NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. flu season keeps getting worse.

Health officials said Friday that 7.5% of outpatient medical visits last week were due to flu-like illnesses. That's as high as the peak of the 2017-18 flu season and higher than any season since.

The annual winter flu season usually doesn’t get going until December or January, but this one began early and has been complicated by the simultaneous spread of other viruses.

The measure of traffic in doctor's offices is based on reports of symptoms like coughs and sore throats, not on lab-confirmed diagnoses. So it may include other respiratory illnesses.

That makes it hard to compare to flu seasons from before the COVID-19 pandemic. Other years also didn't have this year's unusually strong wave of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be serious for infants and the elderly.

Meanwhile, 44 states reported high or very high flu activity last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

That may not bode well for the near future. It's likely there was more spread of respiratory viruses during Thanksgiving gatherings and at crowded airports, experts say.

The dominant flu strain so far is the kind typically associated with higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths, particularly in people 65 and older.

The CDC estimates there have been at least 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from flu so far this season. The deaths include at least 14 children.

Flu shots are recommended for nearly all Americans who are at least 6 months old or older.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670014458189.png" alt="CDC Flu map&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>CDC Flu map&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. flu season keeps getting worse.Health officials said Friday that 7.5% of outpatient medical visits last week were due to flu-like illnesses. That's as high as the peak of the 2017-18 flu season and higher than any season since.The annual winter flu season usually doesn’t get going until December or January, but this one began early and has been complicated by the simultaneous spread of other viruses.The measure of traffic in doctor's offices is based on reports of symptoms like coughs and sore throats, not on lab-confirmed diagnoses. So it may include other respiratory illnesses.That makes it hard to compare to flu seasons from before the COVID-19 pandemic. Other years also didn't have this year's unusually strong wave of RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of cold-like symptoms that can be serious for infants and the elderly.Meanwhile, 44 states reported high or very high flu activity last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.That may not bode well for the near future. It's likely there was more spread of respiratory viruses during Thanksgiving gatherings and at crowded airports, experts say.The dominant flu strain so far is the kind typically associated with higher rates of hospitalizations and deaths, particularly in people 65 and older.The CDC estimates there have been at least 78,000 hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths from flu so far this season. The deaths include at least 14 children.Flu shots are recommended for nearly all Americans who are at least 6 months old or older.___

Flu season worsens as Kan. and Mo. report high activity

NEMAHA COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating&nbsp;&nbsp;an apparent drowning accident at the <a href="https://cityofcentraliaks.org/Centralia-Lake">Centralia Lake</a>, according to a social media report from the Nemaha County Sheriff's office.

&nbsp;The&nbsp; lake reopened to the public on Saturday. The sheriff's office reported no additional details.&nbsp;

Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

&nbsp;The&nbsp; lake is currently closed to the public and no boats will be allowed on the water at this time.

The sheriff's office reported no additional details.&nbsp;

NEMAHA COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating&nbsp;&nbsp;an apparent drowning accident at the <a href="https://cityofcentraliaks.org/Centralia-Lake">Centralia Lake</a>, according to a social media report from the Nemaha County Sheriff's office.&nbsp;The&nbsp; lake reopened to the public on Saturday. The sheriff's office reported no additional details.&nbsp;Check the Post for additional details as they become available.------------NEMAHA COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating&nbsp;&nbsp;an apparent drowning accident at the <a href="https://cityofcentraliaks.org/Centralia-Lake">Centralia Lake</a>, according to a social media report from the Nemaha County Sheriff's office.&nbsp;The&nbsp; lake is currently closed to the public and no boats will be allowed on the water at this time.The sheriff's office reported no additional details.&nbsp;Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Kansas lake now open to the public after drowning investigation

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas providers might not be ready for months to do telemedicine abortions even though a state-court judge has blocked the state from enforcing its ban on teleconferencing with patients seeking pregnancy-ending medications.

Planned Parenthood Great Plains said it is evaluating its options following the order from Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson. It operates three clinics in Kansas providing abortions.

A spokesperson for Wichita clinic operator Trust Women said it hopes to resume telemedicine abortions but will move slowly. It provided them for a few months in 2018,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/990b0aab4eb54e598f088ffec8d88178">filing a lawsuit challenging the ban</a>&nbsp;just before it took effect at the start of 2019.

“There is a lot of infrastructure that needs to go into place to make sure it’s the right way to do it,” said Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, the Trust Women spokesperson, citing more staffing as a big need.

Kansas has required doctors to be physically present when a patient takes the first dose of what often is two doses of pregnancy-ending medication.

The Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3f479b218a6140719e1694fcfcdb8036">ruled in April 2019</a>&nbsp;that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution, but Watson&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c20774f4be7945f8a9a3e931557e65bd">refused in July 2019</a>&nbsp;to block enforcement of the ban while Trust Women's legal challenge moved forward. The state Court of Appeals overturned that decision in May and ordered Watson to reconsider not blocking the ban's enforcement.

Kansas voters in August&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">decisively rejected</a>&nbsp;a proposed amendment to the state constitution to declare that it doesn't grant a right to abortion.

By JOHN HANNA&nbsp;TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas providers might not be ready for months to do telemedicine abortions even though a state-court judge has blocked the state from enforcing its ban on teleconferencing with patients seeking pregnancy-ending medications.Planned Parenthood Great Plains said it is evaluating its options following the order from Shawnee County District Judge Teresa Watson. It operates three clinics in Kansas providing abortions.A spokesperson for Wichita clinic operator Trust Women said it hopes to resume telemedicine abortions but will move slowly. It provided them for a few months in 2018,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/990b0aab4eb54e598f088ffec8d88178">filing a lawsuit challenging the ban</a>&nbsp;just before it took effect at the start of 2019.“There is a lot of infrastructure that needs to go into place to make sure it’s the right way to do it,” said Zack Gingrich-Gaylord, the Trust Women spokesperson, citing more staffing as a big need.Kansas has required doctors to be physically present when a patient takes the first dose of what often is two doses of pregnancy-ending medication.The Kansas Supreme Court&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/3f479b218a6140719e1694fcfcdb8036">ruled in April 2019</a>&nbsp;that access to abortion is a “fundamental” right under the state constitution, but Watson&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/c20774f4be7945f8a9a3e931557e65bd">refused in July 2019</a>&nbsp;to block enforcement of the ban while Trust Women's legal challenge moved forward. The state Court of Appeals overturned that decision in May and ordered Watson to reconsider not blocking the ban's enforcement.Kansas voters in August&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-primary-elections-kansas-abortion-b6d62a852c2ce4617f2c03589fbb523e">decisively rejected</a>&nbsp;a proposed amendment to the state constitution to declare that it doesn't grant a right to abortion.

Kansas providers cautious about doing telemedicine abortions

WICHITA —A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging a Kansas man with one count of sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography according to the United State's Attorney.

As part of a 7 month investigation, Cherokee County Sheriff's Detectives arrested Joel Cypert, 35, of Columbus on Friday,&nbsp;according to Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves.

He is accused of creating sexually explicit images of a prepubescent, minor victim and accused of sending child pornography.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) are investigating the case.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1669913644714.png" alt="Cypert-photo Cherokee Co." />
 <figcaption>Cypert-photo Cherokee Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA —A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging a Kansas man with one count of sexual exploitation of a child – production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography according to the United State's Attorney.As part of a 7 month investigation, Cherokee County Sheriff's Detectives arrested Joel Cypert, 35, of Columbus on Friday,&nbsp;according to Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves.He is accused of creating sexually explicit images of a prepubescent, minor victim and accused of sending child pornography.Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Immigration and Customs (ICE) are investigating the case.

Kansas man accused of creating, sending child porn

PAWNEE COUNTY — Judi Lynn Allison, 50 of Delphos, Kansas, faced a jury trial in&nbsp;Pawnee County District Court this week regarding a felony criminal complaint, according to County Attorney Doug McNett.

The jury heard testimony that on September 28, 2019, the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a residence north of Garfield, Kansas, regarding a possible theft. Upon arrival, the deputy was advised the owner of the property passed away in December of 2018 and his eldest daughter named executrix of the estate. 

The deceased had been a self-employed farm mechanic. An estate auction was scheduled for October 5, 2019, to sell his equipment and shop tools. However, when the executrix and auctioneer arrived at the property to start putting items on trailers in preparation for the upcoming auction, they discovered all of the tools had been removed from her father's service truck which had been locked in a tool shed. There was no evidence of forced entry.

