WASHINGTON (AP) — A small-business advocacy group has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jobcreatorsnetwork.com/app/uploads/2022/10/JCNF-Complaint_StudentLoanBailout.pdf">filed a new lawsuit</a>&nbsp;seeking to block the Biden administration's efforts to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans — the latest legal challenge to the program.

The suit, filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation, argues the Biden administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program. It's one of a handful of lawsuits that have been filed by conservative business groups, attorneys and Republican lawmakers in recent weeks as the Biden administration tries to push forward with its plan to cancel billions in debt before November's midterm elections.

Elaine Parker, president of Job Creators Network Foundation, slammed the program as executive overreach and complained that it does nothing to address the root cause of rising debt: the "outrageous increase in college tuition that outpaces inflation every single year.”

“This bailout is going to affect everyone in this country because of the mass size of the program," she said. “And everyone should have the opportunity to provide their views to the government." She added: “These universities need to be held accountable for this student debt crisis.”

The Job Creators Network Foundation has previously turned to the courts to try to to block the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on businesses. It also sued Major League Baseball in 2021 for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-baseball-rob-manfred-georgia-colorado-49c6da62564fa56dad17f84d800ba392">moving the All-Star game</a>&nbsp;out of Atlanta over objections to changes to Georgia’s voting laws. That lawsuit, which cited losses to local businesses, was later dropped.

The new lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges trying to halt the proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers.

Six Republican-led states&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-lawsuits-covid-missouri-862d783188de45b698c54b00820d3616">filed suit late last month</a>, accusing the Biden administration of overstepping its executive powers, as did the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento, California, legal advocacy group. Their lawsuit,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-education-lawsuits-executive-branch-88a53926a6583fdb7b8c311206f5357f">filed in federal court in Indiana</a>, calls the plan an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven.

Meanwhile, a federal judge in Wisconsin last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-wisconsin-education-lawsuits-green-bay-36fa25c9ee507c9d379806c5f0e48ebf">dismissed a lawsuit from</a>&nbsp;a local taxpayers group, the Brown County Taxpayers Association, that sought to block the program, ruling that the group didn't have standing to bring the lawsuit. The group had argued that Biden’s order unlawfully circumvented Congress’ power over spending and said the plan was discriminatory because it sought to give particular help to borrowers of color.

The latest lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the U.S. Education Department and its secretary, Miguel Cardona, takes issue with how the plan was developed. It alleges the Biden administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice-and-comment procedures. It also challenges the administration’s legal justification for the program.

The suit includes two plaintiffs: one who does not qualify for debt forgiveness because the plan excludes commercially held loans that are not in default, and one who did not receive a Pell grant and is therefore entitled to less debt forgiveness under the plan.

“Behind closed doors, the Department promulgated a new Debt Forgiveness Program that will affect tens of millions of Americans and cost hundreds of billions of dollars," the lawsuit reads. “Instead of providing notice and seeking comment from the public, the Department hammered out the critical details of the Program in secret and with an eye toward securing debt forgiveness in time for the November election.”

It also alleges the department "made numerous arbitrary decisions about the Program, including which individuals will receive debt forgiveness, how much of their debt will be forgiven, and which types of debt will qualify for the Program.”

“The result of this arbitrariness is predictable: some will benefit handsomely, some will be shortchanged, and others will be left out entirely," it reads.

The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who most notably ruled in 2018 that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reversed that decision last year. O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, also has ruled against other policies pursued by Democratic administrations. Last month, he ruled that an ACA provision that required coverage of an HIV prevention drug violates a Texas employer’s religious beliefs.

Civil lawsuits filed in the federal court in Fort Worth have a 90% chance of going either to O’Connor or Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, according to a 2020 order of the court.

White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan responded with a statement defending the loan forgiveness program.

“While opponents of our plan are siding with special interests and trying every which way to keep millions of middle-class Americans in debt, the President and his Administration are fighting to lawfully give middle-class families some breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume loan payments in January," he said in a statement.

The Biden debt forgiveness program will cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or households making less than $250,000. Pell grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will be eligible for an additional $10,000.

The Biden administration used an act passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-health-education-0fea030a0875c0e4e1a39b0c098bd48a">legal justification for the program.</a>&nbsp;The law gives the administration “sweeping authority” to reduce or eliminate student debt during times of national emergency, the Justice Department said in an August legal opinion. The administration cited the COVID-19 pandemic as its emergency.

The Congressional Budget Office&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-education-congress-government-and-politics-359a28d9691745afd6154eac5f0550dc">estimates the program</a>&nbsp;will cost taxpayers $400 billion over the next three decades.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/8/1661367707782.png" alt="The new lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges trying to halt the proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers.-White House photo" />
 <figcaption>The new lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges trying to halt the proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers.-White House photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A small-business advocacy group has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.jobcreatorsnetwork.com/app/uploads/2022/10/JCNF-Complaint_StudentLoanBailout.pdf">filed a new lawsuit</a>&nbsp;seeking to block the Biden administration's efforts to forgive student loan debt for tens of millions of Americans — the latest legal challenge to the program.The suit, filed Monday by the Job Creators Network Foundation, argues the Biden administration violated federal procedures by failing to seek public input on the program. It's one of a handful of lawsuits that have been filed by conservative business groups, attorneys and Republican lawmakers in recent weeks as the Biden administration tries to push forward with its plan to cancel billions in debt before November's midterm elections.Elaine Parker, president of Job Creators Network Foundation, slammed the program as executive overreach and complained that it does nothing to address the root cause of rising debt: the "outrageous increase in college tuition that outpaces inflation every single year.”“This bailout is going to affect everyone in this country because of the mass size of the program," she said. “And everyone should have the opportunity to provide their views to the government." She added: “These universities need to be held accountable for this student debt crisis.”The Job Creators Network Foundation has previously turned to the courts to try to to block the Biden administration's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on businesses. It also sued Major League Baseball in 2021 for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mlb-baseball-rob-manfred-georgia-colorado-49c6da62564fa56dad17f84d800ba392">moving the All-Star game</a>&nbsp;out of Atlanta over objections to changes to Georgia’s voting laws. That lawsuit, which cited losses to local businesses, was later dropped.The new lawsuit is one of a growing number of legal challenges trying to halt the proposal laid out by President Joe Biden in late August to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for certain borrowers.Six Republican-led states&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-health-lawsuits-covid-missouri-862d783188de45b698c54b00820d3616">filed suit late last month</a>, accusing the Biden administration of overstepping its executive powers, as did the Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento, California, legal advocacy group. Their lawsuit,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-education-lawsuits-executive-branch-88a53926a6583fdb7b8c311206f5357f">filed in federal court in Indiana</a>, calls the plan an illegal overreach that would increase state tax burdens for some Americans who get their debt forgiven.Meanwhile, a federal judge in Wisconsin last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-wisconsin-education-lawsuits-green-bay-36fa25c9ee507c9d379806c5f0e48ebf">dismissed a lawsuit from</a>&nbsp;a local taxpayers group, the Brown County Taxpayers Association, that sought to block the program, ruling that the group didn't have standing to bring the lawsuit. The group had argued that Biden’s order unlawfully circumvented Congress’ power over spending and said the plan was discriminatory because it sought to give particular help to borrowers of color.The latest lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the U.S. Education Department and its secretary, Miguel Cardona, takes issue with how the plan was developed. It alleges the Biden administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s notice-and-comment procedures. It also challenges the administration’s legal justification for the program.The suit includes two plaintiffs: one who does not qualify for debt forgiveness because the plan excludes commercially held loans that are not in default, and one who did not receive a Pell grant and is therefore entitled to less debt forgiveness under the plan.“Behind closed doors, the Department promulgated a new Debt Forgiveness Program that will affect tens of millions of Americans and cost hundreds of billions of dollars," the lawsuit reads. “Instead of providing notice and seeking comment from the public, the Department hammered out the critical details of the Program in secret and with an eye toward securing debt forgiveness in time for the November election.”It also alleges the department "made numerous arbitrary decisions about the Program, including which individuals will receive debt forgiveness, how much of their debt will be forgiven, and which types of debt will qualify for the Program.”“The result of this arbitrariness is predictable: some will benefit handsomely, some will be shortchanged, and others will be left out entirely," it reads.The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who most notably ruled in 2018 that the Affordable Care Act was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reversed that decision last year. O’Connor, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, also has ruled against other policies pursued by Democratic administrations. Last month, he ruled that an ACA provision that required coverage of an HIV prevention drug violates a Texas employer’s religious beliefs.Civil lawsuits filed in the federal court in Fort Worth have a 90% chance of going either to O’Connor or Judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, according to a 2020 order of the court.White House spokesman Abdullah Hasan responded with a statement defending the loan forgiveness program.“While opponents of our plan are siding with special interests and trying every which way to keep millions of middle-class Americans in debt, the President and his Administration are fighting to lawfully give middle-class families some breathing room as they recover from the pandemic and prepare to resume loan payments in January," he said in a statement.The Biden debt forgiveness program will cancel $10,000 in student loan debt for individuals making less than $125,000 a year or households making less than $250,000. Pell grant recipients, who typically demonstrate more financial need, will be eligible for an additional $10,000.The Biden administration used an act passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-covid-health-education-0fea030a0875c0e4e1a39b0c098bd48a">legal justification for the program.</a>&nbsp;The law gives the administration “sweeping authority” to reduce or eliminate student debt during times of national emergency, the Justice Department said in an August legal opinion. The administration cited the COVID-19 pandemic as its emergency.The Congressional Budget Office&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-education-congress-government-and-politics-359a28d9691745afd6154eac5f0550dc">estimates the program</a>&nbsp;will cost taxpayers $400 billion over the next three decades.

