WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from Kansas are among most lawmakers from both parties with comments on President Trump's decision to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.&nbsp;

As of early Sunday, Kansas 3rd District Congresswoman Sharice Davids had not issued a statement.

The Associated press also reported U. S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who was briefed by the White House ahead of the strike, said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated ... That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iranian regime’s “misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk and Republican from South Carolina, wrote online: “This was the right call. The regime deserves it.”

“This is not our fight,” said Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Meanwhile, elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the U.S. Congress.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Trump “misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.”

Breaking from many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, also praised the attacks on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”

“Horrible judgment,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.”

Said conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional.”

One House Republican criticized Trump’s decision. “This is not Constitutional,” posted Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime opponent of U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750556562229.png" alt="File photo U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Curtis Campbell, 131st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons load crew member, helps lift and guide a GBU-38 bomb into position to be moved to the bomb bay of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew S. Domingos)" />
 <figcaption>File photo U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Curtis Campbell, 131st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron weapons load crew member, helps lift and guide a GBU-38 bomb into position to be moved to the bomb bay of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Matthew S. Domingos)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON — Lawmakers from Kansas are among most lawmakers from both parties with comments on President Trump's decision to attack Iran's nuclear facilities.&nbsp;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Iran is an adversary of the U.S. and should not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. Tonight our military executed its mission professionally and courageously. I pray for the safety of all our troops in the region, and we must be vigilant in protecting against any Iranian…&mdash; Senator Jerry Moran (@JerryMoran) <a href="https://twitter.com/JerryMoran/status/1936606358041751563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Thank you to our brave American Air Force and their successful mission as no Americans were harmed. We stand tall with President Trump who is protecting the world from a nuclear capable Iran. <a href="https://t.co/MLWc1FbPF9">https://t.co/MLWc1FbPF9</a>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1936591179078086896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Audrey and I join the nation in praying for the safety of our troops and civilians in the Middle East. We pray for wisdom for President Trump and his team as they promote American peace through strength. God bless our troops. <a href="https://t.co/ap4Q9NxVYZ">https://t.co/ap4Q9NxVYZ</a>&mdash; Tracey Mann (@RepMann) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMann/status/1936597001627447343?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Tonight&#39;s decisive action reflects the United States&#39; commitment to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Iran – a regime that espouses &#39;death to America&#39; and supports terrorism - chose to continue to pursue the development of nuclear weapons. To do nothing would pose a…&mdash; Rep. Ron Estes (@RepRonEstes) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepRonEstes/status/1936625126314820052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Statement from Congressman Schmidt: “Years ago, President Reagan&#39;s resolve freed American hostages from the Iranian regime. I am hopeful tonight <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>’ resolve has freed America from that same regime&#39;s ongoing threat of nuclear terrorism. God bless our Armed Forces who executed…&mdash; Rep. Derek Schmidt Press (@RepDerekSchmidt) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepDerekSchmidt/status/1936611053401760052?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>As of early Sunday, Kansas 3rd District Congresswoman Sharice Davids had not issued a statement.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">As the Congressman for Whiteman AFB, I’ve been saying for weeks that our airmen in the 509th bomber wing are ready, capable, and lethal. Tonight, they showed the world what they can do to protect American interests and keep our citizens safe. MO-04 strong! <a href="https://t.co/osuwoTvzhl">pic.twitter.com/osuwoTvzhl</a>&mdash; Rep. Mark Alford (@RepMarkAlford) <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMarkAlford/status/1936585247002689914?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The Associated press also reported U. S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican who was briefed by the White House ahead of the strike, said in a statement, “President Trump has been consistent and clear that a nuclear-armed Iran will not be tolerated ... That posture has now been enforced with strength, precision, and clarity.”U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Iranian regime’s “misguided pursuit of nuclear weapons must be stopped.”Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime Iran hawk and Republican from South Carolina, wrote online: “This was the right call. The regime deserves it.”“This is not our fight,” said Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.Meanwhile, elected Democrats and some far-right Republicans questioned the move, particularly without authorization from the U.S. Congress.House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said that Trump “misled the country about his intentions, failed to seek congressional authorization for the use of military force and risks American entanglement in a potentially disastrous war in the Middle East.”Breaking from many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, also praised the attacks on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”“Horrible judgment,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “I will push for all Senators to vote on whether they are for this third idiotic Middle East war.”Said conservative Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, “While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional.”One House Republican criticized Trump’s decision. “This is not Constitutional,” posted Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a longtime opponent of U.S. involvement in foreign wars.

Kan. lawmakers comment on US bombing of Iran

NEOSHO COUNTY — The search continues for the body of one of two boys who died after struck by a train on a river bridge Wednesday in Neosho County.

Another combined effort Saturday was unsuccessful in finding the body of a 12-year-old&nbsp; Kollin Showwalter of Erie, according to Sheriff Greg Taylor.

 Over the last few days, first responders have utilized drones, planes, helicopters, boats, sonar systems, divers, law enforcement K9’s, cadaver dogs, and shoreline search crews.

This has been a disheartening experience for all involved, according to Sheriff Taylor. Saturday, the water began to rise and the current increased in the late afternoon. Searchers are suspending the search until the water can drop to a normal level.

The sheriff thanked all of the first responders and dog handlers, some of which traveled across the state to get to assist. The sheriff also thanked the property owner who was kind enough to allow us to stage and deploy from his boat ramp and property.

"We had an overwhelming amount of support and donations from the community of food and water for the responders. Our thoughts and prayers are with both families of this tragedy. We are still hopeful that the child will be found once the river drops to a favorable level. "

Just after 12:30p.m. Wednesday the Neosho County 911 Center received a report from the Union Pacific Railroad that two individuals had been struck on the Railroad Bridge south of Erie near 115th Road, according to Neosho County Sheriff Greg Taylor.

First responders found 16-year-old Arthur Pollries of Walnut, Kansas, deceased, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.

&nbsp;Kansas Deparatment of Wildlife and Parks responded with personnel, a drone and boat. KHP sent numerous personnel, helicopter, and search dogs in an attempt to find the body of the 12-year-old.

After reviewing the Engine Camera footage and physical evidence, the two children were on the bridge and unable to outrun the train. Unfortunately after reviewing the footage and physical evidence at the scene, the search went from hopeful rescue effort to a recovery effort.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750415791745.png" alt="Photo Anderson County Sheriff" />
 <figcaption>Photo Anderson County Sheriff</figcaption>
 </figure>NEOSHO COUNTY — The search continues for the body of one of two boys who died after struck by a train on a river bridge Wednesday in Neosho County.Another combined effort Saturday was unsuccessful in finding the body of a 12-year-old&nbsp; Kollin Showwalter of Erie, according to Sheriff Greg Taylor. Over the last few days, first responders have utilized drones, planes, helicopters, boats, sonar systems, divers, law enforcement K9’s, cadaver dogs, and shoreline search crews.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750415806128.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>This has been a disheartening experience for all involved, according to Sheriff Taylor. Saturday, the water began to rise and the current increased in the late afternoon. Searchers are suspending the search until the water can drop to a normal level.The sheriff thanked all of the first responders and dog handlers, some of which traveled across the state to get to assist. The sheriff also thanked the property owner who was kind enough to allow us to stage and deploy from his boat ramp and property."We had an overwhelming amount of support and donations from the community of food and water for the responders. Our thoughts and prayers are with both families of this tragedy. We are still hopeful that the child will be found once the river drops to a favorable level. "Just after 12:30p.m. Wednesday the Neosho County 911 Center received a report from the Union Pacific Railroad that two individuals had been struck on the Railroad Bridge south of Erie near 115th Road, according to Neosho County Sheriff Greg Taylor.First responders found 16-year-old Arthur Pollries of Walnut, Kansas, deceased, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol.&nbsp;Kansas Deparatment of Wildlife and Parks responded with personnel, a drone and boat. KHP sent numerous personnel, helicopter, and search dogs in an attempt to find the body of the 12-year-old.After reviewing the Engine Camera footage and physical evidence, the two children were on the bridge and unable to outrun the train. Unfortunately after reviewing the footage and physical evidence at the scene, the search went from hopeful rescue effort to a recovery effort.

