WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-kash-patel-61610c5384536667eb112734465b0a19">Kash Patel</a>&nbsp;as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump's bidding and go after the Republican president's adversaries.

“I cannot imagine a worse choice," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told colleagues before the 51-49 vote by the GOP-controlled Senate. Kansas U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall voted with the majority.

 Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the lone Republican holdouts.

A Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency, Patel will inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-justice-department-jan-6-ff003e46ea48c4e8be710d1ba2eb2d02">highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents</a>&nbsp;who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Patel has spoken of his desire to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-trump-patel-fisa-russia-2d215ded96ad8a08689b6f7f0b2d49ec">implement major changes</a>&nbsp;at the FBI, including a reduced footprint at headquarters in Washington and a renewed emphasis on the bureau's traditional crime-fighting duties rather than the intelligence-gathering and national security work that has come to define its mandate over the past two decades. But he also echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/kash-patel-is-pushing-conspiracies-and-his-brand-hes-poised-to-help-lead-a-trump-administration/">Trump's desire for retribution</a>. Patel raised alarm among Democrats for saying before he was nominated that he would “come after” anti-Trump “conspirators” in the federal government and the media.

Republicans angry over what they see as law enforcement bias against conservatives during the Democratic Biden administration, as well as criminal investigations into Trump, have rallied behind Patel as the right person for the job.

“Mr. Patel wants to make the FBI accountable once again -– get back the reputation that the FBI has had historically for law enforcement,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said before Patel was confirmed. “He wants to hold the FBI accountable to Congress, to the president and, most importantly, to the people they serve — the American taxpayer.”

Democrats complained about Patel's lack of management experience compared with previous FBI directors and they highlighted incendiary past statements that they said called his judgment into question.

“I am absolutely sure of this one thing: this vote will haunt anyone who votes for him. They will rue the day they did it,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.

He added: “To my Republican colleagues, think about what you will tell your constituents” and family “about why you became voted for this person who will so completely and utterly disgrace this office and do such grave damage to our nation’s justice system.”

About a half-dozen Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered outside FBI headquarters earlier Thursday in a last-ditch plea to derail his confirmation.

“This is someone we cannot trust,” said Sen. Adam Schiff of California. “This is someone who lacks the character to do this job, someone who lacks the integrity to do this job. We know that, our Republican colleagues know that."

<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/kash-patels-podcast-persona-staunch-trump-defender-and-fierce-critic-of-the-fbi-he-could-soon-lead/">Patel's eyebrow-raising remarks</a>&nbsp;on hundreds of podcasts and in other interviews over the past four years include referring to law enforcement officials who investigated Trump as “criminal gangsters," saying some Jan. 6 rioters were “political prisoners” and proposing to shut down the FBI headquarters and turning it into a museum for the so-called deep state.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-patel-senate-f3465219e265df1598e15da3ad0e8a07">At his Senate hearing in January</a>, Patel said Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding the broader point that he was trying to make. Patel has also denied the idea that a list in book he authored of government officials who he said were part of a “deep state” amounted to an “enemies list,” calling that a “total mischaracterization.”

FBI directors are given 10-year terms as a way to insulate them from political influence and keep them from becoming beholden to a particular president or administration. Patel was selected in November to replace&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chris-wray-fbi-farewell-trump-patel-partisanship-afe159a6e112e68dd5319ceac905d517">Christopher Wray</a>, who was picked by Trump in 2017 and served for more than seven years but who repeatedly angered the president and was seen by him as insufficiently loyal. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wray-fbi-director-resign-trump-patel-ca7553c92819b5487ce12de252a5a543">resigned</a>&nbsp;before Trump took office.

Since Wray's resignation, the FBI has been led by interim leaders, who have clashed with the Justice Department over its demands for details about the agents who investigated the Capitol riot — a move seen as a possible prelude to broader firings. Patel denied having any knowledge of discussions about potential firings, but a letter from Durbin last week that cited information that he said had come from insiders suggested that Patel may have been covertly involved in that process.

Trump has said that he expects some of those agents will be fired.

Patel is a former federal defender and Justice Department counterterrorism prosecutor. He attracted Trump’s attention during the president's first term when, as a staffer on the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/af8b27485d7a42ad86b8bf7ad1d554bb">Patel helped write a memo with pointed criticism of the FBI’s investigation</a>&nbsp;into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Patel later joined Trump’s administration, both as a counterterrorism official at the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the defense secretary.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1737910381416.png" alt="Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall and Patel during a December meeting -courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall and Patel during a December meeting -courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Thursday narrowly voted to confirm&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-kash-patel-61610c5384536667eb112734465b0a19">Kash Patel</a>&nbsp;as director of the FBI, moving to place him atop the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency despite doubts from Democrats about his qualifications and concerns he will do Donald Trump's bidding and go after the Republican president's adversaries.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740068029916.png" alt="Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran met with Patel on Jan. 17-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran met with Patel on Jan. 17-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>“I cannot imagine a worse choice," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told colleagues before the 51-49 vote by the GOP-controlled Senate. Kansas U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Roger Marshall voted with the majority. Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska were the lone Republican holdouts.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740079258648.png" alt="Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, upper right) during the vote count Thursday afternoon-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Kansas U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, upper right) during the vote count Thursday afternoon-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>A Trump loyalist who has fiercely criticized the agency, Patel will inherit an FBI gripped by turmoil as the Justice Department over the past month has forced out a group of senior bureau officials and made a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-justice-department-jan-6-ff003e46ea48c4e8be710d1ba2eb2d02">highly unusual demand for the names of thousands of agents</a>&nbsp;who participated in investigations related to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740079232134.png" alt="Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (center) casting his vote for Patel-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (center) casting his vote for Patel-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">U.S. Senate CONFIRMS Kash Patel to be FBI Director, 51-49. <a href="https://t.co/xB2nrm8obk">pic.twitter.com/xB2nrm8obk</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1892657932623327599?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Patel has spoken of his desire to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fbi-trump-patel-fisa-russia-2d215ded96ad8a08689b6f7f0b2d49ec">implement major changes</a>&nbsp;at the FBI, including a reduced footprint at headquarters in Washington and a renewed emphasis on the bureau's traditional crime-fighting duties rather than the intelligence-gathering and national security work that has come to define its mandate over the past two decades. But he also echoed&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2024/kash-patel-is-pushing-conspiracies-and-his-brand-hes-poised-to-help-lead-a-trump-administration/">Trump's desire for retribution</a>. Patel raised alarm among Democrats for saying before he was nominated that he would “come after” anti-Trump “conspirators” in the federal government and the media.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">CONFIRMED 🇺🇸 Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/Kash_Patel?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Kash_Patel</a> on his confirmation as FBI Director. Kash is committed to transparency and fair application of justice — something Americans should expect from law enforcement agencies. We must end the weaponization of government and return the FBI…&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1892657258481229855?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Republicans angry over what they see as law enforcement bias against conservatives during the Democratic Biden administration, as well as criminal investigations into Trump, have rallied behind Patel as the right person for the job.“Mr. Patel wants to make the FBI accountable once again -– get back the reputation that the FBI has had historically for law enforcement,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said before Patel was confirmed. “He wants to hold the FBI accountable to Congress, to the president and, most importantly, to the people they serve — the American taxpayer.”Democrats complained about Patel's lack of management experience compared with previous FBI directors and they highlighted incendiary past statements that they said called his judgment into question.“I am absolutely sure of this one thing: this vote will haunt anyone who votes for him. They will rue the day they did it,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat.He added: “To my Republican colleagues, think about what you will tell your constituents” and family “about why you became voted for this person who will so completely and utterly disgrace this office and do such grave damage to our nation’s justice system.”About a half-dozen Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee gathered outside FBI headquarters earlier Thursday in a last-ditch plea to derail his confirmation.“This is someone we cannot trust,” said Sen. Adam Schiff of California. “This is someone who lacks the character to do this job, someone who lacks the integrity to do this job. We know that, our Republican colleagues know that."<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/kash-patels-podcast-persona-staunch-trump-defender-and-fierce-critic-of-the-fbi-he-could-soon-lead/">Patel's eyebrow-raising remarks</a>&nbsp;on hundreds of podcasts and in other interviews over the past four years include referring to law enforcement officials who investigated Trump as “criminal gangsters," saying some Jan. 6 rioters were “political prisoners” and proposing to shut down the FBI headquarters and turning it into a museum for the so-called deep state.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-patel-senate-f3465219e265df1598e15da3ad0e8a07">At his Senate hearing in January</a>, Patel said Democrats were taking some of his comments out of context or misunderstanding the broader point that he was trying to make. Patel has also denied the idea that a list in book he authored of government officials who he said were part of a “deep state” amounted to an “enemies list,” calling that a “total mischaracterization.”FBI directors are given 10-year terms as a way to insulate them from political influence and keep them from becoming beholden to a particular president or administration. Patel was selected in November to replace&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chris-wray-fbi-farewell-trump-patel-partisanship-afe159a6e112e68dd5319ceac905d517">Christopher Wray</a>, who was picked by Trump in 2017 and served for more than seven years but who repeatedly angered the president and was seen by him as insufficiently loyal. He&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/wray-fbi-director-resign-trump-patel-ca7553c92819b5487ce12de252a5a543">resigned</a>&nbsp;before Trump took office.Since Wray's resignation, the FBI has been led by interim leaders, who have clashed with the Justice Department over its demands for details about the agents who investigated the Capitol riot — a move seen as a possible prelude to broader firings. Patel denied having any knowledge of discussions about potential firings, but a letter from Durbin last week that cited information that he said had come from insiders suggested that Patel may have been covertly involved in that process.Trump has said that he expects some of those agents will be fired.Patel is a former federal defender and Justice Department counterterrorism prosecutor. He attracted Trump’s attention during the president's first term when, as a staffer on the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/af8b27485d7a42ad86b8bf7ad1d554bb">Patel helped write a memo with pointed criticism of the FBI’s investigation</a>&nbsp;into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign.Patel later joined Trump’s administration, both as a counterterrorism official at the National Security Council and as chief of staff to the defense secretary.

