BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — Kansas’ request to ban candy and soft drinks from being purchased with food assistance dollars has yet to be approved, while other states’ similar restrictions are expected to go into effect Jan. 1.

Lawmakers say the goal of the ban is to reduce obesity rates and risks by eliminating the option to buy soft drinks and candy for a specific demographic — low-income families receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Republican lawmakers at a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency were anxious to see Kansas’ request for restrictions approved.

But Carla Whiteside-Hicks, the economic and employment services director for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, described during the committee meeting certain roadblocks.

Among them, she said, Kansas’ process is different from the process in other states. It’s more complex, she said, largely because of the nebulous definitions of soft drinks and candy in a new state law.

Bans of varying severity have been approved and are expected to go into effect on the first of the year in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia. Some states restrict soft drinks, soda, candy or energy drinks, or a combination of the four.

Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican and chair of the committee, argued other states’ bans aren’t inherently simpler than the one in Kansas. Nevertheless, the definitions are important, she said.

“It sounds simple when we say pop and candy, but we know those details, those definitions matter,” she said

The state sent an initial request for the restriction to the U.S.Department of Agriculture on April 2. The proposal for a ban&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/05/buying-candy-soda-with-food-stamps-banned-under-proposed-kansas-bill/">began as a bill</a>, which passed both chambers during the 2025 legislative session but was&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/04/14/kansas-families-with-snap-can-still-buy-soda-candy-but-new-law-adds-red-tape-to-assistance/">vetoed</a>&nbsp;on April 4 by Gov. Laura Kelly, who called it “simply wrong” and expressed concern for the law’s potential to hurt Kansas families and businesses. Instead of fully overriding the veto, Republican lawmakers inserted the policy into the state budget.

The provision withheld $1.8 million designated for a summertime food assistance program for families with school-age children. The provision required the secretary for the Kansas Department for Children and Families to request the restriction on candy and soft drinks before the department could access the funds.

Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said during the meeting he didn’t understand why complexity was holding up Kansas’ request.

“And is there not any kind of national guidance considering this was part of a national policy agenda?” Shane said.

Kansas’ request is specific to Kansas statute and must work within the bounds of state law, Whiteside-Hicks said.

Upon first submitting the request to the USDA, Whiteside-Hicks said, she immediately assembled an internal team to guide the process of implementing the restrictions and measure their effectiveness.

“It was quickly evident that we do not have internal capacity to meet all of the requirements of having our waiver request approved,” she said.

No one on her team had the skillset to create an evaluation plan, she said, so the agency is soliciting proposals from third parties to do the work instead.

In Kansas, a monthly average of nearly 187,000 people in more than 93,500 households receive food assistance benefits. The average monthly benefit per household is around $452, according to USDA data from fiscal year 2023.

It isn’t clear how much it will cost to develop the new restrictions. Typically, the agency would undergo an analysis before submitting a restriction request to the federal government, but that didn’t happen this time, Whiteside-Hicks said.

Kansas officials targeted an effective date for restrictions for 18 months after the approval date — if it is approved.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/7/1689674819900.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/akaminski/">ANNA KAMINSKI</a> <a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/01/03/kansas-state-garden-city-cc-striving-to-shrink-bachelors-degree-educational-desert/?emci=8e6f56cf-3bca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;emdi=a9416bb1-82ca-ef11-88d0-0022482a9b45&amp;ceid=115039">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — Kansas’ request to ban candy and soft drinks from being purchased with food assistance dollars has yet to be approved, while other states’ similar restrictions are expected to go into effect Jan. 1.Lawmakers say the goal of the ban is to reduce obesity rates and risks by eliminating the option to buy soft drinks and candy for a specific demographic — low-income families receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/8/1754958706400.png" alt="&nbsp;Photo Shalina Chatlani/ Stateline" />
 <figcaption>&nbsp;Photo Shalina Chatlani/ Stateline</figcaption>
 </figure>Republican lawmakers at a Tuesday meeting of the Senate Committee on Government Efficiency were anxious to see Kansas’ request for restrictions approved.But Carla Whiteside-Hicks, the economic and employment services director for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, described during the committee meeting certain roadblocks.Among them, she said, Kansas’ process is different from the process in other states. It’s more complex, she said, largely because of the nebulous definitions of soft drinks and candy in a new state law.Bans of varying severity have been approved and are expected to go into effect on the first of the year in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Utah and West Virginia. Some states restrict soft drinks, soda, candy or energy drinks, or a combination of the four.Sen. Renee Erickson, a Wichita Republican and chair of the committee, argued other states’ bans aren’t inherently simpler than the one in Kansas. Nevertheless, the definitions are important, she said.“It sounds simple when we say pop and candy, but we know those details, those definitions matter,” she saidThe state sent an initial request for the restriction to the U.S.Department of Agriculture on April 2. The proposal for a ban&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/02/05/buying-candy-soda-with-food-stamps-banned-under-proposed-kansas-bill/">began as a bill</a>, which passed both chambers during the 2025 legislative session but was&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/2025/04/14/kansas-families-with-snap-can-still-buy-soda-candy-but-new-law-adds-red-tape-to-assistance/">vetoed</a>&nbsp;on April 4 by Gov. Laura Kelly, who called it “simply wrong” and expressed concern for the law’s potential to hurt Kansas families and businesses. Instead of fully overriding the veto, Republican lawmakers inserted the policy into the state budget.The provision withheld $1.8 million designated for a summertime food assistance program for families with school-age children. The provision required the secretary for the Kansas Department for Children and Families to request the restriction on candy and soft drinks before the department could access the funds.Sen. Doug Shane, a Louisburg Republican, said during the meeting he didn’t understand why complexity was holding up Kansas’ request.“And is there not any kind of national guidance considering this was part of a national policy agenda?” Shane said.Kansas’ request is specific to Kansas statute and must work within the bounds of state law, Whiteside-Hicks said.Upon first submitting the request to the USDA, Whiteside-Hicks said, she immediately assembled an internal team to guide the process of implementing the restrictions and measure their effectiveness.“It was quickly evident that we do not have internal capacity to meet all of the requirements of having our waiver request approved,” she said.No one on her team had the skillset to create an evaluation plan, she said, so the agency is soliciting proposals from third parties to do the work instead.In Kansas, a monthly average of nearly 187,000 people in more than 93,500 households receive food assistance benefits. The average monthly benefit per household is around $452, according to USDA data from fiscal year 2023.It isn’t clear how much it will cost to develop the new restrictions. Typically, the agency would undergo an analysis before submitting a restriction request to the federal government, but that didn’t happen this time, Whiteside-Hicks said.Kansas officials targeted an effective date for restrictions for 18 months after the approval date — if it is approved.

Kansas ban on using food assistance for candy and soda has yet to be approved

NEW YORK (AP) — Bobby Hart, a key part of the Monkees’ multimedia empire who teamed with Tommy Boyce on such hits as “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” has died. He was 86.

Hart died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his friend and co-author, Glenn Ballantyne. He had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year.

Boyce and Hart were a prolific and successful team in the mid-1960s, especially for the Monkees, the made-for-television group promoted by Don Kirshner. They wrote the Monkees’ theme song, with its opening shot, “Here we come, walkin’ down the street,” and enduring chant, “Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees,” and their first No. 1 hit, “Last Train to Clarksville.” The Monkees’ eponymous, million-selling debut album included six songs from Boyce and Hart, who also served as producers and used their own backing musicians, the Candy Store Prophets, as session players.

“I always credit them not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but, as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love,” the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz wrote in a foreword to Hart’s memoir, “Psychedelic Bubblegum,” published in 2015.

As Boyce and Hart grew in fame and the Monkees took more control of their work, they pursued their own careers, releasing the albums “Test Patterns” and “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite” and appearing on such sitcoms as “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched.” They also were politically active. They campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy when he ran for president in 1968 and wrote the brassy “L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)” in support of the 26th Amendment, which in 1971 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Their other songs included the Monkees’ melancholy “I Wanna Be Free” and the theme to the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”

They were covered by everyone from Dean Martin (“Little Lovely One”) to the Sex Pistols (“I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone”).

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Hart managed several hits with other collaborators and even contributed material to another TV act, the Partridge Family. He worked with Austin Roberts on “Over You,” an Oscar-nominated ballad performed by Betty Buckley in “Tender Mercies,” and with Dick Eastman on “My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)” for New Edition. He and Bryce toured with Dolenz and fellow Monkee Davy Jones in the ‘70s, put out the album “Dolenz, Jones, Boyce &amp; Hart” and received renewed attention when the Monkees enjoyed a comeback in the 1980s.

Boyce, who died in 1994, and Hart were the subjects of a 2014 documentary “The Guys Who Wrote ‘Em.” Hart was married twice, most recently to singer Mary Ann Hart, and had two children from his first marriage.

He was a minister’s son, born Robert Luke Harshman in Phoenix, Arizona. In his memoir, he remembered himself as a shy kid with a “strong desire to distinguish” himself, as he wrote in “Psychedelic Bubblegum.” Music was the answer. By high school, he had learned piano, guitar and the Hammond B-3 organ. He also started his own amateur radio station, eventually adding a console, turntables and microphones. After graduating from high school and serving in the Army reserves, he settled in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, hoping first to become a disc jockey, but soon working as a songwriter and session musician. His name shortened to Bobby Hart, he toured as a member of Teddy Randazzo and the Dazzlers, and with Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein wrote “Hurt So Bad,” a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials later covered by Linda Ronstadt.

He also befriended Boyce, a singer and songwriter from Charlottesville, Virginia, with a “very unusual personality, spontaneous and extroverted, yet very cool at the same time.” Boyce and Hart helped write the top 10 hit “Come a Little Bit Closer” for Jay and the Americans and were a strong enough combination that Kirshner recruited them for his Screen Gems songwriting factory: They were assigned to the Monkees. Asked to come up with songs for a quartet openly modeled on the Beatles, they devised a twangy guitar line similar to the one for “Paperback Writer” and wrote “Last Train to Clarksville,” a chart topper in 1966. When Kirshner suggested a song with a girl’s name in the title, they turned out “Valleri” and reached the top 5.

