By MIKE COURSON Great Bend Post

Many times,  a photograph only tells part of the story. A picture from June 30, 2008, at the finish line of Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. is a prime example. Christian Smith, a former standout from Pawnee Heights High School and Kansas State University, is caught falling across the finish line to secure a third-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials and secure his spot in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The unlikely road to China, full of bumps, began when Smith was growing up in Pawnee County.

"Being out there, hard work is just how you live your life," he said. "You don't cut corners. You do the job and you do it to the best of your ability. I think I had a lot of people in my life where that was the emphasis."

Those people included his parents and coaches, in particular his basketball coach and PE teacher, Jay Artaz.

"We did pushups, situps,and laps in PE," Smith said. "Some kids probably hated it but I loved PE. It was like training."

Making the Olympic games draws a certain amount of fame, but Smith's third-place finish in the Olympic Trials is noted as one of the greatest in American history.

Nick Symmonds, a seven-time outdoor track champion at Div. III Willamette University in Oregon, won the race in a personal best 1:44.10. The University of Oregon's Andrew Wheating finished second in 1:45.03. Needing a top-three finish to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, Smith was in fourth place until a big lean at the tape secured the third-place finish by six-hundredths of a second in 1:45.47. It was the first time Smith ran under the Olympic qualifying time of 1:46 required to run in Beijing.

"I was behind him with 10 meters left," said Smith. "I knew it was going to take a ridiculous lean, so I knew it was going to end up with me on the ground. It wasn't a question of whether that was going to happen. At the end, I just leaned as hard as I could and dove."

Symmonds, a club training partner of Smith's, and Wheating were at the back of the pack with 200 meters to go. Symmonds cut through traffic and cruised to the win by nearly a second. Wheating made his move on the outside.

"Wheating went by with about 40 meters left," Smith said. "I thought he went by with 80 meters left. That last 40 meters was an eternity almost. It was just building and building."

On Aug. 20, 2008, Smith ran in the sixth of eight preliminary heats at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The top two runners in each heat plus the next eight overall fastest runners qualified for the next round. Smith ran a 1:48.20 to place fourth in his heat and miss round two by 0.27 seconds. Wheating also failed to make it out of round one. Symmonds placed fifth in his semifinal heat to miss the finals by half a second. He later placed fifth in the 2012 Games in London.

Smith's story began long before the trials in Oregon. As a freshman at Pawnee Heights, he finished fourth in the Class 1A 800m run (2:02.50). He was part of the 4x8 team that won the title, and the Tigers missed the team championship by just three points.

Pawnee Heights won the state title in 2000. The 4x8 team won another title and Christian and his brother, Trevor, swept the mid-distance events with Trevor winning titles in the 800 and 1600, and Christian finishing behind him.

Christian was again a 4x8 state champion as a junior (8:17.44), and the 800m champion in 2001 (1:59.65). He completed the sweep of 4x8 titles as a senior (8:18.70), and also won titles that year in the 4x4 (3:26.28), 800 (1:53.29) and 1600 (4:26.77). The Tigers beat Deerfield by 11 points for the 1A championship.

Smith received one final gift before graduating from Pawnee Heights. Artaz, that hard-nosed coach and PE teacher, carried the 2002 Olympic Torch through Wichita ahead of the Salt Lake City Games. After he passed away on March 4, 2002, his wife, Nancy, gave Smith the gloves Artaz wore during the torch run.

"He was someone who really emphasized hard work in athletics," said Smith. "He was always a believer that if you worked hard enough, you really could accomplish anything if you wanted it."

At Kansas State University, Smith set the indoor NCAA record at 1,000 meters in 2:19.57, a time that has since been surpassed. That time still stands as the school record 18 years later, as do his times in the outdoor 800 (1:44.86) and 1,500 runs (3:38.10).

As a sophomore at Pawnee Heights, Smith once had to write down his goals. That included a far-fetched idea of making the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif. He made the trials and just missed a spot in the 800m finals.

"I was just happy to be there in 2004, and I outdid my expectations," he said. "That definitely propelled me into thinking more was possible."

In 2006, Smith won the NCAA indoor title in the mile (4:12.75). Later that year, he set the K-State outdoor record in the 800m run in Italy. In 2006, he was the only American to crack 1:45 in the 800 and 3:39 in the 1500.

After graduating from K-State, Smith moved to Oregon and joined the famed Oregon Track Club alongside Symmonds. On a return trip to Manhattan in 2007, Smith woke to a stabbing pain in his abdomen. Smith's appendix had burst, but even doctors had difficulty believing him because, as a runner used to dealing with pain, he rated the pain only 6 out of 10.

The high pain tolerance nearly cost Smith his life. A week later, the burst appendix remained untreated. A CT scan revealed the damage but Smith's infection was so severe it had to be drained before surgeons could operate. Two liters of fluid were drained from his lungs. Smith remained in the hospital for weeks and did not eat solid food for four months. He lost 20 pounds from his already light 165-pound racing frame.

Beginning in 1952, a series of Olympic trials were held at various California venues. As the University of Oregon track and field program gained fame under coach Bill Bowerman in the 1960s and 70s, the trials were moved to the old Hayward Field for the 1972 and 1976 trials. Subsequent trials were held in Los Angels, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Sacramento before returning to Hayward in 2008, 10 years before it was replaced by the current version of the stadium.

"I grew up loving Steve Prefontaine," Smith said. "There are two movies that were shot at Hayward. The new stadium is awesome but the old one was historic. When you go to Europe and race, a lot of places really love track. Eugene is a place in the United States that loves track. There's just a different atmosphere there than in other places."

With the 2008 Olympic trials looming, Smith still had not run a qualifying team to earn a place in Eugene.&nbsp;A week before the trials, Smith had climbed to No. 31 in the U.S. 800m rankings. Unfortunately, only the top-30 would run at Hayward. Then Smith finally caught a break. Alan Webb, whose American mile record lasted from 2007 to 2023, scratched from the 800 to focus on the 1500. Smith was in and the rest, as they say, is history.

Despite entering the field as the No. 30 seed, Smith ran a 1:47.97 for fifth place in the preliminaries. He missed the Olympic standard by 0.011 seconds to place third in the semifinals. The top six finishers in the final all came in under the 1:46 standard to compete in Beijing. Other notables at the trials that year include Tyson Gay, former Barton Cougar and still the American record holder in the 100m dash, American 400m record holder Sanya Richards (Ross), and Allyson Felix, the most decorated athlete in U.S. track and field history.

Smith ran his final race at the 2012 Olympic Trials, again in Eugene. He now lives in Gardner with his wife, Sara, a doctor of veterinary medicine, and their three children. His life is more ordinary now than it was then, but every four years as the Olympic Games approach, he reaches into the memory bank for one of the great sports stories in American history.

