JOHNSON COUNTY —Police are investigating the death of two women at a home in Lenexa.

Just after 5a.m. Wednesday,&nbsp; police responded to a residence in the 15400 block of W. 90th Street in Lenexa to conduct a welfare check after receiving information that individuals inside may have been shot.

Upon entering the home, officers located two women who were deceased. The two women are believed to be related. Police took a man believed to be related to the victims into custody.

The Johnson County Crime Lab is assisting Lenexa detectives with the investigation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739394165041.png" alt="Photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —Police are investigating the death of two women at a home in Lenexa.Just after 5a.m. Wednesday,&nbsp; police responded to a residence in the 15400 block of W. 90th Street in Lenexa to conduct a welfare check after receiving information that individuals inside may have been shot.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739394112183.png" alt="Photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>Upon entering the home, officers located two women who were deceased. The two women are believed to be related. Police took a man believed to be related to the victims into custody.The Johnson County Crime Lab is assisting Lenexa detectives with the investigation.

Homicide: Two women found dead in Kansas home

WASHINGTON —The Philadelphia Eagles spoiled the Kansas City Chiefs bid for a three-peat, winning the Super Bowl on Sunday.&nbsp; Now Kansas elected officials who made friendly wagers with colleagues are paying up.

On Sunday, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall used his social media account to share his wager.&nbsp; "The bet is on - If the Chiefs win, Senator McCormick of Pennsylvania will bring me a Yuengling beer, and Senator Fetterman&nbsp;will have to wear Chiefs gear. 

If the Eagles win, I’ll bring KC BBQ and wear Eagles gear. "

Wednesday morning, Marshall removed his suit jacket on the Senate floor to show he was wearing an Eagles football jersey.&nbsp; The Junior Senator from Kansas did not indicate what Kansas City BBQ he is going to bring to Washington.&nbsp; Marshall is the first taking action to pay up following the championship game.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739377603921.png" alt="Senator Roger Marshall on the Senate floor Wednesday morning during the vote count&nbsp; to confirm Tulsi Gabbard&nbsp; as director of National Intelligence-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Senator Roger Marshall on the Senate floor Wednesday morning during the vote count&nbsp; to confirm Tulsi Gabbard&nbsp; as director of National Intelligence-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON —The Philadelphia Eagles spoiled the Kansas City Chiefs bid for a three-peat, winning the Super Bowl on Sunday.&nbsp; Now Kansas elected officials who made friendly wagers with colleagues are paying up.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Kansas City Chiefs fan Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) loses bet to Pennsylvania Senators -- shows up on Senate floor wearing Philadelphia Eagles jersey ... <a href="https://t.co/b8u8rK72gH">pic.twitter.com/b8u8rK72gH</a>&mdash; Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/1889734003743191543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>On Sunday, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall used his social media account to share his wager.&nbsp; "The bet is on - If the Chiefs win, Senator McCormick of Pennsylvania will bring me a Yuengling beer, and Senator Fetterman&nbsp;will have to wear Chiefs gear. 

If the Eagles win, I’ll bring KC BBQ and wear Eagles gear. "<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A bet is a bet. <a href="https://twitter.com/SenFettermanPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenFettermanPA</a> <a href="https://t.co/Zexv7lGkPI">pic.twitter.com/Zexv7lGkPI</a>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1889720550840217915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Wednesday morning, Marshall removed his suit jacket on the Senate floor to show he was wearing an Eagles football jersey.&nbsp; The Junior Senator from Kansas did not indicate what Kansas City BBQ he is going to bring to Washington.&nbsp; Marshall is the first taking action to pay up following the championship game.

Kan. U.S. Senator lost bet, forced to wear Eagles jersey at work

By MATTHEW LEE, ERIC TUCKER and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a dramatic prisoner swap.

Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a lengthy phone call during which they committed to "work together, very closely" to bring the conflict to an end and would meet in person, including perhaps in each other's countries.

It was unclear how closely Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be involved. Trump held a phone call with him Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said, characterizing it as a "good conversation."

Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, will all be in Germany later this week for the annual Munich Security Conference, which Zelenskyy will also attend.

However, in a blow to Ukraine's aspirations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO membership was not realistic for Ukraine and said that any security guarantees for the country would have to be borne by European countries.

The Biden administration had joined other NATO members since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in vowing that membership in the alliance was "inevitable."

And Trump's announcement appeared to dismantle the Biden-era mantra that Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made. "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine," Biden and his top national security aides said repeatedly.

Wednesday's Trump-Putin call and resulting policy sea change, followed a prisoner swap that resulted in Russia releasing American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention in return for convicted Russian criminal Alexander Vinnik.

"We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together," Trump said in a social media post disclosing details about the call. "But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.

Trump said they also "agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" and would be alerting Zelenskyy to their conversation. He appointed Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, national security advisor Michael Waltz, and his special Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff to lead those talks.

White House officials later declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the U.S. negotiations with Russia although Trump and Zelenskyy did speak by phone, according to the White House and Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main focus.

Peskov said that Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement and that "President Putin, in his turn, emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks."

"The Russian president of supported one of the main theses of the U.S. president that the time has come for our two countries to work together," Peskov told reporters. "The Russian president invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host U.S. officials in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine, the Ukrainian settlement."

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy sought to put a brave face on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment. In a social media post, he said he had had "a meaningful conversation with" Trump that included discussion of "opportunities to achieve peace" and Kyiv's "readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine's technological capabilities—including drones and other advanced industries."

"I am grateful to President Trump," he said.

The White House described the prisoner swap as evidence of a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, was arrested in August 2021 for possession of marijuana and was serving a 14-year prison sentence. He had been left out of previous prisoner swaps with Russia that were negotiated by the Biden administration.

Vinnik — the other person involved, according to two U.S. officials — was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport to return to Russia, the officials said. The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia.

Trump had welcomed Fogel at the White House on Tuesday evening after his return to U.S. soil on Witkoff's personal plane. On Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he spoke with Putin about Fogel and didn't say what the United States had provided in exchange for Fogel's release.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Fogel's release could help anchor a peace deal on Ukraine, saying: "We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that's the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war."

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.

Hegseth's strident comments came during the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government.

What they heard was that President Donald Trump is intent on getting Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops. Hegseth said the force should not have Article Five protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.

Hegseth's stark message, and his insistence that Russia should keep some territory that Ukraine wants back, is likely to complicate talks later this week between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich.

"The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," Hegseth said, as Kyiv's backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war, which will soon enter its fourth year.

All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto.

"Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops," Hegseth said. "To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine."

Hegseth insisted that NATO should play no role in any future military mission to police the peace in Ukraine and that any peacekeeping troops should not be covered by the part of NATO's founding treaty that obliges all allies to come to the aid of any member under attack.

Article Five has been activated only once, when European allies and Canada used the collective security guarantee to help the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington.

Hegseth also said Europe "must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine." Ukraine currently relies equally on Europe and the U.S. for about 30% each of its defense needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine itself.

Addressing the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, he also insisted that Ukraine's Western backers must abandon the "illusionary goal" of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine.

"Members of this contact group must meet the moment," Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

"We hear you," U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said in response to Hegseth's opening remarks. Both Hegseth and Healey spoke in front of journalists at the top of a closed-door session in Brussels to discuss future aid to Ukraine.

Over nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S., which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.

But the meeting this week was convened by the United Kingdom, and no decision has been made on who might chair the next meeting, if one is called.

Hegseth wasn't expected to make any announcement on new weapons for Ukraine.

His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't stop at Ukraine's borders if he wins, and that Europe's biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.

Trump has promised to end the war quickly. He's complained that it's costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.

Hegseth in his remarks said that NATO member nations also need to significantly increase defense spending to 5% of their budgets — a high mark that the U.S. does not presently meet either.

"The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependence. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security," Hegseth said.

European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 of them are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year's target of spending 2% of gross domestic product, but a third still fall short.

Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren't favorable to Ukraine.

