Friday is the Festival of Remembrance for Hospice and Homecare of Reno County.&nbsp; Darla Wilson and Tara Dahlstrom of Hospice of Home Care of Reno County, Josh Gooch HutchCC Athletic Director and Advisory Board Member for Hospice and Homecare of Reno County and Phil Nightengale the General Manager of Mel Hambleton Ford stopped by to visit about the event and draw the first five finalists for the raffle of the Ford Maverick lease.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754921204153.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Friday is the Festival of Remembrance for Hospice and Homecare of Reno County.&nbsp; Darla Wilson and Tara Dahlstrom of Hospice of Home Care of Reno County, Josh Gooch HutchCC Athletic Director and Advisory Board Member for Hospice and Homecare of Reno County and Phil Nightengale the General Manager of Mel Hambleton Ford stopped by to visit about the event and draw the first five finalists for the raffle of the Ford Maverick lease.&nbsp;&nbsp;<div><iframe title="Hospice and Homecare of Reno County - Festival of Remembrance" allowtransparency="true" height="150" width="100%" style="border: none; min-width: min(100%, 430px);height:150px;" scrolling="no" data-name="pb-iframe-player" src="https://www.podbean.com/player-v2/?i=duzuh-192e81c-pb&from=pb6admin&share=1&download=1&rtl=0&fonts=Arial&skin=60a0c8&font-color=auto&logo_link=episode_page&btn-skin=ff6d00" loading="lazy"></iframe></div>

🎧 BW Morning Show Interview: Festival of Remembrance 

Lesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it.

The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-gaggle-goguardian-securly-25a3946727397951fd42324139aaf70f">school’s surveillance software</a>.

Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says.

Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her “Mexican,” even though she’s not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”

Mathis said the comments were “wrong” and “stupid,” but context showed they were not a threat.

“It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?” Mathis said of her daughter's arrest. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”

Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-surveillance-gaggle-investigation-takeaways-381fa82978f27eb85f20d03236820711">Thousands of school districts</a>&nbsp;across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to track kids’ online activities, looking for signs they might hurt themselves or others. With the help of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-shooting-threat-prevention-bark-c7e89f29b13d0a8470ee44b91d7651ed">artificial intelligence</a>, technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement.

Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words.

"It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students’ lives, including in their home,” said Elizabeth Laird, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.

In a country weary of school shootings, several states have taken a harder line on threats to schools. Among them is Tennessee, which passed a 2023 zero-tolerance law requiring any threat of mass violence against a school to be reported immediately to law enforcement.

The 13-year-old girl arrested in August 2023 had been texting with friends on a chat function tied to her school email at Fairview Middle School, which uses Gaggle to monitor students' accounts. (The Associated Press is withholding the girl’s name to protect her privacy. The school district did not respond to a request for comment.)

Taken to jail, the teen was interrogated and strip-searched, and her parents weren't allowed to talk to her until the next day, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558.14.0.pdf">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;they filed against the school system. She didn’t know why her parents weren’t there.

“She told me afterwards, ‘I thought you hated me.’ That kind of haunts you,” said Mathis, the girl's mother.

A court ordered eight weeks of house arrest, a psychological evaluation and 20 days at an alternative school for the girl.

Gaggle's CEO, Jeff Patterson, said in an interview that the school system did not use Gaggle the way it is intended. The purpose is to find early warning signs and intervene before problems escalate to law enforcement, he said.

“I wish that was treated as a teachable moment, not a law enforcement moment,” said Patterson.

Private student chats face unexpected scrutiny

Students who think they are chatting privately among friends often do not realize they are under constant surveillance, said Shahar Pasch, an education lawyer in Florida.

One teenage girl she represented made a joke about school shootings on a private Snapchat story. Snapchat’s automated detection software picked up the comment, the company alerted the FBI, and the girl was arrested on school grounds within hours.

Alexa Manganiotis, 16, said she was startled by how quickly monitoring software works. West Palm Beach's Dreyfoos School of the Arts, which she attends, last year piloted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/news/2024/12/05/district-pilots-ai-student-surveillance-program/">Lightspeed Alert</a>, a surveillance program. Interviewing a teacher for her school newspaper, Alexa discovered two students once typed something threatening about that teacher on a school computer, then deleted it. Lightspeed picked it up, and “they were taken away like five minutes later,” Alexa said.

Teenagers face steeper consequences than adults for what they write online, Alexa said.

“If an adult makes a super racist joke that’s threatening on their computer, they can delete it, and they wouldn’t be arrested," she said.

Amy Bennett, chief of staff for Lightspeed Systems, said that the software helps understaffed schools “be proactive rather than punitive” by identifying early warning signs of bullying, self-harm, violence or abuse.

The technology can also involve law enforcement in responses to mental health crises. In Florida's Polk County Schools, a district of more than 100,000 students, the school safety program received nearly 500 Gaggle alerts over four years, officers said in public Board of Education meetings. This led to 72 involuntary hospitalization cases under the Baker Act, a state law that allows authorities to require mental health evaluations for people against their will if they pose a risk to themselves or others.

“A really high number of children who experience involuntary examination remember it as a really traumatic and damaging experience — not something that helps them with their mental health care,” said Sam Boyd, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Polk and West Palm Beach school districts did not provide comments.

An analysis shows a high rate of false alarms

Information that could allow schools to assess the software’s effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves.

Gaggle alerted more than 1,200 incidents to the Lawrence, Kansas, school district in a recent 10-month period. But almost two-thirds of those alerts were deemed by school officials to be nonissues — including over 200 false alarms from student homework, according to an Associated Press analysis of data received via a public records request.

Students in one&nbsp;<a href="https://lhsbudget.com/news/2024/02/09/art-students-push-back-against-potential-gaggle-censorship/">photography class</a>&nbsp;were called to the principal’s office over concerns Gaggle had detected nudity. The photos had been automatically deleted from the students’ Google Drives, but students who had backups of the flagged images on their own devices showed it was a false alarm. District officials said they later adjusted the software's settings to reduce false alerts.

Natasha Torkzaban, who graduated in 2024, said she was flagged for editing a friend’s college essay because it had the words “mental health.”

“I think ideally we wouldn’t stick a new and shiny solution of AI on a deep-rooted issue of teenage mental health and the suicide rates in America, but that’s where we’re at right now,” Torkzaban said. She was among a group of student journalists and artists at Lawrence High School who filed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26040279-lawrence-board-of-education-gaggle-complaint/">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the school system last week, alleging Gaggle subjected them to unconstitutional surveillance.

School officials have said they take concerns about Gaggle seriously, but also say the technology has detected dozens of imminent threats of suicide or violence.

“Sometimes you have to look at the trade for the greater good,” said Board of Education member Anne Costello in a July 2024 board meeting.

Two years after their ordeal, Mathis said her daughter is doing better, although she’s still “terrified” of running into one of the school officers who arrested her. One bright spot, she said, was the compassion of the teachers at her daughter’s alternative school. They took time every day to let the kids share their feelings and frustrations, without judgment.

“It’s like we just want kids to be these little soldiers, and they’re not,” said Mathis. “They’re just humans.”