Legal challenges to Biden student loan plan continue to grow

PAWNEE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Monday in Pawnee County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Kia Sorento driven by Jackie F. Dillard, 71, Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, was southbound on U.S. 183 at Kansas 156.

The driver failed to stop at a posted stop sign. An eastbound 1998 Peterbilt semi driven by Nathan Tyler Long, 34, Garden City, T-Boned the SUV.

Dillard and a passenger Donna Lynn Dillard, 69, of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Beckwith Mortuary. Long was not injured. All three were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

PAWNEE COUNTY—One person died in an accident just before 7p.m. Monday in Pawnee County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2013 Kia Sorento driven by Jackie F. Dillard, 71, Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, was southbound on U.S. 183 at Kansas 156.The driver failed to stop at a posted stop sign. An eastbound 1998 Peterbilt semi driven by Nathan Tyler Long, 34, Garden City, T-Boned the SUV.Dillard and a passenger Donna Lynn Dillard, 69, of Fort Gibson, Oklahoma, were pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Beckwith Mortuary. Long was not injured. All three were properly restrained, according to the KHP.

Man, woman dead after semi, SUV crash on Kansas highway

UPDATE 11:05 a.m. Tuesday:&nbsp;Jen Anielski just notified Salina Post that her missing Doberman Pinscher, Lanie, has been found

By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina Post

SOLOMON - A woman traveling through Kansas is desperately trying to find her missing Doberman Pinscher who ran off from the Interstate 70 rest area near Solomon Monday.

Jen Anielski told Salina Post that the year-and-a-half old Doberman named Lanie got spooked at the eastbound I-70 rest area near Solomon. She was last seen running west from the rest area at approximately 2 p.m. Monday.

"I am desperate to find her. She does not know this area and is scared," Anielski told Salina Post.

Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander said this morning that deputies searched the area and used the sheriff's office's drone in an attempt to find Lanie, but were not successful.

Lanie is described as being a red Doberman Pinscher who weighs approximately 50 pounds. She has a black collar and a pink rope leash. She also is microchipped.

Melander said that if you have information about Lanie or if you find her, you are asked to call the Saline County Sheriff's Office at (785) 826-6502.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665503550400.jpeg" alt="-Lanie got spooked and ran from the eastbound I-70 rest area near Solomon.&nbsp;Photo courtesy&nbsp;Jen Anielski" />
 <figcaption>-Lanie got spooked and ran from the eastbound I-70 rest area near Solomon.&nbsp;Photo courtesy&nbsp;Jen Anielski</figcaption>
 </figure>UPDATE 11:05 a.m. Tuesday:&nbsp;Jen Anielski just notified Salina Post that her missing Doberman Pinscher, Lanie, has been found----------------By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY Salina PostSOLOMON - A woman traveling through Kansas is desperately trying to find her missing Doberman Pinscher who ran off from the Interstate 70 rest area near Solomon Monday.Jen Anielski told Salina Post that the year-and-a-half old Doberman named Lanie got spooked at the eastbound I-70 rest area near Solomon. She was last seen running west from the rest area at approximately 2 p.m. Monday."I am desperate to find her. She does not know this area and is scared," Anielski told Salina Post.Saline County Undersheriff Brent Melander said this morning that deputies searched the area and used the sheriff's office's drone in an attempt to find Lanie, but were not successful.Lanie is described as being a red Doberman Pinscher who weighs approximately 50 pounds. She has a black collar and a pink rope leash. She also is microchipped.Melander said that if you have information about Lanie or if you find her, you are asked to call the Saline County Sheriff's Office at (785) 826-6502.

Deputies locate spooked Doberman who ran from at I-70 rest area

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man has been charged in the fatal card game shooting James P. Robertson, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Jordan Huff, 23, faces Murder 2nd Degree and Armed Criminal Action charges.

According to court records, police were dispatched to the 3900 block of S. Redwood Drive in Independence on a reported shooting. A woman met officers and told them a man had been shot in the residence. Three children were inside but unharmed. Emergency response crews determined the victim, Robertson, was deceased. He was found inside the residence. A witness told police that the defendant and victim were playing cards with others when the defendant shot the victim. 

Another witness stated the defendant stopped others from calling 911. A Ring doorbell camera showed the defendant leaving the apartment and a gun barrel muzzle is evident. . Prosecutors requested a $250,000 cash bond.&nbsp;

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man has been charged in the fatal card game shooting James P. Robertson, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Jordan Huff, 23, faces Murder 2nd Degree and Armed Criminal Action charges.According to court records, police were dispatched to the 3900 block of S. Redwood Drive in Independence on a reported shooting. A woman met officers and told them a man had been shot in the residence. Three children were inside but unharmed. Emergency response crews determined the victim, Robertson, was deceased. He was found inside the residence. A witness told police that the defendant and victim were playing cards with others when the defendant shot the victim. Another witness stated the defendant stopped others from calling 911. A Ring doorbell camera showed the defendant leaving the apartment and a gun barrel muzzle is evident. . Prosecutors requested a $250,000 cash bond.&nbsp;

Kansas City man charged in fatal card game killing

RILEY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a registered sex offender on multiple charges after a weekend arrest.

On October 7, police arrested Cedrick Wilson, 41, of Manhattan for aggravated burglary, possession of an opiate, lewd and lascivious behavior, and violation of offender registration, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report.

 The aggravated burglary charge stems from an October 6, 2022, incident when it was reported Wilson entered a 29-year-old woman's residence in the 2000 block of Hayes Drive and exposed himself in front of her.

The lewd and lascivious behavior charge stems from an October 2, 2022, incident. when it was reported Wilson masturbated inside the Bourbon and Baker restaurant, 312 Poyntz in Manhattan.

The possession of an opiate charge stems from Wilson being found in possession of an opiate during his arrest on October 7.

The violation of offender registration charge comes from the incidents at the restaurant and at the woman's residence.&nbsp; They are violations of his offender registration, according to the RCPD.

Wilson has a 1997 conviction for rape and indecent exposure in Oklahoma involving a 16-year-old victiim, according to the sex offender registry.

Wison remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $60,000.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665419734324.png" alt="Wilson-photo KBI offender registry" />
 <figcaption>Wilson-photo KBI offender registry</figcaption>
 </figure>RILEY COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a registered sex offender on multiple charges after a weekend arrest.On October 7, police arrested Cedrick Wilson, 41, of Manhattan for aggravated burglary, possession of an opiate, lewd and lascivious behavior, and violation of offender registration, according to the Riley County Police Department activity report. The aggravated burglary charge stems from an October 6, 2022, incident when it was reported Wilson entered a 29-year-old woman's residence in the 2000 block of Hayes Drive and exposed himself in front of her.The lewd and lascivious behavior charge stems from an October 2, 2022, incident. when it was reported Wilson masturbated inside the Bourbon and Baker restaurant, 312 Poyntz in Manhattan.The possession of an opiate charge stems from Wilson being found in possession of an opiate during his arrest on October 7.The violation of offender registration charge comes from the incidents at the restaurant and at the woman's residence.&nbsp; They are violations of his offender registration, according to the RCPD.Wilson has a 1997 conviction for rape and indecent exposure in Oklahoma involving a 16-year-old victiim, according to the sex offender registry.Wison remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $60,000.

Police: Kansas sex offender accused of multiple crimes 

By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/former-interim-emporia-state-president-condemns-mass-firing-of-tenured-faculty/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A former interim 
president of Emporia State University contends mass dismissal of more 
than 30 faculty brands the institution as a higher education outcast and
 undermines recruitment and retention of quality students and faculty.

Ed Flentje, who served as interim ESU president in 2011, expressed 
concern in a letter to Jon Rolph, chairman of the Kansas Board of 
Regents. His request the Board of Regents rescind removal of 33 faculty 
mirrored a plea by a representative of the American Association of 
University Professors, who denounced the firings as an intrusion into 
academic freedom.

“I believe the regents’ actions will lead to the decline and eventual
 closure of the university,” Flentje said. “The vision of the mass 
firing will lead to a prosperous future for Emporia State is complete 
fantasy.”

Flentje said students in English and other academic programs targeted
 for cuts by ESU president Ken Hush would look for new opportunities at 
other colleges and universities. As prospective students decided to seek
 an education elsewhere, Flentje said, ESU enrollment would further 
erode.

In addition, Flentje said, more classes at Emporia State would be 
taught by part-time adjunct professors “who have little stake in the 
future of the university and less interest in student success.”

He said ESU’s “pariah” status would send a message to existing and 
prospective faculty their future at Emporia State would be uncertain. 
ESU faculty and staff identified by administrators as a priority will 
continue to face competition for scarce dollars, he said.

