SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement continue investigating and searching for a suspect in a fatal shooting that occurred October 23 at Dr. Glen Dey Park, located at 2801 N. Grove in Wichita.&nbsp; Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward in the case.  Police indicated they have only received very few tips on the investigation since the crime occurred.

At approximately 7:03 p.m. an off-duty WPD detective working secondary employment at&nbsp; the park heard multiple gunshots from another area of the park. The detective immediately ran toward the scene and found 32-year-old Travon Stewart suffering from gunshot wounds.

The detective called for backup and emergency medical services, then began life-saving measures until EMS arrived. Stewart was transported to a local hospital in extremely critical condition and later died from his injuries.

Preliminary findings indicate that around 200 to 300 people were in attendance at the football games. Stewart was at the park selling concessions as a fundraiser for a football team not affiliated with the Wichita Junior Football League.

Homicide investigators responded to the scene and interviewed witnesses who remained in the area. Detectives believe this was a targeted shooting and not connected to the youth football games.

Anyone who attended the games or may have information is urged to contact the Wichita Police Department Investigations Section at 316-268-4407.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1761331970728.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 —Law enforcement continue investigating and searching for a suspect in a fatal shooting that occurred October 23 at Dr. Glen Dey Park, located at 2801 N. Grove in Wichita.&nbsp; Crime Stoppers is offering a $10,000 reward in the case. Police indicated they have only received very few tips on the investigation since the crime occurred.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/11/1762985053767.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">CRIME STOPPERS APPROVES $10,000 REWARD ***PRESS RELEASE*** WICHITA, Kan. – Crime Stoppers of Wichita/Sedgwick County has approved an increased reward of $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of the suspect responsible for the homicide of Trayvon Stewart. <a href="https://t.co/sgNgtHlJHj">pic.twitter.com/sgNgtHlJHj</a>&mdash; Crime Stoppers ICT (@crimestoppers) <a href="https://twitter.com/crimestoppers/status/1988667731865211043?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>At approximately 7:03 p.m. an off-duty WPD detective working secondary employment at&nbsp; the park heard multiple gunshots from another area of the park. The detective immediately ran toward the scene and found 32-year-old Travon Stewart suffering from gunshot wounds.The detective called for backup and emergency medical services, then began life-saving measures until EMS arrived. Stewart was transported to a local hospital in extremely critical condition and later died from his injuries.Preliminary findings indicate that around 200 to 300 people were in attendance at the football games. Stewart was at the park selling concessions as a fundraiser for a football team not affiliated with the Wichita Junior Football League.Homicide investigators responded to the scene and interviewed witnesses who remained in the area. Detectives believe this was a targeted shooting and not connected to the youth football games.Anyone who attended the games or may have information is urged to contact the Wichita Police Department Investigations Section at 316-268-4407.&nbsp;

After 4 months, no arrest in deadly Kan. youth football game shooting

Janice D. (Newell) Napell, age 77, of Hays, Kansas, passed away
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, surrounded
by family and a wonderful medical team. She was born January 9, 1949, in
Stockton, Kansas, to Oliver and Velma (Manny) Newell, being 1 of 7 children.

On October 26, 1974, she was united in marriage to Donald (Nipple)
Napell in Damar, Kansas. He preceded her in death on November 19, 2020.

Janice graduated from Palco High School in 1968. She held many
jobs over the years, most of the time holding more than 1 job at a time. She
retired from FHSU at the age of 71 in January of 2020. Janice was everyone’s
favorite, from the grandkids, siblings, nieces, nephews and extended family
that goes far beyond blood. As important as her faith was to her she lived for
her 4 grandchildren and never missed an event. In the days leading up to her
husband and Heavenly Father calling her home, she was surrounded by family,
celebrating her sisters 80th birthday just days before, in which her oldest
grandson drove her to Salina and back, taking the 3 younger grandchildren
bowling and to the park showering them all with love and the remembrance of who
she was. Her family was the center of her joy and happiness. Janice was very
out going, out spoken and never knew a stranger, as she would talk to or strike
up a conversation with anyone, and if you were her friend, you quickly became
part of her family. Even after her passing, Janice, being the loving and giving
person she has always been, continued her gifting by offering life after death
by her wishes carried out of being an organ donor. Her love, warmth, kindness,
generous and genuine spirit will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.

She is survived by her son, Adam (Nicole) Napell of Hays, and
beloved grandchildren, Callum, Camden, Liam and Jamison; her brothers, Wayne
Newell of Hays, Allen Newell of Stilwell, Kansas, and Roger (Kim) Newell of
Salina; her sisters, Joan Peterson of Salina and Cinta Foster of Louisiana; and
her goddaughters, Vivian and Gabriella Aubel, daughters of Jim and Mara Aubel,
along with numerous nieces, nephews and greats.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Don; her parents, Oliver
and Velma Newell; her brother, Loren Newell and dear family friend Jean Gruse.

Memorial services will be held Saturday, February 28, 2026, at
11:00 a.m. at Hays Family Worship Center, 1651 Yocemento Avenue, Hays, Kansas
67601. The family will receive guests from 10:00 a.m. until service time at the
church. Memorial visitation will be held Friday, February 27, 2026, from 5:00
p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Keithley Funeral Homes and Crematory – Brock’s Chapel,
2509 Vine Street, Hays, Kansas 67601.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to Ellis
County Fire Department Company No. 5 or to the CCLJ Education Fund (for her
grandchildren). Checks may be made payable to the organization of your choice.

Condolences may be left in the guestbook&nbsp; at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>
or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com">keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771556309889.png" alt="Janice D. (Newell) Napell" />
 <figcaption>Janice D. (Newell) Napell</figcaption>
 </figure>Janice D. (Newell) Napell, age 77, of Hays, Kansas, passed away
Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, surrounded
by family and a wonderful medical team. She was born January 9, 1949, in
Stockton, Kansas, to Oliver and Velma (Manny) Newell, being 1 of 7 children.On October 26, 1974, she was united in marriage to Donald (Nipple)
Napell in Damar, Kansas. He preceded her in death on November 19, 2020.Janice graduated from Palco High School in 1968. She held many
jobs over the years, most of the time holding more than 1 job at a time. She
retired from FHSU at the age of 71 in January of 2020. Janice was everyone’s
favorite, from the grandkids, siblings, nieces, nephews and extended family
that goes far beyond blood. As important as her faith was to her she lived for
her 4 grandchildren and never missed an event. In the days leading up to her
husband and Heavenly Father calling her home, she was surrounded by family,
celebrating her sisters 80th birthday just days before, in which her oldest
grandson drove her to Salina and back, taking the 3 younger grandchildren
bowling and to the park showering them all with love and the remembrance of who
she was. Her family was the center of her joy and happiness. Janice was very
out going, out spoken and never knew a stranger, as she would talk to or strike
up a conversation with anyone, and if you were her friend, you quickly became
part of her family. Even after her passing, Janice, being the loving and giving
person she has always been, continued her gifting by offering life after death
by her wishes carried out of being an organ donor. Her love, warmth, kindness,
generous and genuine spirit will be dearly missed by all who knew and loved her.She is survived by her son, Adam (Nicole) Napell of Hays, and
beloved grandchildren, Callum, Camden, Liam and Jamison; her brothers, Wayne
Newell of Hays, Allen Newell of Stilwell, Kansas, and Roger (Kim) Newell of
Salina; her sisters, Joan Peterson of Salina and Cinta Foster of Louisiana; and
her goddaughters, Vivian and Gabriella Aubel, daughters of Jim and Mara Aubel,
along with numerous nieces, nephews and greats.She was preceded in death by her husband, Don; her parents, Oliver
and Velma Newell; her brother, Loren Newell and dear family friend Jean Gruse.Memorial services will be held Saturday, February 28, 2026, at
11:00 a.m. at Hays Family Worship Center, 1651 Yocemento Avenue, Hays, Kansas
67601. The family will receive guests from 10:00 a.m. until service time at the
church. Memorial visitation will be held Friday, February 27, 2026, from 5:00
p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Keithley Funeral Homes and Crematory – Brock’s Chapel,
2509 Vine Street, Hays, Kansas 67601.In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions are suggested to Ellis
County Fire Department Company No. 5 or to the CCLJ Education Fund (for her
grandchildren). Checks may be made payable to the organization of your choice.Condolences may be left in the guestbook&nbsp; at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>
or by email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com">keithleyfuneralhomes@gmail.com</a>.

Janice D. (Newell) Napell, age 77

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a panel made up of President Donald Trump's appointees, on Thursday approved his proposal to build a ballroom larger than the White House itself where the East Wing once stood.

The seven-member panel is one of two federal agencies that must approve Trump's plans for the ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission, which has jurisdiction over construction and major renovation to government buildings in the region, is also reviewing the project.

Members of the fine arts commission originally had been scheduled to discuss and vote on the design after a follow-up presentation by the architect, and had planned to vote on final approval at next month's meeting. But after the 6-0 vote on the design, the panel's chairman, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., unexpectedly made another motion to vote on final approval.

Six of the seven commissioners — all appointed by the Republican president in January — voted once more in favor. Commissioner James McCrery did not participate in the discussion or the votes because he was the initial architect on the project before Trump replaced him.

The ballroom will be built on the site of the former East Wing, which Trump had demolished in October with little public notice. That drew an outcry from lawmakers, historians and preservationists who argued that the president should not have taken that step until the two federal agencies and Congress had reviewed and approved the project, and the public had a chance to provide comment.

The 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be nearly twice the size of the White House, which is 55,000-square-feet, and would accommodate about 1,000 people, Trump has said. The East Room, currently the largest room in the White House, can fit just over 200 people at most.

Commissioners offered mostly complimentary comments before the votes.

Cook echoed one of Trump's main arguments for adding a larger entertaining space to the White House: It would end the long-standing practice of erecting temporary structures on the South Lawn that Trump describes as tents to host visiting dignitaries for state dinners and other functions.

“Our sitting president has actually designed a very beautiful structure,” Cook said. “The United States just should not be entertaining the world in tents.”

The panel received mainly negative comments from the public

Members of the public were asked to submit written comment by a Wednesday afternoon deadline. Thomas Leubke, the panel’s secretary, said “over 99%” of the more than 2,000 messages it received in the past week from around the country were in opposition to the project.

Leubke tried to summarize the comments for the commissioners.

Some comments cited concerns about Trump’s decision to unilaterally tear down the East Wing, as well as the lack of transparency about who is paying for the ballroom or how contracts were awarded, Leubke said. Comments in support referenced concerns for the image of the United States on the world stage and the need for a larger entertaining space at the White House.

