TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Transgender people born in Kansas could be prevented from changing their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities if the state’s conservative Republican attorney is successful with a legal move he launched late Friday.

Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a request in federal court asking a judge to end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/7409799fb2a144bca2fd90cd46b7ea6c">a requirement</a>&nbsp;for Kansas to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates. He is not seeking to undo past changes, only prevent them going forward.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree imposed the requirement in 2019 to settle a lawsuit filed by four transgender Kansas residents against three state health department officials. The suit challenged a policy that critics said prevented transgender people from making changes even after transitioning, legally changing their names and obtaining new driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.

Luc Bensimon, a Black transgender activist who was one of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit, said Saturday he was already getting calls and emails from people trying to change their birth certificates who are concerned they won't be able to complete the process.

"We didn't go through that case just to have him try and change it now," Bensimon said. “I thought this was already dealt with but I have the energy to go back and deal with it again if we have to.”

It wasn't clear whether Kobach's effort would succeed, given a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-ef3c19a79b65c060fd9e82b9dd87a1d9">U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2020</a>&nbsp;declaring a federal law barring sex discrimination in employment also prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Also in 2020, federal judges in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brad-little-legislation-boise-courts-idaho-2cfdadcce3c5d98b2b624d5dc380a50f">Idaho</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-2e9e639965c3938e11330eeea0ba31c6">Ohio</a>&nbsp;struck down rules against transgender people changing their birth certificates. But this month, federal judges in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-birth-certificate-tennessee-lawsuit-47243ba14ab01fa227e0b60d7591675b">Tennessee</a>&nbsp;and Oklahoma dismissed challenges to two of the nation's few remaining state policies against such changes.

Kobach's move appears to be in keeping with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-rights-bathroom-law-kansas-b3d068afa2bc02bb15314ee04e8e3899">a new, sweeping Kansas law</a>&nbsp;taking effect July 1 that rolls back transgender rights and was enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto. A memo filed electronically with the request by Kobach shortly before midnight cited the law as a reason to revisit the 2019 settlement.

Kelly's office did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking reaction to Kobach's decision.

The memo argued Crabtree's order makes it “impossible” to follow the new state law and that since the Legislature “has spoken,” the state health department, which handles birth certificates, is now “bound to execute the law as written.”

Kobach already had scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at the Statehouse to discuss enforcement of the new law.

Crabtree's 2019 order blocked a policy imposed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's administration that was among the toughest against birth certificate changes in the U.S. Kelly is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3ca7678ea8b747e38a495787cf046aee">a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights</a>&nbsp;and her administration agreed to settle the lawsuit less than six months after she took office.

That decision came almost a year after Crabtree declared the Kansas policy violated transgender people's constitutional rights to due legal process and equal treatment under the law. His order notes that federal courts in Idaho and Puerto Rico had struck down no-change policies. Kobach's memo called those rulings outdated.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the LGBTQ+-rights legal group Lambda Legal, representing the four Kansas residents, condemned Kobach's move. Lamda Legal's Omar Gonzalez-Pagan called it “unnecessary and cruel.”

Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubic added in a statement: “Mr. Kobach should rethink the wisdom — and the sheer indecency — of this attempt to weaponize his office's authority to attack transgender Kansans just trying to live their lives.”

The new Kansas law is designed to prevent transgender people from using restrooms, locker rooms and other single-gender facilities associated with their identities. At least nine other states have such laws, mostly focused on public schools.

Kobach has said he believes the new Kansas law also prevents transgender people from changing their driver's licenses, though the law contains no specific enforcement mechanisms. Lawmakers wrote the bill so it could prevent transgender people from changing their birth certificates, except for the 2019 federal court order, without specifically mentioning either birth certificates or driver's licenses.

For weeks, a project of Kansas Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm, encouraged transgender Kansans to change their driver's licenses before the new law took effect. Kelly's administration, which oversees the licensing of drivers, hasn’t said whether it believes such changes would still be allowed under the new law.

Ellen Bertels, the attorney spearheading the effort, said that while a transgender person could sue after the law takes effect to protect people's right to change their driver's licenses, a lawsuit from a state official against Kelly's administration could seek to prevent such changes.

As for birth certificates, the small number of states not allowing transgender people to change them shrunk through previous federal court challenges like the one in Kansas.

The ACLU of Montana says it plans to challenge a rule imposed there last year barring people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates.

LGBTQ+ rights advocates say changing birth certificates, driver’s licenses and other records to reflect a transgender person’s gender identity is key to affirming their identities and often greatly improves their mental health.

Policies against changing birth certificates and other documents have practical implications for transgender residents, too. For example, Kansas requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls or when obtaining an absentee ballot.

Critics of the new Kansas law contend it is designed to legally erase transgender people.

It declares that state law recognizes only two genders, male and female, and defines them based on a person's “biological reproductive system" at birth. A woman is someone whose system “is designed to produce ova,” while a male only is someone with a system “designed to fertilize the ova of a female.”

The law then declares “important governmental objectives” of protecting people's health safety and privacy justify having sex-segregated spaces in line with those definitions.

By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Transgender people born in Kansas could be prevented from changing their birth certificates to reflect their gender identities if the state’s conservative Republican attorney is successful with a legal move he launched late Friday.Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a request in federal court asking a judge to end&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/7409799fb2a144bca2fd90cd46b7ea6c">a requirement</a>&nbsp;for Kansas to allow transgender people to change their birth certificates. He is not seeking to undo past changes, only prevent them going forward.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Late last night, Attorney General Kris Kobach asked a federal court to reverse its requirement for the state to issue correct birth certificates to transgender Kansans. He may try—but he cannot erase our fundamental rights under the Constitution.&mdash; ACLU of Kansas (@aclukansas) <a href="https://twitter.com/aclukansas/status/1672618263686021120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree imposed the requirement in 2019 to settle a lawsuit filed by four transgender Kansas residents against three state health department officials. The suit challenged a policy that critics said prevented transgender people from making changes even after transitioning, legally changing their names and obtaining new driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.Luc Bensimon, a Black transgender activist who was one of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit, said Saturday he was already getting calls and emails from people trying to change their birth certificates who are concerned they won't be able to complete the process."We didn't go through that case just to have him try and change it now," Bensimon said. “I thought this was already dealt with but I have the energy to go back and deal with it again if we have to.”It wasn't clear whether Kobach's effort would succeed, given a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/courts-supreme-courts-mi-state-wire-neil-gorsuch-ap-top-news-ef3c19a79b65c060fd9e82b9dd87a1d9">U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2020</a>&nbsp;declaring a federal law barring sex discrimination in employment also prevents discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.Also in 2020, federal judges in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/brad-little-legislation-boise-courts-idaho-2cfdadcce3c5d98b2b624d5dc380a50f">Idaho</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ohio-2e9e639965c3938e11330eeea0ba31c6">Ohio</a>&nbsp;struck down rules against transgender people changing their birth certificates. But this month, federal judges in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-birth-certificate-tennessee-lawsuit-47243ba14ab01fa227e0b60d7591675b">Tennessee</a>&nbsp;and Oklahoma dismissed challenges to two of the nation's few remaining state policies against such changes.Kobach's move appears to be in keeping with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/transgender-rights-bathroom-law-kansas-b3d068afa2bc02bb15314ee04e8e3899">a new, sweeping Kansas law</a>&nbsp;taking effect July 1 that rolls back transgender rights and was enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature over Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's veto. A memo filed electronically with the request by Kobach shortly before midnight cited the law as a reason to revisit the 2019 settlement.Kelly's office did not immediately return a message Saturday seeking reaction to Kobach's decision.The memo argued Crabtree's order makes it “impossible” to follow the new state law and that since the Legislature “has spoken,” the state health department, which handles birth certificates, is now “bound to execute the law as written.”Kobach already had scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at the Statehouse to discuss enforcement of the new law.Crabtree's 2019 order blocked a policy imposed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback's administration that was among the toughest against birth certificate changes in the U.S. Kelly is&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3ca7678ea8b747e38a495787cf046aee">a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights</a>&nbsp;and her administration agreed to settle the lawsuit less than six months after she took office.That decision came almost a year after Crabtree declared the Kansas policy violated transgender people's constitutional rights to due legal process and equal treatment under the law. His order notes that federal courts in Idaho and Puerto Rico had struck down no-change policies. Kobach's memo called those rulings outdated.The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and the LGBTQ+-rights legal group Lambda Legal, representing the four Kansas residents, condemned Kobach's move. Lamda Legal's Omar Gonzalez-Pagan called it “unnecessary and cruel.”Kansas ACLU Executive Director Micah Kubic added in a statement: “Mr. Kobach should rethink the wisdom — and the sheer indecency — of this attempt to weaponize his office's authority to attack transgender Kansans just trying to live their lives.”The new Kansas law is designed to prevent transgender people from using restrooms, locker rooms and other single-gender facilities associated with their identities. At least nine other states have such laws, mostly focused on public schools.Kobach has said he believes the new Kansas law also prevents transgender people from changing their driver's licenses, though the law contains no specific enforcement mechanisms. Lawmakers wrote the bill so it could prevent transgender people from changing their birth certificates, except for the 2019 federal court order, without specifically mentioning either birth certificates or driver's licenses.For weeks, a project of Kansas Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm, encouraged transgender Kansans to change their driver's licenses before the new law took effect. Kelly's administration, which oversees the licensing of drivers, hasn’t said whether it believes such changes would still be allowed under the new law.Ellen Bertels, the attorney spearheading the effort, said that while a transgender person could sue after the law takes effect to protect people's right to change their driver's licenses, a lawsuit from a state official against Kelly's administration could seek to prevent such changes.As for birth certificates, the small number of states not allowing transgender people to change them shrunk through previous federal court challenges like the one in Kansas.The ACLU of Montana says it plans to challenge a rule imposed there last year barring people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates.LGBTQ+ rights advocates say changing birth certificates, driver’s licenses and other records to reflect a transgender person’s gender identity is key to affirming their identities and often greatly improves their mental health.Policies against changing birth certificates and other documents have practical implications for transgender residents, too. For example, Kansas requires voters to show a photo ID at the polls or when obtaining an absentee ballot.Critics of the new Kansas law contend it is designed to legally erase transgender people.It declares that state law recognizes only two genders, male and female, and defines them based on a person's “biological reproductive system" at birth. A woman is someone whose system “is designed to produce ova,” while a male only is someone with a system “designed to fertilize the ova of a female.”The law then declares “important governmental objectives” of protecting people's health safety and privacy justify having sex-segregated spaces in line with those definitions.

