WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.

Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tanker-seized-venezuela-maduro-0a148ba01684fc6ce1a228dd276732c0">seized an oil tanker</a>&nbsp;off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.

“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”

Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.

Venezuela’s government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat” against the South American country.

“On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property,” the statement said of Trump’s post. “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”

Maduro’s government, according to the statement, plans to denounce the situation before the United Nations.

(On Dec. 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. 

The U.S. buildup has been accompanied by a series of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-us-military-drugs-pacific-108d10bbd3d19c34b8959602222e22e6">military strikes on boats</a>&nbsp;in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.

Trump has for weeks said that the U.S. will move its campaign beyond the water and start strikes on land.

The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.

The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-wiles-chief-staff-interview-cabinet-bondi-5c995a046318973b1a3dfe8ed89cf3cf">chief of staff Susie Wiles</a>&nbsp;appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.

Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”

Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.

Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.

Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.

The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.

Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.

In October, Trump appeared to confirm reports that Maduro has offered a stake in Venezuela’s oil and other mineral wealth in recent months to try to stave off mounting pressure from the United States.

“He’s offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f—- around with the United States.”

It wasn't immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”

But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.

Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.

All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.

Trump in his post said that the “Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” but it wasn't clear what he was referring to.

The foreign terrorist organization designation has been historically reserved for non-state actors that do not have sovereign immunities conferred by either treaties or United Nations membership.

In November, the Trump administration announced it was designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The term Cartel de los Soles originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug-running, but it is not a cartel per se.

Governments that U.S. administrations seek to sanction for financing, otherwise fomenting or tolerating extremist violence are usually designated “state sponsors of terrorism.”

Venezuela is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/state-sponsors-of-terrorism">not on that list</a>.

In rare cases, the U.S. has designated an element of a foreign government as an “FTO.” The Trump administration in its first term did so with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government, which had already been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matt Le in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1755651756653.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><a href="https://t.co/QS8Whosuml">pic.twitter.com/QS8Whosuml</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2001076955395797252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump's escalation comes after U.S. forces last week&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tanker-seized-venezuela-maduro-0a148ba01684fc6ce1a228dd276732c0">seized an oil tanker</a>&nbsp;off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the U.S. oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the U.S. had a claim.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1765968665337.png" alt="Image from Dept. of Justice video" />
 <figcaption>Image from Dept. of Justice video</figcaption>
 </figure>“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before — Until such time as they return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.”Pentagon officials referred all questions about the post to the White House.Venezuela’s government released a statement Tuesday accusing Trump of “violating international law, free trade, and the principle of free navigation” with “a reckless and grave threat” against the South American country.“On his social media, he assumes that Venezuela’s oil, land, and mineral wealth are his property,” the statement said of Trump’s post. “Consequently, he demands that Venezuela immediately hand over all its riches. The President of the United States intends to impose, in an utterly irrational manner, a supposed naval blockade on Venezuela with the aim of stealing the wealth that belongs to our nation.”Maduro’s government, according to the statement, plans to denounce the situation before the United Nations.(On Dec. 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple years, the oil tanker has been sanctioned by the United States due to its involvement in an illicit oil shipping network supporting foreign terrorist organizations. <div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… <a href="https://t.co/dNr0oAGl5x">pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x</a>&mdash; Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi/status/1998875795151024337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The U.S. buildup has been accompanied by a series of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/boat-strikes-us-military-drugs-pacific-108d10bbd3d19c34b8959602222e22e6">military strikes on boats</a>&nbsp;in international waters in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The campaign, which has drawn bipartisan scrutiny among U.S. lawmakers, has killed at least 95 people in 25 known strikes on vessels.Trump has for weeks said that the U.S. will move its campaign beyond the water and start strikes on land.The Trump administration has defended the strikes as a success, saying they have prevented drugs from reaching American shores, and pushed back on concerns that they are stretching the bounds of lawful warfare.The Trump administration has said the campaign is about stopping drugs headed to the U.S., but Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-wiles-chief-staff-interview-cabinet-bondi-5c995a046318973b1a3dfe8ed89cf3cf">chief of staff Susie Wiles</a>&nbsp;appeared to confirm in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday that the campaign is part of a push to oust Maduro.Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle.”Tuesday night's announcement seemed to have a similar aim.Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven oil reserves and produces about 1 million barrels a day, has long relied on oil revenue as a lifeblood of its economy.Since the Trump administration began imposing oil sanctions on Venezuela in 2017, Maduro’s government has relied on a shadowy fleet of unflagged tankers to smuggle crude into global supply chains.The state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA, has been locked out of global oil markets by U.S. sanctions. It sells most of its exports at a steep discount in the black market in China.Francisco Monaldi, a Venezuelan oil expert at Rice University in Houston, said about 850,000 barrels of the 1 million daily production is exported. Of that, he said, 80% goes to China, 15% to 17% goes to the U.S. through Chevron Corp., and the remainder goes to Cuba.In October, Trump appeared to confirm reports that Maduro has offered a stake in Venezuela’s oil and other mineral wealth in recent months to try to stave off mounting pressure from the United States.“He’s offered everything,” Trump said at the time. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f—- around with the United States.”It wasn't immediately clear how the U.S. planned to enact what Trump called a “TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”But the U.S. Navy has 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier and several amphibious assault ships, in the region.Those ships carry a wide complement of aircraft, including helicopters and V-22 Ospreys. Additionally, the Navy has been operating a handful of P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft in the region.All told, those assets provide the military a significant ability to monitor marine traffic coming in and out of the country.Trump in his post said that the “Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION,” but it wasn't clear what he was referring to.The foreign terrorist organization designation has been historically reserved for non-state actors that do not have sovereign immunities conferred by either treaties or United Nations membership.In November, the Trump administration announced it was designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization. The term Cartel de los Soles originally referred to Venezuelan military officers involved in drug-running, but it is not a cartel per se.Governments that U.S. administrations seek to sanction for financing, otherwise fomenting or tolerating extremist violence are usually designated “state sponsors of terrorism.”Venezuela is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.state.gov/state-sponsors-of-terrorism">not on that list</a>.In rare cases, the U.S. has designated an element of a foreign government as an “FTO.” The Trump administration in its first term did so with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the Iranian government, which had already been designated a state sponsor of terrorism.___Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Matt Le in Washington and Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela

Conflict pits cities seeking reliable water source against farmers clinging to supply

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/12/15/kansas-supreme-court-examines-roiling-water-dispute-between-crop-irrigators-and-hays-russell/?emci=8167aaad-45da-f011-8196-000d3a1d5afe&amp;emdi=4a57ce00-66da-f011-8196-000d3a1d5afe&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas News Service</a>

TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court endured a crossfire of claims and counterclaims Monday about whether an association of Edwards County irrigators can try to thwart plans by Hays and Russell to make use of water rights acquired decades ago to pipe water drawn from a rural aquifer to the cities.

Attorney Daniel Buller, representing the two cities, urged members of the Supreme Court to view the protracted legal battle through the lens of state law. He said transferring a large amount of water from an aquifer by pipeline to the cities rather than using the resource to grow crops was acceptable under the black-and-white text of Kansas statute.

He made the point by delving into a section of law declaring “nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the granting of applications because the proposed diversion may cause the water level to be lowered at the point of diversion.”

