By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-28/saliva-is-making-it-possible-to-quickly-test-tens-of-thousands-of-kansans-for-coronavirus">Kansas News Service</a>

LENEXA — One lab has helped seven Kansas universities 
test tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff for COVID-19 for 
the fall semester. And all anyone needed to do was spit.

Saliva 
lab work has the potential to dramatically increase testing of 
asymptomatic Kansans with no known COVID-19 exposure, state health 
officials say. That’s a critical ingredient for stopping the pandemic.

Last
 week, Kansas health secretary Lee Norman suggested the state partner 
with labs such as Lenexa-based Clinical Reference Laboratory and a 
second Lenexa company that does saliva and other COVID-19 testing for 
major hospitals, MAWD Pathology Group.

“Anybody can spit into a 
tube. That would be a game changer,” Norman told a state task force. 
“That would really open up the floodgates.”

He suggested tapping 
the labs to help the state’s nursing homes and schools, and to regularly
 test large numbers of Kansans without symptoms, not just patients who 
turn up at doctor’s offices feeling sick.

Collecting saliva holds a few advantages over swabs that <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmvcm2010260" target="_blank">dip deep</a>
 into one’s nasal passages. Most people can spit into a tube without 
help from a nurse or other medical professional decked out in protective
 gear.

Already, Kansas has surpassed <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/coronavirus/article243463271.html" target="_blank">its target</a>
 of testing more than 60,000 people per month three months in a row, but
 Norman said “it’s not enough.” The state has focused largely on people 
with symptoms or exposure to known COVID-19 outbreaks — a triage level 
of testing that epidemiologists widely agree falls short of what’s 
needed.

To dramatically slow viral transmission, the <a href="https://globalepidemics.org/july-6-2020-state-testing-targets/" target="_blank">Harvard Global Health Institute</a>
 said last month that Kansas must more than triple the number of people 
tested daily to nearly 13,000, while keeping up social distancing and 
mask-wearing. Only five states are testing enough people to suppress the
 virus.

The state may already have the capacity to top that, MAWD 
president Samuel Caughron said. His lab can handle 10,000 to 15,000 
tests daily, but doesn’t use its full capacity.

“We've been 
seeing, as other labs have, our volumes declining,” he said. “There is 
something of a disconnect between what could be, and what's happening.”

The
 challenge for Kansas, he said, is creating a process that links 
organizations in need of mass testing to labs that can return results 
within a day or two.

Harvard experts have warned saliva testing could face supply shortages, too, just like tests that use nasal or throat swabs.

While
 waiting months for the U.S. Food And Drug Administration to authorize 
its tests, Lenexa’s Clinical Reference Laboratory used the time to 
install hard-to-get liquid-handling robots and squirrel away as many 
supplies as it could. <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/140664/download" target="_blank">Authorization</a> came through July 30.

“Honestly,
 we’ve just been building inventory since the day this started,” CEO Bob
 Thompson said. “So we’re feeling really good about our supply chain.”

The company currently provides test results within 1-2 days.

Saliva
 tests (and saliva-sputum tests that require the person to cough before 
spitting) detect genetic material — RNA — from the coronavirus. That’s 
the same science used with deep nasal swabs, but collecting saliva is 
quicker in large populations like prisons, schools and colleges. It 
saves precious masks and gloves, and it’s a less unpleasant option for 
people who have to take the test repeatedly, such as nursing home 
residents, athletes and health care workers.

At the University of 
Kansas, saliva tests have detected more than 200 cases of COVID-19 so 
far, and revealed higher rates of the virus among fraternities and 
sororities. This week Douglas County health officials ordered residents 
of nine <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-26/health-officials-put-several-ku-fraternity-and-sorority-houses-under-14-day-quarantine" target="_blank">fraternity and sorority houses</a> into two-week quarantine.

CRL
 in Lenexa has already processed 30,000 tests for seven Kansas schools, 
including KU, Emporia State University, Wichita State University, Fort 
Hays State University and Benedictine College — as well as 4,000 tests 
for four in Missouri.

The lab said it could handle several more 
thousand tests per day for Kansas. The company currently processes about
 10,000 a day, with a focus on the Kansas and Missouri markets, and 
expects to reach 20,000 a day by mid-September.

It’s in talks with Kansas school districts, too, and recently inked <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&amp;DomainID=4&amp;ModuleInstanceID=4466&amp;ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&amp;RenderLoc=0&amp;FlexDataID=95211&amp;PageID=1" target="_blank">a deal</a>
 with Los Angeles Unified School District to join a bevy of labs 
assisting its 600,000-student school system. Minnesota is providing 
saliva tests (which aren’t from CRL) to all its <a href="https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools/salivatestfaq.pdf" target="_blank">schools</a>, and announced this week it will <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minn-planning-14-6m-contract-for-covid-19-saliva-tests/572217132/" target="_blank">spend nearly $15 million</a> on a new lab for saliva samples.

The
 state lab in Topeka also plans to start processing saliva samples 
in-house, a Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman said
 Friday. It has the right equipment, but must first complete legwork to 
ensure its results would be valid.

For mass testing of largely 
asymptomatic people at places like colleges, CRL pools material from 
five people at a time to speed up the process. When a combined sample 
contains the virus, CRL then retrieves the five vials to retest each 
person’s saliva individually and pinpoint the source.

While CRL received FDA authorization, not all COVID-19 tests — saliva or otherwise — have that.

The backlogged agency allowed many tests onto market while awaiting review, and last week the Trump administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/20/trump-fda-tests-coronavirus/" target="_blank">axed the requirement</a> for federally regulated labs with advanced capabilities to undergo FDA scrutiny.

MAWD’s
 test, a variation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
method, does not have FDA authorization yet but the company may still 
pursue it.

Pittsburg State University uses Cytocheck, a lab in 
Parsons, but didn’t answer questions about whether the FDA has 
greenlighted its tests. Cytocheck wouldn’t speak to the Kansas News 
Service about its product.

Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Celia_LJ" target="_blank">@celia_LJ</a> or email her at celia@kcur.org.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598639401459.png" alt="KU employees and students use kits like this one to provide their saliva samples for COVID-19 testing. J. Schafer / Kansas Public Radio" />
 <figcaption>KU employees and students use kits like this one to provide their saliva samples for COVID-19 testing. J. Schafer / Kansas Public Radio</figcaption>
 </figure>By CELIA LLOPIS-JEPSEN <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-28/saliva-is-making-it-possible-to-quickly-test-tens-of-thousands-of-kansans-for-coronavirus">Kansas News Service</a>LENEXA — One lab has helped seven Kansas universities 
test tens of thousands of students, faculty and staff for COVID-19 for 
the fall semester. And all anyone needed to do was spit.Saliva 
lab work has the potential to dramatically increase testing of 
asymptomatic Kansans with no known COVID-19 exposure, state health 
officials say. That’s a critical ingredient for stopping the pandemic.Last
 week, Kansas health secretary Lee Norman suggested the state partner 
with labs such as Lenexa-based Clinical Reference Laboratory and a 
second Lenexa company that does saliva and other COVID-19 testing for 
major hospitals, MAWD Pathology Group.“Anybody can spit into a 
tube. That would be a game changer,” Norman told a state task force. 
“That would really open up the floodgates.”He suggested tapping 
the labs to help the state’s nursing homes and schools, and to regularly
 test large numbers of Kansans without symptoms, not just patients who 
turn up at doctor’s offices feeling sick.Collecting saliva holds a few advantages over swabs that <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmvcm2010260" target="_blank">dip deep</a>
 into one’s nasal passages. Most people can spit into a tube without 
help from a nurse or other medical professional decked out in protective
 gear.Already, Kansas has surpassed <a href="https://www.kansas.com/news/coronavirus/article243463271.html" target="_blank">its target</a>
 of testing more than 60,000 people per month three months in a row, but
 Norman said “it’s not enough.” The state has focused largely on people 
with symptoms or exposure to known COVID-19 outbreaks — a triage level 
of testing that epidemiologists widely agree falls short of what’s 
needed.To dramatically slow viral transmission, the <a href="https://globalepidemics.org/july-6-2020-state-testing-targets/" target="_blank">Harvard Global Health Institute</a>
 said last month that Kansas must more than triple the number of people 
tested daily to nearly 13,000, while keeping up social distancing and 
mask-wearing. Only five states are testing enough people to suppress the
 virus.The state may already have the capacity to top that, MAWD 
president Samuel Caughron said. His lab can handle 10,000 to 15,000 
tests daily, but doesn’t use its full capacity.“We've been 
seeing, as other labs have, our volumes declining,” he said. “There is 
something of a disconnect between what could be, and what's happening.”The
 challenge for Kansas, he said, is creating a process that links 
organizations in need of mass testing to labs that can return results 
within a day or two.<h2>Stocking up</h2>Harvard experts have warned saliva testing could face supply shortages, too, just like tests that use nasal or throat swabs.While
 waiting months for the U.S. Food And Drug Administration to authorize 
its tests, Lenexa’s Clinical Reference Laboratory used the time to 
install hard-to-get liquid-handling robots and squirrel away as many 
supplies as it could. <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/140664/download" target="_blank">Authorization</a> came through July 30.“Honestly,
 we’ve just been building inventory since the day this started,” CEO Bob
 Thompson said. “So we’re feeling really good about our supply chain.”The company currently provides test results within 1-2 days.Saliva
 tests (and saliva-sputum tests that require the person to cough before 
spitting) detect genetic material — RNA — from the coronavirus. That’s 
the same science used with deep nasal swabs, but collecting saliva is 
quicker in large populations like prisons, schools and colleges. It 
saves precious masks and gloves, and it’s a less unpleasant option for 
people who have to take the test repeatedly, such as nursing home 
residents, athletes and health care workers.At the University of 
Kansas, saliva tests have detected more than 200 cases of COVID-19 so 
far, and revealed higher rates of the virus among fraternities and 
sororities. This week Douglas County health officials ordered residents 
of nine <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2020-08-26/health-officials-put-several-ku-fraternity-and-sorority-houses-under-14-day-quarantine" target="_blank">fraternity and sorority houses</a> into two-week quarantine.CRL
 in Lenexa has already processed 30,000 tests for seven Kansas schools, 
including KU, Emporia State University, Wichita State University, Fort 
Hays State University and Benedictine College — as well as 4,000 tests 
for four in Missouri.The lab said it could handle several more 
thousand tests per day for Kansas. The company currently processes about
 10,000 a day, with a focus on the Kansas and Missouri markets, and 
expects to reach 20,000 a day by mid-September.It’s in talks with Kansas school districts, too, and recently inked <a href="https://achieve.lausd.net/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&amp;DomainID=4&amp;ModuleInstanceID=4466&amp;ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108&amp;RenderLoc=0&amp;FlexDataID=95211&amp;PageID=1" target="_blank">a deal</a>
 with Los Angeles Unified School District to join a bevy of labs 
assisting its 600,000-student school system. Minnesota is providing 
saliva tests (which aren’t from CRL) to all its <a href="https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/schools/salivatestfaq.pdf" target="_blank">schools</a>, and announced this week it will <a href="https://www.startribune.com/minn-planning-14-6m-contract-for-covid-19-saliva-tests/572217132/" target="_blank">spend nearly $15 million</a> on a new lab for saliva samples.The
 state lab in Topeka also plans to start processing saliva samples 
in-house, a Kansas Department of Health and Environment spokeswoman said
 Friday. It has the right equipment, but must first complete legwork to 
ensure its results would be valid.For mass testing of largely 
asymptomatic people at places like colleges, CRL pools material from 
five people at a time to speed up the process. When a combined sample 
contains the virus, CRL then retrieves the five vials to retest each 
person’s saliva individually and pinpoint the source.<figure>
 <iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/y0KSmeKjX6Q"></iframe>
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>While CRL received FDA authorization, not all COVID-19 tests — saliva or otherwise — have that.The backlogged agency allowed many tests onto market while awaiting review, and last week the Trump administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/08/20/trump-fda-tests-coronavirus/" target="_blank">axed the requirement</a> for federally regulated labs with advanced capabilities to undergo FDA scrutiny.MAWD’s
 test, a variation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
method, does not have FDA authorization yet but the company may still 
pursue it.Pittsburg State University uses Cytocheck, a lab in 
Parsons, but didn’t answer questions about whether the FDA has 
greenlighted its tests. Cytocheck wouldn’t speak to the Kansas News 
Service about its product.Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports on consumer health and education for the Kansas News Service. You can follow her on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/Celia_LJ" target="_blank">@celia_LJ</a> or email her at celia@kcur.org.

Saliva making it possible to quickly test tens of thousands of Kansans

SALINE COUNTY —The staff at Rolling Hills Zoo is grieving the loss of one of their Amur tiger triplets.

Luka, the male of the three, died while undergoing an exam to address some dental issues he was experiencing which affected his ability to consume his diet. Luka’s body has been transported to K-State for a necropsy to determine his cause of death, according to a media release from the zoo.

“A loss like Luca’s is simply gut wrenching,” shared Bob Jenkins, Rolling Hills Zoo’s Executive Director. “While all losses are devastating, ones like this hits the Zoo hard and deep. Investigations are underway to determine the cause of death through a variety of mechanisms as we want to ensure that we don’t have a systemic problem. We will be sharing the results with everyone when they are available.”

Luka was one of three cubs born on August 14, 2019 at Rolling Hills Zoo. The other two are females, Sasha and Nadya. Their mother Andrea, 12 years old, and father, Dhenuka - 10 years old, had arrived at Rolling Hills Zoo on a breeding recommendation by the SSP (Species Survival Plan) a collaborative effort among Association of Zoos &amp; Aquariums (AZA) – of which RHZ is an accredited institution.

Following a successful birth, the three cubs had been fan favorites at the Zoo as guests watched them grow up and celebrate their first birthday this past month.

Weighing in at 250 pounds, Luka was known by his keepers as being the bravest and most curious of the three cubs, and always the first to check things out. Sasha, weighing 200 lbs. like her sister, was always right behind Luka as she tried to keep up with her brother, while Nadya would hang back and be the more cautious of the three.

