GREELEY COUNTY—Authorities investigating a fatal Kansas crash that occurred just after 5p.m. Wednesday in Greeley County, Kansas have identified the victims.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Chevy Silverado driven by&nbsp;:&nbsp; Robert Michael Vogt, 61, Tribune, Kansas, was northbound on County Road 14 just north of Road F

The Silverado and a southbound 2015 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Joshua Delene Sailor, 48, Bismark, North Dakota, collided head-on.&nbsp;

Vogt, Sailor and passengers in the Mercury identified as Joshua Jamie James Sailor, Jr., 20, Ramsey, North Dakota, and&nbsp; Jessie Renee Mason, 38, St. Michael, North Dakota, all died in the crash.&nbsp; None of of those involved were wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

GREELEY COUNTY—Authorities investigating a fatal Kansas crash that occurred just after 5p.m. Wednesday in Greeley County, Kansas have identified the victims.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Chevy Silverado driven by&nbsp;:&nbsp; Robert Michael Vogt, 61, Tribune, Kansas, was northbound on County Road 14 just north of Road FThe Silverado and a southbound 2015 Mercury Mountaineer driven by Joshua Delene Sailor, 48, Bismark, North Dakota, collided head-on.&nbsp;Vogt, Sailor and passengers in the Mercury identified as Joshua Jamie James Sailor, Jr., 20, Ramsey, North Dakota, and&nbsp; Jessie Renee Mason, 38, St. Michael, North Dakota, all died in the crash.&nbsp; None of of those involved were wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

KHP IDs 4 who died in Kansas head-on crash

The Federal Trade Commission is returning more than $1.1 million to consumers who paid for an allegedly bogus money-making opportunity that called itself “8 Figure Dream Lifestyle.”<a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase"></a>

The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/06/ftc-law-enforcement-partners-announce-new-crackdown-illegal">FTC sued 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle LLC</a>
 and nine co-defendants in 2019 as part of a crackdown on robocallers 
across the country. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that the 
defendants used a combination of illegal robocalls, live telephone 
calls, text messaging, internet ads, emails, social media, and live 
events to market and sell consumers fraudulent money-making 
opportunities.

According to the FTC’s lawsuit, the defendants consistently made 
false or unsubstantiated claims in their marketing about how much 
consumers could earn using their programs. In reality, the lawsuit says,
 consumers who bought the programs rarely earned substantial income, 
typically lost their entire investment, and often incurred significant 
loans and credit card debt—tens of thousands of dollars, in some cases.

Under two stipulated court orders, the defendants <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/12/scammers-leverage-pandemic-fears-ftc-law-enforcement-partners">agreed to settle the FTC charges last year</a>.
 As a result, they are banned from selling money-making or business 
coaching programs, and nine of the defendants are banned from using 
robocalls for most purposes, including marketing or advertising. In 
addition, three defendants are banned from selling any investment 
opportunities. The defendants also surrendered funds to the FTC, which 
the agency is using to provide these refund payments to consumers.

Payments averaging $460 will be sent to 2,506 consumers, including 
1,498 checks and 1,008 PayPal payments. People who receive checks should
 deposit or cash them within 90 days, as indicated on the check. 
Recipients who have questions about their checks or the refund program 
can call JND Legal Administration at 1-888-691-3551. The FTC never 
requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a 
refund check.

The FTC’s <a href="https://public.tableau.com/profile/federal.trade.commission#!/vizhome/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase">interactive dashboards for refund data(link is external)</a>
 provide a state-by-state breakdown of FTC refunds. In 2020, FTC actions
 led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers across the 
country, but the United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this year 
that the FTC lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief
 in federal court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.

The FTC’s <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase">interactive dashboards for refund data(link is external)</a>
 provide a state-by-state breakdown of FTC refunds. In 2020, FTC actions
 led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers across the 
country, but recently the United States Supreme Court ruled the FTC 
lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief in federal 
court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection">protect and educate consumers</a>. You can <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/">learn more about consumer topics</a> and file a <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/complaint">consumer complaint online</a> or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357).&nbsp;For the latest news and resources, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/social-media">follow the FTC on social media</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/stay-connected">subscribe to press releases</a> and read our <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs">blogs</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1619632629588.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>FTCThe Federal Trade Commission is returning more than $1.1 million to consumers who paid for an allegedly bogus money-making opportunity that called itself “8 Figure Dream Lifestyle.”<a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase"></a>The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2019/06/ftc-law-enforcement-partners-announce-new-crackdown-illegal">FTC sued 8 Figure Dream Lifestyle LLC</a>
 and nine co-defendants in 2019 as part of a crackdown on robocallers 
across the country. In its complaint, the FTC alleged that the 
defendants used a combination of illegal robocalls, live telephone 
calls, text messaging, internet ads, emails, social media, and live 
events to market and sell consumers fraudulent money-making 
opportunities.According to the FTC’s lawsuit, the defendants consistently made 
false or unsubstantiated claims in their marketing about how much 
consumers could earn using their programs. In reality, the lawsuit says,
 consumers who bought the programs rarely earned substantial income, 
typically lost their entire investment, and often incurred significant 
loans and credit card debt—tens of thousands of dollars, in some cases.Under two stipulated court orders, the defendants <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2020/12/scammers-leverage-pandemic-fears-ftc-law-enforcement-partners">agreed to settle the FTC charges last year</a>.
 As a result, they are banned from selling money-making or business 
coaching programs, and nine of the defendants are banned from using 
robocalls for most purposes, including marketing or advertising. In 
addition, three defendants are banned from selling any investment 
opportunities. The defendants also surrendered funds to the FTC, which 
the agency is using to provide these refund payments to consumers.Payments averaging $460 will be sent to 2,506 consumers, including 
1,498 checks and 1,008 PayPal payments. People who receive checks should
 deposit or cash them within 90 days, as indicated on the check. 
Recipients who have questions about their checks or the refund program 
can call JND Legal Administration at 1-888-691-3551. The FTC never 
requires people to pay money or provide account information to cash a 
refund check.The FTC’s <a href="https://public.tableau.com/profile/federal.trade.commission#!/vizhome/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase">interactive dashboards for refund data(link is external)</a>
 provide a state-by-state breakdown of FTC refunds. In 2020, FTC actions
 led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers across the 
country, but the United States Supreme Court ruled earlier this year 
that the FTC lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief
 in federal court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.The FTC’s <a href="https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/federal.trade.commission/viz/Refunds_15797958402020/RefundsbyCase">interactive dashboards for refund data(link is external)</a>
 provide a state-by-state breakdown of FTC refunds. In 2020, FTC actions
 led to more than $483 million in refunds to consumers across the 
country, but recently the United States Supreme Court ruled the FTC 
lacks authority under Section 13(b) to seek monetary relief in federal 
court going forward. The <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2021/04/ftc-asks-congress-pass-legislation-reviving-agencys-authority">Commission has urged Congress</a> to restore the FTC’s ability to get money back for consumers.The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and to <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/about-ftc/bureaus-offices/bureau-consumer-protection">protect and educate consumers</a>. You can <a href="https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/">learn more about consumer topics</a> and file a <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/complaint">consumer complaint online</a> or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (382-4357).&nbsp;For the latest news and resources, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/social-media">follow the FTC on social media</a>, <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/stay-connected">subscribe to press releases</a> and read our <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs">blogs</a>.

FTC: $1.1M returned to alleged victims of '8 Figure Dream Lifestyle' 

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Twitter to restore his account, which the company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-media-michael-flynn-social-media-f41b11060d7703e3a3136ddb5eefa055">suspended in January</a>&nbsp;following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Trump’s attorneys on Friday filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Miami seeking a preliminary injunction against Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey. They argue that Twitter is censoring Trump in violation of his First Amendment rights, according to the motion.

Twitter declined to comment Saturday on Trump’s filing.

The company permanently&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension" target="_blank">banned Trump</a>&nbsp;from its platform days after his followers violently stormed the Capitol building to try to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win. Twitter cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence. Prior to the ban, Trump had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter.

Trump was also suspended from&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-oversight-board-recommendations-trump/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and Google’s YouTube over similar concerns that he would provoke violence. Facebook’s ban will last two years, until Jan. 7, 2023, after which the company will review his suspension. YouTube’s ban is indefinite.