For the show’s theme song, a stroll outside was enough.

“Boyce began strumming his guitar and I joined in by snapping my fingers &amp; making noises with my mouth that simulated an open &amp; closed hi-hat cymbal,” Hart wrote in his memoir. “We had created the perfect recipe for inspiration and started singing about just what we were doing: ‘Walkin’ down the street.’”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757874965941.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>NEW YORK (AP) — Bobby Hart, a key part of the Monkees’ multimedia empire who teamed with Tommy Boyce on such hits as “Last Train to Clarksville” and “I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone,” has died. He was 86.Hart died at his home in Los Angeles, according to his friend and co-author, Glenn Ballantyne. He had been in poor health since breaking his hip last year.Boyce and Hart were a prolific and successful team in the mid-1960s, especially for the Monkees, the made-for-television group promoted by Don Kirshner. They wrote the Monkees’ theme song, with its opening shot, “Here we come, walkin’ down the street,” and enduring chant, “Hey, hey, we’re the Monkees,” and their first No. 1 hit, “Last Train to Clarksville.” The Monkees’ eponymous, million-selling debut album included six songs from Boyce and Hart, who also served as producers and used their own backing musicians, the Candy Store Prophets, as session players.“I always credit them not only with writing many of our biggest hits, but, as producers, being instrumental in creating the unique Monkee sound we all know and love,” the Monkees’ Micky Dolenz wrote in a foreword to Hart’s memoir, “Psychedelic Bubblegum,” published in 2015.As Boyce and Hart grew in fame and the Monkees took more control of their work, they pursued their own careers, releasing the albums “Test Patterns” and “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonite” and appearing on such sitcoms as “I Dream of Jeannie” and “Bewitched.” They also were politically active. They campaigned for Robert F. Kennedy when he ran for president in 1968 and wrote the brassy “L.U.V. (Let Us Vote)” in support of the 26th Amendment, which in 1971 lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. Their other songs included the Monkees’ melancholy “I Wanna Be Free” and the theme to the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives.”They were covered by everyone from Dean Martin (“Little Lovely One”) to the Sex Pistols (“I’m Not Your Steppin’ Stone”).In the 1970s and ‘80s, Hart managed several hits with other collaborators and even contributed material to another TV act, the Partridge Family. He worked with Austin Roberts on “Over You,” an Oscar-nominated ballad performed by Betty Buckley in “Tender Mercies,” and with Dick Eastman on “My Secret (Didja Gitit Yet?)” for New Edition. He and Bryce toured with Dolenz and fellow Monkee Davy Jones in the ‘70s, put out the album “Dolenz, Jones, Boyce &amp; Hart” and received renewed attention when the Monkees enjoyed a comeback in the 1980s.Boyce, who died in 1994, and Hart were the subjects of a 2014 documentary “The Guys Who Wrote ‘Em.” Hart was married twice, most recently to singer Mary Ann Hart, and had two children from his first marriage.He was a minister’s son, born Robert Luke Harshman in Phoenix, Arizona. In his memoir, he remembered himself as a shy kid with a “strong desire to distinguish” himself, as he wrote in “Psychedelic Bubblegum.” Music was the answer. By high school, he had learned piano, guitar and the Hammond B-3 organ. He also started his own amateur radio station, eventually adding a console, turntables and microphones. After graduating from high school and serving in the Army reserves, he settled in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, hoping first to become a disc jockey, but soon working as a songwriter and session musician. His name shortened to Bobby Hart, he toured as a member of Teddy Randazzo and the Dazzlers, and with Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein wrote “Hurt So Bad,” a hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials later covered by Linda Ronstadt.He also befriended Boyce, a singer and songwriter from Charlottesville, Virginia, with a “very unusual personality, spontaneous and extroverted, yet very cool at the same time.” Boyce and Hart helped write the top 10 hit “Come a Little Bit Closer” for Jay and the Americans and were a strong enough combination that Kirshner recruited them for his Screen Gems songwriting factory: They were assigned to the Monkees. Asked to come up with songs for a quartet openly modeled on the Beatles, they devised a twangy guitar line similar to the one for “Paperback Writer” and wrote “Last Train to Clarksville,” a chart topper in 1966. When Kirshner suggested a song with a girl’s name in the title, they turned out “Valleri” and reached the top 5.For the show’s theme song, a stroll outside was enough.“Boyce began strumming his guitar and I joined in by snapping my fingers &amp; making noises with my mouth that simulated an open &amp; closed hi-hat cymbal,” Hart wrote in his memoir. “We had created the perfect recipe for inspiration and started singing about just what we were doing: ‘Walkin’ down the street.’”

Bobby Hart, co-wrote 'Last Train to Clarksville' and other hits for the Monkees has died

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and ANDREW DEMILLO&nbsp;

MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Around 50 college campuses across the country have been deluged in recent weeks with hoax calls about armed gunmen and other violence, laying bare the challenges of detecting fake threats quickly to prevent mass panic.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/active-shooter-calls-hoaxes-arkansas-villanova-iowa-7fae16fae9025cf421acb6115c30c3d3">Students at some schools spent hours</a>&nbsp;hiding under desks, only to find out later it was someone’s idea of a entertainment. On Thursday, several&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/threat-hbcu-lockdown-charlie-kirk-university-school-threats-9bbb5a44eb3c1d9de1fd2b0e298ce452">historically Black colleges</a>&nbsp;locked down or canceled classes after receiving threats, at a time when the fatal shooting of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shot-utah-turning-point-e771e3967d5a6024f7cf84d5e0228fed">conservative activist Charlie Kirk</a>&nbsp;at a Utah college had campuses newly on edge.

In other cases, schools figured out early that something was amiss, but even then it took time and resources.

The FBI is investigating, but so far there have been no arrests.

Dispatch call centers often are the last lines of defense to swatters, a burden in an era of mass shootings, including one this week at a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colorado-high-school-shooting-evergreen-6ab8dd48ce8497c79174669f1c902e49">suburban Denver high school</a>&nbsp;and another two weeks ago at a Catholic church in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/minneapolis-shooting-vigil-children-killed-c3c31d801273c77f32676f6baf8ec4f4">Minneapolis</a>&nbsp;that killed two schoolchildren and injured 21 people.

“We have so many mass shootings in this country and so many young people die,” said Wendy Via, co-founder and CEO of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “And so you can’t just blow it off because there has been a bunch of hoaxes.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/hoax-school-shootings-explainer-swatting-439046152b9c3db45bfbfd8c10321c28">The goal of swatting</a>&nbsp;is to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to respond to an address and has roots in fake bomb threats that have been around for decades.

Some of the earliest swats stemmed from online gaming disputes. But gradually they became connected to nihilistic groups, which often conduct the calls in mass batches, trading tips in online forums on how to avoid detection.

The FBI said swatting is on the rise. Since a center was created in 2023 to gather details on swatting incidents, hundreds of law enforcement agencies have voluntarily submitted thousands of incidents, the FBI said.

Swatting has become so prevalent that the U.S. Department of Education offered&nbsp;<a href="https://rems.ed.gov/docs/WA_Swatting.pdf">guidance</a>&nbsp;on how to spot hoax calls. Clues include if the caller can’t answer follow-up questions about their phone number or current location, or mispronounces names.

Purgatory, a group affiliated with The Com, which is a loose network of online threat actors, has been linked to some of the recent swats, according to reports from the&nbsp;<a href="https://globalextremism.org/post/gpahe-uncovers-group-claiming-to-be-behind-string-of-university-swatting-calls/">Global Project Against Hate and Extremism</a>, an Alabama-based nonprofit that tracks extremist groups online, and the nonprofit Center for Internet Security and Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The FBI declined to comment on the reports.

On more than two hours of livestreams captured by the nonprofits and provided to The Associated Press, the caller’s friends can be heard in the background laughing, belching and taking breaks to rap.

Keven Hendricks, a cyber crime expert who teaches law enforcement about investigating swatting, said the calls “shake your faith”

“We want there to be a reason they were doing it,” he said. “And they were doing it for the LOLs.”

One swatting attempt last month at Kansas State University serves as a case study of sorts on spotting a swat.

There were clues from the start that something was amiss. The first red flag was that it wasn't a 911 call, said Major Daryl Ascher, of the Riley County Police Department. Police declined to provide their own recording of the call, but Ascher confirmed many of the details.

Emergency calls are geolocated, meaning someone calling 911 outside the targeted area won’t get through because it will be directed to the dispatch center closest to their location. Swatters instead resort to calling non-emergency police numbers.

“That should be a dead giveaway,” said Don Beeler, chief executive officer of TDR Technology Solutions, which tracks swatting calls and offers technology to prevent them. “You're not going to look it up if you are in an emergency. That's just not how the human brain works.”

He said that if its system detects a suspicious call like that, it is transferred to an automated recording that tells the caller to hang up and dial 911.

On the technical side, halting calls made using voice over internet protocol technology, or VoIP, from being made from behind virtual private networks would stop most swats, said Hendricks, who has been swatted himself.

The next clue was that the swatter got the Manhattan, Kansas, school’s name slightly wrong, calling it Kansas City State University, referencing a city around 120 miles (193 kilometers) away.

“Obviously, if you were from Manhattan or attending a university, you would know the name of the university,” Ascher said.

As a giggling throng listened on messaging platform Telegram, the swatter then described a man armed with an AR-15 prowling the university’s library, a description that was nearly identical to the calls flooding other university towns. The gunfire that peppered the call also was a tip-off because it “sounded like it was from a TV," Ascher said.

On the livestream, the clearly skeptical dispatcher asked why the caller couldn't see the purported gunman when the shots sounded so close to him and why other 911 calls weren't flooding in.

“I’m not sure ma’am. I’m not sure if they have a phone or not,” the caller answered.

Officers still were dispatched to the library. Ascher provided no details on how many or their tactics, but said dispatchers kept them informed of the potential it was a hoax.

“I often wonder if people don’t have something better to do,” Ascher said, pausing. “It is just very taxing on law enforcement.”

The worry is that hoaxes will create complacency at campuses where active shooter alerts and drills have become a regular part of life.