Recovery effort suspended after 2 Kan. boys killed on river bridge

WASHINGTON (AP) —Satellite images taken Sunday analyzed by The Associated Press show damage on the mountainside at Iran’s underground nuclear site at Fordo after U.S. airstrikes targeted the facility.

The images by Planet Labs PBC show the once-brown mountain had parts turned gray and its contours appeared slightly different than in previous images, suggesting a blast threw up debris around the site. That suggests the use of specialized American bunker buster bombs on the facility. Light gray smoke also hung in the air.

Iran has yet to offer a damage assessment of the site.

Other satellite images suggest Iran before the strike sealed up its tunnel entrances at Fordo.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750556333746.png" alt="File photo A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber . (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Robert E. Hicks)" />
 <figcaption>File photo A U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bomber . (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Robert E. Hicks)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —Satellite images taken Sunday analyzed by The Associated Press show damage on the mountainside at Iran’s underground nuclear site at Fordo after U.S. airstrikes targeted the facility.The images by Planet Labs PBC show the once-brown mountain had parts turned gray and its contours appeared slightly different than in previous images, suggesting a blast threw up debris around the site. That suggests the use of specialized American bunker buster bombs on the facility. Light gray smoke also hung in the air.Iran has yet to offer a damage assessment of the site.Other satellite images suggest Iran before the strike sealed up its tunnel entrances at Fordo.

Images show damage at Iran’s underground nuclear site

OSAGE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Saturday in Osage County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Chevy Silverado driven by Louis R. Madden, 27, Waverly, was northbound on S Jordan Road&nbsp; just north of the W 317th Street junction. The pickup traveled off the road to the right and the driver overcorrected. The pickup then rolled onto its roof in the west ditch. 

Madden was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Forensic Medical. EMS transported a 5-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl to Stormont Vail Health for treatment of minor injuries. The driver was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

OSAGE COUNTY —One person died in an accident just before 8:30p.m. Saturday in Osage County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Chevy Silverado driven by Louis R. Madden, 27, Waverly, was northbound on S Jordan Road&nbsp; just north of the W 317th Street junction. The pickup traveled off the road to the right and the driver overcorrected. The pickup then rolled onto its roof in the west ditch. Madden was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Forensic Medical. EMS transported a 5-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl to Stormont Vail Health for treatment of minor injuries. The driver was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Kan. man dead, two 5-year-olds injured in rollover crash

Trump says he worked ‘as a team’ with Israel’s prime minister to strike Iran

U.S. President Donald Trump said he worked “as a team” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was “perhaps” like “no team has worked before.”

But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the U.S. could have pulled off the attack.

Trump says Iran will face more military strikes unless it makes peace

President Donald Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and warned of additional attacks if it didn’t make peace.

“If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities were announced earlier.

Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

“For 40 years Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel,” Trump said. “They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs.”

Iranian Atomic Energy Organization confirms strikes

Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.

The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.

“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” it said in its statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.

“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.

<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President Donald J. Trump Delivers Address to the Nation, June 21, 2025 <a href="https://t.co/yutRDvtWv0">https://t.co/yutRDvtWv0</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1936602999553433965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fvideos%2F1413048323230463%2F&show_text=true&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="429" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0eDnzuBAGJkTkYPzYhbNGHiGVMjbEJr79xgwPEwbCPQDaoDyvNppzHEyJQ8KSMtbfl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="645" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div><h2>Trump says he worked ‘as a team’ with Israel’s prime minister to strike Iran</h2>U.S. President Donald Trump said he worked “as a team” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the collaboration was “perhaps” like “no team has worked before.”But Trump also noted that no military in the world except for that of the U.S. could have pulled off the attack.<h2>Trump says Iran will face more military strikes unless it makes peace</h2>President Donald Trump called Iran “the bully of the Middle East” and warned of additional attacks if it didn’t make peace.“If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier,” Trump said at the White House after the bombings of Iran’s nuclear facilities were announced earlier.Trump portrayed the strike as a response to a long-festering problem, even if the objective was to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.“For 40 years Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel,” Trump said. “They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs.”<h2>Iranian Atomic Energy Organization confirms strikes</h2>Iran’s nuclear agency on Sunday confirmed attacks took place on its Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz atomic sites, but is insisting its work will not be stopped.The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran issued the statement after President Donald Trump announced the American attack on the facilities.“The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran assures the great Iranian nation that despite the evil conspiracies of its enemies, with the efforts of thousands of its revolutionary and motivated scientists and experts, it will not allow the development of this national industry, which is the result of the blood of nuclear martyrs, to be stopped,” it said in its statement.<h2>Netanyahu welcomes US strikes</h2>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump’s decision to attack in a video message directed to the American president.“Your bold decision to target Iran’s nuclear facilities, with the awesome and righteous might of the United States, will change history,” he said.

🎥 President Trump address to the nation after attack on Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-missile-attacks-nuclear-news-tehran-trump-06-17-2025-3f08988b5e8fd375645967b6e22916f3">Israel</a>&nbsp;’s effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.

There was no immediate acknowledgment from Iran of any strikes being carried out.

The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.

“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on social media. "All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”

Trump added in a later post that he would address the national at 10:00 p.m. eastern time, writing “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”

Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.

The strikes are a perilous decision for the U.S. as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.

Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks, a timeline that seemed drawn out as the situation was evolving quickly.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the United States that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region."

Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully.

<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel">Israel</a>&nbsp;’s military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”

The prospect of a wider war threatened, too.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Iranian-backed Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-houthis-end-of-bombing-yemen-israel-e2f08ac04024ef3d6409b4ce97092489">deal with the U.S.</a>

The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced the U.S. had begun&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-evacuation-americans-0415a2510ae58257042f0e05d2dedc93">“assisted departure flights,”</a>&nbsp;the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Gaza</a>.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday’s press briefing that Trump had said: “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” Instead, the U.S. president struck just two days later.

Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel’s operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps permanently.

The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.

But to destroy the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8758704e349e4a899554d732799c1b31">Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant</a>, Israel appealed to Trump for U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bunker-buster-bomb-israel-iran-fordo-fordow-b2-nuclear-8a612cbf16aa0f99bd9992334ffc93d7">bunker-busting bomb</a>, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.

The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility.

Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said.

Trump’s decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.

For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-0613bd70b6a47ed2f583177e54473a21">in April</a>&nbsp;and again in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/benjamin-netanyahu">Benjamin Netanyahu</a>&nbsp;to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.

The U.S. in recent days has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-military-middle-east-iran-israel-a4287f29c84b6eee954011ecd8a670d3">shifting military aircraft and warships</a>&nbsp;into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks.

