By: <b>NICOLAS FIERRO<br></b><i>Salina Post</i>

CLAY CENTER - A nursing home in Clay Center has been evacuated by the state of Kansas and has left more questions than answers.

In the middle of August 2025, residents of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;were evacuated by the <a href="https://www.kdads.ks.gov/">Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS)</a> due to quality of living issues. According to Cara Sloan-Ramos of KDADS, residents were 'successfully moved' from the nursing home.

"We can confirm that residents were successfully moved from the Advena nursing home in Clay Center, and we are working to make sure they are well cared for in their new locations," said Sloan-Ramos.

Reasons have as to why residents were removed remain unknown. Many speculations from the public have stated there were possibilities of 'mold in the air ducts' and even residents being 'neglected of care.'

Sloan-Ramos stated that KDADS takes such allegations seriously and are investigated accordingly.

"KDADS takes all allegations of abuse and neglect seriously and operates a hotline to receive such reports," she said. "If and when such allegations are received, they are investigated accordingly. The results of those investigations are confidential and are only made available to the parties directly involved in the case."

Sloan-Ramos also said KDADS could not answer any questions as to why the residents were evacuated. She stated these questions are to be directed towards the administration of Advena.

"We cannot provide details at this time because the process is not yet complete and the information is not public," she said. "Questions about where patients were transferred or whether any legal action has been filed would need to be answered by the facility."

<b><i>Salina Post has reached out to the administrative team of Advena several times, but has not received a response.</i></b>

According to a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/KSOG/bulletins/3d63358">press release</a> from KDADS, on March 10, 2025&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;received funding from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/">Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services</a> (CMS) after approval to implement the 'SNF Clinic quality improvement program in 43 nursing homes across Kansas.' The purpose of the funding was to enhance&nbsp;staff training, improve resident care and elevate overall facility performance through an advanced electronic learning management system (eLMS).

SNF Clinic is a web-based platform that provides nursing home staff with easy access to essential education and care resources. The program ensures residents receive high-quality, person-centered care by equipping healthcare professionals with the necessary knowledge and tools.

“The implementation of SNF Clinic in Kansas nursing homes represents a significant investment in the well-being of our elderly population,” KDADS Civil Money Penalty (CMP) Program Manager Rebecca Hedrick said. “By prioritizing education and quality improvement, we ensure that staff members are fully prepared to provide exceptional care to residents.”

Members of Clay Center have spoken about the situation and speculated as to what may have happened.

"It is pretty sad, where are you going to put all those people?"

"There may have been a building or water problem."

"I heard the state had to evacuate the residents because of mold, but no one is talking about it and I do not know what is going on."

According to <a href="https://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/area/ks/advena-living-of-clay-center-175351">reviews</a> of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>, the nursing home had a below average rating for "Short-term rehabilitation" and "Long-term care." The rating for Short-term rehab evaluates a nursing home's quality of post-acute care for patients recovering from a hospital stay, such as instances that include strokes, heart attacks, infections or accidental injuries. The rating for Long-term care evaluates&nbsp;a nursing home's ability to care for residents who need daily assistance with medical needs, such as administering medications and non-medical needs such as dressing, eating and using the bathroom.

According to a standard inspection report conducted on April 9, 2025 from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/">The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;had potentials of actual harm with many residents being affected to provide services such as:

 Infection Control Deficiency,&nbsp;Nutrition and Dietary Deficiency and Administration Deficiency (determine what resources are necessary to care for residents).

Few patients were affected as far as the&nbsp;Quality of Life and Care Deficiency and Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiency&nbsp;

However, Advena Living of Clay Center had no reports of any actual harm with minimal potentiality when it came to&nbsp;Nursing and Physician Services Deficiency. See the full report <a href="https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/inspections/pdf/nursing-home/175351/health/health-inspection?date=2025-04-09">here</a>.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757010210377.jpeg" alt="Advena Living of Clay Center sign on 715 Liberty St., Clay Center, KS. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) evacuated residents in the middle of August 2025. Photo by Nicolas Fierro" />
                        <figcaption>Advena Living of Clay Center sign on 715 Liberty St., Clay Center, KS. The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS) evacuated residents in the middle of August 2025. Photo by Nicolas Fierro</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>By: <b>NICOLAS FIERRO<br></b><i>Salina Post</i></p><p>CLAY CENTER - A nursing home in Clay Center has been evacuated by the state of Kansas and has left more questions than answers.</p><p>In the middle of August 2025, residents of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;were evacuated by the <a href="https://www.kdads.ks.gov/">Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS)</a> due to quality of living issues. According to Cara Sloan-Ramos of KDADS, residents were 'successfully moved' from the nursing home.</p><p>"We can confirm that residents were successfully moved from the Advena nursing home in Clay Center, and we are working to make sure they are well cared for in their new locations," said Sloan-Ramos.</p><p>Reasons have as to why residents were removed remain unknown. Many speculations from the public have stated there were possibilities of 'mold in the air ducts' and even residents being 'neglected of care.'</p><p>Sloan-Ramos stated that KDADS takes such allegations seriously and are investigated accordingly.</p><p>"KDADS takes all allegations of abuse and neglect seriously and operates a hotline to receive such reports," she said. "If and when such allegations are received, they are investigated accordingly. The results of those investigations are confidential and are only made available to the parties directly involved in the case."</p><p>Sloan-Ramos also said KDADS could not answer any questions as to why the residents were evacuated. She stated these questions are to be directed towards the administration of Advena.</p><p>"We cannot provide details at this time because the process is not yet complete and the information is not public," she said. "Questions about where patients were transferred or whether any legal action has been filed would need to be answered by the facility."</p><p><b><i>Salina Post has reached out to the administrative team of Advena several times, but has not received a response.</i></b></p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757010441578.jpeg" alt="No Trespassing sign on the front door of Advena Living of Clay Center. Photo by Nicolas Fierro" />
                        <figcaption>No Trespassing sign on the front door of Advena Living of Clay Center. Photo by Nicolas Fierro</figcaption>
                    </figure><h2>Set up for success</h2><p>According to a <a href="https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/KSOG/bulletins/3d63358">press release</a> from KDADS, on March 10, 2025&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;received funding from the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/">Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services</a> (CMS) after approval to implement the 'SNF Clinic quality improvement program in 43 nursing homes across Kansas.' The purpose of the funding was to enhance&nbsp;staff training, improve resident care and elevate overall facility performance through an advanced electronic learning management system (eLMS).</p><p>SNF Clinic is a web-based platform that provides nursing home staff with easy access to essential education and care resources. The program ensures residents receive high-quality, person-centered care by equipping healthcare professionals with the necessary knowledge and tools.</p><p>“The implementation of SNF Clinic in Kansas nursing homes represents a significant investment in the well-being of our elderly population,” KDADS Civil Money Penalty (CMP) Program Manager Rebecca Hedrick said. “By prioritizing education and quality improvement, we ensure that staff members are fully prepared to provide exceptional care to residents.”</p><h2>Concerns from the public</h2><p>Members of Clay Center have spoken about the situation and speculated as to what may have happened.</p><p>"It is pretty sad, where are you going to put all those people?"</p><p>"There may have been a building or water problem."</p><p>"I heard the state had to evacuate the residents because of mold, but no one is talking about it and I do not know what is going on."</p><p>According to <a href="https://health.usnews.com/best-nursing-homes/area/ks/advena-living-of-clay-center-175351">reviews</a> of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>, the nursing home had a below average rating for "Short-term rehabilitation" and "Long-term care." The rating for Short-term rehab evaluates a nursing home's quality of post-acute care for patients recovering from a hospital stay, such as instances that include strokes, heart attacks, infections or accidental injuries. The rating for Long-term care evaluates&nbsp;a nursing home's ability to care for residents who need daily assistance with medical needs, such as administering medications and non-medical needs such as dressing, eating and using the bathroom.</p><p>According to a standard inspection report conducted on April 9, 2025 from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cms.gov/">The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.advenaclaycenter.com/">Advena Living of Clay Center</a>&nbsp;had potentials of actual harm with many residents being affected to provide services such as:</p><p> Infection Control Deficiency,&nbsp;Nutrition and Dietary Deficiency and Administration Deficiency (determine what resources are necessary to care for residents).</p><p>Few patients were affected as far as the&nbsp;Quality of Life and Care Deficiency and Resident Assessment and Care Planning Deficiency&nbsp;</p><p>However, Advena Living of Clay Center had no reports of any actual harm with minimal potentiality when it came to&nbsp;Nursing and Physician Services Deficiency. See the full report <a href="https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/inspections/pdf/nursing-home/175351/health/health-inspection?date=2025-04-09">here</a>.</p>

Sheriff: Child dead after medical incident on Kansas highway

WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;hosted a high-powered group of tech executives at the White House on Thursday as he showcased&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence">research on artificial intelligence</a>&nbsp;and boasted of investments that companies are making around the United States.

