BROWN COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating&nbsp;several complaints about political signs being stolen, according to Brown County Sheriff John Merchant.

"I have been asked if it is illegal.&nbsp; The answers is yes&nbsp; it is illegal and falls under the theft statute.&nbsp; Depending on the number of signs stolen and their value, the theft could be classified as a felony." "Defacing political signs falls under criminal damage to property statue."

According to the sheriff, those reporting the sign thefts have indicated that they will press charges if suspects are caught stealing political signs.

BROWN COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating&nbsp;several complaints about political signs being stolen, according to Brown County Sheriff John Merchant."I have been asked if it is illegal.&nbsp; The answers is yes&nbsp; it is illegal and falls under the theft statute.&nbsp; Depending on the number of signs stolen and their value, the theft could be classified as a felony." "Defacing political signs falls under criminal damage to property statue." According to the sheriff, those reporting the sign thefts have indicated that they will press charges if suspects are caught stealing political signs.

Kan. sheriff investigating theft of political signs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors will recommend&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-california-killings-new-evidence-09b07102fa120297b2ba4767238f364d">Erik and Lyle Menendez</a>&nbsp;be resentenced for the 1989 killings of their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills home, providing the brothers with a chance at freedom after 34 years behind bars.

An official with knowledge of the decision who was not authorized to speak on the record ahead of a planned press conference confirmed that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón would recommend resentencing for the brothers.

They were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors must now seek court approval.

<a href="https://apnews.com/national-celebrity-general-news-dbe3118a457f4abcba69f1e52e34d59e">Lyle Menendez</a>, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez. The brothers said they feared their parents were about to kill them to stop people from finding out that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Erik Menendez for years.

The brothers’ extended family&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-california-killings-new-evidence-09b07102fa120297b2ba4767238f364d">has pleaded for their release</a>, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars. Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.

Multiple members of their extended family, including their aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sat in the first few rows of Thursday's news conference. Joan Andersen VanderMolen was Kitty Menendez’s sister and has publicly supported their release. Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, was also there.

The Menendez brothers were tried twice for their parents’ murders, with the first trial ending in a hung jury.

Prosecutors at the time contended that there was no evidence of molestation, and many details in their story of sexual abuse were not permitted in the second trial. The district attorney’s office also said back then that the brothers were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.

Not all Menendez family members support resentencing. Attorneys for Milton Anderson, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a legal brief asking the court to keep the brothers’ original punishment. “They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death,” Anderson’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”

The LA district attorney is in the middle of a tough reelection fight against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman who has blamed Gascón’s progressive reform policies for recent high-profile murders and increased retail crime.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729793922699.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors will recommend&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-california-killings-new-evidence-09b07102fa120297b2ba4767238f364d">Erik and Lyle Menendez</a>&nbsp;be resentenced for the 1989 killings of their parents in the family’s Beverly Hills home, providing the brothers with a chance at freedom after 34 years behind bars.An official with knowledge of the decision who was not authorized to speak on the record ahead of a planned press conference confirmed that Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón would recommend resentencing for the brothers.They were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors must now seek court approval.<a href="https://apnews.com/national-celebrity-general-news-dbe3118a457f4abcba69f1e52e34d59e">Lyle Menendez</a>, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, admitted they fatally shot their entertainment executive father, Jose Menendez, and their mother, Kitty Menendez. The brothers said they feared their parents were about to kill them to stop people from finding out that Jose Menendez had sexually abused Erik Menendez for years.The brothers’ extended family&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/menendez-brothers-california-killings-new-evidence-09b07102fa120297b2ba4767238f364d">has pleaded for their release</a>, saying they deserve to be free after decades behind bars. Several family members have said that in today’s world — which is more aware of the impact of sexual abuse — the brothers would not have been convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life.Multiple members of their extended family, including their aunt Joan Andersen VanderMolen, sat in the first few rows of Thursday's news conference. Joan Andersen VanderMolen was Kitty Menendez’s sister and has publicly supported their release. Mark Geragos, an attorney for the brothers, was also there.The Menendez brothers were tried twice for their parents’ murders, with the first trial ending in a hung jury.Prosecutors at the time contended that there was no evidence of molestation, and many details in their story of sexual abuse were not permitted in the second trial. The district attorney’s office also said back then that the brothers were after their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate.Not all Menendez family members support resentencing. Attorneys for Milton Anderson, the 90-year-old brother of Kitty Menendez, filed a legal brief asking the court to keep the brothers’ original punishment. “They shot their mother, Kitty, reloading to ensure her death,” Anderson’s attorneys said in a statement Thursday. “The evidence remains overwhelmingly clear: the jury’s verdict was just, and the punishment fits the heinous crime.”The LA district attorney is in the middle of a tough reelection fight against former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman who has blamed Gascón’s progressive reform policies for recent high-profile murders and increased retail crime.

Prosecutors want resentencing of brothers for killing their parents

LABETTE COUNTY —Two people were injured in a crash involving a horse and buggy on a Kansas Highway just after 8a.m. Thursday in Labette County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2023 Ford Escape driven by Landin Rayne Knickerbocker, 27,&nbsp;Neodesha, was eastbound on U.S. 400 two miles East of the U.S. 169 Junction.

The SUV rear-ended a&nbsp;Horse and Buggy that was halfway in the outside lane and shoulder.&nbsp;

&nbsp;EMS transported the driver of the buggy&nbsp; 35-year-old Elizabeth&nbsp; Schwartz and her passenger 16-year-old Priscilla Schwartz both of Cherryvale to Labette County Health in&nbsp; Parsons for treatment of serious injuries. Knickerbocker was not injured and properly restrained, according to the KHP.&nbsp; The KHP did not report details on injuries to the horse.

LABETTE COUNTY —Two people were injured in a crash involving a horse and buggy on a Kansas Highway just after 8a.m. Thursday in Labette County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2023 Ford Escape driven by Landin Rayne Knickerbocker, 27,&nbsp;Neodesha, was eastbound on U.S. 400 two miles East of the U.S. 169 Junction.The SUV rear-ended a&nbsp;Horse and Buggy that was halfway in the outside lane and shoulder.&nbsp;&nbsp;EMS transported the driver of the buggy&nbsp; 35-year-old Elizabeth&nbsp; Schwartz and her passenger 16-year-old Priscilla Schwartz both of Cherryvale to Labette County Health in&nbsp; Parsons for treatment of serious injuries. Knickerbocker was not injured and properly restrained, according to the KHP.&nbsp; The KHP did not report details on injuries to the horse.

Kan. woman, teen injured after SUV rear-ends horse and buggy

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>

WASHINGTON — The next U.S. president must steer the nation through crises across the globe, including worsening violence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to retreat from Ukraine and U.S-China trade relations.

The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, largely built her career as a prosecutor, but once in Washington she sat on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a position that comes with access to highly classified national security files.

As vice president she’s represented the U.S. at high-profile international meetings, including the Munich Security Conference and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who followed his wealthy father’s path into real estate and ascended to the status of celebrity businessman, has already held the elected position of Commander-in-Chief for four years — though high-ranking officials who served under him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/milley-trump-biden-democracy-military-d2abb76858291c87ae856f91e9556d8e" target="_blank">say</a>&nbsp;he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bolton-excoriates-trump-fresh-introduction-his-memoir-2024-01-30/" target="_blank">should</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/30/mark-esper-wont-vote-for-trump-wont-say-he-will-vote-for-biden-sot-nr-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">not</a>&nbsp;occupy that seat again.

Trump and Harris’ track records can provide clues on how, if elected, they would handle complex and challenging national and economic security policies.

But overall on the campaign trail, foreign policy “has played a back seat role to domestic politics in the 2024 election,” James M. Lindsay, a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy for the Council on Foreign Relations, told States Newsroom in an interview.

That’s not unusual, Lindsay said, as presidential year politics generally tend to have a domestic focus.

“This has been more a campaign about personalities than about specific policy prescriptions. It’s safe to say that the two candidates have very different world views,” Lindsay said.

Harris centers relationship building, and promised in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to “stand strong” with NATO allies.

In Trump’s convention speech he lamented that the U.S. has “long been taken advantage of” by “so-called allies.”

Observers say the former president leads with a transactional outlook: In other words, nations must pay for access to U.S. markets and security.

“Trump thinks that U.S. support to allies is a bad deal for America, whereas Harris realizes that the United States benefits immensely from them,” Matthew Waxman, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and chair of Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program, told States Newsroom.