<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OeIY_M7YJxk?si=35P8anj6qZgqdntd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>By MIKE COURSON Great Bend PostMany times, a photograph only tells part of the story. A picture from June 30, 2008, at the finish line of Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. is a prime example. Christian Smith, a former standout from Pawnee Heights High School and Kansas State University, is caught falling across the finish line to secure a third-place finish at the U.S. Olympic Trials and secure his spot in the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing. The unlikely road to China, full of bumps, began when Smith was growing up in Pawnee County."Being out there, hard work is just how you live your life," he said. "You don't cut corners. You do the job and you do it to the best of your ability. I think I had a lot of people in my life where that was the emphasis."Those people included his parents and coaches, in particular his basketball coach and PE teacher, Jay Artaz."We did pushups, situps,and laps in PE," Smith said. "Some kids probably hated it but I loved PE. It was like training."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718908582140.jpeg" alt="Former Pawnee Heights Tiger Christian Smith won a national track title at Kansas State University and still holds two outdoor records at the school. In 2008, Smith ran in the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. (photo courtesy of K-State Athletics)" />
 <figcaption>Former Pawnee Heights Tiger Christian Smith won a national track title at Kansas State University and still holds two outdoor records at the school. In 2008, Smith ran in the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. (photo courtesy of K-State Athletics)</figcaption>
 </figure>Making the Olympic games draws a certain amount of fame, but Smith's third-place finish in the Olympic Trials is noted as one of the greatest in American history.Nick Symmonds, a seven-time outdoor track champion at Div. III Willamette University in Oregon, won the race in a personal best 1:44.10. The University of Oregon's Andrew Wheating finished second in 1:45.03. Needing a top-three finish to qualify for the U.S. Olympic team, Smith was in fourth place until a big lean at the tape secured the third-place finish by six-hundredths of a second in 1:45.47. It was the first time Smith ran under the Olympic qualifying time of 1:46 required to run in Beijing."I was behind him with 10 meters left," said Smith. "I knew it was going to take a ridiculous lean, so I knew it was going to end up with me on the ground. It wasn't a question of whether that was going to happen. At the end, I just leaned as hard as I could and dove."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718908709867.jpeg" alt="Smith won the national title in the NCAA indoor mile in 2006. (photo by K-State Athletics)" />
 <figcaption>Smith won the national title in the NCAA indoor mile in 2006. (photo by K-State Athletics)</figcaption>
 </figure>Symmonds, a club training partner of Smith's, and Wheating were at the back of the pack with 200 meters to go. Symmonds cut through traffic and cruised to the win by nearly a second. Wheating made his move on the outside."Wheating went by with about 40 meters left," Smith said. "I thought he went by with 80 meters left. That last 40 meters was an eternity almost. It was just building and building."On Aug. 20, 2008, Smith ran in the sixth of eight preliminary heats at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The top two runners in each heat plus the next eight overall fastest runners qualified for the next round. Smith ran a 1:48.20 to place fourth in his heat and miss round two by 0.27 seconds. Wheating also failed to make it out of round one. Symmonds placed fifth in his semifinal heat to miss the finals by half a second. He later placed fifth in the 2012 Games in London.Smith's story began long before the trials in Oregon. As a freshman at Pawnee Heights, he finished fourth in the Class 1A 800m run (2:02.50). He was part of the 4x8 team that won the title, and the Tigers missed the team championship by just three points.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718973725259.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Pawnee Heights won the state title in 2000. The 4x8 team won another title and Christian and his brother, Trevor, swept the mid-distance events with Trevor winning titles in the 800 and 1600, and Christian finishing behind him.Christian was again a 4x8 state champion as a junior (8:17.44), and the 800m champion in 2001 (1:59.65). He completed the sweep of 4x8 titles as a senior (8:18.70), and also won titles that year in the 4x4 (3:26.28), 800 (1:53.29) and 1600 (4:26.77). The Tigers beat Deerfield by 11 points for the 1A championship.Smith received one final gift before graduating from Pawnee Heights. Artaz, that hard-nosed coach and PE teacher, carried the 2002 Olympic Torch through Wichita ahead of the Salt Lake City Games. After he passed away on March 4, 2002, his wife, Nancy, gave Smith the gloves Artaz wore during the torch run.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718908784958.jpeg" alt="Smith won the national title in the NCAA indoor mile in 2006. (photo by K-State Athletics)" />
 <figcaption>Smith won the national title in the NCAA indoor mile in 2006. (photo by K-State Athletics)</figcaption>
 </figure>"He was someone who really emphasized hard work in athletics," said Smith. "He was always a believer that if you worked hard enough, you really could accomplish anything if you wanted it."At Kansas State University, Smith set the indoor NCAA record at 1,000 meters in 2:19.57, a time that has since been surpassed. That time still stands as the school record 18 years later, as do his times in the outdoor 800 (1:44.86) and 1,500 runs (3:38.10).As a sophomore at Pawnee Heights, Smith once had to write down his goals. That included a far-fetched idea of making the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento, Calif. He made the trials and just missed a spot in the 800m finals."I was just happy to be there in 2004, and I outdid my expectations," he said. "That definitely propelled me into thinking more was possible."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718973762453.jpeg" alt="After graduating from Pawnee Heights High School in 2002, Smith was given these gloves worn by former PHHS teacher and coach Jay Artaz, who carried the Olympic torch for the 2004 Olympics." />
 <figcaption>After graduating from Pawnee Heights High School in 2002, Smith was given these gloves worn by former PHHS teacher and coach Jay Artaz, who carried the Olympic torch for the 2004 Olympics.</figcaption>
 </figure>In 2006, Smith won the NCAA indoor title in the mile (4:12.75). Later that year, he set the K-State outdoor record in the 800m run in Italy. In 2006, he was the only American to crack 1:45 in the 800 and 3:39 in the 1500.After graduating from K-State, Smith moved to Oregon and joined the famed Oregon Track Club alongside Symmonds. On a return trip to Manhattan in 2007, Smith woke to a stabbing pain in his abdomen. Smith's appendix had burst, but even doctors had difficulty believing him because, as a runner used to dealing with pain, he rated the pain only 6 out of 10.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719186347937.png" alt="The photo from the Lynx camera system at the finish line shows how Smith beat the fourth-place finisher by 0.06s. (photo courtesy of KSHB)." />
 <figcaption>The photo from the Lynx camera system at the finish line shows how Smith beat the fourth-place finisher by 0.06s. (photo courtesy of KSHB).</figcaption>
 </figure>The high pain tolerance nearly cost Smith his life. A week later, the burst appendix remained untreated. A CT scan revealed the damage but Smith's infection was so severe it had to be drained before surgeons could operate. Two liters of fluid were drained from his lungs. Smith remained in the hospital for weeks and did not eat solid food for four months. He lost 20 pounds from his already light 165-pound racing frame.Beginning in 1952, a series of Olympic trials were held at various California venues. As the University of Oregon track and field program gained fame under coach Bill Bowerman in the 1960s and 70s, the trials were moved to the old Hayward Field for the 1972 and 1976 trials. Subsequent trials were held in Los Angels, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Sacramento before returning to Hayward in 2008, 10 years before it was replaced by the current version of the stadium.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719186191921.jpeg" alt="An artist's rendition of the photo of Smith diving across the finish line at Hayward Field to secure his spot in the Olympics." />
 <figcaption>An artist's rendition of the photo of Smith diving across the finish line at Hayward Field to secure his spot in the Olympics.</figcaption>
 </figure>"I grew up loving Steve Prefontaine," Smith said. "There are two movies that were shot at Hayward. The new stadium is awesome but the old one was historic. When you go to Europe and race, a lot of places really love track. Eugene is a place in the United States that loves track. There's just a different atmosphere there than in other places."With the 2008 Olympic trials looming, Smith still had not run a qualifying team to earn a place in Eugene.&nbsp;A week before the trials, Smith had climbed to No. 31 in the U.S. 800m rankings. Unfortunately, only the top-30 would run at Hayward. Then Smith finally caught a break. Alan Webb, whose American mile record lasted from 2007 to 2023, scratched from the 800 to focus on the 1500. Smith was in and the rest, as they say, is history.Despite entering the field as the No. 30 seed, Smith ran a 1:47.97 for fifth place in the preliminaries. He missed the Olympic standard by 0.011 seconds to place third in the semifinals. The top six finishers in the final all came in under the 1:46 standard to compete in Beijing. Other notables at the trials that year include Tyson Gay, former Barton Cougar and still the American record holder in the 100m dash, American 400m record holder Sanya Richards (Ross), and Allyson Felix, the most decorated athlete in U.S. track and field history.Smith ran his final race at the 2012 Olympic Trials, again in Eugene. He now lives in Gardner with his wife, Sara, a doctor of veterinary medicine, and their three children. His life is more ordinary now than it was then, but every four years as the Olympic Games approach, he reaches into the memory bank for one of the great sports stories in American history.

🎥From Kan. to Beijing: Smith remembers unlikely road to 2008 Olympics

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. Since then, thousands of Missourians sought other ways to access the medical procedure

BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>

When Missouri outlawed abortion two years ago, Nicole was far more worried for her grown children than for herself.&nbsp;

It had been two decades since she last gave birth, when she suffered a serious stroke during labor followed by severe postpartum depression. She was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, but pregnancy was in Nicole’s past.

That changed a couple weeks later, when her IUD failed.&nbsp;

“Are you kidding me?” she recalls thinking, looking around at the life she and her husband had built together in southwest Missouri.

In her 40s and living in a state where virtually every abortion is now banned, Nicole — who asked to only be identified by her middle name for fear of prosecution — was among the first of thousands of Missouri women forced to navigate abortion access in a post-Roe world.&nbsp;

On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The Republican-run state quickly enacted its trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.