“This is taking our country to a new level,” he said at the center of a long table surrounded by what he described as “high IQ people.”

It was the latest example of a delicate two-way courtship between Trump and tech leaders, several of whom attended his inauguration. Trump has exulted in the attention from some of the world’s most successful businesspeople, while the companies are eager to remain on the good side of the mercurial president.

While the executives praised Trump and talked about their hopes for technological advancement, the Republican president was focused on dollar signs. He went around the table and asked executives how much they were investing in the country.

Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who sat to Trump’s right, said $600 billion. Apple’s Tim Cook said the same. Google’s Sundar Pichai said $250 billion.

“What about Microsoft?” Trump said. “That’s a big number.”

CEO Satya Nadella said it was up to $80 billion per year.

“Good,” Trump responded. “Very good.”

Notably absent from the guest list was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, once a close ally of Trump who was tasked with running the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-28263ffbfc191602b3657618138ee585">a public breakup</a>&nbsp;with Trump earlier this year.

At the table instead was one of Musk’s rivals in artificial intelligence, Sam Altman of OpenAI.

In another reflection of shifting loyalties in Trump’s world, the dinner included Jared Isaacman, who founded the payment processing company Shift4.

Isaacman was a Musk ally chosen by Trump to lead NASA, only to have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-isaacman-nasa-nomination-withdraw-a0b1d23823a06ac7ae1994c930c7786c">his nomination withdrawn</a>&nbsp;because he was, in Trump’s words, “totally a Democrat.”

The dinner was expected to be held in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/trump-rose-garden-paved-over-photo-gallery-732b9521b69c10c12ce448f12e27401c">the Rose Garden</a>, where Trump recently paved over the grassy lawn and set up tables, chairs and umbrellas that look strikingly similar to the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.

But because of inclement weather, officials decided to move the event to the White House State Dining Room.

The event followed an afternoon meeting of the White House’s new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, which first lady Melania Trump chaired and some tech leaders participated in.

“The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said,

Pichai, IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and Code.org President Cameron Wilson were among those participating in the task force.

The White House confirmed that the guest list for the dinner also included: Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates; Google founder Sergey Brin; OpenAI founder Greg Brockman; Oracle CEO Safra Catz; Blue Origin CEO David Limp; Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra; TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive; Palantir executive Shyam Sankar; Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang; and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.

Trump’s outreach to top tech executives has occasionally been divisive within the Republican Party.

One of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, Sen.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hawley-pelosi-stocks-insider-trading-ban-cf6200d0ec71fe012bb3b9a916696b37">Josh Hawley</a>, delivered a sharp criticism of the tech industry during a speech at a conservative conference in Washington on Thursday morning. He criticized the lack of regulation around artificial intelligence and singled out Meta and ChatGPT.

“The government should inspect all of these frontier AI systems so we can better understand what the tech titans plan to build and destroy,” the Missouri senator said.

Trump has embraced AI-created imagery and frequently shares it online, despite his complaints earlier in the week about the technology being used to create misleading videos.

Late Wednesday night, he posted a string of AI-generated memes and videos, such as one depicting him interacting with the man pictured in the Cracker Barrel logo, one showing California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff with an extremely elongated neck, and one with Trump’s face superimposed on a pole vaulter as it appears to leap over a Cracker Barrel banner.

On Tuesday, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-window-ai-9dad119bb6de1519582db036dc0726d7">said a video showing items being thrown out</a>&nbsp;of an upstairs window of the White House must have been created by AI, despite his team seeming to have confirmed the video’s veracity hours earlier.

Trump then said, “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”

The first lady, at her event Thursday, likewise highlighted both the potential and peril of AI.

“As leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she said, calling for both action and caution. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance.”

Last month, the first lady launched a nationwide contest for students in grades K-12 to use AI to complete a project or address a community challenge. The project was aimed at showing the benefits of AI, but the first lady has also highlighted its drawbacks.

Melania Trump lobbied Congress this year to pass legislation that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation using imagery that is real or an AI-generated deepfake.

The president signed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/take-it-down-deepfake-trump-melania-first-amendment-741a6e525e81e5e3d8843aac20de8615">“Take It Down Act”</a>&nbsp;in May.

Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco in San Francisco contributed to this report.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757074835886.png" alt="Image courtesy White House video" />
                        <figcaption>Image courtesy White House video</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WASHINGTON (AP) —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump">President Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;hosted a high-powered group of tech executives at the White House on Thursday as he showcased&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence">research on artificial intelligence</a>&nbsp;and boasted of investments that companies are making around the United States.</p><p>“This is taking our country to a new level,” he said at the center of a long table surrounded by what he described as “high IQ people.”</p><p>It was the latest example of a delicate two-way courtship between Trump and tech leaders, several of whom attended his inauguration. Trump has exulted in the attention from some of the world’s most successful businesspeople, while the companies are eager to remain on the good side of the mercurial president.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">BREAKING 🇺🇸 : President Trump hosts tech leaders for a dinner at the White House. Guests include Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman<a href="https://t.co/GUJavrxP9M">pic.twitter.com/GUJavrxP9M</a></p>&mdash; Zaid Ahmd (@realzaidzayn) <a href="https://twitter.com/realzaidzayn/status/1963766937500156283?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Google co-founder Sergey Brin: &quot;It&#39;s a real incredible inflection point right now in AI and the fact that your administration is supporting our companies instead of fighting with them — it&#39;s hugely important.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/3vUGc1Dvai">pic.twitter.com/3vUGc1Dvai</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963780730632180101?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Google CEO Sundar Pichai: &quot;The AI moment is one of the most transformative moments any of us have ever seen... The AI Action Plan, under your leadership, I think is a great start, and we look forward to working together — and thanks for your leadership.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/AKzlSgbYJl">pic.twitter.com/AKzlSgbYJl</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963781769108332769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/AMD?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AMD</a> CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/LisaSu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LisaSu</a>: &quot;The incredible work that your administration has done to support the semiconductor industry... the amount of acceleration that we&#39;ve seen just in the few short months that the administration has been in place — we&#39;re so grateful for that support.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/UjrORUbzLQ">pic.twitter.com/UjrORUbzLQ</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963782822218313962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Microsoft?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Microsoft</a> CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/satyanadella?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@satyanadella</a>: &quot;Everything that you&#39;re doing in terms of setting in place the platform where the rest of the world can not only use our technology, but trust our technology more than any other alternative, is perhaps the most important issue.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/4xNxZggG3f">pic.twitter.com/4xNxZggG3f</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963783827442057465?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/Apple?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Apple</a> CEO <a href="https://twitter.com/tim_cook?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@tim_cook</a>: &quot;I want to thank you for setting the tone such that we could make a major [$600 billion] investment in the United States... That says a lot about your focus and your leadership and your focus on innovation.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/289vkiB6vy">pic.twitter.com/289vkiB6vy</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963786061114417495?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/OpenAI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OpenAI</a> CEO Sam Altman: &quot;Thank you for being such a pro-business, pro-innovation President. It&#39;s a very refreshing change...The investment that&#39;s happening here, the ability to get the power of the industry back... I don&#39;t think that would be happening without your leadership.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/suGDIJFlx8">pic.twitter.com/suGDIJFlx8</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963787418429018457?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/OpenAI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OpenAI</a> President Greg Brockman <a href="https://twitter.com/gdb?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@gdb</a>: &quot;We&#39;ve been just very impressed with how this Administration has really embraced AI... There has been a choice of whether to approach it with optimism, and I think that that&#39;s what I&#39;ve really seen from this Administration.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/cLGmDzLwtO">pic.twitter.com/cLGmDzLwtO</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963790825273348601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>While the executives praised Trump and talked about their hopes for technological advancement, the Republican president was focused on dollar signs. He went around the table and asked executives how much they were investing in the country.</p><p>Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, who sat to Trump’s right, said $600 billion. Apple’s Tim Cook said the same. Google’s Sundar Pichai said $250 billion.</p><p>“What about Microsoft?” Trump said. “That’s a big number.”</p><p>CEO Satya Nadella said it was up to $80 billion per year.</p><p>“Good,” Trump responded. “Very good.”</p><p>Notably absent from the guest list was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/elon-musk">Elon Musk</a>, once a close ally of Trump who was tasked with running the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk had&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-donald-trump-28263ffbfc191602b3657618138ee585">a public breakup</a>&nbsp;with Trump earlier this year.</p><p>At the table instead was one of Musk’s rivals in artificial intelligence, Sam Altman of OpenAI.</p><p>In another reflection of shifting loyalties in Trump’s world, the dinner included Jared Isaacman, who founded the payment processing company Shift4.</p><p>Isaacman was a Musk ally chosen by Trump to lead NASA, only to have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-isaacman-nasa-nomination-withdraw-a0b1d23823a06ac7ae1994c930c7786c">his nomination withdrawn</a>&nbsp;because he was, in Trump’s words, “totally a Democrat.”</p><p>The dinner was expected to be held in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-gallery/trump-rose-garden-paved-over-photo-gallery-732b9521b69c10c12ce448f12e27401c">the Rose Garden</a>, where Trump recently paved over the grassy lawn and set up tables, chairs and umbrellas that look strikingly similar to the outdoor setup at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.</p><p>But because of inclement weather, officials decided to move the event to the White House State Dining Room.</p><p>The event followed an afternoon meeting of the White House’s new Artificial Intelligence Education task force, which first lady Melania Trump chaired and some tech leaders participated in.</p><p>“The robots are here. Our future is no longer science fiction,” she said,</p><p>Pichai, IBM chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna and Code.org President Cameron Wilson were among those participating in the task force.</p><p>The White House confirmed that the guest list for the dinner also included: Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates; Google founder Sergey Brin; OpenAI founder Greg Brockman; Oracle CEO Safra Catz; Blue Origin CEO David Limp; Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra; TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive; Palantir executive Shyam Sankar; Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang; and Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman.</p><p>Trump’s outreach to top tech executives has occasionally been divisive within the Republican Party.</p><p>One of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, Sen.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-hawley-pelosi-stocks-insider-trading-ban-cf6200d0ec71fe012bb3b9a916696b37">Josh Hawley</a>, delivered a sharp criticism of the tech industry during a speech at a conservative conference in Washington on Thursday morning. He criticized the lack of regulation around artificial intelligence and singled out Meta and ChatGPT.</p><p>“The government should inspect all of these frontier AI systems so we can better understand what the tech titans plan to build and destroy,” the Missouri senator said.</p><p>Trump has embraced AI-created imagery and frequently shares it online, despite his complaints earlier in the week about the technology being used to create misleading videos.</p><p>Late Wednesday night, he posted a string of AI-generated memes and videos, such as one depicting him interacting with the man pictured in the Cracker Barrel logo, one showing California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff with an extremely elongated neck, and one with Trump’s face superimposed on a pole vaulter as it appears to leap over a Cracker Barrel banner.</p><p>On Tuesday, Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-white-house-window-ai-9dad119bb6de1519582db036dc0726d7">said a video showing items being thrown out</a>&nbsp;of an upstairs window of the White House must have been created by AI, despite his team seeming to have confirmed the video’s veracity hours earlier.</p><p>Trump then said, “If something happens that’s really bad, maybe I’ll have to just blame AI.”</p><p>The first lady, at her event Thursday, likewise highlighted both the potential and peril of AI.</p><p>“As leaders and parents, we must manage AI’s growth responsibly,” she said, calling for both action and caution. “During this primitive stage, it is our duty to treat AI as we would our own children — empowering, but with watchful guidance.”</p><p>Last month, the first lady launched a nationwide contest for students in grades K-12 to use AI to complete a project or address a community challenge. The project was aimed at showing the benefits of AI, but the first lady has also highlighted its drawbacks.</p><p>Melania Trump lobbied Congress this year to pass legislation that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation using imagery that is real or an AI-generated deepfake.</p><p>The president signed the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/take-it-down-deepfake-trump-melania-first-amendment-741a6e525e81e5e3d8843aac20de8615">“Take It Down Act”</a>&nbsp;in May.</p><p>___</p><p>Associated Press writers Joey Cappelletti in Washington and Jocelyn Gecker in San Francisco in San Francisco contributed to this report.</p>

🎥 Trump hosts top tech CEOs, not  Elon Musk, at White House dinner

KANSAS CITY —A man's death in June is now being investigating as a homicide.

Just before 3a.m. June 22, police&nbsp;were dispatched to the 3600 block of Warwick Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri on a reported incident with KC Fire Department crews, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.

 First responders located the victim, later identified as 50-year-old&nbsp;Darriyun Webb on the floor unconscious. EMS responded and transported the victim to an area hospital where he was declared deceased. The investigation indicates the victim and suspect had been involved in a physical altercation that led to the victim losing consciousness.

The suspect, an adult male, was identified and interviewed at the scene.

On Thursday morning homicide detectives were notified by the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office this incident has been ruled a homicide.

<p>KANSAS CITY —A man's death in June is now being investigating as a homicide.</p><p>Just before 3a.m. June 22, police&nbsp;were dispatched to the 3600 block of Warwick Boulevard in Kansas City, Missouri on a reported incident with KC Fire Department crews, according to KCPD Captain Jake Becchina.</p><p> First responders located the victim, later identified as 50-year-old&nbsp;Darriyun Webb on the floor unconscious. EMS responded and transported the victim to an area hospital where he was declared deceased. The investigation indicates the victim and suspect had been involved in a physical altercation that led to the victim losing consciousness.</p><p>The suspect, an adult male, was identified and interviewed at the scene.</p><p>On Thursday morning homicide detectives were notified by the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office this incident has been ruled a homicide.</p><h2></h2>

Medical examiner rules Kansas City man's death in June a homicide

SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas woman accused in the death of a 7-year-old boy returned to court on Thursday.

Tasha Diane Dillard, 25, Wichita, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated child endangerment in Judge William Woolley's courtroom, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.&nbsp; She had been scheduled to face a trial starting on September 15.

Dillard had originally been charged with 1st degree murder and 7 counts of aggravated endangering a child, according to the District Attorney's office.

On March 16, police responded to a call of a shooting at an apartment in the 3700 block of E Ross Parkway, according to Wichita Police Captain Aaron Moses. The caller reported that someone had been shot and that a child was bleeding.

When officers arrived, they found 7-year-old Davion Gunter suffering from a gunshot wound to his torso. Davion was transported to a local hospital, where he was&nbsp; pronounced deceased.

At the scene, officers found seven other children and multiple adults. Wichita Police homicide investigators and the Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit responded immediately, conducting interviews and gathered evidence.

Police took Dillard into custody and the children were placed in protective care.&nbsp; &nbsp;She will be sentenced October 16, according to the district attorney's office.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/3/1742206494454.png" alt="Dillard photo Sedgwick County" />
                        <figcaption>Dillard photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>SEDGWICK COUNTY—A Kansas woman accused in the death of a 7-year-old boy returned to court on Thursday.</p><p>Tasha Diane Dillard, 25, Wichita, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and aggravated child endangerment in Judge William Woolley's courtroom, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.&nbsp; She had been scheduled to face a trial starting on September 15.</p><p>Dillard had originally been charged with 1st degree murder and 7 counts of aggravated endangering a child, according to the District Attorney's office.</p><p>On March 16, police responded to a call of a shooting at an apartment in the 3700 block of E Ross Parkway, according to Wichita Police Captain Aaron Moses. The caller reported that someone had been shot and that a child was bleeding.</p><p>When officers arrived, they found 7-year-old Davion Gunter suffering from a gunshot wound to his torso. Davion was transported to a local hospital, where he was&nbsp; pronounced deceased.</p><p>At the scene, officers found seven other children and multiple adults. Wichita Police homicide investigators and the Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit responded immediately, conducting interviews and gathered evidence.</p><p>Police took Dillard into custody and the children were placed in protective care.&nbsp; &nbsp;She will be sentenced October 16, according to the district attorney's office.</p>

Kansas woman reaches plea deal in death of 7-year-old

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a traffic stop near Kansas City.

