DICKINSON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a vehicle theft and have taken a Kansas teen into custody.

On December 2, 2025, at approximately 12:30 PM, a deputy with the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office located a Toyota Avalon in the area of East 1st Street and Bonebrake Street that had been reported stolen out of Nebraska. The vehicle was unoccupied at the time it was recovered. The vehicle was processed and evidence was collected. The vehicle was towed for safekeeping until it can be returned to the owner.

Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office continued the investigation and developed a suspect the following day. The investigation led to the arrest of 19-year-old&nbsp; Christopher Madison Bryant of Abilene on a requested charge of theft of the vehicle.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764864386188.jpeg" alt="Bryant photo Dickinson Co." />
 <figcaption>Bryant photo Dickinson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>DICKINSON COUNTY —Law enforcement are investigating a vehicle theft and have taken a Kansas teen into custody.On December 2, 2025, at approximately 12:30 PM, a deputy with the Dickinson County Sheriff’s Office located a Toyota Avalon in the area of East 1st Street and Bonebrake Street that had been reported stolen out of Nebraska. The vehicle was unoccupied at the time it was recovered. The vehicle was processed and evidence was collected. The vehicle was towed for safekeeping until it can be returned to the owner.Investigators with the Sheriff’s Office continued the investigation and developed a suspect the following day. The investigation led to the arrest of 19-year-old&nbsp; Christopher Madison Bryant of Abilene on a requested charge of theft of the vehicle.

Kan. teen arrested after reported stolen car recovered

By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral commanding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">U.S. military strikes</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">killed two survivors</a>.

Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">conduct an investigation</a>&nbsp;after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.

“Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.

While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning.

“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.

Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”

The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth's leadership comes under scrutiny</a>. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes</a>.

Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats, and the Republican-controlled Congress has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cartels-war-power-congress-2c8c491f88836249801b6b15b19217b5">turned back attempts</a>&nbsp;to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed will continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.

Congressional investigation gets underway

Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 strike, which was the first in what has become a monthslong series of U.S. military attacks on vessels believed to be ferrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific waters. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the follow-on attack on the survivors.

But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate's national security committees in Congress came away with different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.

Cotton said he saw them "trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”

He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile strikes. He said it was “gratifying” that the U.S. military was taking “the battle” to cartels.

But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.”

“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel," he said, and who "were killed by the United States."

The survivors did not issue any distress call or other communications, though lawmakers were told it appeared the people had a hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.

Smith acknowledged there was likely cocaine on the boat, but he objects to the Republican administration’s rationale for continued attacks on alleged drug runners who may or may not be heading to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “That incredibly broad definition, I think, is what sets in motion all of these problems about using lethal force and using the military.”

At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing coordinated operations between the military's elite special operations units out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the strike, he was promoted to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.

His military career, spanning more than three decades, was mostly spent serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was among the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has described Bradley as among those who are “rock solid” and “the most extraordinary people that have ever served in the military.”

But lawmakers like Tillis have also made it clear they expect a reckoning if it is found that survivors were targeted. “Anybody in the chain of command that was responsible for it, that had vision of it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.

Underpinning Trump’s campaign against suspected traffickers is his argument that drug cartels amount to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.

Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of the orders and any directives about the mission from Hegseth. None of the written orders or audio of verbal commands was shared with the lawmakers.

A White House Office of Legal Counsel memo providing a rationale for the strikes was dated after the fact, on Sept. 5. That memo remains undisclosed, and Democrats want it released.

Obtaining further information, though, will largely depend on action from Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.

Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said that he and the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested the executive orders authorizing the operations and the complete videos from the strikes, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied their requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.

Republican lawmakers who are close to Trump have largely stood by Hegseth and the administration's decision to conduct the strikes.

Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764640848301.png" alt="U.S. attack on an alleged drug boat Sept. 2-image from Department of War" />
 <figcaption>U.S. attack on an alleged drug boat Sept. 2-image from Department of War</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHEN GROVES and LISA MASCARO Associated PressWASHINGTON (AP) — A Navy admiral commanding the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">U.S. military strikes</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean told lawmakers Thursday that there was no&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">“kill them all”</a>&nbsp;order from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/pete-hegseth">Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth</a>, but a stark video of the attack left grave questions as Congress scrutinizes the campaign that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hegseth-pentagon-drug-boats-caribbean-ae33b738a2481932ffefaf58e0a2d6ab">killed two survivors</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Q: &quot;Was there a &#39;kill all&#39; order from Secretary Hegseth?&quot; .<a href="https://twitter.com/SenTomCotton?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenTomCotton</a>: &quot;No. Admiral Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order to, to give no quarter or kill them all.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ZqLPkCyHSd">pic.twitter.com/ZqLPkCyHSd</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1996648857174745129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Adm. Frank “Mitch” Bradley appeared for a series of closed-door classified briefings at the Capitol as lawmakers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/military-strikes-boats-drugs-caribbean-hegseth-congress-93c513e28f38688f5582150c7675c072">conduct an investigation</a>&nbsp;after a report that he ordered the follow-on attack that killed the survivors to comply with Hegesth’s demands. Legal experts have said such a strike could be a violation of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-survivors-hegseth-72b0a498ca08615b2589c772a1d9e642">laws of military warfare</a>.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764875553664.jpeg" alt="U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Navy Adm. Frank M. Bradley walks to a meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)</figcaption>
 </figure>“Bradley was very clear that he was given no such order, to give no quarter or to kill them all,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, as he exited a classified briefing.While Cotton, R-Ark., defended the attack, Democrats who were also briefed and saw video of the survivors being killed questioned the Trump administration’s rationale and said the incident was deeply concerning.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Chairman <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRickCrawford?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RepRickCrawford</a>&#39;s statement following the briefing with the Commander of the United States Special Operations Command, Admiral Frank Bradley, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, on the legal strikes against narco-terrorists in the… <a href="https://t.co/TXbkB4wIMK">pic.twitter.com/TXbkB4wIMK</a>&mdash; House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) <a href="https://twitter.com/HouseIntel/status/1996641823096471722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The order was basically: Destroy the drugs, kill the 11 people on the boat,” said Washington Rep. Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee.Smith, who is demanding further investigation, said the survivors were “basically two shirtless people clinging to the bow of a capsized and inoperable boat, drifting in the water — until the missiles come and kill them.”The classified sessions with Bradley, alongside the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, provided fresh information at a crucial moment as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">Hegseth's leadership comes under scrutiny</a>. But they did little to resolve growing questions about the legal basis for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump's</a>&nbsp;extraordinary campaign to use war powers against suspected drug smugglers. So far more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-boat-strikes-caribbean-military-venezuela-timeline-2dd9d16f4f74d9dfa4aca76d3123678d">80 people have been killed in some 20 strikes</a>.Lawmakers have not yet specifically authorized the use of military force against the alleged drug boats, and the Republican-controlled Congress has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cartels-war-power-congress-2c8c491f88836249801b6b15b19217b5">turned back attempts</a>&nbsp;to put a check on Trump’s power to engage in the missile campaign, which Hegseth has vowed will continue. Several Democrats have called for Hegseth to resign.<h2>Congressional investigation gets underway</h2>Lawmakers want a full accounting of the Sept. 2 strike, which was the first in what has become a monthslong series of U.S. military attacks on vessels believed to be ferrying drugs in the Caribbean and Pacific waters. The Washington Post had reported that Bradley ordered the follow-on attack on the survivors.But lawmakers who lead the House and Senate's national security committees in Congress came away with different descriptions of what the two survivors were doing when they were killed.Cotton said he saw them "trying to flip a boat loaded with drugs bound for United States back over so they could stay in the fight.”He said there were “several minutes” between the first and second attacks, which consisted of four missile strikes. He said it was “gratifying” that the U.S. military was taking “the battle” to cartels.But Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said, “what I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service.”“You have two individuals in clear distress, without any means of locomotion, with a destroyed vessel," he said, and who "were killed by the United States."The survivors did not issue any distress call or other communications, though lawmakers were told it appeared the people had a hand raised, “waving” at one point during the attacks, Smith said.Smith acknowledged there was likely cocaine on the boat, but he objects to the Republican administration’s rationale for continued attacks on alleged drug runners who may or may not be heading to the United States. “That’s really the core of the problem with all of this,” he said. “That incredibly broad definition, I think, is what sets in motion all of these problems about using lethal force and using the military.”<h2>Who is Adm. Bradley?</h2>At the time of the attack, Bradley was the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, overseeing coordinated operations between the military's elite special operations units out of Fort Bragg in North Carolina. About a month after the strike, he was promoted to commander of U.S. Special Operations Command.His military career, spanning more than three decades, was mostly spent serving in the elite Navy SEALs and commanding joint operations. He was among the first special forces officers to deploy to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. His latest promotion to admiral was approved by unanimous voice vote in the Senate this year, and Democratic and Republican senators praised his record.Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., has described Bradley as among those who are “rock solid” and “the most extraordinary people that have ever served in the military.”But lawmakers like Tillis have also made it clear they expect a reckoning if it is found that survivors were targeted. “Anybody in the chain of command that was responsible for it, that had vision of it, needs to be held accountable,” he said.<h2>What else are lawmakers seeking?</h2>Underpinning Trump’s campaign against suspected traffickers is his argument that drug cartels amount to armed combatants because their cargo poses a threat to American lives.Democrats are demanding the release of the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, as well as written records of the orders and any directives about the mission from Hegseth. None of the written orders or audio of verbal commands was shared with the lawmakers.A White House Office of Legal Counsel memo providing a rationale for the strikes was dated after the fact, on Sept. 5. That memo remains undisclosed, and Democrats want it released.Obtaining further information, though, will largely depend on action from Republican lawmakers, who have majority control of the committees, a potentially painful prospect for them if it puts them at odds with the president.Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said that he and the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, have formally requested the executive orders authorizing the operations and the complete videos from the strikes, among other items. The Trump administration has repeatedly denied their requests for basic information about the operation, Reed said.Republican lawmakers who are close to Trump have largely stood by Hegseth and the administration's decision to conduct the strikes.___Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