But predicting how a presidential candidate would act on the global stage, if elected, is tricky. Conflicts continue to evolve, and those in top defense and diplomatic jobs are likely to turn over.

“It’s partly because a President Harris or President Trump could face a very different situation in the Middle East or in Ukraine come Inauguration Day, but it’s also because in Washington personnel are policy, people are policy,” Lindsay said.

Here are some of the serious international situations either administration will face:

The deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, launched from the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, reignited smoldering regional tensions and highlighted the inextricable U.S. role. Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 in the brutal and unexpected incursion, and took 250 hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity.

President Joe Biden immediately&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47828" target="_blank">surged</a>&nbsp;weapons and security aid to the key U.S. defense partner, and in April Congress approved his request for $8.7 billion more in foreign military financing and missile defense.

Israel’s year-long campaign to completely eliminate Iranian-allied Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip has resulted in a staggering death toll, now over 41,000, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas’ assault also set in motion attacks from other Iranian-backed militias, opening up a war front between Israel and Hezbollah fighters to the north in Lebanon. And for months, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis have terrorized commercial shipping in the Red Sea.

Biden has faced fierce criticism for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war tactics.

Harris, as early as March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1234822836/kamala-harris-benny-gantz-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas" target="_blank">publicly</a>&nbsp;criticized Israel over the humanitarian “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-vp-harris-urges-israeli-government-do-more-boost-aid-into-gaza-2024-03-03/" target="_blank">catastrophe</a>” in Gaza and called for an immediate six-week cease-fire.

Harris, who became the Democratic presidential nominee in mid-summer after Biden dropped his bid, has repeatedly said she defends Israel’s right to defend itself but that “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/" target="_blank">how it does so matters</a>.”

Protesters could be heard in the distance Monday as Harris planted a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack. Pro-Palestinian activists protesting the death toll in Gaza have marched and rallied throughout the U.S. during the past year.

Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/one-year-oct-7-attack-israel-us-leaders-honor-victims-and-protesters-march" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;reporters that the administration is “not giving up” on negotiating a cease-fire deal and release of hostages, an effort that has so far floundered.

“It’s one of the most important ways we will be able to end this war and bring any type of stability to the region. It’s one of the highest priorities of this administration,” she said.

She has not indicated any slowdown or conditions on assistance to Israel if elected — though she continues to advocate for a two-state solution.

“Trump may give Jerusalem less public chastising and criticism, but I’m not sure the policy differences would be that great either,” Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and foreign policy research director at the Brookings Institution, told States Newsroom. O’Hanlon recently published an article arguing the Trump and Harris defense strategies would at least “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-partially-convergent-trump-and-harris-defense-policies/" target="_blank">partially</a>” converge.

Trump maintains that Oct. 7 “would never have happened” had he been in office, and he accuses the Biden administration of inviting the attack because of its “weak” relationship with Iran.

“What is needed more than ever is a return of unwavering American leadership and unquestioned American strength. We were strong, we were powerful … That’s what I intend to deliver as the 47th president of the United States,” he said Monday while in Miami marking one year since the ambush on Israel.

The attack also wrecked any forward progress on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/" target="_blank">Abraham Accords</a>&nbsp;— Trump’s signature Middle East achievement that created full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. While those established channels remain steady, the Biden administration’s efforts to strike a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia are now at a standstill.

Trump is increasingly selling himself on the campaign trail as the candidate of stability who can quash Iran’s aggression — which is pretty much a “standard approach to campaigning,” Lindsay said.

“He is not the first challenger to argue that the incumbent president has been weak.”

But Lindsay said, “the important question isn’t whether he was tougher, it’s whether his policies were more effective.”

For example, the Iranian-backed so-called “axis of resistance” militias currently upending the Middle East were also operating during Trump’s presidency.

“(They) pre-dated his coming into office but it’s not that a Trump administration ended that network of anti-Western, anti-Israeli groups,” Lindsay said. “And during the Trump administration it was the case that Iran both underwrote attacks on American troops and actually launched attacks on American troops.”

Trump drew attention last week to an early January 2020 barrage on U.S. troops in Iraq when he again&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-describes-traumatic-brain-injuries-sustained-us-troops-iraq-headache" target="_blank">described</a>&nbsp;the traumatic brain injuries they suffered as “headaches.”

U.S. troops&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/us-troops-middle-east-mapping-military-presence" target="_blank">in Iraq and Syria</a>, already a target, have come under increasing fire from Iran-backed militants, with more than 100&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/drone-strike-risks-dangerous-us-iran-escalation" target="_blank">attacks</a>&nbsp;on U.S. service members since Israel began its post-Oct. 7 offensive. A drone strike in January&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan/index.html" target="_blank">killed</a>&nbsp;three U.S. soldiers and injured 30 at an outpost in Jordan on the Syrian border. The U.S. retaliated by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike" target="_blank">launching</a>&nbsp;more than 100 precision rockets at 85 of Iran military sites in Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. assisted Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3923123/us-assets-in-mediterranean-again-helped-defend-israel-against-iranian-missiles/" target="_blank">twice</a>&nbsp;in 2024 in intercepting rockets fired directly from Iran — once in April following Israel’s bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and again in September after Israel’s assassination of Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon.

“We’re in the last months of the Biden presidency, and Biden’s own, I think, personal influence here is quite diminished. And you know, I can’t predict what Trump policy really would be. I assume he would be less likely to be trying to restrain the Israelis, but so is the Biden administration. And maybe that is a Biden-Harris policy,” Elliott Abrams, CFR’s senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, told reporters on Oct. 2, the day after Iran launched its second direct&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/iran-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-israel-us-warns" target="_blank">attack</a>.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with both&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/zelenskyy-washington-meets-us-leaders-beef-support-ukraine" target="_blank">Harris</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/09/27/u-s-government-unveils-charges-against-iranians-who-hacked-into-trump-2024-campaign/" target="_blank">Trump</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks to shore up continued U.S. support for his country’s ongoing war against Russia’s occupation.

Harris’ meeting with the Ukrainian leader was her seventh, and she pledged continued aid for the eastern European nation on the principle that Putin would continue marching into Europe if allies relent on Ukraine.

Harris supports continued U.S. assistance, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine" target="_blank">totaled</a>&nbsp;roughly $175 billion since 2022. At the Ukraine peace&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/16/joint-communique-on-a-peace-framework-summit-on-peace-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">summit</a>&nbsp;in Switzerland in June, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240723-from-gaza-to-china-where-kamala-harris-stands-on-foreign-policy-issues" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jun-15-2024-/vice-president-kamala-harris-announces-over-1-billion-bolster-ukraines-energy-sector-address-humanitarian-needs-and-strengthen-civilian-security" target="_blank">nearly</a>&nbsp;$2 billion, some new and some redirected, to bolster the country’s energy sector and add to humanitarian efforts.

The vice president has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/19/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference/" target="_blank">represented</a>&nbsp;the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/18/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-2/" target="_blank">three</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/02/16/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-munich-germany/" target="_blank">times</a>&nbsp;at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, where she praised the NATO alliance and said the U.S. commitment to its principles is “ironclad.”

When facing Harris on the presidential debate stage in September, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/harris-tears-trump-over-abortion-rights-and-race-tense-presidential-debate" target="_blank">refused</a>&nbsp;to answer whether he wants Ukraine to be victorious over Russia.

Trump’s rhetoric and past behavior “spells bad news for Ukraine,” Waxman said.

“He is likely to reduce American support for Ukraine and push Ukraine to make concessions to Russia. Overall, Trump’s transactional approach to leader-to-leader diplomacy is likely to benefit Putin,” Waxman continued. “Whereas Harris wants to invest in alliances like NATO, Trump is skeptical of them.”

That type of leader-to-leader communication was notoriously highlighted in 2019 when U.S. House lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-9/ALDE_00000035/" target="_blank">impeached</a>&nbsp;Trump for directly threatening to withhold Ukraine aid if Zelenskyy did not announce an investigation into Biden — Trump’s presidential campaign rival at the time. The Senate acquitted Trump.

Like his campaign line on the Israel attack, Trump also repeatedly claims that had he been in office, instead of Biden, Russia would have never launched its February 2022 attack on Ukraine.

“The war in Ukraine did not begin in February of ‘22, it began back in 2014,” Lindsay said, referring to Putin’s forced annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.

Trump’s own administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/on-the-record-the-u-s-administrations-actions-on-russia/" target="_blank">expanded</a>&nbsp;Obama-era sanctions meant to punish Russia’s actions in Crimea.

