HAYS – The TMP-Marian girls’ volleyball team is headed to
the sub-state round of the 2A postseason after they swept three home regional
matches at Hays High on Monday. 

The Monarchs swept Smith Center (25-16 &amp; 25-13), Plainville
(25-22 &amp; 25-17) and Wichita County (25-17 &amp; 25-14) in straight sets. 

The Monarchs head into sub-state with a 28-11 record. 

Saturday’s sub-state matchups will be released Tuesday
morning.

Hays PostHAYS – The TMP-Marian girls’ volleyball team is headed to
the sub-state round of the 2A postseason after they swept three home regional
matches at Hays High on Monday. The Monarchs swept Smith Center (25-16 &amp; 25-13), Plainville
(25-22 &amp; 25-17) and Wichita County (25-17 &amp; 25-14) in straight sets. The Monarchs head into sub-state with a 28-11 record. Saturday’s sub-state matchups will be released Tuesday
morning.

🏐TMP goes 3-0 at home regional; advances to sub-state

SALINA – Day number one of the 5A state golf tournament in
Salina was disrupted by a more than three-hour rain and lightning delay and then
darkness,&nbsp;so the first round continues Tuesday morning at the Salina Municipal.

Hays High’s Jaycee Oakley, Liz Dreiling and Kinley
Pfannenstiel are headed back to the course Tuesday morning to complete their
opening round at 8 a.m. 

Oakley was in fifth, at four-over through 15 holes Monday and
is in a position to be one of 18 individual qualifiers for day number two. 

Liz Dreiling was in 53rd place with a 28-over
through 16 holes, and Kinley Pfannenstiel was tied for 70th with a
36-over through 16 holes.

Ava Erbert and Lily Butler finished their first round 36-over
and were tied for 70th. 

Hays PostSALINA – Day number one of the 5A state golf tournament in
Salina was disrupted by a more than three-hour rain and lightning delay and then
darkness,&nbsp;so the first round continues Tuesday morning at the Salina Municipal.Hays High’s Jaycee Oakley, Liz Dreiling and Kinley
Pfannenstiel are headed back to the course Tuesday morning to complete their
opening round at 8 a.m. Oakley was in fifth, at four-over through 15 holes Monday and
is in a position to be one of 18 individual qualifiers for day number two. Liz Dreiling was in 53rd place with a 28-over
through 16 holes, and Kinley Pfannenstiel was tied for 70th with a
36-over through 16 holes.Ava Erbert and Lily Butler finished their first round 36-over
and were tied for 70th.

⛳Weather delays 5A girls state tournament first-round

EMPORIA – On Monday, the TMP-Marian girls’ golf team had two
individuals qualify for the second day of the 3-1A state tournament at the
Emporia Municipal Course.

Brynn Schoepf and Jenna Brull each fired a 22-over opening
round and were 21st and 23rd, respectively.

Brull tees off at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning and Schoepf goes
at 10:10 a.m. 

Ava Schumacher finished 51st and was 31-over and
Emma Wasinger finished 64th was 37-over.

The Monarchs finished day one, tied for ninth as a team with
396. 

Hays PostEMPORIA – On Monday, the TMP-Marian girls’ golf team had two
individuals qualify for the second day of the 3-1A state tournament at the
Emporia Municipal Course.Brynn Schoepf and Jenna Brull each fired a 22-over opening
round and were 21st and 23rd, respectively.Brull tees off at 10 a.m. Tuesday morning and Schoepf goes
at 10:10 a.m. Ava Schumacher finished 51st and was 31-over and
Emma Wasinger finished 64th was 37-over.The Monarchs finished day one, tied for ninth as a team with
396.

⛳TMP’s Schoepf and Brull qualify for second day of state tournament

With just over two weeks to go before the 2024 presidential election and the race in a dead heat,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a>&nbsp;are hitting the campaign trail in strategic battleground states.

The Republican nominee made&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-donald-trump-2024-north-carolina-2dea5d3130416a56f21a5c22ce2e4386">three North Carolina stops</a>&nbsp;Monday, including a visit to see storm damage in Asheville.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Harris</a>&nbsp;is out to win over suburban voters in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-election-2024-gop-c584f9860260f48ddff90ab2dca0433a">key Midwestern battleground states</a>&nbsp;and teaming up with Republican Liz Cheney.

Harris has closed her final event of the day

She ended the evening by saying, “I hope to earn your vote, by the way.”

Cheney: ‘We’re better than partisanship’

Cheney says that the U.S. has to be able to say, “We’re better than partisanship,” as she seeks to convince undecided voters to back Harris.

Harris herself says U.S. democracy requires a “two-party system.” She says debates are important and disagreements are, too. “But not name calling.”

She says that Trump wants to focus only on himself and his grievances.

Harris reaches out to Americans who are anti-abortion

Harris says she’s spoken with Americans who are anti-abortion who are surprised and concerned by the post-Roe medical landscape and “did not intend for the harm” that some women are now suffering because of increasing abortion restrictions.

Women in some states have lost access to reproductive care in states with strict abortion laws.

She was asked about reproductive rights by an undecided voter who says she is a conservative Christian but she feels the laws post-Roe are less about the unborn and “more about controlling women.”

Harris is looking to win over Republican voters

Harris — with help from Cheney — is trying to convince Republicans who are concerned about Trump to instead vote for her.

She’s speaking to a small theater of voters in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin — some of those in attendance have never voted for a Democrat, according to the event’s moderator.

Trump wrapped up his speech at a campaign event in Concord, North Carolina where he largely tried to appeal to Christian voters by repeating his criticism about transgender athletes and his proposal to conduct a large-scale deportation operation. Trump said that during his administration, he fought for Christians “like no president has ever fought before.”

Walz says some Republicans want to 'move off the MAGA stuff'

Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz says the Democratic ticket is focused on attracting traditional Republicans to support Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

In an interview with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's “The Daily Show,” Minnesota Gov. Walz says a lot of the undecided voters he meets on the campaign trail are Republicans.

“It’s a lot of those folks that are trying to get permission to move off the MAGA stuff and move over,” he says. “These are folks that want to find a reason to not vote for Donald Trump. We need to give them that.”

Trump endorses the Republican candidate for Alaska’s only House seat

Trump participated in a telerally late Monday for Republican Nick Begich, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola for Alaska’s only House seat.

Trump endorsed Begich after the Republican he’d initially backed withdrew following the primary.

Peltola in 2022 became the first Alaska Native in Congress after winning special and regular elections for the seat, defeating opponents including Begich. Trump dismissed her election as a “fluke.”

There have been repeated affirmations from Trump’s Concord crowd, bursts of applause and standing ovations for some of Trump’s accomplishments like the appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Many in the crowd have joined into a one-sided conversation with Trump as he has mentioned Harris, with numerous shouts of “go home, Kamala” and “the enemy” when mentions of Democrats have been made.

Trump reflects on his faith, says Harris is ‘very destructive to religion’

Compared to his typical rallies and town halls, Trump’s faith leader event in Concord, North Carolina, has placed spirituality at the forefront. Supporters have chanted “Jesus” and “Praise God” throughout the night.

Trump spent some time reflecting on the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, where a bullet grazed his ear. Trump shared how his parents used to take him to church in Queens and Manhattan.

“As I look back at my life’s journey and events, I now recognize that it’s been the hand of God leading me to where I am today,” he said. “I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose. And that’s to make our country greater than ever before.”

Trump said his opponent Kamala Harris is “very destructive to religion.”

Biden shouts out Harris while honoring artists at a medal ceremony

At a White House ceremony honoring winners of the National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals, Biden took a brief detour in his remarks to give a shoutout to Harris’ run for the White House.

“I know the power of the women in this room to get things done” and boost the next generation, Biden told the crowd that included singer and actress Queen Latifah and poet Joy Harjo. He added that female winners were “proving a woman can do anything a man can do, and then some, that includes being president of the United States of America.”

The line drew a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd that also included directors Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg, and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.

Biden also told the winners that the moment was a “very consequential time in the arts and humanities in America” because “extreme forces are banning books, trying to erase history, spreading misinformation.”

6 inches of snow delay early voting in Fairbanks, Alaska

Election season has coincided with the first major cold-weather storm, leading to a delayed start for voting in Fairbanks, Alaska.

The state Division of Elections canceled early voting Monday in Fairbanks after more than 6 inches of wet, heavy snow fell overnight. That snow transitioned into rain Monday morning, leaving water on top of super compact, hard snow, said Stephen Dennis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Besides upending the first day of early voting, the ice and snow also prompted the cancelation of all in-person classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a plea from city police to avoid unnecessary travel.

The forecast calls for more accumulation Tuesday, with up to 10 inches of snow expected to fall.

Pennsylvania man charged with threatening to kill a state political party employee

The Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to kill a state political party employee who was recruiting Election Day poll watchers, the Justice Department said Monday.

Prosecutors say John Courtney Pollard, 62, texted the state political party representative that he was interested in being a poll watcher after the person posted online last month that they were looking for volunteers.

Pollard, of Philadelphia, then sent the person a series of threatening messages, threatening to kill them in one if they didn’t respond and threatening to skin them alive in another, prosecutors allege.

There was no attorney listed in the court docket for Pollard, and a voice message was left on a cellphone listed for him.

The case was brought through the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was created in 2021 amid escalating threats of violence against election workers nationwide.

They’re eating gummies, all sorts of things’

In her conversation with Harris, Shriver asked the Democratic nominee about what she is doing to de-stress, saying that Americans say they’re turning off the news, they’re doing yoga, “they’re eating gummies, all sorts of things.”

The crowd laughed and Harris said: “Not eating gummies,” with a chuckle. Harris said she was having trouble sleeping. She says she wakes up in the middle of the night and she works out in the morning and that her family grounds her.

But she also says that Americans should not despair. Everyone in a Democracy has the ability to make a decision about the future through their votes. “Let’s not feel powerless,” she said. “That’s not in our nature.”

Harris: Trump can be manipulated ‘by dictators and autocrats’

Harris says Trump “has been manipulated and is so clearly able to be manipulated by favor and flattery including by dictators and autocrats.”

She says if he wins the White House, Ukraine will fall to Russia and that will have terrible consequences globally.

Harris praised the bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress and said she believes it will continue but that she worries about Trump’s embrace of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Harris and Cheney haven’t always gotten along

With Liz Cheney becoming one of Harris’ fiercest advocates — the two are currently at a campaign event together — the Trump campaign is resurfacing a 2019 post made by a Harris campaign spokesman criticizing the former Wyoming representative and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.

The post made by Harris spokesman Ian Sams says, “Liz Cheney helped lead us into Iraq from a special State Department Middle East post her dad’s administration created for her.” The post was made in response to Cheney’s then-criticism of Harris.

Democrats have long vilified Dick Cheney for his defense of the Iraq War. Liz Cheney was selected in 2005 by then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as principal deputy assistant for near Eastern affairs and to coordinate initiatives in the broader Middle East and North Africa.

Harris and Cheney are being interviewed by Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California under Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who says many voters feel they don’t know the vice president, and asked her to speak about herself “to give them a feeling for who you are.”

Harris’ truncated campaign — she only started running for the presidency in July when President Biden stepped aside — has limited the time she’s had to introduce herself to the American public.

“I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a sister,” she said. “I am a godmother. I love to cook. I started my career as a prosecutor.”

Harris says voters should take Trump’s rhetoric seriously, rather than writing it off as some “sick sense of humor.”

“Some people find it humorous, what he says, and it’s just silly,” she said. “But understand how serious it is.”

She referenced that retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Trump, reportedly described him as “fascist to the core.”

Liz Cheney has a message for GOP voters who don’t want to see Trump in the White House but are scared to go against their party and vote for Harris.

She says Americans can “vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.”

Cheney says she thinks “millions” of Republicans will be quietly casting a vote for the Democrat.

Cheney says she’s actively supporting Harris because she believes Trump is dangerous, especially because he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election and still refuses to admit he lost.

Trump has ended his speech at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina

He thanked SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for helping him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-america-pac-donald-trump-344f1ecc9770c4e394fceb7bbbe2b237">campaign in Pennsylvania</a>.

Trump’s attacks against Harris are getting nastier

Trump keeps escalating his attacks on Harris at his Greenville, North Carolina, rally, calling her a “nutjob” and accusing her of lacking compassion and strength.

He criticized Harris for being at a fundraiser in San Francisco after Hurricane Helene ravaged the U.S. Southeast.

“Kamala Harris does not have the compassion, the smarts or the strength to be the president of the United States,” he said. “She just can’t do the job.”

Trump has previously called Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kamala-harris-white-house-election-a38195f876767332c48d12226a6aea2f">“mentally impaired,”</a>&nbsp;and over the weekend he added a profanity when encouraging supporters to vote Democrats out of office.

“You have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore, we can’t stand you anymore, you’re a s— vice president.”

Harris is campaigning with Republican Liz Cheney at the Royal Oak Theater in Michigan, and inside the ladies’ room, there’s a secret message for women voters.

“Woman to woman — your vote is secret,” the notes read. “Support reproductive rights this November.”

The pink sticky notes are taped inside every stall.

After Trump’s campaign appearance at a McDonald’s drive-thru, Harris criticized him for not supporting an increase in minimum wage

She said that someone working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would only make $15,000 a year, which she said are “essentially poverty wages.”

Harris also pointed to a nonpartisan analysis that said Trump’s policies would deplete Social Security.

“Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understands the needs of working people.”

At a North Carolina rally, Trump said Harris and the Biden administration haven’t done enough to help after Hurricane Helene

At a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump attacked his opponent and the Biden administration, claiming they haven’t properly supported the western part of the state after it was battered by Hurricane Helene last month.

He repeated an incorrect claim that the federal government doesn’t have enough money for hurricane victims because it is being used to help immigrants in the country illegally.

“They didn’t have any money left for North Carolina,” he said.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund gets replenished every year by Congress and is used to pay for recovery from natural disasters. The agency said that money is only used for disaster-related efforts and hasn’t been diverted to support border issues.

Harris responded to Trump’s accusations that she never worked at McDonald’s while she was a college student

“Did I?” she said while getting off Air Force Two in Michigan. “I did.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729553617190.png" alt="Vice President Harris and Republican Liz Cheney at a campaign event on Monday-image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Vice President Harris and Republican Liz Cheney at a campaign event on Monday-image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>With just over two weeks to go before the 2024 presidential election and the race in a dead heat,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Kamala Harris</a>&nbsp;are hitting the campaign trail in strategic battleground states.The Republican nominee made&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-donald-trump-2024-north-carolina-2dea5d3130416a56f21a5c22ce2e4386">three North Carolina stops</a>&nbsp;Monday, including a visit to see storm damage in Asheville.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/kamala-harris">Harris</a>&nbsp;is out to win over suburban voters in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-election-2024-gop-c584f9860260f48ddff90ab2dca0433a">key Midwestern battleground states</a>&nbsp;and teaming up with Republican Liz Cheney.Here’s the latest:<h2>Harris has closed her final event of the day</h2>She ended the evening by saying, “I hope to earn your vote, by the way.”<h2>Cheney: ‘We’re better than partisanship’</h2>Cheney says that the U.S. has to be able to say, “We’re better than partisanship,” as she seeks to convince undecided voters to back Harris.Harris herself says U.S. democracy requires a “two-party system.” She says debates are important and disagreements are, too. “But not name calling.”She says that Trump wants to focus only on himself and his grievances.<h2>Harris reaches out to Americans who are anti-abortion</h2>Harris says she’s spoken with Americans who are anti-abortion who are surprised and concerned by the post-Roe medical landscape and “did not intend for the harm” that some women are now suffering because of increasing abortion restrictions.Women in some states have lost access to reproductive care in states with strict abortion laws.She was asked about reproductive rights by an undecided voter who says she is a conservative Christian but she feels the laws post-Roe are less about the unborn and “more about controlling women.”<h2>Harris is looking to win over Republican voters</h2>Harris — with help from Cheney — is trying to convince Republicans who are concerned about Trump to instead vote for her.She’s speaking to a small theater of voters in the critical battleground state of Wisconsin — some of those in attendance have never voted for a Democrat, according to the event’s moderator.<h2>Trump wraps faith campaign event</h2><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“We ask God to give you strength, comfort, and peace…When I’m President, I will stand with you until the communities are fully rebuilt” <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://t.co/cmSzExICEk">pic.twitter.com/cmSzExICEk</a>&mdash; Margo Martin (@margommartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/margommartin/status/1848408324615655754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump wrapped up his speech at a campaign event in Concord, North Carolina where he largely tried to appeal to Christian voters by repeating his criticism about transgender athletes and his proposal to conduct a large-scale deportation operation. Trump said that during his administration, he fought for Christians “like no president has ever fought before.”<h2>Walz says some Republicans want to 'move off the MAGA stuff'</h2>Vice presidential nominee Tim Walz says the Democratic ticket is focused on attracting traditional Republicans to support Vice President Kamala Harris for president.In an interview with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's “The Daily Show,” Minnesota Gov. Walz says a lot of the undecided voters he meets on the campaign trail are Republicans.“It’s a lot of those folks that are trying to get permission to move off the MAGA stuff and move over,” he says. “These are folks that want to find a reason to not vote for Donald Trump. We need to give them that.”<h2>Trump endorses the Republican candidate for Alaska’s only House seat</h2>Trump participated in a telerally late Monday for Republican Nick Begich, who is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola for Alaska’s only House seat.Trump endorsed Begich after the Republican he’d initially backed withdrew following the primary.Peltola in 2022 became the first Alaska Native in Congress after winning special and regular elections for the seat, defeating opponents including Begich. Trump dismissed her election as a “fluke.”<h2>Trump’s energetic crowd</h2>There have been repeated affirmations from Trump’s Concord crowd, bursts of applause and standing ovations for some of Trump’s accomplishments like the appointment of three U.S. Supreme Court justices.Many in the crowd have joined into a one-sided conversation with Trump as he has mentioned Harris, with numerous shouts of “go home, Kamala” and “the enemy” when mentions of Democrats have been made.<h2>Trump reflects on his faith, says Harris is ‘very destructive to religion’</h2>Compared to his typical rallies and town halls, Trump’s faith leader event in Concord, North Carolina, has placed spirituality at the forefront. Supporters have chanted “Jesus” and “Praise God” throughout the night.Trump spent some time reflecting on the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, where a bullet grazed his ear. Trump shared how his parents used to take him to church in Queens and Manhattan.“As I look back at my life’s journey and events, I now recognize that it’s been the hand of God leading me to where I am today,” he said. “I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose. And that’s to make our country greater than ever before.”Trump said his opponent Kamala Harris is “very destructive to religion.”<h2>Biden shouts out Harris while honoring artists at a medal ceremony</h2>At a White House ceremony honoring winners of the National Medals of Arts and National Humanities Medals, Biden took a brief detour in his remarks to give a shoutout to Harris’ run for the White House.“I know the power of the women in this room to get things done” and boost the next generation, Biden told the crowd that included singer and actress Queen Latifah and poet Joy Harjo. He added that female winners were “proving a woman can do anything a man can do, and then some, that includes being president of the United States of America.”The line drew a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd that also included directors Spike Lee and Steven Spielberg, and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.Biden also told the winners that the moment was a “very consequential time in the arts and humanities in America” because “extreme forces are banning books, trying to erase history, spreading misinformation.”<h2>6 inches of snow delay early voting in Fairbanks, Alaska</h2>Election season has coincided with the first major cold-weather storm, leading to a delayed start for voting in Fairbanks, Alaska.The state Division of Elections canceled early voting Monday in Fairbanks after more than 6 inches of wet, heavy snow fell overnight. That snow transitioned into rain Monday morning, leaving water on top of super compact, hard snow, said Stephen Dennis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.Besides upending the first day of early voting, the ice and snow also prompted the cancelation of all in-person classes at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a plea from city police to avoid unnecessary travel.The forecast calls for more accumulation Tuesday, with up to 10 inches of snow expected to fall.<h2>Pennsylvania man charged with threatening to kill a state political party employee</h2>The Pennsylvania man has been charged with threatening to kill a state political party employee who was recruiting Election Day poll watchers, the Justice Department said Monday.Prosecutors say John Courtney Pollard, 62, texted the state political party representative that he was interested in being a poll watcher after the person posted online last month that they were looking for volunteers.Pollard, of Philadelphia, then sent the person a series of threatening messages, threatening to kill them in one if they didn’t respond and threatening to skin them alive in another, prosecutors allege.There was no attorney listed in the court docket for Pollard, and a voice message was left on a cellphone listed for him.The case was brought through the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force, which was created in 2021 amid escalating threats of violence against election workers nationwide.<h2>They’re eating gummies, all sorts of things’</h2>In her conversation with Harris, Shriver asked the Democratic nominee about what she is doing to de-stress, saying that Americans say they’re turning off the news, they’re doing yoga, “they’re eating gummies, all sorts of things.”The crowd laughed and Harris said: “Not eating gummies,” with a chuckle. Harris said she was having trouble sleeping. She says she wakes up in the middle of the night and she works out in the morning and that her family grounds her.But she also says that Americans should not despair. Everyone in a Democracy has the ability to make a decision about the future through their votes. “Let’s not feel powerless,” she said. “That’s not in our nature.”<h2>Harris: Trump can be manipulated ‘by dictators and autocrats’</h2>Harris says Trump “has been manipulated and is so clearly able to be manipulated by favor and flattery including by dictators and autocrats.”She says if he wins the White House, Ukraine will fall to Russia and that will have terrible consequences globally.Harris praised the bipartisan support for Ukraine in Congress and said she believes it will continue but that she worries about Trump’s embrace of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.<h2>Harris and Cheney haven’t always gotten along</h2>With Liz Cheney becoming one of Harris’ fiercest advocates — the two are currently at a campaign event together — the Trump campaign is resurfacing a 2019 post made by a Harris campaign spokesman criticizing the former Wyoming representative and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney.The post made by Harris spokesman Ian Sams says, “Liz Cheney helped lead us into Iraq from a special State Department Middle East post her dad’s administration created for her.” The post was made in response to Cheney’s then-criticism of Harris.Democrats have long vilified Dick Cheney for his defense of the Iraq War. Liz Cheney was selected in 2005 by then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as principal deputy assistant for near Eastern affairs and to coordinate initiatives in the broader Middle East and North Africa.<h2>Harris continues to reintroduce herself</h2>Harris and Cheney are being interviewed by Maria Shriver, the former first lady of California under Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who says many voters feel they don’t know the vice president, and asked her to speak about herself “to give them a feeling for who you are.”Harris’ truncated campaign — she only started running for the presidency in July when President Biden stepped aside — has limited the time she’s had to introduce herself to the American public.“I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a sister,” she said. “I am a godmother. I love to cook. I started my career as a prosecutor.”<h2>Harris doesn’t find Trump funny</h2>Harris says voters should take Trump’s rhetoric seriously, rather than writing it off as some “sick sense of humor.”“Some people find it humorous, what he says, and it’s just silly,” she said. “But understand how serious it is.”She referenced that retired Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs under Trump, reportedly described him as “fascist to the core.”<h2>Liz Cheney’s message to Republicans</h2>Liz Cheney has a message for GOP voters who don’t want to see Trump in the White House but are scared to go against their party and vote for Harris.She says Americans can “vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.”Cheney says she thinks “millions” of Republicans will be quietly casting a vote for the Democrat.Cheney says she’s actively supporting Harris because she believes Trump is dangerous, especially because he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election and still refuses to admit he lost.<h2>Trump has ended his speech at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina</h2>He thanked SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for helping him&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-america-pac-donald-trump-344f1ecc9770c4e394fceb7bbbe2b237">campaign in Pennsylvania</a>.<h2>Trump’s attacks against Harris are getting nastier</h2>Trump keeps escalating his attacks on Harris at his Greenville, North Carolina, rally, calling her a “nutjob” and accusing her of lacking compassion and strength.He criticized Harris for being at a fundraiser in San Francisco after Hurricane Helene ravaged the U.S. Southeast.“Kamala Harris does not have the compassion, the smarts or the strength to be the president of the United States,” he said. “She just can’t do the job.”Trump has previously called Harris&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kamala-harris-white-house-election-a38195f876767332c48d12226a6aea2f">“mentally impaired,”</a>&nbsp;and over the weekend he added a profanity when encouraging supporters to vote Democrats out of office.“You have to tell Kamala Harris that you’ve had enough, that you just can’t take it anymore, we can’t stand you anymore, you’re a s— vice president.”<h2>A secret message in the ladies’ room</h2>Harris is campaigning with Republican Liz Cheney at the Royal Oak Theater in Michigan, and inside the ladies’ room, there’s a secret message for women voters.“Woman to woman — your vote is secret,” the notes read. “Support reproductive rights this November.”The pink sticky notes are taped inside every stall.<h2>After Trump’s campaign appearance at a McDonald’s drive-thru, Harris criticized him for not supporting an increase in minimum wage</h2>She said that someone working full time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would only make $15,000 a year, which she said are “essentially poverty wages.”Harris also pointed to a nonpartisan analysis that said Trump’s policies would deplete Social Security.“Donald Trump clearly doesn’t understands the needs of working people.”<h2>At a North Carolina rally, Trump said Harris and the Biden administration haven’t done enough to help after Hurricane Helene</h2>At a rally in Greenville, North Carolina, Trump attacked his opponent and the Biden administration, claiming they haven’t properly supported the western part of the state after it was battered by Hurricane Helene last month.He repeated an incorrect claim that the federal government doesn’t have enough money for hurricane victims because it is being used to help immigrants in the country illegally.“They didn’t have any money left for North Carolina,” he said.The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund gets replenished every year by Congress and is used to pay for recovery from natural disasters. The agency said that money is only used for disaster-related efforts and hasn’t been diverted to support border issues.<h2>Harris responded to Trump’s accusations that she never worked at McDonald’s while she was a college student</h2>“Did I?” she said while getting off Air Force Two in Michigan. “I did.”Harris also gave a thumb’s up.<h2>The White House pushed back against statements by Trump that the administration failed to help after Hurricane Helene</h2>White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the Republican nominee’s comments “dangerous” and said they had been debunked on a bipartisan basis.Jean-Pierre noted that 5,500 federal personnel were in North Carolina and Florida after Helene and Hurricane Milton. And she said $2 billion in federal assistance had been approved for those affected in North Carolina.“They are dangerous,” Jean-Pierre said of Trump’s remarks. “They are unhelpful. It is not what leadership looks like.”

2 weeks to go: Trump and Harris make stops in battleground states

By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post

The director of the local special education co-op told the Hays USD school board Monday night that state funding is increasing this year for the local co-op, but the state is still not meeting its obligations.

The Kansas Legislature approved an increase of $75 million for special education funding. 

Under the new formula, that will mean about $600,000 for the West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, which consists of the Hays, Ellis, Victoria, La Crosse, and Russell school districts and the private schools in those areas.

Federal funding will stay the same this school year, Kyle Carlin, co-op director, said.

Neither level of government is fully funding its share of special education. The federal government is supposed to fund 40% of special education costs but has never done so, Carlin said. The federal government is currently funding special education in Kansas at about 12% of the cost.

According to statute, the state is supposed to fund 92 percent of what is not covered by the federal government. This school year, the state will fund about 74.6% of that cost.

The rest of the cost of funding special education falls to the local school districts.

The federal gap for the local co-op is $3.2 million, and the state gap is between $1.4 million and $1.6 million per year.

Carlin said receiving those funds would be "game-changing" for the local districts.

Kansas School Board member Cathy Hopkins of Hays recommended increasing state special education funding.

However, Carlin said lawmakers from both sides of the aisle need to support more special education funding.

Board member Ruth Ruder said she contacted Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, and Hopkins about this issue.

Wasinger cited the federal government not fully funding its share of the special education cost. However, she said she would be willing to meet with Ruder and other school officials on the issue.

"We need to hold them to their obligation," Ruder said."They need to meet it."

Ruder said the issue also needs to be brought before the U.S. Congressional delegations.

Superintendent Ron Wilson said it's important everyone knows the need for special education and the need right now.

The co-op is serving 1,050 students with individual education plans. It employs 100 licensed staff and an additional 200 paraprofessionals.

"The requirement and expectations for teachers and all they deal with is unbelievable," Wilson said.

"We have groups that don't grasp that, and it's very frustrating."

Carlin said the co-op has to meet mandates but does not have the funds to do that.&nbsp;

By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays PostThe director of the local special education co-op told the Hays USD school board Monday night that state funding is increasing this year for the local co-op, but the state is still not meeting its obligations.The Kansas Legislature approved an increase of $75 million for special education funding. Under the new formula, that will mean about $600,000 for the West Central Kansas Special Education Cooperative, which consists of the Hays, Ellis, Victoria, La Crosse, and Russell school districts and the private schools in those areas.Federal funding will stay the same this school year, Kyle Carlin, co-op director, said.Neither level of government is fully funding its share of special education. The federal government is supposed to fund 40% of special education costs but has never done so, Carlin said. The federal government is currently funding special education in Kansas at about 12% of the cost.According to statute, the state is supposed to fund 92 percent of what is not covered by the federal government. This school year, the state will fund about 74.6% of that cost.The rest of the cost of funding special education falls to the local school districts.The federal gap for the local co-op is $3.2 million, and the state gap is between $1.4 million and $1.6 million per year.Carlin said receiving those funds would be "game-changing" for the local districts.Kansas School Board member Cathy Hopkins of Hays recommended increasing state special education funding.However, Carlin said lawmakers from both sides of the aisle need to support more special education funding.Board member Ruth Ruder said she contacted Rep. Barb Wasinger, R-Hays, and Hopkins about this issue.Wasinger cited the federal government not fully funding its share of the special education cost. However, she said she would be willing to meet with Ruder and other school officials on the issue."We need to hold them to their obligation," Ruder said."They need to meet it."Ruder said the issue also needs to be brought before the U.S. Congressional delegations.Superintendent Ron Wilson said it's important everyone knows the need for special education and the need right now.The co-op is serving 1,050 students with individual education plans. It employs 100 licensed staff and an additional 200 paraprofessionals."The requirement and expectations for teachers and all they deal with is unbelievable," Wilson said."We have groups that don't grasp that, and it's very frustrating."Carlin said the co-op has to meet mandates but does not have the funds to do that.&nbsp;"It's handcuffing us," he said.

Special education funding increasing, but gov't still not meeting obligations

By JOHN P. TRETBAR Eagle Media

Domestic operators set another weekly all-time crude-production record last week, topping 13.5 million barrels per day. Cumulative production so far this year reached an average of just under 13.2 million barrels, more than six percent higher than a year ago.

The Energy Information Administration reported a big drop in US crude inventories. As of October 11, stockpiles dropped to just over 420 million barrels, down 2.2 million barrels from a week ago and five percent below the five-year seasonal average.

The Energy Department took delivery &nbsp;on another million barrels of crude oil at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. SPR stockpiles now total nearly 384 million barrels, down from 618 million three years ago.&nbsp; Since April, the Energy Department has added nearly 20 million barrels, at prices twenty to twenty-five dollars cheaper than what we sold it for.

The US imports more crude then we export by more than a million barrels a day. But according to the latest weekly numbers from the government, petroleum product exports outpace imports by nearly five million daily barrels.&nbsp; That makes us a net petroleum exporter. According to EIA, US crude-oil imports averaged 5.5 million barrels a day, down from 6.2 million last week.&nbsp; The four-week average is down 3.4 percent from the same four-week period last year. Operators exported 4.1 million barrels of crude per day last week, up from &nbsp;3.8 million a week ago. The four week average is up nearly 100-thousand &nbsp;barrels a day from a year ago.

Rig Counts for natural gas in the US are down slightly, but the tally for oil rigs is slightly higher. Baker Hughes reports 585 rigs nationwide. The breakouts show an unusual increase in active vertical drilling rigs, offset by declines in both directional and horizontal rigs. The statewide total for Texas was down two while Oklahoma and Colorado were each up one rig.

The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service is up two rigs in the eastern half of the state at 14 rigs, and up two in Western Kansas at 19. The tally is up 50 percent from last month but down about 13 percent from a year ago. Drilling was underway on two leases in Barton County and another in Ellis County.

Regulators in The Sunflower State approved 55 new drilling locations, the biggest weekly total since June of 2022. There are 45 new drilling permits in eastern Kansas, and ten west of Wichita, including one in Barton County and one in Ellis County.

Operators in Kansas completed 25 new wells last week, with 12 in Western Kansas and 13 east of Wichita. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 1,069 completions so far this year, down more than 300 wells from a year ago.

Hurricane Milton prompted a brief scare in the energy sector, but gasoline prices in Florida have remained stable since landfall on October 9.&nbsp; A report from the EIA asserts that despite some areas with major disruptions, statewide pump prices have remained steady at $3.04 per gallon as the supply chain recovers. Florida is particularly vulnerable to price spikes brought on by weather events. The state does not have refineries or pipelines, relying instead on gasoline deliveries by ship. Several ports were closed briefly, but others remained open with restrictions. At Port Tampa Bay, where nearly half of Florida’s petroleum product supply is brought in, authorities report no significant damage to docks, but they did note some infrastructure damage, power outages, and road closures that might disrupt supply in the short term.

The U.S. broadened economic sanctions in hopes of forestalling or softening military ones.&nbsp; The Treasury Department announced a flurry of sanctions against terrorism broadly and some enablers in the industry specifically. They're targeting everything from the "ghost fleet" of oil tankers currently evading Iran sanctions to Syria's drug-trafficking activity. It appears the collective effort may have stopped Israel from attacking energy installations in Iran. But they have not yet responded to Iran's missile attack earlier this month.

The US used a Trump-era executive order to allow for sanctions against anyone linked to Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sector.&nbsp; They've designated ten companies and 17 vessels as “blocked property” over their involvement with the Islamic Republic. Such tankers have been detained in the past, their oil cargoes offloaded and sold. Up until now the tankers themselves have been released. The West has been less successful enforcing sanctions against Russia.

Big Oil has big plans for some big acreage. ExxonMobil hopes to increase output from its offshore holdings near Guyana by 18,000 barrels per day once it has completed risk assessments and received approval from local authorities. That's according to a top government official in the South American Country, where many big players are shuffling to drill in the latest international hot spot. The company currently produces more than 660-thousand barrels a day in the region.

The month of September and the first nine months of the year have posted declines in total rail traffic, but oil by rail is holding steady. Weekly oil by rail shipments are up slightly over a year ago, but down from a week ago. According to the Association of America Railroads, rail traffic hauling petroleum and petroleum products was up six-tenths of a percent in the week through October 12. AAR reports 10,639 tanker carloads hit the rails, down from 10,814 tankers a week earlier. For the first nine months of 2024, total U.S. carloads of all commodities were down 3.3% from the same period in 2023. This year's oil by rail tallies have noted slight increases over last year. The trade group says grain and chemicals saw year-to-date increases and some record highs, but says coal and crushed stone posted notable declines.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670507085360.jpeg" alt="File photo" />
 <figcaption>File photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By JOHN P. TRETBAR Eagle MediaDomestic operators set another weekly all-time crude-production record last week, topping 13.5 million barrels per day. Cumulative production so far this year reached an average of just under 13.2 million barrels, more than six percent higher than a year ago.The Energy Information Administration reported a big drop in US crude inventories. As of October 11, stockpiles dropped to just over 420 million barrels, down 2.2 million barrels from a week ago and five percent below the five-year seasonal average.The Energy Department took delivery &nbsp;on another million barrels of crude oil at the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. SPR stockpiles now total nearly 384 million barrels, down from 618 million three years ago.&nbsp; Since April, the Energy Department has added nearly 20 million barrels, at prices twenty to twenty-five dollars cheaper than what we sold it for.The US imports more crude then we export by more than a million barrels a day. But according to the latest weekly numbers from the government, petroleum product exports outpace imports by nearly five million daily barrels.&nbsp; That makes us a net petroleum exporter. According to EIA, US crude-oil imports averaged 5.5 million barrels a day, down from 6.2 million last week.&nbsp; The four-week average is down 3.4 percent from the same four-week period last year. Operators exported 4.1 million barrels of crude per day last week, up from &nbsp;3.8 million a week ago. The four week average is up nearly 100-thousand &nbsp;barrels a day from a year ago.Rig Counts for natural gas in the US are down slightly, but the tally for oil rigs is slightly higher. Baker Hughes reports 585 rigs nationwide. The breakouts show an unusual increase in active vertical drilling rigs, offset by declines in both directional and horizontal rigs. The statewide total for Texas was down two while Oklahoma and Colorado were each up one rig.The Kansas Rig Count from Independent Oil &amp; Gas Service is up two rigs in the eastern half of the state at 14 rigs, and up two in Western Kansas at 19. The tally is up 50 percent from last month but down about 13 percent from a year ago. Drilling was underway on two leases in Barton County and another in Ellis County.Regulators in The Sunflower State approved 55 new drilling locations, the biggest weekly total since June of 2022. There are 45 new drilling permits in eastern Kansas, and ten west of Wichita, including one in Barton County and one in Ellis County.Operators in Kansas completed 25 new wells last week, with 12 in Western Kansas and 13 east of Wichita. Independent Oil and Gas Service reports 1,069 completions so far this year, down more than 300 wells from a year ago.Hurricane Milton prompted a brief scare in the energy sector, but gasoline prices in Florida have remained stable since landfall on October 9.&nbsp; A report from the EIA asserts that despite some areas with major disruptions, statewide pump prices have remained steady at $3.04 per gallon as the supply chain recovers. Florida is particularly vulnerable to price spikes brought on by weather events. The state does not have refineries or pipelines, relying instead on gasoline deliveries by ship. Several ports were closed briefly, but others remained open with restrictions. At Port Tampa Bay, where nearly half of Florida’s petroleum product supply is brought in, authorities report no significant damage to docks, but they did note some infrastructure damage, power outages, and road closures that might disrupt supply in the short term.The U.S. broadened economic sanctions in hopes of forestalling or softening military ones.&nbsp; The Treasury Department announced a flurry of sanctions against terrorism broadly and some enablers in the industry specifically. They're targeting everything from the "ghost fleet" of oil tankers currently evading Iran sanctions to Syria's drug-trafficking activity. It appears the collective effort may have stopped Israel from attacking energy installations in Iran. But they have not yet responded to Iran's missile attack earlier this month.The US used a Trump-era executive order to allow for sanctions against anyone linked to Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sector.&nbsp; They've designated ten companies and 17 vessels as “blocked property” over their involvement with the Islamic Republic. Such tankers have been detained in the past, their oil cargoes offloaded and sold. Up until now the tankers themselves have been released. The West has been less successful enforcing sanctions against Russia.Big Oil has big plans for some big acreage. ExxonMobil hopes to increase output from its offshore holdings near Guyana by 18,000 barrels per day once it has completed risk assessments and received approval from local authorities. That's according to a top government official in the South American Country, where many big players are shuffling to drill in the latest international hot spot. The company currently produces more than 660-thousand barrels a day in the region.The month of September and the first nine months of the year have posted declines in total rail traffic, but oil by rail is holding steady. Weekly oil by rail shipments are up slightly over a year ago, but down from a week ago. According to the Association of America Railroads, rail traffic hauling petroleum and petroleum products was up six-tenths of a percent in the week through October 12. AAR reports 10,639 tanker carloads hit the rails, down from 10,814 tankers a week earlier. For the first nine months of 2024, total U.S. carloads of all commodities were down 3.3% from the same period in 2023. This year's oil by rail tallies have noted slight increases over last year. The trade group says grain and chemicals saw year-to-date increases and some record highs, but says coal and crushed stone posted notable declines.&nbsp;&nbsp;

News from the Oil Patch: Another week, another all-time production record

By RORY MOORE Special to the Hays Post

Big Boy No. 4104, the largest operating steam locomotive in the world, passed through Hays in front of a crowd of hundreds on Sunday morning.

The famous 83-year-old steam engine stopped in town before leaving for Grainfield as part of its Heartland of America Tour through nine states.

Big Boy announced its arrival when it tooted its whistle to many excited families who gathered to watch the train as it stopped on the tracks along the intersection of Ninth and Milner streets.

Many had seen it before, while others saw it for the first time.

Rick Stapleton of Dodge City had seen other iterations of Big Boy in museums but had yet to see it in motion.

“It’s a tremendous locomotive, and I’ve always wanted to see one move and feel the noise,” he said. “I’ve seen one at a museum in Denver and one on the bluffs above the Missouri River at Omaha.”

The train is one of 25 Big Boy locomotives manufactured by the American Locomotive Company and Union Pacific to transport freight across the country, primarily through the Wasatch Mountain Range in Utah and the Rocky Mountain Range in Colorado.

Introduced to the railroad industry in the 1940s, the powerful train became reliable because of its power. It is part of Union Pacific’s Heritage Fleet, which has been running a restoration project on it since 2013.B

Built in 1941, the No. 4104 locomotive weighs 1.2 million pounds and is 132 feet long. The Heritage Fleet retired it in 1961, and Union Pacific returned it to service in 2019.

Big Boy is one of the few remaining operative steam engines in the world, making the experience unique for many of its younger spectators who are used to modern trains that run on fuel and electricity.&nbsp;

“It’s really impressive with them blowing the whistle and how loud it got,” Dale Highfill of Hays said. “It kind of surprised everybody.”

People of all ages have admired the train due to its previous visits to Hays, particularly in 2019 when its appearance was illuminated by snowfall. Its popularity and yearly trips prompt many to travel out of town to observe the locomotive in person.

“I’ve talked to people that spent as much as two and a half hours to get here to see it,” Highfill said. “That’s quite a length of time just to come here to watch this, and after they do, they won’t forget it.”

For older spectators like Highfill, Big Boy’s stop in Hays brings back memories from growing up with older technology and watching it evolve.

“This kind of gives away your age,” he said. “When my great-great-grandfather and me watched these doing work down in Oklahoma, not this one but something similar. 

"He would go about how he walked, and then he was on horseback and then he was in that land rush. We got airplanes and automobiles, and he was wondering what was going to happen in our lifetime. I'm sitting here thinking we're back to the train."

Another factor driving people’s anticipation of the tour is their amazement at Big Boy’s size and appearance.

"Everybody seems a little bit surprised because I think the size gets them," Highfill said. "If you look at their faces, they've all got a grin, and they're happy. It's a big black train, so it stands out as pretty impressive to them."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474219888.jpeg" alt="Big Boy No. 4104 blows steam as it sits on the train tracks. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Big Boy No. 4104 blows steam as it sits on the train tracks. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>By RORY MOORE Special to the Hays PostBig Boy No. 4104, the largest operating steam locomotive in the world, passed through Hays in front of a crowd of hundreds on Sunday morning.The famous 83-year-old steam engine stopped in town before leaving for Grainfield as part of its Heartland of America Tour through nine states.Big Boy announced its arrival when it tooted its whistle to many excited families who gathered to watch the train as it stopped on the tracks along the intersection of Ninth and Milner streets.Many had seen it before, while others saw it for the first time.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474374683.jpeg" alt="People admire the large locomotive as it sits.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>People admire the large locomotive as it sits.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Rick Stapleton of Dodge City had seen other iterations of Big Boy in museums but had yet to see it in motion.“It’s a tremendous locomotive, and I’ve always wanted to see one move and feel the noise,” he said. “I’ve seen one at a museum in Denver and one on the bluffs above the Missouri River at Omaha.”The train is one of 25 Big Boy locomotives manufactured by the American Locomotive Company and Union Pacific to transport freight across the country, primarily through the Wasatch Mountain Range in Utah and the Rocky Mountain Range in Colorado.Introduced to the railroad industry in the 1940s, the powerful train became reliable because of its power. It is part of Union Pacific’s Heritage Fleet, which has been running a restoration project on it since 2013.B<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474541767.jpeg" alt="Big Boy is one of the few operating steam engines in the world.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Big Boy is one of the few operating steam engines in the world.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Built in 1941, the No. 4104 locomotive weighs 1.2 million pounds and is 132 feet long. The Heritage Fleet retired it in 1961, and Union Pacific returned it to service in 2019.Big Boy is one of the few remaining operative steam engines in the world, making the experience unique for many of its younger spectators who are used to modern trains that run on fuel and electricity.&nbsp;“It’s really impressive with them blowing the whistle and how loud it got,” Dale Highfill of Hays said. “It kind of surprised everybody.”People of all ages have admired the train due to its previous visits to Hays, particularly in 2019 when its appearance was illuminated by snowfall. Its popularity and yearly trips prompt many to travel out of town to observe the locomotive in person.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474657231.jpeg" alt="Big Boy memorabilia is sold next to the train tracks.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Big Boy memorabilia is sold next to the train tracks.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>“I’ve talked to people that spent as much as two and a half hours to get here to see it,” Highfill said. “That’s quite a length of time just to come here to watch this, and after they do, they won’t forget it.”For older spectators like Highfill, Big Boy’s stop in Hays brings back memories from growing up with older technology and watching it evolve.“This kind of gives away your age,” he said. “When my great-great-grandfather and me watched these doing work down in Oklahoma, not this one but something similar. "He would go about how he walked, and then he was on horseback and then he was in that land rush. We got airplanes and automobiles, and he was wondering what was going to happen in our lifetime. I'm sitting here thinking we're back to the train."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474744280.jpeg" alt="Union Pacific crewmen operate the train during the Heartland of America Tour. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Union Pacific crewmen operate the train during the Heartland of America Tour. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>Another factor driving people’s anticipation of the tour is their amazement at Big Boy’s size and appearance."Everybody seems a little bit surprised because I think the size gets them," Highfill said. "If you look at their faces, they've all got a grin, and they're happy. It's a big black train, so it stands out as pretty impressive to them."<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474849373.jpeg" alt="Big Boy emits steam for a crowd of onlookers. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Big Boy emits steam for a crowd of onlookers. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474947374.jpeg" alt="The American and Kansas flag flies on the front of the large locomotive. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>The American and Kansas flag flies on the front of the large locomotive. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729474976271.jpeg" alt="Families of all ages gathered to watch the locomotive visit the Midwestern United States.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Families of all ages gathered to watch the locomotive visit the Midwestern United States.&nbsp;Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/10/1729475062439.jpeg" alt="Big Boy leaves Hays for its next destination on its tour. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Big Boy leaves Hays for its next destination on its tour. Photo by Rory Moore/Special to the Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>

Big Boy rolls through Hays 

FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pa. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;manned the fry station at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania on Sunday before staging an impromptu news conference, answering questions through the drive-thru window.

As reporters and aides watched, an employee showed Trump how to dunk baskets of fries in oil, salt the fries and put them into boxes using a scoop. Trump, a well-known fan of fast food and a notorious germophobe, expressed amazement that he didn't have to touch the fries with his hands.

“It requires great expertise, actually, to do it right and to do it fast,” Trump said with a grin, putting away his suit jacket and wearing an apron over his shirt and tie.

The visit came as he's tried to counter Democratic nominee Kamala Harris' accounts on the campaign of working at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-doritos-collard-greens-root-beer-food-82956ec65fcf24e6c57712716845d2af">fast-food chain while in college</a>, an experience that Trump has claimed — without offering evidence — never happened.

A large crowd lined the street outside the restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, which is part of Bucks County, a key swing voter area north of Philadelphia. The restaurant itself was closed to the public for Trump's visit. The former president later attended an evening town hall in Lancaster and the Pittsburgh Steelers home game against the New York Jets.

After serving bags of takeout to people in the drive-thru lane, Trump leaned out of the window, still wearing the apron, to take questions from the media staged outside. The former president, who has constantly promoted falsehoods about his 2020 election loss, said he would respect the results of next month's vote “if it's a fair election.”

He joked about getting one reporter ice cream and when another asked what message he had for Harris on her 60th birthday on Sunday, Trump said, “I would say, ‘Happy Birthday, Kamala,’” adding, “I think I’ll get her some flowers.”

Trump did not directly answer a question of whether he might support increased minimum wages after seeing McDonald’s employees in action but said, “These people work hard. They’re great.”

He added that “I just saw something … a process that’s beautiful.”

When aides finally urged him to wrap things up so he could hit the road to his next event, Trump offered, “Wasn’t that a strange place to do a news conference?”

Trump has long questioned Harris' story of working at McDonald's

Trump has fixated in recent weeks on the summer job Harris said she held in college, working the cash register and making fries at McDonald’s while in college. Trump says the vice president has “lied about working” there, but not offered evidence for claiming that.

Representatives for McDonald’s did not respond to a message about whether the company had employment records for one of its restaurants 40 years ago. But Harris spokesman Joseph Costello said the former president's McDonald's visit “showed exactly what we would see in a second Trump term: exploiting working people for his own personal gain.”

“Trump doesn’t understand what it’s like to work for a living, no matter how many staged photo ops he does, and his entire second term plan is to give himself, his wealthy buddies, and giant corporations another massive tax cut,” Costello said in a statement.

In an interview last month on MSNBC, the vice president pushed back on Trump’s claims, saying she did work at the fast-food chain four decades ago when she was in college.

“Part of the reason I even talk about having worked at McDonald’s is because there are people who work at McDonald’s in our country who are trying to raise a family,” she said. “I worked there as a student.”

Harris also said: “I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility, then, is to meet those needs.”

Trump has long spread groundless claims about his opponents based on their personal history, particularly women and racial minorities.

Before he ran for president, Trump was a leading voice of the “birther” conspiracy that baselessly claimed President Barack Obama was from Africa, was not an American citizen and therefore was ineligible to be president. Trump used it to raise his own political profile, demanding to see Obama’s birth certificate and five years after Obama did so, Trump finally admitted that Obama was born in the United States.

During his first run for president, Trump repeated a tabloid’s claims that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, who was born in Cuba, had links to President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Cruz and Trump competed for the party’s 2016 nomination.

In January of this year, when Trump was facing Nikki Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, in the Republican primary, he shared on his social media network a post with false claims that Haley’s parents were not citizens when she was born, therefore making her ineligible to be president.

Haley is the South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants, making her automatically a native-born citizen and meeting the constitutional requirement to run for president.

And Trump has continued to promote baseless claims during this campaign. Trump said during his presidential debate with Harris that immigrants who had settled in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets — a claim he suggested in an interview Saturday was still true even though he could provide no confirmation.

Trump's visit created a spectacle in Pennsylvania

“It is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community,” the McDonald’s location’s owner, Derek Giacomantonio, said in a statement. “That’s why I accepted former President Trump’s request to observe the transformative working experience that 1 in 8 Americans have had: a job at McDonald’s.”

Police closed the busy streets around the McDonald’s during Trump's visit. Authorities cordoned off the restaurant as a crowd a couple blocks long gathered, sometimes 10- to 15-deep, across the street straining to catch a glimpse of Trump. Horns honked and music blared as Trump supporters waved flags, held signs and took pictures.

