Richard
Francis Smolik, 92, passed away September 3, 2024, at Clara Barton Hospital in
Hoisington, Kansas. He was born October 2, 1931, to Frank and Agnes (Rudolf)
Smolik on the family homestead near Timken.

Richard attended
Timken country schools before dedicating his life as a farmer and stockman. He
was a mechanic, in his own shop, that was located on the farm. He enlisted in
the United States Army and served proudly in the Korean War. Richard married
Donna Ochs September 12, 1959, at Timken, Kansas.&nbsp; She died November 17, 2023. He was a member
of Holy Trinity Church in Timken and attended Prince of Peace Parish, Great
Bend. Richard was a jack of all trades. He designed and built sheds on the farm,
loved to collect and rebuild antique tractors, and collected many things including
model cars. 

Survivors
include two sons; Ken Smolik and wife Kris of Great Bend, Gerald Smolik of
Timken, daughter; Mary Bieker and husband Darrell of Great Bend, brother;
Robert Smolik of Great Bend, grandchildren;, Scott Smolik and wife Cassie,
Michael Smolik and wife Kendyll, Michala Bieker, and Emma Bieker; three great grandchildren, Olivia
Smolik, Connor Smolik and Levi Smolik; and four step-great grandchildren, Kadyn
Schmidt, Carsyn Berggren, Brock Berggren and McKoy Berggren. He was
preceded in death by a brother; Matthew Smolik and a sister; Betty Axman.

Visitation will be held Sunday
September 8, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with family receiving friends
from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with a Rosary and Vigil at 7:00 p.m. at Bryant
Funeral Home. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday,
September 9, 2024, at St. Patrick Catholic Church with Father Prakash Kola
presiding. Interment
will follow at Bohemian Cemetery, in Timken. Military honors will be conducted
by Ft. Riley Honor Guard. Memorials have been designated to Prince of Peace
Parish, in care of Bryant Funeral Home, 1425 Patton Road, Great Bend, KS

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725474515063.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Richard
Francis Smolik, 92, passed away September 3, 2024, at Clara Barton Hospital in
Hoisington, Kansas. He was born October 2, 1931, to Frank and Agnes (Rudolf)
Smolik on the family homestead near Timken.Richard attended
Timken country schools before dedicating his life as a farmer and stockman. He
was a mechanic, in his own shop, that was located on the farm. He enlisted in
the United States Army and served proudly in the Korean War. Richard married
Donna Ochs September 12, 1959, at Timken, Kansas.&nbsp; She died November 17, 2023. He was a member
of Holy Trinity Church in Timken and attended Prince of Peace Parish, Great
Bend. Richard was a jack of all trades. He designed and built sheds on the farm,
loved to collect and rebuild antique tractors, and collected many things including
model cars. Survivors
include two sons; Ken Smolik and wife Kris of Great Bend, Gerald Smolik of
Timken, daughter; Mary Bieker and husband Darrell of Great Bend, brother;
Robert Smolik of Great Bend, grandchildren;, Scott Smolik and wife Cassie,
Michael Smolik and wife Kendyll, Michala Bieker, and Emma Bieker; three great grandchildren, Olivia
Smolik, Connor Smolik and Levi Smolik; and four step-great grandchildren, Kadyn
Schmidt, Carsyn Berggren, Brock Berggren and McKoy Berggren. He was
preceded in death by a brother; Matthew Smolik and a sister; Betty Axman.Visitation will be held Sunday
September 8, 2024, from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., with family receiving friends
from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. with a Rosary and Vigil at 7:00 p.m. at Bryant
Funeral Home. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday,
September 9, 2024, at St. Patrick Catholic Church with Father Prakash Kola
presiding. Interment
will follow at Bohemian Cemetery, in Timken. Military honors will be conducted
by Ft. Riley Honor Guard. Memorials have been designated to Prince of Peace
Parish, in care of Bryant Funeral Home, 1425 Patton Road, Great Bend, KS

Richard Smolik, age 92

Our annual Pioneer Day will be held on October 12th with a focus on the history of Nicodemus through a bike tour over gravel roads throughout the historic Nicodemus Township and neighboring Wild Horse Township, and town of Damar. For the serious bikers the 33.5mile tour is recommended. You’ll see the entire area with stops at 14 historic signs along the way. For a shorter trek we recommend the 21.5-mile tour. It will include 11 sign stops, if you trek only within the historic Nicodemus township, 13 signs if you go into Bogue and see 2 other signs then return to Nicodemus. 4 SAGS stops will provide riders with water, snacks and fruit. The SAGS are sponsored by Walmart of Hays, The Kansas Black Farmers Association, The Citizens of Bogue, and the Switzer/KSU Ag Camp for Youth. Registration can be done on line at nicodemushistoricalsociety.org. Register before Sept. 27th to ensure that you get a t-shirt!

When riders, guests, and spectators arrive at the Visitor Center for registration, they will be treated to a FREE ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST 8 a.m.-10:00 a.m. at ERNESTINE’S BBQ MUSEUM. The free breakfast is sponsored by the Kansas Black Farmers Association and The Land Institute and will include pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee.

Riders will leave on tours starting at 9:00 and are expected to return between noon-3:00. Food will be provided for a nominal cost for those not registered to ride and who want to enjoy the park with live music (bring your lawn chairs). For those who missed our history documentary, a free showing of the Ellis Trail to Nicodemus will be featured at 2:00 in the Visitor Center.

The day is expected to be great fun day for all. Everyone is welcome to ride and/or enjoy the free breakfast and a day of history with us. We encourage even the youth that have bikes to take a shorter route that will tour around the historic town of Nicodemus to various silhouettes and historic building sites. A longer ‘short’ tour will take you around to some of the historic tour signs, like the original baseball diamond and location of the early Emancipation Celebrations just south of Nicodemus. Pick the tour or the mileage you’d like to travel and be our guest to learn more about this history of one the nation’s most iconic African American national sites in the West.

The 14 large historic signs were made possible with funding from the Sunflower Foundation.

For More Information Contact: Angela Bates (785) 839-8200.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725391816127.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SubmittedOur annual Pioneer Day will be held on October 12th with a focus on the history of Nicodemus through a bike tour over gravel roads throughout the historic Nicodemus Township and neighboring Wild Horse Township, and town of Damar. For the serious bikers the 33.5mile tour is recommended. You’ll see the entire area with stops at 14 historic signs along the way. For a shorter trek we recommend the 21.5-mile tour. It will include 11 sign stops, if you trek only within the historic Nicodemus township, 13 signs if you go into Bogue and see 2 other signs then return to Nicodemus. 4 SAGS stops will provide riders with water, snacks and fruit. The SAGS are sponsored by Walmart of Hays, The Kansas Black Farmers Association, The Citizens of Bogue, and the Switzer/KSU Ag Camp for Youth. Registration can be done on line at nicodemushistoricalsociety.org. Register before Sept. 27th to ensure that you get a t-shirt!When riders, guests, and spectators arrive at the Visitor Center for registration, they will be treated to a FREE ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST 8 a.m.-10:00 a.m. at ERNESTINE’S BBQ MUSEUM. The free breakfast is sponsored by the Kansas Black Farmers Association and The Land Institute and will include pancakes, sausage, orange juice and coffee.Riders will leave on tours starting at 9:00 and are expected to return between noon-3:00. Food will be provided for a nominal cost for those not registered to ride and who want to enjoy the park with live music (bring your lawn chairs). For those who missed our history documentary, a free showing of the Ellis Trail to Nicodemus will be featured at 2:00 in the Visitor Center.The day is expected to be great fun day for all. Everyone is welcome to ride and/or enjoy the free breakfast and a day of history with us. We encourage even the youth that have bikes to take a shorter route that will tour around the historic town of Nicodemus to various silhouettes and historic building sites. A longer ‘short’ tour will take you around to some of the historic tour signs, like the original baseball diamond and location of the early Emancipation Celebrations just south of Nicodemus. Pick the tour or the mileage you’d like to travel and be our guest to learn more about this history of one the nation’s most iconic African American national sites in the West.The 14 large historic signs were made possible with funding from the Sunflower Foundation.For More Information Contact: Angela Bates (785) 839-8200.

Historic Nicodemus Township Bike Tour scheduled

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Close to 80,000 fans are expected to pack Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of the AFC championship game Thursday night,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ravens-chiefs-nfl-preview-mahomes-jackson-76936f5d925080022a692555b46e5088">lifting the lid on the NFL season.</a>

Many will be watching for Taylor Swift to appear in one of the stadium suites, too.

The pop superstar became one of the Chiefs' biggest fans last season, when she began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-chiefs-broncos-b08b0e53fdd232dc0a468b5fa43b5b04">a high-profile romance with tight end Travis Kelce</a>. He had failed in an attempt to deliver a friendship bracelet at one of her concerts, so Kelce took to social media to invite Swift to a game, and the “Anti-Hero” singer showed up for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-kelce-chiefs-891e7df84295f5b35cfa97a5ec427721">a September matchup with the Bears</a>.

They continued to see each other throughout the season, whenever Swift was on break from her Eras Tour. The 14-time Grammy winner even made a much-publicized sprint from a stadium show in Japan to Las Vegas in time for the Super Bowl, where she partied with friends such as Blake Lively, enjoyed Post Malone's performance of “America the Beautiful," won what appeared to be a beer chugging contest, and then celebrated the Chiefs' triumph&nbsp;<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2024/02/10/taylor-swift-kisses-travis-kelce-on-the-field-after-his-chiefs-beat-the-49ers-in-the-super-bowl/">by locking lips with Kelce on the field</a>.

Along the way, Swift became close friends with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany.

During this past offseason, Kelce frequently dropped in on the Eras Tour, even making an on-stage cameo. Swift later said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C8myZeBOoV6/?">social media post</a>&nbsp;she was still “cracking up/swooning over (Kelce's) Eras Tour debut” before 90,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium in London, and that “she was never going to forget these shows.”

Indeed, it has been a busy offseason for both of the superstars.

Swift recently concluded the European leg of the Eras Tour with five consecutive shows at Wembley Stadium, and she is on break until October, when she begins the North American leg with stops across the U.S. and Canada stretching into December.

Kelce and his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kelce-chiefs-eagles-jason-travis-new-heights-92761f6968b12ee06603d66e7ce9c5b7">recently struck a deal</a>&nbsp;reportedly worth nine figures to take their “New Heights” podcast to Amazon's Wondery. He is due to appear in&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/daV1NI7hxY0?si=PtU8BgFwX79OgD_i">Ryan Murphy's murder mystery “Grotesquerie”</a>&nbsp;on FX debuting Sept. 25, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/travis-kelce-are-you-smarter-than-a-celebrity-prime-video">he is hosting “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity”</a>&nbsp;on Prime Video premiering Oct. 16.