The auctioneer testified that approximately a month before he had gone through the property with the executrix’s husband making notes for a sale bill, and at that time the service trucks’ approximate eight toolboxes had been full of miscellaneous shop tools. At trial, the auctioneer valued the missing property at approximately $1,200 but acknowledged he had testified at the Preliminary Hearing he believed the items to be worth between $1,700 and $2,500.

Additional testimony was presented that over Labor Day weekend the executrix had invited her father’s siblings to come to the property and take items that held sentimental value to them from the house and outbuildings. Allison, who was the deceased’s youngest sister, selected a few large items that would not fit in her vehicle. The family moved those selected items to the locked tool shed and granted Allison permission to come back to the property at a later date to retrieve them.

A neighbor came forward after the auction and advised law enforcement that one evening he’d noticed the tool shed door open and so he stopped because he knew no one should be there. He testified at trial that he discovered Allison and her husband in the shed. He further testified that he saw approximately six large boxes of what he believed to be tools loaded in their enclosed trailer. Trail cam video confirmed that the Allisons spent approximately two hours on the property the evening of September 5, 2019.

When contacted by family and law enforcement, Allison denied any knowledge of the missing tools. A search warrant was executed on the Allison’s Ottawa County rural residence on December 12, 2019. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for 21 missing shop tools that were clearly identified on the auction sale bill. Law enforcement seized nine items from the Allison residence which they believed matched the property descriptions. At the time the search warrant was executed, Allison claimed the items seized were her husband’s.

At trial, however, Allison took the stand in her own defense and testified that four of the nine tools seized from her home had in fact came from her brother’s estate but argued her niece had given her permission to take the items.

The jury made up of 7 women and 5 men deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning Guilty verdict Wednesday evening of Theft of Property worth less than $1,500.

After accepting the verdict, Pawnee County District Judge Bruce Gatterman ordered a presentence investigation report be completed to determine a restitution amount. Sentencing will scheduled once the report is completed. The defendant remains free on her own recognizance.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/4/1618667325929.jpeg" alt="Allison photo from an earlier arrest in Saline Co." />
 <figcaption>Allison photo from an earlier arrest in Saline Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>PAWNEE COUNTY — Judi Lynn Allison, 50 of Delphos, Kansas, faced a jury trial in&nbsp;Pawnee County District Court this week regarding a felony criminal complaint, according to County Attorney Doug McNett.The jury heard testimony that on September 28, 2019, the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Department was dispatched to a residence north of Garfield, Kansas, regarding a possible theft. Upon arrival, the deputy was advised the owner of the property passed away in December of 2018 and his eldest daughter named executrix of the estate. The deceased had been a self-employed farm mechanic. An estate auction was scheduled for October 5, 2019, to sell his equipment and shop tools. However, when the executrix and auctioneer arrived at the property to start putting items on trailers in preparation for the upcoming auction, they discovered all of the tools had been removed from her father's service truck which had been locked in a tool shed. There was no evidence of forced entry.The auctioneer testified that approximately a month before he had gone through the property with the executrix’s husband making notes for a sale bill, and at that time the service trucks’ approximate eight toolboxes had been full of miscellaneous shop tools. At trial, the auctioneer valued the missing property at approximately $1,200 but acknowledged he had testified at the Preliminary Hearing he believed the items to be worth between $1,700 and $2,500.Additional testimony was presented that over Labor Day weekend the executrix had invited her father’s siblings to come to the property and take items that held sentimental value to them from the house and outbuildings. Allison, who was the deceased’s youngest sister, selected a few large items that would not fit in her vehicle. The family moved those selected items to the locked tool shed and granted Allison permission to come back to the property at a later date to retrieve them.A neighbor came forward after the auction and advised law enforcement that one evening he’d noticed the tool shed door open and so he stopped because he knew no one should be there. He testified at trial that he discovered Allison and her husband in the shed. He further testified that he saw approximately six large boxes of what he believed to be tools loaded in their enclosed trailer. Trail cam video confirmed that the Allisons spent approximately two hours on the property the evening of September 5, 2019.When contacted by family and law enforcement, Allison denied any knowledge of the missing tools. A search warrant was executed on the Allison’s Ottawa County rural residence on December 12, 2019. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to search for 21 missing shop tools that were clearly identified on the auction sale bill. Law enforcement seized nine items from the Allison residence which they believed matched the property descriptions. At the time the search warrant was executed, Allison claimed the items seized were her husband’s.At trial, however, Allison took the stand in her own defense and testified that four of the nine tools seized from her home had in fact came from her brother’s estate but argued her niece had given her permission to take the items.The jury made up of 7 women and 5 men deliberated for approximately 30 minutes before returning Guilty verdict Wednesday evening of Theft of Property worth less than $1,500.After accepting the verdict, Pawnee County District Judge Bruce Gatterman ordered a presentence investigation report be completed to determine a restitution amount. Sentencing will scheduled once the report is completed. The defendant remains free on her own recognizance.

Kansas woman found guilty of estate sale theft

PALMDALE , Calif. (AP) — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber made its debut Friday after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-china-united-states-beijing-4521a349b4171b4e9792a5ed96f6f44f">concerns over a future conflict with China</a>.

The B-21 Raider is the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-air-force-technology-mo-state-wire-politics-df0e81b91ad9a945032ba4972c754426">first new American bomber aircraft</a>&nbsp;in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified.

As evening fell over the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, the public got its first glimpse of the Raider in a tightly controlled ceremony. It started with a flyover of the three bombers still in service: the B-52 Stratofortress, the B-1 Lancer and the B-2 Spirit. Then the hangar doors slowly opened and the B-21 was towed partially out of the building.

“This isn’t just another airplane,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It’s the embodiment of America’s determination to defend the republic that we all love.”

The B-21 is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-nuclear-weapons-politics-01ec89ceb9224443880acd4213ef6c73">its nuclear triad</a>, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China’s rapid military modernization.

China is on track to have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-europe-china-united-states-beijing-af4dd76e993f450df7af8e63d1a0187c">1,500 nuclear weapons</a>&nbsp;by 2035, and its gains in hypersonics, cyber warfare and space capabilities present “the most consequential and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free and open international system,” the Pentagon said this week in its annual China report.

”We needed a new bomber for the 21st Century that would allow us to take on much more complicated threats, like the threats that we fear we would one day face from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-china-beijing-moscow-europe-3d694c61d318e083076b681cd913102d">China, Russia,</a>&nbsp;” said Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary when the Raider contract was announced in 2015.

While the Raider may resemble the B-2, once you get inside, the similarities stop, said Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., which is building the bomber.

“The way it operates internally is extremely advanced compared to the B-2, because the technology has evolved so much in terms of the computing capability that we can now embed in the software of the B-21,” Warden said.

Other changes include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, Austin said.

“Fifty years of advances in low-observable technology have gone into this aircraft,” Austin said. “Even the most sophisticated air defense systems will struggle to detect a B-21 in the sky.”

Other advances likely include new ways to control electronic emissions, so the bomber could spoof adversary radars and disguise itself as another object, and use of new propulsion technologies, several defense analysts said.

“It is incredibly low observability,” Warden said. “You’ll hear it, but you really won’t see it.”

Six Raiders are in production. The Air Force plans to build 100 that can deploy either nuclear weapons or conventional bombs and can be used with or without a human crew. Both the Air Force and Northrop also point to the Raider’s relatively quick development: The bomber went from contract award to debut in seven years. Other new fighter and ship programs have taken decades.

The cost of the bombers is unknown. The Air Force previously put the price at an average cost of $550 million each in 2010 dollars — roughly $753 million today — but it’s unclear how much is actually being spent. The total will depend on how many bombers the Pentagon buys.

“We will soon fly this aircraft, test it, and then move it into production. And we will build the bomber force in numbers suited to the strategic environment ahead,” Austin said.

The undisclosed cost troubles government watchdogs.

“It might be a big challenge for us to do our normal analysis of a major program like this,” said Dan Grazier, a senior defense policy fellow at the Project on Government Oversight. “It’s easy to say that the B-21 is still on schedule before it actually flies. Because it’s only when one of these programs goes into the actual testing phase when real problems are discovered." That, he said, is when schedules start to slip and costs rise.

The B-2 was also envisioned to be a fleet of more than 100 aircraft, but the Air Force built only 21, due to cost overruns and a changed security environment after the Soviet Union fell. Fewer than that are ready to fly on any given day due to the significant maintenance needs of the aging bomber.