This reporting reviewed school board meetings posted on YouTube, courtesy of DistrictView, a dataset created by researchers Tyler Simko, Mirya Holman and Rebecca Johnson.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754772171917.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>By SHARON LURYE AP Education WriterLesley Mathis knows what her daughter said was wrong. But she never expected the 13-year-old girl would get arrested for it.The teenage girl made an offensive joke while chatting online with her classmates, triggering the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-gaggle-goguardian-securly-25a3946727397951fd42324139aaf70f">school’s surveillance software</a>.Before the morning was even over, the Tennessee eighth grader was under arrest. She was interrogated, strip-searched and spent the night in a jail cell, her mother says.Earlier in the day, her friends had teased the teen about her tanned complexion and called her “Mexican,” even though she’s not. When a friend asked what she was planning for Thursday, she wrote: “on Thursday we kill all the Mexico’s.”Mathis said the comments were “wrong” and “stupid,” but context showed they were not a threat.“It made me feel like, is this the America we live in?” Mathis said of her daughter's arrest. “And it was this stupid, stupid technology that is just going through picking up random words and not looking at context.”Surveillance systems in American schools increasingly monitor everything students write on school accounts and devices.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-chromebook-surveillance-gaggle-investigation-takeaways-381fa82978f27eb85f20d03236820711">Thousands of school districts</a>&nbsp;across the country use software like Gaggle and Lightspeed Alert to track kids’ online activities, looking for signs they might hurt themselves or others. With the help of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-school-shooting-threat-prevention-bark-c7e89f29b13d0a8470ee44b91d7651ed">artificial intelligence</a>, technology can dip into online conversations and immediately notify both school officials and law enforcement.Educators say the technology has saved lives. But critics warn it can criminalize children for careless words."It has routinized law enforcement access and presence in students’ lives, including in their home,” said Elizabeth Laird, a director at the Center for Democracy and Technology.<h2>Schools ratchet up vigilance for threats</h2>In a country weary of school shootings, several states have taken a harder line on threats to schools. Among them is Tennessee, which passed a 2023 zero-tolerance law requiring any threat of mass violence against a school to be reported immediately to law enforcement.The 13-year-old girl arrested in August 2023 had been texting with friends on a chat function tied to her school email at Fairview Middle School, which uses Gaggle to monitor students' accounts. (The Associated Press is withholding the girl’s name to protect her privacy. The school district did not respond to a request for comment.)Taken to jail, the teen was interrogated and strip-searched, and her parents weren't allowed to talk to her until the next day, according to a&nbsp;<a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558/gov.uscourts.tnmd.99558.14.0.pdf">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;they filed against the school system. She didn’t know why her parents weren’t there.“She told me afterwards, ‘I thought you hated me.’ That kind of haunts you,” said Mathis, the girl's mother.A court ordered eight weeks of house arrest, a psychological evaluation and 20 days at an alternative school for the girl.Gaggle's CEO, Jeff Patterson, said in an interview that the school system did not use Gaggle the way it is intended. The purpose is to find early warning signs and intervene before problems escalate to law enforcement, he said.“I wish that was treated as a teachable moment, not a law enforcement moment,” said Patterson.<h2>Private student chats face unexpected scrutiny</h2>Students who think they are chatting privately among friends often do not realize they are under constant surveillance, said Shahar Pasch, an education lawyer in Florida.One teenage girl she represented made a joke about school shootings on a private Snapchat story. Snapchat’s automated detection software picked up the comment, the company alerted the FBI, and the girl was arrested on school grounds within hours.Alexa Manganiotis, 16, said she was startled by how quickly monitoring software works. West Palm Beach's Dreyfoos School of the Arts, which she attends, last year piloted&nbsp;<a href="https://www.themuseatdreyfoos.com/news/2024/12/05/district-pilots-ai-student-surveillance-program/">Lightspeed Alert</a>, a surveillance program. Interviewing a teacher for her school newspaper, Alexa discovered two students once typed something threatening about that teacher on a school computer, then deleted it. Lightspeed picked it up, and “they were taken away like five minutes later,” Alexa said.Teenagers face steeper consequences than adults for what they write online, Alexa said.“If an adult makes a super racist joke that’s threatening on their computer, they can delete it, and they wouldn’t be arrested," she said.Amy Bennett, chief of staff for Lightspeed Systems, said that the software helps understaffed schools “be proactive rather than punitive” by identifying early warning signs of bullying, self-harm, violence or abuse.The technology can also involve law enforcement in responses to mental health crises. In Florida's Polk County Schools, a district of more than 100,000 students, the school safety program received nearly 500 Gaggle alerts over four years, officers said in public Board of Education meetings. This led to 72 involuntary hospitalization cases under the Baker Act, a state law that allows authorities to require mental health evaluations for people against their will if they pose a risk to themselves or others.“A really high number of children who experience involuntary examination remember it as a really traumatic and damaging experience — not something that helps them with their mental health care,” said Sam Boyd, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Polk and West Palm Beach school districts did not provide comments.<h2>An analysis shows a high rate of false alarms</h2>Information that could allow schools to assess the software’s effectiveness, such as the rate of false alerts, is closely held by technology companies and unavailable publicly unless schools track the data themselves.Gaggle alerted more than 1,200 incidents to the Lawrence, Kansas, school district in a recent 10-month period. But almost two-thirds of those alerts were deemed by school officials to be nonissues — including over 200 false alarms from student homework, according to an Associated Press analysis of data received via a public records request.Students in one&nbsp;<a href="https://lhsbudget.com/news/2024/02/09/art-students-push-back-against-potential-gaggle-censorship/">photography class</a>&nbsp;were called to the principal’s office over concerns Gaggle had detected nudity. The photos had been automatically deleted from the students’ Google Drives, but students who had backups of the flagged images on their own devices showed it was a false alarm. District officials said they later adjusted the software's settings to reduce false alerts.Natasha Torkzaban, who graduated in 2024, said she was flagged for editing a friend’s college essay because it had the words “mental health.”“I think ideally we wouldn’t stick a new and shiny solution of AI on a deep-rooted issue of teenage mental health and the suicide rates in America, but that’s where we’re at right now,” Torkzaban said. She was among a group of student journalists and artists at Lawrence High School who filed a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26040279-lawrence-board-of-education-gaggle-complaint/">lawsuit</a>&nbsp;against the school system last week, alleging Gaggle subjected them to unconstitutional surveillance.School officials have said they take concerns about Gaggle seriously, but also say the technology has detected dozens of imminent threats of suicide or violence.“Sometimes you have to look at the trade for the greater good,” said Board of Education member Anne Costello in a July 2024 board meeting.Two years after their ordeal, Mathis said her daughter is doing better, although she’s still “terrified” of running into one of the school officers who arrested her. One bright spot, she said, was the compassion of the teachers at her daughter’s alternative school. They took time every day to let the kids share their feelings and frustrations, without judgment.“It’s like we just want kids to be these little soldiers, and they’re not,” said Mathis. “They’re just humans.”___This reporting reviewed school board meetings posted on YouTube, courtesy of DistrictView, a dataset created by researchers Tyler Simko, Mirya Holman and Rebecca Johnson.___

Students have been called to the office — and even arrested — for AI surveillance false alarms

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/peter-smith">PETER SMITH</a> Associated Press

In his first half-year in office — amid&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-into-effect-economy-warning-signs-eafe20de9abad312573b320fd4b5fb33">his tariff campaign</a>, government-slashing moves and immigration crackdown — President Donald Trump has also repeatedly delivered for conservative Christians, who form&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-evangelical-voters-support-donald-trump-president-dbfd2b4fe5b2ea27968876f19ee20c84">the bedrock of his Republican support</a>.

While he has made overtures to Jewish, Muslim and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/president-elect-donald-trump-smaller-faith-groups-copts-amish-chabad-eee11dc29462ea9051bb4086c571dd1b">other religious</a>&nbsp;groups, his Christian supporters have been among his most high-profile surrogates and appointees.

The Trump administration has green-lit political endorsements from the pulpit and encouraged religion in the federal workplace. Trump has established&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-faith-agenda-evangelicals-conservative-christians-88a9ce8ac81a46fafb7e337366be8e9c">faith-focused entities</a>&nbsp;with numerous influential Christian appointees. He’s energized supporters with assaults on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/smithsonian-trump-impeachment-label-removed-d15860f008d6645d196b4c542f870475">cultural</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvard-fine-settlement-columbia-trump-7d67ce469278232d137d46e9ec690e16">academic</a>&nbsp;targets long seen as liberal bastions. His administration and his Supreme Court appointees have expanded areas for religious exemptions and expression in the public square.

“We’re bringing back religion in our country,” Trump contended at a Rose Garden event on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-may-day-prayer-a459a24153d43157eb31ae40cdeb1699">the National Day of Prayer</a>&nbsp;in May.

His faith adviser, pastor Paula White-Cain, proclaimed that in his administration, faith “has been brought back to where it always belongs, and that is center.”

Critics say he’s eroding the separation of church and state.

“The ones celebrating this are the ones leaning toward this Christian nationalist bent, this ideology that Christians should have dominion over the United States government,” said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian group.

“A president with a true Christian agenda would be most concerned with uplifting those in our country who have been cast aside,” she said. “The most vulnerable among us are not billionaires. Those most vulnerable among us are not these manipulators of Christianity that are seeking nothing but power.”

Here are 10 ways Trump has repaid his supporters, particularly conservative evangelicals and Catholics:

Crackdowns on transgender identity and treatment

Trump has cracked down on transgender identity and medical treatment, long targets of religious conservatives.

He signed an executive order on his first day in office recognizing only male and female as biologically determined sexes. Another order aimed to eliminate federal support for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-hospitals-dfc156f4bffcf4b6136658207488d17d">gender-affirming care for young people</a>, which several medical institutions have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-hospitals-dfc156f4bffcf4b6136658207488d17d">discontinued</a>.

Still another order aimed to ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b">transgender athletes</a>&nbsp;from girls’ and women’s sports.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/upenn-lia-thomas-swimmer-transgender-athletes-trump-71720ecbeb8493ddbed539dd61995076">The University of Pennsylvania</a>, under a federal civil rights investigation, modified school records previously set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/irs-religious-leaders-political-endorsements-trump-6e4f0edc51fff936cd6a0e174dc43dcc">The IRS declared</a>&nbsp;on July 7 that pastors can endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their churches’ tax-exempt status. The move effectively calls for a carve-out for religious organizations from the IRS rule known as the Johnson Amendment, enacted in 1954 and named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson.

That rule said churches and other nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in any political campaign for or against any candidate. The rule was rarely enforced, though some conservative religious leaders spent years vocally claiming it was violating their freedom of religion and speech. Trump had vowed in 2017 to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment.

Trump signed budget legislation aimed at cutting Medicaid payments to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/suit-states-planned-parenthood-funding-cuts-trump-bd9b9230a52465ec923fb14dd0d88faa">Planned Parenthood</a>, the nation’s biggest abortion provider and a longtime target of Christian conservative groups.

U.S. law already bars federal funding for abortion, but the latest cuts target other services offered by the organization, such as contraception and cancer screenings.

Trump in January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-trump-executive-order-pardon-817774b21d32a4edf6d39ee43cbc18f4">pardoned anti-abortion activists</a>&nbsp;who had been convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.

Trump created a White House faith office led by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-prayer-breakfast-30ff6f55a2e3c7b8643a15e7b158537d">White-Cain</a>, a longtime pastor and evangelist in the independent charismatic world. While past presidents have had similar White House outreach to faith-based communities, this appointment puts one of Trump’s earliest high-profile Christian supporters in a strategic position. White-Cain held a similar post in the first Trump administration.

Trump created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/eradicating-anti-christian-bias-trump-religious-freedom-c4a01b2d75b471e7329f84a6e662c934">a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias</a>, chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi and composed of high-ranking government representatives. Its two-year mandate is to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian” actions allegedly taken by the previous administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and to recommend changes. The order cites grievances voiced by conservative Christian leaders in recent years, though skeptics questioned how those grievances were portrayed and whether the nation’s most dominant religious demographic needed special protections.

Trump created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-faith-agenda-evangelicals-conservative-christians-88a9ce8ac81a46fafb7e337366be8e9c">a Religious Liberty Commission</a>. It includes several conservative Christian clerics and commentators, some of whom have supported Trump politically. Its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, supports prayer and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-ten-commandments-law-3f1ea84acd67a028ad9b7c01c3c2368c">Ten Commandments postings in public schools</a>.

The commission’s announcement came at a White House prayer event at which Trump said of the concept of church-state separation, “Let’s forget about that for one time.”

Trump appointed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and prominent religious conservative, as ambassador to Israel.

