Another piece of “low-hanging fruit” Purdon has identified is closing
 the gap between what it costs to build a home in a rural area compared 
to what a bank is willing to lend on a property. Known as the appraisal 
gap, Purdon says states like Iowa and Nebraska have successfully 
implemented programs to offset it.<h2>How local communities impact rural housing issues</h2>Purdon says neither the state nor federal government can be wholly 
responsible for solving the rural housing puzzle. Instead, it will be 
cities and regions coming together to find the best solutions for their 
individual problems.<h2>Housing down payment</h2>In early April, the Kansas legislature approved spending 
approximately $100 million on housing incentives, including significant 
investments in rural housing.Included in the spending package is $40 million to spur 
moderate-income housing programs. An additional $20 million is targeted 
to a revolving loan fund dedicated specifically to rural housing. These 
measures represent the bulk of the spending that will occur over the 
next several years and be multiplied many times over by private 
investment.The funding comes from the state’s general fund and federal COVID-19 
relief money. Kansas Farm Bureau (KFB), along with more than a dozen 
other organizations, supported these spending measures as a first step 
to address the rural housing shortage in Kansas and to help facilitate 
economic development across the state."I’ve heard from people across the state how a lack of housing is 
holding rural areas back from growing their local economies. I commend 
our legislators and Gov. Laura Kelly for taking advantage of the state’s
 extraordinary budget surplus to make a significant investment to 
improve the lives of Kansans and lower a barrier to rural economic 
growth." - KFB President Rich Felts

Rural housing in Kansas sees improvements

HUTCHINSON — A man who escaped from the minimum security unit at Hutchinson Correctional Facility back on February 16th is now in the Reno County Correctional Facility.

Gabriel Sanchez Jr. walked away from the prison just two weeks before he was to be released on a Reno County conviction for assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and fleeing/eluding local law enforcement. He was captured two days later.

Sanchez saw his time at HCF extended to May 27 for his actions at which time he was released, then immediately taken into custody by the Reno County Sheriff's Department on charges of aggravated escape and failure to appear.

HUTCHINSON —Inmate Gabriel Sanchez Jr. has been apprehended after being placed on escape status Friday from the Hutchinson Correctional Facility Minimum Custody South Unit, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Local law enforcement, the Kansas Highway Patrol and KDOC officials collaborated in the search and arrest.

Sanchez is currently serving a sentence for convictions in Reno County for assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and fleeing/eluding local law enforcement.

The escape is currently being investigated.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/2/1645214336468.png" alt="Sanchez" />
 <figcaption>Sanchez</figcaption>
 </figure>HUTCHINSON — A man who escaped from the minimum security unit at Hutchinson Correctional Facility back on February 16th is now in the Reno County Correctional Facility.Gabriel Sanchez Jr. walked away from the prison just two weeks before he was to be released on a Reno County conviction for assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and fleeing/eluding local law enforcement. He was captured two days later.Sanchez saw his time at HCF extended to May 27 for his actions at which time he was released, then immediately taken into custody by the Reno County Sheriff's Department on charges of aggravated escape and failure to appear.He’s being held on a bond of $50,000.------------HUTCHINSON —Inmate Gabriel Sanchez Jr. has been apprehended after being placed on escape status Friday from the Hutchinson Correctional Facility Minimum Custody South Unit, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.Local law enforcement, the Kansas Highway Patrol and KDOC officials collaborated in the search and arrest.Sanchez is currently serving a sentence for convictions in Reno County for assault and battery of a law enforcement officer and fleeing/eluding local law enforcement.The escape is currently being investigated.

Kan. inmate who escaped from state prison moved to county jail

New U.S. research on long COVID-19 provides fresh evidence that it can happen even after breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, and that older adults face higher risks for the long-term effects.

In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/nm/" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;of veterans published Wednesday, about one-third who had breakthrough infections showed signs of long COVID.

A separate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that up to a year after an initial coronavirus infection, 1 in 4 adults aged 65 and older had at least one potential long COVID health problem, compared with 1 in 5 younger adults.

Long COVID refers to any of more than two dozens symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one month after a coronavirus infection. These can affect all parts of the body and may include fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and blood clots.

Coronavirus vaccines that help prevent initial infections and serious illnesses provide some protection against long COVID but mounting research shows not as much as scientists had first hoped.

