Secretary of State Denny Hoskins says the summary of a proposed initiative petition seeking to repeal stadium subsidies was a ‘first bite at the apple’ that can later be refined in the courts. Critics say that’s just a strategy to bog down and derail citizen-led campaigns

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jason-hancock/">Jason Hancock</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>

Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is warning voters that a repeal of Missouri’s $1.5 billion stadium subsidy could mean the Chiefs pack their bags and move to Kansas.&nbsp;

And what about the Royals, the other team state lawmakers were hoping to convince to stay in Missouri when they created the subsidy program?&nbsp; Crickets.&nbsp;

A ballot summary prepared by Hoskins’ office for a pair of proposed initiative petitions seeking to repeal the stadium funding law declares that voter approval could “likely cause the Kansas City Chiefs to move their stadium from Missouri to Kansas.”

There is no mention of the Royals, an omission that sparked a flurry of questions — and criticism.&nbsp;

Does Hoskins have some reason to believe the Royals have already decided to leave the state or have no intention of using the stadium tax incentives?&nbsp;

Or, as critics allege, is Hoskins hoping to sink the measure by making predictions about the future plans of the Chiefs, who&nbsp;— unlike the Royals — have a statewide fanbase, three recent championships, and a star player in Patrick Mahomes who is the face of the sport?

The Secretary of State’s Office insists it has neither inside knowledge of the Royals’ intentions nor a desire to bias voters against the proposed repeal. In a statement, the office said it “does not have access to or knowledge of the private business decisions of any professional sports franchise,” and that the ballot summary must reflect the “clearest, most immediate potential consequence” of the law.

Besides, Hoskins’ office said, the current version of the summary is just the “first bite at the apple.” A recently approved state law gives the secretary of state up to three times to get the ballot language right — if proponents are upset enough about the first version to take the issue to court.&nbsp;

Brad Ketcher, a lawyer working with the group behind the ballot measure to repeal the subsidy, believes that’s the point. Writing an unfair ballot summary forces backers of initiative petitions to invest the time and money into legal challenges that could otherwise be dedicated to gathering signatures or engaging with voters.&nbsp;

“Hoskins is all but admitting,” Ketcher said, “that he drafted flawed language with an eye toward slowing the measure.”

Over the last month, Hoskins has found himself at the center of the political storm, facing criticism — and lawsuits — over his office’s role in the initiative petition and referendum process.&nbsp;

Hoskins has used his authority to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/16/lawsuit-threat-of-criminal-charges-part-of-gop-effort-to-block-vote-on-missouri-map/">pre-emptively reject 100,000 signatures for a proposed referendum</a>&nbsp;on Missouri’s new congressional map. He’s also come under fire for crafting what critics call “<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/lawsuits-challenge-deceptive-summaries-for-missouri-public-education-ballot-measures/">deceptive and prejudicial</a>” summary statements for two public‐education related constitutional amendments.&nbsp;

He was tasked with rewriting the ballot language for a proposal to reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban after a Cole County judge determined the initial wording by lawmakers failed to alert voters that the amendment would ban most abortions.&nbsp;

But his initial draft was rejected when the judge determined it was “insufficient and unfair.” Hoskins got the judge’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/07/missouri-abortion-ban-amendment-ballot-language-2026/">sign off on the summary</a>&nbsp;on his next attempt.&nbsp;

Sean Nicholson, a longtime progressive activist in Missouri, filed a lawsuit earlier this year asking a judge to strike down a new law that says any ballot language deemed insufficient or unfair by a court must be sent back to the secretary of state up to three times for revision. If, after three attempts, the courts still find the language unacceptable, a judge is then allowed to rewrite it themselves.

Nicholson said Hoskins’ behavior is exactly why the law is so dangerous and should be overturned.

“Denny Hoskins is required to write fair and impartial language,” Nicholson said. “But instead, he is reinforcing all the concerns people had when the legislature passed the law, that a bad-faith politician could use it to waste the people’s time and resources.”&nbsp;

As for the Chiefs and Royals, their future — in Missouri or Kansas — remains unresolved.&nbsp;

“We have heard nothing to indicate that the Royals have decided to leave the State of Missouri,” said Gabby Picard, a spokeswoman for Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, whose office plays no role in the intuitive petition process, when asked about the team’s omission from the ballot summary.

“In fact,” Picard said, “Gov. Kehoe and his team remain in frequent communication with the Royals and the Chiefs to ensure that both teams stay in Missouri — where they belong.”

The teams have expressed interest in leaving Missouri when the lease on their current stadiums in Jackson County expire in 2030. Kansas lawmakers put a deal on the table that would use state incentives to pay for up to 70% of the costs of new stadiums.

The Missouri plan would allocate state taxes collected from economic activity at Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums to bond payments for renovations at Arrowhead and a new stadium for the Royals in Jackson or Clay counties. The cost is estimated at close to $1.5 billion over 30 years.

A pair of Republican lawmakers<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-ag-general-assembly-seek-to-dismiss-lawsuit-against-stadium-funding-bill/">&nbsp;filed a lawsuit hoping to get the entire package thrown out</a>, arguing it violates the constitution by including multiple provisions and aid to private interests.&nbsp;

The initiative petitions aiming to repeal the stadium subsidy seek to direct any money saved toward preventing cuts to Medicaid&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/article_59f065f3-1e50-44a6-81ac-630fb5acd698.html" target="_blank">that could result from legislation passed this summer by Congress</a>.&nbsp;

Hoskins, Ketcher alleges, “has chosen to protect billions for billionaire sports team owners at the expense of everyday Missourians and their health care.”&nbsp;

For his part, Hoskins defended his work — and his team loyalties.&nbsp;

