SEDGWICK COUNTY— A man arrested in connection with a deadly fight on July 4, will make a court appearance this week.

Early Friday, police responded to a report of an assault in the 3000 block of North Fairview in Wichita, according to a media release from Wichita Police. A caller reported witnessing a man attacking another man. The victim was later identified as 33-year-old Cesar Gonzalez of Wichita.&nbsp;

Before officers arrived, the suspect fled the scene. Officers found Gonzalez unresponsive in the parking lot. Sedgwick County EMS transported him to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased at 1:54 a.m.

Officers located the suspect identified in Sedgwick County arrest records as <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/inmatesearch/Details.aspx?Id=254855">Eduardo Diaz-Yorbal, 33, Wichita,</a> in the 300 block of W. 29th Street and took him into custody without incident.

Diaz-Yorbal had injuries consistent with the altercation and was admitted to an area hospital for treatment, released and then booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on requested charges of first-degree murder and for a probation violation, according to online jail records.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751715135638.png" alt="DIAZ-YOBAL photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>DIAZ-YOBAL photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY— A man arrested in connection with a deadly fight on July 4, will make a court appearance this week.Early Friday, police responded to a report of an assault in the 3000 block of North Fairview in Wichita, according to a media release from Wichita Police. A caller reported witnessing a man attacking another man. The victim was later identified as 33-year-old Cesar Gonzalez of Wichita.&nbsp;Before officers arrived, the suspect fled the scene. Officers found Gonzalez unresponsive in the parking lot. Sedgwick County EMS transported him to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased at 1:54 a.m.Officers located the suspect identified in Sedgwick County arrest records as <a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/inmatesearch/Details.aspx?Id=254855">Eduardo Diaz-Yorbal, 33, Wichita,</a> in the 300 block of W. 29th Street and took him into custody without incident. Diaz-Yorbal had injuries consistent with the altercation and was admitted to an area hospital for treatment, released and then booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on requested charges of first-degree murder and for a probation violation, according to online jail records.

Kansas suspect injured in deadly July 4, fight is due in court

KERR COUNTY, Texas (AP)—A July Fourth weekend deluge in Texas caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flash-flood-texas-camp-mystic-aec9181a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13">catastrophic flash flooding</a>&nbsp;that has killed at least 89 people.

Camp Mystic in Kerr County says Monday morning that it is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-severe-weather-camp-mystic-ef8e596833b145fef61451db92f32609">“grieving the loss”</a>&nbsp;of 27 campers and counselors as the search continues for victims of the disaster. The flooding sent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thunderstorms-texas-deaths-camp-mystic-trees-hail-e8a4c85c77f714c9a974e50f3cd1fca1">a wall of water</a>&nbsp;through the century-old summer camp Friday.

The risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas with more rain on the way.

The Texas Hill Country is home to several summer camps. Searchers there have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children. Fourteen other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">deaths have been reported</a>&nbsp;in other parts of Texas.

Moisture powered the storm from many directions

The warm water of the Gulf&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-hill-country-climate-change-6f16e4c4413c3795094553269f059120">fueled the moist atmosphere</a>, and even more moisture came from areas over the Pacific Ocean to the west.

Remnants of moisture from Tropical Storm Barry also lingered over Texas because the jet stream, a current of air that moves weather patterns, wasn’t there to push it away.

The combination gave the storm plenty of fuel once it got started.

Meteorologists said that an atmosphere warmed by human-caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change">climate change</a>&nbsp;can hold more moisture and allow bad storms to dump more rain, though it’s hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur.

A Camp Mystic nurse captured the escape in a series of TikTok videos

A video posted by Devon Paige shows girls on a bus singing the lyrics to “Pass It On,” a Christian hymn written by Kurt Kaiser.

“I wish for you, my friend,” they chant, their bus rolling past toppled trees, and a rescue vehicle, flashers on. “This happiness that I’ve found.”

As the bus passes a National Guard Jeep, the terrified chorus sings, “I’ll shout it from the mountaintop.” In unison, they shout, “Praise God.”

The Mexican consulate in San Antonio is helping 30 Mexican people affected by the floods

Most of those requesting assistance needed help replacing their passports, President Claudia Sheinbaum said. Nine people asked for help to return to Mexico.

Sheinbaum said proudly that two Mexican girls helped to rescue other girls.

She said that the consulate is “in constant communication with the families, and when weather conditions permit, they will visit the shelters.”

Cruz says recent cuts to FEMA and the National Weather Service didn’t impact late warnings

“This is not a time for partisan finger-pointing and attacks,” the Republican senator said. “There will be a time to find out what could have been done differently. My hope is, in time, we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.”

Sen. Ted Cruz says he picked up his daughter from a camp in the area just a week ago

Cruz said the situation in Kerr County is “every parent’s nightmare.”

“The pain and agony of not knowing your children’s whereabouts is the worst thing imaginable,” Cruz said during a news conference with local officials.

The bodies of 27 children are among those that have been recovered, officials said during a news conference.

Ten campers and one counselor remain missing, officials said.

Officials had previously said the death toll in Kerr County was 68. Ten other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">deaths have been reported</a>&nbsp;in other parts of Texas.

Forecasters issue a flood watch for San Antonio and Austin

Slow-moving, heavy rainfall is expected to reach up to 4 additional inches, the National Weather Service said.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weather.gov/ewx/">flood watch</a>&nbsp;lasts through 7 p.m. local time.

Officials to hold a news conference on the search and rescue effort

The 10 a.m. Central news conference will be the first official update since Camp Mystic officials confirmed early this morning that they lost 27 campers and counselors when a wall of water swept through the campground in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July.

The floods were at their worst when many people were asleep

The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up.

Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark, early morning hours.

Officials face scrutiny over flash flood warnings

Survivors have described the floods as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thunderstorms-texas-deaths-camp-mystic-trees-hail-e8a4c85c77f714c9a974e50f3cd1fca1">“pitch black wall of death”</a>&nbsp;and said they received no emergency warnings.

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">nobody saw this coming</a>.” Various officials have referred to it as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/100-year-flood-frequency-probability-weather-climate-1441437964b77de38e4e590c3c0698e0">“100-year-flood,” meaning</a>&nbsp;that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.

And records behind those statistics don’t always account for human-caused climate change.

Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate.

Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.

Kerr County officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">reeled at the cost</a>.

Search and rescue teams are heading back out to look for flood victims

Organizers at a staging area in Center Point said more than 1,000 volunteers have been directed to the area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) south of Kerrville, and more are being sent.

KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas on Monday even as crews search urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flash-flood-texas-camp-mystic-aec9181a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13">killed at least 82 people</a>, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to rise.

Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters late Friday.

Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.

“Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,” Brown said.

A few miles away, rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain filled with snakes continued their search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flooding-girls-missing-camp-mystic-395992e236e35c4486f9a6a97eed7704">all-girls summer camp</a>&nbsp;that sustained massive damage.

Gov. Greg Abbott said 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

In the Hill Country area, home to several summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

Ten other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-campers-hill-country-guadalupe-river-ff290a170acaad28b8372f83c2b81911">deaths were reported in</a>&nbsp;Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.

The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more dangerous flooding, especially in places already saturated.

Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning. One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man whose daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks.

One family left with a blue footlocker. A teenage girl had tears running down her face as they slowly drove away and she gazed through the open window at the wreckage.

Nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches from the river. With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak.

Volunteers and some families of the missing came to the disaster zone and searched despite being asked not to do so.

Authorities faced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">growing questions</a>&nbsp;about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flood-deaths-flash-flooding-weather-408b11abe0389f38c93d8722b9d15dd0">vulnerable to flooding</a>&nbsp;and whether enough preparations were made.

President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday: “I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way.”

“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” he told reporters.

Prayers in Texas — and from the Vatican

Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He&nbsp;<a href="https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/DISASTER_Hill_Country_flood_Day_of_Prayer_IMAGE_07-05-2025.pdf">declared Sunday a day of prayer</a>&nbsp;for the state.

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. The first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, saying, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”

Survivors shared terrifying stories of being swept away and clinging to trees as rampaging floodwaters carried trees and cars past them. Others fled to attics, praying the water wouldn’t reach them.

At Camp Mystic, a cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.

Among&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">those confirmed dead</a>&nbsp;were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp up the road.

Two school-age sisters from Dallas were missing after their cabin was swept away. Their parents were staying in a different cabin and were safe, but the girls’ grandparents were unaccounted for.

On Thursday the National Weather Service advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-hill-country-climate-change-6f16e4c4413c3795094553269f059120">months’ worth of rain</a>&nbsp;for the area.

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said authorities are committed to a full review of the emergency response.

Trump, asked whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that was something “we can talk about later, but right now we are busy working.” He has said he wants to overhaul if not completely eliminate FEMA and sharply criticized its performance.

Trump also was asked whether he planned to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year as part of widespread government spending cuts.

“I would think not. This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people there, and they didn’t see it,” the president said.

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Cedar Attanasio in New York; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Michelle Price in Morristown, N.J.; and Nicole Winfield in Rome.

