JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide and have taken a suspect into custody.

Just before 6 p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 1000 block of East Oakview Street in Olathe for a death investigation, according to&nbsp;Police Sergeant John Moncayo.

Officers arrived and discovered an unresponsive 72-year-old woman with significant injuries. She was pronounced deceased at the scene. Due to information obtained, this case is being investigated as a homicide.

Police took a 40-year-old male relative into custody and placed on a 48-hour investigative hold. His name has not been released.

This case remains under investigation by the Olathe Police Department. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Olathe Police Department at (913) 971-6363 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.&nbsp;

JOHNSON COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a homicide and have taken a suspect into custody.Just before 6 p.m. Saturday, police were dispatched to the 1000 block of East Oakview Street in Olathe for a death investigation, according to&nbsp;Police Sergeant John Moncayo.Officers arrived and discovered an unresponsive 72-year-old woman with significant injuries. She was pronounced deceased at the scene. Due to information obtained, this case is being investigated as a homicide.Police took a 40-year-old male relative into custody and placed on a 48-hour investigative hold. His name has not been released.This case remains under investigation by the Olathe Police Department. Anyone with information regarding this investigation is asked to call the Olathe Police Department at (913) 971-6363 or the TIPS Hotline at (816) 474-8477.&nbsp;

Police: Relative in custody for death of 72-year-old Kan. woman

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — They all had a reason to come back. Every single one of them.

Simone Biles to move past those wrenching two weeks in Japan three years ago, when the gymnastics superstar prioritized her mental health and safety over glory, a decision that inspired some and maddened others.

Suni Lee to prove — perhaps to herself most of all — that the all-around gold medal she earned while Biles watched from the stands wasn't a fluke.

Jordan Chiles to turn the team silver she helped secure at the 2020 Games into gold.

Jade Carey to be an official member of the five-woman Olympic squad after earning her way to Tokyo as an individual qualifier, a pathway not available to the U.S. this time around and frankly, one she had no interest in exploring again anyway.

They're all stepping back into the unique spotlight — oh, and 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, too — only the sport's biggest stage can provide.&nbsp;<a href="https://members.usagym.org/pages/athletes/nationalTeamWomen.html?id=431412">Leanne Wong,</a>&nbsp;a graduate of&nbsp;Blue Valley High School&nbsp;in Overland Park, Kansas and Joscelyn Roberson are going to Paris as traveling&nbsp; replacement Athletes for the USA Women's team.

Their reasons are deeply personal. Their motivation, however, is not.

“This is definitely our redemption tour,” Biles said after sewing up a third trip to the Olympics by winning the U.S. trials on Sunday night. “I feel like we all have more to give.”

Perhaps no one more than Biles, who at 27 is the oldest American woman to make an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. She never expected to still be doing this nearly a decade after becoming a crossover sensation at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

And here she is. Still working. Still pushing. Not to shut up the critics who still flood her mentions on social media wondering if she'll “quit” again, but because she remains determined to extract everything she can out of her remarkable talent.

“Nobody’s forcing me to do it,” said Biles, who posted a two-day total of 117.225 to claim the all-around by nearly six points over Lee. “I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and come out here and perform for myself. Just to remind myself that I can still do it.”

And do it at a level that no one else in her sport — and when she's at her best, maybe sports in general — can match.

A trip to France has never really been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year break last summer. All she's done over the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and capture her eighth and ninth national championships — both records — while doing the hardest gymnastics of her life.

She will be a prohibitive favorite when she steps onto the Bercy Arena floor though there is plenty to work on before women's qualifying on July 28. Yet there are things to clean up over the next four weeks.

Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, a testament to both the vault's difficulty and the immense power she generates during a skill few male gymnasts try and even fewer land as cleanly.

She hopped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn't quite as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday that left her uttering an expletive for all the world to see.

Biles finished with a flourish on floor exercise, her signature event. Though there was a small step out of bounds, there was also the unmatched world-class tumbling that recently drew a shoutout&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/taylorswift13/status/1807200265864450378">from pop star Taylor Swift</a>, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles' routine.

She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last competitive round on American soil for quite a while. Maybe ever.

Biles sidestepped questions about what lies ahead. That can wait. It's been a long, winding road back to this moment. She's intent on trying to enjoy it even while being part of a team that will have “a lot of weight on our shoulders.”

She believes she and her teammates are in a better position to handle it. That's the enduring

“It's really nice that Tokyo gave us that opportunity to open up that stage for that talk," Biles said. “And so I think now athletes are a little bit more in tune and we just trust what our gut is saying.”

And Biles’ gut told her that if she wanted to come back, she needed to do it on her terms. That meant taking intentional steps to make sure her life is no longer defined by her gymnastics.

She married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a house in the northern Houston suburbs they hope to move into shortly after Biles returns from Paris.

Biles heads to France as perhaps the face of the U.S. Olympic movement, though she's well aware that more than a few of the millions that will tune in to watch next month will be checking to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.

And while there are still moments of anxiety — including at last year's world championships — she has put safeguards in place to protect herself. She meets with a therapist weekly, even during competition season, something she didn't do in preparation for the 2020 Games.

The Americans will take their oldest women's team ever to the games, as Biles' unrivaled longevity — she hasn't lost a meet she's started and finished since 2013 — and the easing of rules around name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level allowed Carey (24), Chiles (23) and Lee (21) to continue to compete while cashing in on their newfound fame at the same time.

They have relied on that experience during a sometimes harrowing meet that saw leading contenders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shilese-jones-gymnastics-olympic-trials-46215fc814931d62b015490aa94b6e70">Shilese Jones</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/skye-blakely-gymnastics-olympic-trials-9cb98ca5700e5743b6db48113760f886">Skye Blakely</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kayla-dicello-shilese-jones-gymnastics-olympics-594f867f379e0aaf16548370f0622437">Kayla DiCello</a>&nbsp;exit with leg injuries that took them out of the mix weeks before the potential realization of a lifelong dream.

Watching good friends leave the arena in tears offered a reminder of how thin the line between making it and not making it can be. Biles has been on the right side of that line longer than she ever anticipated. She's going to try and enjoy it, pressure and all.

She may have gotten ahead of herself in 2021. She's intent on not letting that happen this time around.