“Experts can argue about how to dole out criticism across administrations, but clearly the issue of Russian support for a notionally independent insurrection in eastern Ukraine was not solved during the Trump presidency,” Lindsay continued.

Foreign trade is a “political hot potato,” and neither Harris nor Trump are offering much clarity for U.S. trading partners around the world, Mary E. Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom in an interview.

Lovely described the Biden-Harris approach as multipronged, in that they’ve instituted policies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. while also aiming to maintain good trade relationships with partner nations.

The tightrope walk becomes even trickier as U.S. policy also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/while-us-and-china-decouple-eu-and-china-deepen-trade-dependencies" target="_blank">disincentivizes</a>&nbsp;materials and components from China — one of the world’s largest trading nations — in the final products imported from trading partners. Think: components in solar panels and electric vehicles.

The Biden administration’s major legislative accomplishments — the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act — provided major subsidies for “reshoring,” or returning to the U.S., clean energy and semiconductor production. But the policies were not without risks to U.S. trading partners.

“We had a lot of things (in the legislation), including things that upset the allies — you know, subsidies for American businesses, that they saw potentially as pulling investment out of their economies,” Lovely said.

“These are things that the European Union, Japan, Korea were concerned about,” Lovely continued. “So we’ve seen it there — this tension between foreign policy and this idea of economic security.”

While Lovely said she worries about how some of the Biden-Harris trade policies might affect competition and the nation’s ability to sign timely trade agreements, she said Trump’s plans are overall “destabilizing.”

“The increased use of tariffs is misguided at best,” Lovely said.

Trump’s promise to not only increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 60%, but also to slap flat 10% to 20% tariffs on all imports across the board is akin to “starting a trade war with the entire world.”

“We’re not going to see those kinds of tariffs without retaliation,” Lovely said.

If enacted, the tariffs would be particularly challenging for Indo-Pacific countries that rely on U.S. partnership in the face of China’s regional dominance.

“I mean, you can imagine how this will go down in, say, Japan and Korea, two countries which rely on the U.S. for a security umbrella, which is why Trump thinks that he can do stuff to them. But they also have to protect their own economies,” Lovely said. “So it’s going to put them in a really terrible position because it’s very important for them to maintain their alliance with the U.S., economic as well as military.”

