NEW YORK (AP) — Look what you made her do —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a>&nbsp;has announced her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”

Swift announced the album on her website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 a.m. Tuesday. No release date was announced, but her site said vinyl editions of the album would ship before Oct. 13.

Fans have long theorized that Swift's 12th album would soon arrive. On Monday, Taylor Nation — an official branch of the pop superstar’s marketing team — posted a TikTok slide show of 12 images with the caption “Thinking about when she said 'See you next era…'” Swift is seen wearing orange in every image.

A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in “Portofino orange glitter," according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.

Sensing a pattern, eagle-eyed fans noticed that 12 minutes earlier, the popular&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kelce-chiefs-eagles-jason-travis-new-heights-92761f6968b12ee06603d66e7ce9c5b7">“New Heights” podcast</a>&nbsp;posted a tease for Wednesday. The show, hosted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-chiefs-bills-nfl-playoffs-d978fa0be8100cc145cb6a63ffc656cf">Swift's boyfriend</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/travis-kelce">Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce</a>&nbsp;alongside his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, posted an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, many believing to be Swift.

The podcast announced early early Tuesday that Swift would would appear on “New Heights” and a teaser video posted about her appearance showed her pulling the album from a briefcase. The actual album artwork, just as it is on her website, is blurred.

“The Life of a Showgirl” follows last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-review-b24d2275df5cf78ffa9069c61b9825ec">“The Tortured Poets Department,”</a>&nbsp;announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-eras-tour-billion-dollar-record-52945111233438b1f2166aa19eee365f">record-breaking tour</a>, which raked in over $2.2 billion across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.

The album is also her first release since Swift regained control over her entire body of work. In May, that pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5725558c87b14859b6a8d4760b7f0232">Big Machine Records —</a>&nbsp;from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.

In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The project was instigated by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/scooter-braun-what-to-know-d5669e8b0fe641dd268c2e2cf88b0e24">Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun’s</a>&nbsp;purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re used. Previous&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5725558c87b14859b6a8d4760b7f0232">“Taylor’s Version” releases</a>&nbsp;have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new “from the vault” music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.

So far, there have been four rerecorded albums, beginning with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-redoing-fearless-album-127eefa2a3ef3373e65507495f50145c">“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/red-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-super-bowl-6fe895e1691f6cd85216e520cc3b8ce1">“Red (Taylor’s Version)”</a>&nbsp;in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Swift’s last rerecording,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-1989-taylors-version-a4002b50f70b5899a846baf3e20de5ab">“1989 (Taylor’s Version),”</a>&nbsp;arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-speak-now-taylors-version-a41998c4d1f08af9d89c6d314ed4c2bd">“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).”</a>&nbsp;That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-number-one-albums-speak-now-5dfb913b75ee6628d8804d5a02f9333f">most No. 1 albums in history.</a>

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/12/1733776996717.png" alt="Taylor Swift file photo (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)" />
                        <figcaption>Taylor Swift file photo (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>NEW YORK (AP) — Look what you made her do —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/taylor-swift">Taylor Swift</a>&nbsp;has announced her 12th studio album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Posted at 12:12 on the 12th. ❤️‍🔥 Tay’s 12th album is called…………<br><br>pre pre-order now at <a href="https://t.co/oGYV230otf">https://t.co/oGYV230otf</a> <a href="https://t.co/gUAIEEDZmm">pic.twitter.com/gUAIEEDZmm</a></p>&mdash; New Heights (@newheightshow) <a href="https://twitter.com/newheightshow/status/1955120055647343093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 12, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Swift announced the album on her website shortly after a countdown timer expired at 12:12 a.m. Tuesday. No release date was announced, but her site said vinyl editions of the album would ship before Oct. 13.</p><p>Fans have long theorized that Swift's 12th album would soon arrive. On Monday, Taylor Nation — an official branch of the pop superstar’s marketing team — posted a TikTok slide show of 12 images with the caption “Thinking about when she said 'See you next era…'” Swift is seen wearing orange in every image.</p><p>A special limited vinyl edition of the album will be released in “Portofino orange glitter," according to a pre-order page on her site. A special cassette edition is also available for pre-order.</p><p>Sensing a pattern, eagle-eyed fans noticed that 12 minutes earlier, the popular&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kelce-chiefs-eagles-jason-travis-new-heights-92761f6968b12ee06603d66e7ce9c5b7">“New Heights” podcast</a>&nbsp;posted a tease for Wednesday. The show, hosted by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-chiefs-bills-nfl-playoffs-d978fa0be8100cc145cb6a63ffc656cf">Swift's boyfriend</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/travis-kelce">Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce</a>&nbsp;alongside his brother, former Eagles center Jason Kelce, posted an orange image on social media with a mysterious silhouette, many believing to be Swift.</p><p>The podcast announced early early Tuesday that Swift would would appear on “New Heights” and a teaser video posted about her appearance showed her pulling the album from a briefcase. The actual album artwork, just as it is on her website, is blurred.</p><p>“The Life of a Showgirl” follows last year’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-tortured-poets-department-review-b24d2275df5cf78ffa9069c61b9825ec">“The Tortured Poets Department,”</a>&nbsp;announced during the 2024 Grammys and released during her&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-eras-tour-billion-dollar-record-52945111233438b1f2166aa19eee365f">record-breaking tour</a>, which raked in over $2.2 billion across two years and five continents, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time.</p><p>The album is also her first release since Swift regained control over her entire body of work. In May, that pop star said she purchased her catalog of recordings — originally released through&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5725558c87b14859b6a8d4760b7f0232">Big Machine Records —</a>&nbsp;from their most recent owner, the private equity firm Shamrock Capital. She did not disclose the amount.</p><p>In recent years, Swift has been rerecording and releasing her first six albums in an attempt to regain control of her music. The project was instigated by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/scooter-braun-what-to-know-d5669e8b0fe641dd268c2e2cf88b0e24">Hybe America CEO Scooter Braun’s</a>&nbsp;purchase and sale of her early catalog and represents Swift’s effort to control her own songs and how they’re used. Previous&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/5725558c87b14859b6a8d4760b7f0232">“Taylor’s Version” releases</a>&nbsp;have been more than conventional re-recordings, arriving with new “from the vault” music, Easter eggs and visuals that deepen understanding of her work.</p><p>So far, there have been four rerecorded albums, beginning with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-redoing-fearless-album-127eefa2a3ef3373e65507495f50145c">“Fearless (Taylor’s Version)”</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/red-taylor-swift-travis-kelce-super-bowl-6fe895e1691f6cd85216e520cc3b8ce1">“Red (Taylor’s Version)”</a>&nbsp;in 2021. All four have been massive commercial and cultural successes, each one debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.</p><p>Swift’s last rerecording,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-1989-taylors-version-a4002b50f70b5899a846baf3e20de5ab">“1989 (Taylor’s Version),”</a>&nbsp;arrived in October 2023, just four months after the release of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-speak-now-taylors-version-a41998c4d1f08af9d89c6d314ed4c2bd">“Speak Now (Taylor’s Version).”</a>&nbsp;That was the same year Swift claimed the record for the woman with the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-number-one-albums-speak-now-5dfb913b75ee6628d8804d5a02f9333f">most No. 1 albums in history.</a></p>

Taylor Swift announces 12th studio album

<b>By TONY GUERRERO</b><br><i>Hays Post</i>

The Hays Fire Department conducted a wildfire summit to prepare for future blazes by drawing lessons from the region’s past disasters.

Hays Fire Chief Ryan Hagans said the summit consisted of sharing local expertise, a field trip and simulations to address potential threats in partnership with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

"The main goal was to help us find the tools and resources to build a partnership within the community, and help spread the word on potential hazards that a wildfire brings when it impacts urban and developed areas," Hagans said.

The summit was a two-day wildfire risk workshop on Friday and Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hays.