Battle in Kansas over trans people changing their birth certificates

KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities investigating two shootings in Kansas City that left three dead and at least five others injured have a suspect in custody.

Just after 4:30a.m., officers were called to the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue and found three shooting victims — two men and one woman — dead in a parking lot and in the street, the Kansas City Police Department said in a news release.

Police were told that five other shooting victims with injuries that were not life-threatening arrived at various hospitals by private vehicles or ambulance, the department said. “Preliminary information indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the victims were shot," the department said.

The investigation indicates the gathering took place outside an auto mechanic shop that is known to host informal after hours gatherings, though there is not a licensed club, bar or restaurant at that location, according to police spokesperson Jake Becchina.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on Twitter, “My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed."

Police also responded to a nearby shooting on Prospect Avenue near 31st Street around 3 a.m. where at least one person suffered life-threatening injuries.

Police released no additional details including the name of victims and a possible motive for the shootings.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687774897928.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation Sunday morning -photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation Sunday morning -photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY—Law enforcement authorities investigating two shootings in Kansas City that left three dead and at least five others injured have a suspect in custody.Just after 4:30a.m., officers were called to the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue and found three shooting victims — two men and one woman — dead in a parking lot and in the street, the Kansas City Police Department said in a news release.Police were told that five other shooting victims with injuries that were not life-threatening arrived at various hospitals by private vehicles or ambulance, the department said. “Preliminary information indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the victims were shot," the department said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687710602889.png" alt="Photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>The investigation indicates the gathering took place outside an auto mechanic shop that is known to host informal after hours gatherings, though there is not a licensed club, bar or restaurant at that location, according to police spokesperson Jake Becchina.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed.&mdash; Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) <a href="https://twitter.com/QuintonLucasKC/status/1672959843026575360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on Twitter, “My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed."Police also responded to a nearby shooting on Prospect Avenue near 31st Street around 3 a.m. where at least one person suffered life-threatening injuries.Police released no additional details including the name of victims and a possible motive for the shootings.-The Associated Press contributed to this report---------

Suspect in custody after mass shooting in Kansas City

SEDGWICK COUNTY&nbsp; —The Sedgwick County Sheriff's office asked the public not employed at Spirit Aero systems to avoid the area along Oliver from 31st Street South to 47th Street South and K-15 from 31st Street South to 47th Street South starting Monday due to the current labor dispute.

A strike started on Saturday after approximately 6,000 members of the IAM District 70, Local 839 voted&nbsp; to reject Spirit Aerosystems' best and last offer after 13 years without a fully negotiated agreement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a prepared statement last week.

The tentative deal that was rejected had included up to a compounded 34% average pay bump through general wages increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and a guaranteed annual bonus; a 14.7% increase in retirement benefits; increased paid time off; job security enhancements and made Sunday overtime voluntary.

“Most of our members have concluded that the company’s offer is unacceptable,” the union said in a prepared statement. "IAM District 70 and Local 839 will regroup and begin planning the following steps to bring the company back to the table.”

The IAM is an industrial trade union that representing about 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.

Operations at the factory was suspended Thursday.&nbsp;

“We are disappointed that our employees represented by the IAM rejected our four-year contract offer and voted to strike. We believe that our fair and competitive offer recognizes the contributions of our employees and ensures we can successfully meet increasing demand for aircraft from our customers,” the Wichita, Kansas, company said in a prepared statement.

Aircraft manufacturers have wrestled with supply issues in recent years and a strike at Spirit Aerosystems at the Wichita plant could add to those headaches.

Spirit builds the fuselage for Boeing's 737 MAX narrowbody jet and substantial sections of aircraft bodies in other of its models. It builds components for Airbus aircraft as well.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687776006485.png" alt="The strike started on Saturday-photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>The strike started on Saturday-photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY&nbsp; —The Sedgwick County Sheriff's office asked the public not employed at Spirit Aero systems to avoid the area along Oliver from 31st Street South to 47th Street South and K-15 from 31st Street South to 47th Street South starting Monday due to the current labor dispute.A strike started on Saturday after approximately 6,000 members of the IAM District 70, Local 839 voted&nbsp; to reject Spirit Aerosystems' best and last offer after 13 years without a fully negotiated agreement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a prepared statement last week.The tentative deal that was rejected had included up to a compounded 34% average pay bump through general wages increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and a guaranteed annual bonus; a 14.7% increase in retirement benefits; increased paid time off; job security enhancements and made Sunday overtime voluntary.“Most of our members have concluded that the company’s offer is unacceptable,” the union said in a prepared statement. "IAM District 70 and Local 839 will regroup and begin planning the following steps to bring the company back to the table.”The IAM is an industrial trade union that representing about 600,000 active and retired members in the aerospace, defense, airlines, railroad, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.Operations at the factory was suspended Thursday.&nbsp;“We are disappointed that our employees represented by the IAM rejected our four-year contract offer and voted to strike. We believe that our fair and competitive offer recognizes the contributions of our employees and ensures we can successfully meet increasing demand for aircraft from our customers,” the Wichita, Kansas, company said in a prepared statement.Aircraft manufacturers have wrestled with supply issues in recent years and a strike at Spirit Aerosystems at the Wichita plant could add to those headaches.Spirit builds the fuselage for Boeing's 737 MAX narrowbody jet and substantial sections of aircraft bodies in other of its models. It builds components for Airbus aircraft as well.-The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Sheriff: Avoid the area during machinists strike in Wichita

JACKSON COUNTY, Kan.—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged fake 911 call.

Just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting one person was shot inside a residence and two more people were being held captive in the 100 block of Ohio Street in the City of Holton, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.

Holton Police, Kansas Highway Patrol and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Special Response Team arrived on scene.&nbsp; Law enforcement shut down traffic from the surrounding streets. Law enforcement made contact with the occupants of the residence and quickly determined everyone was safe.

The call was believed to be a swatting or fake call.&nbsp; Law enforcement agencies in Kansas and surrounding states have recently been receiving swatting calls.&nbsp; The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies are actively investigating the source of the call.

JACKSON COUNTY, Kan.—Law enforcement authorities are investigating an alleged fake 911 call.Just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting one person was shot inside a residence and two more people were being held captive in the 100 block of Ohio Street in the City of Holton, according to Sheriff Tim Morse.Holton Police, Kansas Highway Patrol and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and the Sheriff’s Special Response Team arrived on scene.&nbsp; Law enforcement shut down traffic from the surrounding streets. Law enforcement made contact with the occupants of the residence and quickly determined everyone was safe.The call was believed to be a swatting or fake call.&nbsp; Law enforcement agencies in Kansas and surrounding states have recently been receiving swatting calls.&nbsp; The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office and other law enforcement agencies are actively investigating the source of the call.

Deputies, KHP and police respond to fake 911 call at Kansas home

WICHITA (AP) — Thousands of effusive marchers danced to music in Wichita streets Sunday and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month's grand crescendo.

New York's boisterous throng strolled and danced down Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, cheering and waving rainbow flags to commemorate the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-pa-state-wire-new-york-ny-state-wire-5f2159a5120e4833b31683665f9405ca">1969 Stonewall uprising</a>, where a police raid on a gay bar triggered days of protests and launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

While some people whooped it up in celebration, many were mindful of the growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gender">conservative countermovement</a>, including new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender children.

“I’m trying not to be very heavily political, but when it does target my community, I get very, very annoyed and very hurt,” said Ve Cinder, a 22-year-old transgender woman who traveled from Pennsylvania to take part in the country's largest Pride event.

