BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>

TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.

Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.

“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”

Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.

More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.

“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”

Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.

Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.

While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;

The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.

Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.

Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.

In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;

“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710861810230.png" alt="A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>A February study of Kansas voters found widespread concern over rising costs and child care issues, among other statewide concerns. (Sam Bailey/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/author/rmipro/">RACHEL MIPRO</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://kansasreflector.com/">Kansas Reflector</a>TOPEKA — A&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GewzdRccawj4l4WPJcOuerDaGYOm1IJY/view?usp=sharing">survey of Kansans’ attitudes</a>&nbsp;on lawmakers, health care and economic issues found a wellspring of support for expanding Medicaid eligibility — along with a prevailing belief that lawmakers aren’t tuned into the financial challenges Kansas families are facing and are not passing policies that help Kansans.Nonpartisan research firm Perry Undem conducted the study on behalf of the Kansas Common Sense Fund, and with support from the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. The study surveyed approximately 1,000 Kansas voters in February on health care, child care and hunger.“It’s pretty clear that Kansans are feeling a significant amount of financial stress, due to the high cost of food, health care, child care and housing,” said David Jordan, president of United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. “… It is pretty striking that there’s significant agreement on the challenges that Kansans face, on solutions that could help address those challenges and on the fact that policymakers aren’t recognizing and acting in accordance with where Kansans are on these issues.”Seventy-nine percent of voters said most Kansas policymakers aren’t in touch with the financial challenges facing average families. Seventy percent of voters did not think Kansas politicians were looking out for working families.More than 80% of voters said housing, health care, child care and healthy food are increasingly difficult for the average Kansas family to afford. About 70% felt the average Kansas family is currently under financial strain.“The vast majority of Kansans believe that policymakers are not listening to working people as they push through new laws and policy changes,” said Ashley All, executive director for Kansas Common Sense Fund. “Kansans agree that lawmakers should be doing more to support parents and families who are struggling to make ends meet. Kansas needs to focus on commonsense policies that make child care more affordable and drive down costs for everyone.”Of those surveyed, 90%&nbsp; were concerned about rural hospitals closing and 73% supported Medicaid expansion, which would expand state health insurance coverage for lower-income families. Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government covers 90% of the extra cost of Medicaid services in exchange for expanding eligibility to those at 138% of the federal poverty rate and below. Kansas is among 10 states that haven’t yet expanded Medicaid.Most of the estimated 150,000 Kansans who would benefit from expansion are low-income workers or Kansans suffering from chronic illness. Medicaid expansion would also unlock $700 million in annual federal funding and could save 59 rural hospitals on the brink of closing.While expansion has been blocked by top Republican state lawmakers in the House and Senate, long-time advocate Gov. Laura Kelly, along with health care groups, has pressured lawmakers to take another crack at the issue this session. Her proposal is scheduled for two hearings Wednesday.&nbsp;The new survey, like others released in recent years, showed expansion has bipartisan support. About 90% of Democrats, 74% of independents and 61% of Republicans supported expansion. Ninety-five percent of residents said they were worried about health care costs increasing, and 87% were worried about the number of uninsured people in the state increasing.Most people also wanted government action to help Kansans access healthy food and groceries, and opposed adding restrictions to food aid. About 76% of voters said the cost of food was a problem, and 79% supported more state programs on food access.Most people wanted more state investment in programs that help Kansans afford child care, with 78% in favor of expansion of a child care tax credit.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://stage.worklifesystems.com/Kansas?county=all">Child care data</a>&nbsp;in the state suggests only 46% of children in Kansas receive child care services, and that an additional 85,000 child care slots are needed to meet demand.&nbsp;&nbsp;This year, Kelly has recommended a $56 million allocation for child care as part of her proposed budget for<a target="_blank" href="https://governor.kansas.gov/governor-kelly-announces-fiscal-year-2025-budget/">&nbsp;fiscal year 2025</a>. The funding includes nearly $30 million for the construction of child care facilities and $5 million for a northwest Kansas pilot program seeking to test practices for public-private child care partnerships in rural areas.In the previous year, lawmakers attempted to roll back regulations on child care facilities to address the shortage, but Kelly vetoed the bill due to concerns that decreasing staff training and packing more children into the facilities could be damaging. The survey showed 73% of&nbsp; Kansans are against legislators passing policies that would loosen qualifications and standards for child care providers.&nbsp;“There’s broad support for tax credits,” Jordan said. “But then there’s also nearly identical agreement that policymakers should not loosen qualifications for childcare providers, just recognizing that the solution is not on par with the need to invest in early childhood affordability and the need to look at creative tax credits that can help make child care more affordable.”

Survey: Kansas voters worry about health, child care, hunger — and out-of-touch lawmakers

BROWN COUNTY—One person died in an accident on Monday in Brown County.

Just after 10:30a.m., the&nbsp;Brown County law enforcement dispatch received a 911 call reporting that an individual at TA Travel Plaza, 801 West First, in Fairvew had fallen an estimated 60 feet while working on a sign in front of the business, according to Brown County Sheriff John Merchant.&nbsp;

First responders found the man who was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene.&nbsp;

The Brown County Sheriff's Office is in charge of the investigation.&nbsp; The sheriff's office has not released the name of the man who died.

BROWN COUNTY—One person died in an accident on Monday in Brown County.Just after 10:30a.m., the&nbsp;Brown County law enforcement dispatch received a 911 call reporting that an individual at TA Travel Plaza, 801 West First, in Fairvew had fallen an estimated 60 feet while working on a sign in front of the business, according to Brown County Sheriff John Merchant.&nbsp;First responders found the man who was unresponsive and pronounced deceased at the scene.&nbsp;The Brown County Sheriff's Office is in charge of the investigation.&nbsp; The sheriff's office has not released the name of the man who died.

Man dies after fall while working on sign of a Kan. business

SUMNER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities will present details of a weekend crash that killed a Kansas police officer on his way home from work to the Sumner County District Attorney on Wednesday for possible charges, according Sumner County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Friday.

The accident occurred just before 3:30a.m. Saturday when a passenger vehicle driven by 26-year-old Scott Hollingsworth was southbound on U.S. 81 at 119th Street, according to Friday. A westbound pickup struck the vehicle driven by Hollingsworth.&nbsp;

Hollingsworth was pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported three passengers in the pickup to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The pickup driver was not injured, according to Friday.

The sheriff's office will report additional details of the crash after the district attorney's office determines possible charges.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710681634704.png" alt="Officer Scott Hollingsworth-photo city of Clearwater" />
 <figcaption>Officer Scott Hollingsworth-photo city of Clearwater</figcaption>
 </figure>SUMNER COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities will present details of a weekend crash that killed a Kansas police officer on his way home from work to the Sumner County District Attorney on Wednesday for possible charges, according Sumner County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Friday.The accident occurred just before 3:30a.m. Saturday when a passenger vehicle driven by 26-year-old Scott Hollingsworth was southbound on U.S. 81 at 119th Street, according to Friday. A westbound pickup struck the vehicle driven by Hollingsworth.&nbsp;Hollingsworth was pronounced dead at the scene.&nbsp; EMS transported three passengers in the pickup to an area hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries. The pickup driver was not injured, according to Friday.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FClearwaterKS%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0Cn79XeUkedxXpjvctn3AGZY4rBbUC1vmFw4Siii2o1QsqFaYyvFUtuqtpnp2wa89l&show_text=true&width=500" width="500" height="703" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share"></iframe></div>The sheriff's office will report additional details of the crash after the district attorney's office determines possible charges.

Details of crash that killed Kan. officer will be presented to DA

By Jill Pritchard, Missouri Department of Conservation

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – &nbsp;The 2024 paddlefish snagging season is off to a great start after an angler reeled in a world record fish at the Lake of the Ozarks.