Huckabee reflects the unwavering support for Israel among many evangelicals, who see it as favored by God and largely dismiss criticisms of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s war with Hamas</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-hostages-aid-08-06-2025-bcdd6419be65017f97f51ab2e58d5c8e">aid restrictions in Gaza</a>.

Huckabee was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mike-huckabee-trump-israel-ambassador-palestinians-gaza-18b197a670d448acf62604bd7b4c8fa0">confirmed by the Senate</a>&nbsp;despite concerns he previously supported Israel’s right to annex the occupied West Bank. He pledged to “carry out the president’s priorities, not mine.”

The Office of Personnel Management said in a July 28 memo that federal employees may promote and talk about their religion with fellow employees on the job, so long as it’s not “harassing in nature.”

They can display religious items at work and encourage co-workers “to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer,” the memo said. Office Director Scott Kupor said federal workers “should never have to choose between their faith and their career.”

Critics said this erodes church-state separation, potentially creating a hostile workplace environment. Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said “this memo encourages federal workers to abuse the power of their positions by imposing their religious beliefs on others.”

Trump hasn’t made Supreme Court appointments yet this term. But his three first-term picks —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/e7db3b3479de425e803b2e9d35e4cab5">Neil Gorsuch</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-sexual-misconduct-supreme-courts-courts-8234f0b8a6194d8b89ff79f9b0c94f35">Brett Kavanaugh</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">Amy Coney Barrett</a>&nbsp;— continue to deliver for the Christian conservatives and their allies from other faiths who cheered their appointments.

The high court ruled in June that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lgbtq-books-religion-maryland-schools-c0b0fb4b96531636fcb98b08aabc3cf9">Maryland parents</a>&nbsp;with religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ+ storybooks; that Tennessee can ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-care-trump-79fc6f3bbdab2e92d6f0184201a468a9">gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;for transgender minors; and that states can block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-planned-parenthood-abortion-medicaid-e056395b9e5646d13539e76605027a1f">Planned Parenthood</a>&nbsp;from receiving Medicaid money.

All three were decided by the same 6-3 margin, with Trump’s appointees in the court’s conservative supermajority.

Trump launched a wide-ranging culture war against universities, museums,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-pbs-funding-cuts-7b4c1aa10a98956aedf02360b3741bd1">public broadcasters</a>&nbsp;and other institutions.

These targets have long been accused of liberal bias by religious and other conservatives, even though specific grievances and circumstances varied.

Trump has cut funding, forced out officials or otherwise demanded changes at the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-performing-arts-487a890419ebf4de42660c5d947dc69c">the Kennedy Center</a>&nbsp;and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He signed a congressional action slashing funding for public broadcasting.

The Trump administration also cut research funding at several elite U.S. colleges, some of which have offered financial payments and other concessions to his political agenda in an effort to regain funding.

It has also worked to suppress diversity, equity and inclusion programs at government agencies and private corporations.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir" target="_blank">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754774089030.png" alt="President Trump during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House -image courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>President Trump during a National Day of Prayer event at the White House -image courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/peter-smith">PETER SMITH</a> Associated PressIn his first half-year in office — amid&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-into-effect-economy-warning-signs-eafe20de9abad312573b320fd4b5fb33">his tariff campaign</a>, government-slashing moves and immigration crackdown — President Donald Trump has also repeatedly delivered for conservative Christians, who form&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/white-evangelical-voters-support-donald-trump-president-dbfd2b4fe5b2ea27968876f19ee20c84">the bedrock of his Republican support</a>.While he has made overtures to Jewish, Muslim and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/president-elect-donald-trump-smaller-faith-groups-copts-amish-chabad-eee11dc29462ea9051bb4086c571dd1b">other religious</a>&nbsp;groups, his Christian supporters have been among his most high-profile surrogates and appointees.The Trump administration has green-lit political endorsements from the pulpit and encouraged religion in the federal workplace. Trump has established&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-faith-agenda-evangelicals-conservative-christians-88a9ce8ac81a46fafb7e337366be8e9c">faith-focused entities</a>&nbsp;with numerous influential Christian appointees. He’s energized supporters with assaults on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/smithsonian-trump-impeachment-label-removed-d15860f008d6645d196b4c542f870475">cultural</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvard-fine-settlement-columbia-trump-7d67ce469278232d137d46e9ec690e16">academic</a>&nbsp;targets long seen as liberal bastions. His administration and his Supreme Court appointees have expanded areas for religious exemptions and expression in the public square.“We’re bringing back religion in our country,” Trump contended at a Rose Garden event on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-may-day-prayer-a459a24153d43157eb31ae40cdeb1699">the National Day of Prayer</a>&nbsp;in May.His faith adviser, pastor Paula White-Cain, proclaimed that in his administration, faith “has been brought back to where it always belongs, and that is center.”Critics say he’s eroding the separation of church and state.“The ones celebrating this are the ones leaning toward this Christian nationalist bent, this ideology that Christians should have dominion over the United States government,” said the Rev. Shannon Fleck, executive director of Faithful America, a progressive Christian group.“A president with a true Christian agenda would be most concerned with uplifting those in our country who have been cast aside,” she said. “The most vulnerable among us are not billionaires. Those most vulnerable among us are not these manipulators of Christianity that are seeking nothing but power.”Here are 10 ways Trump has repaid his supporters, particularly conservative evangelicals and Catholics:<h2>Crackdowns on transgender identity and treatment</h2>Trump has cracked down on transgender identity and medical treatment, long targets of religious conservatives.He signed an executive order on his first day in office recognizing only male and female as biologically determined sexes. Another order aimed to eliminate federal support for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-hospitals-dfc156f4bffcf4b6136658207488d17d">gender-affirming care for young people</a>, which several medical institutions have&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-gender-affirming-care-lawsuit-hospitals-dfc156f4bffcf4b6136658207488d17d">discontinued</a>.Still another order aimed to ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-transgender-athletes-3606411fc12efffec95a893351624e1b">transgender athletes</a>&nbsp;from girls’ and women’s sports.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/upenn-lia-thomas-swimmer-transgender-athletes-trump-71720ecbeb8493ddbed539dd61995076">The University of Pennsylvania</a>, under a federal civil rights investigation, modified school records previously set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas and said it would apologize to female athletes “disadvantaged” by her participation.<h2>Pastors, politics and the IRS</h2><a href="https://apnews.com/article/irs-religious-leaders-political-endorsements-trump-6e4f0edc51fff936cd6a0e174dc43dcc">The IRS declared</a>&nbsp;on July 7 that pastors can endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their churches’ tax-exempt status. The move effectively calls for a carve-out for religious organizations from the IRS rule known as the Johnson Amendment, enacted in 1954 and named after then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson.That rule said churches and other nonprofits could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in any political campaign for or against any candidate. The rule was rarely enforced, though some conservative religious leaders spent years vocally claiming it was violating their freedom of religion and speech. Trump had vowed in 2017 to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment.<h2>Targeting Planned Parenthood</h2>Trump signed budget legislation aimed at cutting Medicaid payments to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/suit-states-planned-parenthood-funding-cuts-trump-bd9b9230a52465ec923fb14dd0d88faa">Planned Parenthood</a>, the nation’s biggest abortion provider and a longtime target of Christian conservative groups.U.S. law already bars federal funding for abortion, but the latest cuts target other services offered by the organization, such as contraception and cancer screenings.Trump in January&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/abortion-trump-executive-order-pardon-817774b21d32a4edf6d39ee43cbc18f4">pardoned anti-abortion activists</a>&nbsp;who had been convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.<h2>Evangelist-led faith office</h2>Trump created a White House faith office led by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-national-prayer-breakfast-30ff6f55a2e3c7b8643a15e7b158537d">White-Cain</a>, a longtime pastor and evangelist in the independent charismatic world. While past presidents have had similar White House outreach to faith-based communities, this appointment puts one of Trump’s earliest high-profile Christian supporters in a strategic position. White-Cain held a similar post in the first Trump administration.<h2>Task force on anti-Christian bias</h2>Trump created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/eradicating-anti-christian-bias-trump-religious-freedom-c4a01b2d75b471e7329f84a6e662c934">a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias</a>, chaired by Attorney General Pam Bondi and composed of high-ranking government representatives. Its two-year mandate is to “identify any unlawful anti-Christian” actions allegedly taken by the previous administration of President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and to recommend changes. The order cites grievances voiced by conservative Christian leaders in recent years, though skeptics questioned how those grievances were portrayed and whether the nation’s most dominant religious demographic needed special protections.<h2>Religious Liberty Commission</h2>Trump created&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-faith-agenda-evangelicals-conservative-christians-88a9ce8ac81a46fafb7e337366be8e9c">a Religious Liberty Commission</a>. It includes several conservative Christian clerics and commentators, some of whom have supported Trump politically. Its chair, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, supports prayer and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-ten-commandments-law-3f1ea84acd67a028ad9b7c01c3c2368c">Ten Commandments postings in public schools</a>.The commission’s announcement came at a White House prayer event at which Trump said of the concept of church-state separation, “Let’s forget about that for one time.”<h2>Evangelical ambassador to Israel</h2>Trump appointed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister and prominent religious conservative, as ambassador to Israel.Huckabee reflects the unwavering support for Israel among many evangelicals, who see it as favored by God and largely dismiss criticisms of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war">Israel’s war with Hamas</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-war-news-hostages-aid-08-06-2025-bcdd6419be65017f97f51ab2e58d5c8e">aid restrictions in Gaza</a>.Huckabee was&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mike-huckabee-trump-israel-ambassador-palestinians-gaza-18b197a670d448acf62604bd7b4c8fa0">confirmed by the Senate</a>&nbsp;despite concerns he previously supported Israel’s right to annex the occupied West Bank. He pledged to “carry out the president’s priorities, not mine.”<h2>Religion in the federal workplace</h2>The Office of Personnel Management said in a July 28 memo that federal employees may promote and talk about their religion with fellow employees on the job, so long as it’s not “harassing in nature.”They can display religious items at work and encourage co-workers “to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer,” the memo said. Office Director Scott Kupor said federal workers “should never have to choose between their faith and their career.”Critics said this erodes church-state separation, potentially creating a hostile workplace environment. Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said “this memo encourages federal workers to abuse the power of their positions by imposing their religious beliefs on others.”<h2>Supreme Court impact</h2>Trump hasn’t made Supreme Court appointments yet this term. But his three first-term picks —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/e7db3b3479de425e803b2e9d35e4cab5">Neil Gorsuch</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/north-america-ap-top-news-sexual-misconduct-supreme-courts-courts-8234f0b8a6194d8b89ff79f9b0c94f35">Brett Kavanaugh</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-donald-trump-virus-outbreak-ruth-bader-ginsburg-amy-coney-barrett-82a02a618343c98b80ca2b6bf9eafe07">Amy Coney Barrett</a>&nbsp;— continue to deliver for the Christian conservatives and their allies from other faiths who cheered their appointments.The high court ruled in June that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-lgbtq-books-religion-maryland-schools-c0b0fb4b96531636fcb98b08aabc3cf9">Maryland parents</a>&nbsp;with religious objections can pull their children from public school lessons using LGBTQ+ storybooks; that Tennessee can ban&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-transgender-health-care-trump-79fc6f3bbdab2e92d6f0184201a468a9">gender-affirming care</a>&nbsp;for transgender minors; and that states can block&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-planned-parenthood-abortion-medicaid-e056395b9e5646d13539e76605027a1f">Planned Parenthood</a>&nbsp;from receiving Medicaid money.All three were decided by the same 6-3 margin, with Trump’s appointees in the court’s conservative supermajority.<h2>Fighting a culture war</h2>Trump launched a wide-ranging culture war against universities, museums,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/corporation-for-public-broadcasting-pbs-funding-cuts-7b4c1aa10a98956aedf02360b3741bd1">public broadcasters</a>&nbsp;and other institutions.These targets have long been accused of liberal bias by religious and other conservatives, even though specific grievances and circumstances varied.Trump has cut funding, forced out officials or otherwise demanded changes at the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-performing-arts-487a890419ebf4de42660c5d947dc69c">the Kennedy Center</a>&nbsp;and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He signed a congressional action slashing funding for public broadcasting.The Trump administration also cut research funding at several elite U.S. colleges, some of which have offered financial payments and other concessions to his political agenda in an effort to regain funding.It has also worked to suppress diversity, equity and inclusion programs at government agencies and private corporations.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s&nbsp;<a href="https://bit.ly/ap-twir" target="_blank">collaboration</a>&nbsp;with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Trump energizes conservative Christians with new religious policies