Moran, Marshall vote yes as Senate confirms Patel as FBI director

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Oklahoma Gov. David Boren, who became one of the nation's youngest governors in the 1970s at age 33 and later helped shape national intelligence as a U.S. senator, has died. He was 83.

Boren, who went on to serve as president of the University of Oklahoma after retiring from politics, died early Thursday at his home near Newcastle, said Bob Burke, a longtime family friend. He said Boren's death was the result of complications from diabetes.

The son of a Democratic congressman, Boren quickly followed in his father's footsteps into elected office and oversaw a dramatic downsizing of government in Oklahoma, where over decades in legislative corridors and university offices he became one of the state's most influential figures. His son, Dan Boren, also served four terms as an Oklahoma congressman.

In 2019, David Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-domestic-news-domestic-news-a6900eea27124e9ebe5bc23cd4ad1656">cut ties with the university</a>&nbsp;he had led for 24 years amid a probe into allegations that he had sexually harassed male subordinates. Boren denied wrongdoing and the allegations never resulted in charges or civil litigation.

“Today, I join Oklahomans in mourning the loss of former Governor David Boren, who dedicated his life to serving our state," said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who ordered flags on state property to be flown at half-staff until his funeral. “His love of Oklahoma was evident in everything he did.”

Boren served in the U.S. Senate between 1979 and 1994 and was the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He became president of Oklahoma's largest public university after leaving the Senate and held the position until stepping down in 2018.

“He saw public service as a noble calling and dedicated his life to it,” Dan Boren said in a statement. "The countless heartwarming stories I hear almost daily from people across this state who he helped are reminders of his remarkable life.”

A year after leaving the University of Oklahoma,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/628538cca4f74df5b755927956a3bd8e">a former student alleged he was touched</a>&nbsp;and kissed inappropriately by Boren on several occasions about a decade earlier, allegations that Boren repeatedly denied.

An investigation into Boren’s alleged misconduct&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-8a9ca5652f8d43788ff663e2f36d4e02">by the Jones Day law firm</a>, which ended when Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-49a8fca716714b628f20c009d1952980">severed ties to the university</a>&nbsp;in 2019, was never publicly released. The allegations against Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/18d6c8ab6a444af28274ede2a6d4a41d">tarnished his reputation</a>&nbsp;and led him to withdraw from public life.

Boren served four terms in the Oklahoma House before being elected governor at the age of 33 in 1974, which at the time made him the youngest governor in the country. He ran a reformist campaign that became known as the “Boren Broom Brigade” to demonstrate his pledge to “sweep out the old guard.”

While in the U.S. Senate, Boren forged close relationships with the leaders of the nation's intelligence community, including former CIA Director George Tenet, whom Boren tapped as the Intelligence Committee's chief of staff prior to Tenet's appointment as CIA director.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Boren was having breakfast with Tenet at a Washington hotel when Tenet, then CIA director, learned that an aircraft had flown into the World Trade Center tower in New York City. Boren later recalled that neither he nor Tenet was “totally shocked” by the terrorist attack because the two men had spoken frequently about the possibility of international terrorists launching an attack in the U.S.

In the Senate, Boren also helped build bipartisan support to oppose South Africa's oppressive racial apartheid regime ahead of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Shortly after his release, Mandela traveled to the U.S. and appeared as a guest on an ABC News town hall moderated by Ted Koppel. Boren was in the audience and Mandela led a standing ovation after Boren summed up the evils of apartheid and called for its end.

“He has said all the things that are required to be said in regards to the problems of South Africa,” Mandela said.

During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Boren also said he was heavily involved with helping influence U.S. policy in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, during conflict in that country between the right-wing Contras and the leftist Sandinistas, working as an “informal emissary” for former President George H.W. Bush.

“The fact that I was in a different party — and the fact that we trusted each other -- was a big benefit,” Boren told The Oklahoman in 1994.

David Lyle Boren was born on April 21, 1941, in Washington, the son of U.S. Rep. Lyle Hagler Boren and the former Christine McKown. He was married twice, to the late Janna Little Robbins and then to Molly Shi Boren, a former judge, English teacher and president emeritus of the Oklahoma Arts Institute.

Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cc475d3a46ff4206b368770c9cffc7df">suffered from a minor stroke</a>&nbsp;at a statue dedication ceremony in April 2018 and was hospitalized for several days. Boren also underwent heart bypass surgery in March 2017.

Boren is survived by two children, including Dan Boren, the former Oklahoma congressman who is currently secretary of commerce for the Chickasaw Nation.

Retired Associated Press journalist Tim Talley was the principal writer of this obituary.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Oklahoma Gov. David Boren, who became one of the nation's youngest governors in the 1970s at age 33 and later helped shape national intelligence as a U.S. senator, has died. He was 83.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">The University of Oklahoma is saddened to share the passing of David L. Boren, whose life’s work was rooted in his commitment to the people of Oklahoma and his belief in the power of education to change lives. <a href="https://t.co/dOWh6sb9jE">pic.twitter.com/dOWh6sb9jE</a>&mdash; University of Oklahoma (@UofOklahoma) <a href="https://twitter.com/UofOklahoma/status/1892577069827051826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Boren, who went on to serve as president of the University of Oklahoma after retiring from politics, died early Thursday at his home near Newcastle, said Bob Burke, a longtime family friend. He said Boren's death was the result of complications from diabetes.The son of a Democratic congressman, Boren quickly followed in his father's footsteps into elected office and oversaw a dramatic downsizing of government in Oklahoma, where over decades in legislative corridors and university offices he became one of the state's most influential figures. His son, Dan Boren, also served four terms as an Oklahoma congressman.In 2019, David Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-domestic-news-domestic-news-a6900eea27124e9ebe5bc23cd4ad1656">cut ties with the university</a>&nbsp;he had led for 24 years amid a probe into allegations that he had sexually harassed male subordinates. Boren denied wrongdoing and the allegations never resulted in charges or civil litigation.“Today, I join Oklahomans in mourning the loss of former Governor David Boren, who dedicated his life to serving our state," said Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who ordered flags on state property to be flown at half-staff until his funeral. “His love of Oklahoma was evident in everything he did.”Boren served in the U.S. Senate between 1979 and 1994 and was the longest-serving chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He became president of Oklahoma's largest public university after leaving the Senate and held the position until stepping down in 2018.“He saw public service as a noble calling and dedicated his life to it,” Dan Boren said in a statement. "The countless heartwarming stories I hear almost daily from people across this state who he helped are reminders of his remarkable life.”A year after leaving the University of Oklahoma,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/628538cca4f74df5b755927956a3bd8e">a former student alleged he was touched</a>&nbsp;and kissed inappropriately by Boren on several occasions about a decade earlier, allegations that Boren repeatedly denied.An investigation into Boren’s alleged misconduct&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-8a9ca5652f8d43788ff663e2f36d4e02">by the Jones Day law firm</a>, which ended when Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-49a8fca716714b628f20c009d1952980">severed ties to the university</a>&nbsp;in 2019, was never publicly released. The allegations against Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/18d6c8ab6a444af28274ede2a6d4a41d">tarnished his reputation</a>&nbsp;and led him to withdraw from public life.Boren served four terms in the Oklahoma House before being elected governor at the age of 33 in 1974, which at the time made him the youngest governor in the country. He ran a reformist campaign that became known as the “Boren Broom Brigade” to demonstrate his pledge to “sweep out the old guard.”While in the U.S. Senate, Boren forged close relationships with the leaders of the nation's intelligence community, including former CIA Director George Tenet, whom Boren tapped as the Intelligence Committee's chief of staff prior to Tenet's appointment as CIA director.On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Boren was having breakfast with Tenet at a Washington hotel when Tenet, then CIA director, learned that an aircraft had flown into the World Trade Center tower in New York City. Boren later recalled that neither he nor Tenet was “totally shocked” by the terrorist attack because the two men had spoken frequently about the possibility of international terrorists launching an attack in the U.S.In the Senate, Boren also helped build bipartisan support to oppose South Africa's oppressive racial apartheid regime ahead of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990. Shortly after his release, Mandela traveled to the U.S. and appeared as a guest on an ABC News town hall moderated by Ted Koppel. Boren was in the audience and Mandela led a standing ovation after Boren summed up the evils of apartheid and called for its end.“He has said all the things that are required to be said in regards to the problems of South Africa,” Mandela said.During his tenure in the U.S. Senate, Boren also said he was heavily involved with helping influence U.S. policy in Central America, particularly in Nicaragua, during conflict in that country between the right-wing Contras and the leftist Sandinistas, working as an “informal emissary” for former President George H.W. Bush.“The fact that I was in a different party — and the fact that we trusted each other -- was a big benefit,” Boren told The Oklahoman in 1994.David Lyle Boren was born on April 21, 1941, in Washington, the son of U.S. Rep. Lyle Hagler Boren and the former Christine McKown. He was married twice, to the late Janna Little Robbins and then to Molly Shi Boren, a former judge, English teacher and president emeritus of the Oklahoma Arts Institute.Boren&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cc475d3a46ff4206b368770c9cffc7df">suffered from a minor stroke</a>&nbsp;at a statue dedication ceremony in April 2018 and was hospitalized for several days. Boren also underwent heart bypass surgery in March 2017.Boren is survived by two children, including Dan Boren, the former Oklahoma congressman who is currently secretary of commerce for the Chickasaw Nation.___Retired Associated Press journalist Tim Talley was the principal writer of this obituary.