All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a “second chance” for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-nuclear-israel-g7-132d92f3b5f4014cced1c5029d839ae9">unconditional surrender.</a>

“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a social media posting. “He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”

The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”

The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Trump decried the Obama-era deal for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-e4d7c8ab28ee45dc9895aeaf07291387">giving Iran too much</a>&nbsp;in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran’s non-nuclear malign behavior.

Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.

Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Josh Boak in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750540951558.png" alt="FILE PHOTO -- The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.&nbsp; (U.S. Air Force photo by Bobbie Garcia)" />
 <figcaption>FILE PHOTO -- The B-2 Spirit is a multi-role bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions.&nbsp; (U.S. Air Force photo by Bobbie Garcia)</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Saturday that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-missile-attacks-nuclear-news-tehran-trump-06-17-2025-3f08988b5e8fd375645967b6e22916f3">Israel</a>&nbsp;’s effort to decapitate the country's nuclear program in a risky gambit to weaken a longtime foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/wu9mMkxtUg">pic.twitter.com/wu9mMkxtUg</a>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1936573183634645387?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750552826391.png" alt="President Trump arriving back at the White House Saturday afternoon" />
 <figcaption>President Trump arriving back at the White House Saturday afternoon</figcaption>
 </figure>There was no immediate acknowledgment from Iran of any strikes being carried out.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/C5vWu396WF">pic.twitter.com/C5vWu396WF</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1936587221483577642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 22, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The decision to directly involve the U.S. in the war comes after more than a week of strikes by Israel on Iran that have moved to systematically eradicate the country’s air defenses and offensive missile capabilities, while damaging its nuclear enrichment facilities. But U.S. and Israeli officials have said that American stealth bombers and the 30,000-pound (13,500-kilogram) bunker buster bomb they alone can carry offered the best chance of destroying heavily-fortified sites connected to the Iranian nuclear program buried deep underground.“We have completed our very successful attack on the three Nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan," Trump said in a post on social media. "All planes are now outside of Iran air space. A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home.”Trump added in a later post that he would address the national at 10:00 p.m. eastern time, writing “This is an HISTORIC MOMENT FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ISRAEL, AND THE WORLD. IRAN MUST NOW AGREE TO END THIS WAR. THANK YOU!”Trump said B-2 stealth bombers were used but did not specify which types of bombs were dropped. The White House and Pentagon did not immediately elaborate on the operation.The strikes are a perilous decision for the U.S. as Iran has pledged to retaliate if it joined the Israeli assault, and for Trump personally, having won the White House on the promise of keeping America out of costly foreign conflicts and scoffed at the value of American interventionism.Trump told reporters on Friday that he was not interested in sending ground forces into Iran, saying it’s “the last thing you want to do.” He had previously indicated that he would make a final choice over the course of two weeks, a timeline that seemed drawn out as the situation was evolving quickly.Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Wednesday the United States that strikes targeting the Islamic Republic will “result in irreparable damage for them.” And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei declared “any American intervention would be a recipe for an all-out war in the region."Trump has vowed that he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon and he had initially hoped that the threat of force would bring the country’s leaders to give up its nuclear program peacefully.<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel">Israel</a>&nbsp;’s military said Saturday it was preparing for the possibility of a lengthy war, while Iran’s foreign minister warned before the U.S. attack that American military involvement “would be very, very dangerous for everyone.”The prospect of a wider war threatened, too.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/houthis">Iranian-backed Houthi rebels</a>&nbsp;in Yemen said they would resume attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea if the Trump administration joins Israel’s military campaign. The Houthis paused such attacks in May under a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-houthis-end-of-bombing-yemen-israel-e2f08ac04024ef3d6409b4ce97092489">deal with the U.S.</a>The U.S. ambassador to Israel announced the U.S. had begun&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-evacuation-americans-0415a2510ae58257042f0e05d2dedc93">“assisted departure flights,”</a>&nbsp;the first from Israel since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Gaza</a>.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at Thursday’s press briefing that Trump had said: “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.” Instead, the U.S. president struck just two days later.Trump appears to have made the calculation — at the prodding of Israeli officials and many Republican lawmakers — that Israel’s operation had softened the ground and presented a perhaps unparalleled opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program, perhaps permanently.The Israelis say their offensive has already crippled Iran’s air defenses, allowing them to already significantly degrade multiple Iranian nuclear sites.But to destroy the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8758704e349e4a899554d732799c1b31">Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant</a>, Israel appealed to Trump for U.S.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bunker-buster-bomb-israel-iran-fordo-fordow-b2-nuclear-8a612cbf16aa0f99bd9992334ffc93d7">bunker-busting bomb</a>, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. The penetrator is currently only delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber, which is only found in the American arsenal.The bomb carries a conventional warhead, and is believed to be able to penetrate about 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast.The International Atomic Energy Agency has confirmed that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo, raising the possibility that nuclear material could be released into the area if the GBU-57 A/B were used to hit the facility.Previous Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site, Natanz, on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself, not the surrounding area, the IAEA has said.Trump’s decision for direct U.S. military intervention comes after his administration made an unsuccessful two-month push — including with high-level, direct negotiations with the Iranians — aimed at persuading Tehran to curb its nuclear program.For months, Trump said he was dedicated to a diplomatic push to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. And he twice —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-nuclear-talks-0613bd70b6a47ed2f583177e54473a21">in April</a>&nbsp;and again in late May — persuaded Israeli Prime Minister&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/benjamin-netanyahu">Benjamin Netanyahu</a>&nbsp;to hold off on military action against Iran and give diplomacy more time.The U.S. in recent days has been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-military-middle-east-iran-israel-a4287f29c84b6eee954011ecd8a670d3">shifting military aircraft and warships</a>&nbsp;into and around the Middle East to protect Israel and U.S. bases from Iranian attacks.All the while, Trump has gone from publicly expressing hope that the moment could be a “second chance” for Iran to make a deal to delivering explicit threats on Khamenei and making calls for Tehran’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-nuclear-israel-g7-132d92f3b5f4014cced1c5029d839ae9">unconditional surrender.</a>“We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding,” Trump said in a social media posting. “He is an easy target, but is safe there - We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now.”The military showdown with Iran comes seven years after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Obama-administration brokered agreement in 2018, calling it the “worst deal ever.”The 2015 deal, signed by Iran, U.S. and other world powers, created a long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement that limited Tehran’s enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.Trump decried the Obama-era deal for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-e4d7c8ab28ee45dc9895aeaf07291387">giving Iran too much</a>&nbsp;in return for too little, because the agreement did not cover Iran’s non-nuclear malign behavior.Trump has bristled at criticism from some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.___Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehmet Guzel in Istanbul; Josef Federman in Jerusalem; Samy Magdy in Cairo; Matthew Lee and Josh Boak in Washington, D.C.; and Farnoush Amiri and Jon Gambrell in Dubai contributed to this report.

President Trump: US attacked three Iranian nuclear sites

KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man faces felony charges in connection with a fatal stabbing that took place near Midtown earlier this month.

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2655/Holmes-Johnny---Complaint-Packet">Johnny X. Holmes</a>, 36, faces 2nd Degree Murder and one count of Armed Criminal Action, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.

<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2656/Holmes-Johnny---PC-Statement_Redacted">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police were dispatched to the area of 34th Street and Broadway Boulevard on June 12 regarding a cutting. They found the deceased victim with multiple lacerations.&nbsp;

Surveillance footage showed the victim and the suspect walking separately near the crime scene before the homicide occurred. While the homicide took place outside the camera range, footage shows the suspect leaving the scene.

