KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed remained with his family in northern Louisiana on Sunday, two days after his oldest brother was stabbed and killed by a woman in an altercation involving a large kitchen knife.

T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison, who largely raised Sneed as a child, was stabbed in the town of Minden, where police chief Steve Cropper said the 32-year-old Harrison “died from a single stab wound to his back that punctured his lung.”

Angela Washington, 47, has been charged with second-degree homicide. Authorities didn’t offer a motive, though a kitchen knife was found at the scene. It wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.

“Such a tragic situation,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said after a 48-9 romp over the Raiders, “and as a brotherhood and as an organization, we're going to support our brothers. I thought our guys played hard for them today. We got the win. I'm just praying for him and his family because it's a tough deal.”

Harrison tried to drive himself to a local hospital but crashed his vehicle into the building, Cropper said. Harrison eventually was transported to another medical center, where he died following an emergency surgery.

“L'Jarius, our hearts go out to him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Great kid, great player. It's a tough deal. Our organization stepped up and got everybody where they needed to be to go through the grieving process.”

Sneed told The Kansas City Star in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article255887666.html">a story published last month</a>&nbsp;that he credits Harrison for raising him while his parents were incarcerated. At 9 years old, Harrison changed diapers, ironed clothes and walked his brother to school, helping keep him on the right path until Sneed's mother was released from prison.

Harrison referred to 24-year-old Sneed as “my little dude” when talking with the newspaper, and he described their relationship as “closer than most brothers because of what we went through in life.”

Sneed eventually earned a scholarship to Louisiana Tech, where he switched from wide receiver to defensive back and began to flourish. He was second-team All-Conference USA, then impressed scouts enough during the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl following his senior season that Kansas City selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 draft.

Sneed intercepted a pass in his first career game, only to break his collarbone in Week 3 against Baltimore. He returned to finish last season, helping Kansas City win a second straight AFC championship and reach another Super Bowl.

He's been one of their best defensive players in 2021, playing more snaps than anybody else before Sunday's game.

“Most of us can relate to that, losing people,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “We just wanted to play well for him today, for his family. I thought we did that. We started the game with a little L’Jarius energy and we kept that going.”

MINDEN, La. (AP)—&nbsp;The oldest brother of Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed was killed by a woman in northern Louisiana on Friday night, police said. T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison was stabbed in Minden, KTBS-TV reported. Police Chief Steve Cropper said the 32-year-old “died from a single stab wound to his back, that punctured his lung.” A large kitchen knife was recovered.

Harrison tried to drive himself to a local hospital but crashed his vehicle into the building, according to Cropper. He was transported to another medical center, where he died following an emergency surgery. Angela Washington, 47, was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide. Authorities didn’t offer a motive, and it wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf. 

Sneed told The Kansas City Star in a story published last month that he credits Harrison for raising him while his parents were in prison. At 9 years old, Harrison changed diapers, ironed clothes and walked his brothers to school.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639262377330.png" alt="Washington-photo Webster Parish" />
 <figcaption>Washington-photo Webster Parish</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed remained with his family in northern Louisiana on Sunday, two days after his oldest brother was stabbed and killed by a woman in an altercation involving a large kitchen knife.T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison, who largely raised Sneed as a child, was stabbed in the town of Minden, where police chief Steve Cropper said the 32-year-old Harrison “died from a single stab wound to his back that punctured his lung.”Angela Washington, 47, has been charged with second-degree homicide. Authorities didn’t offer a motive, though a kitchen knife was found at the scene. It wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639262346082.png" alt="L’Jarius Sneed Photo courtesy Kansas City Chiefs" />
 <figcaption>L’Jarius Sneed Photo courtesy Kansas City Chiefs</figcaption>
 </figure>“Such a tragic situation,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said after a 48-9 romp over the Raiders, “and as a brotherhood and as an organization, we're going to support our brothers. I thought our guys played hard for them today. We got the win. I'm just praying for him and his family because it's a tough deal.”Harrison tried to drive himself to a local hospital but crashed his vehicle into the building, Cropper said. Harrison eventually was transported to another medical center, where he died following an emergency surgery.“L'Jarius, our hearts go out to him,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “Great kid, great player. It's a tough deal. Our organization stepped up and got everybody where they needed to be to go through the grieving process.”Sneed told The Kansas City Star in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/sports/nfl/kansas-city-chiefs/article255887666.html">a story published last month</a>&nbsp;that he credits Harrison for raising him while his parents were incarcerated. At 9 years old, Harrison changed diapers, ironed clothes and walked his brother to school, helping keep him on the right path until Sneed's mother was released from prison.Harrison referred to 24-year-old Sneed as “my little dude” when talking with the newspaper, and he described their relationship as “closer than most brothers because of what we went through in life.”Sneed eventually earned a scholarship to Louisiana Tech, where he switched from wide receiver to defensive back and began to flourish. He was second-team All-Conference USA, then impressed scouts enough during the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl following his senior season that Kansas City selected him in the fourth round of the 2020 draft.Sneed intercepted a pass in his first career game, only to break his collarbone in Week 3 against Baltimore. He returned to finish last season, helping Kansas City win a second straight AFC championship and reach another Super Bowl.He's been one of their best defensive players in 2021, playing more snaps than anybody else before Sunday's game.“Most of us can relate to that, losing people,” Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu said. “We just wanted to play well for him today, for his family. I thought we did that. We started the game with a little L’Jarius energy and we kept that going.”___MINDEN, La. (AP)—&nbsp;The oldest brother of Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L’Jarius Sneed was killed by a woman in northern Louisiana on Friday night, police said. T’Qarontarion “TQ” Harrison was stabbed in Minden, KTBS-TV reported. Police Chief Steve Cropper said the 32-year-old “died from a single stab wound to his back, that punctured his lung.” A large kitchen knife was recovered.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639262346082.png" alt="L’Jarius Sneed Photo courtesy Kansas City Chiefs" />
 <figcaption>L’Jarius Sneed Photo courtesy Kansas City Chiefs</figcaption>
 </figure>Harrison tried to drive himself to a local hospital but crashed his vehicle into the building, according to Cropper. He was transported to another medical center, where he died following an emergency surgery. Angela Washington, 47, was arrested and charged with second-degree homicide. Authorities didn’t offer a motive, and it wasn’t immediately clear if she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf. Sneed told The Kansas City Star in a story published last month that he credits Harrison for raising him while his parents were in prison. At 9 years old, Harrison changed diapers, ironed clothes and walked his brothers to school.

Update: Chiefs cornerback’s brother fatally stabbed in Louisiana


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — 
With the announcement that Keith Urban's tour stop in Wichita coincides with the second Saturday night of the Kansas State Fair, that creates some issues for scheduling a grandstand show that night.

"We just got back from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions convention," said State Fair GM Bryan Schulz. "There was four staff, myself and three of our board members went down there. We had an opportunity to meet with our entertainment buyers and started looking at things. Obviously, we were already in the row of finding some things. With this announcement, we have been able to shift from what we thought we might do on that Saturday night to different entertainment. We'll just make it work."

The State Fair's grandstand show budget isn't that large, when you're spreading it over the whole event.

"We have about $650,000 to $675,000, when you start taking that over ten days, that kind of dwindles down." Schulz said. "The Blake Sheltons, the Miranda Lamberts, KISS, ZZ Top, those might be a little tough to get in at the Kansas State Fair right now."

The key is figuring out who will be big and booking them early, which is an art in itself.

"Going after those ones that are starting to peak and getting them in at the dollar amounts that we can afford," Schulz said. "I remember, when I was at a previous fair, our agency said, hey Bryan, we've got this opportunity for Zac Brown Band. I said, okay. That's when Chicken Fried was just coming out. I said, okay, what do you think we can get them for? Well, about $27,000 is what I think we'll pay for them. Let's try it. By the time it got to be fair time, they were asking $200,000 to $250,000. It's when you can get in on that ground level and be able to lock it in, that's fantastic."