“I’m just, like, scared for my future and for my trans siblings. I’m frightened of how this country has looked at human rights, basic human rights,” she said. “It's crazy.”

Parades in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are among events that roughly 400 Pride organizations across the U.S. are holding this year, with many focused specifically on the rights of transgender people.

One of the grand marshals of New York City’s parade is nonbinary activist AC Dumlao, chief of staff for Athlete Ally, a group that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ athletes.

“Uplifting the trans community has always been at the core of our events and programming,” said Dan Dimant, a spokesperson for NYC Pride.

San Francisco Pride, another of the largest and best known LGBTQ+ celebrations in the United States, drew tens of thousands of spectators to the city Sunday.

The event, kicked off by the group Dykes on Bikes, featured dozens of colorful floats, some carrying strong messages against the wave of anti-transgender legislation in statehouses across the country.

Organizers told the San Francisco Chronicle that this year's theme emphasized activism. The parade included the nation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-first-drag-queen-ambassador-c97a296e3895f86b21c0562e6e92656d">first drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger.</a>

“When we walk through the world more authentic and more fabulous, we inspire everyone,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-first-drag-queen-ambassador-c97a296e3895f86b21c0562e6e92656d">Drollinger</a>&nbsp;said at a breakfast before the parade.

Along Market Street, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank were spotted riding together.

In Chicago, a brief downpour at the beginning of the parade didn’t deter parade goers, who took shelter under awnings, trees and umbrellas.

“A little rain can’t stop us!” tweeted Brandon Johnson, the city's newly elected mayor.

Chicago's 52nd annual celebration on Sunday featured drag performers Marilyn Doll Traid and Selena Peres, as well as Young Bud Billiken dancers, who received loud praise from the crowd as they represented the celebration of Black roots in Chicago’s South Side.

Thousands of people also flooded the streets Saturday night in Houston to celebrate pride parades and embrace the LGBTQ+ community.

“Houston is one big diverse family. Today is about celebrating people who are themselves, their authentic selves and letting everyone know that this is a city full of love, not division, not hate," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.

San Antonio also celebrated its Pride parade Saturday night, with hundreds of people lining downtown streets.

"This year’s theme is ‘Just Say Gay.’ We feel so strongly about the legislation that’s occurring, not only here in Texas, but in other states throughout the United States that are trying to put us back in the closet,” Phillip Barcena, Pride San Antonio president,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2023/06/24/pride-bigger-than-texas-night-parade-celebrates-20th-anniversary-this-saturday/">told KSAT</a>.

Also Saturday, first lady Jill Biden made an appearance at the Pride parade in Nashville, Tennessee, where she told the crowd “loud and clear that you belong, that you are beautiful, that you are loved.”

Many other cities held their marquee events earlier this month, including Boston, which hosted its first parade after a three-year hiatus that began with COVID-19 but extended through 2022 because the organization that used to run it dissolved under criticism that it excluded racial minorities and transgender people.

A key message this year has been for LGBTQ+ communities to unite against dozens, if not hundreds, of legislative bills now under consideration in statehouses across the country.

Lawmakers in 20 states have moved to ban gender-affirming care for children, and at least seven more are considering doing the same, adding increased urgency for the transgender community, its advocates say.

“We are under threat,” Pride event organizers in New York, San Francisco and San Diego said in a statement joined by about 50 other Pride organizations nationwide. “The diverse dangers we are facing as an LGBTQ community and Pride organizers, while differing in nature and intensity, share a common trait: they seek to undermine our love, our identity, our freedom, our safety, and our lives.”

Earlier Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that would make the state a “safe haven” for transgender youth and forbid law enforcement agencies from providing information that could undermine the ability for a child to get gender-affirming care.

NYC Mayor Adams made a similar move this week, issuing an executive order preventing city resources from being used to cooperate with out-of-state authorities in detaining anyone receiving gender-affirming care in the city.

The Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, a national LGBTQ+ organization, reported 101 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the first three weeks of this month, about twice as many as in the full month of June last year.

Sarah Moore, who analyzes extremism for the two civil rights groups, said many of the incidents coincided with Pride events.

Nevertheless, Roz Gould Keith, who has a transgender son, is heartened by the increased visibility of transgender people at marches and celebrations across the country.

“Ten years ago, when my son asked to go to Motor City Pride, there was nothing for the trans community,” said Keith, founder and executive director of Stand with Trans, a group formed to support and empower young transgender people and their families.

This year, she said, the event was “jam-packed” with transgender people.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687733405528.png" alt="Pride parade in Wichita&nbsp; marched from from the the Old County Courthouse to Century II- photo courtesy KAKE TV" />
 <figcaption>Pride parade in Wichita&nbsp; marched from from the the Old County Courthouse to Century II- photo courtesy KAKE TV</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA (AP) — Thousands of effusive marchers danced to music in Wichita streets Sunday and fellow revelers from Toronto to San Francisco cheered through Pride Month's grand crescendo.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWichitaPrideInc%2Fposts%2Fpfbid02MgJQoXwppacDjWdW9uzZ79MhMyigiPGTpF92uV5qRJp9Kba4madLimXPLwSabp43l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="629" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>New York's boisterous throng strolled and danced down Fifth Avenue to Greenwich Village, cheering and waving rainbow flags to commemorate the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-pa-state-wire-new-york-ny-state-wire-5f2159a5120e4833b31683665f9405ca">1969 Stonewall uprising</a>, where a police raid on a gay bar triggered days of protests and launched the modern movement for LGBTQ+ rights.While some people whooped it up in celebration, many were mindful of the growing&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/gender">conservative countermovement</a>, including new laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender children.“I’m trying not to be very heavily political, but when it does target my community, I get very, very annoyed and very hurt,” said Ve Cinder, a 22-year-old transgender woman who traveled from Pennsylvania to take part in the country's largest Pride event.“I’m just, like, scared for my future and for my trans siblings. I’m frightened of how this country has looked at human rights, basic human rights,” she said. “It's crazy.”Parades in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are among events that roughly 400 Pride organizations across the U.S. are holding this year, with many focused specifically on the rights of transgender people.One of the grand marshals of New York City’s parade is nonbinary activist AC Dumlao, chief of staff for Athlete Ally, a group that advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ athletes.“Uplifting the trans community has always been at the core of our events and programming,” said Dan Dimant, a spokesperson for NYC Pride.San Francisco Pride, another of the largest and best known LGBTQ+ celebrations in the United States, drew tens of thousands of spectators to the city Sunday.The event, kicked off by the group Dykes on Bikes, featured dozens of colorful floats, some carrying strong messages against the wave of anti-transgender legislation in statehouses across the country.Organizers told the San Francisco Chronicle that this year's theme emphasized activism. The parade included the nation’s&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-first-drag-queen-ambassador-c97a296e3895f86b21c0562e6e92656d">first drag laureate, D’Arcy Drollinger.</a>“When we walk through the world more authentic and more fabulous, we inspire everyone,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-first-drag-queen-ambassador-c97a296e3895f86b21c0562e6e92656d">Drollinger</a>&nbsp;said at a breakfast before the parade.Along Market Street, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank were spotted riding together.In Chicago, a brief downpour at the beginning of the parade didn’t deter parade goers, who took shelter under awnings, trees and umbrellas.“A little rain can’t stop us!” tweeted Brandon Johnson, the city's newly elected mayor.Chicago's 52nd annual celebration on Sunday featured drag performers Marilyn Doll Traid and Selena Peres, as well as Young Bud Billiken dancers, who received loud praise from the crowd as they represented the celebration of Black roots in Chicago’s South Side.Thousands of people also flooded the streets Saturday night in Houston to celebrate pride parades and embrace the LGBTQ+ community.“Houston is one big diverse family. Today is about celebrating people who are themselves, their authentic selves and letting everyone know that this is a city full of love, not division, not hate," said Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner.San Antonio also celebrated its Pride parade Saturday night, with hundreds of people lining downtown streets."This year’s theme is ‘Just Say Gay.’ We feel so strongly about the legislation that’s occurring, not only here in Texas, but in other states throughout the United States that are trying to put us back in the closet,” Phillip Barcena, Pride San Antonio president,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2023/06/24/pride-bigger-than-texas-night-parade-celebrates-20th-anniversary-this-saturday/">told KSAT</a>.Also Saturday, first lady Jill Biden made an appearance at the Pride parade in Nashville, Tennessee, where she told the crowd “loud and clear that you belong, that you are beautiful, that you are loved.”Many other cities held their marquee events earlier this month, including Boston, which hosted its first parade after a three-year hiatus that began with COVID-19 but extended through 2022 because the organization that used to run it dissolved under criticism that it excluded racial minorities and transgender people.A key message this year has been for LGBTQ+ communities to unite against dozens, if not hundreds, of legislative bills now under consideration in statehouses across the country.Lawmakers in 20 states have moved to ban gender-affirming care for children, and at least seven more are considering doing the same, adding increased urgency for the transgender community, its advocates say.“We are under threat,” Pride event organizers in New York, San Francisco and San Diego said in a statement joined by about 50 other Pride organizations nationwide. “The diverse dangers we are facing as an LGBTQ community and Pride organizers, while differing in nature and intensity, share a common trait: they seek to undermine our love, our identity, our freedom, our safety, and our lives.”Earlier Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that would make the state a “safe haven” for transgender youth and forbid law enforcement agencies from providing information that could undermine the ability for a child to get gender-affirming care.NYC Mayor Adams made a similar move this week, issuing an executive order preventing city resources from being used to cooperate with out-of-state authorities in detaining anyone receiving gender-affirming care in the city.The Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, a national LGBTQ+ organization, reported 101 anti-LGBTQ+ incidents in the first three weeks of this month, about twice as many as in the full month of June last year.Sarah Moore, who analyzes extremism for the two civil rights groups, said many of the incidents coincided with Pride events.Nevertheless, Roz Gould Keith, who has a transgender son, is heartened by the increased visibility of transgender people at marches and celebrations across the country.“Ten years ago, when my son asked to go to Motor City Pride, there was nothing for the trans community,” said Keith, founder and executive director of Stand with Trans, a group formed to support and empower young transgender people and their families.This year, she said, the event was “jam-packed” with transgender people.___