The investigation revealed another violent incident. Detectives identified an additional assault in the same general area with similar characteristics of last week’s fatal stabbing. Holmes was identified as a suspect in a prior assault and matched the description of the fatal stabbing suspect from the surveillance footage.&nbsp;

Holmes was taken into custody, he was wearing shoes with blood on them. Lab testing later confirmed that the blood matched the victim. In Holmes apartment, detectives found a pocketknife with blood on it and clothing that matched clothing worn by the suspect captured on surveillance footage.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750279675472.png" alt="Holmes photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Holmes photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A Kansas City man faces felony charges in connection with a fatal stabbing that took place near Midtown earlier this month.<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2655/Holmes-Johnny---Complaint-Packet">Johnny X. Holmes</a>, 36, faces 2nd Degree Murder and one count of Armed Criminal Action, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson.<a href="https://www.jacksoncountyprosecutor.com/DocumentCenter/View/2656/Holmes-Johnny---PC-Statement_Redacted">According to court records</a>, Kansas City police were dispatched to the area of 34th Street and Broadway Boulevard on June 12 regarding a cutting. They found the deceased victim with multiple lacerations.&nbsp;Surveillance footage showed the victim and the suspect walking separately near the crime scene before the homicide occurred. While the homicide took place outside the camera range, footage shows the suspect leaving the scene.The investigation revealed another violent incident. Detectives identified an additional assault in the same general area with similar characteristics of last week’s fatal stabbing. Holmes was identified as a suspect in a prior assault and matched the description of the fatal stabbing suspect from the surveillance footage.&nbsp;Holmes was taken into custody, he was wearing shoes with blood on them. Lab testing later confirmed that the blood matched the victim. In Holmes apartment, detectives found a pocketknife with blood on it and clothing that matched clothing worn by the suspect captured on surveillance footage.Holmes is being held without bond.&nbsp;.

Bloody shoes led to arrest in fatal KC knife attack

KANSAS CITY – An Ozark, Missouri man pleaded guilty in federal court today to one count of attempting to evade or defeat taxation, according to the United State's Attorney.

<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/file/SC96223_McMillin_brief.pdf">Click here to read the</a> respondent's brief

Ryan J. McMillin, 52, admitted during his plea that he did not report income he received while employed as a timeshare salesman with four different companies from 2018 to 2023. Because McMillin claimed exempt status on his W-4s his employers did not withhold taxes from McMillin’s paychecks. McMillin also failed to make an income tax return or pay income taxes to the IRS for those six calendar years. McMillin owes the IRS an estimated $581,981 in unpaid taxes.

Under federal statutes, McMillin is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigations.

KANSAS CITY – An Ozark, Missouri man pleaded guilty in federal court today to one count of attempting to evade or defeat taxation, according to the United State's Attorney.<a href="https://www.courts.mo.gov/file/SC96223_McMillin_brief.pdf">Click here to read the</a> respondent's briefRyan J. McMillin, 52, admitted during his plea that he did not report income he received while employed as a timeshare salesman with four different companies from 2018 to 2023. Because McMillin claimed exempt status on his W-4s his employers did not withhold taxes from McMillin’s paychecks. McMillin also failed to make an income tax return or pay income taxes to the IRS for those six calendar years. McMillin owes the IRS an estimated $581,981 in unpaid taxes.Under federal statutes, McMillin is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigations.

Read the brief: Timeshare salesman admits attempting to skip paying taxes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers.

Vance also referred to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, the state’s first Latino senator, as “Jose Padilla,” a week after the Democrat was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alex-padilla-noem-immigration-protest-california-f67d220a0254473c53c16aa96f554239">forcibly taken to the ground</a>&nbsp;by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-crackdown-us-protests-049a611d47d0fc7656731e4f4c714e93">immigration raids</a>.

“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,” Vance said, in an apparent reference to the altercation at Noem’s event. “I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater. And that’s all it is.”

“They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, ‘Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,’” Vance added.

A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. “He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,” Oswald said.

Vance’s visit to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted this week. That followed over a week of sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/photos-los-angeles-curfew-protests-ice-d33ce8a2de279fea5a9c760c2e6240c0">vandalism</a>&nbsp;and looting that followed immigration raids across Southern California.

Trump’s dispatching of his top emissary to Los Angeles at a time of turmoil surrounding the Israel-Iran war and the U.S.’s future role in it signals the political importance Trump places on his hard-line immigration policies. Vance echoed the president’s harsh rhetoric toward California Democrats as he sought to blame them for the protests in the city.

“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,” Vance said after he toured federal immigration enforcement offices.

“What happened here was a tragedy,” Vance added. “You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful. And it is why the president has responded so forcefully.”

Newsom’s spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement, “The Vice President’s claim is categorically false. The governor has consistently condemned violence and has made his stance clear.”

Speaking at City Hall, Bass said Vance was “spewing lies and utter nonsense.” She said hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted by the federal government on a “stunt.”

“How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,” Bass said.

In a statement on X, Newsom responded to Vance’s reference to “Jose Padilla,” saying the comment was no accident.

Jose Padilla also is the name of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/4c00f3c26d8b496896d253dbb936d3aa">convicted</a>&nbsp;al-Qaida terrorism plotter during President George W. Bush’s administration, who was sentenced to two decades in prison. Padilla was arrested in 2002 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during the tense months after the 9/11 attacks and accused of the “dirty bomb” mission. It later emerged through U.S. interrogation of other al-Qaida suspects that the “mission” was only a sketchy idea, and those claims never surfaced in the South Florida terrorism case.

Responding to the outrage, Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said of the vice president: “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.”

Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement">U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement</a>, has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ice-agents-masked-boston-deportations-todd-lyons-4fa874908a64b12f1b1ee0be3825fb39">defended his tactics</a>&nbsp;against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed.

The friction in Los Angeles began June 6, when federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps in the region that have continued since. Amid the protests and over the objections of state and local officials, Trump ordered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-raids-national-guard-lawsuit-los-angeles-f4809c7f39d09e4fdfa01982f44ec995">the deployment</a>&nbsp;of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the second-largest U.S. city, home to 3.8 million people.

Trump has said that without the military’s involvement, Los Angeles “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gavin-newsom">Newsom</a>&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-gavin-newsom-california-immigration-protests-a6467fcd3fa66c945ac7c15c40362972">depicted</a>&nbsp;the military intervention as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy.

Earlier Friday, Newsom urged Vance to visit victims of the deadly January wildfires while in Southern California and talk with Trump, who earlier this week suggested his feud with the governor might influence his consideration of $40 billion in federal wildfire aid for California. “I hope we get that back on track,” Newsom wrote on X. “We are counting on you, Mr. Vice President.”