Then there's the fact that the Chiefs, who have won two straight Super Bowls and three in the past five years, are chasing some history beginning Thursday night. No team has ever won the Lombardi Trophy three consecutive times.

Kelce was asked this week how he juggles everything, and he pointed to the Chiefs practice facility — and Arrowhead Stadium, which sits just up the hill and across the parking lot — as his sanctuary, where he is surrounded by his closest friends.

“I just love football and how it takes me away from life,” he explained, “and it gives me something I can feel genuinely happy about. I enjoy coming into the building, working on my craft, getting to understand a new game plan and perfecting that for the people around me. It gives me a purpose to kind of go about my day and to live my life. I have so much excitement doing it.”

Not everything has been smooth for Swift and Kelce this offseason, though.

Last month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-cia-vienna-concerts-foiled-attack-7e454af63efcff2a3ab0a20c718aba8d">Swift canceled three sold-out shows in Vienna</a>&nbsp;after the CIA discovered intelligence that led to multiple arrests of men linked to the Islamic State group. The agency's deputy director, David Cohen, said "they were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this.”

Then on Thursday, a spokesperson for Kelce denounced a document recently posted online that called into question the authenticity of their romance as “entirely false and fabricated.” The document, carrying the title "Comprehensive Media Plan For Travis Kelce’s Relations Following Breakup with Taylor Swift,” was posted on Reddit but has since been deleted.

It was posted about the same time that&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/CbaIDysFUuQ?si=s7Zg_6hSRtFvFBVw">Kelce appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show,”</a>&nbsp;where he discussed their relationship.

“She had just been so open to learning the game,” Kelce said. “I think what makes her so good in her profession is that she’s so detailed in every aspect of it, from the words to her music and even the releases and the music videos and everything. She’s just so detailed and a part of it, that I think she was just curious about the profession.”

Kelce even said that Swift had started drawing up some plays for him, though he noted with a smile, "She’s a little biased and just creates plays for me. So we’ll see if they can make coach (Andy) Reid’s office.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/9/1695606865962.png" alt="File photo -Taylor Swift watches from a suite alongside Travis Kelce's mother, Donna Kelce, inside Arrowhead Stadium (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)" />
 <figcaption>File photo -Taylor Swift watches from a suite alongside Travis Kelce's mother, Donna Kelce, inside Arrowhead Stadium (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Close to 80,000 fans are expected to pack Arrowhead Stadium to watch the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs play the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of the AFC championship game Thursday night,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ravens-chiefs-nfl-preview-mahomes-jackson-76936f5d925080022a692555b46e5088">lifting the lid on the NFL season.</a>Many will be watching for Taylor Swift to appear in one of the stadium suites, too.The pop superstar became one of the Chiefs' biggest fans last season, when she began&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-chiefs-broncos-b08b0e53fdd232dc0a468b5fa43b5b04">a high-profile romance with tight end Travis Kelce</a>. He had failed in an attempt to deliver a friendship bracelet at one of her concerts, so Kelce took to social media to invite Swift to a game, and the “Anti-Hero” singer showed up for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-kelce-chiefs-891e7df84295f5b35cfa97a5ec427721">a September matchup with the Bears</a>.They continued to see each other throughout the season, whenever Swift was on break from her Eras Tour. The 14-time Grammy winner even made a much-publicized sprint from a stadium show in Japan to Las Vegas in time for the Super Bowl, where she partied with friends such as Blake Lively, enjoyed Post Malone's performance of “America the Beautiful," won what appeared to be a beer chugging contest, and then celebrated the Chiefs' triumph&nbsp;<a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2024/02/10/taylor-swift-kisses-travis-kelce-on-the-field-after-his-chiefs-beat-the-49ers-in-the-super-bowl/">by locking lips with Kelce on the field</a>.Along the way, Swift became close friends with Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his wife, Brittany.During this past offseason, Kelce frequently dropped in on the Eras Tour, even making an on-stage cameo. Swift later said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C8myZeBOoV6/?">social media post</a>&nbsp;she was still “cracking up/swooning over (Kelce's) Eras Tour debut” before 90,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium in London, and that “she was never going to forget these shows.”Indeed, it has been a busy offseason for both of the superstars.Swift recently concluded the European leg of the Eras Tour with five consecutive shows at Wembley Stadium, and she is on break until October, when she begins the North American leg with stops across the U.S. and Canada stretching into December.Kelce and his brother, retired Eagles center Jason Kelce,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kelce-chiefs-eagles-jason-travis-new-heights-92761f6968b12ee06603d66e7ce9c5b7">recently struck a deal</a>&nbsp;reportedly worth nine figures to take their “New Heights” podcast to Amazon's Wondery. He is due to appear in&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/daV1NI7hxY0?si=PtU8BgFwX79OgD_i">Ryan Murphy's murder mystery “Grotesquerie”</a>&nbsp;on FX debuting Sept. 25, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/entertainment/travis-kelce-are-you-smarter-than-a-celebrity-prime-video">he is hosting “Are You Smarter Than a Celebrity”</a>&nbsp;on Prime Video premiering Oct. 16.Then there's the fact that the Chiefs, who have won two straight Super Bowls and three in the past five years, are chasing some history beginning Thursday night. No team has ever won the Lombardi Trophy three consecutive times.Kelce was asked this week how he juggles everything, and he pointed to the Chiefs practice facility — and Arrowhead Stadium, which sits just up the hill and across the parking lot — as his sanctuary, where he is surrounded by his closest friends.“I just love football and how it takes me away from life,” he explained, “and it gives me something I can feel genuinely happy about. I enjoy coming into the building, working on my craft, getting to understand a new game plan and perfecting that for the people around me. It gives me a purpose to kind of go about my day and to live my life. I have so much excitement doing it.”Not everything has been smooth for Swift and Kelce this offseason, though.Last month,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-cia-vienna-concerts-foiled-attack-7e454af63efcff2a3ab0a20c718aba8d">Swift canceled three sold-out shows in Vienna</a>&nbsp;after the CIA discovered intelligence that led to multiple arrests of men linked to the Islamic State group. The agency's deputy director, David Cohen, said "they were plotting to kill a huge number — tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans — and were quite advanced in this.”Then on Thursday, a spokesperson for Kelce denounced a document recently posted online that called into question the authenticity of their romance as “entirely false and fabricated.” The document, carrying the title "Comprehensive Media Plan For Travis Kelce’s Relations Following Breakup with Taylor Swift,” was posted on Reddit but has since been deleted.It was posted about the same time that&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/CbaIDysFUuQ?si=s7Zg_6hSRtFvFBVw">Kelce appeared on “The Rich Eisen Show,”</a>&nbsp;where he discussed their relationship.“She had just been so open to learning the game,” Kelce said. “I think what makes her so good in her profession is that she’s so detailed in every aspect of it, from the words to her music and even the releases and the music videos and everything. She’s just so detailed and a part of it, that I think she was just curious about the profession.”Kelce even said that Swift had started drawing up some plays for him, though he noted with a smile, "She’s a little biased and just creates plays for me. So we’ll see if they can make coach (Andy) Reid’s office.”___

Will Taylor Swift shows up for Chiefs' season opener Thursday night?

Judith “Judy” (Karnes) Weeks, 89, of Hoxie, Kansas passed away on Friday, August 30, 2024, at the Sheridan County Long Term Care. Judy, the first child of Floyd and Ida Nell (Schropp) Karnes, was born October 3, 1934, at the family home in Rural Sheridan County, Kansas. Judy was the oldest of three children. She attended elementary school at the Tasco School and graduated from the Sheridan County High School in Hoxie with the class of 1952. Judy was married to the love of her life, Al Weeks, on April 12, 1953, at the Hoxie Presbyterian Church. Judy and Al were blessed with four children, Marilyn, David, Donna, and Debra. They made their home in Sheridan County and moved to their forever farm home east of Hoxie in 1974.

Judy was a wonderful cook, and everything she made was from scratch. She was a seamstress. She could sew anything. Judy sewed clothes for her children, made beautiful quilts and did embroidery work. She made prom dresses for her children and grandchildren which were very beautiful. Judy and Al traveled to visit their children, grandchildren and attend family reunions. Family was especially important to them. Judy was a member the Tasco and Hoxie Presbyterian Church. She had a strong faith. Judy was a strong, beautiful woman. She was persistent and tenacious. She treated obstacles as steppingstones and met them head on, not letting them get her down. Judy’s strength and kindness will be missed.

Judy leaves to mourn her passing her children, David Weeks and wife Pam of Ellsworth, Kansas, Donna Simpson and husband Jeff of Mesa, Arizona, and Debra Shugart and her husband Russ of Parker, Colorado; sister-in-law, Ardith Karnes; seven grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren; and extended family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Al Weeks; daughter, Marilyn Carder; parents Floyd and Nell Karnes; grandson, Jeremy Carder; brother, Victor Karnes; sister, Joyce Peter; and brother-in-law, Gary Peter.

A Funeral Service is planned for Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 1:00 P.M. at the Christ Community Church in Hoxie, Kansas. There will be a private family burial, in the Hoxie City Cemetery at 10:30 A.M. Visitation will be from Noon until 1:00 P.M. at the Christ Community Church on Thursday, September 5, 2024. Memorials are suggested to the Sheridan County Long Term Care and may be sent in care of Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home, PO Box 987, Hoxie, Kansas 67740. You may leave words of comfort and care at hoxie@mickeyleopoldfuneral.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/9/1725481204884.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Judith “Judy” (Karnes) Weeks, 89, of Hoxie, Kansas passed away on Friday, August 30, 2024, at the Sheridan County Long Term Care. Judy, the first child of Floyd and Ida Nell (Schropp) Karnes, was born October 3, 1934, at the family home in Rural Sheridan County, Kansas. Judy was the oldest of three children. She attended elementary school at the Tasco School and graduated from the Sheridan County High School in Hoxie with the class of 1952. Judy was married to the love of her life, Al Weeks, on April 12, 1953, at the Hoxie Presbyterian Church. Judy and Al were blessed with four children, Marilyn, David, Donna, and Debra. They made their home in Sheridan County and moved to their forever farm home east of Hoxie in 1974.Judy was a wonderful cook, and everything she made was from scratch. She was a seamstress. She could sew anything. Judy sewed clothes for her children, made beautiful quilts and did embroidery work. She made prom dresses for her children and grandchildren which were very beautiful. Judy and Al traveled to visit their children, grandchildren and attend family reunions. Family was especially important to them. Judy was a member the Tasco and Hoxie Presbyterian Church. She had a strong faith. Judy was a strong, beautiful woman. She was persistent and tenacious. She treated obstacles as steppingstones and met them head on, not letting them get her down. Judy’s strength and kindness will be missed.Judy leaves to mourn her passing her children, David Weeks and wife Pam of Ellsworth, Kansas, Donna Simpson and husband Jeff of Mesa, Arizona, and Debra Shugart and her husband Russ of Parker, Colorado; sister-in-law, Ardith Karnes; seven grandchildren and fourteen great-grandchildren; and extended family and friends.She was preceded in death by her husband, Al Weeks; daughter, Marilyn Carder; parents Floyd and Nell Karnes; grandson, Jeremy Carder; brother, Victor Karnes; sister, Joyce Peter; and brother-in-law, Gary Peter.A Funeral Service is planned for Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 1:00 P.M. at the Christ Community Church in Hoxie, Kansas. There will be a private family burial, in the Hoxie City Cemetery at 10:30 A.M. Visitation will be from Noon until 1:00 P.M. at the Christ Community Church on Thursday, September 5, 2024. Memorials are suggested to the Sheridan County Long Term Care and may be sent in care of Mickey-Leopold Funeral Home, PO Box 987, Hoxie, Kansas 67740. You may leave words of comfort and care at hoxie@mickeyleopoldfuneral.com

Judith “Judy” (Karnes) Weeks

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officers of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">Kroger and Albertsons</a>&nbsp;were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government's attempt to stop it.