LGBTQ+ Pride on display on Kansas streets and nationwide

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a deadly shooting and crash and have made an arrest.

Just before 2:30p.m. Friday, police in Wichita received a series of 911 calls about a vehicle collision and a shooting in the 7000 Block of East Lincoln in Wichita, according to&nbsp;Officer Aaron Moses.

First responders located a red GMC Yukon that struck a building and a victim later identified as&nbsp;49-year-old Chris Baker of Wichita, inside the SUV with a gunshot wound.. Life-saving measures were attempted, but Baker would be pronounced deceased on the scene.

Investigators at the scene learned from witnesses that someone involved in the crash had fled into one of the nearby buildings, according to Moses. A small group of the Wichita Police SWAT team responded to the scene.&nbsp;

&nbsp;Investigators worked through the evening hours and were able to determine that 24-year-old Damion Hazelton was the shooter. 

Police located and arrested him without incident. The Wichita Police Department is still asking anyone who has information on this case to please call WPD detectives at 316-268-4407, the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282, or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Hazelton is being held on requested charges of Felony Murder and Discharge into Occupied Vehicle.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687694361794.png" alt="Hazelton-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Hazelton-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a deadly shooting and crash and have made an arrest.Just before 2:30p.m. Friday, police in Wichita received a series of 911 calls about a vehicle collision and a shooting in the 7000 Block of East Lincoln in Wichita, according to&nbsp;Officer Aaron Moses.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687565978422.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation -photo courtesy KWCH</figcaption>
 </figure>First responders located a red GMC Yukon that struck a building and a victim later identified as&nbsp;49-year-old Chris Baker of Wichita, inside the SUV with a gunshot wound.. Life-saving measures were attempted, but Baker would be pronounced deceased on the scene.Investigators at the scene learned from witnesses that someone involved in the crash had fled into one of the nearby buildings, according to Moses. A small group of the Wichita Police SWAT team responded to the scene.&nbsp;&nbsp;Investigators worked through the evening hours and were able to determine that 24-year-old Damion Hazelton was the shooter. Police located and arrested him without incident. The Wichita Police Department is still asking anyone who has information on this case to please call WPD detectives at 316-268-4407, the See Something Say Something hotline at 316-519-2282, or Crime Stoppers at 316-267-2111.&nbsp;&nbsp;Hazelton is being held on requested charges of Felony Murder and Discharge into Occupied Vehicle.

Arrest: Kan. man found with gunshot wound, after crash into building

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of thefts and have made an arrest.

Patrol East Community Police Officers in Wichita were investigating a rash of thefts from Coach in Towne East Square in dating as far back as March of 2022, with a total loss estimated at $24,275. 

The investigation revealed 45-year-old Anthony Talkington as a possible suspect.  Due to this large dollar amount, Patrol East officers, Vice, Larceny Detectives and the K-9 Unit, conducted a 2-day operation investigating this crime trend. 

On June 20,&nbsp; Coach reported Talkington entered the business and took seven various Coach brand purses and wallets. He returned to a residence in the 1400 block of S. Pershing in Wichita where officers observed him with the items taken from the store.

 Officers attempted to apprehend him but he refused to come out of the house. Using two K-9 units, Talkington exited and surrendered peacefully without incident. 

A search warrant was executed at the residence. Community Police officers and Larceny Detectives searched the residence and discovered evidence of the thefts along with drugs and paraphernalia. 

Talkington was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail for five County Warrants (Theft and Possession of Opiates) with a $150,000 bond and a city warrant for domestic violence.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687467979564.png" alt="Talkington-photo Sedgwick Co." />
 <figcaption>Talkington-photo Sedgwick Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a series of thefts and have made an arrest.Patrol East Community Police Officers in Wichita were investigating a rash of thefts from Coach in Towne East Square in dating as far back as March of 2022, with a total loss estimated at $24,275. The investigation revealed 45-year-old Anthony Talkington as a possible suspect. Due to this large dollar amount, Patrol East officers, Vice, Larceny Detectives and the K-9 Unit, conducted a 2-day operation investigating this crime trend. On June 20,&nbsp; Coach reported Talkington entered the business and took seven various Coach brand purses and wallets. He returned to a residence in the 1400 block of S. Pershing in Wichita where officers observed him with the items taken from the store. Officers attempted to apprehend him but he refused to come out of the house. Using two K-9 units, Talkington exited and surrendered peacefully without incident. A search warrant was executed at the residence. Community Police officers and Larceny Detectives searched the residence and discovered evidence of the thefts along with drugs and paraphernalia. Talkington was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail for five County Warrants (Theft and Possession of Opiates) with a $150,000 bond and a city warrant for domestic violence.

Police: Kansas man stole $25K in purses, wallets from store

When I told friends and family I was reporting on the first chicken meat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cultivated-meat-lab-grown-cell-based-a88ab8e0241712b501aa191cdbf6b39a">grown from animal cells</a>, their first comment was “Eww." Their second comment was: “How does it taste?"

The short answer (you've probably heard this sentence before in other contexts): Tastes like chicken.

The longer answer, which folds in the “Eww” response, is more nuanced. Yes, it's strange to think of eating a totally new kind of meat — chicken that doesn't come from a chicken, meat that will be sold as “cell-cultivated” chicken after the U.S. Agriculture Department on Wednesday gave the green light to two California firms, Upside Foods and Good Meat.

But it's also interesting (and exciting!) to taste test the first offerings of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cultivated-meat-grown-cells-d92a4efa67309eb670d6b13bcca11604">new era in meat production</a>, which aims to eliminate harm to billions of animals slaughtered for food — and to dramatically reduce the environmental effects of grazing, growing feed for those animals and dealing with their animal waste.

I'm a lifelong meat eater. I'm also a victim of the “meat paradox,” a term scientists use to describe the psychological conflict that occurs in people who like to eat meat but don't like to contemplate the animals that died providing it.

As someone who has reported on food-borne illness outbreaks and slaughterhouse safety, I'm keenly aware that the chicken on my dinner plate probably suffered to get there. And that fact makes me uneasy if I dwell on it too much.

So I was open to trying a different kind of meat — and also curious to see if it would taste like the real thing.

I've tried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/4b739c1d79a14d70acd2df836eb613fd">plant-based options</a>&nbsp;like the Beyond Meat sausage and the Impossible Burger and liked them, even though I didn't think they were perfect substitutes. To be honest, the Beyond Meat sausage tasted good, but a little mealy. And the Impossible Burger was dry, although I may have cooked it too long. In both cases, I enjoyed the taste of the products but was still aware that I wasn’t actually eating pork or beef.

What about the artificiality of it all? It didn't bother me that this new cultivated meat is made from cells that grow to epic proportions in big steel vats, only to be shaped and formed — “extruded” is the somewhat unfortunate verb that came to mind — into familiar cutlets, filets and nuggets that would look right at home on the dinner table.

But as with all food, in the end it would come down to taste. And in this case, to the larger question behind it: Is this new material in fact chicken, or is it an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-boneless-wings-culinary-lie-7bae0f861af227f53318e5ddfcce771f">impostor</a>?

TIME FOR THE ALL-IMPORTANT MOUTH TEST

In January, I traveled to the Upside Foods manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. There, chef Jess Weaver sauteed a cultivated chicken breast in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.

The aroma was enticing, just like any filet cooked in butter would be. And the taste was light and delicate with a tender texture, just like any chicken breast I’d make at home – if, that is, I were a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America.

Last week, I visited the Alameda, California, plant where Good Meat is poised to begin production of its chicken products. Chef Zach Tyndall was ready with a smoked chicken salad with mayonnaise, golden raisins and walnuts. He followed it with a chicken “thigh” dish — darker meat served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace, golden beets and tiny purple cauliflower florets.

The taste was richer than a chicken breast, more like the dark meat of a thigh. And the texture was both tender and chewy, like a well-cooked chicken thigh should be.