David Boren, former Oklahoma governor, US senator and university president has died

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said that he likes the idea of giving some of the savings from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk’s</a>&nbsp;Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend.

He said at an investment conference in Miami on Wednesday that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-d33cdd7872d64d2bdd8fe70c28652654">DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts</a>&nbsp;goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt.

Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending.

“They’ll be reporting it themselves,” Trump said. “They participate in the process of saving us money.”

Later, as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One, he was asked by a reporter about the plan floated by Musk.

“I love it,” the Republican president told reporters on the plane.

A day earlier, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891967592048611532?s=46" target="_blank">wrote on his social media platform</a>&nbsp;that he “will check with the President” in response to a suggestion that Trump and Musk should announce a ”DOGE Dividend” that would send a refund to taxpayers from part of the savings created by DOGE. Its efforts have already led to thousands of federal government employees being fired or laid off.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said that he likes the idea of giving some of the savings from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk’s</a>&nbsp;Department of Government Efficiency back to U.S. citizens as a kind of dividend.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">President Trump: &quot;There&#39;s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the DOGE savings to the American citizens and 20% goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible Elon.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/hlaP6g5Qw0">pic.twitter.com/hlaP6g5Qw0</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1892359932910993799?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>He said at an investment conference in Miami on Wednesday that the administration is considering a concept in which 20% of the savings produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-d33cdd7872d64d2bdd8fe70c28652654">DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts</a>&nbsp;goes to American citizens and another 20% goes to paying down the national debt.Trump also said the potential for dividend payments would incentivize people to report wasteful spending.“They’ll be reporting it themselves,” Trump said. “They participate in the process of saving us money.”Later, as he flew back to Washington aboard Air Force One, he was asked by a reporter about the plan floated by Musk.“I love it,” the Republican president told reporters on the plane.A day earlier, Musk&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1891967592048611532?s=46" target="_blank">wrote on his social media platform</a>&nbsp;that he “will check with the President” in response to a suggestion that Trump and Musk should announce a ”DOGE Dividend” that would send a refund to taxpayers from part of the savings created by DOGE. Its efforts have already led to thousands of federal government employees being fired or laid off.

🎥Trump backs idea to send some DOGE savings to you

Chamber sends Senate a bill allowing 20-year-olds to enter police academy

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

TOPEKA — Rep. Brad Barrett’s sense of potential lethal ramifications of high-speed pursuits by law enforcement officers was drawn from service as a Shawnee County district attorney investigator and a Coffey County sheriff’s deputy.

Barrett, an Osage City Republican, brought that experience to the Kansas House where he urged peers to support&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2177_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2177</a>. It would stiffen criminal penalties for motorists repeatedly convicted of fleeing or attempting to elude authorities.

“This is dangerous,” he said. “When people are fleeing law enforcement, they’re driving a couple thousand pound missile full of fuel. We need to hold them accountable for their actions.”

Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Eric Smith and Coffey County Undersheriff Eric Smith — no relation — had testified to a House committee in support of the bill. Both said the state would be justified to enact progressively severe punitive measures for those who continued to attempt or commit an aggravated form of fleeing and eluding.

“Increased penalties for prior convictions discourage violators from committing the same offense,” the KHP colonel said.

He said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documented 525 fatalities in 2021 that occurred during police pursuits in the United States.

On Thursday, the House responded by voting 94-28 to send the bill to the Kansas Senate.

The legislation would raise a third or subsequent conviction for skirting a road block, avoiding tire deflation devices or intentionally causing property damage during a law enforcement chase from a level 9 felony to a level 5 felony. The bill also would dictate that a person convicted a third or subsequent time of driving the wrong way into an opposing lane of traffic and forcing a motorist to take evasive action or colliding with a vehicle, would face a level 4 felony rather than a level 9 felony.

Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen, D-Topeka, asked during floor debate on the bill Wednesday for evidence demonstrating that modifying the sentencing grid so more people went to prison compelled anyone to avoid entering into chases with law enforcement.

“There’s no evidence that raising the penalty on fleeing and eluding will have any deterrent effect at all,” Schlingensiepen said.

Emily Brandt, who represents the legislative committee of the Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense, said the bill was unnecessary because fleeing-and-eluding recidivists were punished when judges who factored criminal history into sentencing decisions.

She said elevating the third offense to a level 4 or level 5 felony would punish someone as seriously as if the crime in question was aggravated battery, involuntary manslaughter or sexual exploitation of a child. Individuals with a third such person felony could be sentenced to more than decade in prison, she said.

“This bill would punish people who committed no harm to another as severely as people who committed a murder or caused great bodily harm,” Brandt said. “If passed, this bill would have a significant fiscal impact on the state of Kansas, mostly because of much longer prison stays for committing these crimes, but also because of increased defense costs for higher severity level crimes.”

A House majority also sent the Senate — on a vote of 97-24 — a bill to lower the minimum age for persons applying for certification as a law enforcement officer to 20 years of age from the current standard of 21. While law enforcement training could take place, supporters of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2164_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2164</a>&nbsp;indicated individuals would need to be 21 to be assigned duties as a part-time or full-time officer.

“This bill would help with recruitment and retention for Kansas law enforcement departments to help address shortages,” said Rep. Kevin Schwertfeger, R-Turon.

Wichita Police Chief Joseph Sullivan, who made officer recruiting a top priority since selected chief in 2022, said one barrier to attracting candidates for careers in law enforcement was the state mandate they had to be 21 years of age prior to applying for a state law enforcement certification.

He said the department implemented an “early onboarding process” to streamline recruitment. The House bill would allow the department to formally bring 20-year-olds into the process while they awaited a law enforcement academy start date. The objective would be for applicants to complete a six-month training program before turning 21, he said.

“Increasing the pool of potential applicants will help us fill critical vacancies and enhance public safety for all Kansans by ensuring that we have well-training, capable officers protecting our communities,” Sullivan said.

Overland Park Police Chief Doreen Jokerst, who entered a Colorado police academy at age 20, said the reform would reflect her belief that “responsible and capable individuals exist” within the lower age group. Opening training academies to Kansas applicants earlier would support law enforcement agencies working to attract promising candidates, she said.

Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Republican who served as chairman of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, said he wasn’t convinced lowering the age was sound public policy. He said there could be problems if 20-year-old trainees were given gun and badge before they were equipped to handle the job.

“I urge the House to move very slowly on this request because I think we’re going to make mistakes,” Carmichael said. “We’re going to have people without the maturity out there as police officers.”