The two companies proposed what would be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-albertsons-companies-inc-0cfbd68f81ba8aab7c1d3012c69804d9">largest supermarket merger</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history in October 2022. The Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal and has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon for an injunction that would block the merger while the complaint goes before an FTC administrative law judge.

The FTC alleges the merger would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-antitrust-grocery-merger-competition-71b47dc86ec7449f29b2b488c1d3f9de">eliminate competition</a>&nbsp;and raise grocery prices at a time of already high&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28">food price inflation</a>. Kroger and Albertsons say the deal would allow them to compete with big rivals like Walmart and hold down prices by giving them more leverage with suppliers.

The testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was expected to mark a key moment in the hearing, as what they say under oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.

During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.

The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They’ve additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.

Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.

Under the deal, Kroger and Albertsons would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-grocery-9a1d40ba06f752d3c5c3d5db78fede4c">sell 579 stores</a>&nbsp;in places where their locations overlap to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-wholesale-grocer-401520f2a25ea2ae5fd06be4973b7c48">C&amp;S Wholesale Grocers</a>, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-b50f18e7e7dc4701823b2d4346a8bd28">Piggly Wiggly</a>&nbsp;store brands.

Speaking in 2022 before the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-alex-padilla-congress-rodney-mcmullen-54929ed8d702642fbc33269fb69b0373">U.S. Senate subcommittee</a>&nbsp;on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.

“The intent is not to close stores. The intent is to divest stores,” Sankaran said at the time.

The FTC alleges that C&amp;S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&amp;S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.

C&amp;S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testified last week in Portland that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.

In his own statement to the U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2022, McMullen said Kroger has lowered prices after other mergers, like its 2013 acquisition of Harris Teeter.

“From a business standpoint, that is our commitment,” he said..

The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opioid-crisis-settlement-kroger-79356d42ded9c5099e1c2b88d3ffc061">Kroger</a>, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Dillons,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralphs-supermarkets-california-job-applicants-46a287ac76515ffbbd196202c4ee3c38">Ralphs</a>, Smith’s and Harris Teeter.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-dividends-8c6e67bf9fb0cc3da523c672a6ca9141">Albertsons</a>, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1724718577355.png" alt="Photo from an August press conference courtesy United Food and commercial workers union local 3000" />
 <figcaption>Photo from an August press conference courtesy United Food and commercial workers union local 3000</figcaption>
 </figure>PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The chief executive officers of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-grocery-merger-ftc-9fdb26cc044ee21a7a486c03caae6a5d">Kroger and Albertsons</a>&nbsp;were set to testify in federal court Wednesday, midway through a three-week hearing in which the grocery chains have defended their proposed merger from the U.S. government's attempt to stop it.The two companies proposed what would be the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-albertsons-companies-inc-0cfbd68f81ba8aab7c1d3012c69804d9">largest supermarket merger</a>&nbsp;in U.S. history in October 2022. The Federal Trade Commission sued to prevent the $24.6 billion deal and has asked a U.S. District Court judge in Oregon for an injunction that would block the merger while the complaint goes before an FTC administrative law judge.The FTC alleges the merger would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-antitrust-grocery-merger-competition-71b47dc86ec7449f29b2b488c1d3f9de">eliminate competition</a>&nbsp;and raise grocery prices at a time of already high&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28">food price inflation</a>. Kroger and Albertsons say the deal would allow them to compete with big rivals like Walmart and hold down prices by giving them more leverage with suppliers.The testimony of Albertsons CEO Vivek Sankaran and Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen was expected to mark a key moment in the hearing, as what they say under oath about prices, potential store closures and the impact on workers will likely be scrutinized in the years ahead if the merger goes through.During the proceedings, FTC attorneys have noted that Kroger and Albertsons currently compete in 22 states, closely matching each other on price, quality, private label products and services like store pickup. Shoppers benefit from that competition and would lose those benefits if the merger is allowed to proceed, they argued.The FTC and labor union leaders also claim that workers’ wages and benefits would decline if Kroger and Albertsons no longer compete with each other. They’ve additionally expressed concern that potential store closures could create so-called food and pharmacy “deserts” for consumers.Albertsons has argued the deal could actually bolster union jobs, since many of it and Kroger’s competitors, like Walmart, have few unionized workers.Under the deal, Kroger and Albertsons would&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-grocery-9a1d40ba06f752d3c5c3d5db78fede4c">sell 579 stores</a>&nbsp;in places where their locations overlap to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kroger-albertsons-merger-cs-wholesale-grocer-401520f2a25ea2ae5fd06be4973b7c48">C&amp;S Wholesale Grocers</a>, a New Hampshire-based supplier to independent supermarkets that also owns the Grand Union and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-b50f18e7e7dc4701823b2d4346a8bd28">Piggly Wiggly</a>&nbsp;store brands.Speaking in 2022 before the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-prices-alex-padilla-congress-rodney-mcmullen-54929ed8d702642fbc33269fb69b0373">U.S. Senate subcommittee</a>&nbsp;on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights, the Albertsons CEO said his company’s acquisition of brands such as Safeway over the previous decade had allowed it to increase the number of its stores from 192 to 2,300.“The intent is not to close stores. The intent is to divest stores,” Sankaran said at the time.The FTC alleges that C&amp;S is ill-prepared to take on those stores. Laura Hall, the FTC’s senior trial counsel, cited internal documents that indicated C&amp;S executives were skeptical about the quality of the stores they would get and may want the option to sell or close them.C&amp;S CEO Eric Winn, for his part, testified last week in Portland that he thinks his company can be successful in the venture.In his own statement to the U.S. Senate subcommittee in 2022, McMullen said Kroger has lowered prices after other mergers, like its 2013 acquisition of Harris Teeter.“From a business standpoint, that is our commitment,” he said..The attorneys general of Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming all joined the case on the FTC’s side. Washington and Colorado filed separate cases in state courts seeking to block the merger.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/opioid-crisis-settlement-kroger-79356d42ded9c5099e1c2b88d3ffc061">Kroger</a>, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, operates 2,800 stores in 35 states, including brands like Dillons,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ralphs-supermarkets-california-job-applicants-46a287ac76515ffbbd196202c4ee3c38">Ralphs</a>, Smith’s and Harris Teeter.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-dividends-8c6e67bf9fb0cc3da523c672a6ca9141">Albertsons</a>, based in Boise, Idaho, operates 2,273 stores in 34 states, including brands like Safeway, Jewel Osco and Shaw’s. Together, the companies employ around 710,000 people.

CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons defend plans for a huge supermarket merger

Reform ideas touch on governor’s role, special-interest earmarks, 3-day workweek

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.

House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republicans who formed an interim legislative committee to work on the budgeting overhaul, said the plan involved formation of a powerful permanent committee of a dozen or so legislators who would start work on a version of the state budget as much as three months before the legislative session began in January. For years, legislators have waited to start until the Kansas governor presented detailed budget recommendations.

The GOP legislative leaders said this newly empowered committee would produce a baseline budget that would be introduced in bill form on the first day of the legislative session. Under this scenario, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget recommendations released in mid-January 2025 would become a supplemental source rather than the starting point for budget deliberations at the Capitol.

Hawkins, who represents a Wichita district, said the Legislature had to reclaim budget authority ceded long ago to the executive branch. He cautioned skeptics of GOP maneuvering that it would be wrong to assume the objective was a personal attack on Kelly.

“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” Hawkins said. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”

“I look at this as an opportunity for us to examine a process that probably is flawed, not badly flawed, but … there’s opportunities to make it better,” the House speaker said. “Just because we’ve always done something some way doesn’t mean that that’s the best way to do it.”

Grace Hoge, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Kelly’s handling of budget duties contributed to a state budget surplus and implementation of sustainable tax reductions.

“Just like Kansas families, Governor Kelly understands responsible budgeting,” Hoge said. “Every year her budget proposal is meticulously crafted and presented to the Legislature at the beginning of the session, as is required by law. Governor Kelly’s fiscal responsibility reversed years of financial instability and led to a record budget surplus that has resulted in substantial, sustainable tax cuts for all Kansans. The current budgeting process works.”

Masterson, of Andover, said the Legislature’s early attention to details of the state budget would allow the House and Senate to move quickly on spending decisions during the regular session. He said the shift would enable legislators to dedicate more time to individual agency operations and, potentially, save tax dollars.

“I feel like our state is ready for some kind of reorganization,” said Masterson, who made a distinction between budget recommendations of Republican and Democratic governors. “You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff. And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”

A 2021 report by the National Association of State Budget Officers indicated 36 states introduced the governor’s budget as a bill in the Legislature, which has been the practice in Kansas. The report said 14 states had a process in which drafting the budget was a responsibility of the legislature.

The Kansas Legislature’s interim committee assigned the task of piecing together a new process for shaping the annual state budget met last week and was expected to convene again in September.

In this initial meeting, there was enthusiasm for imposition of boundaries to curtail influence of special-interest lobbyists who have proven adept at winning budget earmarks by evading the regular legislative process. It was suggested the six-person conference committees that negotiate finer points of the budget be forbidden from independently adding expenditure provisos pitched by lobbyists. Instead, lobbyists would be compelled to run their earmarks through a regular House or Senate budget committee and to secure endorsement of House and Senate Republican leaders.

Rep. Troy Waymaster, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said it might irritate some legislators to learn the list of reform ideas included a change in the workday culture at the statehouse.

He indicated legislators should expect to work on Mondays and Fridays, rather than just Tuesday through Thursday. The condensed schedule became the standard during height of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t revert to the previous norm, he said.