“Secretary Hoskins applauds the Royals on a hard-fought season and, like many Missourians, is cheering on the Chiefs this football season,” his office said in a statement. “Regardless of team colors, the goal remains the same: ensuring Missouri voters have the facts they need to make an informed decision at the ballot box.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/5/1748263709817.png" alt="GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, is pictured on Sat. Feb. 8 (Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent)." />
 <figcaption>GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs, is pictured on Sat. Feb. 8 (Anna Spoerre/The Missouri Independent).</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Secretary of State Denny Hoskins says the summary of a proposed initiative petition seeking to repeal stadium subsidies was a ‘first bite at the apple’ that can later be refined in the courts. Critics say that’s just a strategy to bog down and derail citizen-led campaigns</h2>By:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/jason-hancock/">Jason Hancock</a> <a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-senate-committee-advances-bill-to-ban-texting-while-driving/">Missouri Independent</a>Secretary of State Denny Hoskins is warning voters that a repeal of Missouri’s $1.5 billion stadium subsidy could mean the Chiefs pack their bags and move to Kansas.&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1759061969764.png" alt="Secretary of State Denny Hoskins-courtesy phto" />
 <figcaption>Secretary of State Denny Hoskins-courtesy phto</figcaption>
 </figure>And what about the Royals, the other team state lawmakers were hoping to convince to stay in Missouri when they created the subsidy program?&nbsp; Crickets.&nbsp;A ballot summary prepared by Hoskins’ office for a pair of proposed initiative petitions seeking to repeal the stadium funding law declares that voter approval could “likely cause the Kansas City Chiefs to move their stadium from Missouri to Kansas.”There is no mention of the Royals, an omission that sparked a flurry of questions — and criticism.&nbsp;Does Hoskins have some reason to believe the Royals have already decided to leave the state or have no intention of using the stadium tax incentives?&nbsp;Or, as critics allege, is Hoskins hoping to sink the measure by making predictions about the future plans of the Chiefs, who&nbsp;— unlike the Royals — have a statewide fanbase, three recent championships, and a star player in Patrick Mahomes who is the face of the sport?The Secretary of State’s Office insists it has neither inside knowledge of the Royals’ intentions nor a desire to bias voters against the proposed repeal. In a statement, the office said it “does not have access to or knowledge of the private business decisions of any professional sports franchise,” and that the ballot summary must reflect the “clearest, most immediate potential consequence” of the law.Besides, Hoskins’ office said, the current version of the summary is just the “first bite at the apple.” A recently approved state law gives the secretary of state up to three times to get the ballot language right — if proponents are upset enough about the first version to take the issue to court.&nbsp;Brad Ketcher, a lawyer working with the group behind the ballot measure to repeal the subsidy, believes that’s the point. Writing an unfair ballot summary forces backers of initiative petitions to invest the time and money into legal challenges that could otherwise be dedicated to gathering signatures or engaging with voters.&nbsp;“Hoskins is all but admitting,” Ketcher said, “that he drafted flawed language with an eye toward slowing the measure.”Over the last month, Hoskins has found himself at the center of the political storm, facing criticism — and lawsuits — over his office’s role in the initiative petition and referendum process.&nbsp;Hoskins has used his authority to&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/16/lawsuit-threat-of-criminal-charges-part-of-gop-effort-to-block-vote-on-missouri-map/">pre-emptively reject 100,000 signatures for a proposed referendum</a>&nbsp;on Missouri’s new congressional map. He’s also come under fire for crafting what critics call “<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/lawsuits-challenge-deceptive-summaries-for-missouri-public-education-ballot-measures/">deceptive and prejudicial</a>” summary statements for two public‐education related constitutional amendments.&nbsp;He was tasked with rewriting the ballot language for a proposal to reinstate Missouri’s abortion ban after a Cole County judge determined the initial wording by lawmakers failed to alert voters that the amendment would ban most abortions.&nbsp;But his initial draft was rejected when the judge determined it was “insufficient and unfair.” Hoskins got the judge’s&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/10/07/missouri-abortion-ban-amendment-ballot-language-2026/">sign off on the summary</a>&nbsp;on his next attempt.&nbsp;Sean Nicholson, a longtime progressive activist in Missouri, filed a lawsuit earlier this year asking a judge to strike down a new law that says any ballot language deemed insufficient or unfair by a court must be sent back to the secretary of state up to three times for revision. If, after three attempts, the courts still find the language unacceptable, a judge is then allowed to rewrite it themselves.Nicholson said Hoskins’ behavior is exactly why the law is so dangerous and should be overturned.“Denny Hoskins is required to write fair and impartial language,” Nicholson said. “But instead, he is reinforcing all the concerns people had when the legislature passed the law, that a bad-faith politician could use it to waste the people’s time and resources.”&nbsp;As for the Chiefs and Royals, their future — in Missouri or Kansas — remains unresolved.&nbsp;“We have heard nothing to indicate that the Royals have decided to leave the State of Missouri,” said Gabby Picard, a spokeswoman for Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, whose office plays no role in the intuitive petition process, when asked about the team’s omission from the ballot summary.“In fact,” Picard said, “Gov. Kehoe and his team remain in frequent communication with the Royals and the Chiefs to ensure that both teams stay in Missouri — where they belong.”The teams have expressed interest in leaving Missouri when the lease on their current stadiums in Jackson County expire in 2030. Kansas lawmakers put a deal on the table that would use state incentives to pay for up to 70% of the costs of new stadiums.The Missouri plan would allocate state taxes collected from economic activity at Arrowhead and Kauffman stadiums to bond payments for renovations at Arrowhead and a new stadium for the Royals in Jackson or Clay counties. The cost is estimated at close to $1.5 billion over 30 years.A pair of Republican lawmakers<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/briefs/missouri-ag-general-assembly-seek-to-dismiss-lawsuit-against-stadium-funding-bill/">&nbsp;filed a lawsuit hoping to get the entire package thrown out</a>, arguing it violates the constitution by including multiple provisions and aid to private interests.&nbsp;The initiative petitions aiming to repeal the stadium subsidy seek to direct any money saved toward preventing cuts to Medicaid&nbsp;<a href="https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/government-politics/article_59f065f3-1e50-44a6-81ac-630fb5acd698.html" target="_blank">that could result from legislation passed this summer by Congress</a>.&nbsp;Hoskins, Ketcher alleges, “has chosen to protect billions for billionaire sports team owners at the expense of everyday Missourians and their health care.”&nbsp;For his part, Hoskins defended his work — and his team loyalties.&nbsp;“Secretary Hoskins applauds the Royals on a hard-fought season and, like many Missourians, is cheering on the Chiefs this football season,” his office said in a statement. “Regardless of team colors, the goal remains the same: ensuring Missouri voters have the facts they need to make an informed decision at the ballot box.”

Chiefs in, Royals out: Mo. secretary of state once again catches flak over ballot summary

RILEY COUNTY —Authorities are investigating the cause of fire at a home in Manhattan.

On Sunday, crews&nbsp;responded to 326 Vattier Street in Manhattan, according to a social media report from the Manhattan Fire Department.

Crews found fire showing from the front of the home.  The building was quickly searched and the fire was extinguished.  No injuries were reported.  The occupants of the home were displaced.&nbsp; The fire department released no additional details early Monday.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760970839575.png" alt="Photos Manhattan Fire Department" />
 <figcaption>Photos Manhattan Fire Department</figcaption>
 </figure>RILEY COUNTY —Authorities are investigating the cause of fire at a home in Manhattan.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760970734045.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>On Sunday, crews&nbsp;responded to 326 Vattier Street in Manhattan, according to a social media report from the Manhattan Fire Department.Crews found fire showing from the front of the home. The building was quickly searched and the fire was extinguished. No injuries were reported. The occupants of the home were displaced.&nbsp; The fire department released no additional details early Monday.

Family displaced after Kansas house fire 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/government-shutdown">federal government shutdown</a>&nbsp;is quickly approaching the second&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdowns-history-schumer-trump-f442ba1392fab3e7cab37756302e829c">longest on record</a>&nbsp;with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-trump-obamacare-republicans-democrats-b6b59cae2ec28b39e57fbb703704f46a">no end in sight</a>. Some lawmakers are predicting it could become the longest, surpassing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/30769167ab7a4ef9adf880d020b775dd">the 35 days from President Donald Trump's first term</a>.

The Trump administration is using the current shutdown to buttress priorities it favors while seeking to dismantle those it doesn't. Nevertheless, Democrats are insisting that any funding bill include help for millions of Americans who will lose health insurance coverage or face dramatically higher monthly premiums if Congress does nothing.

The shutdown began Oct. 1. Here's a look at its impact so far on workers, the economy and the services the government provides.

The federal government employed nearly 2.3 million civilian employees as of March 31. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that about 750,000 of those employees would be furloughed each day during a shutdown. That means they don't report to work until the shutdown ends. Others are considered “excepted” and do go to work, helping to protect life and property and perform other essential services.

Both groups of workers will get paid, but on a retroactive basis. That means they are facing the prospect of missing a full paycheck later this month after receiving a partial one earlier for work performed in late September.

The nation's 1.3 million active-duty service members got a temporary reprieve. They were looking at missing a paycheck on Wednesday. But Trump directed the Pentagon to redirect money. A second reprieve looks unlikely.

Of note for taxpayers, the government tab for paying furloughed workers while they are at home comes to roughly $400 million a day, according to a CBO estimate provided at the request of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.

The administration is also trying to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-10-10-2025">fire thousands of federal workers</a>&nbsp;in agencies that don't align with its priorities. Republican leaders in Congress have said that's part of the fallout from a shutdown. Past presidents, however, did not use shutdowns to engage in mass firings.

The Republican administration has announced one reduction in force affecting 4,100 workers, with the biggest cuts happening at the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Education and Housing and Urban Development.

White House budget chief Russ Vought said in an interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show” that many more are planned.

“I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000,” Vought said.

“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy,” Vought said. “Not just the funding, but the bureaucracy, that we now have an opportunity to do that.”

A federal judge has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-layoffs-trump-unions-b312b3ca77cbdbc72e778ece3b2cbffc">temporarily blocked</a>&nbsp;the firings, saying the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the administration was “100%” confident that it will prevail on the merits in subsequent legal action.

