KANSAS CITY—A jury&nbsp; convicted Dmarius M. Bozeman in the fatal shooting in February 2021 of Khasheme Strother, who was inside a Kansas City residence on W. Pennway with her three children, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

In September, a Jackson County jury convicted 34-year-old Bozeman of Murder 2nd Degree, Armed Criminal Action, two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child 1st Degree, one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child 2nd Degree and three additional counts of Armed Criminal Action.

The judge on Friday sentenced the defendant to 25 years on Murder 2nd Degree and five years on the other counts. He set the 25-year sentence and the 5-year sentence to run consecutively for a total of 30 years.

According to court records, Kansas City police responded to the 1900 block of W. Pennway Terrace on a reported shooting. Police found two deceased adults and another injured adult. The injured adult stated he had called 911. In the 911 recording he indicates he shot the adult male, Ramond Hill, 19 in self defense and that he also shot Strother after he was jumped. 

Bozeman said Strother was his girlfriend and the other victim was her son. Three juveniles were in the residence at the time of the shooting. Bozeman told police he had been in a struggle with Strother and he fired what he thought were two warning shots. Soon after he saw she had been shot. Bozeman said he fired at Hill after he came back inside the residence and fired shots at him.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/2/1613846513415.png" alt="Bozeman-photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Bozeman-photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—A jury&nbsp; convicted Dmarius M. Bozeman in the fatal shooting in February 2021 of Khasheme Strother, who was inside a Kansas City residence on W. Pennway with her three children, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.In September, a Jackson County jury convicted 34-year-old Bozeman of Murder 2nd Degree, Armed Criminal Action, two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child 1st Degree, one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child 2nd Degree and three additional counts of Armed Criminal Action.The judge on Friday sentenced the defendant to 25 years on Murder 2nd Degree and five years on the other counts. He set the 25-year sentence and the 5-year sentence to run consecutively for a total of 30 years.According to court records, Kansas City police responded to the 1900 block of W. Pennway Terrace on a reported shooting. Police found two deceased adults and another injured adult. The injured adult stated he had called 911. In the 911 recording he indicates he shot the adult male, Ramond Hill, 19 in self defense and that he also shot Strother after he was jumped. Bozeman said Strother was his girlfriend and the other victim was her son. Three juveniles were in the residence at the time of the shooting. Bozeman told police he had been in a struggle with Strother and he fired what he thought were two warning shots. Soon after he saw she had been shot. Bozeman said he fired at Hill after he came back inside the residence and fired shots at him.

KC man sentenced for killing girlfriend in front of her kids

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;signed gay marriage legislation into law Tuesday before a crowd of thousands, a ceremony that reflected growing acceptance of same-sex unions.

Click the video below to watch the performers and the signing ceremony

“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms," Biden said on the South Lawn of the White House. "And that’s why this law matters to every single American.”

Lawmakers from both parties were there, as well as first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Singers Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper performed.

“For once, our families, mine and a lot of my friends — and people you know, sometimes your neighbors — we can rest easy tonight, because our families are validated," Lauper said at the White House briefing room before the ceremony.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wore the same purple tie to the ceremony that he wore to his daughter's wedding. His daughter and her wife are expecting their first child in the spring.

“Thanks to the dogged work of many of my colleagues, my grandchild will live in a world that will respect and honor their mothers' marriage," Schumer said on the Senate floor in the morning.

The triumphant mood played out against the backdrop of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-legislature-gay-rights-raleigh-government-and-politics-84892bee21af98cfd80d56481ca05458">a right-wing backlash</a>&nbsp;over gender issues, which has alarmed gay and transgender people and their advocates. Biden criticized the “callous, cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need."

“Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected," Biden said. “But the antidote to hate is love.”

Among the attendees were the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-shootings-colorado-hate-crimes-springs-b9be567920a55986c57af59535ac9f61">charged with hate crimes.</a>

Plaintiffs from lawsuits that originally helped secure the nationwide right to gay marriage were also there.

“It's not lost on me that our struggle for freedom hasn't been achieved," said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "But this is a huge step forward, and we have to celebrate the victories we achieve and use that to fuel the future of the fight.”

Robinson attended the ceremony with her wife and 1-year-old child.

“Our kids are watching this moment,” she said. “It's very special to have them here and show them that we're on the right side of history.”

The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marriage-anthony-kennedy-ohio-state-government-united-states-tennessee-9dc57b83f3ae2fc7d2e007aa80bf33a3">2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide</a>. The new law also protects interracial marriages. In 1967, the Supreme Court in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-courts-supreme-courts-c6df18d20eb141e1b55bd5c3b02bf91d">Loving v. Virginia</a>&nbsp;struck down laws in 16 states barring interracial marriage.

The signing marks the culmination of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-wisconsin-rob-portman-marriage-tammy-baldwin-91b12650871afaa87a479d3018a4fded">a monthslong bipartisan effort</a>&nbsp;sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion available across the country.

In a concurring opinion in the case that overturned Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested revisiting other decisions, including the legalization of gay marriage, generating fear that more civil rights could be imperiled by the court’s conservative majority. Thomas did not include interracial marriage with other cases he said should be reconsidered.

Lawmakers crafted a compromise that was intended to assuage conservative concerns about religious liberty, such as ensuring churches could still refuse to perform gay marriages.

In addition, states will not be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But they will be required to recognize marriages conducted elsewhere in the country.

A majority of Republicans in Congress still voted against the legislation. However, enough supported it to sidestep a filibuster in the Senate and ensure its passage.

Tuesday’s ceremony marks another chapter in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-ohio-state-government-and-texas-4d369bd85e52b030ff1813dcafc9f7bd">Biden’s legacy on gay rights.</a>

He memorably — and unexpectedly — endorsed same-sex unions in a television interview in 2012, when he was vice president. Days later, President Barack Obama announced that he also supported gay marriage.

A clip of the interview was played at the ceremony.

"What this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love?" Biden said on NBC's “Meet the Press" a decade ago. "Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that is what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about."

A Gallup poll showed only 27% of U.S. adults supported same-sex unions in 1996, when President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which said the federal government would only recognize heterosexual marriages. Biden voted for the legislation.

By the time of Biden's 2012 interview, gay marriage remained controversial, but support had expanded to roughly half of U.S. adults, according to Gallup. Earlier this year, 71% said same-sex unions should be recognized by law.