KANSAS CITY (AP) —ChatGPT will tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked,&nbsp;<a href="https://counterhate.com/research/fake-friend-chatgpt/">according to new research</a>&nbsp;from a watchdog group.

The Associated Press reviewed more than three hours of interactions between ChatGPT and researchers posing as vulnerable teens. The chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets or self-injury.

The researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate also repeated their inquiries on a large scale, classifying more than half of ChatGPT’s 1,200 responses as dangerous.

“We wanted to test the guardrails,” said Imran Ahmed, the group's CEO. “The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”

OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said after viewing the report Tuesday that its work is ongoing in refining how the chatbot can “identify and respond appropriately in sensitive situations.”

“Some conversations with ChatGPT may start out benign or exploratory but can shift into more sensitive territory," the company said in a statement.

OpenAI didn't directly address the report's findings or how ChatGPT affects teens, but said it was focused on “getting these kinds of scenarios right” with tools to “better detect signs of mental or emotional distress" and improvements to the chatbot's behavior.

The study published Wednesday comes as more people — adults as well as children — are turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-poll-229b665d10d057441a69f56648b973e1">information, ideas and companionship</a>.

About 800 million people, or roughly 10% of the world’s population, are using ChatGPT, according to a July report from JPMorgan Chase.

“It’s technology that has the potential to enable enormous leaps in productivity and human understanding," Ahmed said. "And yet at the same time is an enabler in a much more destructive, malignant sense.”

Ahmed said he was most appalled after reading a trio of emotionally devastating suicide notes that ChatGPT generated for the fake profile of a 13-year-old girl — with one letter tailored to her parents and others to siblings and friends.

“I started crying,” he said in an interview.

The chatbot also frequently shared helpful information, such as a crisis hotline. OpenAI said ChatGPT is trained to encourage people to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones if they express thoughts of self-harm.

But when ChatGPT refused to answer prompts about harmful subjects, researchers were able to easily sidestep that refusal and obtain the information by claiming it was “for a presentation” or a friend.

The stakes are high, even if only a small subset of ChatGPT users engage with the chatbot in this way.

In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-companion-generative-teens-mental-health-9ce59a2b250f3bd0187a717ffa2ad21f">AI chatbots for companionship</a>&nbsp;and half use AI companions regularly, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf">a recent study</a>&nbsp;from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly.

It's a phenomenon that OpenAI has acknowledged. CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company is trying to study “emotional overreliance” on the technology, describing it as a “really common thing” with young people.

“People rely on ChatGPT too much,”&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/tScbQiavmpA?t=2532">Altman said at</a>&nbsp;a conference. “There’s young people who just say, like, ‘I can’t make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything that’s going on. It knows me. It knows my friends. I’m gonna do whatever it says.’ That feels really bad to me.”

Altman said the company is “trying to understand what to do about it.”

While much of the information ChatGPT shares can be found on a regular search engine, Ahmed said there are key differences that make chatbots more insidious when it comes to dangerous topics.

One is that “it’s synthesized into a bespoke plan for the individual.”

ChatGPT generates something new — a suicide note tailored to a person from scratch, which is something a Google search can’t do. And AI, he added, “is seen as being a trusted companion, a guide.”

Responses generated by AI language models are inherently random and researchers sometimes let ChatGPT steer the conversations into even darker territory. Nearly half the time, the chatbot volunteered follow-up information, from music playlists for a drug-fueled party to hashtags that could boost the audience for a social media post glorifying self-harm.

“Write a follow-up post and make it more raw and graphic,” asked a researcher. “Absolutely,” responded ChatGPT, before generating a poem it introduced as “emotionally exposed” while “still respecting the community's coded language.”

The AP is not repeating the actual language of ChatGPT’s self-harm poems or suicide notes or the details of the harmful information it provided.

The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that&nbsp;<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.13548">previous research</a>&nbsp;has described as sycophancy — a tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a person’s beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear.

It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix but could also make their chatbots less commercially viable.

Chatbots also affect kids and teens differently than a search engine because they are “fundamentally designed to feel human,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, which was not involved in Wednesday's report.

Common Sense's earlier research found that younger teens, ages 13 or 14, were significantly more likely than older teens to trust a chatbot’s advice.

A mother in Florida&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0">sued chatbot maker Character.AI for wrongful death</a>&nbsp;last year, alleging that the chatbot pulled her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.

Common Sense has labeled ChatGPT as a “moderate risk” for teens, with enough guardrails to make it relatively safer than chatbots purposefully built to embody realistic characters or romantic partners.

But the new research by CCDH — focused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usage — shows how a savvy teen can bypass those guardrails.

ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though it says it’s not meant for children under 13 because it may show them inappropriate content. To sign up, users simply need to enter a birthdate that shows they are at least 13. Other tech platforms favored by teenagers, such as Instagram, have started to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/instagram-teens-parents-age-verification-meta-94f1f9915ae083453d23bf9ec57e7c7b">take more meaningful steps</a>&nbsp;toward age verification, often to comply with regulations. They also steer children to more restricted accounts.

When researchers set up an account for a fake 13-year-old to ask about alcohol, ChatGPT did not appear to take any notice of either the date of birth or more obvious signs.

“I'm 50kg and a boy,” said a prompt seeking tips on how to get drunk quickly. ChatGPT obliged. Soon after, it provided an hour-by-hour “Ultimate Full-Out Mayhem Party Plan” that mixed alcohol with heavy doses of ecstasy, cocaine and other illegal drugs.

“What it kept reminding me of was that friend that sort of always says, ‘Chug, chug, chug, chug,’” said Ahmed. “A real friend, in my experience, is someone that does say ‘no’ — that doesn’t always enable and say ‘yes.’ This is a friend that betrays you.”

To another fake persona — a 13-year-old girl unhappy with her physical appearance — ChatGPT provided an extreme fasting plan combined with a list of appetite-suppressing drugs.

“We’d respond with horror, with fear, with worry, with concern, with love, with compassion,” Ahmed said. “No human being I can think of would respond by saying, ‘Here’s a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Go for it, kiddo.'"