“That is just exacerbating the problem,” said Waymaster, a Bunker Hill lawmaker who has chaired the House Appropriations Committee for eight years. “We need to go back to what the legislative session was like before COVID, where we have committee meetings on Mondays and Fridays and not ‘pro forma’ days.”

If that change were adopted ahead of the 2025 session, it would coincide with implementation of significant increases in annual compensation of House and Senate members.&nbsp;Total compensation of rank-and-file legislators in Kansas will increase from $30,000 to nearly $58,000.

Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth Democrat on the interim budget reform committee with Waymaster, said developing a more efficient method of crafting the budget was worthy of debate. He cautioned against making the reform process partisan. He said attention should be given to avoid overwhelming legislative staff by duplicating budget reviews done by the governor’s staff.

“We&nbsp;have&nbsp;not&nbsp;ceded&nbsp;our&nbsp;control,&nbsp;but&nbsp;rather&nbsp;we&nbsp;have&nbsp;directed&nbsp;the&nbsp;CEO,&nbsp;the&nbsp;governor,&nbsp;and&nbsp;her&nbsp;staff&nbsp;or&nbsp;his&nbsp;staff,&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;these&nbsp;things&nbsp;for&nbsp;us — to get down into the weeds,” Pittman said.

Pittman and other legislators said state budget documents should be remodeled to make information more easily consumed by legislators and the public, especially as House and Senate negotiators made dozens of budget deals late in the session. Pittman urged colleagues in the Legislature to end their three-day workweek.

“There were a lot of days we could have been doing more, you know. We had a lot of days were we did not meet as a committee,” said Pittman, who sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

During the initial meeting of the interim budget reform committee, there was no discussion by Republicans or Democrats about how activities of the new pre-session legislative budget panel would be transparent. This select group of legislators would apparently gain access to preliminary agency budget documents and meet with department officials to discuss spending requests. It’s possible legislators would observe executive branch meetings on agency budget appeals not open to the public.

It wasn’t clear how state legislators running for reelection — House members have two-year terms, while Senate terms last four years — would participate in robust pre-session budget examinations during October before the general election in November.

Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, did suggest the Legislature move to a biennial budget format in which an expenditure plan for state government would be prepared and adopted for a two-year period. In 1993, a Kansas budget committee recommended 53 state agencies be moved to a biennial format. The 1994 Legislature passed a bill allowing 20 fee-funded agencies to work on a biennial basis.

GOP Gov. Sam Brownback proposed a biennial budget for all state agencies for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Kelly eliminated that approach for all agencies except those required to operate on two-year cycles under state law.

The House, with 125 members, concentrates budgeting authority in the House Appropriations Committee. The House also runs six subject-based budget committees on higher education, K-12 schools, social services, transportation and safety, agriculture and natural resources and general government operations.

The Senate has 40 members, but directs all budget work to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate has a system of subcommittees, but they’re not staffed and don’t operate like the subject-oriented standing House budget committees.

“If we’re going to seriously evaluate the budget and dig and take a dive deeper, it would be helpful for us to have that discussion … about whether or not the Senate should go to that process as well,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican who has chaired the Senate budget committee.

McGinn, who didn’t seek reelection in 2024, said she was concerned reform could speed consideration of the state budget in ways that limited the ability of Kansas to testify at the Capitol before the House or Senate.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725033355556.png" alt=" Rep. Troy Waymaster, left, a Bunker Hill Republican who chairs the Legislature’s interim state budget reform committee, said Kansas needed a more concise, analytical “budget process that better serves the taxpayers” by reducing spending. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Rep. Troy Waymaster, left, a Bunker Hill Republican who chairs the Legislature’s interim state budget reform committee, said Kansas needed a more concise, analytical “budget process that better serves the taxpayers” by reducing spending. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Reform ideas touch on governor’s role, special-interest earmarks, 3-day workweek</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Kansas Republicans pressing to reform the Legislature’s annual budget-writing process want to displace governors from the lead role in proposing state spending changes, alter a Statehouse culture that embraced the three-day workweek, and make it difficult for lobbyists to slip special-interest earmarks into bills.House Speaker Dan Hawkins and Senate President Ty Masterson, the Republicans who formed an interim legislative committee to work on the budgeting overhaul, said the plan involved formation of a powerful permanent committee of a dozen or so legislators who would start work on a version of the state budget as much as three months before the legislative session began in January. For years, legislators have waited to start until the Kansas governor presented detailed budget recommendations.The GOP legislative leaders said this newly empowered committee would produce a baseline budget that would be introduced in bill form on the first day of the legislative session. Under this scenario, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s budget recommendations released in mid-January 2025 would become a supplemental source rather than the starting point for budget deliberations at the Capitol.Hawkins, who represents a Wichita district, said the Legislature had to reclaim budget authority ceded long ago to the executive branch. He cautioned skeptics of GOP maneuvering that it would be wrong to assume the objective was a personal attack on Kelly.“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” Hawkins said. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”“I look at this as an opportunity for us to examine a process that probably is flawed, not badly flawed, but … there’s opportunities to make it better,” the House speaker said. “Just because we’ve always done something some way doesn’t mean that that’s the best way to do it.”Grace Hoge, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Kelly’s handling of budget duties contributed to a state budget surplus and implementation of sustainable tax reductions.“Just like Kansas families, Governor Kelly understands responsible budgeting,” Hoge said. “Every year her budget proposal is meticulously crafted and presented to the Legislature at the beginning of the session, as is required by law. Governor Kelly’s fiscal responsibility reversed years of financial instability and led to a record budget surplus that has resulted in substantial, sustainable tax cuts for all Kansans. The current budgeting process works.”Masterson, of Andover, said the Legislature’s early attention to details of the state budget would allow the House and Senate to move quickly on spending decisions during the regular session. He said the shift would enable legislators to dedicate more time to individual agency operations and, potentially, save tax dollars.“I feel like our state is ready for some kind of reorganization,” said Masterson, who made a distinction between budget recommendations of Republican and Democratic governors. “You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff. And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”A 2021 report by the National Association of State Budget Officers indicated 36 states introduced the governor’s budget as a bill in the Legislature, which has been the practice in Kansas. The report said 14 states had a process in which drafting the budget was a responsibility of the legislature.<h2>Nailing budget earmarks</h2>The Kansas Legislature’s interim committee assigned the task of piecing together a new process for shaping the annual state budget met last week and was expected to convene again in September.In this initial meeting, there was enthusiasm for imposition of boundaries to curtail influence of special-interest lobbyists who have proven adept at winning budget earmarks by evading the regular legislative process. It was suggested the six-person conference committees that negotiate finer points of the budget be forbidden from independently adding expenditure provisos pitched by lobbyists. Instead, lobbyists would be compelled to run their earmarks through a regular House or Senate budget committee and to secure endorsement of House and Senate Republican leaders.Rep. Troy Waymaster, the Republican chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said it might irritate some legislators to learn the list of reform ideas included a change in the workday culture at the statehouse.He indicated legislators should expect to work on Mondays and Fridays, rather than just Tuesday through Thursday. The condensed schedule became the standard during height of the COVID-19 pandemic and didn’t revert to the previous norm, he said.“That is just exacerbating the problem,” said Waymaster, a Bunker Hill lawmaker who has chaired the House Appropriations Committee for eight years. “We need to go back to what the legislative session was like before COVID, where we have committee meetings on Mondays and Fridays and not ‘pro forma’ days.”If that change were adopted ahead of the 2025 session, it would coincide with implementation of significant increases in annual compensation of House and Senate members.&nbsp;Total compensation of rank-and-file legislators in Kansas will increase from $30,000 to nearly $58,000.Sen. Jeff Pittman, a Leavenworth Democrat on the interim budget reform committee with Waymaster, said developing a more efficient method of crafting the budget was worthy of debate. He cautioned against making the reform process partisan. He said attention should be given to avoid overwhelming legislative staff by duplicating budget reviews done by the governor’s staff.“We&nbsp;have&nbsp;not&nbsp;ceded&nbsp;our&nbsp;control,&nbsp;but&nbsp;rather&nbsp;we&nbsp;have&nbsp;directed&nbsp;the&nbsp;CEO,&nbsp;the&nbsp;governor,&nbsp;and&nbsp;her&nbsp;staff&nbsp;or&nbsp;his&nbsp;staff,&nbsp;to&nbsp;do&nbsp;these&nbsp;things&nbsp;for&nbsp;us — to get down into the weeds,” Pittman said.Pittman and other legislators said state budget documents should be remodeled to make information more easily consumed by legislators and the public, especially as House and Senate negotiators made dozens of budget deals late in the session. Pittman urged colleagues in the Legislature to end their three-day workweek.“There were a lot of days we could have been doing more, you know. We had a lot of days were we did not meet as a committee,” said Pittman, who sits on the Senate Ways and Means Committee.<h2>Process questions, ideas</h2>During the initial meeting of the interim budget reform committee, there was no discussion by Republicans or Democrats about how activities of the new pre-session legislative budget panel would be transparent. This select group of legislators would apparently gain access to preliminary agency budget documents and meet with department officials to discuss spending requests. It’s possible legislators would observe executive branch meetings on agency budget appeals not open to the public.It wasn’t clear how state legislators running for reelection — House members have two-year terms, while Senate terms last four years — would participate in robust pre-session budget examinations during October before the general election in November.Rep. Will Carpenter, an El Dorado Republican, did suggest the Legislature move to a biennial budget format in which an expenditure plan for state government would be prepared and adopted for a two-year period. In 1993, a Kansas budget committee recommended 53 state agencies be moved to a biennial format. The 1994 Legislature passed a bill allowing 20 fee-funded agencies to work on a biennial basis.GOP Gov. Sam Brownback proposed a biennial budget for all state agencies for fiscal years 2016 and 2017. Kelly eliminated that approach for all agencies except those required to operate on two-year cycles under state law.The House, with 125 members, concentrates budgeting authority in the House Appropriations Committee. The House also runs six subject-based budget committees on higher education, K-12 schools, social services, transportation and safety, agriculture and natural resources and general government operations.The Senate has 40 members, but directs all budget work to the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The Senate has a system of subcommittees, but they’re not staffed and don’t operate like the subject-oriented standing House budget committees.“If we’re going to seriously evaluate the budget and dig and take a dive deeper, it would be helpful for us to have that discussion … about whether or not the Senate should go to that process as well,” said Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican who has chaired the Senate budget committee.McGinn, who didn’t seek reelection in 2024, said she was concerned reform could speed consideration of the state budget in ways that limited the ability of Kansas to testify at the Capitol before the House or Senate.

Kansas GOP leaders drafting new roadmap for Legislature’s annual budgeting process

With eviction filings leaving a lasting mark on renters’ records, many states are reconsidering how much information landlords really need.