Lawmakers acknowledge that many federal workers live paycheck to paycheck and will face some financial stress during the shutdown. Food banks in some communities have boosted efforts to help them. The Capital Area Food Bank, for example, said it would hold additional food distributions in the Washington region beginning Monday to support federal workers and contractors.

Past shutdowns have had slight impacts on the economy, reducing growth in the quarter during which the shutdown occurs, but growth increases slightly in the following three months to help make up for it.

One estimate from Oxford Economics said a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week. A shutdown that lasts the entire quarter, which has never occurred, would reduce growth for those three months by 1.2 to 2.4 percentage points.

Some industries are hurt worse than others.

The U.S. Travel Association said the travel economy is expected to lose $1 billion a week as travelers change plans to visit national parks, historic sites and the nation's capital, where many facilities such as Smithsonian Institution museums and the National Zoo are now closed to visitors.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Small Business Administration supports loans totaling about $860 million a week for 1,600 small businesses. Those programs close to new loans during the shutdown. The shutdown also has halted the issuance and renewal of flood insurance policies, delaying mortgage closings and real estate transactions.

The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air controller shortages in cities across the United States, from airports in Boston and Philadelphia, to control centers in Atlanta and Houston.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-government-shutdown-travel-aviation-flight-delays-211022120bf96ab95dc6861ca5a7e32d">Flight delays</a>&nbsp;have spread to airports in Nashville, Tennessee, Dallas, Newark, New Jersey and more.

The party that insists on conditions as part of a government funding bill generally doesn't get its way. That was the case in 2013 and 2018 for Republicans. It remains to be seen how things will shake out this time, but neither side appears to be budging.

So far, the public is rather split on who is to blame for the impasse. Roughly 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump and Republicans in Congress have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about Democrats in Congress, according to the poll from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnorc.org/">The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research</a>.

Perceptions could change depending upon how much the White House uses the shutdown to eliminate Democratic priorities and Democratic-leaning states and cities.

The administration has put on hold roughly $18 billion to fund&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-new-york-city-business-94a9e170a3348c74a3545ece08f15687">a new rail tunnel</a>&nbsp;beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and an extension of the city’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-79783568fad34e788930b01ef246fadb">Second Avenue subway</a>. It canceled $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. The administration cited reasons apart from the shutdown for the funding changes.

In the end, there does not appear to be an easy way out of the shutdown. Republicans insists any negotiations on health care occur after the government is fully open for business. “We’re not conducting negotiations in a hostage situation," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

Across the Capitol, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Democrats "are not going to bend and we’re not going to break because we are standing up for the American people.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1759315749226.png" alt="Image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/government-shutdown">federal government shutdown</a>&nbsp;is quickly approaching the second&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdowns-history-schumer-trump-f442ba1392fab3e7cab37756302e829c">longest on record</a>&nbsp;with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-trump-obamacare-republicans-democrats-b6b59cae2ec28b39e57fbb703704f46a">no end in sight</a>. Some lawmakers are predicting it could become the longest, surpassing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/30769167ab7a4ef9adf880d020b775dd">the 35 days from President Donald Trump's first term</a>.The Trump administration is using the current shutdown to buttress priorities it favors while seeking to dismantle those it doesn't. Nevertheless, Democrats are insisting that any funding bill include help for millions of Americans who will lose health insurance coverage or face dramatically higher monthly premiums if Congress does nothing.The shutdown began Oct. 1. Here's a look at its impact so far on workers, the economy and the services the government provides.<h2>Furloughs and firings</h2>The federal government employed nearly 2.3 million civilian employees as of March 31. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that about 750,000 of those employees would be furloughed each day during a shutdown. That means they don't report to work until the shutdown ends. Others are considered “excepted” and do go to work, helping to protect life and property and perform other essential services.Both groups of workers will get paid, but on a retroactive basis. That means they are facing the prospect of missing a full paycheck later this month after receiving a partial one earlier for work performed in late September.The nation's 1.3 million active-duty service members got a temporary reprieve. They were looking at missing a paycheck on Wednesday. But Trump directed the Pentagon to redirect money. A second reprieve looks unlikely.Of note for taxpayers, the government tab for paying furloughed workers while they are at home comes to roughly $400 million a day, according to a CBO estimate provided at the request of Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.The administration is also trying to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/donald-trump-news-updates-10-10-2025">fire thousands of federal workers</a>&nbsp;in agencies that don't align with its priorities. Republican leaders in Congress have said that's part of the fallout from a shutdown. Past presidents, however, did not use shutdowns to engage in mass firings.The Republican administration has announced one reduction in force affecting 4,100 workers, with the biggest cuts happening at the departments of Treasury, Health and Human Services, Education and Housing and Urban Development.White House budget chief Russ Vought said in an interview on “The Charlie Kirk Show” that many more are planned.“I think we’ll probably end up being north of 10,000,” Vought said.“We want to be very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy,” Vought said. “Not just the funding, but the bureaucracy, that we now have an opportunity to do that.”A federal judge has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/government-shutdown-layoffs-trump-unions-b312b3ca77cbdbc72e778ece3b2cbffc">temporarily blocked</a>&nbsp;the firings, saying the cuts appeared to be politically motivated and were being carried out without much thought. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that the administration was “100%” confident that it will prevail on the merits in subsequent legal action.Lawmakers acknowledge that many federal workers live paycheck to paycheck and will face some financial stress during the shutdown. Food banks in some communities have boosted efforts to help them. The Capital Area Food Bank, for example, said it would hold additional food distributions in the Washington region beginning Monday to support federal workers and contractors.<h2>Economic Impact</h2>Past shutdowns have had slight impacts on the economy, reducing growth in the quarter during which the shutdown occurs, but growth increases slightly in the following three months to help make up for it.One estimate from Oxford Economics said a shutdown reduces economic growth by 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points per week. A shutdown that lasts the entire quarter, which has never occurred, would reduce growth for those three months by 1.2 to 2.4 percentage points.Some industries are hurt worse than others.The U.S. Travel Association said the travel economy is expected to lose $1 billion a week as travelers change plans to visit national parks, historic sites and the nation's capital, where many facilities such as Smithsonian Institution museums and the National Zoo are now closed to visitors.The U.S. Chamber of Commerce noted that the Small Business Administration supports loans totaling about $860 million a week for 1,600 small businesses. Those programs close to new loans during the shutdown. The shutdown also has halted the issuance and renewal of flood insurance policies, delaying mortgage closings and real estate transactions.The Federal Aviation Administration has reported air controller shortages in cities across the United States, from airports in Boston and Philadelphia, to control centers in Atlanta and Houston.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-government-shutdown-travel-aviation-flight-delays-211022120bf96ab95dc6861ca5a7e32d">Flight delays</a>&nbsp;have spread to airports in Nashville, Tennessee, Dallas, Newark, New Jersey and more.<h2>Political fallout</h2>The party that insists on conditions as part of a government funding bill generally doesn't get its way. That was the case in 2013 and 2018 for Republicans. It remains to be seen how things will shake out this time, but neither side appears to be budging.So far, the public is rather split on who is to blame for the impasse. Roughly 6 in 10 U.S. adults say Trump and Republicans in Congress have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about Democrats in Congress, according to the poll from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnorc.org/">The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research</a>.Perceptions could change depending upon how much the White House uses the shutdown to eliminate Democratic priorities and Democratic-leaning states and cities.The administration has put on hold roughly $18 billion to fund&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-new-york-city-business-94a9e170a3348c74a3545ece08f15687">a new rail tunnel</a>&nbsp;beneath the Hudson River between New York City and New Jersey and an extension of the city’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/general-news-79783568fad34e788930b01ef246fadb">Second Avenue subway</a>. It canceled $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election. The administration cited reasons apart from the shutdown for the funding changes.In the end, there does not appear to be an easy way out of the shutdown. Republicans insists any negotiations on health care occur after the government is fully open for business. “We’re not conducting negotiations in a hostage situation," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.Across the Capitol, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Democrats "are not going to bend and we’re not going to break because we are standing up for the American people.”