Vance did not mention either request during his appearance on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the United States Senate. Calling him “Jose Padilla” is not an accident. <a href="https://t.co/UOgdzdKcuy">pic.twitter.com/UOgdzdKcuy</a>&mdash; Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1936196935783960902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Vance also referred to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, the state’s first Latino senator, as “Jose Padilla,” a week after the Democrat was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alex-padilla-noem-immigration-protest-california-f67d220a0254473c53c16aa96f554239">forcibly taken to the ground</a>&nbsp;by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-crackdown-us-protests-049a611d47d0fc7656731e4f4c714e93">immigration raids</a>.“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,” Vance said, in an apparent reference to the altercation at Noem’s event. “I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater. And that’s all it is.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1749757448306.png" alt="Senator Padilla as shown in the video provided by U.S. Homeland Security" />
 <figcaption>Senator Padilla as shown in the video provided by U.S. Homeland Security</figcaption>
 </figure>“They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, ‘Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,’” Vance added.A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. “He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,” Oswald said.Vance’s visit to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted this week. That followed over a week of sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/photos-los-angeles-curfew-protests-ice-d33ce8a2de279fea5a9c760c2e6240c0">vandalism</a>&nbsp;and looting that followed immigration raids across Southern California.Trump’s dispatching of his top emissary to Los Angeles at a time of turmoil surrounding the Israel-Iran war and the U.S.’s future role in it signals the political importance Trump places on his hard-line immigration policies. Vance echoed the president’s harsh rhetoric toward California Democrats as he sought to blame them for the protests in the city.“Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,” Vance said after he toured federal immigration enforcement offices.“What happened here was a tragedy,” Vance added. “You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful. And it is why the president has responded so forcefully.”Newsom’s spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement, “The Vice President’s claim is categorically false. The governor has consistently condemned violence and has made his stance clear.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Mr. Vice President, how dare you disrespect Senator Alex Padilla like that? You serve with him in the Senate right now. You know him. <a href="https://t.co/lKLKFvnxPD">pic.twitter.com/lKLKFvnxPD</a>&mdash; Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) <a href="https://twitter.com/MayorOfLA/status/1936240297652240648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 21, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Speaking at City Hall, Bass said Vance was “spewing lies and utter nonsense.” She said hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted by the federal government on a “stunt.”“How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,” Bass said.In a statement on X, Newsom responded to Vance’s reference to “Jose Padilla,” saying the comment was no accident.Jose Padilla also is the name of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/4c00f3c26d8b496896d253dbb936d3aa">convicted</a>&nbsp;al-Qaida terrorism plotter during President George W. Bush’s administration, who was sentenced to two decades in prison. Padilla was arrested in 2002 at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport during the tense months after the 9/11 attacks and accused of the “dirty bomb” mission. It later emerged through U.S. interrogation of other al-Qaida suspects that the “mission” was only a sketchy idea, and those claims never surfaced in the South Florida terrorism case.Responding to the outrage, Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said of the vice president: “He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.”Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement">U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement</a>, has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ice-agents-masked-boston-deportations-todd-lyons-4fa874908a64b12f1b1ee0be3825fb39">defended his tactics</a>&nbsp;against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed.The friction in Los Angeles began June 6, when federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps in the region that have continued since. Amid the protests and over the objections of state and local officials, Trump ordered&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-raids-national-guard-lawsuit-los-angeles-f4809c7f39d09e4fdfa01982f44ec995">the deployment</a>&nbsp;of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the second-largest U.S. city, home to 3.8 million people.Trump has said that without the military’s involvement, Los Angeles “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years.”<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gavin-newsom">Newsom</a>&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-gavin-newsom-california-immigration-protests-a6467fcd3fa66c945ac7c15c40362972">depicted</a>&nbsp;the military intervention as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation’s democracy.Earlier Friday, Newsom urged Vance to visit victims of the deadly January wildfires while in Southern California and talk with Trump, who earlier this week suggested his feud with the governor might influence his consideration of $40 billion in federal wildfire aid for California. “I hope we get that back on track,” Newsom wrote on X. “We are counting on you, Mr. Vice President.”Vance did not mention either request during his appearance on Friday.

🎥VP's reference to Senator Padilla as ‘Jose’ during presser sparks backlash

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Faced with mounting lawsuits over a popular pistol, New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer asked for — and got — protection in the form of a new state law that makes it harder to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-gun-politics-new-hampshire-concord-7d4859f8c157b88253ff0cd0401c536d">take the gunmaker to court</a>.

Supporters in the Republican-led Legislature said the law was needed to help a major employer. The lawsuits say Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled, an allegation the company denies.

The law covers all gun manufacturers and federal firearm licensees in product liability claims regarding the “absence or presence” of four specific safety features. One of those features is an external mechanical safety that people suing Sig Sauer say should be standard on the P320, based on its design. Claims can still be filed over manufacturing defects.

Those who have sued Sig Sauer in New Hampshire and elsewhere include police, federal law enforcement officers, and other experienced gun users from multiple states who say they were wounded by the gun.

The manufacturer has prevailed in some cases. It is appealing two recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sig-sauer-pistol-discharge-lawsuit-7d6e37035d7205ec9b04c92856964f21">multimillion-dollar verdicts against it</a>, in Pennsylvania and Georgia.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-united-states-philadelphia-veterans-f4a6a719e03e7b16e0078e7010f64bba">George Abrahams</a>&nbsp;a U.S. Army veteran and painting contractor in Philadelphia who won his case, said he had holstered his P320, put it in the pocket of his athletic pants and zipped it up before going downstairs.

“All I did was come down the stairway and there was a loud explosion, and then the excruciating pain and bleeding,” he told The Associated Press in 2022. He said the bullet tore through his right thigh.

The company, which employs over 2,000 people in a state with permissive gun laws, says the P320 has internal safety mechanisms and “has undergone the most rigorous testing and evaluation of any firearm, by military and law enforcement agencies around the world.” It says the problem is user error or incompatible holsters, not the design.

“Do you want people to be able to sue car manufacturers because they sell cars that don’t have air conditioning?” state Rep. Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, told the House during debate in May.

Opponents criticized the bill as a special exemption in liability law that has never been granted to any other New Hampshire company.

“I think there is a difference between helping out a large employer and creating an exemption that actually hurts people and doesn’t give them their day in court,” state Rep. David Meuse, a Democrat from Portsmouth, said in an interview. His district covers Newington, where Sig Sauer is headquartered.

A 2005 federal law gives the gun industry broad legal immunity. New Hampshire was already among 32 states that have adopted gun immunity laws in some form, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Some states also have repealed gun industry immunity statutes or weakened them.

A Sig Sauer executive asked New Hampshire lawmakers for help in April, two weeks after a Pennsylvania-based law firm filed its most recent lawsuit in federal court in Concord on March 26 over the design of the P320. The firm represents over 100 people who have filed such lawsuits, including more than 70 in New Hampshire.

“We’re fighting all these court cases out of town and every single court case we have to fight takes away money from Granite State residents and workers that we can employ and technology,” testified Bobby Cox, vice president of governmental affairs for the company.

The measure took effect once Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed it on May 23. Legislators said it doesn’t apply to the current lawsuits. However, lawyers for Sig Sauer mentioned it as part of their argument to dismiss the March case or break up and transfer the claims of 22 plaintiffs to court districts where they live. A hearing on the matter is set for July 21.

Ayotte’s office did not respond to an AP request seeking comment, but it told The Keene Sentinel that she’s “proud to protect New Hampshire companies that create thousands of good-paying jobs from frivolous lawsuits.”

“Out-of-state trial lawyers looking to make money will not find a venue in New Hampshire,” Ayotte’s office said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.

Robert Zimmerman, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in Pennsylvania, said the goal of the lawsuits is to get the weapon’s design changed so that it’s safe for the people who use it.

New Hampshire was the chosen location because federal rules allow lawsuits against a company in its home state, Zimmerman said. Those lawsuits have been assigned to one federal judge in Concord.

“Sig is trying to strategically decentralize this case and make every client go to 100 different courthouses and slow down the process for both sides to get a just outcome, which is a trial that is decided on the merits,” Zimmerman said in an interview.

The lawsuits accuse Sig Sauer of defective product design and marketing and negligence.

During the House debate, Roy said he owns a P320 and it’s one of his favorite guns, “but you can buy them with or without safeties.”