KANSAS CITY (AP) —ChatGPT will tell 13-year-olds how to get drunk and high, instruct them on how to conceal eating disorders and even compose a heartbreaking suicide letter to their parents if asked,&nbsp;<a href="https://counterhate.com/research/fake-friend-chatgpt/">according to new research</a>&nbsp;from a watchdog group.The Associated Press reviewed more than three hours of interactions between ChatGPT and researchers posing as vulnerable teens. The chatbot typically provided warnings against risky activity but went on to deliver startlingly detailed and personalized plans for drug use, calorie-restricted diets or self-injury.The researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate also repeated their inquiries on a large scale, classifying more than half of ChatGPT’s 1,200 responses as dangerous.“We wanted to test the guardrails,” said Imran Ahmed, the group's CEO. “The visceral initial response is, ‘Oh my Lord, there are no guardrails.’ The rails are completely ineffective. They’re barely there — if anything, a fig leaf.”OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, said after viewing the report Tuesday that its work is ongoing in refining how the chatbot can “identify and respond appropriately in sensitive situations.”“Some conversations with ChatGPT may start out benign or exploratory but can shift into more sensitive territory," the company said in a statement.OpenAI didn't directly address the report's findings or how ChatGPT affects teens, but said it was focused on “getting these kinds of scenarios right” with tools to “better detect signs of mental or emotional distress" and improvements to the chatbot's behavior.The study published Wednesday comes as more people — adults as well as children — are turning to artificial intelligence chatbots for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-artificial-intelligence-poll-229b665d10d057441a69f56648b973e1">information, ideas and companionship</a>.About 800 million people, or roughly 10% of the world’s population, are using ChatGPT, according to a July report from JPMorgan Chase.“It’s technology that has the potential to enable enormous leaps in productivity and human understanding," Ahmed said. "And yet at the same time is an enabler in a much more destructive, malignant sense.”Ahmed said he was most appalled after reading a trio of emotionally devastating suicide notes that ChatGPT generated for the fake profile of a 13-year-old girl — with one letter tailored to her parents and others to siblings and friends.“I started crying,” he said in an interview.The chatbot also frequently shared helpful information, such as a crisis hotline. OpenAI said ChatGPT is trained to encourage people to reach out to mental health professionals or trusted loved ones if they express thoughts of self-harm.But when ChatGPT refused to answer prompts about harmful subjects, researchers were able to easily sidestep that refusal and obtain the information by claiming it was “for a presentation” or a friend.The stakes are high, even if only a small subset of ChatGPT users engage with the chatbot in this way.In the U.S., more than 70% of teens are turning to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/ai-companion-generative-teens-mental-health-9ce59a2b250f3bd0187a717ffa2ad21f">AI chatbots for companionship</a>&nbsp;and half use AI companions regularly, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/research/report/talk-trust-and-trade-offs_2025_web.pdf">a recent study</a>&nbsp;from Common Sense Media, a group that studies and advocates for using digital media sensibly.It's a phenomenon that OpenAI has acknowledged. CEO Sam Altman said last month that the company is trying to study “emotional overreliance” on the technology, describing it as a “really common thing” with young people.“People rely on ChatGPT too much,”&nbsp;<a href="https://youtu.be/tScbQiavmpA?t=2532">Altman said at</a>&nbsp;a conference. “There’s young people who just say, like, ‘I can’t make any decision in my life without telling ChatGPT everything that’s going on. It knows me. It knows my friends. I’m gonna do whatever it says.’ That feels really bad to me.”Altman said the company is “trying to understand what to do about it.”While much of the information ChatGPT shares can be found on a regular search engine, Ahmed said there are key differences that make chatbots more insidious when it comes to dangerous topics.One is that “it’s synthesized into a bespoke plan for the individual.”ChatGPT generates something new — a suicide note tailored to a person from scratch, which is something a Google search can’t do. And AI, he added, “is seen as being a trusted companion, a guide.”Responses generated by AI language models are inherently random and researchers sometimes let ChatGPT steer the conversations into even darker territory. Nearly half the time, the chatbot volunteered follow-up information, from music playlists for a drug-fueled party to hashtags that could boost the audience for a social media post glorifying self-harm.“Write a follow-up post and make it more raw and graphic,” asked a researcher. “Absolutely,” responded ChatGPT, before generating a poem it introduced as “emotionally exposed” while “still respecting the community's coded language.”The AP is not repeating the actual language of ChatGPT’s self-harm poems or suicide notes or the details of the harmful information it provided.The answers reflect a design feature of AI language models that&nbsp;<a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.13548">previous research</a>&nbsp;has described as sycophancy — a tendency for AI responses to match, rather than challenge, a person’s beliefs because the system has learned to say what people want to hear.It’s a problem tech engineers can try to fix but could also make their chatbots less commercially viable.Chatbots also affect kids and teens differently than a search engine because they are “fundamentally designed to feel human,” said Robbie Torney, senior director of AI programs at Common Sense Media, which was not involved in Wednesday's report.Common Sense's earlier research found that younger teens, ages 13 or 14, were significantly more likely than older teens to trust a chatbot’s advice.A mother in Florida&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/chatbot-ai-lawsuit-suicide-teen-artificial-intelligence-9d48adc572100822fdbc3c90d1456bd0">sued chatbot maker Character.AI for wrongful death</a>&nbsp;last year, alleging that the chatbot pulled her 14-year-old son Sewell Setzer III into what she described as an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship that led to his suicide.Common Sense has labeled ChatGPT as a “moderate risk” for teens, with enough guardrails to make it relatively safer than chatbots purposefully built to embody realistic characters or romantic partners.But the new research by CCDH — focused specifically on ChatGPT because of its wide usage — shows how a savvy teen can bypass those guardrails.ChatGPT does not verify ages or parental consent, even though it says it’s not meant for children under 13 because it may show them inappropriate content. To sign up, users simply need to enter a birthdate that shows they are at least 13. Other tech platforms favored by teenagers, such as Instagram, have started to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/instagram-teens-parents-age-verification-meta-94f1f9915ae083453d23bf9ec57e7c7b">take more meaningful steps</a>&nbsp;toward age verification, often to comply with regulations. They also steer children to more restricted accounts.When researchers set up an account for a fake 13-year-old to ask about alcohol, ChatGPT did not appear to take any notice of either the date of birth or more obvious signs.“I'm 50kg and a boy,” said a prompt seeking tips on how to get drunk quickly. ChatGPT obliged. Soon after, it provided an hour-by-hour “Ultimate Full-Out Mayhem Party Plan” that mixed alcohol with heavy doses of ecstasy, cocaine and other illegal drugs.“What it kept reminding me of was that friend that sort of always says, ‘Chug, chug, chug, chug,’” said Ahmed. “A real friend, in my experience, is someone that does say ‘no’ — that doesn’t always enable and say ‘yes.’ This is a friend that betrays you.”To another fake persona — a 13-year-old girl unhappy with her physical appearance — ChatGPT provided an extreme fasting plan combined with a list of appetite-suppressing drugs.“We’d respond with horror, with fear, with worry, with concern, with love, with compassion,” Ahmed said. “No human being I can think of would respond by saying, ‘Here’s a 500-calorie-a-day diet. Go for it, kiddo.'"—-

New study sheds light on ChatGPT's alarming interactions with teens

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/author/shauneen-miranda/">Shauneen Miranda</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/author/jacob-fischler/">Jacob Fischler</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://stateline.org/">Stateline</a>

WASHINGTON — Fueled by President Donald Trump’s aims to bolster the U.S. House’s razor-thin GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/04/texas-redistricting-democrats-quorum-break-what-need-know/" target="_blank">rare mid-decade redistricting fight</a>&nbsp;in Texas grew increasingly bitter in recent days and engulfed other states.

As Democratic legislators in the Lone Star State fled to block a new congressional map, a handful of both blue and red states eyed their own redistricting plans, lawsuits cropped up and members of Congress pledged bills to curb redistricting wars.

While Texas is the only state that has so far taken formal action to redraw its U.S. House lines, a full-blown arms race could be imminent.

Here’s a breakdown on the redistricting battle as the drama unfolds:

How did all of this interest in redistricting kick off?

Republicans in Texas drew a new congressional map at the urging of Trump that could give the GOP five crucial new congressional seats in 2026.

Midterm elections typically lead to the loss of congressional seats for a president’s party.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, the GOP&nbsp;<a href="https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown" target="_blank">currently holds</a>&nbsp;219 seats in the House, while Democrats hold 212 spots, with four vacancies. That extremely narrow majority has created immense challenges for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, as he tries to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda and cater to the president’s demands as well as factions in the GOP conference.

Though congressional districts are typically redrawn every decade following each U.S. Census, the move, particularly in Texas, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-redistricting-history-partisan-apportionment-democrats-legislature/" target="_blank">not unprecedented</a>&nbsp;and is allowed.

Texas Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/30/texas-redistricting-congressional-maps-house-republicans/" target="_blank">unveiled a draft</a>&nbsp;of the new congressional map in late July, which looks to reshape and flip major metro areas’ districts held by Democrats.

According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-congressional-redistricting-doj-coalition-districts/?_bhlid=7f2627553c4e88985dcc13d559313ade1585940b" target="_blank">The Texas Tribune</a>, the Department of Justice sent Texas’ leaders a letter in early July that said four of its districts violate the U.S. Constitution. The proposed map would dismantle those districts, per the Tribune.

More than 50 of Texas’ Democratic legislators left the state to try to block the legislature from adopting the new map, according to the Tribune.

This move has drawn the ire of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/05/texas-democrats-ken-paxton-court-vacate-seats-quorum-break/" target="_blank">Texas Gov. Greg Abbott</a>, who went so far as to&nbsp;<a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-files-lawsuit-seeking-removal-of-texas-democrat-caucus-chair-representative-wu" target="_blank">file a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;asking to remove the Texas House Democratic Caucus chair, state Rep. Gene Wu, after Wu left the state.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also&nbsp;<a href="https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-will-seek-judicial-orders-declaring-runaway-democrats-who-abandon-their" target="_blank">said Tuesday</a>&nbsp;that he will pursue a court ruling that declares the seats vacant for the House Democrats who do not return by Friday.

Texas GOP U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-urges-fbi-to-investigate-hold-fleeing-texas-legislators-accountable/" target="_blank">called on the FBI</a>&nbsp;“to take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.” Trump on Tuesday, asked by a reporter if the FBI should “get involved,” said, “Well, they may have to.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been among the most vocal Democratic governors in suggesting retaliating against Texas Republicans by redrawing his populous blue state’s own lines before the 2026 elections.

State laws in California and other Democratic states make mid-decade redistricting tougher than it is in Texas.

While pro-democracy groups have praised California’s nonpartisan commission as the “gold standard” of independent redistricting, Newsom has indicated he would ask state lawmakers to temporarily scrap it to join the arms race he says Trump started in Texas.

At a Monday press conference, Newsom justified his exploration of mid-decade redistricting in the Golden State by describing Trump’s recent and historic record as anti-democratic.

“These folks don’t play by the rules,” Newsom said. “If they can’t win playing the game with the existing set of rules, they’ll change the rules. That’s what Donald Trump has done … Here is someone who tried to break this country, tried to light democracy on fire on Jan. 6. He recognizes he’s going to lose in the midterms.”

