By BECKY KISER Hays Post

He's "not sounding the panic alarm," but Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty cautioned city commissioners Thursday the 2026 preliminary budget "will be about maintenance" and "will not expand in scope."

Assessed valuation for the city is up 2.5% from 2025, according to figures from Ellis County.

Sales tax is the primary source of revenue for the city, and the local economy is heavily reliant on consumer spending.&nbsp;

"The budget is based overall on a slightly cautionary approach," Dougherty said.&nbsp;"When you look at inflation, we're barely keeping pace. I could argue we're falling behind."

Budget planning and analysis are overseen by Collin Bielser, deputy city manager, and Kim Rupp, finance director, with input from department heads. The budget plan for 2026 covers the next 18 to 20 months.

"Federal grant programs are drying up or being discontinued, so some of the federal monies we use to subsidize locally are drying up," Dougherty said.&nbsp;

Other factors in next year's budget include increasing import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which affect consumers.

Retaliatory tariffs are hitting the agriculture industry, which is also important to Hays and Ellis County.

The cost of purchasing vehicles has increased dramatically.

There is talk among some in the financial industry about the increased possibility of a national recession within the next 12 months.

In a recession, people spend less money and drive less, which would affect Hays along with the Ellis County oil economy.&nbsp;

Dougherty said the city is "in extremely good financial shape, and the proposed budget you'll see July third maintains everything —&nbsp; staffing levels, programs, operations."

The draft budget will continue to fund reserves and give a cost-of-living and step pay increases to city employees.&nbsp;

"We're making sure we're taking care of things we have and not expanding, then maybe having to cut those in the future," he said.

"It's not reactionary. It's a realistic budget, in my opinion," said Sandy Jacobs, mayor. "This team works really, really hard on these budgets."

Vice-Mayor Mason Ruder complimented staff for "always requesting what they need to get the job done and do it right, and no more. They're always looking into the future, which I appreciate."

"I think we've been really aggressive the past few years," said Shaun Musil, commissioner, "and if there's a year we have to pause or maintain, I think this is probably the year to do that. "

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750435602256.jpeg" alt="Toby Dougherty, Hays city manager. Photo by Becky Kiser/Hays Post" />
 <figcaption>Toby Dougherty, Hays city manager. Photo by Becky Kiser/Hays Post</figcaption>
 </figure>By BECKY KISER Hays PostHe's "not sounding the panic alarm," but Hays City Manager Toby Dougherty cautioned city commissioners Thursday the 2026 preliminary budget "will be about maintenance" and "will not expand in scope."Assessed valuation for the city is up 2.5% from 2025, according to figures from Ellis County.Sales tax is the primary source of revenue for the city, and the local economy is heavily reliant on consumer spending.&nbsp;"The budget is based overall on a slightly cautionary approach," Dougherty said.&nbsp;"When you look at inflation, we're barely keeping pace. I could argue we're falling behind."Budget planning and analysis are overseen by Collin Bielser, deputy city manager, and Kim Rupp, finance director, with input from department heads. The budget plan for 2026 covers the next 18 to 20 months."Federal grant programs are drying up or being discontinued, so some of the federal monies we use to subsidize locally are drying up," Dougherty said.&nbsp;Other factors in next year's budget include increasing import tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, which affect consumers.Retaliatory tariffs are hitting the agriculture industry, which is also important to Hays and Ellis County.The cost of purchasing vehicles has increased dramatically.There is talk among some in the financial industry about the increased possibility of a national recession within the next 12 months.In a recession, people spend less money and drive less, which would affect Hays along with the Ellis County oil economy.&nbsp;Dougherty said the city is "in extremely good financial shape, and the proposed budget you'll see July third maintains everything —&nbsp; staffing levels, programs, operations."The draft budget will continue to fund reserves and give a cost-of-living and step pay increases to city employees.&nbsp;"We're making sure we're taking care of things we have and not expanding, then maybe having to cut those in the future," he said."It's not reactionary. It's a realistic budget, in my opinion," said Sandy Jacobs, mayor. "This team works really, really hard on these budgets."Vice-Mayor Mason Ruder complimented staff for "always requesting what they need to get the job done and do it right, and no more. They're always looking into the future, which I appreciate.""I think we've been really aggressive the past few years," said Shaun Musil, commissioner, "and if there's a year we have to pause or maintain, I think this is probably the year to do that. "

City manager: 2026 Hays budget will not expand; federal grant programs drying up

HAYS – After suffering their second Rocky Mountain Baseball
League loss of the season the night before, the Hays Larks bounced back Saturday
with a 7-4 win over the Gameday Angels.