 The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulated Chad Williams of Olathe, Kansas&nbsp;for snagging a 164-pound, 13-ounce paddlefish at the Lake of the Ozarks March 17. 

The fish not only breaks the previous state record of 140 pounds, but also the previous world record of 164 pounds.

“I was lucky enough to get invited to go out snagging with friends,” Williams said. “I’d never been snagging before. Never seen a paddlefish – didn’t even know what it was!”

Shortly into the snagging trip, Williams hooked into something massive.

“I was thinking I was extremely weak because it was taking so long to reel in. My body was aching,” he recalled.

After the fish made it onto the boat, the group immediately knew it was a record. They later met MDC Fisheries and Protection staff at Three Brothers Meat Company in Montreal to weigh the fish on a certified scale. This makes the second state record caught in 2024.

Williams said he and his wife kept some of the paddlefish meat and shared the rest with their fishing group. He plans to taxidermy the head.

“I’m honestly still processing this whole thing,” he laughed. “Conservation Agent Tyler Brown was in disbelief it was my first time snagging. He said, ‘You don’t have to go out fishing ever again! Nothing can top this!’ and he’s probably right!”

Missouri state record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include trotline, throwline, limb line, bank line, jug line, gig, bow, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or atlatl. 

<a href="https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/trophies-certificates/state-record-fish">Click here for more</a> information on state record fish.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710852897111.png" alt="Photo courtesy Chad Williams via Missouri Department of Conservation" />
 <figcaption>Photo courtesy Chad Williams via Missouri Department of Conservation</figcaption>
 </figure>By Jill Pritchard, Missouri Department of ConservationJEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – &nbsp;The 2024 paddlefish snagging season is off to a great start after an angler reeled in a world record fish at the Lake of the Ozarks. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) congratulated Chad Williams of Olathe, Kansas&nbsp;for snagging a 164-pound, 13-ounce paddlefish at the Lake of the Ozarks March 17. The fish not only breaks the previous state record of 140 pounds, but also the previous world record of 164 pounds.“I was lucky enough to get invited to go out snagging with friends,” Williams said. “I’d never been snagging before. Never seen a paddlefish – didn’t even know what it was!”Shortly into the snagging trip, Williams hooked into something massive.“I was thinking I was extremely weak because it was taking so long to reel in. My body was aching,” he recalled.After the fish made it onto the boat, the group immediately knew it was a record. They later met MDC Fisheries and Protection staff at Three Brothers Meat Company in Montreal to weigh the fish on a certified scale. This makes the second state record caught in 2024.Williams said he and his wife kept some of the paddlefish meat and shared the rest with their fishing group. He plans to taxidermy the head.“I’m honestly still processing this whole thing,” he laughed. “Conservation Agent Tyler Brown was in disbelief it was my first time snagging. He said, ‘You don’t have to go out fishing ever again! Nothing can top this!’ and he’s probably right!”Missouri state record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include trotline, throwline, limb line, bank line, jug line, gig, bow, crossbow, underwater spearfishing, snagging, snaring, grabbing, or atlatl. <a href="https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/trophies-certificates/state-record-fish">Click here for more</a> information on state record fish.

Kansas man catches world record fish at lake in Missouri

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health by strengthening data collection and providing better funding opportunities for biomedical research while chiding Republicans for having “no clue about the power of women" but saying they're "about to find out” come November's election.

(Click below to watch the White House signing ceremony)

Women's health has long been underfunded and understudied. It wasn't until the 1990s that the federal government mandated women be included in federally funded medical research; for most of medical history, though, scientific study was based almost entirely on men.

“We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide array of health conditions in women,” said Dr. Carolyn Mazure, the head of the White House initiative on women’s health.

Today, research often fails to properly track differences between women and men, and does not represent women equally particularly for illnesses more common to them — which Biden suggested his order would help change.

“To state the obvious, women are half the population and underrepresented across the board. But not in my administration,” the president said, drawing raucous applause at a White House reception marking Women's History Month.

Biden said he’s long been a believer in the “power of research” to help save lives and get high-quality health care to the people who need it. But the executive order also checks off a political box during an election year when women will be crucial to his reelection efforts. First lady Jill Biden is leading both the effort to organize and mobilize female voters and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-research-womens-health-gender-policy-dbe0eec03767cacbbccd07cc83ee15df">White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research</a>.

The announcement comes as the ripple effects spread from the Supreme Court's decision that overturned federal abortion rights, touching on medical issues for women who never intended to end their pregnancies. In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alabama-ivf-embryo-frozen-aec76246aad81bc58cd9e51e422a4521">Alabama, for example, the future of IVF was thrown into question statewide</a>&nbsp;after a judge's ruling.

In his comments at the reception, Biden didn't mention by name former President Donald Trump, who is now running to reclaim the White House. Instead, he referred to “my predecessor” who had been “bragging about overturning" the Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.

The president suggested that would hurt Trump and the GOP during this fall's election, saying, “You can’t lead America with old ideas and take us backward."

Further leaning into politics, Biden said his administration has “turned around the economy because we focused on women,” noting that female unemployment had fallen and the number of women-owned small businesses had increased.

He said his administration has ensured that “women can access jobs in sectors where they’ve been historically underrepresented” and said he'd told leaders from some of the nation's top labor unions that he wants to see more women and minorities in their ranks.

Women were a critical part of the coalition that elected Biden in 2020, giving him 55% of their vote, according to AP VoteCast. Black women and suburban women were pillars of Biden’s coalition while Trump had a modest advantage among white women and a much wider share of white women without college degrees, according to the AP survey of more than 110,000 voters in that year’s election.

Vice President Kamala Harris, women's health advocate Maria Shriver and the first lady also addressed the reception.

“Finally women will get the health care we deserve,” Jill Biden said, saying the order signed Monday was “without precedent.”

Harris drew strong applause for noting that she “stood before you as the first woman vice president of the United States” and talked about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/harris-abortion-mpls-0000018e3ec4d172afefbed648190000">visiting an abortion clinic</a>&nbsp;in Minnesota last week.

“There are those who are intent on dragging us backward,” the vice president said of Republican states that have limited access to abortion.

“We all face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?” Harris said. "A country of liberty, freedom and rule of law? Or a country of disorder, fear and hate?”

Shriver joked that this is probably the first time a president has signed an executive order that mentions menopause and said the action could only be taken “by a president who respects women.”

The National Institutes of Health is also launching a new effort around menopause and the treatment of menopausal symptoms that will identify research gaps and work to close them, said White House adviser Jennifer Klein. NIH funds a huge amount of biomedical research, imperative for the understanding of how medications affect the human body and for deciding eventually how to dose medicine.

Some conditions have different symptoms for women and men, such as heart disease. Others are more common in women, like Alzheimer’s disease, and some are unique to women — such as endometriosis, uterine cancers and fibroids found in the uterus. It's all ripe for study, Mazure said.