In July, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-business-government-and-politics-c7e26858dcb553f92d98706d12ad510c">filed lawsuits</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against all three tech companies and their CEOs, claiming that he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed as part of Trump’s case against Twitter.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/1/1610197339702.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has asked a federal judge in Florida to force Twitter to restore his account, which the company&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-media-michael-flynn-social-media-f41b11060d7703e3a3136ddb5eefa055">suspended in January</a>&nbsp;following the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.Trump’s attorneys on Friday filed a motion in U.S. District Court in Miami seeking a preliminary injunction against Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey. They argue that Twitter is censoring Trump in violation of his First Amendment rights, according to the motion.Twitter declined to comment Saturday on Trump’s filing.The company permanently&nbsp;<a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension" target="_blank">banned Trump</a>&nbsp;from its platform days after his followers violently stormed the Capitol building to try to block Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential win. Twitter cited concerns that Trump would incite further violence. Prior to the ban, Trump had roughly 89 million followers on Twitter.Trump was also suspended from&nbsp;<a href="https://about.fb.com/news/2021/06/facebook-response-to-oversight-board-recommendations-trump/" target="_blank">Facebook</a>&nbsp;and Google’s YouTube over similar concerns that he would provoke violence. Facebook’s ban will last two years, until Jan. 7, 2023, after which the company will review his suspension. YouTube’s ban is indefinite.In July, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/lawsuits-business-government-and-politics-c7e26858dcb553f92d98706d12ad510c">filed lawsuits</a>&nbsp;in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against all three tech companies and their CEOs, claiming that he and other conservatives have been wrongfully censored. The motion for a preliminary injunction was filed as part of Trump’s case against Twitter.

Trump asks US judge to force Twitter to restore his account

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man jailed for a fatal shooting made his first court appearance This week.&nbsp; Teviaun Sebastian, 19, is charged with&nbsp;1st degree murder, attempted 1st degree murder, aggravated battery, and criminal discharge of a firearm, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just before 6:30p.m. Sept. 24, police responded to a shooting in the 900 block of South Mission in Wichita, according to Officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival, officers found a 37-year-old man with gunshot wounds and a 5-year-old boy who was grazed by a bullet on his back shoulder.&nbsp;

EMS transported another 66-year-old victim to a hospital where he died.

EMS transported the 37-year-old to a Wichita hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and the 5-year-old boy was treated on the scene.&nbsp;

An investigation determined 19-year-old Teviaun Sebastian, of Wichita, went to a home on South Mission and asked for the 37-year-old man. 

When the man came to the door, Sebastian reportedly fired multiple rounds at the man and grazed the boy on the front porch as well. Sebastian then ran on foot to the south and shot the victim who was standing outside.&nbsp;

Several shots struck a neighboring house and although witnesses were outside at the time of the shooting, they were not injured.&nbsp;

Officers located Sebastian on foot in the 1000 block of South Woodlawn armed with two handguns. Police say Sebastian put down both guns and was arrested without further incident.&nbsp;

He is scheduled to return to court on October 7. He remains jailed on a bond of $1,000,000, according to the district attorney office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632949043363.png" alt="Teviaun Sebastian-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Teviaun Sebastian-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man jailed for a fatal shooting made his first court appearance This week.&nbsp; Teviaun Sebastian, 19, is charged with&nbsp;1st degree murder, attempted 1st degree murder, aggravated battery, and criminal discharge of a firearm, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just before 6:30p.m. Sept. 24, police responded to a shooting in the 900 block of South Mission in Wichita, according to Officer Charley Davidson.Upon arrival, officers found a 37-year-old man with gunshot wounds and a 5-year-old boy who was grazed by a bullet on his back shoulder.&nbsp;EMS transported another 66-year-old victim to a hospital where he died.EMS transported the 37-year-old to a Wichita hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and the 5-year-old boy was treated on the scene.&nbsp;An investigation determined 19-year-old Teviaun Sebastian, of Wichita, went to a home on South Mission and asked for the 37-year-old man. When the man came to the door, Sebastian reportedly fired multiple rounds at the man and grazed the boy on the front porch as well. Sebastian then ran on foot to the south and shot the victim who was standing outside.&nbsp;Several shots struck a neighboring house and although witnesses were outside at the time of the shooting, they were not injured.&nbsp;Officers located Sebastian on foot in the 1000 block of South Woodlawn armed with two handguns. Police say Sebastian put down both guns and was arrested without further incident.&nbsp;He is scheduled to return to court on October 7. He remains jailed on a bond of $1,000,000, according to the district attorney office.

Teen held on $1 million bond after charged in Kansas killing 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, are asking for the public’s helping in solving the fatal shooting of a woman as she was driving away from church. WDAF-TV reports that police still have no leads in the Sept. 18 death of <a href="https://www.thatcherfuneralhome.com/obituary/Lillian-Jackson">62-year-old Lillian Jackson. </a>

Police say she was the unintended victim of shots fired between people in two vehicles. 

Jackson was driving home from Mt. Zion Baptist Church to her home in Shawnee when a bullet struck her in the temple. Her pastor says she was on the phone with her daughter when she was shot.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633207338009.png" alt="Lillian Jackson-photo courtesy Thatcher Funeral Home" />
 <figcaption>Lillian Jackson-photo courtesy Thatcher Funeral Home</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police in Kansas City, Kansas, are asking for the public’s helping in solving the fatal shooting of a woman as she was driving away from church. WDAF-TV reports that police still have no leads in the Sept. 18 death of <a href="https://www.thatcherfuneralhome.com/obituary/Lillian-Jackson">62-year-old Lillian Jackson. </a>Police say she was the unintended victim of shots fired between people in two vehicles. Jackson was driving home from Mt. Zion Baptist Church to her home in Shawnee when a bullet struck her in the temple. Her pastor says she was on the phone with her daughter when she was shot.

Police: Woman killed in shooting as she drove from Kansas church

DONIPHAN COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident just after 12:30a.m. Saturday in Doniphan County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Cadillac CTS driven by Keith B. Terry, 62, Highland,&nbsp; was eastbound on 240th just south of Castleton Road and approximately one mile south of Highland.

The driver failed to negotiate the curve. The Cadillac traveled off the roadway onto the right shoulder.&nbsp; When the car came back onto the roadway, the driver overcorrected. The vehicle traveled off the roadway,&nbsp; over guardrail, down the embankment and rolled.

Terry was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Chapel Oaks. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

DONIPHAN COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident just after 12:30a.m. Saturday in Doniphan County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2008 Cadillac CTS driven by Keith B. Terry, 62, Highland,&nbsp; was eastbound on 240th just south of Castleton Road and approximately one mile south of Highland.The driver failed to negotiate the curve. The Cadillac traveled off the roadway onto the right shoulder.&nbsp; When the car came back onto the roadway, the driver overcorrected. The vehicle traveled off the roadway,&nbsp; over guardrail, down the embankment and rolled.Terry was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Chapel Oaks. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after violent rollover crash

By STEVE VOCKRODT and DANIEL WHEATON <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-09-28/midwesterners-are-breathing-smoky-air-from-california-wildfires-new-research-shows">Kansas News Service</a>

Blood-red sunsets in the Midwest are striking but ominous 
illustrations of new data: Parts of the Midwest are being exposed to 
more wildfire smoke from the West Coast and Canada compared to more than
 a decade ago. Experts say the impact of the smoke on health in the 
region is a concern.

Meteorological patterns — weather, air 
currents, fronts — sweep wildfire smoke hundreds of miles across the 
country. Nowhere in the Midwest is this increased exposure to wildfire 
smoke more pronounced than in western Nebraska.

Take the case of 
Scottsbluff, a city of about 15,000 in Nebraska’s panhandle. From 2016 
to 2020, residents of Scottsbluff breathed smoke 52 days a year on 
average. That’s a 45% increase from just a few years earlier, 2009 to 
2013, when California wildfires were less common.

On Sept. 17, 
2020, Scottsbluff exceeded the concentration of the Environmental 
Protection Agency’s (EPA) air quality standards for particulate matter —
 tiny pieces of debris from smoke and combustion that’s suspended in the
 air. That was a result of smoke sweeping into western Nebraska from 
wildfires in the western U.S.

Western and central Kansas also saw meaningful increases in smoke days, according to a data <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/smoke-story" target="_blank">analysis conducted by NPR California Newsroom</a> and the Stanford University Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab.

“Although
 we see variability from year to year, the trend appears to be 
increasing impacts of smoke across Kansas over the last several years,” 
said Matt Lara, a spokesman with the Kansas Department of Health and 
Environment in an email.

Lara said the effect from smoke may be mostly in the upper 
atmosphere, causing hazy skies and dramatic sunsets. He added that 
sometimes, such as late July and early August this year, federal air 
standards for daily particulate matter are exceeded.

Health
 and meteorology experts say the growing presence of wildfire smoke in 
parts of Kansas and Nebraska could pose health risks to those who 
breathe it in. That concern is compounded, given the likelihood that 
vast and intense fires from California and surrounding areas will 
persist.

“All the science — and there’s a lot of science on this —
 suggests if we don’t change our game on this, people should expect this
 to get worse,” said Marshall Burke, associate professor in Stanford 
University’s Department of Earth System Science, who helped NPR’s 
California Newsroom assemble its smoke data. “It’s going to be worse in 
the West, but it’s certainly going to get worse in the Midwest as well 
as more people are exposed to smoke from fires in the West.”