Schulz further explained that if an act will have a show in the region before the one at the Fair, sometimes announcements of acts have to be delayed, in an effort not to negatively impact the other close in show's date.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/7/1626269696039.jpeg" alt="Bryan Schulz, General Manager of the Kansas State Fair" />
 <figcaption>Bryan Schulz, General Manager of the Kansas State Fair</figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch
Post
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — 
With the announcement that Keith Urban's tour stop in Wichita coincides with the second Saturday night of the Kansas State Fair, that creates some issues for scheduling a grandstand show that night."We just got back from the International Association of Fairs and Expositions convention," said State Fair GM Bryan Schulz. "There was four staff, myself and three of our board members went down there. We had an opportunity to meet with our entertainment buyers and started looking at things. Obviously, we were already in the row of finding some things. With this announcement, we have been able to shift from what we thought we might do on that Saturday night to different entertainment. We'll just make it work."The State Fair's grandstand show budget isn't that large, when you're spreading it over the whole event."We have about $650,000 to $675,000, when you start taking that over ten days, that kind of dwindles down." Schulz said. "The Blake Sheltons, the Miranda Lamberts, KISS, ZZ Top, those might be a little tough to get in at the Kansas State Fair right now."The key is figuring out who will be big and booking them early, which is an art in itself."Going after those ones that are starting to peak and getting them in at the dollar amounts that we can afford," Schulz said. "I remember, when I was at a previous fair, our agency said, hey Bryan, we've got this opportunity for Zac Brown Band. I said, okay. That's when Chicken Fried was just coming out. I said, okay, what do you think we can get them for? Well, about $27,000 is what I think we'll pay for them. Let's try it. By the time it got to be fair time, they were asking $200,000 to $250,000. It's when you can get in on that ground level and be able to lock it in, that's fantastic."Schulz further explained that if an act will have a show in the region before the one at the Fair, sometimes announcements of acts have to be delayed, in an effort not to negatively impact the other close in show's date.

Competing acts will complicate Grandstand Shows at State Fair

KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a Missouri woman with two counts of bank robbery.

According to court documents, on November 4, 2021, She’Toia Mitchell, 35, of Lee’s Summit is accused of robbing a Bank of America branch located on Ohio Street in Lawrence, Kansas.

Mitchell is also accused of robbing a branch of Wells Fargo Bank on West 103rd Street in Leawood, Kansas, on November 10, 2021.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Lawrence Police Department, and the Leawood Police Department are investigating the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639154841427.png" alt="Security camera image -FBI" />
 <figcaption>Security camera image -FBI</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, KAN. – A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging a Missouri woman with two counts of bank robbery.According to court documents, on November 4, 2021, She’Toia Mitchell, 35, of Lee’s Summit is accused of robbing a Bank of America branch located on Ohio Street in Lawrence, Kansas.Mitchell is also accused of robbing a branch of Wells Fargo Bank on West 103rd Street in Leawood, Kansas, on November 10, 2021.The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Lawrence Police Department, and the Leawood Police Department are investigating the case.

Missouri woman accused of bank robberies in Kansas

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man man arrested after he was involved in a standoff with police on Monday while sitting in a U-Haul truck in Wichita made a court appearance Tuesday for other crimes.

AC Dwayne Gibson, 58 of Goddard, is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and interference with law enforcement.&nbsp; From an incident on May 28, 2021, involving a sheriff’s sergeant, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In another case from April of 2021, Gibson is charged with criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, no proof of insurance and having an expired tag. This case involved Wichita Police.

He is scheduled for a bench trial on these charges before Judge Bruce Brown on December 12.

Wichita Police have not presented their evidence in the case involving Monday's 6-h0ur standoff with police&nbsp; and a U-Haul truck.&nbsp;Gibson remains jails on a bond of $75,000, according to the district attorney's office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638982772535.png" alt="Gibson photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Gibson photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man man arrested after he was involved in a standoff with police on Monday while sitting in a U-Haul truck in Wichita made a court appearance Tuesday for other crimes.AC Dwayne Gibson, 58 of Goddard, is charged with assault on a law enforcement officer and interference with law enforcement.&nbsp; From an incident on May 28, 2021, involving a sheriff’s sergeant, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.In another case from April of 2021, Gibson is charged with criminal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, no proof of insurance and having an expired tag. This case involved Wichita Police.He is scheduled for a bench trial on these charges before Judge Bruce Brown on December 12.Wichita Police have not presented their evidence in the case involving Monday's 6-h0ur standoff with police&nbsp; and a U-Haul truck.&nbsp;Gibson remains jails on a bond of $75,000, according to the district attorney's office..

Kansas man jailed after police standoff charged for 2 other crimes 

TOPEKA (AP) —A former inmate at a Kansas jail alleges in a federal lawsuit that deputies fired a flash grenade and nonlethal bullets at her while she was having a panic attack inside an isolation cell in 2019.

The lawsuit, filed last month by an attorney for 25-year-old Realiti Courson, alleges that deputies targeted her because she is Black. It also alleges that the Reno County sheriff’s department persuaded the local prosecutor to charge Courson with three felonies after her attorney contacted the department about the incident.

The defendants are former Sheriff Randy Henderson; Shawn McClay, a captain at the jail; jail deputies Jake Harrison, Cody Blake and Kaitlynn Hazell; and the Reno County Commission.

A spokeswoman for the county did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday. Reno County Undersheriff Shawn McHaley told The Wichita Eagle the department would not comment on an ongoing lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Courson was serving a 30-day sentence in August 2019 for violating her parole when she was falsely accused of bullying other inmates and going into other inmates’ cells without permission.

Later that night, deputies told her she was being taken to an isolation cell but gave differing reasons.

Courson, who had a history of anxiety and mental health challenges, hit and kicked her cell door, rang the buzzer and covered the surveillance camera twice while inside the cell. The lawsuit said she was having a panic attack, but deputies said she was throwing a “temper tantrum.”

When Courson refused deputies’ orders to “cuff up” inside the cell, Harrison fired a flashbang round into her cell, which gave off a “deafening sound” and a “blinding flash,” according to the lawsuit, causing Courson more fear and panic.

Harrison yelled at Courson, who couldn’t hear him, then fired nonlethal ammunition, also known as rubber or plastic bullets, according to the lawsuit. Courson suffered numerous scars and bruises from the bullets and required surgery.

“The amount of force used in this case was grossly disproportionate to the need to apply force or maintain discipline,” the lawsuit says, noting that Courson was alone in a cell and posing no danger to anyone.

“Caged dogs are afforded better treatment than Realiti was given when she was shocked and shot while caged in a cell,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit claims the jail had a history of disregarding inmates’ rights and subjected them to time in isolation cells, beatings and the use of unnecessary physical restraints, but “The punishment of sound bombs and shotgun shootings is a punishment reserved for African American detainees.”

The deputies said the actions were taken because Courson was “noncompliant,” according to the lawsuit.

Shortly after the sheriff’s department was contacted by Courson’s attorney, the department sent an affidavit to the district attorney’s office claiming Courson had threatened a deputy and another inmate and interfered with law enforcement.

“The defense argued that these charges were based on fiction designed to protect the Sheriff from this anticipated civil suit. The criminal court agreed,” the suit says.

It alleges Henderson, who retired as sheriff in December 2019, did nothing to stop the poor treatment of inmates and the lack of training and supervision provided by the former sheriff and McClay led to the “sadistic” assault on Courson.

Courson is seeking a jury trial and punitive damages but the lawsuit does not name a specific amount.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639231093977.png" alt="Courson-photo Kansas Dept. of Corrections" />
 <figcaption>Courson-photo Kansas Dept. of Corrections</figcaption>
 </figure>By MARGARET STAFFORDTOPEKA (AP) —A former inmate at a Kansas jail alleges in a federal lawsuit that deputies fired a flash grenade and nonlethal bullets at her while she was having a panic attack inside an isolation cell in 2019.The lawsuit, filed last month by an attorney for 25-year-old Realiti Courson, alleges that deputies targeted her because she is Black. It also alleges that the Reno County sheriff’s department persuaded the local prosecutor to charge Courson with three felonies after her attorney contacted the department about the incident.The defendants are former Sheriff Randy Henderson; Shawn McClay, a captain at the jail; jail deputies Jake Harrison, Cody Blake and Kaitlynn Hazell; and the Reno County Commission.A spokeswoman for the county did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday. Reno County Undersheriff Shawn McHaley told The Wichita Eagle the department would not comment on an ongoing lawsuit.According to the lawsuit, Courson was serving a 30-day sentence in August 2019 for violating her parole when she was falsely accused of bullying other inmates and going into other inmates’ cells without permission.Later that night, deputies told her she was being taken to an isolation cell but gave differing reasons.Courson, who had a history of anxiety and mental health challenges, hit and kicked her cell door, rang the buzzer and covered the surveillance camera twice while inside the cell. The lawsuit said she was having a panic attack, but deputies said she was throwing a “temper tantrum.”When Courson refused deputies’ orders to “cuff up” inside the cell, Harrison fired a flashbang round into her cell, which gave off a “deafening sound” and a “blinding flash,” according to the lawsuit, causing Courson more fear and panic.Harrison yelled at Courson, who couldn’t hear him, then fired nonlethal ammunition, also known as rubber or plastic bullets, according to the lawsuit. Courson suffered numerous scars and bruises from the bullets and required surgery.“The amount of force used in this case was grossly disproportionate to the need to apply force or maintain discipline,” the lawsuit says, noting that Courson was alone in a cell and posing no danger to anyone.“Caged dogs are afforded better treatment than Realiti was given when she was shocked and shot while caged in a cell,” the lawsuit says.The lawsuit claims the jail had a history of disregarding inmates’ rights and subjected them to time in isolation cells, beatings and the use of unnecessary physical restraints, but “The punishment of sound bombs and shotgun shootings is a punishment reserved for African American detainees.”The deputies said the actions were taken because Courson was “noncompliant,” according to the lawsuit.Shortly after the sheriff’s department was contacted by Courson’s attorney, the department sent an affidavit to the district attorney’s office claiming Courson had threatened a deputy and another inmate and interfered with law enforcement.She was acquitted in March.“The defense argued that these charges were based on fiction designed to protect the Sheriff from this anticipated civil suit. The criminal court agreed,” the suit says.It alleges Henderson, who retired as sheriff in December 2019, did nothing to stop the poor treatment of inmates and the lack of training and supervision provided by the former sheriff and McClay led to the “sadistic” assault on Courson.Courson is seeking a jury trial and punitive damages but the lawsuit does not name a specific amount.