“It needs to be as lifelike as possible for it to catch on,” he said.

While “lifelike” is an interesting word, from my side of the fork I think this will catch on. There are still huge hurdles — how to scale up manufacturing and pare back costs, experts say, and the lingering question of whether chicken without the bird is, in fact, chicken — but if you're basing it on authentic taste, I'll leave you with this:

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687363360861.png" alt="A prepared dish of Good Meat's cultivated chicken is shown at the Eat Just office in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, June 14, 2023. The Agriculture Department issued final approvals Wednesday, June 21 to California firms Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell the products, known as “lab grown” or “cultivated” meat. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)" />
 <figcaption>A prepared dish of Good Meat's cultivated chicken is shown at the Eat Just office in Alameda, Calif., Wednesday, June 14, 2023. The Agriculture Department issued final approvals Wednesday, June 21 to California firms Upside Foods and Good Meat to sell the products, known as “lab grown” or “cultivated” meat. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)</figcaption>
 </figure>By JONEL ALECCIA, AP Health WriterWhen I told friends and family I was reporting on the first chicken meat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cultivated-meat-lab-grown-cell-based-a88ab8e0241712b501aa191cdbf6b39a">grown from animal cells</a>, their first comment was “Eww." Their second comment was: “How does it taste?"<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fgoodmeat%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0114d5rGCnk48cEZR848wMs58K9WnD55tTqPXEmghghAiDg2eY758Jwfd7eHqJpidl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="732" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>The short answer (you've probably heard this sentence before in other contexts): Tastes like chicken.The longer answer, which folds in the “Eww” response, is more nuanced. Yes, it's strange to think of eating a totally new kind of meat — chicken that doesn't come from a chicken, meat that will be sold as “cell-cultivated” chicken after the U.S. Agriculture Department on Wednesday gave the green light to two California firms, Upside Foods and Good Meat.But it's also interesting (and exciting!) to taste test the first offerings of a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cultivated-meat-grown-cells-d92a4efa67309eb670d6b13bcca11604">new era in meat production</a>, which aims to eliminate harm to billions of animals slaughtered for food — and to dramatically reduce the environmental effects of grazing, growing feed for those animals and dealing with their animal waste.FACING UP TO THE ‘MEAT PARADOX’ I'm a lifelong meat eater. I'm also a victim of the “meat paradox,” a term scientists use to describe the psychological conflict that occurs in people who like to eat meat but don't like to contemplate the animals that died providing it.As someone who has reported on food-borne illness outbreaks and slaughterhouse safety, I'm keenly aware that the chicken on my dinner plate probably suffered to get there. And that fact makes me uneasy if I dwell on it too much.So I was open to trying a different kind of meat — and also curious to see if it would taste like the real thing.I've tried&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/4b739c1d79a14d70acd2df836eb613fd">plant-based options</a>&nbsp;like the Beyond Meat sausage and the Impossible Burger and liked them, even though I didn't think they were perfect substitutes. To be honest, the Beyond Meat sausage tasted good, but a little mealy. And the Impossible Burger was dry, although I may have cooked it too long. In both cases, I enjoyed the taste of the products but was still aware that I wasn’t actually eating pork or beef.What about the artificiality of it all? It didn't bother me that this new cultivated meat is made from cells that grow to epic proportions in big steel vats, only to be shaped and formed — “extruded” is the somewhat unfortunate verb that came to mind — into familiar cutlets, filets and nuggets that would look right at home on the dinner table.But as with all food, in the end it would come down to taste. And in this case, to the larger question behind it: Is this new material in fact chicken, or is it an&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-boneless-wings-culinary-lie-7bae0f861af227f53318e5ddfcce771f">impostor</a>?TIME FOR THE ALL-IMPORTANT MOUTH TEST In January, I traveled to the Upside Foods manufacturing plant in Emeryville, California. There, chef Jess Weaver sauteed a cultivated chicken breast in a white wine butter sauce with tomatoes, capers and green onions.The aroma was enticing, just like any filet cooked in butter would be. And the taste was light and delicate with a tender texture, just like any chicken breast I’d make at home – if, that is, I were a chef trained at the Culinary Institute of America.Last week, I visited the Alameda, California, plant where Good Meat is poised to begin production of its chicken products. Chef Zach Tyndall was ready with a smoked chicken salad with mayonnaise, golden raisins and walnuts. He followed it with a chicken “thigh” dish — darker meat served on a bed of potato puree with a mushroom-vegetable demi-glace, golden beets and tiny purple cauliflower florets.The taste was richer than a chicken breast, more like the dark meat of a thigh. And the texture was both tender and chewy, like a well-cooked chicken thigh should be.That, says Tyndall, is the whole point.“It needs to be as lifelike as possible for it to catch on,” he said.While “lifelike” is an interesting word, from my side of the fork I think this will catch on. There are still huge hurdles — how to scale up manufacturing and pare back costs, experts say, and the lingering question of whether chicken without the bird is, in fact, chicken — but if you're basing it on authentic taste, I'll leave you with this:Please pass the “chicken.”

Is it chicken? Here’s how the first bite of ‘cell-cultivated’ meat tastes

By SARA HERSCHANDER of The Chronicle of Philanthropy via Associated Press

KANSAS CITY —After years of rising rents, a group of Kansas City, Missouri, renters came together in 2019 to form KC Tenants, armed with an annual budget of $30,000 and demands for a bill of rights to protect renters from rising prices, unjust evictions, and landlord abuse.

Four years and one pandemic later, KC Tenants is a nonprofit tenants union with a budget that grew almost twentyfold and a track record of advocacy victories. For instance, the group got its bill of rights enacted by the city and is working to make sure all tenants have the right to a lawyer when facing evictions.

Tenants unions are membership-based groups that advocate for the collective rights of renters, often at the local level. Many operate similarly to labor unions by charging member dues, offering member benefits, and appointing tenant leaders.

The progress at KC Tenants comes as a growing number of foundations are working with a revitalized tenants movement to confront the nation’s housing crisis. The current wave of organizing is the country’s most significant since the 1970s, when inflation and momentum from the Civil Rights Movement led to rent strikes across the country and new policies like rent control.

Now rents are rising again, and tenant organizers, who led the fight for pandemic-era eviction moratoriums, have turned toward new permanent protections for tenants.

The pandemic “exposed a live wire about the lack of protections and vulnerabilities tenants face,” says Jennifer Angarita, of Funders for Housing and Opportunity, a grantmakers group. After losing their jobs during the pandemic, many tenants struggled to pay rent and would have lost their homes without eviction moratoriums.

Angarita says an increase in national grantmakers’ support for local tenant movements is part of a broader shift in philanthropy that prioritizes support for the people most closely affected by social issues.

In 2021, HouseUS, a national organizing fund that supports local tenants movements, launched with $7.5 million. It received $5.5 million from the Ford Foundation and $2 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has since awarded another $4 million. The fund — which supports KC Tenants, Colorado Homes for All, the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance, and others — has continued to attract money from other large foundations. It raised more than $4 million in the past three years from grant makers such as the Oak Foundation, which provided $2 million, and the Melville Charitable Trust, which gave $200,000.

“Nothing pulls people in quite like momentum,” says Kevin Simowitz, co-director of HouseUS.

The national tenants movement has helped make recent changes across the nation:

— Keep LA Housed, Inquilinos Unidos, and others won Los Angeles City Council approval for protections that require landlords to provide clear causes, like nonpayment of rent, for evictions and relocation assistance for tenants displaced by rising rents.

— In New York, Housing Justice for All, a coalition of nonprofits, successfully fought for new laws and protections such as limitations on security deposit charges and requirements to notify tenants before making certain rent increases.

— The Miami Workers Center, a tenant collective, won approval for a countywide bill of rights protecting renters from housing discrimination based on prior evictions and a guarantee they’ll be notified if a building shifts ownership.

“Communities have been preparing for a moment when they can realize change, and I think we have it now,” says Meshie Knight, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “I see philanthropy as being able to contribute to that reimagination of a new and more equitable future.”

During the pandemic, KC Tenants became an advocate for emergency tenant protections, including a temporary eviction moratorium in the state. The group, with a budget of nearly $600,000 from both local and national grants, now employs seven full-time staff members plus tenant members who’ve led protests outside of judges’ homes and courthouses, and pursued more traditional legislative advocacy trying to keep renters in their homes.

“We were engaging in direct action to shut down evictions by whatever means we could find,” says Tara Raghuveer, founding director of KC Tenants. “Along the way, we started organizing neighborhood tenant unions.”

It’s that kind of nimbleness — and those victories — that persuaded some foundations that tenant unions should continue their work after the spread of COVID-19 eased.

At Ford, support for tenant groups is part of a shift in thinking about how philanthropy can help working class and middle class Americans as they seek a place to live. In the past, its housing grants focused on increasing the quantity of affordable housing through land-use and development efforts. Now, many of its housing grants go to organizations that advocate for tenants in a broader push for racial and economic justice, says Ethan Frey, Ford’s program officer for civic engagement and government.