Kansas Department of Agriculture lawyer Stephanie Kramer, as well as attorney Charles Lee, who represented the group of crop irrigators who filed a lawsuit to challenge the project, added their own insights to a case tied to the holy-grail subject of individual water rights in Kansas.

The litigation recognized the growing risk in Kansas, amid evidence of climate change, of relying heavily on slow-to-recharge aquifers to run crop irrigation systems to artificially inflate corn, wheat and soybean yields. The case highlighted the challenge of cities with less-reliable rainfall that want to anchor economic expansion to the availability of water. It demonstrated the difficulty of state regulators striving to harmonize statute, regulation and court precedent.

Buller said common sense, as well as state law, recognized the use of a water right would lower the level in an aquifer. In a lower court proceeding, he said, opponents of the water infrastructure project sought by his clients in Hays and Russell offered testimony that indicated the cost of the cities’ withdrawal of water was unlikely to raise operating costs of agriculture users in the county for at least 50 years.

“In this case, they’ve not alleged that another water right cannot be satisfied,” Buller said. “Without that, there is no impairment.”

Lee, representing irrigators who formed the Water Protection Association of Central Kansas, said the so-called WaterPACK opposed the project contemplated by Hays and Russell. The Edwards County Commission took specific action to block diversion of water to the two cities.

Lee said existing law and regulation was sufficient rationale for the Supreme Court to dismiss the Department of Agriculture water resource chief engineer’s “master order” allowing Hays and Russell to begin work to funnel water to both cities from their 7,000-acre R9 Ranch in Edwards County.

He argued the net result of the cities’ plan to consume water about 80 miles from wells in Edwards County would reduce recharge of the aquifer. The conversion of the ranch from crop to grassland use would cut the volume of moisture redeposited in the aquifer, he said.

WaterPACK claimed Hays and Russell would ultimately slash the aquifer level, increase well pumping costs, shrink crop yields and upset the county’s quality of life. An estimated 85% of water diverted from ground and surface water sources in Kansas was used for agriculture, including irrigation.

Lee said Department of Agriculture engineer Earl Lewis’ order would systematically replace statutory and regulatory requirements relative to water use with standards invented by the agency. He said the chief engineer’s order should be vacated by the Supreme Court.

“The master order authorizing the cities’ water transfer ignores reality and bypasses critical regulatory safeguards,” Lee said during oral argument Monday before the state Supreme Court. “By doing so, it threatens the long-term viability of the aquifer and the property rights of WaterPACK members.”

The legal triangle was completed by Kramer, who addressed the Supreme Court in defense of the order issued by Lewis. She said WaterPACK lacked standing as an association to challenge to state engineer’s order. She said WaterPACK failed to demonstrate harm in the sense Edwards County irrigators would not be able to fulfill their water rights if Hays and Russell began pumping from the R9 Ranch. WaterPACK’s claims were the stuff of fiction, she said.

“WaterPACK has failed to allege that harm to its members will be caused by the approval of these change applications because it seeks to impose impairment and consumptive use standards that simply don’t exist,” she said.

Six justices of the state Supreme Court — minus Chief Justice Marla Luckert still recovering from a stroke in October — were called upon to read a pile of district court records and appellate briefs and listen to oral argument in an attempt to sort out the tangled perspectives and issue an opinion.

In the mid-1990s, Hays and Russell purchased the R9 Ranch and 32 water rights in Edwards County for the purpose of eventually building a pipeline to supply the drought-prone cities adjacent to Interstate 70. City officials requested permission about 10 years ago to change the ranch’s water use designation from irrigation to municipal. At the Department of Agriculture, Lewis approved the request.

Irrigators in Edwards County filed suit because they were concerned Hays and Russell would take too much water from agricultural pursuits. In 2024, Edwards County revised zoning regulations to block the water transfer. Hays and Russell characterized the zoning adjustments were unconstitutional.

The dispute began in district court, bounced to the state Supreme Court, returned to district court and found its way back to the Supreme Court.

During oral argument on Monday, Justice Dan Biles raised questions of WaterPACK’s claim the city water project would impair irrigators in the association. Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge sought explanation of whether attorneys believed the association had standing to bring the lawsuit.

<h2>Conflict pits cities seeking reliable water source against farmers clinging to supply</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1765906989277.jpeg" alt="The Kansas Supreme Court is considering complex legal arguments about whether Hays and Russell can divert aquifer water from Edwards County to supplement its own supply despite attempts by rural agricultural irrigators to block the pipeline project. The cities want to begin drawing on water rights purchased in the 1990s. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>The Kansas Supreme Court is considering complex legal arguments about whether Hays and Russell can divert aquifer water from Edwards County to supplement its own supply despite attempts by rural agricultural irrigators to block the pipeline project. The cities want to begin drawing on water rights purchased in the 1990s. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/12/15/kansas-supreme-court-examines-roiling-water-dispute-between-crop-irrigators-and-hays-russell/?emci=8167aaad-45da-f011-8196-000d3a1d5afe&amp;emdi=4a57ce00-66da-f011-8196-000d3a1d5afe&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas News Service</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas Supreme Court endured a crossfire of claims and counterclaims Monday about whether an association of Edwards County irrigators can try to thwart plans by Hays and Russell to make use of water rights acquired decades ago to pipe water drawn from a rural aquifer to the cities.Attorney Daniel Buller, representing the two cities, urged members of the Supreme Court to view the protracted legal battle through the lens of state law. He said transferring a large amount of water from an aquifer by pipeline to the cities rather than using the resource to grow crops was acceptable under the black-and-white text of Kansas statute.He made the point by delving into a section of law declaring “nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the granting of applications because the proposed diversion may cause the water level to be lowered at the point of diversion.”Kansas Department of Agriculture lawyer Stephanie Kramer, as well as attorney Charles Lee, who represented the group of crop irrigators who filed a lawsuit to challenge the project, added their own insights to a case tied to the holy-grail subject of individual water rights in Kansas.The litigation recognized the growing risk in Kansas, amid evidence of climate change, of relying heavily on slow-to-recharge aquifers to run crop irrigation systems to artificially inflate corn, wheat and soybean yields. The case highlighted the challenge of cities with less-reliable rainfall that want to anchor economic expansion to the availability of water. It demonstrated the difficulty of state regulators striving to harmonize statute, regulation and court precedent.Buller said common sense, as well as state law, recognized the use of a water right would lower the level in an aquifer. In a lower court proceeding, he said, opponents of the water infrastructure project sought by his clients in Hays and Russell offered testimony that indicated the cost of the cities’ withdrawal of water was unlikely to raise operating costs of agriculture users in the county for at least 50 years.“In this case, they’ve not alleged that another water right cannot be satisfied,” Buller said. “Without that, there is no impairment.”Lee, representing irrigators who formed the Water Protection Association of Central Kansas, said the so-called WaterPACK opposed the project contemplated by Hays and Russell. The Edwards County Commission took specific action to block diversion of water to the two cities.Lee said existing law and regulation was sufficient rationale for the Supreme Court to dismiss the Department of Agriculture water resource chief engineer’s “master order” allowing Hays and Russell to begin work to funnel water to both cities from their 7,000-acre R9 Ranch in Edwards County.He argued the net result of the cities’ plan to consume water about 80 miles from wells in Edwards County would reduce recharge of the aquifer. The conversion of the ranch from crop to grassland use would cut the volume of moisture redeposited in the aquifer, he said.WaterPACK claimed Hays and Russell would ultimately slash the aquifer level, increase well pumping costs, shrink crop yields and upset the county’s quality of life. An estimated 85% of water diverted from ground and surface water sources in Kansas was used for agriculture, including irrigation.Lee said Department of Agriculture engineer Earl Lewis’ order would systematically replace statutory and regulatory requirements relative to water use with standards invented by the agency. He said the chief engineer’s order should be vacated by the Supreme Court.“The master order authorizing the cities’ water transfer ignores reality and bypasses critical regulatory safeguards,” Lee said during oral argument Monday before the state Supreme Court. “By doing so, it threatens the long-term viability of the aquifer and the property rights of WaterPACK members.”The legal triangle was completed by Kramer, who addressed the Supreme Court in defense of the order issued by Lewis. She said WaterPACK lacked standing as an association to challenge to state engineer’s order. She said WaterPACK failed to demonstrate harm in the sense Edwards County irrigators would not be able to fulfill their water rights if Hays and Russell began pumping from the R9 Ranch. WaterPACK’s claims were the stuff of fiction, she said.“WaterPACK has failed to allege that harm to its members will be caused by the approval of these change applications because it seeks to impose impairment and consumptive use standards that simply don’t exist,” she said.Six justices of the state Supreme Court — minus Chief Justice Marla Luckert still recovering from a stroke in October — were called upon to read a pile of district court records and appellate briefs and listen to oral argument in an attempt to sort out the tangled perspectives and issue an opinion.In the mid-1990s, Hays and Russell purchased the R9 Ranch and 32 water rights in Edwards County for the purpose of eventually building a pipeline to supply the drought-prone cities adjacent to Interstate 70. City officials requested permission about 10 years ago to change the ranch’s water use designation from irrigation to municipal. At the Department of Agriculture, Lewis approved the request.Irrigators in Edwards County filed suit because they were concerned Hays and Russell would take too much water from agricultural pursuits. In 2024, Edwards County revised zoning regulations to block the water transfer. Hays and Russell characterized the zoning adjustments were unconstitutional.The dispute began in district court, bounced to the state Supreme Court, returned to district court and found its way back to the Supreme Court.During oral argument on Monday, Justice Dan Biles raised questions of WaterPACK’s claim the city water project would impair irrigators in the association. Justice Melissa Taylor Standridge sought explanation of whether attorneys believed the association had standing to bring the lawsuit.