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://stateline.org/author/rsequeira/">ROBBIE SEQUEIRA</a> <a href="https://stateline.org/">Stateline</a>

When&nbsp;pandemic-era tenant protections expired, rents immediately soared, and eviction filings surged last year more than 50% over pre-pandemic levels in some U.S. cities.

These filings can cast long shadows. Simply being named in an eviction complaint, regardless of the outcome, can severely limit future housing options and prolong housing insecurity,&nbsp;<a href="https://poverty.umich.edu/2024/07/16/research-shows-far-reaching-costs-of-eviction-filings-to-tenants-regardless-of-the-outcome-in-court/" target="_blank">according to a recent University of Michigan study</a>.

The situation underscores a growing debate across the country: Should&nbsp;<a href="https://americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Eviction-Record-Expungement-Can-Remove-Barriers.pdf" target="_blank">eviction records</a>&nbsp;be shielded from public access to offer tenants a cleaner shot at finding another home?

In recent years, more states are saying, “yes — at least in some cases.”

Eviction filings are public court records. Landlords and property owners can buy databases of the records to screen potential tenants.

Property owners argue that sealing data on eviction filings — most of which are for nonpayment of rent — eliminates crucial insights into rental history. Housing advocates, however, warn that any filing can unfairly block renters from future housing because the outcome may not be an eviction.

An eviction filing doesn’t provide enough information to determine a tenant’s ability to honor their next lease, said Katie Fallon, a principal policy associate with the Urban Institute, a research and advocacy think tank focusing on urban policies.

“Given the low quality of this eviction filing data and the lack of outcomes in the filings themselves, it is a very open question of how accurate these filings are and what information they really provide to landlords,” she said.

This year,&nbsp;<a href="https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1327/" target="_blank">Idaho</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0019" target="_blank">Maryland</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-affordable-homes-act-smart-housing-livable-communities" target="_blank">Massachusetts</a>&nbsp;enacted laws to seal certain eviction records from public scrutiny and from tenant screening companies.

Last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/2023/ACT/PA/PDF/2023PA-00207-R00SB-00998-PA.PDF" target="_blank">Connecticut</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/SenateText23/S0912Aaa.pdf" target="_blank">Rhode Island</a>&nbsp;also enacted laws that allow for the sealing of certain eviction cases. Arizona, meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/2R/bills/HB2485H.pdf" target="_blank">enacted a law</a>&nbsp;in 2022 requiring courts to seal eviction records if cases are dismissed, dropped or adjudicated in the tenant’s favor.

In total, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have measures&nbsp;<a href="https://www.policylink.org/mapping-the-growth-of-eviction-record" target="_blank">sealing</a>&nbsp;at least some eviction records, according to PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy group with a focus on housing.

Zafar Shah, assistant director of advocacy for Maryland Legal Aid, said lawmakers are starting to understand how&nbsp;eviction records can prevent tenants from finding another home.

“We have clients that know they will lose their eviction case, but they want us to shield the information so that the next potential housing provider is not going to use it against them,” said Shah.

“That has really been the impetus for shielding and sealing across the country. These filings don’t tell us a lot, but they carry so much weight in the search for housing.”

An eviction filing could be resolved in a number of ways: A case might be dismissed if the landlord and tenant reach an agreement. The judge might rule in favor of the tenant, allowing them to stay in their home. Or the judge could side with the landlord, evicting the tenant.

Regardless of the outcome, the records live on in online court databases.

Third-party tenant screening companies scan court records for eviction cases, then sell the data to landlords to use in their leasing decisions.

Housing advocates say the data is often inaccurate and misleading. In one state — Illinois — less than half of eviction filings led to actual evictions, according to a 2019&nbsp;<a href="https://housingactionil.org/downloads/EvictionBrief_February2019.pdf" target="_blank">review</a>&nbsp;by Housing Action Illinois, an advocacy group.

Alexandra Alvarado, director of education and marketing at the American Apartment Owners Association, a tenant screening provider, told Stateline that the group’s database only displays eviction records with a completed judgment that were filed within the past seven years, which is the time limit set by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

“It can be a monetary or non-monetary judgment, but there must be a judgment. So, if an eviction case is filed, but the parties settled outside of court or the tenant won, then it wouldn’t show up in our reports, even though technically it is public record,” Alvarado said. “Our members are getting evictions that have merit and weren’t erroneously filed.”

According to researchers at the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, of the 3.6 million eviction court records in the 12 states they tracked from 2011 to 2015, more than 1 in 5 eviction cases contained little information on the resolution of a case. Ambiguous data can also&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201029055456id_/https:/www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10511482.2020.1748084?needAccess=true" target="_blank">falsely represent</a>&nbsp;a tenant’s eviction history, affecting both renters and scholarly researchers, according to a 2020 study by the group.

“While many people think an eviction filing is evidence of late rent payment, nonpayment of rent or a violation of the lease terms, this is not necessarily true,” said Fallon, of the Urban Institute. “Filings can include inaccurate data, such as the parties named in the eviction filing and inaccurate name spellings.”

Alvarado, of the American Apartment Owners Association, said landlords have mixed views about laws that allow courts to seal cases that have been dismissed or ruled in a tenant’s favor. What’s more important to landlords, she said, is that their screening process can look back the full seven years for problem evictions.

Laws that limit the lookback period — such as in&nbsp;<a href="https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB873/Enrolled" target="_blank">Oregon</a>, where tenants can request an expungement after five years — affect the tenant screening process more, she said.

The system is problematic, Eviction Lab found in a&nbsp;<a href="https://evictionlab.org/demographics-of-eviction/" target="_blank">2020 study</a>&nbsp;of eviction cases filed between 2012 and 2016 in 39 states. In addition to inaccurate information, Black households are overrepresented in eviction filings,&nbsp;Eviction Lab found, as are women — especially Black and Latina women.

“When landlords say they need to use eviction filings, which we know aren’t the most reliable information, to make housing decisions, we need to push back on that,” said Jasmine Rangel, senior housing associate for PolicyLink.

She and other advocates want eviction court records to be sealed as soon as a landlord files an eviction notice. Otherwise, she said, “third-party services can still scrape that eviction record from online databases and into their tenant screening algorithms.”

Advocates point out that eviction records could be made public later if a judge rules in the landlord’s favor.

But Shuntera Brown, who lost her home in Phoenix in 2021, said in an interview that any eviction record hurts single moms like herself.

Brown, who has three children, has struggled to pay rent even with a full-time job. In December 2020, a bout of COVID-19 caused her to miss work shifts, a paycheck disruption that eventually put her over the edge months later.

“It’s a Scarlet ‘E.’ You have this record, you have this thing on your file of an eviction, but there’s no understanding of the context or circumstances behind it,” Brown said. “I remember pleading with the judge that I’ve usually paid on time and that my kids need a home, but he sided with the landlord in, like, seven minutes, and the eviction immediately was on my credit.”

State by state, the laws differ on the details: Many states allow for eviction records to be sealed almost immediately if the case was dismissed or dropped, or if the tenant won the case. Other states have a waiting period, often several years, during which the tenant must demonstrate good behavior before a record is sealed.

Under Maryland’s new law, which takes effect in October, courts must shield records within 60 days of a resolution that doesn’t end in a tenant losing possession of their home. The state also will increase the eviction&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marylandbusinesslitigationlawyerblog.com/renters-rights-stabilization-act-2024/" target="_blank">filing fee</a>&nbsp;from $8 to $43.

Maryland landlords filed roughly 400,000 “failure to pay rent” cases in the state’s 2023 fiscal year, according to housing advocates who testified in favor of the new law. In some cases, landlords would file monthly failure to pay rent cases against tenants prematurely and tack on illegal fees on top of the back rent,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.publicjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PJC-AR_2023_FINAL_web.pdf" target="_blank">according to a report</a>&nbsp;from the Maryland-based advocacy group Public Justice Center.

“The low cost and low barrier to entry have driven the massive quantity of filings, with many cases simply being leveraged to get rent money out of tenants quickly,” said Shah, of Maryland Legal Aid. “I think that the court overall has become more receptive to shielding these cases, recognizing that if a case was dismissed or settled, there’s no reason to hold it against the renter.

“This attitude has shifted significantly over the past decade,” he said.

In&nbsp;<a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_2801-2850/ab_2819_cfa_20160620_154723_sen_comm.html" target="_blank">California</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb20-1009" target="_blank">Colorado</a>, as in Maryland, an eviction lawsuit can be automatically sealed as soon as it’s been filed unless the landlord wins the case within 60 days.&nbsp;<a href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022/bills/house/1214/details" target="_blank">Indiana</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/484.014" target="_blank">Minnesota</a>&nbsp;require a tenant to formally petition for sealing once a court reaches judgment.

Idaho’s new law shields dismissed eviction cases after three years. And in Massachusetts, tenants can request their case be sealed for a variety of reasons, no matter the outcome, after a period of time ranging from a few months to several years.

In Rhode Island, a tenant can only make a request once every five years.

Researchers at Eviction Lab told Stateline that state laws should still allow data access for scientists. The 2022&nbsp;<a href="https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/laws/24-115" target="_blank">eviction-sealing law</a>&nbsp;in Washington, D.C., for example, specifies that records can be unsealed for scholarly, educational, journalistic or governmental purposes.