“I feel like success is just what I make it,” she said. “I feel like right now I’ve been successful of competing at Olympic trials and making the Paris Olympic team. So then we’ll see from there on out.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/7/1719828518327.png" alt="<a href="https://members.usagym.org/pages/athletes/nationalTeamWomen.html?id=431412">Leanne Wong,</a>&nbsp;a graduate of&nbsp;Blue Valley High School&nbsp;in Overland Park, Kansas and Joscelyn Roberson are going to Paris as traveling replacement Athletes for the USA Women's gymnastics team- photo courtesy University of Florida" />
 <figcaption><a href="https://members.usagym.org/pages/athletes/nationalTeamWomen.html?id=431412">Leanne Wong,</a>&nbsp;a graduate of&nbsp;Blue Valley High School&nbsp;in Overland Park, Kansas and Joscelyn Roberson are going to Paris as traveling replacement Athletes for the USA Women's gymnastics team- photo courtesy University of Florida</figcaption>
 </figure>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — They all had a reason to come back. Every single one of them.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">She&#39;s heading to Paris! 🛫 🐊 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗼𝗻𝗴 is heading back to the Olympics with <a href="https://twitter.com/USAGym?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@USAGym</a> as a replacement athlete! Congratulations Leanne! 🔗 <a href="https://t.co/U6QX5xptZt">https://t.co/U6QX5xptZt</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoGators?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoGators</a> | 🐊🤸‍♀️ | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USAGTrials2024?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USAGTrials2024</a> <a href="https://t.co/SRTgDooMID">pic.twitter.com/SRTgDooMID</a>&mdash; Gators Gymnastics (@GatorsGym) <a href="https://twitter.com/GatorsGym/status/1807613907856400886?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Simone Biles to move past those wrenching two weeks in Japan three years ago, when the gymnastics superstar prioritized her mental health and safety over glory, a decision that inspired some and maddened others.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">YOUR TEAM 🇺🇸 🔜 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParisOlympics?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ParisOlympics</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MTUSA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MTUSA</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USAGTrials24?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USAGTrials24</a> <a href="https://t.co/NIuNsDLrWg">pic.twitter.com/NIuNsDLrWg</a>&mdash; Team USA (@TeamUSA) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeamUSA/status/1807620634727321771?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 1, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Suni Lee to prove — perhaps to herself most of all — that the all-around gold medal she earned while Biles watched from the stands wasn't a fluke.Jordan Chiles to turn the team silver she helped secure at the 2020 Games into gold.Jade Carey to be an official member of the five-woman Olympic squad after earning her way to Tokyo as an individual qualifier, a pathway not available to the U.S. this time around and frankly, one she had no interest in exploring again anyway.They're all stepping back into the unique spotlight — oh, and 16-year-old newcomer Hezly Rivera, too — only the sport's biggest stage can provide.&nbsp;<a href="https://members.usagym.org/pages/athletes/nationalTeamWomen.html?id=431412">Leanne Wong,</a>&nbsp;a graduate of&nbsp;Blue Valley High School&nbsp;in Overland Park, Kansas and Joscelyn Roberson are going to Paris as traveling&nbsp; replacement Athletes for the USA Women's team.Their reasons are deeply personal. Their motivation, however, is not.“This is definitely our redemption tour,” Biles said after sewing up a third trip to the Olympics by winning the U.S. trials on Sunday night. “I feel like we all have more to give.”Perhaps no one more than Biles, who at 27 is the oldest American woman to make an Olympic gymnastics team since the 1950s. She never expected to still be doing this nearly a decade after becoming a crossover sensation at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.And here she is. Still working. Still pushing. Not to shut up the critics who still flood her mentions on social media wondering if she'll “quit” again, but because she remains determined to extract everything she can out of her remarkable talent.“Nobody’s forcing me to do it,” said Biles, who posted a two-day total of 117.225 to claim the all-around by nearly six points over Lee. “I wake up every day and choose to grind in the gym and come out here and perform for myself. Just to remind myself that I can still do it.”And do it at a level that no one else in her sport — and when she's at her best, maybe sports in general — can match.A trip to France has never really been in doubt since Biles returned from a two-year break last summer. All she's done over the last 12 months is win a sixth world all-around title and capture her eighth and ninth national championships — both records — while doing the hardest gymnastics of her life.She will be a prohibitive favorite when she steps onto the Bercy Arena floor though there is plenty to work on before women's qualifying on July 28. Yet there are things to clean up over the next four weeks.Biles backpedaled after landing her Yurchenko double pike vault, a testament to both the vault's difficulty and the immense power she generates during a skill few male gymnasts try and even fewer land as cleanly.She hopped off the beam after failing to land her side aerial, though she wasn't quite as frustrated as she was during a sloppy performance on Friday that left her uttering an expletive for all the world to see.Biles finished with a flourish on floor exercise, her signature event. Though there was a small step out of bounds, there was also the unmatched world-class tumbling that recently drew a shoutout&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/taylorswift13/status/1807200265864450378">from pop star Taylor Swift</a>, whose song “Ready For It” opens Biles' routine.She stepped off the podium to a standing ovation, then sat down atop the steps to take in the moment in what could be her last competitive round on American soil for quite a while. Maybe ever.Biles sidestepped questions about what lies ahead. That can wait. It's been a long, winding road back to this moment. She's intent on trying to enjoy it even while being part of a team that will have “a lot of weight on our shoulders.”She believes she and her teammates are in a better position to handle it. That's the enduring“It's really nice that Tokyo gave us that opportunity to open up that stage for that talk," Biles said. “And so I think now athletes are a little bit more in tune and we just trust what our gut is saying.”And Biles’ gut told her that if she wanted to come back, she needed to do it on her terms. That meant taking intentional steps to make sure her life is no longer defined by her gymnastics.She married Chicago Bears safety Jonathan Owens in the spring of 2023 and the two are building a house in the northern Houston suburbs they hope to move into shortly after Biles returns from Paris.Biles heads to France as perhaps the face of the U.S. Olympic movement, though she's well aware that more than a few of the millions that will tune in to watch next month will be checking to see if the demons that derailed her in Tokyo resurface.And while there are still moments of anxiety — including at last year's world championships — she has put safeguards in place to protect herself. She meets with a therapist weekly, even during competition season, something she didn't do in preparation for the 2020 Games.The Americans will take their oldest women's team ever to the games, as Biles' unrivaled longevity — she hasn't lost a meet she's started and finished since 2013 — and the easing of rules around name, image and likeness rules at the NCAA level allowed Carey (24), Chiles (23) and Lee (21) to continue to compete while cashing in on their newfound fame at the same time.They have relied on that experience during a sometimes harrowing meet that saw leading contenders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/shilese-jones-gymnastics-olympic-trials-46215fc814931d62b015490aa94b6e70">Shilese Jones</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/skye-blakely-gymnastics-olympic-trials-9cb98ca5700e5743b6db48113760f886">Skye Blakely</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kayla-dicello-shilese-jones-gymnastics-olympics-594f867f379e0aaf16548370f0622437">Kayla DiCello</a>&nbsp;exit with leg injuries that took them out of the mix weeks before the potential realization of a lifelong dream.Watching good friends leave the arena in tears offered a reminder of how thin the line between making it and not making it can be. Biles has been on the right side of that line longer than she ever anticipated. She's going to try and enjoy it, pressure and all.She may have gotten ahead of herself in 2021. She's intent on not letting that happen this time around.“I feel like success is just what I make it,” she said. “I feel like right now I’ve been successful of competing at Olympic trials and making the Paris Olympic team. So then we’ll see from there on out.”

Kansas gymnast earns trip to Paris for team USA

FRANKLIN COUNTY—A strong thunderstorm that featured a lot of lightning is being blamed for a fire that destroyed a barn in rural Franklin.

Just before 10p.m. Friday, crews responded to a fire in the 1000 Block of Oregon Road, according to the&nbsp;Franklin County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office.

Crews at the scene found flames coming from a large barn. Investigators determined lightning struck the barn during the severe weather and it was eventually engulfed in flames.

There were no injuries were reported. The barn was a complete loss. Investigators have not released a damage estimate.&nbsp;

FRANKLIN COUNTY—A strong thunderstorm that featured a lot of lightning is being blamed for a fire that destroyed a barn in rural Franklin.Just before 10p.m. Friday, crews responded to a fire in the 1000 Block of Oregon Road, according to the&nbsp;Franklin County, Kansas, Sheriff’s Office.Crews at the scene found flames coming from a large barn. Investigators determined lightning struck the barn during the severe weather and it was eventually engulfed in flames.There were no injuries were reported. The barn was a complete loss. Investigators have not released a damage estimate.&nbsp;

Lightning blamed for fire that destroyed barn in Kansas

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Biden spent the day sequestered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-first-lady-debate-c8fae7bab90c0f79ab88c9e783ca5ecd">with first lady Jill Biden</a>, his children and grandchildren. It was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

But the gathering was also an exercise in trying to figure out how to quell Democratic anxiety that has exploded following Thursday's performance.

While his family was aware of how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-debate-age-democrats-b93d7ffaad75fd423ea3953fe16287f0">poorly he performed</a>&nbsp;against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he's the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee. They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to the people who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Among the most vocal: Jill Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-gun-trial-federal-charges-delaware-5dd8a9380235c6360a1ddb691ef24a06">and son Hunter</a>, whom the president has long gone to for counsel and advice. Both believe the president shouldn't bow out when he's down, and believe that he can come back from what they see as one subpar performance. The family questioned how he was prepared for the debate by staff and wondered if they could have done something better, the people said.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-debate-age-democrats-b93d7ffaad75fd423ea3953fe16287f0">Biden's campaign has spent the days since the debate</a>&nbsp;— where he appeared raspy, trailed off, and at times gave convoluted answers — working to keep donors and surrogates on board as Democrats increasingly questioned whether he should stay in the race.

At this point in the delegate process, Biden would likely have to decide to drop out for there to be a new nominee. And the people he listens to most in the world — his wife and son — are telling him to stay in.

Even before the debate, the age of the 81-year-old Democratic president had been a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-age-poll-trump-2024-620e0a5cfa0039a6448f607c17c7f23e">liability with voters</a>, and the prime-time faceoff appeared to reinforce the public’s deep-seated concerns before perhaps the largest audience he will have in the four months until Election Day. CNN said more than 51 million people watched the debate.

While the president was huddled with his family, prominent Democrats rallied to deliver a public show of support for his campaign on Sunday.

“I do not believe that Joe Biden has a problem leading for the next four years,” said one close ally, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina. "Joe Biden should continue to run on his record.”

Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Baptist minister, said there had been “more than a few Sundays when I wish I had preached a better sermon,” relating the experience to Biden’s debate performance.

“But after the sermon was over, it was my job to embody the message, to show up for the people that I serve. And that’s what Joe Biden has been doing his entire life,” Warnock said. It was an echo of the message from other supporters that Biden had a bad debate, but a lifetime of good governance.

Warnock, like Clyburn and others, pivoted to Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-election-debate-trump-biden-577507522762aa10f6ee5be3a0ced2bb">many falsehoods</a>&nbsp;during the debate — lapses that Biden and the debate moderators often failed to fact check from the stage — including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, immigration and the outcome of the 2020 election.

“Whenever his mouth was moving, he was lying,” Warnock said of Trump.

But concern simmered among some Democrats that Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee were not taking seriously enough the impact of the debate.

Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who served for more than two decades with Biden in the Senate, called the debate “a disaster from which Biden cannot recover.”

Harkin suggested that Democratic senators in pivotal races and “maybe all incumbent Democratic Senators should pen a letter to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the convention can choose a new candidate,” according to an email to supporters that was obtained by The Associated Press. It was first referenced in Iowa journalist Julie Gammack’s column on Saturday, Iowa Potluck.

“This is a perilous time, and is more important than the ego or desires of Joe Biden to stay as President,” Harkin concluded.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., described “very honest, serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party ... about what to do.”