The veterans study published in Nature Medicine reviewed medical records of mostly white male veterans, aged 60, on average. Of the 13 million veterans, almost 3 million had been vaccinated last year, through October.

About 1%, or nearly 34,000, developed breakthrough infections. Lead author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly noted that the study was done before the highly contagious omicron variant appeared at the end of the year and said the rate of breakthrough infections has likely increased.

Breakthrough infections and long COVID symptoms were more common among those who had received Johnson &amp; Johnson’s single-dose shot compared with two doses of either Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. Whether any had received booster shots is not known; the first booster wasn’t OK’d in the U.S. until late September.

Overall, 32% had long COVID symptoms up to six months after breakthrough infections. That’s compared with 36% of unvaccinated veterans who had been infected and developed long COVID.

Vaccination reduced the chances for any long COVID symptoms by a “modest” 15%,” although it cut the risk in half for lingering respiratory or clotting problems, said Al-Aly, a researcher with Washington University and the Veterans Affairs health system in St. Louis. These symptoms included persistent shortness of breath or cough and blood clots in lungs or veins in the legs.

Infectious disease expert Dr. Kristin Englund, who runs a center for long COVID patients at the Cleveland Clinic, said the Nature Medicine study mirrors what she sees at her clinic. Long COVID patients there include people who were vaccinated and received boosters.

“As we have no clear treatments for long COVID, it is important for everyone to get vaccinated and use other proven methods of prevention such as masking and social distancing in order to prevent infections with COVID and thus long COVID,” Englund said.

The CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7121e1.htm?s_cid=mm7121e1_w" target="_blank">report</a>, released Tuesday, used medical records for almost 2 million U.S. adults from the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to last November. They included 353,000 who had COVID-19. Patients were tracked for up to a year to determine if they developed any of 26 health conditions that have been attributed to long COVID.

Those who had COVID were much more likely than other adults without COVID to develop at least one of these conditions, and risks were greatest for those aged 65 and older. Information on vaccination, sex and race was not included.

Breathing problems and muscle aches were among the most common conditions.

Older adults’ risks were higher for certain conditions, including strokes, brain fog, kidney failure and mental health problems. The findings are worrisome because those conditions can hasten older adults’ needs for long-term care, the report authors said.

They stressed that routine assessment of all COVID patients “is critical to reduce the incidence” of long COVID.

By LINDSEY TANNER, Associated PressNew U.S. research on long COVID-19 provides fresh evidence that it can happen even after breakthrough infections in vaccinated people, and that older adults face higher risks for the long-term effects.In a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nature.com/nm/" target="_blank">study</a>&nbsp;of veterans published Wednesday, about one-third who had breakthrough infections showed signs of long COVID.A separate report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that up to a year after an initial coronavirus infection, 1 in 4 adults aged 65 and older had at least one potential long COVID health problem, compared with 1 in 5 younger adults.Long COVID refers to any of more than two dozens symptoms that linger, recur or first appear at least one month after a coronavirus infection. These can affect all parts of the body and may include fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog and blood clots.Coronavirus vaccines that help prevent initial infections and serious illnesses provide some protection against long COVID but mounting research shows not as much as scientists had first hoped.The veterans study published in Nature Medicine reviewed medical records of mostly white male veterans, aged 60, on average. Of the 13 million veterans, almost 3 million had been vaccinated last year, through October.About 1%, or nearly 34,000, developed breakthrough infections. Lead author Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly noted that the study was done before the highly contagious omicron variant appeared at the end of the year and said the rate of breakthrough infections has likely increased.Breakthrough infections and long COVID symptoms were more common among those who had received Johnson &amp; Johnson’s single-dose shot compared with two doses of either Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. Whether any had received booster shots is not known; the first booster wasn’t OK’d in the U.S. until late September.Overall, 32% had long COVID symptoms up to six months after breakthrough infections. That’s compared with 36% of unvaccinated veterans who had been infected and developed long COVID.Vaccination reduced the chances for any long COVID symptoms by a “modest” 15%,” although it cut the risk in half for lingering respiratory or clotting problems, said Al-Aly, a researcher with Washington University and the Veterans Affairs health system in St. Louis. These symptoms included persistent shortness of breath or cough and blood clots in lungs or veins in the legs.Infectious disease expert Dr. Kristin Englund, who runs a center for long COVID patients at the Cleveland Clinic, said the Nature Medicine study mirrors what she sees at her clinic. Long COVID patients there include people who were vaccinated and received boosters.“As we have no clear treatments for long COVID, it is important for everyone to get vaccinated and use other proven methods of prevention such as masking and social distancing in order to prevent infections with COVID and thus long COVID,” Englund said.The CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7121e1.htm?s_cid=mm7121e1_w" target="_blank">report</a>, released Tuesday, used medical records for almost 2 million U.S. adults from the start of the pandemic in March 2020 to last November. They included 353,000 who had COVID-19. Patients were tracked for up to a year to determine if they developed any of 26 health conditions that have been attributed to long COVID.Those who had COVID were much more likely than other adults without COVID to develop at least one of these conditions, and risks were greatest for those aged 65 and older. Information on vaccination, sex and race was not included.Breathing problems and muscle aches were among the most common conditions.Older adults’ risks were higher for certain conditions, including strokes, brain fog, kidney failure and mental health problems. The findings are worrisome because those conditions can hasten older adults’ needs for long-term care, the report authors said.They stressed that routine assessment of all COVID patients “is critical to reduce the incidence” of long COVID.___