He says the foundation’s restructuring emerged from the sentiment that “more work needed to be done to build political will and make more transformative changes to our housing system.”

While previous waves of tenant organizing were often led by national tenant organizations, local tenant unions have largely spearheaded the movement in recent years, Frey says. Many groups grew from the ground up during the pandemic, when they began generating momentum for citywide eviction protections.

In 2021, the HouseUS fund began ramping up its support for Missouri tenant movements outside of Kansas City. With the guidance and financial oversight of KC Tenants, HouseUS has provided $100,000 yearly since 2021 to help create a nonprofit tenants union in Cape Girardeau in rural southeast Missouri.

It’s been an uphill battle to persuade rural tenants to join the union, says Aaron Lerma, an organizer leading the campaign. Many tenants were concerned about being blacklisted from renting in the small city.

However, Lerma says, he’s seeing a growing willingness among residents to help direct what comes next — and a sense that it might lead to real change.

“That sense of fear has also contributed to a lot of hopelessness in our communities,” Lerma says. “We have to generate our own hope about what’s possible.”

Lerma spent six months knocking on doors before holding the group’s first meeting in June 2022. At that meeting, tenants shared their priorities for improving housing conditions. Cape Girardeau tenant leaders have been able to build credibility with other residents through policy work and by being their advocates. For instance, when Cape Girardeau renters are evicted or a landlord refuses to make repairs, they now have someone to call.

The group recently negotiated an agreement with the town’s inspection-services supervisor to restructure Cape Girardeau’s code-inspection department. The town plans to hire more inspectors so it can do more to enforce safe housing standards. Cape Girardeau Tenants, which now has around 60 members and 10 tenant leaders, is considering what’s next, including the possibility for a tenants bill of rights.

Denise St. Omer is a board member of the Kansas City-based Hadley Project, which provides funding to community nonprofits, including KC Tenants. The project was an early supporter of KC Tenants before there was much major foundation funding. She says work done by groups like KC Tenants helped change the future.

“We have short historical memories, but the rights and privileges that we take for granted now came about as a result of grassroots organizing that was deeply unpopular at the time,” St. Omer says. “These are individuals experiencing housing instability. They’re not being invited to participate in the decision-making process. They have to use their collective power to get a seat at the table.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687623828500.png" alt="Photo courtesy KC Tenants" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy KC Tenants</figcaption>
 </figure>By SARA HERSCHANDER of The Chronicle of Philanthropy via Associated PressKANSAS CITY —After years of rising rents, a group of Kansas City, Missouri, renters came together in 2019 to form KC Tenants, armed with an annual budget of $30,000 and demands for a bill of rights to protect renters from rising prices, unjust evictions, and landlord abuse.Four years and one pandemic later, KC Tenants is a nonprofit tenants union with a budget that grew almost twentyfold and a track record of advocacy victories. For instance, the group got its bill of rights enacted by the city and is working to make sure all tenants have the right to a lawyer when facing evictions.Tenants unions are membership-based groups that advocate for the collective rights of renters, often at the local level. Many operate similarly to labor unions by charging member dues, offering member benefits, and appointing tenant leaders.The progress at KC Tenants comes as a growing number of foundations are working with a revitalized tenants movement to confront the nation’s housing crisis. The current wave of organizing is the country’s most significant since the 1970s, when inflation and momentum from the Civil Rights Movement led to rent strikes across the country and new policies like rent control.Now rents are rising again, and tenant organizers, who led the fight for pandemic-era eviction moratoriums, have turned toward new permanent protections for tenants.The pandemic “exposed a live wire about the lack of protections and vulnerabilities tenants face,” says Jennifer Angarita, of Funders for Housing and Opportunity, a grantmakers group. After losing their jobs during the pandemic, many tenants struggled to pay rent and would have lost their homes without eviction moratoriums.Angarita says an increase in national grantmakers’ support for local tenant movements is part of a broader shift in philanthropy that prioritizes support for the people most closely affected by social issues.In 2021, HouseUS, a national organizing fund that supports local tenants movements, launched with $7.5 million. It received $5.5 million from the Ford Foundation and $2 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which has since awarded another $4 million. The fund — which supports KC Tenants, Colorado Homes for All, the Nevada Housing Justice Alliance, and others — has continued to attract money from other large foundations. It raised more than $4 million in the past three years from grant makers such as the Oak Foundation, which provided $2 million, and the Melville Charitable Trust, which gave $200,000.“Nothing pulls people in quite like momentum,” says Kevin Simowitz, co-director of HouseUS.The national tenants movement has helped make recent changes across the nation:— Keep LA Housed, Inquilinos Unidos, and others won Los Angeles City Council approval for protections that require landlords to provide clear causes, like nonpayment of rent, for evictions and relocation assistance for tenants displaced by rising rents.— In New York, Housing Justice for All, a coalition of nonprofits, successfully fought for new laws and protections such as limitations on security deposit charges and requirements to notify tenants before making certain rent increases.— The Miami Workers Center, a tenant collective, won approval for a countywide bill of rights protecting renters from housing discrimination based on prior evictions and a guarantee they’ll be notified if a building shifts ownership.“Communities have been preparing for a moment when they can realize change, and I think we have it now,” says Meshie Knight, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “I see philanthropy as being able to contribute to that reimagination of a new and more equitable future.”During the pandemic, KC Tenants became an advocate for emergency tenant protections, including a temporary eviction moratorium in the state. The group, with a budget of nearly $600,000 from both local and national grants, now employs seven full-time staff members plus tenant members who’ve led protests outside of judges’ homes and courthouses, and pursued more traditional legislative advocacy trying to keep renters in their homes.“We were engaging in direct action to shut down evictions by whatever means we could find,” says Tara Raghuveer, founding director of KC Tenants. “Along the way, we started organizing neighborhood tenant unions.”It’s that kind of nimbleness — and those victories — that persuaded some foundations that tenant unions should continue their work after the spread of COVID-19 eased.At Ford, support for tenant groups is part of a shift in thinking about how philanthropy can help working class and middle class Americans as they seek a place to live. In the past, its housing grants focused on increasing the quantity of affordable housing through land-use and development efforts. Now, many of its housing grants go to organizations that advocate for tenants in a broader push for racial and economic justice, says Ethan Frey, Ford’s program officer for civic engagement and government.He says the foundation’s restructuring emerged from the sentiment that “more work needed to be done to build political will and make more transformative changes to our housing system.”While previous waves of tenant organizing were often led by national tenant organizations, local tenant unions have largely spearheaded the movement in recent years, Frey says. Many groups grew from the ground up during the pandemic, when they began generating momentum for citywide eviction protections.In 2021, the HouseUS fund began ramping up its support for Missouri tenant movements outside of Kansas City. With the guidance and financial oversight of KC Tenants, HouseUS has provided $100,000 yearly since 2021 to help create a nonprofit tenants union in Cape Girardeau in rural southeast Missouri.It’s been an uphill battle to persuade rural tenants to join the union, says Aaron Lerma, an organizer leading the campaign. Many tenants were concerned about being blacklisted from renting in the small city.However, Lerma says, he’s seeing a growing willingness among residents to help direct what comes next — and a sense that it might lead to real change.“That sense of fear has also contributed to a lot of hopelessness in our communities,” Lerma says. “We have to generate our own hope about what’s possible.”Lerma spent six months knocking on doors before holding the group’s first meeting in June 2022. At that meeting, tenants shared their priorities for improving housing conditions. Cape Girardeau tenant leaders have been able to build credibility with other residents through policy work and by being their advocates. For instance, when Cape Girardeau renters are evicted or a landlord refuses to make repairs, they now have someone to call.The group recently negotiated an agreement with the town’s inspection-services supervisor to restructure Cape Girardeau’s code-inspection department. The town plans to hire more inspectors so it can do more to enforce safe housing standards. Cape Girardeau Tenants, which now has around 60 members and 10 tenant leaders, is considering what’s next, including the possibility for a tenants bill of rights.Denise St. Omer is a board member of the Kansas City-based Hadley Project, which provides funding to community nonprofits, including KC Tenants. The project was an early supporter of KC Tenants before there was much major foundation funding. She says work done by groups like KC Tenants helped change the future.“We have short historical memories, but the rights and privileges that we take for granted now came about as a result of grassroots organizing that was deeply unpopular at the time,” St. Omer says. “These are individuals experiencing housing instability. They’re not being invited to participate in the decision-making process. They have to use their collective power to get a seat at the table.____

Foundations buoy a new movement of renters’ activism

KANSAS CITY (AP) —At least three people have been found dead, and at least five others are thought to be injured, police in Missouri said while investigating two shootings with multiple victims in the same area of Kansas City early Sunday morning.

Officers were called to the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue just after 4:30 a.m. where they found three shooting victims — two men and one women — dead in a parking lot and in the street, Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Jake Becchina said in an email.

Police were told that five other shooting victims with injuries that were not life-threatening arrived at various hospitals by private vehicles or ambulance, Becchina said, adding: “Preliminary information indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the victims were shot."