Government shutdown impact on workers, services and the economy 

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a fatal crash and have made an arrest.

Just after 7p.m. October 17,&nbsp; police responded to a crash involving a sedan and a motorcycle at West 42nd Street South and South Seneca in Wichita, according to a media release. First responders located a 27-year-old motorcyclist, who was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Preliminary investigation indicates that the 61-year-old driver of a sedan was traveling north on Seneca and attempting to make a left turn onto 42nd Street. The motorcyclist was traveling south on Seneca when the sedan turned and struck him.

The Wichita Police Critical Accident Follow up Team was activated and AFU Detectives responded to the scene. Police arrested the sedan driver identified from county arrest records as Brian Adrian and booked him into jail on requested charges of Involuntary Manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor in the crash, according to police.

Adrian remains in custody on a $200,000 bond, according to online jail records. This case will be presented to the District Attorney’s office for formal charges.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760814308179.png" alt="Police near the crash scene photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police near the crash scene photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating a fatal crash and have made an arrest.Just after 7p.m. October 17,&nbsp; police responded to a crash involving a sedan and a motorcycle at West 42nd Street South and South Seneca in Wichita, according to a media release. First responders located a 27-year-old motorcyclist, who was pronounced deceased at the scene.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760814274895.png" alt="Adrian photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Adrian photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>Preliminary investigation indicates that the 61-year-old driver of a sedan was traveling north on Seneca and attempting to make a left turn onto 42nd Street. The motorcyclist was traveling south on Seneca when the sedan turned and struck him.The Wichita Police Critical Accident Follow up Team was activated and AFU Detectives responded to the scene. Police arrested the sedan driver identified from county arrest records as Brian Adrian and booked him into jail on requested charges of Involuntary Manslaughter while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Alcohol is believed to have been a contributing factor in the crash, according to police.Adrian remains in custody on a $200,000 bond, according to online jail records. This case will be presented to the District Attorney’s office for formal charges.

Kansas man accused of DUI in crash that killed motorcyclist

LONDON (AP) — Internet users around the world faced widespread disruption early on Monday because of a problem at Amazon’s cloud computing service that took down dozens of major online services, including social media site Snapchat, the Roblox and Fortnite video games and chat app Signal.

About three hours after the outage began, Amazon Web Services said it was&nbsp;<a href="https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status" target="_blank">starting to recover from the problem.</a>

Amazon Web Services provides behind-the-scenes cloud computing infrastructure to many government departments, universities and businesses, including The Associated Press, which allows them to provide online services.

On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services. DownDetector said the problems were: “Possibly related to issues at Amazon Web Services.”

Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage.

Even Amazon’s own services weren’t immune. Users of the company’s Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa-powered smart speakers posted on DownDetector that they weren’t working, while others said they were unable to access the Amazon website or download books to their Kindle.

Amazon pinned the outage on issues related to their domain name system, an apparatus that converts web addresses into IP addresses so websites and apps can load on internet-connected devices.

The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it was “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”

Later, the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem.

Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.”

This is not the first time issues with Amazon’s key services have caused widespread disruptions. Many popular internet services were down after a brief&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/amazon-outage-aws-cloud-services-be93bc744e4e69d04055683830a409c3">outage in 2023</a>. AWS’s longest outage in recent history occurred in late 2021, when companies -- everything from airline reservations and auto dealerships to payment apps and video streaming services -- were affected for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-amazoncom-inc-web-services-3ba6c35f2c86245231c03a2dc7f0c995">more than five hours</a>. Outages also happened in 2020 and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/32dc4dceb18a4214b23b2930ebd1e05f">2017</a>.

The company reported that 64 internal AWS services were affected by the issue.

AWS customers include some of the world’s biggest businesses and organizations.

“So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum” of online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

“The world now runs on the cloud,” and the internet is seen as a utility like water or electricity, as we spend so much of our lives on our smartphones, Burgess said.

And because so much of the online world’s plumbing is underpinned by a handful of companies, when something goes wrong, “it’s very difficult for users to pinpoint what is happening because we don’t see Amazon, we just see Snapchat or Roblox,” Burgess said.

“The good news is that this kind of issue is usually relatively fast (to resolve)” and there’s no indication that it was caused by a cyber incident like a cyberattack, Burgess said.

“This looks like a good old-fashioned technology issue, something’s gone wrong and it will be fixed by Amazon,” he said.

There are “well-established processes” to deal with outages at Amazon Web Services, as well as rivals Google and Microsoft, which together provide most of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure, Burgess said, adding that such outages are usually fixed in “hours rather than days.”

NEW YORK (AP) —Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world. Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press. The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.” 

Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.” Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world on Monday.

Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.

On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services. Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage.

The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”

Later the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem.

“The world now runs on the cloud” and the internet is seen as a utility like water or electricity as we spend so much of our lives on our smartphones, Burgess said.

And because so much of the online world’s plumbing is underpinned by a handful of companies, when something goes wrong “it’s very difficult for users to pinpoint what is happening because we don’t see Amazon, we just see Snapchat or Roblox,” Burgess said.

“This look’s like a good old fashioned technology issue, something’s gone wrong and it will be fixed by Amazon,” he said.

Amazon Web Services said at about 6:30 a.m. Eastern time that “most AWS Service operations are succeeding normally now.”

AP writer Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) —An Amazon Web Services outage is causing major disruptions around the world. The service provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.

On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services.