And uneven research can have profound effects; a 2020 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley, found that women were being overmedicated and suffering side effects from common medications, because most of the dosage trials were done only on men.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-research-womens-health-arpah-shriver-149bf923d666bb980631185c0626a50e">The first lady announced $100 million</a>&nbsp;in funding last month for women's health.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday aimed at advancing the study of women's health by strengthening data collection and providing better funding opportunities for biomedical research while chiding Republicans for having “no clue about the power of women" but saying they're "about to find out” come November's election.(Click below to watch the White House signing ceremony)<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWhiteHouse%2Fvideos%2F1486913852241915%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=225" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>Women's health has long been underfunded and understudied. It wasn't until the 1990s that the federal government mandated women be included in federally funded medical research; for most of medical history, though, scientific study was based almost entirely on men.“We still know too little about how to effectively prevent, diagnose and treat a wide array of health conditions in women,” said Dr. Carolyn Mazure, the head of the White House initiative on women’s health.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW: President Biden just signed an Executive Order to expand and improve research on women’s health. Through our White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research, our Administration is working to fundamentally change how we approach and fund women’s health research in the U.S. <a href="https://t.co/oUcSrBOAaP">pic.twitter.com/oUcSrBOAaP</a>&mdash; The White House (@WhiteHouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/WhiteHouse/status/1769765190772388281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 18, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Today, research often fails to properly track differences between women and men, and does not represent women equally particularly for illnesses more common to them — which Biden suggested his order would help change.“To state the obvious, women are half the population and underrepresented across the board. But not in my administration,” the president said, drawing raucous applause at a White House reception marking Women's History Month.Biden said he’s long been a believer in the “power of research” to help save lives and get high-quality health care to the people who need it. But the executive order also checks off a political box during an election year when women will be crucial to his reelection efforts. First lady Jill Biden is leading both the effort to organize and mobilize female voters and the&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-research-womens-health-gender-policy-dbe0eec03767cacbbccd07cc83ee15df">White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research</a>.The announcement comes as the ripple effects spread from the Supreme Court's decision that overturned federal abortion rights, touching on medical issues for women who never intended to end their pregnancies. In&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/alabama-ivf-embryo-frozen-aec76246aad81bc58cd9e51e422a4521">Alabama, for example, the future of IVF was thrown into question statewide</a>&nbsp;after a judge's ruling.In his comments at the reception, Biden didn't mention by name former President Donald Trump, who is now running to reclaim the White House. Instead, he referred to “my predecessor” who had been “bragging about overturning" the Roe v. Wade decision that had guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion.The president suggested that would hurt Trump and the GOP during this fall's election, saying, “You can’t lead America with old ideas and take us backward."Further leaning into politics, Biden said his administration has “turned around the economy because we focused on women,” noting that female unemployment had fallen and the number of women-owned small businesses had increased.He said his administration has ensured that “women can access jobs in sectors where they’ve been historically underrepresented” and said he'd told leaders from some of the nation's top labor unions that he wants to see more women and minorities in their ranks.Women were a critical part of the coalition that elected Biden in 2020, giving him 55% of their vote, according to AP VoteCast. Black women and suburban women were pillars of Biden’s coalition while Trump had a modest advantage among white women and a much wider share of white women without college degrees, according to the AP survey of more than 110,000 voters in that year’s election.Vice President Kamala Harris, women's health advocate Maria Shriver and the first lady also addressed the reception.“Finally women will get the health care we deserve,” Jill Biden said, saying the order signed Monday was “without precedent.”Harris drew strong applause for noting that she “stood before you as the first woman vice president of the United States” and talked about&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/video/harris-abortion-mpls-0000018e3ec4d172afefbed648190000">visiting an abortion clinic</a>&nbsp;in Minnesota last week.“There are those who are intent on dragging us backward,” the vice president said of Republican states that have limited access to abortion.“We all face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?” Harris said. "A country of liberty, freedom and rule of law? Or a country of disorder, fear and hate?”Shriver joked that this is probably the first time a president has signed an executive order that mentions menopause and said the action could only be taken “by a president who respects women.”The National Institutes of Health is also launching a new effort around menopause and the treatment of menopausal symptoms that will identify research gaps and work to close them, said White House adviser Jennifer Klein. NIH funds a huge amount of biomedical research, imperative for the understanding of how medications affect the human body and for deciding eventually how to dose medicine.Some conditions have different symptoms for women and men, such as heart disease. Others are more common in women, like Alzheimer’s disease, and some are unique to women — such as endometriosis, uterine cancers and fibroids found in the uterus. It's all ripe for study, Mazure said.And uneven research can have profound effects; a 2020 study by researchers at the University of Chicago and University of California, Berkeley, found that women were being overmedicated and suffering side effects from common medications, because most of the dosage trials were done only on men.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/jill-biden-research-womens-health-arpah-shriver-149bf923d666bb980631185c0626a50e">The first lady announced $100 million</a>&nbsp;in funding last month for women's health.

🎥Biden signs executive order advancing study of women's health

GARDNER, Kansas. –Kansas inmate 49-year-old&nbsp; John Evans Johnson, Jr., continues on escape status after not returning to the Johnson County Department of Corrections (JSDOC) Adult Residential Center (ARC) facility March 12, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.

Johnson, a 49-year-old white male with green eyes, stands 5-feet-9 inches tall and weighs 191 pounds. He has a shaved head and nine tattoos across his arms, legs, neck, and back.

He was placed on escape status when he did not return to the residential center following two job interviews.

Johnson has been serving a one-year sentence at the Johnson County Work Release Center since August 3, 2023. He was convicted in Wyandotte County for one count of burglary.

Anyone with information on Johnson should call the KDOC’s Enforcement, Apprehension, and Investigations Division (EAI) at 816-266-2102, the JCDOC at 913-715-6539, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (800) 572-7463 or local law enforcement at 911. Kansans can also contact EAI via email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:KDOC_EAI_Intel@ks.gov">KDOC_EAI_Intel@ks.gov</a>

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710296467700.png" alt="Johnson from an earlier arrest in Wyandotte Co." />
 <figcaption>Johnson from an earlier arrest in Wyandotte Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>GARDNER, Kansas. –Kansas inmate 49-year-old&nbsp; John Evans Johnson, Jr., continues on escape status after not returning to the Johnson County Department of Corrections (JSDOC) Adult Residential Center (ARC) facility March 12, according to a media release from the Kansas Department of Corrections.Johnson, a 49-year-old white male with green eyes, stands 5-feet-9 inches tall and weighs 191 pounds. He has a shaved head and nine tattoos across his arms, legs, neck, and back.He was placed on escape status when he did not return to the residential center following two job interviews.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710296332190.png" alt="Johnson -photo KDOC" />
 <figcaption>Johnson -photo KDOC</figcaption>
 </figure>Johnson has been serving a one-year sentence at the Johnson County Work Release Center since August 3, 2023. He was convicted in Wyandotte County for one count of burglary.Anyone with information on Johnson should call the KDOC’s Enforcement, Apprehension, and Investigations Division (EAI) at 816-266-2102, the JCDOC at 913-715-6539, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation at (800) 572-7463 or local law enforcement at 911. Kansans can also contact EAI via email at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:KDOC_EAI_Intel@ks.gov">KDOC_EAI_Intel@ks.gov</a>

After a week, Kansas inmate still missing from jail

On Monday, Governor Laura Kelly delivered remarks at the 2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit in Liberal. Her remarks, as prepared, are below:

Good afternoon. Welcome and thank you for being here at the 2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit.

Thank you, Susan, for that introduction. To the Irrigation Innovation Consortium, thank you for convening this informative and all-important summit focused on building trust and collaboration on one of the region’s most pressing issues.

To Senator Moran, thank you for your ongoing partnership and advocacy around water in Kansas. Your work has been instrumental — advocating for Kansas communities in federal debates on water, agriculture, conservation, and more.

In my State of the State address earlier this year, I reaffirmed my commitment to protecting our most precious natural resource. Preserving the quality and quantity of water in Kansas remains a top priority for me in my second term because it is an existential issue for our state.

Having a clean, stable water supply is critical to maintaining our way of life in all communities across Kansas, rural and urban alike. It’s critical to maintaining Kansas as we know it and love it.

The Ogallala Aquifer is, of course, critical to the viability of our agriculture industry—but also to maintaining the historic economic growth we’ve experienced across all industries in the last few years.

As I said in my State of the State, if rural Kansas succeeds on this issue, all of Kansas will succeed.

Kansas has already made significant progress in addressing our water crisis. My administration has hired a Senior Advisor on Water, Vijay Ramasamy, and created a Water Subcabinet to take a collaborative, all-hands-on-deck approach to this issue.