The analysis relied on satellite images captured every few hours by 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that showed 
plumes of smoke billowing into the atmosphere from western wildfires. 
Those images were then plotted over nearly every zip code across the 
continental United States to show the areas where the wildfire smoke 
reaches.

In California and more broadly along the West Coast, the 
growing frequency and intensity of wildfire pose clear air quality and 
health risks.

The NPR California Newsroom analysis also examined 
data from state health facilities and found there were 30,000 more 
hospitalizations from cardiac and respiratory conditions in 2018, then a
 record year for wildfires, than just two years before.

Shawn 
Jacobs, the warning coordination meteorologist at the North Platte 
National Weather Service office, said that the climate in central and 
western Nebraska may play a role in how smoke is distributed in the 
region. The state’s climate becomes more arid west of Kearney, Nebraska,
 and the lack of moisture allows for greater temperature swings. More 
fluctuation means more movement, preventing the smoke from settling, 
Jacobs said. These trends are being noticed by western Nebraskans.

“So
 much so that there are times when people have called us and asked, ‘Is 
there a fire nearby?’ because we’re seeing this smoke,” Jacobs said.

Colleen
 Reid, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado
 who studies the health impacts of wildfire smoke, said the health 
effects are clear when there are high concentrations of smoke in the 
air.

That risk arises from tiny particles that are so small they 
get deep into the lungs of those who breathe it in and some can pass 
into the bloodstream.

The particulate matter can lead to asthma, cardiovascular problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“In
 terms of the Midwest where you’re getting the smoke transmitted long 
distances, there needs to be more research to understand whether the 
long-range transport changes the way it affects health,” Reid said.

Iowa and Missouri have not experienced the type of increase in smoke days seen in Kansas and Nebraska.

That’s
 not to say that there hasn’t been wildfire smoke over Iowa and 
Missouri. In Iowa, there are on average 57 smoke days a year from 2016 
to 2020, about even from the 2009 to 2013 time period. In Missouri, the 
average number of smoke days a year actually dropped slightly, from 52 
in the initial period to 51 from 2016 to 2020.

Wide swaths of 
northwest Missouri had modest increases in exposure to smoke, but many 
areas of the state — including St. Louis and most of St. Louis County — 
had decreases in smoke days during the two periods analyzed by the NPR 
California Newsroom and Stanford.

Iowa’s western edge, particularly in border cities like Mondamin and 
Blencoe, saw an increase in smoke days between 7% and 12% from the 
2009-2013 time period and 2016-2020.

But further east, in cities like Ames and most of Des Moines, saw decreases in smoke days.

The presence of wildfire smoke does not often exceed EPA standards 
for air quality in the Midwest, and it has never been enough to result 
in a violation of the Clean Air Act's National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards. Even so, EPA officials keep an eye on wildfire smoke 
migrating from the west to the Midwest.

“It is something that is 
on our radar; it’s a concern,” said Lance Avey, an air and radiation 
division meteorologist for the EPA’s Region 7, which covers Kansas, 
Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.

Doug Norsby, air quality planner with
 the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), said that while the occurrence
 of poor air quality days in the Kansas City region from wildfire smoke 
are infrequent, the presence of particulate matter from smoke is an 
issue that has captured the organization’s attention.

“I would say it’s a flashing warning light on our mental dashboard,” said Norsby.

In
 early August, MARC warned Kansas City residents to limit outdoor 
activity. That’s after wildfire smoke from Canada swept into the region.

The
 EPA is currently evaluating particulate matter from wildfire smoke and 
other sources to determine whether it should change its air quality 
standards. That review happens every five years.

Experts said two main 
causes have triggered the increase in wildfires along the West Coast, 
Canada and the Rockies. One is the tendency to extinguish small fires 
that, if allowed to burn, would clear acres of leaf litter and dead 
wood. Without those smaller fires, dry leaves and wood ignites and leads
 to the more intense and out-of-control fires that have plagued 
California and other western states in recent years.

“The <a href="https://smokeybear.com/" target="_blank">Smokey The Bear</a>
 campaign has been really successful,” said Marshall Burke, associate 
professor in Stanford University’s Department of Earth System Science. 
“What do we do when a fire starts? We put them out.”

In much of the Southeastern United States, where academic research shows prescribed burns are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/2/2/30/htm?dom=prime&amp;src=syn" target="_blank">far more common</a>, NPR California Newsroom’s investigation shows a substantial decline in wildfire smoke over the past decade.

Burke
 said California should carry out prescribed burns — also known as 
controlled burns — on more than 1 million acres of land in California 
each year.

“We’re not doing anything close to that,” Burke said.

Reduced rainfall and rising temperatures from climate change also make for stronger wildfires.

Those blood-red sunsets are a telltale sign of smoke in the air.

Eric James, a University of Colorado scientist working at NOAA's Global Systems Lab, said
 large fires from the west pump smoke into the upper atmosphere that 
enters the jet stream and can travel across the continental United 
States.

“We see this most years, this long-range transport of 
smoke,” James said “It has gotten more intense in the last few years 
from what we’ve seen.”

The Midwest has the occasional wildfire, as
 well as controlled burns in places like the Flint Hills in Kansas. But 
James said most of the wildfire smoke in the Midwest is attributed to 
western blazes.

“I think the majority of the impact is from these 
large forest fires in the Pacific coastal states, Colorado and the 
intermountain west,” James said.