In the two years since, countless women like Nicole have faced already tough decisions made more excruciating by having to find discreet ways to manage their own health or travel far from home for care.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Missouri already had some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, pushing most women seeking access to the procedure out of state. But the end of Roe raised the stakes, leaving women in Missouri — which already has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — fearful that in the most extreme cases, the ban could mean their death.&nbsp;

Last year, approximately 2,860 Missourians traveled to Kansas last year for abortions, and 8,710 traveled to Illinois,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/">according to the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group that closely tracks abortion data. But they made up only about 10% of the total abortion patients in each state.

After Dobbs, Missourians’ access to care in states like Kansas and Illinois became precarious as abortion bans became more widespread.

“In a matter of months, we started serving patients from Texas and Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said of the time immediately following the Dobbs decision. “Missourians had to really compete for too few appointments.”

The longer wait times at clinics and barriers to traveling for abortions has led Missourians to increasingly consider self-managed abortions.

That includes Nicole, who received an envelope at home marked with international postage containing Mifepristone and Misoprostol after consulting an online doctor she found through Plan C, an abortion-pill provider.

Missourians navigate abortion access after Dobbs

For Nicole, the decision to end her most recent pregnancy was simple. To continue felt unsafe, she said, and she and her husband didn’t want to start over raising a child.&nbsp;

But the conversations that followed were kept strictly between the husband and wife.&nbsp;

With pervasive uncertainty around whether or not women could be prosecuted for self-administering medication abortions in Missouri, the stakes are higher than ever for those trying to end unwanted or medically complicated pregnancies.&nbsp;

It’s why Nicole didn’t tell her pastor at church. She didn’t tell friends or family. Nicole didn’t even tell her gynecologist, fearing she would be reported by someone in their corner of the state where anti-abortion messaging proliferates billboards, bumper stickers and handwritten signs staked into yards.

Ultimately, Nicole couldn’t imagine fleeing her state for the procedure. She wanted to be home.&nbsp;

“I felt really angry that I would have to leave my community,” she said. “It’s not a shameful thing, it’s a procedure. It’s a medical health care procedure.”

In the six months after the Dobbs decision, the number of&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/25/more-than-26000-self-managed-abortions-may-have-occurred-post-dobbs-study-shows/">self-managed medication abortions rose&nbsp;</a>by more than 26,000 across the U.S. according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.4266?utm_campaign=articlePDF%26utm_medium=articlePDFlink%26utm_source=articlePDF%26utm_content=jama.2024.4266">&nbsp;study</a>&nbsp;published in JAMA, the American Medical Association’s journal.

While medication abortions are overall very safe, effective and approved by the FDA to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks, there is some risk associated with any medication. Self-managing an abortion alone, without a local medical provider’s guidance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2024/abortion-pill-experience-stories/?itid=ap_carolinekitchener">can be nerve-wracking.</a>

In the unlikely situation that Nicole started hemorrhaging, she and her husband mapped out the closest Kansas hospital that would have the level of care they needed.&nbsp;

When the time came, they both took a day off work and snuggled on the couch. Nicole pressed a heating pad to her abdomen to soothe the cramps, which she described as similar to period pains. Then came the relief.

After the abortion, her husband got a vasectomy. She kept the IUD. Despite their precautions, sex is now accompanied by paranoia as Nicole counts down the days to her period each month.&nbsp;

She ordered extra abortion medication in case anyone she knows might need it. And despite the nearly two years since her abortion, Nicole said she still can’t shake the absurdity she felt hunkering down in her home that day.

“I make decisions for myself every day, and I make good decisions,” she said. “The audacity that people think I can’t make the best healthcare decisions for myself — it’s hard for me to put into words how upsetting it is.”

Stories of women desperate to end their pregnancies proliferate the internet.&nbsp;

<a target="_blank" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/online-abortion-resource-squad-advice-disinformation.html">Reddit is increasingly a gathering place&nbsp;</a>for those seeking answers and assurance. Many of the posts — all anonymous — illustrate how terrified many Missourians are.&nbsp;

In one post from mid-June, a 23-year-old woman from Missouri feared she was pregnant by her abusive boyfriend but didn’t have the money to travel for an abortion.

“I will drink an entire bottle of vodka if I have to idc,” she wrote. Other anonymous users quickly took to the page to offer other solutions.

In a 2023 post, someone inquired about getting an abortion for their pregnant 15-year-old sister in Missouri without parental consent.&nbsp;

“This experience is causing her to have suicidal thoughts, crippling anxiety, and extreme depression,” the user wrote. “All of which she already had before this. I need help. I am desperate. I do not want to lose my baby sister.”

Even for those who work in abortion-rights advocacy, navigating an abortion post-Roe is anxiety-inducing.

Maggie Olivia first got pregnant while living in St. Louis in 2020. She was on birth control at the time.&nbsp;

Because of Missouri’s “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, including mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, she was encouraged to go to a Planned Parenthood in Illinois.

It was clinic escorts with Abortion Action Missouri who guided Olivia into her appointment just across the Mississippi River and reassured her ahead of the procedure. She was so moved by their kindness that Olivia went on to volunteer with the group, and now serves as a senior policy manager with the abortion-rights group.

In the months after the Dobbs decision, Olivia, like many in abortion advocacy work, was navigating the ever-changing landscape of abortion access. At the same time, Olivia said she was mistakenly denied her birth control prescription by a pharmacist after switching contraceptive methods.&nbsp;

When a pregnancy test came back positive several weeks later, Olivia’s first call was to her boss, who she said offered immediate support and guidance.&nbsp;

“But even that close proximity to the reality of the crisis doesn’t make being pregnant when you don’t want to be any less horrifying,” she said.&nbsp;

Unlike with her first pregnancy, Olivia decided not to tell her health care providers in Missouri.&nbsp;&nbsp;

But after ending up in the emergency room for unrelated reasons, her pregnancy was noted in her records. Months later, Olivia said she was denied access to an unrelated medication because her medical records said she was pregnant, compounding the fear she already had of being punished in some way for having an abortion, however legal, in Illinois.

“It was very upsetting,” Olivia said. “And I had thought that I had taken steps to be precautious.”

When she had her second abortion at the same Illinois clinic from two years prior, she also had an IUD placed.

“Your access to abortion doesn’t need to be attached to some traumatic, horrifying situation in of itself,” Olivia said. “Being pregnant when you don’t want to be is scary enough, is horrifying enough.”

When a sonographer approaches Dr. Jennifer Smith, a St. Louis OB-GYN, her heart drops.

“Every time I look at a fetal ultrasound, it takes on new intensity and new anxiety,” she said, concerned that her patient will have a diagnosis they can’t be of help with in Missouri.&nbsp;

Missouri physicians are balancing medically complex pregnant patients with&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/04/missouri-ob-gyn-residents-maternal-health-abortion/">legal restrictions that could land them in prison</a>&nbsp;for up to 15 years if they perform an abortion the state finds was unnecessary, and, therefore, illegal.&nbsp;

No providers have been prosecuted at this point, but the ways something could go wrong keep Smith up at night. So, too, does the future of not only maternal health care, but also motherhood in Missouri.

“Missouri women are afraid to be pregnant in Missouri,” Smith said. “They are so worried that they might die while pregnant, or that they may get pregnant with a baby with anomalies and have no options because they live in Missouri.”

While Smith is often helping women who want to be pregnant, a couple miles across the river in Illinois sits the regional logistics center for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. There, three patient navigators help those trying to end their pregnancies.&nbsp;

Kenicia Page, the call center manager, said she saw a tremendous increase in callers from the West Palm Beach area, more than 1,100 miles south, when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/30/florida-is-one-day-away-of-becoming-the-latest-state-to-enact-a-rigid-six-week-abortion-ban/">Florida’s ban went into place on May 1</a>.

Right now, she says the clinic receives about 100 calls a day.&nbsp;&nbsp;

They act as pseudo travel planners and financial aid counselors, helping book transportation and finding funding for patients.&nbsp;

Despite the comparative proximity, transportation can still be a headache for some Missourians, particularly those in rural parts of the state without access to public transportation like Greyhound buses or Amtrak, Page said. Sometimes, when the patient doesn’t have a vehicle, nor access to public transportation or car rental services, their next best option is to rent a U-Haul to drive to their appointment.