Suit: Kansas deputies used rubber bullets on woman in cell

By LAURA OLSON <a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/12/10/cdc-25-states-report-omicron-strain-of-covid-19-but-delta-remains-biggest-threat/">States Newsroom</a>

WASHINGTON —&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/omicron-variant.html">Twenty-five states</a> have identified cases of the new omicron variant of COVID-19, federal public health officials said Friday as they released&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e1.htm?s_cid=mm7050e1_w">new data</a>&nbsp;on the first 43 U.S. cases.

Of those initial, confirmed cases, more than half were among people 
between the ages of 18 and 39, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, 
director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About one-third of the infections were among individuals who recently
 had traveled internationally, Walensky said during a news briefing 
Friday. And 80%, or 34 individuals, were fully vaccinated, including 
some who had recently received a booster.

Most of the omicron infections so far have resulted in only mild 
symptoms, Walensky said, adding that’s in line with what would be 
expected among individuals who were fully vaccinated.

Walensky and other public health officials said early data suggests 
that getting a vaccine booster could bolster protection against the new 
variant, urging anyone who is currently eligible — including the 16- and
 17-year-olds&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1208-16-17-booster.html">who became eligible this week</a>&nbsp;— to get a follow-up shot.

While the unknowns of the new variant still loom, officials 
emphasized that the highly transmissible delta variant that caused the 
summer surge in infections still remains the main threat.

“Over 99% of cases in this country right now are caused by the delta 
variant, which is driving increases in cases and hospitalizations,” 
Walensky said.

The seven-day average of infections nationally increased by 37% over 
the last week, while hospitalizations increased by 16% and deaths rose 
by 28% over that same time period.

Those rising numbers come after families gathered for Thanksgiving 
last month, and many are preparing for holiday gatherings this month.

Asked for any guidance for those wondering if they should reassess 
holiday travel plans, Walensky said gathering together this season will 
require Americans to be “vigilant” about safety precautions. She 
reiterated the need to ensure those getting together are fully 
vaccinated and boosted if possible, as well as wearing masks in the 
weeks leading up to any gatherings and taking a COVID-19 test.

By LAURA OLSON <a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/12/10/cdc-25-states-report-omicron-strain-of-covid-19-but-delta-remains-biggest-threat/">States Newsroom</a>WASHINGTON —&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/omicron-variant.html">Twenty-five states</a> have identified cases of the new omicron variant of COVID-19, federal public health officials said Friday as they released&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e1.htm?s_cid=mm7050e1_w">new data</a>&nbsp;on the first 43 U.S. cases.Of those initial, confirmed cases, more than half were among people 
between the ages of 18 and 39, according to Dr. Rochelle Walensky, 
director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.About one-third of the infections were among individuals who recently
 had traveled internationally, Walensky said during a news briefing 
Friday. And 80%, or 34 individuals, were fully vaccinated, including 
some who had recently received a booster.Most of the omicron infections so far have resulted in only mild 
symptoms, Walensky said, adding that’s in line with what would be 
expected among individuals who were fully vaccinated.Walensky and other public health officials said early data suggests 
that getting a vaccine booster could bolster protection against the new 
variant, urging anyone who is currently eligible — including the 16- and
 17-year-olds&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1208-16-17-booster.html">who became eligible this week</a>&nbsp;— to get a follow-up shot.While the unknowns of the new variant still loom, officials 
emphasized that the highly transmissible delta variant that caused the 
summer surge in infections still remains the main threat.“Over 99% of cases in this country right now are caused by the delta 
variant, which is driving increases in cases and hospitalizations,” 
Walensky said.The seven-day average of infections nationally increased by 37% over 
the last week, while hospitalizations increased by 16% and deaths rose 
by 28% over that same time period.Those rising numbers come after families gathered for Thanksgiving 
last month, and many are preparing for holiday gatherings this month.Asked for any guidance for those wondering if they should reassess 
holiday travel plans, Walensky said gathering together this season will 
require Americans to be “vigilant” about safety precautions. She 
reiterated the need to ensure those getting together are fully 
vaccinated and boosted if possible, as well as wearing masks in the 
weeks leading up to any gatherings and taking a COVID-19 test.Cover image courtesy Pixabay

CDC: 25 states report omicron, but delta remains biggest threat

By DAVID CONDOS <a href="https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2021-12-09/house-hunting-in-kansas-heres-why-the-middle-class-has-it-especially-hard">Kansas News Service</a>

The first comprehensive look at <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/kansas-statewide-housing-needs-assessment-2021/" target="_blank">housing needs</a>
 in Kansas in nearly three decades confirmed the obvious — the state 
needs more — and pinpointed a particular shortage of options for middle 
class families.

Much of the state’s housing stock has been aimed 
where the money is — high-priced single-family homes or 
taxpayer-subsidized affordable housing.

Ryan Vincent, executive director of the <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/" target="_blank">Kansas Housing Resources Corporation</a>, said that leaves a huge chunk of the population in the middle without many options for making Kansas home.

“That’s
 our teachers. It’s our police officers. It’s our nurses and the people 
that our society depends on to function,” Vincent said. “That moderate 
income housing band is absolutely essential for virtually every 
community, rural and urban alike.”

The report from the state and 
the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. surveyed more than 4,000 Kansans 
earlier this year and analyzed data from the U.S. Census to paint a 
picture of the state’s most pressing housing challenges and potential 
solutions.

Vincent said the state’s lack of middle income housing 
has been a consistent theme he’s heard from Kansans at the assessment’s 
listening sessions, which continued this month with stops in Hays and 
nine other cities statewide.

Especially with this year’s rise in 
the price of construction materials, the cost to build a small- to 
medium-sized house in rural Kansas often exceeds the finished home’s 
value upon appraisal.

“We’re hearing from communities from Salina 
to Iola to Norton that there’s employers wanting to come in and bring in
 good-paying jobs,” he said. “But the housing, the homes are what's 
holding us back.”

And the state’s housing shortage doesn’t just have economic development implications.

Vincent
 points out that housing stability is also a key factor in shaping the 
health and education outcomes for Kansas families. He said that’s felt 
across the state.

“If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s 
that we’re all interdependent and interconnected,” he said. “We all 
benefit when we have enough healthy, affordable, accessible homes across
 our state in every region.”

So what will it take to meet this critical need across Kansas?

The report points to several potential solutions.

Another solution that could 
address Kansas' housing shortfall would be to expand funding for a 
program that has already seen success.

The state’s <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/moderate-income-housing/" target="_blank">moderate-income housing grant</a>
 program has helped some rural towns take on new housing projects over 
the past nine years. For example, Dodge City has used those state tax 
dollars to fund a <a href="https://dc3.edu/2020/07/dc3-and-chad-host-open-house-for-building-project/?fbclid=IwAR2iZJCFLXoJ4IGaD1SEwDilh0tMarm3Fp6OA3FQtcSL2EfiZahpBiWigHw" target="_blank">partnership</a> with the local community college where students build moderately priced duplexes as part of their construction training.

But
 the state funding for that program — currently $2 million a year — 
doesn’t come close to meeting the demand, so many communities that apply
 for the grant get turned away. 

And the program is currently only
 available to places with less than 60,000 residents, so opening it up 
to larger cities could boost middle-income housing development in places
 like Wichita and Topeka.

State Treasurer Lynn Rogers, who 
attended the Hays listening session, said that the data in the report — 
illustrating Kansas’ widespread housing problems and the potential 
impact of real solutions — could finally help build the political 
capital needed to spur momentum in the Legislature.

“We’ve got the
 stats to help them understand that it’s a statewide issue,” Rogers 
said. “It’s not a partisan issue. It's a community survival, community 
growth issue.”

The full report and its recommendations will be released within a few weeks.