The B-21 Raider, which takes its name from the 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, will be slightly smaller than the B-2 to increase its range, Warden said. It won’t make its first flight until 2023. However, Warden said Northrop Grumman has used advanced computing to test the bomber’s performance using a digital twin, a virtual replica of the one unveiled Friday.

Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota will house the bomber’s first training program and squadron, though the bombers are also expected to be stationed at bases in Texas and Missouri.

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican of South Dakota, led the state’s bid to host the bomber program. In a statement, he called it “the most advanced weapon system ever developed by our country to defend ourselves and our allies.”

Northrop Grumman has also incorporated maintenance lessons learned from the B-2, Warden said.

In October 2001, B-2 pilots set a record when they flew 44 hours straight to drop the first bombs in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. The B-2 often does long round-trip missions because there are few hangars globally that can accommodate its wingspan, which limits where it can land for maintenance. The hangars also must be air-conditioned because the Spirit’s windows don’t open and hot climates can cook cockpit electronics.

The new Raider will also get new hangars to accommodate its size and complexity, Warden said.

However, with the Raider’s extended range, ’it won’t need to be based in-theater,” Austin said. “It won’t need logistical support to hold any target at risk.”

A final noticeable difference was in the debut itself. While both went public in Palmdale, the B-2 was rolled outdoors in 1988 amid much public fanfare. Given advances in surveillance satellites and cameras, the Raider was just partially exposed, keeping its sensitive propulsion systems and sensors under the hangar and protected from overhead eyes.

“The magic of the platform,” Warden said, “is what you don’t see.”

PALMDALE , Calif. (AP) — America’s newest nuclear stealth bomber made its debut Friday after years of secret development and as part of the Pentagon’s answer to rising&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-china-united-states-beijing-4521a349b4171b4e9792a5ed96f6f44f">concerns over a future conflict with China</a>.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Unveiled today, the B-21 Raider will be a dual-capable, penetrating-strike stealth bomber capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear munitions. The B-21 will form the backbone of the future Air Force bomber force consisting of B-21s and B-52s.(U.S. Air Force photo) <a href="https://t.co/X6KSU7sy6U">pic.twitter.com/X6KSU7sy6U</a>&mdash; U.S. Air Force (@usairforce) <a href="https://twitter.com/usairforce/status/1598858254615912448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 3, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>The B-21 Raider is the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ap-top-news-air-force-technology-mo-state-wire-politics-df0e81b91ad9a945032ba4972c754426">first new American bomber aircraft</a>&nbsp;in more than 30 years. Almost every aspect of the program is classified.As evening fell over the Air Force’s Plant 42 in Palmdale, the public got its first glimpse of the Raider in a tightly controlled ceremony. It started with a flyover of the three bombers still in service: the B-52 Stratofortress, the B-1 Lancer and the B-2 Spirit. Then the hangar doors slowly opened and the B-21 was towed partially out of the building.“This isn’t just another airplane,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. “It’s the embodiment of America’s determination to defend the republic that we all love.”The B-21 is part of the Pentagon’s efforts to modernize all three legs of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-donald-trump-ap-top-news-nuclear-weapons-politics-01ec89ceb9224443880acd4213ef6c73">its nuclear triad</a>, which includes silo-launched nuclear ballistic missiles and submarine-launched warheads, as it shifts from the counterterrorism campaigns of recent decades to meet China’s rapid military modernization.China is on track to have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-europe-china-united-states-beijing-af4dd76e993f450df7af8e63d1a0187c">1,500 nuclear weapons</a>&nbsp;by 2035, and its gains in hypersonics, cyber warfare and space capabilities present “the most consequential and systemic challenge to U.S. national security and the free and open international system,” the Pentagon said this week in its annual China report.”We needed a new bomber for the 21st Century that would allow us to take on much more complicated threats, like the threats that we fear we would one day face from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-china-beijing-moscow-europe-3d694c61d318e083076b681cd913102d">China, Russia,</a>&nbsp;” said Deborah Lee James, the Air Force secretary when the Raider contract was announced in 2015.While the Raider may resemble the B-2, once you get inside, the similarities stop, said Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman Corp., which is building the bomber.“The way it operates internally is extremely advanced compared to the B-2, because the technology has evolved so much in terms of the computing capability that we can now embed in the software of the B-21,” Warden said.Other changes include advanced materials used in coatings to make the bomber harder to detect, Austin said.“Fifty years of advances in low-observable technology have gone into this aircraft,” Austin said. “Even the most sophisticated air defense systems will struggle to detect a B-21 in the sky.”Other advances likely include new ways to control electronic emissions, so the bomber could spoof adversary radars and disguise itself as another object, and use of new propulsion technologies, several defense analysts said.“It is incredibly low observability,” Warden said. “You’ll hear it, but you really won’t see it.”Six Raiders are in production. The Air Force plans to build 100 that can deploy either nuclear weapons or conventional bombs and can be used with or without a human crew. Both the Air Force and Northrop also point to the Raider’s relatively quick development: The bomber went from contract award to debut in seven years. Other new fighter and ship programs have taken decades.The cost of the bombers is unknown. The Air Force previously put the price at an average cost of $550 million each in 2010 dollars — roughly $753 million today — but it’s unclear how much is actually being spent. The total will depend on how many bombers the Pentagon buys.“We will soon fly this aircraft, test it, and then move it into production. And we will build the bomber force in numbers suited to the strategic environment ahead,” Austin said.The undisclosed cost troubles government watchdogs.“It might be a big challenge for us to do our normal analysis of a major program like this,” said Dan Grazier, a senior defense policy fellow at the Project on Government Oversight. “It’s easy to say that the B-21 is still on schedule before it actually flies. Because it’s only when one of these programs goes into the actual testing phase when real problems are discovered." That, he said, is when schedules start to slip and costs rise.The B-2 was also envisioned to be a fleet of more than 100 aircraft, but the Air Force built only 21, due to cost overruns and a changed security environment after the Soviet Union fell. Fewer than that are ready to fly on any given day due to the significant maintenance needs of the aging bomber.The B-21 Raider, which takes its name from the 1942 Doolittle Raid over Tokyo, will be slightly smaller than the B-2 to increase its range, Warden said. It won’t make its first flight until 2023. However, Warden said Northrop Grumman has used advanced computing to test the bomber’s performance using a digital twin, a virtual replica of the one unveiled Friday.Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota will house the bomber’s first training program and squadron, though the bombers are also expected to be stationed at bases in Texas and Missouri.U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, a Republican of South Dakota, led the state’s bid to host the bomber program. In a statement, he called it “the most advanced weapon system ever developed by our country to defend ourselves and our allies.”Northrop Grumman has also incorporated maintenance lessons learned from the B-2, Warden said.In October 2001, B-2 pilots set a record when they flew 44 hours straight to drop the first bombs in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks. The B-2 often does long round-trip missions because there are few hangars globally that can accommodate its wingspan, which limits where it can land for maintenance. The hangars also must be air-conditioned because the Spirit’s windows don’t open and hot climates can cook cockpit electronics.The new Raider will also get new hangars to accommodate its size and complexity, Warden said.However, with the Raider’s extended range, ’it won’t need to be based in-theater,” Austin said. “It won’t need logistical support to hold any target at risk.”A final noticeable difference was in the debut itself. While both went public in Palmdale, the B-2 was rolled outdoors in 1988 amid much public fanfare. Given advances in surveillance satellites and cameras, the Raider was just partially exposed, keeping its sensitive propulsion systems and sensors under the hangar and protected from overhead eyes.“The magic of the platform,” Warden said, “is what you don’t see.”

Pentagon debuts new stealth bomber, the B-21 Raider

WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn't share our values.”

Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control the app’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” He also asserted that China could use the app to collect data on its users that could be used for traditional espionage operations.

"All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values and that has a mission that's very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States. That should concern us,” Wray told an audience at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Those concerns are similar to ones he raised during congressional appearances last month when the issue came up. And they come during ongoing dialogue in Washington about the app.

TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. A TikTok spokesperson did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Friday.

But at a Senate hearing in September, TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas responded to questions from members of both parties by saying that the company protects all data from American users and that Chinese government officials have no access to it.

“We will never share data, period,” Pappas said.