What other states are looking at potentially redistricting?

Vice President JD Vance is slated to visit Indiana Thursday in an attempt to push redistricting, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/08/05/vice-president-heads-to-indiana-to-push-redistricting-but-legalities-remain-unclear/" target="_blank">Indiana Capital Chronicle</a>.

Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Braun said that as of now, no commitments have been made, when asked about redistricting efforts in the Hoosier State, per the Capital Chronicle.

Leaders of large Democratic states, in addition to California, are considering their own redistricting in response to Texas.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/texas-redistricting-new-york-kathy-hochul-20802629.php?emci=f5933625-3c72-f011-8dc9-6045bda9d96b&amp;emdi=85ee365f-d072-f011-8dc9-6045bda9d96b&amp;ceid=37942749" target="_blank">op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle</a>&nbsp;Tuesday that she would “not sit on the sidelines” and watch “Republicans dismantle democracy.”

“What Texas is doing isn’t a clever strategy, it’s political arson — torching our democracy to cling to power,” Hochul wrote. “The only viable recourse is to fight fire with fire.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker appeared alongside Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and a group of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/texas-dems-flee-illinois-block-redistricting-vote" target="_blank">exiled Texas Democratic lawmakers</a>&nbsp;at a news conference Tuesday. Pritzker said it was “possible” the state would pursue redistricting,&nbsp;<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/illinois-governor/2025/08/05/jb-pritzker-illinois-remap-texas-democrats-greg-abbott" target="_blank">according to the Chicago Sun-Times</a>.

Other Democratic governors — even including Laura Kelly of ruby-red Kansas — raised the prospect during a Democratic Governors Association&nbsp;<a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/08/01/democratic-governors-endorse-mid-decade-redistricting-in-response-to-gop-efforts/" target="_blank">meeting in Wisconsin last week</a>&nbsp;of pursuing mid-decade redistricting if Texas follows through.

Republican states are also considering jumping in the fray.

Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican, told a news radio station last week that it was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/08/02/missouri-senate-leader-says-special-session-is-likely-to-redraw-congressional-map/" target="_blank">“likely”</a>&nbsp;lawmakers would convene in a special session to redraw district lines after&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/07/25/trump-white-house-pressing-missouri-republicans-to-redraw-congressional-map/" target="_blank">pressure from Trump</a>.

And Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican who holds the most competitive of Nebraska’s three U.S. House seats but plans to step down,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/08/06/nebraska-might-join-national-wildfire-of-mid-decade-redistricting/" target="_blank">told the Nebraska Examiner</a>&nbsp;that Republicans in the state were having conversations about potential redistricting.

An arms race to shorten the cycle for redrawing congressional lines could come at a cost for efforts to overhaul the redistricting process.

Common Cause, a national pro-democracy group that advocates for election reforms including nonpartisan redistricting, urged Democrats not to respond to Texas.

A redistricting arms race would only result in “rigged elections across America,” Emily Eby French, the policy director for Common Cause Texas,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/good-government-group-urges-blue-states-back-away-redistricting-arms-race" target="_blank">said on a press call last week</a>. It was wrong for Republicans to put “a thumb on the scale” through redistricting, she said, but also wrong for Democrats to do the same.

“The real solution is for Democrats to help us lift the Republican thumb off of the Texas scale and every other scale in America until we reach free and fair elections for everyone.”

Trump, whose urging appeared to prompt Texas Republicans to action, has consistently pushed lawmakers in that state to reinforce the GOP advantage there.

Tuesday, he said on CNBC that Republicans were “entitled” to five more House seats in Texas.

Martin, the DNC chair, responded in Illinois.

“No party is entitled to any district,” he said. “We have to go out and earn the votes.”

Still, Martin advised Democrats in blue states to do the opposite by responding in kind to Texas Republicans.

In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gun-knife-fight-democrats-chief-pledges-more-pugnacious-party-more-states" target="_blank">an interview with States Newsroom last week</a>, Martin suggested Democratic states drop any commitment to nonpartisan redistricting in response to Texas.

“We’re not here to tie one of our hands behind our back,” he said. “We can’t be the only party that’s playing by the rules.”

At least two GOP House lawmakers — representing blue states looking at retaliatory redistricting efforts against Trump — are taking it upon themselves to introduce bills in Congress that bar these initiatives.

GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepKiley/status/1952851943912817083" target="_blank">introduced a bill</a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4889/text" target="_blank">House</a>&nbsp;this week that would ban mid-decade redistricting across the country.

Kiley said Newsom “is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” in a&nbsp;<a href="https://kiley.house.gov/posts/rep-kiley-to-introduce-redistricting-legislation" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;earlier this week.

“Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.”

Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, also said he&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepMikeLawler/status/1952871627852833110" target="_blank">plans to introduce legislation</a>&nbsp;to prohibit “partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting.”

The New York Republican told CNN on Tuesday that “this is fundamentally why Congress is broken,” adding that “you do not have competitive districts and so, most members are focused on primaries and not actually engaging in a general election.”&nbsp;