In the last legislative session, we passed two landmark bills by working together with legislative champions like House Water Committee Chair Jim Minnix and Ranking Member Lindsey Vaughn.

One established a specific timeline for communities to develop strategies around maintaining water quality and quantity.

The second allocated an unprecedented investment in the State Water Plan — to the tune of $35 million annually for five years.

I’m encouraged by the progress we’ve made so far, but, as you know, there is so much more work to do. It’s crucial that we build on our progress – which is why a summit of this scope is so important.

I’m grateful to everyone who’s here today because it is these types of forums that lead to lasting, meaningful reforms. 

Make no mistake—this is an issue that affects every Kansan, and we all have a responsibility to come together to find ways to address it.

It’s not going to be easy, but the good news is, we are in a better position than we have ever been to get this done.

We have the momentum. Last year, for the first time ever, the Kansas Water Authority voted to reject the planned depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer. This alone will put us on a new path towards water conservation.

We have enough funding to jumpstart our efforts. To ensure that we can stay on track, earlier this year, I directed the Kansas Water Authority to develop a long-term strategic funding plan for water to ensure that our communities have the resources they need to implement best practices for water conservation and quality on into the future.

We have the science. Kansas has some of the best water data in the world, and the new Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State University will leverage resources and expertise from the university and beyond to develop innovative solutions to water challenges. And we know what works.

Since 2019, we have piloted new technology around irrigation, water monitoring, and other key processes at farms across the state. We’ve seen successes across the region that we can learn from, replicate, and scale.

We’ve also learned—from initiatives like the Local Enhanced Management Area in Sheridan County—that we don’t need to choose between conserving water and growing our economy. On the contrary, one is essential to the other.

Now is the time to secure the future of water in Western Kansas and throughout our entire state. To meet this moment, we need to bring everyone to the table, and we need to be bold.

The need to maintain a reliable, safe water supply for Kansans in every corner of the state for generations to come is not a partisan issue. We are all in this together. We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us to be a model for the rest of the country when it comes to water conservation. We can show that collective, coordinated action is good for our pocketbooks and our communities in both the short term and the long term.

You have my word that, as governor, I will do everything in my power to create a viable path forward on this issue. By the end of my time in office, I want to have strong, regional plans in place that will ensure the stability of the Ogallala Aquifer for years to come. The future of Kansas depends on it.

Thank you for your shared commitment to that work. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710799559753.png" alt="Courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>On Monday, Governor Laura Kelly delivered remarks at the 2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit in Liberal. Her remarks, as prepared, are below:Good afternoon. Welcome and thank you for being here at the 2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit.Thank you, Susan, for that introduction. To the Irrigation Innovation Consortium, thank you for convening this informative and all-important summit focused on building trust and collaboration on one of the region’s most pressing issues.To Senator Moran, thank you for your ongoing partnership and advocacy around water in Kansas. Your work has been instrumental — advocating for Kansas communities in federal debates on water, agriculture, conservation, and more.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710799534060.png" alt="Gov. Kelly at the Summit on Monday-courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Gov. Kelly at the Summit on Monday-courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>In my State of the State address earlier this year, I reaffirmed my commitment to protecting our most precious natural resource. Preserving the quality and quantity of water in Kansas remains a top priority for me in my second term because it is an existential issue for our state.Having a clean, stable water supply is critical to maintaining our way of life in all communities across Kansas, rural and urban alike. It’s critical to maintaining Kansas as we know it and love it.The Ogallala Aquifer is, of course, critical to the viability of our agriculture industry—but also to maintaining the historic economic growth we’ve experienced across all industries in the last few years.As I said in my State of the State, if rural Kansas succeeds on this issue, all of Kansas will succeed.Kansas has already made significant progress in addressing our water crisis. My administration has hired a Senior Advisor on Water, Vijay Ramasamy, and created a Water Subcabinet to take a collaborative, all-hands-on-deck approach to this issue.In the last legislative session, we passed two landmark bills by working together with legislative champions like House Water Committee Chair Jim Minnix and Ranking Member Lindsey Vaughn.One established a specific timeline for communities to develop strategies around maintaining water quality and quantity.The second allocated an unprecedented investment in the State Water Plan — to the tune of $35 million annually for five years.I’m encouraged by the progress we’ve made so far, but, as you know, there is so much more work to do. It’s crucial that we build on our progress – which is why a summit of this scope is so important.I’m grateful to everyone who’s here today because it is these types of forums that lead to lasting, meaningful reforms. Make no mistake—this is an issue that affects every Kansan, and we all have a responsibility to come together to find ways to address it.It’s not going to be easy, but the good news is, we are in a better position than we have ever been to get this done.We have the momentum. Last year, for the first time ever, the Kansas Water Authority voted to reject the planned depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer. This alone will put us on a new path towards water conservation.We have enough funding to jumpstart our efforts. To ensure that we can stay on track, earlier this year, I directed the Kansas Water Authority to develop a long-term strategic funding plan for water to ensure that our communities have the resources they need to implement best practices for water conservation and quality on into the future.We have the science. Kansas has some of the best water data in the world, and the new Kansas Water Institute at Kansas State University will leverage resources and expertise from the university and beyond to develop innovative solutions to water challenges. And we know what works.Since 2019, we have piloted new technology around irrigation, water monitoring, and other key processes at farms across the state. We’ve seen successes across the region that we can learn from, replicate, and scale.We’ve also learned—from initiatives like the Local Enhanced Management Area in Sheridan County—that we don’t need to choose between conserving water and growing our economy. On the contrary, one is essential to the other.Now is the time to secure the future of water in Western Kansas and throughout our entire state. To meet this moment, we need to bring everyone to the table, and we need to be bold.The need to maintain a reliable, safe water supply for Kansans in every corner of the state for generations to come is not a partisan issue. We are all in this together. We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us to be a model for the rest of the country when it comes to water conservation. We can show that collective, coordinated action is good for our pocketbooks and our communities in both the short term and the long term.You have my word that, as governor, I will do everything in my power to create a viable path forward on this issue. By the end of my time in office, I want to have strong, regional plans in place that will ensure the stability of the Ogallala Aquifer for years to come. The future of Kansas depends on it.Thank you for your shared commitment to that work.

Read Governor Kelly's  2024 Ogallala Aquifer Summit address

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating after a body was found in a pond behind behind a Kansas home.

At 9:30 p.m. crews from Overland Park Fire were called to a water rescue in the 193rd block of Flint Street in Overland Park, according to a social media report from the department.

 Crews arrived to find the body of a man in a pond behind a private residence. The victim was determined to be deceased. Police released no other details early Tuesday. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

JOHNSON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating after a body was found in a pond behind behind a Kansas home.At 9:30 p.m. crews from Overland Park Fire were called to a water rescue in the 193rd block of Flint Street in Overland Park, according to a social media report from the department. Crews arrived to find the body of a man in a pond behind a private residence. The victim was determined to be deceased. Police released no other details early Tuesday. Check the Post for additional details as they become available.

Body of man found in pond behind Kansas home

JERUSALEM —U.S. Forces continue to face attacks in the Red Sea. On Monday, U.S. forces successfully engaged and destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in self-defense, according to a statement from the&nbsp;United States Central Command.

It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.

These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.

Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official says an Israeli strike killed Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza who helped plan the Oct. 7 attack. Israel and Hamas have not confirmed Issa’s death, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan did not say how U.S. intelligence had concluded he was killed. But if the reports are confirmed, Issa would be the highest-ranking Hamas leader to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. 

Israel has killed several top leaders of Hamas over the years, only to see them quickly replaced with little apparent impact on the group’s operations. Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Monday that Issa “was killed in an Israeli operation last week.” Issa was the deputy to Mohammed Deif, the shadowy longtime leader of Hamas’ military wing, who is said to have survived several previous Israeli attempts on his life.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-leader-gaza-war-sinwar-7359ae98217aa11aa7c20c2780d5d350">Hamas’ top leader in Gaza</a>, and the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, is Yehya Sinwar.

 Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be alive and in hiding in Gaza, and Israel has vowed to kill them. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters since the start of the war, without providing evidence. 

The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive since Hamas’ Oct. 7 on southern Israel. The ministry&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-health-ministry-health-death-toll-59470820308b31f1faf73c703400b033">doesn’t differentiate</a>&nbsp;between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/women-children-gaza-war-victims-un-inequality-f0f89a724543b99c2c22439e7af09405">women and children</a>&nbsp;make up two-thirds of the dead.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2023/12/1703418619283.png" alt="Photo U.S. Central Command" />
 <figcaption>Photo U.S. Central Command</figcaption>
 </figure>JERUSALEM —U.S. Forces continue to face attacks in the Red Sea. On Monday, U.S. forces successfully engaged and destroyed seven anti-ship missiles, three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and three weapons storage containers in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen in self-defense, according to a statement from the&nbsp;United States Central Command.It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region.

These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official says an Israeli strike killed Marwan Issa, the deputy leader of Hamas’ armed wing in Gaza who helped plan the Oct. 7 attack. Israel and Hamas have not confirmed Issa’s death, and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan did not say how U.S. intelligence had concluded he was killed. But if the reports are confirmed, Issa would be the highest-ranking Hamas leader to have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. Israel has killed several top leaders of Hamas over the years, only to see them quickly replaced with little apparent impact on the group’s operations. Sullivan told reporters in Washington on Monday that Issa “was killed in an Israeli operation last week.” Issa was the deputy to Mohammed Deif, the shadowy longtime leader of Hamas’ military wing, who is said to have survived several previous Israeli attempts on his life.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-leader-gaza-war-sinwar-7359ae98217aa11aa7c20c2780d5d350">Hamas’ top leader in Gaza</a>, and the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war, is Yehya Sinwar. Both Sinwar and Deif are believed to be alive and in hiding in Gaza, and Israel has vowed to kill them. Israel says it has killed over 13,000 Hamas fighters since the start of the war, without providing evidence. The Gaza Health Ministry said Monday that at least 31,726 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive since Hamas’ Oct. 7 on southern Israel. The ministry&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-health-ministry-health-death-toll-59470820308b31f1faf73c703400b033">doesn’t differentiate</a>&nbsp;between civilians and combatants in its count, but it says&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/women-children-gaza-war-victims-un-inequality-f0f89a724543b99c2c22439e7af09405">women and children</a>&nbsp;make up two-thirds of the dead.

U.S. warships face more attempted attacks in the Red Sea

KANSAS CITY —A judge on Thursday sentenced a Kansas City man for an August 2020 double homicide to Life In Prison Without Parole plus 65 &nbsp;years, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.

Cleon D. White, 36, was convicted in January of two counts of Murder in the 1st Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.

On Thursday, the judge sentenced White to Life Without Parole for each 1st Degree Murder conviction plus 25 years on each Armed Criminal Action convictions and 15 years on the Unlawful Use of a Weapon conviction. Those sentences were set to run consecutively to Life Without Parole.&nbsp;

According to court records, Kansas City police officers were dispatched to the area of the 2700 block of Guinotte Avenue in Kansas City on a reported shooting. Officers found two deceased men in a gold Honda. 

The victims were identified as 23-year-0ld Jahmiere Green and 27-year-old Brandon Rainey.

Video surveillance showed the victim's vehicle being followed by a white SUV on Guinottte Avenue. The SUV pulls up to the driver's side of the victims' vehicle, then the victims' vehicle rolls slowly to a stop. No movement is obvious after the SUV leaves. 

The SUV does return but leaves again. Detectives also determined the SUV returns to a parking lot on East Third Street soon after the murder and the man who gets out of the SUV matches the build and clothing of a man shown meeting with one of the victims shortly before the homicide. 

After a search warrant was obtained, detectives determined a search of the defendant's phone showed a vehicle with wording on the windshield that can be seen in surveillance video of the vehicle on the day of the fatal shootings.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/2/1706826084203.png" alt="White-photo Jackson Co." />
 <figcaption>White-photo Jackson Co.</figcaption>
 </figure>KANSAS CITY —A judge on Thursday sentenced a Kansas City man for an August 2020 double homicide to Life In Prison Without Parole plus 65 &nbsp;years, according to Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker.Cleon D. White, 36, was convicted in January of two counts of Murder in the 1st Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.On Thursday, the judge sentenced White to Life Without Parole for each 1st Degree Murder conviction plus 25 years on each Armed Criminal Action convictions and 15 years on the Unlawful Use of a Weapon conviction. Those sentences were set to run consecutively to Life Without Parole.&nbsp;According to court records, Kansas City police officers were dispatched to the area of the 2700 block of Guinotte Avenue in Kansas City on a reported shooting. Officers found two deceased men in a gold Honda. The victims were identified as 23-year-0ld Jahmiere Green and 27-year-old Brandon Rainey.Video surveillance showed the victim's vehicle being followed by a white SUV on Guinottte Avenue. The SUV pulls up to the driver's side of the victims' vehicle, then the victims' vehicle rolls slowly to a stop. No movement is obvious after the SUV leaves. The SUV does return but leaves again. Detectives also determined the SUV returns to a parking lot on East Third Street soon after the murder and the man who gets out of the SUV matches the build and clothing of a man shown meeting with one of the victims shortly before the homicide. After a search warrant was obtained, detectives determined a search of the defendant's phone showed a vehicle with wording on the windshield that can be seen in surveillance video of the vehicle on the day of the fatal shootings.

Kansas City man sentenced for drive-by double homicide

WICHITA, KAN.– A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging a Kansas businessman with 27 counts of criminal misconduct connected to altering vehicle odometers, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

According to court documents, Adam Newbrey, 31, of Derby operated three used car dealerships in Wichita including Ideal Motors, Midwest Wholesale, and Prestige Motors.

In 2020 and 2021, Newbrey allegedly purchased used vehicles in Kansas and Oklahoma, altered the odometers, and then used fraudulent documents to obtain titles from the Kansas Department of Revenue reflecting the falsified odometer readings. He is also accused of using the titles with the mispresented mileage to defraud customers who purchased vehicles.

Newbrey is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit odometer fraud, nine counts of odometer tampering, seven counts of mail fraud,, nine counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud.

The defendant made his initial court appearance March 15, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge&nbsp; Brooks Severson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. 

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710781040448.png" alt="Google image" />
 <figcaption>Google image</figcaption>
 </figure>WICHITA, KAN.– A federal grand jury in Wichita returned an indictment charging a Kansas businessman with 27 counts of criminal misconduct connected to altering vehicle odometers, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.According to court documents, Adam Newbrey, 31, of Derby operated three used car dealerships in Wichita including Ideal Motors, Midwest Wholesale, and Prestige Motors.In 2020 and 2021, Newbrey allegedly purchased used vehicles in Kansas and Oklahoma, altered the odometers, and then used fraudulent documents to obtain titles from the Kansas Department of Revenue reflecting the falsified odometer readings. He is also accused of using the titles with the mispresented mileage to defraud customers who purchased vehicles.Newbrey is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit odometer fraud, nine counts of odometer tampering, seven counts of mail fraud,, nine counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of wire fraud.The defendant made his initial court appearance March 15, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge&nbsp; Brooks Severson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.

Kansas car dealer accused of rolling back odometers

NASHVILLE —The search continues for a University of Missouri Student who has been missing since March 8.

On Monday, police in Nashville released a new video of 22-year-old Riley Strain.