David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/davidcondos" target="_blank">@davidcondos</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639060377974.png" alt="A for sale sign sits in front of a home in Hays. Especially in rural areas, a lack of moderately priced homes and an aging housing stock have strained the market. David Condos / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption>A for sale sign sits in front of a home in Hays. Especially in rural areas, a lack of moderately priced homes and an aging housing stock have strained the market. David Condos / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By DAVID CONDOS <a href="https://www.hppr.org/hppr-news/2021-12-09/house-hunting-in-kansas-heres-why-the-middle-class-has-it-especially-hard">Kansas News Service</a>The first comprehensive look at <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/kansas-statewide-housing-needs-assessment-2021/" target="_blank">housing needs</a>
 in Kansas in nearly three decades confirmed the obvious — the state 
needs more — and pinpointed a particular shortage of options for middle 
class families.Much of the state’s housing stock has been aimed 
where the money is — high-priced single-family homes or 
taxpayer-subsidized affordable housing.Ryan Vincent, executive director of the <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/" target="_blank">Kansas Housing Resources Corporation</a>, said that leaves a huge chunk of the population in the middle without many options for making Kansas home.“That’s
 our teachers. It’s our police officers. It’s our nurses and the people 
that our society depends on to function,” Vincent said. “That moderate 
income housing band is absolutely essential for virtually every 
community, rural and urban alike.”The report from the state and 
the Kansas Housing Resources Corp. surveyed more than 4,000 Kansans 
earlier this year and analyzed data from the U.S. Census to paint a 
picture of the state’s most pressing housing challenges and potential 
solutions.Vincent said the state’s lack of middle income housing 
has been a consistent theme he’s heard from Kansans at the assessment’s 
listening sessions, which continued this month with stops in Hays and 
nine other cities statewide.Especially with this year’s rise in 
the price of construction materials, the cost to build a small- to 
medium-sized house in rural Kansas often exceeds the finished home’s 
value upon appraisal.“We’re hearing from communities from Salina 
to Iola to Norton that there’s employers wanting to come in and bring in
 good-paying jobs,” he said. “But the housing, the homes are what's 
holding us back.”And the state’s housing shortage doesn’t just have economic development implications.Vincent
 points out that housing stability is also a key factor in shaping the 
health and education outcomes for Kansas families. He said that’s felt 
across the state.“If this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s 
that we’re all interdependent and interconnected,” he said. “We all 
benefit when we have enough healthy, affordable, accessible homes across
 our state in every region.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639060451740.png" alt="At the assessment's listening session in Hays, consultant Amy Haase presents the study's findings and recommendations. David Condos" />
 <figcaption>At the assessment's listening session in Hays, consultant Amy Haase presents the study's findings and recommendations. David Condos</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>An issue of survival</h2>So what will it take to meet this critical need across Kansas?The report points to several potential solutions. <ul>
 <li>Building
 more housing for middle-class Kansans may mean taxpayer subsidies that 
can make the math work for development in areas where resale prices are 
low. That could include tax breaks for businesses that put money toward 
home construction in communities where workers live.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>Fixing
 up the state’s aging housing stock. The report shows that most homes in
 Kansas were built before 1960. In rural parts of northwest and 
north-central Kansas, a majority of homes date back to the 1940s. Many 
have become dilapidated or sit vacant. So the report not only suggests 
more money for new construction. It also calls for more loans for 
refurbishing aging housing.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>Diversifying from the 
detached single-family homes that dominate the state’s housing market, 
especially in rural areas. For instance, building smaller single-family 
homes, or more duplexes and condominiums to accommodate people at 
different stages of their lives. The report suggests more flexible 
zoning and streamlined construction permit processes.</li>
 </ul><ul>
 <li>The
 report says the state needs more people capable of working in home 
construction. It suggests more funding for training at community 
colleges and high schools.</li>
 </ul>Another solution that could 
address Kansas' housing shortfall would be to expand funding for a 
program that has already seen success.The state’s <a href="https://kshousingcorp.org/moderate-income-housing/" target="_blank">moderate-income housing grant</a>
 program has helped some rural towns take on new housing projects over 
the past nine years. For example, Dodge City has used those state tax 
dollars to fund a <a href="https://dc3.edu/2020/07/dc3-and-chad-host-open-house-for-building-project/?fbclid=IwAR2iZJCFLXoJ4IGaD1SEwDilh0tMarm3Fp6OA3FQtcSL2EfiZahpBiWigHw" target="_blank">partnership</a> with the local community college where students build moderately priced duplexes as part of their construction training.But
 the state funding for that program — currently $2 million a year — 
doesn’t come close to meeting the demand, so many communities that apply
 for the grant get turned away. And the program is currently only
 available to places with less than 60,000 residents, so opening it up 
to larger cities could boost middle-income housing development in places
 like Wichita and Topeka.State Treasurer Lynn Rogers, who 
attended the Hays listening session, said that the data in the report — 
illustrating Kansas’ widespread housing problems and the potential 
impact of real solutions — could finally help build the political 
capital needed to spur momentum in the Legislature.“We’ve got the
 stats to help them understand that it’s a statewide issue,” Rogers 
said. “It’s not a partisan issue. It's a community survival, community 
growth issue.”The full report and its recommendations will be released within a few weeks.David Condos covers western Kansas for High Plains Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/davidcondos" target="_blank">@davidcondos</a>.

House hunting in Kan.? Why the middle class has it especially hard

MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Rescuers combed through fields of wreckage after a tornado outbreak roared across the middle of the U.S., leaving dozens dead and communities in despair.

A twister carved a track that could rival the longest on record as the stormfront&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-kentucky-storms-weather-mayfield-9ba933490c77bb2cfa139bcf9ab6f210">smashed apart a candle factory,</a>&nbsp;crushed a nursing home and flattened an Amazon distribution center.

“I pray that there will be another rescue. I pray that there will be another one or two,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, as crews sifted through the wreckage of the candle factory in Mayfield, where 110 people were working overnight Friday when the storm hit. Forty of them were rescued.

“We had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,” said Jeremy Creason, the city’s fire chief and EMS director.

In Kentucky alone, 22 were confirmed dead by late Saturday, including 11 in and around Bowling Green. But Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister touched down for more than 200 miles in his state and that the number of deaths could eventually exceed 100 across 10 or more counties.

The death toll of 36 across five states includes six people in Illinois, where an Amazon facility was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed; and two in Missouri.

If early reports are confirmed, the twister “will likely go down perhaps as one of the longest track&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-united-states-mississippi-tornadoes-d756a5ddf9d3565e6d8cceb48adb3516">violent tornadoes</a>&nbsp;in United States history,” said Victor Gensini, a researcher on extreme weather at Northern Illinois University.

The longest tornado on record, in March 1925, tracked for about 220 miles through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. But Gensini said this twister may have touched down for nearly 250 miles. The storm was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-weather-tornadoes-f360fab5c31602df3573d3f651ba74d0">all the more remarkable</a>&nbsp;because it came in December, when normally colder weather limits tornadoes, he said.

Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees covered the ground in Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 in western Kentucky. Twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.

The missing at the candle factory included Janine Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother of four whose family members kept vigil at the site Saturday.

“It’s Christmastime and she works at a place that’s making candles for gifts," her brother, Darryl Williams, said. “To give up the gift of life to make a gift. We haven’t heard anything, and I’m not presuming anything. But I’m expecting for the worst.”

He said Johnson Williams called her husband overnight to report the weather was getting bad, the last time anyone heard from her.

Kyanna Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under 5 feet of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her.

In an interview with NBC's “Today,” she said it was “absolutely the most terrifying” event she had ever experienced. “I did not think I was going to make it at all.”

Just before the tornado struck, the building’s lights flickered. She felt a gust of wind, her ears started popping and then, “Boom. Everything came down on us.” People started screaming, and she heard other workers praying.

Kentucky State Trooper Sarah Burgess said rescue crews were using heavy equipment to move rubble at the candle factory. Coroners were called to the scene and bodies were recovered, but she didn’t know how many.

Rescue efforts were complicated because Mayfield’s main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, Creason said.

After a wall at a nursing home in Mayfield collapsed, Vernon Evans said he rushed to help firefighters pull people out, only to find one resident lying dead in a few inches of water.

“All I could do is sit there and hold their head up,” he said. “I never experienced nothing like this.”

President Joe Biden approved an emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky on Saturday and pledged to support the affected states.

“I promise you, whatever is needed — whatever is needed — the federal government is going to find a way to provide it," Biden said.

Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said.

Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived, Whiteford said. Authorities were uncertain Saturday evening whether anyone was still unaccounted because workers were in the midst of a shift change when it was struck by the tornado about 8:30 p.m. Friday.

“This is a devastating tragedy for our Amazon family and our focus is on supporting our employees and partners," Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said in a written statement.

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which has been trying to organize workers at an Amazon facility in Alabama, criticized the company for keeping the Illinois site open during a weather emergency.

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office said the storms killed at least two people in the state and initial assessments indicate they destroyed or did major damage to hundreds of homes and buildings.

Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis.

“This was an incredible storm that lasted a long time and covered a lot of territory,” said Larry Vannozzi, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office covering the Nashville area.