KERR COUNTY, Texas (AP)—A July Fourth weekend deluge in Texas caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flash-flood-texas-camp-mystic-aec9181a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13">catastrophic flash flooding</a>&nbsp;that has killed at least 89 people.Camp Mystic in Kerr County says Monday morning that it is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-severe-weather-camp-mystic-ef8e596833b145fef61451db92f32609">“grieving the loss”</a>&nbsp;of 27 campers and counselors as the search continues for victims of the disaster. The flooding sent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thunderstorms-texas-deaths-camp-mystic-trees-hail-e8a4c85c77f714c9a974e50f3cd1fca1">a wall of water</a>&nbsp;through the century-old summer camp Friday.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Rescue and recovery efforts continue in full force in Kerr County. DPS along with partners from several agencies including <a href="https://twitter.com/TPWDnews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TPWDnews</a> are combing through debris and damage as the mission is ongoing. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/protectandserve?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#protectandserve</a> <a href="https://t.co/vOJQwUfnjd">pic.twitter.com/vOJQwUfnjd</a>&mdash; Texas DPS (@TxDPS) <a href="https://twitter.com/TxDPS/status/1942207554374770816?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 7, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas with more rain on the way.The Texas Hill Country is home to several summer camps. Searchers there have found the bodies of 75 people, including 27 children. Fourteen other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">deaths have been reported</a>&nbsp;in other parts of Texas.Here's the Latest:<h2>Moisture powered the storm from many directions</h2><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Over a foot of rain has fallen overnight. Streams have rapidly risen and floodwaters are beginning to move downstream in Burnet, Williamson, and northwest Travis counties. Numerous water rescues are ongoing. Seek higher ground immediately if you are near a swelling stream. <a href="https://t.co/tpn6A5xWtU">pic.twitter.com/tpn6A5xWtU</a>&mdash; NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1941482005776171093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Flash Flood EMERGENCY now in effect for Burnet County. 5-12” of rain has occurred, an additional 2-5” possible. This is a Particularly Dangerous Situation with life-threatening flash flooding. Seek higher ground if near a flooded creek or stream. Otherwise, avoid travel. <a href="https://t.co/tUPvcaeo6c">pic.twitter.com/tUPvcaeo6c</a>&mdash; NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1941441927385075916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The warm water of the Gulf&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-hill-country-climate-change-6f16e4c4413c3795094553269f059120">fueled the moist atmosphere</a>, and even more moisture came from areas over the Pacific Ocean to the west.Remnants of moisture from Tropical Storm Barry also lingered over Texas because the jet stream, a current of air that moves weather patterns, wasn’t there to push it away.The combination gave the storm plenty of fuel once it got started.Meteorologists said that an atmosphere warmed by human-caused&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/climate-change">climate change</a>&nbsp;can hold more moisture and allow bad storms to dump more rain, though it’s hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur.<h2>A Camp Mystic nurse captured the escape in a series of TikTok videos</h2>A video posted by Devon Paige shows girls on a bus singing the lyrics to “Pass It On,” a Christian hymn written by Kurt Kaiser.“I wish for you, my friend,” they chant, their bus rolling past toppled trees, and a rescue vehicle, flashers on. “This happiness that I’ve found.”As the bus passes a National Guard Jeep, the terrified chorus sings, “I’ll shout it from the mountaintop.” In unison, they shout, “Praise God.”<h2>The Mexican consulate in San Antonio is helping 30 Mexican people affected by the floods</h2>Most of those requesting assistance needed help replacing their passports, President Claudia Sheinbaum said. Nine people asked for help to return to Mexico.Sheinbaum said proudly that two Mexican girls helped to rescue other girls.She said that the consulate is “in constant communication with the families, and when weather conditions permit, they will visit the shelters.”<h2>Cruz says recent cuts to FEMA and the National Weather Service didn’t impact late warnings</h2>“This is not a time for partisan finger-pointing and attacks,” the Republican senator said. “There will be a time to find out what could have been done differently. My hope is, in time, we learn some lessons to implement the next time there is a flood.”<h2>Sen. Ted Cruz says he picked up his daughter from a camp in the area just a week ago</h2>Cruz said the situation in Kerr County is “every parent’s nightmare.”“The pain and agony of not knowing your children’s whereabouts is the worst thing imaginable,” Cruz said during a news conference with local officials.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751849186356.png" alt="Photo U.S. Coast Guard" />
 <figcaption>Photo U.S. Coast Guard</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Kerr County’s death toll rises to 75</h2>The bodies of 27 children are among those that have been recovered, officials said during a news conference.Ten campers and one counselor remain missing, officials said.Officials had previously said the death toll in Kerr County was 68. Ten other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">deaths have been reported</a>&nbsp;in other parts of Texas.<h2>Forecasters issue a flood watch for San Antonio and Austin</h2>Slow-moving, heavy rainfall is expected to reach up to 4 additional inches, the National Weather Service said.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.weather.gov/ewx/">flood watch</a>&nbsp;lasts through 7 p.m. local time.<h2>Officials to hold a news conference on the search and rescue effort</h2>The 10 a.m. Central news conference will be the first official update since Camp Mystic officials confirmed early this morning that they lost 27 campers and counselors when a wall of water swept through the campground in the middle of the night on the Fourth of July.<h2>The floods were at their worst when many people were asleep</h2>The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up.Friday’s flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark, early morning hours.<h2>Officials face scrutiny over flash flood warnings</h2>Survivors have described the floods as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/thunderstorms-texas-deaths-camp-mystic-trees-hail-e8a4c85c77f714c9a974e50f3cd1fca1">“pitch black wall of death”</a>&nbsp;and said they received no emergency warnings.Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that “&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">nobody saw this coming</a>.” Various officials have referred to it as a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/100-year-flood-frequency-probability-weather-climate-1441437964b77de38e4e590c3c0698e0">“100-year-flood,” meaning</a>&nbsp;that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record.And records behind those statistics don’t always account for human-caused climate change.Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate.Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor.Kerr County officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">reeled at the cost</a>.<h2>Search and rescue teams are heading back out to look for flood victims</h2>Organizers at a staging area in Center Point said more than 1,000 volunteers have been directed to the area about 8 miles (13 kilometers) south of Kerrville, and more are being sent.--------------KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas on Monday even as crews search urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flash-flood-texas-camp-mystic-aec9181a07d3ce8ff85197922e108b13">killed at least 82 people</a>, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to rise.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> says he plans to visit Texas later this week: &quot;Probably on Friday. We wanted to leave a little time. I would&#39;ve done it today, but we&#39;d just be in their way — probably Friday.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/LK13OiCXRI">pic.twitter.com/LK13OiCXRI</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1941985373548089480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters late Friday.Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.“Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,” Brown said.A few miles away, rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain filled with snakes continued their search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flooding-girls-missing-camp-mystic-395992e236e35c4486f9a6a97eed7704">all-girls summer camp</a>&nbsp;that sustained massive damage.Gov. Greg Abbott said 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.In the Hill Country area, home to several summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.Ten other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-campers-hill-country-guadalupe-river-ff290a170acaad28b8372f83c2b81911">deaths were reported in</a>&nbsp;Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more dangerous flooding, especially in places already saturated.Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning. One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man whose daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks.One family left with a blue footlocker. A teenage girl had tears running down her face as they slowly drove away and she gazed through the open window at the wreckage.<h2>Searching the disaster zone</h2>Nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches from the river. With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak.Volunteers and some families of the missing came to the disaster zone and searched despite being asked not to do so.Authorities faced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-hill-country-weather-warnings-238d4325bb58f0b410015f74684738b6">growing questions</a>&nbsp;about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/flood-deaths-flash-flooding-weather-408b11abe0389f38c93d8722b9d15dd0">vulnerable to flooding</a>&nbsp;and whether enough preparations were made.President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday: “I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way.”“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” he told reporters.<h2>Prayers in Texas — and from the Vatican</h2>Gov. Greg Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He&nbsp;<a href="https://gov.texas.gov/uploads/files/press/DISASTER_Hill_Country_flood_Day_of_Prayer_IMAGE_07-05-2025.pdf">declared Sunday a day of prayer</a>&nbsp;for the state.In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. The first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, saying, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”<h2>Desperate refuge and trees and attics</h2>Survivors shared terrifying stories of being swept away and clinging to trees as rampaging floodwaters carried trees and cars past them. Others fled to attics, praying the water wouldn’t reach them.At Camp Mystic, a cabin full of girls held onto a rope strung by rescuers as they walked across a bridge with water whipping around their legs.Among&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-floods-missing-hill-country-victims-camp-68b25cdb4d72f7eddff576af4ef7d400">those confirmed dead</a>&nbsp;were an 8-year-old girl from Mountain Brook, Alabama, who was at Camp Mystic, and the director of another camp up the road.Two school-age sisters from Dallas were missing after their cabin was swept away. Their parents were staying in a different cabin and were safe, but the girls’ grandparents were unaccounted for.<h2>Warnings came before the disaster</h2>On Thursday the National Weather Service advised of potential flooding and then sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours of Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Over a foot of rain has fallen overnight. Streams have rapidly risen and floodwaters are beginning to move downstream in Burnet, Williamson, and northwest Travis counties. Numerous water rescues are ongoing. Seek higher ground immediately if you are near a swelling stream. <a href="https://t.co/tpn6A5xWtU">pic.twitter.com/tpn6A5xWtU</a>&mdash; NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1941482005776171093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Flash Flood EMERGENCY now in effect for Burnet County. 5-12” of rain has occurred, an additional 2-5” possible. This is a Particularly Dangerous Situation with life-threatening flash flooding. Seek higher ground if near a flooded creek or stream. Otherwise, avoid travel. <a href="https://t.co/tUPvcaeo6c">pic.twitter.com/tUPvcaeo6c</a>&mdash; NWS Austin/San Antonio (@NWSSanAntonio) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSSanAntonio/status/1941441927385075916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Authorities and elected officials have said they did not expect such an intense downpour, the equivalent of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-flash-flood-hill-country-climate-change-6f16e4c4413c3795094553269f059120">months’ worth of rain</a>&nbsp;for the area.Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said authorities are committed to a full review of the emergency response.Trump, asked whether he was still planning to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said that was something “we can talk about later, but right now we are busy working.” He has said he wants to overhaul if not completely eliminate FEMA and sharply criticized its performance.Trump also was asked whether he planned to rehire any of the federal meteorologists who were fired this year as part of widespread government spending cuts.“I would think not. This was a thing that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it. Very talented people there, and they didn’t see it,” the president said.___Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; Cedar Attanasio in New York; Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Michelle Price in Morristown, N.J.; and Nicole Winfield in Rome.