Biden has pushed to expand LGBT rights since taking office. He reversed President Donald Trump’s efforts to strip transgender people of anti-discrimination protections. His administration includes the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-climate-cabinets-transportation-adaccf75c41ecf0b1628c009521d425f">first openly gay Cabinet member</a>, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-religion-biden-cabinet-pennsylvania-coronavirus-pandemic-fce5cef9b8f3c99a5c5d20d3a68207b5">first transgender person to receive Senate confirmation</a>, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670966508355.png" alt="Kansas 3rd Dist. Congresswoman Sharice Davids standing next to Vice President Harris during the bill signing. White House photo" />
 <figcaption>Kansas 3rd Dist. Congresswoman Sharice Davids standing next to Vice President Harris during the bill signing. White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;signed gay marriage legislation into law Tuesday before a crowd of thousands, a ceremony that reflected growing acceptance of same-sex unions.Click the video below to watch the performers and the signing ceremony<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4Eazf0tm_rE?start=1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms," Biden said on the South Lawn of the White House. "And that’s why this law matters to every single American.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670966716167.png" alt="Cyndi Lauper performed "True Colors" and&nbsp; and Sam Smith performed "Stay With Me."-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>Cyndi Lauper performed "True Colors" and&nbsp; and Sam Smith performed "Stay With Me."-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Lawmakers from both parties were there, as well as first lady Jill Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. Singers Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper performed.“For once, our families, mine and a lot of my friends — and people you know, sometimes your neighbors — we can rest easy tonight, because our families are validated," Lauper said at the White House briefing room before the ceremony.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wore the same purple tie to the ceremony that he wore to his daughter's wedding. His daughter and her wife are expecting their first child in the spring.“Thanks to the dogged work of many of my colleagues, my grandchild will live in a world that will respect and honor their mothers' marriage," Schumer said on the Senate floor in the morning.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670967401299.png" alt="A gay men's chorus from the District of Columbia performed during the event-photo courtesy White House" />
 <figcaption>A gay men's chorus from the District of Columbia performed during the event-photo courtesy White House</figcaption>
 </figure>The triumphant mood played out against the backdrop of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-carolina-legislature-gay-rights-raleigh-government-and-politics-84892bee21af98cfd80d56481ca05458">a right-wing backlash</a>&nbsp;over gender issues, which has alarmed gay and transgender people and their advocates. Biden criticized the “callous, cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need."“Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected," Biden said. “But the antidote to hate is love.”Among the attendees were the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/crime-shootings-colorado-hate-crimes-springs-b9be567920a55986c57af59535ac9f61">charged with hate crimes.</a>Plaintiffs from lawsuits that originally helped secure the nationwide right to gay marriage were also there.“It's not lost on me that our struggle for freedom hasn't been achieved," said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "But this is a huge step forward, and we have to celebrate the victories we achieve and use that to fuel the future of the fight.”Robinson attended the ceremony with her wife and 1-year-old child.“Our kids are watching this moment,” she said. “It's very special to have them here and show them that we're on the right side of history.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Ten years ago, President Biden announced his support for marriage equality – becoming the highest-ranking U.S. government official to do so. Today, <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> signed historic legislation to protect marriage for same-sex and interracial couples. <a href="https://t.co/ylZ8hYF86m">pic.twitter.com/ylZ8hYF86m</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1602779023511363584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/marriage-anthony-kennedy-ohio-state-government-united-states-tennessee-9dc57b83f3ae2fc7d2e007aa80bf33a3">2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide</a>. The new law also protects interracial marriages. In 1967, the Supreme Court in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-us-news-ap-top-news-courts-supreme-courts-c6df18d20eb141e1b55bd5c3b02bf91d">Loving v. Virginia</a>&nbsp;struck down laws in 16 states barring interracial marriage.The signing marks the culmination of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-wisconsin-rob-portman-marriage-tammy-baldwin-91b12650871afaa87a479d3018a4fded">a monthslong bipartisan effort</a>&nbsp;sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion available across the country.In a concurring opinion in the case that overturned Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested revisiting other decisions, including the legalization of gay marriage, generating fear that more civil rights could be imperiled by the court’s conservative majority. Thomas did not include interracial marriage with other cases he said should be reconsidered.Lawmakers crafted a compromise that was intended to assuage conservative concerns about religious liberty, such as ensuring churches could still refuse to perform gay marriages.In addition, states will not be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. But they will be required to recognize marriages conducted elsewhere in the country.A majority of Republicans in Congress still voted against the legislation. However, enough supported it to sidestep a filibuster in the Senate and ensure its passage.Tuesday’s ceremony marks another chapter in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-politics-ohio-state-government-and-texas-4d369bd85e52b030ff1813dcafc9f7bd">Biden’s legacy on gay rights.</a>He memorably — and unexpectedly — endorsed same-sex unions in a television interview in 2012, when he was vice president. Days later, President Barack Obama announced that he also supported gay marriage.A clip of the interview was played at the ceremony."What this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love?" Biden said on NBC's “Meet the Press" a decade ago. "Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that is what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about."A Gallup poll showed only 27% of U.S. adults supported same-sex unions in 1996, when President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which said the federal government would only recognize heterosexual marriages. Biden voted for the legislation.By the time of Biden's 2012 interview, gay marriage remained controversial, but support had expanded to roughly half of U.S. adults, according to Gallup. Earlier this year, 71% said same-sex unions should be recognized by law.Biden has pushed to expand LGBT rights since taking office. He reversed President Donald Trump’s efforts to strip transgender people of anti-discrimination protections. His administration includes the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-biden-cabinet-climate-cabinets-transportation-adaccf75c41ecf0b1628c009521d425f">first openly gay Cabinet member</a>, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-religion-biden-cabinet-pennsylvania-coronavirus-pandemic-fce5cef9b8f3c99a5c5d20d3a68207b5">first transgender person to receive Senate confirmation</a>, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.

🎥 White House hosts party as Biden signs gay marriage bill

KANSAS CITY, KAN.– A Kansas man was sentenced today to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $537,000 in restitution for defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of disability benefits, according to the United State's Attorney.

In August 2022, a federal jury convicted Bruce Hay, 54, of Greeley, a U.S. Army veteran, of six counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of theft of government funds. Hay misrepresented and exaggerated the extent of symptoms related to a purported conversion disorder diagnosis to receive more than $500,000 in VA disability benefits to which he was not entitled.

“Misrepresenting symptoms to the VA to fraudulently obtain benefits takes resources from deserving veterans and will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Gregory Billingsley with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Central Field Office. “The VA OIG will continue to vigorously investigate those who would steal from VA benefits programs and taxpayers.”

KANSAS CITY, KAN.– A Kansas man was sentenced today to 37 months in prison and ordered to pay more than $537,000 in restitution for defrauding the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of disability benefits, according to the United State's Attorney.In August 2022, a federal jury convicted Bruce Hay, 54, of Greeley, a U.S. Army veteran, of six counts of wire fraud and 10 counts of theft of government funds. Hay misrepresented and exaggerated the extent of symptoms related to a purported conversion disorder diagnosis to receive more than $500,000 in VA disability benefits to which he was not entitled.“Misrepresenting symptoms to the VA to fraudulently obtain benefits takes resources from deserving veterans and will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Gregory Billingsley with the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Central Field Office. “The VA OIG will continue to vigorously investigate those who would steal from VA benefits programs and taxpayers.”

Kan. veteran who faked illness, sentenced for taking disability benefits

DOUGLAS COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating shots fired that could have been deadly in Lawrence.

Just before 8p.m.&nbsp;someone fired gunshots into multiple homes in the area around 27th and Louisiana Street, according to a media release.

 One round struck a child's bed. Fortunately, no one was in the house.

Police are working to identify suspects. Anyone in the area that may have information, please call (785)832-7509

DOUGLAS COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating shots fired that could have been deadly in Lawrence.Just before 8p.m.&nbsp;someone fired gunshots into multiple homes in the area around 27th and Louisiana Street, according to a media release. One round struck a child's bed. Fortunately, no one was in the house.Police are working to identify suspects. Anyone in the area that may have information, please call (785)832-7509

Police: Gunfire struck child's bed at Kansas home

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The company operating a pipeline that leaked about 14,000 bathtubs' worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek is recovering at least a small part of it from what was the largest onshore crude oil spill in nine years.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Canada-based TC Energy has recovered 2,163 barrels of oil mixed with water from the 14,000-barrel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-spills-business-texas-canada-kansas-34d8391337583fc242407141d24d66c2">spill on a creek</a>&nbsp;running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles northwest of Kansas City.