But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bidendebatetrumpdnc-aa08cc2b556b315e728d1e9c2bf81be9">DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden’s campaign manager,</a>&nbsp;Julie Chavez Rodriguez, held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country — a group of some of the most influential members of the party — where they offered a rosy assessment of the path forward and gave no opportunity for others on the call to respond with questions.

Multiple committee members on the call, most granted anonymity to talk about the private discussion, described feeling like they were being asked to ignore a serious predicament.

“There were a number of things that could have been said in addressing the situation. But we didn’t get that. We were being gaslit,” said Joe Salazar, an elected DNC member from Colorado, who was on the call.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719799862306.png" alt="File&nbsp;President Biden spoke to supporters following the CNN Presidential Debate- image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>File&nbsp;President Biden spoke to supporters following the CNN Presidential Debate- image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden's</a>&nbsp;family used a Sunday gathering at Camp David to urge him to stay in the race and keep fighting despite his dreadful debate performance, and some members criticized how his staff prepared him for the faceoff, according to four people familiar with the discussions.Biden spent the day sequestered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-first-lady-debate-c8fae7bab90c0f79ab88c9e783ca5ecd">with first lady Jill Biden</a>, his children and grandchildren. It was a previously scheduled trip to the presidential retreat in Maryland for a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz for the upcoming Democratic National Convention.But the gathering was also an exercise in trying to figure out how to quell Democratic anxiety that has exploded following Thursday's performance.While his family was aware of how&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-debate-age-democrats-b93d7ffaad75fd423ea3953fe16287f0">poorly he performed</a>&nbsp;against Donald Trump, they also continue to think he's the best person to beat the Republican presumptive nominee. They also believe he is capable of doing the job of president for another four years, according to the people who were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Folks, I might not walk as easily or talk as smoothly as I used to. I might not debate as well as I used to. But what I do know is how to tell the truth.<a href="https://t.co/ep5D0EhT5P">pic.twitter.com/ep5D0EhT5P</a>&mdash; Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1806746426904379543?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 28, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Among the most vocal: Jill Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hunter-biden-gun-trial-federal-charges-delaware-5dd8a9380235c6360a1ddb691ef24a06">and son Hunter</a>, whom the president has long gone to for counsel and advice. Both believe the president shouldn't bow out when he's down, and believe that he can come back from what they see as one subpar performance. The family questioned how he was prepared for the debate by staff and wondered if they could have done something better, the people said.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-biden-debate-age-democrats-b93d7ffaad75fd423ea3953fe16287f0">Biden's campaign has spent the days since the debate</a>&nbsp;— where he appeared raspy, trailed off, and at times gave convoluted answers — working to keep donors and surrogates on board as Democrats increasingly questioned whether he should stay in the race.At this point in the delegate process, Biden would likely have to decide to drop out for there to be a new nominee. And the people he listens to most in the world — his wife and son — are telling him to stay in.Even before the debate, the age of the 81-year-old Democratic president had been a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-age-poll-trump-2024-620e0a5cfa0039a6448f607c17c7f23e">liability with voters</a>, and the prime-time faceoff appeared to reinforce the public’s deep-seated concerns before perhaps the largest audience he will have in the four months until Election Day. CNN said more than 51 million people watched the debate.While the president was huddled with his family, prominent Democrats rallied to deliver a public show of support for his campaign on Sunday.“I do not believe that Joe Biden has a problem leading for the next four years,” said one close ally, Democratic Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina. "Joe Biden should continue to run on his record.”Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat and Baptist minister, said there had been “more than a few Sundays when I wish I had preached a better sermon,” relating the experience to Biden’s debate performance.“But after the sermon was over, it was my job to embody the message, to show up for the people that I serve. And that’s what Joe Biden has been doing his entire life,” Warnock said. It was an echo of the message from other supporters that Biden had a bad debate, but a lifetime of good governance.Warnock, like Clyburn and others, pivoted to Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-misinformation-election-debate-trump-biden-577507522762aa10f6ee5be3a0ced2bb">many falsehoods</a>&nbsp;during the debate — lapses that Biden and the debate moderators often failed to fact check from the stage — including about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, immigration and the outcome of the 2020 election.“Whenever his mouth was moving, he was lying,” Warnock said of Trump.But concern simmered among some Democrats that Biden’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee were not taking seriously enough the impact of the debate.Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who served for more than two decades with Biden in the Senate, called the debate “a disaster from which Biden cannot recover.”Harkin suggested that Democratic senators in pivotal races and “maybe all incumbent Democratic Senators should pen a letter to Biden asking him to release his delegates and step aside so the convention can choose a new candidate,” according to an email to supporters that was obtained by The Associated Press. It was first referenced in Iowa journalist Julie Gammack’s column on Saturday, Iowa Potluck.“This is a perilous time, and is more important than the ego or desires of Joe Biden to stay as President,” Harkin concluded.Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., described “very honest, serious and rigorous conversations taking place at every level of our party ... about what to do.”But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bidendebatetrumpdnc-aa08cc2b556b315e728d1e9c2bf81be9">DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison and Biden’s campaign manager,</a>&nbsp;Julie Chavez Rodriguez, held a Saturday afternoon call with dozens of committee members across the country — a group of some of the most influential members of the party — where they offered a rosy assessment of the path forward and gave no opportunity for others on the call to respond with questions.Multiple committee members on the call, most granted anonymity to talk about the private discussion, described feeling like they were being asked to ignore a serious predicament.“There were a number of things that could have been said in addressing the situation. But we didn’t get that. We were being gaslit,” said Joe Salazar, an elected DNC member from Colorado, who was on the call.___

President Biden's family tells him to stay in the race

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a homicide&nbsp; are asking for the public’s help in locating 19-year-old Nassir Gill of Topeka, according to a media release from police.

 Gill is a person of interest in the homicide of Brian M. Wright Jr., 23, that occurred on June 21, in the 3100 block of SW Westover Road in Topeka.

Gill is described as 5-foot-6 and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He may no longer have blue/green hair, as seen in the photo released by police.

If you see or know where Gill may be, please call or email investigators at 785-368-9551 and telltpd@topeka.org. You can also report anonymously to Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007 or online at www.p3tips.com/128.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719693545861.png" alt="Gill is described as 5-foot-6 and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He may no longer have blue/green hair, as seen in the photo released by police." />
 <figcaption>Gill is described as 5-foot-6 and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He may no longer have blue/green hair, as seen in the photo released by police.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a homicide&nbsp; are asking for the public’s help in locating 19-year-old Nassir Gill of Topeka, according to a media release from police. Gill is a person of interest in the homicide of Brian M. Wright Jr., 23, that occurred on June 21, in the 3100 block of SW Westover Road in Topeka.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719001082126.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy WIBW TV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy WIBW TV</figcaption>
 </figure>Gill is described as 5-foot-6 and weighs approximately 160 pounds. He may no longer have blue/green hair, as seen in the photo released by police.If you see or know where Gill may be, please call or email investigators at 785-368-9551 and telltpd@topeka.org. You can also report anonymously to Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007 or online at www.p3tips.com/128.

Search continues for Kansas teen homicide suspect

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Boeing announced plans to acquire key supplier Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion, a move that it says will improve plane quality and safety amid increasing scrutiny by Congress, airlines and the Department of Justice.

Boeing previously owned Spirit, and the purchase would reverse a longtime Boeing strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes. That approach has been criticized as problems at Spirit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-supplier-slow-production-737-max-2525b4c5a27a7332b80b3016645918db">disrupted production</a>&nbsp;and delivery of popular Boeing jetliners including 737s and 787s.

“We believe this deal is in the best interest of the flying public, our airline customers, the employees of Spirit and Boeing, our shareholders and the country more broadly,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement late Sunday.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-max-emergency-landing-alaska-airlines-79bc1ea98ee7fbc6edf46aff9319775b">Concerns about safety</a>&nbsp;came to a head after the Jan. 5 blowout of a panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 at 16,000 feet (4,876 meters) over Oregon. The Federal Aviation Administration soon after announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-investigation-faa-panel-blowout-monitoring-06b098e57a8c65bdb0ba377f99290d32">increased oversight</a>&nbsp;of Boeing and Spirit, which supplied the fuselage for the plane.

No one was seriously injured in the Alaska Airlines door incident, which terrified passengers, but Boeing is under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-criminal-charges-plea-deal-861175435e04039112fde0ac6bdbf75a">to plead guilty</a>&nbsp;to criminal fraud in connection with two deadly plane crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners more than five years ago.

Boeing has until the end of the week to accept or reject the offer, which includes the giant aerospace company agreeing to an independent monitor who would oversee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ceo-calhoun-safety-senate-investigations-de6a273e5ad69764f4e666cc4afda2c1">its compliance</a>&nbsp;with anti-fraud laws, according to several people who heard federal prosecutors detail a proposed offer Sunday.

The Justice Department said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-violated-settlement-max-crashes-25cde72e154f60adae54177ce35c9176">May court filing</a>&nbsp;that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement allowing the company to avoid prosecution for actions leading up to the crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-plane-crashes-737-max-justice-department-da2977c487811e873be2d118b3c5e529">which killed 346 people</a>.