Long COVID affects more older adults; shots don't prevent it

KANSAS CITY —A man with a distinctive crescent tattoo between his eyes has been charged in the November 2021 fatal shooting of &nbsp;Stephon D. Johnson, whose body was found inside a Midtown Kansas City, MO, apartment, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Perez D. Reed, 27, St. Louis, faces Murder 1st Degree, Armed Criminal Action and two counts of Fraudulent Use of a Credit/Debit Device.

According to court records, family members of Stephon Johnson's family filed missing persons reports regarding Johnson, saying they had not spoken to him since Nov. 1, 2021.

Officers responded to Johnson's apartment and found his body inside a closet. It was later determined to be Johnson. Inside the apartment, officers determined he had suffered a gunshot to the back of the head. 

Officers also collected an empty cigarillo package. A check of DNA from that package later showed strong support that the defendant's DNA was on the package. 

When defendant was arrested in November 2021 on warrants issued from St. Louis County a key was found with the defendant. The key fit a deadbolt lock at the victim's apartment in Kansas City. 

Witnesses also told police that a man they had seen on the news as a "serial killer" from St. Louis was the same man with a crescent tattoo who had been a guest of Johnson in Kansas City. Also, the deadly bullet found inside the victim in his Kansas City residence was fired by the firearm that the defendant had in possession at the time of his arrest.

The defendant is in custody in St. Louis. Prosecutors here recommended he be held on these new charges on no bond.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/11/1636462416961.png" alt="Reed-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Reed-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A man with a distinctive crescent tattoo between his eyes has been charged in the November 2021 fatal shooting of &nbsp;Stephon D. Johnson, whose body was found inside a Midtown Kansas City, MO, apartment, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Perez D. Reed, 27, St. Louis, faces Murder 1st Degree, Armed Criminal Action and two counts of Fraudulent Use of a Credit/Debit Device.According to court records, family members of Stephon Johnson's family filed missing persons reports regarding Johnson, saying they had not spoken to him since Nov. 1, 2021.Officers responded to Johnson's apartment and found his body inside a closet. It was later determined to be Johnson. Inside the apartment, officers determined he had suffered a gunshot to the back of the head. Officers also collected an empty cigarillo package. A check of DNA from that package later showed strong support that the defendant's DNA was on the package. When defendant was arrested in November 2021 on warrants issued from St. Louis County a key was found with the defendant. The key fit a deadbolt lock at the victim's apartment in Kansas City. Witnesses also told police that a man they had seen on the news as a "serial killer" from St. Louis was the same man with a crescent tattoo who had been a guest of Johnson in Kansas City. Also, the deadly bullet found inside the victim in his Kansas City residence was fired by the firearm that the defendant had in possession at the time of his arrest.The defendant is in custody in St. Louis. Prosecutors here recommended he be held on these new charges on no bond.

Alleged serial killer charged after KC man’s body found in closet

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding her former employer of about $3.1 million, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Nancy Martin, 77, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax document.

Martin was bookkeeper, business manager and chief operating officer of Mid-Kansas Wound Specialists and Emergency Services P.A.

An audit found that she embezzled the money from 2012 to 2017 by obtaining money from the company’s banks and making false accounting entries to disguise the transactions as payments or transferred funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas said in a news release.

Martin used the money for personal expenses, travel, and investments.

Prosecutors said she also filed false tax returns from 2013 to 2016, causing a federal tax loss of $670,000.