&nbsp;It show a brief exchange of greetings with Officer Reginald Young on Gay Street, south of the Woodland Street bridge, in in Nashville on the March 8. Riley did not appear distressed. Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call and remained on that portion of Gay Street for 45 minutes. No video has been discovered that shows Riley away from Gay Street after the 9:52 p.m. timeframe.

On Sunday police reported Riley Strain's bank card was discovered on the embankment between Gay Street and the Cumberland River, according to a statement from Metro Nashville Police.

Police have said Strain was last seen just before 10 p.m. March 8, after drinking downtown. They searched the area, including the banks of the Cumberland River, by helicopter and on the ground, but did not find him.

University of Missouri officials said in a statement that they were alerted last weekend that Strain was missing after traveling to Nashville to attend a private event and that they have been in touch with family and authorities.

Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, and his stepfather, Chris Whiteid, drove to Nashville from Springfield, Missouri, after they learned he disappeared while on a fraternity trip, news outlets reported.

“I just need to know where my son is,” Michelle Whiteid said. “We talk every day, multiple times a day. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without talking to him. It’s devastating. I just want to find him and hug him.”

After the bus ride from Columbia, Strain and some of his fraternity brothers went out, according to Chris Whiteid. Strain was asked to leave a bar, and they got separated, he said.

“The boys called him, and he said, ‘I’m walking back to my hotel,’" Chris Strain said. “They didn’t think anything about it.”

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710335346952.png" alt="Riley Strain courtesy photo" />
 <figcaption>Riley Strain courtesy photo</figcaption>
 </figure>NASHVILLE —The search continues for a University of Missouri Student who has been missing since March 8.On Monday, police in Nashville released a new video of 22-year-old Riley Strain.<div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=314&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FMetroNashvillePoliceDepartment%2Fvideos%2F603220672026656%2F&show_text=false&width=560&t=1" width="560" height="314" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowFullScreen="true"></iframe></div>&nbsp;It show a brief exchange of greetings with Officer Reginald Young on Gay Street, south of the Woodland Street bridge, in in Nashville on the March 8. Riley did not appear distressed. Officer Young was there on a vehicle burglary call and remained on that portion of Gay Street for 45 minutes. No video has been discovered that shows Riley away from Gay Street after the 9:52 p.m. timeframe.On Sunday police reported Riley Strain's bank card was discovered on the embankment between Gay Street and the Cumberland River, according to a statement from Metro Nashville Police.Police have said Strain was last seen just before 10 p.m. March 8, after drinking downtown. They searched the area, including the banks of the Cumberland River, by helicopter and on the ground, but did not find him.University of Missouri officials said in a statement that they were alerted last weekend that Strain was missing after traveling to Nashville to attend a private event and that they have been in touch with family and authorities.Strain’s mother, Michelle Whiteid, and his stepfather, Chris Whiteid, drove to Nashville from Springfield, Missouri, after they learned he disappeared while on a fraternity trip, news outlets reported.“I just need to know where my son is,” Michelle Whiteid said. “We talk every day, multiple times a day. This is the longest I’ve ever gone without talking to him. It’s devastating. I just want to find him and hug him.”After the bus ride from Columbia, Strain and some of his fraternity brothers went out, according to Chris Whiteid. Strain was asked to leave a bar, and they got separated, he said.“The boys called him, and he said, ‘I’m walking back to my hotel,’" Chris Strain said. “They didn’t think anything about it.”

🎥New police video shows Mizzou student missing since March 8

WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital age.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411/">Click here to listen to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral argument&nbsp;

The justices seemed broadly skeptical during nearly two hours of arguments that a lawyer for Louisiana, Missouri and other parties presented accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view.

Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

Several justices said they were concerned that common interactions between government officials and the platforms could be affected by a ruling for the states.

In one example, Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed surprise when Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga questioned whether the FBI could call Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to encourage them to take down posts that maliciously released someone's personal information without permission, the practice known as doxxing.

“Do you know how often the FBI makes those calls?” Barrett asked, suggesting they happen frequently.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh also signaled that a ruling for the states would mean that “traditional, everyday communications would suddenly be deemed problematic.”

The case Monday was among several the court is considering that affect social media companies in the context of free speech. Last week, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one that was argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.

The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on social media platforms.

Aguiñaga put the situation in stark terms, telling the justices that “the record reveals unrelenting pressure by the government to coerce social media platforms to suppress the speech of millions of Americans.”

He said that calls merely encouraging the platforms to act also could violate speech rights, responding to a hypothetical situation conjured by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about an online challenge that “involved teens jumping out of windows at increasing elevations.”

Jackson, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, pressed the Louisiana lawyer about whether platforms could be encouraged to remove such posts.

“I was with you right until that last comment, Your Honor,” Aguiñaga said. “I think they absolutely can call and say this is a problem, it’s going rampant on your platforms, but the moment that the government tries to use its ability as the government and its stature as the government to pressure them to take it down, that is when you’re interfering with the third party’s speech rights.”

Justice Samuel Alito appeared most open to the states' arguments, at one point referring to the government's “constant pestering of Facebook and some of the other platforms.” Alito, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the restrictions on government contacts with the platforms to go into effect.

Justice Department lawyer Brian Fletcher argued that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion and that the federal government would lose its ability to communicate with the social media companies about antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts, as well as on issues of national security, public health and election integrity.

The platforms are large sophisticated actors with no reluctance to stand up to the government, “saying no repeatedly when they disagree with what the government is asking them to do,” Fletcher said.

Justice Elena Kagan and Kavanaugh, two justices who served in the White House earlier in their careers, seemed to agree, likening the exchanges between officials and the platforms to relationships between the government and more traditional media.

Kavanaugh described “experienced government press people throughout the federal government who regularly call up the media and -- and berate them.”

Later, Kagan said, “I mean, this happens literally thousands of times a day in the federal government.”

Alito, gesturing at the courtroom's press section, mused that whenever reporters “write something we don't like,” the court's chief spokeswoman “can call them up and curse them out and say...why don’t we be partners? We’re on the same team. Why don’t you show us what you’re going to write beforehand? We’ll edit it for you, make sure it’s accurate.”

Free speech advocates said the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.

“We’re encouraged that the Court was sensitive both to the First Amendment rights of platforms and their users, and to the public interest in having a government empowered to participate in public discourse. To that end, we hope that the Court resolves these cases by making clear that the First Amendment prohibits coercion but permits the government to attempt to shape public opinion through the use of persuasion.” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.

A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.

A decision in Murthy v. Missouri, 23-411, is expected by early summer.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security.

<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411\">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argument&nbsp;

The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.

The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.

The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.

The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.

“It’s a very, very threatening thing when the federal government uses the power and authority of the government to block people from exercising their freedom of speech,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video her office posted online.

The administration responds that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion. The states “still have not identified any instance in which any government official sought to coerce a platform’s editorial decisions with a threat of adverse government action,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. Prelogar wrote that states also can't “point to any evidence that the government ever imposed any sanction when the platforms declined to moderate content the government had flagged — as routinely occurred.”

The companies themselves are not involved in the case.

Free speech advocates say the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.

"The government has no authority to threaten platforms into censoring protected speech, but it must have the ability to participate in public discourse so that it can effectively govern and inform the public of its views,” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.

Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have rejected the emergency appeal from the Biden administration.

Alito wrote in dissent in October: “At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news. That is most unfortunate."