Concerned about China’s influence over TikTok, the Trump administration in 2020 threatened to ban the app within the U.S. and pressured ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company. U.S. officials and the company are now in talks over a possible agreement that would resolve American security concerns, a process that Wray said was taking place across U.S. government agencies.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670097767255.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Chris Wray is raising national security concerns about TikTok, warning Friday that control of the popular video sharing app is in the hands of a Chinese government “that doesn't share our values.”Wray said the FBI was concerned that the Chinese had the ability to control the app’s recommendation algorithm, “which allows them to manipulate content, and if they want to, to use it for influence operations.” He also asserted that China could use the app to collect data on its users that could be used for traditional espionage operations."All of these things are in the hands of a government that doesn’t share our values and that has a mission that's very much at odds with what’s in the best interests of the United States. That should concern us,” Wray told an audience at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.Those concerns are similar to ones he raised during congressional appearances last month when the issue came up. And they come during ongoing dialogue in Washington about the app.TikTok is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. A TikTok spokesperson did not immediately return an email seeking comment on Friday.But at a Senate hearing in September, TikTok Chief Operating Officer Vanessa Pappas responded to questions from members of both parties by saying that the company protects all data from American users and that Chinese government officials have no access to it.“We will never share data, period,” Pappas said.Concerned about China’s influence over TikTok, the Trump administration in 2020 threatened to ban the app within the U.S. and pressured ByteDance to sell TikTok to a U.S. company. U.S. officials and the company are now in talks over a possible agreement that would resolve American security concerns, a process that Wray said was taking place across U.S. government agencies.

FBI director raises national security concerns about TikTok

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a teen on connection with a series of alleged drug crimes.

On Friday, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit made an arrest following an extensive investigation into multiple recent juvenile narcotics related overdoses in Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. Deputies arrested and booked Jackson C. Miller, 17, Topeka, into the Shawnee County Juvenile Department of Corrections on requested charges of distribution of an opiate, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, use of a communication facility in committing a felony drug crime and possession with intent to sell prescription drugs.

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating a teen on connection with a series of alleged drug crimes.On Friday, the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit made an arrest following an extensive investigation into multiple recent juvenile narcotics related overdoses in Shawnee County, according to Deputy Abigail Christian. Deputies arrested and booked Jackson C. Miller, 17, Topeka, into the Shawnee County Juvenile Department of Corrections on requested charges of distribution of an opiate, possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to distribute, use of a communication facility in committing a felony drug crime and possession with intent to sell prescription drugs.

Kan. teen arrested following recent juvenile overdoses 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man pleaded guilty Friday in the killing of a 4-year-old Kansas City boy whose death led to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/in-state-wire-tn-state-wire-mo-state-wire-politics-oh-state-wire-0950ff59635979d7d2d2d3479f4d9c58">a federal operation</a>&nbsp;meant to reduce violent crime in 2020.

Ryson Ellis, 24, of Kansas City, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.

Legend Taliferro was sleeping on the floor of his father's apartment when he was hit by a bullet fired from outside on June 29, 2020, the Jackson County Prosecutor's office said.

A sister of Legend’s father, who was in the apartment when the boy was shot, had a child with Ellis. She alleged he had assaulted her a few days before the shooting and some of her brothers, including Legend’s father, had an altercation with Ellis, according to court records.

The month after the killing, the Donald&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-new-mexico-mo-state-wire-ny-state-wire-9a8ef5dafaa02f01a52c15700b79d10a">Trump administration</a>&nbsp;instituted a federal task force meant to curb violent crime and named it Operation Legend in honor of the Kansas City boy.

Under the program, federal law enforcement officers were sent to Kansas City and other U.S. cities to help local law enforcement officers investigate violent crimes. The more than 200 federal officers left Kansas City in September 2020.

After Friday's hearing, Legend's mother, Charron Powell, told the media that she believed the federal operation honored her son.

“Lots of crimes were solved," she said. “But we still have a long way to go.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670034025664.png" alt="Ellis-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>Ellis-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A man pleaded guilty Friday in the killing of a 4-year-old Kansas City boy whose death led to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/in-state-wire-tn-state-wire-mo-state-wire-politics-oh-state-wire-0950ff59635979d7d2d2d3479f4d9c58">a federal operation</a>&nbsp;meant to reduce violent crime in 2020.Ryson Ellis, 24, of Kansas City, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, unlawful use of a weapon and armed criminal action.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/7/1594331616316.png" alt="LeGend Taliferro photo courtesy Serenity Funeral Home" />
 <figcaption>LeGend Taliferro photo courtesy Serenity Funeral Home</figcaption>
 </figure>Legend Taliferro was sleeping on the floor of his father's apartment when he was hit by a bullet fired from outside on June 29, 2020, the Jackson County Prosecutor's office said.A sister of Legend’s father, who was in the apartment when the boy was shot, had a child with Ellis. She alleged he had assaulted her a few days before the shooting and some of her brothers, including Legend’s father, had an altercation with Ellis, according to court records.The month after the killing, the Donald&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-ap-top-news-new-mexico-mo-state-wire-ny-state-wire-9a8ef5dafaa02f01a52c15700b79d10a">Trump administration</a>&nbsp;instituted a federal task force meant to curb violent crime and named it Operation Legend in honor of the Kansas City boy.Under the program, federal law enforcement officers were sent to Kansas City and other U.S. cities to help local law enforcement officers investigate violent crimes. The more than 200 federal officers left Kansas City in September 2020.After Friday's hearing, Legend's mother, Charron Powell, told the media that she believed the federal operation honored her son.“Lots of crimes were solved," she said. “But we still have a long way to go.”

Guilty plea in KC boy's death that sparked federal task force

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Mickey Joseph, Nebraska's interim football coach for nine games this season, is accused of putting his hands around a woman's throat, pulling her hair and punching her before being taken into custody, according to a police affidavit filed Thursday.

Joseph, 54, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of strangulation and third-degree domestic assault. Joseph denied to police that he assaulted the woman. Nebraska placed Joseph on administrative leave.

Joseph made his initial court appearance on video from the Lancaster County Jail on Thursday. He did not enter a plea. His bond was set at $20,000 and he was ordered not to have contact with the alleged victim. His next court appearance was set for Jan. 30. His attorney, Sean Brennan, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

Police went to a Lincoln residence Wednesday afternoon after a report of a domestic disturbance.

The woman said she and Joseph were in an argument when Joseph pushed her, causing her to fall onto a couch. She said Joseph got on top of her and placed his hands around her throat.

"He pushed me on the couch and strangled me," she said, according to the affidavit. She said her breathing was impeded and that she wasn't able to breathe until she pushed him off.

When she went into the kitchen, she said, Joseph grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her backward, causing her to fall to the floor. In the process of falling, she said, Joseph struck her in the left temple with a closed fist.

Police said she had visible redness and swelling around her left eye which was consistent with being struck, and she was observed to have several strands of hair clinging to her upper pant leg. She said the hairs were pulled from her when Joseph grabbed her.

The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been subjected to extreme abuse. The woman in the Joseph case has not publicly identified herself.

The woman also said Joseph also grabbed her phone and attempted to flush it down a toilet. Police said they saw the phone inside a container of rice on the kitchen counter.

A relative of the woman also was at the residence, and he told police he saw Joseph's hands around the woman's throat and that Joseph pushed her onto the couch after he yelled to him. Joseph left the home and was located by police at another location.

Joseph's arrest came two days after Matt Rhule was introduced as the Cornhuskers' new head coach. Rhule had said Monday he planned to meet with Joseph to discuss the possibility of Joseph remaining on the staff. Rhule declined comment through an athletic department spokesman.

Joseph is under contract through Dec. 31, 2023, and his annual salary is listed at $600,000. Under terms of the contract, he could be fired for cause if convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that impairs his ability to perform duties on behalf of the university. If a firing for cause is upheld, the university would not have to pay the remaining money owed on the contract.