Just after 2a.m. Tuesday, sheriff's&nbsp;deputies made a vehicle stop on southbound Interstate 49 at the Archie exit, due to a lane violation, according to the Cass County Sheriff.

After a vehicle search, deputies found several homemade explosives. The Lee’s Summit Bomb Squad was contacted and arrived on scene, where they detonated the explosives.

Deputies also found narcotics in the vehicle.The suspect has been identified as 51-year-old Charles Cooper of Kansas City. 

He has been charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (D Felony) and Driving While Revoked/Suspended (D Misdemeanor). Cooper’s bond is set at $10,000 cash only. He’s currently being housed at the Cass County Jail.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757018875097.png" alt="Photo Cass County Sheriff" />
                        <figcaption>Photo Cass County Sheriff</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement are investigating a suspect on multiple allegations after a traffic stop near Kansas City.</p><p>Just after 2a.m. Tuesday, sheriff's&nbsp;deputies made a vehicle stop on southbound Interstate 49 at the Archie exit, due to a lane violation, according to the Cass County Sheriff.</p><p>After a vehicle search, deputies found several homemade explosives. The Lee’s Summit Bomb Squad was contacted and arrived on scene, where they detonated the explosives.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757019134279.png" alt="Cooper photo Cass County" />
                        <figcaption>Cooper photo Cass County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>Deputies also found narcotics in the vehicle.The suspect has been identified as 51-year-old Charles Cooper of Kansas City. </p><p>He has been charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance (D Felony) and Driving While Revoked/Suspended (D Misdemeanor). Cooper’s bond is set at $10,000 cash only. He’s currently being housed at the Cass County Jail.</p>

Kansas City man caught transporting homemade explosives

WASHINGTON (AP) —A pair of Venezuelan fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham in the international waters of the Caribbean on Thursday, Pentagon officials said.

A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss operational details, confirmed that two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the destroyer, which is part of a group of at least seven U.S. warships that have been deployed to the area as part of a mission to target drug smuggling.

The maneuver comes days after the Trump administration revealed that it ordered a strike on a speedboat that it claims was carrying 11 drug smugglers, killing all of them.

In a social media post late Thursday, the Pentagon called the maneuver by Venezuela “highly provocative” and argued that it was “designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations.”

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) —A pair of Venezuelan fighter jets flew over the USS Jason Dunham in the international waters of the Caribbean on Thursday, Pentagon officials said.</p><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/PSxm3uRsfM">pic.twitter.com/PSxm3uRsfM</a></p>&mdash; Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) <a href="https://twitter.com/DeptofDefense/status/1963775938233299235?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 5, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss operational details, confirmed that two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over the destroyer, which is part of a group of at least seven U.S. warships that have been deployed to the area as part of a mission to target drug smuggling.</p><p>The maneuver comes days after the Trump administration revealed that it ordered a strike on a speedboat that it claims was carrying 11 drug smugglers, killing all of them.</p><p>In a social media post late Thursday, the Pentagon called the maneuver by Venezuela “highly provocative” and argued that it was “designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations.”</p>

Venezuelan military aircraft fly over US Navy vessel as tensions rise

The State of Kansas ends August 2025 with total tax collections at $692.3 million. That is $26.2 million, or 3.9%, above the estimate. Total tax collections were up 4.0% from August 2024, according to a media release from the Governor's office.

Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fcontent.govdelivery.com%2Fattachments%2FKSOG%2F2025%2F09%2F04%2Ffile_attachments%2F3378251%2F02_August_Revenue_FY2026_09-02-2025_Final.pdf/1/0101019915ac0fea-2de043bc-57f9-41bb-9e13-15bc8f2e7ded-000000/PxW39ichoUcdiKvYlp4EF_jnWxTDHq2rZE887v-5PEg=421">here</a>&nbsp;to view the August 2025 revenue numbers.

“This month’s stronger-than-expected tax collections highlight the strength of Kansas’ work to attract business investment and workforce development, evidenced by reported withholdings up 13.7% over August of 2024,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said. “However, even if these better-than-expected revenues continue, I remain concerned about the reckless budget’s impact on the long-term fiscal health of the state and the risk of departing from the course of fiscal responsibility we have been on.”

Individual income tax collections were $361.2 million, which is $16.2 million, or 4.7% above the estimate. Individual income tax collections were up 9.7% from August 2024. Corporate income tax collections were $18.2 million, which is $1.8 million, or 9.0% below the estimate, and down 9.7% from August 2024.&nbsp;

Combined retail sales and compensating use tax receipts were $294.2 million, which is $11.2 million, or 4.0% above the estimate, and down 0.1% from August 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<p>The State of Kansas ends August 2025 with total tax collections at $692.3 million. That is $26.2 million, or 3.9%, above the estimate. Total tax collections were up 4.0% from August 2024, according to a media release from the Governor's office.</p><p>Click&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://links-2.govdelivery.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fcontent.govdelivery.com%2Fattachments%2FKSOG%2F2025%2F09%2F04%2Ffile_attachments%2F3378251%2F02_August_Revenue_FY2026_09-02-2025_Final.pdf/1/0101019915ac0fea-2de043bc-57f9-41bb-9e13-15bc8f2e7ded-000000/PxW39ichoUcdiKvYlp4EF_jnWxTDHq2rZE887v-5PEg=421">here</a>&nbsp;to view the August 2025 revenue numbers.</p><p>“This month’s stronger-than-expected tax collections highlight the strength of Kansas’ work to attract business investment and workforce development, evidenced by reported withholdings up 13.7% over August of 2024,”&nbsp;Governor Laura Kelly said. “However, even if these better-than-expected revenues continue, I remain concerned about the reckless budget’s impact on the long-term fiscal health of the state and the risk of departing from the course of fiscal responsibility we have been on.”</p><p>Individual income tax collections were $361.2 million, which is $16.2 million, or 4.7% above the estimate. Individual income tax collections were up 9.7% from August 2024. Corporate income tax collections were $18.2 million, which is $1.8 million, or 9.0% below the estimate, and down 9.7% from August 2024.&nbsp;</p><p>Combined retail sales and compensating use tax receipts were $294.2 million, which is $11.2 million, or 4.0% above the estimate, and down 0.1% from August 2024.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

Kansas total tax collections in August above the estimate

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A North Kansas City. Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, according to the United State's Attorney.

Aaron Randall Class, 53, was charged in a one-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 12, 2025. The indictment was unsealed and made public following Class’s arrest. The indictment alleges that on or about Nov. 23rd, 2024, Class knowingly aimed a beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft that was in the aircraft jurisdiction of the United States at the time of the incident.

The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

Under federal statutes, Class is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Branon Chlarson. It was investigated by the North Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/10/1696444782028.png" alt="File image from a similar investigation in 2018" />
                        <figcaption>File image from a similar investigation in 2018</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A North Kansas City. Mo., man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, according to the United State's Attorney.</p><p>Aaron Randall Class, 53, was charged in a one-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Aug. 12, 2025. The indictment was unsealed and made public following Class’s arrest. The indictment alleges that on or about Nov. 23rd, 2024, Class knowingly aimed a beam of a laser pointer at an aircraft that was in the aircraft jurisdiction of the United States at the time of the incident.</p><p>The charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.</p><p>Under federal statutes, Class is subject to a sentence of up to five years in federal prison. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.</p><p>The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Branon Chlarson. It was investigated by the North Kansas City, Missouri Police Department.</p>

Kansas City man charged with aiming laser pointer at aircraft

SEDGWICK COUNTY— A Kansas man who pleaded guilty in connection with the 2023 shooting death of a man in Wichita is going to prison.

On Wednesday, Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced 21-year-old James Sawyer to more than 31-years in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections for the murder of 34-year-old Daniel McPherson during an attempted robbery,&nbsp; according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.

In July, Sawyer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery.

On Dec. 6, 2023, the Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Department contacted Sedgwick County Dispatch, reporting a shooting investigation involving two individuals including Sawyer and 18-year-old Phillip Walls who had entered a Blackwell hospital, with one of them sustaining a gunshot wound, according to Officer Andrew Ford.

Following discussions with the subjects, Blackwell Police shared information with Sedgwick County Dispatch. Consequently, the Wichita Police Department was alerted to respond to the Hydraulic and MacArthur area based on information suggesting that the shooting victim, 34-year-old Daniel McPherson, would be found there.

Upon arrival, officers discovered McPherson with a gunshot wound to his head. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide investigators were dispatched to conduct the investigation and later traveled to Blackwell, Oklahoma where Walls and Sawyer were in custody.&nbsp;

In May of 2024, Walls pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to the shooting and&nbsp;was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison, according to the district attorney's office.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/7/1752095618673.png" alt="-Sawyer photo Sedgwick County" />
                        <figcaption>-Sawyer photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>SEDGWICK COUNTY— A Kansas man who pleaded guilty in connection with the 2023 shooting death of a man in Wichita is going to prison.</p><p>On Wednesday, Judge Jeffrey Goering sentenced 21-year-old James Sawyer to more than 31-years in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections for the murder of 34-year-old Daniel McPherson during an attempted robbery,&nbsp; according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's office.</p><p>In July, Sawyer pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted aggravated robbery.</p><p>On Dec. 6, 2023, the Blackwell, Oklahoma Police Department contacted Sedgwick County Dispatch, reporting a shooting investigation involving two individuals including Sawyer and 18-year-old Phillip Walls who had entered a Blackwell hospital, with one of them sustaining a gunshot wound, according to Officer Andrew Ford.</p><p>Following discussions with the subjects, Blackwell Police shared information with Sedgwick County Dispatch. Consequently, the Wichita Police Department was alerted to respond to the Hydraulic and MacArthur area based on information suggesting that the shooting victim, 34-year-old Daniel McPherson, would be found there.</p><p>Upon arrival, officers discovered McPherson with a gunshot wound to his head. He&nbsp;was pronounced dead at the scene. Homicide investigators were dispatched to conduct the investigation and later traveled to Blackwell, Oklahoma where Walls and Sawyer were in custody.&nbsp;</p><p>In May of 2024, Walls pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to the shooting and&nbsp;was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison, according to the district attorney's office.</p>

21-year-old Kan. man going to prison for robbery, murder

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., facing pointed bipartisan questioning at a rancorous three-hour Senate committee hearing on Thursday, tried to defend his efforts to pull back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and explain the turmoil he has created at federal&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/health">health</a>&nbsp;agencies.

Kennedy said the fired CDC director was untrustworthy, stood by his past anti-vaccine rhetoric, and disputed reports of people saying they have had difficulty getting COVID-19 shots.

Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for Kennedy to be fired, and his exchanges with Democratic senators on the panel repeatedly devolved into shouting, from both sides.

But some Republican senators also expressed unease with his changes to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children-70c358cad726e57d680234c3ecdec926">COVID-19 policies</a>.

The GOP senators noted that Kennedy said President Donald Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for the 2020&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-us-news-international-news-politics-756e5b743058701c4a2ebefd0af1ade4">Operation Warp Speed</a>&nbsp;initiative to quickly develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccines — and that he also had attacked the safety and continued use of those very shots.

“I can't tell where you are on Operation Warp Speed,” said Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis.

Tillis and others asked him why the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was fired last week, less than a month into her tenure.

Kennedy said she was dishonest, and that CDC leaders who left the agency last week in support of her deserved to be fired.

He also criticized CDC recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic tied to lockdowns and masking policies, and claimed — wrongly — that they “failed to do anything about the disease itself.”

“The people at CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving,” Kennedy said. He later said they deserved to be fired for not doing enough to control chronic disease.

Democrats express hostility from the start

The Senate Finance Committee had called Kennedy to a hearing about his plans to “Make America Healthy Again,” but Democratic senators pressed Kennedy on his actions around vaccines.

At the start of the hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon tried to have Kennedy formally sworn in as a witness, saying the HHS secretary has a history of lying to the committee. The committee's chair, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, denied the Democrat's request, saying “the bottom line is we will let the secretary make his own case.”

Wyden went on to attack Kennedy, saying he had “stacked the deck” of a vaccines advisory committee by replacing scientists with “skeptics and conspiracy theorists.”

Last week, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-monarez-fired-trump-kennedy-vaccines-science-17fd8a19064e39906bc0125fd81e3525">Trump administration fired</a>&nbsp;the CDC's director — a Trump appointee who was confirmed by the Senate — less than a month into her tenure. Several top CDC leaders resigned in protest, leaving the agency in turmoil.

The ousted director, Susan Monarez, wrote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-jr-the-cdc-and-me-b4ca2eaa">in The Wall Street Journal</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that Kennedy was trying to weaken public health protections.

“I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric,” Monarez wrote. “It is imperative that the panel’s recommendations aren’t rubber-stamped but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”

Kennedy told senators he didn't make such an ultimatum, though he did concede that he had ordered Monarez to fire career CDC scientists.

Kennedy pushed back on concerns raised by multiple Republican senators, including Tillis and Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Both Barrasso and Cassidy are physicians.

The health secretary had animated comebacks as Democratic senators pressed him on the effects of his words and actions.

When Sen. Raphael Warnock, of Georgia, questioned Kennedy about his disparaging rhetoric about CDC employees before a deadly shooting at the agency this summer, Kennedy shot back: “Are you complicit in the assassination attempts on President Trump?”

Kennedy called Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico “ridiculous,” said he was “talking gibberish” and accused him of “not understanding how the world works” when Lujan asked Kennedy to pledge to share protocols of any research Kennedy was commissioning into autism and vaccines.

He also engaged in a heated, loud exchanges with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota.

“I didn’t even hear your question,” Kennedy replied to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as the Nevada Democrat repeatedly asked what the agency was doing to lower drug costs for seniors.

He also told Sen. Bernie Sanders that the Vermont independent was not “making any sense.”

Some senators had their own choice words.

“You’re interrupting me, and sir, you’re a charlatan. That’s what you are, ” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat. “The history on vaccines is very clear.”

As the hearing neared its end, Kennedy pulled his cellphone from his pocket and then tapped and scrolled as Wyden asked about mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion.

In May, Kennedy — a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement — announced COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a move opposed by medical and public health groups.

In June,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">he abruptly fired</a>&nbsp;a panel of experts that had been advising the government on vaccine policy. He replaced them with a handpicked group that included several vaccine skeptics, and then shut the door to several doctors groups that had long helped form the committee's recommendations.

Kennedy has voiced distrust of research that showed the COVID-19 vaccines saved lives, and at Thursday's hearing even cast doubt on statistics about how people died during the pandemic and on estimates about how many deaths were averted — statistics produced by the agencies he oversees.

He said federal health policy would be based on gold standard science, but confessed that he wouldn’t necessarily wait for studies to be completed before taking action against, for example, potential causes of chronic illness.

“We are not waiting for everything to come in. We are starting now," he said.

A number of medical groups say Kennedy can’t be counted on to make decisions based on robust medical evidence. In a statement Wednesday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and 20 other medical and public health organizations issued a joint statement calling on him to resign.

“Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe,” the statement said.

Many of the nation’s leading public health and medical societies, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have decried Kennedy’s policies and warn they will drive up rates of vaccine-preventable diseases.

Stobbe reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1756996593037.png" alt="Kennedy waved at protesters and supporters as he entered the hearing room on Thursday -image from CSPAN video" />
                        <figcaption>Kennedy waved at protesters and supporters as he entered the hearing room on Thursday -image from CSPAN video</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., facing pointed bipartisan questioning at a rancorous three-hour Senate committee hearing on Thursday, tried to defend his efforts to pull back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and explain the turmoil he has created at federal&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/health">health</a>&nbsp;agencies.</p><p>Kennedy said the fired CDC director was untrustworthy, stood by his past anti-vaccine rhetoric, and disputed reports of people saying they have had difficulty getting COVID-19 shots.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1756996094351.png" alt="Protester arrested during the hearing -image from CSPAN video" />
                        <figcaption>Protester arrested during the hearing -image from CSPAN video</figcaption>
                    </figure><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">As <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> enters Senate hearing, reporters ask if he will resign and supporters chant &quot;We love you Bobby&quot; <a href="https://t.co/XENgdhir7w">pic.twitter.com/XENgdhir7w</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1963606194104172801?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Protesters interrupt <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> opening statement at Senate Finance hearing <a href="https://t.co/tj6HARi5oh">pic.twitter.com/tj6HARi5oh</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1963617929938845790?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a>: &quot;[CDC] changes were absolutely necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as the world&#39;s gold standard... The people at CDC who oversaw [COVID] — who put masks on our children, who closed our schools — are the people that will be leaving.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HMI4FjXmx1">pic.twitter.com/HMI4FjXmx1</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963611669306736643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We became the sickest country in the world. <br><br>I need to make sure this doesn’t happen again. <a href="https://t.co/ihNBfyDWKd">pic.twitter.com/ihNBfyDWKd</a></p>&mdash; Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1963619420174975317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> scorches <a href="https://twitter.com/RonWyden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonWyden</a>: &quot;You&#39;ve sat in that chair for how long — 20, 25 years? — while the chronic disease in our children went up to 76%, and you said nothing. You never asked the question, &#39;Why is this happening?&#39;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/eSmXhlKhof">pic.twitter.com/eSmXhlKhof</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963614447911510036?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/RonWyden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RonWyden</a> asks <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> about former CDC Director Susan Monarez: &quot;So she&#39;s lying today to the American people in the Wall Street Journal?&quot;<br> <br>Kennedy: &quot;Yes sir.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/EseDIvN1fx">pic.twitter.com/EseDIvN1fx</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1963621199109390721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a>: &quot;We are ending gain-of-function research, child mutilation, and reducing animal testing. We are addressing cellphone use in schools... sickle cell anemia, Hepatitis C, the East Palestine chemical spill, and many, many others.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/wEScTJ9RAJ">pic.twitter.com/wEScTJ9RAJ</a></p>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1963614971436163170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We are reorganizing the entire organ procurement industry so that the sanctity of life can never be violated again. <a href="https://t.co/U2jgMbbtbj">pic.twitter.com/U2jgMbbtbj</a></p>&mdash; Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1963626909096436082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Heated exchange between <a href="https://twitter.com/SenWarren?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenWarren</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> on COVID vaccines and fired CDC Director. <a href="https://t.co/Djl7ulVNEJ">pic.twitter.com/Djl7ulVNEJ</a></p>&mdash; CSPAN (@cspan) <a href="https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1963644083034841550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I never promised that I was going to recommend products for which there is no indication. <a href="https://t.co/L1rcvbdlI0">pic.twitter.com/L1rcvbdlI0</a></p>&mdash; Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1963639455484371299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="da" dir="ltr">Reminder <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SenSanders</a> <a href="https://t.co/YLiUfnZlQL">https://t.co/YLiUfnZlQL</a></p>&mdash; Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1963638668662300984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">RFK Jr. just went off for 2 minutes straight tearing into the politicization of COVID. <br><br>The entire room went silent. <br><br>Watch: <br><br>“The whole process was politicized. Senator, I mean, we were lied to about everything.”<br><br>“We were lied to about natural immunity. We were lied to… <a href="https://t.co/J4T5OjLEVE">pic.twitter.com/J4T5OjLEVE</a></p>&mdash; Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) <a href="https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1963623144440090821?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a> and I are fighting for is vaccine transparency — 76 jabs by 18 is excessive without clear justification. <br><br>The CDC needs to get transparent about every vaccine they recommend. <a href="https://t.co/UyPbv0iDAJ">pic.twitter.com/UyPbv0iDAJ</a></p>&mdash; Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) <a href="https://twitter.com/RogerMarshallMD/status/1963655720265814427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I refuse to sign onto something unless I can stand behind it with scientific certainty. That doesn’t make me ‘anti-vax’ – it makes me pro-science. <a href="https://t.co/8IHLK7Jt76">pic.twitter.com/8IHLK7Jt76</a></p>&mdash; Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1963649578411901137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><p>Medical groups and several Democrats in Congress have called for Kennedy to be fired, and his exchanges with Democratic senators on the panel repeatedly devolved into shouting, from both sides.</p><p>But some Republican senators also expressed unease with his changes to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/covid-vaccine-pregnant-women-children-70c358cad726e57d680234c3ecdec926">COVID-19 policies</a>.</p><p>The GOP senators noted that Kennedy said President Donald Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for the 2020&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-donald-trump-us-news-international-news-politics-756e5b743058701c4a2ebefd0af1ade4">Operation Warp Speed</a>&nbsp;initiative to quickly develop mRNA COVID-19 vaccines — and that he also had attacked the safety and continued use of those very shots.</p><p>“I can't tell where you are on Operation Warp Speed,” said Republican North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis.</p><p>Tillis and others asked him why the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was fired last week, less than a month into her tenure.</p><p>Kennedy said she was dishonest, and that CDC leaders who left the agency last week in support of her deserved to be fired.</p><p>He also criticized CDC recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic tied to lockdowns and masking policies, and claimed — wrongly — that they “failed to do anything about the disease itself.”</p><p>“The people at CDC who oversaw that process, who put masks on our children, who closed our schools, are the people who will be leaving,” Kennedy said. He later said they deserved to be fired for not doing enough to control chronic disease.</p><h2>Democrats express hostility from the start</h2><p>The Senate Finance Committee had called Kennedy to a hearing about his plans to “Make America Healthy Again,” but Democratic senators pressed Kennedy on his actions around vaccines.</p><p>At the start of the hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon tried to have Kennedy formally sworn in as a witness, saying the HHS secretary has a history of lying to the committee. The committee's chair, Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, denied the Democrat's request, saying “the bottom line is we will let the secretary make his own case.”</p><p>Wyden went on to attack Kennedy, saying he had “stacked the deck” of a vaccines advisory committee by replacing scientists with “skeptics and conspiracy theorists.”</p><p>Last week, the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/cdc-monarez-fired-trump-kennedy-vaccines-science-17fd8a19064e39906bc0125fd81e3525">Trump administration fired</a>&nbsp;the CDC's director — a Trump appointee who was confirmed by the Senate — less than a month into her tenure. Several top CDC leaders resigned in protest, leaving the agency in turmoil.</p><p>The ousted director, Susan Monarez, wrote&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-jr-the-cdc-and-me-b4ca2eaa">in The Wall Street Journal</a>&nbsp;on Thursday that Kennedy was trying to weaken public health protections.</p><p>“I was told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric,” Monarez wrote. “It is imperative that the panel’s recommendations aren’t rubber-stamped but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”</p><p>Kennedy told senators he didn't make such an ultimatum, though he did concede that he had ordered Monarez to fire career CDC scientists.</p><p>Kennedy pushed back on concerns raised by multiple Republican senators, including Tillis and Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Both Barrasso and Cassidy are physicians.</p><h2>Shouting matches and hot comebacks</h2><p>The health secretary had animated comebacks as Democratic senators pressed him on the effects of his words and actions.</p><p>When Sen. Raphael Warnock, of Georgia, questioned Kennedy about his disparaging rhetoric about CDC employees before a deadly shooting at the agency this summer, Kennedy shot back: “Are you complicit in the assassination attempts on President Trump?”</p><p>Kennedy called Sen. Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico “ridiculous,” said he was “talking gibberish” and accused him of “not understanding how the world works” when Lujan asked Kennedy to pledge to share protocols of any research Kennedy was commissioning into autism and vaccines.</p><p>He also engaged in a heated, loud exchanges with Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota.</p><p>“I didn’t even hear your question,” Kennedy replied to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as the Nevada Democrat repeatedly asked what the agency was doing to lower drug costs for seniors.</p><p>He also told Sen. Bernie Sanders that the Vermont independent was not “making any sense.”</p><p>Some senators had their own choice words.</p><p>“You’re interrupting me, and sir, you’re a charlatan. That’s what you are, ” said Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat. “The history on vaccines is very clear.”</p><p>As the hearing neared its end, Kennedy pulled his cellphone from his pocket and then tapped and scrolled as Wyden asked about mifepristone, a drug used for medication abortion.</p><h2>Kennedy disputes COVID-19 data</h2><p>In May, Kennedy — a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement — announced COVID-19 vaccines would no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a move opposed by medical and public health groups.</p><p>In June,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-cdc-acip-vaccines-3790c89f45b6314c5c7b686db0e3a8f9">he abruptly fired</a>&nbsp;a panel of experts that had been advising the government on vaccine policy. He replaced them with a handpicked group that included several vaccine skeptics, and then shut the door to several doctors groups that had long helped form the committee's recommendations.</p><p>Kennedy has voiced distrust of research that showed the COVID-19 vaccines saved lives, and at Thursday's hearing even cast doubt on statistics about how people died during the pandemic and on estimates about how many deaths were averted — statistics produced by the agencies he oversees.</p><p>He said federal health policy would be based on gold standard science, but confessed that he wouldn’t necessarily wait for studies to be completed before taking action against, for example, potential causes of chronic illness.</p><p>“We are not waiting for everything to come in. We are starting now," he said.</p><p>A number of medical groups say Kennedy can’t be counted on to make decisions based on robust medical evidence. In a statement Wednesday, the Infectious Diseases Society of America and 20 other medical and public health organizations issued a joint statement calling on him to resign.</p><p>“Our country needs leadership that will promote open, honest dialogue, not disregard decades of lifesaving science, spread misinformation, reverse medical progress and decimate programs that keep us safe,” the statement said.</p><p>Many of the nation’s leading public health and medical societies, including the American Medical Association, American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics have decried Kennedy’s policies and warn they will drive up rates of vaccine-preventable diseases.</p><p>___</p><p>Stobbe reported from New York. Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.</p>

🎥RFK Jr. rejects criticism, health data in contentious hearing

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

School board responds to public outcry in wake of Kansas Reflector story

COLDWATER — The Comanche County School District’s superintendent landed on paid administrative leave in the wake of a community uprising led by parents angry with how the school board&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/09/02/a-kansas-student-reported-her-coach-for-harassment-and-touching-school-leaders-kept-it-quiet/">initially responded to allegations</a>&nbsp;he sexually harassed a student.

More than 100 residents of the rural southwest Kansas school district — including some displaying raw, intense emotion — descended on the high school Wednesday night to demand ouster or suspension of superintendent Ty Theurer.

<a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f847ff9e-1975-4706-a9f7-899073ed1d50">Click here to read the earlier story</a>

“How in the world did we get here?” said Zach Ellis, a county commissioner who has children in the district. “Does this board not have a responsibility to the kids of this district to do the right thing? Kids don’t feel safe in this building. You have created a hostile and toxic learning environment as well as a toxic working environment.”

School board president Kelly Herd, who became aware of the student’s harassment complaint four months ago, had resisted punishment of Theurer beyond the warning placed in his personnel file. She had told fellow board members no additional sanction was necessary in response to an allegation that Theurer, while serving as golf coach, advised a female student to hold clubs like she were gripping a penis. The girl had also complained of unwanted touching by Theurer.

Theurer signed a summary of the student’s complaint months ago, which was viewed by the student’s parents as an admission of guilt.

Herd also sent emails to other board members saying Theurer “did not deny nor make excuses” and “has been written up.”

In front of an unusually large crowd, the seven-member board moved in and out of executive session several times before Herd sought a motion to relieve Theurer of administrative duties in the 300-student district. He wasn’t at work Wednesday and didn’t attend the school board meeting after&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/09/02/a-kansas-student-reported-her-coach-for-harassment-and-touching-school-leaders-kept-it-quiet/">Kansas Reflector published an article</a>&nbsp;Tuesday detailing allegations against the superintendent and the school board’s tepid response.

The school board didn’t discuss publicly the reason for taking action against Theurer at this time. There was no board disclosure about who would temporarily lead the district or for how long.

The board adopted a vague motion to proceed with “next steps” that the board president said had been discussed in executive session. None of that information was shared with the audience.

“Horrible,” school board member Dean Yoder said in an interview after the meeting. “It was not handled in May. It’s still not being handled in the right manner.”

He said the school board should have fired Theurer in the spring, and no evidence has surfaced to dissuade him of that necessity.

After Herd adjourned the meeting, the audience hurled questions at the school board. In the back-and-forth, school board vice president Andy Uhl confirmed Theurer was placed on paid leave.

An investigator with the Kansas Association of School Boards has compiled a draft report regarding an inquiry into allegations against Theurer. The board met behind closed doors with a KASB attorney before voting to relieve the superintendent of all administrative responsibilities.

The regular public comment portion of the meeting was moved to the back of the agenda. When that moment arrived, the school board president said she would forbid any speaker from referring to district employees or students. She asserted, without offering a justification, that such public statements would violate privacy rights of individuals.

“The board appreciates patrons taking the time to talk to us about our policies and procedures,” Herd said. “Please, understand this is not an appropriate time or place for patrons to make comments of a personal nature about any district employee or student.”

Initially, Herd told the audience that she wanted to convince Ellis — the only person to fill out an application for permission to speak — to share his concerns with the school board in a closed executive session. Herd’s suggestion was widely opposed by people in the crowd, including Ellis.

“You don’t get to go into executive session just because you don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say,” Ellis shouted.

Another person in the room challenged this secretive approach: “He speaks for a lot of us.”

“Is that a unanimous board decision?” Ellis continued. “Because I bet it wasn’t.”

“I’m not finished,” Herd shot back. “I’m going to let you speak. You have five minutes. You can’t mention anybody by name. If it gets out of control, we will stop it.”

Ellis didn’t mention the superintendent’s name during his speech, but there was no doubt he was talking about Theurer. Ellis accused Herd of running school board meetings with an iron hand and of stifling dissent among her elected peers on the school board.

In terms of the sexual harassment allegation, Ellis said, “The people who are sworn to protect these people have failed.”

“If you think that this is or was an isolated incident,” he said, “you are nuttier than a pile of bull crap. It’s a pattern in what now seems to be a decade of abuse.”

When the timer hit 5 minutes, Herd told Ellis that his time was up.

“Hey, freedom of speech,” said a man at the back of the room.

Another person was adamant: “Let him speak.”

Herd ignored their pleas and asked for a motion to go into another executive session rather than hear more from Ellis. Briefly, Ellis and Herd were simultaneously addressing the audience.

There was a puzzled response from the crowd when Herd declared the board would proceed with “next steps” in terms of the district’s leadership structure. She didn’t articulate elements of that plan.

“No questions. No answers,” one crowd member said.

“What if it was your daughter?” a woman yelled.

Ellis said he was optimistic change would come to the Comanche County school system, given the number of disgruntled people present at the meeting.

