LOS ANGELES (AP) — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.

Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.

The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.

There were fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.

By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).

In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.

Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.

With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.

“Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday,” Traum said.

Fighting to save public and private areas

A fierce battle occurred Saturday in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.

CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said Saturday that a main focus was the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.

New evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.

The National Weather Service warned that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/santa-ana-winds-california-0b2c68cdc29a7c354238c6ccc09c830c">strong Santa Ana winds</a>&nbsp;could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-pacific-palisades-wildfires-los-angeles-4b67b7f29d0d6eb7321a52ef60c17d60">neighborhoods</a>&nbsp;around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fire-devastation-climate-change-santa-ana-winds-a46e2bb6785b1e325f6076fb22c8fcc5">eight months.</a>

The fire also threatened to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.

The fires that began Tuesday just north of downtown LA have burned more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-wildfire-structure-damage-3f319dfaa36e583c06c8d49bd835084e">12,000 structures</a>.

Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. Most evacuation orders for the area were lifted, officials said.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-fires-possible-causes-6112488f835e45f53c67d4d03d7a1e4f">No cause</a>&nbsp;has been determined for the largest fires and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-natural-disasters-losses-insurance-recovery-d2f24e44d75503118643151eaee947fb">costliest ever</a>. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.

Volunteers overflowed donation centers and some had to be turned away at locations including the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods.

Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.

“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. "All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned residents against venturing back to destroyed homes to sift through rubble for keepsakes.

“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” Luna said, urging people to abide by curfews.

Officials on Saturday warned the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.

“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire who warned the material was "toxic.”

Residents will be allowed to return with protective gear after damage teams evaluate their properties, Thomas said.

LA Mayor Karen Bass&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mayor-karen-bass-la-fires-leadership-99e52cf69cc656ee7e0328c6b609be74">faces a critical test of her leadership</a>&nbsp;during the city's greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.

Los Angeles Fire Chief&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-fire-chief-crowley-bass-9076f31e7929b559e3afede572e119a4">Kristin Crowley</a>&nbsp;said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.

“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” Crowley said.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfire-f473e0423125c92c693b9c368ca20532">level of devastation is jarring</a>&nbsp;even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires. Traum of the state Office of Emergency Services said those impacted by the fires can apply online for immediate government assistance.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1736685604329.png" alt="Photo California National Guard" />
 <figcaption>Photo California National Guard</figcaption>
 </figure>LOS ANGELES (AP) — The death toll from the wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area rose to 16 as crews battled to cut off the spreading blazes before potentially strong winds return that could push the flames toward some of the city’s most famous landmarks.Five of the deaths were attributed to the Palisades Fire and 11 resulted from the Eaton Fire, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said in a statement Saturday evening.The previous number of confirmed fatalities before Saturday was 11, but officials said they expected that figure to rise as teams with cadaver dogs conduct systematic grid searches in leveled neighborhoods. Authorities have established a center where people can report the missing.There were fears that winds could move the fires toward the J. Paul Getty Museum and the University of California, Los Angeles, while new evacuation warnings left more homeowners on edge.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Do not fly your drone near or around areas affected by the LA wildfires. Anyone who interferes with emergency response operations may face severe fines and criminal prosecution. If you fly, emergency responders can&#39;t. <a href="https://t.co/UE5wqAlR1O">pic.twitter.com/UE5wqAlR1O</a>&mdash; The FAA ✈️ (@FAANews) <a href="https://twitter.com/FAANews/status/1877525547082813725?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>By Saturday evening, Cal Fire reported the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires had consumed about 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), an area larger than San Francisco. The Palisades and Eaton fires accounted for 59 square miles (nearly 153 square kilometers).In a briefing posted online Saturday evening, Michael Traum of the California Office of Emergency Services said 150,000 people in Los Angeles County were under evacuation orders, with more than 700 people taking refuge in nine shelters.Crews from California and nine other states are part of the ongoing response that includes 1,354 fire engines, 84 aircraft and more than 14,000 personnel, including newly arrived firefighters from Mexico, he said.With Cal Fire reporting containment of the Palisades Fire at 11% and the Eaton Fire at 15% on Saturday night, the fight is set to continue.“Weather conditions are still critical and another round of strong winds is expected starting Monday,” Traum said.<h2>Fighting to save public and private areas</h2>A fierce battle occurred Saturday in Mandeville Canyon, home to Arnold Schwarzenegger and other celebrities not far from the Pacific coast, where swooping helicopters dumped water as the blaze charged downhill. Firefighters on the ground used hoses in an attempt to beat back leaping flames as thick smoke blanketed the chaparral-covered hillside.CalFire Operations Chief Christian Litz said Saturday that a main focus was the Palisades Fire burning in the canyon area, not far from the UCLA campus.New evacuations were ordered Friday evening after a flare up on the eastern side of the Palisades Fire.The National Weather Service warned that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/santa-ana-winds-california-0b2c68cdc29a7c354238c6ccc09c830c">strong Santa Ana winds</a>&nbsp;could soon return. Those winds have been largely blamed for turning the wildfires into infernos that leveled entire&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-pacific-palisades-wildfires-los-angeles-4b67b7f29d0d6eb7321a52ef60c17d60">neighborhoods</a>&nbsp;around to city where there has been no significant rainfall in more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/fire-devastation-climate-change-santa-ana-winds-a46e2bb6785b1e325f6076fb22c8fcc5">eight months.</a>The fire also threatened to jump over Interstate 405 and into densely populated areas in the Hollywood Hills and San Fernando Valley.<h2>Historical cost</h2>The fires that began Tuesday just north of downtown LA have burned more than&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-wildfire-structure-damage-3f319dfaa36e583c06c8d49bd835084e">12,000 structures</a>.Firefighters for the first time made progress Friday afternoon on the Eaton Fire north of Pasadena, which has burned more than 7,000 structures, a term that includes homes, apartment buildings, businesses, outbuildings and vehicles. Most evacuation orders for the area were lifted, officials said.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-fires-possible-causes-6112488f835e45f53c67d4d03d7a1e4f">No cause</a>&nbsp;has been determined for the largest fires and early estimates indicate the wildfires could be the nation's&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-natural-disasters-losses-insurance-recovery-d2f24e44d75503118643151eaee947fb">costliest ever</a>. A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between $135 billion and $150 billion.<h2>Overflowing kindness</h2>Volunteers overflowed donation centers and some had to be turned away at locations including the Santa Anita Park horse racing track, where people who lost their homes sifted through stacks of donated shirts, blankets and other household goods.Altadena resident Jose Luis Godinez said three homes occupied by more than a dozen of his family members were destroyed.“Everything is gone,” he said, speaking in Spanish. "All my family lived in those three houses and now we have nothing.”<h2>Officials warn against returning</h2>Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna warned residents against venturing back to destroyed homes to sift through rubble for keepsakes.“We have people driving up and around trying to get in just to look. Stay away,” Luna said, urging people to abide by curfews.Officials on Saturday warned the ash can contain lead, arsenic, asbestos and other harmful materials.“If you’re kicking that stuff up, you’re breathing it in,” said Chris Thomas, a spokesman for the unified incident command at the Palisades Fire who warned the material was "toxic.”Residents will be allowed to return with protective gear after damage teams evaluate their properties, Thomas said.<h2>Leadership accused of skimping</h2>LA Mayor Karen Bass&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mayor-karen-bass-la-fires-leadership-99e52cf69cc656ee7e0328c6b609be74">faces a critical test of her leadership</a>&nbsp;during the city's greatest crisis in decades, but allegations of leadership failures, political blame and investigations have begun.Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants had run dry.Los Angeles Fire Chief&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/los-angeles-fire-chief-crowley-bass-9076f31e7929b559e3afede572e119a4">Kristin Crowley</a>&nbsp;said city leadership failed her department by not providing enough money for firefighting. She also criticized the lack of water.“When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” Crowley said.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfire-f473e0423125c92c693b9c368ca20532">level of devastation is jarring</a>&nbsp;even in a state that regularly confronts massive wildfires. Traum of the state Office of Emergency Services said those impacted by the fires can apply online for immediate government assistance.