Martin is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 17.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita woman has pleaded guilty to defrauding her former employer of about $3.1 million, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.Nancy Martin, 77, pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax document.Martin was bookkeeper, business manager and chief operating officer of Mid-Kansas Wound Specialists and Emergency Services P.A.An audit found that she embezzled the money from 2012 to 2017 by obtaining money from the company’s banks and making false accounting entries to disguise the transactions as payments or transferred funds, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas said in a news release.Martin used the money for personal expenses, travel, and investments.Prosecutors said she also filed false tax returns from 2013 to 2016, causing a federal tax loss of $670,000.Martin is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 17.

Kan. woman admits defrauding employer of $3.1 million

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A black swastika was painted on the outside wall of an historically Black church in southwestern Missouri and police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.

Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church in Springfield reported that the swastika was spray painted on the building on May 18 or 19. The NAACP and the Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism. A county parks crew removed the swastika.

During a news conference with the NAACP at the church Friday, the pastor, the Rev. Tracy Wolff, said her congregation was particularly disturbed that their church was targeted given recent violent hate crimes nationwide, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-19514b0c6524bd428f4167ad9b490a12">deadly mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York</a>, that investigators have said was racially motivated.

“I want to be clear that this is not simply tagging. This is not graffiti. This is not vandalism," Wolff said. "This was a hate crime, and it is unacceptable.”

Pitts Chapel is Springfield's oldest historically Black church, Wolff said. It was founded in 1847 by a group of enslaved Africans.

“Though we are historically Black, on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m., we’re becoming one of the most diverse places in town. I don’t think a lot of people know that," she said.

Police have not identified a suspect and are asking witnesses or anyone with information to contact police. In the meantime, Wolff said, the church is beefing up security.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A black swastika was painted on the outside wall of an historically Black church in southwestern Missouri and police are investigating the vandalism as a hate crime.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FPittsChapelUMC%2Fvideos%2F490958242780367%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=139" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Pitts Chapel United Methodist Church in Springfield reported that the swastika was spray painted on the building on May 18 or 19. The NAACP and the Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the vandalism. A county parks crew removed the swastika.During a news conference with the NAACP at the church Friday, the pastor, the Rev. Tracy Wolff, said her congregation was particularly disturbed that their church was targeted given recent violent hate crimes nationwide, including the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buffalo-supermarket-shooting-19514b0c6524bd428f4167ad9b490a12">deadly mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York</a>, that investigators have said was racially motivated.“I want to be clear that this is not simply tagging. This is not graffiti. This is not vandalism," Wolff said. "This was a hate crime, and it is unacceptable.”Pitts Chapel is Springfield's oldest historically Black church, Wolff said. It was founded in 1847 by a group of enslaved Africans.“Though we are historically Black, on Sunday mornings at 11 a.m., we’re becoming one of the most diverse places in town. I don’t think a lot of people know that," she said.Police have not identified a suspect and are asking witnesses or anyone with information to contact police. In the meantime, Wolff said, the church is beefing up security.