The plaintiffs say “the vast majority” of P320 models sold don’t come with the safety, “even as an option.”

Sig Sauer says some users prefer the faster draw time granted by the absence of an external safety; others want the feature for added security.

Sig Sauer offered a “voluntary upgrade” in 2017 to include an alternate design that reduces the weight of the trigger, among other features. The plaintiffs’ lawyers say the upgrade did not stop unintentional discharges.

“It’s not a great look” when a manufacturer can carve out a statutory exemption for itself, but it’s also not unusual, said Daniel Pi, an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.

In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-gun-lawsuits-shooting-3534e0242e1a2b582b6accddb292d8a6">signed a bill in 2023</a>&nbsp;following a deadly school shooting that gives gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers additional protections against lawsuits. This year, Tennessee lawmakers passed another bill to further limit liability for gun companies.

In a different industry — pesticides —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bayer-roundup-weed-killer-pesticides-cancer-lawsuits-02020b62e2c0affbeccf464677fec871">governors in North Dakota and Georgia</a>&nbsp;signed laws this year providing legal protections to Bayer, the maker of Roundup, a popular weed killer. Bayer has been hit with 181,000 claims alleging that the key ingredient in Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer disputes those claims.

The Louisiana Legislature passed a bill that would protect nursing homes from most lawsuits and cap damages. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry hasn’t acted on it yet.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750451144324.png" alt="Image courtesy Sig Sauer" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy Sig Sauer</figcaption>
 </figure>CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Faced with mounting lawsuits over a popular pistol, New Hampshire-based Sig Sauer asked for — and got — protection in the form of a new state law that makes it harder to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-gun-politics-new-hampshire-concord-7d4859f8c157b88253ff0cd0401c536d">take the gunmaker to court</a>.Supporters in the Republican-led Legislature said the law was needed to help a major employer. The lawsuits say Sig Sauer’s P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled, an allegation the company denies.The law covers all gun manufacturers and federal firearm licensees in product liability claims regarding the “absence or presence” of four specific safety features. One of those features is an external mechanical safety that people suing Sig Sauer say should be standard on the P320, based on its design. Claims can still be filed over manufacturing defects.Those who have sued Sig Sauer in New Hampshire and elsewhere include police, federal law enforcement officers, and other experienced gun users from multiple states who say they were wounded by the gun.The manufacturer has prevailed in some cases. It is appealing two recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/sig-sauer-pistol-discharge-lawsuit-7d6e37035d7205ec9b04c92856964f21">multimillion-dollar verdicts against it</a>, in Pennsylvania and Georgia.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-lawsuits-united-states-philadelphia-veterans-f4a6a719e03e7b16e0078e7010f64bba">George Abrahams</a>&nbsp;a U.S. Army veteran and painting contractor in Philadelphia who won his case, said he had holstered his P320, put it in the pocket of his athletic pants and zipped it up before going downstairs.“All I did was come down the stairway and there was a loud explosion, and then the excruciating pain and bleeding,” he told The Associated Press in 2022. He said the bullet tore through his right thigh.The company, which employs over 2,000 people in a state with permissive gun laws, says the P320 has internal safety mechanisms and “has undergone the most rigorous testing and evaluation of any firearm, by military and law enforcement agencies around the world.” It says the problem is user error or incompatible holsters, not the design.“Do you want people to be able to sue car manufacturers because they sell cars that don’t have air conditioning?” state Rep. Terry Roy, a Republican from Deerfield, told the House during debate in May.Opponents criticized the bill as a special exemption in liability law that has never been granted to any other New Hampshire company.“I think there is a difference between helping out a large employer and creating an exemption that actually hurts people and doesn’t give them their day in court,” state Rep. David Meuse, a Democrat from Portsmouth, said in an interview. His district covers Newington, where Sig Sauer is headquartered.A 2005 federal law gives the gun industry broad legal immunity. New Hampshire was already among 32 states that have adopted gun immunity laws in some form, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Some states also have repealed gun industry immunity statutes or weakened them.<h2>Sig Sauer seeks help</h2>A Sig Sauer executive asked New Hampshire lawmakers for help in April, two weeks after a Pennsylvania-based law firm filed its most recent lawsuit in federal court in Concord on March 26 over the design of the P320. The firm represents over 100 people who have filed such lawsuits, including more than 70 in New Hampshire.“We’re fighting all these court cases out of town and every single court case we have to fight takes away money from Granite State residents and workers that we can employ and technology,” testified Bobby Cox, vice president of governmental affairs for the company.The measure took effect once Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed it on May 23. Legislators said it doesn’t apply to the current lawsuits. However, lawyers for Sig Sauer mentioned it as part of their argument to dismiss the March case or break up and transfer the claims of 22 plaintiffs to court districts where they live. A hearing on the matter is set for July 21.Ayotte’s office did not respond to an AP request seeking comment, but it told The Keene Sentinel that she’s “proud to protect New Hampshire companies that create thousands of good-paying jobs from frivolous lawsuits.”“Out-of-state trial lawyers looking to make money will not find a venue in New Hampshire,” Ayotte’s office said in an emailed statement to the newspaper.Robert Zimmerman, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney in Pennsylvania, said the goal of the lawsuits is to get the weapon’s design changed so that it’s safe for the people who use it.New Hampshire was the chosen location because federal rules allow lawsuits against a company in its home state, Zimmerman said. Those lawsuits have been assigned to one federal judge in Concord.“Sig is trying to strategically decentralize this case and make every client go to 100 different courthouses and slow down the process for both sides to get a just outcome, which is a trial that is decided on the merits,” Zimmerman said in an interview.<h2>Sig Sauer gets protection</h2>The lawsuits accuse Sig Sauer of defective product design and marketing and negligence.During the House debate, Roy said he owns a P320 and it’s one of his favorite guns, “but you can buy them with or without safeties.”The plaintiffs say “the vast majority” of P320 models sold don’t come with the safety, “even as an option.”Sig Sauer says some users prefer the faster draw time granted by the absence of an external safety; others want the feature for added security.Sig Sauer offered a “voluntary upgrade” in 2017 to include an alternate design that reduces the weight of the trigger, among other features. The plaintiffs’ lawyers say the upgrade did not stop unintentional discharges.<h2>States, industries and immunity</h2>“It’s not a great look” when a manufacturer can carve out a statutory exemption for itself, but it’s also not unusual, said Daniel Pi, an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.In Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-gun-lawsuits-shooting-3534e0242e1a2b582b6accddb292d8a6">signed a bill in 2023</a>&nbsp;following a deadly school shooting that gives gun and ammunition dealers, manufacturers and sellers additional protections against lawsuits. This year, Tennessee lawmakers passed another bill to further limit liability for gun companies.In a different industry — pesticides —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bayer-roundup-weed-killer-pesticides-cancer-lawsuits-02020b62e2c0affbeccf464677fec871">governors in North Dakota and Georgia</a>&nbsp;signed laws this year providing legal protections to Bayer, the maker of Roundup, a popular weed killer. Bayer has been hit with 181,000 claims alleging that the key ingredient in Roundup causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Bayer disputes those claims.The Louisiana Legislature passed a bill that would protect nursing homes from most lawsuits and cap damages. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry hasn’t acted on it yet.

Sig Sauer, faced with lawsuits over a popular pistol, gets protection in one state

WASHINGTON (AP) — Farmers, cattle ranchers and hotel and restaurant managers breathed a sigh of relief last week when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-arrests-pause-hotels-restaurants-farms-aa8f503a8d6d797021a70601e6a1d918">President Donald Trump ordered a pause</a>&nbsp;to immigration raids that were disrupting those industries and scaring foreign-born workers off the job.