Los Angeles fire death toll rises as crews fight winds to save homes, landmarks

By&nbsp;MICHAEL A. SMITH Insight Kansas

Currently (excuse the pun), electric vehicles make up only about 1% of the car and light truck market in Kansas–but that will change. Even the climate denialism of President-elect Trump cannot stop it. His newfound friendship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk is sure to keep EV sales strong. Besides, a new Panasonic EV battery factory being built in DeSoto received the largest state tax incentive package in Kansas history– $2.5 billion.

EVs are not perfect. They are expensive. It takes longer to charge an EV battery than to fill a gas tank, and that’s assuming that high-capacity chargers are available. These tend to be found only along interstates and in urban areas. EV motors and batteries require precious metals, the mining of which can lead to environmental degradation and abuse of workers. Finally, their unique combination of metals can burn differently than other materials, presenting new challenges to firefighters and other first responders

That said, EVs are still much better for the environment. They require no petroleum fuels, and the carbon footprint of generating their electricity is just a fraction of the tailpipe emissions generated by internal combustion engines. EVs also save the environmental cost of oil drilling, refining and shipping. Many EV drivers recharge the vehicles overnight at home. This leads to more consistent electricity generation throughout the day, which brings greater efficiencies at the power plant. The electricity can also be generated through cleaner sources such as wind and solar. Recharging EV batteries costs only about a third the price of refueling a gas tank.

For Kansas, several policy challenges await. Like most states, Kansas funds the state’s roads and highways primarily with motor fuel taxes on gasoline and diesel, which in turns leverage federal matching funds, also generated with motor fuel taxes. EV drivers do not pay these taxes. Kansas joins many other states in levying additional registration fees on EVs, but at $20-$30 per year, they do not replace the revenue generated by the average car or light truck in Kansas: over $110 annually in state taxes alone.

Some states have gotten creative. Oregon’s experimental OReGO plan uses monitors to assess how many miles a driver puts on their car each year, and levies a per-mile tax. Yet the idea of the state monitoring our driving habits is sure to rankle Kansas’ libertarian sensibilities. Even Oregon made the program voluntary. OReGO will probably be a no-go around here.

In a classic example of steering a straight course in all directions, the federal government and many states also offer tax credits for the purchase of EVs, due to their environmental benefits. A recent Kansas Reflector article noted that these credits were sharply restricted for EVs in Kansas several years ago. However, the federal credit is still in effect.

Other EV challenges include new training for firefighters. Notwithstanding the recent, viral, debunked “Tesla fires” social media post, EVs’ unique materials present some challenges to first responders, including those working along highways and near battery factories.

As for Tesla, they no longer own the market for EVs but they are still a major player. Kansas’ auto dealership licensing laws currently prohibit Tesla’s direct-to-consumer sales, but this may be the year that the legislature updates those laws. Right now, the closest place for most Kansans to test drive and service Teslas is Kansas City, MO.

EVs’ popularity continues to grow. Conspiracy theories and culture warriors notwithstanding, it is time for Kansas legislators to make the law more… well, current.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/11/1700168795368.png" alt="Michael A. Smith" />
 <figcaption>Michael A. Smith</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;MICHAEL A. SMITH Insight KansasCurrently (excuse the pun), electric vehicles make up only about 1% of the car and light truck market in Kansas–but that will change. Even the climate denialism of President-elect Trump cannot stop it. His newfound friendship with Tesla CEO Elon Musk is sure to keep EV sales strong. Besides, a new Panasonic EV battery factory being built in DeSoto received the largest state tax incentive package in Kansas history– $2.5 billion.EVs are not perfect. They are expensive. It takes longer to charge an EV battery than to fill a gas tank, and that’s assuming that high-capacity chargers are available. These tend to be found only along interstates and in urban areas. EV motors and batteries require precious metals, the mining of which can lead to environmental degradation and abuse of workers. Finally, their unique combination of metals can burn differently than other materials, presenting new challenges to firefighters and other first respondersThat said, EVs are still much better for the environment. They require no petroleum fuels, and the carbon footprint of generating their electricity is just a fraction of the tailpipe emissions generated by internal combustion engines. EVs also save the environmental cost of oil drilling, refining and shipping. Many EV drivers recharge the vehicles overnight at home. This leads to more consistent electricity generation throughout the day, which brings greater efficiencies at the power plant. The electricity can also be generated through cleaner sources such as wind and solar. Recharging EV batteries costs only about a third the price of refueling a gas tank.For Kansas, several policy challenges await. Like most states, Kansas funds the state’s roads and highways primarily with motor fuel taxes on gasoline and diesel, which in turns leverage federal matching funds, also generated with motor fuel taxes. EV drivers do not pay these taxes. Kansas joins many other states in levying additional registration fees on EVs, but at $20-$30 per year, they do not replace the revenue generated by the average car or light truck in Kansas: over $110 annually in state taxes alone.Some states have gotten creative. Oregon’s experimental OReGO plan uses monitors to assess how many miles a driver puts on their car each year, and levies a per-mile tax. Yet the idea of the state monitoring our driving habits is sure to rankle Kansas’ libertarian sensibilities. Even Oregon made the program voluntary. OReGO will probably be a no-go around here.In a classic example of steering a straight course in all directions, the federal government and many states also offer tax credits for the purchase of EVs, due to their environmental benefits. A recent Kansas Reflector article noted that these credits were sharply restricted for EVs in Kansas several years ago. However, the federal credit is still in effect.Other EV challenges include new training for firefighters. Notwithstanding the recent, viral, debunked “Tesla fires” social media post, EVs’ unique materials present some challenges to first responders, including those working along highways and near battery factories.As for Tesla, they no longer own the market for EVs but they are still a major player. Kansas’ auto dealership licensing laws currently prohibit Tesla’s direct-to-consumer sales, but this may be the year that the legislature updates those laws. Right now, the closest place for most Kansans to test drive and service Teslas is Kansas City, MO.EVs’ popularity continues to grow. Conspiracy theories and culture warriors notwithstanding, it is time for Kansas legislators to make the law more… well, current.

INSIGHT KANSAS: More electric vehicles are coming to Kansas 

NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/best-buy-q3-earnings-consumer-electronics-0d04b5e90f9746e3cd390d00ace1da66">Kohl’s</a>&nbsp;said Friday it was closing 27 underperforming locations in 15 states by April — a fraction of its 1,150 store base — as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/retail-restaurants-winners-losers-bankruptcies-2024-2a5b608814960de49f741207daa7aa01">struggling department store</a>&nbsp;chain aims to boost profitability and improve sagging sales.

There are 12 Kohl's stores in Kansas. None are on the list of stores set to close.

The announcement comes as the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based chain has posted 11 consecutive quarters of sales declines.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kohls-ceo-ashley-buchanan-c874d3ce09ca22c0510bc12826f46435">Michaels CEO and retail veteran Ashley Buchanan</a>&nbsp;is set to take over as the chief executive of Kohl’s next week.

Buchanan will take over the top job from Tom Kingsbury, who will stay as an adviser to the new CEO and retain his position on Kohl’s board until his scheduled retirement in May. Kingsbury served as Kohl’s interim CEO in December 2022 and was named its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/levi-strauss-and-co-business-ee81d36eff822ed1d1abacf81146281f">permanent leader in February 2023.</a>

Kohl’s declined to disclose the number of employees affected. It said workers have been informed and were offered a “competitive severance package” or the chance to apply to other open roles at Kohl’s. The stores identified for closure included 10 in California.