Kansas Supreme Court examines roiling water dispute between crop irrigators and Hays, Russell

SEDGWICK COUNTY – In a Sedgwick County courtroom on Friday Judge Tyler Roush sentenced 22-year-old John A. Griffin III to 673 months—more than 56 years—in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections for killing two people at a motel in Wichita in February of 2024, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In October,&nbsp; Griffin  pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 35-year-old Christopher Harrell and 35-year-old Natisha Phillips in a motel room  in 7300 block of E. Kellogg in Wichita,  according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just before 9:30a.m. February 24, 2024,&nbsp; police were dispatched to a shooting call at a motel&nbsp; in the 7300 block of E. Kellogg, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.

First responders located the two shooting victims in a motel room identified as Harrell and Phillips both of Wichita.

EMS transported Harrell to a local area hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Phillips was pronounced deceased on the scene.

Officers also located a young child at the scene, who was unharmed, and police used resources to address any psychological or medical needs for the child.&nbsp;Subsequent investigation led the arrest of Griffin

Griffin&nbsp; had been in prison for portion of 2022 and 2023 after a conviction for Battery Juvenile Corrections Facility officer, Employer person confined, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. During his time his approximately 18 months in prison, Griffin had been disciplined nearly three dozen times for battery, theft, fighting and other crimes, according to the KDOC.

As a part of the sentencing on Friday, Griffin will also be subject to a period of 36 months of post-release supervision. Additionally, as part of the judgment, Judge Tyler Roush ordered him to pay approximately $8,500 in restitution.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708804201051.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation- photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation- photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY – In a Sedgwick County courtroom on Friday Judge Tyler Roush sentenced 22-year-old John A. Griffin III to 673 months—more than 56 years—in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections for killing two people at a motel in Wichita in February of 2024, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1708953115181.png" alt="Griffin photo Sedgwick County Jail" />
 <figcaption>Griffin photo Sedgwick County Jail</figcaption>
 </figure>In October,&nbsp; Griffin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of 35-year-old Christopher Harrell and 35-year-old Natisha Phillips in a motel room in 7300 block of E. Kellogg in Wichita, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just before 9:30a.m. February 24, 2024,&nbsp; police were dispatched to a shooting call at a motel&nbsp; in the 7300 block of E. Kellogg, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.First responders located the two shooting victims in a motel room identified as Harrell and Phillips both of Wichita.EMS transported Harrell to a local area hospital where he was pronounced deceased. Phillips was pronounced deceased on the scene.Officers also located a young child at the scene, who was unharmed, and police used resources to address any psychological or medical needs for the child.&nbsp;Subsequent investigation led the arrest of GriffinGriffin&nbsp; had been in prison for portion of 2022 and 2023 after a conviction for Battery Juvenile Corrections Facility officer, Employer person confined, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. During his time his approximately 18 months in prison, Griffin had been disciplined nearly three dozen times for battery, theft, fighting and other crimes, according to the KDOC.As a part of the sentencing on Friday, Griffin will also be subject to a period of 36 months of post-release supervision. Additionally, as part of the judgment, Judge Tyler Roush ordered him to pay approximately $8,500 in restitution.

Kan. felon with a violent history going back to prison for double murder

Louis Michael Felder, 100, of Hays, Kansas, passed away surrounded by his family
on December 10, 2025, at Hays Medical Center. He was born October 30, 1925, in
Hoisington, Kansas, to Andrew and Stephanna Felder. When Louis was 11, the
family moved to a farm outside of Rush Center, and he attended schools in
Olmitz, Rush Center, and LaCrosse.

Louis joined his father and two brothers in the family
farming operation early in life. He later partnered with one of his brothers to
farm throughout Kansas and eastern Colorado before establishing his own farming
operation near WaKeeney. His dedication to conservation and stewardship of the
land was recognized with multiple conservation awards throughout the years.

On May 1, 1951, Louis married Rosann Halbleib at St. Mary
Catholic Church in McCracken, Kansas. Together they shared 73 years of
marriage, raised five children, and built their family farm in Trego County,
producing Hereford cattle and grain crops. Their farm was honored with a
Century Farm Award, recognizing 100 or more years of continuous family
ownership and operation of Kansas farmland.

In the 1960s, Louis established a file-sharpening business,
sharpening and shipping files to body shops across the country. He was a
lifetime member of Knights of Columbus Council 4113 and served on the Christ
the King Catholic Church Parish Council. In 2000, Louis and Rosann moved into
WaKeeney, where Louis continued farming alongside his sons.