“Budget-minded state lawmakers will increasingly question added 
spending at the university,” Flentje said. “Potential donors will raise 
the same questions. When the next inevitable budget crunch confronts 
state lawmakers, Emporia State’s future will be given heightened 
scrutiny.”

Flentje was a student and administrator at Emporia State, earned a 
doctorate at University of Kansas and served on the faculty for years at
 Wichita State University, where he was part of the Hugo Wall School of 
Public Affairs from 1986 to 2008. For a five-month period in 2011, he 
was interim president at ESU.

The state Board of Regents created a policy during height of the 
COVID-19 pandemic granting the six universities in the public university
 system the authority to initiate a streamlined method of slashing the 
campus workforce. The policy included dismissal of tenured faculty.

KU officials expressed interest, but said repeatedly they had no 
intention of deploying provisions of a policy scheduled to expire Dec. 
31. Neither Kansas State University, Fort Hays State University, 
Pittsburg State University nor WSU took steps to impose the policy 
embraced by ESU to deal with financial, enrollment and staffing 
challenges.

Hush said the policy would be used by Emporia State to better target 
expenditures in disciplines attractive to students. So far, ESU 
announced plans to hire personnel in art, music and cybersecurity.

The university president told the state Board of Regents 
approximately 7% of the university’s staff would be laid off “to move us
 toward an exciting, successful future.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665437679365.png" alt="A former interim president of Emporia State University asked the Kansas Board of Regents to rescind dismissal of 33 faculty under a new policy streamlining layoffs. ESU students responded to the firings with vigils and protests in September. (Mason Hart for Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A former interim president of Emporia State University asked the Kansas Board of Regents to rescind dismissal of 33 faculty under a new policy streamlining layoffs. ESU students responded to the firings with vigils and protests in September. (Mason Hart for Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By TIM CARPENTER <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/briefs/former-interim-emporia-state-president-condemns-mass-firing-of-tenured-faculty/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A former interim 
president of Emporia State University contends mass dismissal of more 
than 30 faculty brands the institution as a higher education outcast and
 undermines recruitment and retention of quality students and faculty.Ed Flentje, who served as interim ESU president in 2011, expressed 
concern in a letter to Jon Rolph, chairman of the Kansas Board of 
Regents. His request the Board of Regents rescind removal of 33 faculty 
mirrored a plea by a representative of the American Association of 
University Professors, who denounced the firings as an intrusion into 
academic freedom.“I believe the regents’ actions will lead to the decline and eventual
 closure of the university,” Flentje said. “The vision of the mass 
firing will lead to a prosperous future for Emporia State is complete 
fantasy.”Flentje said students in English and other academic programs targeted
 for cuts by ESU president Ken Hush would look for new opportunities at 
other colleges and universities. As prospective students decided to seek
 an education elsewhere, Flentje said, ESU enrollment would further 
erode.In addition, Flentje said, more classes at Emporia State would be 
taught by part-time adjunct professors “who have little stake in the 
future of the university and less interest in student success.”He said ESU’s “pariah” status would send a message to existing and 
prospective faculty their future at Emporia State would be uncertain. 
ESU faculty and staff identified by administrators as a priority will 
continue to face competition for scarce dollars, he said.“Budget-minded state lawmakers will increasingly question added 
spending at the university,” Flentje said. “Potential donors will raise 
the same questions. When the next inevitable budget crunch confronts 
state lawmakers, Emporia State’s future will be given heightened 
scrutiny.”Flentje was a student and administrator at Emporia State, earned a 
doctorate at University of Kansas and served on the faculty for years at
 Wichita State University, where he was part of the Hugo Wall School of 
Public Affairs from 1986 to 2008. For a five-month period in 2011, he 
was interim president at ESU.The state Board of Regents created a policy during height of the 
COVID-19 pandemic granting the six universities in the public university
 system the authority to initiate a streamlined method of slashing the 
campus workforce. The policy included dismissal of tenured faculty.KU officials expressed interest, but said repeatedly they had no 
intention of deploying provisions of a policy scheduled to expire Dec. 
31. Neither Kansas State University, Fort Hays State University, 
Pittsburg State University nor WSU took steps to impose the policy 
embraced by ESU to deal with financial, enrollment and staffing 
challenges.Hush said the policy would be used by Emporia State to better target 
expenditures in disciplines attractive to students. So far, ESU 
announced plans to hire personnel in art, music and cybersecurity.The university president told the state Board of Regents 
approximately 7% of the university’s staff would be laid off “to move us
 toward an exciting, successful future.”

Former Emporia State president condemns mass firing

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal motorcycle accident have identified the victim as&nbsp;62-year-old Clay Worley of Wichita.

Just before 11:30 a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to an injury accident in the 5800 block of South Broadway in Wichita, according to Officer Chad Ditch.&nbsp; 

As officers arrived, EMS was administering life-saving measures.&nbsp; Worley was pronounced deceased on the scene.

The investigation revealed a 2009 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Worley was southbound on Broadway when he had a medical emergency, according to Ditch. The motorcycle struck the curb and crashed.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities investigating a fatal motorcycle accident have identified the victim as&nbsp;62-year-old Clay Worley of Wichita.Just before 11:30 a.m. Monday, police were dispatched to an injury accident in the 5800 block of South Broadway in Wichita, according to Officer Chad Ditch.&nbsp; As officers arrived, EMS was administering life-saving measures.&nbsp; Worley was pronounced deceased on the scene.The investigation revealed a 2009 Harley Davidson motorcycle driven by Worley was southbound on Broadway when he had a medical emergency, according to Ditch. The motorcycle struck the curb and crashed.

Police: Kan. man suffered medical emergency before fatal crash

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The third largest railroad union rejected its deal with freight railroads Monday — renewing the possibility of a strike that could&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rail-strike-impact-5eb6747b3e4b4e39d764644d6377121d">cripple the economy</a>&nbsp;— but before that could happen both sides will return to the bargaining table.

About 56% of the track maintenance workers represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union who voted opposed the five-year contract even though it included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. Union President Tony Cardwell said the railroads didn't do enough to address worker concerns about the lack of paid time off — particularly sick time — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">demanding working conditions</a>&nbsp;after the major railroads eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years.

“Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard. Railroaders do not feel valued,” Cardwell said in a statement. “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.”

The railroads didn't immediately comment on the rejected contract.

Four other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-norfolk-strikes-kansas-city-southern-c8dd899d2dabab8525d23b86d67b51e3">railroad unions</a>&nbsp;have approved their agreements with the freight railroads that include BNSF, Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, CSX and Norfolk Southern, but all 12 unions that represent a total of 115,000 workers must ratify their contracts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-economy-strikes-congress-94089be6a4f469444da99fec9dde1b3e">prevent a strike</a>. One other union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, initially rejected its deal but has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33f95ad925d1a00b204c95a70c18db3c">renegotiated</a>&nbsp;a new contract. The voting won't be completed until mid-November.

President Joe Biden put pressure on the railroads and unions to reach a deal last month ahead of a mid-September deadline to allow a strike or walkout. Many businesses also urged Congress to be ready to intervene in the dispute and block a strike if an agreement wasn't reached because so many companies rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products.

In general, the deals the unions agreed to closely follow the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-strikes-a83dffef79d38e36dc25588b19bf54b4">recommendations</a>&nbsp;a special panel of arbitrators that Biden appointed made this summer. That Presidential Emergency Board recommended what would be the biggest raises rail workers have seen in more than four decades, but it didn't resolve the unions' concerns about working conditions. Instead it said the unions should pursue additional negotiations or arbitration that can take years with each railroad individually.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way union said it agreed to delay any strike until five days after Congress reconvenes in mid November to allow time for additional negotiations.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663119327130.png" alt="A Union Pacific train travels across Kansas in Sept. 2022" />
 <figcaption>A Union Pacific train travels across Kansas in Sept. 2022</figcaption>
 </figure>OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The third largest railroad union rejected its deal with freight railroads Monday — renewing the possibility of a strike that could&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/rail-strike-impact-5eb6747b3e4b4e39d764644d6377121d">cripple the economy</a>&nbsp;— but before that could happen both sides will return to the bargaining table.About 56% of the track maintenance workers represented by the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division union who voted opposed the five-year contract even though it included 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. Union President Tony Cardwell said the railroads didn't do enough to address worker concerns about the lack of paid time off — particularly sick time — and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-aab7d3084a8d17d8d721d2cb750be323">demanding working conditions</a>&nbsp;after the major railroads eliminated nearly one-third of their jobs over the past six years.“Railroaders are discouraged and upset with working conditions and compensation and hold their employer in low regard. Railroaders do not feel valued,” Cardwell said in a statement. “They resent the fact that management holds no regard for their quality of life, illustrated by their stubborn reluctance to provide a higher quantity of paid time off, especially for sickness.”The railroads didn't immediately comment on the rejected contract.Four other&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-norfolk-strikes-kansas-city-southern-c8dd899d2dabab8525d23b86d67b51e3">railroad unions</a>&nbsp;have approved their agreements with the freight railroads that include BNSF, Union Pacific, Kansas City Southern, CSX and Norfolk Southern, but all 12 unions that represent a total of 115,000 workers must ratify their contracts to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-economy-strikes-congress-94089be6a4f469444da99fec9dde1b3e">prevent a strike</a>. One other union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, initially rejected its deal but has since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/33f95ad925d1a00b204c95a70c18db3c">renegotiated</a>&nbsp;a new contract. The voting won't be completed until mid-November.President Joe Biden put pressure on the railroads and unions to reach a deal last month ahead of a mid-September deadline to allow a strike or walkout. Many businesses also urged Congress to be ready to intervene in the dispute and block a strike if an agreement wasn't reached because so many companies rely on railroads to deliver their raw materials and finished products.In general, the deals the unions agreed to closely follow the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-strikes-a83dffef79d38e36dc25588b19bf54b4">recommendations</a>&nbsp;a special panel of arbitrators that Biden appointed made this summer. That Presidential Emergency Board recommended what would be the biggest raises rail workers have seen in more than four decades, but it didn't resolve the unions' concerns about working conditions. Instead it said the unions should pursue additional negotiations or arbitration that can take years with each railroad individually.The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way union said it agreed to delay any strike until five days after Congress reconvenes in mid November to allow time for additional negotiations.