But more often, Page said, she hears from Missourians trying to find and afford child care, or from minors who need a legal guardian to give consent for financial assistance. Some days Page still finds herself breaking the news to Missouri callers that abortion is illegal within their state borders, and that they will likely have to take a multi-day trip to Illinois to get care.

Page recently spoke with a woman who was homeless and living in a hotel with her children. She had no child-care options, nor a place to stay after the procedure. Page’s team helped connect the woman to funders who assisted with the day care fees and made sure she had a safe place to recover overnight in Illinois.&nbsp;

Their work is done when they get the final call or text from a patient saying they’ve returned home safely.&nbsp;

“It gives you that extra energy or extra push, determination, to continue to do what you do,” Page said. “Because it is definitely making a difference.”

Alison Dreith’s hotline through Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion fund based in Illinois, used to serve a majority of Missouri clients. As of mid-June, only 26 of the total 1,052 callers this year were from Missouri. Now most of her calls come from Texas, Indiana and Tennessee as patients from red states crowd clinics in Illinois and Kansas.&nbsp;

“Every time a new state goes,” Dreith said, “it has the ripple effect that reaches the Midwest.”

The need for child care is a refrain for patients, particularly lower-income Missourians,traveling to Kansas overnight for the procedure, said Wales, with Planned Parenthood Great Plains.

The short drive from Kansas City to Wyandotte or Johnson counties in Kansas has expanded from a fissure to a canyon for some patients. Those requesting medication abortions are usually seen within a week, but patients needing in-clinic abortions can wait two or three weeks to be seen, Wales said.

“We have to explain that we may be close to you, but we are seeing patients from around the region,” she said. “It doesn’t make it easier, necessarily, to get an appointment.”

Wales said many patients are also coming to them later in gestational age, and increasingly with fetal abnormalities. This is a theme across the country,&nbsp;as patients work to find an appointment, save up money and arrange time off work.

Because of the increase in demand, Planned Parenthood Great Plains will soon start seeing patients for abortions in Pittsburg, making it the fourth Kansas clinic to offer the procedure. She hopes that will cut down on drive times for Missourians in regions including Joplin and Springfield.

Julie&nbsp;Burkhart, co-owner of Hope Clinic, an abortion provider in Granite City, Illinois, has seen the number of Missourians served at her clinic more than triple since 2019. But even so, the percentage of total patients from Missouri has gone from more than 60% to less than half as patients from 28 states made their way to her clinic near the Mississippi River last year.

Wait times hover between one and two weeks.&nbsp;In May, the clinic saw 732 abortion patients; 45 were from Missouri.&nbsp;

