NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI pored over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein">Jeffrey Epstein’s</a>&nbsp;bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world’s most influential people.

But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.

<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/doj-disclosures">Click here to view the</a> Epstein files

Videos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn’t depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.

An examination of Epstein’s financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.

While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends, agents couldn’t confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.

Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said “four or five” Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.”

The AP and other media organizations are still reviewing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-justice-department-trump-musk-andrew-tisch-d5dfbb26b93c46a4d6ab9ecf4eb3d3b1">millions of pages of documents</a>, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.

But the documents, which include police reports, FBI interview notes and prosecutor emails, provide the clearest picture to date of the investigation — and why U.S. authorities ultimately decided to close it without additional charges.

The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school age students $200 or $300 to give him sexualized massages.

After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls’ visits and payments. But instead, then-Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-florida-e2a4431f7319afd037023d9a586aa291">struck a deal</a>&nbsp;letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.

In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.

Epstein was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bb41822a39a147ccb03501acf049b58c">arrested in July 2019</a>. One month later, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b76666895e674991a6782d77b726d085">killed himself</a>&nbsp;in his jail cell.

A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein’s longtime confidant,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/89212f72a6ca436f038e88ffd0250a40">Ghislaine Maxwell</a>, saying she’d recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse. Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.

Prosecutors fail to find evidence backing most sensational claims

Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department’s latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.

Some allegations couldn’t be verified, investigators wrote.

In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-roberts-giuffre-obit-778c4fdd6fac2522133ca3d79244bccd">Virginia Roberts Giuffre</a>, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Britain’s former&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-prince-andrew-strips-royal-titles-7fad76a46a211ae24b605cbd24e80748">Prince Andrew</a>.

Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.

Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also “lent out” to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.

“No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men,” the memo said.

Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalized memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that didn't take place. She had also offered shifting accounts in interviews with investigators, they wrote, and had "engaged in a continuous stream of public interviews about her allegations, many of which have included sensationalized if not demonstrably inaccurate characterizations of her experiences." Those inaccuracies included false accounts of her interactions with the FBI, they said.

Still, U.S. prosecutors attempted to arrange an interview with Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He refused to make himself available. Giuffre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-lawsuits-royalty-prince-andrew-4abc060592c70dd26e3ec9ce99395e6c">settled a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;with Mountbatten-Windsor in which she had accused him of sexual misconduct.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-giuffre-memoir-jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew-0adb8b983ac18a45fc7ec035dc789d08">a memoir</a>&nbsp;published after she killed herself last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her they didn't include her in the case against Maxwell because they didn't want her allegations to distract the jury. She insisted her accounts of being trafficked to elite men were true.

Prosecutors say photos and videos don't implicate others

Investigators seized a multitude of videos and photos from Epstein’s electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They found CDs, hard copy photographs and at least one videotape containing nude images of females, some of whom seemed as if they might be minors. One device contained 15 to 20 images depicting commercial child sex abuse material — pictures investigators said Epstein obtained on the internet.

No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, none showed any males with any of the nude females, and none contained evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email for FBI officials last year.

Had they existed, the government “would have pursued any leads they generated,” Comey wrote. “We did not, however, locate any such videos.”

Investigators who scoured Epstein’s bank records found payments to more than 25 women who appeared to be models — but no evidence that he was engaged in prostituting women to other men, prosecutors wrote.

In 2019, prosecutors weighed the possibility of charging one of Epstein’s longtime assistants but decided against it.

Prosecutors concluded that while the assistant was involved in helping Epstein pay girls for sex and may have been aware that some were underage, she herself was a victim of his sexual abuse and manipulation.

Investigators examined Epstein's relationship with the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who once was involved in an agency with Epstein in the U.S., and who was accused in a separate case of sexually assaulting women in Europe. Brunel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-arts-and-entertainment-paris-jeffrey-epstein-edfbdb84c6cdd5f736ac7e1c2bac657b">killed himself in jail</a>&nbsp;while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France.

Prosecutors also weighed whether to charge one of Epstein's girlfriends who had participated in sexual acts with some of his victims. Investigators interviewed the girlfriend, who was 18 to 20 years old at the time, “but it was determined there was not enough evidence,” according to a summary given to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-patel-fbi-justice-department-518329110ea230e2989095bfcbe34c59">FBI Director Kash Patel</a>&nbsp;last July.

Days before Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the FBI strategized about sending agents to serve grand jury subpoenas on people close to Epstein, including his pilots and longtime business client, retail mogul Les Wexner.

Wexner’s lawyers told investigators that neither he nor his wife had knowledge of Epstein’s sexual misconduct. Epstein had managed Wexner's finances, but the couple's lawyers said they cut him off in 2007 after learning he'd stolen from them.

“There is limited evidence regarding his involvement,” an FBI agent wrote of Wexner in an Aug. 16, 2019, email.

In a statement to the AP, a legal representative for Wexner said prosecutors had informed him that he was “neither a coconspirator nor target in any respect," and that Wexner had cooperated with investigators.

Prosecutors also examined accounts from women who said they'd given massages at Epstein's home to guests who'd tried to make the encounters sexual. One woman accused private equity investor Leon Black of initiating sexual contact during a massage in 2011 or 2012, causing her to flee the room.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office subsequently investigated, but no charges were filed.

Black's lawyer, Susan Estrich, said he had paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice. She said in a statement that Black didn't engage in misconduct and had no awareness of Epstein's criminal activities. Lawsuits by two women who accused Black of sexual misconduct were dismissed or withdrawn. One is pending.

Attorney General Pam Bondi told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-says-epstein-client-list-sitting-my-desk-right-now-reviewing-jfk-mlk-files">Fox News in February 2025</a>&nbsp;that Epstein’s never-before-seen “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now.” A few months later, she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-jeffrey-epstein-pam-bondi-trump-fa39193d5b5ff91970428bf077a5ce44">claimed the FBI was reviewing</a>&nbsp;“tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein “with children or child porn.”

But FBI agents wrote superiors saying the client list didn't exist.

On Dec. 30, 2024, about three weeks before President Joe Biden left office, then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate reached out through subordinates to ask "whether our investigation to date indicates the ‘client list,’ often referred to in the media, does or does not exist,” according to an email summarizing his query.

A day later, an FBI official replied that the case agent had confirmed no client list existed.

On Feb. 19, 2025, two days before Bondi’s Fox News appearance, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote: “While media coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case references a ’client list,' investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation.”

Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/1/1704330351229.png" alt="Epstein photo New York Sex offender registry" />
 <figcaption>Epstein photo New York Sex offender registry</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI pored over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein">Jeffrey Epstein’s</a>&nbsp;bank records and emails. It searched his homes. It spent years interviewing his victims and examining his connections to some of the world’s most influential people.But while investigators collected ample proof that Epstein sexually abused underage girls, they found scant evidence the well-connected financier led a sex trafficking ring serving powerful men, an Associated Press review of internal Justice Department records shows.<a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/doj-disclosures">Click here to view the</a> Epstein filesVideos and photos seized from Epstein’s homes in New York, Florida and the Virgin Islands didn’t depict victims being abused or implicate anyone else in his crimes, a prosecutor wrote in one 2025 memo.An examination of Epstein’s financial records, including payments he made to entities linked to influential figures in academia, finance and global diplomacy, found no connection to criminal activity, said another internal memo in 2019.While one Epstein victim made highly public claims that he “lent her” to his rich friends, agents couldn’t confirm that and found no other victims telling a similar story, the records said.Summarizing the investigation in an email last July, agents said “four or five” Epstein accusers claimed other men or women had sexually abused them. But, the agents said, there “was not enough evidence to federally charge these individuals, so the cases were referred to local law enforcement.”The AP and other media organizations are still reviewing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/epstein-justice-department-trump-musk-andrew-tisch-d5dfbb26b93c46a4d6ab9ecf4eb3d3b1">millions of pages of documents</a>, many of them previously confidential, that the Justice Department released under the Epstein Files Transparency Act and it is possible those records contain evidence overlooked by investigators.But the documents, which include police reports, FBI interview notes and prosecutor emails, provide the clearest picture to date of the investigation — and why U.S. authorities ultimately decided to close it without additional charges.<h2>Dozens of victims come forward</h2>The Epstein investigation began in 2005, when the parents of a 14-year-old girl reported she had been molested at the millionaire’s home in Palm Beach, Florida.Police would identify at least 35 girls with similar stories: Epstein was paying high school age students $200 or $300 to give him sexualized massages.After the FBI joined the probe, federal prosecutors drafted indictments to charge Epstein and some personal assistants who had arranged the girls’ visits and payments. But instead, then-Miami U.S. attorney Alexander Acosta&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jeffrey-epstein-florida-e2a4431f7319afd037023d9a586aa291">struck a deal</a>&nbsp;letting Epstein plead guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl. Sentenced to 18 months in jail, Epstein was free by mid-2009.In 2018, a series of Miami Herald stories about the plea deal prompted New York federal prosecutors to take a fresh look at the accusations.Epstein was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bb41822a39a147ccb03501acf049b58c">arrested in July 2019</a>. One month later, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/b76666895e674991a6782d77b726d085">killed himself</a>&nbsp;in his jail cell.A year later, prosecutors charged Epstein’s longtime confidant,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/89212f72a6ca436f038e88ffd0250a40">Ghislaine Maxwell</a>, saying she’d recruited several of his victims and sometimes joined the sexual abuse. Convicted in 2021, Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison term.<h2>Prosecutors fail to find evidence backing most sensational claims</h2>Prosecution memos, case summaries and other documents made public in the department’s latest release of Epstein-related records show that FBI agents and federal prosecutors diligently pursued potential coconspirators. Even seemingly outlandish and incomprehensible claims, called in to tip lines, were examined.Some allegations couldn’t be verified, investigators wrote.In 2011 and again in 2019, investigators interviewed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-roberts-giuffre-obit-778c4fdd6fac2522133ca3d79244bccd">Virginia Roberts Giuffre</a>, who in lawsuits and news interviews had accused Epstein of arranging for her to have sexual encounters with numerous men, including Britain’s former&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-prince-andrew-strips-royal-titles-7fad76a46a211ae24b605cbd24e80748">Prince Andrew</a>.Investigators said they confirmed that Giuffre had been sexually abused by Epstein. But other parts of her story were problematic.Two other Epstein victims who Giuffre had claimed were also “lent out” to powerful men told investigators they had no such experience, prosecutors wrote in a 2019 internal memo.“No other victim has described being expressly directed by either Maxwell or Epstein to engage in sexual activity with other men,” the memo said.Giuffre acknowledged writing a partly fictionalized memoir of her time with Epstein containing descriptions of things that didn't take place. She had also offered shifting accounts in interviews with investigators, they wrote, and had "engaged in a continuous stream of public interviews about her allegations, many of which have included sensationalized if not demonstrably inaccurate characterizations of her experiences." Those inaccuracies included false accounts of her interactions with the FBI, they said.Still, U.S. prosecutors attempted to arrange an interview with Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He refused to make himself available. Giuffre&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-lawsuits-royalty-prince-andrew-4abc060592c70dd26e3ec9ce99395e6c">settled a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;with Mountbatten-Windsor in which she had accused him of sexual misconduct.In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-giuffre-memoir-jeffrey-epstein-prince-andrew-0adb8b983ac18a45fc7ec035dc789d08">a memoir</a>&nbsp;published after she killed herself last year, Giuffre wrote that prosecutors told her they didn't include her in the case against Maxwell because they didn't want her allegations to distract the jury. She insisted her accounts of being trafficked to elite men were true.<h2>Prosecutors say photos and videos don't implicate others</h2>Investigators seized a multitude of videos and photos from Epstein’s electronic devices and homes in New York, Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands. They found CDs, hard copy photographs and at least one videotape containing nude images of females, some of whom seemed as if they might be minors. One device contained 15 to 20 images depicting commercial child sex abuse material — pictures investigators said Epstein obtained on the internet.No videos or photos showed Epstein victims being sexually abused, none showed any males with any of the nude females, and none contained evidence implicating anyone other than Epstein and Maxwell, then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey wrote in an email for FBI officials last year.Had they existed, the government “would have pursued any leads they generated,” Comey wrote. “We did not, however, locate any such videos.”Investigators who scoured Epstein’s bank records found payments to more than 25 women who appeared to be models — but no evidence that he was engaged in prostituting women to other men, prosecutors wrote.<h2>Epstein's close associates go uncharged</h2>In 2019, prosecutors weighed the possibility of charging one of Epstein’s longtime assistants but decided against it.Prosecutors concluded that while the assistant was involved in helping Epstein pay girls for sex and may have been aware that some were underage, she herself was a victim of his sexual abuse and manipulation.Investigators examined Epstein's relationship with the French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel, who once was involved in an agency with Epstein in the U.S., and who was accused in a separate case of sexually assaulting women in Europe. Brunel&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-arts-and-entertainment-paris-jeffrey-epstein-edfbdb84c6cdd5f736ac7e1c2bac657b">killed himself in jail</a>&nbsp;while awaiting trial on a rape charge in France.Prosecutors also weighed whether to charge one of Epstein's girlfriends who had participated in sexual acts with some of his victims. Investigators interviewed the girlfriend, who was 18 to 20 years old at the time, “but it was determined there was not enough evidence,” according to a summary given to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-patel-fbi-justice-department-518329110ea230e2989095bfcbe34c59">FBI Director Kash Patel</a>&nbsp;last July.Days before Epstein’s July 2019 arrest, the FBI strategized about sending agents to serve grand jury subpoenas on people close to Epstein, including his pilots and longtime business client, retail mogul Les Wexner.Wexner’s lawyers told investigators that neither he nor his wife had knowledge of Epstein’s sexual misconduct. Epstein had managed Wexner's finances, but the couple's lawyers said they cut him off in 2007 after learning he'd stolen from them.“There is limited evidence regarding his involvement,” an FBI agent wrote of Wexner in an Aug. 16, 2019, email.In a statement to the AP, a legal representative for Wexner said prosecutors had informed him that he was “neither a coconspirator nor target in any respect," and that Wexner had cooperated with investigators.Prosecutors also examined accounts from women who said they'd given massages at Epstein's home to guests who'd tried to make the encounters sexual. One woman accused private equity investor Leon Black of initiating sexual contact during a massage in 2011 or 2012, causing her to flee the room.The Manhattan district attorney’s office subsequently investigated, but no charges were filed.Black's lawyer, Susan Estrich, said he had paid Epstein for estate planning and tax advice. She said in a statement that Black didn't engage in misconduct and had no awareness of Epstein's criminal activities. Lawsuits by two women who accused Black of sexual misconduct were dismissed or withdrawn. One is pending.<h2>No client list</h2>Attorney General Pam Bondi told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bondi-says-epstein-client-list-sitting-my-desk-right-now-reviewing-jfk-mlk-files">Fox News in February 2025</a>&nbsp;that Epstein’s never-before-seen “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now.” A few months later, she&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-jeffrey-epstein-pam-bondi-trump-fa39193d5b5ff91970428bf077a5ce44">claimed the FBI was reviewing</a>&nbsp;“tens of thousands of videos” of Epstein “with children or child porn.”But FBI agents wrote superiors saying the client list didn't exist.On Dec. 30, 2024, about three weeks before President Joe Biden left office, then-FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate reached out through subordinates to ask "whether our investigation to date indicates the ‘client list,’ often referred to in the media, does or does not exist,” according to an email summarizing his query.A day later, an FBI official replied that the case agent had confirmed no client list existed.On Feb. 19, 2025, two days before Bondi’s Fox News appearance, an FBI supervisory special agent wrote: “While media coverage of the Jeffrey Epstein case references a ’client list,' investigators did not locate such a list during the course of the investigation.”___Aaron Kessler in Washington contributed to this report.

What the Epstein files show about FBI investigation of sex trafficking

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.

Just before 2:30a.m., Kansas City police officers responded to reports of a burglary at 9500 Blue Ridge Boulevard, according to a media release.&nbsp; The report was of multiple suspects breaking into a building and storage container.

At the scene, KCPD officers found three people who ran.&nbsp; Two tried to get into a vehicle where an altercation occurred as officers attempted to take the two suspects into custody.&nbsp; During the altercation, one officer fired their duty weapon.

The gunfire struck the 35-year-old female in the driver's seat of the car. She was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.&nbsp; Another male suspect at the vehicle was arrested.

Officers took the third suspect into custody several blocks away.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control is in charge of investigating the officer involved shooting. KCPD is investigating the burglary.

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Kansas City.Just before 2:30a.m., Kansas City police officers responded to reports of a burglary at 9500 Blue Ridge Boulevard, according to a media release.&nbsp; The report was of multiple suspects breaking into a building and storage container.At the scene, KCPD officers found three people who ran.&nbsp; Two tried to get into a vehicle where an altercation occurred as officers attempted to take the two suspects into custody.&nbsp; During the altercation, one officer fired their duty weapon.The gunfire struck the 35-year-old female in the driver's seat of the car. She was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.&nbsp; Another male suspect at the vehicle was arrested.Officers took the third suspect into custody several blocks away.The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Division of Drug and Crime Control is in charge of investigating the officer involved shooting. KCPD is investigating the burglary.

Woman burglary suspect wounded in KC officer shooting 

JOHNSON COUNTY—Eight families were displaced after a weekend fire in Overland Park.

Just after 8:30p.m. Saturday, crews&nbsp;were dispatched to the Colonial Gardens Apartments at 87th and Broadmoor, according to a media release.

First units found heavy smoke and fire showing from the building, prompting crews to immediately call a second alarm and bring reinforcements to help control the blaze.

Firefighters attacked the fire in the attic while additional crews searched the building to ensure all residents were evacuated safely. One cat was rescued and returned to its owner.

The fire was knocked down in approximately 20 minutes, with crews spending about an hour putting out hot spots before declaring the blaze under control. There were no injuries reported.

Apartment management and the American Red Cross are assisting the displaced residents. The cause&nbsp; of the fire remains under investigation.

The Consolidated Fire District #2, Lenexa Fire, Shawnee Fire, Johnson County Med-ACT, and Overland Park Police assisted at the scene.

JOHNSON COUNTY—Eight families were displaced after a weekend fire in Overland Park.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560">Firefighters made a quick knockdown on an attic fire at the Colonial Gardens Apts. at 87th and Broadmoor just after 8:30 p.m. No injures are reported. Residents from 8 apartments are displaced. Red Cross is assisting. Cause of the Fire is under investigation. <a href="https://t.co/tS6xDzObMo">pic.twitter.com/tS6xDzObMo</a>&mdash; Overland Park Fire Department (@OverlandParkFD) <a href="https://twitter.com/OverlandParkFD/status/2020363418738278774?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Just after 8:30p.m. Saturday, crews&nbsp;were dispatched to the Colonial Gardens Apartments at 87th and Broadmoor, according to a media release.First units found heavy smoke and fire showing from the building, prompting crews to immediately call a second alarm and bring reinforcements to help control the blaze.Firefighters attacked the fire in the attic while additional crews searched the building to ensure all residents were evacuated safely. One cat was rescued and returned to its owner.The fire was knocked down in approximately 20 minutes, with crews spending about an hour putting out hot spots before declaring the blaze under control. There were no injuries reported.Apartment management and the American Red Cross are assisting the displaced residents. The cause&nbsp; of the fire remains under investigation.The Consolidated Fire District #2, Lenexa Fire, Shawnee Fire, Johnson County Med-ACT, and Overland Park Police assisted at the scene.