This article is the result of a collaboration with the NPR 
California Newsroom, which conducted an analysis of federal satellite 
imagery, and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human 
Outcomes Lab. Based at St. Louis Public Radio, Steve 
Vockrodt is the Midwest Newsroom’s investigative editor. You can follow 
him on Twitter @stevevockrodt.&nbsp;Based at Nebraska Public 
Media, Daniel Wheaton is the Midwest Newsroom’s data journalist. You can
 follow him on Twitter @theheroofthyme.&nbsp;The Midwest 
Newsroom is an investigative journalism collaboration including KCUR, 
IPR, Nebraska Public Media and St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632930612817.png" alt="Wildfires in California are on the rise. Now a new investigation shows how those blazes are affecting the air in the Midwest. Crysta Henthorne / KCUR 89.3" />
 <figcaption>Wildfires in California are on the rise. Now a new investigation shows how those blazes are affecting the air in the Midwest. Crysta Henthorne / KCUR 89.3</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEVE VOCKRODT and DANIEL WHEATON <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-09-28/midwesterners-are-breathing-smoky-air-from-california-wildfires-new-research-shows">Kansas News Service</a>Blood-red sunsets in the Midwest are striking but ominous 
illustrations of new data: Parts of the Midwest are being exposed to 
more wildfire smoke from the West Coast and Canada compared to more than
 a decade ago. Experts say the impact of the smoke on health in the 
region is a concern.Meteorological patterns — weather, air 
currents, fronts — sweep wildfire smoke hundreds of miles across the 
country. Nowhere in the Midwest is this increased exposure to wildfire 
smoke more pronounced than in western Nebraska.Take the case of 
Scottsbluff, a city of about 15,000 in Nebraska’s panhandle. From 2016 
to 2020, residents of Scottsbluff breathed smoke 52 days a year on 
average. That’s a 45% increase from just a few years earlier, 2009 to 
2013, when California wildfires were less common.On Sept. 17, 
2020, Scottsbluff exceeded the concentration of the Environmental 
Protection Agency’s (EPA) air quality standards for particulate matter —
 tiny pieces of debris from smoke and combustion that’s suspended in the
 air. That was a result of smoke sweeping into western Nebraska from 
wildfires in the western U.S.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632930839522.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Western and central Kansas also saw meaningful increases in smoke days, according to a data <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/smoke-story" target="_blank">analysis conducted by NPR California Newsroom</a> and the Stanford University Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab.“Although
 we see variability from year to year, the trend appears to be 
increasing impacts of smoke across Kansas over the last several years,” 
said Matt Lara, a spokesman with the Kansas Department of Health and 
Environment in an email.Lara said the effect from smoke may be mostly in the upper 
atmosphere, causing hazy skies and dramatic sunsets. He added that 
sometimes, such as late July and early August this year, federal air 
standards for daily particulate matter are exceeded. <h2>‘Expect this to get worse’</h2>Health
 and meteorology experts say the growing presence of wildfire smoke in 
parts of Kansas and Nebraska could pose health risks to those who 
breathe it in. That concern is compounded, given the likelihood that 
vast and intense fires from California and surrounding areas will 
persist.“All the science — and there’s a lot of science on this —
 suggests if we don’t change our game on this, people should expect this
 to get worse,” said Marshall Burke, associate professor in Stanford 
University’s Department of Earth System Science, who helped NPR’s 
California Newsroom assemble its smoke data. “It’s going to be worse in 
the West, but it’s certainly going to get worse in the Midwest as well 
as more people are exposed to smoke from fires in the West.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632930887221.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The analysis relied on satellite images captured every few hours by 
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that showed 
plumes of smoke billowing into the atmosphere from western wildfires. 
Those images were then plotted over nearly every zip code across the 
continental United States to show the areas where the wildfire smoke 
reaches.In California and more broadly along the West Coast, the 
growing frequency and intensity of wildfire pose clear air quality and 
health risks.The NPR California Newsroom analysis also examined 
data from state health facilities and found there were 30,000 more 
hospitalizations from cardiac and respiratory conditions in 2018, then a
 record year for wildfires, than just two years before.Shawn 
Jacobs, the warning coordination meteorologist at the North Platte 
National Weather Service office, said that the climate in central and 
western Nebraska may play a role in how smoke is distributed in the 
region. The state’s climate becomes more arid west of Kearney, Nebraska,
 and the lack of moisture allows for greater temperature swings. More 
fluctuation means more movement, preventing the smoke from settling, 
Jacobs said. These trends are being noticed by western Nebraskans.“So
 much so that there are times when people have called us and asked, ‘Is 
there a fire nearby?’ because we’re seeing this smoke,” Jacobs said.Colleen
 Reid, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado
 who studies the health impacts of wildfire smoke, said the health 
effects are clear when there are high concentrations of smoke in the 
air.That risk arises from tiny particles that are so small they 
get deep into the lungs of those who breathe it in and some can pass 
into the bloodstream.The particulate matter can lead to asthma, cardiovascular problems and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.“In
 terms of the Midwest where you’re getting the smoke transmitted long 
distances, there needs to be more research to understand whether the 
long-range transport changes the way it affects health,” Reid said.<h2>Where skies are clearer</h2>Iowa and Missouri have not experienced the type of increase in smoke days seen in Kansas and Nebraska.That’s
 not to say that there hasn’t been wildfire smoke over Iowa and 
Missouri. In Iowa, there are on average 57 smoke days a year from 2016 
to 2020, about even from the 2009 to 2013 time period. In Missouri, the 
average number of smoke days a year actually dropped slightly, from 52 
in the initial period to 51 from 2016 to 2020.Wide swaths of 
northwest Missouri had modest increases in exposure to smoke, but many 
areas of the state — including St. Louis and most of St. Louis County — 
had decreases in smoke days during the two periods analyzed by the NPR 
California Newsroom and Stanford.Iowa’s western edge, particularly in border cities like Mondamin and 
Blencoe, saw an increase in smoke days between 7% and 12% from the 
2009-2013 time period and 2016-2020.But further east, in cities like Ames and most of Des Moines, saw decreases in smoke days.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632930937321.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The presence of wildfire smoke does not often exceed EPA standards 
for air quality in the Midwest, and it has never been enough to result 
in a violation of the Clean Air Act's National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards. Even so, EPA officials keep an eye on wildfire smoke 
migrating from the west to the Midwest.“It is something that is 
on our radar; it’s a concern,” said Lance Avey, an air and radiation 
division meteorologist for the EPA’s Region 7, which covers Kansas, 
Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.Doug Norsby, air quality planner with
 the Mid-America Regional Council (MARC), said that while the occurrence
 of poor air quality days in the Kansas City region from wildfire smoke 
are infrequent, the presence of particulate matter from smoke is an 
issue that has captured the organization’s attention.“I would say it’s a flashing warning light on our mental dashboard,” said Norsby.In
 early August, MARC warned Kansas City residents to limit outdoor 
activity. That’s after wildfire smoke from Canada swept into the region.The
 EPA is currently evaluating particulate matter from wildfire smoke and 
other sources to determine whether it should change its air quality 
standards. That review happens every five years.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/9/1632930973891.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Why wildfires?</h2>Experts said two main 
causes have triggered the increase in wildfires along the West Coast, 
Canada and the Rockies. One is the tendency to extinguish small fires 
that, if allowed to burn, would clear acres of leaf litter and dead 
wood. Without those smaller fires, dry leaves and wood ignites and leads
 to the more intense and out-of-control fires that have plagued 
California and other western states in recent years.“The <a href="https://smokeybear.com/" target="_blank">Smokey The Bear</a>
 campaign has been really successful,” said Marshall Burke, associate 
professor in Stanford University’s Department of Earth System Science. 
“What do we do when a fire starts? We put them out.”In much of the Southeastern United States, where academic research shows prescribed burns are <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/2/2/30/htm?dom=prime&amp;src=syn" target="_blank">far more common</a>, NPR California Newsroom’s investigation shows a substantial decline in wildfire smoke over the past decade.Burke
 said California should carry out prescribed burns — also known as 
controlled burns — on more than 1 million acres of land in California 
each year.“We’re not doing anything close to that,” Burke said.Reduced rainfall and rising temperatures from climate change also make for stronger wildfires.Those blood-red sunsets are a telltale sign of smoke in the air.Eric James, a University of Colorado scientist working at NOAA's Global Systems Lab, said
 large fires from the west pump smoke into the upper atmosphere that 
enters the jet stream and can travel across the continental United 
States.“We see this most years, this long-range transport of 
smoke,” James said “It has gotten more intense in the last few years 
from what we’ve seen.”The Midwest has the occasional wildfire, as
 well as controlled burns in places like the Flint Hills in Kansas. But 
James said most of the wildfire smoke in the Midwest is attributed to 
western blazes.“I think the majority of the impact is from these 
large forest fires in the Pacific coastal states, Colorado and the 
intermountain west,” James said.This article is the result of a collaboration with the NPR 
California Newsroom, which conducted an analysis of federal satellite 
imagery, and Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human 
Outcomes Lab. Based at St. Louis Public Radio, Steve 
Vockrodt is the Midwest Newsroom’s investigative editor. You can follow 
him on Twitter @stevevockrodt.&nbsp;Based at Nebraska Public 
Media, Daniel Wheaton is the Midwest Newsroom’s data journalist. You can
 follow him on Twitter @theheroofthyme.&nbsp;The Midwest 
Newsroom is an investigative journalism collaboration including KCUR, 
IPR, Nebraska Public Media and St. Louis Public Radio and NPR.

Study: Midwesterners breathing smoky air from Calif. wildfires

It’s a milestone that by all accounts didn’t have to happen this soon.

The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000 late Friday — a number greater than the population of Boston. The last 100,000 deaths occurred during a time when vaccines — which overwhelmingly prevent deaths, hospitalizations and serious illness — were available to any American over the age of 12.

The milestone is deeply frustrating to doctors, public health officials and the American public, who watched a pandemic that had been easing earlier in the summer take a dark turn. Tens of millions of Americans have refused to get vaccinated, allowing the highly contagious delta variant to tear through the country and send the death toll from 600,000 to 700,000 in 3 1/2 months.

Florida suffered by far the most death of any state during that period, with the virus killing about 17,000 residents since the middle of June. Texas was second with 13,000 deaths. The two states account for 15% of the country’s population, but more than 30% of the nation’s deaths&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-600k-deaths-us-1ef14a0b998e6ce99281edf6e996dfbe">since the nation crossed the 600,000 threshold.</a>

Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has analyzed publicly reported state data, said it’s safe to say at least 70,000 of the last 100,000 deaths were in unvaccinated people. And of those vaccinated people who died with breakthrough infections, most caught the virus from an unvaccinated person, he said.

“If we had been more effective in our vaccination, then I think it’s fair to say, we could have prevented 90% of those deaths,” since mid-June, Dowdy said.

“It’s not just a number on a screen,” Dowdy said. “It’s tens of thousands of these tragic stories of people whose families have lost someone who means the world to them.”

The 28-year-old seed hauler from Riley, Kansas, contracted COVID-19 over the summer, spent more than a month in the hospital and died Sept. 14. He left behind a wife and a 7-month-old baby girl.

“This thing has taken a grown man, 28-year-old young man, 6′2″, 300-pound man, and took him down like it was nothing,” said his father, 56-year-old J.D. Baker, of Milford, Kansas. “And so if young people think that they’re still ... protected because of their youth and their strength, it’s not there anymore.”

In the early days of the pandemic, Danny Baker, who was a championship trap shooter in high school and loved hunting and fishing, insisted he would be first in line for a vaccine, recalled his mother.

But just as vaccinations opened up to his age group, the U.S. recommended a pause in use of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. The news frightened him, as did information swirling online that the vaccine could harm fertility, though medical experts say there’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-b081234cad2adcd0a5fb063434effe71">no biological reason the shots would affect fertility</a>.

His wife also was breastfeeding, so they decided to wait. Health experts now say breastfeeding mothers should get the vaccine for their own protection and that it may even provide some protection for their babies through antibodies passed along in breastmilk.

“There’s just a lot of miscommunication about the vaccine,” said his wife, 27-year-old Aubrea Baker, a labor and delivery nurse, adding that her husband’s death inspired a Facebook page and at least 100 people to get vaccinated. “It’s not that we weren’t going to get it. We just hadn’t gotten it yet.”