Funding needs have skyrocketed since Roe fell, and she’s seen the number of Missouri patients seeking abortions in their second trimester increase to 17% this year. Before Roe, it was closer to 8% for all patients.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238087294.png" alt="The message “You are not alone, support is here” is painted on the window of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>The message “You are not alone, support is here” is painted on the window of the Planned Parenthood Great Plains on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>The U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago. Since then, thousands of Missourians sought other ways to access the medical procedure</h2>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a><a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a>When Missouri outlawed abortion two years ago, Nicole was far more worried for her grown children than for herself.&nbsp;It had been two decades since she last gave birth, when she suffered a serious stroke during labor followed by severe postpartum depression. She was outraged that the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, but pregnancy was in Nicole’s past.That changed a couple weeks later, when her IUD failed.&nbsp;“Are you kidding me?” she recalls thinking, looking around at the life she and her husband had built together in southwest Missouri.In her 40s and living in a state where virtually every abortion is now banned, Nicole — who asked to only be identified by her middle name for fear of prosecution — was among the first of thousands of Missouri women forced to navigate abortion access in a post-Roe world.&nbsp;On June 24, 2022, Missouri became the first state in the country to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, striking down Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. The Republican-run state quickly enacted its trigger law banning all abortions with limited exceptions in cases of medical emergencies.In the two years since, countless women like Nicole have faced already tough decisions made more excruciating by having to find discreet ways to manage their own health or travel far from home for care.&nbsp;&nbsp;Missouri already had some of the strictest abortion regulations in the country, pushing most women seeking access to the procedure out of state. But the end of Roe raised the stakes, leaving women in Missouri — which already has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country — fearful that in the most extreme cases, the ban could mean their death.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238134991.png" alt=" A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> A recovery room at the Planned Parenthood Great Plains office is pictured on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Last year, approximately 2,860 Missourians traveled to Kansas last year for abortions, and 8,710 traveled to Illinois,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://guttmacherinstitute.github.io/provision-dashboard/">according to the Guttmacher Institute,</a>&nbsp;a reproductive rights research group that closely tracks abortion data. But they made up only about 10% of the total abortion patients in each state.After Dobbs, Missourians’ access to care in states like Kansas and Illinois became precarious as abortion bans became more widespread.“In a matter of months, we started serving patients from Texas and Arkansas and Oklahoma,” Emily Wales, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said of the time immediately following the Dobbs decision. “Missourians had to really compete for too few appointments.”The longer wait times at clinics and barriers to traveling for abortions has led Missourians to increasingly consider self-managed abortions.That includes Nicole, who received an envelope at home marked with international postage containing Mifepristone and Misoprostol after consulting an online doctor she found through Plan C, an abortion-pill provider.<h2>Missourians navigate abortion access after Dobbs</h2>For Nicole, the decision to end her most recent pregnancy was simple. To continue felt unsafe, she said, and she and her husband didn’t want to start over raising a child.&nbsp;But the conversations that followed were kept strictly between the husband and wife.&nbsp;With pervasive uncertainty around whether or not women could be prosecuted for self-administering medication abortions in Missouri, the stakes are higher than ever for those trying to end unwanted or medically complicated pregnancies.&nbsp;It’s why Nicole didn’t tell her pastor at church. She didn’t tell friends or family. Nicole didn’t even tell her gynecologist, fearing she would be reported by someone in their corner of the state where anti-abortion messaging proliferates billboards, bumper stickers and handwritten signs staked into yards.Ultimately, Nicole couldn’t imagine fleeing her state for the procedure. She wanted to be home.&nbsp;“I felt really angry that I would have to leave my community,” she said. “It’s not a shameful thing, it’s a procedure. It’s a medical health care procedure.”In the six months after the Dobbs decision, the number of&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/03/25/more-than-26000-self-managed-abortions-may-have-occurred-post-dobbs-study-shows/">self-managed medication abortions rose&nbsp;</a>by more than 26,000 across the U.S. according to a<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2024.4266?utm_campaign=articlePDF%26utm_medium=articlePDFlink%26utm_source=articlePDF%26utm_content=jama.2024.4266">&nbsp;study</a>&nbsp;published in JAMA, the American Medical Association’s journal.While medication abortions are overall very safe, effective and approved by the FDA to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks, there is some risk associated with any medication. Self-managing an abortion alone, without a local medical provider’s guidance,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2024/abortion-pill-experience-stories/?itid=ap_carolinekitchener">can be nerve-wracking.</a>In the unlikely situation that Nicole started hemorrhaging, she and her husband mapped out the closest Kansas hospital that would have the level of care they needed.&nbsp;When the time came, they both took a day off work and snuggled on the couch. Nicole pressed a heating pad to her abdomen to soothe the cramps, which she described as similar to period pains. Then came the relief.After the abortion, her husband got a vasectomy. She kept the IUD. Despite their precautions, sex is now accompanied by paranoia as Nicole counts down the days to her period each month.&nbsp;She ordered extra abortion medication in case anyone she knows might need it. And despite the nearly two years since her abortion, Nicole said she still can’t shake the absurdity she felt hunkering down in her home that day.“I make decisions for myself every day, and I make good decisions,” she said. “The audacity that people think I can’t make the best healthcare decisions for myself — it’s hard for me to put into words how upsetting it is.”<h2>‘I am desperate’</h2>Stories of women desperate to end their pregnancies proliferate the internet.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/02/online-abortion-resource-squad-advice-disinformation.html">Reddit is increasingly a gathering place&nbsp;</a>for those seeking answers and assurance. Many of the posts — all anonymous — illustrate how terrified many Missourians are.&nbsp;In one post from mid-June, a 23-year-old woman from Missouri feared she was pregnant by her abusive boyfriend but didn’t have the money to travel for an abortion.“I will drink an entire bottle of vodka if I have to idc,” she wrote. Other anonymous users quickly took to the page to offer other solutions.In a 2023 post, someone inquired about getting an abortion for their pregnant 15-year-old sister in Missouri without parental consent.&nbsp;“This experience is causing her to have suicidal thoughts, crippling anxiety, and extreme depression,” the user wrote. “All of which she already had before this. I need help. I am desperate. I do not want to lose my baby sister.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238191374.png" alt=" Instructions on what to expect during a visit to Planned Parenthood Great Plains sits on a desk in the waiting room on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Instructions on what to expect during a visit to Planned Parenthood Great Plains sits on a desk in the waiting room on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Even for those who work in abortion-rights advocacy, navigating an abortion post-Roe is anxiety-inducing.Maggie Olivia first got pregnant while living in St. Louis in 2020. She was on birth control at the time.&nbsp;Because of Missouri’s “targeted regulation of abortion providers” laws, including mandatory pelvic exams for medication abortions and 72-hour waiting period between the initial appointment and a surgical abortion, she was encouraged to go to a Planned Parenthood in Illinois.It was clinic escorts with Abortion Action Missouri who guided Olivia into her appointment just across the Mississippi River and reassured her ahead of the procedure. She was so moved by their kindness that Olivia went on to volunteer with the group, and now serves as a senior policy manager with the abortion-rights group.In the months after the Dobbs decision, Olivia, like many in abortion advocacy work, was navigating the ever-changing landscape of abortion access. At the same time, Olivia said she was mistakenly denied her birth control prescription by a pharmacist after switching contraceptive methods.&nbsp;When a pregnancy test came back positive several weeks later, Olivia’s first call was to her boss, who she said offered immediate support and guidance.&nbsp;“But even that close proximity to the reality of the crisis doesn’t make being pregnant when you don’t want to be any less horrifying,” she said.&nbsp;Unlike with her first pregnancy, Olivia decided not to tell her health care providers in Missouri.&nbsp;&nbsp;But after ending up in the emergency room for unrelated reasons, her pregnancy was noted in her records. Months later, Olivia said she was denied access to an unrelated medication because her medical records said she was pregnant, compounding the fear she already had of being punished in some way for having an abortion, however legal, in Illinois.“It was very upsetting,” Olivia said. “And I had thought that I had taken steps to be precautious.”When she had her second abortion at the same Illinois clinic from two years prior, she also had an IUD placed.“Your access to abortion doesn’t need to be attached to some traumatic, horrifying situation in of itself,” Olivia said. “Being pregnant when you don’t want to be is scary enough, is horrifying enough.”<h2>Higher stakes for providers</h2>When a sonographer approaches Dr. Jennifer Smith, a St. Louis OB-GYN, her heart drops.“Every time I look at a fetal ultrasound, it takes on new intensity and new anxiety,” she said, concerned that her patient will have a diagnosis they can’t be of help with in Missouri.&nbsp;Missouri physicians are balancing medically complex pregnant patients with&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/04/missouri-ob-gyn-residents-maternal-health-abortion/">legal restrictions that could land them in prison</a>&nbsp;for up to 15 years if they perform an abortion the state finds was unnecessary, and, therefore, illegal.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238245511.png" alt=" Ra’Maia Dillard, an ultrasound technician at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares to see a docket of 29 patients on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Ra’Maia Dillard, an ultrasound technician at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares to see a docket of 29 patients on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>No providers have been prosecuted at this point, but the ways something could go wrong keep Smith up at night. So, too, does the future of not only maternal health care, but also motherhood in Missouri.“Missouri women are afraid to be pregnant in Missouri,” Smith said. “They are so worried that they might die while pregnant, or that they may get pregnant with a baby with anomalies and have no options because they live in Missouri.”While Smith is often helping women who want to be pregnant, a couple miles across the river in Illinois sits the regional logistics center for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri. There, three patient navigators help those trying to end their pregnancies.&nbsp;Kenicia Page, the call center manager, said she saw a tremendous increase in callers from the West Palm Beach area, more than 1,100 miles south, when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/04/30/florida-is-one-day-away-of-becoming-the-latest-state-to-enact-a-rigid-six-week-abortion-ban/">Florida’s ban went into place on May 1</a>.Right now, she says the clinic receives about 100 calls a day.&nbsp;&nbsp;They act as pseudo travel planners and financial aid counselors, helping book transportation and finding funding for patients.&nbsp;Despite the comparative proximity, transportation can still be a headache for some Missourians, particularly those in rural parts of the state without access to public transportation like Greyhound buses or Amtrak, Page said. Sometimes, when the patient doesn’t have a vehicle, nor access to public transportation or car rental services, their next best option is to rent a U-Haul to drive to their appointment.But more often, Page said, she hears from Missourians trying to find and afford child care, or from minors who need a legal guardian to give consent for financial assistance. Some days Page still finds herself breaking the news to Missouri callers that abortion is illegal within their state borders, and that they will likely have to take a multi-day trip to Illinois to get care.Page recently spoke with a woman who was homeless and living in a hotel with her children. She had no child-care options, nor a place to stay after the procedure. Page’s team helped connect the woman to funders who assisted with the day care fees and made sure she had a safe place to recover overnight in Illinois.&nbsp;Their work is done when they get the final call or text from a patient saying they’ve returned home safely.&nbsp;“It gives you that extra energy or extra push, determination, to continue to do what you do,” Page said. “Because it is definitely making a difference.”Alison Dreith’s hotline through Midwest Access Coalition, an abortion fund based in Illinois, used to serve a majority of Missouri clients. As of mid-June, only 26 of the total 1,052 callers this year were from Missouri. Now most of her calls come from Texas, Indiana and Tennessee as patients from red states crowd clinics in Illinois and Kansas.&nbsp;“Every time a new state goes,” Dreith said, “it has the ripple effect that reaches the Midwest.”The need for child care is a refrain for patients, particularly lower-income Missourians,traveling to Kansas overnight for the procedure, said Wales, with Planned Parenthood Great Plains.The short drive from Kansas City to Wyandotte or Johnson counties in Kansas has expanded from a fissure to a canyon for some patients. Those requesting medication abortions are usually seen within a week, but patients needing in-clinic abortions can wait two or three weeks to be seen, Wales said.“We have to explain that we may be close to you, but we are seeing patients from around the region,” she said. “It doesn’t make it easier, necessarily, to get an appointment.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719238288919.png" alt=" Denise Baker, a reproductive health assistant at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares patient paperwork behind the clinic’s front desk on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas(Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Denise Baker, a reproductive health assistant at Planned Parenthood Great Plains prepares patient paperwork behind the clinic’s front desk on Friday in Overland Park, Kansas(Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>Wales said many patients are also coming to them later in gestational age, and increasingly with fetal abnormalities. This is a theme across the country,&nbsp;as patients work to find an appointment, save up money and arrange time off work.Because of the increase in demand, Planned Parenthood Great Plains will soon start seeing patients for abortions in Pittsburg, making it the fourth Kansas clinic to offer the procedure. She hopes that will cut down on drive times for Missourians in regions including Joplin and Springfield.Julie&nbsp;Burkhart, co-owner of Hope Clinic, an abortion provider in Granite City, Illinois, has seen the number of Missourians served at her clinic more than triple since 2019. But even so, the percentage of total patients from Missouri has gone from more than 60% to less than half as patients from 28 states made their way to her clinic near the Mississippi River last year.Wait times hover between one and two weeks.&nbsp;In May, the clinic saw 732 abortion patients; 45 were from Missouri.&nbsp;Funding needs have skyrocketed since Roe fell, and she’s seen the number of Missouri patients seeking abortions in their second trimester increase to 17% this year. Before Roe, it was closer to 8% for all patients.

2 years after Mo. banned abortion, navigating access still involves fear, confusion

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City.

Just after 1p.m. June 21, police responded to the 8400 block of Wabash, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Officers were directed to an area with overgrown brush, where they found 48-year-old Larry D. Boyd unresponsive and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead on the scene.