The EPA also said the company has recovered 435 barrels from the ruptured pipeline, to bring the total amount of oil and water recovered to 2,598 barrels, a figure also released by the company. Each barrel is enough to fill a household bathtub, and the total spill was 588,000 gallons.

Last week's rupture in Kansas forced the company to shut down the Keystone system, and it hasn't said when it will come back online. It is using trucks with what essentially are large wet vacuums to suck out the oil. The company said Thursday evening that the trucks are operating around the clock. The company and the EPA say no drinking water was affected, and no one was evacuated in the wake of the spill.

“Our commitment to the community is that our response efforts will continue until we have fully remediated the site,” the company said in a statement.

The company used booms, or barriers, to contain the oil in the creek and also built an earthen dam to prevent it from moving into larger waterways. The EPA said the company built a second earthen dam to helps support the first.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-spills-business-texas-kansas-us-environmental-protection-agency-eda391fc0924b34a08ff840615a7bc58">It was the biggest onshore spill</a>&nbsp;since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked 20,600 barrels in September 2013, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The agency's data also said it was the largest spill on the Keystone system since it began operating in 2010 and bigger than 22 previous spills on the system combined.

The spill prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation's pipeline safety arm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2022-12/TC%20Oil%20CAO.3-2022-074.pdf">to order TC Energy to take corrective action.</a>

It said the company must reduce the operating pressure by 20% inside the 96-mile (155-kilometer) segment running from Steele City, Nebraska, south to Hope, Kansas. It also said the company cannot restart operations in that segment without the permission of the pipeline safety regulators.

The company also must identify the root cause of the spill and submit a plan for finding similar problems elsewhere and conducting additional tests by early March.

Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy Pipeline Safety Trust, said much of the order is standard “boilerplate,” and it would be possible for TC Energy to get the 96-mile segment back online once it does a repair.

“They need to excavate the pipe in such a way that it's preserved just for the investigation, for that root-cause analysis, and that takes probably the most time,” Caram said. “But the actual repair can be pretty quick.”

Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the Keystone system, the 1,200-mile Keystone XL, which would have cut across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Critics also argued that using crude from western Canada’s oil sands would worsen climate change, and President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a U.S. permit for the project led the company to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-keystone-pipeline-canada-environment-and-nature-141eabd7cca6449dfbd2dab8165812f2">pull the plug last year</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670881926358.png" alt="A massive oil spill in north-central Kansas seeped into Mill Creek and traveled about three miles downstream. Clean up crews contained the spill with a dam about four miles downstream. -photo U.S. Environmental Protection Agency" />
 <figcaption>A massive oil spill in north-central Kansas seeped into Mill Creek and traveled about three miles downstream. Clean up crews contained the spill with a dam about four miles downstream. -photo U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The company operating a pipeline that leaked about 14,000 bathtubs' worth of crude oil into a northeastern Kansas creek is recovering at least a small part of it from what was the largest onshore crude oil spill in nine years.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Canada-based TC Energy has recovered 2,163 barrels of oil mixed with water from the 14,000-barrel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-spills-business-texas-canada-kansas-34d8391337583fc242407141d24d66c2">spill on a creek</a>&nbsp;running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles northwest of Kansas City.The EPA also said the company has recovered 435 barrels from the ruptured pipeline, to bring the total amount of oil and water recovered to 2,598 barrels, a figure also released by the company. Each barrel is enough to fill a household bathtub, and the total spill was 588,000 gallons.Last week's rupture in Kansas forced the company to shut down the Keystone system, and it hasn't said when it will come back online. It is using trucks with what essentially are large wet vacuums to suck out the oil. The company said Thursday evening that the trucks are operating around the clock. The company and the EPA say no drinking water was affected, and no one was evacuated in the wake of the spill.“Our commitment to the community is that our response efforts will continue until we have fully remediated the site,” the company said in a statement.The company used booms, or barriers, to contain the oil in the creek and also built an earthen dam to prevent it from moving into larger waterways. The EPA said the company built a second earthen dam to helps support the first.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/oil-spills-business-texas-kansas-us-environmental-protection-agency-eda391fc0924b34a08ff840615a7bc58">It was the biggest onshore spill</a>&nbsp;since a Tesoro Corp. pipeline rupture in North Dakota leaked 20,600 barrels in September 2013, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The agency's data also said it was the largest spill on the Keystone system since it began operating in 2010 and bigger than 22 previous spills on the system combined.The spill prompted the U.S. Department of Transportation's pipeline safety arm&nbsp;<a href="https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/2022-12/TC%20Oil%20CAO.3-2022-074.pdf">to order TC Energy to take corrective action.</a>It said the company must reduce the operating pressure by 20% inside the 96-mile (155-kilometer) segment running from Steele City, Nebraska, south to Hope, Kansas. It also said the company cannot restart operations in that segment without the permission of the pipeline safety regulators.The company also must identify the root cause of the spill and submit a plan for finding similar problems elsewhere and conducting additional tests by early March.Bill Caram, executive director of the advocacy Pipeline Safety Trust, said much of the order is standard “boilerplate,” and it would be possible for TC Energy to get the 96-mile segment back online once it does a repair.“They need to excavate the pipe in such a way that it's preserved just for the investigation, for that root-cause analysis, and that takes probably the most time,” Caram said. “But the actual repair can be pretty quick.”Concerns that spills could pollute waterways spurred opposition to plans by TC Energy to build another crude oil pipeline in the Keystone system, the 1,200-mile Keystone XL, which would have cut across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Critics also argued that using crude from western Canada’s oil sands would worsen climate change, and President Joe Biden’s cancelation of a U.S. permit for the project led the company to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-joe-biden-keystone-pipeline-canada-environment-and-nature-141eabd7cca6449dfbd2dab8165812f2">pull the plug last year</a>.

Company starting to recover oil from Kansas pipeline spill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-effacd249a42e43b9a54b28d4655b346">decades-long quest to harness</a>&nbsp;the process that powers the sun.

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.

The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.

“Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,'' Granholm told a news conference in Washington. "This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.''

Fusion ignition is “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,″ Granholm said, adding that the breakthrough “will go down in the history books.″

Appearing with Granholm, White House science adviser Arati Prabhakar called the fusion ignition “a tremendous example of what perseverance really can achieve" and "an engineering marvel beyond belief.''

Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said the announcement marked a significant advance nonetheless.

“It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. "We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.”

Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are “very significant hurdles” to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in “a few decades” rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected.

Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn't create radioactive waste.

President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good example of the need to continue to invest in research and development. “Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon,” he said at the White House.

Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-fusion-energy-lawrence-livermore-a3c1ecbb738640b0a2e384dc80b8dd07">create an extremely brief fusion reaction</a>.

The lasers focus an enormous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environment where fusion may occur.

Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there's a long road ahead before the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity.

He likened the breakthrough to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.

“You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires,” Betti said. “You can't say that you have a car.”

The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.

It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said.

Results from the California lab exceeded expectations, said Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics.