“There is an important public right to know what is going on in the housing market, and this is one of our data points into the eviction crisis,” said Carl Gershenson, lab director at Eviction Lab. “There is a balance that can be achieved that is in the best interest of tenants and how these filings can be used as datapoints to understand the housing crisis.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1641238301184.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>With eviction filings leaving a lasting mark on renters’ records, many states are reconsidering how much information landlords really need.</h2>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://stateline.org/author/rsequeira/">ROBBIE SEQUEIRA</a> <a href="https://stateline.org/">Stateline</a>When&nbsp;pandemic-era tenant protections expired, rents immediately soared, and eviction filings surged last year more than 50% over pre-pandemic levels in some U.S. cities.These filings can cast long shadows. Simply being named in an eviction complaint, regardless of the outcome, can severely limit future housing options and prolong housing insecurity,&nbsp;<a href="https://poverty.umich.edu/2024/07/16/research-shows-far-reaching-costs-of-eviction-filings-to-tenants-regardless-of-the-outcome-in-court/" target="_blank">according to a recent University of Michigan study</a>.The situation underscores a growing debate across the country: Should&nbsp;<a href="https://americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/Eviction-Record-Expungement-Can-Remove-Barriers.pdf" target="_blank">eviction records</a>&nbsp;be shielded from public access to offer tenants a cleaner shot at finding another home?In recent years, more states are saying, “yes — at least in some cases.”Eviction filings are public court records. Landlords and property owners can buy databases of the records to screen potential tenants.Property owners argue that sealing data on eviction filings — most of which are for nonpayment of rent — eliminates crucial insights into rental history. Housing advocates, however, warn that any filing can unfairly block renters from future housing because the outcome may not be an eviction.An eviction filing doesn’t provide enough information to determine a tenant’s ability to honor their next lease, said Katie Fallon, a principal policy associate with the Urban Institute, a research and advocacy think tank focusing on urban policies.“Given the low quality of this eviction filing data and the lack of outcomes in the filings themselves, it is a very open question of how accurate these filings are and what information they really provide to landlords,” she said.This year,&nbsp;<a href="https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1327/" target="_blank">Idaho</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://mgaleg.maryland.gov/mgawebsite/Legislation/Details/sb0019" target="_blank">Maryland</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mass.gov/info-details/the-affordable-homes-act-smart-housing-livable-communities" target="_blank">Massachusetts</a>&nbsp;enacted laws to seal certain eviction records from public scrutiny and from tenant screening companies.Last year,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cga.ct.gov/2023/ACT/PA/PDF/2023PA-00207-R00SB-00998-PA.PDF" target="_blank">Connecticut</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://webserver.rilegislature.gov/BillText/BillText23/SenateText23/S0912Aaa.pdf" target="_blank">Rhode Island</a>&nbsp;also enacted laws that allow for the sealing of certain eviction cases. Arizona, meanwhile,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/55leg/2R/bills/HB2485H.pdf" target="_blank">enacted a law</a>&nbsp;in 2022 requiring courts to seal eviction records if cases are dismissed, dropped or adjudicated in the tenant’s favor.In total, 17 states and Washington, D.C., have measures&nbsp;<a href="https://www.policylink.org/mapping-the-growth-of-eviction-record" target="_blank">sealing</a>&nbsp;at least some eviction records, according to PolicyLink, a national research and advocacy group with a focus on housing.Zafar Shah, assistant director of advocacy for Maryland Legal Aid, said lawmakers are starting to understand how&nbsp;eviction records can prevent tenants from finding another home.“We have clients that know they will lose their eviction case, but they want us to shield the information so that the next potential housing provider is not going to use it against them,” said Shah.“That has really been the impetus for shielding and sealing across the country. These filings don’t tell us a lot, but they carry so much weight in the search for housing.”An eviction filing could be resolved in a number of ways: A case might be dismissed if the landlord and tenant reach an agreement. The judge might rule in favor of the tenant, allowing them to stay in their home. Or the judge could side with the landlord, evicting the tenant.Regardless of the outcome, the records live on in online court databases.Third-party tenant screening companies scan court records for eviction cases, then sell the data to landlords to use in their leasing decisions.Housing advocates say the data is often inaccurate and misleading. In one state — Illinois — less than half of eviction filings led to actual evictions, according to a 2019&nbsp;<a href="https://housingactionil.org/downloads/EvictionBrief_February2019.pdf" target="_blank">review</a>&nbsp;by Housing Action Illinois, an advocacy group.Alexandra Alvarado, director of education and marketing at the American Apartment Owners Association, a tenant screening provider, told Stateline that the group’s database only displays eviction records with a completed judgment that were filed within the past seven years, which is the time limit set by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.“It can be a monetary or non-monetary judgment, but there must be a judgment. So, if an eviction case is filed, but the parties settled outside of court or the tenant won, then it wouldn’t show up in our reports, even though technically it is public record,” Alvarado said. “Our members are getting evictions that have merit and weren’t erroneously filed.”<h2>A Scarlet ‘E’</h2>According to researchers at the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, of the 3.6 million eviction court records in the 12 states they tracked from 2011 to 2015, more than 1 in 5 eviction cases contained little information on the resolution of a case. Ambiguous data can also&nbsp;<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201029055456id_/https:/www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10511482.2020.1748084?needAccess=true" target="_blank">falsely represent</a>&nbsp;a tenant’s eviction history, affecting both renters and scholarly researchers, according to a 2020 study by the group.“While many people think an eviction filing is evidence of late rent payment, nonpayment of rent or a violation of the lease terms, this is not necessarily true,” said Fallon, of the Urban Institute. “Filings can include inaccurate data, such as the parties named in the eviction filing and inaccurate name spellings.”Alvarado, of the American Apartment Owners Association, said landlords have mixed views about laws that allow courts to seal cases that have been dismissed or ruled in a tenant’s favor. What’s more important to landlords, she said, is that their screening process can look back the full seven years for problem evictions.Laws that limit the lookback period — such as in&nbsp;<a href="https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2019R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/SB873/Enrolled" target="_blank">Oregon</a>, where tenants can request an expungement after five years — affect the tenant screening process more, she said.The system is problematic, Eviction Lab found in a&nbsp;<a href="https://evictionlab.org/demographics-of-eviction/" target="_blank">2020 study</a>&nbsp;of eviction cases filed between 2012 and 2016 in 39 states. In addition to inaccurate information, Black households are overrepresented in eviction filings,&nbsp;Eviction Lab found, as are women — especially Black and Latina women.“When landlords say they need to use eviction filings, which we know aren’t the most reliable information, to make housing decisions, we need to push back on that,” said Jasmine Rangel, senior housing associate for PolicyLink.She and other advocates want eviction court records to be sealed as soon as a landlord files an eviction notice. Otherwise, she said, “third-party services can still scrape that eviction record from online databases and into their tenant screening algorithms.”Advocates point out that eviction records could be made public later if a judge rules in the landlord’s favor.But Shuntera Brown, who lost her home in Phoenix in 2021, said in an interview that any eviction record hurts single moms like herself.Brown, who has three children, has struggled to pay rent even with a full-time job. In December 2020, a bout of COVID-19 caused her to miss work shifts, a paycheck disruption that eventually put her over the edge months later.“It’s a Scarlet ‘E.’ You have this record, you have this thing on your file of an eviction, but there’s no understanding of the context or circumstances behind it,” Brown said. “I remember pleading with the judge that I’ve usually paid on time and that my kids need a home, but he sided with the landlord in, like, seven minutes, and the eviction immediately was on my credit.”<h2>Sealing the records</h2>State by state, the laws differ on the details: Many states allow for eviction records to be sealed almost immediately if the case was dismissed or dropped, or if the tenant won the case. Other states have a waiting period, often several years, during which the tenant must demonstrate good behavior before a record is sealed.Under Maryland’s new law, which takes effect in October, courts must shield records within 60 days of a resolution that doesn’t end in a tenant losing possession of their home. The state also will increase the eviction&nbsp;<a href="https://www.marylandbusinesslitigationlawyerblog.com/renters-rights-stabilization-act-2024/" target="_blank">filing fee</a>&nbsp;from $8 to $43.Maryland landlords filed roughly 400,000 “failure to pay rent” cases in the state’s 2023 fiscal year, according to housing advocates who testified in favor of the new law. In some cases, landlords would file monthly failure to pay rent cases against tenants prematurely and tack on illegal fees on top of the back rent,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.publicjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PJC-AR_2023_FINAL_web.pdf" target="_blank">according to a report</a>&nbsp;from the Maryland-based advocacy group Public Justice Center.“The low cost and low barrier to entry have driven the massive quantity of filings, with many cases simply being leveraged to get rent money out of tenants quickly,” said Shah, of Maryland Legal Aid. “I think that the court overall has become more receptive to shielding these cases, recognizing that if a case was dismissed or settled, there’s no reason to hold it against the renter.“This attitude has shifted significantly over the past decade,” he said.In&nbsp;<a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/15-16/bill/asm/ab_2801-2850/ab_2819_cfa_20160620_154723_sen_comm.html" target="_blank">California</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb20-1009" target="_blank">Colorado</a>, as in Maryland, an eviction lawsuit can be automatically sealed as soon as it’s been filed unless the landlord wins the case within 60 days.&nbsp;<a href="https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2022/bills/house/1214/details" target="_blank">Indiana</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/484.014" target="_blank">Minnesota</a>&nbsp;require a tenant to formally petition for sealing once a court reaches judgment.Idaho’s new law shields dismissed eviction cases after three years. And in Massachusetts, tenants can request their case be sealed for a variety of reasons, no matter the outcome, after a period of time ranging from a few months to several years.In Rhode Island, a tenant can only make a request once every five years.Researchers at Eviction Lab told Stateline that state laws should still allow data access for scientists. The 2022&nbsp;<a href="https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/laws/24-115" target="_blank">eviction-sealing law</a>&nbsp;in Washington, D.C., for example, specifies that records can be unsealed for scholarly, educational, journalistic or governmental purposes.“There is an important public right to know what is going on in the housing market, and this is one of our data points into the eviction crisis,” said Carl Gershenson, lab director at Eviction Lab. “There is a balance that can be achieved that is in the best interest of tenants and how these filings can be used as datapoints to understand the housing crisis.”

Landlords cry foul as more states seal eviction records

A summer COVID surge is starting to recede in Kansas and Missouri, but the next wave of infections is likely only weeks away.

By&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/author/suzanne-king/">Suzanne King</a> <a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/">The Beacon</a>

A summer COVID wave fueled by a highly contagious variant, increased travel and hot days that crowded people indoors may be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-statetrend.html">starting to ebb</a>&nbsp;in the Kansas City area.&nbsp;

Health officials said they hope that surge prompts far more people to sign up for the new COVID vaccine, which could reach area pharmacies next week. The new shot was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently">approved</a>&nbsp;last week and is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html">recommended</a>&nbsp;annually for people 6 months and older.

<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/08/28/the-best-way-to-avoid-covid-get-the-new-covid-vaccine/#new-covid-vaccine">Jump down to answers about when and where to get the vaccine and what it might cost you</a>

“Please take advantage of it,” said&nbsp; Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Roll up both sleeves. Get your flu shot and your COVID shot.”

<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2023/12/11/new-covid-vaccine-no-interest/">Last year</a>, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fewer than a quarter of adults actually got the new COVID vaccine.

Getting the updated vaccine, doctors agree, is the best way to prevent serious illness and reduce the risk of developing long COVID, a lingering and often debilitating condition that can leave a person with symptoms for months or years.

But since the federal government lifted its public health emergency in May 2023 and stopped providing the vaccine for free, public health officials have worried about how some people would afford it. Cash price for a shot can top $100.

People covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance can still get the shot for free or for a small fee. And a $1 billion federal program made free shots available to people without insurance last year. But funding for that program was expected to run out at the end of August.&nbsp;

Some area health departments, including the Wyandotte County Public Health Department, had said they&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/08/14/health-officials-warn-of-worsening-covid-surge-without-free-vaccines/">wouldn’t have</a>&nbsp;any free shots for uninsured adults this year. And Vibrant Health, a Wyandotte County health clinic, said it’s still unsure how many free shots will be available to its uninsured patients this fall.