“I hope we’re not desensitized enough to this enough to the point where we don’t take these alerts seriously anymore,” said Miceala Morano, a 21-year-old senior journalism major, who took cover after a recent threat at the University of Arkansas. “Unfortunately, it still is a very real possibility.”

DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and ANDREW DEMILLO&nbsp;MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Around 50 college campuses across the country have been deluged in recent weeks with hoax calls about armed gunmen and other violence, laying bare the challenges of detecting fake threats quickly to prevent mass panic.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/active-shooter-calls-hoaxes-arkansas-villanova-iowa-7fae16fae9025cf421acb6115c30c3d3">Students at some schools spent hours</a>&nbsp;hiding under desks, only to find out later it was someone’s idea of a entertainment. On Thursday, several&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/threat-hbcu-lockdown-charlie-kirk-university-school-threats-9bbb5a44eb3c1d9de1fd2b0e298ce452">historically Black colleges</a>&nbsp;locked down or canceled classes after receiving threats, at a time when the fatal shooting of&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shot-utah-turning-point-e771e3967d5a6024f7cf84d5e0228fed">conservative activist Charlie Kirk</a>&nbsp;at a Utah college had campuses newly on edge.In other cases, schools figured out early that something was amiss, but even then it took time and resources.The FBI is investigating, but so far there have been no arrests.Dispatch call centers often are the last lines of defense to swatters, a burden in an era of mass shootings, including one this week at a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/colorado-high-school-shooting-evergreen-6ab8dd48ce8497c79174669f1c902e49">suburban Denver high school</a>&nbsp;and another two weeks ago at a Catholic church in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/minneapolis-shooting-vigil-children-killed-c3c31d801273c77f32676f6baf8ec4f4">Minneapolis</a>&nbsp;that killed two schoolchildren and injured 21 people.“We have so many mass shootings in this country and so many young people die,” said Wendy Via, co-founder and CEO of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “And so you can’t just blow it off because there has been a bunch of hoaxes.”<h2>Swatting calls are on the rise</h2><a href="https://apnews.com/article/hoax-school-shootings-explainer-swatting-439046152b9c3db45bfbfd8c10321c28">The goal of swatting</a>&nbsp;is to get authorities, particularly a SWAT team, to respond to an address and has roots in fake bomb threats that have been around for decades.Some of the earliest swats stemmed from online gaming disputes. But gradually they became connected to nihilistic groups, which often conduct the calls in mass batches, trading tips in online forums on how to avoid detection.The FBI said swatting is on the rise. Since a center was created in 2023 to gather details on swatting incidents, hundreds of law enforcement agencies have voluntarily submitted thousands of incidents, the FBI said.Swatting has become so prevalent that the U.S. Department of Education offered&nbsp;<a href="https://rems.ed.gov/docs/WA_Swatting.pdf">guidance</a>&nbsp;on how to spot hoax calls. Clues include if the caller can’t answer follow-up questions about their phone number or current location, or mispronounces names.<h2>Some swats linked to the group Purgatory</h2>Purgatory, a group affiliated with The Com, which is a loose network of online threat actors, has been linked to some of the recent swats, according to reports from the&nbsp;<a href="https://globalextremism.org/post/gpahe-uncovers-group-claiming-to-be-behind-string-of-university-swatting-calls/">Global Project Against Hate and Extremism</a>, an Alabama-based nonprofit that tracks extremist groups online, and the nonprofit Center for Internet Security and Institute for Strategic Dialogue. The FBI declined to comment on the reports.On more than two hours of livestreams captured by the nonprofits and provided to The Associated Press, the caller’s friends can be heard in the background laughing, belching and taking breaks to rap.Keven Hendricks, a cyber crime expert who teaches law enforcement about investigating swatting, said the calls “shake your faith”“We want there to be a reason they were doing it,” he said. “And they were doing it for the LOLs.”<h2>Spotting a swat</h2>One swatting attempt last month at Kansas State University serves as a case study of sorts on spotting a swat.There were clues from the start that something was amiss. The first red flag was that it wasn't a 911 call, said Major Daryl Ascher, of the Riley County Police Department. Police declined to provide their own recording of the call, but Ascher confirmed many of the details.Emergency calls are geolocated, meaning someone calling 911 outside the targeted area won’t get through because it will be directed to the dispatch center closest to their location. Swatters instead resort to calling non-emergency police numbers.“That should be a dead giveaway,” said Don Beeler, chief executive officer of TDR Technology Solutions, which tracks swatting calls and offers technology to prevent them. “You're not going to look it up if you are in an emergency. That's just not how the human brain works.”He said that if its system detects a suspicious call like that, it is transferred to an automated recording that tells the caller to hang up and dial 911.On the technical side, halting calls made using voice over internet protocol technology, or VoIP, from being made from behind virtual private networks would stop most swats, said Hendricks, who has been swatted himself.<h2>Dispatchers look for clues</h2>The next clue was that the swatter got the Manhattan, Kansas, school’s name slightly wrong, calling it Kansas City State University, referencing a city around 120 miles (193 kilometers) away.“Obviously, if you were from Manhattan or attending a university, you would know the name of the university,” Ascher said.As a giggling throng listened on messaging platform Telegram, the swatter then described a man armed with an AR-15 prowling the university’s library, a description that was nearly identical to the calls flooding other university towns. The gunfire that peppered the call also was a tip-off because it “sounded like it was from a TV," Ascher said.On the livestream, the clearly skeptical dispatcher asked why the caller couldn't see the purported gunman when the shots sounded so close to him and why other 911 calls weren't flooding in.“I’m not sure ma’am. I’m not sure if they have a phone or not,” the caller answered.Officers still were dispatched to the library. Ascher provided no details on how many or their tactics, but said dispatchers kept them informed of the potential it was a hoax.“I often wonder if people don’t have something better to do,” Ascher said, pausing. “It is just very taxing on law enforcement.”It's also been taxing on students.The worry is that hoaxes will create complacency at campuses where active shooter alerts and drills have become a regular part of life.“I hope we’re not desensitized enough to this enough to the point where we don’t take these alerts seriously anymore,” said Miceala Morano, a 21-year-old senior journalism major, who took cover after a recent threat at the University of Arkansas. “Unfortunately, it still is a very real possibility.”___DeMillo reported from Little Rock, Arkansas

Waves of fake threats to colleges put students on edge, test dispatchers

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/luis-andres-henao">LUIS ANDRES HENAO</a>

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of top U.S. Catholic bishops and nuns on the front lines of the country’s immigration conflict have decried the Trump administration’s hard-line policies for tearing apart families, inciting fear and upending American church life.

While criticizing the federal government, the Catholic leaders also explained at a Thursday panel discussion at Georgetown University how they are supporting worried immigrants. With President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and ramped up immigration enforcement, they said, many families are wary of taking their children to school, going to work or church for fear of being detained and deported.

“The way that the immigration policies are enforced these days are not only destabilizing the life of the particular immigrant, but whole families, businesses, the life of children, whole communities, neighborhoods,” said Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, of Washington, D.C. “What I’m seeing in people’s eyes, is pain and a deep confusion. … Where do we go from here if we’re not welcome.”

Adding to those fears is a change made at the start of Trump’s second term that gave immigration officers more leeway to make arrests at schools and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-church-ban-lawsuit-trump-administration-7e0f3060033fc25c5982bc583587562c">houses of worship</a>&nbsp;— long considered off limits. This is being challenged in court by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/school-ice-immigration-arrests-union-lawsuit-36e2ab03c2661ab4af0134b3564ce528">teachers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-church-ban-lawsuit-trump-administration-7e0f3060033fc25c5982bc583587562c">faith groups</a>.

“For me, it’s very personal because I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” said Menjivar-Ayala. He crossed the U.S. border illegally in 1990 after leaving his native El Salvador during the country’s civil war. Now a U.S. citizen, he became the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States.

Helping keep hope alive in struggling families is a critical part of providing support, said Sister Norma Pimentel, a leading migrant-rights activist along the U.S.-Mexico border who spoke on the panel. She runs&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-immigration-catholic-abbott-paxton-dde110e3458e49d4a5553e4cd16646a5">Catholic Charities</a>&nbsp;of the Rio Grande Valley, a respite center for beleaguered migrants in McAllen, Texas.

She recalled visiting immigrant families at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/migrants-child-supervision-texas-e4994b2b6786717ea79a4be230e476bf">a detention center in a “terrible condition,”</a>&nbsp;and being moved to tears.

“I saw Border Patrol agents looking at us, and they, too, were moved and were crying,” she said. “When I walked out of there, the officer turned to me and said, ‘Thank you, sister, for helping us realize they’re human beings.’”

Department of Homeland Security officials have maintained there will be no safe spaces for those who are in the country illegally, have committed crimes, or tried to undermine immigration enforcement. They have consistently said their efforts are intended to safeguard public safety and national security.

Catholic leaders at odds with Trump over immigration

Catholic leaders follow the church’s core doctrine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-leo-peace-abortion-f0678b67da0dc74b4bc7e6e10a77a23e">against abortion</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-lgbtq-community-catholic-church-7ec2ddb2e9e94382c4a1365a57d72a88">same-sex marriage,</a>&nbsp;priorities they share with many political conservatives. But they’ve been at odds with the Trump administration on immigration.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/catholic-bishops-refugee-resettlement-trump-administration-362231100b8e4650c00d22a75b5c6ab8">announced the end</a>&nbsp;of a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and migrant children, saying the “heartbreaking” decision followed the Trump administration’s abrupt halt to funding.

In February, the late&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90">Pope Francis also issued a major rebuke</a>&nbsp;to the administration’s plans for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-churches-trump-immigration-crackdown-sanctuary-2746fa5c80aa8e2ce6db878e0d6e1c24">mass deportations of migrants</a>, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity.

At the panel, Miami Archbishop&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-mexico-miami-religion-ron-desantis-2f5e1e275b78ec4f053fc42e29bbb2be">Thomas Wenski</a>&nbsp;highlighted the contributions of immigrants to the country’s economy.