Trump has defended the ballroom in a recent series of social media posts that included drawings of the building. He said in one January post that most of the material needed to build it had been ordered “and there is no practical or reasonable way to go back. IT IS TOO LATE!”

The commission met Thursday over Zoom and heard from Shalom Baranes, the lead architect, and Rick Parisi, the landscape architect. Both described a series of images and sketches of the ballroom and the grounds as they would appear after the project is completed.

Trump has said the ballroom would cost about $400 million and be paid for with private donations. To date, the White House has only released an incomplete list of donors.

A lawsuit against the project is still pending

The National Trust for Historic Preservation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-sued-preservationists-76dc3bbea28257e79f8becd487d2c4d7">has sued</a>&nbsp;in federal court to halt construction. A ruling in the case is pending.

In comments it submitted to the commission, the privately funded group recommended that the size of the ballroom be reduced to “accommodate and respect the primary historic importance of the original Executive Residence.”

At&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ballroom-white-house-east-wing-48c6630d2e81adad1793e25f8e447117">the commission's January meeting</a>, some commissioners had questioned Baranes, Trump's architect, about the “immense” design and scale of the project even as they broadly endorsed Trump's vision. On Thursday, Baranes described changes he has since made to the design, and the commissioners said they welcomed the adjustments.

The ballroom project is scheduled for additional discussion at a March 5 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by a top White House aide. This panel heard an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-commission-review-3dd5e3c1b2475d1f39843b9193572576">initial presentation about the project</a>&nbsp;in January.

This story has been corrected to reflect that the ballroom was approved by six of the seven commissioners and that one commission did not vote because he was the initial architect on the project.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771522704150.png" alt="Image White House" />
 <figcaption>Image White House</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a panel made up of President Donald Trump's appointees, on Thursday approved his proposal to build a ballroom larger than the White House itself where the East Wing once stood.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">“Will be the Greatest Ballroom ever built, now rising at the site of the White House — Fully paid for by American Patriot Donors. ZERO cost to our United States Taxpayers!” - President Donald J. Trump <a href="https://t.co/DXxsO1fOpx">pic.twitter.com/DXxsO1fOpx</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2024234457243238795?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The seven-member panel is one of two federal agencies that must approve Trump's plans for the ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission, which has jurisdiction over construction and major renovation to government buildings in the region, is also reviewing the project.Members of the fine arts commission originally had been scheduled to discuss and vote on the design after a follow-up presentation by the architect, and had planned to vote on final approval at next month's meeting. But after the 6-0 vote on the design, the panel's chairman, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., unexpectedly made another motion to vote on final approval.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753991748963.png" alt="White House image" />
 <figcaption>White House image</figcaption>
 </figure>Six of the seven commissioners — all appointed by the Republican president in January — voted once more in favor. Commissioner James McCrery did not participate in the discussion or the votes because he was the initial architect on the project before Trump replaced him.The ballroom will be built on the site of the former East Wing, which Trump had demolished in October with little public notice. That drew an outcry from lawmakers, historians and preservationists who argued that the president should not have taken that step until the two federal agencies and Congress had reviewed and approved the project, and the public had a chance to provide comment.The 90,000-square-foot ballroom would be nearly twice the size of the White House, which is 55,000-square-feet, and would accommodate about 1,000 people, Trump has said. The East Room, currently the largest room in the White House, can fit just over 200 people at most.Commissioners offered mostly complimentary comments before the votes.Cook echoed one of Trump's main arguments for adding a larger entertaining space to the White House: It would end the long-standing practice of erecting temporary structures on the South Lawn that Trump describes as tents to host visiting dignitaries for state dinners and other functions.“Our sitting president has actually designed a very beautiful structure,” Cook said. “The United States just should not be entertaining the world in tents.”<h2>The panel received mainly negative comments from the public</h2>Members of the public were asked to submit written comment by a Wednesday afternoon deadline. Thomas Leubke, the panel’s secretary, said “over 99%” of the more than 2,000 messages it received in the past week from around the country were in opposition to the project.Leubke tried to summarize the comments for the commissioners.Some comments cited concerns about Trump’s decision to unilaterally tear down the East Wing, as well as the lack of transparency about who is paying for the ballroom or how contracts were awarded, Leubke said. Comments in support referenced concerns for the image of the United States on the world stage and the need for a larger entertaining space at the White House.Trump has defended the ballroom in a recent series of social media posts that included drawings of the building. He said in one January post that most of the material needed to build it had been ordered “and there is no practical or reasonable way to go back. IT IS TOO LATE!”The commission met Thursday over Zoom and heard from Shalom Baranes, the lead architect, and Rick Parisi, the landscape architect. Both described a series of images and sketches of the ballroom and the grounds as they would appear after the project is completed.Trump has said the ballroom would cost about $400 million and be paid for with private donations. To date, the White House has only released an incomplete list of donors.<h2>A lawsuit against the project is still pending</h2>The National Trust for Historic Preservation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-sued-preservationists-76dc3bbea28257e79f8becd487d2c4d7">has sued</a>&nbsp;in federal court to halt construction. A ruling in the case is pending.In comments it submitted to the commission, the privately funded group recommended that the size of the ballroom be reduced to “accommodate and respect the primary historic importance of the original Executive Residence.”At&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-ballroom-white-house-east-wing-48c6630d2e81adad1793e25f8e447117">the commission's January meeting</a>, some commissioners had questioned Baranes, Trump's architect, about the “immense” design and scale of the project even as they broadly endorsed Trump's vision. On Thursday, Baranes described changes he has since made to the design, and the commissioners said they welcomed the adjustments.The ballroom project is scheduled for additional discussion at a March 5 meeting of the National Capital Planning Commission, which is led by a top White House aide. This panel heard an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-ballroom-commission-review-3dd5e3c1b2475d1f39843b9193572576">initial presentation about the project</a>&nbsp;in January.___This story has been corrected to reflect that the ballroom was approved by six of the seven commissioners and that one commission did not vote because he was the initial architect on the project.

 Commission OKs Trump's White House ballroom plan

Verlin F. Pfannenstiel, age 84, of
Munjor, Kansas, peacefully passed away on Sunday, February 15, 2026, at Hays
Medical Center, surrounded by his wife and children.&nbsp;Verlin was born
August 21, 1941, in Hays, Kansas, to Edward and Oliva (Lang) Pfannenstiel.&nbsp;
He married&nbsp; Elaine A. (Zimmerman) on October 21, 1961, in Schoenchen,
Kansas.

Verlin and Elaine faithfully supported each other, raised their five
children, and built a life of legacy over 64 years of marriage.&nbsp; Verlin
began working for Schwaller Lumber Company as a bookkeeper in 1962.&nbsp; He later
took ownership of the company, renaming it Heartland Building Center. Through
his business, Verlin served the communities of Hays, Russell and Stockton for
over 60 years.

Verlin’s service to the community included USD #489 Board of Education, North
Central Kansas Vocational Technical School, Hays Chamber of Commerce, Kansas
Chamber of Commerce, Ellis County Coalition of Economic Development, Community
Assistance Center, and FHSU Endowment Association.

He was honored to receive the FHSU Alumni Achievement Award and was
inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame. Faith was an integral part of Verlin’s
life.&nbsp; He founded and organized the Annual City Wide Festival of Faith for
25 years and was instrumental in the development of the new Hays location for
Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas.&nbsp; He was a member of Saint Francis
of Assisi Catholic Church.

Verlin is survived by his wife, Elaine; his children, Christi Lungren (Steve),
Arkansas City, KS; Cindy Pfannenstiel, Hays, KS; Russ Pfannenstiel (Melissa),
Hays, KS; Ryan Pfannenstiel (Argelia), Park City, KS; 14 grandchildren; 11
great grandchildren; his sisters, Darlene Dinges, Dalton, GA; Jeanette Tauscher
(Charles), Shawnee, KS; Juanita Stecklein (Alan), Hays, KS; Judy Pfannenstiel,
Overland Park, KS; Mary Ann Pfannenstiel (Tim Miller), Leawood, KS; and Joyce
Allen (Gene), Atchinson, KS.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Oliva Pfannenstiel; his
son, Curt; his brother, Vernon; his infant sister, Mary; his brothers-in-law,
Robert Dinges and Dave Waxse; and his sister-in-law, Anna Mae Pfannenstiel.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, February 21, 2026,
Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Munjor, Kansas with Celebrant, Father
Damian Richards.&nbsp; &nbsp;Burial will follow at Saint Francis of Assisi
Cemetery.&nbsp; Vigil Service and Rosary will be at 7:00 P.M. Friday, at Saint
Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.

Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Friday, and from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M.
Saturday, Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.&nbsp; In lieu of flowers,
memorials are suggested to FHSU Endowment Association and Saint Francis of
Assisi Catholic Church.