Louis is survived by his children: Mike (Rita) Felder of
Brownell; Paula (Steve) Clayton of Overland Park; Jean Webb (Bill McGovern) of
Wichita; Mary Jo (Robert) Hafliger of WaKeeney; and Chris Felder of WaKeeney;
and his sister-in-law, Judi Kingry of Canada. He is also survived by his
grandchildren: Meghan Little, Kristin McCoy, Adrian Webb, Serena Barnard, Liza
Randol, Kirk Hafliger, Stephanie Hommon, Travis Webb, Nick Felder, Jared
Marmet, and Nathan Felder; 31 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Rosann Felder; his
parents; his brothers, Joseph and Vernon Felder; and his sisters, Dorothy
Felder, O.P., Bertha Johnsen, Pauline Oborny, and Marie Vondrachek.
Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Monday, December 15, 2025, at
Christ the King Catholic Church in WaKeeney. The Vigil service will begin at
6:00 p.m., followed by a rosary led by Knights of Columbus Council 4113.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m.
on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at Christ the King Catholic Church in WaKeeney,
with Father Fred Gatschet of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays celebrating.
Burial will follow at Christ the King Cemetery in WaKeeney.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to
Christ the King Knights of Columbus or a charity of the donor’s choice and may
be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1765815331261.jpeg" alt="Louis Michael Felder" />
 <figcaption>Louis Michael Felder</figcaption>
 </figure>Louis Michael Felder, 100, of Hays, Kansas, passed away surrounded by his family
on December 10, 2025, at Hays Medical Center. He was born October 30, 1925, in
Hoisington, Kansas, to Andrew and Stephanna Felder. When Louis was 11, the
family moved to a farm outside of Rush Center, and he attended schools in
Olmitz, Rush Center, and LaCrosse.Louis joined his father and two brothers in the family
farming operation early in life. He later partnered with one of his brothers to
farm throughout Kansas and eastern Colorado before establishing his own farming
operation near WaKeeney. His dedication to conservation and stewardship of the
land was recognized with multiple conservation awards throughout the years.On May 1, 1951, Louis married Rosann Halbleib at St. Mary
Catholic Church in McCracken, Kansas. Together they shared 73 years of
marriage, raised five children, and built their family farm in Trego County,
producing Hereford cattle and grain crops. Their farm was honored with a
Century Farm Award, recognizing 100 or more years of continuous family
ownership and operation of Kansas farmland.In the 1960s, Louis established a file-sharpening business,
sharpening and shipping files to body shops across the country. He was a
lifetime member of Knights of Columbus Council 4113 and served on the Christ
the King Catholic Church Parish Council. In 2000, Louis and Rosann moved into
WaKeeney, where Louis continued farming alongside his sons.Louis is survived by his children: Mike (Rita) Felder of
Brownell; Paula (Steve) Clayton of Overland Park; Jean Webb (Bill McGovern) of
Wichita; Mary Jo (Robert) Hafliger of WaKeeney; and Chris Felder of WaKeeney;
and his sister-in-law, Judi Kingry of Canada. He is also survived by his
grandchildren: Meghan Little, Kristin McCoy, Adrian Webb, Serena Barnard, Liza
Randol, Kirk Hafliger, Stephanie Hommon, Travis Webb, Nick Felder, Jared
Marmet, and Nathan Felder; 31 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.He was preceded in death by his wife, Rosann Felder; his
parents; his brothers, Joseph and Vernon Felder; and his sisters, Dorothy
Felder, O.P., Bertha Johnsen, Pauline Oborny, and Marie Vondrachek.
Visitation will be held from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Monday, December 15, 2025, at
Christ the King Catholic Church in WaKeeney. The Vigil service will begin at
6:00 p.m., followed by a rosary led by Knights of Columbus Council 4113.A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m.
on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at Christ the King Catholic Church in WaKeeney,
with Father Fred Gatschet of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Hays celebrating.
Burial will follow at Christ the King Cemetery in WaKeeney.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to
Christ the King Knights of Columbus or a charity of the donor’s choice and may
be sent to Schmitt Funeral Home, 336 North 12th Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672.

Louis Michael Felder

By&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kcur.org/macy-byars">MACY BYARS</a> <a href="https://www.kcur.org/news/2025-12-05/for-seniors-on-medicare-advantage-lower-costs-can-mean-gambling-with-health-care">Midwest Newsroom</a>

Medicare Advantage, a private alternative to traditional Medicare, offers extra benefits and low monthly premiums. However, prior authorizations and claim denials complicate this increasingly popular — and profitable — program for Medicare beneficiaries and their health care providers.

On a mid-November morning, Rick Cuddeford talked with Medicare-eligible Nebraskans about their options at the Saving Seniors Money office in Lincoln. His one-on-one discussions were timely, as the year’s open enrollment period ended on Dec. 7.

“We don’t push people one way or the other,” Cuddeford said. “Our job is to educate people about both options, and then whatever they are comfortable with, we go with for their coverage.”

Cuddeford said Saving Seniors Money —&nbsp;a group of independent insurance agents specializing in Medicare options&nbsp;— has helped over 5,000 households find Medicare options that work for them through educational seminars, one-on-one meetings and phone calls.

“When you do a good job, your name gets out there, and that’s how we grow,” Cuddeford said.

There are two paths that older Americans can take to secure health care insurance: traditional Medicare or a private Medicare Advantage plan.

Offering extra benefits and low monthly premiums, the lower upfront costs of Medicare Advantage plans can be appealing. But critics say choosing Medicare Advantage, which is seeing increased enrollment, can come with financial and health risks for many older Americans.

Jeremy Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association, is wary of Medicare Advantage.

“With a lot of Medicare Advantage plans, you’re taking more of a financial risk,” Nordquist said. “You may pay less up front, but you’re taking a bigger financial risk as you age and move forward.”

Nordquist said private insurance companies, including Medicare Advantage plan providers, typically require approval before certain medical services are provided and covered. This can take time, and doctors and insurers don’t always agree. Nordquist said prior authorization procedures can delay timely access to care.

Around 2.8 million people across Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri are on Medicare Advantage plans this year. Nationwide,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July2025_MedPAC_DataBook_Sec9_SEC.pdf" target="_blank">62 million people</a>&nbsp;are eligible for Medicare Advantage. About 36 million are using it.

In a 2025&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nebraskahospitals.org/welcome.html?ss360Query=medicare%20advantage%20report%202025" target="_blank">Nebraska Hospital Association survey</a>, 83% of member hospitals reported care was denied to their Medicare Advantage patients. A majority of member hospitals also reported negative financial consequences related to dealing with Medicare Advantage companies, such as lost time for medical staff or low reimbursement rates.

Nordquist said seniors can also be stuck in the hospital when plans don’t cover skilled nursing or post-acute care.

About half of the Nebraska Hospital Association’s member hospitals no longer contract with certain Medicare Advantage plan providers. Around 10% of member hospitals – all in rural areas – no longer accept any Medicare Advantage plans.

“We’ve heard so many horror stories,” Nordquist said. “One that really sticks out to me was a cancer patient. It took the doctor seven months – the doctor knew, in their medical judgment, this service was medically necessary for the patient – seven months to get a cancer patient the treatment they needed, because the insurance company and Medicare-Advantage-plan-slash-insurance-company continued to deny that coverage.”