Large rail union rejects deal, renewing strike possibility

TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly on Monday announced that in the single month that sports wagering has been legal, it has generated a total of $1.3 million in revenue, including nearly $130,000 for the State of Kansas.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“These revenues reinforce what we already knew: Legal sports betting is a common-sense solution that keeps Kansans’ money in Kansas and supports Kansas businesses,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;“While legal wagering is just in its infancy, these revenues will continue to grow and benefit the state over time.”

On May 12, 2022, Governor Laura Kelly signed&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEwMTAuNjQ5MDgwNDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vd3d3LmtzbGVnaXNsYXR1cmUub3JnL2xpL2IyMDIxXzIyL21lYXN1cmVzL3NiODQvIn0.lw-R2L0zYfbxBXGBw-jGvud8aYa1GWzwJO9nTJaQkVk/s/1303160919/br/145504356333-l" target="_blank">Senate Bill 84</a>, bipartisan legislation making it legal to wager on sports at casinos, on digital platforms, and other venues in Kansas. Sportsbooks opened in record time on September 1, with&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEwMTAuNjQ5MDgwNDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2dvdmVybm9yLmthbnNhcy5nb3YvZ292ZXJub3ItbGF1cmEta2VsbHktcGxhY2VzLWZpcnN0LWxlZ2FsLXNwb3J0cy1iZXQtaW4ta2Fuc2FzLyJ9.NWgNjSo1pQNPzO664Pd2fov5FyB4EIV4c3p7ep_y2nk/s/1303160919/br/145504356333-l" target="_blank">Governor Kelly placing the first legal bet</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;

“Sports betting has successfully kicked off in Kansas, and players could not be more excited to get in on the action,”&nbsp;Stephen Durrell, Executive Director of the Kansas Lottery, said.&nbsp;“The launch went smoothly thanks to the efforts of our casino partners, the sports wagering platforms, the KRGC, and our staff at the Kansas Lottery. We will continue to work to make sports betting in Kansas safe, secure, and fun for all players as we expand and grow.”&nbsp;

Revenues reported by the Kansas Lottery are from settled and completed bets and don't account for 'future wagers' placed like the Super Bowl, World Series, or MVP awards. Facilities or platforms presenting a zero-revenue are due to promotional play and player acquisition, in which those platform providers are responsible for payment until there is net positive revenue.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1662056609748.png" alt="Governor Laura Kelly placed Kansas’ first legal sports wager at the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas.-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Governor Laura Kelly placed Kansas’ first legal sports wager at the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas.-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>TOPEKA&nbsp;–&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly on Monday announced that in the single month that sports wagering has been legal, it has generated a total of $1.3 million in revenue, including nearly $130,000 for the State of Kansas.&nbsp;&nbsp;“These revenues reinforce what we already knew: Legal sports betting is a common-sense solution that keeps Kansans’ money in Kansas and supports Kansas businesses,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said.&nbsp;“While legal wagering is just in its infancy, these revenues will continue to grow and benefit the state over time.”On May 12, 2022, Governor Laura Kelly signed&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDEsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEwMTAuNjQ5MDgwNDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwOi8vd3d3LmtzbGVnaXNsYXR1cmUub3JnL2xpL2IyMDIxXzIyL21lYXN1cmVzL3NiODQvIn0.lw-R2L0zYfbxBXGBw-jGvud8aYa1GWzwJO9nTJaQkVk/s/1303160919/br/145504356333-l" target="_blank">Senate Bill 84</a>, bipartisan legislation making it legal to wager on sports at casinos, on digital platforms, and other venues in Kansas. Sportsbooks opened in record time on September 1, with&nbsp;<a href="https://lnks.gd/l/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMDIsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMjEwMTAuNjQ5MDgwNDEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2dvdmVybm9yLmthbnNhcy5nb3YvZ292ZXJub3ItbGF1cmEta2VsbHktcGxhY2VzLWZpcnN0LWxlZ2FsLXNwb3J0cy1iZXQtaW4ta2Fuc2FzLyJ9.NWgNjSo1pQNPzO664Pd2fov5FyB4EIV4c3p7ep_y2nk/s/1303160919/br/145504356333-l" target="_blank">Governor Kelly placing the first legal bet</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Sports betting has successfully kicked off in Kansas, and players could not be more excited to get in on the action,”&nbsp;Stephen Durrell, Executive Director of the Kansas Lottery, said.&nbsp;“The launch went smoothly thanks to the efforts of our casino partners, the sports wagering platforms, the KRGC, and our staff at the Kansas Lottery. We will continue to work to make sports betting in Kansas safe, secure, and fun for all players as we expand and grow.”&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665420395950.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Revenues reported by the Kansas Lottery are from settled and completed bets and don't account for 'future wagers' placed like the Super Bowl, World Series, or MVP awards. Facilities or platforms presenting a zero-revenue are due to promotional play and player acquisition, in which those platform providers are responsible for payment until there is net positive revenue.&nbsp;

Legal sports wagering has big first month in Kansas

I am getting older, and health issues over the last year have made me begin thinking about selling my small business. I have spoken with a couple of potential buyers recently, and one of them seems to be the kind of person who would handle the company very well. How and when do I tell my employees about what is going on and what may happen?

In my mind, to be a good, effective leader you have to be willing to share and discuss things with your team—whether they’re good or bad. When talking to the folks at my company, I try not to get into a lot of unnecessary stuff, but if there’s any doubt, I’m going to over-share rather than leave them fearful, uninformed or confused.

Think about it this way. If the roles were reversed, and&nbsp;you&nbsp;were in&nbsp;their&nbsp;shoes, when would&nbsp;you&nbsp;want to know? If you’d worked for someone a few years, would you feel betrayed if you didn’t know about something like this? It might sound simple, but I think that’s a good, fair way to process the situation.

If I make a mistake with my team, it’s always going to be in terms of over-<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/business/elements-of-good-communication">communication</a>. I expect and trust them to be mature adults in the workplace, and they know this ahead of time. Still, I try to make sure I’m very transparent about how we’re doing as a team&nbsp;and&nbsp;as a company. No small business owner can be successful unless they have great people around them. Your team needs to hear that once in a while, too, in addition to knowing you’re always going to keep them in the loop and shoot straight with them.

Human beings just want to be treated with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/business/how-to-be-a-great-leader">dignity and respect</a>. They want to know what’s going on where they work. When it’s something that impacts their day-to-day lives—and potentially their livelihoods—they deserve to know the facts as quickly as possible.

<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/">Dave Ramsey</a>&nbsp;is an eight-time national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of&nbsp;The Ramsey Show, heard by more than 18 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/3/1648177011035.png" alt="Dave Ramsey&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Dave Ramsey&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>Dear Dave,I am getting older, and health issues over the last year have made me begin thinking about selling my small business. I have spoken with a couple of potential buyers recently, and one of them seems to be the kind of person who would handle the company very well. How and when do I tell my employees about what is going on and what may happen?MarjorieDear Marjorie,In my mind, to be a good, effective leader you have to be willing to share and discuss things with your team—whether they’re good or bad. When talking to the folks at my company, I try not to get into a lot of unnecessary stuff, but if there’s any doubt, I’m going to over-share rather than leave them fearful, uninformed or confused.Think about it this way. If the roles were reversed, and&nbsp;you&nbsp;were in&nbsp;their&nbsp;shoes, when would&nbsp;you&nbsp;want to know? If you’d worked for someone a few years, would you feel betrayed if you didn’t know about something like this? It might sound simple, but I think that’s a good, fair way to process the situation.If I make a mistake with my team, it’s always going to be in terms of over-<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/business/elements-of-good-communication">communication</a>. I expect and trust them to be mature adults in the workplace, and they know this ahead of time. Still, I try to make sure I’m very transparent about how we’re doing as a team&nbsp;and&nbsp;as a company. No small business owner can be successful unless they have great people around them. Your team needs to hear that once in a while, too, in addition to knowing you’re always going to keep them in the loop and shoot straight with them.Human beings just want to be treated with&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/business/how-to-be-a-great-leader">dignity and respect</a>. They want to know what’s going on where they work. When it’s something that impacts their day-to-day lives—and potentially their livelihoods—they deserve to know the facts as quickly as possible.— Dave<a href="https://www.ramseysolutions.com/">Dave Ramsey</a>&nbsp;is an eight-time national best-selling author, personal finance expert, and host of&nbsp;The Ramsey Show, heard by more than 18 million listeners each week. He&nbsp;has appeared on Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Today Show, Fox News, CNN, Fox Business, and many more. Since 1992, Dave has helped people regain control of their money, build wealth and enhance their lives. He also serves as CEO for Ramsey Solutions.