When deaths surpassed 600,000 in mid-June, vaccinations already were driving down caseloads, restrictions were being lifted and people looked forward to life returning to normal over the summer. Deaths per day in the U.S. had plummeted to an average of around 340, from a high of over 3,000 in mid-January. Soon afterward, health officials declared it a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187">pandemic of the unvaccinated.</a>

But as the delta variant swept the country, caseloads and deaths soared — especially among the unvaccinated and younger people, with hospitals around the country reporting dramatic increases in admissions and deaths among people under 65. They also reported breakthrough infections and deaths, though at far lower rates, prompting efforts to provide booster shots to vulnerable Americans.

Now, daily deaths are averaging about 1,900 a day.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-minnesota-pandemics-a16a5ffc1771fb2e5aedcc3096de7d6e">Cases have started to fall&nbsp;</a>from their highs in September but there is fear that the situation could worsen in the winter months when colder weather drives people inside.

Almost 65% of Americans have had at least one dose of vaccine, while about 56% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But millions are either refusing or still on the fence because of fear, misinformation and political beliefs.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-idaho-misinformation-ccef8a30babfa4a40c68d701a09e59f3">Health care workers report being threatened&nbsp;</a>by patients and community members who don’t believe COVID-19 is real.

The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. were in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 deaths. During the most lethal phase of the disaster, in the winter of 2020-21, it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.

The U.S. reached 500,000 deaths in mid-February, when the country was still in the midst of the winter surge and vaccines were only available to a limited number of people. The death toll stood about 570,000 in April when every adult American became eligible for shots.

“I remember when we broke that 100,000-death mark, people just shook their heads and said ‘Oh, my god,’” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Then we said, ‘Are we going to get to 200,000?’ Then we kept looking at 100,000-death marks,” and finally surpassed the estimated 675,000 American deaths from the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-pandemics-united-states-coronavirus-pandemic-c15d5c6dd7ece88d0832993f11279fbb">1918-19 flu pandemic.</a>

“And we’re not done yet,” Benjamin said.

The deaths during the delta surge have been unrelenting in hotspots in the South. Almost 79 people out of every 100,000 people in Florida have died of COVID since mid-June, the highest rate in the nation.

Amanda Alexander, a COVID-19 ICU nurse at Georgia’s Augusta University Medical Center, said Thursday that she’d had a patient die on each of her previous three shifts.

“I’ve watched a 20-year-old die. I’ve watched 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds,” with no pre-existing conditions that would have put them at greater risk, she said. “Ninety-nine percent of our patients are unvaccinated. And it’s just so frustrating because the facts just don’t lie and we’re seeing it every day.”

It’s a milestone that by all accounts didn’t have to happen this soon.The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 eclipsed 700,000 late Friday — a number greater than the population of Boston. The last 100,000 deaths occurred during a time when vaccines — which overwhelmingly prevent deaths, hospitalizations and serious illness — were available to any American over the age of 12.The milestone is deeply frustrating to doctors, public health officials and the American public, who watched a pandemic that had been easing earlier in the summer take a dark turn. Tens of millions of Americans have refused to get vaccinated, allowing the highly contagious delta variant to tear through the country and send the death toll from 600,000 to 700,000 in 3 1/2 months.Florida suffered by far the most death of any state during that period, with the virus killing about 17,000 residents since the middle of June. Texas was second with 13,000 deaths. The two states account for 15% of the country’s population, but more than 30% of the nation’s deaths&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-600k-deaths-us-1ef14a0b998e6ce99281edf6e996dfbe">since the nation crossed the 600,000 threshold.</a>Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who has analyzed publicly reported state data, said it’s safe to say at least 70,000 of the last 100,000 deaths were in unvaccinated people. And of those vaccinated people who died with breakthrough infections, most caught the virus from an unvaccinated person, he said.“If we had been more effective in our vaccination, then I think it’s fair to say, we could have prevented 90% of those deaths,” since mid-June, Dowdy said.MAP: Cumulative deaths by county“It’s not just a number on a screen,” Dowdy said. “It’s tens of thousands of these tragic stories of people whose families have lost someone who means the world to them.”Danny Baker is one of them.The 28-year-old seed hauler from Riley, Kansas, contracted COVID-19 over the summer, spent more than a month in the hospital and died Sept. 14. He left behind a wife and a 7-month-old baby girl.“This thing has taken a grown man, 28-year-old young man, 6′2″, 300-pound man, and took him down like it was nothing,” said his father, 56-year-old J.D. Baker, of Milford, Kansas. “And so if young people think that they’re still ... protected because of their youth and their strength, it’s not there anymore.”In the early days of the pandemic, Danny Baker, who was a championship trap shooter in high school and loved hunting and fishing, insisted he would be first in line for a vaccine, recalled his mother.But just as vaccinations opened up to his age group, the U.S. recommended a pause in use of the Johnson &amp; Johnson vaccine to investigate reports of rare but potentially dangerous blood clots. The news frightened him, as did information swirling online that the vaccine could harm fertility, though medical experts say there’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-pandemic-b081234cad2adcd0a5fb063434effe71">no biological reason the shots would affect fertility</a>.His wife also was breastfeeding, so they decided to wait. Health experts now say breastfeeding mothers should get the vaccine for their own protection and that it may even provide some protection for their babies through antibodies passed along in breastmilk.“There’s just a lot of miscommunication about the vaccine,” said his wife, 27-year-old Aubrea Baker, a labor and delivery nurse, adding that her husband’s death inspired a Facebook page and at least 100 people to get vaccinated. “It’s not that we weren’t going to get it. We just hadn’t gotten it yet.”When deaths surpassed 600,000 in mid-June, vaccinations already were driving down caseloads, restrictions were being lifted and people looked forward to life returning to normal over the summer. Deaths per day in the U.S. had plummeted to an average of around 340, from a high of over 3,000 in mid-January. Soon afterward, health officials declared it a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187">pandemic of the unvaccinated.</a>But as the delta variant swept the country, caseloads and deaths soared — especially among the unvaccinated and younger people, with hospitals around the country reporting dramatic increases in admissions and deaths among people under 65. They also reported breakthrough infections and deaths, though at far lower rates, prompting efforts to provide booster shots to vulnerable Americans.Now, daily deaths are averaging about 1,900 a day.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-minnesota-pandemics-a16a5ffc1771fb2e5aedcc3096de7d6e">Cases have started to fall&nbsp;</a>from their highs in September but there is fear that the situation could worsen in the winter months when colder weather drives people inside.Almost 65% of Americans have had at least one dose of vaccine, while about 56% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.But millions are either refusing or still on the fence because of fear, misinformation and political beliefs.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-business-health-idaho-misinformation-ccef8a30babfa4a40c68d701a09e59f3">Health care workers report being threatened&nbsp;</a>by patients and community members who don’t believe COVID-19 is real.The first known deaths from the virus in the U.S. were in early February 2020. It took four months to reach the first 100,000 deaths. During the most lethal phase of the disaster, in the winter of 2020-21, it took just over a month to go from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.The U.S. reached 500,000 deaths in mid-February, when the country was still in the midst of the winter surge and vaccines were only available to a limited number of people. The death toll stood about 570,000 in April when every adult American became eligible for shots.“I remember when we broke that 100,000-death mark, people just shook their heads and said ‘Oh, my god,’” said Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “Then we said, ‘Are we going to get to 200,000?’ Then we kept looking at 100,000-death marks,” and finally surpassed the estimated 675,000 American deaths from the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-health-pandemics-united-states-coronavirus-pandemic-c15d5c6dd7ece88d0832993f11279fbb">1918-19 flu pandemic.</a>“And we’re not done yet,” Benjamin said.The deaths during the delta surge have been unrelenting in hotspots in the South. Almost 79 people out of every 100,000 people in Florida have died of COVID since mid-June, the highest rate in the nation.Amanda Alexander, a COVID-19 ICU nurse at Georgia’s Augusta University Medical Center, said Thursday that she’d had a patient die on each of her previous three shifts.“I’ve watched a 20-year-old die. I’ve watched 30-year-olds, 40-year-olds,” with no pre-existing conditions that would have put them at greater risk, she said. “Ninety-nine percent of our patients are unvaccinated. And it’s just so frustrating because the facts just don’t lie and we’re seeing it every day.”___

COVID-19 deaths eclipse 700,000 in US as delta variant rages

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged at the Capitol to “get it done” as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-bills-11f832cdc6f9808bdc0cfdcfe399a0a6">of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan</a>&nbsp;and salvage a related public works bill after days of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-financial-markets-nancy-pelosi-3b591443b048d2fbfb7a9f9b6f646f7a">frantic negotiations</a>.

Biden huddled with House Democrats on their home ground in a private meeting Friday that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He discussed a compromise topline of $1.9 trillion to more than $2 trillion for his bigger vision, according to lawmakers in the room.