Providers also need to be “in network” with the Medicare Advantage plan, which could create a mismatch between an enrollee’s preferred providers and the plan’s covered providers. Most health systems accept traditional Medicare, giving those beneficiaries a larger pool of providers to choose from.

Nordquist said Medicare Advantage is better for seniors with few health issues.

“If you don’t think you’re going to need health care – great,” Nordquist said. “But very few seniors are healthy enough to avoid that, so they need to know these challenges up front.”

While traditional Medicare does not use prior authorization, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-launches-new-model-target-wasteful-inappropriate-services-original-medicare" target="_blank">pilot program</a>&nbsp;will test it out in six states starting in January 2026. A list of expensive services flagged as “unnecessary and often costly” will be subject to prior authorization under the pilot.

In traditional Medicare, provided by the federal government, enrollees typically start with Part A hospital insurance and Part B outpatient, home health and preventative care coverage. Enrollees can also add Part D drug coverage and “Medigap” supplement plans from private companies. Part A is free, Part B has an income-based monthly premium, and Part D drug and supplement plan costs vary.

Medicare Advantage enrollees pay their Part B premium and the plan’s monthly premium, which is typically free or low cost. Dental, vision or hearing coverage – which are not included with traditional Medicare – are commonly offered as extra benefits. Some plans even offer gym memberships or grocery vouchers.

However, unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage enrollees typically have co-pays and a maximum out-of-pocket amount tacked onto their coverage. Traditional Medicare enrollees pay 20% of their health care costs after they’ve met their deductible, unless they have a supplement that kicks in.

Cuddeford compared Medicare Advantage plans to the health insurance plans most people under age 65 are familiar with.

“Your health care insurance you have right now – it’s basically an Advantage plan,” Cuddeford said. “It works the same way. You probably have a deductible, then you probably have co-pays and cost shares up to a max out of pocket. That’s exactly what an Advantage plan is.”

In 2011, 26% of Medicare beneficiaries were on a Medicare Advantage plan, according to a report from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July2025_MedPAC_DataBook_Sec9_SEC.pdf" target="_blank">Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services</a>&nbsp;(CMS). Now, in 2025, about 55% of Medicare beneficiaries use Medicare Advantage.

Enrollment in Medicare Advantage plans has increased steadily for more than a decade.

KFF is a nonprofit health education and policy organization. Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, associate director of KFF’s program on Medicare policy, said it’s difficult to know how many claims are denied by Medicare Advantage insurers.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have data to really say how often there was a misalignment between what people’s providers, their doctors and their families thought that they needed and what the insurer said,” Fuglesten Biniek said. “We’ve just heard stories where people have faced these challenges at a time when they’re actually pretty vulnerable.”

The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services does track how often claims are denied on plans offered through Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges, but not all Medicare Advantage plans are required to report why they denied claims.

“There’s just a disconnect or a difference in what is required in the different insurance markets,” Fuglesten Biniek said.

Fuglesten Biniek said Medicare Advantage plan providers use prior authorization, referrals and provider networks to control costs.

“Most insurers will tell you that it is a tool that they need in order to make sure that people don’t get inappropriate care and there’s not wasteful spending,” Fuglesten Biniek said. “But they have talked about doing it better, using it for fewer services that are really the higher-risk services.”

With free or low-cost monthly premiums, Cuddeford said many of his clients choose Medicare Advantage plans as a more affordable alternative to steadily rising Medicare supplement costs.

“I had a gentleman call me. It’s been a couple years ago now,” Cuddeford said. “It’s the biggest one I ever found. His supplement was $750 a month,” Cuddeford said.

When the man said he would soon have to choose between health care and putting food on the table, Cuddeford recommended a Medicare Advantage plan.

“He has not had any medical issues in the last two years. Nothing major to speak of,” Cuddeford said. “He has saved nearly $20,000 by being on a Medicare Advantage plan.”

With&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/2026-medicare-parts-b-premiums-deductibles" target="_blank">Part B premiums increasing</a>&nbsp;9.7% next year, a standard Medicare enrollee’s bill can add up quickly. Supplement premiums can range from $30 to well over $600. As the cost of traditional Medicare rises, a larger share of Americans are turning to Medicare Advantage.

“All of a sudden, it’s a viable offer, especially when that supplement premium is unaffordable for someone who’s living off Social Security,” Cuddeford said.

The federal government pays Medicare Advantage plan providers per person each month to distribute an enrollee’s Medicare benefits. Cuddeford said those payments used to be lower, but as enrollment climbed, so did government payments. More insurance companies entered the Medicare Advantage market, using television commercials, mailers and online advertisements to push extra benefits and $0 premiums while leaving out crucial details like network requirements and co-pay information.

“It’s easy to sell free,” Cuddeford said.

The Saving Seniors Money team is made up of independent insurance agents that contract with multiple insurance companies to sell their products.

<a href="https://www.cms.gov/medicare/health-drug-plans/managed-care-marketing/medicare-marketing-guidelines/agent-broker-compensation" target="_blank">According to Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services data,</a>&nbsp;agent commissions for selling a Medicare Advantage plan to a first-time enrollee ranged from $92 to $780 in 2025, though caps on commission amounts vary by state. Commissions for Medicare Advantage plans and Part D plans are regulated and capped by Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services, but this is not the case for Medicare supplement providers that cover copays and deductibles under&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-plans/medigap/ready-to-buy/how#:~:text=Medicare%20Supplement%20Insurance%20sold%20by,gaps%E2%80%9D%20in%20Original%20Medicare%20coverage." target="_blank">MediGap</a>.

According to KFF, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kff.org/medicare/key-facts-about-medigap-enrollment-and-premiums-for-medicare-beneficiaries/?utm_source=chatgpt.com#777bab66-1392-428d-8638-e855deb77c13--premiums-vary-across-medigap-policies" target="_blank">average monthly premium of a Medigap supplement</a>&nbsp;in 2023 was $217, making $520 an average agent’s commission. Medigap supplement commissions for a first-time enrollee are typically around 20% of the plan’s annual premium, which can vary by insurance provider and plan type. Commissions go down each year that an enrollee stays on a Medicare Advantage, Part D or supplemental plan.

In 2024, the federal government spent&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/data-research/statistics-trends-and-reports/trustees-report-trust-funds" target="_blank">$1.1 trillion</a>&nbsp;on the Medicare program as a whole. Around&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/July2025_MedPAC_DataBook_Sec9_SEC.pdf" target="_blank">$494 billion</a>&nbsp;was paid out to Medicare Advantage plan providers – nearly 45% of total Medicare expenditures. That dollar amount has more than quadrupled since 2011.

Payments will rise again this year. In April, the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services announced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cms-finalizes-2026-payment-policy-updates-medicare-advantage-and-part-d-programs" target="_blank">rates would rise 5.06%</a>&nbsp;for 2026.

When Medicare Advantage was introduced in 1997 as Medicare+Choice, it was intended to provide more options to seniors while saving the federal government money through partial privatization of the Medicare program.

However, Great Plains Health CEO Ivan Mitchell doubts the program’s original intentions are being carried out.

“I think we’re to a point where we need to start over and scrap the program,” Mitchell said.

Recently, Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services’ Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported that payments to Medicare Advantage plans are about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medpac.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Mar25_Ch11_MedPAC_Report_To_Congress_SEC.pdf" target="_blank">20% higher</a>&nbsp;than spending for similar enrollees in traditional Medicare, adding up to $84 billion in payments to insurance companies for 2025 alone.

KFF’s Fuglesten Biniek said extra benefits offered by Medicare Advantage plans could partially account for the higher cost.

“It’s not exactly apples to apples in terms of what the person is getting, and it is quite possible that the higher spending and Medicare Advantage is delivering value to the enrollee that justifies the cost,” Fuglesten Biniek said.

Studies have been commissioned by insurance companies or groups with a vested interest in the success of Medicare Advantage. There is not unbiased or comprehensive data on how Medicare Advantage plans’ extra benefits affect enrollee health.

Fuglesten Biniek said the government is also aware of prior authorization concerns.

“[Health and Human Services] did an analysis of this and actually found that Medicare Advantage plans were denying services in cases where it was likely traditional Medicare would have covered it,” Fuglesten Biniek said. “[Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services] issued new regulations clarifying that they were supposed to be covering services in these cases.”

The Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services uses “a five-star rating system” to rate plan quality and consumer satisfaction of Part D, Medicare supplement and Medicare Advantage plans, based on 40 measurement criteria and consumer satisfaction. Plans with high star ratings get bonus payments from the government. Plans with low star ratings can be sanctioned and not allowed to enroll new members.

For 2026, about 40% of plans are rated at four or more stars, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/files/document/2026-star-ratings-fact-sheet.pdf" target="_blank">a CMS fact sheet.</a>&nbsp;Weighted by enrollment, 64% of enrollees are currently on plans that earned four or more stars as their 2026 rating.

Notably, a Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services&nbsp;<a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/12/2023-07115/medicare-program-contract-year-2024-policy-and-technical-changes-to-the-medicare-advantage-program" target="_blank">rule from 2023</a>&nbsp;decreased the weight of patient experiences for calculating star ratings. In 2024, Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services was the subject of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.healthcarelabyrinth.com/lawsuits-against-cms-on-stars-show-the-system-is-breaking/" target="_blank">several lawsuits</a>&nbsp;from Medicare Advantage providers alleging inaccurate or unfair calculations of star ratings.

A practice called “upcoding” also factors into higher government payments. If a plan has many patients with severe medical issues, chronic conditions or complications, the plan has a higher “risk score.” The higher the risk score, the higher the payments from the government.

“One of the ways in which plans collect diagnosis codes to increase their risk scores is through something called chart reviews, where they can take an artificial intelligence and they go through all the medical records and find diagnoses that were not submitted as part of that encounter with the provider, but they think there’s evidence of,” Fuglesten Biniek said.

MedPAC reported Medicare Advantage plan risk scores were 17% higher on average compared with traditional Medicare beneficiaries. While Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services is required by law to reduce MA plan risk scores to bring payments closer to traditional Medicare costs, risk scores are still high after adjustment.

Those chart reviews cost the government $24 billion in 2023, around 6% of total Medicare Advantage payments that year.

“That started to get a lot of bipartisan attention,” Fuglesten Biniek said. “I don’t know what that will mean in terms of specific policy changes, but it’s an area that both people in the [Trump] administration and Congress are interested in, and both Republicans and Democrats are interested in. It’s not often that something has all of those things aligned.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa&nbsp;<a href="https://www.grassley.senate.gov/news/news-releases/grassley-pushes-for-answers-on-unitedhealth-groups-medicare-advantage-billing-practices" target="_blank">criticized</a>&nbsp;Medicare Advantage earlier this year following a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/unitedhealth-medicare-doj-diagnosis-investigation-66b9f1db?msockid=11bf9ab3740b6ef53e478fc875aa6fac" target="_blank">February Wall Street Journal report</a>&nbsp;on a Department of Justice investigation into UnitedHealth Group’s billing practices.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall introduced a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1816/text" target="_blank">bill</a>&nbsp;in May increasing transparency by requiring Medicare Advantage plans to report to the government how many claims are denied each year. The bill has 63 bipartisan co-sponsors, including all four Nebraska and Missouri senators, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran. An identical version was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3514/cosponsors?q=%7B%22cosponsor-state%22%3A%22Kansas%22%7D" target="_blank">introduced in the House</a>&nbsp;with widespread support, but no action has been taken on the House or Senate version since May.

A “No Upcode Act” has bipartisan support in the Senate, according to Fuglesten Biniek, and a House member proposed a bill to extend ACA tax credits by changing how risk scores are calculated.

Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has also expressed problems with upcoding and lack of transparency from Medicare Advantage plans. Oz was previously a staunch supporter of Medicare Advantage on the “Dr. Oz Show” and throughout his failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 2022.

Issues of delayed care, prior authorization and time lost to paperwork have led to tough decisions for health care providers. And all the while, more people are learning about Medicare Advantage.

“We’ve started to see more advertising, more outreach, more engagement in rural areas, and that, I think, is creating some of the pushback from our members saying it’s bad for patients,” said Nordquist, president of the Nebraska Hospital Association. “When a big, out-of-state insurance company comes in and tries to force us to take a contract, you don’t, as a small hospital, have any real leverage to negotiate on that, other than it’s take it or leave it.”

Major health systems such as Mayo Clinic and Scripps have stopped accepting Medicare Advantage plans. Across the country,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/20-health-systems-dropping-medicare-advantage-plans-2025/" target="_blank">Becker’s Hospital Review reports</a>&nbsp;33 health systems have announced they will not accept some or all MA plans past 2025, including Iowa’s MercyOne, Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics, Kansas-based LMH Health and Kimball Health Services in Nebraska.

<a href="https://www.gphealth.org/" target="_blank">Great Plains Health</a>, a small health system in North Platte, announced it would no longer take any Medicare Advantage plans starting on Jan. 1, 2025.

“The largest employer in our community, at the end of 2023, sent a letter to their retirees saying that they were going to switch them all to a Medicare Advantage plan that we were not in network with, versus a traditional Medicare plan with a supplement,” Great Plains Health CEO Ivan Mitchell said.

Mitchell said Great Plains Health had already seen issues during its limited adoption of Medicare Advantage plans. The employer assured the health system that patients could be served on an out-of-network basis with no prior authorizations.

“We said, ‘OK, well, we don’t really believe you, but we’re going to go ahead and give it a shot,’” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said problems started almost immediately. As an example of Great Plains Health’s issues with Medicare Advantage plans, he shared a patient’s story.

The patient had an infection that went septic. The patient was put on a ventilator at Great Plains Health, and eventually, their condition improved. For a full recovery, the patient needed rehabilitative care. In order to get a spot at the rehabilitation hospital, the patient needed prior authorization from their Medicare Advantage plan.

Care was denied multiple times. Doctors sat on hold. The patient stayed an extra six weeks at Great Plains Health.

“If you look at keeping this patient here an additional six weeks, that was an additional 10 patients that could have been admitted to our hospital that were not able to be admitted here,” Mitchell said. “And the next closest hospital to us that provides the same level of care is 100 miles away.”

Mitchell said that wasn’t the only case. As more issues arose, he said doctors were spending precious time that could be used caring for patients on the phone, fighting with the insurance company.