Joseph was a quarterback for the Cornhuskers from 1988-91 and had run-ins with police during his playing days. He returned to Nebraska last December as receivers coach and was named interim head coach Sept. 11 after Alberts fired Scott Frost. The Huskers were 3-6 under Joseph and finished the season 4-8.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1669892752505.png" alt="Joseph-photo Lincoln Police" />
 <figcaption>Joseph-photo Lincoln Police</figcaption>
 </figure>LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Mickey Joseph, Nebraska's interim football coach for nine games this season, is accused of putting his hands around a woman's throat, pulling her hair and punching her before being taken into custody, according to a police affidavit filed Thursday.Joseph, 54, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of strangulation and third-degree domestic assault. Joseph denied to police that he assaulted the woman. Nebraska placed Joseph on administrative leave.Joseph made his initial court appearance on video from the Lancaster County Jail on Thursday. He did not enter a plea. His bond was set at $20,000 and he was ordered not to have contact with the alleged victim. His next court appearance was set for Jan. 30. His attorney, Sean Brennan, did not respond to a message seeking comment.Police went to a Lincoln residence Wednesday afternoon after a report of a domestic disturbance.The woman said she and Joseph were in an argument when Joseph pushed her, causing her to fall onto a couch. She said Joseph got on top of her and placed his hands around her throat."He pushed me on the couch and strangled me," she said, according to the affidavit. She said her breathing was impeded and that she wasn't able to breathe until she pushed him off.When she went into the kitchen, she said, Joseph grabbed her hair from behind and pulled her backward, causing her to fall to the floor. In the process of falling, she said, Joseph struck her in the left temple with a closed fist.Police said she had visible redness and swelling around her left eye which was consistent with being struck, and she was observed to have several strands of hair clinging to her upper pant leg. She said the hairs were pulled from her when Joseph grabbed her.The Associated Press generally does not identify people who say they have been subjected to extreme abuse. The woman in the Joseph case has not publicly identified herself.The woman also said Joseph also grabbed her phone and attempted to flush it down a toilet. Police said they saw the phone inside a container of rice on the kitchen counter.A relative of the woman also was at the residence, and he told police he saw Joseph's hands around the woman's throat and that Joseph pushed her onto the couch after he yelled to him. Joseph left the home and was located by police at another location.Joseph's arrest came two days after Matt Rhule was introduced as the Cornhuskers' new head coach. Rhule had said Monday he planned to meet with Joseph to discuss the possibility of Joseph remaining on the staff. Rhule declined comment through an athletic department spokesman.Joseph is under contract through Dec. 31, 2023, and his annual salary is listed at $600,000. Under terms of the contract, he could be fired for cause if convicted of a misdemeanor or felony that impairs his ability to perform duties on behalf of the university. If a firing for cause is upheld, the university would not have to pay the remaining money owed on the contract.Joseph was a quarterback for the Cornhuskers from 1988-91 and had run-ins with police during his playing days. He returned to Nebraska last December as receivers coach and was named interim head coach Sept. 11 after Alberts fired Scott Frost. The Huskers were 3-6 under Joseph and finished the season 4-8.

Woman tells police: Univ. of Nebraska coach strangled me

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate.

The Democratic National Committee's rule-making arm made the move to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-f1d330309665d8041f0e0f3070b2e331">strip Iowa</a>&nbsp;from the position it has held for five decades after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ee095683c85f6c97e51b6589b412f674">technical meltdowns sparked chaos</a>&nbsp;and marred results of the state's 2020 caucus. The change also comes after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-south-carolina-government-and-politics-d73dd6455829d3ee8aee65ab83fd8ef9">long push</a>&nbsp;by some of the party's top leaders to start choosing a president in states that are less white, especially given the importance of Black voters as Democrats' most loyal electoral base.

Discussion on prioritizing diversity drew such impassioned reaction at the committee gathering in Washington that DNC chair Jaime Harrison wiped away tears as committee member Donna Brazile suggested that Democrats had spent years failing to fight for Black voters: “Do you know what it’s like to live on a dirt road? Do you know what it’s like to try to find running water that is clean?”

“Do you know what it’s like to wait and see if the storm is going to pass you by and your roof is still intact?” Brazile asked. “That’s what this is about.”

The committee approved moving South Carolina's primary to Feb. 3 and having Nevada and New Hampshire vote three days later. Georgia would go the following week and Michigan two weeks after that.

The move marks a dramatic shift from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-b4a270fdf437e9b072cf295953b841d2">the current calendar</a>, which has had Iowa holding the first-in-the-nation caucuses since 1972, followed by New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major overhaul of their primary calendar.

The changes will still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely early next year, but it will almost certainly follow the rule-making committee’s lead.

The revamped schedule could largely be moot for 2024 if Biden opts to seek a second term, but may remake Democratic presidential cycles after that. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides have begun making staffing discussions for his likely reelection campaign, even though no final decision has been made.

The DNC also plans to revisit the primary calendar again before 2028 — meaning more changes could be coming before then.

Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-iowa-south-carolina-e738592ee088fa4ca5614ba501d63726">wrote in a letter to rules committee members</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that the party should scrap “restrictive” caucuses altogether because their rules on in-person participation can sometimes exclude working-class and other voters. He told also told party leaders privately that he'd like to see South Carolina go first to better ensure that voters of color aren't marginalized as Democrats choose a presidential nominee.

Four of the five states now poised to start the party's primary are presidential battlegrounds, meaning the eventual Democratic winner would be able to lay groundwork in important general election locales. That's especially true for Michigan and Georgia, which both voted for Donald Trump in 2016 before flipping to Biden in 2020. The exception is South Carolina, which hasn't gone Democratic in a presidential race since 1976.

The first five voting states would be positioned to cast ballots before Super Tuesday, the day when much of the rest of the country holds primaries. That gives the early states outsize influence since White House hopefuls struggling to raise money or gain political traction often drop out before visiting much of the rest of the country.

Scott Brennan, a rules committee member from Iowa, said “small, rural states” like his “must have a voice in the presidential nominating process.”

“Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the Midwest without doing significant damage to the party in newer generations," Brennan said.

The Republican National Committee has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential primary, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">which include Trump</a>&nbsp;— have continued to frequently campaign there.

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone congressional Democrat and one of Biden’s top supporters in Congress, said the president called him Thursday to inform him of his push to move his state up.

“I didn’t ask to be first," Clyburn said. "It was his idea to be first.”

Clyburn's endorsement of Biden in 2020 boosted the candidate's flagging presidential campaign just ahead of South Carolina’s primary, which he won big. That helped Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-in-state-wire-election-2020-ma-state-wire-joe-biden-b9872b58b495fd17044f359338ab3f2a">shake off early losses</a>&nbsp;in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and eventually take the White House.

“He knows what South Carolina did for him, and he’s demonstrated that time and time again, by giving respect to South Carolina,” Clyburn said.

Still, the vote by the rules committee has faced serious pushback, with some states vowing to ignore the changes altogether. That's despite the panel approving language saying states could lose all of their delegates to the party's national convention if they attempt to violate new rules.

Iowa and New Hampshire have said laws in their states mandate them going before others, and they intend to abide by those, not DNC decrees. Only committee members from Iowa and New Hampshire objected to the proposal that passed Friday, with everyone else supporting it.

Nevada, with its heavily Hispanic population, initially balked at sharing the second-place slot with New Hampshire, a state 2,500 miles away. Nevada committee member Artie Blanco’s voice cracked as she argued against the change.

“If we want to build a strong relationship with Latinos,” Blanco said, “then Nevada must stand alone on a date and not have to share that date.”

After more discussion, Blanco said later that she would support the new calendar. It was “not ideal” for her state to go the same day as another, she said, but “we accept what the will of the president is.”

Harrison said the new slate of five early voting states will need to show they are working toward moving their primaries to those dates by early next year or risk losing their place. Some state legislatures set primary dates; others have their secretaries of state or the directors of their state parties do it.

The DNC chair choked up after the vote as he talked about South Carolina once having been the site of the first attack of the Civil War and now being in line to lead off his party’s primary.

“This proposal reflects the best of our party as a whole, and it will continue to make our party and our country stronger,” Harrison said.

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;has declared that Democrats should give up “restrictive” caucuses and prioritize diversity at the start of their presidential primary calendar — dealing a major blow to Iowa's decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process.

In a letter Thursday to the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee, Biden did not mention specific states he'd like to see go first. But he has told Democrats he wants South Carolina moved to the first position, according to three people familiar with his recommendation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

The president's direction came as the DNC rules committee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-iowa-323020f9b1ef8fc7dbaecbe3dcb3418d">gathered in Washington on Friday</a>&nbsp;to vote on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-f1d330309665d8041f0e0f3070b2e331">shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024</a>. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.

Georgia and Michigan would move into the top five as new early states, and each would hold primaries in subsequent weeks, committee members say. The two battlegrounds were critical to Biden's 2020 victory over then-President Donald Trump, who had won both states in his 2016 White House campaign.

Much of the rest of the country would vote as part of Super Tuesday soon afterward.

Such changes are set to come after years of calls from many top Democrats for the voting calendar to better reflect the party's deeply diverse base than mostly white Iowa, which holds the country's first caucus, and New Hampshire, which holds the first primary. The new calendar would still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely to come early next year, but the DNC will almost certainly heed the rule-making panel's recommendations.