Meteorologists haven’t determined whether the storm spawned a single tornado or multiple tornadoes, he said.

In Arkansas, a tornado struck a nursing home in Monette, killing one and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press.

Another person died when the storm hit a Dollar General store in nearby Leachville, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.

“Probably the most remarkable thing is that there’s not a greater loss of life,” Hutchinson said after touring the wreckage of the nursing home. “It is catastrophic. It’s a total destruction.”

Four storm-related deaths were confirmed in northwestern Tennessee, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.

“This is about the saddest thing I've ever seen,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said after touring the community of Dresden, which saw its downtown corridor ripped apart. “The whole town, the whole town.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639275139848.png" alt="Storm damaged home in Missouri -photos office of Gov. Mike&nbsp; Parson" />
 <figcaption>Storm damaged home in Missouri -photos office of Gov. Mike&nbsp; Parson</figcaption>
 </figure>MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) — Rescuers combed through fields of wreckage after a tornado outbreak roared across the middle of the U.S., leaving dozens dead and communities in despair.A twister carved a track that could rival the longest on record as the stormfront&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-kentucky-storms-weather-mayfield-9ba933490c77bb2cfa139bcf9ab6f210">smashed apart a candle factory,</a>&nbsp;crushed a nursing home and flattened an Amazon distribution center.“I pray that there will be another rescue. I pray that there will be another one or two,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said, as crews sifted through the wreckage of the candle factory in Mayfield, where 110 people were working overnight Friday when the storm hit. Forty of them were rescued.“We had to, at times, crawl over casualties to get to live victims,” said Jeremy Creason, the city’s fire chief and EMS director.In Kentucky alone, 22 were confirmed dead by late Saturday, including 11 in and around Bowling Green. But Beshear said upwards of 70 may have been killed when a twister touched down for more than 200 miles in his state and that the number of deaths could eventually exceed 100 across 10 or more counties.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639275000918.png" alt="Storm damage in Missouri-photo office of Gov. Mike Parson" />
 <figcaption>Storm damage in Missouri-photo office of Gov. Mike Parson</figcaption>
 </figure>The death toll of 36 across five states includes six people in Illinois, where an Amazon facility was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed; and two in Missouri.If early reports are confirmed, the twister “will likely go down perhaps as one of the longest track&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-united-states-mississippi-tornadoes-d756a5ddf9d3565e6d8cceb48adb3516">violent tornadoes</a>&nbsp;in United States history,” said Victor Gensini, a researcher on extreme weather at Northern Illinois University.The longest tornado on record, in March 1925, tracked for about 220 miles through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. But Gensini said this twister may have touched down for nearly 250 miles. The storm was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-science-business-weather-tornadoes-f360fab5c31602df3573d3f651ba74d0">all the more remarkable</a>&nbsp;because it came in December, when normally colder weather limits tornadoes, he said.Debris from destroyed buildings and shredded trees covered the ground in Mayfield, a city of about 10,000 in western Kentucky. Twisted metal sheeting, downed power lines and wrecked vehicles lined the streets. Windows and roofs were blown off the buildings that were still standing.The missing at the candle factory included Janine Denise Johnson Williams, a 50-year-old mother of four whose family members kept vigil at the site Saturday.“It’s Christmastime and she works at a place that’s making candles for gifts," her brother, Darryl Williams, said. “To give up the gift of life to make a gift. We haven’t heard anything, and I’m not presuming anything. But I’m expecting for the worst.”He said Johnson Williams called her husband overnight to report the weather was getting bad, the last time anyone heard from her.Kyanna Parsons-Perez, an employee at the factory, was trapped under 5 feet of debris for at least two hours until rescuers managed to free her.In an interview with NBC's “Today,” she said it was “absolutely the most terrifying” event she had ever experienced. “I did not think I was going to make it at all.”Just before the tornado struck, the building’s lights flickered. She felt a gust of wind, her ears started popping and then, “Boom. Everything came down on us.” People started screaming, and she heard other workers praying.Kentucky State Trooper Sarah Burgess said rescue crews were using heavy equipment to move rubble at the candle factory. Coroners were called to the scene and bodies were recovered, but she didn’t know how many.Rescue efforts were complicated because Mayfield’s main fire station and emergency services hub were also hit by the tornado, Creason said.After a wall at a nursing home in Mayfield collapsed, Vernon Evans said he rushed to help firefighters pull people out, only to find one resident lying dead in a few inches of water.“All I could do is sit there and hold their head up,” he said. “I never experienced nothing like this.”President Joe Biden approved an emergency disaster declaration for Kentucky on Saturday and pledged to support the affected states.“I promise you, whatever is needed — whatever is needed — the federal government is going to find a way to provide it," Biden said.Six people were killed in the collapse of the Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, with another injured worker airlifted to a hospital, fire Chief James Whiteford said.Investigators searched the rubble throughout the day for additional victims and 45 people survived, Whiteford said. Authorities were uncertain Saturday evening whether anyone was still unaccounted because workers were in the midst of a shift change when it was struck by the tornado about 8:30 p.m. Friday.“This is a devastating tragedy for our Amazon family and our focus is on supporting our employees and partners," Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said in a written statement.The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which has been trying to organize workers at an Amazon facility in Alabama, criticized the company for keeping the Illinois site open during a weather emergency.Missouri Gov. Mike Parson’s office said the storms killed at least two people in the state and initial assessments indicate they destroyed or did major damage to hundreds of homes and buildings.Workers at a National Weather Service office had to take shelter as a tornado passed near their office in Weldon Spring, Missouri, about 30 miles west of St. Louis.“This was an incredible storm that lasted a long time and covered a lot of territory,” said Larry Vannozzi, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office covering the Nashville area.Meteorologists haven’t determined whether the storm spawned a single tornado or multiple tornadoes, he said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639235312847.png" alt="8Two people were killed and at least five hurt after a nursing home was destroyed Friday night during a tornado event in Monette, Arkansas-photo courtesy KARK-TV" />
 <figcaption>8Two people were killed and at least five hurt after a nursing home was destroyed Friday night during a tornado event in Monette, Arkansas-photo courtesy KARK-TV</figcaption>
 </figure>In Arkansas, a tornado struck a nursing home in Monette, killing one and trapping 20 people inside as the building collapsed, Craighead County Judge Marvin Day told The Associated Press.Another person died when the storm hit a Dollar General store in nearby Leachville, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.“Probably the most remarkable thing is that there’s not a greater loss of life,” Hutchinson said after touring the wreckage of the nursing home. “It is catastrophic. It’s a total destruction.”Four storm-related deaths were confirmed in northwestern Tennessee, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said.“This is about the saddest thing I've ever seen,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said after touring the community of Dresden, which saw its downtown corridor ripped apart. “The whole town, the whole town.”

Crews search for the missing after devastating tornadoes

RUSSELL —As a testament to the wide swath of lives he touched
throughout his life, area residents and national leaders filled the St. Mary
Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Russell Saturday morning to remember Sen.
Bob Dole.

Attending the service was a true cross-section of Americans,
including a mix of area and national politicians, alongside locals who knew — Dole the politician and&nbsp; the man.

As the steady stream of people moved into the church, many
paused by the casket placed directly in front of the entryway. Some said
goodbye to a friend for the last time. Some took in the spectacle and history
of it all. But all paid last respects to the man who never forgot where he
came from.

Dole's admiration for his hometown and western Kansas was on
full display as Dole was eulogized.

"As we gather here, today, we come together to salute
our state's most favorite of favorite sons in the greatest of the greatest
generation," said Gov. Laura Kelly, "and we pause to reflect with
immense gratitude on all that Bob Dole's life meant to Kansas and to Kansans,
to our nation and to the world."

Sen. Jerry Moran, along with recounting his admiration for
Dole, shared how growing up in Russell shaped his life and career.

"Though a national leader, he would always be the son
of the Kansas plains," he said. "This is what Bob Dole said, 'The
first thing you learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man compared to
the lay of the land and under the immense sky where I was born and raised a man
is very small. And if he thinks otherwise, he's wrong.'"

Former senator Pat Roberts said life on the prairie was
always an influence on Dole.

"You can get an education on the farm or in a factory,
in a science lab, in a church pew, most of all, if you're from Russell — and I
would add Kansas, America – you can get an education just by looking at life
around you," Roberts said.

And Sen. Roger Marshall said Dole shared with him, early
in his political career while facing a difficult vote, that the answer could
always be found by going home. 

"Senator Dole looked at me and said, 'Roger, just go
back to Kansas, the people of Kansas will tell you the answer to all your tough
votes,' " Marshall said.

Dole frequently cited his hometown sensibilities as a path
toward effective leadership and valued compromise, a trait often missing in
today's political landscape. 

While speaking of Dole's legacy and service, Moran noted that
desire to work together for the better good championed by Dole is often missing
today.