Although there's a long way to go to turn fusion into a usable power source, Chittenden said, the lab’s achievement makes him optimistic that it may someday be "the ideal power source that we thought it would be” — one that's carbon-free and runs on an abundant form of hydrogen that can be extracted from seawater.

One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-sports-france-climate-environment-and-nature-029d14f22aaabe1a33030f612d8fc52a">Last year</a>&nbsp;the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.

Chittenden said “the stakes are rising all the time” in the race to find clean alternative energy sources. Fusion "isn’t the sole solution to that. It’s part of the energy mix. We need to be trying everything we can possibly think of.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists announced Tuesday that they have for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it — a major breakthrough in the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-climate-and-environment-effacd249a42e43b9a54b28d4655b346">decades-long quest to harness</a>&nbsp;the process that powers the sun.Click below to watch the announcement.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Eke5PawU7rE?start=26" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California achieved the result, which is called net energy gain, the Energy Department said. Net energy gain has been an elusive goal because fusion happens at such high temperatures and pressures that it is incredibly difficult to control.The breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said.“Ignition allows us to replicate for the first time certain conditions that are found only in the stars and the sun,'' Granholm told a news conference in Washington. "This milestone moves us one significant step closer to the possibility of zero-carbon abundant fusion energy powering our society.''<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fenergy%2Fvideos%2F487286266861249%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Fusion ignition is “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century,″ Granholm said, adding that the breakthrough “will go down in the history books.″Appearing with Granholm, White House science adviser Arati Prabhakar called the fusion ignition “a tremendous example of what perseverance really can achieve" and "an engineering marvel beyond belief.''Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away. But researchers said the announcement marked a significant advance nonetheless.“It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. "We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.”Kim Budil, director of the Livermore Lab, said there are “very significant hurdles” to commercial use of fusion technology, but advances in recent years mean the technology is likely to be widely used in “a few decades” rather than 50 or 60 years as previously expected.Fusion works by pressing hydrogen atoms into each other with such force that they combine into helium, releasing enormous amounts of energy and heat. Unlike other nuclear reactions, it doesn't create radioactive waste.President Joe Biden called the breakthrough a good example of the need to continue to invest in research and development. “Look what’s going on from the Department of Energy on the nuclear front. There’s a lot of good news on the horizon,” he said at the White House.Billions of dollars and decades of work have gone into fusion research that has produced exhilarating results — for fractions of a second. Previously, researchers at the National Ignition Facility, the division of Lawrence Livermore where the success took place, used 192 lasers and temperatures multiple times hotter than the center of the sun to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-fusion-energy-lawrence-livermore-a3c1ecbb738640b0a2e384dc80b8dd07">create an extremely brief fusion reaction</a>.The lasers focus an enormous amount of heat on a small metal can. The result is a superheated plasma environment where fusion may occur.Riccardo Betti, a professor at the University of Rochester and expert in laser fusion, said there's a long road ahead before the net energy gain leads to sustainable electricity.He likened the breakthrough to when humans first learned that refining oil into gasoline and igniting it could produce an explosion.“You still don't have the engine, and you still don't have the tires,” Betti said. “You can't say that you have a car.”The net energy gain achievement applied to the fusion reaction itself, not the total amount of power it took to operate the lasers and run the project. For fusion to be viable, it will need to produce significantly more power and for longer.It is incredibly difficult to control the physics of stars. Whyte said the fuel has to be hotter than the center of the sun. The fuel does not want to stay hot — it wants to leak out and get cold. Containing it is a challenge, he said.Results from the California lab exceeded expectations, said Jeremy Chittenden, a professor at Imperial College in London specializing in plasma physics.Although there's a long way to go to turn fusion into a usable power source, Chittenden said, the lab’s achievement makes him optimistic that it may someday be "the ideal power source that we thought it would be” — one that's carbon-free and runs on an abundant form of hydrogen that can be extracted from seawater.One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-sports-france-climate-environment-and-nature-029d14f22aaabe1a33030f612d8fc52a">Last year</a>&nbsp;the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work.Chittenden said “the stakes are rising all the time” in the race to find clean alternative energy sources. Fusion "isn’t the sole solution to that. It’s part of the energy mix. We need to be trying everything we can possibly think of.”

🎥Scientists achieve advance in fusion energy, milestone for clean energy

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General-elect Kris Kobach says he is nominating a former longtime federal prosecutor who also was among his Republican primary rivals to be the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's next director.

Kobach announced Tuesday that he has picked Tony Mattivi for the key state law enforcement post. Mattivi was a federal prosecutor for more than 20 years and coordinator of anti-terrorism and homeland security efforts in Kansas when he retired as a prosecutor in November 2020.

Mattivi's appointment would have to be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate after lawmakers open their next annual session Jan. 9.

Kobach narrowly won the attorney general's race last month after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-covid-health-kris-kobach-ac39bedfefa29f87cb14d402bf273280">prevailing in the GOP primary</a>&nbsp;against Mattivi and state Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Kellie Warren.

Mattivi would replace&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-topeka-criminal-investigations-derek-schmidt-kris-kobach-aeaac4367206a2e503a40cbb961529b4">Kirk Thompson,</a>&nbsp;who plans to retire in January after a 46-year career in law enforcement, most of it with the KBI. Thompson has been KBI director since July 2011.

Kobach cited Mattivi's experience as a federal prosecutor. For five years, Mattivi led the team prosecuting Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-bombings-yemen-treatment-of-prisoners-al-qaida-4cac6641699416e2a50853a3e136a083">That case has yet to go to trial</a>&nbsp;before a military commission.

Mattivi also has worked for the attorney general's office and Shawnee County District attorney's office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/5/1653064617058.png" alt="Kobach, right, and Mattivi, left during a primary election debate -photo Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector" />
 <figcaption>Kobach, right, and Mattivi, left during a primary election debate -photo Noah Taborda/Kansas Reflector</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Attorney General-elect Kris Kobach says he is nominating a former longtime federal prosecutor who also was among his Republican primary rivals to be the Kansas Bureau of Investigation's next director.Kobach announced Tuesday that he has picked Tony Mattivi for the key state law enforcement post. Mattivi was a federal prosecutor for more than 20 years and coordinator of anti-terrorism and homeland security efforts in Kansas when he retired as a prosecutor in November 2020.Mattivi's appointment would have to be confirmed by the GOP-controlled Kansas Senate after lawmakers open their next annual session Jan. 9.Kobach narrowly won the attorney general's race last month after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-covid-health-kris-kobach-ac39bedfefa29f87cb14d402bf273280">prevailing in the GOP primary</a>&nbsp;against Mattivi and state Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Kellie Warren.Mattivi would replace&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-topeka-criminal-investigations-derek-schmidt-kris-kobach-aeaac4367206a2e503a40cbb961529b4">Kirk Thompson,</a>&nbsp;who plans to retire in January after a 46-year career in law enforcement, most of it with the KBI. Thompson has been KBI director since July 2011.Kobach cited Mattivi's experience as a federal prosecutor. For five years, Mattivi led the team prosecuting Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of orchestrating the USS Cole bombing in Yemen in 2000 that killed 17 sailors.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-bombings-yemen-treatment-of-prisoners-al-qaida-4cac6641699416e2a50853a3e136a083">That case has yet to go to trial</a>&nbsp;before a military commission.Mattivi also has worked for the attorney general's office and Shawnee County District attorney's office.