Before Hegseth spoke, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told The Associated Press that Putin will only negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine if its backers continue to provide enough weapons and ammunition.

"We have to make sure that he has no other option, and that means to force him to the table," Rutte said. "He needs to understand that we will not give up on Ukraine. We have to make sure that we have maximum economic impact on Russia."

Hegseth's remarks come a day after American history teacher Marc Vogel returned safely to the U.S. after three years in a Russian prison. The White House suggested that his release could help to advance negotiations on ending the war.

Trump said another American, someone "very special," would be released Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country. The president did not say what the United States exchanged for Fogel's release.

Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739386034277.png" alt="President Trump at the White House Tuesday night greeting American teacher&nbsp;Marc Fogel upon his return from being held in Russia- White House image" />
 <figcaption>President Trump at the White House Tuesday night greeting American teacher&nbsp;Marc Fogel upon his return from being held in Russia- White House image</figcaption>
 </figure>By MATTHEW LEE, ERIC TUCKER and ZEKE MILLER Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump upended three years of U.S. policy toward Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to begin negotiations on ending the war following a dramatic prisoner swap.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739386721138.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Trump said in a social media post that he and Putin held a lengthy phone call during which they committed to "work together, very closely" to bring the conflict to an end and would meet in person, including perhaps in each other's countries.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I had a long and detailed conversation with President Trump. I appreciate his genuine interest in our shared opportunities and how we can bring about real peace together. We discussed many aspects—diplomatic, military, and economic—and President Trump informed me about what… <a href="https://t.co/flmigxqtbl">pic.twitter.com/flmigxqtbl</a>&mdash; Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) <a href="https://twitter.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/1889773900353151436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>It was unclear how closely Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would be involved. Trump held a phone call with him Wednesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said, characterizing it as a "good conversation."Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special Russia-Ukraine envoy, retired Gen. Keith Kellogg, will all be in Germany later this week for the annual Munich Security Conference, which Zelenskyy will also attend.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecDef?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecDef</a> Hegseth: Returning to Ukraine&#39;s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective. Chasing this illusionary goal will only prolong the war and cause more suffering...The U.S. does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement. <a href="https://t.co/fSU352rMny">pic.twitter.com/fSU352rMny</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889699670164672603?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>However, in a blow to Ukraine's aspirations, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels that NATO membership was not realistic for Ukraine and said that any security guarantees for the country would have to be borne by European countries.The Biden administration had joined other NATO members since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in vowing that membership in the alliance was "inevitable."And Trump's announcement appeared to dismantle the Biden-era mantra that Kyiv would be a full participant in any decisions made. "Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine," Biden and his top national security aides said repeatedly.Wednesday's Trump-Putin call and resulting policy sea change, followed a prisoner swap that resulted in Russia releasing American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, of Pennsylvania, after more than three years of detention in return for convicted Russian criminal Alexander Vinnik."We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together," Trump said in a social media post disclosing details about the call. "But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine.Trump said they also "agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately" and would be alerting Zelenskyy to their conversation. He appointed Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, national security advisor Michael Waltz, and his special Mideast envoy Steven Witkoff to lead those talks.White House officials later declined to clarify whether Ukraine would be a party to the U.S. negotiations with Russia although Trump and Zelenskyy did speak by phone, according to the White House and Kyiv.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation between Trump and Putin covered a good deal of ground, including the Middle East and Iran in addition to Ukraine, which was the main focus.Peskov said that Trump called for a quick cessation of hostilities and a peaceful settlement and that "President Putin, in his turn, emphasized the need to remove the root causes of the conflict and agreed with Trump that a long-term settlement could be achieved through peace talks.""The Russian president of supported one of the main theses of the U.S. president that the time has come for our two countries to work together," Peskov told reporters. "The Russian president invited the U.S. president to visit Moscow and expressed readiness to host U.S. officials in Russia for issues of mutual interest, naturally including Ukraine, the Ukrainian settlement."Meanwhile, Zelenskyy sought to put a brave face on what many in Ukraine will see as a major disappointment. In a social media post, he said he had had "a meaningful conversation with" Trump that included discussion of "opportunities to achieve peace" and Kyiv's "readiness to work together at the team level, and Ukraine's technological capabilities—including drones and other advanced industries.""I am grateful to President Trump," he said.The White House described the prisoner swap as evidence of a diplomatic thaw that could advance negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine.Fogel, an American history teacher who was deemed wrongfully detained by Russia, was arrested in August 2021 for possession of marijuana and was serving a 14-year prison sentence. He had been left out of previous prisoner swaps with Russia that were negotiated by the Biden administration.Vinnik — the other person involved, according to two U.S. officials — was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the U.S. on cryptocurrency fraud charges and was later extradited to the United States, where he pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to commit money laundering.He is currently in custody in California awaiting transport to return to Russia, the officials said. The Kremlin confirmed that a Russian citizen was freed in the United States in exchange for Fogel but refused to identify him until he arrives in Russia.Trump had welcomed Fogel at the White House on Tuesday evening after his return to U.S. soil on Witkoff's personal plane. On Wednesday, Trump declined to say if he spoke with Putin about Fogel and didn't say what the United States had provided in exchange for Fogel's release.Speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday, Trump suggested that Fogel's release could help anchor a peace deal on Ukraine, saying: "We were treated very nicely by Russia, actually. I hope that's the beginning of a relationship where we can end that war."----------------------BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Wednesday that NATO membership for Ukraine was unrealistic and in sweeping remarks suggested Kyiv should abandon hopes of winning all its territory back from Russia and instead prepare for a negotiated peace settlement to be backed up by international troops.Hegseth's strident comments came during the first trip to NATO by a member of the new Trump administration. Allies have been waiting to hear how much continued military and financial support Washington intends to provide to the Ukrainian government.What they heard was that President Donald Trump is intent on getting Europe to assume most of the financial and military responsibilities for the defense of Ukraine, including a possible peacekeeping force that would not include U.S. troops. Hegseth said the force should not have Article Five protections, which could require the U.S. or the 31 other nations of the NATO alliance to come to the aid of those forces if they end up in contact with Russian forces.Hegseth's stark message, and his insistence that Russia should keep some territory that Ukraine wants back, is likely to complicate talks later this week between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Vice President JD Vance and other senior American officials at a major security security conference in Munich."The United States does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement," Hegseth said, as Kyiv's backers gathered at NATO headquarters for a meeting to drum up more arms and ammunition for the war, which will soon enter its fourth year.All 32 allies must agree for a country to join NATO, meaning that every member has a veto."Instead, any security guarantee must be backed by capable European and non-European troops," Hegseth said. "To be clear, as part of any security guarantee, there will not be U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine."Hegseth insisted that NATO should play no role in any future military mission to police the peace in Ukraine and that any peacekeeping troops should not be covered by the part of NATO's founding treaty that obliges all allies to come to the aid of any member under attack.Article Five has been activated only once, when European allies and Canada used the collective security guarantee to help the United States in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington.Hegseth also said Europe "must provide the overwhelming share of future lethal and nonlethal aid to Ukraine." Ukraine currently relies equally on Europe and the U.S. for about 30% each of its defense needs. The rest is produced by Ukraine itself.Addressing the allies of Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, he also insisted that Ukraine's Western backers must abandon the "illusionary goal" of returning the country to its pre-2014 borders, before Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula and seized parts of eastern Ukraine."Members of this contact group must meet the moment," Hegseth said to the approximately 50 member countries that have provided support to Ukraine since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022."We hear you," U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey said in response to Hegseth's opening remarks. Both Hegseth and Healey spoke in front of journalists at the top of a closed-door session in Brussels to discuss future aid to Ukraine.Over nearly three years, those 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine with more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance, including more than $66.5 billion from the U.S., which has served as the chair of the group since its creation.But the meeting this week was convened by the United Kingdom, and no decision has been made on who might chair the next meeting, if one is called.Hegseth wasn't expected to make any announcement on new weapons for Ukraine.His trip comes less than two weeks before the third anniversary of Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Most U.S. allies fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't stop at Ukraine's borders if he wins, and that Europe's biggest land war in decades poses an existential threat to their security.Trump has promised to end the war quickly. He's complained that it's costing American taxpayers too much money and suggested that Ukraine should pay for U.S. support with access to its rare earth minerals, energy and other resources.Hegseth in his remarks said that NATO member nations also need to significantly increase defense spending to 5% of their budgets — a high mark that the U.S. does not presently meet either."The United States will no longer tolerate an imbalanced relationship which encourages dependence. Rather, our relationship will prioritize empowering Europe to own responsibility for its own security," Hegseth said.European allies have hiked their military budgets since Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, and 23 of them are estimated to have reached or exceeded last year's target of spending 2% of gross domestic product, but a third still fall short.Some U.S. allies worry that a hasty deal might be clinched on terms that aren't favorable to Ukraine.Before Hegseth spoke, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told The Associated Press that Putin will only negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine if its backers continue to provide enough weapons and ammunition."We have to make sure that he has no other option, and that means to force him to the table," Rutte said. "He needs to understand that we will not give up on Ukraine. We have to make sure that we have maximum economic impact on Russia."Hegseth's remarks come a day after American history teacher Marc Vogel returned safely to the U.S. after three years in a Russian prison. The White House suggested that his release could help to advance negotiations on ending the war.Trump said another American, someone "very special," would be released Wednesday, though he declined to name the person or say from what country. The president did not say what the United States exchanged for Fogel's release.___Copp reported from Washington. Associated Press Writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.

🎥Trump reveals details of call with Putin on ending war in Ukraine

Prior to sentencing, 63-year-old Charles Crawford of Wichita,  told Judge Jeffrey Goering he wanted to withdraw his plea, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. In December, Crawford pled no contest to two counts of 1st degree murder for the deaths of his 50-year-old wife Vanessa Crawford and her 58-year-old boyfriend Donald Eckert.

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man found guilty of killing his wife and her boyfriend in 2023 in Wichita will learn his fate Wednesday.

Charles Crawford, 63, Wichita, will appear before Judge Jeff Goering on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office.

In December, Crawford pled no contest in the deaths of his 50-year-old wife Vanessa Crawford and her 58-year-old boyfriend Donald Eckert.

In July of 2023, a woman dropping off her child at an in-home daycare saw the two homicide victims through a window of a home in the 1100 Block of North Woodrow in Wichita, according to Officer Kris Gupilan. The victims were identified as Vanessa Crawford and Donald Eckert both of Wichita.

While the investigation was taking place on the scene, Charles Crawford arrived with a gun pointed at his own head. Officers took cover for safety and immediately requested the assistance of SWAT and Crisis Negotiators. A standoff ensued with Crawford but it ended peacefully when he surrendered and was taken into custody

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/7/1690372152213.png" alt="Crawford -photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Crawford -photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Prior to sentencing, 63-year-old Charles Crawford of Wichita, told Judge Jeffrey Goering he wanted to withdraw his plea, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. In December, Crawford pled no contest to two counts of 1st degree murder for the deaths of his 50-year-old wife Vanessa Crawford and her 58-year-old boyfriend Donald Eckert.--------------SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas man found guilty of killing his wife and her boyfriend in 2023 in Wichita will learn his fate Wednesday.Charles Crawford, 63, Wichita, will appear before Judge Jeff Goering on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office.In December, Crawford pled no contest in the deaths of his 50-year-old wife Vanessa Crawford and her 58-year-old boyfriend Donald Eckert.In July of 2023, a woman dropping off her child at an in-home daycare saw the two homicide victims through a window of a home in the 1100 Block of North Woodrow in Wichita, according to Officer Kris Gupilan. The victims were identified as Vanessa Crawford and Donald Eckert both of Wichita.While the investigation was taking place on the scene, Charles Crawford arrived with a gun pointed at his own head. Officers took cover for safety and immediately requested the assistance of SWAT and Crisis Negotiators. A standoff ensued with Crawford but it ended peacefully when he surrendered and was taken into custody

Sentencing Day: Man killed couple at Kan. home day care

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-senate-confirmation-5750d01104cf650b8ef0853dabb2e5a2">Tulsi Gabbard</a>&nbsp;as President Donald Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dni.gov/">director of national intelligence</a>&nbsp;after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.

Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country's 18 different intelligence agencies, given&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-russia-ukraine-syria-20b7a404704efe88aa56a06ce1894f9a">her past comments sympathetic to Russia</a>, a meeting she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-syria-assad-trump-b7518871e72a5e19c618c5ff52dedfd2">held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad</a>&nbsp;and her previous support for government leaker&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Edward Snowden</a>.

Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only "no' vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

She will take over the top intelligence post as Trump works to reshape vast portions of the federal government. Intelligence agencies including the CIA have issued voluntary resignation offers to staffers, while cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to sensitive government databases containing information about intelligence operations.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nation’s intelligence services with suspicion.

GOP senators who had expressed concerns about Gabbard’s stance on Snowden, Syria and Russia said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the office’s core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the president’s chief intelligence adviser.

“While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that Gabbard will bring “independent thinking” to the job.

Democrats noted that Gabbard had no experience working for an intelligence agency and said her past stances on Russia, Syria and Snowden made her a poor choice for the job. They also questioned whether she would stand up to Trump if necessary and could maintain vital intelligence sharing with American allies.

“It is an insult to people who have dedicated their lives and put themselves in harm’s way to have her confirmed into this position,” said Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst,, D-Mich., about members of America's intelligence service.

Until GOP support fell into place, it was unclear whether Gabbard’s nomination would succeed. Given the 53-47 split in the Senate, Gabbard needed virtually all Republicans to vote “yes.”

Trump's “Make America Great Again” base has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-senate-confirmation-ernst-hegseth-dd15a8b031ca8cad2a99237ab99b53a8">pressured senators to support Trump’s nominees</a>, and Elon Musk, the president's ally, took to social media recently to brand Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., as a “deep-state puppet.” Young had raised concerns about Gabbard but announced his support after speaking with Musk. The post was deleted after they spoke, and Musk later called Young an ally.

Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department.

Gabbard’s past praise of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Snowden</a>&nbsp;drew particularly harsh questions during her confirmation hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about U.S. surveillance programs.

Gabbard said that while Snowden disclosed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.

Gabbard's 2017 visit with Assad was another flashpoint. He was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons.

Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator, and then there were more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used such weapons.

Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.

“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.

She also has repeatedly echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-science-health-donald-trump-300742272576985618e1d5a30f53bb23">Russian propaganda</a>&nbsp;used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the past, she opposed a key U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-surveillance-fisa-702-congress-reform-7dc1b506b58ce74de0d7983dfba98909">surveillance program</a>&nbsp;known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739313030999.png" alt="Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran met with Gabbard in December- courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran met with Gabbard in December- courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-senate-confirmation-5750d01104cf650b8ef0853dabb2e5a2">Tulsi Gabbard</a>&nbsp;as President Donald Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dni.gov/">director of national intelligence</a>&nbsp;after Republicans who had initially questioned her experience and judgment fell in line behind her nomination.Gabbard was an unconventional pick to oversee and coordinate the country's 18 different intelligence agencies, given&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-trump-intelligence-director-russia-ukraine-syria-20b7a404704efe88aa56a06ce1894f9a">her past comments sympathetic to Russia</a>, a meeting she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/gabbard-syria-assad-trump-b7518871e72a5e19c618c5ff52dedfd2">held with now-deposed Syrian President Bashar Assad</a>&nbsp;and her previous support for government leaker&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Edward Snowden</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🇺🇸 Tulsi Gabbard’s confirmation as Director of National Intelligence highlights President Trump’s commitment to safeguarding America’s security and ensuring intelligence operations remain focused on protecting our nation and the American people. America is BACK! <a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TulsiGabbard</a> <a href="https://t.co/03UyPlExFe">pic.twitter.com/03UyPlExFe</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1889721271912374504?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, was confirmed by a 52-48 vote, with Democrats opposed in the sharply divided Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority. The only "no' vote from a Republican came from Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.She will take over the top intelligence post as Trump works to reshape vast portions of the federal government. Intelligence agencies including the CIA have issued voluntary resignation offers to staffers, while cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gaining access to sensitive government databases containing information about intelligence operations.The Office of the Director of National Intelligence was created to address intelligence failures exposed by the Sept. 11, 2001. Republicans have increasingly criticized the office, saying it has grown too large and politicized. Trump himself has long viewed the nation’s intelligence services with suspicion.GOP senators who had expressed concerns about Gabbard’s stance on Snowden, Syria and Russia said they were won over by her promise to refocus on the office’s core missions: coordinating federal intelligence work and serving as the president’s chief intelligence adviser.“While I continue to have concerns about certain positions she has previously taken, I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, adding that Gabbard will bring “independent thinking” to the job.Democrats noted that Gabbard had no experience working for an intelligence agency and said her past stances on Russia, Syria and Snowden made her a poor choice for the job. They also questioned whether she would stand up to Trump if necessary and could maintain vital intelligence sharing with American allies.“It is an insult to people who have dedicated their lives and put themselves in harm’s way to have her confirmed into this position,” said Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst,, D-Mich., about members of America's intelligence service.Until GOP support fell into place, it was unclear whether Gabbard’s nomination would succeed. Given the 53-47 split in the Senate, Gabbard needed virtually all Republicans to vote “yes.”Trump's “Make America Great Again” base has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-senate-confirmation-ernst-hegseth-dd15a8b031ca8cad2a99237ab99b53a8">pressured senators to support Trump’s nominees</a>, and Elon Musk, the president's ally, took to social media recently to brand Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., as a “deep-state puppet.” Young had raised concerns about Gabbard but announced his support after speaking with Musk. The post was deleted after they spoke, and Musk later called Young an ally.Gabbard is a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who deployed twice to the Middle East and ran for president in 2020. She has no formal intelligence experience and has never run a government agency or department.Gabbard’s past praise of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-united-states-government-797f390ee28b4bfbb0e1b13cfedf0593">Snowden</a>&nbsp;drew particularly harsh questions during her confirmation hearing. Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, fled to Russia after he was charged with revealing classified information about U.S. surveillance programs.Gabbard said that while Snowden disclosed important facts about such programs that she believes are unconstitutional, he violated rules about protecting classified secrets. “Edward Snowden broke the law,” she said.Gabbard's 2017 visit with Assad was another flashpoint. He was recently deposed following a brutal civil war in which he was accused of using chemical weapons.Following her visit, Gabbard faced criticism that she was legitimizing a dictator, and then there were more questions when she said she was skeptical that Assad had used such weapons.Gabbard defended her meeting with Assad, saying she used the opportunity to press the Syrian leader on his human rights record.“I asked him tough questions about his own regime’s actions,” Gabbard said.She also has repeatedly echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-science-health-donald-trump-300742272576985618e1d5a30f53bb23">Russian propaganda</a>&nbsp;used to justify the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. In the past, she opposed a key U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-surveillance-fisa-702-congress-reform-7dc1b506b58ce74de0d7983dfba98909">surveillance program</a>&nbsp;known as Section 702, which allows authorities to collect the communications of suspected terrorists overseas.

Tulsi Gabbard confirmed as Trump’s director of national intelligence

&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp; governor Laura Kelly on Tuesday vetoed a proposed Republican-backed ban on&nbsp;gender-affirming care for transgender minors.&nbsp;

On social media, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall criticized the governor's action. "Disgraceful veto, Laura Kelly."

"Yet again, putting her radical liberal ideology above the safety of Kansas kids. Child mutilation is not a parental right and on the contrary, should be criminal. "I look forward to the legislature overriding this insane veto."

At least 26 other states have restricted gender-affirming care for minors.

In her veto message Governor Kelly wrote, “Right now, the Legislature should be focused on ways to help Kansans cope with rising prices. That is the most important issue for Kansans. That is where my focus is.

“Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value. As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind. This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and health care workers out of our state, stifling our economy and exacerbating our workforce shortage issue.&nbsp; "

“It is disappointing that the Legislature continues to push for government interference in Kansans’ private medical decisions instead of focusing on issues that improve all Kansans’ lives. "

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739326142226.png" alt="File photo Gov. Laura Kelly during the State of the State address last month" />
 <figcaption>File photo Gov. Laura Kelly during the State of the State address last month</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;Kansas&nbsp; governor Laura Kelly on Tuesday vetoed a proposed Republican-backed ban on&nbsp;gender-affirming care for transgender minors.&nbsp;On social media, Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall criticized the governor's action. "Disgraceful veto, Laura Kelly.""Yet again, putting her radical liberal ideology above the safety of Kansas kids. Child mutilation is not a parental right and on the contrary, should be criminal. "I look forward to the legislature overriding this insane veto."<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">The governor&#39;s devotion to extreme left-wing ideology knows no bounds, vetoing a bipartisan bill that prevents the mutilation of minors. The Senate stands firmly on the side of protecting Kansas children and will swiftly override her veto before the ink from her pen is dry.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ksleg?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ksleg</a> <a href="https://t.co/bceVn9mnce">pic.twitter.com/bceVn9mnce</a>&mdash; Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson (@sentymasterson) <a href="https://twitter.com/sentymasterson/status/1889453021647552586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>At least 26 other states have restricted gender-affirming care for minors.In her veto message Governor Kelly wrote, “Right now, the Legislature should be focused on ways to help Kansans cope with rising prices. That is the most important issue for Kansans. That is where my focus is.“Infringing on parental rights is not appropriate, nor is it a Kansas value. As I’ve said before, it is not the job of politicians to stand between a parent and a child who needs medical care of any kind. This legislation will also drive families, businesses, and health care workers out of our state, stifling our economy and exacerbating our workforce shortage issue.&nbsp; "“It is disappointing that the Legislature continues to push for government interference in Kansans’ private medical decisions instead of focusing on issues that improve all Kansans’ lives. "

Kan. lawmakers rip governor's veto of gender-affirming care ban for minors

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>&nbsp;

Emily Tavis was on a first date in December when she looked up and realized they were driving past the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, intersection where a bullet ripped through her leg at last year’s Super Bowl victory parade.

“Oh f—,” Tavis said, bewildering her date.

She lives 35 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas, and hadn’t yet returned to Union Station, where the mass shooting happened. She felt like crying. Or maybe it was a panic attack. She held up a finger signaling to her date that she needed a moment. That’s when it hit him, too.

“Oh crap, I didn’t even realize,” he said, and kept driving in silence.

Tavis sucked in her tears until the station was out of view.

“So anyway,” she said aloud, while thinking to herself, “way to go. Panic attack, first date.”

A year after the Feb. 14 shooting that killed one and injured at least 24 people, the survivors and their families are still reeling. Relationships have strained. Parents are anxious about their children. The generous financial support and well wishes that poured through in early days have now dried up. And they’re ambivalent about the team they all root for; as the Chiefs moved on to another Super Bowl, many wondered why their beloved team hasn’t acknowledged what they have all been going through.

“I can’t believe the Chiefs didn’t do anything for us,” said Jacob Gooch Sr., who was shot in the foot. The team, the owner family’s foundation, and the National Football League gave a combined $200,000 to a fund for survivors, but Gooch said no one from the organization reached out to his family, three members of whom were shot.

What’s happening to these families is far from unusual. Many survivors emotionally freeze as a coping mechanism to avoid fully feeling the trauma they suffered. But with time, survivors experience what therapists call “thawing,” and the intensity of what happened can suddenly overpower them like it did Tavis.

“Trauma pulls us into the past,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-behrman-20322b7/" target="_blank">Gary Behrman</a>, a therapist who published a&nbsp;<a href="https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Post-trauma%20intervention%20-%20basic%20tasks.pdf" target="_blank">model of crisis intervention</a>&nbsp;based on his work with witnesses of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

Sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches can all trigger flashbacks that shut down the brain like an overloaded circuit breaker. It’s a survival response, Behrman said; the brain is a friend.

The key to recovery is to help survivors find healthy ways to manage those triggers — when they are ready.

Survivors thaw at their own pace. Regaining control after a life-threatening event is a process that can take weeks, months, or years.

It can be hard not to feel forgotten when life carries on around them. As fans rallied around the Chiefs this season, survivors found it hard to watch the games. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Philadelphia will hold its own parade on Friday, exactly one year after the shooting.

“It sucks because everybody else went on,” Jason Barton said. He performed CPR on a man he now thinks was one of the alleged shooters, his wife found a bullet slug in her backpack, and his stepdaughter was burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet.

“If we were on the other side of that place, we would too,” he said. “It wouldn’t have affected us.”

Tavis isn’t the only survivor to have found herself unintentionally back at Union Station in the year since the shooting. Kids had field trips to Science City, located inside the station. Follow-up doctor visits were often on nearby Hospital Hill. An October dinner organized for survivors by a local faith-based group was less than a mile away, prompting one young survivor to decline the invitation.

Tavis had planned to return to Union Station as part of her healing process. She thought she would go on the one-year mark to have a moment alone to feel whatever emotions swept over her there.

Maybe God was showing her she was ready by placing her back there unexpectedly, her therapist told her. Maybe. But she didn’t feel ready in that moment.

Tavis wanted to see a therapist right after the shooting. But she didn’t seek one out until July, after the local United Way&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/kcstrong-fund-gunshot-victims-2-million-dollars/" target="_blank">distributed financial assistance</a>&nbsp;to survivors and relieved the months-long financial strain of lost work and medical bills incurred by many. Tavis and her partner at the time had&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-survivors-donations-bills-wait-kansas-city/" target="_blank">taken out</a>&nbsp;an extra credit card to cover expenses while they waited for the promised help.

After two months of visits, her therapist started prepping Tavis for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a technique to help trauma survivors. She now spends every other session making her way through a spreadsheet of memories from the parade, visualizing and reprocessing them one by one.

She’s nervous as the one-year mark approaches. It’s on Valentine’s Day, and she worries it’ll be depressing.

She decided to invite Gooch, her former partner, to come to Union Station with her that day. Despite everything, he’s the one who understands. They were at the parade together with their son and Jacob’s two older kids. Both Gooch Sr. and his older son, Jacob Gooch Jr., were also shot.

Gooch Sr. hasn’t worked since the parade. His job required standing for 10-hour shifts four days a week, but he couldn’t walk for months after a bullet shattered a bone in his foot and it slowly fused back together. He hoped to go back to work in July. But his foot didn’t heal correctly and he had surgery in August, followed by weeks of recovery.

His short-term disability ran out, as did his health insurance through work. His employer held his job for a while before releasing him in August. He’s applied for other jobs in and around Leavenworth: production, staffing agencies, auto repair. Nothing’s come through.

“We’ve all gone through problems, not just me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I got shot in my foot and haven’t worked for a year. There are people that have been through much worse stuff over the past year.”

He feels good walking now and can run short distances without pain. But he doesn’t know if he’ll ever play football again, a mainstay of his life since he can remember. He played safety for the semiprofessional&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcreapersfootball.com/" target="_blank">Kansas City Reapers</a>&nbsp;and, before the parade, the 38-year-old was considering making the 2024 season his last as a player.

“A lot more than football has been stolen from me in this last year. Like my whole life has been stolen from me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I really hate that part of it.”

And those emotions are painfully real. Trauma threatens our beliefs about ourselves, said Behrman, the therapist. Every person brings their own history to a traumatic event, a different identity that risks being shattered. The healing work that comes later often involves letting go and building something new.

Recently Gooch Sr. started going to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faithwalkersoutreach.com/" target="_blank">new church</a>, led by the husband of someone he sang with in a children’s choir growing up. At a Sunday service this month, the pastor spoke about finding a path when you’re lost.

“I’m looking for the path. I’m in the grass right now,” Gooch Sr. said at his home later that evening.

“I’m obviously on a path, but I don’t know where I’m headed.”

Every day before Jason Barton goes to work, he asks his wife, Bridget, if he should stay home with her.

She’s said yes enough that he’s out of paid time off. Jason, who’s survived cancer and a heart attack, had to take unpaid leave in January when a bad case of the flu put him in the hospital. That’s real love, Bridget said with tearful eyes, sitting with Jason and her 14-year-old daughter, Gabriella, in their home in Osawatomie, Kansas.

Bridget has connected with the mother of another girl injured in the shooting. They’ve exchanged texts and voicemails throughout the year. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who gets it, Bridget said. They’re hoping to get the girls together to build a connection as well.

Except for a trip to therapy once a week, Bridget doesn’t leave the house much anymore. It can feel like a prison, she said, but she’s too scared to leave. “It’s my own internal hell,” she said. She keeps thinking about that bullet slug that lodged in her backpack. What if she’d been standing differently? What if they’d left 10 seconds earlier? Would things be different?

A Post-it note in her kitchen reminds her: “I’m safe. Gabriella is safe. I did the best I could.”

She carries a lot of guilt. About Jason staying home. About not leaving the house, even to see her grandkids. About wanting the family to go to the parade in the first place. At the same time, she knows she kind of thrived in the chaos after the shooting, taking charge of her daughter, talking to the police. It’s confusing.

The family has carried the trauma differently. In the six months after the parade, Jason watched reality TV shows that kept him out of his head — 23 seasons of “Deadliest Catch” and 21 seasons of “Gold Rush,” including spinoffs, he estimated. Lately he’s kept his mind occupied with a new hobby: building model cars and planes. He just finished a black 1968 Shelby Mustang, and next is an F4U-4 Corsair plane that Bridget got him.

Gabriella was unfazed about returning to Union Station for a class field trip to Science City, but she was startled when she saw a group of police officers inside the station. Her mom watched her location on her phone and texted her all day.

Gabriella took up boxing after the parade, then switched to wrestling. It had been going well, even felt empowering. But she’s stopped going, and Bridget thinks it’s partly due to the emotion of the anniversary — the first is always the hardest, her therapist said. Gabriella insisted that wrestling was just exhausting her.

Because they weren’t shot, the family didn’t benefit from resources available to other survivors. They understand that other families are recovering from bullet wounds or even mourning a death.

Still, it would be nice to have some acknowledgment of their emotional trauma. Their names have been in the news. You’d think the Chiefs would have at least sent a letter saying, “We’re sorry this happened to you,” Jason said.

Jason proposed to Bridget at a Chiefs game. Now watching games on TV triggers flashbacks.

“I want to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom again,” Bridget said, “but I just can’t. And that is a huge, really lonely feeling.”

‘There is a word called “resilience”’

One evening last October, survivors gathered with their families at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Kansas City.

Some came dressed in their Sunday best, some in red football jerseys. All ages, toddlers to 70-somethings, some from Missouri, some from Kansas. Some spoke only Spanish, some only English. Most of the two dozen people had never met before. But as they talked, they discovered the shooting that binds them also gave them a common language.

Two young boys realized they’d tossed a football during the jubilation before the violence erupted. A woman in her early 70s named Sarai Holguin remembered watching them play on that warm February day. After a blessing and dinner, Holguin, who was shot in the knee and has had four surgeries, stood to address the room.

“I was the first victim taken to the medical tent,” she said in Spanish, her words translated by a relative of another survivor. She saw everything, she explained, as, one by one, more survivors were brought to the tent for treatment, including Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother who was killed that day.

Yet in that tragedy, Holguin saw the beauty of people helping one another.

“This showed us that humanity is still alive, that love is still alive. There is a word called ‘resilience,’” Holguin said, the translator stumbling to understand the last word, as people in the audience caught it and shouted it out. “Resilience.”

“This word helps us overcome the problems we face,” Holguin said. “To try to put the tragic moment we all lived behind us and move on, we must remember the beautiful moments.”

This&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/the-injured-kansas-city-chiefs-parade-shooting-survivors-one-year-anniversary-trauma/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739298705005.png" alt="Emily Tavis in Leavenworth, Kansas, on Feb. 2. Tavis has been rebuilding her sense of safety and stability in the year since she was shot in the leg at last year’s Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration (Christopher Smith for KFF Health News)." />
 <figcaption>Emily Tavis in Leavenworth, Kansas, on Feb. 2. Tavis has been rebuilding her sense of safety and stability in the year since she was shot in the leg at last year’s Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration (Christopher Smith for KFF Health News).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/bramsablesmith/">BRAM SABLE-SMITH</a>&nbsp;AND&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/peggylowe/">PEGGY LOWE</a>&nbsp;Emily Tavis was on a first date in December when she looked up and realized they were driving past the downtown Kansas City, Missouri, intersection where a bullet ripped through her leg at last year’s Super Bowl victory parade.“Oh f—,” Tavis said, bewildering her date.She lives 35 miles away in Leavenworth, Kansas, and hadn’t yet returned to Union Station, where the mass shooting happened. She felt like crying. Or maybe it was a panic attack. She held up a finger signaling to her date that she needed a moment. That’s when it hit him, too.“Oh crap, I didn’t even realize,” he said, and kept driving in silence.Tavis sucked in her tears until the station was out of view.“So anyway,” she said aloud, while thinking to herself, “way to go. Panic attack, first date.”A year after the Feb. 14 shooting that killed one and injured at least 24 people, the survivors and their families are still reeling. Relationships have strained. Parents are anxious about their children. The generous financial support and well wishes that poured through in early days have now dried up. And they’re ambivalent about the team they all root for; as the Chiefs moved on to another Super Bowl, many wondered why their beloved team hasn’t acknowledged what they have all been going through.“I can’t believe the Chiefs didn’t do anything for us,” said Jacob Gooch Sr., who was shot in the foot. The team, the owner family’s foundation, and the National Football League gave a combined $200,000 to a fund for survivors, but Gooch said no one from the organization reached out to his family, three members of whom were shot.What’s happening to these families is far from unusual. Many survivors emotionally freeze as a coping mechanism to avoid fully feeling the trauma they suffered. But with time, survivors experience what therapists call “thawing,” and the intensity of what happened can suddenly overpower them like it did Tavis.“Trauma pulls us into the past,” said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gary-behrman-20322b7/" target="_blank">Gary Behrman</a>, a therapist who published a&nbsp;<a href="https://cretscmhd.psych.ucla.edu/nola/volunteer/EmpiricalStudies/Post-trauma%20intervention%20-%20basic%20tasks.pdf" target="_blank">model of crisis intervention</a>&nbsp;based on his work with witnesses of the 9/11 attacks in New York.Sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and touches can all trigger flashbacks that shut down the brain like an overloaded circuit breaker. It’s a survival response, Behrman said; the brain is a friend.The key to recovery is to help survivors find healthy ways to manage those triggers — when they are ready.Survivors thaw at their own pace. Regaining control after a life-threatening event is a process that can take weeks, months, or years.It can be hard not to feel forgotten when life carries on around them. As fans rallied around the Chiefs this season, survivors found it hard to watch the games. The Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Sunday’s Super Bowl. Philadelphia will hold its own parade on Friday, exactly one year after the shooting.“It sucks because everybody else went on,” Jason Barton said. He performed CPR on a man he now thinks was one of the alleged shooters, his wife found a bullet slug in her backpack, and his stepdaughter was burned by sparks from a ricocheted bullet.“If we were on the other side of that place, we would too,” he said. “It wouldn’t have affected us.”<h2>A trip back to Union Station</h2>Tavis isn’t the only survivor to have found herself unintentionally back at Union Station in the year since the shooting. Kids had field trips to Science City, located inside the station. Follow-up doctor visits were often on nearby Hospital Hill. An October dinner organized for survivors by a local faith-based group was less than a mile away, prompting one young survivor to decline the invitation.Tavis had planned to return to Union Station as part of her healing process. She thought she would go on the one-year mark to have a moment alone to feel whatever emotions swept over her there.Maybe God was showing her she was ready by placing her back there unexpectedly, her therapist told her. Maybe. But she didn’t feel ready in that moment.Tavis wanted to see a therapist right after the shooting. But she didn’t seek one out until July, after the local United Way&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/kcstrong-fund-gunshot-victims-2-million-dollars/" target="_blank">distributed financial assistance</a>&nbsp;to survivors and relieved the months-long financial strain of lost work and medical bills incurred by many. Tavis and her partner at the time had&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/super-bowl-parade-shooting-survivors-donations-bills-wait-kansas-city/" target="_blank">taken out</a>&nbsp;an extra credit card to cover expenses while they waited for the promised help.After two months of visits, her therapist started prepping Tavis for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, a technique to help trauma survivors. She now spends every other session making her way through a spreadsheet of memories from the parade, visualizing and reprocessing them one by one.She’s nervous as the one-year mark approaches. It’s on Valentine’s Day, and she worries it’ll be depressing.She decided to invite Gooch, her former partner, to come to Union Station with her that day. Despite everything, he’s the one who understands. They were at the parade together with their son and Jacob’s two older kids. Both Gooch Sr. and his older son, Jacob Gooch Jr., were also shot.<h2>Trauma changes who we are</h2>Gooch Sr. hasn’t worked since the parade. His job required standing for 10-hour shifts four days a week, but he couldn’t walk for months after a bullet shattered a bone in his foot and it slowly fused back together. He hoped to go back to work in July. But his foot didn’t heal correctly and he had surgery in August, followed by weeks of recovery.His short-term disability ran out, as did his health insurance through work. His employer held his job for a while before releasing him in August. He’s applied for other jobs in and around Leavenworth: production, staffing agencies, auto repair. Nothing’s come through.“We’ve all gone through problems, not just me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I got shot in my foot and haven’t worked for a year. There are people that have been through much worse stuff over the past year.”He feels good walking now and can run short distances without pain. But he doesn’t know if he’ll ever play football again, a mainstay of his life since he can remember. He played safety for the semiprofessional&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcreapersfootball.com/" target="_blank">Kansas City Reapers</a>&nbsp;and, before the parade, the 38-year-old was considering making the 2024 season his last as a player.“A lot more than football has been stolen from me in this last year. Like my whole life has been stolen from me,” Gooch Sr. said. “I really hate that part of it.”And those emotions are painfully real. Trauma threatens our beliefs about ourselves, said Behrman, the therapist. Every person brings their own history to a traumatic event, a different identity that risks being shattered. The healing work that comes later often involves letting go and building something new.Recently Gooch Sr. started going to a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faithwalkersoutreach.com/" target="_blank">new church</a>, led by the husband of someone he sang with in a children’s choir growing up. At a Sunday service this month, the pastor spoke about finding a path when you’re lost.“I’m looking for the path. I’m in the grass right now,” Gooch Sr. said at his home later that evening.“I’m obviously on a path, but I don’t know where I’m headed.”<h2>‘I did the best I could’</h2>Every day before Jason Barton goes to work, he asks his wife, Bridget, if he should stay home with her.She’s said yes enough that he’s out of paid time off. Jason, who’s survived cancer and a heart attack, had to take unpaid leave in January when a bad case of the flu put him in the hospital. That’s real love, Bridget said with tearful eyes, sitting with Jason and her 14-year-old daughter, Gabriella, in their home in Osawatomie, Kansas.Bridget has connected with the mother of another girl injured in the shooting. They’ve exchanged texts and voicemails throughout the year. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who gets it, Bridget said. They’re hoping to get the girls together to build a connection as well.Except for a trip to therapy once a week, Bridget doesn’t leave the house much anymore. It can feel like a prison, she said, but she’s too scared to leave. “It’s my own internal hell,” she said. She keeps thinking about that bullet slug that lodged in her backpack. What if she’d been standing differently? What if they’d left 10 seconds earlier? Would things be different?A Post-it note in her kitchen reminds her: “I’m safe. Gabriella is safe. I did the best I could.”She carries a lot of guilt. About Jason staying home. About not leaving the house, even to see her grandkids. About wanting the family to go to the parade in the first place. At the same time, she knows she kind of thrived in the chaos after the shooting, taking charge of her daughter, talking to the police. It’s confusing.The family has carried the trauma differently. In the six months after the parade, Jason watched reality TV shows that kept him out of his head — 23 seasons of “Deadliest Catch” and 21 seasons of “Gold Rush,” including spinoffs, he estimated. Lately he’s kept his mind occupied with a new hobby: building model cars and planes. He just finished a black 1968 Shelby Mustang, and next is an F4U-4 Corsair plane that Bridget got him.Gabriella was unfazed about returning to Union Station for a class field trip to Science City, but she was startled when she saw a group of police officers inside the station. Her mom watched her location on her phone and texted her all day.Gabriella took up boxing after the parade, then switched to wrestling. It had been going well, even felt empowering. But she’s stopped going, and Bridget thinks it’s partly due to the emotion of the anniversary — the first is always the hardest, her therapist said. Gabriella insisted that wrestling was just exhausting her.Because they weren’t shot, the family didn’t benefit from resources available to other survivors. They understand that other families are recovering from bullet wounds or even mourning a death.Still, it would be nice to have some acknowledgment of their emotional trauma. Their names have been in the news. You’d think the Chiefs would have at least sent a letter saying, “We’re sorry this happened to you,” Jason said.Jason proposed to Bridget at a Chiefs game. Now watching games on TV triggers flashbacks.“I want to be a part of Chiefs Kingdom again,” Bridget said, “but I just can’t. And that is a huge, really lonely feeling.”<h2>‘There is a word called “resilience”’</h2>One evening last October, survivors gathered with their families at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Kansas City.Some came dressed in their Sunday best, some in red football jerseys. All ages, toddlers to 70-somethings, some from Missouri, some from Kansas. Some spoke only Spanish, some only English. Most of the two dozen people had never met before. But as they talked, they discovered the shooting that binds them also gave them a common language.Two young boys realized they’d tossed a football during the jubilation before the violence erupted. A woman in her early 70s named Sarai Holguin remembered watching them play on that warm February day. After a blessing and dinner, Holguin, who was shot in the knee and has had four surgeries, stood to address the room.“I was the first victim taken to the medical tent,” she said in Spanish, her words translated by a relative of another survivor. She saw everything, she explained, as, one by one, more survivors were brought to the tent for treatment, including Lisa Lopez-Galvan, a 43-year-old mother who was killed that day.Yet in that tragedy, Holguin saw the beauty of people helping one another.“This showed us that humanity is still alive, that love is still alive. There is a word called ‘resilience,’” Holguin said, the translator stumbling to understand the last word, as people in the audience caught it and shouted it out. “Resilience.”“This word helps us overcome the problems we face,” Holguin said. “To try to put the tragic moment we all lived behind us and move on, we must remember the beautiful moments.”This&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/the-injured-kansas-city-chiefs-parade-shooting-survivors-one-year-anniversary-trauma/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<a href="https://kffhealthnews.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF Health News</a>&nbsp;is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/about-us" target="_blank">KFF</a>.

A year after KC Super Bowl parade shooting, trauma freeze gives way to turmoil for survivors

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a woman's murder have made an arrest.

On Thanksgiving Day November 28, 2024, deputies in Shawnee County began an investigation into the death of 50-year-old Monica B. McKay of Tecumseh, Kansas, after she was found deceased at her home, according to Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill.

On February 11, the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division arrested 53-year-old Brian P. McKay of Tecumseh in connection with her death. He is being held on requested charges of stalking, violation of a protection order, aggravated burglary and murder in the first-degree. The sheriff's office would not release details on the relationship between the suspect and victim.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739359538315.png" alt="McKay-photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>McKay-photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a woman's murder have made an arrest.On Thanksgiving Day November 28, 2024, deputies in Shawnee County began an investigation into the death of 50-year-old Monica B. McKay of Tecumseh, Kansas, after she was found deceased at her home, according to Shawnee County Sheriff Brian Hill.On February 11, the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division arrested 53-year-old Brian P. McKay of Tecumseh in connection with her death. He is being held on requested charges of stalking, violation of a protection order, aggravated burglary and murder in the first-degree. The sheriff's office would not release details on the relationship between the suspect and victim.

Kansas man accused of woman's Thanksgiving Day murder

By BRENT MARTIN St. Joseph Post

It was an explosive, actually a World War I explosive, but it was inactive and posed no threat to the public.

The St. Joseph Police Department reports a fire station received an unusual visit by a woman carrying a World War I explosive devise she found among her father’s belongings. The woman wanted to know if the shell was safe.

The department says St. Joseph firefighters and police officers examined it and determined the shell to be a non-lethal projectile from a World War I-era weapon that posed no threat to the public.

The St. Joseph Police Department commended the woman for seeking guidance on the projectile rather than handling it on her own. The department urges the public to call 911 if they come upon similar devices so trained professionals can assess their lethality.

By BRENT MARTIN St. Joseph PostIt was an explosive, actually a World War I explosive, but it was inactive and posed no threat to the public.The St. Joseph Police Department reports a fire station received an unusual visit by a woman carrying a World War I explosive devise she found among her father’s belongings. The woman wanted to know if the shell was safe.The department says St. Joseph firefighters and police officers examined it and determined the shell to be a non-lethal projectile from a World War I-era weapon that posed no threat to the public.The St. Joseph Police Department commended the woman for seeking guidance on the projectile rather than handling it on her own. The department urges the public to call 911 if they come upon similar devices so trained professionals can assess their lethality.

Woman walked into fire station with WWI bomb

KANSAS CITY —It was a deadly Monday in Kansas City. Police are investigating two homicides and have identified the victims.

Just before 6p.m., patrol&nbsp; were dispatched to the 3400 block of Wyoming on a reported shooting, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMartino.&nbsp; Upon arrival officers located a man, later identified as 20-year-old Zykevious L. Crosby suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers began performing lifesaving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene. EMS transported the Crosby to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased a short time later.

This is being investigated as a homicide. 

Preliminary information revealed there was an altercation in the parking lot between multiple individuals before shots were fired. Detectives are trying to determine what led up to the incident.

At about the same time, KCPD patrol officers were dispatched to the 8000 block of Hickman Mills on a reported medical nature unknown. Upon arrival officers located a man, later identified as 64-year-old Zulfiqar&nbsp;Ladhani, in the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. He suffering from a gunshot wound. EMS was ordered to the scene and Ladhani was subsequently pronounced deceased. This is also being investigated as a homicide.&nbsp; Police released no additional details late Tuesday and have not reported an arrest or possible suspect information.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739240797760.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —It was a deadly Monday in Kansas City. Police are investigating two homicides and have identified the victims.Just before 6p.m., patrol&nbsp; were dispatched to the 3400 block of Wyoming on a reported shooting, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMartino.&nbsp; Upon arrival officers located a man, later identified as 20-year-old Zykevious L. Crosby suffering from a gunshot wound. Officers began performing lifesaving measures and ordered emergency medical personnel to the scene. EMS transported the Crosby to a local hospital where he was pronounced deceased a short time later.This is being investigated as a homicide. Preliminary information revealed there was an altercation in the parking lot between multiple individuals before shots were fired. Detectives are trying to determine what led up to the incident.At about the same time, KCPD patrol officers were dispatched to the 8000 block of Hickman Mills on a reported medical nature unknown. Upon arrival officers located a man, later identified as 64-year-old Zulfiqar&nbsp;Ladhani, in the parking lot of a nearby convenience store. He suffering from a gunshot wound. EMS was ordered to the scene and Ladhani was subsequently pronounced deceased. This is also being investigated as a homicide.&nbsp; Police released no additional details late Tuesday and have not reported an arrest or possible suspect information.

Deadly Monday in Kansas City: Police ID two homicide victims

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.

Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk with his young son as Trump praised Musk's work with his Department of Government Efficiency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ies-musk-doge-education-cuts-4461d7bdbe9d55c5a411d8465999b011">to slash spending</a>&nbsp;and as the president signed an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce.

Despite concerns that he’s amassing unaccountable power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-secrecy-68a66370cbc67c457e0a1c6edb08c5ef">with little transparency</a>, Musk described himself as an open book. He joked that the scrutiny over his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-21153a742fbad86284369bb173ec343c">sprawling influence over federal agencies</a>&nbsp;was like a “daily proctology exam.”

Despite Musk’s pledge to be “maximally transparent,” the White House on Tuesday fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a day after the watchdog’s office warned that the DOGE-directed dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds.

Musk, taking questions from reporters for the first time since joining the Trump administration as a special government employee, defended DOGE's work as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical.”

“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”

Musk, the world’s richest person and the owner of the social media platform X, said that he was trying to be “as transparent as possible” and claimed that the organization's work was shared on X and on DOGE's website. However, the DOGE website has no information, and the postings on X are lacking many details, including which programs are being cut and where the organization has access.

Musk acknowledged, in response to a question, that some of the claims he's made about government programs and spending have been wrong.

“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody can bat 1,000,” he said, adding that he would act quickly to correct errors.

He acknowledged DOGE could be making errors as well.

“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.

Musk said there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but they need to be accountable. Musk referred to the federal bureaucracy as an “unelected” fourth branch that had “more power than any elected representative.”

Trump and Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-federal-workers-doge-musk-buyout-522b13db0dac361a6225d289773f9c1d">is currently on hold</a>&nbsp;while a judge reviews its legality. The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer.

A White House fact sheet on the executive order Trump signed said that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law.”

It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service.” There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety.

Hundreds of people gathered for a rally Tuesday across the street from the U.S. Capitol in support of federal workers.

Janet Connelly, a graphic designer with the Department of Energy, said she's fed up with emails from the Office of Personnel Management encouraging people to take the deferred resignation program.

She tried to use her spam settings to filter out the emails but to no avail. Connelly said she has no plans to take the offer.

“From the get-go, I didn’t trust it,” she said.

Connelly said she thinks of her work as trying to do an important service for the American public.

“It’s too easy to vilify us," she said.

Others have said fear and uncertainty have swept through the federal workforce.

“They’re worried about their jobs. They’re worried about their families. They’re also worried about their work and the communities they serve,” said Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's most powerful adviser, Elon Musk, made a rare public appearance at the White House on Tuesday to defend the swift and extensive cuts he's pushing across the federal government while acknowledging there have been mistakes and will be more.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Elon Musk: &quot;At a high level, if you say what is the goal of <a href="https://twitter.com/DOGE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DOGE</a> and a significant part of the presidency, is to restore democracy...&quot; <a href="https://t.co/kdvhYlfLo4">pic.twitter.com/kdvhYlfLo4</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889427925746811110?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Musk stood next to the Resolute Desk with his young son as Trump praised Musk's work with his Department of Government Efficiency&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ies-musk-doge-education-cuts-4461d7bdbe9d55c5a411d8465999b011">to slash spending</a>&nbsp;and as the president signed an executive order to continue downsizing the federal workforce.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;Your detractors...say that you&#39;re orchestrating a hostile takeover of government and doing it in a non-transparent way. What&#39;s your response to that criticism?&quot; Elon Musk: &quot;The people voted for major government reform and that&#39;s what people are going to get.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/RyugNN7ijt">pic.twitter.com/RyugNN7ijt</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889428248091664441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Despite concerns that he’s amassing unaccountable power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-secrecy-68a66370cbc67c457e0a1c6edb08c5ef">with little transparency</a>, Musk described himself as an open book. He joked that the scrutiny over his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-doge-21153a742fbad86284369bb173ec343c">sprawling influence over federal agencies</a>&nbsp;was like a “daily proctology exam.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;How can we make sure that all the statements that you said were correct so we can trust what you say?&quot; Elon Musk: &quot;Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/bbVdkIeAkM">pic.twitter.com/bbVdkIeAkM</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1889430810257666359?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Despite Musk’s pledge to be “maximally transparent,” the White House on Tuesday fired the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development, a day after the watchdog’s office warned that the DOGE-directed dismantling of USAID had made it all but impossible to monitor $8.2 billion in humanitarian funds.Musk, taking questions from reporters for the first time since joining the Trump administration as a special government employee, defended DOGE's work as “common sense” and “not draconian or radical.”“The people voted for major government reform, and that’s what the people are going to get,” he said. “That’s what democracy is all about.”Musk, the world’s richest person and the owner of the social media platform X, said that he was trying to be “as transparent as possible” and claimed that the organization's work was shared on X and on DOGE's website. However, the DOGE website has no information, and the postings on X are lacking many details, including which programs are being cut and where the organization has access.Musk acknowledged, in response to a question, that some of the claims he's made about government programs and spending have been wrong.“Some of the things that I say will be incorrect and should be corrected. So nobody can bat 1,000,” he said, adding that he would act quickly to correct errors.He acknowledged DOGE could be making errors as well.“We are moving fast, so we will make mistakes, but we’ll also fix the mistakes very quickly,” Musk said.Musk said there are some good people in the federal bureaucracy, but they need to be accountable. Musk referred to the federal bureaucracy as an “unelected” fourth branch that had “more power than any elected representative.”Trump and Musk are pushing federal workers to resign in return for financial incentives, although their plan&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-federal-workers-doge-musk-buyout-522b13db0dac361a6225d289773f9c1d">is currently on hold</a>&nbsp;while a judge reviews its legality. The deferred resignation program, commonly described as a buyout, would allow employees to quit and still get paid until Sept. 30. Administration officials said more than 65,000 workers have taken the offer.A White House fact sheet on the executive order Trump signed said that “agencies will undertake plans for large-scale reductions in force and determine which agency components (or agencies themselves) may be eliminated or combined because their functions aren’t required by law.”It also said that agencies should “hire no more than one employee for every four employees that depart from federal service.” There are plans for exceptions when it comes to immigration, law enforcement and public safety.Hundreds of people gathered for a rally Tuesday across the street from the U.S. Capitol in support of federal workers.Janet Connelly, a graphic designer with the Department of Energy, said she's fed up with emails from the Office of Personnel Management encouraging people to take the deferred resignation program.She tried to use her spam settings to filter out the emails but to no avail. Connelly said she has no plans to take the offer.“From the get-go, I didn’t trust it,” she said.Connelly said she thinks of her work as trying to do an important service for the American public.“It’s too easy to vilify us," she said.Others have said fear and uncertainty have swept through the federal workforce.“They’re worried about their jobs. They’re worried about their families. They’re also worried about their work and the communities they serve,” said Helen Bottcher, a former Environmental Protection Agency employee and current union leader in Seattle.Bottcher participated in a press conference hosted by Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington.Murray said workers “deserve better than to be threatened, intimidated and pushed out the door by Elon Musk and Donald Trump.” She also said that "we actually need these people to stay in their jobs or things are going to start breaking.”A government lawyer, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because of fears of retaliation, said it was a terrifying time to be a federal worker.She said people are worried that their phones and computers are being monitored. She's a single mother with a young daughter, and her father is urging her to take a safer job in the private sector.But she's skeptical of the deferred resignation program, emphasizing that accepting the offer means workers can't sue if they're not paid what they're promised.The idea, she said, was insane._____Price reported from New York. Associated Press writers Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Rebecca Santana in Washington and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Md., contributed to this report.