Amazon Web Services said on the site where it provides updates that services in its eastern U.S. region were disrupted and engineers were working to understand what was causing the problem.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760954347143.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>LONDON (AP) — Internet users around the world faced widespread disruption early on Monday because of a problem at Amazon’s cloud computing service that took down dozens of major online services, including social media site Snapchat, the Roblox and Fortnite video games and chat app Signal.About three hours after the outage began, Amazon Web Services said it was&nbsp;<a href="https://health.aws.amazon.com/health/status" target="_blank">starting to recover from the problem.</a>Amazon Web Services provides behind-the-scenes cloud computing infrastructure to many government departments, universities and businesses, including The Associated Press, which allows them to provide online services.On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services. DownDetector said the problems were: “Possibly related to issues at Amazon Web Services.”Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage.Even Amazon’s own services weren’t immune. Users of the company’s Ring doorbell cameras and Alexa-powered smart speakers posted on DownDetector that they weren’t working, while others said they were unable to access the Amazon website or download books to their Kindle.Amazon pinned the outage on issues related to their domain name system, an apparatus that converts web addresses into IP addresses so websites and apps can load on internet-connected devices.The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it was “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”Later, the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem.Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.”This is not the first time issues with Amazon’s key services have caused widespread disruptions. Many popular internet services were down after a brief&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/amazon-outage-aws-cloud-services-be93bc744e4e69d04055683830a409c3">outage in 2023</a>. AWS’s longest outage in recent history occurred in late 2021, when companies -- everything from airline reservations and auto dealerships to payment apps and video streaming services -- were affected for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-amazoncom-inc-web-services-3ba6c35f2c86245231c03a2dc7f0c995">more than five hours</a>. Outages also happened in 2020 and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/32dc4dceb18a4214b23b2930ebd1e05f">2017</a>.The company reported that 64 internal AWS services were affected by the issue.AWS customers include some of the world’s biggest businesses and organizations.“So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum” of online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.“The world now runs on the cloud,” and the internet is seen as a utility like water or electricity, as we spend so much of our lives on our smartphones, Burgess said.And because so much of the online world’s plumbing is underpinned by a handful of companies, when something goes wrong, “it’s very difficult for users to pinpoint what is happening because we don’t see Amazon, we just see Snapchat or Roblox,” Burgess said.“The good news is that this kind of issue is usually relatively fast (to resolve)” and there’s no indication that it was caused by a cyber incident like a cyberattack, Burgess said.“This looks like a good old-fashioned technology issue, something’s gone wrong and it will be fixed by Amazon,” he said.There are “well-established processes” to deal with outages at Amazon Web Services, as well as rivals Google and Microsoft, which together provide most of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure, Burgess said, adding that such outages are usually fixed in “hours rather than days.”---------------NEW YORK (AP) —Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world. Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press. The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.” Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.” Amazon said its cloud computing service was recovering from a major outage that disrupted online activity around the world on Monday.Amazon Web Services provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services. Coinbase and Signal both said on X that they were experiencing issues related to the AWS outage.The first signs of trouble emerged at around 3:11 a.m. Eastern Time, when Amazon Web Services reported on its Health Dashboard that it is “investigating increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-EAST-1 Region.”Later the company reported that there were “significant error rates” and that engineers were “actively working” on the problem.Around 6 a.m. Eastern Time, the company said that it was seeing recovery across most of the affected services. “We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered,” it said, adding that it is working on a “full resolution.”AWS customers include some of the world’s biggest businesses and organizations.“So much of the world now relies on these three or four big (cloud) compute companies who provide the underlying infrastructure that when there’s an issue like this, it can be really impactful across a broad range, a broad spectrum” of online services, said Patrick Burgess, a cybersecurity expert at U.K.-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.“The world now runs on the cloud” and the internet is seen as a utility like water or electricity as we spend so much of our lives on our smartphones, Burgess said.And because so much of the online world’s plumbing is underpinned by a handful of companies, when something goes wrong “it’s very difficult for users to pinpoint what is happening because we don’t see Amazon, we just see Snapchat or Roblox,” Burgess said.“The good news is that this kind of issue is usually relatively fast (to resolve)” and there’s no indication that it was caused by a cyber incident like a cyberattack, Burgess said.“This look’s like a good old fashioned technology issue, something’s gone wrong and it will be fixed by Amazon,” he said.There are “well-established processes” to deal with outages at Amazon Web Services, as well as rivals Google and Microsoft, which together provide most of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure, Burgess said, adding that such outages are usually fixed in “hours rather than days.”Amazon Web Services said at about 6:30 a.m. Eastern time that “most AWS Service operations are succeeding normally now.”___AP writer Mustakim Hasnath in London contributed to this report.---------------------NEW YORK (AP) —An Amazon Web Services outage is causing major disruptions around the world. The service provides remote computing services to many governments, universities and companies, including The Associated Press.On DownDetector, a website that tracks online outages, users reported issues with Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite online broker Robinhood, the McDonald’s app and many other services.Amazon Web Services said on the site where it provides updates that services in its eastern U.S. region were disrupted and engineers were working to understand what was causing the problem.AWS customers include some of the world’s biggest businesses and organizations.

Amazon Web Services recovering from outage that caused disruptions worldwide

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The United States will slash assistance to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/colombia">Colombia</a>&nbsp;because its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gustavo-petro">Gustavo Petro</a>, “does nothing to stop” drug production,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.

In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The Republican president warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”

Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics.”

He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/terrorist_groups/eln.html" target="_blank">the National Liberation Army, or ELN</a>&nbsp;— that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.

Petro, who can be as vocal on social media as his American counterpart, rejected Trump’s accusations and defended his work to fight narcotics in Colombia, the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.

“Trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker,” Petro wrote. He suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers, described himself as “the main enemy” of drugs in his country and said Trump was being “rude and ignorant toward Colombia.”

The Colombian Foreign Ministry described Trump’s statement as a “direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory.” Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that the country “has used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking.”

Trump’s latest broadside against Petro raises the possibility of an expanding clash in Latin America, where the U.S. has already increased pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro.

American naval ships, fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Trump also authorized covert operations inside Venezuela.

Unlike Venezuela, Colombia is a longtime U.S. ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region. But coca cultivation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-coca-crop-033c449cf1124b4ce23cec3716e1aeef">reached an all-time high</a>&nbsp;last year, according to the United Nations, and there has been fresh violence in rural areas where the government spent years battling insurgents before reaching a peace deal a decade ago.

In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-colombia-drug-war-cooperation-14493c8f7a9af102a8a29cc368ac1e03">failing to cooperate</a>&nbsp;in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts.

Colombia received an estimated $230 million in the U.S. budget year that ended Sept. 30, a drop from recent years that exceeded $700 million, according to U.S. figures.

Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, has repeatedly feuded with Trump this year. Petro initially rejected U.S. military flights of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd">deported migrants,</a>&nbsp;leading Trump to threaten tariffs. The State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa when he attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York because he told American soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.

Petro and Trump have also been at odds over American strikes on boats in the Caribbean. On Sunday, Petro accused the U.S. government of assassination, pointing to a Sept. 16 strike that he said killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza. Petro said Carranza was a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking, and his boat was malfunctioning when it was hit.

“The United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bolívar’s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro wrote on social media. He said that he asked his country’s attorney general’s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in U.S. courts.

The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Petro’s accusations.

Despite Petro’s criticism, his government plans to prosecute the Colombian survivor of a more recent U.S. strike on a submersible that was allegedly carrying drugs.

Another survivor was repatriated to Ecuador, where the Ministry of the Interior said he would not face charges after prosecutors met with him and determined that he had not committed any crimes within the country’s borders.

The ELN, which Hegseth said was the target of Friday’s strike, has long denied any role in drug trafficking and offered to submit to the scrutiny of an international commission. It did not respond to Hegseth’s announcement. Colombian authorities regularly report the dismantling of cocaine laboratories and the seizure of drugs believed to belong to the guerrillas.

There have been seven U.S. strikes in the region since early September that the administration says are targeting alleged drug traffickers. At least 32 people have been killed.

Trump said Sunday that Petro had “a fresh mouth toward America.” He complained that drug smuggling continues “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”

“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” he added.

Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at International Crisis Group, said “it is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in recent years.”

She said Washington and Bogota have long treated their relationship as foundational, but “that wisdom is being thrown out the window, with really catastrophic effects.”

Colombia lost significant U.S. funding when Trump slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year. More cuts could affect military cooperation and undermine efforts to fight rebel groups.

“If that is cut, we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they’re confronting the greatest security crisis in Colombia for over a decade,” she said.