"There's something about small towns where we still get
along and get along well enough to solve our problems," he said. "Less
so but unfortunately, in the nation's capital. We respect our neighbors, we see
them in the grocery store, we see the football game on Friday night, and if we fought
among ourselves all the time like sometimes national politics exists today, our
towns will be a thing of the past."

Moran said Dole set the highest example of servant
leadership by keeping local connections and understanding the people the way
Dole did.

"I
hope those days are not past, in which the connection between elected
officials and the people they represent are about what we have done to make
their lives better," Moran said.

Kelly said she hopes Dole's example can be a guide to
leaders now and in the future.

"In his last letter to the American people published
this week, Dole wrote, 'Americans never achieved greatness when Republicans and
Democrats simply managed to work together or tolerate each other,' " she
said. " 'We have overcome our biggest challenges only we focused on our
shared values, and experiences, these common ties form much stronger bonds than
political parties.' "

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639259088786.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>By JAMES BELL Hays PostRUSSELL —As a testament to the wide swath of lives he touched
throughout his life, area residents and national leaders filled the St. Mary
Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Russell Saturday morning to remember Sen.
Bob Dole.Attending the service was a true cross-section of Americans,
including a mix of area and national politicians, alongside locals who knew — Dole the politician and&nbsp; the man.As the steady stream of people moved into the church, many
paused by the casket placed directly in front of the entryway. Some said
goodbye to a friend for the last time. Some took in the spectacle and history
of it all. But all paid last respects to the man who never forgot where he
came from.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639259101278.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Dole's admiration for his hometown and western Kansas was on
full display as Dole was eulogized."As we gather here, today, we come together to salute
our state's most favorite of favorite sons in the greatest of the greatest
generation," said Gov. Laura Kelly, "and we pause to reflect with
immense gratitude on all that Bob Dole's life meant to Kansas and to Kansans,
to our nation and to the world."Sen. Jerry Moran, along with recounting his admiration for
Dole, shared how growing up in Russell shaped his life and career.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639258943841.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>"Though a national leader, he would always be the son
of the Kansas plains," he said. "This is what Bob Dole said, 'The
first thing you learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man compared to
the lay of the land and under the immense sky where I was born and raised a man
is very small. And if he thinks otherwise, he's wrong.'"Former senator Pat Roberts said life on the prairie was
always an influence on Dole."You can get an education on the farm or in a factory,
in a science lab, in a church pew, most of all, if you're from Russell — and I
would add Kansas, America – you can get an education just by looking at life
around you," Roberts said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639258999469.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>And Sen. Roger Marshall said Dole shared with him, early
in his political career while facing a difficult vote, that the answer could
always be found by going home. "Senator Dole looked at me and said, 'Roger, just go
back to Kansas, the people of Kansas will tell you the answer to all your tough
votes,' " Marshall said.Dole frequently cited his hometown sensibilities as a path
toward effective leadership and valued compromise, a trait often missing in
today's political landscape. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639259156725.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>While speaking of Dole's legacy and service, Moran noted that
desire to work together for the better good championed by Dole is often missing
today."There's something about small towns where we still get
along and get along well enough to solve our problems," he said. "Less
so but unfortunately, in the nation's capital. We respect our neighbors, we see
them in the grocery store, we see the football game on Friday night, and if we fought
among ourselves all the time like sometimes national politics exists today, our
towns will be a thing of the past."Moran said Dole set the highest example of servant
leadership by keeping local connections and understanding the people the way
Dole did.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639259052752.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>"I
hope those days are not past, in which the connection between elected
officials and the people they represent are about what we have done to make
their lives better," Moran said.Kelly said she hopes Dole's example can be a guide to
leaders now and in the future."In his last letter to the American people published
this week, Dole wrote, 'Americans never achieved greatness when Republicans and
Democrats simply managed to work together or tolerate each other,' " she
said. " 'We have overcome our biggest challenges only we focused on our
shared values, and experiences, these common ties form much stronger bonds than
political parties.' "<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639258853523.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Kansas honors Bob Dole one final time

By SUZANNE PEREZ <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2021-12-08/thousands-of-kansas-families-stick-with-homeschooling-after-getting-a-taste-during-the-pandemic">Kansas News Service</a>

WICHITA&nbsp;— Worried about safety, resistant to 
mask orders and troubled by a lack of confidence in public schools, 
thousands more Kansas parents are opting to teach their kids at home.

The shift comes in the wake of the pandemic that convinced those families they could handle the job.

“We
 just had call after call after call,” said Bert Moore, who oversees 
home-school registrations for the Kansas Department of Education. “And 
they continue to call us. This isn’t something that occurs in just 
August. . . . It will be May before we have the final number.”

During a normal school year, about 1,400 Kansas families <a href="https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/Special-Education-and-Title-Services/Title-Services/Non-Accredited-Private-Schools" target="_blank">newly register to home school</a>.
 Last year that number more than tripled — to 5,527 — and the trend 
doesn’t seem to be slowing. So far this year, more than 2,250 new 
families have registered.

Experts say the switch to remote 
learning during the pandemic persuaded record numbers of families to 
consider home-schooling long-term. Some want more flexible schedules or 
greater control over their children’s lessons. Others are disillusioned 
with the traditional model of education or worried about <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2021-11-23/test-scores-show-kansas-students-fell-further-behind-during-pandemic" target="_blank">plummeting test scores</a>.

“This
 increase in homeschooling is something that was ratcheting up for many 
years prior to the pandemic, but the pandemic has certainly jump-started
 it and caused it to spike,” said Lance Izumi, author of “The Homeschool
 Boom.”

During the early stages of lockdowns, parents got 
front-row seats to their children’s schooling. That, Izumi said, 
“demystified the learning process for them.”

“You’re seeing people
 discovering home-schooling as something that is doable, which they 
thought was not prior to the pandemic,” he said.

Moore, the state 
education official, said it’s hard to know whether COVID-19 is causing a
 temporary increase in home-schooling or a larger shift that will 
continue after the virus is controlled.

The number of students 
enrolled in Kansas public and private schools in dropped by more than 
15,000 in 2021 compared to 2019, according to state data. Some of those 
students may have moved out of the state, but many likely enrolled in 
virtual or homeschooling.

“It’s not going to be a momentary blip,”
 said Izumi, the author. “That’s the incentive for regular public 
schools to address those gaps in order to entice these parents to come 
back.”

Enrollment in Wichita, the state’s largest district, fell 
by 5.6% during the 2020-21 school year — much of that in pre-school and 
kindergarten. Officials hired two full-time staff members to visit 
preschools and daycare centers in an <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/education/2021-04-26/wichita-schools-looking-to-recruit-back-students-after-enrollment-dips" target="_blank">attempt to recruit them back</a>.

Across the country this fall, a record 8 million students are being home-schooled, including a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-families-are-choosing-home-school-children-fall-rcna1869" target="_blank">growing number of Black children</a>. A <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/homeschooling-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-pandemic.html" target="_blank">survey by the U.S. Census Bureau</a> showed that more than 16% of Black families were homeschooling in the fall of 2020 – up from about 3% the previous spring.

Some education advocates raise concerns about the quality of home schools, since there is little state oversight.

“There
 are good quality programs out there for home-schooling,” Moore said. 
“But I am concerned about students’ exposure to collaboration, to 
cooperative learning, to working in teams and having that experience of 
participating in the things that students in our schools get to 
experience.”

Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1638994123574.png" alt="Across the country this fall, a record 8 million students are being home-schooled. Stephan Bisaha / KMUW" />
 <figcaption>Across the country this fall, a record 8 million students are being home-schooled. Stephan Bisaha / KMUW</figcaption>
 </figure>By SUZANNE PEREZ <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2021-12-08/thousands-of-kansas-families-stick-with-homeschooling-after-getting-a-taste-during-the-pandemic">Kansas News Service</a>WICHITA&nbsp;— Worried about safety, resistant to 
mask orders and troubled by a lack of confidence in public schools, 
thousands more Kansas parents are opting to teach their kids at home.The shift comes in the wake of the pandemic that convinced those families they could handle the job.“We
 just had call after call after call,” said Bert Moore, who oversees 
home-school registrations for the Kansas Department of Education. “And 
they continue to call us. This isn’t something that occurs in just 
August. . . . It will be May before we have the final number.”During a normal school year, about 1,400 Kansas families <a href="https://www.ksde.org/Agency/Division-of-Learning-Services/Special-Education-and-Title-Services/Title-Services/Non-Accredited-Private-Schools" target="_blank">newly register to home school</a>.
 Last year that number more than tripled — to 5,527 — and the trend 
doesn’t seem to be slowing. So far this year, more than 2,250 new 
families have registered.Experts say the switch to remote 
learning during the pandemic persuaded record numbers of families to 
consider home-schooling long-term. Some want more flexible schedules or 
greater control over their children’s lessons. Others are disillusioned 
with the traditional model of education or worried about <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/2021-11-23/test-scores-show-kansas-students-fell-further-behind-during-pandemic" target="_blank">plummeting test scores</a>.“This
 increase in homeschooling is something that was ratcheting up for many 
years prior to the pandemic, but the pandemic has certainly jump-started
 it and caused it to spike,” said Lance Izumi, author of “The Homeschool
 Boom.”During the early stages of lockdowns, parents got 
front-row seats to their children’s schooling. That, Izumi said, 
“demystified the learning process for them.”“You’re seeing people
 discovering home-schooling as something that is doable, which they 
thought was not prior to the pandemic,” he said.Moore, the state 
education official, said it’s hard to know whether COVID-19 is causing a
 temporary increase in home-schooling or a larger shift that will 
continue after the virus is controlled.The number of students 
enrolled in Kansas public and private schools in dropped by more than 
15,000 in 2021 compared to 2019, according to state data. Some of those 
students may have moved out of the state, but many likely enrolled in 
virtual or homeschooling.“It’s not going to be a momentary blip,”
 said Izumi, the author. “That’s the incentive for regular public 
schools to address those gaps in order to entice these parents to come 
back.”Enrollment in Wichita, the state’s largest district, fell 
by 5.6% during the 2020-21 school year — much of that in pre-school and 
kindergarten. Officials hired two full-time staff members to visit 
preschools and daycare centers in an <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/education/2021-04-26/wichita-schools-looking-to-recruit-back-students-after-enrollment-dips" target="_blank">attempt to recruit them back</a>.Across the country this fall, a record 8 million students are being home-schooled, including a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-families-are-choosing-home-school-children-fall-rcna1869" target="_blank">growing number of Black children</a>. A <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/03/homeschooling-on-the-rise-during-covid-19-pandemic.html" target="_blank">survey by the U.S. Census Bureau</a> showed that more than 16% of Black families were homeschooling in the fall of 2020 – up from about 3% the previous spring.Some education advocates raise concerns about the quality of home schools, since there is little state oversight.“There
 are good quality programs out there for home-schooling,” Moore said. 
“But I am concerned about students’ exposure to collaboration, to 
cooperative learning, to working in teams and having that experience of 
participating in the things that students in our schools get to 
experience.”Suzanne Perez reports on education for KMUW in Wichita and the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter @SuzPerezICT.

More families sticking with homeschooling after pandemic


HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Dr. Rex Degner, Chief Medical Officer at Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System believes getting a COVID-19 booster is a good idea for those who have already been vaccinated.

"I do believe that boosters are a very reasonable thing," Degner said. "I received my booster in October, as have the rest of my family. I think that they are very safe. I think that they do help the overall situation, both personally and as a community."

Degner strongly encourages boosters if it has been more than six months since your second COVID-19 shot, if you had a two-shot series, or more than two months if you received the one shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine.

"Omicron, the jury is still out on that," Degner said. "It appears initially, right now, that it may be a little bit more infectious, more people may get it than the other variants but it appears to be less virulent and they may not be getting as sick. That's the good news."

Viruses attempt to become more diverse in an effort to stay alive, and Degner expects that with COVID-19, as well. 

"I believe that we're switching from a pandemic, which was the initial big push of all of the COVID, to COVID now being what we call endemic," Degner said. "It's in the community. It's in the world. It's in the state and it probably is never going to completely go away, so the idea will be to mitigate it as much as possible, so as people get vaccinated, as people get natural immunity, it will help knock down the spread, so it won't be as severe."

Degner expects there may be booster recommendations in future years, just like people are encouraged to get their flu shot.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/11/1604662016880.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>
By
NICK GOSNELL
Hutch
Post
HUTCHINSON,
Kan. — Dr. Rex Degner, Chief Medical Officer at Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System believes getting a COVID-19 booster is a good idea for those who have already been vaccinated."I do believe that boosters are a very reasonable thing," Degner said. "I received my booster in October, as have the rest of my family. I think that they are very safe. I think that they do help the overall situation, both personally and as a community."Degner strongly encourages boosters if it has been more than six months since your second COVID-19 shot, if you had a two-shot series, or more than two months if you received the one shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine."Omicron, the jury is still out on that," Degner said. "It appears initially, right now, that it may be a little bit more infectious, more people may get it than the other variants but it appears to be less virulent and they may not be getting as sick. That's the good news."Viruses attempt to become more diverse in an effort to stay alive, and Degner expects that with COVID-19, as well. "I believe that we're switching from a pandemic, which was the initial big push of all of the COVID, to COVID now being what we call endemic," Degner said. "It's in the community. It's in the world. It's in the state and it probably is never going to completely go away, so the idea will be to mitigate it as much as possible, so as people get vaccinated, as people get natural immunity, it will help knock down the spread, so it won't be as severe."Degner expects there may be booster recommendations in future years, just like people are encouraged to get their flu shot.

Hutchinson doctor recommends COVID-19 boosters 

SALINE COUNTY —A series of earthquakes rattled central Kansas Saturday including a 3.8 magnitude quake just after 8p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.&nbsp; The larger temblor was centered approximately three miles southwest of Gypsum in Saline County.

The seven other quakes all measured under a magnitude 3, according to the Kansas Geological Survey. There are no reports of damage or injury.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639275800811.png" alt="USGS image of Saturday night's 3.8 magnitude quake in Saline County" />
 <figcaption>USGS image of Saturday night's 3.8 magnitude quake in Saline County</figcaption>
 </figure>SALINE COUNTY —A series of earthquakes rattled central Kansas Saturday including a 3.8 magnitude quake just after 8p.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.&nbsp; The larger temblor was centered approximately three miles southwest of Gypsum in Saline County.The seven other quakes all measured under a magnitude 3, according to the Kansas Geological Survey. There are no reports of damage or injury.

Series of earthquakes shake central Kansas

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) —On Saturday evening, Senator Bob Dole departed his beloved home state of Kansas, returning to Washington, D.C. where he will be laid to rest at a date yet to be determined.

Dole was honored during memorial services Saturday in his western Kansas hometown as “the greatest of the Greatest Generation.”

Elected officials and former elected officials from both parties came to his western Kansas boyhood home of Russell to praise the military service during World War II that left him severely wounded and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-memorable-moments-from-political-career-96b3a48d461dc69a6b02456f01231adb">the distinguished political career&nbsp;</a>that followed his recovery. The day’s events began with a public viewing of his casket and a memorial service at a Roman Catholic church in Russell, the small town some 240 miles west of Kansas City where he grew up during the Great Depression.

Another memorial was to follow Saturday afternoon in the state capital of Topeka, where Dole briefly served in the Kansas House in the 1950s. 

The dignitaries at both events included Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly; Kansas’ two Republican U.S. senators, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, and former GOP U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Nancy Kassebaum Baker

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-sports-mens-college-basketball-college-basketball-kansas-9b5a99a4d2689bf51a534b581f897d21">Dole died Sunday</a>&nbsp;at the age of 98 after serving nearly 36 years in Congress and running as the GOP nominee for president in 1996.

Kelly said in remarks in Dole’s hometown that Russell was “where his roots run deepest.” Dignitaries in dark, formal business attire mixed in the congregation with local residents dressed in less formal farm and work clothes, a KWCH-TV livestream showed.

“As we gather here today to come together to salute our state’s most favorite of favorite sons and the greatest of the Greatest Generation, we pause to reflect with immense gratitude on all that Bob Dole’s life meant to Kansas and to Kansans, to our nation and to the world,” Kelly said.

Later, she added, “It’s hard to imagine a Kansas without Bob Dole, and I’m not sure I want to.”

Dole also was honored Friday during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-joe-biden-kansas-tom-hanks-congress-06d847592d62967f640ea84f91769f6b">a service at Washington National Cathedral</a>&nbsp;as a senator who could practice bare-knuckle partisan politics without losing civility and as a patriot whose grit overcame serious wounds from combat in World War II in Italy in 1945. He was known for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-colin-powell-election-2020-richard-nixon-c6d53a7e4925982a62bfc508acf970a6">caustic wit that he sometimes turned on himself.</a>

The cathedral service included remarks by President Joe Biden. Another tribute followed at the World War II Memorial in Washington — a monument to Dole’s generation that he worked to get built. Among the speakers was actor Tom Hanks.

Dole will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but his casket was flown Friday evening to Salina, Kansas, then transported 70 miles (113 kilometers) west to his boyhood hometown, which now has about 4,400 residents.

Oil production allowed Russell to boom when Dole was growing up, even during the Great Depression, with the first local well drilled in 1923, the year he was born. In accepting his 1996 presidential nomination, Dole recalled a town surrounded by wheat and oil wells where “no one grows up without an intimate knowledge of distance.”