Police have not released suspect details or additional information.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719191315137.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating another deadly shooting in Kansas City.Just after 1p.m. June 21, police responded to the 8400 block of Wabash, according to Sheriff Daryl Forte'.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719191256338.png" alt="Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'" />
 <figcaption>Photo Sheriff Daryl Forte'</figcaption>
 </figure>Officers were directed to an area with overgrown brush, where they found 48-year-old Larry D. Boyd unresponsive and suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead on the scene.Police have not released suspect details or additional information.

KCPD IDs man found shot to death in overgrown brush 

FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas felon wanted in connection to two robberies that occurred on June 18 in Garden City is in custody, according to Garden City Police.&nbsp;

On Monday morning Carlos Macias, Jr, 31, was taken into custody in Liberal.

&nbsp;He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of robberies in southwest Kansas and asking the public for help to locate 31-year-old&nbsp; Carlos Macias Jr., according to a media release from Garden City Police.

 Macias Jr. is wanted in connection with several robberies that occurred in Garden City on June 18. 

Macias Jr. is known to drive a tan 2001 Dodge Ram pickup with a Kansas temporary tag D619275.&nbsp; He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

If located or if you have information on Macias Jr., please call the Garden City Police Department at (620) 276-1300.&nbsp;Never attempt to apprehend a fugitive yourself

If you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719061089837.png" alt="Macias-photo Garden City Police" />
 <figcaption>Macias-photo Garden City Police</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas felon wanted in connection to two robberies that occurred on June 18 in Garden City is in custody, according to Garden City Police.&nbsp;On Monday morning Carlos Macias, Jr, 31, was taken into custody in Liberal.&nbsp;He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.--------------------FINNEY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of robberies in southwest Kansas and asking the public for help to locate 31-year-old&nbsp; Carlos Macias Jr., according to a media release from Garden City Police. Macias Jr. is wanted in connection with several robberies that occurred in Garden City on June 18. Macias Jr. is known to drive a tan 2001 Dodge Ram pickup with a Kansas temporary tag D619275.&nbsp; He has previous convictions for aggravated battery and endangering a child, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.If located or if you have information on Macias Jr., please call the Garden City Police Department at (620) 276-1300.&nbsp;Never attempt to apprehend a fugitive yourselfIf you wish to remain anonymous, you can call Crime Stoppers at (620) 275-7807, or text your tip to Garden City PD, text GCTIP and your tip to Tip411 (847411).&nbsp;

Police capture Kansas felon wanted for alleged robberies 

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">The Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-f58714b70298e2eb65ce833c2d4ae3b9">state bans on gender-affirming care</a>.

The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/title-ix-lawsuit-states-bathrooms-lawsuit-f731ff2f1afd24a1f246443f12053bcc">a new federal regulation</a>&nbsp;that seeks to protect transgender students.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-genderaffirming-care-supreme-court-a04ab2f808175dbca1be6d90fe575611">The case before the high court</a>&nbsp;involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they had been blocked by lower courts. (The high court did not act on a separate appeal from Kentucky.)

“Without this Court’s prompt intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, uncertain of whether and where they can access needed medical care,” lawyers for the transgender teens in Tennessee told the justices.

Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of Supreme Court review.

Last month, South Carolina became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-49edeee22eab31574316a13ab874b623">the 25th state</a>&nbsp;to adopt a law restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.

Most of the state restrictions face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-arkansas-court-c299aa1db823fdeda5b1e0b457a7a9b5">lawsuits</a>. The justices had previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-idaho-f858bcce9a624ec79edc496414f2130f">allowed Idaho</a>&nbsp;to generally enforce its restrictions, after they had been blocked by lower courts.

At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls' sports competitions. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.

The nation's highest court has only rarely taken up transgender issues. In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">the justices ruled</a>&nbsp;that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.

In 2016, the court had agreed to take up the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys' bathroom in his Virginia high school. But the court dropped the case after a directive advising schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth, was scrapped in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of the student, Gavin Grimm.

In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm's case after the appeals court again ruled in his favor. At the time, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken up the school board's appeal.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">The Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Monday jumped into the fight over transgender rights, agreeing to hear an appeal from the Biden administration seeking to block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-transgender-gender-affirming-care-ban-f58714b70298e2eb65ce833c2d4ae3b9">state bans on gender-affirming care</a>.The justices’ action comes as Republican-led states have enacted a variety of restrictions on health care for transgender people, school sports participation, bathroom usage and drag shows. The administration and Democratic-led states have extended protections for transgender people, including&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/title-ix-lawsuit-states-bathrooms-lawsuit-f731ff2f1afd24a1f246443f12053bcc">a new federal regulation</a>&nbsp;that seeks to protect transgender students.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-genderaffirming-care-supreme-court-a04ab2f808175dbca1be6d90fe575611">The case before the high court</a>&nbsp;involves a law in Tennessee that restrict puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati allowed laws in Tennessee and Kentucky to take effect after they had been blocked by lower courts. (The high court did not act on a separate appeal from Kentucky.)“Without this Court’s prompt intervention, transgender youth and their families will remain in limbo, uncertain of whether and where they can access needed medical care,” lawyers for the transgender teens in Tennessee told the justices.Actor Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno,” “Inception” and “The Umbrella Academy,” was among 57 transgender people who joined a legal filing in support of Supreme Court review.Arguments will take place in the fall.Last month, South Carolina became&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-49edeee22eab31574316a13ab874b623">the 25th state</a>&nbsp;to adopt a law restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors, even though such treatments have been available in the United States for more than a decade and are endorsed by major medical associations.Most of the state restrictions face&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-gender-affirming-care-arkansas-court-c299aa1db823fdeda5b1e0b457a7a9b5">lawsuits</a>. The justices had previously&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-idaho-f858bcce9a624ec79edc496414f2130f">allowed Idaho</a>&nbsp;to generally enforce its restrictions, after they had been blocked by lower courts.At least 24 states have laws barring transgender women and girls from competing in certain women’s or girls' sports competitions. At least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls' and women’s bathrooms at public schools, and in some cases other government facilities.The nation's highest court has only rarely taken up transgender issues. In 2020,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-5a7b0e41a47a3c571dda69194758e7b1">the justices ruled</a>&nbsp;that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment.In 2016, the court had agreed to take up the case of a transgender student, backed by the Obama administration, who was barred from using the boys' bathroom in his Virginia high school. But the court dropped the case after a directive advising schools to allow students to use the bathroom of their chosen gender, not biological birth, was scrapped in the early months of the Trump administration. The directive had been a key part of an appeals court ruling in favor of the student, Gavin Grimm.In 2021, the justices declined to get involved in Grimm's case after the appeals court again ruled in his favor. At the time, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas noted they would have taken up the school board's appeal.___

Supreme Court to weigh state restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors

CLOUD COUNTY—A Manhattan man died in an accident just before 10p.m. Sunday in Cloud County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford Econoline van driven by Marco&nbsp;Lopez, 47, Kansas City, Missouri, was westbound on U.S. 24 five and one half miles west of Miltonvale.

The van traveled into the eastbound lane and struck a 2015 Yamaha motorcycle driven by James Ray&nbsp; Dille, 63, Manhattan. After impact the motorcycle came to rest in the south ditch. The van entered the south ditch, struck a power pole and came to rest in a field.

Dille was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Chaput-Buoy Funeral Home. Lopez and two passengers in the van were not injured.&nbsp; Dille was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

CLOUD COUNTY—A Manhattan man died in an accident just before 10p.m. Sunday in Cloud County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Ford Econoline van driven by Marco&nbsp;Lopez, 47, Kansas City, Missouri, was westbound on U.S. 24 five and one half miles west of Miltonvale.The van traveled into the eastbound lane and struck a 2015 Yamaha motorcycle driven by James Ray&nbsp; Dille, 63, Manhattan. After impact the motorcycle came to rest in the south ditch. The van entered the south ditch, struck a power pole and came to rest in a field.Dille was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported Chaput-Buoy Funeral Home. Lopez and two passengers in the van were not injured.&nbsp; Dille was not wearing a helmet, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after van strikes a motorcycle

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Police are asking the public for help to find a Kansas man accused in a deadly gunfight on Father's Day.