🎥Admiral tells lawmakers about Sept. drug boat attack survivors

WASHINGTON (AP) For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.

But a vaccine advisory committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.&nbsp; They had originally planned to vote Thursday. They delayed a similar vote earlier this year.

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer.

Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that — contradicting previous public health advice.

It’s not clear exactly what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose, said the organization’s Dr. Sean O’Leary.

“We are going to continue to recommend it because it saves lives,” he said.

Here’s a look at the disease, the vaccine and the debate over changing the recommendations.

Liver disease can cause lifelong health issues

Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that for most people lasts less than six months. But for some — especially infants and children — it can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.

In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles during injection-drug use.

But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby. As many as 90% of infants who contract hepatitis B go on to have chronic infections, meaning their immune systems don’t completely clear the virus.

As many as 2.4 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have hepatitis B, and as many as half are unaware they are infected, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Baruch Blumberg, a federal scientist, identified the virus behind the infection in 1965. He won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, which led to tests and vaccines. The first hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1981.

Shots for newborns have been recommended for years

For decades, the nation’s vaccine guidance has been influenced by a government-appointed panel of experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Its recommendations have usually been adopted as national guidance that is widely heeded by doctors.

In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The guidance was modified a little over the years and currently suggests a dose within 24 hours of birth for all medically stable infants who weigh at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms), plus follow-up shots to be given at about 1 month and 6 months.

Why a dose right at birth? Health officials used to rely on screening expectant mothers to find babies that might have been exposed to the virus. But many cases were missed, experts say, because some women weren’t tested or test results were incorrect. Also, the virus can live on surfaces for more than seven days at room temperature, so unvaccinated children living with a person with a chronic infection can catch it.

Newborn hepatitis B vaccinations are widely considered to be a public health success story. Over about 30 years, cases among children fell from about 18,000 per year to about 2,200.

A collaboration of public health researchers, the Vaccine Integrity Project, this week released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/hepatitis-b" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of more than 400 studies and reports spanning 40 years. The group concluded the birth dose is safe, and is an important reason U.S. pediatric hepatitis B infections have fallen.

Committee revisits the newborn recommendation

Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">fired all 17 members</a>&nbsp;of ACIP earlier this year and replaced them with a group that includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">several anti-vaccine voices</a>.

The panel has raised concerns about giving a vaccine to a baby so early in life.

“Are we asking our babies to solve an adult problem?” committee member Dr. Evelyn Griffin asked at a September meeting.

Peppered with questions about why a change was necessary, committee member Dr. Robert Malone said: “The signal that is prompting this is not one of safety. It’s one of trust. ... It’s one of parents uncomfortable with this medical procedure being performed at birth in a rather unilateral fashion without significant informed consent.”

The committee tabled a vote at the September meeting, but it’s slated to be acted on during Thursday’s meeting, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/agendas/draft-posted-2025-12-01-508.pdf" target="_blank">the agenda</a>. Federal officials have not answered questions about exactly how much of a delay is being proposed, or disclosed what research is being used as a basis for such a decision.

What would happen if the shots are delayed?

Not knowing what the committee is contemplating makes it difficult to guess the potential impact. But some have tried.

This week, public health researchers collaborating with hepatitis-focused advocacy organizations released&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340907v1" target="_blank">a report</a>&nbsp;estimating that delaying the birth dose to 2 months could result in at least 1,400 hepatitis B infections in children and 480 deaths. The report — which has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal — estimated the toll would be higher if the first dose was given even later.

But an ACIP change to the recommendation may have limited impact, O’Leary said.

The committee’s most direct power comes over what’s covered by the government Vaccines for Children program, which pays for shots for uninsured children from low-income families. Hepatitis B shots often have been bundled into the final hospital bill for childbirth. So a new ACIP recommendation likely would not be an economic obstacle for the current practice continuing at many hospitals, he said.

But any change stands to confuse and frighten parents, he added.

“If it scares, it shares” on social media, O’Leary said.

Several medical and public health organizations — and even some state government officials — have said, in advance of the meeting, that changing the recommendation is a terrible idea. Among them is a recently formed coalition of government leaders from several Northeastern states, which this week issued a statement saying they would continue to urge families to get a birth dose within 24 hours of delivery.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, this week called on Congress to compel Kennedy to appear at a hearing and explain ACIP’s actions.