“If you ask people in agriculture, you ask in the service industry, you ask people in health care, you ask the people in the construction field, and they’ll tell you that some of their best workers are immigrants,” said Wenski, who has served on the USCCB’s migration committee. “Enforcement is always going to be part of any immigration policy, but we have to rationalize it and humanize it.”

Wenski joined the “Knights on Bikes” ministry, an initiative led by the Knights of Columbus that draws attention to the spiritual needs of people held at immigration detention centers, including the one in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” He recalled praying a rosary with the bikers in the scorching heat outside its walls. Days later, he got permission to celebrate Mass inside the facility.

“The fact that we invite these detainees to pray, even in this very dehumanizing situation, is a way of emphasizing and invoking their dignity,” he said. “More importantly that God has not forgotten them.”

Los Angeles archdiocese suffers after immigration raids

In Los Angeles County, the Trump administration’s ramped up arrests of people suspected of living in the country illegally has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-essay/immigration-raids-life-fear-photo-essay-d48664d10d37596ed8d7fb81d617129f">upended life</a>&nbsp;for tens of thousands of people. About a third of the county’s 10 million residents are foreign-born, and many are now trying to live without being noticed.

Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez said on the panel that the fear-inducing effect of immigration raids lowered attendance at Mass, and affected valuable church programs that mostly serve immigrants. The archdiocese is helping those being detained and facing deportation with legal and financial assistance.

“People are really afraid of going out of their homes,” said Gomez, the first Latino to serve as USCCB president. “A lot of the priests are telling me here in the archdiocese that at least 30% of the people attending Mass are not coming anymore.”

Panelists warn of fallout from immigration crackdown

The panel, which included academics and legal experts, lamented the suffering of children separated from their parents. Legal expert Ashley Feasley, who is with Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, noted the millions of children who are U.S. citizens and have parents and other family members in the country illegally.

“When we think about the level of enforcement that is starting, occurring, and will intensify … we have to think about these families. What will they do? How will they handle it if a parent gets detained?” Feasley said.

Trump has portrayed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-dc-guard-police-crime-cd2bc19a0c6b7e4bf3a2e1da6c57ce6e">his federal law enforcement surge in Washington</a>&nbsp;as focused on tackling crime. But data from the federal operation,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-immigration-federal-intervention-543a6079974fda90f96bae17ae53729e">analyzed by The Associated Press</a>, shows that more than 40% of the arrests made over the monthlong operation were in fact related to immigration.

“The president says that he’s enforcing these policies to make our cities safer, but if immigrants, if people are afraid of interacting with law enforcement, with police, reporting crimes, obviously they’re going to become targets of crimes,” said Menjivar-Ayala.

“This is not going to help to make our streets, our communities safer.”

Mark Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, Texas, said it is crucial to continue informing immigrant communities about their rights

“We don’t stop at praying,” Seitz, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, told the panel.

“Prayer moves us to action, and that’s what we ought to be doing — to abide by our support, our love, our accompaniment, by being present to people who’ve been terrorized by the actions of the government.”

At end of the panel, Gomez said it’s important to remember that the United States is a country of immigrants.

“I think we’ll have immigrant reform very soon. That’s my prayer and my dream -- that we can get something done, finally, as a solution of these challenges,” he said.

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.

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/luis-andres-henao">LUIS ANDRES HENAO</a>WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of top U.S. Catholic bishops and nuns on the front lines of the country’s immigration conflict have decried the Trump administration’s hard-line policies for tearing apart families, inciting fear and upending American church life.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mt_J7S38sPU?si=PsgqLQbKSK3o3tan&amp;start=5" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>While criticizing the federal government, the Catholic leaders also explained at a Thursday panel discussion at Georgetown University how they are supporting worried immigrants. With President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda and ramped up immigration enforcement, they said, many families are wary of taking their children to school, going to work or church for fear of being detained and deported.“The way that the immigration policies are enforced these days are not only destabilizing the life of the particular immigrant, but whole families, businesses, the life of children, whole communities, neighborhoods,” said Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, of Washington, D.C. “What I’m seeing in people’s eyes, is pain and a deep confusion. … Where do we go from here if we’re not welcome.”Adding to those fears is a change made at the start of Trump’s second term that gave immigration officers more leeway to make arrests at schools and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-church-ban-lawsuit-trump-administration-7e0f3060033fc25c5982bc583587562c">houses of worship</a>&nbsp;— long considered off limits. This is being challenged in court by&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/school-ice-immigration-arrests-union-lawsuit-36e2ab03c2661ab4af0134b3564ce528">teachers</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-arrests-church-ban-lawsuit-trump-administration-7e0f3060033fc25c5982bc583587562c">faith groups</a>.“For me, it’s very personal because I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” said Menjivar-Ayala. He crossed the U.S. border illegally in 1990 after leaving his native El Salvador during the country’s civil war. Now a U.S. citizen, he became the first Salvadoran bishop in the United States.Helping keep hope alive in struggling families is a critical part of providing support, said Sister Norma Pimentel, a leading migrant-rights activist along the U.S.-Mexico border who spoke on the panel. She runs&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/texas-immigration-catholic-abbott-paxton-dde110e3458e49d4a5553e4cd16646a5">Catholic Charities</a>&nbsp;of the Rio Grande Valley, a respite center for beleaguered migrants in McAllen, Texas.She recalled visiting immigrant families at&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/migrants-child-supervision-texas-e4994b2b6786717ea79a4be230e476bf">a detention center in a “terrible condition,”</a>&nbsp;and being moved to tears.“I saw Border Patrol agents looking at us, and they, too, were moved and were crying,” she said. “When I walked out of there, the officer turned to me and said, ‘Thank you, sister, for helping us realize they’re human beings.’”Department of Homeland Security officials have maintained there will be no safe spaces for those who are in the country illegally, have committed crimes, or tried to undermine immigration enforcement. They have consistently said their efforts are intended to safeguard public safety and national security.<h2>Catholic leaders at odds with Trump over immigration</h2>Catholic leaders follow the church’s core doctrine&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-leo-peace-abortion-f0678b67da0dc74b4bc7e6e10a77a23e">against abortion</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-lgbtq-community-catholic-church-7ec2ddb2e9e94382c4a1365a57d72a88">same-sex marriage,</a>&nbsp;priorities they share with many political conservatives. But they’ve been at odds with the Trump administration on immigration.Earlier this year, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/catholic-bishops-refugee-resettlement-trump-administration-362231100b8e4650c00d22a75b5c6ab8">announced the end</a>&nbsp;of a half-century of partnerships with the federal government to serve refugees and migrant children, saying the “heartbreaking” decision followed the Trump administration’s abrupt halt to funding.In February, the late&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-trump-migration-09a89091f8e7dc3270099f0947d04e90">Pope Francis also issued a major rebuke</a>&nbsp;to the administration’s plans for&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/religion-churches-trump-immigration-crackdown-sanctuary-2746fa5c80aa8e2ce6db878e0d6e1c24">mass deportations of migrants</a>, warning that the forceful removal of people purely because of their illegal status deprives them of their inherent dignity.At the panel, Miami Archbishop&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/immigration-mexico-miami-religion-ron-desantis-2f5e1e275b78ec4f053fc42e29bbb2be">Thomas Wenski</a>&nbsp;highlighted the contributions of immigrants to the country’s economy.“If you ask people in agriculture, you ask in the service industry, you ask people in health care, you ask the people in the construction field, and they’ll tell you that some of their best workers are immigrants,” said Wenski, who has served on the USCCB’s migration committee. “Enforcement is always going to be part of any immigration policy, but we have to rationalize it and humanize it.”Wenski joined the “Knights on Bikes” ministry, an initiative led by the Knights of Columbus that draws attention to the spiritual needs of people held at immigration detention centers, including the one in the Florida Everglades dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” He recalled praying a rosary with the bikers in the scorching heat outside its walls. Days later, he got permission to celebrate Mass inside the facility.“The fact that we invite these detainees to pray, even in this very dehumanizing situation, is a way of emphasizing and invoking their dignity,” he said. “More importantly that God has not forgotten them.”<h2>Los Angeles archdiocese suffers after immigration raids</h2>In Los Angeles County, the Trump administration’s ramped up arrests of people suspected of living in the country illegally has&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/photo-essay/immigration-raids-life-fear-photo-essay-d48664d10d37596ed8d7fb81d617129f">upended life</a>&nbsp;for tens of thousands of people. About a third of the county’s 10 million residents are foreign-born, and many are now trying to live without being noticed.Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez said on the panel that the fear-inducing effect of immigration raids lowered attendance at Mass, and affected valuable church programs that mostly serve immigrants. The archdiocese is helping those being detained and facing deportation with legal and financial assistance.“People are really afraid of going out of their homes,” said Gomez, the first Latino to serve as USCCB president. “A lot of the priests are telling me here in the archdiocese that at least 30% of the people attending Mass are not coming anymore.”<h2>Panelists warn of fallout from immigration crackdown</h2>The panel, which included academics and legal experts, lamented the suffering of children separated from their parents. Legal expert Ashley Feasley, who is with Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, noted the millions of children who are U.S. citizens and have parents and other family members in the country illegally.“When we think about the level of enforcement that is starting, occurring, and will intensify … we have to think about these families. What will they do? How will they handle it if a parent gets detained?” Feasley said.Trump has portrayed&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-washington-dc-guard-police-crime-cd2bc19a0c6b7e4bf3a2e1da6c57ce6e">his federal law enforcement surge in Washington</a>&nbsp;as focused on tackling crime. But data from the federal operation,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/dc-immigration-federal-intervention-543a6079974fda90f96bae17ae53729e">analyzed by The Associated Press</a>, shows that more than 40% of the arrests made over the monthlong operation were in fact related to immigration.“The president says that he’s enforcing these policies to make our cities safer, but if immigrants, if people are afraid of interacting with law enforcement, with police, reporting crimes, obviously they’re going to become targets of crimes,” said Menjivar-Ayala.“This is not going to help to make our streets, our communities safer.”<h2>Ministering to immigrants at the border</h2>Mark Seitz, the bishop of El Paso, Texas, said it is crucial to continue informing immigrant communities about their rights“We don’t stop at praying,” Seitz, chair of the USCCB’s Committee on Migration, told the panel.“Prayer moves us to action, and that’s what we ought to be doing — to abide by our support, our love, our accompaniment, by being present to people who’ve been terrorized by the actions of the government.”At end of the panel, Gomez said it’s important to remember that the United States is a country of immigrants.“I think we’ll have immigrant reform very soon. That’s my prayer and my dream -- that we can get something done, finally, as a solution of these challenges,” he said.___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.