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The United States will slash assistance to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/colombia">Colombia</a>&nbsp;because its leader,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gustavo-petro">Gustavo Petro</a>, “does nothing to stop” drug production,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;said Sunday, escalating the friction between Washington and one of its closest allies in Latin America.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/RkULBLNrzI">pic.twitter.com/RkULBLNrzI</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1979892335690629356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a social media post, Trump referred to Petro as “an illegal drug leader” who is “low rated and very unpopular.” The Republican president warned that Petro “better close up” drug operations “or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely.”<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility. The… <a href="https://t.co/1v7oR879LC">pic.twitter.com/1v7oR879LC</a>&mdash; Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar/status/1979930208472912048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 19, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Hours later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the latest U.S. strike on a vessel that was allegedly carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics.”He said the vessel was associated with a Colombian rebel group —&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dni.gov/nctc/terrorist_groups/eln.html" target="_blank">the National Liberation Army, or ELN</a>&nbsp;— that has been in conflict with Petro’s government. He did not provide any evidence for his assertions, but he shared a brief video clip of a boat engulfed in flames after an explosion on Friday.Petro, who can be as vocal on social media as his American counterpart, rejected Trump’s accusations and defended his work to fight narcotics in Colombia, the world’s largest exporter of cocaine.“Trying to promote peace in Colombia is not being a drug trafficker,” Petro wrote. He suggested that Trump was being deceived by his advisers, described himself as “the main enemy” of drugs in his country and said Trump was being “rude and ignorant toward Colombia.”The Colombian Foreign Ministry described Trump’s statement as a “direct threat to national sovereignty by proposing an illegal intervention in Colombian territory.” Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez told reporters that the country “has used all its capability and also lost men and women fighting drug trafficking.”Trump’s latest broadside against Petro raises the possibility of an expanding clash in Latin America, where the U.S. has already increased pressure on neighboring Venezuela and its leader, Nicolás Maduro.American naval ships, fighter jets and drones are deployed in the region for what the administration has described as an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Trump also authorized covert operations inside Venezuela.Unlike Venezuela, Colombia is a longtime U.S. ally and the top recipient of American assistance in the region. But coca cultivation&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-coca-crop-033c449cf1124b4ce23cec3716e1aeef">reached an all-time high</a>&nbsp;last year, according to the United Nations, and there has been fresh violence in rural areas where the government spent years battling insurgents before reaching a peace deal a decade ago.In September, the Trump administration accused Colombia of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-colombia-drug-war-cooperation-14493c8f7a9af102a8a29cc368ac1e03">failing to cooperate</a>&nbsp;in the drug war, although at the time Washington issued a waiver of sanctions that would have triggered aid cuts.Colombia received an estimated $230 million in the U.S. budget year that ended Sept. 30, a drop from recent years that exceeded $700 million, according to U.S. figures.Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, has repeatedly feuded with Trump this year. Petro initially rejected U.S. military flights of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colombia-immigration-deportation-flights-petro-trump-us-67870e41556c5d8791d22ec6767049fd">deported migrants,</a>&nbsp;leading Trump to threaten tariffs. The State Department said it would revoke Petro’s visa when he attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York because he told American soldiers to disobey Trump’s orders.Petro and Trump have also been at odds over American strikes on boats in the Caribbean. On Sunday, Petro accused the U.S. government of assassination, pointing to a Sept. 16 strike that he said killed a Colombian man named Alejandro Carranza. Petro said Carranza was a fisherman with no ties to drug trafficking, and his boat was malfunctioning when it was hit.“The United States has invaded our national territory, fired a missile to kill a humble fisherman, and destroyed his family, his children. This is Bolívar’s homeland, and they are murdering his children with bombs,” Petro wrote on social media. He said that he asked his country’s attorney general’s office to initiate legal proceedings internationally and in U.S. courts.The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Petro’s accusations.Despite Petro’s criticism, his government plans to prosecute the Colombian survivor of a more recent U.S. strike on a submersible that was allegedly carrying drugs.Another survivor was repatriated to Ecuador, where the Ministry of the Interior said he would not face charges after prosecutors met with him and determined that he had not committed any crimes within the country’s borders.The ELN, which Hegseth said was the target of Friday’s strike, has long denied any role in drug trafficking and offered to submit to the scrutiny of an international commission. It did not respond to Hegseth’s announcement. Colombian authorities regularly report the dismantling of cocaine laboratories and the seizure of drugs believed to belong to the guerrillas.There have been seven U.S. strikes in the region since early September that the administration says are targeting alleged drug traffickers. At least 32 people have been killed.Trump said Sunday that Petro had “a fresh mouth toward America.” He complained that drug smuggling continues “despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”“AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA,” he added.Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst for the Andes region at International Crisis Group, said “it is befuddling and profoundly unwise of the United States to alienate its strongest military partner in Latin America at a moment when tension between Washington and Venezuela are at its highest point in recent years.”She said Washington and Bogota have long treated their relationship as foundational, but “that wisdom is being thrown out the window, with really catastrophic effects.”Colombia lost significant U.S. funding when Trump slashed the U.S. Agency for International Development earlier this year. More cuts could affect military cooperation and undermine efforts to fight rebel groups.“If that is cut, we will see a strategic loss of capability for the Colombian military and police at precisely the moment when they’re confronting the greatest security crisis in Colombia for over a decade,” she said.

Trump responds after Colombian leader accuses US of murder in strike on drug boat

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man who&nbsp;admitted killing a Kansas woman who was reported missing is going to prison for the rest of his life.

On Monday Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced 31-year-old Kyle Bearden to a life term for the murder of 30-year-old Mariana Christian, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. The earliest possibility of parole is 25 years and an additional 181 months in prison if parole is granted.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man who&nbsp;admitted killing a woman who was reported missing will learn his fate on Monday.

Judge Jeffrey Goering will sentence 31-year-old Kyle Bearden for the murder of 30-year-old Mariana Christian. Her&nbsp;&nbsp;body was found in a Wichita park,&nbsp;according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In August, Bearden entered a plea of guilty during an evidentiary hearing before Judge Goering.

The plea agreement calls for the parties to jointly recommend a prison sentence of life with parole eligibility after 25 years, to be followed by an additional 15 years of imprisonment if parole is granted.

Around 10:30 a.m. on July 21, a friend of Mariana Christian filed a missing person report. The friend said Ms. Christian had a history of mental health challenges and often relied on them for transportation to work. That morning, Christian was not at her home in the 1200 block of S. Paige when the friend arrived to pick her up.

At the residence, the friend encountered an unidentified man later identified as Kyle Bearden who said he didn’t know Ms. Christian’s whereabouts.

He claimed Mariana Christian had left the apartment on Friday, July 18, in a truck with an unknown man and woman and hadn’t returned. He also expressed concern for her safety. Although not listed on the lease, the man appeared to be living in the apartment.

Although Ms. Christian was last seen on Friday, July 18, she wasn’t reported missing until Monday, July 21. After multiple failed attempts to reach her and finding her absence unusual, the friend contacted police. Officers issued an attempt-to-locate alert, and investigators took over the case.

WPD investigators identified Bearden as a person of interest. They followed leads to locate Ms. Christian, discovering evidence of her death and where her remains were left in Cottonwood Park near Armor and Bayley in Wichita.

Wichita Police officers responded to the area and located human remains. Investigators believe Bearden shot Ms. Christian.

Crime scene investigators processed Ms. Christian’s apartment and found evidence of foul play. On the morning of July 31, the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center positively identified the remains as those of Mariana Christian.

Kyle Bearden was arrested on July 30 and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1753958410010.png" alt="Bearden-photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Bearden-photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man who&nbsp;admitted killing a Kansas woman who was reported missing is going to prison for the rest of his life.On Monday Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced 31-year-old Kyle Bearden to a life term for the murder of 30-year-old Mariana Christian, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office. The earliest possibility of parole is 25 years and an additional 181 months in prison if parole is granted.----------SEDGWICK COUNTY —A man who&nbsp;admitted killing a woman who was reported missing will learn his fate on Monday.Judge Jeffrey Goering will sentence 31-year-old Kyle Bearden for the murder of 30-year-old Mariana Christian. Her&nbsp;&nbsp;body was found in a Wichita park,&nbsp;according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.In August, Bearden entered a plea of guilty during an evidentiary hearing before Judge Goering.The plea agreement calls for the parties to jointly recommend a prison sentence of life with parole eligibility after 25 years, to be followed by an additional 15 years of imprisonment if parole is granted.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754062859608.png" alt="Police issued a missing person alert for Mariana Christian on July 27" />
 <figcaption>Police issued a missing person alert for Mariana Christian on July 27</figcaption>
 </figure>Around 10:30 a.m. on July 21, a friend of Mariana Christian filed a missing person report. The friend said Ms. Christian had a history of mental health challenges and often relied on them for transportation to work. That morning, Christian was not at her home in the 1200 block of S. Paige when the friend arrived to pick her up.At the residence, the friend encountered an unidentified man later identified as Kyle Bearden who said he didn’t know Ms. Christian’s whereabouts.He claimed Mariana Christian had left the apartment on Friday, July 18, in a truck with an unknown man and woman and hadn’t returned. He also expressed concern for her safety. Although not listed on the lease, the man appeared to be living in the apartment.Although Ms. Christian was last seen on Friday, July 18, she wasn’t reported missing until Monday, July 21. After multiple failed attempts to reach her and finding her absence unusual, the friend contacted police. Officers issued an attempt-to-locate alert, and investigators took over the case.WPD investigators identified Bearden as a person of interest. They followed leads to locate Ms. Christian, discovering evidence of her death and where her remains were left in Cottonwood Park near Armor and Bayley in Wichita.Wichita Police officers responded to the area and located human remains. Investigators believe Bearden shot Ms. Christian.Crime scene investigators processed Ms. Christian’s apartment and found evidence of foul play. On the morning of July 31, the Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center positively identified the remains as those of Mariana Christian.Kyle Bearden was arrested on July 30 and booked into the Sedgwick County Jail.&nbsp;

Sentencing Day: Killer found at missing Kan. woman's home

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating a weekend homicide in Kansas City, Missouri

Just before 3a.m. Sunday police&nbsp;in the area of Westport and Mill Street in Kansas City, Missoui when they heard the sound of gunfire to the north of that intersection, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.