“Ending the decades-long recommendation that babies born in the U.S. get vaccinated against hepatitis B is a heartless choice to allow babies to die,” Murray said in a statement.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1755810413215.png" alt="U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>U.S. Health Secretary Robert F.Kennedy, Jr.-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) For decades, the government has advised that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection right after birth. The shots are widely considered to be a public health success for preventing thousands of illnesses.But a vaccine advisory committee formed by U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist before he became the nation’s top health official, is considering whether to recommend the birth dose only for babies whose mothers test positive, which would mark a return to a public health strategy that was abandoned more than three decades ago. The committee plans to vote Friday.&nbsp; They had originally planned to vote Thursday. They delayed a similar vote earlier this year.-----------------NEW YORK (AP) — A federal vaccine advisory committee this week is expected to discuss whether newborns should still get the hepatitis B vaccine — the first shot found to prevent cancer.Federal health recommendations now suggest that all babies be vaccinated against the liver infection in their first day of life, but U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s committee on Thursday is expected to change that — contradicting previous public health advice.It’s not clear exactly what the committee is considering, but the American Academy of Pediatrics will still urge a birth dose, said the organization’s Dr. Sean O’Leary.“We are going to continue to recommend it because it saves lives,” he said.Here’s a look at the disease, the vaccine and the debate over changing the recommendations.<h2>Liver disease can cause lifelong health issues</h2>Hepatitis B is a serious liver infection that for most people lasts less than six months. But for some — especially infants and children — it can become a long-lasting problem that can lead to liver failure, liver cancer and scarring called cirrhosis.In adults, the virus is spread through sex or through sharing needles during injection-drug use.But it can also be passed from an infected mother to a baby. As many as 90% of infants who contract hepatitis B go on to have chronic infections, meaning their immune systems don’t completely clear the virus.As many as 2.4 million people in the U.S. are estimated to have hepatitis B, and as many as half are unaware they are infected, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Dr. Baruch Blumberg, a federal scientist, identified the virus behind the infection in 1965. He won the Nobel Prize for the discovery, which led to tests and vaccines. The first hepatitis B vaccine was licensed in the U.S. in 1981.<h2>Shots for newborns have been recommended for years</h2>For decades, the nation’s vaccine guidance has been influenced by a government-appointed panel of experts, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Its recommendations have usually been adopted as national guidance that is widely heeded by doctors.In 1991, the committee recommended an initial dose of hepatitis B vaccine at birth. The guidance was modified a little over the years and currently suggests a dose within 24 hours of birth for all medically stable infants who weigh at least 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms), plus follow-up shots to be given at about 1 month and 6 months.Why a dose right at birth? Health officials used to rely on screening expectant mothers to find babies that might have been exposed to the virus. But many cases were missed, experts say, because some women weren’t tested or test results were incorrect. Also, the virus can live on surfaces for more than seven days at room temperature, so unvaccinated children living with a person with a chronic infection can catch it.Newborn hepatitis B vaccinations are widely considered to be a public health success story. Over about 30 years, cases among children fell from about 18,000 per year to about 2,200.A collaboration of public health researchers, the Vaccine Integrity Project, this week released its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/vaccine-integrity-project/hepatitis-b" target="_blank">analysis</a>&nbsp;of more than 400 studies and reports spanning 40 years. The group concluded the birth dose is safe, and is an important reason U.S. pediatric hepatitis B infections have fallen.<h2>Committee revisits the newborn recommendation</h2>Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist before becoming the nation’s top health official,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">fired all 17 members</a>&nbsp;of ACIP earlier this year and replaced them with a group that includes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-acip-vaccine-committee-9f58e1f004075b081718ff078de88d76">several anti-vaccine voices</a>.The panel has raised concerns about giving a vaccine to a baby so early in life.“Are we asking our babies to solve an adult problem?” committee member Dr. Evelyn Griffin asked at a September meeting.Peppered with questions about why a change was necessary, committee member Dr. Robert Malone said: “The signal that is prompting this is not one of safety. It’s one of trust. ... It’s one of parents uncomfortable with this medical procedure being performed at birth in a rather unilateral fashion without significant informed consent.”The committee tabled a vote at the September meeting, but it’s slated to be acted on during Thursday’s meeting, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/acip/downloads/agendas/draft-posted-2025-12-01-508.pdf" target="_blank">the agenda</a>. Federal officials have not answered questions about exactly how much of a delay is being proposed, or disclosed what research is being used as a basis for such a decision.<h2>What would happen if the shots are delayed?</h2>Not knowing what the committee is contemplating makes it difficult to guess the potential impact. But some have tried.This week, public health researchers collaborating with hepatitis-focused advocacy organizations released&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.24.25340907v1" target="_blank">a report</a>&nbsp;estimating that delaying the birth dose to 2 months could result in at least 1,400 hepatitis B infections in children and 480 deaths. The report — which has yet to be peer reviewed or published in a medical journal — estimated the toll would be higher if the first dose was given even later.But an ACIP change to the recommendation may have limited impact, O’Leary said.The committee’s most direct power comes over what’s covered by the government Vaccines for Children program, which pays for shots for uninsured children from low-income families. Hepatitis B shots often have been bundled into the final hospital bill for childbirth. So a new ACIP recommendation likely would not be an economic obstacle for the current practice continuing at many hospitals, he said.But any change stands to confuse and frighten parents, he added.“If it scares, it shares” on social media, O’Leary said.Several medical and public health organizations — and even some state government officials — have said, in advance of the meeting, that changing the recommendation is a terrible idea. Among them is a recently formed coalition of government leaders from several Northeastern states, which this week issued a statement saying they would continue to urge families to get a birth dose within 24 hours of delivery.U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, this week called on Congress to compel Kennedy to appear at a hearing and explain ACIP’s actions.“Ending the decades-long recommendation that babies born in the U.S. get vaccinated against hepatitis B is a heartless choice to allow babies to die,” Murray said in a statement.___

Vaccine committee delays vote on hepatitis B shots for newborns

FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas teen is under investigation for a bank robbery in southwest Kansas.

Just before 1p.m.&nbsp;December 2, Police Officers and Finney County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a reported bank robbery at Equity Bank, 401 N. Henderson Street in city of Holcomb, according to a media release from polcie.

Law enforcement learned the suspect had left the scene with an undisclosed amount of money, armed with a knife and wearing a mask. 

Officers and deputies quickly located the suspect—identified as Chase Walker, 16, of Holcomb—in the bank parking lot. He was taken into custody without incident, and no injuries were reported. Evidence related to the crime was recovered at the scene.

Walker was arrested on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and additional allegations, according to police. .

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764879926631.png" alt="google image" />
 <figcaption>google image</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY —A Kansas teen is under investigation for a bank robbery in southwest Kansas.Just before 1p.m.&nbsp;December 2, Police Officers and Finney County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a reported bank robbery at Equity Bank, 401 N. Henderson Street in city of Holcomb, according to a media release from polcie.Law enforcement learned the suspect had left the scene with an undisclosed amount of money, armed with a knife and wearing a mask. Officers and deputies quickly located the suspect—identified as Chase Walker, 16, of Holcomb—in the bank parking lot. He was taken into custody without incident, and no injuries were reported. Evidence related to the crime was recovered at the scene.Walker was arrested on requested charges of Aggravated Robbery, Aggravated Assault, and additional allegations, according to police. .

16-year-old accused of armed bank robbery in SW Kansas

WASHINGTON (AP) —There is a recall for more than 260,000 cases of shredded cheese sold in Kansas, 30 other states and Puerto Rico because of the potential for metal fragment contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA said that the various shredded cheeses were recalled by Great Lakes Cheese Co. The cheese products are sold under private store-brand labels at several retailers, including Target, Walmart and Aldi.

The recall includes various cheeses such as mozzarella, Italian style, pizza style, mozzarella and provolone and mozzarella and parmesan.