But it was clear they are all now in it for the long haul as the White House and its allies in Congress prepared for protracted negotiations.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s six minutes, six days or six weeks — we’re going to get it done,” Biden declared to reporters as he left his late-afternoon meeting at the Capitol.

It’s a pivotal time for both president and party, as Biden’s approval ratings have dropped and Democrats are restless, eager to deliver on his signature campaign promise of rebuilding the country. His ideas go beyond roads-and-bridges infrastructure to delivering dental, vision and hearing care for seniors, free pre-kindergarten for youngsters, major efforts to tackle climate change and other investments that would touch countless American lives.

Biden’s sudden excursion to Capitol Hill was aimed at giving the legislation a needed boost toward the finish line. Holdout Democratic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-manchin">Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia</a>&nbsp;had sunk hopes for a swift compromise on a framework when he refused to budge late Thursday on his demands for a smaller overall package, around $1.5 trillion, despite hours of shuttle diplomacy with White House aides.

Without a broader deal, prospects for a Friday vote on the companion public works bill stalled out, progressives refusing to lend their votes until senators reach agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a late-evening letter to colleagues that “more time is needed” as they shape the broader package.

Instead the House passed a 30-day stopgap measure to keep transportation programs running during the stalemate, essentially setting a new deadline for talks, Oct. 31. The Senate was set to follow with a vote Saturday, to halt the furloughs of more than 3,500 federal transportation workers, a byproduct of the political impasse.

With Republicans solidly opposed to Biden’s sweeping vision, the president and his party are reaching for a giant legislative accomplishment on their own — all to be paid for by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">rewriting federal balance sheets&nbsp;</a>with tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy, those earning more than $400,000 a year.

As action ground to a halt Friday in Congress, Biden appeared to offer no particular new legislative strategy. Keeping her promise to centrists, Pelosi had insisted there would be a “vote today” on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that is popular but is snared in the debate over Biden’s broader measure.

With Democratic progressives refusing to give their support for that slimmer roads-and-bridges bill unless advances are made on the president’s big bill, Pelosi — with an oh-so-slim House majority — was unwilling to call for a vote.

Biden, by insisting that both bills pass, gave a nod to the progressives’ strategy, while floating the lower numbers meant acknowledging the compromise with centrists to come.

“He was really clear that we need to get both bills done,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Attention returned to Manchin and to some extent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, two centrist Democrats who helped steer the $1 trillion public works bill to Senate passage but have concerns that Biden’s overall bill is too big. The two senators have infuriated colleagues with their close-to-the-vest negotiations that could tank Biden’s effort — and their own campaign promises.

After hours of negotiations that stretched near midnight Thursday, Manchin said he could not yet compromise beyond his $1.5 trillion offer.

Biden, a former six-term senator making his first in-person visit to a House Democratic caucus, told the lawmakers Friday that “I know a little bit about the legislative process,” according to a person familiar with the private remarks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Even a smaller bill can make historic investments in such areas as childcare, daycare and clean energy, he said.

Biden also relayed a story that seemed to mark the moment.

The president told them that when his White House office was renovated, it was hung with pictures of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, presidents who led a “deeply divided country and the biggest economic transformation — and that’s just the kind of moment we’re in,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.

The White House said the president plans to travel next week to other cities to make his case that his historic measures would help the American people.

Biden’s bigger proposal is a years-in-the-making collection of Democratic priorities with an ultimate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-budget-08d7ca3ffc7f438148570b04bc61ded0">price tag he says is zero</a>, because the tax revenue would cover the spending costs — higher rates on businesses earning more than $5 million a year, and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, or $450,000 for couples.

Tensions spiked late Wednesday when Manchin sent out a fiery statement, decrying the broad spending as “fiscal insanity.”

It’s not just Manchin’s demands to reduce the overall size, but the conditions he is insisting on that are riling his more liberal colleagues. For example, he wants to ensure the aid goes only to lower-income people, rather than broader swaths of Americans. And he’s resisting some of the bolder efforts to tackle climate change.

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., another progressive leader, shot back: “Trying to kill your party’s agenda is insanity,” she said.

The total legislative effort is testing not just Biden, but Pelosi and some of the leading figures in the Democratic Party whose legacies will be shaped by whether they succeed or fail.

“We’ve been fighting for transformative legislation as all of you know; these discussions have gone on for month after month after month,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chairman of the Budget Committee and a leading progressive lawmaker. “This is not a baseball game. This is the most significant piece of legislation in 70 years.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633173132637.png" alt="President Biden’s sudden excursion to Capitol Hill was aimed at giving the legislation a needed boost toward the finish line-photo courtesy House Speaker" />
 <figcaption>President Biden’s sudden excursion to Capitol Hill was aimed at giving the legislation a needed boost toward the finish line-photo courtesy House Speaker</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has pledged at the Capitol to “get it done” as Democrats strained to rescue a scaled-back version&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-bills-11f832cdc6f9808bdc0cfdcfe399a0a6">of his $3.5 trillion government-overhaul plan</a>&nbsp;and salvage a related public works bill after days of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-business-financial-markets-nancy-pelosi-3b591443b048d2fbfb7a9f9b6f646f7a">frantic negotiations</a>.But it’s not getting done right now.Biden huddled with House Democrats on their home ground in a private meeting Friday that was part instructional, part morale booster for the tattered caucus of lawmakers, telling them he wanted both bills passed regardless of the time it takes. He discussed a compromise topline of $1.9 trillion to more than $2 trillion for his bigger vision, according to lawmakers in the room.But it was clear they are all now in it for the long haul as the White House and its allies in Congress prepared for protracted negotiations.“It doesn’t matter whether it’s six minutes, six days or six weeks — we’re going to get it done,” Biden declared to reporters as he left his late-afternoon meeting at the Capitol.It’s a pivotal time for both president and party, as Biden’s approval ratings have dropped and Democrats are restless, eager to deliver on his signature campaign promise of rebuilding the country. His ideas go beyond roads-and-bridges infrastructure to delivering dental, vision and hearing care for seniors, free pre-kindergarten for youngsters, major efforts to tackle climate change and other investments that would touch countless American lives.Biden’s sudden excursion to Capitol Hill was aimed at giving the legislation a needed boost toward the finish line. Holdout Democratic&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-manchin">Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia</a>&nbsp;had sunk hopes for a swift compromise on a framework when he refused to budge late Thursday on his demands for a smaller overall package, around $1.5 trillion, despite hours of shuttle diplomacy with White House aides.Without a broader deal, prospects for a Friday vote on the companion public works bill stalled out, progressives refusing to lend their votes until senators reach agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a late-evening letter to colleagues that “more time is needed” as they shape the broader package.Instead the House passed a 30-day stopgap measure to keep transportation programs running during the stalemate, essentially setting a new deadline for talks, Oct. 31. The Senate was set to follow with a vote Saturday, to halt the furloughs of more than 3,500 federal transportation workers, a byproduct of the political impasse.With Republicans solidly opposed to Biden’s sweeping vision, the president and his party are reaching for a giant legislative accomplishment on their own — all to be paid for by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-joe-biden-business-personal-taxes-137e00b41f113f85cc241438c780785b">rewriting federal balance sheets&nbsp;</a>with tax hikes on corporations and the wealthy, those earning more than $400,000 a year.As action ground to a halt Friday in Congress, Biden appeared to offer no particular new legislative strategy. Keeping her promise to centrists, Pelosi had insisted there would be a “vote today” on the $1 trillion infrastructure bill that is popular but is snared in the debate over Biden’s broader measure.With Democratic progressives refusing to give their support for that slimmer roads-and-bridges bill unless advances are made on the president’s big bill, Pelosi — with an oh-so-slim House majority — was unwilling to call for a vote.Biden, by insisting that both bills pass, gave a nod to the progressives’ strategy, while floating the lower numbers meant acknowledging the compromise with centrists to come.“He was really clear that we need to get both bills done,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., a leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.Attention returned to Manchin and to some extent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, two centrist Democrats who helped steer the $1 trillion public works bill to Senate passage but have concerns that Biden’s overall bill is too big. The two senators have infuriated colleagues with their close-to-the-vest negotiations that could tank Biden’s effort — and their own campaign promises.After hours of negotiations that stretched near midnight Thursday, Manchin said he could not yet compromise beyond his $1.5 trillion offer.Biden, a former six-term senator making his first in-person visit to a House Democratic caucus, told the lawmakers Friday that “I know a little bit about the legislative process,” according to a person familiar with the private remarks and granted anonymity to discuss them. Even a smaller bill can make historic investments in such areas as childcare, daycare and clean energy, he said.Biden also relayed a story that seemed to mark the moment.The president told them that when his White House office was renovated, it was hung with pictures of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, presidents who led a “deeply divided country and the biggest economic transformation — and that’s just the kind of moment we’re in,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I.The White House said the president plans to travel next week to other cities to make his case that his historic measures would help the American people.Biden’s bigger proposal is a years-in-the-making collection of Democratic priorities with an ultimate&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-congress-budget-08d7ca3ffc7f438148570b04bc61ded0">price tag he says is zero</a>, because the tax revenue would cover the spending costs — higher rates on businesses earning more than $5 million a year, and individuals earning more than $400,000 a year, or $450,000 for couples.Tensions spiked late Wednesday when Manchin sent out a fiery statement, decrying the broad spending as “fiscal insanity.”It’s not just Manchin’s demands to reduce the overall size, but the conditions he is insisting on that are riling his more liberal colleagues. For example, he wants to ensure the aid goes only to lower-income people, rather than broader swaths of Americans. And he’s resisting some of the bolder efforts to tackle climate change.Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., another progressive leader, shot back: “Trying to kill your party’s agenda is insanity,” she said.The total legislative effort is testing not just Biden, but Pelosi and some of the leading figures in the Democratic Party whose legacies will be shaped by whether they succeed or fail.“We’ve been fighting for transformative legislation as all of you know; these discussions have gone on for month after month after month,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the chairman of the Budget Committee and a leading progressive lawmaker. “This is not a baseball game. This is the most significant piece of legislation in 70 years.”___