Those crashes were blamed on a faulty sensor in a flight-control system and the investigation is separate from the probe of the more recent Alaska Airlines blowout, which involved Spirit.

Boeing spun off Spirit, which is based in Wichita, Kansas, and not related to Spirit Airlines, in 2005. In recent years, quality problems have mounted, including fuselage panels that didn’t fit together precisely enough and holes that were improperly drilled.

Spirit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spirit-aerosystems-announces-leadership-transition-301944352.html">removed its CEO</a>&nbsp;in October and replaced him with Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who served as acting defense secretary in the Trump administration.

Things seemed to be going more smoothly until the Alaska Airlines incident. Investigators said a panel used in place of an extra emergency door had been removed at a Boeing factory to let Spirit workers fix damaged rivets, and bolts that help hold the panel in place&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-emergency-landing-report-alaska-airlines-8543c90b68b4d932a700cf57ff8f1b8e">were missing</a>&nbsp;after the repair job. It is not clear who removed the bolts and failed to put them back.

Spirit said in May that it was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-spirit-aerosystems-737-layoffs-c8da0ea0a2f4694cc9f22d7d63595ba7">laying off about 450</a>&nbsp;workers at its Wichita plant because of a production slowdown since the January incident. Its total workforce was just over 13,000 people.

“Bringing Spirit and Boeing together will enable greater integration of both companies’ manufacturing and engineering capabilities, including safety and quality systems,” Shanahan said.

The acquisition's equity value of $4.7 billion is $37.25 per share, while the total value of the deal is around $8.3 billion, which includes Spirit’s last reported net debt, the aerospace company said.

Boeing common stock will be exchanged for Spirit shares according to a variable formula that depends on a weighted average of the share price over a 15-trading-day period ending on the second day before the deal closes, Boeing said.

The companies also announced an agreement with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/airbus-se">Airbus</a>&nbsp;to negotiate the purchase of Spirit assets involved with programs operated by the European aerospace firm. The Airbus agreement is set to commence when Boeing's acquisition of Spirit is completed, the two U.S. companies said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1580497975886.jpeg" alt="Photo by Elaine Thompson/AP/NPR" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Elaine Thompson/AP/NPR</figcaption>
 </figure>ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Boeing announced plans to acquire key supplier Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7 billion, a move that it says will improve plane quality and safety amid increasing scrutiny by Congress, airlines and the Department of Justice.Boeing previously owned Spirit, and the purchase would reverse a longtime Boeing strategy of outsourcing key work on its passenger planes. That approach has been criticized as problems at Spirit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-supplier-slow-production-737-max-2525b4c5a27a7332b80b3016645918db">disrupted production</a>&nbsp;and delivery of popular Boeing jetliners including 737s and 787s.“We believe this deal is in the best interest of the flying public, our airline customers, the employees of Spirit and Boeing, our shareholders and the country more broadly,” Boeing President and CEO Dave Calhoun said in a statement late Sunday.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-max-emergency-landing-alaska-airlines-79bc1ea98ee7fbc6edf46aff9319775b">Concerns about safety</a>&nbsp;came to a head after the Jan. 5 blowout of a panel on an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 at 16,000 feet (4,876 meters) over Oregon. The Federal Aviation Administration soon after announced&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-investigation-faa-panel-blowout-monitoring-06b098e57a8c65bdb0ba377f99290d32">increased oversight</a>&nbsp;of Boeing and Spirit, which supplied the fuselage for the plane.No one was seriously injured in the Alaska Airlines door incident, which terrified passengers, but Boeing is under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-criminal-charges-plea-deal-861175435e04039112fde0ac6bdbf75a">to plead guilty</a>&nbsp;to criminal fraud in connection with two deadly plane crashes involving its 737 Max jetliners more than five years ago.Boeing has until the end of the week to accept or reject the offer, which includes the giant aerospace company agreeing to an independent monitor who would oversee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-ceo-calhoun-safety-senate-investigations-de6a273e5ad69764f4e666cc4afda2c1">its compliance</a>&nbsp;with anti-fraud laws, according to several people who heard federal prosecutors detail a proposed offer Sunday.The Justice Department said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-violated-settlement-max-crashes-25cde72e154f60adae54177ce35c9176">May court filing</a>&nbsp;that Boeing violated terms of a 2021 settlement allowing the company to avoid prosecution for actions leading up to the crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-plane-crashes-737-max-justice-department-da2977c487811e873be2d118b3c5e529">which killed 346 people</a>.Those crashes were blamed on a faulty sensor in a flight-control system and the investigation is separate from the probe of the more recent Alaska Airlines blowout, which involved Spirit.Boeing spun off Spirit, which is based in Wichita, Kansas, and not related to Spirit Airlines, in 2005. In recent years, quality problems have mounted, including fuselage panels that didn’t fit together precisely enough and holes that were improperly drilled.Spirit&nbsp;<a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spirit-aerosystems-announces-leadership-transition-301944352.html">removed its CEO</a>&nbsp;in October and replaced him with Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive who served as acting defense secretary in the Trump administration.Things seemed to be going more smoothly until the Alaska Airlines incident. Investigators said a panel used in place of an extra emergency door had been removed at a Boeing factory to let Spirit workers fix damaged rivets, and bolts that help hold the panel in place&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-emergency-landing-report-alaska-airlines-8543c90b68b4d932a700cf57ff8f1b8e">were missing</a>&nbsp;after the repair job. It is not clear who removed the bolts and failed to put them back.Spirit said in May that it was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boeing-spirit-aerosystems-737-layoffs-c8da0ea0a2f4694cc9f22d7d63595ba7">laying off about 450</a>&nbsp;workers at its Wichita plant because of a production slowdown since the January incident. Its total workforce was just over 13,000 people.“Bringing Spirit and Boeing together will enable greater integration of both companies’ manufacturing and engineering capabilities, including safety and quality systems,” Shanahan said.The acquisition's equity value of $4.7 billion is $37.25 per share, while the total value of the deal is around $8.3 billion, which includes Spirit’s last reported net debt, the aerospace company said.Boeing common stock will be exchanged for Spirit shares according to a variable formula that depends on a weighted average of the share price over a 15-trading-day period ending on the second day before the deal closes, Boeing said.The companies also announced an agreement with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/airbus-se">Airbus</a>&nbsp;to negotiate the purchase of Spirit assets involved with programs operated by the European aerospace firm. The Airbus agreement is set to commence when Boeing's acquisition of Spirit is completed, the two U.S. companies said.

Boeing agrees to buy Kan. aircraft parts maker for $4.7 billion

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Detectives investigating a fatal shooting have identified the victim as 17-year-old Michael Welch of Kansas City, Kansas.

On Wednesday evening, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 4900 block of Steele Road, according to a media release.

First responders discovered Welch outside a home, the victim of apparent gunshot wounds. He was pronounced deceased on scene. Two adult victims were transported to an area hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries, not caused by gunfire.

This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp;This is the 13th homicide of the year in Kansas City, Kansas.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Detectives investigating a fatal shooting have identified the victim as 17-year-old Michael Welch of Kansas City, Kansas.On Wednesday evening, police were dispatched to a shooting in the 4900 block of Steele Road, according to a media release.First responders discovered Welch outside a home, the victim of apparent gunshot wounds. He was pronounced deceased on scene. Two adult victims were transported to an area hospital with serious, but non-life threatening injuries, not caused by gunfire.This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit.&nbsp;This is the 13th homicide of the year in Kansas City, Kansas.

Police: 17-year-old identified as victim in Kansas shooting

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement found a live deer in a home during a drug bust near Kansas City.

Just afater 11:00 a.m., June 27, Deputies with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Apprehension Unit served a search warrant near Hamilton Lane and West South Avenue in Belton, according to a media release.

This search warrant was the result of an extensive investigation into narcotics distribution. Deputies seized several items of evidence including suspected methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and money. 

In conjunction with this operation, deputies took two suspects into custody on felony warrants. 

Hannah Graham, 42, of Belton was arrested on a Felony Parole Violation through the State of Kansas with no bond allowed.

Christopher McGolgin, 39,&nbsp; of Belton was arrested on felony warrants from Cass County with requested charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.&nbsp;

 Two additional suspects, man and woman were taken into custody pending felony charges. 

&nbsp;The Drug Enforcement Administration assisted our Office with this investigation. During the search, a young live deer was located inside the residence. The Missouri Department of Conservation recovered the deer.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719665932482.png" alt="photo Cass Co." />
 <figcaption>photo Cass Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement found a live deer in a home during a drug bust near Kansas City.Just afater 11:00 a.m., June 27, Deputies with the Cass County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Apprehension Unit served a search warrant near Hamilton Lane and West South Avenue in Belton, according to a media release.This search warrant was the result of an extensive investigation into narcotics distribution. Deputies seized several items of evidence including suspected methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and money. In conjunction with this operation, deputies took two suspects into custody on felony warrants. <figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719665968723.png" alt="Graham-photo Cass Co." />
 <figcaption>Graham-photo Cass Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Hannah Graham, 42, of Belton was arrested on a Felony Parole Violation through the State of Kansas with no bond allowed.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719666003508.png" alt="McGolgin-photo Cass Co." />
 <figcaption>McGolgin-photo Cass Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Christopher McGolgin, 39,&nbsp; of Belton was arrested on felony warrants from Cass County with requested charges of Possession of a Controlled Substance and Unlawful Use of a Weapon.&nbsp; Two additional suspects, man and woman were taken into custody pending felony charges. &nbsp;The Drug Enforcement Administration assisted our Office with this investigation. During the search, a young live deer was located inside the residence. The Missouri Department of Conservation recovered the deer.