“According to statute, they are supposed to follow traditional Medicare guidelines,” Mitchell said. “I can tell you that they don’t, and there are clearly patients that would have received care that were denied it and not given any rationale that said they didn’t meet Medicare guidelines.”

After Great Plains Health stopped taking Medicare Advantage plans, the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services granted a special enrollment period to patients so they could enroll in traditional Medicare with a supplement or find a different option. Great Plains Health still accepts Medicare Advantage patients who need emergency care, but those patients won’t be able to schedule regular appointments.

Even with all the turmoil behind the scenes, Mitchell said, denying Medicare Advantage patients was a tough decision to land on.

“Running a hospital, the last thing you want to do is not accept care,” Mitchell said. “And it does really bother me that there’s around 400 members in our county that can’t access Great Plains Health for their routine specialty care. It looked to me to be a choice of being shot or stabbed, and I think we had to pick the best of the worst options.”

Generally, Mitchell said, Great Plains Health can serve its community better with space and time freed up from dealing with Medicare Advantage insurers. He doesn’t see a future where Medicare Advantage works for everyone.

“We basically raided the Medicare trust fund with these for-profit insurance companies that, in my opinion, have been extremely unethical in what they’ve done,” Mitchell said.

For seniors on Medicare Advantage, lower costs can mean gambling with health care 

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/alex-veiga">ALEX VEIGA</a> Associated Press

The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged higher this week, though it remains relatively near its low point so far this year.

The uptick brings the average long-term mortgage rate to 6.22% from 6.19% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.6%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week. The rate averaged 5.54%, up from 5.44% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.84%, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-economy-inflation-jobs-442de589de9b99bb811f76e402b00948">interest rate policy decisions</a>&nbsp;to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year yield was at 4.12% at midday Thursday, slightly higher than it was a week ago.

The rise in mortgage rates comes a day after the Federal Reserve&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-economy-inflation-jobs-442de589de9b99bb811f76e402b00948">cut its main interest rate</a>&nbsp;for the third time this year and indicated another cut may be ahead in 2026.

The Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, so even when it cuts its short-term rates that doesn’t necessarily mean rates on home loans will necessarily decline.

That’s what happened last fall after the central bank cut its main rate for the first time in more than four years. Instead of falling, mortgage rates marched higher, eventually cresting above 7% in January this year. At that time, the 10-year Treasury yield was climbing toward 5%.

Mortgage rates began declining this summer ahead of the central bank’s September rate cut, its first in a year. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage got as low as 6.17%, the lowest level in more than a year, on Oct. 30.

That pullback in rates&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/housing-home-sales-real-estate-home-prices-ee7705f4c272edfd5588fa78c2d6b501">helped lift sales of previously occupied U.S. homes in October</a>&nbsp;on an annual basis for the fourth straight month.

Still, affordability remains a challenge for many aspiring homeowners, especially first-time buyers who don’t have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase. Uncertainty over the economy and job market are also keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines.

The overall decline in mortgage rates this fall has been a boon for homeowners eager to refinance their home loan to a lower rate.

Applications for mortgage refinancing loans jumped 14% last week from the previous week, and accounted for about 58% of all home loan applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for loans to buy a home climbed nearly 5%.

Economists generally forecast that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage will remain slightly above 6% next year.

“While this is unlikely to deliver the sharp relief some buyers are hoping for, rates are expected to be low enough to help counterbalance continued, but modest, home price growth,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com.

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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/7/1659001075252.jpeg" alt="Photo AP" />
 <figcaption>Photo AP</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/alex-veiga">ALEX VEIGA</a> Associated PressThe average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage edged higher this week, though it remains relatively near its low point so far this year.The uptick brings the average long-term mortgage rate to 6.22% from 6.19% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.6%.Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also rose this week. The rate averaged 5.54%, up from 5.44% last week. A year ago, it averaged 5.84%, Freddie Mac said.Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, from the Federal Reserve’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-economy-inflation-jobs-442de589de9b99bb811f76e402b00948">interest rate policy decisions</a>&nbsp;to bond market investors’ expectations for the economy and inflation. They generally follow the trajectory of the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.The 10-year yield was at 4.12% at midday Thursday, slightly higher than it was a week ago.The rise in mortgage rates comes a day after the Federal Reserve&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-economy-inflation-jobs-442de589de9b99bb811f76e402b00948">cut its main interest rate</a>&nbsp;for the third time this year and indicated another cut may be ahead in 2026.The Fed doesn’t set mortgage rates, so even when it cuts its short-term rates that doesn’t necessarily mean rates on home loans will necessarily decline.That’s what happened last fall after the central bank cut its main rate for the first time in more than four years. Instead of falling, mortgage rates marched higher, eventually cresting above 7% in January this year. At that time, the 10-year Treasury yield was climbing toward 5%.Mortgage rates began declining this summer ahead of the central bank’s September rate cut, its first in a year. The average rate on a 30-year mortgage got as low as 6.17%, the lowest level in more than a year, on Oct. 30.That pullback in rates&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/housing-home-sales-real-estate-home-prices-ee7705f4c272edfd5588fa78c2d6b501">helped lift sales of previously occupied U.S. homes in October</a>&nbsp;on an annual basis for the fourth straight month.Still, affordability remains a challenge for many aspiring homeowners, especially first-time buyers who don’t have equity from an existing home to put toward a new home purchase. Uncertainty over the economy and job market are also keeping many would-be buyers on the sidelines.The overall decline in mortgage rates this fall has been a boon for homeowners eager to refinance their home loan to a lower rate.Applications for mortgage refinancing loans jumped 14% last week from the previous week, and accounted for about 58% of all home loan applications, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Applications for loans to buy a home climbed nearly 5%.Economists generally forecast that the average rate on a 30-year mortgage will remain slightly above 6% next year.“While this is unlikely to deliver the sharp relief some buyers are hoping for, rates are expected to be low enough to help counterbalance continued, but modest, home price growth,” said Anthony Smith, senior economist at Realtor.com.

Average US long-term mortgage rate ticks up but remains close to its low for the year

A shooting Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, left&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brown-university-active-shooter-c7c9d1c7da19a76c2a27685c7e63d6da">two people dead and at least eight other critically injured.</a>&nbsp;Authorities were still searching for a suspect in the hours afterward.

The shooting occurred on a Saturday afternoon in a campus building with final exams underway. The suspect was dressed in black and left the building on foot, officials said.

The violence prompted a shelter-in-place order for the larger university area. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said “we have all available resources” to find the suspect.

“Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come,” the mayor said. “We've heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here.”

Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.