SALINE COUNTY —The staff at Rolling Hills Zoo is grieving the loss of one of their Amur tiger triplets.Luka, the male of the three, died while undergoing an exam to address some dental issues he was experiencing which affected his ability to consume his diet. Luka’s body has been transported to K-State for a necropsy to determine his cause of death, according to a media release from the zoo.“A loss like Luca’s is simply gut wrenching,” shared Bob Jenkins, Rolling Hills Zoo’s Executive Director. “While all losses are devastating, ones like this hits the Zoo hard and deep. Investigations are underway to determine the cause of death through a variety of mechanisms as we want to ensure that we don’t have a systemic problem. We will be sharing the results with everyone when they are available.”Luka was one of three cubs born on August 14, 2019 at Rolling Hills Zoo. The other two are females, Sasha and Nadya. Their mother Andrea, 12 years old, and father, Dhenuka - 10 years old, had arrived at Rolling Hills Zoo on a breeding recommendation by the SSP (Species Survival Plan) a collaborative effort among Association of Zoos &amp; Aquariums (AZA) – of which RHZ is an accredited institution.Following a successful birth, the three cubs had been fan favorites at the Zoo as guests watched them grow up and celebrate their first birthday this past month.Weighing in at 250 pounds, Luka was known by his keepers as being the bravest and most curious of the three cubs, and always the first to check things out. Sasha, weighing 200 lbs. like her sister, was always right behind Luka as she tried to keep up with her brother, while Nadya would hang back and be the more cautious of the three.

Kansas zoo mourns loss of one tiger triplet

LAWRENCE — In the years since a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some states have passed laws that have made it more difficult for minority and low-income Americans to vote. 

Those laws can also challenge election administrators trying to enact policy while maintaining equity and access as their jobs require, according to a University of Kansas scholar. 

Shannon Portillo, associate professor of public affairs &amp; administration, has co-written a new study about the aftermath of Shelby County v. Holder that outlines the vital role state, county and local elections administrators play in carrying out those policies and how they are expected to be neutral actors in a political position.

“Many of these laws put elections administrators in difficult positions and often create barriers for citizens trying to exercise their right to vote. These policies are also complicated to enact,” Portillo said. “Administrative discretion then ends up playing a big role in who can and cannot access the ballot box.”

Portillo and co-authors Domonic Bearfield and Norma Riccucci of Rutgers University published their study in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10999922.2020.1796196">journal Public Integrity.</a>

They review many policies enacted since Shelby v. Holder, including voter ID laws, restriction of early voting, changing or closing polling locations, and other actions that have presented barriers to voting for disenfranchised populations, including low-income voters and citizens with disabilities. 

The authors point to research that shows not only how the policies have had an outsized effect on historically disenfranchised groups, but the vital role administrators play in their enactment.

 For example, many states have passed voter ID laws. Officials at offices such as the Department of Motor Vehicles that issue drivers’ licenses, the most common form of ID, have great power to determine who receives the identifications and in turn, has the ability to vote.

Similarly, both elected and appointed officials at all levels of government have the responsibility of carrying out all aspects of voting laws and policy. While they often take positions with the intent of providing fair and equitable service to all citizens, they are frequently put in the uncomfortable position of being required to enforce laws and policy that prevent equitable voter access, the authors wrote.

“We are not suggesting that a public administrator would use their discretionary authority to break the law by allowing someone to vote without an ID if the state law requires proper identification,” the authors wrote. “Rather, we are suggesting that practices such as voter ID laws create conflict for the administrator who understands the importance of equity, and how the law might be prohibitive toward voters of color.”

While Portillo and her co-authors highlight laws and policies that have affected minority voters in recent years, such as moving or closing of polling places and restriction of early voting, she added that since the article’s writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated some of those policies.

“What we’ve seen across the country is polling places are more likely to be closed in places where a large number of people of color live and in areas with a lot of low-income voters,” Portillo said. “I think this is an ongoing problem that the pandemic has exacerbated.”

Such policies put voters and elections administrators in difficult positions, but the solution lies not only with policymakers, the authors wrote. 

They said the field of public administration needs to pay closer attention to the vital role of election administrators, acknowledge how they are expected to be neutral in an inherently political role and further research the intersection of politics and administration while preparing future public administrators to understand the dichotomy.

“In large part, this is due to the history of our field, which came about during the Progressive Era and aimed to take partisanship out of the administrative process,” Portillo said. “In the mid-20th&nbsp;century, public administration began to be viewed as a normative good that is political, but not partisan. Public administrators could advocate for policy without being partisan. But in the current environment, that can easily be viewed as a public administrator acting in a partisan way.”

It then falls not only to policymakers to pass laws that increase access to polls but also to educators to prepare students who will hold those roles in the future to think about how they will handle such conflicts, Portillo said, and for researchers to further study the intersection of public servants with partisan electoral processes that could restrict access to the ballot box.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/8/1566313641877.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LAWRENCE — In the years since a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some states have passed laws that have made it more difficult for minority and low-income Americans to vote. Those laws can also challenge election administrators trying to enact policy while maintaining equity and access as their jobs require, according to a University of Kansas scholar. Shannon Portillo, associate professor of public affairs &amp; administration, has co-written a new study about the aftermath of Shelby County v. Holder that outlines the vital role state, county and local elections administrators play in carrying out those policies and how they are expected to be neutral actors in a political position.<figure>
 <img src="https://news.ku.edu/sites/news.ku.edu/files/images/general/faculty_portraits/shannon%20portillo%20172.jpg" alt="Shannon Portillo" />
 <figcaption>Shannon Portillo</figcaption>
 </figure>“Many of these laws put elections administrators in difficult positions and often create barriers for citizens trying to exercise their right to vote. These policies are also complicated to enact,” Portillo said. “Administrative discretion then ends up playing a big role in who can and cannot access the ballot box.”Portillo and co-authors Domonic Bearfield and Norma Riccucci of Rutgers University published their study in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10999922.2020.1796196">journal Public Integrity.</a>They review many policies enacted since Shelby v. Holder, including voter ID laws, restriction of early voting, changing or closing polling locations, and other actions that have presented barriers to voting for disenfranchised populations, including low-income voters and citizens with disabilities. The authors point to research that shows not only how the policies have had an outsized effect on historically disenfranchised groups, but the vital role administrators play in their enactment. For example, many states have passed voter ID laws. Officials at offices such as the Department of Motor Vehicles that issue drivers’ licenses, the most common form of ID, have great power to determine who receives the identifications and in turn, has the ability to vote.Similarly, both elected and appointed officials at all levels of government have the responsibility of carrying out all aspects of voting laws and policy. While they often take positions with the intent of providing fair and equitable service to all citizens, they are frequently put in the uncomfortable position of being required to enforce laws and policy that prevent equitable voter access, the authors wrote.“We are not suggesting that a public administrator would use their discretionary authority to break the law by allowing someone to vote without an ID if the state law requires proper identification,” the authors wrote. “Rather, we are suggesting that practices such as voter ID laws create conflict for the administrator who understands the importance of equity, and how the law might be prohibitive toward voters of color.”While Portillo and her co-authors highlight laws and policies that have affected minority voters in recent years, such as moving or closing of polling places and restriction of early voting, she added that since the article’s writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated some of those policies.“What we’ve seen across the country is polling places are more likely to be closed in places where a large number of people of color live and in areas with a lot of low-income voters,” Portillo said. “I think this is an ongoing problem that the pandemic has exacerbated.”Such policies put voters and elections administrators in difficult positions, but the solution lies not only with policymakers, the authors wrote. They said the field of public administration needs to pay closer attention to the vital role of election administrators, acknowledge how they are expected to be neutral in an inherently political role and further research the intersection of politics and administration while preparing future public administrators to understand the dichotomy.“In large part, this is due to the history of our field, which came about during the Progressive Era and aimed to take partisanship out of the administrative process,” Portillo said. “In the mid-20th&nbsp;century, public administration began to be viewed as a normative good that is political, but not partisan. Public administrators could advocate for policy without being partisan. But in the current environment, that can easily be viewed as a public administrator acting in a partisan way.”It then falls not only to policymakers to pass laws that increase access to polls but also to educators to prepare students who will hold those roles in the future to think about how they will handle such conflicts, Portillo said, and for researchers to further study the intersection of public servants with partisan electoral processes that could restrict access to the ballot box.