🎥US Catholic bishops decry immigration raids upending church life

KANSAS CITY —Worlds of Fun was evacuated Saturday night on the opening of their Halloween Haunt event.

Just before 9:30pm. Saturday, Law enforcement and the Kansas City Fire Department responded to a reported shots fired call at Worlds of Fun, according to KCFD Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.

 After a thorough investigation and patient assessment only one individual was transported for an unrelated medical issue. KCFD is unaware of the circumstances leading up to the call only that no injuries related to the shots fired call were reported.

Kansas City police are in charge of the investigation. KCPD Along with Worlds of Fun security evacuated and cleared the park in an extremely short period of time, according to Hopkins.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757850599425.png" alt="Photo by Ryan Hennessy courtesy KCTV" />
 <figcaption>Photo by Ryan Hennessy courtesy KCTV</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —Worlds of Fun was evacuated Saturday night on the opening of their Halloween Haunt event.Just before 9:30pm. Saturday, Law enforcement and the Kansas City Fire Department responded to a reported shots fired call at Worlds of Fun, according to KCFD Battalion Chief Michael Hopkins.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757850922894.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure> After a thorough investigation and patient assessment only one individual was transported for an unrelated medical issue. KCFD is unaware of the circumstances leading up to the call only that no injuries related to the shots fired call were reported.Kansas City police are in charge of the investigation. KCPD Along with Worlds of Fun security evacuated and cleared the park in an extremely short period of time, according to Hopkins.

Worlds of Fun evacuated after report of gunfire

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/josh-boak">JOSH BOAK</a>

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">Russia-Ukraine war</a>&nbsp;would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum.

Trump posted on his social media site that NATO’S commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100%" and the purchase of Russian oil by some members of the alliance is “shocking.” As if speaking with NATO members, he said: “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”

Since 2023, NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-oil-china-turkey-f377653aebf6d5a34a09a7466d85fd56">Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air</a>. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in purchasing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia. It’s unclear whether Trump would want to directly confront Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. That leaves uncertain whether the threats might actually lead to new tariffs or a ban on Russian oil purchases.

Trump’s post arrives after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-poland-drones-sanctions-rafale-429ff46431a916feff629f26a5d0c0da">the Wednesday flight</a>&nbsp;of multiple Russian drones into Poland, an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland shot down the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incursion and Russia’s motives by saying it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-russia-poland-drones-air-defense-dc1a039d30388f2ebcc3b78a5dda365b">“could have been a mistake.”</a>

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the drone incursion was “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous” as he judged NATO’s response so far to be appropriate. Still, Rubio said it was unclear if the drones were intentionally sent to Poland.

<a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va7Tv2j59PwNEyqGCi1y" target="_blank">◆ Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel.</a>

“The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically,” Rubio said. “If that’s the case, that the evidence leads us there, then obviously that would be a highly escalatory move.”

While Trump as a candidate promised to end the war quickly, he has yet to hit the pressure points needed to end the violence and has at times been seen as reluctant to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. Congress is currently trying to get the U.S. president to back a bill toughening sanctions, after Trump last month hosted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-putin-summit-ukraine-war-takeaways-b9ff04c4143c6ac228e196ddaf6dd6d3">Putin in Alaska</a>&nbsp;for talks that failed to deliver on progress toward peace.

The U.S. and its allies are seeking to show a firmer degree of resolve against Russia. At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Friday, acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea said America “will defend every inch of NATO territory” and that the drones entering Poland “intentionally or otherwise show immense disrespect for good-faith U.S. efforts to bring an end to this conflict.”

Britain on Friday also took steps to penalize the trading of Russian oil, including a ban on 70 vessels allegedly used in its transportation. The United Kingdom also sanctioned 30 individuals and companies, included businesses based in China and Turkey, that have supplied Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.

Trump in his post Saturday said a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”

The president said that NATO members should put the 50% to 100% tariffs on China and withdraw them if the war that launched with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip.”

The U.S. president has already imposed a 25% import tax on goods from India, specifically for its buying of Russian energy products. He has placed in total a 50% tariff on India, though Trump has indicated that negotiations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could help settle differences.

The prospect of further import tax hikes on China and its retaliation could carry collateral damage for the U.S. and European economies.

Earlier this year, Trump hit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariff-economy-recession-china-imports-trade-8d90bb37735e833c43a7b7a9d5a0b9a2">Chinese goods with new tariffs totaling 145%</a>, prompting China to respond with 125% import taxes on American goods. Taxes at that level were essentially a blockade on commerce between the world’s two largest economies, causing worries about global growth that led to negotiations that ratcheted down the tariffs being levied by both nations.

So that trade talks could proceed, America lowered its tariffs against China to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariffs-china-deadline-ad2c003e9a709a1dfdfc9a9fd3798baf">still-high 30%</a>, while China took its rate to 10%.

In his post, the Republican president said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He did not include in that list Putin, who launched the invasion.

Trump’s post builds on a call Friday with finance ministers in the Group of Seven, a forum of industrialized democracies. During the call, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on their counterparts to have a “unified front” to cut off “the revenues funding Putin’s war machine,” according to Greer’s office.

By&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/author/josh-boak">JOSH BOAK</a>BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he believes the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine">Russia-Ukraine war</a>&nbsp;would end if all NATO countries stopped buying oil from Russia and placed tariffs on China of 50% to 100% for its purchases of Russian petroleum.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><a href="https://t.co/hrV8gVIacd">pic.twitter.com/hrV8gVIacd</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1966905599847002299?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">A LETTER SENT BY PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP TO ALL NATO NATIONS AND, THE WORLD: <a href="https://t.co/x5CrJjPgLr">pic.twitter.com/x5CrJjPgLr</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1966846399355732034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Trump posted on his social media site that NATO’S commitment to winning the war “has been far less than 100%" and the purchase of Russian oil by some members of the alliance is “shocking.” As if speaking with NATO members, he said: “It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia.”Since 2023, NATO member Turkey has been the third largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India. according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-russia-oil-china-turkey-f377653aebf6d5a34a09a7466d85fd56">Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air</a>. Other members of the 32-state alliance involved in purchasing Russian oil include Hungary and Slovakia. It’s unclear whether Trump would want to directly confront Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. That leaves uncertain whether the threats might actually lead to new tariffs or a ban on Russian oil purchases.Trump’s post arrives after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-poland-drones-sanctions-rafale-429ff46431a916feff629f26a5d0c0da">the Wednesday flight</a>&nbsp;of multiple Russian drones into Poland, an escalatory move by Russia as it was entering the airspace of a NATO ally. Poland shot down the drones, yet Trump played down the severity of the incursion and Russia’s motives by saying it&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/nato-russia-poland-drones-air-defense-dc1a039d30388f2ebcc3b78a5dda365b">“could have been a mistake.”</a>U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the drone incursion was “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous” as he judged NATO’s response so far to be appropriate. Still, Rubio said it was unclear if the drones were intentionally sent to Poland.<a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va7Tv2j59PwNEyqGCi1y" target="_blank">◆ Stay up to date with similar stories by signing up to our WhatsApp channel.</a>“The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically,” Rubio said. “If that’s the case, that the evidence leads us there, then obviously that would be a highly escalatory move.”While Trump as a candidate promised to end the war quickly, he has yet to hit the pressure points needed to end the violence and has at times been seen as reluctant to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin. Congress is currently trying to get the U.S. president to back a bill toughening sanctions, after Trump last month hosted&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-putin-summit-ukraine-war-takeaways-b9ff04c4143c6ac228e196ddaf6dd6d3">Putin in Alaska</a>&nbsp;for talks that failed to deliver on progress toward peace.The U.S. and its allies are seeking to show a firmer degree of resolve against Russia. At an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Friday, acting U.S. Ambassador Dorothy Shea said America “will defend every inch of NATO territory” and that the drones entering Poland “intentionally or otherwise show immense disrespect for good-faith U.S. efforts to bring an end to this conflict.”Britain on Friday also took steps to penalize the trading of Russian oil, including a ban on 70 vessels allegedly used in its transportation. The United Kingdom also sanctioned 30 individuals and companies, included businesses based in China and Turkey, that have supplied Russia with electronics, chemicals, explosives and other weapons components.Trump in his post Saturday said a NATO ban on Russian oil plus tariffs on China would “also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR.”The president said that NATO members should put the 50% to 100% tariffs on China and withdraw them if the war that launched with Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends.“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia,” he posted, and powerful tariffs “will break that grip.”The U.S. president has already imposed a 25% import tax on goods from India, specifically for its buying of Russian energy products. He has placed in total a 50% tariff on India, though Trump has indicated that negotiations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi could help settle differences.The prospect of further import tax hikes on China and its retaliation could carry collateral damage for the U.S. and European economies.Earlier this year, Trump hit&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariff-economy-recession-china-imports-trade-8d90bb37735e833c43a7b7a9d5a0b9a2">Chinese goods with new tariffs totaling 145%</a>, prompting China to respond with 125% import taxes on American goods. Taxes at that level were essentially a blockade on commerce between the world’s two largest economies, causing worries about global growth that led to negotiations that ratcheted down the tariffs being levied by both nations.So that trade talks could proceed, America lowered its tariffs against China to a&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-trade-tariffs-china-deadline-ad2c003e9a709a1dfdfc9a9fd3798baf">still-high 30%</a>, while China took its rate to 10%.In his post, the Republican president said responsibility for the war fell on his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He did not include in that list Putin, who launched the invasion.Trump’s post builds on a call Friday with finance ministers in the Group of Seven, a forum of industrialized democracies. During the call, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called on their counterparts to have a “unified front” to cut off “the revenues funding Putin’s war machine,” according to Greer’s office.___

Read Trump's letter to NATO nations on ‘major sanctions’ for Russia 

KANSAS CITY —Nine people were injured in an accident just before 4p.m. Friday in Kansas City, Missouri.