Here is a look at other deadly shootings on U.S. college campuses in recent decades:

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-state-university-shooting-976289946dde326a7e9f97a62bb2f82d">KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: December 2025, 1 dead

A shooting at a residence hall at the public historically Black university left one student dead and another critically injured. The suspect, who is a parent of a student, faces murder and assault charges.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shooting-utah-university-republicans-8357c3d102de09e3320fde761258131a">UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY</a>: September 2025, 1 dead

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking on campus during one of his political events, sending hundreds of people running. A 22-year-old suspect faces aggravated murder in connection with Kirk's death. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-state-university-shooting-phoenix-ikner-trial-2e37092ae8cf76e20069c603b7868548">FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: April 2025, 2 dead

Two died and six were wounded in a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee. A 21-year-old man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/campus-shooting-las-vegas-unlv-55ca455e2d00f1126cc1dbf4cc29139e">UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS</a>: December 2023, 3 dead

A 67-year-old former business professor, whose applications to teach at UNLV had been rejected, opened fire in the building housing the university's business school, killing three professors and badly wounding a fourth. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police outside the building.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colleges-and-universities-michigan-education-shootings-153ab68bc4f108c2019bb138de2dc8fb">MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: February 2023, 3 dead

A 43-year-old gunman fired inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others. He later killed himself miles away from the campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/university-of-virginia-shooting-live-updates-4cd9f0a64201d2460de887674fdfa02b">UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA</a>: November 2022, 3 dead

A student and former member of the school’s football team fatally shot three current players aboard a charter bus as they returned from a field trip, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured. Two other students were also wounded on the campus. The shooter has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.

<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-d274847cf7bf503cea150765f907d7c6">NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY</a>: October 2015, 1 dead

Just weeks into his freshman year, a student walked onto the campus in Flagstaff and opened fire. One student was killed and three others were wounded in the first deadly shooting since the university was founded in 1899. The shooter later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1701947896986.png" alt="Police on the scene of a deadly shooting at UNLV in December 2023 image courtesy KVUU TV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of a deadly shooting at UNLV in December 2023 image courtesy KVUU TV</figcaption>
 </figure>A shooting Saturday at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, left&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brown-university-active-shooter-c7c9d1c7da19a76c2a27685c7e63d6da">two people dead and at least eight other critically injured.</a>&nbsp;Authorities were still searching for a suspect in the hours afterward.The shooting occurred on a Saturday afternoon in a campus building with final exams underway. The suspect was dressed in black and left the building on foot, officials said.The violence prompted a shelter-in-place order for the larger university area. Providence Mayor Brett Smiley said “we have all available resources” to find the suspect.“Sadly, today is a day that the city of Providence and the state of Rhode Island prayed would never come,” the mayor said. “We've heard about horrific acts of gun violence and active shooter situations in other places, but not here.”Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.Here is a look at other deadly shootings on U.S. college campuses in recent decades:<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-state-university-shooting-976289946dde326a7e9f97a62bb2f82d">KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: December 2025, 1 deadA shooting at a residence hall at the public historically Black university left one student dead and another critically injured. The suspect, who is a parent of a student, faces murder and assault charges.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shooting-utah-university-republicans-8357c3d102de09e3320fde761258131a">UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY</a>: September 2025, 1 deadConservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed while speaking on campus during one of his political events, sending hundreds of people running. A 22-year-old suspect faces aggravated murder in connection with Kirk's death. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-state-university-shooting-phoenix-ikner-trial-2e37092ae8cf76e20069c603b7868548">FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: April 2025, 2 deadTwo died and six were wounded in a shooting at Florida State University in Tallahassee. A 21-year-old man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/12/1765681604782.png" alt="A glass door to the Student Union at UNLV is damaged from apparent gunfire. Las Vegas police say there are multiple victims and one suspect is dead-photo courtesy KSVN TV" />
 <figcaption>A glass door to the Student Union at UNLV is damaged from apparent gunfire. Las Vegas police say there are multiple victims and one suspect is dead-photo courtesy KSVN TV</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://apnews.com/article/campus-shooting-las-vegas-unlv-55ca455e2d00f1126cc1dbf4cc29139e">UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, LAS VEGAS</a>: December 2023, 3 deadA 67-year-old former business professor, whose applications to teach at UNLV had been rejected, opened fire in the building housing the university's business school, killing three professors and badly wounding a fourth. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police outside the building.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colleges-and-universities-michigan-education-shootings-153ab68bc4f108c2019bb138de2dc8fb">MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY</a>: February 2023, 3 deadA 43-year-old gunman fired inside an academic building and the student union, killing three students and injuring five others. He later killed himself miles away from the campus in East Lansing while being confronted by police.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/university-of-virginia-shooting-live-updates-4cd9f0a64201d2460de887674fdfa02b">UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA</a>: November 2022, 3 deadA student and former member of the school’s football team fatally shot three current players aboard a charter bus as they returned from a field trip, setting off panic and a 12-hour lockdown of the campus until the suspect was captured. Two other students were also wounded on the campus. The shooter has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and is awaiting sentencing.<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-d274847cf7bf503cea150765f907d7c6">NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY</a>: October 2015, 1 deadJust weeks into his freshman year, a student walked onto the campus in Flagstaff and opened fire. One student was killed and three others were wounded in the first deadly shooting since the university was founded in 1899. The shooter later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and aggravated assault and was sentenced to six years in prison.<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-9236adb78dda4ad198b5b6719024d8b2">UMPQUA COMMUNITY COLLEGE</a>: October 2015, 9 deadA 26-year-old man opened fire on his writing class, killing his instructor and eight other people at the school in rural Roseburg, Oregon. Nine more people were also wounded. The shooter then killed himself.<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-d46b47b1cd534a21ba6b162584a62505">UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA</a>: May 2014, 6 deadA 22-year-old college student frustrated over sexual rejections fatally stabbed or shot six students near the school in Isla Vista, California, and injured several others before he killed himself.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fires-shootings-santa-monica-1a2540a27047485fa8ca0e4733c6a2a4">SANTA MONICA COLLEGE</a>: June 2013, 6 deadA deadly act of domestic violence at home turned public when a 23-year-old man left after killing his father and older brother, carjacked a woman and shot at other vehicles. He then entered the campus where he had previously been enrolled as a student and opened fire, killing four more people before he was fatally shot by police in the school's library.<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-232fa21ef43b4e7ea13c94d14e96b5e8">OIKOS UNIVERSITY</a>: April 2012, 7 deadA former nursing student fatally shot seven people at the small private college in East Oakland, California. He was given seven consecutive life sentences and died in prison in 2019.<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-8e6fc851fe9d42aa824d7841314f3f3b">NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY</a>: February 2008, 5 deadA 27-year-old former student shot and killed five people and wounded more than 20 others at the school in DeKalb, Illinois, before killing himself.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aa4caffe30834994b57a789500773b7b">VIRGINIA TECH</a>: April 2007, 32 deadIn the deadliest shooting at a U.S. college, a 23-year-old student killed 32 people on the campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. More than two dozen others were wounded. The gunman then killed himself.<a href="https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/10/28/nov-1-1991-day-university-shooting-rampage-shocked-iowa/92053548/">UNIVERSITY OF IOWA</a>: November 1991, 5 deadA former graduate student upset that his doctoral dissertation wasn't nominated for an academic award fatally shot himself after killing five people and injuring one other person in a shooting spree on the campus in Iowa City.<a href="https://apnews.com/domestic-news-domestic-news-general-news-91cd1ab6a70e47ef850de78413acb8d5">UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS</a>: August 1966, 13 deadA Marine-trained sniper opened fire from atop the 27-story clock tower in the heart of the university's flagship Austin campus in one of the nation's first mass shootings. He killed 13 people and wounded more than 30 others before authorities shot and killed him.