Officers immediately responded to the area to investigate and located a man unresponsive, to the north and west of Westport and Mill in the restaurant parking lot.

Officers rendered aid and called for EMS. EMS transported the victim to the hospital where he was later pronounced deceased.

Preliminary indication is the victim was at the location in the business parking lot when he had an interaction with one or more suspect(s) that led to gunfire and the victim was struck.

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement are investigating a weekend homicide in Kansas City, MissouriJust before 3a.m. Sunday police&nbsp;in the area of Westport and Mill Street in Kansas City, Missoui when they heard the sound of gunfire to the north of that intersection, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.Officers immediately responded to the area to investigate and located a man unresponsive, to the north and west of Westport and Mill in the restaurant parking lot.Officers rendered aid and called for EMS. EMS transported the victim to the hospital where he was later pronounced deceased.Preliminary indication is the victim was at the location in the business parking lot when he had an interaction with one or more suspect(s) that led to gunfire and the victim was struck.

KCPD: Man shot, killed in restaurant parking lot

OSAGE COUNTY –Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas couple on multiple drug allegations.

Just after 8:30a.m. October 16, an Osage County Sheriff’s Office Investigators and Special Response Team (SRT) executed a narcotic search warrant in the 200 block of Elm Street in Overbrook, according to Sheriff Chris Wells.&nbsp; The investigating led to two arrests

Crystal S. Worley, 47, and Dallas M. Worley, 41, both of Overbrook, are being held in the Osage County Jail on requested charges of&nbsp;Distribution of methamphetamine, Distribution of opiates, Distribution of marijuana, Possession of drug paraphernalia and for No drug tax stamp

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760921098464.png" alt="Worley -photo Osage County" />
 <figcaption>Worley -photo Osage County</figcaption>
 </figure>OSAGE COUNTY –Law enforcement are investigating a Kansas couple on multiple drug allegations.Just after 8:30a.m. October 16, an Osage County Sheriff’s Office Investigators and Special Response Team (SRT) executed a narcotic search warrant in the 200 block of Elm Street in Overbrook, according to Sheriff Chris Wells.&nbsp; The investigating led to two arrests<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760921066598.png" alt="Worley photo Osage Co." />
 <figcaption>Worley photo Osage Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>Crystal S. Worley, 47, and Dallas M. Worley, 41, both of Overbrook, are being held in the Osage County Jail on requested charges of&nbsp;Distribution of methamphetamine, Distribution of opiates, Distribution of marijuana, Possession of drug paraphernalia and for No drug tax stamp

Sheriff: Kan. couple accused of selling meth from their. home

PARIS (AP) — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift up the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/police-outside-the-louvre-museum-after-theft-8abcc540ef4640789c03ae9e54f7e6a0">Louvre</a>&nbsp;’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.

The daylight heist about 30 minutes after opening, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory and comes as staff complained that crowding and thin staffing are straining security.

The theft unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mona-lisa-paint-recipe-leonardo-louvre-2b82601ad75f8514754966d74e95a211">the Mona Lisa</a>, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “four-minute operation.”

One object, the emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum, French authorities said. It was reportedly recovered broken.

Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.

A lift — which officials say the thieves brought and which was later removed — stood against the Seine-facing façade, their entry route and, observers said, a revealing weakness: that such machinery could be brought to a palace-museum unchecked.

Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass display cases, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift via the riverfront facade to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection.

Their target was the gilded Apollon Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed, including the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia.

The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. No one was hurt. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.

Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch — a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.

“It’s a major robbery,” Nunez said, noting that security measures at the Louvre had been strengthened in recent years and would be reinforced further as part of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/paris-louvre-museum-renovation-64c83759247406323def9e54bb4890c9">the museum’s upcoming overhaul plan</a>. Officials said security upgrades include new-generation cameras, perimeter detection, and a new security control room. But critics say the measures come far too late.

The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday for the forensic investigation to begin as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.

Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre with visitors present ranks among Europe’s most audacious in recent history, and at least since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dresden-berlin-0ba8c0a7adf4719aaecd64753c000a51">Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019</a>.

It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/louvre-museum-paris-closed-lines-delay-2bbf9be4f49de739fd14dd4d908e4d72">June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing</a>. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet.

Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa sits behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case — but Sunday’s theft also underscored that protections are not uniformly as robust across the museum’s more than 33,000 objects.

The theft is a fresh embarrassment for a museum already under scrutiny.

“How can they ride a lift to a window and take jewels in the middle of the day?” said Magali Cunel, a French teacher from near Lyon. “It’s just unbelievable that a museum this famous can have such obvious security gaps.”

The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence. Another notorious episode came in 1956, when a visitor hurled a stone at her world-famous smile, chipping paint near her left elbow and hastening the move to display the work behind protective glass.

Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; the armless serenity of the Venus de Milo; the Winged Victory of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People; Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The objects — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues.

The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured parliament.

“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”

The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about €700 million ($760 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure.

Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as of “inestimable” historical value.

Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”

Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter. French authorities did not immediately comment on this.