A preliminary investigation revealed that a white SUV was eastbound on Linwood Boulevard above the speed limit, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMaratino. The SUV ran the red traffic light and collided with a school bus.. 

The driver of the school bus and seven children were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the white SUV was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The accident remains under investigation

KANSAS CITY —Nine people were injured in an accident just before 4p.m. Friday in Kansas City, Missouri.A preliminary investigation revealed that a white SUV was eastbound on Linwood Boulevard above the speed limit, according to KCPD Sergeant Phil DiMaratino. The SUV ran the red traffic light and collided with a school bus.. The driver of the school bus and seven children were transported to an area hospital with minor injuries. The driver of the white SUV was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The accident remains under investigation---------------

KCPD: SUV driver in school bus crash was traveling above speed limit

KANSAS CITY– A member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club pleaded guilty this week before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays for his involvement in an assault against a member of a rival motorcycle club, according to the United State's Attorney.

Mark A. Crump, also known as “Navajo,” 55, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., pleaded guilty today to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering.

On July 20, 2023, Crump, Jarrid A. Hammer, and another member of the Pagan’s assaulted a lone rival motorcycle gang member at a bar &amp; grill in North Kansas City, Mo.&nbsp; Hammer told the victim that they were there to shut the victim’s club down, then flipped a table over knocking the victim to the ground.&nbsp; Once on the ground, Hammer, Crump and the other Pagan’s member began stomping, kicking and punching the victim.&nbsp; The victim later told law enforcement that those who assaulted him were wearing steel-toed boots.&nbsp; Crump, Hammer and the other Pagan’s member fled the bar &amp; grill before any law enforcement arrived.&nbsp; The victim was later transported by ambulance to a local hospital, suffering from a head contusion (bruise on the brain), rib fracture, hemothorax (accumulation of blood in the area between the chest wall and lungs), a left pulmonary contusion (bruising of the lung), pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and a traumatic brain injury.

Hammer pleaded guilty to the assault on June 18, 2025, and is awaiting sentencing.

Under federal statutes, Crump is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley K. Kavanaugh and Robert Smith. It was investigated by the FBI, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/8/1723844162274.png" alt="courtesy image" />
 <figcaption>courtesy image</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY– A member of the Pagan’s Motorcycle Club pleaded guilty this week before U.S. District Judge Greg Kays for his involvement in an assault against a member of a rival motorcycle club, according to the United State's Attorney.Mark A. Crump, also known as “Navajo,” 55, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., pleaded guilty today to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury in aid of racketeering.On July 20, 2023, Crump, Jarrid A. Hammer, and another member of the Pagan’s assaulted a lone rival motorcycle gang member at a bar &amp; grill in North Kansas City, Mo.&nbsp; Hammer told the victim that they were there to shut the victim’s club down, then flipped a table over knocking the victim to the ground.&nbsp; Once on the ground, Hammer, Crump and the other Pagan’s member began stomping, kicking and punching the victim.&nbsp; The victim later told law enforcement that those who assaulted him were wearing steel-toed boots.&nbsp; Crump, Hammer and the other Pagan’s member fled the bar &amp; grill before any law enforcement arrived.&nbsp; The victim was later transported by ambulance to a local hospital, suffering from a head contusion (bruise on the brain), rib fracture, hemothorax (accumulation of blood in the area between the chest wall and lungs), a left pulmonary contusion (bruising of the lung), pneumothorax (collapsed lung) and a traumatic brain injury.Hammer pleaded guilty to the assault on June 18, 2025, and is awaiting sentencing.Under federal statutes, Crump is subject to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bradley K. Kavanaugh and Robert Smith. It was investigated by the FBI, the Independence, Mo., Police Department, the Blue Springs, Mo., Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

Member of KC area motorcycle club enters plea for attack on rival club member

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Wichita police arrested 27-year-old Jordan Lee Jones following a shooting Sunday night that left a 25-year-old family member injured.

Just before 10p.m. Sept. 7, officers responded to a shooting in the 1200 block of N. Grove in Wichita, according to a media release. They found a 25-year-old man in a vehicle in a driveway with a gunshot wound to the midsection. The victim, who is related to the suspect, was taken to a local hospital in critical but stable condition.

Investigators learned that&nbsp;a domestic disturbance between the two family members escalated into a physical fight outside the home, leading to the shooting.&nbsp;

Community tips helped officers track Jones to residence in the 1600 block of S. Edgemoor in Wichita. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into jail facing charges of aggravated battery and criminal use of weapons. He remains jailed on bonds just over $100,000, according to online jail records.

Chief Joe Sullivan said the incident underscores the importance of community cooperation:

“The arrest is a clear example of how quickly we can bring a dangerous situation to a close when our community and officers work together. We are grateful for the tips that helped us locate the suspect and keep Wichita safe.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757415850973.png" alt="Jones photo Sedgwick County" />
 <figcaption>Jones photo Sedgwick County</figcaption>
 </figure>SEDGWICK COUNTY — Wichita police arrested 27-year-old Jordan Lee Jones following a shooting Sunday night that left a 25-year-old family member injured.Just before 10p.m. Sept. 7, officers responded to a shooting in the 1200 block of N. Grove in Wichita, according to a media release. They found a 25-year-old man in a vehicle in a driveway with a gunshot wound to the midsection. The victim, who is related to the suspect, was taken to a local hospital in critical but stable condition.Investigators learned that&nbsp;a domestic disturbance between the two family members escalated into a physical fight outside the home, leading to the shooting.&nbsp;Community tips helped officers track Jones to residence in the 1600 block of S. Edgemoor in Wichita. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into jail facing charges of aggravated battery and criminal use of weapons. He remains jailed on bonds just over $100,000, according to online jail records.Chief Joe Sullivan said the incident underscores the importance of community cooperation:“The arrest is a clear example of how quickly we can bring a dangerous situation to a close when our community and officers work together. We are grateful for the tips that helped us locate the suspect and keep Wichita safe.”

Police: Kansas man shot family member during fight

By MELISSA GOLDIN &nbsp;Associated Press

A flood of false and misleading claims filled social media in the two days it took officials to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shooter-search-utah-governor-21ba12bbf01579fd2fbcdbe1da03dae5">arrest and publicly identify</a>&nbsp;22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-conservative-activist-shot-546165a8151104e0938a5e085be1e8bd">Wednesday's assassination</a>&nbsp;of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.

The reaction followed a well-worn pattern of misinformation and conspiracy theories that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/subway-burning-misinformation-amelia-carter-c566897a3abc073c0a587188e17a7688">often come after</a>&nbsp;breaking news events when facts can be fluid. Those kinds of posts appeared within hours of the shooting, with some of the earliest incorrectly identifying the gunman before officials had released any information about a suspect. More claims spawned on Thursday and Friday, presenting old videos and photos as recent footage of the shooter and erroneously reporting on Robinson's background.

CLAIM: Robinson is a registered Republican.

THE FACTS: This is false.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/charlie-kirk-shooting-news#00000199-3e68-d49f-a99f-3fef75fe0000">Utah records</a>&nbsp;say Robinson was registered as a voter, but not affiliated with either political party. His voter status is inactive, meaning&nbsp;<a href="https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title20A/Chapter2/20A-2-S505.html?v=C20A-2-S505_2025050720250507">he did not vote</a>&nbsp;in two regular general elections after receiving a notice from his county clerk. According to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Robinson's family said he had become “more political in recent years” and had criticized Kirk, mentioning that he was due to appear at an event in Utah and saying “Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.” Cox stated that ammunition found at the scene was engraved with taunting, anti-fascist and meme culture messaging.

CLAIM: Robinson is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

THE FACTS: This is false. Priscilla Yeverino, spokesperson for the group, confirmed that “we have no members in DSA named Tyler Robinson anywhere in the country.” A photo of a person who bears a resemblance to Robinson wearing a Salt Lake City DSA shirt with the slogan “bee the change” has been used to support this claim. Yeverino declined to confirm that person's identity “for this person's privacy and safety.” Prior to Robinson’s arrest, many on social media were quick to assume the shooter was a Democrat and prominent conservative figures, including President Donald Trump, blamed liberal politics for Kirk’s death.

CLAIM: A video of a man running toward a parking lot shows the shooter escaping.

THE FACTS: This is false.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BurVXG-9aCs">The video</a>&nbsp;was filmed on July 28, more than a month before Kirk was shot and began spreading before Robinson was arrested. It shows Dakota Hawver, the suspected gunman who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/reno-nevada-grand-sierra-resort-shooting-e8892d51ec4dd2d61b507012773a8c4d">killed three people</a>&nbsp;and injured three others at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, running from the front of the resort in the direction of its front parking lot. Multiple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kolotv.com/2025/07/29/newly-released-video-shows-gsr-gunman-moments-after-shooting/">local news networks</a>&nbsp;published the footage after the Reno shooting. Hawver was shot by police and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/reno-nevada-casino-shooting-d5f6cf374a331373b27c3496405dffa3">died in the hospital</a>&nbsp;days later. A version of the misrepresented video included a caption falsely stating: “video shows Charlie Kirk's real shooter escaping.”

CLAIM: Democrats opposed a moment of prayer for Kirk in the House.

THE FACTS: This is misleading. On Wednesday, the House observed a “moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family” at the request of Speaker Mike Johnson. A subsequent request for a “moment of prayer out loud” elicited vocal objections and chaos on the House floor.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/us-house-of-representatives/house-observes-moment-of-silence-for-charlie-kirk/665499">Footage shows</a>&nbsp;members standing silently for about 30 seconds. Johnson then bangs his gavel and Rep. Lauren Boebert says that “silent prayers get silent results” before requesting that someone lead a spoken prayer as well. An audible “no” can be heard in response, among other protests. Shouting continues for about a minute, requiring Johnson to bang his gavel and state, “the House will be in order” several times. In the commotion, Johnson also says: “We will join for prayer right after this, OK?” Many posts claiming that Democrats had opposed a moment of prayer for Kirk shared clips that omitted Johnson's initial request and the ensuing silence.