Ottawa GOP Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, vice chair of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, said legislative heartburn on the bill didn’t make sense.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740069726626.png" alt="File photo KHP" />
 <figcaption>File photo KHP</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Chamber sends Senate a bill allowing 20-year-olds to enter police academy</h2>BY:&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Rep. Brad Barrett’s sense of potential lethal ramifications of high-speed pursuits by law enforcement officers was drawn from service as a Shawnee County district attorney investigator and a Coffey County sheriff’s deputy.Barrett, an Osage City Republican, brought that experience to the Kansas House where he urged peers to support&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2177_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2177</a>. It would stiffen criminal penalties for motorists repeatedly convicted of fleeing or attempting to elude authorities.“This is dangerous,” he said. “When people are fleeing law enforcement, they’re driving a couple thousand pound missile full of fuel. We need to hold them accountable for their actions.”Kansas Highway Patrol Col. Eric Smith and Coffey County Undersheriff Eric Smith — no relation — had testified to a House committee in support of the bill. Both said the state would be justified to enact progressively severe punitive measures for those who continued to attempt or commit an aggravated form of fleeing and eluding.“Increased penalties for prior convictions discourage violators from committing the same offense,” the KHP colonel said.He said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documented 525 fatalities in 2021 that occurred during police pursuits in the United States.On Thursday, the House responded by voting 94-28 to send the bill to the Kansas Senate.The legislation would raise a third or subsequent conviction for skirting a road block, avoiding tire deflation devices or intentionally causing property damage during a law enforcement chase from a level 9 felony to a level 5 felony. The bill also would dictate that a person convicted a third or subsequent time of driving the wrong way into an opposing lane of traffic and forcing a motorist to take evasive action or colliding with a vehicle, would face a level 4 felony rather than a level 9 felony.<h2>Not so fast</h2>Rep. Tobias Schlingensiepen, D-Topeka, asked during floor debate on the bill Wednesday for evidence demonstrating that modifying the sentencing grid so more people went to prison compelled anyone to avoid entering into chases with law enforcement.“There’s no evidence that raising the penalty on fleeing and eluding will have any deterrent effect at all,” Schlingensiepen said.Emily Brandt, who represents the legislative committee of the Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense, said the bill was unnecessary because fleeing-and-eluding recidivists were punished when judges who factored criminal history into sentencing decisions.She said elevating the third offense to a level 4 or level 5 felony would punish someone as seriously as if the crime in question was aggravated battery, involuntary manslaughter or sexual exploitation of a child. Individuals with a third such person felony could be sentenced to more than decade in prison, she said.“This bill would punish people who committed no harm to another as severely as people who committed a murder or caused great bodily harm,” Brandt said. “If passed, this bill would have a significant fiscal impact on the state of Kansas, mostly because of much longer prison stays for committing these crimes, but also because of increased defense costs for higher severity level crimes.”<h2>Police academy: Age 20</h2>A House majority also sent the Senate — on a vote of 97-24 — a bill to lower the minimum age for persons applying for certification as a law enforcement officer to 20 years of age from the current standard of 21. While law enforcement training could take place, supporters of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/supp_note_hb2164_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2164</a>&nbsp;indicated individuals would need to be 21 to be assigned duties as a part-time or full-time officer.“This bill would help with recruitment and retention for Kansas law enforcement departments to help address shortages,” said Rep. Kevin Schwertfeger, R-Turon.Wichita Police Chief Joseph Sullivan, who made officer recruiting a top priority since selected chief in 2022, said one barrier to attracting candidates for careers in law enforcement was the state mandate they had to be 21 years of age prior to applying for a state law enforcement certification.He said the department implemented an “early onboarding process” to streamline recruitment. The House bill would allow the department to formally bring 20-year-olds into the process while they awaited a law enforcement academy start date. The objective would be for applicants to complete a six-month training program before turning 21, he said.“Increasing the pool of potential applicants will help us fill critical vacancies and enhance public safety for all Kansans by ensuring that we have well-training, capable officers protecting our communities,” Sullivan said.<h2>What’s the hang-up?</h2>Overland Park Police Chief Doreen Jokerst, who entered a Colorado police academy at age 20, said the reform would reflect her belief that “responsible and capable individuals exist” within the lower age group. Opening training academies to Kansas applicants earlier would support law enforcement agencies working to attract promising candidates, she said.Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Republican who served as chairman of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers’ Standards and Training, said he wasn’t convinced lowering the age was sound public policy. He said there could be problems if 20-year-old trainees were given gun and badge before they were equipped to handle the job.“I urge the House to move very slowly on this request because I think we’re going to make mistakes,” Carmichael said. “We’re going to have people without the maturity out there as police officers.”Ottawa GOP Rep. Rebecca Schmoe, vice chair of the House Federal and State Affairs Committee, said legislative heartburn on the bill didn’t make sense.

Kan. House agrees to stiffen penalty for recidivist offenders in high-speed police chases

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mitch-mcconnell">Sen. Mitch McConnell</a>&nbsp;announced on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.

McConnell, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-montana-united-states-senate-new-york-city-mitch-mcconnell-41f4326218e7c2d8439ca02d09c6683b">longest-serving Senate party leader</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.

“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and several senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”

His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-presidential-election-trump-harris-ed91f084599d0f25b00f44bb71620528">a conservative Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and steered the Senate through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2d9e099660064f2b8a8fc2237b4e7e4e">tax cuts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-trial-0d0916330d20cc139c64f73af5ef4647">presidential impeachment trials</a>&nbsp;and fierce political fights.

McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-senate-fall-republican-8d58004d3f14c1995d83c11319d77d72">a series of medical episodes</a>&nbsp;in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-gop-leader-mcconnell-health-freeze-up-c5b43745251daa0bb63636ceff4edce2">his face briefly froze</a>&nbsp;while he was speaking.

The senator delivered his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-senate-republican-leader-stepping-down-ba478d570a4561aa7baf91a204d7e366">his leadership post</a>&nbsp;after the November 2024 election.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-leader-thune-cornyn-scott-mcconnell-trump-c3c1c451a420729136ae641a14d9d5d6">South Dakota Sen. John Thune</a>, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.

McConnell's looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-slams-mcconnell-for-rfk-jr-vote-calling-him-bitter-and-questioning-his-childhood-polio-bcf92bb6f7a54c71b81ba861d4180575">criticizing him in caustic terms</a>.

In Kentucky, McConnell's departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.

McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.

McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kellogg-zelenskyy-437f4c8fa4531059007dd3ab00c23458">Volodymyr Zelenskyy</a>. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda.

“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his prepared remarks. "But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to."

McConnell and Trump were partners during Trump's first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters</a>. A momentary thaw in 2024 when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-endorsement-donald-trump-super-tuesday-422a2ec6f19917b46804b4cf6ee40371">McConnell endorsed Trump</a>&nbsp;didn't last.

Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-mitch-mcconnell-polio-rfk-vaccines-06a03dd5ca2024317f01e1c4f5171678">Trump referred to McConnell</a>&nbsp;as a "very bitter guy” after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the nation’s top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-trump-biography-election-0a861001d95287e689336504abc2281f">a biography of the senator</a>&nbsp;by The Associated Press' deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett.

Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/6a409d3266be46dcaa2f1267fd947a12">a tax overhaul</a>&nbsp;largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.

McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-6fe101b4bef54f989d939bccc81873fc">Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland</a>&nbsp;to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senate's “advise and consent” role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f5a557876d5546cca4ebd53b4860e2ed">Trump filled the vacancy</a>&nbsp;once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland's nomination his “most consequential” achievement.

Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">rushed Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation</a>&nbsp;through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.

McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.

In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">voting to acquit</a>. McConnell said he believed Trump couldn’t be convicted because he’d already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection.

McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obama’s health care overhaul.

McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.

He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his “ultimate teammate and confidante.” Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trump's first term, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-security-michael-pence-01e30bccef96ccd73fe642f8f96f8519">she resigned</a>&nbsp;after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had “deeply troubled” her.

McConnell's parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.