Deputies found Kan. felon, live deer in a home during drug bust 

KANSAS CITY. – A Kansas City man and a Crowder, Mississippi, man have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that included two murders.

Shawn Burkhalter, also known as “Deuce,” 35, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to life in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Joshua Nesbitt, also known as “T,” 30, was sentenced to life in federal prison without parole.

On Aug. 28, 2023, Burkhalter and Nesbitt each were found guilty at trial of one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, one count of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute, one count of robbery, two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and a drug-trafficking crime, one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, one count of being felons in possession of a firearm, one count of conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering, one count of murdering a potential witness, and one count of evidence tampering. Additionally, Burkhalter was found guilty of one count of witness tampering.

Burkhalter and Nesbitt participated in a decade-long conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana from 2008 to Feb. 20, 2018. Six more co-defendants pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.

Trial evidence showed that on Sept. 10, 2015, Burkhalter and Nesbitt stole cocaine from Danny Lamont Dean, and in the process of that robbery, shot and killed Dean with a Rock River Arms AR-15, 5.56-caliber semi-automatic rifle.

On Oct. 4, 2015, Nesbitt and others stole marijuana from Anthony Dwayne Johnson, and in the process of that robbery, Nesbitt shot and killed Johnson with the same Rock River Arms AR-15, 5.56-caliber semi-automatic rifle, all of which was at the direction of Burkhalter (who was detained in custody at the time of the murder). Trial evidence showed Johnson was murdered because Burkhalter suspected him of providing information to investigators about Burkhalter’s involvement in Dean’s murder.

Burkhalter and Nesbitt robbed a Kansas City, Mo., business on Sept. 8, 2015, brandishing the same AR-15 rifle.

The government also presented evidence at sentencing hearing that Nesbitt repeatedly assaulted staff members at detention facilities while incarcerated and awaiting trial.

Co-defendants Sharika Hooker and Autry Hines, both of Kansas City, Mo.; Joslyn Lee, also known as “Bless,” and Nickayla Jones, both of Blue Springs, Mo.; Rachel Ryce of Raytown, Mo.; and Anthony Peltier, also known as “A-1,” of Lawrence, Kansas, have pleaded guilty and previously been sentenced.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719783612378.png" alt="Burkhalter" />
 <figcaption>Burkhalter</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY. – A Kansas City man and a Crowder, Mississippi, man have been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a drug-trafficking conspiracy that included two murders.Shawn Burkhalter, also known as “Deuce,” 35, of Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to life in federal prison without parole. Co-defendant Joshua Nesbitt, also known as “T,” 30, was sentenced to life in federal prison without parole.On Aug. 28, 2023, Burkhalter and Nesbitt each were found guilty at trial of one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana, one count of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute, one count of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute, one count of robbery, two counts of discharging a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and a drug-trafficking crime, one count of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, one count of being felons in possession of a firearm, one count of conspiracy to commit witness and evidence tampering, one count of murdering a potential witness, and one count of evidence tampering. Additionally, Burkhalter was found guilty of one count of witness tampering.Burkhalter and Nesbitt participated in a decade-long conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana from 2008 to Feb. 20, 2018. Six more co-defendants pleaded guilty and have been sentenced for their roles in the drug-trafficking conspiracy.Trial evidence showed that on Sept. 10, 2015, Burkhalter and Nesbitt stole cocaine from Danny Lamont Dean, and in the process of that robbery, shot and killed Dean with a Rock River Arms AR-15, 5.56-caliber semi-automatic rifle.On Oct. 4, 2015, Nesbitt and others stole marijuana from Anthony Dwayne Johnson, and in the process of that robbery, Nesbitt shot and killed Johnson with the same Rock River Arms AR-15, 5.56-caliber semi-automatic rifle, all of which was at the direction of Burkhalter (who was detained in custody at the time of the murder). Trial evidence showed Johnson was murdered because Burkhalter suspected him of providing information to investigators about Burkhalter’s involvement in Dean’s murder.Burkhalter and Nesbitt robbed a Kansas City, Mo., business on Sept. 8, 2015, brandishing the same AR-15 rifle.The government also presented evidence at sentencing hearing that Nesbitt repeatedly assaulted staff members at detention facilities while incarcerated and awaiting trial.Co-defendants Sharika Hooker and Autry Hines, both of Kansas City, Mo.; Joslyn Lee, also known as “Bless,” and Nickayla Jones, both of Blue Springs, Mo.; Rachel Ryce of Raytown, Mo.; and Anthony Peltier, also known as “A-1,” of Lawrence, Kansas, have pleaded guilty and previously been sentenced.

Life in prison: Kansas City man sold drugs, killed murder witness 

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/suzanneking/">SUZANNE KING</a>

Michael Mullen donates blood plasma every Tuesday and Thursday. He has for 12 years.

The money it brings in — a little over $100 a week — augments what he makes as a chef. He’s come to rely on it.

“It helps supplement bill paying,” he said recently, smoking a cigarette outside the Biomat USA donation center on East 63rd Street where he’d just spent an hour and a half in the donation chair. “If I didn’t have it, I don’t know. I don’t know what would happen.”

Kelcey Gordon is out of work and said he’d struggle without the money he makes donating twice a week. Standing outside the same for-profit plasma donation center, one of 11 in the Kansas City area, he said he is grateful for the extra cash it represents.

In the $35 billion plasma pharmaceutical industry, Mullen, Gordon and some 3 million other U.S. adults supply the raw material the industry counts on.

The plasma they deposit every week is tested, processed and separated into protein parts that become medicine to treat rare, chronic conditions like immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases and bleeding disorders.

Their plasma, collected at a storefront that shares a shopping center with a Thriftway and lies just a block east of Cash America Pawn, will end up in medicines sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars a dose. It will likely treat patients on the other side of the world.

Thanks to regulations that make the United States one of the few countries to let companies pay for plasma, and because people here can donate as often as twice a week, the U.S. supplies about 70% of the world’s plasma.

“This is the world basket of plasma,” said Peter Jaworski, a Georgetown University professor who studies the plasma economy.

The industry — with the enthusiastic backing of organizations that advocate for people suffering from the diseases that plasma therapies treat — says the system works. If people weren’t paid to donate, they argue demand could not be met. That would mean thousands of people would die or be unable to live normal lives.

The plasma centers, most of them owned and operated by pharmaceutical companies based overseas, say their business models also inject money into local communities.

Donation centers employ phlebotomists, security guards and screeners. And the payments made to donors — which vary based on how often someone donates and, in some cases, how much a donor weighs — go back into the local economy.

But doctors and public health experts caution that no one really knows what frequent plasma donations over many years could mean for donors’ health.

And they worry that poor people provide a bulk of U.S. donations at plasma centers. Plasma centers&nbsp;<a href="https://sites.fordschool.umich.edu/poverty2021/files/2022/07/Blood-Plasma-and-Poverty.pdf" target="_blank">tend to set up in</a>&nbsp;disadvantaged neighborhoods and rely on incentive programs designed to make donors give again and again.

Plasma centers push people to give as often as possible, but they don’t disclose the unknown risks of frequently extracting plasma from their blood for many years.

“People perceive it as a better alternative than high-cost loans that lead to debt,” said Emily A. Gallagher, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Colorado. She co-authored&nbsp;<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3940369" target="_blank">a study</a>&nbsp;about the intersection between plasma donors and payday loan customers.

“Without knowing the longer-term health consequences,” she said, “it’s analogous to a loan against your future house with an unknown interest rate.”

The blood running through your veins includes red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Plasma — a yellow-tinged liquid — accounts for more than half of your blood.

It is 90% water, but also contains proteins vital to living a normal life. When someone has plasma that lacks&nbsp; — or is short on — certain proteins, they end up with rare and chronic diseases. Medicines made from healthy human plasma treat those diseases by supplementing the lacking plasma.

For someone with primary immune deficiency, a condition in which a person’s immune system doesn’t function properly, it takes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pptaglobal.org/resources/plasma-collection-and-manufacturing" target="_blank">130 donations</a>&nbsp;to cover a year’s worth of treatment. For a person with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a potentially fatal disease that can lead to organ damage, that number jumps to 900 donations a year. And for someone with hemophilia, a blood clotting disorder, it takes 1,200 donations of plasma to make a year’s worth of medicine.

Scientists have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/blood-donation-process/what-happens-to-donated-blood/blood-transfusions/history-blood-transfusion.html" target="_blank">known about</a>&nbsp;blood circulation since 1628, and blood transfusions began almost that long ago. In 1665, a British doctor figured out how to keep a dog alive by transfusing blood from other dogs.