The Larks jumped out early, scoring a run in the second
inning on a Dylan LaRue double.

They added single run in the fifth, on a Kaleb Duncan RBI
single. Two runs in the sixth on a LaRue double and one more on a seventh
inning error for a 5-0 Hays lead.

Duncan hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, the eighth
straight game the Larks have homered for a 7-0 lead through eight innings.

Gameday scored four in the top of the ninth inning as the
Larks went on to claim the 7-4 victory. 

Nick Gray allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts in five
innings and earned the win.

Dylan LaRue doubled twice and drove in three runs. Kaleb
Duncan homered and added three RBIs.

Hays improves to 9-2-1 and 6-2 in the RMBL.

The two teams will close out the series Sunday evening with the
first pitch set for 6 p.m. at Larks Park. 

Hays Post SportsHAYS – After suffering their second Rocky Mountain Baseball
League loss of the season the night before, the Hays Larks bounced back Saturday
with a 7-4 win over the Gameday Angels.The Larks jumped out early, scoring a run in the second
inning on a Dylan LaRue double.They added single run in the fifth, on a Kaleb Duncan RBI
single. Two runs in the sixth on a LaRue double and one more on a seventh
inning error for a 5-0 Hays lead.Duncan hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, the eighth
straight game the Larks have homered for a 7-0 lead through eight innings.Gameday scored four in the top of the ninth inning as the
Larks went on to claim the 7-4 victory. Nick Gray allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts in five
innings and earned the win.Dylan LaRue doubled twice and drove in three runs. Kaleb
Duncan homered and added three RBIs.Hays improves to 9-2-1 and 6-2 in the RMBL.The two teams will close out the series Sunday evening with the
first pitch set for 6 p.m. at Larks Park.

⚾ Larks offense leads the way against the Angels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

President Trump: US attacked three Iranian nuclear sites

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses

Aerial refueling tankers spotted on flight paths consistent with escorting aircraft from US

Multiple U.S. aerial refueling tankers were spotted on commercial flight trackers flying flight patterns consistent with escorting aircraft from the central U.S. to the Pacific.

B-2 bombers, which are the only aircraft that carry the large bunker buster bombs, are based at an Air Force base in Missouri. It was not clear whether the aircraft being escorted early Saturday were prepared for an operation or merely moving to airbases closer to Iran as a show of force.

The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment on the flights.

US begins repatriation flights from Israel

The U.S. ambassador to Israel says the United States has begun “assisted departure flights” from Israel, the first time such flights have been offered there since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Ambassador Mike Huckabee announced the flights in a social media post as the war between Israel and Iran enters its second week. He says U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can complete an online form for updates.

The U.S. has also told its citizens in Iran who wish to leave to go via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey if they feel it’s safe.

Saudi Arabia condemns ‘blatant Israeli aggressions’ against Iran

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has condemned “blatant Israeli aggressions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which undermine its sovereignty and security, constitute a clear violation of international laws and norms, and threaten the security and stability of the region,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.

Speaking at Friday's meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, he called for “the immediate cessation of military operations, the avoidance of escalation, and a return to the negotiation track between Iran and the international community.”

Iran and Saudi Arabia were long regional arch-rivals but have normalized relations in recent years. Riyadh was quick to side publicly with Tehran after Israel launched a surprise barrage of strikes on Iran last week.

Bin Farhan also reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The kingdom and France had been set to co-chair a conference in New York this month on the topic, which was postponed due to the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war.

President says Iran will never resign its right to nuclear power

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will never renounce its right to nuclear power, which “cannot be taken away from it through war and threats.”

In a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to provide guarantees and confidence-building measures to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency.

Israel says it and Cyprus foiled a planned attack on Israeli citizens

Israel’s foreign minister says Israeli security services have helped Cypriot authorities foil a planned attack against Israeli citizens on the east Mediterranean island nation.