“The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence," he said. "And, to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740070424167.png" alt="Mitch McConnell spoke about his decision on the Senate Floor Thursday morning just moments after voting to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Mitch McConnell spoke about his decision on the Senate Floor Thursday morning just moments after voting to advance the nomination of Kash Patel to be Director of the FBI-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/mitch-mcconnell">Sen. Mitch McConnell</a>&nbsp;announced on Thursday that he won’t seek reelection next year, ending a decadeslong tenure as a power broker who championed conservative causes but ultimately ceded ground to the fierce GOP populism of President Donald Trump.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Sen. Mitch McConnell (<a href="https://twitter.com/SenMcConnell?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenMcConnell</a>): &quot;Seven times my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate...Representing our Commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/b33cR7I36e">pic.twitter.com/b33cR7I36e</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1892621015370399750?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>McConnell, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/politics-montana-united-states-senate-new-york-city-mitch-mcconnell-41f4326218e7c2d8439ca02d09c6683b">longest-serving Senate party leader</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history, chose his 83rd birthday to share his decision not to run for another term in Kentucky and to retire when his current term ends. He informed The Associated Press of his decision before he addressed colleagues in a speech on the Senate floor.“Seven times, my fellow Kentuckians have sent me to the Senate,” McConnell said, as aides lined the back chamber and several senators listened from seats. “Every day in between I’ve been humbled by the trust they’ve placed in me to do their business here. Representing our commonwealth has been the honor of a lifetime. I will not seek this honor an eighth time. My current term in the Senate will be my last.”His announcement begins the epilogue of a storied career as a master strategist, one in which he helped forge&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-presidential-election-trump-harris-ed91f084599d0f25b00f44bb71620528">a conservative Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;and steered the Senate through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2d9e099660064f2b8a8fc2237b4e7e4e">tax cuts</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-impeachment-trial-0d0916330d20cc139c64f73af5ef4647">presidential impeachment trials</a>&nbsp;and fierce political fights.McConnell, first elected in 1984, intends to serve the remainder of his term ending in January 2027. The Kentuckian has dealt with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-senate-fall-republican-8d58004d3f14c1995d83c11319d77d72">a series of medical episodes</a>&nbsp;in recent years, including injuries sustained from falls and times when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-gop-leader-mcconnell-health-freeze-up-c5b43745251daa0bb63636ceff4edce2">his face briefly froze</a>&nbsp;while he was speaking.The senator delivered his speech in a chamber the famously taciturn McConnell revered as a young intern long before joining its back benches as a freshman lawmaker in the mid-1980s. His dramatic announcement comes almost a year after his decision to relinquish&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-senate-republican-leader-stepping-down-ba478d570a4561aa7baf91a204d7e366">his leadership post</a>&nbsp;after the November 2024 election.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/senate-leader-thune-cornyn-scott-mcconnell-trump-c3c1c451a420729136ae641a14d9d5d6">South Dakota Sen. John Thune</a>, a top McConnell deputy, replaced him as majority leader.McConnell's looming departure reflects the changing dynamics of the Trump-led GOP. He's seen his power diminish on a parallel track with both his health and his relationship with Trump, who once praised him as an ally but has taken to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-slams-mcconnell-for-rfk-jr-vote-calling-him-bitter-and-questioning-his-childhood-polio-bcf92bb6f7a54c71b81ba861d4180575">criticizing him in caustic terms</a>.In Kentucky, McConnell's departure will mark the loss of a powerful advocate and will set off a competitive GOP primary next year for what will now be an open Senate seat. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, seen as a rising star in his party for winning statewide office in Republican territory, has said he has no interest in the Senate, though he is widely viewed as a contender for higher office.McConnell, a diehard adherent to Ronald Reagan’s brand of traditional conservatism and muscular foreign policy, increasingly found himself out of step with a GOP shifting toward the fiery, often isolationist populism espoused by Trump.McConnell still champions providing Ukraine with weapons and other aid to fend off Russia’s invasion, even as Trump ratchets up criticism of the country and its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kellogg-zelenskyy-437f4c8fa4531059007dd3ab00c23458">Volodymyr Zelenskyy</a>. The senator plans to make it clear Thursday that national defense remains at the forefront of his agenda.“Thanks to Ronald Reagan’s determination, the work of strengthening American hard power was well underway when I arrived in the Senate,” McConnell said in his prepared remarks. "But since then, we’ve allowed that power to atrophy. And today, a dangerous world threatens to outpace the work of rebuilding it. So, lest any of our colleagues still doubt my intentions for the remainder of my term: I have some unfinished business to attend to."McConnell and Trump were partners during Trump's first term, but the relationship was severed after McConnell blamed Trump for “disgraceful” acts in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-confirm-joe-biden-78104aea082995bbd7412a6e6cd13818">the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack by his supporters</a>. A momentary thaw in 2024 when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mitch-mcconnell-endorsement-donald-trump-super-tuesday-422a2ec6f19917b46804b4cf6ee40371">McConnell endorsed Trump</a>&nbsp;didn't last.Last week,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-mitch-mcconnell-polio-rfk-vaccines-06a03dd5ca2024317f01e1c4f5171678">Trump referred to McConnell</a>&nbsp;as a "very bitter guy” after McConnell, who battled polio as a child, opposed vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as the nation’s top health official. McConnell referred to Trump as a “despicable human being” and a “narcissist” in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mcconnell-trump-biography-election-0a861001d95287e689336504abc2281f">a biography of the senator</a>&nbsp;by The Associated Press' deputy Washington bureau chief, Michael Tackett.Before their falling out, Trump and McConnell pushed through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/6a409d3266be46dcaa2f1267fd947a12">a tax overhaul</a>&nbsp;largely focused on reductions for businesses and higher-earning taxpayers. They joined forces to reshape the Supreme Court when Trump nominated three justices and McConnell guided them to Senate confirmation, tilting the high court to the right.McConnell set a new precedent for hardball partisan tactics in 2016 by refusing to even give a hearing to Democratic President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/united-states-government-6fe101b4bef54f989d939bccc81873fc">Barack Obama’s pick of Merrick Garland</a>&nbsp;to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Putting the brakes on the Senate's “advise and consent” role for judicial nominees, McConnell said the vacancy should be filled by the next president so voters could have their say.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/f5a557876d5546cca4ebd53b4860e2ed">Trump filled the vacancy</a>&nbsp;once he took office, and McConnell later called the stonewalling of Garland's nomination his “most consequential” achievement.Later, when liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died weeks before the 2020 presidential election won by Democrat Joe Biden, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">rushed Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation</a>&nbsp;through the Senate, waving off allegations of hypocrisy.McConnell also guided the Senate — and Trump — through two impeachment trials that ended in acquittals.In the second impeachment, weeks after the deadly Capitol attack by a mob hoping to overturn Trump’s 2020 reelection defeat, McConnell joined all but seven Republicans in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-capitol-siege-riots-trials-impeachments-b245b52fd7d4a079ae199c954baba452">voting to acquit</a>. McConnell said he believed Trump couldn’t be convicted because he’d already left office, but the senator also condemned Trump as “practically and morally responsible” for the insurrection.McConnell over the years swung back and forth from majority to minority leader, depending on which party held power. He defended President George W. Bush’s handling of the Iraq war and failed to block Obama’s health care overhaul.McConnell, the longest-serving senator ever from Kentucky, ensured that the Bluegrass State received plenty of federal funding. Back home he was a key architect in his party's rise to power in a state long dominated by Democrats.He is married to Elaine Chao, and they have long been a power couple in Washington. In his prepared remarks Thursday, the senator referred to her as his “ultimate teammate and confidante.” Chao was labor secretary for Bush and transportation secretary during Trump's first term, though&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/national-security-michael-pence-01e30bccef96ccd73fe642f8f96f8519">she resigned</a>&nbsp;after the Capitol insurrection, saying it had “deeply troubled” her.McConnell's parting words reflected his devotion to the Senate and his disdain for his detractors.“The Senate is still equipped for work of great consequence," he said. "And, to the disappointment of my critics, I’m still here on the job.”___Schreiner reported from Louisville, Ky.

🎥Mitch McConnell, longest-serving Senate leader, won't seek reelection

FINNEY COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect for an alleged violent crime in southwest Kansas.

Just after 3a.m. Wednesday, police were dispatched to the north part of Garden City where offices observed a vehicle in the roadway. Officers made contact with the driver who told Officers that an occupant inside the vehicle had been kidnapped at knifepoint by someone known to them.

 The investigation revealed that the victim was being driven home when the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Augustin Beronvil began following their vehicle. 

Beronvil then confronted the vehicle at an intersection and pulled out a pocketknife. The victim ran from the vehicle, but Beronvil grabbed them from behind, forced them into his vehicle and drove off. 

Officers quickly located Beronvil and the victim at his residence, and Beronvil was taken into custody on requested charges of Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Assault, and other violations.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740016169864.png" alt="Beronvil photo Finney County" />
 <figcaption>Beronvil photo Finney County</figcaption>
 </figure>FINNEY COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect for an alleged violent crime in southwest Kansas.Just after 3a.m. Wednesday, police were dispatched to the north part of Garden City where offices observed a vehicle in the roadway. Officers made contact with the driver who told Officers that an occupant inside the vehicle had been kidnapped at knifepoint by someone known to them. The investigation revealed that the victim was being driven home when the suspect, identified as 39-year-old Augustin Beronvil began following their vehicle. Beronvil then confronted the vehicle at an intersection and pulled out a pocketknife. The victim ran from the vehicle, but Beronvil grabbed them from behind, forced them into his vehicle and drove off. Officers quickly located Beronvil and the victim at his residence, and Beronvil was taken into custody on requested charges of Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Assault, and other violations.

Man accused of kidnapping victim in southwest Kansas

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump’s administration</a>&nbsp;as the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force” and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.

It is affecting more than just the national capital region, home to about 20% of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers. More than 80% of that workforce lives outside the Washington area.

There is no official figure available of the total firings or layoffs. The Associated Press tallied how agencies are being affected based on AP reporting and statements from lawmakers and employee unions.

Here is a look at some of the broad and specific ways federal agencies and employees are being affected by the administration’s reductions, as of Wednesday:

‘Deferred resignation’ proposal for federal workers

The White House offered a “deferred resignation” proposal in exchange for financial incentives, like months of paid leave,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyouts-to-all-federal-employees-f67f5751a0fd5ad8471806a5a1067b5e">to almost all federal employees</a>&nbsp;who opted to leave their jobs by Feb. 6.