Democrats continue fight to save President Biden's $3.5T plan

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Two juveniles have been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two teenagers in Kansas City, police said Friday.

The juveniles, who are 15 and 17, were each charged with two counts of murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Dominik Simmons and Dominique Nelson, who were both 15 when they were killed, The Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article254687242.html">reported</a>.

The suspects' names were not released because of their age.

Both are being held at the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center, said Valerie Hartman, spokeswoman for Jackson County Circuit Court.

Simmons and Nelson were killed in March in south Kansas City when gunfire broke out during an argument between two groups, police said at the time.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Two juveniles have been charged with murder in the shooting deaths of two teenagers in Kansas City, police said Friday.The juveniles, who are 15 and 17, were each charged with two counts of murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of Dominik Simmons and Dominique Nelson, who were both 15 when they were killed, The Kansas City Star&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article254687242.html">reported</a>.The suspects' names were not released because of their age.Both are being held at the Jackson County Juvenile Detention Center, said Valerie Hartman, spokeswoman for Jackson County Circuit Court.Simmons and Nelson were killed in March in south Kansas City when gunfire broke out during an argument between two groups, police said at the time.

15 and 17-year-old charged in deaths of two Kansas City teens

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police have recovered a stolen panel from a Native American art exhibit at the University of Kansas, weeks after other panels in the exhibit were vandalized. One panel from the art installation outside the Spencer Museum of Art was reported stolen on Wednesday.

University police Deputy Chief James Druen said the panel was found on Thursday and police are speaking to a person of interest in the case. Four other panels were vandalized on Sept. 4 and were taken down to be repaired. Museum and university officials said they are determined to reinstall the exhibit, called “Native Host.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633119849006.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Police have recovered a stolen panel from a Native American art exhibit at the University of Kansas, weeks after other panels in the exhibit were vandalized. One panel from the art installation outside the Spencer Museum of Art was reported stolen on Wednesday.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">We are grateful for their quick action, and also for the outpouring of support from you all—not only for the artist and the artwork—but for our Native communities at KU and in Lawrence. We will keep you updated as we continue to plan our next steps for reinstalling this work. ❤️&mdash; Spencer Museum of Art (@SpencerMuseum) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpencerMuseum/status/1443622068352913415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 30, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>University police Deputy Chief James Druen said the panel was found on Thursday and police are speaking to a person of interest in the case. Four other panels were vandalized on Sept. 4 and were taken down to be repaired. Museum and university officials said they are determined to reinstall the exhibit, called “Native Host.”

Police recover Native American artwork stolen at KU

CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Officials in Arizona say two people are dead after their helicopter crashed following a mid-air collision with a single-engine plane outside a suburban Phoenix airport.&nbsp;

Dodge City Community College has a <a href="https://dc3.edu/arizona-campus/">helicopter flight instructor program</a> in Chandler, Arizona.

Police say the collision happened Friday morning near Chandler Municipal Airport. The plane was able to land safely, and the flight instructor and student pilot on board declined medical treatment. 

No one on the ground was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the cause of the collision and crash. Chandler Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport that does not provide commercial airline service. Authorities say both aircraft are operated by separate flight schools.

Check the&nbsp; Post for additional details as they become available.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633123334142.png" alt="First responders at the crash scene photo courtesy KPHO TV" />
 <figcaption>First responders at the crash scene photo courtesy KPHO TV</figcaption>
 </figure>CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — Officials in Arizona say two people are dead after their helicopter crashed following a mid-air collision with a single-engine plane outside a suburban Phoenix airport.&nbsp;Dodge City Community College has a <a href="https://dc3.edu/arizona-campus/">helicopter flight instructor program</a> in Chandler, Arizona.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fdodgecitycommunitycollege%2Fposts%2F10160209850778755&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="684" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>Police say the collision happened Friday morning near Chandler Municipal Airport. The plane was able to land safely, and the flight instructor and student pilot on board declined medical treatment. No one on the ground was injured. The National Transportation Safety Board will lead the investigation into the cause of the collision and crash. Chandler Municipal Airport is a general aviation airport that does not provide commercial airline service. Authorities say both aircraft are operated by separate flight schools.Check the&nbsp; Post for additional details as they become available.

Fatal midair crash in Arizona near Kan. college helicopter program

TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Today, Governor Laura Kelly announced Kansas’ September total tax receipts were $876.5 million. Those collections are $162.2 million, or 22.7% more than the estimate and a growth of 20.2%, or $147.6 million, from last September.

Click&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMTEwMDEuNDY3ODA1MDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2dvdmVybm9yLmthbnNhcy5nb3Yvd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjEvMTAvMDNfU2VwdGVtYmVyX1JldmVudWVfRlkyMDIyXzEwLTAxLTIwMjFfRmluYWwucGRmIn0.X4lH-2IZ0QfedZ05KMlEQnyeimlTHAcmfPBKguN4l38/s/1303160919/br/113267862853-l" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;to view the entire report.

“Our tax collection numbers continue to show promising growth,”&nbsp;said Governor Laura Kelly. “In the months ahead, we must maintain fiscally-responsible policies to strengthen our growing economy.”

Individual income tax collections were up $51.8 million, or 14.6%, for the month with $406.8 million collected. That is $48.2 million, or 13.4%, more than the same month of 2020. September corporate income tax receipts, which are comprised primarily of estimated tax payments, have continued to trend upward. Corporate income tax collections were $85.3 million, or 142.1%, more than the estimate with $145.3 million collected. That is a growth of $55.6 million, or 62.0%, from the same month of last year. September 2021 corporate income tax collections were also 46.8% more than September 2019 actual receipts.

“After three quarters, these higher-than-expected estimated payments are a strong indication that corporations anticipate improved profit margins in 2021,”&nbsp;Secretary of Revenue Mark Burghart&nbsp;said.

Retail sales tax collections were $225.2 million which is $15.2 million, or 7.2%, more than the estimate. Those collections are 15.1%, or $29.6 million, more than last September. Compensating use tax collections were $60.7 million which is $6.7 million, or 12.5%, more than the estimate. That is also $15.1 million, or 33.2%, more than September 2020.

TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Today, Governor Laura Kelly announced Kansas’ September total tax receipts were $876.5 million. Those collections are $162.2 million, or 22.7% more than the estimate and a growth of 20.2%, or $147.6 million, from last September.Click&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMTEwMDEuNDY3ODA1MDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2dvdmVybm9yLmthbnNhcy5nb3Yvd3AtY29udGVudC91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjEvMTAvMDNfU2VwdGVtYmVyX1JldmVudWVfRlkyMDIyXzEwLTAxLTIwMjFfRmluYWwucGRmIn0.X4lH-2IZ0QfedZ05KMlEQnyeimlTHAcmfPBKguN4l38/s/1303160919/br/113267862853-l" target="_blank">here</a>&nbsp;to view the entire report.“Our tax collection numbers continue to show promising growth,”&nbsp;said Governor Laura Kelly. “In the months ahead, we must maintain fiscally-responsible policies to strengthen our growing economy.”Individual income tax collections were up $51.8 million, or 14.6%, for the month with $406.8 million collected. That is $48.2 million, or 13.4%, more than the same month of 2020. September corporate income tax receipts, which are comprised primarily of estimated tax payments, have continued to trend upward. Corporate income tax collections were $85.3 million, or 142.1%, more than the estimate with $145.3 million collected. That is a growth of $55.6 million, or 62.0%, from the same month of last year. September 2021 corporate income tax collections were also 46.8% more than September 2019 actual receipts.“After three quarters, these higher-than-expected estimated payments are a strong indication that corporations anticipate improved profit margins in 2021,”&nbsp;Secretary of Revenue Mark Burghart&nbsp;said.Retail sales tax collections were $225.2 million which is $15.2 million, or 7.2%, more than the estimate. Those collections are 15.1%, or $29.6 million, more than last September. Compensating use tax collections were $60.7 million which is $6.7 million, or 12.5%, more than the estimate. That is also $15.1 million, or 33.2%, more than September 2020.