The Wichita Police are working to locate 33-year-old Eric Gonzalez-Gutierrez, who is wanted for violating his pre-trial restrictions.&nbsp;On Friday, he cut his ankle monitor, according to Wichita Police.

On June 16, police arrested Gonzalez-Gutierrez on requested charges including first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Aron Lara.

Just after 8:30p.m. on Father's Day, police responded to a shooting incident in the 1900 block of N. Jackson Street in Wichita, according to Police spokesman Andrew Ford.

While working to gather further information, the 911 dispatcher could hear gunfire in the background, prompting an immediate upgraded dispatch of officers to the scene.

First responders discovered Lara suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Sedgwick County EMS provided initial critical care at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital where he died.

Another victim, a 22-year-old Hispanic man, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot to the arm and was privately transported to St. Francis Hospital.

The incident occurred during a neighborhood barbecue in observance of Father's Day. According to preliminary reports, Lara, was involved in a verbal altercation with the Gonzales-Gutierrez earlier in the evening.&nbsp; Gonzales-Gutierrez allegedly returned home, retrieved a rifle, and fired upon the victim, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting.

It is believed that two men accompanying Lara returned fire, resulting in injuries to the second victim.

If you have any information on Gonzalez-Gutierrez whereabouts, please call 911 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. To provide anonymous tips call 316-267-2111 or scan the code above.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718711572362.png" alt="GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>GONZALES-GUTIERREZ-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Police are asking the public for help to find a Kansas man accused in a deadly gunfight on Father's Day.The Wichita Police are working to locate 33-year-old Eric Gonzalez-Gutierrez, who is wanted for violating his pre-trial restrictions.&nbsp;On Friday, he cut his ankle monitor, according to Wichita Police.On June 16, police arrested Gonzalez-Gutierrez on requested charges including first-degree murder and felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the fatal shooting of 28-year-old Aron Lara.Just after 8:30p.m. on Father's Day, police responded to a shooting incident in the 1900 block of N. Jackson Street in Wichita, according to Police spokesman Andrew Ford.While working to gather further information, the 911 dispatcher could hear gunfire in the background, prompting an immediate upgraded dispatch of officers to the scene.First responders discovered Lara suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Sedgwick County EMS provided initial critical care at the scene before transporting him to a nearby hospital where he died.Another victim, a 22-year-old Hispanic man, sustained a non-life-threatening gunshot to the arm and was privately transported to St. Francis Hospital.The incident occurred during a neighborhood barbecue in observance of Father's Day. According to preliminary reports, Lara, was involved in a verbal altercation with the Gonzales-Gutierrez earlier in the evening.&nbsp; Gonzales-Gutierrez allegedly returned home, retrieved a rifle, and fired upon the victim, who was unarmed at the time of the shooting.It is believed that two men accompanying Lara returned fire, resulting in injuries to the second victim.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1719004330105.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>If you have any information on Gonzalez-Gutierrez whereabouts, please call 911 or WPD Detectives at 316-268-4407. To provide anonymous tips call 316-267-2111 or scan the code above.

Suspect in deadly Kansas BBQ gunfight still missing

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a single-vehicle accident that critically injured two children.

Just before 11:30p.m. Saturday, a Dodge Charger was westbound on 23rd Street at Stark Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to&nbsp;.Officer Alayna Gonzalez

The driver lost control and the car traveled off the road. The vehicle struck a roadway sign, shearing it off at the base, and started flipping over.

 The car crossed over the eastbound lanes of 23rd Street, struck the rock wall and landed on its wheels.

 An unrestrained 2-year-old and 13-year-old were ejected from the vehicle. A 10-year-old and an adult female passenger, although unrestrained, remained in the back seat of the car.

 The driver, who was not injured in the collision, was taken into custody for alleged impairment. EMS transported the toddler and&nbsp; teen to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a single-vehicle accident that critically injured two children.Just before 11:30p.m. Saturday, a Dodge Charger was westbound on 23rd Street at Stark Avenue at a high rate of speed, according to&nbsp;.Officer Alayna GonzalezThe driver lost control and the car traveled off the road. The vehicle struck a roadway sign, shearing it off at the base, and started flipping over. The car crossed over the eastbound lanes of 23rd Street, struck the rock wall and landed on its wheels. An unrestrained 2-year-old and 13-year-old were ejected from the vehicle. A 10-year-old and an adult female passenger, although unrestrained, remained in the back seat of the car. The driver, who was not injured in the collision, was taken into custody for alleged impairment. EMS transported the toddler and&nbsp; teen to a local hospital for treatment of serious injuries.&nbsp; Police released no additional details.

KCPD: Driver arrested after toddler, teen ejected in crash

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a deadly shooting have identified the victim as Justin R. Diaz, 26, Raymore, Missouri.

Just before noon June 19, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 2000 block of N. 33rd Terrace in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. When officers arrived, they found Diaz outside with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.

This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Police have not released suspect details or reported an arrest.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.There is nothing further to report at this time.

WYANDOTTE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a deadly shooting have identified the victim as Justin R. Diaz, 26, Raymore, Missouri.Just before noon June 19, police were dispatched to report of a shooting in the 2000 block of N. 33rd Terrace in Kansas City, Kansas, according to a media release. When officers arrived, they found Diaz outside with an apparent gunshot wound. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.This incident is under investigation by the KCKPD Major Case Unit. Police have not released suspect details or reported an arrest.Anyone with information on this case is urged to call the Crime Stoppers TIPS hotline at 816-474-TIPS (8477). All tips remain anonymous and may qualify for a cash reward.There is nothing further to report at this time.

Homicide: Police ID victim in Kansas shooting

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An aerial drone launched by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Yemen's Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting shipping in the vital maritime corridor.

The attack comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">the U.S. has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home</a>&nbsp;after an eight-month deployment in which it lead the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.

The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board “were reported safe.” It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owner bulk carrier, but said an investigation was ongoing.

Hours after the attack, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted the Transworld Navigator. Saree claimed without offering evidence the rebels instead used a drone boat in the attack, something contradicted by every other report on the assault.

The U.S. military's Central Command also identified the vessel by the same name, saying several mariners on board suffered minor injuries from the attack.

The Transworld Navigator “most recently docked in Malaysia and was en route to Egypt,” Central Command said. “This marks the fourth attack by Iranian-backed Houthis on the” vessel.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks</a>&nbsp;targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-red-sea-ship-yemen-houthis-65b611ff878a411900037e7c9a8ee17b">seized one vessel</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/houthi-rebels-ship-attack-red-sea-yemen-bfa7d321e55c5bb59b268b82ef3c56ba">sunk two</a>&nbsp;since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-war-us-british-airstrikes-israel-hamas-12f99b7afc389a703f8dd333f2376b20">a series of strikes May 30</a>&nbsp;killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.