“As we continue to build on our long-term growth strategy, it is important that we also take difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams,” Kingsbury said in a statement.

U.S. department stores have had a challenging few years as consumers continue to seek out deals online.

On Thursday, Macy’s disclosed the locations of&nbsp;<a href="https://s202.q4cdn.com/285121676/files/doc_downloads/investors/FY-2024-Year-End-Closures-1-9-2025.pdf" target="_blank">66 stores</a>&nbsp;that it will be closing early this year, including one in a historic landmark building in Philadelphia. The majority of these stores will close during the company’s first fiscal quarter of this year, Macy’s said.

The announcement is part of a strategy announced in February 2024, that calls for shuttering roughly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/macys-fourthquarter-tony-spring-investor-adb135fab8bf9ddf6d01119bfcbffb83">150 underproductive stores while upgrading its remaining 350 stores</a>&nbsp;through fiscal 2026. The closings come as Macy’s is looking to improve its sales as shoppers have pulled back on discretionary items amid still high inflation.

In November, Macy’s reported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/macys-third-quarter-earnings-profit-holiday-60800dd9f1c194510ee9cacbfbba4725">falling profit and sales in its fiscal third quarter.</a>&nbsp;It raised sales expectations for the current fiscal year, but lowered profit projections.

The Macy’s stores set to close account for 25% of the company’s overall square footage but less than 10% of its sales, the company had said.

These are the 27 locations Kohl's announced would be closing:

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/1/1736565938892.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/best-buy-q3-earnings-consumer-electronics-0d04b5e90f9746e3cd390d00ace1da66">Kohl’s</a>&nbsp;said Friday it was closing 27 underperforming locations in 15 states by April — a fraction of its 1,150 store base — as the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/retail-restaurants-winners-losers-bankruptcies-2024-2a5b608814960de49f741207daa7aa01">struggling department store</a>&nbsp;chain aims to boost profitability and improve sagging sales.There are 12 Kohl's stores in Kansas. None are on the list of stores set to close.The announcement comes as the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin-based chain has posted 11 consecutive quarters of sales declines.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kohls-ceo-ashley-buchanan-c874d3ce09ca22c0510bc12826f46435">Michaels CEO and retail veteran Ashley Buchanan</a>&nbsp;is set to take over as the chief executive of Kohl’s next week.Buchanan will take over the top job from Tom Kingsbury, who will stay as an adviser to the new CEO and retain his position on Kohl’s board until his scheduled retirement in May. Kingsbury served as Kohl’s interim CEO in December 2022 and was named its&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/levi-strauss-and-co-business-ee81d36eff822ed1d1abacf81146281f">permanent leader in February 2023.</a>Kohl’s declined to disclose the number of employees affected. It said workers have been informed and were offered a “competitive severance package” or the chance to apply to other open roles at Kohl’s. The stores identified for closure included 10 in California.“As we continue to build on our long-term growth strategy, it is important that we also take difficult but necessary actions to support the health and future of our business for our customers and our teams,” Kingsbury said in a statement.U.S. department stores have had a challenging few years as consumers continue to seek out deals online.On Thursday, Macy’s disclosed the locations of&nbsp;<a href="https://s202.q4cdn.com/285121676/files/doc_downloads/investors/FY-2024-Year-End-Closures-1-9-2025.pdf" target="_blank">66 stores</a>&nbsp;that it will be closing early this year, including one in a historic landmark building in Philadelphia. The majority of these stores will close during the company’s first fiscal quarter of this year, Macy’s said.The announcement is part of a strategy announced in February 2024, that calls for shuttering roughly&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/macys-fourthquarter-tony-spring-investor-adb135fab8bf9ddf6d01119bfcbffb83">150 underproductive stores while upgrading its remaining 350 stores</a>&nbsp;through fiscal 2026. The closings come as Macy’s is looking to improve its sales as shoppers have pulled back on discretionary items amid still high inflation.In November, Macy’s reported&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/macys-third-quarter-earnings-profit-holiday-60800dd9f1c194510ee9cacbfbba4725">falling profit and sales in its fiscal third quarter.</a>&nbsp;It raised sales expectations for the current fiscal year, but lowered profit projections.The Macy’s stores set to close account for 25% of the company’s overall square footage but less than 10% of its sales, the company had said.<h2>List of Kohl's stores closing nationwide</h2>These are the 27 locations Kohl's announced would be closing:Alabama<ul>
 <li>Spanish Fort:&nbsp;21000 Town Center Ave.</li>
 </ul>Arkansas<ul>
 <li>Little Rock West:&nbsp;13909 Chenal Pkwy.</li>
 </ul>California<ul>
 <li>Balboa (San Diego):&nbsp;5505 Balboa Ave.</li><li>Encinitas:&nbsp;134 N El Camino Real</li><li>Fremont:&nbsp;43782 Christy St.</li><li>Mountain View:&nbsp;350 Showers Drive</li><li>Napa:&nbsp;1116 1st St.</li><li>Pleasanton:&nbsp;4525 Rosewood Drive</li><li>Point West (Sacramento):&nbsp;1896 Arden Way</li><li>San Rafael:&nbsp;5010 Northgate Drive</li><li>San Luis Obispo:&nbsp;205 Madonna Road</li><li>Westchester:&nbsp;8739 S Sepulveda Blvd.</li>
 </ul>Colorado<ul>
 <li>Arapahoe Crossing (Aurora):&nbsp;6584 S Parker Road</li>
 </ul>Georgia<ul>
 <li>Duluth:&nbsp;2050 W Liddell Road</li>
 </ul>Idaho<ul>
 <li>Boise:&nbsp;400 N Milwaukee St.</li>
 </ul>Illinois<ul>
 <li>Plainfield: 11860 S Route 59</li><li>Spring Hill (West Dundee):&nbsp;3000 Spring Hill Ring Road</li>
 </ul>Massachusetts<ul>
 <li>Stoughton:&nbsp;501 Technology Center Drive</li>
 </ul>New Jersey<ul>
 <li>East Windsor:&nbsp;72 Princeton Hightstown Road</li>
 </ul>Ohio<ul>
 <li>Blue Ash:&nbsp;4150 Hunt Road</li><li>Forest Park (Cincinnati):&nbsp;100 Cincinnati Mills Drive</li>
 </ul>Oregon<ul>
 <li>Portland Gateway:&nbsp;10010 NE Halsey St.</li>
 </ul>Pennsylvania<ul>
 <li>Pottstown:&nbsp;351 W Schuylkill Road</li>
 </ul>Texas<ul>
 <li>North Dallas:&nbsp;18224 Preston Road</li>
 </ul>Utah<ul>
 <li>Riverton:&nbsp;13319 S 3600 W Ste 13LOT</li>
 </ul>Virginia<ul>
 <li>Herndon:&nbsp;2100 Centreville Road</li><li>Williamsburg:&nbsp;100 Gristmill Plz</li>
 </ul>

See the list: Kohl’s to close 27 stores nationwide

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-tiktok-china-speech-national-security-22d672d946b6b4065ae5fb7f3e0d8bed">TikTok</a>&nbsp;in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24-656">Click here to listen </a>to the oral argument

Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.

Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok’s ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations.

If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to “go dark” on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.

At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. “We might be in a different world again” after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a “political resolution.” Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.

But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.

Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration’ in defense of the law a “paternalistic point of view.” TikTok, he said, has offered to post a warning that the content could be manipulated by the Chinese government.

“Don’t we normally assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter speech?” he asked Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law for the Biden administration

A warning wouldn’t be enough to counterbalance the spread of misinformation, Prelogar said.