But one thing is for sure, Lovely said: “Everybody wants to know what’s going to happen. Everybody in every embassy here in Washington.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695389171060.png" alt="File photo -President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy&nbsp; and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin- photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>File photo -President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy&nbsp; and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin- photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/ashley-murray/">ASHLEY MURRAY</a>WASHINGTON — The next U.S. president must steer the nation through crises across the globe, including worsening violence in the Middle East, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s refusal to retreat from Ukraine and U.S-China trade relations.The Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, largely built her career as a prosecutor, but once in Washington she sat on the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a position that comes with access to highly classified national security files.As vice president she’s represented the U.S. at high-profile international meetings, including the Munich Security Conference and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.The Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who followed his wealthy father’s path into real estate and ascended to the status of celebrity businessman, has already held the elected position of Commander-in-Chief for four years — though high-ranking officials who served under him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/milley-trump-biden-democracy-military-d2abb76858291c87ae856f91e9556d8e" target="_blank">say</a>&nbsp;he&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/bolton-excoriates-trump-fresh-introduction-his-memoir-2024-01-30/" target="_blank">should</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/03/30/mark-esper-wont-vote-for-trump-wont-say-he-will-vote-for-biden-sot-nr-vpx.cnn" target="_blank">not</a>&nbsp;occupy that seat again.Trump and Harris’ track records can provide clues on how, if elected, they would handle complex and challenging national and economic security policies.But overall on the campaign trail, foreign policy “has played a back seat role to domestic politics in the 2024 election,” James M. Lindsay, a senior fellow in U.S. foreign policy for the Council on Foreign Relations, told States Newsroom in an interview.That’s not unusual, Lindsay said, as presidential year politics generally tend to have a domestic focus.“This has been more a campaign about personalities than about specific policy prescriptions. It’s safe to say that the two candidates have very different world views,” Lindsay said.<h2>Relationships with allies</h2>Harris centers relationship building, and promised in her Democratic National Convention acceptance speech to “stand strong” with NATO allies.In Trump’s convention speech he lamented that the U.S. has “long been taken advantage of” by “so-called allies.”Observers say the former president leads with a transactional outlook: In other words, nations must pay for access to U.S. markets and security.“Trump thinks that U.S. support to allies is a bad deal for America, whereas Harris realizes that the United States benefits immensely from them,” Matthew Waxman, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and chair of Columbia Law School’s National Security Law Program, told States Newsroom.But predicting how a presidential candidate would act on the global stage, if elected, is tricky. Conflicts continue to evolve, and those in top defense and diplomatic jobs are likely to turn over.“It’s partly because a President Harris or President Trump could face a very different situation in the Middle East or in Ukraine come Inauguration Day, but it’s also because in Washington personnel are policy, people are policy,” Lindsay said.Here are some of the serious international situations either administration will face:<h2>Middle East</h2>The deadly Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, launched from the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip, reignited smoldering regional tensions and highlighted the inextricable U.S. role. Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 in the brutal and unexpected incursion, and took 250 hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity.President Joe Biden immediately&nbsp;<a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47828" target="_blank">surged</a>&nbsp;weapons and security aid to the key U.S. defense partner, and in April Congress approved his request for $8.7 billion more in foreign military financing and missile defense.Israel’s year-long campaign to completely eliminate Iranian-allied Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip has resulted in a staggering death toll, now over 41,000, according to Gaza health officials.Hamas’ assault also set in motion attacks from other Iranian-backed militias, opening up a war front between Israel and Hezbollah fighters to the north in Lebanon. And for months, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthis have terrorized commercial shipping in the Red Sea.Biden has faced fierce criticism for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war tactics.Harris, as early as March,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/04/1234822836/kamala-harris-benny-gantz-gaza-cease-fire-israel-hamas" target="_blank">publicly</a>&nbsp;criticized Israel over the humanitarian “<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us-vp-harris-urges-israeli-government-do-more-boost-aid-into-gaza-2024-03-03/" target="_blank">catastrophe</a>” in Gaza and called for an immediate six-week cease-fire.Harris, who became the Democratic presidential nominee in mid-summer after Biden dropped his bid, has repeatedly said she defends Israel’s right to defend itself but that “<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/07/25/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-following-meeting-with-prime-minister-benjamin-netanyahu-of-israel/" target="_blank">how it does so matters</a>.”Protesters could be heard in the distance Monday as Harris planted a memorial tree at the vice president’s residence to mark the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack. Pro-Palestinian activists protesting the death toll in Gaza have marched and rallied throughout the U.S. during the past year.Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/one-year-oct-7-attack-israel-us-leaders-honor-victims-and-protesters-march" target="_blank">told</a>&nbsp;reporters that the administration is “not giving up” on negotiating a cease-fire deal and release of hostages, an effort that has so far floundered.“It’s one of the most important ways we will be able to end this war and bring any type of stability to the region. It’s one of the highest priorities of this administration,” she said.She has not indicated any slowdown or conditions on assistance to Israel if elected — though she continues to advocate for a two-state solution.“Trump may give Jerusalem less public chastising and criticism, but I’m not sure the policy differences would be that great either,” Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow and foreign policy research director at the Brookings Institution, told States Newsroom. O’Hanlon recently published an article arguing the Trump and Harris defense strategies would at least “<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-partially-convergent-trump-and-harris-defense-policies/" target="_blank">partially</a>” converge.Trump maintains that Oct. 7 “would never have happened” had he been in office, and he accuses the Biden administration of inviting the attack because of its “weak” relationship with Iran.“What is needed more than ever is a return of unwavering American leadership and unquestioned American strength. We were strong, we were powerful … That’s what I intend to deliver as the 47th president of the United States,” he said Monday while in Miami marking one year since the ambush on Israel.The attack also wrecked any forward progress on the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/the-abraham-accords/" target="_blank">Abraham Accords</a>&nbsp;— Trump’s signature Middle East achievement that created full diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. While those established channels remain steady, the Biden administration’s efforts to strike a deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia are now at a standstill.Trump is increasingly selling himself on the campaign trail as the candidate of stability who can quash Iran’s aggression — which is pretty much a “standard approach to campaigning,” Lindsay said.“He is not the first challenger to argue that the incumbent president has been weak.”But Lindsay said, “the important question isn’t whether he was tougher, it’s whether his policies were more effective.”For example, the Iranian-backed so-called “axis of resistance” militias currently upending the Middle East were also operating during Trump’s presidency.“(They) pre-dated his coming into office but it’s not that a Trump administration ended that network of anti-Western, anti-Israeli groups,” Lindsay said. “And during the Trump administration it was the case that Iran both underwrote attacks on American troops and actually launched attacks on American troops.”Trump drew attention last week to an early January 2020 barrage on U.S. troops in Iraq when he again&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/trump-describes-traumatic-brain-injuries-sustained-us-troops-iraq-headache" target="_blank">described</a>&nbsp;the traumatic brain injuries they suffered as “headaches.”U.S. troops&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/us-troops-middle-east-mapping-military-presence" target="_blank">in Iraq and Syria</a>, already a target, have come under increasing fire from Iran-backed militants, with more than 100&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/in-brief/drone-strike-risks-dangerous-us-iran-escalation" target="_blank">attacks</a>&nbsp;on U.S. service members since Israel began its post-Oct. 7 offensive. A drone strike in January&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/28/politics/us-troops-drone-attack-jordan/index.html" target="_blank">killed</a>&nbsp;three U.S. soldiers and injured 30 at an outpost in Jordan on the Syrian border. The U.S. retaliated by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/02/02/1228132782/us-biden-iran-drone-response-strike" target="_blank">launching</a>&nbsp;more than 100 precision rockets at 85 of Iran military sites in Iraq and Syria.The U.S. assisted Israel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3923123/us-assets-in-mediterranean-again-helped-defend-israel-against-iranian-missiles/" target="_blank">twice</a>&nbsp;in 2024 in intercepting rockets fired directly from Iran — once in April following Israel’s bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and again in September after Israel’s assassination of Iranian-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Lebanon.“We’re in the last months of the Biden presidency, and Biden’s own, I think, personal influence here is quite diminished. And you know, I can’t predict what Trump policy really would be. I assume he would be less likely to be trying to restrain the Israelis, but so is the Biden administration. And maybe that is a Biden-Harris policy,” Elliott Abrams, CFR’s senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, told reporters on Oct. 2, the day after Iran launched its second direct&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/01/iran-imminent-ballistic-missile-attack-israel-us-warns" target="_blank">attack</a>.<h2>Ukraine and NATO</h2>Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with both&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/zelenskyy-washington-meets-us-leaders-beef-support-ukraine" target="_blank">Harris</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2024/09/27/u-s-government-unveils-charges-against-iranians-who-hacked-into-trump-2024-campaign/" target="_blank">Trump</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks to shore up continued U.S. support for his country’s ongoing war against Russia’s occupation.Harris’ meeting with the Ukrainian leader was her seventh, and she pledged continued aid for the eastern European nation on the principle that Putin would continue marching into Europe if allies relent on Ukraine.Harris supports continued U.S. assistance, which has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cfr.org/article/how-much-us-aid-going-ukraine" target="_blank">totaled</a>&nbsp;roughly $175 billion since 2022. At the Ukraine peace&nbsp;<a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2024/06/16/joint-communique-on-a-peace-framework-summit-on-peace-in-ukraine/" target="_blank">summit</a>&nbsp;in Switzerland in June, Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240723-from-gaza-to-china-where-kamala-harris-stands-on-foreign-policy-issues" target="_blank">pledged</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usaid.gov/news-information/press-releases/jun-15-2024-/vice-president-kamala-harris-announces-over-1-billion-bolster-ukraines-energy-sector-address-humanitarian-needs-and-strengthen-civilian-security" target="_blank">nearly</a>&nbsp;$2 billion, some new and some redirected, to bolster the country’s energy sector and add to humanitarian efforts.The vice president has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/02/19/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference/" target="_blank">represented</a>&nbsp;the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/02/18/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-2/" target="_blank">three</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/02/16/remarks-by-vice-president-harris-at-the-munich-security-conference-munich-germany/" target="_blank">times</a>&nbsp;at the annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, where she praised the NATO alliance and said the U.S. commitment to its principles is “ironclad.”When facing Harris on the presidential debate stage in September, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/harris-tears-trump-over-abortion-rights-and-race-tense-presidential-debate" target="_blank">refused</a>&nbsp;to answer whether he wants Ukraine to be victorious over Russia.Trump’s rhetoric and past behavior “spells bad news for Ukraine,” Waxman said.“He is likely to reduce American support for Ukraine and push Ukraine to make concessions to Russia. Overall, Trump’s transactional approach to leader-to-leader diplomacy is likely to benefit Putin,” Waxman continued. “Whereas Harris wants to invest in alliances like NATO, Trump is skeptical of them.”That type of leader-to-leader communication was notoriously highlighted in 2019 when U.S. House lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/browse/essay/artII-S4-4-9/ALDE_00000035/" target="_blank">impeached</a>&nbsp;Trump for directly threatening to withhold Ukraine aid if Zelenskyy did not announce an investigation into Biden — Trump’s presidential campaign rival at the time. The Senate acquitted Trump.Like his campaign line on the Israel attack, Trump also repeatedly claims that had he been in office, instead of Biden, Russia would have never launched its February 2022 attack on Ukraine.“The war in Ukraine did not begin in February of ‘22, it began back in 2014,” Lindsay said, referring to Putin’s forced annexation of the Crimean Peninsula.Trump’s own administration&nbsp;<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/on-the-record-the-u-s-administrations-actions-on-russia/" target="_blank">expanded</a>&nbsp;Obama-era sanctions meant to punish Russia’s actions in Crimea.“Experts can argue about how to dole out criticism across administrations, but clearly the issue of Russian support for a notionally independent insurrection in eastern Ukraine was not solved during the Trump presidency,” Lindsay continued.<h2>China and trade</h2>Foreign trade is a “political hot potato,” and neither Harris nor Trump are offering much clarity for U.S. trading partners around the world, Mary E. Lovely, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told States Newsroom in an interview.Lovely described the Biden-Harris approach as multipronged, in that they’ve instituted policies to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. while also aiming to maintain good trade relationships with partner nations.The tightrope walk becomes even trickier as U.S. policy also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2024/while-us-and-china-decouple-eu-and-china-deepen-trade-dependencies" target="_blank">disincentivizes</a>&nbsp;materials and components from China — one of the world’s largest trading nations — in the final products imported from trading partners. Think: components in solar panels and electric vehicles.The Biden administration’s major legislative accomplishments — the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act — provided major subsidies for “reshoring,” or returning to the U.S., clean energy and semiconductor production. But the policies were not without risks to U.S. trading partners.“We had a lot of things (in the legislation), including things that upset the allies — you know, subsidies for American businesses, that they saw potentially as pulling investment out of their economies,” Lovely said.“These are things that the European Union, Japan, Korea were concerned about,” Lovely continued. “So we’ve seen it there — this tension between foreign policy and this idea of economic security.”While Lovely said she worries about how some of the Biden-Harris trade policies might affect competition and the nation’s ability to sign timely trade agreements, she said Trump’s plans are overall “destabilizing.”“The increased use of tariffs is misguided at best,” Lovely said.Trump’s promise to not only increase tariffs on Chinese imports to 60%, but also to slap flat 10% to 20% tariffs on all imports across the board is akin to “starting a trade war with the entire world.”“We’re not going to see those kinds of tariffs without retaliation,” Lovely said.If enacted, the tariffs would be particularly challenging for Indo-Pacific countries that rely on U.S. partnership in the face of China’s regional dominance.“I mean, you can imagine how this will go down in, say, Japan and Korea, two countries which rely on the U.S. for a security umbrella, which is why Trump thinks that he can do stuff to them. But they also have to protect their own economies,” Lovely said. “So it’s going to put them in a really terrible position because it’s very important for them to maintain their alliance with the U.S., economic as well as military.”But one thing is for sure, Lovely said: “Everybody wants to know what’s going to happen. Everybody in every embassy here in Washington.”

Foreign policy: Where do Harris and Trump stand?

MANHATTAN, KAN. –Law enforcement investigating a fatal weekend shooting have made a second arrest.

Just before 9p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 700 block of N. 4th Street in Manhattan, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department. Officers located 58-year-old Don Stovall, who was later pronounced deceased.

On October 23, the Riley County Police Department executed a search warrant in the 300 block of Eighth St in Ogden. Antwajuane Mcneil, 31, was arrested in connection with the incident on requested charges of murder, kidnapping and other offenses.

On Sunday, RCPD executed a search warrant in the 3600 block of Saddlehorn Trail in Ogden. Aiden Keener, 20, was arrested in connection with the incident on requested charges of murder and kidnapping.