KU study: New voting laws continue disenfranchisement, put elections administrators in difficult positions

KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman should receive the maximum sentence possible for directing a plan to hide the death of a developmentally disabled man whose body was found encased in concrete, a federal prosecutor said in court filings.

Sherry Paulo, of Fulton, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on federal charges of health care fraud and failing to provide medical care to Carl DeBrodie, 31, whose body was found in a storage unit in Fulton in April 2017. Investigators believe he died months earlier.

The maximum sentence on those charges is 17.5 years in prison.

Paulo’s husband, Anthony Flores; their daughter, Mary Paulo; and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, have also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f5e9285af5f64e56981e416349057c04">pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;to federal charges in the case.

Sherry Paulo and Anthony Flores still face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/91f235f8c4814bfca456c9e12667d2eb">state charges</a>, including first-degree involuntary manslaughter and abandonment of a corpse.

All four family members worked at Second Chance Homes in Fulton, a home for developmentally disabled residents where DeBrodie lived.

Federal prosecutor Lucinda Woolery wrote in a court memo filed Aug. 21 that Sherry Paulo was a “controlling matriarch” and the family followed her orders in the family and at work.

Paulo withheld medications from DeBrodie beginning in 2015 and did not take him to a doctor from December 2015 until his death, Woolery wrote. She moved him to her home in September 2016 because his condition was so bad “he would lie in bed howling,” according to the memo.

DeBrodie spent his last days in a small basement room with no access to running water, sunlight, or fresh air, according to the memo.

Paulo and her husband each told police that they eventually asked DeBrodie’s housemate to carry him to an upstairs bathroom and place him under running water. Paulo said she watched DeBrodie stop breathing but neither she nor her husband provided medical aid or called for help, according to memo.

Instead, DeBrodie was left in the bathtub until the smell grew too strong.

In her plea agreement, Mary Paulo admitted to helping Sherry Paulo place DeBrodie into a trash can, which was loaded into a wooden crate and filled with concrete. Sherry Paulo, her husband and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, took the crate to a storage unit, Anthony R.K. Flores admitted in his plea agreement.

The Callaway County medical examiner’s office was unable to determine an exact cause of death but ruled his death a homicide.

Between September 2016 and April 2017, Sherry Paulo lied about DeBrodie’s whereabouts and filed daily reports on his activities. She also submitted false Medicaid claims worth $106,795, Woolery wrote.

Paulo reported DeBrodie missing in April 2017 when Second Chance Homes was about to be taken over by another company. She also told family members to lie to police by saying they saw DeBrodie at a family Easter celebration on April 16, 2017.

Ultimately, an interview with DeBrodie’s housemate led police to his body, the sentencing memo states.

DeBrodie’s aunt, Carol Samson, said in a victim impact statement that his mother and stepfather both died this year. She asked that all the defendants be given maximum sentences and not ever be given access to vulnerable people again.

Paulo’s attorney, Christopher Slusher, filed a sentencing memorandum Tuesday, but it is sealed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1574539388449.png" alt="Sherry Paulo" />
 <figcaption>Sherry Paulo</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) — A woman should receive the maximum sentence possible for directing a plan to hide the death of a developmentally disabled man whose body was found encased in concrete, a federal prosecutor said in court filings.Sherry Paulo, of Fulton, is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday on federal charges of health care fraud and failing to provide medical care to Carl DeBrodie, 31, whose body was found in a storage unit in Fulton in April 2017. Investigators believe he died months earlier.The maximum sentence on those charges is 17.5 years in prison.Paulo’s husband, Anthony Flores; their daughter, Mary Paulo; and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, have also&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/f5e9285af5f64e56981e416349057c04">pleaded guilty</a>&nbsp;to federal charges in the case.Sherry Paulo and Anthony Flores still face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/91f235f8c4814bfca456c9e12667d2eb">state charges</a>, including first-degree involuntary manslaughter and abandonment of a corpse.All four family members worked at Second Chance Homes in Fulton, a home for developmentally disabled residents where DeBrodie lived.Federal prosecutor Lucinda Woolery wrote in a court memo filed Aug. 21 that Sherry Paulo was a “controlling matriarch” and the family followed her orders in the family and at work.Paulo withheld medications from DeBrodie beginning in 2015 and did not take him to a doctor from December 2015 until his death, Woolery wrote. She moved him to her home in September 2016 because his condition was so bad “he would lie in bed howling,” according to the memo.DeBrodie spent his last days in a small basement room with no access to running water, sunlight, or fresh air, according to the memo.Paulo and her husband each told police that they eventually asked DeBrodie’s housemate to carry him to an upstairs bathroom and place him under running water. Paulo said she watched DeBrodie stop breathing but neither she nor her husband provided medical aid or called for help, according to memo.Instead, DeBrodie was left in the bathtub until the smell grew too strong.In her plea agreement, Mary Paulo admitted to helping Sherry Paulo place DeBrodie into a trash can, which was loaded into a wooden crate and filled with concrete. Sherry Paulo, her husband and their son, Anthony R.K. Flores, took the crate to a storage unit, Anthony R.K. Flores admitted in his plea agreement.The Callaway County medical examiner’s office was unable to determine an exact cause of death but ruled his death a homicide.Between September 2016 and April 2017, Sherry Paulo lied about DeBrodie’s whereabouts and filed daily reports on his activities. She also submitted false Medicaid claims worth $106,795, Woolery wrote.Paulo reported DeBrodie missing in April 2017 when Second Chance Homes was about to be taken over by another company. She also told family members to lie to police by saying they saw DeBrodie at a family Easter celebration on April 16, 2017.Ultimately, an interview with DeBrodie’s housemate led police to his body, the sentencing memo states.DeBrodie’s aunt, Carol Samson, said in a victim impact statement that his mother and stepfather both died this year. She asked that all the defendants be given maximum sentences and not ever be given access to vulnerable people again.Paulo’s attorney, Christopher Slusher, filed a sentencing memorandum Tuesday, but it is sealed.

Prosecutor: Woman was leader in death of man in concrete

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to identify a suspect.

The burglary occurred in the early morning hours of August 23 at St. Matthew Catholic School,&nbsp;1000 SE 28th Street in Topeka, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Spiker.&nbsp;

The suspect took more than 30 electronic and other items.

Anyone with information is asked to email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:telltpd@topeka.org" target="_blank">telltpd@topeka.org</a>&nbsp;or call Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007. Anonymous tips can also be made online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.shawneecountycrimestoppers.com/" target="_blank">www.shawneecountycrimestoppers.com</a>. &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598644665282.png" alt="Security camera images from Topeka Police" />
 <figcaption>Security camera images from Topeka Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a burglary and asking the public for help to identify a suspect.The burglary occurred in the early morning hours of August 23 at St. Matthew Catholic School,&nbsp;1000 SE 28th Street in Topeka, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Spiker.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598644960967.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The suspect took more than 30 electronic and other items.Anyone with information is asked to email&nbsp;<a href="mailto:telltpd@topeka.org" target="_blank">telltpd@topeka.org</a>&nbsp;or call Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007. Anonymous tips can also be made online at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.shawneecountycrimestoppers.com/" target="_blank">www.shawneecountycrimestoppers.com</a>. &nbsp;

Police ask for help to ID Kan. church school burglary suspect

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas">Kansas</a>&nbsp;girl’s killer Friday became the fifth federal inmate put to death this year, an execution that went forward only after a higher court tossed a ruling that would have required the government to get a prescription for the drug used to kill him.