Francisco and lawyer Jeffrey Fisher, representing content creators and TikTok users, repeatedly tried to focus the court on the First Amendment restrictions that would fall on TikTok and its users, imperiling the livelihood of content creators, if the law is allowed to take effect.

But compared to the mildly challenging questions directed to Prelogar, they faced skepticism from every justice other than Gorsuch.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised U.S. concerns about China accessing information on tens of millions of Americans, including especially teenagers and people in their 20s, with whom TikTok is extremely popular.

“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Kavanaugh, whose daughters are in that age range.

Roberts downplayed Fisher’s argument that banning TikTok violates American users’ free speech rights. “Congress is fine with the expression,” Roberts said. “They’re not fine with a foreign adversary, as they’ve determined it is, gathering all this information about the 170 million people who use TikTok.”

The justices are expected to act within days, almost certainly ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline.

Content creators and small business owners who rely on the app are awaiting a decision with anxiety.

“There’s really no replacement for this app," said Skip Chapman, co-owner of KAFX Body in Manasquan, N.J., a maker and seller of natural deodorants. Chapman said more than 80% of his sales come on TikTok and he has not found the same traction on Amazon or other platforms.

Lee Zavorskas, a TikTok creator and a licensed esthetician based in New Hampshire, said she makes nearly half of her income on the platform by promoting products for other businesses. Zavorskas said she found it too stressful to listen to Friday's arguments. Instead, she spent her time building a YouTube channel.

ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and Francisco said a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law.

But some investors have been eyeing TikTok, including Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-mnuchin-house-senate-ffdf37776e63a09bb6966d741df7093b">Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchi</a>&nbsp;n and billionaire businessman&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-mccourt-sale-bytedance-843d24334321f90bebeeac4b32896a9a">Frank McCourt</a>. On Thursday, McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative said it, along with its unnamed partners, presented a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets. The consortium, which includes “Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary, did not disclose the financial terms of the offer.

If TikTok isn’t sold to an approved buyer, the federal law would prohibit app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google, from offering the popular app. It would also bar internet hosting services from hosting TikTok.

TikTok users who already have the app on their phones will continue to have access to it. But new users won’t be able to download the app, and existing ones will no longer be able to receive updates. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.

Prelogar said an eventual sale of the platform, even after the ban kicks in, would allow TikTok to resume operations. The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, who renamed it X, shows that the sale of a social media platform can happen quickly, she said.

That high-profile transaction went through in about six months from offer to completion, she said.

TikTok, meanwhile, has been “on notice” since 2020, during Trump's first term, that its sale could be required if it couldn’t satisfy the U.S. government’s national security concerns

The federal law was the culmination of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-timeline-ban-biden-india-d3219a32de913f8083612e71ecf1f428">yearslong saga in Washington</a>&nbsp;over TikTok, which the government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">sees as a national security threat</a>&nbsp;due to its connections to China.

U.S. officials argue that the vast amounts of user data that TikTok collects, including sensitive information on viewing habits, could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. They also are concerned that the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who could pressure ByteDance to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

TikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of Beijing.

The company negotiated with the Biden administration between 2021 and 2022 to resolve the concerns around U.S. data privacy and potential algorithmic manipulation. In court documents, it has accused the administration of essentially walking away from those negotiations after it presented a draft agreement in August 2022. But the Justice Department has said the Biden administration concluded the proposal was “insufficient” because it would maintain TikTok’s ties to China. The agency said the Executive Branch also could “neither trust ByteDance to comply nor detect noncompliance before it was too late.”

A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok's quick appeal to the Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-tiktok-china-speech-national-security-22d672d946b6b4065ae5fb7f3e0d8bed">TikTok</a>&nbsp;in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2024/24-656">Click here to listen </a>to the oral argumentHearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok’s ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence operations.If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to “go dark” on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. “We might be in a different world again” after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a “political resolution.” Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration’ in defense of the law a “paternalistic point of view.” TikTok, he said, has offered to post a warning that the content could be manipulated by the Chinese government.“Don’t we normally assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter speech?” he asked Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law for the Biden administrationA warning wouldn’t be enough to counterbalance the spread of misinformation, Prelogar said.Francisco and lawyer Jeffrey Fisher, representing content creators and TikTok users, repeatedly tried to focus the court on the First Amendment restrictions that would fall on TikTok and its users, imperiling the livelihood of content creators, if the law is allowed to take effect.But compared to the mildly challenging questions directed to Prelogar, they faced skepticism from every justice other than Gorsuch.Justice Brett Kavanaugh raised U.S. concerns about China accessing information on tens of millions of Americans, including especially teenagers and people in their 20s, with whom TikTok is extremely popular.“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Kavanaugh, whose daughters are in that age range.Roberts downplayed Fisher’s argument that banning TikTok violates American users’ free speech rights. “Congress is fine with the expression,” Roberts said. “They’re not fine with a foreign adversary, as they’ve determined it is, gathering all this information about the 170 million people who use TikTok.”The justices are expected to act within days, almost certainly ahead of the Jan. 19 deadline.Content creators and small business owners who rely on the app are awaiting a decision with anxiety.“There’s really no replacement for this app," said Skip Chapman, co-owner of KAFX Body in Manasquan, N.J., a maker and seller of natural deodorants. Chapman said more than 80% of his sales come on TikTok and he has not found the same traction on Amazon or other platforms.Lee Zavorskas, a TikTok creator and a licensed esthetician based in New Hampshire, said she makes nearly half of her income on the platform by promoting products for other businesses. Zavorskas said she found it too stressful to listen to Friday's arguments. Instead, she spent her time building a YouTube channel.ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and Francisco said a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law.But some investors have been eyeing TikTok, including Trump’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-mnuchin-house-senate-ffdf37776e63a09bb6966d741df7093b">Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchi</a>&nbsp;n and billionaire businessman&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-mccourt-sale-bytedance-843d24334321f90bebeeac4b32896a9a">Frank McCourt</a>. On Thursday, McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative said it, along with its unnamed partners, presented a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets. The consortium, which includes “Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary, did not disclose the financial terms of the offer.If TikTok isn’t sold to an approved buyer, the federal law would prohibit app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google, from offering the popular app. It would also bar internet hosting services from hosting TikTok.TikTok users who already have the app on their phones will continue to have access to it. But new users won’t be able to download the app, and existing ones will no longer be able to receive updates. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.Prelogar said an eventual sale of the platform, even after the ban kicks in, would allow TikTok to resume operations. The sale of Twitter to Elon Musk, who renamed it X, shows that the sale of a social media platform can happen quickly, she said.That high-profile transaction went through in about six months from offer to completion, she said.TikTok, meanwhile, has been “on notice” since 2020, during Trump's first term, that its sale could be required if it couldn’t satisfy the U.S. government’s national security concernsThe federal law was the culmination of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-timeline-ban-biden-india-d3219a32de913f8083612e71ecf1f428">yearslong saga in Washington</a>&nbsp;over TikTok, which the government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-bytedance-shou-zi-chew-8d8a6a9694357040d484670b7f4833be">sees as a national security threat</a>&nbsp;due to its connections to China.U.S. officials argue that the vast amounts of user data that TikTok collects, including sensitive information on viewing habits, could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. They also are concerned that the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who could pressure ByteDance to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.TikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of Beijing.The company negotiated with the Biden administration between 2021 and 2022 to resolve the concerns around U.S. data privacy and potential algorithmic manipulation. In court documents, it has accused the administration of essentially walking away from those negotiations after it presented a draft agreement in August 2022. But the Justice Department has said the Biden administration concluded the proposal was “insufficient” because it would maintain TikTok’s ties to China. The agency said the Executive Branch also could “neither trust ByteDance to comply nor detect noncompliance before it was too late.”A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok's quick appeal to the Supreme Court.