MANHATTAN, KAN. –Law enforcement investigating a fatal weekend shooting have made a second arrest.Just before 9p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a report of a shooting in the 700 block of N. 4th Street in Manhattan, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department. Officers located 58-year-old Don Stovall, who was later pronounced deceased.On October 23, the Riley County Police Department executed a search warrant in the 300 block of Eighth St in Ogden. Antwajuane Mcneil, 31, was arrested in connection with the incident on requested charges of murder, kidnapping and other offenses.On Sunday, RCPD executed a search warrant in the 3600 block of Saddlehorn Trail in Ogden. Aiden Keener, 20, was arrested in connection with the incident on requested charges of murder and kidnapping.Police released no additional details.

Police make 2nd arrest in Manhattan kidnapping, murder

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in September to the weakest annual pace in nearly 14 years even as mortgage rates eased and the supply of properties on the market continued to climb.

Existing home sales fell 1% last month, from August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That marks the second straight monthly decline and the slowest annual sales pace since October 2010 when the housing market was still in a deep slump following the late-2000s real estate crash.

Sales fell 3.5% compared with September last year. On a regional basis, sales fell in the Northeast, South and Midwest last month from a year earlier, but rose in the West.

Overall, the latest home sales were short of the 3.9 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

“The factors that would drive higher home sales —- such as mortgage rates meaningfully lower now compared to one year ago, inventory beginning to increase and, of course, jobs continuously being added to the economy —- and yet home sales are stuck at low levels,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.

Despite the slower sales pace, home prices increased on an annual basis for the 15th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 3% from a year earlier, to $404,500.

While the rate of price growth has been slowing, the latest median sales price is 49% higher than it was five years ago, before the pandemic. By comparison, wages grew 25% in the same period, Yun noted.

Years of soaring home prices have helped put homeownership out of reach of many Americans, making housing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/housing-affordability-trump-harris-homebuyers-builders-incentives-cb2fa66d850a9ac673382b0db4ff6a64">key political issue for voters in next month’s election.</a>

The U.S. housing market has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/home-depot-atlanta-7f5fa32c46a1efcb11a215faf69a056d">in a sales slump</a>&nbsp;dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Existing home sales sank to a nearly 30-year low last year as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to a 23-year high of nearly 8%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.

Mortgage rates mostly eased since July in anticipation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rates-inflation-prices-federal-reserve-economy-0283bc6f92e9f9920094b78d821df227">last month’s move by the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate</a>&nbsp;for the first time in more than four years and to signal further cuts through 2026. While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its policy pivot cleared a path for mortgage rates to generally go lower.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 6.08% four weeks ago —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-ba6cacf5d43b97d1fad77c688ef15d70">its lowest level in two years</a>&nbsp;— but has edged higher since then,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-e7d5328d9f0ae06086c108b870eba987">reaching 6.44%</a>&nbsp;last week.

“Falling mortgage rates in July and August were expected to bring more buyers into the market, but some home shoppers may be holding out for rates to fall further,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Others may be taking a wait-and-see approach in the lead up to the presidential election.”

Economists generally expect mortgage rates to remain near their current levels, at least this year. Fannie Mae projects the rate on a 30-year mortgage will average 6.2% in the October-December quarter and decline to an average of 5.7% in the same quarter next year.

As sales have slowed, the inventory of homes for sale has kept ticking higher. There were 1.39 million unsold homes at the end of September, up 1.5% from August and 23% from September last year, NAR said.

That translates to a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 3.4-month pace at the end of September last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

Another factor helping lift the inventory of homes on the market: Properties are taking longer to sell than a year ago.

Homes typically stayed on the market for 28 days last month before they were sold, up from 21 days a year earlier.

“Even with the recent increase in inventory one can say that’s helping loosen up the market, but it’s still far short of what would be considered a more normal inventory level,” Yun said.

Still, in a plus for home shoppers, fewer homes are receiving multiple offers. Some 20% of the homes that sold last month were bought for more than their original list price, down from 26% in September last year.

First-time homebuyers who don’t have any home equity to put toward their down payment continue to have a tough time getting into the housing market. They accounted for just 26% of all homes sold last month, matching the all-time low from August. It was down from 27% in September last year. They’ve accounted for 40% of sales historically.

Homebuyers who can afford to sidestep mortgage rates and pay all cash for a home accounted for 30% of sales last month, up from 29% a year earlier.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes slowed in September to the weakest annual pace in nearly 14 years even as mortgage rates eased and the supply of properties on the market continued to climb.Existing home sales fell 1% last month, from August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.84 million, the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday. That marks the second straight monthly decline and the slowest annual sales pace since October 2010 when the housing market was still in a deep slump following the late-2000s real estate crash.Sales fell 3.5% compared with September last year. On a regional basis, sales fell in the Northeast, South and Midwest last month from a year earlier, but rose in the West.Overall, the latest home sales were short of the 3.9 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.“The factors that would drive higher home sales —- such as mortgage rates meaningfully lower now compared to one year ago, inventory beginning to increase and, of course, jobs continuously being added to the economy —- and yet home sales are stuck at low levels,” said Lawrence Yun, the NAR’s chief economist.Despite the slower sales pace, home prices increased on an annual basis for the 15th consecutive month. The national median sales price rose 3% from a year earlier, to $404,500.While the rate of price growth has been slowing, the latest median sales price is 49% higher than it was five years ago, before the pandemic. By comparison, wages grew 25% in the same period, Yun noted.Years of soaring home prices have helped put homeownership out of reach of many Americans, making housing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/housing-affordability-trump-harris-homebuyers-builders-incentives-cb2fa66d850a9ac673382b0db4ff6a64">key political issue for voters in next month’s election.</a>The U.S. housing market has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/home-depot-atlanta-7f5fa32c46a1efcb11a215faf69a056d">in a sales slump</a>&nbsp;dating back to 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Existing home sales sank to a nearly 30-year low last year as the average rate on a 30-year mortgage surged to a 23-year high of nearly 8%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac.Mortgage rates mostly eased since July in anticipation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/interest-rates-inflation-prices-federal-reserve-economy-0283bc6f92e9f9920094b78d821df227">last month’s move by the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate</a>&nbsp;for the first time in more than four years and to signal further cuts through 2026. While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its policy pivot cleared a path for mortgage rates to generally go lower.The average rate on a 30-year mortgage fell to 6.08% four weeks ago —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-ba6cacf5d43b97d1fad77c688ef15d70">its lowest level in two years</a>&nbsp;— but has edged higher since then,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mortgage-rates-housing-interest-financing-home-loan-e7d5328d9f0ae06086c108b870eba987">reaching 6.44%</a>&nbsp;last week.“Falling mortgage rates in July and August were expected to bring more buyers into the market, but some home shoppers may be holding out for rates to fall further,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Others may be taking a wait-and-see approach in the lead up to the presidential election.”Economists generally expect mortgage rates to remain near their current levels, at least this year. Fannie Mae projects the rate on a 30-year mortgage will average 6.2% in the October-December quarter and decline to an average of 5.7% in the same quarter next year.As sales have slowed, the inventory of homes for sale has kept ticking higher. There were 1.39 million unsold homes at the end of September, up 1.5% from August and 23% from September last year, NAR said.That translates to a 4.3-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 3.4-month pace at the end of September last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.Another factor helping lift the inventory of homes on the market: Properties are taking longer to sell than a year ago.Homes typically stayed on the market for 28 days last month before they were sold, up from 21 days a year earlier.“Even with the recent increase in inventory one can say that’s helping loosen up the market, but it’s still far short of what would be considered a more normal inventory level,” Yun said.Still, in a plus for home shoppers, fewer homes are receiving multiple offers. Some 20% of the homes that sold last month were bought for more than their original list price, down from 26% in September last year.First-time homebuyers who don’t have any home equity to put toward their down payment continue to have a tough time getting into the housing market. They accounted for just 26% of all homes sold last month, matching the all-time low from August. It was down from 27% in September last year. They’ve accounted for 40% of sales historically.Homebuyers who can afford to sidestep mortgage rates and pay all cash for a home accounted for 30% of sales last month, up from 29% a year earlier.

US home sales slowed in September to weakest pace in 14 years

NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA—A Kansas man on a hunting trip in Canada died in a motel fire.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police West District General Investigation Section confirmed the presence of human remains at the scene of a fire on October 19, at the Driftwood Motel in Deer Lake, <a href="https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/news/2024/human-remains-missing-man-found-fire-scene-deer-lake-investigation-continuing">according to a media release.</a>

Also on October&nbsp;19, police received a report of a missing man identified as 77-year-old Eugene Earl 'Gene' Spoon of Winfield, Kansas, who was a guest of the Driftwood Motel. The man was unaccounted for and had not been seen since the time of the fire.&nbsp;

On Wednesday, during a search of the fire scene, human remains were located and identified as those of Spoon. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is involved in the investigation. The fire scene is being held and processed by police as part of an ongoing investigation.