“And the first thing you learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man compared to the lay of the land,” he said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639270199011.png" alt=" Bob Dole's casket carefully placed on the airplane Saturday evening-photo courtesy Elizabeth Dole Foundation" />
 <figcaption> Bob Dole's casket carefully placed on the airplane Saturday evening-photo courtesy Elizabeth Dole Foundation</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN HANNATOPEKA, Kan. (AP) —On Saturday evening, Senator Bob Dole departed his beloved home state of Kansas, returning to Washington, D.C. where he will be laid to rest at a date yet to be determined.Dole was honored during memorial services Saturday in his western Kansas hometown as “the greatest of the Greatest Generation.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639272582388.png" alt="Gov. Laura Kelly said, “It’s hard to imagine a Kansas without Bob Dole, and I’m not sure I want to.”-photo courtesy Elizabeth Dole Foundation" />
 <figcaption>Gov. Laura Kelly said, “It’s hard to imagine a Kansas without Bob Dole, and I’m not sure I want to.”-photo courtesy Elizabeth Dole Foundation</figcaption>
 </figure>Elected officials and former elected officials from both parties came to his western Kansas boyhood home of Russell to praise the military service during World War II that left him severely wounded and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-memorable-moments-from-political-career-96b3a48d461dc69a6b02456f01231adb">the distinguished political career&nbsp;</a>that followed his recovery. The day’s events began with a public viewing of his casket and a memorial service at a Roman Catholic church in Russell, the small town some 240 miles west of Kansas City where he grew up during the Great Depression.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Thank you to the great people of Russell, KS for coming out in full force to bid farewell to their Senator Bob Dole one last time. He will live on forever through the kindness and love of each member of this community. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RememberingBobDole?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RememberingBobDole</a> <a href="https://t.co/m4DVDI7qvE">pic.twitter.com/m4DVDI7qvE</a>&mdash; Elizabeth Dole Foundation (@DoleFoundation) <a href="https://twitter.com/DoleFoundation/status/1469756766598610957?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Another memorial was to follow Saturday afternoon in the state capital of Topeka, where Dole briefly served in the Kansas House in the 1950s. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639272850604.png" alt="Ceremony honoring the life of Robert J. Dole at the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka-photo Elizabeth Dole Foundation" />
 <figcaption>Ceremony honoring the life of Robert J. Dole at the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka-photo Elizabeth Dole Foundation</figcaption>
 </figure>The dignitaries at both events included Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly; Kansas’ two Republican U.S. senators, Roger Marshall and Jerry Moran, and former GOP U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Nancy Kassebaum Baker<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-sports-mens-college-basketball-college-basketball-kansas-9b5a99a4d2689bf51a534b581f897d21">Dole died Sunday</a>&nbsp;at the age of 98 after serving nearly 36 years in Congress and running as the GOP nominee for president in 1996.Kelly said in remarks in Dole’s hometown that Russell was “where his roots run deepest.” Dignitaries in dark, formal business attire mixed in the congregation with local residents dressed in less formal farm and work clothes, a KWCH-TV livestream showed.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/12/1639247148872.png" alt="Casket arrives at St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Russell on Saturday -photo courtesy KWCH&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Casket arrives at St. Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Russell on Saturday -photo courtesy KWCH&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>“As we gather here today to come together to salute our state’s most favorite of favorite sons and the greatest of the Greatest Generation, we pause to reflect with immense gratitude on all that Bob Dole’s life meant to Kansas and to Kansans, to our nation and to the world,” Kelly said.Later, she added, “It’s hard to imagine a Kansas without Bob Dole, and I’m not sure I want to.”Dole also was honored Friday during&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-joe-biden-kansas-tom-hanks-congress-06d847592d62967f640ea84f91769f6b">a service at Washington National Cathedral</a>&nbsp;as a senator who could practice bare-knuckle partisan politics without losing civility and as a patriot whose grit overcame serious wounds from combat in World War II in Italy in 1945. He was known for a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bob-dole-colin-powell-election-2020-richard-nixon-c6d53a7e4925982a62bfc508acf970a6">caustic wit that he sometimes turned on himself.</a>The cathedral service included remarks by President Joe Biden. Another tribute followed at the World War II Memorial in Washington — a monument to Dole’s generation that he worked to get built. Among the speakers was actor Tom Hanks.Dole will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, but his casket was flown Friday evening to Salina, Kansas, then transported 70 miles (113 kilometers) west to his boyhood hometown, which now has about 4,400 residents.Oil production allowed Russell to boom when Dole was growing up, even during the Great Depression, with the first local well drilled in 1923, the year he was born. In accepting his 1996 presidential nomination, Dole recalled a town surrounded by wheat and oil wells where “no one grows up without an intimate knowledge of distance.”“And the first thing you learn on the prairie is the relative size of a man compared to the lay of the land,” he said.___

Bob Dole departs his beloved state of Kansas after honored at home

By MATT O'BRIEN and FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press

Robotic vacuum cleaners wouldn’t start. Doorbell cameras stopped watching for package thieves, though some of those deliveries were canceled anyway. Netflix and Disney movies got interrupted and The Associated Press had trouble publishing the news.

By MATT O'BRIEN and FRANK BAJAK, Associated PressRobotic vacuum cleaners wouldn’t start. Doorbell cameras stopped watching for package thieves, though some of those deliveries were canceled anyway. Netflix and Disney movies got interrupted and The Associated Press had trouble publishing the news.A major outage in Amazon’s cloud computing network Tuesday severely disrupted services at a wide range of U.S. companies for hours, raising questions about the vulnerability of the internet and its concentration in the hands of a few firms.HOW DID IT HAPPEN?Amazon has still said nothing about what, exactly, went wrong. The company limited its communications Tuesday to terse technical explanations on an Amazon Web Services dashboard and a brief statement delivered via spokesperson Richard Rocha that acknowledged the outage had affected Amazon’s own warehouse and delivery operations but said the company was “working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.” It didn’t immediately respond to further questions Wednesday.The incident at Amazon Web Services mostly affected the eastern U.S., but still impacted everything from airline reservations and auto dealerships to payment apps and video streaming services to Amazon’s own massive e-commerce operation.Amazon Web Services is a cloud-service operation — it stores its customers’ data, runs their online activities and more — and a huge profit center for Amazon. It holds roughly 40% of the $64 billion global cloud infrastructure market, a larger share than its closest rivals Microsoft, Alibaba and Google, combined, according to research firm Gartner.It was formerly run by Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who succeeded founder Jeff Bezos in July.TOO MANY EGGS IN ONE BASKET?Some cybersecurity experts have warned for years about the potentially ugly consequences of allowing a handful of big tech companies to dominate key internet operations.“The latest AWS outage is a prime example of the danger of centralized network infrastructure,” said Sean O’Brien, a visiting lecturer in cybersecurity at Yale Law School. “Though most people browsing the internet or using an app don’t know it, Amazon is baked into most of the apps and websites they use each day.” O’Brien said it’s important to build a new network model that resembles the peer-to-peer roots of the early internet. Big outages have already knocked huge swaths of the world offline, as happened&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/facebook-outage-global-reaction-281fded63f1478193d7e5e3e799833fc">during an October Facebook incident</a>.Even under the current model, companies do have some options to split their services between different cloud providers, although it can be complicated, or to at least make sure they can move their services to a different region run by the same provider. Tuesday’s outage mostly affected Amazon’s “US East 1” region.“Which means if you had critical systems only available in that region, you were in trouble,” said Servaas Verbiest, lead cloud evangelist at Sungard Availability Services. “If you heavily embraced the AWS ecosystem and are locked into using solely their services and functions, you must ensure you balance your workloads between regions.”HASN’T THIS HAPPENED BEFORE?Yes. The last major AWS outage was in November 2020. There have been been numerous other disruptive and lengthy internet outages involving other providers. In June, the behind-the-scenes content distributor Fastly suffered a failure that briefly took down dozens of major internet sites including CNN, The New York Times and Britain’s government home page. Another that month&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-b372a6796f95a3f51fbbb2bc8f6b40bf">affected provider Akamai</a>&nbsp;during peak business hours in Asia in June.In the October outage, Facebook — now known as Meta Platforms — blamed a “faulty configuration change” for an hours-long worldwide outage that took down Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to its titular platform.WHAT ABOUT THE GOVERNMENT?It was unclear how, or whether, Tuesday’s outage affected governments, but many of them also rely on Amazon and its rivals.Among the most influential organizations to rethink its approach of depending on a single cloud provider was the Pentagon, which in July canceled a disputed cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion. It will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon and possibly other cloud service providers such as Google, Oracle and IBM.The National Security Agency earlier this year awarded Amazon a contract with a potential estimated value of $10 billion to be the sole manager of the NSA’s own migration to cloud computing. The contract is known by its agency code name “Wild and Stormy.” The General Accountability Office in October sustained a bid protest by Microsoft, finding that certain parts of the NSA’s decision were “unreasonable,” although the full decision is classified.——