Massive search for survivors continues after deadly Texas floods

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating another homicide in Wichita.&nbsp;

Just before 6p.m. Sunday, police&nbsp;responded to a shooting in the 7000 block of E. Lincoln in Wichita, according to media release. First responders found a 32-year-old man lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but was later pronounced dead.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call investigators at 316-268-4407. To remain anonymous, you can submit a tip through Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751854777277.png" alt="Police on the scene of the homicide investigation -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the homicide investigation -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating another homicide in Wichita.&nbsp;Just before 6p.m. Sunday, police&nbsp;responded to a shooting in the 7000 block of E. Lincoln in Wichita, according to media release. First responders found a 32-year-old man lying on the ground with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital in critical condition but was later pronounced dead.Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call investigators at 316-268-4407. To remain anonymous, you can submit a tip through Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.

Homicide: 32-year-old found with gunshot wound outside Kan. hom

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed the tax and spending cut bill Republicans muscled through Congress, turning it into law by his own self-imposed Fourth of July deadline.

<a href="https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/the_one_big_beautiful_bill_act.pdf">Click here to read the bill</a>

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.

Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version Thursday 218-214.

Here's the latest on what's in the bill and when some of its provisions go into effect.

GOP bill includes reductions for businesses and new tax breaks

Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.

The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.

It temporarily would add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There's also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits.

It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit.

A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years.

There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth.

The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version.

GOP bill funds the border wall, deportations and a missile shield

The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.

Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.

To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections.

For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.

Medicaid, SNAP face deep cuts to fund bill's tax breaks and spending

To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line.

Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements.

There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services.

More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.

Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments.

But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate.

The 'big beautiful' bill slashes clean energy tax credits

Republicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs.

Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a "death sentence for America's wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills."

A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.

Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.

The bill creates 'Trump Accounts' — and funds a national hero garden

A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities.

The bill creates a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.

The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought "National Garden of American Heroes."

There's a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer.

A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated.

One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood.

Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing.

Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee.

Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills.

State AI regulations cut from bill after a GOP uproar

The Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote.

A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals.

The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China.

Final price tag: GOP bill could add $3.3 trillion to deficit

Altogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.

Or not, depending on how one does the math.

Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already "current policy." Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach.

Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said.

Democrats say this is "magic math" that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country's fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an "accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751667635743.png" alt="Image from White House video" />
 <figcaption>Image from White House video</figcaption>
 </figure>By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO&nbsp;WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed the tax and spending cut bill Republicans muscled through Congress, turning it into law by his own self-imposed Fourth of July deadline.<a href="https://www.budget.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/the_one_big_beautiful_bill_act.pdf">Click here to read the bill</a><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">🚨 THE ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL IS NOW OFFICIALLY THE LAW OF THE LAND! <a href="https://t.co/mOpYN0tiZ0">pic.twitter.com/mOpYN0tiZ0</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1941253557665321187?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING: President Trump Signs One Big Beautiful Bill Into Law – MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! 🇺🇸🦅 <a href="https://t.co/xHpsiQJcaP">pic.twitter.com/xHpsiQJcaP</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1941253408251576746?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Democrats united against the legislation, but were powerless to stop it as long as Republicans stayed united. The Senate passed the bill Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote. The House passed an earlier iteration of the bill in May with just one vote to spare. It passed the final version Thursday 218-214.Here's the latest on what's in the bill and when some of its provisions go into effect.GOP bill includes reductions for businesses and new tax breaksRepublicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill, solidifying the tax cuts approved in Trump's first term.It temporarily would add new tax deductions on tip, overtime and auto loans. There's also a $6,000 deduction for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year, a nod to his pledge to end taxes on Social Security benefits.It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200. Millions of families at lower income levels would not get the full credit.A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years.There are scores of business-related tax cuts, including allowing businesses to immediately write off 100% of the cost of equipment and research. Proponents say this will boost economic growth.The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, and the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, mainly due to reductions in Medicaid and food aid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version.GOP bill funds the border wall, deportations and a missile shieldThe bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history.Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year.To help pay for it, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections.For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security.Medicaid, SNAP face deep cuts to fund bill's tax breaks and spendingTo help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back on Medicaid and food assistance for people below the poverty line.Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements.There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services.More than 71 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts.The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps, also known as SNAP benefits.Republicans are looking to have states pick up some of the cost for SNAP benefits. Currently, the federal government funds all benefit costs. Under the bill, states beginning in 2028 will be required to contribute a set percentage of those costs if their payment error rate exceeds 6%. Payment errors include both underpayments and overpayments.But the Senate bill temporarily delays the start date of that cost-sharing for states with the highest SNAP error rates. Alaska has the highest error rate in the nation at nearly 25%, according to Department of Agriculture data. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had fought for the exception. She was a decisive vote in getting the bill through the Senate.The 'big beautiful' bill slashes clean energy tax creditsRepublicans are proposing to dramatically roll back tax breaks designed to boost clean energy projects fueled by renewable sources such as energy and wind. The tax breaks were a central component of President Joe Biden's 2022 landmark bill focused on addressing climate change and lowering health care costs.Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden went so far as to call the GOP provisions a "death sentence for America's wind and solar industries and an inevitable hike in utility bills."A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on Sept. 30 of this year, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.Meanwhile, a tax credit for the production of critical materials will be expanded to include metallurgical coal used in steelmaking.The bill creates 'Trump Accounts' — and funds a national hero gardenA number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities.The bill creates a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury.The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought "National Garden of American Heroes."There's a new excise tax on university endowments and a new tax on remittances, or transfers of money that people in the U.S. send abroad. The tax is equal to 1% of the transfer.A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated.One provision bars for one year Medicaid payments to family planning providers that provide abortions, namely Planned Parenthood.Another section expands the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, a hard-fought provision from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for those impacted by nuclear development and testing.Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for the exploration of Mars, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee.Additionally, a provision would increase the nation's debt limit, by $5 trillion, to allow continued borrowing to pay already accrued bills.State AI regulations cut from bill after a GOP uproarThe Senate overwhelmingly revolted against a proposal meant to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence. Republican governors across the country asked for the moratorium to be removed and the Senate voted to do so with a resounding 99-1 vote.A provision was thrown in at the final hours that will provide $10 billion annually to rural hospitals for five years, or $50 billion in total. The Senate bill had originally provided $25 billion for the program, but that number was upped to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that reduced Medicaid provider taxes would hurt rural hospitals.The amended bill also stripped out a new tax on wind and solar projects that use a certain percentage of components from China.Final price tag: GOP bill could add $3.3 trillion to deficitAltogether, the Congressional Budget Office projects that the bill would increase federal deficits over the next 10 years by nearly $3.3 trillion from 2025 to 2034.Or not, depending on how one does the math.Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already "current policy." Republican senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach.Under the alternative Senate GOP view, the bill would reduce deficits by almost half a trillion dollars over the coming decade, the CBO said.Democrats say this is "magic math" that obscures the true costs of the tax breaks. Some nonpartisan groups worried about the country's fiscal trajectory are siding with Democrats in that regard. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says Senate Republicans were employing an "accounting gimmick that would make Enron executives blush."______