According to an<a href="https://www.milesfuneralservice.com/obituary/eugene-gene-spoon"> online obituary,</a>&nbsp;Eugene Earl “Gene” Spoon of Winfield, Kansas, was found following a fire at the Driftwood Inn, Wednesday, October 23, 2024, while on a dream moose hunt trip in Deer Lake, NewFoundland, Canada. &nbsp;

Services are pending with Miles Funeral Service in Winfield and will be announced at a later date. &nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729780267540.png" alt="Royal Canadian Mounted Police" />
 <figcaption>Royal Canadian Mounted Police</figcaption>
 </figure>NEWFOUNDLAND, CANADA—A Kansas man on a hunting trip in Canada died in a motel fire.The Royal Canadian Mounted Police West District General Investigation Section confirmed the presence of human remains at the scene of a fire on October 19, at the Driftwood Motel in Deer Lake, <a href="https://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/en/news/2024/human-remains-missing-man-found-fire-scene-deer-lake-investigation-continuing">according to a media release.</a>Also on October&nbsp;19, police received a report of a missing man identified as 77-year-old Eugene Earl 'Gene' Spoon of Winfield, Kansas, who was a guest of the Driftwood Motel. The man was unaccounted for and had not been seen since the time of the fire.&nbsp;On Wednesday, during a search of the fire scene, human remains were located and identified as those of Spoon. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is involved in the investigation. The fire scene is being held and processed by police as part of an ongoing investigation.According to an<a href="https://www.milesfuneralservice.com/obituary/eugene-gene-spoon"> online obituary,</a>&nbsp;Eugene Earl “Gene” Spoon of Winfield, Kansas, was found following a fire at the Driftwood Inn, Wednesday, October 23, 2024, while on a dream moose hunt trip in Deer Lake, NewFoundland, Canada. &nbsp;Services are pending with Miles Funeral Service in Winfield and will be announced at a later date. &nbsp;

Police: Kansas man on hunting trip died in motel fire in Canada

Scott Schwab recommends dropping ballots in mail no later than Nov. 1

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA —&nbsp; Rep. Pat Proctor worries the U.S. Postal Service’s inability to properly process mail-in ballots that disenfranchised nearly 1,000 Kansas voters in the August primary could be exacerbated by broader interest in the Nov. 5 election.

Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who chairs the House Elections Committee, said that damage to the voting public in the primary was limited due to the lackluster 17% statewide turnout.

In the upcoming general election, he said, turnout would be substantially higher and ramifications of more USPS’ fumbling could be significantly worse.

“How bad could it be in a general election in a presidential election year that could well have a turnout of over 60%?” Proctor said.

Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who is the state’s chief elections officer, sounded an alarm in September by disclosing results of a survey of Kansas’ 105 county election offices.

The survey showed as many as 1,000 mail-in ballots were received by county election offices within the three-day, post-election grace period established by state law, but were rejected because they lacked a postmark to prove they were mailed prior to close of polls at 7 p.m. Election Day. Without an official postmark, the Kansas ballots couldn’t be counted.

Schwab released a letter he sent to the U.S. postmaster highlighting a “troubling pattern” associated with USPS’ handling of mailed ballots. He said it was “unacceptable that voters, who follow the rules for requesting, voting and returning their mail ballot, are disenfranchised by the USPS.”

Schwab later said he had spoken with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about operational failures in handling Kansas ballots in August.

“I had a productive conversation with Postmaster General DeJoy,” Schwab said. “He assured me that the USPS will implement new measures to prevent similar issues in the upcoming general election.”

Schwab, a Republican, encouraged Kansans to avoid potential processing obstacles by hand-delivering ballots to a county election office or a ballot drop box prior to the Nov. 5 election.

The secretary of state said an alternative would be for voters to place their ballot in the mail by Nov. 1 or seven days ahead of the Nov. 8 deadline in state law for counties to accept postmarked ballots.

“We are encouraging voters who vote by mail to use a more secure way of returning your ballot to the county election office, if possible,” Schwab said.

The 2017 Kansas Legislature created the three-day window for post-election acceptance of mailed ballots. The motivation was to account for mail delays involving ballots from military personnel, but state law now allows for electronic transfer of those ballots.

Proctor said he was aware of complaints from election clerks in large and small counties about ballots arriving without a USPS postmark.

“We need to eliminate the three-day grace period and … require that&nbsp;mail-in ballots be returned to the election office by Election Night. This will completely eliminate our need to rely on the U.S.&nbsp;Postal&nbsp;Service to do its job and postmark every&nbsp;ballot,” Proctor said.

Aimee Bateman, a Democrat from Leavenworth running for Proctor’s seat in the House, said the central issue was the mail processing capability of the U.S. Postal Service. Addressing flaws in USPS’ approach to ballot handling should make it unnecessary to repeal the three-day grace period, she said.

“That’s the issue that needs to be fixed,” Bateman said. “Getting rid of the three-day grace period will not cure the issue that disenfranchised 1,000 voters in the August primary.”

In the 2024 legislative session, the Republican-led House and Senate approved different bills repealing the grace period.

There was an attempt to send Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a compromise bill that added three days of advance voting to the calendar to account for loss of three days for ballot delivery. The reform effort was derailed, in part, when the Senate injected into the debate the idea of banning use of machines to count ballots.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729687547258.png" alt=" Secretary of State Scott Schwab, alarmed by the U.S. Postal Service's failure to properly process nearly 1,000 mail-in ballots in the August primary, suggests voters deliver November general election ballots to county offices or ballot drop boxes. He said an alternative is to place ballots in the mail by Nov. 1 to give the Postal Service more time to postmark and deliver ballots. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Secretary of State Scott Schwab, alarmed by the U.S. Postal Service's failure to properly process nearly 1,000 mail-in ballots in the August primary, suggests voters deliver November general election ballots to county offices or ballot drop boxes. He said an alternative is to place ballots in the mail by Nov. 1 to give the Postal Service more time to postmark and deliver ballots. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Scott Schwab recommends dropping ballots in mail no later than Nov. 1</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA —&nbsp; Rep. Pat Proctor worries the U.S. Postal Service’s inability to properly process mail-in ballots that disenfranchised nearly 1,000 Kansas voters in the August primary could be exacerbated by broader interest in the Nov. 5 election.Proctor, a Leavenworth Republican who chairs the House Elections Committee, said that damage to the voting public in the primary was limited due to the lackluster 17% statewide turnout.In the upcoming general election, he said, turnout would be substantially higher and ramifications of more USPS’ fumbling could be significantly worse.“How bad could it be in a general election in a presidential election year that could well have a turnout of over 60%?” Proctor said.Secretary of State Scott Schwab, who is the state’s chief elections officer, sounded an alarm in September by disclosing results of a survey of Kansas’ 105 county election offices.The survey showed as many as 1,000 mail-in ballots were received by county election offices within the three-day, post-election grace period established by state law, but were rejected because they lacked a postmark to prove they were mailed prior to close of polls at 7 p.m. Election Day. Without an official postmark, the Kansas ballots couldn’t be counted.Schwab released a letter he sent to the U.S. postmaster highlighting a “troubling pattern” associated with USPS’ handling of mailed ballots. He said it was “unacceptable that voters, who follow the rules for requesting, voting and returning their mail ballot, are disenfranchised by the USPS.”Schwab later said he had spoken with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy about operational failures in handling Kansas ballots in August.“I had a productive conversation with Postmaster General DeJoy,” Schwab said. “He assured me that the USPS will implement new measures to prevent similar issues in the upcoming general election.”Schwab, a Republican, encouraged Kansans to avoid potential processing obstacles by hand-delivering ballots to a county election office or a ballot drop box prior to the Nov. 5 election.The secretary of state said an alternative would be for voters to place their ballot in the mail by Nov. 1 or seven days ahead of the Nov. 8 deadline in state law for counties to accept postmarked ballots.“We are encouraging voters who vote by mail to use a more secure way of returning your ballot to the county election office, if possible,” Schwab said.The 2017 Kansas Legislature created the three-day window for post-election acceptance of mailed ballots. The motivation was to account for mail delays involving ballots from military personnel, but state law now allows for electronic transfer of those ballots.Proctor said he was aware of complaints from election clerks in large and small counties about ballots arriving without a USPS postmark.“We need to eliminate the three-day grace period and … require that&nbsp;mail-in ballots be returned to the election office by Election Night. This will completely eliminate our need to rely on the U.S.&nbsp;Postal&nbsp;Service to do its job and postmark every&nbsp;ballot,” Proctor said.Aimee Bateman, a Democrat from Leavenworth running for Proctor’s seat in the House, said the central issue was the mail processing capability of the U.S. Postal Service. Addressing flaws in USPS’ approach to ballot handling should make it unnecessary to repeal the three-day grace period, she said.“That’s the issue that needs to be fixed,” Bateman said. “Getting rid of the three-day grace period will not cure the issue that disenfranchised 1,000 voters in the August primary.”In the 2024 legislative session, the Republican-led House and Senate approved different bills repealing the grace period.There was an attempt to send Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly a compromise bill that added three days of advance voting to the calendar to account for loss of three days for ballot delivery. The reform effort was derailed, in part, when the Senate injected into the debate the idea of banning use of machines to count ballots.