🎥 Police investigate swastika painted on historically Black church

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Nearly 20 officers stood for about 45 minutes in the hallway outside the adjoining Texas classrooms where the gunman killed students and teachers this week before U.S. Border Patrol agents unlocked the door to confront and kill him, authorities said Friday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653425371872.png" alt="Law enforcement authorities at the back of the school on the afternoon of the shooting -photo courtesy KSAT TV" />
 <figcaption>Law enforcement authorities at the back of the school on the afternoon of the shooting -photo courtesy KSAT TV</figcaption>
 </figure>UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Nearly 20 officers stood for about 45 minutes in the hallway outside the adjoining Texas classrooms where the gunman killed students and teachers this week before U.S. Border Patrol agents unlocked the door to confront and kill him, authorities said Friday.At least some of the 911 calls made during the Tuesday attack on Robb Elementary School in Uvalde came from inside the connected classrooms where 18-year-old Salvador Ramos was holed up, Steven McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said during a contentious news conference.The commander at the scene believed Ramos was barricaded inside and that the children were not at risk, McCraw said.“It was the wrong decision,” he said.McCraw released new details about the attack in which Ramos killed 19 children teachers, though his motive remains unclear.The Border Patrol agents eventually used a master key to open the locked door of the classroom where they confronted and killed Ramos, he said.There was a barrage of gunfire shortly after Ramos entered the classroom where officers eventually killed him, but that shots were “sporadic” for much of the 48 minutes when officers waited in the hallway, McCraw said. He said investigators do not know if or how many children died during that time.Throughout the attack, teachers and children repeatedly called 911 asking for help, including a girl who pleaded: “Please send the police now,” McCraw said.Questions have mounted over the amount of time it took officers to enter the school to confront the gunman.It was 11:28 a.m. Tuesday when Ramos’ Ford pickup slammed into a ditch behind the low-slung Texas school and the driver jumped out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-school-shooting-texas-donald-trump-violence-212dfd1b57474f1ab208d4a72521a010">carrying an AR-15-style rifle</a>.Twelve minutes after that, authorities say, Ramos entered the school and found his way to the fourth-grade classroom where he killed the 21 victims.But it wasn’t until 12:58 p.m. that law enforcement radio chatter said Ramos had been killed and the siege was over.What happened in those 90 minutes, in a working-class neighborhood near the edge of the town of Uvalde, has fueled mounting public anger and scrutiny over law enforcement’s response to Tuesday’s rampage.“They say they rushed in,” said Javier Cazares, whose fourth-grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, and who raced to the school as the massacre unfolded. “We didn’t see that.”Friday’s briefing came only after authorities spent three days providing often conflicting and incomplete information.According to the new timeline provided by McCraw, After crashing his truck, Ramos fired on two people coming out of a nearby funeral home, officials said.Contrary to earlier statements by officials, a school district police officer was not inside the school when Ramos arrived. When that officer did respond, he unknowingly drove past Ramos, who was crouched behind a car parked outside and firing at the building, McCraw said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653425628486.png" alt="Contrary to earlier statements by officials, a school district police officer was not inside the school when Ramos arrived.-photo courtesy KSAT TV" />
 <figcaption>Contrary to earlier statements by officials, a school district police officer was not inside the school when Ramos arrived.-photo courtesy KSAT TV</figcaption>
 </figure>At 11:33 p.m., Ramos entered the school through a rear door that had been propped open and fired more than 100 rounds into a pair of classrooms, McCraw said.Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine said investigators haven’t yet determined why the door was propped open.Two minutes later, three local police officers arrived and entered the building through the same door, followed soon after by four others, McCraw said. Within 15 minutes, as many as 19 officers from different agencies had assembled in the hallway, taking sporadic fire from Ramos, who was holed up in a classroom.Ramos was still inside at 12:10 p.m. when the first U.S. Marshals Service deputies arrived. They had raced to the school from nearly 70 miles (113 kilometers) away in the border town of Del Rio, the agency said in a tweet Friday.But the police commander inside the building decided the group should wait to confront the gunman, on the belief that the scene was no longer an active attack, McCraw said.The crisis came to an end after a group of Border Patrol tactical officers entered the school at 12:45 p.m., said Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson Travis Considine. They engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who was holed up in the fourth-grade classroom. Moments before 1 p.m., he was dead.Ken Trump, president of the consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, said the length of the timeline raised questions.“Based on best practices, it’s very difficult to understand why there were any types of delays, particularly when you get into reports of 40 minutes and up of going in to neutralize that shooter,” he said.The motive for the massacre — the nation’s deadliest school shooting since Newtown, Connecticut, almost a decade ago — remained under investigation, with authorities saying Ramos had no known criminal or mental health history.During the siege, frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the school, according to witnesses.“Go in there! Go in there!” women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who watched the scene from outside a house across the street.Carranza said the officers should have entered the school sooner: “There were more of them. There was just one of him.”Cazares said that when he arrived, he saw two officers outside the school and about five others escorting students out of the building. But 15 or 20 minutes passed before the arrival of officers with shields, equipped to confront the gunman, he said.As more parents flocked to the school, he and others pressed police to act, Cazares said. He heard about four gunshots before he and the others were ordered back to a parking lot.“A lot of us were arguing with the police, ‘You all need to go in there. You all need to do your jobs.’ Their response was, ‘We can’t do our jobs because you guys are interfering,’” Cazares said.Michael Dorn, executive director of Safe Havens International, which works to make schools safer, cautioned that it’s hard to get a clear understanding of the facts soon after a shooting.“The information we have a couple of weeks after an event is usually quite different than what we get in the first day or two. And even that is usually quite inaccurate,” Dorn said. For catastrophic events, “you’re usually eight to 12 months out before you really have a decent picture.”