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710764500358.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — The&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court">Supreme Court</a>&nbsp;seemed likely Monday to side with the Biden administration in a dispute with Republican-led states over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security in a case that could set standards for free speech in the digital age.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411/">Click here to listen to a replay</a>&nbsp;of the oral argument&nbsp;The justices seemed broadly skeptical during nearly two hours of arguments that a lawyer for Louisiana, Missouri and other parties presented accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view.Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.<div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">When I was AG I filed Missouri v Biden. On Monday the Supreme Court hears the case. It’s the most important Free Speech case in our nation’s history. The government can’t censor speech &amp; it can’t outsource censorship to social media giants either.<a href="https://t.co/jWzshevGsl">pic.twitter.com/jWzshevGsl</a>&mdash; Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eric_Schmitt/status/1769025010948067493?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div>Several justices said they were concerned that common interactions between government officials and the platforms could be affected by a ruling for the states.In one example, Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed surprise when Louisiana Solicitor General J. Benjamin Aguiñaga questioned whether the FBI could call Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) to encourage them to take down posts that maliciously released someone's personal information without permission, the practice known as doxxing.“Do you know how often the FBI makes those calls?” Barrett asked, suggesting they happen frequently.Justice Brett Kavanaugh also signaled that a ruling for the states would mean that “traditional, everyday communications would suddenly be deemed problematic.”The case Monday was among several the court is considering that affect social media companies in the context of free speech. Last week, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.The cases over state laws and the one that was argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on social media platforms.Aguiñaga put the situation in stark terms, telling the justices that “the record reveals unrelenting pressure by the government to coerce social media platforms to suppress the speech of millions of Americans.”He said that calls merely encouraging the platforms to act also could violate speech rights, responding to a hypothetical situation conjured by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, about an online challenge that “involved teens jumping out of windows at increasing elevations.”Jackson, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, pressed the Louisiana lawyer about whether platforms could be encouraged to remove such posts.“I was with you right until that last comment, Your Honor,” Aguiñaga said. “I think they absolutely can call and say this is a problem, it’s going rampant on your platforms, but the moment that the government tries to use its ability as the government and its stature as the government to pressure them to take it down, that is when you’re interfering with the third party’s speech rights.”Justice Samuel Alito appeared most open to the states' arguments, at one point referring to the government's “constant pestering of Facebook and some of the other platforms.” Alito, along with Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the restrictions on government contacts with the platforms to go into effect.Justice Department lawyer Brian Fletcher argued that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion and that the federal government would lose its ability to communicate with the social media companies about antisemitic and anti-Muslim posts, as well as on issues of national security, public health and election integrity.The platforms are large sophisticated actors with no reluctance to stand up to the government, “saying no repeatedly when they disagree with what the government is asking them to do,” Fletcher said.Justice Elena Kagan and Kavanaugh, two justices who served in the White House earlier in their careers, seemed to agree, likening the exchanges between officials and the platforms to relationships between the government and more traditional media.Kavanaugh described “experienced government press people throughout the federal government who regularly call up the media and -- and berate them.”Later, Kagan said, “I mean, this happens literally thousands of times a day in the federal government.”Alito, gesturing at the courtroom's press section, mused that whenever reporters “write something we don't like,” the court's chief spokeswoman “can call them up and curse them out and say...why don’t we be partners? We’re on the same team. Why don’t you show us what you’re going to write beforehand? We’ll edit it for you, make sure it’s accurate.”Free speech advocates said the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech.“We’re encouraged that the Court was sensitive both to the First Amendment rights of platforms and their users, and to the public interest in having a government empowered to participate in public discourse. To that end, we hope that the Court resolves these cases by making clear that the First Amendment prohibits coercion but permits the government to attempt to shape public opinion through the use of persuasion.” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.A decision in Murthy v. Missouri, 23-411, is expected by early summer.----------<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710764500358.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — In a busy term that could set standards for free speech in the digital age, the Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a dispute between Republican-led states and the Biden administration over how far the federal government can go to combat&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/social-media-biden-administration-lawsuit-injunction-6322aae981bdc5c9009babde4b31ab60">controversial social media posts</a>&nbsp;on topics including COVID-19 and election security.<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2023/23-411\">Click here to listen to a replay</a> of the oral argument&nbsp;The justices are hearing arguments in a lawsuit filed by Louisiana, Missouri and other parties accusing officials in the Democratic administration of leaning on the social media platforms to unconstitutionally squelch conservative points of view. Lower courts have sided with the states, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings while it considers the issue.The high court is in the midst of a term heavy with social media issues. On Friday, the court laid out&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-public-officials-973f1d18e74faccaa4bfce3bd65cc1af">standards for when public officials can block their social media followers</a>. Less than a month ago, the court heard arguments over&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-social-media-florida-texas-820e90e58e49c1146b69101ece4dd9d5">Republican-passed laws in Florida and Texas</a>&nbsp;that prohibit large social media companies from taking down posts because of the views they express.The cases over state laws and the one being argued Monday are variations on the same theme, complaints that the platforms are censoring conservative viewpoints.The states argue that White House communications staffers, the surgeon general, the FBI and the U.S. cybersecurity agency are among those who coerced changes in online content on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and other media platforms.“It’s a very, very threatening thing when the federal government uses the power and authority of the government to block people from exercising their freedom of speech,” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video her office posted online.The administration responds that none of the actions the states complain about come close to problematic coercion. The states “still have not identified any instance in which any government official sought to coerce a platform’s editorial decisions with a threat of adverse government action,” wrote Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer. Prelogar wrote that states also can't “point to any evidence that the government ever imposed any sanction when the platforms declined to moderate content the government had flagged — as routinely occurred.”The companies themselves are not involved in the case.Free speech advocates say the court should use the case to draw an appropriate line between the government's acceptable use of the bully pulpit and coercive threats to free speech."The government has no authority to threaten platforms into censoring protected speech, but it must have the ability to participate in public discourse so that it can effectively govern and inform the public of its views,” Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, said in a statement.A panel of three judges on the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled earlier that the Biden administration had probably brought unconstitutional pressure on the media platforms. The appellate panel said officials cannot attempt to “coerce or significantly encourage” changes in online content. The panel had previously narrowed a more sweeping order from a federal judge, who wanted to include even more government officials and prohibit mere encouragement of content changes.A divided Supreme Court put the 5th Circuit ruling on hold in October, when it agreed to take up the case.Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have rejected the emergency appeal from the Biden administration.Alito wrote in dissent in October: “At this time in the history of our country, what the Court has done, I fear, will be seen by some as giving the Government a green light to use heavy-handed tactics to skew the presentation of views on the medium that increasingly dominates the dissemination of news. That is most unfortunate."

🎧 Social media censorship: Supreme Court’s oral arguments

DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a hit-and-run incident in Lawrence. 

On Monday, the driver of a vehicle captured on security camera struck a 74-year-old woman and a dog at 23rd and Barker in Lawrence, according to Lawrence Police. The woman has critical injuries, and the dog was killed. The driver never stopped. Police need the public’s help identifying the driver.

If you can identify the driver, or see this vehicle with front end damage, call dispatch at (785)832-7509. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (785)843-TIPS (8477)

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710784655210.png" alt="Photo Lawrence Police" />
 <figcaption>Photo Lawrence Police</figcaption>
 </figure>DOUGLAS COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a hit-and-run incident in Lawrence. On Monday, the driver of a vehicle captured on security camera struck a 74-year-old woman and a dog at 23rd and Barker in Lawrence, according to Lawrence Police. The woman has critical injuries, and the dog was killed. The driver never stopped. Police need the public’s help identifying the driver.If you can identify the driver, or see this vehicle with front end damage, call dispatch at (785)832-7509. Tips can also be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at (785)843-TIPS (8477)

Kansas hit-and-run: 74-year-old critically injured, dog killed

BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/suzanneking/">SUZANNE KING</a>&nbsp;

When nurses rallied outside Research Medical Center last week to kick off contract negotiations, the refrain rang familiar.

“Hey HCA,” the nurses’ signs read. “Put patients over profits.”

In an increasingly unionized health care industry, still recovering from the pandemic, nurses across the country demand that hospitals beef up staffing and improve working conditions. And, when bargaining doesn’t work, they insist they’re ready to walk off the job.