Kansas election official urges voters to avoid U.S. Postal Service delivery obstacles

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas teen involved in road rage killing of a Kansas grandmother is scheduled for sentencing on Thursday afternoon, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In August, Daryon Boone, who was 19 at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the death of 69-year-old Norma Williams.

Just before 10 p.m. Sept. 1, 2023, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 11200 block of East Central Avenue, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.

Officers arrived on the scene and located Williams of Wichita unconscious and not breathing with a gunshot wound to her upper body.

Officers began providing life-saving efforts until EMS arrived. Mrs. Williams was transported to a local area hospital where she was pronounced deceased.

During the investigation, officers learned that Mrs. Williams was the front passenger of a 2021 Honda Ridgeline traveling northbound on Greenwich, approaching the eastbound lanes of Kellogg Drive.

When they reached the intersection a group of motorcycles riding eastbound ran the red light and one of the motorcycles driven Boone of Wichita struck their vehicle. Following the incident, Boone followed the vehicle, ultimately producing a handgun and shooting into the vehicle, which fatally injured Williams.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/norma-williams?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_source=customer">Click here to read the</a>&nbsp;online fundraiser for the Williams family.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1693841905672.png" alt="Norma Williams was shot and killed on the way home from a Friday night ballgame in Wichita -photo GoFundMe" />
 <figcaption>Norma Williams was shot and killed on the way home from a Friday night ballgame in Wichita -photo GoFundMe</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas teen involved in road rage killing of a Kansas grandmother is scheduled for sentencing on Thursday afternoon, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.In August, Daryon Boone, who was 19 at the time of the killing, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the death of 69-year-old Norma Williams.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1693791365153.png" alt="Boone photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Boone photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Just before 10 p.m. Sept. 1, 2023, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 11200 block of East Central Avenue, according to Officer Juan Rebolledo.Officers arrived on the scene and located Williams of Wichita unconscious and not breathing with a gunshot wound to her upper body.Officers began providing life-saving efforts until EMS arrived. Mrs. Williams was transported to a local area hospital where she was pronounced deceased.During the investigation, officers learned that Mrs. Williams was the front passenger of a 2021 Honda Ridgeline traveling northbound on Greenwich, approaching the eastbound lanes of Kellogg Drive.When they reached the intersection a group of motorcycles riding eastbound ran the red light and one of the motorcycles driven Boone of Wichita struck their vehicle. Following the incident, Boone followed the vehicle, ultimately producing a handgun and shooting into the vehicle, which fatally injured Williams.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/norma-williams?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&amp;utm_medium=copy_link&amp;utm_source=customer">Click here to read the</a>&nbsp;online fundraiser for the Williams family..

Sentencing day: Teen followed pickup, fired shot that killed Kan. woman

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a homicide in Kansas City.

Just after 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 3600 block of Indiana Avenue&nbsp; in Kansas City, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte.

Officers were summoned to a local business where they were being advised of someone shot inside. Officers entered the business and located a man unresponsive suffering from apparent gunshot trauma. Officers rendered medical aid until EMS arrived and declared the victim deceased. An additional adult male victim responded to an area hospital suffering from non-life threatening injuries and was receiving treatment.

Preliminary investigation is believed an interaction occurred between two individuals inside of a store that escalated into gunfire. A person of interest has been detained for further investigation.

Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the scene to gather any evidence and collect witness statements. Police have not released the victim's name.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729734142494.png" alt="Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte" />
 <figcaption>Photos Sheriff Daryl Forte</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a homicide in Kansas City.Just after 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 3600 block of Indiana Avenue&nbsp; in Kansas City, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729734092485.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers were summoned to a local business where they were being advised of someone shot inside. Officers entered the business and located a man unresponsive suffering from apparent gunshot trauma. Officers rendered medical aid until EMS arrived and declared the victim deceased. An additional adult male victim responded to an area hospital suffering from non-life threatening injuries and was receiving treatment.Preliminary investigation is believed an interaction occurred between two individuals inside of a store that escalated into gunfire. A person of interest has been detained for further investigation.Homicide detectives and crime scene personnel responded to the scene to gather any evidence and collect witness statements. Police have not released the victim's name.

Police: Man dies after shooting inside Kansas City business

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing factory workers voted against the company’s latest contract offer and remain on the picket lines&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-vote-machinists-12d008c0127bab57f8cc9941f48e3ac6">six weeks into a strike</a>&nbsp;that has stopped production of the aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners.

Local union leaders in Seattle said 64% of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who cast ballots Wednesday voted against accepting the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-contract-offer-pay-increase-e86e43bcbbf3e140e89d33c901766554">contract offer</a>.

“After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly,” Jon Holden, the head of the IAM District 751 union, said in a statement Wednesday evening. “This is workplace democracy — and also clear evidence that there are consequences when a company mistreats its workers year after year."

A spokesperson for Boeing said officials didn’t have a comment on the vote.

The labor standoff comes during an already challenging year for Boeing, which became the focus of multiple federal investigations after a door panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The strike has deprived the company of much-needed cash that it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. On Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

Union machinists assemble&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-plea-737-max-crashes-b34daa014406657e720bec4a990dccf6">the 737 Max</a>, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 or “triple-seven” jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Renton and Everett, Washington.

The latest rejected offer included pay raises of 35% over four years. The version that union members rejected when they voted to strike last month featured a 25% increase over four years.

The union, which initially demanded 40% pay boosts over three years, said the annual raises in the revised offer would total 39.8%, when compounded.

Boeing has said that average annual pay for machinists is currently $75,608.

Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters that a sticking point was the company’s refusal to restore a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-machinists-contract-9f61a7d48675d1c3517233d40d4ec2b1">traditional pension plan</a>&nbsp;that was frozen a decade ago.

“The pension should have been the top priority. We all said that was our top priority, along with wage,” Larry Best, a customer-quality coordinator with 38 years at Boeing, said on a picket line outside a Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. “Now is the prime opportunity in a prime time to get our pension back, and we all need to stay out and dig our heels in.”

Theresa Pound, a 16-year Boeing veteran, also voted against the deal. She said the health plan has gotten more expensive and her expected pension benefits would not be enough, even when combined with a 401(k) retirement account.

“I have put more time in this place than I was ever required to. I have literally blood, sweat and tears from working at this company,” the 37-year-old said. “I’m looking at working until I’m 70 because I have this possibility that I might not get to retire based on what’s happening in the market.”

The strike started Sept. 13 and has served as an early test for Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ortberg-new-ceo-factory-visit-e5bada09a96d0e26b25f2d35d6d6cfc0">became chief executive in August</a>.

In his first remarks to investors, Ortberg said earlier Wednesday that Boeing needs “a fundamental culture change,” and he laid out his plan to revive the aerospace giant after years of heavy losses and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-manufacturing-reputation-3eed69b839021b24bfe792080c85b63c">damage to its reputation</a>.

Ortberg repeated in a message to employees and on the earnings call that he wants to “reset” management’s relationship with labor “so we don’t become so disconnected in the future.” He said company leaders need to spend more time&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ortberg-new-ceo-factory-visit-e5bada09a96d0e26b25f2d35d6d6cfc0">on factory floors</a>&nbsp;to know what is going on and “prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause.”

Ortberg, a Boeing outsider who previously ran Rockwell Collins, a maker of avionics and flight controls for airline and military planes, said Boeing is at a crossroads.

“The trust in our company has eroded. We’re saddled with too much debt. We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers,” he said.

But Ortberg also highlighted the company’s strengths, including a backlog of airplane orders valued at a half-trillion dollars.