But just before that deadline, a federal judge blocked Trump’s plan, wanting to hear arguments from the administration and the labor unions, which said the offer was illegal.

According to the Office of Personnel Management, about 75,000 federal employees had accepted the offer as of Feb. 12.

There have also been wide-ranging layoffs of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-layoffs-doge-406752da1614755b8fabe9c94e0c71a8">probationary employees</a>&nbsp;— those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection. Potentially hundreds of thousands are affected.

On Feb. 13, the administration ordered agencies to lay off nearly all such workers. According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 federal employees had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.

On Feb. 13, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. According to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.

At least 39 people have been fired from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.

There have also been nearly $900 million in cuts to the department’s Institute of Education Services, which tracks the progress of America’s students. It is unclear to what degree the institute would continue to exist. Industry experts said at least 169 contracts were terminated Feb. 10.

Hundreds of federal employees tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs were laid off Feb. 13, but that move was largely rescinded hours later, according to a memo obtained by the AP. Three U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were ousted, with some losing access to email before they had learned they were fired.

The jobs of more than 5,000 probationary employees are on the line at the Department of Health and Human Services.

On Feb. 14, officials with the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>&nbsp;were told they were losing nearly 1,300 probationary employees — about one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — but the final number&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-lab-layoffs-b9e13d62d0da00611f84b7762be0c7b9">was closer to 700</a>, according to two CDC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts.

Probationary employees were also fired at public health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but HHS has not released a final number.

The probationary cuts included more than 130 employees at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the nation’s critical infrastructure, including the federal efforts to secure election systems. It is not clear whether those included 17 employees who had worked on election security and had already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-security-cisa-kristi-noem-cybersecurity-5bac8ce416c46b4fbe44c94ae5874b39">placed on leave</a>.

Four employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency — its chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-migrant-hotels-new-york-musk-immigration-3d250d9f64b40858c0f0eda9989bea6d">were fired</a>&nbsp;Feb. 11 over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-migrant-funding-new-york-hotels-immigration-elon-musk-doge-268ca7eda43011a501dfad0fa88a4775">payments to reimburse</a>&nbsp;New York City for hotel costs for migrants.

The IRS will lay off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/irs-treasury-layoffs-doge-tax-season-2be8db11fdd510b7ce6ac0db56f9a503">thousands of probationary workers</a>&nbsp;in the middle of tax season, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is unclear how many IRS workers will be affected or when the cuts will happen.

The administration has fired&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-park-firings-doge-grand-teton-baedee0a748a6374eafb6f95aac5dadc">about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees</a>&nbsp;who maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and perform other functions.

The firings were not publicly announced but were confirmed by Democratic senators and House members. Adding to the confusion, the park service now says it is reinstating about 5,000 seasonal jobs that were initially rescinded last month.

Seasonal workers are routinely added during the warm-weather months to serve more than 325 million annual visitors who descend on the nation’s 428 parks, historic sites and other attractions.

The administration has ordered the agency — created after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-chopra-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-3bd86eb9b0ad7d829cb812af900fab9f">to stop nearly all its work</a>, effectively shutting it down.

The new agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said on Feb. 14 that her agency had invited Elon Musk’s DOGE team with “open arms” and that layoffs “will be forthcoming.”

A spokesman for the department, which oversees the Forest Service, said Rollins supports Trump’s directive to eliminate inefficiencies by firing about 2,000 “probationary, non-firefighting employees.”

Rollins is committed to “preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted,” the spokesman said in a statement, which did not address the fired workers who were responsible for thinning trees, removing combustible debris from forests and other projects that aim to lower a wildfire’s intensity.

On Feb. 19, the department&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usda-firings-doge-bird-flu-trump-fdd6495cbe44c96d471ae8c6cf4dd0a8">scrambled to rehire</a>&nbsp;several workers who were involved in the government’s response to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bird-flu">ongoing bird flu outbreak</a>&nbsp;that has devastated egg and poultry farms over the past three years, but who were among the thousands of federal employees eliminated on Musk’s recommendations.

It wasn’t immediately clear how many workers the department might be trying to rehire and whether any of them worked at the main USDA lab in Ames, Iowa.

Trump swiftly ordered a halt to much of the aid that the United States sends abroad. Several weeks later, the pause is on pause.

In his first week in office, Trump issued an executive order directing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-department-trump-foreign-aid-bf047e17ef64cb42a1a1b7fdf05caffa">90-day hold on most of the foreign assistance</a>&nbsp;disbursed through the State Department.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued several specific exemptions, including emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance. But thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide stopped work or prepared to do so.

Without the money to pay staff, aid organizations including the U.S. Agency for International Development began laying off hundreds of employees. Crews removed the agency’s signage from its Washington headquarters.

But on Feb. 13, a federal judge considering some of the lawsuits challenging agency cuts ordered the administration to temporarily lift the funding freeze.

The White House said last month it was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce">pausing federal grants and loans</a>&nbsp;as the Republican administration began an across-the-board ideological review.

The freeze could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Democrats and independent organizations said the move was illegal because Congress had already authorized the funding.

Each of the federal government’s largest agencies has its own independent inspector general who is supposed to conduct objective audits, prevent fraud and promote efficiency.

Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-inspectors-general-fired-congress-unlawful-4e8bc57e132c3f9a7f1c2a3754359993">fired at least 17 of them</a>, including watchdogs he appointed in his first term. At least one Democratic appointee, Michael Horowitz at the Justice Department, was spared.

Trump told reporters that “it’s a very common thing to do” and that he would “put good people in there that will be very good.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the firings were a “chilling purge.” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a top Trump ally, acknowledged that the firings may have violated the law, but he added, “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time.”

It’s normal for politically appointed U.S. attorneys to be replaced, but it is not standard procedure for career prosecutors to be ousted with a change in administrations.

The Justice Department said last month that it had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-special-counsel-trump-046ce32dbad712e72e500c32ecc20f2f">fired more than a dozen employees</a>&nbsp;who worked on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-court-classified-documents-2020-election-302f87960dbd84d7be5daedaf03328d8">criminal prosecutions of Trump</a>&nbsp;by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.

By tradition, career employees remain with the department across presidential administrations regardless of their involvement in sensitive investigations.

Multiple senior career officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-justice-department-360fe0c616e11f72bca68ab69f5eed6c">were also reassigned</a>.

A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions — as well as in lower-level posts at the State Department —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-state-department-rubio-d6c2cb864852c32b144101eb38150d29">left their jobs</a>&nbsp;at the demand of the new administration.