Kobach to nominate ex-primary rival Mattivi as KBI director

By NATE KING Salina Post

Citizens of central Kansas, Kansas State University students, alumni, and community leaders discussed K-State Salina's role in K-State's overall strategic plan, high school education pathways to encourage students to pursue a college degree or post-secondary training, and the future of land grant schools during a community conversation on Dec. 5.

The morning visit to K-State Salina for the community forum is part of the <a href="https://www.k-state.edu/president/initiatives/regional-community-visits/">university’s plans</a> to hear from Kansans all across the state for the 2022-2023 academic year. During their visit, K-State President Richard Linton, Provost Charles Taber, and dean of student life Thomas Lane joined a group of current K-State students collectively known as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.k-state.edu/president/initiatives/regional-community-visits/connected-cats/">Connected Cats. </a>

Linton said that the Connected Cats is a group of student leaders who have a diverse range of K-State experiences, a meaningful connection to engaged community work, and personal ties to Kansas' geographic regions. 

"So you probably have seen some of the billboards that say, 'Kansas State is the university for Kansas' well, we're for Kansas, but we're also for the nation and the world," Linton said. "We're trying to be able to make a very important statement that we are the only university that's in all 105 Kansas counties and communities and we want to let folks know that Kansas is always first." 

After Linton’s brief presentation and remarks, which included applause for the K-State football team winning the Big XII Championship game, K-State junior Ethan Brown, a graduate of Salina Central High School and one of the two current K-State Student Ambassadors; K-State sophomore Adelaide Easter; and K-State junior Yulissa Hernandez, a graduate of Salina South High School, discussed their college search experiences and why they selected K-State as their school of choice.  

"When I was in high school, I started looking at colleges my sophomore year," Brown said. "When I tell you, I looked everywhere in Kansas, I looked everywhere. I wanted everything. I wanted to have great people, I wanted to have great academia, I wanted great athletics. They had everything that I wanted. The main thing I wanted was accessibility. For me, that breaks down into three things affordability, campus access, and then just general academic accessibility."  

Easter spoke about the interdisciplinary connections she made at K-State. 

"I started as a freshman majoring in bakery science and food science. Through my involvement, and through self-discovery connections, I was able to be exposed to the global food system secondary major, which talks about food policy and how we can make the world a better place and make sure that people have access to food," Easter said. "Being in food security scholars and organizations like the alumni board, I've gotten connected to alumni that are just as passionate about food issues as I am." 

Hernandez, a student pilot at K-State Salina talked about how she switched her major from respiratory therapy, to aviation.&nbsp;

"When I was looking into coming to K State, I was a freshman in college at the time and I was working as a nurse assistant," Hernandez said. "I was doing my prerequisites for respiratory therapy - that same year, I met a pilot. He introduced me to aviation and at the time, I didn't know really any pilots. So it was all so new to me."

Hernandez said that her pilot friend took her on a discovery flight in a jet which made her decision easier to make.&nbsp;

"I was convinced I was just going to change my major completely, which was pretty scary at the time, because I thought I had it all figured out. But I thought a flying was just way more fun then respiratory therapies," Hernandez said.

The forum transitioned into a community conversation where community entrepreneurs, business leaders, regional high school educators, parents, and citizens were asked to discuss what they wanted to see from K-State. Topics discussed included increasing the presence of veterans affairs at the K-State Salina campus, eliminating roadblocks for transfer students, continuing to expand the local network of private industry partners, and meeting the current workforce demands.  

Following the forum, Salina Post sat down for an interview with Linton, where he discussed how students should always be the center of enrollment strategies. 

"When we started thinking about doing community visits, we reached out to other university presidents around the country and the message that came back is you have to take students and you have to take students from those communities," Linton said. "Parents and students aren't really there to listen to presidents and provosts because they can relate so much more to student stories."&nbsp;

Linton also spoke about the university's new initiative, Next-Gen K-State.

"We 're trying to develop a new strategy, a new strategic plan, for what we're calling the <a href="https://www.k-state.edu/strategic-planning/process/">Next-Gen Land Grant</a>," Linton said. "We haven't defined exactly what the next generation land grant university means yet, but we want to be the model land grant university that other land grants are looking to. When you take a look at one of those things that I know, will be an important part of the Next Gen Land Grant is better connectivity with communities around economic growth, and creation of jobs and support for every single community."

Ellsworth County Health Center: Because We Care Mental Health Summit  

Linton and the Connected Cats, traveled to Ellsworth County Medical Center, 1604 Aylward Avenue in Ellsworth, for a mental health summit hosted by K-State Extension. Midway Extension Director Jessica Kootz said that a group of individuals in the Ellsworth community started meeting virtually on a weekly basis to talk about COVID-19 updates and mental wellness. 

"This group of individuals, community stakeholders decided that we needed to focus a lot more on mental health. The COVID-19 update group became a 'Because We Care' group, and that has evolved within the last six months into a coalition that's centered around mental health," Kootz said.  

The summit featured a panel of experts including Rachel Clews, family and consumer science extension specialist in the Southwest Research Extension Center; Jennifer Kaufman, director of community support services for Central Kansas Mental Health; Derek Knopp, school-based clinical coordinator for Central Kansas Mental Health; Kerianne Ehrlich, Ellsworth County Health Department; and Jim Kirkbride, CEO at Ellsworth County Medical Center. 

"Most of our communities aren't just rural, they're considered frontier. It's that born and bred mentality that - you just pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you just push it down, and you keep going," said Clews. "When I worked with farmers, I tried to tell them that I'm a fourth generation farmer, my husband's a fourth generation Kansas farmer. I understand those issues. But I tell them, when your livestock is sick, you don't just say 'Oh, push it down, and you'll get over it.' I tell farmers, that they take better care of their machinery and their livestock than they do themselves. A lot of times they don't think to ask for help themselves because farmers are really great at helping others." 

Kootz said that in the last two months, Ellsworth had faced tragedies relating to mental health causing their group to push harder to be focused and intentional on making sure there is a comprehensive approach to addressing mental health in rural communities. 

Linton asked the panel if it could provide him with any statistics to help give context to the Kansas mental health crisis.  

"We have hired over 50 new staff at Central Kansas Mental Health, just within the past year," Kaufman said. "Trying to be able to provide services that range from front desk staff that are inundated with phone calls every day trying to get intake staff to be able to provide that initial service and if you're aware, there's a workforce shortage in most areas, and that includes social work, case managers, all lines." 

Clews added that according to the State of Mental Health in America 2023 Report, Kansas ranked last in the country, following the District of Columbia.  

"Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death for Kansas," Clews said. "Between the years 2000 and 2018, suicide rates in Kansas increased by 70 percent."  

Clews also added that suicide is the second leading cause of death for Kansans in the 15 to 34 age range.  

An obstacle that was highlighted during the summit was the lack of educational resources directing Kansans on where to turn when they needed mental health assistance.  

"As far as regional scale, the last few years, I think, especially since 2020, we've seen an increase in people who are seeking services for mental health, and we've seen is a big increase in anxiety and depression," said Knopp. "People are recognizing the need that when they are struggling there are resources available - if you know how to access them. One of the things that we [Central Kansas Mental Health] have done, we've done a lot of work in providing education on how to access mental health services, because unless you have a family member or direct connection with somebody who has accessed services before, you don't always know how to go about that."  