Kansas City nurses from&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://hcamidwest.com/locations/research-medical-center/">Research</a>&nbsp;in Kansas City and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://hcamidwest.com/locations/menorah-medical-center/">Menorah Medical Center</a>&nbsp;in Overland Park, both owned by HCA Healthcare, want to make it clear that they are prepared to fight for change in their new contract.

About 1,000 nurses at the two hospitals are working under a contract that will expire May 31. Their union,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/">National Nurses United</a>&nbsp;(NNU), said 150 nurses left jobs at Research last year, while 89 left Menorah. The union wants HCA to improve nurse retention and schedule more nurses to work each shift.

The union said nurses are “prepared to make demands for their new agreements that will improve patient care by addressing critical issues with staffing and safety, and services at their hospitals.”

In a statement, HCA, which reported 2023 net income of $5.2 billion, called its staffing at Research and Menorah “safe and appropriate.”

HCA’s statement also said the two area hospitals had added 842 members to its “nursing organization” in 2023 and were “building our nursing pipeline.” The statement touted recently announced plans to invest $34.5 million in the Research College of Nursing.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2024/3/1710779860482.png" alt=" Research Medical Center in Kansas City is one of two HCA-owned area hospitals where the nurses union faces contract negotiations (Scott Canon/The Beacon)." />
 <figcaption> Research Medical Center in Kansas City is one of two HCA-owned area hospitals where the nurses union faces contract negotiations (Scott Canon/The Beacon).</figcaption>
 </figure>BY:&nbsp;<a href="https://missouriindependent.com/author/suzanneking/">SUZANNE KING</a>&nbsp;When nurses rallied outside Research Medical Center last week to kick off contract negotiations, the refrain rang familiar.“Hey HCA,” the nurses’ signs read. “Put patients over profits.”In an increasingly unionized health care industry, still recovering from the pandemic, nurses across the country demand that hospitals beef up staffing and improve working conditions. And, when bargaining doesn’t work, they insist they’re ready to walk off the job.Kansas City nurses from&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://hcamidwest.com/locations/research-medical-center/">Research</a>&nbsp;in Kansas City and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://hcamidwest.com/locations/menorah-medical-center/">Menorah Medical Center</a>&nbsp;in Overland Park, both owned by HCA Healthcare, want to make it clear that they are prepared to fight for change in their new contract.About 1,000 nurses at the two hospitals are working under a contract that will expire May 31. Their union,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/">National Nurses United</a>&nbsp;(NNU), said 150 nurses left jobs at Research last year, while 89 left Menorah. The union wants HCA to improve nurse retention and schedule more nurses to work each shift.The union said nurses are “prepared to make demands for their new agreements that will improve patient care by addressing critical issues with staffing and safety, and services at their hospitals.”In a statement, HCA, which reported 2023 net income of $5.2 billion, called its staffing at Research and Menorah “safe and appropriate.”HCA’s statement also said the two area hospitals had added 842 members to its “nursing organization” in 2023 and were “building our nursing pipeline.” The statement touted recently announced plans to invest $34.5 million in the Research College of Nursing.“We value our nurses and are hopeful that we can quickly reach an agreement on a new contract that is fair and reasonable for both sides,” the statement said.But Cheryl Rodarmel, a rehabilitation nurse from Research who will be at the negotiating table, said the existing conditions leave nurses exhausted.Rodarmel, who has worked at Research for three decades, often has to care for six patients at a time. She worries about patients falling and not getting enough care.“Nurses are being morally injured every day because we’re not given the resources that we need to provide the care to our patients,” she said.In strikes and contract negotiations around the country, unionized nurses often echo that notion of being “morally injured” — when a person feels they have been forced to take part in something that violates their principles.After COVID’s heavy toll and an ongoing drive among many hospitals to cut costs, the industry has seen a year with more than two dozen strikes around the country. Nurses say they come face-to-face with patients they can’t adequately care for. Increasingly, they are lining up behind labor unions to demand change.NNU, the union representing Research and Menorah nurses, also represents 950 nurses at two Ascension Via Christi hospitals in Wichita. For close to a year, those nurses have been struggling to come to an agreement on their first contract, a process that has led them to walk off the job twice since June — and forcing the hospitals to pay premium prices for replacements. And earlier this month they&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://wichitabeacon.org/stories/2024/03/05/wichita-nurses-ready-to-strike-again/">vowed</a>&nbsp;to strike again if progress isn’t made.Nurses in Missouri and Kansas are far from alone. Just at HCA-owned hospitals, NNU said it is representing thousands of nurses this year in contract negotiations with 18 hospitals in six states. And the union’s climbing membership — up to 225,000 from 150,000 pre-pandemic — marks a national trend in health care.More workers in the industry, including nurses, doctors in training, and other health care workers, are joining unions and, increasingly, walking off the job to demand better working conditions and higher pay.Of the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkstp.nr0.htm">33 major work stoppages</a>&nbsp;the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last year,&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.epi.org/publication/major-strike-activity-in-2023/">14 took place</a>&nbsp;in health care. And that’s only strikes or lockouts involving 1,000 or more workers. Nurse Together, a&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.nursetogether.com/nurse-strikes/">website</a>&nbsp;that focuses on the profession, counted 27 nursing strikes last year, including the largest health care strike in U.S. history, when 75,000 nurses, technicians and support staff walked away from jobs at Kaiser Permanente in October.Union representatives consistently point to the same reason for the increase in labor actions: a shortage of nurses. The issue became glaring in many hospitals during the pandemic. Now they pose the central backdrop to nursing strikes — and one reason more nurses feel emboldened to unionize. Their skills are in high demand, giving them bargaining table leverage.Hospital companies tend to argue that they face a shortage of nurses available. Unions typically counter that nurses are fleeing the field because of working conditions.A 2022&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2799909">study</a>&nbsp;in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that health care workers represented by unions between 2009 and 2021 made better wages and got better benefits — like full premium-covered health insurance and retirement benefits — than those without unions. The study also found that unions helped erase the pay disparity between white workers and racial and ethnic minority groups.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that registered nurses working in Kansas City in 2022 had a mean annual salary of&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_28140.htm#29-0000">$76,580</a>, compared with&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes_28140.htm#29-0000">$68,130</a>&nbsp;in 2019, the year before the pandemic. Nationally, the mean salary for nurses was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291141.htm">$89,010</a>&nbsp;in 2022, compared with&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bls.gov/oes/2019/may/oes291141.htm">$77,460</a>&nbsp;in 2019.Nurses from Research and Menorah have butted heads with HCA before. In the fall of 2020, the height of COVID, nurses at Research&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2020/11/23/feeling-a-lack-of-protections-against-covid-19-workers-file-complaints-with-osha/">filed a complaint</a>&nbsp;with the federal&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.osha.gov/">Occupational Safety and Health Administration</a>&nbsp;demanding better protections against the virus. In their last contract, Rodamel said, they gained protections for members’ paid time off so that nurses no longer have to use their leave if they get sick caring for patients.The company also has a history with the Service Employees International Union. In 2021, that union lost a decertification vote at Research, meaning employees — including patient care technicians, certified nursing assistants, imaging technologists and respiratory therapists — voted to ditch the union’s representation.Before the decertification vote became official, and after the union members had secured a new contract, Research stopped recognizing the union. A National Labor Relations Board judge later&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hr/hca-hospital-violated-labor-law-in-pulling-union-recognition-judge-says.html">ruled</a>&nbsp;that the hospital had violated federal labor law. The union was still decertified and no longer represents employees at the hospital.This&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/stories/2024/03/15/kansas-city-nurse-union-prepared-to-strike-if-they-have-to/">article</a>&nbsp;first appeared on&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://kcbeacon.org/">The Beacon</a>&nbsp;and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<figure>
 <img src="https://i0.wp.com/kcbeacon.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/cropped-The-Beacon-Symbol-Gold.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://kcbeacon.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=19022" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>