Services are entrusted to Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hays+1919+East+22?entry=gmail&amp;source=g" target="_blank">Hays 1919 East 22</a>nd&nbsp;Street,
Hays, Kansas 67601. Condolences and memories of Verlin may be shared at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:clineschapels@gmail.com" target="_blank">clineschapels@gmail.com</a>&nbsp;or
left in the guest book at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/" target="_blank">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1771274177774.jpeg" alt="Verlin F. Pfannenstiel" />
 <figcaption>Verlin F. Pfannenstiel</figcaption>
 </figure>Verlin F. Pfannenstiel, age 84, of
Munjor, Kansas, peacefully passed away on Sunday, February 15, 2026, at Hays
Medical Center, surrounded by his wife and children.&nbsp;Verlin was born
August 21, 1941, in Hays, Kansas, to Edward and Oliva (Lang) Pfannenstiel.&nbsp;
He married&nbsp; Elaine A. (Zimmerman) on October 21, 1961, in Schoenchen,
Kansas.Verlin and Elaine faithfully supported each other, raised their five
children, and built a life of legacy over 64 years of marriage.&nbsp; Verlin
began working for Schwaller Lumber Company as a bookkeeper in 1962.&nbsp; He later
took ownership of the company, renaming it Heartland Building Center. Through
his business, Verlin served the communities of Hays, Russell and Stockton for
over 60 years.Verlin’s service to the community included USD #489 Board of Education, North
Central Kansas Vocational Technical School, Hays Chamber of Commerce, Kansas
Chamber of Commerce, Ellis County Coalition of Economic Development, Community
Assistance Center, and FHSU Endowment Association.He was honored to receive the FHSU Alumni Achievement Award and was
inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame. Faith was an integral part of Verlin’s
life.&nbsp; He founded and organized the Annual City Wide Festival of Faith for
25 years and was instrumental in the development of the new Hays location for
Catholic Charities of Northern Kansas.&nbsp; He was a member of Saint Francis
of Assisi Catholic Church.Verlin is survived by his wife, Elaine; his children, Christi Lungren (Steve),
Arkansas City, KS; Cindy Pfannenstiel, Hays, KS; Russ Pfannenstiel (Melissa),
Hays, KS; Ryan Pfannenstiel (Argelia), Park City, KS; 14 grandchildren; 11
great grandchildren; his sisters, Darlene Dinges, Dalton, GA; Jeanette Tauscher
(Charles), Shawnee, KS; Juanita Stecklein (Alan), Hays, KS; Judy Pfannenstiel,
Overland Park, KS; Mary Ann Pfannenstiel (Tim Miller), Leawood, KS; and Joyce
Allen (Gene), Atchinson, KS.He was preceded in death by his parents, Edward and Oliva Pfannenstiel; his
son, Curt; his brother, Vernon; his infant sister, Mary; his brothers-in-law,
Robert Dinges and Dave Waxse; and his sister-in-law, Anna Mae Pfannenstiel.Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, February 21, 2026,
Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Munjor, Kansas with Celebrant, Father
Damian Richards.&nbsp; &nbsp;Burial will follow at Saint Francis of Assisi
Cemetery.&nbsp; Vigil Service and Rosary will be at 7:00 P.M. Friday, at Saint
Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.Visitation will be from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Friday, and from 9:00 to 10:00 A.M.
Saturday, Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church.&nbsp; In lieu of flowers,
memorials are suggested to FHSU Endowment Association and Saint Francis of
Assisi Catholic Church.Services are entrusted to Cline’s-Keithley Mortuary of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/maps/search/Hays+1919+East+22?entry=gmail&amp;source=g" target="_blank">Hays 1919 East 22</a>nd&nbsp;Street,
Hays, Kansas 67601. Condolences and memories of Verlin may be shared at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:clineschapels@gmail.com" target="_blank">clineschapels@gmail.com</a>&nbsp;or
left in the guest book at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com/" target="_blank">www.keithleyfuneralchapels.com</a>

Verlin F. Pfannenstiel, age 84

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.

His daughter, Santita Jackson, confirmed that Jackson died at home, surrounded by family.

As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-voting-rights-memphis-north-america-a5fa959c9c3a418d9f5eb1b1badb8db2">at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis</a>&nbsp;shortly before King was killed and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King's successor.

Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/0cfc7e215c604452be78493c000ec5c8">pressuring executives</a>&nbsp;to make America a more open and equitable society.

And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned.

It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.

“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement posted online. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8f3f24a221ed47b79ee04b47a789d35a">Despite profound health challenges</a>&nbsp;in his final years including a rare brain disorder that affected his ability to move and speak, Jackson continued protesting against racial injustice into the era of Black Lives Matter. In 2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and at a City Council meeting to show support for a resolution backing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-israel-hamas-resolution-ceasefire-7f210b4ed091347d4137810999bdc536">ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war</a>.

“Even if we win,” he told marchers in Minneapolis before the officer whose knee kept&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a>&nbsp;from breathing was convicted of murder, “it’s relief, not victory. They’re still killing our people. Stop the violence, save the children. Keep hope alive.”

Calls to action, delivered in a memorable voice

Jackson’s voice, infused with the stirring cadences and powerful insistence of the Black church, demanded attention. On the campaign trail and elsewhere, he used rhyming and slogans such as: “Hope not dope” and “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it then I can achieve it,″ to deliver his messages.

Jackson had his share of critics, both within and outside of the Black community. Some considered him a grandstander, too eager to seek out the spotlight. Looking back on his life and legacy, Jackson told The Associated Press in 2011 that he felt blessed to be able to continue the service of other leaders before him and to lay a foundation for those to come.

“A part of our life’s work was to tear down walls and build bridges, and in a half century of work, we’ve basically torn down walls,” Jackson said. “Sometimes when you tear down walls, you’re scarred by falling debris, but your mission is to open up holes so others behind you can run through.”

In his final months, as he received 24-hour care, he lost his ability to speak, communicating with family and visitors by holding their hands and squeezing.

“I get very emotional knowing that these speeches belong to the ages now,” his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., told the AP in October.

A student athlete drawn to the Civil Rights Movement

Jesse Louis Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of high school student Helen Burns and Noah Louis Robinson, a married man who lived next door. Jackson was later adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, who married his mother.

Jackson was a star quarterback on the football team at Sterling High School in Greenville, and accepted a football scholarship from the University of Illinois. But after he reportedly was told Black people couldn’t play quarterback, he transferred to North Carolina A&amp;T in Greensboro, where he became the first-string quarterback, an honor student in sociology and economics, and student body president.

Arriving on the historically Black campus in 1960 just months after students there launched sit-ins at a whites-only diner, Jackson immersed himself in the blossoming Civil Rights Movement.

By 1965, he joined the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-business-alabama-martin-luther-king-jr-race-and-ethnicity-b0d6202cf702d3ae1e487e9c0329083c">voting rights march</a>&nbsp;King led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King dispatched him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers.

Jackson called his time with King “a phenomenal four years of work.”

Jackson was with King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Jackson’s account of the assassination was that King died in his arms.

With his flair for the dramatic, Jackson wore a turtleneck he said was soaked with King’s blood for two days, including at a King memorial service held by the Chicago City Council, where he said: “I come here with a heavy heart because on my chest is the stain of blood from Dr. King’s head.”

However, several King aides, including speechwriter Alfred Duckett, questioned whether Jackson could have gotten King’s blood on his clothing. There are no images of Jackson in pictures taken shortly after the assassination.

In 1971, Jackson broke with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to form Operation PUSH, originally named People United to Save Humanity. The organization based on Chicago’s South Side declared a sweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering voters in communities of color nationwide. Using lawsuits and threats of boycotts, Jackson pressured top corporations to spend millions and publicly commit to diversifying their workforces.

The constant campaigns often left his wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, the college sweetheart he married in 1963, taking the lead in raising their five children: Santita Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr., and two future members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Luther Jackson and Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who resigned in 2012 but is seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms.

The elder Jackson, who was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968 and earned his Master of Divinity in 2000, also acknowledged fathering a child, Ashley Jackson, with one of his employees at Rainbow/PUSH, Karen L. Stanford. He said he understood what it means to be born out of wedlock and supported her emotionally and financially.

Presidential aspirations fall short but help ‘keep hope alive’

Despite once telling a Black audience he would not run for president “because white people are incapable of appreciating me,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/9399c132eb6f43d28021ba0e1da1d88c/Jesse-Jackson's-decades-in-public-eye-shaped-by-many-roles">Jackson ran twice</a>&nbsp;and did better than any Black politician had before President Barack Obama, winning 13 primaries and caucuses for the Democratic nomination in 1988, four years after his first failed attempt.

His successes left supporters chanting another Jackson slogan, “Keep Hope Alive.”

“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible; it raised the lid for women and other people of color,” he told the AP. “Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”

<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4842199/representative-john-lewis-reflects-impact-jesse-jackson-1988-presidential-candidacy">U.S. Rep. John Lewis said</a>&nbsp;during a 1988 C-SPAN interview that Jackson’s two runs for the Democratic nomination “opened some doors that some minority person will be able to walk through and become president.”

Jackson also pushed for cultural change, joining calls by NAACP members and other movement leaders in the late 1980s to identify Black people in the United States as African Americans.

“To be called African Americans has cultural integrity — it puts us in our proper historical context,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=jesse+jackson+african+americans&amp;rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1028US1028&amp;ei=KhfEZLOoI9PJptQP0-iu2AE&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiz5fXTkbKAAxXTpIkEHVO0CxsQ4dUDCBA&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=jesse+jackson+african+americans&amp;gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH2plc3NlIGphY2tzb24gYWZyaWNhbiBhbWVyaWNhbnNInxNQlwRY4QtwAXgAkAEAmAFuoAGWDKoBAzcuObgBA8gBAPgBAeIDBBgBIEGIBgE&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:3a6492f0,vid:qrSA6vbqC90">Jackson said at the time</a>. “Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some base, some historical cultural base. African Americans have hit that level of cultural maturity.”

Jackson’s words sometimes got him in trouble.

In 1984, he apologized for what he thought were private comments to a reporter, calling New York City “Hymietown,” a derogatory reference to its large Jewish population. And in 2008, he made headlines when he complained that Obama was “talking down to Black people” in comments captured by a microphone he didn’t know was on during a break in a television taping.

Still, when Jackson joined the jubilant crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park to greet Obama that election night, he had tears streaming down his face.

“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or (slain civil rights leader) Medgar Evers ... could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the AP years later. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”

Exerting influence on events at home and abroad

Jackson also had influence abroad, meeting world leaders and scoring diplomatic victories, including the release of Navy Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria in 1984, as well as the 1990 release of more than 700 foreign women and children held after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In 1999, he won the freedom of three Americans imprisoned by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.

“Citizens have the right to do something or do nothing,” Jackson said, before heading to Syria. “We choose to do something.”

In 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/al-sharpton-racial-injustice-georgia-brunswick-crime-d79f3ef1a8cc16ce74adc38f9e6ec0ec">Jackson joined the parents of Ahmaud Arbery</a>&nbsp;inside the Georgia courtroom where three white men were convicted of killing the young Black jogger. In 2022, he hand-delivered a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, calling for federal charges against former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.

Jackson, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jesse-jackson-rainbow-push-stepping-down-8452b3479834d1ef7acef84419575864">stepped down as president of Rainbow/PUSH</a>&nbsp;in July 2023, disclosed in 2017 that he had sought treatment for Parkinson’s, but he continued to make public appearances even as the disease made it more difficult for listeners to understand him. Earlier this year doctors confirmed a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a life-threatening neurological disorder. He was admitted to a hospital in November.

During the coronavirus pandemic, he and his wife survived&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-health-religion-coronavirus-pandemic-voting-rights-fb8ce99277e00e21189f948b98d15d55">being hospitalized with COVID-19</a>. Jackson was vaccinated early, urging Black people in particular to get protected, given their higher risks for bad outcomes.

“It’s America’s unfinished business — we’re free, but not equal,” Jackson told the AP. “There’s a reality check that has been brought by the coronavirus, that exposes the weakness and the opportunity.”