At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists began to figure out that different people had different blood types. And by World War II the value of blood plasma was well understood.

In 1940, researchers developed a process to break plasma down into individual components to treat patients. That’s essentially what happens to plasma donated today.

Donated plasma goes through a process known as fractionation, which separates plasma into various protein parts. Once it is tested and cleaned — a process that can take up to a year — those proteins are pooled with other donors’ plasma and made into therapies.

Plasma therapies for patients on the receiving end are considered extremely safe today. Tests designed to find plasma tainted by disease are highly effective. And plasma pharmaceutical makers won’t use plasma until a donor has given at least twice and the donor has passed a health screening. In addition, plasma is treated to kill any lingering virus before it is used in medicine.

But in the 1980s, before it was understood that viruses like HIV could be transmitted through blood, plasma transfusions proved deadly.

In the United States, 63% of hemophiliacs&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/t-hehs-98-242.pdf" target="_blank">contracted HIV</a>&nbsp;after receiving plasma from infected donors. Others contracted hepatitis B and hepatitis C, diseases that are also transmitted through blood.

After those “wild west days of plasma collection,” Jaworski said, the industry underwent drastic changes. That included pharmaceutical companies taking over independent donation centers. In recent years, those centers have multiplied.

Pharmaceutical companies operate a combined 1,000 collection centers in the United States. That’s compared to 300 in 2005.

The business of taking human plasma and turning it into medicine is worth about $35 billion this year. And that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/plasma-fractionation-market-101614" target="_blank">could nearly double</a>&nbsp;by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights, a market research firm.

Kansas City-area donation centers are all owned directly by the companies that make the plasma-derived drugs.

They include the Biomat on 63rd Street, owned by Grifols S.A., a Spanish company. Other Kansas City donation centers are owned by CSL Ltd., based in Australia, Takeda Pharmaceuticals from Japan and Octapharma Plasma, out of Switzerland.

Experts say the influx of new donation centers in recent years follows growing demand for plasma therapies. That’s because scientists are figuring out that more diseases can benefit from plasma medicines. During the COVID pandemic, plasma transfusions from previously infected donors were tried as a treatment, but its effectiveness&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/health/covid-convalescent-plasma.html?searchResultPosition=3" target="_blank">isn’t understood</a>&nbsp;because scientific testing was lacking.

Demand for plasma therapies is also up because more people are being diagnosed with diseases that could benefit from them.

For example, improved newborn screenings mean more people know they have primary immune deficiency, diseases that affect an estimated 500,000 people. But according to the Immune Deficiency Foundation, “tens of thousands” of others remain undiagnosed.

Only the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic and a few other countries allow payments for plasma donations. The countries that restrict payments have to rely on imports, primarily from the U.S. There is no synthetic alternative to human plasma.

That’s why Jaworski wants more countries to allow paid plasma.

“There isn’t a single country in the world that collects enough plasma to meet demand unless they compensate donors,” he said. “The most important moral mission for a system of blood and plasma collection is to meet the needs of patients.”

By that standard, he said, the American system is unquestionably succeeding.

“America not only collects enough for its own citizens,” he said, “it also collects enough for the rest of the world.”

Is it safe to donate plasma twice a week?

Through a process known as plasmapheresis, the plasma collected at for-profit centers is taken out of a donor’s arm as whole blood, pumped into a machine that separates out plasma and returns red blood cells and other components of blood to the donor.

That process, known as source plasma collection, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/blood-blood-products" target="_blank">regulated</a>&nbsp;by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and also overseen by the countries that import the plasma. Donors spend about 90 minutes in the donation chair.

Nonprofit blood centers like the Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City collect plasma through whole blood donations. Plasma is separated out once blood has been donated. But that process yields much less plasma.

Nonprofit blood banks don’t pay for donations. For one thing, hospitals won’t accept blood from a donor who has been compensated. And the World Health Organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241599696" target="_blank">advises against</a>&nbsp;paying for donations. It’s considered risky because donors who give blood because they need money could be more likely to misrepresent their health history — essentially hiding the likelihood that they’re carrying blood-borne infections.

Because plasma used in pharmaceuticals is so thoroughly processed, the risk posed by paid donations is lower. Jaworski said it’s proved to be extraordinarily safe for 30 years. He argues that objections to paid plasma donations are unrealistic when so many people rely on plasma therapies.

He compared paying people for their plasma to hiring firefighters rather than relying on volunteers. The payment doesn’t diminish the good act, he said.

“At some point, you get too many fires and you have to pay people to put out the fires,” he said. “We hit that tipping point (for plasma) more than 20 years ago.”

People who rely on the therapies created from paid-for plasma are actively campaigning to be sure paid donations continue.

The Immune Deficiency Foundation has a program meant to recruit more paid donors. “Your work will encourage donors to continue donating and, in turn, encourage their friends and family to donate plasma as well,” the organization’s&nbsp;<a href="https://primaryimmune.org/get-involved/volunteer/plasma-ambassador" target="_blank">web page</a>&nbsp;says.

But while plasma-derived therapies are critical for the patients relying on them to live a normal life, some doctors worry about what plasma donation could do to donors.

Plasma collection centers advise donors to drink lots of water, get sleep and have a healthy meal before donating. In the near term, donors are told to be prepared for certain temporary side effects like dehydration, dizziness and fatigue.

On its webpage, CSL Plasma also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cslplasma.com/faq" target="_blank">warns</a>&nbsp;about the possibility that donating frequently for a long period of time can deplete immunoglobulin levels, which can lower a person’s ability to fight off infections.

Dr. Morey A. Blinder, a hematologist at Washington University, said that’s definitely something frequent plasma donors should worry about. Long-term studies, looking at people who donate plasma twice a week, year after year, simply haven’t been done, he said.

“You’re depleting a person’s proteins in their bloodstream,” he said. “And it’s hard to know what the effect of that is.”

Proteins regenerate, he said, so in the short term, people can keep up. But it’s unclear what happens over time.

And while the plasma collection centers monitor donors’ health, their incentive isn’t to limit donations. It’s to collect as much plasma as possible.

“There are financial incentives to these donors to stay on schedule and keep donating,” Blinder said.

Many doctors would feel more comfortable, he said, if that pressure were reduced. Blinder also would like to see more frequent checks of donors’ blood levels, and a weekly, rather than twice weekly, donation limit.

“People in this field would say that would be an advantage,” he said.

Blinder also questions whether the pharmaceutical companies are paying donors fairly. Donors take home around $50 per donation, but the medicine it’s eventually turned into can cost $200 a gram, perhaps $16,000 per treatment dose, depending on the illness.

“We don’t have a good sense of the margins they earn on the plasma,” said Gallagher, the University of Colorado professor.

Right or wrong, the paid plasma business has become a reasonably big thread in the country’s social safety net. Gallagher found that people tend to donate plasma so they can get extra money and avoid taking out high-interest loans to make ends meet. Donors range from college students to single parents to low-wage earners who just need extra cash.

BioLife Plasma Services is&nbsp;<a href="https://info.biolifeplasma.com/new-plasma-donation-0722?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paidsearch&amp;utm_campaign=tom:nonbrand%20search:::06012020&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxcCrEIO2VHvuHYDaWVnCEZ2e53ivnHTubUPgByY_Vlqu2PkomP4l1BoCIVMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">promising</a>&nbsp;new donors “up to $800.” And CSL Plasma&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cslplasma.com/" target="_blank">advertises</a>&nbsp;new donors “over $700 your first month.”

Whether or not donors are getting a fair payment, selling plasma is tempting a growing number of Americans. And, like Mullen and Gordon, they’re relying on the extra cash.

That’s why most mornings, before CSL Plasma’s donation center at 37th and Broadway opens for business at 6 a.m., a line of ready donors is already waiting outside.

This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/06/26/donating-plasma-in-kansas-city-helps-fuel-billion-dollar-industry/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719748510538.png" alt="At CSL Plasma on Broadway Boulevard in midtown Kansas City, willing plasma donors line up on a recent day before the center’s 6 a.m. opening (Suzanne King/The Beacon)." />
 <figcaption>At CSL Plasma on Broadway Boulevard in midtown Kansas City, willing plasma donors line up on a recent day before the center’s 6 a.m. opening (Suzanne King/The Beacon).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/suzanneking/">SUZANNE KING</a>Michael Mullen donates blood plasma every Tuesday and Thursday. He has for 12 years.The money it brings in — a little over $100 a week — augments what he makes as a chef. He’s come to rely on it.“It helps supplement bill paying,” he said recently, smoking a cigarette outside the Biomat USA donation center on East 63rd Street where he’d just spent an hour and a half in the donation chair. “If I didn’t have it, I don’t know. I don’t know what would happen.”Kelcey Gordon is out of work and said he’d struggle without the money he makes donating twice a week. Standing outside the same for-profit plasma donation center, one of 11 in the Kansas City area, he said he is grateful for the extra cash it represents.In the $35 billion plasma pharmaceutical industry, Mullen, Gordon and some 3 million other U.S. adults supply the raw material the industry counts on.The plasma they deposit every week is tested, processed and separated into protein parts that become medicine to treat rare, chronic conditions like immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases and bleeding disorders.Their plasma, collected at a storefront that shares a shopping center with a Thriftway and lies just a block east of Cash America Pawn, will end up in medicines sold for hundreds or thousands of dollars a dose. It will likely treat patients on the other side of the world.Thanks to regulations that make the United States one of the few countries to let companies pay for plasma, and because people here can donate as often as twice a week, the U.S. supplies about 70% of the world’s plasma.“This is the world basket of plasma,” said Peter Jaworski, a Georgetown University professor who studies the plasma economy.The industry — with the enthusiastic backing of organizations that advocate for people suffering from the diseases that plasma therapies treat — says the system works. If people weren’t paid to donate, they argue demand could not be met. That would mean thousands of people would die or be unable to live normal lives.The plasma centers, most of them owned and operated by pharmaceutical companies based overseas, say their business models also inject money into local communities.Donation centers employ phlebotomists, security guards and screeners. And the payments made to donors — which vary based on how often someone donates and, in some cases, how much a donor weighs — go back into the local economy.But doctors and public health experts caution that no one really knows what frequent plasma donations over many years could mean for donors’ health.And they worry that poor people provide a bulk of U.S. donations at plasma centers. Plasma centers&nbsp;<a href="https://sites.fordschool.umich.edu/poverty2021/files/2022/07/Blood-Plasma-and-Poverty.pdf" target="_blank">tend to set up in</a>&nbsp;disadvantaged neighborhoods and rely on incentive programs designed to make donors give again and again.Plasma centers push people to give as often as possible, but they don’t disclose the unknown risks of frequently extracting plasma from their blood for many years.“People perceive it as a better alternative than high-cost loans that lead to debt,” said Emily A. Gallagher, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Colorado. She co-authored&nbsp;<a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3940369" target="_blank">a study</a>&nbsp;about the intersection between plasma donors and payday loan customers.“Without knowing the longer-term health consequences,” she said, “it’s analogous to a loan against your future house with an unknown interest rate.”<h2>Therapies from donated plasma</h2>The blood running through your veins includes red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets and plasma. Plasma — a yellow-tinged liquid — accounts for more than half of your blood.It is 90% water, but also contains proteins vital to living a normal life. When someone has plasma that lacks&nbsp; — or is short on — certain proteins, they end up with rare and chronic diseases. Medicines made from healthy human plasma treat those diseases by supplementing the lacking plasma.For someone with primary immune deficiency, a condition in which a person’s immune system doesn’t function properly, it takes&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pptaglobal.org/resources/plasma-collection-and-manufacturing" target="_blank">130 donations</a>&nbsp;to cover a year’s worth of treatment. For a person with alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, a potentially fatal disease that can lead to organ damage, that number jumps to 900 donations a year. And for someone with hemophilia, a blood clotting disorder, it takes 1,200 donations of plasma to make a year’s worth of medicine.Scientists have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/blood-donation-process/what-happens-to-donated-blood/blood-transfusions/history-blood-transfusion.html" target="_blank">known about</a>&nbsp;blood circulation since 1628, and blood transfusions began almost that long ago. In 1665, a British doctor figured out how to keep a dog alive by transfusing blood from other dogs.At the beginning of the 20th century, scientists began to figure out that different people had different blood types. And by World War II the value of blood plasma was well understood.In 1940, researchers developed a process to break plasma down into individual components to treat patients. That’s essentially what happens to plasma donated today.<h2>Wild west of plasma collection</h2>Donated plasma goes through a process known as fractionation, which separates plasma into various protein parts. Once it is tested and cleaned — a process that can take up to a year — those proteins are pooled with other donors’ plasma and made into therapies.Plasma therapies for patients on the receiving end are considered extremely safe today. Tests designed to find plasma tainted by disease are highly effective. And plasma pharmaceutical makers won’t use plasma until a donor has given at least twice and the donor has passed a health screening. In addition, plasma is treated to kill any lingering virus before it is used in medicine.But in the 1980s, before it was understood that viruses like HIV could be transmitted through blood, plasma transfusions proved deadly.In the United States, 63% of hemophiliacs&nbsp;<a href="https://www.gao.gov/assets/t-hehs-98-242.pdf" target="_blank">contracted HIV</a>&nbsp;after receiving plasma from infected donors. Others contracted hepatitis B and hepatitis C, diseases that are also transmitted through blood.After those “wild west days of plasma collection,” Jaworski said, the industry underwent drastic changes. That included pharmaceutical companies taking over independent donation centers. In recent years, those centers have multiplied.Pharmaceutical companies operate a combined 1,000 collection centers in the United States. That’s compared to 300 in 2005.The business of taking human plasma and turning it into medicine is worth about $35 billion this year. And that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/plasma-fractionation-market-101614" target="_blank">could nearly double</a>&nbsp;by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights, a market research firm.<h2>Growing demand for plasma donations</h2>Kansas City-area donation centers are all owned directly by the companies that make the plasma-derived drugs.They include the Biomat on 63rd Street, owned by Grifols S.A., a Spanish company. Other Kansas City donation centers are owned by CSL Ltd., based in Australia, Takeda Pharmaceuticals from Japan and Octapharma Plasma, out of Switzerland.Experts say the influx of new donation centers in recent years follows growing demand for plasma therapies. That’s because scientists are figuring out that more diseases can benefit from plasma medicines. During the COVID pandemic, plasma transfusions from previously infected donors were tried as a treatment, but its effectiveness&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/17/health/covid-convalescent-plasma.html?searchResultPosition=3" target="_blank">isn’t understood</a>&nbsp;because scientific testing was lacking.Demand for plasma therapies is also up because more people are being diagnosed with diseases that could benefit from them.For example, improved newborn screenings mean more people know they have primary immune deficiency, diseases that affect an estimated 500,000 people. But according to the Immune Deficiency Foundation, “tens of thousands” of others remain undiagnosed.Only the United States, Germany, the Czech Republic and a few other countries allow payments for plasma donations. The countries that restrict payments have to rely on imports, primarily from the U.S. There is no synthetic alternative to human plasma.That’s why Jaworski wants more countries to allow paid plasma.“There isn’t a single country in the world that collects enough plasma to meet demand unless they compensate donors,” he said. “The most important moral mission for a system of blood and plasma collection is to meet the needs of patients.”By that standard, he said, the American system is unquestionably succeeding.“America not only collects enough for its own citizens,” he said, “it also collects enough for the rest of the world.”<h2>Is it safe to donate plasma twice a week?</h2>Through a process known as plasmapheresis, the plasma collected at for-profit centers is taken out of a donor’s arm as whole blood, pumped into a machine that separates out plasma and returns red blood cells and other components of blood to the donor.That process, known as source plasma collection, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/blood-blood-products" target="_blank">regulated</a>&nbsp;by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and also overseen by the countries that import the plasma. Donors spend about 90 minutes in the donation chair.Nonprofit blood centers like the Community Blood Center of Greater Kansas City collect plasma through whole blood donations. Plasma is separated out once blood has been donated. But that process yields much less plasma.Nonprofit blood banks don’t pay for donations. For one thing, hospitals won’t accept blood from a donor who has been compensated. And the World Health Organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241599696" target="_blank">advises against</a>&nbsp;paying for donations. It’s considered risky because donors who give blood because they need money could be more likely to misrepresent their health history — essentially hiding the likelihood that they’re carrying blood-borne infections.Because plasma used in pharmaceuticals is so thoroughly processed, the risk posed by paid donations is lower. Jaworski said it’s proved to be extraordinarily safe for 30 years. He argues that objections to paid plasma donations are unrealistic when so many people rely on plasma therapies.He compared paying people for their plasma to hiring firefighters rather than relying on volunteers. The payment doesn’t diminish the good act, he said.“At some point, you get too many fires and you have to pay people to put out the fires,” he said. “We hit that tipping point (for plasma) more than 20 years ago.”People who rely on the therapies created from paid-for plasma are actively campaigning to be sure paid donations continue.The Immune Deficiency Foundation has a program meant to recruit more paid donors. “Your work will encourage donors to continue donating and, in turn, encourage their friends and family to donate plasma as well,” the organization’s&nbsp;<a href="https://primaryimmune.org/get-involved/volunteer/plasma-ambassador" target="_blank">web page</a>&nbsp;says.But while plasma-derived therapies are critical for the patients relying on them to live a normal life, some doctors worry about what plasma donation could do to donors.Plasma collection centers advise donors to drink lots of water, get sleep and have a healthy meal before donating. In the near term, donors are told to be prepared for certain temporary side effects like dehydration, dizziness and fatigue.On its webpage, CSL Plasma also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cslplasma.com/faq" target="_blank">warns</a>&nbsp;about the possibility that donating frequently for a long period of time can deplete immunoglobulin levels, which can lower a person’s ability to fight off infections.<h2>What is the downside to donating plasma?</h2>Dr. Morey A. Blinder, a hematologist at Washington University, said that’s definitely something frequent plasma donors should worry about. Long-term studies, looking at people who donate plasma twice a week, year after year, simply haven’t been done, he said.“You’re depleting a person’s proteins in their bloodstream,” he said. “And it’s hard to know what the effect of that is.”Proteins regenerate, he said, so in the short term, people can keep up. But it’s unclear what happens over time.And while the plasma collection centers monitor donors’ health, their incentive isn’t to limit donations. It’s to collect as much plasma as possible.“There are financial incentives to these donors to stay on schedule and keep donating,” Blinder said.Many doctors would feel more comfortable, he said, if that pressure were reduced. Blinder also would like to see more frequent checks of donors’ blood levels, and a weekly, rather than twice weekly, donation limit.“People in this field would say that would be an advantage,” he said.Blinder also questions whether the pharmaceutical companies are paying donors fairly. Donors take home around $50 per donation, but the medicine it’s eventually turned into can cost $200 a gram, perhaps $16,000 per treatment dose, depending on the illness.“We don’t have a good sense of the margins they earn on the plasma,” said Gallagher, the University of Colorado professor.Right or wrong, the paid plasma business has become a reasonably big thread in the country’s social safety net. Gallagher found that people tend to donate plasma so they can get extra money and avoid taking out high-interest loans to make ends meet. Donors range from college students to single parents to low-wage earners who just need extra cash.BioLife Plasma Services is&nbsp;<a href="https://info.biolifeplasma.com/new-plasma-donation-0722?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=paidsearch&amp;utm_campaign=tom:nonbrand%20search:::06012020&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw1emzBhB8EiwAHwZZxcCrEIO2VHvuHYDaWVnCEZ2e53ivnHTubUPgByY_Vlqu2PkomP4l1BoCIVMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">promising</a>&nbsp;new donors “up to $800.” And CSL Plasma&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cslplasma.com/" target="_blank">advertises</a>&nbsp;new donors “over $700 your first month.”Whether or not donors are getting a fair payment, selling plasma is tempting a growing number of Americans. And, like Mullen and Gordon, they’re relying on the extra cash.That’s why most mornings, before CSL Plasma’s donation center at 37th and Broadway opens for business at 6 a.m., a line of ready donors is already waiting outside.This&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/06/26/donating-plasma-in-kansas-city-helps-fuel-billion-dollar-industry/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/" target="_blank">Beacon: Kansas City</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<figure>
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Plasma donors in Kansas City are helping fuel a $34 billion industry