The proposed order of the early states was first reported by The Washington Post.

“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process," Biden wrote in a letter on personal stationery that did not carry the White House seal. “We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”

He said caucuses were “restrictive and anti-worker” because they require voters “to spend significant amounts of time” on one night gathering to choose candidates in person, “disadvantaging hourly workers and anyone who does not have the flexibility to go to a set location at a set time.”

The changes could be implemented as soon as 2024 but would be rendered largely meaningless until 2028 if Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-5a8fd26a4a9ffa9b47c5de52fface72d">opts to seek a second term</a>. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides and Biden allies have begun staffing and structural discussions for his likely 2024 bid while refraining from overt steps while the president weighs a final decision.

Such a shakeup would nonetheless be seismic given that Iowa’s caucus has led off the Democratic voting calendar since 1976. Still, it would come two years after a series of technical glitches&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ee095683c85f6c97e51b6589b412f674">so marred party results</a>&nbsp;that they prevented The Associated Press from declaring a 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus winner.

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement Thursday night that the state party intended to abide by Iowa law and hold its caucus first.

“Our state law requires us to hold a caucus before the last Tuesday in February, and before any other contest,” Wilburn said. "When we submit our delegate selection plan to the Rules and Bylaws Committee early next year, we will adhere to the State of Iowa’s legal requirements, and address compliance with DNC rules in subsequent meetings and hearings.”

New Hampshire state law calls for it to hold the first actual primary, and officials there have for months threatened to simply move up their election regardless of what new rules the DNC approves

On the current Democratic calendar, Iowa has been followed by New Hampshire, which has held the nation’s first primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major primary calendar overhaul.

The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential calendar, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls — which include Trump — will continue campaigning there frequently.

South Carolina holds special relevance to Biden.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-in-state-wire-election-2020-ma-state-wire-joe-biden-b9872b58b495fd17044f359338ab3f2a">His victory</a>&nbsp;in the state's first-in-the-South primary in 2020 kickstarted his presidential campaign after poor finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire on his way to winning the Democratic nomination.

Dick Harpootlian, a longtime Biden ally, fundraiser and former South Carolina Democratic Party chair, said Thursday that he and Biden discussed South Carolina’s possible advancement the night of Biden’s 2020 primary victory there. Harpootlian said he’d impressed upon Biden that the state was a better place than Iowa to hold an even earlier presidential voting contest — to which Harpootlian said Biden was receptive.

“I think he agreed that this was a much more dynamic process,” Harpootlian said. “Iowa was just a nightmare.”

The DNC rules committee has been discussing reordering the early calendar for months, touching off a fierce battle among many states to go first. In a joint statement Thursday night, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said, “We have always said that any road to the White House goes through the heartland and President Biden understands that.”

Several states have previously tried to violate party rules and jump closer to the front, only to be threatened with having their delegates not count.

New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen issued a statement blasting “the White House’s short-sighted decision,” while fellow New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said, “I strongly oppose the President’s deeply misguided proposal."

“But make no mistake," Hassan said in a statement. “New Hampshire’s law is clear and our primary will continue to be first in the nation.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670001141259.png" alt="Joe Biden on the campaign trail in 2020-photo courtesy WZTV" />
 <figcaption>Joe Biden on the campaign trail in 2020-photo courtesy WZTV</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate.The Democratic National Committee's rule-making arm made the move to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-f1d330309665d8041f0e0f3070b2e331">strip Iowa</a>&nbsp;from the position it has held for five decades after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ee095683c85f6c97e51b6589b412f674">technical meltdowns sparked chaos</a>&nbsp;and marred results of the state's 2020 caucus. The change also comes after a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-south-carolina-government-and-politics-d73dd6455829d3ee8aee65ab83fd8ef9">long push</a>&nbsp;by some of the party's top leaders to start choosing a president in states that are less white, especially given the importance of Black voters as Democrats' most loyal electoral base.Discussion on prioritizing diversity drew such impassioned reaction at the committee gathering in Washington that DNC chair Jaime Harrison wiped away tears as committee member Donna Brazile suggested that Democrats had spent years failing to fight for Black voters: “Do you know what it’s like to live on a dirt road? Do you know what it’s like to try to find running water that is clean?”“Do you know what it’s like to wait and see if the storm is going to pass you by and your roof is still intact?” Brazile asked. “That’s what this is about.”The committee approved moving South Carolina's primary to Feb. 3 and having Nevada and New Hampshire vote three days later. Georgia would go the following week and Michigan two weeks after that.The move marks a dramatic shift from&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-b4a270fdf437e9b072cf295953b841d2">the current calendar</a>, which has had Iowa holding the first-in-the-nation caucuses since 1972, followed by New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major overhaul of their primary calendar.The changes will still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely early next year, but it will almost certainly follow the rule-making committee’s lead.The revamped schedule could largely be moot for 2024 if Biden opts to seek a second term, but may remake Democratic presidential cycles after that. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides have begun making staffing discussions for his likely reelection campaign, even though no final decision has been made.The DNC also plans to revisit the primary calendar again before 2028 — meaning more changes could be coming before then.Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/biden-iowa-south-carolina-e738592ee088fa4ca5614ba501d63726">wrote in a letter to rules committee members</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that the party should scrap “restrictive” caucuses altogether because their rules on in-person participation can sometimes exclude working-class and other voters. He told also told party leaders privately that he'd like to see South Carolina go first to better ensure that voters of color aren't marginalized as Democrats choose a presidential nominee.Four of the five states now poised to start the party's primary are presidential battlegrounds, meaning the eventual Democratic winner would be able to lay groundwork in important general election locales. That's especially true for Michigan and Georgia, which both voted for Donald Trump in 2016 before flipping to Biden in 2020. The exception is South Carolina, which hasn't gone Democratic in a presidential race since 1976.The first five voting states would be positioned to cast ballots before Super Tuesday, the day when much of the rest of the country holds primaries. That gives the early states outsize influence since White House hopefuls struggling to raise money or gain political traction often drop out before visiting much of the rest of the country.Scott Brennan, a rules committee member from Iowa, said “small, rural states” like his “must have a voice in the presidential nominating process.”“Democrats cannot forget about entire groups of voters in the heart of the Midwest without doing significant damage to the party in newer generations," Brennan said.The Republican National Committee has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential primary, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-2024-updates-cd5339d48064a149527e8f9a1aa7614e">which include Trump</a>&nbsp;— have continued to frequently campaign there.House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, South Carolina’s lone congressional Democrat and one of Biden’s top supporters in Congress, said the president called him Thursday to inform him of his push to move his state up.“I didn’t ask to be first," Clyburn said. "It was his idea to be first.”Clyburn's endorsement of Biden in 2020 boosted the candidate's flagging presidential campaign just ahead of South Carolina’s primary, which he won big. That helped Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-in-state-wire-election-2020-ma-state-wire-joe-biden-b9872b58b495fd17044f359338ab3f2a">shake off early losses</a>&nbsp;in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada and eventually take the White House.“He knows what South Carolina did for him, and he’s demonstrated that time and time again, by giving respect to South Carolina,” Clyburn said.Still, the vote by the rules committee has faced serious pushback, with some states vowing to ignore the changes altogether. That's despite the panel approving language saying states could lose all of their delegates to the party's national convention if they attempt to violate new rules.Iowa and New Hampshire have said laws in their states mandate them going before others, and they intend to abide by those, not DNC decrees. Only committee members from Iowa and New Hampshire objected to the proposal that passed Friday, with everyone else supporting it.Nevada, with its heavily Hispanic population, initially balked at sharing the second-place slot with New Hampshire, a state 2,500 miles away. Nevada committee member Artie Blanco’s voice cracked as she argued against the change.“If we want to build a strong relationship with Latinos,” Blanco said, “then Nevada must stand alone on a date and not have to share that date.”After more discussion, Blanco said later that she would support the new calendar. It was “not ideal” for her state to go the same day as another, she said, but “we accept what the will of the president is.”Harrison said the new slate of five early voting states will need to show they are working toward moving their primaries to those dates by early next year or risk losing their place. Some state legislatures set primary dates; others have their secretaries of state or the directors of their state parties do it.The DNC chair choked up after the vote as he talked about South Carolina once having been the site of the first attack of the Civil War and now being in line to lead off his party’s primary.“This proposal reflects the best of our party as a whole, and it will continue to make our party and our country stronger,” Harrison said.-----------WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/joe-biden">President Joe Biden</a>&nbsp;has declared that Democrats should give up “restrictive” caucuses and prioritize diversity at the start of their presidential primary calendar — dealing a major blow to Iowa's decadeslong status as the state that leads off the process.In a letter Thursday to the rule-making arm of the Democratic National Committee, Biden did not mention specific states he'd like to see go first. But he has told Democrats he wants South Carolina moved to the first position, according to three people familiar with his recommendation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.The president's direction came as the DNC rules committee&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-iowa-323020f9b1ef8fc7dbaecbe3dcb3418d">gathered in Washington on Friday</a>&nbsp;to vote on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-nevada-presidential-race-and-ethnicity-iowa-f1d330309665d8041f0e0f3070b2e331">shaking up the presidential primary calendar starting in 2024</a>. Members now expect to approve new rules putting South Carolina first, followed by New Hampshire and Nevada on the same day a week later.Georgia and Michigan would move into the top five as new early states, and each would hold primaries in subsequent weeks, committee members say. The two battlegrounds were critical to Biden's 2020 victory over then-President Donald Trump, who had won both states in his 2016 White House campaign.Much of the rest of the country would vote as part of Super Tuesday soon afterward.Such changes are set to come after years of calls from many top Democrats for the voting calendar to better reflect the party's deeply diverse base than mostly white Iowa, which holds the country's first caucus, and New Hampshire, which holds the first primary. The new calendar would still have to be approved by the full DNC in a vote likely to come early next year, but the DNC will almost certainly heed the rule-making panel's recommendations.The proposed order of the early states was first reported by The Washington Post.“For decades, Black voters in particular have been the backbone of the Democratic Party but have been pushed to the back of the early primary process," Biden wrote in a letter on personal stationery that did not carry the White House seal. “We rely on these voters in elections but have not recognized their importance in our nominating calendar. It is time to stop taking these voters for granted, and time to give them a louder and earlier voice in the process.”He said caucuses were “restrictive and anti-worker” because they require voters “to spend significant amounts of time” on one night gathering to choose candidates in person, “disadvantaging hourly workers and anyone who does not have the flexibility to go to a set location at a set time.”The changes could be implemented as soon as 2024 but would be rendered largely meaningless until 2028 if Biden&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-5a8fd26a4a9ffa9b47c5de52fface72d">opts to seek a second term</a>. The president has said for months that he intends to run again, and White House aides and Biden allies have begun staffing and structural discussions for his likely 2024 bid while refraining from overt steps while the president weighs a final decision.Such a shakeup would nonetheless be seismic given that Iowa’s caucus has led off the Democratic voting calendar since 1976. Still, it would come two years after a series of technical glitches&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ee095683c85f6c97e51b6589b412f674">so marred party results</a>&nbsp;that they prevented The Associated Press from declaring a 2020 Iowa Democratic caucus winner.Iowa Democratic Party Chair Ross Wilburn said in a statement Thursday night that the state party intended to abide by Iowa law and hold its caucus first.“Our state law requires us to hold a caucus before the last Tuesday in February, and before any other contest,” Wilburn said. "When we submit our delegate selection plan to the Rules and Bylaws Committee early next year, we will adhere to the State of Iowa’s legal requirements, and address compliance with DNC rules in subsequent meetings and hearings.”New Hampshire state law calls for it to hold the first actual primary, and officials there have for months threatened to simply move up their election regardless of what new rules the DNC approvesOn the current Democratic calendar, Iowa has been followed by New Hampshire, which has held the nation’s first primary since 1920. Nevada and South Carolina have gone next since the 2008 presidential election, when Democrats last did a major primary calendar overhaul.The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has already decided to keep Iowa’s caucus as the first contest in its 2024 presidential calendar, ensuring that GOP White House hopefuls — which include Trump — will continue campaigning there frequently.South Carolina holds special relevance to Biden.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elections-in-state-wire-election-2020-ma-state-wire-joe-biden-b9872b58b495fd17044f359338ab3f2a">His victory</a>&nbsp;in the state's first-in-the-South primary in 2020 kickstarted his presidential campaign after poor finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire on his way to winning the Democratic nomination.Dick Harpootlian, a longtime Biden ally, fundraiser and former South Carolina Democratic Party chair, said Thursday that he and Biden discussed South Carolina’s possible advancement the night of Biden’s 2020 primary victory there. Harpootlian said he’d impressed upon Biden that the state was a better place than Iowa to hold an even earlier presidential voting contest — to which Harpootlian said Biden was receptive.“I think he agreed that this was a much more dynamic process,” Harpootlian said. “Iowa was just a nightmare.”The DNC rules committee has been discussing reordering the early calendar for months, touching off a fierce battle among many states to go first. In a joint statement Thursday night, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes and U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell said, “We have always said that any road to the White House goes through the heartland and President Biden understands that.”Several states have previously tried to violate party rules and jump closer to the front, only to be threatened with having their delegates not count.New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen issued a statement blasting “the White House’s short-sighted decision,” while fellow New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan said, “I strongly oppose the President’s deeply misguided proposal."“But make no mistake," Hassan said in a statement. “New Hampshire’s law is clear and our primary will continue to be first in the nation.”