SimTables, or simulation tables, let participants model fire spread using real topography and wind data. The projections recreated past incidents, including the 2021 Four County Fire, and hypothetical scenarios for firefighters to study.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/244e646d-1963-4b42-bcf5-c85c78f9b5bb">SEE RELATED STORY: Drought doubles disaster as Four County ranchers struggle to recover year after wildfire</a>

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5b816284-349a-4002-b92c-082d727d3727">SEE RELATED STORY: Third-Generation rancher gives up ag: financial effects of Four County Fire may last years</a>

Firefighters shared their experiences and insights from responding to the Four County Fire, discussing factors that allowed it to spread as fast as it did, such as wind speeds.

"When this started, we had zero visibility in Hays. I was driving around when it progressed and everything browned out," one firefighter said, referring to the Four County Fire.

Firefighters estimated from the projection that fast-moving fires could sweep through Hays in roughly 10 minutes.

The summit also included an outdoor session near the Sternberg Museum to examine grasses, trees and urban-wildland risks. Hagans said the fire department gained a deeper understanding of fire behavior and plans to implement measures.

He said the department will further assess the city for wildfire threats and educate the public.

"There are several areas throughout the outer edges of town that we'd like to evaluate what fuel loads they have and what each individual neighborhood has unique to them," Hagans said. "Steps they can take to help prevent or slow down the spread of a grass fire coming and help protect their homes as well."

Hagans advises regularly clearing dead limbs, trimming trees and bushes, and mowing grass near fences as precautions.

The event also partnered with the Kansas State Forest Service, International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Chiefs and National Volunteer Fire Council.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754941300398.jpeg" alt="Hays Fire Fighters and other officials gathered around a SimTable&nbsp;at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post" />
                        <figcaption>Hays Fire Fighters and other officials gathered around a SimTable&nbsp;at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post</figcaption>
                    </figure><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754943211772.png" alt="" />
                        <figcaption></figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By TONY GUERRERO</b><br><i>Hays Post</i></p><p>The Hays Fire Department conducted a wildfire summit to prepare for future blazes by drawing lessons from the region’s past disasters.</p><p>Hays Fire Chief Ryan Hagans said the summit consisted of sharing local expertise, a field trip and simulations to address potential threats in partnership with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.</p><p>"The main goal was to help us find the tools and resources to build a partnership within the community, and help spread the word on potential hazards that a wildfire brings when it impacts urban and developed areas," Hagans said.</p><p>The summit was a two-day wildfire risk workshop on Friday and Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hays.</p><p>SimTables, or simulation tables, let participants model fire spread using real topography and wind data. The projections recreated past incidents, including the 2021 Four County Fire, and hypothetical scenarios for firefighters to study.</p><p><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/244e646d-1963-4b42-bcf5-c85c78f9b5bb">SEE RELATED STORY: Drought doubles disaster as Four County ranchers struggle to recover year after wildfire</a></p><p><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/5b816284-349a-4002-b92c-082d727d3727">SEE RELATED STORY: Third-Generation rancher gives up ag: financial effects of Four County Fire may last years</a></p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754941350098.jpeg" alt="A SimTable projecting the 2021 Four County Fire at the&nbsp;Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post" />
                        <figcaption>A SimTable projecting the 2021 Four County Fire at the&nbsp;Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post</figcaption>
                    </figure><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754941406092.jpeg" alt="Hays firefighters and other officials measuring the distance of the 2021 Four County Fire&nbsp;at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post" />
                        <figcaption>Hays firefighters and other officials measuring the distance of the 2021 Four County Fire&nbsp;at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Firefighters shared their experiences and insights from responding to the Four County Fire, discussing factors that allowed it to spread as fast as it did, such as wind speeds.</p><p>"When this started, we had zero visibility in Hays. I was driving around when it progressed and everything browned out," one firefighter said, referring to the Four County Fire.</p><p>Firefighters estimated from the projection that fast-moving fires could sweep through Hays in roughly 10 minutes.</p><p>The summit also included an outdoor session near the Sternberg Museum to examine grasses, trees and urban-wildland risks. Hagans said the fire department gained a deeper understanding of fire behavior and plans to implement measures.</p><p>He said the department will further assess the city for wildfire threats and educate the public.</p><p>"There are several areas throughout the outer edges of town that we'd like to evaluate what fuel loads they have and what each individual neighborhood has unique to them," Hagans said. "Steps they can take to help prevent or slow down the spread of a grass fire coming and help protect their homes as well."</p><p>Hagans advises regularly clearing dead limbs, trimming trees and bushes, and mowing grass near fences as precautions.</p><p>The event also partnered with the Kansas State Forest Service, International Association of Fire Fighters, International Association of Fire Chiefs and National Volunteer Fire Council.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754941441165.jpeg" alt="A SimTable projecting the 2022 Reno County fire at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post" />
                        <figcaption>A SimTable projecting the 2022 Reno County fire at the Wildland Resilience Summit in Hays. Photo by Tony Guerrero/Hays Post</figcaption>
                    </figure>

NWester: Hays hosts Wildland Resilience Summit to boost fire preparedness

<b>By CRISTINA JANNEY<br></b><i>Hays Post</i>

A Hays man was arraigned on Aug. 4 in Ellis County District Court on charges of alleged aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and interference with a law enforcement officer.

At about 12:26 a.m. on March 1, Hays Police responded to a report of possible aggravated battery in the 500 block of West Seventh Street in the back alley of Chuck's bar, according to Hays Police.

A Hays man was allegedly accosted at gunpoint by two male suspects and taken to an area between houses, where he was physically assaulted and pistol-whipped, according to Hays police.

According to Hays police, the victim was allegedly stripped of his clothing, except for his underwear, and robbed of his wallet and phone.

Isaiah Tai Simpson was arrested and charged with&nbsp;alleged aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and interference with a law enforcement officer.

Simpson's bond was initially set at $350,000.

Simpson's defense attorney, Cheryl Ann Stewart, requested a reduction in bond on Aug. 4, but District Judge Curtis Brown denied the motion.

At the same hearing, Simpson also waived his right to a speedy trial.

Simpson's jury trial has been set for Jan. 20. Pre-trial motions will be at 9 a.m. Dec. 2.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754945807594.jpeg" alt="Isaiah Simpson" />
                        <figcaption>Isaiah Simpson</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By CRISTINA JANNEY<br></b><i>Hays Post</i></p><p>A Hays man was arraigned on Aug. 4 in Ellis County District Court on charges of alleged aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and interference with a law enforcement officer.</p><p>At about 12:26 a.m. on March 1, Hays Police responded to a report of possible aggravated battery in the 500 block of West Seventh Street in the back alley of Chuck's bar, according to Hays Police.</p><p>A Hays man was allegedly accosted at gunpoint by two male suspects and taken to an area between houses, where he was physically assaulted and pistol-whipped, according to Hays police.</p><p>According to Hays police, the victim was allegedly stripped of his clothing, except for his underwear, and robbed of his wallet and phone.</p><p>Isaiah Tai Simpson was arrested and charged with&nbsp;alleged aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and interference with a law enforcement officer.</p><p>Simpson's bond was initially set at $350,000.</p><p>Simpson's defense attorney, Cheryl Ann Stewart, requested a reduction in bond on Aug. 4, but District Judge Curtis Brown denied the motion.</p><p>At the same hearing, Simpson also waived his right to a speedy trial.</p><p>Simpson's jury trial has been set for Jan. 20. Pre-trial motions will be at 9 a.m. Dec. 2.</p>

Trial set for Hays man on charges of aggravated kidnapping, robbery

WASHINGTON (AP) —D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called President Trump's takeover of the DC police, "unsettling."

She said that the city had reached a 30-year low in violent crime. Bowser said that crime was down not just from a post-pandemic peak in 2023, but from 2019 levels prior to the pandemic.

Bowser highlighted the district’s parks, schools and public transportation and said that it was important for those who live and visit here to know “just how beautiful our city is and how proud we are of all that we’ve accomplished here.

Bowser’s comments are a response to President Trump’s announcement of his takeover of D.C. police force. Bowser said that the steps were “unsettling” but not without precedent.

“My message to residents is this,” Bowser said. “We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood.”

The union representing DC police officers is backing Trump’s takeover move, though it called for the federal intervention to be temporary.

Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said it agrees with the president that “immediately action is necessary” to tamp down crime.

Still, Pemberton said that the city ultimately needs a police department that’s “fully staffed and supported.”

He also called for the repeal of criminal justice policies and laws passed by the city council.

Maryland governor says Trump mobilizing National Guard in Washington ‘lacks seriousness’

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in D.C. is also “deeply dangerous.”

Moore, a Democrat who served as a paratrooper and captain in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, said in a statement Monday that the president’s actions lack both data and a battle plan.

“He is simply using honorable men and women as pawns to distract us from his policies, which continue to drive up unemployment and strip away health care and food assistance from those who need it most,” Moore said.

He urged the president to look to Maryland for ways of reducing violent crime. Moore noted that homicides in Maryland are down by more than 20% since Moore’s inauguration in January 2023.

“We await outreach from the White House if they want to have a serious conversation about public safety. But we won’t hold our breath,” he said.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754942142324.png" alt="Crime in the District of Columbia became a hot-button issue after Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas,<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/588da06a-99ed-47be-99bd-c05f5e5de831"> was&nbsp;fatally shot</a>&nbsp;on June 30. -DC Mayor Muriel Bowser image from CSPAN video" />
                        <figcaption>Crime in the District of Columbia became a hot-button issue after Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas,<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/588da06a-99ed-47be-99bd-c05f5e5de831"> was&nbsp;fatally shot</a>&nbsp;on June 30. -DC Mayor Muriel Bowser image from CSPAN video</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WASHINGTON (AP) —D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called President Trump's takeover of the DC police, "unsettling."</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/MayorBowser?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MayorBowser</a> on President Trump federalizing DC police: &quot;While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can&#39;t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past that we&#39;re totally surprised.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/r9TU87KUp7">pic.twitter.com/r9TU87KUp7</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1954986466867646826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>She said that the city had reached a 30-year low in violent crime. Bowser said that crime was down not just from a post-pandemic peak in 2023, but from 2019 levels prior to the pandemic.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The murder rate in Washington, D.C. today is greater than Bogota, Mexico City, and more ⬇️<br><br>MAKE D.C. SAFE AGAIN! <a href="https://t.co/0L9SVfY1KG">pic.twitter.com/0L9SVfY1KG</a></p>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1954916458573832272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Bowser highlighted the district’s parks, schools and public transportation and said that it was important for those who live and visit here to know “just how beautiful our city is and how proud we are of all that we’ve accomplished here.</p><p>Bowser’s comments are a response to President Trump’s announcement of his takeover of D.C. police force. Bowser said that the steps were “unsettling” but not without precedent.</p><p>“My message to residents is this,” Bowser said. “We know that access to our democracy is tenuous. That is why you have heard me and many Washingtonians before me advocate for full statehood.”</p><h2>DC police union backs Trump’s takeover</h2><p>The union representing DC police officers is backing Trump’s takeover move, though it called for the federal intervention to be temporary.</p><p>Union chairman Gregg Pemberton said it agrees with the president that “immediately action is necessary” to tamp down crime.</p><p>Still, Pemberton said that the city ultimately needs a police department that’s “fully staffed and supported.”</p><p>He also called for the repeal of criminal justice policies and laws passed by the city council.</p><h2>Maryland governor says Trump mobilizing National Guard in Washington ‘lacks seriousness’</h2><p>Maryland Gov. Wes Moore says Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard in D.C. is also “deeply dangerous.”</p><p>Moore, a Democrat who served as a paratrooper and captain in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan, said in a statement Monday that the president’s actions lack both data and a battle plan.</p><p>“He is simply using honorable men and women as pawns to distract us from his policies, which continue to drive up unemployment and strip away health care and food assistance from those who need it most,” Moore said.</p><p>He urged the president to look to Maryland for ways of reducing violent crime. Moore noted that homicides in Maryland are down by more than 20% since Moore’s inauguration in January 2023.</p><p>“We await outreach from the White House if they want to have a serious conversation about public safety. But we won’t hold our breath,” he said.</p>

DC mayor responds to Trump takeover of DC  police

<b>By GERARD WELLBROCK</b>
<br><i>Hays Post Sports</i>

HAYS, Kan. - The Fort Hays State football team's defense is
the focus as the Tigers enter their second week of preseason camp. The team is
tasked with replacing a group of veterans who combined for 224 career starts.

The Tigers' secondary, in particular, is looking to fill
significant holes. Gone are cornerbacks Kobe Rome and Trevion Mitchell, who
combined for 53 starts, and bandit backs Mason Perez and Benyon Williams, who
also combined for 53 starts.

Despite the losses, defensive coordinator Cooper Harris is
optimistic about the younger, less-experienced players vying for those roles.

"I think they've done a really good job for being some
new players in that back end," Harris said. "I think a lot of it has
to do with the returning players that we have. Even though we don't have as
many as we had last year, the guys that have returned have a really good
understanding of the expectations and they've really done a good job of
explaining that to the new guys."

Last season, the Tigers' defense was one of the best in the
MIAA. They led the conference in fewest passing yards allowed per game (219.2)
and fewest points allowed per game (16.9). They also ranked second in total
yards allowed per game (330.1) and were in the top 25 nationally in Division II
in scoring defense.

While the defensive line lost Myles Menges (43 career
starts) and Demitri Scott (21 games played), it returns the most experience on
the defense.

"Their depth is really good," Harris said.
"Coach Hickel does a great job getting those guys lined up and
understanding their responsibilities. Everything starts up front, and if you're
good up front, you can build off that."

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754944802721.jpeg" alt="Fort Hays State coaches Kyle Murphy (left), Tom Ross (center) and Cooper Harris (right) watch on at a FHSU football practice (FHSU Athletics photo/Ryan Prickett)" />
                        <figcaption>Fort Hays State coaches Kyle Murphy (left), Tom Ross (center) and Cooper Harris (right) watch on at a FHSU football practice (FHSU Athletics photo/Ryan Prickett)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By GERARD WELLBROCK</b>
<br><i>Hays Post Sports</i></p><p>HAYS, Kan. - The Fort Hays State football team's defense is
the focus as the Tigers enter their second week of preseason camp. The team is
tasked with replacing a group of veterans who combined for 224 career starts.</p><p>The Tigers' secondary, in particular, is looking to fill
significant holes. Gone are cornerbacks Kobe Rome and Trevion Mitchell, who
combined for 53 starts, and bandit backs Mason Perez and Benyon Williams, who
also combined for 53 starts.</p><p>Despite the losses, defensive coordinator Cooper Harris is
optimistic about the younger, less-experienced players vying for those roles.</p><div><iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" allow="autoplay" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/2151593613&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true"></iframe><div style="font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc;line-break: anywhere;word-break: normal;overflow: hidden;white-space: nowrap;text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif;font-weight: 100;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509" title="Eagle Radio" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">Eagle Radio</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-814667509/fhsu-fb-camp-harris" title="FHSU FB Camp - Harris" target="_blank" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;">FHSU FB Camp - Harris</a></div></div><p>"I think they've done a really good job for being some
new players in that back end," Harris said. "I think a lot of it has
to do with the returning players that we have. Even though we don't have as
many as we had last year, the guys that have returned have a really good
understanding of the expectations and they've really done a good job of
explaining that to the new guys."</p><p>Last season, the Tigers' defense was one of the best in the
MIAA. They led the conference in fewest passing yards allowed per game (219.2)
and fewest points allowed per game (16.9). They also ranked second in total
yards allowed per game (330.1) and were in the top 25 nationally in Division II
in scoring defense.</p><p>While the defensive line lost Myles Menges (43 career
starts) and Demitri Scott (21 games played), it returns the most experience on
the defense.</p><p>"Their depth is really good," Harris said.
"Coach Hickel does a great job getting those guys lined up and
understanding their responsibilities. Everything starts up front, and if you're
good up front, you can build off that."</p>

🏈 FHSU defense reloading with new faces

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Monday he’s taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in the nation’s capital.

The president, flanked by his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director, said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments.

“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared, adding he'd also be “getting rid of the slums.”

For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-says-there-will-be-strong-law-and-order-as-national-guard-faces-off-with-protesters-in-la-b8129d06adb34d52939dff416f8a7cea">his aggressive approach to law enforcement</a>. The District of Columbia’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/homelessness">homelessness</a>&nbsp;or crime.

Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington’s metro police department, Trump said, as he also railed against potholes and graffiti in the city and called them “embarrassing.” The president did not provide a timeline for the control of the police department, but he's limited to 30 days under statute.

As Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest his moves. And local officials rejected the Republican president's depiction of the district as crime-ridden and called his actions illegal.

“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia."

Schwalb, a Democrat, said violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down another 26% this year.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would follow the law regarding the “so-called emergency” even as she indicated that Trump's actions were a reason why the District of Columbia should be a state with legal protections from such actions.

“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.

The president dismissed the idea Washington needed to enlarge its 3,500-officer police force, even as he seeks to have more armed personnel going through the city with the goal of reducing crime.

“What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them,” he said.

Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;in an executive order to declare a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city's police force. He signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard.

While Trump has portrayed himself as a friend to law enforcement and enjoyed the political backing from many of their groups, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot</a>, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.

About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s effort to combat crime, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are among federal law enforcement personnel being assigned to patrols in Washington, the person briefed on the plans said. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service are contributing officers.

The person was not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The Justice Department didn’t immediately have a comment Monday morning.

Bowser, a Democrat, has previously questioned the effectiveness of using the National Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.

Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon.

“I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard,” she said Sunday on MSNBC's “The Weekend,” acknowledging it is "the president’s call about how to deploy the Guard.”

Bowser noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-homicides-unsolved-metropolitan-police-crime-victims-64b861dd5702a58cc4182ea094460340">a rise in 2023</a>. She stressed during a Monday news conference that she believed Trump's views of the city were shaped by the “challenging times” of the coronavirus pandemic, when he faced protests and crime spiked as the country began to recover from the outbreak.

Trump has emphasized the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go, and he did not give details at his news conference Monday.

“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”

Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-crime-assault-doge-05aaaeb09d106ca1af673b46e89d60e1">the recent assault</a>&nbsp;of a high-profile member of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-donald-trump-962778979dd35ea79d6092df9cb2cb56">the Department of Government Efficiency</a>.

<a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">Police statistics</a>&nbsp;show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago.

The president has criticized the district as full of “tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,” and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others.

“This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country,” Trump said Wednesday.

He called Bowser “a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.”

Trump has repeatedly suggested the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">a repeal of the Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining.

Bowser acknowledged the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met.

“None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754924754534.png" alt="Crime in the District of Columbia became a hot-button issue after Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas, was&nbsp;fatally shot&nbsp;on June 30.-Image from White House video" />
                        <figcaption>Crime in the District of Columbia became a hot-button issue after Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Republican Rep. Ron Estes of Kansas, was&nbsp;fatally shot&nbsp;on June 30.-Image from White House video</figcaption>
                    </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🚨 President Trump announces he is invoking the D.C. Home Rule Act to place the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deploy the National Guard.<br><br>&quot;This is Liberation Day in D.C. — and we&#39;re going to take our capital BACK.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/aqov60mrCW">pic.twitter.com/aqov60mrCW</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954916584176443592?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754924379692.png" alt="<br>" />
                        <figcaption><br></figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Monday he’s taking over Washington's police department and activating 800 members of the National Guard in the hopes of reducing crime, even as city officials stressed crime is already falling in the nation’s capital.</p><p>The president, flanked by his attorney general, his defense secretary and the FBI director, said he was declaring a public safety emergency and his administration would be removing homeless encampments.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a>: &quot;We&#39;re declaring a public safety emergency in the District of Columbia — and <a href="https://twitter.com/AGPamBondi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AGPamBondi</a> is taking command of the Metropolitan Police Department as of this moment.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/aXP0n5l0dX">pic.twitter.com/aXP0n5l0dX</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954920633160331525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Trump: &quot;I&#39;m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation&#39;s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor and worse. This is Liberation Day in DC and we&#39;re going to take our capital back. We&#39;re taking it back..&quot; <a href="https://t.co/JpoblecuoB">pic.twitter.com/JpoblecuoB</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1954920835887620252?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> on Making D.C. Safe Again: &quot;We are going to be removing homeless encampments from all over our parks... We&#39;re getting rid of the people from underpasses and public spaces... We&#39;ll help them as much as you can help.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Gu7O1ySWFz">pic.twitter.com/Gu7O1ySWFz</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954923844030074956?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This is a major moment for our country! <a href="https://t.co/pMBhoSadNF">pic.twitter.com/pMBhoSadNF</a></p>&mdash; JD Vance (@JDVance) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1954964022630961160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>“We’re going to take our capital back,” Trump declared, adding he'd also be “getting rid of the slums.”</p><p>For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects an escalation of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/trump-says-there-will-be-strong-law-and-order-as-national-guard-faces-off-with-protesters-in-la-b8129d06adb34d52939dff416f8a7cea">his aggressive approach to law enforcement</a>. The District of Columbia’s status as a congressionally established federal district gives him a unique opportunity to push his tough-on-crime agenda, though he has not proposed solutions to the root causes of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/homelessness">homelessness</a>&nbsp;or crime.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The murder rate in Washington, D.C. today is greater than Bogota, Mexico City, and more ⬇️<br><br>MAKE D.C. SAFE AGAIN! <a href="https://t.co/0L9SVfY1KG">pic.twitter.com/0L9SVfY1KG</a></p>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1954916458573832272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Attorney General Pam Bondi will assume responsibility for Washington’s metro police department, Trump said, as he also railed against potholes and graffiti in the city and called them “embarrassing.” The president did not provide a timeline for the control of the police department, but he's limited to 30 days under statute.</p><p>As Trump spoke, demonstrators gathered outside the White House to protest his moves. And local officials rejected the Republican president's depiction of the district as crime-ridden and called his actions illegal.</p><p>“The administration’s actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia."</p><p>Schwalb, a Democrat, said violent crime in the district reached historic 30-year lows last year and is down another 26% this year.</p><p>Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said she would follow the law regarding the “so-called emergency” even as she indicated that Trump's actions were a reason why the District of Columbia should be a state with legal protections from such actions.</p><p>“While this action today is unsettling and unprecedented, I can’t say that given some of the rhetoric of the past, that we’re totally surprised,” Bowser said.</p><h2>Combating crime</h2><p>The president dismissed the idea Washington needed to enlarge its 3,500-officer police force, even as he seeks to have more armed personnel going through the city with the goal of reducing crime.</p><p>“What you need is rules and regulations, and you need the right people to implement them,” he said.</p><p>Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;in an executive order to declare a “crime emergency” so his administration could take over the city's police force. He signed a directive for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to activate the National Guard.</p><p>While Trump has portrayed himself as a friend to law enforcement and enjoyed the political backing from many of their groups, he pardoned or commuted the sentences of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/projects/january-6-cases/">in the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot</a>, including people convicted of assaulting police officers.</p><p>About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation’s capital as part of Trump’s effort to combat crime, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.</p><p>More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are among federal law enforcement personnel being assigned to patrols in Washington, the person briefed on the plans said. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service are contributing officers.</p><p>The person was not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The Justice Department didn’t immediately have a comment Monday morning.</p><h2>The National Guard</h2><p>Bowser, a Democrat, has previously questioned the effectiveness of using the National Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.</p><p>Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon.</p><p>“I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard,” she said Sunday on MSNBC's “The Weekend,” acknowledging it is "the president’s call about how to deploy the Guard.”</p><p>Bowser noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-homicides-unsolved-metropolitan-police-crime-victims-64b861dd5702a58cc4182ea094460340">a rise in 2023</a>. She stressed during a Monday news conference that she believed Trump's views of the city were shaped by the “challenging times” of the coronavirus pandemic, when he faced protests and crime spiked as the country began to recover from the outbreak.</p><h2>Focusing on homelessness</h2><p>Trump has emphasized the removal of Washington’s homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go, and he did not give details at his news conference Monday.</p><p>“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday in a social media post. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”</p><p>Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-crime-assault-doge-05aaaeb09d106ca1af673b46e89d60e1">the recent assault</a>&nbsp;of a high-profile member of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-donald-trump-962778979dd35ea79d6092df9cb2cb56">the Department of Government Efficiency</a>.</p><h2>Crime statistics</h2><p><a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">Police statistics</a>&nbsp;show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago.</p><p>The president has criticized the district as full of “tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,” and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others.</p><p>“This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country,” Trump said Wednesday.</p><p>He called Bowser “a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.”</p><p>Trump has repeatedly suggested the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">a repeal of the Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining.</p><p>Bowser acknowledged the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met.</p><p>“None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”</p><p>___</p>

🎥Trump places D.C. police under federal control, deploys troops

Deputy Elijah Ming's funeral service will be held Monday, August 11, at Children's Mercy Park, 1 Sporting Way, Kansas City, Kansas.

The service is open to the public and will begin at 11:00 AM. Parking lots will open at 9:00 AM with stadium gates opening at 9:30 AM. 

Attendees should approach Children’s Mercy Park from State Ave. Public parking will be located on the south side of the stadium in Blue Lot 2 on the grounds of the Kansas Speedway. 

Please, be aware that Village West Parkway and France Family Drive will be closed to public traffic. There will be a Law Enforcement Processional starting 30 minutes following the service, at approximately 1:30 PM. 

The route is posted below. Residents and businesses are invited to line the procession route and to display blue ribbons or signs of support for Deputy Ming’s family.

• East On France Family• South on Village West Pkwy• East on State Ave• South on I-435• East on I-70• North on N. 7th St.• West on State Ave• Ends at N. 94th St. and State AveBurial services will be private.

Deputy Ming’s service will be livestreamed on the Unified Government’s YouTube channel for those unable to attend in person.Livestream Access Link:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZf6B6O7uA">Honoring the Life of Fallen Deputy Elijah Ming - YouTube</a>

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753612145888.png" alt="Deputy Elijah MIng courtesy photo" />
                        <figcaption>Deputy Elijah MIng courtesy photo</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Click below to watch the service.</p><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/cwZf6B6O7uA?si=PNiBbm8-SwMlNoQ-&amp;controls=0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div><p>Deputy Elijah Ming's funeral service will be held Monday, August 11, at Children's Mercy Park, 1 Sporting Way, Kansas City, Kansas.</p><p>The service is open to the public and will begin at 11:00 AM. Parking lots will open at 9:00 AM with stadium gates opening at 9:30 AM. </p><p>Attendees should approach Children’s Mercy Park from State Ave. Public parking will be located on the south side of the stadium in Blue Lot 2 on the grounds of the Kansas Speedway. </p><p>Please, be aware that Village West Parkway and France Family Drive will be closed to public traffic. There will be a Law Enforcement Processional starting 30 minutes following the service, at approximately 1:30 PM. </p><p>The route is posted below. Residents and businesses are invited to line the procession route and to display blue ribbons or signs of support for Deputy Ming’s family.</p><p>The route is as follows -</p><p>• East On France Family• South on Village West Pkwy• East on State Ave• South on I-435• East on I-70• North on N. 7th St.• West on State Ave• Ends at N. 94th St. and State AveBurial services will be private.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754906856069.png" alt="<br>" />
                        <figcaption><br></figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Deputy Ming’s service will be livestreamed on the Unified Government’s YouTube channel for those unable to attend in person.Livestream Access Link:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwZf6B6O7uA">Honoring the Life of Fallen Deputy Elijah Ming - YouTube</a></p>

🎥Funeral service honoring life of Deputy Elijah Ming

The Ellis County Commission will review the fourth draft of the 2026 budget during its 8:30 a.m. meeting Tuesday.

This is the last chance for the commission to make changes before the proposed budget is published. After publication, a public hearing on the revenue-neutral rate and budget will be set for Sept. 9.

During last week’s meeting, the commission discussed High Plains Mental Health’s funding request of about $378,600 and its plan to honor it.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/214198c7-e910-476d-b7b7-6c39644d6eb9">SEE RELATED STORY: Ellis County Commission readjusts 2026 funding; discusses 1 mill tax hike</a>

Request for proposal for appraisal contract services

The Ellis County Appraiser's Office is seeking approval to enter into a consulting agreement with Equitable Solutions for commercial and industrial income and expense analysis services.

The proposal also includes staff training to eventually bring the service in-house and eliminate the need for a contractor by 2027.

This request comes after the retirement of the county’s longtime contractor earlier this year. The goal for 2026 is for the appraisal staff to handle most of the analysis with Equitable Solutions offering limited guidance.

The total cost is $21,000 and would be paid in three installments. The expense will be covered from the appraiser's 2025 general fund and the capital reserve fund.

Commissioners will receive an update from Mike Thomas, vice president of WoodRiver Energy, on the option to lock in natural gas rates for county facilities. The aim is to protect against price surges like those seen during the February 2021 cold spell, when rates exceeded $600 per million British thermal units.

The commission will decide between one to three-year fixed rate options. The current price rate for Ellis County is $5.65.

The commission will be asked to approve a waived fee of about $500 in waste disposal for the upcoming Volga German Oktoberfest, scheduled for Sept. 26 and 27 in Hays.

Commissioners will also be asked to approve an updated job description for the Noxious Weed Department, including the addition of a new position level. This change aims to align with stricter state certification requirements and improve employee retention.&nbsp;No new positions would be created.

You can view the full agenda <a href="https://www.ellisco.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122025-692">here</a>.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/5/1684183971486.png" alt="Ellis County" />
                        <figcaption>Ellis County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By TONY GUERRERO</b><br><i>Hays Post</i></p><p>The Ellis County Commission will review the fourth draft of the 2026 budget during its 8:30 a.m. meeting Tuesday.</p><p>This is the last chance for the commission to make changes before the proposed budget is published. After publication, a public hearing on the revenue-neutral rate and budget will be set for Sept. 9.</p><p>During last week’s meeting, the commission discussed High Plains Mental Health’s funding request of about $378,600 and its plan to honor it.</p><p><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/214198c7-e910-476d-b7b7-6c39644d6eb9">SEE RELATED STORY: Ellis County Commission readjusts 2026 funding; discusses 1 mill tax hike</a></p><h2>Request for proposal for appraisal contract services</h2><p>The Ellis County Appraiser's Office is seeking approval to enter into a consulting agreement with Equitable Solutions for commercial and industrial income and expense analysis services.</p><p>The proposal also includes staff training to eventually bring the service in-house and eliminate the need for a contractor by 2027.</p><p>This request comes after the retirement of the county’s longtime contractor earlier this year. The goal for 2026 is for the appraisal staff to handle most of the analysis with Equitable Solutions offering limited guidance.</p><p>The total cost is $21,000 and would be paid in three installments. The expense will be covered from the appraiser's 2025 general fund and the capital reserve fund.</p><h2>Natural gas pricing</h2><p>Commissioners will receive an update from Mike Thomas, vice president of WoodRiver Energy, on the option to lock in natural gas rates for county facilities. The aim is to protect against price surges like those seen during the February 2021 cold spell, when rates exceeded $600 per million British thermal units.</p><p>The commission will decide between one to three-year fixed rate options. The current price rate for Ellis County is $5.65.</p><h2>Other business</h2><p>The commission will be asked to approve a waived fee of about $500 in waste disposal for the upcoming Volga German Oktoberfest, scheduled for Sept. 26 and 27 in Hays.</p><p>Commissioners will also be asked to approve an updated job description for the Noxious Weed Department, including the addition of a new position level. This change aims to align with stricter state certification requirements and improve employee retention.&nbsp;No new positions would be created.</p><p>You can view the full agenda <a href="https://www.ellisco.net/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_08122025-692">here</a>.</p>

Ellis County Commission to discuss fourth 2026 budget draft

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;is promising new steps to tackle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-district-takeover-trump-crime-d0ebfa76584753635327d792f6c0b8fc">homelessness and crime in Washington</a>, prompting the city's mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets in the nation's capital.

Trump wrote in a social media post that he planned a White House news conference at 10 a.m. Monday to discuss his plans to make the District of Columbia “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.”

“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”

Last week the Republican president&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-increased-federal-law-enforcement-takeover-33b186a95dabf111bac61db398aa7543">directed federal law enforcement agencies</a>&nbsp;to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option “to extend as needed.”

On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service assigned more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-increased-federal-law-enforcement-takeover-33b186a95dabf111bac61db398aa7543">120 officers and agents</a>&nbsp;to assist in Washington.

Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after the recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-crime-assault-doge-05aaaeb09d106ca1af673b46e89d60e1">assault</a>&nbsp;of a high-profile member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-donald-trump-962778979dd35ea79d6092df9cb2cb56">Department of Government Efficiency</a>.

The moves Trump said he was considering included bringing in the D.C. National Guard.

Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned the effectiveness of using the Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.

Bowser was making her first public comments since Trump started posting about crime in Washington last week. She noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-homicides-unsolved-metropolitan-police-crime-victims-64b861dd5702a58cc4182ea094460340">rise in 2023</a>. Trump's weekend posts depicted the district as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World."

For Bowser, “Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false.”

<a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">Police statistics</a>&nbsp;show homicides, robberies and burglaries are all down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago.

Trump offered no details in Truth Social posts over the weekend about possible new actions to address crime levels that he argues are dangerous for citizens, tourists and workers alike. The White House declined to offer additional details about Monday's announcement.

The police department and the mayor’s office did not respond to questions about what Trump might do next.

The president criticized the district as full of “tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,” and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others.

The president called Bowser “a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.”

Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">repeal of the Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. It could face steep pushback.

Bowser acknowledged that the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754872804646.png" alt="&nbsp;President Trump seen on Sunday in the White House residence room&nbsp; -image courtesy CSPAN" />
                        <figcaption>&nbsp;President Trump seen on Sunday in the White House residence room&nbsp; -image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;is promising new steps to tackle&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-district-takeover-trump-crime-d0ebfa76584753635327d792f6c0b8fc">homelessness and crime in Washington</a>, prompting the city's mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets in the nation's capital.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/Z9AfU5PVvW">pic.twitter.com/Z9AfU5PVvW</a></p>&mdash; Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1954877370625823191?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/IpKXCkTbJ7">pic.twitter.com/IpKXCkTbJ7</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954878435182235906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/mgqy6fCsIw">pic.twitter.com/mgqy6fCsIw</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954560175941025915?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 10, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">President Trump will hold a press conference at 10AM ET tomorrow in the Briefing Room. Tune in! <a href="https://t.co/MFQNX2yeW5">pic.twitter.com/MFQNX2yeW5</a></p>&mdash; Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/1954714380131533056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Trump wrote in a social media post that he planned a White House news conference at 10 a.m. Monday to discuss his plans to make the District of Columbia “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before.”</p><p>“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote Sunday. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Reactions on Day One of increased federal law enforcement in D.C.:<br><br>&quot;It&#39;s awesome that we have extra police presence to keep everybody safe and have them coming back.&quot;<br><br>&quot;If it&#39;s going to stop the crime, yeah — it&#39;s necessary.&quot;<br><br>MAKE D.C. SAFE AGAIN! <a href="https://t.co/ExZOaLxizM">pic.twitter.com/ExZOaLxizM</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1954287936318681233?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 9, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Last week the Republican president&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-increased-federal-law-enforcement-takeover-33b186a95dabf111bac61db398aa7543">directed federal law enforcement agencies</a>&nbsp;to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option “to extend as needed.”</p><p>On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service assigned more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-increased-federal-law-enforcement-takeover-33b186a95dabf111bac61db398aa7543">120 officers and agents</a>&nbsp;to assist in Washington.</p><p>Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was “ridiculous” and the city was “unsafe,” after the recent&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/washington-dc-crime-assault-doge-05aaaeb09d106ca1af673b46e89d60e1">assault</a>&nbsp;of a high-profile member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-doge-donald-trump-962778979dd35ea79d6092df9cb2cb56">Department of Government Efficiency</a>.</p><p>The moves Trump said he was considering included bringing in the D.C. National Guard.</p><p>Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned the effectiveness of using the Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years.</p><p>Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon.</p><p>“I just think that’s not the most efficient use of our Guard,” she said Sunday on MSNBC's “The Weekend,” acknowledging it is "the president’s call about how to deploy the Guard.”</p><p>Bowser was making her first public comments since Trump started posting about crime in Washington last week. She noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-homicides-unsolved-metropolitan-police-crime-victims-64b861dd5702a58cc4182ea094460340">rise in 2023</a>. Trump's weekend posts depicted the district as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World."</p><p>For Bowser, “Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false.”</p><p><a href="https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime">Police statistics</a>&nbsp;show homicides, robberies and burglaries are all down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall violent crime is down 26% compared with this time a year ago.</p><p>Trump offered no details in Truth Social posts over the weekend about possible new actions to address crime levels that he argues are dangerous for citizens, tourists and workers alike. The White House declined to offer additional details about Monday's announcement.</p><p>The police department and the mayor’s office did not respond to questions about what Trump might do next.</p><p>The president criticized the district as full of “tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,” and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others.</p><p>“This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country,” Trump said Wednesday.</p><p>The president called Bowser “a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.”</p><p>Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/district-of-columbia-trump-takeover-3b58c1efabf17db271dce582d9a09c6d">repeal of the Home Rule Act</a>&nbsp;of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. It could face steep pushback.</p><p>Bowser acknowledged that the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met.</p><p>“None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. “We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we’re watching our crime numbers go down.”</p><p>___</p>

'No Mr. Nice Guy': Trump set to clean up Washington, D.C.

The Bricks in downtown Hays has a new executive director. On this episode of the Hays Post Podcast, news reporter Becky Kiser talks with Lee Ann June and Ben Dome, operations director.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1751574667181.jpeg" alt="Lee Ann June. Photo courtesy of The Bricks in Downtown Hays" />
                        <figcaption>Lee Ann June. Photo courtesy of The Bricks in Downtown Hays</figcaption>
                    </figure><div><iframe title="Post Podcast: New executive director of The Bricks Lee Ann June" allowtransparency="true" height="300" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:300px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?from=embed&i=hct6t-19261f1-pb&square=1&share=1&download=1&fonts=Arial&skin=3267a3&font-color=auto&rtl=0&logo_link=podcast_page&btn-skin=60a0c8&size=300" loading="lazy" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>The Bricks in downtown Hays has a new executive director. On this episode of the Hays Post Podcast, news reporter Becky Kiser talks with Lee Ann June and Ben Dome, operations director.</p>

🎙Post Podcast: New executive director of The Bricks Lee Ann June

A train derailment Sunday left Halstead Avenue closed between 4th and 11th avenues in Hutchinson, with no timeline for reopening.

According to Hutchinson Police, three empty railcars derailed, blocking the roadway.&nbsp;Drivers are advised to use alternate routes until the area is reopened.

No injuries were reported in connection with the incident.

Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.&nbsp;

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754864222337.jpeg" alt="Photo courtesy Ryan Leonard " />
                        <figcaption>Photo courtesy Ryan Leonard </figcaption>
                    </figure><p>MARC JACOBS<br>Hutch Post&nbsp;</p><p>A train derailment Sunday left Halstead Avenue closed between 4th and 11th avenues in Hutchinson, with no timeline for reopening.</p><p>According to Hutchinson Police, three empty railcars derailed, blocking the roadway.&nbsp;Drivers are advised to use alternate routes until the area is reopened.</p><p>No injuries were reported in connection with the incident.</p><p>Check the Post for more information as it becomes available.&nbsp;</p>

Train derailment blocks streets in Hutchinson

Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it.

The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-gaggle-goguardian-securly-25a3946727397951fd42324139aaf70f">school’s surveillance software</a>.

Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says.

Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her “Mexican,” even though she’s not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”

Mathis said the comments were “wrong” and “stupid,” but context showed they were not a threat.

“It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?” Mathis said of her daughter's arrest. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”

Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-surveillance-gaggle-investigation-takeaways-381fa82978f27eb85f20d03236820711">Thousands of school districts</a>&nbsp;across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to track kids’ online activities, looking for signs they might hurt themselves or others. With the help of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-shooting-threat-prevention-bark-c7e89f29b13d0a8470ee44b91d7651ed">artificial intelligence</a>, technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement.

Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words.

"It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students’ lives, including in their home,” said Elizabeth Laird, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

In a country weary of school shootings, several states have taken a harder line on threats to schools. Among them is Tennessee, which passed a 2023 zero-tolerance law requiring any threat of mass violence against a school to be reported immediately to law enforcement.

The 13-year-old girl arrested in August 2023 had been texting with friends on a chat function tied to her school email at Fairview Middle School, which uses Gaggle to monitor students' accounts. (The Associated Press is withholding the girl’s name to protect her privacy. The school district did not respond to a request for comment.)

Taken to jail, the teen was interrogated and strip-searched, and her parents weren't allowed to talk to her until the next day, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558.14.0.pdf">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;they filed against the school system. She didn’t know why her parents weren’t there.

“She told me afterwards, ‘I thought you hated me.’ That kind of haunts you,” said Mathis, the girl's mother.

A court ordered eight weeks of house arrest, a psychological evaluation and 20 days at an alternative school for the girl.

Gaggle's CEO, Jeff Patterson, said in an interview that the school system did not use Gaggle the way it is intended. The purpose is to find early warning signs and intervene before problems escalate to law enforcement, he said.

“I wish that was treated as a teachable moment, not a law enforcement moment,” said Patterson.

Private student chats face unexpected scrutiny

Students who think they are chatting privately among friends often do not realize they are under constant surveillance, said Shahar Pasch, an education lawyer in Florida.

One teenage girl she represented made a joke about school shootings on a private Snapchat story. Snapchat’s automated detection software picked up the comment, the company alerted the FBI, and the girl was arrested on school grounds within hours.

Alexa Manganiotis, 16, said she was startled by how quickly monitoring software works. West Palm Beach's Dreyfoos School of the Arts, which she attends, last year piloted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/news/2024/12/05/district-pilots-ai-student-surveillance-program/">Lightspeed Alert</a>, a surveillance program. Interviewing a teacher for her school newspaper, Alexa discovered two students once typed something threatening about that teacher on a school computer, then deleted it. Lightspeed picked it up, and “they were taken away like five minutes later,” Alexa said.

Teenagers face steeper consequences than adults for what they write online, Alexa said.

“If an adult makes a super racist joke that’s threatening on their computer, they can delete it, and they wouldn’t be arrested," she said.

Amy Bennett, chief of staff for Lightspeed Systems, said that the software helps understaffed schools “be proactive rather than punitive” by identifying early warning signs of bullying, self-harm, violence or abuse.

The technology can also involve law enforcement in responses to mental health crises. In Florida's Polk County Schools, a district of more than 100,000 students, the school safety program received nearly 500 Gaggle alerts over four years, officers said in public Board of Education meetings. This led to 72 involuntary hospitalization cases under the Baker Act, a state law that allows authorities to require mental health evaluations for people against their will if they pose a risk to themselves or others.

“A really high number of children who experience involuntary examination remember it as a really traumatic and damaging experience — not something that helps them with their mental health care,” said Sam Boyd, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Polk and West Palm Beach school districts did not provide comments.

An analysis shows a high rate of false alarms

Information that could allow schools to assess the software’s effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves.

Gaggle alerted more than 1,200 incidents to the Lawrence, Kansas, school district in a recent 10-month period. But almost two-thirds of those alerts were deemed by school officials to be nonissues — including over 200 false alarms from student homework, according to an Associated Press analysis of data received via a public records request.

Students in one&nbsp;<a href="https://lhsbudget.com/news/2024/02/09/art-students-push-back-against-potential-gaggle-censorship/">photography class</a>&nbsp;were called to the principal’s office over concerns Gaggle had detected nudity. The photos had been automatically deleted from the students’ Google Drives, but students who had backups of the flagged images on their own devices showed it was a false alarm. District officials said they later adjusted the software's settings to reduce false alerts.

Natasha Torkzaban, who graduated in 2024, said she was flagged for editing a friend’s college essay because it had the words “mental health.”

“I think ideally we wouldn’t stick a new and shiny solution of AI on a deep-rooted issue of teenage mental health and the suicide rates in America, but that’s where we’re at right now,” Torkzaban said. She was among a group of student journalists and artists at Lawrence High School who filed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26040279-lawrence-board-of-education-gaggle-complaint/">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the school system last week, alleging Gaggle subjected them to unconstitutional surveillance.

School officials have said they take concerns about Gaggle seriously, but also say the technology has detected dozens of imminent threats of suicide or violence.

“Sometimes you have to look at the trade for the greater good,” said Board of Education member Anne Costello in a July 2024 board meeting.

Two years after their ordeal, Mathis said her daughter is doing better, although she’s still “terrified” of running into one of the school officers who arrested her. One bright spot, she said, was the compassion of the teachers at her daughter’s alternative school. They took time every day to let the kids share their feelings and frustrations, without judgment.

“It’s like we just want kids to be these little soldiers, and they’re not,” said Mathis. “They’re just humans.”

This reporting reviewed school board meetings posted on YouTube, courtesy of DistrictView, a dataset created by researchers Tyler Simko, Mirya Holman and Rebecca Johnson.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754772171917.png" alt="Google image" />
                        <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By SHARON LURYE <br>AP Education Writer</p><p>Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it.</p><p>The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-gaggle-goguardian-securly-25a3946727397951fd42324139aaf70f">school’s surveillance software</a>.</p><p>Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says.</p><p>Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her “Mexican,” even though she’s not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”</p><p>Mathis said the comments were “wrong” and “stupid,” but context showed they were not a threat.</p><p>“It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?” Mathis said of her daughter's arrest. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”</p><p>Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-surveillance-gaggle-investigation-takeaways-381fa82978f27eb85f20d03236820711">Thousands of school districts</a>&nbsp;across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to track kids’ online activities, looking for signs they might hurt themselves or others. With the help of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-shooting-threat-prevention-bark-c7e89f29b13d0a8470ee44b91d7651ed">artificial intelligence</a>, technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement.</p><p>Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words.</p><p>"It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students’ lives, including in their home,” said Elizabeth Laird, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.</p><h2>Schools ratchet up vigilance for threats</h2><p>In a country weary of school shootings, several states have taken a harder line on threats to schools. Among them is Tennessee, which passed a 2023 zero-tolerance law requiring any threat of mass violence against a school to be reported immediately to law enforcement.</p><p>The 13-year-old girl arrested in August 2023 had been texting with friends on a chat function tied to her school email at Fairview Middle School, which uses Gaggle to monitor students' accounts. (The Associated Press is withholding the girl’s name to protect her privacy. The school district did not respond to a request for comment.)</p><p>Taken to jail, the teen was interrogated and strip-searched, and her parents weren't allowed to talk to her until the next day, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558.14.0.pdf">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;they filed against the school system. She didn’t know why her parents weren’t there.</p><p>“She told me afterwards, ‘I thought you hated me.’ That kind of haunts you,” said Mathis, the girl's mother.</p><p>A court ordered eight weeks of house arrest, a psychological evaluation and 20 days at an alternative school for the girl.</p><p>Gaggle's CEO, Jeff Patterson, said in an interview that the school system did not use Gaggle the way it is intended. The purpose is to find early warning signs and intervene before problems escalate to law enforcement, he said.</p><p>“I wish that was treated as a teachable moment, not a law enforcement moment,” said Patterson.</p><h2>Private student chats face unexpected scrutiny</h2><p>Students who think they are chatting privately among friends often do not realize they are under constant surveillance, said Shahar Pasch, an education lawyer in Florida.</p><p>One teenage girl she represented made a joke about school shootings on a private Snapchat story. Snapchat’s automated detection software picked up the comment, the company alerted the FBI, and the girl was arrested on school grounds within hours.</p><p>Alexa Manganiotis, 16, said she was startled by how quickly monitoring software works. West Palm Beach's Dreyfoos School of the Arts, which she attends, last year piloted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/news/2024/12/05/district-pilots-ai-student-surveillance-program/">Lightspeed Alert</a>, a surveillance program. Interviewing a teacher for her school newspaper, Alexa discovered two students once typed something threatening about that teacher on a school computer, then deleted it. Lightspeed picked it up, and “they were taken away like five minutes later,” Alexa said.</p><p>Teenagers face steeper consequences than adults for what they write online, Alexa said.</p><p>“If an adult makes a super racist joke that’s threatening on their computer, they can delete it, and they wouldn’t be arrested," she said.</p><p>Amy Bennett, chief of staff for Lightspeed Systems, said that the software helps understaffed schools “be proactive rather than punitive” by identifying early warning signs of bullying, self-harm, violence or abuse.</p><p>The technology can also involve law enforcement in responses to mental health crises. In Florida's Polk County Schools, a district of more than 100,000 students, the school safety program received nearly 500 Gaggle alerts over four years, officers said in public Board of Education meetings. This led to 72 involuntary hospitalization cases under the Baker Act, a state law that allows authorities to require mental health evaluations for people against their will if they pose a risk to themselves or others.</p><p>“A really high number of children who experience involuntary examination remember it as a really traumatic and damaging experience — not something that helps them with their mental health care,” said Sam Boyd, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Polk and West Palm Beach school districts did not provide comments.</p><h2>An analysis shows a high rate of false alarms</h2><p>Information that could allow schools to assess the software’s effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves.</p><p>Gaggle alerted more than 1,200 incidents to the Lawrence, Kansas, school district in a recent 10-month period. But almost two-thirds of those alerts were deemed by school officials to be nonissues — including over 200 false alarms from student homework, according to an Associated Press analysis of data received via a public records request.</p><p>Students in one&nbsp;<a href="https://lhsbudget.com/news/2024/02/09/art-students-push-back-against-potential-gaggle-censorship/">photography class</a>&nbsp;were called to the principal’s office over concerns Gaggle had detected nudity. The photos had been automatically deleted from the students’ Google Drives, but students who had backups of the flagged images on their own devices showed it was a false alarm. District officials said they later adjusted the software's settings to reduce false alerts.</p><p>Natasha Torkzaban, who graduated in 2024, said she was flagged for editing a friend’s college essay because it had the words “mental health.”</p><p>“I think ideally we wouldn’t stick a new and shiny solution of AI on a deep-rooted issue of teenage mental health and the suicide rates in America, but that’s where we’re at right now,” Torkzaban said. She was among a group of student journalists and artists at Lawrence High School who filed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26040279-lawrence-board-of-education-gaggle-complaint/">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the school system last week, alleging Gaggle subjected them to unconstitutional surveillance.</p><p>School officials have said they take concerns about Gaggle seriously, but also say the technology has detected dozens of imminent threats of suicide or violence.</p><p>“Sometimes you have to look at the trade for the greater good,” said Board of Education member Anne Costello in a July 2024 board meeting.</p><p>Two years after their ordeal, Mathis said her daughter is doing better, although she’s still “terrified” of running into one of the school officers who arrested her. One bright spot, she said, was the compassion of the teachers at her daughter’s alternative school. They took time every day to let the kids share their feelings and frustrations, without judgment.</p><p>“It’s like we just want kids to be these little soldiers, and they’re not,” said Mathis. “They’re just humans.”</p><p>___</p><p>This reporting reviewed school board meetings posted on YouTube, courtesy of DistrictView, a dataset created by researchers Tyler Simko, Mirya Holman and Rebecca Johnson.</p><p>___</p>

Students have been called to the office — and even arrested — for AI surveillance false alarms

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/laurencross/">Lauren Cross</a>

If you live in a small town, you probably have fewer grocery stores than you did 30 years ago — and fewer choices inside them.

Independent grocers have disappeared, replaced by big national chains that now decide what’s on the shelves, how much it costs, and who gets to profit.

In 1990, the top four grocery chains controlled just 13% of nationwide sales. By 2019, the top four retailers — Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Ahold Delhaize — controlled 34% of U.S. grocery sales,&nbsp;<a href="https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/106795/EIB-256.pdf?v=40605" target="_blank">according to the USDA</a>.

That concentration hasn’t gone unnoticed. Just last year, the Federal Trade Commission and nine states&nbsp;<a href="https://hpj.com/2024/02/26/ftc-sues-to-block-supermarket-merger/" target="_blank">sued to block a $25 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons</a>, arguing that the deal would harm both shoppers and workers by reducing competition, increasing prices, and consolidating power into fewer hands. The merger has since unraveled, but only after a court battle and mounting public pressure.

In rural counties, market concentration more than doubled between 1990 and 2019, according to USDA data.

One way to measure concentration is the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), a tool used to track monopoly risk. In rural areas, HHI scores jumped from 3,104 to 5,584 — more than twice the threshold where federal antitrust regulators start to worry about competition. According to a 2023 USDA report, the USDA considers anything above 2,500 is considered highly concentrated.

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                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750436100569.png" alt=" General Manager Brian Horak walks down an aisle at Post 60 Market in Emerson, Nebraska. Locals opened the market as a cooperative in 2022 after the tiny town lost its only grocery store (Kevin Hardy/Stateline)." />
                        <figcaption> General Manager Brian Horak walks down an aisle at Post 60 Market in Emerson, Nebraska. Locals opened the market as a cooperative in 2022 after the tiny town lost its only grocery store (Kevin Hardy/Stateline).</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/laurencross/">Lauren Cross</a></p><p>If you live in a small town, you probably have fewer grocery stores than you did 30 years ago — and fewer choices inside them.</p><p>Independent grocers have disappeared, replaced by big national chains that now decide what’s on the shelves, how much it costs, and who gets to profit.</p><p>In 1990, the top four grocery chains controlled just 13% of nationwide sales. By 2019, the top four retailers — Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Ahold Delhaize — controlled 34% of U.S. grocery sales,&nbsp;<a href="https://ers.usda.gov/sites/default/files/_laserfiche/publications/106795/EIB-256.pdf?v=40605" target="_blank">according to the USDA</a>.</p><p>That concentration hasn’t gone unnoticed. Just last year, the Federal Trade Commission and nine states&nbsp;<a href="https://hpj.com/2024/02/26/ftc-sues-to-block-supermarket-merger/" target="_blank">sued to block a $25 billion merger between grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons</a>, arguing that the deal would harm both shoppers and workers by reducing competition, increasing prices, and consolidating power into fewer hands. The merger has since unraveled, but only after a court battle and mounting public pressure.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/6/1750436058104.png" alt="" />
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                    </figure><p>In rural counties, market concentration more than doubled between 1990 and 2019, according to USDA data.</p><p>One way to measure concentration is the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), a tool used to track monopoly risk. In rural areas, HHI scores jumped from 3,104 to 5,584 — more than twice the threshold where federal antitrust regulators start to worry about competition. According to a 2023 USDA report, the USDA considers anything above 2,500 is considered highly concentrated.</p><p>Now that trend may speed up. The White House has proposed nearly $7 billion in USDA budget cuts, including $721 million from&nbsp;<a href="https://investigatemidwest.org/2025/05/14/trump-says-he-loves-farmers-hes-dismantlintheg-the-agency-helping-their-communities-survive/" target="_blank">Rural Development programs</a>&nbsp;— the ones that help small towns open grocery stores and other local businesses. One program on the chopping block is the Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Loan funding for community facilities and rural businesses would also drop by 45%, with no new grant dollars offered.</p><p>At the same time, the administration’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative discusses improving nutrition, but proposes cuts to the very programs that help people buy food, including Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), school meal equipment, and farm-to-school efforts.</p><p>The bottom line? Rural communities already hit hardest by grocery consolidation are now facing even more roadblocks.</p><p>This&nbsp;<a href="https://investigatemidwest.org/2025/06/18/usda-data-highlights-monopoly-risk-in-rural-grocery-markets/" target="_blank">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a href="https://investigatemidwest.org/" target="_blank">Investigate Midwest</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a&nbsp;<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.</p><figure>
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