But as federal funding was scheduled to dry up, the government announced it had found money to help cover at least some of the gap.&nbsp;

Kansas expects to get around $780,000 of the newly found federal aid, enough to cover about 9,380 COVID doses. The state, which hasn’t expanded Medicaid, has nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://governor.kansas.gov/census-survey-nearly-250000-kansans-without-health-coverage/#:~:text=TOPEKA%20%E2%80%93%20The%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau,Kansas%20and%20the%20United%20States.">250,000</a>&nbsp;residents who lack health coverage.

Jill Bronaugh, spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the shots would be “equitably distributed” across the state to local health departments, community health centers, rural health clinics and other vaccination locations.

Missouri got word last week that it would get just over $1.1 million of the federal funds. That means the state can buy around 12,000 COVID shots. The state, which has expanded Medicaid, still has more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/?dataView=1&amp;currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">500,000</a>&nbsp;uninsured residents, according to 2022 data.

Lynelle Paro, chief of Missouri’s Bureau of Immunization in the Department of Health and Senior Services, said the shots will be made available to public health departments and to some federally qualified health clinics, including&nbsp;<a href="https://samrodgers.org/">Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://kccare.org/">KC CARE Health Center</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://swopehealth.org/">Swope Health</a>.

Dr. Mark Steele, University Health’s chief clinical officer, said people at lower risk of getting really sick from COVID could consider waiting to get the updated shot until late September or early October. That could extend protection into the holiday season.

But doctors warn about putting it off any longer. The virus is sure to surge again once the weather turns cold, a new variant likely takes hold and people go back inside.

“If you’re an individual at high risk and it’s been two months or more since your last COVID update, err on the side of (getting the new shot) sooner rather than later,” Steele said.

Here’s what else you should know about the latest shot and what steps to take if you get infected.

Where can I get the new COVID vaccine and how much will it cost?

Many pharmacies offer the vaccine on a walk-in basis. Retail chains like Walgreens and CVS let you sign up through their websites. People covered by Medicare, Medicaid and many private insurance plans still can get the COVID shot for free, but you may have to pay an administration fee. Some area health departments charge $20 to give you the shot, even if you don’t have insurance. Many federally qualified health centers, such as KC CARE, provide the shot for free to uninsured and underinsured patients. Uninsured and underinsured minors get the shot for free through a federal program known as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-for-children/about/index.html">Vaccines for Children</a>.

What variant is the latest vaccine targeting?

The newly approved mRNA vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, target the KP.2 strain of the virus. KP.2 is one of the FLiRT variants, the highly contagious versions of COVID that fueled this summer’s surge.&nbsp;

If I had COVID recently, how long should I wait to get the new COVID vaccine?

Doctors said you can wait up to three months after an infection to get the new vaccine. That’s because you will develop immunity from having the virus.

Steele said you can expect the shot to keep you from getting sick for about three months. The vaccine will protect you from getting seriously ill for at least six months. Older adults and patients with underlying health conditions may be advised to get a second shot midway through the year.

Test when you have symptoms, said Dr. Sarah Boyd, an infectious disease doctor at St. Luke’s Health System. And don’t assume you’re COVID-free if one home antigen test shows a negative result. When a cough, sore throat or other symptoms persist, you should test a second time 48 hours later to rule out COVID.

If you know you’ve been exposed and you don’t have symptoms, you should test five days after exposure. Unless symptoms develop, you don’t need to repeat the test, Boyd said.

Beginning in late September, you will be able to&nbsp;<a href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/covid-19/test/Pages/default.aspx">order</a>&nbsp;four free tests from the federal government. Tests are available to buy at most drug stores or online, but that can cost $6 a test or more.&nbsp;<a href="https://testinglocator.cdc.gov/">No-cost testing</a>&nbsp;is still available at some pharmacies for people without insurance who have been exposed to COVID or have symptoms.&nbsp;

If the test is positive, do I need to stay home?

The CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/guidance/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/guidance/respiratory-virus-guidance.html">recommends</a>&nbsp;that if you test positive, you should avoid contact with others. Once your symptoms are improving and you have been fever-free for 24 hours, you can go back to school or work — as long as you’re not returning to a health care setting. But when you go back into the world, you should take precautions like wearing a mask for five additional days.

Should I consider taking Paxlovid if I test positive?

It’s a good idea to check in with your doctor if you test positive, Boyd said. They may recommend that you take Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that can prevent serious illness. Testing and determining that you have COVID is especially important for people at higher risk because Paxlovid must be started within five days of getting sick.

How can I reduce my risks of getting long COVID?

The best strategy to avoid long COVID is to avoid being infected in the first place, experts said. Wear a mask in crowded places, practice good hand hygiene and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth when in public. Most importantly, stay up to date on the vaccine. Like the flu shot, updated COVID vaccines are tweaked to more closely match and repel the virus variants that are circulating.&nbsp;

<h2>A summer COVID surge is starting to recede in Kansas and Missouri, but the next wave of infections is likely only weeks away.</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725035195591.png" alt="Kansas City-area pharmacies should be getting the new COVID vaccine any day. (Suzanne King/The Beacon)" />
 <figcaption>Kansas City-area pharmacies should be getting the new COVID vaccine any day. (Suzanne King/The Beacon)</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/author/suzanne-king/">Suzanne King</a> <a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/">The Beacon</a>A summer COVID wave fueled by a highly contagious variant, increased travel and hot days that crowded people indoors may be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-statetrend.html">starting to ebb</a>&nbsp;in the Kansas City area.&nbsp;Health officials said they hope that surge prompts far more people to sign up for the new COVID vaccine, which could reach area pharmacies next week. The new shot was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-and-authorizes-updated-mrna-covid-19-vaccines-better-protect-against-currently">approved</a>&nbsp;last week and is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/covid/vaccines/stay-up-to-date.html">recommended</a>&nbsp;annually for people 6 months and older.<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/08/28/the-best-way-to-avoid-covid-get-the-new-covid-vaccine/#new-covid-vaccine">Jump down to answers about when and where to get the vaccine and what it might cost you</a>“Please take advantage of it,” said&nbsp; Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Roll up both sleeves. Get your flu shot and your COVID shot.”<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2023/12/11/new-covid-vaccine-no-interest/">Last year</a>, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that fewer than a quarter of adults actually got the new COVID vaccine.Getting the updated vaccine, doctors agree, is the best way to prevent serious illness and reduce the risk of developing long COVID, a lingering and often debilitating condition that can leave a person with symptoms for months or years.But since the federal government lifted its public health emergency in May 2023 and stopped providing the vaccine for free, public health officials have worried about how some people would afford it. Cash price for a shot can top $100.People covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance can still get the shot for free or for a small fee. And a $1 billion federal program made free shots available to people without insurance last year. But funding for that program was expected to run out at the end of August.&nbsp;Some area health departments, including the Wyandotte County Public Health Department, had said they&nbsp;<a href="https://thebeaconnews.org/stories/2024/08/14/health-officials-warn-of-worsening-covid-surge-without-free-vaccines/">wouldn’t have</a>&nbsp;any free shots for uninsured adults this year. And Vibrant Health, a Wyandotte County health clinic, said it’s still unsure how many free shots will be available to its uninsured patients this fall.But as federal funding was scheduled to dry up, the government announced it had found money to help cover at least some of the gap.&nbsp;Kansas expects to get around $780,000 of the newly found federal aid, enough to cover about 9,380 COVID doses. The state, which hasn’t expanded Medicaid, has nearly&nbsp;<a href="https://governor.kansas.gov/census-survey-nearly-250000-kansans-without-health-coverage/#:~:text=TOPEKA%20%E2%80%93%20The%20U.S.%20Census%20Bureau,Kansas%20and%20the%20United%20States.">250,000</a>&nbsp;residents who lack health coverage.Jill Bronaugh, spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said the shots would be “equitably distributed” across the state to local health departments, community health centers, rural health clinics and other vaccination locations.Missouri got word last week that it would get just over $1.1 million of the federal funds. That means the state can buy around 12,000 COVID shots. The state, which has expanded Medicaid, still has more than&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/total-population/?dataView=1&amp;currentTimeframe=0&amp;sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D">500,000</a>&nbsp;uninsured residents, according to 2022 data.Lynelle Paro, chief of Missouri’s Bureau of Immunization in the Department of Health and Senior Services, said the shots will be made available to public health departments and to some federally qualified health clinics, including&nbsp;<a href="https://samrodgers.org/">Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://kccare.org/">KC CARE Health Center</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://swopehealth.org/">Swope Health</a>.Dr. Mark Steele, University Health’s chief clinical officer, said people at lower risk of getting really sick from COVID could consider waiting to get the updated shot until late September or early October. That could extend protection into the holiday season.But doctors warn about putting it off any longer. The virus is sure to surge again once the weather turns cold, a new variant likely takes hold and people go back inside.“If you’re an individual at high risk and it’s been two months or more since your last COVID update, err on the side of (getting the new shot) sooner rather than later,” Steele said.Here’s what else you should know about the latest shot and what steps to take if you get infected.<h2>Where can I get the new COVID vaccine and how much will it cost?</h2>Many pharmacies offer the vaccine on a walk-in basis. Retail chains like Walgreens and CVS let you sign up through their websites. People covered by Medicare, Medicaid and many private insurance plans still can get the COVID shot for free, but you may have to pay an administration fee. Some area health departments charge $20 to give you the shot, even if you don’t have insurance. Many federally qualified health centers, such as KC CARE, provide the shot for free to uninsured and underinsured patients. Uninsured and underinsured minors get the shot for free through a federal program known as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines-for-children/about/index.html">Vaccines for Children</a>.<h2>What variant is the latest vaccine targeting?</h2>The newly approved mRNA vaccines, from Moderna and Pfizer, target the KP.2 strain of the virus. KP.2 is one of the FLiRT variants, the highly contagious versions of COVID that fueled this summer’s surge.&nbsp;<h2>If I had COVID recently, how long should I wait to get the new COVID vaccine?</h2>Doctors said you can wait up to three months after an infection to get the new vaccine. That’s because you will develop immunity from having the virus.<h2>How long will the vaccine protect me?</h2>Steele said you can expect the shot to keep you from getting sick for about three months. The vaccine will protect you from getting seriously ill for at least six months. Older adults and patients with underlying health conditions may be advised to get a second shot midway through the year.<h2>If I get sick, when should I test?</h2>Test when you have symptoms, said Dr. Sarah Boyd, an infectious disease doctor at St. Luke’s Health System. And don’t assume you’re COVID-free if one home antigen test shows a negative result. When a cough, sore throat or other symptoms persist, you should test a second time 48 hours later to rule out COVID.<h2>If I am exposed, when should I test?</h2>If you know you’ve been exposed and you don’t have symptoms, you should test five days after exposure. Unless symptoms develop, you don’t need to repeat the test, Boyd said.<h2>Where can I get COVID tests?</h2>Beginning in late September, you will be able to&nbsp;<a href="https://aspr.hhs.gov/covid-19/test/Pages/default.aspx">order</a>&nbsp;four free tests from the federal government. Tests are available to buy at most drug stores or online, but that can cost $6 a test or more.&nbsp;<a href="https://testinglocator.cdc.gov/">No-cost testing</a>&nbsp;is still available at some pharmacies for people without insurance who have been exposed to COVID or have symptoms.&nbsp;<h2>If the test is positive, do I need to stay home?</h2>The CDC&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/guidance/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/guidance/respiratory-virus-guidance.html">recommends</a>&nbsp;that if you test positive, you should avoid contact with others. Once your symptoms are improving and you have been fever-free for 24 hours, you can go back to school or work — as long as you’re not returning to a health care setting. But when you go back into the world, you should take precautions like wearing a mask for five additional days.<h2>Should I consider taking Paxlovid if I test positive?</h2>It’s a good idea to check in with your doctor if you test positive, Boyd said. They may recommend that you take Paxlovid, an antiviral medication that can prevent serious illness. Testing and determining that you have COVID is especially important for people at higher risk because Paxlovid must be started within five days of getting sick.<h2>How can I reduce my risks of getting long COVID?</h2>The best strategy to avoid long COVID is to avoid being infected in the first place, experts said. Wear a mask in crowded places, practice good hand hygiene and avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth when in public. Most importantly, stay up to date on the vaccine. Like the flu shot, updated COVID vaccines are tweaked to more closely match and repel the virus variants that are circulating.&nbsp;