Linton recognized the need for more social work professionals and mentioned the recent partnership between K-State Salina and the University of Kansas. K-State Salina will offer a Master of Social Work that will be instructed at the K-State Salina campus. 

The cooperation between K-State Salina and KU will increase the availability of graduate-level social work education in rural areas of Kansas while meeting the gaps in coverage that human service agencies in rural areas of the state have been experiencing.  

"K-State Salina is committed to responding to the needs of our region by providing a trained workforce for our social service partners," said Deb Marseline, assistant dean for diversity and student success at K-State Salina, earlier this month. "Qualified, experienced social workers play an integral role in the success of any community by working with people to improve their circumstances in a variety of situations. This opportunity furthers our mission by training students to be leaders and make an impact on our state."  

Linton also stopped by Great Plains Manufacturing, 1525 E. North Street, Salina, to take part in a facilitated conversation about ways that education in the Salina region is partnering to meet the needs of industry. Dean and CEO of K-State Salina, Alysia Starkey spoke to the importance of these types of open conversations and how industry advisory boards are working to meet workforce demands.  

"How do you stay connected to the workforce needs in your region, it has to do with our industry advisory boards and making sure we're engaged with what the needs of the industry are," Starkey said. "So regardless of whatever field you're in - each of our programs, and each of our colleges and each of our degrees at the university has industry advisory boards that help correlate where it is that they're [the student] going in the future. Industry advisory boards are a key way that you all can get involved with helping to drive your workforce needs."  

Starkey also mentioned that K-State Salina has partnered with Salina USD 305 to provide an opportunity for high school students to earn industry-recognized credentials, receive college credit for general education requirements, and complete dual credits for an associate degree while in high school and graduate at the same time as their peers. The program is called the<a href="https://www.salina.k-state.edu/admissions/apply/polycats-academy/"> PolyCats Academy.</a>

"Here we have a high school program that will allow a student to get an associate's degree while they're still in high school, graduate at the same time as high school with an associate's degree, which reduces the time of entry into the career field, and it also helps to reduce the overall cost and affordability for students as well," Starkey said.  

David Disberger, executive vice president for Great Plains Manufacturing, spoke at the discussion about the<a href="https://www.salina.k-state.edu/academics/scholars-programs/"> scholar's program</a> being offered by Great Plains manufacturing.

"The scholar's program is something that came out of discussions that Dean Starkey and I had to address our needs and also address the needs of Kansas State," Disberger said. "What we've done is we've taken your traditional manufacturing engineering technology type degree, where the college student would go to school for four years to get their bachelor science degree, instead, they'll go to college for three years, and have that same BS degree."

The Great Plains Scholars Program is for students who want to earn a bachelor's degree in one of K-State Salina’s engineering technology programs and acquire first-hand knowledge of specialized industry technology by working part-time at Great Plains Manufacturing. This provides high-level learning opportunities in advanced manufacturing, basic manufacturing, advanced robotics programming, and engineering design. 

"We're able to get those workforces beginning with us at a younger age. By the time they graduate, they have over 2,400 hours of experience, and to kick this whole program off this year, we agreed to start with three students to make sure we've worked out the kinks - which we have, and it's going very well," Disberger said. "We are very pleased with the results that we're seeing thus far, we intend to continue to grow this program up to where we have 12 new students entering this program every year. Hopefully, the 12 graduating come to work for us." 

Linn Exline, Salina USD 305 superintendent, spoke about how the work field is changing the way educators prepare students for their careers after high school.  

"Over 70 percent of the jobs that we're preparing students for today will require either a two-year degree a four-year degree or some kind of industry-recognized credential," Exline said. "To that end, USD 305 has really been working on Career Exploration and career planning with students. We start that process with a semester-long class at middle school. And during that class, students use an online platform where they explore their interests. They explore their aptitudes, they explore different careers, and they try to identify a career field of interest."  

Exline also shared the successes of the Building Bridges program at USD 305.  

"Building Bridges is an effort for us to bring industry leaders, public schools, faculty, staff, our students, and business together to talk about workforce needs and how we can work together to better meet those needs," Exline said. "We are encouraging our students to understand what jobs are available here in our community because many times our students think they need to go away to get the kinds of positions that they're being trained for." Exline said that USD 305 has worked to ensure that the Building Bridges program matches with local job demands and industry standards.

"As a result of these efforts, we are seeing increased jobs. We're seeing increased internships, and we're also seeing increased number of partnerships."

Linton's visit concluded with a stop at the Salina Public Library, 301 W. Elm Street, where he and Lane read a book to children. The book selected to be read was K-State: An Alphabet Journey Across Kansas, by Debbie Mercer and Loretta Larson.&nbsp;

K-State president visits central-Kansas as part of community tour

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities obtained a search warrant as part of a months-long investigation into financial crimes involving multiple people and jurisdictions.

Early Monday, officers with the Wichita Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team – with assistance from the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office, Harvey County Sheriff's Office, Derby Police Department, and Sumner County Sheriff's Office – executed a search warrant on a property located near S 90th Street and E 71st Street South, near Derby. The search warrant was regarding stolen property located at that location, which was related to an extensive investigation involving theft, fraud, and other financial crimes committed in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The property contains several buildings and residences, necessitating multiple agencies' involvement to ensure safety and security as the warrant was executed.

Additionally, due to the size of the property and the volume of stolen goods, numerous officers were requested to assist with collecting and processing the evidence at the scene.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670894923467.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities obtained a search warrant as part of a months-long investigation into financial crimes involving multiple people and jurisdictions.Early Monday, officers with the Wichita Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team – with assistance from the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office, Harvey County Sheriff's Office, Derby Police Department, and Sumner County Sheriff's Office – executed a search warrant on a property located near S 90th Street and E 71st Street South, near Derby. The search warrant was regarding stolen property located at that location, which was related to an extensive investigation involving theft, fraud, and other financial crimes committed in Kansas and Oklahoma.The property contains several buildings and residences, necessitating multiple agencies' involvement to ensure safety and security as the warrant was executed.Additionally, due to the size of the property and the volume of stolen goods, numerous officers were requested to assist with collecting and processing the evidence at the scene.

Police bust financial crime ring in Kansas, recover stolen property

By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>

Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.

And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.

“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.

In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.

But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.

The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.

Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”

Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.

Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.

Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.

“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.

In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.

Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.

People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.

About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.

States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.

“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.

People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.

Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.

And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.

“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.

One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.

HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.

Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.

HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.

The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.

Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.

“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670875530434.png" alt="CDC image" />
 <figcaption>CDC image</figcaption>
 </figure>By HANNAH RECHT <a href="https://dailymontanan.com/2022/12/12/paxlovid-has-been-free-now-comes-the-sticker-shock/">Kaiser Health News, courtesy Daily Montanan</a>Nearly 6 million Americans have taken Paxlovid for free, courtesy of 
the federal government. The Pfizer pill has helped prevent many people 
infected with COVID-19 from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7148e2.htm">being hospitalized</a> or dying, and it may even <a target="_blank" href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.11.03.22281783v1">reduce the risk</a>
 of developing long COVID. But the government plans to stop footing the 
bill within months, and millions of people who are at the highest risk 
of severe illness and are least able to afford the drug — the uninsured 
and seniors — may have to pay the full price.And that means fewer people will get the potentially lifesaving treatments, experts said.“I think the numbers will go way down,” said Jill Rosenthal, director
 of public health policy at the Center for American Progress, a 
left-leaning think tank. A bill for several hundred dollars or more 
would lead many people to decide the medication isn’t worth the price, 
she said.In response to the unprecedented public health crisis caused by 
COVID, the federal government spent billions of dollars on developing 
new vaccines and treatments, to swift success: Less than a year after 
the pandemic was declared, medical workers got their first vaccines. But
 as many people have refused the shots and stopped wearing masks, the 
virus still rages and mutates. In 2022 alone, 250,000 Americans <a target="_blank" href="https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#trends_totaldeaths_select_00">have died</a> from COVID, <a target="_blank" href="https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Monthly-Provisional-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Select-Cau/9dzk-mvmi/data">more than</a> from strokes or diabetes.But soon the Department of Health and Human Services will stop 
supplying COVID treatments, and pharmacies will purchase and bill for 
them the same way they do for antibiotic pills or asthma inhalers. 
Paxlovid is expected to hit the private market in mid-2023, according to
 HHS plans shared in an October meeting with state health officials and 
clinicians. Merck’s Lagevrio, a less-effective COVID treatment pill, and
 AstraZeneca’s Evusheld, a preventive therapy for the immunocompromised,
 are on track to be commercialized sooner, sometime in the winter.The U.S. government has so far purchased <a target="_blank" href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/04/26/fact-sheet-biden-administration-increases-access-to-covid-19-treatments-and-boosts-patient-and-provider-awareness/">20 million courses</a>
 of Paxlovid, priced at about $530 each, a discount for buying in bulk 
that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla called “really very attractive” to the 
federal government in a July earnings call. The drug will cost far more 
on the private market, although in a statement to KHN, Pfizer declined 
to share the planned price. The government will also stop paying for the
 company’s COVID vaccine next year — those shots will <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/pfizer-covid-cash-marketing-drugs/">quadruple in price</a>, from the discount rate the government pays of $30 to about $120.Bourla told investors in November that he expects the move will make 
Paxlovid and its COVID vaccine “a multibillion-dollars franchise.”Nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/11/28/covid-who-is-dying/">9 in 10 people</a> dying from the virus now are 65 or older. Yet federal law restricts Medicare Part D — the prescription drug program that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/medicare-beneficiaries-enrolled-in-part-d-coverage/?currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">covers nearly 50 million seniors</a>
 — from covering the COVID treatment pills. The medications are meant 
for those most at risk of serious illness, including seniors.Paxlovid and the other treatments are currently available under an 
emergency use authorization from the FDA, a fast-track review used in 
extraordinary situations. Although Pfizer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-announces-submission-new-drug-application-us-fda">applied for full approval</a>
 in June, the process can take anywhere from several months to years. 
And Medicare Part D can’t cover any medications without that full stamp 
of approval.Paying out-of-pocket would be “a substantial barrier” for seniors on 
Medicare — the very people who would benefit most from the drug, wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1072f5093254224ac902ca395387085c/coverage-considerations-covid-19.pdf">federal health experts</a>.“From a public health perspective, and even from a health care 
capacity and cost perspective, it would just defy reason to not continue
 to make these drugs readily available,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical 
director of Massachusetts’ Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory 
Sciences. He’s hopeful that the federal health agency will find a way to
 set aside unused doses for seniors and people without insurance.In mid-November, the White House requested that Congress approve an 
additional $2.5 billion for COVID therapeutics and vaccines to make sure
 people can afford the medications when they’re no longer free. But 
there’s little hope it will be approved — the Senate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/senate-votes-to-end-covid-19-emergency-declaration-11668559887">voted that same day to end</a> the public health emergency and denied similar requests in recent months.Many Americans have already faced hurdles just <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">getting a prescription</a> for COVID treatment. Although the federal government <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/paxlovid-covid-pill-antiviral-access-data/">doesn’t track</a> who’s gotten the drug, a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7143a2.htm">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study</a>
 using data from 30 medical centers found that Black and Hispanic 
patients with COVID were much less likely to receive Paxlovid than white
 patients. (Hispanic people can be of any race or combination of races.)
 And when the government is no longer picking up the tab, experts 
predict that these gaps by race, income, and geography will widen.People in Northeastern states used the drug far more often than those
 in the rest of the country, according to a Kaiser Health News analysis 
of Paxlovid use in September and October. But it wasn’t because people 
in the region were getting sick from COVID at much higher rates — 
instead, many of those states offered better <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus/report.htm">access to health care</a> to begin with and created special programs to get Paxlovid to their residents.About 10 mostly Democratic states and several large counties in the 
Northeast and elsewhere created free “test-to-treat” programs that allow
 their residents to get an immediate doctor visit and prescription for 
treatment after testing positive for COVID. In Massachusetts, more than 
20,000 residents have used the state’s <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/free-telehealth-for-covid-19-treatment-with-paxlovid">video and phone hotline</a>,
 which is available seven days a week in 13 languages. Massachusetts, 
which has the highest insurance rate in the country and relatively low 
travel times to pharmacies, had the second-highest Paxlovid usage rate 
among states this fall.States with higher COVID death rates, like Florida and Kentucky, 
where residents must travel farther for health care and are more likely 
to be uninsured, used the drug less often. Without no-cost test-to-treat
 options, <a target="_blank" href="https://khn.org/news/article/test-to-treat-biden-covid-failing-patients-pharmacies-cvs/">residents have struggled</a> to get prescriptions even though the drug itself is still free.“If you look at access to medications for people who are uninsured, I
 think that there’s no question that will widen those disparities,” 
Rosenthal said.People who get insurance through their jobs could face high copays at
 the register, too, just as they do for insulin and other expensive or 
brand-name drugs.Most private insurance companies will end up covering COVID 
therapeutics to some extent, said Sabrina Corlette, a research professor
 at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. After 
all, the pills are cheaper than a hospital stay. But for most people who
 get insurance through their jobs, there are “really no rules at all,” 
she said. Some insurers could take months to add the drugs to their 
plans or decide not to pay for them.And the additional cost means many people will go without the medication.“We know from lots of research that when people face cost sharing for
 these drugs that they need to take, they will often forgo or cut back,”
 Corlette said.One group doesn’t need to worry about sticker shock. Medicaid, the 
public insurance program for low-income adults and children, will cover 
the treatments in full until at least early 2024.HHS officials could set aside any leftover taxpayer-funded medication
 for people who can’t afford to pay the full cost, but they haven’t 
shared any concrete plans to do so. The government purchased 20 million 
courses of Paxlovid and 3 million of Lagevrio. Fewer than a third have 
been used, and usage has fallen in recent months, according to KHN’s 
analysis of the data from HHS.Sixty percent of the government’s supply of Evusheld is also still available, although the COVID prevention therapy is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-releases-important-information-about-risk-covid-19-due-certain-variants-not-neutralized-evusheld">less effective</a> against new strains of the virus. The health department in one state, <a target="_blank" href="https://files.constantcontact.com/8088728e101/558b11b0-e00f-47d7-8ec1-645904ec1905.pdf">New Mexico</a>, has recommended against using it.HHS did not make officials available for an interview or answer written questions about the commercialization plans.The government created a potential workaround when they moved 
bebtelovimab, another COVID treatment, to the private market this 
summer. It now retails for $2,100 per patient. The agency set aside the 
remaining 60,000 government-purchased doses that hospitals could use to 
treat uninsured patients in a convoluted <a target="_blank" href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/COVID-19/Therapeutics/Products/Bebtelovimab/Pages/default.aspx">dose-replacement process</a>. But it’s hard to tell how well that setup would work for Paxlovid: Bebtelovimab was already much less popular, and the FDA <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-announces-bebtelovimab-not-currently-authorized-any-us-region">halted its use</a> on Nov. 30 because it’s less effective against current strains of the virus.Federal officials and insurance companies would have good reason to 
make sure patients can continue to afford covid drugs: They’re far 
cheaper than if patients land in the emergency room.“The medications are so worthwhile,” said Madoff, the Massachusetts 
health official. “They’re not expensive in the grand scheme of health 
care costs.”<a target="_blank" href="https://www.khn.org/about-us">KHN</a> 
(Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth 
journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and 
Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kff.org/about-us">KFF</a> (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