Biden, Dems make dramatic change to presidential primary calendar

SHERIDAN COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Friday in Sheridan County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by Jamie Beeson, 54, Scott City, was traveling on U.S. 24 seven miles west of Kansas 23 Highway.

The semi struck a struck a 2018 Ram driven by Brenton Phillips, 63, Selden who was stopped behind a 2014 Peterbilt semi driven by Guy Wolf, 76, Syracuse, Nebraska.

The impact pushed the Ram into the Peterbilt. 

The Kenworth and Ram came to rest in the south ditch.&nbsp; The Peterbilt semi came to rest on the shoulder approximately a quarter mile east of the accident scene.

Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Mickey Leopold Mortuary. A private vehicle transported Beeson to the Sheridan County Hospital. Wolf was not injured. Phillips was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

SHERIDAN COUNTY —A Kansas man died in an accident just before 3:30p.m. Friday in Sheridan County.The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by Jamie Beeson, 54, Scott City, was traveling on U.S. 24 seven miles west of Kansas 23 Highway.The semi struck a struck a 2018 Ram driven by Brenton Phillips, 63, Selden who was stopped behind a 2014 Peterbilt semi driven by Guy Wolf, 76, Syracuse, Nebraska.The impact pushed the Ram into the Peterbilt. The Kenworth and Ram came to rest in the south ditch.&nbsp; The Peterbilt semi came to rest on the shoulder approximately a quarter mile east of the accident scene.Phillips was pronounced dead at the scene and was transported to&nbsp;Mickey Leopold Mortuary. A private vehicle transported Beeson to the Sheridan County Hospital. Wolf was not injured. Phillips was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.

Kansas man dies after semi rear-ends a pickup

KANSAS CITY —Two Kansas City man face multiple felony counts after they were involved in fleeing from a Highway Patrol officer and firing shots at the officer, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Christopher A. Northcutt, 31, faces Assault 1st Degree or Attempt, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Resisting A Lawful Stop, Tampering With Physical Evidence in Felony Prosecution and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.

John P. Glock Jr., 29,&nbsp; faces Assault 1st Degree or Attempt, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Tampering with a Motor Vehicle, Resisting Arrest, Tampering with Physical Evidence In Felony Prosecution and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.

According to court records, on Nov. 19, 2022, a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was conducting a traffic stop on a pickup truck that had been traveling 92 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone. 

The stop was attempted on Interstate 70 at Grain Valley. The driver of the truck briefly pulled over then accelerated away at a high rate of speed and a pursuit ensued. The trooper pursued and a passenger in the vehicle emerged from the passenger side and fired several shots at the trooper. Shell casings were recovered. 