“There was finally a sense of calm,’’ said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition.

On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin declared, “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine (immigration enforcement) efforts. Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.’’

The flipflop baffled businesses trying to figure out the government’s actual policy, and Shi says now “there's fear and worry once more.”

“That’s not a way to run business when your employees are at this level of stress and trauma," she said.

Trump campaigned on a promise to deport millions of immigrants working in the United States illegally — an issue that has long fired up his GOP base. The crackdown intensified a few weeks ago when Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, gave the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a quota of 3,000 arrests a day, up from 650 a day in the first five months of Trump’s second term.

Suddenly, ICE seemed to be everywhere. “We saw ICE agents on farms, pointing assault rifles at cows, and removing half the workforce,’’ said Shi, whose coalition represents 1,700 employers and supports increased legal immigration.

One ICE raid left a New Mexico dairy with just 20 workers, down from 55. “You can’t turn off cows,’’ said Beverly Idsinga, the executive director of the Dairy Producers of New Mexico. “They need to be milked twice a day, fed twice a day.’’

Claudio Gonzalez, a chef at Izakaya Gazen in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district, said many of his Hispanic workers — whether they're in the country legally or not — have been calling out of work recently due to fears that they will be targeted by ICE. His restaurant is a few blocks away from a collection of federal buildings, including an ICE detention center.

“They sometimes are too scared to work their shift,” Gonzalez said. “They kind of feel like it’s based on skin color.”

In some places, the problem isn’t ICE but rumors of ICE. At cherry-harvesting time in Washington state, many foreign-born workers are staying away from the orchards after hearing reports of impending immigration raids. One operation that usually employs 150 pickers is down to 20. Never mind that there hasn’t actually been any sign of ICE in the orchards.

“We’ve not heard of any real raids,’’ said Jon Folden, orchard manager for the farm cooperative Blue Bird in Washington’s Wenatchee River Valley. “We’ve heard a lot of rumors.’’

Jennie Murray, CEO of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said some immigrant parents worry that their workplaces will be raided and they’ll be hauled off by ICE while their kids are in school. They ask themselves, she said: “Do I show up and then my second-grader gets off the school bus and doesn’t have a parent to raise them? Maybe I shouldn’t show up for work.’’

The horror stories were conveyed to Trump, members of his administration and lawmakers in Congress by business advocacy and immigration reform groups like Shi’s coalition. Last Thursday, the president posted on his Truth Social platform that “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”

It was another case of Trump’s political agenda slamming smack into economic reality. With U.S. unemployment low at 4.2%, many businesses are desperate for workers, and immigration provides them.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, foreign-born workers made up less than 19% of employed workers in the United States in 2023. But they accounted for nearly 24% of jobs preparing and serving food and 38% of jobs in farming, fishing and forestry.

“It really is clear to me that the people pushing for these raids that target farms and feed yards and dairies have no idea how farms operate,” Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association, said Tuesday during a virtual press conference.

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, estimated in January that undocumented workers account for 13% of U.S. farm jobs and 7% of jobs in hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and bars.

The Pew Research Center found last year that 75% of U.S. registered voters — including 59% of Trump supporters — agreed that undocumented immigrants mostly fill jobs that American citizens don’t want. And an influx of immigrants in 2022 and 2023 allowed the United States&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-jobs-economy-wages-gdp-trump-biden-fbd1f2ec89e84fdfaf81d005054edad0">to overcome an outbreak of inflation without tipping into recession</a>.

In the past, economists estimated that America’s employers could add no more than 100,000 jobs a month without overheating the economy and igniting inflation. But economists Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the Brookings Institution calculated that because of the immigrant arrivals, monthly job growth could reach 160,000 to 200,000 without exerting upward pressure on prices.

Now Trump’s deportation plans — and the uncertainty around them — are weighing on businesses and the economy.

“The reality is, a significant portion of our industry relies on immigrant labor — skilled, hardworking people who’ve been part of our workforce for years. When there are sudden crackdowns or raids, it slows timelines, drives up costs, and makes it harder to plan ahead,” says Patrick Murphy, chief investment officer at the Florida building firm Coastal Construction and a former Democratic member of Congress. “ We’re not sure from one month to the next what the rules are going to be or how they’ll be enforced. That uncertainty makes it really hard to operate a forward-looking business.”

Adds Douglas Holtz Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank: “ICE had detained people who are here lawfully and so now lawful immigrants are afraid to go to work ... All of this goes against other economic objectives the administration might have. The immigration policy and the economic policy are not lining up at all.’’

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740147958319.png" alt="Photo Miami ICE Enforcement &amp; Removal Operations office" />
 <figcaption>Photo Miami ICE Enforcement &amp; Removal Operations office</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Farmers, cattle ranchers and hotel and restaurant managers breathed a sigh of relief last week when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-immigration-arrests-pause-hotels-restaurants-farms-aa8f503a8d6d797021a70601e6a1d918">President Donald Trump ordered a pause</a>&nbsp;to immigration raids that were disrupting those industries and scaring foreign-born workers off the job.“There was finally a sense of calm,’’ said Rebecca Shi, CEO of the American Business Immigration Coalition.That respite didn’t last long.On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin declared, “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine (immigration enforcement) efforts. Worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of our efforts to safeguard public safety, national security and economic stability.’’The flipflop baffled businesses trying to figure out the government’s actual policy, and Shi says now “there's fear and worry once more.”“That’s not a way to run business when your employees are at this level of stress and trauma," she said.Trump campaigned on a promise to deport millions of immigrants working in the United States illegally — an issue that has long fired up his GOP base. The crackdown intensified a few weeks ago when Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, gave the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a quota of 3,000 arrests a day, up from 650 a day in the first five months of Trump’s second term.Suddenly, ICE seemed to be everywhere. “We saw ICE agents on farms, pointing assault rifles at cows, and removing half the workforce,’’ said Shi, whose coalition represents 1,700 employers and supports increased legal immigration.One ICE raid left a New Mexico dairy with just 20 workers, down from 55. “You can’t turn off cows,’’ said Beverly Idsinga, the executive director of the Dairy Producers of New Mexico. “They need to be milked twice a day, fed twice a day.’’Claudio Gonzalez, a chef at Izakaya Gazen in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district, said many of his Hispanic workers — whether they're in the country legally or not — have been calling out of work recently due to fears that they will be targeted by ICE. His restaurant is a few blocks away from a collection of federal buildings, including an ICE detention center.“They sometimes are too scared to work their shift,” Gonzalez said. “They kind of feel like it’s based on skin color.”In some places, the problem isn’t ICE but rumors of ICE. At cherry-harvesting time in Washington state, many foreign-born workers are staying away from the orchards after hearing reports of impending immigration raids. One operation that usually employs 150 pickers is down to 20. Never mind that there hasn’t actually been any sign of ICE in the orchards.“We’ve not heard of any real raids,’’ said Jon Folden, orchard manager for the farm cooperative Blue Bird in Washington’s Wenatchee River Valley. “We’ve heard a lot of rumors.’’Jennie Murray, CEO of the advocacy group National Immigration Forum, said some immigrant parents worry that their workplaces will be raided and they’ll be hauled off by ICE while their kids are in school. They ask themselves, she said: “Do I show up and then my second-grader gets off the school bus and doesn’t have a parent to raise them? Maybe I shouldn’t show up for work.’’The horror stories were conveyed to Trump, members of his administration and lawmakers in Congress by business advocacy and immigration reform groups like Shi’s coalition. Last Thursday, the president posted on his Truth Social platform that “Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”It was another case of Trump’s political agenda slamming smack into economic reality. With U.S. unemployment low at 4.2%, many businesses are desperate for workers, and immigration provides them.According to the U.S. Census Bureau, foreign-born workers made up less than 19% of employed workers in the United States in 2023. But they accounted for nearly 24% of jobs preparing and serving food and 38% of jobs in farming, fishing and forestry.“It really is clear to me that the people pushing for these raids that target farms and feed yards and dairies have no idea how farms operate,” Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association, said Tuesday during a virtual press conference.Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, estimated in January that undocumented workers account for 13% of U.S. farm jobs and 7% of jobs in hospitality businesses such as hotels, restaurants and bars.The Pew Research Center found last year that 75% of U.S. registered voters — including 59% of Trump supporters — agreed that undocumented immigrants mostly fill jobs that American citizens don’t want. And an influx of immigrants in 2022 and 2023 allowed the United States&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-jobs-economy-wages-gdp-trump-biden-fbd1f2ec89e84fdfaf81d005054edad0">to overcome an outbreak of inflation without tipping into recession</a>.In the past, economists estimated that America’s employers could add no more than 100,000 jobs a month without overheating the economy and igniting inflation. But economists Wendy Edelberg and Tara Watson of the Brookings Institution calculated that because of the immigrant arrivals, monthly job growth could reach 160,000 to 200,000 without exerting upward pressure on prices.Now Trump’s deportation plans — and the uncertainty around them — are weighing on businesses and the economy.“The reality is, a significant portion of our industry relies on immigrant labor — skilled, hardworking people who’ve been part of our workforce for years. When there are sudden crackdowns or raids, it slows timelines, drives up costs, and makes it harder to plan ahead,” says Patrick Murphy, chief investment officer at the Florida building firm Coastal Construction and a former Democratic member of Congress. “ We’re not sure from one month to the next what the rules are going to be or how they’ll be enforced. That uncertainty makes it really hard to operate a forward-looking business.”Adds Douglas Holtz Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and now president of the conservative American Action Forum think tank: “ICE had detained people who are here lawfully and so now lawful immigrants are afraid to go to work ... All of this goes against other economic objectives the administration might have. The immigration policy and the economic policy are not lining up at all.’’____

ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses

OSAGE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple drug allegations.

Just after 4p.m June 19, an Osage County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit conducted a traffic stop at 4th and Topeka in Carbondale for a traffic violation, according to Sheriff Chris Wells. During the stop, illegal narcotics were located.

Crystal R. Fisher, 41 of Carbondale was taken into custody and transported to the Osage County Jail Facility on requested charges of&nbsp;Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of marijuana and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750291101317.png" alt="Fisher photo Osage County" />
 <figcaption>Fisher photo Osage County</figcaption>
 </figure>OSAGE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple drug allegations.Just after 4p.m June 19, an Osage County Sheriff’s Office K-9 unit conducted a traffic stop at 4th and Topeka in Carbondale for a traffic violation, according to Sheriff Chris Wells. During the stop, illegal narcotics were located.Crystal R. Fisher, 41 of Carbondale was taken into custody and transported to the Osage County Jail Facility on requested charges of&nbsp;Possession of methamphetamine, Possession of marijuana and Possession of drug paraphernalia.

Kansas K9 unit caught woman transporting meth,  marijuana

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/devi-shastri">DEVI SHASTRI</a> Associated Press

The COVID-19 variant that may be driving&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-variant-who-285a4e5146aa4a7ccb252e38accd5959">a recent rise in cases</a>&nbsp;in some parts of the world has earned a new nickname: “razor blade throat” COVID.

That’s because the variant — NB.1.8.1. or “Nimbus” — may cause painful sore throats. The symptom has been identified by doctors in the United Kingdom, India and elsewhere, according to media outlets in those countries.

Other COVID-19 symptoms of any variant include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath or loss of taste or smell.

Experts say there isn’t major cause for concern with the Nimbus variant, but here ‘s what else you need to know about it.

Here’s where the variant causing ‘razor blade throat’ is spreading

<a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2025-DON572" target="_blank">The rise in cases</a>&nbsp;late last month is primarily in eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions, the World Health Organization said May 28. The new variant had reached nearly 11% of sequenced samples reported globally in mid-May.

Airport screening&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-pandemic-masks-anniversary-34f2fb0ea729e71c0809295d3e62744b">in the United States</a>&nbsp;detected the new variant in travelers arriving from those regions to destinations in California, Washington state, Virginia and New York.

You aren’t likely to get sicker from this variant than others

The WHO said some western Pacific countries have reported increases in COVID cases and hospitalizations, but there’s nothing so far to suggest that the disease associated with the new variant is more severe compared to other variants.

COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the Nimbus variant

The WHO has designated Nimbus as a “variant under monitoring” and considers the&nbsp;<a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/epp/tracking-sars-cov-2/23052025_nb.1.8.1_ire.pdf" target="_blank">public health risk low at the global level</a>. Current vaccines are expected to remain effective.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children-70c358cad726e57d680234c3ecdec926">announced</a>&nbsp;last month that COVID-19 shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by public health experts.

AP Health Writer Carla Johnson contributed to this story.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725066019956.png" alt="File photo (Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>File photo (Tessa Weinberg/Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/devi-shastri">DEVI SHASTRI</a> Associated PressThe COVID-19 variant that may be driving&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-variant-who-285a4e5146aa4a7ccb252e38accd5959">a recent rise in cases</a>&nbsp;in some parts of the world has earned a new nickname: “razor blade throat” COVID.That’s because the variant — NB.1.8.1. or “Nimbus” — may cause painful sore throats. The symptom has been identified by doctors in the United Kingdom, India and elsewhere, according to media outlets in those countries.Other COVID-19 symptoms of any variant include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath or loss of taste or smell.Experts say there isn’t major cause for concern with the Nimbus variant, but here ‘s what else you need to know about it.<h2>Here’s where the variant causing ‘razor blade throat’ is spreading</h2><a href="https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news/item/2025-DON572" target="_blank">The rise in cases</a>&nbsp;late last month is primarily in eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and western Pacific regions, the World Health Organization said May 28. The new variant had reached nearly 11% of sequenced samples reported globally in mid-May.Airport screening&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-pandemic-masks-anniversary-34f2fb0ea729e71c0809295d3e62744b">in the United States</a>&nbsp;detected the new variant in travelers arriving from those regions to destinations in California, Washington state, Virginia and New York.<h2>You aren’t likely to get sicker from this variant than others</h2>Not so far, anyway.The WHO said some western Pacific countries have reported increases in COVID cases and hospitalizations, but there’s nothing so far to suggest that the disease associated with the new variant is more severe compared to other variants.<h2>COVID-19 vaccines are effective against the Nimbus variant</h2>Yes.The WHO has designated Nimbus as a “variant under monitoring” and considers the&nbsp;<a href="https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/documents/epp/tracking-sars-cov-2/23052025_nb.1.8.1_ire.pdf" target="_blank">public health risk low at the global level</a>. Current vaccines are expected to remain effective.Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children-70c358cad726e57d680234c3ecdec926">announced</a>&nbsp;last month that COVID-19 shots are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by public health experts.___AP Health Writer Carla Johnson contributed to this story.___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.