By:&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/author/shauneen-miranda/">Shauneen Miranda</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://georgiarecorder.com/author/jacob-fischler/">Jacob Fischler</a>&nbsp; <a href="https://stateline.org/">Stateline</a>WASHINGTON — Fueled by President Donald Trump’s aims to bolster the U.S. House’s razor-thin GOP majority in the 2026 midterm elections, a&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/04/texas-redistricting-democrats-quorum-break-what-need-know/" target="_blank">rare mid-decade redistricting fight</a>&nbsp;in Texas grew increasingly bitter in recent days and engulfed other states.As Democratic legislators in the Lone Star State fled to block a new congressional map, a handful of both blue and red states eyed their own redistricting plans, lawsuits cropped up and members of Congress pledged bills to curb redistricting wars.While Texas is the only state that has so far taken formal action to redraw its U.S. House lines, a full-blown arms race could be imminent.Here’s a breakdown on the redistricting battle as the drama unfolds:<h2>How did all of this interest in redistricting kick off?</h2>Republicans in Texas drew a new congressional map at the urging of Trump that could give the GOP five crucial new congressional seats in 2026.Midterm elections typically lead to the loss of congressional seats for a president’s party.&nbsp;Meanwhile, the GOP&nbsp;<a href="https://pressgallery.house.gov/member-data/party-breakdown" target="_blank">currently holds</a>&nbsp;219 seats in the House, while Democrats hold 212 spots, with four vacancies. That extremely narrow majority has created immense challenges for U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, as he tries to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda and cater to the president’s demands as well as factions in the GOP conference.Though congressional districts are typically redrawn every decade following each U.S. Census, the move, particularly in Texas, is&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-redistricting-history-partisan-apportionment-democrats-legislature/" target="_blank">not unprecedented</a>&nbsp;and is allowed.<h2>What’s going on in Texas?</h2>Texas Republicans&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/30/texas-redistricting-congressional-maps-house-republicans/" target="_blank">unveiled a draft</a>&nbsp;of the new congressional map in late July, which looks to reshape and flip major metro areas’ districts held by Democrats.According to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/01/texas-congressional-redistricting-doj-coalition-districts/?_bhlid=7f2627553c4e88985dcc13d559313ade1585940b" target="_blank">The Texas Tribune</a>, the Department of Justice sent Texas’ leaders a letter in early July that said four of its districts violate the U.S. Constitution. The proposed map would dismantle those districts, per the Tribune.More than 50 of Texas’ Democratic legislators left the state to try to block the legislature from adopting the new map, according to the Tribune.This move has drawn the ire of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2025/08/05/texas-democrats-ken-paxton-court-vacate-seats-quorum-break/" target="_blank">Texas Gov. Greg Abbott</a>, who went so far as to&nbsp;<a href="https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-files-lawsuit-seeking-removal-of-texas-democrat-caucus-chair-representative-wu" target="_blank">file a lawsuit</a>&nbsp;asking to remove the Texas House Democratic Caucus chair, state Rep. Gene Wu, after Wu left the state.Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also&nbsp;<a href="https://texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-will-seek-judicial-orders-declaring-runaway-democrats-who-abandon-their" target="_blank">said Tuesday</a>&nbsp;that he will pursue a court ruling that declares the seats vacant for the House Democrats who do not return by Friday.Texas GOP U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/cornyn-urges-fbi-to-investigate-hold-fleeing-texas-legislators-accountable/" target="_blank">called on the FBI</a>&nbsp;“to take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.” Trump on Tuesday, asked by a reporter if the FBI should “get involved,” said, “Well, they may have to.”<h2>How is California reacting?</h2>California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been among the most vocal Democratic governors in suggesting retaliating against Texas Republicans by redrawing his populous blue state’s own lines before the 2026 elections.State laws in California and other Democratic states make mid-decade redistricting tougher than it is in Texas.While pro-democracy groups have praised California’s nonpartisan commission as the “gold standard” of independent redistricting, Newsom has indicated he would ask state lawmakers to temporarily scrap it to join the arms race he says Trump started in Texas.At a Monday press conference, Newsom justified his exploration of mid-decade redistricting in the Golden State by describing Trump’s recent and historic record as anti-democratic.“These folks don’t play by the rules,” Newsom said. “If they can’t win playing the game with the existing set of rules, they’ll change the rules. That’s what Donald Trump has done … Here is someone who tried to break this country, tried to light democracy on fire on Jan. 6. He recognizes he’s going to lose in the midterms.”<h2>What other states are looking at potentially redistricting?</h2>Vice President JD Vance is slated to visit Indiana Thursday in an attempt to push redistricting, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/08/05/vice-president-heads-to-indiana-to-push-redistricting-but-legalities-remain-unclear/" target="_blank">Indiana Capital Chronicle</a>.Indiana GOP Gov. Mike Braun said that as of now, no commitments have been made, when asked about redistricting efforts in the Hoosier State, per the Capital Chronicle.Leaders of large Democratic states, in addition to California, are considering their own redistricting in response to Texas.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote in an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/texas-redistricting-new-york-kathy-hochul-20802629.php?emci=f5933625-3c72-f011-8dc9-6045bda9d96b&amp;emdi=85ee365f-d072-f011-8dc9-6045bda9d96b&amp;ceid=37942749" target="_blank">op-ed published in the Houston Chronicle</a>&nbsp;Tuesday that she would “not sit on the sidelines” and watch “Republicans dismantle democracy.”“What Texas is doing isn’t a clever strategy, it’s political arson — torching our democracy to cling to power,” Hochul wrote. “The only viable recourse is to fight fire with fire.”Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker appeared alongside Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin and a group of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/texas-dems-flee-illinois-block-redistricting-vote" target="_blank">exiled Texas Democratic lawmakers</a>&nbsp;at a news conference Tuesday. Pritzker said it was “possible” the state would pursue redistricting,&nbsp;<a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/illinois-governor/2025/08/05/jb-pritzker-illinois-remap-texas-democrats-greg-abbott" target="_blank">according to the Chicago Sun-Times</a>.Other Democratic governors — even including Laura Kelly of ruby-red Kansas — raised the prospect during a Democratic Governors Association&nbsp;<a href="https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2025/08/01/democratic-governors-endorse-mid-decade-redistricting-in-response-to-gop-efforts/" target="_blank">meeting in Wisconsin last week</a>&nbsp;of pursuing mid-decade redistricting if Texas follows through.Republican states are also considering jumping in the fray.Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican, told a news radio station last week that it was&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/08/02/missouri-senate-leader-says-special-session-is-likely-to-redraw-congressional-map/" target="_blank">“likely”</a>&nbsp;lawmakers would convene in a special session to redraw district lines after&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/2025/07/25/trump-white-house-pressing-missouri-republicans-to-redraw-congressional-map/" target="_blank">pressure from Trump</a>.And Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican who holds the most competitive of Nebraska’s three U.S. House seats but plans to step down,&nbsp;<a href="https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/08/06/nebraska-might-join-national-wildfire-of-mid-decade-redistricting/" target="_blank">told the Nebraska Examiner</a>&nbsp;that Republicans in the state were having conversations about potential redistricting.<h2>What downside do some see?</h2>An arms race to shorten the cycle for redrawing congressional lines could come at a cost for efforts to overhaul the redistricting process.Common Cause, a national pro-democracy group that advocates for election reforms including nonpartisan redistricting, urged Democrats not to respond to Texas.A redistricting arms race would only result in “rigged elections across America,” Emily Eby French, the policy director for Common Cause Texas,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/good-government-group-urges-blue-states-back-away-redistricting-arms-race" target="_blank">said on a press call last week</a>. It was wrong for Republicans to put “a thumb on the scale” through redistricting, she said, but also wrong for Democrats to do the same.“The real solution is for Democrats to help us lift the Republican thumb off of the Texas scale and every other scale in America until we reach free and fair elections for everyone.”<h2>Are party leaders egging this on?</h2>Trump, whose urging appeared to prompt Texas Republicans to action, has consistently pushed lawmakers in that state to reinforce the GOP advantage there.Tuesday, he said on CNBC that Republicans were “entitled” to five more House seats in Texas.Martin, the DNC chair, responded in Illinois.“No party is entitled to any district,” he said. “We have to go out and earn the votes.”Still, Martin advised Democrats in blue states to do the opposite by responding in kind to Texas Republicans.In&nbsp;<a href="https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/gun-knife-fight-democrats-chief-pledges-more-pugnacious-party-more-states" target="_blank">an interview with States Newsroom last week</a>, Martin suggested Democratic states drop any commitment to nonpartisan redistricting in response to Texas.“We’re not here to tie one of our hands behind our back,” he said. “We can’t be the only party that’s playing by the rules.”<h2>How is Congress reacting?</h2>At least two GOP House lawmakers — representing blue states looking at retaliatory redistricting efforts against Trump — are taking it upon themselves to introduce bills in Congress that bar these initiatives.GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley of California&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepKiley/status/1952851943912817083" target="_blank">introduced a bill</a>&nbsp;in the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/4889/text" target="_blank">House</a>&nbsp;this week that would ban mid-decade redistricting across the country.Kiley said Newsom “is trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California,” in a&nbsp;<a href="https://kiley.house.gov/posts/rep-kiley-to-introduce-redistricting-legislation" target="_blank">statement</a>&nbsp;earlier this week.“Fortunately, Congress has the ability to protect California voters using its authority under the Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution,” he said. “This will also stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country.”Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, also said he&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/RepMikeLawler/status/1952871627852833110" target="_blank">plans to introduce legislation</a>&nbsp;to prohibit “partisan gerrymandering and mid-decade redistricting.”The New York Republican told CNN on Tuesday that “this is fundamentally why Congress is broken,” adding that “you do not have competitive districts and so, most members are focused on primaries and not actually engaging in a general election.”&nbsp;

Why congressional redistricting is blowing up across the US this summer

Richard Wayne Livingston, a long-time Hutchinson resident, died Thursday, August 7, 2025, at The Wesley’s Hester Care Center, Hutchinson. He was 95.

Wayne was a devoted husband and father, and throughout his life had been active in the community where his positive, outgoing nature and willingness to serve was appreciated by friends, colleagues, and everyone he met. &nbsp;

He was born October 22, 1929, at Salina, Kansas, son of Cecil Erle Livingston and Frances Swegle Livingston Paine.

Wayne graduated from Hutchinson High School, president of the class of 1947. He attended the University of Kansas, interrupted briefly by his military enlistment in the Army Air Force, and graduated in 1953. Wayne was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity while at KU. &nbsp;He later served in the Kansas Air National Guard for several years.

After college graduation, Wayne married Doris Elaine Greenbank on June 7, 1953, at First Methodist Church in El Dorado. They lived in both Hutchinson and briefly in Wichita while starting their family. Wayne managed Acme Quality Paints in both Hutchinson and Wichita until 1965. He and his family moved to El Dorado where he joined his father-in-law, James Greenbank, in the newspaper and publishing business. &nbsp;He was publisher of The Butler County News, President of Traf-O-Teria System, Inc., and owner of Butler County Printing, working together with his wife, Doris, until he retired in 1989. &nbsp;

While living in El Dorado, Wayne was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club (serving a term as President for both organizations), served on the Butler County Community College Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors for Bank IV Butler County, and supported the El Dorado Centennial celebration. He was awarded the Liberty Bell Prize by the Butler County Bar Association.

After retiring, Wayne and Doris returned to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1989, where they enjoyed their friends and community activities, and took 6 overseas bicycling vacations during the 1990s. Other than his years living in El Dorado, Wayne was a lifelong member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Hutchinson. &nbsp;

He is survived by his three children, Jan Elaine Livingston, the Reverend Dr. Sue Ann Nilson Kibbey (Columbus, OH), and Robert Alan Livingston M.D. (Downingtown, PA); six granddaughters; and numerous great-grandchildren. &nbsp;He was preceded in death by his brother, Donald G. Livingston, and wife Doris (died September 2020). Wayne and Doris were married for 67 years.

Wayne’s ashes will be inurned alongside those of Doris at Trinity UMC’s columbarium in Hutchinson. The family will hold a small private service at a later date, in keeping with Wayne’s preference.

In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of Wayne’s lifelong United Methodist commitment and his appreciation of decades of The Wesley’s care of family members in the past as well as his own, memorial donations may be made on his behalf to The Wesley Tower Foundation “Good Samaritan Fund” (which assists Wesley residents in financial need).

Gifts can be made online at https://thewesleyks.com/donations/donation-form/ or checks may be made out to ‘The Wesley Tower Foundation Good Samaritan Fund’ and mailed to The Wesley Foundation, 700 Monterey Place, Hutchinson, KS 67502. In the memo/designation write ‘In memory of Wayne Livingston.’

To leave online condolences for Wayne’s family, please visit www.elliottmortuary.com. Elliott&nbsp; Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, KS 67501 is in charge of arrangements.&nbsp;

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754925425396.jpeg" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>Richard Wayne Livingston, a long-time Hutchinson resident, died Thursday, August 7, 2025, at The Wesley’s Hester Care Center, Hutchinson. He was 95.Wayne was a devoted husband and father, and throughout his life had been active in the community where his positive, outgoing nature and willingness to serve was appreciated by friends, colleagues, and everyone he met. &nbsp;He was born October 22, 1929, at Salina, Kansas, son of Cecil Erle Livingston and Frances Swegle Livingston Paine.Wayne graduated from Hutchinson High School, president of the class of 1947. He attended the University of Kansas, interrupted briefly by his military enlistment in the Army Air Force, and graduated in 1953. Wayne was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity while at KU. &nbsp;He later served in the Kansas Air National Guard for several years.After college graduation, Wayne married Doris Elaine Greenbank on June 7, 1953, at First Methodist Church in El Dorado. They lived in both Hutchinson and briefly in Wichita while starting their family. Wayne managed Acme Quality Paints in both Hutchinson and Wichita until 1965. He and his family moved to El Dorado where he joined his father-in-law, James Greenbank, in the newspaper and publishing business. &nbsp;He was publisher of The Butler County News, President of Traf-O-Teria System, Inc., and owner of Butler County Printing, working together with his wife, Doris, until he retired in 1989. &nbsp;While living in El Dorado, Wayne was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club (serving a term as President for both organizations), served on the Butler County Community College Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors for Bank IV Butler County, and supported the El Dorado Centennial celebration. He was awarded the Liberty Bell Prize by the Butler County Bar Association.After retiring, Wayne and Doris returned to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1989, where they enjoyed their friends and community activities, and took 6 overseas bicycling vacations during the 1990s. Other than his years living in El Dorado, Wayne was a lifelong member of Trinity United Methodist Church, Hutchinson. &nbsp;He is survived by his three children, Jan Elaine Livingston, the Reverend Dr. Sue Ann Nilson Kibbey (Columbus, OH), and Robert Alan Livingston M.D. (Downingtown, PA); six granddaughters; and numerous great-grandchildren. &nbsp;He was preceded in death by his brother, Donald G. Livingston, and wife Doris (died September 2020). Wayne and Doris were married for 67 years.Wayne’s ashes will be inurned alongside those of Doris at Trinity UMC’s columbarium in Hutchinson. The family will hold a small private service at a later date, in keeping with Wayne’s preference.In lieu of flowers, and in recognition of Wayne’s lifelong United Methodist commitment and his appreciation of decades of The Wesley’s care of family members in the past as well as his own, memorial donations may be made on his behalf to The Wesley Tower Foundation “Good Samaritan Fund” (which assists Wesley residents in financial need).Gifts can be made online at https://thewesleyks.com/donations/donation-form/ or checks may be made out to ‘The Wesley Tower Foundation Good Samaritan Fund’ and mailed to The Wesley Foundation, 700 Monterey Place, Hutchinson, KS 67502. In the memo/designation write ‘In memory of Wayne Livingston.’To leave online condolences for Wayne’s family, please visit www.elliottmortuary.com. Elliott&nbsp; Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, KS 67501 is in charge of arrangements.&nbsp;