Video surveillance showed three suspects in the vehicle, when the vehicle was abandoned at a motel. The suspects entered a hotel laundry room and rented a room. The suspect used an ID identifying him as John Glock. The investigation of this incident resulted in a cell phone video showing that defendant Northcutt was in the vehicle involved in fleeing the trooper.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670013867051.png" alt="Northcutt-photo Jackson County" />
 <figcaption>Northcutt-photo Jackson County</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Two Kansas City man face multiple felony counts after they were involved in fleeing from a Highway Patrol officer and firing shots at the officer, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Christopher A. Northcutt, 31, faces Assault 1st Degree or Attempt, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Resisting A Lawful Stop, Tampering With Physical Evidence in Felony Prosecution and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.John P. Glock Jr., 29,&nbsp; faces Assault 1st Degree or Attempt, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Tampering with a Motor Vehicle, Resisting Arrest, Tampering with Physical Evidence In Felony Prosecution and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.According to court records, on Nov. 19, 2022, a Missouri Highway Patrol trooper was conducting a traffic stop on a pickup truck that had been traveling 92 miles per hour in a 70-mph zone. The stop was attempted on Interstate 70 at Grain Valley. The driver of the truck briefly pulled over then accelerated away at a high rate of speed and a pursuit ensued. The trooper pursued and a passenger in the vehicle emerged from the passenger side and fired several shots at the trooper. Shell casings were recovered. Video surveillance showed three suspects in the vehicle, when the vehicle was abandoned at a motel. The suspects entered a hotel laundry room and rented a room. The suspect used an ID identifying him as John Glock. The investigation of this incident resulted in a cell phone video showing that defendant Northcutt was in the vehicle involved in fleeing the trooper.&nbsp;

2 charged after firing shots at State Trooper on I-70

SUMNER COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a dead body found in rural Sumner County, believed to be connected to an ongoing investigation in Wichita.

On November 29th, WPD officers were contacted by a 69-year-old man who reported 41-year-old Brent Boone, of Wichita, missing under unusual circumstances, according to Officer Chad Ditch.

Boone was last seen on November 24, 2022, at 9:30 pm at his residence in the 1300 block of N. Pershing in Wichita before leaving in a vehicle with two individuals – identified as 31-year-old Saul Chavez Valenciana and 19- year-old Tehya Turner, both of Wichita. 

It is believed that an altercation occurred inside the car, during which Boone was killed.

On Wednesday, November 30, follow-up investigation led officers to a crime scene in the 9300 block of S. Pattie in Haysville, where they began processing evidence.

Police located the vehicle on Thursday, December 1st near 21st and Ridge, abandoned, according to Ditch.

Further investigation led officers to a rural area Southwest of Clearwater, one mile west of N Clearwater Road and 140th Ave N, where a body was located. Investigators with WPD and members of the Sumner County Sheriff's Office are working to confirm the body's identity, but at this time, it is believed to be Boone.

The investigation is still in the early stages, but at this time, it is not believed to be a random incident, and it is believed that the victim and suspects are known to each other.

Police are actively searching for Saul Chavez&nbsp;Valenciana a and Tehya Turner in connection to this case. If anyone has information regarding their location, please call 911. Additionally, should you wish to remain anonymous, you can submit tips to Crime Stoppers by calling 316-267-2111.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670023341610.png" alt="Valenciana-photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Valenciana-photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>SUMNER COUNTY— Law enforcement authorities are investigating a dead body found in rural Sumner County, believed to be connected to an ongoing investigation in Wichita.On November 29th, WPD officers were contacted by a 69-year-old man who reported 41-year-old Brent Boone, of Wichita, missing under unusual circumstances, according to Officer Chad Ditch.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670023417727.png" alt="Turner-photo Wichita Police" />
 <figcaption>Turner-photo Wichita Police</figcaption>
 </figure>Boone was last seen on November 24, 2022, at 9:30 pm at his residence in the 1300 block of N. Pershing in Wichita before leaving in a vehicle with two individuals – identified as 31-year-old Saul Chavez Valenciana and 19- year-old Tehya Turner, both of Wichita. It is believed that an altercation occurred inside the car, during which Boone was killed.On Wednesday, November 30, follow-up investigation led officers to a crime scene in the 9300 block of S. Pattie in Haysville, where they began processing evidence.Police located the vehicle on Thursday, December 1st near 21st and Ridge, abandoned, according to Ditch.Further investigation led officers to a rural area Southwest of Clearwater, one mile west of N Clearwater Road and 140th Ave N, where a body was located. Investigators with WPD and members of the Sumner County Sheriff's Office are working to confirm the body's identity, but at this time, it is believed to be Boone.The investigation is still in the early stages, but at this time, it is not believed to be a random incident, and it is believed that the victim and suspects are known to each other.Police are actively searching for Saul Chavez&nbsp;Valenciana a and Tehya Turner in connection to this case. If anyone has information regarding their location, please call 911. Additionally, should you wish to remain anonymous, you can submit tips to Crime Stoppers by calling 316-267-2111.

Police search for suspects after man’s body found in rural Kansas

SHAWNEE COUNTY –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Friday identified the man who died Thursday morning in an officer-involved shooting in Topeka as 28-year-old Dylan Walstrom of Topeka who had a long history of crime.

He died after he was shot during a violent struggle with an officer from the Topeka Police Department.

Preliminary information indicates that just before 7a.m..officer from the Topeka Police Department (TPD) observed a vehicle that appeared suspicious because it was parked in the center of an alleyway southeast of the intersection of 20th&nbsp;St. and SW Lincoln St. Dispatch indicated the car, which was occupied by a male subject, had been reported stolen, according to a media release from the KBI.

The officer approached the vehicle on the passenger’s side. He gave several verbal commands to the male driver later identified as Walstrom that were not followed. 

Then Walstrom opened the driver’s side door, and the officer met him on that side of the car. Walstrom was armed with a handgun and a close struggle ensued. During the struggle the officer fired multiple rounds striking Walstrom.&nbsp; Walstrom fired one round that did not hit the officer.

Walstrom was pronounced dead at the scene. The TPD officer was uninjured during the incident.&nbsp;Per policy, the Topeka officer has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1669909106621.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY –&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) Friday identified the man who died Thursday morning in an officer-involved shooting in Topeka as 28-year-old Dylan Walstrom of Topeka who had a long history of crime.He died after he was shot during a violent struggle with an officer from the Topeka Police Department.Preliminary information indicates that just before 7a.m..officer from the Topeka Police Department (TPD) observed a vehicle that appeared suspicious because it was parked in the center of an alleyway southeast of the intersection of 20th&nbsp;St. and SW Lincoln St. Dispatch indicated the car, which was occupied by a male subject, had been reported stolen, according to a media release from the KBI.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2022/12/1670002088213.png" alt="Walstrom had previous convictions for theft, obstruction, evade a road block, interference with law enforcement, flee or attempted to elude law enforcement, falsely reported a crime and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections -photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Walstrom had previous convictions for theft, obstruction, evade a road block, interference with law enforcement, flee or attempted to elude law enforcement, falsely reported a crime and for drugs, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections -photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>The officer approached the vehicle on the passenger’s side. He gave several verbal commands to the male driver later identified as Walstrom that were not followed. Then Walstrom opened the driver’s side door, and the officer met him on that side of the car. Walstrom was armed with a handgun and a close struggle ensued. During the struggle the officer fired multiple rounds striking Walstrom.&nbsp; Walstrom fired one round that did not hit the officer.Walstrom was pronounced dead at the scene. The TPD officer was uninjured during the incident.&nbsp;Per policy, the Topeka officer has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.Walstrom had previous convictions for theft, obstruction, evade a road block, interference with law enforcement, flee or attempted to elude law enforcement, falsely reported a crime and for drugs. He had been out of prison since November of 2020, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections.------SHAWNEE COUNTY&nbsp;–&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating an officer-involved shooting that occurred Thursday morning in Topeka.Preliminary information indicates that just before 7a.m..officer from the Topeka Police Department (TPD) observed a vehicle that appeared suspicious because it was parked in the center of an alleyway southeast of the intersection of 20th&nbsp;St. and SW Lincoln St. Dispatch indicated the car, which was occupied by a male subject, had been reported stolen, according to a media release from the KBI.The officer approached the vehicle on the passenger’s side. He gave several verbal commands to the male driver that were not followed. Then the man opened the driver’s side door, and the officer met him on that side of the car. The man was armed with a handgun and a close struggle ensued. During the struggle the officer fired multiple rounds striking the male subject. The man fired one round that did not hit the officer.Shots were fired at approximately 6:50 a.m. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The TPD officer was uninjured during the incident.---------SHAWNEE COUNTY —One man is dead following a Kansas officer-involved shooting.Just before 7a.m. Thursday, a police officer initiated a traffic stop on a stolen vehicle occupied by one suspect in the east alley of the 2000 block of SW Lincoln Street in Topeka, according to a media release.During the traffic stop, the suspect displayed a gun. The officer, in fear for their life, fired their gun, striking the suspect.&nbsp; The officer was not injured.The male suspect was pronounced deceased by medical personnel at the scene.&nbsp;The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is in charge of the investigation. Per policy, the Topeka officer has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated.