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

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In her 28 years working for the federal government, Shea Giagnorio provided day care for the children of U.S. soldiers, training for employees and oversight for safety net programs.

Public service took her from Germany to Alaska to Kansas City, Missouri, where she moved last year for a long-sought promotion.

But when she reported to a downtown federal building for work one day last month, her access card did not work. After a co-worker let her into the building, she checked her email: Her entire office had been let go in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-human-services-layoffs-restructuring-rfk-jr-fa4e89285e668a3939e20b6cf4c26fd4">latest mass firing</a>&nbsp;ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The 46-year-old single mom has canceled her apartment lease, is selling her new furniture and may have to pull her daughter of college. She wonders what will happen to the at-risk populations her team helped serve at the&nbsp;<a href="https://acf.gov/">Administration for Children and Families</a>, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Not only me, but all these peoples’ lives are turned upside down,” Giagnorio said.

The impact of the cuts by Trump appointees and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-tesla-government-cuts-c47211544c5382a6207779ee95c6060b">Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency</a>&nbsp;can be found everywhere in the Kansas City metropolitan area, which has long been a major hub for federal agencies about 1,000 miles away from Washington, D.C. Money once promised to the region for public health, environmental, diversity, food aid and an array of other programs has been axed, and thousands of local jobs are in jeopardy.

With nearly 30,000 workers, the federal government is the largest employer in the region. One longtime Kansas City economic researcher said he believes the region could lose 6,000 good-paying federal jobs, which in turn would wipe out thousands of others in service industries.

An IRS worker said thousands of her coworkers fear they will lose their jobs, even as they put in overtime processing tax refunds in a building so crowded that they struggle to find desks. Under pressure, hundreds more agreed this week to retire early or take a buyout.

A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant revocation disrupted a historically Black neighborhood’s plan to expand its program growing fresh produce in a food desert. A nearby pantry reduced its monthly grocery allotment for those in need after federal cuts left food banks shorthanded.

The withdrawal of federal funding for new lab equipment and vaccines means the city may be less prepared for the next pandemic.

A landlord may have to sell an office building for a loss after his federal tenants were among several that abruptly canceled local leases, adding a glut of real estate to the market.

And the city's Tesla showroom has become a spot of weekly protest. Activists are seeking to have it closed by pushing a referendum intended to drive Musk’s electric car company out of Missouri.

HHS: Cuts to service for low-income families

The nation's health department is slashing its full-time national workforce from 82,000 to 62,000. Among them were Giagnorio and her colleagues in her agency's 10 regional offices around the country that helped deliver services through programs such as Head Start and emergency assistance for low-income families.

“The poor will become even more poor now,” Giagnorio said. “If we’re taking away social safety nets, what is the end result? If we’re not helping homeless people anymore, will they freeze to death in the winter? Is that what we want?”

Giagnorio, who spent most of her career as a U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee at bases in Germany and Alaska, is on paid leave until her June 2 termination. She wasted no time looking for another position after being locked out of her office, visiting a job fair hours later that Kansas City hosted for displaced federal workers.

But she doubts she will be able to find a public sector salary anywhere near the $117,000 she made and doesn’t know how her skills translate to the private sector. She worries about losing the health insurance that covers her family and having to pull her daughter out of Maastricht University in the Netherlands after her first year.

For now, she can’t get any answers from the agency to basic questions about her financial future. Does she still qualify for an early retirement buyout offer that had been extended? How much would she receive and when?

IRS: A rush to Tax Day, then layoffs and buyouts

The days leading up to the April 15 tax filing deadline were always going to be busy for workers at the IRS processing center near Union Station, but this year, they were particularly stressful.

The IRS is considering a downsizing that could cut as many as 20,000 employees, or 25% of its workforce, in the coming weeks. The roughly 6,000 employees in Kansas City faced agonizing choices: decide whether to accept resignation or early retirement offers by April 14 or risk losing their jobs later.

“It’s a kick in the stomach to people that are doing everything they can to meet what’s required of them,” said Shannon Ellis, a longtime IRS customer service representative and president of the union representing local workers.

By Thursday, at least 238 Kansas City workers had taken the buyout offers and were expected to leave the agency in coming weeks. Ellis noted many of those same workers had been told they were essential and required to work overtime during tax season, some seven days per week.

Their building has been overcrowded since the IRS ordered remote employees back to the office in March. Workers sometimes struggle to find open desks. Some have to bring their own ink pens and share date stamps to perform basic job functions after budget cuts have depleted supplies.

Ellis said IRS workers share the public’s disdain for taxes but understand that collecting them is necessary to support important programs like Social Security. She said she’s decided to take a “roll of the dice” and stay in her job, spurning an early retirement offer.

“I love my job,” she said. “I’m not going to let the bully force me out.”

Urban farmer Rosie Warren grew 2,500 pounds of fruits and vegetables last year in community gardens to help feed the Ivanhoe neighborhood, where many Black families were concentrated under housing segregation policies of much of the 20th century.

Warren harvested greens, potatoes and watermelons as part of an effort to address food insecurity and health concerns in a neighborhood challenged by blight, crime and poverty. She was ecstatic last fall when the USDA awarded the neighborhood council a three-year, $130,000 grant to expand the gardens and farmers’ market serving the area.

Plans called for hiring an assistant to help Warren with growing more food and to add another market day aimed at serving more low-income older adults, mothers and children.

In February, the council received a notice terminating the grant. The USDA had determined the award “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.”

On a recent morning, Warren took a break from preparing the soil for planting to ponder the USDA’s decision.

“What do you do if you don’t support providing access to food to people who don’t have it? Wouldn’t this make your job easier?” she said. “I think it’s absurd. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Other food aid in the neighborhood has taken a hit at a time when demand is rising.

At the Bishop Sullivan Center food pantry, hundreds of low-income families are getting fewer groceries in their monthly pickups after USDA halted $500 million worth of deliveries to food banks. That included a planned order for 41,000 cases of meat, dairy and other commodities to a bank serving Kansas City.

“It just means giving families less food,” said pantry director Christopher Lowrance, who said he’s able to provide less chicken and other meat products. “It’s as simple as that.”

Public health: The city lab misses a needed upgrade

The Kansas City Health Department’s laboratory is badly in need of an upgrade, with equipment dating to when the building opened in the 1990s.

One basement space is water damaged and rarely used. Another has equipment that is so inadequate that the city has to ship samples to a state laboratory 150 miles away, causing inefficiencies, agonizing waits for results and delayed response times.

Kansas City’s health director, Dr. Marvia Jones, made it a top priority to modernize the labs this year after studying their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her agency planned to use federal funding to purchase new microscopes and testing equipment.

“That early disease detection allows you to do more rapid intervention, more rapid treatment, more rapid isolation,” she said.

But the funding for lab upgrades was abruptly eliminated last month as part of the Trump administration's $11.4 billion cancellation of federal grants to states for public health. That news “crushed” the department's carefully laid plans, Jones said.

Jones said the cuts, $3 million and counting for her department, mean the city will also have fewer vaccines to administer to low-income residents.

“It would be a sad shame for us to be in a worse position than we were before the pandemic,” she said. “We had processed all of our lessons learned, and then now this happens.”

Real estate: A landlord considers selling his building

Amir Minoofar was surprised when two federal agencies notified him that they planned to vacate the office building he’s owned for a decade in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.

Minoofar said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had recently agreed to extend its lease until 2029. The National Labor Relations Board, meanwhile, was paying month to month.

Minoofar said the government initially notified him the agencies would be out of the building in August, part of a DOGE-led blitz of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-federal-buildings-leases-canceled-offices-closed-92974159f6c29a76a90238e8794c7467">hundreds of lease cancellations</a>&nbsp;that has been marked by errors and subsequent reversals.

In the Kansas City metropolitan area, the government is moving to cancel 10 leases totaling 219,000 square feet that cost more than $4 million in annual rent, according to DOGE’s online “Wall of Receipts.”

Minoofar said he was more recently told the agencies will likely have to stay past August and their departure date is now unclear. He said he may have to sell the building, which has an appraised value of $2.9 million, and take a loss because of the difficult office market.

But he said he understands why the government would unload the space, which he said has often been sparsely used since the rise of telework during the pandemic.

“Businesswise, it makes sense for government to cut costs,” he said. “A lot of people are going to be unhappy but it’s a huge gigantic family and they need to take care of it. You cannot keep everybody happy.”

Tesla: Elon Musk's car company faces a statewide campaign

With liberal anger growing at Musk’s role in the government, protesters have gathered Saturdays outside his Tesla dealership in Kansas City to denounce the cuts.

State records show Tesla sales there have dropped amid calls for a boycott. Now, enough voter anger could even force the business to close.

Organizers of a newly launched “Unplug Musk” initiative are seeking to use democracy to strike at the world’s richest man by changing state law to ban car manufacturers from selling directly to consumers.

They say they plan to soon begin gathering the 111,000 signatures of registered voters that they would need to put the change on the statewide ballot in November 2026. If approved by voters, it would force the closure of the Tesla showrooms in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Missouri’s governor, Republican Mike Kehoe, a former auto dealer himself, sponsored a 2014 bill when he was a state senator aimed at requiring manufacturers like Tesla to sell through local dealers. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House after Tesla lobbied against it. The referendum revives that plan.

“There’s not a soul in this country who’s against trying to weed out government inefficiency but just taking a chain saw to people’s lives and their health care is a ridiculous way to achieve that. And it is going to cause some devastating impacts,” said organizer Brad Ketcher, a prominent Democrat and lawyer who helped draft the state’s 2022 marijuana legalization referendum.

The administration's response: Temporary hardship

An HHS spokesperson said the agency's downsizing, including cutting jobs and consolidating divisions, would save money and make the organization more efficient. As for the $11.4 billion in grant funding cuts, the spokesperson said, “HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”

The IRS has offered a similar rationale for its downsizing, saying it is making process improvements that will ultimately more efficiently serve the public.

Musk said last year that Trump’s budget cuts would cause a “temporary hardship” that would soon put the economy on stronger footing.

One local economic researcher said it remained unclear just how deep that hardship will be in Kansas City, including whether it will just slow growth or cause population losses.

“It's a big burden that’s being placed on a narrow group of people,” said Frank Lenk, director of the Office of Economic Development at the Mid-America Regional Council, a nonprofit of city and county governments in the Kansas City region. “It will definitely take some of the steam out of the local economy."

Trump has credited DOGE with helping end “the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” saving billions to help improve the nation’s finances.

The White House didn't respond to questions about Kansas City. But Trump said recently he would invite the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House to make up for a 2020 Super Bowl victory celebration that was canceled during the pandemic.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1585145323121.png" alt="Photo by Brent Martin" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Brent Martin</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://newsroom.ap.org/home/search/?query=byline:%22RYAN%20J.%20FOLEY%22&amp;mediaType=text&amp;st=keyword&amp;sortOrder=newest">By RYAN J. FOLEY &nbsp;Associated Press</a>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — In her 28 years working for the federal government, Shea Giagnorio provided day care for the children of U.S. soldiers, training for employees and oversight for safety net programs.Public service took her from Germany to Alaska to Kansas City, Missouri, where she moved last year for a long-sought promotion.But when she reported to a downtown federal building for work one day last month, her access card did not work. After a co-worker let her into the building, she checked her email: Her entire office had been let go in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-human-services-layoffs-restructuring-rfk-jr-fa4e89285e668a3939e20b6cf4c26fd4">latest mass firing</a>&nbsp;ordered by President Donald Trump’s administration.The 46-year-old single mom has canceled her apartment lease, is selling her new furniture and may have to pull her daughter of college. She wonders what will happen to the at-risk populations her team helped serve at the&nbsp;<a href="https://acf.gov/">Administration for Children and Families</a>, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.“Not only me, but all these peoples’ lives are turned upside down,” Giagnorio said.The impact of the cuts by Trump appointees and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-doge-tesla-government-cuts-c47211544c5382a6207779ee95c6060b">Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency</a>&nbsp;can be found everywhere in the Kansas City metropolitan area, which has long been a major hub for federal agencies about 1,000 miles away from Washington, D.C. Money once promised to the region for public health, environmental, diversity, food aid and an array of other programs has been axed, and thousands of local jobs are in jeopardy.With nearly 30,000 workers, the federal government is the largest employer in the region. One longtime Kansas City economic researcher said he believes the region could lose 6,000 good-paying federal jobs, which in turn would wipe out thousands of others in service industries.An IRS worker said thousands of her coworkers fear they will lose their jobs, even as they put in overtime processing tax refunds in a building so crowded that they struggle to find desks. Under pressure, hundreds more agreed this week to retire early or take a buyout.A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant revocation disrupted a historically Black neighborhood’s plan to expand its program growing fresh produce in a food desert. A nearby pantry reduced its monthly grocery allotment for those in need after federal cuts left food banks shorthanded.The withdrawal of federal funding for new lab equipment and vaccines means the city may be less prepared for the next pandemic.A landlord may have to sell an office building for a loss after his federal tenants were among several that abruptly canceled local leases, adding a glut of real estate to the market.And the city's Tesla showroom has become a spot of weekly protest. Activists are seeking to have it closed by pushing a referendum intended to drive Musk’s electric car company out of Missouri.<h2>HHS: Cuts to service for low-income families</h2>The nation's health department is slashing its full-time national workforce from 82,000 to 62,000. Among them were Giagnorio and her colleagues in her agency's 10 regional offices around the country that helped deliver services through programs such as Head Start and emergency assistance for low-income families.“The poor will become even more poor now,” Giagnorio said. “If we’re taking away social safety nets, what is the end result? If we’re not helping homeless people anymore, will they freeze to death in the winter? Is that what we want?”Giagnorio, who spent most of her career as a U.S. Department of Defense civilian employee at bases in Germany and Alaska, is on paid leave until her June 2 termination. She wasted no time looking for another position after being locked out of her office, visiting a job fair hours later that Kansas City hosted for displaced federal workers.But she doubts she will be able to find a public sector salary anywhere near the $117,000 she made and doesn’t know how her skills translate to the private sector. She worries about losing the health insurance that covers her family and having to pull her daughter out of Maastricht University in the Netherlands after her first year.For now, she can’t get any answers from the agency to basic questions about her financial future. Does she still qualify for an early retirement buyout offer that had been extended? How much would she receive and when?<h2>IRS: A rush to Tax Day, then layoffs and buyouts</h2>The days leading up to the April 15 tax filing deadline were always going to be busy for workers at the IRS processing center near Union Station, but this year, they were particularly stressful.The IRS is considering a downsizing that could cut as many as 20,000 employees, or 25% of its workforce, in the coming weeks. The roughly 6,000 employees in Kansas City faced agonizing choices: decide whether to accept resignation or early retirement offers by April 14 or risk losing their jobs later.“It’s a kick in the stomach to people that are doing everything they can to meet what’s required of them,” said Shannon Ellis, a longtime IRS customer service representative and president of the union representing local workers.By Thursday, at least 238 Kansas City workers had taken the buyout offers and were expected to leave the agency in coming weeks. Ellis noted many of those same workers had been told they were essential and required to work overtime during tax season, some seven days per week.Their building has been overcrowded since the IRS ordered remote employees back to the office in March. Workers sometimes struggle to find open desks. Some have to bring their own ink pens and share date stamps to perform basic job functions after budget cuts have depleted supplies.Ellis said IRS workers share the public’s disdain for taxes but understand that collecting them is necessary to support important programs like Social Security. She said she’s decided to take a “roll of the dice” and stay in her job, spurning an early retirement offer.“I love my job,” she said. “I’m not going to let the bully force me out.”<h2>USDA: An urban food desert loses help</h2>Urban farmer Rosie Warren grew 2,500 pounds of fruits and vegetables last year in community gardens to help feed the Ivanhoe neighborhood, where many Black families were concentrated under housing segregation policies of much of the 20th century.Warren harvested greens, potatoes and watermelons as part of an effort to address food insecurity and health concerns in a neighborhood challenged by blight, crime and poverty. She was ecstatic last fall when the USDA awarded the neighborhood council a three-year, $130,000 grant to expand the gardens and farmers’ market serving the area.Plans called for hiring an assistant to help Warren with growing more food and to add another market day aimed at serving more low-income older adults, mothers and children.In February, the council received a notice terminating the grant. The USDA had determined the award “no longer effectuates agency priorities regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and activities.”On a recent morning, Warren took a break from preparing the soil for planting to ponder the USDA’s decision.“What do you do if you don’t support providing access to food to people who don’t have it? Wouldn’t this make your job easier?” she said. “I think it’s absurd. It doesn’t make any sense.”Other food aid in the neighborhood has taken a hit at a time when demand is rising.At the Bishop Sullivan Center food pantry, hundreds of low-income families are getting fewer groceries in their monthly pickups after USDA halted $500 million worth of deliveries to food banks. That included a planned order for 41,000 cases of meat, dairy and other commodities to a bank serving Kansas City.“It just means giving families less food,” said pantry director Christopher Lowrance, who said he’s able to provide less chicken and other meat products. “It’s as simple as that.”<h2>Public health: The city lab misses a needed upgrade</h2>The Kansas City Health Department’s laboratory is badly in need of an upgrade, with equipment dating to when the building opened in the 1990s.One basement space is water damaged and rarely used. Another has equipment that is so inadequate that the city has to ship samples to a state laboratory 150 miles away, causing inefficiencies, agonizing waits for results and delayed response times.Kansas City’s health director, Dr. Marvia Jones, made it a top priority to modernize the labs this year after studying their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her agency planned to use federal funding to purchase new microscopes and testing equipment.“That early disease detection allows you to do more rapid intervention, more rapid treatment, more rapid isolation,” she said.But the funding for lab upgrades was abruptly eliminated last month as part of the Trump administration's $11.4 billion cancellation of federal grants to states for public health. That news “crushed” the department's carefully laid plans, Jones said.Jones said the cuts, $3 million and counting for her department, mean the city will also have fewer vaccines to administer to low-income residents.“It would be a sad shame for us to be in a worse position than we were before the pandemic,” she said. “We had processed all of our lessons learned, and then now this happens.”<h2>Real estate: A landlord considers selling his building</h2>Amir Minoofar was surprised when two federal agencies notified him that they planned to vacate the office building he’s owned for a decade in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.Minoofar said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration had recently agreed to extend its lease until 2029. The National Labor Relations Board, meanwhile, was paying month to month.Minoofar said the government initially notified him the agencies would be out of the building in August, part of a DOGE-led blitz of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-federal-buildings-leases-canceled-offices-closed-92974159f6c29a76a90238e8794c7467">hundreds of lease cancellations</a>&nbsp;that has been marked by errors and subsequent reversals.In the Kansas City metropolitan area, the government is moving to cancel 10 leases totaling 219,000 square feet that cost more than $4 million in annual rent, according to DOGE’s online “Wall of Receipts.”Minoofar said he was more recently told the agencies will likely have to stay past August and their departure date is now unclear. He said he may have to sell the building, which has an appraised value of $2.9 million, and take a loss because of the difficult office market.But he said he understands why the government would unload the space, which he said has often been sparsely used since the rise of telework during the pandemic.“Businesswise, it makes sense for government to cut costs,” he said. “A lot of people are going to be unhappy but it’s a huge gigantic family and they need to take care of it. You cannot keep everybody happy.”<h2>Tesla: Elon Musk's car company faces a statewide campaign</h2>With liberal anger growing at Musk’s role in the government, protesters have gathered Saturdays outside his Tesla dealership in Kansas City to denounce the cuts.State records show Tesla sales there have dropped amid calls for a boycott. Now, enough voter anger could even force the business to close.Organizers of a newly launched “Unplug Musk” initiative are seeking to use democracy to strike at the world’s richest man by changing state law to ban car manufacturers from selling directly to consumers.They say they plan to soon begin gathering the 111,000 signatures of registered voters that they would need to put the change on the statewide ballot in November 2026. If approved by voters, it would force the closure of the Tesla showrooms in Kansas City and St. Louis.Missouri’s governor, Republican Mike Kehoe, a former auto dealer himself, sponsored a 2014 bill when he was a state senator aimed at requiring manufacturers like Tesla to sell through local dealers. The bill passed the Senate but died in the House after Tesla lobbied against it. The referendum revives that plan.“There’s not a soul in this country who’s against trying to weed out government inefficiency but just taking a chain saw to people’s lives and their health care is a ridiculous way to achieve that. And it is going to cause some devastating impacts,” said organizer Brad Ketcher, a prominent Democrat and lawyer who helped draft the state’s 2022 marijuana legalization referendum.<h2>The administration's response: Temporary hardship</h2>An HHS spokesperson said the agency's downsizing, including cutting jobs and consolidating divisions, would save money and make the organization more efficient. As for the $11.4 billion in grant funding cuts, the spokesperson said, “HHS will no longer waste billions of taxpayer dollars responding to a nonexistent pandemic that Americans moved on from years ago.”The IRS has offered a similar rationale for its downsizing, saying it is making process improvements that will ultimately more efficiently serve the public.Musk said last year that Trump’s budget cuts would cause a “temporary hardship” that would soon put the economy on stronger footing.One local economic researcher said it remained unclear just how deep that hardship will be in Kansas City, including whether it will just slow growth or cause population losses.“It's a big burden that’s being placed on a narrow group of people,” said Frank Lenk, director of the Office of Economic Development at the Mid-America Regional Council, a nonprofit of city and county governments in the Kansas City region. “It will definitely take some of the steam out of the local economy."Trump has credited DOGE with helping end “the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars,” saving billions to help improve the nation’s finances.The White House didn't respond to questions about Kansas City. But Trump said recently he would invite the Kansas City Chiefs to the White House to make up for a 2020 Super Bowl victory celebration that was canceled during the pandemic.

Kansas City has long been a federal hub. The pain from DOGE’s cuts is everywhere

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment last week charging a Kansas woman with tax evasion and wire fraud, according to the United State's attorney.

The indictment alleges that Michelle O’Connor, of Louisburg, owned and operated a realty company based in the Kansas City metro area. For tax years 2008 through 2015, O’Connor filed federal income tax returns, self-reporting that she owed approximately $300,000 in taxes. 

Despite acknowledging she owed the taxes, O’Connor did not pay them. In 2011, the IRS audited her 2008 and 2009 tax returns and concluded that O’Connor had improperly claimed tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses as charitable deductions to the “Church of Revelation and Love,” a purported church she and her husband created and were, along with her family, its primary members. Based on that audit, the IRS assessed over $40,000 in additional taxes against O’Connor.&nbsp; &nbsp;

Starting in 2011, the IRS began trying to collect the outstanding taxes from O’Connor, sending her over 50 notices regarding them. From 2011 through 2023, however, Michelle O’Connor tried to stymy the IRS’s collections efforts by, among other things, filing three separate false and frivolous bankruptcy petitions, purchasing approximately $250,000 of cashier’s checks to reduce her bank account balances, and closing her personal bank accounts and using her business’ bank accounts to pay personal expenses.

By 2020, O’Connor owed the IRS nearly $500,000 in taxes, penalties, and interest.

In 2020, O’Connor submitted 34 fraudulent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications on behalf of her real estate business and seven other corporate entities she created for the purpose of maximizing potential EIDL credits. Under the EIDL program, a small business could receive a loan of up to $150,000 from the Small Business Administration to cover six months of working capital. In total, O’Connor received nearly $300,000 from her fraudulent EIDLs, which she used for personal purposes, including $115,000 to purchase cryptocurrency.

If convicted, O’Connor faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

WASHINGTON — A federal grand jury in Kansas City returned an indictment last week charging a Kansas woman with tax evasion and wire fraud, according to the United State's attorney.The indictment alleges that Michelle O’Connor, of Louisburg, owned and operated a realty company based in the Kansas City metro area. For tax years 2008 through 2015, O’Connor filed federal income tax returns, self-reporting that she owed approximately $300,000 in taxes. Despite acknowledging she owed the taxes, O’Connor did not pay them. In 2011, the IRS audited her 2008 and 2009 tax returns and concluded that O’Connor had improperly claimed tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses as charitable deductions to the “Church of Revelation and Love,” a purported church she and her husband created and were, along with her family, its primary members. Based on that audit, the IRS assessed over $40,000 in additional taxes against O’Connor.&nbsp; &nbsp;Starting in 2011, the IRS began trying to collect the outstanding taxes from O’Connor, sending her over 50 notices regarding them. From 2011 through 2023, however, Michelle O’Connor tried to stymy the IRS’s collections efforts by, among other things, filing three separate false and frivolous bankruptcy petitions, purchasing approximately $250,000 of cashier’s checks to reduce her bank account balances, and closing her personal bank accounts and using her business’ bank accounts to pay personal expenses.By 2020, O’Connor owed the IRS nearly $500,000 in taxes, penalties, and interest.In 2020, O’Connor submitted 34 fraudulent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) applications on behalf of her real estate business and seven other corporate entities she created for the purpose of maximizing potential EIDL credits. Under the EIDL program, a small business could receive a loan of up to $150,000 from the Small Business Administration to cover six months of working capital. In total, O’Connor received nearly $300,000 from her fraudulent EIDLs, which she used for personal purposes, including $115,000 to purchase cryptocurrency.If convicted, O’Connor faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Indictment: Kansas realtor, husband gave donations to fake church they created

VATICAN CITY (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-vance-pope-migration-a91d0f741cb994faae1e363d38b66c05">U.S. Vice President JD Vance</a>&nbsp;met briefly with Pope Francis on Sunday to exchange Easter greetings, after they got into a long-distance tangle over the Trump administration's migrant deportation plans.

Francis, who is recovering from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia, received Vance in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel where he lives. The 88-year-old pope offered the Catholic vice president three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance's three young children, who did not attend, as well as a Vatican tie and rosaries.

“I know you have not been feeling great but it's good to see you in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”

Vance’s motorcade entered Vatican City through a side gate while Easter Mass was being celebrated in St. Peter’s Square. Francis had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-vatican-easter-pneumonia-4b1182146a692479562b635a9723de2f">delegated the celebration</a>&nbsp;of the Mass to another cardinal.

The Vatican said they met for a few minutes at the Domus Santa Marta “to exchange Easter greetings.”

Vance's office said the vice president “expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for inviting him to meet on Easter Sunday and for the hospitality the Vatican has extended to his family."

“I pray for you every day,” Vance said as he bid Francis farewell. “God bless you.”

In all, Vance’s motorcade was on Vatican territory for 17 minutes. The vice president later joined his family for Easter Mass at St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four pontifical basilicas in Rome. The Vances visited the tomb of the apostle St. Paul that is said to be located there.

Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and the pope have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90">tangled sharply over migration</a>&nbsp;and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy.

Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to U.S. bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-catholic-theology-migration-e868af574fb2e742c6ed3d756c569769">claimed that Catholic doctrine justified</a>&nbsp;such policies.

Vance has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vice-president-jd-vance-pope-francis-immigration-4f05693320524f9976d3b9ebe31b3f97">acknowledged Francis’ criticism</a>&nbsp;but has said he will continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”

Vance met Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.

Vance’s office said he and Parolin “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace.”

The Vatican, for its part, said there was an “exchange of opinions” including over migrants and refugees and current conflicts.

The Holy See has responded cautiously to the Trump administration while seeking to continue productive relations in keeping with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. It has expressed alarm over the administration’s crackdown on migrants and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-us-usaid-pope-migration-6bf064630ff58022ab133f5375f5b5ef">cuts in international aid</a>&nbsp;while insisting on peaceful resolutions to the wars in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-drones-3c940cf913f22eb21803841b4d026db8">Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-04-19-2025-5e80a0efc0b267515ec88aec4c3672d1">Gaza.</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745151132434.png" alt="Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)" />
 <figcaption>Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)</figcaption>
 </figure>VATICAN CITY (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-vance-pope-migration-a91d0f741cb994faae1e363d38b66c05">U.S. Vice President JD Vance</a>&nbsp;met briefly with Pope Francis on Sunday to exchange Easter greetings, after they got into a long-distance tangle over the Trump administration's migrant deportation plans.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Today I met with the Holy Father Pope Francis. I am grateful for his invitation to meet, and I pray for his good health. Happy Easter! <a href="https://t.co/SIhU9gYQl2">pic.twitter.com/SIhU9gYQl2</a>&mdash; Vice President JD Vance (@VP) <a href="https://twitter.com/VP/status/1913977824739729459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">It was an honor to visit the Vatican during Holy Week, and a blessing to experience the beauty and reverence of the Good Friday liturgy at St. Peter&#39;s Basilica. <a href="https://t.co/L3LBlkNgmJ">pic.twitter.com/L3LBlkNgmJ</a>&mdash; Vice President JD Vance (@VP) <a href="https://twitter.com/VP/status/1913709851190170061?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Francis, who is recovering from a near-fatal bout of pneumonia, received Vance in one of the reception rooms of the Vatican hotel where he lives. The 88-year-old pope offered the Catholic vice president three big chocolate Easter eggs for Vance's three young children, who did not attend, as well as a Vatican tie and rosaries.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745150828303.jpeg" alt="Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)" />
 <figcaption>Pope Francis receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, left, before bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Sunday, April 20, 2025. At center the head of the papal houshold Bishop Leonardo Sapienza. (Vatican Media via AP, HO)</figcaption>
 </figure>“I know you have not been feeling great but it's good to see you in better health,” Vance told the pope. “Thank you for seeing me.”Vance’s motorcade entered Vatican City through a side gate while Easter Mass was being celebrated in St. Peter’s Square. Francis had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-vatican-easter-pneumonia-4b1182146a692479562b635a9723de2f">delegated the celebration</a>&nbsp;of the Mass to another cardinal.The Vatican said they met for a few minutes at the Domus Santa Marta “to exchange Easter greetings.”Vance's office said the vice president “expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for inviting him to meet on Easter Sunday and for the hospitality the Vatican has extended to his family."“I pray for you every day,” Vance said as he bid Francis farewell. “God bless you.”In all, Vance’s motorcade was on Vatican territory for 17 minutes. The vice president later joined his family for Easter Mass at St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four pontifical basilicas in Rome. The Vances visited the tomb of the apostle St. Paul that is said to be located there.Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, and the pope have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90">tangled sharply over migration</a>&nbsp;and the Trump administration’s plans to deport migrants en masse. Francis has made caring for migrants a hallmark of his papacy.Just days before he was hospitalized in February, Francis blasted the deportation plans, warning that they would deprive migrants of their inherent dignity. In a letter to U.S. bishops, Francis also appeared to respond to Vance directly for having&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jd-vance-catholic-theology-migration-e868af574fb2e742c6ed3d756c569769">claimed that Catholic doctrine justified</a>&nbsp;such policies.Vance has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vice-president-jd-vance-pope-francis-immigration-4f05693320524f9976d3b9ebe31b3f97">acknowledged Francis’ criticism</a>&nbsp;but has said he will continue to defend his views. During a Feb. 28 appearance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Vance didn’t address the issue specifically but called himself a “baby Catholic” and acknowledged there are “things about the faith that I don’t know.”Vance met Saturday with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher.Vance’s office said he and Parolin “discussed their shared religious faith, Catholicism in the United States, the plight of persecuted Christian communities around the world, and President Trump’s commitment to restoring world peace.”The Vatican, for its part, said there was an “exchange of opinions” including over migrants and refugees and current conflicts.The Holy See has responded cautiously to the Trump administration while seeking to continue productive relations in keeping with its tradition of diplomatic neutrality. It has expressed alarm over the administration’s crackdown on migrants and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-us-usaid-pope-migration-6bf064630ff58022ab133f5375f5b5ef">cuts in international aid</a>&nbsp;while insisting on peaceful resolutions to the wars in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kursk-drones-3c940cf913f22eb21803841b4d026db8">Ukraine</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-04-19-2025-5e80a0efc0b267515ec88aec4c3672d1">Gaza.</a>

Vice President Vance meets Pope Francis on Easter Sunday, gets chocolate eggs for kids

JOHNSON COUNTY —Two people died in an accident just before 11:30p.m. Saturday in Johnson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Toyota Corolla driven by Jose M. Placensia Castaneda, 17, Lenexa, was southbound on U.S. 69 near 58th Street. The car crossed the raised median, entered the northbound lanes and struck a northbound 2015 Kia Optima driven by Victoria A. Jones, 44, Kansas City, Missouri, head-on.&nbsp;

&nbsp;Castaneda and a passenger in the Toyota Itzel&nbsp;Guerra, 18, Overland Park were pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported Jones and a passenger Germara D.&nbsp;Guillory, 41, Kansas City, Missouri, to KU Medical Center. Castaneda and Guerra were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

JOHNSON COUNTY —Two people died in an accident just before 11:30p.m. Saturday in Johnson County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Toyota Corolla driven by Jose M. Placensia Castaneda, 17, Lenexa, was southbound on U.S. 69 near 58th Street. The car crossed the raised median, entered the northbound lanes and struck a northbound 2015 Kia Optima driven by Victoria A. Jones, 44, Kansas City, Missouri, head-on.&nbsp;&nbsp;Castaneda and a passenger in the Toyota Itzel&nbsp;Guerra, 18, Overland Park were pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported Jones and a passenger Germara D.&nbsp;Guillory, 41, Kansas City, Missouri, to KU Medical Center. Castaneda and Guerra were not wearing seat belts, according to the KHP.

Two Kansas teens dead after head-on crash

CAIRO (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels said Saturday that the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-us-airstrikes-563f61bbd96e1f2de68373fdf76c8811">a U.S. strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.</a>

The Houthis’ media office said 13 U.S. airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeida, on the Red Sea. The office also reported U.S strikes in the capital, Sanaa.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said it continues to conduct strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.

Thursday’s strike hit the port of Ras Isa, also in Hodeida province, killing 74 people and wounding 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. It was the deadliest strike in the U.S. ongoing bombing campaign on the Iranian-backed rebels.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday said he was “gravely concerned” about the attack on Ras Isa, as well as the Houthis missile and drone attacks on Israel and the shipping routes, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Saturday.

“The secretary-general recalls that international law, including international humanitarian law as applicable, must be respected at all times, and he appeals to all to respect and protect civilians as well as civilian infrastructure,” Dujarric said.

U.S. Central Command declined to answer any questions about possible civilian casualties. It referred to a statement in which it said “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”

The strikes on Hodeida have been part of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-us-airstrikes-israel-hamas-278d07bc5aad75bb32e57f99a78cbe88">a month-long U.S. bombing campaign</a>, which the Trump administration said came about because of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">the Houthi</a>&nbsp;attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on its close ally, Israel.

About 200 people have been killed in the U.S. campaign since March 16, according to the Houthis' health ministry.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745114166514.jpeg" alt="Photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>Photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>CAIRO (AP) — Yemen's Houthi rebels said Saturday that the U.S. military launched a series of airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, and the Houthi-held coastal city of Hodeida, less than two days after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-us-airstrikes-563f61bbd96e1f2de68373fdf76c8811">a U.S. strike wrecked a Red Sea port and killed more than 70 people.</a>The Houthis’ media office said 13 U.S. airstrikes hit an airport and a port in Hodeida, on the Red Sea. The office also reported U.S strikes in the capital, Sanaa.There were no immediate reports of casualties.The U.S. military’s Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said it continues to conduct strikes against the Houthis in Yemen.Thursday’s strike hit the port of Ras Isa, also in Hodeida province, killing 74 people and wounding 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry. It was the deadliest strike in the U.S. ongoing bombing campaign on the Iranian-backed rebels.United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday said he was “gravely concerned” about the attack on Ras Isa, as well as the Houthis missile and drone attacks on Israel and the shipping routes, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Saturday.“The secretary-general recalls that international law, including international humanitarian law as applicable, must be respected at all times, and he appeals to all to respect and protect civilians as well as civilian infrastructure,” Dujarric said.U.S. Central Command declined to answer any questions about possible civilian casualties. It referred to a statement in which it said “this strike was not intended to harm the people of Yemen.”The strikes on Hodeida have been part of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-us-airstrikes-israel-hamas-278d07bc5aad75bb32e57f99a78cbe88">a month-long U.S. bombing campaign</a>, which the Trump administration said came about because of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">the Houthi</a>&nbsp;attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, a crucial global trade route, and on its close ally, Israel.About 200 people have been killed in the U.S. campaign since March 16, according to the Houthis' health ministry.

Houthi rebels: U.S. air strikes hit an airport and Red Sea port on the coast of Yemen

By&nbsp;DEREK GATOPOULOS, COLLEEN BARRY and LEFTERIS PITARAKIS Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — For more than 400 years, Catholic and Orthodox churches have used different ways to determine the date of Easter. But this Sunday will mark a special moment for Christians, as the churches celebrate of Jesus’ resurrection on the same day.

What’s more, top religious leaders — including Pope Francis — are expressing a desire to keep it that way. But the unusual alignment has stirred underlying mistrust between the two major Christian communions.

The movable date for Easter follows a seemingly straightforward rule: the Sunday following the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. But the two churches started using different calendars after Pope Gregory XIII’s adaptation in 1582, when the Western church adopted the Gregorian calendar while the Eastern Orthodox Church kept the older Julian one.

Moreover, each church uses its own ecclesiastical calculations for lunar cycles and the equinox, which don’t neatly match scientific projections.

The result is that Easter dates can be as much as five weeks apart. They can coincide in back-to-back years, or a decade can pass without it happening.

Days before his five-week hospitalization, Pope Francis referred to this year’s Easter celebration while invoking the 1,700th anniversary of the historic Council of Nicaea, when Christian leaders gathered to settle foundational disputes about the faith.

“Once again, I renew my appeal: Let this coincidence serve as a sign — a call to all Christians to take a decisive step toward unity around a common date for Easter,” Francis said while leading prayers at the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome.

Francis’ invitation, delivered at the end of a prayer for Christian Unity with Orthodox priests present, wasn’t new. Returning from a trip to Turkey in 2014, he told reporters on the plane that a unified date would be logical.

“It is a bit ridiculous,” he said, then staged a pretend conversation: “‘Tell me, your Christ, when is he resurrected? Next week? Mine was resurrected last week.’”

He has found an ally in Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, a fellow octogenarian and spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. The two “speak to one another like brothers,” Francis has said. For his part, Bartholomew has called Francis “our elder brother” and described the Easter initiative as “a real step toward repairing old conflicts.”

The idea of a common Easter has been discussed since the 1960s, with interest often peaking when celebrations coincide. The key obstacle has always been the implication that one side would need to concede.

Protestants, who follow the same calendar as Catholics, have also been in on the discussions.

The Geneva-based World Council of Churches — a fellowship of Orthodox and Protestant bodies — has proposed a compromise. It suggests using modern astronomy, basing the calculation on Jerusalem time and following the same basic rule set centuries ago.

“It has never been more important than now, because we live in a polarized world and people all over the world yearn for more unity,” Lutheran Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, a senior WCC official, told The Associated Press from his home outside Berlin. “All other questions – on calendar, on time, on the moon and the stars and everything – it’s not primary; it’s secondary.”

While the pope’s wishes may carry powerful influence through the Vatican’s highly centralized authority, Bartholomew’s role is largely symbolic over the self-governed national and local churches. And discussions between Russia, the Orthodox world’s most populous country, and churches of other Orthodox-majority countries remain stalled due to the war and church divisions in Ukraine.

Further complicating prospects for consensus is a history characterized by centuries of mistrust, largely driven by wariness in the East about the Vatican’s supremacy.

At a Holy Week service Monday in Athens, Father Anastasios welcomed parishioners into the Church of Saint Dimitrios Loumbardiaris, a restored stone chapel near the Acropolis. He said he supports forging bonds with Christianity’s other branches — but with caution.

“We can try to build bridges, but we cannot distort our faith or the traditions of our ancestors, or the dogmas Christ himself handed down,” he said. “There are deeply rooted differences. From my view and that of many people here, the unity sought in the past by the Roman Catholic Church often wasn’t sincere; it came with strings attached, was more about dominance than genuine reconciliation.”

As dialogue between the churches slowly unfolds, common Easter celebrations are already a practical reality in a few places. The Orthodox Church in Finland switched dates in the 1920s to align celebrations with the Lutheran majority. And Catholics in Greece — while making no official change to their calendar — have celebrated with the rest of the country since 1970.

Joseph Roussos, a member of a Catholic community on the Greek island of Syros, took his first trip to the Vatican last month.

At age 67, he remembers when Easters in Greece were separate: when schools and shopkeepers on the island closed for different holidays, and the church bells tolled mournfully during two distinct Holy Weeks.

“It wasn’t a good situation. But when we did celebrate Easter together, there was great harmony,” he said. “We live very well (today), and it’s truly beautiful. I hope it stays that way.”

Barry reported from Rome. AP journalist Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report

By&nbsp;DEREK GATOPOULOS, COLLEEN BARRY and LEFTERIS PITARAKIS Associated PressATHENS, Greece (AP) — For more than 400 years, Catholic and Orthodox churches have used different ways to determine the date of Easter. But this Sunday will mark a special moment for Christians, as the churches celebrate of Jesus’ resurrection on the same day.What’s more, top religious leaders — including Pope Francis — are expressing a desire to keep it that way. But the unusual alignment has stirred underlying mistrust between the two major Christian communions.<h2>Calendars and calculations differ</h2>The movable date for Easter follows a seemingly straightforward rule: the Sunday following the first full moon on or after the spring equinox. But the two churches started using different calendars after Pope Gregory XIII’s adaptation in 1582, when the Western church adopted the Gregorian calendar while the Eastern Orthodox Church kept the older Julian one.Moreover, each church uses its own ecclesiastical calculations for lunar cycles and the equinox, which don’t neatly match scientific projections.The result is that Easter dates can be as much as five weeks apart. They can coincide in back-to-back years, or a decade can pass without it happening.<h2>Pope Francis’ wish</h2>Days before his five-week hospitalization, Pope Francis referred to this year’s Easter celebration while invoking the 1,700th anniversary of the historic Council of Nicaea, when Christian leaders gathered to settle foundational disputes about the faith.“Once again, I renew my appeal: Let this coincidence serve as a sign — a call to all Christians to take a decisive step toward unity around a common date for Easter,” Francis said while leading prayers at the Basilica of St. Paul in Rome.Francis’ invitation, delivered at the end of a prayer for Christian Unity with Orthodox priests present, wasn’t new. Returning from a trip to Turkey in 2014, he told reporters on the plane that a unified date would be logical.“It is a bit ridiculous,” he said, then staged a pretend conversation: “‘Tell me, your Christ, when is he resurrected? Next week? Mine was resurrected last week.’”He has found an ally in Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, a fellow octogenarian and spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians. The two “speak to one another like brothers,” Francis has said. For his part, Bartholomew has called Francis “our elder brother” and described the Easter initiative as “a real step toward repairing old conflicts.”<h2>Only winners, no losers?</h2>The idea of a common Easter has been discussed since the 1960s, with interest often peaking when celebrations coincide. The key obstacle has always been the implication that one side would need to concede.Protestants, who follow the same calendar as Catholics, have also been in on the discussions.The Geneva-based World Council of Churches — a fellowship of Orthodox and Protestant bodies — has proposed a compromise. It suggests using modern astronomy, basing the calculation on Jerusalem time and following the same basic rule set centuries ago.“It has never been more important than now, because we live in a polarized world and people all over the world yearn for more unity,” Lutheran Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, a senior WCC official, told The Associated Press from his home outside Berlin. “All other questions – on calendar, on time, on the moon and the stars and everything – it’s not primary; it’s secondary.”<h2>‘Strings attached’</h2>While the pope’s wishes may carry powerful influence through the Vatican’s highly centralized authority, Bartholomew’s role is largely symbolic over the self-governed national and local churches. And discussions between Russia, the Orthodox world’s most populous country, and churches of other Orthodox-majority countries remain stalled due to the war and church divisions in Ukraine.Further complicating prospects for consensus is a history characterized by centuries of mistrust, largely driven by wariness in the East about the Vatican’s supremacy.At a Holy Week service Monday in Athens, Father Anastasios welcomed parishioners into the Church of Saint Dimitrios Loumbardiaris, a restored stone chapel near the Acropolis. He said he supports forging bonds with Christianity’s other branches — but with caution.“We can try to build bridges, but we cannot distort our faith or the traditions of our ancestors, or the dogmas Christ himself handed down,” he said. “There are deeply rooted differences. From my view and that of many people here, the unity sought in the past by the Roman Catholic Church often wasn’t sincere; it came with strings attached, was more about dominance than genuine reconciliation.”<h2>‘Great harmony’</h2>As dialogue between the churches slowly unfolds, common Easter celebrations are already a practical reality in a few places. The Orthodox Church in Finland switched dates in the 1920s to align celebrations with the Lutheran majority. And Catholics in Greece — while making no official change to their calendar — have celebrated with the rest of the country since 1970.Joseph Roussos, a member of a Catholic community on the Greek island of Syros, took his first trip to the Vatican last month.At age 67, he remembers when Easters in Greece were separate: when schools and shopkeepers on the island closed for different holidays, and the church bells tolled mournfully during two distinct Holy Weeks.“It wasn’t a good situation. But when we did celebrate Easter together, there was great harmony,” he said. “We live very well (today), and it’s truly beautiful. I hope it stays that way.”___Barry reported from Rome. AP journalist Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report

Four centuries later, Easter’s date remains divisive. Some church leaders want that to change

KANSAS CITY—A&nbsp; Kansas City father and son face charges in connection with a fatal dog mauling that took place last year, according to&nbsp;Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2589/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John-II--Complaint-and-Warrant-Packet-1">John R. Thibeaux II</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2588/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John--Complaint-and-Warrant-Packet-1">John R. Thibeaux I</a>&nbsp;face one count of 1st Degree Involuntary Manslaughter and one count of 2nd Degree Assault each.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2587/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John-II--PC-Statement_redacted">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police were dispatched to the 3200 block of East 80th Street on Nov. 2, 2024, and found numerous dogs attacking the victim. Officers used sirens and air horns to scare away the dogs and they retreated to Thibeaux II’s yard through holes in a chain-link fence. The fence was improperly installed, allowing the dogs to enter and exit the yard.

The victim, who suffered severe wounds, died days later. Another person was also bitten while trying to stop the attack.

Surveillance video showed the dogs behind the fence in Thibeaux II’s yard before the attack. One of the dogs was outside the fence and began attacking the victim. The other dogs crawled under the chain-link fence and joined in the attack.&nbsp;

Witnesses reported the dogs regularly roamed the neighborhood, had attacked neighbors’ pets, were aggressive toward people, and even bit someone in the neighborhood on two separate occasions. Text messages revealed Thibeaux I knew about the dogs’ behavior.&nbsp;

Detectives also discovered Thibeaux II operated a dog breeding business, as evidenced by social media posts advertising puppies for sale. Thibeaux II also admitted in texts that one of his dogs had bitten him while he tried to break up a fight between his dogs, just months before the fatal attack.&nbsp;

Both defendants are in custody on a $100,000 bond each.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745011329889.png" alt="John R. Thibeaux-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>John R. Thibeaux-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—A&nbsp; Kansas City father and son face charges in connection with a fatal dog mauling that took place last year, according to&nbsp;Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2589/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John-II--Complaint-and-Warrant-Packet-1">John R. Thibeaux II</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2588/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John--Complaint-and-Warrant-Packet-1">John R. Thibeaux I</a>&nbsp;face one count of 1st Degree Involuntary Manslaughter and one count of 2nd Degree Assault each.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1745011303839.png" alt="John R. Thibeaux II photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>John R. Thibeaux II photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2587/KC24082504--Thibeaux_John-II--PC-Statement_redacted">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police were dispatched to the 3200 block of East 80th Street on Nov. 2, 2024, and found numerous dogs attacking the victim. Officers used sirens and air horns to scare away the dogs and they retreated to Thibeaux II’s yard through holes in a chain-link fence. The fence was improperly installed, allowing the dogs to enter and exit the yard.The victim, who suffered severe wounds, died days later. Another person was also bitten while trying to stop the attack.Surveillance video showed the dogs behind the fence in Thibeaux II’s yard before the attack. One of the dogs was outside the fence and began attacking the victim. The other dogs crawled under the chain-link fence and joined in the attack.&nbsp;Witnesses reported the dogs regularly roamed the neighborhood, had attacked neighbors’ pets, were aggressive toward people, and even bit someone in the neighborhood on two separate occasions. Text messages revealed Thibeaux I knew about the dogs’ behavior.&nbsp;Detectives also discovered Thibeaux II operated a dog breeding business, as evidenced by social media posts advertising puppies for sale. Thibeaux II also admitted in texts that one of his dogs had bitten him while he tried to break up a fight between his dogs, just months before the fatal attack.&nbsp;Both defendants are in custody on a $100,000 bond each.&nbsp;

Kansas City father, son accused in fatal dog mauling

HARVEY COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect&nbsp;in connection with an attempted aggravated kidnapping that occurred the evening of April 15, according to a media release from Sedgwick Police Chief Bryan Hall.

Just after 6:30p.m. that evening, police responded to reports that a woman had attempted to forcibly remove a child from a practice field located at 400 W. 4th Street. Witnesses said the woman stated her intent to take the child from the school property. Two supervising adults intervened and were able to separate the woman from the child.

The incident was reported to law enforcement on April 16. Following an investigation and consultation with the Harvey County Attorney’s Office, a 37-year-old Sedgwick resident was taken into custody on requested charges of attempted aggravated kidnapping, a felony.

She is currently being held at the Harvey County Detention Center and is awaiting an initial court appearance.

To protect the privacy of the child and the integrity of the investigation, police released no further details about the victim or suspect.

HARVEY COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect&nbsp;in connection with an attempted aggravated kidnapping that occurred the evening of April 15, according to a media release from Sedgwick Police Chief Bryan Hall.Just after 6:30p.m. that evening, police responded to reports that a woman had attempted to forcibly remove a child from a practice field located at 400 W. 4th Street. Witnesses said the woman stated her intent to take the child from the school property. Two supervising adults intervened and were able to separate the woman from the child.The incident was reported to law enforcement on April 16. Following an investigation and consultation with the Harvey County Attorney’s Office, a 37-year-old Sedgwick resident was taken into custody on requested charges of attempted aggravated kidnapping, a felony.She is currently being held at the Harvey County Detention Center and is awaiting an initial court appearance.To protect the privacy of the child and the integrity of the investigation, police released no further details about the victim or suspect.

Police: Kan. woman attempted to kidnap child from school practice field

DODGE COUNTY, Nebraska —Authorities are investigating a small plane crash in rural northeast Nebraska that killed three people including a man from Kansas.

The plane crashed just after 8p.m. Friday into the Platte River south of Fremont, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's office.&nbsp; &nbsp;The victims have been identified as 43-year-old Daniel Williams of Moundridge, Kansas, 50-year-old Jeff Bittinger and 48-year-old Randy Amrein both of Fremont, Nebraska, according to the sheriff's office.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are in charge of the investigation. Fremont is located approximately 45 minutes northwest of Omaha.

DODGE COUNTY, Nebraska —Authorities are investigating a small plane crash in rural northeast Nebraska that killed three people including a man from Kansas.The plane crashed just after 8p.m. Friday into the Platte River south of Fremont, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's office.&nbsp; &nbsp;The victims have been identified as 43-year-old Daniel Williams of Moundridge, Kansas, 50-year-old Jeff Bittinger and 48-year-old Randy Amrein both of Fremont, Nebraska, according to the sheriff's office.The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are in charge of the investigation. Fremont is located approximately 45 minutes northwest of Omaha.

Kan. man among 3 dead in small plane crash in Nebraska

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas felon on multiple allegations after an alleged domestic incident involving a gun.

Just after 1p.m. April 16, police were in the area of the 2000 block of Lane Street in Topeka and witnessed shots being fired, according to Topeka Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.

&nbsp;The suspect was believed to have been hiding in a nearby residence but has not been located. The shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute and there with no imminent threat to the public.&nbsp;

As a result of this investigation police arrested 53-year-old Christopher L. Cowan on requested charges of&nbsp;Aggravated assault, use of a deadly weapon, Aggravated endangering a child, reckless situation to a child &lt;18, Criminal discharge of a firearm, recklessly at occupied vehicle, Criminal possession of a weapon by a felon,&nbsp;Interference with LEO; obstruct/resist/oppose felon warrant service or execution and Parole violation warrant arrest.

&nbsp;U.S. Marshall’s Service assisted Topeka police in the arrest.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1744898147600.png" alt="Cowan photo Shawnee Co." />
 <figcaption>Cowan photo Shawnee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas felon on multiple allegations after an alleged domestic incident involving a gun.Just after 1p.m. April 16, police were in the area of the 2000 block of Lane Street in Topeka and witnessed shots being fired, according to Topeka Police Lt. Donna Eubanks.&nbsp;The suspect was believed to have been hiding in a nearby residence but has not been located. The shooting was being investigated as a domestic dispute and there with no imminent threat to the public.&nbsp;As a result of this investigation police arrested 53-year-old Christopher L. Cowan on requested charges of&nbsp;Aggravated assault, use of a deadly weapon, Aggravated endangering a child, reckless situation to a child &lt;18, Criminal discharge of a firearm, recklessly at occupied vehicle, Criminal possession of a weapon by a felon,&nbsp;Interference with LEO; obstruct/resist/oppose felon warrant service or execution and Parole violation warrant arrest.&nbsp;U.S. Marshall’s Service assisted Topeka police in the arrest.&nbsp;

U.S. Marshals help catch Kansas felon wanted for shooting

Harvard University is the latest in a growing list of higher education institutions that had its federal funding targeted by the government in order to comply with the Trump administration's political agenda.

The series of threats — and subsequent pauses in funding — to some of the top U.S. universities have become an unprecedented tool for the administration to exert influence on college campuses. Six of the seven universities impacted are Ivy League schools.

President Donald Trump vowed to pursue these federal cuts on the campaign trail last year, saying he would focus on schools that push "critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content." Public school systems are targets for cuts too.

Here's a look at which universities have been pressured by the administration's funding cuts so far.

The administration announced its antisemitism task force would conduct a " comprehensive review " of the Massachusetts university on March 31. The government was set to review nearly $9 billion of federal grants and contracts.

Harvard is among universities across the country where pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year. Republican officials have since heavily scrutinized those universities, and several Ivy League presidents testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations.

The administration issued its list of demands to Harvard in a letter on April 3. The demands included a ban on face masks, limitations on campus protests and a review of academic departments' biases.

About a week later, those demands were expanded to include leadership reforms, admission policy changes and stopping the university's recognition of certain student organizations.

Then, on Monday, Harvard President Alan Gerber refused to comply, saying in a letter that the university "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."

Hours later, the administration announced it froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.

The White House announced last week that it froze more than $1 billion of Cornell's federal funding. The administration said the freeze came as it investigated alleged civil rights violations at the university.

The New York university was among a group of more than 60 universities that received a letter from the Education Department on March 10 urging them to take steps to protect Jewish students or else face "potential enforcement actions."

The Defense Department issued more than 75 stop-work orders for research, Cornell said in a statement, but that the federal government hadn't confirmed if the total funding freeze totaled $1 billion.

Like Cornell, Northwestern also saw a halt in some of its federal funding last week. The amount was about $790 million, according to the Trump administration.

The Illinois university did not receive an official message from the White House on the freeze despite its cooperation with civil rights investigations, according to Northwestern officials at the time.

University spokesperson Jon Yates said Northwestern's scientific research was "at jeopardy" because of the freeze — a widespread issue for universities facing research cuts from the National Institutes of Health.

The Trump administration was anticipated to pause federal grants and contracts at Brown University because of the Rhode Island school's response to alleged antisemitism on campus, according to a White House official on April 3.

The total was expected to be about $510 million in funding, according to the official.

Dozens of research grants were suspended at Princeton University without a clear rationale, according to an April 1 campus message from university president Christopher Eisgruber. The grants came from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the Defense Department.

Before the funding pause, Eisgruber had expressed his opposition to Trump's threatened cuts at Columbia University in an essay in The Atlantic magazine. He called the administration's move a "radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America's leadership in research."

Unlike the other targeted universities, the University of Pennsylvania saw funding cuts because of a transgender athlete who competed in Penn's swimming program, according to the Trump administration.

After a Feb. 5 executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports, the Education Department launched an investigation a day later into athletics programs at Penn and San Jose State University. The Penn investigation centered on Lia Thomas, who is the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title and graduated from the university in 2022.

Over a month later, the White House announced the suspension of about $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The administration said the halt in funding on March 19 came after a separate discretionary federal money review.

The university said at the time that it wasn't directly notified of the action.

Columbia University was the first major institution that had its funding singled out by the Trump administration.

At first, federal agencies declared they were considering stop-work orders for about $51 million of contracts with Columbia on March 3. Trump had also said on social media that schools that allow "illegal protests" would see funding cuts.

Last year, Columbia student protesters started a wave of campus demonstrations against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The protests led to tense faceoffs with police at the New York City university and the arrests of more than 100 demonstrators.

University leadership faced scathing condemnations from Republicans on the protests' proliferation, leading former president Minouche Shafik to step down. Columbia also began investigating pro-Palestinian student activists, such as Mahmoud Khalil, who was later arrested and is at threat of deportation.

On March 7, the Trump administration cancelled about $400 million of Columbia's federal funding. Columbia took some action afterward, such as expelling and suspending some student protesters who occupied a campus building during demonstrations.

The university announced March 21 that it had agreed to make even more sweeping policy changes that the Trump administration had demanded.

The changes included placing the Middle East studies department under supervision, hiring new safety personnel who can make arrests, and banning face masks "for the purposes of concealing one's identity." The university also agreed to appoint a senior provost tasked with reviewing several international studies departments' leadership and curriculum.

Armstrong resigned from her post the following week. The decision was met with dissatisfaction among some faculty members and a lawsuit against the cuts.

But following Harvard's defiance of the Trump administration's demands, Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, had a new message Monday. She said that while she agrees with some of the administration's requests, the university would reject "heavy-handed orchestration" that would "require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution."

Discussions were still ongoing between the federal government and Columbia as of Monday, according to Shipman's campus letter.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/4/1744677178521.png" alt="Harvard President Alan Garber- courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Harvard President Alan Garber- courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By MAKIYA SEMINERA Associated PressHarvard University is the latest in a growing list of higher education institutions that had its federal funding targeted by the government in order to comply with the Trump administration's political agenda.The series of threats — and subsequent pauses in funding — to some of the top U.S. universities have become an unprecedented tool for the administration to exert influence on college campuses. Six of the seven universities impacted are Ivy League schools.President Donald Trump vowed to pursue these federal cuts on the campaign trail last year, saying he would focus on schools that push "critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content." Public school systems are targets for cuts too.Here's a look at which universities have been pressured by the administration's funding cuts so far.Harvard UniversityThe administration announced its antisemitism task force would conduct a " comprehensive review " of the Massachusetts university on March 31. The government was set to review nearly $9 billion of federal grants and contracts.Harvard is among universities across the country where pro-Palestinian protests erupted on campus amid the war in Gaza last year. Republican officials have since heavily scrutinized those universities, and several Ivy League presidents testified before Congress to discuss antisemitism allegations.The administration issued its list of demands to Harvard in a letter on April 3. The demands included a ban on face masks, limitations on campus protests and a review of academic departments' biases.About a week later, those demands were expanded to include leadership reforms, admission policy changes and stopping the university's recognition of certain student organizations.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.” - President Alan Garber <a href="https://t.co/6cQQpcJVTd">https://t.co/6cQQpcJVTd</a>&mdash; Harvard University (@Harvard) <a href="https://twitter.com/Harvard/status/1911835670953214401?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 14, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Then, on Monday, Harvard President Alan Gerber refused to comply, saying in a letter that the university "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."Hours later, the administration announced it froze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.Cornell UniversityThe White House announced last week that it froze more than $1 billion of Cornell's federal funding. The administration said the freeze came as it investigated alleged civil rights violations at the university.The New York university was among a group of more than 60 universities that received a letter from the Education Department on March 10 urging them to take steps to protect Jewish students or else face "potential enforcement actions."The Defense Department issued more than 75 stop-work orders for research, Cornell said in a statement, but that the federal government hadn't confirmed if the total funding freeze totaled $1 billion.Northwestern UniversityLike Cornell, Northwestern also saw a halt in some of its federal funding last week. The amount was about $790 million, according to the Trump administration.The Illinois university did not receive an official message from the White House on the freeze despite its cooperation with civil rights investigations, according to Northwestern officials at the time.University spokesperson Jon Yates said Northwestern's scientific research was "at jeopardy" because of the freeze — a widespread issue for universities facing research cuts from the National Institutes of Health.Brown UniversityThe Trump administration was anticipated to pause federal grants and contracts at Brown University because of the Rhode Island school's response to alleged antisemitism on campus, according to a White House official on April 3.The total was expected to be about $510 million in funding, according to the official.Princeton UniversityDozens of research grants were suspended at Princeton University without a clear rationale, according to an April 1 campus message from university president Christopher Eisgruber. The grants came from federal agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the Defense Department.Before the funding pause, Eisgruber had expressed his opposition to Trump's threatened cuts at Columbia University in an essay in The Atlantic magazine. He called the administration's move a "radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America's leadership in research."University of PennsylvaniaUnlike the other targeted universities, the University of Pennsylvania saw funding cuts because of a transgender athlete who competed in Penn's swimming program, according to the Trump administration.After a Feb. 5 executive order barring transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports, the Education Department launched an investigation a day later into athletics programs at Penn and San Jose State University. The Penn investigation centered on Lia Thomas, who is the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I title and graduated from the university in 2022.Over a month later, the White House announced the suspension of about $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services. The administration said the halt in funding on March 19 came after a separate discretionary federal money review.The university said at the time that it wasn't directly notified of the action.Columbia UniversityColumbia University was the first major institution that had its funding singled out by the Trump administration.At first, federal agencies declared they were considering stop-work orders for about $51 million of contracts with Columbia on March 3. Trump had also said on social media that schools that allow "illegal protests" would see funding cuts.Last year, Columbia student protesters started a wave of campus demonstrations against Israel's military campaign in Gaza. The protests led to tense faceoffs with police at the New York City university and the arrests of more than 100 demonstrators.University leadership faced scathing condemnations from Republicans on the protests' proliferation, leading former president Minouche Shafik to step down. Columbia also began investigating pro-Palestinian student activists, such as Mahmoud Khalil, who was later arrested and is at threat of deportation.On March 7, the Trump administration cancelled about $400 million of Columbia's federal funding. Columbia took some action afterward, such as expelling and suspending some student protesters who occupied a campus building during demonstrations.The university announced March 21 that it had agreed to make even more sweeping policy changes that the Trump administration had demanded.The changes included placing the Middle East studies department under supervision, hiring new safety personnel who can make arrests, and banning face masks "for the purposes of concealing one's identity." The university also agreed to appoint a senior provost tasked with reviewing several international studies departments' leadership and curriculum.Armstrong resigned from her post the following week. The decision was met with dissatisfaction among some faculty members and a lawsuit against the cuts.But following Harvard's defiance of the Trump administration's demands, Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, had a new message Monday. She said that while she agrees with some of the administration's requests, the university would reject "heavy-handed orchestration" that would "require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution."Discussions were still ongoing between the federal government and Columbia as of Monday, according to Shipman's campus letter.