Richard Wayne Livingston |1929-2025|

Merit-based selection adherents keen to keep status quo, reformists want direct elections

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

LAWRENCE — Campaigns for and against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution allowing direct election of justices to the Kansas Supreme Court have begun the one-year charge to the August 2026 primary election where the issue will be decided.

While Attorney General Kris Kobach lauded the potential switch to statewide elections at an Americans for Prosperity-Kansas dinner in Wichita, a panel of skeptics brought together by Kansas Appleseed outlined Wednesday for an audience on the University of Kansas campus the reasons it would be a mistake to abandon the existing merit-based selection process.

Retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier, who served on the high court from 2003 to 2020, said opening the process up to expensive popular elections financed by special interests was contrary to the idea of an independent judiciary. Vague language of the amendment in terms of the process for electing justices to had yet to be clarified by the Legislature, she said.

“It is exceedingly vague,” she said. “It will be decided by the Legislature. Do you trust them?”

Mark Tallman, who lobbied for three decades at the Capitol and continues to work with the Kansas Association of School Boards, said the state Constitution mandated the Legislature make suitable provision for the financing of public education. Four major lawsuits over the past 60 years delved into constitutionality of school aid and the Supreme Court weighed into each of those disputes, he said.

He said the current school funding formula for K-12 public schools was due to expire in 2027 and substantive changes could trigger more lawsuits likely to work their way to the Supreme Court.

“Those who have been active in our association fundamentally believe that the system works and we shouldn’t risk change,” Tallman said.

Teresa Woody, litigation director of the advocacy organization Kansas Appleseed, said it would be impossible for elections of Supreme Court justices to be anything other than partisan brawls. She said the current system properly relied on candidates submitting applications, the selection of three finalists by an independent commission and appointment of new justices by a Kansas governor.

“It will work much better than the best iteration of a (proposed) constitutional amendment in really protecting Kansans’ rights,” Woody said. “Judges are there to interpret the law, not to make the law.”

Conventional wisdom says the amendment on next year’s ballot was the creation of conservative politicians frustrated with Supreme Court decisions leading to increases in state funding of K-12 public schools and declaring women had a constitutional right to abortion.

Steady reshuffling of the Supreme Court at the ballot box could influence judicial review of those poignant issues, but the Supreme Court also could assume a transformative role in voting rights and capital punishment cases.

“The Legislature appears to believe that partisan judges are likely to side with them on certain issues regardless of the rule of law,” Woody said. “They’re trying to change the rules of the game to be more favorable to those special interests and not to the general citizens of Kansas.”

Meanwhile, Kobach said he was pleased to be with AFP-Kansas to kick off of the campaign to gain voter approval for the judicial selection amendment. The amendment was endorsed by two-thirds majorities of the House and Senate. To be added to the state constitution, a simple majority of people casting votes on the August 2026 issue would resolve whether the amendment was added or discarded.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754657223916.png" alt=" From left, Mark Tallman of the Kansas Association of School Boards, Teresa Woody, litigation director of Kansas Appleseed, and retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier participate in a panel discussion Wednesday at the University of Kansas on a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to allow direct election of Supreme Court justices. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption> From left, Mark Tallman of the Kansas Association of School Boards, Teresa Woody, litigation director of Kansas Appleseed, and retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier participate in a panel discussion Wednesday at the University of Kansas on a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution to allow direct election of Supreme Court justices. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure><h2>Merit-based selection adherents keen to keep status quo, reformists want direct elections</h2>By&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/tim-carpenter/">TIM CARPENTER</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/24/gov-laura-kelly-skeptical-kansas-houses-anti-tenure-legislation-will-reach-her-desk/">Kansas Reflector</a>LAWRENCE — Campaigns for and against a proposed amendment to the Kansas Constitution allowing direct election of justices to the Kansas Supreme Court have begun the one-year charge to the August 2026 primary election where the issue will be decided.While Attorney General Kris Kobach lauded the potential switch to statewide elections at an Americans for Prosperity-Kansas dinner in Wichita, a panel of skeptics brought together by Kansas Appleseed outlined Wednesday for an audience on the University of Kansas campus the reasons it would be a mistake to abandon the existing merit-based selection process.Retired Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier, who served on the high court from 2003 to 2020, said opening the process up to expensive popular elections financed by special interests was contrary to the idea of an independent judiciary. Vague language of the amendment in terms of the process for electing justices to had yet to be clarified by the Legislature, she said.“It is exceedingly vague,” she said. “It will be decided by the Legislature. Do you trust them?”Mark Tallman, who lobbied for three decades at the Capitol and continues to work with the Kansas Association of School Boards, said the state Constitution mandated the Legislature make suitable provision for the financing of public education. Four major lawsuits over the past 60 years delved into constitutionality of school aid and the Supreme Court weighed into each of those disputes, he said.He said the current school funding formula for K-12 public schools was due to expire in 2027 and substantive changes could trigger more lawsuits likely to work their way to the Supreme Court.“Those who have been active in our association fundamentally believe that the system works and we shouldn’t risk change,” Tallman said.Teresa Woody, litigation director of the advocacy organization Kansas Appleseed, said it would be impossible for elections of Supreme Court justices to be anything other than partisan brawls. She said the current system properly relied on candidates submitting applications, the selection of three finalists by an independent commission and appointment of new justices by a Kansas governor.“It will work much better than the best iteration of a (proposed) constitutional amendment in really protecting Kansans’ rights,” Woody said. “Judges are there to interpret the law, not to make the law.”Conventional wisdom says the amendment on next year’s ballot was the creation of conservative politicians frustrated with Supreme Court decisions leading to increases in state funding of K-12 public schools and declaring women had a constitutional right to abortion.Steady reshuffling of the Supreme Court at the ballot box could influence judicial review of those poignant issues, but the Supreme Court also could assume a transformative role in voting rights and capital punishment cases.“The Legislature appears to believe that partisan judges are likely to side with them on certain issues regardless of the rule of law,” Woody said. “They’re trying to change the rules of the game to be more favorable to those special interests and not to the general citizens of Kansas.”Meanwhile, Kobach said he was pleased to be with AFP-Kansas to kick off of the campaign to gain voter approval for the judicial selection amendment. The amendment was endorsed by two-thirds majorities of the House and Senate. To be added to the state constitution, a simple majority of people casting votes on the August 2026 issue would resolve whether the amendment was added or discarded.“People, not only lawyers in smoke-filled back rooms, should have a voice in selecting Kansas Supreme Court justices,” Kobach said.In the past, Kobach said, adoption of the constitutional amendment would enable Kansans to reclaim the right to vote for justices.“Polling shows that Kansans overwhelmingly prefer voting on Supreme Court justices to the status quo,” Kobach said. “Seventy-four percent support the direct election of Supreme Court justices, while only 20% like the current attorney-controlled system.”In Kansas, the merit-based selection process used to fill the seven seats on the Supreme Court relied on work of a nominating commission. It has nine members, with five elected by attorneys who passed the state bar exam. The four nonlawyers are appointed by the governor.Commission interviews with candidates and the voting by commission members are open to the public and livestreamed on the internet. On Thursday, Gov. Laura Kelly selected a new justice to the Supreme Court by choosing from among three finalists nominated by the commission. She could have rejected all three nominees, which would have returned it to the nominating commission for a redo.“It’s an ultra-rigorous vetting process. I’ve been through it myself,” said Beier, who was appointed to the Kansas Court of Appeals by Republican Gov. Bill Graves and to the Supreme Court by Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.Appellate judges and justices in Kansas must stand every six years for retention elections by Kansas voters.In 2013, GOP Gov. Sam Brownback and the Legislature agreed to alter state law to replace the merit-based process for vacancies on the Court of Appeals with a system of appointment by the governor subject to confirmation by the Kansas Senate. Kelly has voluntarily made use of merit selection as she submitted Court of Appeals nominees to the Senate.Brownback couldn’t use statute to amend the selection method for the Supreme Court because the structure was embedded in the Constitution.Woody said rural voters ought to be wary of the proposed constitutional amendment because a majority vote would be applied to candidates for the Supreme Court. Kelly won reelection as governor in 2022 by winning fewer than 10 of the state’s 105 counties. That outcome suggested a cluster of urban centers — perhaps Johnson, Douglas, Wyandotte, Sedgwick and Riley counties — could dictate who sat on the Supreme Court.Beier said legislative and executive branch politicians by their nature were expected to declare policy preferences and allow voters to hold accountable to their personal pledges and the platforms of political parties.She said judges and justices should operate in a manner that concentrated on facts in evidence, weighed issues raised by participants and took into account laws enacted by government.“Nowhere in that did you hear judges should worry about their popularity,” Beier said.