8 residents displaced after 2-alarm Kan. apartment building  fire

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The urgent investigation into the apparent kidnapping of 84-year-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mother-missing-nancy-042abd04a6d87e14eecb22f0bc2893d1">Nancy Guthrie</a>&nbsp;continued Sunday, a week after the mother of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie</a>&nbsp;was reported missing in Arizona.

Savannah&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Guthrie</a>&nbsp;solemnly told the potential kidnappers in a social media video released Saturday that the family was prepared to pay for her safe return. Flanked by her siblings, Guthrie said “we received your message” and that: “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”

An FBI spokesman said Savannah Guthrie was referring to a message that was sent to the Tucson-based television station KOLD on Friday. The station declined to share details about the message’s contents as the FBI conducted its review.

Detectives and agents continued to perform follow-up work at multiple locations as part of the investigation, according to an email Sunday from the Pima County Sheriff's Department. The agency said in the email to media that it would not yet provide details about that work.

“Investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to this case,” read the email.

Two marked sheriff’s cars and another vehicle arrived at Nancy Guthrie’s house around midday Sunday and at least two people went to the back of the home for more than 20 minutes before leaving without comment.

Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mother-missing-arizona-tucson-6c7b78d17d7b647c64f71f64ecaecf8b">taken against her will</a>&nbsp;last weekend from her home just outside Tucson. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said.

Multiple press outlets have received alleged ransom letters during the past week. At least one letter made monetary demands and established Thursday evening and Monday evening as deadlines. Law enforcement officials declined to affirm that the letters were credible but said all tips were being investigated seriously.

The disappearance of the well-known TV host's mother has fixated Americans over the past week. Candles remained lit early Sunday near Nancy Guthrie's home, next to a sign expressing support for the family.

The White House said President Donald Trump called and spoke with Savannah Guthrie last week. The president told reporters on Friday that there are clues in the case "that I think are very strong.”

Authorities say they have growing concerns about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs daily medication. She is said to have a pacemaker and has dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.

The video released Saturday was the third this week that pleaded with potential kidnappers.

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 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770317643367.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The urgent investigation into the apparent kidnapping of 84-year-old&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mother-missing-nancy-042abd04a6d87e14eecb22f0bc2893d1">Nancy Guthrie</a>&nbsp;continued Sunday, a week after the mother of “Today” show host&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Savannah Guthrie</a>&nbsp;was reported missing in Arizona.Savannah&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/savannah-guthrie">Guthrie</a>&nbsp;solemnly told the potential kidnappers in a social media video released Saturday that the family was prepared to pay for her safe return. Flanked by her siblings, Guthrie said “we received your message” and that: “This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">At the request of the Guthrie family, PCSD will maintain a presence at Nancy Guthrie’s residence for security. Media &amp; the public are reminded to follow all traffic &amp; private property laws. No trespassing is allowed on the Guthrie property. Violations are subject to enforcement.&mdash; Pima County Sheriff&#39;s Department (@PimaSheriff) <a href="https://twitter.com/PimaSheriff/status/2020622606194643157?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>An FBI spokesman said Savannah Guthrie was referring to a message that was sent to the Tucson-based television station KOLD on Friday. The station declined to share details about the message’s contents as the FBI conducted its review.Detectives and agents continued to perform follow-up work at multiple locations as part of the investigation, according to an email Sunday from the Pima County Sheriff's Department. The agency said in the email to media that it would not yet provide details about that work.“Investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to this case,” read the email.Two marked sheriff’s cars and another vehicle arrived at Nancy Guthrie’s house around midday Sunday and at least two people went to the back of the home for more than 20 minutes before leaving without comment.Investigators believe Nancy Guthrie was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/savannah-guthrie-mother-missing-arizona-tucson-6c7b78d17d7b647c64f71f64ecaecf8b">taken against her will</a>&nbsp;last weekend from her home just outside Tucson. DNA tests showed blood on Guthrie’s front porch was a match to her, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said.Multiple press outlets have received alleged ransom letters during the past week. At least one letter made monetary demands and established Thursday evening and Monday evening as deadlines. Law enforcement officials declined to affirm that the letters were credible but said all tips were being investigated seriously.The disappearance of the well-known TV host's mother has fixated Americans over the past week. Candles remained lit early Sunday near Nancy Guthrie's home, next to a sign expressing support for the family.The White House said President Donald Trump called and spoke with Savannah Guthrie last week. The president told reporters on Friday that there are clues in the case "that I think are very strong.”Authorities say they have growing concerns about Nancy Guthrie’s health because she needs daily medication. She is said to have a pacemaker and has dealt with high blood pressure and heart issues, according to sheriff’s dispatcher audio on broadcastify.com.The video released Saturday was the third this week that pleaded with potential kidnappers.

Investigation continues a week after 'Today' host's mother reported missing

KEARNY—One person died in an accident just before 4:30p.m. Sunday in Kearny County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Hummer H3 driven by Dylan C. Knoll, 31, Holcomb, was eastbound on Road 250 approximately six miles north of U.S. 50.&nbsp; The driver failed to yield at the stop sign at Road AA. The SUV collided with a northbound 2004 F150 pickup driven by Dakota J.&nbsp;Mcinnis, 32, Deerfield. The impact caused both vehicles to roll and Mcinnis was ejected from the pickup.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Mcinnis was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Garnand Funeral Home.&nbsp; EMS transported Knoll to Wesley Medical and a teen passenger in the SUV to Kearny County Hospital. Mcinnis was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

KEARNY—One person died in an accident just before 4:30p.m. Sunday in Kearny County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2006 Hummer H3 driven by Dylan C. Knoll, 31, Holcomb, was eastbound on Road 250 approximately six miles north of U.S. 50.&nbsp; The driver failed to yield at the stop sign at Road AA. The SUV collided with a northbound 2004 F150 pickup driven by Dakota J.&nbsp;Mcinnis, 32, Deerfield. The impact caused both vehicles to roll and Mcinnis was ejected from the pickup.&nbsp;&nbsp;Mcinnis was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to Garnand Funeral Home.&nbsp; EMS transported Knoll to Wesley Medical and a teen passenger in the SUV to Kearny County Hospital. Mcinnis was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after ejected in SUV, pickup crash

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/maria-sherman">MARIA SHERMAN</a> Associated Press

The sun hung low when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bad-bunny">Bad Bunny</a>&nbsp;emerged in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields during his halftime show, surrounded by jíbaros in pavas (rural farmers in traditional straw hats), viejitos playing dominos (an affectionate term for older men) and a piragua stand (shaved ice) — undeniable symbols of Puerto Rico.

From a small Caribbean island with a complicated colonial history, to the world: The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio brought Puerto Rican culture to the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/nfl">2026 Super Bowl</a>&nbsp;halftime show in what was always going to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/why-bad-bunnys-super-bowl-show-will-be-a-landmark-moment-for-puerto-rico/" target="_blank">a landmark moment for Latinos.</a>

He started with his huge reggaeton-and-then-some hits, “Tití Me Preguntó” moving into “Yo Perreo Sola,” as he remerged on top of the casita (“little house”) from his Puerto Rican residency —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/cardi-b">Cardi B</a>&nbsp;was a guest at his pari de marquesina (“house party.”)

Then he crashed through the roof — Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” played for a moment, clearly an acknowledgement and celebration of the Puerto Rican artists who laid the path for his career to go global.

“Mi nombre es Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio,” he introduced himself to the crowd in Spanish. “Y si hoy estoy aquí en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dejé de creer en mí y tú también deberías de creer en ti, vales más de lo que piensas.”

In English: “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and if I’m here today at Super Bowl 60 it’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself and you should also believe in yourself, you’re worth more than you think.”

The strings of his song “Monaco” played — then, a surprise Lady Gaga emerged at a wedding scene, singing her portion of “Die with a Smile,” her collaboration with Bruno Mars, joined by a salsa band. Her dress featured a maga, Puerto Rico’s national flower.

It gave Benito time for a fashion change — rocking a white suit like a classic salsero — for “Baile Inolvidable” and “NuevaYol,” with a block party set where he took a shot with Tonita, owner of one of the last Puerto Rican social clubs in New York City, Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club.

Ricky Martin, one of Puerto Rico’s greatest crossover artists, performed “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” (“What Happened to Hawaii”), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/best-songs-2025-6a4712aa815b7554790ff28fbdff220b">cultural autonomy</a>&nbsp;in an era of neocolonialization. He sat in a plastic chair in front of a plantain tree; a scene that mirrored the cover of Bad Bunny’s 2025 album&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-debi-tirar-mas-fotos-review-856f8e4f89e48e6ab104a491ae3dbcde">“Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”</a>

Behind Martin, jíbaros in pavas climbed power poles that exploded, symbolic of Puerto Rico’s frequent blackouts and failing power grid. It queued up a moving performance of Bad Bunny’s 2022 song “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), in reference to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hurricane-maria">Hurricane Maria,</a>&nbsp;its aftermath and the continued anger and frustration over persistent,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-blackout-power-outage-causes-6b1f71e33136a3f97b8238568cd664ea">chronic power outages</a>.

He held a Puerto Rico flag in red, white and baby blue — reflective of the Puerto Rican independence movement.

For around 13 minutes during the halftime show sponsored by Apple Music and Roc Nation, all eyes on the field — and around the world — were on Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.

Bad Bunny performed entirely in Spanish — as all of his music is recorded in the language, though he has collaborated with English-language artists. The only English singing came from Gaga. That changed at the end of the set, when he said, “God Bless America,” and then named countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America. “And my motherland, mi patria, Puerto Rico, seguimos aquí.” In English, “My homeland, Puerto Rico, we are still here.”