🎧Supreme Court seems likely to uphold law to ban TikTok

This story is the second in a four-part series on the life and death of Hays resident Karen Schumacher, who died at the hands of her husband in 2022.

Part 1:&nbsp;<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f6fb5eb0-494c-4518-992a-6bffdf7c38c9">A Voice for Karen: Living behind a curtain of silence</a> <a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3af7a093-f0d8-4c2e-a1e3-4a31be6c0e7e">Hays man who killed wife sentenced to 10 years in prison</a>

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/277704cd-f369-48f7-bfca-bdbdba1e8959">If you are a victim of domestic violence, find help here</a>

By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays Post

Karen Schumacher died at the hands of her husband in March 2022 after years of abuse.

Now, two years after her death, her friends and family are looking at her attempts to leave her abusive relationship and what kept drawing her back in.

Even in the early years of their marriage, Jay, Karen's husband, was physically violent with Karen, according to her friends and family.

Karen told her son, Jeremiah, that if she died, it would be by Jay's hands, and she had left proof in the couple's home.

Police searched Jay and Karen's home after Karen's death. Much later, Jeremiah searched the house and found hidden letters that chronicled the abuse dating back to his parents' early marriage.

In one of the letters, Karen describes Jay throwing her against the basement floor. She says she is disappointed in him and that if he does this again, she will leave him "FOREVER."

Karen's sister, Sue, initially thought the fights between Karen and Jay were only verbal. Yet, she said Karen still repeatedly tried to leave Jay throughout their marriage.

Sue said Karen drove more than an hour to Sue's home, first in Salina and then in Newton, intending to leave Jay.

"She would panic and say, 'I've got to get back before he gets home from work,' just scared to death. She would drive all the way there for maybe an hour and turn around and drive home. She did that a couple of times when I lived in Newton."

Karen left Jay to stay at the domestic violence shelter many times, Sue said, but she kept going back to Jay.

"She would miss her pets and wonder how they were doing," she said. "One of his controls, Jay, was to strangle cats, throw cats against the wall, kill her cats, take them out in the country and shoot them in front of her.

"[He would say,] 'If you ever leave me, this is what will happen to you. I will hunt you down like the dog you are and kill you.' We believed that. My husband and I believed it. She believed it," Sue said.

"When Jeremiah lived at home, he would threaten Jeremiah. 'I will torture him in front of you. I will kill him and then kill you and kill me,'" Sue said of Jay's words to Karen.

"Then, when Jeremiah left, it turned to me. 'I will kill your sister. You'll have to watch. I'll kill you and then kill me,'" Sue said of Jay's words.

Jeremiah said he was frustrated with his mother for not leaving his father.

“Then I saw what happened any time she tried,” he said.

Jeremiah moved out of his parents' house when he was 19. He initially thought the abuse stopped. "Because I was told I was the reason," he said.

“If we did something he didn’t like, it was bad, man,” Jeremiah said.

Sue said Karen would call her and tell her Jay was on the porch.

“I would call the police, and they would say, ‘We’ll talk to him,'” Sue said. “[This happened] 20 times or so.”

“She went directly to the police and said he’s hitting me,” Jeremiah said.

By this time, Jeremiah said, her memory was scrambled.&nbsp;

She was going to the police station two to three times a week,&nbsp;Jeremiah said.

"They would just take her back to the house and say, 'Jay, she says you're hitting her.' 'Oh no, she doesn't know what she's talking about,' [Jay would say] and in she'd go," Jeremiah said.

When Karen was living in Victoria, she filed a protection from abuse order against Jay.

Jay owned a number of guns and voluntarily placed them in the hands of the Victoria Police as he was barred from possessing firearms under the order, according to Victoria Police records.

By the time the protection from abuse order was in place in about 2016, Victoria Police Chief Cole Dinkel said Karen's mental health had deteriorated significantly.

Sue was driving from Newton in an attempt to take care of her sister, who was living alone with Jay out of the house because of the protection from abuse order.

Police reports from the time said Karen often forgot to shower. Her house and clothes also smelled of cat urine as she struggled to care for her home and her animals.

Dinkel said Karen reported abuse, but they were instances that had happened years early. There were never any visible marks on her, and she never called while the alleged violence was occurring, he said. She also made reports and then refused to press charges days later, according to reports from that time.

Karen was taken to Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, and that organization brought her back to Victoria, Dinkel said.

Dinkel said he did not have enough evidence to arrest Jay.

"You can't take a man's freedom on a hunch," Dinkel said.

Dinkel said there was one instance in which Jay showed up at the couple's home in Victoria to deliver groceries. The protection from abuse order was in effect, so Dinkel asked Jay to leave. He gave Jay a warning, and Jay left. A report was filed, but no charges.

Dinkel worked with Karen when she was a dispatcher in Hays. He said he regarded her as a friend and tried to get her help. The Department of Children and Families and the Ellis County Attorney's Office were both contacted in regard to Karen. Dinkel said he hoped to establish a care and treatment case.

However, Charlene Brubaker of the Ellis County Attorney's Office said Karen needed someone to serve as her guardian. Sue said she was interested in establishing a power of attorney for Karen, but Dinkel said Karen resisted, telling him she was afraid her sister would institutionalize her.&nbsp;

In 2016, Karen and Jay jointly requested the protection from abuse order to be lifted.

In a report from that time, Dinkel wrote that Karen asked him, "Am I doing the right thing?"

Dinkel said he has no regrets and expressed frustration that he and his colleagues are now being portrayed as "bad guys." He said because Karen was his friend, he went above and beyond to try to help her.

"The entire situation was a mess from the start to the finish," he said.

He added, "You can only help a person as much as they want help. Karen took three steps back for every one step forward."

Jeremiah said he was reluctant to work with the Victoria Police Department because of his father's relationship with them, although Dinkel said he was no more than Jay's acquaintance.

 Jeremiah said, “I never tried to report the abuse because my dad had very good friends in the police department, and frankly, we knew it would get back to him.

&nbsp;“I couldn’t afford to put my family through the possibility of what he might do,” Jeremiah  said.

“I was terrified of him. We all were,” he said.

Sue said she also called the Hays Police Department, where Karen had worked as a dispatcher. They said they could not do anything because Karen and Jay lived outside of their jurisdiction in Victoria.

After years of abuse, Karen's body and brain showed the effects.

She began forgetting things. It was hard for her to care for herself. Jay claimed she had dementia.&nbsp;

"It was hard to watch. You would never think she was that age. You had to help her learn how to make a plate of food because she didn't know how to do it," Kayci, Jeremiah's wife, said.

At one point, Karen wandered away from her house. Jay was on the road, so the police called Jeremiah to assist his mom.

Jeremiah and Kayci told Jay they would help care for Karen.

“If you can’t deal with this, maybe you should put her in a home or something,” Jeremiah said.

"'I ain't putting her in a Goddamn home, and I'm not paying for that shit,'" Jay told Jeremiah. "'I'll take care of your mom.'"

Karen separated from Jay about five years before her death. She filed for divorce.

Sue sought the opinion of a neurologist who diagnosed brain damage due to repeated head injuries.&nbsp;

Because of Karen's declining health, Sue was trying to gain guardianship.

However, Karen had left beloved pets at the house she shared with Jay. She went back to Jay one last and final time. She dropped the divorce filing.

Jay's control over Karen's life tightened even more. Jeremiah said she was no longer allowed to have keys to a vehicle or a cell phone.

Although Jay allowed Karen to attend some family functions with him present, he completely cut off contact between Jeremiah, his wife and children, and Sue, Jeremiah and Sue said.

Jeremiah said he only saw his mother twice in the years leading up to her death when he bumped into his parents at a store.

“He 100 percent isolated her, at least from us,” Jeremiah said.

Jeremiah would see Facebook posts of his mother in the hospital. He tried to contact his father to find out his mother's condition. Jay would not respond.

"It was his life. Her life that she had that she created, it was over," Kayci, Jeremiah's wife, said.

Scarlett Deutscher, Karen's longtime friend, saw her friend occasionally in the community, but she wasn't the same.&nbsp;

She would forget things,&nbsp;Deutscher said.

She recalled seeing Jay and Karen at a local convenience store.

"I feel bad about it, now looking back," she said. "I would see them every now and again. He said, 'Yeah, Karen's in the car.' I went to the car to go say hi to her. She just wasn't there. I could look into her eyes. I could still make contact with her, and she would kind of look at me and smile."

Deutscher&nbsp;said she thought Jay had finally stepped up to take care of Karen.

"But it was all a big lie he told a best friend," she said, "but I believed it. I believed him that he was taking care of her when, in essence, he wasn't. He was beatin' her. He was being very cruel to her. He was not taking care of her as she should be as a dependent."

“As someone you love. You just don’t do that,” she said.

Editor's note: Scarlett Deutscher is an employee of Eagle Media, which is the parent company of the Hays Post.

If you are a survivor of domestic or sexual violence, you can receive help in a variety of ways. You can walk into an Options office at 2716 Plaza, Hays, or&nbsp;1480 W. Fourth, Colby.&nbsp; You can call Options' 24-hour helpline at 1-800-794-4624 or text HOPE to 847411.

The Options website,&nbsp;<a href="https://help4abuse.org/">https://help4abuse.org/</a>, offers a live chat option or video conference with an advocate.

The website has a safe escape button that allows you to quickly close out of the website and erase your cookies, so anyone who is on the computer after you will not be able to see that you have been on the website.

Options has a free app for Android and Apple devices called "My Mobile Options."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/11/1732649972148.jpeg" alt="Graphics and video by Jordan Schaffer" />
 <figcaption>Graphics and video by Jordan Schaffer</figcaption>
 </figure>This story is the second in a four-part series on the life and death of Hays resident Karen Schumacher, who died at the hands of her husband in 2022.Part 1:&nbsp;<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f6fb5eb0-494c-4518-992a-6bffdf7c38c9">A Voice for Karen: Living behind a curtain of silence</a> <a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/3af7a093-f0d8-4c2e-a1e3-4a31be6c0e7e">Hays man who killed wife sentenced to 10 years in prison</a><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/277704cd-f369-48f7-bfca-bdbdba1e8959">If you are a victim of domestic violence, find help here</a><div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M51p3FJ7UH4?si=UwR3rIrZLIfRlLOB" 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>By CRISTINA JANNEY Hays PostKaren Schumacher died at the hands of her husband in March 2022 after years of abuse.Now, two years after her death, her friends and family are looking at her attempts to leave her abusive relationship and what kept drawing her back in.Even in the early years of their marriage, Jay, Karen's husband, was physically violent with Karen, according to her friends and family.Karen told her son, Jeremiah, that if she died, it would be by Jay's hands, and she had left proof in the couple's home.Police searched Jay and Karen's home after Karen's death. Much later, Jeremiah searched the house and found hidden letters that chronicled the abuse dating back to his parents' early marriage.In one of the letters, Karen describes Jay throwing her against the basement floor. She says she is disappointed in him and that if he does this again, she will leave him "FOREVER."<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TmjnmQJJ4w8?si=MNS1zOz27EUSiLC6" 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><h2>Leaving and going back</h2>Karen's sister, Sue, initially thought the fights between Karen and Jay were only verbal. Yet, she said Karen still repeatedly tried to leave Jay throughout their marriage.Sue said Karen drove more than an hour to Sue's home, first in Salina and then in Newton, intending to leave Jay."She would panic and say, 'I've got to get back before he gets home from work,' just scared to death. She would drive all the way there for maybe an hour and turn around and drive home. She did that a couple of times when I lived in Newton."Karen left Jay to stay at the domestic violence shelter many times, Sue said, but she kept going back to Jay."She would miss her pets and wonder how they were doing," she said. "One of his controls, Jay, was to strangle cats, throw cats against the wall, kill her cats, take them out in the country and shoot them in front of her."[He would say,] 'If you ever leave me, this is what will happen to you. I will hunt you down like the dog you are and kill you.' We believed that. My husband and I believed it. She believed it," Sue said."When Jeremiah lived at home, he would threaten Jeremiah. 'I will torture him in front of you. I will kill him and then kill you and kill me,'" Sue said of Jay's words to Karen."Then, when Jeremiah left, it turned to me. 'I will kill your sister. You'll have to watch. I'll kill you and then kill me,'" Sue said of Jay's words.Jeremiah said he was frustrated with his mother for not leaving his father.“Then I saw what happened any time she tried,” he said.Jeremiah moved out of his parents' house when he was 19. He initially thought the abuse stopped. "Because I was told I was the reason," he said.“If we did something he didn’t like, it was bad, man,” Jeremiah said.<h2>Not enough evidence</h2>Sue said Karen would call her and tell her Jay was on the porch.“I would call the police, and they would say, ‘We’ll talk to him,'” Sue said. “[This happened] 20 times or so.”“She went directly to the police and said he’s hitting me,” Jeremiah said.By this time, Jeremiah said, her memory was scrambled.&nbsp;She was going to the police station two to three times a week,&nbsp;Jeremiah said."They would just take her back to the house and say, 'Jay, she says you're hitting her.' 'Oh no, she doesn't know what she's talking about,' [Jay would say] and in she'd go," Jeremiah said.When Karen was living in Victoria, she filed a protection from abuse order against Jay.Jay owned a number of guns and voluntarily placed them in the hands of the Victoria Police as he was barred from possessing firearms under the order, according to Victoria Police records.By the time the protection from abuse order was in place in about 2016, Victoria Police Chief Cole Dinkel said Karen's mental health had deteriorated significantly. Sue was driving from Newton in an attempt to take care of her sister, who was living alone with Jay out of the house because of the protection from abuse order.Police reports from the time said Karen often forgot to shower. Her house and clothes also smelled of cat urine as she struggled to care for her home and her animals.Dinkel said Karen reported abuse, but they were instances that had happened years early. There were never any visible marks on her, and she never called while the alleged violence was occurring, he said. She also made reports and then refused to press charges days later, according to reports from that time.Karen was taken to Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, and that organization brought her back to Victoria, Dinkel said.Dinkel said he did not have enough evidence to arrest Jay."You can't take a man's freedom on a hunch," Dinkel said.Dinkel said there was one instance in which Jay showed up at the couple's home in Victoria to deliver groceries. The protection from abuse order was in effect, so Dinkel asked Jay to leave. He gave Jay a warning, and Jay left. A report was filed, but no charges.Dinkel worked with Karen when she was a dispatcher in Hays. He said he regarded her as a friend and tried to get her help. The Department of Children and Families and the Ellis County Attorney's Office were both contacted in regard to Karen. Dinkel said he hoped to establish a care and treatment case.However, Charlene Brubaker of the Ellis County Attorney's Office said Karen needed someone to serve as her guardian. Sue said she was interested in establishing a power of attorney for Karen, but Dinkel said Karen resisted, telling him she was afraid her sister would institutionalize her.&nbsp;In 2016, Karen and Jay jointly requested the protection from abuse order to be lifted.In a report from that time, Dinkel wrote that Karen asked him, "Am I doing the right thing?"Dinkel said he has no regrets and expressed frustration that he and his colleagues are now being portrayed as "bad guys." He said because Karen was his friend, he went above and beyond to try to help her."The entire situation was a mess from the start to the finish," he said.He added, "You can only help a person as much as they want help. Karen took three steps back for every one step forward."Jeremiah said he was reluctant to work with the Victoria Police Department because of his father's relationship with them, although Dinkel said he was no more than Jay's acquaintance. Jeremiah said, “I never tried to report the abuse because my dad had very good friends in the police department, and frankly, we knew it would get back to him.&nbsp;“I couldn’t afford to put my family through the possibility of what he might do,” Jeremiah said.“I was terrified of him. We all were,” he said.Sue said she also called the Hays Police Department, where Karen had worked as a dispatcher. They said they could not do anything because Karen and Jay lived outside of their jurisdiction in Victoria.<h2>Brain damage</h2>After years of abuse, Karen's body and brain showed the effects.She began forgetting things. It was hard for her to care for herself. Jay claimed she had dementia.&nbsp;"It was hard to watch. You would never think she was that age. You had to help her learn how to make a plate of food because she didn't know how to do it," Kayci, Jeremiah's wife, said.At one point, Karen wandered away from her house. Jay was on the road, so the police called Jeremiah to assist his mom.Jeremiah and Kayci told Jay they would help care for Karen.“If you can’t deal with this, maybe you should put her in a home or something,” Jeremiah said."'I ain't putting her in a Goddamn home, and I'm not paying for that shit,'" Jay told Jeremiah. "'I'll take care of your mom.'"Karen separated from Jay about five years before her death. She filed for divorce.Sue sought the opinion of a neurologist who diagnosed brain damage due to repeated head injuries.&nbsp;Because of Karen's declining health, Sue was trying to gain guardianship.However, Karen had left beloved pets at the house she shared with Jay. She went back to Jay one last and final time. She dropped the divorce filing.Jay's control over Karen's life tightened even more. Jeremiah said she was no longer allowed to have keys to a vehicle or a cell phone.Although Jay allowed Karen to attend some family functions with him present, he completely cut off contact between Jeremiah, his wife and children, and Sue, Jeremiah and Sue said.Jeremiah said he only saw his mother twice in the years leading up to her death when he bumped into his parents at a store.“He 100 percent isolated her, at least from us,” Jeremiah said.Jeremiah would see Facebook posts of his mother in the hospital. He tried to contact his father to find out his mother's condition. Jay would not respond."It was his life. Her life that she had that she created, it was over," Kayci, Jeremiah's wife, said.Scarlett Deutscher, Karen's longtime friend, saw her friend occasionally in the community, but she wasn't the same.&nbsp;She would forget things,&nbsp;Deutscher said.She recalled seeing Jay and Karen at a local convenience store."I feel bad about it, now looking back," she said. "I would see them every now and again. He said, 'Yeah, Karen's in the car.' I went to the car to go say hi to her. She just wasn't there. I could look into her eyes. I could still make contact with her, and she would kind of look at me and smile."Deutscher&nbsp;said she thought Jay had finally stepped up to take care of Karen."But it was all a big lie he told a best friend," she said, "but I believed it. I believed him that he was taking care of her when, in essence, he wasn't. He was beatin' her. He was being very cruel to her. He was not taking care of her as she should be as a dependent."“As someone you love. You just don’t do that,” she said.Editor's note: Scarlett Deutscher is an employee of Eagle Media, which is the parent company of the Hays Post.<h2>How to get help</h2>If you are a survivor of domestic or sexual violence, you can receive help in a variety of ways. You can walk into an Options office at 2716 Plaza, Hays, or&nbsp;1480 W. Fourth, Colby.&nbsp; You can call Options' 24-hour helpline at 1-800-794-4624 or text HOPE to 847411.The Options website,&nbsp;<a href="https://help4abuse.org/">https://help4abuse.org/</a>, offers a live chat option or video conference with an advocate.The website has a safe escape button that allows you to quickly close out of the website and erase your cookies, so anyone who is on the computer after you will not be able to see that you have been on the website.Options has a free app for Android and Apple devices called "My Mobile Options."

A Voice for Karen: Leaving and going back

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only football national championship in 1990, has died. He was 84.

The charismatic figure known as Coach Mac died Friday night “after a courageous journey with dementia,” according to a family statement. His family announced in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's.

“Coach Mac touched countless lives with his unwavering faith, boundless compassion, and enduring legacy as a leader, mentor and advocate for family, community and faith,” the family said in its statement. “As a trailblazer and visionary, his impact was felt both on and off the field, and his spirit will forever remain in the hearts of those he inspired.”

McCartney remains the winningest coach in Colorado history, with a record of 93-55-5. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

“I am very saddened at the passing of Coach Mac,” said Colorado athletic director Rick George, who remained lifelong friends with McCartney after he hired George as his recruiting coordinator in 1987. “Coach Mac was an incredible man who taught me about the importance of faith, family and being a good husband, father and grandfather. He instilled discipline and accountability to all of us who worked and played under his leadership."

McCartney led Colorado to its best season in 1990, when the team finished 11-1-1 and beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to clinch the national title. That season included a win at Missouri where the Buffaloes scored the winning touchdown on a “fifth down” as time expired — one of the biggest blunders in college football history.

The chain crew didn’t flip the marker from second to third down and the officials failed to notice. On fourth down — fifth in actuality — Charles Johnson scored to keep Colorado’s national title hopes afloat. Asked later if he would consider forfeiting the game, McCartney pointed to poor field conditions and didn’t think it was a fair test.

McCartney coached at Colorado from 1982-94, retiring early to spend more time with his wife, Lyndi, who died in 2013. Following his retirement, he worked full time at Promise Keepers, a ministry he started in 1990 after converting from Catholicism and whose aim is to encourage “godly men.”

The organization became a flash point in state politics, advocating unsuccessfully that gays be denied the designation of “protected class,” a position by the group that drew campus protests. He left as Promise Keepers’ president in 2003 because of his wife’s health but returned five years later.

As a football coach, McCartney’s impact at Colorado was immense. During a six-year span in the late ’80s and early ’90s, his teams were right up there with the powers of the time. McCartney coached Colorado to three Big Eight titles, 10 consecutive winning seasons in league competition and a 58-29-4 mark in conference play, all still school bests.

His 1989 squad went 11-1 and lost to Notre Dame 21-6 in the Orange Bowl. That set the groundwork for a national championship team that featured quarterbacks Darian Hagan and Charles Johnson, tailback Eric Bieniemy, and a stalwart defense that included Alfred Williams,&nbsp;<a href="https://cubuffs.com/honors/cu-athletic-hall-of-fame/greg-biekert/143">Greg Biekert</a>, Chad Brown and Kanavis McGhee.

“A hall of fame coach but somehow a better man and human being,” Brown&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/chadbrown94/status/1877952879794778560">wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.</a>&nbsp;“Love you Coach!”

Added&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/BigAlRadio/status/1877963947032371583">Williams in a post on X:</a>&nbsp;“His legacy is firmly built on love, character, integrity, hope, and faith. I will always thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to have him in my life. Thank you Coach for loving on all of us.”

To think, McCartney nearly chose a basketball coaching career.

Born in Riverview, Michigan, McCartney played center and linebacker at the University of Missouri, where he met his wife. He later coached basketball and football at a high school in Dearborn, Michigan. His teams were good, too, each capturing the state title in 1973.

He caught the eye of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, who wanted McCartney to join his staff at Michigan. If that weren’t enough, Michigan basketball coach Johnny Orr urged him to join his staff.

McCartney couldn’t decide. His wife gave him some simple advice — follow his heart.

He stepped into the world of college football.

McCartney learned under Schembechler for eight seasons, until an opportunity came up to guide his own team. When the late Chuck Fairbanks left Colorado to become involved with the New Jersey Generals in the upstart United States Football League, McCartney asked Schembechler if the Hall of Fame coach would put in a good word for him.

Schembechler’s backing carried a lot of weight, and then-Colorado athletic director Eddie Crowder gave McCartney the position.

