In this support scam twist, con artists are posing as tech experts 
who are eager to help resolve your problem – for a price. The "issue"? 
Someone in your house has been watching online pornography. BBB is 
seeing an increasing number of similar cons reported to <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/">BBB.org/ScamTracker</a>.&nbsp;

Something is wrong with your home computer or internet connection, so
 you search online for a customer support phone number. In a rush, you 
click to dial the phone number listed in a top result.&nbsp;

A company "representative" answers and asks you a few standard 
questions about your device, such as the make and model number. The call
 seems normal at first, but it soon takes a turn. This "tech support 
rep" has some creative stories to explain the issue. They may insist 
that someone in your house has been watching pornography, and that has 
resulted in your computer being hacked. In one recent report, the 
"representative" asked if the caller had a teenage son and then insisted
 the boy was to blame. In another case, "tech support" claimed that 
"thousands of people" had been using the caller's IP address to view 
pornography.

This scam is a setup for selling expensive computer security 
software, typically costing victims between $200 and $900. 
Unfortunately, it does nothing to fix your computer or internet issues. 
In some cases, the scammers will also want remote access to your 
computer. Allowing them remote access enables them to install malware 
that records passwords, keystrokes, or other files that contain personal
 information.&nbsp;

How to protect yourself from tech support scams

• Never open attachments or links in emails from unknown senders.
 These can generate fake warning pop-ups that prompt you to make a call 
to scammers. If you get a suspicious pop-up alert, don't click on 
anything and restart your computer, tablet or phone.

• Never give strangers remote access to your computer.
 You should only allow remote access to technicians of trustworthy 
companies you contacted through a legitimate customer service number or 
chat.

• Avoid clicking on pop-up boxes or ads stating that something is wrong. If a pop-up won't go away, disconnect from the internet and wi-fi by shutting off the device immediately and restarting it.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/1/1579883951052.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>BBBIn this support scam twist, con artists are posing as tech experts 
who are eager to help resolve your problem – for a price. The "issue"? 
Someone in your house has been watching online pornography. BBB is 
seeing an increasing number of similar cons reported to <a href="https://www.bbb.org/scamtracker/">BBB.org/ScamTracker</a>.&nbsp;<h2>How the scam works</h2>Something is wrong with your home computer or internet connection, so
 you search online for a customer support phone number. In a rush, you 
click to dial the phone number listed in a top result.&nbsp;A company "representative" answers and asks you a few standard 
questions about your device, such as the make and model number. The call
 seems normal at first, but it soon takes a turn. This "tech support 
rep" has some creative stories to explain the issue. They may insist 
that someone in your house has been watching pornography, and that has 
resulted in your computer being hacked. In one recent report, the 
"representative" asked if the caller had a teenage son and then insisted
 the boy was to blame. In another case, "tech support" claimed that 
"thousands of people" had been using the caller's IP address to view 
pornography.This scam is a setup for selling expensive computer security 
software, typically costing victims between $200 and $900. 
Unfortunately, it does nothing to fix your computer or internet issues. 
In some cases, the scammers will also want remote access to your 
computer. Allowing them remote access enables them to install malware 
that records passwords, keystrokes, or other files that contain personal
 information.&nbsp;<h2>How to protect yourself from tech support scams</h2>• Never open attachments or links in emails from unknown senders.
 These can generate fake warning pop-ups that prompt you to make a call 
to scammers. If you get a suspicious pop-up alert, don't click on 
anything and restart your computer, tablet or phone.• Never give strangers remote access to your computer.
 You should only allow remote access to technicians of trustworthy 
companies you contacted through a legitimate customer service number or 
chat.• Avoid clicking on pop-up boxes or ads stating that something is wrong. If a pop-up won't go away, disconnect from the internet and wi-fi by shutting off the device immediately and restarting it.&nbsp;

Scam alert: Tech support scam takes an 'adult' twist

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark pleaded no contest in Los Angeles on Thursday to two counts of misdemeanor possession of an assault weapon and was sentenced to one year of probation and 40 hours of community service.

Clark is due back in court early next year, when he will need to show proof that he completed his sentence.

The three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher was arrested in March 2021, when he was pulled over while riding with another man in a vehicle that did not have a license plate. An officer noticed a weapon in the car and recovered two loaded firearms.

Three months later, Clark was pulled over for a code violation and officers discovered another gun in his vehicle.

Clark, who did not practice Thursday because of an illness, spent the offseason rededicating himself to the game, going so far as to eliminate alcohol and red meat from his diet. He arrived at training camp noticeably slimmer, and during one news conference, he admitted that “at some point you have to grow up" and be an example for your kids.

The 29-year-old Clark is coming off a disappointing season in which he had 4 1/2 sacks, his lowest total since his rookie season. He has 88 tackles and 18 1/2 sacks during 40 regular-season games in Kansas City.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1624317438496.png" alt="-Image LA County Sheriff's Department" />
 <figcaption>-Image LA County Sheriff's Department</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs defensive end Frank Clark pleaded no contest in Los Angeles on Thursday to two counts of misdemeanor possession of an assault weapon and was sentenced to one year of probation and 40 hours of community service.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/6/1624317639857.png" alt="Frank Clark. photo Kansas City Chiefs" />
 <figcaption>Frank Clark. photo Kansas City Chiefs</figcaption>
 </figure>Clark is due back in court early next year, when he will need to show proof that he completed his sentence.The three-time Pro Bowl pass rusher was arrested in March 2021, when he was pulled over while riding with another man in a vehicle that did not have a license plate. An officer noticed a weapon in the car and recovered two loaded firearms.Three months later, Clark was pulled over for a code violation and officers discovered another gun in his vehicle.Clark, who did not practice Thursday because of an illness, spent the offseason rededicating himself to the game, going so far as to eliminate alcohol and red meat from his diet. He arrived at training camp noticeably slimmer, and during one news conference, he admitted that “at some point you have to grow up" and be an example for your kids.The 29-year-old Clark is coming off a disappointing season in which he had 4 1/2 sacks, his lowest total since his rookie season. He has 88 tackles and 18 1/2 sacks during 40 regular-season games in Kansas City.

Chiefs' Clark pleads no contest to Los Angeles gun charges

WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission this week announced it is committing over $81 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country.  Today’s funding commitments support applications from our third application window, benefiting approximately 170,000 students across the country, including students in Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Washington, and the District of Columbia.  

“With students heading back to classrooms this fall, we need to make sure all our kids can connect with teachers and homework assignments when school ends for the day,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel.  “This latest round of funding will help make that happen, and bring us closer to closing the Homework Gap.”

To date, the Commission has committed nearly $5.8 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched last year.  The program has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” for schools and libraries to apply for support.  Today’s announcement includes over $81 million from the third application window that will support over 300 schools, 25 libraries, and 2 consortia.

The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education.  To date, the program has provided support to approximately 10,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing nearly 12 million connected devices and over 7 million broadband connections.  Of the nearly $5.8 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $800 million from Window 2; and $893 million from Window 3.  

More details about which schools and libraries have received funding commitments can be found <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-connectivity-fund">HERE</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1584977952684.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>FCCWASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission this week announced it is committing over $81 million in a new funding round through the Emergency Connectivity Program, which provides digital services for students in communities across the country. Today’s funding commitments support applications from our third application window, benefiting approximately 170,000 students across the country, including students in Alaska, Iowa, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Washington, and the District of Columbia. “With students heading back to classrooms this fall, we need to make sure all our kids can connect with teachers and homework assignments when school ends for the day,” said Chairwoman Rosenworcel. “This latest round of funding will help make that happen, and bring us closer to closing the Homework Gap.”To date, the Commission has committed nearly $5.8 billion to schools and libraries across the country as part of the Emergency Connectivity Program, which launched last year. The program has provided schools and libraries three different “application windows” for schools and libraries to apply for support. Today’s announcement includes over $81 million from the third application window that will support over 300 schools, 25 libraries, and 2 consortia.The funding can be used to support off-campus learning, such as nightly homework, to ensure students across the country have the necessary support to keep up with their education. To date, the program has provided support to approximately 10,000 schools, 900 libraries, and 100 consortia, and providing nearly 12 million connected devices and over 7 million broadband connections. Of the nearly $5.8 billion in funding commitments approved to date, approximately $4.1 billion is supporting applications from Window 1; $800 million from Window 2; and $893 million from Window 3. More details about which schools and libraries have received funding commitments can be found <a href="https://www.fcc.gov/emergency-connectivity-fund">HERE</a>.

FCC commits another $81M to emergency broadband fund

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an&nbsp; attack on an inmate at the Sedgwick County Detention Facility.

Just after 1p.m. Tuesday, jail deputies responded to a fight in the Sedgwick County Detention Facility, according to Colonel Jared Schechte.

 Three inmates had initiated an altercation with a single inmate in one of the housing units. 

Deputies arrived and secured and separated all parties involved and recovered an improvised cutting weapon.

The detention center identified the victim as a 21-year-old black male incarcerated since Sept. 1, on requested charges of Aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and weapons charges. Gregory Washington, 21, was booked on September 1 on those charges, according to the Sedgwick County booking report<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20062194"> and online jail records.</a>&nbsp;He was treated onsite by medical staff and did not require transportation to an area hospital and suffered no serious injuries, according to Schechte.

Deputies identified as an 18-year-old, black, male incarcerated since November of 2021 for Murder in the 2nd Degree. The second suspect is identified as a&nbsp;21-year-old, black, male incarcerated since April of 2021 for a violation of a Protection from Abuse order. The third suspect is an 18-year-old black, male incarcerated since April of 2022 for: Juvenile Writ to Detain

The motive for the assault is unknown. This incident is under investigation for the criminal conduct as well as a review of the circumstances surrounding the manufacturing of the improvised cutting device.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662599859164.png" alt="Gregory Washington-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Gregory Washington-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an&nbsp; attack on an inmate at the Sedgwick County Detention Facility.Just after 1p.m. Tuesday, jail deputies responded to a fight in the Sedgwick County Detention Facility, according to Colonel Jared Schechte. Three inmates had initiated an altercation with a single inmate in one of the housing units. Deputies arrived and secured and separated all parties involved and recovered an improvised cutting weapon.The detention center identified the victim as a 21-year-old black male incarcerated since Sept. 1, on requested charges of Aggravated burglary, aggravated assault and weapons charges. Gregory Washington, 21, was booked on September 1 on those charges, according to the Sedgwick County booking report<a href="https://ssc.sedgwickcounty.org/sheriffinmates/SheriffInmateDetail.aspx?nameId=20062194"> and online jail records.</a>&nbsp;He was treated onsite by medical staff and did not require transportation to an area hospital and suffered no serious injuries, according to Schechte.Deputies identified as an 18-year-old, black, male incarcerated since November of 2021 for Murder in the 2nd Degree. The second suspect is identified as a&nbsp;21-year-old, black, male incarcerated since April of 2021 for a violation of a Protection from Abuse order. The third suspect is an 18-year-old black, male incarcerated since April of 2022 for: Juvenile Writ to DetainThe motive for the assault is unknown. This incident is under investigation for the criminal conduct as well as a review of the circumstances surrounding the manufacturing of the improvised cutting device.

Inmate attacked with improvised weapon at Kansas county jail

LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-what-to-know-42a4083044d0fa9a024082edc0be8833">longest-reigning monarch</a>&nbsp;and a symbol of stability in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and disarray in her own family, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.

The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.

A link to the almost-vanished generation that fought World War II, she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known.

Her 73-year-old son&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-III-british-throne-ab21181c92dbb154a29bad12075662e9">Prince Charles automatically became king</a>&nbsp;and will be known as King Charles III, it was announced. British monarchs in the past have selected new names upon taking the throne.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/camilla-queen-consort-98f15d3c5482be8374e4ea85bc1eeda0">Charles' second wife, Camilla</a>, will be known as the Queen Consort.

A funeral was to be held after 10 days of official mourning.

The BBC played the national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” over a portrait of Elizabeth in full regalia as her death was announced, and the flag over Buckingham Palace was lowered to half-staff as the second Elizabethan age came to a close.

The impact of her loss will be huge and unpredictable, both for the nation and for the monarchy, an institution she helped stabilize and modernize across decades of enormous social change and family scandals, but whose relevance in the 21st century has often been called into question.

The public's abiding affection for the queen has helped sustain support for the monarchy during the scandals. Charles is nowhere near as popular.

In a statement, Charles called his mother’s death “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” adding: “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”

The changing of the guard comes at a fraught moment for Britain, which has a brand-new prime minister and is grappling with an energy crisis, double-digit inflation, the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit.

Prime Minister Liz Truss, appointed by the queen just 48 hours earlier, pronounced the country “devastated” and called Elizabeth “the rock on which modern Britain was built.”

British subjects outside Buckingham Palace wept when officials carried a notice confirming the queen’s death to the wrought-iron gates of the queen's London home. Hundreds soon gathered in the rain, and mourners laid dozens of colorful bouquets at the gates.

“As a young person, this is a really huge moment,” said Romy McCarthy, 20. “It marks the end of an era, particularly as a woman. We had a woman who was in power as someone to look up to.”

World leaders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-world-reaction-54f6d136256f15253a0bb64a1fc33806">extended condolences</a>&nbsp;and paid tribute to the queen.

In Canada, where the British monarch is the country's head of state, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's eyes were red with emotion as he saluted her “wisdom, compassion and warmth.” In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise.”

U.S. President Joe Biden called her a “stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-timeline-c907149c5aba3565883da93bdc841b1f">Since Feb. 6, 1952</a>, Elizabeth reigned over a Britain that rebuilt from a destructive and financially exhausting war and lost its empire; joined the European Union and then left it; and made the painful transition into the 21st century.

She&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-prime-ministers-9b1d631878dfcc594af1fe69cc838dca">endured through 15 prime ministers</a>, from Winston Churchill to Truss, becoming an institution and an icon -- a reassuring presence even for those who ignored or loathed the monarchy.

She became less visible in her final years as age and frailty curtailed many public appearances. But she remained firmly in control of the monarchy and at the center of national life as Britain celebrated her Platinum Jubilee with days of parties and pageants in June.

That same month she became the second longest-reigning monarch in history, behind 17th-century French King Louis XIV, who took the throne at age 4. On Tuesday, she presided at a ceremony at Balmoral Castle to accept the resignation of Boris Johnson as prime minister and appoint Truss as his successor.

When Elizabeth was 21, almost five years before she became queen, she promised the people of Britain and the Commonwealth that “my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.”

It was a promise she kept across more than seven decades.

Despite Britain’s complex and often fraught ties with its former colonies, Elizabeth was widely respected and remained head of state of more than a dozen countries, from Canada to Tuvalu. She headed the 54-nation Commonwealth, built around Britain and its former colonies.

Married for more than 73 years to Prince Philip, who died in 2021 at age 99, Elizabeth was matriarch to a royal family whose troubles were a subject of global fascination -- amplified by fictionalized accounts such as the TV series “The Crown.” She is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

Through countless public events, she probably met more people than anyone in history. Her image, which adorned stamps, coins and banknotes, was among the most reproduced in the world.

But her inner life and opinions remained mostly an enigma. Of her personality, the public saw relatively little. A horse owner, she rarely seemed happier than during the Royal Ascot racing week. She never tired of the companionship of her beloved Welsh corgi dogs.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in London on April 21, 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. She was not born to be queen -- her father’s elder brother, Prince Edward, was destined for the crown, to be followed by any children he had.

But in 1936, when she was 10, Edward VIII abdicated to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, and Elizabeth’s father became King George VI.

Princess Margaret recalled asking her sister whether this meant that Elizabeth would one day be queen. “Yes, I suppose it does,” Margaret quoted Elizabeth as saying. “She didn’t mention it again.”

Elizabeth was barely in her teens when Britain went to war with Germany in 1939. While the king and queen stayed at Buckingham Palace during the Blitz and toured the bombed-out neighborhoods of London, Elizabeth and Margaret spent most of the war at Windsor Castle, west of the capital. Even there, 300 bombs fell in an adjacent park, and the princesses spent many nights in an underground shelter.

She made her first public broadcast in 1940 when she was 14, sending a wartime message to children evacuated to the countryside or overseas.

“We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage,” she said with a blend of stoicism and hope that would echo throughout her reign. “We are trying to do all we can to help out gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen. And we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.”

In 1945, after months of campaigning for her parents’ permission to do something for the war effort, the heir to the throne became Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She enthusiastically learned to drive and service heavy vehicles.

On the night the war ended in Europe, May 8, 1945, she and Margaret managed to mingle, unrecognized, with celebrating crowds in London — “swept along on a tide of happiness and relief,” as she told the BBC decades later, describing it as “one of the most memorable nights of my life.”

At Westminster Abbey in November 1947 she married Royal Navy officer Philip Mountbatten, a prince of Greece and Denmark whom she had first met in 1939 when she was 13 and he 18. Postwar Britain was experiencing austerity and rationing, and so street decorations were limited and no public holiday was declared. But the bride was allowed 100 extra ration coupons for her trousseau.

The couple lived for a time in Malta, where Philip was stationed, and Elizabeth enjoyed an almost-normal life as a navy wife. The first of their four children, Prince Charles, was born in 1948. He was followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Prince Edward in 1964.

In 1952, George VI died at 56 after years of ill health. Elizabeth, on a visit to Kenya, was told that she was now queen.

Her private secretary, Martin Charteris, later recalled finding the new monarch at her desk, “sitting erect, no tears, color up a little, fully accepting her destiny.”

“In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship,” Elizabeth reflected in a BBC documentary in 1992 that opened a rare view into her emotions. “My father died much too young, and so it was all a very sudden kind of taking on, and making the best job you can.”

Her coronation took place more than a year later, a grand spectacle at Westminster Abbey viewed by millions through the still-new medium of television.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s first reaction to the king’s death was to complain that the new queen was “only a child,” but he was won over within days and eventually became an ardent admirer.

In Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the queen is head of state but has little direct power; in her official actions she does what the government orders. However, she was not without influence. The queen, officially the head of the Church of England, once reportedly commented that there was nothing she could do legally to block the appointment of a bishop, “but I can always say that I should like more information. That is an indication that the prime minister will not miss.”

The extent of the monarch’s political influence occasionally sparked speculation -- but not much criticism while Elizabeth was alive. The views of Charles, who has expressed strong opinions on everything from architecture to the environment, might prove more contentious.

She was obliged to meet weekly with the prime minister, and they generally found her well-informed, inquisitive and up to date. The one possible exception was Margaret Thatcher, with whom her relations were said to be cool, if not frosty, though neither woman ever commented.

The queen’s views in those private meetings became a subject of intense speculation and fertile ground for dramatists like Peter Morgan, author of the play “The Audience” and the hit TV series “The Crown.” Those semi-fictionalized accounts were the product of an era of declining deference and rising celebrity, when the royal family’s troubles became public property.

And there were plenty of troubles within the family, an institution known as “The Firm.” In Elizabeth’s first years on the throne, Princess Margaret provoked a national controversy through her romance with a divorced man.

In what the queen called the “annus horribilis” of 1992, her daughter, Princess Anne, was divorced, Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated, and so did her son Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah. That was also the year Windsor Castle, a residence she far preferred to Buckingham Palace, was seriously damaged by fire.

The public split of Charles and Diana -- “There were three of us in that marriage,” Diana said of her husband’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles -- was followed by the shock of Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997. For once, the queen appeared out of step with her people.

Amid unprecedented public mourning, Elizabeth’s failure to make a public show of grief appeared to many to be unfeeling. After several days, she finally made a televised address to the nation.

The dent in her popularity was brief. She was by now a sort of national grandmother, with a stern gaze and a twinkling smile.

Despite being one of the world’s wealthiest people, Elizabeth had a reputation for frugality and common sense. She turned off lights in empty rooms, and didn't flinch from strangling pheasants.

A newspaper reporter who went undercover to work as a palace footman reinforced that down-to-earth image, capturing pictures of the royal Tupperware on the breakfast table and a rubber duck in the bath.

Her sangfroid was not dented when a young man aimed a pistol at her and fired six blanks as she rode by on a horse in 1981, nor when she discovered a disturbed intruder sitting on her bed in Buckingham Palace in 1982.

The image of the queen as an exemplar of ordinary British decency was satirized by the magazine Private Eye, which called her Brenda, apparently because it sounded working-class. Anti-monarchists dubbed her “Mrs. Windsor.” But the republican cause gained limited traction while the queen was alive.

On her Golden Jubilee in 2002, she said the country could “look back with measured pride on the history of the last 50 years.”

“It has been a pretty remarkable 50 years by any standards,” she said in a speech. “There have been ups and downs, but anyone who can remember what things were like after those six long years of war appreciates what immense changes have been achieved since then.”

A reassuring presence at home, she was also an emblem of Britain abroad — a form of soft power, consistently respected whatever the vagaries of the country’s political leaders on the world stage. It felt only fitting that she attended the opening of the 2012 London Olympics alongside another icon, James Bond. Through some movie magic, she appeared to parachute into the Olympic Stadium.

In 2015, she overtook her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria’s reign of 63 years, seven months and two days to become the longest-serving monarch in British history. She kept working into her 10th decade, though Prince Charles and his elder son, Prince William, increasingly took over the visits, ribbon-cuttings and investitures that form the bulk of royal duties.

The loss of Philip in 2021 was a heavy blow, as she poignantly sat alone at his funeral in the chapel at Windsor Castle because of coronavirus restrictions.

And the family troubles continued. Her son Prince Andrew was entangled in the sordid tale of sex offender businessman Jeffrey Epstein, an American businessman who had been a friend. Andrew denied accusations that he had sex with one of the women who said she was trafficked by Epstein.

The queen’s grandson Prince Harry walked away from Britain and his royal duties after marrying American TV actress Meghan Markle, who is biracial, in 2018. He alleged in an interview that some in the family -– but pointedly not the queen -– had been less than welcoming to his wife.

She enjoyed robust health well into her 90s, although she used a cane in an appearance after Philip’s death. Months ago, she told guests at a reception “as you can see, I can’t move.” The palace, tight-lipped about details, said the queen was experiencing “episodic mobility issues.”

She held virtual meetings with diplomats and politicians from Windsor Castle, but public appearances grew rarer.

Meanwhile, she took steps to prepare for the transition to come. In February, the queen announced that she wanted Camilla to be known as “Queen Consort” when “in the fullness of time” her son became king. It removed a question mark over the role of the woman some blamed for the breakup of Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana in the 1990s.

May brought another symbolic moment, when she asked Charles to stand in for her and read the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament, one of the monarch’s most central constitutional duties.

Seven decades after World War II, Elizabeth was again at the center of the national mood amid the uncertainty and loss of COVID 19 -- a disease she came through herself in February.

In April 2020 -- with the country in lockdown and Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with the virus -- she made a rare video address, urging people to stick together.

She summoned the spirit of World War II, that vital time in her life, and the nation’s, by echoing Vera Lynn’s wartime anthem “We’ll Meet Again.”

“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again,” she said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662711995875.png" alt="Queen Elizabeth during a visit to officially open a new building at Thames Hospice in Maidenhead in July. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/AP" />
 <figcaption>Queen Elizabeth during a visit to officially open a new building at Thames Hospice in Maidenhead in July. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/AP</figcaption>
 </figure>LONDON (AP) — Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-what-to-know-42a4083044d0fa9a024082edc0be8833">longest-reigning monarch</a>&nbsp;and a symbol of stability in a turbulent era that saw the decline of the British empire and disarray in her own family, died Thursday after 70 years on the throne. She was 96.The palace announced she died at Balmoral Castle, her summer residence in Scotland, where members of the royal family had rushed to her side after her health took a turn for the worse.A link to the almost-vanished generation that fought World War II, she was the only monarch most Britons have ever known.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662712389227.png" alt="In a statement, Charles called his mother’s death “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” adding: “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>In a statement, Charles called his mother’s death “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” adding: “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>Her 73-year-old son&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-III-british-throne-ab21181c92dbb154a29bad12075662e9">Prince Charles automatically became king</a>&nbsp;and will be known as King Charles III, it was announced. British monarchs in the past have selected new names upon taking the throne.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/camilla-queen-consort-98f15d3c5482be8374e4ea85bc1eeda0">Charles' second wife, Camilla</a>, will be known as the Queen Consort.A funeral was to be held after 10 days of official mourning.The BBC played the national anthem, “God Save the Queen,” over a portrait of Elizabeth in full regalia as her death was announced, and the flag over Buckingham Palace was lowered to half-staff as the second Elizabethan age came to a close.The impact of her loss will be huge and unpredictable, both for the nation and for the monarchy, an institution she helped stabilize and modernize across decades of enormous social change and family scandals, but whose relevance in the 21st century has often been called into question.The public's abiding affection for the queen has helped sustain support for the monarchy during the scandals. Charles is nowhere near as popular.In a statement, Charles called his mother’s death “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” adding: “I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”The changing of the guard comes at a fraught moment for Britain, which has a brand-new prime minister and is grappling with an energy crisis, double-digit inflation, the war in Ukraine and the fallout from Brexit.Prime Minister Liz Truss, appointed by the queen just 48 hours earlier, pronounced the country “devastated” and called Elizabeth “the rock on which modern Britain was built.”British subjects outside Buckingham Palace wept when officials carried a notice confirming the queen’s death to the wrought-iron gates of the queen's London home. Hundreds soon gathered in the rain, and mourners laid dozens of colorful bouquets at the gates.“As a young person, this is a really huge moment,” said Romy McCarthy, 20. “It marks the end of an era, particularly as a woman. We had a woman who was in power as someone to look up to.”World leaders&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-world-reaction-54f6d136256f15253a0bb64a1fc33806">extended condolences</a>&nbsp;and paid tribute to the queen.In Canada, where the British monarch is the country's head of state, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's eyes were red with emotion as he saluted her “wisdom, compassion and warmth.” In India, once the “jewel in the crown” of the British empire, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise.”U.S. President Joe Biden called her a “stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-timeline-c907149c5aba3565883da93bdc841b1f">Since Feb. 6, 1952</a>, Elizabeth reigned over a Britain that rebuilt from a destructive and financially exhausting war and lost its empire; joined the European Union and then left it; and made the painful transition into the 21st century.She&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/queen-elizabeth-ii-prime-ministers-9b1d631878dfcc594af1fe69cc838dca">endured through 15 prime ministers</a>, from Winston Churchill to Truss, becoming an institution and an icon -- a reassuring presence even for those who ignored or loathed the monarchy.She became less visible in her final years as age and frailty curtailed many public appearances. But she remained firmly in control of the monarchy and at the center of national life as Britain celebrated her Platinum Jubilee with days of parties and pageants in June.That same month she became the second longest-reigning monarch in history, behind 17th-century French King Louis XIV, who took the throne at age 4. On Tuesday, she presided at a ceremony at Balmoral Castle to accept the resignation of Boris Johnson as prime minister and appoint Truss as his successor.When Elizabeth was 21, almost five years before she became queen, she promised the people of Britain and the Commonwealth that “my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.”It was a promise she kept across more than seven decades.Despite Britain’s complex and often fraught ties with its former colonies, Elizabeth was widely respected and remained head of state of more than a dozen countries, from Canada to Tuvalu. She headed the 54-nation Commonwealth, built around Britain and its former colonies.Married for more than 73 years to Prince Philip, who died in 2021 at age 99, Elizabeth was matriarch to a royal family whose troubles were a subject of global fascination -- amplified by fictionalized accounts such as the TV series “The Crown.” She is survived by four children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.Through countless public events, she probably met more people than anyone in history. Her image, which adorned stamps, coins and banknotes, was among the most reproduced in the world.But her inner life and opinions remained mostly an enigma. Of her personality, the public saw relatively little. A horse owner, she rarely seemed happier than during the Royal Ascot racing week. She never tired of the companionship of her beloved Welsh corgi dogs.Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in London on April 21, 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York. She was not born to be queen -- her father’s elder brother, Prince Edward, was destined for the crown, to be followed by any children he had.But in 1936, when she was 10, Edward VIII abdicated to marry twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson, and Elizabeth’s father became King George VI.Princess Margaret recalled asking her sister whether this meant that Elizabeth would one day be queen. “Yes, I suppose it does,” Margaret quoted Elizabeth as saying. “She didn’t mention it again.”Elizabeth was barely in her teens when Britain went to war with Germany in 1939. While the king and queen stayed at Buckingham Palace during the Blitz and toured the bombed-out neighborhoods of London, Elizabeth and Margaret spent most of the war at Windsor Castle, west of the capital. Even there, 300 bombs fell in an adjacent park, and the princesses spent many nights in an underground shelter.She made her first public broadcast in 1940 when she was 14, sending a wartime message to children evacuated to the countryside or overseas.“We children at home are full of cheerfulness and courage,” she said with a blend of stoicism and hope that would echo throughout her reign. “We are trying to do all we can to help out gallant soldiers, sailors and airmen. And we are trying, too, to bear our own share of the danger and sadness of war. We know, every one of us, that in the end all will be well.”In 1945, after months of campaigning for her parents’ permission to do something for the war effort, the heir to the throne became Second Subaltern Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She enthusiastically learned to drive and service heavy vehicles.On the night the war ended in Europe, May 8, 1945, she and Margaret managed to mingle, unrecognized, with celebrating crowds in London — “swept along on a tide of happiness and relief,” as she told the BBC decades later, describing it as “one of the most memorable nights of my life.”At Westminster Abbey in November 1947 she married Royal Navy officer Philip Mountbatten, a prince of Greece and Denmark whom she had first met in 1939 when she was 13 and he 18. Postwar Britain was experiencing austerity and rationing, and so street decorations were limited and no public holiday was declared. But the bride was allowed 100 extra ration coupons for her trousseau.The couple lived for a time in Malta, where Philip was stationed, and Elizabeth enjoyed an almost-normal life as a navy wife. The first of their four children, Prince Charles, was born in 1948. He was followed by Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Prince Edward in 1964.In 1952, George VI died at 56 after years of ill health. Elizabeth, on a visit to Kenya, was told that she was now queen.Her private secretary, Martin Charteris, later recalled finding the new monarch at her desk, “sitting erect, no tears, color up a little, fully accepting her destiny.”“In a way, I didn’t have an apprenticeship,” Elizabeth reflected in a BBC documentary in 1992 that opened a rare view into her emotions. “My father died much too young, and so it was all a very sudden kind of taking on, and making the best job you can.”Her coronation took place more than a year later, a grand spectacle at Westminster Abbey viewed by millions through the still-new medium of television.Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s first reaction to the king’s death was to complain that the new queen was “only a child,” but he was won over within days and eventually became an ardent admirer.In Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the queen is head of state but has little direct power; in her official actions she does what the government orders. However, she was not without influence. The queen, officially the head of the Church of England, once reportedly commented that there was nothing she could do legally to block the appointment of a bishop, “but I can always say that I should like more information. That is an indication that the prime minister will not miss.”The extent of the monarch’s political influence occasionally sparked speculation -- but not much criticism while Elizabeth was alive. The views of Charles, who has expressed strong opinions on everything from architecture to the environment, might prove more contentious.She was obliged to meet weekly with the prime minister, and they generally found her well-informed, inquisitive and up to date. The one possible exception was Margaret Thatcher, with whom her relations were said to be cool, if not frosty, though neither woman ever commented.The queen’s views in those private meetings became a subject of intense speculation and fertile ground for dramatists like Peter Morgan, author of the play “The Audience” and the hit TV series “The Crown.” Those semi-fictionalized accounts were the product of an era of declining deference and rising celebrity, when the royal family’s troubles became public property.And there were plenty of troubles within the family, an institution known as “The Firm.” In Elizabeth’s first years on the throne, Princess Margaret provoked a national controversy through her romance with a divorced man.In what the queen called the “annus horribilis” of 1992, her daughter, Princess Anne, was divorced, Prince Charles and Princess Diana separated, and so did her son Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah. That was also the year Windsor Castle, a residence she far preferred to Buckingham Palace, was seriously damaged by fire.The public split of Charles and Diana -- “There were three of us in that marriage,” Diana said of her husband’s relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles -- was followed by the shock of Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997. For once, the queen appeared out of step with her people.Amid unprecedented public mourning, Elizabeth’s failure to make a public show of grief appeared to many to be unfeeling. After several days, she finally made a televised address to the nation.The dent in her popularity was brief. She was by now a sort of national grandmother, with a stern gaze and a twinkling smile.Despite being one of the world’s wealthiest people, Elizabeth had a reputation for frugality and common sense. She turned off lights in empty rooms, and didn't flinch from strangling pheasants.A newspaper reporter who went undercover to work as a palace footman reinforced that down-to-earth image, capturing pictures of the royal Tupperware on the breakfast table and a rubber duck in the bath.Her sangfroid was not dented when a young man aimed a pistol at her and fired six blanks as she rode by on a horse in 1981, nor when she discovered a disturbed intruder sitting on her bed in Buckingham Palace in 1982.The image of the queen as an exemplar of ordinary British decency was satirized by the magazine Private Eye, which called her Brenda, apparently because it sounded working-class. Anti-monarchists dubbed her “Mrs. Windsor.” But the republican cause gained limited traction while the queen was alive.On her Golden Jubilee in 2002, she said the country could “look back with measured pride on the history of the last 50 years.”“It has been a pretty remarkable 50 years by any standards,” she said in a speech. “There have been ups and downs, but anyone who can remember what things were like after those six long years of war appreciates what immense changes have been achieved since then.”A reassuring presence at home, she was also an emblem of Britain abroad — a form of soft power, consistently respected whatever the vagaries of the country’s political leaders on the world stage. It felt only fitting that she attended the opening of the 2012 London Olympics alongside another icon, James Bond. Through some movie magic, she appeared to parachute into the Olympic Stadium.In 2015, she overtook her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria’s reign of 63 years, seven months and two days to become the longest-serving monarch in British history. She kept working into her 10th decade, though Prince Charles and his elder son, Prince William, increasingly took over the visits, ribbon-cuttings and investitures that form the bulk of royal duties.The loss of Philip in 2021 was a heavy blow, as she poignantly sat alone at his funeral in the chapel at Windsor Castle because of coronavirus restrictions.And the family troubles continued. Her son Prince Andrew was entangled in the sordid tale of sex offender businessman Jeffrey Epstein, an American businessman who had been a friend. Andrew denied accusations that he had sex with one of the women who said she was trafficked by Epstein.The queen’s grandson Prince Harry walked away from Britain and his royal duties after marrying American TV actress Meghan Markle, who is biracial, in 2018. He alleged in an interview that some in the family -– but pointedly not the queen -– had been less than welcoming to his wife.She enjoyed robust health well into her 90s, although she used a cane in an appearance after Philip’s death. Months ago, she told guests at a reception “as you can see, I can’t move.” The palace, tight-lipped about details, said the queen was experiencing “episodic mobility issues.”She held virtual meetings with diplomats and politicians from Windsor Castle, but public appearances grew rarer.Meanwhile, she took steps to prepare for the transition to come. In February, the queen announced that she wanted Camilla to be known as “Queen Consort” when “in the fullness of time” her son became king. It removed a question mark over the role of the woman some blamed for the breakup of Charles’ marriage to Princess Diana in the 1990s.May brought another symbolic moment, when she asked Charles to stand in for her and read the Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament, one of the monarch’s most central constitutional duties.Seven decades after World War II, Elizabeth was again at the center of the national mood amid the uncertainty and loss of COVID 19 -- a disease she came through herself in February.In April 2020 -- with the country in lockdown and Prime Minister Boris Johnson hospitalized with the virus -- she made a rare video address, urging people to stick together.She summoned the spirit of World War II, that vital time in her life, and the nation’s, by echoing Vera Lynn’s wartime anthem “We’ll Meet Again.”“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return. We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again,” she said.___

Queen Elizabeth II dies, Charles becomes king

BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a shooting that sent a man to the hospital in Butler County have made an arrest.

Just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of&nbsp; shooting in the 1100 block of Bobbie in Augusta, according to a media release.

Police found a man with a gunshot wound to his back and another man identified as a 32-year-old Joseph Carlson in possession of a gun.&nbsp; Police arrested him on requested charges of&nbsp;aggravated assault and aggravated battery.

EMS transported the 29-year-old victim to a Wichita hospital.

BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that sent a man to the hospital in Butler County.

Police found a man with a gunshot wound to his back and another man identified as a suspect.

Investigators&nbsp; learned an argument led to the fight during which shots were fired. Police have not reported an arrest or additional details.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662714494946.png" alt="Carlson -photo Butler Co." />
 <figcaption>Carlson -photo Butler Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a shooting that sent a man to the hospital in Butler County have made an arrest.Just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of&nbsp; shooting in the 1100 block of Bobbie in Augusta, according to a media release.Police found a man with a gunshot wound to his back and another man identified as a 32-year-old Joseph Carlson in possession of a gun.&nbsp; Police arrested him on requested charges of&nbsp;aggravated assault and aggravated battery.EMS transported the 29-year-old victim to a Wichita hospital.----------------BUTLER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting that sent a man to the hospital in Butler County.Just before 3:30p.m. Wednesday, police responded to report of&nbsp; shooting in the 1100 block of Bobbie in Augusta, according to a media release.Police found a man with a gunshot wound to his back and another man identified as a suspect.Investigators&nbsp; learned an argument led to the fight during which shots were fired. Police have not reported an arrest or additional details.

Police arrest Kansas man after argument led to shooting 

&nbsp;By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/kansas-lawmakers-award-50000-in-wrongful-conviction-case-involving-knife-possession-1/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly and 
legislators on a bipartisan state council reviewed without objection a 
$50,000 settlement for wrongful conviction of a Wichita man sentenced to
 prison for possession of a nine-inch folding knife the district court 
concluded met the legal definition of a weapon.

The State Finance Council, which includes top leadership of the 
Senate and House, also voted to approve settlements Tuesday of two other
 legal conflicts. Information about the amount of tax dollars used to 
settle those claims and details of what prompted the claims weren’t 
disclosed by council members.

In the wrongful conviction case, Larry L. Lucas was stopped in 2018 
by a Wichita police officer for a traffic infraction. He was arrested on
 an outstanding bench warrant. Officers found a folding knife in his 
truck. Due to a 2010 drug conviction, Lucas was charged with criminal 
possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

Lucas was sentenced to 18 months behind bars. His conviction on the 
knife charge in Sedgwick County District Court was upheld by the Kansas 
Court of Appeals, but the attorney general’s office said those rulings 
were nullified by the Kansas Supreme Court. The state’s highest court 
ruled the 2014 state law applicable to the knife case was too vague to 
be applied.

Lucas, who had been convicted of three dozen misdemeanor and felony 
crimes, was released from prison in 2020 and filed the claim for 
wrongful conviction.

He was initially awarded $100,000 by a district court judge in 
Wichita for time served and attorney fees. The state’s plan to challenge
 his right to any compensation for wrongful conviction led to 
negotiations with Lucas and the $50,000 settlement.

The State Finance Council, which is chaired by the governor and 
includes top Republican and Democratic members of the Legislature, 
reviewed the settlement during a meeting at the Kansas Capitol.

The council also voted to endorse financial settlement of a sex 
harassment, gender-based discrimination and retaliation complaint 
brought in federal court by a former female officer at Hutchinson 
Correctional Facility against male administrators of the prison. The 
plaintiff sued Warden Dan Schnurr, Major Clay VanHoose and Tommy 
Williams, who was Hutchinson’s deputy warden before promoted this year 
to warden at El Dorado Correctional Facility.

Erin Peppiatt, who was a captain at the Hutchinson prison before 
fired in 2020 by the Kansas Department of Corrections, sought relief in 
U.S. District Court. Court documents indicate the corrections department
 said Peppiatt engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a male 
subordinate, but Peppiatt asserted in the suit male corrections officers
 were allowed to fraternize with female subordinates without 
consequence.

In addition, court records show, Peppiatt testified that “every time 
she spoke with defendant (deputy warden) Williams in his office, he 
would stare at plaintiff’s breasts with his hand between his legs 
rubbing his groin.”

U.S. District Court Judge John Lungstrum issued an opinion related to
 a request for summary judgment by declaring: “A jury could reasonably 
find that such overtly sexual and offensive conduct by her supervisor 
could deter future discussions and thus would have affected plaintiff’s 
ability to do her job.”

In terms of retaliation, Peppiatt alleged two male employees at the 
Hutchinson prison were reprimanded for dressing a CPR dummy in a wig 
made from a mop and a female officer’s vest to mock her claim of 
discrimination at the prison.

The State Finance Council also settled without comment the case of Michael Williams for an undisclosed amount.

The council discussed the Williams and Peppiatt cases in executive 
session with representatives of Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office.

Council members voted in open session to approve both of the proposed
 settlements, but didn’t discuss the dollar amounts to be paid nor 
details of what sparked those claims against the state. Audio of the 
public portion of the council’s meeting at the Capitol was so muddled it
 was impossible to determine which lawmakers voted for the settlements. 
The governor said the votes on both were 7-0 with two members 
abstaining.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662586450262.png" alt="hon Qualseth and Dennis Depew, attorneys with the office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt, prepare to explain in executive session reasons for settling two claims against the state, including a case of sexual harassment at Hutchinson Correctional Facility. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from Kansas Legislature’s YouTube channel)" />
 <figcaption>hon Qualseth and Dennis Depew, attorneys with the office of Attorney General Derek Schmidt, prepare to explain in executive session reasons for settling two claims against the state, including a case of sexual harassment at Hutchinson Correctional Facility. (Kansas Reflector screen capture from Kansas Legislature’s YouTube channel)</figcaption>
 </figure>&nbsp;By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/kansas-lawmakers-award-50000-in-wrongful-conviction-case-involving-knife-possession-1/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly and 
legislators on a bipartisan state council reviewed without objection a 
$50,000 settlement for wrongful conviction of a Wichita man sentenced to
 prison for possession of a nine-inch folding knife the district court 
concluded met the legal definition of a weapon.The State Finance Council, which includes top leadership of the 
Senate and House, also voted to approve settlements Tuesday of two other
 legal conflicts. Information about the amount of tax dollars used to 
settle those claims and details of what prompted the claims weren’t 
disclosed by council members.In the wrongful conviction case, Larry L. Lucas was stopped in 2018 
by a Wichita police officer for a traffic infraction. He was arrested on
 an outstanding bench warrant. Officers found a folding knife in his 
truck. Due to a 2010 drug conviction, Lucas was charged with criminal 
possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.Lucas was sentenced to 18 months behind bars. His conviction on the 
knife charge in Sedgwick County District Court was upheld by the Kansas 
Court of Appeals, but the attorney general’s office said those rulings 
were nullified by the Kansas Supreme Court. The state’s highest court 
ruled the 2014 state law applicable to the knife case was too vague to 
be applied.Lucas, who had been convicted of three dozen misdemeanor and felony 
crimes, was released from prison in 2020 and filed the claim for 
wrongful conviction.He was initially awarded $100,000 by a district court judge in 
Wichita for time served and attorney fees. The state’s plan to challenge
 his right to any compensation for wrongful conviction led to 
negotiations with Lucas and the $50,000 settlement.The State Finance Council, which is chaired by the governor and 
includes top Republican and Democratic members of the Legislature, 
reviewed the settlement during a meeting at the Kansas Capitol.The council also voted to endorse financial settlement of a sex 
harassment, gender-based discrimination and retaliation complaint 
brought in federal court by a former female officer at Hutchinson 
Correctional Facility against male administrators of the prison. The 
plaintiff sued Warden Dan Schnurr, Major Clay VanHoose and Tommy 
Williams, who was Hutchinson’s deputy warden before promoted this year 
to warden at El Dorado Correctional Facility.Erin Peppiatt, who was a captain at the Hutchinson prison before 
fired in 2020 by the Kansas Department of Corrections, sought relief in 
U.S. District Court. Court documents indicate the corrections department
 said Peppiatt engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a male 
subordinate, but Peppiatt asserted in the suit male corrections officers
 were allowed to fraternize with female subordinates without 
consequence.In addition, court records show, Peppiatt testified that “every time 
she spoke with defendant (deputy warden) Williams in his office, he 
would stare at plaintiff’s breasts with his hand between his legs 
rubbing his groin.”U.S. District Court Judge John Lungstrum issued an opinion related to
 a request for summary judgment by declaring: “A jury could reasonably 
find that such overtly sexual and offensive conduct by her supervisor 
could deter future discussions and thus would have affected plaintiff’s 
ability to do her job.”In terms of retaliation, Peppiatt alleged two male employees at the 
Hutchinson prison were reprimanded for dressing a CPR dummy in a wig 
made from a mop and a female officer’s vest to mock her claim of 
discrimination at the prison.The State Finance Council also settled without comment the case of Michael Williams for an undisclosed amount.The council discussed the Williams and Peppiatt cases in executive 
session with representatives of Attorney General Derek Schmidt’s office.Council members voted in open session to approve both of the proposed
 settlements, but didn’t discuss the dollar amounts to be paid nor 
details of what sparked those claims against the state. Audio of the 
public portion of the council’s meeting at the Capitol was so muddled it
 was impossible to determine which lawmakers voted for the settlements. 
The governor said the votes on both were 7-0 with two members 
abstaining.

Kansas lawmakers award $50,000 in wrongful conviction case

HUTCHINSON — Hopefully you’re getting some exercise so you're 
slimmed down and ready to indulge in some great Kansas State Fair food 
starting Friday.

Aside from the usual Pronto Pups, fried 
cheesecake and other delights, there are three new delicacies to try 
this year. The three new foods to debut include the burnt end burger and
 waffle cheese curds which will be located at the original beer garden. 
The third is the OMG chicken sandwich featuring a donut with chicken, 
bacon and syrup. That will be available at a food vendor called Chicken 
City.&nbsp;

Your chance to sample these delights and the others will be
 available during the annual Taste it Tuesday where you can sample many 
of the fair’s foods for just $2 a stop. A brochure will be available at 
any gate on that day.

Hutch PostHUTCHINSON — Hopefully you’re getting some exercise so you're 
slimmed down and ready to indulge in some great Kansas State Fair food 
starting Friday.Aside from the usual Pronto Pups, fried 
cheesecake and other delights, there are three new delicacies to try 
this year. The three new foods to debut include the burnt end burger and
 waffle cheese curds which will be located at the original beer garden. 
The third is the OMG chicken sandwich featuring a donut with chicken, 
bacon and syrup. That will be available at a food vendor called Chicken 
City.&nbsp;Your chance to sample these delights and the others will be
 available during the annual Taste it Tuesday where you can sample many 
of the fair’s foods for just $2 a stop. A brochure will be available at 
any gate on that day.

Three new foods come to the 2022 Kansas State Fair

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City-area man has been accused of beating his 6-year-old daughter to death with a baseball bat.

Dustin L. Beechner, 37, St. Joseph, has been charged with child abuse resulting in death. During a court hearing Wednesday, a judge ordered that he be held without bail.

Police were called to a St. Joseph home early Friday and found a child, Jozlyn Marie Beechner, dead with blunt force trauma to the held. the St. Joseph News-Gazette&nbsp;reported.

The child was struck several times in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, according to a probable cause statement.

Beechner led police to the roof of the house, where they found a child's body covered in a white sheet, according to the documents. He identified the girl as his daughter.

Associate Circuit Judge Keith Marquart noted during Wednesday's hearing that Beechner has two felony domestic assault convictions and was on probation on one of those past cases. The judge said Beechner is on suicide watch at the jail.

Dustin Beechner does not yet have an attorney, the newspaper reported.

The judge set a bond review hearing for Sept. 14, one day before what would have been the victim’s seventh birthday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662316056279.jpeg" alt="BEECHNER -Photo St. Joseph Police Department" />
 <figcaption>BEECHNER -Photo St. Joseph Police Department</figcaption>
 </figure>ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas City-area man has been accused of beating his 6-year-old daughter to death with a baseball bat.Dustin L. Beechner, 37, St. Joseph, has been charged with child abuse resulting in death. During a court hearing Wednesday, a judge ordered that he be held without bail.Police were called to a St. Joseph home early Friday and found a child, Jozlyn Marie Beechner, dead with blunt force trauma to the held. the St. Joseph News-Gazette&nbsp;reported.The child was struck several times in the head with an aluminum baseball bat, according to a probable cause statement.Beechner led police to the roof of the house, where they found a child's body covered in a white sheet, according to the documents. He identified the girl as his daughter.Associate Circuit Judge Keith Marquart noted during Wednesday's hearing that Beechner has two felony domestic assault convictions and was on probation on one of those past cases. The judge said Beechner is on suicide watch at the jail.Dustin Beechner does not yet have an attorney, the newspaper reported.The judge set a bond review hearing for Sept. 14, one day before what would have been the victim’s seventh birthday.

KC-area man accused of beating 6-year-old to death with bat

ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon for an alleged violent crime.

On Tuesday, police arrested 22-year-old&nbsp;Savannah G. Martin of St. Joseph, on a District Court warrant on a requested charge of domestic battery, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.

Martin had a previous drug conviction in 2018 for marijuana distribution, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. She was released from prison in March of 2020. She is no longer in custody in Atchison County.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662561624544.png" alt="Martin had a previous drug distribution conviction in 2018, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections." />
 <figcaption>Martin had a previous drug distribution conviction in 2018, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.</figcaption>
 </figure>ATCHISON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Kansas felon for an alleged violent crime.On Tuesday, police arrested 22-year-old&nbsp;Savannah G. Martin of St. Joseph, on a District Court warrant on a requested charge of domestic battery, according to Police Chief Mike Wilson.Martin had a previous drug conviction in 2018 for marijuana distribution, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. She was released from prison in March of 2020. She is no longer in custody in Atchison County.

Kansas felon jailed for alleged domestic battery

GEARY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two adults and five juveniles for an alleged burglary in rural Geary County.

Just after 11:30 a.m. Monday, sheriff’s deputies responded to 1729 N. Monroe Street in Geary County in reference to a burglary with damage to property, according to a media release.

Investigators learned that&nbsp; on September 4, several suspects entered the locked business property at the location.&nbsp; Once inside the business the suspects damaged and stole property. Through their investigation deputies were able to identify the suspects.

On Wednesday, deputies arrested 18-year-old Kody Nathaniel Duncan and 18-year-old Brianna Faith Spitzer both of Junction City on requested charges of Burglary, Damage to Property and Contributing to a Child’s Misconduct. They are being held on a $5,000 bond each.

Deputies also arrested/issued Notice to Appear to 17-year-old Tristin Nelson Ockomon-Trujillo; 17-year-old&nbsp;           James Thomas McCardle; 17-year-old Ayden James Johnson; 17-year-old Mackenzie Lee Kemp and 16-year-old Sydnee Abigail Stoner all of Junction City on requested charges of Burglary and Damage to Property:

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662577567629.png" alt="Duncan-photo Geary Co." />
 <figcaption>Duncan-photo Geary Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>GEARY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating two adults and five juveniles for an alleged burglary in rural Geary County.Just after 11:30 a.m. Monday, sheriff’s deputies responded to 1729 N. Monroe Street in Geary County in reference to a burglary with damage to property, according to a media release.Investigators learned that&nbsp; on September 4, several suspects entered the locked business property at the location.&nbsp; Once inside the business the suspects damaged and stole property. Through their investigation deputies were able to identify the suspects.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662577907942.png" alt="Spitzer-photo Geary Co." />
 <figcaption>Spitzer-photo Geary Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>On Wednesday, deputies arrested 18-year-old Kody Nathaniel Duncan and 18-year-old Brianna Faith Spitzer both of Junction City on requested charges of Burglary, Damage to Property and Contributing to a Child’s Misconduct. They are being held on a $5,000 bond each.Deputies also arrested/issued Notice to Appear to 17-year-old Tristin Nelson Ockomon-Trujillo; 17-year-old&nbsp; James Thomas McCardle; 17-year-old Ayden James Johnson; 17-year-old Mackenzie Lee Kemp and 16-year-old Sydnee Abigail Stoner all of Junction City on requested charges of Burglary and Damage to Property:

2 adults, 5 juveniles accused of burglary at rural Kan. business

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle returned to the White House on Wednesday for the unveiling of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCnEBtru3dU">official portraits with a modern vibe</a>: him standing expressionless against a white background and her seated on a sofa in the Red Room wearing a formal light blue dress.

(Click below to watch the unveiling ceremony)

“Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” President Joe Biden said before he invited the Obamas to the stage to unveil the portraits. Some in the audience gasped, others applauded.

“It's great to be back,” Obama said when it was his turn to speak. He praised Biden — his vice president — as someone who became a “true partner and a true friend.”

The artist whom Barack Obama selected to paint his portrait says the “stripped down” style of his works helps create an “encounter” between the person in the painting and the person looking at it.

Robert McCurdy likes to present his subjects without any facial expression and standing against a white background, which is how America's 44th and first Black president will be seen here for posterity, in a black suit and gray tie.

Biden and first lady Jill Biden invited Obama and the former first lady back to their former home to unveil their official portraits. It was Mrs. Obama's first visit since her husband's presidency ended in January 2017. Obama himself visited in April to help celebrate the anniversary of the major health care law he signed.

The former first lady chose artist Sharon Sprung for her portrait.

The portraits do not look like any others in the collection to which they will be added, in terms of style and substance.

McCurdy told the White House Historical Association for the latest edition of its “1600 Sessions” podcast that his style is “stripped down for a reason." He's also done portraits of South Africa's Nelson Mandela, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and the Dalai Lama, among others.

“They have plain white backgrounds, nobody gestures, nobody — there are no props because we're not here to tell the story of the person that's sitting for them,” McCurdy said. "We're here to create an encounter between the viewer and the sitter.”

He compared the technique to a session with a psychiatrist in which the patient and doctor tell each other as little as possible about themselves “so that you can project onto them.”

“And we're doing the same thing with these paintings,” McCurdy said. “We're telling as little about the sitter as possible so that the viewer can project onto them.”

McCurdy works from a photograph of his subjects, selected from hundreds of images. He spends a year to 18 months on each portrait and said he knows he's done “when it stops irritating me.”

Sprung, who also was interviewed for the podcast, described feeling as though she was in a “comedy sketch” when she met with the Obamas in the Oval Office.

She kept sinking into the couch she sat on while they sat on sturdier chairs. Then the president “flicked” away the printed talking points she had handed out to everyone in the room. Then she just “went still" and had to "gasp for air a little bit” when someone else in the meeting asked her why she paints. Then she started to cry.

“So who knows what put the interview over the top, but that's how it went,” Sprung said.

She had planned on having Mrs. Obama stand in the portrait, “to give it a certain dignity,” but said the former first lady "has so much dignity that I decided to do it sitting just because ... it was too much looking up at her. I'm that much shorter than her."

Sprung worked on the portrait for eight months, day and night, the most time she's ever spent on a single painting. She worked entirely from photographs taken in various locations on the State Floor of the White House. Getting the dress just right was the hardest part, she said.

“The color was so beautiful and I really wanted to get the strength of the color and the light,” said Sprung, who has done portraits of the late Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, and Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress.

Recent tradition, no matter political affiliation, has had the current president genially hosting his immediate predecessor for the unveiling — as Bill Clinton did for George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush did for Clinton and Obama did for the younger Bush.

Donald Trump, who criticized almost everything about Obama and deviated from many presidential traditions, held no ceremony for Obama. So Biden, who was Obama's vice president, scheduled one for his former boss.

Obama's portrait is destined for display in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the traditional showcase for paintings of the two most recent presidents. Clinton's and George W. Bush's portraits currently hang there.

Mrs. Obama's portrait likely will be placed with her predecessors along the hallway on the Ground Floor of the White House, joining Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.

Both McCurdy and Sprung said it was hard to keep their work on the portraits secret. McCurdy said it wouldn't have been a problem “if it had not gone on for so long.” Sprung said she had to turn the portrait to the wall whenever someone came into her studio in New York.

The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization that is funded through private donations and sales of books and an annual Christmas ornament, helps manage the portrait process and, since the 1960s, has paid for most of those in the collection.

Congress bought the first painting in the collection, of George Washington. Other portraits of early presidents and first ladies often came to the White House as gifts.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662583034690.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle returned to the White House on Wednesday for the unveiling of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCnEBtru3dU">official portraits with a modern vibe</a>: him standing expressionless against a white background and her seated on a sofa in the Red Room wearing a formal light blue dress.(Click below to watch the unveiling ceremony)<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UbAHHcq1f2A?start=912" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>“Barack and Michelle, welcome home,” President Joe Biden said before he invited the Obamas to the stage to unveil the portraits. Some in the audience gasped, others applauded.“It's great to be back,” Obama said when it was his turn to speak. He praised Biden — his vice president — as someone who became a “true partner and a true friend.”The artist whom Barack Obama selected to paint his portrait says the “stripped down” style of his works helps create an “encounter” between the person in the painting and the person looking at it.Robert McCurdy likes to present his subjects without any facial expression and standing against a white background, which is how America's 44th and first Black president will be seen here for posterity, in a black suit and gray tie.Biden and first lady Jill Biden invited Obama and the former first lady back to their former home to unveil their official portraits. It was Mrs. Obama's first visit since her husband's presidency ended in January 2017. Obama himself visited in April to help celebrate the anniversary of the major health care law he signed.The former first lady chose artist Sharon Sprung for her portrait.The portraits do not look like any others in the collection to which they will be added, in terms of style and substance.McCurdy told the White House Historical Association for the latest edition of its “1600 Sessions” podcast that his style is “stripped down for a reason." He's also done portraits of South Africa's Nelson Mandela, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and the Dalai Lama, among others.“They have plain white backgrounds, nobody gestures, nobody — there are no props because we're not here to tell the story of the person that's sitting for them,” McCurdy said. "We're here to create an encounter between the viewer and the sitter.”He compared the technique to a session with a psychiatrist in which the patient and doctor tell each other as little as possible about themselves “so that you can project onto them.”“And we're doing the same thing with these paintings,” McCurdy said. “We're telling as little about the sitter as possible so that the viewer can project onto them.”McCurdy works from a photograph of his subjects, selected from hundreds of images. He spends a year to 18 months on each portrait and said he knows he's done “when it stops irritating me.”Sprung, who also was interviewed for the podcast, described feeling as though she was in a “comedy sketch” when she met with the Obamas in the Oval Office.She kept sinking into the couch she sat on while they sat on sturdier chairs. Then the president “flicked” away the printed talking points she had handed out to everyone in the room. Then she just “went still" and had to "gasp for air a little bit” when someone else in the meeting asked her why she paints. Then she started to cry.“So who knows what put the interview over the top, but that's how it went,” Sprung said.She had planned on having Mrs. Obama stand in the portrait, “to give it a certain dignity,” but said the former first lady "has so much dignity that I decided to do it sitting just because ... it was too much looking up at her. I'm that much shorter than her."Sprung worked on the portrait for eight months, day and night, the most time she's ever spent on a single painting. She worked entirely from photographs taken in various locations on the State Floor of the White House. Getting the dress just right was the hardest part, she said.“The color was so beautiful and I really wanted to get the strength of the color and the light,” said Sprung, who has done portraits of the late Rep. Patsy Mink, D-Hawaii, and Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress.Recent tradition, no matter political affiliation, has had the current president genially hosting his immediate predecessor for the unveiling — as Bill Clinton did for George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush did for Clinton and Obama did for the younger Bush.Donald Trump, who criticized almost everything about Obama and deviated from many presidential traditions, held no ceremony for Obama. So Biden, who was Obama's vice president, scheduled one for his former boss.Obama's portrait is destined for display in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the traditional showcase for paintings of the two most recent presidents. Clinton's and George W. Bush's portraits currently hang there.Mrs. Obama's portrait likely will be placed with her predecessors along the hallway on the Ground Floor of the White House, joining Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush.Both McCurdy and Sprung said it was hard to keep their work on the portraits secret. McCurdy said it wouldn't have been a problem “if it had not gone on for so long.” Sprung said she had to turn the portrait to the wall whenever someone came into her studio in New York.The White House Historical Association, a nonprofit organization that is funded through private donations and sales of books and an annual Christmas ornament, helps manage the portrait process and, since the 1960s, has paid for most of those in the collection.Congress bought the first painting in the collection, of George Washington. Other portraits of early presidents and first ladies often came to the White House as gifts.

🎥Obamas return to White House: Official portraits unveiled

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday afternoon reported 39-year-old Amanda Crabtree has been found and is safe, according to a social media report from Wichita Police.

Crabtree's family reported her missing on August 24. Police released no additional details.

On Sept. 1, authorities reported they located her Black Hyundai Sonata abandoned with her personal belongings at the Interstate 135 rest stop near McPherson.

The Kansas Highway Patrol and the McPherson County Sheriff’s office searched the area, but did not locate her.

A woman, believed to be Amanda, was seen at the rest area with her cat. She may have dyed her hair blue. She is described as 5-foot-4, 200 pounds, with blue eyes. She may have been traveling with her cat. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662054202579.png" alt="Crabtree-photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Crabtree-photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities on Wednesday afternoon reported 39-year-old Amanda Crabtree has been found and is safe, according to a social media report from Wichita Police.Crabtree's family reported her missing on August 24. Police released no additional details.On Sept. 1, authorities reported they located her Black Hyundai Sonata abandoned with her personal belongings at the Interstate 135 rest stop near McPherson.The Kansas Highway Patrol and the McPherson County Sheriff’s office searched the area, but did not locate her.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662054343012.png" alt="Crabtree-photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Crabtree-photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>A woman, believed to be Amanda, was seen at the rest area with her cat. She may have dyed her hair blue. She is described as 5-foot-4, 200 pounds, with blue eyes. She may have been traveling with her cat.

Police: Kan. woman missing for 2-weeks has been found

By SHERMAN SMITH <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/summoning-inspiration-from-solitary-kansas-native-wins-pen-america-prison-writing-award/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Alex Tretbar scratched Lou Reed lyrics into the concrete 
“rhomboid exoskeleton” of an Oregon jail’s solitary confinement hole, 
then found the strength to write about it.

“Some people work very hard,” the song goes, “but still they never get it right.”

Tretbar, a Wichita native and University of Kansas graduate, 
references the experience in “Variations on an Undisclosed Location,” a 
poem he wrote while incarcerated for five years for his role in a 
drug-related shooting. PEN America announced Wednesday that Tretbar’s 
poem was a first-place winner in the organization’s annual prison 
writing contest.

The award is a testament to Tretbar’s ability to reconcile his battle
 with opioid addiction through the “self-psychotherapy” of writing. He 
now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, after being paroled in July.

“I was like, OK, there’s not really much left for me to do other than
 try to improve myself and get clean, and writing was just — it wasn’t 
really like a choice. It was just what I do,” Tretbar said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662569568578.png" alt="Kansas native Alex Tretbar won the PEN America first-place award for poetry writing in this year’s prison writing contest for his “Variations on an Undisclosed Location.” (Submitted)" />
 <figcaption>Kansas native Alex Tretbar won the PEN America first-place award for poetry writing in this year’s prison writing contest for his “Variations on an Undisclosed Location.” (Submitted)</figcaption>
 </figure>By SHERMAN SMITH <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2022/09/07/summoning-inspiration-from-solitary-kansas-native-wins-pen-america-prison-writing-award/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Alex Tretbar scratched Lou Reed lyrics into the concrete 
“rhomboid exoskeleton” of an Oregon jail’s solitary confinement hole, 
then found the strength to write about it.“Some people work very hard,” the song goes, “but still they never get it right.”Tretbar, a Wichita native and University of Kansas graduate, 
references the experience in “Variations on an Undisclosed Location,” a 
poem he wrote while incarcerated for five years for his role in a 
drug-related shooting. PEN America announced Wednesday that Tretbar’s 
poem was a first-place winner in the organization’s annual prison 
writing contest.The award is a testament to Tretbar’s ability to reconcile his battle
 with opioid addiction through the “self-psychotherapy” of writing. He 
now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, after being paroled in July.“I was like, OK, there’s not really much left for me to do other than
 try to improve myself and get clean, and writing was just — it wasn’t 
really like a choice. It was just what I do,” Tretbar said.He said the poem is about working out the effects of segregation on 
the personality, how time is perceived, and grappling with addiction and
 suffering and racism.“It kind of goes all over,” he said.PEN America champions literary art and free expression through its <a target="_blank" href="https://pen.org/prison-writing/">Prison and Justice Writing program</a>.
 The organization’s annual awards spotlight writers “who are critically 
reshaping the conversation on mass incarceration, advocacy, and justice 
in the United States.”Robert Pollock, manager of the Prison Writing Program, said this 
year’s anthology of winners takes its name from Tretbar’s poem because 
it “resonated with us so deeply.”The way Tretbar sees it, prison saved his life.Tretbar grew up in Wichita and graduated in 2012 from KU with degrees
 in English and journalism. He said he was involved in the Lawrence 
music scene, where he played bass guitar and managed the college radio 
station. He also developed an addiction to oxycodone and other opioids 
while in school.“I wasn’t necessarily like this reclusive drug addict,” he said. “To a
 certain extent, I was a functional addict when I was in school. And 
that ended up not being tenable after I graduated.”When it became difficult to find pharmaceuticals, Tretbar started 
using heroin. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue music and journalism — 
“just running and not really thinking straight” — and washed up in a 
hostel in Venice Beach, trying to get clean. Then it was on to Portland,
 Oregon, with a woman he met in L.A.He worked at a law firm for a while, ghostwriting recommendation 
letters for immigrants who were trying to get green cards. He was on 
methadone and still chained to opioids. In 2016, he started using again 
and lived on the streets for Portland for about a year.That’s when he made a “horrible mistake.”Tretbar and a drug dealer went to settle a debt, which led to 
gunfire. Luckily, no one died. Tretbar fled the scene instead of calling
 911 or attending to the victim. He was charged with first-degree 
attempted robbery.“Sometimes it doesn’t really seem like me, looking back on it, but it
 definitely was me,” Tretbar said. “I take responsibility for it.”In the years that followed, “I’ve tried to live my life in a way that
 would honor not only the victim, but my family and friends who also 
suffered while I was in prison for my absence, and also to honor myself 
and honor the life that I should have been living all along.”Tretbar said he worked as a librarian and GED tutor at Deer Ridge 
Correctional Institution, where he met several mentors from Oregon State
 University who helped him work on his writing. In 2021, he won 
second-place PEN awards for poetry and fiction writing.This year’s award-winning poem evolved from a prompt with his mentors. It begins:Solitarywasn’t. All of the other &amp; inward 
voices came out: my neighbor 
summoned summer with his absent eye-tooth: perfect mimicof a lost-in-basement cricket. I carved Lou 
Reed lyrics into my concrete rhomboid 
exoskeleton. I found a letter toothpasted 
to the ceiling claimingI had written it.The lyrics were from the Velvet Underground song “Beginning to See the Light.”Tretbar said he draws inspiration from the music of the Velvet 
Underground, the Stooges and “krautrock” artists. His writing influences
 include Topeka natives Ben Lerner and Michael Robbins.He is now working remotely for an old friend at a political 
consulting agency in Omaha and searching for post-November writing work.
 He hopes to attend graduate school and work as a GTA next year.Tretbar said he never thought about prison or mass incarceration until he was arrested.“Five years was the right amount of time to get sober and get my head
 straight, and so I have a complicated relationship with prison, because
 I’m grateful for it,” he said. “Sure, I hate and despite many aspects 
of incarceration — the mindless bureaucracy and the dehumanization and 
all of that. But for some people, it works.”Tretbar said his first impressions about people “have almost always 
been wrong.” Similarly, other people have the wrong idea about prison.“I struggle with coming up with a single sentence that says, ‘This is
 how you should feel about prison.’ But I would say don’t make up your 
mind too readily about the kind of person that goes to prison and the 
kind of person that gets out of prison, because every single one of them
 is different,” Tretbar said.I seek — sought — asylum 
in silos, syringes, 
sickness for the sake 
of getting well again.I am a word, of or relating to 
what tries to turn around but can’t 
stop turning, dizzy dervish.I demand the panopticon crown 
my oatmeal with an orchid.— from “Variations on an Undisclosed Location”