New COVID vaccines on their way: What you need to know

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/islamic-state-group">Islamic State group</a>&nbsp;militants in the country's western desert that killed at least 15 people and saw seven American troops hurt, officials said Saturday.

For years after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b35c5ac2cdee48dda3eefaaece769d06">dislodging the militants from their self-declared caliphate</a>&nbsp;across Iraq and Syria, U.S. forces have fought the Islamic State group, though the casualties from this raid were higher than in previous ones.

The U.S. military's Central Command alleged the militants were armed with “numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts” during the attack Thursday, which Iraqi forces said happened in the country's Anbar Desert.

“This operation targeted ISIS leaders to disrupt and degrade ISIS’ ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as U.S. citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” Central Command said, using an acronym for the militant group. “Iraqi Security Forces continue to further exploit the locations raided.”

It added: “There is no indication of civilian casualties.”

An Iraqi military statement said “airstrikes targeted the hideouts, followed by an airborne operation.”

“Among the dead were key ISIS leaders,” Iraq's military said, without identifying them. "All hideouts, weapons and logistical support were destroyed, explosive belts were safely detonated and important documents, identification papers and communication devices were seized.”

A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation yet to be made public, told The Associated Press that five American troops were wounded in the raid, while two others suffered injuries from falls during the operation. One who suffered a fall was transported out of the region, while one of the wounded was evacuated for further treatment, the official said.

“All personnel are in stable condition,” the official said.

It wasn’t immediately clear why it took two days for the U.S. to acknowledge it took part in the raid. Iraq did not say the U.S. took part in the operation when initially announcing it, as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-troops-iran-drawdown-6bc6fa21bc69b1b0de220907b4e9f382">politicians debate the future of having American troops in the country</a>. There are approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.

Since the U.S. toppled dictator Saddam Hussein with its 2003 invasion of Iraq, the country has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-kataib-hezbollah-us-strikes-militias-e2d31a579001f62a12b55b4cbf16ab48">struggled to balance relations</a>&nbsp;between America and neighboring Iran. Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, Iraqi militias allied to Iran have targeted U.S. forces there, leading to American airstrikes targeting them.

At its peak, the Islamic State group ruled an area half the size of the U.K. It attempted to enforce its extreme interpretation of Islam, which included attacks on religious minority groups and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to be apostates.

A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the United States was formed to fight the group, which lost its hold on the territory it controlled in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.

However, the militants have continued to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-syria-islamic-state-us-centcom-attacks-53bdb45048b8f1389d9181b359e8260d">operate in the Anbar Desert in Iraq and Syria</a>, while claiming attacks carried out by others elsewhere in the world inspired by the group. That includes the two suspects in a foiled plot to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-extremism-arrests-security-taylor-swift-7ece0b264f6e4152b8214c9fba8c425b">attack Taylor Swift shows</a>&nbsp;in Vienna. Meanwhile, the IS branch in Afghanistan is known to carry out intensely bloody assaults.

Last month, the U.S. military said the number of attacks claimed by IS in Syria and Iraq was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-syria-islamic-state-us-centcom-attacks-53bdb45048b8f1389d9181b359e8260d">on track to double</a>&nbsp;this year, compared with the year before. IS claimed 153 attacks in the two countries in the first six months of 2024, compared with 121 attacks in all of 2023.

Iraqi officials say that they can keep the IS threat under control with their own forces and have entered into talks with the U.S. aimed at winding down the mission of the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.

Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last October, U.S. military presence in the region has become particularly contentious.

An umbrella group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has periodically launched drone attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, which they said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and were aimed at forcing U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States military and Iraq launched a joint raid targeting suspected&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/islamic-state-group">Islamic State group</a>&nbsp;militants in the country's western desert that killed at least 15 people and saw seven American troops hurt, officials said Saturday.For years after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b35c5ac2cdee48dda3eefaaece769d06">dislodging the militants from their self-declared caliphate</a>&nbsp;across Iraq and Syria, U.S. forces have fought the Islamic State group, though the casualties from this raid were higher than in previous ones.The U.S. military's Central Command alleged the militants were armed with “numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive ‘suicide’ belts” during the attack Thursday, which Iraqi forces said happened in the country's Anbar Desert.“This operation targeted ISIS leaders to disrupt and degrade ISIS’ ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as U.S. citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” Central Command said, using an acronym for the militant group. “Iraqi Security Forces continue to further exploit the locations raided.”It added: “There is no indication of civilian casualties.”An Iraqi military statement said “airstrikes targeted the hideouts, followed by an airborne operation.”“Among the dead were key ISIS leaders,” Iraq's military said, without identifying them. "All hideouts, weapons and logistical support were destroyed, explosive belts were safely detonated and important documents, identification papers and communication devices were seized.”A U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation yet to be made public, told The Associated Press that five American troops were wounded in the raid, while two others suffered injuries from falls during the operation. One who suffered a fall was transported out of the region, while one of the wounded was evacuated for further treatment, the official said.“All personnel are in stable condition,” the official said.It wasn’t immediately clear why it took two days for the U.S. to acknowledge it took part in the raid. Iraq did not say the U.S. took part in the operation when initially announcing it, as&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-us-troops-iran-drawdown-6bc6fa21bc69b1b0de220907b4e9f382">politicians debate the future of having American troops in the country</a>. There are approximately 2,500 U.S. troops in Iraq.Since the U.S. toppled dictator Saddam Hussein with its 2003 invasion of Iraq, the country has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-kataib-hezbollah-us-strikes-militias-e2d31a579001f62a12b55b4cbf16ab48">struggled to balance relations</a>&nbsp;between America and neighboring Iran. Since the Israel-Hamas war broke out, Iraqi militias allied to Iran have targeted U.S. forces there, leading to American airstrikes targeting them.At its peak, the Islamic State group ruled an area half the size of the U.K. It attempted to enforce its extreme interpretation of Islam, which included attacks on religious minority groups and harsh punishment of Muslims deemed to be apostates.A coalition of more than 80 countries led by the United States was formed to fight the group, which lost its hold on the territory it controlled in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019.However, the militants have continued to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-syria-islamic-state-us-centcom-attacks-53bdb45048b8f1389d9181b359e8260d">operate in the Anbar Desert in Iraq and Syria</a>, while claiming attacks carried out by others elsewhere in the world inspired by the group. That includes the two suspects in a foiled plot to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/austria-extremism-arrests-security-taylor-swift-7ece0b264f6e4152b8214c9fba8c425b">attack Taylor Swift shows</a>&nbsp;in Vienna. Meanwhile, the IS branch in Afghanistan is known to carry out intensely bloody assaults.Last month, the U.S. military said the number of attacks claimed by IS in Syria and Iraq was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iraq-syria-islamic-state-us-centcom-attacks-53bdb45048b8f1389d9181b359e8260d">on track to double</a>&nbsp;this year, compared with the year before. IS claimed 153 attacks in the two countries in the first six months of 2024, compared with 121 attacks in all of 2023.Iraqi officials say that they can keep the IS threat under control with their own forces and have entered into talks with the U.S. aimed at winding down the mission of the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq.Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza last October, U.S. military presence in the region has become particularly contentious.An umbrella group of Iran-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has periodically launched drone attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria, which they said was in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and were aimed at forcing U.S. forces to withdraw from Iraq.——

7 US troops hurt in raid targeting Islamic State group militants that killed 15

Breanna Michelle Watson, age 32, passed away on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, in Tribune, Kansas. She was born on October 13, 1991, to Mitchel and Teresa Barnett Watson in Tribune, Kansas. After venturing into the world, she had returned home for the past year. She was a member of the Christian faith and a past member of the AWANAs in Tribune, Kansas.&nbsp;

Breanna is survived by her parents, sister Tifini Shull of Arnold, Kansas, brother Jayson Watson of Virginia, her boyfriend, Jimmy Lehmann of Tribune, Kansas, and many friends and family.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents and one brother Chance Watson.

Funeral Services are scheduled for Saturday, August 31, 2024, at the Price and Sons Funeral Home (322 2nd St) in Tribune, Kansas with pastor Steve Payne presiding at 2:00 p.m.

Interment will be at the Greeley County cemetery following the service.

Public visitation will be from 10:00 am until the service time.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1725144765136.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>Breanna Michelle Watson, age 32, passed away on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, in Tribune, Kansas. She was born on October 13, 1991, to Mitchel and Teresa Barnett Watson in Tribune, Kansas. After venturing into the world, she had returned home for the past year. She was a member of the Christian faith and a past member of the AWANAs in Tribune, Kansas.&nbsp;Breanna is survived by her parents, sister Tifini Shull of Arnold, Kansas, brother Jayson Watson of Virginia, her boyfriend, Jimmy Lehmann of Tribune, Kansas, and many friends and family.She was preceded in death by her grandparents and one brother Chance Watson.Funeral Services are scheduled for Saturday, August 31, 2024, at the Price and Sons Funeral Home (322 2nd St) in Tribune, Kansas with pastor Steve Payne presiding at 2:00 p.m.Interment will be at the Greeley County cemetery following the service.Public visitation will be from 10:00 am until the service time.Memorials may be given to the “St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital” in care of Price &amp; Sons Funeral Home, PO Box 161, Leoti, KS 67861.&nbsp;