CLAIM: The shooter was identified as Michael Mallinson or George Zinn.

THE FACTS: This is false. Robinson was named as the suspected shooter on Friday. Others, including Mallinson and Zinn, were misidentified as the shooter as authorities searched for a suspect. Mallinson is a 77-year-old Toronto resident who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-retiree-falsely-accused-of-charlie-kirk-shooting-1.7631799">told the CBC</a>&nbsp;that he found out he had been wrongly accused after waking up from a nap and receiving a panicked call from his daughter telling him to delete his social media accounts. He said that before the shooting he had “never heard of Charlie Kirk.” Mallinson bears a resemblance to a man named George Zinn, who was filmed being dragged away handcuffed by two officers. The video spread widely on social media after the shooting. The Utah Public Safety Department&nbsp;<a href="https://mailchi.mp/utah/for-immediate-release-updates-on-charlie-kirk-shooting-at-uvu?e=98970b8875">said in a statement</a>&nbsp;that it “initially took in George Zinn as a suspect,” but that he was later released and charged with obstruction. The statement said Zinn, as well as a second person who was taken into custody and released after interrogation, has “no current ties to the shooting.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757548431752.png" alt="Courtesy image" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy image</figcaption>
 </figure>By MELISSA GOLDIN &nbsp;Associated PressA flood of false and misleading claims filled social media in the two days it took officials to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-shooter-search-utah-governor-21ba12bbf01579fd2fbcdbe1da03dae5">arrest and publicly identify</a>&nbsp;22-year-old Tyler Robinson as the suspect in&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/charlie-kirk-conservative-activist-shot-546165a8151104e0938a5e085be1e8bd">Wednesday's assassination</a>&nbsp;of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University.The reaction followed a well-worn pattern of misinformation and conspiracy theories that&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/subway-burning-misinformation-amelia-carter-c566897a3abc073c0a587188e17a7688">often come after</a>&nbsp;breaking news events when facts can be fluid. Those kinds of posts appeared within hours of the shooting, with some of the earliest incorrectly identifying the gunman before officials had released any information about a suspect. More claims spawned on Thursday and Friday, presenting old videos and photos as recent footage of the shooter and erroneously reporting on Robinson's background.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757689066912.png" alt="Tyler Robinson photo released from the Utah Governor" />
 <figcaption>Tyler Robinson photo released from the Utah Governor</figcaption>
 </figure>Here's a look at the facts.CLAIM: Robinson is a registered Republican.THE FACTS: This is false.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/live/charlie-kirk-shooting-news#00000199-3e68-d49f-a99f-3fef75fe0000">Utah records</a>&nbsp;say Robinson was registered as a voter, but not affiliated with either political party. His voter status is inactive, meaning&nbsp;<a href="https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Title20A/Chapter2/20A-2-S505.html?v=C20A-2-S505_2025050720250507">he did not vote</a>&nbsp;in two regular general elections after receiving a notice from his county clerk. According to Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Robinson's family said he had become “more political in recent years” and had criticized Kirk, mentioning that he was due to appear at an event in Utah and saying “Kirk was full of hate and spreading hate.” Cox stated that ammunition found at the scene was engraved with taunting, anti-fascist and meme culture messaging.___CLAIM: Robinson is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.THE FACTS: This is false. Priscilla Yeverino, spokesperson for the group, confirmed that “we have no members in DSA named Tyler Robinson anywhere in the country.” A photo of a person who bears a resemblance to Robinson wearing a Salt Lake City DSA shirt with the slogan “bee the change” has been used to support this claim. Yeverino declined to confirm that person's identity “for this person's privacy and safety.” Prior to Robinson’s arrest, many on social media were quick to assume the shooter was a Democrat and prominent conservative figures, including President Donald Trump, blamed liberal politics for Kirk’s death.__CLAIM: A video of a man running toward a parking lot shows the shooter escaping.<div><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BurVXG-9aCs?si=3Wnagl7bCS47-7Lq" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>THE FACTS: This is false.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BurVXG-9aCs">The video</a>&nbsp;was filmed on July 28, more than a month before Kirk was shot and began spreading before Robinson was arrested. It shows Dakota Hawver, the suspected gunman who&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/reno-nevada-grand-sierra-resort-shooting-e8892d51ec4dd2d61b507012773a8c4d">killed three people</a>&nbsp;and injured three others at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, running from the front of the resort in the direction of its front parking lot. Multiple&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kolotv.com/2025/07/29/newly-released-video-shows-gsr-gunman-moments-after-shooting/">local news networks</a>&nbsp;published the footage after the Reno shooting. Hawver was shot by police and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/reno-nevada-casino-shooting-d5f6cf374a331373b27c3496405dffa3">died in the hospital</a>&nbsp;days later. A version of the misrepresented video included a caption falsely stating: “video shows Charlie Kirk's real shooter escaping.”___CLAIM: Democrats opposed a moment of prayer for Kirk in the House.THE FACTS: This is misleading. On Wednesday, the House observed a “moment of prayer for Charlie Kirk and his family” at the request of Speaker Mike Johnson. A subsequent request for a “moment of prayer out loud” elicited vocal objections and chaos on the House floor.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/us-house-of-representatives/house-observes-moment-of-silence-for-charlie-kirk/665499">Footage shows</a>&nbsp;members standing silently for about 30 seconds. Johnson then bangs his gavel and Rep. Lauren Boebert says that “silent prayers get silent results” before requesting that someone lead a spoken prayer as well. An audible “no” can be heard in response, among other protests. Shouting continues for about a minute, requiring Johnson to bang his gavel and state, “the House will be in order” several times. In the commotion, Johnson also says: “We will join for prayer right after this, OK?” Many posts claiming that Democrats had opposed a moment of prayer for Kirk shared clips that omitted Johnson's initial request and the ensuing silence.___CLAIM: The shooter was identified as Michael Mallinson or George Zinn.THE FACTS: This is false. Robinson was named as the suspected shooter on Friday. Others, including Mallinson and Zinn, were misidentified as the shooter as authorities searched for a suspect. Mallinson is a 77-year-old Toronto resident who&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/toronto-retiree-falsely-accused-of-charlie-kirk-shooting-1.7631799">told the CBC</a>&nbsp;that he found out he had been wrongly accused after waking up from a nap and receiving a panicked call from his daughter telling him to delete his social media accounts. He said that before the shooting he had “never heard of Charlie Kirk.” Mallinson bears a resemblance to a man named George Zinn, who was filmed being dragged away handcuffed by two officers. The video spread widely on social media after the shooting. The Utah Public Safety Department&nbsp;<a href="https://mailchi.mp/utah/for-immediate-release-updates-on-charlie-kirk-shooting-at-uvu?e=98970b8875">said in a statement</a>&nbsp;that it “initially took in George Zinn as a suspect,” but that he was later released and charged with obstruction. The statement said Zinn, as well as a second person who was taken into custody and released after interrogation, has “no current ties to the shooting.”

Assassination of Charlie Kirk prompts flood of false and misleading claims online

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration announced sweeping reforms to rein in misleading direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements.

The FDA is sending thousands of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/188616/download?attachment">letters</a>&nbsp;warning pharmaceutical companies to remove misleading ads and issuing approximately 100 cease-and-desist letters to companies with deceptive ads.&nbsp;In addition to enforcing existing law, the FDA is initiating rulemaking to close the “adequate provision” loophole created in 1997, which drug companies have used to conceal critical safety risks in broadcast and digital ads, fueling inappropriate drug use and eroding public trust.&nbsp;“Pharmaceutical ads hooked this country on prescription drugs,”&nbsp;

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said.&nbsp;“We will shut down that pipeline of deception and require drug companies to disclose all critical safety facts in their advertising. Only radical transparency will break the cycle of overmedicalization that drives America’s chronic disease epidemic.”The FDA is concerned patients are not seeing a fair balance of information about drug products. This concern is magnified when serious risks are not clearly presented, or the information is too difficult for seniors to read or hear.&nbsp;

“For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness,”&nbsp;said&nbsp;FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H.&nbsp;“Drug companies spend up to 25% of their budget on advertising. Those billions of dollars would be better spent on lowering drug prices for everyday Americans.”

Americans also live in a new era of social media. An increasing reliance on digital and social media channels, including undisclosed paid influencer promotion, has blurred the lines among editorial content, user-generated media and pharmaceutical advertising, making it increasingly difficult for patients to distinguish between evidence-based information and promotional material.&nbsp;

A 2024 review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research reveals that while 100% of pharmaceutical social media posts highlight drug benefits, only 33% mention potential harms. Moreover, 88% of advertisements for top-selling drugs are posted by individuals and organizations that fail to adhere to the FDA fair balance guidelines.

The stakes surrounding prescription drug ads are high. While these ads can raise awareness of disease states and beneficial therapies, they must also disclose important risks and limitations. Current law requires that advertisements present a fair balance between a product’s risks and benefits; avoid exaggerating benefits; not create a misleading overall impression; properly disclose financial relationships; and include information regarding major side effects and contraindications.&nbsp;

Despite widespread violations, the FDA has been increasingly lax and reactive in its enforcement approach over the last few decades. The FDA used to send more than a hundred warning letters each year, and misleading ads were rare. But over time, enforcement waned and the number of warning letters sent to pharmaceutical companies dropped to one in 2023 and zero in 2024.

The FDA will no longer tolerate such deceptive practices. Going forward, the agency will aggressively deploy its available enforcement tools. The FDA is already implementing AI and other tech-enabled tools to proactively surveil and review drug ads.