Minister Gideon Saar posted on X Saturday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was behind the plot. He thanked Cyprus for its “swift and effective actions” and accused Iran of “deliberately targeting Israeli civilians both in Israel and abroad.”

Cyprus police said Saturday they arrested a man on suspicion of terrorism and espionage. A court Saturday ordered the man, who wasn’t identified, held in police custody for eight days until investigators can complete their probe. Cypriot authorities said they wouldn’t comment further on the man’s arrest for “national security reasons.”

A British Foreign Office spokesman said that U.K. authorities are in contact with the Cypriot government “regarding the arrest of a British man.”

Germany closes Tehran embassy and withdraws staff from Iran

The German embassy in Tehran has been closed until further notice “due to the current crisis situation,” the diplomatic representation wrote on its website.

“Please do not come to the embassy or the consulate building. Appointments that have already been arranged have been canceled,” the embassy said.

Due to the war between Israel and Iran, the German Foreign Ministry said Saturday it has withdrawn all of its embassy staff in Tehran and brought them out of the country.

The embassy is still reachable online for Germans remaining in Iran. On its website, the embassy gives advice on the different possibilities to leave by land via Armenia or Turkey. According to the German Foreign Ministry, there are still about 1,000 German citizens in Iran.

Nasrallah's bodyguard killed in Israeli airstrike on Iran, Hezbollah says

The head of security to the late Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike while in Iran, a Hezbollah official said Saturday.

Abu Ali Khalil, better known as Abu Ali Jawad, was killed after he went to Iran from neighboring Iraq, the official said.

For many years, Abu Ali was seen behind Nasrallah during most of his public appearances.

After Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstike in a Beirut suburb in September, his bodyguard was put in charge of his tomb in Beirut.

The Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the airstrike that killed Abu Ali occurred earlier Saturday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for technical and leadership-level talks between Iran and the United States to resolve tensions, during a meeting with Iran’s top diplomat.

A statement from Erdogan office said the Turkish president also told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting in Istanbul on Saturday that Turkey was ready to take on the role of facilitator.

Erdogan said that the region cannot tolerate another war and said Israel must be “stopped immediately.”

Araghchi was in Turkey to attend a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Iran acknowledges detaining German bicyclist on suspicion of spying

Iran on Saturday acknowledged for the first time it had detained a German bicyclist on spying allegations, likely an effort by Tehran to pressure Germany amid its war with Israel.

The semiofficial Mehr news agency published footage of the unnamed man’s arrest, without saying when the arrest occurred. However, it described the cyclist as being detained in Markazi province, home to the Arak heavy water reactor.

The German news agency dpa reported the arrest took place last year and that the bicyclist is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, home to Westerners and political prisoners.

The German Foreign Ministry declined to comment Saturday.

Israeli army says it is now targeting Iranian military infrastructure

The Israeli army said it began striking military infrastructure in southwest Iran.

It was unclear what the targeted sites were.

Shortly after, Iranian state media reported that the sound of large blasts was heard in two cities in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan. Air defenses were reported to be activated in both locations.

A large column of smoke had also risen above the port city of Mahshahr, Fars news agency said, while “frightening explosions” were heard in the provincial capital of Ahvaz.

Macron voices deep concern over Iran's nuclear program

The French president said Saturday this happened during a call with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, who initiated the call.

“Here again, my position is clear: Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,” Macron posted on social media, adding that diplomatic efforts should continue to resolve the current crisis.

“To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran.”

Macron said he also asked for the release of two French citizens being held in Iran on espionage charges since 2022.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750540808156.png" alt="FILE PHOTO -- The B-2 Spirit approaches the boom of a McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey KC-10A Extender during a Capstone orientation flight. Capstone is a Joint Airborne/Air Transportability Training mission providing interservice training for the wartime application of airlift. Through Capstone, senior level officers are able to observe the significance of airlift and its role in all military operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott H. Spitzer)" />
 <figcaption>FILE PHOTO -- The B-2 Spirit approaches the boom of a McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey KC-10A Extender during a Capstone orientation flight. Capstone is a Joint Airborne/Air Transportability Training mission providing interservice training for the wartime application of airlift. Through Capstone, senior level officers are able to observe the significance of airlift and its role in all military operations. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Scott H. Spitzer)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Aerial refueling tankers spotted on flight paths consistent with escorting aircraft from US</h2>Multiple U.S. aerial refueling tankers were spotted on commercial flight trackers flying flight patterns consistent with escorting aircraft from the central U.S. to the Pacific.B-2 bombers, which are the only aircraft that carry the large bunker buster bombs, are based at an Air Force base in Missouri. It was not clear whether the aircraft being escorted early Saturday were prepared for an operation or merely moving to airbases closer to Iran as a show of force.The White House and Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment on the flights.<h2>US begins repatriation flights from Israel</h2>The U.S. ambassador to Israel says the United States has begun “assisted departure flights” from Israel, the first time such flights have been offered there since the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.Ambassador Mike Huckabee announced the flights in a social media post as the war between Israel and Iran enters its second week. He says U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents can complete an online form for updates.The U.S. has also told its citizens in Iran who wish to leave to go via Azerbaijan, Armenia or Turkey if they feel it’s safe.<h2>Saudi Arabia condemns ‘blatant Israeli aggressions’ against Iran</h2>Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has condemned “blatant Israeli aggressions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which undermine its sovereignty and security, constitute a clear violation of international laws and norms, and threaten the security and stability of the region,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.Speaking at Friday's meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, he called for “the immediate cessation of military operations, the avoidance of escalation, and a return to the negotiation track between Iran and the international community.”Iran and Saudi Arabia were long regional arch-rivals but have normalized relations in recent years. Riyadh was quick to side publicly with Tehran after Israel launched a surprise barrage of strikes on Iran last week.Bin Farhan also reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The kingdom and France had been set to co-chair a conference in New York this month on the topic, which was postponed due to the outbreak of the Israel-Iran war.<h2>President says Iran will never resign its right to nuclear power</h2>Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says his country will never renounce its right to nuclear power, which “cannot be taken away from it through war and threats.”In a phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, Pezeshkian said Iran was ready to provide guarantees and confidence-building measures to demonstrate the peaceful nature of its nuclear activities, according to IRNA, the state-run news agency.<h2>Israel says it and Cyprus foiled a planned attack on Israeli citizens</h2>Israel’s foreign minister says Israeli security services have helped Cypriot authorities foil a planned attack against Israeli citizens on the east Mediterranean island nation.Minister Gideon Saar posted on X Saturday that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was behind the plot. He thanked Cyprus for its “swift and effective actions” and accused Iran of “deliberately targeting Israeli civilians both in Israel and abroad.”Cyprus police said Saturday they arrested a man on suspicion of terrorism and espionage. A court Saturday ordered the man, who wasn’t identified, held in police custody for eight days until investigators can complete their probe. Cypriot authorities said they wouldn’t comment further on the man’s arrest for “national security reasons.”A British Foreign Office spokesman said that U.K. authorities are in contact with the Cypriot government “regarding the arrest of a British man.”<h2>Germany closes Tehran embassy and withdraws staff from Iran</h2>The German embassy in Tehran has been closed until further notice “due to the current crisis situation,” the diplomatic representation wrote on its website.“Please do not come to the embassy or the consulate building. Appointments that have already been arranged have been canceled,” the embassy said.Due to the war between Israel and Iran, the German Foreign Ministry said Saturday it has withdrawn all of its embassy staff in Tehran and brought them out of the country.The embassy is still reachable online for Germans remaining in Iran. On its website, the embassy gives advice on the different possibilities to leave by land via Armenia or Turkey. According to the German Foreign Ministry, there are still about 1,000 German citizens in Iran.<h2>Nasrallah's bodyguard killed in Israeli airstrike on Iran, Hezbollah says</h2>The head of security to the late Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli airstrike while in Iran, a Hezbollah official said Saturday.Abu Ali Khalil, better known as Abu Ali Jawad, was killed after he went to Iran from neighboring Iraq, the official said.For many years, Abu Ali was seen behind Nasrallah during most of his public appearances.After Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli airstike in a Beirut suburb in September, his bodyguard was put in charge of his tomb in Beirut.The Hezbollah official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the airstrike that killed Abu Ali occurred earlier Saturday.<h2>Erdogan offers to mediate Iran-US talks</h2>Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for technical and leadership-level talks between Iran and the United States to resolve tensions, during a meeting with Iran’s top diplomat.A statement from Erdogan office said the Turkish president also told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting in Istanbul on Saturday that Turkey was ready to take on the role of facilitator.Erdogan said that the region cannot tolerate another war and said Israel must be “stopped immediately.”Araghchi was in Turkey to attend a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.<h2>Iran acknowledges detaining German bicyclist on suspicion of spying</h2>Iran on Saturday acknowledged for the first time it had detained a German bicyclist on spying allegations, likely an effort by Tehran to pressure Germany amid its war with Israel.The semiofficial Mehr news agency published footage of the unnamed man’s arrest, without saying when the arrest occurred. However, it described the cyclist as being detained in Markazi province, home to the Arak heavy water reactor.The German news agency dpa reported the arrest took place last year and that the bicyclist is being held in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, home to Westerners and political prisoners.The German Foreign Ministry declined to comment Saturday.<h2>Israeli army says it is now targeting Iranian military infrastructure</h2>The Israeli army said it began striking military infrastructure in southwest Iran.It was unclear what the targeted sites were.Shortly after, Iranian state media reported that the sound of large blasts was heard in two cities in the oil-rich province of Khuzestan. Air defenses were reported to be activated in both locations.A large column of smoke had also risen above the port city of Mahshahr, Fars news agency said, while “frightening explosions” were heard in the provincial capital of Ahvaz.<h2>Macron voices deep concern over Iran's nuclear program</h2>The French president said Saturday this happened during a call with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, who initiated the call.“Here again, my position is clear: Iran must never acquire nuclear weapons, and it is up to Iran to provide full guarantees that its intentions are peaceful,” Macron posted on social media, adding that diplomatic efforts should continue to resolve the current crisis.“To achieve this, we will accelerate the negotiations led by France and its European partners with Iran.”Macron said he also asked for the release of two French citizens being held in Iran on espionage charges since 2022.