Investigators are reviewing CCTV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staff who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760912374796.jpg" alt="Image courtesy Pixaby" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy Pixaby</figcaption>
 </figure>PARIS (AP) — In a minutes-long strike Sunday inside the world’s most-visited museum, thieves rode a basket lift up the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/police-outside-the-louvre-museum-after-theft-8abcc540ef4640789c03ae9e54f7e6a0">Louvre</a>&nbsp;’s facade, forced a window, smashed display cases and fled with priceless Napoleonic jewels, officials said.The daylight heist about 30 minutes after opening, with visitors already inside, was among the highest-profile museum thefts in living memory and comes as staff complained that crowding and thin staffing are straining security.The theft unfolded just 250 meters (270 yards) from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mona-lisa-paint-recipe-leonardo-louvre-2b82601ad75f8514754966d74e95a211">the Mona Lisa</a>, in what Culture Minister Rachida Dati described as a professional “four-minute operation.”One object, the emerald-set imperial crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugénie, containing more than 1,300 diamonds, was later found outside the museum, French authorities said. It was reportedly recovered broken.Images from the scene showed confused tourists being steered out of the glass pyramid and adjoining courtyards as officers closed nearby streets along the Seine.A lift — which officials say the thieves brought and which was later removed — stood against the Seine-facing façade, their entry route and, observers said, a revealing weakness: that such machinery could be brought to a palace-museum unchecked.<h2>A museum already under strain</h2>Around 9:30 a.m., several intruders forced a window, cut panes with a disc cutter and went straight for the glass display cases, officials said. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crew entered from outside using a basket lift via the riverfront facade to reach the hall with the 23-item royal collection.Their target was the gilded Apollon Gallery, where the Crown Diamonds are displayed, including the Regent, the Sancy and the Hortensia.The thieves smashed two display cases and fled on motorbikes, Nunez said. No one was hurt. Alarms brought Louvre agents to the room, forcing the intruders to bolt, but the theft was already done.Eight objects were taken, according to officials: a sapphire diadem, necklace and single earring from a matching set linked to 19th-century French queens Marie-Amélie and Hortense; an emerald necklace and earrings from the matching set of Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife; a reliquary brooch; Empress Eugénie’s diadem; and her large corsage-bow brooch — a prized 19th-century imperial ensemble.“It’s a major robbery,” Nunez said, noting that security measures at the Louvre had been strengthened in recent years and would be reinforced further as part of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/paris-louvre-museum-renovation-64c83759247406323def9e54bb4890c9">the museum’s upcoming overhaul plan</a>. Officials said security upgrades include new-generation cameras, perimeter detection, and a new security control room. But critics say the measures come far too late.The Louvre closed for the rest of Sunday for the forensic investigation to begin as police sealed gates, cleared courtyards and shut nearby streets along the Seine.Daylight robberies during public hours are rare. Pulling one off inside the Louvre with visitors present ranks among Europe’s most audacious in recent history, and at least since&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dresden-berlin-0ba8c0a7adf4719aaecd64753c000a51">Dresden’s Green Vault museum in 2019</a>.It also collides with a deeper tension the Louvre has struggled to resolve: swelling crowds and stretched staff. The museum delayed opening during a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/louvre-museum-paris-closed-lines-delay-2bbf9be4f49de739fd14dd4d908e4d72">June staff walkout over overcrowding and chronic understaffing</a>. Unions say mass tourism leaves too few eyes on too many rooms and creates pressure points where construction zones, freight routes and visitor flows meet.Security around marquee works remains tight — the Mona Lisa sits behind bulletproof glass in a climate-controlled case — but Sunday’s theft also underscored that protections are not uniformly as robust across the museum’s more than 33,000 objects.The theft is a fresh embarrassment for a museum already under scrutiny.“How can they ride a lift to a window and take jewels in the middle of the day?” said Magali Cunel, a French teacher from near Lyon. “It’s just unbelievable that a museum this famous can have such obvious security gaps.”The Louvre has a long history of thefts and attempted robberies. The most famous came in 1911, when the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia and recovered two years later in Florence. Another notorious episode came in 1956, when a visitor hurled a stone at her world-famous smile, chipping paint near her left elbow and hastening the move to display the work behind protective glass.Today the former royal palace holds a roll call of civilization: Leonardo’s Mona Lisa; the armless serenity of the Venus de Milo; the Winged Victory of Samothrace, wind-lashed on the Daru staircase; the Code of Hammurabi’s carved laws; Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People; Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The objects — from Mesopotamia, Egypt and the classical world to Europe’s masters — draw a daily tide of up to 30,000 visitors even as investigators now begin to sweep those gilded corridors for clues.<h2>Politics at the door</h2>The heist spilled instantly into politics. Far-right leader Jordan Bardella used it to attack President Emmanuel Macron, weakened at home and facing a fractured parliament.“The Louvre is a global symbol of our culture,” Bardella wrote on X. “This robbery, which allowed thieves to steal jewels from the French Crown, is an unbearable humiliation for our country. How far will the decay of the state go?”The criticism lands as Macron touts a decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” plan — about €700 million ($760 million) to modernize infrastructure, ease crowding and give the Mona Lisa a dedicated gallery by 2031. For workers on the floor, the relief has felt slower than the pressure.<h2>What we know — and don't</h2>Forensic teams are examining the site of the crime and adjoining access points while a full inventory is taken, authorities said. Officials have described the haul as of “inestimable” historical value.Recovery may prove difficult. “It’s unlikely these jewels will ever be seen again,” said Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds. “Professional crews often break down and re-cut large, recognizable stones to evade detection, effectively erasing their provenance.”Key questions still unanswered are how many people took part in the theft and whether they had inside assistance, authorities said. According to French media, there were four perpetrators: two dressed as construction workers in yellow safety vests on the lift, and two each on a scooter. French authorities did not immediately comment on this.Investigators are reviewing CCTV from the Denon wing and the riverfront, inspecting the basket lift used to reach the gallery and interviewing staff who were on site when the museum opened, authorities said.

Thieves steal ‘priceless’ jewelry from the Louvre in 4 minute raid

KANSAS CiTY —The Clay County, Missouri Sheriff's office shared a video of a crash involving a patrol vehicle.

The Sheriff's office wrote, "that feeling when the suspect you were trying to catch takes off on foot, leaving his hoopty truck to catch fire and explode, which knocks it out of gear and sends it rolling into the unoccupied patrol car. 

Fortunately, no one was in the vehicles (they were off running in a field) so no one got hurt. Deputies took the suspect into custody. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/kansascityfire?__cft__[0]=AZVTJ3kaC6R-Ht8AdwGZbo3v2evotJJHhTdmsnjepnkQGUNVPQZvnXVHAK5qtYdmxwdvQTIZ-sgwOF6IAohzepRKd03BR_V5idvBym6A25ZbE6770dpPa_38lO8lACi3btkCo-cp2Bg7AKFKD2pp9nL0qS4Np7jKEypfM9HKyOfPSVXONMj6dNSjNWHnvqd6ywtUs9xS3kW0yjKsCHcF2R2o&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">Kansas City Fire Department</a>&nbsp;extinguished out the fire. The Sheriff's office did not release details on what prompted the chase, name of the suspect or possible charges.

KANSAS CiTY —The Clay County, Missouri Sheriff's office shared a video of a crash involving a patrol vehicle.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=315&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F1135726205358807%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=0" width="560" height="315" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>The Sheriff's office wrote, "that feeling when the suspect you were trying to catch takes off on foot, leaving his hoopty truck to catch fire and explode, which knocks it out of gear and sends it rolling into the unoccupied patrol car. Fortunately, no one was in the vehicles (they were off running in a field) so no one got hurt. Deputies took the suspect into custody. The&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/kansascityfire?__cft__[0]=AZVTJ3kaC6R-Ht8AdwGZbo3v2evotJJHhTdmsnjepnkQGUNVPQZvnXVHAK5qtYdmxwdvQTIZ-sgwOF6IAohzepRKd03BR_V5idvBym6A25ZbE6770dpPa_38lO8lACi3btkCo-cp2Bg7AKFKD2pp9nL0qS4Np7jKEypfM9HKyOfPSVXONMj6dNSjNWHnvqd6ywtUs9xS3kW0yjKsCHcF2R2o&amp;__tn__=-]K-R">Kansas City Fire Department</a>&nbsp;extinguished out the fire. The Sheriff's office did not release details on what prompted the chase, name of the suspect or possible charges.

🎥Suspect vehicle caught fire, rolls into KC area deputy's vehicle

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — An argument at a private off-campus party escalated into a shooting outside an Oklahoma State University residence hall early Sunday, wounding three people including a student, school police said.

Two victims were hospitalized in stable condition after surgery and the third was treated and released, university police Chief Michael Beckner told reporters.

No arrests have been made, but he said said police have “some solid leads” and are asking for the public's help. Investigators do not believe there's an ongoing threat to the campus or public.

The shooting erupted in an outdoor hallway at the Carreker East student apartments and spilled into a parking lot and nearby street, Beckner said, following a “disagreement between several people” at the party.

Officers responded after a report of a person collapsing from injuries at a McDonald's restaurant and calls of shots on campus, he said. When officers arrived on campus at about 3:40 a.m., no victims remained at the scene. Officers secured the area and took about 20 people present to a secure location for their safety and to begin interviews, the chief said.

The university is located in the city of Stillwater, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/10/1760903294397.png" alt="Photo courtesy KWTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KWTV</figcaption>
 </figure>STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — An argument at a private off-campus party escalated into a shooting outside an Oklahoma State University residence hall early Sunday, wounding three people including a student, school police said.Two victims were hospitalized in stable condition after surgery and the third was treated and released, university police Chief Michael Beckner told reporters.No arrests have been made, but he said said police have “some solid leads” and are asking for the public's help. Investigators do not believe there's an ongoing threat to the campus or public.The shooting erupted in an outdoor hallway at the Carreker East student apartments and spilled into a parking lot and nearby street, Beckner said, following a “disagreement between several people” at the party.Officers responded after a report of a person collapsing from injuries at a McDonald's restaurant and calls of shots on campus, he said. When officers arrived on campus at about 3:40 a.m., no victims remained at the scene. Officers secured the area and took about 20 people present to a secure location for their safety and to begin interviews, the chief said.The university is located in the city of Stillwater, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Oklahoma City.