Former Associated Press writer Karen Hawkins, who left The Associated Press in 2012, contributed to this report. Associated Press writer Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/11/1763387324646.png" alt="Rev.. Jesse Jackson image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Rev.. Jesse Jackson image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader's assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.His daughter, Santita Jackson, confirmed that Jackson died at home, surrounded by family.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RIP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RIP</a> Jesse Jackson ... 1-14-1999 introduces Donald Trump: &quot;A friend who is deceptive ... One can miss his seriousness and his commitment ... He gave us space at 40 Wall Street ... He has this sense of the curious and a will to risk to make things better ...He&#39;s a serious person&quot; <a href="https://t.co/ITng3Gg6eG">pic.twitter.com/ITng3Gg6eG</a>&mdash; Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardMortman/status/2023710211710890384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">WATCH: Jesse Jackson 1988 Democratic National Convention Speech<a href="https://t.co/5nXDZJXAFw">https://t.co/5nXDZJXAFw</a>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/2023737980540559678?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>As a young organizer in Chicago, Jackson was called to meet with King&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-voting-rights-memphis-north-america-a5fa959c9c3a418d9f5eb1b1badb8db2">at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis</a>&nbsp;shortly before King was killed and he publicly positioned himself thereafter as King's successor.Jackson led a lifetime of crusades in the United States and abroad, advocating for the poor and underrepresented on issues from voting rights and job opportunities to education and health care. He scored diplomatic victories with world leaders, and through his Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, he channeled cries for Black pride and self-determination into corporate boardrooms,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/0cfc7e215c604452be78493c000ec5c8">pressuring executives</a>&nbsp;to make America a more open and equitable society.And when he declared, “I am Somebody,” in a poem he often repeated, he sought to reach people of all colors. “I may be poor, but I am Somebody; I may be young; but I am Somebody; I may be on welfare, but I am Somebody,” Jackson intoned.It was a message he took literally and personally, having risen from obscurity in the segregated South to become America’s best-known civil rights activist since King.“Our father was a servant leader — not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement posted online. “We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”<a href="https://apnews.com/article/8f3f24a221ed47b79ee04b47a789d35a">Despite profound health challenges</a>&nbsp;in his final years including a rare brain disorder that affected his ability to move and speak, Jackson continued protesting against racial injustice into the era of Black Lives Matter. In 2024, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and at a City Council meeting to show support for a resolution backing a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chicago-israel-hamas-resolution-ceasefire-7f210b4ed091347d4137810999bdc536">ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war</a>.“Even if we win,” he told marchers in Minneapolis before the officer whose knee kept&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd">George Floyd</a>&nbsp;from breathing was convicted of murder, “it’s relief, not victory. They’re still killing our people. Stop the violence, save the children. Keep hope alive.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/VxOpIcb8gy">pic.twitter.com/VxOpIcb8gy</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2023752601380978807?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><h2>Calls to action, delivered in a memorable voice</h2>Jackson’s voice, infused with the stirring cadences and powerful insistence of the Black church, demanded attention. On the campaign trail and elsewhere, he used rhyming and slogans such as: “Hope not dope” and “If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it then I can achieve it,″ to deliver his messages.Jackson had his share of critics, both within and outside of the Black community. Some considered him a grandstander, too eager to seek out the spotlight. Looking back on his life and legacy, Jackson told The Associated Press in 2011 that he felt blessed to be able to continue the service of other leaders before him and to lay a foundation for those to come.“A part of our life’s work was to tear down walls and build bridges, and in a half century of work, we’ve basically torn down walls,” Jackson said. “Sometimes when you tear down walls, you’re scarred by falling debris, but your mission is to open up holes so others behind you can run through.”In his final months, as he received 24-hour care, he lost his ability to speak, communicating with family and visitors by holding their hands and squeezing.“I get very emotional knowing that these speeches belong to the ages now,” his son, Jesse Jackson Jr., told the AP in October.<h2>A student athlete drawn to the Civil Rights Movement</h2>Jesse Louis Jackson was born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, the son of high school student Helen Burns and Noah Louis Robinson, a married man who lived next door. Jackson was later adopted by Charles Henry Jackson, who married his mother.Jackson was a star quarterback on the football team at Sterling High School in Greenville, and accepted a football scholarship from the University of Illinois. But after he reportedly was told Black people couldn’t play quarterback, he transferred to North Carolina A&amp;T in Greensboro, where he became the first-string quarterback, an honor student in sociology and economics, and student body president.Arriving on the historically Black campus in 1960 just months after students there launched sit-ins at a whites-only diner, Jackson immersed himself in the blossoming Civil Rights Movement.By 1965, he joined the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/voting-rights-business-alabama-martin-luther-king-jr-race-and-ethnicity-b0d6202cf702d3ae1e487e9c0329083c">voting rights march</a>&nbsp;King led from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. King dispatched him to Chicago to launch Operation Breadbasket, a Southern Christian Leadership Conference effort to pressure companies to hire Black workers.Jackson called his time with King “a phenomenal four years of work.”Jackson was with King on April 4, 1968, when the civil rights leader was slain at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Jackson’s account of the assassination was that King died in his arms.With his flair for the dramatic, Jackson wore a turtleneck he said was soaked with King’s blood for two days, including at a King memorial service held by the Chicago City Council, where he said: “I come here with a heavy heart because on my chest is the stain of blood from Dr. King’s head.”However, several King aides, including speechwriter Alfred Duckett, questioned whether Jackson could have gotten King’s blood on his clothing. There are no images of Jackson in pictures taken shortly after the assassination.In 1971, Jackson broke with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to form Operation PUSH, originally named People United to Save Humanity. The organization based on Chicago’s South Side declared a sweeping mission, from diversifying workforces to registering voters in communities of color nationwide. Using lawsuits and threats of boycotts, Jackson pressured top corporations to spend millions and publicly commit to diversifying their workforces.The constant campaigns often left his wife, Jacqueline Lavinia Brown, the college sweetheart he married in 1963, taking the lead in raising their five children: Santita Jackson, Yusef DuBois Jackson, Jacqueline Lavinia Jackson Jr., and two future members of Congress, U.S. Rep. Jonathan Luther Jackson and Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who resigned in 2012 but is seeking reelection in the 2026 midterms.The elder Jackson, who was ordained as a Baptist minister in 1968 and earned his Master of Divinity in 2000, also acknowledged fathering a child, Ashley Jackson, with one of his employees at Rainbow/PUSH, Karen L. Stanford. He said he understood what it means to be born out of wedlock and supported her emotionally and financially.<h2>Presidential aspirations fall short but help ‘keep hope alive’</h2>Despite once telling a Black audience he would not run for president “because white people are incapable of appreciating me,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/9399c132eb6f43d28021ba0e1da1d88c/Jesse-Jackson's-decades-in-public-eye-shaped-by-many-roles">Jackson ran twice</a>&nbsp;and did better than any Black politician had before President Barack Obama, winning 13 primaries and caucuses for the Democratic nomination in 1988, four years after his first failed attempt.His successes left supporters chanting another Jackson slogan, “Keep Hope Alive.”“I was able to run for the presidency twice and redefine what was possible; it raised the lid for women and other people of color,” he told the AP. “Part of my job was to sow seeds of the possibilities.”<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4842199/representative-john-lewis-reflects-impact-jesse-jackson-1988-presidential-candidacy">U.S. Rep. John Lewis said</a>&nbsp;during a 1988 C-SPAN interview that Jackson’s two runs for the Democratic nomination “opened some doors that some minority person will be able to walk through and become president.”Jackson also pushed for cultural change, joining calls by NAACP members and other movement leaders in the late 1980s to identify Black people in the United States as African Americans.“To be called African Americans has cultural integrity — it puts us in our proper historical context,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=jesse+jackson+african+americans&amp;rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS1028US1028&amp;ei=KhfEZLOoI9PJptQP0-iu2AE&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiz5fXTkbKAAxXTpIkEHVO0CxsQ4dUDCBA&amp;uact=5&amp;oq=jesse+jackson+african+americans&amp;gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiH2plc3NlIGphY2tzb24gYWZyaWNhbiBhbWVyaWNhbnNInxNQlwRY4QtwAXgAkAEAmAFuoAGWDKoBAzcuObgBA8gBAPgBAeIDBBgBIEGIBgE&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-serp#fpstate=ive&amp;vld=cid:3a6492f0,vid:qrSA6vbqC90">Jackson said at the time</a>. “Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some base, some historical cultural base. African Americans have hit that level of cultural maturity.”Jackson’s words sometimes got him in trouble.In 1984, he apologized for what he thought were private comments to a reporter, calling New York City “Hymietown,” a derogatory reference to its large Jewish population. And in 2008, he made headlines when he complained that Obama was “talking down to Black people” in comments captured by a microphone he didn’t know was on during a break in a television taping.Still, when Jackson joined the jubilant crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park to greet Obama that election night, he had tears streaming down his face.“I wish for a moment that Dr. King or (slain civil rights leader) Medgar Evers ... could’ve just been there for 30 seconds to see the fruits of their labor,” he told the AP years later. “I became overwhelmed. It was the joy and the journey.”<h2>Exerting influence on events at home and abroad</h2>Jackson also had influence abroad, meeting world leaders and scoring diplomatic victories, including the release of Navy Lt. Robert Goodman from Syria in 1984, as well as the 1990 release of more than 700 foreign women and children held after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In 1999, he won the freedom of three Americans imprisoned by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.In 2000, President Bill Clinton awarded Jackson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor.“Citizens have the right to do something or do nothing,” Jackson said, before heading to Syria. “We choose to do something.”In 2021,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/al-sharpton-racial-injustice-georgia-brunswick-crime-d79f3ef1a8cc16ce74adc38f9e6ec0ec">Jackson joined the parents of Ahmaud Arbery</a>&nbsp;inside the Georgia courtroom where three white men were convicted of killing the young Black jogger. In 2022, he hand-delivered a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Chicago, calling for federal charges against former Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in the 2014 killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald.Jackson, who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jesse-jackson-rainbow-push-stepping-down-8452b3479834d1ef7acef84419575864">stepped down as president of Rainbow/PUSH</a>&nbsp;in July 2023, disclosed in 2017 that he had sought treatment for Parkinson’s, but he continued to make public appearances even as the disease made it more difficult for listeners to understand him. Earlier this year doctors confirmed a diagnosis of progressive supranuclear palsy, a life-threatening neurological disorder. He was admitted to a hospital in November.During the coronavirus pandemic, he and his wife survived&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-health-religion-coronavirus-pandemic-voting-rights-fb8ce99277e00e21189f948b98d15d55">being hospitalized with COVID-19</a>. Jackson was vaccinated early, urging Black people in particular to get protected, given their higher risks for bad outcomes.“It’s America’s unfinished business — we’re free, but not equal,” Jackson told the AP. “There’s a reality check that has been brought by the coronavirus, that exposes the weakness and the opportunity.”___Former Associated Press writer Karen Hawkins, who left The Associated Press in 2012, contributed to this report. Associated Press writer Amy Forliti in Minneapolis contributed.