American aerial refueling tankers on the move  as Iran tensions heat up

Reporter Cristina Janney speaks with nurse practitioner Babe Breit about her advanced practice on this episode of the Hays Post Podcast.

<a href="https://breitclinic.com/">Learn more about her practice on her website.</a>

<div><iframe title="Post Podcast: Breit Advanced Practice Clinic" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:300px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?from=embed&i=a9f8h-18e046e-pb&square=1&share=1&download=1&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&rtl=0&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=60a0c8&size=300" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>Reporter Cristina Janney speaks with nurse practitioner Babe Breit about her advanced practice on this episode of the Hays Post Podcast.<a href="https://breitclinic.com/">Learn more about her practice on her website.</a>

🎙 Post Podcast-Breit Advanced Practice Clinic

By TONY GUERRERO Hays Post

Dozens of vintage vehicles are hitting the road for a week of nostalgia as the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International gathers in Hays.

The convention will take place from Sunday through Friday, and the Hampton Inn, 4002 General Hays Road, will serve as the host hotel.

The annual event brings together enthusiasts, collectors and historians from across the country to celebrate the legacy of Kaiser and Frazer automobiles.

Stacie Edgett-Minson, heart of American region manager for the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International, said the convention has been staged all over the country, except in Kansas.

"There hasn't been one in this part of the U.S. for years," Minson said.

The week will feature a classic car show with 25 vehicles expected from up to 22 states, including rare 1954 Kaiser Darrins, famous for their fiberglass bodies and sliding doors.

"453 were manufactured, and we have three of them attending our meet at the moment," said Cindy Linner, a lifetime member of the Kaiser Frazer Owners Club International.

Linner and Minson also said Henry J, Willys and Allstate models will be featured at the convention.

The public is welcome at  6 p.m. on Sunday at Frontier Park for a selection of cars on public display, a hamburger barbecue and an ice cream social.

While much of the day is reserved for tours and member-only events, car owners may be in the Home Depot parking lot,&nbsp;1310 E. 41st St.,&nbsp; during the evenings of June 23-25 for visitors to stop by, view vehicles and chat with members.

The official judging is also open to the public and will be from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday in the Home Depot parking lot.

"The members are always happy to talk about their cars. They want to talk about them and show them off. They are their pride and joy," Linner said.

Founded in 1959 in Chicago, the club now comprises members from the United States, Canada and numerous other countries. Members often trade or auction parts such as fenders and engines, and the club assists in reproducing hard-to-find components.