“You have awoke a sleeping giant, and we are pissed off,” Ellis said.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757008524945.jpeg" alt=" Comanche County school board president Kelly Herd addresses board members during a meeting in which the district’s superintendent was placed on paid leave pending an investigation into his alleged sexual harassment of a student. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
                        <figcaption> Comanche County school board president Kelly Herd addresses board members during a meeting in which the district’s superintendent was placed on paid leave pending an investigation into his alleged sexual harassment of a student. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p><b>By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a><br></b><a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/"><i>Kansas Reflector</i></a></p><h2>School board responds to public outcry in wake of Kansas Reflector story</h2><p>COLDWATER — The Comanche County School District’s superintendent landed on paid administrative leave in the wake of a community uprising led by parents angry with how the school board&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/09/02/a-kansas-student-reported-her-coach-for-harassment-and-touching-school-leaders-kept-it-quiet/">initially responded to allegations</a>&nbsp;he sexually harassed a student.</p><p>More than 100 residents of the rural southwest Kansas school district — including some displaying raw, intense emotion — descended on the high school Wednesday night to demand ouster or suspension of superintendent Ty Theurer.</p><p><a href="https://hayspost.com/posts/f847ff9e-1975-4706-a9f7-899073ed1d50">Click here to read the earlier story</a></p><p>“How in the world did we get here?” said Zach Ellis, a county commissioner who has children in the district. “Does this board not have a responsibility to the kids of this district to do the right thing? Kids don’t feel safe in this building. You have created a hostile and toxic learning environment as well as a toxic working environment.”</p><p>School board president Kelly Herd, who became aware of the student’s harassment complaint four months ago, had resisted punishment of Theurer beyond the warning placed in his personnel file. She had told fellow board members no additional sanction was necessary in response to an allegation that Theurer, while serving as golf coach, advised a female student to hold clubs like she were gripping a penis. The girl had also complained of unwanted touching by Theurer.</p><p>Theurer signed a summary of the student’s complaint months ago, which was viewed by the student’s parents as an admission of guilt.</p><p>Herd also sent emails to other board members saying Theurer “did not deny nor make excuses” and “has been written up.”</p><p>In front of an unusually large crowd, the seven-member board moved in and out of executive session several times before Herd sought a motion to relieve Theurer of administrative duties in the 300-student district. He wasn’t at work Wednesday and didn’t attend the school board meeting after&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/09/02/a-kansas-student-reported-her-coach-for-harassment-and-touching-school-leaders-kept-it-quiet/">Kansas Reflector published an article</a>&nbsp;Tuesday detailing allegations against the superintendent and the school board’s tepid response.</p><figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757008483030.png" alt="More than 100 people attended a Comanche County School District meeting Wednesday to press the school board to suspend or fire superintendent Ty Theurer, who has been accused of sexually harassing a student. The board voted to place him on paid administrative leave. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
                        <figcaption>More than 100 people attended a Comanche County School District meeting Wednesday to press the school board to suspend or fire superintendent Ty Theurer, who has been accused of sexually harassing a student. The board voted to place him on paid administrative leave. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>The school board didn’t discuss publicly the reason for taking action against Theurer at this time. There was no board disclosure about who would temporarily lead the district or for how long.</p><p>The board adopted a vague motion to proceed with “next steps” that the board president said had been discussed in executive session. None of that information was shared with the audience.</p><p>“Horrible,” school board member Dean Yoder said in an interview after the meeting. “It was not handled in May. It’s still not being handled in the right manner.”</p><p>He said the school board should have fired Theurer in the spring, and no evidence has surfaced to dissuade him of that necessity.</p><p>After Herd adjourned the meeting, the audience hurled questions at the school board. In the back-and-forth, school board vice president Andy Uhl confirmed Theurer was placed on paid leave.</p><p>An investigator with the Kansas Association of School Boards has compiled a draft report regarding an inquiry into allegations against Theurer. The board met behind closed doors with a KASB attorney before voting to relieve the superintendent of all administrative responsibilities.</p><p>The regular public comment portion of the meeting was moved to the back of the agenda. When that moment arrived, the school board president said she would forbid any speaker from referring to district employees or students. She asserted, without offering a justification, that such public statements would violate privacy rights of individuals.</p><p>“The board appreciates patrons taking the time to talk to us about our policies and procedures,” Herd said. “Please, understand this is not an appropriate time or place for patrons to make comments of a personal nature about any district employee or student.”</p><p>Initially, Herd told the audience that she wanted to convince Ellis — the only person to fill out an application for permission to speak — to share his concerns with the school board in a closed executive session. Herd’s suggestion was widely opposed by people in the crowd, including Ellis.</p><p>“You don’t get to go into executive session just because you don’t want to hear what I’ve got to say,” Ellis shouted.</p><p>Another person in the room challenged this secretive approach: “He speaks for a lot of us.”</p><p>“Is that a unanimous board decision?” Ellis continued. “Because I bet it wasn’t.”</p><p>“I’m not finished,” Herd shot back. “I’m going to let you speak. You have five minutes. You can’t mention anybody by name. If it gets out of control, we will stop it.”</p><p>Ellis didn’t mention the superintendent’s name during his speech, but there was no doubt he was talking about Theurer. Ellis accused Herd of running school board meetings with an iron hand and of stifling dissent among her elected peers on the school board.</p><p>In terms of the sexual harassment allegation, Ellis said, “The people who are sworn to protect these people have failed.”</p><p>“If you think that this is or was an isolated incident,” he said, “you are nuttier than a pile of bull crap. It’s a pattern in what now seems to be a decade of abuse.”</p><p>When the timer hit 5 minutes, Herd told Ellis that his time was up.</p><p>“Hey, freedom of speech,” said a man at the back of the room.</p><p>Another person was adamant: “Let him speak.”</p><p>Herd ignored their pleas and asked for a motion to go into another executive session rather than hear more from Ellis. Briefly, Ellis and Herd were simultaneously addressing the audience.</p><p>There was a puzzled response from the crowd when Herd declared the board would proceed with “next steps” in terms of the district’s leadership structure. She didn’t articulate elements of that plan.</p><p>“No questions. No answers,” one crowd member said.</p><p>“What if it was your daughter?” a woman yelled.</p><p>Ellis said he was optimistic change would come to the Comanche County school system, given the number of disgruntled people present at the meeting.</p><p>“You have awoke a sleeping giant, and we are pissed off,” Ellis said.</p>

Outraged parents demand action as Kansas school board places superintendent on administrative leave

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating one of several homicides on Monday in Wichita have made another arrest.&nbsp;

On Wednesday, police arrested a 21-year-old man identified according to Sedgwick County booking records as Lafayette J. Washington for the shooting death of 23-year-old D’Andre Rubio of Wichita, according to a media release from Wichita Police.

The shooting occurred just after 1:34 a.m. in the 100 block of Rock Island. Officers arrived and found Rubio suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

Detectives have learned that a disturbance took place before the shooting. The circumstances that led to the incident remain under investigation.

Washinton has been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of first-degree murder charge, theft of property or services and criminal possession of a weapon a felon.

<figure>
                        <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1756982176005.png" alt="Washington photo Sedgwick County" />
                        <figcaption>Washington photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
                    </figure><p>SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement investigating one of several homicides on Monday in Wichita have made another arrest.&nbsp;</p><p>On Wednesday, police arrested a 21-year-old man identified according to Sedgwick County booking records as Lafayette J. Washington for the shooting death of 23-year-old D’Andre Rubio of Wichita, according to a media release from Wichita Police.</p><p>The shooting occurred just after 1:34 a.m. in the 100 block of Rock Island. Officers arrived and found Rubio suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.</p><p>Detectives have learned that a disturbance took place before the shooting. The circumstances that led to the incident remain under investigation.</p><p>Washinton has been booked into the Sedgwick County Jail on a requested charge of first-degree murder charge, theft of property or services and criminal possession of a weapon a felon.</p>

Police: Kan. felon jailed for Labor Day robbery, killing 

KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating another homicide in Kansas City, Missouri have identified the victim as 15-year-old Isaiah Wilson, according to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez.

Just after 2:30p.m. Tuesday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to 100 NE St. Luke’s Boulevard on a reported shooting that is believed to have occurred near 88th Place and James A Reed, according to Gonzalez.

Upon arrival, officers were advised a boy later identified as Wilson arrived at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. Medical staff made every attempt to perform life saving measures before he was pronounced deceased.

Preliminary investigation indicates the boy was walking outside when he heard several sounds of shots and was struck by gunfire. He was able to call a friend for help and a private vehicle picked him up and transported him to the hospital.

<p>KANSAS CITY —Law enforcement investigating another homicide in Kansas City, Missouri have identified the victim as 15-year-old Isaiah Wilson, according to KCPD Officer Alayna Gonzalez.</p><p>Just after 2:30p.m. Tuesday, police&nbsp;were dispatched to 100 NE St. Luke’s Boulevard on a reported shooting that is believed to have occurred near 88th Place and James A Reed, according to Gonzalez.</p><p>Upon arrival, officers were advised a boy later identified as Wilson arrived at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound. Medical staff made every attempt to perform life saving measures before he was pronounced deceased.</p><p>Preliminary investigation indicates the boy was walking outside when he heard several sounds of shots and was struck by gunfire. He was able to call a friend for help and a private vehicle picked him up and transported him to the hospital.</p><p>Police do not have any suspect information and no one is currently in custody.</p>