“It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy, but with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again,” he said.

In recent weeks, Ortberg announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-layoffs-strike-airplane-factories-de637999cf525699577b42b72bff2a70">large-scale layoffs</a>&nbsp;— about 17,000 people — and a plan to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-new-stock-debt-finances-strike-b7839aef372f4b4e8312f9efbe8ef24b">raise enough cash</a>&nbsp;to avoid a bankruptcy filing.

Boeing hasn’t had a profitable year since 2018, and Wednesday’s numbers represented the second-worst quarter in the manufacturer’s history. Boeing lost $6.17 billion in the period ended Sept. 30, with an adjusted loss of $10.44 per share. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had expected a loss of $10.34 per share.

Revenue totaled $17.84 billion, matching Wall Street estimates.

The company burned nearly $2 billion in cash, in the quarter, weakening its balance sheet, which is loaded down with $58 billion in debt. Chief Financial Officer Brian West said the company will not generate positive cash flow until the second half of next year.

Boeing’s fortunes soured after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-737-max-victims-plea-agreement-fraud-7b772b2ae171b0e3cb9916d10d05652f">two of its 737 Max jetliners</a>&nbsp;crashed in October 2018 and March 2019, killing 346 people. Safety concerns were renewed this January, when a panel blew off a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight.

Ortberg needs to convince federal regulators that Boeing is fixing its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-senators-letter-justice-department-a9f4e3d5cd78cbbff899aab7c1a26759">safety culture</a>&nbsp;and is ready to boost production of the 737 Max — a crucial step to bring in much-needed cash. That can’t happen, however, until the striking workers return to their jobs.

Early in the strike, Boeing made what it termed its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-labor-union-machinists-d40b23d9a0d0553a81ebc4de07c7d65d">“best and final” offer</a>. The proposal included pay raises of 30% over four years, and angered union leaders because the company announced it to the striking workers through the media and set a short ratification deadline.

Boeing backed down and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-offer-faa-safety-cb3de0dc02082efcb0d5f7d6287ea7a7">gave the union</a>&nbsp;more time. However, many workers maintained the offer still wasn’t good enough. The company withdrew the proposed contract on Oct. 9 after negotiations broke down, and the two sides announced the latest proposal on Saturday.

Charles Fromong, a mechanic who has worked at Boeing for 38 years, said Wednesday night after the results were announced that the company needs to take care of its workers.

“I feel sorry for the young people,” he said. “I’ve spent my life here and I’m getting ready to go, but they deserve a pension and I deserve an increase.”

The last Boeing strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1727171580133.png" alt="Photo International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers" />
 <figcaption>Photo International Association of Machinists &amp; Aerospace Workers</figcaption>
 </figure>SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing factory workers voted against the company’s latest contract offer and remain on the picket lines&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-vote-machinists-12d008c0127bab57f8cc9941f48e3ac6">six weeks into a strike</a>&nbsp;that has stopped production of the aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners.Local union leaders in Seattle said 64% of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who cast ballots Wednesday voted against accepting the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-contract-offer-pay-increase-e86e43bcbbf3e140e89d33c901766554">contract offer</a>.“After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly,” Jon Holden, the head of the IAM District 751 union, said in a statement Wednesday evening. “This is workplace democracy — and also clear evidence that there are consequences when a company mistreats its workers year after year."A spokesperson for Boeing said officials didn’t have a comment on the vote.The labor standoff comes during an already challenging year for Boeing, which became the focus of multiple federal investigations after a door panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.The strike has deprived the company of much-needed cash that it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. On Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.Union machinists assemble&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-plea-737-max-crashes-b34daa014406657e720bec4a990dccf6">the 737 Max</a>, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 or “triple-seven” jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Renton and Everett, Washington.The latest rejected offer included pay raises of 35% over four years. The version that union members rejected when they voted to strike last month featured a 25% increase over four years.The union, which initially demanded 40% pay boosts over three years, said the annual raises in the revised offer would total 39.8%, when compounded.Boeing has said that average annual pay for machinists is currently $75,608.Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters that a sticking point was the company’s refusal to restore a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-machinists-contract-9f61a7d48675d1c3517233d40d4ec2b1">traditional pension plan</a>&nbsp;that was frozen a decade ago.“The pension should have been the top priority. We all said that was our top priority, along with wage,” Larry Best, a customer-quality coordinator with 38 years at Boeing, said on a picket line outside a Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. “Now is the prime opportunity in a prime time to get our pension back, and we all need to stay out and dig our heels in.”Theresa Pound, a 16-year Boeing veteran, also voted against the deal. She said the health plan has gotten more expensive and her expected pension benefits would not be enough, even when combined with a 401(k) retirement account.“I have put more time in this place than I was ever required to. I have literally blood, sweat and tears from working at this company,” the 37-year-old said. “I’m looking at working until I’m 70 because I have this possibility that I might not get to retire based on what’s happening in the market.”The strike started Sept. 13 and has served as an early test for Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ortberg-new-ceo-factory-visit-e5bada09a96d0e26b25f2d35d6d6cfc0">became chief executive in August</a>.In his first remarks to investors, Ortberg said earlier Wednesday that Boeing needs “a fundamental culture change,” and he laid out his plan to revive the aerospace giant after years of heavy losses and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-manufacturing-reputation-3eed69b839021b24bfe792080c85b63c">damage to its reputation</a>.Ortberg repeated in a message to employees and on the earnings call that he wants to “reset” management’s relationship with labor “so we don’t become so disconnected in the future.” He said company leaders need to spend more time&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ortberg-new-ceo-factory-visit-e5bada09a96d0e26b25f2d35d6d6cfc0">on factory floors</a>&nbsp;to know what is going on and “prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause.”Ortberg, a Boeing outsider who previously ran Rockwell Collins, a maker of avionics and flight controls for airline and military planes, said Boeing is at a crossroads.“The trust in our company has eroded. We’re saddled with too much debt. We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers,” he said.But Ortberg also highlighted the company’s strengths, including a backlog of airplane orders valued at a half-trillion dollars.“It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy, but with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again,” he said.In recent weeks, Ortberg announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-layoffs-strike-airplane-factories-de637999cf525699577b42b72bff2a70">large-scale layoffs</a>&nbsp;— about 17,000 people — and a plan to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-new-stock-debt-finances-strike-b7839aef372f4b4e8312f9efbe8ef24b">raise enough cash</a>&nbsp;to avoid a bankruptcy filing.Boeing hasn’t had a profitable year since 2018, and Wednesday’s numbers represented the second-worst quarter in the manufacturer’s history. Boeing lost $6.17 billion in the period ended Sept. 30, with an adjusted loss of $10.44 per share. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had expected a loss of $10.34 per share.Revenue totaled $17.84 billion, matching Wall Street estimates.The company burned nearly $2 billion in cash, in the quarter, weakening its balance sheet, which is loaded down with $58 billion in debt. Chief Financial Officer Brian West said the company will not generate positive cash flow until the second half of next year.Boeing’s fortunes soured after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-737-max-victims-plea-agreement-fraud-7b772b2ae171b0e3cb9916d10d05652f">two of its 737 Max jetliners</a>&nbsp;crashed in October 2018 and March 2019, killing 346 people. Safety concerns were renewed this January, when a panel blew off a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight.Ortberg needs to convince federal regulators that Boeing is fixing its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-senators-letter-justice-department-a9f4e3d5cd78cbbff899aab7c1a26759">safety culture</a>&nbsp;and is ready to boost production of the 737 Max — a crucial step to bring in much-needed cash. That can’t happen, however, until the striking workers return to their jobs.Early in the strike, Boeing made what it termed its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-labor-union-machinists-d40b23d9a0d0553a81ebc4de07c7d65d">“best and final” offer</a>. The proposal included pay raises of 30% over four years, and angered union leaders because the company announced it to the striking workers through the media and set a short ratification deadline.Boeing backed down and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-strike-offer-faa-safety-cb3de0dc02082efcb0d5f7d6287ea7a7">gave the union</a>&nbsp;more time. However, many workers maintained the offer still wasn’t good enough. The company withdrew the proposed contract on Oct. 9 after negotiations broke down, and the two sides announced the latest proposal on Saturday.Charles Fromong, a mechanic who has worked at Boeing for 38 years, said Wednesday night after the results were announced that the company needs to take care of its workers.“I feel sorry for the young people,” he said. “I’ve spent my life here and I’m getting ready to go, but they deserve a pension and I deserve an increase.”The last Boeing strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.___\