As a child, Minson traveled the country with her parents in their 1954 Kaiser Manhattan, a car her father, Elvin Edgett, still owns today.

Cindy Linner's father was among the club's early members, joining in the early 1960s.

In 1973, the club expanded internationally to enhance efforts to preserve and promote the history of post-1945 vehicles produced by Kaiser-Frazer and its affiliated companies.

"They were manufactured from 1946 to 1955 in the United States," Linner said. "Then they moved the manufacturing to Argentina and continued to manufacture Kaisers until 1963."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750431595491.jpeg" alt="A 1953 Kaiser-Frazer vehicle. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>A 1953 Kaiser-Frazer vehicle. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By TONY GUERRERO Hays PostDozens of vintage vehicles are hitting the road for a week of nostalgia as the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International gathers in Hays.The convention will take place from Sunday through Friday, and the Hampton Inn, 4002 General Hays Road, will serve as the host hotel.The annual event brings together enthusiasts, collectors and historians from across the country to celebrate the legacy of Kaiser and Frazer automobiles.Stacie Edgett-Minson, heart of American region manager for the Kaiser-Frazer Owners Club International, said the convention has been staged all over the country, except in Kansas."There hasn't been one in this part of the U.S. for years," Minson said.The week will feature a classic car show with 25 vehicles expected from up to 22 states, including rare 1954 Kaiser Darrins, famous for their fiberglass bodies and sliding doors.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750431830131.jpeg" alt="A 1954 Kaiser Darrin vehicle. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>A 1954 Kaiser Darrin vehicle. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>"453 were manufactured, and we have three of them attending our meet at the moment," said Cindy Linner, a lifetime member of the Kaiser Frazer Owners Club International.Linner and Minson also said Henry J, Willys and Allstate models will be featured at the convention.The public is welcome at 6 p.m. on Sunday at Frontier Park for a selection of cars on public display, a hamburger barbecue and an ice cream social.While much of the day is reserved for tours and member-only events, car owners may be in the Home Depot parking lot,&nbsp;1310 E. 41st St.,&nbsp; during the evenings of June 23-25 for visitors to stop by, view vehicles and chat with members.The official judging is also open to the public and will be from 9 a.m. to noon on Thursday in the Home Depot parking lot."The members are always happy to talk about their cars. They want to talk about them and show them off. They are their pride and joy," Linner said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750431689925.jpeg" alt="A 1951 Kaiser-Frazer vehicle. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>A 1951 Kaiser-Frazer vehicle. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Founded in 1959 in Chicago, the club now comprises members from the United States, Canada and numerous other countries. Members often trade or auction parts such as fenders and engines, and the club assists in reproducing hard-to-find components.As a child, Minson traveled the country with her parents in their 1954 Kaiser Manhattan, a car her father, Elvin Edgett, still owns today.Cindy Linner's father was among the club's early members, joining in the early 1960s.In 1973, the club expanded internationally to enhance efforts to preserve and promote the history of post-1945 vehicles produced by Kaiser-Frazer and its affiliated companies."They were manufactured from 1946 to 1955 in the United States," Linner said. "Then they moved the manufacturing to Argentina and continued to manufacture Kaisers until 1963."

Rare classic cars roll into Hays for international convention

More Airbnb apartments are planned for development in downtown Hays.&nbsp;

Hays developer Tim Speno,&nbsp;One Twenty Seven Investments, wants to renovate the second floor of the building at 1012 Main into three short-term rental units.&nbsp;

Speno is requesting the city of Hays apply for $300,000 in grant money through the Kansas Department of Commerce's Community Development Block Grant Commercial Rehabilitation program to assist with the redevelopment project.

The state program is designed to assist private property owners in the rehabilitation of blighted structures. 

The developer is required to provide 25% in matching funds, or $104,315. The total project cost is estimated at $464,505.

The city is the official applicant and has no financial obligation.&nbsp;

The building, initially constructed in 1917 as the Hays Building and Loan Association, has housed various businesses over the years and is currently home to Eclectic Threads Quilt Studio.

The renovation will involve exterior masonry, interior plumbing, HVAC, and roof improvements to create three rentable units. The quilt studio will continue to operate on the ground floor.