Behind him, a screen read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love” in English text, a direct reference to one of his recent speeches at the 2026 Grammys.

He ended with “DtMF” as he walked out of the stadium, joined by musicians with güiros (a percussive instrument made of a hollow gourd) and panderetas (tambourines, a symbol of plena.)

For years, Bad Bunny has been one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spotify-wrapped-2025-bad-bunny-taylor-swift-fb021e2387d6aff7e4d8353a067f1664">most-streamed artists on the planet.</a>&nbsp;And on Sunday, he made it clear that his global popularity translates seamlessly to the biggest stage in the U.S. (Though he is no stranger to it. He previously appeared during the halftime show at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 alongside&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jennifer-lopez">Jennifer Lopez</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/shakira">Shakira.</a>&nbsp;He sang in Spanish alongside two artists whose bilingual hits helped usher in a crossover era for Latin music in the ’00s.)

Consider Bad Bunny’s 2026 halftime performance the cherry on top of a huge moment for the 31-year-old global superstar, who just 10 years ago was working at an Econo supermarket in Puerto Rico.

Last week, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-grammys-2026-a20c758dd63542bd665d24e61269aa72">took home album of the year</a>&nbsp;at the 2026 Grammys for his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-debi-tirar-mas-fotos-review-856f8e4f89e48e6ab104a491ae3dbcde">“Debí Tirar Más Fotos,”</a>&nbsp;an album that marries folkloric tradition in local Borinquen genres like bomba, plena, salsa and música jíbara with contemporary styles like reggaeton, trap and pop. It marked the first time an all-Spanish language album won the top prize.

Like most headliners, Bad Bunny kept details of his halftime performance under wraps ahead of time,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-preview-f3b3f090beb4b74e958dfbe77c96222f">though many theorized</a>&nbsp;there would be some kind of political performance. He’s been critical of President Donald Trump in the past and at the Grammys last Sunday, said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2026-grammy-awards-4d631de5d968b51276a8f06b76580e20">“ICE out”</a>&nbsp;while accepting a televised award. Bad Bunny’s latest tour skipped the continental U.S.; in an interview he said it was at least partially inspired by concerns that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.

At a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-f441549a00166a39309233f689163105">press conference on Thursday,</a>&nbsp;Bad Bunny told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden viewers could expect a huge party — and joked that while viewers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-spanish-halftime-show-7d0c6576f832f371409bdd9e43fc3184">didn’t need to learn Spanish</a>&nbsp;to enjoy his set; they should learn to dance.

“I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”

Of course, he delivered on just that — with a message of hope and a reminder of Puerto Rico’s resiliency.

For more on the Super Bowl, visit&nbsp;https://apnews.com/hub/super-bowl

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770643652248.png" alt="Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl-image from Associated Press video" />
 <figcaption>Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl-image from Associated Press video</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/maria-sherman">MARIA SHERMAN</a> Associated PressThe sun hung low when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/bad-bunny">Bad Bunny</a>&nbsp;emerged in Puerto Rico’s sugar cane fields during his halftime show, surrounded by jíbaros in pavas (rural farmers in traditional straw hats), viejitos playing dominos (an affectionate term for older men) and a piragua stand (shaved ice) — undeniable symbols of Puerto Rico.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">WATCH: Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl 2026 halftime show <a href="https://t.co/yp7J45ekY6">pic.twitter.com/yp7J45ekY6</a>&mdash; The Associated Press (@AP) <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/2020694895162528055?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/oU1sLFUhGd">pic.twitter.com/oU1sLFUhGd</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2020679333765878130?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>From a small Caribbean island with a complicated colonial history, to the world: The artist born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio brought Puerto Rican culture to the Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, for his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/nfl">2026 Super Bowl</a>&nbsp;halftime show in what was always going to be&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ap.org/news-highlights/spotlights/2025/why-bad-bunnys-super-bowl-show-will-be-a-landmark-moment-for-puerto-rico/" target="_blank">a landmark moment for Latinos.</a>He started with his huge reggaeton-and-then-some hits, “Tití Me Preguntó” moving into “Yo Perreo Sola,” as he remerged on top of the casita (“little house”) from his Puerto Rican residency —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/cardi-b">Cardi B</a>&nbsp;was a guest at his pari de marquesina (“house party.”)Then he crashed through the roof — Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” played for a moment, clearly an acknowledgement and celebration of the Puerto Rican artists who laid the path for his career to go global.“Mi nombre es Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio,” he introduced himself to the crowd in Spanish. “Y si hoy estoy aquí en el Super Bowl 60, es porque nunca, nunca dejé de creer en mí y tú también deberías de creer en ti, vales más de lo que piensas.”In English: “My name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and if I’m here today at Super Bowl 60 it’s because I never, ever stopped believing in myself and you should also believe in yourself, you’re worth more than you think.”The strings of his song “Monaco” played — then, a surprise Lady Gaga emerged at a wedding scene, singing her portion of “Die with a Smile,” her collaboration with Bruno Mars, joined by a salsa band. Her dress featured a maga, Puerto Rico’s national flower.It gave Benito time for a fashion change — rocking a white suit like a classic salsero — for “Baile Inolvidable” and “NuevaYol,” with a block party set where he took a shot with Tonita, owner of one of the last Puerto Rican social clubs in New York City, Brooklyn’s Caribbean Social Club.Ricky Martin, one of Puerto Rico’s greatest crossover artists, performed “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii,” (“What Happened to Hawaii”), a rallying cry for Puerto Rico’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/best-songs-2025-6a4712aa815b7554790ff28fbdff220b">cultural autonomy</a>&nbsp;in an era of neocolonialization. He sat in a plastic chair in front of a plantain tree; a scene that mirrored the cover of Bad Bunny’s 2025 album&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-debi-tirar-mas-fotos-review-856f8e4f89e48e6ab104a491ae3dbcde">“Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”</a>Behind Martin, jíbaros in pavas climbed power poles that exploded, symbolic of Puerto Rico’s frequent blackouts and failing power grid. It queued up a moving performance of Bad Bunny’s 2022 song “El Apagón” (“The Blackout”), in reference to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/hurricane-maria">Hurricane Maria,</a>&nbsp;its aftermath and the continued anger and frustration over persistent,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/puerto-rico-blackout-power-outage-causes-6b1f71e33136a3f97b8238568cd664ea">chronic power outages</a>.He held a Puerto Rico flag in red, white and baby blue — reflective of the Puerto Rican independence movement.For around 13 minutes during the halftime show sponsored by Apple Music and Roc Nation, all eyes on the field — and around the world — were on Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.Bad Bunny performed entirely in Spanish — as all of his music is recorded in the language, though he has collaborated with English-language artists. The only English singing came from Gaga. That changed at the end of the set, when he said, “God Bless America,” and then named countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America. “And my motherland, mi patria, Puerto Rico, seguimos aquí.” In English, “My homeland, Puerto Rico, we are still here.”Behind him, a screen read “The only thing more powerful than hate is love” in English text, a direct reference to one of his recent speeches at the 2026 Grammys.He ended with “DtMF” as he walked out of the stadium, joined by musicians with güiros (a percussive instrument made of a hollow gourd) and panderetas (tambourines, a symbol of plena.)For years, Bad Bunny has been one of the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/spotify-wrapped-2025-bad-bunny-taylor-swift-fb021e2387d6aff7e4d8353a067f1664">most-streamed artists on the planet.</a>&nbsp;And on Sunday, he made it clear that his global popularity translates seamlessly to the biggest stage in the U.S. (Though he is no stranger to it. He previously appeared during the halftime show at Super Bowl LIV in 2020 alongside&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/jennifer-lopez">Jennifer Lopez</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/shakira">Shakira.</a>&nbsp;He sang in Spanish alongside two artists whose bilingual hits helped usher in a crossover era for Latin music in the ’00s.)Consider Bad Bunny’s 2026 halftime performance the cherry on top of a huge moment for the 31-year-old global superstar, who just 10 years ago was working at an Econo supermarket in Puerto Rico.Last week, he&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-grammys-2026-a20c758dd63542bd665d24e61269aa72">took home album of the year</a>&nbsp;at the 2026 Grammys for his&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-debi-tirar-mas-fotos-review-856f8e4f89e48e6ab104a491ae3dbcde">“Debí Tirar Más Fotos,”</a>&nbsp;an album that marries folkloric tradition in local Borinquen genres like bomba, plena, salsa and música jíbara with contemporary styles like reggaeton, trap and pop. It marked the first time an all-Spanish language album won the top prize.Like most headliners, Bad Bunny kept details of his halftime performance under wraps ahead of time,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-preview-f3b3f090beb4b74e958dfbe77c96222f">though many theorized</a>&nbsp;there would be some kind of political performance. He’s been critical of President Donald Trump in the past and at the Grammys last Sunday, said&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2026-grammy-awards-4d631de5d968b51276a8f06b76580e20">“ICE out”</a>&nbsp;while accepting a televised award. Bad Bunny’s latest tour skipped the continental U.S.; in an interview he said it was at least partially inspired by concerns that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.At a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-halftime-show-f441549a00166a39309233f689163105">press conference on Thursday,</a>&nbsp;Bad Bunny told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe and Ebro Darden viewers could expect a huge party — and joked that while viewers&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/bad-bunny-super-bowl-spanish-halftime-show-7d0c6576f832f371409bdd9e43fc3184">didn’t need to learn Spanish</a>&nbsp;to enjoy his set; they should learn to dance.“I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture,” he said at the time. “I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”Of course, he delivered on just that — with a message of hope and a reminder of Puerto Rico’s resiliency.___For more on the Super Bowl, visit&nbsp;https://apnews.com/hub/super-bowl

Review: Bad Bunny Super Bowl show; President Trump weighs in 

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man arrested in Missouri for a&nbsp;deadly shooting in Wichita is now in a Kansas Jail.