DAVE SAYS: Keep them in the loop

SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal crash that occurred just after 7a.m. Monday in Sedgwick County.

According to Sheriff's Lt. Benjamin Blick, a 2012 Chevy Silverado driven by a 57-year-old man was westbound on 55th Street West at Kansas Highway 15.

A southbound 2013 Subaru SUV driven by a 30-year-old man struck the pickup First responders pronounced the driver of the Chevy dead at the scene.

EMS transported the driver of the Subaru to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries

Stop signs are posted for east and westbound traffic on 55th Street South at highway K-15, according to Blick. The circumstances of the collision remain under investigation.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665405732367.png" alt="WICHway camera view of the crash scene" />
 <figcaption>WICHway camera view of the crash scene</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal crash that occurred just after 7a.m. Monday in Sedgwick County.According to Sheriff's Lt. Benjamin Blick, a 2012 Chevy Silverado driven by a 57-year-old man was westbound on 55th Street West at Kansas Highway 15.A southbound 2013 Subaru SUV driven by a 30-year-old man struck the pickup First responders pronounced the driver of the Chevy dead at the scene.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665426190467.png" alt="Stop signs are posted for east and westbound traffic on 55th Street South at highway K-15, according to&nbsp; Sheriff's Lt. Benjamin Blick. photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Stop signs are posted for east and westbound traffic on 55th Street South at highway K-15, according to&nbsp; Sheriff's Lt. Benjamin Blick. photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>EMS transported the driver of the Subaru to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuriesStop signs are posted for east and westbound traffic on 55th Street South at highway K-15, according to Blick. The circumstances of the collision remain under investigation.

Sheriff: Kansas man dead after SUV, pickup crash

KANSAS CITY (AP) — By pardoning Americans with federal convictions for marijuana possession, President Joe Biden said he aimed to partially redress decades of anti-drug laws that disproportionately harmed Black and Latino communities.

While&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-marijuana-government-and-politics-2d5e3d9e2cfbbbe3ee114536738894a8">Biden’s executive action</a>&nbsp;will benefit thousands of people by making it easier for them to find housing, get a job or apply to college,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/videos-8409d61e21ab4864a242d1d9650c246c">it does nothing to help</a>&nbsp;the hundreds of thousands of mostly Black and Hispanic Americans still burdened by state convictions for marijuana-related offenses, not to mention the millions more with other drug offenses on their records.

Advocates for overhauling the nation’s drug laws are hopeful that Biden’s pardons lead state lawmakers to pardon and expunge minor drug offenses from people’s records. After all, they say, dozens of states have already decriminalized cannabis and legalized it for a multibillion-dollar recreational and medicinal use industry that is predominantly white-owned.

“We know that this is really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to people who are suffering the effects of (past) marijuana prohibition,” said Maritza Perez, director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit organization pushing for decriminalization and safe drug use policies.

The decades-long “war on drugs,” a sweeping federal legislative agenda that Biden championed as a U.S. senator and that was mirrored by state lawmakers, brought about mass-criminalization and an explosion of the prison population. An estimated tens of millions of people have had a marijuana-related arrest on their record since 1965, the vast majority of them stemming from enforcement by local police and state prosecutors.

But as many law enforcement officials like to point out, the majority of people who serve long sentences for marijuana-related offenses were convicted of more serious charges than possession, such as a weapons count or the intent to sell or traffic the drug on a larger scale. Such factors are typically how a case moves into federal territory versus state prosecution.

Still, reform advocates counter that many of them aren’t violent drug kingpins.

A 2021 Associated Press review of federal and state incarceration data showed that between 1975 and 2019, the U.S. prison population jumped from 240,593 to 1.43 million people. Of them, about 1 in 5 were incarcerated with a drug offense listed as their most serious crime.

The passage of stiffer penalties for crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs in the 1990s helped to triple the Black and Hispanic incarceration rates by the year 2000. The white incarceration rate only doubled.

And despite state legalization or decriminalization of possession up to certain amounts, local law enforcement agencies continue to make more arrests for drug possession, including marijuana, than any other criminal offense, according to FBI crime data.

The president’s pardon of more than 6,500 Americans with federal marijuana possession convictions, as well as thousands more with convictions in the majority-Black city of Washington, captures only a sliver of those with records nationwide. That’s likely why he has called on state governors to take similar steps for people with state marijuana possession convictions.

“While white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted at disproportionate rates,” Biden said Thursday. “Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.”

With the president’s unambiguous acknowledgement of racial inequity in marijuana enforcement, drug law reform advocates and those with convictions now see an opening to push for far more remedies to the harms of the war on drugs.

Weldon Angelos, whose 2003 federal case for selling $300 worth of marijuana to a confidential informant in Utah got him sentenced to 55 years in prison, said he knows many people who will benefit from the president’s pardon. But there are also many more who will not, he said.

“I feel like this is a first step of (Biden) doing something bigger,” said Angelos who, after serving 13 years in prison, received presidential clemency and a pardon during the Obama and Trump administrations. He is now a drug law reform activist.

Felony cannabis cases like his also deserve consideration, Weldon said. Biden’s pardon does not cover convictions for possessing marijuana with an intent to distribute, which could further widen the scope of people receiving relief by tens of thousands.

Enacting a law that clears a person’s federal drug record, similar to what has been offered in nearly two dozen states where marijuana has been decriminalized or legalized recreationally, would make the conviction invisible to companies and landlords doing criminal background checks, he said. Even with the federal pardon, Weldon’s record is still visible, he said.

“There’s a lot more that needs to be done here, if we really want to unwind the effects, and the racist effects, of the war on cannabis,” Weldon said.

Some advocates believe the country should consider clearing more than just marijuana records. In the 1990s, Marlon Chamberlain was a college student in Iowa when he learned that his then-girlfriend was pregnant with his eldest son. He began using cannabis to cope with the anxiety of becoming a young father and, soon after, started selling the drug.

“My thought was that I would try to make enough money and have the means to take care of my son,” said Chamberlain, a 46-year-old Chicago native. “But I got addicted to the lifestyle and I graduated from selling weed to selling cocaine.”

Chamberlain said he had a slew of state charges for marijuana possession between the ages of 19 and 25. But it was a federal case for crack cocaine, in which authorities used his prior marijuana arrests to enhance the seriousness of their case, that upended his life. Chamberlain was sentenced to 20 years in prison before the punishment was reduced to 14 years under the Fair Sentencing Act that narrowed the sentencing disparity between crack and powder forms of cocaine. He was freed after 10 years.

Even though he will not benefit from Biden’s marijuana pardon, Chamberlain sees it as an opportunity to advocate for the elimination of what he calls the “permanent punishments,” such as the difficulties in finding a job or housing that come with having a past drug offense.

“What Biden is initiating is a process of righting the wrongs” of the drug war, he said.

Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in 2012, although medical use had already been legal in several states. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 37 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories now permit the medical use of cannabis. Nineteen states, D.C. and two territories have legalized its recreational use.

And during next month’s midterm elections, voters in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota will decide whether to permit recreational adult use of cannabis. That is reason enough for every state to look into mass-pardons and expungements, civil rights leaders say.

“How fair is it that you will legalize marijuana now, tax it to use those state taxes to fund government, but forget all the people who are sitting in jails or were incarcerated when it was illegal?” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told the AP. “All those individuals who have been charged with marijuana crimes need to be pardoned, particularly those in states that have legalized marijuana.”

Richard Wallace, executive director of Equity and Transformation, a social and economic justice advocacy group in Chicago, said state pardons must also come with some form of restitution to those who suffered economically under the racially discriminatory drug war.

“We need to be thinking about building out durable reparations campaigns centered around cannabis legalization,” he said. “I think oftentimes we end up just fighting for the pardons and the expungements, and we leave out the economic component.”