It was a rough start for McCartney with only seven victories in his first three seasons, including a 1-10 finish in 1984. Then things started to turn.

His last season with the Buffaloes was 1994, when the team went 11-1 behind a roster that included Kordell Stewart, Michael Westbrook and the late Rashaan Salaam. That season featured the “Miracle in Michigan,” with Westbrook hauling in a 64-yard TD catch from Stewart on a Hail Mary as time expired in a road win over the Wolverines. Salaam also rushed for 2,055 yards and won the Heisman Trophy.

McCartney also groomed the next wave of coaches, mentoring assistants such as Gary Barnett, Jim Caldwell, Ron Dickerson, Gerry DiNardo, Karl Dorrell, Jon Embree, Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Bob Simmons, Lou Tepper, Ron Vanderlinden and John Wristen.

In recent years, McCartney got to watch grandson Derek play defensive line at Colorado. Derek’s father, Shannon Clavelle, was a defensive lineman for Colorado from 1992-94 before playing a few seasons in the NFL. Derek’s brother, T.C. McCartney, was a quarterback at LSU and is the son of late Colorado quarterback Sal Aunese, who played for Bill McCartney in 1987 and ’88 before being diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1989 and dying six months later at 21.

Growing up, Derek McCartney used to go next door to his grandfather’s house to listen to his stories. He never tired of them.

Derek soaked up the tales about Salaam winning the Heisman Trophy and how Colorado beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to cement the national title. His grandfather had a picture of the famous play at Michigan and a button to push to hear the broadcast audio.

When playing for Colorado, hardly a day would go by when someone didn't ask Derek if he was somehow related to the coach.

“I like when that happens,” Derek said.

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Bill McCartney, who coached Colorado to its only football national championship in 1990, has died. He was 84.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A legend of the game. A legacy that will live forever. Rest in Peace, Coach Mac 🪽<a href="https://t.co/sSXySmmlZb">https://t.co/sSXySmmlZb</a> <a href="https://t.co/RKZqHvIZdl">pic.twitter.com/RKZqHvIZdl</a>&mdash; Colorado Buffaloes (@CUBuffs) <a href="https://twitter.com/CUBuffs/status/1877943660479685022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 11, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The charismatic figure known as Coach Mac died Friday night “after a courageous journey with dementia,” according to a family statement. His family announced in 2016 that he had been diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer's.“Coach Mac touched countless lives with his unwavering faith, boundless compassion, and enduring legacy as a leader, mentor and advocate for family, community and faith,” the family said in its statement. “As a trailblazer and visionary, his impact was felt both on and off the field, and his spirit will forever remain in the hearts of those he inspired.”McCartney remains the winningest coach in Colorado history, with a record of 93-55-5. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.“I am very saddened at the passing of Coach Mac,” said Colorado athletic director Rick George, who remained lifelong friends with McCartney after he hired George as his recruiting coordinator in 1987. “Coach Mac was an incredible man who taught me about the importance of faith, family and being a good husband, father and grandfather. He instilled discipline and accountability to all of us who worked and played under his leadership."McCartney led Colorado to its best season in 1990, when the team finished 11-1-1 and beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to clinch the national title. That season included a win at Missouri where the Buffaloes scored the winning touchdown on a “fifth down” as time expired — one of the biggest blunders in college football history.The chain crew didn’t flip the marker from second to third down and the officials failed to notice. On fourth down — fifth in actuality — Charles Johnson scored to keep Colorado’s national title hopes afloat. Asked later if he would consider forfeiting the game, McCartney pointed to poor field conditions and didn’t think it was a fair test.McCartney coached at Colorado from 1982-94, retiring early to spend more time with his wife, Lyndi, who died in 2013. Following his retirement, he worked full time at Promise Keepers, a ministry he started in 1990 after converting from Catholicism and whose aim is to encourage “godly men.”The organization became a flash point in state politics, advocating unsuccessfully that gays be denied the designation of “protected class,” a position by the group that drew campus protests. He left as Promise Keepers’ president in 2003 because of his wife’s health but returned five years later.As a football coach, McCartney’s impact at Colorado was immense. During a six-year span in the late ’80s and early ’90s, his teams were right up there with the powers of the time. McCartney coached Colorado to three Big Eight titles, 10 consecutive winning seasons in league competition and a 58-29-4 mark in conference play, all still school bests.His 1989 squad went 11-1 and lost to Notre Dame 21-6 in the Orange Bowl. That set the groundwork for a national championship team that featured quarterbacks Darian Hagan and Charles Johnson, tailback Eric Bieniemy, and a stalwart defense that included Alfred Williams,&nbsp;<a href="https://cubuffs.com/honors/cu-athletic-hall-of-fame/greg-biekert/143">Greg Biekert</a>, Chad Brown and Kanavis McGhee.“A hall of fame coach but somehow a better man and human being,” Brown&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/chadbrown94/status/1877952879794778560">wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.</a>&nbsp;“Love you Coach!”Added&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/BigAlRadio/status/1877963947032371583">Williams in a post on X:</a>&nbsp;“His legacy is firmly built on love, character, integrity, hope, and faith. I will always thank God for blessing me with the opportunity to have him in my life. Thank you Coach for loving on all of us.”To think, McCartney nearly chose a basketball coaching career.Born in Riverview, Michigan, McCartney played center and linebacker at the University of Missouri, where he met his wife. He later coached basketball and football at a high school in Dearborn, Michigan. His teams were good, too, each capturing the state title in 1973.He caught the eye of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler, who wanted McCartney to join his staff at Michigan. If that weren’t enough, Michigan basketball coach Johnny Orr urged him to join his staff.McCartney couldn’t decide. His wife gave him some simple advice — follow his heart.He stepped into the world of college football.McCartney learned under Schembechler for eight seasons, until an opportunity came up to guide his own team. When the late Chuck Fairbanks left Colorado to become involved with the New Jersey Generals in the upstart United States Football League, McCartney asked Schembechler if the Hall of Fame coach would put in a good word for him.Schembechler’s backing carried a lot of weight, and then-Colorado athletic director Eddie Crowder gave McCartney the position.It was a rough start for McCartney with only seven victories in his first three seasons, including a 1-10 finish in 1984. Then things started to turn.His last season with the Buffaloes was 1994, when the team went 11-1 behind a roster that included Kordell Stewart, Michael Westbrook and the late Rashaan Salaam. That season featured the “Miracle in Michigan,” with Westbrook hauling in a 64-yard TD catch from Stewart on a Hail Mary as time expired in a road win over the Wolverines. Salaam also rushed for 2,055 yards and won the Heisman Trophy.McCartney also groomed the next wave of coaches, mentoring assistants such as Gary Barnett, Jim Caldwell, Ron Dickerson, Gerry DiNardo, Karl Dorrell, Jon Embree, Les Miles, Rick Neuheisel, Bob Simmons, Lou Tepper, Ron Vanderlinden and John Wristen.In recent years, McCartney got to watch grandson Derek play defensive line at Colorado. Derek’s father, Shannon Clavelle, was a defensive lineman for Colorado from 1992-94 before playing a few seasons in the NFL. Derek’s brother, T.C. McCartney, was a quarterback at LSU and is the son of late Colorado quarterback Sal Aunese, who played for Bill McCartney in 1987 and ’88 before being diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1989 and dying six months later at 21.Growing up, Derek McCartney used to go next door to his grandfather’s house to listen to his stories. He never tired of them.Derek soaked up the tales about Salaam winning the Heisman Trophy and how Colorado beat Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl to cement the national title. His grandfather had a picture of the famous play at Michigan and a button to push to hear the broadcast audio.When playing for Colorado, hardly a day would go by when someone didn't ask Derek if he was somehow related to the coach.“I like when that happens,” Derek said.