Questions about whether the drug pentobarbital causes pain prior to death had been a focus of appeals for Keith Nelson, 45, the second inmate executed this week in the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions this summer after a 17-year hiatus.

Nelson was pronounced dead inside the execution chamber at a federal prison in Terre Haute,&nbsp;Indiana, at 4:32 p.m. EDT, about nine minutes after the execution began.

When a prison official standing over him asked if he had any last words, Nelson didn't utter a word, grunt or even nod his head. After the official waited for about 15 seconds, his eyes fixed on Nelson waiting in vain for an answer, he turned away and began the execution procedure.

Nelson, whose face was entirely obscured behind a medical mask and a blue sheet across his body, stayed still as the lethal drug pentobarbital was delivered, which his attorneys made as the focus of their last-minute appeals. None of his limbs twitched or quivered, but after about a minute his chest and midsection began to heave and shutter involuntarily.

Nelson was convicted of grabbing 10-year-old Pamela Butler off the street and throwing her into his truck in broad daylight on Oct. 12, 1999, as part of a plan to find a female to kidnap, torture, rape and kill because he expected to go back to prison anyway.

The girl had been returning to her Kansas City, Kansas, home on inline skates after buying cookies. As he drove off with her, he made a rude gesture to her sister, who saw the attack and screamed. He later raped the fifth-grader and strangled her with a wire.

Nelson's attorneys said they had come to know him as someone other than a killer, that they “saw his humanity, his compassion, and his sense of humor.”

“The execution of Keith Nelson did not make the world a safer place," the lawyers, Dale Baich and Jen Moreno, said in a statement. “Keith’s death sentence was the result of a proceeding that denied him constitutionally guaranteed protections and reveals another deep flaw in the federal death penalty system.”

Cherri West, the mother of the young girl who Nelson killed, said his death had brought her some peace and hoped it would also bring peace to her daughter's soul.

Wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with her daughter Pamela's photo and angel wings emanating from behind it, West said she had no remorse for him and didn't expect he would show any for her family either. She recalled how Nelson had cursed at her and other family members during hearings in his case, adding that she thought he might curse at them again before being put to death,

“I wasn’t expecting him to say anything because he never had no remorse," she said.

Nelson’s spiritual adviser, Sister Barbara Battista, stood inside the death chamber as Nelson was executed. She spoke to him regularly since last month, most recently on Wednesday, saying he sounded more subdued than usual but not frightened.

“His parting words were … ‘I don’t want to see you on Friday but I probably will,’” she said in an interview before the execution. “He would rather be alive after Friday. But he is facing the reality.”

A flurry of filings by Nelson's legal team over several weeks zeroed in on pentobarbital, which depresses the central nervous system and, in high doses, eventually stops the heart.

In one filing in early August, Nelson's attorneys cited an unofficial autopsy on one inmate executed last month, William Purkey, saying it indicated evidence of pulmonary edema in which the lungs fill with fluid and causes a painful sensation akin to drowning.

In her now-overturned ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan halted Nelson's execution early Thursday, saying laws regulating drugs require the prescriptions, even for executions.

Within hours a panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Chutkan's order with little explanation.

In a 2018 ruling, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Nelson showed no remorse during a sentencing hearing statement and instead “blistered the district court and the victim’s family with a profanity laden tirade.”

With the execution Wednesday of Lezmond Mitchell — the only Native American on federal death row — the federal government under President Donald Trump registered more executions in 2020 than it had in the previous 56 years combined.

The executions of Nelson and Mitchell were carried out the same week as the Republican National Convention, where many Trump supporters sought to portray him as a law-and-order candidate.

Nelson’s current attorneys said Nelson's lawyers during the 2001 penalty phase of his case should have emphasized mitigating evidence, including that Nelson suffered brain damage as a newborn and was abused as a child. During arguments, prosecutors pointed to Nelson’s twin brother, saying he grew up in similarly difficult circumstances but had a good job and had done well.

The federal government has defended the use of pentobarbital, disputing that Purkey’s autopsy proved he suffered. They have also cited Supreme Court ruling precedent that an execution method isn't necessarily cruel and unusual just because it causes some pain.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The scheduled federal execution of a 10-year-old Kansas girl's killer was back on track Friday after an appellate panel tossed a lower court's ruling that would have required the government to get a drug prescription before it could use pentobarbital to kill the inmate.

Questions about whether pentobarbital causes pain prior to death has been a focus of last-minute appeals for Keith Nelson, who would be the fifth person to die this year and the second this week in the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. All the executions by lethal injection have been carried out at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

If Nelson's lawyer appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court on the prescription issue, the decision on whether Nelson lives or dies Friday could still come down to the high court. But similar moves to delay three other executions last month failed, with the high court ruling 5-4 to allow them to proceed.

Nelson’s spiritual adviser, Sister Barbara Battista, told The Associated Press early Friday that she would be at Nelson’s side inside the death chamber if the execution goes ahead.

She spoke to the 45-year-old Nelson regularly since last month, and last talked to him by phone Wednesday, saying he sounded more subdued than usual but not frightened.

“His parting words were … ‘I don’t want to see you on Friday but I probably will,’” she said. “He would rather be alive after Friday. But he is facing the reality.”

Nelson also told her that, as of Wednesday, he did not plan to make a last statement just before the lethal injection is administered.

In her now-overturned ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan halted Nelson's execution early Thursday, saying laws regulating drugs require the prescriptions, even for executions. Within hours a panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Chutkan's order with little explanation.

Nelson’s crime was horrific by any measure.

Then in his mid-20s, Nelson grabbed 10-year-old Pamela Butler off the street and threw her into his truck in broad daylight on Oct. 12, 1999. The fifth-grade student had been returning to her Kansas City, Kansas, home on inline skates after buying cookies at a store. As he drove off, he made a rude gesture to Butler’s sister, who saw the attack and screamed.

Nelson, who didn’t previously know Butler or her family, told a co-worker a month earlier he planned to find a female to kidnap, torture, rape and kill because he expected to go back to prison anyway on other charges, prosecutors said.

After raping Butler, Nelson strangled her with a wire, then dumped her body in a wooded area near a Missouri church.

Butler’s mother, Cherri West, hoped Nelson’s execution would bring her some peace after living for decades with the torment of her daughter’s final hours.

“To know that that was the last face that she saw on this earth ... and having to know how scared she was and what he was doing to her, has literally eaten me up,"she said.

Battista, a nun at a Terre Haute-area convent and anti-death penalty activist, said Nelson is not the same man he was.

“He committed a heinous crime,” she said “But he is a human being. … And who among us would want to be judged by their worst decision?”

The executions of Nelson and Mitchell were scheduled for the same week as the Republican National Convention, where many Trump supporters sought to portray him as a law-and-order candidate.

Nelson’s current attorneys said Nelson's lawyers during the 2001 penalty phase of his case should have emphasized mitigating evidence, including that Nelson suffered brain damage as a newborn and was abused as a child.

During arguments, prosecutors pointed to Nelson’s twin brother, saying he grew up in similarly difficult circumstances but had a good job and had done well.