"That's one of the huge successes of downtown areas is having people live there and being a vital part of the downtown, so I love seeing this," said Sandy Jacobs, mayor.&nbsp;

The grant application process will be similar to a request made by another Hays developer, Adam Pray, for <a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f367c960-2038-4546-b83e-7a081f032723">Chestnut Suites</a>, which is currently under renovation at&nbsp;1108 N. Main.&nbsp;

More planned new housing was discussed during a rezoning request for 2707 Canal Blvd. from commercial general to a residential multi-family district.

The owner, Aaron Dreher of AD3 LLC, Hays, plans to&nbsp;build units designed for short- or long-term rentals that are fully furnished for traveling nurses or similar business professionals.

The Hays Area Planning Commission has already approved the rezoning request&nbsp;for the .607 acres of undeveloped land directly east of little Dillons, 515 W. 27th.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750263139389.png" alt="1012 Main Street, downtown Hays. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>1012 Main Street, downtown Hays. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By BECKY KISER Hays PostMore Airbnb apartments are planned for development in downtown Hays.&nbsp;Hays developer Tim Speno,&nbsp;One Twenty Seven Investments, wants to renovate the second floor of the building at 1012 Main into three short-term rental units.&nbsp;Speno is requesting the city of Hays apply for $300,000 in grant money through the Kansas Department of Commerce's Community Development Block Grant Commercial Rehabilitation program to assist with the redevelopment project.The state program is designed to assist private property owners in the rehabilitation of blighted structures. The developer is required to provide 25% in matching funds, or $104,315. The total project cost is estimated at $464,505.The city is the official applicant and has no financial obligation.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750263247761.png" alt="1012 Main Street, downtown Hays. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>1012 Main Street, downtown Hays. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>The building, initially constructed in 1917 as the Hays Building and Loan Association, has housed various businesses over the years and is currently home to Eclectic Threads Quilt Studio.The renovation will involve exterior masonry, interior plumbing, HVAC, and roof improvements to create three rentable units. The quilt studio will continue to operate on the ground floor."That's one of the huge successes of downtown areas is having people live there and being a vital part of the downtown, so I love seeing this," said Sandy Jacobs, mayor.&nbsp;The grant application process will be similar to a request made by another Hays developer, Adam Pray, for <a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f367c960-2038-4546-b83e-7a081f032723">Chestnut Suites</a>, which is currently under renovation at&nbsp;1108 N. Main.&nbsp;More planned new housing was discussed during a rezoning request for 2707 Canal Blvd. from commercial general to a residential multi-family district.The owner, Aaron Dreher of AD3 LLC, Hays, plans to&nbsp;build units designed for short- or long-term rentals that are fully furnished for traveling nurses or similar business professionals.The Hays Area Planning Commission has already approved the rezoning request&nbsp;for the .607 acres of undeveloped land directly east of little Dillons, 515 W. 27th.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750433250432.png" alt="Zoning map for land surrounding&nbsp;2707 Canal Blvd., where new rental housing is planned. City of Hays&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>Zoning map for land surrounding&nbsp;2707 Canal Blvd., where new rental housing is planned. City of Hays&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>Dreher owns the property to the north and south of the area requested for rezoning and plans to leave the south end, which fronts 27th Street, available for potential commercial development. That site was previously occupied by the Stop 'N Shop convenience store.Jesse Rohr, public works director, presented three recommendations for minor changes to the Unified Development Code for small accessory structures, such as gazebos or garden sheds.Proposed are the elimination of side and rear setbacks for accessory structures 120 square feet and smaller; the elimination of the maximum number of two accessory structures that can be placed on a single parcel; and the elimination of restrictions on the size of accessory structures in agriculture districts, which are on the edge of town.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750265211704.png" alt="206 E. 14th, Hays. City of Hays photo&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>206 E. 14th, Hays. City of Hays photo&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750435244191.png" alt="206 E. 14th, Hays. City of Hays photo" />
 <figcaption>206 E. 14th, Hays. City of Hays photo</figcaption>
 </figure>Rohr also recommended a general nuisance abatement for 206 E. 14th.&nbsp;"We've had no contact from the owner (William Call)," said Rohr. "There's been little to no improvement in the past two months."All four agenda items will be voted on at the June 26 city commission meeting.&nbsp;