The Trump Administration and HHS Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring transparency, accountability, and trust in health care. By closing loopholes and stepping up enforcement, the FDA will protect patients, safeguard public health and hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration announced sweeping reforms to rein in misleading direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertisements.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757549003301.png" alt=" " />
 <figcaption> </figcaption>
 </figure>The FDA is sending thousands of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/188616/download?attachment">letters</a>&nbsp;warning pharmaceutical companies to remove misleading ads and issuing approximately 100 cease-and-desist letters to companies with deceptive ads.&nbsp;In addition to enforcing existing law, the FDA is initiating rulemaking to close the “adequate provision” loophole created in 1997, which drug companies have used to conceal critical safety risks in broadcast and digital ads, fueling inappropriate drug use and eroding public trust.&nbsp;“Pharmaceutical ads hooked this country on prescription drugs,”&nbsp;<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">&quot;The President just signed an executive order that&#39;s an historic change in the way that pharmaceutical advertising is done on television,&quot; says <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecKennedy</a>. Watch him explain the historic order: <a href="https://t.co/e2VJwUFv3M">pic.twitter.com/e2VJwUFv3M</a>&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapidResponse47/status/1965551393726714155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 9, 2025</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said.&nbsp;“We will shut down that pipeline of deception and require drug companies to disclose all critical safety facts in their advertising. Only radical transparency will break the cycle of overmedicalization that drives America’s chronic disease epidemic.”The FDA is concerned patients are not seeing a fair balance of information about drug products. This concern is magnified when serious risks are not clearly presented, or the information is too difficult for seniors to read or hear.&nbsp;“For far too long, the FDA has permitted misleading drug advertisements, distorting the doctor-patient relationship and creating increased demand for medications regardless of clinical appropriateness,”&nbsp;said&nbsp;FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, M.D., M.P.H.&nbsp;“Drug companies spend up to 25% of their budget on advertising. Those billions of dollars would be better spent on lowering drug prices for everyday Americans.”Americans also live in a new era of social media. An increasing reliance on digital and social media channels, including undisclosed paid influencer promotion, has blurred the lines among editorial content, user-generated media and pharmaceutical advertising, making it increasingly difficult for patients to distinguish between evidence-based information and promotional material.&nbsp;A 2024 review in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research reveals that while 100% of pharmaceutical social media posts highlight drug benefits, only 33% mention potential harms. Moreover, 88% of advertisements for top-selling drugs are posted by individuals and organizations that fail to adhere to the FDA fair balance guidelines.The stakes surrounding prescription drug ads are high. While these ads can raise awareness of disease states and beneficial therapies, they must also disclose important risks and limitations. Current law requires that advertisements present a fair balance between a product’s risks and benefits; avoid exaggerating benefits; not create a misleading overall impression; properly disclose financial relationships; and include information regarding major side effects and contraindications.&nbsp;Despite widespread violations, the FDA has been increasingly lax and reactive in its enforcement approach over the last few decades. The FDA used to send more than a hundred warning letters each year, and misleading ads were rare. But over time, enforcement waned and the number of warning letters sent to pharmaceutical companies dropped to one in 2023 and zero in 2024.The FDA will no longer tolerate such deceptive practices. Going forward, the agency will aggressively deploy its available enforcement tools. The FDA is already implementing AI and other tech-enabled tools to proactively surveil and review drug ads.The Trump Administration and HHS Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring transparency, accountability, and trust in health care. By closing loopholes and stepping up enforcement, the FDA will protect patients, safeguard public health and hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable.

Read the warning letter FDA sent drugmakers on deceptive TV ads

By:<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/camikoons/">Cami Koons</a>

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it had improved and expanded its Farm to School Grant program and would invest up to $18 million to connect locally grown food to child nutrition programs.&nbsp;

The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants program was initiated in 2013, but according to a news release, the fiscal year 2026 investment represents the “largest total amount” the department has offered in a given year.&nbsp;

The Farm to School Grant announcement was made alongside U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/09/09/repub/rfk-jr-lists-100-recommendations-to-make-america-healthy-again/" target="_blank">Make America Healthy Again report</a>, which called for more whole, unprocessed foods in children’s diets.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the grants are “one of the best ways we can deliver nutritious, high-quality meals to children, while also strengthening local agriculture.”&nbsp;

“These grants will open new doors for small family farms, expand access to healthy food in schools, and inspire the next generation of Great American Farmers,” Rollins said in the news release.&nbsp;

State agencies, tribal organizations, child nutrition programs, nonprofits, agricultural producers and groups of producers can apply for grants from $100,000 to $500,000 to support new and existing farm to school projects, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/grant/f2s/fy26?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery" target="_blank">grant website</a>.&nbsp;

Eligible projects are those that: incorporate more unprocessed and locally produced foods in school meals, encourage the consumption of fresh foods, train producers on food safety and procurement requirements or educate students on agriculture and nutrition.

The release from USDA said updates to the program will also streamline the application process, remove barriers to innovation and emphasize partnerships.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA is proud to streamline this program, so it works better for families, farmers, and communities across our nation,” Rollins said in the release. “Putting America’s Farmers First starts with putting our children first.”

According to USDA’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://farmtoschoolcensus.fns.usda.gov/census-results/states/ia" target="_blank">Farm to School Census</a>, more than 440 Iowa school food authorities, the entities that manage school food service, have participated in the program.

The grants can also be used to support agriculture education at schools through things like ag and nutrition classes, or school gardening programs. According to the census, nearly 50% of Iowa school food authorities had classroom programs and slightly more than 15% of Iowa school food authorities had edible gardens.&nbsp;

According to USDA, Farm to School Grant awards totaled $100 million since 2013.&nbsp;

The millions in Farm to School Grant dollars are significantly less than the billions of dollars that schools and food banks used under a pandemic-era program to support local food purchases.&nbsp;

These programs, Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance, were&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/11/usda-cuts-programs-bringing-local-food-into-schools-food-banks/" target="_blank">canceled in March</a>&nbsp;after USDA announced in October 2024 over a $1 billion in funds to continue the programs across the country.&nbsp;

Tommy Hexter, the policy director for Iowa Farmers Union, said the new investment from USDA is positive, but said it doesn’t make up for the loss of programs that provided “vital government support” to food farmers and players in the local food system.

Hexter said the canceled programs created relationships between farmers, food hubs, the state department of agriculture, schools and community, that are “fundamental to our food system in Iowa.”

“The first and foremost thing with this announcement is like, yes, let’s see how we can take advantage of this new announcement and make these programs come to Iowa,” Hexter said. “But we also are acknowledging that this investment does not replace the major loss of funding that happened earlier this year.”

This story was originally produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/09/11/usda-to-invest-up-to-18-m-in-farm-to-school-grants/" target="_blank">Iowa Capital Dispatch</a>, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Kansas Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2025/9/1757765534936.png" alt="USDA announced funding for its Farm to School Grant program. (Photo by Brandon O’Connor, NRCS/USDA )" />
 <figcaption>USDA announced funding for its Farm to School Grant program. (Photo by Brandon O’Connor, NRCS/USDA )</figcaption>
 </figure>By:<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/camikoons/">Cami Koons</a>The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it had improved and expanded its Farm to School Grant program and would invest up to $18 million to connect locally grown food to child nutrition programs.&nbsp;The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grants program was initiated in 2013, but according to a news release, the fiscal year 2026 investment represents the “largest total amount” the department has offered in a given year.&nbsp;The Farm to School Grant announcement was made alongside U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/09/09/repub/rfk-jr-lists-100-recommendations-to-make-america-healthy-again/" target="_blank">Make America Healthy Again report</a>, which called for more whole, unprocessed foods in children’s diets.USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said the grants are “one of the best ways we can deliver nutritious, high-quality meals to children, while also strengthening local agriculture.”&nbsp;“These grants will open new doors for small family farms, expand access to healthy food in schools, and inspire the next generation of Great American Farmers,” Rollins said in the news release.&nbsp;State agencies, tribal organizations, child nutrition programs, nonprofits, agricultural producers and groups of producers can apply for grants from $100,000 to $500,000 to support new and existing farm to school projects, according to the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/grant/f2s/fy26?utm_medium=email&amp;utm_source=govdelivery" target="_blank">grant website</a>.&nbsp;Eligible projects are those that: incorporate more unprocessed and locally produced foods in school meals, encourage the consumption of fresh foods, train producers on food safety and procurement requirements or educate students on agriculture and nutrition.The release from USDA said updates to the program will also streamline the application process, remove barriers to innovation and emphasize partnerships.“Under President Trump’s leadership, USDA is proud to streamline this program, so it works better for families, farmers, and communities across our nation,” Rollins said in the release. “Putting America’s Farmers First starts with putting our children first.”According to USDA’s latest&nbsp;<a href="https://farmtoschoolcensus.fns.usda.gov/census-results/states/ia" target="_blank">Farm to School Census</a>, more than 440 Iowa school food authorities, the entities that manage school food service, have participated in the program.The grants can also be used to support agriculture education at schools through things like ag and nutrition classes, or school gardening programs. According to the census, nearly 50% of Iowa school food authorities had classroom programs and slightly more than 15% of Iowa school food authorities had edible gardens.&nbsp;According to USDA, Farm to School Grant awards totaled $100 million since 2013.&nbsp;The millions in Farm to School Grant dollars are significantly less than the billions of dollars that schools and food banks used under a pandemic-era program to support local food purchases.&nbsp;These programs, Local Food for Schools and Local Food Purchase Assistance, were&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/03/11/usda-cuts-programs-bringing-local-food-into-schools-food-banks/" target="_blank">canceled in March</a>&nbsp;after USDA announced in October 2024 over a $1 billion in funds to continue the programs across the country.&nbsp;Tommy Hexter, the policy director for Iowa Farmers Union, said the new investment from USDA is positive, but said it doesn’t make up for the loss of programs that provided “vital government support” to food farmers and players in the local food system.Hexter said the canceled programs created relationships between farmers, food hubs, the state department of agriculture, schools and community, that are “fundamental to our food system in Iowa.”“The first and foremost thing with this announcement is like, yes, let’s see how we can take advantage of this new announcement and make these programs come to Iowa,” Hexter said. “But we also are acknowledging that this investment does not replace the major loss of funding that happened earlier this year.”This story was originally produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/09/11/usda-to-invest-up-to-18-m-in-farm-to-school-grants/" target="_blank">Iowa Capital Dispatch</a>, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Kansas Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.