It was not immediately clear how many nonpolitical appointees were being asked to leave.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739312666177.png" alt="File photo Elon Musk answers questions about DOGE during an Oval Office Press Conference last week" />
 <figcaption>File photo Elon Musk answers questions about DOGE during an Oval Office Press Conference last week</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door in the first month of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump’s administration</a>&nbsp;as the White House and its Department of Government Efficiency fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for “large-scale reductions in force” and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.It is affecting more than just the national capital region, home to about 20% of the 2.4 million members of the civilian federal workforce, which does not include military personnel and postal workers. More than 80% of that workforce lives outside the Washington area.There is no official figure available of the total firings or layoffs. The Associated Press tallied how agencies are being affected based on AP reporting and statements from lawmakers and employee unions.Here is a look at some of the broad and specific ways federal agencies and employees are being affected by the administration’s reductions, as of Wednesday:<h2>‘Deferred resignation’ proposal for federal workers</h2>The White House offered a “deferred resignation” proposal in exchange for financial incentives, like months of paid leave,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-buyouts-to-all-federal-employees-f67f5751a0fd5ad8471806a5a1067b5e">to almost all federal employees</a>&nbsp;who opted to leave their jobs by Feb. 6.But just before that deadline, a federal judge blocked Trump’s plan, wanting to hear arguments from the administration and the labor unions, which said the offer was illegal.According to the Office of Personnel Management, about 75,000 federal employees had accepted the offer as of Feb. 12.<h2>Probationary employee layoffs</h2>There have also been wide-ranging layoffs of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-workers-layoffs-doge-406752da1614755b8fabe9c94e0c71a8">probationary employees</a>&nbsp;— those generally on the job for less than a year and who have yet to gain civil service protection. Potentially hundreds of thousands are affected.On Feb. 13, the administration ordered agencies to lay off nearly all such workers. According to government data maintained by OPM, 220,000 federal employees had less than a year on the job as of March 2024.<h2>Department of Veterans Affairs</h2>On Feb. 13, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced the dismissal of more than 1,000 employees who had served for less than two years. According to Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that included researchers working on cancer treatment, opioid addiction, prosthetics and burn pit exposure.<h2>Education Department</h2>At least 39 people have been fired from the Education Department, including special education specialists and student aid officials, according to a union that represents agency workers.There have also been nearly $900 million in cuts to the department’s Institute of Education Services, which tracks the progress of America’s students. It is unclear to what degree the institute would continue to exist. Industry experts said at least 169 contracts were terminated Feb. 10.<h2>Energy Department</h2>Hundreds of federal employees tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs were laid off Feb. 13, but that move was largely rescinded hours later, according to a memo obtained by the AP. Three U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said as many as 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration were ousted, with some losing access to email before they had learned they were fired.<h2>Department of Health and Human Services</h2>The jobs of more than 5,000 probationary employees are on the line at the Department of Health and Human Services.On Feb. 14, officials with the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-job-cuts-health-cdc-0d002fd6f528a7b91ced79628bf68196">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>&nbsp;were told they were losing nearly 1,300 probationary employees — about one-tenth of the agency’s workforce — but the final number&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-lab-layoffs-b9e13d62d0da00611f84b7762be0c7b9">was closer to 700</a>, according to two CDC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts.Probationary employees were also fired at public health agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but HHS has not released a final number.<h2>Department of Homeland Security</h2>The probationary cuts included more than 130 employees at the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which oversees the nation’s critical infrastructure, including the federal efforts to secure election systems. It is not clear whether those included 17 employees who had worked on election security and had already been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-security-cisa-kristi-noem-cybersecurity-5bac8ce416c46b4fbe44c94ae5874b39">placed on leave</a>.Four employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency — its chief financial officer, two program analysts and a grant specialist —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-migrant-hotels-new-york-musk-immigration-3d250d9f64b40858c0f0eda9989bea6d">were fired</a>&nbsp;Feb. 11 over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fema-migrant-funding-new-york-hotels-immigration-elon-musk-doge-268ca7eda43011a501dfad0fa88a4775">payments to reimburse</a>&nbsp;New York City for hotel costs for migrants.<h2>Internal Revenue Service</h2>The IRS will lay off&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/irs-treasury-layoffs-doge-tax-season-2be8db11fdd510b7ce6ac0db56f9a503">thousands of probationary workers</a>&nbsp;in the middle of tax season, according to two people familiar with the agency’s plans who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.It is unclear how many IRS workers will be affected or when the cuts will happen.<h2>National Park Service</h2>The administration has fired&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-park-firings-doge-grand-teton-baedee0a748a6374eafb6f95aac5dadc">about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees</a>&nbsp;who maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and perform other functions.The firings were not publicly announced but were confirmed by Democratic senators and House members. Adding to the confusion, the park service now says it is reinstating about 5,000 seasonal jobs that were initially rescinded last month.Seasonal workers are routinely added during the warm-weather months to serve more than 325 million annual visitors who descend on the nation’s 428 parks, historic sites and other attractions.<h2>Consumer Financial Protection Bureau</h2>The administration has ordered the agency — created after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-chopra-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-3bd86eb9b0ad7d829cb812af900fab9f">to stop nearly all its work</a>, effectively shutting it down.<h2>Agriculture Department</h2>The new agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said on Feb. 14 that her agency had invited Elon Musk’s DOGE team with “open arms” and that layoffs “will be forthcoming.”A spokesman for the department, which oversees the Forest Service, said Rollins supports Trump’s directive to eliminate inefficiencies by firing about 2,000 “probationary, non-firefighting employees.”Rollins is committed to “preserving essential safety positions and will ensure that critical services remain uninterrupted,” the spokesman said in a statement, which did not address the fired workers who were responsible for thinning trees, removing combustible debris from forests and other projects that aim to lower a wildfire’s intensity.On Feb. 19, the department&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/usda-firings-doge-bird-flu-trump-fdd6495cbe44c96d471ae8c6cf4dd0a8">scrambled to rehire</a>&nbsp;several workers who were involved in the government’s response to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bird-flu">ongoing bird flu outbreak</a>&nbsp;that has devastated egg and poultry farms over the past three years, but who were among the thousands of federal employees eliminated on Musk’s recommendations.It wasn’t immediately clear how many workers the department might be trying to rehire and whether any of them worked at the main USDA lab in Ames, Iowa.<h2>Foreign aid and development</h2>Trump swiftly ordered a halt to much of the aid that the United States sends abroad. Several weeks later, the pause is on pause.In his first week in office, Trump issued an executive order directing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/state-department-trump-foreign-aid-bf047e17ef64cb42a1a1b7fdf05caffa">90-day hold on most of the foreign assistance</a>&nbsp;disbursed through the State Department.Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued several specific exemptions, including emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance. But thousands of U.S.-funded humanitarian, development and security programs worldwide stopped work or prepared to do so.Without the money to pay staff, aid organizations including the U.S. Agency for International Development began laying off hundreds of employees. Crews removed the agency’s signage from its Washington headquarters.But on Feb. 13, a federal judge considering some of the lawsuits challenging agency cuts ordered the administration to temporarily lift the funding freeze.<h2>Federal grants and loans</h2>The White House said last month it was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce">pausing federal grants and loans</a>&nbsp;as the Republican administration began an across-the-board ideological review.The freeze could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.Democrats and independent organizations said the move was illegal because Congress had already authorized the funding.<h2>Inspectors general</h2>Each of the federal government’s largest agencies has its own independent inspector general who is supposed to conduct objective audits, prevent fraud and promote efficiency.Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-inspectors-general-fired-congress-unlawful-4e8bc57e132c3f9a7f1c2a3754359993">fired at least 17 of them</a>, including watchdogs he appointed in his first term. At least one Democratic appointee, Michael Horowitz at the Justice Department, was spared.Trump told reporters that “it’s a very common thing to do” and that he would “put good people in there that will be very good.”Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the firings were a “chilling purge.” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a top Trump ally, acknowledged that the firings may have violated the law, but he added, “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time.”<h2>Department of Justice</h2>It’s normal for politically appointed U.S. attorneys to be replaced, but it is not standard procedure for career prosecutors to be ousted with a change in administrations.The Justice Department said last month that it had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-special-counsel-trump-046ce32dbad712e72e500c32ecc20f2f">fired more than a dozen employees</a>&nbsp;who worked on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-federal-court-classified-documents-2020-election-302f87960dbd84d7be5daedaf03328d8">criminal prosecutions of Trump</a>&nbsp;by special counsel Jack Smith’s team.By tradition, career employees remain with the department across presidential administrations regardless of their involvement in sensitive investigations.Multiple senior career officials&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-justice-department-360fe0c616e11f72bca68ab69f5eed6c">were also reassigned</a>.<h2>State Department</h2>A large number of senior career diplomats who served in politically appointed leadership positions — as well as in lower-level posts at the State Department —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-state-department-rubio-d6c2cb864852c32b144101eb38150d29">left their jobs</a>&nbsp;at the demand of the new administration.It was not immediately clear how many nonpolitical appointees were being asked to leave.

A comprehensive look at DOGE’s firings and layoffs so far

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Police are investigating a shooting in the 1700 block of W. 6th Street Wednesday night that left a 23-year-old Lawrence man hospitalized in critical condition.

Just before 11p.m. Wednesday, Lawrence Memorial Hospital reported to police that a man had been dropped off at the emergency room suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to a media release.

Due to the severity of the victim’s injuries, he was transferred to an area trauma center where he remains in critical condition.

Investigators are actively following leads to find the people involved in this shooting. Based on the leads generated thus far, there is no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the public related to this incident. 

DOUGLAS COUNTY —Police are investigating a shooting in the 1700 block of W. 6th Street Wednesday night that left a 23-year-old Lawrence man hospitalized in critical condition.Just before 11p.m. Wednesday, Lawrence Memorial Hospital reported to police that a man had been dropped off at the emergency room suffering from an apparent gunshot wound, according to a media release.Due to the severity of the victim’s injuries, he was transferred to an area trauma center where he remains in critical condition.Investigators are actively following leads to find the people involved in this shooting. Based on the leads generated thus far, there is no reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the public related to this incident.

Man critically injured in shooting, dropped off at Kan. hospital

LABETTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a newborn baby from a hospital in Parsons.

Just after 6p.m. Tuesday, police responded to Labette Health following a report of an attempted kidnapping in progress, as reported by hospital security, according to a media release from Parsons Police.

Officers learned that hospital security had successfully intervened, preventing a suspect from leaving the hospital after trying to take a newborn baby who had not been discharged by medical staff. 

The suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Eric Matthews, was immediately detained as officers launched an investigation into the incident.

Officers reviewed video surveillance footage and interviewed multiple witnesses, confirming that Matthews had attempted to leave the Obstetrics Ward with a one-day-old infant without authorization. 

According to reports, a family member of the child confronted Matthews before he could exit the ward, stopping him from taking the baby. Hospital security then stepped in and held Matthews at the scene until law enforcement arrived.

The investigation revealed that Matthews was known to the family and has a reported history of drug use. Based on the evidence gathered, officers transported Matthews to the Parsons Police Department's lock-up facility, where he was booked on requested charges of Kidnapping and Child Endangerment.&nbsp;

Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks commended both hospital staff and law enforcement for their swift and professional handling of the situation.