NEW YORK (AP) — The monthlong celebration of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pride-month-lgbtq-2024-1abf80d0cf1026b60b47f565e9953fec">LGBTQ+ Pride</a>&nbsp;reached its exuberant grand finale on Sunday, bringing rainbow-laden revelers to the streets for marquee parades in Wichita, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere across the globe.

The wide-ranging festivities functioned as both jubilant parties and political protests, as participants recognize the community’s gains while also calling attention to recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, such as bans on transgender health care, passed by Republican-led states.

“We’re at a time where there’s a ton of legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation,” Zach Overton, 47, said at the New York parade. “It feels like we’re taking a step backwards in the fight for equality and so it’s a great moment to come out and be with our community and see all the different colors of the spectrum of our community and remind ourselves what we’re all fighting for.”

Thousands of people gathered along New York’s Fifth Avenue to celebrate Pride. Floats cruised the street as Diane Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” played from loudspeakers. Pride flags filled the horizon, and signs in support of Puerto Rico, Ukraine and Gaza were visible in the crowd.

This year, tensions over the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;in Gaza also seeped into the celebrations,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-nyc-pride-gaza-72879ee18421aff044961cd7cd8ab1a9">exposing divisions</a>&nbsp;within a community that is often aligned on political issues. Protesters temporarily blocked the New York parade on Sunday, chanting: “Free, free, free Palestine!” Police eventually took some of them away.

Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted pride parades earlier in June in Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia. Several groups participating in marches Sunday said they would seek to highlight the victims of the war in Gaza, spurring pushback from supporters of Israel.

“It is certainly a more active presence this year in terms of protest at Pride events,” said Sandra Pérez, the executive director of NYC Pride. “But we were born out of a protest.”

The first pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/stonewall-at-50">Stonewall Inn uprising</a>, a riot that began with a police raid on a Manhattan gay bar.

Nick Taricco, 47, who was at the New York parade with Overton, said he attended Friday's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-election-lgbtq-stonewall-trump-1b1978ac44f80ca5f468661c32015c48">opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center</a>, where President Joe Biden spoke. Taricco said he has concerns about politics in the U.S., including the presidential election.

“Even given how old he is, I still think that’s the direction we need to go in," Taricco said of Biden. “But it’s a very uncertain time in general in this country.”

Ireland Fernandez-Cosgrove, 23, celebrated at the New York parade.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719791789039.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The monthlong celebration of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pride-month-lgbtq-2024-1abf80d0cf1026b60b47f565e9953fec">LGBTQ+ Pride</a>&nbsp;reached its exuberant grand finale on Sunday, bringing rainbow-laden revelers to the streets for marquee parades in Wichita, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and elsewhere across the globe.The wide-ranging festivities functioned as both jubilant parties and political protests, as participants recognize the community’s gains while also calling attention to recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, such as bans on transgender health care, passed by Republican-led states.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWichitaPrideInc%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02AksZYJVCNWuSpUNQneYy8WpcQjd9T7EgEAtpGV6Riieo7EtmKjGVosNA5TQcoDCGl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="660" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>“We’re at a time where there’s a ton of legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ legislation,” Zach Overton, 47, said at the New York parade. “It feels like we’re taking a step backwards in the fight for equality and so it’s a great moment to come out and be with our community and see all the different colors of the spectrum of our community and remind ourselves what we’re all fighting for.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">PRIDE! 🏳️‍🌈 <a href="https://t.co/gdSvdIIGYM">pic.twitter.com/gdSvdIIGYM</a>&mdash; Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1807539678288936983?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 30, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Thousands of people gathered along New York’s Fifth Avenue to celebrate Pride. Floats cruised the street as Diane Ross’ “I’m Coming Out” played from loudspeakers. Pride flags filled the horizon, and signs in support of Puerto Rico, Ukraine and Gaza were visible in the crowd.This year, tensions over the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel-Hamas war</a>&nbsp;in Gaza also seeped into the celebrations,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-nyc-pride-gaza-72879ee18421aff044961cd7cd8ab1a9">exposing divisions</a>&nbsp;within a community that is often aligned on political issues. Protesters temporarily blocked the New York parade on Sunday, chanting: “Free, free, free Palestine!” Police eventually took some of them away.Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted pride parades earlier in June in Boston, Denver, and Philadelphia. Several groups participating in marches Sunday said they would seek to highlight the victims of the war in Gaza, spurring pushback from supporters of Israel.“It is certainly a more active presence this year in terms of protest at Pride events,” said Sandra Pérez, the executive director of NYC Pride. “But we were born out of a protest.”The first pride march was held in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/stonewall-at-50">Stonewall Inn uprising</a>, a riot that began with a police raid on a Manhattan gay bar.Nick Taricco, 47, who was at the New York parade with Overton, said he attended Friday's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-election-lgbtq-stonewall-trump-1b1978ac44f80ca5f468661c32015c48">opening of the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center</a>, where President Joe Biden spoke. Taricco said he has concerns about politics in the U.S., including the presidential election.“Even given how old he is, I still think that’s the direction we need to go in," Taricco said of Biden. “But it’s a very uncertain time in general in this country.”Ireland Fernandez-Cosgrove, 23, celebrated at the New York parade.“New York City is a great place to live, but this is one of the only days where you can come out and be openly queer and you know you’re going to be OK and safe about it," she said. "I came out here today with my partner to be able to be ourselves in public and know that other people are going to be supporting us.”In addition to the NYC Pride March, the nation’s largest, the city also played host Sunday to the Queer Liberation March, an activism-centered event launched five years ago amid concerns that the more mainstream parade had become too corporate.Another one of the world’s largest Pride celebrations took place Sunday in San Francisco, with throngs of spectators lined up along Market Street.Brian Peterson, the secretary of queer-friendly motorcycling club Homoto, rode his motorcycle along the parade route.“This is an event where I can celebrate myself as well as my friends and make new friends, and reaffirm that I belong in this world," Peterson told the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sf-lgbtq-pride-parade-19530235.php">San Francisco Chronicle</a>.Tens of thousands of revelers packed sidewalks along Chicago’s parade, a scaled-back event from previous years. City officials shortened the North Side route and the number of floats this year from 199 to about 150 over safety and logistical concerns, including to better deploy police into evening hours as post-parade parties have become more disruptive in recent years. Chicago's parade, one of the largest in the U.S., routinely draws about 1 million people, according to the city. Sunday’s crowd estimates were not immediately available.Parades also were held in Minneapolis and Seattle.On top of concerns about protests, federal agencies had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/terror-warning-pride-month-lgbtq-homeland-security-ad89884662d67dfd6f4cc2c0b358e9eb">warned</a>&nbsp;that foreign terrorist organizations and their supporters could target the parades and adjacent venues. Security was heavy at all of the events.