KANSAS CITY (AP) — By pardoning Americans with federal convictions for marijuana possession, President Joe Biden said he aimed to partially redress decades of anti-drug laws that disproportionately harmed Black and Latino communities.While&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-marijuana-government-and-politics-2d5e3d9e2cfbbbe3ee114536738894a8">Biden’s executive action</a>&nbsp;will benefit thousands of people by making it easier for them to find housing, get a job or apply to college,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/videos-8409d61e21ab4864a242d1d9650c246c">it does nothing to help</a>&nbsp;the hundreds of thousands of mostly Black and Hispanic Americans still burdened by state convictions for marijuana-related offenses, not to mention the millions more with other drug offenses on their records.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. Hear from <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> on the three steps he is taking to right these wrongs. <a href="https://t.co/IqOxHxjgue">pic.twitter.com/IqOxHxjgue</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1578108939174281218?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Advocates for overhauling the nation’s drug laws are hopeful that Biden’s pardons lead state lawmakers to pardon and expunge minor drug offenses from people’s records. After all, they say, dozens of states have already decriminalized cannabis and legalized it for a multibillion-dollar recreational and medicinal use industry that is predominantly white-owned.“We know that this is really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to people who are suffering the effects of (past) marijuana prohibition,” said Maritza Perez, director of federal affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit organization pushing for decriminalization and safe drug use policies.The decades-long “war on drugs,” a sweeping federal legislative agenda that Biden championed as a U.S. senator and that was mirrored by state lawmakers, brought about mass-criminalization and an explosion of the prison population. An estimated tens of millions of people have had a marijuana-related arrest on their record since 1965, the vast majority of them stemming from enforcement by local police and state prosecutors.But as many law enforcement officials like to point out, the majority of people who serve long sentences for marijuana-related offenses were convicted of more serious charges than possession, such as a weapons count or the intent to sell or traffic the drug on a larger scale. Such factors are typically how a case moves into federal territory versus state prosecution.Still, reform advocates counter that many of them aren’t violent drug kingpins.A 2021 Associated Press review of federal and state incarceration data showed that between 1975 and 2019, the U.S. prison population jumped from 240,593 to 1.43 million people. Of them, about 1 in 5 were incarcerated with a drug offense listed as their most serious crime.The passage of stiffer penalties for crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs in the 1990s helped to triple the Black and Hispanic incarceration rates by the year 2000. The white incarceration rate only doubled.And despite state legalization or decriminalization of possession up to certain amounts, local law enforcement agencies continue to make more arrests for drug possession, including marijuana, than any other criminal offense, according to FBI crime data.The president’s pardon of more than 6,500 Americans with federal marijuana possession convictions, as well as thousands more with convictions in the majority-Black city of Washington, captures only a sliver of those with records nationwide. That’s likely why he has called on state governors to take similar steps for people with state marijuana possession convictions.“While white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted at disproportionate rates,” Biden said Thursday. “Just as no one should be in a federal prison solely due to the possession of marijuana, no one should be in a local jail or state prison for that reason, either.”With the president’s unambiguous acknowledgement of racial inequity in marijuana enforcement, drug law reform advocates and those with convictions now see an opening to push for far more remedies to the harms of the war on drugs.Weldon Angelos, whose 2003 federal case for selling $300 worth of marijuana to a confidential informant in Utah got him sentenced to 55 years in prison, said he knows many people who will benefit from the president’s pardon. But there are also many more who will not, he said.“I feel like this is a first step of (Biden) doing something bigger,” said Angelos who, after serving 13 years in prison, received presidential clemency and a pardon during the Obama and Trump administrations. He is now a drug law reform activist.Felony cannabis cases like his also deserve consideration, Weldon said. Biden’s pardon does not cover convictions for possessing marijuana with an intent to distribute, which could further widen the scope of people receiving relief by tens of thousands.Enacting a law that clears a person’s federal drug record, similar to what has been offered in nearly two dozen states where marijuana has been decriminalized or legalized recreationally, would make the conviction invisible to companies and landlords doing criminal background checks, he said. Even with the federal pardon, Weldon’s record is still visible, he said.“There’s a lot more that needs to be done here, if we really want to unwind the effects, and the racist effects, of the war on cannabis,” Weldon said.Some advocates believe the country should consider clearing more than just marijuana records. In the 1990s, Marlon Chamberlain was a college student in Iowa when he learned that his then-girlfriend was pregnant with his eldest son. He began using cannabis to cope with the anxiety of becoming a young father and, soon after, started selling the drug.“My thought was that I would try to make enough money and have the means to take care of my son,” said Chamberlain, a 46-year-old Chicago native. “But I got addicted to the lifestyle and I graduated from selling weed to selling cocaine.”Chamberlain said he had a slew of state charges for marijuana possession between the ages of 19 and 25. But it was a federal case for crack cocaine, in which authorities used his prior marijuana arrests to enhance the seriousness of their case, that upended his life. Chamberlain was sentenced to 20 years in prison before the punishment was reduced to 14 years under the Fair Sentencing Act that narrowed the sentencing disparity between crack and powder forms of cocaine. He was freed after 10 years.Even though he will not benefit from Biden’s marijuana pardon, Chamberlain sees it as an opportunity to advocate for the elimination of what he calls the “permanent punishments,” such as the difficulties in finding a job or housing that come with having a past drug offense.“What Biden is initiating is a process of righting the wrongs” of the drug war, he said.Colorado and Washington were the first states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in 2012, although medical use had already been legal in several states. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 37 states, the District of Columbia and four U.S. territories now permit the medical use of cannabis. Nineteen states, D.C. and two territories have legalized its recreational use.And during next month’s midterm elections, voters in Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota will decide whether to permit recreational adult use of cannabis. That is reason enough for every state to look into mass-pardons and expungements, civil rights leaders say.“How fair is it that you will legalize marijuana now, tax it to use those state taxes to fund government, but forget all the people who are sitting in jails or were incarcerated when it was illegal?” NAACP President Derrick Johnson told the AP. “All those individuals who have been charged with marijuana crimes need to be pardoned, particularly those in states that have legalized marijuana.”Richard Wallace, executive director of Equity and Transformation, a social and economic justice advocacy group in Chicago, said state pardons must also come with some form of restitution to those who suffered economically under the racially discriminatory drug war.“We need to be thinking about building out durable reparations campaigns centered around cannabis legalization,” he said. “I think oftentimes we end up just fighting for the pardons and the expungements, and we leave out the economic component.”___

🎥Racial equity in marijuana pardons requires state's action

KANSAS CITY — FBI agents arrested two in an investigation involving a Tik Tok video, according to a media release from the United State's Department of Justice. Investigators say they threatened the government and people at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Bryan C. Perry, 37, of Clarksville, Tenn., and Jonathan S. O’Dell, 32, of Warsaw, Mo., each faces separate criminal complaints filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. 

Federal prosecutors charged Perry with one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of forcibly assaulting an FBI agent with a deadly weapon. They charged O’Dell with one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person and one count of unlawfully possessing a firearm.

On Friday, the FBI executed a search warrant on O’Dell’s residence in the 34000 block of U.S. 65 near Warsaw, southeast of Kansas City.

 Agents said when they arrived at the home, they came under gunfire. The agents say they did not return fire. They arrested O’Dell, Perry, and another inside the home shortly later. Investigators say Perry admitted to firing the shots.

Agents spent much of Friday removing boxes from the property. Agents say there is no threat to the public.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark and Trial Attorney Jacob Warren from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating three suspects after an incident at a rural home southeast of Kansas City.

Early Friday, members of the FBI had a lawful presence at a home in the 30,000 Block of U.S. 65 Highway in Warsaw, Missouri regarding an ongoing federal investigation, according to a statement from agency.

As agents announced their presence, law enforcement came under fire from someone inside the residence.

Law enforcement did not return fire and later took three suspects into custody without incident. The FBI reported no injuries and no additional information.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665338846096.png" alt="FBI on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KYTV" />
 <figcaption>FBI on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KYTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY — FBI agents arrested two in an investigation involving a Tik Tok video, according to a media release from the United State's Department of Justice. Investigators say they threatened the government and people at the U.S.-Mexico border.Bryan C. Perry, 37, of Clarksville, Tenn., and Jonathan S. O’Dell, 32, of Warsaw, Mo., each faces separate criminal complaints filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Federal prosecutors charged Perry with one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person, one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, and one count of forcibly assaulting an FBI agent with a deadly weapon. They charged O’Dell with one count of transmitting a threat across state lines to injure another person and one count of unlawfully possessing a firearm.On Friday, the FBI executed a search warrant on O’Dell’s residence in the 34000 block of U.S. 65 near Warsaw, southeast of Kansas City. Agents said when they arrived at the home, they came under gunfire. The agents say they did not return fire. They arrested O’Dell, Perry, and another inside the home shortly later. Investigators say Perry admitted to firing the shots.Agents spent much of Friday removing boxes from the property. Agents say there is no threat to the public.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark and Trial Attorney Jacob Warren from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.-------KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating three suspects after an incident at a rural home southeast of Kansas City.Early Friday, members of the FBI had a lawful presence at a home in the 30,000 Block of U.S. 65 Highway in Warsaw, Missouri regarding an ongoing federal investigation, according to a statement from agency.As agents announced their presence, law enforcement came under fire from someone inside the residence.Law enforcement did not return fire and later took three suspects into custody without incident. The FBI reported no injuries and no additional information.

FBI arrests 2 who allegedly made threatening Tik Tok video

SHAWNEE COUNTY— Authorities with USD 437 are providing crisis counselors for students, parents and staff on Monday as they work through the grief following the death of three elementary school students in a weekend on the Kansas Turnpike.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported just after 9a.m. Saturday, a 2022 Kenworth semi driven by Robert Hosey Russell, 70, Huntsville, Alabama, was southbound on Interstate 335, the Kansas Turnpike, just south of Topeka.