 Sept. tax collections in Kan. $162.2 million more than the estimate 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas residents can now register to vote at the state agencies where they receive public benefits under an agreement with civil rights groups that brings the state back into compliance with federal election law, the governor said Friday.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department for Children and Families have expanded opportunities for residents wishing to register or update their voter registration. The agencies have also committed to providing resources to help them register.

“Every lawfully eligible Kansans deserves an equal opportunity to cast his or her ballot in every election,” Kelly, a Democrat, said in a news release. “By sharing resources and expanding opportunities to get registered to vote, we will encourage more voices to be heard at the polls and more Kansans to exercise this important right.”

The National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993, requires voter registration assistance at state agencies providing public assistance benefits. Although the agencies may have been in compliance in the past, previous administrations allowed them to abandon those obligations, Kelly’s office said.

Several Republican legislative leaders have not responded to messages seeking comment.

To address those deficiencies, Kelly’s office has been working since November 2019 with voting rights advocacy non-profit Loud Light that was represented by the think tank Demos, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, and the ACLU’s national Voting Rights Project.

“The most important takeaway is that we’re opening up opportunities to register to vote. Voter participation is always our biggest priority,” said Davis Hammet, executive director of Loud Light.

The written agreement between Kansas and the advocacy groups avoided litigation, according to the release.

It also set out certain milestones to get Kansas back into compliance. Those include updating policies, incorporating voter registration information into benefits material and providing registration information at the agencies’ offices and websites. The two agencies also sent out more than 277,000 voter registrations through “remedial mailings” before the 2020 general election.

“It’s unfortunate and, frankly, unacceptable that Kansas fell out of compliance previously, but we appreciate the current leadership’s cooperation to remedy our concerns and take concrete steps towards fulfilling their obligations to help Kansans register to vote,” says Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas residents can now register to vote at the state agencies where they receive public benefits under an agreement with civil rights groups that brings the state back into compliance with federal election law, the governor said Friday.The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Department for Children and Families have expanded opportunities for residents wishing to register or update their voter registration. The agencies have also committed to providing resources to help them register.“Every lawfully eligible Kansans deserves an equal opportunity to cast his or her ballot in every election,” Kelly, a Democrat, said in a news release. “By sharing resources and expanding opportunities to get registered to vote, we will encourage more voices to be heard at the polls and more Kansans to exercise this important right.”The National Voter Registration Act, passed in 1993, requires voter registration assistance at state agencies providing public assistance benefits. Although the agencies may have been in compliance in the past, previous administrations allowed them to abandon those obligations, Kelly’s office said.Several Republican legislative leaders have not responded to messages seeking comment.To address those deficiencies, Kelly’s office has been working since November 2019 with voting rights advocacy non-profit Loud Light that was represented by the think tank Demos, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, and the ACLU’s national Voting Rights Project.“The most important takeaway is that we’re opening up opportunities to register to vote. Voter participation is always our biggest priority,” said Davis Hammet, executive director of Loud Light.The written agreement between Kansas and the advocacy groups avoided litigation, according to the release.It also set out certain milestones to get Kansas back into compliance. Those include updating policies, incorporating voter registration information into benefits material and providing registration information at the agencies’ offices and websites. The two agencies also sent out more than 277,000 voter registrations through “remedial mailings” before the 2020 general election.“It’s unfortunate and, frankly, unacceptable that Kansas fell out of compliance previously, but we appreciate the current leadership’s cooperation to remedy our concerns and take concrete steps towards fulfilling their obligations to help Kansans register to vote,” says Sharon Brett, legal director for the ACLU of Kansas.

Kansas residents can now register to vote at state agencies 

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation's first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, a plan that will have all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups.

The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over but only granted an emergency authorization for anyone 12 to 15. Once federal regulators fully approve the vaccine for that group, the state will require students in seventh through 12th grades to get vaccinated in both public and private schools, Newsom’s office said.

The state will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students in kindergarten through sixth grade only after the federal government has given final approval for anyone 5 to 11.

The announcement comes as infections in most of California have dropped markedly in the last month. But Newsom has been emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign where he emphasized his commitment to vaccine mandates to end the pandemic.

In Los Angeles County — the nation’s largest, with more than 10 million residents — just 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.

“These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide,” county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

She noted that though the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the overall number is small and largely related to youth sports.

The state's vaccine mandate would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply those exemptions have not been written yet. Any student who refuses to take the vaccine would be forced to complete an independent study course at home.

Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders across some of the state’s largest districts.

Los Angeles and Oakland Unified have mandated all students over 12 to be vaccinated, but Oakland’s order has not set a deadline for when students must comply. LA set a deadline of Jan. 20.

Earlier this week, the San Diego Unified school board approved a mandate that staff and students age 16 and older be fully vaccinated by Dec. 20.

Newsom has made it a point of pride to be the first in the nation to issue a variety of pandemic-related school mandates.

In August, California became the first state in the U.S. to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate earlier in the summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633110752797.png" alt="Until Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders across some of the state’s largest districts. The governor made the announcement during a media conference from a school room in San Francisco." />
 <figcaption>Until Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders across some of the state’s largest districts. The governor made the announcement during a media conference from a school room in San Francisco.</figcaption>
 </figure>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation's first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, a plan that will have all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FCAgovernor%2Fposts%2F445532210263983&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="411" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over but only granted an emergency authorization for anyone 12 to 15. Once federal regulators fully approve the vaccine for that group, the state will require students in seventh through 12th grades to get vaccinated in both public and private schools, Newsom’s office said.The state will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students in kindergarten through sixth grade only after the federal government has given final approval for anyone 5 to 11.The announcement comes as infections in most of California have dropped markedly in the last month. But Newsom has been emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign where he emphasized his commitment to vaccine mandates to end the pandemic.In Los Angeles County — the nation’s largest, with more than 10 million residents — just 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.“These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide,” county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.She noted that though the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the overall number is small and largely related to youth sports.The state's vaccine mandate would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply those exemptions have not been written yet. Any student who refuses to take the vaccine would be forced to complete an independent study course at home.Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders across some of the state’s largest districts.Los Angeles and Oakland Unified have mandated all students over 12 to be vaccinated, but Oakland’s order has not set a deadline for when students must comply. LA set a deadline of Jan. 20.Earlier this week, the San Diego Unified school board approved a mandate that staff and students age 16 and older be fully vaccinated by Dec. 20.Newsom has made it a point of pride to be the first in the nation to issue a variety of pandemic-related school mandates.In August, California became the first state in the U.S. to require all teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools to get vaccinated or undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Newsom also issued a school mask mandate earlier in the summer for indoor classes that applies to all teachers and students.

Nation's first COVID vaccination mandate for schoolchildren

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases* (see below) in Kansas increased by 2,368 to a total of 411,302 the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;

The state reported 17 new COVID-19 deaths for a total of 6,068.

TOPEKA— The number of confirmed coronavirus cases* (see below) in Kansas increased by 2,368 to a total of 411,302 the state health department reported Friday afternoon.&nbsp;The state reported 17 new COVID-19 deaths for a total of 6,068.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1633107607301.png" alt="Friday October 1, 2021 KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Friday October 1, 2021 KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.kansasvaccine.gov/158/Data">Click here for Data</a> about the COVID-19 vaccine.<a href="https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/160/COVID-19-in-Kansas">Click here&nbsp;</a>for additional virus numbers from the KDHE.As of August 1, 2021, in accordance with an&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">updated CDC/CSTE surveillance case definition</a>, a confirmed case is defined as a person who tested positive by molecular detection (e.g., PCR, NAA) or identification of SARS-CoV-2 through genetic sequencing. A probable case is defined as a person with: a) presumptive lab evidence (antigen) or b) no lab testing but meeting clinical case criteria and is epi-linked. A person will be counted as a new surveillance case (e.g. reinfection) if they test positive for SARS-CoV-2 by a diagnostic test (i.e., molecular, antigen) and it has been greater than 90 days since the previous positive diagnostic test. In addition, a person with sequencing results identifying different SARS-CoV-2 lineages regardless of the time since the previous specimen sequenced will be counted as a new surveillance case.&nbsp;Cases occurring between&nbsp;September 1, 2020&nbsp;and July 29, 2021 were classified by&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/conditions/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/" target="_blank">previous CDC/CSTE case definition,&nbsp;</a>and cases prior to September 1, 2020 were classified by the&nbsp;<a href="https://ndc.services.cdc.gov/case-definitions/coronavirus-disease-2019-2020/" target="_blank">original case definition</a>.