John Waters, of nearby Fairless Hills, had never been to a Trump rally and had hoped to see the former president so close to his house after missing other nearby rallies.

“When I drove up, all the cars, unbelievable, I was like, ‘He’s here’s, he’s coming, he’s definitely coming with this all traffic,’” Waters said.

FEASTERVILLE-TREVOSE, Pa. (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;manned the fry station at a McDonald's in Pennsylvania on Sunday before staging an impromptu news conference, answering questions through the drive-thru window.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a>’s first day of work at McDonald’s! 🍟🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/182LAiP8Uk">pic.twitter.com/182LAiP8Uk</a>&mdash; Margo Martin (@margommartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/margommartin/status/1848069681254703348?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>As reporters and aides watched, an employee showed Trump how to dunk baskets of fries in oil, salt the fries and put them into boxes using a scoop. Trump, a well-known fan of fast food and a notorious germophobe, expressed amazement that he didn't have to touch the fries with his hands.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Former President Trump Works at McDonald&#39;s in Bucks County, PA<a href="https://t.co/mjlTiciyDF">pic.twitter.com/mjlTiciyDF</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1848087746813775948?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>“It requires great expertise, actually, to do it right and to do it fast,” Trump said with a grin, putting away his suit jacket and wearing an apron over his shirt and tie.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">President <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> working the Drive Thru at McDonald’s! 🍟🇺🇸 <a href="https://t.co/pBeyYmeYFU">pic.twitter.com/pBeyYmeYFU</a>&mdash; Margo Martin (@margommartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/margommartin/status/1848071378966077905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The visit came as he's tried to counter Democratic nominee Kamala Harris' accounts on the campaign of working at the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harris-doritos-collard-greens-root-beer-food-82956ec65fcf24e6c57712716845d2af">fast-food chain while in college</a>, an experience that Trump has claimed — without offering evidence — never happened.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“Mr. President, please don’t let the United States become Brazil!” <a href="https://t.co/ZEgujQMS35">pic.twitter.com/ZEgujQMS35</a>&mdash; Margo Martin (@margommartin) <a href="https://twitter.com/margommartin/status/1848073834475229510?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>A large crowd lined the street outside the restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, which is part of Bucks County, a key swing voter area north of Philadelphia. The restaurant itself was closed to the public for Trump's visit. The former president later attended an evening town hall in Lancaster and the Pittsburgh Steelers home game against the New York Jets.After serving bags of takeout to people in the drive-thru lane, Trump leaned out of the window, still wearing the apron, to take questions from the media staged outside. The former president, who has constantly promoted falsehoods about his 2020 election loss, said he would respect the results of next month's vote “if it's a fair election.”He joked about getting one reporter ice cream and when another asked what message he had for Harris on her 60th birthday on Sunday, Trump said, “I would say, ‘Happy Birthday, Kamala,’” adding, “I think I’ll get her some flowers.”Trump did not directly answer a question of whether he might support increased minimum wages after seeing McDonald’s employees in action but said, “These people work hard. They’re great.”He added that “I just saw something … a process that’s beautiful.”When aides finally urged him to wrap things up so he could hit the road to his next event, Trump offered, “Wasn’t that a strange place to do a news conference?”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/YkLtEaC3OI">pic.twitter.com/YkLtEaC3OI</a>&mdash; Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1848215009689768308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 21, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><h2>Trump has long questioned Harris' story of working at McDonald's</h2>Trump has fixated in recent weeks on the summer job Harris said she held in college, working the cash register and making fries at McDonald’s while in college. Trump says the vice president has “lied about working” there, but not offered evidence for claiming that.Representatives for McDonald’s did not respond to a message about whether the company had employment records for one of its restaurants 40 years ago. But Harris spokesman Joseph Costello said the former president's McDonald's visit “showed exactly what we would see in a second Trump term: exploiting working people for his own personal gain.”“Trump doesn’t understand what it’s like to work for a living, no matter how many staged photo ops he does, and his entire second term plan is to give himself, his wealthy buddies, and giant corporations another massive tax cut,” Costello said in a statement.In an interview last month on MSNBC, the vice president pushed back on Trump’s claims, saying she did work at the fast-food chain four decades ago when she was in college.“Part of the reason I even talk about having worked at McDonald’s is because there are people who work at McDonald’s in our country who are trying to raise a family,” she said. “I worked there as a student.”Harris also said: “I think part of the difference between me and my opponent includes our perspective on the needs of the American people and what our responsibility, then, is to meet those needs.”Trump has long spread groundless claims about his opponents based on their personal history, particularly women and racial minorities.Before he ran for president, Trump was a leading voice of the “birther” conspiracy that baselessly claimed President Barack Obama was from Africa, was not an American citizen and therefore was ineligible to be president. Trump used it to raise his own political profile, demanding to see Obama’s birth certificate and five years after Obama did so, Trump finally admitted that Obama was born in the United States.During his first run for president, Trump repeated a tabloid’s claims that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s father, who was born in Cuba, had links to President John F. Kennedy’s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Cruz and Trump competed for the party’s 2016 nomination.In January of this year, when Trump was facing Nikki Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, in the Republican primary, he shared on his social media network a post with false claims that Haley’s parents were not citizens when she was born, therefore making her ineligible to be president.Haley is the South Carolina-born daughter of Indian immigrants, making her automatically a native-born citizen and meeting the constitutional requirement to run for president.And Trump has continued to promote baseless claims during this campaign. Trump said during his presidential debate with Harris that immigrants who had settled in Springfield, Ohio, were eating residents’ pets — a claim he suggested in an interview Saturday was still true even though he could provide no confirmation.<h2>Trump's visit created a spectacle in Pennsylvania</h2>“It is a fundamental value of my organization that we proudly open our doors to everyone who visits the Feasterville community,” the McDonald’s location’s owner, Derek Giacomantonio, said in a statement. “That’s why I accepted former President Trump’s request to observe the transformative working experience that 1 in 8 Americans have had: a job at McDonald’s.”Police closed the busy streets around the McDonald’s during Trump's visit. Authorities cordoned off the restaurant as a crowd a couple blocks long gathered, sometimes 10- to 15-deep, across the street straining to catch a glimpse of Trump. Horns honked and music blared as Trump supporters waved flags, held signs and took pictures.John Waters, of nearby Fairless Hills, had never been to a Trump rally and had hoped to see the former president so close to his house after missing other nearby rallies.“When I drove up, all the cars, unbelievable, I was like, ‘He’s here’s, he’s coming, he’s definitely coming with this all traffic,’” Waters said.Trump is especially partial to McDonald's Big Macs and Filet-o-Fish sandwiches. He’s talked often about how he trusts big chains more than smaller restaurants since they have big reputations to maintain, and the former president’s staff often pick up McDonald’s and serve it on his plane.Jim Worthington, a Trump supporter and fundraiser who owns a nearby athletic complex and chaired Pennsylvania’s delegation to the Republican National Convention, said he arranged Trump’s visit to the locally owned McDonald’s franchise.The campaign contacted him looking for a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania and Worthington started looking for one. He got in touch with Giacomantonio through a friend and talked the franchise owner through some initial nervousness.Giacomantonio needed to know that McDonald’s corporate offices would be OK with it, first. Second, he was concerned that being seen as a Trump supporter would hurt his business or a spark boycott, Worthington said.“He certainly had concerns, but I eased his mind, and talked to him about the benefits,” Worthington said.___Associated Press writer Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.