Longtime civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson dies at 84

Senate committees remained active over the past two weeks, holding hearings, refining legislation, and advancing bills to General Orders for full Senate debate and voting. The Ways and Means Committee has also begun reviewing the state budget, with agencies presenting funding requests as lawmakers work to identify priorities and potential savings.

With Turnaround Day on February 19 approaching—the deadline for most bills to pass their chamber of origin—legislative activity continues to increase. Tax relief and the state budget remain top priorities, and additional bill hearings, budget recommendations, and tax policy discussions are expected in the coming weeks. Nearly 500 bills have been introduced in the Senate since the beginning of the 2025–2026 legislative biennium, with several measures already advancing to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb244/">SB 244</a> – Clarifies provisions of the Women’s Bill of Rights by requiring official state documents, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates, to reflect biological sex at birth and establishes guidelines for multiple-occupancy private spaces in government buildings. The bill passed 30–9 and now heads to the Governor. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb254/">SB 254</a> – Prohibits individuals unlawfully present in the United States from receiving certain state or local public benefits. The bill passed 30–9. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2347/">CCR 2347</a> – A comprehensive public-safety measure strengthening penalties for certain theft-related offenses, addressing fraudulent use of gift cards, increasing penalties related to purchasing sexual relations, and creating the crime of unlawful use of a laser pointer directed at law enforcement officers or aircraft. The bill passed 39–0 and now heads to the Governor. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1615/">SCR 1615</a> – Honors the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk for his work promoting free speech and civil discourse on college campuses and recognizes October 14 as Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day. The resolution passed 30–9. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb299/">SB 299</a> – Increases transparency by opening certain records of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission to public disclosure while protecting confidential applicant information. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb66/">Sub for SB 66</a> – Updates filing requirements for Statements of Substantial Interests (SSI) by local officials and requires verbal public disclosure of certain financial interests. The bill passed 36–3. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb184/"> SB 184</a> – Modifies provisions within the Kansas Drycleaner Environmental Response Act, including surcharge and penalty adjustments. The bill passed 37–2. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb348/"> SB 348</a> – Exempts certain not-for-profit electric public utility subsidiaries of electric cooperatives from portions of Kansas Corporation Commission regulation while preserving customer petition rights. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2331/">HB 2331</a> – Establishes procedures for the disposition of unclaimed cremated remains, includes provisions related to veterans’ remains, and creates the crime of aggravated criminal desecration. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes.

<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb327/">SB 327</a> – Updates meeting requirements for the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes.

Dwight Keen – Kansas Corporation Commission. Confirmation passed 38–0. I voted yes.

January 29, 2026, marked the 165th anniversary of President James Buchanan signing the bill admitting Kansas as the 34th state of the United States. Kansas is named for the Kansa, an Algonquian word referring to the Kaw people. Our state is rich in history, natural beauty, and notable landmarks.

Within Senate District 36, we are fortunate to be home to remarkable historic sites, including the Pony Express Riders Memorial in Marshall County, the Nazareth Motherhouse in Concordia, Rock City near Minneapolis, and the “Home on the Range Cabin” in Smith County—the birthplace of our state song. “Home on the Range” was adopted as the official Kansas state song on June 30, 1947. Kansas also has two official state marches: “The Kansas March” and “Here’s Kansas.”

Our state flag, designed by Hazel Avery of Lincoln County in 1925, features the Great Seal of the State of Kansas and our state motto, “Ad Astra Per Aspera”—“To the Stars Through Difficulties.” In 1961, legislation introduced by Senator Ross Doyen of Concordia added the word “KANSAS” beneath the seal.

VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF KANSAS

A wealth of information about Kansas government services can be found at <a href="https://portal.kansas.gov/">www.kansas.gov</a>, including business services, tax filing through WebFile, forms available through the Secretary of State, Learning Quest programs through the State Treasurer’s Office, and links to all three branches of state government.

Kansas residents can obtain information about legislation, legislative procedures, public policy issues, and state government services by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-432-3924. Calls are answered by reference librarians at the State Library of Kansas and are kept confidential. Lines are open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Messages for legislators may also be left through the hotline.

Questions may also be emailed to infodesk@ks.gov, or Kansans may chat in real time through the State Library’s Ask-A-Librarian service at kslib.info/ask. Text questions can be sent to 785-256-0733.

Senator Elaine Bowers Kansas State Capitol Building – Room 223-E 300 SW 10th St. Topeka, KS 66612 elaine.bowers@senate.ks.gov 785-296-7389 <a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/">www.kslegislature.org</a> <a href="https://elainebowers.com/">www.elainebowers.com</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1580853658061.jpeg" alt="Sen. Elaine Bowers, R-Concordia, 36th Dist. Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Sen. Elaine Bowers, R-Concordia, 36th Dist. Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>SENATE HAPPENINGSSenate committees remained active over the past two weeks, holding hearings, refining legislation, and advancing bills to General Orders for full Senate debate and voting. The Ways and Means Committee has also begun reviewing the state budget, with agencies presenting funding requests as lawmakers work to identify priorities and potential savings.With Turnaround Day on February 19 approaching—the deadline for most bills to pass their chamber of origin—legislative activity continues to increase. Tax relief and the state budget remain top priorities, and additional bill hearings, budget recommendations, and tax policy discussions are expected in the coming weeks. Nearly 500 bills have been introduced in the Senate since the beginning of the 2025–2026 legislative biennium, with several measures already advancing to the House of Representatives for further consideration.SENATE FLOOR ACTION<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb244/">SB 244</a> – Clarifies provisions of the Women’s Bill of Rights by requiring official state documents, including driver’s licenses and birth certificates, to reflect biological sex at birth and establishes guidelines for multiple-occupancy private spaces in government buildings. The bill passed 30–9 and now heads to the Governor. I voted yes.<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb254/">SB 254</a> – Prohibits individuals unlawfully present in the United States from receiving certain state or local public benefits. The bill passed 30–9. I voted yes.<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2347/">CCR 2347</a> – A comprehensive public-safety measure strengthening penalties for certain theft-related offenses, addressing fraudulent use of gift cards, increasing penalties related to purchasing sexual relations, and creating the crime of unlawful use of a laser pointer directed at law enforcement officers or aircraft. The bill passed 39–0 and now heads to the Governor. I voted yes.<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/scr1615/">SCR 1615</a> – Honors the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk for his work promoting free speech and civil discourse on college campuses and recognizes October 14 as Charlie Kirk Free Speech Day. The resolution passed 30–9. I voted yes. <a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb299/">SB 299</a> – Increases transparency by opening certain records of the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission to public disclosure while protecting confidential applicant information. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes. <a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb66/">Sub for SB 66</a> – Updates filing requirements for Statements of Substantial Interests (SSI) by local officials and requires verbal public disclosure of certain financial interests. The bill passed 36–3. I voted yes.<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb184/"> SB 184</a> – Modifies provisions within the Kansas Drycleaner Environmental Response Act, including surcharge and penalty adjustments. The bill passed 37–2. I voted yes.<a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb348/"> SB 348</a> – Exempts certain not-for-profit electric public utility subsidiaries of electric cooperatives from portions of Kansas Corporation Commission regulation while preserving customer petition rights. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes. <a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/hb2331/">HB 2331</a> – Establishes procedures for the disposition of unclaimed cremated remains, includes provisions related to veterans’ remains, and creates the crime of aggravated criminal desecration. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes. <a href="https://kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/sb327/">SB 327</a> – Updates meeting requirements for the Robert G. (Bob) Bethell Joint Committee on Home and Community Based Services and KanCare Oversight. The bill passed 38–0. I voted yes.SENATE CONFIRMATIONDwight Keen – Kansas Corporation Commission. Confirmation passed 38–0. I voted yes.KANSAS DAY AND SENATE DISTRICT 36January 29, 2026, marked the 165th anniversary of President James Buchanan signing the bill admitting Kansas as the 34th state of the United States. Kansas is named for the Kansa, an Algonquian word referring to the Kaw people. Our state is rich in history, natural beauty, and notable landmarks.Within Senate District 36, we are fortunate to be home to remarkable historic sites, including the Pony Express Riders Memorial in Marshall County, the Nazareth Motherhouse in Concordia, Rock City near Minneapolis, and the “Home on the Range Cabin” in Smith County—the birthplace of our state song. “Home on the Range” was adopted as the official Kansas state song on June 30, 1947. Kansas also has two official state marches: “The Kansas March” and “Here’s Kansas.”Our state flag, designed by Hazel Avery of Lincoln County in 1925, features the Great Seal of the State of Kansas and our state motto, “Ad Astra Per Aspera”—“To the Stars Through Difficulties.” In 1961, legislation introduced by Senator Ross Doyen of Concordia added the word “KANSAS” beneath the seal.VISIT THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE OF KANSASA wealth of information about Kansas government services can be found at <a href="https://portal.kansas.gov/">www.kansas.gov</a>, including business services, tax filing through WebFile, forms available through the Secretary of State, Learning Quest programs through the State Treasurer’s Office, and links to all three branches of state government.TOLL-FREE LEGISLATIVE HOTLINEKansas residents can obtain information about legislation, legislative procedures, public policy issues, and state government services by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-432-3924. Calls are answered by reference librarians at the State Library of Kansas and are kept confidential. Lines are open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Messages for legislators may also be left through the hotline.Questions may also be emailed to infodesk@ks.gov, or Kansans may chat in real time through the State Library’s Ask-A-Librarian service at kslib.info/ask. Text questions can be sent to 785-256-0733.Thank you for the honor of serving you!Senator Elaine Bowers Kansas State Capitol Building – Room 223-E 300 SW 10th St. Topeka, KS 66612 elaine.bowers@senate.ks.gov 785-296-7389 <a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/">www.kslegislature.org</a> <a href="https://elainebowers.com/">www.elainebowers.com</a>

BOWERS: 2026 Senate Scene - Weeks 3 and 4

JOHNSON COUNTY —A man who admitted his role in a fentanyl overdose death is going to prison.

Last month, Judge Thomas Sutherland sentenced 34-year-old Gerrell M. McKoy to 184 months in prison for drug distribution causing death and 12 months for theft of between $12,000 and $100,000.

In October McKoy pleaded guilty to the charges in the death of 25-year-old Michael Danilov in March of 2020.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770414963550.png" alt="McKoy-photo Johnson County" />
 <figcaption>McKoy-photo Johnson County</figcaption>
 </figure>JOHNSON COUNTY —A man who admitted his role in a fentanyl overdose death is going to prison.Last month, Judge Thomas Sutherland sentenced 34-year-old Gerrell M. McKoy to 184 months in prison for drug distribution causing death and 12 months for theft of between $12,000 and $100,000.In October McKoy pleaded guilty to the charges in the death of 25-year-old Michael Danilov in March of 2020.

Kan. man going to prison for deadly fentanyl overdose death

WASHINGTON (AP) — A key measure of inflation fell to nearly a five-year low last month as apartment rental price growth slowed and gas prices fell, offering&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-trump-federal-reserve-ed245660d83628e9ff3df1988bdf6d00">some relief</a>&nbsp;to Americans grappling with the sharp cost increases of the past five years.

Inflation dropped to 2.4% in January compared with a year earlier, down from 2.7% in December and not too far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Core prices, which exclude the volatile&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aldi-trump-tariff-inflation-amazon-a84ce4d5938a15c3c6d7349c7e89f01b">food</a>&nbsp;and energy categories, rose just 2.5% in January from a year ago, down from 2.6% the previous month and the smallest increase since March 2021.

Friday’s report suggests inflation is cooling, but the cost of food, gas, and apartment rents have soared after the pandemic, with consumer prices still about 25% higher than they were five years ago. The increase in such a broad range of costs has kept&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cost-of-living-affordability-message-republicans-22511695fd763ccdb6461f7d65fc7a06">“affordability,”</a>&nbsp;a topic that helped shape the most recent U.S. presidential election, front and center as a dominant political issue.

And on a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2% in January from December, while core prices rose 0.3%. Core inflation was held down by a sharp drop in the price of used cars, which fell 1.8% just in January from December.

“Inflation continues to decelerate and is not threatening to move back up, and that will enable more rate cuts by the Fed,” said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust.

There were signs in the report that retailers are passing on more of the costs of President Donald Trump's tariffs to consumers for goods such as furniture, appliances, and clothes. But those increases were offset by falling prices elsewhere. In other areas, Trump has delayed, scrapped, or provided exemptions to his duties.

Furniture prices jumped 0.7% in January from the previous month and are up 4% from a year ago. Appliances rose 1.3% in January though are only slightly more expensive than a year earlier. Clothing price rose 0.3% in January from December and have increased 1.7% in the past year.

Some services prices also rose: Airline fares soared 6.5% just in January, after a 3.8% jump in November, though they rose only 2.2% from a year earlier. Music streaming subscriptions increased 4.5% in January and are 7.8% higher than a year ago.

Yet those increases were largely offset by price declines, or much slower price growth, in other areas, including many that make up a greater share of Americans' spending.

The cost of used cars, for example, plunged 1.8% in January, the biggest decline in two years. Gas prices fell 3.2% last month, the third drop in the past four months, and are down 7.5% from a year earlier. Grocery prices rose just 0.2% in January, after a big 0.6% rise in December, and are up 2.1% from a year ago. Hotel prices ticked down 0.1% in January and have fallen 2% from last year.

Rental prices and the cost of owning a home, which make up a third of the inflation index, both rose just 0.2% in December, while rents increased only 2.8% from a year earlier. That is much lower than during the pandemic: Rents rose by more than 8% in 2022.

The tariffs have increased some costs and many economists forecast companies will pass through more of those increases to consumers in the coming months. A&nbsp;<a href="https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/02/who-is-paying-for-the-2025-u-s-tariffs/">study released Thursday</a>&nbsp;by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that U.S. companies and consumers are paying nearly 90% of the tariffs' costs, echoing similar findings in studies by Harvard and other economists.

Yet the increases haven't been as broad-based as many economists feared.

Tilley said that the higher tariffs have pulled some consumer spending away from other services, which has forced companies to keep those prices a bit lower as a result.

“We don’t think consumers are in a place to take on price increases across the board, so you’re not seeing those price increses,” he said. Hiring was particularly weak last year, slowing wage growth, and many Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-economy-spending-inflation-conference-board-f36b997dc46ac9c3577d05db52166846">remain gloomy</a>&nbsp;about the economy.

Some economists note that the rental figures were distorted by October's six-week government shutdown, which interrupted the Labor Department's gathering of the data. The government plugged in estimated figures for October which economists say have artificially lowered some of the housing costs.

Companies are still grappling with the higher costs from Trump's duties, though some have benefited from tariffs being delayed or scrapped.

Arin Schultz, chief growth officer at Naturepedic, which makes organic mattresses in Cleveland, breathed a sigh of relief when Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kitchen-cabinets-furniture-tariffs-a89ea5c044af3c2ac8ffcb481e0150ef">postponed import duties</a>&nbsp;on upholstered furniture until 2027. They would have substantially pushed up the cost of the headboards the company imports.

Schultz welcomed the decision to lower tariffs on imports from India to 18%, from 50%. Naturepedic sources a lot of the cotton fabrics and bedding that it sells from India. When that reduction kicks in, he said, the company could even cut some prices.

Still, Naturepedic's costs jumped because of duties on imports from Vietnam and Malaysia, where it sources its organic latex, which can't be grown in the United States. Naturepedic makes its mattresses in the United States at a factory in Cleveland and employs about 200 workers.

“We're paying more now for that,” he said, and the company raised its prices about 7% last year as a result. "Tariffs are awful. We are less profitable now as a company because of tariffs.”

If inflation gets closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, it could allow the central bank to cut its key short-term interest rate further this year, as Trump has repeatedly demanded. High borrowing costs for things like mortgages and auto loans have also contributed to a perception that many big-ticket items remain out of reach for many Americans.

Inflation surged to 9.1% in 2022 as consumer spending soared as supply chains snarled after the pandemic. It began to fall in 2023 but leveled off around 3% in mid-2024 and remained elevated last year.

At the same time, measures of wage growth have declined as hiring has cratered. With companies reluctant to add jobs, workers don't have as much leverage to demand raises.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/1/1642689710083.jpeg" alt="Post photo" />
 <figcaption>Post photo</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — A key measure of inflation fell to nearly a five-year low last month as apartment rental price growth slowed and gas prices fell, offering&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/inflation-trump-federal-reserve-ed245660d83628e9ff3df1988bdf6d00">some relief</a>&nbsp;to Americans grappling with the sharp cost increases of the past five years.Inflation dropped to 2.4% in January compared with a year earlier, down from 2.7% in December and not too far from the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Core prices, which exclude the volatile&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aldi-trump-tariff-inflation-amazon-a84ce4d5938a15c3c6d7349c7e89f01b">food</a>&nbsp;and energy categories, rose just 2.5% in January from a year ago, down from 2.6% the previous month and the smallest increase since March 2021.Friday’s report suggests inflation is cooling, but the cost of food, gas, and apartment rents have soared after the pandemic, with consumer prices still about 25% higher than they were five years ago. The increase in such a broad range of costs has kept&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-cost-of-living-affordability-message-republicans-22511695fd763ccdb6461f7d65fc7a06">“affordability,”</a>&nbsp;a topic that helped shape the most recent U.S. presidential election, front and center as a dominant political issue.And on a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2% in January from December, while core prices rose 0.3%. Core inflation was held down by a sharp drop in the price of used cars, which fell 1.8% just in January from December.“Inflation continues to decelerate and is not threatening to move back up, and that will enable more rate cuts by the Fed,” said Luke Tilley, chief economist at Wilmington Trust.There were signs in the report that retailers are passing on more of the costs of President Donald Trump's tariffs to consumers for goods such as furniture, appliances, and clothes. But those increases were offset by falling prices elsewhere. In other areas, Trump has delayed, scrapped, or provided exemptions to his duties.Furniture prices jumped 0.7% in January from the previous month and are up 4% from a year ago. Appliances rose 1.3% in January though are only slightly more expensive than a year earlier. Clothing price rose 0.3% in January from December and have increased 1.7% in the past year.Some services prices also rose: Airline fares soared 6.5% just in January, after a 3.8% jump in November, though they rose only 2.2% from a year earlier. Music streaming subscriptions increased 4.5% in January and are 7.8% higher than a year ago.Yet those increases were largely offset by price declines, or much slower price growth, in other areas, including many that make up a greater share of Americans' spending.The cost of used cars, for example, plunged 1.8% in January, the biggest decline in two years. Gas prices fell 3.2% last month, the third drop in the past four months, and are down 7.5% from a year earlier. Grocery prices rose just 0.2% in January, after a big 0.6% rise in December, and are up 2.1% from a year ago. Hotel prices ticked down 0.1% in January and have fallen 2% from last year.Rental prices and the cost of owning a home, which make up a third of the inflation index, both rose just 0.2% in December, while rents increased only 2.8% from a year earlier. That is much lower than during the pandemic: Rents rose by more than 8% in 2022.The tariffs have increased some costs and many economists forecast companies will pass through more of those increases to consumers in the coming months. A&nbsp;<a href="https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2026/02/who-is-paying-for-the-2025-u-s-tariffs/">study released Thursday</a>&nbsp;by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that U.S. companies and consumers are paying nearly 90% of the tariffs' costs, echoing similar findings in studies by Harvard and other economists.Yet the increases haven't been as broad-based as many economists feared.Tilley said that the higher tariffs have pulled some consumer spending away from other services, which has forced companies to keep those prices a bit lower as a result.“We don’t think consumers are in a place to take on price increases across the board, so you’re not seeing those price increses,” he said. Hiring was particularly weak last year, slowing wage growth, and many Americans&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/consumer-confidence-economy-spending-inflation-conference-board-f36b997dc46ac9c3577d05db52166846">remain gloomy</a>&nbsp;about the economy.Some economists note that the rental figures were distorted by October's six-week government shutdown, which interrupted the Labor Department's gathering of the data. The government plugged in estimated figures for October which economists say have artificially lowered some of the housing costs.Companies are still grappling with the higher costs from Trump's duties, though some have benefited from tariffs being delayed or scrapped.Arin Schultz, chief growth officer at Naturepedic, which makes organic mattresses in Cleveland, breathed a sigh of relief when Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kitchen-cabinets-furniture-tariffs-a89ea5c044af3c2ac8ffcb481e0150ef">postponed import duties</a>&nbsp;on upholstered furniture until 2027. They would have substantially pushed up the cost of the headboards the company imports.Schultz welcomed the decision to lower tariffs on imports from India to 18%, from 50%. Naturepedic sources a lot of the cotton fabrics and bedding that it sells from India. When that reduction kicks in, he said, the company could even cut some prices.Still, Naturepedic's costs jumped because of duties on imports from Vietnam and Malaysia, where it sources its organic latex, which can't be grown in the United States. Naturepedic makes its mattresses in the United States at a factory in Cleveland and employs about 200 workers.“We're paying more now for that,” he said, and the company raised its prices about 7% last year as a result. "Tariffs are awful. We are less profitable now as a company because of tariffs.”If inflation gets closer to the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%, it could allow the central bank to cut its key short-term interest rate further this year, as Trump has repeatedly demanded. High borrowing costs for things like mortgages and auto loans have also contributed to a perception that many big-ticket items remain out of reach for many Americans.Inflation surged to 9.1% in 2022 as consumer spending soared as supply chains snarled after the pandemic. It began to fall in 2023 but leveled off around 3% in mid-2024 and remained elevated last year.At the same time, measures of wage growth have declined as hiring has cratered. With companies reluctant to add jobs, workers don't have as much leverage to demand raises.

Good news for consumers: Inflation measure falls to five-year low 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

The Ford’s deployment, first reported by The New York Times, will put&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-carrier-iran-protests-us-military-58e6da912f9167df94f913d7dafe5af4">two carriers</a>&nbsp;and their accompanying warships in the region. Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers are in the Arabian Sea.

The person who spoke to The Associated Press on the deployment did so on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.

Ford had been part of Venezuela strike force

It marks a quick&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-carriers-trump-venezuela-middle-east-a458b9c4f1a5690e19d7c532dd6b7fd7">turnaround for the Ford</a>, which Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration build up a huge military presence in the lead-up to the surprise raid last month that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-what-to-know-a57528ff315a7f70ed51a1721f5e0bc2">captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro</a>.

It also appears to be at odds with Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-security-strategy-europe-russia-america-first-068488ca7e6d1c92ccaddd1649958218">national security strategy</a>, which put an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere over other parts of the world.

Trump on Thursday warned Iran that failure to reach a deal with his administration would be “very traumatic.” Iran and the United States held&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-talks-oman-nuclear-program-5813e0814efcd99616428086de6ba0be">indirect talks in Oman</a>&nbsp;last week.

“I guess over the next month, something like that,” Trump said in response to a question about his timeline for striking a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly.”

Trump told Axios earlier this week that he was considering sending a second carrier strike group to the Middle East.

Trump held lengthy&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-trump-netanyahu-nuclear-talks-fa5be8069deb4b1b01cdf30d3e3525e7">talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday and said he insisted to Israel's leader that negotiations with Iran needed to continue. Netanyahu is urging the administration to press Tehran to scale back its ballistic missile program and end its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of any deal.

The USS Ford set out on deployment in late June 2025, which means the crew will have been deployed for eight months in two weeks time. While it is unclear how long the ship will remain in the Middle East, the move sets the crew up for an usually long deployment.

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic. That rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning for the loved ones. Already, online videos have shown mourners gathering in different parts of the country, holding portraits of their dead.

One video purported to show mourners at a graveyard in Iran's Razavi Khorasan province, home to Mashhad, on Thursday. There, with a large portable speaker, people sang the patriotic song “Ey Iran,” which dates to 1940s Iran under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. While initially banned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's theocratic government has played it to drum up support.

“Oh Iran, a land of full of jewels, your soil is full of art,” they sang. “May evil wishes be far from you. May you live eternal. Oh enemy, if you are a piece of granite, I am iron.”

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770980278692.jpeg" alt="FILE - In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Gerald R. Ford embarked on the first of its sea trials to test various state-of-the-art systems on its own power for the first time, April 8, 2017, from Newport News, Va. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ridge Leoni/U.S. Navy via AP, File)" />
 <figcaption>FILE - In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, the USS Gerald R. Ford embarked on the first of its sea trials to test various state-of-the-art systems on its own power for the first time, April 8, 2017, from Newport News, Va. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ridge Leoni/U.S. Navy via AP, File)</figcaption>
 </figure>By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and JON GAMBRELLWASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.The Ford’s deployment, first reported by The New York Times, will put&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-carrier-iran-protests-us-military-58e6da912f9167df94f913d7dafe5af4">two carriers</a>&nbsp;and their accompanying warships in the region. Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers are in the Arabian Sea.The person who spoke to The Associated Press on the deployment did so on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.<h2>Ford had been part of Venezuela strike force</h2>It marks a quick&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/aircraft-carriers-trump-venezuela-middle-east-a458b9c4f1a5690e19d7c532dd6b7fd7">turnaround for the Ford</a>, which Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration build up a huge military presence in the lead-up to the surprise raid last month that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-us-maduro-what-to-know-a57528ff315a7f70ed51a1721f5e0bc2">captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro</a>.It also appears to be at odds with Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-security-strategy-europe-russia-america-first-068488ca7e6d1c92ccaddd1649958218">national security strategy</a>, which put an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere over other parts of the world.Trump on Thursday warned Iran that failure to reach a deal with his administration would be “very traumatic.” Iran and the United States held&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-talks-oman-nuclear-program-5813e0814efcd99616428086de6ba0be">indirect talks in Oman</a>&nbsp;last week.“I guess over the next month, something like that,” Trump said in response to a question about his timeline for striking a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly.”Trump told Axios earlier this week that he was considering sending a second carrier strike group to the Middle East.Trump held lengthy&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-trump-netanyahu-nuclear-talks-fa5be8069deb4b1b01cdf30d3e3525e7">talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu</a>&nbsp;on Wednesday and said he insisted to Israel's leader that negotiations with Iran needed to continue. Netanyahu is urging the administration to press Tehran to scale back its ballistic missile program and end its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of any deal.The USS Ford set out on deployment in late June 2025, which means the crew will have been deployed for eight months in two weeks time. While it is unclear how long the ship will remain in the Middle East, the move sets the crew up for an usually long deployment.The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.<h2>Ford's deployment comes as Iran mourns</h2>Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic. That rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning for the loved ones. Already, online videos have shown mourners gathering in different parts of the country, holding portraits of their dead.One video purported to show mourners at a graveyard in Iran's Razavi Khorasan province, home to Mashhad, on Thursday. There, with a large portable speaker, people sang the patriotic song “Ey Iran,” which dates to 1940s Iran under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. While initially banned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran's theocratic government has played it to drum up support.“Oh Iran, a land of full of jewels, your soil is full of art,” they sang. “May evil wishes be far from you. May you live eternal. Oh enemy, if you are a piece of granite, I am iron.”___Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.

US sending largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East as Iran tensions high

Dixie Carol Janzen, 90, of Hays, Kansas passed away at her
home Monday morning, February 9, 2026. 

She was born in Baxter Springs, Kansas, on October 17, 1935,
to Otho and Mae (Jones) Wittenmyer.

After moving with her family to Lyons, Kansas, she met Edwin
Janzen of nearby Lorraine during her junior year of high school. When her
father was transferred, Dixie and Ed made the decision to marry on August 1,
1953, in the little town of Frederick. Consequently, she was a married woman
during her senior year. The couple welcomed son Christopher in September of
1954 and a daughter, Dana, in 1957.

Dixie and Ed farmed south of Geneseo but made a difficult
decision to leave the farm and move to Great Bend, eventually ending up in Hays
in 1968. Ed was a jobber, a distributer of gas and oil, for DX, Conoco and
Phillips. As the business expanded into Janzen Oil Co., Dixie was integral to
making decisions about the direction of the company. A comfortable life allowed
her to enjoy being a homemaker, while buying, decorating, and selling numerous
homes over the 72 years of marriage she shared with Ed. Other interests were
reading, singing, fashion, and, she said unapologetically, shopping.&nbsp;

Although Dixie was somewhat of a private person, she was
interested in other people and would astound her family by how she seemed to
know life histories of waitresses, salesclerks, and other casual acquaintances.
Those fortunate to call her a close friend admired her strength, wisdom,
faithfulness, and confidence.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Sandra
Frost, Patsy Fitch, and Donna Brewer, brother Mickey Wittenmyer, and a beloved
granddaughter, Jennifer Goetz. 

Her survivors include her husband, Ed, her son, Chris, and
daughter, Dana Goetz (Chris), all of Hays; granddaughter, Laura Buhlig (Tim),
and great-grandchildren Kaison, Kallie, Joshua, Alexander, Ivan, and Layla, all
of North Ogden, Utah; and Gage and Wyatt Hallam, of Andover, Kansas.&nbsp; Also surviving is a brother, Mike (Betty), of
Seneca, Missouri and a sister, Sue Robinson, of Galena, Kansas.

Cremation has taken place.&nbsp;
A memorial service will be at a later date and announced by Hays
Memorial Chapel Funeral Home. &nbsp;Memorial
contributions may be made payable to the First United Methodist Church of Hays
or to the Hays Arts Council, in care of Hays Memorial Chapel, 1906 Pine Street,
Hays, Kansas 67601.&nbsp; Condolences and
memories of Dixie may be left for her family at www.haysmemorial.com

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770904412298.jpeg" alt="Dixie Carol Janzen" />
 <figcaption>Dixie Carol Janzen</figcaption>
 </figure>Dixie Carol Janzen, 90, of Hays, Kansas passed away at her
home Monday morning, February 9, 2026. She was born in Baxter Springs, Kansas, on October 17, 1935,
to Otho and Mae (Jones) Wittenmyer.After moving with her family to Lyons, Kansas, she met Edwin
Janzen of nearby Lorraine during her junior year of high school. When her
father was transferred, Dixie and Ed made the decision to marry on August 1,
1953, in the little town of Frederick. Consequently, she was a married woman
during her senior year. The couple welcomed son Christopher in September of
1954 and a daughter, Dana, in 1957.Dixie and Ed farmed south of Geneseo but made a difficult
decision to leave the farm and move to Great Bend, eventually ending up in Hays
in 1968. Ed was a jobber, a distributer of gas and oil, for DX, Conoco and
Phillips. As the business expanded into Janzen Oil Co., Dixie was integral to
making decisions about the direction of the company. A comfortable life allowed
her to enjoy being a homemaker, while buying, decorating, and selling numerous
homes over the 72 years of marriage she shared with Ed. Other interests were
reading, singing, fashion, and, she said unapologetically, shopping.&nbsp;Although Dixie was somewhat of a private person, she was
interested in other people and would astound her family by how she seemed to
know life histories of waitresses, salesclerks, and other casual acquaintances.
Those fortunate to call her a close friend admired her strength, wisdom,
faithfulness, and confidence.She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Sandra
Frost, Patsy Fitch, and Donna Brewer, brother Mickey Wittenmyer, and a beloved
granddaughter, Jennifer Goetz. Her survivors include her husband, Ed, her son, Chris, and
daughter, Dana Goetz (Chris), all of Hays; granddaughter, Laura Buhlig (Tim),
and great-grandchildren Kaison, Kallie, Joshua, Alexander, Ivan, and Layla, all
of North Ogden, Utah; and Gage and Wyatt Hallam, of Andover, Kansas.&nbsp; Also surviving is a brother, Mike (Betty), of
Seneca, Missouri and a sister, Sue Robinson, of Galena, Kansas.Cremation has taken place.&nbsp;
A memorial service will be at a later date and announced by Hays
Memorial Chapel Funeral Home. &nbsp;Memorial
contributions may be made payable to the First United Methodist Church of Hays
or to the Hays Arts Council, in care of Hays Memorial Chapel, 1906 Pine Street,
Hays, Kansas 67601.&nbsp; Condolences and
memories of Dixie may be left for her family at www.haysmemorial.com

Dixie Carol Janzen

By: NICOLAS FIERRO Salina Post

The family of the late Riley Dean Faris, is questioning why no criminal charges were placed on an individual involved in the crash that took away his life.