The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war — including those bound for the Houthis' main benefactor, Iran.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn69/">Eisenhower</a>, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-aircraft-carrier-houthi-attacks-red-sea-87e18d297b24e173da01b0ae1182ab6c">an over eight-month deployment</a>&nbsp;in combat that the Navy says is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-navy-yemen-houthis-israel-war-7a9997f9d84ac669fae69ecf819913fb">its most intense since World War II</a>. The San Diego-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/USS-Theodore-Roosevelt-CVN-71/">USS Theodore Roosevelt</a>&nbsp;will take the Eisenhower’s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-south-korea-japan-nuclear-26fd868eab68e56b207f4e6b1ecf45c4">The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/11/1699124273212.png" alt="File photo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">USS Dwight D. Eisenhower</a>&nbsp;photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>File photo&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">USS Dwight D. Eisenhower</a>&nbsp;photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An aerial drone launched by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Yemen's Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;struck and damaged a vessel in the Red Sea on Sunday, officials said, the latest attack by the group targeting shipping in the vital maritime corridor.The attack comes as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-rebel-attacks-shipping-ffe35adc91e25379c0c6fd420b413099">the U.S. has sent the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back home</a>&nbsp;after an eight-month deployment in which it lead the American response to the Houthi assaults. Those attacks have reduced shipping drastically through the route crucial to Asian, Middle East and European markets in a campaign the Houthis say will continue as long as the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip rages on.The drone attack happened around dawn off the coast of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said. It said the vessel sustained damage but its mariners on board “were reported safe.” It did not elaborate on the extent of the damage to the Liberian-flagged, Greek-owner bulk carrier, but said an investigation was ongoing.Hours after the attack, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack, saying the rebels targeted the Transworld Navigator. Saree claimed without offering evidence the rebels instead used a drone boat in the attack, something contradicted by every other report on the assault.The U.S. military's Central Command also identified the vessel by the same name, saying several mariners on board suffered minor injuries from the attack.The Transworld Navigator “most recently docked in Malaysia and was en route to Egypt,” Central Command said. “This marks the fourth attack by Iranian-backed Houthis on the” vessel.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Houthis have launched more than 60 attacks</a>&nbsp;targeting specific vessels and fired off other missiles and drones in their campaign that has killed a total of four sailors. They have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-red-sea-ship-yemen-houthis-65b611ff878a411900037e7c9a8ee17b">seized one vessel</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/houthi-rebels-ship-attack-red-sea-yemen-bfa7d321e55c5bb59b268b82ef3c56ba">sunk two</a>&nbsp;since November. A U.S.-led airstrike campaign has targeted the Houthis since January, with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-war-us-british-airstrikes-israel-hamas-12f99b7afc389a703f8dd333f2376b20">a series of strikes May 30</a>&nbsp;killing at least 16 people and wounding 42 others, the rebels say.The Houthis have maintained that their attacks target ships linked to Israel, the United States or Britain. However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the Israel-Hamas war — including those bound for the Houthis' main benefactor, Iran.The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airlant.usff.navy.mil/cvn69/">Eisenhower</a>, based in Norfolk, Virginia, is returning home after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/american-aircraft-carrier-houthi-attacks-red-sea-87e18d297b24e173da01b0ae1182ab6c">an over eight-month deployment</a>&nbsp;in combat that the Navy says is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-navy-yemen-houthis-israel-war-7a9997f9d84ac669fae69ecf819913fb">its most intense since World War II</a>. The San Diego-based&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airpac.navy.mil/Organization/USS-Theodore-Roosevelt-CVN-71/">USS Theodore Roosevelt</a>&nbsp;will take the Eisenhower’s place after a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, said Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-aircraft-carrier-south-korea-japan-nuclear-26fd868eab68e56b207f4e6b1ecf45c4">The Roosevelt anchored Saturday in Busan, South Korea, amid Seoul’s ongoing tensions with North Korea</a>.

As U.S. sends aircraft carrier home terrorist damage another ship in Red Sea

ALLEN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Allen County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Chevy Colorado driven by Donald Brian&nbsp;Gaylord, 64, Magnolia,Texas, was southbound on U.S. 169 at Minnesota Road. The pickup crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2015 Volo semi in the trailer.

Gaylord was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Country Side Funeral Home. The semi driver Luis Alberto&nbsp;Martinez San Miguel, 39, Davenport, Florida, was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

ALLEN COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Sunday in Allen County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2011 Chevy Colorado driven by Donald Brian&nbsp;Gaylord, 64, Magnolia,Texas, was southbound on U.S. 169 at Minnesota Road. The pickup crossed the center line and struck a northbound 2015 Volo semi in the trailer.Gaylord was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Country Side Funeral Home. The semi driver Luis Alberto&nbsp;Martinez San Miguel, 39, Davenport, Florida, was not injured. Both drivers were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

Man dies after pickup strikes semi's trailer on Kan. highway

KANSAS CITY – A chiropractor was sentenced in federal court last week for receiving and distributing child pornography, according to the United State's Attorney.

Eric Hedman, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to seven years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Hedman to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.

Hedman will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.

Hedman, who operated his own practice at Hedman Chiropractic at the time of the offense, pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2023, to receiving and distributing child pornography.

Hedman sent a video and a photo of child pornography to two other users of the Kik messenger in July and August 2022. Kik made two Cybertipline Reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which forwarded the reports to the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force for investigation.

Investigators searched Hedman’s multiple Kik accounts and discovered 31 files that contained child pornography. The images depicted children as young as two years old. Additionally, log files indicated that Hedman had transmitted child pornography to at least six other users on July 8 and 9, 2022.

On Dec. 6, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hedman’s residence and seized his computer and cell phone.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/6/1718830897069.png" alt="Hedman-photo Greene Co." />
 <figcaption>Hedman-photo Greene Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY – A chiropractor was sentenced in federal court last week for receiving and distributing child pornography, according to the United State's Attorney.Eric Hedman, 40, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to seven years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Hedman to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration.Hedman will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.Hedman, who operated his own practice at Hedman Chiropractic at the time of the offense, pleaded guilty on Dec. 14, 2023, to receiving and distributing child pornography.Hedman sent a video and a photo of child pornography to two other users of the Kik messenger in July and August 2022. Kik made two Cybertipline Reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which forwarded the reports to the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force for investigation.Investigators searched Hedman’s multiple Kik accounts and discovered 31 files that contained child pornography. The images depicted children as young as two years old. Additionally, log files indicated that Hedman had transmitted child pornography to at least six other users on July 8 and 9, 2022.On Dec. 6, 2022, law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at Hedman’s residence and seized his computer and cell phone.

SW Mo. chiropractor was sending child porn images online

RENO COUNTY —Authorities are investigating the cause of a rural house fire in Reno County.

Just before 1p.m. Sunday, crews were sent to a single-story house fire at 6820 North Tobacco Road, according to a media release from the Hutchinson Fire Department. Crews found heavy smoke and fire showing from the roof of the home.

Firefighters searched, but found no one home, and looked for extension of fire to the attic. Because of the rural setting, fire crews had to call in partners to bring extra water. Several dogs were inside the residence and two of three dogs found died.&nbsp;

The Hutchinson Fire Marshal is still searching for a cause.

RENO COUNTY —Authorities are investigating the cause of a rural house fire in Reno County.Just before 1p.m. Sunday, crews were sent to a single-story house fire at 6820 North Tobacco Road, according to a media release from the Hutchinson Fire Department. Crews found heavy smoke and fire showing from the roof of the home.Firefighters searched, but found no one home, and looked for extension of fire to the attic. Because of the rural setting, fire crews had to call in partners to bring extra water. Several dogs were inside the residence and two of three dogs found died.&nbsp;The Hutchinson Fire Marshal is still searching for a cause.

Two dogs killed in rural Kansas house fire

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in a hit-and-run that killed a Kansas woman in 2023 has entered a plea in the case.

Chase Faimon, 22, Valley Center, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of the accident, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Police arrested Faimon as part of a police Stunt Rider Project investigation..

On May 27, 2023 the Wichita Police Department Traffic Unit witnessed&nbsp; Faimon riding his motorcycle west on Waterman in Wichita doing a wheelie. Officers cautiously followed Faimon to the parking garage of Gander Mountain, contacted him, and placed him under arrest.

During the investigation, officers learned that Faimon had previously been charged with murder in the 2nd degree after hitting a pedestrian with his motorcycle.

In that case, Faimon was doing a wheelie down Broadway when he struck the pedestrian identified as 48-year-old Kristine Sheffield and killed her. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/2/1676999156108.png" alt="Photo of Faimon from security cameras- Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo of Faimon from security cameras- Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A Kansas man accused in a hit-and-run that killed a Kansas woman in 2023 has entered a plea in the case.Chase Faimon, 22, Valley Center, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and leaving the scene of the accident, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/3/1680125106781.png" alt="Faimon-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Faimon-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Police arrested Faimon as part of a police Stunt Rider Project investigation..On May 27, 2023 the Wichita Police Department Traffic Unit witnessed&nbsp; Faimon riding his motorcycle west on Waterman in Wichita doing a wheelie. Officers cautiously followed Faimon to the parking garage of Gander Mountain, contacted him, and placed him under arrest.During the investigation, officers learned that Faimon had previously been charged with murder in the 2nd degree after hitting a pedestrian with his motorcycle.In that case, Faimon was doing a wheelie down Broadway when he struck the pedestrian identified as 48-year-old Kristine Sheffield and killed her. Officers impounded the motorcycle that Faimon was riding.&nbsp; He is scheduled for sentencing in August, according to the district attorney's office.-----------