"We are incredibly fortunate that this incident was resolved peacefully and without harm to the child. The quick response from Labette Health security staff played a crucial role in ensuring the infant's safety. These situations can be unpredictable and volatile, but thanks to the diligence of those involved, this matter was contained before it could escalate further. We now allow the Labette County judicial system to proceed with the case and ensure justice is served."

The Parsons Police Department remains committed to protecting the safety and well-being of all residents, especially the most vulnerable members of the community. We strive to maintain partnership with all our medical professionals to continue this protection and safeguard the guardian mentality.

This continues to be an on-going investigation, and citizens are encouraged to "See It, Hear It, Report It." All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If anyone has any further information on this incident or any other criminal activity, please contact the Parsons Police Department at 421-7060 or call the Tip Line at 421-7057 or email at tips@parsonspdks.gov.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740015765703.png" alt="Matthews photo Labette County" />
 <figcaption>Matthews photo Labette County</figcaption>
 </figure>LABETTE COUNTY—Law enforcement are investigating a suspect in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a newborn baby from a hospital in Parsons.Just after 6p.m. Tuesday, police responded to Labette Health following a report of an attempted kidnapping in progress, as reported by hospital security, according to a media release from Parsons Police.Officers learned that hospital security had successfully intervened, preventing a suspect from leaving the hospital after trying to take a newborn baby who had not been discharged by medical staff. The suspect, later identified as 31-year-old Eric Matthews, was immediately detained as officers launched an investigation into the incident.Officers reviewed video surveillance footage and interviewed multiple witnesses, confirming that Matthews had attempted to leave the Obstetrics Ward with a one-day-old infant without authorization. According to reports, a family member of the child confronted Matthews before he could exit the ward, stopping him from taking the baby. Hospital security then stepped in and held Matthews at the scene until law enforcement arrived.The investigation revealed that Matthews was known to the family and has a reported history of drug use. Based on the evidence gathered, officers transported Matthews to the Parsons Police Department's lock-up facility, where he was booked on requested charges of Kidnapping and Child Endangerment.&nbsp;Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks commended both hospital staff and law enforcement for their swift and professional handling of the situation."We are incredibly fortunate that this incident was resolved peacefully and without harm to the child. The quick response from Labette Health security staff played a crucial role in ensuring the infant's safety. These situations can be unpredictable and volatile, but thanks to the diligence of those involved, this matter was contained before it could escalate further. We now allow the Labette County judicial system to proceed with the case and ensure justice is served."The Parsons Police Department remains committed to protecting the safety and well-being of all residents, especially the most vulnerable members of the community. We strive to maintain partnership with all our medical professionals to continue this protection and safeguard the guardian mentality.This continues to be an on-going investigation, and citizens are encouraged to "See It, Hear It, Report It." All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If anyone has any further information on this incident or any other criminal activity, please contact the Parsons Police Department at 421-7060 or call the Tip Line at 421-7057 or email at tips@parsonspdks.gov.

Police: Man attempted to kidnap newborn baby from Kan. hospital

JOHNSON COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a fourplex in Overland Park.

Crews responded just before 8a.m. Wednesday to the fire&nbsp;at 116th Terrace and Bluejacket, according to a social media report from Overland Park Fire. It took 50 minutes to bring fire under control.

Fire crews found one dog deceased. Another dog was reported missing. Residents from 2 units are displaced. Fire crews from Olathe and Lenexa also responded to the scene. There were no other injuries reported.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1739999731120.png" alt="Images from Overland Park Fire Dept. video" />
 <figcaption>Images from Overland Park Fire Dept. video</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY—Authorities are investigating the cause of a fire at a fourplex in Overland Park.Crews responded just before 8a.m. Wednesday to the fire&nbsp;at 116th Terrace and Bluejacket, according to a social media report from Overland Park Fire. It took 50 minutes to bring fire under control.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740000071683.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Fire crews found one dog deceased. Another dog was reported missing. Residents from 2 units are displaced. Fire crews from Olathe and Lenexa also responded to the scene. There were no other injuries reported.

2 pets die in Kansas fourplex fire

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas on Thursday released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody the nation’s agony following&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">the Oct. 7, 2023, attack</a>.

The remains were said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was taken,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-hostages-gaza-kfir-bibas-birthday-490c428ef168655c9028dd612a15a35a">was the youngest captive</a>. Hamas has said all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.

“Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”

The militants displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, including a large one depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed militants, looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces.

The military planned to hold a small funeral ceremony, at the request of the families, before transferring the bodies to a laboratory for formal identification using DNA, a process that could take up to two days. Only then will the families be given the final notification.

Israeli channels did not broadcast the handover. In Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where Israelis have gathered to watch the release of living hostages, a large screen showed a compilation of photos and videos of Lifshitz and the Bibas family, including a chuckling baby Kfir and the family dressed up in Batman costumes.

Israelis have celebrated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-hostages-ceasefire-709efbcf93714a562640133d836bb31c">the return of 24 living hostages</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. But the handover on Thursday was a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.

It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.

Kfir Bibas was just 9 months old, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, when militants stormed into the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was 4. Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the two boys as militants led them into Gaza.

Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity.

Relatives in Israel have clung to hope,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-hostages-gaza-kfir-bibas-birthday-490c428ef168655c9028dd612a15a35a">marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays</a>&nbsp;and his brother’s fifth. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for “identification procedures” before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.

Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family — a reference to two boys’ red hair — and a popular children’s song was written in their honor.

Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.

Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/children-hostages-israel-palestinians-gaza-orphan-c8e9f6dd703a9c14161eeb6ca9e25417">including some 30 children</a>, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/2/1740048973222.png" alt="Shiri Bibas photo Hostage and Missing Families Forum" />
 <figcaption>Shiri Bibas photo Hostage and Missing Families Forum</figcaption>
 </figure>KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas on Thursday released the bodies of four Israeli hostages, said to include a mother and her two children who have long been feared dead and had come to embody the nation’s agony following&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">the Oct. 7, 2023, attack</a>.The remains were said to be of Shiri Bibas and her two children, Ariel and Kfir, as well as Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted. Kfir, who was 9 months old when he was taken,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-hostages-gaza-kfir-bibas-birthday-490c428ef168655c9028dd612a15a35a">was the youngest captive</a>. Hamas has said all four were killed along with their guards in Israeli airstrikes.“Our hearts — the hearts of an entire nation — lie in tatters,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog said in a statement. “On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely.”The militants displayed four black coffins on a stage in the Gaza Strip surrounded by banners, including a large one depicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a vampire. Thousands of people, including large numbers of masked and armed militants, looked on as the coffins were loaded onto Red Cross vehicles before being driven to Israeli forces.The military planned to hold a small funeral ceremony, at the request of the families, before transferring the bodies to a laboratory for formal identification using DNA, a process that could take up to two days. Only then will the families be given the final notification.Israeli channels did not broadcast the handover. In Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, where Israelis have gathered to watch the release of living hostages, a large screen showed a compilation of photos and videos of Lifshitz and the Bibas family, including a chuckling baby Kfir and the family dressed up in Batman costumes.Israelis have celebrated&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-gaza-hamas-hostages-ceasefire-709efbcf93714a562640133d836bb31c">the return of 24 living hostages</a>&nbsp;in recent weeks under a tenuous ceasefire that paused over 15 months of war. But the handover on Thursday was a grim reminder of those who died in captivity as the talks leading up to the truce dragged on for over a year.It could also provide impetus for negotiations on the second stage of the ceasefire that have hardly begun. The first phase is set to end at the beginning of March.ADVERTISEMENT<h2>Infant was the youngest taken hostage</h2>Kfir Bibas was just 9 months old, a red-headed infant with a toothless smile, when militants stormed into the family’s home on Oct. 7, 2023. His brother Ariel was 4. Video shot that day showed a terrified Shiri swaddling the two boys as militants led them into Gaza.Her husband, Yarden Bibas, was taken separately and released this month after 16 months in captivity.Relatives in Israel have clung to hope,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-hostages-gaza-kfir-bibas-birthday-490c428ef168655c9028dd612a15a35a">marking Kfir’s first and second birthdays</a>&nbsp;and his brother’s fifth. The Bibas family said in a statement Wednesday that it would wait for “identification procedures” before acknowledging that their loved ones were dead.Supporters throughout Israel have worn orange in solidarity with the family — a reference to two boys’ red hair — and a popular children’s song was written in their honor.Like the Bibas family, Oded Lifshitz was abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz, along with his wife Yocheved, who was freed during a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023. Oded was a journalist who campaigned for the recognition of Palestinian rights and peace between Arabs and Jews.Hamas-led militants abducted 251 hostages,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/children-hostages-israel-palestinians-gaza-orphan-c8e9f6dd703a9c14161eeb6ca9e25417">including some 30 children</a>, in the Oct. 7 attack, in which they also killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.More than half the hostages, and most of the women and children, have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight and have recovered dozens of bodies of people killed in the initial attack or who died in captivity.