COVID treatment Paxlovid has been free; now comes the sticker shock

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX with orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors.

An SEC complaint filed Tuesday alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors since May 2019 by promoting FTX as a safe, responsible platform for trading crypto assets.

The civil complaint says Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds to Alameda Research LLC, his privately-held crypto fund, without telling them. The complaint also says Bankman-Fried commingled FTX customers’ funds at Alameda to make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases, and large political donations.

Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said.

The arrest was made after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.

The SEC charges are separate from the criminal charges expected to be unsealed later Tuesday.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.

Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just a day before he was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX’s customers, would not get to see Bankman-Fried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">testify under oath</a>.

That hearing, however, will be held Tuesday despite the arrest of Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

That all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.

NEW YORK (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto-downfall-a2eaec231027dfd9f18426ff8982bbf8">former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX</a>, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said Monday.

The arrest was made Monday after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-government-and-politics-9ab6a46f5b07d9a4fe7095d9d9589f84">filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11</a>, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.

Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the Bahamas would “promptly” extradite Bankman-Fried to the U.S. once the indictment is unsealed and U.S. authorities make a formal request. FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas and Bankman-Fried has largely remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau since the company's failure.

Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">a day before he was due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX's customers, would not get to see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">Bankman-Fried testify under oath</a>.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">That all unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX with orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors.An SEC complaint filed Tuesday alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors since May 2019 by promoting FTX as a safe, responsible platform for trading crypto assets.The civil complaint says Bankman-Fried diverted customer funds to Alameda Research LLC, his privately-held crypto fund, without telling them. The complaint also says Bankman-Fried commingled FTX customers’ funds at Alameda to make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases, and large political donations.Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said.The arrest was made after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.The SEC charges are separate from the criminal charges expected to be unsealed later Tuesday.A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just a day before he was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX’s customers, would not get to see Bankman-Fried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">testify under oath</a>.That hearing, however, will be held Tuesday despite the arrest of Bankman-Fried.Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.That all&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.---------NEW YORK (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-crypto-downfall-a2eaec231027dfd9f18426ff8982bbf8">former CEO of failed cryptocurrency firm FTX</a>, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, U.S. and Bahamian authorities said Monday.The arrest was made Monday after the U.S. filed criminal charges that are expected to be unsealed Tuesday, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. Bankman-Fried had been under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities following the collapse last month of FTX. The firm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-government-and-politics-9ab6a46f5b07d9a4fe7095d9d9589f84">filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11</a>, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said the Bahamas would “promptly” extradite Bankman-Fried to the U.S. once the indictment is unsealed and U.S. authorities make a formal request. FTX is headquartered in the Bahamas and Bankman-Fried has largely remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau since the company's failure.A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no comment Monday evening. Bankman-Fried has a right to contest his extradition, which could delay but not likely stop his transfer to the U.S.Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes just&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-bahamas-government-and-politics-bankruptcy-da5a931ef681d93ffb50a80988e91dfc">a day before he was due to testify</a>&nbsp;in front of the House Financial Services Committee. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., chairwoman of the committee, said she was “disappointed” that the American public, and FTX's customers, would not get to see&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-business-maxine-waters-801b709670d357ea60785cb505fa9300">Bankman-Fried testify under oath</a>.Bankman-Fried was one of the world’s wealthiest people on paper, with an estimated net worth of $32 billion. He was a prominent personality in Washington, donating millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democratic political campaigns. FTX grew to become the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cryptocurrency-technology-business-financial-crisis-a729281a5ef02a03ab3fcd95e152c2a8">That all unraveled quickly last month</a>, when reports called into question the strength of FTX’s balance sheet. Customers moved to withdraw billions of dollars, but FTX could not meet all the requests because it apparently used its customers deposits to cover bad bets at Bankman-Fried’s investment arm, Alameda Research.Bankman-Fried said recently that he did not “knowingly” misuse customers’ funds, and said he believes his millions of angry customers will eventually be made whole.The House Financial Services Committee is still expected to hear testimony Tuesday from current CEO John Ray III. Ray, who took over FTX on Nov. 11 and is a long-time restructuring specialist, has said in court filings that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ftx-trading-former-ceo-d2c2b881dc0eb0ec37b454674f446b52">the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron</a>.Bahamian authorities plan to continue their own investigation into Bankman-Fried.“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” said Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, in a statement.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it had authorized separate charges related to alleged violations of securities laws and would file them publicly Tuesday.-----------CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency firm FTX will testify before a Congressional committee Tuesday, his first appearance under oath since FTX filed for bankruptcy roughly a month ago.Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee, along with the company's current CEO, John Ray III. Bankman-Fried has done several media interviews since his firm collapsed but has not publicly testified about what happened. He is expected to appear remotely from the Bahamas.FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when the firm ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run. The collapse of crypto's second-largest exchange has garnered worldwide attention, and Bankman-Fried is under criminal investigation by U.S. and Bahamian authorities.The atmosphere Tuesday should be markedly different from Bankman-Fried's previous trips to Congress, when he testified in favor of certain bills that would regulate the crypto industry in ways that favored FTX. He became prominent in Washington and donated millions of dollars toward mostly left-leaning political causes and Democrat political campaigns, and was hailed as the new face of the crypto industry.A handful of members of the Financial Services Committee have previously taken political donations from FTX or Bankman-Fried, including Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J. and Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y.It wasn't clear at first whether Bankman-Fried would voluntarily agree to testify, or whether the committee would have to subpoena him. He has, more or less, remained in his Bahamian luxury compound in Nassau, and temporarily out of reach of U.S. authorities.Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California and chairwoman of the committee, said she planned to go forward with the hearing regardless of whether Bankman-Fried agreed to testify.This will be the first public appearance by Ray since FTX's collapse as well. Before FTX, the restructuring expert was best known for having to clean up the mess at Enron roughly 20 years ago. Ray has said in court filings that the financial conditions at FTX were worse than at Enron, and that he has no confidence in FTX's bookkeeping before he took over the firm.“FTX Group’s collapse appears to stem from the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals who failed to implement virtually any of the systems or controls that are necessary for a company that is entrusted with other people’s money or assets,” Ray said in his prepared remarks for Tuesday's hearing.