Read the final version of the tax and spending bill Trump signed into law

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect in connection with the child abuse death of a toddler.

On July 3, police responded to Wesley Medical Center after being notified of a two-year-old boy who was brought to the hospital with severe injuries after a reported fall, according to Wichita Police Captain Aaron Moses.

During the investigation, it was determined that the injuries sustained by the child were inconsistent with the facts provided by the adult caring for the child at the time they were injured.&nbsp;

Patrol officers and investigators from the Exploited Missing Children’s Unit and the WPD Homicide Unit began investigating this case due to the severity of the injuries.&nbsp;

On Thursday police arrested the 33-year-old step-father of the child, identified from booking records as Shawn D. Lewis, on requested charges of Aggravated Battery, head trauma/permanent and Child Abuse.

On Saturday the child, John Landon Delano, died due to his injuries. Shawn Lewis has now been booked into Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of First Degree Murder. 

The facts of this case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney for formal charging consideration.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751843575801.png" alt="Lewis photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Lewis photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect in connection with the child abuse death of a toddler.On July 3, police responded to Wesley Medical Center after being notified of a two-year-old boy who was brought to the hospital with severe injuries after a reported fall, according to Wichita Police Captain Aaron Moses.During the investigation, it was determined that the injuries sustained by the child were inconsistent with the facts provided by the adult caring for the child at the time they were injured.&nbsp;Patrol officers and investigators from the Exploited Missing Children’s Unit and the WPD Homicide Unit began investigating this case due to the severity of the injuries.&nbsp;On Thursday police arrested the 33-year-old step-father of the child, identified from booking records as Shawn D. Lewis, on requested charges of Aggravated Battery, head trauma/permanent and Child Abuse.On Saturday the child, John Landon Delano, died due to his injuries. Shawn Lewis has now been booked into Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of First Degree Murder. The facts of this case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney for formal charging consideration.&nbsp;

Stepfather accused in child abuse death of 2-year-old

NEW YORK (AP) — Eight members of the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries say they will boost production by 548,000 barrels per day in August in a move that could further reduce gas prices this year.

The group that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia made the decision at a virtual meeting Saturday. They cited a “steady global economic outlook” and low oil inventories.

Oil prices spiked sharply last month during the bloody, 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-prices-crude-hormuz-iran-bombing-israel-gas-trump-tehran-c628662e5e3522e23c762a2c591d1580">then tumbled back down</a>&nbsp;as the U.S. helped broker a peace deal after dropping bombs on three of Iran’s key nuclear sites.

Saudi Arabia holds significant influence in OPEC+ as the dominant member of the OPEC producers’ cartel, and Russia is the leading non-OPEC member in the 22-country alliance.

Along with Saudi Arabia and Russia, the group that met Saturday is made up of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.

A statement said the new measures were in accordance with a December decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opec-oil-gas-prices-energy-7e3a7a4b86e966ba9b609e23825e4ccc">put off increasing production</a>&nbsp;at that time, but gradually increase it by 2.2 million barrels per day over an 18-month period starting in April and ending in fall 2026. The delayed ramp up reflected weaker-than-expected demand and competing production from non-allied countries.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1683569393523.png" alt="Post photo" />
 <figcaption>Post photo</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Eight members of the OPEC+ alliance of oil exporting countries say they will boost production by 548,000 barrels per day in August in a move that could further reduce gas prices this year.The group that includes Saudi Arabia and Russia made the decision at a virtual meeting Saturday. They cited a “steady global economic outlook” and low oil inventories.Oil prices spiked sharply last month during the bloody, 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran but&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-prices-crude-hormuz-iran-bombing-israel-gas-trump-tehran-c628662e5e3522e23c762a2c591d1580">then tumbled back down</a>&nbsp;as the U.S. helped broker a peace deal after dropping bombs on three of Iran’s key nuclear sites.Saudi Arabia holds significant influence in OPEC+ as the dominant member of the OPEC producers’ cartel, and Russia is the leading non-OPEC member in the 22-country alliance.Along with Saudi Arabia and Russia, the group that met Saturday is made up of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.A statement said the new measures were in accordance with a December decision to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opec-oil-gas-prices-energy-7e3a7a4b86e966ba9b609e23825e4ccc">put off increasing production</a>&nbsp;at that time, but gradually increase it by 2.2 million barrels per day over an 18-month period starting in April and ending in fall 2026. The delayed ramp up reflected weaker-than-expected demand and competing production from non-allied countries.

Good news on gas prices: OPEC+ to boost oil production 

OSAGE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 7:30p.m. Sunday on Kansas Turnpike in Osage County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Harley Davidson driven by Christian Kaufman, 69, Wichita, was southbound on Interstate 335 just south of the Shawnee County line.

The motorcycle traveled off the road to the right. The driver overcorrected back onto the Turnpike and the vehicle overturned. The motorcycle skidded of the road to the right, struck a delineator post, a grassy ditch, rolled and the driver was ejected. The motorcycle continued to roll and caught fire.

Kaufman was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to First Call. He was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

OSAGE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just after 7:30p.m. Sunday on Kansas Turnpike in Osage County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Harley Davidson driven by Christian Kaufman, 69, Wichita, was southbound on Interstate 335 just south of the Shawnee County line.The motorcycle traveled off the road to the right. The driver overcorrected back onto the Turnpike and the vehicle overturned. The motorcycle skidded of the road to the right, struck a delineator post, a grassy ditch, rolled and the driver was ejected. The motorcycle continued to roll and caught fire.Kaufman was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to First Call. He was wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies in violent motorcycle crash, fire

WYANDOTTE COUNTY&nbsp;– The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating the death of a 50-year-old inmate who died Saturday while in law enforcement custody.

The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office notified the KBI of the death on Saturday, July 5, at approximately 9:30 p.m. KBI agents responded to investigate, according to a statement from the agency.

At approximately 8:30 p.m., Charles L. Adair, 50, of Kansas City, Kansas, received medical care in the detention center’s infirmary for a pre-existing wound on his leg.

Preliminary information indicates that when personnel attempted to transfer him back to his cell, Adair caused a disturbance by yelling, refusing to listen to commands, and physically resisting. Multiple sheriff’s deputies responded and handcuffed Adair to gain compliance. They transported him to his cell, where several deputies placed him on the lower bunk. They began attempting to remove the handcuffs, while Adair continued to resist. They gained control, removed the cuffs, and left the cell.

Immediately after, at 8:37 p.m., medical staff were called to evaluate Adair who they found unresponsive. Life-saving measures were initiated. EMS responded to the facility and continued medical intervention. Despite efforts, Adair was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m.

KBI agents did not observe any obvious signs of physical injury to Adair resulting from the incident. An autopsy will be conducted.

Adair had been in the facility since he was arrested July 4, on misdemeanor warrants for failure to appear on multiple traffic violations.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751825756436.png" alt="Adair photo from an arrest in 2022 in Wyandotte County" />
 <figcaption>Adair photo from an arrest in 2022 in Wyandotte County</figcaption>
 </figure>WYANDOTTE COUNTY&nbsp;– The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating the death of a 50-year-old inmate who died Saturday while in law enforcement custody.The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office notified the KBI of the death on Saturday, July 5, at approximately 9:30 p.m. KBI agents responded to investigate, according to a statement from the agency.At approximately 8:30 p.m., Charles L. Adair, 50, of Kansas City, Kansas, received medical care in the detention center’s infirmary for a pre-existing wound on his leg.Preliminary information indicates that when personnel attempted to transfer him back to his cell, Adair caused a disturbance by yelling, refusing to listen to commands, and physically resisting. Multiple sheriff’s deputies responded and handcuffed Adair to gain compliance. They transported him to his cell, where several deputies placed him on the lower bunk. They began attempting to remove the handcuffs, while Adair continued to resist. They gained control, removed the cuffs, and left the cell.Immediately after, at 8:37 p.m., medical staff were called to evaluate Adair who they found unresponsive. Life-saving measures were initiated. EMS responded to the facility and continued medical intervention. Despite efforts, Adair was pronounced dead at 9:19 p.m.KBI agents did not observe any obvious signs of physical injury to Adair resulting from the incident. An autopsy will be conducted.Adair had been in the facility since he was arrested July 4, on misdemeanor warrants for failure to appear on multiple traffic violations.

Man found dead in Kan. jail cell after struggle with deputies

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Elon Musk said he’s carrying out his threat to form a new political party after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-tax-bill-6e7845081259c34db785182c51569c0c">his fissure with President Donald Trump</a>, announcing the America Party in response to the president’s sweeping tax cuts law.

Musk, once an ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up the slashing agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency, broke with the Republican president over his signature legislation, which was signed into law Friday.

As the bill made its way through Congress,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-election-massie-a690566ca5140ca47cb7a993d41774e4">Musk threatened to form the “America Party”</a>&nbsp;if “this insane spending bill passes.”

“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste &amp; graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk said Saturday on X, the social media company he owns. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”

Asked about the effort by reporters on Sunday afternoon as he prepared to return to Washington from his home in New Jersey, Trump called Musk's proposition “ridiculous,” going on to tout "tremendous success with the Republican Party.”

“The Democrats have lost their way, but it’s always been a two-party system,” Trump added. “And I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. It really seems to have been developed, but three parties have never worked.”

The formation of new political parties is not uncommon, but they typically struggle to pull any significant support away from the Republican and Democratic parties. But Musk, the world's richest man who spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the 2024 election, could impact the 2026 elections determining control of Congress if he is willing to spend significant amounts of money.

His reignited feud with the president&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-trump-congress-tesla-doge-spacex-8a43b64f0f4508c8e74ef23572a0eece">could also be costly for Musk</a>, whose businesses rely on billions of dollars in government contracts and publicly traded company Tesla has taken a hit in the market.

It wasn’t clear whether Musk had taken steps to formally create the new political party. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, didn't immediately comment Sunday.

As of Sunday morning, there were multiple political parties listed in the Federal Election Commission database that had been formed in the the hours since Musk’s Saturday X post with versions of “America Party” of “DOGE” or “X” in the name, or Musk listed among people affiliated with the entity.

But none appeared to be authentic, listing contacts for the organization as email addresses such as ”&nbsp;<a href="mailto:wentsnowboarding@yahoo.com">wentsnowboarding@yahoo.com</a>&nbsp;″ or untraceable Protonmail addresses.

Musk on Sunday spent the morning on X taking feedback from users about the party and indicated he'd use the party to get involved in the 2026 midterm elections.

Last month, he threatened to try to oust every member of Congress that voted for Trump's bill. Musk had called the tax breaks and spending cuts package a “disgusting abomination," warning it would increase the federal deficit, among other critiques.

“The Republican Party has a clean sweep of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and STILL had the nerve to massively increase the size of government, expanding the national debt by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS,” Musk said Sunday on X.

His critiques of the bill and move to form a political party mark a reversal from May, when his time in the White House was winding down and the head of rocket company SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla said he would spend “a lot less” on politics in the future.

Treasury Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-trade-earths-tariffs-trump-463ae8d6ccba15b56c7d4d31d3fc42a1">Scott Bessent</a>, who clashed with Musk while he ran DOGE, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that DOGE's “principles” were popular but “if you look at the polling, Elon was not.”

“I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,” he said.

Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1748628883590.png" alt="File photo -White House" />
 <figcaption>File photo -White House</figcaption>
 </figure>BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Elon Musk said he’s carrying out his threat to form a new political party after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-tax-bill-6e7845081259c34db785182c51569c0c">his fissure with President Donald Trump</a>, announcing the America Party in response to the president’s sweeping tax cuts law.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">America’s Party will be focused on: -reduce debt, responsible spending only -modernize military with ai/robotics -pro tech, accelerate to win in ai -less regulation across board but especially in energy -free speech -pro natalist -centrist policies everywhere else Are you… <a href="https://t.co/7u55mH5jmw">pic.twitter.com/7u55mH5jmw</a>&mdash; Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) <a href="https://twitter.com/teslaownersSV/status/1941744384703332357?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 6, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">By a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it! When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste &amp; graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy. Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom. <a href="https://t.co/9K8AD04QQN">https://t.co/9K8AD04QQN</a>&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1941584569523732930?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Musk, once an ever-present ally to Trump as he headed up the slashing agency known as the Department of Government Efficiency, broke with the Republican president over his signature legislation, which was signed into law Friday.As the bill made its way through Congress,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-election-massie-a690566ca5140ca47cb7a993d41774e4">Musk threatened to form the “America Party”</a>&nbsp;if “this insane spending bill passes.”“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste &amp; graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk said Saturday on X, the social media company he owns. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you back your freedom.”Asked about the effort by reporters on Sunday afternoon as he prepared to return to Washington from his home in New Jersey, Trump called Musk's proposition “ridiculous,” going on to tout "tremendous success with the Republican Party.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751848997089.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>“The Democrats have lost their way, but it’s always been a two-party system,” Trump added. “And I think starting a third party just adds to confusion. It really seems to have been developed, but three parties have never worked.”The formation of new political parties is not uncommon, but they typically struggle to pull any significant support away from the Republican and Democratic parties. But Musk, the world's richest man who spent at least $250 million supporting Trump in the 2024 election, could impact the 2026 elections determining control of Congress if he is willing to spend significant amounts of money.His reignited feud with the president&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/musk-trump-congress-tesla-doge-spacex-8a43b64f0f4508c8e74ef23572a0eece">could also be costly for Musk</a>, whose businesses rely on billions of dollars in government contracts and publicly traded company Tesla has taken a hit in the market.It wasn’t clear whether Musk had taken steps to formally create the new political party. Spokespeople for Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, didn't immediately comment Sunday.As of Sunday morning, there were multiple political parties listed in the Federal Election Commission database that had been formed in the the hours since Musk’s Saturday X post with versions of “America Party” of “DOGE” or “X” in the name, or Musk listed among people affiliated with the entity.But none appeared to be authentic, listing contacts for the organization as email addresses such as ”&nbsp;<a href="mailto:wentsnowboarding@yahoo.com">wentsnowboarding@yahoo.com</a>&nbsp;″ or untraceable Protonmail addresses.Musk on Sunday spent the morning on X taking feedback from users about the party and indicated he'd use the party to get involved in the 2026 midterm elections.Last month, he threatened to try to oust every member of Congress that voted for Trump's bill. Musk had called the tax breaks and spending cuts package a “disgusting abomination," warning it would increase the federal deficit, among other critiques.“The Republican Party has a clean sweep of the executive, legislative and judicial branches and STILL had the nerve to massively increase the size of government, expanding the national debt by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS,” Musk said Sunday on X.His critiques of the bill and move to form a political party mark a reversal from May, when his time in the White House was winding down and the head of rocket company SpaceX and electric vehicle maker Tesla said he would spend “a lot less” on politics in the future.Treasury Secretary&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/china-trade-earths-tariffs-trump-463ae8d6ccba15b56c7d4d31d3fc42a1">Scott Bessent</a>, who clashed with Musk while he ran DOGE, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that DOGE's “principles” were popular but “if you look at the polling, Elon was not.”“I imagine that those board of directors did not like this announcement yesterday and will be encouraging him to focus on his business activities, not his political activities,” he said.___Associated Press writer Meg Kinnard in Chapin, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Musk is forming a new political party after split with Trump over tax cuts law

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas home daycare provider accused of child abuse decided not to face a jury trial and instead entered a plea to charges of child abuse.

On Thursday, 29-year-old Ija Hall, the owner of His Loving Hands Home Childcare, 357 N. Erie in Wichita,  pleaded guilty to&nbsp;child abuse before Judge Quentin Pittman, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.&nbsp; In June she told the court she would face a jury but changed her mind.

In September of 2024, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment suspended Hall's day care&nbsp; license after an incident involving a child she was fostering. A protective order was issued during her first court appearance, according to the district attorney's office. She was not to have contact with the victim in the case or any child under the age of 12.

One of her foster children was burned in a bathtub, according to the KDHE. A second foster child had bruises and missing teeth.

Hall is scheduled for sentencing on August 15.&nbsp; She&nbsp; is not in custody after meeting the requirement of a $25,000 bond. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1726247213560.png" alt="Hall photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Hall photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas home daycare provider accused of child abuse decided not to face a jury trial and instead entered a plea to charges of child abuse.On Thursday, 29-year-old Ija Hall, the owner of His Loving Hands Home Childcare, 357 N. Erie in Wichita, pleaded guilty to&nbsp;child abuse before Judge Quentin Pittman, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.&nbsp; In June she told the court she would face a jury but changed her mind.In September of 2024, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment suspended Hall's day care&nbsp; license after an incident involving a child she was fostering. A protective order was issued during her first court appearance, according to the district attorney's office. She was not to have contact with the victim in the case or any child under the age of 12.One of her foster children was burned in a bathtub, according to the KDHE. A second foster child had bruises and missing teeth.Hall is scheduled for sentencing on August 15.&nbsp; She&nbsp; is not in custody after meeting the requirement of a $25,000 bond. -------

Kan. day care provider admits to abuse of children in her care

<a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOHN%20HANNA%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;</a>

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. government is preparing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fly-factory-texas-flesheating-screwworm-cattle-5eb62edc42bcfce40cdbea27b5f8b60c">breed billions of flies</a>&nbsp;and dump them out of airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to fight a flesh-eating maggot.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751678956084.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22JOHN%20HANNA%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;</a>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. government is preparing to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fly-factory-texas-flesheating-screwworm-cattle-5eb62edc42bcfce40cdbea27b5f8b60c">breed billions of flies</a>&nbsp;and dump them out of airplanes over Mexico and southern Texas to fight a flesh-eating maggot.That sounds like the plot of a horror movie, but it is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-us-screwworm-cattle-2ea2cbbb02c102a1feb1f402cd5774cf">part of the government's plans</a>&nbsp;for protecting the U.S. from a bug that could devastate its beef industry, decimate wildlife and even kill household pets. This weird science has worked well before.“It’s an exceptionally good technology,” said Edwin Burgess, an assistant professor at the University of Florida who studies parasites in animals, particularly livestock. “It’s an all-time great in terms of translating science to solve some kind of large problem.”The targeted pest is the flesh-eating larva of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/cattle/ticks/screwworm">the New World Screwworm fly.</a>&nbsp;The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to ramp up the breeding and distribution of adult male flies — sterilizing them with radiation before releasing them. They mate with females in the wild, and the eggs laid by the female aren't fertilized and don't hatch. There are fewer larvae, and over time, the fly population dies out.It is more effective and environmentally friendly than spraying the pest into oblivion, and it is how the U.S. and other nations north of Panama eradicated the same pest decades ago. Sterile flies from a factory in Panama kept the flies contained there for years, but the pest appeared in southern Mexico late last year.The USDA expects a new screwworm fly factory to be up and running in southern Mexico by July 2026. It plans to open a fly distribution center in southern Texas by the end of the year so that it can import and distribute flies from Panama if necessary.<h2>Fly feeds on live flesh</h2>Most fly larvae feed on dead flesh, making the New World screwworm fly and its Old World counterpart in Asia and Africa outliers — and for the American beef industry, a serious threat. Females lay their eggs in wounds and, sometimes, exposed mucus.“A thousand-pound bovine can be dead from this in two weeks,” said Michael Bailey, president elect of the American Veterinary Medicine Association.Veterinarians have effective treatments for infested animals, but an infestation can still be unpleasant — and cripple an animal with pain.Don Hineman, a retired western Kansas rancher, recalled infected cattle as a youngster on his family's farm.“It smelled nasty,” he said. “Like rotting meat.”<h2>How scientists will use the fly's biology against it</h2>The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species, unable to survive Midwestern or Great Plains winters, so it was a seasonal scourge. Still, the U.S. and Mexico bred and released more than 94 billion sterile flies from 1962 through 1975 to eradicate the pest, according to the USDA.The numbers need to be large enough that females in the wild can't help but hook up with sterile males for mating.One biological trait gives fly fighters a crucial wing up: Females mate only once in their weekslong adult lives.<h2>Why the US wants to breed more flies</h2>Alarmed about the fly's migration north, the U.S. temporarily&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-us-cattle-screwworm-b3fc2c3642e6773f98f4b9cd6072eb93">closed its southern border</a>&nbsp;in May to imports of live cattle, horses and bison and it won't be fully open again at least until mid-September.But female flies can lay their eggs in wounds on any warm-blooded animal, and that includes humans.Decades ago, the U.S. had fly factories in Florida and Texas, but they closed as the pest was eradicated.The Panama fly factory can breed up to 117 million a week, but the USDA wants the capacity to breed at least 400 million a week. It plans to spend $8.5 million on the Texas site and $21 million to convert a facility in southern Mexico for breeding sterile fruit flies into one for screwworm flies.<h2>How to raise hundreds of millions of flies</h2>In one sense, raising a large colony of flies is relatively easy, said Cassandra Olds, an assistant professor of entomology at Kansas State University.But, she added, “You’ve got to give the female the cues that she needs to lay her eggs, and then the larvae have to have enough nutrients.”Fly factories once fed larvae horse meat and honey and then moved to a mix of dried eggs and either honey or molasses, according to past USDA research. Later, the Panama factory used a mix that included egg powder and red blood cells and plasma from cattle.In the wild, larvae ready for the equivalent of a butterfly’s cocoon stage drop off their hosts and onto the ground, burrow just below the surface and grow to adulthood inside a protective casing making them resemble a dark brown Tic Tac mint. In the Panama factory, workers drop them into trays of sawdust.Security is an issue. Sonja Swiger, an entomologist with Texas A&amp;M University’s Extension Service, said a breeding facility must prevent any fertile adults kept for breeding stock from escaping.<h2>How to drop flies from an airplane</h2>Dropping flies from the air can be dangerous. Last month, a plane freeing sterile flies&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mexico-guatemala-plane-screwworm-cattle-sheinbaum-bd01e5f38f11e9e6db67150bfb1faf67">crashed near Mexico’s border</a>&nbsp;with Guatemala, killing three people.In test runs in the 1950s, according to the USDA, scientists put the flies in paper cups and then dropped the cups out of planes using special chutes. Later, they loaded them into boxes with a machine known as a “Whiz Packer.”The method is still much the same: Light planes with crates of flies drop those crates.Burgess called the development of sterile fly breeding and distribution in the 1950s and 1960s one of the USDA’s “crowning achievements.”Some agriculture officials argue now that new factories shouldn’t be shuttered after another successful fight.“Something we think we have complete control over — and we have declared a triumph and victory over — can always rear its ugly head again,” Burgess said.