An initial investigation by police indicates the gathering took place outside an auto mechanic shop, where police have been called to before,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/multiple-people-injured-killed-after-2-shootings-on-prospect-avenue-overnight?dfsfsd">KSHB-TV reported.</a>

“My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed," Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on Twitter.

There was no immediate information about any arrests being made, KSHB-TV reported. Police also responded to a nearby shooting on Prospect Avenue near 31st Street around 3 a.m. and said critical injuries were suffered, though they did not say how many people were injured.

KANSAS CITY (AP) — Police in Kansas City were investigating two shootings with multiple victims in the same area of Kansas City early Sunday morning, although the number of dead or wounded was not immediately known, a news report said.

The Kansas City Police Department responded to shootings on Prospect Avenue around 3 a.m. and again around 4:30 a.m. Sunday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/multiple-people-injured-killed-after-2-shootings-on-prospect-avenue-overnight?dfsfsd">KSHB-TV reported</a>.

One of the shootings involved multiple fatalities, the station reported.

The number of victims from each shooting was not immediately available, but police told KSHB that some victims with gunshot wounds transported themselves to a hospital.

There was no immediate information about any arrests being made, KSHB reported.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1687710602889.png" alt="Police on the scene of the investigation Sunday morning -photo courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Police on the scene of the investigation Sunday morning -photo courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY (AP) —At least three people have been found dead, and at least five others are thought to be injured, police in Missouri said while investigating two shootings with multiple victims in the same area of Kansas City early Sunday morning.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed.&mdash; Mayor Q (@QuintonLucasKC) <a href="https://twitter.com/QuintonLucasKC/status/1672959843026575360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Officers were called to the intersection of 57th Street and Prospect Avenue just after 4:30 a.m. where they found three shooting victims — two men and one women — dead in a parking lot and in the street, Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Jake Becchina said in an email.Police were told that five other shooting victims with injuries that were not life-threatening arrived at various hospitals by private vehicles or ambulance, Becchina said, adding: “Preliminary information indicates there was a large gathering of people in a parking lot at the intersection when the victims were shot."An initial investigation by police indicates the gathering took place outside an auto mechanic shop, where police have been called to before,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/multiple-people-injured-killed-after-2-shootings-on-prospect-avenue-overnight?dfsfsd">KSHB-TV reported.</a>“My condolences to the families of three people killed in a shooting this morning at an apparent after-hours gathering near 57 and Prospect. If the business knew persons would be present, without security, selling alcohol, and thwarting our laws, that business should be closed," Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas posted on Twitter.There was no immediate information about any arrests being made, KSHB-TV reported. Police also responded to a nearby shooting on Prospect Avenue near 31st Street around 3 a.m. and said critical injuries were suffered, though they did not say how many people were injured.--------------KANSAS CITY (AP) — Police in Kansas City were investigating two shootings with multiple victims in the same area of Kansas City early Sunday morning, although the number of dead or wounded was not immediately known, a news report said.The Kansas City Police Department responded to shootings on Prospect Avenue around 3 a.m. and again around 4:30 a.m. Sunday,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kshb.com/news/crime/multiple-people-injured-killed-after-2-shootings-on-prospect-avenue-overnight?dfsfsd">KSHB-TV reported</a>.One of the shootings involved multiple fatalities, the station reported.The number of victims from each shooting was not immediately available, but police told KSHB that some victims with gunshot wounds transported themselves to a hospital.There was no immediate information about any arrests being made, KSHB reported.

Multiple fatalities in 2 Sunday shootings in Kansas City

Helena (AP) —Republican lawmakers in Montana are sharing that they received letters with white powder as federal agents investigate mysterious substances similarly mailed to GOP officials in two other states.

In a Friday night tweet, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/GovGianforte/status/1672428285349834753">said he has received</a>&nbsp;“disturbing” reports of anonymous threats sent to legislators. The Montana attorney general&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AustinKnudsenMT">posted on Facebook</a>&nbsp;that the local sheriff's office collected evidence after his mother, a state representative, opened one letter with a “white powder substance” sent to her home address.

“PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS about opening your mail,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in the post directed toward legislators. “If you receive a suspicious package, contact law enforcement immediately.”

Republican officials in Tennessee and Kansas have recently received similar letters. A legislative office building in Nashville&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-white-powder-building-evacuated-82ba88e307efd5c1b4f0b95469f7b28d">temporarily locked down</a>&nbsp;on Thursday after the House Speaker said multiple Republican leaders got mail with “a white powder substance.” The letters included “obvious threats made by a liberal activist specifically targeting Republicans,” according to a House Republican Caucus spokesperson who did not provide further details.

The FBI said Thursday that ongoing lab tests did not indicate any risk to public safety.

About 100 such letters have been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-letters-white-powder-f59cfa50f3f35a5301e34c8d9b3cc0a1">sent to lawmakers and public officials across Kansas</a>, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Preliminary tests did not detect any common dangerous toxins and no injuries have been reported.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/6/1686969013876.jpeg" alt="Letter sent to Kansas Rep. Paul Waggoner" />
 <figcaption>Letter sent to Kansas Rep. Paul Waggoner</figcaption>
 </figure>Helena (AP) —Republican lawmakers in Montana are sharing that they received letters with white powder as federal agents investigate mysterious substances similarly mailed to GOP officials in two other states.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I&#39;ve received disturbing reports that Montana legislators are receiving anonymous, threatening letters containing white powder. The state will bring to bear whatever resources are needed to support law enforcement officers as they investigate.&mdash; Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) <a href="https://twitter.com/GovGianforte/status/1672428285349834753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>In a Friday night tweet, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/GovGianforte/status/1672428285349834753">said he has received</a>&nbsp;“disturbing” reports of anonymous threats sent to legislators. The Montana attorney general&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/AustinKnudsenMT">posted on Facebook</a>&nbsp;that the local sheriff's office collected evidence after his mother, a state representative, opened one letter with a “white powder substance” sent to her home address.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FAustinKnudsenMT%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0sJiqqGKYU6L4ErUC3BZqj4FQLsNxqw8xSqs1EnbJLQz7XnV9KfQQkvmPT9P2cXiBl&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="247" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>“PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS about opening your mail,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in the post directed toward legislators. “If you receive a suspicious package, contact law enforcement immediately.”Republican officials in Tennessee and Kansas have recently received similar letters. A legislative office building in Nashville&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/tennessee-white-powder-building-evacuated-82ba88e307efd5c1b4f0b95469f7b28d">temporarily locked down</a>&nbsp;on Thursday after the House Speaker said multiple Republican leaders got mail with “a white powder substance.” The letters included “obvious threats made by a liberal activist specifically targeting Republicans,” according to a House Republican Caucus spokesperson who did not provide further details.The FBI said Thursday that ongoing lab tests did not indicate any risk to public safety.About 100 such letters have been&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kansas-letters-white-powder-f59cfa50f3f35a5301e34c8d9b3cc0a1">sent to lawmakers and public officials across Kansas</a>, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Preliminary tests did not detect any common dangerous toxins and no injuries have been reported.

Letters with mysterious powder sent to lawmakers in 2 other states

ELLIS COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Hays.

Just before&nbsp; 2 a.m. Sunday, the Hays Police Department received a report of a shooting in the 1000 block of East Eighth&nbsp;St., Hays, according to a media release.

The caller reported that a man had been shot in the neck and was on the ground.

Emergency responders were dispatched and made contact with the gunshot victim. An ambulance took the&nbsp;&nbsp;victim to the Hays Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.

The Hays Police Department has one person in custody and there are no other suspects involved.&nbsp; Police have not released the victim's name.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Scene Response Team is assisting the Hays Police Department with the investigation. &nbsp;

ELLIS COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Hays.Just before&nbsp; 2 a.m. Sunday, the Hays Police Department received a report of a shooting in the 1000 block of East Eighth&nbsp;St., Hays, according to a media release.The caller reported that a man had been shot in the neck and was on the ground.Emergency responders were dispatched and made contact with the gunshot victim. An ambulance took the&nbsp;&nbsp;victim to the Hays Medical Center where he was pronounced deceased.The Hays Police Department has one person in custody and there are no other suspects involved.&nbsp; Police have not released the victim's name.The Kansas Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Scene Response Team is assisting the Hays Police Department with the investigation. &nbsp;

Police: 1 in custody after fatal shooting outside bar in Hays

WASHINGTON (AP) —President Biden spoke Saturday with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom, according to a statement on the White House web site. The leaders discussed the situation in Russia and affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine.

The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-rebellion-wagner-prigozhin-live-updates-414e48fd171aef3a1851216962c9a544">fizzled out</a>&nbsp;relatively peacefully Saturday after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow abruptly reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat.

The dramatic if brief revolt shifted the landscape for the Kremlin and the 16-month-old war in Ukraine and prompted Russia to pull soldiers back from the battlefield to defend the capital, a stunning recognition of the threat posed by Wagner Group soldiers under the command of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-prigozhin-wagner-profile-e1939a58f216551b1a20157cc3803085">Yevgeny Prigozhin</a>.