The semi struck a 2018 Dodge van driven by Amber Marie Peery, 32, Topeka, as the driver attempted to make a turn through the barrier wall, according to the KHP.

Three children including two 9-year-old girls and an 8-year-old girl all from Topeka died in the crash. 

EMS transported Peery, a 5-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl both of Topeka to Stormont Vail. Russell was not injured.

The girls who died were Auburn-Washburn elementary school students, according to a statement from USD 437 Superintendent&nbsp;Scott McWilliams. "These students include a Jay Shideler Elementary third grader along with two Farley Elementary fourth graders."

"We are keeping these students and their families in our thoughts. Such a loss raises emotions and questions for our entire school community, especially our students."

"Our schools have crisis teams made up of professionals trained to help with the needs of students, parents, and school personnel at difficult times such as this."

"On Monday morning, Farley Elementary and Jay Shideler Elementary students will be notified in an age-appropriate manner about what occurred. There will be designated areas of support offered to students who need time to process, discuss, or grieve. We will have counselors and social workers available to meet with students and staff members as needed.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/10/1665414813534.png" alt="First responders on the scene of the weekend accident -photo courtesy WIBW TV&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>First responders on the scene of the weekend accident -photo courtesy WIBW TV&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY— Authorities with USD 437 are providing crisis counselors for students, parents and staff on Monday as they work through the grief following the death of three elementary school students in a weekend on the Kansas Turnpike.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported just after 9a.m. Saturday, a 2022 Kenworth semi driven by Robert Hosey Russell, 70, Huntsville, Alabama, was southbound on Interstate 335, the Kansas Turnpike, just south of Topeka.The semi struck a 2018 Dodge van driven by Amber Marie Peery, 32, Topeka, as the driver attempted to make a turn through the barrier wall, according to the KHP.Three children including two 9-year-old girls and an 8-year-old girl all from Topeka died in the crash. EMS transported Peery, a 5-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl both of Topeka to Stormont Vail. Russell was not injured.The girls who died were Auburn-Washburn elementary school students, according to a statement from USD 437 Superintendent&nbsp;Scott McWilliams. "These students include a Jay Shideler Elementary third grader along with two Farley Elementary fourth graders.""We are keeping these students and their families in our thoughts. Such a loss raises emotions and questions for our entire school community, especially our students.""Our schools have crisis teams made up of professionals trained to help with the needs of students, parents, and school personnel at difficult times such as this.""On Monday morning, Farley Elementary and Jay Shideler Elementary students will be notified in an age-appropriate manner about what occurred. There will be designated areas of support offered to students who need time to process, discuss, or grieve. We will have counselors and social workers available to meet with students and staff members as needed.”

Counselors helping students after 3 Kan. girls killed in turnpike crash

MANHATTAN—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Riley County man for alleged child sex ctimes.

Just after 11p.m. Saturday police arrested 67-year-old Floyd Davis Sr.,&nbsp; Ogden, on a warrant for aggravated indecent liberties with a child charges connected to separate incidents involving two juvenile female victims, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.

Davis is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties connected to incidents involving one victim occurring between January 1 and December 31 of 2018.

He is also charged with an additional count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child connected to an incident involving the second victim occurring between July 1, 2016 and February 28, 2018.

Both victims were known to Davis. He remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $250,000.

MANHATTAN—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a Riley County man for alleged child sex ctimes.Just after 11p.m. Saturday police arrested 67-year-old Floyd Davis Sr.,&nbsp; Ogden, on a warrant for aggravated indecent liberties with a child charges connected to separate incidents involving two juvenile female victims, according to a media release from the Riley County Police Department.Davis is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent liberties connected to incidents involving one victim occurring between January 1 and December 31 of 2018.He is also charged with an additional count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child connected to an incident involving the second victim occurring between July 1, 2016 and February 28, 2018.Both victims were known to Davis. He remains confined in the Riley County Jail on a total bond of $250,000.

67-year-old Kansas man accused of child sex crimes

MIAMI COUNTY, Kan. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing and have a suspect in custody.

On Saturday, sheriff's deputies were called to the Miami County Medical Center in Paola after report of a stabbing, according to a media release.&nbsp; Deputies learned two brothers had been involved in an altercation at a rural home in the 32000 Block of Lone Star Road.

Investigators learned the brothers got into an argument about one of them eating the other's sandwich, according to the sheriff's department. The dispute became physical and one brother stabbed the other in the leg causing non-life-threatening injuries.&nbsp; A personal vehicle transported the victim to the medical center. Deputies located and arrested the other brother and booked him into the Miami County Jail. The sheriff's office did not released the names of those involved.&nbsp;

MIAMI COUNTY, Kan. —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing and have a suspect in custody.On Saturday, sheriff's deputies were called to the Miami County Medical Center in Paola after report of a stabbing, according to a media release.&nbsp; Deputies learned two brothers had been involved in an altercation at a rural home in the 32000 Block of Lone Star Road.Investigators learned the brothers got into an argument about one of them eating the other's sandwich, according to the sheriff's department. The dispute became physical and one brother stabbed the other in the leg causing non-life-threatening injuries.&nbsp; A personal vehicle transported the victim to the medical center. Deputies located and arrested the other brother and booked him into the Miami County Jail. The sheriff's office did not released the names of those involved.&nbsp;

Sheriff: Kan. man stabbed brother in fight over sandwich

KANSAS CITY (AP) — With early voting less than three weeks away, Nicole Mickley was staring down a daunting to-do list: voting machines to test, poll workers to recruit, an onslaught of public records requests to examine.

And then, over a weekend, came word that the long-time county sheriff had died. To Mickley, director of elections in a small Ohio county, that added one more complication to an election season filled with them. It meant a new contest was needed to fill the position, so she and her small staff would have to remake the ballots&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections">for the fall election</a>&nbsp;for the second time in a week.

“I feel like ever since we took office in '19, it’s just been a constant rollercoaster,” said Mickley, whose 36 months on the job qualify her as the senior member of her four-person staff in the Carroll County elections office.

The office Mickley oversees is tucked in a corner of the 137-year-old county courthouse in Carrollton, a close-knit town of 3,200 that sits amid the farm fields and fracking wells of eastern Ohio. She and Deputy Director Cheri Whipkey's son graduated from high school together.

The director and her deputy seem an unlikely pair to be contending with the wrath of a nation.

Yet ever since former President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-pence-electoral-college-elections-health-2d9bd47a8bd3561682ac46c6b3873a10">began falsely claiming</a>&nbsp;that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Mickley, Whipkey and local election workers like them across the country have been inundated with conspiracy theories and election falsehoods, and hounded with harassment.

They've been targeted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-covid-health-presidential-local-91fe788870e35dfe4763d78fe0ca6ef7">threats</a>, stressed by rising workloads and stretched budgets. The stress and vitriol&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-new-mexico-donald-trump-presidential-9356ff48f081250aa54040cbd7cf1cc3">have driven many workers away</a>, creating shortages of election office staff and poll workers.

During Ohio's second primary in August — an added burden for election officials stemming from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-ohio-voting-elections-ohio-supreme-court-5dfae5bc7fb3db46508afd8024521aeb">partisan feuding over redistricting</a>&nbsp;— Mickley's two clerks darted around the county all day filling in for absent poll workers. Two staff members' husbands were enlisted to help.

And then there's the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-social-media-voting-presidential-279477cae723dd520240f5e35676c880">stream of misinformation</a>&nbsp;falsely alleging that voting systems across the country are riddled with fraud. Unfounded&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-presidential-biden-cabinet-b4a3422d188fdd921d8e6f38f53ea0d0">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about voting machines, manipulation of elections by artificial intelligence or ballot fixing have found&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-coronavirus-pandemic-elections-79599e3eef68732134c94375a26897f7">a wide audience among Republicans</a>. The claims sometimes lead voters — usually friends and neighbors of the Carroll County election staff — to question them about voting equipment and election procedures, no longer clear what to believe about a system they've trusted all their lives.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-claims-biden-won-explained-bd53b14ce871412b462cb3fe2c563f18">false claims</a>&nbsp;about the 2020 presidential election also have led believers to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-georgia-presidential-florida-dfbe7f00418a35c70c9d53fa3a260111">inundate election offices</a>&nbsp;around the country with public records requests related to voting processes or equipment, demands to retain the 2020 ballots instead of destroying them, and attempts to remove certain voters from the rolls.

Carroll County hasn't been immune, even though it's heavily Republican and voted for Trump by nearly 53 percentage points over President Joe Biden in 2020. The county of nearly 27,000 people was flooded over the summer with form-letter emails from self-proclaimed “aggrieved citizens." They were protesting electronic voting machines, vowing to sue or demanding the county retain thousands of records from past elections.

Follow-up letters warned that election officials will “be met with the harshest possible criminal and civil repercussions available under the law” if they destroy any election records.

In response, a floor-to-ceiling locked cabinet in Mickley’s office is now jammed with boxes of ballots and other records from 2020, papers that normally would have been destroyed by now to make way for the records of the 2022 election.

“We’re already busting at the seams,” she said. “It’s a small office in the bottom basement of the courthouse that was built in the 1800s. Space is not our friend.”

Whipkey notes that none of the complaint letters are from local residents, so many of whom she knows personally after 16 years managing the local McDonald's. She and Mickley both feel lucky they are only receiving letters — not the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-new-mexico-donald-trump-presidential-9356ff48f081250aa54040cbd7cf1cc3">death threats</a>&nbsp;experienced by some election officials around the country.

Still, the accusations sting. Whipkey said she hates being called a liar.

“If they wanted the answer, they would have come and asked us. We could give it to them," she said. "But they don’t want the answer; they just want to harass.”

Mickley said attending national conferences has persuaded her that election workers across the U.S. are just as honest, hard-working and passionate as her staff is: “I’m starting to get defensive and angry for them, too.”

Behind a Plexiglas window in the front of the office, the other two election staffers answer calls and process voter registration forms and change-of-address and absentee ballot requests. They're also preparing the precinct kits that will go to poll workers — positions the office is still trying to fill for the Nov. 8 election, when they expect heavy turnout partly because Ohio has one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country.

Clerks Sarah Dyck, a Democrat, and Deloris Kean, a Republican, keep their personal feelings about the movement spawned by Trump's election lies out of the office. They don't want to bring politics into their work helping run the county's elections.

When she's out in the community, Dyck said neighbors are mostly sympathetic about how stressful elections work has become in recent years.

“People all the time say, ‘I don’t know about this, but I know you guys are doing a good job,'" she said. "It's like with congressmen, right? ‘Well, I don’t like Congress, but my congressman's okay.' The closer you are to it, you know the people, and so it's about those relationships.”

That's not always been the experience of members of the Carroll County Board of Elections.

The four members of the bipartisan panel — a retired railroad worker, a farmer, a facilities operator and the owner of a local yoga studio — hold their meetings at a table wedged between Mickley's and Whipkey's desks in the cramped office. A collection of whiskey bottles shaped like elephants and donkeys sits atop a metal filing cabinet nearby.

Some members said they must work constantly to dispel false information that is rampant in the Republican-dominated county.

Roger Thomas, one of the board's two Republicans and the operator of a popular pumpkin stand, said he's frustrated that many of his friends "are unwilling to get past what they think they know with the facts.”

“It doesn't matter what you say to them, you can't convince them," he said. "I don't know how we combat that. They don't care if they gum up the works of these elections, and that's the problem. If these elections go haywire, go south — as the elections go, so goes the country.”

Mickley said she is a perfectionist who would never tolerate the slightest interference with carrying out secure and accurate elections.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — With early voting less than three weeks away, Nicole Mickley was staring down a daunting to-do list: voting machines to test, poll workers to recruit, an onslaught of public records requests to examine.And then, over a weekend, came word that the long-time county sheriff had died. To Mickley, director of elections in a small Ohio county, that added one more complication to an election season filled with them. It meant a new contest was needed to fill the position, so she and her small staff would have to remake the ballots&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections">for the fall election</a>&nbsp;for the second time in a week.“I feel like ever since we took office in '19, it’s just been a constant rollercoaster,” said Mickley, whose 36 months on the job qualify her as the senior member of her four-person staff in the Carroll County elections office.The office Mickley oversees is tucked in a corner of the 137-year-old county courthouse in Carrollton, a close-knit town of 3,200 that sits amid the farm fields and fracking wells of eastern Ohio. She and Deputy Director Cheri Whipkey's son graduated from high school together.The director and her deputy seem an unlikely pair to be contending with the wrath of a nation.Yet ever since former President Donald Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-michael-pence-electoral-college-elections-health-2d9bd47a8bd3561682ac46c6b3873a10">began falsely claiming</a>&nbsp;that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Mickley, Whipkey and local election workers like them across the country have been inundated with conspiracy theories and election falsehoods, and hounded with harassment.They've been targeted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-covid-health-presidential-local-91fe788870e35dfe4763d78fe0ca6ef7">threats</a>, stressed by rising workloads and stretched budgets. The stress and vitriol&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-new-mexico-donald-trump-presidential-9356ff48f081250aa54040cbd7cf1cc3">have driven many workers away</a>, creating shortages of election office staff and poll workers.During Ohio's second primary in August — an added burden for election officials stemming from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-ohio-voting-elections-ohio-supreme-court-5dfae5bc7fb3db46508afd8024521aeb">partisan feuding over redistricting</a>&nbsp;— Mickley's two clerks darted around the county all day filling in for absent poll workers. Two staff members' husbands were enlisted to help.And then there's the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-social-media-voting-presidential-279477cae723dd520240f5e35676c880">stream of misinformation</a>&nbsp;falsely alleging that voting systems across the country are riddled with fraud. Unfounded&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-presidential-biden-cabinet-b4a3422d188fdd921d8e6f38f53ea0d0">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;about voting machines, manipulation of elections by artificial intelligence or ballot fixing have found&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-donald-trump-capitol-siege-coronavirus-pandemic-elections-79599e3eef68732134c94375a26897f7">a wide audience among Republicans</a>. The claims sometimes lead voters — usually friends and neighbors of the Carroll County election staff — to question them about voting equipment and election procedures, no longer clear what to believe about a system they've trusted all their lives.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-claims-biden-won-explained-bd53b14ce871412b462cb3fe2c563f18">false claims</a>&nbsp;about the 2020 presidential election also have led believers to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-voting-georgia-presidential-florida-dfbe7f00418a35c70c9d53fa3a260111">inundate election offices</a>&nbsp;around the country with public records requests related to voting processes or equipment, demands to retain the 2020 ballots instead of destroying them, and attempts to remove certain voters from the rolls.Carroll County hasn't been immune, even though it's heavily Republican and voted for Trump by nearly 53 percentage points over President Joe Biden in 2020. The county of nearly 27,000 people was flooded over the summer with form-letter emails from self-proclaimed “aggrieved citizens." They were protesting electronic voting machines, vowing to sue or demanding the county retain thousands of records from past elections.Follow-up letters warned that election officials will “be met with the harshest possible criminal and civil repercussions available under the law” if they destroy any election records.In response, a floor-to-ceiling locked cabinet in Mickley’s office is now jammed with boxes of ballots and other records from 2020, papers that normally would have been destroyed by now to make way for the records of the 2022 election.“We’re already busting at the seams,” she said. “It’s a small office in the bottom basement of the courthouse that was built in the 1800s. Space is not our friend.”Whipkey notes that none of the complaint letters are from local residents, so many of whom she knows personally after 16 years managing the local McDonald's. She and Mickley both feel lucky they are only receiving letters — not the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-new-mexico-donald-trump-presidential-9356ff48f081250aa54040cbd7cf1cc3">death threats</a>&nbsp;experienced by some election officials around the country.Still, the accusations sting. Whipkey said she hates being called a liar.“If they wanted the answer, they would have come and asked us. We could give it to them," she said. "But they don’t want the answer; they just want to harass.”Mickley said attending national conferences has persuaded her that election workers across the U.S. are just as honest, hard-working and passionate as her staff is: “I’m starting to get defensive and angry for them, too.”Behind a Plexiglas window in the front of the office, the other two election staffers answer calls and process voter registration forms and change-of-address and absentee ballot requests. They're also preparing the precinct kits that will go to poll workers — positions the office is still trying to fill for the Nov. 8 election, when they expect heavy turnout partly because Ohio has one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races in the country.Clerks Sarah Dyck, a Democrat, and Deloris Kean, a Republican, keep their personal feelings about the movement spawned by Trump's election lies out of the office. They don't want to bring politics into their work helping run the county's elections.When she's out in the community, Dyck said neighbors are mostly sympathetic about how stressful elections work has become in recent years.“People all the time say, ‘I don’t know about this, but I know you guys are doing a good job,'" she said. "It's like with congressmen, right? ‘Well, I don’t like Congress, but my congressman's okay.' The closer you are to it, you know the people, and so it's about those relationships.”That's not always been the experience of members of the Carroll County Board of Elections.The four members of the bipartisan panel — a retired railroad worker, a farmer, a facilities operator and the owner of a local yoga studio — hold their meetings at a table wedged between Mickley's and Whipkey's desks in the cramped office. A collection of whiskey bottles shaped like elephants and donkeys sits atop a metal filing cabinet nearby.Some members said they must work constantly to dispel false information that is rampant in the Republican-dominated county.Roger Thomas, one of the board's two Republicans and the operator of a popular pumpkin stand, said he's frustrated that many of his friends "are unwilling to get past what they think they know with the facts.”“It doesn't matter what you say to them, you can't convince them," he said. "I don't know how we combat that. They don't care if they gum up the works of these elections, and that's the problem. If these elections go haywire, go south — as the elections go, so goes the country.”Mickley said she is a perfectionist who would never tolerate the slightest interference with carrying out secure and accurate elections.She chokes up when talking about how seriously she takes her job and how she and her staff long to ease the worries of skeptical voters. The widespread belief in election conspiracy theories and hostility toward front-line election workers leaves Mickley questioning the country's future.“I think about my kids," she said, "and I think about what I want to leave for them and what I want to build now to make sure that they still have it in 20, 30 years. And I'm not alone in that.”