The recall has a Class II classification, because the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.

An FDA says ingesting metal fragments may cause injuries such as dental damage, laceration of the mouth or throat, or laceration or perforation of the intestine.

WASHINGTON (AP) —There is a recall for more than 260,000 cases of shredded cheese sold in Kansas, 30 other states and Puerto Rico because of the potential for metal fragment contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.The FDA said that the various shredded cheeses were recalled by Great Lakes Cheese Co. The cheese products are sold under private store-brand labels at several retailers, including Target, Walmart and Aldi.The recall includes various cheeses such as mozzarella, Italian style, pizza style, mozzarella and provolone and mozzarella and parmesan.The recall has a Class II classification, because the product “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote,” according to the FDA’s website.An FDA says ingesting metal fragments may cause injuries such as dental damage, laceration of the mouth or throat, or laceration or perforation of the intestine.

Shredded cheese sold in Kan. gets FDA’s most serious recall warning  

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

Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals agreed the ballot language set to go on the November 2026 ballot failed to sufficiently inform voters that a ‘yes’ vote would repeal abortion rights passed in 2024

A Missouri appeals court rewrote the language for a proposed abortion ban set to appear on the November 2026 ballot after the judges concluded Thursday the previous wording drafted by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/12/03/missouri-appeals-court-arguments-abortion-ban-ballot-measure/">was riddled with errors.</a>

The judges found both the ballot language and the summary statement that will be posted at polling places “fail to sufficiently advise voters” that the proposed amendment would repeal and replace the reproductive rights amendment voters passed in November 2024 to legalize abortion.&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Opinion.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=506254" target="_blank">The new ballot language</a>&nbsp;certified by the Missouri Court of Appeals reads:&nbsp;

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

Western District Court of Appeals Presiding Judge W. Douglas Thomson and judges Thomas Chapman and Janet Sutton filed the opinion less than 24 hours after hearing arguments in their courtroom Wednesday afternoon.

Hoskins’ now-rejected ballot language, in-part, asked if voters wanted to: “Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest.’”

Attorneys for Dr. Anna Fitz-James, who filed the lawsuit, picked this statement apart, scrutinizing the assumption that voters would know what “Article 1, section 3 of the constitution is, the exclusion of the 12-week gestation limit for survivors, as well as the misuse of a semi-colon, which could be interpreted to mean citizens would be newly gaining these abortion rights.

The appeals court agreed with them on all three counts.

The judges also re-wrote Hoskins’ initial ballot language that asked if voters wanted to: “Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.”

The appeals court found that wording to be “misleading,” because while the proposed amendment would prevent the state from interfering with an individual’s ability to access such care, it “does not guarantee the care itself.”

Fitz-James also argued the proposed amendment violates a&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=III+++50&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">statute</a>&nbsp;that prevents ballot measures from encompassing more than one subject. She argued that gender-affirming care is a different subject from reproductive health care.

The appeals judges agreed with the lower court’s assessment that the proposed amendment “passes constitutional muster” and does not violate the single subject rule.&nbsp;

“Because gender transition surgeries or hormone therapies may affect the ability to reproduce, gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies may be connected with, or incident to, reproductive health care,” the judges wrote.&nbsp;

Abortion rights groups have accused lawmakers of including the ban to win over more voters. Gender-affirming health care for minors is&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/15/how-missouri-became-a-battleground-over-gender-affirming-care/">currently banned in Missouri,</a>&nbsp;though a challenge to the law is before the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/09/24/ruling-upholding-missouri-transgender-care-ban-had-factual-errors-attorneys-argue/">state supreme court.&nbsp;</a>

But they disagreed with how Hoskins worded this part of the language, which initially asked if voters wanted to “prohibit sex-change procedures for children.” The judges said this wording incorrectly attempted to use the words “gender” and “sex” interchangeably.&nbsp;

The court also re-wrote the ballot summary to reflect the new ballot language.&nbsp;

A new law passed this year allows the secretary of state three attempts to write fair ballot language. Hoskins has so far used two, but the appeals court ruled Thursday that he wouldn’t be given his third try at the wording.

The latest decision is expected to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.&nbsp;

The proposed constitutional amendment was drafted and approved by Missouri’s Republican supermajority in May. A lawsuit over the initial ballot language, which failed to state the amendment would ban abortion, was filed in July by Fitz-James. Fitz-James, who submitted the language for the reproductive rights initiative petition, said the latest amendment was intentionally deceptive.&nbsp;

While abortion up until the point of fetal viability is a constitutional right in Missouri because of&nbsp; the abortion rights amendment voters approved, only several dozen abortions have occurred as legal battles over abortion regulations that remain in state statute play out in the courts.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764874419281.png" alt=" Students hold up anti-abortion signs at the Midwest March for Life on May 1, 2024, at the Missouri State Capitol (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption> Students hold up anti-abortion signs at the Midwest March for Life on May 1, 2024, at the Missouri State Capitol (Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/annaspoerre/">ANNA SPOERRE</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2023/02/20/state-senator-throws-first-punches-of-2024-missouri-governors-campaign/">Missouri Independent</a><h2>Missouri’s Western District Court of Appeals agreed the ballot language set to go on the November 2026 ballot failed to sufficiently inform voters that a ‘yes’ vote would repeal abortion rights passed in 2024</h2>A Missouri appeals court rewrote the language for a proposed abortion ban set to appear on the November 2026 ballot after the judges concluded Thursday the previous wording drafted by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/12/03/missouri-appeals-court-arguments-abortion-ban-ballot-measure/">was riddled with errors.</a>The judges found both the ballot language and the summary statement that will be posted at polling places “fail to sufficiently advise voters” that the proposed amendment would repeal and replace the reproductive rights amendment voters passed in November 2024 to legalize abortion.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/fv/c/Opinion.PDF?courtCode=WA&amp;di=506254" target="_blank">The new ballot language</a>&nbsp;certified by the Missouri Court of Appeals reads:&nbsp;“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:<ul>
 <li>Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability;</li><li>Allow abortions for rape and incest (under twelve-weeks’ gestation), emergencies, and fetal anomalies;</li><li>Allow legislation regulating abortion;</li><li>Ensure parental consent for minors’ abortions;</li><li>Prohibit gender transition procedures for minors?”</li>
 </ul>Western District Court of Appeals Presiding Judge W. Douglas Thomson and judges Thomas Chapman and Janet Sutton filed the opinion less than 24 hours after hearing arguments in their courtroom Wednesday afternoon.Hoskins’ now-rejected ballot language, in-part, asked if voters wanted to: “Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest.’”Attorneys for Dr. Anna Fitz-James, who filed the lawsuit, picked this statement apart, scrutinizing the assumption that voters would know what “Article 1, section 3 of the constitution is, the exclusion of the 12-week gestation limit for survivors, as well as the misuse of a semi-colon, which could be interpreted to mean citizens would be newly gaining these abortion rights.The appeals court agreed with them on all three counts.The judges also re-wrote Hoskins’ initial ballot language that asked if voters wanted to: “Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.”The appeals court found that wording to be “misleading,” because while the proposed amendment would prevent the state from interfering with an individual’s ability to access such care, it “does not guarantee the care itself.”Fitz-James also argued the proposed amendment violates a&nbsp;<a href="https://revisor.mo.gov/main/OneSection.aspx?section=III+++50&amp;constit=y" target="_blank">statute</a>&nbsp;that prevents ballot measures from encompassing more than one subject. She argued that gender-affirming care is a different subject from reproductive health care.The appeals judges agreed with the lower court’s assessment that the proposed amendment “passes constitutional muster” and does not violate the single subject rule.&nbsp;“Because gender transition surgeries or hormone therapies may affect the ability to reproduce, gender transition surgeries and hormone therapies may be connected with, or incident to, reproductive health care,” the judges wrote.&nbsp;Abortion rights groups have accused lawmakers of including the ban to win over more voters. Gender-affirming health care for minors is&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/15/how-missouri-became-a-battleground-over-gender-affirming-care/">currently banned in Missouri,</a>&nbsp;though a challenge to the law is before the&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/09/24/ruling-upholding-missouri-transgender-care-ban-had-factual-errors-attorneys-argue/">state supreme court.&nbsp;</a>But they disagreed with how Hoskins worded this part of the language, which initially asked if voters wanted to “prohibit sex-change procedures for children.” The judges said this wording incorrectly attempted to use the words “gender” and “sex” interchangeably.&nbsp;The court also re-wrote the ballot summary to reflect the new ballot language.&nbsp;A new law passed this year allows the secretary of state three attempts to write fair ballot language. Hoskins has so far used two, but the appeals court ruled Thursday that he wouldn’t be given his third try at the wording.The latest decision is expected to be appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.&nbsp;The proposed constitutional amendment was drafted and approved by Missouri’s Republican supermajority in May. A lawsuit over the initial ballot language, which failed to state the amendment would ban abortion, was filed in July by Fitz-James. Fitz-James, who submitted the language for the reproductive rights initiative petition, said the latest amendment was intentionally deceptive.&nbsp;While abortion up until the point of fetal viability is a constitutional right in Missouri because of&nbsp; the abortion rights amendment voters approved, only several dozen abortions have occurred as legal battles over abortion regulations that remain in state statute play out in the courts.&nbsp;