Under the deal announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighboring Belarus and charges of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped. The government said it also would not prosecute fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry.

Putin had vowed earlier to punish those behind the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, whose forces seized a key military facility in southern Russia before advancing on the capital. In a televised speech to the nation, he called the rebellion a “betrayal” and “treason.”

In allowing Prigozhin and his forces to go free, Peskov said, Putin’s “highest goal” was “to avoid bloodshed and internal confrontation with unpredictable results.”

Moscow had braced for the arrival of the Wagner forces by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.

About 3,000 Chechen soldiers were pulled from fighting in Ukraine and rushed there early Saturday, state television in Chechnya reported, signaling the Kremlin’s desperation as the Wagner troops advanced to, according to Prigozhin, just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow.

But after the deal was struck, Prigozhin announced that he had decided to retreat to avoid “shedding Russian blood.” His troops were ordered back to their field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/putin-russia-ukraine-war-prigozhin-infighting-0e051f0a43522f57ef1810a8b03f6e62">Prigozhin has demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu</a>, long the target of his withering criticism for his conduct of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">the war in Ukraine</a>. On Friday, he accused forces under Shoigu's command of attacking Wagner camps and killing “a huge number of our comrades.”

Prigozhin did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand. Peskov said the issue could not have been discussed during the negotiations, which were conducted by the president of Belarus, and is the “exclusive prerogative of the commander in chief.”

If Putin were to agree to Shoigu’s ouster, it could be politically damaging for the president after he branded Prigozhin a backstabbing traitor.

Early Saturday, Prigozhin’s private army appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow, which runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.

A nighttime video from the city posted on Russian messaging app channels showed people cheering Wagner troops as they left Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin was seen riding in one of the vehicles, and people greeted him and some ran to shake his hand as he lowered the window. The regional governor later said that all of the troops had left the city.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/9/1663760963726.jpeg" alt="“The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said.-Photo Russian Presidential Press Service via AP" />
 <figcaption>“The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said.-Photo Russian Presidential Press Service via AP</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —President Biden spoke Saturday with President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of the United Kingdom, according to a statement on the White House web site. The leaders discussed the situation in Russia and affirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine.The greatest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-rebellion-wagner-prigozhin-live-updates-414e48fd171aef3a1851216962c9a544">fizzled out</a>&nbsp;relatively peacefully Saturday after the rebellious mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow abruptly reached a deal with the Kremlin to go into exile and sounded the retreat.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Spoke today with Ukrainian Foreign Minister <a href="https://twitter.com/DmytroKuleba?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DmytroKuleba</a> to discuss the situation in Russia. U.S. support for Ukraine remains steadfast. The United States will stay in close coordination with Ukraine as the situation develops.&mdash; Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1672714392683823104?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The dramatic if brief revolt shifted the landscape for the Kremlin and the 16-month-old war in Ukraine and prompted Russia to pull soldiers back from the battlefield to defend the capital, a stunning recognition of the threat posed by Wagner Group soldiers under the command of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-prigozhin-wagner-profile-e1939a58f216551b1a20157cc3803085">Yevgeny Prigozhin</a>.Under the deal announced by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Prigozhin will go to neighboring Belarus and charges of mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped. The government said it also would not prosecute fighters who took part, while those who did not join in were to be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry.Putin had vowed earlier to punish those behind the armed uprising led by his onetime protege, whose forces seized a key military facility in southern Russia before advancing on the capital. In a televised speech to the nation, he called the rebellion a “betrayal” and “treason.”In allowing Prigozhin and his forces to go free, Peskov said, Putin’s “highest goal” was “to avoid bloodshed and internal confrontation with unpredictable results.”Moscow had braced for the arrival of the Wagner forces by erecting checkpoints with armored vehicles and troops on the city’s southern edge. Red Square was shut down, and the mayor urged motorists to stay off some roads.About 3,000 Chechen soldiers were pulled from fighting in Ukraine and rushed there early Saturday, state television in Chechnya reported, signaling the Kremlin’s desperation as the Wagner troops advanced to, according to Prigozhin, just 200 kilometers (120 miles) from Moscow.But after the deal was struck, Prigozhin announced that he had decided to retreat to avoid “shedding Russian blood.” His troops were ordered back to their field camps in Ukraine, where they have been fighting alongside Russian regular soldiers.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/putin-russia-ukraine-war-prigozhin-infighting-0e051f0a43522f57ef1810a8b03f6e62">Prigozhin has demanded the ouster of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu</a>, long the target of his withering criticism for his conduct of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">the war in Ukraine</a>. On Friday, he accused forces under Shoigu's command of attacking Wagner camps and killing “a huge number of our comrades.”Prigozhin did not say whether the Kremlin had responded to his demand. Peskov said the issue could not have been discussed during the negotiations, which were conducted by the president of Belarus, and is the “exclusive prerogative of the commander in chief.”If Putin were to agree to Shoigu’s ouster, it could be politically damaging for the president after he branded Prigozhin a backstabbing traitor.Early Saturday, Prigozhin’s private army appeared to control the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don, a city 660 miles (over 1,000 kilometers) south of Moscow, which runs Russian operations in Ukraine, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said.A nighttime video from the city posted on Russian messaging app channels showed people cheering Wagner troops as they left Rostov-on-Don. Prigozhin was seen riding in one of the vehicles, and people greeted him and some ran to shake his hand as he lowered the window. The regional governor later said that all of the troops had left the city.Wagner troops and equipment also were in Lipetsk province, about 360 kilometers (225 miles) south of Moscow.Authorities declared a “counterterrorist regime” in Moscow and its surrounding region, enhancing security and restricting some movement. On the southern outskirts, troops erected checkpoints, arranged sandbags and set up machine guns. Crews dug up sections of highways to slow the march.Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared Monday a non-working day for most residents as part of the heightened security, a measure that remained in effect even after the retreat.The dramatic developments came exactly 16 months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s largest conflict since World War II, which has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and reduced cities to rubble.Ukrainians hoped the Russian infighting would create opportunities for their army to take back territory seized by Russian forces.Ben Barry, senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that even with a deal, Putin’s position has probably been weakened and “these events will have been of great comfort to the Ukrainian government and the military.”Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Saturday, shortly before Prigozhin announced his retreat, that the march exposed weakness in the Kremlin and “showed all Russian bandits, mercenaries, oligarchs” that it is easy to capture Russian cities “and, probably, arsenals.”Switching into Russian in his daily video address, Zelenskyy said “the man from the Kremlin” was “very afraid.” He repeated his calls for the West to supply Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets and ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-wagner-yevgeny-prigozhin-putin-580f5401a0e9c1ed744ce4645ce4d03f">Prigozhin</a>&nbsp;had vowed earlier that his fighters, whom he said number some 25,000, would not surrender because “we do not want the country to live on in corruption, deceit and bureaucracy.”“Regarding the betrayal of the motherland, the president was deeply mistaken. We are patriots of our homeland,” he said in an audio message on his Telegram channel.He posted video of himself at the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don and claimed his forces had taken control of the airfield and other military facilities in the city without any deaths or even “a single gunshot.”Russian media, however, reported that several helicopters and a military communications plane were downed by Wagner troops. The Kremlin referred a question about the losses to the Defense Ministry, which has not commented.The short-lived rebellion came as Russia is “fighting the toughest battle for its future,” Putin said, with the West piling sanctions on Moscow and arming Ukraine.“The entire military, economic and information machine of the West is waged against us,” Putin said.State-controlled TV networks led their newscasts with Putin’s statement and reported the tense situation in Rostov-on-Don. Broadcasters also carried statements from top Russian officials and lawmakers voicing support for Putin, condemning Prigozhin and urging him to back down.Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, who in the past has sided with Prigozhin in his criticisms of Russia’s military, also expressed support for Putin’s “every word.”“The mutiny needs to be suppressed,” Kadyrov said.Wagner troops have played a crucial role in the Ukraine war, capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, an area where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. But Prigozhin has increasingly criticized the military brass, accusing it of incompetence and of starving his troops of munitions.In announcing the rebellion, Prigozhin accused Russian forces of attacking the Wagner camps in Ukraine with rockets, helicopter gunships and artillery. He alleged that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, ordered the attacks following a meeting with Shoigu in which they decided to destroy the military contractor.The Defense Ministry denied attacking the camps.The 62-year-old Prigozhin, a former convict, has longstanding ties to Putin and won lucrative Kremlin catering contracts that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef.”He gained attention in the U.S. when he and a dozen other Russian nationals were charged with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord ahead of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election victory. Wagner has sent military contractors to Libya, Syria, several African countries and eventually Ukraine.The rebellion appeared likely to further hinder Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, as Kyiv’s forces probed Russian defenses in the initial stages of a counteroffensive.Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the infighting could create confusion and potential division among Russian military forces.“Russian troops in Ukraine may well now be operating in a vacuum, without clear military instructions, and doubts about whom to obey and follow,″ Lutsevych said. “This creates a unique and unprecedented military opportunity for the Ukrainian army.”----------