Riley Faris passed away at age 30 on&nbsp;October 17, 2025 after riding his motorcycle, when he was hit from behind on a Brookville road. The crash happened at approximately 6:53 pm on K-140 Highway at Perry Street. Faris was headed westbound when a 2003 Subaru Forester operated by Kiley Barnett (39) from Kanopolis, hit him from behind.&nbsp;

Barnett was booked into the Saline County Jail that same night with requested charges of No Proof of Insurance, Driving While Suspended (DWS) and Following Too Close. She was then released.

According to Kansas Court records, Barnett has 40 traffic violations.

Colton Faris, brother of Riley <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DZBboGCVw/">made a Facebook video on February 3, 2026</a>&nbsp;discussing a conversation he had with Saline County Attorney, John Reynolds.

Colton stated his mother got in contact via phone with Reynolds and wondered why they have not received an accident report after five months since the incident.&nbsp;During the phonecall, Colton said Reynolds explained to his mother the charges placed on Barnett and further said "that is just what happens when you ride a motorcycle."

Colton then called Reynolds on why he made the comment. According to Colton, Reynolds described to him that he thinks there was no evidence to place any sort of murder or involuntary manslaughter charge on Barnett.

"He (Reynolds) said, yes she killed him but it was not criminal. I don't understand that when you don't have a license, you are not supposed to be driving and when you don't have insurance, which is required to drive a car, how killing him is not a criminal offense," said Colton Faris on the video.

Reynolds told Salina Post he did not make explicitly make the comment of "that is just what happens when you ride a motorcycle," but instead was "taken out of context."

He said the context was he explained how "when cars and motorcycles collide, it always ends up bad for the motorcyclist."

Saline County Sheriff's Office on accident report

The Saline County Sheriff's Office told Salina Post why the Faris family received the accident report 3 and one half months later.

According to the Sheriff's Office, reports are available through the <a href="https://www.dol.ks.gov/labor-relations/kansas-open-records-act-kora">Kansas Open Records Act</a>, but with fluid cases (evolving) and cases with the potential to result in criminal charges without a criminal court disposition, are two of the several exemptions to the act.

In this case, the law enforcement agency did not have a court disposition, or any information if criminal charges were not going to be filed by the County Attorney until the week of Feb. 2 - 6, according to the Sheriff's Office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770836235145.png" alt="Riley Dean Faris unexpectedly passed away on October 17, 2025 at age 30, following a motorcycle accident. Photo courtesy Carlson-Geisendorf Funeral Home &amp; Crematory." />
 <figcaption>Riley Dean Faris unexpectedly passed away on October 17, 2025 at age 30, following a motorcycle accident. Photo courtesy Carlson-Geisendorf Funeral Home &amp; Crematory.</figcaption>
 </figure>By: NICOLAS FIERRO Salina PostThe family of the late Riley Dean Faris, is questioning why no criminal charges were placed on an individual involved in the crash that took away his life.Riley Faris passed away at age 30 on&nbsp;October 17, 2025 after riding his motorcycle, when he was hit from behind on a Brookville road. The crash happened at approximately 6:53 pm on K-140 Highway at Perry Street. Faris was headed westbound when a 2003 Subaru Forester operated by Kiley Barnett (39) from Kanopolis, hit him from behind.&nbsp;Barnett was booked into the Saline County Jail that same night with requested charges of No Proof of Insurance, Driving While Suspended (DWS) and Following Too Close. She was then released.According to Kansas Court records, Barnett has 40 traffic violations.Colton Faris, brother of Riley <a href="https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DZBboGCVw/">made a Facebook video on February 3, 2026</a>&nbsp;discussing a conversation he had with Saline County Attorney, John Reynolds. Colton stated his mother got in contact via phone with Reynolds and wondered why they have not received an accident report after five months since the incident.&nbsp;During the phonecall, Colton said Reynolds explained to his mother the charges placed on Barnett and further said "that is just what happens when you ride a motorcycle."<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1569023047711529%2F&show_text=false&width=267&t=0" width="267" height="476" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Colton then called Reynolds on why he made the comment. According to Colton, Reynolds described to him that he thinks there was no evidence to place any sort of murder or involuntary manslaughter charge on Barnett."He (Reynolds) said, yes she killed him but it was not criminal. I don't understand that when you don't have a license, you are not supposed to be driving and when you don't have insurance, which is required to drive a car, how killing him is not a criminal offense," said Colton Faris on the video.Reynolds told Salina Post he did not make explicitly make the comment of "that is just what happens when you ride a motorcycle," but instead was "taken out of context."He said the context was he explained how "when cars and motorcycles collide, it always ends up bad for the motorcyclist."<h2>Saline County Sheriff's Office on accident report</h2>The Saline County Sheriff's Office told Salina Post why the Faris family received the accident report 3 and one half months later.According to the Sheriff's Office, reports are available through the <a href="https://www.dol.ks.gov/labor-relations/kansas-open-records-act-kora">Kansas Open Records Act</a>, but with fluid cases (evolving) and cases with the potential to result in criminal charges without a criminal court disposition, are two of the several exemptions to the act.In this case, the law enforcement agency did not have a court disposition, or any information if criminal charges were not going to be filed by the County Attorney until the week of Feb. 2 - 6, according to the Sheriff's Office.The Sheriff's Office wanted to confirm there were not going to be criminal charges filed prior to releasing a narrative report that could potentially interfere with criminal prosecution. Once this was learned, the Sheriff's Office encouraged the Faris family to request the case again and the report was disseminated within 48 hours."We strive to provide the appropriate information at the appropriate time while adhering to the Kansas Open Records Act," said the Sheriff's Office.Reynolds stated the charges placed on Barnett were "traffic violations" and not criminal charges.<h2>Reynolds explains the accident</h2>Reynolds provided details on what happened in the accident.According to Reynolds, there was a vehicle going southbound leaving Brookville and got onto K-140 westbound. He said the vehicle got right in front of Faris, which caused him to slow down. Barnett coming from behind was headed westbound and once she became aware of Faris slowing down, she had a "very narrowed reaction time, because she closed the gap between him and the vehicle in front," according to Reynolds.Reynolds said Barnett tried to avoid colliding with Faris during this time."By the time she realizes what's going on, she goes to take evasive maneuvers to move over into the other lane to go around Faris," Reynolds said. "She almost missed him."Reynolds further said he knew this happened, because he not only visited the accident scene, but also by determining the marks on the vehicles, roadway and review of law enforcement body cameras."There were two state troopers out there, they came to the same conclusion of the deputies and what I had," said Reynolds.Additionally, Reynolds said Barnett should have been farther back before the crash. He placed the Following Too Close charge, because the crash resulted in a fatality.&nbsp;He also said Faris was not wearing a helmet.For Barnett to have been placed a requested charge of Involuntary Manslaughter, Reynolds stated the following would need to include:&nbsp;- Killing someone recklessly.- Killing someone while committing or attempting to commit a felony.   - Killing someone while DUI.   - During to commission of an unlawful act in an unlawful manner; Or in attempting to commit, or in flight from, an act described in KSA 8-1567."I did not see any of these elements in the affidavit filed in this case," said Reynolds.<h2>Petition started to demand felony charges and removal County Attorney</h2>The cousin of the late Riley Faris, started a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-riley-demand-felony-charges-and-removal-of-saline-county-attorney-j-reynolds">petition</a> titled "JUSTICE FOR RILEY: Demand Felony Charges and Removal of Saline County Attorney J. Reynolds."Stated in the petition, the writer brought up Kansas statutes for upgraded charges on Barnett."The charges against Kiley Barnett be upgraded to the highest extent of the law. Under&nbsp;K.S.A. 21-5403, a killing committed unintentionally but recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life is Second-Degree Murder.&nbsp;At a minimum, this must be prosecuted as Involuntary Manslaughter&nbsp;(K.S.A. 21-5405), a Level 5 Person Felony."Furthermore, it stated Kansas Rules of Professional Conduct for the removal of Reynolds.<ol>
 <li>"The Broken Oath of Office Under&nbsp;K.S.A. 54-106, John Reynolds took a solemn oath to faithfully discharge the duties&nbsp;of his office. A County Attorney’s most sacred duty is to serve as a Minister of Justice. This means applying the law equally to every citizen, regardless of whether they walk, drive, or ride.&nbsp;By dismissing Riley’s death as an occupational hazard of riding a motorcycle, Mr. Reynolds has breached that oath. He has replaced the law of Kansas with his own personal bias, proving he is either unwilling or unable to faithfully protect the rights of all Saline County residents."</li><li>"KRPC 3.8&nbsp;(Minister of Justice): A prosecutor is a minister of justice, not just an advocate. By dismissing a fatality based on the victim’s vehicle, he has failed his duty to see that justice is accorded to all."</li><li>"KRPC 8.4(d) &amp; (g): His comments are prejudicial to the administration of justice and reflect a bias that renders him unfit to practice law or serve the public impartially.K.S.A. 74-7333&nbsp;(Crime Victims Bill of Rights): He has failed to treat Riley’s family with the courtesy, compassion, and respect for their dignity mandated by Kansas law."</li>
 </ol>The petition currently has over 4,000 signatures.Barnett is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on March 25. The Saline County court will determine to either take the Barnett case to trial on if she will be convicted for DWS, No Proof of Insurance and Following Too Close.