Mo. court rewrites ballot proposal to clarify a ‘yes’ would end right to abortion

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into pipe bombs placed outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the Capitol. He was charged with an explosives offense, prosecutors said.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have identified a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.

The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole Jr., according to Attorney General Pam Bondi. He has been charged with the use of an explosive device and more charges are possible as part of the ongoing investigation.

“Let me be clear: There was no new tip, there was no new witness. Just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Bondi said.

Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned on Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.

FBI says the bombs could have killed people

The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.

Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.

The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.

Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories

In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”

The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.

In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.” He said in the same post, addressed to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that “a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through.”

Public attention over the years had centered in part on surveillance video taken the night before the riot showing the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.

The person wore a light sweatshirt, dark pants and sneakers, with a dark backpack slung over one shoulder. Investigators have long said the gait suggested the person was a man, but a surgical mask and hood rendered the face all but impossible to see.

Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information.

Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices — each roughly 1 foot (0.3 meters) long and packed with gunpowder and metal, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.

Another avenue of the investigation centered on the suspect’s shoes, believed to be Nike Air Max Speed Turfs. After learning from Nike that thousands of pairs had been distributed through more than two dozen retailers, agents filed subpoenas for credit card records from Foot Locker and other chains as they worked to narrow down potential buyers. Still, for years, they had no solid breakthroughs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into who placed pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Capitol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.

The arrest took place Thursday morning, and the suspect is a man, the official said. He was arrested in Virginia, according to another person familiar with the matter. No other details were immediately available, including the charges the man might face. The people who described the arrest were not authorized to publicly discuss a case that has not yet been made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in the District of Columbia. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.

Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5-foot-7, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.

In a long post on X last month, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public award for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1735867762680.png" alt="FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>FBI poster seeking a suspect who allegedly placed pipe bombs in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021.&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into pipe bombs placed outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the Capitol. He was charged with an explosives offense, prosecutors said.The arrest marks the first time investigators have identified a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.The suspect in custody has been identified as Brian Cole Jr., according to Attorney General Pam Bondi. He has been charged with the use of an explosive device and more charges are possible as part of the ongoing investigation.“Let me be clear: There was no new tip, there was no new witness. Just good diligent police work and prosecutorial work,” Bondi said.Calls to relatives of Cole listed in public records were not immediately returned on Thursday. Hours after Cole was taken into custody, unmarked law enforcement vehicles lined the cul-de-sac where Cole’s home is while FBI agents helped shoo away onlookers. Authorities were seen entering the house and examining the trunk of a car nearby.<h2>FBI says the bombs could have killed people</h2>The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5 feet, 7 inches tall, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.<h2>Lack of evidence spawns conspiracy theories</h2>In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.In a long Nov. 13 post on X, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public reward for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.” He said in the same post, addressed to Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., that “a week of near 24-hour work on RECENT open source leads in the case has yet to produce a break through.”<h2>Investigators hunt for clues</h2>Public attention over the years had centered in part on surveillance video taken the night before the riot showing the suspect spending close to an hour moving through the surrounding blocks, pausing on a park bench, cutting through an alley and stopping again as a dog walker passed.The person wore a light sweatshirt, dark pants and sneakers, with a dark backpack slung over one shoulder. Investigators have long said the gait suggested the person was a man, but a surgical mask and hood rendered the face all but impossible to see.Agents paired their video review with a broad sweep of digital records. They gathered cell tower data showing which phones were active in the neighborhood at the time and issued subpoenas to several tech companies, including Google, for location information.Investigators also analyzed credit card transactions from hobby shops and major retailers to identify customers who had purchased components resembling those used in the two explosive devices — each roughly 1 foot (0.3 meters) long and packed with gunpowder and metal, according to two law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.Another avenue of the investigation centered on the suspect’s shoes, believed to be Nike Air Max Speed Turfs. After learning from Nike that thousands of pairs had been distributed through more than two dozen retailers, agents filed subpoenas for credit card records from Foot Locker and other chains as they worked to narrow down potential buyers. Still, for years, they had no solid breakthroughs.---------------------WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI made an arrest on Thursday in its nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">5-year-old investigation</a>&nbsp;into who placed pipe bombs in Washington on the eve of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege">the Jan. 6, 2021, riot</a>&nbsp;at the U.S. Capitol, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.The arrest marks the first time investigators have settled on a suspect in an act that had long vexed law enforcement, spawned a multitude of conspiracy theories and remained an enduring mystery in the shadow of the dark chapter of American history that is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeumZ2aHDug">the violent Capitol siege</a>.The arrest took place Thursday morning, and the suspect is a man, the official said. He was arrested in Virginia, according to another person familiar with the matter. No other details were immediately available, including the charges the man might face. The people who described the arrest were not authorized to publicly discuss a case that has not yet been made public and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The pipe bombs were placed on the evening of Jan. 5, 2021, near the offices of the Democratic and Republican national committees in the District of Columbia. Nobody was hurt before the bombs were rendered safe, but the FBI has said both devices could have been lethal.In the years since, investigators have sought the public’s help in identifying a shadowy subject seen on surveillance camera even as they struggled to determine answers to basic questions, including the person’s gender and motive and whether the act had a clear connection to the riot at the Capitol a day later when supporters of President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">stormed the building</a>&nbsp;in a bid to halt the certification of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-wins-white-house-ap-fd58df73aa677acb74fce2a69adb71f9">the Republican's 2020 election loss</a>&nbsp;to Democrat Joe Biden.Seeking a breakthrough, the FBI last January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-pipe-bombs-fbi-washington-ea85b6fe5fe9140f1c75b7ee8c0554b2">publicized additional information</a>&nbsp;about the investigation, including an estimate that the suspect was about 5-foot-7, as well as previously unreleased video of the suspect placing one of the bombs.The bureau had for years struggled to pinpoint a suspect despite hundreds of tips, a review of tens of thousands of video files and a significant number of interviews.In the absence of harder evidence, Republican lawmakers and right-wing media outlets promoted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-trump-cassidy-hutchinson-capitol-188ee6406b93f42eb946d28f5213de3d">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about the pipe bombs.&nbsp;<a href="https://cha.house.gov/_cache/files/d/9/d96ba6ce-03fb-4fc8-a4a7-5b5daf19d064/4F510144C1F427873D3298D955C8E19F.initial-findings-report.pdf">House Republicans</a>&nbsp;also criticized security lapses, questioning how law enforcement failed to detect the bombs for 17 hours. Dan Bongino, the current FBI deputy director, floated the possibility last year before being tapped for his job that the act was an “inside job” and involved a “massive cover-up.”The FBI’s top two leaders, Bongino and Director Kash Patel, sought to breathe new life into the investigation despite having openly disparaged the bureau’s broader approach to the Jan. 6 siege and despite Trump's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/capitol-jan-6-pardons-trump-justice-department-8ce8b2a8f8cb602d5eaf85ac7b969606">pardons on his first day back in office</a>&nbsp;of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, including those who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">violently attacked police</a>&nbsp;with poles and other makeshift weapons.In a long post on X last month, Bongino wrote that the FBI had brought in new personnel to examine the case and "dramatically increased investigative resources" along with the public award for information “to utilize crowd-sourcing leads.”