Nelson lawyer Dale Baich, who intended to be a witness at the execution if it happens, said the world wouldn’t be made safer by killing his client.

“Having him spend the rest of his life in prison would accomplish the same goal,” he said.

Government attorneys have defended the use of pentobarbital, disputing that Purkey’s autopsy proved he suffered. They have also cited Supreme Court ruling precedent that an execution method isn't necessarily cruel and unusual just because it causes some pain.

Pentobarbital has few medical uses for humans, though it is often used by veterinarians to euthanize animals.

Three federal executions in the early 2000s deployed a cocktail of three drugs: sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride.

But after makers of those drugs objected to their use in executions, states and the federal government scrambled for alternatives. Attorney General William Barr last year approved reworked execution protocols that called for using pentobarbital alone.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) — The scheduled federal execution of a 10-year-old Kansas girl’s killer was back on track Friday after an appellate panel tossed a lower court’s ruling that would have required the government to get a drug prescription before it could use pentobarbital to kill the inmate.

Questions about whether pentobarbital causes pain prior to death has been a focus of last-minute appeals for Keith Nelson, who would be the fifth person to die this year and the second this week in the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. All the executions by lethal pentobarbital injection have been carried out at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

If Nelson’s lawyer appeals Friday to the Supreme Court on the prescription issue, the decision on whether Nelson lives or dies Friday could still come down to the high court. But similar moves to delay three other executions last month failed, with the high court ruling 5-to-4 allow them to proceed.

A flurry of filing by Nelson’s legal team over several weeks zeroed in on pentobarbital, a barbituate that depresses the central nervous system and, in high doses, eventually stops the heart.

In one filing in early August, attorneys for the 45-year-old Nelson cited an unofficial autopsy on one inmate executed last month, William Purkey, saying it indicated evidence of pulmonary edema in which the lungs fill with fluid and causes a painful sensation akin to drowning.

In her now-overturned ruling, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan halted Nelson’s execution early Thursday, saying laws regulating drugs require the prescriptions, even for executions. Government attorneys appealed and within hours a panel at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out Chutkan’s order with little explanation.

Then in his mid-20s, Nelson grabbed 10-year-old Pamela Butler off the street and threw her into his truck in broad daylight on Oct. 12, 1999. The fifth-grade student had been returning to her Kansas City, Kansas, home on inline skates after buying cookies at a store. As he drove off, he made a rude gesture to Butler’s sister, who saw the attack and screamed. Onlookers got his license plate number.

“To know that that was the last face that she saw on this earth before he took her, and having to know how scared she was and what he was doing to her, has literally eaten me up.”

“The death penalty is not about fairness and justice, it’s about politics,” said Nelson’s lawyer, Dale Baich.

Nelson’s current attorneys said Nelson’s lawyers during the 2001 penalty phase of his case should have emphasized mitigating evidence, including that Nelson suffered brain damage as a newborn and was abused as a child.

Baich, who said he intended to be a witness at the execution if it happens, said the world wouldn’t be safer if his client was put to death.

Government attorneys have defended the use of pentobarbital, disputing that Purkey’s autopsy proved he suffered. They have also cited Supreme Court ruling precedent that an execution method isn’t necessarily cruel and unusual just because it causes some pain.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of federal appeals court judges is letting the U.S. government proceed with the planned execution of a man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 10-year-old Kansas girl.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday evening acted to let the execution of Keith Dwayne Nelson go forward Friday afternoon as scheduled. The court acted less than 24 hours after a lower court judge had halted his execution, saying the law requires the government to get a prescription for the drug it plans to use.

In an opinion early Thursday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said a federal law that regulates drugs requires the government to get a prescription for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/53b7d4e7b9434ad483d7a2b8f3690caa">the lethal injection drug pentobarbital</a>, which it plans to use.

But in a brief, unsigned order Thursday evening, the panel of three appeals court judges acted to let the execution go forward, saying “there are insufficient findings and conclusions that irreparable injury will result from the statutory violation found by the district court.” The panel included two judges appointed by President Barack Obama, Cornelia Pillard and Robert Wilkins, and Neomi Rao, who was appointed by President Donald Trump.

Nelson attorney Dale Baich in an email to The Associated Press: “We are carefully reviewing the order and considering the options available to us.”

Nelson’s execution is scheduled to be the fifth carried out this year by the federal government at the death chamber of the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The executions followed the Trump administration’s announcement last year that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1ab434fcc31e429089eb5e14de0d1324">it would resume executing death row inmates</a>&nbsp;for the first time since 2003.

Nelson was sentenced to death after pleading guilty to the 1999 kidnapping, rape and killing of Pamela Butler. The 10-year-old was rollerblading in front of her Kansas home when Nelson abducted her. He later raped her before strangling her to death with a wire.

Chutkan’s 13-page opinion putting Nelson’s execution on hold came hours after the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/d10a18eff9cdf43afda8810bf859949d">government carried out the execution of Lezmond Mitchell</a>, the only Native American on federal death row, despite objections from many Navajo leaders. With Mitchell’s execution, the federal government has now carried out more executions in 2020 than it had in the previous 56 years combined. Two more executions are scheduled for September. All of the executions have been carried out using pentobarbital.

Though the inmates who were put to death by the federal government have sought to halt their executions, challenging the drug’s use, among other things, the Supreme Court has sided with federal officials, in two cases reversing lower court orders keeping the government from carrying out scheduled executions.

Chutkan, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, said in her opinion that it is “undisputed that a prescription is required to dispense pentobarbital in the ordinary course.”

“It is also undisputed,” she wrote, “that the government has not obtained a prescription — nor does it intend to — for the use of pentobarbital in Nelson’s execution.”

But Chutkan said that under previous court decisions, when pentobarbital is being used for an execution it is still subject to the requirements in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/laws-enforced-fda/federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act-fdc-act" target="_blank">the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act</a>&nbsp;so a prescription is required.

The government has argued that pentobarbital is not subject to the act when used for lethal injections.

Pentobarbital depresses the central nervous system and, given in a high dosage, causes the heart to stop. It doesn’t have widespread medical uses, though is often used by veterinarians to anesthetize or euthanize animals.

For three federal executions in the early 2000s, the government used different drugs, but pharmaceutical companies later refused to allow those drugs to be used in executions, forcing the federal and many state governments to seek an alternative. Attorney General William Barr last year approved reworked execution protocols that called for using pentobarbital alone.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge in Washington halted the federal government’s planned Friday execution of a man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 10-year-old Kansas girl, saying the law requires the government to get a prescription for the drug it plans to use.

In an opinion early Thursday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said a federal law that regulates drugs requires the government to get a prescription for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/53b7d4e7b9434ad483d7a2b8f3690caa">the lethal injection drug pentobarbital</a>, which it plans to use to execute Keith Dwayne Nelson. The government is appealing.

Nelson’s execution was scheduled to be the fifth carried out this year by the federal government at the death chamber of the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. The executions followed the Trump administration’s announcement last year that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/1ab434fcc31e429089eb5e14de0d1324">it would resume executing death row inmates</a>&nbsp;for the first time since 2003.

No last words from Kan. girl's killer before execution 

LAWRENCE (AP) — Fueled in part by college students returning to classes, Kansas has set another pandemic record for the seven-day increase in coronavirus cases, with the surge prompting the Lawrence school district to put the brakes on some fall sports and Hays to extend its mask ordinance.

Statewide, the number of new reported cases rose by 1,111 from Wednesday to Friday, bringing the total to 41,048. The state Department of Health and Environment also reported an additional six COVID-19-related deaths, to put the pandemic total at 443.

The average for the seven days ending Friday was 599, 3.6% more than the previous record of 578 for the seven days ending Wednesday. The state also reported 16 clusters in colleges and universities with 189 cases.T

Amid the rise, the Lawrence school district is following the recommendation of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and suspending some fall sports starting Monday.

“We recognize that the entry testing and high number of tests of University of Kansas students drove the number of new cases,” health department Director Dan Partridge said in a news release. “Given those COVID-19 cases are now in our community, we believe it’s prudent to move to phase Yellow.”

The county had been in a green tier, which allows for for all activities to continue, as long as standard public safety precautions are taken.

Lawrence school district spokeswoman Julie Boyle said competitions in “high risk” activities such as football, competitive cheer and dance, band, choir and possibly soccer would be delayed until health officials deem them safer. Boyle noted the health guidance identifies soccer as a sport that can be modified to decrease the risk of spreading COVID-19 and continue competing. She said the district will investigate possible modifications.

The Kansas Department of Labor announced Friday that the agency will extend its call center hours to weekday evenings and Saturdays for general inquiries, claim status updates and technical assistance. People with more complex questions will need to call during regular business hours.

“Extending our call center hours makes sense during this unprecedented pandemic,” the agency’s acting secretary, Ryan Wright, said in a news release. “The Department of Labor is making itself available to answer questions when it is convenient for claimants.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598647020158.png" alt="Lee Norman during this Wednesday press conference said, "If this pandemic were a football game, we're near the end of the first quarter. We have a number of months ahead of us and we will have some real challenges."" />
 <figcaption>Lee Norman during this Wednesday press conference said, "If this pandemic were a football game, we're near the end of the first quarter. We have a number of months ahead of us and we will have some real challenges."</figcaption>
 </figure>LAWRENCE (AP) — Fueled in part by college students returning to classes, Kansas has set another pandemic record for the seven-day increase in coronavirus cases, with the surge prompting the Lawrence school district to put the brakes on some fall sports and Hays to extend its mask ordinance.Statewide, the number of new reported cases rose by 1,111 from Wednesday to Friday, bringing the total to 41,048. The state Department of Health and Environment also reported an additional six COVID-19-related deaths, to put the pandemic total at 443.The average for the seven days ending Friday was 599, 3.6% more than the previous record of 578 for the seven days ending Wednesday. The state also reported 16 clusters in colleges and universities with 189 cases.TAmid the rise, the Lawrence school district is following the recommendation of Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health and suspending some fall sports starting Monday.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598634973316.png" alt="Friday August 28, KDHE image" />
 <figcaption>Friday August 28, KDHE image</figcaption>
 </figure>“We recognize that the entry testing and high number of tests of University of Kansas students drove the number of new cases,” health department Director Dan Partridge said in a news release. “Given those COVID-19 cases are now in our community, we believe it’s prudent to move to phase Yellow.”The county had been in a green tier, which allows for for all activities to continue, as long as standard public safety precautions are taken.Lawrence school district spokeswoman Julie Boyle said competitions in “high risk” activities such as football, competitive cheer and dance, band, choir and possibly soccer would be delayed until health officials deem them safer. Boyle noted the health guidance identifies soccer as a sport that can be modified to decrease the risk of spreading COVID-19 and continue competing. She said the district will investigate possible modifications.The Kansas Department of Labor announced Friday that the agency will extend its call center hours to weekday evenings and Saturdays for general inquiries, claim status updates and technical assistance. People with more complex questions will need to call during regular business hours.“Extending our call center hours makes sense during this unprecedented pandemic,” the agency’s acting secretary, Ryan Wright, said in a news release. “The Department of Labor is making itself available to answer questions when it is convenient for claimants.

Kansas sets new pandemic record for 7-day case bump

BUTLER COUNTY–&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office have made an additional arrest connected to the murder of 78-year-old Danny Shue of Eureka, Kansas, according to a media release.

Just before 10a.m. Thursday, Leon A. Lindsay, 34, of El Dorado, was arrested at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for felony murder, aggravated burglary, felony theft, and conspiracy to commit felony theft. He is currently being held at the Butler County Jail.

Assisting the KBI and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office in this arrest were the El Dorado Police Department, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, and K-9 handlers from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.

Previously charged in this case were 30-year-old Noah J. E. Farr, of Dighton, 25-year-old Joseph E. Warden, of El Dorado, and a 17-year-old teen from El Dorado, who was not named as he is a juvenile.

Just after 10 p.m. August 19, the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office responded to do a welfare check at a home at 1607 Quincy Street in Eureka, Kansas, according to a media release from the KBI.

 When deputies responded, they searched the residence and discovered 78-year-old Danny Shue deceased inside. Shue was pronounced dead at the scene.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598026621001.png" alt="KBI on the scene of the investigation August 20 -photo courtesy Eureka Herald" />
 <figcaption>KBI on the scene of the investigation August 20 -photo courtesy Eureka Herald</figcaption>
 </figure>BUTLER COUNTY–&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office have made an additional arrest connected to the murder of 78-year-old Danny Shue of Eureka, Kansas, according to a media release.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598638528314.png" alt="Lindsay-photo Butler Co." />
 <figcaption>Lindsay-photo Butler Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Just before 10a.m. Thursday, Leon A. Lindsay, 34, of El Dorado, was arrested at the Butler County Sheriff’s Office for felony murder, aggravated burglary, felony theft, and conspiracy to commit felony theft. He is currently being held at the Butler County Jail.Assisting the KBI and the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office in this arrest were the El Dorado Police Department, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office, and K-9 handlers from the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598477662600.png" alt="Farr-photo Finney Co." />
 <figcaption>Farr-photo Finney Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Previously charged in this case were 30-year-old Noah J. E. Farr, of Dighton, 25-year-old Joseph E. Warden, of El Dorado, and a 17-year-old teen from El Dorado, who was not named as he is a juvenile.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598639981075.png" alt="Warden photo Greenwood County" />
 <figcaption>Warden photo Greenwood County</figcaption>
 </figure>Just after 10 p.m. August 19, the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office responded to do a welfare check at a home at 1607 Quincy Street in Eureka, Kansas, according to a media release from the KBI. When deputies responded, they searched the residence and discovered 78-year-old Danny Shue deceased inside. Shue was pronounced dead at the scene.

KBI: 4th arrest in murder of 78-year-old Kan. man

WASHINGTON (AP) — Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates began highlighting the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?475069-1/national-action-networks-get-necks-rally-march&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here to</a> watch the rally and march

An estimated thousands gathered Friday near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” address, a vision of racial equality that remains elusive for millions of Americans.

And they are gathering on the heels of yet another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time, 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday — sparking days of protests and violence that left two dead.

“I want to give space for Black people in the crowd to say they are not okay,” said Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate, who addressed march attendees shortly after the program began.

“We are like the nameless grandmothers who got in the streets and said ‘We will make you live up to what America says she is,’” Williams said. “We are here. We’re not going anywhere.”

Early on, the march was shaping up to be the largest political gathering in Washington since the coronavirus pandemic began. Many attendees showed up wearing T-shirts bearing the image and words of the late Rep. John Lewis who, until his death last month, was the last living speaker at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2505bea3e2d24894a7ea91bcf52bdfdf">original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</a>, which went on to become one of the most famous political rallies in U.S. history. and one of the largest gatherings at the nation’s capital with over 200,000 people advocating for social change.

The thousands of participants that were streaming in for the march late Friday morning stood in lines that stretched for several blocks, as organizers insisted on taking temperatures as part of coronavirus protocols. Organizers reminded attendees to practice social distancing and wear masks throughout the program.

Later in the day, Martin Luther King III, a son of the late civil rights icon and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6af0d92e21fe3d91ebafd88256c00014?fbclid=IwAR333ijYwtUn91lGsZMJXCbyTeCL_FzT3MuJdCO6GDeRkQh6A6r93iaAsz4">Rev. Al Sharpton,</a>&nbsp;whose civil rights organization, the National Action Network, planned Friday’s event, are expected to deliver keynote addresses that show the urgency for federal policing reforms, to decry racial violence, and to demand voting rights protections ahead of the November general election.

And to underscore the urgency, Sharpton has assembled the families of an ever-expanding roll call of victims: Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner, among others.

Arbery and Martin both were killed by white men who pursued them with guns.

Following the commemorative rally, participants will march to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in West Potomac Park, next to the National Mall, and then disperse.

Turnout in Washington was expected be lighter than initially intended due to city-imposed coronavirus pandemic restrictions that limit out-of-state visitors to the nation’s capital. To that end, the National Action Network organized a handful of satellite march events in South Carolina, Florida and Nevada, among others.

While participants march in Washington, Sharpton has called for those in other states to march on their U.S. senators’ offices and demand their support of federal policing reforms. Sharpton said protesters should also demand reinvigorated U.S. voter protections, in Lewis’ memory.

In June, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, which would ban police use of stranglehold maneuvers and end qualified immunity for officers, among other reforms. Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after a white police officer in Minneapolis held a knee to the man’s neck for nearly eight minutes, sparking weeks of sustained protests and unrest from coast to coast.

In July, following Lewis’ death, Democratic senators reintroduced legislation that would restore a provision of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. The law previously required states with a history of voter suppression to seek federal clearance before changing voting regulations.

Both measures are awaiting action in the Republican-controlled Senate.

“We’re demanding that that be enacted,” King told the Associated Press on Thursday. “The senators won’t even take action on it. That gives us an opportunity to say, ‘OK, we gave you guys a chance, we as the people, as Black people, as white people, as Latinos and Hispanics and we’re going to vote you out.’”

Later in the evening, the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 150 Black-led organizations that make up the broader Black Lives Matter movement, will hold its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fd3c1e92f9dcf7de4c6ff74ca7c41592?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">virtual Black National Convention</a>.

The convention will coincide with the unveiling of a new Black political agenda intended to build on the success of this summer’s protests. The platform will deepen calls for defunding police departments in favor of investments to healthcare, education, housing and other social services in Black communities, organizers said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598632420451.png" alt="Thousands gather near the Lincoln Memorial Friday morning -image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Thousands gather near the Lincoln Memorial Friday morning -image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Capping a week of protests and outrage over the police shooting of a Black man in Wisconsin, civil rights advocates began highlighting the scourge of police and vigilante violence against Black Americans at a commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?475069-1/national-action-networks-get-necks-rally-march&amp;live&amp;vod">Click here to</a> watch the rally and marchAn estimated thousands gathered Friday near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” address, a vision of racial equality that remains elusive for millions of Americans.And they are gathering on the heels of yet another shooting by a white police officer of a Black man — this time, 29-year-old Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last Sunday — sparking days of protests and violence that left two dead.“I want to give space for Black people in the crowd to say they are not okay,” said Jumaane Williams, New York City’s public advocate, who addressed march attendees shortly after the program began.“We are like the nameless grandmothers who got in the streets and said ‘We will make you live up to what America says she is,’” Williams said. “We are here. We’re not going anywhere.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598632692148.png" alt="Despite humidity and temperatures in the 90s, a large crowd, many wearing masks arrived early for the event sponsored by the National Action Network -photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Despite humidity and temperatures in the 90s, a large crowd, many wearing masks arrived early for the event sponsored by the National Action Network -photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>Early on, the march was shaping up to be the largest political gathering in Washington since the coronavirus pandemic began. Many attendees showed up wearing T-shirts bearing the image and words of the late Rep. John Lewis who, until his death last month, was the last living speaker at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/2505bea3e2d24894a7ea91bcf52bdfdf">original March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom</a>, which went on to become one of the most famous political rallies in U.S. history. and one of the largest gatherings at the nation’s capital with over 200,000 people advocating for social change.The thousands of participants that were streaming in for the march late Friday morning stood in lines that stretched for several blocks, as organizers insisted on taking temperatures as part of coronavirus protocols. Organizers reminded attendees to practice social distancing and wear masks throughout the program.Later in the day, Martin Luther King III, a son of the late civil rights icon and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6af0d92e21fe3d91ebafd88256c00014?fbclid=IwAR333ijYwtUn91lGsZMJXCbyTeCL_FzT3MuJdCO6GDeRkQh6A6r93iaAsz4">Rev. Al Sharpton,</a>&nbsp;whose civil rights organization, the National Action Network, planned Friday’s event, are expected to deliver keynote addresses that show the urgency for federal policing reforms, to decry racial violence, and to demand voting rights protections ahead of the November general election.And to underscore the urgency, Sharpton has assembled the families of an ever-expanding roll call of victims: Blake, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner, among others.Arbery and Martin both were killed by white men who pursued them with guns.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/8/1598633020611.png" alt="The event marks the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech.-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>The event marks the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech.-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>Following the commemorative rally, participants will march to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in West Potomac Park, next to the National Mall, and then disperse.Turnout in Washington was expected be lighter than initially intended due to city-imposed coronavirus pandemic restrictions that limit out-of-state visitors to the nation’s capital. To that end, the National Action Network organized a handful of satellite march events in South Carolina, Florida and Nevada, among others.While participants march in Washington, Sharpton has called for those in other states to march on their U.S. senators’ offices and demand their support of federal policing reforms. Sharpton said protesters should also demand reinvigorated U.S. voter protections, in Lewis’ memory.In June, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act, which would ban police use of stranglehold maneuvers and end qualified immunity for officers, among other reforms. Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after a white police officer in Minneapolis held a knee to the man’s neck for nearly eight minutes, sparking weeks of sustained protests and unrest from coast to coast.In July, following Lewis’ death, Democratic senators reintroduced legislation that would restore a provision of the historic Voting Rights Act of 1965 gutted by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013. The law previously required states with a history of voter suppression to seek federal clearance before changing voting regulations.Both measures are awaiting action in the Republican-controlled Senate.“We’re demanding that that be enacted,” King told the Associated Press on Thursday. “The senators won’t even take action on it. That gives us an opportunity to say, ‘OK, we gave you guys a chance, we as the people, as Black people, as white people, as Latinos and Hispanics and we’re going to vote you out.’”Later in the evening, the Movement for Black Lives, a coalition of more than 150 Black-led organizations that make up the broader Black Lives Matter movement, will hold its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fd3c1e92f9dcf7de4c6ff74ca7c41592?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&amp;utm_medium=AP&amp;utm_source=Twitter">virtual Black National Convention</a>.The convention will coincide with the unveiling of a new Black political agenda intended to build on the success of this summer’s protests. The platform will deepen calls for defunding police departments in favor of investments to healthcare, education, housing and other social services in Black communities, organizers said.