On Thursday, 27-year-old Donny J. Harris of Springfield, Missouri was booked into the Sedgwick County jail, according to online jail records. He made his first court appearance and is charged with first degree murder.

Just after 8a.m. Jan. 26., police were dispatched to the&nbsp;the 900 block of East Indianapolis in Wichita&nbsp;for a reported welfare check after receiving information about a man down, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.

Upon arrival, officers located a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Wichita police officers and detectives conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation, working through challenging weather conditions and utilizing multiple departmental resources.

Officers from multiple WPD sections, Crime Scene Investigators,&nbsp;K-9 Mantra, and&nbsp;Flock technology&nbsp;were utilized to canvass the area, locate evidence, and develop investigative leads.&nbsp;K-9 Mantra located multiple shell casings in the snow during the search.

As a result of this coordinated effort, detectives were able to quickly identify a suspect identified as Harris and establish probable cause. An arrest warrant was issued for first-degree murder.

Working in close coordination with the Springfield Police Department, Harris was located and arrested on the evening of Jan. 26, in Springfield, Missouri.&nbsp;

Harris is being held on a $500,000 bond. Police have not released the name of the victim.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/1/1769461383611.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man arrested in Missouri for a&nbsp;deadly shooting in Wichita is now in a Kansas Jail.On Thursday, 27-year-old Donny J. Harris of Springfield, Missouri was booked into the Sedgwick County jail, according to online jail records. He made his first court appearance and is charged with first degree murder.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770477271747.png" alt="Harris photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Harris photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Just after 8a.m. Jan. 26., police were dispatched to the&nbsp;the 900 block of East Indianapolis in Wichita&nbsp;for a reported welfare check after receiving information about a man down, according to Officer Kris Gupilan.Upon arrival, officers located a man suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. The victim was pronounced deceased at the scene.Wichita police officers and detectives conducted a thorough and comprehensive investigation, working through challenging weather conditions and utilizing multiple departmental resources.Officers from multiple WPD sections, Crime Scene Investigators,&nbsp;K-9 Mantra, and&nbsp;Flock technology&nbsp;were utilized to canvass the area, locate evidence, and develop investigative leads.&nbsp;K-9 Mantra located multiple shell casings in the snow during the search.As a result of this coordinated effort, detectives were able to quickly identify a suspect identified as Harris and establish probable cause. An arrest warrant was issued for first-degree murder.Working in close coordination with the Springfield Police Department, Harris was located and arrested on the evening of Jan. 26, in Springfield, Missouri.&nbsp;Harris is being held on a $500,000 bond. Police have not released the name of the victim.

Missouri man accused of murder is now in a Kansas jail

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State men's basketball team overcame a stellar performance by freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa to beat 16th-ranked BYU 99-92 on Wednesday night. Now the Oklahoma State University is facing a reprimand from the Big 12 Conference.&nbsp;

On Sunday, the conference announce on their social media account, "in accordance with the Big 12 Conference Principles and Standards of Sportsmanship, the Conference has issued Oklahoma State University a $50,000 fine following its investigation into inappropriate chants which referenced the Mormon religion that occurred during Wednesday’s men’s basketball game."

"The Big 12 Conference will not tolerate any behavior that targets or demeans others."

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State men's basketball team overcame a stellar performance by freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa to beat 16th-ranked BYU 99-92 on Wednesday night. Now the Oklahoma State University is facing a reprimand from the Big 12 Conference.&nbsp;On Sunday, the conference announce on their social media account, "in accordance with the Big 12 Conference Principles and Standards of Sportsmanship, the Conference has issued Oklahoma State University a $50,000 fine following its investigation into inappropriate chants which referenced the Mormon religion that occurred during Wednesday’s men’s basketball game."<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Statement from Oklahoma State University <a href="https://t.co/QZcY0Zpxzw">pic.twitter.com/QZcY0Zpxzw</a>&mdash; Oklahoma State Athletics (@OSUAthletics) <a href="https://twitter.com/OSUAthletics/status/2020575712839663820?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>"The Big 12 Conference will not tolerate any behavior that targets or demeans others."

Big 12 Conference fines school for chants which referenced Mormons 

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/ken-sweet">KEN SWEET</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/cora-lewis">CORA LEWIS</a>

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Rent can eat up an entire paycheck at the start of the month, so a growing number of renters are turning to a financial product that promises relief by letting them split the bill — for a price.

So-called “rent now, pay later” services have emerged over the past few years as&nbsp;<a href="https://f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3/" target="_blank">housing costs climb</a>&nbsp;and paychecks grow less predictable, particularly for lower-income and gig-economy workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rents have jumped nearly 28% in past five years.

Companies such as Flex, Livble and, more recently, Affirm, say breaking rent into multiple payments can help renters manage cash flow. But consumer advocates warn the products typically function like&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-missed-payments-regulation-f7fd30f2a0e900460919fad76a1e0dbf">short-term loans</a>, layering fees onto already strained budgets and, in some cases, carrying triple-digit effective interest rates — raising questions about whether they ease financial pressure or deepen it.

Kellen Johnson, 44, started using Flex to split up his rent payments about two years ago. Instead of paying the whole $1,850 of his rent on the first of the month, Johnson would pay $1,350 on that date, and $500 on the 15th. For the service, Flex collected a $14.99 monthly subscription fee, as well as 1% of the total rent, which for Johnson was $18.50, bringing his monthly charges for the app to more than $33.

Johnson said he was willing to pay the extra costs in part because he worked as an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/work-side-jobs-security-salaries-layoffs-df229576002b9b99cf4149b3978e937c">independently contracted delivery person</a>&nbsp;for Amazon at the time, and his paychecks could vary.

“It was an expense that I was incurring, but I went ahead as it was more convenient,” said Johnson, who now works as a driver for senior citizens in Sacramento, California.

Roughly 109 million Americans, or about 42.5 million households, are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/realpage-doj-lawsuit-settlement-rent-data-4d8985a50c28b6322b8f82a2fbb5c79e">renters in the United States</a>. The Census Bureau estimated in 2024 that a large share of those households pay 30% or more of their monthly income on rent. The bureau considers such households to be “cost burdened,” meaning rent consumes so much of their income that they have less ability to plan for future expenses or build wealth.

Rent now, pay later services generally operate the same way: The company pays the landlord the full rent when due, and the renter repays the company in two or more installments over the course of the month. Because rent can be such a large expense, the companies argue that spreading payments out can give renters more cash on hand.

Many of these services&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-debt-holidays-0bb6006ddf14077ee5ae83fd43486923">come with fees</a>. The fees can be structured differently but should be generally thought of as cost of credit, consumer advocates warn. In Johnson’s case, he was paying $33.49 for a two-week loan of $500, for an effective annual percentage rate of 172%, when expressed using standard consumer-lending calculations.

“Renters should be skeptical of any financing providers that have partnered with a landlord and be skeptical of anything that sells itself as no fees or no interest,” said Mike Pierce, executive director of Protect Borrowers. Pierce previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Launched in 2019, Flex is one of the largest companies focused on splitting rent payments. The company says its 1.5 million customers now send about $2 billion a month in rent through its system, and several of the country’s largest landlords accept Flex as a payment option.

Flex says most of its customers are lower-income renters with weaker credit profiles. The company reports a median credit score of 604 among its users and says about one in three customers works more than one job to make ends meet. A Flex spokesman says the average customer uses the service three to four times a year. Johnson used it every month.

Livble does not charge a subscription, but charges renters a fee ranging from $30 to $40, according to the company’s help page. Depending on how long the renter defers part of the payment, Livble’s fees can translate into effective annual percentage rates of roughly 104% to 139%.

The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-loans-installments-02852578a991fb0d31879acd0b687e0d">buy now, pay later</a>&nbsp;company Affirm said this month that it is piloting a program allowing some customers to split rent into two payments. The program is being tested in partnership with Esusu, a company that reports rent payments to credit bureaus to help consumers build credit. An Affirm spokesman said the company is not charging renters interest or fees to use the product, but may charge landlords fees. However, to access the Affirm service, renters must subscribe to Esusu Plus or Premium, which cost $35 and $50 a month, respectively.

As another financing option, landlords are increasingly accepting credit cards for rent payments. Bilt, a credit card startup, built its brand around targeting renters when it launched, and some tenants also use credit cards to accumulate rewards or points.

But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/credit-card-default-51f76dea3666e9b2d95156b47c8092cd">paying rent by credit card</a>&nbsp;can also be costly. Landlords typically pass the processing fees on to tenants. Depending on the card issuer and payment network, these fees can range from about 2.5% to 3.5% of the rent. For a renter paying $1,500 a month, that translates to roughly $37.50 to $52.50 in fees — a monthly cost comparable to what services like Livble and Flex charge.

Economists and renters’ advocates argue that none of these financing options address the fundamental issue of affordability in the rental market. If credit cards, or flexible rent payment options become more widely used, they worry rents could rise further as landlords start factoring in a potential renters’ weekly cash flow as opposed to the rental market in the area the building is located in.

Merchants already pass along credit card processing costs to customers in the form of higher prices, and advocates worry that the rental market could adopt similar patterns. For example, Livble is owned by RealPage, which last year settled allegations that its algorithm allowed landlords to collude and push rents higher.

Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed from Washington.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/7/1625411208272.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/ken-sweet">KEN SWEET</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/cora-lewis">CORA LEWIS</a>KANSAS CITY (AP) — Rent can eat up an entire paycheck at the start of the month, so a growing number of renters are turning to a financial product that promises relief by letting them split the bill — for a price.So-called “rent now, pay later” services have emerged over the past few years as&nbsp;<a href="https://f5411012e10fa78d0257c137e60c1be3/" target="_blank">housing costs climb</a>&nbsp;and paychecks grow less predictable, particularly for lower-income and gig-economy workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, rents have jumped nearly 28% in past five years.Companies such as Flex, Livble and, more recently, Affirm, say breaking rent into multiple payments can help renters manage cash flow. But consumer advocates warn the products typically function like&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-missed-payments-regulation-f7fd30f2a0e900460919fad76a1e0dbf">short-term loans</a>, layering fees onto already strained budgets and, in some cases, carrying triple-digit effective interest rates — raising questions about whether they ease financial pressure or deepen it.Kellen Johnson, 44, started using Flex to split up his rent payments about two years ago. Instead of paying the whole $1,850 of his rent on the first of the month, Johnson would pay $1,350 on that date, and $500 on the 15th. For the service, Flex collected a $14.99 monthly subscription fee, as well as 1% of the total rent, which for Johnson was $18.50, bringing his monthly charges for the app to more than $33.Johnson said he was willing to pay the extra costs in part because he worked as an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/work-side-jobs-security-salaries-layoffs-df229576002b9b99cf4149b3978e937c">independently contracted delivery person</a>&nbsp;for Amazon at the time, and his paychecks could vary.“It was an expense that I was incurring, but I went ahead as it was more convenient,” said Johnson, who now works as a driver for senior citizens in Sacramento, California.Roughly 109 million Americans, or about 42.5 million households, are&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/realpage-doj-lawsuit-settlement-rent-data-4d8985a50c28b6322b8f82a2fbb5c79e">renters in the United States</a>. The Census Bureau estimated in 2024 that a large share of those households pay 30% or more of their monthly income on rent. The bureau considers such households to be “cost burdened,” meaning rent consumes so much of their income that they have less ability to plan for future expenses or build wealth.Rent now, pay later services generally operate the same way: The company pays the landlord the full rent when due, and the renter repays the company in two or more installments over the course of the month. Because rent can be such a large expense, the companies argue that spreading payments out can give renters more cash on hand.Many of these services&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-debt-holidays-0bb6006ddf14077ee5ae83fd43486923">come with fees</a>. The fees can be structured differently but should be generally thought of as cost of credit, consumer advocates warn. In Johnson’s case, he was paying $33.49 for a two-week loan of $500, for an effective annual percentage rate of 172%, when expressed using standard consumer-lending calculations.“Renters should be skeptical of any financing providers that have partnered with a landlord and be skeptical of anything that sells itself as no fees or no interest,” said Mike Pierce, executive director of Protect Borrowers. Pierce previously worked at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Launched in 2019, Flex is one of the largest companies focused on splitting rent payments. The company says its 1.5 million customers now send about $2 billion a month in rent through its system, and several of the country’s largest landlords accept Flex as a payment option.Flex says most of its customers are lower-income renters with weaker credit profiles. The company reports a median credit score of 604 among its users and says about one in three customers works more than one job to make ends meet. A Flex spokesman says the average customer uses the service three to four times a year. Johnson used it every month.Livble does not charge a subscription, but charges renters a fee ranging from $30 to $40, according to the company’s help page. Depending on how long the renter defers part of the payment, Livble’s fees can translate into effective annual percentage rates of roughly 104% to 139%.The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/buy-now-pay-later-loans-installments-02852578a991fb0d31879acd0b687e0d">buy now, pay later</a>&nbsp;company Affirm said this month that it is piloting a program allowing some customers to split rent into two payments. The program is being tested in partnership with Esusu, a company that reports rent payments to credit bureaus to help consumers build credit. An Affirm spokesman said the company is not charging renters interest or fees to use the product, but may charge landlords fees. However, to access the Affirm service, renters must subscribe to Esusu Plus or Premium, which cost $35 and $50 a month, respectively.As another financing option, landlords are increasingly accepting credit cards for rent payments. Bilt, a credit card startup, built its brand around targeting renters when it launched, and some tenants also use credit cards to accumulate rewards or points.But&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/credit-card-default-51f76dea3666e9b2d95156b47c8092cd">paying rent by credit card</a>&nbsp;can also be costly. Landlords typically pass the processing fees on to tenants. Depending on the card issuer and payment network, these fees can range from about 2.5% to 3.5% of the rent. For a renter paying $1,500 a month, that translates to roughly $37.50 to $52.50 in fees — a monthly cost comparable to what services like Livble and Flex charge.Economists and renters’ advocates argue that none of these financing options address the fundamental issue of affordability in the rental market. If credit cards, or flexible rent payment options become more widely used, they worry rents could rise further as landlords start factoring in a potential renters’ weekly cash flow as opposed to the rental market in the area the building is located in.Merchants already pass along credit card processing costs to customers in the form of higher prices, and advocates worry that the rental market could adopt similar patterns. For example, Livble is owned by RealPage, which last year settled allegations that its algorithm allowed landlords to collude and push rents higher.___Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed from Washington.

Renters use 'rent now, pay later' services to manage monthly payments, but fees raise concerns

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday launched TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly at a discounted rate at a time when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/poll-government-priorities-health-care-costs-trump-9426742bd09273ec9b67c7321dae8a02">health care</a>&nbsp;and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.

<a href="https://trumprx.gov/">Click here to visit the TrumpRx website</a>

“You’re going to save a fortune,” President Donald Trump said at the site’s unveiling. “And this is also so good for overall health care.”

The&nbsp;<a href="https://trumprx.gov/">government-hosted website</a>&nbsp;is not a platform for buying medications. Instead, it's set up as a facilitator, pointing Americans to drugmakers’ direct-to-consumer websites, where they can make purchases. It also provides coupons to use at pharmacies. The site launches with over 40 medications, including weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.

The site is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to show it's tacking the challenges of high costs. Affordability has emerged as a political vulnerability for Trump and his Republican allies going into November's midterm elections, as Americans remain concerned about the cost of housing, groceries, utilities and other staples of middle-class identity.

Trump stressed that the lower prices were made possible by his pressuring of pharmaceutical companies on prices, saying he demanded that they charge the same costs in the U.S. as in other nations. He said prescription drug costs will increase in foreign countries as a result.

“We're tired of subsidizing the world,” Trump said at the event on the White House campus that lasted roughly 20 minutes.

The president first teased TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of his more than 15&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/prescription-drug-costs-medicaid-pfizer-trump-8a8412352bbba708b3c0ee7dbe4ccefb">deals with pharmaceutical companies</a>&nbsp;to lower drug prices to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations. He said in December the website would provide “massive discounts to all consumers" — though it's unclear whether the prices available on drugmakers' websites will routinely be any lower than what many consumers could get through their insurance coverage.

The website's Thursday release came after it faced multiple delays, for reasons the administration hasn't publicly shared. Last fall, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Trump the site would share prices for consumers before the end of the year. An expected launch in late January was also pushed back.

The president has spent the past several months seeking to spotlight his efforts to lower drug prices for Americans. He’s done that through deals with major pharmaceutical companies, including some of the biggest drugmakers like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, which have agreed to lower prices of their Medicaid drugs to so-called “most favored nations” pricing. As part of the deals, many of the companies' new drugs are also to be launched at discounted rates for consumer markets through TrumpRx.

Many of the details of Trump's deals with manufacturers remain unclear, and drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on many factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.

Trump’s administration also has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/medicare-drug-prices-negotiation-trump-ozempic-wegovy-53602fe0b5b7800030c475c3a5f34c3c">negotiated lower prices</a>&nbsp;for several prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, through a direct negotiation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/medicare-drug-pricing-program-trump-negotiations-d4753de72caf3acd3d7a5f4e7c2fe7c6">program</a>&nbsp;created by a 2022 law.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday launched TrumpRx, a website it says will help patients buy prescription drugs directly at a discounted rate at a time when&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/poll-government-priorities-health-care-costs-trump-9426742bd09273ec9b67c7321dae8a02">health care</a>&nbsp;and the cost of living are growing concerns for Americans.<a href="https://trumprx.gov/">Click here to visit the TrumpRx website</a>“You’re going to save a fortune,” President Donald Trump said at the site’s unveiling. “And this is also so good for overall health care.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">IT&#39;S HERE: Finally, a direct to consumer website designed to find the lowest drug prices for YOU.<a href="https://t.co/jjnWOhcipw">https://t.co/jjnWOhcipw</a> <a href="https://t.co/p0aoOJ8xtg">pic.twitter.com/p0aoOJ8xtg</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/2019563094587109495?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Yes, <a href="https://twitter.com/POTUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@POTUS</a> has rapidly driven down the costs of the highest-spend drugs in the country, GLP-1s. Huge savings for Americans, found at <a href="https://t.co/qDpny1hxpl">https://t.co/qDpny1hxpl</a>. You guys really suck at your job. <a href="https://t.co/i6pwN1BzeV">https://t.co/i6pwN1BzeV</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2019571221478928686?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Military wife struggling with infertility shares what the launch of <a href="https://t.co/QSJ4wskHM1">https://t.co/QSJ4wskHM1</a>, and with it, affordable medications, means for her family: &quot;The President&#39;s leadership on price transparency and on reducing the cost of medication... has a real and immediate impact.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/B2JsKaa3nm">pic.twitter.com/B2JsKaa3nm</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2019568674139713784?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">WATCH: <a href="https://twitter.com/jgebbia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jgebbia</a>, Chief Design Officer at <a href="https://twitter.com/ndstudio?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ndstudio</a>, demonstrates the usability of the newly-launched <a href="https://t.co/QSJ4wsk9Wt">https://t.co/QSJ4wsk9Wt</a> — where Americans can go to find massive discounts on many of the most common prescription drugs: <a href="https://t.co/xPZ0NBLiFb">pic.twitter.com/xPZ0NBLiFb</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/2019567808783294716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 6, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The&nbsp;<a href="https://trumprx.gov/">government-hosted website</a>&nbsp;is not a platform for buying medications. Instead, it's set up as a facilitator, pointing Americans to drugmakers’ direct-to-consumer websites, where they can make purchases. It also provides coupons to use at pharmacies. The site launches with over 40 medications, including weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy.The site is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to show it's tacking the challenges of high costs. Affordability has emerged as a political vulnerability for Trump and his Republican allies going into November's midterm elections, as Americans remain concerned about the cost of housing, groceries, utilities and other staples of middle-class identity.Trump stressed that the lower prices were made possible by his pressuring of pharmaceutical companies on prices, saying he demanded that they charge the same costs in the U.S. as in other nations. He said prescription drug costs will increase in foreign countries as a result.“We're tired of subsidizing the world,” Trump said at the event on the White House campus that lasted roughly 20 minutes.The president first teased TrumpRx in September while announcing the first of his more than 15&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/prescription-drug-costs-medicaid-pfizer-trump-8a8412352bbba708b3c0ee7dbe4ccefb">deals with pharmaceutical companies</a>&nbsp;to lower drug prices to match the lowest price offered in other developed nations. He said in December the website would provide “massive discounts to all consumers" — though it's unclear whether the prices available on drugmakers' websites will routinely be any lower than what many consumers could get through their insurance coverage.The website's Thursday release came after it faced multiple delays, for reasons the administration hasn't publicly shared. Last fall, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, told Trump the site would share prices for consumers before the end of the year. An expected launch in late January was also pushed back.The president has spent the past several months seeking to spotlight his efforts to lower drug prices for Americans. He’s done that through deals with major pharmaceutical companies, including some of the biggest drugmakers like Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Merck, which have agreed to lower prices of their Medicaid drugs to so-called “most favored nations” pricing. As part of the deals, many of the companies' new drugs are also to be launched at discounted rates for consumer markets through TrumpRx.Many of the details of Trump's deals with manufacturers remain unclear, and drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on many factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare, which shield them from much of the cost.Trump’s administration also has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/medicare-drug-prices-negotiation-trump-ozempic-wegovy-53602fe0b5b7800030c475c3a5f34c3c">negotiated lower prices</a>&nbsp;for several prescription drugs for Medicare enrollees, through a direct negotiation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/medicare-drug-pricing-program-trump-negotiations-d4753de72caf3acd3d7a5f4e7c2fe7c6">program</a>&nbsp;created by a 2022 law.

Government's new TrumpRx website for prescription drugs at a discount

SEDGWICK COUNTY&nbsp;— A suspect accused in the deadly shooting of a Dodge City man was back in court on Friday.

&nbsp;Ricardo Talavera, 41,  pleaded no contest&nbsp; involuntary manslaughter and interference with a law enforcement office in the death of 49-year-old Ruben Parga-Quintanar during a hearing in Judge Kathleen Watson's courtroom, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

Just before 9a.m. August 1, officers and Wichita Fire Department crews responded to a report of a man down near the entrance to an alley in the 2400 block of North Jeanette in Wichita, according to a media release. When fire personnel arrived, they found Parga-Quintanar with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:53 a.m.

Early findings in the investigation suggested Parga-Quintanar was shot elsewhere and collapsed after fleeing on a bicycle. As the case progressed, detectives determined he was shot in the alley and then collapsed nearby.

Investigators identified Talavera as a suspect and served a search warrant at his home.&nbsp; On August 6, police arrested him and booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail.&nbsp; He remains jailed on a&nbsp;$1,000,000.00 bond and will be sentenced in March, according to the district attorney's office.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754486168417.png" alt="Talavera -photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Talavera -photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY&nbsp;— A suspect accused in the deadly shooting of a Dodge City man was back in court on Friday.&nbsp;Ricardo Talavera, 41, pleaded no contest&nbsp; involuntary manslaughter and interference with a law enforcement office in the death of 49-year-old Ruben Parga-Quintanar during a hearing in Judge Kathleen Watson's courtroom, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.Just before 9a.m. August 1, officers and Wichita Fire Department crews responded to a report of a man down near the entrance to an alley in the 2400 block of North Jeanette in Wichita, according to a media release. When fire personnel arrived, they found Parga-Quintanar with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:53 a.m.Early findings in the investigation suggested Parga-Quintanar was shot elsewhere and collapsed after fleeing on a bicycle. As the case progressed, detectives determined he was shot in the alley and then collapsed nearby.Investigators identified Talavera as a suspect and served a search warrant at his home.&nbsp; On August 6, police arrested him and booked him into the Sedgwick County Jail.&nbsp; He remains jailed on a&nbsp;$1,000,000.00 bond and will be sentenced in March, according to the district attorney's office.

Suspect enters plea in death of SW Kansas man

Bill voids decades of regulatory decisions amid concern about investigatory process

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">Tim Carpenter</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Lacey Grogan, Joshua Conner and Melissa Vaughn recounted traumatic nursing regulatory experiences in Kansas House testimony supporting an extraordinary bill written to force administrative changes at the Kansas State Board of Nursing.

The bill, if signed into law, would void state Board of Nursing disciplinary actions executed between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 1, 2026, including cases of licensure renewal and unprofessional conduct. Documents in the deleted cases would be sealed from the Kansas Open Records Act. Steps would be taken to remove from national databases information on nurses sanctioned by the Board of Nursing during the period.

A revised definition of unprofessional conduct for nurses — intended to rein in the Board of Nursing — would be retroactively applied to 2025. The definition would focus on alleged misconduct performed intentionally or carelessly but no longer include issues related to failure to timely renewal of a license.

In addition, the Board of Nursing would be required to adhere to a higher standard of proof in nurse disciplinary cases. It would shift from a preponderance of evidence to the more rigorous clear and convincing evidence.

Appointees of the Kansas governor to the Board of Nursing would undergo Senate confirmation. No member of the Legislature or the attorney general or a governor could serve on the board.

<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/fisc_note_hb2528_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2528 would make a series of other changes</a>&nbsp;at the Board of Nursing applicable to the 74,000 nursing professionals licensed in Kansas.

The House Health and Human Services Committee gathered testimony Thursday from critics and champions of the Board of Nursing. The&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/08/07/kansas-legislators-alarmed-nurses-suffer-draconian-penalty-for-license-renewal-errors/">Board of Nursing came under intense scrutiny by the Legislature in&nbsp;</a>mid-2025 as allegations of regulatory abuse became public.

Grogan, a registered nurse for 20 years who lives in St. Francis, told legislators she welcomed change at the Board of Nursing. While working at an understaffed rural Kansas hospital, Grogan said, she complied with professional standards by reporting a patient fall. The hospital’s administration retaliated by filing complaints against her with the Board of Nursing. Two were promptly dismissed, she said, but a third “lacking substantiated evidence was nevertheless pursued” by the Board of Nursing.

“I was denied a meaningful opportunity to speak on my own behalf without legal representation, pressured into signing a consent agreement for conduct I did not commit and ultimately fined and stripped of my nursing license,” Grogan said. “My name was included in a disciplinary mailer distributed to nurses statewide. Once reported to the national database, my licensure was called into question in nearly every other state where I held licensure.”

During emotional testimony, Grogan told legislators the “future of nursing depends on the decisions made in this room” to deal with the state regulatory board.

More than 25 people submitted testimony in support of the 23-page House bill. Seven individuals declared opposition.

Carol Moreland, executive administrator of the Board of Nursing since 2017, said provisions of HB 2528 could violate federal mandates and increased the risk of nurses harming the public. She questioned the Legislature’s heavy-handed approach to modifying authority of the Board of Nursing.

“No other regulatory board in Kansas is under this scrutiny and is being asked to make these unprecedented changes,” she said.

She objected to wiping out disciplinary decisions of the Board of Nursing for a period of two decades. She said that part of the bill would reverse sanctions against a school nurse who engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct with a student, a nurse who solicited prostitution at work and a nurse who stole credit cards from a patient and made purchases after the patient died.

“It’s not clear to us at the Board of Nursing what really happens next. If it’s voided, do they automatically have their license back?” Moreland said.

Another flaw in the bill required the Board of Nursing to send a flurry of notices to nurses approaching their two-year license renewal date, said Carol Moore, a retired advance practice nurse and former associate dean of Baker University’s nursing program. The bill would mandate renewal notices go out 90 days, 60 days, 30 days and seven days prior to the deadline, on the renewal date and seven days after that date.

“How much handholding does an educated professional require?” Moore said. “I do not see anything as written in this bill to enhance the care of patients nor to advance the stature of nursing.”

Topeka registered nurse Kelly Sommers said the Legislature should “put a stop to this embarrassment” of a bill. She said reforms in the bill appeared to be crafted in a way “to satisfy a handful of nurses who refuse to accept personal responsibility.”

Joshua Connor, an opponent of the bill, said he worked for a decade with elderly adults as a licensed practical nurse. He lived in Manhattan before taking a job in Florida. He said he didn’t renew his Kansas nursing license because his job didn’t require the credential.

Connor was subsequently diagnosed with cancer requiring surgery, but his employer didn’t want to accommodate his absence from work. He was fired and won a wrongful termination lawsuit. He considered returning to Kansas to resume his nursing career. After contacting the Board of Nursing to renew his license, the agency put him under investigation for allegedly working in Florida without a nursing license.

“My real nightmare began,” said Connor, who eventually secured a new Kansas nursing license. “I was coerced to sign a consent agreement that labeled me with unprofessional conduct.”

The Board of Nursing placed his name in a database for nurses guilty of unprofessional conduct. His request to have Florida recognize his nursing license was rejected because he was disciplined in Kansas.

“I am working over 60 hours a week now at 7-11 to support my family,” he said. “KSBN’s draconian actions have cost me thousands of dollars in lost wages and attorney fees. The emotional toll is indescribable.”

Melissa Vaughn, a Kansas registered nurse from Kansas City, Missouri, has worked the past five years as a Hy-Vee floral designer. She shared with legislators her “unimaginable experience” with staff at the Board of Nursing. Her career in nursing began in 1996. She graduated from nursing school at University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2012.

She presented House members a detailed outline of her licensing renewal battle with the Board of Nursing that came to a head in 2013.

“I pursued my case honestly with the mindset that if KSBN is doing this to me I have no doubt they are doing it to other nurses,” she said.

In 2013, Vaughn accidently checked a box on her renewal application indicating she hadn’t completed 30 hours of mandatory continuing education. She corrected her application. At one point, the Board of Nursing accepted documentation showing she met the requirement. She later received a letter from the Board of Nursing indicating her application was being audited. Another letter said her case was referred to a disciplinary attorney “for further disposition.”

Vaughn’s alleged offense: She applied for renewal of her license on March 18, 2013, before the 30-hour continuing education credit was affirmed by the Board of Nursing on April 16, 2013. It was a confusing development, she said, because her Kansas nursing license was, at that moment, still valid and wouldn’t lapse until May 31, 2013.

The Board of Nursing offered her a diversion agreement declaring she broke state licensing regulations with a flawed application. She said she rejected the plea deal because the agreement’s “statement of facts” included false information. An assistant attorney general at the Board of Nursing threatened her with license revocation for alleged “unprofessional conduct by fraud or deceit in practicing nursing.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770553162779.png" alt=" Kansas nurse Lacey Grogan testifies to a Kansas House committee in support of a bill making sweeping changes to administrative power of the Kansas State Board of Nursing (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> Kansas nurse Lacey Grogan testifies to a Kansas House committee in support of a bill making sweeping changes to administrative power of the Kansas State Board of Nursing (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Bill voids decades of regulatory decisions amid concern about investigatory process</h2>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">Tim Carpenter</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Lacey Grogan, Joshua Conner and Melissa Vaughn recounted traumatic nursing regulatory experiences in Kansas House testimony supporting an extraordinary bill written to force administrative changes at the Kansas State Board of Nursing.The bill, if signed into law, would void state Board of Nursing disciplinary actions executed between Jan. 1, 2005, and July 1, 2026, including cases of licensure renewal and unprofessional conduct. Documents in the deleted cases would be sealed from the Kansas Open Records Act. Steps would be taken to remove from national databases information on nurses sanctioned by the Board of Nursing during the period.A revised definition of unprofessional conduct for nurses — intended to rein in the Board of Nursing — would be retroactively applied to 2025. The definition would focus on alleged misconduct performed intentionally or carelessly but no longer include issues related to failure to timely renewal of a license.In addition, the Board of Nursing would be required to adhere to a higher standard of proof in nurse disciplinary cases. It would shift from a preponderance of evidence to the more rigorous clear and convincing evidence.Appointees of the Kansas governor to the Board of Nursing would undergo Senate confirmation. No member of the Legislature or the attorney general or a governor could serve on the board.<a href="https://www.kslegislature.gov/li/b2025_26/measures/documents/fisc_note_hb2528_00_0000.pdf" target="_blank">House Bill 2528 would make a series of other changes</a>&nbsp;at the Board of Nursing applicable to the 74,000 nursing professionals licensed in Kansas.The House Health and Human Services Committee gathered testimony Thursday from critics and champions of the Board of Nursing. The&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/08/07/kansas-legislators-alarmed-nurses-suffer-draconian-penalty-for-license-renewal-errors/">Board of Nursing came under intense scrutiny by the Legislature in&nbsp;</a>mid-2025 as allegations of regulatory abuse became public.Grogan, a registered nurse for 20 years who lives in St. Francis, told legislators she welcomed change at the Board of Nursing. While working at an understaffed rural Kansas hospital, Grogan said, she complied with professional standards by reporting a patient fall. The hospital’s administration retaliated by filing complaints against her with the Board of Nursing. Two were promptly dismissed, she said, but a third “lacking substantiated evidence was nevertheless pursued” by the Board of Nursing.“I was denied a meaningful opportunity to speak on my own behalf without legal representation, pressured into signing a consent agreement for conduct I did not commit and ultimately fined and stripped of my nursing license,” Grogan said. “My name was included in a disciplinary mailer distributed to nurses statewide. Once reported to the national database, my licensure was called into question in nearly every other state where I held licensure.”During emotional testimony, Grogan told legislators the “future of nursing depends on the decisions made in this room” to deal with the state regulatory board.More than 25 people submitted testimony in support of the 23-page House bill. Seven individuals declared opposition.<h2>Board’s viewpoint</h2>Carol Moreland, executive administrator of the Board of Nursing since 2017, said provisions of HB 2528 could violate federal mandates and increased the risk of nurses harming the public. She questioned the Legislature’s heavy-handed approach to modifying authority of the Board of Nursing.“No other regulatory board in Kansas is under this scrutiny and is being asked to make these unprecedented changes,” she said.She objected to wiping out disciplinary decisions of the Board of Nursing for a period of two decades. She said that part of the bill would reverse sanctions against a school nurse who engaged in sexually inappropriate conduct with a student, a nurse who solicited prostitution at work and a nurse who stole credit cards from a patient and made purchases after the patient died.“It’s not clear to us at the Board of Nursing what really happens next. If it’s voided, do they automatically have their license back?” Moreland said.Another flaw in the bill required the Board of Nursing to send a flurry of notices to nurses approaching their two-year license renewal date, said Carol Moore, a retired advance practice nurse and former associate dean of Baker University’s nursing program. The bill would mandate renewal notices go out 90 days, 60 days, 30 days and seven days prior to the deadline, on the renewal date and seven days after that date.“How much handholding does an educated professional require?” Moore said. “I do not see anything as written in this bill to enhance the care of patients nor to advance the stature of nursing.”Topeka registered nurse Kelly Sommers said the Legislature should “put a stop to this embarrassment” of a bill. She said reforms in the bill appeared to be crafted in a way “to satisfy a handful of nurses who refuse to accept personal responsibility.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2026/2/1770553123130.png" alt="The Kansas House Health and Human Service Committee’s hearing Feb. 5, 2026, attracted a large crowd for testimony on a bill making comprehensive change to administrative powers of the Kansas State Board of Nursing. The bill is a response to allegations by nursing professionals that the Board of Nursing abusively handles licensing and professional conduct cases. (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Kansas House Health and Human Service Committee’s hearing Feb. 5, 2026, attracted a large crowd for testimony on a bill making comprehensive change to administrative powers of the Kansas State Board of Nursing. The bill is a response to allegations by nursing professionals that the Board of Nursing abusively handles licensing and professional conduct cases. (Photo by Grace Hills for Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Case histories</h2>Joshua Connor, an opponent of the bill, said he worked for a decade with elderly adults as a licensed practical nurse. He lived in Manhattan before taking a job in Florida. He said he didn’t renew his Kansas nursing license because his job didn’t require the credential.Connor was subsequently diagnosed with cancer requiring surgery, but his employer didn’t want to accommodate his absence from work. He was fired and won a wrongful termination lawsuit. He considered returning to Kansas to resume his nursing career. After contacting the Board of Nursing to renew his license, the agency put him under investigation for allegedly working in Florida without a nursing license.“My real nightmare began,” said Connor, who eventually secured a new Kansas nursing license. “I was coerced to sign a consent agreement that labeled me with unprofessional conduct.”The Board of Nursing placed his name in a database for nurses guilty of unprofessional conduct. His request to have Florida recognize his nursing license was rejected because he was disciplined in Kansas.“I am working over 60 hours a week now at 7-11 to support my family,” he said. “KSBN’s draconian actions have cost me thousands of dollars in lost wages and attorney fees. The emotional toll is indescribable.”Melissa Vaughn, a Kansas registered nurse from Kansas City, Missouri, has worked the past five years as a Hy-Vee floral designer. She shared with legislators her “unimaginable experience” with staff at the Board of Nursing. Her career in nursing began in 1996. She graduated from nursing school at University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2012.She presented House members a detailed outline of her licensing renewal battle with the Board of Nursing that came to a head in 2013.“I pursued my case honestly with the mindset that if KSBN is doing this to me I have no doubt they are doing it to other nurses,” she said.In 2013, Vaughn accidently checked a box on her renewal application indicating she hadn’t completed 30 hours of mandatory continuing education. She corrected her application. At one point, the Board of Nursing accepted documentation showing she met the requirement. She later received a letter from the Board of Nursing indicating her application was being audited. Another letter said her case was referred to a disciplinary attorney “for further disposition.”Vaughn’s alleged offense: She applied for renewal of her license on March 18, 2013, before the 30-hour continuing education credit was affirmed by the Board of Nursing on April 16, 2013. It was a confusing development, she said, because her Kansas nursing license was, at that moment, still valid and wouldn’t lapse until May 31, 2013.The Board of Nursing offered her a diversion agreement declaring she broke state licensing regulations with a flawed application. She said she rejected the plea deal because the agreement’s “statement of facts” included false information. An assistant attorney general at the Board of Nursing threatened her with license revocation for alleged “unprofessional conduct by fraud or deceit in practicing nursing.”The Board of Nursing issued a 15-day license suspension but later reversed the order. She paid a $250 fine for failure to exhibit a “cooperative attitude toward the disciplinary proceedings.”More than a decade later, Vaughn said, she was grateful introduction of the House bill offered her an opportunity to advocate for reform that addressed “a sickening mix of KSBN’s schemes, incompetence, ignorance and greed.”