Arrest made in pipe bombs placed in DC on eve of Jan. 6 Capitol riot

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a domestic incident in rural Shawnee County.

Just after 11a.m. December 2, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a domestic disturbance that occurred in northwest Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. A 44-year-old female victim walked into the Silver Lake Police Department with a gunshot wound to her hand. 

She was transported to a local hospital by American Medical Response with non-life-threatening injuries.

Multiple law enforcement officers arrived in the 10000 block of NW 54th Street and began searching for the male suspect. At 12:38pm, the suspect was taken into custody.

James I. Morehead, 65, of Silver Lake, Kan., was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Attempted Murder in the 1st degree; intentional and premeditated,&nbsp;&nbsp;Aggravated battery; knowingly use weapon cause great body harm/disfigure/death, Criminal threat, Use/possess with intent to use drug paraphernalia into human body, and Intimidation of witness or victim; prevent reporting of victimization

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1764775415768.png" alt="Morehead photo Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Morehead photo Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a domestic incident in rural Shawnee County.Just after 11a.m. December 2, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a domestic disturbance that occurred in northwest Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. A 44-year-old female victim walked into the Silver Lake Police Department with a gunshot wound to her hand. She was transported to a local hospital by American Medical Response with non-life-threatening injuries.Multiple law enforcement officers arrived in the 10000 block of NW 54th Street and began searching for the male suspect. At 12:38pm, the suspect was taken into custody.James I. Morehead, 65, of Silver Lake, Kan., was arrested and booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Attempted Murder in the 1st degree; intentional and premeditated,&nbsp;&nbsp;Aggravated battery; knowingly use weapon cause great body harm/disfigure/death, Criminal threat, Use/possess with intent to use drug paraphernalia into human body, and Intimidation of witness or victim; prevent reporting of victimization

Sheriff: Kansas man allegedly shot woman in the hand

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-messaging-app-attack-plans-f8581bcb447b91d2e7f9cb7809ae0f06">The Pentagon’s watchdog</a>&nbsp;found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">used the Signal messaging app</a>&nbsp;to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen's Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.

Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. That person also said the report concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.

Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon's inspector general but provided a written statement, that person said. The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.

The initial findings, which were first reported by CNN,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">ramp up the pressure</a>&nbsp;on the former Fox News Channel host after lawmakers called for the independent inquiry into his use of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/signal-app-atlantic-war-plans-32699da142c5209b845e57f690df4925">commercially available app</a>.

Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news report that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">a follow-up strike</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody."

Hegseth&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-trump-venezuela-540ae279827e02105e089f1bd5af37a6">defended the strike as emerging in the “fog of war</a>,” saying he didn’t see any survivors but also “didn’t stick around” for the rest of the mission and that the admiral in charge “made the right call” in ordering the second strike. He also did not admit fault following the Signal revelations, asserting that the information was unclassified.

“The Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman said in a statement. “This matter is resolved, and the case is closed.”

President Donald Trump “stands by” Hegseth, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that the probe affirms that “no classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised.”

Journalist was added to a chat where sensitive plans were shared

In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.

Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic</a>, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-waltz-rubio-national-security-hegseth-d787db43d45922668ad0c1c62e608f85">then-national security adviser Mike Waltz</a>. It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.

Hegseth had created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-houthis-attack-8dbf9dd6c711796438a5c1c84831c40b">another Signal chat</a>&nbsp;with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.

Signal is encrypted but is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon’s secure communications network.

Hegseth previously has said none of the information shared in the chats was classified. Multiple current and former military officials have told the AP there was no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device.

The review was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol. A partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.

Hegseth said he viewed the investigation as a partisan exercise and did not trust the inspector general, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings. The review had to rely on screenshots of the Signal chat published by the Atlantic because Hegseth could not provide more than a small handful of his Signal messages, the person said.

When asked about the investigation in August, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters that "we believe that this is a witch hunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith.”

Lawmakers had called for inspector general to investigate

The revelations sparked intense scrutiny, with Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans saying Hegseth posting the information to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-pentagon-trump-30dc4c3d0e75a89f3fd883f38b26afff">potentially put those pilots’ lives at risk</a>. They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.

Some Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees suggested Wednesday that Hegseth’s actions would be a fireable offense for anyone else.

“This was not an isolated lapse. It reflects a broader pattern of recklessness and poor judgment from a secretary who has repeatedly shown he is in over his head,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement.

The inspector general had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-messaging-app-attack-plans-f8581bcb447b91d2e7f9cb7809ae0f06">opened its investigation</a>&nbsp;into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.

It all ties back to the campaign against Yemen’s Houthis

The Houthi rebels had started launching&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-israel-hamas-red-sea-shipping-ab6fee82e73170b7e2edbab90ed6c14c">missile and drone attacks</a>&nbsp;against commercial and military ships in late 2023 in what their leadership had described as an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/israel-hamas-war-yemen-red-sea-rebellions-and-uprisings-yemen-government-35148e6fbef64ec8b6fa074d4da2551c">effort to end</a>&nbsp;Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.

The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthis in 2024 turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II.

A ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war had begun in January before falling apart in March. The U.S. then launched a broad assault against the Houthis that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-houthis-end-of-bombing-yemen-israel-e2f08ac04024ef3d6409b4ce97092489">ended weeks later</a>&nbsp;when Trump said they pledged to stop attacking ships. The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October.

Following the disclosure of Hegseth’s Signal chat that included the Atlantic’s editor, the magazine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">released the entire thread</a>&nbsp;in late March. Hegseth had posted multiple details about an impending strike, using military language and laying out when a “strike window” starts, where a “target terrorist” was located, the time elements around the attack and when various weapons and aircraft would be used in the strike. He mentioned that the U.S. was “currently clean” on operational security.

Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was “informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.”

Associated Press writer Stephen Groves, Konstantin Toropin, Michelle L. Price and David Klepper contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1742996748555.png" alt="Image Signal app" />
 <figcaption>Image Signal app</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-messaging-app-attack-plans-f8581bcb447b91d2e7f9cb7809ae0f06">The Pentagon’s watchdog</a>&nbsp;found that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put U.S. personnel and their mission at risk when he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">used the Signal messaging app</a>&nbsp;to convey sensitive information about a military strike against Yemen's Houthi militants, two people familiar with the findings said Wednesday.Hegseth, however, has the ability to declassify material and the report did not find he did so improperly, according to one of the people familiar with the findings who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the information. That person also said the report concluded that Hegseth violated Pentagon policy by using his personal device for official business and it recommended better training for all Pentagon officials.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1758823087918.png" alt="File photo Secretary of War Pete Hegseth- CSPAN image" />
 <figcaption>File photo Secretary of War Pete Hegseth- CSPAN image</figcaption>
 </figure>Hegseth declined to sit for an interview with the Pentagon's inspector general but provided a written statement, that person said. The defense secretary asserted that he was permitted to declassify information as he saw fit and only communicated details he thought would not endanger the mission.The initial findings, which were first reported by CNN,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-hegseth-boat-strikes-e68621ec48c7886215359c0110d6d9ca">ramp up the pressure</a>&nbsp;on the former Fox News Channel host after lawmakers called for the independent inquiry into his use of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/signal-app-atlantic-war-plans-32699da142c5209b845e57f690df4925">commercially available app</a>.Lawmakers also just opened investigations into a news report that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-hegseth-maduro-512c66b99b2a13e9d1a3ed2699e78228">a follow-up strike</a>&nbsp;on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea in September killed survivors after Hegseth issued a verbal order to “kill everybody."Hegseth&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-trump-venezuela-540ae279827e02105e089f1bd5af37a6">defended the strike as emerging in the “fog of war</a>,” saying he didn’t see any survivors but also “didn’t stick around” for the rest of the mission and that the admiral in charge “made the right call” in ordering the second strike. He also did not admit fault following the Signal revelations, asserting that the information was unclassified.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">No classified information. Total exoneration. Case closed. Houthis bombed into submission. Thank you for your attention to this IG report. <a href="https://t.co/eQPO5iPIRc">https://t.co/eQPO5iPIRc</a>&mdash; Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1996368824397094925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“The Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along — no classified information was shared,” Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman said in a statement. “This matter is resolved, and the case is closed.”President Donald Trump “stands by” Hegseth, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, adding that the probe affirms that “no classified information was leaked, and operational security was not compromised.”<h2>Journalist was added to a chat where sensitive plans were shared</h2>In at least two separate Signal chats, Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women carrying out those attacks on behalf of the United States were airborne.Hegseth’s use of the app came to light when a journalist,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic</a>, was inadvertently added to a Signal text chain by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-waltz-rubio-national-security-hegseth-d787db43d45922668ad0c1c62e608f85">then-national security adviser Mike Waltz</a>. It included Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and others, brought together to discuss March 15 military operations against the Iran-backed Houthis.Hegseth had created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-houthis-attack-8dbf9dd6c711796438a5c1c84831c40b">another Signal chat</a>&nbsp;with 13 people that included his wife and brother where he shared similar details of the same strike, The Associated Press reported.Signal is encrypted but is not authorized for carrying classified information and is not part of the Pentagon’s secure communications network.Hegseth previously has said none of the information shared in the chats was classified. Multiple current and former military officials have told the AP there was no way details with that specificity, especially before a strike took place, would have been OK to share on an unsecured device.The review was delivered to lawmakers, who were able to review the report in a classified facility at the Capitol. A partially redacted version of the report was expected to be released publicly later this week.Hegseth said he viewed the investigation as a partisan exercise and did not trust the inspector general, according to one of the people familiar with the report’s findings. The review had to rely on screenshots of the Signal chat published by the Atlantic because Hegseth could not provide more than a small handful of his Signal messages, the person said.When asked about the investigation in August, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told reporters that "we believe that this is a witch hunt and a total sham and being conducted in bad faith.”<h2>Lawmakers had called for inspector general to investigate</h2>The revelations sparked intense scrutiny, with Democratic lawmakers and a small number of Republicans saying Hegseth posting the information to the Signal chats before the military jets had reached their targets&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-chat-pentagon-trump-30dc4c3d0e75a89f3fd883f38b26afff">potentially put those pilots’ lives at risk</a>. They said lower-ranking members of the military would have been fired for such a lapse.Some Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees suggested Wednesday that Hegseth’s actions would be a fireable offense for anyone else.“This was not an isolated lapse. It reflects a broader pattern of recklessness and poor judgment from a secretary who has repeatedly shown he is in over his head,” Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said in a statement.The inspector general had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-signal-messaging-app-attack-plans-f8581bcb447b91d2e7f9cb7809ae0f06">opened its investigation</a>&nbsp;into Hegseth at the request of the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island.<h2>It all ties back to the campaign against Yemen’s Houthis</h2>The Houthi rebels had started launching&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/yemen-houthi-israel-hamas-red-sea-shipping-ab6fee82e73170b7e2edbab90ed6c14c">missile and drone attacks</a>&nbsp;against commercial and military ships in late 2023 in what their leadership had described as an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/israel-hamas-war-yemen-red-sea-rebellions-and-uprisings-yemen-government-35148e6fbef64ec8b6fa074d4da2551c">effort to end</a>&nbsp;Israel’s offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion of goods move through it annually.The U.S.-led campaign against the Houthis in 2024 turned into the most intense running sea battle the Navy had faced since World War II.A ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war had begun in January before falling apart in March. The U.S. then launched a broad assault against the Houthis that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-houthis-end-of-bombing-yemen-israel-e2f08ac04024ef3d6409b4ce97092489">ended weeks later</a>&nbsp;when Trump said they pledged to stop attacking ships. The latest Gaza ceasefire began in October.Following the disclosure of Hegseth’s Signal chat that included the Atlantic’s editor, the magazine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hegseth-atlantic-war-plans-signal-yemen-houthis-c0addd08c627ab01a37ea63621cb695e">released the entire thread</a>&nbsp;in late March. Hegseth had posted multiple details about an impending strike, using military language and laying out when a “strike window” starts, where a “target terrorist” was located, the time elements around the attack and when various weapons and aircraft would be used in the strike. He mentioned that the U.S. was “currently clean” on operational security.Hegseth told Fox News Channel in April that what he shared over Signal was “informal, unclassified coordinations, for media coordinations and other things.”___Associated Press writer Stephen Groves, Konstantin Toropin, Michelle L. Price and David Klepper contributed to this report.

Sec. of War responds to Pentagon watchdog report on his use of Signal app

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — As a representative of 60 mostly rural Kansas counties, U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann said road safety is not an abstract policy concept.

“For me, it’s personal,” the Republican said in recorded remarks at a Wednesday news conference by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.

Kansas families rely on safe road travel for essentials, including health care, employment, education and “everything in between,” Mann said.

The safety advocates organization Tuesday released&nbsp;<a href="https://saferoads.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Advocates-Report-ONLINE-fnl1.pdf" target="_blank">a report</a>, outlining why most states, including Kansas, received mediocre grades for road safety and how to address lapses in traffic laws.

This year’s report “makes it clear we still have major challenges on our roadways,” Mann said.

Politicians, advocates, law enforcement and mothers who lost their children in car crashes urged lawmakers during the news conference to shape their 2026 agendas to prioritize improving road safety.

The report rates all states and Washington, D.C., based on the organization’s key safety measures, including laws for seatbelt use, motorcycle helmets, child safety, young driver inexperience, impaired and distracted driving, speeding and red light running.

Red, the lowest ranking, means danger, indicating a state with inadequate road safety laws. Yellow means caution and includes states that have some of the organization’s optimal safety measures. Green signifies a good ranking for states that have enacted and enforced most of the measures.

Cathy Chase, president of the safety advocates organization, said 534 laws across the country need to be advanced to meet the organization’s safety criteria.

Kansas is one of 36 states in the yellow because of its lack of child passenger safety, adult occupant protection and young driver programs, according to the report.

Kansas records almost $3 billion in annual costs because of motor vehicle crashes, the report said. In the past 10 years, more than 4,000 people have died in Kansas traffic incidents.&nbsp;That includes 340 deaths in 2024.

In 2023, more than 40,000 people were killed in the U.S. in motor vehicle incidents. Texas had the most traffic deaths that year at 4,291, followed closely by California with 4,061 people. Both states’ numbers decreased in 2024, according to early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. D.C. had the fewest number of traffic deaths in both years at 44 people in 2023 and 47 people in 2024.

Annual traffic deaths have decreased across the board in recent years, but 2023’s number is still above 2011’s all-time low of 35,303 deaths.

Nearly one third of 2023’s traffic deaths were caused by drunk driving.&nbsp;

Mann and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire, sponsored this year the End DWI Act, which encourages states to enact laws requiring ignition interlock devices for first-time drunk driving offenses. DWI stands for driving while intoxicated.

The proposed law aims to reduce drunk driving recidivism and keep drunk drivers off the road.Pappas said it’s critical for state and federal lawmakers to have data, and the organization’s report informs efforts to reduce traffic deaths.

“I’m glad that we’re able to pursue a commonsense agenda here in Washington, at a moment where it appears that things are really divided. There’s a lot that unites us, especially when it comes to transportation and infrastructure and safe roadways,” Pappas said.

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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1694015086420.jpeg" alt=" " />
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 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — As a representative of 60 mostly rural Kansas counties, U.S. Rep. Tracey Mann said road safety is not an abstract policy concept.“For me, it’s personal,” the Republican said in recorded remarks at a Wednesday news conference by Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety.Kansas families rely on safe road travel for essentials, including health care, employment, education and “everything in between,” Mann said.The safety advocates organization Tuesday released&nbsp;<a href="https://saferoads.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/2026-Advocates-Report-ONLINE-fnl1.pdf" target="_blank">a report</a>, outlining why most states, including Kansas, received mediocre grades for road safety and how to address lapses in traffic laws.This year’s report “makes it clear we still have major challenges on our roadways,” Mann said.Politicians, advocates, law enforcement and mothers who lost their children in car crashes urged lawmakers during the news conference to shape their 2026 agendas to prioritize improving road safety.The report rates all states and Washington, D.C., based on the organization’s key safety measures, including laws for seatbelt use, motorcycle helmets, child safety, young driver inexperience, impaired and distracted driving, speeding and red light running.Red, the lowest ranking, means danger, indicating a state with inadequate road safety laws. Yellow means caution and includes states that have some of the organization’s optimal safety measures. Green signifies a good ranking for states that have enacted and enforced most of the measures.Cathy Chase, president of the safety advocates organization, said 534 laws across the country need to be advanced to meet the organization’s safety criteria.Kansas is one of 36 states in the yellow because of its lack of child passenger safety, adult occupant protection and young driver programs, according to the report.Kansas records almost $3 billion in annual costs because of motor vehicle crashes, the report said. In the past 10 years, more than 4,000 people have died in Kansas traffic incidents.&nbsp;That includes 340 deaths in 2024.In 2023, more than 40,000 people were killed in the U.S. in motor vehicle incidents. Texas had the most traffic deaths that year at 4,291, followed closely by California with 4,061 people. Both states’ numbers decreased in 2024, according to early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. D.C. had the fewest number of traffic deaths in both years at 44 people in 2023 and 47 people in 2024.Annual traffic deaths have decreased across the board in recent years, but 2023’s number is still above 2011’s all-time low of 35,303 deaths.Nearly one third of 2023’s traffic deaths were caused by drunk driving.&nbsp;Mann and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, D-New Hampshire, sponsored this year the End DWI Act, which encourages states to enact laws requiring ignition interlock devices for first-time drunk driving offenses. DWI stands for driving while intoxicated.The proposed law aims to reduce drunk driving recidivism and keep drunk drivers off the road.Pappas said it’s critical for state and federal lawmakers to have data, and the organization’s report informs efforts to reduce traffic deaths.“I’m glad that we’re able to pursue a commonsense agenda here in Washington, at a moment where it appears that things are really divided. There’s a lot that unites us, especially when it comes to transportation and infrastructure and safe roadways,” Pappas said.

Kansas congressman highlights bipartisan drunk driving bill as state receives mediocre safety rating

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A driver accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred in February is set to make her first court appearance on Thursday, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.

Madelyn Walter, 24, Derby, will learn what charges she faces for the incident that killed&nbsp;75-year-old Manolopoulos Panagiotis of Wichita.

Just after 5 p.m. February 6, deputies, Sedgwick County EMS and Sedgwick County Fire District #1 responded to a hit-and-run crash at 47th Street South and Clifton, according to Sheriff's Department spokesman Branden Stitt.

Witnesses reported that a red Dodge Nitro was traveling south on Clifton when it failed to yield to an eastbound Ford Fiesta and struck the vehicle in the intersection.&nbsp;

The impact caused the driver of the Fiesta, identified as&nbsp; Manolopoulos &nbsp;Panagiotis of Wichita, to be ejected and then struck by his own car.

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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1738943687419.png" alt="Walter-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Walter-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A driver accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash that occurred in February is set to make her first court appearance on Thursday, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.Madelyn Walter, 24, Derby, will learn what charges she faces for the incident that killed&nbsp;75-year-old Manolopoulos Panagiotis of Wichita.Just after 5 p.m. February 6, deputies, Sedgwick County EMS and Sedgwick County Fire District #1 responded to a hit-and-run crash at 47th Street South and Clifton, according to Sheriff's Department spokesman Branden Stitt.Witnesses reported that a red Dodge Nitro was traveling south on Clifton when it failed to yield to an eastbound Ford Fiesta and struck the vehicle in the intersection.&nbsp;The impact caused the driver of the Fiesta, identified as&nbsp; Manolopoulos &nbsp;Panagiotis of Wichita, to be ejected and then struck by his own car.Sedgwick County EMS transported Panagiotis to a Wichita hospital in extremely critical condition. He later succumbed to his injuries at 10:46 p.m.&nbsp;&nbsp;The driver of the Nitro, later identified as Walter, fled the scene following the collision.Thanks to witness reports and information provided to 911 dispatchers, deputies utilized the Flock license plate reader system to locate the suspect vehicle in the parking lot of the Walmart in Derby. With assistance from the Derby Police Department Walter was found at a nearby Derby residence.She was arrested and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of failing to stop at an injury crash resulting in great bodily injury. As part of the investigation, it was determined that Walter’s 5-year-old child was in the vehicle at the time of the crash. Neither Walter nor the child was injured.Law enforcement presented the case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office for formal charging.